Date: Friday, May 21, 2011, 10:15 pm
Location: Cactus City, Texas
As Julius caught his breath, a sharp, searing pain shot up Taskmaster's arm, making him grimace. He glanced at his once-pristine vibranium shield, now disfigured with a glaring dent, and the reality of his situation crashed down. He'd lost his prized blade, his "unbreakable" shield was compromised, and he was physically injured. The only reason he was still drawing breath was Julius's inherent restraint. But then his eyes flicked to Laura. She was stirring, already pushing herself up, her healing factor working its grim magic. Fully recovered, she wouldn't hold back.
"Honestly, this is just bad business," Taskmaster muttered to himself, his voice a low, exasperated rumble behind the skull mask. "Far too much collateral, and the recovery costs on this one are going to be astronomical." He was in deep.
He then lifted his head, his voice ringing out, a promise of vengeance. "Count your days, kid, because I will be back, and I will kill you. Make sure you take care of that sword for me until then."
With a sudden, swift motion, Taskmaster grabbed something from his utility belt and chucked it hard at Julius. By the time Julius registered what it was – a frag grenade – it was already three feet away. Instinct took over. As the grenade detonated, Julius quickly bent the air, compressing the explosion and its contents, containing the blast to a tight, harmless sphere. When he looked up, Taskmaster was gone, vanished into the chaotic night.
Julius quickly knelt, placing a hand on the ground that was fractured. His seismic sense, now fully engaged, confirmed it: Taskmaster was long gone. For someone without superhuman speed, he was incredibly fast. "Damn, he escaped," Julius muttered, pulling his hand back.
He then assessed the scene around him, and his heart sank at the sight he dreaded most. His identity was exposed. The darkest secret he had tried to keep, to prevent this very scenario, was now laid bare.
Every pair of eyes in the thinning, terrified crowd was fixed on him, filled with a raw, undeniable fear. Then, he spotted his best friend, Matt Davis, standing frozen amidst the debris.
Julius tried to approach him, his hand tentatively reaching out. "Hey Matt, everything is okay now, I..."
Before he could finish, Matt flinched back, his voice strained and unfamiliar. "Julius, I... I think you should leave."
The moment those words came from the very friend he'd grown up with – played football with, seen at church every Sunday – something profound and painful broke inside Julius. His outstretched hand dropped to his side, heavy and useless. He looked once more at the faces of everyone he knew, every single one etched with fear and alienation.
"Julius, it's going to be okay," Laura said, her voice softer than he'd ever heard it. "Everything is going to be okay."
Julius turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Laura, if that was even her real name. The name 'X-23' echoed in his mind from Taskmaster's taunts. He felt betrayed. From what he understood, she was actively looking for him, hunting him down, all while keeping her own identity as a mutant a secret. Her presence, her mission, had brought a supervillain to Cactus City, shattering his life. He wanted to scream at her, to blame her for ruining everything, but the words caught in his throat. He couldn't say such cruel things to her, not to the girl who had made him feel something he hadn't known he was missing.
"No... It's not," Julius whispered, tears welling in his now glowing white eyes. A profound sadness emanated from him, a raw grief that was almost as palpable as the increasing energy. He closed his eyes and, slowly, inexplicably, began to hover off the ground. Around him, the debris-strewn earth stirred, dust and loose leaves swirling into a miniature vortex of wind and dirt. The vortex began to pick up speed and grow in size, rapidly expanding outwards, soon turning into a miniature tornado. The sheer force of the swirling elements drove away everyone still lingering at the party, sending them fleeing in terror into the night, their screams lost to the rising winds.
"Julius! I know you're scared, but come with me! I can help you! The X-Men can help you!" Laura pleaded, her voice tinged with desperation as she reached out a hand to him.
Julius finally opened his eyes, and what she saw truly shocked her. His eyes were no longer just glowing; they were pure, blinding white orbs of light, utterly devoid of pupils or iris. She could feel the power now radiating off him, a force so immense it threatened to buckle the very air around them, solidifying into a colossal presence. This was something far, far beyond an Omega-level mutant. This was a being of raw elemental force, untamed and terrifying, manifesting directly from his stress and emotional turmoil.
Realizing the situation was now spiraling far beyond her power, Laura quickly pulled out her comms. "Logan," she yelled into the device, her voice strained against the intensifying wind, "it's Julius! He's the Omega! He's... he's creating a tornado!"
"Jean and I are on our way!" Logan's gruff voice cut through the static, a hint of alarm in his tone. "What in blazes is going on over there, kid?!"
