Children of the Atom - X-Men

"That's not what I wanted to show you."

With a slight gesture, Cameron motioned to the sky, his head soon following. The sky, with the dimming of the lights at this moment, seemed to explode into brilliance, thousands upon millions of stars glimmering like diamonds woven into the blackest tapestry greeting the young eyes. The snake-like "ninja" as he had been deemed seemed as mesmerized by their majesty as the first day he saw them. Millions of stars, all unique in their appearance and their functionality, yet existing in the scheme of life. He thought of the planets around them, of the potential life forms living on their shores right then and now. Creatures of amazing capabilities.

Creatures like him.

He felt the corners of his mouth tighten, the smallest of smiles forming on his face. What a wonderful dream that was.

Kim gasped at the sight of so many bright stars above. "Oh wow! Wow wow wow! Look at all of them! I don't think I've ever seen so many stars! Wow! How many do you think there are? There's got to be thousands of them, maybe even a million! I wonder if anyone's every tried to count every one of them? Part of me doesn't want to know the answer to how many there are, though. It feels like knowing will ruin the magic of it somehow. I wish I knew some constellations, though, that would be cool. Do you know any? I know some of the stories behind them, but I have no clue where they are or what they look like. The stories are pretty wild, some of them, but they're kind of amazing, too, sometimes. Like this. It's amazing, isn't it? Staring off into the universe? It makes me realize just how lucky I am."

She gave Cameron another quick hug. "I know I already said thank you, but thank you again. This is amazing."

"Nobody knows. They just....are."

Cameron spoke as if he was not a part of his own body, his conscious and physical form working as two separate entities. He just couldn't look away from the majestic universe before him, the true beauty of life. Even with the hug, though he still felt the impact of it and the confusion that followed, Cameron just couldn't turn from the night sky.

It was just too beautiful.

"I know Orion's belt.....and the Dippers, there they are right there. I think I know them all.....this is all I have to look at when the sun goes down."

Kim's smile turned a little more gentle before she turned her gaze back to the sky. “It's a great thing to be able to look at every night. Hmm, let's see, what were those stories...oh, I remember Orion's now! The version I know – and it's mythology passed down by word of mouth so there's always a lot of different versions – is that Orion was a human who was the best huntsman in all of Greece. He was even on par with Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. The two of them were very close friends, which was a feat in itself seeing as Artemis was also the goddess of virgins and hated all men with a burning passion. But Orion was an exception, and they grew very close. Too close, in the opinion of Apollo, Artemis' twin brother. I think he was worried that Orion was going to ruin his sister's honor or reputation, or he was jealous. Can't quite remember that bit, but regardless Apollo was not a happy camper. So, one day, he takes his sister to the beach and points to a dark speck on the horizon. 'Sister, do you see yonder rock?' He says – except, you know, in Greek – 'I say that it is a target too far and too small for even you to hit.' And Artemis isn't going to take that lying down, no siree Bob, so she nocks her arrow and lets it fly, and sure enough, she hits the thing dead on. Apollo concedes defeat and they hang out for a while. But, just as the sun begins to set, the body of Orion washes up on the beach with an arrow dead in his heart. Apollo was a jerk and had tied him to that rock Artemis hit. She was so saddened by this that she placed her friend in the stars, so that he would forever be able to hunt and be with her. That's one of the wilder ones, if you ask me. The Greek gods were nuts.”

Kim took a second to gather her thoughts, and then went on with the next story. “This next one I know is a little sad. The Big Dipper and the Little Dipper are also called Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, respectively, which basically means big bear and little bear in that order. That's because they're both bears, but I'll get to that in a bit. Anyway, once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden named Callisto, who coincidentally was an attendant of Artemis. Now, Callisto was very beautiful, and when there's an attractive person in Greek mythology, nine times outta ten Zeus is gonna sleep with them. Honestly, so many problems with the gods could have been fixed or never happened if Zeus just kept it in his pants. Anywho, this story is no exception. He seduced Callisto, and he got her pregnant. Now, as I said before, Artemis was the goddess of virgins. She didn't want any of her attendants sleeping with any men, and especially not getting pregnant. So Callisto did her best to hide her pregnancy, and succeeded up until the night of the birth, where she was caught. Artemis got SO mad. She turned Callisto into a bear and threw the newborn boy into the woods to die, but he was found by hunters and lived. Many years later, the boy, Arcas, returned to the forest a strong young man and a fine hunter. And who does he find in those woods? Why, his own mother, still a bear. But he doesn't know that, and he tries to hunt her. Zeus, FINALLY taking some notice of the mess he made, stops Arcas from killing his mother, tells him who she is, turns him into a bear and places them both in the stars so they can be together from then on.” She shrugged, and added, “I don't know, that one always makes me sad to hear. Anyway, you said you know them all? What are the rest? If you want I'll tell you their stories, if I know them.”

