psinex@yahoo.com Blood and Iron Chapter 2 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Everyone here is Marvel's, except for Buffy and Co., who're 20th Century Fox's, and Steve, who's mine (and who's probably regretting that fact right now >). Please don't sue. -------------------------------------------------------- THE STORY SO FAR: In an alternate timeline, Erik the Red never reaged Magneto after Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant, deaged Magnus. Following Jean Grey's resurrection and defeat of the Phoenix before the energy being had a chance to incinerate D'Bari 4, Jean and Scott wed and rebuked Xavier for his methods of pursuing coexistence. Magnus was then adopted by the Summers clan, and raised along with Rachel - and her twin, Buffy Summers, destined to become the Slayer - and the girls' younger brothers, Nathan and Steven. Magnus' absence had a ripple effect across the timeline; X-Factor, led by Havok from its' inception, remained closely linked to the X-Men, and Polaris saved Colossus after the Morlock Massacre. Lorna also never meged with Malice, nor did she have her powers switched with Zaladane. Rogue slew the mistress of the Savage Land later on. The original New Mutants, taught by Beast and Cecilia Reyes, graduated, becoming the X-Men they never had the chance to become in the core timeline. During the Muir Island incident, Proteus escaped for the FIRST time, merging with Rogue - who was used as the psionic nexus for the Shadow King - and escaping as the deranged Progueus. Gambit, for reasons only he knows - including guilt - left the X-Men to pursue Progueus. Erik grew up relatively happily among the Summers, and he and his foster siblings have joined the second New Mutants. But not all is idyllic - Steven, the youngest, has suffered at Sinister's hands, Jean is manifesting Phoenix-type energies, and Buffy finds herself facing a destiny she never expected ... -------------------------------------------------------- Mass. Acad. Medlab: 8/30/2003: 08:00 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- "YOU'RE WHAT !?" The Summers kids and Erik looked at Jean and Scott in surprise and joy as the adults shared their news. "The Professor asked us to come back to the X-Men, given the ... situation at home," Scott said. "That, and we'll be able to help protect you kids better if we're on this side of the country." "You're forgetting the part about the Marauders incinerating our house," Erik muttered. "Mom's lucky to be alive ..." "Maybe. Or maybe I'm just tougher that you give me credit for," Jean teased her foster son. "That's why you've got the old green and gold Phoenix outfit on ?" Ray asked, grinning. "Hey, if you still got it ..." Jean winked. The family laughed, but turned with pensive looks as Steve called, "I ... I'm gonna go get scanned now ..." "We'll be right here," Jean said, hugging Steve. "You want me to talk to Aunt Amanda about regrowing your hair ?" "I ... it's weird, but I kinda like it this short," Steve smiled faintly, running his fingers over the blond stubble Sinister had trimmed his hair down to during Steve and Scott's brief captivity. He frowned and ran a finger over his neural jack, adding, "The implant's what stinks." "Just remember, bro, you're still one of us," Nate said, clasping his twin's wrist. Steve nodded, then hugged Nate and sent, ~Thanks, Nate. You'll wait ?~ ~Always, bud,~ Nate promised. Steve waved and headed into the main lab, his 11-year-young face going wide-eyed at the sheer array of scientific genius whom awaited. "Steven," Professor Xavier said, shaking Steve's hand with a quiet smile from his hoverchair. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances. You remember Dr. Cassidy, Dr. McCoy and Dr. Reyes." "Sure - hi, Uncle Hank, Aunt Cecilia, Aunt Moira," Steve smiled. "Dinnae fret, laddie. We'll help ye, I promise," Moira said, hugging Steve. "Are ye in any pain ?" "N-no," Steve said, swallowing hard as he looked at the scanning table. "Should I - do I hafta get undressed ?" "I'm sorry, Steve, but it's the only way to get a good analysis of the implant's effects on your entire body," Hank said gently. "And ... your folks told you what we have to do about the implant itself ?" Steve nodded, swallowing hard again. "I know," he said, beginning to remove his clothing. "You need to hook me up to a computer so you c'n find out what Sinister left in the implant." "... God help us, yes," Cecilia mumbled. Steve finished disrobing and lay back on the table, trying not to cry as memories flooded his mind. #I-it was kinda like this