To Choose A Side
Chapter 2
Introductions Aplenty
"This way," Mystique purred. The two ladies following her gave each other curious-filled glances. They traveled by taxi (where Mystique took the form of the taxi driver to drive them) all the way to Salem Center, where on the very edge of the city were huge boulders. Easily, Mystique moved her way around and over the boulders to reach a small cave opening—completely invisible to anyone traveling this far from the path. It was very dark in this cave, but when they entered, Mystique pressed some sort of panel hidden in the rocks that illuminated a never-ending path above. Walking under the lighted path, the following women could feel apprehension seizing them, though on the outside they seemed perfectly calm.
"Welcome…to the Mutant Sanctuary." Turning, Mystique revealed the vast structure of tunnels and chambers. The women couldn't believe their eyes, for all these structures had to have been carved by hand into a marvelous achievement. "I must tell our leader that you are here. Feel free to look around; we will designate your rooms later tonight."
As she walked away, the women stood there momentarily—unsure of what to do.
"Well…let's go see what there is to offer." Jules muttered to her new companion. She starts forward, making Kaja jog to keep up. Ahead of them was a chamber that looked much like a family room in a regular home—only it was underground and instead of pastel wallpaper, there was solid and sturdy tan-colored rock. In this chamber were two people. One of which you've seen before: Martin Trujillo. The other was another young man, only a year older than Kaja. He looked bored, while the younger man beside him was jabbering on about something he didn't care about. As the two stepped closer, the man's eyes darted to them and he stood rather quickly.
"More recruits, huh?" he asked lazily, a thick southern accent rolling off his tongue. Martin looked up at who he was speaking to, and stood also.
"Hello! My name is Mar—" he was interrupted by the other male.
"Ah told you, we don't go by our slave names he'e!" he shouted, tempted to slap the annoying kid across the back of the head.
Jules regarded the two quickly. The older one had messy, dirty blond hair that hung over his glazed-over hazel eyes with a bored look. He had a slight tan and wore an old sports jersey from a team she didn't recognize and skinny jeans. Looking to the other one, he was rather plain looking and had curly, short, dark brown hair that framed his round cheeks. The only interesting scene about the kid was his piercing black eyes, which at the moment was looking at the other male with narrowed eyes. The blond saw this, and chuckled to himself—not out of humor but interest.
"See somethin' you like?" he asked with a bite to his tone. Her always-changing eyes changed their focus to him, right now with a pale orange stare.
"I have to make sure you aren't going to kill us the first chance you get." She nearly growled, but her tone came off as barely civil. The man shrugged and sat down, lounging in the comfy armchair.
"Name's Alchemist. This here is Upriser." He told them.
The boy glared at him now. "I told you I didn't like that name…"
"Too bad, so sad, that's the name you were given by Magneto."
"Alchemist, Upriser, and Magneto…what fa Hell kinda names are fose?" Kaja asked, an eyebrow arched. The man called Alchemist just looked at the girl with a weird expression, but didn't say anything. Martin (or now called Upriser) wasn't as discreet, and his mouth was gaped as he stared at the girl.
"What kind of accent is that?" he asked her. Kaja stared him down, until he sat down because of the force of her stare. Under different circumstances, Jules might have burst out laughing.
"I was told the new recruits would be here." A gruff sounding voice echoed in the cavern, and they turned to an entry way to see the man Upriser had met earlier. "I'll be helping you all through your training."
"Training?" Jules repeated quietly, but still loud enough for the man to hear.
"Yes. We don't want any of you dying on us now do we?" he chuckled to himself, then straightened a bit. "You are to call me Avalanche, and the names given to you by birth are now null and void. Alchemist and Upriser already have their names."
Avalanche looked to the women expectedly. They first looked at each other then told him what they could do. Nodding with satisfaction, he gave them their names: Cosmos and Ripple.
"Listen here: we don't like sending in noobs to battle, so we train hard until we're satisfied you know your stuff. Most powers have about four levels of experience—Untrained, Adept, Advanced, and Mastered. It ain't hard to get to that fourth level, so we're going to ride your asses until you get there."
In each person's head they imagined a boot camp of some sort, and everyone but Alchemist was having second thoughts—the man in the jersey however, liked getting pumped.
The man lead them down the tunnel he just came from and up some stone steps, passing many entries to rooms such as the kitchen and dining room. Up the stairs and down to the far side of the tunnel, they found a huge room with lots of weight-lifting and exercise equipment to one side. On another, was just a plain, wrestling mat. Without thinking, Upriser walked into the room, only to duck so a huge dragonfly didn't knock him over. The dragonfly flew to avoid him, then vanished into colorful sparkles. Avalanche glared across the room.
