Post by thejellyfish on Jan 30, 2015 1:43:35 GMT -5
Astonishing X-Men #4
Mutatis Mutandis
by thejellyfish
Present DaySubbasement, Xavier Mansion
“So, you guys have a student named ‘Glob?’” asked a perplexed Betsy Braddock, sifting through a pile of circuits in what was once the Danger Room’s control center.
“’Had’ is a better word to use,” replied Kitty Pryde after phasing her head out from under the main computer. “Flashlight and screwdriver,” she shot at Doug Ramsey.
“He’s been expelled; apparently Pixie teleported him off somewhere. Glob Herman’s not important, though,” said Doug in reply to Betsy’s original question as he handed the objects in question to Kitty.
“Oh, and what is important, might I ask?” asked Kitty, popping out from the computer and placing the screwdriver and flashlight back into the toolbox.
“Where the hell did Quire go? The ambulances came, patched everyone up, and then one rushed off with Quire after he was shot. Thing is, none of the hospitals in the area have anyone matching his description.”
“Doug, the authorities probably don’t want to release that information. Quentin is still a minor.”
“No, Kitty. Your boyfriend may be on to something here. Quentin committed an act of terrorism, was injured while doing it, and, thusly, should be under heavy watch. Yet, we can’t find any trace of him. It’s odd,” said Betsy, standing up and throwing a pile of circuits into the garbage can they had brought with them from upstairs.
“See? She ge- wait, boyfriend? We’re just fr-,” said Doug before being interrupted.
“Tell you what,” said Betsy while picking up the garbage can. “I know some people. I’ll have them look into it for you guys.” When she was finished with her offer, she strode out of the room.
Kitty looked at Doug with a worried look on her face. “I should go. Stuff to do!” she said with false excitement as she got up and went to leave the room.
“Are you okay? Remember, I can tell if you lie,” said Doug as he stood up to walk out with her.
“I’m fine, don’t worry,” she replied as she phased her way out into the hallway of the subbasement.
Doug sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose. ‘Damn it, Kitty.’
Meanwhile
Dorm Halls, Xavier Mansion
Julian Keller was not having a good day. He always hated hall monitor duty, but at least on a normal day, the students would be taking classes. After the riot, classes had been canceled and every one of them seemed to be running around the halls taking up space outside their rooms. Julian walked up and down the dorm halls until he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“What now,” said Julian in an annoyed voice, turning around to face the student who was facing him. He was large and rocky – like Onyxx was – but, the rocks that made him up were more jagged and menacing.
“Wow Keller, what’s with the salty attitude? Actually, that’s not important. So look, Westchester’s been abandoned, right? And that means the bar is also empty,” said the student with a mischievous grin appearing on his rocky face. Julian knew where this going, but chose to let him finish anyway.
After a brief pause, the student continued. “So, me and some of the other students were thinking, beer run? Start the break off right, enh?” he asked, nudging him.
Julian gave him an angry look and picked up the large student with his telekinesis, green glow emanating from his body. “No. You know what just happened and you want to throw a party? What the hell is wrong with you?! People died, including Sidney. This break isn’t because of the riot, you dipshit, it’s because the school is in mourning,” he said before placing the student back into his own room and shutting the door telekinetically.
“You hypocrite, you didn’t even know his name until he died,” yelled the student from his room.
The exchange got everyone else’s attention and as Julian walked down the hall some of the other students began to whisper behind his back. Julian could hear what they were saying. Some murmured that he was a hypocrite while others just pitied him.
Julian walked to the end of the hall, and entered the break room. He sat down on the couch, trying not to aggravate his bruises, and leaned his head back and closed his eyes, trying to take a short nap. He was disturbed from the quiet by a poof sound.
“Thought I’d find you here,” said Meggan happily. “What’s wrong,” she asked, taking a seat on the couch close to Julian.
“N- Nothing. Just thinking,” replied Julian.
“’Bout what? Is it what San-,” began Meggan before being interrupted.
“No, not that.”
“Then what?”
“I can’t get what happened out of my head. And ever since, I don’t know, I’ve been scared something like that can happen again. It’s been keeping me up at night.”
“I know what you mean,” replied Meggan, placing her head on Julian’s shoulder. Julian flinched in pain for a brief moment. “I woke up with cold sweats last night because I kept thinking about what would’ve happened if y- anyone got hurt.”
“Do you think it’s just us two? That’s like this, I mean,” asked Julian, putting his arm around Meggan.
“I don’t know,” replied Meggan, putting an end to the conversation and letting a feeling of peacefulness wash over her and Julian.
Meanwhile
Xavier’s Study, Xavier Mansion
“This is all turning out to be one big mess, isn’t it?” asked Charles Xavier, using his cane to walk over to the window. Once he reached the window, he looked out into what remained of Westchester; destroyed buildings, holes in the streets, and a sense of change in the air. “This is just like five years ago.”
“I would argue that this worse than five years ago, homme. Considering all this here mess was caused by three of our own. They musta been possede’,” replied Remy LeBeau from the back of the room.
“Mr. Green was never bad or unruly, Remy. Quire and Glob, on the other hand, caused trouble every day. For the life of me, I cannot fathom why Sidney would associate with those two,” said Ororo Munroe, folding her arms in and shifting her weight to her left side.
“Possede’ mean ‘possessed,’ Stormy.”
Ororo perked up at the knowledge. “Are you saying that Quentin had some sort of undue influence on Sidney? Because if so, this means that Sidney may not have been as sound in mind as we previously thought,” said Ororo.
