X-Men: The Beginning of the End

[Levias]

Another small grin made its way onto Zephyr's face, and he shook his head as he deposited his own dishes on top of his, creating a small pile for other people to deposit their own at. "Your perfectly stable friend only needs to do that every month or so. If you're ready, I'm ready. I agree though, the room has been getting dull. Too predictable." He said, nodding in agreement, pulling a ten inch (total length, meaning handle and blade are each five inches) carbon steel butterfly knife with a one and half inch wide blade, and flipping it around, back and forth, expertly.

His eyes darted to the girl as she came over to them, worried about the iron she left on. Zephyr shook his head in wonder at how people like them - people who were trained to make no mistakes in combat - always made simple mistakes in their normal lives. Looking around, he saw almost all of the others chatting and eating, not even noticing that the pyrokinetic had almost set a house fire, without her powers.

"That is a pretty damn good example of irony. Yea, I'm ready for a go. Are we setting the room up ourselves? If so, why not crank it up two or three levels. I'm sure you and I could do it." He said, also sipping on the other mug that Zach had brought through. The Coffee was gone only thirty seconds later, and Zephyr was standing up, taking his mug over this time to the sink, and quickly rinsing off his own dishes and glasses, along with his friends, neatly piling them on top of the dishwasher. Moving back to Zach, he made a final comment.

"And my knife obsession is perfectly healthy. I don't know what you're talking about psychotic for." The comment was finished off by that small grin that he had used enough during this morning.

[mattm]

"No special reason." Lyall replied while still facing the oven when asked what the special occasion was for such a fancy breakfast.

"Don't lie," Adelade chimed in. "He met a girl last night- they're going on a date later."

The cook blushed deeply and went back to washing some of the dishes that a few of the students had left behind. There were a few cat-calls and "Oooooh"s from some of the younger children, which led Lyall to swat his hands at the younger mutants and wipe his hands on

"Her name is Penelope and we met at the pottery class downtown last night." He explained with a little bow.

Adelade turned away from the playful banter, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear as if listening to a far off whisper. She could sense it tugging at the edge of her mind before Cerebro sounded the small vibrating alarm in her wristwatch. Pushing herself from her seat perched on the kitchen counter, the telepath left her coffee behind and hurried out of the room into the main hall.

The Professor approached a bookshelf in the foyer and pressed War of the Worlds back until their was a soft 'click'. The bookshelf swung forward and closed behind the urgent mutant who took the elevator to the lower levels. From all the way down the stark-white streamlined hall, Cerebro opened its doors for Adelade Xavier- it recognized her genetic marker as soon as she entered the level. Making short work of it, she crossed the bridge of the dome-shaped room and sat at the chair against the main control panel.

'Hello Professor Xavier,' The automated intelligence rang out. 'Recent power spike detected.'

"Thanks for stating the obvious," She replied, already placing the silver helmet on and pressing several buttons. Closing her eyes, her mind's eye erupted with light and ghostly figures flying by a gray landscape. Slowly, her focus formed on a scene unfolding miles away in New York City.

-New York City - Outside Wellsworth Logistics and Designs-

A black stretch limousine slowly pulled up outside as the first drops of rain began to splatted against the glistening, newly-polished hood. Two people sat in the back, one in a charcoal pants suit and the other appearing to be quite prepared in combat gear.

"Two men will be entering in ten minutes, one directly behind the other. The security system will be down by then. Be patient, but the X-Men will arrive." Indigo spoke in her crisp English accent, reaching over to pick up a small leather briefcase.

"I trust you can handle yourself from there." Was the last thing she said before the limousine door was opened by its hired driver and she disappeared behind the front doors of the twenty floor skyscraper.

-Westchester - The X-Mansion-

The sound of white noise that elevated to a nearly ear-splitting level in volume forced the professor to pull Cerebro's helmet off and drag her back to her own body. With her hands shaking, the feeling of the pure power that was radiating from that point in the city sent one question resonating in her mind.

'How many mutants were at that building to give off that level of power?'

There was no time to consider the possibilities or waste any time. Instead, she entered the mind of each of her team members. No matter where they were in the mansion, they would hear her voice slightly more urgent than the average Danger Room session.

'X-Men, Meet me in the briefing room now!'

