Chapter 2-Invasion



The family room at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters in Bayville, New York was dark and only lit by the television. The six mainstay students of the Institute were all sprawled about the couch and the floor as they watched the horror flick, Day of the Dead IX. They watched as the teenage girl on the screen slowly walked up a flight of stairs. What the girl didn’t know was that the killer was waiting at the top of the stairs ready to strike with a scythe. Each of the students’ eyes were glued to the television. Just as the girl reached the top of the stairs, the killer swung the scythe and….

The entire house was filled with screams as the students of Xavier howled at the top of their lungs. Jean wrapped her arms tightly around Scott. Kitty screamed, covered her head and phased under the sofa. Kurt and Evan, who were on the floor, screamed at the their arms and grabbed each other. Rogue merely sat on her end of the sofa with her rested rested in her hand as she leaned on the arm of the couch.

When the moment of sheer terror ended, Kitty cautiously began to emerge through the seat of the sofa, and back into her original seat. Kurt and Evan realized that they were still clutching onto each other and quickly let go. Jean still rested her head against Scott’s arm as the film continued. Rogue only managed to scoff at the reactions of her friends.

"You guys are hopeless!" said Rogue. "It’s only a movie for crying out loud."

Kurt was on his feet and moving towards Rogue. "Oh, like you veren’t scared," said Kurt. "I can see the fear in your eyes."

Rogue stepped closer to Kurt. "I’m not scared!" she protested. "It takes a lot more than some corny slasher flick to rock my nerves!"

"Oh yeah?!" said Kurt.

"Yeah!" replied Rogue. Suddenly, an alarm began to fill the halls of the mansion. Everyone screamed again. This time Rogue, found that she clutching onto Kurt for dear life. When she realized it, she looked up into Kurt’s eyes, and quickly let go. Before Kurt could respond over the loud klaxon, Rogue held up a finger to silence him. "That was real."

Scott was out of seat, and running towards the security panel near the doorway. He turned back to his friends, with a grim expression on his face. "Intruders," he reported. "Six of them, coming in from the east lawn."

"What are we going to do?" said Kitty.

"The Professor, Ororo and Logan should be back soon," said Evan.

"We can’t afford to wait for them to get back," said Scott. "Whoever these people are, they’re moving pretty fast. And judging from the print-out I’m getting from Cerebro, they’re… they’re mutants!"

"What could they possibly want?" asked Jean.

"Let’s find out," said Scott. He headed towards the back door, which would take them towards the east lawn. The other X-Men were out of their seats and following him without hesitation.
***
Paige slowly motioned for her friends to follow her as they approached the mansion. It mostly appeared to be dark, so they assumed that no one was at home. Paige glanced back and did a headcount. There six of them all together. Paige motioned for Monet, the tall dark-skinned girl, to come forwards. "Monet, can you sense anything?" Paige asked.

Monet closed her eyes and started to use her telepathic powers to scan the campus, to see if anyone were home. "I don’t know," replied Monet. "Something or someone is blocking my scan."

Paige bit her lip. She hated walking into a situation that left her vulnerable to any sort of attack. However, she didn’t have much a choice. This Charles Xavier was the only chance she had to save her headmasters and her friend Angelo. "All right, let’s go. But everyone be careful. Got it, Jubilee?"

Jubilee frowned at Paige and stuck her tongue out at their blonde leader. The students from Snow Valley started to make the final run across the expanse of the lawn up to the main house. After only a few steps, a red beam hit the ground directly in front of Paige. She halted and looked up to find where the beam had originated. She saw that the beam had come from the eyes of a teenage boy gazing from the patio directly at them. He was not alone though. He was accompanied by five other teenagers who all stood ready for anything as they gazed down at the intruders.

"You’ve got ten seconds to explain what you’re doing here," said Scott.

"I don’t have to explain anything to you," said Paige. She took another step forward. "You on the other hand have three seconds to get out of my way, or else."

"Or else what?" said Scott.

"Time’s up," said Paige. "Generation X! Let’s show these losers we mean business!" They began to move from the cluster on the lawn and scatter in all directions.

"All right, X-Men," called Scott, "Take these guys down hard and fast!"

