Now, I know quite a few of you have already read the original rough draft of this, and if it pisses you off that I re-posted it this way. Than I do apologize. But, I didn't think it would make sense to post the end of the first chapter by itself. Plus, with the fan cast, and the cover art by Capt. Awesome. I think it makes for one hell of a good article. Let me know how you like it.
Ladies and Gentleman. I present:
CHAPTER 1
Here's a link to the cast.
Summers Family Reunion: The Cast
The year is 1982. Astronaut and pilot Christopher Summers, assigned on a routine mission to test pilot a space ship, is circling the earth’s atmosphere. Since it is a routine mission, he thought it would be fun to bring his pregnant wife, Katherine-Anne and two sons, Scott and Alex along and let them see what his job is.
“You boys having fun?” Christopher asked, the two boys, seat belted into the two seats behind him. “Daddy’s jobs pretty cool isn’t it?”
Smiling at his son’s who were staring through the windows, completely ignoring him, he turns to his wife. “Ya know, it’s about time you brought them up here, they’ve been begging for this for years. “ Katherine stated with a smile. “I know, but I never thought it would be safe, until now that is.”
As Katherine turned to respond, a large blast erupts in what seems to be coming from the far left side of the ship. The cockpit goes dark, only to be relit by flashing red lights accompanied with sirens. “What’s happening daddy?” a voice comes from the backseat. “I don’t know, something seems to have hit us, it’s knocked out one of my engines. I’m going to try to land it, tighten your safety belts and hold on, Katherine go back with the boys, keep them calm, and away from the windows.” Christopher than push’s the handles of the ship as hard as he can, in attempt to get it back under control. As he veers the ship towards a small island, another blast hits the ship, sending it spiraling downwards into the sand. As Christopher pulls himself out of the wreckage, he feels a warm liquid covering his eyes. Wiping it off he realizes that it is blood, and his forehead has a large gash in it, his leg is broken, and what feels to be quite a few ribs as well. As he becomes more and more conscious, he hears a loud fan like sound coming from above him, and the sand around starts to blow vigorously in every direction. Looking around, he can make a large object slowly landing on the sand. As the dust clears away, It takes the shape of a ship, much larger than his own, followed by two slightly smaller ships. From the back of the larger ship, he can see feet moving along the sand, walking towards him. He tries to pull himself away, but in his condition, he cannot move very swift. As the figures move closer to him, he calls out. “What do you want from me, I’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t understand?” Just then, one of the figures lifts their foot and swiftly kicks him in the face, rendering him unconscious.
Nighttime, Christopher slowly starts to come to. Feeling the heat from the sun, having burned his face, he slowly pulls himself up to see his two young sons sleeping on either side of him. In shock, as to what had just happened, he pulls himself up, and limps towards the ship, burned into nothing but rubble. Realizing nothing could have possibly survived in there, and fearing the worst for Katherine, he limps back to Scott, his eldest son. “Scott,” he whispers. “Scott, wake up. Where’s your mom?” “Daddy, I tried to wake you daddy, they took her with them, and you wouldn’t wake up.” The young boy sobs to his father. “You were asleep for almost two day’s daddy, I couldn’t stop them, they just laughed at me, and I tried to stop them.” Listening closely to his son, Christopher starts to cry as well. His wife and his unborn child have been taken and he has no idea to where. “Scott, listen.” Christopher speaks quietly. “You did what you could, and it’s not your fault, understand that for me, please.” “Does the radio, in the ship still work?” “It does, but I couldn’t get a signal out, every station was just….static.”
“Ok, how is your brother doing, is he hurt, have you two eaten?” “He’s okay, mommy held him the whole time, and we ate the fruit from the trees, it’s all we could find.”
“Good, I’m very proud of you son, you’ve done a very good job of taking care of your brother for me. I need to try to get in contact with someone, stay out here with Alex; I’ll try not to be long.” Once inside the ship, Christopher automatically starts adjusting the dials on the radio, after a few tries he manages to get one that is at least comprehendible. “Hello, can anyone hear me, anyone at all? I’m trying to get in touch with a man named Forge. If anyone knows of him, or of a way to get in contact with him, please….please; tell him that a Christopher Summers is looking for him. It is of complete and utter importance. Thank you.”
