DEADLY NEW WORLD

Part V: Eye of the Storm

By Dino Pollard

Westchester, New York. The Xavier University, specifically.

To all passerbys, this is just a newly-found college. The dean, and one of the professors of psychology, is Charles Xavier. At 35, he is still a relatively young man.

Today, he stands before these seven mutants, his students. Students who will work under the indirect influence of the government, with close ties to SHIELD. They are Project: X-Men.

“Well, I see you all have gotten a chance to know each other,” Charles stated, breaking the team’s conversations. Logan stood beside him. “In that case, I think the time has come for us to locate our eighth and final member.”

“Why isn’t he here yet?” John asked, looking around.

“Because she is coming via train from LA,” Charles replied. “Cerebro has detected a strong, mutant presence on that train. With the aid of my own telepathic powers, I was able to discern that she is Ororo Munroe.”

“Thanks t’ SHIELD’s access to all sorts o’ government files, we found out that she’s a thief o’ th’ highest order. Her last run-in with th’ law was at a rave in LA, where she controlled the weather. After bein’ hospitalized for a gunshot wound, she escaped with the aid of her ‘lawyer,’ a man whose real identity hasn’t been discovered yet.”

“She can be very dangerous,” Charles stated. “But, she’s still a young woman, just like the rest of you. It’s my hope that you can try and talk to her.”

“Wait a sec…” Scott stated. “What do you mean it’s your hope that WE can try and talk to her? Aren’t you coming?”

“Normally, I would,” Charles replied. “But, I have a… previous engagement.”

“So you want us to do your dirty work for you…” Scott muttered under his breath.

“If I didn’t have a meeting to keep, I wouldn’t have you do this,” Charles replied. “But, this meeting is very important. Just trust me on this.”

“You want us to trust you when we don’t even know you?” John asked. “I’m with Scott.”

“Quiet. Both of you.”

They both looked in Monet’s direction. She had stayed quiet throughout most of the introductions. This was the first any of them had heard her speak.

“All we have to do is talk to someone,” Monet continued. “No need to make a big deal out of it.”

“I think that… um… Monet, has a point,” Hank noted. “It won’t do us any good to squabble over this.”

“Listen up, babe,” John began. “I don’t enjoy being ordered around by prissy, little stuck-up bitches like you.”

“The big, bad football player picking on a poor, innocent girl?” Jean asked. “Why is it all you jocks have to have some kind of macho attitude? It’s almost as if you’re trying to compensate for something…”

Ali and Hank stifled a laugh, while a grin simply appeared on Monet’s face.

“You think I’m gonna let you talk to me like that?!” John exclaimed.

“Oooooh… did I strike a nerve?”

*SNIKT*

They all stopped at that sound.

“All of you, shut up,” Logan ordered. “We’ve got a job to do, and we’re gonna do it right.”

He lifted up his claws as he finished his sentence.

“If there are any objections, they can be taken to the complaint department,” he continued, waving his claws.

The rest of the team grew silent.

“That’s what I thought,” he stated. “Now get in the van.”

*SNAKT*

A train currently heading across the country.

Ororo Munroe looked down at the cell phone Remy gave her. His number was on the screen, and she was debating over whether she should press CALL or not. She didn’t want to contact him unless it was absolutely necessary, but she felt the need to. She just wanted to talk to someone she could trust, and Remy was the only person who fell into that category.

She turned off the phone and stuffed it back into her pocket. Then she leaned back in the chair and sighed. And she wondered if anything in her life would ever go right.

Washington, DC.

“I can’t believe your incompetence, Shiner!! You lost not one, but TWO mutants so far!! And now they’re with Xavier!!”

“The first time, the SHIELD agent interfered with us, sir,” Shiner replied. “And in Anchorage, there were three mutants protecting Summers, among them was the SHIELD agent.”

“This mutant situation is exploding out of control. We can’t have these freaks running around.”

“We have a lock on another target, sir,” Shiner stated. “A mutant who tried to oppose LA police last week. She can control the weather. She escaped from police custody, and is now on the run. Witnesses say that she boarded a train headed for New York.”

“Then I want the M-Squad to intercept her.”

“Yes, sir.”

Shiner saluted then walked out of the room.

“If the President thinks he can control these mutants by making deals with them, he’s going to discover he’s sorely mistaken…”

Central Park – three years earlier

The white knight took out the black rook.

“Good move,” Charles said. His black bishop then pushed the white knight out of the way.

