WARNING!!! This story may contain violence(gasp!) And some language the kitties shouldn’t be hearing!(double gasp!)(ie, harsh language!)
Disclaimer!: All of the characters that appear in Marvel comics, belong to marvel comics, as in all of the X-Men, and any other baddies that might be in this story. I don’t get ANY money for writing this, so no one can complain, really. The rest of the characters, and cities and stuff, that don’t exist in real life, belong to ME! All Mine!!
A lazy drop of rain made its way slowly down to the bottom corner of the freshly cleaned window pane. Storm gave a ragged sigh as she surveyed what was left of the X-Men. The members who had left just after Charles had started feeling ill, were all around her, as well as the younger teams. His funeral had just ended, and no one could bring themselves to try and cheer anyone else up. Even the usually unaffected Bobby was down cast, with a dull edge to his eyes. The Solicitor’s voice seemed to drone on, as his small remaining family, and his students listened to the reading of the will. “All contents, if at all possible, together, of the Xavier foundation, are to be sold to the highest bidder, at an auction to be held in the New York Auction house, two weeks hence, to pay off all outstanding debts with the remainder to be distributed evenly to all of the Xavier Foundation’s students.” The Solicitor, Mr. Brown, looked just as surprised to hear this at his own reading, as everyone else in the room was. Cain Marko, if he had been alive, would have gone on a rampage. The students, save a small group comprised of Ororo, Logan, Hank, Jean, Scott, Remy, Kitty, Kurt, Peter, Warren, Betsy, Bobby, and Rogue, wandered off into different parts of the complex. Ororo was the first to speak to Mr. Brown. Her voice was quiet, and sad, and for the first time any save Remy had heard, uncertain. “Mr. Brown. Why did Charles not mention his debts to us? To me? I was with him through the last stages of his illness, how much did he have?”
“Ms. Munroe, You know how proud Charles Xavier was, he would not have mentioned it to anyone unless absolutely necessary. His debts were in the millions.”
“Is there any way we can buy it before the auction?” Warren asked the solicitor. Brown shook his head.
“Since the banks own the property as of the time of his death, and they have been most specific, no one will buy it until the auction.” Various sighs could be heard throughout the crowd. Brown said his good-byes and then left the building.
“What are we going to do? Jean asked sadly. She rested a hand on Ororo’s shoulder, who she could tell was more distraught than all of them. Ororo had stayed by Charles until the end, tending him, and trying to do his bidding. It was later found out, as the mutagen spread through his body, and hers, that as a psi-blocker, she was the only one in the group that could handle a constant barrage of attempted control by the most powerful telepath on the earth. Though Ororo was still not a telepath, could easily block any of the abilities of a telepath from applying to herself. Her mind was an impenetrable fortress. And her original abilities had increased power as well. Whatever virus had raged through them both, had killed their mentor, and ravaged their friend’s body. She was skeletally thin, her beautiful blue eyes were sunken in. Gone was the vibrancy to her features that all of her friends had noticed before, she was merely a tired woman, aged beyond any of their years. Indeed, Logan seemed youthful by comparison. And through all these hardships, Logan, who had been the first to return after Xavier’s inexplicable retreat and rejection, knew that she had not shed a tear since all of this began.
“Oh Ororo! If you need a place to stay, Scott and I have bought a house finally. Its on the other side of Salem, closer to the coast.” Ororo’s fine white eyebrow crinkled, as she suppressed a shudder. Jean tried unsuccessfully to hold back tears of her own.
“Thank you Jean. But I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I may go back to Africa.” Upon hearing the goddess’s words, two sets of ears perked up. Logan, who had been trying to ignore everyone around him, and Remy, who was busy trying straighten his suit jacket’s lapel. She can’t leave us now Jeannie. She’s too important to us all. Don’t let her go. As Chuck’s last confidante she would know what he had been planning. The silent message that found its way into Jean’s thoughts did not seem to allay her fear for her best friend. Remy’s silent message was very similar. The fact that they were both worried about her was message enough. Hank stepped forward, his usual bright visage dark and brooding. Any who cared to look closely would be able to see the dried tear marks as they had rolled down his blue cheeks.
