Players:
Summary: A comic book character comes to life?
Date: June 24, 2011
Log Title: "X, will beat him for me"
Rating: PG
NYC - Mutant Town (Avenue A)
//Mutant Town, also known as District X, has become a haven for mutants. This section of town doesn't care what you look like, accepting all mutants no matter what their appearance. Most of the businesses in this section of town are mutant run ranging from small convenience stores to clothing shops to restaurants to night clubs. The buildings here aren't the high rise buildings you might find in mid-town but most are about 5-6 stories high. Mutant Town might not be the most luxurious section of town, in fact it's fairly run down, but this section of where mutants are safe and welcomed regardless of race, religion and culture. //
It is late evening in Mutant Town and the last bits of renovation have been performed on the desolate district of New York City. The Buddhist X-Man, dressed in peaceful white robes and a scary metallic mask makes his way through. He is always hesitant to visit New York out of fear to be recognized for his brother's action nearly destroying the city. However, in Mutant Town amongst the freaks, he fits well. Maybe even better than his adopted home of the Xavier Institute. He airwalks a few inches off the ground, "And why have I been drawn here this evening?" Stopping in front of an alleyway, he sits on the ground and now looking like a religious vagrant, he sits in a meditative pose. Something is amiss in the air and he senses it.
After what went down in the park yesterday Cloud had to cut his trip short after talking to the cops, so now he's just finished checking out the apartment building in Mutant town that Emma suggested, he's dressed in grey jeans, a black hoodie and black converse, wandering down the street he spots Xorn, wondering what his squad leader is doing there he jogs to catch up to the man.
Xorn has not noticed Cloud yet. A small feline makes its way out of the alleyway and seems to purr as it spots Xorn and meows. He stops from his meditative stance to look at the creature. His head tilts to the side as if he has never seen a cat, which may be accurate. Not too many cats in solitary confinement in a Chinese prison. The cat stares at him and seems to stiffen its back and takes a predatory stance. Remaining silent, Xorn seems to be locked into a battle of wills with this little cat. The staring contest is finally ended with the cat hisses loudly. Much louder than a regular house cat can do. The cat itself seems to grow and within a few seconds it goes from housecat size to tiger size and it continues to grow.
As he reaches Xorn Cloud raises an eyebrow at the apparent staring contest between the X-Man and a cat, "Err Xorn?", his eyes widen and take a step backwards as the cat begins to grow, "Why does something have to happen everytime i meet someone from the mansion in the outside world?", he doesn't like cats at the best of times, "Xorn what is that?"
Xorn does not respond to Cloud. The cat, now a tiger with an almost alien like face, hisses and then leans back and charges towards Xorn. The masked mutant remains sitting with his legs crossed on the ground as the tiger leaps at him and he makes no move to fight it off. It seems to grow larger as it pounces on the non-fighting back. At a closer look, it appears it is wearing purple trunks and it is getting green. It attempts to bit Xorn at the base of his mask/neck area.
Not understanding why the hell Xorn is just standing there Cloud places a hand on the sidewalk and absorbs from the concreate, his hair, clothes and body taking on it's properties, "Xorn, move!", he chages and dives at the attacking creature aiming to knock it away from his squad leader.
The creature lets out his howl as Cloud dives towards it. Moving aside, it stand son its hound legs and is looking less feline and more alien like. More of a comic book monster. X looks out at Cloud and lets out another alien-sounding howl and lifts up a nearby dumpster and tosses it him. Xorn was in his own trance like state when the blast and shout fromCloud seems to wake him up. Looking over a disembodied voice speaks, "Cloud, the creature is not what it seems." He offers before he stands up and looks towards the alleyway.
As soon as he straightens up Cloud dives forward onto the ground again trying to avoid the dumster being thrown at him, "I don't even know what it seems like!", quickly getting to his feet he touches the thrown dumpster and switches from concreate to metal, "What do i do?, can i hit it at least?"
The creature now about ten feet tall makes it way and continues to howl and hiss. Its appearance has changed. Now fully green with purple trunks, two bluish horns appear from its eyebrows and blueish spikes grown along the spine of its back and a long green dragon like tail. It stomps on the ground sending little quakes to shake the nearby vicinity and it leans forward to charges Cloud like a bull with its horns out. Xorn watches the creature for a moment and seems entranced as he stares at it. The eyelets, noselet and mouthpiece of his mask seem to flicker and glow with some sort of energy. Though he does not make any more to attack yet.