Monet flew up into the air and started to fly towards the patio. Clarice opened another portal on the lawn, and appeared on the patio behind the X-Men. Everyone else raced off in different directions on foot. As Paige ran directly towards the patio, where Scott was standing, she began to dig her fingernails into the skin across her chest. She began to pull, and the flesh covering her body began to rip off like wrapping paper.

"What the…," began Scott. He felt his body being lifted into the air. He looked down, and saw that Monet had lifted him over her head. She started to throw Scott off the patio and towards the ground. After hitting the lawn, Scott began to roll with the momentum. When he finally came to a halt, he saw that Paige was approaching him fast. However, now her entire body was no longer covered in flesh, but steel. She ran at him with her fists clenched together high above her head. Once she was in front of Scott, she brought her fists down. Scott rolled out of the way. Paige’s fists had left a huge crater where Scott had been sitting. Seizing the opportunity, Scott lifted his glasses and fired and optic blast that sent Paige sliding across the lawn.
***
Meanwhile, on the patio, Monet had turned her attention to her next target. Evan was standing ready to attack, with his bone spikes lacing his forearms. Evan charged towards Monet who simply did not move. Evan swung his forearm towards Monet, who only held up her arm to block the shot. Evan’s spikes shattered to pieces as they hit Monet’s arm. Evan looked from his spikes to Monet in complete awe. Then, Evan felt Monet’s fist connect with his jaw. Before Evan new it, he was soaring in the air and into the pool.

Clarice stepped through her portal and found herself face to face with a furry blue elf. She spun on her left foot, as she tried to deliver a roundhouse with her right. Kurt disappeared in a explosion of brimstone. Clarice searched around for her target. Kurt had teleported to the other side of the pation. Another yellow "blinking" hole appeared behind Clarice. She stepped through it and found herself behind Kurt. Clarice swung her leg again, only this time Kurt fell into a backward somersault. Then, he disappered in another explosion of brimstone. When he reappeared, he found himself crashing into Clarice, and knocking her over.

Kurt grabbed her arms as he pinned her to the ground. "Who are you?! Vat are you doing here?!" asked Kurt, but Clarice remained silent. Then, Kurt felt himself being lifted into the air by the collar of his shirt. Monet had lifted him off the ground and into the air with one hand. "Hey! Put me down!"

"My pleasure," said Monet. She launched Kurt towards the pool with one hand. However, as Kurt soared through the air, he disappeared in a cloud of brimstone. Monet and Clarice searched their surroundings for the blue elf. However, before they could react, Kurt reappeared behind them. Using the same momentum he had been thrown with, Kurt smashed both of his feet into the back of Monet. Monet, lost her balance and was knocked into Clarice. Both girls were pushed into the side of the mansion. Clarice fell to the ground unconscious. The momentum carrying Monet, along with her mutant power of invulnerability caused her to break the brick wall, however, she too remained motionless.
***
The bald, black teen of Generation X, Everett Thomas, stopped in his tracks as he saw Rogue. Rogue charged at the boy and leaped into the air. She landed on top of Everett forcing him to the ground. Everett used Rogue’s momentum to force her off of him. As Everett got to his feet, he felt the flesh of Rogue’s hand contact his face. Everett began to feel himself losing consciousness. He put all his remaining energy into the final use of his powers. An aura of every color began to glow around the boy. Then, he could feel his strenght returning to him. He spun around and forced Rogue’s hands off of him.

"How did you do that?!" asked Rogue astonished. No one had ever been able to resist her powers like that before.

"I have the ability to synchronize myself with the powers of any mutant nearby," answered Evan. "In other words, I mimicked your powers, kind of like this!" Evan’s eyes began to glow red. An optic blast erupted from his eyes and sent Rogue flying across the lawn and onto the ground, where she stayed.

Suddenly, Evan felt a something crash into the small of his back. As he fell to the ground and into unconsciousness, Scott walked up behind him. "Copycat," whispered Scott to himself. Then, as Scott turned around, he felt Paige crash into his body and send him to the ground. He cradled his ribs as he stood to his feet. The pain actually felt like a hunk of steel had crashed into his ribs. She charged towards Scott again, but felt herself hovering above the ground. Jean had used her telekinesis to suspend Paige in the hair, so that she couldn’t move.

