Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

xxx

Chapter 7- Sunday Will Never Be The Same

-Bayville, New York

On this crisp and clear morning at the Xavier Institute there is a peace to be found in its surrounding tranquility that is irresistible to one of its residents in particular, and that can also be equally appreciated by a couple of others. So, it should've been no surprise when John Proudstar came and got Logan to show him something out there on the estate's grounds.

Although, what he had found had little to do with the serene conditions currently out there.

"What the hell were you doin' up and way out here this early anyways, kid?" Logan asked John, as the pair walked out through these woodlands together, which literally went on for miles in just about every direction out from the mansion.

"You aren't the only one around here who enjoys the great outdoors, Pops." John smirkingly replied, referring to how he used to go off by himself on his reservation back home.

"So, I've noticed." Logan replied simply as they continued on.

John was also somewhat referencing the white gi pants that Logan had on, since he too had been off by himself training on another part of the grounds this morning, when John had finally managed to track him down.

After a few more minutes of walking, Logan and John had finally reached their destination with this last leg of their journey made in relative silence. It was thanks to a lack of conversation between them and to the seasonal absence of forest creatures, who were either hibernating or had migrated due south for the winter. It was here at this spot that John went over and pointed out to Logan the unusual object that he had stumbled across, which had been the reason for John coming to get him in the first place. A stone-marker carved out in an obelisk shape with inscriptions all over it that sort of looked like hieroglyphics, or some kind of alien language.

Or, at least it had been.

"What happened to it?" Logan asked, noticing that the stone-marker had been split into two, with the upper-half having toppled over onto the ground and shattered into several smaller fragments.

"I didn't even see the damn thing until it was too late and ran right into it on accident." John explained, as the object had seemed to almost pop up from out of nowhere in front of him, "But, I barely even touched it."

"Barely touched it? I bet!" Logan sarcastically replied, referring to John's own inordinate strength-level and the fact that he was still learning to completely control it.

But, Logan also found it very odd that John's heightened senses hadn't warned him, nor had his superior reflexes kept him, from avoiding this collision altogether.

"Still, pretty bizarre, huh?" John commented about the marker's unusual appearance, but drew no immediate or discernible reaction from Logan, who himself was busy visually studying this object's separated sections.

Logan couldn't recall having ever seen anything remotely like it, although his powers of recollection were generally spotty at best.

"Let's take it back to the Professor, see if he's got any idea what it's supposed to be?" Logan said, as he gestured for John to go pick up the part of the marker that was still intact.

Which he did with amazing ease, as John uprooted the marker's lower base portion and proceeded to carry it back to the mansion propped up across one of his broad shoulders. Meanwhile, Logan went and pulled a cigar from a small case that was in a pocket of his pants and lit it, before continuing their trek back to the mansion.

Speaking of which...

xxx

Down several hundred feet below the Xavier Institute, Ororo and Mariko had just finished running an extra simulation exercise in the Danger Room, the X-Men's secret state of the art underground training facility. Extra, because this session had been assigned to the pair by Professor Xavier after learning that they had left the Institute grounds yesterday, so that they could catch a killer sale at the mall. One, which Mariko simply couldn't miss or resist.

But, what had actually gotten the pair in trouble was the fact that Storm and Sunfire had made this journey into town the day before via their mutant powers. Which broke one of the few rules that the Professor strictly emphasized to his students', as evidenced by the fairly grueling nature of this early morning workout session that he had just run these two young ladies through.

"Man, I have parts of me aching right now that I didn't even know I had?" Mariko humorously remarked, or at least tried to, as she came in and gingerly took a seat on one of the polished-steel benches inside of this sub-basement locker room that was designated for the girls'.

"I wholly concur." Ororo replied in agreement, as she went over to open the door to one of the full-sized lockers in there. Ororo then unzipped the top, jacket-half of her black and tan X-uniform down the front, revealing a black low-cut bra underneath.

