Chapter VIII
Both teams spread out in the lab sitting on whatever they could find, most of them anyway. Wire was currently having a very heated discussion with Bling. Wire was furious that Bling had joined a team. Bling was pissed that Wire was even having this argument with her. Hell her first day here Wire became an X-man. Not only that but Emma put her on a team. She had been drafted, she didn't' have a choice. So Bling stayed quiet while Wire yelled at her. When Wire stopped to take a breath Roxy told her to shut the hell up and sit down just as Emma, and Scott walked into the room.
"Wire I think you should listen to Miss Washington, we are trying to get started" Emma said in passing. Emma walked up front to stand by Beast, who no longer looked like a blue were-lion, but completely human. But she did this not to be the center of attention as most people would think, but to watch her students. Emma wasn't completely vain; no matter how many times Kitty had told her that. Scott came to stand with her, putting his arm around her model trim waist. Generally she wouldn't allow him to do that, it showed emotion, weakness. Weak was one thing she was not. She allowed it this time, it made her feel better.
Beast looked around the room. He saw his students eager to learn. This was not the eagerness they showed in class, but the world wasn't always in danger was it? But it most certainly was now, and they may not be able to save it in time. These were some of the last mutants on earth, and damned if they weren't just children. Why the hell did they always have to get involved? Beast took a deep breath and started the briefing.
"I have pulled YOU into this briefing because you will be the ones carrying out the missions until the adults can get our powers back." Beast started, he saw that the students had begun to notice that they were the only field agents in the briefing.
"I have gone through all the pieces we brought back, and I have built a scale model of the bomb" Beast said, trying to remember to keep everything in laymen terms. "It was basically a sphere containing the chemical. There wasn't a timer, but what was there in its place was a device to check the moisture in the air. When the moisture got to the right percent the sphere opened valves and the chemical escaped. The actual bomb part was to get rid of the evidence. They should have used napalm to get rid of the sphere. It's made of titanium." Hank said, he then walked over to his desktop and clicked the mouse, and pointed to a large over head monitor.
"This picture shows the chemical make-up of the toxin. I don't expect any of you to understand it, hell I barely do. The residue left at the scene, when I put it through my mass spectrometer, gave me a D.N.A. profile. I have had Mr. Alleyne, hack into the government's criminal and mutant databases and run the profile. We have had no luck with that. All we do have is that the person is male, and a mutant." Hank said and looked around for questions.
"You're saying that a mutant created this chemical with his body" Surge asked, skeptical.
"For sure no, in the very least they used him in part of making the toxin, but it isn't impossible for there to be a mutant chemical factory. Apocalypse's original Pestilence could make any disease known to man, and had to potential to create new diseases" Beast. "My first guess would be for the mutant to produce these chemicals through pheromones" Beast said looking at the sample he had taken at the blast sight.
"So he may be like Laurie, your saying that he has pheramonal powers too" Elixir.
"In a way yes, but his pheromones may be just vapor based chemicals, so far there is no evidence to lead us to believe that he can control emotions" Beast. He turned back to his computer and started to enter the data into the Cerebra files. When Xavier left he had told Emma how to get into them, so she could update them. Before the attack she, Hank, and the Cuckoos had been updating them with the newly depowered and deceased. "One thing that we can get from this is that the mutant is extremely powerful, we need to find him. He may have been a willing participant, I doubt it though, there aren't many mutants who would endanger the rest of us like this. If he had the power to create a chemical that could eradicate the x gene, then he most likely can create one to re-mutate us. Scott he could give mutants their powers back. He may even be able to undo Wanda's work".
"That is all well and good Hank but let's focus on the mutants we have. I think we need to move to one of the safe houses. There are about 40 kids here, we need to get them out before someone else figures out that all we have is students protecting students and teachers" Scott. He moved to the wreckage that used to be the bomb and looked it over. He looked up to say something else but was interrupted and knocked off his feet as with everyone else, by a sonic boom.
The explosion had been strong enough to shake the reinforced steel foundation and sub-basement of the Xavier mansion. It was strong enough for the horse stables to shake, and they were at the very end of the property. Ghost was the first one up since he had been partially phased when the force of the explosion hit him. He had felt the vibrations before anyone else. He helped Amy to her feet and moved to the door. He looked back at the others to make sure they were also getting up. He hadn't been fast enough to throw up a shield but luckily he wasn't the only telekinetic in the room. Ghost noticed a faint green shimmer around the room. Julian had shielded everyone from the blast, as best he could anyway. Ghost opened the door and said over his shoulder "I'm going to find out what that was, Sy you stay here and help them, Elixir you're with me." Ghost looked around the corridor and saw the access panel for the Beast's lab had been fried. There was dust and smoke filling every nook of the hall. He felt Josh grab hold of his belt loop. Then Ghost and Elixir turned intangible and invisible. They moved down the hall and into the main corridor. Ghost looked both ways and saw debris covering the floor. The med wing's door had been blown outward. Ghost cast his mind outward to feel for all of the students, making mental notes on who was where and doing a roll call. He looked back at Josh and said "the twins are in the med lab, let's go there first I'm only sensing one of them really well, the other is just light brain waves." Josh didn't look too happy to be intangible, people didn't usually like it. Amy said that it made her feel cold, that she could feel the very air around her. It put her stomach in knots. Elixir looked worse, he looked sick. It didn't help that they couldn't breathe while intangible, Adrian thought. He looked around for anything that could hurt them when they became solid again. He saw nothing so he and Josh solidified.
