Hi everybody, I’m kinda new to the whole writing thing. This is my first fic. Reviews are welcome as are any suggestions. Please forgive any mispellings, mischaracterizations, or any other misses. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, I’m not making any money (thoug I could use it), so please don’t sue!

Beyond Evolution

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Part 1: The Mission

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Professor Xavier rolls his wheelchair into the mansion’s common room where Scott, Jean, Kurt and Kitty are hanging out. It’s literal in Kurt’s case. He hangs by his tail from the ceiling light fixture with his legs curled around a bowl of popcorn he’s been munching on. As usual, Logan is in the gym and Storm is outside wandering the grounds with Spyke tagging along.

“X-men, we have an emergency. Scott, get the Blackbird prepped for launch. And since it’s a weekend, assemble the full team.”

“Yes sir. What’s the mission?” Scott queries.

“Cerebra has detected a new mutant in Gotham City. You leave at dusk in the Blackbird. Logan and I will drive the van up and meet you later tonight.” With that, he leaves the room. Scott puts the call out over the team communicators. All eight of the X-men assemble in the underground hanger at dusk.

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A sleek black plane bullets out of the tunnel and climbs steadily. It banks sharply, heading north-north-east.

“Stealth mode is stable. Leveling off at 10,000 feet,” Kurt reports from the pilot’s chair.

“Steady. Now hold it right there. And you’ve got it! Nice job Kurt,” Scott praises. The two young men exchange smiles full of equal delight. “You’ll make a pilot yet.”

“Danke.” Kurt relaxes, dropping his hands from the control yoke. He sits back in his seat, stacks his hands behind his head and uses his two-toed feet to fly the plane.

“Or maybe not,” Scott remarks, taking over the controls. He radios down to the van following far behind them, talking to the Professor. “I’ve already logged our flight plan with the FAA. We’re cleared through to Gotham and can use the van from then on.”

“Very good Scott. You’ve picked up logistics quickly.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I wonder what Gotham’s like,” Kitty muses from the rear seat. Jean twists in her seat to answer her.

“I dunno. Anybody ever been there?”

“No,” the Professor replies. “We’ve never had any reason to infringe on another’s territory like this.”

Nightcrawler’s eyes round in shock. “There are other mutants there! Why haven’t they contacted our new arrival?”

“I wouldn’t necessarily call him a mutant,” Xavier replies.

“Then what?”

“He’s the city’s ‘protector.’”

A light clicks on in Spyke’s brain. “Batman!”

“That’s like so radical!” Kitty squeals.

“What’s he like? Do we know anything about him?”

“Information on him is sketchy at best. It’s limited to news reports and rumors dating back almost sixty years.” The Professor sighs, deeply troubled at the situation he’s sending his team into.

“So basically nothing,” Logan growls. “I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, Logan. We’ll just have to play it by ear when we get there.”

“We’re about four hours out. Catch you later.” Scott disconnects the radio and turns back to his flying.

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“Find anything?” Bruce queries over the link.

“Not a creature is stirring,” I respond, stifling a huge yawn. Two hours of sleep in six days. Not good. I can feel fatigue swimming through my system. At least I get to use the car tonight, my only alternative being taking to the rooftops. I have no desire to be out in the weather with wind chill rapidly dropping the temperature below zero. Brrrrr.

“Keep looking. There’s something out there.”

Yeah right, I think, covering another yawn. No sooner does the thought cross my mind than the infra-red lights up like a fireworks display. “Well, when you’re right, you’re right. I hope the Ts and Jokerz aren’t at it again. The last time we did that they almost flattened half the city.”

As I pilot the Batmobile closer to the area in question, freezing rain pelts the powerful car, wind rocks it and lightning forks the inky night sky.

“I’m having trouble holding course. We’re taking a beating here. Any suggestions boss?”

“Lose altitude. Take cover between buildings.”

“I copy.” But just as I bank the car towards the street below, I catch a stray lightning bolt in the starboard engine. The Batmobile leaves a trail of smoke behind as it spirals out of control, down towards the rooftops below.

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Part II: The Meeting

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The Batmobile crashes right through a cement support structure, toppling the top portion. I finally manage to stop the car only by letting it ram against an abandoned factory’s wall. I leap out.

Brilliant red light flashes nearby. A section of the wall next to me explodes into microscopic particles. I just manage to leap and roll to safety. The ground beneath my feet rumbles ominously. “What the . . .” I race to the roof’s edge and peer over. Two people face off below me. One is brightly dressed in blue and yellow. He wears some sort of special goggles. The other is dressed in more typical combat attire. He stomps his foot and the ground shakes once more. Cyclops twists a knob near his temple, loosing a blinding red light ray.

I spot other groups paired off in the street below me. A woman with long white hair throws lightning bolts at a strange-looking being that hops like a toad. Two other brightly-clad figures team up against a huge man in overalls. He throws the young African-American kid against a nearby wall. Spikes sprout out of his arms and he retaliates by throwing them at the behemoth. A young woman with red hair flowing behind her spreads her hands and closes her eyes in concentration. Pieces of loose concrete around her hurl themselves at the Blob.

“Well,” I comment. “It’s not the Ts and the Jokerz, that’s for sure.”

“Flip on the vid-link,” Bruce orders. He starts the computer recording as soon as I do so. “It seems to be one group against the other.”

