X-Men: Reimagined

not right now, but the next part of the story will begin in the next few days.
 
yeah..keep up the work. Im going to try and update mine atleast once a week. Im still figuring everything out.
 
Since I didn't really properly explain before, this is done in 'sections', which are basically smaller parts of a longer serial story, which is what this will be. Section 2 begins now. Enjoy.

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Two weeks had passed since the clash in D.C. Two weeks of bad press for the Xavier Institute and mutant-kind in general. William Stryker had used every resource he had to try and get the X-Men out of scrutiny. The government suspected them of nothing, and was, in fact, grateful for their help, but the general public was still weary. Senator Robert Kelly, Stryker's nemesis, had a field day with it. He was all over the political commentary shows, ranting about the evil, un-Godly mutants. He was also attempting to have the FBI investigate Stryker, who was communicating more regularly with Professor Charles Xavier, not knowing about the kidnapping of Stryker's wife. And in that situation, even Cerebro couldn't help Xavier find them. But while all this went on, someone else was doing just fine. Bolivar Trask's Project Wideawake had more support than ever, and production was phenomenal. Three Sentinels had been built already, and Trask was thrilled.

"Test the flak cannons!" He called, inside the hidden-away factory where the massive machines were built. A technician pressed a button, and the Sentinel's outstretched hand shook, smoked, and went slack, falling to the ground. "Dammit!" The other two had worked so well, but not this one. "Go get it retooled. Don't test the A.I. until it's in complete working order!" He went back to the working Sentinels, and practically salivated at them. Trask, a notorious mutant-hater, had created the perfect killing machines: an army of massive robots designed specifically to hunt down and kill mutants (though the government believed that there purpose was simply to police the mutants who were out of control). His dream had come true! All he needed now was to test the two Sentinels that currently worked on an actual mutant. That would have to wait, though, as he needed to wait for another mutant outburst to get clearance to deploy them. Luckily, if the events in Washington were any hint, he'd have his chance soon enough.


At the Institute, the Professor wasn't allowing his students out of the mansion for more than a few hours at a time. Every day, Xavier and the others watched the news around the clock, hoping for a little of the onslaught of anti-mutant sentiment to drop. One time, Ororo had chanced upon a talking-head show where the host, a big, burly man, had started screaming like a maniac at a scientist who dared say that there wasn't something in the mutant brain that caused them to be evil. It was not going to be an easy time. One day, after much begging from Kitty, Bobby Drake took the entire class to the city for the day, hoping not to cause too much commotion. It would be a day none of them would ever forget.

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I swear the next parts won't be so short. This was more an introductory installment. Hope you guys (aka: The Squirrel) are liking where I'm taking this.
 
Sara refused to remove her hood, despite Kitty's protests. Going to the mall was, in itself, a stretch for the shy Morlock. Kitty had insisted that she come, saying that it would do her good to be out and about. The intense media scrutiny put on the X-Men hadn't made them recognizable out of costume, so it seemed safe enough, but the stares Sara got from the hood that covered much of her face were still uncomfortable, more so to her friend than her.

"Sara, I wanna go into Abercrombie and Fitch, and I think you need to come too, but there's no way they'll let you in like that. You look like a druggie trying to steal stuff for a fix," Kitty insisted.

"Thanks, Kitty, that really helps," snapped the anti-social young woman. She looked at her younger friend and classmate. "Sorry. You just go in yourself, Kat. If you see anything I'd like, which I kinda doubt, just tell me later."

"Hey, Robin Hood!" Someone shouted, whistling. "Why don't you let us see your face?" Sara grimaced, and turned to face her admirer. It was a heavy-set bald guy wearing a white, albeit sweat-stained, beater. Sara, annoyed, removed her hood, revealing her bone-covered face. "Holy ****!" The man shouted. "Mutant freak!" The word mutant got people's attention.

"Uh-oh," Kitty whispered.



Betsy Braddock started glancing around, anxiously.

"Something wrong?" Ororo asked.

"People know about us, Ororo," Betsy said. "Someone's in trouble. Go find the others. I've got to help Sara and Kitty."



From the moment people started throwing things at her, Sara lost control, and started generating bones to fight with. Kitty begged her to stop, but Sara didn't listen. She began launching small spikes at people who still taunted, and at security guards who tried to stop her. Soon, the other X-Men arrived, and surrounded her. Piotr transformed into his steel form, blocking her from throwing more boney spines at the crowd, which began to gather again as it realized that the threat was under control. Bobby, extremely angry with Sara, ordered the entire class to return to the mansion before more trouble was caused.

Unfortunately for him, at least one news station who had been there to cover a fund-raiser had the commotion on tape, and was already having it broadcast. Aside from enraging several people, it was also seen by Bolivar Trask and his superiors. The oppurtunity to deploy the Sentinels had presented itself.
 
sorry the last two posts were so short. only times i've had time to write, i've only had so much to add, but i wanted to keep the story rolling.


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The vehicles taken by Bobby and the students were all together in a parking garage. Most of the group had gone in a blue S.U.V. with tinted windows. With the mall security looking for Sara after her outburst, Kurt Wagner had grabbed her and, in a series of teleports, put her securely into the large vehicle, under Bobby's orders.

"Dammit, elf, crack a window," Sara coughed. "That sulfur smell doesn't just go away!"

"I am sorry, Sara, but I was told to keep you hidden, and I can't risk giving us away," Kurt responded.

"You know, they'll probably just start looking around here, and find us then," she insisted. "Come on, I can't breath!"

"In time." Kurt stared anxiously out the window, hoping to see the others approaching. Minutes after they'd reached the car, he saw Betsy approaching, alone. Finally, much to Sara's satisfaction, Kurt opened one of the windows, just enough to speak to his classmate. "Betsy, where is everyone else? Are they okay?"

"I went ahead," said the English woman. "Bobby got stopped by someone from the press, and the others are just trying to get out without drawing attention. It's probably for the best that you went with Sara, Kurt, otherwise I don't think you could've gotten out easily, even with that trick you do."

"So do you know if anyone else is close?" The blue mutant asked.

"At the moment, no. I... I rushed a bit to make sure you two were here safely." Betsy instructed Kurt to unlock one of the doors, and she got in, still carrying a bag with some things she'd picked up at Bath and Body Works.
I'm sure they'll be along shortly."


"...She isn't used to that kind of attention, that's all!" Bobby snapped at the nosey reporter. "Listen, there was minimal property damage, which we can easily reimburse, and no one was seriously hurt, now please just stop bothering me."

"But Mr...?"

"Drake."

"Mr. Drake, aren't you concerned for the people who were stabbed-"

"Stabbed!? Stabbed!?" He threw up his arms in frustration. "Two people got pricked by those damn things, lady! If they'd been stabbed, tthis'd be a problem, but I bet they've gotten bee-stings worse than that. I looked at both of them, and one wasn't even bleeding. The man who was was the one harassing her anyway, and even then, all it did was leave a mark on that stupid 'I Love Beer' tattoo on his shoulder. It was a mistake coming out here today, and the last thing we need, especially after how you hacks have been reaming us since Washington, is some no-name sensationalist trying to get ratings by making it look like Scarface introduced his little friend in the middle of the damn food court!" Bobby stopped to take a breath. "Now, what's your name?"

"Trish. Patricia Tilby," the reporter said, a little frightened.

