Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

[Valechan]

Mutantkind pt I of VI: Beginnings
“Mutation has defined life in this planet since its inception. It is because of this ability to adapt, to evolve, that we are here in this poorly lit room, discussing the fate of an entire new race, although the term ‘race’ is not strictly accurate. Mutants are not a different race, though some of our number claim so. Mutants are still humans, mutants are still homo sapiens. Humanity tends to separate itself in different groups, races as it is more commonly known, but in truth, it’s all the same. African, Chinese, Albino, Caucasian, Mutant, we are all still humans,” said an ominous voice, echoing in the gigantic underground room. The room was illuminated from below, barely showing the faces of those gathered in it. Charles Xavier knew what their answer was going to be before they even opened their mouths.

“Pretty words, a nice little speech you got there, Professor, but it’s just words, isn’t it? Empty words that can dazzle the population. Words that, without a doubt, you will start spreading around the minute the ‘mutant story’ leaves the tabloids and establishes itself on the nine o’ clock news,” said a red haired man who wore horn-rimmed glasses. “The point of this meeting is simple. Three words. Are mutants dangerous? And what can you do to stop this dangerous mutants?” Henry Peter Gyrich’s questions echoed with strength around the room, and several of those gathered agreed with him silently.

The answer did not come from Professor Xavier, but from the white-haired man sitting next to him. The man moved his hand slightly and Gyrich’s glasses suddenly sprang to life, twisting and stretching until they resembled a piece of cloth; and with a second flick of his index finger, the white-haired man wrapped the metal around Gyrich’s mouth. “The question should be, why are we talking to you instead of turning you all into human kebabs. What can you do to stop us?”

“You do not want me to answer that, Lensherr,” said a man seemingly in his forties, taking a smoke from his cigar, and lifting his feet on the table. “Release Gyrich, he might be a jerk, but he’s our jerk.”

Erik Magnus Lensherr looked into his friend’s eyes, and when he saw Charles Xavier nodding slightly he released Gyrich and returned his glasses to normal, leaving them in the table.

“You have managed to gather a pretty big number of mutants in that school of yours in upstate New York. We need to know which of those mutants are a possible risk to national security. We need all the information available on them,” said the man at the top of the table, taking another smoke from his cigar.

“There is absolutely no way I will share this information with you. I will protect my students regardless of the cost to myself,” answered Xavier almost instantly.

“Students? What is it that you teach them there? To hold humans as hostages like Mr. Lensherr so kindly has shown us, just now?” asked Gyrich who had not put his glasses back on.

“We teach our students to control their powers, and the concept of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants. It is our dream that…”

“Charles,” said a very familiar voice in his head as he spoke. Charles Xavier continued to speak, talking about his school and his dreams, and at the same time, answered Erik’s voice in his head.

“They’re not going to fall for it, aren’t they?” said Xavier.

“I told you it was a waste of time.”

“It is not, if we had done nothing the government would have sent the entire army to bring down the school. We had to come clean to them, we have to stop working outside their knowledge.”

“Can’t we just take over the planet and be done with it? It’s far easier than dealing with these humans…” said Erik Lensherr in his head, trying not to smile and pretending he was listening to Xavier’s speech.

“Trust me, it’d be a much bigger headache,” answered Xavier. “I guess I’ll have to do it… I abhor using my powers in this fashion, but I can see in their minds, there is absolutely no other way.”

Professor Charles Xavier concentrated as he spoke. The most powerful telepath on the planet released the power of his mind on those present, and as he spoke his words were etched in their minds, and their previous ideas of difference and prejudice became less clear, while tolerance and acceptance towards mutantkind took front place. But when the last words came from Xavier’s mind, even his long-time friend was surprised.

“Mr. Lensherr and I will take full responsibility for every single mutant that comes into our school, and we will accept any mutant that asks for our aid.”

After a brief silence, Colonel Nicholas Fury’s words were dry and clear. “We will allow your school to continue, for now, but one, just one of your so-called students hurts one hair on one human head and you’re both gonna burn for it, you have my word on that.”

“Our students are versed enough to know how to behave themselves around cattle, but there will be no hurting of human hairs if that is what it takes to remain open,” said Erik Lensherr amused, under the reproving eye of his friend.

“What did you call me?” asked John Proudstar, his face inches away from a rather large fraternity jock, who was laughing with his friends, all dressed in similar red and white football jackets.

“Freak-lover. We saw you and the green-haired freak making out in the line… does she dye all her hair or just the visible one?” asked the jock, between laughs.

John Proudstar grabbed the jock’s jacket and lifted him with incredible ease, his eyes filled with anger, but a gentle hand wrapped itself around his arm as the jock wriggled his feet in the air, unable to break free from the strong grip.

“John. Let him down. He’s only a little human boy, let him say his stupid intolerant remarks and let us go. We’re gonna miss the trailers,” said Lorna Lensherr, her long green hair flowing down her back.

“He insulted you,” said John, looking straight into the jock’s eyes, which clearly showed he was as afraid as his friends, who had taken a step backwards. “I want to turn him into a bat and use him to punish his friends for laughing.”

“My knight in shining armor… let him go, he’s not worth it,” she said, almost whispering in his ear.

John Proudstar released his grip on the boy’s jacket, and he fell to the floor hard. “Let’s go, Freddie, Mort and your brother must’ve gotten our seats by now,” Proudstar said, wrapping his large hand around his girlfriend’s waist.

As they walked away, the jock shouted at them. “Yeah walk away! I know what you are! Freaks!”

But it was not John Proudstar who turned to watch him. Lorna Lensherr’s green eyes flashed brightly for a second and the metal buttons on the jock’s jeans flew away and his pants fell to the floor as he stood up, and soon all of his friends suffered the same fate. Although they pants were no longer in their place, all the jocks acted as one and began to run in the opposite direction, clearly scared.

Lorna and John laughed as they reached the entrance of the movie theater, when an ominous voice behind them forced the pair to stop.

“The rule of this little trip to the movies was very clear. No powers. Do I have to call Professor Voght and teleport your behinds back to school?” said a young woman with black hair, tightly wrapped in a bun behind his head.

“No Professor Tessa, sir,” said the young couple as one, trying hard not to laugh.

“Get inside,” Tessa Niles said coldly, pushing the students’ backs and entering the theater herself. Her eyes scanned the place, her computer-like mind telling her everything there was to know about it, and the people within. Half the students of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters were inside, and she could not help but feel worried. “Forge, I’m in, the movie is about to start. Everything clear on your end?” she said, whispering into her hand as slowly as she could.

“Yes, no sign of gigantic mutant-killing machines, or angry marines, or TV-show cops or anything of the sort,” said a man’s voice in their communications device.

Tessa could not help but smile at Forge’s remark. The lights dimmed and the movie began, and Tessa crossed her arms, and leaned her back against the wall, her eyes alert, her mind taking into account everything that was happening in the theater. Somehow she could help but stop looking at a young girl, who sat with a couple of friends and kept sending furtive looks to the Rasputin boy. Sage concentrated, looking at the brown-haired girl, and soon she was surprised. Her mind was exactly like a computer’s, she could store vast amount of information, process it, analyze it, but the most starling part of her mutation was the ability to identify other mutants. There was no question about it. The thirteen-year-old girl was a mutant, very much like her and all of Xavier’s students.

Katherine Pryde could not believe her eyes. That boy was gorgeous. And he was smiling at her in the line. He was a bit old for her, he must’ve been at least nineteen, but he was gorgeous. She was instantly attracted to him, but it didn’t matter how much she looked at him, he wasn’t looking back. And why would he? She was just a little girl to him, and that girl he was sitting next to was very pretty. Long brown-reddish hair, green eyes, a perfect body. Katherine could not help but look at her breasts, they were so small, she hated them. The gorgeous boy must probably like big breasts, like all boys do, she thought. She tried to look at the movie, but her eyes were entranced, she could not stop looking at him. What was she going to do?

“My head is about to split open,” said Wanda Lensherr, gently caressing her temples with her fingers.

“Why? Are you having another little ‘episode’ like the other day in the school cafeteria?” asked Piotr Rasputin, hiding a smile.

“Not smartass, someone is casting a spell… or something like it… very clear… and upon you of all people,” said Wanda, closing her eyes, trying to concentrate.

“A spell? You really take into account that whole “Scarlet Witch” thing, da?” said Piotr.

“Would you two shut up? I want to see the movie,” said a boy sitting next to Piotr, his long black hair covering most of his face, although the long tip of his ears was slightly visible through it.

“Jean-Paul shhh… let me concentrate,” replied Wanda in a tone of irritation that rivaled Jean-Paul’s.

“Oh great, now you’re shushing me,” said Jean-Paul Beaubier, lifting his arms and throwing himself backwards in his seat.

“Shut up, all three of you… you act like children, we’re never going to be able to go to a movie like this ever again if you keep this up,” said a voice from the row behind them, another boy with short white hair and a piercing in his nose.

Jean-Paul straightened himself as he heard Pietro Lensherr’s voice and turned his head backwards, his eyes fixed on Pietro’s for less than a second, a smile etched in his lips.

“It’s a girl… she’s in love with you… well love is a little strong… I’d say infatuated… she can’t stop thinking about you… and… her breasts?” said Wanda Lensherr.

“Who are you talking about?” said Piotr Rasputin, confused. “A girl is in love with me, thinking about me and you know it? Since when can you read minds?”

“I can’t. But I’m sensitive to magic, all forms of it. Ever heard of the “evil eye”? When a person concentrates too much on someone they want, this person ends up with a headache as a result. It’s a minor spell that most people don’t even know they can do… but it’s very real, and that’s what’s going to happen. Unless we break it before it does,” she said matter-of-factly.

Wanda Lensherr turned around, her green eyes fixed on the thirteen-year-old girl for a second, and then turned to Piotr, kissing his lips with passion.

“Bozhe Moi!” said Piotr Rasputin surprised, closing his fist as she separated herself from him. Without realizing it he activated his mutant power, and part of his hand began to transform itself into organic steel.

“Rasputin!” whispered Jean-Paul, covering Piotr’s metal hand with both of his.

At the touch of Jean-Paul’s hands, Piotr calmed down, and he looked at Wanda, his eyes showing a great deal of anger. “Never do that again.”

“Spoilsport. Her spell was giving me a headache, I had to stop it, and”— but Wanda Lensherr could not finish her sentence, for she disappeared in a sudden cloud of mist, as Tessa Niles sat in her now empty seat.

“Shut up, or you are all going back to the school like that, before you can even say another word.”

Piotr Rasputin and Jean Paul Beaubier nodded and continued watching the movie, their hands tightly wrapped around each other’s.

“you’ll thank me later… oh crap,” said Wanda Lensherr, realizing where she was. She was in a large empty room, its walls covered in metal casing, as were its floors and ceiling. She looked around, she was not alone in the empty room. She moved closer to the younger boy, who was covered entirely on ice and sat next to him. “What did you do?”

“I… couldn’t control it… I couldn’t stay as a human…” said the boy, on the brink of tears.

“Why not? Haven’t you learned to control your power by now Bobby?” said Wanda, gently placing her arm around him as he began to change back into his human form.

“Oh yes, but it was so hot I just felt I needed a little bit of ice for a second or two. Lucky me, Professor Niles spotted me,” he smiled, revealing his tears were not true.

“Nothing gets past that *****…” added Wanda rolling her eyes, and the pair of young mutants began to laugh.

Suddenly, there was another burst of mist inside the room, and another young mutant walked from it. Both Wanda Lensherr and Bobby Drake recognized Alison Blaire as she materialized.

“And what did you do?” said Wanda, clearly amused by the situation.

“Called Tessa a frigid ***** after she told me to stop making out with my boyfriend, she didn’t like it,” said Alison, touching her long blonde hair. “I hate mist teleports… it completely ruins my hairdo. How do you keep it like that Wanda?”

“Magic,” said the young mutant, smiling.

“You are not here to discuss hairdos or the effects of my powers on them,” said Professor’s Voght’s voice from the control cabin above them. “You are being punished for breaking the school rules on a field trip. So, if you can’t behave yourselves then you will have to be taught what can happen to you if you do not follow the rules.”

The lights turned off for a second, and Wanda and Bobby stood up, looking around. The room began to change its size, its shape, its color, and soon they found themselves in the middle of an empty street, though they had not left the room. A gigantic robot appeared behind a building, lifting its massive hand towards them.

“Mutants, surrender or be exterminated,” said the hollow metallic voice of the gigantic robot.

“Great… Sentinels. Again. I’m so bored of this stupid program… I mean, who can believe the government has these gigantic things ready to start killing mutants? We do not live in a comic book…” said Wanda, rolling her eyes and preparing an hex between her hands.

“It’s your paranoid father, Wanda dear… thank him for this program,” added Alison Blaire, lifting her arms towards the Sentinel and releasing a burst of laser, which collided with the Sentinel’s hand, without truly harming him.

“I shall speak with him about it when he returns home… I might not be his favorite daughter, but I bet he’ll listen, I mean, I hope…” said Wanda, lowering her voice in those last words, releasing her hex sphere, which exploded in mid-air, causing the Sentinel’s hand to fall off, instantly rusting itself before their very eyes.

“Concentrate on the battle and stop the chatter!” said Professor Voght with anger in her voice.

“Kids today, they just need to banter. When we were doing these things, we never bantered,” said a voice behind her in the control booth. Amelia Voght turned to see her fellow teacher, Professor Jason Wyngarde, who was lighting a cigarette. She moved her hand dismissively, turning the cigarette into mist and making it disappear.

“Don’t smoke those foul things in my Danger Room,” she said. “What do you want?”

“Xavier’s back, says we all got to go to a meeting the second the kids are back from the movies. Thought you should know,” he said, his eyes directing themselves towards the children below.

“Charles is back? Already?” she asked surprised.

“Trouble in paradise? He didn’t tell you?” Wyngarde said with a smile in his face.

“You know full well this control booth is psi-shielded to prevent students from changing the programmer’s… why am I explaining myself to you of all people? Just stay in my place and look after the kids while I go talk to my husband,” said Amelia Voght clearly flustered, walking towards the door.

“I’ll be happy to do so,” said Wyngarde with a smile in his face, watching as the trio of punished kids toppled the Sentinel and stood in his chest, giving each other hi-fives and compliments. He looked back, hearing the click of the door as Voght left the room and smiled broadly again. “Well kids, let’s see if you can play at Uncle Jason’s level…”

“That was easy… wonder if they’ll start spanking us when they realize we beat these things all too easily…” said Alison Blaire, crossing her arms and sitting on the Sentinel’s nose.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” said Bobby Drake with a smile in his head, standing on top of an ice slide next to the Sentinel.

