I easily dodged the kick, though in his weakened state, one couldn't really expect Magma to know he hit the wall instead of me. He may have awakened early but it came at a cost, as most things did in this world.
He was apparently wearing something that upped his speed, but that in it self wasn't a good thing nessessarily. Increased velocity usually means increased metabolism- someone was about to feel like hell. Between the energy drain and the gloves, he was going off to la-la land soon...
I was happy to help him along the way with a rabbit punch to the back of the head.
Looking up at the professor, I asked, "I know I'm not the greatest stratigest, but why'd you let him get back in here and beat up on the kid?"
Wizard set the statue back up on the shelf it was sitting on, then slowly backed away from it. He had no desire to have to pay for something that looked THAT expensive. He slowly turned to face the others, and started to walk over to Rogue, when he heard the statue fall to the ground with a crash. He winced, and looked like he was about to start crying.
"Why can't fights ever happen outside? I HATE breaking valuable artifacts."
Standing in the room all eyes were on Fantomex as Professor Xavier looked at him demanding answers.
But Fantomex's eyes were on Juggernaut.
He studied him. His posture. His body language. He looked at his step brother Charles and demanded why he was allowing a dangerous mutant to run loose in his mansion. But as Fantomex watched Juggernaut, the behemoth's body language told him everything.
He was not demanding an answer from Charles. His body language made it clear he already knew the answer.
Fantomex studied Juggernaut. He pushed his brain to figure out what was happening.
But his other brain figured it out before him.
Underneath his mask Fantomex smiled. Two heads are better than one, and it helps to have your mind outside of your body sometimes. Eva processed the information and offered an explanation.
Fantomex stood still as Magma burst through the door. He studied his body language and let it speak to him.
"He's genuine." Fantomex thought as he watched Magma hit Juggernaut.
"He's not." he thought as he watched Juggernaut spill to the floor.
"You were right Eva." Fantomex thought, impressed and jealous that his partner understood this situation better than he did.
Fantomex watched as Magma attacked everyone but himself, Deadhand, Professor X and Jean.
He made a mental note that he understood why Jean and the Professor weren't attacked but he found it curious that Deadhand was spared her wrath.
Finally Magma had been subdued and the threat was over.
Fantomex studied everyone in the room. He watched as Juggernaut picked himself off of the floor.
"You're lying." Fantomex thought to himself as he watched Juggernaut.
"Your body is telling me you're lying!"
"I'm not the greatest strategist but why'd you let him back in here and attack the kid?"
Fantomex watched Rogue's face as she demanded and answer.
"She's genuinely asking." Fantomex thought. He looked back at Juggernaut then the Professor and chuckled to himself.
"Well Professor X" Fantomex says as he walks toward the broken statue that just fell.
He picks up a sharp shard.
"Should you tell them or should I?" as he says this Fantomex with terrible force jams the shard into his neck. He feels the sharp sting and pain as the sharp object slices through his throat.
Hahaha thought Magma as he feighned his blacking out and hereing the whole conversation. "Why let the kid run free..." because I own you bitch he thought as he was regaining his power. This was the best way to figure out whats going on twits no of em thought to pick me up and take me away. Magma was slowly regaining his strength as he made the lava already summoned come from the lawninto the building silently. *whoosh *sound of flesh being torn Wtf just happened. Magma chanced to look at Fantomex he's fucking crazy. Blood dripped right in front of him. Trying to move his right leg he felt a stabbing pain causing him to shout "AH SHIT AAAAAAAAAAAAA" he looked up as all eyes came on to him...
Professor Xavier looks sternly at Fantomex's stunt.
He watches the blood drip from his neck but curls his lips in disgust when Fantomex begins writing "PaWnD" on the floor with his blood.
Suddenly Fantomex begins to scream and Xavier has gained the information he wanted.
"Enough!" Xavier screams.
"Danger Room! End simulation."
Suddenly the environment around the occupants changes. The shard of glass Fantomex held has dissapeard as has the blood that dripped down his neck. The pain gripping Fantomex's leg is gone and the shattered statue that fell before Wizard has vanished.