"Listen, Trish, I'm not in the best of moods right now, and I was trying to save most of my ire for that girl, but you are seriously pushing me. You gonna leave us alone? I know some great lawyers, if you won't."

"Fine." Tilby ordered her camera-man to turn away and head out to their news-van. "What's wrong with you?" Bobby's eyes narrowed.

"Alot of things!" He snapped. While she rarely told people about it, that unlucky reporter would never forget how horribly cold his breath was at the end of their conversation. Bobby himself stormed off, joining Ororo, who had stayed behind to wait for him as he shook off the reporter.

"Wow, Bobby," she said, "you really let her have it."

"Sometimes," he said, taking a beat for effect, "you need to let them have it."


Forge, Logan, Kitty, and Piotr found the S.U.V. where three of their classmates were waiting. Next to it, there were two motorcycles, which Logan and Forge drove. They got on them, and said that they'd go ahead to the Institute, and told the others to be extremely careful on the back. Logan waved, and drove off, with Forge following shortly. A few minutes later, Bobby and Ororo reached the vehicle, and got in the front seats.

"Sara," Bobby said, coldly (no pun intended). "Do you know what your actions could mean?"

"What? Some slob gets an infection?"

"Sara!" Bobby roared. "This isn't funny! Look, we all know the media's given us all sorts of **** since we took on Magneto's goons in D.C., even though we were the ones trying to stop them, but that does not mean we have free reign to just cause problems everywhere. You need to control yourself. I'll let the Professor decide how you're punished." He saw her shrink back into her seat in the mirror. "I know you aren't used to this kind of thing, but you still have no excuse for such a lack of self-control."

"Come on, Bobby," Kitty protested. "That guy was being a creep."

"What about those other people? She still scared the hell out of all of them, and we really can't have anything like that right now. The whole reason Xavier puts these classes together is to teach mutants how to control what they can do, and to break the stereo-types that people like Magneto, or that psychic creep from those carnivals in Virgina have set. Anything like this is kind of a step back for us."


Over the city, people were pointing at the two things flying across the sky. Bolivar Trask's first two completed Sentinels were scanning for any mutants that were in groups, in the part of Manhattan where the report of the mutant attack had come from. Their scanners picked up two mutants traveling through the streets on motorcycles. Far below, Logan noticed the strange shadows, and slowed down to look up.

"Hey Forge!" He called. His companion pulled over, and spotted the Sentinels. "Any idea what those are?"

"Umm... they look like big robots," Forge said.

"Thanks, Einstein, but have you seen them before? You're the big techie guru."

"Can't say I have." Then it hit him. "Logan, they're coming down! I think they're after the two of us!" The two mutants started their bikes up, and zoomed off, weaving through the semi-crowded streets.


On the radio, Bobby and the others heard about the two massive robots. The station had been informed that they were a new government project, designed to deal with mutant threats. They were searching for the mutant who had caused commotion in the mall. Bobby gunned the engine, and took off.


Hank McCoy had gotten on the phone to his superiors at the former Avengers' mansion immediately after seeing the Sentinels on television. He was told that they were merely there to contain a possible terrorist threat. He didn't care. Those things were much bigger than any 'police' needed to be. The former X-Man estimated them to be each about twenty-five feet high, and God-knows-how-heavy. The station he had on followed them all the way to the ground, where he recognized the two unfortunate mutants immediately. They were two of the Professor's new students, and they needed help. McCoy bounded out of his office, and down to the lower level where his patient for the last few weeks, the strange man who called himself 'Bishop', and was dressed strangely like an X-Man when he'd first been discovered, was being housed.

"He's being moved! I've got to work with him in some different settings! I've got clearance!" He'd shout to various people who tried to question McCoy as he dragged the confused Bishop out.


"SURRENDER." One of the Sentinels said, in it's creepy, robotic voice. "DO NOT MAKE US USE FORCE."

"Eat it, Kilroy!" Logan yelled, popping out his claws. "We didn't do ****!"

"Easy, man," said Forge, who had removed the glove concealing his bionic hand. "It might just be confused."

"NEGATIVE, MUTANT." The other Sentinel said. "YOU ARE IDENTIFIED AS 'PATTERSON, FORGE-OF-THE-ANCIENTS'. THE OTHER IS 'X, LOGAN'. YOU ARE BOTH MUTANTS."

"Hell of a first name, Forge, but Patterson?" Logan asked.

"Speak for yourself. Were you pissed when your uncle Malcolm got shot?"

"DISCONTUE CONVERSING AND SURRENDER." Said one of the Sentinels, still completely flat in its tone. "SENSORS INDICATE MORE MUTANTS APPROACHING." Both Sentinels turned to a corner, where the S.U.V. which carried the other X-Men was turning. It stopped, blocking a few cars carrying people who hadn't been able to get away from the massive robots earlier. "ORDERS ARE TOO APPREHEND ALL MUTANTS. SURRENDER NOW, OR FORCE WILL BE USED."

"Bring it!" Logan snapped, springing into the air, ready to slice into the robot, which simply swatted him away.

"MUTANTS HAVE BECOME VIOLENT. FORCE AUTHORIZED." The Sentinel extended its arm, and a beam shot out, hitting Logan before he could get back up.

"Logan!" Ororo yelled. "Bobby, those things are going to kill him!"

"****," Bobby muttered. He clenched his fists, and watched them start to turn to ice. "Okay then, X-Men, let's deal with these things." Ice covered his whole body; Piotr transformed into his large steel form; Ororo took to the sky; the others all stood behind their leader, bracing for a fight. "Nightcrawler, grab Wolverine and bring him into one of these stores. Colossus, Storm, you two come with me and help Forge out. The rest of you, make sure none of the people here get hurt. Go!"



"What the hell is going on?" Bishop demanded. "Doc, I've been cooped in their for weeks, and now you're dragging me out like the place is gonna explode."

"Xavier's students are in trouble, Lucas. I think you can help them."

"And if I can't?"

"Then," Hank McCoy said, "God help us."



"Does anyone have any aloe?" Nightcrawler asked, desperate for something to say to the scared people inside a book store where he'd teleported his injured friend.

"Leave 'em alone, elf," Logan said, gaining some composure back in his voice. "Give me a little time, and I'll be alright." As his skin was horribly burned, and he sounded like he had just been hit by a car, Kurt found this hard to believe.



Forge dodged a Sentinel's foot, and, with his bionic arm in it's gun-shape, shot at it. The blast was nowhere near what had hit Wolverine, but it still had the potential to seriously damage something, which he'd done on accident before. It did little but char the outside of the robot. The other had lifted into the air on rocket-propelled feet, and was chasing Storm. From below, Iceman froze one of its feet, throwing it off balance. It went careening towards a building, but slowed down. Iceman noticed the strange purple glow around it, and saw Psylocke concentrating on the robot, trying to slow it down.

"Iceman, I can't stop it!" She shouted desperately.

"Colossus, can you grab it?" Iceman asked. The steel mutant nodded, and bounded away. "Psylocke, try and guide it to him! Storm, use some wind to help her out!" He turned his attention to the other one, which Forge was still trying to evade. He raised his hands, and the air above him started to freeze. When the moisture above him had become a large ball of solid ice, he shoved it at the Sentinel, propelling it with more ice. The ball smashed into it, knocking the robot down, causing it to smash a sidewalk and a parking meter. Behind him, Colossus had torn the head off of the other Sentinel. The body, however, was still flailing, and had started to blast blindly. Storm headed higher into the air, and shot a bolt of lightning at it, frying the circuits. The head, which Colossus had dropped to the ground, start shooting smaller blasts from its eyes, hitting the X-Man, and causing him to stumble and fall over. Psylocke jumped out of the way before he could fall into her.