“Robert Drake, you’re only a child!” said Wanda Lensherr, faking outrage at the lustful look in the teen’s face.

“Both of you are only two years older than me, I’ve done stuff you can only dream of,” he said proudly.

Wanda closed her eyes and moved one of her hands as she placed the other one in her forehead. “Wait a second… my magic detects… a big fat liar!”

“I am not lying!” said Bobby Drake, but his voice was suddenly stopped by the mechanic clunks all around them. As one, the trio of young mutants looked around, and they saw, coming from behind the tall buildings, a dozen Sentinels, surrounding them.

“Surrender mutants, or be exterminated,” said the ominous voice of the first Sentinel, which lifted its gigantic hand towards them.

“We get it Professor Voght… it’s… we…” but once more Wanda Lensherr could not finish her sentence, as a blast of raw plasma energy erupted from the Sentinel’s hand towards them.

 

[Valechan]

“Charles?” asked Amelia Voght, entering the Headmasters’ office. The room was rather large and even though it was one big room, it seemed as if two smaller rooms coexisted within. Charles Xavier’s desk was tidy and neat, while Erik Lensherr’s, in the opposite corner of the room, was rather unkempt and dirty, perhaps to the fact that he had barely stepped into the office since the school opened its doors. Amelia’s question went unanswered; the room was empty. What was happening? Had Charles really returned? If so, why wasn’t he in his office, where he kept to himself most of the day?

Jason Wyngarde laughed as he saw the young students running all over the Danger Room, trying to escape the deadly Sentinels, who chased them firing plasma blasts from their hands and eyes.

“You think it’s funny, bullying small children?” said a voice behind him.

For a second, Wyngarde felt a chill in his spine, but when he turned and saw the familiar visage of Erik Magnus Lensherr he calmed himself.

“Erik! Since when can you impersonate his voice so perfectly?” he said with a smile.

“Since I found the children are more afraid of Charles than they are of me,” answered one of the school’s Headmasters. “I doubt he will approve of your use of the Danger Room’s technology.”

“It’s not the Danger Room, it’s my illusion power, there aren’t any Sentinels there, I’m not going to harm the children, just scare them you know,” shrugged Wyngarde, rubbing the back of his head. “I have to laugh or else I’d have a big headache, those things aren’t easy to maintain you know.”

Erik peered through the seeing-glass, and he frowned as he saw his youngest daughter, Wanda, running around like a scared rabbit alongside the other children. “This are the ones that broke the rules in the field trip, right?”

“Yes, why?” asked Jason Wyngarde, divining the intentions of his friend and employer.

“Below that! Hide there!” Wanda Lensherr shouted, her hands directed towards a small alcove between two fallen buildings. As she did, her hex power flew towards it, causing their soon-to-be hiding place to fall upon itself. “Oh… bad idea,” she added.

Suddenly thunder broke above them, and the trio of children could do nothing but stop and look around. A magnificent figure fell from the skies with grace, gently levitating towards them.

“He is so cool,” said Bobby Drake, his eyes fixed on the man’s red helmet.

The man waved his hands, and with ease the Sentinels were instantly crushed into nothingness, falling in large chunks of metal all around. And when Magneto turned to see the children before him his voice was more ominous than the previous burst of thunder.

“I am very disappointed,” he said simply. And though his eyes were not fixed on any of them, Wanda knew he was talking about her.

Amelia Voght’s mist form was far faster than her corporeal body, and she decided it was necessary to use it, even if Charles didn’t approve. As she teleported herself to her bedroom, to the hangar, to the grounds, she could not help but remember some of the first words Charles Xavier spoke to her.

“Mutant powers are a gift, a blessing, but we must never use them for personal gain, even for something as trivial as lessening our travel time. Mutant powers should only be used for the improvement of all of mankind.”

A point over which most students, and several members of the teaching staff, argued about with passion. Amelia kept looking for him, and it was not until she had materialized within sight of the school’s front gate that she saw her husband. He was standing next to a cigar-smoking military man, and was signing some papers, as a helicopter slowly landed behind them. Amelia could not see clearly, and she was about to teleport herself there when a withered voice stopped her.

“It begins,” said the woman simply.

Amelia turned to see the blind mutant seer known as Irene Adler, or Destiny as she preferred to be called, and wondered what she meant. She did not need to ask.

“The end of the peace. The War is beginning,” said Destiny, removing her hood, directing her blind eyes towards Xavier.

Amelia could see as a couple of young mutants were taken down from the helicopter, severely shackled and handed over to her husband like stray dogs. With a last look at Destiny, she teleported herself, ready to assist him.

“The time for secrecy is over. There will be nothing sacred anymore,” said Destiny ominously, quite aware that even in her mist form Amelia was able to still hear her, and she put her hood back and began to walk towards the school.

 

[Valechan]

It seems my episodes are too big for just one post

 

[Valechan]

Mutantkind pt II of VI: A Tale of Two Mutants

"You're telling me I'm a... mutant?" Katherine's Pryde voice was louder than she expected, and several people looked their way. Embarrassed, the young girl lowered her face and the tone of her voice. "You mean… mutant mutant? Like those people in the tabloids with tentacle arms and blue skin?"
Lorna Lensherr could not help but laugh. Sitting in front of the young mutant, Lorna lowered her milkshake and answered. "Yes, but not like that, no, I can't see any tentacles or weird colored skin on you. From what we can tell, you possess the ability to re-align your molecules with other objects, to speak more plainly, you can walk through walls, like a ghost or something."
"Oh… it's that what I do? Align my molecules to phase through objects? Cool… oh… I get it now! The other day I was sleeping and I woke up in the living room! I phased through the floor!" she shouted in excitement, once more calling the attention of nearly everyone present. She lowered her head between her shoulders and whispered. "Sorry about that… Hey… Is that why I have these awful headaches? Sometimes they last for days… it's really annoying."
"Well we have a doctor or two on the school, and Professor Xavier is the world's foremost expert in genetics, so if anyone can figure it out, it's him," said Lorna calmly, wrapping her slender fingers around her glass, her eyes moving slightly towards John, her boyfriend, who was standing outside the Malt Shoppe, looking at her and smiling.
"And… you think my parents will let me go to this school?" asked Katherine shyly, sipping her milkshake.
"That's what my dad is trying to find out," added Lorna.

"A mutant? You claim I am… a monstrosity?" The skies roared in the response as the clouds gathered above them and lightning barely illuminated the hilltop.
Professor Charles Xavier could feel nothing but awe as the elements roared in response to the girl's emotions. "Yes. You are not a Goddess, but a mutant, a mortal, one of us."
Thunder broke more heavily than ever before. The white-haired African girl was furious. Win erupted as she lifted her hands, and she began to rise from the ground. Lightning flew from her hands, surrounding her and clearly illuminating the even darker skies. At her command, the lightning moved at terrible speed and split into several bolts, surrounding Charles Xavier, hitting the floor around him, and Ororo, Goddess of the Storm, spoke again, her voice more ominous than thunder itself. "Is that what mortals can do, little man?"
"I don't think the Prof is handling this one too well, isn't he?" said Wanda Lensherr, her arms crossed in front of her, watching the scene in the hill from below, in a small village.
Piotr Rasputin saw the villagers flee all around them as rain began to pour from the skies. Without a thought he changed his flesh to organic steel and lifted his arm to cover Jean-Paul Beaubier, who was standing next to him, and answered Wanda's remark. "Da. Should we get involved?"
"Nyet," said Jean-Paul, leaning against Piotr and imitating his voice, "the Prof said we would only make things worse. Let's just wait until he tells us what to do. What I don't get is how an African Teenage crazy girl can speak English this good, she'd give Henry here a run for his money, wouldn't she?"
"I think the Professor's translating her words, or he taught her English, or something like that. Telepaths tend to do that without even realizing it," answered Wanda.
"She's very hot, isn't she?" said Henry McCoy suddenly, crouching a couple of feet before his fellow students.
Piotr and Jean-Paul exchanged an strange look after McCoy's query.
"You must stop this! There is no need to show me your abilities, Ororo! I know full well the extent of your powers, I've been monitoring your situation for years!"
"Little human you test my patience!" said Ororo, her eyes glowing brightly white. Thunder broke once more and the pouring rain fell with even more intensity; such was the power of the rain that it began to scour the dry earth of the hill.
"Ororo I know all about your parents! I know how they died!" shouted Charles Xavier in the cacophony of the storm.
"My parents are the Wind and the Rain! I am the daughter of the Elements! I am the Goddess of the Storm!" Ororo shouted in anger, and though every set of eyes were watching her, none could tell those weren't raindrops falling from her eyes.
Jean-Paul Beaubier ran at his topmost speed through the hill, reaching his teacher in a matter of seconds and he shouted, covering his face from the rain. "Use your powers Professor! Make her sleep or something!"
"Child, I don't need advices from my students, now return with your companions and wait until I tell you what to do," answered Xavier.
"We're all going to die," said Wanda ominously.
"Once more you attempt to sound like dear old Professor Adler, Wanda, and you fail miserably at it I must add," said Henry McCoy, removing his glasses and cleaning them with his shirt, as he returned to the side of Piotr and Wanda.
"And you look like an ape," she said, sticking her tongue out. "Hey… look at that!" she said, pointing towards the top of the hill.
"Oh my stars and garters," whispered Henry McCoy, putting back his glasses and following Wanda's command.

"In our school, Katherine will learn how to control her powers, yes, but she will also learn under some of the best scientific minds of this century. I took the liberty of perusing Katherine's school records and I was very surprised. Your daughter is a genius. She will find in Xavier's more than enough classes to stimulate her cognitive abilities, as you can clearly see in the brochure," explained Erik Magnus Lensherr, calmly sitting in the living room of the Pryde household.
"Reed Richards is a regular lecturer in your school?" said Terri Pryde, with clear surprise in her eyes, her hands wrapped in one of Mr. Lensherr's brochures.
"Indeed. He was a friend of my colleague during college, the children simply adore it when he arrives with his family for a day or two," smiled Erik.
"You know, there was a Charles Xavier in a nearby unit when I was in 'Nam… you think he's the same guy?" asked Carmen Pryde with interest, leaning back on his sofa.
"I will ask him. Charles is a very reserved about his past, I am not entirely sure he was in a war," said Erik.
"We can't really decide. It's up to her, isn't it? If she wants to go… then I'll guess she'll go," said Terri Pryde, trying to remain steady and calm, even though she was clearly distressed.
"It's not that far hon, we will visit her every weekend," said Carmen Pryde, wrapping his arm around his wife.
"You expect young Katherine to accept the offer?" asked Erik Lensherr.
"I have no doubt Kitty will jump at the possibility," answered Mr. Pryde.

"I don't know, it does sound cool, and I hate this headaches… but what about my friends? Won't I ever see them again? And I have a chemistry test next week which I'm really looking forward to," said Kitty Pryde, tightening her coat around her neck as she and Lorna left the Malt Shoppe.
"Katherine… father told me I shouldn't tell you this, but there is more to our school than just learning how to control our gifts," said Lorna, standing behind Kitty and placing her hands in her shoulders. "Look across the street, right there… in that alley."
Kitty Pryde put on her glasses and squinted her eyes. Across the street, in the darkest alley possible, she could see a band of thugs mugging a couple of teenagers. She counted at least eight muggers, all tall and muscular, and all of them had either knifes or chains or weapons of some sort. "What am I looking at?"
"Shhh. Just watch," said Lorna.
Suddenly, a massive shadow fell from the nearest building into the alley. Kitty could see it was a very tall, very fat, teenage boy, who laughed at the muggers, some of which had fallen to the floor in surprise.
The muggers moved to attack the fat boy, but a blur ran between them, and suddenly they found themselves without their weapons, and Kitty saw another teenage boy with short white hair standing with the mugger's weapons. She then saw a tall muscular young man, with long black hair tied in a ponytail behind his head, flexing his muscles. Atop his shoulders, Kitty could see yet another teenager, crouching and showing an extremely large tongue, brandishing it menacingly to the muggers.
"The tall guy is my boyfriend, his name is John, he's an Apache. The one on his shoulders, we call him Toad, he's a riot that one. The one with white hair is my brother, Pietro, he can move at superspeed, he's very annoying sometimes. And the other one it's Freddie. Don't let his size fool you, he's a teddy bear," said Lorna.
Kitty saw as Lorna's friends easily disbanded and shackled the muggers, using their own weapons and even a garbage container, while helping the teenagers escape and retrieve their belongings, and she could not keep her mouth shut. "Are you telling me, in that school of yours… they teach you how to be a superhero?"
Lorna Lensherr did not answer, she merely looked into Kitty's eyes and smiled.

