#x-men cyclops jacket

[jaemongus]

red bull scotty!

[vertigoartgore]

1980s Mohawk Storm by Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic (the wife of Marko Djurdjevic). Art used as a model for a pricey Kotobukiya statue (2011). Also as a variant cover for 2010's Doom War #1.

[rebelliousstories]

Rightful Spot

Relationship: Remy LeBeau/Gambit x Reader

Fandom: X-Men

Request: Yes by Anon

Warnings: Fluff, Brief Angst, Mentions of Fighting

Word Count: 1,521

Main Masterlist: Here

X-Men Masterlist: Here

Summary: After coming back to his timeline and finally joining in on missions, Remy underestimated how powerful cuddles could be.

Consider Donating: Here

Looking back on it now, he could have stuck that landing better. However, the circumstances leading to him having to stick a landing were a bit unforgiving, so it should not have been terribly surprising. Still, falling from the sky and rolling into a dark alleyway was not how Remy wanted his welcome home to be.

He could not complain though. Remy was home. He was back in his own universe, and now had a renewed sense of purpose. Stumbling out into where he could see lights, familiar sights and sounds greeted him like old friends. New Orleans, Louisiana; home sweet home. Gambit was on Bourbon Street, which was always hustling and bustling.

His feet began the trek to who knows where. All he knew was that they were going some place familiar and safe. The man ducked and weaved, making his way effortlessly through the crowds. In his hands, a card was always there, just in case. Further and further from the crowds, his feet took him. Down to where there were some apartment buildings, his brain finally started catching up with his feet. Taking over, Remy bolted up to the top, and began to run across the rooftops to his destination.

Dropping onto the fire escape, he thanked whatever was out there that he managed to keep mostly quiet. Peaking inside the window, he was shocked to see someone was still awake. In fact, multiple someone’s had been awake and moving about the apartment. Remy could not hear what was being said, but he knew those faces. Scott with his red glasses, and Jean with her matching red hair, Storm with her flowing white locks, and her. His cher was sitting there entertaining them all.

She looked like she was exhausted. Not from sleep, but mentally and emotionally tired. She looked like how Remy felt being in the Void. In her hands was a mug of something warm, probably that tea she likes to drink, and one of Gambit’s jackets around her. His heart tugged at the sight, and his lips curled in a smile. She never did do well with the cold.

Picking the lock on the window, Remy silently creeped into the apartment. Their eyes had not noticed the new person in the apartment, but he noticed how quiet it had gotten. Before he could speak, his body was suspended in the air as Jean turned to face the man. But she gasped in shock and let the man go almost immediately. The rest of the party was just a second behind her.

“Now, that ain’t no way to treat da Gambit, no?” His hands began massaging his body as the other people finally reacted to the new arrival. He heard her voice whisper out his name as he stood once more.

“Cher, I’m home. I’m so sorry.” But before he got any closer, Scott stepped in front of the ladies.

“If you really are Gambit, what’s something only he would know, huh? What was the last thing he said to me?” Scott pressed, worried that this might be an imposter.

“Cyclops, really? I just got back, mon ami. We really gonna have us an inquisition right now?” But the man was not swayed.

“What was the last thing Gambit told me?”

The Cajun was looked around for someone to support him not doing this, and just wanted to lay his eyes on his girl again. But he groaned, and wiped a hand over his face in frustration.

“Gambit told ya, ‘I’ll go on the mission. Jean needs ya here. Tell my cher dat I love her.’ That was the last thing I told ya before leaving for that damn mission to go so some recon on the brotherhood.” Everyone stood down. But Scott was still unimpressed.

“Where have you been all this time? And why only come back now?” He continued, even though Jean was tugging at his sleeve.

“Went on dat mission, and touched down in da forest. Didn’t find no brotherhood, but instead some people called da TVA takin’ bunch o’ dem out. Next thing I know, I wake up in da desert in some place called the Void. Been der evea’ since. Den a Deadpool and a Wolverine fought to leave the Void, and bargained for my freedom to come back as well as others. Believe me now, Scott?” Remy was getting fed up with answering questions. All he wanted was to get her in his arms.

Before anyone could speak again, he was nearly knocked over by the weight and force of something hitting him hard and fast. Remy regained his balance and looked down to see his girl squeezing him tight. Closing his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Hands landed on his arms, and he found Scott and Jean there on one side, with Storm on the other. Remy pulled the rest of the gang close as he relished this moment he never expected to have again.

After a few months of training, flying back to New York to go live at the school again, and a brief adjustment period to not always being on edge about who or what was going to find him, Gambit was back in the field. He did not do solo missions anymore, but he was excelling in team exercises again. This last one had kicked everyone’s butt though.

What was meant to be a simple mission of going down to help stop a mutant riot in the city, turned into a full scale brawl with the Brotherhood. In the end, they had eventually stopped the riot, but not without acquiring some scratches and bumps. The flight back to the school was a silent one; one where everyone that was not navigating the plane just wanted to rest with their eyes closed, and their brain off.