The silver-haired man who sat before him was dressed in a white business suit.

“We don’t get together as often as we used to, Charles,” the man stated.

“Whose fault is that, Erik?” Charles asked.

“Tell me, Charles. Do you remember the last thing I said to you?”

“‘It doesn’t matter if we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, or if we fight by their side. No matter what we do, humanity will never accept us.'”

“And tell me, in those six years, have I been proven right?”

“I can’t answer that question, Erik. Not yet, anyway. It takes more than a few years for mutants to be accepted. Even today, minorities which have been officially accepted are still persecuted. It’s a price we have to pay for acceptance.”

“Need I remind you of what my father went through in Germany? Need I remind you of the discrimination my family faced upon arriving in this country? So, you beg and grovel, and they throw you a few scraps of food – just before they spit on you. Is that what you call acceptance?”

“That won’t happen. But terrorism isn’t the answer. Violence will only prove that the people who fear us are right. You’re only making things worse for us, Erik.”

“You’re an idiot, Charles. An idealistic fool.”

“Do you really think so, Erik?” Charles asked, as he moved the black queen in front of the white king. “Check.”

He then stood and began to walk out of the park.

Erik Lehnsherr just looked down at the chessboard.

Grand Central Station.

Ororo stepped off the train slowly, suitcase in hand. She began to walk towards the exit of the station. As she did, three men dressed in black walked towards her. Leading them was Shiner. She noticed one of them concealed a gun.

She turned the other direction and slowly began to quicken her pace. They followed suit.

Three more came from the opposite direction. She turned to the side to see three more.

“Just great…” she muttered.

“Ororo Munroe,” Shiner stated. “You’re under arrest fo–”

*CRASH*

The M-Squad’s attention instantly diverted from Ororo to the sound of breaking glass. Seven young men and women stood there, wearing similar leather jackets with X symbols on the shoulders.

“Take them out!!” Shiner ordered. The operatives drew their guns and began to open fire.

“SCATTER!!!” Logan ordered, as he popped his claws. The X-Men followed his orders, but he knew that this would be a new experience for them. They weren’t trained, and they were going to go up against mutant hunters.

“FREEZE!!!”

The agent was cut off as he was suddenly thrown back a good twenty feet, courtesy of Jean Grey.

Scott Summers lifted up his ruby sunglasses, firing concussive blasts into another agent, while Alison Blaire fired concentrated blasts of light.

John Proudstar and Hank McCoy rushed their oppressors, relying on brute strength. Monet St. Croix, however, took to the air, hovering there.

“TAKE HER DOWN!!”

The operatives opened fire on her, yet none of the bullets seemed to hit the mark. Almost as if something was intentionally causing them to miss. Then, she dropped from the sky, easily disarming them with her superior strength.

Logan began to lash out with adamantium claws, impaling several of the operatives. Before the team could finish the job, the sound of thunder was heard.

Without warning, lightning suddenly struck the remaining operatives. And hovering not far away was Ororo, the wind whipping around her, her body charged with electricity, her eyes completely white.

Once the last agent fell, everything slowly became calm, and Ororo lowered herself to the ground, where Logan was waiting.

“Nice job,” he stated, sheathing his claws.

“Watch your step or you’ll be next,” Ororo warned, her pupils beginning to fade once more.

“Relax,” Logan stated. “We’re both on th’ same side. But maybe we should go talk about this somewhere else before th’ media shows up.”

The Xavier University. Later.

Sixteen leather-clad feet moved across the grounds, standing in a large, metal room. In the center of it stood Charles Xavier.

He looked at the eight men and women assembled. Each of them wore leather uniforms, and each uniform had an X symbol on it.

“You all look magnificent,” Charles stated, a wide grin on his face.

“We look like rejects from The Matrix,” Ororo noted.

“Laugh all you want, Ororo,” Charles said. “But the uniforms will offer you at least some protection. Unless you’d prefer to go into battle with spandex on. I think now would be a good time to give you the code-names you’ll be using.

“Logan, Wolverine.

“Scott Summers, Cyclops.

“Hank McCoy, Beast.

“Ororo Munroe, Storm.

“John Proudstar, Thunderbird.

“Jean Grey, Psyche.

“Alison Blaire, Dazzler.

“Monet St. Croix, M.

“To me, my X-Men.”

An undetermined location, where one man sits before a chess set.

The white queen moves seemingly by itself in front of the black king.

“Checkmate, old friend.”