While she was telling her stories, Kim may or may not have noticed the snake-like eyes of Cameron slowly returning down to Earth, watching her in amazement as she told the stories of his friends in the sky that he had sat with all alone for these years. Being away from schooling for so long, he had forgotten the wonderful stories behind the shapes in the stars. Though his stoic expression did not give it away, he may have been just as amazed with Kim as she seemed to be with him in that moment.

"That's impressive."

He sat down on the roof, leaning back until he was laying flat and looking straight at the stars. For one moment, Cameron actually felt relaxed. It was so strange to him, but he took a sigh of relief just continued to stargaze.

Kim nodded in agreement, although she misunderstood what he was calling impressive. "Yeah, they're some pretty neat stories, aren't they? I wish I knew more than the Greek versions, but those are the most commonly known and I've only ever heard or read about them. I know other cultures have their own legends too and I'd love to hear them all one day. I bet they're just as impressive."

She sat down next to her friend, and for once was content to stay silent as the two of them watched the stars above.

Cameron loved the silence. It's what he lived in, and for another to share in the silence with him was almost as important to him as sharing in conversation. He folded his hands behind his head, getting comfortable. He would've slept up there if he didn't know someone would see him eventually. Could never be too careful, after all. Still, this night was almost perfect. He couldn't hear his heart beating in fear and anxiety, he couldn't hear the insults of the people who couldn't stand the sight of him, and the yelling. It wasn't there anymore. The yelling wasn't there. The yelling......

Was off in the distance.....down in the town square.

Cameron's face shifted in confusion, wondering where such a commotion had come from in the middle of the night, especially in a town like Crenshaw and yet the sound, a wave of voices only found in large crowds, still whipped up from the distance. Cameron sat up, something wasn't right. Those weren't the voices of celebration, they were the songs of the riot. The bellows of rage.

"We need to move."

"A-Alright." Kim agreed more out of surprise than anything else, shooting Cameron a confused glance while she did so. As she stood up, she began to ramble. "What's with all the yelling people? It's way too late for anyone to normally be up in this sleepy little town. According to my mom there's not a single store open past eleven and not many people bother to stay awake longer than that. She says it's because this town is where a lot of people like to retire so there's a lot of older folk and they don't stay up late or something. Was my mom wrong? Or is something going on tonight? It's not a holiday, and even if it were I don't think everyone would sound so angry. Are they all watching sports and their team is losing or something? That makes my dad yell sometimes. But it's way too late for that, right? What could it be? Do you know, Cameron?"

There was a part of her that wanted to go investigate, but the thought of her parents' reaction if she was seen by people or got into some kind of trouble helped her push away the urge.

Mostly.

The bandaged-wrapped Cameron reached deeper into his bag of things he would have never done on a normal night and stood up to walk to the edge of the roof, trying to get a better view out in the open. He could not hear Kim outside of the tone of her voice, continuous streams of words spoken in question, but no doubt there was the key element to survival in her words: fear. As she continued to ask questions, Cameron searched the horizon for answers, past the tree line, and at this hour caught glimpse of a sight most horrifying to him.

He saw lights.

Orange and yellow, red and white, pulsating as if to breathe and stay alive that much longer. Fire had come to the streets of Crenshaw, and where that flame was found, there would be the anger. This would be the sure fire sign to run away.....to run very far away and to hide, and Cameron's survival instincts screamed at him with the desperation of a cornered animal, but something spoke louder to him. He could identify it nor could he fight the impulse. They had to go there.

They had to.

"Kim......."

The whispering voice of the "snake ninja" cut out back to the girl as her questions came to an end. He hesitated for a moment and thought only of the times she had hugged him, of the smile that she claimed he had brought her. He thought of the world that Kim had not yet come to fully know, and how whatever was beyond the trees would certainly show. He couldn't be the one to ruin this blissful ignorance that had kept her so happy, the same way that happiness had begun to make him happy. He nibbled as lightly as he could upon his lower lip, then turned to the girl as he turned to his resolve. His voice cracked with nerves, his otherwise stoic demeanor now that of a boy his age with experiences of a world like theirs.

"There's fire. We need to.....go there."

He hoped that was all it was, dark as the wish was. If there was only fire, there were people to help and a positive impact to make.....but as he pushed his head into the clouds, he still couldn't ignore the sounds of anger and of screaming.

A shiver shot up his spine.