It was a smooth landing, which was a blessing. But having to walk back up was a curse. Every bone felt ten times heavier, and their feet felt like they were made of lead, but they did it. Bidding his teammates adieu, Remy continued his climb to where their room was. Thankfully, she had moved back into the mansion, having left when Remy disappeared, and was staying in their old room together. It was just like no time had passed.

Creaking the door open, he was delighted to see that she was folding some laundry with music playing somewhere in the background. Upon hearing the footsteps, she looked up, smiled, and abandoned her task.

“Remy, you’re home! Are you alright?” Her arms wrapped around him in a tight hug that made him groan.

“Ease up, cher. Ol’ Gambit done had the card house dropped on him.” Pulling away, she saw that a bruise was starting to form right underneath his chin. She traced a feather light touch over it, and furrowed her brows.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” She pleaded, worried to see what other marks he had gained in the afternoon that he had been gone.

“Non, cher. Just finish wit’ dem clothes so we can lay down, yeah? Gonna go get out of my suit now.” Gambit pressed a kiss to her lips, but was careful over the split he felt in the corner. While he went to the bathroom to change, she resumed her task of getting the laundry done.

Her mind was distracted, and worried about her lover that was just on the other side of the door. She could hear his groans and hisses, especially once the water started and he was underneath the stream. Setting out a loose shirt, and an equally loose pair of pajama pants, she went to work putting the rest of the clothes away while waiting for him to come out.

The door opened, and she just had to turn to see. Bruises started darkening already, and there were some minor scrapes, but that seemed to be the brunt of his injuries. With a towel loose around his hips, he grabbed the clothes from the bed, and sent his lover a wink. Not a seductive or even teasing wink, but rather a way to say thank you. He disappeared back into the bathroom, and she changed herself to something a bit more comfortable. As she was pulling the covers back from the bed, Remy emerged once more, with damp hair, and a fresh set of clothes on.

Gambit crawled into the plush bed, and sunk into it with a groan. She giggled, but crawled in beside her lover all the same. His arms, no matter how bruised or sore, opened wide to accept her right where she was supposed to be. They were facing each other, and her hands were tucked up against his chest to keep her close. One arm under her neck, and one around her waist, Remy kept her as close as humanly possible.

“Je t’aime, cher.” Remy whispered, pressing a kiss to her hairline as they began to drift off.

“I love you too, Remy.” She replied, feeling perfectly at peace in her spot with her lover.

[heckcareoxytwit]

The two teams of X-Men along with Calico, Jubilee (in the wrong outfit) and Beast (who is oddly absent in the fighting sequence) are fighting off the Sentinel Hounds and the brainwashed Mutant Trustees in the corridors of Graymalkin Prison. They are bantering each other and fighting their opponents at the same time. Meanwhile, Kwannon and Nightcrawler are walking along the secret passage debating on which mutant prisoner to free. Nightcrawler knows that freeing Omega Red is a bad idea because he is unstable and is likely to turn on them any time. At the Prison Control Room, Warden Corina Ellis is throwing bitchy hissy fits by berating and slapping anyone around her for not doing their jobs right. Corina orders Phillip Scurvy the crippled psychic mutant to use more psychic powers on the X-Men.

Back to the corridor of Graymalkin Prison, the two exhausted X-Men teams have defeated the Sentinel Hounds and the brainwashed Mutant Trustees. Rogue and Cyclops start to argue each other on whether they could free Charles Xavier from the cell. Rogue wants to free Xavier from prison. Cyclops is against the idea because not only that he witnessed Xavier killing the innocent human astronauts (which Xavier was actually doing that to trick the Orchis into leaving the mutants alone by pretending to join them in helping to wipe out humanity), Cyclops was also gaslit by Xavier for years as an X-Man. Then, the squabbling X-Men are interrupted by Phillip Scurvy who uses his powerful force of telepathy on the mutants. Even though Juggernaut is wearing the helmet, he is struggling through the mental attack and he tries to pry the cell door open. However, Juggernaut stops doing that when he hears a familiar voice behind them. It turns out that Charles Xavier is not in the X-shaped cell and he is right behind them, walking alongside with Nightcrawler and Kwannon.

X-Men v7 #9, 2024

It seems that the artists who did the pages of the fighting sequence, forgot about Jubilee's prison outfit. Earlier on, Jubilee was wearing the prison jumpsuit in the previous chapters, yet in this issue, Jubilee is shown wearing the yellow coat and full black bodysuit.

Jubilee wore the red prison jumpsuit in X-Men #8 and Uncanny X-Men #7.

In this issue, Jubilee is shown wearing her yellow jacket and full-body suit in the fighting sequence.

Yet on the same issue, Jubilee is back to wearing the prison suit again except that it's yellow.

Besides the artists and colorists, it looks like the X-Editors are really sleeping on their jobs!

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

My Morph primer

Since X-Men 97 is drawing in a lot of new fans with varied levels of experience with the original animated series or the comics, I figured I could give a write-up of who Morph is, where they come from, and why you don’t see them in any of the movies or other media.  This is also an excuse for me to write about an obsessive fave, seriously, they are all over my blog. I'm not necessarily an "authority," but I've watched TAS and read the comics, which are the basis for this write-up.

