Chapter Eight: Stormdrain

As alwayus, I don't own the X-men or any other multi million dollar stuff

Storm opened the latest letter she'd been sent from her nephew and started to read it as she summoned a small, fluffy white rain cloud to water one of her favourite orchids in her rooftop greenhouse.

Dear auntie O

Things are going fine down here in the sewers, well as good as it can get when you've gotta hide from the rest of the world beneath their feet. Caliban came back hurt a few days ago after he went to look for food, he was beat up pretty bad but he won't say how he got like that or who attacked him, Callisto's really mad about it but since Caliban's not talking, she can't do anything. That aside we haven't had any trouble since Duncan and his buddies attacked us and we've picked up a couple of new members, looks like every mutant's coming to Bayvile these days huh? I managed to convince Callisto to let you come down here for a visit, that is if you want to. She said you could bring a few of the others if you wanted, it looks like she's finally starting to trust the X-men.

Love you lots

Evan

As she read the letter Storm gripped the paper tightly, the small storm cloud grew bigger as she read the part about Caliban being attacked, drowning the orchid under the torrent of rain that poured from the cloud, which by now was a dark, angry black in colour. She already had a pretty good idea of who'd attacked him and stood up, intending to got straight to the Professor to tell him of her suspicions when she noticed the drowned flower, the black storm cloud now sending a torrential downpour onto the poor plant, the puddle on the table and the sizeable pool of water on the floor beneath the table, cursing she dissipated the cloud and grabbed a mop.

By the time she'd managed to get the mess cleaned up she hadn't forgotten about the letter. She heard a commotion in the foyer and opened a nearby then flew out to investigate, Storm landed on the ground outside the mansion and when she saw what the commotion was about all thoughts of the letter were temporarily pushed form her mind. Standing just inside the foyer, surrounded by the older students and teachers and her luggage, was her old friend, Jean Grey.

"Hey Jean, it's good to see you again" she said, rushing over to greet her

"Nice to see you too Storm, and all the new faces" she replied, noticing the new students gathered in a large clump at the far end of the foyer, not knowing who Jean was and unsure of why the older mutants were causing such a fuss over one mutant.

"Yea, things've gotten pretty interesting since you left red" Logan said

"How long will you be staying here for Jean?" the Professor asked, wheeling his chair in as soon as he'd seen her

"I've got a few weeks vacation so I'll probably stay until those are over, to be honest I really missed this place" Jean said, looking around at the institute.

"I'd be happy to offer you a temporary teaching position here until then, with this many new students it's been quite hectic" the Professor said

"I'd be happy to, I've spent months studying university level medicine and genetics, how bad can a few kids be?" Jean replied, unaware of just what she was letting herself in for.

As Jean said that Storm remembered Evans letter.

"Professor can I have a word in private?" she asked him, he nodded and they left the students and Jean.

"I believe you should take up Evans offer, if Calisto wants to establish a relationship with the Institute, we should encourage her as much as possible" the Professor replied

"Should I bring anyone with me?" Storm asked

"I don't think you will run into any trouble, this is a diplomatic mission and we've never had any trouble form the Morlocks in the past. Take your team and Logan, just in case" he replied

"Thank you Charles" Storm replied as she left

"Huh, you want me to go down into the sewers on bodyguard detail?" Logan replied after Storm had asked him

"It's just a precaution Logan, there's not going to be any trouble, Charles just wants you to tag along" Storm replied

"I don't know, last time I crossed them I nearly gutted their salamander guy" Logan replied

"Plus the sewers really don't do my heightened senses any good" he added, luckily Jean overheard that last part.

"If you don't mind I'll tag along instead Jean, Logan said he'd take over my class this afternoon anyway" she said

'You owe me one' she told Logan telepathically, he smiled and went back to drinking his coffee

"That should be fine Jean as long as you don't mind the sewers" Storm replied

"Hey after Appocalypse what's a little time in the sewers?" Jean said, making a drastic understatement for the second time that day.

"We're going where?" Solaris asked

"Into the sewers" Storm replied as Jean lifted the heavy manhole cover off with her telekinesis

"You gotta be crazy, how the hell am I gonna keep this uniform clean?" he replied

"Well you shoulda picked a different colour for it" Stormcaller said, as Murmur climbed down into the sewer system below.

"I am not going down there" Solaris replied, Storm gave him a stern look

"Fail me if you want, I aint going down there" he replied, not moving an inch as the others descended into the darkness of the sewers. At the last second Stormcaller stuck his hand out and a blast of wind lifted Solaris off his feet, carried him over to the open manhole, then sent him plummeting into the sewer. He shrieked as he hit the water and came up spluttering, his white fire temporarily extinguished.

