Chapter V
Adrian and Amy both ran out of psych class after Wire.
"Wire, where the hell are you going" Adrian yelled after her.
"Leave me alone, I can handle this myself" Wire yelled back. She ran up to the elevator and punched the sub-basement button. Just as Amy and Adrian got to her the doors closed. Adrian grabbed Amy's arm, and let fog cover them as they teleported to the sub-basement, right in front of the elevator doors. The minute the doors were open Wire ran into Ghost and Syrine where they had teleported. "I told you to leave me the hell alone, I can deal with this myself" Wire yelled getting up from the floor. She ran to the girl's locker room, and to her locker. She grabbed her red and gold uniform. Syrine came in just as Wire was zipping up her uniform.
"What the hell do you mean that you can handle this yourself, What are you talking about" Syrine asked.
"Don't worry about it; it isn't any of your business" Wire shot back.
Up in Emma's class Anole was just about to get up and go when there was a loud clap of thunder and outside the cloudy overcast sky was lit with a blinding white light. The next thing he knew everyone was running up to Miss Frost, who was now unconscious and on the ground. Anole ran to Miss Frost pushing people out of the way.
"Move, get away from her, give her some air. Miss Frost are you okay" Anole said trying to help her.
Scott came running in "Emma honey are you okay" he asked. Emma started to get up, slowly.
"What the hell was that , and why can't I hear what anyone is thinking, as stressed out as they are, I should be dying from the pain of that much psychic influence" Emma thought, but no one heard her, not even Scott. Scott tripped over one of the kids, his glasses hit the ground but his optic blasts weren't blowing people to pieces.
"Emma I... uh… Emma my powers don't work" Scott said.
"You are not the only one, I can't hear anyone's thoughts" Emma said. "Scott what about everyone else, have you checked them" Emma asked.
"The kids look fine" Scott said looking around the room, "but I haven't checked the other adults".
Beast came running into the room, though lacking his usual trademark blue fur. "Scott, Emma you need to come see the news, this wasn't just a local attack" Beast said.
"Uh Hank, you are aware that you aren't the Beast anymore, right" Scott said.
"Of course I am, Scott, and I see that you lost your powers too, what about you Emma" Beast said.
Emma was already walking out of the class room, when she replied "Yes it would seem so" Emma turned back to the Three in One "Girls please broadcast for me" Emma said. "People, I know that you are all frightened right now but I need all of the students to return to their dorms, classes are canceled until further notice, I need all adults in the conference room NOW!" Emma walked into the conference room to find most of the older x-men already in there.
"All right people, we are going to go ahead and start, the rest us will just have to catch up when they get here" Emma said, turning on a laptop that sat on the table. She then turned on the projector, and pointed it at a white board on the wall. Emma clicked on her media player, and turned on the news, she showed the video on the white board.
"This is Fox News with a new briefing on the current state of the nation. If you have not noticed yet, the skies are charcoal grey with green tint. Reports are coming in that most mutants have lost their powers. How much more can this species take. Will they ever recover from this? The government has not given much word on this, just that they have no clue where the attack came from. This is Martha Blake with Fox News, more on this story as it develops"
Emma turned off the projector, and got up from her seat. "Well any ideas, people" Emma said as she looked around the room. Colossus and Nightcrawler had just walked in; Xavier came in, followed by Psylocke and Rogue. "Nightcrawler, go and get Surge and Anole" Emma said.
"Uh…. Emma I can't teleport, my powers are gone, I am still blue and furry because of my demonic descent" Nightcrawler said with disgust.
"But the kids still have powers" Colossus said. Surge and Anole came running into the room then. Everyone was in shock when they saw that Anole was still green and scaly.
"Anole, you still have you abilities" Emma said questioningly.
"Yeah, Nori and I both do. The Cuckoos still have theirs too, they were the ones that sent us up here" Victor said.
"Well then what the hell is going on" Emma said, truly at a loss of knowledge, and words. Just then Storm walked through the door.
"Emma, Scott can I have a word with you" Storm asked. Emma and Scott walked out of the room with her and closed the door.
"What is it Storm, is this world wide" Emma asked.
"No, but I felt the change in atmosphere when it happened. I came in an air tight ship, the main explosion happened in Colorado, there were several other small ones around the country" Storm said.
"What are you talking about" Scott asked.
"Scott, I can see the atmosphere, whatever happened was in the air when it blew. When it blew it used the atmospheric winds to carry whatever it is that caused the power loss. It seems to get stronger, with the moister that accumulates in the air" Storm said.
Back down in the sub-basement, Ghost ran into the hanger, where the x-jets 1 & 2, the black bird and the other vehicles that the x-men owned were housed. Wire was climbing into the x-van; she started it and put it into to drive. Wire drove into the tunnels that lead the ground vehicles up to the main road through the woods. Ghost grabbed Syrine and teleported them into the van. Syrine was hit by the vans force, since she wasn't moving, and then teleported into a vehicle moving 70 mph. so it was fair to say that the air was knocked out of her, the same happened to Ghost.