when - when Sinister ... # He looked over in surprise as Cecilia squeezed his hand and winked. "It's OK," she said. "We can stop any time if you're nervous." "N-no," Steve said, taking a deep breath. "I wanna know if ... if Sinister can get to me. I don't wanna be a risk." "'Screw thy courage to the sticking place,'" Hank nodded, smiling sadly. "Ceccy, back off, please - I'm reading both of your biogenetic signatures in the pre-scan alignment." "I'll be right over here," Cecilia promised. Steve nodded, then looked up at the scanner and closed his eyes. "'M ready," he called. He felt a gentle tingling across his body, then opened one eye. "That's it," Hank called. "Now ... we'll need to do that neural download." "O-OK," Steve nodded, opening his other eye. He watched as Hank approached, and the Beast whispered, "If there were any other way, kiddo ..." "It's OK, Uncle Hank," Steve said. He closed his eyes and let Hank plug the probe into the side of his head, then tried to relax as Xavier began the download. #It's so weird ...# Steve thought, seeing images flash hefore his eyes. Finally, he felt the probe being removed, and looked up at the doctors. None of them looked particularly at ease. "Steve ... you can go ahead and get dressed," Hank called. "We'll ... be a while sorting through this." "OK," Steve said, pulling on his clothes rapidly. #It's gotta be bad,# he thought, noticing the adults' looks and mutterings. His heart fell, and he left the lab to meet his family outside. "They said it'll be a while," Steve sighed. "Well, we can FINALLY get some breakfast," Buffy said, yawning and ruffling Steve's buzzcut. "I'm kidding, little guy ! It's not your fault." "It will be if Sinister gets to you through me," Steve sniffed. "Well, he WON'T," Jean said. "Honey, he's dead -" "The X-Men've tried God knows how many times, Mom ?" Erik pouted. Scott and Jean traded a look, and they let the kids walk ahead while they exchanged thoughts. ~How do we protect them, Scott ? We couldn't keep the Marauders from taking you, and now our kids have to live like they're in a war zone,~ Jean thought angrily. Scott hugged her and thought, ~We're going to win, Jean. I promise. We just need to hang in there.~ -------------------------------------------------------- Danger Room: 09:00 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "Dear God ..." Emma sighed while she, Sean and Moira watched the gold-and-black-clad throngs of students enter the room before them. "20," Sean said, smiling. "Quite an impressive sight, eh ?" "Not for the administrative headmistress," Emma chuckled. "I'm glad we've got plenty of them here, Sean, but it's just so HARD to keep track of them all." They left the control booth and found solid-hologram seats waiting for them, conjured forth by a simple holoprogram. The students quieted down and found seats on the floor. "Welcome to the Massachusetts Academy," Emma called. "I've had the chance to interview all of you, so I know whom each of you are. This is the co-headmaster, Sean Cassidy, AKA the Banshee, and his wife and our head medical officer, Dr. Moira Cassidy." The kids mumbled or waved hello, most with smiles, and Sean and Moira smiled back. "Now that we've gotten those out of the way, we'll let each of you formally introduce yourselves," Emma called. "When I call your name, please step forward and tell us a little about yourselves, and give a brief demonstration of your power. Franklin ?" Frank stood with a very nervous look, but smiled hesitantly as he said, "Hi ... I'm Franklin Richards. You probably know who my folks are - Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four - do I have to use ALL my powers, Ms. Frost ?" "AHem ... just the ones you feel comfortable with," Emma agreed, pale-faced. Frank nodded in gratitude and turned back to the other kids. "My main powers're visible astral projection and precognition - those, I can control pretty well," he said. A duplicate of himself appeared beside him, then faded out. "I've also got telepathy, electrokinesis and telekinesis, healing and teleportation, and a healing factor - but the TK, I don't use too often ..." "Thank you, Franklin," Emma said. Frank sat down with a sigh of relief, and smiled when Ray and Buffy stood. "Hi - I'm Rachel Summers, and this is my twin, Buffy," Ray said. "I'm telepathic and telekinetic" - she levitated for a moment - "and ... well, Buffy's not." "I'm invulnerable to psionics," Buffy shrugged. "And, I've got enhanced strength and durability." She bent down and lifted Ray by her feet, drawing oohs and ahhs from the others. "YIKES ! Buffy - WHOA !?" Ray shrieked. Flame danced about them, and Ray gaped in shock for a moment. "You've never been - where the heck - !?" Buffy stammered, unscathed. The flames died under a blue glow, and Erik helped Ray down in a magnetic bubble. "THAT'S new," he smirked. "You OK ?" "Y-yeah," Ray said, looking at Buffy. "I don't have a clue," Buffy shrugged, sitting down with Ray. "I'm Erik Lehnsherr, the Summers' kids' foster brother," Erik continued. "I'm magnetic, basically." He sat down, mumbling, "I hate jumping through hoops." "Thanks, 'Rik," Ray said, shivering a little. She smiled when Frank put an arm around her, and watched as Nate and Steve stood. "I'm Nate Summers, and this is my twin, Steve. We're Ray and Buffy and Erik's brothers," Nate smiled. "He's a telepath, and so am I, but I got TK, too." Steve tried not to yell when Nate levitated him, and the boys sat down. ~I toldja I was gonna do that,~ Nate sent to Steve. ~You could've warned me before THEN,~ Steve smirked. "Lee- I AM Leech. This is Artie Maddicks," the green-skinned power damper called, standing with Artie. Artie smiled, displaying a psionogram of all the Mutants until Leech got close enough to cut it off. "What a nice power," Alexa smiled at Artie. The boy blushed, sitting down with Leech as Alexa stood and shook out her long blue hair. "If the fur wasn't a dead giveaway, I'm Alexa Wagner," the blue-furred girl smiled. "My folks are Kurt and Amanda Wagner from Excalibur, and I'm a teleporter like Daddy dearest. But while he's got limits ..." A PAMPH of light and smoke made the other kids jump - as did the car which reappeared with Alexa. "... I don't," Alexa winked. She teleported again, making everyone cough, and reappeared by herself before sitting down. "Showoff," Luna giggled, standing. "HiI'mLunaMaximoffmyfolksarePietroandCrystalandI'vegot -" "You've got to slow DOWN, cousin dearest," Tobias chuckled, standing with Malachi. "I'm Tobias Maximoff, Luna's cousin, and this is my twin Malachi. We can both fly, fire solar energy beams from our eyes, and control our own molecular density." "Yeah, Toby, but you're forgetting my unstoppable good looks," Mal grinned. He yelled when a sticky substance wrapped itself around his feet, tripping him. "You've obviously got to work on peripheral vision," a girl with short red hair taunted from the audience. She stood, performing a series of backflips, and spat upon the webbing around Mal's feet, dissolving it. "Gwendolyn Mabel Parker, at your service," the girl smiled. She offered Mal a hand up, but he refused and walked back to the others with a glare. "Peter and Mary Jane Parker ... ?" Sean asked. "Yessir," Gwen smiled. "The acid spit and the built-in webbing are my natural mutations. The agility, superstrength, wall-crawling, and spider-sense don't hurt either." "Very nice, Gwendolyn," Emma winked. #Reminds me of me at that age,# she thought. #Of course, I was locked up in a mental institution ...# "I'm Leong Coy Mahn," Leong said, standing with a nervous-looking Nga. "This is my twin sister, Nga. Seperately, we are healers. Together ..." They joined hands, and Nga smiled faintly. "Together, we can reshape flesh to virtually any form imaginable," she said. "Nathan, would you like us to get rid of those scars around your eye ?" "Ahem .. Nga, remember what happened to Bark Foo ?" Leong warned. Nga blushed, and the twins sat back down quickly. "'Bark Foo' ?" Nate asked. "Our sister Shan's Shi-Tzu," Nga gulped. "We ... sort of de-wrinkled it when our power manifested ..." "DEWRINKLED ?" Nate giggled. He clutched his sides and fell over howling in laughter, giggling, "S-s-sorry ... HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE ... talk about leaving it on permanent press too long ...." "NATE !" Ray yelled. "Leong and Nga didn't mean it." "It's OK," Nga smiled. "She went back to normal a few days later - Bark Foo, anyhow." "Next," Emma called, trying to restore order. A pink-haired girl stood and asked, "Do I have to, Ms. Frost ... ?" "Sarah, ye need t'start learnin' t' control yuir power sometime," Sean said. Sarah sighed and nodded, concentrating as a bone began to jut from her back. The other kids watched in silent horror as Sarah drew forth a long, bladed bone and looked at it with nausea. "I'm ... Sarah," she called. "I don't really remember my last name - Dr. McCoy adopted me after the Morlock Massacre. I can force-grow bone and regenerate ..." "DAMN," Nate whistled. "That," Erik gulped, "is a funky power." "GUYS !" Buffy growled. "She's obviously upset - let's not make it worse." "Thanks," Sarah