Kim's eyebrows raised in surprise, and the she turned and grinned at Cameron. "Hey! You gave me a nickname! Awesome! Does that mean I can give you one too? Um...not many I can think of for Cameron. How about Cam? Though this probably isn't the time to talk about this, huh?"

And with that small sign of friendship, Kim was a lot calmer. Though no less chatty. "Woah, is that really a fire? What could have caused that? There certainly hasn't been any lightning strikes tonight, the weather's been great all week. Do you think some wires sparked or something? Or maybe some incident with birthday candles? That almost happened to my family, once, it was quite the adventure. But yeah! Let's go see what's going on. Maybe we could help."

Cameron nodded to her in approval of his new nickname, carrying on the conversation to an end. He needed to go there now. He needed to go there NOW. Going the same way down as they had up, Cameron gripped the gutter drain and slid down, tucking himself into the shadows and moving as if part of them closer to the flames, his nose filling more and more with the smell of burning pine wood. Yet, the flames did not seem to surround, and the closer the duo grew, the more contained it seemed to be.

The yelling, however, only grew louder. It was indeed true rage.

Cameron stuck to a tree as a clearing came into view, the source of fire just beyond the gap in the trees, and the roars of the mob gathered at that place were like thunder. He took deep breath after deep breath, knowing that every second he sat there was an attack on everything he had sworn his survival to. He might have even left that night, grabbed Kim by the wrist and dragged her from there, but the voice that spoke next held him, trapped him with the words:

"The world belongs to evolution!"

Kim looked incredibly confused upon hearing those words. She had the sense to be quiet with her own words, at least. "The world belongs to evolution? What does that even mean? Is this some religious argument? The Bible versus evolution? I didn't think there would be such intense debates outside the Bible Belt. I heard them a couple times, back when I lived in Georgia, but here? In Oregon? Never would have thought it'd happen all the way up here."

She stopped talking, wanting to hear more of what was going on.

Cameron motions to his hidden lips, placing an index finger across them in the universal sign that Kim should probably be quiet. Taking in a calming breath that did anything but calm him, Cameron peered out from behind the tree, and what he saw he could not fully understand. The fires were not a single entity, but scattered, controlled campfires serving as the lighting for this massive gathering, and massive it was. He checked faces, counted heads, and for someone who had watched the town of Crenshaw from the shadows for years, he couldn't believe his eyes. There in this clearing, gathered as if commanded, stood the entirety of Crenshaw. Every man, every woman, even the children, all stood in protest.

Even during the day a sight such as this would be unbelievable, ludicrous even. There were town events, but there had never been a cause important enough to gather the entire town in one spot, especially not at this ungodly hour, but their foul mood instantly was explained as he turned his attention the way they looked, and the hate and fury all resonated from a source dressed in red and purple.

A source levitating above the ground, and what walked with him was evolution itself.

The cape he wore billowed in the air, stern eyes reflecting a lifetime of agonies casting a gaze of superiority down on the citizens of this sleepy town. He seemed to leak intimidation itself, and the helmet upon the man far more in-shape than he should have been for his age spoke only of war.

"The ways of this town are just a reflection of fear the rest of your species insists upon in the face of your successors to the planet...My fellow mutants! My brothers and sisters! You have shunned by the people that call themselves your friends and family, forced into hiding by these very humans gathered here.....but hide no more! I know you're in this clearing at this very moment....I can feel you."

A murmur passed through the crowd, heads turning left and right as the mentioning of other mutants standing among the citizens of Crenshaw, hiding in plain sight.

"You no longer have to live in a world that allows the weak to command the strong. Shed your chains that the ones you call family have placed on you, and join your own kind. We are your family, I am your family! My name is Magneto and I offer you sanctuary in the nation of Genosha! I offer you a place....in my brotherhood."

Cameron nearly swallowed his own tongue, the final words of the man in red playing over and over and over again in the back of his head like a recurring nightmare. Magneto. Magneto. Magneto. Magneto. Magneto.

The Brotherhood of Mutants had arrived in Crenshaw, and now were starring down the citizens, who now shouted sentences birthed from the bowels of hell in the most prejudice form. They called them freaks, they called them abominations, and they searched among them for other freaks in their numbers. They also seemed prepared to take the fight to the master of magnetism, though he did not come alone. A man in a long gray trenchcoat appeared as close to a humanoid lion as possible and just as savage roared in the face of a few approaching men. Next to him, an absolute mountain of a man stood, nearly the size of a small home and dressed in brown and red armor-like clothing, his head shielded in a domed helmet. He stood ready to face down a solid thirty men on his own. There stood a man with red hair, an absolute wicked grin upon his face as he flicked a lighter open and closed, and just a ways back, a woman of blue skin and red hair, yellow eyes passing between the crowd as she locked and loaded, an automatic rifle ready to fire.

