Chapter 3
Gilda wrapped the sleeves of her jacket around her waist and tied them in place. For three months she had held herself back. For three months she had been afraid of letting herself relax because of her mutation. But it was not simply her new wings that made her nervous, in fact she could not think that they were any cooler. Even the retractable claws that she could feel being held in place by the new muscles she had in her forearms were not so scary. The thing that had changed that frightened her was her brain. Her brain had been rewired to give her the instincts of a predatory animal, and that first night when after she mutated her instincts had made her see her father as prey.
Time to let go I guess, she thought to herself. It was actually pretty easy for her to keep her instincts in control. All she had to do was constantly think of the humans, and especially the Sentinels as the bigger predators, but it left her feeling like a bird in a cage. It made her jumpy and paranoid, and it was too easy for something to surprise her and make her take a swipe with her talons. She still felt bad about that dog's ear. So she dropped her control and relaxed her mind and body, knowing that she was in a place where everyone around her could handle themselves, and it felt great. No more feeling like she was in a cage, her wings not being uncomfortably pressed into her back, nobody to call her a monster, her raptor eyes following every movement of a nearby rabbit... Okay, a little self control should stay.
"Your wings are very beautiful."
"AH!" Gilda jumped, and hovered in the air as her wings flapped a few times seemingly defying gravity with little effort. She stopped flapping her wings and lightly fell back to a standing position. After a moment to calm down she turned to the person that had spoke, the gardener lady. "Uh, what?"
"Your wings are very beautiful." she said again. The woman was dressed in a light purple blouse with a white lapel, dark purple slacks, and white dress shoes with tall heels on them, though she had an apron on over it to protect the her outfit from dirt. Her skin was a pale white like the full moon, and her dark blue wavy hair hung loose almost to her waist. "Did I startle you?"
"No. ...Yes." Gilda was embarrassed, but at least she hadn't tried to claw the woman. "I'm Gilda."
"It's nice to meet you Gilda, my name is Luna." the woman greeted her and held out her right hand.
"Nice to meet you too." Gilda reached out to shake her hand, but pulled back when she noticed a problem. "Watch the claws!" she warned Luna.
"Oh, thank you. How sharp are those?" Luna asked as she looked at the eagle talon sized claws at the ends of Gilda's fingers. Three talons for the fingers with the middle one being significantly larger, and one for the thumb. Yet she had normal hands a moment ago, interesting.
"Does the term meat hook mean anything to you?" Gilda retracted the talons back into her hands.
"I don't imagine finding that out was fun." Luna said. She watched as an extra layer of skin unfolded from around the girl's hands, revealing her normal hands underneath, and the claws appeared to shrink as they were pulled back in. I've seen stranger mutations.
"What gave you that idea?" Gilda said sarcastically.
A little too sarcastically for Luna. "I would watch your attitude young lady. You may not be aware of who I am, but that was still very rude." She looked down at the six foot tall girl who was about half a head shorter than her.
"Yeah?" Gilda raised an eyebrow at her. "And just who are you exactly?"
"Headmistress Luna, co-founder of this school, known as the Dark Thunderer, " Gilda lowered her eyebrow and shrunk down a little. "fourth richest woman in the world, retired Avenger, and the woman whose property you are currently standing on. Do I need to go on?"
"No ma'am."
"Good." Luna took off the apron and dropped it next to the gardening tools that she had been using.
"So, if you're the headmistress why were you doing yard work?"
"I can't have a hobby?" Luna asked and pointed at the nearby hedge maze. "I planted this entire maze ten years ago, and I have tended it ever since."
"Wow." Gilda was impressed. She looked into the maze, down through the center aisle that separated the two halves of it, and at the stone monument at the end. She pointed at the monument. "What's that?"
When Luna didn't answer right away Gilda turned back around to look at her. Luna stood still and just watched the monument for a minute or two. She finally blinked a few times, and shook her head. "That is the end of a long story that I don't want to get into right now. Come, we can still hear the last of my sister's speech if we hurry."
Gilda thought about it for a minute. She was still a little nervous about being around other people, but she was not going to get any better about it by standing there doing nothing. "Sure, why not."
As they were walking around the mansion a ringing noise came from Luna's pocket. She reached for the object and pulled out what Gilda at first thought was a credit card, but then Gilda saw the red and white pattern and the stylized A. The woman pressed the A to answer the call. "Luna speaking."
"What? Oh, crap... Uhh, hey Luna any chance you and your sister aren't mad at me anymore?"
"Stark! I'm hanging up!"
"No wait! We need backup."
Luna's eyes narrowed as she frowned. "So why did you call me? I'm retired, Celestia too."
"We've got a small invasion of Skrulls in New York and I told Jarvis to contact the nearest Avengers. We're scattered over the globe right now and we could really use some help here."