They ran towards the med bay and looked inside. The girl, Luna, was hovering four feet in the air; she was covered in a blue crystalline skin. A light haze of blue white light flowed around her. The devastation seemed to be centered from her. Her brother, Sol, was lying against the north wall with a Vizio flat screen lying broken on top of him. His body was covered in an orange crystalline skin. Neither of their bodies was showing signs of breathing. The burn on Sol's shoulder was glowing in a golden light. It was shaped like a sun. Luna had a crescent moon scar on her shoulder blade, it glowed white. Sol got up from the floor and walked over to Luna. Each step he took had the metal floor bubbling in his foot prints. He held Luna's hands in his and they turned to Ghost and Elixir, and spoke in unison. "We thank you for your kindness. We are sorry of the damage that we caused to your school. We do not belong here. We are only half mutant, our place is with our other half. We shall fix whatever problems have incurred during our stay with you." Sol released Luna's right hand and they both waved them through the air.
It happened in a fraction of a second. One moment they were floating in front of Ghost and Elixir, the med lab and most of the sub basement was in ruins. The next they were gone, and everything looked brand new. Ghost turned to Josh and looked at him stunned by the event that just took place. Josh did the same. Emma and Victor came running toward them in shock. Emma spoke first "What the hell happened. I don't get it."
"Neither do I, where are the twins" Victor.
"They left, they said they didn't belong here and left" Josh said.
"Start from the beginning, I want to know everything they said" Emma and Victor said together. They looked at each other in mild disgust, and turned back to Josh.
While Josh filled them in on what happened Ghost went back to Beast's lab to check on everyone else. When he walked into the room everyone was dusting themselves off. Syrine was helping Nori up. Amy looked around her and saw that everyone looked okay. The destruction and fallen tech that had littered the floor and conked others on the head were now back in place. Everything was showing the same thing it had been before the blast. Scott tried to get Beast up, but he was unconscious. He had been hit over the head by an LCD monitor. The twins had fixed all the equipment and damage to the mansion but they weren't capable of healing apparently. Elixir came running into the lab, being followed by Emma and Victor, he went straight to Beast and started to heal him. Beast woke up and looked up at Josh and Scott.
"What happened, and how is everything still working?" Beast.
"Well the twins that we brought in weren't happy with their new surroundings. They changed into a crystal like form, and ended up blowing everything to hell, and then they fixed everything." Emma.
"Oh my, well… at least everything is back in order. Anyway I was pretty much done when everything went kablooy. As Scott was saying we need to move the students to a safe house." Beast.
Scott pulled out his cell phone and started to dial Xi'an's number, after a couple of rings she picked up with an annoyed greeting. "Hey Xi'an I need you to get the vans ready and get Kitty to help you take the students to the safe houses" Scott said.
"Alright... Are we splitting them up or keeping them all together?" Xi'an.
"Split them up between four of the houses, inform them of lockdown protocol. You stay at one house and Kitty stays at another. Have Kurt and Piotr stay at the other two. You guys will be the super vision." Scott
"K got it, on my way." Xi'an hung up with Scott and called Kitty, Kurt and Piotr and relayed Scotts message.
Scott turned to the young X-Men and looked around at his species' last hope. These kids would be the last defense in whatever fight was on its way. Though he was sure they would get through this, he wasn't sure how many casualties the X-Men would have in the end. He turned to the students and began to assign missions.
"Surge, Anole, your teams are going to be split, you each have nine members, I want four out of each of your teams. These four will help guard the safe houses, the rest of you will combine into one team and stay here at the mansion. Emma, Logan, Hank and I will also be staying. Rogue's team will also be home soon, when they get here, I will have them help with the defenses. So you two" Scott pointed at Vic and Nori" decide who goes where and then tell me or Emma and we will get things moving." Scott said and looked to Emma. She had a look of apprehension on her face. He knew that she was thinking about Rogue's team helping. Her team was composed of some of the X-Men's worst, and most dangerous enemies. Most notably, Mystique.
Surge and Anole went to the war room to begin the planning. Surge started, "I think Roxy, Cessily, Nick, and David, will be our four to help with the safe houses. I know David and Cessily are gonna fight me on this but they are better for protection anyway."
Anole nodded and thought about his team. He started to think about who would be better for protecting the students. "K… Wire, Hydrogue, the new guy, and Pixie, will be the four that go to the safe houses. And I want Wire to be in the safe house farthest from Bling's. So if you don't mind I want to put her with Cessily."
"That will be fine; in fact I think we should mix them all up. I don't want any distractions while guarding the others." Surge. "So Wire and Cessily, Roxy and Pixie, David and the new kid, and Hydrogue and Nick. That sound good to you Vic?"
