The Xavier Institute For Higher Learning

[let3us2be1free0]

iceman saw beast, and yelled "xavier told us to protect the students. i dont know y, but it must be life threatening." he continued running, foucoused on getting to the dnger room, then afterword the dorms.

 

[Shaq]

X-Man

(100, 100)

With his telepathic grip on Hellion no longer needed and his grip on Feron gone Nate surveys the damage he has caused.


The devastating affects of Cyclops blast have caused a large area of damage.

Weakened from pushing their powers to the max, Cyclops and Nocturne are on the ground.

"They feel like Daggers in your soul" (-100 ME, 100% redux) he thinks as his hands light up with enough psionic energy to destroy the minds of every person in a small city.

Aiming at the fallen X-Men Nate releases the blast.

Surveying the rest of X-Men he notices that a new player has emerged.

He scans her for information.

"What do you know?" he asks as he tries to pull psionic projections from her mind (-10 ME).


(100, 100)

 

[Shaq]

X-Man

(100, 100)

Lowering himself to the ground X-Man stares at the apparitions created by feron. His telepathy tells them that they are not real but his heart wishes they were (-10 ME).

He lowers himself until he touches the ground.

He stares at Feron with cold eyes. His soul has long made peace with his job. He is the Shaman of mutantkind. The one among them who protects them from what is outside, and as a result, must exist outside of them.

From the outside, he can see the destruction that awaits them and his heart falls.

From the outside he can see the destruction that will come.

And he will not hesitate to destroy them before they meet it.

"You've only gathered some of the Defenders. But just four of them will not save the worlds." he says looking at the apparitions Feron has gathered.


"Tell us of these Guardians."

Nate shakes his head.

"They would hear me. Their names, their faces, are like beacons. It would signal them. The would begin the Retrieval. The only reason....the only reason they are not here now is BECAUSE I'm not real. If...if they see...if they see that you know.........the knowledge you all now hold will bring them here. The more of you that know the faster they will come. The stronger you are, the faster they will come."

X-Man looks at the mutants.

"She won't let me kill you I know. Do this magician. If you value life......KILL YOURSELVES now. If they don't know you know, others may yet stop them.

"Death is upon you!" Skoll erupts.

Seconds later a bolt of lighting strikes X-Man in the back (-100 HE)

His skin sizzles and he feels his insides cook.

At the last possible moment he throws up a psionic shield that does little to stop the damage.

Falling to the ground his powers begin to die with him, in one last seismic throe.

Images are pulled from Warfly's head.

One of Ilyana fully clad in armor, creating a portal filled with a strange energy. The portal is more powerful than any she has ever created.

Another image comes from X-Man, showing Professor Xavier shooting himself in the head with Danger beside him walking away.

Another image shows Cyclops' horrifically mangled body only recognizable by his uniform. His head, chest and face are completly open as if his body was opened from the inside out.

The images start to fade.

Nate begins to fall to the ground with the last images of life leaving his eyes. He opens his mouth to speak. No words come out. Only a small hint of his psionic energy that speaks into the minds of the mutants gathered.

"If no one knows, they won't come."

(100, 0)

 

[Shaq]

Professor Xavier

Charles Xavier sits up sharply.

"X-Men. Relax. The simulation is complete."

The Danger Room scene begins to transform until the metallic surroundings are visible once again.

Danger emerges from the holographic image of Nate as he disappears.

Holding a ball of electrical energy in her hand, she throws it in front of all of the mutants.

A holographic image appears of each of the individual X-Men and students who entered the Danger Room.

"Elixir please come to the Danger Room and assist Hellion to the infirmary."


Turning to the X-Men the Professor speaks.

"I apologize for the subversion X-Men however these measures needed to be taken. We live in a time where the world has grown to accept us. In some small parts, respect us. But it is true the saying, the more things change the more things stay the same. Mankind may view us differently, but mankind is not different. The heart of man and therefore the hearts of mutantkind have not changed as quickly as political correctness. Make no mistake my students, current and former, you are the army of tomorrow. Wars will no longer be fought with guns but with mutations. Science and technology will be accelerated by the post-mind. With these changes their must be a force to police the new world we live in. You are that force X-Men! You are that army! But with that is danger."

Xavier points to the holographic image of Hellion.

"Young Julian's simulated death should serve as an example. You are an army X-Men. And each of you are soldiers. As long as conflict is in mankind's nature the you will always be at war and so few wars end without casualties. Train my X-Men. And pray. Because any of you may be a casualty."