Luna sighed. "Who do you have with you?"
"Hawkeye, Falcon, and a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents." a boom was heard on his end of the line.
"Fine I'm on my way, but after this I am done."
"Understood...Celestia isn't coming is she?" another boom.
"No she is busy with the new students and their families." Luna said before passing the card to Gilda. "Take this."
"What? What am I supposed to do with it?" Gilda asked as she took the card. "I don't even want to be a hero."
"Throw it away, burn it, keep in case of an emergency, do what you shall." Luna told her dismissively. "Stand back from me."
Luna walked away from Gilda, raised one hand to the sky, and called for the power. "To me Shadowbolt!"
From the the clear blue sky overhead there came a thunderous noise and a great flash of light as a bolt of lightning streaked down into Luna's outstretched hand. She grasped the electricity and let it's power flow into her. A spark started in her hand and spread over her body. As the spark spread it changed what it touched. Her hand and forearm was now armored in a black gloved wrist guard that was clearly designed to protect against strong physical attacks, and as the spark continued down her upraised arm it gave her larger more well defined muscles. The spark passed over her shoulder and began to transform her clothes into stylised black steel armor. The spark continued on and flowed over her entire body, replacing her clothes with the same black steel armor that covered her forearms, her legs from feet to knees, her upper body from shoulder to above her abdomen, and everything in between was covered in a blue fabric. And upon her head was a helm of black steel with wings sweeping back from the sides and a single six inch spike protruding from above her eyes.
The armor was not overly feminine, or sexually suggestive like what some female heroes dressed themselves in. It was elegantly designed yes, with beautiful patterns that resembled a flor de lis, but it was designed and built for one purpose. Battle!
The woman underneath was not left unchanged. She was now taller than what she had been before, though her boots were not high heeled like her shoes had been. Her body was now leaner, more muscular, and brought to mind an ancient Amazon warrior. Her eyes held a glint of hidden power, and her hair now flowing without wind appeared as if it was the night sky itself.
Luna pulled down her hand and willed the still flowing lightning gathered into a solid form. An obsidian hammer, black as a starless night, shaped like a stylised bolt of lightning, flat on one end a sharp point on the other. She grabbed the strap on the handle and whirled Shadowbolt around over her head, and threw it into the sky without letting go sending herself flying like the wind.
Gilda stood still from shock, not just mental shock but electric as well because she had not been far enough away. Now her white hair, and even her feathers stood out at odd angles. Finally she blinked a few times and spoke to the man on the other end of the Avengers communication card. "She isn't in charge of detention is she?"
As Headmistress Celestia was greeting the last of the last of the guests the crowd outside of the gate made its intention known. The parents, children, and the school staff were all momentarily startled by the sudden shouts of anti mutant protesters.
"Humanity now! Mutants never!" was the constant chant. There were also several men and women wearing shirts with the logo of the Friends of Humanity. Scattered throughout the crowd was a variety of signs that had been painted with hateful, and even some violent, images of mutants. One person had even made a dummy with four arms and a tail, which was hung by its neck from a pole.
Three young men up close to the gate had something extra planned. They were actually closer to being boys than men, but they were still adults. They each had brought high powered paintball guns and were planning on shooting at the people gathered on the lawn with special paintballs that were filled with neon green glow in the dark dye.
"Filthy radioactive mutants need to be marked." one of them muttered.
Before they could open fire though there was a commotion in the crowd. A series of random noises consisting of honks, dings, and cat noises passed in a wave through the crowd. The three men all looked behind them to see what was happening...
...and found themselves looking at a catgirl like in those Japanese cartoons.
"Hi there! Can I get by please? I'm late." She smiled up at them completely oblivious to what they were doing. Her pink cat ears poked up out of her blue, brown, and black hair. She was wearing a blue top, a blue and brown skirt with a kitty face on it, and knee high blue and black boots with pink soles and a pink bow at the top of each. Any skin that showed was covered in pink fur, and a very fluffy tail as long as her legs flicked back and forth behind her. Her big blue anime sized eyes were so adorable that they almost made them ignore that she was obviously a mutant.
"What? N... No! You freaking mutey!" the leader of the three pointed his paintball gun at her.
"EEEK!" she squeaked in alarm and batted the barrel away from her. The man instinctively pulled the trigger, and shot a woman in the face with a paintball.
"She made me do that with her powers!" he told everyone, and he honestly believed his own lie.
"No I didn't" The catgirl reached a hand into the tip of her fluffy tail, pulled out small box of tissues, and held them out to the woman. "Here."
"Get away from me you monster!" The woman swung her purse at the girl, but missed when she ducked and scrambled back.
