《The Iceman》 1 Chapter one Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire ''Mental conversations'' "inverted commas" means a normal conversation. ********** NEW BEGINNINGS ********* "Ss-so ff-fug-gging c-cold" I shuddered and shivered, my teeth clattered like glasses clapping. A deep chilling cold penetrated into my bones and seeped into my being. It''s been like this for a two days now, a whole 48 hours of cold torment. I felt the agony of my blood freezing in my veins and the misery that came with world''s most nightmarish brain freeze. I balled up deeper in the crystal ice coffin that surrounded me and the white snow that had blanketed it. I actually thought I had gone to the lowest levels of cold hell, that was until this body''s memories flooded my head. I didn''t even have the respite of blacking out, I had to sort it out through the pain. This wasn''t my original body, that one had died in a way I don''t want to speak of, I had no idea about how or why I had ended up here. I died, I know. But then I woke up to the bone freezing cold, that seemed to surround me. It wasn''t coming from outside my body, it was from inside me. Something kept churning and churning and the more it churned the more cold was drawn towards me and put out of me. The more I felt like my soul was being encased in ice, as was my body which was trying to adapt. The cold turned my breath to snow. Something deep inside me was breaking free, it was being unleashed. My body hovered for a moment when it suddenly happened. BOOM! An explosion blew it all away. The crystal coffin was blown into ice chunks. The resulting shockwave turned everything in the blast radius with me at the center to clear ice. And like a miracle, all the pain just stopped. There wasn''t a pain anymore, no there was a comfort. Like taking a dip in a warm bath at the right temperature. Like fitting exactly into that comfort zone. I have never ever felt such¡­.a rightful connection before. I was where I should be and everything was clicking into place. I say it was the most amazing thing I had felt, but it was second to being alive. Feeling alive, knowing that you exist nothing beats that. I looked into the memories to find this body''s home and try to find out what the hell was happening to me and also find a roof and a bed to sleep on. The previous owner a 16 year old Bobby Drake, had run away from home for some very insubstantial reason and fell into a deep ravine. It was dark he didn''t notice it, and when he did it was too late for him to save himself. He was knocked out and when his body fell, his face was buried in a puddle of murky water, in which he drowned. If that wasn''t the most pathetic, meaningless death a person could ask for I don''t know what is. If his that name sounds familiar that''s because it should. This guy was Iceman. No not the hitman, the one from marvel movies, The most underrated character from the X-men. And not only that, but this world was where reality blended with fiction. Things I learned from his memories proved to me that I was in a very different world, in a very different universe. I''ve had two days to go over these memories, to analyze them and I still don''t know how to react. I hadn''t even fully gotten over the shock of being alive through means I had yet to fathom, and now I wasn''t even on my earth but one that should clearly be fictional instead. One with gods, aliens, mutants and super people. And it probably wouldn''t be long till trouble comes after me, I was in the body of, no, I was now a mutant. Discrimination and hatred would come like a tsunami wave of destruction. Any chance at having a calm peaceful life was thrown out the window the moment I got here. But I''d say it''s worth it. I get to relive my life. That one reason made it all worth it. My previous life was a complicated one, I was happy with it. If I wasn''t I would''ve said so. No one lives a perfect life, but it''s how you see it that matters. You see your life as a giant failure and that''s what it''ll become to you, you''ll be filled with bitterness and regret at every turn. But if you see it as a great journey, one which you enjoyed, where you met people and did things, then you will be pleased with it. After all the mind is quite powerful. The pressing situation now was trying to leave this ravine, I knew how to use my powers. Just the basics but still I knew them. It''s intrinsic like knowing to breathe, you don''t learn it you just know it. It was almost involuntary. I was interacting with this power around me, and it was waiting for me to tell it what to do. It was waiting to communicate with me. It''s like a doorway waiting for me to enter it. I pushed my hands down, the gesture helped me visualize, I knew it wasn''t necessary. I imagined a wave below me building up to a straight pillar. Something switched open and responded to my commands. Something that only I could connect to, it was me and I was it. I could feel it in my very being. Foooshhcclk! "Woah!" A white pillar of ice shot up under my feet and lifted me upwards. I had a reasonable fear of heights, but everything felt so natural that it melted away. I was rooted to the ice pillar, I could feel every crack along its length, it was like an extension of me. I stretched out my hands a again and formed a straight bridge from the ice pillar to the edge of the ravine. I didn''t have to walk, I propelled myself and glided too fast on the ice. "Woah! Holy Sh!t" I instinctively created a ramp and kept myself sliding on it going high into the air in swirls and loops till I got dizzy and fell face first into the sand. I got up dusted myself and spat out the sand. Doing that felt too easy, I thought it would''ve been more taxing it it was as easy as closing a finger. It barely even scratched the surface of what I knew I could do. I was too engrossed in my newly obtained abilities, created a perfect square ice cube out of thin air and made it hover in front of me. It was like, I was Leonardo da Vinci and this ice was play dough I could mould expertly like a God, I was only limited by my imagination. I knew every nook and cranny, every edge and smooth face was laid out bare in front of me. I turned the cube into an intricate snowflake made out of pure ice. I reshaped it into a mirror and then into a perfect sculpture of my face with moving expressions. There was just so much to do! This was crazier than admiral Kuzan''s ice-ice fruit. This wasn''t just a Manipulation of moisture and water vapour, but molecules. I was controlling something deeper, something more fundamental. I picked up a dandelion flower and began freezing it. What I was doing was not only sapping out the heat of the plant using my thermokinesis but I was utterly freezing it''s molecules with ice manipulation. I could suck out the heat like water through a vacuum straw. So not only did I have supreme control over the cold, but I could manipulate energy, maybe the ice is a byproduct of that. Heat is energy, molecular motion creates energy. I have the ability of thermokinesis, cyrokinesis and hydrokinesis. I can cause temperatures to reach absolute zero. At absolute zero there is no molecular motion, it all stops dead. Heat death as a result of the big freeze occurs at absolute zero. I can affect molecular momentum which generates heat, and sap it out of things thereby freezing them with my cyrokinesis. These powers aren''t as simple as they seem, there''s something deeper involved. Like how the hulk accesses his mass, or how antman changes his size. And this was just the zero year, how vast would my powers grow? The flower turned into white frozen brittle glass, my fingers turned ice blue the air around them hardened and the temperature was dropping, this wasn''t even absolute zero and neither was it my limit. I know heat transfer shouldn''t work this way, but tell that to my powers and the physics that govern them. There might be another dimension involved too. I flicked the flower away, it shattered into ice dust that froze air particles around it into small blocks and condensed fog before it all dissipated when the temperature regulated. Iceman was underated and underestimated. I wasn''t going to limit myself to parlor tricks. I wonder what happens beyond absolute zero, would I be able to freeze space? Would that then advance to freezing even concepts? Not now, I could cause serious environmental and physical damage if I didn''t act thoughtfully. Repercussions of actions. I''m going to minimize the use of ramps, I would create ice wings and use them to fly. Of course not now, no now I would use a iceboard. The cube flattened into a crystal clear oval shaped board that hovered before me. I jumped onto it and it still remained afloat. Slowly and steadily I began to accelerate forward. This was too damn amazing. I''ll have to repeat it, this was too damn amazing. It made me forget all my worries and just made me enjoy the moment. It''s been too long since I''ve felt peace and serenity like this. If only Cruz could see me now, what right did I have to enjoy life she''d ask, and then she''d tell me to fuck off but secretly smile. Dan would probably tell me to live it to the fullest and get all the girls, and John would just give me the finger and go back to reading his verses. Heh. I had to get back pieces of my past life I could. I can never forget my people, that would make me a traitor deserving of a painful meaningless death. I''ll make sure I never forget those precious ones. **** When I neared the town I jumped off the board and dissipated it into cold vapor. I made my way into the town. At once I could tell that it was a tight knit community of individuals who wouldn''t accept nothing less than order and the values they projected onto you. This place was called Fort Washington, in the Nassau County of long Island. Neatly mowed lawns, clean neat sidewalks. Houses built close to each other only separated by a fence of sparse green trees or short hedges. I could already hear the beautiful bird songs and carried by the calm blowing winds. An outer appearance of perfection, that would deceive you into thinking it was paradise where everyone got along with each other. From my memories I could see that he had lived here his whole life, mastering to hide his true self in this place where wolves pretended to be sheep. It was a quiet day. People were probably catching up to their ''holy'' TV shows and whatnot. For your information I have nothing against religion, I actually am Christian, just not the misguided kinds. I respect my religion, but I won''t hesitate to call you out on your shit when you start twisting words of freedom to suit your needs. I''m also into meditation, just putting that out there. And I''m also 100% not gay. Just saying it now before someone asks down the line, because I know that Bobby became one. I have nothing against gay people, shit I respect them, it takes a certain type of strength to do that. Plus all the gay people I''ve actually met were hardcore badasses. I''m talking of large lumberjack guys, with mean mugs that make you take a step back. Heh. But I prefer women. I walked to the doorstep of my house and rang the bell. Hurried footsteps approached the door and opened it wide. Madeline Drake had bags under her eyes from crying, guess she must have been worried about me right? No, she''s a hypocrite, trust me. Her brown hair was in a neat ponytail, fully displaying her expression of shock. I stepped in and then went past her. "Who is it, honey?" a distinct male voice questioned out loud. I walked past the man who sat in his couch watching TV, he looked like Ned Flanders but somewhat larger, less kind and without the glasses. I open the fridge and grabbed a coke can. Popping it with a satisfying whizz, the sweet scent wafting to my nose. I chugged down on the coke can and grabbed wrapped up leftovers. Taking them to the microwave and setting it to warm. I turned back and stared back at them. "Boy! What the hell do you think you''re doing in my house?!" the man yelled at me, threateningly rising from his chair. The woman standing behind him, supportive. They were disgusted at their son. The father saw him as a weak wuss and the mother had to always fan the flames. "I''m right here, what are you yelling for?" I said flatly scratching my ear with a finger. They looked like they had the senses shocked out of them. They both stood with their mouths hanging. open. "I took some time to clear my head and I''m better than ever now. I''m not afraid, there''s nothing for me to fear so don''t try intimidating me. I''ll be in my room if you need me" I said, pulling the warm food from the microwave and walking upstairs to my bedroom. Iceman, was a character who was always overlooked or outright ignored, and the guy was an omega level mutant that barely even tapped into his true potential. You should understand that omega level mutants were very dangerous existences, like Jean Grey with the Phoenix, or Franklin Richards who could quite literally create pocket universes. And iceman was up there with them. But he never utilized his full potential, there was a scan were Emma frost possessed his body and did things he never even thought possible. Imagine Tracy Strauss from heroes having her ice powers taken to god levels and then you''ve got iceman. The guy was basically godlevel Sub-zero. And he never really put all that power to use, no he just wanted to make fun and be loved. From what I could see, he was just a hurt little child that wants to always please his parents, he was afraid of rejection, so he hides behind a mask of cheerfulness and clownish acts. What a shame. I wasn''t that child, I wasn''t naive or looking for acceptance. I wasn''t ''Bobby'' in fact no one is going to be calling me Bobby anymore. My names Robert Drake. They could either call me Rob or my last name, but not nice guy Bobby. Bobby is dead. ********* The skies today were sunny and clear with a cool tinge of blue. I held yellow plastic bags in my grasp as I exited the supermarket doors and began making my way back to the house, it''s been a week now. I don''t plan on actually staying here too long. "Hey Drake, you wuss!" I paused and turned to look back at the brash voice. A teenage male older than I currently was, had a sneer on his face. He was larger and more muscular, he walked towards me with two of his cronies who stuck to his sides like puppies. Rocky Beasley, town bully and tormentor of Bobby. Way number 1 to end a bully, don''t let it start. He came forward and held my shoulder. Thudd! "Heh, c''mere you littl- AHHH!" a blood curdling scream was the result of my foot smashing against his unprotected nether region. He crumpled to the floor and rolled around in pain. The brave crony ran at me in a tackle. I dropped my bags. And shot my hand out, gripping the back of his head and directing forward swaying my body out the way. Crash! The first crony had his head embedded into the glass display behind me, knocking him out and breaking the glass. The second one stared and then ran off, abandoning his friends. I steadily packed up all the spilled items back into the yellow plastic bags. In a blink I could freeze his body over, I could turn his organs to glass and his blood to ice with just a single snap. It was so very easy to do so, but that wasn''t the right choice for such a situation. I''m just saying, I could take his life away if it so pleased me. I kicked Rocky twice more in the stomach, "Urghh!" making him puke out his half digested breakfast and stomach acid all over the sidewalk. I left the area with bags in hand.. /X/ I looked at my reflection on the ice mirror. I dyed my hair to a more fitting black, it complimented my sea blue eyes. The sharp ice razors went to work. Black hair strands fell on the grass, as each blade skillfully touched my scalp. I had gone for simple side fades and the results were quite pleasing. The style actually fit me, it expressed my facial features and made me quite the looker, not that I already wasn''t. Once I was done with that, I brushed and began exploring more of my powers. I was having trouble with the organic ice form. I could feel it in me, but it wouldn''t be easy to pull out since it was supposed to be a secondary mutation. I could create crystalline ice armor over my skin that would look physically indistinguishable from it, but that wouldn''t even begin to touch on my organic ice form. In the organic ice form, I would be allowed more freedom and control over my abilities. Plus it would come with a healing factor that would rival even wolverine''s. So sufficient trauma, or stress was necessary for me to get that one. But for now I could make do with what I had access to. Ice gathered to form a humanoid fluffy snowman. I refined and reshaped it till it resembled a crystal sculpture of myself. And then I willed it to move, it was clumsy at first but it became smoother and smoother. The ice clone didn''t have emotions, it only followed my orders. To be honest it was like having a second body connected to me, like having another hand. I could see whatever it did and I didn''t know how that worked. I suspected that my consciousness or the connection to the ice allowed this to be possible. If I had to define it, I''d say it was like having a shadow clone based on ice instead of Chakra. What? I watch Naruto from time to time. "Break dance" I said to it. It stared up, brought it''s head down and then it kicked out a foot and twisted around, it''s hand over its crotch. Michael Jackson. It started with thriller moves and then went all Billy Jean. "Haha!" I created another one who joined in on the dance, in perfect harmony. You know since we''re talking about Naruto, let''s try this. The clones stood across me with ice bands on their heads and a swords in their hands. I added two more clones to the mix with anbu masks each of them holding kunais. They nodded and sped at me. My palms were brought close together at my sides, ice waves crackling in my open grip. "Mega snowflake shuriken!" I shouted and tossed. A giant intricate snowflake with micron thin edges tore through the ice clones and any trees or obstacles in its path like knife through butter. It would''ve gone through the sparse forest had I not called it back and dissipated it. That gave me an idea for another type of creation. I focused and expertly sculpted a ice sparrow, like my clones I could see what the little bird saw. I stretched out my finger and the little bird flapped its wings and perched on it. It was just too lifelike, it could be mistaken for a real bird made out of crystal and ice. I let it fly and it showed it all it saw from a birds eye view, ice scouts. It couldn''t go too far off and it was rapidly melting. That was it for today. I reached into the hoodie vest pocket and popped a cigarette out of the pack. Habits die hard, plus it wasn''t like it could kill me now, when I could cleanse myself with ice. No really, the ice was inside of me, it''s like my outer layer of skin was just a covering and the real me was the ice beneath it. I took a calming drag of the lit cigarette, this world''s cigarettes were highly improved. They didn''t have as much of the tar the ones back in my world did. If John was here he''d ask me for one and then proceed to crumple and destroy the pack. Heh. Bastard. The bitter aftertaste of the smoke being swallowed into my lungs. The nostalgia that comes with, tastes no less. I am left alone with my silence, my mind drifts back to where I came from, to all I had lost. The sorrow of missing them and being missed. The yearning of my heart, and the knowledge that I''ll never truly get to see those ones again washes over me like cold piercing water. I embrace the emotions, I let it all come to surface, the temperature drops as do icy tears down my face. Dying sucks. I don''t cry, I never do I always have to be strong. But the ones I had to be strong for aren''t even here with me, I was given another chance but for what purpose? I died, yes. The bullet tore through my vitals. It was irrefutable. Damn cigarette was already done was what I thought, the cigarette was frozen solid as was my hand. I don''t know when, but I had turned into my organic ice form. It was something else, every inch of my body was crystalline. From the strands of spiky hair on my head to the soles of my boots. My clothes were frozen solid, they cracked and fell off around me at the exposure to the temperature I was giving off. This was very unexpected. It''s like my skin fell off and exposed the true ice cold form of my being. I didn''t feel the need to even breath because in this form air or food wasn''t necessary. The jagged edges all over my shoulders, back of my arms, knees and head all felt very natural and necessary. I refined my ice form like I had my clones. I wasn''t exactly see through, I had a more blue tint and slightly translucent form. I morphed parts of my body into various shapes and sizes, creating fitting jeans with an ice chain across the pockets and some kicks for my feet, the spikes I could drop them into my body whenever I wanted to. This was my organic ice form. But it wasn''t enough to distract me from the melancholy still knocking at my heart. I formed a pair of magnificent crystal wings and flapped. Shooting off into the clouds and then past them. The soft cotton looking tufts below me as I just floated there above it all. "I Love you!!!!" I yelled out at nobody in particular. "I hope you''re all living well. I already miss you bastards, you were the only family I had. I''m sorry I went so soon. But I''m glad you all get to live now, my sacrifice was worth it. Don''t cry for me, be strong. Cruz, you were all I ever would''ve wanted, but I hope you''re happy with John. Dan settle down and lay off trying to corrupt John. John, smile more you bastard. Don''t miss me too much, take care of Cruz. I''m in a better place, don''t cry for me, don''t cry. " I just let it all out, the beautiful skies easing the pain. The taste of sunlight and freedom on my icy tongue. A wave spread out from my body and it started to snow in the warm July weather. Maybe my heart was as cold as my body. ********* It was very easy for me to control my organic ice form. I could alter my shape, size and weight in ice form. But the changes dissipated in my normal flesh form. I know iceman had trouble with turning back to flesh when he went into his organic ice form but that wasn''t the case for me. And not only that, but I could deform and reform myself from a single crystal, it was freaky like that fluid metal terminator. And when I focused hard enough I could turn parts of me into intangible fog, like Smoker from one piece. Every part of me had the necessary information stored in each crystalline molecule and structure, like a brain that encompasses my body. I could also see the heat signatures of things. I don''t even know how my eyes work when in organic ice form or in fog form. I packed the last of what I needed into the bagpack and zipped it up. I stood and stared at the room, the single comfy bed, the posters of girls on the walls and the small TV on the desk. I turned around and walked out the door closing it behind me. The parents were out standing by the maindoor. "Where do you think you''re going young man?" the woman asked,her arm crossed on her chest. The man standing with a more relaxed pose. "I''m leaving, going out there to make a life for myself. I''m a mutant, I won''t be accepted here" the recoiled in shock when I changed my hand to ice. I began walking towards the door when I felt a grip on my shoulder. "You know what you want. I know things have been not so good, but I am proud of you. I can see it in your eyes, you''ve finally grown up. Use this, call it a parting gift just don''t forget to call and visit your mom from time to time " the man said sincerely, he opened his wallet and gave me his credit card. "Thanks..Dad, I''ll visit. Mom take care if yourself. I''ll call you when I get to where I''m going." I accepted the card and said my goodbyes. The woman hugged me one last time and I shook the man''s hand. With that I walked through the door, drawing the hood of my open vest over my head. /X/ The man took back his tattoo gun and wiped. away all the residual blood and ink on my stinging skin. "So, how is it?" he asked. "It''s great" I said looking at the mirror. "It''s rad dude. A masterpiece, makes me want to put your skin on the walls! It''s that good" "Heh" I had Tibetan Sanskrit half sleeve tattoos reaching out to my chest and sides with a dark multicolored backdrop, on my left shoulder and across my upper body. Those were for Cruz. Dan''s blue dragon was over my shoulder coiled around the backdrop and the Sanskrit letters like a guard. It''s tail reaching over my back to my right hand where I had John''s Bible verse coiling and spiraling along the length of my upper arm all the way up to my chest and shoulders. It said: ''They will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. His will be done.'' I''m not a piercings type of guy so I didn''t get any of those, those were Dan''s shit, I wasn''t going to go down that hole. I slid on the sleeveless hoodie and unzipped the chest, the tattoo had to heal and it''s not like I could feel cold. I reached into my black jeans pockets and took out the payment cash. I paid the guy a little more than listed price, since I was still a minor and this was below the counter type of deal. I left the store and earned myself some looks before I went into a secluded alley and turned my upper body into organic ice, the tats could be washed away by replacing the tattooed parts with ice, but I wasn''t trying to do that. I went back into flesh form and the wounds had fully healed up, with none of the complications, itch or scab. I drew very thin ice threads and particles into my skin to highlight and lace the tattoos with them, giving it a more beautiful balance and brilliant hue. This was good enough. I boarded the bus and with that I was off to my next destination. The X-men, that would be the safest and most dangerous place to be right now. Mutants were in really bad situation right now. Magneto''s Island of genosha was razed to the ground and utterly destroyed, a population wiped out. And do you know what they say? Who''s gonna lose sleep over dead muties. Imagine that. And now, they''ve supposedly created a still experimental cure that takes away mutations, so mutants are now a disease. The abuser blames the victimized for their own victimization. A hate filled society expecting you to fit into it, when rather society should be more inclusive. I would use my powers to help people, but I wasn''t going to stay an xman boy scout for long, I''m not as benevolent as Jesus Xavier, I give back as much as I am given. It was just a springboard for me. Till I got a better hold on things and a steady income. Then I could find a hq or a base. Talking of bases, I''ll build one in the polar regions. A literal crystal palace and call it the fortress of solitude. Yeah that''s right, I''ll channel the inner superman in me to create it. One thing at a time. *''*** Hallo zusammen, guten tag. There you have it people, chapter one of our journey. Whoo! I''m feeling ignited, on fiahhh! So what are your thoughts? How''d you like it? Do you see parts that can be improved? Send in your reviews and let me know! Did you enjoy it? If you did, you see that small box? The one next to the favorite and like, just smash it, smash it so hard a check appears and viola you have supported moi and le story. ***** 2 Chapter two Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. ''Mental conversations'' "Normal spoken conversations". *You people are friggin Amazing! Thank you for all your motivating and praise filled reviews!!! Calm down ego. Without further ado, I give to you chapter deux* ************** MADHOUSE ************** "1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center , Westchester County, New York" I matched the address written on the gates to the one on my phone. I''m sure Prof X already knows I''m here, the man was a super powerful telepath. I also felt the ambient psychic wind around me. That''s what I called it, I''ve been feeling these energy winds ever since I came to life. It''s like my soul was sensitive to it. I wouldn''t worry too much about them finding out where I was truly from. That had to do with my soul, not my brain. If it was my brain then I''d probably be brain dead. I don''t think one mind can withstand such phenomenon. And there''s also the fact that I can''t physically pronounce my name, it comes out my mouth a jumbled mess of words. I drew my backpack closer and walked through the now open gates. This place was seriously large, it had a small pond and even a forest. The great mansion stood tall in the center of it all. A neat garden surrounded marble angel statues and a fountain on the path to the mansion. I saw people of all shapes and sizes and then humanoids. Walking masses of rock, a pink gelatinous blob protecting a skeleton, a green reptilian human, a person with pink wings. And a fucker that was seriously hard to look at, it was like a premature bird chick gave birth to a malnourished human with sparse feathers and a beak. I must have been drawing a lot of attention because a lot of gazes were focused on me. ''Welcome, Robert Drake'' a voice said in my head, it was like hearing someone talk audibly inches away from your ear. Invasion of privacy. I