And yet, the man who stood the most still, appeared the most un-amused, concerned Cameron the most outside of Magneto himself. He looked over his finger nails and adjusted the jacket of his white suit, gray eyes darting between the ground and the angry mass of humanity. He tapped his cane upon the ground as if waiting for something to happen, but he wasn't afraid. In fact, he wasn't even concerned with it.

Cameron couldn't believe a day like this had come. His breathing grew faster and faster, and if there were any hairs on his body outside of his head, they would have been standing on end. What he and Kim were witnessing now was not a social stand-off.

It was the first moment before a war.

It was a rare thing for Kim to be stunned into silence, but if there was anything that could make it happen, it was this. So many mutants, and one talking about...what exactly? She didn't understand. The floating man was talking as if he wasn't human, for one. That was just plain weird. And why were so many people listening to him, anyway? And saying such angry, hurtful things? She didn't see her parents in the crowd, but if she didn't know an better she would say that it was the entire population of Crenshaw. And there were mutants among them? Besides herself and Cam? Learning that there was another in the tiny town besides herself was incredibly shocking, but even more? It seemed an impossibility. Cam had mentioned it before, but only now was it truly sinking in that they were not the only ones. And the floating man, Magneto, was talking about them leaving? About chains and slavery and family and other weird things? She wasn't even sure.

Kim was very, very confused with it all.

But she also had a very, very bad feeling about it.

What was once solid now began to shift like tectonic plates.

Stone faces of scowls and hatred striking down upon the Brotherhood of Mutants now bent into shocked expression when the weakness in their quiet, happy town raised their heads. Men and women, brothers, sisters, friends, parents and children and people from all walks of life began to walk forward, eyes kept upon the master of magnetism that levitated overhead. Not ten, not twenty, but hundreds. Hundreds of faces cutting through the waves of slack-jawed, silent townsfolk that watched people they had known, talked to, even shared laughs with turn and face them again, not as friends, but as their true identity now revealed.

As Mutants.

"You.....you damn traitors! You freaks!"

The calm had been broken by the shouts and hatred, now cranked up as high as possible, by the people of Crenshaw, the newly revealed Mutants doing their best to stay strong, but the hate that they had feared for so long was hard to stand to. Hate that kept two other mutants hidden in the mesh of angry humans.

"Whatta we do, Sher?"

"Shut up, they'll hear you."

"They're gonna find us out, sis. They're gonna find us out and we're gonna get flayed open!"

"Trevor, shut up!"

The siblings Harris mumbled to each other out of the corners of their mouths, hoping to not spark the riot that seemed to be forming up around them. They did not step forward. In fact, they were wrangled into the group by the Brotherhood on a fluke during another one of their "repossession" outings. Now trapped in the center of inter-species conflict, the choice fell on them: stand up with the Brotherhood, or attempt to sneak off in the night, and honestly, the concept of fighting for mutant rights just sounded horrible.

All they wanted to do was steal things, anything.

Gray eyes passed over the mutants now outed and standing among their own kind, but without the sense of connection the other mutants tended to have with them. 

Equality was a word the man they called Moriarty had no use for and in a fraction of a fraction of a second, his superior gift proved that to him once again.

345.....cannot be correct, there is no fault in my projection. There are 347 mutants as citizens in this town.....where are you?

Moriarty scanned the crowd at speeds that made them seem frozen in time, his mind projecting images of their positions from all corners, all possible angles. He observed the few thousand faces individually, looking for any stray hair, any shifting eye color, anything that would signify a drastic genetic mutation.

No. No. No. Not you, either. No.......yes......you..........but where is the other?

It was their anxiety that gave them away, the twitch in their bottom lip, though still keeping a strong face. She seemed to be just a teenager, Hispanic in origin, with a crimson streak through her black hair. 

Rosa Perez, 17 years of age, blood type AB+, top marks among her class, daughter of single Father Miguel Perez, local convenience store owner. Clever guise......perhaps an example is to be made....to find the other.

"You."

Moriarty removed the blade from his cane, casually motioning into the crowd......to the Harris siblings, who recoiled in absolute terror.

"Do you not wish to stand with your fellow mutants?"

Two additional mutant outsiders.....you could never hide from me.

The crowd began to shift, turning their attention to the mutant brother and sister. It began to set in on them that their cover had been blown, and the angry mob now saw them....as the enemy.

Rosa watched, though tried not to call attention to herself. This terrified her, but her own fate scared her more.

Cameron watched closely, his inner voice still screaming, trying to figure out what to do.

