X-Men: To the End

Chapter 1

Alex Summers kneeled over Scott’s grave, forcing himself to stay calm, with his wife’s arm wrapped around his shoulders. He couldn’t believe he had missed his own brother’s funeral. He and Scott hadn’t spoken in years, not since they were kids at the orphanage actually, but still he should’ve been there on his last chance to say goodbye to his older brother. “Are you going to be ok, honey?” the woman with the green hair kneeling next to him asked, pulling him closer to her. Alex nodded and they stood up together, turning to the black woman with the snow white hair standing behind them.

“I never knew that Scott had a brother.” Ororo said.

Alex just chuckled. “No surprise there. We never did get along much after mom and dad died. We haven’t spoken since I was adopted and he ended up here.”

“Oh… I see. Well, Alex, you and Lorna are welcome here anytime you’d like to pay your respects to Scott. As far as I’m concerned, you’re part of the family here.”

“Thanks Ororo, but I think we’ll be leaving town shortly.” Lorna explained.

“We’ll be by again before we leave.” Alex broke in. “I never made up with Scott while he was alive; it’s the least I can do to spend an hour at his grave… just to say I’m sorry from not keeping in contact.”

Ororo smiled as Alex placed his hand on his brother’s grave and remained where she was as Alex and Lorna walked out the gate and back to their car. As they left Ororo noticed that Alex’s hands were glowing ever so faintly, but thought nothing of it. She waited until Alex and Lorna had left before turning to Scott’s grave herself. It was hard to believe it had been over a year since he, Jean, and Charles had died. The Institute just wasn’t the same without Charles’ caring smile, Scott’s powerful voice barking orders, or Jean being the voice of reason. It wasn’t the same and it never would be again.

Still, things had been plenty hectic since Ororo had become Head Mistress of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. At first it was just Logan and herself running the school. It wasn’t long before Ororo had to ask Peter to become a teacher as well. But three still wasn’t enough, especially with trouble makers like John Allerdyce or Kevin Sidney around. Just recently Ororo had made arrangements for a new teacher to come in and she’d even asked a former student at the institute to come back and help out for a while. She was even considering giving Hank a call and asking him to return.

As thoughts like these and others raced through Ororo’s head she failed to see one of her many students approach her. It was a new girl named Rahne Sinclair from Britain, one of the more responsible students around. Rahne was a petite girl in her mid-teens with shoulder length auburn hair and was rarely seen without a silver cross hanging from a chain around her neck. She had the power of Lycanthropy, the ability to morph into a wolf or human-wolf hybrid. “Head Mistress Monroe,” Rahne called as she approached her teacher, “there’s a woman waiting for you in your office. I think she said her name was Emma Frost.”

“Oh! Thank you Rahne.” Ororo said as she quickly walked passed Rahne and towards the school. Emma Frost was the teacher she had just recently hired. But there was more to it than that. She wasn’t positive but Ororo suspected that Emma was a mutant, and a telepath at that. The only reason Ororo even thought this was because there were a few instances during Emma’s interviews where she responded to questions that Ororo hadn’t even asked yet.

Ororo quickly made her way through the school and into her office. There, just as Rahne had told her, waited Emma. Emma was a slender woman with long, straight golden blond hair. She was also never seen wearing anything but white, or at least that’s the sense that Ororo got after they’d met so many times. Emma turned to Ororo as she entered the room. “Hello miss Monroe.” Emma said as she stood up and offered her hand to the other woman. Ororo took her hand and shook before moving behind her desk and taking a seat.

“So, Emma, I’d like to clear up a few things before you officially start teaching here. First let me ask you this,” she stopped the think her question instead of verbally asking. Are you a mutant?

“Is it going to be a problem if I am?” Emma asked, raising one eyebrow and suddenly becoming very tense.

Ororo only laughed at this. “Of course not. You see we don’t exactly make this public, but this isn’t just a school. It’s a safe haven for any mutant seeking shelter. Almost every student and teacher here is a mutant. I myself can control the weather and the girl who guided you to my office is a lycanthrope. And I’m guessing you’re a telepath, correct?”

Emma nodded. “And let me guess, the guy with the hair that I saw on my way in has a healing factor.”

“Yes, it’s rare that you see Logan in the infirmary.” Ororo joked. “So, I’ll have Peter take your bags up to your room and you’ll start tomorrow. Is that ok?”

“That’s fine.”

“One more thing before you leave.” Ororo said suddenly just as Emma was beginning to get up. “Along with being a school, we also have a lower level here to train the teachers and specially selected students in case of emergencies. The younger students have come to call anyone in this group ‘X-men’. I’m sure you saw the news reports a year ago about Alcatraz.”

“I thought you looked familiar when I first met you.” Emma said. “So you and the ‘X-men’ were the six fending off that army of mutants.”