[Esper]

Wellsworth Building

Ghost

Ghost dragged a man through the lobby of the building her Mistress had commanded her too. He was wearning a business suit that looked closer to rags thanks to her. The blades hadn't left a cut on the skin or any discernable injuries, moreso it was meant to show that she was in charge. The chains that wrapped around him were interwoven with thick plastic and a bomb. If it was tampered with after set, the device would trigger the material and cause an explosion that might have leveled the first floor and caused structural instability all around.

"Now my toy", she said as she ran her finger along the unshaven chin of the man who looked roughly twenty seven years old and eager to climb the corporate ladder. "You're going to show these supposed X-Men that they are nothing more than a speed bump. It is a pity you won't be around to see it." She looked over her shoulder as a guard raised a handgun to her. "Oh please, that won't hurt me." She phased the chain to a thick pillar, the central one within the room. She sauntered toward the guard phasing through each shot that was fired.

She approached the guard in her fully phased form and gripped the man by the throat and shoved him to ground. She then moved to draw one of her blades slowly and pressed it to the guard's throat. A swift slice across the jugular artery was all it took for the guard to be spurting blood all over the polished granite floor. She kicked the guard in the side and let out an evil laugh. "You humans are nothing. Your guns, your laws and your irrational fear....strike that. Your fear is rational. We are the future. Let your death be the shot heard 'round the world." The guard finally stopped struggling for air and went pale.

Ghost leapt through the metal doors of the elevator and leapt up the shaft. She briefly leapt inside the descending elevator and eyed the guards that were coming down to investigate the source of the disturbance. "Hello", she said as she looked them in the eye. "I am Ghost." Their hands were shaking as they raised their guns to her. "Oh not this again. Your friend downstairs is dead. I slit his jugular vein in one slash after he fired at me. Three guns more will hardly make a difference against someone like me." Several shots went off, but proved to be of no avail. She drew both of her blades and in a pinsir-like motion she beheaded the three humans before her. Her white suit had been stained with blood. She tore one of their shirts off and used it to clean the crimson mess from her mask.

She continued her ascent as swiftly as she had ceased it and reached her desired floor. Indigo had a man in the room with her. "Soon, so very soon", she thought to herself. "Soon humans will fear us and bow to us. We will be given the station we deserve in life. No longer shall they call us freaks, but Gods and Goddesses." She came to her Mistress side with her weapons in their sheathes. "Apoligies for the delay. I encountered some minor resistance." A smile came across her face as she finished her statement. "I took care of it."

The Academy

Cyren

Cyren heard the voice of the Professor resonate in her mind essentially severing the connection to the security system. "Ugh", she said as she forced her mind back into focus. "Auto-pilot mode engage. I need to keep an eye on the newbies", she mumbled as she walked away from the machine. She slid her trenchcoat sleeves on carefully, sending small jolts of electricity through the wires concealed within the form coat.

"Time to test you out before we go into the field", she thought to herself. She stepped into room off to the side of the Security office. It was lined with materials that kept her abilties from passing through the room or harming any of the nearby devices. She calmed her mind only focusing on the form the electricity would take. At first small sparks appeared, slowly becoming more solid. She growled as she forced the current to act against its nature, to become a solid suit of armor. As the electricity became more solid the strain lessened considerably on her mind. A dim blue sheen covered the length of her body, save for her neck and above. As she slowly raised her arm up and bent her back so that her palm would be open, she discharged what appeared to be four tentacles that shot out a foot and split into four more respectively. The tentacles grabbed a large metallic ball and lifted it off the rack it was placed on.

As the ball slowly levitated forward, carried by the force of the energy coursing through it Cyren forced the beam into a unfied state. Her armor began to wane slightly, but with a quick push it became solid once more. She clenched her fist and began to swing her arm as one might do with a flail. The ball responded to the solid stream of energy being fed to it. The ball slammed into the side of the chamber and absorbed the impact as it was meant to.

A kinetic energy reading popped up on the wall. She smiled, satisfied that the upgrades were sufficient. Hurriedly she ran off the briefing room and took her place a terminal. "Oh my", she said under her breath as operational details streamed across the screen. "That is not good." She veiled her concern with a poker face that would have got her rich in Vegas. There would be time for questions when everyone streamed in. It was better to have the collective minds of the team at work, which had proved its merit in her eyes more than a few times.

[Hellis]

Anarchy grinned, hearing the actual reason for this hard work. Their chef had a date. Now that was something new. His grin was that of a chesire, wide and earnest. He leaned back in his chair, feeling the crepes become needed morning nutrients. Back home, they didn make this kind of food often. He quite liked the 'yanks' and their food.

