Xavier Institute For Higher Learning

[Screech]

"So, Amanda, you've been around here a while, right? What's the gossip all about?"

Amanda finished chewing on a bit of food and scratched her head. "Well, I, ummmm, don't hear much. Normally just, like, uhhhhh, studying. But, uhhh, there was the whole thing that kicked off not too long ago. Cain was kinda, well, incharge for a bit. Some guy wandered in, think his name was, ummmm, Phantomz, or something. Had a merc helping us out too. Rot Hand or somesuch, I don't really remember. They, umm, wern't, like, here for long. Anyway, there was some kinda discussion or something, and, umm, most, kinda, left. I don't know what happened after that. Students don't get told everything"

Wow. That was the longest monologue she'd ever had! She needed a drink! Standing up, she walked to the fridge and grabbed a carton of milk. It was at that moment that Bryn walked into the kitchen. Amanda smiled and almost instantly felt more relaxed. "Hey Bryn! Wanna drink?"

 

[Vixandra]

Bryn

I smiled at Amanda and shook my head. "I'm good... what's going on though?"

People were running around, some bitchy sounding female was hollering orders and I was without a clue as to what was going on. Great end for my first day, right?

 

[GentLi]

Madrox

The dinner company was delightful. After returning from the kitchen with some more satisfying drinks, Jamie had sat down to a pleasant bit of food and conversation. Just chatting with the girls was doing him wonders he didn't even realize he needed. Slowly it occurred to him what his life had been like for the past several years. When was the last time he'd had a meal like this? It was always with a distraught client, or a travelling dupe reporting back, or... hell, even dinner with his X-F.I. teammates tended to be tense. It was their ideals that united them, definitely not their personalities.

This was exactly what he needed to feel rejuvenated. Fresh young faces... their stories could hardly compare to the war stories he or any of the elder X-Man generation had. They were vibrant. They were fun. And they even laughed at (some) of his jokes! Jamie was feeling better than he had in ages.

"I need all students out in the hall ASAP, put down everything that you are doing, into the hall now! Come on, let's go!"

He shouldn't've been surprised when Kitty... 'Shadowcat' he amended, fitting her with a name more fitting of her current demeanor marched in and ruined the moment. Another emergency. He was already standing by the time Pryde told him he wasn't needed. Must be a student thing, then...

"Well, thanks for the company. Go have some fun, why don't ya?" He flashed one last smile to his company before settling himself back down. A more serious visage overtook his face as he watched the room empty, reflecting the dark thoughts that were creeping into his mind.

 

[Ankara]

When the room was cleared out, Kitty gave the biggest smile she could muster at Jamie. "Bye," she waved and stepped out into the hall. "Alright students, up to your rooms, move it!"

 

[Ithica]

Surge

With Thad following, Nori walked away from Jack and Tai. She turned a corner and saw a group of kids walking away from the dining room and Shadowcat giving orders.

 

[Vixandra]

Bryn

With a shrug, I pulled a bag of carrots, a soda and a box of pop-tarts from the fridge and cabinets before following the barked orders.

"Guess we can't talk," I said to Amanda with a sigh. I liked talking to the adorable girl. "Unless you want to come up to my room. I think they'll allow that."

 

[Screech]

Drat! Shadowcat was being as bossy as ever! Amanda grabbed her carton of milk and bit Jamie good-bye before alking back upstairs with Bryn. "Sure! I'd love to sit and chat"

 

[Vixandra]

Bryn

I waved good bye with a smile at the man who'd offered me a smoothie. Guess we wouldn't be getting those now.

Leading the way up to my room I asked, "So who's that woman? The one yelling as if there's some massive emergency going on?"

 

[IDreamofBunnies]

Babette was ready to go as well, she desperatly needed to sleep in an actual bed, "Oh Jaime, before I forget, you seem to know your way around. You can maybe tell whoever is in charge I need to go to the French embassy? I need to take care of a few things."

 

[Screech]

"Huh? Oh, that's Shadowcat. She was a student here recently, but she's part of the field teams now. I heard she was Collossus' girlfriend." Amanda scratched her head. "Wonder whatever happened to him..."

