Enter the infamous legal disclaimer NOW:
I do not own any of the following. I wish I did. OH how I wish I did. Do you know how much money some of these bring in? But alas, I am but a meager college student working towards a teaching degree. That's right; I am in college, and going to be a teacher. Going from no money at all (college student) to no money at all (teacher). Please don't sue. You'll get a crappy pen set that I got from my brother many moons ago. Now, onto everything I do not own. Repeat. Don't own. I don't know sexual orientations or personalities either. DON'T OWN, DON'T KNOW!
Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Pink, Christina Aguilera, The Wallflowers, and any other celebrities. I also know nothing of their sexual orientations.
Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and all related characters.
The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series by Laurell K. Hamilton.
The Vampire Chronicles, Tales Of The New Vampires, The Mayfair Witches, all series and characters written by Anne Rice.
Buffy & Angel television series.
Birds Of Prey television series.
Star Wars
Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, Star Trek DS9, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek The New Frontier, Enterprise television series, movies, and novels.
Ok, now that that is taken care of, a little publicity for my co-authors. Go read these four stories in the Boy Bands, and Celebrity sections:
Tales Of A Real Dark Night (The series that started it all.) celebrity/boy-bands/tales-of-a-real-dark-knight/
Marvel Knights celebrity/marvel-knights/
Tales Of A Super Hero Band celebrity/boy-bands/tales-of-a-superhero-band/
Tales Of A Young Mutant celebrity/tales-of-a-young-mutant/
There may also be a new writer up and coming. Good luck! I love the storyline I've seen so far dude! Keep writing!
Finally, this is it I promise, we are entering into a section of the story where 4 stories converge. I am hoping that this is not confusing, but exciting for you all. So, enjoy!
The Story of the Birds Of Prey Chapter 1: Journey towards the aftermath.
My flight to Orlando was uneventful. Nothing in the sky for me to worry over; the birds were even a thousand or so feet bellow me. It was all quiet. I allowed myself to sense what people bellow me were feeling. Emotions ranged from anger, to sadness, to confusion and worry. This day would always be remembered, everyone would always know where they were upon hearing about the attacks. And no one would ever be the same.
Upon reaching the Gulf Coast I let the Phoenix Form fade. Pulling the power inside me and just flying. I reached Orlando and started scanning for Lance and Eric. When I finally found them and zeroed in I met with a problem.
"How the hell am I supposed to land when so many people are out and about in the city?" I asked my self. I started by changing my appearance. I changed into black jeans with a leather belt, black work boots, a black tank top a size too small, and a long sleeve slightly sheer midnight blue dress shirt that I left open. To finish it off I added sunglasses. I looked at myself, floating 3,000 feet above Orlando Florida, and was surprised at the ease I was using my powers.
I started really concentrating, seeking a blind spot in the public's attention. When it came, I acted on it quickly. I dropped towards Eric and Lance's yard with a speed that made me very nervous. What surprised me was even though I landed hard enough that my feet went inches into the ground, I wasn't hurt in the least. I thought of Jessica mentioning the X-Men having experience with the Phoenix and made a mental not to speak with them.
I moved away from my landing spot and just stared at the footprints. "That just won't do." I said to myself. "You don't drop in on friends and wreck their lawn." I focused my powers and unpacked the soil, and stood the grass back up. I couldn't really do anything about the roots, so left it as it was. I walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell.
Eric answered and I could see the unease in his eyes. Everyone was pretty shook up. "Come on in, the X-Jet should be here pretty soon." I followed him in and looked at all the guys. I think that part of their unease was the lack of their entire group. Justin was still in LA and Josh was back in Frisco.
"Do you think I could get a drink? The flight was tiring." Lance nodded for me to follow and Eric sat back down. Within moments his eyes were glued to the TV.
"How's Jayce holding up Blake?" I looked at him blankly for a moment before realizing he meant Josh.
"He's doing ok. Andrea will protect him if anything arises" After saying that I wasn't sure if I was getting him or myself to believe that.
