DISCLAIMER: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. OCs however, are owned by their respective owners.
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You reviewers are amazing. I give you a million thanks for providing such amazing reviews. You guys really made this story because a. you gave me the characters and b. you gave me the motivation to sit at my computer and continuously spit out chapters. I cannot thank you enough. 218 reviews OMG, who would have thought a simple story in my head with your amazing characters, would become such a reviewed story. Thank you for everyone who reviewed in the past. cullenflower, RogueRecruit, callofduty1944, XxxCloudyxxX, bettycrocker540, S.G., Anonymous Person, Muse of Storytelling, Irish Ghost, animazing23, PotterGal14, greenstag, John77, Gregarious, Ocean's Viola, and if I forgot anyone please tell me…
Some sequel titles (come up with one of your own…I'll add them to my list!):
X-Men: Retaliation (3), X-Men: Remedy (1), X-Men: Project Omega (0), X-Men: Revelation (0)
I've decided to include important old character perspectives too but these will be very short compared to the length of the OCs. I hope you like this idea because I know how much you guys loved the show.
The count down to the finale… (7) Zane Anderson, Noah Beech, Sarah Goldman, Natalie Foster, Lyra Bell, Zenith Franklin and a surprise character chapter! :D
X-Men: Restoration
Chapter Twenty Eight: April Stone
April Stone. She was April Stone. She looked at herself in the mirror, tracing the outline of her face with her finger. She smudged the mirror and turned on the faucet, letting the water run over a towel and wiped it clean. She exhaled, knowing that this face would never be uniquely hers. The Institution had captured her because they thought she was someone else, someone who was apparently more special than her. She was born this way, looking like the gifted and powerful Jean Gray. She lived in a cell for three years as they pricked and prodded her with needles, electronic devices, and who knows what else. Because, they thought she was this Jean Gray.
She wanted to make herself hers. She didn't want to look like anyone else. She was her own. She tried to relax, brushing her red hair, biting her lip. Her roommate, Allie was staring at her from her bed. She sighed.
"What are you looking at, Allie?" She asked politely, putting down the brush. Allie was alarmed that April noticed that she was staring at her and sat up.
"Nothing…I just like your red hair. It's pretty." The freckle faced girl said, tossing her wavy brown hair over her shoulder. Allie jumped of the bed into standing position, the blanket rustled off of her bed hovering in the air. She whispered "oops" and patted it back down, cautiously, tiptoeing away towards the bathroom. "Gravity likes me a little too much," she giggled, glancing back to see if anything else was hovering in the air. April knew her roommate a little too well because the first day in their room, Allie had sent a vase, lamp, and books flying in every direction across the room. The Institution had repressed her powers so long she had forgotten her strength and control. April had the opposite problem; she couldn't use her hair properly. She was so ashamed of her mutation and of being the doppelganger of Ms. Jean Gray that she acted like a nonmutant.
"Well, thanks. But I can't help but think Jean Gray has the same red hair and physique as me. It annoys me how people think we look alike." She groaned.
"But can't you extend your hair?" Allie asked being ignorant of what powers April actually had.
"Yeah, but that is obvious." April said.
"So then it can retract. Have you ever tried a shorter hairstyle? It might make you look like an individual than this Jean Gray person…" Allie commented, fluffing her own hair and sitting on the toilet watching April intently.
"At that place, they only wanted one thing out of me was mental abilities which I didn't have. When they realized that I wasn't Jean, they pulled my hair to torture me. I only used to let my hair grow and extend. Never tried retracting it before, then again I was captured when my mutation had just developed. I'll try it but my hair might not listen to me." She breathed out and released all the grim thoughts she was holding. Maybe her hair couldn't retract. She tried to think about reeling in her thick, red hair. She closed her eyes, biting her lip from the strain on her brain.
"OMG! You look so pretty!" She heard Allie shout and April finally opened her eyes. April gasped looking at her short bob that she had created. It was a short, playful bob that curled at the ends. Her eyes brightened and she laughed. She laughed for the first time in a long time. Allie jumped off the toilet seat in glee and hugged April. Which sent the plunger across the small bathroom to the glass shower, it thumped against the glass. "Oops," Allie said in a low tone but then both of them laughed together.
Their enjoyment ended when they heard a loud, fast knock on the door. Abruptly after, the door flew opened and Reagan walked in, her long blond hair streaming behind her, and stared at the two giggly girls in disbelief.
"We have a problem, report to the theater and we will brief you from there." Reagan muttered and then briskly walked out. The girls glimpsed at each other and frowned. Joy didn't last long in the X-Mansion. The girls walked towards the theater and were joined by Zane who caught up with them.
"Whatcha doing girls?" Zane asked, leaning back and putting his hands in his pockets, shaggy blond hair hanging his eyes. He was extremely relaxed. April raised an eye and Allie nodded, smiling.