“Well there would’ve been more of us but we suffered a few… casualties before hand.” Ororo explained. “Anyway, we have a machine in the lower levels called Cerebro. It allows us to detect and track down every mutant around the world. Unfortunately, it needs a telepath to operate and you’re the first we’ve had since Professor Xavier died. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind using it occasionally to help us find runaway mutants in need of a home.”

Emma didn’t answer right away. Apparently she needed to think it over before deciding, but it didn’t take long for her to make up her mind. “Let’s give it a shot and we’ll talk from there.”

OUTSIDE OF THE MANSION

On the mansions estate almost every student was enjoying their free time outside. Some were playing basketball or other sports, some were just snoozing on the grass, and others were just walking around talking. One duo in particular was sitting under a tree enjoying each others company. Bobby Drake, or Iceman, was sitting their with his back leaned against the tree with his girlfriend Marie, or Rogue, sitting next to him with her head resting on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around her waist. Those two had become practically inseparable ever since Marie had taken the cure for her mutant powers. And ever since that day she couldn’t get enough of real physical contact… and Bobby was proud to say that he was the constant target of her affection.

Marie suddenly flipped onto her stomach and looked Bobby in the eyes, smiling sincerely. “I love you.” She said before leaning in and kissing him. They just sat there enjoying the moment for a bit before Bobby suddenly pulled away with a concerned look on his face. “Is something wrong, Bobby?” Marie asked.

“It’s nothing.” Bobby insisted. “I just feel a little light headed… I probably shouldn’t have had whatever that was that Remy cooked for lunch.”

“And what do you have against Cajun food?” Bobby and Marie looked up to find that Remy was walking toward them at the moment. Remy was one of the new students and he’d befriended them very quickly. He was from Louisiana and spoke in a thick Cajun accent. He had short but shaggy brown hair and, thanks to his mutant genes, his eyes were black with red irises. He was also rarely seen without his signature trench coat and a deck of cards. The reason for the cards was that he liked playing poker and they were handy weapons when combined with his card throwing skills and mutant powers, the ability to charge any object he touches with kinetic energy and cause it to explode. The cards also gave Remy the nickname ‘Gambit’. “I’ll have you know that that’s a secret family recipe that’s been passed down the Lebeau blood line for generations.” he continued.

“Relax, Remy. It’s not like it poisoned me.” Bobby said.

“Dang, I thought I forgot to put something in there.” Remy joked.

“So what’s going on, Remy?” Marie asked.

“Just wanted to see if you guys were up for a few hands of Black Jack.” Remy answered as he pulled a deck of cards out of his trench coat pocket. But before he can even do his usual card tricks a fireball came flying out of nowhere and knocks the deck from his hand, burning to ashes before it even hits the ground.

“How’re you gunna play Black Jack without any cards?” All three of them knew this cocky and arrogant voice all to well. Bobby and Marie stood up and Bobby’s hands began to manifest frost while Remy turned around, pulled out a single card from another pocket and charge the card with kinetic energy, causing it to give off a bright purple aura. As the trio suspected they found John Allerdyce standing a few yards away flipping his lighter open and closed. Standing next to John was his girlfriend, Jubilee; a cute Asian girl with short jet-black tied back in a ponytail. Jubilee’s powers were similar to Remy’s as she could charge objects with energy and make them explode, but she could also project this energy into the open air and throw it around. On the other side of John was Kevin Sidney, a younger boy about twelve years old with the ability to shape shift. People often called Kevin ‘Morph’. Kevin and Jubilee were among the few students who had forgiven John for joining Magneto and fighting against the X-men at Alcatraz.

“What do you want, John?” Bobby demanded, moving in front of Marie.

“What?” John laughed. “I can’t just drop by and burn some time with my old buddy?” as he spoke he flipped open his lighter again and moved the flame into his hand. “But then again, you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder lately, ain’t that right, Frosty?”

“Oh, you’re asking for it.” Bobby growled, his skin and hair now turning blue and the air around him becoming colder.

“C’mon, Bobby. Let’s leave… he’s not worth it.” Marie said, grabbing Bobby’s wrist and pulling him away.

“You’re not worth much yourself, Rogue.” John called. “You’re not even a mutant anymore… you shouldn’t even be here.” Just as he’d finished speaking an ice ball went flying passed John’s head and one of Remy’s glowing cards went straight at him which he threw the his fireball at, causing it to explode in midair.

“You leave her out of his, Allerdyce!” Bobby shouted.

“I’ve been known to flambé more than just chicken.” Remy growled, agreeing with Bobby.

“Well then bring it on, frenchy!” John laughed as he flipped on his lighter and summoned two soccer ball sized fireballs into his hands. “Morph, Jubilee, feel free to join in.” At Johns orders Kevin began shifting his form into an exact copy of Remy only with a green trench coat instead of a brown one. He even pulled out a few cards and charged them with kinetic energy like Remy could. Meanwhile, Jubilee just rolled her eyes and stepped aside.