Kim gave Cam's shoulder a quick squeeze, and then she was gone, out into the open where everyone could see her.

"Hey, whoa whoa whoa!" Kim yelled as she imposed herself between the Harris siblings and the impending mob as best she could. "Geez, calm down! What did they ever do to you? Nothing! That's right, not a darn thing! You've got no reason to be angry at them, so cool it!"

"And YOU!" She shouted as she whirled about, pointing an accusing finger at Moriarty. "What the heck was THAT about, huh?! Even I can see that these people are super angry for no good reason, and you go and give them a focus for all of it?! And that focus is two teenagers who are clearly scared out of their minds?! What were you thinking?! Are you trying to get them hurt?! I'm a grade A idiot, and even I wouldn't do something so freaking stupid!"

Kim gritted her teeth and waited for the man's explanation, doing her best to stay between the siblings and the mob in the mean time.

Moriarty's eyes narrowed as his stoic face turned toward the loudmouthed girl now leaping from the forest. 347, there she was. He cared not for what she was saying, simply because he knew it already. Subtle facial movements, expressions, and his ability to read lips to perfection passed every judgmental word to him, and his stance did not falter. In fact, he seemed even less concerned, if humanly.....or otherwise possible. 

"Oh no, no, no, no."

Cam should've known she'd be too stubborn, that her emotions would get the best of her. Why'd he come here? Why did he bring her? Curiosity was killing no cats, but at this point, the only friend he had made.....ever. He couldn't go out there.....but he couldn't just leave her. Cameron reached into his pocket and removed from it a pocket knife, preparing to lunge into the fray.

That was his friend.

The mob grew closer, not even slightly caring what Kim was yelling. They didn't know her, nor her face or reason for helping the freaks, but she was there and in the way. She would be just as much of an example as the mutants. Trevor raised an eyebrow to the sudden charge of the girl. He caught sight of her face, realizing this was the girl he came close to "dealing with" just the night before. A silent turn to his sister showed that they both acknowledge her identity, but that still did not help as the first weapons, hammers and pitchforks, raised up to strike.

"Protect the mutants! Pyro!"

Magneto called down to the red-haired man who clicked his lighter shut and placed it into his pocket. With a smirk, he planted his feet firmly. He spoke with the accent of Australia with a bravado just as hot as his homeland's temperature.

"Thought you'd neva ask, mate!"

Pyro thrust out his hands and within seconds the small campfires scattered around the opening erupted into towering infernos, serpents of flame roaring before passing over their heads, igniting the weapons that would strike the mutants standing their ground, forcing the wielders to drop them, before looming over the crowd.

"Now why don't you let them kids go before things get toasty?"

"Better idea!"

Beams of pure white cut through the air, crashing into the flames and bursting into clouds of mist that chilled the space around them. A cracking filled their ears as ice, slick and massive in amount, materialized through thin air in a sort of slide, a man riding atop it like it was a tamed animal. A man, himself, seemingly formed of ice.

"Why doesn't everyone just chill out?"

As he spoke, more emerged from the brush. A large man stormed onto the field, his body fully coated in a layer of metal, next to him, appearing in a puff of black smoke, another humanoid figure covered in blue skin, three digits on the end of his hands, and yellow eyes observing his surroundings. His devilish tail whipped once as a second blue humanoid, this one much more muscular and covered in fur, flipped out of the trees and landed next to him, and next to him, a man in a black full-body suit, a golden visor with a crimson lens across his eyes.

Cameron stood frozen in-place, stunned by what he was seeing. He had never seen them before, but the appearance of the group gave him that starstruck sense that this......was the X-Men.

"Watch your blind side, bub!"

A growl came from behind the lion-like mutant, allowing him to turn just as three metal claws pierced into his chest! The source, a wild-appearing man dressed in a full-uniform of yellow and black, sunk the claw in deep before throwing him, the lion man striking him in the face with his own claws before the launch! The two squared up, and Cam watched as their wounds healed completely within seconds! The animal men continued to strike as the clear skies suddenly began to fill with clouds, and over the treeline another form flew, this time a woman of snow white hair. Her eyes glowed white as she observed the scene.

The humans all stood quiet for a moment, but the calm wasn't enough to spell safety. Before they could react, a green flash swept past them, and popped up again in front of Kim and the siblings. Knife concealed but at the ready, the bandage-wrapped Cameron squared off with the entire population of Crenshaw.

He wouldn't let them touch his friend.

And here Kim thought she had been confused before.

