X-Men: Calm Before the Storm [The Xtreme One x Little Fox]

[Little Fox]

“...Huh?” As Cat's fingers splayed across Lincoln's chest, she lit aglow brighter than she could ever remember glowing outside of battle. Her light turned a soft pink, covering the color that rose to her cheeks. In all the time that she and Lincoln fooled around, they had never shared a moment like this. Such a tender moment. Was he saying that he....loved her? She bit down on her bottom lip, tightening her grip on his waist. “Lincoln...” She was at a loss for words. Did she really just go to bed after talking to Tony and this was all just a dream? No. Was it the whiskey on his breath that was talking? She didn't think so. Lincoln was so serious right now. As his face drew near, her heart was thumping just as it had earlier. She trembled before him, her eyes fluttering until they closed all the way. “Lincoln. Giuseppe. Castiglione. I love you.” At that, her hand began to glow brighter than the rest of her body and she lit up his chest. It was akin to how your mouth lit up when you put a flashlight in. She could see his heart beating beneath his flesh; or at least the shadow. It was in the blink of an eye that she crushed her body against his. Tonight was going to be unlike any that she had ever shared with him. It was going to be better. Sex during a storm? While it meant that Zee was seriously pissed off, she couldn't help but to find it sexy.

Friday, September 14th, 2012.
9:12am

“Gnnhh. Soossh.” Orfelina whined in her sleep, her fists clenching and unclenching. There was a flashback of nightmares dancing in her head. Memories from her younger days of being probed and injected. Put on medical testing tables and poked with various pointy objects. Kids at school calling her Circus Freak. Markus cheating. Markus teasing her. Markus forcing himself on her. That bullet. Piercing her chest. That man's face. His face was what filled her nightmares most. ”Wake up, little gypsy. C'mon.” Orfelina woke up with damp eyes that alerted her that she had cried in her sleep. Lifting her head, she glanced down at the paper that her head was resting on. It was just as damp as her cheeks. “Now I have to rewrite it...” She grumbled to herself as her dad wrapped his arms around her and her chair. ”Get dressed, kid. We're gonna get us some breakfast.” Her dad gave her a little shake. ”I'll meet ya downstairs and we can talk. Jules already got some breakfast goin'.” After he kissed her on the cheek, James was out of his daughter's hair, leaving her groggy and slightly upset. He didn't mean to just leave her there like that, but he knew that she wasn't a little girl anymore and she liked her privacy. Especially from parentals.

Orfelina grunted and managed to drag herself out of her chair and stumble towards the bathroom. She reemerged only twenty minutes later, feeling fresh with blown dry hair that was now thick, bouncing curls. She lazily threw on a bra and an oversized t-shirt with some girly pink panties and tube socks. She shuffled as sleepily as possible out of her room and down the stairs. A few of those who were awake would stop and stare at her. She always wore sleeves to hide her scars and always had makeup on her chest. Not even Beau knew about all of her scars. But there she was as bare as she had ever been in her life while in front of others. She proudly (and tiredly) bore her scars that marred her arms, her neck, her chest, her back, and her legs. There were quite a few scars on her wrists and forearms that suggested that they didn't all come from other people.

She paused by Lincoln's office, assuming that he was awake and there as he usually was so early. She opened the door using her fingertips. As soon as she opened the door, she got an eyeful of her two naked friends tangled up within each others limbs under the man's desk. She didn't make a sound, slowly closing the door and her eyes. “I'm traumatized.” She muttered to herself as she turned away as quickly as possible and darted to the kitchen, trying to erase the image from her mind. When she arrived, her father was wolfing down a stack of pancakes, Tony was rubbing Pepper's belly, Bruce was working on holographic blueprints, and Julio was making more food. She yawned wide and took a seat at the island with her dad just as Julio sat a plate in front of her. “There's something that I wanted to read – Uh. I'll see you guys in a little while.” She gave an awkward smile and grabbed her food, dashing off before they could say anything. There was some things that she had been needing to investigate for a few days now for Kitty. Her stop? The library. Where she had her breakfast with her nose buried in one of Cat's thick books on X-Genes.