"Are you sure the Army, or the police won't handle this?" Bishop asked. "Man, I barely even understand what my power is!"

"Neither do I, Bishop," Hank said, "but I doubt the authorities are intervening, and they'll need our help."



As the X-Men battled the remaining Sentinel, and tried to dispose of the head of the other one, more shadows fell over them, and they all knew that more had arrived. Three more Sentinels descended, ordering them, like before, to surrender.
 
BEFORE WE CONTINUE, IT'S A SPECIAL BEHIND-THE SCENES LOOK AT XM:R.

I just found out that my old 'LOEG' story, and the Neverending tale that I and a couple of other people had been doing for while are gone. Tis a shame, but, well, I ran out of steam for 'LOEG' about halfway through, and the Neverending bit was just getting confusing. I'll just say that the 'LOEG' story was coming to a confrontation by the League (they were going to officially name themselves that at the end), and Moriarty and his Green Men army, along with an 'evil League' (consisting of Lestat, the Headless Horseman, Dr. Moreau and his Ani-Men, Captain Ahab, and Frankenstein's Monster, which would lead to a rematch with Mr. Hyde). As for 'Neverending', well, who the hell knows? That's the thing about having collaborative efforts like that. Anyways, I'm no longer feeling guilty for abondoning something else, when I could always just go back to it.

In an early entry, I said to 'spot the Dark Angel reference'. The reference was that Marrow's full name in this, Sara Rutherds, was used as an alias by Max in an old episode of that show, which really shouldn't have been canceled, but that's neither here nor there. On a similar note, the circus freaks that Blob was friends with are all actual circus-freaks from the 20s. They are slightly famous to those who care about this kind of thing for having parts in the classic drama "Freaks", about a group of circus freaks (I'm going for a record with that word) who attack a trapeze star and her strongman lover who try to kill one of the dwarves for his inheritance. The acting is pretty bad, but it's a worthwhile movie to see.

In regards to where to where this story is going, I can't give too much away, otherwise it'd be dull. I will say that you'll see plenty of other X-characters and Marvel characters in general in, at the very least, cameos. The Sentinels will, obviously, play a major role, as will the Brotherhood's kidnapping of Destiny. It will go through alot, but nothing excessive or cluttered, and you'll definitely know when the end is approaching. I can't say how long I'll spend writing this, but right now, my creative juices are flowing pretty smoothly. I may post more of the actual story tonight, if I feel up to it. Right now, I'm just indulging myself. On another note, my attempts to get someone to draw some of the events of the story has failed, which is a shame. Oh well.

CAST INTERVIEWS

XAVIER: Well, the hours are good here. I was doing "Miss Saigon" for awhile in Des Moines, so this is a welcome change. And it's good that I can be open about being a parapalegic in plays not about Eisenhower. Eisenhower was the handicapped one, right? I failed history.

WOLVERINE: This is alright, but I'm a bit of a workaholic. I'd love to be in four places at once, with several groups doing completely unrelated things. That's more my thing. Think I can get that in my contract? And why didn't I get to fight the robot? I mean, I'm uber-powerful, right? Ah, screw it.

FORGE: I told them not to let anyone know my last name, dammit! Oh well. As long as the world never knows that my real name is 'Otis'. Hey, wait....

PSYLOCKE: Am I actually someone? Do I do anything good?

SABRETOOTH: I'm actually a Buddhist in real life. Alot of people don't know that. Free Tibet!

coming soon: a real installment to the story. i just felt like having some fun.
 
and now, the real story continues:

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Colossus grabbed the still-active Sentinel head, and flung it into the other robot that had already landed. The head hit in the same place as Iceman's attack, putting a hole through it. It stumbled and fell, as the three new Sentinels descended.

"NINE MUTANT SIGNATURES DETECTED." One of them said. "CLASSIFIED AS HOSTILE. OBJECTIVE: DESTROY."

The X-Men gathered in front of them. Iceman ordered Storm into the air, telling her to distract any of them if possible. As she took to the sky, he, Forge, and Colossus charged. One of the Sentinels followed Storm into the air, and the other two stood their ground. Iceman and Forge blasted at them, each taking one, while Colossus got up close, keeping them to busy to retaliate. In the air, Storm called down a lightning bolt from the very clouds above her, much stronger than one from her hands. It hit the Sentinel, temporarily stunning it. Before it could hit a building, it regained control and went back after her, one metal fist outstretched. She spread her arms and legs, and powerful winds began to blow around her, aiming at the robot. Despite it's powerful flight system, the Sentinel couldn't withstand the winds. Storm chased after it, directing it to the harbor.

Colossus rammed his steel shoulder into one of the Sentinels, knocking it down. Iceman froze the head of the other, before jumping out the way of one of it's blasts. Forge blasted the frozen head, burning a clean hole in the middle of it.

"SATTELITE/RADIO UPLINK DAMAGED." Said the monotone machine. "VISUAL SENSORS DAMAGED."

It shot again, this time at Forge. He tried to side-step, but not in time. The blast hit his machine arm, blowing it clean off.

"****!" Forge shouted. "****! Guys, cover me!" Iceman put his hand out in front of him, and froze the ground ahead of him, making an ice-slide to move more quickly, stopping when Forge was behind him. The Sentinel turned it's attention to the more experienced mutant, who used his ice-slide to quickly evade the robot's attacks. It's head, still frozed, shattered, revealing the machinery inside. Iceman saw Marrow leaping into the fray, throwing bone knives, and severing the circuitry.

"SWITCHING TO..." The Sentinel began slowing it's speech down, and it's voice became much deeper. "TOOOOO.... SECONNNNDARY COMPUTER." It flailed it's arms around, shooting rays into the surroundings, destroying public property. One of the feet stopped moving, and then the other, and it fell to the ground. Shadowcat, who had barely moved from her spot behind the others before, phased through the fallen Sentinel's body.

"I- I can mess with computers," she said to her stunned team-mates. "I heard it say 'computer', and I went for it."

From behind her, the other Sentinel came roaring back on it's jets. It was battered, but Colossus, who was chasing it, hadn't done any vital damage. It dodged Kitty, and headed for the others, who quickly moved out of its path.

"CHANGE TO PRIORITY MUTANTS." It could be heard saying.

"Priority?" Forge, still holding his shortened arm, wondered. The Sentinel headed for the book store to its right. "Guys! It's going after Wolverine!" The X-Men scrambled, until the Sentinel stopped. There was a smoke burst, and Nightcrawler and Wolverine appeared.

"I didn't want it to hurt the people inside," Nightcrawler said. Wolverine appeared to have mostly recovered from his hit.

"This one's mine!" The short X-Man growled, popping his claws. The Sentinel shot at him, but he was able to leap away, faster than the others so far. Wolverine sprung out, and buried his claws into the Sentinel's arm, clawing his way up, where the robot couldn't attack him. He got to its head, and hacked away, tearing its face away. The robot gave the speech about losing vision, and switching to the secondary computer. He jammed his claws into it's back, and slid down, leaving gashed all along the way. The Sentinel tried to turn, but Wolverine had horribly messed up its systems, and it practically tripped on its own feet. Storm who had returned in time to see the last robot dispatched, set down.