"The hill's coming down upon us!" shouted Piotr Rasputin as he ran uphill, trying to catch Professor Xavier's attention.
Wanda Lensherr felt the time had come and she lifted her arms towards the hill. Her eyes were fixed on the large mass of mud, rock and earth that was about to fall towards the village, due to the excessive rain and wind and she concentrated. Her hands shone brightly and she attempted to control the probabilities of the hill not falling on top of them, while Henry McCoy jumped around, trying to catch as many people as possible in his strong beast-like arms and removing them from harm at topmost speed.
"Now will you use those powers of yours?" asked Jean-Paul clearly irritated.
"Go down, help Wanda and Henry remove the people from the village," said the Professor dismissively. Jean-Paul threw one last look at his teacher and then ran downhill, crossing Piotr on the way, stopping for less than a second to smile at him and then running back down to help the villagers.
Professor Xavier didn't want to use his powers in this way, it was not his preference, but, once again, circumstances forced him to do so. He sighed, as Piotr Rasputin shouted something at him and stood a few feet uphill from him, bracing himself. Charles Xavier let loose his mutant power of telepathy, his mind reaching Ororo's and, to his surprise, her mind was closed to him. He tried harder, he had to enter her mind, and then he heard her.
"You old fool! I will not allow you to enter my mind!" she shouted, directing a gigantic bolt of lightning towards Xavier.
Piotr Rasputin did not think, he merely threw himself between the lightning and his teacher. The force of the impact was such that he felt no pain as he fell into unconsciousness, his body regaining its natural shape, the flesh once more replacing the organic steel.
"Piotr!" shouted Jean-Paul from below, seeing the scene. With clear anger in his eyes, he began to run, and, as he did, he found himself running in the air, and soon everyone could see he was flying towards the Storm Goddess, even though, at the moment, he could not realize it.
"Is there no end to your annoying ilk?" said Ororo with anger, creating a strong gust of wind to stop Jean-Paul in his place. "What is your name? Why do you answer when I strike at the Xavier one?"
"Girl, you are really messed up," said Jean-Paul. His body began to glow, and in an instant it created a massive burst of light, powerful enough to light the entire area with the same intensity as the sun.
"By the Bright Lady!" shouted Ororo, the burst of light had clearly blindsided her. She stopped the winds holding Jean-Paul in place and clutched her eyes, unable to see. It was all the opportunity the speedster mutant needed to hit her in the face hard.
"I can't stop it," said Wanda at last, lowering her arms as a trickle of blood fell from her nose. As she did, the mountain roared and the landslide started at last.
"Enough!" shouted Ororo, wind and lightning erupting around her, removing Jean-Paul from her side. Her vision was slowly returning and she saw a most strange sight. Xavier's head was floating, like a ghost, in front of her, and it spoke.
"Is this what you want, Goddess? To kill your own people? To harm these children who accompanied me? Look at the devastation you have wrought upon your own, merely because my words angered you. Is that how Gods behave?"
Ororo looked below, and saw her precious villagers, a very small portion of her worshippers, in pain and fear, running around, leaving their belongings, and she saw the landslide, falling through the hill, seconds away from engulfing Xavier himself, who was kneeling next to his fallen student. Ororo did not hesitate and moved her hands towards the hill, flying in its direction, creating winds to increase her speed and to stop the landslide. "Take Xavier and the young one to safety while I settle this," ordered Ororo to Jean-Paul, who flew next to her.
Jean-Paul Beaubier opened his mouth, but there was no time to argue and he followed her orders, trying to lift both Xavier and Piotr, though it was not easy.
At her command, the rain stopped and the clouds opened, allowing the sun to shine through. Her winds kept the mud and earth in place, but she did not know how to fully stop them.
"Ororo, allow me to enter your mind, I can teach you how to stop the landslide, how to dry the earth and hold it in place," said Professor Xavier in her head, his voice was faint and strained.
For a second, Ororo doubted what to do, her mind was her own. But she knew there was no other chance, and, ever so slowly, she lowered the shields around her mind, created by the electrical forces she controlled, and allowed Xavier to communicate with her more easily.
"Ororo this is Henry McCoy, one of my most brilliant students, her will guide you through the process," said Xavier inside her mind, as she continued to hold the landslide in place with her winds.
"Hello my most belligerent and beautiful adversary, I am honored to be in the presence of a Goddess," said an unfamiliar voice in her head.
"Speak now and tell me what to do, mortal, I will not remain like this forever," said Ororo, hiding a smile.
"Very well, the effect I propose is simple, have you ever heard of a magnifying glass?" said Henry McCoy.
Slowly he guided her to shape the droplets of water in the sky, creating a gigantic, natural "magnifying glass", though which the sun's rays increased its intensity drying the mud and earth, and binding it atop the hill, forcing it to stay in place. Eventually, Ororo removed her winds, and the land stood in its place, and threatened the villagers no more. After a few minutes she flew towards the center of the village, and as she did, all the villagers threw themselves to the ground, praying in silence.
"Is your ward all right? I did not mean to harm him," she said, looking at Piotr, who was being tended to by Jean-Paul and Wanda and was sitting, grabbing the back of his head.
"He will be all right. He thought he could dissipate the lightning, but the force of the attack surprised him," said Xavier, smiling, his suit wet and muddy.
"What can you offer me Xavier? I am a Goddess. My people love me and need me, here I am useful, there is nothing for me to do in a school. Especially if it's filled with skeptics such as yourself who do not believe my Godhood."
"Ororo you are a girl, a girl with tremendous power, a power she can control, yes, but she still needs to learn how to properly harness it, you saw the destruction you wreaked without even wanting to do so. I offer you a place to learn that, to learn how to properly use your powers to benefit your… worshippers. If you wish to continue to believe yourself a Goddess, that is your wish, but I know the truth," Xavier removed a small card from his pocket and handed it to Ororo, "come to the school. Let me help you."
Ororo looked at the card for several seconds without answering. When she spoke, she did not lift her eyes, and she began to levitate. "You have an hour to leave my lands. If you do not I will rain my fury upon you again, and this time you will never anger a Goddess ever again." And she flew, her figure disappearing in the sunlight.
Henry McCoy approached his teacher, looking at the skies. "She didn't believe you then?"
"So it would seem," said Professor Xavier, his eyes fixed on the departing mutant.

"YES! I mean… yeah… I'd like to go," said Kitty Pryde barely able to control her enthusiasm.
Erik Lensherr smiled at the exclamation of the young mutant. "You certainly know your daughter, Mr. Pryde."
"Indeed. I should have placed a bet or something," added Carmen Pryde.
"We shall be expecting you at the school next Monday then, young Katherine," said Erik, extending his hand to the girl.
Katherine Pryde was frightened at first, but slowly she moved her hand and shook Mr. Lensherr's hand slowly. As she did she felt a sudden tingle of electricity coming from the Headmaster, a chill running down her spine she could not identify.
"She will be there, Mr. Lensherr, and we will be there at the crack of dawn the next Saturday," added Terri Pryde, on the brink of tears.
"Father we should be going, I don't want to miss Ms Adler's class," said Lorna, clinging to Erik's arm.
"We shall speak on the matter of paperwork later, Mr. Pryde," said Erik, shaking the Prydes hands one after the other. With a curtly bow, he began to move away, while Lorna hugged Kitty goodbye.
Soon after, Erik Lensherr found himself arm to arm with his daughter, approaching their luxurious car, while the driver opened the door for them.
"Those people were far more polite than I expected, when we first arrived I thought they were going to bring the torches and pitchforks," said Lorna.
Erik Lensherr laughed. "My child, you still have so much to learn about your powers, and about the way the human brain works. That is why I make such strong case of you studying anatomy and chemistry."
"You're telling me you… influenced them to accept?"
"My child, I would never admit to using my powers on a poor defenseless human being," said Erik Lensherr, catching his daughter's eye across the roof of the car. And after a brief second of silence they both began to laugh.

 

[Valechan]

Mutantkind pt III of VI: The Nuthouse

"I… flew… didn't I?" asked Jean-Paul Beaubier, his arms tightly wrapped around his boyfriend's waist, resting next to him in bed.
"You most certainly did," replied Piotr Rasputin, gently caressing Jean-Paul's hair.
"And all because of you. I was so angry when that ***** struck you down… I just had to do something," said Jean-Paul, lifting his head from Piotr's chest and looking straight into his black eyes.
"I always knew you had it in you, you just needed the appropriate stimulation," added Piotr.
"Stimulation… I like that," Jean-Paul smiled and moved his body upwards, slowly parting his lips, locking them with Piotr's in a never-ending kiss. Slowly Jean-Paul began to move his hand through Piotr's chest, increasing the intensity of the kiss as he did, sliding his hand downwards, until, suddenly, Piotr's mutant power manifested and his flesh turned into organic steel. "That wasn't part of the game," said Jean-Paul smiling.
"Sorry… you… surprised me, your hand was…" said Piotr blushing while slowly returning to human form.
"My hand was going exactly where I want it to go," said Jean-Paul, kissing Piotr's lips gently and moving his hand even downward.
"Wait, I… I can't do it," said Piotr, stopping Jean-Paul's hand.
"Why not? It's fun… you'll enjoy it."
"I'm certain I will, but… in this place… there are too many people around, the walls have eyes and ears here."
"And? I'm not ashamed of what I like to do and we're old enough to do whatever we want to do," said Jean-Paul, slightly frowning his brow.
"It's not like that, I'm just saying, I wouldn't be comfortable enough doing that here," explained Piotr, "you never know what can happen in this school."
"You're as paranoid as Professor Lensherr… what's the worst that can happen?"
And exactly when he finished speaking a tremendous explosion rocked the entire mansion.

Katherine Pryde was too excited to notice anything. The taxi rode uphill, slowly moving through Graymalkin Lane until it reached the mansion placed at 1407. The strong metal doors, which led to the mansion's grounds, opened and she expected the taxi to cross them, but instead it stopped.
"Excuse me, the mansion is up there, can you please take me to the door?" asked Kitty in her most polite voice.
"No. This is as far as I go," said the taxi driver in a strong Hindu accent.
"But… I have to walk all the way uphill? It's like… a lot…"
"Sorry girl, thirty-two fifty, and hurry up I want not to stay in this place for long," said Apu the taxi driver.
Kitty Pryde handed him the exact fare, grabbed her bag and got off the cab. She sighed, watching before her the road to the mansion and the vast wood around it and she sighed once more. She tightened her grip on the bag's handle and began to walk. As she did she noticed the wood around her seemed to spring from a fairytale. Birds chirped all around, almost singing a catchy tune; she found the bird's song calmed her anxieties and fears. She spotted a rabbit or two, and several squirrels eating nuts in the lowest branches of the trees. Smiling, Kitty didn't even realize she had arrived at the front door of the mansion. The place seemed huge from what she could see. The mansion was four stories high, and it looked like three independent buildings, connected in the middle. She was impressed; she couldn't believe it was all just one building. She gathered courage and walked the few stone steps towards the front door. She lifted her hand towards the doorbell and that's when it happened. The heavy oak doors exploded, and a young man crashed through them.
Instinctively, Kitty Pryde turned immaterial, and the man just phased through her body, landing hard on the paved road before the mansion. Kitty's eyes were widely opened. For a second she looked at the boy, whose appendages were larger than usual and his long black hair fell on top of his eyes. Almost immediately the teenager jumped back and ran towards the destroyed door.
"Good morning," he said as he jumped through the hole in the door.
Kitty Pryde was surprised and followed him with her eyes. She looked through the broken door and saw a teenage boy and a girl, both of them with long blonde hair and blue eyes, their hands locked together and standing in the middle of the air. She could not believe her eyes. She saw Professor Lensherr, also standing in mid-air, wearing a strange looking helmet and several other people she did not know all looking at the blonde twins, who shot beams from their hands.
"Drake, take young Ms. Pryde to know the facilities, the teachers will handle this," said Professor Lensherr.
Kitty saw as a boy made of ice walked towards her, avoiding a blast from the blonde twins as he did. The boy changed his form as he reached her, turning into an average-looking kid of no more than fifteen years. "Hi, I'm Bobby… I'm supposed to give you the tour around the school, you must be Kitty."
"Yes… am… there are two people standing in the air and shooting everybody," said Kitty, shyly pointing at the middle of the entrance hall.
"That? Oh it's nothing, just new students, happens all the time here; come with me; it'd be best if we circle the mansion and we enter from the back. It wouldn't be a great first day if you lost a limb or something," said Bobby Drake casually.
Kitty gave one last look through the broken door and then agreed and followed the young boy.
"The school is actually a mansion, it was Professor Xavier's family home, but he turned it into a school with Professor Lensherr about five years ago, I've been here for two years, I was the youngest student ever, well until you it seems, how old are you, eleven?"
"No, I'm… I'm thirteen," said Kitty, following the trail around the mansion.
"Oh, ok then, still the youngest; I was twelve the day I crossed those doors, luckily for me there wasn't any crazy student trying to kill everybody."
"What was that all about?" asked Kitty.
"Don't really know, those two kids came about two weeks ago, the army brought them or something like that, they were terrorists or villains or something of the sort. I think Professor Xavier's trying to rehabilitate them. They were keeping them in shackles in the basement but they escaped and it seems they aren't too happy about it."
"I see," replied Kitty.
"So, back to the tour, this is the backyard, you can see the swimming pool, it's huge, there are two basketball courts, a tennis court, a baseball field a little further down, the woods all around the campus… and there's even a lake down that path, with a little cottage. It's a popular making-out spot for couples, so whenever a guy invites you to go the lake you know what to expect, which I think should happen as soon as you meet some of the guys because you're so cute," explained Bobby.
Kitty blushed at his remark but did not speak.
"The first and second floors is where the classrooms are," he said as he opened a big windowed door and lead her inside, "we have classes like in any regular school, math, physics and all that stuff I so hate. The student body is separated by age, but you're certainly the youngest right now so I have no clue where they'll put you, we need to speak with a teacher to see if they know. Right now I should be in class, but I was chosen to show you around, for which I am very grateful because I hate History."
"Why do you hate it? I love to study history," said Kitty.
"Yeah, until you have a test with Professor Adler. The old bat knows everything you're going to do before you do it, it's impossible to cheat, and sometimes she doesn't even test you, she just tells you your grade based on what you would have done… I never got more than a D in her class."
"I see," Kitty nodded, pretending to understand what he was saying.
"The girls' dormitories are in the third and fourth floors, on the left wing, the boys on the right, I think you're bunking with Wanda, she's cool, she's Professor Lensherr's daughter."
"I met his other daughter, Lorna, she was very cool," said Kitty, remembering last week's visit to the Malt Shoppe.
"She's like the most popular girl in the school, every girl wants to be her, every boy wants to date her," said Bobby Drake almost in a singsong tone. "I'll show you your room later, right now we're going to the best place in the school," he said as he lifted his hand to press a panel on the wooden wall.
"Robert Drake get your hand out of there," said a hollow voice from behind them.
Bobby jumped at the voice, and Kitty imitated him. Slowly she turned to see a tall woman, who wore her black hair in a tight bun behind her back. The woman had red sunglasses and her skin was as pale as chalk.
"You are not allowed to visit the lower levels without a teacher, you know the rules," said the woman, crossing her arms before her.
"Professor Sage, this is Kitty Pryde, she's a new student, I was about to show her the Danger Room and Cerebro and all the cool stuff," said Bobby almost with fear in his voice.
"Welcome to the school Katherine," said Sage curtly, her eyes fixed on Bobby, "she will see the Danger Room when she is ready, hurry up, finish her orientation, take her to her room and go back to class. Now."
Sensing Professor Sage's tone was final, Bobby Drake merely lowered his head and agreed in an almost inaudible whisper. Slowly he guided Kitty towards the staircases in silence, under the watchful eye of his teacher.
"Who was she? Is it just me or she's the creepiest person ever?" whispered Kitty.
"Shhh… not here, she can hear you. And yes, she's so very creepy," replied Bobby Drake.
As soon as they reached the second floor, Kitty raised her voice slightly. "So, what was it you wanted to show me?"
"The best part of our education here, simple as that. You see, like I told you before, we get all the regular classes, but we also have special classes to learn how to control and use our powers responsibly, and most of this classes happen in the Danger Room."
"That sounds weird, who named it?"
"The older kids, they thought it sounded cool I guess. You see, the Danger Room is just that, a room filled with Danger. In it you can expect anything and everything and you have to use your powers to defend yourself. It's really cool. Professor Forge created this new holographic technology that can create anything you dream of. Once we had an exercise in the Roman Coliseum, it was so cool."
"I can't wait to see that. And does the entire class go there at the same time, doesn't it get a little… crowded?" asked Kitty.
"No. We are all separated into squads. I have no clue how they separate us into squads, but they do. Each teacher is responsible for teaching five to six students all about their powers, and each have a very different take on what we should do with them. I'm in Professor Voght's squad; she's cool. Once a week the squads change their teachers, so we get a different view on what to do with our powers. I so love it when we get Professor Lensherr, he always teaches us how to fight. Professor Xavier is constantly telling us why we mustn't use our powers, he's boring."
Kitty Pryde tried to comprehend all the information she was given and to remember the path to the dormitories when suddenly a strange cloud formation caught her attention through the window. She stopped walking and stood in front of the large window, watching intently at a gigantic dark cloud, which seemed to be flying towards them, getting larger with every second.
"That isn't normal… isn't it?" she asked.
"No… I… I've never seen anything like that," he said, lifting his hand to open the window.
"Don't do it, it looks like a huge storm coming this way," said Kitty stopping him.

