‹ Prequel: Accidents Can Happen
Status: Updated on random occasions
Life After Death
Convoluted, Polluted, Distorted
We are all going to die. Emma, Jean, Alex, me, everyone. Even Scott’s ego can’t protect us. I cowered behind a dilapidated car as another ball of fire flew into the dark sky. I wasn’t sure where Alex was. I wasn’t sure where anyone was. Our plan had fallen part just mere seconds into the mission. Now, the once controlled chaos was unleashed.
I dared a looked though the broken window to see the enemy. All I could make was a large spotlight, which swept over the ground in front of it. Off in the distance, to the right of me, a mixture of red and blue beams of energy shot though the air, and collided with whatever was behind the spotlight. At least Alex and Scott are okay. As the thought crossed my mind, the light crossed the ground in search of the origin of the attack. Then the ground to my right exploded as the Sentinel destroyed the land with energy blasts.
A mixture of desperation, fear, and anger lead me to break the rules directly laid out by Hank and then again by Scott. I gathered my nerves and anxiously adjusted the bland black uniform I was forced to wear before standing and stepping away from the safety of the car. Ignoring the consequences, which would probably involve more conflict with Scott, I wielded the Sentinel, which was made completely of steel, to stop its advancement. It was harder than I had perceived. The three stories tall Sentinel has so many moving parts, I had to focus every bit of my concentration to stop it. And then there were the parts that enabled to fire the large blasts of energy.
Thankfully, Alex came to my rescue. With a powerful blast, which was perfectly aimed thanks to Hank’s new gadget, Alex effectively decapitated the large machine. The large Sentinel’s head fall clumsy to the ground and landed with a thud. Immediately, the landscape dissolved. The car, damaged land, and random fires all disappeared, leaving behind five mutants and a beheaded Sentinel standing in a large, domed room.
The metal slide open and Hank McCoy came marching in. I knew I was in trouble by the look on his blue furred face. Hank, and Scott, had specifically told me not to use my magnetism. Something about that it would defeat the purpose of the session, which was to learn to work together. But before Hank could scold me in his fatherly tone, Scott began chastising me. “What do you think you are doing, Lorna? I told you….” I stopped listening after a few seconds.
It had been just of a month since Alex and I came to Xavier's school and the only negative aspect of the move I was able to find was the presence of Alex's older brother, Scott. For Alex's sake I tried to me polite, even nice but Scott's self-righteousness really rubbed me the wrong way. So, I changed my strategy and I just started to ignore him. So far, it had worked well.
When Scott was done yelling at me, Hank reiterate the same things but in a more polite and dignified tone. I apologized, even though I wasn't sorry, as I followed everyone out of the Danger Room. Dr. Henry 'Hank' McCoy was the brains of the Xavier School. Along with a degree in genetics, Hank was also the engineer and creator of the Danger Room and the other sophisticated equipment that was hidden beneath the surface of the mansion.
However, the Sentinel was not of his design. They were designed by a United States government program called Project Wideawake. The purpose of Wideawake was to detect and capture mutants by means of the Sentinels. According to Hank, the government was still having trouble with the completion of their Sentinels. The idea that my own government was building an army to capture mutants was not out my range of probability.
Over the month of training, I had practically gained complete control over my abilities. I even learned in full detail what those were. Hank ran blood tests on both Alex and I a short while after we arrived. After giving a long explanation of how my blood is able to fight any foreign agent, Hank also explained that my genes age half as fast regular humans. That meant when I was forty, I would look twenty. I was quite happy about that. Hank also explained that many mutants don't age as quickly as non-mutants but it was not usually as substantial as my genes.
I found Alex's genes were much more interesting than mine. Alex was immune to most forms of radiation and heat but that was probably because his body was constantly absorbing cosmic radiation, which was used to power his energy blasts. Alex had never actually been in control of his ability. He was not able to effectively aim and measure the energy behind his blasts. But that was before he met Hank. Hank was somehow able to design and build a special containment suit equipped with sensors for measuring and controlling Alex’s power output. Alex was quite happy with the suit, which I found rather unfashionable. The giant circle in the middle of Alex’s chest measured the amount of cosmic radiation currently in Alex’s body. The brightness would change depending on the amount of energy Alex’s body possessed. Alex’s genes also did not age as fast of a human but his were only a one-third slower.