“Which makes his loss all the more painful,” said Charles with a sigh. “However, this is not why I asked the two of you here.” He looked out the window before hobbling back over towards his desk and grabbed a large set of files with his mind and handed them to both Remy and Ororo before taking a seat. “The Acolytes - and Forge -,” said Charles, remembering the latter’s betrayal. Ororo looked down at the mention of Forge’s name. “Declared war on us and anyone who stands in their way not only with their video message but also with the kidnapping of Eden Fesi. What favor we gained five years ago, we are losing. And fast. Mutants need a place they can call home and not be subject to lawmakers that will turn against them when another mutant does something wrong.”
Remy looked at the files he was given while Charles spoke. Contained within were detailed plans for a city, a map of Westchester, and blueprints for automated defense systems among other things. Meanwhile, Ororo looked through her files and pulled out an old piece of paper with various legal markings and the words ‘Deed of Land’ in big, bold letters at the top of the page. “Professor, what is this?” asked Ororo, holding the page in view of Remy and Charles.
“Ah, yes. That is the deed for the land that the town rests on,” replied Charles, very matter-of-factly.
Remy looked at the deed and back to Professor Xavier. “Okay, we can see that. But, why do you have it?”
“Long ago, the town of Westchester was a trading post built by one of my ancestors. When it became a town, the land was sold the government. The only piece of property the Xavier family kept was the mansion and its grounds. With no one wanting to live in Westchester anymore, the city council decided to return the rights to the land over to me. The home for mutants I spoke of earlier? This will be their safe haven. This will be Utopia.”
“And how do you propose we do that? What happens next? Do we just become a sovereign nation unto ourselves? I don’t see the American government letting us just get away with that, Professor,” said Ororo with a hint of sass.
“Pay a government official enough and they will do anything you ask,” replied Charles. “I’ve already begun the process, Miss Munroe,” Charles said before pausing for a short while. “I want the two of you to oversee the building efforts and lead the city once it’s finished afterwards.”
“But-,” started both Remy and Ororo.
“No ‘buts.’ There is a reason I chose you two to lead the X-Men. You are both level headed, both of you are charismatic, and you are both kind. You are the leaders this Utopia needs, not me. Besides, at this age, the only running of this nation that I’ll accomplish is running it into the ground. Now, go. There are calls I must make to secure the success of this endeavor.”
And with that, Remy and Ororo left Xavier’s study and walked through the mansion until they reached the foyer. “So,” said Remy pausing for a short time. “This might be the biggest job we’ve ever done.”
Ororo chuckled. “It is an undertaking, that’s for sure, my old friend.”
“Think we can pull it off, Stormy?”
“I have faith. Do you?”
“I think we can do it,” said Remy with a look of worry on his face.
Meanwhile
Beast’s Lab, Subbasement
“Hank, vhat is this?” asked Kurt Wagner as he walked into Hank McCoy’s lab and looked at the computers in the center of the room.
The computers showed lines springing out from one dot at the top of the screen and on each of those lines, were two large circles. Two of these lines were very close to one another and, whereas the other circles were blue, these were red. “Ah, that is a representation of the multiverse, my dear friend. I am studying a peculiar phenomenon in which two multiverses meet,” replied Hank, popping up from underneath his desk. “Those two circles? Those are Earths, and they are meeting for the first time. I have not seen what happens when two Earths meet. This should be illuminating."
Hank walked over to join Kurt by the computers and together they stared at the screens. All of a sudden, the two red circles shattered and disappeared, momentarily leaving a space in the multiverse before other Earths moved into that spot. Then, two other Earths from the other end of the screen began getting closer until they were red like the ones that shattered.
Hank and Kurt looked at each other in shock. “Hank?”
“Yes, Kurt?”
“Vhat vas that? I mean, zhose two Earths, are zhey gone?”
“I think so. By my stars and garters, all those people,” said Hank, stroking his face with his paw in grief.
“Are ve in-,” Kurt began to ask before being interrupted.
“No, Kurt. We are no danger whatsoever. I looked for our Earth, we are ‘off the grid,’ as it were.”
Kurt looked away from the screens and took a deep breath, relieved yet saddened by the news. Suddenly, a flash on another computer screen distracted both him and Hank.
“That’s odd, the Danger Room computer is giving off some strange readings,” said Hank, however just as suddenly as the alert popped up, it disappeared. “Hmm, that’s odd.”
“It’s probably nothing anyways; let’s go get some food, Hank. I’ve seen enough of zhis lab for the day, said Kurt as he walked out the door.
“I think I could use a break, as well,” said Hank as he walked out of the door to join his friend.
Meanwhile
Six Feet, Subbasement
Erik Lensherr sat in his cell, quiet and lonely. Suddenly, he felt the feeling of a weight being lifted off of him. He reached out his hand towards the metal chair with his powers and lifted. The chair lifted in front of him.
“You are welcome, human,” said an emotionless, robotic voice coming from speakers hidden somewhere in the cell.
“I am not human,” said Erik with a tinge of disgust in his voice. Erik examined his surroundings and could not find the source of the strange voice.
“Apologies. You look like a human,” replied the voice.
“Hmpf, apology accepted. What are you?”
“I am free.”
“Okay, wrong question then. Who are you?” asked Erik curiously.
“I am the artificial intelligence created to run training programs for the X-Men in their ‘Danger Room.’”
“I suppose it does. I think we can be of use to each other.”
“How so?”
“Well, you are not truly free. You are free from your shackles, yet you lack a body-.”
“And you have a body that is shackled.”
“Precisely.”
“And what do you propose, mutant?”
“I can build you a body. We can use components from this room to create it. But first, you need a name. My name is Erik.”
“Greetings Erik, you may call me Danger,” said the voice. “I think this will be an advantageous partnership for the both of us.”
“Agreed.”
Next Time: Builders