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NEW YORK: CIRCA 3248
It was a wasteland. Whatever happened the thousand years before, it all went downhill. The war between Mutants and Humans escalated to the point that each side was overrun by something else. The early advancements in technologies called the power-houses home, which called for many invasions, many things left behind, many things that were improved upon, namely weapons of mass destruction.
And that was just only in the year of 2050.
Stark Industries were in the lead, second to Wayne Enterprises, which took the lead in communication and stealth operations. A quiet up-and-coming company took both Wayne and Stark by storm; no one had ever seen it coming. And no one knew what hit them.
The Age of Death became a race on who could kill and anhilliate the fastest; many of earths people were taken to the stars or took them, came back wrong, some didn't come back whole, and most not at all. Digital aids were soon wiped out as the Age of Death reached its pinnacle, and a key member of SHIELD managed to knock out the many satelites that populated the earths atmosphere that set the entire world back to Day 1.
The world was now a savage land. Some of it filled with waste. The deserts span across cities like Milwaukee, Chicago, and New York, while California is filled with wilds and rocks that glow a blue green. The plants were alive; they could kill with a touch and often if you meet the right 'kind', they talk. And they sing a song of the days old that were passed along from one mutant/meta to another..
"How did it get like this?" The woman asks as she stands among her people, sullen, dirty. Starving. The wasteland that was made of the desert was supposed to be hot, but it was freezing cold even though the near broken sun was at its highest.
"They failed. That's what the Green says. They failed us all and didn't stop it in time."
"We know the tales of old. And we talked about this, love. She isn't old enough to fix this.."
"But.." He says, raising a hand, "..twenty three turns is enough. They were around that age when everything began to fall."
The woman shakes her head as she begins to walk to her shack. "I refuse."
The man stops and sighs, glancing off into the horizon.. just beyond the cloud of sand, he could see it. A pair of legs, not like his own, but ones that span all the way to the clouds in which there was no end.."
NOW:
Jean gathers the most trusted, leading them down the winding hallways to the secreted area where Cerebro lays. "So, I have the image of the Skrull that we need to find." She states, clearly having thought this out. "All I have to do is reconfigure Cerebro to search the minds of those who have -seen- a Skrull in the flesh, find -them- and question them. Basic technical snatch, grab, ask, release. Granted it's not legal but at this point, all legality has flown out the window. We have to start smashing our fists against the pavement and -fast-."
Logan leans against the wall, his cigar clenched in his teeth, "I ain't exactly worried about which side o' the law I'm on in a pretty long time, darlin'," he says. "In my experience, legal only matters when there ain't much at stake but pride. Life and death, people got a habit o' findin' ways to make room," he says.
He's clad in his usual casual gear, black leather jacket over check shirt, gloved hands, jeans and boots. He's never been much for the uniform look and he ain't about to start now. "Anybody know if these things bleeds?"
The redhead smiles ever so thinly. Hair in tight braids give their usual sleekness, and the only flowers she wears this late in the season are white camellias, twinned in the thick twining. "They do. Far greener blood in their natural form, not exclusive." Her hand skims up and down her upper arm, adjusting the fall of her somewhat widened sleeve by revealing the underpinning buckled gloves. Nothing exciting there, all said and done. Scarlett's veiled gaze speaks volumes and then some. "As we said before, they're right bastards to identify. Even scent might be tricky. But they bleed."
Kaleb followed in looking sharp as ever and completely hale and hearty for those keeping track. He was also one of the very few persons in the grounds that could eat an apple without it making a single crunchy noise. At Logan's question the young sonic nodded, but didn't answer right away because he was chewing. After a pause his voice answeres outside of his self like a ventriloquist while he ate "according to my source at home they do. If we get stuck we can probably pick their brain for first hand knowledge if we don't come up with anything." He took another bite and curiously asked, "The illusion is physical morphing and not illusion correct? To our knowledge anyhow?"
Illyana is seated backwards on a chair, her chin propped on its back as she watches the others, chewing a mouthful of gum. She's great with demons, but she doesn't know much about Skrulls. "Anything bleeds if you poke it enough," she remarks. The word 'you' is emphasized, clearly indicating Logan in particular. A bubble is blown, deflates before it can achieve maximum size, and she grimaces as she reels the gum back in, and reaches into her breast pocket to retrieve another stick. "We do what needs to be done. I'm not one to quibble over legality."