Cloud actually gulps as the creature hits ten feet, man he hasn't seen anything like this since the demons came to New York, "Xorn information?, something please?!", taking a deep breath Cloud hopes that the metal will hold out against that things horns he takes the force of the hit trying to slam his fists down on it's back before he's sent flying by the hit.
It charges forward and collides with Cloud. Cloud in his metal form is able to take the hit and it lets out another howl in pain as his metal fists slam into its back. He attempts to lift upwards and flip Cloud over its back and onto the ground below. Xorn thinks out, <Somehow, this does not appear right. I can sense no thoughts from it, but there is an unusual energy pattern. I am trying to get a fix on the source. For now, in your metal form you seem to be able to hold onto your own.> Xorn does not go into the fight just yet as his powers are rather destructive and his own natural curiosity has him wondering. He levitates skyward until he is at the height of the roof of the surrounding buildings.
Cloud is pretty easily thrown onto his back crashing into the ground, 'This thing is energy?, finally information i can work with energy, i can absorb this thing right?', rolling onto his front he gets to his feet, waiting for an answer he pulls his fist back and aims a punch at the creature's chest (he can't reach the face).
<No, Don't!> Xorn mentally yells to Cloud, <I don't know its energy type. I am unfamiliar with it and it may be dangerous to you!> He hovers about and seems to stare into a window on the top floor of one of the brownstones. He airwalks towards the window and peers into to see a little boy reading a comic book. When the creature gets struck in the stomach, it keels over like it literally had the air knocked out of it. It falls to the ground and smoke surrounds it. After a second, the creature is gone and the smoke seems to have come to life. Two clouds of vapor move out one above Cloud and the other towards Xorn. The cloud of vapor above Cloud seems to suddenly emit raindrops, but a yellowish color, as it is not water, but acid.
Cloud grins as the creature appears to be winded, 'Guess i pack more of a punch than i thought', his eyes widen as the creature shifts into something else, 'What now?', as the acid starts falling from the cloud he winces as the acid starts to burn though his metal skin, he starts running to get out of the acid, 'What does acid not burn though?'
<Concrete.> Xorn sends out to Cloud. When he reaches the window, he knocks and the boy reading the comic is spooked and drops the comic book. When the comic book is dropped, the raining cloud of acid disappears. The little kid appears scared when he see Xorn's floating outside his window. He rushes forward and pulls a shade down. When the shade is down, the creature returns, again as a Cloud and starts to rain as acid, but one of the drops hits the ground and forms into the cat from before. A few more drop down and more cats appear and hiss at Cloud. With 5 cats on the ground hissing at Cloud and acid raining down. Xorn sees no choice and flies towards the acid raining nimbus.
Cloud slams a hand down on the sidewalk as quick as he can switching to concrete again, he breathes a sigh of relief which is pretty short lived and it starts raining acid again, and cats?, raising an eyebrow Cloud almost laughs, what can cats do to concrete?
<Well, I think you are safe for now.> Xorn hovers above the cloud as he does not want acid to affect his mask. The cats rush towards Cloud and begin to purr and rub themselves on Cloud. They purr heavily like they want attention and affection. Xorn ponders, <This creature is connected to the boy reading a comic book in his room. But I am not sure how. Suggestions?>
Cloud crouches down and strokes the cats, 'Good wasn't planning on melting today', a kid with a comic book? how does that work?, 'Want me to go talk to him?, no offence but i'm a lot more approachable than you, the mask can be kind of scarey, maybe i can get him to stop reading until we figure out whats happening?'
<That might be a good idea. You speak to the boy. I handle whatever these turn into next.> Xorn mentally sends the location of the boy to Cloud when the acid dropping nimbus turns into a pterodactyl and flies towards Xorn. The cats hiss when Cloud touches them and run away from him and leap into the sky. Their forms shift and seem to integrate into the pterodactyl. Which lets out a loud yell and with claws out rake against Xorn's robe.
Cloud nods and runs towards the building the kid is in, taking the stairs two at a time he quickly makes it to the kid's door, returning to his normal state he knocks on the door, "Hello?, anyone in there?"