“I’d like to document the lingering effects of the virus Ororo, not now of course, but in the next five weeks.” Ororo nodded her consent, and then turned away from the group, wandering down the hallway, that connected the library with Professor Xavier’s office. The day was decidedly grim. Though none of it was in any response to Ororo’s grief. If that were any indication, it would have appeared she had no feelings what soever about the death of the man that had been father, mentor, leader, and friend. She ran her long, graceful fingers along the cherry wood desk as she made her way to the window ledge. She sat, perched on the wide ledge, staring out the large windows to the front yard of the Estate. Her thin shoulders quivered as dry sobs wracked Ororo’s body. She shook her head. What was she to do? Charles must have known the fate of the Institution when he had told her to disconnect and move all of the sensitive equipment from the lower levels of the buildings to various ware houses, all in her own name, around New York. Had she told the others of these events? Ororo couldn’t remember. It was as though a great fog had descended upon her mind. These new powers she had control of, were more than a little disturbing. She had not revealed the full extent of the changes to her X-Factor to anyone. Only Professor Xavier had an inkling of how the core of her genetic make-up had changed. She still had her old powers, though those were harder to control than ever now, because of the sheer power upgrade. The world had become a series of fluctuating power streams. Unless she managed to look above that spectrum, and see what every normal person did. It took so much energy. Her body may look thin, but if anyone had tried to hit her, they would have had to be very strong to get through her new force field. The same with her complete control over the electrical field. She used to only wield powers over the lightening, now even that had changed.
“Stormy, whatcha doing here by y’self?” Remy came through the open doorway as quietly as usual. Ororo shook her head. She was much too tired to ring a peal over his head in the use of her name.
“Just as it seems Remy. Are they leaving?”
“They?”
“The rest of the teams. Even we do not belong here anymore. I wish they would all go away.”
“We all concerned about you chere, you not like the Ororo we know and love.” He rested a comforting hand on her arm. She shook her head, not able to look at him. “That is true. I will never be the same woman. My core has changed. I have changed. Remy, I am not the same woman, when Hank sees, he can tell you that in the most basic sense, I am not the same. This virus, completely changed me. And it killed the Professor. And just before the world truly needed him.”
“Dat be the reason I came to talk to you. There’s a war on the horizon, and mutants will be on one side, humans on the other. Logan and I, we found a group of like-minded people, its run privately, called Section 13. Anti-war crimes and Anti-terrorism. We were both wondering if you’d like to come with us.” He said it quietly, and tried to catch her eyes. She studiously ignored his efforts, and stared out the window.
“I’ll think about it Remy. I’m just so tired...” She said, and closed her eyes. Remy’s arms closed around her in a fierce protective hug. Like they were transported to five years back, when she had been the younger of the two.
“You can tell me what the problem is after I’m finished with this auction.” Laura Hunter tartly replied in the small cell phone. She glanced around the elegant auction room. There were several people she didn’t recognize, however, Warren Worthington was someone she did recognize. Of course, since this was his mentor’s house going up for sale, he would naturally be interested in keeping it ‘in the family’ so to speak. She had a purpose however. And her large, old mansion wasn’t big enough nor did it have nearly the amount of sub-basement space they were going to need to create a secret base for this new group. With what is promising to be a horrible bloody war, and has already been so in other dimensions, was going to need someone to look after it all. The European front was already starting patrols, with Canada in an uproar, and quickly disassembling, they were going to need all the support they could find. Warren Worthington wasn’t the only notable personage, besides his entourage of friends, and his fiancee, Elizabeth Braddock, whom Laura had the pleasure of knowing from when she was living in England. There was also the presence of the shady persona known to the free world as George Brand. People from the west coast were also present, no doubt to watch the battle of the check books that were going to begin any moment. Tara and Marshall Cooper, as well as their seventeen year old daughter Selina. Straight from the hallowed halls of Port Columbia. She smiled at them both, and winked at their daughter, who, she knew from contacting her already about helping with the Section, had an incredible gift of telepathy, one that rivalled, and may even grow to surpass Professor Xavier’s. She knew that with the exception of the Coopers, her bank balance was more thickly lined than her two main competitors, she also knew they were going to give a tough fight. She noted that both Wolverine, and Gambit were present, though they were sitting in Worthington’s corner. Good, the less people that knew about this venture the better. The Auctioneer came to the podium and started off.
“The bidding is to start at 1.9. Do I have 1.9?” Laura, better known in the espionage world as the Raven, leaned back in her chair. It was a sneaky way to get a house, but it would work. Worthington made the first play.
“We have 1.9, do I have 2.1?” Brand raised his hand discreetly. A quick glance from Remy Le Beau told her that he knew the game she was playing. A short while later, the price was at a cool 12.1. Both men were broke, and Brand had the smug look a shark takes on after he’s devoured a particularly succulent human. She knew that he could not go any higher
“Do I have 12.3?” Laura nodded at the auctioneer. Complete silence, save the gasp of Elizabeth Braddock enshrouded the room.
“12.3 going once, going twice. Sold to Ms. Hunter.” A servant came with a silver platter which she placed her delicate white and gold business card onto. The occupants of the elegantly appointed room began to rise and mill about, before they left. She noticed the Coopers making their way over to her area, but before she could greet them, Elizabeth Braddock and Warren Worthington crossed her path.