Who is Morph?

"Wolverine! Fall back!"

Morph is a shapeshifting mutant who was added to the X-Men team in the original X-Men: The Animated Series as a redshirt/sacrificial lamb, to be killed off For Real in order to show that the stakes are really high.  Originally it was actually going to be Thunderbird, a short-lived X-Man who died in the comics just a few issues after he was introduced, and has remained dead for decades.  But creators realized that killing off the only Native American character on a mostly white team was a bad look, and went with Morph instead.  Morph proved surprisingly popular with (mostly child) viewers, and was brought back in the 2nd season as a result.  Morph in TAS was originally presented as male using male pronouns, but I’m gonna use they/them for the character since they are nonbinary in X-Men 97.

(Btw, even Morph's TAS costume shows their redshirt nature, as they are basically wearing a variant of the standard X-Men uniform that different groups have worn, with the Original Five (Angel, Jean, Cyclops, Beast and Iceman) and the New Mutants all wearing something similar. There was a time in the 90's when all the X-Men were wearing this uniform to try to give them a team look, but thankfully that didn't last, the individualized looks are much better. Morph's amazing disappearing reappearing jacket are the only personalized touch in their uniform, and I hope X-Men 97 gives them a costume upgrade after everyone gets used to the new look.)

Morph doesn’t appear in many episodes of TAS, but here are the definitive ones:

Season 1:

Night of the Sentinels Parts 1 and 2: Morph seems to be an established part of the team, a wise-cracking shapeshifter who is so naively overconfident about their mission that they’ve practically got a target painted on their back.  When the mission goes wrong, Morph pushes Wolverine out of the way of Sentinel lasers, and gets blasted all to hell.  Morph’s supposed death (which was meant at the time to be a real death) is sensed by both Jean and Xavier.  Cyclops orders a retreat because the team is getting their asses kicked, abandoning both the (dead) Morph and (alive but injured) Beast, who spends the rest of the season in jail.  Morph is quickly forgotten as a character, BUT the impact of their death is felt throughout the season.  We get Wolverine yelling “This one’s for you, Morph!” while slicing up a Sentinel, and Cyclops in the finale insisting, “I’m not leaving anyone behind!  Not this time!” 

Season 2:

Till Death Do Us Part, Parts 1 and 2: Morph returns as a villain, but a sympathetic, brainwashed villain under the control of season Big Bad Mr. Sinister.  Sinister is an evil scientist who likes to fuck around with mutant genetics and is especially obsessed with getting Scott and Jean to fuck, because their child will supposedly be an extremely genetically superior mutant.  After Morph’s “death,” they were taken by Sinister, who revived them and implanted a control device into Morph’s brain that he uses to literally torture Morph into compliance.  Morph seems to have a kind of split personality, which Sinister exacerbates and encourages, shifting between a haggard-looking Evil Morph who wants revenge on the X-Men for abandoning them and cracks jokes while attacking the team, and a normal-looking Good Morph, who doesn’t want to hurt their friends, and is generally scared and confused and having a Bad Time.  If you are wondering about Morph turning into that version of themselves with dark circles around their eyes in X-Men 97 “Fire Made Flesh,” it was a reference back to this:

Evil Morph lookin' reeeeeaal creepy.

Morph uses their shape-shifting trickery to fake marry Scott and Jean (as the priest), impersonate Xavier and turn the team against each other, until Wolverine identifies them by scent.  The team then chases Morph to Sinister’s lair, where he’s captured a honey-mooning Scott and Jean.  Morph has been struggling with the brainwashing the entire time, and breaks free long enough to attack Sinister, then runs off away from everyone. 

Whatever It Takes: Wolverine, who has declared the Morph is “the only one who could ever make him laugh,” chases Morph down to Brazil in an attempt to drag them back to the team.  Morph, still fighting their dark side and flipping back and forth between the two personalities, taunts Wolverine in Jean’s form, fights him, and eventually gains enough control to tell Logan to back off. (“I have to get through this by myself!”) 

Fighting your friend in an abandoned mine shaft, a totally normal thing to do.

Wolverine reluctantly lets them go.  This the B-plot, the main plot of the episode features Storm and Rogue confronting the Shadow King in Africa, and is also really good.

Reunion Parts 1 and 2: Morph leaves a message for Wolverine stating that he wants to return to the team, in what seems like an obvious set-up for a trap.  Wolverine, Jean and Cyclops go to retrieve them, and find that yes, it is a trap.  Morph attmpts to warn the group to leave, but they are jumped by Sinister and the Nasty Boys, and the fight ends with Jean being taken, and Morph (still struggling against Sinister’s control), going semi-willingly.  The whole team winds up at Sinister’s base in the Savage Land and there are a lot of good character moments, like Gambit telling Rogue he loves her.  Morph spends the whole time still fighting against the brainwashing, but throws it off completely at the end (with Xavier’s help) and turns on Sinister, helping Scott and Jean defeat him.  Morph is then Put on a Bus to Muir Island so that the writers wouldn’t have to deal with the character but could hold them in reserve to use later.  Xavier comments that he can remove Sinister’s mind-control chip from Morph’s brain, but that “removing the psychic damage will take longer.”  So the answer to “Where’s Morph?” in later seasons will always be “Recovering on Muir Island, probably hanging out with Moira and Banshee.”

