Thunderbird || X-Men

Chapter 3 ~ Attacked

All of us were in the hangout room. Alex and Darwin were battling over the pinball machine. The rest of us were just talking.

"So I moved out of my mom's. I probably needed too anyway." I told them. "I should've left at eighteen. I guess at the time I didn't really think my.."

I looked for the right word.

"gifts.. would be a problem." Alex turned from his game to look at me talking.

"I left just the other day, right before I came here. I knew it was time."

"Did your mom not accept you?" Angel asked me.

"No, she accepted me. I left on my own accord. I didn't want to hurt her again."

"What do you mean 'again'?" Raven wondered, causing the room to go quiet. Everyone was sitting around me now, listening. I paused for a moment. I didn't really want to tell them, but at the same time, I felt like they deserved to know.

"Before I left we got into an argument. I got angry. I just couldn't control it. She got scared, scared of me. Everything just-"

"Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town!" A pair of guards appeared outside our window. "Hey c'mon honey, give a little wih-wih-wih-wih-wih. No?" One of them said, looking at Angel. He flapped his hands around in mockery. Angel rolled her eyes.

"Hey let's see the foot." He said to Hank, who got up and closed the curtains in their faces. I could tell Angel looked hurt.

"They're just guys being stupid." Raven told her, trying to comfort her.

"Guys being stupid I can handle." She started. "But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off than the way these ones stare at me."

There was a pause.

"At us." Raven added.

The silence was interrupted by thumping sounds, coming from outside. All of us looked around. We gathered together and opened the curtain. Faintly we heard yelling. It got closer and closer until we heard multiple thumps outside the window in the courtyard. We could see that they were men that had fallen from somewhere, and that all of them were dead.

We were in shock for a few seconds of silence until Angel let out a shriek. We heard more and more screams of falling men and loud gunfire throughout the building, echoing off the cement walls. By now we knew what was happening. The compound was being attacked.

"Get back! Stay in that room!" A few men with guns surrounded the courtyard. All of us huddled together in fear on the side of the room. We felt the need to defend ourselves but at the same time, we were scared to. We never saw what the men were shooting at, it was just a red plume of dust. We all ducked behind the couch as the men shot. We saw the enemy was a mutant with red skin and black hair. Before any of us could piece together what was going on, the back window shattered.

We all turned at once. Outside the other window was a massive tornado in front of Cerebro. My mind was spinning all over the place and I couldn't get a grip on reality. It was just chaos. The loud gunfire throughout the building hurt my ears. Then there was an explosion. All of us covered our ears with our hands, keeling over from the pain.

"Stay here my ass!" Darwin shouted before running out of the room into the hallway. The rest of us, unsure of what we should do, followed, bustling ourselves through the thin corridors. A few SWAT members stopped us, pushing us back. Just as our heads poked out of the hallway, we saw a glimpse into the main room. Another loud explosion.

"Nevermind!" I shouted at them as we turned back, heading into our room once again. The red mutant from before had killed most of the men when we arrived back in. Another one pushed a man through the second window, killing him instantly. They both approached us, and we cowered in fear. We had been cornered. Then there was a silence.

"They're right through that door! Just let us normal people go." Said a voice from behind the glass door. Raven was in shocked tears. We were surrounded. There wasn't anything we could do. Then the door opened.

"Where's the telepath?" The man who had just walked in had said. He wore a suit and a navy blue metal helmet, which looked kind of stupid on him. I knew he was referring to Charles.

"Not here." Said the red one.

"Too bad. Well, at least I can take this silly thing off." He removed his helmet and ran a hand through his dark hair. I held on as tightly as I could to Alex, trying to calm myself down.

"Good evening." He began. "My name's Sebastian Shaw, and I am not here to hurt you." All of us huddled closer together as he approached.

"My friends, there's a revolution coming. When mankind discovers who we are and what we can do, each of us will face a choice." He stopped speaking to look at all of us individually. I felt my body tremble in his gaze.

"Be enslaved.. or rise up to rule." Sebastian Shaw looked at each of us again, as if talking to every one of us. "Choose freely but know that if you are not with us then you are, by definition, against us."

"So you can stay, fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like kings." Sebastian Shaw looked down at Angel with soft eyes. "And queens." He finished.

I could hear Angel gulp, as she took his outstretched hand hesitantly, and began to walk away.

"Angel?" Raven said sympathetically.

"You gotta be kidding me?" Sean added.

"C'mon. We don't belong here." Angel admitted, her voice cracking. "And that's nothing to be ashamed of."
I looked back and forth between Angel, Alex, and the rest of the others.

"We have to do something." I heard Raven say under her breath. Darwin looked back at us until his eyes met Alex. Alex, knowing full well what Darwin meant to do, punched him in the shoulder. It was an attempt to keep him from leaving. They exchanged glares at each other. I could feel Alex tense up.

"Stop," Darwin shouted. Sebastian Shaw, Angel, and the rest were already lined up, ready to leave. "I'm coming with you."

I watched Raven, Sean, and Hank line up and I assumed this was an attack formation. I let go of Alex and stood beside him, ready for whatever the plan was. Darwin was talking with Sebastian Shaw for a while until he lined up next to Angel.

"Alex!" He shouted, grabbing Angel and transforming his skin into rock to protect the two of them. Raven motioned for me and the others to get back. We grouped into a corner. I peeked out to see Alex wind himself up and launch a huge, red, disk of energy at Sebastian Shaw. It lit up the entire room. For a moment, I thought we would win.

Sebastian Shaw caught it, and all of us gasped. He somehow absorbed the energy. He grabbed Darwin by the face and shoved the small, dense ball of energy into his mouth and stepped back. I covered my mouth to stop myself from screaming. Angel, Shaw, and the rest of his followers disappeared into a red plume of smoke, leaving us and Darwin, fighting to stay alive.

All of us came out of our corner, unsure of what to do. Alex watched in horror as Darwin transformed his skin into different materials, but nothing could stop it. He was just unable to handle the energy, and his skin cracked, red light shining from within him. He reached out to us, and it ached in my heart that there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Darwin's skin cracked more and more before he broke apart completely, leaving nothing left of his body.

Alex fell to his knees and sobbed. We all ran to him, taking him in our arms.

"Alex, I'm so sorry!" I said to him through tears, hugging him as tight as I could. He didn't respond.

Darwin died right in front of us, and there was nothing we could do but watch.