"Isn't it a lovely day?" said Wanda Lensherr, tightening her sunglasses and leaning backwards in her chair by the swimming pool.
"It will be until Professor Voght tells your dad we skipped class," replied Alison Blaire, resting next to her in another chair.
"What's the worst he can do? Void us from going to the next trip to the town's theater? Last one wasn't that good either," said Wanda.
"We're already banned from the next trip, remember? Maybe this time he'll tire and expel us," added Alison with worry in her voice.
"Nah, he won't. Professor Xavier will vouch for us, he always does. You worry too much Al, nothing will happen because we missed one lousy math class."
The skies above turned darker in a second and the sun was blocked. Thunder broke in the distance and Alison Blaire removed her sunglasses and stared at her friend.
"Yeah I know… I cursed us. Damn my mouth," said Wanda, removing her glasses and looking up.
Lightning slowly illuminated the skies and coalesced into a form before the girls and Wanda Lensherr recognized the young woman appearing in the lightning.
"You, red-clad mortal, fetch the Xavier one, I need to speak with him," said Ororo, Goddess of the Storm, appearing before them.
"Wow," said Alison Blaire, opening her eyes wide.
"Professor Xavier isn't in the school right now. Do you want to leave a message?" said Wanda, leaning back in her chair and speaking casually. "And do remove those clouds, I'm sunbathing."
Ororo's eyes opened wide, the mortal dared speak to her like that. Thunder broke and her eyes flashed with fury and she created a gigantic bolt of lightning in the skies, and directed it to the young woman.

"This sort of thing happens all the time?" asked Kitty Pryde, her eyes fixed on Wanda, who stepped out of a gigantic crater in the ground, her bathing suit torn and ripped, her body covered in pink-red energy.
"You mean almost naked girls fighting each other near the swimming pool? I should be so lucky," answered Bobby Drake, his eyes fixed on the battle below, as he opened the window widely. "That's Wanda, the one dressed in red, she always dresses in red. I don't know who the flying girl is, I never saw her here."
"I've seen that girl before… Wanda… she was in a movie I went to a couple of weeks ago. Weird," added Kitty Pryde as she saw Wanda lifting her hands towards Ororo, who fell to the swimming pool suddenly.
After a few seconds of silence, Kitty spoke again. "So let me see. In the Entrance Hall, the Headmaster and some of the teachers are fighting against some new students who are probably terrorists, and in the backyard, one of the students is fighting a girl you have no clue who it is."
"Pretty much. So… we continue the tour?" asked Bobby Drake with a smile, closing the window, while Kitty Pryde wondered what sort of place she had just decided to trust her education with.

"Charly X is going to be really mad when he comes back, you know?" said Forge, closing the manacles on the young teenage boy lying unconscious before him.
"I had to try to speak with them," said Erik Lensherr, removing his helmet. "I do not agree with him about keeping them in a cell."
"They're dangerous, you just saw what they did. They're as mad as their father was," said Amelia Voght, coalescing into human form next to them.
"Yes, I see that now. Charles was right. We will wait for this psychiatrist friend of his to examine them before taking them from their cell again," agreed Erik Lensherr.
"Professors, if you do not need my assistance anymore I shall return to my class, Professor Adler was telling a most fascinating tale and I would like to hear at least the end of it," said Henry McCoy with a curtly bow.
"Yes, leave now Henry, return to class," said Erik Lensherr, landing next to a gigantic hole in the ground. "We should start repairing this before Charles returns."
"Professor Lensherr! There's a crazy girl attacking Wanda by the pool!" shouted Alison Blaire, running towards them from the left hall.
"It never ends, does it?" said Erik Lensherr, putting his helmet back on. "You need help putting the Struckers back in their cell?" asked as he passed next to Amelia.
"Don't be silly. Go find out what's going on back there."
Erik Lensherr nodded and gently levitated next to the young girl, and he spoke. "Tell me now, why were you and my daughter by the swimming pool? Shouldn't you have been in class?"

The water in the swimming pool began to move, suddenly creating a massive whirlpool, and it began to move upwards, like a fountain. And atop the massive sprout of water, Ororo, Goddess of the Storm, sat on it and laughed.
"You're laughing?" asked Wanda, her eyes glowing as red as her torn one-piece bathing suit.
"How did you do that? It was… amusing," said Ororo, looking at Wanda from the sprout of water.
"I… control probabilities. The least likely something is from happening… I sort of tweak it into happening. It's like magic really," explained Wanda, clearly confused.
"I see. You're a witch, a sorceress… it is amusing to see the lengths mortals are willing to take to have the power only fit for Gods," said Ororo. With ease she dispersed the water sprout, returning the calm to the pool, while she gently flew towards Wanda, landing before her. "What be your name mortal?"
"Wanda… I'm… Wanda Lensherr, are we going to keep fighting?"
"Not unless you want to. I've come here to learn all about the different kinds of mortals. Why should a Goddess such as myself focus her gifts on such a small land? Once I've learned enough about all of you I can take my gifts to all of mankind. Such is my purpose on this world," explained Ororo.
"You didn't seem much eager to help us when we saw you last week," said Wanda, powering down, lowering her hands.
"I had a talk with my father, the Wind, and he… enlightened me, I need to learn more about you mortals before granting you my gifts. So come, we will wait for Xavier; I trust this mortal dwelling place must have a pantry of some sort. I am in the mood for what you mortals call chimichanga," said Ororo walking towards the school.
Wanda stood still for a second and then began to follow. "Isn't that a drink? We're not allowed to drink alcohol, we're underage."
"Nonsense, the Goddess of the Storm is not bound by human law or rules, nor any mortal she chooses to grant her favor to, so show me where the pantry is before I choose to grant my favor to some other mortal."

 

[Valechan]

The black car pulled over slowly, stopping right in front of the door. Professor Xavier told his driver to return in exactly forty-five minutes and stepped out of the car. As he did, his eyes fell on the large metal sign on top of the door. "Dr. Frost Mental Asylum." He could not help it; a chill ran down his spine as a crow chirped in the distance; the place seemed like taken from an Edgar Allan Poe novel. He closed the car door and walked the few steps separating him from the door, ringing the doorbell. He looked through the metal doors, watching the solitary building atop the lonely hill, and he saw a woman walking through the front door and down the path towards him. He waited in silence, his eyes fixed on the blonde woman, and as she slowly walked towards him, she heard her voice in his mind.
"I do not agree with you Charles. You know this. She is not ready."
"Emma, have you been shut into your asylum for so long you've forgotten the basic rules of society. First you say hello," replied Charles Xavier without speaking.
"Try to lighten things up as much as you want, but I tell you, she is a danger to herself and to others, she should not be taken from here," answered Emma Frost as she opened the metal doors with a large heavy metal key.
"We have new methods and new technology this time, it will be different," said Charles.
"You are wrong and your students will pay the price for it," said Emma, speaking at last, holding the door open.
"Taking a leaf from Irene's book? You don't have precognitive abilities, Emma," replied Xavier.
"You look old, and tired," she said, hugging him.
"I was just about to say the same, did you read my mind?" said Charles with a smile in his face.
"How long has it been? Three? Four years?" asked Emma, wrapping her arm around Charles and leading him towards the building.
"Five and a half. You left my side just as I Erik and I decided to fund our school. Since then all our meetings have been in the Astral Plane."
"You always seem younger and fitter when we meet in our minds," she said smiling.
"And you tend to look older than you really Emma. I've never understood why you dress like an eighty-year-old woman when you're barely thirty-two. Even in your mind you do this."
"We all have our secrets and phobias, you taught me that," she said, opening the front door of the building.
Charles Xavier smiled as he crossed the front door of the asylum, closely followed by its director.

"This is a big room," said Kitty Pryde, holding her duffel bag with both hands.
"All the rooms are like that, four or five guys to the same room. But this one is just Wanda's… and yours now," explained Bobby Drake.
"Should I wait for her to tell me which one is my bed?"
"Nah, just pick one, the red one must be hers, that girl is crazy about red."
Kitty saw one of the beds had red curtains around, as well as a red blanket on top of it, decorated with red and yellow pillows.
"Hope you enjoy your stay here in the school," said Bobby Drake, slowly closing the door.
Kitty Pryde sighed and began to look around. Suddenly her mind raced back to the front door, remembering the golden sign next to it. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. A chill ran down her spine. Her new life was about to begin.

 

[Valechan]

Mutantkind pt IV of VI: Perspectives

"I expected better," said Ororo, slowly landing on the grass. Her eyes fixed on the young mutants before her, lying on top of each other.
Charles Xavier could not suppress a smile, the child certainly knew how to use her powers.
"Is this what you wanted me to learn, Xavier? That your children are weak?" asked Ororo, crossing her arms.
"Hey! We're… not… can you please take your high heel from my back? It really hurts," said Jean-Paul Beaubier, looking into Wanda Lensherr's eyes.
"Sorry… ouch… Pete you're on my hair, Hank you better have a good explanation for having that hand there," said the young mutant girl, whose hair was trapped beneath the tall form of Piotr Rasputin and Henry McCoy.
Slowly the four teenagers untangled themselves and as they did, Professor Xavier decided to speak.
"This has proven to be a most interesting exercise. I asked you to simply restrain your new teammate, and you failed most miserably. Perhaps it is time to try a little teamwork this time."
"I fail to see the point of this exercise Xavier. These children cannot match the powers of a Goddess. Why do you want them to suffer once more such an indignity?" said Ororo frowning slightly.
"My dear, I am the educator here. Since this won't be much of a problem for you, can't you just amuse me?"
"Very well, but this is trying my patience," she replied, slowly levitating once more.
"Now, again, children try to bring Storm from the skies," said Professor Xavier, sitting on a fallen trunk. His lips stopped moving, but his students could still hear his words on their minds. "Scarlet Witch, you need to create a hex that will follow a very specific command, concentrate. Colossus, Beast, Northstar, distract Storm until the hex is ready."
"There are the codenames again," said Jean-Paul rolling his eyes upwards. The mutant speedster lifted his right hand, creating a massive burst of light in the direction of Ororo.
"Professor Lensherr explained it was for safeguarding our identities. We are to use said codenames whenever in battle. Comrade Beast, do I have your permission to try something?" asked Piotr Rasputin, organic metal covering his flesh, increasing his size and mass in seconds.
"Da my soviet brother-in-arms," said Henry McCoy, tightening his facemask.
"Remember you agreed," said Piotr smiling, as he sounded his knuckles.
Ororo gathered lightning in her hand, and swiftly moved his hand in front of her. Charging the air with electricity she dispersed Northstar's light effect, however, she was clearly surprised when she saw, coming from the light, the form of Henry McCoy, the Beast, lunging towards her.
"I assure you my lady this was not my intention," said Beast, his arms open as he flew towards Storm. He grabbed her tightly.
"Unhand me, you big ape!" said Storm, clearly angry at this maneuver. Her eyes flashed for less than a second, and a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, hitting Beast fully, making the teenager scream and release his prey.
"Ororo do not allow him to fall, this is an exercise after all," said Professor Xavier inside Storm's mind.
"Get out of my head little man," said Storm, whilst she conjured a small wind to prevent Beast from hitting the ground as he fell.

Not far from there, a solitary figure watched the scene in the woods surrounding the mansion. Erik Magnus Lensherr was standing alone in the large balcony, fully garbed in his combat uniform, a costume created of unstable molecules, which was as strong as armor and as flexible and pliable as the most comfortable set of clothes. In his hand rested his metallic helmet, while his gaze was clear upon Xavier's squads, and specially his daughter, Wanda. She had been such a disappointment. It pained him to see her; she looked so much like her mother. He focused his sight upon the so-called Goddess. The power this child exhibited was tremendous, and she seemed to be clearly in control of her abilities. Damn Xavier. He should have found her first, now she was just another one of his students. The Pryde girl had been a major disappointment too.
Erik saw in silence as Wanda's hex finally came to fruition, and the nearby trees seemed to come alive, as their branches moved like whips, tightening around Storm's arms and legs, restraining her in mid-air. However he was distracted as he heard a voice behind him.
"Father, we are ready," said Lorna Lensherr, walking towards her father. The green haired mutant wore a costume similar to her father's, created from the same resilient fabric and sporting the same colors, red and purple.
"I know Lorna, I will be with you shortly," he said, slowly donning his helmet.
"Is everything alright father?" asked Lorna.
"Yes… do not worry," replied Erik Lensherr, turning to see his daughter and smiling.