"Sorry about getting you into all this trouble in the first place." Mariko now apologetically said, as she quickly stood up and spun around, turning her back to Ororo while she also began taking off her uniform.

"It's quite alright. Besides, it is not as though you were the only one who benefited from our brief shopping excursion." Ororo smiled in response, referring to the various bargains that they had both come across yesterday.

"Yeah, it was SO worth it!" Mariko said with a smile, after giving it a second-thought.

But, when Ororo looked back up after removing her black boots and kevlar-stitched gloves, she noticed something else. Something, which had repeatedly caught her attention several times now, both here in their locker room and yesterday in the dressing rooms' of the various department stores that she and Mariko had visited during their impromptu shopping trip. All ever since the team had returned home from Japan a couple of weeks ago.

"You know, you don't have to do that." Ororo reposefully said, after placing the pair of black wedge-toe boots that were also a part of her uniform down at the bottom of her locker and then going to casually lean back against another locker next to it.

"Do, what?" Mariko asked in response, still facing away with her back turned towards Ororo.

"Act as though you're embarrassed to be in here with me." Ororo told her, as she came over to this side of the locker room, and gently put her hand up on Mariko's shoulder. Ororo then slowly turned her teammate back around to face her, the both of them now each in a state of semi-undress.

"It's, just...well, I didn't want to make you feel weird or uncomfortable around me. You know, in here." Mariko admitted to her.

"It's not as though you haven't seen me in here without clothes before, and vice-versa." Ororo raised an eyebrow and pointed out.

"Yeah, well that was before I announced to the entire world that whole 'me-being-gay-thing'. And in award-winning fashion, I might add." Mariko sarcastically replied, finally bringing up the subject that they had been skirting around.

One, which hadn't really been discussed between them, not since that emotional boat-ride back that night following the destruction of Moses Magnum's island stronghold, where Ororo had lent a shoulder for Mariko to cry on.

"That fact has not changed anything between us." Ororo reiterated for Mariko's benefit, "And besides, if I am not bothered by Morph's rather puerile observations of me outside, then I am more than confident that I will be fine being unclothed around you as well."

With a wry smirk, and as if to help further prove her point to Mariko, Ororo fully removed the remainder of her uniform gear right there in front of her teammate and closest friend. This former teenage weather-goddess then strolled uninhibitedly past Mariko, heading over towards the adjoining shower area.

But instead of hearing the sound of a shower faucet being turned on, Mariko was greeted next by the small crackle of thunder, as a mini-torrent of rain had suddenly sprung up from within there. It appeared that Ororo had found yet another way to put her own unique spin on the whole showering concept, now in here just as she had in the skies outside above.

xxx

Later that evening, Professor Xavier had retired to his personal study and still hard at work as usual. His overly-rigorous work ethic had led his students' to speculate amongst themselves as to whether their teacher even knew what it meant to actually take a day off?

But, if the Professor ever decided that he was in need of pointers on how to live it up, then the young man now striding through the entrance of his study would certainly be more than qualified to provide them to him.

"I must say, I was pleasantly surprised when you called earlier and said that you wished to come speak with me, Mr. Stark." Professor Xavier said from behind his sizable hardwood desk.

Surprised, because Professor Xavier had heard and read a great many things about this brilliant, barely twenty-something engineer and inventor who held multiple degrees ranging across a variety of scientific disciplines. With the least of those having to do with the exploits surrounding young Mr. Stark's purported billionaire playboy lifestyle.

"C'mon, Mr. Stark was my old man. You can just call me Tony." Anthony 'Tony' Stark replied, as he walked further into the study and took a seat in front of the desk across from the Professor. These two men, who were now facing one another and were both impeccably dressed in custom-tailored suits in spite of it having been a leisurely Sunday afternoon.

"Yes, your father and I first met some time ago. I had the pleasure of conversing with him on numerous occasions, and was saddened to hear of his recent passing." Professor Xavier said to the now heir apparent to the empire that Howard Stark built.

