The SuperStarr Chronicles
Disclaimer: "Settle down, Beavis!"
Review Response time!
gorilla blazers – ...no. Just...just, no. That's not happening.
BlueSunny – Now I feel old. But seriously, that surprises me. Heh.
Haretrigger – I hope you have just as much fun reading this as I have had writing it!
Red Witch – It's going to be fun, Red! Tons of fun! I already have a couple ideas for storylines. And there are a couple of storylines from the old version I hope I can bring back.
LycoX – Well, yeah. However, looking back on it, I do think that I could have done things a lot better. I've also been watching X-Men: Evolution on Disney+, and it's allowed me to try and get a better idea of the characters.
By the way, this story is on TV Tropes under "The Super Starr Chronicles"! I would love if you all not only gave it a read, but add more stuff to it!
Chapter 2: Arrival, Part 2!
Outside the Brotherhood House
Lance, like his three Brotherhood comrades, blinked in disbelief at what he was seeing. "I...I...I...what?!" He shook his head in confusion. "Who...huh? What?!"
"Would you look at that? I think we broke him." Lila noted, an amused smile on the British-Indian mutant's face.
"Hey, they speak pretty good English for aliens." Todd noted.
"I...don't think they're aliens, guys." Pietro said with a frown.
"Well, technically...I am an alien here." Clara joked. She then shrugged. "I'm from Canada."
"UK girl, meself." Lila added. "London born and raised."
"My brother and I hail from the good ol' US of A. At least, as far as we know." Paul grinned, throwing an arm over his twin's shoulders.
Craig rolled his eyes and pushed the arm off. "Los Angeles. Long story there."
"Wait, you guys are from...Earth?!" A confused Blob blinked.
"Yeah, we are." Craig grunted.
"Okay, if you guys are from Earth, explain the spaceship!" Lance pointed at the ship.
"That's quite a long story." Clara answered. Craig rolled his eyes.
"Basically, we got kidnapped by some alien scientist calling himself 'The Stranger', met Clara, became a crew, stole this ship, had some adventures, got shot down and ended up here." Craig grunted out. "Not that long a story." He then glared at Lila. "And this moron stole a gem, which is the reason why we got shot down and ended up here in the first place!"
"Oi! That gem is worth enough credits to get us set for life!" Lila argued.
"You nearly got us all killed!" Craig snapped.
"Oh God, here we go again!" Lila groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "You and your brother always complain about me stealing, so I try and find a way to make it so we don't have to steal, and you all still bloody complain!"
"...Well, to be fair Lila, it's just that there were easier ways to get money. Like busking. We liked busking." Paul piped up. "And it was perfectly legal in most places..."
Todd scratched his head in confusion. "What's busking?"
"You ever been to a city and you see people singing and playing instruments on the street?" Pietro asked.
"I'm from New York City, yo. I've seen plenty of that."
"That's busking." Pietro said. Paul continued on, unaware of Todd and Pietro's little exchange.
"We got to play music and earn some credits for it." Paul smiled at Lila. "It's not like we ever had a problem getting enough money to eat. And besides, you enjoyed singing and playing with us, too..."
"True..." Lila admitted, running a hand through her wild black hair. "I liked getting to show off me pipes...and me keyboard skills..."
"Lila's a thrill-seeker, Paul." Craig reminded, his voice tinged with annoyance. He then glared at the British-Indian girl. "She just stole that gem for fun."
"I stole it so we could get on Easy Street from it!" Lila snapped. Clara, Paul, and the Brotherhood just watched the two argue.
"Does...does this happen often?" Lance asked. Clara shrugged.
"On occasion."
"So...you guys aren't aliens?" Blob realized. Pietro facepalmed.
I am blessed with genius... The speedster mentally groaned.
"Nope. Plain ol' Earthlings." Clara smiled.
"...That's too bad. I wanted to punch an alien." Fred admitted. Clara smiled and pointed at the Texan powerhouse.
"Trust me on this, you just might get a shot at that one day, big guy." Clara told him. "Never let go of that dream."
"Okay, okay, okay!" Lance waved his hands. "Before this gets any crazier, I have another question, and I want a damned answer! Who the hell are you people?!" Lance asked.