A few hours later, the sun has set. The temperature has dropped drastically. Christopher has one arm wrapped around each of his boys, trying to keep them warm as possible. Suddenly, a light appears in the sky, followed by a small roar that gets louder as the light gets brighter. Christopher grabs his sons and pulls them into a small wooded area just off the beach. “What’s going on daddy?” Alex asked, groggily. “I’m not sure son, but hopefully help is coming.” Waiting for what seems like forever for the ship to touch ground, Christopher can feel the sweat trickling down his face, in anticipation of not knowing what is going to happen. Knowing he is in no condition for a fight, and Scott and Alex are not of proper age to fend for themselves, the thoughts in his head grow larger and larger, as he sees a light scanning through the woods, no doubt, searching for any survivors of the crash. “Chris?” a voice calls out from the darkness. “Chris, are you out there?” Thank heavens; it’s a familiar voice, Christopher thinks to himself, and letting out a sigh of relief. “Forge, over here. Stay where you are, we’ll come to you.”
The three follow the light back to the beach to greet Christopher’s long time friend. “Christopher, what the hell happened man?” You look like complete crap, and the ship?” the dark skinned, long haired man asks. “It’s really quite a long story, all I know is someone attacked the ship, and they’ve taken Katherine.” “Well than, head onto my craft, and I’ll tow you guys back to my lab, maybe we can figure something out.”
Two days later, Scott awakens in a bright room, with his brother lying next to him. Pulling himself out of bed, he heads towards the only doorway, which leads him to what looks to be a kitchen. But, with weird half finished machines, and small gadgets lying all over the counters, the table, even the sink. “Good morning, sunshine.” Forge who is leaning into the fridge. “How’d you sleep?”
“Fine, I guess. Where’s my dad?” Scott asks rubbing his eyes and trying to focus. “Well son, I reckon that’s something we need to talk about. After I bandaged your dad up, he explained to me what happened. So I pulled apart your father’s ship, to see if I could find anything. What I found was a fragment of the missile that was used to shoot your ship down. I was able to figure out where it came from, and your father has gone to try to get your mom back.” “What? Why didn’t he take us with him?” Scott lashed out.
“Son, it’s a dangerous place, where your father is going. He wanted to make sure you and Alex would be safe.” “Well, how long will he be gone?” “That’s the hard part. The place where that missile came from is called the Shi’ar Empire. It’s really quite far away from here. If he doesn’t catch those ships before they leave our galaxy, it could take him years to get there, not to mention how long it would actually take him to find your mom. He could be gone a very long time son.” “Well, that’s just…stupid.” Scott screams, tears running down his face, storming out the front door.
4 months later- Shi’ar Empire.
Four women of average height and average build, dressed in long dark red robes that cover every part of their body but their face, run down a dim, candle lit hallway. The reason they are running, the loud screams coming from the end of the hallway. In a small room with old, leaky concrete walls and no windows a woman is laying in bed, screaming in agony. This woman, Katherine-Anne Summers, she is giving birth to her third child, and is in excruciating pain. The lack of medicine in her system, gives her no relief from the pain of bearing a child. She is a slave, a sex slave if you will, to the leader of the Shi’ar Empire, D’ken. She has lived in this room for the past four months and has not seen daylight or anything else since she has arrived. The shear lack of decency her master possesses has left her utterly surprised that he has not said anything about her unborn child, and now that the baby has arrived. Her fears of what he will do, reach there highest the moment her third son is born. “Gabriel.” Katherine speaks under her breath. “I’m sorry Madam, did you say something”” One of the garmented women asks. She’s a plain woman, no older than twenty, but the weathered look of her skin, and the tired look in her eyes give her the appearance of a woman no younger than forty. “His name, Gabriel.” Katherine raises her head, still sweating from the preceding events. “The name his father chose for him. I never liked it much, but now that I look at him, it’s very suiting.” “Oh,” quietly the woman looks at her, a worried look in her eyes, knowing that D’ken will have heard of this soon. “You should probably rest Madam; you look very weak, and will need your energy.” As she speaks, Katherine lays her head back, and closes her eyes, still holding her newborn son, tightly in her arms. “I’ll get you a cold towel for your head.”