"Wire...huh… where the hell… huh… are you ….going" Syrine said.
"To his house, something is wrong with him" Wire replied. She really didn't think about the fact that Ghost and Syrine didn't know who she was talking about.
"Ghost we should tell Emma" Syrine said.
"No I want to see where she is going, if Emma finds out that Wire stole a car then she will expel her" Ghost said. Ghost and Syrine sat in silence for the rest of the ride, which lasted all of two hours, when it should have been four with the traffic, but leave it to Wire to use sidewalks and alleys for roads.
They pulled up to a large white, building. It probably housed 70 floors, not the tallest, but it was still big. The building took up half a block, and the parking garage was about a quarter of the block.
"Wire, who the hell do you know that lives here" Ghost said.
"His name is Mindfreak, and he is, err, he was my best friend" Wire said. Wire did not look to happy when she got out of the van and started to walk up the front door. Wire tried to open it, but it was locked, she looked through the glass door and saw the guard sitting behind the desk. Wire knocked on the door and waited for the guard to answer. The guard turned out to be Wail.
"What is it Wire, we are kind of busy" Wail said halfway opening the door.
"Wail what happened, I know that something is wrong, I can't feel Mindfreak anymore" Wire said angrily.
"Someone kidnapped him, and Tuesday faded away after he was gone" Wail said in a low tone.
"Well what happened" Syrine asked.
"This is none of your business little girl, and Wire this isn't any of yours either" Wail snapped at them. "Besides it just happened this morning, so I closed down the office for the rest of the week, gave all of the employees a paid vacation and now I'm closing the building down till further notice" Wail said, almost meekly.
Wire walked up to Wail and grabbed his shoulder and hugged him. "Don't worry, I will find him and get him back" Wire said to her old friend.
"Whatever, just stay out of trouble, k, I don't need to be trying to save your ass too" Wail said with a smile that gave away his bravado. Wire turned and walked back to the car, Syrine and Ghost followed her.
Suddenly Ghost nearly hit the ground in pain. "Ghost if you don't get your ass back the institute with the undamaged x-van in twenty minutes, I swear to whatever is above in the heavens, I will lobotomize your brain, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME" Emma thought to Ghost.
"Son of a bitch that hurt" Ghost rasped out, wincing under the psychic headache that Frost was forcing on him.
"Adrian, what the hell" Amy said running back to her fallen friend.
"Emma found out, and she isn't happy" Ghost said slowly getting up from the ground.
"Wire drive as fast as possible, Emma sent me an s.o.s., something happened at home" Ghost said, as he started to run to the van.
Anole sat in the conference room waiting for the rest of his team to show up. So far only Alex and Caleb had shown up, while Amy, Adrian, and Wire were all still out. His team members sat together, as the blue eyed boy and the red skinned mutant were a couple, having hit it off after being brought to the mansion.
"So where are they and what is wrong with Emma" Alex asked.
"They are on their way back now, last I checked they were five minutes out" Caleb replied to his boyfriend.
"And as far as Frost goes, Wire and the others stole the x-van, and went on a joyride" Anole said rolling his eyes. He was not happy at all with his team's performance. Sure Emma's team did that kind of thing all the time, but he needed to be better, his team needed to be better, mutant kind needed that. Anole suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine. He looked up and saw a wispy fog form in the room. The fog formed the shapes of Wire, Ghost, and Syrine. They then formed into fully corporeal beings.
"All right we're here, what's the emergency" Amy asked walking toward the table. They all sat down and waited for Anole to say something.
"Well you would know if you hadn't gone for a joyride in the city" Anole yelled.
"For your information we were helping a friend, ask Wire she can tell you" Syrine said in calm but very firm, cold voice.
"Sy, shut up it isn't any of his business" Wire said.
"Yes it is my business, Wire, I am the team leader, and when my team leaves, I need a reason" Anole told Wire.
"Ghost do you have anything to say, you've been pretty quiet" Caleb asked.
"Sure, Anole get over it, you know you can't stay mad at me for long, you are only doing this because you want to aggravate the girls" Adrian said.
"Adrian, shut the hell up" Victor yelled at his best friend.
"You ALL need to SHUT THE HELL UP" Emma said walking into the room. "I have already briefed the other x teams, now I will have to do this again" Emma said annoyed. "This morning, a bomb was set off in the center of the country. That bomb set off six others around the country" Emma started her briefing over again. "From what Storm says, these bombs were chemical grade, and they stayed in the atmosphere, they spread through the moisture in the air" Emma said.
"So what do these chemicals do" Ghost asked.
"These chem-bombs were made to deactivate any mutant genes that weren't still evolving, basically any adult mutants that breathe in earth's air were depowered, that is here in the U.S." Emma replied.
"Couldn't these chemicals keep spreading until they covered the whole globe, especially with it being winter" Syrine asked.
"Yes, Beast was able to get a sample, and they could easily get stronger, if any more moisture is put into the air" Emma answered.