looked ahead to see a woman approach me. The white queen herself, clad in white tight fitting looking leather trousers and heels, a white choker adorned her smooth neck and a white x shaped blouse that only covered her busty cleavage, exposing her fine toned abdominals, the white gown around her shoulders swayed to the wind with each step she took. The first thing you notice is that she is sexy. Holy Word, she is sexy. The x shaped blouse just accentuates her figure, and brought her cleavage to the spotlight, it''s almost like she''s wearing nothing at all (those boobs aren''t real). That coupled with her mature, sultry aura really took the meaning of sex appeal up a notch. Calm thoughts, calm thoughts. I''m not Dan. She approached me with a very disarming smile on her face, her gaze roaming on me as mine did on hers. She raised a brow when it lingered for awhile on my tattoos. To be honest I was expecting the professor, but he wasn''t around, no one supposedly knew where he was but I suspect him being in Genosha, maybe he was mourning, or maybe he finally went to Shi''ar space to spend time with his alien wife. I really don''t know. So that''s that. "I am Emma Frost, co-headmaster of this institution, it''s quite nice meeting you" Emma Frost was in a relationship with Scott summers and they were the headmasters of the school after the professor left. Jean Grey died, but between us we know that''s not gonna last long. And Iceman(I) wasn''t a core member of the X-men in this reality. As made clearly evident by now. "Hello Miss Frost, the pleasure is mine. You must already know why I''m here?" I shook her outstretched hand. I did call beforehand. "Of course, you awakened your mutant gene like many others. Here at the Charles Xavier''s institute of higher learning -a safe haven for mutants like you and me- we help you learn to control and use your abilities in productive ways." She smiled radiantly. I see now how Emma frost could really deceive most, she was skilled at doing this - getting into your comfort zone- like it was natural. Or maybe she was projecting feel good thoughts at me. These thoughts can''t be read, it''s like there not even on my mind, I just know it. But these can; So she can read minds huh ''Indeed so, but I''m not reading, just communicating'' she responded in my mind, see. That gets freaky the more I witness it. "Follow me, Robert. Let''s get you acquainted with the mansion" "Ok" ¡­ Emma gestured around. "This is the main building. The first floor has classrooms, faculty offices and the ballroom which will occasionally serve as the assembly hall" Large oil paintings of the X-men in their younger days hung on the fine wooden walls of the large hall. We walked into a large dome like hall with glass roofs and sparse pot plants around it. Chattering students occupied the tables and chairs socializing with each other. It was like a human glasshouse but without the heat or sunlight. "This, as you can see is our cafeteria. It will be open from breakfast until dinner to accommodate a variety of of eating schedules and diets." she explained. "We have a basketball court and a swimming pool out back" Upon exiting the cafeteria we came to an open section which had a basketball court and a very large swimming pool across it. "Be advised, when you hear the alarms you are to immediately leave the courts. The X-men jet hangar is just directly below, the courts are retractable" "I guess that''s why it''s so large" the court had to be one of the largest I had ever seen. I followed behind her, taking time to observe some minor details. Like the fact that she now has more sway to her steps, or the fake grass below it. ¡­ We went past various sections of the unbelievably large furnished mansion. From the silver shiny, semi sphere danger room to the dark room with a single seat and a helmet where they keep Cerebro. To the various offices and ended the tour at the dorms. The rooms were quite nice. It were sufficiently furnished, with carpets, desks and chairs, a main computer and dressers with closets and it was still spacious enough for two. Which was what it exactly was for ¡ª two people. I set my bag on the foot of the unoccupied bed and flopped down on the soft cushion. The door creaked open some minutes later with a boy walking in. He looked to be no older than 13, had violet purple skin, red hair and a red gem on his forehead. He paused when he noticed me on the bed. Staring at me for what seemed to be minutes. I sat up, and he seemed to regain himself. "Woah dude, nice tatts." he really was a kid, his voice had barely even cracked. "Thanks man. What''s your name" I asked. "I''m Paras, bro, you can call me Indra" he sounded excited, I had no idea why. "I''m Robbie" "Cool name bro, real nice meeting you" he said walking over to his side of the room to pack it up. "I''ve got the cool guy for roommate¡­yes!" I heard him mutter excitedly shaking his fist. Kids. "Bro, you wanna see my powers?" I don''t know if his eyes could go any wider with hope. "Sure Indra" "Boom!" he said flexing his arms. Red and purple Exoskeleton armor grew out of his body and wrapped around him. Making him look larger and more imposing. "That''s actually friggin awesome" kid was like an organic mecha knight. "Hah! Yeah!" he happily pumped his fists. I couldn''t help chuckling. He unsummoned his armor. "What''s yours bro" I created a little bird of ice and made it fly around him, then perching on his nose. "Woahhh super cool! Bro you''re like an Iceman" "Iceman huh" guess that''s what it''s gonna be. "Sure why not" Headmaster''s office "So what do you think of him?" A stern faced man who looked to be in his late twenties. He leaned back on his chair placing his mug on the desk, adjusting the visor over his eyes. "Well for one I think he''s quiet but confident and from what I could gain. He''s just your everyday boy who went through his mutant manifestation, and then he changed. His thoughts processes seemed to mature greatly after that, and he might also be going through a rebellious phase" The white queen sat on the man''s desk and leaned forward. "Which would explain all tattoos?" he questioned with a frown. "He has a very strong attachment to those. Oh and he smokes too. What a bad boy" the woman said with a seductive jovial mirth. The man frowned, and tapped his fingers together. "Hmmm, I''ll put him on my student squad. To keep an eye on him, and help him moves past this phase so it doesn''t become a problem later on. Help him learn discipline and to use his energy for the right purpose" "Ohh, darling. He would fit right in with the hellions, why not give him to me" "It''s already decided Emma. Your hellions list is already full as is" A knock sounded on the door and the large figure of humanoid feline looking man with blue fur walked in. "Scott we have a problem. It''s about the mutant cure" the feline man said urgently holding a vial of yellow substance. He had obtained it after entering -sneaking- into Benetech to obtain it from the leading scientist herself, Dr Rao. She had been his longtime friend and colleague. |¡ì¡ì| In the Teachers Lounge. A lady with brown hair in a ponytail stepped into the lounge. "How much detention are we allowed to give? How much detention can the human body withstand?" she asked, pouring a cup of coffee for herself. One of her students had just called her a retard for giving him one of the speeches the professor used to. "Heh. Counseling going great then kitty?" the healthy man in his prime laughed as he sat on the couch munching on his pizza slice. "Lemme guess, you gave the ''Mutants are a community line''" "It didn''t quite fly wolvie. Kids these days" kitty Pryde shook her head. "You looked at the news punkin?" wolverine increased the TV volume. [....A Benetech spokesman says it will be weeks before they can begin the fda approval process for the mutant cure serum¡­] the voice of the newscaster resounded through the lounge. "This won''t end well, for anyone involved" he said solemnly, it never does he thought to himself. |¡ì¡ì| At the lowest section of Benetech industries. Ord of Breakworld. That was his name, his title. He comes from a long line of fierce warriors, his people have never known defeat or surrender. His people do not know of compassion or patience, but this woman before him was pushing what little of it existed in him thin. "Woman, are you insane? Why would you give the X-men a serum" he asked with undisguised anger in his voice, his pale green form towering over the doctor. Dr Rao. She had given the serum he would use to wipe the mutant scourge out of existence to the enemy themselves. Of course that serum wasn''t the only one, but she had exposed their hand now. "I gave an old colleague a sample. They were bound to get it sooner or later" she answered simply, without a hint of distress in her tone. "You know what the X-men are to me. And show respect when you speak to me Earth Spawn, without my technologies none of this would be possible" Ord despised the mutants. They were prophesied to destroy his home world. He wouldn''t give them that victory, no he would wipe out their filth. "What? The chance for you to dress up like a villain? And it''s not your technology, it''s the technology of your people." Dr Rao corrected him. She was only going along with this to make a scientific breakthrough, and bring a mutant back to life. Ord placed his large gloved palm on the doctor''s shoulder. "One day. Dr Rao, you will know my anger" the doctor shrugged his gorilla sized hand off her shoulder and went to look after more important matters. "For now, the X-men will pay for what they did to my face" he had a run in with them once, they had scarred him. He will get his pressing revenge soon enough. People of the breakworld know no mercy, two eyes for an eye, that is their way. Ord went into the deeper portions of the lab, his section. He opened a box and inside were multiple vials of yellow substance, he didn''t trust the doctor with these, he had given her a single vial and she gave to another, so Ord kept these in his protected vault. Ord took out a vial and slotted it into the delivery section of his gloves which had protruding syringes. He admired his weapon, all it would take was a punch and like magic, the X gene of a mutant would be neutralized when the contents of the vial would be introduced into their system. *Ola Amigos! There you have it. Chapter deux, right on time! Whoo! Hope you''re all liking it so far. Now we have the story moving on, Rob is with the X-men, trouble is brewing behind the scenes. What happens next? Stay tuned to find out. Don''t forget to leave a comment/review. Tap that favorite and follow button to show your powah!! Till next time. Rain out* Ps I just can''t get Italics, bolds or page breaks to work on this web novel app. It''s more arranged on my ff page. 4 Chapter four : COLD PLAY I Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. ''Mental conversations'' "Normal spoken conversations". ***************************** COLD PLAY I ***************************** The man with glinting metallic claws lunged at me. I slid backwards creating space between us. Ice spears hovering around me Vzp! Vzp! jammed through his body and nailed him to the ground. Flooshckklc A larger ice spike shot from the ground and impaled him through the chest raising him with it. The man barely desisted his beast like grunts and he tried clawing at the ice. I jumped at his face with two smaller spikes in my hand going through his eyeballs, lodging into his brain. "Urghhh!" he grunted in pain and blindly lashed out chipping away my armor. A thin layer of ice began to rapidly form over his skin from the point of contact I had with him. His grunts abruptly ceased as did all his movements. He was a frozen solid as glass. I punched at him with an enlarged fist. Clank! Crash! His metallic skeleton shot out of his shattered-to-pieces frozen flesh that now littered the silver floor. "Agh!" I grunted as a sledge hammer like force struck my mind. I saw the woman in white smiling seductively and mockingly at me. My body changed into its organic ice form. The clothes on me freezing solid and falling off. The woman''s face scrunched up in distress, the psychic blasts no longer working on me, a recently discovered unique and appreciated property of my ice form. I lashed my hand out. Vzz! Accelerating circular discs of ice sped past her body, cleanly separating it into a mutilated and dismembered statue. The one with a visor fired red beams of energy at me. Pushing me back. He fired again, I learned my lesson the first time. A clear ice shield morphed over my hand, he fired continued beam at me, pushing me back slowly. I refined the ice shield to the point where I felt the beams begin to divert on its mirror like surface, easing the force exponentially. I turned the shield to the to a slightly bent angel reflecting the damage to the blue figure that was creeping up on me blasting it back and into the wall. Two clones formed from the ice ran at the man, he turned his sight from me to blast them apart. I utilized the distraction, I shot forward on an ice sled. He turned his sight back towards me, not noticing the danger behind him. When he did, it was too late. His whole head was encased in ice, a swift punch from my speeding figure turned it into pieces of frozen pebbles. The man fell to knees and then forward. "Phew" I took a breath turning back into my flesh form¡ª naked. I changed back into organic ice, the stylish trousers with side chains reappearing on me. I was still learning to isolate the clod from damaging my clothes by manipulating the immediate temperature gradient over my skin but it''s not been very easy. The room dissipated into a stream of light particles as did the bodies and all the mess. I walked out the now silver and distinctively metallic danger room. I admitted the fact that it''s technology was so advanced it was close to magic. This was my second time in it. And it was vastly different from the first time, I think they set it to marathon mode. I had been fighting over and over for hours on end over various sceneries. The last one was meant to be deadly. Dr McCoy was in the control room alone, replaying the fight and nodding along. "Wait till they see this" he muttered between chuckles. "Hey Doc" I said. "Ah Robert, I was just replaying the danger room scenes. I have to say it''s as entertaining as it is equally if not more terrifying. You are quite limitless in your creativity and applications" He clapped my shoulder. Noting down his observations on a pad he pulled out. "The psychic resistance function of your organic ice form performed well I see" I nodded. "It did. It was like a barrier was built around my mind that threw back whatever was thrown at it." "Yes, indeed. Very mirror like in that regard." he closed his notebook and gestured for me to follow him as he hummed a melodious tune. We walked down a section and through a door then into his lab. It looks like your typical mad genius laboratory. Glowing cylinders with bubbling substances. Giant tesla coils with blue arcs of electricity dancing on them. A neat cluster of monitors all displaying different results, graphs and such. A large white machine that looks like a CT scanner? I''m not too certain. The lab was large enough to hold all these and more and still have enough space in it. Or maybe it''s the fact that everything is neatly kept and arranged. "It took sometime but I was able to acquire materials to build a prototype uniform you could wear even in your organic ice form without damaging it. As well as other forms" We walked to a display board where he tapped on some buttons. And the black screen cleared. Displaying a man-panty(that''s what it looked like) with a red x symbol on it. I blankly stared at it then back at the doctor. I turned around to walk out of the lab. "Hahaha. I''m joking" a deep laughter erupted from his lips as he held me back. He used his furry fingers to wipe away a tear. "Oh, you should have seen your face, Robert." he said with even more laughter. "Very funny Dr McCoy" The background changed, the metal sliding out to present another one. "The materials are layered with rare unstable molecular fabric I obtained from my colleague Dr Richards. He was kind enough to donate it. The fabric will be able to attune and adapt to your body''s physical properties when your form changes while still retaining its structural integrity" he explained. He hit a switch. A flame thrower spat red hot raging flames at the material and it barely even smoked. The screen retracted into the walls and the uniform slid out on a mechanical rack. The lower wear was an all black, slim fit combat jeans trouser . The leather like bomber jacket next to it was also black but with a yellow highlights on the collars, some bands on the arms and a large yellow X on the front. The trousers were very fitting and cozy. I slid the bare jacket on, I noticed hoodie on the back, it looked great like this even without an undershirt. Dan would be proud. I also grabbed a pair of black sneaker inspired footwear on the rack below the screen and slid those on too. "I''m working on an upgrade that will allow it more properties. Such as color change and smart interactions. Although the trouser has more of the molecules than the jacket, it shouldn''t be much of a problem when the upgrades are ready." he rummaged through a drawer and steadily pulled out a metallic belt with an X buckle and two very black gloves with a yellow X on the back. "This is your belt and your glove. It has the various functions as the others, it should also be able to withstand your temperatures when you''re in ice form" I raised a brow. "Isn''t that for only the official X-Men?" "Yes it is, Drake" a voice said walking out of the shadows, Cyclops. "Welcome to the team Kid." wolverine added "Heh, anyone who freezes Scott''s head off like that deserves to be on it" he chuckled, striking a match and using it light his cigar. As he too stepped out from behind. "We''ll make an official announcement tomorrow, sorting you guys into your squads. But you have earned yourself a spot on the main team. Your bravery was commendable as were your tactics. The fact that you stood up for your colleagues in such a situation was very important" Cyclops continued. "You''re rough around the edges with your somewhat uncontrolled lethal choice of actions. But that can be smoothed out" You know what this seems like to me? Like they were holding onto something they didn''t want to lose. In this case, me going to work for Shield(I still had Nick Fury''s card). Wolverine and the rest wanting me on the team might be slightly genuine, but Scott(I became the new magneto) Summers? I don''t think so. His actions have double meanings, the man has been spending too much time with Emma frost. Maybe I''m a little too hard on him, try telling him that. The man has been on my case since I got here, I''m not dumb. And I won''t be surprised if I end up on his student group. Mind you, I don''t see myself as the center of the world. I''m not some super centric essential main character, the universe doesn''t revolve around me. In the grand scale of things, I would barely even matter. I''m not self conceited. I don''t have a great purpose, I''m like any other person out there in the world, the only difference is I''ve just got powers, powers I don''t let get to my head. They don''t entitle me to superiority, there others out there with greater abilities or even minds and wills. I''m just one man, in an endless infinite universe, compared to that all I am small. It''s the truth, and it''s ok, I accept it. And then I live with it. As long as I''ve got a life, I''ll live, I''m not special. I''m like you, I''m normal. We''re all unique, but no one is really special. The world is large, I''ve seen a lot. We use our uniqueness to stand out, sure. But that doesn''t mean we''re above others, for they too are unique. I''m not special. "Although it seems rushed, we have given it very much thought. I and the rest of the X-men know we could use your abilities.". "To be honest we could use a hand considering all we''ve got on ours" Hank agreed. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Then I''ll gladly accept it. It''s an honor to be on the team with you guys" I said. It really was, I mean when you go past it all. It''s like joining your favorite characters in real life, without all the childish rainbows and unicorn bulshit. They smiled and congratulated me. I later left the lab and headed for my room, putting the X jacket in the closet with the belt and gloves. I liked the trousers and sneakers so I kept those on. I wore my sleeveless hoodie then headed for the cafeteria since it was lunch anyway. |¡ì¡ì| I took my loaded tray off the counter and looked around to find a seat. The cafeteria was always occupied and the students did have their seating groups and what not. Indra sat with his friends, a green kid with dragon scales on his back and another that looked like humanoid water. They enjoyed each other''s company. I would normally sit with him, but the kid should hang around people his age more. I went towards and unoccupied table and placed my tray down and drew a seat forward. I pulled my hoodie back. Said a small prayer like John would and began eating. The chef had four hands, and maybe that meant four times the cooking talent. The food was always delicious. "Hi, Robbie" Hisako came up to the table with her tray. "Hey, Hisako. Sup" Hisako was the girl with the hard light armor construct. She''s asian, Japanese to be specific. She had a headful of shining black hair she kept in a ponytail. Her eyes were a wonderful hazel brown that were attention grabbing, she had this cute pointy nose, pink lips and a bright smile that fit her very well. She was also very witty. "All good. Where are your friends, Drake? I thought you''d start sitting with the ''popular'' kids by now." she added munching on her rice and sushi. "Oh, well you know me. I''m prefer the peace and quiet of solitude. Plus I thought we were friends?" "Gahh, can you stop sounding so sagely and grandfatherly." she groaned, "Of course we are, but next to Indra and maybe mindee there''s probably no one else. I know they invited you to seat with them, You turned them down didn''t you?" "yep to the second and no to the first. I like being wise" I said. "That won''t end well." she added. "Um..hi" a girl walked up to our table. "Can I join you guys?" She asked tensely. "Sure, just grab a seat" I replied. The girl had golden blond hair in contrast to her deep blue eyes. An angular face that drew attention to her features, and full lips. Did I ever tell you how everyone here looks like a supermodel. Almost everyone had pretty faces, sweet figures with all the curves in the right places. Such as this girl now, she''ll probably be in her mid to late teens. There''s been an influx of students lately must be due to the new semester. "Thank you" she said taking a sigh of relief. Her gaze alternated from mine and Hisako''s. "I''m Laurie Collins, I''m from Connecticut and I''m new here" she briefly introduced herself. "Welcome Laurie to the best table in the house, over on this side we''re the heroes" Hisako joked, causing Laurie to giggle. "I''m Hisako the great and this is my partner Rob the smooth crimina-" I quickly interjected cutting her off. "I know you won''t let that go. Don''t listen to her, she''ll talk your head off" I told Laurie. She smiled at us. "It''s nice meeting you both. And thanks for the hospitality." "No need to thank to us." Her gaze lingered on mine and went over my tattoos, examining each piece her eyes could over my chest to my arms. She blushed when our gazes met again. "Your tattoos look great" Hisako kicked my leg under the table, ''smooth criminal'' she mouthed silently to me. I ignored her and smile at Laurie. "Thanks Laurie. You look amazing when you smile" Hisako stink eyed me when I said that. "Laurie, what are your po¡ª" Slam! "You''re just a show off!" someone yelled from another table. I turned my head to stare. It was someone of the ''cool'' kids. Cool, what a fucking joke. Cool, if these childish fuckers knew half the shit I''ve done, they''d back away in fear. Cool, I hope they learn before they get thrown out into the real world. I knew this guy, he''s the one with telekinesis "So what? Because you think you fought some alien dude, because you think you''ve got some cool powers and now you think you''re the king? You''re just a fake show off, wear your clothes right for goodness sake! Why do you always display these shitty doodles you call tattoos?" He yelled heatedly and walked up to me. "I''m sick and tired of your shit! Since you''re so hot, try me" everyone''s attention was drawn to us. I wonder how he''d feel if he knew I was an X-Man. He must be feeling threatened, his social standing was being shaken up by an outsider. He was no longer the center of the universe and that must have not sat well with him. He probably has a severe case of narcissistic personality disorder, so of the attention and admiration he seeks isn''t given to him he lashes out. And most likely because of his powers, he''s been able to make it grow even more severe, he''s used to people backing down. Hisako tried getting up to defend but I gestured for her to seat. This kid was trying to mess with the wrong person. Thank God John isn''t here to stop me from what I''m about to do. "Sigh. I hope we have a healer" I rose from my seat at looked him straight in the eye he faltered and took a step back but still affirmed his stance. Slap! A crisp slap rang out through the room. His senses were scrambled he couldn''t focus enough to get his powers working, I formed a sphere around us and descended on the little shit like God''s anger. You need to thoroughly root it out, if not it could blow up in your face down the line. Krak! "Argh! Ahh!" that was his fore finger. Thud a punch to the face disoriented him again. I''m teaching him a valuable life lesson. One he''ll never forget. He activated his telekinesis but I was too close to him for it to actively use it properly. We were also in my fighting field. Hands formed from the ice held him tightly in place as I systematically hit him. "Please, please stop. I''m r-really ss-sorhyy" he begged. His fingers bent in ways they shouldn''t, his face bloody. ''Stop your undignified actions immediately and let him out!'' Emma Frost''s angry voice intruded into my mind. Right this guy was her prized student. I held his bloody face up to eye level and stared at him. "You try shit at me again I''ll freeze your brain. I believe you now know your place?" he frantically nodded. "Good" I said. Dissipating the ice sphere, the boy fell weakly to the floor he had a black eye, a busted lip and some broken fingers. The students nearest to us exclaimed and stepped back. I looked around and most of them avoided my gaze, even Laurie shifted around uncomfortably. Emma Frost looked at me with a angry unimpressed gaze. "Go to the headmaster''s office now. And prepare to explain yourself young man" she ordered. I walked away drawing my hoodie on. ''I said now'' she tried manipulating my thoughts. I turned to organic ice form and cut off her mental link, the temperature in the cafeteria rapidly dropped. "Stop getting into my head without my permission." my favorite hoodie froze and got destroyed. Fuck! I left the cafeteria and headed for the woods. Taking a stick out of the cigarette pack in my pocket. I walked further into the fields and lit the stick taking a deep calming drag. This is why I had John close to me. Sometimes I just lose control when I get into a fight. I curbed it as much as I could. I curbed it down till it barely even existed but it was still there. And now I wish John was here. I wouldn''t want Cruz to see me now, she''d egg me on to do more damage. Cruz was insane, she was as close to friendly psychopathic anarchist as you can get. If she heard me say I was going to be a hero she''d laugh her ass off. ''You a hero? Yeah right. You don''t deserve it. You''re better as a monster, you and me, we''re not good people. We don''t deserve it'' she''d say. I would tell her she''s wrong. You are whatever you decide to be. No one is perfect. We are changing. We''re getting better. And John would give me a thumbs up and then a rare smile. Dan would laugh and ask if he''ll ever find love. Sigh. I still miss them. Vzzp! Vzzp! vzzpp! I shot my hands out at the sound of whistles. Clank! Cling! Flat and thin metallic blades struck the ice sheet and fell to the ground. "The hell?" a multitude of heat signatures appeared in my vision. Heat signatures that looked oddly human, but with large armors and masks. It didn''t take a genius to figure out that this was an attack. |¡ì¡ì| Bonjour mon ami. That''s French for Bonjour my people. Haha. A brand new ice cold chilling chapter of the Iceman. iceman was attacked?! By who? And why? Stick around to find out. You enjoyed it? Leave a review and a comment. I seriously love reading those. Don''t forget to hit that like, follow and fave button!! And for my daoist peeps, don''t forget to vote! Let''s raise the story like a wonderful dragon egg. The higher it goes the more fiahhh!! I gain. Which will compel me to write more chapters. Till we meet again. Rain away- Ps. I have a new story I''m thinking of writing but I don''t know if you wonderful people would like to read it. Just head over