"We're travelers in a way." Paul answered with a smile.
Clara jerked her thumb at Paul. "What he said. As for our names..." Clara took off her hat and bowed dramatically. "The name's Clara Creed. Adventurer, among many other things, and bon vivant extraordinaire."
"Bon vivant...is that a candy?" Fred asked.
Pietro scowled at the large Texan. "No, stupid. 'Bon vivant' is French. It means 'one who lives well'."
"Oh." Fred nodded in understanding. "...does that mean she likes candy?" Pietro threw his arms up into the air.
"I am blessed with genius..." He muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. Clara giggled.
"Big fella, I could tell you stories. And yes, I like candy. Had Swiss chocolate once."
"Oh." Fred blinked. "I like stories. And I like chocolate."
"Of course he does..." Pietro muttered under his breath.
"Oh yes, and before I forget..." Clara smiled and ruffled Paul's hair, making the Los Angelan chuckle. "This here is Paul Starr." She then pointed at Craig. "And this is Craig Starr." She ruffled his hair as well, making the more dour twin groan and facepalm.
"What kind of name is 'Starr'?" Pietro scoffed, crossing his arms.
"I think it fits us." Paul grinned.
"Ours, silver-head." Craig scowled.
Ooh, Silver-head. Gotta remember that one. Lila thought.
"What's your name?" Paul asked.
"Pietro Maximoff." Pietro scowled back. "You call me Quicksilver."
"Pietro?!" Craig burst out laughing, making the speedster glare at him. "The hell kind of name is Pietro?!"
"I've often wondered that myself." Todd muttered.
"Sounds like a rich guy name to me." Fred agreed.
"Pietro is the Italian equivalent of the name Peter." Clara explained. She glanced at Pietro. "You from there, kid?"
"...no." The speedster answered, crossing his arms. "My father was German. I was born in Serbia."
"Oh, neat! I never met anyone from Serbia before." Paul grinned.
"Oi, I'm right here." Lila waved.
"Oh, of course. Last, but certainly not least. Say hello to the queen of the starways, Delilah Chopra-Cheney." Clara dramatically introduced.
"Call me Lila." Lila waved with a smile. She felt a brief gust of wind, then she saw Pietro's arm over her shoulder.
"You can call me loverboy if you wish." He purred at her.
"Oh, for God's sake..." Lance groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Todd and Fred both rolled their eyes.
Lila scowled at the silver-haired speedster. "Does that crap actually work?" She brushed his arm off her shoulder like it was something really disgusting.
"You'd be surprised, my dear. And hey, the girls love me!" Pietro grinned. "I mean, look at me!"
The British-Indian girl rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Her face showed that she was far from impressed by Pietro's antics. "I've seen my fair share of pretty boys, silver-head. And they all turned out to be useless bloody idiots."
"I think you mistook me for Larry and Curly over there." Pietro pointed at Todd and Fred.
"Am I Larry or am I Curly?" A confused Fred asked, pointing at himself.
"It don't matter, yo." Todd grumbled. "It just don't matter."
"Yeah, you two are pretty interchangeable." Pietro mocked.
"Shut up, Pietro." Lance commanded.
"Yeah, yeah." The silver-haired speedster waved it off. He grinned at Lila. "Trust me, Little Miss London, I'm not just a pretty boy."
"Heard that quite a bit, too." Lila snorted in amusement. "And it always ends up the same: Still boring muscleheads."
"Oh, I think I can change your mind GAH!" Pietro yelped as Craig angrily grabbed him and shoved him away.
"She isn't interested, smart guy!" The former gang member snapped. "Keep it up..." He pulled out his nightstick from a special holster on his belt and thrust it in Pietro's face. "And I will beat you into paste with this!"
"Oh, dear..." Paul sighed. Clara pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"Oi! I can handle this silver-haired creampuff myself!" Lila insisted.
"Take it easy, Craig!" Clara snapped.
"Yeah, bro! You don't need to pull the mad dog act!" Paul added.
"Hey, I was just trying to make some nice conversation-!" Pietro babbled in fright.
