Chapter 12: Prepared For Battle
[Erik Lehnsherr POV]:
"You all know the plan, yes?" Magneto asked.
"Yes!" they all answered.
"Good," Magneto grinned maliciously. "Those of us chosen to attack get ready for the assault. Everyone else, defend the camp in my absence. Wanda, you're in-charge. Good luck. Do not fail me."
"I will not fail you father," Wanda replied. "The camp will remain protected in your absence."
"Good," Magneto smiled kindly at his daughter before looking sternly at everyone else. "Exodus. Toad. Callisto. Gather 20 acolytes. Wanda, prepare a portal to deliver us 3 miles east of the manor."
"Right away," nodded Wanda.
'Oh Charles,' Erik thought. 'You'll never see what hit you. My Brotherhood is ready. Tell me, Professor, are your X-Men?'
[Luke Blake POV]:
Meanwhile, at the X-Mansion, unaware of the storm brewing, Luke had just finished his meeting with Charles and Ouroro, having settled on a deal and a path of motion. As he exited Charles' office, intending to just look around the mansion, he was stopped by Ouroro's request.
"I have a class to teach," Ouroro began, determined, peaking Luke's interest, "and it's not everyday my students meet a successful mutant, much less one who's as successful as you. Would you mind joining me, maybe showcasing your abilities or give a lecture on the importance of self-control and determination amongst us mutants?"
"Oh, well, let me think about it," Luke pretended to think about it before smirking out an answer of his own. "I wouldn't mind as long as you don't?"
"Yes, I don't mind," grinned Ouroro, leading the way. "Not at all. Follow me this way."
Storm led Luke down some corridors, waving back at waving students and reprimanding troublemakers. Eventually, the duo made it to a classroom that was gradually filling in.
Some of the students, Luke recognized from the Master's memories on the countless comic books he's read and the movies he's watched.
For instance, Bobby Drake looked exactly as he had in the X-Men movies — basically a young Shawn Ashmore, dressed in a blue hoodie, jeans and tennis shoes. He looked maybe 15, with some brown hair and youthful expression.
Beside him was a young Aaron Stanford, or as he's known in the comics, John Allerdyce — AKA Pyro. He wore grey pants and a shirt under a black leather coat. His blond hair was greased back and he was fiddling with a lighter. Luke can already sense the growing resentment and darkness already growing within the young man, so it wasn't surprising to Luke that John was destined to join Magneto's side.
To Bobby's right was Kitty Pryde —
a brunette with long hair in a ponytail. Dressed in a pink shirt and violet pants, her brown, lively eyes were the beacons of youthfulness. If Luke hadn't known she could phase through anything, he would've guessed her ability to be related to positivity. She looked like a 13 year old version of Elliot Page… before the transition, of course.
Across from those three, Luke saw other students he remembered from the Master's memories. And some he wasn't too familiar with outside of basic info.
Some of such individuals included Clarice Ferguson, or "Blink" — a pink haired, pixie-faced mutant with emerald glowing green eyes and unique, natural markings on the face. She looked like a cross between her actresses, Fan Bingbing and Jamie Chung — only younger, maybe 15?
The Master knows very little about Blink, Luke thought privately. The little he does know was from the TV series, The Gifted.
I should pay that verse a visit one day, if possible…
Eyeing Bobby again, Luke tilted his head, sensing the true nature of Iceman's mutant abilities. 'Just like the comics, he's Omega, with the ability to manipulate all forms of energy by removing their heat from a given environment. Maybe I should give him an idea of his true power ceiling…'
When all the students were at their seats, Ouroro began her lecture.
"Mutants… The next step of human evolution," Ouroro began her speech as Luke made his way to the corner of the room, by the door. All seemed entranced by her lecture, which talked about how important it was to use our gifts proactively and responsibly, how control was key to being amongst humans. She introduced Luke. "This is Luke Blake, the twin brother to one altruistic up and coming scientific genius, Lewis Blake. He is a successful businessman — and a mutant."
This caused a murmur amongst the students as they took in Luke's presence. Many pointed at him, muttering things to their classmates. Others eyed him curiously.
Luke merely smiled and waved, stepping into the center of the room.