High above the slave quarters, a man and a woman lay in a bed. The man, dark haired, very tall, and in very good condition for a man who looks to be in his fifties. “Sir,” a voice comes from the doorway. “Sir, something has happened in the quarters, I feel it demands your attention very soon.” “Oh, why do you bother me…can it wait ‘til morning?” the man responds, with a very deep agitated voice. “Sir, pardon me. It is morning.” “Ok, fine. What is it?” “The slave, pardon, your mistress, has just given birth to a baby boy. I thought you might like to know so the matter can be dealt with as quickly as possible.” “Sigh, is she well?” “Sir, it’s a he.” “Not the baby you nit wit, the mother, Katherine, Is Katherine well?” “Oh, yes sir. My apologies, sir.” “Good, than bring her to me. I want to hear what she thinks should be done about this….situation.” “Yes sir. Oh, and sir? Would you like me to escort the lady back to her quarters?” “Huh, oh her,” his voice grows deeper, sounding bored. “She’s dead; she’s not nearly as creative as she claimed to be last night. Dispose of her for me, would you?” “Yes sir.” The man quickly hurries to the body, wrapping the sheets around the naked young woman. With a sick look of being about to vomit, he throws the cold lump over his shoulders and quickly carries her out. A few hours later, the same man returns with Katherine, and her newborn son. “Sir I brought the lady to speak with you, as you wished. She refused to leave the child though.” “That’s fine. I’d like to see the boy anyways. That is all.” “Yes sir.”
“Katherine, dear Katherine, have I treated you well?” “Yes D’ken, you have treated me very well. You’ve treated me like any slave would beg to be treated.” Katherine responds quietly but with a very obvious anger towards him. “I’ve given you everything a woman would ever desire. Any thing you’ve asked for I have provided. I’ve even let you give birth to the son of a weak earth man, because it made you happy.” “Yes sir and I thank you for that. But, you took me from my family, from my life. Barred me up in a room and never let me leave. How do I thank you for that?” “Everything I have done, I have done to protect you. Knowing that I give you special treatment, would not sit well with the women who stay in the lower level of the ship, I fear they would’ve hurt you, and your unborn child. Speaking of which, now that he has come, I suppose you want to keep him and raise him?” As he speaks, Katherine looks straight into his eyes, and all of the hatred she felt just moments ago vanishes, and is replaced automatically with fear and panic. Before she can even mutter a sound, D’ken begins to speak again. “I want you to know that I will not allow it. I brought you here for me, you’re my own special prize per say, and I will not share you with some, some mindless earth creature.” “You would take my baby from me, and what kill him, just a day after I have given birth? You say you did all this to protect me, keep me happy. But you would shatter that happiness, only moments after it has come.” “I will not kill your child, I am not an evil man Unsympathetic, but not evil. I will give him to one of my maidens, they will raise him, and when he is old enough, he will become one of my servants. Just like his mother.” “You’re a bastard; you know that, I’m not just going to let you take my baby.” She screams at him, tears running down her face. “You’ll have to kill me before you ever touch him.” “Well than,” he responds with a smile slowly covering his face. “There’s always the furnace. I imagine he would heat my room rather nicely.” As the last few words roll of his tongue, a look of utter disgust, replaced by a cold sweat covers Katherine’s face. Knowing that she has only two options, she slowly reaches the new born out to D’ken, who quickly backs up putting his arms up to push her away. “I don’t want the blasted thing; give it to my head servant on your way out. I’ll explain to him what to do with it. Your free to go back to your room now, your tears make me sick to my stomach; weak earthlings never learned the morale needed to be any kind of creature.” Katherine, with a dazed, almost dead look on her face, nods slowly as she turns and starts to walk towards the door.