"Everything's changing, isn't it?" asked Amelia Voght, wrapping her arms around herself, looking out the window towards the yard, where Charles Xavier was training his students.
"I thought that was the point of this school, to change the world, wasn't it?" replied Emma Frost, sitting in a comfortable armchair, her legs crossed. As she spoke she played with a pen, her eyes fixed on the woman before her.
"Psychiatrists. They always respond with a question," said Amelia Voght rolling her eyes. "I meant… there's something in the air, something that tells me a big change is coming, a time of strife and pain is upon us. I feel it on my skin, and I have no clue why."
"I thought you scheduled this appointment to talk about your marriage with Charles. Is that why you feel this? You feel isolated, separated from Charles, he spends more time with his children and with Cerebro than with you. Is that why you feel pain is coming? You expect he might divorce you?" Emma asked, her eyes slightly closed, smiling.
Amelia Voght exhaled, slowly turning around. "Yes. I fear what this school might to do to us. Before the school, Charles and I were happy, we were together, we were… and now… I'm lucky if I can spend with him an hour a week."
"No doubt you're concerned. And tell me, what are you willing to do to change this? To revert things?"
Amelia Voght opened her mouth and closed it twice, but when she was about to reply, the door to the downstairs study opened violently and a young boy stood there, his face pale and his breathing ragged.
"Professor Voght… come… now… you have to see this," Bobby Drake with difficulty in his voice.
"Bobby, what's going on?" asked Amelia Voght, clearly preoccupied. Her eyes flew to Emma, who answered her question.
"It's… a TV show? You're scared of a TV show, Robert? Perhaps Charles should schedule a session for each and every one of you kids."
"Please Professor Voght… you have to see this," he insisted, grabbing his teacher's hand and pulling her towards the door.
"Fine… let's… let's go," she said, following the child.
It didn't take long for them to arrive on the TV room. Amelia's eyes first fell on her students, the squad that was assigned to her. Sitting in a large three-part sofa she saw the young Russian girl known as Roulette, leaning her head slightly in her boyfriend's chest, the teenager known as Unus. Sitting in the floor next to them was Catseye, by far the youngest of her squad, who was transformed into her pink cat form. Slowly her eyes moved to the TV set, as Bobby Drake raised the volume with the remote control.
"What you propose then… is genocide? There is no better word for it," said a reporter, his eyes fixed on the man sitting before him.
"You must understand, these atrocities are not human, genocide means the extermination of a racial group. Mutants aren't human; mutants aren't a race. They are the children of Satan, demons spawned into the Earth to cause chaos and confusion. Must I remind you of the Atlanta case? The demon worked its way into a nice God fearing family and slaughtered them all in their sleep," said the man. Amelia Voght's eyes moved to the letters below his face, Reverend William Stryker she read.
"You mean last week's terrible murder of an entire family? A leak from the police claimed the youngest child could not be found, not even a small piece of her," said the reporter.
"Indeed. The demon had the appearance of this child, and when the time was right it destroyed the family, who was so important to the Lord. You might remember the father was a fellow minister, a man devoted to God. These demons walk among us, and the worst part of it is some even look like us. Because that is the way of the devil, to fool us with illusions and to empower his agents-" Amelia Voght grabbed the remote from Bobby's hand and turned off the television. Silence fell in the room for a few seconds, until Unus broke it, turning to see his Professor.
"Is that… is that the scene Professor Xavier visited? The one where he couldn't find the girl who did all that?"
"Yes," replied Amelia Voght with concern in her voice. "We… should've been ready for this. The word mutant is slowly becoming known. Erik said they would pin those murders on a mutant."
"But… didn't a mutant do them?" asked Roulette, removing her long blonde hair from her eyes.
"Yes… but that's not the point, Charles doesn't believe it was voluntary, the child must have had a violent manifestation of her powers, it has happened to many, even some of the kids who study here," explained Professor Voght.
"What do we do now Professor? Should we tell Professor Xavier about this? Could we try to find this girl?" asked Bobby Drake.
"Charles is trying to find her, but she seems to have vanished from Earth. Right now… let's not worry about this… it's almost time for our run in the Danger Room, so everyone change into your uniforms and let's meet in the Danger Room in five."
Her students moaned and argued, but slowly they got up and began to walk towards the elevator to the lower levels, and as Amelia Voght watched them she could not help feel a chill running down her spine. A sensation that increased when she saw Emma Frost standing on the entrance of the room, her eyes fixed on her with a grave expression in her face.

"Very well my children… very well," said Charles Xavier with a smile.
"Release me!" shouted Storm, clearly angered, lightning erupting all around her, while the skies turned darker.
Wanda Lensherr lowered her hands and slowly the tree branches untangled themselves, allowing Storm to escape her bonds.
"That was an indignity! How dare you humiliate me like that?" asked Ororo, her eyes flashing with fury as she levitated towards Xavier.
"It was you who agreed to the exercise, Ororo, must I remind you?" replied Xavier.
"You… you… have courage, to stand up to Goddess and try to teach her. I see now why you set this 'exercise', Xavier. You try to tell me to be more humble and to not underestimate my opponents. You never cease to surprise me, mortal," said Ororo.
"Cut the act, 'Goddess', you lost, deal with it" said Jean-Paul jokingly.
Ororo looked at Jean-Paul, her stare was colder than ice, and a freezing breeze enveloped the young Canadian mutant. Immediately she turned to face Xavier once more.
"I agreed to this exercise because I wanted to see what kind of education you could provide for me, but I can see you are still obsessed in belittling me and to convince me I am not who I am," she said with anger.
"Nothing could be farther from the truth. This exercise was just that, an exercise. I need to see the extent of your abilities, as well as the abilities of my students. And today was something to take notice, not every day four teenage mortals can best a Goddess, right?"
Ororo smiled slightly and then answered. "After she beat them single-handedly with ease and then lowered her power-level. In a real fight, they don't have a chance."
Wanda rolled her eyes at Ororo's words but said nothing. Suddenly, as she turned, she saw a young girl crying, leaning on a tree in the distance.
"Professor?" she said, pointing in the girl's direction.
Charles Xavier turned, his eyes could not truly distinguish who was there, crying, but his mind worked at great speed, and a quick telepathic probe told him it was the newest student, young Kitty Pryde. "Right. Class, you might dispose of the time as you see fit, except for you Ororo. Remember I told you about that friend of mine I wanted you to meet? She is expecting you in the study."
"Probably just another skeptic. I will endure your probes and tests until you finally see the light and the truth, mortal. But be warned, my patience is very finite."
"We've heard before… sheez, you need new lines," said Jean-Paul, grabbing Piotr's arm. "Come on, let's go into the woods, I want to see if I can fly again."
Professor Xavier did not follow his students voices as they separated, though he did watch them over, seeing Beast ran next to Storm, trying to talk to her, while Wanda walked behind them, glancing at the crying girl. After a few seconds, Xavier walked towards Kitty Pryde and sat next to her in the grass.
"You don't mind if I lean on this tree too, do you? It does seem to be the most uncomfortable place in my entire state," he said with a smile.
Slowly, Kitty Pryde lifted her eyes from between her arms, which rested on her legs. "You… you must be Professor Xavier… right?"
"Yes. And you must be Katherine, right? I am terribly sorry we have not met before; I tend to spend my time in the Cerebro room, looking for more children who might need our help. Might I inquire why are you crying?"
"I just… I just killed a boy," she said with fear, looking down.
"You killed a boy?" repeated Xavier, slowly reaching into the girl's mind.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean it… I didn't know," she said, crying with more strength than before, hugging herself.
Charles Xavier slowly hugged the girl, as his telepathic powers examined her mind. He clearly saw what the girl had experienced several minutes ago in the gym. He saw through Kitty's eyes, as Professor Adler and Professor Niles conducted a simple game of dodge ball between their students. Charles Xavier saw the kids laughing and having fun, until the tall child-like Caliban lunged to the side, in order to dodge a ball. Kitty panicked as she saw the figure of the almost seven feet tall teenager falling towards her and she instinctively became intangible. Caliban fell on top of her intangible form, and as he did he screamed in pain, and he didn't move. Kitty saw the whole thing, and suddenly found herself standing intangible in top of the unconscious boy. Everyone was watching her in silence, until the voice of young Samuel Guthrie echoed through the gym.
"You killed him," he said simply.
"I… no… I… I'm sorry," stuttered Kitty. She remained still for a few seconds and then began to run, phasing through the walls of the gym to the grounds, running for several miles until she sat on the tree and continued to cry.
Charles Xavier immediately cut contact with the girl, while he continued to reassure her by hugging her. His mind raced towards the gym, and saw Caliban was sitting on the floor, rubbing the back of his head. After a quick examination of the boy, Xavier understood what had happened and he smiled.
"You didn't kill anyone Kitty, trust me on that," he said soothingly.
"I did… I saw him… I touched him in my ghost form and he died… I'm a ghost…" she sobbed.
"No you're not. And he didn't die. He was knocked unconscious though, it seems your intangible form disrupts electrical impulses, such as the ones our bodies have. You merely rendered him unconscious by disrupting his body's main electrical system, the spinal cord."
"He… he is not dead?" she said, slowly lifting her eyes.
"You have much to learn about your amazing abilities young Katherine. I trust that is why you decided to come to this school," said Professor Xavier, his blue eyes fixed on the girl's hazel eyes.
"Yes… I… I don't know… my powers are so weird," she said, looking down.
"Every child in this school thought that once or twice. You've been here for less than a day; it takes time to learn everything about your powers. Even I am still learning about mine, and about so very much. Every day I learn something new."
"Really? What did you learn today?" asked Kitty.
"Among other things? That this is the most uncomfortable place in my entire state," he replied with a smile.

 

[Valechan]

Suddenly the skies darkened and wind increased around the mansion. Charles Xavier sighed, slowly standing up. He directed his eyes towards the study on the ground floor of the mansion and a massive bolt of lightning fell from the skies, destroying the window and creating a big hole in it, and soon he saw Ororo flying away from it at her topmost speed.
"Is that… is that Ororo?" asked Kitty; her eyes wide open, standing next to the Professor.
"Yes. That child is going to bankrupt us if she keeps destroying the school," he replied.
"She is funny. She told me that I have her protection, that I should be one of her priestesses," said Kitty as the Professor began to walk towards the school.
"Really? You share a room with her, don't you?"
"Yes, she was really mad about that at first, she said she deserved a room just to herself, but Wanda sort of moved her hands and Ororo calmed herself, soon after we were talking about clothes and music and things like that," explained Kitty.
"I see. Perhaps then it is better if you go after her, if she considers you a friend then she might respond better."
"Me? But… if she's mad… she might blast me away or freeze me or…"
"Katherine, Ororo would never harm a child, especially one she considers fit enough to be a priestess. You have nothing to worry; I will guide you to where she is. I must check on Emma, I believe she is the reason of this little outburst."
"O… ok then, I… I'll do it Professor," said Kitty lifting her face and puffing her chest.
Xavier smiled and then he continued to walk towards the school. It didn't take long to arrive at the study, where he found Emma Frost slowly rising from the ground, covered in dust, her hair clearly messed and her clothes tattered.
"I see your abilities as a psychiatrist only increase with the years," he said smiling as he walked through the hole in the wall.
"You are a madman Xavier, keeping that girl in this school. It's almost as bad as the one you took from my asylum. If it were me I'd keep her sedated and strapped on a bed," she replied, trying to clean her long skirt with her hand.
"And that is why you don't work on this school. Most of the time you prefer to solve problems by drugging those kids who have trouble controlling their abilities. Tell me, what did you learn?"
"She has amazing psychic blocks in her head. I couldn't pierce them at all. That's why she got mad, she knew I was trying to enter her mind."
"And what did you analytical mind find about what she told you before the 'incident'?" asked Xavier, removing a piece of wall from an armchair.
"She's desperate for contact. There are probable some very big traumas in her past, traumas that made her create this 'Goddess' personality. She sees herself above and separated from everyone else because she feels isolated and alone. She really needs a hug that girl," explained Emma, straightening her glasses.
"I see, it was as I thought then. It is good to have a professional confirm it," replied Xavier, sitting on the armchair.
"I don't get you Charles, with your powers you could learn everything there ever was from the best minds in the world, but still…"
"Are you telling me that is how you managed to make your stay at college a very short one?" he asked, but Emma did not reply. Xavier smiled and then continued. "What about the Struckers? Did you manage to talk to them?"
"Better yet," she said, walking towards her briefcase. She took a folder and threw it at Xavier, who was able to catch it with ease. "I got their SHIELD file. I had to move certain influences around, but I managed to get it, and then I enter their minds to see if it was true." A grave expression etched itself in Emma's face, and almost out of instinct she hugged herself. "They're worst than we thought. Before they even had mutant powers they were already abusing humans and torturing servants for fun. They were born in one of the richest families in all of Europe; they've had pretty much everything they ever wanted since they uttered their first word. You might not like my methods, but these two sick puppies deserve to be drugged until they die."
"You believe there is no way to rehabilitate them?" asked Xavier, looking at gruesome pictures of maimed people in the Struckers's file.
"It will not be easy, especially in this school, full with children. If they ever get loose and you can't stop them… I fear what they might do to the children," said Emma looking at Xavier.
For a second Professor Xavier watched his former pupil, their eyes fixed on each other, and then he lowered his head. "Very well. Take them to your asylum; I will speak with Forge to arrange for transportation."
"There is another matter I should discuss with you, Charles. It's about Amelia."
"I did not ask my wife why she insisted to have a private moment with you and I will not allow you to tell me what happened in said moment. I trust her to keep her secrets and her mind to herself," said Xavier dismissively, and Emma was only able to sigh at his response. After a brief moment she spoke again.
"What about Grey? Where are you keeping her now that you got her out of my hospital?"
"Jean Grey is currently residing in the Cerebro room, where she is being monitored by Forge and the school nurse, slowly they're bringing her out of the drug-induced sleep you had her in, and when she's ready I will speak with her."
"Jean Grey could do to your mind what the so-called Goddess did to this room," said Emma crossing her arms before herself.
"Yes, that is why I must talk to her and heal her mind before she does. Your drugs would not have been able to hold her for long," he replied, and received a cold look for an answer.

"O… Ororo? Are you… are you alright?" asked Kitty Pryde, slowly walking near the cliff. She kept her eyes on the African girl, who was levitating a few feet over the cliff, staring down at Salem Center, the town near the school, the town where she used to live.
"I could kill them all, you know? With a thought I could create the worst blizzard to ever hit the Earth and they would all die before they even knew it. With a thought," she replied, her eyes flashing angrily.
"But… you won't, won't you? I mean… you're a good Goddess… like Minerva, or Venus… not evil like I don't know, Hades or Loki," said Kitty, hugging herself.
"These names you speak… they make no sense. I know not these deities you speak of," said Ororo without turning around.
"Really? I could… I could show you all about them, I have like a zillion books about mythology, I so love the differences and similarities between pantheons and all," said Kitty, smiling brightly.
Slowly Ororo turned, flying towards Kitty and landing before her. "You know all this, even though you're a child? And you're willing to teach me about this?"
"Sure, I mean… if you want to… I always dreamed of meeting one of these gods… and now… well, you're the closest thing to it, right?"
Ororo smiled, placing a hand around the girl's shoulder. "Very well child, take me then, show me about my fellow Gods and their deeds."