"It's his powers, Logan, they're out of control!" Laura shouted back, ducking as a piece of barn siding tore loose and spun past her. "He just sent Taskmaster flying and put a dent in his vibranium shield! Everyone's fled, but he's losing control of his powers!
"Fuck, stay still!" Logan roared, his voice more desperate now, a rare crack in his usual composure. "I'm five minutes away! Jean, you need to contact Charles, now!"
Laura didn't wait for Logan's following command. She hung up, her cellphone clicking dead, needing every ounce of her focus. She knew if Julius's uncontrolled power continued to escalate, all of Cactus City would be destroyed as the miniature tornado around him continued to grow, whipping into a true force of nature. She had no choice. She had to help her date, the boy who was now the volatile eye of the storm.
Laura closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths, focusing, centering herself amidst the escalating chaos. She then slowly lowered herself into a crouching position, all of her claws extending with a soft snickt – two from each hand, and one from each foot. She plunged them into the fractured earth, embedding herself firmly, an anchor against the gale. With grim determination, she began to approach the burgeoning storm, moving towards the eye where Julius floated, the source of the terrifying power. She pushed forward, each step a struggle against the intensifying winds that tore at her clothes and hair. Debris, large and small, whipped past her, but her heightened senses allowed her to weave through the deadly maelstrom, her focus unwavering on Julius in the swirling center.
As Laura finally broke through the deafening roar of the winds and debris, she found herself in an eerie calm at the heart of the miniature tornado. Julius hovered ten feet off the ground, utterly still. His eyes were pure, blinding white orbs, and the air around him pulsed with visible, unstable energy. Earth swirled beneath him, fire flickered erratically in the vortex's walls, and the wind itself seemed to emanate directly from his being. He was a conduit, a vessel for a power too vast for him to control, his face a mask of profound sorrow and desperate confusion. He wasn't lashing out in anger; he was unraveling from grief and fear, his overwhelming abilities reacting to his emotional turmoil. This wasn't merely a show of force; it was a breakdown.
Laura didn't shout. Instead, she took another deep, grounding breath, planting her feet as firmly as she could on the unstable earth. Her voice, usually so sharp and direct in combat, softened, cutting through the low hum of the elemental fury with surprising clarity.
"Julius," she said, her voice gentle, unwavering. She didn't try to reason with him or explain her point. She simply spoke to the pain she saw. "I know you're hurting. I know you're scared. But you have to listen to me."
She took a slow, deliberate step forward, then another, ignoring the instinct to protect herself from the volatile power radiating from him. She extended her hand, not in an aggressive gesture, but in one of pure, raw empathy.
"You're not alone in this. Look at me. This isn't who you are. You're a good person, Julius. The guy I like wouldn't destroy everything and everyone. I'm here for you." Her words weren't a command; they were an invitation, a lifeline. Her focus was absolute, her own turbulent emotions momentarily suppressed by the urgent need to reach him. She met his glowing gaze, pouring every ounce of her understanding, her hard-won lessons about control and pain, into that silent connection.
Julius finally looked at her. His face was neutral, devoid of the raw anguish from moments before, but tears, thick and luminous, were slowly falling from his glowing white eyes. The unlimited energy still radiated from his body, a palpable hum of untamed power that made the very air vibrate.
Laura closed the remaining distance, kneeling beside him in the debris. She didn't hesitate, pulling him into a tight embrace. "You're not alone in this, Julius," she whispered, her voice firm and unwavering against his ear, a stark contrast to the chaos that still raged. "I'm right here with you."
As her words sank in and the warmth of her embrace reached him, the furious vortex of wind and dust around Julius began to falter, sputtering as if it were starved of its fuel. The blinding white light in his eyes softened, dimming to a faint glow. The wild, untamed energy radiating from him began to recede, settling back into a barely perceptible hum, and the violent churning of wind and dust finally died down to a gentle breeze.
Laura looked up, her gaze sweeping past Julius's shoulder to the edge of the now-calm devastation. Standing there, amidst the shattered remnants of the barn and the party, were Wolverine and Jean Grey. Their faces, usually so stoic or composed, were etched with a rare, profound shock at the sheer, raw power they had just witnessed from this new, untrained mutant.
"Well, I'll be damned," Logan grunted, breaking the silence, his eyes narrowed as he took in the quieted destruction and the two teenagers. "Never seen anything like it. Not even from Scott on a bad day."
Jean Grey, her own formidable psionic senses still reeling from the aftershocks, slowly raised a trembling hand to her temple. Her voice was a hushed whisper, filled with an unsettling blend of awe and dread. "The raw power... it felt just as potent as the Phoenix Force."