"Andrea? I thought she was just a human." I debated not telling Lance after he asked me that, but decided that if he could keep everyone's secret, he wouldn't tell anyone Andy's. Also, she would love the idea of sharing secrets with another Nsync member.
"The Green Lantern, the person I was teaming up with back home, was killed a short time ago. Too short a time. Andrea was given his ring before she died and has assumed his role, under a slightly different name. She calls herself Green Falcon, and we're the birds of prey."
Lance snorted. "You should have been more careful. You're going to start a bird collection just like Eric." We both giggled.
"I don't think I mentioned my Watchers Code Name, Owl." We both kept laughing as we headed into the living room, each holding a drink.
"What's so funny?" Joey asked.
"Blake. He just told me his partner's and Watcher's code names; Green Falcon and Owl." Eric smiled while Joey and Chris just looked confused. "Inside joke guys."
"So you have a Watcher Blake? I thought only Slayers were assigned Watchers." I sat down in a chair near Eric; Lance sat at his side taking his hand.
"Well, I got a call from Jessica. She told me that the Council came to the decision that since there were no Slayers that could come to San Francisco and fight the growing force there, that it would be wise to make Green Lantern and I the city Slayers. We were already doing the job and they would just give us extra support. Green Lantern died a few days ago and Andrea took over his powers." We all sat in silence for a bit while the information sunk in.
"I'm sorry for your loss Blake." I nodded and we spent the rest of our time watching the events on television.
It was only an hour later when the doorbell rang again. Eric stood and answered it. He let two people in. One was a teenager, very cute with strange hair. It had white stripes. The other was a GORGEOUS young man wearing red sun glasses. I could see that they had the same color aura as Eric, so I assumed they were mutants.
They stepped into the living room, and the girl gave Lance a wink. I smiled to myself while he just looked uncomfortable and waved a hello. The other guys must have noticed because they had devilish grins stuck to their faces.
The hottie in the glasses looked at Eric. "Are you ready, Eric?"
"Yes, we're all packed." Eric said grabbing his stuff. Lance grabbed his bag and I stood holding mine.
"Who is this?" The girl asked eyeing me. She had a southern accent.
"This is Blake Alexander. He is going to help, too. He has some, abilities that will come in handy." Eric smiled at me, letting keep my identity until I decided to let them know.
"Good. We need to get going." The man said. We left Chris and Joey in the house and headed outside. There were two motorcycles waiting, they obviously hadn't been counting on a 5th party. "We don't have room for him on the bikes; one of us may need to come back for him."
"I can fly behind you." The man eyed me, and then agreed. Everyone mounted the cycles, the man and girl on one, Eric and Lance on the other. As they started the engines I floated a couple feet into the air, adjusting my bag to be comfortable and strapping my jacket through its straps.
"Keep up." The man said before starting off. Eric took off and I easily kept up pace behind them. The man in glasses chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw me keeping pace. I don't know what he was thinking, but he increased speed. Eric kept at his for a moment before speeding up to stay with the others. I just sped up. After flying across a continent in an hour, this was nothing.
We soon made it to the X-Jet and got the bikes loaded. The jet was... impressive isn't quite the word. I don't think the military has anything as beautiful. Strong lines, adjustable thrusters, it looked built for speed.
The man in glasses came up to me. "You're fast. Scott Summers, code name Cyclops." He held his hand out to me.
"Blake Alexander, AKA Phoenix." He looked at me for a moment.
"I believe that Phoenix is already a taken code name." He gave me a weird look.
"I hadn't realized that there was a registrar for names." I dropped my bag and walked several feet away. I let the Phoenix out, just enough to show off. Then I pulled it back in and walked back to Scott. "Happy? Phoenix. Son of the Mother." I shrugged. "I call myself Phoenix."
"Well, the Professor is going to want to speak to you." We all climbed aboard and strapped in. With a roar the engines came to life and we lifted into the air.
The flight to New York was uneventful. When we reached the city, we were met with smoke and dust in the air. "We are flying over Manhattan now." I looked at Scott behind the controls, then out the side window. All that we could see was smoke and dust rising into the sky. I lit my eyes and looked at the site with my Phoenix Vision. It pierced the smoke and dust while still letting me see it. But I could also see the ruins clearly. Giant steel support beams sticking into the air, fires littering the debris, and firefighters battling the blazes in the surrounding buildings. There were many wounded in the area, but I could sense no survivors in the debris. Out of no where the screams and cries from the minds of those in the buildings rose in my mind.
