Chapter 9: The Nightmarish Guardian of The Xavier Institute. (Volume 2 Prologue)

The horrors at Midtown High had been plastered over tv-screens as every news network gave their take on the matter. Manhattan's many skyscrapers and corporate buildings vibrated in unison with the steady blare of sirens and screaming families that had tasted a pain few people did.

The mess happened hours ago. The hunt, the capture, the awakening. But for the beings at the center of it all, it had become a distant memory. Another event to store at the back of their busy minds....

Busy indeed. Laura and her band of feral half-siblings trudged through the shadowy alleys and backstreets of New York in a rush. Along the way they made stops, emptying out their safehouses in Harlem and Queens, stopping at a candy shop to shut up Gabbie and even hoping on a train. It was incredibly easy to dress up an unconscious person and play them off as a drunkenly blacked out friend. Luckily, any blood and innards that may have clung to Bronte's skin was burned off when he turned an entire alleyway into a hellish multi-weathered storm.

The thought of it sent another chill down her spine as they traveled down their final long alleyway. In the distance, she could hear the steady hum of car engines and portions of people's conversations inside as they turned corners and crossed the wide highway bridge that led into Salem New York.

Even from where she walked, closed off from the world and in the shadows with her mutant siblings, she could hear how little the highway was crossed by car. Folks didn't like Salem. They didn't like what it housed. Mutants-- a whole institute of them. People only went if they had to-- or if they were looking to act on their misplaced hatred. People with less than favorable social skills like herself..... and Daken, didn't fit. Which is why they left. Spotless heroic records were out of the cards for them the day they popped their claws. Being hunted by a primordial inhuman Mutant didn't help their odds either.

And now, the hunt had become much more dire. With Mutant abilities like Bronte's, Romulus would go mad and rip through everything until he could get his hands on him. But Laura's mind wasn't entirely focused on that-- but the extent of his abilities. He was a serious danger. Hell, as a child Laura was a city-wide threat if given her trigger scent. She couldn't imagine how much more horrible things would be if she seemingly had complete dominion over the weather.

"You're uncomfortable, what's wrong with you?" Daken's voice rang out from behind her as the end of the alleyway loomed, the echoes of faint steps were the only sounds that echoed down the long hall.

"Nothing-- I just don't know what we're going to do about this one. I mean what if Xavier and the Professors can't help him? What if they refuse to help us because of what happened last time...." Laura replied, adjusting Bronte's weight slung over her shoulder momentarily. He felt heavier...

"We are Wolverine's children. They owe us. And if they can't train him, then we will. As long as he can keep doing that hurricane shit, the Lupines won't be as much of a problem as they once were." Daken said, his voice easily perceived as a semi honked annoyingly loud in the distance, momentarily dulling the sounds of rolling trash and rushed footsteps.

"You talk about him like he's a weapon." Gabbie interjected.

"We're all weapons. It's literally why we were created. No use in trying to suppress that fact." Daken replied flatly.

"But we found Bronte in an apartment-- right Laura? He wasn't in a lab.... or bunker.... or compound like us. Lucky." Gabbie replied ending her words with a pout.

"That is weird. I don't like it. He'd be easier to train if he was fighting for survival since the begin--." Daken cut his words short as Laura came to a halt in front of them and held up fist, motioning for them to stop.

The end of the alleyway that would lead them out into Salem and eventually the Institute was only a few feet away. The bright sun's rays peeked in at the end of the road, giving an odd glimmer to the wet concrete floor littered with trash and a single unconscious homeless man sleeping near a trash can.

The homeless man wasn't the issue.

"Footsteps." Laura announced in a whisper.

They'd stopped, but they failed to do so reasonably.

"We're being followed." Daken finished before he popped his claws in a spray of blood and torn flesh.

Gabbie did the same as she joined Daken in surrounding Laura and Bronte. Despite their actions, everyone remained calm.

They weren't Lupines. Not with steps so loud and numbers so little. They also weren't heavy or wearing any armor. None of them could smell the familiar scents of metals or leathers.

Suddenly a shape stepped out onto the edge of an apartment, dressed in red and black thickened form fitting spandex that hugged his lean muscles and lanky figure-- giving way to scarred white skin where he'd been freshly cut. He looked at them from the large insectoid white eyes of his mask. Maybe he would've been scary to some if not for his mouth....

"Man, you guys sure do have decent senses." Spiderman announced as he dropped to a crouch at the edge of the apartment rooftop.

"Your loud as shit." Daken replied coolly.

"No need to brag."

Daken's head snapped around to face the other webhead sitting criss-crossed on top of a dumpster beside them a few dozen feet away.

She was much quieter. And with her white hooded suit and bright blue ballet shoes, she stood out in the shadows like a powdery white ghost.

"RRAHH!" Gabbie snarled as she attacked her.

She landed on the dumpster, sinking her claws into the green metal surface as the female spider flipped off the Dumpster and clung to the brick wall it sat against.

"So feisty-- wait, shouldn't you be in school? You're like ten."

"Im eight, asshole." Gabbie replied with a raised middle-finger.

"What do you want, Spiderman? and who's your buddy?" Laura said, in a rush to leave the interaction and reach the Institute.

Spiderman leapt off the roof and caught himself with a web that stopped him two feet above ground. He hit the ground silently, "Ghost-Spider, and we're here for the student you stole..... no, the student you're stealing."

"Ghost-Spider..?" Gabbie said.

"She's new." Spiderman said with a shrug.

"Is that name cringe? I'm not known by the paper yet, so I still have time to change it.... but I can't think of anything else."

They all ignored her at the word of why Spiderman was in the alleyway with them.