"Yeah." Tony responded, with a hint more ambiguity in his tone towards the subject of his father, and the burdensome legacy that had been left behind for him to shoulder at such a fairly young age.

"So, you said that there was something that you wanted to discuss with me in person?" Professor Xavier, leaning back slightly in his chair, now asked as they continued with their conversation.

"Well, it was more of a curiosity on my part. I just wanted to meet the man who actually shelled out the dough for a device that even our own U.S. Department of Defense deemed too expensive for practical use." Tony revealed, doing so with a million-dollar smile that was literally worth every single penny.

"I assume that you are referring to the holographic-matrix that I purchased from your company?" Professor Xavier easily surmised.

And now was truly surprised, since his transactions of this nature were supposed to be conducted through a series of unrelated and non-descript holding companies, whose sole purpose was to keep his identity entirely confidential. Or so he had thought, until now.

"Ah, that would be it." Tony replied, who also made himself more comfortable by leaning back into his seat, and crossed his right leg up to rest it on his left knee.

"I trust that you had little trouble with clearing the check made out to you?" Professor Xavier further inquired, with a slight smirk and a small dose of humor thrown in.

"Not at all. I'm not here to collect on funds owed, or anything like that, Mr. Xavier. I've just been wondering why a noted expert in the field of genetics would have need of a multi-million dollar strategic military combat-simulator?" Tony asked point-blank, having switched roles and was now the one who was asking the questions.

"I run a rather exclusive private school, and saw it as a potentially valuable teaching aid. By being able to recreate far-off global environments for my students' to explore." Professor Xavier was able to explain to Tony, and do so with a straight-face.

"Hmmph. Most teacher's would just rely on hour-long geographic film documentaries for that." Tony skeptically remarked, using the arm of his chair to prop his hand up against the side of his face.

"As you will find, I am not like most teachers. And one of fortunate means and resources, which I would think you more than most could understand and appreciate my occasional need to flaunt." Professor Xavier said, furthering his attempts at subterfuge to mask what the virtual-reality training matrix was really being used for several dozen feet below them.

But, in spite of his relative youth, Tony Stark quickly proved to Professor Xavier that he hadn't been born yesterday.

"I can see that you're a man of secrets. Which, is actually something that I can understand and appreciate more than you know." Tony said, having gotten the answer that he had been seeking about the only person to purchase his first major invention. Even, if it had come to him in a somewhat roundabout way.

But just then, Tony Stark and Professor Xavier were joined in there by two more individuals.

"Logan wanted us to come tell you that the game was about to start." Mariko said to the Professor, as she and Ororo now appeared just inside of the study's entrance.

Both were decked out in some of the new clothes that they had gotten at the mall yesterday. With Ororo wearing a pair of long black denim-overalls with a yellow turtleneck underneath, while Mariko had on a gold-colored wool sweater and red mini-skirt.

"Ladies..." Tony said, as he immediately stood up from his chair upon laying eyes on the pair, and then proceeded over towards them.

"Tell Logan that I will perhaps join you a bit later. After I've concluded any remaining unfinished business in here." Professor Xavier said to Ororo and Mariko, before turning his attention back to their visitor.

"Oh, we're done. And you actually reminded me that I've got a plane to catch." Tony said to Professor Xavier, before turning his full attention back to the two females now in his presence.

"Tony, I would like to introduce you to Ororo Munroe and Mariko Yashida." Professor Xavier said, as he handled the formalities.

"You know, my plane should touch down in Minneapolis just in time for us to catch the second-half kickoff from my private skybox. If you would care to join me, of course." Tony now extended his own formal invitation to Ororo and Mariko, while cordially shaking and then kissing each on the backs of their hand.

"Ahem. Ororo and Mariko are two of my students, Tony. Two of my underage students." Professor Xavier interrupted, feeling the need to inform his guest of this small, but important detail, as he could easily sense his intentions without even needing the assistance of his telepathy.

"Then...I'll take that as my cue to prepare for a solo departure." Tony said with an ever-present smile, and now a slight hint of embarrassment.