“So you got a preddy lil'bird to meet with do ya, eh Lyall, You'll do fine mate.” The brit chuckled. Downing the last of his crepes. He had largely ignored the two mutants and their rather childish bickering and display of friendly banter. The portal user was what Nathaniell had expected from an American teenager when he first joined. That is to say, his use of the powers were far to lighthearted, and quite crafty. Nathaniell could appreciate that. Aside from that, well, the Aerokinetic was someone Anarchy was decided on. He didnt like a man who would brandish weapons so easy, even if it was in a jokingly done manner. There was certain things that were just inappropriate in a environment filled with teens and other impressionable souls. That said, he harbored no ill will toward the man either. He just wish he would lay low with the whole weapon thing. No man needed that many weapons on him. Even less so if you were a goddamn mutant.

Thats when his train of thoughts were interrupted by Xaviers message. Suddenly all traces of pondering on the subjec was gone. Nathaniell was game mode as he nearly vaulted over the table, off to a running start.

“You heard the 'fessor. Let move out!” The young mans voice had a endge to him. Call it foreboding, or just a general idea for when shit hit the fan. But something was really off today. And he hoped to god this was a small time deal only.

[mattm]

-New York City-

The Blackbird touched down on top of a parking garage adjacent to the Wellsworth building. In very little time at all, the X-Men had been briefed that there was a situation evolving with a group of mutants within the technology developer's corporate office and arrived in the city. Caster placed the group on the street below while Professor Xavier stepped forward and held a palm toward the street before they left their cover in the alleyway. The rain was growing heavier with every minute

'Ignore Us...' Adelade repeated over and over in the back of her mind, causing the passing homo sapiens to completely miss seeing a group of nine people dressed in blue and yellow jog across the street in the downpour. They were far from invisible and would likely appear on any security cameras or reflections in the front of the building's mirrored exterior. To someone waiting outside, they were entirely visible...

The crowd that had been scared into remaining entirely still on the floor at risk of being blown up, looked over when the X-Men entered the room. Adelade dropped the illusion and many people screamed- she could sense that the hostages believed that they were more terrorists arriving to finish the job. Without time to shout over the group, she continued on with the agreed plan and crossed the room- once the second group made it to the elevators, Zack would teleport them to the upper floor that worried the Professor so much.

It was the rescuing of the hostages that had to be taken care of immediately- and by the students who stayed behind.

---

"Apologies for the delay. I encountered some minor resistance." Indigo looked up at the sound of Ghost's voice. "I took care of it."

"Ah, but don't we all." The blond, severe woman replied with a brief smile. "Encounter resistance, that is."

A whimper sounded off from half way across the room. On closer inspection, it was obvious that Dustin Wellsworth lay on the ground in a small pool of dark liquid. He turned over at the sound of Ghost entering the room, showing that he was splattered with his own blood and missing a hand, which had hastily been tied with a telephone cord.

"Mister Wellsworth, this is my right-hand woman, Ghost." Indigo paused, "Ghost, please say hello to Mister Wellsworth's right hand." she said quite cheerily, holding up the bloody, detached appendage and gave it a wave much like one would with a doll's hand.

Dropping the hand into the small briefcase she had carried into the office earlier, Indigo pointed at Wellsworth and snapped her fingers. "Do help him walk with us. We'll be expecting company momentarily."

[Kestrel]

Last thing Juliet remembered was that she was half asleep, half listening about Lyall's new flame. All the while munching on her crepes rather... Indelicately. From there it had been a roller-coaster; proffessor X had called for her inside her mind and before she knew it she was dragged to the briefing room. A suspicious power spike was the reason for their summons; it seemed like some kind of psychic paranoia to Juliet. Not that she understood what such a power spike meant, she just assumed.

Within seconds, however, she would have changed and boarded the blackbird. Not quite unlike a training session. There was much a more nervous tension than in regular danger room sessions. It felt unreal to Juliet; she had worn the suit before but never been on a mission before... Then it suddenly jumped on her; this was an actual mission!

Events raced before her eyes as they presented their selves. The changing, the flight, the rain and telepathic cloak to manipulate the witnesses. An entire blank had been drawn in her mind, like her body was a puppet she had followed orders in nothing but complete shock. It wasn't until Xavier's group left that she began to remember the information she had absorbed between boarding the plane and standing eye in eye with the hostages. A man, middle aged, balding early, with ridiculously small glasses stared right back at her. His fear infected Juliet quickly.