If you are a Morph fan, Season 2 is THE Morph season, they get a great character arc that fleshes them out, and establishes their close relationship with Wolverine.  I’m glad they didn’t toss out Morph in X-Men 97, both because I like the character, and because Morph’s entire arc in Season 2 was about their struggle to come back to the team, and constantly reaffirms that Morph is one of them, and that they belong with the X-Men.  Also, I know Tumblr love an angsty, suffering blorbo, and good God does Morph suffer in Season 2. 

(Someone is having a Bad Time).

Season 4:

Courage:  After getting only a couple of non-speaking background cameos in Season 3, this is Morph’s comeback episode in Season 4.  Morph believes that they are fully recovered and ready to rejoin the X-Men, while both Moira and Xavier seem to think they are not ready, and warn them to slow down a little.  Morph tries to jump back into their old role, makes jokes, and goes on a mission with Wolverine, but is clearly still dealing with PTSD and completely freezes up when Sentinels attack the mansion and kidnap Xavier.  Morph is left at the mansion while the X-Men go to rescue Xavier, but follows them anyway, and manages to play an instrumental role in stopping the Sentinels and saving Xavier.  Despite this, Morph decides that they are not ready to return and cannot be relied upon in battle (because the writers didn’t want to deal with using the character on the team), and goes back to Muir Island.  It’s a standard “character fucks up at the start of the episode but saves the day in the end” superhero cartoon story, and I was a little disappointed that the episode focused entirely on Morph’s “near death trauma” from the Sentinels and not the much worse “brainwashed and tortured by Sinister to the point of developing a second personality” issue.  The closest we get to addressing that is Morph pointedly walking up to Cyclops with “Scott…been a long time….” which sounds like a way of saying “We’re cool now, bro, I promise I won’t try to kill you.”  Still, we get some great Morph and Wolverine moments, and Morph kicks a lot of ass at the end.  After Morph spends most of the series either dead or suffering, I don’t mind an episode where they get to kick ass. This episode also establishes that Morph was suffering from serious nightmares for awhile, so consider that a canon excuse to put that in your angsty fanfic.

(Morph also gets a non-speaking cameo in Beyond Good and Evil Part 1, sitting next to Jubilee at Scott and Jean’s second wedding.  I think it’s sweet that they were invited, but can also imagine Scott putting them in the front row just to ensure that there are no more “fake priest” shenanigans.  “Let’s put Morph where I can see him….just in case.”)

Season 5:

Graduation Day: After Xavier is attacked, Morph returns to help calm mutants world-wide by impersonating Xavier and making a public call for peace.  Morph doesn’t do much in the episode, but they get an individualized goodbye from Xavier while he is addressing the team one by one, and it is clear at the end that Morph is officially back with the team.  In other words, the writers could give Morph a happy ending of coming back since the show was ending and they didn’t have to deal with it going forward.  Thankfully, the X-Men 97 writers were happy to pick up that ball and continue running with it, and I love what they’ve done with Morph so far!

Were there shippy vibes between Morph and Wolverine in the original series?

I dunno friend, watch “Whatever it Takes,” and “Courage,” and you tell me.  Morph shifting into Jean to taunt Wolverine definitely gives me vibes of “There’s something going on there.”

Is Morph in the comics?

(Note – I’m using he/him for all comics versions of Morph because those versions all apparently ID as male.)

The answer is yes, sort of.

Changeling:

Morph was loosely based on an obscure, long dead shape-shifting mutant from the X-Men’s original 60’s run.  Changeling was a villain with a tacky costume who acted very much like a standard 60’s comic book villain, associated with a terrorist group called Factor Three. Look at this fucking dude:

  At the end of the Factor Three arc, it turns out that Factor Three’s leader, Mutant Master, is an alien who wants to destroy ALL life on Earth to make way for his own people, and the mutants in the group turn on him and help the X-Men. Changeling is the first one to question Mutant Master’s motives, and that’s probably the only interesting thing he does in the whole story.  Several issues later, Xavier supposedly dies while helping defeat a villain named Grotesk and save the world.  This story is retconned near the end of the run, when Xavier is revealed to be alive, and explains that the dead “Xavier” was actually Changeling.  Changeling had discovered that he was terminally ill, and came to Xavier seeking redemption.  Xavier asked Changeling to temporarily take his place as Xavier while he shut himself up in the basement to prepare to stop an alien invasion (and no, the X-Men were not informed of this, besides Jean, and yes, that is really fucked up).  So Changeling became a reformed villain and honorary X-Man who went out in a heroic sacrifice, and was almost never mentioned again.  (Even now Changeling appears to still be dead in the comics, even though the current storyline has allowed ALL the dead mutants to come back.  Even Thunderbird is back.)

Changeling was greatly reworked to become Morph, totally changing his personality and origins.  The only similarities are the shapeshifting powers and physical appearance.  You can see how this guy:

Became this not-actually-a-guy:

Or even this version:

X-Men 97 Morph got a real glow-up to their human form.