She could only gape at the demonstration of Pyro's powers and the ice man and the arrival of all the new mutants. Seriously, just what was going on here? Was there some second group now? One who was opposed to what the Magneto guy and his brotherhood or whatever were doing? Just how many groups were there? Was Crenshaw some sort of hotspot all of a sudden? Surely things couldn't get any weirder – wait, was that Ms. Munroe flying through the sky?

Well.

Apparently they could.

Kim shook her head. She needed to concentrate on keeping the strangers – and Cam, she added when he appeared – from getting hurt. That was the most important thing. Whatever else was going on was secondary to that.

She took a deep breath to steel herself, and waited for whatever would come next.

"It's a damn freak convention!"

The two factions of mutants began squaring off, the human citizens of Crenshaw, as well as the five other mutants still contained within the mob, standing in the center. As the X-Men prepared themselves, a single voice spoke into their minds, the spots in the back where they heard words not with their ears, but with their very being. The English tones spoke with a wisdom that could only be found by the mind of one Charles Xavier.

X-Men, your priority is the protection of the citizens and the mutants there in the center, as well as their extraction if need be.

The man in the visor tilted his head. He said nothing, but his thoughts passed between his allies.

Professor, what about the other mutants? The ones with Magneto?

They've made their choice, Scott. Erik will not allow their injury, though that courtesy will not be extended to the people of this town. That is our task.

Magneto glared across the opening to the X-Men, knowing what their appearance meant. Before speaking, he turned that glare down to the white-suited Moriarty. He didn't need to speak, Moriarty knew exactly what he was thinking. The helmet may have given him immunity to telepathy, but not to reasoning. Moriarty wouldn't expect him to understand his thinking and planning.

Nobody could.

"Kim, don't make any rash movements."

Cam spoke subtly to his friend, crouching down though, preparing for anything and not taking his eyes off of the people in the crowd. Luckily, it seemed their attention was beginning to turn. The inevitable clash of two mutant clans, one of which was summoning dark clouds which rumbled with lightning, tended to wipe any other concerns away. Trevor Harris caught sight of this immediately.

"Sis....let's bail."

"What about them?"

"I mean......noble sacrifice?"

"You're literally the worst person."

"Gimme a break!"

Cameron searched for paths forming in the crowd, escape routes to take. The first one he could find came with the net explosion, another wild fireball from the mutant Pyro smashing into a beam of ice from the....well, Iceman. What followed as the chaos one expected, bodies running this way and that, voices yelling, as the sides closed in! The blue-skinned woman lined her rifle up and fired, the bullets being destroyed in mid-air by a beam of pure red energy emerging from the man in the visor's eyes!

"We need to move, now!"

Cameron grabbed Kim by the wrist as he found the space between the panicked citizens, dragging her! The Harris Siblings, seeing their way out, followed suit, not arguing a free way to safety. However, they were not moving without being seen, as the eyes of the young man in the white suit had been following them, and soon, so did his body. He stepped calmly, wading into the mob of angry, scared, mutant-hating humans like a pool of water. A spare human or two attempted to silence his threat themselves, and were quickly sent to the ground by palm strikes to the mid-section and throat, Moriarty adjusting his collar at the minor inconvenience and continuing his pursuit.

"The mutants are on the move! Nightcrawler!"

"Gern geschehen! On my way!"

In a flash of purple and black smoke, the blue demon-like mutant faded into thin air.

"Woah-kay!" Kim gasped as she was pulled along by her friend. She had prepared herself to be attacked, to be hit, to be yanked into the chaos somehow (and boy was it chaos), not to be dragged away from it all. Still, so long as it kept Cam and the other two safe, she wasn't gonna fight it.

It was a bit of a struggle for Kim to keep up with Cam, but she managed. A glance behind her showed that the siblings were following, but also revealed something more ominous. "Hey, is it just me, or is Mister Grade A+ Idiot heading towards us? Because that can't be any kind of good."

That bad feeling from before returned full-force.

What a time to hit a dead end.

Their escape way had closed as a group of humans stepped back, moving away from the massive, armored man and the steel-clad X-Men brawling, their very strikes sending shockwaves through the air! This was when Cameron heard Kim's words. He looked over his shoulder, and indeed, the "idiot" int he white suit made his way closer and closer to them without so much as a smirk of amusement on his face. As the lion-man and the yellow-clad X-Men leaped over the path in their animalistic battle, he continued without so much as a glance.

Cameron put himself between the group and the Brotherhood member, crouching down into a defensive stance. The gray-haired pursuer was not concerned.

"You're afraid."

He spoke to Cameron as if the chaos around them did not exist. Cameron did not break his stance, but it would be a lie to say the man was not wrong.