to my ******* page and vote on the polls. It''s free and public 6 The Cold man Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. ''Mental conversations'' "Normal spoken conversations". |¡ì¡ì| ******************* THE COLD MAN ******************* |¡ì¡ì| The leaves rustled to the calmly roving wind, adding a silent serene to the clear starry night, the round milky pale moon hung above, bearing down it''s peaceful resplendent light. Mindee sat beneath the shade provided by the trunk of large tree. This was her silent spot, a place she could come to get away from all the noise mostly caused by the other students and also her sisters, it was a place she could come to clear her mind, being a psychic meant having to do that a lot, sometimes the chatter of minds were just annoying to bear, she could also admire the serenity of life. From her spot she could see the large mansion. The various dorms and playing fields. Crunch she noticed the sound of twigs being broken and turning her sight there, she saw him. Robert Drake, the Iceman. He jumped out of his dorm room and landed with a graceful crouch, he then stood, watched around and proceeded to walk towards the woods.. She wondered what he came out for so late at night. All he had on was a new pair of sleeveles jacket and his black trousers and sneakers. She did notice that he would never really close his jacket zipper, ''Well it''s not like he feels cold'' she reminded herself. His intricate tattoos were always on display, she wondered what the story behind them was. At first she thought he was a no good trouble maker, he did intrude on her when she played her music, and he also did cause trouble at the cafeteria. But she found out that he genuinely enjoyed listening to her. ''It''s not like I need an audience'' she told herself, ''but it''s not bad having someone listen to me play'' she nodded. Although he might have anger issues. The path he was taking would lead him right to her spot. She might as well take the initiative, she decided. "You know we have telepaths right?" she said to him. The school was always being monitored by the telepaths, so no student could be secretly abducted or intruders coming in unnoticed. Unless they had antipsychic gadgets. He turned around to face her, his deep blue eyes as enchanting as his aura. Psychics feel the subtle things that normal people can''t. Robert, had an Aura about him, a confident, imposing aura that made others want to naturally submit to him. She noticed it the first time they met in the music room. And when coupled with his quiet disposition, it was barely resistable. The tattoos on his body glowed a silent pulsating blue, like the luminescent heartbeat of a lava lamp. The blue dragon coiled around his arm gave the illusion that it was staring right through your soul. "They always keep count of all the students. If you try sneaking past the gates you will be found out" she added. "Hi Mindee " he said to her, pulling his hood down, displaying his black glinting hair in a sidefade style that added to his charm. He was cute, she had to admit. ''But why am I thinking about that?'' she inwardly chided herself. ''why am I so distracted anyway?'' she shook her head to refocus on him. His cold expressionless face, now had a thin thawing smile on it. "Thanks for telling me, I might have overlooked that one." He replied. "Why are you trying to leave, Drake? And where exactly are you going? You''re not abandoning the squad are you?" "What? No, nothing like that. Look, it''s easier if you just look into my mind and see for yourself" And so she did. "Wow" she exclaimed involuntarily. "I never knew you had such.....ambitions. I mean you did save a lot of lives here, but I didn''t think that you''d actively seek out people to help". She saw his ambitions, his self given duties. He was going out so late to lend a hand where he could, to help make the world a better place. That was all on his mind, how to help with his powers, he was flawed yes, but who wasn''t? At least he truly did want to help, not because he felt it was his grand purpose, not that he even felt important or a savior, but because he felt it was the right thing to do. He believes in the golden rule: do onto others as you would like others to do onto you. Even she herself knew that she wasn''t as benevolent as he was. But why did he want to do it? Why does he want to go outside and -- She had to focus on the now, she could ask him about all that later. The blue eyed tattooed teen deeply gazed into her eyes and waited¡ª expecting her to act. She knew what she had to do, but that didn''t mean she liked it. They could get into serious trouble, but she couldn''t stop him and since he was her squadmate, she might as well help him. "Sigh just go, I''ll cover for you. Don''t make it a habit" She said rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Thank you" He grabbed her shoulders and smiled gratefully. She had to admit, his smile was charming. "I''ll see you later, Mindee." |¡ì¡ì¡ì| It was easier than I imagined convincing Mindee. I mean she was kind of distant, but she was just a softie I guess. Roaming around the city at night has a certain allure to it. The bright neon signs, the tall glass towers that stood high in this concrete jungle. The cars that ran the streets, the hustlers moving about, the shifty eyes roaming for targets. The laughter and giggles of the jolly party goers and the not-so-drunk tagalongs. It all felt familiar, but I could not stop to admire it. I rushed towards the loud alarms and blaring sirens. My scouts relayed the sight to me. A blazing inferno was engulfing an apartment complex. The fire roared against the howling winds and the water pillars sent at it. The painful screams of the trapped mining with the black smog clouds curtaining the complex, filling the now damp night with the smell of burnt wood and oddly, chemicals. "Hey! Stop!" I ran past the crowd, ducked under the extended arm of the fireman, jumping over the yellow lines and rushing towards the burning building. "OH my God! He''s gonna die!" "Fuck! Kid don''t go in there!" "Don''t be a hero! Let the men do their jobs!" Voices behind me warned¡ªshouted at me to stop. I didn''t. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. It would be more effective for me to stop the fire inside than try freezing the exterior of the building. The smoke clouded my vision, but I could still see the heat signatures. An ice mask over my face saved me from the thick, deadly smog. The flames did little damage to me skin or clothes, I learned to form cold currents around me¡ª defense against Pyrokinetics and general flamethrowers. My arms spread out, streams of white fluffy snow shot out of them like rays of white light, spreading through the smokey burning interior, pushing back the tangible darkness. I was extinguishing the fires, not freezing the building. Clones spread out to form a larger area of effect, the fires were being visibly extinguished, but the smoke remained and the structure was shaky. I watched as my blue men burst into rooms and formed smooth sleds out the windows of the occupied complexes they had gained access into, sliding down to safety with the shocked coughing people who were now saved. The others stopping the fire on the back from spreading out. "hwool hwwooool" a sad howl and scratches was coming from below a fallen section of stairs. I approached it to see a spotty(probably due to the soot) golden retriever beneath it. No one let''s a doggo die. I raised the section over my back and grabbed on to the dog that happily began to lick at my ice covered face. Slobbering it with saliva. "Ruff! ruff!" "Yes good doggo you''re safe" I left towards the door joining the other clones on the outside dispersing them as they finished their tasks, I let the dog run off and began freezing solid the almost collapsed structure, stopping it from causing more damage. That went better than I imagined it would. I turned around to innumerable stares and gazes on me. "Waoh! Did you see that?!" "It''s one of em mutie demons" "Yeah, a mutant that just saved us! Back off ya ungrateful jackass" "Cough Mickey?!" "cough cough! Dave honey! cough I''m alive!" "Did you see the ice people? They were literally cool" "Totes" "Ruff! Ruff!" A stern looking middle aged man with a not-so-hilariously soot covered face walked up to me his golden furred dog lapping behind him wagging its tail. I was expecting an insult of some kind but what I got instead was a hug. Silent tears streamed down his eyes as he pulled back. "Thank you for saving bucky, he''s all the family I have left" "No problem sir. You''re welcome" "Yea dude you were totally awesome!" others gave me a thumbs up, the blond girl giving me the ''Call me'' motion with a smile. Two men crying hugging each other. "Good job kid. But don''t go rushing into fires, we have a job to keep all civilians safe and that includes you as well." A large man with a thick mustache said pulling off his helmet. I nodded in response. I was a certified X-Men but he doesn''t need to know that. I gave the servicemen a salut and disappeared into an alleyway. |¡ì¡ì¡ì| It actually was really nice. The feeling I had when I rescued those people. Knowing my actions saved a life was really something else. I was more used to the opposite, but that me was died. This new experience was worth it. I stopped a single alley mugging after the fire. The only other heroic acts I did was helping a drunk girl get home safe and lending a hand to a man with broken down vehicle. Right now tho, I was done for the night. I decided to take flight and enjoy the night breeze on my path to the mansion. "Hmmm?" Something came up in my vision. Heat signatures, small and huddled together. It looked like one from a microwave, but why would microwaves be put together that way? And this part of town was relatively full of deserted warehouses. It was probably nothing, but it never hurt to take a look. I flew down to the large secluded warehouse. The door had an electronic lock of some kind. Now I wonder why? I brought my finger to the keyhole and filled it with ice, morphing it into a fitting key and turned. The red led light turned green and the door slid open. I stepped in. The door sliding back to a shut behind me. The lights came on illuminating the large interior with empty boxes littered around it. Like a shipping emptied out. But the storage thing was the heat signatures. They weren''t coming from the boxes. They came from beneath? The ground was cemented, from a glance they weren''t any doorways or paths. But sliding back a brown cardboard box revealed a small inconspicuous metal pipe and pulling that down revealed a secret door right beneath it. I jumped in. Walking along a short tunnel to reach¡­..a dungeon from hell. I pushed back the bitter bile that threatened to rise out of my throat. Children. Cowering children in metallic cages whimpered and shied away from my gaze. The stench of dried blood, piss and fecal matter covered the room. My Jaws tightened when my eyes landed on a small naked, mutilated girl strapped to a bloody metal table, she was dead. Her eyes and tongue were gone as were her hands. I turned again, I shouldn''t have. My gaze went to the TV that displayed depraved, demonic, inhuman acts being performed on crying children. Mutilation, ****, torture, castrations and circumcisions and things I can''t begin to say, all by multiple men and woman. The acts burned into my mind. Clones formed around me and rushed to free the scared children. My hands shook as I pulled out cigarette from my jacket pocket. The anger in me boiling to a freeze. Cold fury wrapped around my mind. The room temperature raised, I drew it back in to not harm the children. On another monitor a group of laughing people walking into the were house was being displayed. I won''t be sorry John, just know I tried. I pulled out my phone and made two calls. Sending proof to the other number. *** The ''nobles''. That was what they called themselves. They were the cream of the crop, the elitist society, they were prominent men and women, sons and daughters of the world''s pillars. Of people who had great powerful roles in society. This was where they got together to release stress on the rejected of society. Children of the stupid sheep''s they lorded over. The ''nobles'' showed their true selves here. They dropped the masks they wore, the masks they carefully crafted to fit into society and did as they pleased here. "Henry, wanna bet me? I can make the kid break faster than you can" a young woman with brown hair poked the side of a taller handsome man she spoke to. "Hehe, not interested. You''re undisputed Julie I just want to have his soft skin he needs some marks you know. He has to understand that he''s property" "True" a third interjected. "You guys are sick you know that? But I guess that''s why we came together" A another man said. He was slightly older than the both of them. And he was the organizer, this place took a lot of cash and time to build. They had to make sure it was safe and secure, hidden from detection of all kinds. Their parents could care less about what they did with their money anyway. They walked into the room of pleasure as they came to calling it. Where they could perform all their acts without fear of getting caught. Where they could just let go and do as they pleased. The room where lust intertwined with sadistic passion. Jamie walked in first and came to an abrupt pause. A young man with tattoos on his chest had what looked to be a frozen cigarette stick in his mouth. His heart nearly pounder out of his chest. ''how was someone here!'' he had to do something he couldn''t let this get out of this room. Them and their parents would be finished! "What?!" the others exclaimed as they walked in after him. The children were playing with blue walking ice statues. They felt the temperature drop, a chill spread out over their spines. "I-I can''t mm..move" someone among them complained through stifled words. Jamie noticed that he was literally frozen solid. His eyes darted to Henry''s and Julienne''s and found that they were in the same predicament. A wall slowly formed around them, they watched as the ice men took the children with them leaving the room. A large medieval battle ice axe like the ones from a show he had seen formed before their very eyes and landed in the boy''s open grip. He stared at the boy, his blue eyes were silent and soul chilling, more than the ice on their spines. He tried pleading. He wanted to say something. He had money, power and influence. He could make the boy a great deal. But the boy just looked at them like they were already dead. The ice over them receded, the couldn''t move but they could speak, no, scream. The boy swiped down on Jamie''s head. Cleanly parting his skull apart. "Ahhhhhhhhhh-ghukk!!" "Pleas-urk!" where the axe landed, blood spilled and flesh parted. The boy didn''t rush, his expression was a apathetic and cold as when he first saw them. His eyes held no remorse. Tooth flew as the axe blade went through a screaming woman''s mouth. His every swing brought death. ''I didn''t think the decision would come so soon. Forgive me'' he said to himself. The bloody ice axe dispersed to the air as the walls slowly melted. The dismembered and mutilated bodies dropping to the floor. The boy pulled out his phone and dialed a number saved as ''shield'' on it. After two rings the phone was answered. "I''m done here, send the right people to clean up and get the evidence." the boy hung up and slowly walked out of the dungeon, not a single trace of blood lingered on his body, even as he crossed the blood puddles. He pulled out a cigarette and huffed on it, For a day that was turning out good it went on a wildly unpredictable route. |¡ì¡ì¡ì| Sigh, I guess evil exists everywhere. I think I''ll begin to take more night patrols. Maybe I could''ve stopped this earlier had I done just that. Where''s the punisher when you need him? I tried John, I really did. But sometimes Cruz was right. Use a knife when you want to cut meat, not a spatula. Every situation needs a certain type of response. Guess I''m no longer the good type of hero. After all Spiderman would never kill. But I wasn''t Spiderman. I''m a guy out to do right and help where I can. Only God can judge me. ... ******* |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| Regen kommt wieder And that brings this chapter to a nice end. That was certainly dark, cuz the world ain''t all sunshine and rainbows. An appropriate response is to be given to certain situations. When the lives of people are at play, death also becomes involved. So how''d you like it? Leave a review and comment to let me know. Smash that like, follow and fave box to support the story. Don''t forget to vote for it as well and tell a friend. Let them in on it. Head over to my pat-re-on.com/ReidR41n if you can and participate in the polls. This one''s free and public. Until we meet again. (real soon) Rain away. PS your reviews, comments and support motivated me to be able to finish this chapter so quickly. Keep it up you amazing people. 7 Chapter 7 Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. NO COLD PUNS *. *. *. *.*.*.*.*.*.* *. *. *. *. *. *. *.*.*.* I couldn''t sleep when I got back to the mansion. I just laid in the bed till the golden morning rays peaked into the room window. And the various alarms on school grounds signaled the start of the day. I did my daily morning routine, Indra got up some minutes after I did, doing the same routine. "Morning Bro, slept good?" "Morning Indra¡­..I did...yeah" I rubbed his wet hair. "Aww dude, I just styled it." "Pftt yeah right. Who are you trying to impress? Huh, oh I see it now, Indra has a crush" "Bro! Shush! Don''t say that man, I don''t have a crush" He blushed. "Dude check out my guns. Impressive huh?" he flexed his thin muscles. "Haha cough Hahaha!" I nearly choked on water. I set the water bottle down and grabbed for my black trousers drawing them on and wrapping the X-belt around my waist. "Don''t be jealous bro." he replied smugly, donning his body suit. "I''m heading out to meet up with my squad. See you at lunch" I said, pulling on my X-jacket. I just realised that the large yellow x on it made me look like a walking target. "Yea me too bro" he nodded. |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| I left the room, closing the door behind me and made my way to the meeting room. Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm on the xbelt rang. I changed my direction from that of the squad room to the teachers lounge. I entered the door, the X-men were all inside and already suited up. "Good you''re here. I''ll brief you all on the jet, for now let''s get going" Cyclops nodded and crossed the door. The X-men behind him. We rushed to the lower levels, boarding the advanced piece of machinery that was the blackbird, the X-men''s very own private jet. I strapped the safety belts across my chest and leaned back into the oddly comfortable seat, the air was filled with that nice new car smell. The interior of the jet looked like an alien piece of technology, a multitude of blinking leds lined the control board. Next to the switches and buttons and a large steering which was now being manned by Dr McCoy. It felt like flying presidential. The jet smoothly ascended and hovered over the closed hangar doors that was disguised as the basketball court. Wolverine sat parallel to me, letting out a small breath he had held. "Where are we going?" I asked. Wolverine nodded. "A monster the size of godzilla emerged from the ground and it''s now terrorizing the city of San Francisco. We''re going to have to stop it." "Nothing new. Just another day in the lives of the X-men" Kitty joked. "Our best hope is to drive it back into the hole it crawled out of" Cyclops explained, a screen popped down showing a live feed of a literal dragon, the green reptilian monster towered over the tallest buildings, it tore down skyscrapers and swatting trucks through the air with its spiked tail. A nasty snarl on its snout. "Hope? Shouldn''t we have a more cohesive plan instead? I mean it could crawl out the hole again after we put it back in. Maybe not today but sometime in the future and then it''s back to zero all over again." I questioned. If the monster was strong enough to get out it the ground I could feel Cyclops'' hard gaze at me, through his visor. The other X-Men alternated their gazes from me to him. "Right, we don''t question orders huh?" "We''re here" beast said, breaking the tense atmosphere. I stared out the window. I''ve seen a lot since coming here, I''ve witnessed some messed up sights. But this was something else. This just drives the fact that you''re in a very different world through your skull. The monster was like a cross between a green godzilla and a dragon. It had flaming spikes lining the back of its spine to the end of its tail. Curved wicked fangs protruding from its maw, corrosive saliva dripped down its fangs and eroded whatever it came in contact with. Glinting claws extended from its fingers, it swiped at the jet which expertly evaded it. "Hank, you''re in the air, deploy a little artillery to see if it turns around. Emma and Kitty you''re on damage control, get the civilians out of harm''s way. I and Logan are going to flank it, contain its area of movement. Drake, create clones to assist damage control and focus the rest on the monster, try to limit its movement. Pete, you know what to do" Cyclops directed. "X-Men, let''s go" |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I just realized something. I can take down this monster, alone at that and ridiculously easily. My clones moved through the air, freezing falling rubble and debris, while getting people out of harm''s way. Colossus was literally riding the monster''s snout, punching it and overall just making it angrier. Cyclops kept blasting the things knees while wolverine slashed at it. And me? I was just freezing it''s feet in place. "Hank, hit it on the back!" Cyclops ordered. Missiles shot at the monster''s back and exploded in a mass of flames. It''s not working. It just made the monster even more angry, I mean the thing already had flames on it, I don''t think it would be affected by even more flames. The fight was getting drawn out and the scale of destruction was rapidly rising. People were dying, we can''t save everyone. The city was being torn apart, my clones could see bodies being buried and crushed beneath wreckage. The monster threw off colossus and went on a rampage. So I improvised. "Drake, what are you doing?" Cyclops questioned. "Ending this" I answered. "Follow the plan iceman, do not act on your own orders!" He yelled. I ignored his words and focused. A massive ice storm brewed around me, cold winds coalesced and small tornadoes formed a curtain around me. And when they dispersed a gigantic blue glowing, four armed ice knight stood straight. "Susano''o" I said through the giant knight that towered over all. The ground beneath the giant was freezing, the temperature was rapidly dropping. My grip tightened. Each arm held a giant sized weapon, ranging from a war axe and hammer to a bow and a greatsword. Four angelic wings sprouted from the back of the ice giant as it dashed for the monster. The monster roared and charged at me ¡ª it made a big mistake. Meter wide Ice pillars shot from the bow with an air splitting whistle, impaling the monster through its open maw. The beast roared out in pain as holes were torn through the back of its neck. Holes that began to close as its flesh rapidly regenerated. I lashed out with a swing. Hurling the monster through a broken skyscraper. It roared, spitting corrosive acids and fire at the giant I piloted. The acids froze in air and the fire barely did damage to me. "Have a piece of your own medicine" I turned the solidified acid into spikes and sent it shooting through the monster''s face. "Roarrrgggghhhh!!" it cried in agony. Bam! The ground caved in as the giant Warhammer slammed down on it, a mighty sound wave propagating outwards along with an air cushion. The lower limbs on the ice giant''s torso morphed into sharp spears that stabbed into the monster''s midsection. It roared "Wraaargg!" and tried rousing itself up. Bam! It was met with an armored headbutt. I pushed my powers into its system. I froze the liquid that made up its body. From the water in its orange blood, to the fluid in its spine. In less than seconds, the monster was fully flash frozen. All its tissues turned ice solid. The once alive beast of destruction now lay beneath my feet, a frigid dead carcass. In the ensuing silence that followed, only gasps and exclamations remained. *** "Good God" Cyclops said, half awestruck and half terrified. He turned to stare at the other X-Men who seemed to have also paused, even the once escaping civilians stop to stare as of no longer bothered. The ice giant oddly shaped like a samurai knight crossed with a giant mecha robot. The very pressure it''s form radiated gave them chills, it''s pupiless blue eyes staring from beyond the glistening helmet roamed for a moment and focused back on the frozen dragon-like monster. The ice giant, kicked the frozen monster back into the hole, a loud crashing sound echoed like the breaking of glass as it fell to the bottom. A loud uproarious cheer rocked the atmosphere. The rescued civilians fevently rejoiced at the victory. Some even hugged the various ice men on the ground. Cyclops was amazed. The people didn''t insult them, or debase them for being mutants like a normally would''ve. Instead they praised. He stared at the other X-Men, who had varying degrees of smiles of their faces. He would''ve smiled, should''ve. But the boy ignored direct orders, although he succeeded this time. Then what of the next? What will the results of his actions be should he fail the next time he ignores orders, how high will the casualties be? He couldn''t be always right. But why cyclops failed to take into consideration was the fact that he himself was also human, he was also prone to making mistakes. His orders couldn''t always be right. He needed to have flexibility, but that wasn''t cyclops. Cyclops is down to the book, he fashions himself a sort of leader for the mutant race now that the professor isn''t here. He would do what he deemed best for the mutant race. |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. Good day! Here''s another chapter, people. I know, I know. It''s late. But I''ve been ultra busy lately, I have midterms and they are killing me!! (Please brain just study) Moving on, how was it? Did you enjoy it? Was the action scene to your liking? Do you think that I as a handsome young man could use his good looks and body to get out of writing the exa-- forget that. I''m going off topic. What I''m trying to say is, leave a review and a comment. They seriously motivate me. As much as you hitting that fave and follow button. As well as voting, doaist wizards raise the story to the skies. Hit me on my pat-re-on.com/ReidR41n Obligatory rhyme - My knees are weak, my hand is heavy, there''s pen ink on my white sweater already, my eyes hurt from all this reading, the test paper rolls out, my roommate is screaming, kicking at the doors, he flies off the railings. It''s so sad, but I can''t stop laughing, I hold the paper and close my eyes, I pray to the lord and let him grip my pen and before I realize it''s the end. I scored a¡­ten...over a ten!!! Rain away! 9 Shit post OMAKE Hola guys. I''m still on my exams and working hard on it. Thanks for all your well wishes, and prayers. It helps. So I can''t release a true chapter yet, but I decided to leave you guys with something to entertain y''all till I get back. Yes. This is an omake chapter. I''m not really skilled at it, it''s a first for me actually. This is very unfamiliar territory for me here. So without further ado, please enjoy. Omake- The life and death of a virgin. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Sad feels storytime. >Be me, green, dinosaur fire breathing, acid spewing monster. >Live in underground basement my whole life. >Don''t have much friends because I''m a neet. >The ones I do have, call me ugly. >Check my reflection in pond. >I realize I have monstrous buck tooth and a mean mug. >Ask mom why. Since she is a damn loch ness dinosaur. >Find out she had a threesome with a Gorilla and a Sabre tooth tiger, at a monster party down in Bermuda. >Mfw all she asked for was three fiddy. >Mfw I realize she has a meme. >Mfw I''ve never even met my dad(s). >Mfw I know I''ll probably die a kissless virgin. >Sit in my secret spot and silently cry, munching on rocks, they give me a bad case of acid but whatever. >When bam! A gaping hole literally appears right above me. >My eyes sting from the light and all the noise above. >It''s those dumb surface dwellers. >Too angry to be rational. I decide to give them a piece of my mind. >I jump out the hole. >"huh" it''s actually nice up here. >They have tall boxes where they live in with little hard ants they drive in. >"Hello" I try to say. Instead what comes out is a grunt "Graawrghh!" and some fire. >Mfw all those years spent silently in the basement wrecked my vocal chords. >The little humans scream and try to flee in panic. >Mfw I just made the worst first impression ever. >I wave my arms to try and salvage the situation. Instead my useless hands wreck all the tall boxes. >I sigh, I shouldn''t have. The rocks I ate act up, uncontrolled acid sprays out my throat. >I fucked up too much to salvage it now. > I just wanna go home. I try turning around. I step on one of the hard ants and I fucking slide. >Hell no! I lash my tail out to save me from an embarrassing fall. >It forms a deep ravine and breaks apart even more boxes. >"I''m sorry!" I tried to say. What came out was "RWAARRRRHH!" >Don''t know when but a damn mosquito flies up to my face. >Try to smack that little shit away, but it keeps dodging. >I give up and just continue back to the hole. >A metal, I mean literally metal surface dweller jumps from the insect and pounds my nose in. >It hurts, I''m not ashamed to admit that I cried like a soaked bat. >I try to flick the sonofa mastodon of off me. >The little shit rides my broken nose like a parasite. >Another one with toothpicks stabs into my arms. >The the insect keeps spitting fireballs at me. >Another surface dweller throws red fire that travels in a straight line at me. >It fucking hurts. I scream fire and acid. >I spot the shit eating grin on the little shit''s face as he throws more red fire at me. >A real 10/10 qt3.14 angel with diamond skin and boobs the size of ostrich eggs walks to the red beam shooting Chad and acqually kiss! > I go uber T-Rex and start wrecking shit, full force no mercy. It actually feels nice. >I suddenly start feeling really cold on the inside. Like I swallowed an ice dragon. >White clouds gather and a friggin four armed titan shoots at me. >whatthefuck.png >Doesn''t even let me speak. It starts decking me. >it wrecks me so bad I can feel my life slipping away. >Mfw the only female I ever kissed was my mom. >Mfw I think she has a thing for ugly monsters, and it makes me feel hot. >I just realize that I probably have a mom complex. And I''m still a virgin. >It''s probably good that I die now then, I would''ve an hero if not. >The ice bastard freezes me over and tosses me back into hole. And that''s how normies killed me. Now I just go place to place ghost shitposting. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. * Finito! Tell me how it was. You like it? Hate it? I accept constructive criticisms it''s how I better myself so please don''t hold back. Yep I channelled some of that 4ch¡­.. I''ll regret it later. 10 Chapter 10 : Cold hearts Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*. COLD HEARTS *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *.*. *. *. *. *. Today was a good day. The morning sun was bright and lively, it''s rays peaking into the silver walled room. Various programs ran on the blinking computer screens. Green glowing fluids bubbled in glass canisters, accomoanied by the smooth hum of well maintained machinery, and Dr Hank McCoy was looking dumbfounded staring at the teenager. "Dr McCoy?" the blue eyed teen asked. "....yes Mr. Drake" he slowly regained cognition. "What do you think about my idea?" "...It is absolutely amazing young man! I''ve been too busy with my experiments that it never even crossed my mind, but what you have just suggested here, could very well change the world. This could theoretically end global warming! This is what having powers should be about. I admit, such thoughtful applications of the unique abilities of mutants should be implemented in such a manner more often." Dr McCoy, was astonished. The teen had come to him with a very sound idea that would actually benefit the world. The teen proposed the creative thought of refreezing the polar ice caps amongst many other environmental activities. He ran the numbers in his head, he did the calculations and the idea was scientifically sound. He had to admit, he hadn''t entertained such a creative solution to a glaring problem. Well, most of the xmen were crime fighters and rescuers - they had to be, the situation demanded it with all the enemies aiming for them - and when you live your life thinking of the combat effectiveness of your powers you tend to miss other aspects to it. "Robert, I''ll get in touch with my colleagues whose fields cover this subject. They will be as enthusiastic as I am to immediately gain a helping hand. How does meeting in the evening sound?" "It sounds great Dr McCoy, I''m free this evening" The teen responded. "Perfect." The doctor nodded and proceeded to call his colleagues as the boy exited the lab. |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| Well, that went better than I imagined. What was it? It was me rationally thinking of ways to use my powers to make some lasting changes to the world (After doing alot of reading on environmental sciences). Also to get good creds and PR for mutant kind. I''m not as naive to presume that these acts will suddenly change everyone''s opinion on mutants, it will improve it. But there''s also the chance that it will bring even more fear to the hearts of normal people. Just imagine it, someone with the power to make worldwide environmental changes in a whim. And that someone is human. You wouldn''t be able to trust that person, because humans have flaws and they are fallible. Add that to how the public stance is when it concerns mutants and there will be exaggerated reactions. I just hope to sway their decisions, maybe make them think twice when it comes to mutants. We''re not monsters, even if some of us look like it. Well they''ll keep it in the back of their minds that there are mutants out there who can fuck-up the planet. What I''m aiming for is to get the scientific community and environmentalists at large to be my backing. I walked to the assembly grounds, just further down the courtyards where all the other teams were already gathered. I searched for my teammates and saw Quill -the porcupine boy- wave at me. "Took your sweet time captain" Mindee sneered. "My bad, guys. I was a little caught up with Dr McCoy." I apologized to my teammates. "Be thankful that Mr cyclops isn''t here yet, he seems to have it out for you" I rubbed the back of my neck,"Yeah lucky me. I believe that this is the first time we''re all officially gathered together(I missed the last meeting) so let''s properly introduce each other once more." I pointed to myself, "I know we don''t have a lot of time so let''s keep it short and sweet. I''m Robert Drake, you can call me Iceman or drake or Robbie -- no Mindee snowman wasn''t taken-- I''m 16, I have cyrokinesis and it''s nice to finally meet you all." The Burnette girl with flowers braided in her hair started. "Nice to finally meet you too Captain Rob. My name''s Callie Betto, codename Dryad. I have the power to control and communicate with plants, I''m 17, and...single." She beamed, her easy going disposition well noticed. Mindee deadpanned at the end of the girl''s sentence. "Me next!"The yongu boy with porcupine spines all over him jumped up with his hand. raised, I nodded for him to take the stage "Hi everybody I''m called Max Jordan aka Quill, my powers are, uh, I make quills all over my body, I can also shoot them like bullets, I''m 14 and really stoked to be part of the team. Which is the most awesome team in the whole school" Max excitedly introduced himself. His personality very sunny. "Damn straight" I high fived the jolly, energetic boy. Who easily brightened up the atmosphere. Then it was the triplet''s turn. "I''m Mindee Cuckoo, 17, we''re all 17" "I''m Celeste Cuckoo and it''s nice to meet you all" the second sister winked playfully. "Call me, Pheobe Cuckoo. The smartest and prettiest one, of the three" "We all have telekinetic and psionic powers. And we can turn into our organic diamond forms" """We are the Stephford Cuckoos""" they said in strange psychic unison. "But I guess you can also call us the three-in-one" the playful Celeste added. "Thanks to headmaster summers" Pheobe grumbled. "Well, I''m glad that we''ve finally got to know each other. And-- oh, he''s here. We should meet up after we''re done here, alright team?" Dryad smiled: "Sure" Quill pumped his fists: "Cool!" Mindee crossed her arms: "Sure, whatever" Celeste saluted : "Aye, aye captain." Pheobe nodded: "all right" Scott Summers took steady steps as he ascended the center stage. Emma Frost who tagged along was as always, sexy, and she took great pride in making it known. Guess you can say white leather really is her color. Joining them also was, Danielle Moonstar aka Dani, who in contrast to Emma had a healthy tanned skin tone, hazel eyes that amplified her ''fit cutie'' look, her hair was braided cultural-Indian style with red beads on the end of the briads. She just had a really natural aura around her. It was only for a moment but hers and Emma''s eyes locked on each other''s lik they were about to tear each other down. Cyclops loudly cleared his throat, drawing whatever stray attention he already hadn''t. "Welcome to field day." he began reading through a notes on a honest to God, brown clip board, "We''ll be holding exercises regularly, each a small scale mission on its own. The squad that wins the most points will be rewarded at the end of the semester. "Today we''ve hidden an object on campus. This is meant to mirror a situation where a villain such as Magneto has planted a bomb somewhere around here. You don''t know where it is or what it looks like. Your mission is to find and retrieve this object using the clues left all around the campus before the timer set for 15 minutes goes off." "The only rule is that you''re not allowed to offensively use your powers on members of the opposing squad." Emma interjected. "Break that rule and your sqaud looses. First up: The Cosairs vs The Hellions. Your mission begins in sixty seconds" "Remember to have fun, may the best team win" Dani concluded. The yard was cleared out as our respective squads grouped up to discuss a strategy. "Drake" a very familiar voice called out. I turned to meet Cyclops''s gaze, he gestured for me to meet him. "Yes Mr. Summers?" I answered. There''s no reason to be rude to him, things have been calm and quiet lately. "For this assignment I want you not to use your powers" "What?" "You could easily pass this mission with your team, but that would make them overly reliant on you. Another reason is that you have to learn to know when and when not to apply your powers. I''ve seen what you can do, it won''t be fair to others if they--." I interrupted. "I understand what you''re saying. But aren''t we mutants? I thought we were here to learn to actually use our abilities, not I don''t know, put them on hold? Some abilities work better in some situations than others Right? So if that''s the case with mine I don''t see something wrong with it" He ignored my offense and continued. "It''s about descipline. You need to follow orders when working with a team. Your actions on the last battlefield could have had very serious consequences. And my orders to you are not to use your powers. We''re done here" he said, leveling his gaze at me. I smiled, why? Because it really didn''t matter. Maybe he was still pissed at me, or maybe he had valid reasons. But it didn''t matter. I''m not going to get angry over this. It''s his school after all, the professor is no longer in charge. I guess all I needed now was to channel that inner batman and get to work. "No problem Mr Summers" I replied confidently, watching his jaws twitch. I walked back to my team with a wide smile on my face. "What was that about?" Mindee asked. "Nothing to worry about." I clapped drawing everyone''s attention. "Ok, three-in-one I need you to be our scanners and information networkers, first can you create a mental communication link between the six of us?" "We can do much more" There was a wave of psychic energy and I could clearly feel and see the others around me even with my eyes closed. It felt like a conference call, but in your mind. ''Everyone copy?''. I questioned. ''Woah this feels weird. I can hear your own voice inside my head!'' Quill said. ''The link is working fine'' Mindee added. ''Good work girls. Next, I need you guys to perform a scan of the area, keep an eye on our opponents, we might be able to gleam some info from the stray thoughts of the others, or there could even be psionic hints to the mission object. OK now, Dryad I need you to talk to the plants all over the school grounds, use that link to create a more detailed map, the three-in-one will help you project it, so we see what you see.'' ''I can do that'' Dryad nodded and went to work, placing her hands on the floor and closing her eyes. The grass swayed to her commands and a very detailed image began to form in my mind scape. ''Quill stick to my side, we''re the muscle and defense'' ''Sure thing, captain'' ''We''re getting strange psionic signals from the hedgemaze'' the Stephford sisters reported. ''The plants say there''s something in the center'' Dryad added. ''I believe that''s our clue, let''s go guys'' We steadily jogged to the giant plantmaze that occupied the center of the garden. I appreciate the fact that they didn''t ask why I hadn''t been using my powers. ''Iceman, there are enemies blocking the entry. Looks like they got here before us'' From the mental map I could spot the large rock guy similar looking to the thing standinf at the entrance blocking it. ''It''s ok, we can create another path. Dryad?'' ''On it'' the plants separated and unraveled forming a new doorway for us to pass through. ''Five people in the maze Drake, two flyers and another who seems to be phasing through the plants.'' ''Dryad, alter the paths of those on the groud. Create walls out of the hedges, confuse and disorient them.'' ''Isn''t that an offensive use of powers?'' Quill asked. ''Nope, we''re not attacking them. Just blocking their paths'' I answered. ''That''s smart'' ''Let''s move people!'' We didn''t have to run blindly through the maze. Dryad kept making doorways through the plants, and the mental map made sure we were on the right course. We dashed through the maze at record speeds. While it was good, it also drew unwanted attention towards us. ''Drake, one of the flyer''s homing in on us, really fast!'' ''Dryad can you create high walls, and something like this'' I projected an image of what I wanted her to create. ''I can, but it''ll take a while and I have to be standing still to do all that.'' ''Why do we have to create walls when they could just fly over it'' ''We know that the flyer is coming down to try and stop us, not escape, that''s because we''re in the lead. The only two people with flight capabilities in the Hellions, is; Jay the guy with wings, and hellion with his telekinesis. Jay won''t be able to stop us all using only his wings, so it''s most likely going to be hellion who can create telekinetic barriers to block our progress instead. And from what we can all see, this person doesn''t have wings which means it''s a 90% certainty that it''s hellion. Plus the wall is just a distraction for something else.'' ''Why don''t you just use your powers?'' Quill asked. ''It''s complicated, and it doesn''t matter right now. We can do this, you can all do this, even without me. We''re splitting up: Mindee, Phoebe and Quill, you guys head straight for the package. Celeste, Dryad you''re with me, we''ll be actively blocking the flyers and those on the ground. Here''s how the plan goes¡­..'' ''All right move out people, operation blanket is a go!'' *** The maze''s interior began to visibly darken. The flowers over the top intertwined to blot out the sunlight from reaching into the maze by creating a thick roof above it all. It would limit everyone''s sight except ours. As we had a mental map and a very accurate one at that to work on. I could feel Hellion tear through the plants as he raced to intercept us. He arrived with an angry expression on his face. "What do you think you''re doing?! This isn''t part of the rules" "Creativity is quite the weapon isn''t it?" Celeste retorted. I could see the green aura around him flare as his telekinetic might rose. "If you attack anyone, you''re disqualified" I reminded him. He didn''t appreciate that. His gaze was dripping with rage as it landed on me. If looks could kill, I''d be dead 10 times over already. "You''ve got two options Hellion, stay here and get lost in the dark, or leave now and help your trapped teammates." "This isn''t over between us" he spat out as he left. ''We''ve got the package'' Phoebe confirmed through the mindlink. ''Good job everyone, we''re getting into phase two now. Quill you know what to do.'' ''Yeah!'' He replied. ''Dryad hand it to me and create a path.'' A doorway was created through the maze. ''Everyone ready?'' ''''''''''READY!'''''''''' They responded in unison. I bolted out with the girls running by my side. The object wrapped securely in my jacket and held to my chest. As I suspected, the opposing team was waiting to snatch it away from us. "Go Drake! I''ll stop them!" Dryad shouted, creating walls of flowers behind me, blocking the opposing members from reaching me as I dashed for the cafeteria. "Go on without me captain, I''ll only slow you down" Celeste said with a playful salute. Most of the hellions were blocked behind the flower walls, the rock man just bulldozed through it all and those with flight took to the air, coming at me. Thudd! A rock pillar shaped like a hand fell smack in front of me. It would have nearly mushed my legs if I didn''t dodge to the side. Rock-guy was shooting his arms out like projectiles. I''m sure that''s not allowed in rules, but I can''t complain right now. He shot his other hand, and this time it was with the intent to damage. Damage my damn back. I didn''t think much about it, if you''ve ever dodged a bat swing or a knife throw you always know it''s smarter and easier to duck, what no one expects you to do is to perform a full somersault backwards. Don''t try it if you''ve never practiced, it would mess up your spine. The look on their faces was well worth it. "That''s just unfair" I heard someone mutter. I should''ve paid attention to my path instead, I ran straight into a dust storm. Sand was getting into everywhere, the grains scrapped against my face, blocking my vision. "Hi Sooraya" I greeted. "Didn''t see you last Saturday" A cold metallic sensation spread along my fingers and the object, along with my jacket was liberated from my hands. "Suck it Corsairs!" A female voice said materialising from the metal fluid, Mercury. She hurriedly handed the package to the smirking hellions who sped off to the cafeteria only a few meters away. "Hello Robert, sorry for the sand" Sooraya said. "Don''t worry about it. Let''s get to the destination" I chuckled. "Why do you laugh when you just lost? It doesn''t upset you?" she asked. "Oh, we didn''t lose" **** "WHAT!?!" Julian roared as he removed the object from the jacket. It was a bunch of roses forming a square box. The realization dawned in him that they had been fooled when he saw Quill and rest of the corsairs grinning as they stood with relaxed postures. In Cyclops'' hand was a black box with a timer on it, the real mission object. It was a damn good strategy. I knew they''d come after us, me to be specific since he had a grudge with me and I was also the captain. But my plan in the maze was for Quill to retrieve the object and deliver it to the teachers. Quill was fast, faster than an average human his mutation granted him an above average physique. He was the guy for the delivery, while everyone''s attention was focused on me. And the part with Dryad''s and Celeste''s acting was quite good, if not great, to be honest. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Captain! I did it!" Quill yelled and rushed to grab me when I reached the cafeteria. "Of course you did. Everyone of you guys were awesome" I congratulated the team. Cyclops walked up to the stage. A somewhat displeased Emma and a beaming Dani standing next to him. "This test was one of very creative thinking. Each and every one of you performed beyond expectations. However in the end, the Corsairs, using their cunning strategies and cohesive teamwork, stood victorious. Although property damage made to the hedge will be an issue to be dealt with." He took out a paper showing our scores and posted it on the notice board. Julian complained about the legality of creating walls and covering the maze, but that was quickly dashed as it wasn''t offensive. "You''re quite the leader, Drake" Mindee said. "Wow, that''s the first compliment you''ve actually said to me. I always knew I was legendary" I stroked my chin. "Don''t go inflating your ego" she added. Our teams dispersed, some to the cafeteria, others to the dorms to go boast to their friends. And some to sulk it off. Hellion was walking alone down the pavement. His fists were squeezed and his gait spoke of anger. "Hey Julian" I called, walking up to him. "The heck do you want." He took a subtly defensive posture. I took a deep breath and imagined John. ''Do what John would do'' I said to myself. "Look, I apologize" his eyes widened in surprise. I continued "I''m really sorry for what happened last time in the cafeteria. I lost control over my temper and took it out on you. Please accept my apology" I maybe did over react that time, it''s better to correct my errors than be set in them. I''m human in the end. He stared blankly at me for some minutes and then he burst out in laughter. "Oh, that''s rich. Really rich, you think saying sorry fixes all of it? You broke my f**king finger if you forgot. And you think a flimsy apology makes it all go away? We''re going to get even, Drake" His rage was directed at me, his psychic field wildly fluctuating. "I was hoping we could sweep it all under the rug, but guess I was being too optimistic. Whenever you''re ready, I''ll be waiting for you, just don''t regret it" I stared back at him. He turned around to leave and I called him again. "Dude, you''ve got my jacket" He stared at his closed fist and noticed the leather jacket hanging from it. There was just a hint of embarrassment before "stupid!" he yelled and tossed it away. He immediately took off in flight. I silently chuckled. I thought back to Cruz, while I walked to pick up the jacket. ''We''re not good guys, we''re monsters and fuckups, we''re scum of the earth, we''re terrible people. Where we go, peace ends, we hurt everyone around us. We don''t have good ends. We don''t have happy fucking endings. We don''t have a future. After all the shit we''ve done, haha, you think we can change? Don''t fuck with me. Don''t fucking lie to yourself. Hell was created for people like me and you'' I don''t know Cruz, I''m doing pretty good. Maybe we can find some sort of happiness if we looked for it. But we don''t deserve it, do we? I pulled out a cigarette from the pack in the jacket and walked deeper into the woods. Maybe even people like us can change after all. My mind drifted in the hypnotic smoke of the ignited cigarette stick, I saw the screaming faces and pools of blood. I saw horrors, I gazed into the abyss of darkness and I saw¡­my reflection. HALLO!! My wonderful people!! You all having a great weekend? I hope I made it even better with a brand new chapter straight outta the super mega factory in my skull. So what have we learned so far? Our Boi ice Drake is trying to change, to liven his new life from the dark of his past one. Press down that Fave, follow and vote button to show some affection aka to motivate me. Leave a review, really, leave a review. It helps me know how well this story is going. I love all your feedback.. You can find me on Patr|e|on.c(o)m/ReidR41n BOMBASTIC SHOUTOUT TO LE PATRONS OF MINE, SKULLY, BIGTOFU, and welcoming to the crew JEP148. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR FAITH IN ME! I AM SO DAMN STOKED! AND I MEAN ALL OF YOU, YES ALL. OF. YOU. READERS, REVIEWERS, COMMENTERS, SPONSORS. YOU GUYS ARE FRIGGIN GREAT PEOPLE. Psst! Guys, I wrote a new fic called "the Thanos crusade" it''s a transmigration into the Marvel verse as Thanos, so check it out if you''ve got the time. Thanks! Ps, I saw endgame. I enjoyed it. Tony!!! That''s a spoiler free review right there. Pss, Google Thanos and click on the Easter egg, it''s damn fun watching everything disappear. 11 Frost bitten Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. * FROST BITTEN *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. The meeting with the environmentalists went imennesly well, as predicted. They were quite excited and thrilled about it. This is why I love scientists and rational people, they weren''t strapped to the norm. They had the ability to think objectively and outside the box. Ok, maybe I''m patronizing them. The date for operation "Cold-day" would be two days from today. They wanted to get as many people as they could, involved in the operation. They wanted to make it a media sensation and raise awereness at the same time. It worked out even better for me, who knew that there was a bounty for solving environmental problems? It''s a whole five hundred thousand dollars!! God bless the Stark foundation for research and innovative solutions! It''s a lot of money, but hey to billionaires like Tony it would barely even cause a ripple in their pockets. As for me, I have never even made anything remotely close to that much money before. Yes, poor me, but not for long. Right now, I had to focus here. I was currently in the danger room, trying to figure out new ways to utilize my powers, not neglecting improvements to the ones I already developed. I tried creating fire using my powers, I still haven''t been successful yet. It''s like pushing a boulder up a cliff face. Son for now I focused on the oes I could. I was trying to create Eyce beams. Get it, it''s ice beams from my eyes so I combined both words and¡­forget it. It''s just icebeams. It''s a way for me to project freezing rays directly from my eyes. I''m sure you''re asking, we all know you don''t have to use your hands when creating ice, so why would you want to make it look like it''s coming from your eyes? First, theatrics. Don''t underestimate it, when my enemies who''ve seen me use my powers, plan counter measures against me, they''ll probably go with the thought that I need some type of bodily movement to get it done. The icebeams are a type of long range attack: the beams are supersaturated with cryonic energy. (No, I''m not making that up, it''s the only way for me to somewhat accurately define what I''m experiencing with the words I have on hand.) When this cryonic beams move through the air, they sap out molecular motion, causing the air in immediate contact with the beams path to get immensely colder and hence solidify. I can use that to create sharp ice spears directly originating from my eyes, by amping it further. Or, I can cause the beams to freeze the target upon contact. Like so: I stared at target #1, and focused the energy into my eyes and then out in straight lines. Intangible blue lines shot through the air, detailing the path of the beams as they impacted the target. Fooossllchhk! Crystal blue ice rapidly formed over the target, starting from the point of impact. I then moved my gaze over to target #2, this time I added a bit more boost to the beams. It produced a silent whip like sound. Solid ice formed over the beams and then through the target. They were like thrown crystallized spears, rushing through target #2 and impaling it all the way, freezing some parts of it. What would happen if I amped it up some more? "Create a new target box, make this one metal" I spoke to the room. The green lights blinked and a seamlessly smooth solid metal box was conjured out of thin air. "Heh"I chuckled staring the the square box, there was an AcDc rock stamp on the side with the words ''metal!'' Printed above it. I have this nagging feeling that the danger room isn''t all that it seems. I couldn''t go telling everyone that the room was weird and the only proof I had being my ''feelings''. I refocused in the objective at hand. I glared at the box, I gathered the cold energy, radically amping it up higher than the two previous two, I shot out through my optic organs. Vvvvpp! The sound was audible and sharp, like a streamline humming bird rapidly cutting through air. The blue freezing beams impacted the box, sending it tumbling all the way back. That was just the start. Ice spread across the whole surface area of the tumbling box. Bang! Frozen chunks of steel exploded out with a fury, decorating the smooth floor with metal shrapnel, ice specks and cold fog. That was damn awesome. I know I should get less surprised by these powers by now, but I just can''t help being amazed or stunned. I''m sure the underlying physics would probably make no sense, this universe''s science is just that fantastical. *. *. *. *. *. After leaving the dangeroom, I went to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. Approaching my normal spot, I saw Hisako sitting alone on another table. "Hey Hisako, what''s up" I approached her setting my tray down across from hers. She looked up from her food and nodded at me. "Oh, hi Drake" she then went back to her food. "Is it just me or are you giving me the cold shoulder these days, maybe I''m just imagining it, but you seem to be almost avoiding me" "What? No, I''m¡­I''m just busy" "Really? With what?" "Stuff" she replied. "Are you sure? If it''s me, you should let me know and I''ll apologize. You''re one of the very few great friends I have, I care about you" Wait a damn minute, did I just shounen? Did I really just say that? "Did you just say that?" her eyes shot open. "I hav--" "Do you mean it?" she asked. "Yeah I --" "Calm down cassanova, I''m messing with you. But it''s nice to know, that I''ve got a caring friend like you. You know what?" "What?" "I''m not going to give up! Yeah, it''s not like I lost right? Right. It''s still fair play, she hasn''t even¡­." she muttered the rest of her words. "What are you even talking about?" She just smiled at my question. "Thanks for cheering me up. I needed that" "I didn''t do a thing tho?" "Oh, you did more than you know" her whole disposition changed to one of confidence and assurance. |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| In the undisturbed snow white landscape, multiple black dots appeared over the horizon akin to blotches of blank ink on a black canvas. The fleet of helicopters, gradually neared their destination. Kicking up gales of snow as they landed. People alighted from the marked vehicles, unloading various devices, instruments and equipments. Me? I was the snow around them, literally. I came here before anyone else, there was an indescribable urge driving me insane, telling me I had to go through this, pushing me to step away from the watching eyes. As soon as I reached a spot without surveillance, I melted. I literally assimilated into the landscape itself. It felt like returning to a long lost home. It was so cozy, I almost didn''t want to leave. I became the icy tundra. I became the condensing clouds.. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I was every speck of snow in the air, I was the specks stuck on the jackets of the workers. I was the ice cave a polar bear currently slept in. I was the icy cold waters, penguins dived into, the deep blue where streamlined fishes swam in. I was the snowball a child threw at his friend. I was everywhere. I lost myself. And then I gained myself. I was everywhere. I have trouble defining it. I was experiencing things a human mind shouldn''t. That wouldn''t be a first, I did die once after all. But this, this was very, very different. I didn''t have flesh. The cold was my being. The ice was my composition, the snow was my tissue and the waters, my blood. I know it sounds trippy, that''s because it is. I don''t know what to do, I don''t know how to go back to being normal after seeing, no, being all this. I didn''t want to be stuck in this. I pulled, the arctic winds roared. I pulled my drifting disembodied being from the snow, ice tornadoes formed on that other side of the planet, I pulled with everything I had. An uncharted island somewhere was swallowed by the great waters. Ice crystals gathered and clumped together, slowly piece by piece a shape began to take form. "Haaa!" I took a deep breath into my reforming lungs. My naked form shivered in the snow, I was shaking, not from the cold, but fear. I was utterly scared of what just happened. I was shocked. I don''t know how else to react to this. Clones made of snow brought my discarded clothes and gear. I had to calm down. ''Panic over lo-- no, logic over panic. Logic over panic!'' One step at a time. First, do what you came here for, the reporters and the scientists are waiting. Then panic after. I didn''t know when, but I instinctively lit a cigar and stuck it into my mouth. The stick froze crystal solid. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. * A figure expertly surfered atop snow ramps gradually approaching the through the designated location where the people were gathered at. Dr Mccoy, his fellow scientists and the various newscasters perked up at the figure''s arrival. The reporters had their cameras pointed and ready, set to capture every single detail in picture perfect quality. The scientists had their various instruments and delicate devices up and running, not intending to miss a single measurement. "....welcoming you all to a live broadcast of historic event about to unfold, as the sixteen year old Robert Drake, otherwise known as the Iceman, attempts to create the greatest environmental impact against global warming by increasing the now vividly depleted ice expanse on the earth''s polar regions. We have a plethora of scientists with us, to give solid evidence if the mutant can truly achieve what he has set out to." "From channel 6, Melissa Martin reporting live; the leading environmentalists all over the globe are gathered here today to witness a monumental effort to refreeze the polar ice caps and the arctic biomes by the mutant called the Iceman. In hopes of finally combating global warming and the environmental issues surrounding the planet¡­." The teen for once had his jacket zipped up, he waved to the reporters and scientists now focused on him, their cameras and instruments prepared for all to come. The teen stood on a pillar of ice, his gaze roaming over the vast icy tundra. He steadily raised his hands, his eyes closed as if to concentrate. At first there was nothing but silence and the howling of the cold winds. Then came the rumblings, starting small at first, only noticed by the special instruments and their precise readings. The rumbles deepened, the ground shivered and quaked, like the angry stampeped of a mammoth herd was upon it, the accompanying winds howled to the voice of thunder. The ice beneath them shook at its very foundations. And before their eyes they witnessed something nothing short of a miracle. Icy landmasses began to form out of thin air. It seemed similar to a grand opus illusion, as crystal foundations and masses appeared over what once was blue waters, they rose up from the deepest reaches of the cold seas. Icebergs reformed over the white cliff faces. Snow ferociously rained down, as if to respond to the call of the teenage mutant. The waters raged thunderously as its space was taken by another. The boy made a gesture and the very waters themselves calmed. The mighty waves stilled, the thunder was silenced ¡ª an icy calm spread over the atmosphere. The crystal ground they stood on was being syeadily elevated the devices clearly confirmed such¡ªas the once depleted icy foundations were being replenished. And not just on this location, but places all over the earth. The cameras situated in those locations brought live footage, next to the very visible proof and the readings of the instruments. People who stared at the scenes displayed on their TV screens rejoiced, those who knew what this truly meant. The depletion of the ice caps was something that was supposed to be irreversible, the facts backing it up were solid and sound. The earth was on a course of environmental disaster that would slowly eat away at it, it''s impact would be far reaching as delicate ecosystems would be disrupted and the resulting effects would lead to catastrophic results. Mass extinctions of floura and fauna, depletions of the protective ozone layers, increases in global warming¡­the adverse effects went on and on. But now, before them, was a miracle. A way to reverse all those effects by first starting with the ice caps. It would result in an advantageous cascading effect. A ripple spreading out, that would cause amazing changes to the world at large. All at the hands of a mutant. A shift began to take change, the thoughts of some normal people took on a more positive outlook, maybe they weren''t the monsters bent on destroying humans as they were painted out to be. Maybe they weren''t all terrorists trying to destroy all life on the planet. Maybe they weren''t disasters waiting to happen, or even a set of individuals who thought that they were the master race. Maybe, they were just as human as anyone else. Others took on a more bleak outlook, fearing for the amount of power held in the hands of such a young person. Fearing for the day it would turn against them. Others, not accepting of the abominations called mutants, devils and beings of the unclean who did things things only God should be allowed to. For this moment they all had one thing in common. They knew that change was coming. Whether good or bad, only time would tell. For now they focused on the boy. |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. * Surprise world! Didn''t see the chapter coming did ya! Boom right at ya! Ok, enough rain. People you know the drill. Hit that favorite tab, smash that follow button. Raise the story like it''s a diamond egg. Let us get it to the top!!! Whooo! I need to calm down. Big shoutout to moi patrons, SKULLY, BIGTOFU, JEP148 and KEVIN J ROSARIO. Thank you all very very much! Rain away! 12 Interlude : a good boy Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. . *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. * INTERLUDE : A GOOD BOY *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. Is good to be Bucky. When Bucky was just a puppy, Bucky was left in park by Mother. Bucky cry but no one came to pick up Bucky. Humans walk away and ignore Bucky, evil large cat chase Bucky around and hurt Bucky with stab claws on cat hands. Once, Bucky bite evil cat, evil cat get angry and chase Bucky out of park. Bucky was really scared everytime large ball light in sky went away and black came. Wet water fall out of sky, making Bucky wet and cold. But angry shouting light in sky make Bucky keep running away. Bucky don''t know where he run, he just run and hide in crunchy box. Crunchy box is large and inside black too, but inside not wet. When large ball light in sky come again, Bucky feel new home moving. Big hand come into box and hold Bucky. Bucky afraid and shout, but big hand bring Bucky up to human face. Human smiling at Bucky and says Bucky will be Ookayy. Human wrap Bucky in fuzzy warm, Bucky not cold anymore! Human also give Bucky sweet water food m-ee-lk-kh. Bucky very happy and not hungry since Bucky left in park. Human take Bucky to bigger box with hard walls and grass and steps and lots of nice things. Human say Bucky has Hoh-hme now. Bucky meet smaller human in home, smaller human call Bucky q-u-u-t-tee and always like Bucky. Bucky also meet other human with longer hair and nice smell, small human call long hair human M-o-m. Human with big hand and M-o-m clean Bucky with funny bubble water. Human now give puppy Bucky his name. That''s how Bucky become Bucky. Bucky call big hand human, old Master and small human yongue master, Bucky call human with long hair, M-o-m. Many, many large ball of light and dark come and go. Bucky grow up to be big boy, young master grows too, he become like old Master, but does not have old Master now brown hair. Bucky always get called good boy. Bucky get new paper for old Master, old Master call Bucky a good boy, Bucky becomes happy. Bucky walk with young master outside, and when Bucky see nice human girl Bucky runs to go meet them and play with them. Young Master run after Bucky, then come to talk with human girl too, he smile and wave at human girl, when human girl leaves he say Bucky a good boy and w-e-e-n-g man and rubs Bucky head. Bucky happy. Bucky goes with M-o-m to garden, Bucky pull bags of seed and help M-o-m dig. M-o-m call Bucky a strong good boy, Bucky very happy. Bucky have happy family, nice home and everything is good. One day, young master went outside with M-o-m. From when large ball of light high in the sky till when dark black come. Old Master worried and Bucky went to wait at the door. Bucky hears knock, Bucky happy "Woof!" Bucky call for old master to come open door, young master and M-o-m back now. But when old Master open door, Bucky no see young master or M-o-m. Bucky see P-o-l-e-e-c-e man from car with red and blue lights. P-o-l-e-e-c-e man take his head cover off and talk to old master and shake head. Old master shouts and water fall from his face. Big ball light in sky comes again. Bucky still no see young master or M-o-m. Old Master always have water fall from his eyes now. One day he take Bucky to big place with many chairs and other people. Bucky see young master and M-o-m in box, Bucky run to wake them up, Bucky miss them. But young master and M-o-m cold. Bucky cry to old master to give them fuzzy warm too, but old master hold Bucky and more water fall from his eyes. Bucky watch as young master and M-o-m box get put into ground. Bucky now know that they sleep there forever and they go to good place. Home now quiet, old Master always sad and drinking smelly water. He don''t play with Bucky like before. Sometimes Bucky look at P-e-e-k-c-h-u-r of young master and M-o-m. Bucky miss them very much. Old master lock home and take Bucky to new home. New home has many other humans living in it, in other doors. Old Master does not laugh anymore, he just always drink smelly water and close eye to sleep. Sometimes water fall from his face as he sleep. Bucky always watch old master sleep, Bucky scared old master will sleep forever, like young master and M-o-m. Bucky does not want to be alone like when he was puppy. So Bucky always wake old master up when big ball of light comes in sky. Today, old Master bring big rope. Bucky think old master bring him toy, but old master hold rope and goes to bedroom. Bucky follow old master. Old Master round rope on the small light in room and he pull hard. Bucky still waiting to play new game with old master. Bucky no understand this new game. Old master take other side of rope and round it on his neck. "Woof! Woolf!" Bucky shout at old master. Bucky no happy why old master put rope on his neck. Old Master stop and look at Bucky, Bucky look at old master too. Water move down old master face, old Master pull rope from his neck and hug Bucky for first time since long time. Bucky lick away water from old master face, old Master now laugh again. Old Master stop drinking smelly water now. He take Bucky outside for walks and old master now have other human friends. Old master laugh more now. Bucky is happy old master happy now. In today dark, Bucky smell black hot cloud. It make Bucky cough and wake up. Bucky see black cloud come through under door. Bucky no feel safe, feel hot and see red outside door. Bucky run to old master room and wake him up. "Ugghh my back. Bucky, what is it boy?". Bucky pull old master to where black cloud is come from. Old Master act fast, he talk on phone and get fuzzy warm but make it wet. Old Master put wet fuzzy warm over Bucky and himself and run with Bucky out the door. Hot red everywhere, oldmaster cough very bad. Bucky see hot red wanting to fall down on old master. Bucky push old master into room, but hot red trap Bucky. Bucky feel hot red getting hotter. Bucky alone and scared. Whooosshhh Bucky see cold white, blue human standing in middle of the hot red shoot cold blue from his hands. Red hot get colder. Bucky see more blue human run into other doors too. Bucky call at blue human. "Hooowl howl!" blue human see Bucky and come to lift red hot, Bucky not trapped anymore. Bucky thank blue human and lick his cold face, make him warmer, too much cold not very good, "Ruff ruff" blue human laugh and call Bucky "Good doggo" Blue human take Bucky outside, Bucky see other human who stay in house too, hugging and talking. Bucky look for oldmaster, Bucky see old master but old master not see Bucky. Bucky jump from blue human and run to old master. "Bucky! Oh, thank you God! Thank you God! Good boy. Thank God you''re ok" old master hug bucky. Old Master see blue human and also hug blue human, old Master has water falling down his face again. Blue human pat old master on back. Old Master take Bucky to warm place. When big ball light in sky comes, old Master and bucky go to grass place where young master and M-o-m sleep. Old Master put nice flowers on nice stone, and then he surprise Bucky. Bucky and old master go back to old home, Bucky very happy to be back. Old Master happy too. Bucky help old master clean home and take P-e-e-k-c-h-u-r of young master and M-o-m to old master. Old Master watch picture he smile now. Everything good again, Bucky want everything to be good like this forever. Old Master rub bucky head and say "Good dog" Bucky very happy. This why Bucky is most good boy in whole world. Is good to be Bucky. *. *. *. In remembrance of Lucky, the best dog in the whole wide world. Enjoy heaven you awesome doggo. *. *. * *. *. *. *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*. |¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì¡ì| Hello people of earth! I greet you all. For those of you that just got on or might have forgotten, this dog was the one iceman rescued back in chapter 6. I made this interlude in tribute to my numero uno best buddy, who is in dog heaven. I''m sure where you are, you get to chew and destroy all the slippers you want doggo. I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a comment to tell me what you think of the story, parts of it that can be improved, or if you generally have writing advice. Hit that follow and fave button to show loveeee. Hit me on Twitter : (@RainReider): https://twitter.com/RainReider On patr(e)on.com/ReidR41n Shout out to all moi patrons, SKULLY, BIGTOFU, JEP148 and KEVIN J ROSARIO. Merci very, very much for your support. Till we meet again. ~Rain away! Ps, give me cold remedies, please, I''m sneezing to death here. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. 14 Chapter Fourteen : Dishes Best Served Cold Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and maybe inspire. ¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡ª¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª DISHES BEST SERVED COLD ¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡ª¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "You know slim, there are better ways to handle kids. Hitting them isn''t one," Wolverine took a deep puff of his cigar, he then started straight at the wounded man with the visor "You''re lucky, that kid could''ve killed you ten times over in a sec if he wanted to. Heh, but I''d say your injuries are a good compromise" Scott took in a sharp breath as pain shot through his body, his face was numb and swollen, a few teeth were loose in his mouth, some were actually punched out, a fractured arm that constantly ached and the hole in his calf where he could''ve sworn his life seeped through. He lay on the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. Most of the X-Men refused to properly acknowledge him since after his altercation with one of his ex students. To cyclops, he was just trying to put a boy who barely even knew about the real world into his rightful place. He might have used a bit of force, but he believed in his ideals and he knew they were right. After all he was the leader for a reason. "I...did...say¡­I¡­..was...sorry...didn''t...I?" Scott spoke slowly, biting back the pain that came with moving his jaw and the one from pushing down his pride. Wolverine shook his head, "Sorry? Slim, you think sorry''s gonna cut it? He won''t come back, not now. You wanna know why, because we did nothing but watch him leave. We trusted in your decision, we stood by you cause of all the history we have, this wasn''t our first rodeo. But you messed up, now half our colleagues don''t trust you like they used to, hell the kids don''t want to stay in a place where they could be assaulted by teachers." He made his way to the exit of the infirmary, "Get well soon tough guy, we all need to have a serious chat" leaving his remark, Wolverine walked out the door. *. *. *. *. *. "Drake, aren''t we changing jobs too fast? Going from normal X-Men to super-space-spies?" Mindee joked, as we walked along the hull of the large spaceship. "What can I say, our skills are highly sought after." I replied in turn. She''s taking this way better than I expected her to. It''s been Twelve hours since we boarded the S.W.O.R.D warship. Y''know the department next to SHIELD that keeps earth safe from extraterrestrial threats. And I''ve had time to drool over their tech and the fact that I, moi, me, was actually in Space. Holysh?t, my life keeps getting more exciting. Did I mention that Lockheed; miss pryde''s pet dragon was actually a secret agent of sword? And he also drinks whiskey. Mindee was so shocked she thought we might have just been hallucinating. Can''t wait to see how Kitty Pryde reacts when I tell¡­no one. Yeah, I almost forgot that I just left the X-Men ...What a time to be alive. We entered a silver tiled room where massive screens morphed on the walls and Agent Brand stood over a semi-spherical table. She was in her themed deep green tactical suit, her trademark shades that matched her dark emerald hair. "I take it you''re both well rested, suited up and ready for briefing," she then turned to Mindee "and You''re not working for us, he is" "For now, I''m just repaying a favor, Brand. I''m still considering my work options. And thanks for the tactical suits, they fit quite nice" "I hope you''re also considering giving me an answer soon and stop trying to dodge my questions" Mindee added next to me, ignoring agent Brand''s words. I rubbed my head in slight shame, we just haven''t had the time to properly talk about what happened back in the mansion, I''m trying to find the right words to use while also trying to give it more thought. I don''t want to fuck it up like I do most things in my life. "I''ll begin," Agent Brand started, an image of planet popped up on the screens around us. The planet was like a red Earth with pink oceans and glaring blood colored clouds. "This is Breakworld and we are on a sub-light course for it that cannot be changed. Why? Well the Breakworld psychics¡ªcalled the Augurs. Have been hunting for the mutant destined to destroy their planet, and exactly twelve hours ago they got their target, this guy" The picture on the screen changed to that of the metallic man, colossus. "Colossus? Mr. Rasputin would never harm a fly" Mindee said with a tone of disbelief. "Well, they''d beg to differ." "Agent Brand, so why isn''t colossus here with us instead?" I asked. "I for one don''t buy into the whole prophecy lot, no one''s going to tell me how my life will play out, but if it concerns the safety of our planet, it becomes my business. Let''s skip to why you''re here. We''ve seen some of what you''re capable of, our Research section says you''re a one man army, nothing short of a walking WMD, when you want to be, possibly more. "We''ll need all the firepower we can get because Breakworld has launched an armada towards Earth after pinpointing their target. Some hours ago, before his recapture Ord was able to ''escape'' from his cell and notify Breakworld of our approach. That armada is now headed towards us now" She explained. I let her attempt to not specifically answer the question slide. Because I understood what she was saying. This was war and we, we are our planet''s first line of defense and attack. The foreshadowing didn''t go unnoticed. "I guess that was the plan" Mindee said. She nodded, "I needed to draw them away from Earth, the best way to keep them from blowing this ship to fragments is to get to Breakworld before they do. At the current speed, we should just make it." "We''re heading right into the jaws of the Beast? Everyone in that planet will gun for us" I raised a brow. "You think I haven''t thought of that?" she questioned. "She''s terrified of something, Drake. It''s as bright as day from over here" Mindee frowned. "Not of you lot. This is Powerlord Kruun," an image of a pale green skinned alien, with thin arching eyebrows and canines appeared on the screen. The alien looked exactly like Ord, except her was larger and meaner. "Powerlord Kruun of the open hand is the global ruler of Breakworld. His rise to power as you''ve probably guessed wasn''t through democracy. Breakworld is governed by one principle: Domination, total domination by violence, war and extermination. No, he is not what terrifies me. "Somewhere, possibly on their smallest moon is a weapon built as a failsafe. A missile with enough power to crack the earth in half, is hidden somewhere out there. We have to get on the planet and takeover the control center, we have to gather enough intelligence to find the exact location of that weapon and shut it off. The Earth can''t mount an attack on a superior military force, and we can''t defend against theirs." She paused and took her shades off. Her bright green eyes looked right at ours. I noticed the bags and black lines under her eyes. This woman was honestly trying her very best, and I respect that. "I don''t know why they chose Rasputin, must be a lucky draw. But I didn''t bring you here for the company or the time I could buy." She took a deep breath and poured out her heart "I need you, your world needs you to stand for it. I did this because I need superheroes, I need your strength." "You had me when you took your shades off Agent Brand. I''m in (gorgeous eyes by-the-way)" "Who''s going to keep this blockhead from wrecking things without me here? I''m in (will you stop flirting)" By the way the corners of her mouth pleasantly rose, I''d say she was happy. Meaning, it was time for something to happen. And right on cue, another agent ran in with a smart panel in his hands. A holograph of countless red dots catching up to a blue one was being displayed on the panel. "Agent Brand, the armada has caught up to us" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. She put on her glasses took a deep breath and went back to her default setting. "Dammit" she sighed. As the ship began dangerously rocking side to side accompanied by the sounds of explosions. I gripped Mindee''s subtly shaking hand in mine, earning me a nod and blooming smile. "We''re going to be okay, I promise" Agent Brand took out two silver packs and handed them to both of us. Inside the packs were various gadgets. She held out the gadgets and pointed out their uses. "Slot the breathers behind your teeth, they''ll filter out impurities and the capsules will release supplementary oxygen. The earwigs are translators." she then handed out weapons, an honest to God blaster. "Listen, the Augurs have a good track record with their prophecies, the breakworlders believe someone from Earth is a threat to their existence, meaning Earth is now a threat to them. We either convince them that the prophecy is wrong, if we can''t, we''ll we go through with it and show them just how deadly Earth can be. "Well, children. It''s time." Agent Brand said with a smile that had crazy intent behind it. *. *. *. *. *. *. * The resplendent stars blinked with their unique lights and native colors in the boundless expanse of weightless space. A vast armada of gray space faring vehicles shot bolts of plasma and metallic beams at the large silver ship that tried its best to evade. In the vacuum, sounds could did not travel, but light did. The colorful explosions rocked the silver ship, ripping apart its pristine body into metal fragments. Inside the ship, the various personnel ran about, running last minute routines or getting themselves equipped for their eventual departure. On the exterior of the ship, a crystal mass began to slowly coalesce. The mass evaporated, then condensed again. The crystals bloated and exploded, but still coalesced again. The mass was constantly trying to condense into a form. It was learning and improving, each condensation lasting longer than the last. Over and over and over again, this loop of failure continued for countless times, but each failure brought it closer to success. The crystal mass took on a darker bluish hue which then turn brighter over time into a bright sea blue, and when it did, it no longer evaporated nor sublimated. The mass condensed, piece by piece, it clumped into a ball and then grew into the form humanoid, its features gradually defined as it was becoming more refined. It became a mirror image of the cryokinetic teenager, Robert Drake. With a smile of triumph and excitement on its face, crystal wings sprouted from the crystalline figure''s back. It tested itself, righting its motion by expelling cold gasses that propelled it through the vast expanse. Utilizing expansions and contractions of supercooled particles, and waves of cold energy. The enemy ships noticed the figure as it swam in the zero gravity environment and fired upon it. The vicious plasma blast sent the crystal being careening through the expanse, severely damaging its form and obliterating parts of it. Until the figure slowed to a stop and began to reform. Another mass of crystal began to coalesce next to the figure, it condensed into another being that was nothing short of a mirror image of the first one. That was the first of many crystal masses that appeared in the expanse. An army of winged crystal beings were born in the darkness amongst the light of stars, like angels created from drops of light. The army shared the same expressions across their faces, excitement. The crystal army faced the Armada. Massive structures of ice crystals rammed into the vulnerable parts of the various spaceships, causing breaks, tears and explosions. Colossal ice spikes skewered through the metal hulls of ships, the spikes themselves further branching out with spines that completely ruined the space faring vessels of destruction. Beams of cold energy shot from their hands froze the exhaust ports and boosters of many ships, impairing their ability to move and then encasing them in frozen prisons that froze the life out whatever lifeforms were onboard. Ice crept into delicate parts of complex machinery and destroyed essential equipment of the enemy armada. The endless army of angels fought against the metal ships. The battlefield was one of an exotic sight, that held a certain amount of mesmerization, a hypnotic wonder to it. It was as though the Icemen were the ones native to this serene expanse, guardians pushing back the invasive hoard of metal vessels. The occupants of the enemy vessels could not comprehend such a strange situation. While the occupants of the silver vessel were much more joyful. Making use of the distraction provided by the crystal beings, they boarded their escape vessels and launched off. The enemy being too occupied with the strange crystal beings to properly respond to the situation. The more of these things they killed, the more these things were remade. The armada was already beginning to lose ships to this new enemy. Glinting ice crystals that covered entire ships whole, floating metal fragments and flash frozen bodies of pale green aliens now littered the expanse. In a smaller streamlined ship that held four occupants shooting for the red world behind the battlezone. "I guess they were right about you" The lady with emerald hair said to the teenager who bore resemblance to all the crystal beings as she piloted the vessel. "I try to please" he answered. "Show-off" The girl that sat beside the boy remarked with a smile. Unnoticed to all of them, streaks of hair on the boy''s head began to slowly turn white, as did the hemoglobin inside of him. It was as though he was advancing on a path of evolution. His body was slowly adapting to accommodate these changes, this mutation. His powers were advancing to new heights, steadily breaking past limits. This was just the chilling start of a glorious legend that spanned through countless galaxies and multiple universes. This was the beginning of the one who came to be known as ICEMAN, the King of Cold. ¨C¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡ª¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Whoop Whoop! Bonjour mon amigos, that''s French for : hello you awesome people!!! Another arc begins. Space, teenage love, aliens, icemen and even more aliens! What more could you ask for!!! I''ll tell you what, pure unfiltered, awesomeness. Heh, whoo. I love you all, yes, I done did said it. I love you all. Why am I getting so emotional today? I just can''t silence my feelings for you guys anymore. You don''t know how happy it makes me feel, seeing all of you reading my stories and encouraging me on. How happy it makes me feel when you tell me you enjoyed it, when you take time out of your busy day to let me know of your satisfaction (even you silent ones, by just hitting that fave and follow and like) it makes me really happy. It makes this all worthwhile, I won''t lie. I enjoy writing these stories, it makes it even more rewarding to find that you all enjoy it so, too. Look how far this story has come. Remember the days of chapter one?? Hah. (^0^)Oh lord, I was so stoked. I couldn''t have come this far without you, no, I''m proud of YOU ALL, I am really grateful for all you''ve done for me and my stories. I really didn''t think it''d come this far. I know, I know, I''m talking a lot but I just had to get this off my chest. It may not be professional, but when was it ever? It''s always been me and you all. One tight knit group of people who share the same love and enthusiasm for good works of fiction. Yeah, that''s all I wanted to say. So from the depths of my heart, ¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡ª¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª THANK YOU, FROM YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR, RAIN! ¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡ª¨C¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª I wish you all a wonderful, blessed day. Full of love and more RAIN! Muahahahaha. (I''m sorry, sometimes he goes berserk) You can come find me, ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RainReider On PAT RE ON: https://www.