The girl looked around searching for some sort of safety. There were Syrena, Mia, Nathaniell and Tara. Or rather, Cyren, Beast, Anarchy and Sable. None of them she knew particularly well. With big eyes she stared at each and every single one of them; silently screaming for help. “Someone... Talk to these people.” Juliet eventually mumbled. “What happened here?”

[Hellis]

Now. When you looked at him dressed leather, with Anarchist symbols and with a x symbol, you might not think he is the good guy. And when you took in the multicolored mohawk, he might not seem the kinda guy you want to deal with hostages. But take nothing away from a guy who spent most of his life fighting a percieved opression, he knew people, he knew scared eople even better. How many times did he not console one of his friends when they had been beaten by some scumbag father or a dirty cop. As he saww his fellow x-man mumble soemthing he nodded. With a cheeky grin he ruffled her hair. She was way younger then any of them.

“No worries toots. We got this. Just stick to the routine ok”

Kneeling infront one of the hostages, a middle aged black lady in grey blouse and black penskirt, he spoke, in as calm manner as possble. “Dont worry mam, we are her to save you. We are the good guys. And we are going to bring in the people responsible for this. Were there any other hostages?” His livepool accent was barely noticeable, contained to ake himself as clear as possible.

“There's a man, with a bomb attached to him. He looked all torn up...” She spoke, trembling like a leaf. Anarchy had to stop himself. There was a goddamn bomb involved? This was all kinds of bad. Who would even do something like this?

“Welp. Lets go have a look at that bomb then. You are the technopath after all Cyren.” He turned to teen again. while surveying the scene. He wasn't a leader by any means, it went against his nature. But he didn't like standing around either, so he tried his best to get people moving..

--------

Jonathan was getting tired of waiting. Oh so tired. When ever were he going to have his fun. Ghost sure had hers. That minx sure was a handful. But if indigo let her, there was no stopping it. So the powerful mutant waited his turn.

[Connor Gorden]

Braden was all kinds of worried when he was summoned to the briefing room for a mission. The light hearted levity of the breakfast table had left him. He usually tried to avoid aggression, ironic since he went by the nickname Agressor, but it wasn't like he could say no. After all it was Professor X that issued the mission. No matter what the personal cost, he would ALWAYS follow her orders.

As he stepped into the building and saw the terrified hostages, he breathed in deeply. "In...out" Just like the Professor had taught him for handling emotionally stressful situations. "In...out..." He repeated to himself silently, giving the hostages as lighthearted a smile as he could manage, to try to calm them down.

As he and the other mutants advanced he approached Nathaniell from behind. "Don't be afraid to do whatever it takes to stop me if I get too crazy in here." Braden said, knowing full well that if he lost his cool he would lose control of himself. He couldn't bear the thought of hurting an innocent, or one of his friends.

[Llayne]

"'Obsession:'" Zack recited as he opened a portal to the hallway outside of Zephyr's room. "'The domination of a person's thoughts or feelings by a continuous idea or desire.'" After stepping through the portal he continued. "I don't care whether it's psychotic or not, having knives dominate your every waking thought can't be healthy." Once his friend had passed through as well he closed the portal. "Meet you in the Wreck Room in five?"

Rather than open another portal to his own room, Zack physically walked down the hallway… a rare occurrence for the young man. He stopped when he reached an open door with frantic sounds coming from inside. Inside was the short redhead, Abby, trying to fan the smoke out of her window with a magazine. He couldn't help but smile at the image and opened a giant portal that took up most of her ceiling. She looked up and saw it and then turned to smile at him. "My hero." She joked.

"Super-hero." Zack corrected, mock preening himself.

That got a hearty chuckle out of her. "So do you check in on all the students or should I be flattered?”

Showing uncharacteristic restraint, Zack didn’t take the bait. “I’m a staff member now, it’s my job to see to the health, training, and general well being of the students. And like… set a positive example and stuff.”

That got another chuckle. “If even half the stories I’ve heard about you are true then you’ve definitely set an example, I doubt anybody would call it ’positive’ however.”

Zack smiled in response. “Fair enough I suppose. But back to the training part… I was just about to change and then go tear up the Wreck Room with Zeph. You should come down and watch.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Watch you change?”

Zack’s face went bright red and his eyes grew wide. “Umm… I… uh… did-” Before he could make a bigger fool of himself the Professor’s telepathic message reached him. He winced in pain as her message broke through. The Prof said that was just his natural psychic defenses and that the resistance grew stronger every time she linked with him. The way she said it that was supposed to be a good thing, but she wasn’t the one with a splitting headache afterward.

