X-Men: meet the Acolytes

[marhawkman]

Meeting the Acolytes
---section1---
It's a quiet day in SF. the Xmen are enjoying a rare peaceful afternoon. An ordinary-looking woman is walking along the road towards their residence.

Inside the building, her arrival was announced by a gentle beeping of the alarm system. Two men looked at the screen with a mix of shock and puzzlement.

"Logan, is that who I think it is?"

"Probably, but we ain't gonna find out unless we go talk to her, Elf."

Nightcrawler then teleported with Wolverine to the front door to greet their "guest".

"So what brings you here, Carmella Unuscione?" Wolverine asked.

"Well for as long as we've been acquainted with each other we've never really gotten to know each other," Unuscione said with an endearing smile.

"Right..... And you're planning on staying here while you do this?" Wolverine said dryly as he pointed at the bag she was carrying.

"That's correct."

"Fraulein, I hope you will understand if I feel the need to question your motives," Nightcrawler said.

"Yes, we haven't gotten along all that well lately. So it makes sense for you to be... curious about why I'm here," Unuscione nervously replied.

"Lately? Have we ever gotten along well?" Wolverine replied.

"Good point," Unuscione said while twitching nervously. "Perhaps we'd be more comfortable discussing it if we sit down inside?" she added with a nervous smile.

"Uh sure," Wolverine drawled. "Let's go grab some beer, sit down on the couch, watch some football, and talk about anything and everything that strikes our fancy," Wolverine quipped. "How's that sound?"

"That sounds like a good start," Unuscione replied.

---section1.2---
   As Unuscione started to walk inside she came face to face with a rather irate teenager.

   "Hello, how are you doing today?" Unuscione asked sweetly as she quietly set her bag down and tried to shake hands.

Hisako Ichiki responded by manifesting her psionic exoskeleton and punching Unuscione as hard as she could. Unuscione was sent flying backwards by the force of the blow and landed on the far edge of the driveway. Wolverine and Nightcrawler looked over at Unuscione to see if she was hurt. To their surprise, Unuscione simply got up and dusted herself off.

   "Nice try kid," Unuscione said after she got to her feet. "But, you should know already that you're gonna have to do better than that."

   "Wait a second," Wolverine interrupted. He started walking towards her as he continued. "Last I checked you needed to have your shield up to take a punch like that, and I don't see it."

   "Heh, I've gotten to know you and your friends pretty well, short stuff. I saw that attack coming a mile away, literally."

   "So what are you REALLY here for?" Wolverine asked as he moved closer again.

   "I already told you, but if you'd rather fight....." Unuscione said as she walked towards him.

Wolverine flinched and reflexively extended his claws as he noticed something odd about her scent. Also on reflex, Unuscione formed an oversized fist made of energy and aimed a punch at his face. Wolverine ducked under the punch and lunged towards her, but she leaped backwards and out of the way before he could make contact. With her free hand, Unuscione formed a giant sword and swung a high slash at Wolverine. When he ducked under the swing as she'd predicted, Unuscione opened the giant fist and swatted him with the flat palm. The energy exoskeleton crackled as it touched him and he lay stunned on the ground for a few moments. Unuscione retracted her exoskeleton and stood their staring at him until he started to get up. "Had enough yet or do you want some more? None of you ever beat Angelo one on one, and you're not gonna beat me one on one either."

   "Halt!" Nightcrawler said as he teleported between them. "Fraulein, I beleive you said something about wanting to sit down and talk. I think that now would be a good time to start, before things get out of hand."

   "Of course," Unuscione started to say. "Sorry, about..."

   "Wait a minute, Elf, that's a good idea, but only if this is Unuscione. Whoever this is, she smells like a mannequin wearing Unuscione's clothes."

   "Really? I didn't know I could do that."

   "What are you talking about? Does this have something to do with you having your forcefield active without it being visible?"

   "Yes, I guess I haven't quite figured out all of the limits yet."