*******.com/ReidR41n On YOUTUBE, yes youtube, come check out my sexy voice as I narrate stuff: https://is.gd/RaiNation BOMBASTIC SHOUTOUT TO ZA PATRONS OF MINE, (Secret lovers on the low low..hah!) SKULLY(the silent death giver). BIGTOFU(the Goliath king slayer), JEP148(The vibranium ninja) and KEVIN J ROSARIO (The mandalorian of durasteel). THE BREAKER (The forger of End Times) Once again, I Wanna say a big thank you for your immense support, I am grateful and I can''t express it enough. You have my gratitude. All of you. Till we meet again, Rain away! 15 chapter Fifteen : Cold Burn Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire. *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*. COLD BURN *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.* Powerlord Kruun of the open hand ¨C Ruler of BreakWorld - was not pleased. He rose from his luxurious throne, his towering size made all the more intimidating by the dangerous glint of his silver armor, and the ruthless expression on his face. "You let those Earthling filth land on ?my planet?" He spoke again, rage and loathing laced his words. "You took an armada with you, and you were yet still out maneuvered and defeated" the Powerlord was not pleased at all, someone would have to die to change that. His general Orund, knelt to the floor prostrating himself before his ruler. The chill of impending death caused his heart to beat so hard it threatened to leap out his chest. His sweat drenched face was fortunately hidden from view by virtue of his current posture. He curled up even more, trying to make himself look as small as possible, hoping that the Powerlord would ignore him. Orund still felt the phantom pains of his severed arm¡ªa painful reminder of the time when he challenged the Powerlord for his throne. Orund sucked his saliva and tried speaking "Lord, they had mutants with them. We didn''t kno--" "Silence!" his Lord yelled, cutting him off. Orund was just trying to explain what happened, no one could have prepared for such a scenario and most definitely not in space. How was he to know the mutants had such abilities? The prophecy said it would be a mutant in silver armor they would be facing. How was he to know otherwise? Someone had to be punished for this, and who better than his lieutenant. Yes, he would slaughter that opportunistic runt, and then he would dominate his wife and send the bastard''s children to meet him in the after life. "You! Come here!" the Powerlord gestured for his Palace guard to approach. The good soldier was steadfast. "die!" Powerlord Kruun wrapped his hands over the guard''s neck lifting him meters off the floor, he savored the fear in the guard''s widened eyes, he enjoyed the guard''s futile struggle in his grip. With a sharp twist and a resounding ?crack, the struggle ended, the lifeless guard fell limply to the floor. Powerlord Kruun exhaled, satisfied but not satiated. Turning his sight to the cowering general, "You will be next if I hear word of another failure. Bring me the heads of those backwater worms from Earth that dared step on my land." "Yes Lord, immediately!" the general answered with a loud pound of his head against the marble tiled floor, causing the cracked the now cracked pieces to cut into the skin of his head. All to the amusement and disdain of Powerlord Kruun. He was disgusted at their weakness, he detested their spineless cowardice. He would say that they deserved all he did to them, as they could not stand to fight him, but only kneel to accept his demands. After all, there was once a time where it was done to him, but he chose to fight, he chose to stand on his broken feet to fight back rather than go on his knees. And look where it brought him, it made him king. The Powerlord spat on the general''s head as he turned, slowly retreating to the inner courts of his palace. *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.* In a deserted arid region of the BreakWorld, a number spaceships burst through the pink curtains of clouds. And with synchronized harmony their landing systems were deployed. Some of the ships gently glided down with bursts of wind from the propeller wings. Others nearly slammed into the ground, protected only by the thick exhaust cushion of ignited rocket fuel rapidly expelled from the underside. The blazing flames turned the sand beneath each landing vessel to glass. The doors on the various small ships parted with a silent hiss as the many occupants exited silver-gray crafts. "Touchdown successful. Total casualty of six crew members lost in high orbit from enemy stray shots." a lieutenant readily reported to Agent Brand, whose brows furrowed at the report. She offered a silent prayer for her lost men, but she had a job to do here and until it was done, she could not allow emotions to cloud her judgment ¨C there was too much on the line. Exiting the spacecraft after Agent Brand was the trio of Robert Drake, Mindee Cuckoo and the now single armed, Ord of BreakWorld, who was in restraints. He leveled a hateful stare at the teen in a sleeveless hoodie. "Sup, captain hook" the teen mocked, meeting the alien''s heated gaze. Ord''s face contorted in anger at the blatant mockery. His pride was being trod on by a Backwater-planet-born mutant, ''The same Mutant who took my arm ¨C my honor.'' Ord knew that he would never find that lost glory. He could no longer stand in the presence of other warriors. He had been ¨C without doubt ¨C dominated by an outsider. Should he even commit the customary suicide-rites. His corpse would be fed to the feral beasts of the land, rather than be laid in the glorious death halls of his ancestors. What other emotion could he show other than anger? He failed to accomplish the greatest mission that could be bestowed upon a Break-Worlder. Not only that, but he also lost his honor! To a CHILD! By rites and custom he had to submit to his dominator, to the child. But the same pride of his that wouldn''t allow for it, was the same pride that compelled him to perform his duty or take up the suicide-rites to put it all to an end. "pff" Ord sighed, he was a warrior, not a thinker. And all this complicated thinking was driving him out of his mind! Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''This guy is going out of his mind'' thought Robert, as he stared at the ever changing expressions rapidly alternating on the alien''s face. ''I think he''s just really confused about something'' Responded Mindee, via the psionic link she had with her ¨C maybe ¨C boyfriend. ''Drake'' she called with a more serious tone. The blue eyed teen turned to face her. ''Yeah'' ''You do realize I know what you''re trying to do right? You''ll have to give me an answer soon. I''m letting it go for now since we have a lot on our plate. I just want you not to be scared of telling me how you really feel.'' She reached out her hands to hold his. ''No, Casanova, I wont read your mind to know how you really feel, I want you to tell me.'' Robert Drake smiled from the bottom of his heart, he felt a type of warmth never before experienced move through his soul ''It has to be a crime for someone to be this perceptive.'' He said, rubbing the back of his head. ''Look at you go though, being all loving and whatnot, being kind! What an unbelievable shock, I need to tell the whole world about this'' He laughed. She playfully nudged him backwards ''Asshole. Oh, and it looks like you''re trying the Reed Richards look'' ''The what?'' ''You''ll understand when you look into a mirror'' "Settle down lovebirds, we''ve got a job to do here" Agent Brand snappily interjected, gesturing for the various personnel to form a circle around the projectors for briefing. "The plan was to split up to cover ground and divert attention from the main teams. Well, there''s been a radical change to that plan." She zoomed in on the holograph of high metal structure that stood above the entire city it was situated in. "We now know that the weapon has already been activated from the skeleton signals we tapped into. That means that we are now running on borrowed time, people. There''s not enough time to do this routinely ¨C stealthily. Good thing is, we don''t have to" She pointed at the Iceman "We have enough firepower to make a beeline for the palace and brute force our way in. From there we take over the control center and shut down the weapon. Let''s get into the finer details. First, this will be our entrance tactic¡­..." ******************************************************************************** In a large spaceship flying above the surface of BreakWorld, scouring it for the invaders. The various in-dwellers avidly went about their various duties. A map watcher focused on his drop screen zealously. He would normally take his time doing his job, but today he did with an eager sense of purpose so great that it seemed as though his very existence depended on it. And it might actually have, the map watcher saw what General Orund did to lieutenant Uaan. He valued his life, he did not want to end up as another expired body. He focused his entire being into manipulating the equipment that observed the surface. That was when he saw it. The glaring signatures that were situated on the red desert plains. He shut his eyes, prayed to the aurors that it wasn''t a stress induced hallucination and stared at the map again. He knew what it meant. The map watcher almost stumbled over his words. "Sir! Sir, I found them!" The map watcher loudly alerted. "The invaders, Sir!" he pointed at his screen as he addressed the general who occupied the high seat of the ship. "Bring it up on the main interface you fool!" the General roared. The map watcher rapidly did as ordered. He promised to make the general pay for the insults and dishonor he suffered today. He imagined his future, the day when he would eventually rise through the ranks, trampling on all those who laughed and mocked him today ¨C especially the general. And then he would become the new Powerlord, all would bow before him! For now the map maker returned to his station, anticipating the day of his ascension with an unbound sense of confidence. The general eyed the map, confirming that those were indeed foreign signatures. "Full speed ahead to target coordinates! The backwards fools couldn''t even properly hide themselves, their heads will make fine trophies for the lord." General Orund, had a cruel smirk on his lips. Things were finally working in his favor! He would first capture them, and then he would put them through so much torture that they would beg for death. A request that he would gladly grant them. The ship zoomed across the skies, rapidly covering vast distances as it tore through pink tufts of clouds that lingered above, joined by a swarm of smaller, darker menacing vessels that raced behind it, like drones behind a queen. The general salivated with great anticipation. He had already planned sufficiently for whatever mutant was involved in leveling the Space-Armada. The weapons onboard of his central ship the gloriously named ''StrongArm'', would utterly destroy any sort of resistance the mutant could put up and the other vessels accompanying his would be more than enough in subduing the rest of the riffraff ¨C whatever futile resistance the human soldiers thought they could put up. After all the Augurs did say that fire would be their bane but the cold will...Well, they never got to finish their prophecy, the Powerlord granted them freedom from their miserable lives for their failure of not foreseeing such destruction being done to their military Space-Armada. "There!" One of the many watchers pointed down below through the clear screen at the beings that appeared ant-sized ¨C due to the current height of the ship ¨C moving in a neat file. General Orund, could now see with his very naked eyes, the meager amount of human soldiers who trudged through the sand on foot ¨C These are the so called invaders? These are the ones who took down the space armada? "Perform another deep scan and tell me if there are more of these rats in hiding!" He ordered, wondering if truly they were as dangerous as made out to be, after all, even though the Space-Armada was wiped out they were able to obliterate the human Mother-ship. That must have resulted in a devastating number of casualties, massively crippling the human forces. As such it would have led to this paltry number of operatives they currently had. "General sir, these ones before us are the only lifeforms not native to the planet" "Sir! They have spotted us and are now trying to escape!" "General, the mutant signature is also among them" Orund, leered staring down at the humans, They were just favored by luck, up until now! "Deploy the ground force!" at his command the various smaller vessels that followed The StrongArm shot down towards the uniformed soldiers on the ground trying to escape. Forming a wide circular perimeter of steel around their already broken formation. The Break-World militia made quick exits from their hissing vessels with weapons raised at the invaders. It was an overwhelming sight, dozens of silver armored towering figures stood with their weapons pointed at the twenty-odd number of uniformed agents in masks that obscured their faces. "General, we have them surrounded!" The captain of the ground force alerted over the comms unit. "Do you really though?" Said one of the agents with a tone that spoke of immense confidence. The captain looked on in half curiosity and in half bafflement. Are these Earth worlders truly all dumb? He asked himself, he could not understand how someone could be so idiotic. Was the Earth born soldier blind? Could he not decipher his current predicament. The captain watched the Earthling rip away his mask to show his young, youthful face and striking blue eyes. The earthling then reached to a pouch on his side, causing the captain''s finger to twitch over the trigger of his weapon. The earthling then retrieved a white stick of sorts and like magic ¨C ignited a small flame over his finger to light the stick. "General, we also have the mutant in sight." he reported. "Cripple him and kill the rest!" the general shouted over the comms. The captain aimed, staring at the Earthling who began taking inhales of his stick and blew a cloud of smoke. The smell of it irritated him and grated on his nostrils. He smiled viciously pushed his finger against the soft trigger¡­. The gun did not softly recoil against his shoulder, the distinct red blast of superheated plasma was not ejected from its nozzle, and the near silent whir of its activation did not reach his ear neither did the scent of burned air. He tried pulling the trigger again, to no effect. And that was when he began to notice it. He could not make a single movement from his current position ¨C he was unable to even blink. He was frozen, absolutely paralyzed like a statue cast of metal. He began to notice the chill. The frigid cold that devoured his body from the inside to spread it unforgiving tendrils over the light of his soul, it struggled to stay alight, the cold was a flood that broke the flimsy glass barriers meant to hold it back, the light was snuffed out. He was not alone; thin crystalline layers began to envelope all things ¨C living or not, in close proximity to the blue eyed youth. The ground turned to solid ice as an evaporating cold haze continually lingered over the atmosphere. The figures of the hundreds of Break-World inhabitants in attack postures with their weapons pointed stood frozen around the youth. As though the alien soldiers were left behind by time. Shit, they didn''t have to die. "Brand, said we only needed the central ship. Everyone else not on it, isn''t." Robert Drake whispered, looking at the large ship that still hung in the sky. General Orund felt those eyes look at him. He felt the chill behind them, the chill that spoke of death lingered in the air around him. The crew within The StrongArm were stupefied. The ground force was supposed to be their most elite, the best of the best yet in one moment they were alive and breathing and in the next, they became lifeless sculptures of ice. The general felt the cold beads of sweat trail down his spine beneath his armor. He wanted to attack, to send down the firepower he had prepared, he couldn''t as he was merely frozen in his high seat. Not in ice but in fear. "Susano''o" said Robert. The odd number of figures around him exposed themselves to be crystal men, their forms rapidly sucked in the ice as they expanded from their clothing to turn into multi-limbed, winged Titans the size of mountains. They stared down at the central ship. One of them stabbing its finger through the ship''s secured door. The blue-eyed youth slid around the titan''s crystal exterior, rapidly accelerating from the ground up to reach the titan''s finger which acted as a bridge into the ship. "Surrender," he said, entering the ship''s interior. "Unless you all want to end up like those guys down below" he gestured backwards, clenching his fist as he did so, turning the various ice statues into nothing but red crystalline dust that dispersed into the surroundings. The smart BreakWorlders surrendered, choosing their lives over honor as did the general, the shadow of death''s frigid touch reminded them of what would happen should they not. He nodded in content, a thin hazel of cold fog, entwined with smoke lingered around his figure. "Agent Brand, I''m in" His blue eyes trailed the interior of the ship, alternating from one silver armored alien to the next. Finally settling on the large, one armed, general Orund who shivered in his spot. "And I think you''re going to like this very much" the youth smiled. To the general it looked no different from the wicked grin of the cursed red devil. ************************************************************************** HELLO!!! My wonderful, amazing, lovely people! Superior Citizens of the RaiNation!! Lords, Lordettes and all in-between and all encompassing. I greet you all. I know, and I sincerely apologise for my extended absence. A great number of things happened during and after the journey but the most shocking were the things I learned after moving back. A series of wicked, evil acts committed over the years by people in power were recently unearthed and brought to the light of Justice. The time to receive the consequences of their actions is upon them. Back to the stories; What I am truly thankful for is your great understanding and patience. I hope you can accept this long chapter as a sufficient offering. I''m working hard to create chapters for all the other stories currently in progress as well and also working on more entertaining one shots that will be made available on my pat-re-on for FREE. I had a blast writing this. It took a while to complete it, to be honest. I''m trying something new by writing all through in the 3rd person perspective. So please, tell me your thoughts. Leave a review behind telling me exactly what you think. They help me improve and motivate me! For real, your comments and reviews give me the energy to write more. Don''t forget to follow, fave and Like. I wish you all a wonderful, blessed day. Full of love and more RAIN! Muahahahaha--Coughcough! You can come find me, ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RainReider On PAT RE ON: https://www.*******.com/ReidR41n On YOUTUBE, yes youtube, come check out my sexy voice as I narrate stuff: https://is.gd/RaiNation NOT FORGETTING MY LOVELY PATRONS. ABSOLUTE HULK LEVEL SHOUT OUT TO YOU MY, (Secret lovers on the low low..hah!) SKULLY(the silent death giver). BIGTOFU(the Goliath king slayer), JEP148(The vibranium ninja) KEVIN J ROSARIO (The mandalorian of durasteel). THE BREAKER (The forger of End Times) DEOHN LEWIS ( Lord Obliterator) CLINTON (Titan Breaker) CALEB D. (Cosmic Pirate King) MONSTERMASH (Dragon Devourer) DAVID JP (Celestial Devastator) And welcoming to the crew DANNY B (Divine Bamboozler) 16 here comes the cold Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire. *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*. HERE COMES THE COLD *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*. ''It''s not real'' said Cruz. Her brown hair swayed sedately to the serene winds as she took a seat beside an unmoving, horse-red pool of blood, I walked through the dark ether each step taking me towards her regardless of the direction I turned. In a blink I found myself sitting next to her, my feet submerged in the warm blood it was akin to taking a summer-time late afternoon dip in a shallow pool of lukewarm water, only the water was blood and the sun didn''t shine. She smiled at me, offering me the lit cigarette she had been taking puffs from, rubbing my face as she did. I knew this was all a dream, but it looked no different from all the others I''ve been having recently, very much so. I took the cigarette and let her fingers rub against my face, I realized how much I missed her. ''You''re playing with her, @#*&*%. You''re not really in love'' she spoke softly, leaning in to embrace me. ''You''re just waiting for the hype of it all to die down, that''s why you haven''t told her the truth yet. When this high you''re on wears off, you''ll let her know that it wasn''t love, just a curious interest you''ve taken to the novelty of an innocent selfless affection directed at you.'' I shifted uncomfortably at the fact that my true name was still unmentionable and that a part of me locked away deep was agreeing with her words. ''You know it''s true.'' She whispered to my soul. ''No it''s not Cruz, I really do lov¡ª'' she put a finger on my lips, stopping my words. ''You keep repeating it to yourself over and over again just to try convincing yourself that it''s true. Why lie to yourself when you can''t even say the words?'' ''I love ...'' I began, but got lost halfway in thought. What the hell was I doing? ''No, one. Absolutely no one, not even yourself, I know you @#*&%, you were the worst; the devil ¨C the monster amongst the beasts. Don''t pretend to be something else. It is who you are, why deny it now!? You don''t love her, you''re just grateful to her for standing up for you. She sighed, lovingly caressing my cheeks "You''ll just string her along and break her, or she''ll get caught up in your shit and then she''s going to die. You know it, so put a stop to it while there''s still time don''t f**k around and forget who you are or what you do best; You raise hell, not f**k around with this cringy, teenage puppy love sh!t. You don''t get to do that shit, you don''t deserve it.'' She said finally, her body fading away into the darkness that now encompassed everything. What the hell was I really doing? Was I actually pretending to be in love, acting as the hero and being a good guy? Or am I just confused? I don''t know. Maybe Cruz is right about how I feel, maybe that''s the real reason why I can''t say it out loud. I wasn''t the good guy, never claimed to be, not after all the shit I''ve done. My body may be new, but my soul was soiled, maybe I didn''t even deserve this chance I got. But so f**king what? I may not be a saint but that won''t stop me from doing right and putting wicked fuckers exactly where they belong. I may also not have the capacity for true love ...but¡­. well f**k, I have nothing to say to that. It is who I am, and maybe I''ll never be able to change it. It never bothered me, and it probably never will. I''m not going to sit around and mope about things beyond my control. I don''t do edgy. I had Cruz for an inner demon, that was edgy enough. What I need is to set my priorities straight and figure out what was truly going on with me, oh, I also had an alien dictator to kill. I grabbed her soft hand which rested peacefully on my cheek. And I pushed it away. "F**k off" I said, plunging a blade of ice deep into her chest. Green blood soiled the pristine crystalline edges, a short gasp of pain appeared on her face which twisted up in agony. I dug my arm deeper into the gaping wound, spreading ice into all the vital organs. And like a broken mirror the macabre scene faded, bringing me back to reality. Currently impaled on my arm was a pale green alien adorned in silver armor and a distinct helmet made up of blue diamonds, frozen frigid. A trail of frozen green blood lined the length of my arm. I looked around the majestic hall, finding it in pristine condition with the bodies of S.W.O.R.D agents slumped disorderly around me as though they had been swept up by an unstoppable tide of unconsciousness. And standing before me was a group of stunned Break-Worlders. These ones looked different from their muscular counterparts that I had dealt with until recently. They were slimmer, adorned with jewelry on top of their silver armors, but the most distinct difference was the headgear they wore ¨C red diamonds. A large piece of hollowed out ruby colored crystals. They staggered back upon meeting my gaze. Some gathered their wits and stared heatedly at me, I felt the surging mental waves that continually tried slamming into my mind. They all collapsed upon collision with the massive wall that protected my mindscape. A migraine was beginning to bud in my head. It was all I needed to jog my memory. We had been separated into groups to attack the palace after making use of the liberated StrongArm''s ¡ªGeneral Orund''s central ship ¨C weapons systems to decimate the palace''s defenses. Granting us access, Mindee went with Brand towards the weapons control center, and I went with some agents towards the palace''s interior, we were going to bring the so called ruler of this planet ¨C Powerlord Kruun in, dead or alive. When these thin f**kboys came out of the walls and mind blasted everyone to oblivion. The guy currently frozen on my arm was the leader of the new Augurs, the Powerlord disposed of the old ones. I dashed the cold body on my arm to the floor, shattering it into a thousand pieces of frozen flesh and raw tissue. The disgusting scent of green blood lingered in the air and over my arm. "How dare you lay your filthy earthworld hands on the lord Augur!! You insolent cur, face your doom" one of the bastards interrupted my line of thought, as he paced towards me sending massive waves of psionic attacks aimed at my mind, further increasing the intensity of my already painful headache. "F**k you" I said, sending an ice lance through her mouth, impaling her to tiled floors. She convulsed in agony right as I sent another through her abdomen. A green fluid steadily pooled around her lifeless body. I was annoyed at the fact that these aliens had managed to trap me in an illusion no matter how short it was. At the fact that they still stood before me with varying expressions ranging from rage to fear. At the fact that most of the agents around me would never return to their families again. No I wasn''t annoyed, I was angry. I swallowed the boiling anger, letting it turn as cold as my crystal heart instead. My eyes turned to the Breakworlders, I swiped my arm lazily causing them to flinch back. VipVipvipvipvipvip A massive barrage of razor sharp, crystal blades shot through the air, biting into the flesh of the augurs. Screams, soul chilling screams rang through the passage as I made their deaths as painful as possible. They begged, I turned a deaf ear. And when everything turned silent save for the constant drip of blood, I sent a mighty blast of cold energy that disturbed the grim serenity, turning the massive golden doors into nothing but useless pieces of frozen metal chunks. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The Throne room lay before me, I took a step into it. *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.* ¡­..BONJOUR! MOI AMIGOS AND AMIGERETTES!! I am on my knees apologizing for my prolonged absence. I got a job (man''s gotta eat) and it''s been taking all of my time. But damn, I couldn''t stop thinking about writing. Every day spent without putting the metaphoric pen to the page left me somewhat unsatisfied and unfulfilled. And I think I got it now. I love this shit, I fell in love with writing these works of fictions, and I love how you people immersed yourselves in the imaginative worlds and scenerios I had conjured up. I could never go back to just sitting by and not putting my ideas down for you all to share in. I guess what I''m really trying to say is. I appreciate having all of you around to enjoy these humble works of mine. And I love making these humble works. Thank you for sticking around this long. I sincerely appreciate your loyalty and support. Rain is back!! Leave a like and a fave if you enjoyed it. Don''t forget to drop a comment and a review telling me your beautiful thoughts. Till we meet again, Rain away¡­.for now. You can come find me, ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RainReider On PAT RE ON: https://www.*******.com/ReidR41n On YOUTUBE, yes youtube, come check out my sexy voice as I narrate stuff: https://is.gd/RaiNation NOT FORGETTING MY LOVELY PATRONS. ABSOLUTE HULK LEVEL SHOUT OUT TO YOU MY, (Secret lovers on the low low..hah!) SKULLY(the silent death giver). BIGTOFU(the Goliath king slayer), JEP148(The vibranium ninja) KEVIN J ROSARIO (The mandalorian of durasteel). DEOHN LEWIS ( Lord Obliterator) CLINTON (Titan Breaker) CALEB D. (Cosmic Pirate King) MONSTERMASH (Dragon Devourer) DAVID JP (Celestial Devastator) DANNY B (Divine Bamboozler) HAMZA AYOUB (Assassin Supreme) 17 Cold Hearted Saints Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire. ****** Cold Hearted Saints ******** Goosebumps rose over my tingling skin, the palpitations of my restlessly pounding heart made me feel an illusive heat spread over my body. My senses conveyed to me that there was a fiery, raging gaze focused on me and it was going to burn my soul to cinders. I stopped, not taking another step forward. Something just didn''t feel right. It was like one of those moments when gun scopes where aimed at me and I couldn''t find the shooter, but I could feel the threat that lay hidden. It was the sound of his breastplate fall to the floor that drew my attention towards him as he came out of what seemed to be a hidden chamber behind his throne. Standing a whole foot taller than all other Break-Worlders I had seen so far, Powerlord Kruun was truly physically imposing. His corded musculature did not lose out to his menacing facial features. He looked like the hulk''s smaller, pale skinned cousin. In his hand was an angry orange glowing splinter. I could feel the massive psionic waves radiating from that unremarkable looking splinter, it was the most dreadful thing I have ever felt so far. "I will make you suffer boy, and then your world will burn" He stated with a wide nasty grin as though it were a fact. "You won''t be coming out of this alive" I took immediate action, throwing a multitude of ice lances at him. He laughed out loud and then jammed the splinter right into his heart. A shock-wave of heat and the thunderous cry of a bird propagated outwards turning the ice to vapor. Behind the vapor appeared the demonic burning eyes that looked down on me. Judging and measuring me. The Phoenix raptor gave me a message; my soul was wrong, impure, aberrant against a natural order. The phoenix was order, my very existence was defiant of that. It had a duty to cleanse all that was impure. The burning visage of a blazing bird appeared over the now floating form the powerlord who looked pleasantly surprised but nevertheless in immense pain. He too was burning under the judgmental flame of the bird. Good for him. I armored up and went to war. *** Ice decorated the battlefield that was the throne room. "AaRgh" The powerlord roared as his flaming fist tore through another figure, throwing its already melting form to the ground. Another took its place, rushing with the clone army of crystalline figures into the furnace that was the phoenix empowered, Powerlord Kruun. He burned and burned and burned them all to vapor, but they had no end! The powerlord was getting frustrated, he knew a battle of attrition when he saw one. The fire of the phoenix was consuming him, a battle of attrition was one he couldn''t win not with the limited time he had on his hands. He grit his teeth as he borrowed more, more fire, more power, and rage to fuel it more at the trade-off that it would consume him exponentially faster but it was enough, enough to overwhelm the insufferable army of ice soldiers. He watched them all melt to the ground from the fire he was expelling. The heat made the walls of his throne room red hot, to the point where it began to melt his throne into a silver puddle of boiling, bubbling metal. A single figure was all that remained, it was the male child clad in a full armor of blue that began to slowly turn obsidian. The boy floated above the baking floor, a pair of razor thin wings behind him that supposedly kept him afloat. He looked the boy in his azure glowing eyes. The powerlord chuckled, he had seen eyes like those, they were too aged ¨C too hard to be on a boy such as he. But it mattered not, the boy would suffer before he died and his planet would burn. A ray of ice struck at the powerlord''s eyes, momentarily blinding him with pain, pulling him from his thoughts. He roared and charged at the approaching boy. The phoenix raptor itself was eager to claim the boy''s life, who was he to deny the cosmic entity its desires? Fire struck ice, and the child screamed in agony. The psionic might of the phoenix viciously attacked Robert Drake''s psyche while the phoenix''s flame tried to burn past his ice armor, past the boundary of his material body to ravage his soul. He was feeling all the pain. This was a pain so intense he had nothing to compare it to, for it did not aim for his body, but for his soul, his spirit. Bobby lashed out with ice spikes and blazing fury. The phoenix raptor dug its flaming talons through his midsection. The boy silently screamed in agony. Powerlord Krunn found pleasure in the boy''s pain. But he was perplexed, looking at the teenage child impaled on the flaming talons of the phoenix, he found the boy now smiling instead of begging for a quick death. "Urgh!!" the Powerlord groaned as a frigid cold began to invade his spine. From the corner of his vision he spotted behind him a crystalline figure so black he found it difficult to focus on it. The figure had its limbs latched onto the Powerlord''s back, and from that contact point, it began to melt and flow into the wounds on his back, invading the interior of his body. Kruun began to feel cold, the dreaded frigid cold. The one that made all his primal instincts cry out in terror. Even with the phoenix raptor''s heat warming him-- reassuring him, he began to uncontrollably shiver. The cold turned his bones to glass that dug into his hardened and shriveling organs. The chill turned his breath foggy and muddled his mind. The heat fought the chill, but it was akin to a wall of bricks standing against an endlessly high wave of roaring waters ¨C it held on for an instant, that was all it could do, and when it came crumbling down like a slaughtered animal, the cold overwhelmed the heat. Kruun''s body was already breaking down from the strain of sustaining a splinter of the phoenix force. He fell to his knees, his body a rapidly withering husk of former glory, his life literally burning away as his body rapidly mummified whilst encased in clear ice. Kruun still laughed in his dying heart, he accomplished his goals, even if he wouldn''t be alive to see it. ¡ª¡ªSCREEeeCCHHH! With a final resounding cry, the fiery spectre of the phoenix raptor abandoned the frigid corpse of its dead host. Flapping its phantasmal wings, the fiery bird flew through the walls of the throne room like the apparition it presented itself as. *** I fell to my knees, my arms clutching and straddling my sides trying to sooth the unimaginable pain of my injured soul. I couldn''t even do that, I just grit my teeth and bore the agony. Somewhere in my head I could still hear echoes of my screams and the dreadful retarded cry of that f**cking bird. It hurts so f**king much! No amount of ice could make this burn subside. I could feel it recede but not end. It went from raging flames that tried to consume my soul to smoldering embers that refused to go out, causing me endless suffering. Deep in my mind I could still see that burning gaze looking down at me. The pain; It was worse than a relentless kick to the gonads, worse than a petite woman stuck mid-labor giving birth to a gigantic child that stretched out not only her insides but also the threads of her sanity. This pain was insane, my god it was insane. My soul was slowly burning, it was driving me crazy. Was I finally receiving punishment for my past deeds? Was I now fully bearing the weight of my countless sins? I reached for my pockets looking for cigarettes but found nothing, remembering that I didn''t even have clothes on. This was going to be a wonderful time. ''--Oh god, Drake! Drake are you okay!?'' I felt Mindee reach out for my mind. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''...Yes, yes I am Mindee'' ''I couldn''t link to your mind, the phoenix was--'' ''We don''t have time for this! Iceman, its Brand, the weapon was a dummy'' ''What?'' ''The weapon ¨C a Macro nuke armada on their moon that we disarmed ¨C was a distraction. We''re getting readings here of a wide scale planetary trans-spatial location array lodged in the deepest reaches of the planet going into its activation stages'' ''Agent Brand, just tell me what you mean'' ''Break-World is going to teleport right into our planet, tearing it from the inside out. The Earth is going to rupture like a balloon'' "F**k" I exclaimed, not knowing if it was in pain or frustration. ''We need to physically disable the array but can''t dig that deep with the vehicles on hand, our equipment went up in flames with the mothership. '' I ruminated over what to do next, ignoring the torture on my soul. Taking deep breaths I steadied my mind, instead of running from the pain I acknowledged it. By basking in my suffering I strengthened myself. ''Brand get me the coordinates and get off world, all of you.'' ''Drake? What are you trying to do, Drake?'' ''...Mindee, I don''t have time to say that much. Just know I''ll do all I can to save our world¡­ And I truly cherish you'' I just didn''t want to tell her what it was I wanted to do. I didn''t want her seeing me more than the monster I already was. ''Iceman, not to pressure you, but this is our planet on the line here. I told you earlier I needed superheroes, I meant it. I need you to do what''s necessary to save our world. It''s in your hands now kid, I wish it didn''t have to be. But that''s the reality'' I could hear the strain on her mind and the conviction behind her words. She was trusting me to do something about it. ''...I''ll get it done, Brand. Wait for me Mindee'' ''You know I will, you can''t die till you tell me how you really feel'' I smiled as the mental link went silent. Mindee was a great person, someone I don''t think I deserve. Someone I''ll only cause pain to because I always manage to f**k-up the really good things in my life. I stepped towards the powerlord''s frozen corpse and kicked it, shattering it all to ice shards. Littering the throne room with glinting diamonds. A gigantic crystal drill of ice broke through the solid ground layer, digging past the topsoil, breaking through the crust of the planet. Over various locations on Break-World my ice clones were at work digging through the earth to get to the teleportation array. I created colossal Susano''o soldiers who now propelled the drills. It went exponentially faster as I broke through the mantle. If I relied on air my ice form I would''ve died here. The pressure was immense and all-encompassing, causing cracks and tears to appear on the Susano''o soldiers. I strengthened the ice on them, causing it to take on a deep inky blue hue ¨C my aptly named black ice armor. I discovered it when I kept pushing for a stronger protection from the phoenix''s flames. It was as strong enough to withstand the phoenix fire, but took more effort and concentration to maintain ¨C things I had in spades. Breaking through the outer core, I came to the fiery depths of the inner core. Here, red magma flowed like blood. The pressure alone made me unable to properly stand The heat instantly turned my black ice armor to vapor, I was melting at ridiculous speeds. The only reason I could live was due to my regeneration. In a type of way, I was thankful for the constant pain in my soul, it allowed me to not blink at this new pain that assaulted me. I drew deep into my powers and pulled, just like I did against the phoenix, just like I did in space. It went through a process of destruction and reconstruction ¨C I was always digging into my powers, I sought to actively better myself and improve my control, to become better. I pushed my myself beyond sane limits. The X-gene responds to stress, it was an evolutionary mechanism to ensure not only survival and adaptation, but productivity. My efforts were generously rewarded. Red highlights began to form over the black ice. No more did it melt, no longer did it crack. It withstood the unimaginable pressure and heat. I floated inside the planet''s raging core, asked for mercy for my soul for what I was about to do. "Ice Age" I expelled concentrated blasts of freeze beams from my hands into the crimson core. I swear I could hear the planet groan in misery. The magma froze solid, the core stopped rotating, the vibrancy of its tempestuous existence dulled, the chill spread outwards moving rapidly towards the planet''s surface. Turning whatever it came in contact with to frozen matter ¨C ice. And I became that ice. I was the merciless cold that took the last breath of the mothers and their children. I was the ruthless chill that ravaged the warriors, the beasts of the land, the fish of the now frozen seas and the birds of the current gelid atmosphere. I was the bitter biting cold, the unloving bleak that greedily devoured all life on the once spirited planet. It lost its color to the pale resplendence of a silent, lifeless blue. I was death''s very own touch. It had to be done. I soared through the lifeless planet. It was eerily quiet, even for me. I hovered over the gray skies looking down at the deceased world ¨C its corpse totally flash frozen. I just killed a planet. It had a population of 14,753,234,183 Break-worlders. I saw all their faces, they died in me and through me. I didn''t just kill intelligent life, I effectively ended a world. The ice would melt..eventually, but the planet would forever be cold, I killed the core. Why? Because it had to be done. Brand sent me the coordinates, the core was the central most important piece. Then what of the Break-worlders? I gave them a merciful death. The planet died after the core did, an endless winter would''ve dawned on it. Freezing the core destroyed all the magnetic fields. The planet would no longer rotate on its axis or revolve around the sun. The stellar radiation would utterly ravage the planet and all lifeforms on it and even if by some miracle they managed to survive that, the cold from an endless winter would devour them. Or maybe it was simply because I did clean jobs. If I''m doing the killing, I made sure it properly died and remained so. I broadcast my location, now silently waiting for the liberated ''StrongArm'' to pick me up. *** "...It had to be done... I''m sorry it had to be you to do it. A kid shouldn''t --" Brand said with emotional emphasis I had never heard her use before. "Brand, trust me. I know" I cut her off to save her from whatever she was about to do. "Can I get a smoke?" Agent Brand green shades, looking deep into my eyes as she handed me a stick and lit another for herself. The silence sat between us for what felt like hours before she spoke "The smoke...it never really covers up the smell of the blood on our hands". "But it staves it off" I replied. We stared at each other in silence. I felt like I could understand her circumstance as much as she could mine. She wore her shades and began walking down the passage, subtly gesturing for me to follow her. We arrived at the cell block where the former general and his men were being held. "ARGH! YOU FILTHY EARTHBORN!!" I heard Ord scream as he barreled for me. "YOU WILL PAY!!" I didn''t care about how he escaped his holding cell. I just watched this pale skinned alien in immense pain, this one who grieved for his planet used every inch of strength he had to try and claim vengeance. They had all seen what I had done, they had witnessed my strength. ¨Dbang! A bullet tore through his skull. His body lifelessly dropping to the floor, rolling to a halt. I took another deep drag of the cig, the pain that burnt my soul never ceasing in the slightest. Agent Brand holstered her sidearm and turned to the other agents who stood guard, giving them a signal. They aimed their weapons and fired, the last surviving Break-Worlders, consisting of general Orund and his small crew were wiped from the land of the living. "It had to be done" said someone, it might have been me or Brand or maybe the ghost of christmas. But I found myself standing before the door to Mindee''s room. I just silently stood there. I opened my mouth to speak but words eluded me. "¡­ fuck" I whispered turning away, stepping out into the passage. Why am I acting this way? I feel weak and stupid. I am strong, I am f**king strong. These teenage hormones were getting to me. I felt a tug on my shirt. It was light, light enough that I could walk away and claim to have never felt it. I couldn''t find the strength to take another step. "Don''t talk Drake, I don''t know what to say, I don''t know what to feel, I...I don''t know what to do anymore..." Mindee spoke weakly, her arms wrapping around me, her warmth soothing my still burning soul. "let''s just...lets just stay like this..please" I swore I wasn''t going to cry. Not now or ever, but I couldn''t stop myself from shivering. *** The prince in green clapped his fingers against his chin. This had gone better than imagined, all he had to do now was reveal himself, reap the benefits and begin the next step to the Grand plan. A smile as cold as the frozen planet beneath him appeared on his face, with another ripple of space around him, the prince disappeared. Allo Mon wonderfille people!! Tis I, your favorite bro and best author Rain! So my people, here it is. This brings an end to the breakworld space saga. A clean, frozen end. I hope to have left you all very satisfied. I''m sure you can guess who the prince in green is. The next arc is going to be crazy, we will drive into the mystical and godly, oh man it''ll be something to look forward to alright. Please leave a Review to let me in on your thoughts. Your comments motivate me. Hit that like, follow and fave button if you enjoyed it and haven''t already. And before it escapes me MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL. I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST. Let''s all make it into 2020 and kick ass!! You can come find me, ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RainReider On PAT RE ON: https://www.*******.com/ReidR41n On YOUTUBE, yes youtube, come check out my sexy voice as I narrate stuff: https://is.gd/RaiNation NOT FORGETTING MY LOVELY PATRONS. ABSOLUTE HULK LEVEL SHOUT OUT TO YOU MY, (Secret lovers on the low low..hah!) SKULLY(the silent death giver). BIGTOFU(the Goliath king slayer), JEP148(The vibranium ninja) KEVIN J ROSARIO (The mandalorian of durasteel). DEOHN LEWIS ( Lord Obliterator) CLINTON (Titan Breaker) CALEB D. (Cosmic Pirate King) MONSTERMASH (Dragon Devourer) DAVID JP (Celestial Devastator) DANNY B (Divine Bamboozler) HAMZA AYOUB (Assassin Supreme) JAFETH COLO (Awesome Bronson) KING_REAPER ( Kaiser Raiser ) 18 Gods and roses Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire. *.*.*.*.*.*.* GODS AND ROSES *.*.*.*.*.*.* I realize something now. It was quite the revelation, so much so that it shocked me awake from my stupor of sorrow and edginess. I am drunk on self pity. No, I have drowned myself in that shit and it has made me soft, uncalculating, illogical and slow. Combined with all these teenage hormones and a changing brain chemistry, I have let some things go unaddressed for far too long, even by my standards. Especially by my standards. I don''t do love. That''s number one. that''s why me and Cruz never truly got into it. She was right when she said I don''t even love myself. If I did, I wouldn''t have got as far as I did, heck I wouldn''t have died in the first place. I bare the responsibility for the lives I have taken, but I don''t let the guilt and remorse act as cement shoes that tug me deeper into the sea of depression¡­ I can live with all the things I have done. And I can live well. That''s number two. Three, the most important of all; Is to always act swiftly and extremely efficiently. This fire burning my soul has indeed purified me. Wow, you don''t realize all the cobwebs occupying your room until you clean it. You don''t realize the baggage holding you back until you burn it. I feel so alive even while still in much pain. But very much alive. I have been born again through blood, ice and fire. Thank you phoenix, your flames are those of true rebirth. "Goodbye Mindee" I whispered, staring at her back as she walked off into the sunset. It was sadly romantic, but I have seen this more than I can count. The girl runs off with the out cast badboy, they fall in love, have a great time and then she dies from a real bad villain to show how powerful and serious he/she is, or from a stray bullet out of nowhere or even from a convoluted plan which uses her as bait to get to the badboy, and then the badboy under his immense grief awakens a strength he never realized he had, to defeat whatever odds there were against him, then he comes out of it all a better person. This is a comic book world, I am certain of what I''m saying. Plus she''s young and has a bright future ahead of her, one that shouldn''t have me in it. I''m a bonafide killer, an insufferable asshole, a real bastard ¨C someone she could do well without. If I let this girl get too close to me, she''s going to become a target. She''s going to become my heart and that''s where anyone who wants to take me down will aim ¨C it''s where I would aim if I were going after me. It''s time to move on. Once the gates of the mansion closed I ignited the engine and hit the accelerator, I don''t think my heart has ever felt this heavy before. The red Porsche blazed through the streets of Salem center. Money is good. But money really can''t buy you joy, I should know. I let my happiness go. So a run down of the events that had occurred a few weeks after out return to Earth. We got medals, real secret military medals, this isn''t my first time working with the government but it was the first time I got a medal this ¡­ valued. I''m not allowed to tell other unrelated parties about it, but if I ever wanted to call in a favor I very much could. We all got a lot richer with the monetary rewards as well. Man does fighting aliens pay, I see now why a lot of agents are willing to risk their lives doing this ¨C not questioning their patriotism of course, but that pay is something to look forward to. Mindee even more so I know she''ll be fine, adding to that Frost fortune. God, I really don''t want to do this without her. But I have to. I parked the car in the lot. Turning the head lights off, I sat within enjoying the silence. "You should come out now" I felt him ¨C man that sounds wrong ¨C ever since the phoenix fire touched me, I seemed to have obtained a more fine tuned spiritual sense, and I could sense the guy in my car. Like I sensed him back on Break-World when I ended it. I cast a side glance at the grinning bastard in green. "I''ve been meaning to meet you for whil¨C" "Save the long words Loki, just get on with it." That definitely stumped him, it might have been a bit impulsive and stupid of me, but I wanted a win, even a pyrrhic one in the end. "Straight to the point, yet another talent of yours. I have an offer still" Sometimes when you''re silent people tell you more, especially people who love to hear the sound of their voice. "I can quench the phoenix fire on your soul ¨C how you have managed to still stand eludes me. But it matters not, you will in turn owe me a favor" He smiled. "Fuck off" He did the impossible, making his grin even wider. But before that, it was a micro twitch just a little thing that meant nothing, but it did. He didn''t expect me to reject. "So young, yet so decisive. You''ll need me after suffering for some more time" He disappeared with those words. I bet the bastard gave the Powerlord the phoenix shard in the first place. I leaned my head on the steering wheel, exhaling a deep sigh. When did I go from fighting aliens to messing with gods? I just wanted to learn and interact with the X-men, maybe go on some real dumb adventures and do much needed good with my powers. Heh what was I expecting? A walk in the park? I signed up for this shit. And I''ll be damned if I run from the consequences. Heck, I don''t need a magician to solve my problems, nothing''s stopping me from doing just that. I could feel my soul burn, I could feel my powers, I could feel whatever mystical shit I was seeped in. if I could feel it¡­ I could also interact with it! I could influence it! Why the fuck not?! My powers had grown, I don''t know the limits of what I am capable of. I am not all knowing. But there are things I feel I should be able to do. And one of them doesn''t make sense. This is a comic book world ¨C what truly does? Science is flexible here, the rules to reality aren''t rigid. Things can be changed, miracles occur on a daily basis, the impossible is constantly being done ¨C the word itself is on the verge of being obsolete. I call the cold, not outside of me, but deep inside. I call and it answers eagerly, like it always has. There is a certain buzz, a type of vibration around me. The kind I heard when the phoenix reached through my flesh to touch my soul. The cold follows this buzz, it is slow and tedious, but I keep at it. The buzz is a marble in a dark room, I fumble for it and it goes rolling around the room. I can''t find it. So I do the impossible, I tilt the room. My stomach empties out its contents, I can feel the hot sludge and fluids wet my thighs. Something trails down my eyes, it''s the same thing trailing down my nose, it isn''t tears or mucus, it''s blood. But the marble is cornered, I reach for it and grab hold. I right the room and the oppressive atmosphere leaves me. The sickness fades like it was never there. The cold tags the buzz now, it is a doorway to where the cinders slowly burn my soul. A raging fire would have been difficult to put out, but these are just cinders, stubborn heat already on the verge of burning out. The cold washes over my soul ¨C it wants to stay here, I feel a chill so intense, so impossibly cold it nearly consumes the fire of my vitality, I am scared of what I will become should I let it. I speak to it and it obeys, it has long quenched the cinders, it just want''s to play but my soul isn''t a play ground I tell it. It leaves through the buzz and goes back to resting ¨C waiting for when next I would call on it, I catch a glimpse of a part of its faint visage, something like a dark mass ¨C like the hole I fell through. I open my eyes, shivering, teeth clattering and taking labored breaths. My hair is ice white, on the verge of being crystalline¡­ I am not in my organic ice form. What am I truly involved in? *.