Emma Frost smiled as she walked towards her car, and as she did her cell phone rang. She answered it, looking at Xavier and some of the teachers loading the Struckers twins into an aircraft in the distance.
"Yes. It is done. The file was great help," she said, her eyes fixed on Xavier as he spoke with Forge.
"Who do you take me for? If there's one thing I know how to do is to keep my mind closed in his presence. Trust, he suspects nothing. I'll see you at the Club in a couple of hours. We have reason to celebrate tonight," she said, closing the cell phone and placing it in her handbag, as she lifted her arm to wave goodbye at Xavier with a huge smile in her lips.

 

[Valechan]

Mutantkind pt V of VI: Brotherhood

“Brothers; that is what we are. Through our veins runs the same blood, the blood of mutantkind. Our abilities, our features, distinguish us, separates us from the norm. It is inevitable that we will suffer because of it. Humans fear and hate that which they don’t comprehend, and they will not understand us, they will hate us, attack us, try to eradicate us. And we must be ready for it. We will be ready and we will be waiting.”
Erik Magnus Lensherr’s voice echoed through the empty Danger Room. His five students smiled and listened intently, even though it was not the first time their Professor made such a speech.
As silence reigned, Pietro Lensherr opened his mouth, his arms crossed before him, leaning against a wall. “Father, if you are so certain this will happen, why don’t we strike first? Why don’t we go after this humans who might do us harm and eradicate them instead?”
Erik smiled, his son’s statement secretly made him proud. However, he did not speak his mind, but an answer he had rehearsed so much he had even convinced himself of its meaning. “Because we have hope. Charles has taught me through all these years that we must keep hope. The future hasn’t occurred yet, though I am certain there will be a time when we won’t have a chance, I’m willing to entertain Charles’s hope. Which doesn’t mean we won’t be ready. One mutant life is worth a thousand human lives. If one mutant is hurt, if prejudice and fear hurt my brothers, then we will answer. Until then, we will train.”
Erik Magnus Lensherr lifted his hands towards the Danger Room control booth. Using his control of magnetism he moved the switches and buttons, programming the environment to train his students.
All around them the scene began to change, the big empty metallic room began to shift and a dense jungle appeared all around them.
“Jungle?” asked Mortimer Toynbee, the young mutant known as Toad.
“This is new,” replied Frederick J. Dukes, the Blob.
“Guys…” said Lorna Lensherr, Polaris, her eyes fixed on her father as he slowly levitated, glowing brightly before them. Her tone was final, she was calling her teammates to silence.
“This is a place Charles and I once encountered. We called it the Savage Land,” explained Erik Lensherr. “No one knows about it, no one knows where it is, except for the two of us.”
A terrible roar was heard in the distance, its power was enough to make Toad jump from Blob’s shoulder into a nearby tree.
“You will each train here separately to improve the use of your powers, be ready for anything,” Erik said, as he slowly disappeared.
“Father?” asked Pietro Lensherr, clearly surprised.
“Danger Room technology, father is shielding himself, making us see he’s not there,” said Lorna. Her eyes flashed brightly for a second and she continued to speak. “I see him… I can see the electromagnetic spectrum, I see him flying towards… a tower? He’s beckoning me to follow,” she said, slowly walking towards her father.
“Lorna wait,” said John Proudstar, moving forward, trying to stop his girlfriend, but as he did, another roar was heard, and a second after a gigantic head appeared next to him. There was no mistake, it was a dinosaur. John recognized it, it was a velociraptor, and its open mouth was about to chew his arm. He moved quickly, grabbing the terrible jaws before him, using all of his strength to keep them open.
Another roar, and a couple more of velociraptors appeared behind Blob and Toad, attempting to eat them.
“Oh great, we’re in Jurassic Park,” said Pietro, rolling his eyes upwards and beginning to run fast towards his sister. “What do we do with the dinos?” he asked.
“Deal with them. I have to follow dad,” she said, her eyes glowing as she continued to walk, as if she was in a trance.
Pietro looked at his sister for a second, and then he ran back towards his teammates, trying to help them against the terrible lizards.

“Are you sure about this?” asked Forge, stopping the school nurse, who was about to inject adrenalin to the young red-haired girl lying in a bed in the middle of the round empty room.
“Yes,” said Charles Xavier, sitting in front of the only desk in the room, placing a strange looking helmet on his head. “I have to help her.”
“Fine. Cecilia, as soon as you place this I want you out of this room, even your force field might not be enough to protect you,” said Forge, releasing Cecilia Reyes’s arm.
“Of course Professor, I will do what you ask me to,” said the young woman in her early twenties. Slowly she pressed the syringe, a drop of sweat secretly falling through her forehead. She lowered her arm, leaving the empty syringe in the small table next to the bed. “I’ll be just outside,” she said, walking backwards towards the open door.
“You should go with her,” said Charles Xavier.
“I’m not leaving you alone,” said Forge, placing a cartridge in a gun.
The pressure around them began to increase exponentially. The sheet covering the young mutant girl began to move, as if a terrible wind had suddenly erupted in the closed room.
Cecilia Reyes saw, as the door closed before her, as the sheet flew upwards in a quick motion, and she saw the red-haired girl moving upwards.
Jean Grey screamed. Her eyes were white, seeing nothing and seeing everything, and she screamed louder. The bed suddenly exploded, as Jean began to levitate in the middle of the room. “They are coming! They will exterminate us! The birds will kill us!”
“Jean,” said Professor Xavier, using his telepathic powers to enter the girl’s mind, speaking directly to it, trying to soothe her with the power of his mind. “No one is coming. You must calm yourself.”
“We are the sons of the Apocalypse! We are the offspring of the end! And we will die! From above and beyond they come and we will die!” she screamed, louder than before, tears falling from her eyes. She grabbed the sides of her head, feeling a pressure within. “No! You must listen! Don’t silence me!” she screamed, knowing the old man was trying to calm her.
“Jean. Listen to me, these hallucinations you have, they have to stop, they are not real. Allow me to enter your mind fully, I can help you control this.”
Forge watched in silence, aiming his tranquilizer gun towards Jean.
Jean Grey slowly turned in mid-air, facing Xavier. She had stopped screaming, but her eyes were crying even heavier than before, and she answered his words at last. “No.”
The answer was immediate. Forge’s gun slowly fell apart on his hand, and he found himself hurled against the only door in the room. Xavier’s helmet was shattered in a million pieces and he felt a terrible pressure on his brain.
“Look at me,” she said lifting her hand towards Xavier, who was lying on all fours on the ground. She released her telekinetic powers; lifting Xavier and making him levitate on front of her. “I am telling the truth. The birds are going to kill all of us. You must listen.” Her voice was deeper than thunder, and the message echoed through the room, and through Xavier’s mind.
“Nggh,” mumbled John Proudstar, making a terrible effort to keep the jaws open, while stepping on the terrible beast’s feet, stopping him from attacking with its claws. “Freddie…” he said.
“Just a sec,” replied Blob, as one of the velociraptors jumped towards him. The massive half-a-ton teenager just stood still, smirking. The dinosaur crashed into his stomach, and it bounced, finding it impossible to harm the boy. Frederick Dukes smiled as the raptor fell on the ground, and he saw as Toad spat a strange resin at the other dinosaur. The resin hardened upon contact, covering its entire face.
“Dude, that’s gross,” said Blob, as he turned around to see Proudstar, who threw the raptor he was wrestling towards him. Blob braced himself, and as the raptor hit his stomach he moved forward, causing it to bounce even further away.
“Because bouncing lizards in your stomach is so normal, isn’t it?” said Toad, leaning atop a tree, his long tongue floating around as he spoke.
Suddenly a gust of wind erupted around them, surrounding them, lifting the dirt in the ground. As the wind blew they heard several raptors screaming, and moving away. The wind stopped as suddenly as it started, and everyone’s eyes fell on Pietro Lensherr.
“Pay attention to the job at hand, there are like five more hidden in this awful jungle,” he said, his brow slightly furrowed.
“And so spoke our esteemed de facto leader,” said Toad, jumping to the ground.
“He’s right,” said John Proudstar, sounding his knuckles. “Where’s Lorna?”

Lorna Lensherr followed the hidden shape of her father along the electromagnetic spectrum. She arrived before a magnificent tower made entirely of metal, and slowly her father appeared next to her, staring at the tower.
“This is going to be an exercise we have never tried before, Lorna. I want you to dismantle this tower, which is two miles high and is composed of strange alien metals, not the ones we are so intimately familiar with,” he said, placing his arms in her shoulders.
“I shall do my best, father,” she replied, lowering her head and closing her eyes.
Magneto could feel the power of her daughter, slowly rising from within her, surrounding her in a protective cocoon. And slowly, Polaris began to levitate.

“I am sorry child,” said Professor Xavier, unable to move, hanging in mid air.
“You will be sorry if you do not believe me. This is what await us,” Jean Grey said, lifting her hands. Images coalesced in the air between them, out of thin air, her own nightmares and thoughts given physical form, a terrible display of telepathic powers.
Charles Xavier opened his eyes widely. He could not believe the level of the girl’s abilities. Even though she had spent the last six years sedated and strapped to a bed, her powers had continued to grow within her, to expand themselves beyond all imagination. He tried hard not to think, and to focus his mind on the images she was showing him. Spaceships, firing at each other; birds of human-sized shapes crashing against people, killing them with their claws, their beaks red with blood. Destruction, explosions, maimed humans; all littered the entire Cerebro Room. He knew he had to stop her.
Jean’s eyes continued to cry, but slowly, the tears became red, and blood poured from her nostrils as well. Her eyes were fixed on her images, on the terrible birds that killed and maimed and destroyed. And as she pulled the images from her own mind, she felt Xavier talking to her, and slowly moved her head towards him, looking over her shoulder.
“I am sorry,” said Xavier. With great effort, the premiere telepath in the entire world used the entirety of his mutant powers, sending a massive psionic bolt towards Jean Grey’s mind.
The result was immediate. Jean grabbed each side of her head, but it was futile. Her eyes turned white, and she collapsed almost instantly, moving backwards, creating a big arc as she slowly fell to the ground. And when she hit the ground, both Xavier and Forge were released and the images faded all around them, and the near darkness of the Cerebro Room returned.
Xavier panted, he was exhausted, and when he tried to stand he fell to the ground, and he decided to remain there, trying to regulate his breath.
“That went well… didn’t it?” said Forge, sitting and leaning against the door. “Now what?”
“Now… we restrain her… I… know now what to do,” he said.

“Focus Lorna, I know you can do this,” Erik Lensherr said, crossing his arm and watching his child.
Lorna Lensherr allowed her magnetic powers to flow. Like her father she had complete control over the electromagnetic forces, allowing her to manipulate all forms of metal in whatever manner she chose. She could feel the alien metal before her, but she just couldn’t get a lock on it, she couldn’t truly control it. And then there was the voice of her boyfriend in her head; she could not stop thinking about him. And, as she flew in front of the tower, concentrating hard, she realized what was truly happening.
“The trick lies in correcting the sequences within your brain, to feel the presence of the ferrous materials, to adjust the frequency on which your powers work,” said Magneto.
“No. It is irrelevant. I don’t care about this tower, and neither do you. I cannot be here concentrating on this stupid tower when my teammates might be in danger. I will return to deal with this later if we survive,” she said simply, opening her eyes and looking directly at her father below her. Without another word she began to fly at her topmost speed back to the clearing, back to her friends.
And Magneto smiled as he saw his daughter making the choice he had expected her to.

“Dude, that is still gross,” said Blob as the last velociraptor fell under Toad’s hard resin, tightly wrapped around its jaws.
“Keep saying that and I’ll spit you with it Freddie,” said Toad, falling from a tree next to his friend.
“Knowing me, I’ll just eat it,” replied Blob, and both friends laughed.
“That’s all of them, right?” said John Proudstar, throwing an unconscious raptor towards another pair of fallen raptors; he had beaten the beast to submission by repeatedly punching it in the snout.
“I can’t see or hear anymore,” said Pietro, stopping next to him, lifting the light-blue sunglasses he wore when he ran.
“Oh great, I just made a fool of myself in front of dad while you took care of things. That’s just great,” said Lorna, slowly landing in the middle of the clearing, green energy flowing around her.
The ground seemed to shake for a second, and then it stopped, but a second afterwards it happened again, and they heard a terrible roar coming towards them.
“Looks like you came back just in time, sis,” said Pietro, lowering his glasses again as a T-Rex appeared over the trees.
“Great. Let’s do this together,” she said, standing on the middle of the team, her teammates forming themselves behind them as she lead them towards their enemy.

“Barriers? Lower her powers?” said Forge. Thirty minutes had passed since the incident in the Cerebro Room, and he stood next to a bed in the infirmary. Charles Xavier sat before Jean Grey, who laid on the bed, unconscious.
“It is the only way. I must enter her mind and severely reduce her power levels. Maybe even block her telepathy all together. We will not be able to deal with her psychologically if she can destroy our minds when she doesn’t like what she hears,” answered Xavier, placing his hands on each side of her head.
“Excuse me, Professor, but I think we should contact with a specialist or something, like Dr Frost. She might have some insight about this matter,” said the school nurse, Cecilia Reyes, as she monitored Jean’s vital signs.
“Cecilia, I understand your worries, but there is no better authority on Earth about telepathic powers than myself. I know what I’m doing,” said Professor Xavier, lowering his head, aligning his forehead with the girl’s, and closing his eyes. Slowly he entered her mind, a landscape similar to the images she had created in Cerebro, and he felt chaos and despair. “This is going to take a lot of time,” he said to himself, as his astral self coalesced inside the girl’s mind.