"Logan, are you alright?" She asked.

"Don't worry 'bout me, cutie. I've taken worse." He retracted his claws, and joined the group. "How'd yours go?"

"I got it into the harbor, and it hasn't come out."

"Then what do I hear?" Wolverine asked, annoyed. "Are you sure you destroyed it? Otherwise, there's another one pretty close!" A Sentinel with a charred body hovered above them.

"DISCONTINUE RESISTANCE." It boomed. Holes in its palms and chest opened, and it started shooting.

"Move!" Iceman called. The mutants scattered, dodging the rays. A car's tires screeched near them.

"MORE MUTANTS ARRIVING."

The X-Men saw Henry McCoy and Lucas Bishop, the former X-Man and the mystery mutant, respectively, jump out.

"Hank, what are you doing here?" Iceman asked.

"Let this guy show his stuff, Bobby! I think you'll like what you'll see," the one-time Beast replied. "Bishop, I only have a partial idea of what your power does, but I need you to take a blast!" Puzzled, Bishop did as he was told, getting hit and being knocked down. His hands glowed orange. "It's working like I hoped it would!" Beast said to Iceman. "Now, Bishop-". Bishop didn't need to be told what to do. He extended his hands, and emitted a powerful beam, hitting the Sentinel dead in the chest, and causing it to explode in the air.

"Wow! Aww, this is comin' back to me!" Bishop exclaimed. "Any more?"

"Hope not," Iceman said. "Hank, we need to get back to the Institute before more of those things find us. You should come, and bring the newbie!"

Beast and Bishop got into their car, following the others, who headed to the Xavier Institute in a hurry.



At the Institute itself, Professor Xavier had seen everything on the news.

"This is very bad," he muttered to himself.
 
To explain the slowdown, I wasn't in town for a bit.

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The cars and motorycles carrying the X-Men raced through the gates into the Xavier Institute, where any intruder would not be able to get to them safely. Long ago, Professor Xavier had installed a defensive system that would give Fort Knox a run for its money. Iceman punched in the code to turn the defenses on, and everyone had a chance to breathe.

"Hank, what in God's name are those things?" Bobby asked his former colleague.

"I don't know," Hank responded. "If they're government, they're new to me."

Everyone, came the familiar voice of Charles Xavier, hurry inside. If there are more of those robots, this will be the only place we're safe. That includes you, Hank, and our mystery friend.



"I've put the word out to all of the former students," Xavier said. "These machines are gunning for mutants. I've contacted General Stryker, and he's pulling strings to find out what attacked you. Hank, Mr. Bishop, I have to thank both of you for your help earlier."

"It was Dr. McCoy's idea," Bishop said. "I- I didn't even realize I could do that. Neither did he." He guestured to the Beast.

"I had an idea, but I wasn't 100%," Hank said. He shifted in his seat, down in the affectionately titled 'war room' of the Institute, one of the building's safest spots.

"Guys!" Kitty Pryde interrupted, excited. "Check out the news!" The X-Men turned their attention to the television on one wall.

"Sources on Capital Hill say that the chaos in Manhattan this afternoon stemmed from the violent mutant outburst in a shopping center shortly beforehand," reporter Trish Tilby, the woman who had harrassed Bobby, said. "I was able to speak to one of the mutants before they left the initial scene." It cut to Bobby snapping at her, and back to the live broadcast. "We're being told that the man injured in the attack on the shopping center, while not seriously injured physically, is being treated for mental trauma. Sources say he was accosted after asking a young mutant woman the time."

"Bull-****!" Marrow snapped. The others glared at her.

"The mutant we spoke to is Robert Drake, who was once a member of the militant mutant activist group the X-Men, where he went under the pseudonym 'Ice Man'. The X-Men were funded and trained for several years by philanthropist Charles Xavier, a psychiatrist and physician whose research into the mutant species has provided countless pieces of information about them. No word on if he ordered this attack. The robots that confronted them are, and we've just received word on this, a new mutant police force recently comissioned by the White House, called 'Sentinels'. Their mission was to arrest the offending mutant without using violence, but were forced to act when the other mutants traveling with her attacked. Several Sentinels tried to intervene, but were destroyed. The police were told not to interfere. Also, it is reported that each of these Sentinels costed well over a million dollars."

"Well now," Logan said. "That wasn't unbiased now, was it?"

"I'm going to try and get back in touch with Stryker," Xavier said. "Hank, I'd recommend you try and speak with your superiors, and soon. I doubt they will be happy with your involvement here. And Sara, I'll want to speak with you when I'm done with Stryker. In the meantime, I want everyone to remain indoors. I have a feeling that this is not the last we'll see of these 'Sentinels'."



Magneto stood out on his balcony, contemplating this new threat. He himself would very likely not have trouble with the Sentinels, but his Brotherhood were not powerful in the way he was. He thought of the rantings from the blind woman, Irene, and how something was coming that would threaten everything Magneto cared about. This must be it, he thought. He would not allow the Sentinels to interfere with is vision. He would find more mutants sympathetic to his cause, and destroy the robots once and for good.
 
A week after the ordeal in Manhattan, Dr. Henry McCoy sat on one end of a long table, filled with high-ranking government officials, all of whom were involved with the activities at the former Avengers' mansion.

"Dr. McCoy," the undersecretary of state said, sternly, "no matter what you thought was appropriate, this action was... it was... Well, dammit, it was inappropriate!"

"Mr. Undersecretary, I am supposed to be informed of all government action regarding mutant activity," McCoy said. "The people involved in this Wideawake operation went over my head. I thought that they were an outside threat, and they were targeting mutants, one of which is an old friend of mine. I did what seemed necessary."

"And what about removing the patient?" Another suit asked. "Even you did not have clearance to remove him, despite what you convinced security the day of these events. Who gave you the clearance?"

"Well, sir-"

"Dr. McCoy, who gave you the clearance?"

"I did," a man said, entering the room.

"Secretary Stark, how good of you to join us," the undersecretary of state said. Secretary of Defense Anthony Stark entered.

"Mr. McCallister, kindly shut your mouth," Stark said. "I contacted Dr. McCoy when I found out about the Sentinel deployment. I asked him to keep them in line, and to bring his patient. It was part of the Doctor's testing, to see how he'd react. Since the Sentinel's were clearly out of line, Dr. McCoy did as he should have. Now, as I outrank all of you, I'm adjourning this meeting. Dr. McCoy is a loyal official of the United States government, a former Avenger, and did as he felt was right, which I agree with."


"Thank you, Tony," Hank said, as they entered the mutant's office. "Though you realize that they'll check communication logs to verify your story."

"Hank, old buddy, you underestimate me," Stark said. "I changed the records myself on the way over."

"You nerdy devil, you."

