The Marvel characters featured (X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers, et al) are all owned by Marvel Comics. Hellstar, Thermoblast, Hotshock, Chillstar, Fluxwave and Meanstreak are owned by myself. This is my first posting, so please be kind.
Chapter One
The sun shone down on the grounds of the Xavier Institute like a Mediterranean Summer day. The heat wave had been going on for over a week and had not gone un-noticed by the residents of the school. It was a Saturday and as there were no classes, the students and teachers had congregated around the Olympic-sized swimming pool behind the main buildings. Some who didn't want to swim were enjoying a game of basketball or playing tennis on the courts. It was a welcome break from the action the school had seen in recent months. Jean's death and subsequent return, the Professor's departure for Genosha, Beast's secondary mutation and the riot at the start of the Summer all seemed forgotten about. For the time being at least. The school had taken in several new students of late. They all seemed to have settled in nicely.
The silence would not last long.
"Look out!" Bobby's voice could be heard over the basketball courts. He was losing control of his ice slide and plummeting down towards the concrete near one of the hoops. The students playing on the court quickly dispersed to avoid injury as he and several tonnes of ice came crashing to the ground, cracking a large hole in the court. Energy blasts hit the ground around him as did red beams coming from the bushes around the courts.
Some feared an attack of some kind, but as Cyclops and Havok came running out of the bushes, they all looked on confused. Had the X-team turned on each other? Were they under control of some psionic influence?
"Right Drake, you loose." Cyclops said as he came running towards the hole in which Iceman sat, de-iced and rubbing his head.
"Hey, no fair! You two totally ganged up on me. And I thought this was a no powers, covert excersise!"
Havok soon piped up, removing his gloves. "Says the boy who iced up at the first sign of being discovered and destroyed half the flowerbeds ice-sliding away? FYI, Covert means trying not to be seen. Look it up."
"Grrrrr, Okay. Are we done now?" Bobby was clearly not happy at losing. The only people at the Institute who still had classes on Saturdays were the X-teams. Cyclops hadn't trusted the quiet atmosphere of late and adjusted the training schedules to make the most of the `down-time'.
"Show's over everyone." Cyclops shouted to the large group of students who had gathered to see what the commotion was about. "Nothin to see here..." The group started to disperse. Some even looked disappointed as they were probably hoping for some action. `Some people are never satisfied...' Cyclops thought to himself.
Alex was on his cell phone already calling someone to come and repair the basketball courts when Emma Frost, The former White Queen of the Hellfire Club, now joint-headmistress of the school came storming out. "Scott, Bobby, Alex! My office! Now!"
"OUR office, Emma." Scott Corrected. She responded by using one of her well practiced icy stares.
"Damn!" piped up Bobby , in his trademark class-clown drawl, "She even beats me on the coldness front!"
No one responded to his humour. They just followed her towards the main mansion building. Bobby sighed and followed, De-icing and appearing as a normal, attractive boy in his early-twenties, wearing the standard black leather x-uniform they were using at the time.
"Report, Commander!" Nick Fury called down to the lower deck of the Hellicarrier's main Bridge. Smoke billowed from the bulkheads, sparks flew from the consoles. Nick clung to his command chair as the ship violently tilted forty degrees to the right.
Commander Knox held onto her console and shouted towards the Colonel. "Sir, We can't get a visual, but sensors have confirmed eight small, medium ranged fighter craft of an unknown design."
"We're taking heavy damage, sir!" Another officer called from behind a plume of smoke to his left. Medics started to pour in through the aft doors to the Bridge to tend to the injured crew members who littered the bridge.
"No kidding!" Nick shot back. "You rookies sure have a thing for stating the obvious."
Another hit shook the ship. "Direct hit, sir. We've got power fluctuations on decks five, nine and ten." Knox called back.
"Can you get me anything on them?" Fury called over the noise on the bridge.
"Sensors are switching on and off. It looks like a link to the computer core is damaged. I can't get you anything."
"I can. A target lock." Iron Man announced as he came striding onto the bridge.
"Iron Man. Welcome to the bridge. What's left of it." I've managed to finish the upgrades we were working on. But their systems are offline. I've patched the targeting scanners from my jet into the Hellicarrier's communication and weapons systems." He handed a data pad to Colonel Fury. "This should be all the controls you need to manually target the new weapons on our guests."
"Iron Man, We owe you one. Again" Nick playfully punched the shoulder of Iron Man's armour.
"I wasn't even keeping score, Colonel."
Nick set the data pad into the port on his chair's console and began manually targeting the fighters.
"Sir," a young engineer called from near Knox's station, "the Brig has been compromised. We've got prisoners starting a riot down there."
Nick turned to Iron Man. "Can you deal?"
"You bet I can." Iron Man turned and entered the elevator and told the computer to take him to Deck Ten, The Brig.
"Fury to Engineering, We need power restored to Deck Ten as a priority. The containment fields in the Brig are down." There was no reply.
"Awwww, C'mon Jessica, you know this is the most boring shift to be on watch duty." Spiderman moaned, swivelling on his leather chair in an attempt to amuse himself. "Come on, Jess, one more came."