*.*.*.*.**.*. Till next time, tis I RAIN You can come find me, ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RainReider Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. On PAT RE ON: https://www.*******.com/ReidR41n On YOUTUBE https://is.gd/RaiNation NOT FORGETTING MY AWESOME PATRONS. ABSOLUTE GALACTUS LEVEL SHOUT OUT TO YOU MY GREAT SUPPORTERS, (Secret lovers on the low low..hah!) Skully(the silent death giver). Bigtofu(the Goliath king slayer). Jep148(The vibranium ninja) Kevin J Rosario(The mandalorian of durasteel). Deohn Lewis ( Lord Obliterator) Clinton (Titan Breaker) David Jp (Celestial Devastator) Danny B (Divine Bamboozler) Hamza Ayoub(Assassin Supreme) Jafeth Colo (Awesome Bronson) King_Reaper ( Kaiser Raiser ) Ibrahim Gueye (Fire Breaker) Andreas Samuelsson (Son of Strength) PbookR (Infinity''s Librarian) 19 Cold as can be Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire. *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.* COLD AS CAN BE *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.* Someone was in my apartment. Yes, my apartment. Boy''s not broke no more, I won''t need to use up the old man''s credit card, ah, I haven''t even called them since I got back. I should see to that, I never had parents in my first life, I''d rather not lose the ones I have here. But to the more pressing matter at hand being the fact that someone else was currently in my house. I approached the clanking sound of metal objects coming from the kitchen, I wasn''t really worried about burglars or whatnot, this place was a secure one and second, thieves don''t try making dinner for you. I sneaked in on Hisako with her glowing hard light armor up, she was reaching into the cupboard to grab some ceramic bowls that she would have otherwise been too short to reach without the height boost from her armor. I never knew how much I missed her till now. "Hey" "AHHH!" She screamed, vaulting clean over the kitchen counter in one smooth motion. Too bad she couldn''t move mid air, meaning she fell right on top of me. Tackling me to the floor, the crushing weight of her armor on my chest made it significantly harder to respire. She dispersed the glowing exoskeleton when she finally recognized me. "So sorryyyyyy" She cried, still perched atop me. Her thighs were surprisingly muscular, corded, fleshed and finely sculpted like an Olympic gymnast''s. I should be getting her off me, but here I was, admiring her thighs. Life is strange. And I think I might have been a little thirsty She caught me looking. She was blushing so hard she began glowing. That was until ¨C Slap! ¨C She rattled my skull with an armored palm. "OMG I am so so so so sooooo sorry! it was unintentional" It was a little difficult to hear her over my ringing ear. *.*.* "¡­Y''know Robbie, now that I think about it, it wasn''t really unintentional," Hisako said, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she pressed the cold towel to my slightly swollen jaw. I raised a brow at that. "Oh, you don''t know why? How could you leave without me! And you never even bothered to call, I at least tried calling, but I didn''t have your space mobile number," "You don''t have to be cheeky about it" I grumbled. "I don''t do I? And Mindee that opportunistic, boy stealing slu¡ªErhm ¨C I mean, she was the one rushing ¨C ok maybe not rushing, but she was running beside me to get to the danger room and when I turned around, surprise surprise, she wasn''t there anymore. And the danger room was on lockdown. Next thing I hear is you''re kissing girls and boarding spaceships going on space adventures" "Hisako, you''re ignoring all those people I killed that day" "So what? They were going to kill us. Do you know how many friends I''ve seen die from the purifiers? And I know it might be wrong to feel this way but good fucking riddance." I chuckled at that, maybe I shouldn''t have, but I did. "What''s wrong Hisako?" "What?" "Hisako, I know something''s up with you, what is it?" She sighed, setting the towel on the counter"¡­ Drake, you just left. Just took off without any prior notice. I was worried about you, really worried. And not being able to contact you after all those weeks made me imagine the worst. I-I''m just really glad that you''re back and alive" She said stroking my cheek. Her touch was soft enough to stir flames in me, and since I didn''t have a burning soul to distract myself with, I indulged. I softly caressed the back of her warm and soft palm. "You''re my very best friend Hisako. I''m sorry I didn''t call you or text, but I was too busy doing stuff I really can''t talk about," I stopped the impulse, finding strength to draw in my escaping self restraint "You should go Hisako, back to the mansion, I don''t want you getting punished over sneaking out" I rose from the dining chair. Grabbing a can of Soda from the fridge I flopped into the couch, waiting for Hisako to tell me she was leaving. She flopped down right next to me. "It''s a Saturday, we''re allowed to visit family or friends." she said, taking the TV remote off the table and started to flip through channels. "Yeah..So when are you leaving to go to your dad''s?" I might have sounded a bit too eager to get her out the house. And with the hurt look she''s giving me, I have laid it a bit too thick. Asshole. "Y-yeah I''m sorry for being such a nuisance. I should have never come in the first place," She grabbed her backpack on the kitchen counter, while I still sat on the couch. Fuck my life. How could I leave a girl crying as she left my house? Especially one I supposedly called my best friend. Dan would never forgive me. "Hisako wait, wait!" I held her back. "Let me go Rob, I know I''m not wanted here." "It''s not like that and you know it. Put your bag down, okay. I''m really sorry for acting like an ass. You can stay as long as you want" "Thanks but I''m leaving" She remained insistent verbally, but physically she still dragged on. "Come on now, I said I''m sorry. Let''s forget all about it over a bowl of ice cream ¨C I know you want it, you can have as much of it as you want" "No, what I want is you" She turned around, hastily planting her lips on mine, it was sloppy and rushed. She wrapped her arms around me and pinning me to the couch. I don''t know if I''d said this before, but Hisako is strong. "How much of you can I have?" What is it with girls getting all aggressive when they want to kiss me? Furthermore, what is it with girls kissing me out of the damn blue?! I managed to wriggle my arms free and push her up. "Hisako, I admire your courage and bravery, doing this must have taken a lot of it. But I just got out of a relationship and I don''t think I''m ready for another one so soon" "How long did that one last? A week, two? And you call it a relationship?" She lessened the distance between us. "I never asked for a relationship. Why don''t you just go with the flow huh? I never took you for a coward Mr ¨C I''m a tortured bad boy who kills like a mini-wolverine ¨C Drake." Those words had no right to rile me up, but they did. I blame my thirst, my hormones and puberty ¨C in other words, I blamed myself. "How about I show you just how bad I can be" I held her down, my hands sliding beneath her skirt, down her smooth thighs. She couldn''t have been more eager to get my clothes off. "What? You all bark and no bite?" What''s giving her so much confidence? A better man would have stopped here. A great man would''ve given a lesson. I was neither of those, as I have mentioned before ¨C I was a bastard. "I bite harder" Raw flesh against raw flesh, sweat against sweat, our bodies entwined. He inhaled my air and gave me hers. Our lips locked in passion, her warmth welcoming me to her deepest places, her moans driving me on. Her nails causing fires on my bare back. I loved every moment of it. *.*.*.* "What really gave you balls to come on to me like that?" "It''s a secret. You''ve been constantly teasing me, leaving hints here and there. And in a world where we can die at any moment, it''s better to try and fail than to have never tried. You leaving for a while cemented that for me." She said, sitting astride over my waist. My gaze roaming her bare body, her finely toned musculature, the cute perk of her bust and her thighs. My hands found their way up and down those. Her hands caressed my chest, slowly tracing my tattoos and scars the phoenix''s talons had left me like a puzzle to be deciphered. "Mhmmm¡­see what you''ve been missing out on." She leaned in, softly biting on my lips, my tongue leaving a trail across hers. The nerds are the freakiest. "You know there aren''t strings attached right?" "Do you really believe that? There are strings Robbie, we just aren''t caught up in them yet. Let''s do this till we are" "How come you''re so mature all of a sudden?" "Like it?," She chuckled a bit sad, "This is how I''ve always been Rob, I just don''t show it much. Not after I lost my mom and little brother." "I''m sorry about that, your mom must have been a wonderful woman and your brother must have been an awesome kid, I''m sure they watch over you" "They were. Don''t pity me, I don''t want it" "It''s not pity, it''s empathy I have. Is it bad to be compassionate? What do you want me to do, laugh? Ignore it? I feel sorry, and I want to help, why can''t I show it to someone I care about? I''d do all I can to make you happy, I won''t just pass you by and shake my head, I''d help you." "¡­ This is why I''m so hopelessly attracted to you, Rob. You''re just you and it makes no sense!" she pressed her forehead to mine. "I still miss them, sometimes I can''t even believe they''re gone." She put her head on my shoulder, it could have been the sweat wetting it. "..." Sometimes you just have to shut up and let the silence soothe a healing heart. Not because the closest you''ve come to being this intimate with someone is bracing a body to silence its fall. But I gotta say, it''s a novel feeling having someone wet my shoulder with their tears and not their blood. *.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**.*.*.*.*.* Good day my lovely people. It''s me Rain! You weren''t expecting this chapter so soon we''re ya? Well I am glad to deliver. Strings, strings, strings, just cause you''re a killer doesn''t make you all knowing or a master in all other aspects of life. I want to portray how human they are and hopefully that point gets across. What''s he gonna do when Loki comes knocking? Well you''ll have to stay posted to find out. To some who wonder why it takes a while to update this story, first off I tried doing the speedy write and post routine once, it was shit. I''d rather give you quality than quantity. And secondly I have other stories that I also work on, some oneshots, others the serials right here on my profile. Concerning quality, I always try to deliver on that count. I shit you not that before I began posting here I had to clue as to how writing went. This has been a wonderful experience for me, and would you know it, I do want to further it. Ok rant''s over, you can enjoy your day now. WAIT! If you haven''t done it already, don''t forget to follow, fave and leave a review or a comment. Till next time, tis I RAIN You can come find me, ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RainReider On PAT RE ON: https://www.*******.com/ReidR41n On YOUTUBE https://is.gd/RaiNation NOT FORGETTING MY AWESOME PATRONS. ABSOLUTE GALACTUS LEVEL SHOUT OUT TO YOU MY GREAT SUPPORTERS, (Secret lovers on the low low..hah!) Skully(the silent death giver). Bigtofu(the Goliath king slayer). Jep148(The vibranium ninja) Kevin J Rosario(The mandalorian of durasteel). Deohn Lewis ( Lord Obliterator) Clinton (Titan Breaker) David Jp (Celestial Devastator) Danny B (Divine Bamboozler) Hamza Ayoub(Assassin Supreme) Jafeth Colo (Awesome Bronson) King_Reaper ( Kaiser Raiser ) Ibrahim Gueye (Fire Breaker) Andreas Samuelsson (Son of Strength) PbookR (Infinity''s Librarian) 20 Eat, pray, live Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes¡­etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire. *.*.*.*.*.*.* EAT, PRAY, LIVE *.*.*.*.*.* ''The kid is an enigma'' thought agent Brand. She sat at her desk, a glass of slowly swirling bourbon in her hand, the thin orange glow of the exotic cigarette stick locked between her lips illuminated her features in a soft light as she comfortably leaned back into her chair, her feet up on the desk. She was thinking of Break-World and that had led her to thinking about the person who had put an end to it. He was just a teen, barely an adult by her standards. So young yet so ruthless. Ruthless. That was what it was without sugar coating it, what they did to Break-World was evil, but it was necessary. In her line of work, hard choices needed to be made and they needed to be made fast. What she never expected was for him to so easily take as many lives as he did without even expressing proper guilt as fit for a person of his age. Like his girlfriend did. No, he just went in there, killed fourteen billion aliens and chalked it up to a necessary action ¡ª which it was, she wouldn''t deny. But no child wet behind the ears as he was should pull it off so easily. Brand wasn''t looking a gift horse in the mouth or being needlessly ungrateful, she knew he did it to protect their home, their planet, but she couldn''t stop some repressed thoughts from surfacing. What experiences could make a person jaded to taking such a number of lives. Sure, when he came to the ship after pulling an extinction level event with changed eyes and a sad tone, it was a tad bit relieving. She was expecting him to break down in tears and tell her how devastating it felt ¨C she wasn''t the right type of person to comfort others, she''d never been good at getting that intimate. But still she''d tried to ease him into talking, but he relented, asking for a smoke instead. Hah, what a kid. She would''ve assumed that he was a clinical psychopath, but she''s met psychopaths and that kid wasn''t one. He was human, no, he was more than that. She had to admit he was built of sterner stuff. It takes more than just power to do what he did. She could understand why people would be scared of mutants. you''d think them human until you saw first hand of what they were capable. Some welcomed that, some misunderstood it, others abhorred out of jealousy and some feared it for its capacity. When you truly face someone who can put the fear of god into you with a wave of their hands, you''re bound to have certain emotions. His eyes. She recalled. They weren''t the same after that. They were in pain, like something was burning at his soul, but they were also free. He''s an enigma. She repeated again. He''d make the perfect operative. She admitted. He had a relentless vest of seeing things through when engaged in a mission and also the flexibility to adapt to a situation. While watching out for those he was involved with. And if she was ever in a tight spot on the field, he was someone she''d trust to have her back. With a soft puff, Abigail Brand exhaled the smoke from her lungs, downing her entire glass of alcohol as she extinguished the cigarette stick filled with extremely exotic materials which actually benefited her physiology rather than harmed it. Peace in our time. Was the thought in her mind as she exited her office. *.*.*.*.* I want to know more about him. Hisako, told herself. I want to really know him. But he won''t let people in. To Hisako, Robert Drake was an outgoing introvert. He was the type of guy that attracted people to his side even when he tried to hide it. He had a mysterious aura about him that made you just want to get closer to him, even when he''d like to be alone. He was akin to a moth''s flame. A star shining in low light, he drew your eyes. She''d know, his absence could be felt and everyone back at the mansion wanted him back. Some to associate with his fame, some because they genuinely missed him, others, because he made them feel safe. Hisako didn''t mean that the X-Men didn''t make them feel safe, they tried their best always, that was a fact. But the core X-Men had to go on missions, meaning they weren''t always around. Leaving the wards to fend for themselves back in the mansion, sure they had other staff there with them, but it was an unsaid truth that they''d be unable to stop the real bad guys with just them, and even when they managed to, it wasn''t without a cost, that cost being the lives of your friends. Maybe if the prof was around things would be different. But he''s been missing since after the Genosha Decimation. Drake had his flaws, even he admitted to that. But he also became a type of icon for them, the teens and kids who were unable to fully relate to the adults. He became something they aspired to be. How couldn''t they; when he went on to refreeze the polar ice caps, when he''d filter out pollution from the ocean at the appeal of marine-activists, when governments hired him to create rivers and lakes in arid desert regions and how he''d donate 90% of what he earned to the X-mansion and other organizations. When he''d surprise the kids at orphanages and hospitals, building ice sculptures of them that fought for their entertainment or the small scale amusement parks that''d freeze their butts off even as they laughed. It showed them that mutants didn''t have to be feared and discriminated against. It wasn''t like he achieved world peace between humans and mutants. But his actions became a catalyst for the betterment of their image and it was beginning to become very evident. Hisako found herself smiling. It meant that kids like her could also do something similar ¨C something to make the world a little bit better in their little bit ways that didn''t always have to involve fighting. She wonders how it is to deal with that responsibility Drake has. Because in the eyes of most, his actions represent those of his race. And every good side came with a bad. All it''d take would be one mistake and it might all come crashing down, maybe she was just needlessly being grim. Drake wasn''t a saint. Hisako knew. Drake had his demons and his edges. He wasn''t afraid or squirmish about getting bloody. In the first week he came to the mansion he got into a fight with Hellion and then proceeded to break Hellion''s fingers and nose. Drake was violent like that. Sometimes he''d hold back and sometimes he wouldn''t. To Hisako, that was part of Robert''s charm. When he''s pissed, he retaliates at those considered to be the enemy. He''d speak up for himself and any other person who stood with him. Hisako was one of the people who felt safe around Drake. She knew that he would defend them, no matter the enemy or their numbers. He''d put a permanent end to whoever wanted to take their lives. It takes her back to the memory of how she began to become infatuated with him. When she was knocked out cold by the green alien that attacked the mansion. It was Drake who came to her rescue. Well, it was actually his ice clone. She corrected. The freezing cold of its crystalline body had jolted her awake as it pried her out of the wreckage she was buried under. Putting her in a bridal carry as it took her to safety, it allowed her to see him engage the alien in close combat and then kick its ass. Now that I think of it, he does have an unhealthy attraction to using medieval type weapons. She smiled, Another thing I know about him. *.*.*.*.* I don''t understand Robert Drake. Thinks Mindee, as her fingers slide on the crystal piano, creating a soothing music. She knows how he feels about her. He knows how she feels about him. But the past events have left her questioning what exactly that is. He is as cold as the ice he creates. Drake, has a muted regard for the lives he takes. It is a jaded response. As though he has seen too many bodies to care anymore, as though he has taken enough lives to even barely feel anything from taking another. He has little guilt. He is warm. It is contradictory but true. Drake, can be loving and kind, so kind you''d never believe he''s able to take a life. He showed her love so pure and warm that it leaves her feeling as though she was in the embrace of an angel. An angel soaked in blood. She misses a key, the symphony is broken. I loved him. She stares down at the cartoonish image engraved on the crystal key''s surface. She smiles as she reminisces, fighting back tears of pain. This was why she never wanted relationships in the first place, from what she''s seen they never end in happiness. I understand now how Ms Grey felt. But she had been the one to end it in the first place. She needed space, she needed time to think. To figure out some answers. And when she does, she''ll confront him. Ping! That was her phone. She reaches for it and clicks on the message notification. Robbie: Goodnight and sweet dreams snowflake. I know we aren''t together anymore, but you''re still my friend. So, don''t miss me too much. She can''t help the radiant smile blossoming on her face. She taps on the keyboard and sends her reply. Robbie: Goodnight and sweet dreams snowflake. I know we aren''t together anymore, but you''re still my friend. So, don''t miss me too much. Mindee: Fuck off, cassanova. Ping! Robbie: Goodnight and sweet dreams snowflake. I know we aren''t together anymore, but you''re still my friend. So, don''t miss me too much. Mindee: Fuck off, cassanova :) Robbie: On it Bosslady! \\(^^)/ "Haha!" She laughs, bringing the phone closer to her chest. Her spirits are uplifted and it infects her music. A symphony of joy fills the room, her mind reliving those valuable memories as her fingers blur on the piano keyboard. *.*.*.*.* Indra holds the phone up to his ear. His eyes squinted, his heart strong and ready to unleash its rage. "Hello" The voice says. "Bro! You are a TRAITOR!!" Indra yells at the top of his voice. He hears Robbie winch over the phone and it pleases him. "The hell, Indra, you tryna burst my eardrums?" "I hope to do more than that" "hahaha, I missed you too bro. I''m sorry it took so long to reach out to you" "Oh! Now I''m your bro?! You''re just remembering me now!? After they dumped your ass!" "Damn bro that was cold. I said I was sorry" "¡­." "C''mon Indra, we''re bros for life. You know I''ll never forget that" "Yeah whatever." "Hey, I got you something from space too." "Really??" Indra asked vibrantly. "Dude, I told you, you''re my bro, I wouldn''t be a good brother if I forgot to do that." "Ok, ok, I forgive you, and I did miss you too." Indra made an effort at sounding over tired as he sighed, trying his hardest to keep the delight inside him from spilling into his voice. "Hahah. there''s my bro. Don''t worry I had it posted so you''ll get it in the morning." "Thanks, bro." He expressed his gratitude. "Hey, how are things going. You finally confess to that girl you liked?" "Yep! I took your advice and went at it with all my heart...She rejected!" "Pfftt¡ªAww, so ehem! sorry. Don''t worry Indi there are many more girls out there." "You laughed didn''t you" "What! No way! I just choked on this uh..this water, yeah water." "Yeah, I got a new roommate now, he''s not as cool as you are though but ¨C Shut up Dave! It''s true ¨C but he''s a good guy, oh! We also have a new..." Indra continued his conversation, excitedly chatting away with his brother late into the night. *.*.*.*.* Ring!Ring!Ring! Ring!Ring!Ring! Ring!Ring!Rin--Slam! "Hello!" Madeline Drake, made no effort to hide the discontent in her voice as she answered the phone. She was too busy getting mad at whoever had the audacity to call her phone at 12am. "...Hi mom, it''s me, Robbie." It was a voice she''d remember anywhere in the world. The voice of the baby she''d raise for the past sixteen years. "Louis, oh my baby, we''ve been missing you so much" "I''ve been missing you guys too. I promise to visit soon, I''ve just not had enough free time on my hands. Mom, could you put the phone on speaker, I''d like for dad to hear this too." "Oh, of course honey." She said, nudging her groaning husband awake, he cracked his tired eyes open and then back close. "I swear to God, William if you don''t wake up right this moment!" Madeline Drake threatened. "Ugh I''m up woman!" William, sluggishly sat upright, propping his back against the pillow. "What is it?" he asked. "Our son''s on the phone, he has something to --" "Bobby? Why didn''t you say so sooner!" He cut her off, finally snapping awake. Over the line, Robert Louis Drake, smiled. For all their faults they are good parents. He admitted. "Dad, Mom, I miss you so, so much. And before you ask me, yes I''ve been doing fine, everyone''s been treating me right, I''ve made new friends, and I do make sure to pray every night before I sleep too." "Oh, my sweet little boy is so grown up now. Me and your father have seen you on the news and all the good you''ve been doing." "Yeah boy, we are very proud of you. You be careful of overworking yourself, you''re just a kid, my kid, and you have a whole lot of life before you. Keep your eyes straight boy, and come visit your mom, she misses you" The blue eyed teen, ran his hand through the white bushy strands of hair. A warmth spreading through his soul as he communicated with parents of the body he now occupied. Steeling himself he began to speak. "I will dad. And I want to tell you both, that I''m sorry for the abrupt way I left, I ah, could''ve informed you beforehand. But what I want to say is that, I love you both, I appreciate you very much. you''re the best parents I could''ve ever asked for. I know it wasn''t easy raising my stubborn ass, and it must have been even harder watching me just up and leave like that. Just know that I always keep both of you in mind. And if I''ve been ever ungrateful, I''m sorry. I just love you very much. I know, I''m droning on, I had this speech planned but I lost it, so this is all coming straight from the heart. I love you, mom. I love you too dad. I am grateful for all you''ve done for me. I couldn''t have asked for better parents, I''m proud to have you as mine." "..." the line was silent save for the quiet sobs of Madeline Drake. The words of her son touching her heart. The hand of her husband rubbing up and down her back, soothing her. She stared at him and saw that his eyes were red and watery. ''What? it''s just dust'' He mouthed at her inquisitive gaze. Smiles bloomed on their faces. "Son," William Drake, vocalized for the first time in a long time. "I and your mom, are really proud of you. And we love you too. Yeah you can be a handful, but you''re our handful. We couldn''t have asked for any other son that the one we have in you. "Louis, you''re so grown up now. you''ll never stop being mommy''s angel, no matter what the world says. We love you so, so, sooo much, more than you know. You just keep making us proud. And be strong for us." "Y-Yeah. I uh, ¨C sniff erhm ehem ¨C will. I''ll let you guys get your sleep now. You can call me anytime on this number ok. Bye now. Stay safe." "You too son, your ma and I will keep you in our prayers. Bye now." "we love you!" Madeline added. beep! The call ended. "My boy is a man now, Maddie" "Now he''s your boy" "Give me a break woman¡­ this is one of those moments that makes me realize that all we went through has been worth it." "I know darling, I know." She nodded, gripping her husband''s hand. "How about we try making a daughter this time." The smile on her husband''s face threatened to split his face apart. "Babe, you read my mind" "Oh, you know how to make a gal feel sexy" Madeline whispered, leaning in to kiss her husband as the air between them got heated. *.*.*.*.* I love you too Mom and Dad. Even when I don''t say it as much as I should. I still do. I love you too my readers (yes, I''m sappy like that) I wouldn''t be out here writing if it wasn''t for you. This one is dedicated to all of you. C''mon people, let''s appreciate all those we love and cherish in our lives. Could be a sibling, a friend, a pet, or even an item(i see you freaky ones;). Just say thank you and love you. They''ll feel it and appreciate it. Spread love. Please, remember to wash your hands and stay safe, follow the Corvid-19 precautionary directives and stay alive. We will beat this shit and come out on top, because HUMANITY, FUCK YEAH! You know the drill. Hit that like and fave if you''re new and you enjoyed it. Rate and vote. Leave a comment and a review for your favorite author(moi), it gives me POWAH! This marks the end of the first volume. 20 official chapters in total, Wow! We came a long way guys. I''m not crying, the wind is just making my eyes watery. Thank you all. And thank you to you my patrons, your support has done more than you can imagine. May the lord bless you all, amen. Bigtofu(the Goliath king slayer). Clinton (Titan Breaker) David J (Celestial Devastator) King_Reaper ( Kaiser Raiser ) Ibrahim Gueye (Fire Breaker) PbookR (Infinity''s Librarian) Amir G (Galactic gangsta) Simply Invincible (Onepunch Lord)