"We're not giving you a damn thing." Laura said as an unnatural warmth ran over her. Suddenly scents and sounds dulled. A small smile made it's way to her mouth.

Daken's claws recessed back into his skin as he shut his eyes and opened his hands.

"What's your buddy doing?" Ghost-Spider said from the wall she clung to as she watched Daken.

"Meditating. Mouthy teenagers in Spider costumes raise his blood pressure." Laura announced without looking at her. The dulling of her senses only increased as she felt the warmth increase.

Spiderman took a step forward, "Listen. Give me the kid, and I'll send him to an ER. You can't just break into High schools and steal students. We have things called laws.... and human decency, you know?"

"You take another step, and we're going to have a problem." Laura replied, despite her current advantages, she was still nervous. Spiderman was deadly-- even if he pulled his punches. Ghost-Spider probably wasn't far behind.

"Come on, Daken." She thought.

Spiderman sighed and ran his hands over his head as he jokingly said, "Ooooh I hate when they say that."

"Looks like we're going for round two?" Ghost-Spider questioned.

"Yep, seems like." Spiderman replied before he shot his webs out onto the the walls to his left and right. With a single weak pull, he attempted to give himself the high ground once more, only to find he'd moved nowhere.

He grunted and pulled again only to barely move.

Spiderman hesitantly looked down from the webs and at his feet. Dark-blue tubbing wrapped around his ankles-- tightening and wrapping further around as it's length increased and slithered out from under trashcans and through empty shopping carts. It wasn't natural tubbing, it had veins and rippling muscles.

Suddenly the wrapping stopped, and a hand grabbed his knee.

"Spidey..... what is this?" Ghost-Spider asked as a similar phenomenon happened to her from where she clung to her wall.

"I hav--UGH!"

Before any more words could be said, the arms began flailing, throwing the spiders around the alley wildly and smashing them into the hard brick walls, concrete floor and metal dumpsters until they eventually stopped grunting and firing off webs as unconsciousness was beaten into them.

"Alright!" Laura yelled.

The arms froze immediately and brought the two web-heads over to her. The arms held them by the ankles. Laura could smell the blood coming off them, and the creak of broken ribs with each breath.

"Put them down." Laura said.

The hands released them.

As soon as Laura considered relaxing, the arms muscles expanded, and the hands turned into giant canine mouths with endless rows of teeth.

"GrRrRrrr..."

"Stop messing around, Raze." Laura said, suddenly turning to face the homeless man at the end of the alley.

In a flash, the arms reformed and slithered back into the homeless man's thick sleeves. Horrifyingly, the clothing around him bubbled and shuffled as the body inside shifted and reformed constantly until suddenly he gained life and exploded to his feet.

From the shadows of his hood to his baggy dark tattered clothing, he looked like any inconspicuous homeless man. Until he took down his hood, and a mop of wild spiky red hair, overgrown sideburns and a smile suited with sabered fangs greeted them. His pale white skin was still shifting away from it's wilder blue hue.

"AH! My brothers and sisters. Long time no see!" Raze yelled from the end of the alley.

"It's been three months." Daken said as if that was synonymous with minutes.

"Fuck logistics! Group hug!" Raze replied before running straight at them. His wild amber eyes would scare off even the hardest men and women.

The only one to meet his hug was Gabbie who smashed into him with an excited scream. As they hugged, one of Raze's arms stretched out and grabbed Daken to pull him in.

"Let me go before I rip you in half." Daken replied as Raze kissed his forehead a dozen times.

"Thanks for the pheromone assist, brother. Their weird insect senses would've made it impossible to hit them without it..... we could've died if not for you, OUR SAVIOR!!"

"Raze, you're being psychotic." Laura said flatly.

"Sister..... you have a human mutate over your shoulder." Raze replied coldly before letting Gabbie and Daken go to face her. All previous excitement had faded in a flash.

He stood a foot from her. Towering over them all at a whopping six foot nine.... when he wanted to be his natural height. Which he wasn't supposed to be in public. Sometimes his excitement made him relax.

Parts of his skin shifted from pale white to blue. His muscles bubbled from underneath his tattered clothing and the length of his limbs extended and shortened as he watched her.

"Control yourself." Laura said.

Raze looked focused-- tame, for the first time in the alley as he inhaled deeply and retained a bit of solidity to his form. Shrinking down to five foot eight and gaining a natural tan to his once blue and white skin. His eyes, hair and fangs remained.

Daken had sauntered off to restrain and hide the webheads as Laura spoke to Raze.

"Raze. This is Tay Astra. He is..... like us."

Raze took a step closer and sniffed at the unconscious teen, "He smells like rainwater... and snow... and heat."

"Go figure." Daken replied from somewhere behind them.

"Tay Astra.... that sounds like an underpaid stripper from the eighties....HAHAHA!"

Laura almost jumped at the sudden explosive laugh, "You weren't even alive in the eighties."

"Not fully." Raze replied before backing away.

A smile twisted his face inhumanely, "Wait.... does this mean you guys are coming back to the institute???"

"Yes. We are. Tay needs training." Laura said.

Raze giggled, "Yesssssss... let me teach him how to eat a pancreas!"

"Not that kind of training." Laura said before ending it with, "Training to survive. Romulus' forces are growing, and I'm sure he's made even more connections than usual. I think he's going to make a big move soon, and we need everyone ready."

Raze's face went hard at the mention of Romulus, "Then let's go, a few of the Professors will want to meet him."

And with that, everyone was together and on the same page. Now, all they needed to do was get to the Institute and wait for Bronte to wake up.

That in itself was a disaster waiting to happen....