The crowd began to turn hostile. Other people around her started to throw bits of trash at her. The woman pulled a large book out of her purse, the Holy Bible, and began quoting a scripture that she had only read for the first time that day. The three men each tried to grab the girl, and they probably would have succeeded if someone had not stopped them. Three quick punches and they were stumbling back against the gate. The rest of the crowd stepped back from the new person.
He was young, lean and fit with a runner's body, and his skin was pale like he never got any sun. He wore a red hoodie over a black shirt, dark blue jeans, and a pair of silver reflective sunglasses. The thing about him that really stood out was his belt buckle, a blue rectangle stamped with a yellow X.
"Alright everyone, you had your chance to protest peacefully, now leave." he told them as he stood next to the catgirl. His fists were clenched and even with his sunglasses hiding his eyes it was clear that he was glaring at the three men. The catgirl was clinging onto the right shoulder of his hoodie with her ears drooped down as she nervously looked around.
"Mind your own business mutant lover!"
"This is a public street, we can stay as long as we want!"
One of the three men stepped up to him with an arrogant smirk. "I think it's time for YOU to leave." the man said and poked him in the chest.
The boy looked like he would have ripped the man's head off if the girl had not been holding onto him. Instead he raised his left fist up between his and the man's faces, and willed the shadows underneath his sleeve to come out and shape into three claws. Seeing this everyone quickly backed away from him.
"Hey I recognize him! He was with the Brotherhood!" one of the other three men yelled.
Before things could escalate any further another man stepped forward to speak. He was in almost every way completely average, from his medium length loose brown hair to his green shirt and light brown hiking shorts, and from his white shoes to his barely tanned skin everything about him was average. He carried himself like he was a big man, though he was only a bit stocky, and he stood at the average height of just under six feet tall. The only thing that would stand out was the color of his eyes, they were a unique mix of green and blue that seemed like it was on the verge of changing from one to the other. This man grabbed the bible from the woman and quoted without looking.
"Judge not lest you be judged. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love thy neighbor. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." The crowd had stopped to listen to him. "Many of you are Christians, but you forget the most basic teachings of your faith. You even commit the sin of blasphemy by saying that God did not create mutants. It is said in this book that only that which he wills can exist in this world. If that is true then God wants mutants to live with you because they would not exist if he did not allow them."
By now most of the crowd had regained some common sense and were no longer holding up their protest signs. Those who were from the Friends of Humanity however did not relent.
"This isn't about God! It's about monsters like them using their powers to intimidate and take advantage of us normal people!"
The man gave the woman back her bible and turned to address the new speaker, a middle-aged man in a FoH shirt. But one of the three young men thought it wise to do the stupidest thing possible.
"All three of you get on the ground NOW!" The rest of the crowd ran off pretty quickly after they saw the gun, a thirtyeight special. He moved the gun back and forth between the mutants. He looked the older of the two males in the eye and sneered at him. "I recognize you too. You destroyed an entire town. Did you really think your face wouldn't be on the news at some point?"
The boy wanted to do something, anything, but the catgirl was still clinging to his shoulder so the best he could do was take the bullet for her. Though he was hoping to get an opportunity to use his shadows without that happening. He could feel her heart beating like a drum roll against his back while she peeked over his shoulder with one eye. He watched the other guy out of the corner of his eye, and he stopped thinking when he noticed that the man had steam rising from his body and little bits of stone, concrete, and other trash around his feet were vibrating.
What the hell kind of power does he have? the teenager wondered to himself.
"I said get on the-gyah!" the troublemaker yelped as his gun took on a mind of its own. It waved around wildly like it was trying to escape him, and then it smacked into his face. When he released his weapon from shock it spun up into the air and disappeared. They all stood there watching the sky with dumbfounded expressions.
"Well that was interestin." Big Macintosh said from where he stood in front of the gate. He placed his left hand on the young man's shoulder and gripped it rather hard. "Y'all go on in while I wait for the cops to come pick up the trash."
The three mutants did as he said and walked passed him into the front yard of the property, and each winced in sympathy at the pained look on the teenager's face as Big Mac squeezed his shoulder. They continued on for a bit before any of them said anything.
"So what are your names?" the pink catgirl asked them. "I'm Feline Fluff!"
They both looked at her. The boy pulled his hood down to reveal his spiky white hair and a little hesitantly introduced himself. "Nocturnis Nemesis, and yes that's my real name. Code name is Shadow Bat."
"Richard King." the average looking young man offered his hand to them in greeting. "No code name."
None of them noticed the elderly man down the street. He stood alone in a nice suit with a cloak attached to the shoulders. Floating next to him was the gun he had taken from the boy. It slowly disassembled itself, even the bullets opened up to release their powder making them useless. With a flick of his hand he then crushed the weapon into a crude metal ball. "Homo Sapiens and their guns."