"He will now give us a lecture on the importance of self-control and determination for mutants in the human world," Ouroro said sternly. "Give him your undivided attention and be respectful."
As the students quieted, Ouroro looked to Luke, giving a thumbs up. "The floor is yours, Mr. Blake."
"Thanks, Ouroro," Luke smiled, before looking at the students before him. He talked about the expectations of mutants — the good and the bad. "The world is a cold place, especially towards mutants, and I won't lie to you, it isn't pretty. But it can be euphoric, for those with control, tolerance, patience and the will to build what they want — the world is yours."
"What type of ability do you have, Mr. Blake?" Johnny asked bluntly, causing murmurs to sound in the classroom. "What? How are we supposed to trust one who hides their powers?"
"Johnny!" Ouroro admonished, but Luke held up a hand, silencing Storm.
"He's right," Luke smiled, surprising everyone, even John. "If one can't take pride in their mutant identity, they aren't ready to come forward as one nor be trusted amongst their brethren.
"As for my ability?" Luke paused, letting the tension build. "I have multiple, but they all revolve around psionics, energy manipulation and empowerment."
For display, Luke generated a sphere of psionic energy — a psionic force field size of a basketball. And, inside that forcefield ball, a ball of intensely bright and immensely hot thermal energy sprouted to life from a singular spark of electricity, its bright flashes briefly both blinding his audience and shocking them in awe, Storm included.
"This sphere of energy is enough to power a whole city block for 6 months and can burn the entire classroom to concerts should not have my protective shield around it," Luke said, noticing the wide eyes he was getting from everyone. "The heat alone could sear skin into blisters in seconds of exposure. Notice how my psionic field shields everyone from the heat?" Luke juggled the ball of energy from hand to hand, smirking at the wows he was getting. "Self-control is first and primarily the way to survive in this world as a mutant. Never forget this.
"My mutant abilities are similar to that of my twin's abilities," Luke began, addressing the class. "I can also sense the power levels of a mutant within my proximity. As an Omega myself, outside of Ouroro Munroe here, there is another Omega mutant here amongst you students."
Murmurs. A great stirring of murmurs stirred through the students as they digested this. Even Ouroro was stunned and curious. 'Who could this mysterious Omega be? Johnny, perhaps? Or Kurt?' Ouroro thought, curious, shaking her head internally, looking out to her students. 'Who?'
"Bobby Drake, could you come here, please?"
Luke's voice sounded, shocking everyone, including Bobby, who pointed to himself in question before going to the front of the class.
"My mutant ability lets me sense those of others, including their true potential. Bobby, your mutant ability has Omega-level potential. It allows you to freeze energy on the molecular level — time, thermal, or even kinetic energy — it doesn't matter.
"So, I want you to freeze this sphere, and only this sphere. Nothing else. Show me your control, show them its importance. Sometimes, the only way to show control is to lose it."
"Okay," Bobby said, in hesitation. "I'll try it."
"I should warn you, however, that the heat in this sphere is around 15 times hotter than the surface of the sun," Luke said, earning a murmur from the class, a widened eye from Ouroro and a gulp from Bobby. "You'll have to concentrate and use as much power as you can. Let me know when you're ready."
Taking off his gloves, Bobby nodded, settling Bobby's nerves were steady with a breath.
"I'm ready."
He did try, twice before getting frustrated.
Reaching out with his telepathy, Luke gave Bobby some advice. 'I've always found that the key to attaining one's true power lies in a place between rage and serenity.'
As he thought this, he brought up an early, forgotten memory of Bobby with his parents, before he knew he was a mutant, before his brother outed him and before his parents all but gave him to this academy. To a simpler time. His 5th birthday.
As Bobby experienced this, a single tear slid down his cheek, as he tried once again.
With a tap of his finger, Bobby touched the field of psionic energy, and a great cold spread outwardly from the spot he tapped. Ice traversed the sphere quickly, quite surprisingly. In less than 30 seconds, the sphere was covered in a thick layer of ice, its glow faded over but never fading.