The little boy walks to the door with a comic book in his hand The comic is called 'X The Thing That Lived' On the cover is the creature that Cloud fought earlier and the boys are are glowing white. He opens the door and looks at Cloud, "Friend?" He asks with a hopeful expression on his face. The pterodactyl swipes at Xorn again and he opens his mask ever so slightly. Xorn plays around with gravity around the creature and then it drops from the sky. The creature hits the ground and shatters and forms into another cloud of gas and surrounds Xorn.
Cloud notes the glowing white eyes, Xorn was right the kid is definatly involved, "Yeah, i'm a friend, my name is Cloud, what's yours?", looking behind the little boy into the room behind him he frowns, "Are you here on your own?", he thinks, 'Xorn you're right he's connected'.
The little boy cries a little bit, "My name is Charles. Mommy says not to talk to strangers, but you are my friend, Cloud. The boogey man was outside my window. But X, will beat him for me." Charles takes Cloud's hand, "X tried waking up mommy, but he couldn't." He leads Cloud into the room and shows him his mother. "Mommy won't wake up." Her body is on the floor, her head near the edge of a table and a pool of blood near her head. Xorn is mentally linked with Cloud and decides on a course of action. As the cloud of gas surrounds him, he falls to the ground and does not move.
Cloud spots the picture on Charles' comic book reckognising the creature from earlier, "Is X your friend too Charles?", he lets Charles lead him into the apartment and his eyes widen in shock as he sees the boys mother, letting go of his hand and crouching down he checks for a pulse, not finding one he sighs sorry for the boy's loss, "Charles how long has your mommy been lying here and wheres your daddy?", not realising what Xorn's done he thinks, 'His moms dead, we need to call someone'
End of Part One
Part Two
Charles takes Cloud's hand and says, "Mommy fell down like three hours ago. And Daddy is right there." He points to the fridge and there is a picture drawn by a little kid of his father and some angels around him on some clouds. "Daddy went to the sky." X the Things that Lived in the form of a pterodactyl flies up to the window and peers in and when he sees Charles holding Cloud's hand, he lets out a loud screech which shatters all the windows of the apartment. Xorn remains on the floor outside.
Cloud's eyes move from the body of Charles' mother to the picture on the fridge, his sadness for the boy deepening further as he realises he has now lost both his parents, "Do you hav…", as the pterodactyl screeches he turns to face the wall pulling the boy to him covering his head to protect him from the glass.
The pterodactyl flies into the apartment through the hole in the wall and then takes the form of the father. He looks at Cloud sand says, "Stay away from Charles." He moves forward as he does wings form on his back like angel wings and he flies forward ready to lash out at Cloud. Xorn suddenly levitates up at the hole in the window. "Stay away from my student!" He shouts.
As the pterodactyl flies in and shifts into the angel Cloud turns and stands up keeping Charles behind him, "I'm here to help him, i won't leave him here alone", taking a defensive stance he gets ready to move forward to meet the angel to keep Charles away from the fight, however his attention is caught by Xorn.
"Come to me Charles. That man is not your friend." Charles lets go of Xorn's hand and runs towards his 'father' . The father hugs his son and pulls him up tight in an embrace. As his eyes begin to glow, "No, he is going to kill the boy!" Xorn shouts as he flies in to engage the 'father'. The 'father's' eyes glow a bright red and he is ready to blast the boy but turns to blast Xorn instead with crimson beams which shuts the Asian mutant out of the hole and onto the ground. Charles runs to the comic book but his 'father' shoots a blast on the ground before the boy knocking him back.
Cloud tries to grab Charles as he runs past but the child manages to slip though his hands, he goes to run forwards and knock the angel away, "Xorn!", he panics as his leader is so easily knocked back, yelling in rage as the boy is nearly hit by a blast Cloud runs aiming to grab hold and absorb, Xorn's previous warning either forgotten or ignored.
The father teleports away Cloud runs towards him and stands over the Charles. "Where is the book?" X screams at Charles. He lifts the boy up his shirt, "Want to join Mommy and Daddy, Charles?" Xorn recovers and is up by the window hole again. Peering in, "The source is either the boy and the book. We can't let him have either." X's eyes glow again and attempts to shoot at Cloud and Xorn.
Cloud stops himself stumbling as X disappears and spins round just in time to see X grab Charles, "Put him down and pick on someone our own side you bastard!", having a split second to decide what to do as X fires Cloud does something very risky, he gets ready to take the hit, aiming to time his absorbsion just right.