"Converse this!" Craig fired his eye laser at Pietro's foot. With a "yipe!", the silver-haired speedster zipped out of the way. In his panic, he ended up colliding with the Blob. Pietro bounced off the larger mutant with a grunt. The Blob was, naturally, completely unharmed. Craig's laser hit the ground.
"Hey, that tickles." The Texan chuckled in amusement.
"Alright, that's it!" Lance snapped. "Pietro may be a jackass, but he's still Brotherhood!"
"Yeah!" Todd and Fred agreed, tensing for a fight.
"Aw, hell..." Lila grumbled, whipping out her Laser Crossbow and pointing it at the Brotherhood.
"Oh, dear..." Paul groaned, facepalming.
"You all want some?" Craig growled, his star-covered eye glowing with fury and unleashed violet power. "Come and get some! I'll take on and bring down every single one of you!"
"Oh, here we go..." Clara groaned. And with that, the brawl was on as a member of the Brotherhood each took on a member of Clara's crew.
Avalanche vs. Sabreclaw
"Hey, Blondie! This is why they call me Avalanche! Prepare to get rocked!" Lance's eyes rolled back as he called upon his mutant power. Clara frowned.
Okay, what's this kid's deal-! "WHOAAAAA!" Clara found herself struggling to stay on her feet as the ground underneath her started to shake. Alright, this boy can give the ground a good quaking! Lance tried to take advantage of Clara's being distracted by charging her.
"YAH!" Lance threw a punch, but Clara easily dodged it. He tried to throw another one, but she smacked his fist aside.
"Nice try, kid." Clara said, pushing the brunet teenager away. "Your punches are a bit sloppy. I've got decades of experience on you when it comes to fighting." Lance growled. He tried to throw a kick, but Clara easily caught his foot. The blonde feral chuckled. "Are you serious? Do you even know how to throw a kick?!" She shoved Lance away again. "You're a scrapper, kiddo. I'll give you that. But you got no real idea what you're facing here."
"Decades of fighting experience." Lance sneered. "That's a load of bull."
"You don't believe me?" Clara smirked.
"If you were really around for decades, you should be decrepit!"
"My healing factor disagrees with you." The Canadian blonde said. The only thing worth having thanks to being a Creed...
"Let's see you heal from this!" Lance snarled, calling on his power.
"What other tricks this kid's got YI!" The Canadian blonde muttered, then yelped as she found herself rising upwards. "What the-?!" The ground below her feet seemed to rise up into the air, but she was actually being pushed up by a rising column of rock. The blonde mutant woman frowned.
Hmm... Her mind worked at this...little problem. Earthshaker there or whatever he calls himself is going to get someone killed. I'd better take him down quick. She quickly looked him over. Seems like a bit of a brawler, but like I've said, I've got tons more experience at real fighting than he's likely got. The feral slid down the column, using her claws to hang on to the rock. She timed it just right, and...she made a leap of faith.
"Gah!" Lance grunted as Clara hit him in his chest with a dropkick. "Uhn..." He grunted as he tried to get to his feet, holding his chest. God, she can hit hard!
"Neat trick with the big rock over there..." Clara said, jerking he thumb at the column. "But you need more than that to get through life, kiddo!" Before Lance could recover, the Canadian blonde downed him again with a roundhouse. "Trust me, Earthshaker. I had to learn that the hard way."
Quicksilver vs. Darkstar
Pietro Maximoff was having the time of his life. It was no secret that the silver-haired teenager loved his powers, and he really loved using them. After all, he was the Fastest Teen Alive. Nobody could touch him! And Craig Starr was learning that the hard way.
"Can't-catch-me-can't-catch-me-can't-catch-me-can't-catch-me!" Pietro taunted as he sped circles around Craig Starr...quite literally.
"Grrrr..." Craig growled in seeming frustration as he tried to get a bead on the silver-haired speedster. His star-covered eye glowed a hot angry dark purple.
Ffzap! Ffzap! Ffzap!
He tried to blast Pietro with his laser, but he couldn't hit him.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa!" The fleet-footed mutant cackled. "You-can't-touch-me-but-I-can-touch-you!" He continued his mad cackle as he smacked Craig around a bit at super speed.
