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Post by Professor Xavier on May 31, 2011 18:24:41 GMT -8
The flight back to the Xavier institute had been only a couple of hours long. One of the benefits of being able to go supersonic without having to deal with the increased gravitational forces, it seemed. Xavier had always been amazed at just how well his students had done, building machines like this even if Xavier himself had provided the blueprints.
The plane was only coming to a stop in the hangar when Xavier received a message on the screen in front of him, requesting his presence in the War Room immediately. It was Scott, and when the Professor reached out to make sure all was okay, he could tell that Scott was more worried than Xavier had ever seen him.
Scott had always been a worrier; having to maintain complete control of your powers at all times would do that to a person. This was different though, which meant that Xavier would hurry.
Being lifted out of the plane by Colossus (who had travelled with him), Xavier smiled as he pressed the small control to accelerate.
"Thank you Peter. Come, Scott is waiting for us." He said, heading out of the hangar.
When he arrived at the War Room, he finally saw what all the fuss was about. Images and audio and everything else dotted the large video-screen walls, and Scott was frantically manipulating a tablet as he catalogued everything.
"Scott? What's happening?"
((had permission))
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Post by Cyclops on May 31, 2011 18:41:41 GMT -8
Scott had been lying on his bed, his eyes closed as he'd wanted to rest them for a bit. He had almost, ALMOST, been able to doze off, when his phone had beeped. Scott reached out to grab it, and had only picked it up when it beeped again. Then it frantically began beeping as he finally got a look at the screen.
It was the War Room. Xavier had, several years ago, come up with an algorithm that would search the Internet twenty-four hours a day, using certain key words like "mutant" to find anything that the X-Men might be interested in. This information was then downloaded to the War Room's computers for safe keeping just in case people decided that they didn't like what was online.
Today, that algorithm paid for itself.
Just as he entered the War Room, Scott's phone beeped again, telling him that Professor Xavier had returned in the "X-Jet", as it was known. At least to some. Of course, Scott's attention was so transfixed on what was on the monitors in front of him that he wasn't able to say more than "come quickly" or something like that.
Rapidly sorting what he could in to the most and least important information, Scott had just finished watching a video when Xavier came in.
"Scott? What's happening?"
Scott didn't look up. He just kept looking at the tablet.
"A few minutes ago, a video was uploaded to youtube via smart-phone, but was taken down less than a minute later. Watch." He said, maximising the video so that Xavier and Colossus could see it clearly.
What it showed, was like something out of a Hollywood sci-fi movie. Giant robots, people screaming, explosions and public use of super-powers against said robots. Then, an image of one of the robots, clearer than before, with a limp body in its hand. A man, parts of his body seemingly encased in ice. Then the robot flew away, out of the camera's range. If the cat hadn't been out of the bag before, it certainly was now.
"This isn't on any of the news channels. Any blog that had mentioned this has suddenly been shut down. Even youtube videos like I said are being erased. It's almost like nobody wants the public to know that there are giant robots running around fighting and kidnapping mutants. I think it's here, Professor. The day you always said would come. We have to go out there."
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Post by Professor Xavier on May 31, 2011 19:02:41 GMT -8
"A few minutes ago, a video was uploaded to youtube via smart-phone, but was taken down less than a minute later. Watch."
Xavier did so, and as the video was played in front of him, the stark realisation of what was happening hit home, leaving the Professor feeling about as worried as Scott had been. It was too soon... He'd needed more time. He needed more people, more X-Men. They weren't ready for this, but mutants were being caught left, right and centre. They had to do something.
"This isn't on any of the news channels. Any blog that had mentioned this has suddenly been shut down. Even youtube videos like I said are being erased. It's almost like nobody wants the public to know that there are giant robots running around fighting and kidnapping mutants. I think it's here, Professor. The day you always said would come. We have to go out there."
"Agreed." Xavier replied.