Spider-Woman sighed and smiled slightly. She picked up the Playstation controller and started to push the buttons. "Alright, one more game. And not to let me win this time."
"Hey, you cheated!" Spidey protested.
"I don't need to when I'm playing against you." She giggled as the game loaded and prepared to begin another Spidey ass-kicking.
The two were fullly engrossed in their game, racing their cars around the virtual track, Spider-Woman leading yet again.
"What's that beeping? Is it reminding me I'm loosing?" Spidey asked.
"Nice try Web-Head, I'm impervious to distractions." She reminded him with another smirk.
"Uh-oh. That's not part of the game." He realized.
"It's the proximity alert." She discovered, keying commands into the control panel in front of her. "Whatever it is, it's above us and descending fast!"
They Frantically punched the buttons on their consoles. "I'm trying to contact Carol." Spider-Woman told him. "Avengers Tower to Ms Marvel. Please come in..."
"Marvel here, go ahead Tower." Carol Danvers' voice boomed from the intercom system several seconds later.
"There's a massive object descending towards the city. And obviously, us. Are you in the neighbourhood?"
"Yeah, I'm already on my way. It looks like the S.H.I.E.L.D Hellicarrier. It looks heavily damaged and appears to be under attack." As usual, Carol sounded completely calm.
"Need a hand?" Spiderman asked, pulling the microphone from Jessica.
"Please. There's no way I can handle this alone." She replied. "Contact the Baxter Building. Reed's Anti-Graviton Device might ..." There was a crackle and a fizz on the channel, followed by silence.
"Ms Marvel! Come in Ms Marvel!" Spider-Woman yelled into the microphone.
Spiderman was busy at the other communications terminal. "Baxter Building, do you read? Come in Baxter Building..." There was no response, until...
"Reed Richards calling Avengers Tower." The voice of the Fantastic Four's leader on the comm system was a wonderfully relieving sound. "We're right underneath the Hellicarrier. I'm preparing to activate the Anti-Graviton Beam."
"Not a second too soon, Reed." Spider-Woman replied. "Good Luck."
The Fantasticar swept under the falling hell carrier, matching it's course and velocity as it came speeding down toward Manhattan. Johnny Storm's piloting skills keeping them from being crushed like a bug on a windshield. His elder sister, Sue, stood in the open compartment behind him, projecting the beginnings of one of her force fields above them, in an attempt to slow the decent of the colossal ship. As the force field grew in strength, Sue found herself being taxed more than ever before, every bit of her energy being focussed to stop the plummeting headquarters of the classified military organisation. This crisis would take some explaining to the public, whether they succeeded or not.
Sue pushed and pushed, feeling her own body straining under the pressures. Her brother called back to her, but she barely heard him, as the strain caused small amounts of blood to drip from her nostril. "Sis, it's working!" Johnny yelled. "It's slowing down!" "Reed! Please hurry!" She screamed, her husband frantically initiating his device's Vibranium Fusion power source. A lilac beam emanated from the machine and flowed towards the leading edge of the Hellicarrier. It spread and encompassed the ship, it's speed reducing gradually, until it came to a stop. Just in time as Sue passed out in the back of their small vessel into the arms of Ben Grimm, The Thing.
"It's okay, Susie." He reassured in his deep, gravelly Brooklyn accent. "Ya did good."
"You know that's not the point, Emma." Cyclops' voice could be heard through the solid wood door to his and Emma's office. "We're still a school. Or are you forgetting that?" Then there was silence.
"What are you doing Ashley?" Jubilee whispered as she came round the corner and saw her classmate with her ear to the door.
"Miss Frost and Mr Summers are having an argument about the damage to the basketball courts. Shhh..."
"Don't Shush me. What's going on?"
"It's getting heated. I need to concentrate on my psionic shield so she doesn't catch me."
Jubilee giggled.
"Jubes, I think she's onto us."
The two stood back up about to make a smooth exit when the door opened.
"Can I help you, lades?" Emma said as she stood in the doorway.
"So busted." Jubilee whispered to Ashley.
"Miss Lee, I assume you have a reason to be lurking outside my office?"
"Ummm... Yes actually. There's someone at the gate asking to speak to who's in charge. Say's his name's Jim something."
Emma sighed and made a move down the corridor. She turned and looked at the
girl stood next to Jubilee. "And don't think you're off the hook, young lady. We'll discuss this later."
Emma and Scott stood at the mansion's front door as a shiny black Harley Davidson motorcycle sped down the driveway. Security scans had shown nothing untoward, so they opened the gate remotely and stood ready to greet their guests.
The bike screeched to a stop at the bottom of the steps, it's two rider's dismounting swiftly. They removed their black helmets and the female shook her hair. The driver was male, mid twenties, about six feet tall, jet black, spiky hair and large, dark brown eyes. The female, tall and slender, stood about five-ten, with long, white hair in loose ringlets. They both wore immaculate black jeans and black T-shirts under their stylish leather jackets. Her T-shirt had a white Lightning bolt stretched across her ample chest. His had some orange flames on it. It almost looked like some sort of stylish uniform.