Zalika was already awake. She had been awake. Strange eyes of blue and green with slits like a cat's and electric likes running about were glowing in the darkness of the Danger Room. Zee had been there since five that morning. “Danger. Level five. Scenario: Hostile take over. Setting: ...Home.” She stood up, grimacing. The room began to ripple before taking the imagery of the outside of the mansion. She glanced over where the gates were, watching as they were bulldozed by military tanks. Zee brandished her guns and watched as her team mates materialized alongside her. They engaged in battle, Zalika not using her powers at all. She was the only of her friends that would ever fight without using any powers other than her physical prowess. She didn't have faith that she could control it. But the battle began to overwhelm them and she couldn't restrain it anymore. The earth began to shake underneath her feet and the sky began to darken. Everyone was pelted with heavy raindrops as a tornado began to whip up. Everything came out. The rage and the sorrow. Her snow white hair became whipping and crackling lightning, fire coming from her nostrils, icy air coming from her mouth.

She stood her ground, rooted in place as the tornado ripped up the earth and the people around her, tossing them like ragdolls.

“No! Stop! Stop it! Leave us alone!” Zalika screamed out, dropping to her knees.

And then it was all over. Danger ended the simulation, the holographs fading at Zee's screeching. “Danger. Danger. System malfunction. Danger. Danger. System malfunction.” Danger's alarms went off, Zee's outburst having destroyed quite a bit of the circutry and tore up the base of the room. Zee's body had returned to normal as she sobbed on the floor. Outside, the tornado and earthquake brought on by her outburst had disappeared as though they weren't even there. The heavy rain became nothing more than a simple drizzle. Falling like the tears from her eyes. “System running on back-up generator. Time left: seventeen hours.”

[The Xtreme One]

Lincoln
The smell of her perfume awoke him. Lincoln opened up his chocolate brown eyes and looked down with a smile. Cataleia had wrapped herself up in between his arms and for once he felt at peace. “Hey, we’re going to have to move” He didn’t want to move but Lincoln knew it was a neccesicty. Pulling away from his lover and sliding from beneath the table, he got up to his feet. As he did so, his laptop caught his eye and he suddenly remembered the news he had to tell everyone on that day. “Listen, Cat. I know you don’t want to hear this right now and I don’t want to say it but we need to have a team meeting. I found something last night and everyone is going to need to know about it” Leaning down, Lincoln kissed her forehead. “I’m going for a shower, I’ll see you soon” With that he departed into the bathroom, turning on his shower and let the piping hot water run across his body.

Beau

The outlaw had been up for a short while. His internal clock was messed up from his days in the army so even if he had been out all night partying, he was still up and about at 6:00. Beau was working as per usual in the garage. Bon Jovi was playing on the radio and the cowboy was lying underneath Lincoln’s jag, making sure all was correct for his highness. Rolling himself from the underside of the car, Beau got to his feet in need of something to eat. Washing his filthy hands in the sink, he dried them on the black vest he was wearing before leaving and locking the door behind him. A few of the newbies were up and about, most were still in bed. As he entered the kitchen, Beau raised his eyebrows at the sight that sat before him. “Well well, ain’t this a party? Nice to see ya’ll”

Robin

Sitting on his bed, Robin sat watching the sky outside. He hadn’t slept last night or the night before or the night before and so on and so forth. Overall it had been just over a year since he last slept. Pulling himself up from his mattress, Robin put his foot down and suddenly burst out with a large cry. “Bollocks!” He yelped, looking down he saw he had stood on a pencil. Narrowly avoiding it a second time, Robin got to his feet and dressed himself in a simple pair of jeans and a grey stencil t-shirt. Opening the door of his room, he emerged rubbing his tired eyes as he did so. Descending the stairs, Robin looked into the kitchen and saw a handful of people standing there. For some strange reason he got the feeling that he was best to avoid that situation.

[Little Fox]

Cataleia was having pleasant dreams and was rather comfortable in her tangled position. She was reluctant to wake up, only dragging herself fully from slumber when the shower was turned on. Grunting, she began to crawl out from under the desk so she could stand and stretch. Once she arched her back and stretched out, her entire body ached. ”Holy. Shit!” She whined, though she wasn't complaining. Lincoln had provided her with an amazing night. Three rounds of expressing raw power, passion, love, and lust. Always the best way to end one's night. Even if it lasted three hours. Smirking, she ran her fingers through her bedhead hairdo before calling out to Lincoln. ”I'll meet you for breakfast. Library. Love you!” She had already tossed back on her panties and his shirt, leaving her bra hanging on the knob of one of the desk drawers. She avoided several gazes as she dashed upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her. She retreated to her shower after undressing, a smile on her face as the hot water slammed against her body. She didn't have a care in the world right now; She wasn't a mutant being hunted by religious fanatics, scientists, and random humans just because she had powers. She didn't have to fight tooth and nail just so she and her friends survived to see lunch. And she most certainly wasn't preparing plans in case of an invasion. She was just a normal person living a normal life. The Head Mistress of a prestigious academy for special children, teaching them what they needed to live life without hurting those close to them. A woman madly in love. She couldn't suppress her smile or her glow now. She wanted people to know that she was happy. Until the wind began to whistle and the earth began to shake.

