DISCLAIMER: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. OCs however, are owned by their respective owners.
***Vote for your favorite X-Men in a poll. A link to it is on my profile***
Thank you for all who reviewed! We've made it to 200! I didn't think I could even make that many reviews on my works since X-Spector is done for right now…hooray! Go check it out. I highlighted a lot of characters and it has a lot to do with why people in the following chapter (Shiloh's chap) do what they do. Since a lot of you were concerned with being in the dark. I really enjoyed writing that.
We have nine characters left. Thank you for correcting me bettycrocker540. I was writing Vanessa and Laura's chapters at the time so I didn't realize the mistake. Here is the list of characters left to write about: Zane Anderson, Laura Francess, Noah Beech, Sarah Goldman, Natalie Foster, April Stone, Lyra Bell, Lila Hawk, Zenith Franklin (maybe…he is mine so I dunno what to write about him since his role has been minimal) and a surprise character chapter! :D
X-Men: Restoration
Chapter Twenty Four: Vanessa Warren
Vanessa watched Dr. Bamback put away the chemicals that he had made his own son mute. She was forced to administer it into his drink when he stopped to get coffee on the way to the X-Mansion. She wasn't surprised to see Dr. Bamback turn on his son like her father had turned on her. Her father had remarried after her mother and older brother Jake died, fairly quickly to a horrible woman named Tess. She had a daughter named Olivia. They both tormented her with calling her nasty names and blaming every spilled glass on her. She became rebellious for attention but her father only saw it as a nuisance. Then her mutation developed and she was desperate for help so she confronted her father about it only to have him hit her across the face. She was forbidden to ever talk about her mutation again. She ran away to see her father's reaction but soon found out that he had moved on with Tess, his daughter Olivia and new born son, Jack. Not once, did she see a tear for her, his daughter. So much for the phrase, blood is thicker than water.
Throughout life, she had been toughened by everyone treating her as a punching bag. Eventually, no one bothered her because of her intimidating glare and her direct, blunt tone. She wanted to prove herself. She didn't let anyone try to take her down but she felt very differently on the inside: inadequate. She ignored this part of her because she wanted to be the strongest.
She felt a deep sense of guiltiness that she had let The Institution control her. She tried to fight it but she didn't try hard enough. She didn't want to, in a way. She knew that she would become stronger and that thrilled her. She didn't want to be weak. But even then, they had changed her, experimented on her. She felt their presence with her every move. She heard the chink of the test tubes and got up from the lab stool to go the lounge where the others were. She wondered what Rogue was thinking since she was the most trapped of all of them. She had been experimented on the longest.
Vanessa watched Natalie as she sat in a chair staring at them all. She had a communicator which she whispered who knows bloody what in. She mumbled a few phrases. She grinned evilly as her eyes darted around the room and she laid eyes on Sean. She motioned for him to come forward. She lifted an eyebrow coyly as Sean approached. He was extremely loyal to her and Dr. Bamback that it made Vanessa sick. Sean had changed incredibly since the confrontation between the two of them where he had burnt Vanessa's hand, leaving behind a permanent scar that blistered badly.
"I think some of the scientists want a sample of your acid…run along" Natalie said as she pointed to the lab door where Vanessa had just come from. She cocked her hat back and leaned back in her chair. The steel door slammed shut. Had Sean realized his mistake yet? He was ruthless being that didn't care an ounce about humans yet he was working for the biggest bad anti-mutant protestor of them all. Everything was counter intuitive at this stupid Institution.
Vanessa didn't know what her role was at The Institution but she saw that there was more than just an anti-mutant revolution going on. Yet then again, did any of them know what their roles were? They were all mutants driving an anti-mutant protest. It was counter intuitive but they were threatened and rewarded with power. She was forced. She sat there staring at the others and she simply couldn't stand the silence. The more silence there was the more she thought about the entire thing…the more she feared The Institution and its master. She grew to know why The Institution mutants called Dr. Bamback "The Reaper". They were experimented on until they keeled over and kicked the bucket. They were ripped apart and put back together in the most grotesque fashions. Vanessa felt the shaved layer of her hair as she winced from touching the place they had put small probes into her head. Whatever they were… The Institution had control over her. She felt portals opening without the willpower from her mind across the labs. She had metal contraptions on her wrists that released portals bigger than she ever made them before. She felt that she was losing grasp on everything she loved so much. She thought about the boxes of medicine that they had raided from all the hospitals. Why had they stolen it? What was it being used for? She thought about all of this in the silence.
To stop the silence…She turned on the television and saw that there was a news broadcast. Everyone gathered around to see what the latest news was in Bayville. They saw images of people suffering with black Xs on their necks. There were countless images of people at the hospital, doctors baffled by the shortage of medicine, and newly dug graves. They were dying of an epidemic. Vanessa quickly connected the dots as she glanced back at Natalie who was uninterested in the events. They were going to cause World War Three.