   "Uh hunh...." Wolverine said with a skeptical smirk. "Perhaps it would be better if we discuss this over a beer. After you." Wolverine said as he gestured to the open door.

---section 2---
   "So how did this happen?" Nightcrawler asked Unuscione as they walked inside the kitchen.

   "I'm sure Emma Frost isn't the only of your friends who has discovered a new ability that didn't manifest when they first developed powers. But mine is a bit less interesting," Unuscione said as she said down and grabbed the bottle Wolverine handed her. "I was practicing one day and on a whim decided to see how form fitting I could make my forcefield. I'd done this before and had gotten steadily better at it, but this time I seem to have passed some sort of threshhold. Instead of going around my body and not touching my skin, the forcefield started to flow through my skin. I haven't figured out why, but it just feels so natural that I have to consciously turn it off now."

   "Un huh, and it does everything it did before, maybe even a bit better?" Wolverine asked as he sat down with a cold beer.

   "Yeah, it was somewhat like wearing a pair of boots for the first time. It makes you feel a bit tired at first, but after a few days you just don't notice anymore," Unuscione replied.

   "I guess this means that if it is turned off," a man said as he walked in the room. "You wouldn't need to do anything more than twitch to turn it back on."

   "Yeah, that's right Summers," Unuscione replied. "Then again, it's never taken much effort."

   "What are you doing here? Last I checked, your friends were out for our blood."

   "Not exactly. You were in our way, we needed to do something about it."

   "If you think I'd trust YOU with my life..." Cyclops started to say.

   "Just a second, How many times have I SAVED your life already?" Unuscione angrily replied. While in the back of her mind she was thinking, "Calm down, be nice, be nice..."

   "What? I thought you were one of the X-Men's archenemies or something," Ichiki suddenly blurted out.

   "Not, quite. The Acolytes have always been more of a rival than an actual enemy," Unuscione replied.

   "You have got to be kidding me!"

   "What?"

   "You can't be serious about that! You and your psychotic friends have never done anything worthwhile!"

   "Okay kid, since you seem so intent on getting some sense beaten into you, I'll see you outside."

   "W-what?"

   "Unless you want your ancestors to think you're a coward."

   "Uh, you're not planning on actually hurting her are you?" Wolverine asked with an angry glare.

   "Nah, just teaching her a lesson."

   "Okay then." Cyclops replied. "We'll go watch just to make sure, though."

   "Suit yourselves," Unuscione replied. "Just try not to get in the way." She said as she started walking outside.

   "Just for the record, kid, that was stupid," Wolverine said as he walked outside.

   "But, what she said..."

   "Was true. She isn't a lunatic," Cyclops replied as he followed them outside. "She's arrogant, obnoxious, hot tempered..."

   "And those are some of her better qualities," Wolverine interjected.

   "But she isn't a psychopath."

   "And you're going to trust her?" Ichiki asked as they arrived on the lawn. "So what if she isn't crazy? She's still not...."

   "Oh will you quit it already?" Unuscione snapped. "They know me a lot better than you do, girl. Anyways, I'll let you start."

   "All right, you asked for it," Ichiki replied as she formed her psionic armor. Unuscione responded by making an almost perfect replica as Ichiki charged towards her. When Unuscione braced for impact, Ichiki abruptly changed her angle of attack trying to catch Unuscione off guard. Unsucione countered by changing the shape of her armor and deflecting the blow. When, Ichiki tried to follow up with another punch from a different angle Unuscione lengthened the arm of her exoskeleton and grabbed Ichiki's arm. Unuscione then flexed her field and lengthened the forcefield arm she was holding Ichiki with and vaulted Ichiki over her head, before slamming her onto the ground again.

   "Had enough yet kid?" Unuscione asked as she glared at Ichiki. "I'm better than you, simply because I know how to use my powers better than you do."

   "Oh?" Ichiki said as she quickly got up. "How about this?" She said as she hit Unuscione as hard as she could.