Of course, they also share the trait of being a sacrificial lamb plot device, and X-Men TAS creators were originally going to call the character “Changeling,” but changed the name to Morph because DC’s Beast Boy was called Changeling at the time.

Age of Apocalypse Morph:

In the 90’s, there was a cross-over event over all the X-Books called the Age of Apocalypse, in which a time-traveller (Xavier’s son Legion, long story) murdered Xavier in the past before Xavier formed the X-Men, and created a dystopian alternate reality in which Apocalypse had taken over and Magneto led the X-Men.  This was a kind of what-if event that let writers have fun with switching up character relationships, turning good guys bad and bad guys good, and of course, killing a lot of characters off.  The event only lasted about four issues before it was all undone and we returned to the main Marvel universe, so they could really go wild.  In the AoA book Astonishing X-Men, Magneto’s team includes a character called Morph, a versatile shapeshifter with a pasty white made-of-clay look, and a jovial, upbeat personality that is clearly based on TAS Morph.  (This change to character design is where X-Men 97 Morph’s white, featureless appearance comes from).

Just a silly little guy!

AoA Morph is also stated in the book to have been formerly Changeling, before undergoing a name-change and attitude adjustment, making him an AU variant.  He explains to Sunfire at one point that he never takes anything seriously because fuck it, he’s probably gonna die anyway, he may as well die with a smile on his face.  AoA Morph is pretty cool, he does great shapeshifting tricks, and has some depth and heart beneath the obnoxious jokes.

Exiles Morph:

After Age of Apocalypse, the fan-favorite character Blink (like Morph, another alternate version of a short-lived character in the main comics timeline) gets pulled out of the AoA timeline and placed on a team of time-displaced X-Men.  This team, all coming from alternate realities and including some other minor neglected characters (like versions of Thunderbird and Mimic), is tasked with hopping through realities, putting things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that the next leap will be their leap home.  The team also includes a version of Morph, who is so similar to AoA Morph that Blink mistakes him initially for her old teammate.  This is another AU variant of Changeling who was never Changeling, but instead was recruited into the New Mutants (a bit of an age retcon for the character, as 60’s Changeling seemed much older, while Exiles Morph is clearly much younger.)  Exiles Morph was a popular hero in his reality, served as both an X-Man and an Avenger, and is an incredibly powerful shapeshifter.  He also winds up being a long-running mainstay of the Exiles team, so this is really the book to read for Morph content.  Exiles also fleshes out the character’s past, stating that he was born as a shapeshifting blob with X-gene already activated, and only assumed a human appearance to fit in with peers.  He also lost his mother to cancer at an early age, and his obnoxious jokey personality was partially a reaction to that, an attempt to both cheer up and get some attention from his grieving father.  Exiles Morph is a great character, my only complaint is that he is a bit of a sex pest, constantly making “jokes” that border on sexual harassment of his female teammates.  I don’t think he’s meant to actually be a creep, he never actually does anything, and when the teammate he has a crush on reveals that she is a lesbian, he steps back and acts as a supportive friend.  I think Exiles Morph just suffers from late 90’s early 2000 writing where the funny jokey character has to be all “LOL, Boobies!” all the time, just so we know he’s straight.  (Funny, given how not-straight X-Men 97 Morph seems to be.)

The Other Morph: Benjamin Deeds:

Brian Michael Bendis, in his Uncanny X-Men run, introduced a new character named Benjamin Deeds who could shapeshift, and looked suspiciously similar to a teenage version of Changeling/TAS Morph.  His personality was different, though (more of a sulky teen trying to deal with being a mutant than a funny guy), and the nature of his powers is different.  Benjamin has what is described as “chameleon-like” shapeshifting, taking on the physical characteristics of people when he gets close to them rather than fully shifting forms.  He also exudes a chemical that makes people automatically like and trust him.  Emma suggests the codename “Morph,” and although Benjamin doesn’t like it, it becomes his official codename going forward.  I don’t think Ben actually has any real connection to Changeling or TAS Morph, he seems more like a legacy character or winking homage, like Pyro II (Simon Lasker, who inexplicably has the same powers and looks almost exactly like original Pyro, St. John Alledyce).  He’s fun character and a cute lil’ guy, though.

There are people who call TAS Morph an “original character” completely invented for the cartoon, and I don’t think they’re entirely wrong.  Morph is VERY different from Changeling,  But to me, it makes the most sense to consider TAS Morph another AU variant of Changeling, given all the influence back and forth between the comics and the cartoon.  Morph was based on Changeling, and Morph’s popularity led to AU versions of Changeling in the comics with TAS Morph’s personality literally named “Morph,” and now X-Men 97 Morph has been redesigned to match AoA/Exiles Morph’s appearance.  They are variations of the same person.  And it’s not exactly the first time that a comics character has been drastically reworked in an adaptation – I’m looking at you, First Class Mystique and Evolution’s “Lance Alvers.”  I wonder if people would still be calling Morph an “original character” if they’d kept the name “Changeling,” since keeping the name seems to be all it takes at times.  Still, TAS Morph is kind of right on the border between OC and “adapted from the comics,” and even I tend to include them in groups of “created for the cartoon” characters like Firestar, Spyke and X-23.

