The SuperStarr Chronicles
Disclaimer: "You're not going to pull a rabbit out of your medkit." - Miles O'Brien
Review Response Time!
Red Witch – Thanks! I'm glad you liked that scene with Logan and Clara. It was...a challenge to write. I wanted to show that Clara had her fair share of regrets regarding her sending Logan away. Thanks to her adventures over the decades, she's got a new understanding of Logan.
LycoX – Thank you! I'm glad you think so!
Chapter 8: Phantazia of the Rock Opera, Part 2!
The Xavier Institute
Jubilee and Sam waited outside the Cerebro room, a scowl on the Asian girl's face. Whereas Sam had remained in his civilian clothes, Jubilee had changed into her plain black training uniform.
"This is bull." Jubilee scowled. "This is nothing but pure unadulterated bull."
"Ah don't get why you want to know about this mission." Sam wondered.
"Because I've been overhearing about some of the adventures the X-Men get up to and they sound so cool!"
"Ah think they sound dangerous." Sam said.
"Yeah, but still..." Jubilee shrugged. "I just think it would be cool to fight a supervillain like all those new ones that have been popping up. You know, the Fantastic Four had recently stopped this invasion from this bug thing called Annhilus."
"Ah heard that spider guy fought some livin' lightning rod called Electro." Sam recalled. "Ah think there was another Electro running around back in the 1950s." He shook his head. Never mind that. "But isn't the X-Men about helpin' mutants like us?"
"Saving the world is doing that!" Jubilee countered. "I think the X-Men should be more public about what we do."
"Ah dunno." Sam frowned. "The Professor has said-"
"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy..." Jubilee shook her head with a smile. "Think about this. We can be used to soften the blow. Show that we're not a bunch of scary monsters. That we're..." Jubilee heard the door's room open. The firework factory grabbed Sam and hid around a corner. The two watched the X-Men leave and head for the X-Jet. The younger X-Men were conversing amongst themselves. The two "New Mutants" overheard the word "Cleveland" muttered, and Jubilee's eyes widened.
Cleveland! They're going to Cleveland! Jubilee's eyes widened. We could meet Kid Razor! Her eyes then narrowed. I've got to get on the X-Jet!
Location Unknown
"Ughn..." Eileen Harsaw groaned as she opened her eyes slowly. "What a weird dream..." She mumbled. She tried to move, but discovered that she was shackled. "Wait, wha-?" She looked around in a panic. She had discovered that she was restrained to what looked like a hospital bed. The blonde girl looked around, but the only light came from above, and she was surrounded by darkness. "Where...where am I?!"
"Ahhh, I see you are awake, my dear. I hope your slumber was pleasant." She turned and saw...an unusual figure walk towards her: A broad-shouldered purple robot. The robot's arms and legs were orange, the arms looking like the robot had been wearing loose orange sleeves and long purple gloves. The robot also seemed to be wearing purple boots, and a purple loincloth with a design of five yellow circles arranged in a star pattern.
The two most unusual aspects of the robot could be found on the upper body. Instead of a head, the robot had a purple rectangular camera-like box, its singular red lens peering down at the blonde girl. And finally, the chest. The chest had a very large screen that practically covered the entire torso, and it showed the image of a man's face. The face smirked as if it was trying to show warmth, but only exuded creepiness. Eileen gasped in shock at the sight of it.
"What-?!"
"Forgive my appearance, but that's the price one pays for immortality." The robot stated.
"Who, wha-?!"
"Ah, I see I am not familiar to you. Fair enough. My name is Arnim Zola." The robot introduced himself, adding a little bow for flair. "And you have piqued my interest recently."
"Wait, wha-! Me?!"
"Yes." Zola smiled. "You see, you are quite special, my dear. You got a little secret inside of your DNA."
"...What?!" Eileen exclaimed. "What're you talking about, you overgrown bootleg Transformer?!"
"Recently, I had managed to look into the work of a fellow expert on genetics. A man named Essex." Zola explained. "And he's been looking into a little group of emerging people known...as 'mutants'."
"Mutant-what?!"