“Chris?” a loud voice calls, echoing through what seems to be endless halls of metal. “Chris, are you there?” “Yes Forge. I’m here.” Christopher Summers leans forward and talks into a microphone. It has only been about four months since he has left his home to search for his wife. But the weary look in his face, and his new found frame would suggest it has been quite a few years. “Chris, I’ve called in a few favors for you. I have a friend of mine rendezvousing with your ship.” Forge informs Christopher. “She has been a pirate for most of her life and knows the galaxies very well. She feels she could help you in your journey.” “Thank you Forge. I do appreciate it. But I don’t want to drag anyone else into this. Who knows if I’ll ever make it back, I’m not sure I could deal with possibly being the death of someone else.” A loud chuckle rips through the ship. A puzzled and somewhat annoyed look covers Christopher’s face. “Why are you laughing Forge? I don’t believe anything I’ve said to be funny….at all.” I’m sorry Christopher. I’m laughing because in all of the years you have known me, you think I would send you someone incapable of taking care of themselves. She’s a pirate, remember? Honestly, I doubt there’s anything you can do, that she can’t, some quite a bit better in my opinion.” “Do I have a choice in this at all?” Christopher asks in a very droll, monotone manner. Forge chuckles again, this time much more quietly. “She’ll be reaching your ship within the next hour, hour and a half. I’d suggest you keep an eye out.” “Fine, I suppose I should thank you?” No thanks needed, but I suggest you get some sleep once she gets there, you sound like hell brother. I have to go though. I have a busy day ahead of me.” Christopher leans back in his chair, “Alright man, I’ll talk to you later.” As he finishes the sentence the line goes dead, he closes his eyes and drifts into a light sleep.
Back on Earth, A lonely and frustrated Scott, sits alone in the woods behind the shack, disguised as Forge’s home. Today would be his sixth birthday, if there were anyone around to celebrate it with. As warm tears slowly run down his face, he thinks about how normal his life was six months ago. He went to a normal school, had friends. Had two parents who loved him dearly, and now he lives in the middle of the woods, with a man he barely even knows. His brother barely even talks anymore. Of course, there isn’t really any reason too. As the last few thoughts come through his head, Scott hears a small chirping sound coming from a small tree a few feet away from him. While walking over he realizes it’s a nest of freshly hatched birds. Wondering why the mother would build a nest on such a small tree, he starts to look around trying to find something to move them with. As he wipes the tears from his eyes, to see a bit more clearly, he is suddenly thrown through the air. As he flies, he smacks into a tree splintering the entire side of it out leaving a giant gap where his body hit, landing a good eighty yards away. After lying for a few moments trying to figure out what just happened. Scott slowly starts to pull himself up, falling back down once with a sharp pain in his back. He reaches his back as far as he can and pulls out a long piece of bark. “Son of a Bitch, that hurt! What in the world was that?” As he pulls himself into a sitting position, and starts to regain focus, he realizes that he has something red in his eyes, using his forearm to try and wipe his eyes clear, but he can’t seem to get it out. Starting to freak out, and rub his eyes intensely with his fists, he is suddenly shot back again, this time dragging the ground with him. Sticks and rocks stab into him, as his entire body thrusts across the ground. Finally stopping as he slams into the side of the house. Scott jumps to his feet and starts to run into his house, but before he can do so, he is flying backwards yet again, this time out of expectations of the pain, he crunches his eyes closed and pulls his jaws together as tight as possible. All of the sudden he is back on the ground, only a few feet away from the house. “Huh,” he looks down at himself, and than at the house. “Why did it stop?” Looking at his legs to check for any more injuries, he is thrust straight into the air. He flies about fifteen feet before he lands face first on the hood of one of the many broken cars in Forge’s yard. “What the hell is going on?” he screams, tears strolling down his face, from fear rather than pain. “Stop it, it’s not funny. As he yells at what seems to be no one. Forge comes running out of the house. “Scott, what’s wro….” Stopping in mid sentence Forge stares intently at Scott, with a look of shock suddenly smeared across his face. “What happened to your eyes Scott? Are you okay? As Scott opens his eyes and looks towards Forge, the look of crying is covering his eyes. But, only steam is pouring from the corners. Where his small brown eyes used to be, there is only red. Red so red that fire would look tame next to it. Scott slowly starts to climb off of the car, wincing in agony, holding his side. Forge runs over to help him, grabbing Scott’s free arm and pulling him to his feet. As Scott starts to look up, a beam of red light shoots from his eyes, throwing Forge directly through the front window of his house, and launching Scott’s legs into the car, flipping him upside down and sending him flying into the house, head first into the outside wall, rendering him unconscious.