 

[dragonrazor]

Tai stepped into the cafeteria slowly, holding the blaster in one hand. He didn't think he'd need the heavy weapons, but just in case he had already removed the safeties on the secondary weapon systems. He merely had to think of one, and it would be in his hand, or hands, depending on the weapon. He walked slowly towards the kitchen, then stopped, and knocked on the door, before stepping inside. He had the blaster at the ready, aimed directly at the man's shoulder.

"You must be the troublemaker." His voice was calm, almost cold and emotionless, as if Xeno had taken over the control, but that was just an exterior.

 

[GentLi]

Madrox

"Oh Jaime, before I forget, you seem to know your way around. You can maybe tell whoever is in charge I need to go to the French embassy? I need to take care of a few things."

"Sure, Babs. We can get that done sometime this week, I bet." Madrox nodded and shooed her off. In moments he was alone with his thoughts. The solitude was, as always, discomforting. 'I've taken enough of a break anyway. I've got business to take care of.'

Grabbing a couple dishes, he sauntered into the kitchen to begin the process of cleaning. He worked quicky and quietly, for a moment the clanking of dishes and the hum of the fridge were the only sounds. Then came the knock and the door opened, letting a tidal wave of bad vibes crash down.

"You must be the troublemaker."

Turning slowly, Madrox was quick to size up the boy. Still a kid by all rights. Standing on the wrong end of a mean looking blaster, he couldn't help but feel the kid was a little out of place on the other end.

"You'd hardly be the first one to call me that, yeah." A melancholic smile crept across his face. Seemed like that was the only facial expression he knew sometimes. Smiles and grins. All the same, he slowly raised his hands, letting his accuser see the lack of weapons and that he was being taken seriously. "Why don't you put the tool down, so we can talk about what I did wrong this time?"

Jamie's eyes shot around the room quickly. All he needed was a little thump. A snap of the fingers, a tap of the toe, and he'd have reinforcements. He'd have time to act and enough numbers to take the kid down no matter how many rounds he was packing. A sudden move, too slow, could get him killed too. This was sticky, so close to salvation, yet so far.

 

[dragonrazor]

Tai raised an eyebrow, the scanners indicating that the man's powers were kinetically activated. It was rare that his scanners would pick up something like that, so he holstered the blaster. In its place, a scythe appeared, the blade glowing slightly from energized particles. In anyone else's hands, the scythe was simply a weapon meant for beheading an opponent. In Tai's hands, however, the weapon could be used in the same manner as a pole or spear in Shaolin combat.

 

[GentLi]

Jamie chuckled nervously.

"Well, really, I was kind've hoping when you put the gun away, you'd not replace it... Ya know, no weapons? We'll talk it out." Perhaps just a step forward would pass by this kid. A little step, and a couple dozen dupes dogpile the kid. Of course it looked like it'd be bloody, but the situation would be disarmed.

"What's the problem, champ? Some kids make fun of you?"

 

[Ankara]

Kitty braced herself for gun fire. When it didn't come, she looked over at Chihiro, then into the cafeteria. She saw Tai's back, and James Maddrox. "Shoot him, Shoot him now." Kitty screamed.

 

[dragonrazor]

Tai spoke calmly and quietly again. "This can go one of two ways. You surrender, or you die." He twirled the scythe in one hand, the curved blade starting to create a high pitched whine as it spun.

 

[GentLi]

Madrox

Shadowcat's cries egged Jamie on, making the urgency of the situation even more obvious.

"Surrender to you? Then what? You gonna keep me locked up in your closet or somethin'? I..." Jamie paused a moment, apparently calming himself. "Brother, you're not very good on negotiations, are ya? How'm I supposed to know you're not just some nutcase? You're new here, right? Did we let another crazy in?"

"You're about to have two dozen highly trained, suicidal, and rather handsome men bum rush you. If that's not enough, I've got back up. I will keep coming at you until you're disarmed or until I'm dead. But don't worry... I'll try not to hurt you."

Cocking his head to the side, Jamie gave a wink. And from that miniscule gesture half a dozen dupes appeared, already charging.