"Nighty-nite, Blondie!" said Scott. Then, with all the power he could muster, he fired an optic blast at Paige. She fell to the ground and remained motionless. Scott turned her body over, and noticed that his blast had pierced the metal husk covering her skin. Where the blast had hit, he could see the flesh. Scott, still cradling his ribs turned his attention towards Jean. "Jean! Behind you!"

It was too late. Jono had fired a bio-blast at Jean from behind. Jean fell to the ground without ever knowing she’d been attacked. Scott tried to stand and fire an optic blast at Jono. However, the pain was so great that he couldn’t bring himself to do either. Scott merely looked up at Jono. Flames of psionic energy were roaring from the cavity of his chest and lower face. Scott stood there helpless waiting for the inevitable.
***
Kitty found herself standing opposite Jubilee. A smirk began to spread across the face of the Asian girl. She almost started to laugh as Kitty stood in a martial arts stance, ready to defend herself.

"I guess, I better watchout for the crane, huh?" teased Jubilee. Jubilee raised her hands, and fireworks exploded from her hands. Kitty clutched her eyes, she had been blinded by the blast. Jubilee ran forwards as if to push Kitty into the pool.

"Kitty, phase!" shouted Evan as he climbed out of the pool.

Kitty did as she was told. Jubilee ran through Kitty’s body. Jubilee came to a halt right at the edge of the pool. She began to wave her arms backwards and forwards to prevent herself from falling in. Then, she felt something hard smack against her bottom. Jubilee reached back and grasped her bottom to soothe the pain. However, as she did so, she fell head first into the pool. When, she resurfaced she saw Evan standing next to Kitty with a long, thin bone spike resting against his shoulder.

"Oh, I’ll show you!" cried Jubilee. She lifted her hands out of the water and prepared to fire another volley of fireworks.

"Holster the lightshow, squirt," said a voice. Jubilee turned her attention to owne of the voice. It was Logan. A smile spread across Jubilee’s face as she swan to the edge of the pool and pulled herself out. She raced along the edge of the pool, wrapped her arms around Logan’s waist, and squeezed as tight as she could.

"Logan!" cried Jubilee as she buried her head against his chest.

"Did we miss something here?" asked Evan as he looked from Jubilee and Logan, and back to Kitty.

"We will explain everything shortly," said Professor Xavier as Ororo wheeled him out onto the patio. "Listen to me, everyone. The fighting must end now. There are no enemies here, only friends. I want all of you to come quickly to the main house," said the Professor.
***
The teens all fumbled into the Professor Xavier’s office cradling their injuries and supporting each other as they entered the door. All of the students from Snow Valley filed on one side of the room and glared at the Xavier’s students. The X-Men did the same and continued to stare down their rivals. Professor Xavier began to massage his temples as the tension of the room began to get to him.

"Now, would someone care to explain exactly what is going on here?" said the Professor.

Scott took a step towards the Professor, still holding his ribs. "Professor, they appeared on the grounds and activated the intruder alarm. When we asked them to identify themselves they attacked."

"Oh really?!" scoffed Paige as she stepped forward. "Professor Xavier, I presume?" Professor Xavier nodded. Paige looked back at Clarice who confirmed his identity. "Listen sir, I admit we attacked, but only after four-eyes here fired on us!" Paige was now staring directly into Scott’s eyes.

"I fired a warning shot!" protested Scott as he stepped closer to Paige. "You however ignored the warning, refused to identify yourself and then gave your team the order to attack us! If the fault belongs to anyone, it’s you!"

"Something has to be wrong with your prescription, Four-eyes, or are you just dying to go another round?" taunted Paige.

"Ready when you are, Blondie?" countered Scott.

"Enough! Both of you!" said the Professor. "Obviously both of you erred in your judgement of the situation. Now, I believe that it is time that we got to the matter at hand. First, however, I feel I owe you all an explanation. Scott, you and the others are enrolled here at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters in Bayville, New York. These other students, are enrolled at the our sister school, the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters in Snow Valley, Massachusetts."