It was a conspiracy, and he didn't like it one bit. He knew about the kinds of gagging orders that were brought about due to mutants, but the government had always utilised those to protect those few mutants that were actually not doing anything wrong. It had been a stroke of luck that they'd been able to protect those mutants, but it seemed that their luck had finally run out.
"You're going to have to assemble a team. Who do you have in mind?"
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Post by Cyclops on Jun 4, 2011 11:07:57 GMT -8
"Agreed."
Good. Scott had always been quite satisfied with the amount of faith that the Professor had put in him. Bar Jean, he had been one the one ever-present in his life, the closest thing to a real father, so to know that he trusted him to do this, to lead this team even in times like these; well, it gave him the kind of confidence required to do his job, as in all honesty, his own self-belief wasn't exactly the strongest thing in the world...
"You're going to have to assemble a team. Who do you have in mind?"
Scott took a breath, his roster already worked out in his head, him just taking a second to put it in to words.
"Shane, obviously. I'd take Peter too, but the chance that one of those things could show up here makes me think it's better to leave him behind. I'd like to get Shires in on this too if she's up for it; she can run interference. Anna can help out too if she feels like it. I think that should be enough for now." He said, infinitely more comfortable talking about strategy than he was about anything personal.
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Post by Professor Xavier on Jun 4, 2011 11:15:28 GMT -8
"Shane, obviously. I'd take Peter too, but the chance that one of those things could show up here makes me think it's better to leave him behind. I'd like to get Shires in on this too if she's up for it; she can run interference. Anna can help out too if she feels like it. I think that should be enough for now."
Xavier brought his hand up, his index finger resting against his lip while he thought about it for a moment. He could see the logic in Scott's choices; after all, good leadership was what he'd trained him for. He did have questions about some of the people that Scott had left out though, and his brow creased as he finally let his hand drop to rest on the arm of his chair, his eyes focusing on Scott.
"Good; you've covered all the bases. What about the others though; surely someone like Chastity or Tessa could be of use to you? You have doubts about their readiness?"
Yes, he knew that Tessa was here from the neural "signal" she sent out just by putting coherent thoughts together. It was like the slight hum of a computer or the sound of a filter in a fish tank; you could hear it if you tried to, but generally your ears filtered it out under normal circumstances. It had taken years to get that far, and Xavier didn't take that ability for granted.
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Post by Cyclops on Jun 4, 2011 11:22:26 GMT -8
"Good; you've covered all the bases. What about the others though; surely someone like Chastity or Tessa could be of use to you? You have doubts about their readiness?"
Scott had been expecting that question to come up, so when it came he answered immediately without hesitating.
"I'm not sure anyone else should really go, not right now. Chastity can't; not with her condition. Tessa only arrived, so I'm not sure. If you want to ask them, then all right, but I don't think they're ready; I don't want them to get hurt. I would like to have them come with me for the forensics though; them and Maya. We can go inspect the scene once this is all over, and Maya can scan the area to get a proper idea of what happened."
Scott's hands had come to rest on his sides, his "Cyclops" attitude very much to the fore. Most people honestly found it surprising that the quiet, uptight teacher could at times put the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket to shame. Just without the sexual innuendo or gunshot wounds. He was more outspoken; more in charge. Outside of the X-Men, only Jean had ever seen him like this, but that was another matter entirely.
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Post by Professor Xavier on Jun 4, 2011 11:30:27 GMT -8
"I'm not sure anyone else should really go, not right now. Chastity can't; not with her condition. Tessa only arrived, so I'm not sure. If you want to ask them, then all right, but I don't think they're ready; I don't want them to get hurt. I would like to have them come with me for the forensics though; them and Maya. We can go inspect the scene once this is all over, and Maya can scan the area to get a proper idea of what happened."
Xavier nodded.
"I understand your fears about Chastity and Tessa; I'd still like to ask them though." Xavier said, to which Scott nodded, knowing that most of the time, Xavier knew best.