The laser blast from his eyes strikes Cloud as Xorn levitates higher to avoid the blast. X takes the boys in one hand and goes to grab the comic book, but finds it difficult to lift as gravitational energy is suddenly applied to it forcing it onto the floor. X screams as he lifts Charles, "The boy will join his family if I cannot have the book! He will die." He gets ready to power up his eyes.
As with his attempt before in that Danger Room scene with Kieran Cloud's timing is slightly off again as he's knocked backwards by the blast however he does manage to absorb some of the energy that hits him, "I said to leave him alone!", he fires the energy out of this palm at the angel as his other hand finds a power outlet.
The blast blows the angel away from Charles who runs to the comic as he tries to lift it, but boys lifts up the comic. The angel back on his feet after the blast takes on a more demonic impish form as he flies and grabs the boy and attempts to fly out of the room, but is blocked by Xorn. "You will not leave here with the boy and the book. Applying gravitation force on the imp's wings, they remain in place, "Any harm comes to me I will kill him." X shouts.
Cloud absorbs from the outlet and his eyes flash with electricity, 'Xorn, we can't let him hurt the kid, i know you told me i shouldn't but if i drain that thing he won't be able to attack, he's only a kid so if you can't think of anything else, it's worth the risk".
Telepathically speaking to Cloud, <Well you just graduated and it would be a waste for something to happen to you now. I have him pinned down for now. Why not work together as equals? Remember your last danger room session?" Xorn focuses his energy on X weighing the creature down making it nearly impossible for him to move and affecting his grip on the boy and book.
For once Cloud gets it, something about the battle or maybe the boy's live in their hands has his brain working for a change, his last danger room session replays in his mind and he easily focuses on the relevent portion, 'Got it', using the electricty absorb Cloud superspeeds over to X and absorbs for the gravitational evergy around him and is back in place before you're sure he moved, ok Xorn's making X heaver, lets make Charles lighter.
With gravity askew by where Charles and X are, weights are shifted and Charles becomes light enough that he starts to float out of X's grasp as X is pinned down even further. Xorn strains a moment as he walks on air towards the creature that lived. "Cloud, take the boy and destroy the book." Charles is a little giddy almost laughing as he floats up an pretends to be flying.
As soon as the order is given Cloud releases his hold on the boy (he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer anyway, the rapid absorbtion is putting a strain on his body, again using his speed he grabs both the boy and the comic, "Sorry about this kid", he starts shreading the comic.
As the comic book is shredded and torn apart. X's body suddenly rips apart as light pops out from it and suddenly imploding as it collapses in on itself. X, The Thing That Lived lives no more. Charles cries out, "No!" He starts to weep in Cloud's arm, "Alone. I am alone." Xorn goes to the body of the mother as he examines it, "She died recently. I can sense her death." Xorn looks to the boy and telepathically reads his surface thoughts which lay out the events of what happened. Xorn looks down as he scans, "The boy's mother fell down and hit her head. And his father died some time ago. He was alone and he used the comic which somehow X was connected too." Xorn is saddened as he feels what the boy feels.
Cloud almost falls forwards out of exaustion but holds himself together as the boy begins to cry, "X was dangerous and was going to hurt you, i had to do it but i promise you won't be alone, i'll make sure of it Charles", he sighs as Xorn relays the story of what happened there, "We should take him back to the mansion with us, he's got no one left and he lives in mutant town so he could be one of us".
Struggling in Cloud's arm Charles cries, "No. no. I stay here. Stay with Mommy." Xorn looks about the apartment. "Well, this is home. This apartment in Mutant Town is the only place he has known. But we can't leave him here by himself. We'll contact the proper authorities within Mutant Town." He looks about this place was filled with happiness and now. Who knows. Let's go." He gestures for Cloud to follow him as they head out to take care of Charles. Finally the exhaustion of the events, Charles falls asleep in Cloud's arms.
Cloud shakes his head, "The kid has lost everything and you want me to leave him to child services?, sorry Xorn but i can't", he picks the boy up as he falls asleep, "You can wash your hands of this but i decided that i was gonna help people, and i can't just let him get sent to so crappy home after dealing with this, weither he's like us or not", still struggling from exaustion he heads out the door planning to call the cops on the way.