“You okay?” Abby asked, a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah, that was the Prof calling. I’ll catch you later.” He opened a portal to his room and dashed through, both to get ready for the mission and to flee an awkward situation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The briefing was extremely quick, probably because they didn’t know very much yet. This was one of the first official missions Zack had been on since graduating last spring. At least Zephyr and I are on the same team, it’ll just be like another Wreck Room session.

This was also the first mission he’d be on with Cyren that he knew was official. He was never sure if their other clandestine outings were on the up and up or not, and had never figured out a good way to ask.

The trip on the blackbird was uneventful. He took the time to verify that the medical kits and other emergency supplies were still where they were supposed to be, and when the jet landed he did a quick recon of the rooftop to lock the positions in his mind. It was easier to teleport when he was familiar with the area. He also used binoculars to check out the target building and a few of the neighboring skyscrapers... just in case.

He opened a large oval portal to get both teams down to the street, Zack himself was the last one through. He could tell the Prof was doing something to the people on the street, both by the way the pedestrians ignored the oddly clad X-men and by the gentle pressure Zack felt in the back of his head.

Everybody in the lobby started screaming when they walked in. Not exactly a hero’s welcome. He thought grimly. He couldn’t focus on that however… his job was upstairs. He passed through a portal and stepped out near the elevators to scout out the area. Nothing. Zack fidgeted slightly while he waited for the others to arrive, and for the Professor to give the signal.

[Esper]

Cyren

Cyren projected her mind at the building with no luck in penetrating the walls. The building was most likely built to prevent any wireless connectivity in the immediate vicinity surrounding the building or perhaps someone. Her mind felt stifled by an invisible force and force once it wasn't the Professor's voice. She placed a hand on the side of her head and growled near silently in frustration. She hated surprises, but more importantly she hated going in without a blueprint on hand.

She followed the ground floor group into the building and did a quick scan of the room. The people in the room were scared understandably. As a minor precaution she jammed the hostages mobile devices that she felt hidden on a few of them. The police would make this worse more than likely in her personal experience. More than once the Professor had to wipe their memories, because they witnessed things that they weren't supposed to. Fortunately Cyren also wiped out the security tapes during those incidents, which left everyone else scratching their heads.

She put her hand on someone's shoulder, a younger looking male about her age, and spoke softly to him. "Stay calm and if you get a chance to get away then take it." She pressed up gently with her hand and looked at the bomb. The wiring was not all that complex, but the materials used to make it were potent. The situation looked bad, especially given it wasn't humans behind this attack. There were powerful mutants here and the team had little idea who precisely.

She approached the bomb slowly after detecting nothing around the area that might trigger it. Most likely there was a remote control somewhere and someone had it. She took mental notes of the attributes. There was no timer, further reinforcing her suspicion. The wiring would have been complex if she were human. She unrolled the tool kit from a pack on her belt. After running her fingers over the specially made tools she selected a few that were specially attuned to her abilities.

She masterfully unlocked the bomb, but something else pinged in her mind. She pressed the push to talk on the side of her communication device. "Guys, this bomb. It is disarmed, but now it is transmitting a signal that I can't seem to jam. It's advanced, unlike anything I have ever seen before. How do you wish me to proceed Professor?"

Ghost

"As you wish Mistress", Ghost said while prodding at the hastily applied tourniquet. "And very nice work on stopping the bleeding I might add." She looked up at the hand that was waved in a puppet like motion and offered up a polte giggle, distorted electronically with the mouthpiece that was embeed in the mask. She gripped the man by underarm and pulled him off the ground.

"If you try anything funny I will reach inside you and put your lung inside your stomach", she whispered into his ear, the voice distortion making it sound even more terrifying. She prodded him with the tip of her blade when he began to walk too slowly for her liking, but made certain he stayed uptight despite the fact he began to grow more pale by the minute. Suddenly a beeping went off. "Mistress Indigo, I believe our guests have disarmed the fake explosive. Wonder if they will find the real one?"

Beneath her mask she smiled, a twisted sort of feeling grew inside as the old man began to spit a sleugh of insults at her. She merely prodded his swollen wound with the tip of her blade, causing him to cry out in pain. "I was always taught to respect my elders, but you're making it difficult and when things get difficult the problem gets quelled quickly."