"I'm pulling out for you, Hank, just make it worth it. In the meantime, I'm going to have a talk with a Bolivar Trask, the man behind Wideawake. I'll give you what I find out from it later," and with that, Secretary of Defense Stark got up, waved, and left. Hank looked at the photos on the wall of the two teams he'd served on. One had the nine original members of Xavier's class; the other featured Hank as an Avenger. He, the ape-like mutant, crouched in the middle of the group, with that legion of amazing heroes. There was long-haired muscle-man Thor; red and orange clad Iron Man (now simply Secretary Stark); everyone's idol, Captain America; monsterous green Hulk; Xavier's step-brother, the Juggernaut; Yellowjacket, Tigra, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, Daredevil, Beta Ray Bill, Elektra, Doctor Octopus, Quicksilver, the Ghost Rider, Firestar; it was a mass of legends, and the Beast was one of the last to join. He felt priviledged sometimes, but he wasn't always sure he belonged there. It was times like this that he missed the X-Men.
 
thanks. yeah, i thought i'd add that odd little line-up. it's nothing central to the story, but i do plan on having him make a brief cameo. i also don't think beta ray bill was ever an avenger, but this is my story, and things are at least slightly different here. also: omega red as a brotherhood member, yay or nay?
 
nay. Omega Red as a counterpart to Magneto - another intelligent powerful mutant with loyal followers.
 
Team work could be a real joke sometimes, thought Wolverine. He enjoyed the other X-Men, but he was, by nature, a loner, and couldn't always deal with all of these other people. He had been training in the Danger Room with Storm, who seemed to have some kind of annoying crush on him, and had gone through an obstacle course ahead of her, which made her very angry. He didn't understand why, seeing as she made it across just fine. But she had *****ed him out for it, saying that he needed to cooperate, and Iceman had sided with her. He really didn't need that some days. Then there was the matter of Bishop, the strange new guy that everyone was lavishing attention on. He was glad that they were diverted, but hearing so much about the mysterious mutant just got annoying after awhile. That Beast had gotten his superiors to allow Bishop to stay at the Institute just meant that it wouldn't end for a long time. While Logan thought, thunder rolled across the sky.

"If Ororo's behind that, she's gonna get it," he muttered under his breath. He proppled himself up from the Lotus Position that he'd been sitting in outside, and wandered in. The other X-Men were gathered in the Danger Room, which had been rigged by Forge into an IMAX movie theater.



Outside, in the pouring rain, it charged. The ground shook, trees buckled, and animals had to find new hiding places. It had decided that it was taking on the X-Men today, and nobody got in its way. The 'it' was a 'he' at one point, but mistakes had caused 'him' to become something strange. The Rhino didn't want to be a freak anymore, and the best way, in his head, to make people see that he was normal, was to kill mutants.



As the X-Men watched "Master and Commander", Charles Xavier winced. Someone was coming.

Betsy, he projected to Psylocke, do you sense that? She closed her eyes for a moment.

Yes. She replied. Who is that? Is he a mutant?

I don't know, but I'm going to check Cerebro. I'll tell Bobby before I leave.


The Rhino finally came to the wall blocking the property of the Institute. He easily crashed through it, turning the portion that had been in his way into rubble. He looked around, hoping to see the mutants emergin. Instead, machines began emerging from various places; plants, walls, the ground. The machines had guns attached, which began firing energy blasts, though the ones that hit only bounced off of him or fizzled off.


The movie in the Danger Room stopped.

"Hey!" Kitty called. "What happened?"

X-Men, we're under attack, Xavier said to them. He is not a mutant, but he's powerful. Iceman and the students got up and went outside, where the Xavier Institute's defense systems were being smashed to pieces by the Rhino.

"Ha! It's about time you freaks show up!" The Rhino called.

"Baldy cut the movie for this?" Logan snarled. He popped his claws. "Well, let's get to it."

The Rhino lowered his head, pointing the horn on his head forward, and charged. Wolverine jumped up, and slashed at his back when the Rhino passed under him. Colossus, fully armored, chased after him from the ground, while Storm and Iceman both went through the air. Iceman, moving rapidly on his slide, put up a wall of ice in front of the Rhino, who simply smashed through it.

"Storm, give him a gust!" Iceman commanded. Storm complied, generating a small tornado that linked the ground and a low-flying cloud that she'd also created, which lifted the Rhino up and tossed him several yards back, away from the building.

"You can't do that!" Rhino screamed, brushing dirt off of his gray hide.

"Like hell we can't!" Marrow bounded in, jumping on his back and hacking at his neck with chunks of bone jutting from her arms. They had little effect, if any. The Rhino grabbed her, and slammed her into the ground. He lifted his foot to stomp on her, but Shadowcat managed to grab her and phase her before he could connect. He swiped at the two young mutants, but his hands only passed through them. Colossus crashed into him, sending him flying. He grabbed the Rhino's horn, and called for Wolverine, who raced up, raised his claws, and slashed the horn clean off.

"What did you do to me?" Rhino cried. He felt around his now horn-less forehead, and remembered the slashes from Wolverine on his back. He sat down on the ground, in a very awkward position, and cried. "I'm just a freak!"
 
The truck carrying a chained-up Rhino pushed through the snowy night. Several guards were in it, holding guns pointed at the humiliated strong-man. Nobody expected the transport to be interrupted. The Rhino didn't even talk, thinking that he was a fairly at life for losing so handily to the X-Men, and the story hadn'be gotten alot of publicity, so no terrorists hoping to recruit him would be showing up. Of course, not all wanted to recruit. Once the truck got on the highway, the chaos began. One of the guards started shooting at the others. Rhino, annoyed, tried to sink back towards the wall, where he was shackled. The truck stopped, and the remaining guards fell to the ground. The shooter got up first, and smashed one's back with his gun. The doors ripped open. The Blob stood outside, holding them. Sabretooth and the Toad jumped in, and took over for the treacherous guard, who transformed into the blue Mystique. The driver and another guard who'd been in the front hurried to the back, seeing the Brotherhood members. One of them looked at the other, panicked, and shouted something about the freaks taking over. He grabbed the other and wrang his neck, then took out his gun and shot himself. Sabretooth and the Toad, both splattered with blood, jumped out of the truck, dragging the Rhino, who was terrified. Mastermind emerged from the side of the road, with the newest Brotherhood member, Avalanche, with him. Magneto descended from above them.

"Who are you?" Rhino asked, sheepishly.

"Your superiors," Magneto sneered. "You think you're so powerful, but you are a fraud. Your powers were given to you, while we were born with them."

"Mutants!" Rhino cried. "I knew it! You're the mutants that attacked the Capital Building! Well, why're you going after me? I got arrested for fighting the Xavier Institute mutants, and I thought they messed you guys up. I was trying to do you a favor!"

"Do not patronize us!" Magneto snapped. "You are known for your anti-mutant attitudes, so I have to doubt that you were trying to help us. Now, we can use you as an example."

The ground rumbled around the Rhino. Avalanche was gritting his teeth, holding his foot to the ground, making the Rhino fall over. The Blob stood over him, and brought his foot down on the Rhino's head.



The next day in Washington, as the sun went up, the first few people to arrive on the steps of Capital Hill were greated by yellow police tape. The steps themselves were splattered red. In the middle of the carnage was the battered gray body. It's thick neck was twisted all the way around, the limbs were twisted in horrible ways, slashes were all over, draining blood, and one knee appeared on the verge of falling off. Above the corpse of the Rhino were the words "NOW IT TRULY BEGINS", written in the blood of the victim.
 
ummm.....i posted a new entry before. wtf? well then, i may as well do this.

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"General Stryker, is it true that the people who committed this crime are the same ones who kidnapped your wife?" A reporter asked.

