Blitz - X-Men: Evolution - Prologue
Title: Blitz
Author: russsel
Fandom: X-Men: Evolution
Part: Prologue
Rating: PG
Summary: Mutants everywhere are beginning to disappear, and all of them have something in common. All it takes is the help of a determined young girl to expose the shrouding mystery.
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men in any way.
Prologue
The night is approaching quickly, tendrils of black already spreading across the crumbled walls surrounding the park. Everything is silent; only the chirping of distant crickets and the hazy buzzing of freeway traffic blocks away can be heard. As well as the soft meowing of a frightened cat clinging on a tall branch, its strangled cries echoing around the area like an amphitheater, and the impatient beckoning of its owner under it.
“Come on, Jimmy, it’s time to go,” says the young girl with her head upturned, her blonde hair swaying in the chill night air. The cat mewls its protest, and shrinks further back into the safety of the branch, a few bits of tree bark falling in its wake. The young girl huffs and reaches her hand to the air.
“It’s getting dark, Jimmy. Mom will be mad.”
But the cat makes no acknowledgement and growls again as it has been doing. The girl closes her eyes and shakes her head. Jimmy has never been this impossible before, and would usually jump in her arms the moment she calls for him. This time is different, however; something is agitating the poor cat, and she wants to know what it is.
Looking around, the young girl takes initiative and moves closer to the tree to get a better look at the bundle of grey fur curled near the base of the trunk. It has stopped meowing, but the tension is still visible on its fur, bristling that is not caused by the cold air sifting around them. There is nothing on the tree with it, upon closer inspection, and she brings a hand to scratch her head to wonder. If it’s not on the tree, then it must be down there with her.
She looks around with scrutinizing eyes, trying to focus through the thick darkness now enveloping them. She sees nothing, however; just the same crumbly walls and undergrowth hacked off at certain places. Nothing out of the ordinary.
She turns back to the tree and lifts her head up, scoping for the cat at once. If she doesn’t want to cooperate, the young girl will just have to take matters into her own hands. She looks around some more before taking a deep breath and raising her arms to the air. What she’s about to do is easily penalized by passersby, which, in her neighborhood’s case, has a good chance of being anti-mutant. She knows only of a handful of people such as herself, and it is because of these reasons that she doesn’t normally use her abilities in public.
But this instance calls for drastic measures. Her mother had warned her of shady characters roaming the night, using the cover of the still darkness as a cloak to abduct unsuspecting victims, and she has no intention of being one if she can help it.
She continues coaxing, bringing her arms inward to her chest in a continuous circular sweeping motion, but unlike before where nothing happened, this time a rustling is heard from deep within the branches, and a rasping screech follows out of the darkness. Jimmy floats unsupported past the leaves from the canopy of the tree, catching a flimsy branch with a hooked claw as an attempt to escape its owner’s invisible clutches, but it fails to stay intact, and Jimmy drops into the girl’s safe, cradling arms with a piece of the branch hanging loosely from a sharp nail.
The girl decides to reprimand her pet after they get home, and kissing it at the top of its head, she spins around and makes her way back, making a mental note to keep a wary eye.
Halfway to her house, just making her way over the first of the three fences she has to climb for a shortcut, she hears the snapping of a twig from somewhere behind her, and she snaps her head around at once, her heart beginning to pick up speed. She peers out over the dark silhouettes of the benches lining the street and the surrounding houses, but she can’t discern anything else. Brushing it off as her imagination, she turns back to the other side of the fence and, letting Jimmy out of her arms and easing him onto the grassy ground, hops off, landing on the balls of her feet a few inches shy of the stationary feline staring fixedly on the spot she had just turned from.
She picks Jimmy back in her arms and continues onward. She clears a handful of steps, but then she stops again when she hears the exact same sound behind her, louder this time around, mixed with the scraping of metal. Convinced that it’s not her imagination anymore, she wheels around and faces whatever it is that has been following her.
From the sporadic illumination of a nearby flickering streetlamp, she sees a dark figure standing just a few feet from her, tall and foreboding, wearing a large overcoat and a top hat, hands buried deep in the pockets. She holds Jimmy close and begins to take steps backward, eyes scoping out for any sudden movements or possible reinforcements. Her heart is pounding furiously, and she knows Jimmy can feel it through her skin. This is what her mother always talks about, and she’s deathly afraid for the first time in her life.
She thinks of what to do as she backs up; should she turn around and run or use her powers to slow him down first? Choosing the latter, and a need for insurance to get away without being followed pressing against her throbbing chest, she stops, closes her eyes, and focuses her mind to grasp around the seemingly immobile man’s.
But then she’s cringing before she can comprehend what’s happening, a scratching sensation running in her mind like a thousand-pound sandpaper grinding on the surface of her brain, and she breaks her hold from the man’s with a groan of desperation
Shaking her head and blinking her eyes, she spins around and begins running. However, she fails to notice the presence of the preceding fence right before her, and she bumps painfully on the metal network, her face receiving the full blow.
She sprawls on the ground, Jimmy jumping out of her arms and slipping into the darkness, and she tries to make out her adversary through clouded eyes. Clouded by what? she wonders for a moment, but she never forms an answer.
She feels something grab her wrist tightly not a moment later, and before she can scream out in pain or utter a cry for help, an electric shock runs through her body from the point of the grip, and before she can feel the painful sensation end, everything turns black.