"Mutants." Zola smirked. "My dear, my instruments have shown that you were blessed at birth to be quite a powerful young lady."
Eileen's mind raced. What is this camera-headed lunatic talking about?! Mutants?!
"It's why I was interested in you." Zola said. Eileen yelped as she saw what looked like a large round pale yellow-colored blob float towards her. "Please excuse Doughboy here. He helped me bring you here."
"What are you going to do to me?!" Eileen screamed. "I'm not a mutant-guh!" She fell asleep as Zola administered a sedative to her by the usage of a hypospray-like device to spray it on her neck. A man then approached Zola. He wore a gray uniform with black armored pieces. The ebony-colored shoulder pauldrons bore a logo of a white silhouette of a fist with a pair of white arrows crossing it.
"Ah, Commander Reinhardt." Zola greeted.
"Zola." The head of the Dark Watch answered. "I trust you will remember to pay us."
"Ah, as they say here, the check is in the mail." Zola answered. He then glanced at the sleeping Eileen. "In fact, I would like you and your men to help me test out my little mutant subject here..."
The Xavier Institute
Xavier and Logan walked the grounds of the Institute. Well, more like Logan walked. Charles Xavier rolled.
"Incredible..." Xavier noted. "1907? I knew your healing factor was extraordinary, but being alive in the dawn of the 20th century? That long ago? Are you sure that she was not lying?"
"I don't think so." Logan shook his head. "Nothing indicated she was lyin'." He looked at his hand. "She also said that I had these claws before I underwent the Weapon X process." He popped them out with their trademark SNIKT sound. "...I thought I got these from the process."
"So did I." Xavier agreed. "Well, at least we have some information about your past now."
"Yeah...It wasn't...quite like I expected."
"Are you alright, Logan?" Xavier asked.
"Just thinkin', Chuck..." Logan answered. "Clara and I were...close once, according to her."
Xavier smiled in amusement. "Ah, a former girlfriend."
"I guess so. And I killed one of her brothers." He shook his head. "I don't remember any of it."
"Well, at least we know that the Brotherhood will likely cause a bit less trouble for us with her in charge." Xavier smiled optimistically. "Who knows? She might be the one to bring out their better natures. After all, the X-Men did witness them fixing up their house..."
"I get the feelin' that they're going to just create a new brand of craziness, Chuck." Logan muttered.
Cleveland, Ohio
Brrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiing! The alarm went off as this normal day at the bank was interrupted. A group of masked men had decided to help themselves to the money contained within.
"Alright, everyone!" A man, face covered by a red balaclava, yelled at the bank's customers and tellers as he pointed a shotgun around. "Nobody play hero! This can stay nice and clean! We get the money, and nobody has to get hurt!"
"Fifteen seconds!" Another man announced, this one wearing a green balaclava. His attention was focused on a stopwatch in his hand. Meanwhile, the rest of this crew of thieves were emptying out the bank.
"Boy, he's new here, isn't he?" One of the customers muttered, secretly smirking.
"Time!" Green Balaclava announced.
"Alright, we're outta here!" Red Balaclava announced. "Have a nice day, everyone!" The group of robbers fled the bank. "The getaway car ready?"
"Yup!" Green Balaclava nodded. "Right around the corner!" The group turned said corner and saw...a smoking pile of slag parked next to the sidewalk. The robbers' jaws dropped. "The hell?!" The group looked up and saw a smirking teenager floating in the air above the car, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. His body was coated in white energy with rainbow-colored Kirby dots in it.
His hair was a golden mane. And he was dressed like a glam rock metalhead: A Metallica "Ride the Lightning" t-shirt with a blue denim sleeveless jacket. The jacket had lapels that had a zebra-striped pattern, and silver epaulets. Around his neck was a silver bandanna. His forearms were covered by black armbands with silver studs and short blue fringe.
The back of the jacket had a symbol on it: A golden razor blade with wings lined in silver. He had on blue jeans with golden razor blades painted on them, held up by a black belt with silver studs and a belt buckle of a silver razor blade. The jeans were tucked into a pair of white wrestling boots with black and blue fringe on them. The teenager's identity was concealed by blue, black, and white face paint. Across his chest was a black guitar strap, attached to a blue Flying V guitar with a zebra-striped pickguard. His smirk stayed as he moved his arm.