I shut my eyes tight and held back the tears and screams itching to break free of me. I vaguely heard the others say something, and the jet pick up speed, but I was battling internally to keep control. When I finally gained composure we were on our final descent into a clearing behind a mansion. The jet slipped through a disguised landing pit and into a shining hanger.
Scott stood and turned to us. "Come on, the Professor is waiting."
We all exited the Jet and started down a corridor. The facility was built with shining metal walls. It was all quite impressive. It reminded me slightly of The Hole back in Frisco. Scott stopped and opened a door. When we entered a saw a number of people sitting at a meeting table. A bald man turned at arrival. "Eric. Thank you for coming. Please, have a seat. This won't take long."
We sat at the open seats and turned our attention to the balled man. I couldn't help but take in the auras. There were several mutants sitting around, with dark blue auras. I also noticed a couple people with strange tie-died auras. One person who wore a cloak had Dark blue which meant he was a mutant, and also green. Devin's aura showed green, so I wondered if he had magical powers. I also noticed another person whose aura was dark blue and a sort of turquoise. I stopped my scan of the room at a man wearing sun glasses. He showed a pink aura, which in my experience meant vampire.
"Some of you know exactly what is going on." I turned my attention back to the balled man, the Professor from what Scott had indicated earlier. "Some of you, however, do not. There is a great evil brewing and I do not mean the events in lower Manhattan. Our government officials are dealing with the situation and I hope they deal with it effectively. There are going to be many blaming others who had nothing to do with the attacks simply because of an ethnic similarity. I hope the government quells that fear."
"Like they did with the Friends of Humanity." A teenage mutant said across the table.
"Davey." The girl with the dark blue and turquoise aura warned him.
"Yes, the government did mess up with the Friends of Humanity." The professor responded. "And it is my fear that other events, hidden events that happened today, give them reason to continue with the efforts of the Friends of Humanity."
"What events?" The vampire asked.
"While terrorists were attacking the World Trade Center, other terrorists were attacking college campuses and high schools throughout the country." I just sat there. Many others gasped, I thought of the Vampire attack on San Jose. Could that have something to do with this?
"Excuse me, Professor. Could the Vampire Attack on San Jose be a part of this? A group of Vampires seem to be building an army." While saying this I looked right at the Vampire in the room.
"I simply don't know Blake. This to put it frankly, is a bit out of my league. I am used to rouge mutants, not Vampire wars." The professor looked at me. I realized he must have lifted my name out of my mind and began erecting walls. "Don't worry Blake; your name was simply at the top. I merely skimmed you."
I figured one good turn was worth another. I used my powers to skim him, and was met by a wall. I found a weak spot in no time and got his name. "It's quite alright Charles." He looked a bit surprised, but continued the debriefing. "There were several attacks on our young people recently, one of which happened at this very school, about the same time as the World Trade Center attacks. Missiles have been fired upon campuses causing lots of damage and injuring thousands."
"But these aren't regular missiles." Eric interjected.
"No, you are quite right. They are not." Professor Xavier pressed a button on the table and the lights dimmed. "These missiles have some rather unconventional effects on matter when they impact. The molecular structure of whatever has been hit goes through a metamorphosis into something brand new, something different. Dr. Grey."
A red headed young women stood. I hadn't noticed her before. To say I was shocked was an understatement. Her aura was strikingly different from all the others. She had Phoenix Flames instead of an aura. I could tell I was the only one who could see them, but they were there. They danced about her the same way the streamers dance around me when I bring out the Phoenix. I sat and listened to what she had to say about these missiles.
"The missile that hit here was deflected and hit several trees nearby. The trees seemed distorted, almost turned around from how they were originally. I took scans of the foliage after the explosion and discovered that their molecular base, their DNA, had been altered. Somehow, someone has isolated the X-gene and is attempting to instill mutant properties through energy waves in the rocket explosions."