But it was a sentiment that didn't linger with him for too long, judging by his final remark to Professor Xavier.

"By the way, I've been working on designs for a new prototype battle-suit for military use. In case it also winds up being rejected, should I go ahead and set aside a few for you and your students'? You know, for one of those slow days in gym class?" Tony turned back and asked, just as he was almost halfway out of the study.

While the expression on his face appeared totally serious, his question was obviously drenched in pure sarcasm.

"I believe that the holo-matrix will suffice for now." Professor Xavier replied, sensing the jesting nature of this last comment.

Meanwhile, as Ororo and Mariko exited his study behind 'the' Tony Stark, Professor Xavier himself went back to work. Before Tony Stark had called earlier, Professor Xavier had been busy going over a thorough assessment and evaluation of the X-Men's first mission. And while they had been resoundingly successful, it was in there that he still saw definite room for improvement. All in order to better prepare them for the future foes or scenarios that they may be confronted with.

One glaring area that had been brought to his attention was with regard to their means of transportation. Had the threat they faced been of a time-imperative nature, then they certainly wouldn't have been as lucky as they had been this time. Which explained why Professor X had pulled out numerous document folders and placed them on top of his desk. Contained within them were several bids and proposals submitted by military contractors. The majority of which had been put on the backburner or rejected outright due to the severe Defense Department budgetary cutbacks being made in this new post-Cold War world.

However, one file that had piqued his interest in particular was a proposed modification to the near-legendary SR-71 supersonic spy-plane, redesigning it into a prototype ultra-fast stealth passenger transport classified as the new SR-73 model. But it too had been the victim of an ever-expanding budgetary axe, with the design being rejected for initial production because of plans to begin scaling back, and then eventually phasing the craft out of military service all together.

Even so, Professor Xavier still intended to commit this proposing company's name to memory, just in case he needed it again for future reference.

Shaw Industries...

xxx

"Well?"

Was the question that Ororo and Mariko were greeted with upon their return to the mansion's living room several minutes later.

"We met him." Mariko replied to John, who had been the one to pose this query, as she and Ororo came in and took a seat on the sofa next to Logan.

"And..." Morph further inquired of the pair from his seated position on the floor, relaxingly leaning back against the front of the sofa down at its other end opposite from Logan.

"And, they found out the guy is just another snobby rich jerk." John disparagingly said from the adjoining seat where he was sitting, restating his own assumptions regarding Tony Stark.

Which, John had managed to form in just the brief time that he had been around Tony. It was after he had answered the front door earlier and then had shown Tony in to the Professor's study, all at Professor Xavier's telepathically-communicated request.

"I don't know about that. But, he did invite us to come fly on his private jet, so that we could go watch the game with him from his own personal luxury box." Mariko smiled and replied with a sort of contained glee.

It was all from talking about receiving such an invitation from the man that she and Ororo had rushed off to catch a glimpse of with their own two eyes, after John had come in and informed them of their famous guest who was visiting with the Professor down the hallway. And who had apparently left both girls' a bit celebrity-struck, judging from the bubbly affectations emanating from them at the moment after meeting the man who was regularly featured on the front-page of the newspapers, or scandal sheets, depending on how well the week had gone for the famous international playboy.

"Then, what are we waiting for? We've got a plane to catch!" Morph jumped up and excitedly exclaimed, now holding up a 'Prince's tail-gate party, or bust' sign in his hand.

"Morph, I think that you misunderstand." Ororo immediately said, as her and Mariko's demeanor became slightly more serious.

"Huh? Misunderstand what?" Morph asked, now a bit puzzled over what Ororo meant.

"That the 'us' she was talking about, was just them two, 'Jelly-head'." Logan, who had been silent and far more engrossed in the game that was well into the first quarter by now, took a personal time-out so that he could break things down for Morph.

"Oh. Then how come you guys' are still here?" Morph now asked Ororo and Mariko, as he went and sat back down.