"Hi!" Kid Razor waved at the robbers. "The Kid of Rock saw this ugly-ass car on the road, so the Kid of Rock thought he'd just do the city a favor and, well..." He glanced down at the pile of burning slag that was once a car, then looked back at the robbers. "Make it a little more pleasant to look at."
"Oh, my car...he blew up my car..." Green Balaclava muttered. "I JUST MADE MY LAST PAYMENT ON IT!"
"Sounds to the Kid of Rock like you got ripped off, Pickle-Head." Razor smirked. "It was a really ugly car."
"...shoot him! Shoot the little smartmouth down!" Red Balaclava roared. The crew of robbers started firing at the flying teenager.
Razor frowned as he watched the bullets ricochet off his forcefield. "Man, you clowns are new here, huh?"
"Hold your fire! It's not working! Let's just get out of here!" Red Balaclava exclaimed. He and the crew grabbed their money bags and ran.
"My car..." Green Balaclava whimpered.
"Dude, we got enough here to buy a fleet of limos! It'll be fine!" Red Balaclava snapped. The group of robbers continued to run, Razor flying after them.
"Okay, buddy! Say hello!" The Kid of Rock 'n' Roll taunted.
"Huh?" Red Balaclava blinked. Then, what looked like a man appeared on the sidewalk in front of them. The man was tall and lithe, his hair wild and blond. He was dressed in a silver bodysuit with sea-green and blue lightning bolts over the shoulders, and matching boots. His face was painted with sea-green and blue lightning bolts coming down from his eyes. His body was coated in a blue aura.
"Boo." Ronnie Rocker grinned.
"AHHHHHHH!" The robbers screamed at the sight of the ghostly glam rock legend. Their distraction allowed Razor to fly down at the men and hand them a beating.
"Another day, another batch of morons get a rightful beating." Razor nodded in satisfaction as he wiped his biker-gloved hands. He then held out his hand, and a chain appeared in a flash of white-and-rainbow light. The teenage hero then tied the men up with the chain.
"You'll be hearing from our lawyers!" Red Balaclava yelled. Razor smiled and patted his head condensendingly.
"Sure, Hot Dog Head." The superpowered rocker mocked.
"Nice job, rockerboy." Ronnie complimented as he floated up.
"Can we even sue a ghost?" Green Balaclava asked.
"Naw, because he's awesome." Razor laughed. It was then that he and Ronnie noticed what looked like a civilian car drive up, a black 1968 Ford Mustang. The two noticed the siren on top of it, revealing that it was a police car.
"Razor, your buddies are here." Ronnie said.
"Ahhh, the Kid of Rock's two favorite cops." Razor smirked.
Two plainclothes cops emerged from the car. One was a tall stern-looking man with his dark hair in a high-and-tight wearing a brown trenchcoat, white shirt, brown slacks, and a slightly-undone red tie. The other was a dirty blonde-haired woman wearing a red sweater and blue jeans.
"Pole-ass-ski!" Razor grinned as he landed, holding his arms out wide like he wanted to hug the policeman. "How ya doin', ya clenched-up donut-sucker?"
"Ugh, you." Sergeant Harold Polanski grumbled.
"Hi, Razor." Sergeant Amanda Briscoe greeted, waving.
"Howdy, Briscoe! Lookin' better every day." Razor shot a wink at Briscoe, making the policewoman chuckle and shake her head.
"Hello, Razor."
"Officers." Ronnie stated.
"Hi, Ronnie." Briscoe waved.
"The Kid of Rock got these robbers all tied up for ya. You're welcome."
"Thanks, Razor." Briscoe said as she looked them over. "You guys must me new in town, huh?"
"Awwww, shuddup." Red Balaclava grumbled.
"Now now, you do know that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, right?" Briscoe teased.
"Briscoe, just arrest them already." Polanski sighed.
"Man, being a cop in Cleveland must be quite the...stressful job." Ronnie said.