Her shriek almost shattered the windows as she leapt from the shower and scurried to get dressed, ending up wearing a black sports bra and black jogging pants. She ran out of her room and down the stairs as Danger's alarms went off, flashing red lights. She was met at the bottom of the stairs by Orfelina. They didn't say anything, simply rushing to the elevator at the far back of the large mansion. They were joined in stride by others, though Cataleia waved them off. Arriving at the elevator, she placed her palm against the scanner and spoke into the microphone. “The Raver.” It was her human-given alias after she had made enough appearances at college parties. “Welcome, Cataleia.” She gave a curt nod before looking back to Lina who appeared rather fearful of the situation. “Go tell Jules to fix the grounds outside and calm everyone down. Tell them that it was a freak phenomena.” Lina nodded and dashed off to give out the intended orders and announcement. Cataleia was on her way down the elevator now, surpassing the basement and the sub-basement. Fifty feet below the surface was their advanced catacombs, as she called them. The X-Men locker room, the War Room, the Hospital, the Zero Room, the holding cells, the Conference Room, the Danger Room, Cerebro, the Hangar, and the larger garage were all down there. She stepped out of the elevator to enter the all white corridor and headed straight for the Danger Room Control Room. While she wasn't as engineerically inclined as Beau or Lina, she knew Danger would patch things up. “Danger. What happened?” A 'woman' that looked as though she were made of metal and circuitry stepped away from the control panels and offered a curt bow. “Miss Munroe had an outburst mid-training. It threw me off-guard and caused me to end simulation, causing her outburst to affect the outside world. Danger Room has suffered mild damage to the outside, though circuits are fried. I assume that the outside has suffered some damage as well.” The woman tilted her head some. “I have repaired the circuit damage, though I would appreciate some help repairing the room.” Cataleia nodded some before looking at the screens before her. Zalika was curled up with her face to her knees. It pained her to see Zee like that, having only seen her that way once before; The day she resolved to never use her powers again. Shaking her head, Cat turned to Danger again. “I'll send Edward down here with Beau and Lina later on.” The doors to the Danger Room slid open and Zalika came out with her head high and her cheeks stained with tears. She didn't say anything to Cataleia and simply walked on by. A frown formed on the Brazilian's lips, her brow creasing. “Do what you can for now, Danger.” Cataleia strode away and caught the elevator with Zalika. “It won't happen again.” Zee was flexing dangerously, indicating that it wasn't the best idea to push the conversation further. Zee and Kitty were close. Real close. But Cat knew better than to pry. Zee could handle herself, but her friend always worried. Zee wanted to punch herself in the face as the elevator opened. People were walking by, chatting amiably about the freak weather. Some of the students that had been there a while but were depowered and had nowhere to go were giving Zee empathetic glances. They knew what it was.