“I’ve told you before, John, I’m staying out of this.” Jubilee said. As she walked away she motioned for Marie to follow her, but Marie remained at Bobby’s side despite how much she agreed with Jubilee.

John remained silent and watched as Jubliee walked away, waiting until she was out of sight before turning back to Bobby, Remy, and Marie. “Ok, let’s get this started. Ready, Morph?”

“Hey! What the hell’s going on here?”

Everyone froze. They all knew that voice to well. They turned to find Logan walking towards them and they could tell he was pissed because he was struggling to keep his claws in. Immediately Kevin shrank down to a squirrel and sprinted away while John just went running. “This isn’t over, Frosty!” John called back as he ran.

“Marie, Bobby, Remy, what the hell was that all about?” Logan demanded. Bobby explained that John just showed up and started messing them but this didn’t satisfy Logan at all. “Now you guys know I don’t mind fighting, it’s a good way to let off steam.” Logan explained more calmly now. “But I won’t tolerate powers being used. You do realize that if that had gone any further and Storm found out you could be expelled, right?” Before any of them could answer the bell for the next class rang. “All right, get out of here and don’t let it happen again.”

All three agreed and they started walking back towards the mansion. But before Marie had gone very far Logan grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back. “What were you thinking, kid? You can’t get caught up in stuff like this. If I wouldn’t have stepped in you might not be here.”

“I’m sorry, Logan. It’s just… well… John just gets to me, you know?” Marie asked.

Logan just chuckled. “Yeah, I get it kid. Now stay out of trouble.” Marie smiled at him and hugged him quickly before running off to catch up with Bobby and Remy.

SAN FRANSISCO

“So, dad, how’ve you been?” Warren asked his father as they sat down across from each other in a small diner. It had been a year since the incident at Alcatraz and they hadn’t spoken since then. But now Warren was finally trying to reconcile with his father and his first attempt was this, simply having lunch with him at a small diner.

“Oh, I’m fine, Warren. And how about you?” Warren’s father asked.

“I’ve been doing fine.” Warren answered.

Both men want silent for a while, not knowing what to say next. They both had so many questions that neither of them knew where to begin. “So, dad…” Warren finally said, deciding to ask what was on his mind. “How are things going with the… mutant cure?”

Warren’s father looked away from his son, ashamed of the answer. “Well… ever since Alcatraz it’s been a little hectic. Some of the higher-ups want to shut down production completely while others think another attack is inevitable. The National Guard wants us to start stockpiling it for the same reason, only for government buildings. I honestly don’t know where I stand on the matter.”

Again the two fell silent, but it was quickly broken when Warren spoke up again. “Look, dad, I’m sorry I didn’t turn out the way you wanted me to… but these wings are a part of me, and I don’t want to change that. You just have to accept that I am what I am… I am a mutant.”

“…Yes… I suppose I do.” Warren’s father said timidly.

“Is something wrong dad?” Warren asked.

“Of course not son, everything’s fine… or at least it all will be soon.”

Quickly after that a waitress came by and took their orders. They spent the next hour and a half eating and talking about less important matters; sports, current events, the insane gas prices, etc. after they’d both finished a burger, some fries, and a drink each they paid their bill and left.

“So, you taking the subway home?” Warren asked as they stepped out the door.

“Either that or a taxi.” Warren’s father answered. “And I suppose you’ll be…”

“Flying…” Warren finished for him as he pulled off his trench coat and stretched his wings. “Yeah. Easiest way to get around, really.”

“I suppose it would be. No one else to watch out for, no rules to follow, it’s practically the definition of freedom.”

As his father spoke Warren noticed the nervous and unsettled look on his fathers face. “Dad, if it bothers you that much I can take a taxi or something. It’s no big deal.”

“Oh no, that’s all right, son. You go ahead and stretch your wings… literally.” This got a chuckle out of both of them. They remained where they stood, silently, for a few more moments before finally deciding to part ways. Warren began to walk one way while his father started in the other direction. “Oh, Warren, one more thing before you go.” His father called.

Warren turned around to see what his father wanted but by the time he realized what was really happening it was to later. He felt the needle pierce his skin and he felt the serum being injected into his body, but he refused to believe it. Warren’s father had just injected his with the mutant cure. Before he knew it he could feel his wings beginning to shrivel and the feathers beginning to molt away. He felt no pain, only a small tingling sensation and before he knew it, it was over. He wings had melted back into his body and all that was left of them were a few feathers on the ground. Warren dropped to his knees and gawked at his father in disbelief. “Why?” he muttered.

“I’m sorry.” His father said simply before walking away, disappearing into the throng of pedestrians around him.