"Sir, you know that I won't answer questions relating to my wife," Stryker said, sternly. "And on that note, is it true that you ordered your own wife from a North Korean web site?" The reporter sank back into his seat. "Now, we do believe that the prisoner was intercepted and killed by Magneto and his followers. Any further questions will be taken by Colonel Fury." Stryker stormed away, fuming that someone had broken the rule he'd set up, letting one-eyed attention lover Colonel Nick Fury take over the press conference. He got in the back of his car, and was driven to his office, where he picked up the phone and called Professor Xavier.

"Yes?" Xavier said.

"Professor? It's Stryker."

"William, hello. How did the conference go?"

"I insulted that gray-haired guy from the "Chicago Sun-Times" again," Stryker forced a laugh. "Look, have you found out anything more on where my wife is? I'm sorry I keep asking, but-"

"William, I don't think I could blame you. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything out about their whereabouts. I'm sorry."

"That- that's okay, Charles."

"William, you know that when I get any information on the locations of your wife or the Brotherhood, you will be first to be notified," Xavier said.

"Yeah, I know. And you know that the government won't help to bust her out if we do find her. It's too much for the military, and since the President cancelled the Sentinel program, they've got nothing to throw at the Brotherhood that won't mess up the popularity of the administration."

"William, this is precisely why I formed the X-Men. I will help anyway I can."

"Thanks," Stryker sighed, and hung up the phone, dejected. He slammed his fist down on the table, shaking it and causing a loud cracking noise.



Mastermind, frustrated, stormed out of Irene Adler-Stryker's cell. Magneto waited in the hall with is arms folded. Toad and Sabretooth came to wait with him.

"Well?" Magneto asked.

"I still can't break into her mind," Mastermind said, unclenching his fists. "I got as far as to see that she does have visions, and she writes them down when she has them, but not where she hides her notebooks, or what the visions are. Not even ones she may have had while we've had her." Magneto thought for a moment.

"Did you even get an idea of where her notebooks are?"



Lights flashed all around the team. A steel ball plummeted to the ground, hitting Colossus directly on the head. He staggered, and was buzzed out. Another rocketed at Nightcrawler, who teleported out of the way. The ball floated in one place, than shot back at him. He somersaulted through the air, and there was a decidedly more pleasant beeping sound. Another ball came directly from the ceiling, whizzing towards Bishop, the newest of Xavier's students. He side-stepped it, and when it was briefly suspended in one place in the air, he grabbed it.

"Bishop," Iceman called, "you just need to dodge it, not get in a fight."

"Sorry," Bishop said, barely seeming to notice, though he did let go.

"Okay, good," Iceman said to everyone. "Kurt, Logan, Sara, Betsy, and Lucas all passed this round. The rest of you: haha. But seriously, hit the showers. The five of you need get a few minutes to breathe, than round three starts."

The Danger Room reverted back into its usual steel look. The strange new mutant who Hank had been taking care of before was showing great potential, and Iceman thought that if there was another situation where the X-Men needed to be deployed any time soon, he would be very beneficial.
 
Great story! I liked that magneto killed rhino to make a point it had that shock factor. Iceman is one of my favorite characters he is severly underused IMO. His powers are so versatile. My only gripe is that you basically have mutants as the regular brotherhood. I don't know if your taking suggestions but i think sara kitty should both be after piotr. Ororo needs to put wolverine in his place a little that will entice him. Nightcrawler should fall for a girl on the wrong side of the street like magneto's daughter scarlet witch. Bobby and psyloche should start the flirtateous dance. All in all great story. KUDOS
 
thanks for that. i know what you mean about iceman being underused. i know alot of things seem to be too much like their sources, but soon a small wave of characters will show up (magneto'll go on a hiring spree), and some things will be different. expect a new update later tonight.
 
Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Marrow, Psylocke, and Bishop lined up in the Danger Room, ready for round three of the days training/competition. Iceman stood in front of them, his hands behind his back.

"I've seen you work together before, and I know you can do it," he said, "but your opponents so far have mostly been robots and psychopaths. Today, you have real opponents. Specifically, the X-Men." The students looked puzzled. "Now, would you like to meet them?"

"My God," Psylocke muttered. "That makes sense." A door opened, and four mutants emerged. First was Scott Summers, with the familiar red visor over his eyes; then was his brother Alex Summers, then the familiar Hank McCoy; and lastly a gorgeous woman with visibly green hair. She was Lorna Dane. Iceman joined them.

"It's the five of you versus the five of us," he said, with little emotion. "In case you need reminding, the people with me are all fellow graduates of the institute. Meet Cyclops, Havok, Polaris, and of course, Beast. Now, shall we get started?"

The floor under the five students raised, and stairs leading down to the former X-Men appeared. The students charged, their predecessors holding ground. Wolverine lunged at them, his claws outstretched. Polaris outstretched her hand, and sent him flying back. She raised into the air, and fired a bolt of magnetic energy at him. Below, Havok and Cyclops were shooting random blasts, while Iceman and Beast made their way up the stairs. Havok's blast hit Psylocke, knocking her down. Marrow started growing out her bones, throwing sharp ones at the two firing brothers, who scrambled to dodge. In the air, Polaris had lifted Wolverine up, and slammed him into the ground. Marrow, seeing this, flung a blunt-edged bone from her wrist, hitting Polaris in the head. She was hit by a blast from Cyclops while she was attacking. With Polaris distracted, Wolverine tumbled to the ground, and was freed. He decided not to focus on her, and instead charged down the stairs, getting hit by low-level beams from Havok. Beast and Iceman were chasing Nightcrawler, who had jumped onto the wall. Beast leapt up and chased him, though wasn't as fast. Nightcrawler, thinking he had a clear edge, looked back to laugh at his opponent, and slipped. Iceman had frozen the upper portion of the wall, causing him to lose his grip and fall, though he was able to safely teleport to a safe spot before crashing to the ground. Far away, Wolverine crashed his foot into Havok's chest, sending him reeling. He raised his hands, to slash at the former X-Man's chest, but was blasted away by Cyclops.

"Hey newbie!" Wolverine called to Bishop. "Do something!" Bishop, who seemed taken aback by the chaotic fighting, jumped into the fray, getting hit by one of Cyclops' blasts. His hands glowed with power. Cyclops blasted again, further empowering Bishop. He stretched his hands out, and blasted Cyclops into the wall.

"Scott!" Havok called, emitting a beam from his hand into Bishop's back. Wolverine took the oppurtunity to slash at Havok's arm, leaving a bloody gash. He felt himself get raised into the air, and knew that Polaris had him again. It was just humiliating. Below, Psylocke had taken on Iceman, using her martial arts skills to pin him to the wall, and plunging her light pink mental knife into his head to control him. She forced Iceman to freeze Beast to the ground, preventing him from chasing Nightcrawler anymore.

"Sara, come have some fun with him!" Psylocke called. Marrow bounded to them, jumping onto Beast and bouncing off, landing in front of Iceman. She kicked him hard in the stomache, before getting grabbed by Beast. He'd been freed by Cyclops, who could barely stand after his fight with Bishop. Beast tossed Marrow at Nightcrawler, who was dropping from the ceiling, trying to hit Polaris. The two students collided, and fell to the ground. Polaris, bored of toying with Wolverine, added him to the pile. Psylocke intensified her psy-blades, and swiped at Beast, who ducked down. She swiped again, and he continued to dodge. Meanwhile, Havok had vainly tried to dispatch Bishop, who glowed with power. He blasted Havok, then Iceman, and lastly Cyclops with powerful beams. Polaris aimed a beam of pure magnetic energy, which he still absorbed. He shot at her, though she was able to dodge.