Xavier turns toward Danger.

"I must say...that I do not know why you've selected the series of simulations that you have. When Scott and I instructed Danger to prepare us, a necessary component was to prepare us all. As a result, her simulations have contained elements that she concealed even from me. Still, I must admit I am curious as to the source of these new simulations you run Danger. We will discuss them later however. X-Men, we may have a problem. " Xavier clasps his hands together and points his fingers underneath his chin.

"Today, I received a visit from Nicolas Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D...."

It is more dangerous than ever to try to protect the world.

 

[I_Am_Lust]

(90, 100)
Ilyana cried out and fell to her knees in pain. Her mind was being assaulted by Nathan. She tried her hardest to bring up shields that they had been taught my Ms. Frost, but they kept crumbling. All she could see in front of her was Warfly's dead body, eyes staring in surprise. She heard a scream as Skoll was hit and realized it was her making the noise. She struggled to her feet, her lips moving as her brain chanted. "No more! No more! No more! No more! NO MORE!" The last part she screamed, portals began appearing where her fellow X-Men stood or fell. She was crying and she couldn't hear anything. Her powers were responding to her silent wish to protect the others. Then suddenly her concentration was snapped as an image of herself appeared in her mind. It was gone and so was the simulation before she could utter a word.

Without any preamble Ilyana collapsed sobbing. Her body shook with her grief. Though it hadn't been real, it had surely felt that way. She struggled to regain her composure and shakily stood. She ran to Feron and checked on him, then moved to help up Cyclops and Nocturne in turn. She then moved to check on Wolverine and Skoll. She gave them both a faint smile. "Are you two alright. You both took a hell of a lot of damage." She heard the Professor speaking and sighed.

 

[Shaq]

Professor Xavier and Cyclops

"So SHIELD has asked for our help. The decision is up to you X-Men. Cyclops?"[/] the Professor says nodding to his first student.


Clutching his ribs Cyclops stands.


"Xavier has given me the grades Danger telepathically gave him. These are the team leads.

Cyclops takes a deep breath and looks at the group.


"Beast remains Team Lead of X-Factor. Feron....congratulations. Excuse the lack of festivities but you've proven yourself. Welcome to X-Calibre. The Professor and I couldn't ask for a better leader. Wolverine, you lead X-Force. And Magik will lead Generation Next. So guys, what should we do about this Genosha situation?"


The Professor speaks up.


"Are there any other matters that we should look into as well?"[/]

 

[NiteCrowe]

Beast

Beast finally caught up with the others as Xavier began to tell them about his talk with SHIELD

After a while he heard of this new possible mission and off the new team leads.

He began to look around.

'Where's Matthew and TJ? Just exactly what have i missed? I wake up in the infirmary and eveything seems to have gone tits up.'

 

[MilkManDan007]

Julian In The Infirmary

It was a hard, cool surface pressing against Julian’s face that brought him drifting back into consciousness. He lay there on the steel floor and simply focused on the fact that he could actually see the floor and he wasn’t dead. His entire body ached and he was sore in places he didn’t think he could be sore. Even his own skin felt like it was on fire.

He groaned as the holographic image of the Professor materialized in front of him and explained the situation.

“…young Julian's simulated death should serve as an example…” It was the Professor’s voice explaining that he had been killed by X-Man. No wonder he hurt. He’d been officially dead during the simulation and Danger enjoyed reality.

He groaned again as he raised to a knee and tried to stand on his wobbly legs. He fell to a knee and decided to wait for Elixir to take him to the infirmary. His eyes rolled back slightly as he passed out from the effort.

When he awoke, he was in the infirmary and could feel the large gauze bandages over his hands, shoulders and chest. It must have been one hell of a fight, he thought as he raised an arm to look at the abrasions and bruises that covered him. One of the student mutants working in the infirmary, he never could remember her name, was standing nearby.

“What happened to me?” he asked her as she changed one of the bandages on his legs. “How did I end up...” he faltered, trying to find words to explain the situation that led him here as he began to sit up to survey the damage to his body. “What caused this?”

She smiled softly, her fiery red hair framing her face against the pale blue walls of the infirmary. She ran her hand over his leg and Julian felt the pain melt away. The cuts and bruises were still there, he just didn’t feel them. No wonder Elixir had tapped her to work here. She made the use of painkilling drugs less likely and could keep patients out of agony without the groggy aftereffects. Julian noted to himself that he’d have to find out who this girl was and thank her when he got out of the infirmary.