"That's what I saw." Eric said. He then told us a story about deflecting a missile at his school and watching as it hit a tree.
"It isn't isolated and it isn't accidental." Jean continued. "Whoever created this weapon has a purpose behind it. And that purpose is to create mutants."
"What effect does it have on regular Joes like me?" Lance asked.
"The desired effect does not actually happen." Jean answered "Most have become sick and are being treated at hospitals. They exhibit flu-like symptoms within the first few hours. Since the attacks happened this morning, reports are still coming in as to the effects of those exposed to the energy."
"Do we have any idea who is behind this?" I asked.
Professor X turned to the Vampire. "Blade, if you please, share with everyone what you and your team experienced a few days ago."
"We were on routine patrol when one of ours, Ghost Rider, noticed something out of the ordinary at the museum." The Vampire called Blade answered. "He investigated. When I got there, I saw a mutant who was much stronger than any of us. He called himself Apocalypse, and he took one of our friends."
"Thank you," Professor X stated. "I believe Apocalypse is the one responsible for these attacks. I think he may be trying to create an army of mutants. He isn't supportive of humanity and believes Homo sapiens are weaker beings that need to be conquered. I do not think that he is working alone, however. He doesn't have the technical knowledge to accomplish what happened."
"He isn't working alone," the man in the cloak with a tie-died aura interrupted.
"Do you know who he is working with, Cloak?" Scott asked.
"Some guy who looks like a vampire. He wore all blue and red, had pale skin, burning red eyes and black hair."
Professor X nodded his head. "We will need to investigate. Everyone's dismissed, except Eric. I would like to speak with him privately."
Everyone but the Professor, Eric, and Lance immediately stood. We went into the hall, a young man hanging back at the door. I went up to Jean. "Excuse me miss, I can't help but notice your aura."
Jean gave me a weird look. "Thank you... I guess." She gave me a look for a moment, then realization struck her. "You are one of the people who was fighting in San Jose, aren't you?"
"Yes. I am The Phoenix." I smiled at her a bit. Scott gave me an angry look as he walked over.
"Well, I thought you had left the Solar System." I was confused for a moment at what she said, and then realized she meant the Mother Phoenix.
"She did. I'm carrying her offspring." I smiled at her. "And what I meant by your aura is... well... after the merging I developed the ability to see peoples energy fields. It allows me to differentiate Mutants, and Humans, and the different Vampire species. Your aura seems completely different. You have what I call Phoenix Flames in place of an Aura." Scott had reached us and put his arms around Jean.
"Well, I guess you could say I knew your mother. We were one for a while." I nodded my head.
"Come one Jean, tomorrows going to be a big day. We should go rest." He started pulling Jean away.
"It was nice to meet you Blake." I waved goodbye, then looked around lost.
"Hello, my name is Bobby. I'm supposed to show you to your room." I turned and saw a teenage boy looking at me.
"My name is Blake, nice to meet you." I followed him down the corridor.
After a minute he looked at me. "If you don't mind me asking... what is your power?"
I smiled at him. "Well, I'm psychic and telekinetic. I also just recently became host to a Phoenix."
He looked at me surprised. "Wow. A Phoenix? Like... like the one Ms. Grey was merged with?"
"Her offspring." We walked on a bit. "How about you?"
"Well, I create ice and become ice. I'm called Ice Man." I laughed at that. "What? It's not funny." He looked at me a bit angry.
"No, it's just the way you said it. Sorry." He thought on what he said, and started laughing as we reached my room.
"Thank you for showing me the way. I would have gotten completely lost." I opened the door and set my stuff down.
"The bathroom is over there," He pointed down the hall. "And the elevator is over there. I'm not sure what time everyone is getting up in the morning, I'm sure someone will come and get you. Sleep well."
"You too Bobby." I closed the door and he went on his way.
I sat down on the bed and thought about the events of the day. I soon realized that was a bad idea, and tried to get some rest. I didn't sleep a bit all night.
More to come soon. But to get it, E-MAIL ME! I haven't gotten any, I'm sad.