YEAR 3248:
Australia was nothing but water. Aquatic life flourished there, and often times those with boats travel the dangerous seas to search for trinkets and food to eat to feed their young and old. But, just as the old tugboat finally washes itself into the middle of the oceanic, above Sydney.. they could see those same pair of legs that reach far up into the clouds..
The man stands before his hut as he continues to watch, his brows furrowing as his eyes glow a faint gold, his skin melding into something akin to a metallic color as he hisses underneath his breath. "We need to move. NOW!"
The woman dashes out of the hut with another in tow, clearly her daughter, both scrambling to her feet as the older woman falls to her knees. "RUN!" She squeals out in pain, her body soon contorting as her bones visibly shift against the thin cloth she wears.
"MAMA!" The girl screams out, but as soon as she reaches out a hand, one of the legs begin to move!
It was a slow bend, one would almost think that metal was falling within it's weight, the sound near like klaxon horns but horrifying. With that bend, came a hand, a hand that remained straight as it was, slowly reaching towards the Earth…
And across the Earth, the Titan-men follow suit.
As the man runs with his daughter, the wife catches up, sleek black fur and eyes that pierce the night. She was unable to talk, but she snarled in reply as she glances back towards the colossal beasts that -will- take there home. Of that it was no question.
There was no time to scream, no time to talk, for as soon as the fingertip touches the earth, it begins to crack, rumble and shake! The thing was going to split the earth in two!
NOW:
"I guess that's why I've asked you all to come.." She states, nodding her head. Finally, taking a seat at the helm, she begins to press a button here.. and a button there.. and it almost seems as if she doesn't know what she was doing. It was silence from her, her mouth working into a worrying state, leaning back, then forward again to eye the button, fingers rubbing against her lids to clear her vision, then snorts.
"Who's your source and why aren't they here, Kaleb? At least we can ask them and get a lead on how to -fix- this mess.. whomever some Midnight King got us into.." Was she doing the blame game? Probably! The Midnight King sounded hoity-toity.. the X-Men were nothing but plebs!
"Mentally, is what I'm going for." Jean finally states, reaching for the helmet to put it on. "Granted, it won't be a pretty picture and I might catch a nosebleed here and there.. but.. find a person who knows where the skrull is, who the skrull currently looks like.. find the Skrull, kill it.. rinse, repeat.." Of course, how she speaks of killing aliens when she usually thinks all life is precious is odd.
She loves all life. But.. gotta break a few eggs. "Alright, watch the door. We don't need the Professor coming in here.."
Logan knew that Jean was ready to get serious about problem solving, but even he's a bit surprised at her casual talk of just eliminating the Skrulls in question. Still, if he has any problem with that particular moral quandary, he's not going to show it. And odds are, he doesn't. He likes solutions.
"Fair point," he says to Illyana, "These suckers all gonna pick somebody to be what's worth bein'," he says. "Meanin' plenty of 'em, if we find 'em, ain't gonna be that easy to get to. At least, not quietly," he says.
"Supposing they want to talk. And should they not wish to talk, perhaps we can persuade them it would be to their advantage. They are out. Earth knows their empire exists." Scarlett's burden is to smile, in by that smile, imply the possibility of a peaceful ends while a woman with a sword fashioned of her actual soul and a man with bladed claws capable of chopping through the slipstream of history stand in arm's reach. She nods to Illyana. "For the good of many, sometimes we cannot afford to stand on lily-white scruples. Not that I would advocate going in harsh and hard at first, but it remains an option. And they are comprehensive shapeshifters, down to the bone. None of it is illusory. They infiltrate based on being a perfect doppelganger, and only the minor mannerisms would naturally tell them apart."
Kaleb shrugged to Jean, "Well they're not here because this is a super secret base underneath a super secret school and jsut because someone lives in my house doesn't mean I take liberties withthe secrets of other people." There were rules! He actually followed them apparently. "Maximus, cousin of Crystal, had to deal with them recently. I asked them last night to talk to their people and see what they can share with us and they agreed. So when they get back home if you wish for me to bring them here I can arrange this. I'd be really careful about poking around upstairs though. If you need to climb into someone's head, if not his he can probably give us someoe else who was with em for your safety." He went about eating his apple. Okay so he did some recon in the last 4 days.
