City Escape
BRRRRRRRRRRRRR-ING! Scott Summers opened his eyes and moaned. He looked over at his clock. 9 A.M wake up in the middle of the summer. Something was wrong in the world when things like that happened. He lifted his fist prepared to punish his normally friendly alarm clock but realized that it wasn't the clock, but the phone. He groaned and picked it up.
"Hello?" He said grumpily.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUUUU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOO-OOO-OOOUUUUU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BRO-OOOOOOOO. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU."
Scott smiled slightly to himself as he realized that today was his eighteenth birthday, the early wake up call made it slip his mind. "That was God awful Alex," he said into the phone.
"Whatever man. Jeez, I call to be the first to wish my brother a happy birthday and I get that kind of reception, what's up with that?"
"Just tired."
"What?" Alex said incredulously, "The almighty fearless leader of the X-men needs sleep. You're losin' your edge bro."
"Leave me alone I'm tired. Are you guys still coming down on Sunday for my birthday lunch?"
"Yeah. Xavier invited my foster parents too. They're cool though, don't worry. I think we're getting there Sunday morning and staying until Tuesday night."
"Why so long?"
"You want us to fly to and from Hawaii in one day. Cruel bro, cruel."
"Fine fine."
"So, anyone else coming over, 'sides the regular X-dweebs?"
Scott rolled his eyes behind his glasses but ignored the last comment, "Um, Bobby invited Johnny Storm, I don't know if that means the rest of the Fantastic Four are coming. Jean said her parents and sister may be coming down from Long Island, and they might bring Bobby's mom with them. His dad is away on business in Detroit, can't say that I'll miss seeing him."
"Alright bro, I won't keep you any longer, I can tell you want to get off and see if your girlfriend will bed you now that your legal. Oh shit, she's illegal for you now! I'm gonna tellllllll."
"Shut up Alex."
"I'm telllling, I'm tellllling. I'm telling on youuuuuu."
"OK! Bye!"
"Later."
The rest of the day was great for Scott. He was immediately attacked by Bobby, Kurt, and Warren the second he got out of his room, while Jean was waiting for him in the kitchen. Storm prepared lunch with all of Scott's favorites, and right as it was coming to dusk, they began to open presents. Scott was incredibly happy with what he got. He received an antique cosmonaut knife that once belonged to Peter's brother, a watch from Jean, a large collection of book on strategies from Beast, Storm, Xavier, Logan and Sean, a tray of home made cookies from Kitty that Bobby warned him not to ea when she wasn't looking, and a large collection of video games from the New Mutants. He looked at the stack of two dozen titles and asked,
"What are these for, I don't have anything to play them on."
"Ah but you are forgetting our present mein freund!" Kurt said excitedly.
"What is it?" Scott asked.
"Warren is bringing it in. He paid for most of it but Kurt and I kicked in too." Bobby said.
Warren walked back in the room with three different boxes in his hand. Each held a separate system inside. Scott was now the owner of a Nintendo Wii, a Play Station 3 and a new Xbox 360. Jean looked up from the stack and asked, "You guys know Scott doesn't play video games right."
"Well that's why we brought him strategy games, so he can hone his battle techniques."
Scott looked around, "Thanks a lot guys, all of you, the gifts are great."
"Actually" Bobby said, "this is only the beginning of our present."
"What's the rest?" Scott asked curiously.
"We are taking you, to the newest club in Manhattan. Fiery. It just opened up yesterday!"
"How are we getting in?" Scott asked.
Bobby grinned, obviously pleased with himself, "That was all me. Do you know that senior who graduated last year, Jack Lee? His grandfather is friends with the owner's father. The owner is this kid just out of college, Shinobi Shaw. I spoke to him yesterday and said that since I'm a friend of Jack's, we can all get in, for free!"
Jean grinned, "Bobby that's amazing! What time are we leaving."
Bobby rubbed the back of his neck, "Um, actually Jean, this was gonna be a guys only thing. Sorry."
Jean frowned but Scott smiled at her, "Then I'm gonna skip it Bobby."
Warren shook his head and said firmly, "No you aren't. You guys can do whatever you need to do tomorrow, you're coming with us."
Bobby turned to the rest of the guys, "Are you in?"
Colossus shook his head, "Sorry my friend, I will not enjoy it as much as you."
"Vell, vhat about the rest of you?" Kurt asked.