"I hate you sometimes" Solaris said, glowering at Stormcaller as he climbed down the ladder

"I know" he replied, grinning.

Unknown to the X-men, someone had been watching them descend below the town. Duncan knew they were going to link up with the Morlocks. He'd hated them ever since the incident before the summer. When the police had brought him home he'd been grounded all summer, he'd lost his football scholarship to Empire state university and was nearly expelled form school, luckily Principal Kelly hadn't wanted the football team to lose its star player and had pulled some strings to save him and his friends from expulsion and a stint in juvenal hall.

"Those mutant freaks cause you trouble too?" a voice said from behind him, looking around he saw Graydon Creed standing behind him

"Yeah, you're the student body president right?" Duncan asked him

"Yes, and like you, I want those sewer dwelling freaks out of the picture, permanently" Creed replied

"What do you want from me?" Duncan asked, Creed smiled nastily before replying

"You've got the technology and know the location of their hideout, I've got the manpower and resources, together we can put those freaks out of commission, for good" he said, snapping his fingers, at that signal a dozen people stepped forwards out of the shadows of the building.

"Do we have a deal?" he asked holding out a hand

"We do" Duncan replied, shaking Creeds hand and with a similar evil grin plastered on his face.

"Are we there yet?" Solaris replied for the tenth time since landing in the sewer.

"It's just a little further ahead, we'll be there soon" Storm replied as the group trudged through the tunnels beneath Bayville.

"How many times has she said that?" Solaris said to Zander

"How many times have you asked her?" he replied, Murmur giggled at his comment.

Solaris rolled his eyes and summoned another white fire light, drawing more solar energy from his pendant. The light ran across every inch of the tunnel around them, casting the entrances of the nearby side tunnels and smaller links into pools of pitch black shadows. As they passed one neither Murmur or Zander noticed the pairs of eyes hidden in their murky depths. Solaris briefly saw them but when he shined the light back over the tunnel, they were gone.

Then suddenly a patch of tunnel wall in front of Solaris began to move and separate form the rest of the surrounding stone and mortar. A pair of bulbous yellow eyes appeared in it as the creature stood up and faced the young mutants

"AH EVIL TUNNEL TROLL!!" Solaris shrieked, leaping back and charging up both his fists with white fire, intending to incinerate the creature in front of him. Storm immediately spun around to face the creature then relaxed when she saw it, recognising who it was.

"Hello Salamander, is my nephew with you?" she asked him, he nodded and stood too one side as a spiky figure emerged from a nearby side tunnel.

"Hey auntie O, long time no see" he replied, Storm immediately rushed over and hugged her nephew

"It's so good to see you again Evan" she said

"It's good to see you too auntie O, come on Callisto's this way" he replied, turning away and heading back down the side tunnel he'd appeared from. Salamander and the X-men followed him, disappearing from sight into the shadows.

The Morlocks were in a small chamber that the side tunnel opened up into, a channel of water ran through the middle of it and there were several smaller chambers off to the side, which looked like they'd been built by melting away the rock, in the smaller chambers were several mattresses and blankets, from the looks of things the Morlocks hadn't been there for more than a few weeks. Callisto was sitting in one of the chambers studying a map when the X-men arrived, she immediately stood up and walked over to greet them.

"You must be Storm, it's an honour to meet you, Evans told us a lot about you" she replied, bowing slightly

"Likewise Callisto" Storm replied, returning the gesture, the other Morlocks came over and introduced themselves to the X-men

"Sorry about the tunnel troll thing, you kinda took me by surprise back there" Solaris said to Salamander

"It's O.K, I get that a lot when I sneak up on people" he replied

"You're Evan right? Storm talks about you a lot" Zander said to Evan

"Yea it looks like a lot's changed since I left Xavier's" he replied

After a few minutes the two groups had settled down and started talking. Storm telling Callisto about her role as liaison between the Institute and Bayville High, and how they should do the same and set up a liaison between them and the Morlocks. Murmur was looking around at the cavern when she saw something roll forwards from a side tunnel, when she looked closer she saw what it was, a grenade.

"Everyone down" she yelled, rushing forwards at super speed and picking it up, hurling it down into the channel of water to lessen the force of the explosion, when it detonated she was catapulted backwards and landed in Solaris arms. The two blushed and looked at each other awkwardly before remembering they were in a sewer under attack and not at high school and Solaris immediately put Murmur down, creating another white fire light and shining it up into the tunnel where the grenade had came from. The light illuminated the tunnel, showing the person who'd thrown the grenade, Graydon Creed.