Zee exited the elevator before Cataleia did and made her way to the kitchen. “So. How about that weather?” Tony grinned at Zee, though quickly shut up as her eyes went black. “Tony, leave the poor girl alone.” Bruce piped up, glancing from his blueprints to the dark woman clenching her fists. “Alright. Settle down, everyone. Eat up and enjoy. Take this time to be jolly and whatnot. We've got a team meeting, Danger Room needs to be patched up, still need that supply run, and various other chores. We should be all settled down by Sunday. Wonderful. Carry on!” She offered everyone a smile and opted out of breakfast by sliding past her cousin who stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Grounds weren't too bad. Looks good as new.” Cataleia offered a smile and a nod before heading off back to Lincoln's office. Orfelina was carrying a stack of books with an empty plate topping it all off. “Okay – I'm back.” She plopped all the books down on the counter and waved to everyone. “Where are your pants?”
“Good morning, Robin. Mornin' Beau-Beau! Hope you guys slept well.” Lina grinned over to the redheaded Brit, ignoring her father.
“Where are your pants?”
“I did some research and I think I have some really great news for everyone.”
“Where are your pants?”
The Wolverine was growing irritated, a bit disappointed that his daughter was walking around with no pants on. He wouldn't care if it weren't for the numerous boys and men checking her out. Sure, this was her home, but jeez! “Uhm. I think your dad wants to know where your pants are. Just taking a wild guess, though. I can't read minds or anything.” Tony rose his hand just a bit, offering his usual smart-mouthed input. “What news?” Bruce and Julio looked up, inquiring at the same time. Lina sighed some. “They're in my room. And. You'll find out the news when the meeting is called.” James was cracking his knuckles as he watched a refugee that looked to be in his late forties stare at and make obscene gestures towards Lina. His daughter knew that the man had sidled behind her and was being rude. She wheeled around and decked him in his jaw, watching him do down like a sack of potatoes. She then smiled politely over to her father. “You know as well as I do that they learn eventually that this isn't you average school. I can handle myself now, daddy. All the old kids know how things work around here and pretty soon, these guys will catch on, too. Relax.” Everyone who attended Xavier's in the past was always taught to treat the school as though it were their own home and to treat the other tenants as though they were close friends and family. And that's exactly what they did. James smirked as his daughter began to lay out the five thick books, flipping from page to page. “Fine. But what are you reading on?” Lina didn't look up from her books. “Professor X's, Professor Summers', and Kitty's books on genetic mutations. Our type of mutations, to be more specific. And a few things about space.” She looked up and saw that Robin was still standing around as the man she had decked began to stir, scrambling away from the kitchen. “Come get something to eat.” James looked over at the redhead and frowned, taking a drag from the cigar in his mouth. “And this is?”
“A friend.”
“Not a friend I've met.”
“Met him last night.”
“Where?”
“At the bar.”
“You stay out of this.
“I'm just sayin'. Where else would she be but here?”
“Beau, you know about this guy? Where's he from?”
“Beau ain't my boyfriend or my keeper and neither is Robin.”

A whole argument started with Julio and Bruce trying to calm everyone down.

[The Xtreme One]

Robin seemed to be dragged into the kitchen with all those huge personalities and immediately felt out of place. Lina offered him some breakfast so he took a seat next to her. He sat in silence as the argument ensued. Beau took a bite out of his bacon sandwich as he watched them all talk amongst themselves. “Logan, I know you’re supposed to be the big bad killer and all but I think you need to take a step back and let Lina make her own decisions. Besides…” He turned to Robin. “The kids new here, he hasn’t been able to mess this up yet” The cowboy chuckled before finishing off his sandwich. Having missed all the action, Lincoln got out of the shower and quickly dried off. Today was going to be an extremely long day. It was going to be full of business meetings, advertising meetings, shareholder meetings, basically it was a good day for meetings. Lincoln needed to look his best so he dressed himself in an impeccable navy suit with light blue shirt. He had just thrown on his jacket when Cat re-entered his office. “Hey there” He smiled as he turned to look in the mirror. “What do you think? Does this suit scream sign the contract and sell me your business or what?”

[Little Fox]

Everyone was in good spirits that morning; Cataleia was assuring her boyfriend and partner that he looked fine and was going to knock 'em dead at his meeting. Orfelina was arguing with her father and Beau, trying her best to protect poor Robin who didn't know what he had got himself into. Julio was chattering animatedly with Bruce and Tony, fascinated by their technology and trying to understand the workings of it all. Zalika...well. She was being typical, brooding Zee. But that was all about to change. Cataleia was focusing so much on Lincoln that she didn't hear them. The jets and helicopters. The tanks and HUM-Vs rolling up. None of them had any idea what was coming their way...until...

"Okay, well we can have the team meeting when you get back." The Brazilian smiled, leaning up to place a kiss on his lips but stopped midway, hands on his shoulders. Her phone was ringing. She sighed and pulled it out, checking the screen. It was Director Fury, a call she couldn't ignore. He never called from his personal number unless it was important. She tapped the screen, not bothering to put the phone against her ear. The spy didn't even give her the chance to say hello before rapidly doling out information. Kitty's eyes grew wide as she whispered a thanks and hung up. "We have five hours to evacuate. Senator Kelly and Reverend Stryker have military forces unauthorized by the government gearing up to take us out. Nick has his own forces to stave them off so we can get out; they're already here. Cataleia quickly sent out a mass text to Lina and the others, talking to Lincoln as she did. "We need to load everyone up into the cars
and roll out to Safehouse Jezebelle. Zee will take the jet and stir up some trouble to hold them off before they ship out."