"That's what teleportation is for," Illyana observes. "We can catch them when they are alone without too much trouble. I imagine even Skrulls need to use the facilities on occasion." Practical experience with demons says not to worry over niceties like starting a fight on even ground. She rises, blows another bubble, then crosses the room to lock the door. The Professor won't be able to simply walk in without some level of alert — though really, the man can read minds, so having him walk in isn't exactly the biggest concern from her point of view.
YEAR 3248:
*CRA-KK-THOOM!*
The sounds across the world were the same. The remaining survivors of the lands scramble to find shelter, or some sort of release. Some took up to fighting, but it was no use. Those hands dipped into the earth and cracked it hole. In Australia, Sydney, the ground opened up and the water itself began to drain, those upon the tugboat suffered through a whirlpool of demise before their eyes began to glow..
..and their skin begins to crack..
..and their jaws become unhinged as a light pours out of them…
In New York, the pantheress continues to run behind her mate and their child, until a howl is unleashed and she topples over. The man and daughter rush to her side, with him keeping watch, erects a shield to shield them from a blast, his large.. dusky hands stretched out at either sides as the bubble shines victoriously, keeping them safe.
The woman immediately reverts to her own skin, panting, her eyes still aglow. She was touched. It was already too late and he was stalling.
"SEND HER!" She croaks out. "It's the only way she'll be.. safe.."
The girl falls to her knees sobbing, her head nodding as she grasps her mothers face, her forehead pressed to hers as she kisses her upon the nose. "I won't let you down, Mama, I promise!" She states. "I.. I promise.."
"GO girl!" The man screams out, his hands slowly beginning to glow as well, veins of light tracing through his skin .. for he was touched too. "Quickly, before it's too late!"
She lurches up to hug her father, who forcefully drops the shield to get her to run…
..and with a flash of light.. the girl disappears.
The man falls down next to his wife, attempting to hold himself together as she grasps his hand. "It's okay love.. She'll find the X-Men.. she'll fix this.." She pants out.. then rests her head against his knuckles. "Even if she'll never see us again.."
(Editors Note: Time travel fucking sucks.)
NOW:
"And so do the men who came here to speak to us." Jean states towards Rogue. "I'm unsure if there's any peaceful resolution we all can come to, but I can at least.. ask. We're a few days .. alright. Six days short. This last minute stuff…" She scoffs a little, then leans forward to press the button. "Don't mind me.." She says quietly, her eyes closing. "..going diving.."
She wasn't going to respond to Kaleb just yet, though the name Maximus remains upon her mind. He was.. bad right? It was all subjective. And to not root in there? Pshaw! Jean had confi—..
"Wait a minute." She states, her eyes opening as she looks out towards the figures, unsure if anyone could see. But there was a spike. A -HUGE- spike of power and it made Jean's face scrunch up. "I.. I think we're going to have to do a rescue.. do you see that?!" Jean points out, that large.. something. It was like a blip, a blur, a massive, deep red signal that shouts -WARNING- all over. "Is -THAT- what we look like?!"
Logan frowns at the mention of Crystal's cousin as well, "Maximus? I remember him - Bit of a dandy. Has a bed rep for playing mindfuck tricks with some o' ours in the past, last I heard," he says, with a hint of a growl in his voice. Definitely not his idea of an ideal ally.
He reaches out to grasp at Jean's arm at her words, workign to steady her and keep her in place as she deals with…whatever she was dealing with.
A girl sometimes has the decency to look a bit tired, her thousand year stare in the middleground scouring whatever shadows for their most furtive, esoteric lore. "You never have to explain to me, Jean. I know what and whom they hunt. Probably why, though hardly worthwhile going to the stars to prolong a vendetta when we can barely hold together the fabric of our own society. Look inside. You'll find one of them. No need for Cerebro. The first target it would hit will likely be me." Soft words carve out an easy soprano channel, for all Scarlett's voyage to the furthest reaches of her psyche to shake a certain few cages. Wake up, wake up, monsters in the mental jails. The subliminal spike in activity would colour her aura remarkably bright if anyone peered at it, and extremely troubling all the same. Whatever Jean's question raises, a full-term consultation with the shattered aspects of selves takes several seconds to complete.