"You mean, besides the conniption that the Professor was gonna have if we had actually gone? Especially, considering how well he handled our little trip into town yesterday?" Mariko responded, as she slid down from the sofa onto the floor in front of it right next to Morph, briefly putting her arms around him in a hugging embrace while settling in beside him, "And anyways, what kind of fun would I have without my 'favorite cartoon character' around to keep me company? And, to help explain some of what's going on out there."

Mariko was referring to the fact that Morph had been taking the time to explain the subtle nuances of American Football to her and Ororo. Both of whom were far more familiar with the international version of the game known here as soccer, or the somewhat similarly-styled Rugby.

"Like, why teams' usually try to run on a first-down? Like they just did!" Morph said to Mariko, as he pointed over at the TV screen for her to take a look at a play, which he felt the defensive unit should've seen coming.

Meanwhile, as everyone else was starting to get back into the game, John had quietly gotten up and left the room. It went fairly unnoticed by the others, except for one. Ororo had visually trailed him out and then got up to follow John, sensing that there was something troubling her generally stoic teammate. But by leaving when they did, John and Ororo would both miss out on Morph's pre-halftime celebration.

Which began when a time-out was called on the field a few minutes later.

"Ouga-chaka, ouga, ouga,

ouga-chaka, ouga, ouga..."

"Morph, what in the hell're you doing?" Logan asked, and none too softly, when Morph suddenly jumped up in front of the TV.

"Just hanging in my Buffalo Stance." Morph nonchalantly replied, as he turned back around from the TV to face Logan and Mariko. Although as they would see, his appearance was anything but understated.

Now literally standing there before them in the guise of a half-man, half-buffalo wearing a cowboy hat, a pair of black leather chaps, and spurs down around each of his hooves, Morph smiled back at the pair to reveal a prominently placed gold-tooth.

All to one's amusement, but to the other's chagrin.

Morph then spun back around and continued his pseudo-chanting, while dancing from side to side in front of the TV. And once again, drew the ire of his most vocal critic.

"Dammit Morph, why don't 'cha just sit your ass back down for a while!" Logan this time shouted at him.

"Aw, c'mon. I'm just getting into the spirit of things." Morph once again turned back to him and smilingly replied.

"How? By jumpin' around in front of the TV like some sorta hyperactive jackass?" Logan sarcastically asked, as he took a sip from his beer that was sitting on the small coffee table in front of him.

"No, like a hyperactive water-buffalo, thank you very much!" Morph correctingly responded in kind, with a small snort thrown in for added emphasis.

"Fine. But could you at least have your little breakdown over there?" Logan 'suggested' by pointing off to a side area of the living room.

"Oh, alright. Party-pooper." Morph shook his head and muttered, as he acquiesced and made his exit stage left, his demeanor looking considerably dejected.

But once he was over there, Morph immediately perked up when he jumped back into his celebratory dancing.

"I swear, sometimes it's like I'm babysitting a damn two year-old or something." Logan remarked aloud, as he took another swig from his beer and watched Morph start up again.

"Ah-goo!"

Was the final biting retort that Logan received from Morph, coming at him from all of the way over on the other side of the room. Who was also putting his own spin on an old axiom, by proving that you can't keep a good buffalo down for very long.

xxx

Outside, Ororo by now had finally caught up to John on the mansion's sizable rear-patio. When she walked through the large double-doors that led out there, Ororo saw that he was standing there with his massive frame leaning forward against the surrounding brick and mortar railing, staring out onto the huge garden back there. It was there that Ororo herself had spent a good amount of her free time after first arriving at the Institute, with the Professor quickly noticing and complimenting her on the care and attention that she had shown in tending to the garden's numerous plants. So much so, that the hired landscaper had stopped bothering with this part of the estate during his weekly maintenance visits, realizing that the garden was probably in far more capable hands now.