Celestia stood in front of the crowd of parents and students. It had taken a bit more time to get everything settled than she had anticipated. Her sister flying off in a burst of thunder definitely did not help, though the sudden shouts from the protesters was worse. She was glad that no-one has been hurt when the boy had pulled a gun, but it was regrettable that it had happened at all. After taking a calming breath She spoke to her guests.
"Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It is how we have evolved from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.
"Since the dawn of existence, there have always been moments when the course of history shifted. Such a turning point is upon us now. The conflict between the better and worst angels of our very nature, whose outcome will change our world so greatly, there will be no going back. I do not know if victory is possible. I only know that great sacrifice will be required."
"Wise words from a great man." Celestia told them. "Charles Xavier. A great man with great skill at speaking to crowds, but I shall try to keep this short and not turn it into a lecture as he would." She grinned as that got a good chuckle from most of the people present.
"Charles Xavier's dream of mutants and normal humans living side by side as equals has sadly not yet come true. It is not for lack of trying that he has not succeeded, but rather because of how he went about it. True, oppression by the government, hostility from the general population, and a rivalry with his oldest friend played a part. But it was his school's purpose as a training grounds for mutants that held him down." Celestia took a moment to let everyone understand what she said. "In making his school a facility for training mutants how to use and control their abilities, and nothing else, he made it no different from a military base. He did not think what the average person would see when they saw his students. What they saw was an army of superhumans all marching to his orders.
"Harmony House will be different. Me, my sister, our staff, and even our older students are here to not only train others with powers how to control their abilities, but also to help them grow as individuals and to actually teach them. Here your children will be able to learn and become knowledgeable in science, art, law, philosophy, and anything else that we can provide.
"But other things will be taught as well, such as acceptance of other people no matter who or what they are. Human," she glanced at young Octavia Melody sitting beside her father. "Foreign," she saw a platinum haired girl with a camera look up at her. "Alien, robot, android from the future, or mutant.
"Here at Harmony House we teach honesty, kindness, loyalty, generosity, laughter, and a little something extra." Celestia finished with a wink. "Now come on everybody, there's a party around back with your names on it!"
Iron Man, Hawkeye, Falcon, and three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were pinned down in Central Park by a squadron of Skrull warriors. Supplies and power were both low, and injuries had been sustained. The worst part was the leader of the invasion.
Kl'rt the Super Skrull stood before the heroes. "You will surrender to us now, and tell us where you have taken her."
"For the tenth time...I don't know who you're talking about!" Tony Stark yelled, his face plate retracted because of a crack across the eyes that made them stop working.
"No offense Stark but you're not always the most trustworthy guy." Hawkeye shot a glance at him while shifting his aim between different Skrulls. "So if you know ANYTHING about what they want now would be a great time to say something."
"They haven't even said who they're looking for! ...does anyone else hear a whistling sound?" Tony looked around at everyone. They all were looking for the sound too, even the Skrulls.
"It's like when someone drops a bomb in a cartoon." Falcon pointed out. He blinked then looked up. "What-
The boom of a thunderbolt knocked everyone off their feet as she crashed to earth between the heroes and the Skrulls. Kl'rt remained standing though, and he got a very good view of her hammer after he recovered from the force if her arrival. Luna shouted VERY loudly. "HAVE AT THEE!"
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Nice. Fourth richest? Guessing Celestia is third.
I liked the protest. Mind if I steal the idea?
Also, congrats to Nocturnis Comics and FelineFluff! Your characters are amazing. Also,
6423056 thanks. Quick edit: Nocturnis is supposed to have white hair, fixing now.
6423056 use it if you like.
6010991 have you kept up with it?
6423407 Thanks. Also, I'm taking you up on the Scary Story offer.
Things are looking nice and established so far. Looking forward to the real show starting soon.
6425377 Keep in mind that this is slice of life. Super heroic adventures are a side effect of being a powered human, but the focus for now is on them being at the school.
However I will be including the past adventures of Celestia and Luna which are actual superhero adventures.
6425468
Well, this is Gilda we're talking about. Attitude. Delinquency. Add in an early series Dash as a co-conspirator, and I can't exactly see them attending and being good little students the whole time, to say nothing of remaining on campus. Top all that off with superpowers (we've already seen those wings of hers are functional) and things can't stay pedestrian and boring forever.
6425477 All true. Though there is the whole her teacher has the power of Thor thing. Not saying Luna would challenge her to fight or anything but still.
Each character will have their personalities modified according to how I feel they would be in the Marvel universe so some ooc should be expected.
In fact if you go back to chapter2 you will find a hint at how Rarity is different. It's not a happy one.
OMG YUUUS!!!! Mutant Feline is the best
Thank you for using my oc in this awesome fic!!
6425763
Do you like her possible ship?
6425784 IDK Who's oc it is XD
6425816 Nocturnis Comics
She will probably stay as a little sister character for him as he will already be getting chased by any girl who isn't a main character.