"You and the rockerboy don't help." Polanski muttered. "I still can't believe I'm talking to an actual ghost." Polanski grumbled.
"Welcome to the world of the super, Sergeant." Ronnie smirked. "We hope you enjoy your stay."
"Ugh." Polanski grumbled. He then heard his car's radio crackle with a call. The Polish-American policeman went to his car, and grabbed the radio's speaker as another police car pulled up, containing a pair of uniformed officers. Briscoe guided them to the tied-up robbers.
"Polanski here."
"We got a call about a missing girl. Name is Eileen Harsaw. She vanished last night." The dispatcher announced. Razor and Ronnie looked at each other as they overheard this.
Aww, blast it. Razor thought.
"What's up?" Briscoe asked.
"Missing girl." Polanski explained. "Name's Eileen Harsaw."
"Oh, God..." Briscoe gasped in fear. Polanski nodded.
"We'd better get to her family's home." He noticed Razor looking at something. "The white things are called clouds, you dillhead."
"The Kid of Rock knows what a cloud is, ya muttonhead. He sees a plane flying."
"We have an airport here." Polanski said. "Likely a flight coming in or leaving." Briscoe pointed at the sky.
"That doesn't look like a passenger plane..." Briscoe frowned, shading her eyes with her hand. "How many airlines have black planes?"
Polanski pulled some binoculars from his car and peeked up at the plane. "That's no airliner. That looks more like a military plane."
"Hmmm...let the Kid of Rock see." Razor grabbed the binoculars from Polanski, making the officer gag.
"Gak! Razor! Let go of me!" The policeman yelped. Razor frowned at the Blackbird as he gazed at it with the binoculars. "Ack ack ack!"
"Yeah, let the Kid of Rock check this out." He said as he slapped the binoculars into Polanski's chest.
"Air!" The Polish-American man coughed out. "Razor, you-!" Razor took off before the policeman could say anything further to him. "Dammit blasted-!" Razor flew upwards towards the Blackbird.
Hmmm... The Juke Box Hero frowned as the sound of the X-Men's hearts beating hit his sensitive ears. The Kid of Rock hears one, two...eight heartbeats. Eight people in that jet. "Ronnie!"
"Yeah?" Ronnie asked.
"The Kid of Rock hears eight people in that jet!" Razor yelled.
"I'll check it out!" Ronnie flew up towards the cockpit and peeked in. Being a ghost, the rocker was able to make himself invisible to anyone he did not want to see him. The ghostly mentor peeked into the cockpit.
"What do you think this Harsaw girl is like?" Kitty asked. "I hope she's nice."
"From what we dug up about her, the kid's got a knack for electronics and machinery." Scott said. Hey, maybe she can help maintain the Danger Room!
"She evidently is one of the most accomplished members of her high school's robot-building team." Jean added.
"Ah'm sorry, but...robot-building team?" Rogue repeated in disbelief.
"Ja!" Kurt nodded. "You know zat show on TV? Ze one where teams build ze robots and they fight each other?"
"Yeah, that show is awesome!" Evan said.
"How does that...work, exactly?" A confused Rogue asked.
"My guess is that schools build robots and have them fight each other." Jean figured.
"Kind of like football for nerds." Evan joked. Ronnie silently observed the young X-Men.
Those outfits scream superhero. Ronnie thought. Razor and I have been hearing about the likes of the FF popping up, but nothing about these guys. He frowned. Been clearly active for a while if they have a fancy plane like this. Wonder how they got it? The ghost glanced at the back of the plane. Hmmm...there's another aura in this plane. My guess is they got themselves a little stowaway. That explains the eighth heartbeat Razor heard. That one is going pretty quick. He flew back towards Razor. Jean blinked and quickly glanced at the ceiling.
Did I just sense...nah. The redhead shrugged it off.
"Well?" Razor asked.
"Seven superheroes in the cockpit, and one hiding in the back." Ronnie said, jerking his thumb at the plane. "They were also talking about that Harsaw girl you told me about."