Back in the depths of outer space, a few hours later; Christopher is awakened by a loud beeping. Jumping to his feet almost instantly, recognizing the sound as the alarm for an approaching ship. As he runs to his controls, he can see the small ship approaching the front of his ship. Chris slams his hand down hard on the intercom button and screams into his microphone for the ship to acknowledge them selves. “I will open fire.” He screams, getting no response from the ship quickly moving over his ship. Starting to speak into the microphone again a loud banging noise, comes from his ships rear hatch. Christopher bends down and retrieves a small pistol from under the Captain’s seat and slowly starts to approach the back of the ship. As he gets closer he yells out again. “Identify yourself.” Three loud bangs echo through the halls for a second time, Christopher jumps back a step, and than starts to move forward again. The closer he gets, the more sweat trickles down his face. “Christopher Summers?” a voice screams from the other side. “Is this the ship of Christopher Summers? My name is Hepzibah, I was sent by Forge!” Christopher lets out a loud sigh, tucking his pistol into the back of his pants, and pulling his shirt over. He moves quickly, and unlatches the rear door to the ship. “Well, hello there!” the small girl says, watching a look of shock cover Christopher’s face. “Sorry for the trouble. My radio seems to have given out on me.” “It It It’s alright. No troub. No trouble at all.” Stumbling over his own words, Christopher can’t take his eyes off of the girl, bouncing around the dock of his ship. Never has he seen a girl who looked quite like her. A girl with long ears completely covered in white fur, with a tail. “You, you look like a-a cat!” “Well, I don’t know what a “cat” is but I’ll take it as a compliment?” she responds, a puzzled look across her face. “Never mind, I don’t suppose it matters any.” Shaking his head, he wipes the sweat from his face as he starts to walk towards the front of the ship. “Okay, than? I’m hungry, got any food in this place?”
Salem Center, New York.
“ Now Erik, don’t expect more than what I’ve told you. No one’s lived in this house since I was a boy. I can’t guarantee that it will even be suitable for us to stay in.” A man, looking to be in his mid forties speaks from the backseat of what looks to be a late model limousine of sorts. “Charles, my dear friend. You worry too much. Anything we need to do can be done. Within days no less, with our two minds, nothing is impossible. Now, are you sure this is what you want to do with your inheritance? I mean, a school for Gods sake! These are not the teachings these children need. They need to learn to fight, and defend themselves, they need to be taught their true greatness.” The man speaks more rapidly with every word, catching himself out of breath at the finish. “Calm yourself Erik, they will learn everything they need to, in due time. We cannot ignore the basic fundamentals of life. They will be worthless fighting machines, if we do not teach them properly. Math, Science, Language, have you forgotten about these? What will we do? Send them to war as soon as they are eighteen, they still have to live normal lives, just like everyone else.” “Ah, but they are not like everyone else. They are like us, and we are far from normal my friend, I suppose a school wouldn’t be the worst place to spend my days, and my children, I do believe they would love the fresh air.” So, it’s settled then. The Westchester home for gifted youngsters.” “Charles, Charles, Charles, you have one of the most brilliant minds in the world, and yet, you still manage to be so…. drab. Be more creative, how about the Xavier/Magnus Institute for Higher Learning!”