"Guh!" Craig grunted as Pietro smacked his arm, making him drop his nightstick. "Gah!" His leg got hit next. "Grrr!" Pietro lightly poked him. Alright... The former gang member snarled. That's it. I've let this idiot have his fun for long enough. Craig ran a quick calculation in his head. His eye started to glow. He then fired his laser.
Huh? Pietro thought in confusion. Why isn't he aiming at me? The speedster's jaw dropped when it hit him, quite literally. He realized too late that Craig was not aiming for where he was, but for where he was going. He put his foot down on the spot the laser was about to hit...and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The young speedster's eyes widened and he let out a high-pitched howl in pain as the laser burned its way though his shoe and into his foot. "YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAARGH!" The pain made him stumble and roll around the ground a few times. He moaned in pain as Craig picked up his nightstick and stalked towards him.
Little punk is used to being able to outrun everyone. Craig thought triumphantly as he stalked towards the speedster. He let out a slight smirk. I bet he never thought that someone would anticipate his path...
"My-foot-my-foot-my-foot-my-foot-my-foot-my-foot!" Pietro wailed as he rocked back and forth, clutching his injured foot. He looked up and saw a scowling Craig look down on him.
"You're full of yourself." He raised his arm, and smashed his nightstick across the speedster's face.
Crack!
"Ungh..." The speedster groaned as he went unconscious.
"Hhmph." Craig snorted. "What a dumb clown." Who taught this guy to fight? Are they all like this?
Starway vs. Blob
Blob scowled in frustration. He was not unfamiliar with teleporters. After all, he has encountered Nightcrawler in the past. But the X-Men were not really known for using weaponry. And this girl had quite a weapon.
Bzow! Bzow! Bzow!
"Ugn!" Fred grunted as he instinctively held up an arm to shield himself. He felt the golden energy arrows fired by Lila Cheney hit the appendage...and it tickled him. "RRAGH!" The powerful Texan tried to throw a mighty fist at the mutant girl, but...
Fwash!
The British girl vanished in a flash of light.
"Huh?" Fred blinked in confusion. "Where'd she go?!"
Fwash!
The interstellar teleporter appeared behind Fred.
"Behind you, big boy." She fired some more laser arrows at him. This Yank is made of some tough stuff! But nothing new to me. I managed to evade the bloody Shi'ar Imperial Guard, this guy is nothing!
"All you're doing is making me mad!" Fred growled. "Nothing hurts the Blob! And the Blob can hurt anyone!" He ripped a piece of the ground out and tossed it at Lila. However, she vanished again...and reappeared in another place. I hate teleporters!
"Gotta hit me first, ya big dummy!" She taunted. The golden crossbow arms on her Laser Crossbow popped into position as she pulled a bolt out of her quiver. The bolt had a small gray cylinder at the end and had white plastic-looking fletching. The cylinder had what looked like a small suction cup at the end of it. "Luckily for me, you provide a nice big target." The British girl quickly loaded the bolt into her Laser Crossbow, aimed and fired. "And I never miss."
The bolt sailed through the air, and landed on Fred's chest. The blond mohawk-wearing mutant just blinked at the bolt in confusion.
"What is this?" He asked. He then noticed a small blinking and beeping red light on the bolt's cylindrical head. The blinking and beeping started to go faster...and he saw Lila quickly cover her ears and close her eyes. "Oh, that's not good."
Boom! EEEEEEEEEE...
"AHHHHHH!" Fred roared as the bolt released a bright flash of light and a very loud noise. He quickly shut his eyes and put his hands on his ears.
Lila smirked. "Flashbang bolt. Never lets me down." She then pulled out another bolt and looked it over. This bolt had green fletching, and was tipped with what looked like a glass bulb with a noxious-looking green gas inside. "And neither does this one." She loaded and fired the bolt. The bolt hit Fred's head, causing a cloud of the green gas to float around his head.
"Agh!" Fred hacked and wheezed as he tried to wave away the gas. But he was unable to keep it from affecting him. His eyes felt heavy, and he found himself very tired. "I told you, girl! Nothing...hurts...the Blob...whoo, I feel sleepy...I take a nap now. Night night." He fell over, hitting the ground face-first. Lila smirked.
