Revolution

Revolution 18

Revolution

Chapter 18: Mind Control

The commotion had been big and worrisome. All those present at the institute gathered in the strategy room as they waited for Xavier to return from consulting Cerebro and the secure information network. They were shocked by the revelation that came: the missiles were from shield. They were meant for the satellite, armed with special technology to penetrate its defenses, or at least that's what they thought. The missiles had been deflected and thrown back at the planet, but rather than returning to the place from whence they came, they were given random targets, some more serious than others. Shield assured that they would take care of their miscalculation, but it seemed very likely that they would work with the X-Men now.

After the atmosphere calmed down, Pietro continued his search for codes with more attentiveness regardless of what kind of TV show was playing. He managed to write down enough to get Forge started on deciphering them. Other than that there was little else that could be done by most, except Lance. The tremor of the missiles was enough to alarm anyone, but the distant echo of an explosion and the slight difference in the shaking that someone with Avalanche's power could clearly perceive, were enough to tell him that it wasn't an earthquake. Even of it was a sign of danger, other than a sense of alertness there was no fear, no irrational panic, nothing beyond what was normal.

After feeling a slight earthquake most were on edge thinking it was a sign of a coming retaliation from Revolution, but they realized after taking a look outside that it was actually Lance. His reaction to the shaking that he knew was not due to an earthquake further assured him that the fear he felt was in no way his own. The certainty of that and the way the situation had continued to develop made him want to master his powers again. Xavier couldn't free him; he had been told that, Lance had to free himself.

The earthquakes had only been slight so far, as Lance took things step by step. Tabitha went out, even if she had been told to stay indoors and rest. "Yeah, Lance! Shake it up!" She cheered.

Lance lost his focus and stopped. "Shouldn't you be inside?"

"Shouldn't the ground still be shaking?" She countered with a grin. Lance responded with a small earthquake, but Tabitha was not impressed. "You can do better than that!" Lance tried a slightly bigger earthquake. It filled him with discomfort, but Tabitha's challenging gaze was steady on him and made him want to go on. Finally, he cut loose and focused on Tabitha's confident and amused look, letting his power flow until she couldn't help it but to cheer.

A few more moments passed until finally, Ororo interjected. "I'm glad for your progress, but I think this area has released enough pressure."

The event was enough to cheer up Lance, who was glad to be back in control of his abilities. He glanced towards the institute where he knew Kitty was with Kurt, but he minded a lot less than he thought he would. Suddenly, Tabitha was in front of him, grinning with a plot in her eyes. "Party time?"

It wasn't the proper time for a party really, but it's not like they could do much anyway. Revolution was in orbit, unreachable and unpredictable, no matter what they did, so why not? "Sounds fun," he smiled back.

xoxox xox xoxox

That night, music played all over the institution and by the time the instructors put a stop to Lance and Tabitha's mischief, the other students were already joining in. A chorus of disappointed "aww..." and pouting faces invaded the room.

Logan let out a sound quite similar to a wolf growl and waited a few seconds. Kitty's eyes gave off the illusion of being larger as she made an effort to convince Logan. "Fine..." Logan turned the music back on and cheers followed.