After Eric had been killed, the X-Men had set up four safehouses in case of emergency such as this. Safehouse Jezebelle was in a small town in Louisiana, founded by Gambit and Thriinaendor. Safehouse Angiluzza was in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. That one was founded by Lina. There was another in Wakanda, Africa set up by Zalika and her family; Safehouse Chibueze. The last one was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, founded by Cataleia and Lincoln, Safehouse MJ. The thing each of them had in common was that they were in mutant-friendly cities. Nobody would rat them out while they were there. Safe house Jezebelle was the closest one for them and of easier access; the others were out of the country and the jet couldn't carry all of them.

Cat gave Lincoln another kiss before dashing out into the hall. She cleared her throat before speaking loudly and clearly. "Everyone. Grab only what you can carry in two hands and calmly make your way to the main garage and wait to be grouped into a vehicle. X-Men, Mobile Formation Palamino." It might seem over-the-top with so many codes, but they were heavy on precautions. Mobile Formation Palamino was their forest escape route. Julio was the lead driver, making a path through the woods by means of using his powers to move aside trees, shrubs, and roots, paving a road for everyone else. Cataleia held up the rear, blocking others from following while Lincoln took left flank and Beauregard took the right for defense. Adria, Orfelina, and the others drove the middle vehicles transporting passengers. They'd have to take the vans.

"Not now..." The gypsy whispered as she got Kitty's text message. Julio, her dad, Bruce, and Tony were checking their phones, too but she was already excusing herself and dashing up to her room, passing by Cat as she made the announcement. The first things she began to grab were the small journals and her laptop; She wasn't going to lose the records of her life. Since the journals were so small, they easily fit into the large suitcase where she arranged them in chronological order with quick precision; OCD much? She placed the laptop on top and shut it, grabbing her Stark¦Howlett Sphere and a pair of pants. She shimmied into the whitewashed jeans shoved the sphere into the front left pocket before grabbing the basic necessities - Three changes of clothes to shove into her backpack with a scrapbook; she was big on sentimentality. Everything else that was special to her was locked up in an underground vault beneath Safehouse Angiluzza. She had forseen so many disastrous events that she went to great lengths to preserve her treasures.

She was soon off down the hall to aid others, suitcase in hand and backpack on her back. She was trying to help the children first, assuring others that everything was going to be fine. She passed her dad a few times who was carrying a crippled child and a suitcase with several adults behind him. She couldn't stop the many that had panicked and were trying to get off of the property with or without everyone else. She had to focus on those that wanted to travel to safety with them. Trying to talk sense into the others would waste precious time. She was now following her father downstairs and out to the garage, passing by Kitty who had already gathered her things and was directing people to the main garage.

There were so many already at the garage, though Julio had been the first one there. Most of them really didn't have but one suitcase. Some had trashbags and others had nothing. Julio put his fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle to grab attention. With eyes on him, he stamped the ground causing a slab of earth to rise and lift him with it. "Alright! We got any professional drivers here? Or people who are good at driving fast cars without crashing?" He got more hands than expected, but he supposed that they had been on the run a lot so picked up the driving skills for getting away clean. "Aight! Buena. Lemme get ch'y'all up here by me. I'ma let y'all know that we got some real high-tech vehicles here. With weapons in 'em. But we just need y'all to drive and follow us." They nodded in understanding and he gave a terse nod in return. Julio was terrified; he had run drills before, but never had he been in actual danger, having been pretty sheltered. But he put on a serious mask of confidence to reassure the others.

Zalika had her things, Danger, and a technopath with her in the jet as she took off to the skies. The Blackbird was new and improved, as Lina, Tony, and Bruce installed weaponry in it. She put on her headset and switched on the arc blaster, feeling it rise from the top of the jet. It was just a precaution, really. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay at ease as they rocketed off towards their attackers. Nick had sent her coordinates already for their base - But she turned around. She had planned on going there and simply immobilizing their forces. But no doubt they'd destroy the base, kill off some of their own, and make it look like a mutant terrorist attack. She shook her head firmly, still not speaking as she jetted back to the estate.