"We are good. Do you like April's new hairstyle? It's so cute, isn't it?" Allie chimed and April rolled her eyes. Zane looked at her, tilting his head to the side and putting his thumb up in the air.
"Looks pretty cool…" He nonchalantly said. Marina, who was in front of them, walking with hands clenched in fists, turned around and glowered a death glare at them.
"Please act serious." She directed at the bunch. She raised a fist with purple energy glowing around it and put her combat boot in front of her. It made a loud bang against the carpet. April jumped back, startled at the girl's demeanor. She flipped her bob back, raising her eyebrows at what anger she had bottled up inside.
"Sorry, Rina." Zane said in a relaxed tone, raising both of his hands above his head.
"Firewall, lighten up." Mark said a slight harshness in his voice. He was walking a few steps ahead of her with his hands in his pockets. His joking, silly manner was dimmed by the seriousness of the situation. His green hair didn't even have the neon brightness it usually did. Marina turned fuming with anger and marched ahead, slipping in between other recruits. April now knew why her codename was Firewall.
April lowered her head towards the ground, no one else talked after what happened in the hallway. She petted her new hair, playing with the ends of her hair. She never seen all of the recruits gathered in one place before and all still and solemn. They ate meals at different times, scattered throughout the house, and during training sessions no one was paying attention to each other since usually missiles were being launched at them. Professor Ororo and Professor Xavier were before them on the stage. Logan was leaning against the wall observing them. April knew this wasn't good. She glanced over the crowd, seeing a clear division between the new and old recruits. She saw all the honorary X-Men sitting near the front and the recruits towards the middle and the Morlocks towards the back. The Institution recruits were somewhere in the middle of this division.
"Students, new recruits. We have some grave news. The city has moved forward precautions against mutants and they have rebooted the Sentinel program. This program was made illegal after Senator Kelly and I had come to agreement but he has broken that contract. They have captured countless mutants, including some of some of the Morlocks that we helped in the subway incident. This means, we must move forward towards our mission of shutting down The Institution. Only a select few of you will go into The Institution. The others will help here at the mansion because I believe that the X-Mansion will also be attacked soon. Senator Kelly refuses to believe that there is no one here because of the block on his memory. Logan and Ororo have already divided you into task groups.
Logan walked forward revealing a paper in his hand he had folded up. He cleared his husky throat and began to read, "Tech team: Katherine Pryde, Zane Anderson, Ray Crisp and Trent Bamback." Zane glanced over at Kitty who was staring up at Logan in skepticism. She huffed out a hurt sigh and slouched down in her seat.
Logan continued with the list of long names. "Covert ops: Noah Beech, Sarah Goldman, Lyra Bell, and Vince Marino. Strategy and Planning: Mark Sliders, Evan Daniels, Laura Francess and Hope Winters." Logan paused after this team and glanced over at Mark and put to fingers to his face and motioned 'I'm watching you.' Mark squirmed in his seat.
He sighed and announced the rest. "Pursuit and Interrogation: Camlin Dante, Coralie Dante, Shiloh Carrie and Reagan Mitchells. Defense team: Marina Johnson, Levi Miller, and Allison Daily. Offense team: Eric Roberts, Sakura Shimizu, Rainier Turow, and Ansleigh Shoukat. Diversion tactics: Richard King, Amara Aquilla, Jamie Madrox and Zenith Franklin. Back-up force: Grace Harper, Kurt Wagner, Rahne Sinclair and April Stone." April smugly grinned and looked for Grace who was sitting in the shadows slumping in her seat so no one would see her. Great, she was back-up with an anti-social and the honorary X-Men. She rolled her eyes and scowled at Logan. She deserved to be on offense or even defense. She was powerful. She smelled an awful smell drifting across the room. She coughed and spun towards the culprit. It was Zenith. He nervously got up and stood in the corner saying 'sorry' over and over again.
"These teams will be divided up and only some people will actually go to the mission site. Others will stay here and defend the mansion and help street ops. For now, divide into your groups. Defense and Offense report to the Danger Room. Strategy and Planning will go to the infirmary to meet their teammate. Pursuit and Interrogation, Diversion Tactics, and Back-up Force will meet outside. Covert and Tech will meet in the lab with Professor McCoy and Forge. Report to your destinations please." Everyone got up and moved about trying to find their teammates. April stood next to Grace; arms crossed waiting for the furry blue guy and the wolf girl to get here. They both approached and held out their hands.
"I'm Kurt and this is Rahne, if you guys didn't already know that." Kurt said holding up a furry blue hand. April nodded acknowledgement. They walked outside following the more enthusiastic Diversion Tactics team with the serious Pursuit and Interrogation team. They saw that Professor Munroe was waiting for them. She smiled and they filed into place waiting for her to say something.