The woman spoke first, extending a hand to Emma. "Natalie Hardy. This is my friend Tim Watson. We're here to ask some questions about Tim's younger brother who we believe may have been here."
"Are you guys cops?" Cyclops asked, Shaking her hand, then shaking Jim's.
"No." Tim replied. "My brother is missing. The last we heard from him was that he was heading here."
"Come on in." Cyclops opened the doors, inviting them inside. "We'll head to my office."
"Our office." Emma corrected.
As the four entered the office overlooking the front garden of the Mansion, Cyclops and Emma took two of the seats around a small round glass coffee table and indicated Natalie and Tim to take the other two seats. Emma offered them coffee, then sat back down. Emma touched a panel on the table and a small touch screen revealed itself in the glass tabletop.
"How long has your brother been missing?" She inquired.
Tim bit his bottom lip, attempting to work out exactly how long it had been since his brother had stopped calling. "Ummm...Almost three weeks."
Cyclops piped up "There haven't been any new students enrolling in the last month. There are two en route to the school, both scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Both female, so not your brother." He sipped his coffee. "Could you give a description of him?"
Natalie took this moment to join in. "He looks just like Tim. A little younger, impulsive, hotheaded. He's an elemental. Calls himself `Thermoblast'."
"He has a codename?" Emma asked, placing her cup back on it's saucer, surprise slightly visible on her face. A rare occurrence, as her powers usually protected her from the unexpected.
"He's been known to fight the forces of darkness now and then." Natalie told them. Tim shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"As a matter of fact, that's what we fell out about." Tim admitted. "He wanted the hero lifestyle, but didn't quite know how to fit in. He's a good kid, but like Natalie said, hotheaded. Our parents were killed a few years ago and we've been raising John and James as best we can."
"John is the one who is missing." Emma commented, tapping some controls on the touch screen.
"Yes." Natalie confirmed. "How did you know?"
"I'm a telepath." Emma told them. "I'm picking up stray thoughts from both of you. I gather James has just applied to the school?"
Jane nodded. "His application was e-mailed yesterday. He can't seem to stay in normal schools."
"Jim, I detect some self blame from you regarding John's disappearance." Emma's counselling skills became more evident as she listened more and slipped into psychotherapist mode.
Jane answered for him. "John wanted a codename like his older brother and I. He found out about our work and wanted to join us. We just told him he was too young, so he started going out himself. A few days before he disappeared, he got in too deep with some mutant thugs and we had to find him. That was what started the argument."
Cyclops cleared his throat and inquired further. "Your work? Please explain."
"Natalie and I run a private detective agency." Tim told him. "We tried to keep it from the boys, but that didn't last long."
Natalie took over. "We have codenames. Then John wanted one. He started acting erratically before going out on his own patrols. James was happy to stay at home and help with paperwork."
Emma was still pushing controls on the console then stopped. "I've found James's application. We'll push it through right now. He seems to meet the criteria."
"Thank you." Tim shook their hands.
Natalie waved her hair from her face, looking utterly glamorous the whole time. Her aura screamed `Diva' "There's one other thing..."
Emma looked at her and smiled. "I know, you're being evicted. You're moving in with us."
"But..." Tim started, looking between Emma, Scott and Natalie. His attractive, chiselled face awash with confusion.
"Of course, you'll both need to be assessed," Scott told them. Emma looked at him and he realised he was being too formal. He quickly relaxed.
Tim and Natalie both thanked them, both breaking out in smiles, finally feeling a sense of relief. Help had been found.
"In fact..." Emma began, as she started heading towards the solid maple-wood door, "...two of our students are just outside, I'll have them help assign your quarters." She opened the door, finding Ashley and Jubilee on the floor in a tangled mess trying to escape.
As they exited the office, the communication panel on the wall beeped. A light flashed before Logan's voice came booming from the small speaker.
"Hey boy-scout, you there?"
Scott, quickly excused himself from the group and proceeded to the small device on the wall.
"Go Ahead Logan." He sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Better get your butt down to the War Room. Avengers just called in a problem in the city. They're dealing, Fantastic Four's there too, but it's big Scott. They need a hand with the cleanup. Sensor reports are comin' in. Just get down here, I'll have something for you then."
"On my way." He sighed again and broke into a jog as he entered the hall heading for the elevator. As he navigated the several corridors throughout the mansion, he could hear Logan's voice boom through the PA system.
"Senior X-Men to the War Room..."
Well, that's the first Chapter, i know there's no actual eroticness as yet, but I gotta set the scene a little. I've got a HUGE storyline planned out, even some things I think Marvel should have done. There are certain things they've done that I'm not too happy about (example, Rogue loosing her powers and getting Sunfire's - I hope you all like what I have planned there)
I've set this in my own continuity, which I'm keeping as close to the Main Marvel universe (616) as I possibly can.
Feedback is always welcome
Contact me at explosiveicon@hotmail.com or via my website www.toxicchain.com
Hugz, GJ