"Heh. Even the toughest of tanks have a weak spot." She walked over to the sleeping Blob and lightly poked his side with her foot. "Bloody hell, how did he get this big?"
Starchild vs. Toad
"Whoo!" Paul whooped as he backflipped handily away from Toad's flying kick. "You got some deadly legs there, dude!" Kid's not much of a fighter, but those legs of his are still dangerous!
"They didn't win over Magneto, yo!" The amphibious mutant snapped as he crouched, ready to leap at Paul again. The Los Angelan mutant blinked in confusion.
"Magneto? What's that, some kind of generator?" An utterly puzzled Paul asked.
"Naw, starface! Magneto's the man, yo! The mutant! The most powerful mutant around! And he was going to rule the world until those X-Men messed it up!"
"...who?" Paul was now even more confused. He scratched his head.
"They always think they're so great!" Todd continued to rant and rave. Paul just watched this, utterly unsure what to think. All that the dark-haired teenage boy could figure from his amphibian-themed opponent's ranting was that there were two groups of mutants, and they had a bit of a rivalry going.
Wow. Paul thought. There are more of us out there than we thought. I had always believed there were others like us out there. Craig didn't think so at first. Boy, was he proven wrong, ha ha. Then we met Clara and Lila, and things really got interesting. He shook his head sadly as Todd continued ranting. I can't help but feel a bit sorry for Kermit here.
"...yo, you listening?!" Todd snapped.
"Yes." Paul nodded.
"I ain't useless!" Todd yelled. "I had Jean Grey beaten! If it weren't for her Jedi mind crap, I'd be on Asteroid M instead of her!"
Asteroid M, what? Paul shook his head. "I...I think you might need to take a nap."
"A nap?!" Todd exclaimed in confusion.
Paul nodded. "Yup." His star-covered birthmark started to glow a gentle bright purple. "Look into my eye..."
"Huh?" Todd found himself spellbound by the light emanating from the eye.
"You need to sleep..." Paul said.
"Yes, I am feeling a bit tired..." Todd mumbled in a monotone, his eyes also glowing a light purple. Paul snapped his fingers, and the amphibious teenager fell over. He lightly snored, indicating that he had gone off to dreamland. Paul sighed and shook his head.
I really don't like using my hypnotic powers. The teenage mutant thought. But I didn't want to really hurt this guy. He seems like life has already beat him up enough.
Some time later
"Uhnnnn..." Lance moaned as his eyes opened slowly. "Ohh...Wha'happun?" The bleary-eyed earthshaker mumbled, his nose picking up the scent of a hot drink. He then saw himself staring at a cup and saucer filled with light brown liquid. "Huh?" He realized he was in the armchair he had been sitting in earlier before he and the other Brotherhood boys met that blonde woman and her three young charges...and got their heads kicked in. A smiling Clara was holding it out to him.
"It's tea." The blonde feral told him. "Drink up, earthshaker."
"...what?" Lance blinked, taking the cup. He then felt the bandage on his head.
"Yeah, sorry about that, kid." Clara apologized. "But you were trying to send me into orbit with a rock."
"...I suppose." Lance looked at the tea in his hands. He tentatively sipped the hot beverage. Huh. Not bad... "...what just happened?" He noticed that Todd was laying on the couch. Unlike Lance, Todd showed no signs of injury. In fact, he looked to be sleeping peacefully. "Where's Blob? And Quicksilver?"
"Who?"
"Blob. Big fat guy. Quicksilver. Silver hair." Lance described.
"Oh, right." Clara nodded. "Yeah, we left them outside. That big kid was...a bit heavy." Clara explained. Good God, the size of him. You'd need to be Hyperion to move him... "And as for Silver-head..." Craig walked into the room, holding a bottle of water.
"We left him outside because that's where you leave pets for the night." Craig said, sitting down in another chair. In his hand was a bottle of water. He glared at Lance. "You need to send your dog back to obedience school."
