So I have a base of about, oh, twenty readers. Two of whom review, about three of whom don't and have me on alert. . . . Does a few short sentences really kill you that much? Have fun with this chapter anyway, you non-reviewers.
Switch was having fun. It had been a week since Belial had sent her out and she thought she had done pretty well. She sent about five or six really powerful mutants to Belial's camp, and now it was time for her to relax.
Traveling quickly across the canopy Switch's fingers had elongated and so had her feet and toes. Her arms and legs were fairly wrapped in cables that provided support and added strength to her jumps and leaps. She was in the forest that surrounded Xaviers school and was just scouting out the territory, just in case.
Just in case of what? With Belial's power they really didn't need a just in case. Switch rolled her eyes and leaped again.
This time, however, she went barreling into someone else.
She felt a little pressure on her back as the other person used Switch's momentum to divert the integrators body away from theirs. Switch landed amid a pile of rocks and moss, her skin shifting as she created metal scales over her body to diffuse the impact.
Switch came out of the ground looking like a wild woman, leaved in her hair and grass stains all over what was left of her shorts and shirt.
"Hey!" Switch yelled, her bright brown eyes glaring around the trees. "Who the hell just did that?"
"Dude. I am so sorry!" A girl came out from behind a tree, dusting herself off. "I didn't see you at all!"
Switch looked over this new girl. She had blue hair, matching eyes and a lean body. Putting her hands on her hips, Switch watched as the girl reached around her head and checked the camera that hung around her neck.
"No harm done, right?" The girl asked, stepping forward towards Switch. "You're fine, right?"
"I'm good." Switch said, making no attempt to brush off the dust leaves and twigs that littered her body. "Do you go to the school?"
The blue haired girl nodded. "Yeah! Are you interested in going? My name's Jamie-"
"Switch," The integrator said. Jamie nodded and continued.
"I know a lot of runaway's show up there. My roommate just got there a few days ago, so I'm sure Ms. Ororo can make another exception-"
"You're a mutant?"
"Well yeah. I kinda just ran into you in midair, about fifty feet off the ground, and I'm perfectly fine." The girl laughed. "I hope I'm a mutant."
"Oh." Switch thought for a second. "Then you wouldn't be interested in a sort of takeover then?"
"What?"
"No? I guess not." Switch said and jumped at Jamie, the cables boiling up from underneath her skin, metal transforming her hands and fingers into razor sharp blades. Jamie's eyes barely had time to widen before she leapt up into the air, spinning away from Switch.
Jamie landed on a branch, took a quick picture, then leapt off again, throwing her camera so the strap hooked neatly on a nearby tree. Less than a second later, Switch had cut through the branch Jamie had been on and threw herself off the trunk to a tree opposite Jamie.
The blue haired girl gasped as Switch directed herself from the other tree towards hers. Jamie tried to jump away, but Switch cast her arms ahead of her, the thick wires that surrounded her arms uncoiling and shooting forward, wrapping tightly around Jamie's legs.
Jamie grunted as she was draped over a branch, the cables swinging her from her ankles, the metal digging cruelly into her skin. Switch landed on the branch as Jamie swung her body hard, shooting up from her hanging position to deliver a hard punch to Switch's face.
"Holy crap!" Switch yelped, jumping back to another branch. Jamie struggled with the wires as she fell back, but they began to coil around her legs, working their way up her hips and torso. They caught hold of her arms and pinned them to her sides. Once she was trussed up tighter than a mummy, Switch walked back over to Jamie, her toes a metallic sheen as she dug into the wood.
"Damn blue, you made me bleed."
"I'll do more than that once I get out of here." Jamie growled, still struggling with the cables that wrapped around her body. They twisted around her torso, five wires attached to five fingers on Switch's left hand.
"You're not getting out."
"Watch me!"
Switch rolled her eyes. "Whatever girl." She flicked her hand and the cocooned Jamie landed on Switch's back. "Oof." Switch muttered, jumping down from the tree, her feet and legs covered in metal as she landed. "Have not done this in a while."
The cables around Jamie shifted and a few of the strands detached from her body and began to integrate with Switch. Inside Switch's body the metal began to coat and integrates with her muscles, boosting their power and decreasing their need for oxygen. Switch shook her head.
"Let's see what Bee has to make of you, blue."
Jamie tried to respond, but a small metal gag had snaked its way over her mouth, making her unable to speak. Her eyes blazed anger and she began to struggle, but the wire tightened cruelly on her skin and she stopped moving.
"Stop that!" Switch growled as she began to jump across the woods. Her clawed feet found easy purchase in the decaying wood and loam that coated the forest floor. It only took Switch five minutes or so to get to Belial's camp. It was a pretty ramshackle compared to the normal meticulous care the speaker would normally take in his work.
Belial himself was camped out in a nice RV, complete with bed, speaker system, mini kitchen and working full bathroom. Everyone else was outside in tents. All in all, there were about fifteen mutants there, including Belial, Medusa, Typhoon and Switch.
Switch ran through the camp, attracting a few stares as she made her way to the RV. She head-butted the door a few times until it opened to reveal a half-dressed Belial. He looked slightly harried, with wet, unkempt hair and half his belt out of his jeans.