“You’re quite the talk around here Julian,” she said with a slight chuckle. “We all took bets on how long it would be before you woke up and it looks like I won. You’ve been out about an hour now.”

She put her hand on Julian’s chest and pushed him gently back to the bed.

“You need to lie there and let us take care of you. You’re in no condition right now to go anywhere. But by tomorrow, you should at least be able to get up and around the Institute.” She began to turn away to check on her other patients, mostly minor mishaps with students learning to control their powers, when she stopped and came back to his bedside. “You really ought to watch the replay from the Danger Room. We get access to it to help treat you guys when you come in, and yours is one of the most spectacular ones I’ve ever seen. And if you need anything else, just give me a holler. Name’s Piper.”

She smiled again and left.

Julian lay quietly for a few minutes, enjoying the lack of pain, before pressing the control button to raise the bed to a semi-sitting position. He grabbed the television remote and turned on the replay from the simulation. The varied camera angles were impressive. Danger really did record everything. He fast-forwarded through the initial meeting with X-Man and Cyclops trying to talk him down, put watched it at normal speed when he was zapped by Feron.

“Now that, I remember,” he said softly to himself, shaking his head as he remembered the electric jolt. He saw the possession of Cyclops and the optic blast he leveled against Wolvering and Skoll before falling to the ground, drained. Then he saw that horrible yellow eye again. The last conscious and controlled thought he had was just before that eye gazed upon him.

He watched himself on the replay shoot skyward, Danger’s camera holding just behind him as he rocketed into the upper atmosphere. The clarity on the recorded image was incredible. As he watched himself shoot skyward, he could actually see the crystals of ice forming as the temperature dropped. Then came the fall. It seemed like an eternity as he plunged back to Earth. Julian let the recording run until X-Man had been felled by Skoll. It ended abruptly as the simulation was terminated.

He hoped he’d be given a day or two off to recover from the incident before he was called out again into service. He laid the bed back and fell into a light sleep. His dreams were haunted by the words “If no one knows, they won't come.” What had Nate Grey meant by those words? And what were these horrible images of Cyclops’ charred body and Professor Xavier killing himself that permeated his mind?

They had not been on the recording but played over and over in Julian’s mind as he tossed and turned in a restless slumber.

 

[MilkManDan007]

Feron Tapped for Team Lead

The situation had ended, and the Danger Room transformed itself from the farmland scene back into its usual metallic grid. The situation had ended, but Feron was greatly disturbed by the images X-Man had projected into his head as he died on the dirt in front of him.

Cyclops looked as if his optic blast had been used from the inside, charring his body into a husk of burned and mangled flesh. Professor Xavier executing himself as Danger looks on. Magik opening a portal to some strange place beyond the known world. A shiver ran up his spine as the holographic image of Xavier materialized in front of Feron.

He barely heard the speech about being soldiers in an army set to keep mutantkind safe from the human element. The images Nate Grey had projected into his head were haunting. The Professor continued, explaining the help S.H.I.E.L.D. had asked for and the situation with Magneto and the Sentinel army he was assembling. Feron had been present for briefings like this before. The Professor and Cyclops would assign team leads and assemble the forces needed before they all headed off to the Blackbird. Feron, still waiting to graduate and become a full X-Man, began to think about his studies and what he needed to study so he could pass his finals and have a shot at joining them someday.

Cyclops began assigning the teams, beginning with Wolverine. Feron could tell he was injured by the labored nature of his speech.

“Feron…”

Hearing his name caught him off guard. He was never mentioned in these briefings. Had he done something wrong in the simulation? Was he going to be disciplined for not doing more to save Julian? His stomach dropped.

“....congratulations. Excuse the lack of festivities but you've proven yourself. Welcome to X-Calibre. The Professor and I couldn't ask for a better leader.”

The news the Cyclops doled out was shocking. He was basically given a pass to being an X-Man by both the Professor and Cyclops. His first thought, however irrational, was that he might not have to take his finals. That thought was rapidly replaced by a mixed feeling of elation and dread. He was a Team Leader. He was going to be up in the big leagues with Cyclops, Wolverine and Hellion. That was the elation.