"Today, we will be working together to get Jamie, who thankfully volunteered to do this for me. He is a mutant trapped, surrounded by Sentinels and MRD guards. All teams must participate in one shape of form." Jamie waved from his spot behind Storm and multiplied into four Jamies. "You guys, ready?" She asked and they all stared at her blankly. Storm snapped her fingers and two huge Sentinels rose out of the ground through metal panels. There were laser guns popping up out of potted plants, rocks, and trees. April gulped down a helping of fear.
April breathed in and concentrated on letting her hair grow long. She opened her eyes and still saw the short bob fluttering in the wind. She did it again. Nothing happened. She watched Richard or Rex as he was better known as run forward and turned into a huge dinosaur. Amara melted the ground around the Sentinels with lava that bubbled up from the ground. Rex fought with the Sentinels.
The Jamies disappeared into the forest. Reagan sniffed the air and pointed Rahne in the right direction. Rahne transformed into her wolf form and darted into the shrubs. Reagan held Shiloh by the shoulder and whispered something in her ear and she ran into the forest in the other direction. Zenith, ran after Shiloh to help her. April heard a 'bamf' noise and saw that Kurt had disappeared along with Reagan.
April sighed and rolled her eyes. Grace was standing next to her observing the teams do their things. She then raised her arms in the air and the trees behind the Sentinels began to move. She had glazed over eyes that made April wonder. The trees twisted in the air and speedily grabbed and crushed both of the Sentinels. Rex backed away from the trees but they kept lurching forward, uprooting out of the ground walking towards Amara and Rex. Vines twisted around the lasers that were threatening them but the vines started to go haywire, dancing in the air, snapping at the ground. April's thoughts were confirmed, the girl had lost control.
"Grace!" She yelled at the girl but Grace just continued to master the trees, "Grace! It's me…April! Snap out of it!" She begged her. Coralie and Camlin tried the same thing but it didn't work. They started to touch the ground grabbing invisible 'ghosts' she supposed.
"Grace, be calm." Storm said approaching her and resting her hand's on Grace's shoulders. April backed away from them all, refocusing on the battle. Rex and Amara were running away from the trees. April had to do something. April breathed out a breath and willed her hair to grow while Ororo and the Dante sisters were dealing with Grace. She opened her eyes and saw her hair was animated and like fire around her and she whipped out a lock after one of the trees while another lock grounded her around a rock. She didn't feel any pain but a strain. She pulled back and the tree slumped back. Rex took care of the other tree by hammering into with his dinosaur form.
The trees went limp and April let go of the hold and let her hair contract back into place. Her hair was still moving though. She stroked it down but it kept moving like Medusa's snakes. She shifted her focus to Grace who was crying, knees in her chest and her black hair splayed across them. Storm hushed her.
Amara and Richard walked over, maintaining a distance away from her. "I'm sorry…" Grace whispered through her tears. Storm hushed her once again.
"It's okay Grace. We are all here for you. You can depend on us." She said patting Grace on the back. Grace looked up at them. April smiled down at the girl, trying to offer comfort. She burst out laughing. April glanced down, questioning.
"Do you know your hair is moving?" She said, wiping away her tears from her face. Coralie and Camlin stood next to the crumpled form of Grace, wide eyed. April looked from the corner of her eye and saw that her hair was still animated and dancing on her head. Great.
"I'm trying out a new look." April laughed, twirling in place. Her short bob now had a bit of an attitude.
"Well, it definitely looks sassy enough." Rex said snickering through his teeth. April then punched Richard in the shoulder. "Whoa, why is everyone beating up the little guy?" Grace burst out laughing again.
"Little? You transform into a skyscraper of a dinosaur!" Camlin giggled. Amara sighed, slapping her forehead. Storm let out a laugh. They stood there laughing as Grace got up off of the ground. Zenith and Jaime came out of the forest walking at a distance from each other. Shiloh was following them on the back of black bear. She jumped down off the black bear and waved good-bye.
"Zenith, you STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Jamie yelled. Zenith shrugged his shoulders. Shiloh ran up to the group. April held her nose as Jamie walked by. Everyone knew what happened. Everyone burst out laughing again. Jamie pointed to April's hair but she gave him a stern look in reply, he sighed, trudging towards the X-Mansion.
"Alright, mission over. Success. We will call everyone else back in and call it a day." Professor Ororo said. April smiled, maybe she could actually forget about The Institution. She had people to rely on after all.
Sorry guys, I had you wait so long. I wanted to give you guys a long chapter, hopefully you liked it. There isn't a lot about April's past but that can be explored further in the sequel or in a later chapter, probably with a confrontation between her and The Institution. She is pretty awesome and she will be essential later, earning her pride and worth. Yay, until next time...