Harsaw? Razor rubbed his chin in thought. Yeah, I was right to think there's something funny going on with her. "Why would a bunch of superheroes be interested in her?"
"It's not unusual for superheroes to call on civilians to help them out." Ronnie noted.
"Yeah, but a teenage girl that builds robots? Why don't they bother Boring Nerd Richards? Or Drunk Nerd Stark? Or Crazy Nerd Pym? I'm sure they could build a friggin' robot! They likely have fancy labs that allow them to build robots!"
"What I noticed is that we have seen nothing in the news about these new superheroes." Ronnie frowned. "I mean, the media has reported on Stark, the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man and the Wasp in Jersey, that Hulk monster, and even Thor in New Mexico. Not to mention that Jameson guy's endless moaning about Spider-Man."
"You really think that whackjob with the hammer is really Thor?" Razor sneered. "There's only one God of Thunder, buddy. And his name is Gene Simmons."
"Trust me, Razor. I got a feelin' that dude's the real deal." Ronnie smirked. "After all, I did a bit of adventurin' back in the day myself. Met the First Line, too!"
"First Line, pheh!" Razor snorted. "Who cares? Most of 'em are dead! Besides, they'd be so jealous of me."
"I doubt it, Rockerboy." Ronnie laughed. "Let's follow the jet."
"Yeah, fine." Razor took off after the jet. "By the way, Ronnie! Any of those superheroes total babes?"
"One lady reminded me of Tina Turner." Ronnie answered. "Sang with her back in the 80s. But back on track, Razor. How come we haven't heard anything about these guys?"
"Kid of Rock don't know, Kid of Rock don't care." Razor smirked. "Whoever they are, if it turns out they wanna mess with the Forest City, they're gonna see what it's like to get an Cleveland-style heavy metal-powered beating, firsthand!"
The Harsaw Household
"Here you are." Briscoe handed the woman a cup of coffee.
"Thank you." Melinda Harsaw (nee Harris) smiled through teary eyes as she accepted the cup. Briscoe took a seat on the couch next to the woman. Andrew Harsaw sat on an armchair, while Polanski remained standing, arms crossed.
"Have you suspected that your daughter may be involved in any criminal activities?" Polanski asked.
"...n-no." Andrew answered. "Our Eileen is a good kid. She would never involve herself with gangs or anything like that." His voice showed a slight bit of outrage.
"Just considering every possibility." Polanski assured. "I've found that quite a few parents don't know their kids as well as they think."
"Eileen is not a troublemaker." Melinda insisted. "She likes to tinker with gadgets. Always has, ever since she was little. She's the captain of the school's robot-building team."
Polanski blinked in confusion. "...robot-building team?"
"Yes." Andrew nodded. "Like on that TV show. Teams build robots that fight each other."
"Oh yeah, I love that show!" Briscoe grinned.
"Yes." Melinda smiled proudly. "It's unusual, but our girl has a real talent. She wants to work for NASA one day, making probes and exploration robots for them."
"Well, that sounds like a wonderful goal." Briscoe complimented sincerely with a smile.
"Sheesh." Polanski muttered. Back in my day, kids played sports. A knocking was heard from the door. "I'll get it." Polanski said. The cop approached the door and opened it, revealing Storm, Cyclops, and Jean in civilian clothes.
"Hello." Ororo greeted. "I'm Ororo Munroe of the Xavier Institute. Are you Andrew Harsaw?" She got a badge flashed at her.
"Harold Polanski, Cleveland PD." Polanski introduced, showing his badge.
"My apologies, we must have come to the wrong house." Ororo smiled.
"I am Andrew Harsaw." Andrew announced. "We talked on the phone."
"I take it this is a bad time?" Ororo asked.
"I'm afraid so." Melinda nodded. "Our daughter Eileen is missing."
Oh, no... Scott thought.
"Perhaps we can help find her." Jean offered.
"And how you going to do that?" Polanski snorted in amusement. "You got a machine that can detect kids or something?"
"Maybe she does, hidden in her fancy jet." A new, familiar voice piped up. The three X-Men turned their heads and Polanski peeked out the door.