"Do we have any idea of who set the bombs, or were the trigger finger is" Demon asked.
"Storm was checking into that, but her powers were deactivated the minute she entered the U.S." Anole said, having shown up for the first briefing.
"Now there have been a few team changes, Pixie and Dust have requested team reassignments, they will be moved to your team, and X has been put on your team also, but as a guardian" Emma said.
"Excuse me, we don't need a guardian, we can take care of ourselves" Anole said.
"Sooraya, Megan, Laura please come in" Emma said loud enough for the girls to here outside the room. The girls walked in and sat down.
"Not to be sexist or anything, but can't you people find some actual males to put on this team" Ghost asked sarcastically. Anole turned to Ghost and punched him in the shoulder hard enough to knock him to the floor.
"You are an ass you know that" Anole said smiling, no longer able to be mad at his friend. Everyone else except X and Dust, threw the office supplies at Adrian.
"Ow dammit that hurt" Ghost said getting up with a pen stuck in his neck. "You guys had better be glad that I'm already dead" Ghost said, pulling the pen from his neck, the hole slowly beginning to close.
"Don't worry, I've always been glad you were dead" chuckled Caleb, his red tail flicking in amusement.
"If you children are done, I would like to give you your assignments" Emma said sternly.
"Fine we're listening" Ghost said.
"Good, Surge's team will remain here to guard the school. Dust, Pixie and Ghost will go and pick up Nightcrawler's son, his current location is in New Orleans. The rest of you will go with Beast and Logan to the blast site, you will help them" Emma said, she then immediately left the room.
Anole's team went down to the locker rooms to change into their uniforms. Anole's team had actually been lucky enough to get to pick their colors, and design. He had chosen the main color, black, unfortunately, his team had disagreed, and made their own modifications. He zipped up his black and forest green uniform. He walked out in the hall to wait for the rest of his team. Ghost was one of the main ones to do his own uniform; it was white leather, with black designs. He wore black arm guards, and black steel toed boots. This was his only descendent; he had to keep him safe. His uniform, like everyone else's, was lined on the inside with Kevlar. Wire had a similar color scheme, but the black was just accents on top of the white. Hers was very skimpy, but she really didn't have to worry about being hurt. She was able to turn into a metal form that was a lot tougher then Colossus, and the fact that her body produced barbed wires that were made of the same metal made her even more indestructible. She was the next to walk out into the hall. She found her girlfriend waiting for her. Bling was in her new uniform. It was green and black, with one of Gambit's old coats. She looked like a mix of Rogue and Gambit in that costume.
"Hey babe, you had betta be careful. And when you get back we talkin bout what you went to the city for" Bling said. She walked over to Wire and gave her a kiss, and a hug and walked to the elevator, she turned and waved. Syrine and Pixie walked out together talking.
Ghost looked over to see his girlfriend's latest costume design. It looked a little like Rogues X.S.E. costume, but Syrine's was black with crimson accents, and gold boots, gloves, and the large x that covered her chest. For once she wasn't putting her hair up. Adrian always thought that she looked sexier with her hair down. And at least she had taken the hint from Emma to show a little skin. Pixie on the other had covered her whole body; her uniform was pink and black. Hydrogue had chosen a simple design, his was just black with blue piping, and he had one big blue x on his chest. Demon's costume was a black jacket with a red dragon design. The only x on his costume was the one on his belt. X and Dust came out in their usual uniforms.
"All right team we need to be careful, our enemies are bound to know about the current situation, and they will be coming for us. Dust keep them safe" Anole instructed. His team walked to the hanger, all except for Ghost and Syrine.
"Amy be careful, don't get killed okay" Adrian said. Their team had never been broken up before, so this would be the first time that he wouldn't be there to protect Syrine. Little did he know that Syrine felt the same way.
"You too, and don't worry I can take care of myself" Amy replied. They walked to the hanger where their teammates were waiting.
"So did you finally kiss her" Demon asked loudly. Hydrogue turned around and slapped the much taller and larger Demon on the chest.
"Okay if you didn't then you should do it now, you have to give your gothic princess a farewell kiss" Pixie pleaded.
"Oh fine" Amy said, and she turned around and gave Ghost a very big kiss. Ghost looked at Amy in surprise; this was the first time they had even showed affection in public. Amy was normally a very private person, but now he didn't know what got into her. "See you later" Amy said as she walked to the jet. As she was passing Caleb, she pushed pixie off his shoulder and slapped him on the arm.
"Hey what the hell" Megan said as she caught herself in midair.
"Ow, why the hell does everyone have to hit me" Demon said.
"Shut up, you know you never felt it" Alex said, grabbing Caleb and pulling him to the jet. Everyone got on their jets and fired up. Dust's team left first, they didn't have to wait for Beast to finish packing his whole damn lab. Nobody noticed that as they were leaving foot soldiers were surrounding the school; people in body armor on atvs were driving through the woods towards the school.