One thing Scott didn't know about Xavier, though, was that he'd, on occasion, push mutants in to things when they weren't really prepared for it. Scott had just been lucky enough that he'd gone through so much at the orphanage; it had strengthened him to levels even Xavier hadn't expected. With Chastity and Tessa, Xavier couldn't really know if they were ready, and that was a very, very dangerous thing.
Closing his eyes, Xavier put his index and middle fingers on his right hand to his temple, much in the same way Cyclops out his hand to his visor. The result was just very different. A telepathic message sent out to Gregory Shane, "Mother Nature" as she was known, Anna, Chastity, Tessa and even Maya; as they would all need to be briefed anyway.
They were told to go to Xavier's office, as he'd meet them there. Scott knew too, and he followed the Professor as they all went back upstairs, Scott with a palm pilot that he'd hook up to the large television in Xavier's office. When they arrived, they were of course, first.
((Had permission throughout the thread))
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Post by Gregory Shane on Jun 4, 2011 19:14:53 GMT -8
Gregory was just about to go somewhere outside the mansion when he felt something he wasn't used to. It was that telepathic message that the professor usually gives in time of an emergency. Gregory has been with the X-Men for a couple of years to know this, but he had a bad feeling this one was really big. He looked at himself through his room's mirror and shook his head.
"This won't do," he said while he saw himself wearing blue jeans and a 'I'm with stupid' t-shirt for his top. Just like any of the stereotypical superheroes in the comic books, he made his way towards his drawer to show a couple of hangers with his x-men uniform. It wasn't the standard dark blue or black costume, however, it was more of a green sleeveless top with matching green/black pants. He hurriedly put on the uniform before he made his way towards the meeting place.
He jogged down the stairs and went off into the meeting place where he saw the professor and Cyclops already in the room. Gregory greeted them with, "Gregory Shane reporting for duty." Always the obedient soldier to the professor and Cyclops, he stood there ready for any orders he was about to get. While he was very easy going with the others in the mansion, Greg took his job as an X-Man seriously. Maybe, way too serious for some of the team members barring Cyclops.
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Post by Chassy Trouble on Jun 5, 2011 12:29:54 GMT -8
She heard him in her head... JUST as she had been plotting to sneak off and hang out with the forbidden buddy of hers. Hopefully, that hadn't been picked up on... Nah, it hadn't been. Why was she so confident about that? Well, the fact that she was being called to the War Room instead of Professor Shine-top's office might have helped. She'd imagine that would be where he would have called her if it was in interest of bitching her out.
The War Room... It was something more serious than just one of those drills too. Chassy wondered what exactly it might have been about. Were they about to make a move or something? Aw crap.... was she going to have to go up against Jamie or something? She wasn't interested in that. Not in the least. But was there any getting around it if there came a situation when or if they'd be going against the bad guys... And seeing how Summers kept saying that Jamie was a bad guy... She didn't want to think in those circles.
She pushed it out of her mind, or at least tried to, as she made her way towards the office they were supposed to be herding towards. No need to be blaring it in stereo when walking into the restricted areas and all. Not that she was exactly there yet when she thought of that. Chassy tried to think of things that wouldn't be interesting in the slightest to anyone. Things they wouldn't want to overhear.... Oh yes! She had it!
As she waltzed down the hallways, she began thinking about how soon it would be before her monthly friend would be coming around. About how long it might last and all the other little details no one would like listening about. As she walked into the War Room after the somewhat short walk, she adjusted her less than casual wear. Aka her freakin' uniform.
"You know I'm ready, so what's the situation?" |
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Post by Tessa Brands on Jun 18, 2011 10:34:12 GMT -8
She hadn't been expecting to hear a message ringing soundlessly yet so distractingly in her mind. Of course she hadn't. If she had, she would have probably been able to keep from jumping nearly out of her skin from it as she clutched onto a pillow and watched the latest zombie horror flick. Yes, she did find zombie horror flicks frightening. Why? Well, just because of the little reason of her being terrified out of her mind of them. Though if she was brought to admitting that fear, she would have explained it in much ruder words.