Ray gestured a himself, "Us?"
Bobby grinned, "Yeah you. Jamie can't come, sorry buddy, but you have to be at least high school age."
"I'm in." Ray said.
"Ditto." Evan agreed.
"Us too," said Roberto gesturing to himself and Sam, who looked a little reluctant.
Longshot shook his head, "Sorry my friends, but I will be staying with my friend Jamie, I will feel bad if I had fun and he is unable to attend."
Angel clapped him on the back, "That's okay 'shot."
Bobby grinned, "Alright boys, we leave in thirty. Dress nice and be prepared to score." Bobby laughed but was silenced with Kitty turned away and hid a sob. Bobby almost went to move to comfort her, but decide against it and looked determinedly at the rest of the group.
The half hour rolled by and the group of guys began to walk out of the Mansion towards the garage.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Scott asked.
Bobby grinned, "Aren't my ideas always good?"
"No."
"Then I'm due."
Scott moaned as Bobby, Kurt, and Evan piled into his car. Warren gave a wave and pulled out of the garage in his own car with Ray, Roberto, and Sam inside. Scott followed Warren to the club while Bobby, Kurt, and Evan shouted helpful driving advice at him. Unfortunately this advice was coming from three people who had yet to get their permits.
"Dude speed up, little old lady on a walker just passed us." Iceman said.
Kurt groaned as they were caught by a red light, "Yellow does not mean slow down Scott. It means hurry up before it turns red."
Finally when they got into the city, Spyke lectured him on how terrible Scott was driving in Evan's old home town, "Dude don't put your turn signals on, no one does that. The point is to make it more exciting for the people behind you."
"Is zhat true?" Kurt asked.
Evan nodded solemnly, "That's what my dad told me when I was four."
Bobby hit Scott upside the head, "You heard the man, no turn signals."
The car finally screeched to a halt and the passengers got out. Just ahead, Warren and his group walked over to Scott's car.
"How was the ride?" Warren asked.
Bobby jerked a thumb at Scott, "This idiot forgot you aren't supposed to use turn signals in the city."
Warren raised an eyebrow but disregarded the comment, "So where's this contact of yours popsicle?"
Bobby gestured over to a spiky haired Asian man. He walked over and held out his hand, "Shinobi Shaw?"
Shaw nodded but looked confused at the same time Bobby quickly clarified, "I'm Bobby Drake, we spoke over the phone."
Recognition came over Shaw's face, "Right, right, Lee's friend. Yeah his grandfather Stan helped me out a lot. Stocked the V.I.P. room with some alcohol. Quality stuff."
Bobby frowned, "Just the VIP room?"
Shaw nodded, "This is a teen club, it can't be out in the open."
"Oh" Bobby said looking disappointed.
Shaw grinned, "I guess it's a good thing that's where you and your friends are headed."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Follow me."
"Um excuse me?" Roberto asked.
Shaw turned around and saw the young man with four different girls at the rope. "Can I bring a few friends."
Shaw smiled and shook his head, "I'll let them in, but they can't come to the VIP room. Let's go boys."
They followed him through the club which was full of kids, some of them the older X-men recognized from Bayville High but didn't know their names. Finally they arrived at a black curtain and pulled it back. There sat only a dozen or so kids, along with a giant flat screen T.V., an open bar, and a miniature dance floor which was rotating.
"V, I, and P are my three new favorite letters," Ray said as he high fived Evan.
Roberto dragged Sam over to the bar, "Amaretto and orange juice for me, a beer for my friend."
Sam stammered nervously, " 'Berto, Ah don't really...I'm not a big...I've never."
Roberto clapped him on the back, "Loosen up Sammy."
Scott quickly walked over and took the beer away, "If he doesn't want it, he doesn't need to have it."
Bobby quickly grabbed it out of his hand and began to drink some, "Thanks Scotty."
Scott groaned, "Come on Bobby."
But Bobby had already dragged Sam and Roberto away from the bar and led them, Ray, Kurt, Evan, and Warren to the dance floor. He held his arms over the threshold and said, "Behold."
The second Bobby said this, two voices squealed his name. He turned and saw Opal and Zelda, both dressed skimpily clutching their purses. The quickly ran over and grabbed either of his arms.
"Where's the bookworm?" Zelda asked, still tapping in the time with the music.
"Don't call her that." Bobby began angrily but then sighed, "Actually we aren't...y'know...together anymore."