“Elizabeth! I haven’t seen you ages. Congratulations to both of you by the way, on your up-coming nuptials.” She stopped and smiled at both of them. She hadn’t liked Warren very much the three or four times she’d met him in her life, but Elizabeth was a smart woman, so he must have had some redeeming qualities, besides his golden boy good looks.
“Laura Hunter! That was disgusting!” Elizabeth ground out between clenched jaws. A perturbed look entered Laura’s eyes. “Listen you two! I know that Charles Xavier meant a lot to you both, as well as the rest of your group. However, we both know you could not have gone any higher than that.” She lowered her voice. “Would rather have had Brand get it? I just saved 1your asses. Whatever secrets in that house you wanted to be kept so badly, they’ll be safe from the millionaire traitor that would have bought it. You can always come visit it. But I would suggest either swallowing your pride and help me prepare for a war, or find a good spot to hide for the next decade or so.” Her voice had lowered, and Warren and Betsy could detect a faint bit of savagery.
“Indeed!” Laura nodded to Logan and Remy, then made her way over to the Coopers.
“Tara! Marshall! How wonderful to see you so soon after our mutual vacations!” “And you Selina, are looking wonderful.” Laura said pleasantly. They chatted for a few minutes, Laura studiously ignoring her phone, though she could tell someone was trying to get a hold of her. It wasn’t until she entered her Mercedes and told her driver to head back to Hunter Tower, that she picked up the phone in her car. “Hello?”
“Dirty Son of a Bitch just tried to take off with over three millions dollars!”
“Carrie, honey, what have I told you about your language?” She said to her secretary, cautioning her to not say anything important on the phone. God only knew what creature was lurking around listening to her conversations.
“Well, suffice to say that we got him.” The signal. That meant that they were indeed being followed, and it wasn’t by anyone trustworthy.
“I’ll be at the towers in about twenty minutes. Go ahead and take a lunch break. When you get back at two, we can go over what we’ll press as far as charges go.” She said happily. Her light green eyes surveyed the traffic as they wove their way towards the city-centre. Hunter Tower was on the outskirts of the cluster of sky-scrapers that marked New York’s city centre. It was a huge glittering mass of black glass and concrete, its height almost matching Trump Tower. As they made their way into the parking basements, Laura picked up her small purse, and briefcase. Good thing she carried the taser gun with her, because she had a bad feeling about something that was going to happen today. She really didn’t want to turn into any of her other two forms.
“So do you think she’s going to come with us?” Logan asked the Cajun. They were on their way to the mansion to see exactly what Storm had removed from the building.
“I don’t know mon ami. She’s so-not Stormy.”
The Canadian let his head travel up the horizon to stare at the night sky for a few moments. What had happened to their friend? Really? They certainly wouldn’t be able to know until she started to open up to them. God only knew how long that would be.
“Its going to takes too much flamin’ time! We need to get in touch with Raven tonight and give her the damage report.”
“That’s the other thing. What do we know about dis fille?” Gambit said as they crouched down to sneak into the farthest window.
“Absolutely nothing, except that she’s been working with this Organization stationed out of Canada and Europe called Target. Its US headquarters are in Port Columbia.”
“Shh, what was that?” Wolverine tensed, unsure of the other presence in the back end of the kitchen. Logan felt a faint pressure on his shoulder.
“My friend, if you had wanted an inventory of the mansion, you needed only to ask.” The lights came on, and Storm was standing in the room, her combat uniform on.
“You never used to sneak up on us like that...” Gambit grumbled as he patted her arm affectionately. Logan grinned. Storm looked a little better then when they had last seen her, at the auction. Her bones weren’t quite so pronounced, her eyes not quite so sunken in. She still wasn’t in tip-top shape, but she was definitely better. A familiar impish smile lifted her features, as she gave the duo a hard time. “Come now, I know that was what you were after. Would you both like some coffee? Perhaps tea?”
A short while later, Ororo was speaking in sad quiet tones. “And that is why he pushed everyone all away. I apparently had been infected at the same time, I still don’t know from whom, and we agreed to make sure no one came close that was already a mutant. His health wasn’t as good as it once was, and it was only through extreme torture that I survived. As a result, and I’m sure Hank will inform you all when I tell him, I am now more of a ‘power house’ than I had ever thought possible. And unfortunately, I’ve gained new powers as well.”
Logan raised a black eyebrow at this, and Remy whistled. “What kind of new powers?”
“The entire electrical spectrum is mine to command, and I can see any kind of visible or other wise power signature, and Identify it. I also have force fields, against both mental powers, and hostile ones. Logan, try and slash my neck open.” At her friend’s hesitation, she ground out “Do it!”. He did, and was visibly shoved back by some sort of force that didn’t allow contact with her skin. “Woa!” Both men whistled out.
“This depression, this self-pity, was something I was not used to, I quickly realized that I was being foolish in indulging in it. And here I am. On that previous note, I accept your offer to join.”
