X-men: Celestial Wars Part 1

X-men: Celestial Wars Part 1

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a massive fan of Marvel Comics, more so the group known as the X-men. They were my introduction into comic books and growing up a young gay black male in america they were more or less my role models when it came to being different. Though their line up and location have changed over the years one thing has remained constant with them and that is that they are and will always be a minority fighting for their equal rights.

This may have changed more or less in a few places but the series stays true to this concept. Or at least it used to. This series has ran for decades upon decades and many exciting, as well as terrible, stories have been told with these characters. They've had extreme highs and extreme lows. One particular low has never set right with me however and that is how this story idea came to pass.

There came a time in the year 2005 where he head editors at Marvel thought that mutant-kind had grown too big for it's britches and while some may have agreed a lot of us X-Fans saw this as a natural progression of the line. It only makes sense that at some point a minority would stop being a minority and especially so in the case of the X-men's concept. Normal people who suddenly find themselves different from others at puberty.

This natural progression was not to be however and December of that year the X-men found themselves Decimated at the hands of one of their own kind. This act reduced mutant-kind to all but 198 out of the possible 16 billion and since then things have never been the same.



The X-line has yet to truly recover from this act and though the Marvel Architects may be trying to remedy that right now I'm not so sure if what's coming out of the current crossover will be any better.

Since that happened though I've had a big idea brewing in the back of my mind as to where I would have taken the X-men after M-Day. Needless to say this idea didn't mean much and still doesn't really but for whatever reason I've found myself fed up with what's happening to my comic love and have sought to tell the story I've wanted to see. And so I bring you X-men: Celestial Wars.

It's the story of a people on the outs after a great loss to their species and how they band together to restore their numbers by grim determination alone. The story features many of the X-men characters fans know and love/hate. I've decided to write in a third person omniscient view point to show how many of the characters are coping and I've swapped a few things around here and there for continuity reasons. This first segment features much about both Cyclops and Storm, both leaders of the X-men and from here I'll expand things.

I hope you stuck around long enough to get to the story part of this post so without further adieu here it is. Enjoy and, as always, please comment.

PS. All characters belong to Marvel Comics.

X-men: Celestial Wars Part 1

No more mutants.

Those were the three words that decimated a race in one feel swoop. The mutant race. Those three little words spoken by one of the world’s most powerful reality-altering mutants set them on a downward spiral to destruction. One from which Earth's smartest minds have yet to find a way out of.

Their numbers have been reduced by a catastrophic 90% leaving only 198 of them left to fend for themselves against a world that hates and fears their kind. They are a broken people on the verge of extinction and it is now up to one man to lead them back from damnation.

His name is Scott Summers but that's not his true name anymore. They call him Cyclops. That is the name he was given since the age of 16 when he became the first X-man.

He was an orphan, he and his brother. Children of the atom and sons of spacemen. But this story isn't just about him. It's about all of mutantkind. Cyclops may have been the first X-man but he will not be the last.

He watches her from across the room in deep contemplation as he steps back to stare at a projection of their world. There was a time where he wouldn't have gotten this close to her without hiring her with one of his optic blasts. Now, he seeks her cold comfort. His White Queen, Emma Frost.

She glances at him, surely knowing he was thinking of her. That's the problem with being in love with a telepath. Secrets are nothing more than an archaic concept.

“Focus, Scott.” Her words shoot through his mind and he has to blink his eyes a few times behind his visor before looking back to the group gathered.

They are his X-men, both new and old. The first class sits adjacent to the all new, all different group. At any other point this would be a familial meeting but now the air is so tense in here that not even Storm clear it.

“Everyone. Thank you all for coming. We don't have much time to talk so I'll cut to right it. You know as well as I do why I've gathered you all here today and I apologize now for anything that comes of it. Three little words were spoken to decimate our entire race and now it is up to us to fix that.”

The room is silent as he speaks save for the occasional grunt from Wolverine, known as Logan to his friends. He stands away from the others, his back against the wall as it has always been since his Weapon-X days.

“And how do you propose we do that, Slim? You got some magical undo button you can hit back there? A get out of jail free card? Cause I already told you what my solution to all of this is. We find the Witch and she burns for her crimes. She'll be begging to undo this.”

“Logan.”, Storm interjects in as calm a tone as she can muster. Ororo Monroe, Mother Nature personified, does not take murder lightly, “I will not entertain such acts. Not even in joking manner.”

“No, it's fine, Storm.”, says Cyclops as he waves away Wolverine's threats, “Magik, explain it to them.”

The young blonde girl known as Magik, Illyana Rasputin, casts her emotionless eyes towards the center of the table before she speaks. From the table rises a three dimensional image of the earth made of solid light.

“I've studied her spell, Logan. Killing her would do little to reverse it. Though it would be an enjoyable act to those affected by it. Her machinations were spread wide across the multiverse. Short of a cosmic act I'm not sure yet how to fix it without causing entropic collapse across reality.”

Her voice is cold and even, a stark contrast to the sweet image she projects. Wolverine groans slightly at this.

“All hope is not yet lost.”, says the Beast, Hank McCoy, as he clubs his glasses meticulously. Clawed fingers covered in blue fur fumble over delicate frames as he fights against his feline form.

“Beast, what do you have?” Asks Cyclops as he watches his long time friend deal with what his mutation has become. They've been friends since this started.

They've saved the world together countless times and lost much in the process. The Original Five came together under the tutelage of Professor Xavier and since then much has changed and much has stayed the same. Beast will always be the most brilliant mind Cyclops has ever met.

“I have nothing--yet. I've been running the numbers with Prodigy but even with our combined brain power we are still just two. I'll need time and possibly help.”