"Well well, looks like this sewers got a little rat infestation, let's see if we can't fix that" he said cruelly, behind Duncan and their gang appeared all sporting new energy guns (the ones they used in the episode where Duncans gang attacked the Morlocks).

"Back off Duncan, this doesn't have to go down like this" Zander said, stepping forwards

"Yes, it does" Duncan replied, levelling his gun at Zander and pulling the trigger, the energy bolt hit him square in the chest and he dropped to the floor, a black smouldering burn mark in the middle of his chest.

"ZANDER!" Murmur yelled, running forwards, Callisto knelt down and placed a hand on his chest, her enhanced senses picking up his heartbeat.

"It's only a minor wound, he'll be fine" she said

"This is your last warning, leave now or you will be dealt with severely" Storm told Duncan and Graydon. Graydon fired his gun at her only for Storm to deflect the energy bolt with a bolt of lightning

"You were warned" she said, her eyes glowing with tiny lightning bolts that danced around in her pupils. She concentrated as electricity raced down her arm, pooling in her left hand, she jabbed at Creed and the lightning bolt arched out towards him, but like Storm Creed simply fired his gun, this time his energy blast countered her lightning bolt.

Around the cavern the battle was turning in the mutants favour, Callisto spun her staff around in her hands with the skill of a cheerleader twirling her baton, the metal pole deflecting the shots being sent her way. Evan was using two small spikes as self made escrima fighting sticks, twirling them around in his hands, bringing them down on the skulls and backs of the P.O.H members who rushed him, he sprouted spikes form the soles of his feet and used them to run up the walls of the cavern, leaping over his opponents heads, using attacks that even beast could only dream of and Solaris was melting the gun barrels and mechanisms with well placed bursts of white fire.

Murmur looked up from Zander and decided to end this before any of the P.O.H got hurt, as much as she wanted to be the one who did the hurting. Closing her eyes she focused her telepathy and let it flow out of her mind like an endless stream of thought.

Duncan took advantage of Callisto's eyepatch to land an energy shot on the back of her head, as he steadied his gun for another shot he found himself unable to focus as an unending torrent of indecipherable murmuring entered his head, it built up and built up until it blocked every outside sense out, making oblivious to everything else except the murmuring, and how he could make it stop. Murmur nodded at Solaris, Spike and Storm, who quickly took out the power cells of the energy guns with well aimed spikes, lightning bolts and white fire blasts. When the murmuring began to die down and the P.O.H members opened their eyes they saw their weapons ruined and the very angry mutants facing them. Their ears still ringing with the murmurs they turned tail and fled from the cavern like kicked dogs, knocking each other down and scrambling over one another in their rush to escape.

As the last stragglers fled the cavern Graydon Creed remained behind, he threw an X-men insignia he'd ripped from one of their uniforms during the fight at Storm

"This is yours, we're not done, not by a long shot" he snarled before turning and heading for the hills, disappearing behind a curtain of water from a cracked pipe that cascaded over the tunnel he and his gang had first appeared from.

Storm bent down and picked up the insignia as the X-men and Morlocks helped one another to their feet. She felt a hand clasp her shoulder and looked around to see it was her nephew.

"Don't worry auntie O, we'll stop them, somehow" he said, both of them looked at the X-men and Morlocks, helping one another, seeing two groups who months before didn't even come close to seeing eye to eye fight side by side filled both of them with hope, hope that somehow, someway, Graydon Creed and his Patriots Of Humanity would be stopped, that they could be stopped and that the X-men were going to be the ones who'd stop them.

"I can't believe it, those sewer rats humiliated me again" Duncan said, kicking a large metal can across the alley.

"Maybe we were too reckless, before attacking the normal mutants on the street we need to go after the ones who protect them, the X-men" Graydon said, watching as the members of El Ninio climbed back out of the sewers

"And how d'you suggest we do that?" Duncan asked sarcastically, starting to think that throwing his lot in the P.O.H was only to go make his life worse, not better.

"Your forgetting, what's the best way to kill a snake?" Creed replied, watching as the X-men waiting to collect Storm and her team showed up

"What the hell are you talking about? Stop being so freakin cryptic" Duncan said

"The best way to kill a snake is to cut off its head" Graydon replied, grinning evilly as his cruel gaze settled on Cyclops.

In the next chapter – When Alex Summers visits his brothers team the Patriots Of Humanitys mission goes from minor threat to murderous crusade

To be continuted, please review