Why is Morph tagged as “Kevin Sydney/Sidney”?

Because that is the character’s name, more or less.  TAS Morph didn’t have a “real name” in 92, because Changeling didn’t (similarly, Rogue also didn’t have a real name because the character hadn’t been given one in the comics.)  In Age of Apocalypse, characters called Morph “Sydney” or “Syd,” and Morph even referred to himself that way in a thought-balloons, but the Exiles writer apparently decided, “Nah, it’s a last name,” and officially named Morph “Kevin Sydney.”  The name stuck, and the 2004 Marvel “Book of the Dead” gave Changeling that name in the entry on him.  Morph’s name has never been given in the cartoon, but it’s probably safe to assume that their official “human name” is Kevin Sydney, just like TAS Rogue is probably Anna Marie (her official name in the comics.)  Interestingly, even in Exiles, the book where the name originated, Morph always goes by “Morph” and never “Kevin.”  Maybe Home Alone ruined the name for him.  I tend to use the Kevin Sydney tags on Tumblr and A03 to differentiate from other uses of the “morph” tag.  In particular, Tumblr has a lot of body modification fetish posts tagged as “morph,” and no offense to the fetishists, you all keep doing what you are doing, but that’s not the content I’m looking for.  I’m sure the fetish people are probably a bit annoyed at their own tag filling up with an X-Men character, but hey, it’s their name. 

How old is Morph?  How long were they with the team and when did they join?  Is the featureless white face their “real form”?  What’s their history with Wolverine?

I don’t have answers here because we don’t know.  There’s a lot we don’t know about TAS Morph, and the origins of their comics counterparts don’t really translate well into cartoon continuity.  Like I can’t imagine TAS Morph ever having been a willing member of Factor Three. 

Personally, I tend to assume that Morph was with the team for awhile before their “death,” given that they have an established “old friend” relationship with Wolverine and know the team extremely well.  I also tend to assume that TAS Morph is a similar age to the other young adults on the team like Scott and Jean.  They sometimes look older in the original series, because they were based on Changeling (who also looks older), but the voice acting and general personality of the character seem younger, plus Wolverine calls them “kid”a couple of times.  And it seems like their “human form” may not be their “real face” anyway, given that they’ve now defaulted to the white blank-face look.  The white blank-face look IS the real form for Exiles (and presumably AoA) Morph, so the same is probably true for TAS Morph and Changeling.  But this is all just my own headcanon and speculation, based on what I’ve seen in the original cartoon and the comics.  You are all free to come up with your own headcanons fleshing out the character, I’ve already seen great stuff in fanfic out there!

Edit: Actually, I thought of a bit more:

How does Morph shift their clothing? Does Morph even wear clothes? How can they create accessories like Psylocke's swords?

Honestly, I dunno, this is Rule of Cool and Morph as a vehicle for character cameos in affect here. I will say that, in the comics, many characters with shapeshifter-type powers, like Wolfsbane, wear costumes made of unstable molecules that shift with their bodies, the same may be true of Morph. Exiles Morph, when commenting on his female teammates' skimpy costumes, at one point jokes that he "wears even less," so he may just be literally making clothing out of his own body. Although I would think that would get cold, or painful with no protection against the elements.

I assume that Morph does form accessories like Psylocke's swords out of their own body, which also presumably means they can't drop them. I wonder if it would hurt Morph if one of the swords broke? Exile Morph regularly turns his own body into accessories that he can hold (but not separate from his form), so presumably X-Men 97 Morph is doing the same. This is a step-up from TAS Morph, who never did that. Exiles Morph seems to be able to turn their body into whatever they want.

Does Morph copy the powers of other mutants?

Morph seems to be able to mimic only the physical-based powers of other mutants, under the shapeshifter logic of changing their body to give themselves larger muscles, claws, etc. So Angel's wings, but not Cyclops' eye beams. Nightcrawler's tail but not teleportation. In X-Men 97, Morph takes a couple of shots from X-Cutioner after shifting into Colossus, so apparently they can do the whole metal skin thing. But in TAS, when Morph turns into Wolverine, their claws are not adamantium and Wolverine easily slices through them.

I would add that Exiles Morph is also extremely durable, and can literally be ripped to pieces and shapeshift himself back together. This doesn't seem to be the case of "died from Sentinel lasers" TAS Morph, but maybe they just aren't there with their power levels yet. Exiles Morph IS especially susceptible to burns or laser blasts, and almost dies when Hyperion hits him with a beam at close range.

That’s it, hopefully this is helpful for people completely new to the character who got into X-Men 97.  Mostly I just love writing about Morph.  I encourage you to go back and watch the original series, or at least the Morph episodes.  It’s a good show, if a bit 90’s corny, and will let you fully appreciate X-Men 97 (which has been, so far, an absolute banger of a series).  Presumably we’ll see more character development of Morph as the show continues, which will maybe answer some of these questions.

[hermesserpent-stuff]

“Where’s your buddies Gambit?”