Back in the woods
“What’s up with the ceiling?” Scott Summers asks, waking up from what feels like the longest sleep of his young life. “Scott?” Alex Summers yells running in to where his brother his sleeping. “Holy Crap, your finally awake. FORGE, FORGE, he’s awake. Scott’s awake.” “Dude, why are you yelling, crap my head hurts.” Staring back to the darkened cover of the room, he looks back at his brother. “Dude, what’s up with the ceiling?” “Scott my boy, it sure is good to see you up and about. It feels like its been years.” Forge, the Indian from the woods, enters the room and sits at the end of the bed, as he pulls the grease stained red bandana off his forehead; Scott notices some new additions to Forge. What used to be his arm, is now some sort of cybernetic arm, and his leg is the same way. “How are you feeling my boy?” “What happened to you? Why’s everything so dark?” Reaching for his eyes, he realizes he is wearing some sort of sunglasses. As he reaches to pull them off, Forge grabs his hand and pulls it away. “What are you doing? It’s kinda stupid to wear shades in the house, even your not that weird.” “You don’t remember anything do you?” Forge asked him, his eyes meeting the bed sheets. “What do you mean, of course I do…wait, what am I remembering?” Scott stares at Forge intensely waiting for answers. “Scott,” Alex speaks up. “You blew half the house apart. Half the front yard too. You don’t remember any of it?” As Alex speaks, flashbacks run through Scott’s young mind, and slowly all of the memories start to rush back. He looks at Forge, as tears start to run down his face. “Did, did I, do that to you?”
One year later.
“How is my son Lilandra?” Katherine Summers asks, lying in bed, as a tall, shrouded figure approaches her. “He’s doing just fine. Smartest boy in his class, most athletic too; none of the other boys can’t come close to beating him in battle.” Lilandra, the youngest sister of D’Ken, ruler of the Shi’ar Empire speaks as she fills a small tub with water. “I do not want to hear of the warrior, I want to hear of my boy!” “He’s not your boy Katherine, as far as anyone on this planet is concerned, he is my son. I gave birth to him, and I am raising him. You mustn’t continue to bring this up. My brother’s patience for you dwindles by the day. If not for his love for me, Gabriel would have been dead long ago. I care deeply for you, and will do anything to help you, but keeping that boy alive is as much your responsibility as it is mine. Now, spread your legs. That baby is coming tonight, and we must prepare.” Oh, too have the child of that bastard. Never in my life have I worried so.” “ Do not worry Katherine. I’m sure this child will be as sweet and kind hearted as Gabriel, after all. He does have half of you blessing his genes.” “For all the worlds sake Lilandra. I hope your right. God, do I hope your right.”
Deep in the Galaxy, not too far from the Shi’ar Empire borders. Christopher Summers is awakened by a small voice. “Chris?” she calls. “Chris, can you hear me? Wake up.” “What is it Hep? What’s wrong?” “Nothing’s wrong Chris, I just wanted to let you know, that at this speed, we will reach our destination by the day after tomorrow.” “Wait, what? You should’ve notified me sooner. I need time to prepare. Who knows what we’re walking into out there.” “I do, sir.” Hepzibah says as she walks into the main piloting quarters, joining Chris. “We’re walking into the biggest fight of our lives.”
Back in Salem…
“Forge, after so many phone calls, I was starting to worry that we were never going to meet.” Charles Xavier speaks as he opens the front door of his Grandparents estate. “Yeah, sorry it’s taken so long. I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. Chris, their father that is, is my best friend. I’d hate to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself.” Forge speaks as he shakes Charles hand. “I’ve heard many things about this place, and I’m hoping that you can help them a little more than I can. I’ve never been too good with kids in the first place, and this is like uh, triple puberty at best.” “No worries, my friend. Erik and I have many years of teaching under our belts. Now, we’re probably just as new as this as you are. But, we know a thing or two, I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. Well, you must be Scott?” turning his attention to the young brown haired boy stepping onto the sidewalk. “Yes sir, and this is my brother Alex.” “Of course, Forge has told me a great deal about you, well there’s no point in standing out here. Come in, meet the “family.”