 

[Valechan]

“Wow, they look so cool,” said Bobby Drake, his eyes directed to the entrance of the Cafeteria. Professor Lensherr’s squad had just entered the room, and all eyes fell on them. Polaris walked on front, closely followed by her boyfriend and her brother, and Toad and Blob on the back. Unlike all the other students, they were still wearing their purple and red training uniforms, walking slowly towards the counter.
“Are they allowed to wear those out of the Danger Room? I thought we were supposed to use regular clothes when we’re not training,” said Kitty Pryde, as slowly as she could, moving before he plate towards Bobby who sat on front of her.
“WE are not allowed to wear our uniforms when we’re not training, but they… they can do whatever they want. They are just the best students ever, and the coolest ones. I can’t wait until Professor Lensherr takes someone else into his Brotherhood… I am so auditioning for that.”
“Brotherhood?” asked Kitty.
“The squads have names, well, unofficial names we choose for ourselves, Toad there used to be one my squad, he used to be one of us Paragons,” said Bobby Drake, taking a bite of his sandwich.
“What’s our name?” said Kitty to the girl sitting next to her.
“We are the ones with no name, we need no name, we simply are,” said Jean-Marie Colbert, placing another card before her. She had not even looked at her lunch, she kept her gazed down, placing a tarot card next to the other, one after the other, reading the future. “There is going to be trouble soon,” she added.
“No name? Our team doesn’t have a name?” asked Kitty. She looked down her table, at the other kids in her squad. Next to Tarot was Caliban, who had no real name. He was over 6’ 10” and had the mind of a five year old, and no one knew where he came from. Sitting across him was Darwin, the kid who could adapt to anything, she knew he had a name, but he was so much more comfortable being called Darwin that he had barely mentioned his real name. Kitty had not yet chosen her codename, and Professor Adler, her squad leader, had predicted she would pass through several choices before finding the one she truly felt good with, a road she was meant to take.
Trying not to think about it, she heard every student mumbling and whispering as the Brotherhood passed between them.
“My fellow students!” said Toad suddenly, climbing to Blob’s shoulders. “Today we conquered the past!” he said. Several students cheered and smiled. “Gather round as I tell you our most exquisite adventure, as we moved through the darkest of jungles to defeat the most terrible of beasts,” he said, almost glancing towards Henry McCoy, who was concentrating on a book and pretending not to look at him.
“Yeah, come over if you want to hear how we trashed a couple of T-Rexes,” said Blob, sitting on the ground in the middle of the cafeteria. Several of the youngest students ran from their tables towards them, taking their food with them, anxious to hear the tale.
Kitty followed Bobby Drake with her eyes as he ran towards them, converting himself into ice and creating an ice slide, moving swiftly over the crowding students. For a second she thought of joining them, but when she saw none of her squad had left the table she decided to stay as well. And two seconds later it happened. Thunder broke inside the Cafeteria. Such was the power of the natural phenomena that every student shuddered and jumped in their seat, and Kitty saw Ororo was walking towards her. Thunder broke again when she arrived at the table, and she spoke a single word. “Away.”
Caliban was clearly frightened, almost on the brink of tears, and Darwin took his hand and slowly lead him away, trying to calm him, while Tarot finished packing her cards and left.
“Hi Ororo, you didn’t need to do that. They are my teammates… they’re good people,” said Kitty, taking a bite of her sandwich.
“I have no time to suffer children, Katherine, and besides, I wanted to speak with you,” she said, placing a book in the table before her young friend and roommate.
“What be this? This page is not part of the book, and it refers to a band of musicians… doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it’s a flyer, they are the Marauders, pretty popular… some people say they are mutants, like us,” said Kitty, but then she heard a faint thunder and corrected herself, “I mean, like most students here, like me.”
“I see. Are they good? I have not heard any music since arriving at this place. In Africa I had scores of musicians playing music in my honor while I visited their villages, they worshipped me with music created solely for me, and no one could hear it if I did not approve,” Ororo said reminiscing.
“They are more than good, they are the coolest band ever, I have a couple of cds up there, if you want to we can listen to them,” said Kitty, smiling.
“What’s a CD?” asked Ororo confused, while Kitty rolled her eyes upwards.

“Yo, Beaubier, did you hear? We beat a T-Rex. What did you guys do? Pick sunflowers in the garden?” asked Pietro Lensherr, grabbing a chair next to the young mutant.
“Professor Xavier is the foremost expert on mutantkind, comrade Lensherr. He knows how to train us,” said Piotr Rasputin, grabbing his fork rather forcefully.
“I didn’t ask you, tin can, I asked your boyfriend,” said Pietro, smiling.
“And I am eating and cannot talk to you,” said Jean-Paul Beaubier, trying not to look.
“What do you want Pietro? I hate it when you come to gloat here about your training,” said Wanda, leaving her sandwich in her plate.
“I just wanted to see if Northstar here is willing to be defeated again in another race, all that training just left me wanting to do some running,” he said, his eyes fixed on Jean-Paul.
“Jean-Paul has nothing to prove to you,” replied Piotr, doing an effort to not change to organic steel.
“I can speak for myself Piotr. And I will take the challenge so I can erase that stupid smirk off your face. Last time you only beat me by a millisecond, this time you won’t be so lucky,” said Jean-Paul, standing up.
“Great, see you in the entrance to the woods,” he said, blinking one of his eyes, and he was gone in the same time it took everyone else to blink.
“I hate that boy,” said Piotr, as he saw Jean-Paul running at top speed behind him. “I’m sorry Wanda, I know he is your brother, but he is very hateful.”
“Don’t tell me, I’ve had to put up with him ever since I was born. He’s insufferable,” said Wanda, eating her sandwich, her eyes fixed on Lorna, who was laughing as Blob and Toad continued to tell their tale.

Erik Magnus Lensherr walked through the infirmary doors. He arrived just in time as Charles Xavier stood up from his seat next to Jean Grey’s bed.
“Did you do it?” asked Erik, closing his eyes and frowning.
“Yes. I know you did not want me to, but I assure you, there was no other choice. Jean’s mind is too unstable to handle her powers. I’ve left a modicum of telekinesis available to her, and as her therapy advances I can reduce the other barriers and allow her to use the full extent of her powers.”
“I trust you Charles, I know you’re doing the right thing. It just doesn’t sit right with me that you’re limiting a mutant’s powers, our powers are everything, it defines who we are,” said Erik, his eyes fixed on Charles.
“Our choices define who we are Erik, our powers are just part of us, a tiny part, not the whole,” Charles corrected his friend, smiling.
“Will you stop playing the Professor? Always trying to lecture me,” replied Erik with another smile.
“Come, let’s go to our study for some brandy, I really need it after today,” said Charles, placing a hand in his best friend’s shoulder.

With passion he kissed his lover, pushing him against a wall, touching his lover’s round firm ass as he did, biting his lips and kissing him over and over.
“God, I needed that,” said Jean-Paul Beaubier, his arms wrapped in Pietro Lensherr’s body, who kept pushing him against the lake cottage’s wall.
“I bet your boyfriend doesn’t kiss you like that,” said Pietro with a smile.
“You know he doesn’t… I love that piercing in your tongue, it really spices things up,” said Jean-Paul, kissing Pietro again.
“Want to see something that will spice even more things up?” he said. Slowly he reached into his pocket and removed a set of keys.
“Keys? You found your dad’s keys to the cottage?” said Jean-Paul opening his eyes in surprise.
“Yes I did,” Pietro replied with a smile.
“Great… no more leaves in my underwear,” replied Jean-Paul, kissing Pietro and leading him towards the cottage door.

“This songs are interesting, I did not know music could be stored in such a small device,” said Ororo, holding an mp3 player in her hands.
“Yeah, it’s not the same as seeing them in person, but it’s still good, their music rocks,” said Kitty, her legs crossed as she sat on her bed in front of Ororo.
“Then we must go and see them live, this… flyer says they’ll be playing in New York’s Central Park in a week. If you know where this place is we should go,” said Ororo looking at the Marauders’ flyer.
“We can’t. I doubt Professor Lensherr will allow us to go to a concert, I doubt they’ll even let me think the word concert, I’m only fourteen,” said Kitty.
“And? You enjoy this music, you should be allowed to listen to your band in person,” said Ororo, removing the earphones carefully from her ears.
“It’s not easy, they don’t allow children of my age to go to this sort of thing,” said Kitty.
“What sort of thing?” asked Wanda Lensherr as she entered the room she shared with Ororo and Kitty.
“A concert. Have you heard of this Marauders? I like their music, and so does Katherine, but she says we cannot go see them in person,” said Ororo.
“Oh right, I love them, and so do Jean-Paul and Henry… everyone loves them, they’re mutants aren’t they?” asked Wanda, sitting in Kitty’s bed with her new friends.
“See? It’s settled then, if everyone loves them, we will go, my winds will carry us to this place,” said Ororo.
“You mean we’re going to escape the school in the middle of the night to go see a band?” said Wanda, opening her eyes. “I love you!” she added, hugging Ororo.
The Goddess smiled at the sudden display of her friend. “Settled then, prepare yourself for a night in the city my friends, a week from now, we leave the school to have fun.”
Kitty could not help but feel a wave of excitement rushing through her body, at the same time a wave of fear made her shudder. Was she really going to go along with them and start breaking school rules so soon after starting term? She smiled when she knew the answer to her doubts was yes.

 

[Valechan]

Mutantkind pt VI of VI: The X-Men

“It has been a week already Charles. A week and no visible signs of improvement,” said Erik Magnus Lensherr, crossing his arms while he leaned his back against the front of his desk, his brow was frowned and he was clearly in a bad mood.

“That helmet makes you irritable,” replied Charles Xavier, his eyes fixed on a long letter in his desk, scanning through it while he spoke. “The changed have been significant, I assure you. Jean Grey will be a normal girl once she wakes up.”

“Once you allow her to wake up,” Erik corrected his friend, “this new psychic therapy technique you’re developing… I am not comfortable with it. How can you be certain that the girl will retain what you teach her in the astral plane once she is surrounded by thousands of different stimuli?”

“Erik, I have a very vivid imagination,” said Charles, lifting his eyes at last, seeing his best friend garbed in his training uniform, a recent custom of his, “I assure you that I can perfectly replicate the study and a myriad of other environments for my sessions with Jean. She would not be put off by anything when she wakes up. In her mind, our sessions are real, she doesn’t know it is all happening in her head.”

“Regardless of how vivid your imagination might be Charles, I am still concerned. We do not know how she will react when she find herself in a bed, not to mention several years older than when she went to ‘sleep’. Are you certain your barriers will hold?”

“Why all this second guessing, Erik? It is most unlike you. Your behavior has been changing lately and not in a favorable way. You’ve taken to use that costume more and more often, would you like to talk about anything?” asked Charles, interlocking his fingers before him.

Erik Magnus Lensherr did not answer immediately, after a few seconds he looked out the window, moving slightly away from his desk, his eyes fixed on the moon. “There is a change… a change in the Earth’s Electromagnetic field. It is… complicated to explain. Things aren’t what they used to be, something is affecting the Earth, I… I don’t know what it might be and it upsets me. I can’t pinpoint the location of this disturbance.”

“A disturbance in the force,” said Xavier with a smile. “You think it might be a mutant?”

“Possibly, but after our family to procure the Whedon girl… I am uncertain whether we should keep trying to find young mutants,” Erik replied, removing his helmet at last, placing it gently on his desk.

“It wasn’t your fault Erik, we’ve talked about it,” said Charles.

“If I had moved faster, if I had been stronger, I might’ve reached her house before she killed her family and fled in fear. I need to know more about my own powers Charles. I don’t feel in control.”

“And what do you plan to do?” asked Charles, his eyes fixed on his friend’s.

“I might leave the school for a while, I need to search the origin of this disturbance. I need to do this alone,” said Erik, staring at his best friend.

“I understand,” replied Xavier. He let out a long sigh and then he continued to read his letter. “Do you know when you will be leaving?”

“Not yet, but soon. There are things that I must see to here still,” replied Erik, grabbing his helmet again and looking at it, an odd smile etching on his face.

-- [ --

Jean Grey opened her eyes. It wasn’t easy to focus, there was a light right above her. She sat on her bed, slowly hugging herself. She was in a hospital, an infirmary, she didn’t know. She didn’t care. She jumped out of her bed and quickly got under it, her eyes scanning the room. She was alone, there was no one around and she could hear no one around. She instinctively grabbed each sides of her head. No one was talking, there were no words on her head. How could it be? The voices had always been there. She was able to hear her mother’s voice, her father’s voice, her teacher’s, the doctors. Everyone near hear was speaking to her, always, even when they weren’t in the same room, even when they weren’t moving their lips. The silence was frightening. It scared her. She was about to cry when she realized her head was uncovered. She knew she was in danger. She frantically looked all around, mumbling incomprehensible words until she sag a plastic bag on top of a counter. She lifted her hand towards it, careful not to leave the protection of the bed, and the bag began to float. Several medicine bottles fell from it, but Jean used her telekinesis to gently put them on the counter, she didn’t want to make a noise. Slowly the bag flew towards her and she grabbed with hurry, placing it above her head. It wasn’t enough, the plastic bag wasn’t going to protect her enough. She looked around and found a metal basin on the nearby bed. She frowned a little but it was the best thing she could do at the moment, She lifted her hand again, allowing her telekinetic power to flow and lifted the basin, placing it upside down. Thankfully it was empty and it looked clean. The basin flew towards her hand and after a quick look she placed it on her head. She smiled, sighing relief. And then it happened. She heard a voice, faint at first, but it was growing. Someone was near, someone was whispering very near. She felt curious. Slowly she crawled from under the bed and walked towards the door, her eyes fixed on a small window on it. She hesitated, there was more than one voice, but she was very curious about it; she had never heard a whisper before, the voices in her head never whispered. Slowly she moved towards the window, her eyes moving slowly, trying to remain out of sight.

“Why are we walking down this ugly aisle? It reeks, I hate hospital smell,” said Jean-Paul Beaubier, holding Piotr Rasputin’s hand as they walked next to their friends.

“Keep your voice down.” Whispered Wanda Lensherr, placing a finger in front of her lips. “We’re using this corridor because no one comes this way at this hour. And it’s not as dangerous as the other ones.”

“Trust Wanda to know the best way to break school rules, young Katherine. It never ceases to amaze me how she can slither through Professor Forge’s wondrous security measures,” said Henry McCoy, lowering his voice as he walked upside down through the ceiling.

“You scare me,” said Kitty, lifting her head to see Henry McCoy.

“I must ask you to walk like a real person, ape-boy, if your foolishness stops us from leaving I will be most displeased,” said Ororo, crossing her arms as she walked in the back of the line.

“Please, Stormy, you can address me by my given name, my dear Goddess. Still I shall fulfill your orders with the swiftest of motions and I assure you it will go unnoticed by the authorities of our beloved institution,” said Henry McCoy, jumping from the ceiling next to his friends.

“Call me Stormy again and I shall rain my fury down upon your abnormally large extremities, Henry,” said Ororo hiding a smile. As they walked, Ororo could feel something strange in the air. She stopped, while the others continued to walk. Her eyes scanned the empty corridor, and she saw a pair of bright green eyes, barely visible behind a metal basin behind a window. Ororo’s eyes flashed like lightning, her face inscrutable and cold, and the eyes rushed back down, hiding in fear. Ororo smiled, the spy had been frightened. She lifted her head towards the others, Wanda had managed to open a window. Her smile even broader she moved towards them, her eyes becoming white as she did, wind raising behind her, moving her hair.