"Switch, I told you not to bring anyone who didn't want-"
"She's from the school!" The girl said, interrupting the man.
"Oh?"
"Well yeah, I wouldn't lie to you." Switch said. Clearly rhetorical questions were over her head. Belial rolled his eyes and stepped out of the camper, fixing his belt.
"Let her go then."
"You sure?"
Belial glanced at Switch.
"Whatever." The girl said, shrugging.
The cables slowly slid off Jamie, removing themselves from her skin before they moved, reducing the chaffing that had already occurred from the wild ride through the woods. Jamie shook her head as she slid to the ground. She got back up on shaky feet and looked around at the various mutants scattered around the area. She decided not to try to run.
"Good choice." Hissed a voice from behind Jamie. Acrobat swung around and came face to face with Medusa, who's slightly flattened nose, slitted eyes and cruel smile revealed a few more teeth than normal. Teeth that were far to sharp to be healthy.
Jamie's eyes widened.
The square face, the almond eyes, even the way this woman stood. It was just like-
"Over here." Belial said, turning Jamie's attention back to him. "Yeah. You won't have to worry about her if you just do what I say."
"She has sharper teeth than you." Jamie sputtered.
"But guess who has more poison." Belial purred, his smile spreading arrogantly over his face. When Jamie didn't say anything Belial shrugged.
"Down to business then? Alright." Belial stood easily, his hands in his jeans pockets. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way-"
"That cliché?" Jamie scoffed, regaining a little bit more of her confidence against this seemingly normal man. "Dude, you are so a last generation comic book villain."
Belial raised an eyebrow.
"But I am so much better than them."
"How? You have maybe twenty guys up here against a hundred plus hormonal teenage mutants and a half dozen trained X-men. What do you possibly think you'll be able to do? To a school?"
Belial smiled. "Medusa? The files, please."
The snake woman disappeared into the RV to reappear with an armful of manila folders. Belial quickly found the file he was looking for. He nodded at Medusa, who placed the rest of the folders on the ground.
"Out of the one hundred and twenty three students at Xaviers there are only two potential level five mutants. Note that word, potential. Moving on, there are. . .five potential Alpha's - level four mutations - including those listed above, twelve level three's, also including. . .hm, and then about thirty level two's, again, counting inclusively. Not to mention that only one X-man is currently at Omega level, and I have taken precautions against that particular mutant."
Belial snapped the file shut and bent down, flipping through the files. "Those two potential Omega's are. . ." He opened a thin folder. "An eleven year old psychic and an girl who can imitate random acts."
Belial shut the folder and threw it on the ground at his side.
"You are?"
"Jamie!" Switch piped up from behind Belial. The man rolled his eyes as the blue-haired girl glared at Switch.
"Alright. Jamie. That doesn't do me much." Belial smiled and looked up from where he was looking through his files. "Tell me your name." He said, his voice smooth.
"Emmaline James Rider." Instantly Jamie's eyes widened and she clamped her hands over her mouth. What had she done? Why? It was like her brain responded without even thinking! That was what this man could do. But it wasn't psychic – the teachers had taught students how to identify a psychic intrusion. So how could he just control her?
"Found it." Belial simpered, pulling out another file.
"Rider, Emmaline James. Alias, oh, an alias, that means something, Acrobat. Hm. It seems you're a Beta. Not bad girl. Enhanced muscles, endurance, resistance to physical attacks. Trained up, I'm assuming?"
Jamie didn't say anything, not trusting her traitor mouth.
"Hardball? Alright." Belial sighed. Jamie's eyes widened as she bit her lip hard, her hands still covering her mouth.
"Are you trained?" His voice was velvet.
"Yes."
"By whom."
"Professor Susanna, and sometimes Logan. The X-men have taken me and a few others to the training room."
Belial raised an eyebrow. "Susanna." He said, looking up at Medusa. He stood up straight. "Well then. Girl, when did Susanna come to the school?"
"About six months ago."
Medusa nodded at Belial. "I can handle her any day of the week." Belial pulled his arms up above his head, stretching. "I hope so. Get Typhoon and have him find out when the X-men are returning from Africa, wait-" Belial turned to Jamie and smiled.
"Tomorrow!" Jamie blurted, before Belial could turn his voice to liquid sound and completely control her again. "They'll all be back by tomorrow morning, I swear!"
Belial smiled. "See? That's the easy way girl." He reached over and ruffled Jamie's hair, messing it up as the girl flinched away from him. "Alright. Get the group ready Medusa. Switch."
The integrator looked up, eyes bright.
"Keep Acrobat occupied. Nicely."
Jamie looked at the wicked smile on Switch's face and instantly regretted telling them that the X-men would be back Sunday morning.
Another way to classify mutants, besides levels five through one is as such:
Omega - Level five
Alpha - Level four
Beta - Level three
Epsilon-Delta - Level two
And obviously, level one's are just so weak they don't get a cool Greek letter. But they shall now be known as Theta. Because the Phonecian letter that is parallel to Theta is Theth, and that looks like the X-men symbol. Which is ironic, because most of the time level one's don't become X-men.
And obviously, I am the only one amused. . .