But with the onset of fall, and then winter, Ororo had begun spending less and less time out here, as 'her' plants all went dormant in response to the arrival of these frostier seasonal patterns. And tonight it was cold enough that even John, who had privately prided himself on being able to rough it outside as a true warrior, had grabbed his blue and red leather southwestern jacket before coming out here.

"Is everything alright?" Ororo asked after standing out there in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Yeah. Just came out here to grab a breath of fresh air, is all." John replied to his newly announced company.

Although, John had sensed her presence behind him almost immediately. That scent of jasmine she always wore, so pure and natural from Ororo having grown the very flowers that she used in producing it herself, was unmistakably intoxicating to John's heightened senses. But, Ororo was also able to sense that John was not being completely honest with her, judging by the somewhat agitated emotional vibes that she was picking up from him.

"Are you upset about the game?" Ororo now asked, as she came over to stand beside him.

Ororo had recalled seeing a news report leading up to 'Super Sunday', which talked about the controversy swirling around one of the team's choice of mascot and how it had drawn protests from various Native American groups' because of what they saw as its derogatory nature. She knew how important John's heritage and culture was to him, and wondered to herself if perhaps this was what was bothering him?

"Nah. I mean, other than it was already starting to look like a blow-out." John looked over and replied to Ororo with a small smile, "But to be honest, I wasn't really that much into the game anyways."

After that, they both stood out there together in silence for a few minutes, staring out onto the now brown and barren garden.

"So...that Tony Stark is really something, huh?" John eventually said, although from the tone of his comment, he certainly didn't sound as though he had any kinds of feelings of admiration for the man.

"He's nice, I imagine." Ororo looked over at John and replied, who was still staring out onto the garden.

"You imagine?" John smirkingly remarked.

"Well, I hardly know him." Ororo answered.

"But, you'd like to get to know him better, right?" John revealed his assumption, as he finally turned to face Ororo.

Who, had also noticed Ororo's lack of comment on how she felt when the subject of Tony's tempting offer had been brought up earlier. And he saw it as a tell-tale sign, when the fairly reserved Ororo suddenly began laughing in response to what he had just said.

"Not necessarily." Ororo replied, her tone once again turning serious as she took a few steps towards John, "Although, there are...others that I would prefer getting to know on a closer, more personal basis."

"Really?" John said, while looking down into these beautiful blue eyes of her's, which in turn were now gazing up into his.

"John...I never properly thanked you for what you did for me, over in that boathouse a few weeks ago." Ororo now told John, referring to an emotionally traumatic episode that she had experienced during their first mission.

"It's like I said. Well, like Mariko said anyways. We're teammates, that's what we do for each other." John replied, and now saw something else in Ororo that he hadn't ever seen before as they continued slowly drawing closer to one another.

Nervousness.

For someone who always carried herself with such unbelievable poise and confidence, it was an unexpected sight for John to behold. And while Ororo had shown a tremendous lack of inhibition when it came to displaying herself in a physical sense, she now found that when it came to matters of the heart and making herself vulnerable in that way, it was an entirely different ballgame.

"Yes, but I still...still wanted you to know how much I...appreciated--" Ororo breathily said, while looking back down towards the ground and fidgeting a little.

Ororo found herself awkwardly searching for the right words to properly express how she felt about this individual now standing mere inches away from her. Whom, she had also been steadily growing more and more attracted to in the time that they had been here at the Institute.

But, her vocabulary search came to an abrupt end when John gently placed his oversized hand underneath Ororo's chin, caressingly tilting her face back up to look at him. Their eyes immediately zeroed back in on one another, right before John leaned down to kiss her mid-sentence.

It was his way of showing her that words weren't the only method with which to express how you felt for someone else. John then proceeed to wrap both of his arms around Ororo into his secure embrace, and she instinctively responded by resting both of her hands up around the back of his neck, all the while their current lip-lock continued unabated.

And it was in this passionate embrace that Ororo and John would remain together for some time, staying out here until well after the game being watched inside had come to an end. With this couple having obviously found a far more interesting way with which to occupy their time...