"That works for me. By the way has anyone been up to check on Mr. Wagner's son?" Anole
"Nope but let me go see, Sihal Novarum Chinoth." Pixie said walking into the war room. She teleported before anyone could say anything. She teleported into one of the empty bedrooms that the new mutant had been left in. He was still in deep sleep, barely moving, he really didn't look alive. Megan started to think of an awakening spell. She wasn't supposed to be using any new spells that she found, much less any that she made up herself. Dr. Strange had said it was too dangerous. He had offered to bind her magik until she came of age, but Emma said that she trusted Megan. Dumby. He really did look hot to her. The fine fur, almost like peach fuzz; that covered his body, didn't hurt his appeal at all. Maybe it was her knew magik potential that attracted her to him. She started to think about the spell again trying to get the words exactly right. She put her spell together and began "So you sleep all day, to my dismay, let's have you awake for goodness sake."
Caliban started blinking his eyes. He saw the weird fairy girl that had put him asleep standing above him smiling. "What the hell did you do to me, and where am I?"
"Oh… I put you to sleep earlier this afternoon, its midnight, I woke you up. I don't think you could have woken up by yourself since it was magik that put you to sleep. And you are at the Xavier school. The Cuckoos said that you came to this reality looking for your father…" Pixie said but was interrupted.
"Okay too much info in just five seconds. Where is my father?" Caliban.
"Oh… Sorry I tend to do that when I meet a guy that I like." Megan said, a little tehe followed. "Your father is down in the sub-basement if you like I could take you there…" Pixie said but was cut off when Caliban teleported out. 'Well that sucked' Pixie thought to herself.
Caliban teleported into what he was hoping would be the war room. It turned out that he was just a few feet short, teleporting into the hall. When he looked around he noticed that in this reality everything looked more high tech. In his reality the school was an orphanage for mutants whose parents couldn't handle them. Caliban lived there because his father had been murdered. It might be strange that he had come to this reality to be with another Kurt Wagner but he was hoping that he could help him with his problem. His powers had come out being more demonic. Hell he looked more demonic then his father to. He didn't know who his mother was, but the mix of her and Nightcrawler came out even more monstrous then his father. He had crossed over into this reality via spell. His step-mother Amanda Sefton had taught him magik, some anyway. She, like his father, had been murdered. One of the x-men had gone bad. She didn't mean to but all of her powers went out of control. His reality's X-Men, Avengers, hell even S.H.I.E.L.D. had tried to stop her but she destroyed them all, then her powers burnt out, her body hadn't been capable of holding all of the energy. He was the last survivor. So he came here for a second chance.
Caliban walked around a corner and saw Emma Frost coming his way. He looked her over, he wasn't sure of her alignment in this reality but in his she had been a bad guy. Right now she was wearing an x on her belt so maybe…
"Mr. Caliban, glad to see you are up and moving. I was wondering if you couldn't help us out. We need another team member on the younger team and you would fit in perfectly. Nightcrawler just went upstairs to gather the students. You will be going to one of the safe houses we have prepared for the students with him. Your team leader is Anole. Go upstairs to meet your new team members; they are also helping your father." Emma.
Caliban teleported up to the foyer and found Kurt talking to Kitty. Kitty looked past Kurt at who was walking up behind him. "Uh… Kurt I think someone wants to talk to you." Kitty said. She pointed at Caliban behind Kurt.
"Da… sorry, uh Kurt, can we talk somewhere privately?" Caliban said nervously.
"Sure Caliban, what is your real name son?" Kurt.
"Gabriel, Gabe for short."
"Well Gabe go to the van that is waiting outside and get strapped in, you were the last person that Kitty and I were waiting on. The other x-kids will be teleporting there shortly." Kurt.
"Yes sir." Gabe.
Emma walked into the foyer from the elevator. She stepped up to the other x-men that were leaving with the students. The four that were leaving would be a loss to the team but that also meant that the students would be in good hands. "You four are going to be in charge of these kids for a while. I'm giving each of you school credit cards for groceries, though the houses should be well stocked. You may also use them to keep the children out of trouble, entertain them if you must. I would prefer you to have them doing something educational but let's call this an early fall break. Also you will each have two young X-Men accompany you to the safe houses to help with the guard. And Kurt I want you to have a talk with your new son, the girls said that there was something off in his mind." Emma.
The four all nodded their approval and Emma walked them out the front door. She watched as they got into their four separate vans, and drove away. Emma walked back inside and saw Surge and Anole coming out of the elevator. They walked with purpose, talking to each other, nearly running Emma over. "You two should be more observant" Emma said side stepping around the two.
"Sorry Ms. Frost, we were discussing the day and night watches. We also have to go outside and help Bishop as soon as he lands." Victor said over his shoulder still walking to the door.
Emma thought about the last words she just heard, and followed to find out what they were talking about. When she got out the front door she heard the helicopter overhead. It was circling low, coming in for the landing. 'No dammit, not on the lawn. You're going to blow the roses right off their roots.' Emma screamed in her head. She then remembered that they couldn't hear her thoughts. The helicopter landed anyway, and the roses were destroyed. She saw the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the side of the aircraft. The door slid open and Lucas Bishop jumped down carrying guns and body armor.