"Easy, Darkstar." Clara patted his shoulder. "It takes time and patience to train an animal. I should know."
"...he's going to be angry when he wakes up." Lance warned.
"Like I care." Craig snorted, taking a swig of water. "I've fought tougher than him."
"How'd you get him, anyway?" Lance asked.
"My little Darkstar is a clever little boy." Clara smiled proudly, pinching Craig's cheek. The former gang member groaned.
"I aimed for where he was going." Craig explained. "People try to attack speedsters by blasting at where they're at. But you have to anticipate where they're going."
"Oh. I see."
"Uhnnn..." Toad groaned, holding his head as he slowly sat up. "My head..."
"You alright, froggy boy?" Clara asked, giving the amphibious teenager a warm smile.
"Last thing I remember is..." Todd blinked. "Aw come on! Already bad enough that Grey witch beat me, now I got put to sleep by a glam rocker, yo! Why me?!"
"Uh..." Clara blinked at Lance. "Who is he talking about?"
"It's a long story." Lance sighed. "So...Clara Creed, right?"
"That's the name, earthshaker. Don't wear it out." Clara smiled.
"...wait..." Todd walked up to her and looked her over.
"No offense, kid. But you're a little bit young for me, and most women don't like being looked at like that."
"You kind of remind me of that Sabertooth guy." Todd noted. "You're blonde, got the fangs and claws..."
Not to mention that she's better to look at than old fangface. Lance admitted to himself.
Clara scowled. "Oh yeah, him. I have the misfortune of having him as a brother." Their jaws dropped.
"BROTHER?!" They exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah, brother." She sighed. She pointed at the burn marks on her face. "He's the reason why half my face looks like this." Todd and Lance looked at each other briefly.
"...damn, yo. Why'd he do that to you?"
"Because he could." Clara growled. "I...rather not talk about it."
"I hear ya." Lance nodded. "Hard to believe that nut had relatives."
"I can't believe it either. And I'm one of them." Clara nodded. She then smirked. "Jackass thought he killed me once. But he underestimated my healing factor." She smiled at Todd. "Cheer up, froggy. It could be worse. You could be related to Sabertooth."
"...I suppose, yo." He sighed. Clara walked over to him and got on one knee.
"You got quite the long face there, Froggy." The feral woman noted. "I'd dare say your mutation reflected a donkey, not a toad."
Toad looked over at Lance and Craig. "...it's nothing. Nothin' at all." He sadly hopped upstairs. Clara stared at the frog-like boy sadly.
"He seems down." She noted.
"Yeah, he's been in a bit of a funk lately." Lance said. The earthshaker considered what he should tell Clara about the recent events in Asteroid M. It would have been rather awkward to explain...even though Clara and her...wards? Yeah, wards. Clara and her wards literally crashed here on a spaceship. Maybe they wouldn't find Asteroid M so weird. Well, the name likely would be seen as weird at the very least. However, Lance was dragged out of his thoughts by a loud banging sound.
Pietro burst into the house. He angrily pointed at Craig. "YOU!" The speedster snarled as he stomped up to the former gang member.
"Oh look, you're not dead." Craig snorted. "Shame."
"You tried to blow my foot off! You tried to cripple me!"
"Pal, if I wanted to blow your foot off..." The LA native smirked at the speedster. "You'd be needing a prosthetic right now."
"He's not lying." Clara said, the smiling feral woman patting Craig's head. "My little Darkstar here can be pretty devastating with that little laser beam of his." Craig shot her a quick scowl.
"Had to get real good, real quick." He sipped his water.
"You think you're real hot stuff, huh?" Pietro growled as he got in the face of the boy with the black star birthmark.
"I don't need to march around and say I'm hot stuff, unlike your insecure old man-haired speedy ass."
"You wanna go, you little-?!" Pietro growled.
"Don't let that big fat ego of yours write a check your skinny seedy ass can't cash." Craig growled back, his black star-covered eye glowing a red hot angry purple.
"Now now, little Darkstar." Clara soothed by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's not threaten our hosts, shall we? We are guests, after all."
"Wait, you're staying here?" Lance blinked.
"Huh?" Pietro added.