Author: russsel
Fandom: X-Men: Evolution
Part: Prologue
Rating: PG
Summary: Mutants everywhere are beginning to disappear, and all of them have something in common. All it takes is the help of a determined young girl to expose the shrouding mystery.
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men in any way.
Prologue
The night is approaching quickly, tendrils of black already spreading across the crumbled walls surrounding the park. Everything is silent; only the chirping of distant crickets and the hazy buzzing of freeway traffic blocks away can be heard. As well as the soft meowing of a frightened cat clinging on a tall branch, its strangled cries echoing around the area like an amphitheater, and the impatient beckoning of its owner under it.
“Come on, Jimmy, it’s time to go,” says the young girl with her head upturned, her blonde hair swaying in the chill night air. The cat mewls its protest, and shrinks further back into the safety of the branch, a few bits of tree bark falling in its wake. The young girl huffs and reaches her hand to the air.
“It’s getting dark, Jimmy. Mom will be mad.”
But the cat makes no acknowledgement and growls again as it has been doing. The girl closes her eyes and shakes her head. Jimmy has never been this impossible before, and would usually jump in her arms the moment she calls for him. This time is different, however; something is agitating the poor cat, and she wants to know what it is.
Looking around, the young girl takes initiative and moves closer to the tree to get a better look at the bundle of grey fur curled near the base of the trunk. It has stopped meowing, but the tension is still visible on its fur, bristling that is not caused by the cold air sifting around them. There is nothing on the tree with it, upon closer inspection, and she brings a hand to scratch her head to wonder. If it’s not on the tree, then it must be down there with her.
She looks around with scrutinizing eyes, trying to focus through the thick darkness now enveloping them. She sees nothing, however; just the same crumbly walls and undergrowth hacked off at certain places. Nothing out of the ordinary.
She turns back to the tree and lifts her head up, scoping for the cat at once. If she doesn’t want to cooperate, the young girl will just have to take matters into her own hands. She looks around some more before taking a deep breath and raising her arms to the air. What she’s about to do is easily penalized by passersby, which, in her neighborhood’s case, has a good chance of being anti-mutant. She knows only of a handful of people such as herself, and it is because of these reasons that she doesn’t normally use her abilities in public.
But this instance calls for drastic measures. Her mother had warned her of shady characters roaming the night, using the cover of the still darkness as a cloak to abduct unsuspecting victims, and she has no intention of being one if she can help it.
She continues coaxing, bringing her arms inward to her chest in a continuous circular sweeping motion, but unlike before where nothing happened, this time a rustling is heard from deep within the branches, and a rasping screech follows out of the darkness. Jimmy floats unsupported past the leaves from the canopy of the tree, catching a flimsy branch with a hooked claw as an attempt to escape its owner’s invisible clutches, but it fails to stay intact, and Jimmy drops into the girl’s safe, cradling arms with a piece of the branch hanging loosely from a sharp nail.
The girl decides to reprimand her pet after they get home, and kissing it at the top of its head, she spins around and makes her way back, making a mental note to keep a wary eye.
Halfway to her house, just making her way over the first of the three fences she has to climb for a shortcut, she hears the snapping of a twig from somewhere behind her, and she snaps her head around at once, her heart beginning to pick up speed. She peers out over the dark silhouettes of the benches lining the street and the surrounding houses, but she can’t discern anything else. Brushing it off as her imagination, she turns back to the other side of the fence and, letting Jimmy out of her arms and easing him onto the grassy ground, hops off, landing on the balls of her feet a few inches shy of the stationary feline staring fixedly on the spot she had just turned from.
She picks Jimmy back in her arms and continues onward. She clears a handful of steps, but then she stops again when she hears the exact same sound behind her, louder this time around, mixed with the scraping of metal. Convinced that it’s not her imagination anymore, she wheels around and faces whatever it is that has been following her.
From the sporadic illumination of a nearby flickering streetlamp, she sees a dark figure standing just a few feet from her, tall and foreboding, wearing a large overcoat and a top hat, hands buried deep in the pockets. She holds Jimmy close and begins to take steps backward, eyes scoping out for any sudden movements or possible reinforcements. Her heart is pounding furiously, and she knows Jimmy can feel it through her skin. This is what her mother always talks about, and she’s deathly afraid for the first time in her life.
She thinks of what to do as she backs up; should she turn around and run or use her powers to slow him down first? Choosing the latter, and a need for insurance to get away without being followed pressing against her throbbing chest, she stops, closes her eyes, and focuses her mind to grasp around the seemingly immobile man’s.
But then she’s cringing before she can comprehend what’s happening, a scratching sensation running in her mind like a thousand-pound sandpaper grinding on the surface of her brain, and she breaks her hold from the man’s with a groan of desperation
Shaking her head and blinking her eyes, she spins around and begins running. However, she fails to notice the presence of the preceding fence right before her, and she bumps painfully on the metal network, her face receiving the full blow.
She sprawls on the ground, Jimmy jumping out of her arms and slipping into the darkness, and she tries to make out her adversary through clouded eyes. Clouded by what? she wonders for a moment, but she never forms an answer.
She feels something grab her wrist tightly not a moment later, and before she can scream out in pain or utter a cry for help, an electric shock runs through her body from the point of the grip, and before she can feel the painful sensation end, everything turns black.