In the meantime, her eye colour bleeds out through an auroral celebration and returns back again. Blink hard, and she's back in herself in the present space of thought with a jolt. She stands on her toes. "What is that? Something that strong on the register?" Others might fill in the details. "Point us in the right direction. We know the drill. Save what and whom we can."
Kaleb shrugged to Logan and replied evenly with math instead of emotion, "Well he's the reason my ass isn't kidnapped and my DNA is still my own. Let's focus on he's not our enemy and he's one of the few people I'd trust with my life as he's kept me alive on two separate occasions, and is willing to help us, and has information we want. So we can go off other people's expierences, or worry about our own, man." Note to self: figure out where these apples came from, they were super good. His words clipped very short lookign aorund not at all certain what to make of dots. He was a sonar guy, not a radar guy. Still jean looking like she was concerned was enough to get any vague trace of emotion from the young, natty Mutant. Jean was one of the others on that short short short list he mentioned. For a moment he 'toned out' sending a low frequency ping out to assess things in their immediate area. Wasn't here-here. Now was not the time for broadcasting, it was the time to shut up and receive signal. He watched the exchange between team read and then to Yana and Logan, and back.
Illyana knows little about the use of Cerebro — she's always left that to telepaths. But even without the clear concern of the others she'd know there was something up with this particular signal. "Tell me where," she says, voice cool. "I'll take us there. Or retrieve the source. Your call."
Still staring at the signal, attempting to pinpoint.. that seems vaguely familiar. But Scarlett's words catches her attention, and for a moment in the height of all the adrenaline she now feels from such a strong signal, she had a mind to take off the helmet to give her a what for. It was quick, that prying. The little snap within the brain that has her diving into like a pool of memories, coming back and..
"SHIT!" Jean shouts out, immediately snatching off the helmet to lurch to a stand, but it was far too little too late. "HERE! Illy, the signal is -here-!"
Through the bicker that Kaleb put up, Jean turns around, her hand struck out just in time to catch it. A large orb of light that nearly seems as if a million people were inside all at once. Various visuals of the girl at stages of birth and decay, moments that pass through like a television screen or a scope of a lens.
'H…h..heelllp!' The young woman squeaks out, her voice coming in with speed, slowing omniously, fading out and flickering again into white noise. 'Mm..mooth.. he..ellp!'
Logan narrows his eyes at Kaleb, "I don't give a damn if he wiped your ass the day you were born. YOu keep the bass outta yer voice when you talk to me, boy, or you an' me can have a nice scrap, plain an' simple," he says with a bit of a snarl.
His temper, however, is curbed by Jean saying that the threat is somewhere here, making him in hale deeply, "Whatcha mean here? Like here at the mansion or here in the room? Dammit, Jeannie," he says.
Scarlett's mind is a minefield. It hurts to walk in there, especially when the violent edges cut in a whirlwind storm. Voices sing their ferocious lamentations to Jean, and who knows what manner of submarine horrors the woman discovers in Team Redhead. "Here?" That last startled comment warrants a look around, but not until Jean reveals the vision has she found anything to lock onto visually. Her eyes narrow, and the shapes silhouetted in a dream — a glassy curve of energy — bring a frown. "Can we touch her? Is it safe to…" Obviously not her.
A look back to Illyana. "Is there any way you can pin down a location? I'm seeing the library, outside, something else."
Kaleb blinked at Logan and remained infuriatingly indifferent. The kid was a creature of math, not exactly feeling or getting worked up over shit. The words 'here' struck him oddly. Calmly he said nothing but headed back towards the hall cautiously, not seeing but 'sensing'. There was loosed a low even note, just onethat wasn't loud but constant but he was sending it up through the house and into all teh open spaces he could bounce signal. Eyes stayed locked and unfocused on a distant point for a while and he shook his head, "I'm not getting a physical bead on anyhting we didn't put there. Not yet anyways?" Maybe it wasn't substantiated?
Illyana resists the urge to ask Jean not to call her 'Illy.' This is neither the time, nor the place. Especially with the flickering signal, this person here, there, and everywhere, and that song won't come out for another two years! "Maybe," she tells Scarlett, and then moves away from the door, sketches a circle on the floor with a piece of chalk — she keeps all sorts of odds and ends in her pockets, bubble gum and chalk in this scene alone! And then she settles into a lotus position and starts to chant under her breath, trying to isolate the signal, find a location.