"Aw, hell..." Polanski muttered as he left the house. Times like this, I wish I could just put a bullet in this moron's brain. That would do wonders for my blood pressure. Briscoe and the three mutants followed the police officer outside. They saw a smirking Kid Razor leaning on the Harsaws' car, one foot on the door, and arms crossed. His magical guitar was strapped across his back.
"Oh God, not you..." Polanski groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You are like a damned bad penny, Razor!"
"Awww relax, Pole-ass-ski!" Razor laughed. "The Kid of Rock's here to help. Because he's awesome."
Ororo glanced at Jean. "I take it that this is that Kid Razor person Jubilee is fond of."
"I guess so." Jean "nodded". Razor smirked and walked towards Ororo and Jean. Well, more like strutted than walked. Kid Razor was a rock legend in the making! He was the living definition of swagger! He showed that in everything he did.
"Hey, things are lookin' up!" The Juke Box Hero grinned. "Hello, ladies."
"Charmed." Ororo and Jean chimed sardonically in unison.
Scott rolled his eyes. "Oh, brother."
"Razor, go away." Polanski groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Don't you have supervillains to go get into fistfights with?"
"Meh, the Kid of Rock is bored." Razor shrugged. "So here he is."
"Lucky us." Polanski muttered.
"What're you doing here, Razor?" Briscoe asked.
"What, can't the Kid of Rock hang out with some friends?" Razor teased. "Besides, the Kid of Rock's got a gut feeling that there's more to this whole thing than meets the eye."
"What are you, a detective now?" Polanski snorted.
"Use your brain, Polanski. That's what you're supposedly paid for, ain't it?" Razor sneered. "Missing girl, funny jet flies in the air over Cleveland, and now these two mega-babes..." He pointed at Jean and Ororo, then at Scott. "And King Dorkus the First here show up at the missing kid's house. You really think that's a coincidence?"
"What?!" Scott yelped.
"Especially since these three are among the superheroes I saw in the jet." Ronnie Rocker added as he appeared next to Razor. The three X-Men gasped.
"Is that a ghost?!" Jean yelped.
"Yes, it's a ghost." Polanski groaned. "God, I hate my life sometimes..."
"Oh, that's just Ronnie Rocker." Briscoe smiled in reassurance. "He's perfectly fine."
"At your service." Ronnie smiled and bowed dramatically. "In life, I was one of the greatest rockers ever. Now in death, I try and keep this dipstick from getting killed." He smirked and jerked his thumb at Razor, who sneered at him.
"You're lucky you're dead."
"Wait, you're...the Ronnie Rocker?" Scott blinked.
"The one and only."
"Ah, I know this isn't the best time, but...I'm actually pretty fond of your music." Scott admitted. "I listen to it when I'm fixing up my car."
"Nice to see your generation appreciates good tunes." Ronnie chuckled.
"I suppose he ain't so bad, then." Razor shrugged.
"So, you three are superheroes, huh?" Polanski said.
"...sort of." Ororo admitted.
"I thought I had sensed something in the jet." Jean frowned at the rocker.
"You guys should have some way of hiding your identity." Ronnie advised. "Quite a few superheroes wear masks or something like that."
"The Fantastic Four doesn't. Everyone knows who they are." Jean countered.
"Same with Captain America." Scott added.
"The Fantastic Four are a bunch of science nerds." Razor mocked. "All of them are nothin' more than wimps! And if Captain America were still around, he'd be a decrepit senile waste of space."
Yeah, I don't like this guy very much. Scott thought.
"Uhm...excuse me?" The heroes turned and saw Melinda Harsaw peeking out the door at them. "Are you all going to actually do anything to find our daughter?"
"Yes. We are." Polanski said. He glared at the X-Men. "I want some answers. Who are you, and what is your interest in the Harsaw girl?"
"They're from the Xavier Institute." Melinda explained. "They claimed they wanted to talk to us about Eileen."
"Xavier Institute?" Polanski frowned. "What's that?"
"A school in Bayville, New York." Ororo explained. "It's for...special students."
"Special students?" Razor snickered. "What, like the mentally disabled? Would explain this guy here." Razor jerked his thumb at the optic blaster.