Opal squealed again with delight, "Well then you can come play with us."
The others watched in shock as, for the first time in his life, Bobby began to deny female contact, "I'm not entirely sure..." but Zelda cut him off.
"Come on, we'll loosen you up." Before he could protest anymore, they dragged him on to the dance floor. Roberto quickly followed and brought back the four girls from the door with him. Evan and Warren quickly ran into the mix with two of the girls, while Roberto dragged Sam to join in with one of the others. Kurt and Ray decided to keep Scott company by the bar.
"Just a ginger ale for me." Scott told the bartender.
Kurt snorted and Scott cocked an eyebrow at him. Ray laughed, "Not even a Coke? A ginger ale? Are you sick Scott?"
"No. I just don't want to be here. I should be with my girlfriend."
"Come on man, ve von't tell her vhat happens tonight, go have fun." Kurt said.
Scott rolled his eyes, "My idea of fun is very different then yours. The list consists of two things, being with Jean, and doing what we do with the X-men, and while we're here, neither of those things will happen."
Suddenly, a blue and red figure crashed through the roof of the club and skidded to a stop at the spot where Bobby, Zelda, and Opal were dancing. The two girls quickly ran away screaming like most of the club's other patrons, but Bobby pulled the masked man to his feet. Bobby gasped as he found himself face to face with the costumed hero he knew to be Spider-man.
"Problem?" Bobby asked.
Spider-man chuckled and said dryly, "No, I enjoy crashing through the window of night spots."
"Who doesn't?" Bobby replied.
Spider-man laughed again, "Well as much as I appreciate a good battle of wits, you see my enemies don't generally share my sense of humor, or fashion savvy for that matter, I'm kind of in the middle of something."
Bobby looked around the deserted club, "Maybe I can help you with that." He quickly iced up and ripped off his clothes, and revealed his costume underneath.
Spider-man gasped, "Cool, you're a walking ice sculpture." Spider-man saw that the other Xavier school kids grouped around the rest of them, "Can all of you do something."
Cyclops nodded, "Yeah. I'm Cyclops, this is Spyke, Angel, Sunspot, Berserker, Nightcrawler, Cannonball, and you've met Iceman."
"You guys don't seem surprised by the appearance of another super hero." Spider-man said.
Nightcrawler laughed, "Yeah vell, last time ve vere in a club, it vas broken into by a group of mole men, leading us to meet and befriend zhe Fantastic Four."
"You know the Human Torch?" Spider-man said.
Bobby nodded, "Nightcrawler and I are good friends with him, he lived at our house for a while."
"So you guys are that school full of mutants he told me about."
"You're friends with him too?"
"Yeah."
Their conversation was interrupted by a metal tentacle shot through the hole that Spider-man had came through, and grabbed his foot. Roberto quickly powered up and ripped Spider-man away from its grasp.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Spider-man quickly sprinted outside to where six costumed men were awaiting him. The man with the tentacles yelled, "Now Spider-man you have been cornered at last, you will now feel the power of the Sinister Six!"
Spider-man laughed, "Well now you've been outnumbered mushroom head, you can meet my Sinister Nine!" The X-men followed Spider-man out and fear seemed to quickly come over the man's face.
"Bah! What cowardice is this! You need to outnumber us to fight?"
Iceman raised his hand, "Um dude, you attacked him six to one. Those odds are worse then the ones you have right now."
Spider-man held out a hand to the six men, "Allow me to introduce my good friends, the Sinister Six. The one with the bad mushroom cut, Dr Octopus. The geezer in the bird contraption, the Vulture. The guy with the fishbowl for a head, Mysterio. Next we have Electro, in the yellow and green, and the Sandman in his wonderful thug attire. Lastly the guy wearing the lion is Kraven."
Iceman turned to Kraven and laughed, "Dude, you didn't even get a code name, you suck."
Kraven growled loudly and leaped to attack Iceman. Before Bobby could even move Cyclops calmly opened his visor and shut Kraven into a nearby empty bus. Bobby looked at the unconscious Kraven, "What does he do?"
"Pretty much different variations of that."
Dr. Octopus's eyes swept over Kraven and then back to the group before him, "Sinister Six, scatter!" Each of the super villians took off in a different direction.
Roberto laughed, "Wow, he's brave."
Cyclops held up a hand, "We have to stop them. Spider-man, can you give us a rundown on their powers?"