Cyclops states, sounding firmly done with him. Which isn't fair. Gambit has not had the chance to be annoying yet. And Gambit is the sacrificial lamb here. Stuck going on mission with two ferals!! 

“Not sure. Monsieur Chat makes his own schedule.”

He hikes his lone bag a little higher with a shrug. He can feel the stares of the other teens. 

Ah. 

They had never seen him out of his armor. Well. this mission required a lot of public interaction between heists. His armor is safely packed away with his small assortment of clothes in his bag. For now, his jeans, boots, and three layers of jackets to fight the cold would need to be enough. 

Let them stare all they like. They'd not get another chance for a while. 

“Just like Creed to be late.”

Wolverine snarls angrily while rechecking over the van, presumably out of habit. 

[sabrerine911]

OK X-men Week!

Decided to do ALL of the ones on my list! (was slacking since the Beast/Morph/Jubilee)

So opinions on each of these, as per the previous posts.

Cyclops: Love the character, one of my top favorite X-men, really bummed on how the movies did the actors and the character dirty, but IMO Scott is a great character. My version is mostly based on 90's/X-men Legends like most of my take on them

Gambit: Absolutely love the guy, every iteration Ive seen of him is S tier, and my version is pretty much based on that

Rogue: She is pretty much my favorite Marvel lady in general, my version of her is a bit more bulky than regular Rogue and basically based on the 90's/X-men Legends version (altho a bit stronger, had some lore reasons back when I did the redesign, cant remember atm XD)

Storm: Love Storm, another one of my favorites, not sure what she is up to in the comics, but she has always been great, altho I still find her 90's version very goofy with her whole "monologues"

Wolverine: Pretty much my favorite fictional character, and one of the key reasons why I got into doing art/comics more seriously.

Decided to retouch him a bit and give him a sleeveless variant(I'll still draw him with my jacket variant but I wanted to switch things up a bit

Jean: She is fine, I like her but I dont have strong opinions on the character anymore, got really sick of her whole Phoenix deal, so my version will stick to regular Jean.

[komouri-official]

my interpretation of Morph in X-Men: Evolution

Appearance

Now considering what they did with Rogue, (taking a southern farm girl and making her goth) I think they'd probably take a similar route with Morph. Kind of like e-boy vibes but not quite. His hair would be longer and messier than in the animated series, and probably have a faded red streak? He would of course have his signature jacket, a red shirt, dark grey jeans (rolled up so the boots are visible), black gloves and boots, and maybe a spiky bracelet. I also think he would give himself a red devil tail soley for the purpose of getting along with Nightcrawler. He would have purple eyeshadow (to reference his relationship with Sinister, which will be explained later.) His age would be 15-17.

Personality

He would have a similar personality to Nightcrawler. Kinda flirty, bouncing off the walls sometimes, etc. But he would also be snappy and a bit rude. An example could be Morph turning into Wolverine or using his claws. Wolverine would probably say "did I give you permission to do that?" And Morph would reply "Point in the direction I care 🙄" but then eventually stop because he's kind of scared of Wolverine. He's still a joker and would like to play pranks on the others. But he still has that signature mischievous ahh laugh so when he giggles after pranking someone the person he pranked would instantly know who did it. Rogue thinks his laugh is annoying and is NOT afraid to tell him.

Relationships

Rogue: Rogue thinks Morph is annoying. The laugh and the pranks he pulls constantly gets on her nerves. It kinda like a sibling relationship. Also when they first met Rogue thought he was Mystique and tied him to a chair.

Kitty: They are pookies fr. They are the gossip queens of high school and they eat chips together.😔

Nightcrawler: They get along pretty well! Nightcrawler instantly wanted to be his friend when he saw that Morph had a tail like his. One time they probably got their tails tangled and Cyclops said "well, guess we gotta cut them off" and it traumatized both of them. (they just untangled them dw) Nightcrawler forgets that Morph is a shapeshifter and can get rid of his tail at any time so when that happens he always goes "DID SCOTT CUT OFF YOUR TAIL??"

Cyclops: He cares about Morph, but gets tired of his shenanigans every once in a while. He feels that he sort of has to almost act like a parent to him sometimes.

Jean: Jean is worried about Morph. She's heard him sound like he was talking to someone but he never is. She's also noticed she's unable to talk to him telepathically.

Evan: He thinks Morph is chill. He can give Evan a good laugh every now and then and enjoys his company.

Storm: Storm doesn't like Morph all that much. She sees him as a troublemaker and thinks he's lazy during training.

Beast: Beast thinks Morph is funny, but he wishes he'd be more participative in group activities.

Xavier: The professor sees great potential within Morph, but he's worried about him. Xavier has caught Morph talking to himself several times alone in his room, and believes this has something to do with his lack of participation.

Wolverine: He thinks Morph is funny. He doesn't care all that much about what he participates in but he wishes he'd listen to him more often.