"People are dying…and you don't seem to care. They are dying!" Vanessa argued as she approached her. Natalie looked at her blankly.
"You prepare yourself for the worst when you are around here all day." Natalie uttered as she adjusted the fedora hat. "Haven't you already seen it? You knocked over a train, stole a jet…stole boxes of medicine…You have been accused of murdering the innocent by the reports The Institution sent out. You were experimented on against your will…the epidemic is just another stepping stone for The Institution. I think you should ask your leader Mystique if you want answers. But then again, you haven't seen her for weeks." Natalie snickered as she walked to the lab, leaving all of them appalled.
She hated to say it but Natalie was right. They were being used. Vanessa knew not to say anything because if you said something you were a goner. She glanced over at Marcos who looked more than typical. His usual, was being a loud mouthed moron but Vanessa could see right through that she had lived with electric brain for more than two years.
"What are you hiding?" She verbalized loudly across the room as everyone stared at Marcos. Macros gawked back with surprise eyes that grew larger by the minute. Abby suddenly, held him up in the air.
"Are you not telling us something?" Abby growled as she tossed him around the lounge like a rag doll. "TELL ME now!" She screamed.
"Stop throwing your hissy fit and put the guy down so he can tell us what he knows." Ella said off in a corner as she got up from her nap. Abby dropped Marcos on the ground and approached Ella.
"What do you think, you know? I have true power. I should be at the top, I should know everything. BUT this dumb cinder block knows more than I do!" Abby said as she pointed her finger at Ella. Ella raised an eyebrow. Abby then tried to pick Ella off the ground but Ella was too quick. She stopped time around Abby by raising a hand. Ella then walked up to Abby and flicked her on the head. Time returned to Abby who was frightened as she caught her breath.
"Little children should be punished." Ella sneered and helped Marcos up off the floor. "Now, what do you know?" as Marcos coughed, he sat down in a chair.
"I really can't tell you guys. Dr. Bamback would have my head." Marcos said. The lab door swung open and Dr. Bamback stepped out with Natalie and Sean. Sean had a new device strapped on his arm. He grinned evilly at it.
"It is time to reveal everything." Dr. Bamback said as he motioned for Sean and Natalie to take their seats. "As, you may know I have had you all on a wild goose chase. I will start from the beginning. First, I have worked for the anti-mutant protests for many years but this was just a cover to get humanity on my side. I also wanted them to weed out the impure mutants who scavenge the earth only to hide their powers. It was easy because I didn't have to lift a finger to get those ugly, sewer crawlers out of the way. The illusions of mass massacres were brilliant and got the job done." He walked around the middle of the room and glared at them all.
"You all did it for me by the command of Mystique. Mystique, however, isn't really Mystique but my apprentice Natalie Foster. She led you all to believe that there was a Mystique in your midst but in actuality there wasn't. It was her, the whole time. I worked on an elite race of mutants that could take control of the world. I set up my laboratories and gathered every promising mutant from around the world. I spread a virus among humans and now the people are on their knees for a cure. We shall give it to them. They will see us all as superior and we will rise above them with a mutant army. However, this is not by my own accord. Meet my leader, Magneto." He said as he stepped aside to show an opening in the floor and out of rose a man in metal helmet. It was Magneto, the mutant that even the actual Mystique bowed to. All of the Brotherhood members glanced at each other in horror and confusion.
What just happened? Vanessa sat there for a moment soaking all of the information in. She connected the dots and saw that Dr. Bamback was a terrible, evil man but a genius. He got rid of the weak mutants by their acts of treachery and turned everyone against the X-Men. Then, he was going to deliver a cure that would save humanity so that they would praise mutants. Sean and Natalie began to clap. It then was Abby and Marcos. Rogue sat petrified in the face, trying to gain control of her body. Ella clapped slowly with a straitlaced face. Vanessa clapped quietly as she processed all of it.
"Thank you, thank you, my children." Magneto declared, stepping off the platform. "I know you have anticipated my arrival and you have been left in the dark through this horrid mess but Dr. Bamback has said: I am the Ringleader in this circus. We shall rule over the human race forever and destroy every mutant that stands in our way." Vanessa knew that the people would now see her more powerful than evil. She would be at the top. She would be safe and praised. Did she really want that? She was no longer serving a mutant oppressor but a mutant god that Mystique served. She finally saw what Sean had been talking about; there would be no peace between the mutants and the nonmutants. The mutants were victims of oppression and condemnation by the humans. There was only a power struggle. She smiled and clapped louder. I f only her father could see her now.
Well, I enjoyed writing this chapter. Vanessa is complex because she is eager to prove to her own self that she is strong but she feels like she is inadequate as a mutant and daughter. Her father replaced her right away and she feels a sense of betrayal. This is what drove her to join the Brotherhood.
Okay, on to the BIG mighty twist. Magneto was behind it the whole time! Dr. Bamback was only a pawn. I have been waiting to write this in and tried to drop several cues. Hope you liked it as much as I loved writing it.
Sincerely. Anonymous