Lyrissa's Sparkles II

As the X-Men flew from the mansion, Xavier sent the message that he had found Lyrissa, and that she was still in the warehouse that was used for the races. “What would she be doing there?” Cyclops asked as they headed for a place to land. “He didn’t tell me that Scott.” Jean sighed.

As soon as they got to the warehouse, they heard Lyrissa crying, and two other people comforting her. “Honey, it’s okay, I know. We all miss him. Well, we all miss Jack; the Jack we all knew and raced for.” A female voice consoled over her sobs. “Yeah.” A man agreed; it was clear he wasn’t good at comforting others. “But I sh-shouldn’t be crying like th-this!” Lyrissa sobbed.

Wolverine went ahead of the other X-Men, and through the mess that was the warehouse until he found them. Lyrissa was in a small room, sitting on a mattress, sobbing into another woman’s chest. Logan recognized her as Skid, someone they met when watch Lyrissa race, and behind her was her brother Jay.

Without saying a word, he walked over and put his hand on Lyrissa’s shoulder. Skid and Jay were both hostile at first, especially since he was in uniform, and looked a little odd to them, but they stood down when she quickly switched from Skid, to sobbing into his arms. “It’s okay darlin’.” He whispered as he held her.

The other X-Men came in shortly after, and stood quietly for a while, and watched with Skid and Jay as Wolverine comforted her. “Hey wait a minute, now I know where I know you guys from!” Jay gasped suddenly. “What are you talking about?” Cyclops asked. “The paintings! You’re the guys from the paintings and drawings that K.D. Question Marks does!” he exclaimed excitedly.

“You’re always in the front, so I guess you’re like the leader right?” he asked. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about, who’s K.D. Question Marks?” Cyclops asked as Lyrissa continued to cry. “K.D. is a mystery street artist, who does political, and protest paintings. He’s a huge supporter of mutant slash human peace. I kind of agree, you know? I didn’t at first, but her work really makes you think.” Skid explained with a smile. “What do these paintings portray?” Beast asked curiously. “Lots of stuff, there’s a really good one not far from here too, if you wanna see it.” She smiled. Everyone knew there was no danger in leaving Lyrissa and Logan alone, so the X-Men agreed to go with Skid and Jay to see this painting.

Skid led the way, and before long they were at a gas station. On the side of the building, under a streetlight, was the mural. The X-Men were painted life size, with near perfect features; it was like Cyclops was looking into a mirror when he stood in front of his image, inspecting the artwork.

The painting itself showed the X-Men standing at the wall, in a line with other people. Storm was holding the hand of a little girl, who was holding onto Jean, who was holding an infant in her arms. Cyclops was next to her, with one hand on her shoulder, and the other on a varsity boy’s. The boy had a football in his hand, and was laughing wile high-fiving Gambit, who was leaning on his staff. Rogue was knelt down next to him, smiling and talking to a little girl, who was holding hands with her businessman father. Wolverine was sitting on a stack of tires, talking with someone who had their back turned to the person looking at the artwork, while Hank was a short ways in front of him, and looked like he was telling a story to a group of kids. All around them was life; in every face drawn was life. There were almost no shadows, and everything was peaceful.

Next to that scene, formed out of the only shadow in the painting, which was only put there, as a wall behind the tires Wolverine was sitting on, was a huge, dark, cloud. It engulfed anything and everything around it, and the X-Men were fighting it with everything they had. Cyclops was in front, firing a beam at it; the detailing in the beam itself looked lifelike as it cut through the shadow. Wolverine was standing in front of the little girl Rogue was talking to in the last scene protectively, with his claws out ready for a fight. Jean was telekinetically pushing it back while holding the baby, and Gambit was throwing three cards, each just as realistic as Cyclops’ beam.

“This is… magnificent!” Beast marveled as he examined the fur on his own image as he leapt into the air to fight the shadow. “No one really knows what that shadow is, it’s in all his work.” Jay explained as he too admired parts of the fighting scene. It was clear that they were protecting everyone in the last scene, and more, and many were afraid of them. Some were standing in terror, but some were simply watching in curiosity, while others cheered them on, giving their full support. “It is as if we are looking at a photograph. Though I do not recall battling such a foe.” Storm commented as she walked down the building to the third, and final scene.

It faded in from a bright light, formed by an explosion caused by the shadow itself, gripping a propane tank. It showed the X-Men, covered in soot, with their uniforms torn, and dirty, but they were all smiling. The little girl was hugging Cyclops, the varsity boy was shaking Wolverine’s hand, and the businessman was shaking hands with Beast, and smiling. There was a news crew, and reporter standing at the front of the scene, painted in a way so it looked 3-D, and under the woman on what looked like a stage, was written “Taking us out of the shadows, we will see the light. K.D. ??”