Background:

Morph made a deal with Sinister. In return for Sinister saving his sick mother, Sinister would become Morph's shadow and have control over him at all times. "If you don't do this I'll let your mother die" or "if you don't do this I'll consume your life force" etc etc. When Sinister is present, Morph shadow can be seen with glowing red eyes and a small glowing red diamond on the forehead. Sometimes when Sinister won't shut up, Morph will close the blinds to get rid of him (he can only be visible in environments when there's light, but his presence still remains at all times.) Sinister's final plan all leads up to betraying the X-Men and leaving them for dead. Once the task is complete, Sinister will leave his body alone. Morph didn't want to do this because he genuinely loved the other X-Men, but he knew he didn't have a choice. Of course eventually the X-Men get rid of Sinister a different way with like the power of friendship or something idk.

Additional things

-he can't shapeshift when he's (really) scared or panicked, so that's why he tries not to get overwhelmed. +When he gets spooked he wraps his tail around the closest person's wrist

-cant live without potato chips 😔

-loves video games but he always gets crushed by whoever he's playing against

-melts when tired or hot 🫠

-Shapeshifting takes energy-- the bigger or more complex the shape he takes the more energy it uses. The easiest things to turn into are other humans and small-medium sized animals.

[fandomzwriterk]

Stars in Your Eyes

Pair: Gambit/Remy Lebeau x Fem!Trailblazer!Vidyadhara!Reader

Warnings: canon lore of how “Trailblazer” works + the lore of Vidyadhara’s + canon character death + Semi-Amnesiac!Reader + yes Reader can shift paths and elements + slight Genshin inspiration too + love triangle (?) + Canon episodes of X-Men ‘97 + Rouge and Jean fight over Trailblazer’s life choices

Pt: 1/?

The world started with the creation of the Aeons. Soon came the stars, the void of space, and then the planets. Each one was responsible for a part of the universe, some choosing more peaceful things of life while others fought for control. This is how the paths were made. Once the Aeons had their control over parts of the universe, soon came the elements ranging from fire to quantum.

And from this event brought forth the strongest and wisest of all beings, the Vidyadhara, a species of “humans” that were born through reincarnation, some of the highest gifted with certain abilities. It is here that our story starts.

On Earth…

“I miss the Professor.”

Jubilee looked to her team, everyone downcast and still traumatized by the death of their teacher and friend, Charles Xavier.

“Me too shuga. We all do.”

Rogue smiled at her friend, trying to lighten the mood for everyone’s sake.

“I think it’s time we discuss how our team will work now.”

Scott Summers, the hero called Cyclops, was now in charge of his team. It wasn’t easy now, Charles was his teacher and his leader. How was Scott supposed to lead the team now?

“It’s been a rough couple of days. We all need sleep and rest. We can discuss this in the morning.”

Beast, the best scientist on the team and by far the smartest man here, ushered Logan and Morph to the hall.

“He’s right. We all need rest. Tomorrow we can talk about everything going forward.”

And with that, everyone went their separate ways. Rouge, Gambit, Jubilee, Storm, and Morph went their own ways while Cyclops, Jean, Beast, and Logan went the other way.

“Gambit doesn’t like all this doom and gloom going on here.”

“Me neither but there’s nothing we can do to change that right now.”

“And that my friend, you are right.”

Gambit followed closely behind Rouge and Morph, whose rooms were at the end of the hall.

“Goodnight Morph. Goodnight Remy.” Rogue spoke as she opened the door to her room and closed it behind her

It was quiet as Gambit walked to his a few doors down, opening it and closing it once he realized there was nothing he could do about Charles. Gambit knew him for a long time, being one of the first to start the X-Men with Storm, Logan, Scott, and Jean.

“Just get some sleep Gambit you’ll be fine.”

A quick shower later and Gambit was out and laying on his bed, nothing but some light pants on as he didn’t bother to go under his sheets. He crossed his hands behind his head, looking out into the night sky as the stars began to shine.

Meanwhile…

“This world… where am I?”

The person with a long grey and black jacket on with a buckle and a large strap behind them walked out from behind the cover of the trees and bushes. Their head was covered by a hood, the only thing you could see was their arms and legs, which also wore short black and grey shorts, the shirt underneath was grey as well.

“I… I don’t remember. How’d I get here? The last thing I remember is… waking up, falling from space. The stars…”

They looked up, seeing the bright white lights of the night shining down on the ground, making tiny lights of themselves amongst a sea of many.

“I’m hurt. I have to get help.”

A cut from the shoulder to the side of their body was fresh and red, blooding falling onto the grassy ground as they started to sprint but not too fast to rupture the wound anymore.

“Those lights… is that… safety?”

They slowed down, feeling the warm blood start to turn cold as the night got darker and darker. There was a house far to barely see the lights, but there was safety there waiting.

“I’ve got to-“

They held back a scream as the sound grew a little longer, the skin very fragile and severely cut almost down to the bone. It was hard to walk, trying to keep the blood there while most of it ran past their hand and onto the ground. It was getting worse.

“I have to keep going… I can’t stop. I need…”

It was still a little ways away from them. Their legs shaking and coming to crash onto the ground, one leg down and the other pulling it along as if it was dead. The world was getting blurry, sounds becoming underwater noise as air became hard to breathe in.

“No… I can’t… quit. