Disclaimer - I do not own Xmen or any of Marvel's characters/storylines.
It's been a long time, I'm sorry but that's exam season for you. Hopefully will be more frequent now.
The next day Charles, Erik and Moira were on a mission, so they were once more left on their own. They spent the day in the lounge again, for which the window had been fixed. The statue outside, however was still cut in half. Julia pointed it out to Alex when they first entered, cracking a smile as she thought back to the mischief they got up to the day before.
As time went on they all began to open up to each other more, especially Alex. He had been very standoffish when he first arrived, making fun and teasing others, especially Hank, but he seemed to be getting much kinder with them all. It was a defence technique she herself had applied but not in such force.
Angel and Julia spent the majority of the day creating 'moments' for Hank and Raven. Anyone could see they had a connection and the girls were all too excited to push them closer together.
They had quite a chilled evening. Darwin and Alex were playing on an old game while the others talked at the sofas.
"Jesus, man, you are killing me."
"Don't beat yourself up. I've had a lot of spare time."
They were joking around when some agents walked past the windows.
"I didn't know the circus was in town."
Julia rolled her eyes. This was the part of revealing her powers she was dreading, the attention of all the normal people.
"Hey, come on, honey. Give us a little..." One said, flapping his arms, mocking Angel's wings.
"No? Come on, let's see the foot." Hank got up and began to walk to the window as the others continued to glare at them. "There it is. Come on, Big Foot, let's go."
Hank quickly closed the curtains on the protesting guards, much to everyone else's relief. Angel looked especially put down as Raven attempted to comfort her.
"They're just guys being stupid."
Angel scoffed sadly. "Guys being stupid, I can handle. Okay? I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off than the way these ones stare at me."
"At us." Julia said squeezing her hand comfortingly.
Sean suddenly stood looking around the room. Releasing Angel's hand, Julia stood to see what wrong when she started to hear thuds every couple of seconds.
"What was that?" Julia asked.
"I don't know." Darwin said, walking away from the game. "Something doesn't feel right."
Darwin went to the window and reopened the curtains to reveal an empty courtyard. Puzzled, Julia approached closer to the window and looked out. Suddenly a man dropped from the sky and landed right in front of her. Screaming, Julia jumped back, falling into the closest arms to her. Looking up she realised it was Alex who was trying his best to shield her from what was happening. More and more bodies fell from the sky as Alex pulled her further away from the window. She glanced around to see the other boys holding back Angel and Raven as well.
Finding her courage, Julia pulled herself out of Alex's arms and towards the window. Julia saw a man falling and threw out her arms to him, desperately trying to protect him with her shield. Despite her attempts, she was unable to protect any of the men as they hit the ground.
More men appeared in front of the window.
"Get back! Do not leave that room." Crying at her failed attempts to save the men, Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her back away from the window.
Suddenly a red-skinned mutant appeared behind the agents and the young mutants desperately pointed at him.
"Shoot! Shoot!"
The agents open fired as the red mutant disappeared in a puff of smoke, bringing one agent with him. The young mutants waited until suddenly, the missing agent hit the floor, just as the red mutant appeared again to continue his attack on the other agents. As the gunfire shattered the window again, Darwin used his body to shield Angel and Sean while Hank pulled Raven against the wall and Alex dragged a trembling Julia behind the sofa. She felt so hopeless.
They glanced into the courtyard again to see a large tornedo blow through Hank's machine, Cerebro, completely demolishing it.
"Stay here, my ass! Let's go!" Shouted Darwin.
Alex pulled Julia to her feet and they all ran out of the room. Julia's hand in Alex's, he dragged her down the corridor until they were stopped by more agents.
"Get back!"
"We can help! We can help!" Shouted Alex. Julia wasn't sure what use she could be if she couldn't shield anyone else.
Just then, there was an explosion blowing up sections of the building. Raven screamed as they all ran back towards the room. They entered again to see the red mutant still killing agents in the courtyard while a tornado sent one of them through the window, causing the young mutants to huddle in the corner of the room, Alex keeping Julia behind him and Darwin standing in front of them all, arms wide.
The tornado suddenly diffused and a Latino man stepped through the broken window, followed by the red mutant. They were distracted when they heard shots going off from outside in the corridor.
"Wait! You want the mutants? They're right through that door. Just let us normal people go. We're no threat..." There was a thud and then silence as Julia leant further into Alex, weeping, just needing someone to lean on.
A man then calmly stepped into the room, wearing an odd looking helmet. He smirked at the group before turning to his comrades.
"Where's the telepath?"
"Not here."
"Too bad. Well, at least I can take this silly thing off." The man removed his helmet and approached the group.
"Good evening. My name's Sebastian Shaw. And I'm not here to hurt you. My friends, there's a revolution coming. When mankind discovers who we are, what we can do, each of us will face a choice. Be enslaved or rise up to rule."
Julia leant out from behind Alex, controlling her fear to see who this person was. Rule? As in take over the world? He was insane.
"Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then by definition, you are against us. So, you can stay and fight for the people who hate and fear you. Or you can join me, and live like kings and queens."
Everyone stood back as he held out his hand towards Angel. Devastated, Julia watched as Angel took his hand and began to walk away from the group.
"Angel?"
She was in shock. Did she not hear how crazy this guy sounded? Alex wasn't happy either. He had just watched these men kill hundreds of men without blinking an eye and now Angel wanted to join them
"Are you kiddin' me?"
Angel turned back to face them, smiling as if her decision made any sense.
"Come on. We don't belong here. And that's nothing to be ashamed of."
Julia watched hopefully as Darwin held out his hand for her, only for Angel to turn and walk away.
Julia looked on astonished at what had just happened. "We have to do something."
As Angel walked through the broken window into the courtyard, Darwin turned to Alex and began muttering to him. Alex began to shove at Darwin but before Julia could ask what was happening, Darwin was calling out to Shaw.
"Stop! I'm coming with you."
Julia could see Angel smiling at his decision but she just couldn't make sense of any of it. This mad man had just come in and murdered all these people. Why would they want to go with him?
"Good choice." Shaw said stepping forward. "So, tell me about your mutation."
"Well, I adapt to survive. So, I guess I'm coming with you."
While Darwin had been talking, Alex had begun to move Julia to the other side of the room. She looked around to see the others following. Julia's eyes opened in understanding as she realised he was leading them slowly to the door. They had a plan.
"I like that."
Shaw gestured for Darwin to join their ranks and he chose to go stand with Angel. Julia could now see their plan, and so prepared herself for what was going to happen next. As Darwin took his place next to Angel he called out.
"Alex!"
"Get out!" Alex cried.
Julia joined the others in running for the door while Alex let out a burst of energy, sending his energy rings towards the invading mutants while Darwin covered Angel.
Unfortunately, they hadn't been prepared for what Shaw could do. Extending his arms Shaw was able to absorb Alex's energy rings.
"Protecting your fellow mutants? That's a noble gesture. Feels good."
Alex stepped back, obviously shocked at Shaw's power. Julia moved forward from the doorway to watch as Darwin made one last attempt to attack Shaw. As he tried to send a punch, Shaw blocked his arm and grabbed his jaw, forcing it open.
"Adapt to this."
Shaw recreated one of Alex's rings in his hand and forced the condensed energy into Darwin's body. As he let go he returned to the other mutants, who all then vanished.
As they disappeared, Julia ran forward to try and help Darwin, only for Alex to grab her arm and hold her back when Darwin warned them to stay away. They watched in horror as Darwin desperately tried to adapt his body to survive, but any form he took, Alex's powers was able to destroy. All the young mutants gathered in the room to watch their friend slowly give up. Darwin gave them one more look before the power was too much.
They all watched as Darwin's body combusted into a large explosion. Julia quickly realised the extent of damage the explosion could cause and stepped forward in front of her friends. Letting out a cry, she threw her arms forward, desperate to protect her friends from harm. She watched as a blue bubble form around them while fire engulfed everything else. The pain and effort required to keep up the shield was agonizing. Julia could barely hear her name being called out because all she could concentrate on was keeping the shield up.
She felt blood begin to drip down her nose as the effort took a toll on her body. As she felt the heat subside, she allowed the shield to drop, collapsing in exhaustion. She was aware of someone catching her before she hit the floor but all she saw was blurry figures before she blacked out.
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