The only thing that can be seen are the gigantic metallic walls that surround the group as they stand huddled in a room large enough to house Roman Coloseums.
Xavier speaks immediately to clear all confusion.
"I asked my brother Cain to assist us in an exercise. Because we cannot be sure what Fantomex's intentions are we had to take every precaution. Jean and I decided that the best place to house both Fantomex and Magma would be the danger room where we could control the environment and monitor their power levels. Due to the, alarming, aspect of the Fantomex and Magma's arrival we decided to see how both Magma and Fantomex would react. Considering his recent assault on Fantomex's leg, I believe Magma needs to inform us of his motivations himself."
"And let me guess" Fantomex says "you told Juggernaut to throw the match and let Magma loose to see if he and I would work together? HAHAHA!!! I'm hurt Charles. Not only for assuming I'd ever attack the X-Men directly, but that I would choose 'Lava Lad' as an accomplice. I prefer company a little closer to the nigh omnipotent level thank you. And if you have control over everything why let him burn me!?"
Jean Grey and Charles cast quick telepathic smiles at each other.
Fantomex looks at Cain Marko and shakes his head.
"The Mighty Juggernaut, able to withstand a frontal assault from the Hulk, but leveled by an angry teenager who craves attention? tsk tsk. Did you attend the Keannu Reeves School of Acting when you were young?"
"Enough Fantomex." Prof. X turns to Rogue. "Rogue, I do apologize for deceiving you and invading your mind telepathically to lead you here to the Danger Room instead of my study. But it was imperitive that we not alert you regarding our plan. Fantomex has shown an ability to sense deception and read a person's body language. For the plan to suceed we thought it wise if you were as unaware of our true location as he."
Xavier turns back to Fantomex and cast a glance at Magma.
"Irregardless, the Danger Room remains the safest place to host our guests and arrangements can be made to make it more comfortable. Danger Room! Reset Study Area: Xavier."
Suddenly everyone appears in the study again. The door and statue have both been restored and everything looks like it did when the group first entered.
"Jean please control Magma telekinetically. And you" Xavier turns to Fantomex.
"Danger room you fucking moron no room can hold a Alpha class and if you think so bitch is gonna be able to brake through my mind you better aaa" stinging pain again as he got up. Staggering he went to the nearest wall by Wiazard. "I've created a mind defense I'm a brick wall the only thing that has gotten through there is Sean...which I presume was you Proffesor or should i call you puppet of the regulars or SLAVE OF THE PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL YOU. I meen seriously." he shifted positions. "The anti mutant law is gonna screw us all only way to fix this is to rebel" he smiled. "Listen pupets the only one sthinking strait here are Fantomex and me you guys are nothing but a bunch of tard running around in tights" he started to pull down his hood.
He lowered his voice to a whisper "I havn't been able to lower my hood for five years because they have been hunting me" it fell onto his shoulders and revealed long blond hair running down to the tip of his nose. Magmas lips were scarred and chapped and his right cheek had a long scar running down it's side. "Maybe I have to spell it out for you X-tards They fucking did this to me..." he lifted his old sweater and shirt revealing a chest that was blackedned with soot and scars every other square inch.parts were also blood red where the skin was so pale you could see the blood and veins.
"See what I meeen now...danger room hahaaha who came up with that name...let me guess the moron over there with the armor" now pointingat Juggernaut."We could use some muscle in the rebelion..AAA SHIT DAM WOMEN AAA" he went back onto the floor as shocks of pain were sent through him thankfully his defense made it milder. "Oh ya you think thats gonna keep me down...well I also have something to say to you book boy once I get to my katana YOUR DEAD"...
OOC: lol hows that for trying to get attention lol
Fantomex listens to Magma's pro mutant tirade and shakes his head.
"Look at him." he says and points to the teen.
"That's a mutant that will get us all killed. Why do you think the media is always showing attacks by Magneto? They stopped showing images of people jumping from buildings on 9/11 but they show children who have been mutilated by shrapnel in his attacks. Why do they broadcast every video transmission from the Mutant Liberation Front even though Homeland Security says their sleeper cells have been neutralized and they have no ability to attack us? It's the same reason that news cameras captured every second of the attack on me. Don't you think find it incredibly fortuitious that every angle of the assault on me was captured on film like it was a bad episode of X-Statix? There is an agenda out there to make mutants look bad and they want me to look bad so no one would help me. They misrepresent mutants like me, and like you X-Men in order to turn the public against us. So the public will turn a blind eye to any and every illegal measure the world government takes to neutralize us."