Giving a small swallow, Tessa reached for the remote that was doing it's balancing act on the arm of the couch and she relinquished the pillow from her vice-like grip before setting it down and smoothing it out to get rid of evidence of her having almost crushed the stuffing out of it. No one knew about her phobia and she would absolutely love to keep it that way.
As she made her way out of the room and journeyed towards the office, Tessa wondered to herself what this might have been about. She'd gotten the message to gather there, but the topic hadn't been given. There was curiosity written on her face when she finally made it to the doorway and as she stepped in, her expression didn't change very much.
"Is this the usual way meetings go, or is this something special?" She half commented half asked. |
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Post by Cyclops on Jun 21, 2011 9:11:18 GMT -8
"Gregory Shane reporting for duty."
Shane had been the first to arrive. Somehow Scott had been expecting that, and it was nice to see that he hadn't been wrong. Shane was one of their biggest assets when it came to offensive powers, and Scott was going to do his best to make sure that the man would be used efficiently when it came to dealing with threats like what was going down right now.
Scott gave him a brief nod, before looking to the door as he heard it open.
"You know I'm ready, so what's the situation?"
It was Chastity. Oh. Scott's expression tensed slightly, but he could tell that the Professor still had that warm, butter wouldn't melt look on his face. He believed in Chastity more than Scott did. It wasn't an issue with her as a person; she was a good, decent mutant being. It was the danger that her powers were to herself that worried Scott. The Professor obviously disagreed, so that was that, it seemed.
Scott was about to speak to her when Tessa entered, and he gave her a look that he knew she couldn't return, as she couldn't see his eyes. Shame, though. Making "I want to have my way with you" eyes, was something he'd thought he'd be good at, even if he'd never really find out. He'd just have to hope his awkward "I'm all broody and deep" routine would be enough to win her over.
"Is this the usual way meetings go, or is this something special?"
"We've got a situation, but we should wait to see if anyone else arrives. It involves a dangerous mission, with combat possibly part of it. We need to know if you feel up for it." Scott said, more talking to everyone than just Tessa.
"If you're not, nobody will hold it against you; not even me." He said, honesty in his tone.
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Post by Tessa Brands on Jul 5, 2011 9:24:32 GMT -8
"Well, I do know how to fight to a point but I'm not exactly sure on how much good it would be. But then again, a couple of lines from a song and they might not be too interested in fighting."
She wasn't afraid, she was just honest about the fact that there was a chance she couldn't fight her way out of a box. In the past, when she was in a dangerous situation at one of her concerts or while on tour, she had people that had been hired to make sure she was safe. Not that she was about to mention here about the fact that she had bodyguards. She'd already heard a coupleof people here and there talking about how pampered she might have been.
"That said, you can count me as being part of the group that goes off to this dangerous mission." Tessa added with a small smile.
Maybe if she went, she could keep the injuries to a minimum somehow? Calm the situation down, assuming the people could hear her? Her powers didn't work if her songs couldn't be heard, after all. Her voice and words had everything to do with it.
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Post by Gregory Shane on Jul 6, 2011 7:17:49 GMT -8
It was nice to be the first in the meeting room but it also had some hangups for Gregory. First of all, he had to wait for the rest. He was a patient man, but sometimes he got a bit anxious on missions, especially during the breifings. If this was going to be something new, he was hoping he'd be ready for it. A minute or two later, he saw two girls entering in the meeting room. One was the girl named Chassy and the other was named Tessa. The latter he fairly knew from his talk with Syco the other night.
He just stayed there, silent on his spot as he listened to the conversation that was going on with the others. He knew his place was to just be there and wait for Scott or the professor's words on why they were called here. From what Scott said, this was some serious business. Furthermore, the others were still not in the room. He was curious as to when they might show up.
"Welcome to the team then," Gregory said with an encouraging smile of his own when Tessa said she'll be willing to partake of this mission. He had to admit, he was not sure what her powers were, but if she was up to the task she might be of some value for the X-Men. |
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