"Excuse me?!" Scott exclaimed.
"You're not helping!" Polanski snapped at Razor. Meanwhile, the X-Jet was parked in a clearing. The other X-Men were hanging around it.
"God, how long can it take for them to talk to that girl's parents?" Evan asked as he played cards with Kurt. The two were sitting on the grass near the X-Jet. "Got any threes?"
"Go Hunt." Kurt answered.
"You mean Go Fish." Evan corrected as he picked up a card from the pile between them.
"Thank you." Kurt nodded. "American slang is something else."
"You'll get used to it." Evan assured. Meanwhile, Kitty and Rogue were sitting in the X-Jet's cockpit, relaxing in their own way. Kitty was playing Pokemon FireRed on a silver-colored Nintendo DS lite, and Rogue naturally had her nose in a book.
"Okay, I've arrived at the Power Plant. Now, where are you, Zapdos..." Kitty muttered to herself. She looked over and noticed that the cover of the book Rogue was reading was blank. It made the phasing mutant a bit curious. "Whatcha readin', Rogue?" Kitty asked.
"Some book about the Cleveland Torso Murderer." Rogue said.
"...the what?"
"Torso Murderer." Rogue repeated. "A serial killer who attacked Cleveland in the 1930s. Twelve people died at their hand."
"Why'd they call him the Torso Murderer?" Kitty asked.
"Because the murderer would behead and dismember his victims." Rogue explained.
"Dismember?" Kitty retched.
"That means take off the limbs."
"Uck!" Kitty retched in disgust. "Like, I don't get how you can read that stuff."
"Huh. Eliot Ness tried to find the killer." Rogue blinked as she read.
"Eliot Ness? Wasn't be played by Kevin Costner in that old movie?" Kitty asked.
Rogue nodded. "Yeah, but this was after the Untouchables days." The Southern mutant nodded. "It led to the downfall of his career in law enforcement."
"Wow." Kitty blinked. Back with Evan and Kurt, the two had continued their card game.
"Hey Kurt, you heard about that other new superhero showing up in New York?" Evan asked.
"Hasn't there been a bunch of them already?" Kurt blinked.
"My dad told me about him." Evan explained. "He's some guy who dresses up like a devil. Horns and everything. Fought some guy calling himself the Hooter or something." He shrugged. "Man, New York gets so many superheroes."
"Ja, that is funny." Kurt chuckled, glancing at his cards. "I wonder why that is. Anyway, Evan, do you have any...Evan?" He noticed the spike-maker's face was very pale, and his eyes were as wide as saucers. "Evan? Are you alright?"
"Kurt..." Evan mumbled. "Turn. Around. Slowly." The German mutant did so, and his own face paled and eyes widened.
"Howdy." Ronnie Rocker smiled, waving at the two mutant teenagers. "Welcome to Cleveland." he glanced at the jet. "Nice plane. I take it your flight plan was approved by the FCC?" The two boys screamed and Kurt teleported away.
"Rogue, what was that?" Kitty asked, looking up from her game.
"Likely the boys being stupid." Rogue answered, not looking up from her book.
"Ah, right." Kitty went back to her game. "Yes! I, like, caught Zapdos!" It was then that a pair of cars pulled up to the jet. One was Scott's red Mustang, the other was a black Mustang. "Look, Scott's back."
"And he's got friends." Rogue noticed Kid Razor landing nearby. Briscoe and Polanski emerged from the black car. The blonde cop whistled at the sight of the jet.
"Wow." She said. "This is some fancy jet."
Razor nodded. "The Kid of Rock thinks he saw this jet in that movie about those cars. You know, the one with that bald guy that's always grunting about family?"
"I highly doubt it was obtained through legal means." Polanski grunted. He noticed Evan looking around frantically around the landing gear. "Friend of yours?!" He called out to Scott.
"Yeah, that's Spyke." Scott nodded. "Spyke! What're you doing?"
"We saw something!" Spyke explained.
"What did you see-!" Scott started to ask.
BAMF!
He then found himself under Kurt.