“Amen ‘Ro!”
“Sacre Bleu!”
“Indeed.” Ororo said with a smile. Not bothering to mention the fact that she was also supplying the power source of the lights. They’ll find out soon enough I suppose. She thought to herself.
“So what all did chuck make you clear out?” Logan broke the happy silence after a few moments.
“Everything.”
“Everything?!” Remy shouted out. Logan just grinned.
“What were your instructions?”
“Keep it for whomever needs it. At my own discretion. Which reminds me. What happened to all the others? Will they not be helping us?”
“Jean and Scott, they pick a bad time to settle down, non?” Remy said sadly. Ororo nodded.
“I can’t speak for all of them, but it seems to me that Pete and Kurt are going back to Europe, to help out there. Betsy, Warren, Bobby, Kitty, and Rogue are going to keep up the X-Men, or at least try. I’m sure Warren will be able to finance the whole thing. Not sure where Hank is going. He and his new girlfriend are going on a much needed vacation. When she helped him finally break the Legacy virus, they decided to go back west for a while, so she could let him meet some of her relations. Other than that, its business as usual for the other teams. As far as we know.”
“Well, it seems like its up to us to use the equipment then. Though Warren might like the technology. I assume that Laura Hunter is somehow connected to this ‘Section 13'? What significance does the name have, if any?” Ororo said after a moment. Both men nodded, and Remy spoke first.
“Laura Hunter, is apparently de backing for this organization. As to de name, I don’ know. This Raven, she seems t’be the head of the group.”
“And when will I meet this mysterious lady?”
“Right now.” A dark, silky voice said from beside them. Remy grumbled at the newest presence in the room. “Ev’ry body be sneakin up on the Cajun tonight.” Ororo looked at the newest guest. Raven was a little taller than Ororo, with long ink-black hair, that she let fall down her back. Her eyes were a glowing dark red, seeming to not have any pupils or irises, and her skin was as inky as her hair. She looked incredibly sinister.
“I am glad to finally meet you! Storm.” She held out a gloved hand, which Ororo took hesitantly. “Unfortunately, I will have to introduce you to our other members...when they get back.”
“Get back?” Ororo asked suspiciously.
“Yes, we have a priestess, a wizard, and a former assassin joining us, but they’re all off-worlders, and won’t be able to get back for a few months. Oh, and a young one, who just happens to be a telepath. A good foil to your abilities I’d say.” She gave Ororo a pointed look.
“Well, shall we get a move on transporting this stuff? Personally, I think we should just give it all to your friends, the present X-Men, and let my man of business improve it.”
“Improve? That’s Shi’ar technology!”
“Man of business?” The two men asked suspiciously. Raven nodded, and a dark portal opened up behind her. Admitting a tall, black haired man with glittering black skin, and the same strange red eyes that their new leader possessed. “Hey Sis! What seems to be the problem? That gun I gave you not working right? It should, I made specifically for this earth’s magnetosphere!” He gave her a friendly squeeze on the shoulder. He grinned back at him.
“No indeed. The gun is perfect. We need to re-fit this mansion, with danger room and med lab, and anything else you can think of. With the highest security possible.”
“Oh, what was its previous Danger room? Someone mentioned Shi-ar? They’ve got good holo-tech, but its nothing compared to what Sam Jones just installed in the Port Columbia Target offices. It is sooo real, its unbelievable! Well, believable, but, uh, you know!” Raven smiled indulgently at her brother.
“Right. We’ll need you to get to work, as soon as possible. You know where to send the bill, so don’t worry about that. Oh, and could you get Mom and Dad to come down sometime next week? I need some help with the Company.” She said quietly, her words weren’t missed by any of the other three people. He left a few minutes later, after taking down all the pertinent information of the house. There was a knock on the door. Raven looked at all three of the X-Men, and shrugged. “Does anyone want to get that?” She sighed.
“Lead on oh Fearless Leader! God that’s redundant!” Storm said under her breath. They all changed into their normal clothes, while Raven walked over to the door. She opened it, to admit a very perturbed Betsy. “Have you guys listened to the news?” She glanced at Raven, casting a questioning look to the others.
“Raven meet Elizabeth Braddock, Betsy meet Raven.” They nodded at each other.
“ I know you were all talking about a war on the horizon, but I didn’t think it was going to be this quick!” She said angrily. Raven straitened. “War? Where?”
Betsy shook her head. “Canada’s just been declared a war zone. And there are millions rioting in New York and all the other major cities in the US, we’ve gone into a state of Martial Law. US has declared war on itself!”
Not a sound could be heard in the room...
End Story Part One
Ok, so it’s a little chunky, but it will pick up!! I swear!
Any comments, praise(yeah right), death threats etcetera, can be sent to me, Jennie Jones at
Any sort of feedback would be appreciated!!