“You have all our resources. Just say the word Henry.” Says Emma coolly from across the table, “I'll task you with keeping Prodigy safe but as for the other students, they have to be protected. Many are now powerless.”

“It's not just them Emma. The all of mutantkind has been affected.” Cyclops stands from the table as he speaks, trying his best to keep his head held high in the face of it all, “Send a message to the for corners of the world Emma: All mutants, former and current, are invited to the mansion for protection. Find them all. We can't let anyone else perish.”

“Scott, that's find and all but you must know that this isn't going to be easy. Nature abhors a vacuum and with what has just transpired there's no telling what will erupt.” Beasts words sends a collective groan through the room.

Cyclops is silent for a few seconds as he thinks. All they've been through, all they've faced off against. It can't have been for nothing. He will not let it be for nothing. He looks up to his gathered team, his family. He will not let them fall.

“Be ready then, all of you. When it starts I want to know that I have the backing of all of the X-men. We can't sit around and wait for help to come or some magical Messiah to show up. We've been fighting for a world that hates and fears us since this all began. Now it's time to fight for ourselves.”

The room stands resolute with Cyclops words. They find strength in their numbers but beneath his stone cold expression he is fearful for what comes next.

“Finish your individual missions and return to the mansion quickly. We'll have guests soon enough.”

The room nods at his command and soon the whole world falls away from sight.

Lightning flashes and Storm hovers in a torrential downpour of her making. Rain drops quench the flames from the huts below her as she fights a blaze that has begun to spread all across Africa.

“Storm, I'm ten minutes out from the target zone. Have you handled the fires yet?”, squawks a voice robotic out of the X shaped pendant on the chest of her costume.

Torrential rains increase in power. Icy rains pelt her skin to no affect as she guides the weather to quell the inferno. The look in her eyes is tired, world weary. She has been working non stop to protect the people of Africa since M-day.

“I am finishing as we speak, Iceman!” Says Storm as the rains subside and clear skies return. She raises her hands and the wind around her surges. “I will meet you at the monorail! Lifeguard, are you near?!”

She goes barreling through the air with the slightest effort. She is tired but she will not let that stop her, not when her homeland is at stake. All it took was one wayward attack targeting a former mutant who used their powers to protect their village from raiders. From that attack chaos erupted and swept the country.

Now a group of X-men have assembled to stop this and she leads the charge against those who would see their doom.

Her pendant buzzes once again as she nears her destination.

“No dice, Storm! Omega Sentinel and I are still in Queenstown, trying to patch up the dam! We need help!”

Her birth name is Heather Cameron but they call her Lifeguard for her adaptive powers. Her body ripples as she rushes into the flooding dam waters in an effort to staunch their flow. Instantly she's denser and much stronger to compensate for the pressure. She feels a tingle in her neck as gills open up to take in oxygen from the water.

Above her Omega Sentinel fights as hard as she can to protect Heather. Karima remembers a life before she became a Prime Sentinel. She was a normal detective before three android Bastion sought to use her in a plot against the X-men. Now she fights with them and today she uses all of her sentinel might to raise a downed power line from connecting with the dam waters and killing half the town.

They panic in the streets below Omega as she strains against the weight of it all.

“Kali, give me strength!” Omegas thoughts are strained and heartfelt. She feels her body give way and soon the power line falls out of her reach.

She dives for the tower, darting through hanging cables and wires that would mean a painful death for her hard drives.

All seems lost as it falls until glowing streams of energy surge through the air, wrangling the ambient electrical energy into it's field and drawing it to the mutant time traveler known as Bishop who waits on the ground to aid them.

“I made it, Ororo!”, yells Bishop into his communicator. “I'll help with patching the dam and we're on our way!”

Storm doesn't get the chance to respond. Elsewhere she zips through the afoot doing with Iceman as they maneuver to avoid an incoming volley of fire blasts.

“What is she doing?!”, screams Iceman as he quickly reassembles his ice slide. It seems not all powers have been lost in Johannesburg.

Iceman panics as he tries to repair the broken monorail platform in between attacks. He has just minutes till the speeding train crosses it's tracks.

Storm looks on in silence as the young mutant stands among armed men. The look in her eyes is fearful and Storms heart sinks at what she must do.

“Pitiful fools! You seek to use the powers of a child to challenge a goddess?!”

Her voice is resounding as the thunder. Above her skies darken and winds increase. Storm is tired and she has had enough of the dark side of Africa.

Rains pick up at an alarming rate and soon the skies crackle with electricity. She has vowed silently that she will make an example of them and in her fury she does as such.

Arctic winds sweep the space in between the girl and her captors as a freezing rain assails them suddenly. The men scream in terror but only resounding roll of thunder answers their cries. She descends to meet the frightened girl as her growing storm slowly subsides.

“Be calm child. My name is Ororo. I am here to help. What is your name?” A warm breeze accompanies her kind words and the young girl finds herself stepping away from the frozen men and towards the Weather Witch who decimated them so.

“I--Idie...Idie Okonkwo. They took me and...my family.... Oh merciful god! I killed my family!” Idie collapses into Storms arms as her words spill into tears. The young girl could be no more than fifteen and in Storms arms she seems even smaller.

She embraces the girl’s hug and finds herself reminded of her own tragic past. It was not by her power that she lost her parents but she’ll never forget that day.

She taps her pendant just as Iceman descends from his ice slide, bridge renewed.

“Scott, I have found a young mutant. We’re bringing her in. Have Magik bring in Magma and Jefferies. We have a bridge that needs a permanent fix.”

Storm looks down at the young mutant in her arms and she grimaces knowing that this is only the start.


End.