Spider-man nodded, "Essentially, Vulture can just fly, he has a few other little gadgets but nothing too scary."
"Angel and Cannonball, he's all yours." Sam and Warren saluted and flew off.
"Electro has control over electricity, I'm sure you got that. He's extremely quick."
"Nightcrawler and Berserker have him."
"Sandman can shape shift and become really dense."
"So we need someone strong. Spider-man you can take him, bring Iceman with you."
"Mysterio just has special effects."
"Sunspot and Spyke can handle him, cause the last guy would have to be taken one on one, I'll handle that. You can all head out."
As Spider-man and Iceman ran off Spiderman whispered to Bobby, "Who's the guy shouting the orders?"
"Cyclops, he's our team leader."
"That must suck."
"Yeah."
High in the sky Cannonball rocketed in the direction that Vulture had flown in with Warren close behind him. "Sam!" Angel bellowed ahead.
Cannonball stopped and hovered in mid air, "What?"
Angel flew up to him and shook his head, "This isn't working, we have to draw him out."
"How?"
"Follow my lead. You go hide." Cannonball saluted and shot off behind a building.
Angel gained some altitude and shouted, "Come on old man! The other members of your team are finished, don't you think we can take down an old loser like you." Angel grinned as he heard a scream of anger behind him. He quickly dropped his altitude to narrowly avoid a green blur that shot by him.
Vulture turned in mid air and hovered, "Insolent boy, I'll impale you and then let you fall to your death." He rushed Angel again who casually glided out of the way.
"Guess you aren't as fast when your wings aren't real." Warren said with a grin.
Vulture screamed again and this time he raked Angel's costume, and a red line appeared on his shoulder. Warren clutched his wound and doubled over in mid air. Vulture smiled an shot at him once more, but this time from behind. Right before he made contact, Angel spun around and landed a punch to Vulture's nose which cracked sickeningly. He grabbed him from behind and yelled, "Any time you're ready."
Vulture looked around and yelled, "What? Let me go!"
Warren looked at a point about 20 yards away and grinned, "Ok." He quickly let go and right when Vulture turned to go after him again, he was rammed by Cannonball, and flew through a nearby building.
"Shoulder okay?" Cannonball asked.
"Yeah. Let's go grab him."
Meanwhile, Nightcrawler and Berserker were having a less than difficult time with Electro. Every time Electro attacked, either Nightcrawler teleported out of the way, or Ray absorbed it and shot it right back. Electro was beginning to get frustrated. He had just shot a bolt of energy at Ray when Nightcrawler teleported behind him and tried to punch him in the back of the head. Right when he made contact, he was shocked and flew backwards. When he sat up all of his fur stood on end and Electro laughed maniacally.
"Can't touch this."
Ray groaned and said, "Please don't say that."
Kurt stood up as the two electricity wielders battled. He looked around helplessly when he saw a toy story. He quickly teleported inside, grabbed a Supersoaker, fished a twenty dollar bill out of his costume and put it on the counter, and then teleported out. Next he went to a nearby vending machine and put in a dollar bill. He pushed the button for water. Nothing happened.
Kurt began to pound on the machine, "Stupid thing, give my vater bottle!"
"Problem dude?" Kurt turned around and saw a ten year old kid behind him.
"Not really."
"Ate your money?"
"Ja."
"Bummer."
"Yeah."
"You gotta kick it."
"Oh. Thanks."
"Later."
Kurt shook his head in disbelief at the exchange he just had and kicked the machine. He quickly grabbed his water bottle and filled his gun with it. He walked up to Electro who looked at him in disbelief. Kurt pumped the gun and said, "Say hell to mein little freund!" He emptied the tank on Electro who screamed in pain and fell down.
Kurt patted Berserker on the shoulder, "Oldest trick in zhe book."
"Can't beat the classics."
"Vell now I know vhat to do to you if you annoy me."
Spyke and Sunspot were sprinting as fast as they could after Mysterio. Spyke was beginning to pant and yelled over to Sunspot, "He moves pretty fast for a guy in a clunky old costume."
"Come on Spykey, how are you this out of breath."
"Man you're a soccer player, I ride the subway, do the math."
They followed Mysterio into Central Park where he stopped at a clearing. When they caught up Spyke doubled over wheezing but Roberto yelled, "Freeze!"
Mysterio laughed, "What are you NYPD?"