 

[dragonrazor]

Tai moved like lightning, the scythe vanishing only to be replaced by a pair of triple gatling guns, each one firing a hail of bullets into the crowd of Jamies. The ammo was expanded uranium slugs, firing at more than a thousand rounds a minute. The result was a lot of damage to the kitchen, and a lot of wounds in the crowd of Jamies.

 

[Ithica]

Surge

Nori watched, from behind a corner, the strange actions of Kitty and Chihrio. After evacuating the students from the diningroom, they had sent in Tai. Curiousity got the better of her so she had stayed to find out what was going on.

It was like everyone had gone crazy and Kitty was yelling shoot him. When the gun shots started she yelped and crouched down against the wall. Where was Storm and the rest of the X-men. Shouldn't they be here if someone was attacking the school?

 

[GentLi]

Madrox

It was over, that simply. The gatling guns tore through rows of dupes, their bodies now scattered around the kitchen, sometimes in piles. There hadn't even been any screams, at least none that could be heard over the thundrous weapons. Jamie Madrox was dead a dozen times over.

-----------------------------------------------
James strode confidently through the halls toward the cafeteria, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his beloved trenchcoat. Things were going so well since he arrived. In no time it felt like he'd been at the mansion for years. Kitty dropping by the local X-F.I. branch was the perfect opportunity to get the ball rolling. He'd be sure to thank her later.

Shadowcat's bark was strangely pleasant. So reassuring... She was taking care of business. Or rather, she was getting someone else to take care of business. Facing off against another Madrox would have been mess, matched dupe for dupe.

The gatling guns echoed down the hall and briefly jarred his moment of peace before bolstering it ten fold. The job was done. The other Madrox was dead. His sober fascade melted away into his toothiest grin, though the darkness never quite left his eyes.

A little blue haired girl lay ahead of him, hunkered down around the corner, away from the ruckus. He nearly passed her by before stopping quite suddenly. Looking down on her, he sighed in disappointment.

"Don't cower, kid. Don't ever F'in' cower."

He continued on around the corner to join Kitty and the ever so nice woman who'd helped them so much.

"Kitty! Doctor! Things going alright in there?" He couldn't even try to control his upbeat attitude. Things had gone better than he'd ever imagined. He aimed the next question at Kitty in particular. "You get what you needed?"

 

[dragonrazor]

As the gatlings slowed to a stop, Tai breathed an almost human sigh of relief. Of course, now came the hard part. They'd have to restore the kitchen, and get rid of the bodies. He concentrated hard, and the guns vanished back into whatever place they went to when he wasn't using them. He staggered slightly, as the weight of his body changed, and then leaned against what had once been the stove.

"Mission complete. Estimated cost of repairs, four thousand, five hundred and seventeen dollars and sixty four cents."

 

[Ankara]

Kitty was almost giddy when she saw Tai open fire. After the gun fire stopped, she looked around and saw students start to gather again to see what was going on. Kitty rushed in and vanished into the crowd of students.

 

[Ithica]

Surge

Nori ran over and was horrified at the carnage that she found. She picked up speed and zipped over to Tai to electrocute him.

 

[Vixandra]

Rogue

I heard the gunshots though the mansion and switched over to the security console in the Danger Room. Tai was shooting up Jamies, Kitty was apparently egging one of them on in this insanity, though which it was hard to tell. Nori was far to close to this for comfort and now rushing into shock Tai.

Had everyone gone stupid in two days, I wondered as I ran for the elevator, daring through the box, up into the shaft and out a timed exit on the second floor of the main house.

Cautiusly, I flew toward the cafeteria, pausing to grab a/the Jamie. "What in the hell are they doing in there?"

 

[GentLi]

Madrox

The gauntlet-wearing girlie whizzed by, into the cafeteria, towards the killer.

"Looks like she took my advice to heart. That's gotta make ya feel good." James looked to Chihiro for agreement. Then curiousity took over and he crept into the cafeteria, hesitant to get himself confused with the other Madrox. The snag by Rogue took him by surprise.

"Well... I dunno. He just started shouting 'All your base are belong to us' and let loose." James was still grinning stupidly. "I don't know who the hell Speedy is."