said, smiling as she sat beside Buffy. "I'm sorry about making all that noise," Erik said. "I didn't mean - " "It's OK," Sarah said. #He's nice ... and kinda cute,# she thought, watching as two dark-skinned girls with long black hair stood. "I'm Nicole St. Croix, and this is my twin Claudette," the first girl said. "I've got the super-strength and flight, and she's the telepath and teleporter." "There's also the bodymerge thing, and the super-intelligence," Claudette grinned. "YOU'VE got the brain," Nicole winked. "I'll settle for the curves." She flew up in the air and did a few barrel rolls, vanishing for a moment before she appeared beside Claudette with an irate look. "Well, telepathy's not usually a visual power," Claudette shrugged. Nicole stuck her tongue out at her twin, and the girls sat down. "Do ah gotta do this ?" a blond boy sighed, standing with a blonde girl who looked like his sister. "YES !" the girl demanded. "Hi, ev'rybody. We're Lewis an' Naomi Guthrie - Lewis is mah brother - an' we're Southern Thunder !" Lew hid his head in his hands and sighed as Naomi continued. "We're - STOP THAT, y'r em'barassin' me ! - weather controllers," Naomi growled at Lew. She shrieked when a raincloud appeared over her head and drenched her, and Lew shrugged apologetically. "She controls weather," he said, his voice suddenly shifting. "Mr. Cassidy ... ?" "Aye, lad," Sean smiled, triggering a target along the far wall. The kids covered their ears and watched in awe as Lew screamed, blasting the far target apart. "An' ah'm th' Thunder part o' the equation," Lew smiled. "We cain't call ourselves 'Thunder an' Lightnin'', cause that's taken, but we get 'long OK." "And on that note, we'll start this semester with individual power training," Emma said. "You'll learn to control your own powers before learning how to work with others in a superteam environment. Of course, you will live together in the dorms and learn how to interact with other mutants, and the unpowered combat drills and other classes will address other interactive items. Go ahead and take this weekend to familiarize yourselves with the campus, and go to Snow Valley if you wish." "Like THAT'LL happen," Alexa grumbled as the kids broke up for the day. "Just because the feds gave the X-teams their sanction doesn't mean we don't have to hide our powers ... and I hate it." "I hear you," Erik said. He smiled and said, "There's always image inducers ... ?" "What a copout," Alexa pouted. "But I suppose." She looked at Erik and asked, "You want to go to town ... together ?" #DO I !?# Erik thought. He shrugged and said, "Sure. Lemme check with my sibs first - you want a group, or just us ?" "A group'd be nice. We could get to know each other," Alexa winked. They left to go get changed, while Alexa thought, #He is SO cute ...# -------------------------------------------------------- Library: 09:23 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "Giles ... ?" Rupert sat up and met Emma's gaze at the door to the library, waving her in with a small smile. "How are you, Emma ?" he asked, pulling a chair out for her at a table. "I've had worse days," Emma said. She smiled and added, "Still got that riding crop I gave you for our first anniversary ?" "Mounted right above the stuffed goat," Giles grinned. Emma turned bright red and laughed, "You WOULD keep that thing. Remember the look on Adrienne's face when we caught her with it ?" "'Oh, no, Emma, I was just going to learn how to COOK wild goat,'" Giles squeaked in an uncanny imitation of his ex-sister-in-law. The couple exploded in laughter, and after a few moments Emma wiped her eyes. "God, how did we ever get pulled apart ?" she sighed, smiling. "I was a fool and accepted the Watcher Council's invitation to help defend the world against all sorts of evil," Giles sighed. "And I accepted Sebastian Shaw's invitation to the Hellfire Club," Emma murmured. "Live and learn, I guess." "Emma," Giles said, taking her hand in his, "The Hellions weren't your fault. You have to believe that. Fitzroy -" "Let's not repeat the past, Rupey," Emma whispered. "Let's go forward - together ?" Rupert smiled and kissed her, and they laughed again. "This time," Giles winked, "we leave the goat in the office." -------------------------------------------------------- NEXT: OK, FIRST a trip into town, THEN Buffy's nocturnal visitor ... and Gwen gets an unwelcome visitor of her own. PLUS: Steve's "situation" is resolved ... -------------------------------------------------------- end _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com