Jean was crouching next to the door. The tall black girl had scared her. Her eyes flashed like lightning! How was she able to do that? Curiosity took the best of her and she slowly returned to her window. She opened her bright green eyes as much as she could, she couldn’t really believe what she was seeing. The black girl had began to levitate, her feet slowly moving away from the floor, and she saw the other started to rise as well next to her. She laughed when she saw the girl dressed in red trying to keep her miniskirt from lifting. The six teenagers began to fly, and Jean knew it was all the black girl’s doing. Slowly they moved out, leaving the corridor through the open window. She did not know what drove her at the moment, curiosity perhaps, but she didn’t think, she merely acted. She opened the door and rushed down the corridor towards the open window. Her eyes fixed on the teenagers, flying towards the moon. Her eyes flashed for a second, a smile etching on her face. She tightened the basin on her head, an slowly began to levitate, following them as best she could, erratically flying thanks to her telekinetic powers.

-- [ --

The window remained open. The powerful winds created by Ororo had not touched it, nor had them closed it. A strange mist formed itself behind the window, inside the building. The mist coalesced into the form of two women, a young woman of bright orange-red hair and a blind elder woman, her face obscured by a dark hood.

“Are you sure about this, Irene?” said Amelia Voght, her eyes fixed on the errant students.

“It is the way it should be, these children are our only hope. Out of all of mutantkind, only those seven will prevent the impending catastrophe. I have seen it,” replied Destiny. Though her eyes could not see, she still lifted her head, the moonlight bathing her old withered face.

“I trust you, but still… allowing students to fly away in the middle of the night, letting them go by their own… it’s not something Charles would approve,” said Amelia, crossing her arms.

“Go to your husband, Amelia,” said Destiny closing the window. “He will have need of you tonight.”

Amelia Voght frowned, she did not reply. Slowly she grabbed the second panel, helping the elderly woman to properly close the window.

-- [ --

Remy Lebeau smiled as he buttoned his shirt. He could hear the crowd roaring and her heart beat slightly faster. He gave one last look at the naked girls in his bed, reminding himself of what a great time he just had. When he smiled at them the girls almost fainted. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t need to. Someone knocked on his door.

“It’s open Kurt,” he said, still staring at the girls, who were both trying to get his attention by showing off as much of their bodies as they could.

Kurt Wagner entered his friend’s suite. It was a mess, there were clothes everywhere, his eyes moved to the bed and he slowly moved his head sideways, Remy never changed. “You know Mr. Essex told you not to do this sort of things before the recital, you need to be in you best form to sing out there.”

“Kurt my friend, we weren’t singing her, although we did some beautiful music in that bed, didn’t we ma petites?” he said, grabbing both girls hands and kissing them in succession. The girls giggled as he did.

“Fine, but when he decides to replace you remember it was your doing, ja?” said the German blue-furred mutant as he walked closer to his friend. Both young mutants wore similar outfits, a long white shirt and tight leather pants. Kurt’s tail fluttered behind him as he extended his three-fingered hand to his friend. “Ready?”

“Mas oui mon ami,” said Remy, grabbing Kurt’s hand. As he did, a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared in their stead, leaving an intense smell of sulfur and brimstone behind.

-- [ --

There were roughly two hundred and fifty thousand persons gathered in Central Park for one of the biggest pop-rock shows of the decade. The gathered had enjoyed the performances of renowned artists such as Bon Jovi, Madonna and the rising sensation Lila Cheney. The crowd roared in anticipation to the final act. The lights suddenly went out and the crowd gasped. An explosion of sound erupted loudly after a brief moment of silence and the crowd roared again. A light fell on top of the drums, as he continued his solo, a hollow voice could be heard.

“Scott Summers,” it said, and the crowd chanted his name as he banged the drums.

The slim teenager was focused on his music, his eyes shielded behind a pair of thick red sunglasses. Several teenagers sported similar-looking sunglasses in the crowd, waving their arms and showing their posters of Scott, their idol.

“Alex Summers,” said the deep voice, and an electric guitar joined the drums, while a white light fell on top of a long-haired blond teenager, playing his guitar.

The girls screamed at the top of their lungs as the good looking guitarist smiled at the crowd.

“Anna Marie,” added the voice. The drums and the guitar suddenly stopped, as a piano began to sound. Slowly from below the stage, a piano appeared, moving upwards while smoke rose around it. A young woman of bright brown hair with a white streak on her front played the piano, an intense sad music. Her face was pale white, and her lips were as black as the long torn dress she wore.

While the music reached an unmistakable crescendo the voice said simple “Remy Lebeau and Kurt Wagner”. A puff of blue-purple smoke exploded in the center of the stage, as the guitar and the drums joined the piano. Forming out of the smoke, Remy Lebeau smiled, grabbing the microphone before him, while his friend Kurt started to play his electric guitar, joining the others.

“Different…” whispered Remy, his lips almost kissing the microphone, and the crowd roared as he began to sing the group’s most popular song.

-- [ --

Ororo Munroe’s heart jumped a little. She tried to not let the others know. Her eyes were fixed on the handsome teenager as he sang. She didn’t truly cared about the songs, she had just liked him since she had seen the flyer in Kitty’s book. She was uncertain why this boy’s handsome features had caught her attention so. She was a Goddess, why would a mere mortal distract her so?

“The humidity’s unbearable here… it’s really hot today, isn’t it?” said Wanda, looking at Ororo from the corner of her eye.

Ororo lifted her eyebrows in surprise and a cool breeze enveloped the six of them and several people around them. They were almost in the back of the crowd, but there were large screens around the stage so they could see clearly what was happening.

“He is so dreamy,” said Kitty, here eyes goggling.

“Which one? They’re all yummy, except the one in the costume. I don’t understand why people think that pretending to look like a monster is cool,” said Jean-Paul, moving slightly forward.

Piotr cleared his throat rather loudly, he didn’t like it when Jean Paul talked about other men.

“The implications of their songs are astounding. If teenage boys and girls truly understand what they are saying it could really help mutant-human relations,” said Henry McCoy, sliding his glasses up his nose.

 

[Valechan]

-- [ --

As the first song ended and the crowd roared louder than ever Remy Lebeau moved his arms, trying to calm his fans.

“So, New York, how are we tonight?” he asked and the crowd roared even louder. He tried to speak again, but the microphone didn’t respond. A strange sound erupted from it, causing every person gathered to hide their ears. A harsh voice was heard over the speakers as security guards moved through the stage, rushing to the band’s side.

“Freaks. You are nothing but freaks. Mutants are unnatural, mutants should all die,” said the voice. Everyone was confused, but then several speakers exploded, followed by a sound tower in the middle of the crowd. People began to scream in fear as more explosions happened around them.

“Kill the mutants,” said a man from the dj box. The man was dressed like a soldier, fully in black, and he had a gun in his back. Several soldiers appeared in the middle of the crowd, some rushing from the trees, others jumping down from the stage’s lights with ropes. And they began to shoot towards the band.

“Kill the mutants, kill those who worship them,” said the man with the microphone ash the soldiers began to shoot everything.

“We cannot allow this,” said Ororo. A burst of lightning fell from the sky, impacting on her and her friends. The lightning rearranged the molecules of their clothes, turning them into facsimiles of their training costumes, costumes of bright yellow and blue, with masks covering part of their faces, hiding their identities.

“Northstar get their guns, Scarlet Witch lessen the explosions, Beast, Colossus, Shadowcat, see the people exit in an orderly fashion,” she said, as she began to levitate towards the stage, conjuring powerful winds as the skies turned darker and thunder roared in the distance.

“Why is she giving orders?” asked Jean-Paul, as his teammates were still surprised at their costumes. “Why is the crazy girl with a God complex telling us what to do?”

“Because she is a crazy girl with a God complex, now shut up and do what she says,” replied Wanda, moving her hands towards a big fire that was consuming a wooden tower with speakers.

Northstar frowned and ran towards the closest soldiers, running at his topmost speed. All around him the people screamed and ran in all directions, frightened. Several people fell around him, dead. He could not help but feel a strong surge of hatred towards the soldiers, and as he removed the weapons from their hands he began to savagely beat them, leaving them unconscious.

Beast reached a soldier and grabbed his gun, snapping it half and punching him in the face. “I was enjoying the show.”

Colossus’ skin turned into organic steel, as he ran towards a pair of soldiers who were shooting the crowd. The bullets bounced off him, harmlessly moving towards the sky or the ground. Hatred etched on his face as he grabbed the soldiers’ guns and destroying them in his powerful fists.

Shadowcat? She didn’t have a codename, why did Ororo call her Shadowcat? She was freaking out, she couldn’t do it. She tried hard not to think. She phased, as people ran through her and around her. She was overwhelmed by the situation, she was uncertain what to do, how she could help. And then she saw a girl her age had fallen nearby, and one of the soldier was pointing his gun at her. She ran, as fast as she could, phasing through the people. She concentrated as she reached the girl, touching her at the same time as the gun shoot its first bullet. She didn’t know how she did it, or why she had thought it might happen, but when she touched the girl, both of them phased, both of them turned immaterial, and the bullet harmlessly sunk in the dirt. Kitty raised her eyes, seeing the bewildered, confused look on the soldier, as Northstar appeared out of nowhere and punched him several times in the face, removing his gun.

Storm arrived on the stage. The security guards were dead, and the only person alive on it was Remy Lebeau. She couldn’t see the rest of the band, she didn’t know where they were. Five soldiers aimed their guns at Remy and attempted to execute them. Ororo did not hesitate a powerful wind blew towards the soldiers, a wind as strong as a hurricane. The soldiers couldn’t even lift their hands. The wind increased its rage and the soldiers fell to the stage. “Murderers. You will pay for this,” she said in anger. A lightning bolt fell from the skies, impacting on the two soldiers who were still conscious. The soldiers screamed, their flesh burned and their guns destroyed, and they fell like their comrades.

“My angel, je suis magnifique,” said Remy Lebeau, smiling at Ororo. Suddenly, a cloud of blue-purple smoke appeared next to him, and Kurt Wagner stepped out of it, grabbing Remy’s arm. He looked at Storm for a second, and then both teenage boys disappeared.

Storm looked at the spot for a second, smiling. He had spoken to her. She turned around, watching the crowd. Part of the stage was on fire, as were the sound towers. One of the gigantic screens was about to fall. Her eyes turned whiter and rain began to pour. She moved towards the screen, creating winds to hold it in place. She wondered if there were also people on the other side. As she concentrated she failed to see the leader of the soldiers was lifting his gun towards her back. The leader was about to shoot, when he received a blow to his head, he still managed to press the trigger.

Ororo turned, a bullet had grazed her shoulder slightly. She turned and she saw the leader of the soldiers, on the ground, a metal basin hit his face repeatedly. Ororo grabbed her injured shoulder, while she saw a girl of long red hair dressed in a hospital gown. The girl’s hand was directed at the soldier, and Ororo realized it was the girl she saw back at the school. The girl looked up and waved, smiling. Ororo directed a bolt of lightning at her, changing her gown into a costume similar to her own. The girl was frightened at first, but when she saw and felt the costume around her she smiled, and she continued to hit the unconscious soldier with the basin.

-- [ --

Remy Lebeau lowered his head as he appeared back on his room. He appeared next to window, his eyes looking down at the park, at the dispersing crowd and the roaring fires.

“What the hell happened there? They shot my guitar! Now it’s worthless!” said Alex Summers, clearly mad, throwing his guitar, which crashed against the floor, completely destroyed.

“Calm down little brother, you’re safe, that’s all that matters,” said Scott, sitting on the sofa, putting his feet up a coffee table and placing an arm behind Anne Marie’s shoulders, who was sitting next to him.

“And all thanks to Kurt. Are you alright sugah?” asked Anne Marie, her voice had a deep southern accent despite her gothic, northern appearance.

“Ja. I am… fine,” said Kurt, throwing himself in the bed, on the brink of exhaustation. It hadn’t been easy to teleport all of his companions to the hotel suite one after the other so fast.

“Do you think we should have done something? We could have used our mutant powers,” said Remy, looking through the crowd, trying to see the girl who saved his life.

“No. Our mission is clear. People have to think we’re mutants, but they can’t be allowed to know the truth, that’s why we fed the rumors of Kurt being in costume to the tabloids. We do what the mission statement says, there is no arguing there,” said Scott, his tone was final.

“Still, we should have been warned about this. We need one of us in the security so nothing like this happens again. That was a nice guitar,” said Alex Summers, frowning.

“Who were them? Those costumed kids who stopped the soldiers?” asked Remy, following Storm with his eyes.

“Your next assignment,” said a deep hollow voice. As one the Marauders turned to the entrance door, where a tall white man walked inside. His eyes were deep red, as was the diamond-shaped tattoo on his forehead. He wore a deep blue suit, underneath a long black coat. “Those kids are going to be all you think about from this moment on,” he said removing his gloves as he walked inside the room.

-- [ --

Ororo returned to the ground as her winds dropped several unconscious soldiers on top of another bunch of unconscious soldiers. “Those are the last,” she said as she saw her teammates all around her. “How many deaths?”

“Twenty five, I… I counted them,” said Northstar, stopping suddenly behind Storm.

“We… we should bury them,” said Shadowcat, her eyes in tears. She was holding herself, clearly distraught.

“Yes, if we don’t the birds are going to eat them,” said Jean Grey, carefully placing the metal basin back on her head.

“Who are you?” asked Northstar.

“Jeannie. Professor Xavier told me while I was sleeping you were going to be my teammates. I am a student too,” she said smiling.

“We did the best we could, we were blindsided,” said Wanda, tightening her gloves. She disliked the colors of the costume, but she wasn’t really thinking about it.

“Good thing we were here. If we hadn’t been, there might’ve been more dead,” said Beast, hugging Kitty, trying to comfort her.

Northstar and Colossus hugged as well as silence fell upon them, they were unsure what to do. Slowly, Ororo spoke first. “We should return to the school,” she said. The others nodded slightly, as wind began to sweep them.

“Hey you!” said a voice. Ororo stopped herself in mid-air, her friends next to her as a reporter rushed towards them. “Who are you? What happened here? We saw you stopping those madmen,” said the reporter, moving her microphone towards Storm.

“Madmen is an accurate term. This men attacked the recital, tried to kill everyone because they did not like the message of tolerance and unity that came from the Marauders’ song. We are here to stop such madness, to stop such acts of intolerance and prejudice,” said Storm as she gave strength to her winds. “We are the X-Men,” she finished, and her winds took her and her friends through the skies, as several cameramen followed them with their cameras.

 

[Valechan]

First Strike pt I of VI: The Reprimand
First Strike pt II of VI: The Requisition
First Strike pt III of VI: The Reaction
First Strike pt IV of VI: The Regicide
First Strike pt V of VI: The Resolution
First Strike pt VI of VI: The Response