“I don’t know what to say, it’s just… amazing!” Jean smiled, standing in front of herself. “They want to wash it off.” Skid sighed. “Why?” Rogue asked confusedly. “Because it’s about mutants, duh. They don’t want people to like mutants, and these paintings are making them like mutants. He does some that make people really upset. One night you’ll go to bed and there’s nothing, and you wake up, and there’s a chalk mural like this on your apartment building.” Jay explained. “The paint is in places like this, but the chalk goes everywhere. No one knows how K.D. Question Marks does it, he’s just really fast I guess.” Skid smiled, “I bet he’s a mutant.” She laughed.

Suddenly the warehouse Wolverine and Lyrissa were in exploded, and the shadows around the building thickened. “She’s completely lost control.” Hank whispered. “What?” Skid asked nervously, hiding behind her brother, who had without meaning to, stepped behind Rogue. “She’s a mutant, like you isn’t she?” he asked. “Yeah, she is sugar.” Rogue sighed. “You are the good guys, right?” Skid asked worriedly. “Dat we are Cherie.” Gambit smiled before running to find Lyrissa and Wolverine, hoping everything was going to be just fine when they got there.

As they got closer they could hear Lyrissa screaming for help, and apologizing, and just screaming while the area around them got darker, and darker. Wolverine was trying to get close to her, but the shadows closest to her were like walls that he couldn’t cut through. Her wisps were flying around her, and throwing and slashing at anything in their reach; and their reach was much farther than usual. “We must do something!” Storm shouted over the crashing of the debris, her screams, and Wolverine’s yelling to her that she’d be all right, she just has to calm down. “Do what? Last time she lost it, she nearly killed me, and it wasn’t anywhere near this bad!” Cyclops yelled, feeling helpless.

Skid screamed as something cut her across the face, but it moved so quickly no one could see it. “Was that Karma?!” Jay demanded. “Her name is actually Lyrissa, and I think so.” Jean sighed. “What’s happening?” Skid whimpered as the area around them was being destroyed. “She’s lost control of her abilities. Right now, she has no say over what her powers do.” Beast explained. “This is too dangerous, you two should get back.” Cyclops ordered, pushing Skid and Jay behind him and the other X-Men.

A short way away, hidden by the shadows that were thickening around everything, was a young woman, with spiked up, short blonde hair, watching everything as closely as she could through the shadows. Her clothes were covered in fresh paint, and she had some paint smudges on her face as well. She watched in awe as her Heroes started to try and get through the shadows, while protecting Skid and Jay; it was like watching one of her murals come to life.

She watched the entire event, until the shadows started to fade, and a built man in yellow, blue and black came out of what used to be the warehouse, carrying an unconscious young woman, and gently set her down while the blue furry man tended to her. Inspiration struck, and she ran from the scene, leaving one of her brushes, and some paint on the ground; she wouldn’t need them for this project.

“Is she okay? Oh god, is she dead? What happened?” Skid gasped, starting to panic. “She isn’t dead, but she is very weak. I believe she’ll be all right once we get her back home.” Beast smiled. “We can take her, I’ve seen how to get to where she lives.” Jay volunteered. “She doesn’t live in the sewers anymore Jay.” Jean smiled. “Where does she… oh.” Skid said, realizing that her street racing friend lived with the Heroes from K.D.’s murals. “Don’ you worry, she be fine.” Gambit smiled as Wolverine picked Lyrissa up and walked off.

“Wait! Where are you going? Can we visit her sometime, or at least you guys let us know she’s okay?” Jay asked, jogging to catch up, and following close behind. “We’re goin’ home. Like Gambit said, she’s gonna be fine, so don’t you worry sugar.” Rogue smiled. “Hey, she gonna make it. She a fighter, no? Ain’t a chance she gonna give up, an’ die.” Gambit smiled as they rounded a corner and came to the jet.

Skid and Jay stood quietly and waved as they boarded the jet, and took off. “Come on, let’s go home.” Jay sighed, guiding his sister to their run down apartment building. “They’ll take care of her, won’t they?” she asked as they walked. “You see the way that guy was holding her when they walked out? Even if no one else does, he’d make sure she’s okay.” He smiled. “You think they’re together?” She asked quickly. “Probably. Even with his face covered by that weird mask of his, I could see the way he looked at her.” He answered.

Skid kept quiet after that. Not only did her friend know the Heroes, she was with one of them. And who knew, maybe she was going to be one of them. She did live with them after all. And they were all mutants.