The mouths of all the students dropped at the revelation. "You mean you created another school, and didn’t tell us? When did this happen?" asked Scott.

"The school has been in existence for sometime," explained Xavier. "This is however, the first class to attend the Snow Valley Institution. I selected two of my trusted friends to run the installation." A sarcastic grunt of laughter escaped Logan’s lips after Xavier’s statement. "I thought training you all would be better if it occurred in smaller groups, instead of one large group."

"How many more schools do you have like this?" asked Scott. "And why have you been keeping them a secret?"

"As of right now, there is only one other school, on Muir Island, in Scotland. However, at the moment that is irrelevant. What we need to determine now, is why you all are here," said Professor Xavier as he turned to Paige.

"Professor, we were sent by Ms. Frost to get help, and to warn you," said Paige. She was nervous, and kept trying to keep her emotion in check. "It all started a few days ago. While during a field exercise in the yard, we discovered this strange metal on the grounds. The composition of it, doesn’t fit with any of the metals we have on our periodic table.

"Anyway, just this morning, the thing started showing signs of life. It had the ability to absorb matter and convert the matter to match the same molecular make-up as the metal. Whatever it absorb was turned into the same metal. As it kept absorbing, it began to compose a body for itself. Eventually, the thing came to life and started trying to absorb us. It succeeded in capturing one of our teammates, as well as Mr. Cassidy and Ms. Frost."

The Professor rested his chin on his fist as he began to think about everything he had just heard. "Listen, you’ve all apparently had a rough day. Scott, I want you and the others to show our guests where they can get cleaned up, make them fill at home. Right now, I need to converse with Logan and Ororo about what steps we should take to end this threat and retrieve our colleagues."

Scott nodded, and motioned for everyone to follow him out of the room. Once they were all out of the office, they headed for the living room. Once again, the students from the two schools filed to opposite sides of the room. Scott looked at the faces of his own friends, and the faces of their guests. He sighed and strided across the room towards Paige. He stopped and front of her, and looked down at her. Then, he held out his hand.

"Scott Summers – Cyclops," said Scott with his hand extended.

Paige looked down at his hand then, back up into Scott’s red lenses. Then, she reached out and took his hand, "Paige Guthrie – Husk."

"Nice to meet you, Paige," said Scott. "I figure that since we’ll be working together we should actually get to know each other. Now, I guess you know what my mutation is by now. What’s yours?"

"I have the ability to shed my skin at will," began Paige, "and replace it with any other solid material. Then, I can shed that layer and go right back to flesh."

Then, Jean stepped forward and introduced her self, and explained that she was a telepath and telekinetic. The other X-Men followed the examples of Scott and Jean, and did the same thing. After they had all introduced themselves, the members of Generation X did the same.

"My name’s Jono Starsmore – Chamber," said Jono telepathically. "As you can see, I’m a telepath, but I also have the ability to fire bio-blasts of psionic energy."

"Clarice Ferguson – Blink," said Clarice timidly. "I can distort spatial energy and teleport through those distortions." Clarice glanced quickly in Kurt’s direction, whom was wearing a large smile on his face.

"Everett Thomas – Synch," said Everett. "I can mimic the powers of mutants in close range, and use them as my own."

"Monet St. Croix," said Monet. "Just call me, M. I can fly, super strength, and I’m a telepath." Monet appeared to be annoyed by the fact that she had to explain herself. She almost had the attitude of disbelief that they didn’t know who she was.

"Jubiliation Lee, better known as Jubilee," said Jubilee. Then, a pink bubble began to emerge from her lips, only to deflate and re-enter her lips. "Let’s see, my specialty is… fireworks!" Jubilee sent up a few sparks. "Okay… tough crowd."

"All right, let’s head upstairs, I’ll show you guys where you can get cleaned up," began Scott. "Then, if you’re hungry or whatever, we could grab a pizza." Scott turned and began to lead the way upstairs. He felt a hand grab his arm. He turned to find Paige holding his arm.

"I’m sure the rest of my crew is famished, but I'm not really hungry. Could you show me where I could get some training in?" asked Paige. A smile spread across Scott’s face. As the others continued up the stairs to get cleaned up, Scott and Paige headed towards the Danger Room.