   "Nah, try THIS on for size!" Unuscione said as she made a giant fist and lengthened her exoskeleton's arm like a piston as she punched Ichiki. Ichiki was knocked flying by the punch and almost knocked out by the force of the blow. "That is a power...." she suddenly trailed off as she saw a familiar glint out of the corner of her eye. "Il Dio lo aiuta!" she said as a metal fist suddenly connected with her exoskeleton near her jaw. "Ough... that hurt..." Unuscione said as she crashed into the side of the building. "Nice... to... see... you... too... Collossus..." Unuscione said as she got up.

[thalaw2]

It seems you write a lot like me....very heavy on dialogue and not much narration.  Narration would help add a extra dimension to the characters.  Since these are mostly familiar characters most readers have a good idea of how the they behave and can fill in the blanks. 

Try adding a bit more narration in the next post....Keep up the good work.

[marhawkman]

More Narration? Not a bad idea, I'll have to keep that in mind.

[marhawkman]

New section! Tell me what you think.
-----section3------
   "What do you think you're doing here Unuscione?" Colossus yelled as he charged towards her.

   "At the moment, just a little teaching," she said as she ducked under the next punch and did a judo throw towards Cyclops and Wolverine.

   "Hiya Petey," Wolverine said as Colossus landed at his feet.

   Collosus lay still for a second and looked up at at Wolverine and Cyclops. "What's going on? Why are you just standing around watching?"

   "Well, Pete, it seems that Unuscione has decided she wants to be our friend."

   "What?"

   "We're still trying to figure it out ourselves. She showed up earlier acting all nice and friendly but hasn't gotten around to telling us why yet."

   "And Ichiki?"

   "Just a bit of impromptu sparring practice," Cyclops replied.

   "Hisako ticked off Unuscione already?" Colossus asked as he got up.

   "Just a little," Unuscione said as she walked up behind him. "But I got over it already. Let's go back to talking now. Besides, I didn't finish the beer." Unuscione said as she turned to walk back inside.

   Colossus watched for a few seconds with a dumbfounded look on his face before turning back to Wolverine and Cyclops. "So she really came here to become better acquainted with us?" He said while looking at Cyclops.

   "So it would seem," Cyclops said while gesturing towards the door.

   Meanwhile, Ichiki was staring at the proceedings with a sullen expression.

   "Relax Hisako," Wolverine said in a commanding tone as he turned towards her.

   "Why?" Hisako asked with an angry look. "She beat me like...a....a..."

   "Like what? An amateur?" Wolverine snapped. "Compared to her, you ARE an amateur. She's gotten into slugfests with the X-Men so many times she knows almost as much about our powers as we do."

   Ichiki looked away with a disgusted look.

   "I'm not saying you're bad, just that there's a lot you could learn from her." Wolverine said in a sympathetic tone as he turned to go back inside.

   Hisako continued to stare at him as he went back inside, but as she did so she slowly realized that Wolverine was right. "Okay," she started to say with a curious expression. "I wonder if she could teach me to do what she did." She mumbled to herself.

   Meanwhile inside, Colossus, Unuscione, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler were getting seated in the living room.

   "So what does your fearless leader, Exodus, know about this?" Nightcrawler asked Unuscione.

   "And more to the point, what will he do when he finds out?" Colossus added.

   "Hehe," Unuscione started with a chuckle. "He knows everything, because it was his idea."

   "Huh?" Everyone in the room suddenly sat up straighter for a moment in shock.

   "You mean to tell me Exodus put you up to this?" Wolverine asked.

   "Why would he do that?" Colossus mused.

   "I've got a better question," Unuscione replied with a sinister smirk. "Do you know why Exodus revived Charles Xavier?"

   Various ways of saying "no" echoed from around the room.

   "It's simple really. Exodus wanted Charles Xavier to take over as the leader of the Acolytes. But Xavier turned that down."   Unuscione paused to let it sink in, and looked around at the various shocked expressions before continuing. "I'm here because he decided that the only other way to learn from Xavier was to do it indirectly. To observe what he taught to his students in the Xmen."