May 21st - Breaking News

[Iceman]

It was about 9:15 in the morning on May 21st when the chaos in Baltimore was ready to air on the major news networks who had been lucky enough to get there first. On ABC, Dr. Phil was counseling couples that were looking to adopt children.

But when the commercials ended, instead of the expected show, the screen went to a newsroom. The camera was focused on the station’s top anchors, Jon Burgundy and Stella Baker, who sat ready behind their desk. On cue, Miss Baker began to explain why they had dared to broadcast over Dr. Phil.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you breaking news from Baltimore, where the location of the long-awaited distribution of the mutant cure has been attacked. Here is Hugh Jackmand with the full story from the scene. Hugh?”

The screen flashed to a man standing outside in an eerily empty city street. “Yes, Stella, I am standing on Baltimore’s Main Street, only blocks away from the NovaTex headquarters. As you know, NovaTex publicly declared that they had a stockpile of the cure days ago, and that they planned to begin distribution of this cure from their headquarters in Baltimore. Just before nine o’clock this morning, only one day before distribution was set to begin, the building was attacked by the mutant terrorist group who call themselves ‘The Brotherhood’.”

As the camera panned away from Hugh, there was thundering crack from maybe a block away. It took all of Hugh’s training as a news anchor to ignore it, though every viewer across America heard it loud and clear.

“Details are still coming in at this time, but we do have reports that the X-Men, the well-known group of highly-trained mutants who fought to protect Worthington Labs from The Brotherhood last year, arrived on the scene very soon after a warehouse next to NovaTex was bombed. There were police on the scene beforehand, and eyewitnesses tell us that the government’s Sentinels, which were unveiled only days ago, appeared on the scene soon after.”

The screen moved back to Jon and Stella, safely behind their news desk. Jon folded his hands on the desk and spoke, his face serious. “Thus far, we don’t know if there are any casualties on either side of this battle. As this information becomes available, we will keep you updated with up-to-the-minute reports from the scene.”

And with that, the scheduled show appeared on the screen, as though an ominous message had not been sent into the homes of humans and mutants across America.

[Iceman]

Minutes later, the newsroom appeared on the screen for a second time. The anchors briefly explained the situation for those who hadn’t seen the first broadcast before handing it over to Hugh Jackmand.

This time, Hugh was much, much closer. They were down the street from the battle itself—and it was utter chaos. The police cars may have comforted viewers at first, unless they realized on closer inspection not only that the cars were battered and wrecked, but that the few cops still moving looked badly injured and crazed. But the action of all of the people involved in the fighting was so chaotic that it was impossible to pick out specific people.

All of the streetlamps were out, along with all lights in every building. But in stark contrast, the battle was a roar of shouting and screaming, of explosions and guns being fired and things being thrown.

“It seems that the fire in the warehouse has been put out, though the damage there was undoubtedly extensive. The NovaTex building itself seems to be unharmed at this time. We have confirmed reports of casualties of several members of the police force here, as well as several members of the crowd that had formed outside of the building prior to the attack.”

“It seems as though members of both The Brotherhood and the X-Men are pulling back—So far, we do not have confirmed reports of any casualties to either group, though this footage was taken just minutes ago close to the scene, in which we see one very badly injured member of the X-Men being taken from the scene by a fellow X-Man. Here is that footage now…”

The clip began to play, focusing on an area near the worst of the fighting. Two battered police cars were parked in the street, and there was a man leaning against the side of one of the cars. As the camera and the rest of the country’s viewers watched, his arms pushed him off of the window, and as he clutched at the car to steady himself, he staggered along it’s side. His face turned to the camera, and revealed that he was a young man whom many who had seen at least one news segment on the X-Men would recognize as Iceman.

He was hunched over, and his arms were reaching out in front of him, as if searching for something to steady himself with. His eyes were barely open, and his eyelids fluttered to stay open that small bit. His face was pale, and he was drenched in a cold sweat that matted his hair on the back of his neck and made his leather suit stick to his skin. His suit, which was torn through the chest and back in many places.

But the most noticeable thing about Bobby Drake was the way that he shook. His jaw trembled as though he was cold, though Iceman was never cold. He stepped away from the car, and his legs shook under his weight as he swayed where he stood. His arms shook terribly as he grasped for something to hold onto.

He sunk to his knees and then onto his side, shaking hands trying to pull him back onto his hands and knees. He was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling harshly. Water, which had matted his hair, dripped from his nose and chin as his head hung.

A figure swooped in from the side of the screen—A man with long, white feathery wings like an angel landed beside Iceman. The winged man (whom those who followed the news coverage of the X-Men knew to be Angel, the son of business mogul Warren Worthington) spoke to Iceman. Bobby Drake tilted his head up to look at Angel, and lifted an arm toward him. Angel grabbed Iceman, whose face was over Angel’s shoulder, facing the camera. Iceman’s eyes closed, and his head fell down onto Angel’s shoulder. A moment later, the drenched white wings flapped, and Angel left the ground, leaving the camera’s sight with Iceman in tow.

The screen returned to the news anchor, who now had an umbrella to shield him from the rain and hail. “We are unaware of that X-Man’s status at this time. Once again, we will keep you updated with up-to-the-minute news coverage from the scene here in Baltimore. Back to you, Stella.”