"Your body is still, unnaturally so, a defense mechanism to try and mask a nervous reaction to intimidation. Paired into your wrappings, you've created a life involving a distance from society, from humans, and thus you've hardly been in a fight. You've hunted, this much I am sure of, using the knife you're attempting to hide in your sleeve....."

How did he know about the knife? Cameron had not once revealed it as he emerged from the trees, but that only piled onto the statements the man in white was making.....and they were all correct.

"Though you've never been fully comfortable with the act of killing. This is why you don't use your powers very often. The skin pigment, the reptilian qualities, all signs point to something venomous in nature. Your demeanor is not one of a violent temper, but a pursuer of inner-peace. You can stop pretending you wish to fight, I have no interest in your death, yet."

Cameron was left in a stupor, unable to react to anything from behind widened eyes. How did he know so much? Cameron had spent his entire life in the shadows, as far as the world as concerned, he did not exist, and yet this one mutant had spoken volumes on him in a mere glance.

BAMF!

"YAH!"

The puff of smoke overhead brought forth the blue demon, Nightcrawler, who flipped in the air with his own sword drawn, the blade aimed for the shoulder of Moriarty. He had the perfect moment of surprise, the best angle for a sneak attack, and...

CLING!

A sword that as blocked by another. With a quick motion, Moriarty had gripped his cane with both hands, pulling the portions to reveal a blade of his own, catching the impossible-to-block sneak attack as if he had seen it coming miles away.

"Mr. Wagner."

"Moriarty."

Nightcrawler flipped down onto the ground, turning quickly to the group of mutants behind him.

"Are you alright?"

Seriously, just how many ninja were there around Crenshaw?

Thankfully, Kim wasn't as startled by this one as she had been by the first. "I'm fine!" She called out as she looked to see if it was the same for the strangers and Cam. She was particularly concerned about him. Moriarty, as he was apparently called, had said some rather unsettling things to him. Kim herself felt a tad unnerved, and none of the words had been directed at her. She could only imagine how it must have felt for Cam. She placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, hoping the contact would ground and comfort him.

But what was with the odd man in the suit? There was a long list of confusing things that were happening that night, but Kim could easily place him near the top of it. The all-knowingness, the unnatural calm, the freaking cane sword...the man was an oddity, through and through.

There was one thing Kim was certain of, however – she didn't like him one bit.

"And now there's demons. Awesome."

"A demon who's saving our asses. Try being nice."

Trevor bit his bottom lip, his teeth sinking in deeper to essentially touching each other through a thin layer of skin, yet there was no pain.

"If he pulls a pitchfork I'm out of here."

He did not, in fact, pull out a pitchfork, but Nightcrawler leaped to the air, disappearing once more and appearing behind Moriarty, who blocked his sword strike with his own cane sword with a lazy, no-look block! Another disappearance and the blue demon appeared next to the gray-haired Moriarty, who took just a step forward to dodge a stab, then pivoting to block a counter strike with an elegant sword strike! Nightcrawler rolled through, tossing his sword and catching it with his coiled tail, throwing a rapid punch that Moriarty swatted away with the cane sheath in his left hand!

"I've got you!"

Sparks flew as blade connected with blade, the metal sliding against one another with a loud screech as Moriarty turned the blade off course with simply a well-placed blade. Stunned in mid-air, Nightcrawler could only watch as that same sword swiped across his chest, sending him to the ground! A small splatter of blood touched the ground as Nightcrawler rose back to his feet, a hand gripping at a slice wound on his chest, a scowl on his face.

"Er ist......Unglaublich!"

Swiping the sword to his side, the droplets of blood still on the blade falling to the ground. The gray-eyed mutant looked with an emotionless gaze into the yellow eyes of the demon.

"Glauben.........Herr Wagner......"

He stepped closer with malicious intent, tightening the grip of his sword, ready to skin a blue demon alive.........then dodged as a sharpened rock whirred by his head......

(meanwhile)

The eyes of the master of magnetism surveyed the carnage of the mutant combat, balls of fire, bolts of lightning, and everything in between scarring the land around them. He looked down to the mutants newly standing at his side, and saw the fear in their eyes, and the danger they faced.

"This must end. This will end.....now."

His arms rose slowly, his concentration growing thick, leaving the pandemonium behind, as he cast his mind else. He found his targets, clenching his hands slightly as he pulled with his thoughts, the bending and snapping of metal loud enough to be heard even in the clearing there, and with the opening of his eyes, his power surged...........and the buildings of Crenshaw, vehicles, street lights, fragments of the town itself were ripped from their foundations and sent to the air, flying toward the battlefield!

"You deny the mutants a home in your world.......we will show you the same mercy........"