"Incredible…" Ouroro was awed by her students. Likewise, so was her students. Ben John, who had a frenemy relationship with Bobby, seemed surprised by Bobby's display, likely viewing him in a new light.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence of proper control of self," Luke said as Bobby made his way back to his seat, his friends welcoming him as bright as ever. "Whether or not you're Omega or Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, etc., it doesn't matter. Proper self-control is vital."
Suddenly, Luke found his environment changed. He stood on a road east of the manor, coming down the street using his magnetic powers to stop — pushing cars in his way, and backed by 40 mutants including Calisto, Toad and Exodus. Exodus was a cloaked figure in dark purple and a matching helmet and cape.
'Magneto…,'Luke noticed X-Mansion in the distance. 'He's heading our way, and based on the expression on his face and the mini-army at his back, it's not in peace. I should warn—?'
"What powerful psionic energy?" a voice sounded and Luke looked up to see Exodus looking directly at him, causing his heart to beat a little faster. "I can't wait to absorb your psionic power in person, or maybe, I should do it now…".
Heart racing, Luke watched as the Omega level mutant reached for his psionic form. 'Exodus is known to steal and absorb psionic energy and lifeforce energy from other psionics and living beings to bolster his own power, like a lifeforce-psionic empowered vampire. I shouldn't face him in this form. I'll be better suited to face him in my physical form.'
Cancelling his vision, Luke returned to his body, gasping out loud, which startled his crowd of students. Luke had his hand on his temples.
"Mr. Luke… are you ok?" Ouroro asked, sensing something off.
"I am fine," Luke verbally assured. "Just…exerted myself too much. I guess I still haven't fully recovered from my space expedition. I'm not my brother who has far greater power than I, hehe."
But, mentally, Luke psychically linked with Charles, Jean and Ouroro. 'I've had a vision. Magneto plans to attack the manor with a small army of mutants. We don't have much time."
'We must protect the students," Charles thought. "I'll issue the order for the students to go to the safe room. Scott, gather the X-Men!We must act quickly, before the school becomes under siege.'
A sudden alarm began ringing as a voice spoke over the PA: "All non-combative students, gather in the safe room. This is not a drill. The strong amongst you are to protect those weaker than you."
As the chaos of evacuating students and those willing to fight took place, with certain professors guiding students to the safe room — Or a deep, underground, highly protected bunker below the manor — took place —-- Luke had already vanished, teleporting to the top of the manor, where a circular device emitted a blue hologram of OMNIS, its text reading:
[Project: 'Assault Striker' Launched. ETA: 15 Minutes Until Arrival]
"Looks like I will have to keep Exodus busy for 15 minutes," Luke thought, preferring to have lazed around in his penthouse bedroom for the day than do meaningless squabbles in confrontation. "I don't really care about Magneto and his grievances, but I do kinda need to build the reputation, so its whatever. Thankfully, the X-Men should be able to handle most of the assaulting mutants, as only Magneto and Exodus are Omega — the rest are Epsilon, Beta and a few Alphas; nothing they cannot handle."
'Exodus is on-par with the earlier days of Captain Comet in comparison, so Adam Blake while he was still on earth — Not the newly trained Adam, but more like intermediate level Adam Blake before he got that power boast,' Luke thought, privately. 'While I have all of Captain Comet's powers, my power is still slightly above this level. Still, I shouldn't underestimate Bennet du Paris. He still has power comparable to me, maybe even higher than I, depending on which variant of Exodus this is. And his ability to steal lifeforce as well as psionic energy from his opponent will be tricky to work around…It actually seems similar to my own ability to absorb energy…Curious…'
"Sigh…" Luke looked eastward, towards the approaching army. "What a drag… looks like I'll be fighting alongside the X-Men."
And as if on cue, the outdoor basketball court opened up like a pair of trap doors to a bunker, showing the insides of a hangar and out came the X-Jet. Inside it, Luke felt the mental presences of Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Storm, Iceman, Pyro, Colossus and Shadowcat. They began their flight east.
"Why do you need a jet to fly 3 miles?" Luke quirked a brow, confused but amused. "Show offs."
Then, falling forward off the X-Mansion, Luke waited until the last second before flying skyward, battle ready and catching up to the impressive X-Jet with ease.
[X-Jet Reference Image]: