X-Men: Night of the Living Brain Dead
by
Ben Church bchurch@su.edu
All major characters are the property of Marvel Comics except
Hotshot.
Chapter 8
Will's alarm woke him at 7:00 am. He dressed and headed for
the kitchen to make himself breakfast. In the kitchen he found a small
man sitting cross-legged on the table. He seemed to be asleep. Not
wanting to disturb him, Will quietly prepared hashbrowns, bacon and
coffee. He had almost finished when Monet approached him from behind.
"Oh, he cooks too, I'm getting more and more impressed. And,"
she added. "I do not impress easily."
"Stop you'll give me a swelled head." he smiled. "I hope you
like this stuff because there's no way I can eat all this."
"Then why did you make so much?"
"I don't know. I guess I'm used to cooking for three." he
said sadly.
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to...why are you whispering?"
"Well I didn't want to wake him up." he said, pointing to the
man on he table.
"Gateway? He's not asleep, he's meditating." They finished
their breakfast and went to the biosphere. They spent the time getting
to know each other as they waited for the others. When all had
arrived, Sean explained that day's training exercise to them.
"I don't know how many of you have heard of this game, but the
exercise for today is called capture the flag. Has everyone played
this game at least once?" everyone except Penance, nodded. "Good. Each
team will be told where their flag is, and sent out. You will be given
an hour to get to your flags. Due to the limited space in the
biosphere," he said indicating the room behind him, "You will play in
the forest around the campus." he looked at Will. "During training
sessions, each student will be called by their code-names."
He addressed the group "The teams will be as follows, team A:
M, Synch, Penance, Magneto, Leech, Artie. Team B: Chamber, Skin, Husk,
Sabertooth, Hotshot, Blink."
Hotshot couldn't help but feel excited. At the summer camp
that he had gone to every summer, they played Capture the Flag all the
time. He'd been an attacker every time and he loved it. He thrilled
at the new challenge to play it with mutants.
Team B barely made it to their flag in time. It was quickly
decided that the attackers would be. Husk, because of her ability to
change shape. Sabertooth, because of his tracking ability, and Hotshot
because of his experience. The three split up and began the search for
the other team's flag.
The Black Queen had found him. It had not been hard to find
out where they had taken him, there were only so many secluded spots
for a young mutant to hide. The only problem now, was how to get him
away from the others. And that was no longer a problem either, they
had split up and now he was all by himself in a well hidden spot. She
began to lay her trap for him.
Hotshot walked slowly and carefully down a wooded path. He
had been stalking these woods for at least an hour and he'd found no
trace of recent passage. He stopped and listened, and peered through
the trees. Other than a few birds and squirrels, he saw and heard
nothing. He decided to climb a tree to get a better view of the area.
He'd begun looking for a tall enough tree, when he heard some one
behind him. Before he could turn around, a hand clamped firmly over
his mouth sealing it shut, and an arm wrapped around his waist pinning
his arms. He felt a moment of panic and then his assailant rose into
the air taking him with her.
When they were about 200 feet off the ground, M removed her
hand from his mouth.
"All right," she said, "You've got two choices. I'll let you
go, if you either tell me where your flag is, or if you'll go to a
movie with me on Friday."
Hotshot stalled till he found what he was looking for. "All
right then I'll go out with you." he said.
"Thank you, down you go." She let go. Hotshot crashed
through the trees and hit the ground hard. He got up, and brushed
himself off. He found that he had crashed near where Sabertooth had
stopped to sniff the ground.
"How's it smell Sabertooth?" he asked.
"Like someone fell through the atmosphere. What the fuck
happened to you?"
"M took me for a little ride. And while I was up there, I
found their flag."
"Well then let's get goin'"
The flag was on a small rise deep in the forest, and was
guarded by Magneto. Sabertooth and Hotshot had evaded the other guards
without much difficulty but Hotshot was at a loss as to how they
would get past Magneto. The decision was taken out of his hands.
Magneto spotted them and used his power to pick them up off the ground.
"So you found our flag did you? Well it will do you little
good I'm afraid. There-" Magneto cut his speech short and clutched at
his head. "Ahhh!" He released his hold on them and they fell to the
ground. They both recovered quickly and rushed to Magneto's side who
was now writhing in pain.
"Don't panic kid," Creed said, "Happens all the time. I'll
get him back to the school. You get the others." Creed picked up
Magnus and ran off towards the School. Will headed to where the other
guards had been.
Selene fumed silently. She had just been about to capture the
boy when that accursed girl had interfered. "No matter." she thought.
"I'll get him on Friday."
To be continued...