"Hey, Angellore, front and center!" he called. A young woman stood up, her wavy hazel-blond hair cascaded pass her shoulders. She had a beautiful face, lit up by honey-brown eyes. Even in the dimly lit cavern, her fair skin seemed to glow. Wearing a dark blue skirt and light blue sweater, a beret of a matching dark blue sat on her head comfortably. She walked up and stopped a foot away from them with a blank, innocent expression.
"Je suis désolé, monsieur, je n'avais que la formation." She said with a sweet voice, speaking French. Avalanche shook his head.
"You know I don't know what you're saying tuts. You're in America, speak American dammit." He told her. Looking at him with a raised eyebrow, she repeated herself in English, a French accent still resonating in her voice.
"I said: I'm sorry, sir, I was only training." She decided against telling him 'American' isn't a language.
"Good." He then turned to the rest of them. "Now that all of you know where this is, I want everyone to be here at six A.M—sharp. No excuses."
"You're such a hard ass." A muffled and gurgled voice shouted. The six began to notice the ground shake as a man who looked to be over 500 pounds. Avalanche took no heed to the insult, waving his hand.
"Just take the kids to their rooms, Blob." He ordered. The man grumbled something incoherently, then turned back around slowly, now with the five young mutants following. He led them up another flight of steps to a hallway that had curtains hanging from every doorway. It took a while for him to remember which rooms went to who, eventually he took the three girls and showed them the room on the left, while the two guys the room on the right, closest to the stairs.
"Don't get any ideas!" he barked, before nearly rolling down the steps again.
The 22-year old woman opened her eyes slowly, her vision blurred at first. Once it began to clear, Sarah looked to the sides to try and gather her bearings. The room she was in looked almost like a futuristic version of a hospital, strange machines and items she had never seen before lining the counters and walls.
"How ya feeling, bub?" a rough-sounding voice asked. Startled, she nearly fell out of the bed she lay on, and searched frantically for the voice she heard. Her sights land on a short man, who had strange hair and wore a tank-top and jeans. He walked toward her, still waiting for an answer. Remembering before, she looked down at her shoulder; it was now stitched and only stung compared to the piercing pain from before.
"Better…why am I here? Is this a hospital?" she asked. The man shook his head.
"No, you're just in a medbay. You got hurt and ran into a couple friends, and they brought you here." He explained. A sound of an automatic door could be heard, and the red-head she noticed before walked to her side.
"I'm glad to see you're awake! How's your arm?" she asked softly. Still feeling weary, she only nodded. Understanding, Jean grinned. "Well, you have a clean-bill of health, and you're free to go. But before you leave, someone would like to speak to you first."
The door opened again, and Sarah could hear wheels…
"Hello there, Sarah." A man in a wheelchair rolled himself next to her and Jean. Sarah greeted him only by nodding. "I understand you must be frightened, but you are safe here. Those men that chased you cannot find you.
The mention of the men made her hair stand on end. If they knew about them, they would know about her…so…
"You're mutants?" she guessed. Professor X nodded.
"Yes, and this is where many of our kind go when they need help. I'm hoping you will stay with us—at least until we can find out why those men were attacking you."
Sarah had to think about this, but eventually she accepted. After having her arm bandaged up again, the rough looking man named Wolverine, took her with him on a tour. He explained that she could go anywhere in the mansion (except other people's rooms without permission, of course), and showed her the subbasement, main floor and second floor. After, he brought her back to the main floor to the foyer, where a few others were.
Among them was the girl Iceman picked up (not in that way) in the park. She called herself Ivy, and was talking to Rowena, who called herself EarthShaker. The two knew each other for only a short time, but there shared ability to manipulate nature made the two feel like sisters. Next to them was a group of three: a sixteen year old girl named Mar, another girl a year older than her named Becca, and a man in his mid-twenties called Mik. She was introduced to all five, who each had different reactions to the stranger.
"Alright gang, we will start training tomorrow, so be ready at the Danger Room at six o'clock. Mar and Becca: you two are sharing a room with Sarah, so make sure to take her with you. The rest of you know where your rooms are. You all should get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
A/N: OKAY…I know…not the best chapter and the introductions really sucked. But do not fear! Every character will have a time to shine, don't worry. I'm just getting the major names out there for now and then I will work on character building next week.
What'd I say? Next week? That's right! New chapter releases are now every Friday! I know where my faults were with this chapter, but if you guys notice any other places where I need to improve, give me a holler (NICELY!).
OH! One more thing..I have one more available character slot for chapter 3! After that, I only have one more for chapter 4 and that will be all the new characters for a while!