Alex was also immune to Scott's optic blasts, and vice versa. I wished I was immune to Scott Summers, but someone has to draw the short straw. And that someone is usually Lorna Dane.
I dared a looked though the broken window to see the enemy. All I could make was a large spotlight, which swept over the ground in front of it. Off in the distance, to the right of me, a mixture of red and blue beams of energy shot though the air, and collided with whatever was behind the spotlight. At least Alex and Scott are okay. As the thought crossed my mind, the light crossed the ground in search of the origin of the attack. Then the ground to my right exploded as the Sentinel destroyed the land with energy blasts.
A mixture of desperation, fear, and anger lead me to break the rules directly laid out by Hank and then again by Scott. I gathered my nerves and anxiously adjusted the bland black uniform I was forced to wear before standing and stepping away from the safety of the car. Ignoring the consequences, which would probably involve more conflict with Scott, I wielded the Sentinel, which was made completely of steel, to stop its advancement. It was harder than I had perceived. The three stories tall Sentinel has so many moving parts, I had to focus every bit of my concentration to stop it. And then there were the parts that enabled to fire the large blasts of energy.
Thankfully, Alex came to my rescue. With a powerful blast, which was perfectly aimed thanks to Hank’s new gadget, Alex effectively decapitated the large machine. The large Sentinel’s head fall clumsy to the ground and landed with a thud. Immediately, the landscape dissolved. The car, damaged land, and random fires all disappeared, leaving behind five mutants and a beheaded Sentinel standing in a large, domed room.
The metal slide open and Hank McCoy came marching in. I knew I was in trouble by the look on his blue furred face. Hank, and Scott, had specifically told me not to use my magnetism. Something about that it would defeat the purpose of the session, which was to learn to work together. But before Hank could scold me in his fatherly tone, Scott began chastising me. “What do you think you are doing, Lorna? I told you….” I stopped listening after a few seconds.
It had been just of a month since Alex and I came to Xavier's school and the only negative aspect of the move I was able to find was the presence of Alex's older brother, Scott. For Alex's sake I tried to me polite, even nice but Scott's self-righteousness really rubbed me the wrong way. So, I changed my strategy and I just started to ignore him. So far, it had worked well.
When Scott was done yelling at me, Hank reiterate the same things but in a more polite and dignified tone. I apologized, even though I wasn't sorry, as I followed everyone out of the Danger Room. Dr. Henry 'Hank' McCoy was the brains of the Xavier School. Along with a degree in genetics, Hank was also the engineer and creator of the Danger Room and the other sophisticated equipment that was hidden beneath the surface of the mansion.
However, the Sentinel was not of his design. They were designed by a United States government program called Project Wideawake. The purpose of Wideawake was to detect and capture mutants by means of the Sentinels. According to Hank, the government was still having trouble with the completion of their Sentinels. The idea that my own government was building an army to capture mutants was not out my range of probability.
Over the month of training, I had practically gained complete control over my abilities. I even learned in full detail what those were. Hank ran blood tests on both Alex and I a short while after we arrived. After giving a long explanation of how my blood is able to fight any foreign agent, Hank also explained that my genes age half as fast regular humans. That meant when I was forty, I would look twenty. I was quite happy about that. Hank also explained that many mutants don't age as quickly as non-mutants but it was not usually as substantial as my genes.
I found Alex's genes were much more interesting than mine. Alex was immune to most forms of radiation and heat but that was probably because his body was constantly absorbing cosmic radiation, which was used to power his energy blasts. Alex had never actually been in control of his ability. He was not able to effectively aim and measure the energy behind his blasts. But that was before he met Hank. Hank was somehow able to design and build a special containment suit equipped with sensors for measuring and controlling Alex’s power output. Alex was quite happy with the suit, which I found rather unfashionable. The giant circle in the middle of Alex’s chest measured the amount of cosmic radiation currently in Alex’s body. The brightness would change depending on the amount of energy Alex’s body possessed. Alex’s genes also did not age as fast of a human but his were only a one-third slower.
Alex was also immune to Scott's optic blasts, and vice versa. I wished I was immune to Scott Summers, but someone has to draw the short straw. And that someone is usually Lorna Dane.