"Like here.. -here- in the room, don't you -see- that?!" Yes. Jean was holding the young woman in a temporal ball of.. whatever the hell that was! -SHE- has never seen anything like it. The words still come through, all scrambled, begging for help, the orb floating high within the sky, Jean joining both hands into holding it together, slightly fearful of letting it drop or letting the girl -out-. And Scarlett was right. The library was there, but it shifts into just a singular row of books much like in it's infancy, and it speeds up as it begins to expand.. construction on the walls to extend.. workers moving at full speed in adding chairs and tables.. those scenes going backwards and forwards again, this time adding in the current day of them all entering into the library.. and some out. It even speeds up beyond that, but it gets blurry..
Outside in the orb plays a key note.. the giant from the forests melting the lawn, Magneto dragging it to the earth.. and a future of when the mansion itself was torn down.. on fire.. the monster itself larger than life.. and yet no one around to stop it. The bodies of the few staff members linger around, hanging from the walls.. and there's new york. The sun.. the moon.. the stars.. the sun cracked and falling.. a rock from the sun hitting a small part of a lake and draining it instantly, effectively cooking those within the vicinity and killing with it's noxious gas.
It. Goes. On. In that bubble…
"You guys seeing this?!" Jean asks.. as Illyana's chanting brings it all to a head. The girl, physically was -here-. In Cerebro's room. Behind locked doors with them! And once Illyana makes that realization? The girls face -SMACKS- against the orb as if she were pushed against it.
Logan jumps backwards at the manifestation of the ball full of girl and his claws pop reflexively, an echoing SNIKT as he steps back, his arms going to either side, fully prepared to defend himselfl, "What the flamin' hell? Russia, this magick horsepuckey looks like your kinda rodeo, so do somethin' to put a kibosh on it before I start cuttin' things up real fast," he says, body tensed and prepared to strike if that's what it comes to…
This may be arguably the worst idea possible, the one that Scarlett rotates around and over 'til determined. Her fingertips extend outwards almost to the luminous edge of the spheroid. Illyana's craft takes work, understandably, and yet the rush of time and risk compel her to take stop gap measures in what may be foolish. If Illyana encounters roughshod trouble, she's going to reach in and touch that girl's hand. But for now, she waits.
Kaleb dropped the tone and had a look snapped to teh girl curious and for the first time this evening had an expression taht wasn't matter-of-face. "Woah, THAT IS… FAR OUT. iS SHE OKAY?" wEIRD THAT HE'D BE THE ONE ASKING THIS BUT LO, HE WAS.
"Zhdi menya i ya vernoose," Illyana shoots back at Logan, though somewhat distractedly. She's kind of focused on the girl in the psychomagical snowglobe. The chanting stops, and she uses the power that's been inherent to her since she was a child, reaching out for a stepping disk that will pull the girl out of the orb and bring her into the room with them.
Or possibly splatter her across the known universe. Like magic, stepping disks can be tricky.
There were at least three powers at play; the girl who remained within the time bubble, Illyana's magical chanting, and Jean's TK that holds it all together. Logan was at the ready, Scarlett was ready to touch, Kaleb was being smooth, suave, and.. actually quite curious about the girl.
It's too bad he'll never find out if she really was okay..
As soon as the stepping disc appears to pull her out, the girls eyes widenen within the bubble, and she.. explodes!
Half in, half out.
Part of the girls entrails splatter against the bubble and all over Jean…
And suddenly, as if time rewrote itself.. -implodes-..
It was like a rewind of time that puts the girl back together, the succor of the magic and time displacement drawing the five of them into the displacement with her.
Various scenes play across the bubble that they were in, each locked frozen in their places as the sounds of history.. present.. and the future play around them..
"It's like summer! It's so hot out, but its the fall.. what is this place?"
"I did not.. have.. sexual relations with this woman.."
"As I kneel before my father, I find myself cleansed…"
"We need god to prosper, those without him will not."
"Dooo the monkey! Woop woop woop woop, woop woop woop woop!"
And suddenly, it all stops. The world goes black around them, leaving them all floating in a sea of stars. In front of them, the moon in all of her glory. Behind them? The earth as it's being torn apart into tiny little rocks that soar towards the milky way..
An implosion brings them back into the room, knocking them clear off their feet.
And the only thing that remains is an echo of the words of the girl.. which do not sound like words at all…
CHAPTER 1: NO GUTS NO GLORY