Fantomex looks at Magma and shakes his head.
"Anti Mutant laws are Old School. The brains up there today aren't going to register or incarcerate mutants. They will exterminate them. With this." Fantomex holds up a small disc.
"This is their 'Final Solution' their plan to deal with the so called 'Mutant Problem' for good."
"Who is trying to kill you Fantomex? And why did you wear something that belongs to the X-Men? I fear because of your actions whoever is trying to kill you will now wish to involve us."
"I didn't know that my altercation would be broadcast around the world Professor Xavier but I did know that forces in the government would assume I was working for the X-Men. It had to be done. It is true, they will likely implicate you. But you must understand, I did not invovle you in this, they did. All of you, are more involved in their plans than you could have ever realized."
Fantomex points toward the disk.
"I have a mutant operative working for me that has the ability to speak with rodents. And believe me, you would be surprised at how many rats there are in the White House. But it was visitor in the White House that led him to the Department of Defense. It was a conversation there that led him to this."
He lifts the CD.
"My name was mentioned Xavier. Low level officials shouldn't even know I or the Weapon X program exist. And yet the rats told my associate quite clealy that the 'Final Solution' was being planned and I was one of the first targets. You see, the Weapon X program that kidnapped and experimented on me much like your friend Logan has never stopped only hid. Humans know, like you did when you formed the X-Men, most of our problems have never come from humans, but from ourselves. Magneto has done more damage than any registration act ever did. So from Day One the intention was to use mutants to destroy other mutants. As X-Factor the government wanted mutants to hunt mutants. In Weapon X we were designed to be mutant hunters but we were only the means, never the end. They only sought to experiment on us to learn how to make perfect mutant hunters. Think of it like an original piece of art. The first is the prototype, it is reworked and amended until it is perfect. But what happens next? The prototype is copied and mass produced and the original is thrown away or forgotten. Your government now has the ability to make copies. They can clone almost any mutant they want. They can keep them in a lab, and isolate them and program them to destroy their own kind. Previous Weapon X experiments, like Wolverine and myself, the Weapon X could alter us but obviously they could never fully control us. But now they have the technology and information necessary to manufacture lab grown clones engineered and brainwashed since birth to be their slaves, their mutant hunters. Or, at least they did, until I removed a small but integral part of the code that details the human genetic sequence they need to make a copy." Fantomex says smiling.
"How did you gain this information?" Professor X asks.
"I stole it."
"If the government has the ability to generate clones why have they not done so before?
"Because they couldn't until recently. They only have been able to do it after they stole this information and technology themselves. It was taken from the world's greatest geneticist."
Charles looks puzzled.
"Moira?"
"Who?" Fantomex asks. "Mactaggert? No, my operative says they took it from a man. He could never learn his name but he told me that the experiments this guy ran must have been too cruel even for them. Because whenever they talked about him, they would always call him sinister...."
At the mention of the word sinister, something inside Wizard, some old memory, sparked, and with it, the statue behind him, even though it wasn't really there, shattered in a blast of superheated plasma. He then passed out again, but not before accidentally sending an image of a Mister Sinister to the Professor. He had seen the man, in fact, been one of his experiments before his mutant powers awoke.
"Sinister." Xavier thinks as he hears Fantomex's words.
He looks down at Wizard. Immeidately after Fantomex uttered his name it sent him in a state of agitation and fear. Xavier could feel his anguish in those brief moments. They were so intense that the boy projected an image, that looked like a creature from a nightmare, only the nightmare was real.
The blood of many of the senior X-Men in the room begin to boil. Havok, Jean and Cyclops all had their lives almost ruined by Sinister. Jean has the precense of mind to ask Xavier to "watch" Magma's mind as she flies toward Wizard. Telepathically she checks to see if he is injured.