"You expect us to just walk into a motel?" Craig grunted.
"We'll sleep on the ship. It's got quarters there." Clara assured the boys.
"Good, because I don't think we have room for you all here." Pietro scowled.
"Fine by me." Craig sneered as he looked around. "This place is a damned wreck."
Clara frowned as she looked around. Do these boys have any supervision? I never saw adults with them. Would explain hwy this house is like this...
Outside the Brotherhood House
"Ohhhhh..." Fred moaned as he woke up, holding his head. "Where am I?" It quickly came back to him. "Oh yeah..." He looked around. "Where is everybody? And where is that girl with the accent?" He punched his palm. "She ain't so tough without her fancy crossbow!" The powerhouse then heard a couple of voices from what seemed like nowhere. "Oh, man. Not ghosts, too..." He saw the cloaked ship's door open. "Oh. Yeah." He muttered as he saw Lila and Paul emerge.
"Hi there!" Paul waved at the Texan. "Enjoy your nap?"
"No hard feelings, right?" Lila added.
"...Not the first time a girl humiliated me." Fred grumbled. His scowl deepened as he remembered when he crossed paths with Jean for the first time. (A/N: In the episode "Mutant Crush")
"Well, it wasn't anything personal, mate." Lila assured.
"...yeah, sure." Fred muttered. The British-Indian interstellar teleporter tilted her head at him.
"Hit a sore spot, did I?"
"...I don't want to talk about it."
"Well, if you do, you can talk to us about it, if you want." Paul offered to the powerhouse. "We're gonna be a while, so...yeah."
Fred blinked at this. "Wait...you guys are staying here?"
"Well, technically we're staying on the ship, not in your house." Paul clarified. "But yes, we're kind of stuck, so..."
"Until we can get the engines fixed." Lila explained. "That's not going to be easy, though." Fred blinked again in confusion.
"...it's not?"
"Well, no." Lila admitted, rubbing the back of her head.
"The engines are pretty advanced stuff." Paul explained. "We can't just go to a local hardware store or RadioShack and buy the parts we need."
"...RadioShack?" Fred scratched his head. "What's that?"
"Electronics store, mate." Lila explained. "We could buy some stuff there and use the parts to help repair the engines." Fred frowned in thought.
"...I don't think we have a RadioShack here." The Texan mutant said. "But Toad may know for sure. He likes to tinker a bit."
"Wait, Kermit knows about this stuff?" Paul blinked.
"If he does, I could use another hand." Lila stated. "I may be the tech-head here, but I'm still only one person."
"Maybe he's up in his room." Fred looked up at the window to Todd's room. "HEY TOAD!" He called up at the window. In his room, he had come back to sulking.
Wonderful. Just wonderful. The amphibious mutant teenager grunted as he laid in his bed. First Red, now Star-boy. And he didn't even touch me! He just used some kind of mind whammy to make me all asleep! It ain't fair! Why does this stuff happen to me? Todd's parade of self-pity was interrupted with Fred's cry of "HEY TOAD!" ...what does Fred want? He went to the door and opened it. "Wha..." He saw a smiling Paul and Lila wave up at him. "...what do you guys want?" His tone showed how sullen he was.
"Hey there, Kermit!" Paul smiled. "The Big Guy here told up you like to tinker."
"What's it to you?" Todd scowled.
"I could use some help with fixing up the engines." Lila smiled.
"They ain't so bad, Toad." Fred said. "In fact, they're...pretty cool. The girl here hasn't made fun of me at all."
"Well, except for the time I called you a big dummy earlier." Lila recalled. "Sorry about that." Considering that I've seen things that would make you look outright like something out of the cover of GQ, big guy... The British girl thought.
Todd scowled at Paul. "Starboy there made me look like a damn fool!"
"I am sorry." Paul apologized sincerely. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I hypnotized you because you were ranting like crazy, and I didn't want to fight you. So, as much as I dislike using my hypnotic power, I thought you just needed to sleep it off." He smiled warmly. "If it helps, we can show you around the ship."
"Look at it like this." Lila added. "The sooner we fix the engines, the sooner we can get out of your hair."