"Lorna!" Beast called. "He absorbs power! Don't blast anymore!" He somersaulted far away from Psylocke, who pursued nimbly.

"Betsy, take care of the woman!" Bishop ordered. He calmly approached Beast. "Doc, I owe you alot, but I'm not letting you win a fight." Beast threw a punch, and caught Bishop in the jaw.

"Likewise."

Psylocke, in trying to fight Polaris, had showed off a new talent. The pinkish glow around her face when she used her mental talents left her face, and grabbed Polaris, slamming her into the wall. The former student, shocked, got up. Behind her, Wolverine had gotten up. He grabbed her, and invited Psylocke to attack physically. She rammed her elbow into Polaris's gut, followed by a punch in the neck. Polaris let out a burst of energy, dazing Psylocke and knocking Wolverine out. Once she'd recovered, Psylocke finished Polaris with a roundhouse kick to the head, knocking her unconscious. Nearby, Bishop used the last of the energy he'd absorbed on one final blast at Beast. The floor resumed its normal shape.

"Very good," came Professor Xavier's voice. "Betsy, Lucas, you both pass."
 
Scott Summers and Bobby Drake sat in the parlor together, sharing a six-pack.

"You've got quite the little group here, Bob," Scott said. "Not like the old X-Men. Still, I think they've got a ways to go before they can really become great. Don't get me wrong, I've heard all about D.C. on the news, but that show right there didn't really impress me. The knife-hand guy's way to impulsive, and the British girl, she looks like a glory-hog."

"Betsy?" Bobby asked, though there was no other person who could fit. "Yeah, she's like that. Heh, you know who she'd love?"

"Who?"

"Warren."

"Yes! Man, you're right!" Scott laughed. "Let's hope they never meet."

"I hear ya'," Bobby said, freezing his empty can, and shattering the top of it. "And about that 'knife-hand guy', he really disappoints me sometimes. His name's Logan, and he's probably the most experienced student, plus when he wants to, he can be a great team member, but sometimes he just wants to jump right in, and that gets him in trouble, like today. Frankly, the class as a whole didn't live up to snuff today. Betsy was too concerned with looking tough, and Bishop seemed like he didn't even want to go in."

"Give 'em time, Bob," Scott said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Remember, I could barely get my uniform on right when we first joined the Institute, and I became the leader."

"Yeah," Bobby sighed. "Professor says I need to pick out a student leader in a few weeks. I wanted to go with Logan for awhile, but I just don't know. Be glad you didn't take the job I've got."

"Bob, I've got more to deal with in my life than I need right now. I've got my wedding to plan, a baby on the way, and neurotic parents who think that they have to be in the middle of all of it. Last thing I need is to deal with all of these people."

"I almost envy you, Scotty."


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a short entry, but it was supposed to be. there's at least a small amount of foreshadowing here.
 
Stryker drove himself home that night. There had still been no word from Xavier on Irene. He had to wonder how much longer he could go like this without sinking into a bottle and humiliating himself somehow. As he got off the highway, the car ahead of him swerved, crashing into a car in the next line. He smashed down on the brakes, getting jerked forward. The drivers of the other cars got out and started yelling at each other. Stryker exited his car to join in.

"What the sam-hell is wrong with you?" He growled at the swerving driver. The man glared at him.

"Stay out of this, old man."

Stryker grabbed his collar and slammed him into his car.

"Listen, you little punk!" He snapped. "I am not in the best of moods today. I don't know what kind of stunt you were trying to pull right there, but you picked the wrong time to do it."

"Uh-uh, man," the driver gasped. "I picked the perfect time."



"You almost done, Morty?" Sabretooth asked, impatiently. He stood outside the Stryker home with Toad, who was rigging open the door.

"Just one... more... yes!" The two mutants hurried in. "Okay, Jason said they would be in the bedroom. Let's go."


Stryker held the reckless driver down until a cop arrived. He was instructed to stay, but when the cop recognized him for who he was, he was allowed to leave. He wanted to wring that idiot's neck.


"Morty, I've got something!" Sabretooth exclaimed, digging out a shoebox filled with notebooks and diaries from the closet. "Morty?" He searched for his colleague. "Dammit Toad!" He pulled Toad from Irene's dresser, and showed him what he'd found. "Now let's get all this crap and get out of here. I don't know if Raven was able to stall the General or not."



The police car with the driver in the back jerked from the road after about a mile.

"The hell?" The officer muttered. The car lifted up. He tried calling on the CB for help, but there was only fuzz. The back doors ripped open, and the prisoner jumped out. "Hey!" The car slammed into a tree, hard. The officer's neck jerked too quickly, and snapped.

Below, the reckless driver shifted into the blue Mystique, who had located Magneto in the forest.

"Did Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum get the books?" She asked.

"I don't know yet," Magneto responded, bringing the car down. "Let's find out, shall we?"



Xavier couldn't help but think that something wasn't right. Cerebro had been going completely haywire for the past hour, and not even Forge knew how to fix it. Something was happening around Washington, but he couldn't pick up what it was.

Bobby, he called out. Get in touch with General Stryker as soon as you can.
 
sorry the last few entries have been kinda short. i'm trying to keep them more focused.

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The phone wrang, but nobody picked up. When the answering machine came on, Bobby said that he was just checking in on Stryker. He hoped that the General was just screening his calls, and would soon pick up. He didn't.

"Sara," Bobby said, seeing the young mutant pass by the kitchen, "go tell the Professor that I can't get ahold of General Stryker."

"Why? What's going on?" She asked.

"Do it!"



Stryker got home, and found the message from Bobby on his machine. He was picking up the phone to return the call when he saw footprints on his stairs. He dropped the phone and followed them up to his room. Someone had been snooping through his wife's closet. The red shoebox that she guarded so much was open, and the notebooks that she always wrote in were gone.

"****!" He gasped. William knew what his wife kept in those books. Not the specifics of course, but he knew that her journals held the visions that came to her as her mutant power. He ran back for the phone.


Xavier was about to pick the phone up to try and call Stryker himself when it wrang, and the General himself was calling.

"Charles, have you been looking for the Brotherhood today at all?" He asked, frantically.

"Yes," Xavier said. "William, I didn't sense them at all, but something felt... wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Like something was blocking my power."

"Charles, that doesn't make sense. I thought that Cerebro thing was supposed to keep that from happening," Stryker said.

"No, it merely amplifies my power. I'm going to send a few of my X-Men to you, William. Stay at home, and call me again if anything happens. Something is very, very wrong."



Hours later, the van carrying Iceman, Wolverine, Forge, and Storm pulled up to the Stryker residence. Bobby wrang the doorbell, and Stryker let them in.

"Anything happen since you last spoke with the Professor?" Bobby asked.

"No, nothing," Stryker replied. "He told you that my wife's diaries were stolen, right?"

"Yeah," Bobby said. "Though he didn't tell us why that mattered."

"He doesn't want people knowing who she's got crushes on," Logan cracked. Ororo jabbed him with her elbow.

"This isn't funny," Stryker said, glaring. "You need to understand this about Irene: she's gifted unlike any of you. The reason she went blind is because her power became so prevalent that her mind couldn't handle having what was basically six senses. She's a precognitave, and she logs her visions in those journals. Some things are minor, like what color car I bought, or what resteraunt I would take her to the night I proposed-"

"Awww," Logan mocked. Ororo jabbed him again, harder.