"No, we're the X-men."
"Never heard of them."
Spyke stood up, "Well your about to creep!" He shot a spike at Mysterio who easily dodged it and threw a smoke bomb. When the dust cleared there were four copies of him.
"Seeing quadruple?" Mysterio said with a laugh. All four converged on the two and began to punch and kick them to the ground.
Finally, Sunspot yelled, "Enough!" He punched the ground as hard as he could, unbalancing Mysterio and his clones. Spyke stood up and unleashed a barrage in all directions. Every time a clone was hit, it disappeared. Finally, they saw the real Mysterio pinned to a tree by his leg which was oozing with blood. Sunspot walked over and delivered a quick punch to the stomach and one to the back of the head that knocked him out.
"OW!" Spider-man roared after a failed assault on Sandman. Sandman grinned an immediately turned into a cloud and began to fly around Spiderman and Iceman. Iceman laughed, "This is too easy."
Spiderman looked at him, "Um, you realize he's kicking our asses right."
"No, he kicked your ass, I'm about to take him down." Bobby concentrated and the temperature began to drop, and drop. The cloud around him began to move slowly, until Sandman was forced to reform. He roared and charged at Bobby, with one of his fists turned into super dense sand.
He swung, but Iceman iced his hand first and shattered it with a kick. Sandman tried to do this again with his other hand, but once again, Bobby stopped him Finally, Iceman grabbed both of his shoulders and pumped cold into Sandman's body. A moment later, Sandman fell to the group twitching still from the cold.
Spider-man clapped him on the back, "Good work Mr. Freeze." Bobby turned around to say thanks but he quickly stopped and pointed at Spider-man's face.
"He ripped your mask, um, pretty badly." Spider-man touched a hand to his face and felt his hair, one eye, and part of his nose not covered by the mask. He quickly turned around but Bobby put a hand on his shoulder and held out his had.
"Bobby Drake." Spider-man nodded and pulled the rest of his mask off. He was a kid no older then Bobby with brown hair and brown eyes. He took Bobby's hand.
"Peter Parker."
They shook and quickly broke into a run. "Let's go check on Cyclops."
All of the other groups seemed to have the same idea, for once Bobby and Peter had arrived at where the groups had split up, they met everybody else. The others were all watching Doctor Octopus who had one tentacle pinning Cyclops to the ground, and the other right above Scott's face with a spike protruding out of it.
"One step forward and he dies," Octopus said.
Iceman, Nightcrawler, and Angel seemed prepared to lunge forward but a voice quickly said in their heads, "Hold on."
All of a sudden, the X-Jet swept into view and opened fire on Dr. Octopus who quickly let go of Scott to try and escape, but was quickly fenced in by the X-men. He turned to try and flee the other way, but was stopped by Colossus who had just jumped out of the X-jet and the following impact had created a crater. He was followed by Jean who gently lowered herself, Rogue, and Shadowcat to the ground. With a flash of anger and a wave of her hand, Jean easily through Dr. Octopus into a nearby building, and he fell unconscious. The X-Jet landed next to them, and Xavier rolled out of it, anger clouding his face.
"Whose brilliant idea was it to take part in the DISASTER?!" No one spoke up but Xavier continued, "This is unbelievable, someone had better take responsibility right now-"
Bobby stepped forward, "It was my fault sir."
Xavier sighed with exasperation, "Isn't it always?"
Bobby began to explain, but Spider-man cut him off, "Actually sir, your students were in the club minding their own business when I came crashing through the ceiling. Being the good citizens that they are, they wanted to help me round up the guys that were terrorizing the city. If it's anyone's fault it's mine."
The anger left Xavier's face, "Thank you very much young man." He turned to the X-men, "I'm sorry I reacted with anger so quickly."
"You need to control your impulses better sir!" Kurt said, causing Xavier to raise an eyebrow at him.
Spider-man had meanwhile sidled up to Kitty and said, "Well hell-ooo there. Who are you?"
Kitty giggled, "Shadowcat."
"Well I'm—"
"Take ten steps back!" Bobby bellowed before Spider-man could finish.
Kitty raised her eyebrows in amusement, "Why ICEMAN?"
Bobby spluttered over his answer before finally saying, "Fine, never mind." Kitty grinned as Bobby turned around in anger.
Scott and Jean laughed at the two and Warren said, "This looks like the beginning of an INCREDIBLY amusing friendship."