"Whoa!" Briscoe yelped.
"I need a drink..." Polanski groaned.
"Agh!" Scott yelled. "Kurt, get off me!"
"Geist!" Kurt yelped out as he untangled himself from Scott. "Geist! Geist! Geist! Geist!"
"Nightcrawler, what are you talking about?" Scott exclaimed.
"He saw Ronnie." Briscoe realized. "'Geist' means 'ghost' in German." Ororo looked at her. Briscoe shrugged. "My grandmother's German."
"Razor, can you tell your pet ghost to knock it off?!" Polanski grumbled.
"Wait, what?!" Spyke exclaimed.
"You know this geist?!" Kurt yelped at Razor, who just smirked at him.
"Yup. He knows him, Elfboy." Ronnie appeared next to Razor. "Say hello to Ronnie Rocker."
"What is going on out here?!" Rogue asked as she and Kitty disembarked from the jet. "Oh."
"I suggest we get the introductions out of the way." Ororo suggested. The group introduced each other, and the X-Men explained themselves to the three cops.
"Wow." Briscoe blinked.
"X-Men, huh?" Razor frowned, crossing his arms. "So what do you X-Guys exactly...do? Just flying around trying to collect mutants like they're Pokemon or something?"
"So, you believe that the Harsaw girl is a mutant like you all, and you want her to come to your little school for mutant kids." Polanski realized.
"It's a place where she can understand her gifts." Ororo stated.
"But what if she doesn't want to go?" Briscoe asked.
"Yeah, Hot Cop here is right." Razor nodded. "What if she decided that your little Institute ain't right for her?"
"Razor, we're not going to bully her into it." Scott groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If she doesn't want to go, she doesn't want to go. It's fine."
"Well, that's good." Razor smirked. "Because the Kid of Rock would hate to have to humiliate you in front of your little friends here." Scott scowled at the rocker.
"You really want to take me on here?" Scott smirked. "Because I'd hate to have to humiliate you in front of your little friends here." He pointed at Polanski and Briscoe.
"Alright, let's just calm down with the overly-macho bull." Rogue sighed as she pulled Scott away from Razor.
"Rogue's right. Eileen is the priority here." Jean agreed. "Unfortunately, we have no leads."
"And no motive." Polanski added.
"It makes no sense." Briscoe shook her head. "If Harsaw is a mutant, who knows that?"
"How did you X-Men learn this?" Polanski asked.
"...we have a device at the Institute that can detect mutants." Ororo explained.
"What kind of device?" Briscoe asked. She noticed Ronnie staring at the jet. "You okay, Ronnie?"
"I counted seven of these X-Men. But Razor and I picked up eight people."
"Eight?" Scott blinked.
"The Kid of Rock heard eight heartbeats." Razor smirked, tapping his ear. "And Ronnie can detect auras."
"Auras?" Kitty asked.
"A sort of energy field that every person has." Razor explained. "Magicians can sense them."
"And so can certain supernatural beings." Ronnie added. He smirked at Scott. "I think you got a stowaway." The leader of the X-Men blinked, then ran into the jet, Ronnie floating behind him. "Here." Ronnie pointed at a locker in the jet. Scott opened it, and blinked at who was inside.
"Eh heh heh...hi." Jubilee waved at him, a nervous grin on her face, and wearing her training uniform.
"JUBILEE!" Scott yelled.
The Dark Watch originally came from the mobile game Marvel Strike Force.
Sam's remark about there being an Electro in the 1950s is a reference to the Ivan Kronov Electro. He debuted in Captain America Comics #78 (September 1954). He battled the William Burnside Captain America (The Captain America from Marvel's short-lived 1950s revival of the character).
As for "The Hooter", Evan is actually referencing Leland Owlsley, aka the Owl. He debuted in Daredevil #3 (August 1964). He appeared in the first season of the Netflix Daredevil series, portrayed by Bob Gunton.
And of course, Arnim Zola himself. He's a bit more famous, debuting in Captain America and the Falcon #208 (April 1977). You may be familiar with him if you ever saw Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, or the Agent Carter television series, portrayed by Toby Jones.