"Hush up," she said.

"Logan, stop it," Bobby ordered. "Go on."

"Like I said, she sometimes sees bigger things, like the morning she woke me up and said someone was going to kill people we knew, maliciously, that day. That was the day that Magneto first attacked a military outpost. Bobby, I think you may remember that." Bobby nodded. It was the first major mission the X-Men ever had. "As you can probably guess, I did know several of the people that he killed when he attacked. Then there was a similar incident a few years ago. She said that she'd seen smoke fill the skies in New York. I'm sure you can all guess what that was."

"9/11," Forge said, still standing in the position he'd been in for the last few minutes, with his arms firmly folded across his chest. "I had a friend who went deaf because of that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Stryker said. "Of course she hadn't predicted the magnitude of what happened that day, but she saw it, nonetheless. It makes so much more sense now. Magneto took her because he wanted to use her visions to his advantage somehow, and she probably didn't give him anything. That's why they broke in and took the notebooks."

"But Xavier didn't sense them at all, not even with Cerebro," Ororo said. "That doesn't seem right."

"Yes, it does," Stryker said. "We don't know what kind of resources Magneto has. Listen, most of you had probably never even heard of Professor Xavier when he created Cerebro, but I did, and so did Magneto. They had started the designs years before Magneto became a terrorist, when he was just Erik Lensherr, the doctor. If anyone would know how to disrupt the thing, it's him. I know because Charles told me when he first started building it that he was worried that Magneto would try and find a way to avoid it, which he did. That's his helmet. Though this, this doesn't seem right at all."



Back at their base, the Brotherhood buzzed about the notebooks. Erik Lensherr, out of his Magneto uniform, was reading them intently on his balcony. He seemed frustrated.

"Hey, boss?" Toad called, hopping up from a lower floor. "Anything good?" Lensherr glared at him.

"Please do not barge in like that, Mortimer, and no, nothing so far is 'good'. All I've read so far is minor, and relating mainly to her. Not to mention it all seems to have happened already. One of these has to be current," he went back to reading. "Toad, ask Mastermind to try and probe her once more for me."

"Can do, boss!" Toad hopped back down, leaving his 'boss' alone. Magneto was concerned. Not only had he found nothing about what he wanted in Adler's diaries, but the expedition to Washington D.C. had not even produced an appearance by the X-Men. He didn't necessarilly want that, but he had still expected it to happen. Xavier would probably be searching for him around the clock. Something was wrong. Something or someone was keeping Xavier from detecting the Brotherhood's presence.



A tall, pale man finished his late lunch at a streetside resteraunt in D.C., satisfied at knowing that his disruption had worked. Magneto and his followers had the woman's writings. All was going according to plan.



The first Sentinel to not work properly seemed to loom over Bolivar Trask. He hadn't dared turn it back on after the last time, when it had actually spoken to him, called him 'master'. But now he had to. He was so close to getting Project Wideawake restarted, but he needed to see one of his machines live. He'd even decided a name for this one, which he'd tinkered with constantly to busy himself. He pressed a series of buttons, and unhooked a series of wires sticking out from it's back. The Sentinel's eyes lit up.

"HELLO MASTER," It said to him after a moment.

"Hello," Trask replied, giddily. "Hello Bastion."
 
The breeze felt good on Betsy's face. Further up the path, Logan stopped to call for her.

"Comin', Bets?" He asked.

Do you ever get tired?, she thought. "Give me a second to catch my breath!"

Logan sat down on the ground by a tree, enjoying the breeze himself.

"How much farther?" Betsy called.

"Just another mile," Logan responded. "You think you can make it?"

"Of course," she said, "but I'd rather not have a heart attack at the end. We've been running this trail for almost two hours." She wiped the sweat off of her face, and allowed herself to start breathing more slowly.

Worried about the disturbance that had kept him from detecting the Brotherhood's prescence in Washington, Xavier had recommended that the X-Men go on a retreat to Colorado, which seemed like an odd thing to do, but they still appreciated it. The leaves were a beautiful mix of brown, yellow, and orange, the few people where they were didn't mind mutants, and in a few days Warren Worthington, the former X-Man Angel, would be arriving in Aspen to spend time at his winter retreat (though winter was still a little ways away), and they were going to visit him there. Xavier himself had not gone with them, wanting to stay in New York and continue helping Stryker find the Brotherhood, so Bobby was in charge of them full time. It wasn't like they were in need of a lot of supervision, of course.

"Okay, let's go!" Betsy shouted. She took off, springing past Logan, who quickly gave chase. She turned to see him running after her, and laughed. After a few seconds, Logan tackled her.

"Nice try, babe," he said with a smirk. Betsy smiled, tilted her head up, and kissed him.

"Oh, I think it worked." Logan got off of her, and she sat up. "Think they'll be waiting for us for any reason?"

"No, no I do not," Logan replied. Betsy grabbed the bottom of her sweat-drenched shirt, and started to pull it over her head. She stopped for a moment to wink at Logan, and pulled it all the way off. Logan got down in front of her, and kissed her, moving her to the ground as he did. He moved a hand down, and grabbed at her running shorts, moving them down her legs.


Ororo soared through the clear, but slightly windy sky. She didn't necessarily want to admit it, but she was hoping to see Logan. There was something about him that she was clearly attracted to. Normally, a short, slightly hairy man who liked to drink alot and play cards into the wee hours of the night would not appeal to her, but there was something different about her classmate. As she flew, she finally spotted him running through the woods, with Betsy in front of him. She slowed down, and saw what they did after Logan tackled the other woman. Ororo clenched her fists, and soon after, it started raining very hard on those woods.


As the sudden rain started, the other students went inside the small lodge where they were spending the next few days. Piotr, who'd been having a great day with the beautiful, easily drawn scenery, was especially disappointed. Of course, it turned out that the rainstorm only improved the settings outside, so he was content. Elsewhere, Forge had joked that he'd bet that the weather was Storm's doing, but was shrugged off by Kurt.


That night, Ororo couldn't stop staring at Betsy. The two were roomed together, making the former's dismay all the more obvious to the latter. After some time, Betsy spoke up.

"Ororo, what's the matter?" She asked. "You've been shooting daggers at me all night."

"It's nothing," Ororo said, unsuccesfully trying to look like she was sleeping.

"Doubtful."

"Betsy, how... Well..." Ororo stammered,"...you and Logan. How long has it been going on?" Betsy looked shocked. "I saw you two today, Betsy, so don't try and deny it."

"You were watching us?" Betsy asked, angry.

"I kind of stumbled upon you," Ororo explained.

"Look, Ororo, I think I can guess why you object to us, and I suppose I can say that you shouldn't worry."

"Why not?"

"Because," Betsy paused, thinking. "What we have is more... more for fun. He's great as a lover, I'll admit, but I couldn't stand him as anything more. We've discussed it, and he thinks the same way."

"Oh," Ororo looked away.

"Listen to me," Betsy said, "if you really have feelings for him, act on them. Don't expect things to just magically happen."


From his room, Logan heard the entire conversation. He wasn't at all surprised by any of it.
 
cool..the only thing is...Stryker was confused when Xavier said he felt like something was blocking his power...Stryker says that he thinks Cerebro was suppose to keep that from happening...but then Stryker tells the others that Magneto has a helmet that blocks the powers....Mabye i missied something?
 

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