As Cyclops observes her, he notices how her maternal instinct seemed to take over. She was acting like the mother she would have been had that ghoul not entered there lives.
::On the outskirts of the city of New Orleans, on the River Road within sight of the Mississippi, an old plantation monor bathed in the mirning light as a wash of reds and orange touched its walls. Gambit stood against a railing of on of the second floor balconies looking out over the river, a mug in his hands.::
It's so peaceful here....shame I will have to leave again soon 'fore I wear out my welcome...
::The cajun lifted a mug to his lips and took a sip of its contents, then he lowered the mug and rested his arms on the banaster once more.::
I bought dis place because I thought that one day I would settle down and raise a family...Pah! Who am I kidding? I'll never settle down.But even a T'ief has to have dreams no?
::Once again, the cajun's mind wandered to the trial that ruined his life as he knew it. His friends turned their backs on him. He was stranded on Antartica for months until by chance he ran into the whaling ship and bartered his way home. Worst of all though he lost the only thing that gave meaning to his life since his time with Belle Donna. In the morning light, Gambit's thoughts were once again on Rogue.
On the street below, just on the other side of the fence a dark figure stood in the shadows watching the house and its lone occupant. The thief that owned the manor was forbidden to return to New Orleans by his adopted father years before. As usual he never listened to anyone but himself. Before this day was over, New Orleans would be rid of Remy Lebeau one way or another.::
Dead Hand had just stayed leaning against the wall, listeneing to everything that was being said. Magma was preaching about mutant superiority, Fantomex said something about government initiatives to wipe out mutants, and somebody said 'sinister'. Like he really gave a damn about most of it. Government initiatives worried him the most. Well, actually, home makeover shows compleatly taking over TV worried him the most, but genocide came a close second.
"Y'know, I don't really know why they need clones and stuff. I mean, wouldn't it be easier just to release a chemical agent into the air or water that specifically attacks and destroys the mutant gene? It's what I'd do"
Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on Dead Hand, and none of them looked too happy.
Between being deceived about the current location, having to put up with double and triple layered secrets, and it kicking off to be a bad day, I was not a happy camper.
Taking a deep breath, I followed Deadhand's comment. "If they could do that, I imagine some radical group would have by now. And mutants hunting mutants isn't a new thing. Mutants trained to hate other mutants isn't a new thing either."
Memories of my early teens with Mystique and Nightcrawler and the others came to mind as I went on. "I understand that this program is dangerous, perhaps more dangerous then others we've seen from the government in the past. But, if Sinister is running it, then we need to stop it. And him. I know violence is not always the answer, but killing Sinister sounds like a good goal to me."
Wizard awoke slowly, with a nasty headache. He had passed out after projecting an image of the man who had, to his parents, claimed to be a doctor. He winced, the pain almost too much, but he managed to sit up, with the help of Jean. Also, with her help, the pain was lessened as her telepathic presence touched his mind, calming him. He looked up at Rogue, as she mentioned killing Sinister. In all actuality, the idea appealed to him. He didn't generally like killing, he felt it diminished the life of the world, but after what he had been done to him, and the memories laid bare to the Professor and Jean, he didn't think anyone could blame him.
He slowly stood up, took a deep breath, and nodded.
"I agree with Rogue. I don't know what he is, but he deserves death, or at the very least, banishment from our plane of existence."
"Alright, alright! So we're just gonna waltz right into wherever this Sinister guy is hiding, take out any booby traps, kill a mutant who can infulence the United States government fairly directly, and then go home again? Then I got just one question: How much?"
"You can't just walk up to Sinister you twit" laughing at the idea. Clutching his side where the lazer had hit and added another rip in his sweat shirt now on the ground. "He is one sick bastard with a capital B performing experiments on people" takeing a breath. "He with stood a massive assault from Pysloke and almost is invinceable I say we take him out but we need cyclops...and if your wondering why I knew this all he told me before sticking the knife in my cheek" he felt the scar that still burned.
"I'd be willing to help you guys out I wanna burn his fucking skin off" smiling at the fact...