At seeing their city in flight, sailing toward them like missiles, the citizens of crenshaw exploded in a stampede of all directions, the solid unit now like ants scattering for their lives. The builds, cars, and debris was heading in fast.

"Mutants, flee to safety beyond the trees, we shall join you soon!"

(Returning again)

"Welcome, Ms. Perez."

Moriarty stood up straight once again, turning to face the source of the rock. The girl with the crimson streak in her hair, hardened eyes locked upon the man in the white suit, took aim with what appeared to be a crossbow in her hands.....formed entirely of crude stone and wrapped around her arm.

"Back off."

"I've simply come to t-"

"Back off!"

Moriarty bowed his head, keeping his hands exposed as he took steps back, Rosa stepping in, never taking aim off of him, until she put the other mutants behind her.

"You'll never hit me. Your aim is off.....and I have no intention of harming you."

"Bulls**t, look at the guy with the tail."

"I said you, didn't I? You're one of us, free from the corruption that one has experienced. You should be with your own kind....in Genosha."

"Corruption!"

Nightcrawler coughed in pain, before gritting his fanged teeth.

"You would see mutants ruling humans as slaves! We are equals!"

"We are hunted! Shunned! Experimented upon! Magneto would see us take the place of those who rule using hate and fear! Your Professor only seeks to lay in the bed of monsters! There is no peace, Mr. Wagner, because the humans do not want peace!"

Moriarty looked to the sky, and the shadows cast by the suburban comets heading their way.

"Oh dear. It seems we must take our leave. My brothers and sisters, if your heart truly belongs to the mutant....follow me."

He turned and walked away, saying nothing more as he placed his sword back into the cane.

"Thank you.....The Professor would love to have you all at the institute....it's no longer safe here."

In a flash, the demon was gone, though a new path had arrived, one that lead into the woods, off into the distance where none of them knew where the next step would lead. Cameron stood up straight, turning to face Kim with emerald eyes looking deep into hers. He seemed completely confused, and scared, though hidden behind his stoic expression.

"We need to go. We need to go now."

The fight between Mr. Wagner and Moriarty, Rosa with the crossbow, even Cam's frantic words were lost as Kim became tunnel visioned, staring at the sky. At all of Crenshaw, its homes and its buildings and its everything, rising into the air only to begin plummeting to the ground. Plummeting towards the ground, where everyone stood helpless.

Everyone, including her family.

Slowly, then more rapidly, Kim shook her head as she truly registered Cam's words. "I can't...my parents...my parents might still be out there, Cam, I can't just leave them. I can't." She took a deep, shaky breath, and looked him dead in the eye. "But you need to go. Get out of here, run as fast as you can and get away. Take the others with you, if you can, and get somewhere safe you won't be hurt. Maybe follow that Wagner guy? Please, whatever you do, just go somewhere safe. I'm asking you this as a friend, Cam, please. Go. I'll find you later. I promise."

Kim smiled at her friend, the expression as tremulous as her breathing, and showed him her wrist. The one he had unthinkingly grabbed to pull her to safety. The one that had changed so his skin wouldn't harm her. "I can't get hurt, remember? But you guys can be, so please, get going. I'll be fine. Trust me, please?"

And that was all she said before she ran into the chaos, adrenaline and fear making her faster than ever before.

She had to find her parents.

She just had to.

Before he could argue otherwise, Kim had rushed into the fray, and was gone. Cameron stared at the direction she ran in for a passing second, before closing his eyes, and turning back tot eh group.

"Follow me.....now."

They may have argued. They may have tried to explain that they did not want to go or did not want to follow his order, but as the first house fell and crashed into the ground with splintering wood and shattering glass, all feet began to follow the snake in the bandages! They pushed further and further toward the trees, debris of all shapes and sizes raining down around them with bursts of flames and the boom of high impact.

"SH!TSH!TSH!TSH!TSH!T NOT COOL, NOT COOL, NOT COOL, WHY"D WE COME HERE?!"

Trevor leaped, his body flattening and twirling as he funneled through a fallen window, landing back on his feet and running with a panic, his sister leaping over debris to be at his side. Rosa charged past them, her speed impressive to say the least.

Still, the spear's head remained as Cameron, swift feet running the ground silently, then up on destroyed rooftoops, flipping back down to the ground and dodging anyway necessary until the group rushed into the forest. Cameron stopped at the rim, looking back with horror upon the sight of a town literally destroying it's inhabitants, a display of power as sickening to him as if was awe inspiring. He slipped his knife back into his pocket, looking to the tree to his side. He slid his hand across it, leaving a streak of green, and as he ran, he slid his hand on every tree he passed.

He would have to do without breadcrumbs.