The dread came when he realized he was going to he up in the big leagues with Cyclops, Wolverine and Hellion. There was more responsibility, more to answer for, a greater possibility that one of them could actually die since they wouldn’t just be in a simulation anymore.

“So guys, what should we do about this Genosha situation?" asked Cyclops.

"Are there any other matters that we should look into as well?" added the Professor.

Feron’s mind was racing. Had he really just been promoted to join the X-Men? Would he really be going on missions, rubbing elbows with some of the legends he had always looked up to? Would they let him fly the Blackbird?

He didn’t want to be the first to speak up. Internally, he thought that they should do their own investigating on what Magneto was up to with the Sentinels before committing to anything, but he wanted to see what some of the senior X-Men had to say first to make sure he wasn’t completely out of line.

 

[I_Am_Lust]

Ilyana, New Leader of Generation Next

Magik will lead Generation Next.

Ilyana blinked, looking quite startled. She was going to lead a team?! She gulped and looked around. She thought over the mission on her head. "Excuse me, Professor?" When he turned his attention to her she swallowed "Umm...I was thinking, maybe....maybe we should do our own investigation before we send so many X-Men to Genosha. An information gathering team with members who can get into and out of situations a bit more easily than others. Myself for instance."

 

[NiteCrowe]

Beast not getting an answer to any questions he asked, listened to magik's suggestion and nodded.

'I agree, I beleive that X-Factor should play a part in such an investigation as well.'

 

[let3us2be1free0]

jake was feeling groggy and funny. he had been able to surpress himself, but it had taken its toll. he needed some rest, and prehaps some help from the profesor. he noticed the danger room was over, and the profesor was speaking. he heard most of the speach, and about nick fury. he decided to go to his room and get some rest he needed to prepare for a class and get an essay finished. he must be really tired to be worried about class after that! he heard the team leads and congradulated feron and magik. then he walked over to magic "can you make me a portal to my room"?

 

[let3us2be1free0]

iceman realized that he was too late to be any help. the session was over, and he had just made it to the danger room. he apoligized to the profesor and listened to the info and the team leads. then he decided to see if he could use the danger room, he was bored and he was awake. he was rarly both at once. "any of the team leads want to start up the danger room for me?". he wouldnt be surprised if that was a no, but he might get a chance.

 

[NiteCrowe]

Beast grinned as he heard Bobby ask to start a simulation in the danger room, and turned to his old friend.

'Iceman, i would start a simulation, but I feel that i would be better laced in the missions we are about to embark upon. Perhaps you should wait and see if any of us stays before you ask again.'

He turned back to Xavier.

'Charles, As team lead of X-Factor i feel that i should either Help Study this disease, but i also feel that i should study this issue that SHIELD has. Though i am a biochemist specialising in genetics, as well as a trained medical doctor, i should go and look into this outbreak. So, if i may i would like to study that, though being the only member of X-Factor currently active, i would need to choose a team from other areas.'

'That is unless you would prefer me to take part in this understanding of Magneto's sentinel efforts, as i have battled with Erik several times, and in fact worked with him, as have you, so i also feel compelled to go and help there.'

He sighed 'The choice is most distressing.'

 

[let3us2be1free0]

" sure thing beast, ill wait." iceman begain wandering around looking forsomething to do. wow, he thought, looking around. for a danger room, there werent even any switches to turn on some music. we need an upgrade. he put on his own music, slipped on his headphones, and waited for someone to tun the danger room on and program in a simulation.

 

[MilkManDan007]

What about the Sentinels?

His instincts had proven correct. He needed to learn to trust them more and to stop second-guessing himself when it came to decisions like this.

“I’m with Dr. McCoy and Magik on this one. We may want to try and figure out just what Magneto’s up to before we go in with guns blazing. While his reputation does kind of insist that he’s up to no good, we don’t want to make any rash decisions.”

Yes, that sounded professional, he thought. But getting to Genosha without alerting Mangeto would not be an easy task. He would likely have mutants guarding the island, and if he did control that many Sentinels as Nick Fury had said, he could turn them against any outside attackers.

“But even if we do want to sneak a peek at what he’s up to, how do we do it without catching the brunt of a Sentinel army?”

 

[Shaq]

Professor Xavier

Turning to Beast the Professor shares his indecision.


"I agree with you Hank. I have just been made aware of the matter in Pakistan and I do believe that if there is a contagion hurting its people any knowledge we have should be used toward public health. Still, you have dealt with Magneto as much as any of the X-Men. Your experience in that regard could prove invaluable."


Sighing Xavier moved his hands toward the sides of his chair.


He turned to Warfly and the younger students.


"Matthew, do you remember exactly what is was that you saw? If you would assist me I would like to see what information I can find regarding this problem."

"X-Men. I'm afraid the matter in Genosha is pressing. Nick Fury has told me that SHIELD in cooperation with other allied nations is preparing to move against Magneto and Genosha. This could be the beginning of a global war. If we are to collect information we should do so quickly." Turning to his teamleads the Professor's eyes widen.

"Do any of you accept responsibility for coordinating and leading this mission?"

 

[let3us2be1free0]

iceman choose that moment to speak. " xavier, you should also prepare to deal with some telepaths. clearly we are not ready to fight a telepath or two(he had been watching the danger room senerio, and he was kinda shocked at how brutal it was) and magneto would probably team up with one or two, since they cant hurt him. we may be okay against one telepath, but what about 2 + magneto?". he paused, and because he thought he might have said too much comented," unless you think otherwise profesor?"

 

[I_Am_Lust]

jake was feeling groggy and funny. he had been able to surpress himself, but it had taken its toll. he needed some rest, and prehaps some help from the profesor. he noticed the danger room was over, and the profesor was speaking. he heard most of the speach, and about nick fury. he decided to go to his room and get some rest he needed to prepare for a class and get an essay finished. he must be really tired to be worried about class after that! he heard the team leads and congradulated feron and magik. then he walked over to magic "can you make me a portal to my room"?

(90, 100)
Ilyana smiled gently at Jake and nodded. "Sure thing. Just give me a second." She concentrated on the wall across from them. The portal appeared, slowly at first, growing until it was big enough to admit him through it. "Go ahead, just...don't mind what you see when you pass through it and don't stop for anything." Her portals, while stable connected this world to Limbo and then Limbo to this world. "Take it easy today okay Jake?"
(85, 100)

 

[let3us2be1free0]

gratefull, jake smiled at her and stumbled forward. he said thanks and gave her a quick kiss before he nearly fell unconsious into the portal. well, he thought, i dont have to worry about seeing strange things. probably wont be awake long enough. and with that, he fell asleep, landing on his bed. safe and sound.

 

[rengadeirishman]

Skoll

The simulation ended and Skoll felt an immense swelling of pride in his heart. I struck the blow that killed the enemy, an Omega mutant, dead by my hand! he thought joyously, it was just a simulation he knew that but still, Danger hadnt seemed to be pulling too many punches recently, and Skoll had slain X-man.

after they had rested a moment he and Wolverine returned to the computer room to hear the report. He felt a little perturbed that the professor had not even mentioned his killing blow but said nothing, content for now with the quiet pride he felt,and hoping his father felt the same. Logan was named leader of X-force. As it should be Skoll thought to himself.

 

[rengadeirishman]

Wolverine

Wolverine felt great pride at Eirik's actions during the battle, he knew that the odds of him being able to kill X-man were long at best. As he listened to the different options available he thought hard about which was best for his singular talents.
"I'll go to Genosha, Professor." Wolverine said. "I'll investigate the situation, then call in reinforcements. No offense Ilyana, but it'll be dangerous,and i was made for this work." he said, deploying his right hand claws and staring at them intently, remembering his many similar experiences.

 

[NiteCrowe]

Beast

Hank nodded, and made his desiscion.

'I'll stop here at the mansion, if Wolverine takes two men with him to Genosha, I can be in the War-Room to help them with anything, and if they need reinforcements, i can always lead a back up team there to help.'

'This also gives me chance to help with the contagion problem as well. If Illyana leads a small team into africa, they can always send me samples and such, for me to analyse back here.'

'This would mean that im able to help on both missions, which would be better due to my current bad health.'

He smiled and turned to Matthew, 'Go and tell the Proffessor what he wants to know.'

He sat down, 'So does anyone agree?'

 

[NiteCrowe]

Warfly

Matthew nodded and turned to the Professor.

'Sir, i'll help you in any way i can.'

Then he nodded his head, his fight with X-Man had made him realise something.

'And, Proffessor, I also need you help with something.'

 

[NiteCrowe]

Nocturne

Tj smiled, glad that she was no longer the Team Lead in X-Calibre, as was beginning to think that it would be too much for her.

'If Feron allows it, i would like to accompany Wolverine to Genosha'