Code name: Storm
Name: Ororo Munroe
Group Affiliation: X-men
Height: 5’11
Weight: 127lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White
Mutation: Storm has the psionic ability to control the weather over limited areas. She has the power to summon winds up to hurricane-force and can summon rain and bolts of lightning as well as snow, ice, fog etc. She can also fly but this is not a separate power, she does it by creating winds strong enough to support her weight. She has unlimited immunity to extreme heat and cold. However, her control over the weather is affected by her emotions.
Skills: Thief, pickpocket, lockpick, and escape artist.
Xavier Institute
Storm had just returned from Nairobi where she had been on a retreat with Ainet. She met Ainet many years ago and looked to her as a surrogate mother. Ainet had originally help Storm to learn how to use her powers responsibly. Storm had hoped that Ainet could help her learn to control her emotions better. The retreat was good and she would continue developing what she learned with the help of Xavier. Storm had also hoped that Ainet could help her with her claustrophobia but no such luck. Working with Ainet seemed to make it worse. She couldn’t even walk towards a confined space without the sky getting overcast. Perhaps there had been too much focus on it. She kept on thinking about her mother, which served only to make things worse. They both finally decided that she needed to learn more control before trying to tackle her phobia. The retreat ended early so she hadn’t expected anyone to pick her up at the airport and made her way back to Xavier’s Institute with a taxi.
The taxi turned towards the institute and Storm stopped the taxi after seeing the mess on the lawn. She made some excuse about the children and modern art, paid him, and sent him on his way. She made her way cautiously towards the door and tried to control the anxiousness she was feeling. She could hear Ainet telling her to think rationally and before you start a tornado find out what is going on. Xavier and Jean could handle anything that happens. Everyone is fine.
She opened the door and took a look around the entry.
“Hello, Jean. Xavier. Is anybody here?”
She could hear Jean, in her head, welcoming her home and felt calm. She was assured that everyone was fine and could be found in the danger room. She told Jean that she would put her things away then make her way there.
"The X-Men aren't assasins. Despite what he's done in the past and what Fantomex claims is his invovlvement in this process we can't just kill him." the X-Man says.
"I think my husband's cautiousness about the death plan might have something to do with the fact that we already have killed Sinister no less than 8 times before. If we could destroy him we would but so far he has managed to deflect death." Jean says.
"I'm not certain we have to kill Sinister in order to contain the threat his technology poses." Professor Xavier says.
Fantomex nods.
Silently Fantomex observes how little they seem to know about their foe. A lack of knowledge which will make his job all that much easier.
"I would not have been surprised if Sinister had come to ask you for help retrieving his data. But I'm sure he has other means of reclaiming what is his. Rogue is right though. If the government was able to somehow track him and take this from him then it must be possible for us to track him as well."
"So you want the X-Men's help in tracking Sinister?" Cyclops asks.
Fantomex smiles.
"No, I want the X-Men's help in finishing the job that I started. We still don't know how the government found Sinister and his technology. If we can find the data they used to find Sinister, we can utilize the same methods to find him and destroy him. But there's something else. It was what I found on the disk that I stole that outlined the world government's final solution for mutants."
Fantomex pauses and looks at the people in the room.
"Some of you were mentioned in the information. That's why I had to invovle the X-Men. That's why I wanted to implicate you, to force you to help me because you have to help me. Your lives and the lives of mutants everywhere depend on it. This Disk lists two kinds of mutants. Pawn and Prey. And the name that popped up the most is yours Rogue...."
As the Co-Headmistress of the X-Men listens to Fantomex and the ideas being discussed suddenly she senses something. In one moment she gets a feeling that she recalls from her days as a young girl when her father would return home from work. She would get that feeling again later in life when the number of X-Men staying at the mansion grew so large that Xavier thought it wise to separate them for optimal efficiency.
Whenever everyone would return home she would get the feeling that things were complete. That they were whole. As she senses the psionic signature of her best friend returning Jean beams as she welcomes that feeling again.
"Ororo!" Jean announces to the room. "She's come back!"
"Welcome back Storm." The Professor says in a warm telepathic voice.
The Professor smiled to himself. Fantomex and Magma's arrivals signaled difficult times may lie ahead for mutants. Storm's return comforted him because he knew that no matter what may lie ahead, he and his X-Men would be prepared.