"...Yeah, okay." Todd agreed. He carefully leaped down from his room's window and made his way to the three young mutants. "What do ya need me ta do?"
"Come on inside, Froggy." Lila waved as she walked inside, Todd following her. Paul and Fred watched the two go inside the ship. The two young mutants looked at each other.
"So, uh..." Fred rubbed the back of his head, struggling to make some small talk. "That star on your face...that funny makeup or something?"
"Nope." Paul shook his head. "It first appeared on my face after my powers emerged." He looked at Fred's gut. "Forgive me for asking, but is that the same for your belly?"
"I was...always big." Fred admitted.
"Ah." Paul nodded. The two stood in silence for a few minutes, looking around. "So...you wanna see the inside of the ship?"
Fred blinked. "Uh...okay." The two walked inside.
The Xavier Institute, the next day
"Hmmm..." Professor Charles Xavier frowned as he pulled his Cerebro helmet off his head.
"Picked up somethin', Chuck?" Logan asked.
"I think I may have, Logan." The bald man stated. "Last night, Cerebro picked up four new mutant signatures."
"Been getting plenty of those lately." Logan reminded. "We've got a bunch of new kids, remember?"
"Of course, but four at once?" Xavier responded. "It's odd." He punched up a display. "And one of them is from the archive." The bald telepath found himself thinking back to how he first created his mutant archive, using the files of a mysterious man named Tobias Messenger... *
"Aw, great." Logan groaned. "If it's another Juggernaut, I'm going to Japan."
"No...look." Xavier motioned to the screen. Said screen showed the face of Clara Creed.
"Creed..." Logan snarled when he read her name.
"Based on her mutation, not to mention her appearance, it appears she may be related to an...old friend of yours, Logan."
"Sabertooth is no friend of mine, Chuck." Logan said. "And I had no idea he had any relatives." He stared at Clara's image. His eyes narrowed at the blonde woman's face.
"Something wrong, Logan?"
"...I'm not sure." Logan said. "But I got this feeling that I've met her before."
"Hmmm..." Xavier put his hand on his chin in thought. "You have said that much of your past is unknown to you. Maybe you two crossed paths at some point."
"Maybe." Logan frowned. I'll have to look into this... "So, who are the other three?"
Irene Adler's home
The brown-haired blind woman raised her head in shock. She had fallen asleep on the couch, listening to the TV. She knew that her beloved Mystique was alright. Still, Irene Adler could not help but worry. She may have been a mutant with the power of precognition, but she was still only human.
"Oh, no..." She moaned when she received some visions. "Oh, no. No no no no no no no..." The woman got up. "She's found her way back to Earth. It's going to all go off the rails..." She headed towards a special cabinet in the room. Irene opened it up and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels with a shot glass. The blind woman frowned at the glass and put it back in.
Her next destination was the kitchen. She opened the fridge and pulled out a stack of cheese slices, all individually wrapped. Irene never understood why, but when she drank, she craved cheese. "Raven is going to be furious when she finds out Clara is back on Earth. She still hasn't forgotten that incident in Canada back in 1982." She muttered as she sat at the table and unscrewed the bottle. Irene had learned of that disaster...despite Mystique's being utterly quiet about it. Mystique had been hired to assassinate the Canadian Prime Minister at the time, Pierre Trudeau. However, Clara Creed (working as an agent of the Canadian government at the time) had helped foil it. Mystique got three of her teeth knocked out in one punch in a brawl during that whole mess. Pierre Trudeau had quite the devastating right hook.
"And she's going to be even madder when she learns how the paths of Clara and her kids will continue to intertwine..." Irene sighed as she started chugging down the liquor...
The Stranger first appeared in X-Men #11 (May 1965).
Pietro and Wanda Maximoff being Serbian by birth was established in Scarlet Witch #11 (December 2016).
Like the Stranger, Tobias Messenger is not an original character. He first appeared in X-Men: The Hidden Years #17 (April 2001), but was retconned to have appeared in Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 (July 1962). I figured his existence would explain how Charles Xavier had an archive of mutants in the episode "Survival of the Fittest", as in the comics, Messenger was searching for mutants before Xavier formed the X-Men...