“What, do you think I’m blind! Whoa!” POOF! Two more people appear below me. One, a strange creature with blue fur, pointy ears and a demonic tail, appears out of thin air in a flash of light and smoke. The other, a young girl with long black hair, melts out the ground beside him. They both jump into the fight. “Are they insane! They’re jumping right into a war-zone.”

“Isn’t that what you’re about to do?” Bruce prompts.

“Yeah, but this is my city,” I retort, popping my wings out and gliding off the building. My shadow flits over the ground. Cyclops looks skyward and lets loose a shot near me. It goes wide and I swerve easily out of the way. I spot one person standing apart from all others. She’s young with wild brown hair with white streaks in it. She charges a small boy standing on the sidelines.

“You!” she snarls. She leaps at him and touches her bare hand to his face. I duck for cover as bright lights flash flue and white. The small child suddenly changes into a strange woman with blue skin and bright magenta hair. I land directly behind Rogue, pulling a tranq pack from my belt and slapping it against her neck before she can turn around. She crumples to the ground just as the other X-men rush over. The blue furry creature catches her, accidentally touching her bare hand with his arm. Lights flash once more and they both fall to the ground. The other people mysteriously disappear in the ensuing commotion. Or so I think.

I look up from my examination of the two unconscious figures on the ground to find myself surrounded by several very unhappy, very threatening people. I immediately drop into a defensive stance. Cyclops charges me and grabs my shoulders.

“What did you do to her?” he demands. I drop back and kick my feet up, catching his midsection and throwing him back over my shoulder. He flies a good fifty feet and lands roughly, not moving. I roll back to my feet, braced to catch the next threat. My danger sense tingles abruptly. It has nothing to do with me being surrounded, but it’s something else.

Our only warning is a quiet rumble before the ground beneath our feet begins to shake violently.

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Part III: Searching

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“It’s Avalanche!” Spyke warns. “Take cover!” The group around me dives out of the way of falling buildings around us. I go for Scott. He’s in danger of being buried under several tons of steel and concrete as the building behind him starts to break up due to the earthquake.

My jet boots ignite, propelling my straight towards him. I grab his coat as I fly by. My momentum carries us into the base of the building. I huddle by the wall, trying to protect Scott from any falling debris.

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The X-men regroup near their van. Logan rolls the Professors chair down the ramp and into the street. Charles scans the group, the two on the ground with Storm checking them over, the bruised faces, tired expressions, and anxious feelings resonating off all six of his team. He sums it up in two words. “Where’s Scott?”

Jean hurries to explain what had happened, waving her hand at the decimated area as she does so. “We don’t know where Scott is. We were just going to look for him when you guys pulled up.”

Professor Xavier focuses his mind. Scott . . . Scott . . . I hope you can hear me. Where are you? Scott- he opens his eyes, abruptly breaking off contact. “He’s hurt. He’s with Batman.”

“Great,” Logan growls. “How are we going to find them in all this debris?” He surveys the numerous piles of rubble crowding the street.

“We split up,” Xavier replies calmly. Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles ominously. He watches Storm patiently. “I don’t think that’s really called for, Storm.” She gestures impatiently at the sky and the clouds clear, ending the rain. “Thank you. We’ll leave Rogue and Kurt in the van. Jean, you take East. Logan and Spyke take West. Storm takes the North. Kitty and I will cover South. Start in a two block area and we’ll spread out from there. Let’s go.”

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After what seems an eternity, the rumbling stops. We’ve been covered by debris. There’s only a small space clear in our immediate vicinity. Scott starts to stir somewhere in the darkness surrounding me.

“Wha-?” He shifts uncomfortably.

I pull a miniature light from my belt. It illuminates a clear area barely four feet square. The young man beside me has dark brown hair. He doesn’t look any older than me. I start to get up, but a sharp pain slices through my ribcage, stealing my breath. I force my breathing in and out. Once it settles, I turn back to the person beside me. Both of us are soaked through from the driving rain.

“Come on. Stay with me here.” I tap a gloved hand against both his cheeks, trying to rouse him. His eyes flutter open. “Whoa!” I just have time to duck the red ray of light that comes from his eyes. It shatters a section of concrete above us. Dust rains down. He coughs carefully, clearing his throat, but he doesn’t open his eyes again. “My glasses,” he mutters weakly.

I spot his yellow and red glasses nearby. “No good,” I tell him gravely. “They’ve been crushed.” Then I realize he can’t open his eyes without his glasses. He could hurt someone, namely me.

“Professor. . . they’re . . . here.” I look up at the debris covering us. The prospect of digging us out is, to put it mildly, daunting. I try the radio.

“Boss? You alive?” The only reply is static, and if the radio can’t get through, then neither can the auto-pilot for the Batmobile. “Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.” I try carefully moving various parts of the broken wall covering us until I find a weak spot. Finally, one section moves under my feeble push. I pull packs of explosives from my belt and attach them to the concrete.

Just as I step back, with a Batarang in my hand to light them, I hear voices above me, followed by sounds of digging. “Get back!” I yell to the people above me. “We’re going to blast our way out!”

I pull Scott to the farthest point away from the blasting spot possible. “Here goes,” I mutter, throwing the Batarang with all my might.

To be continued...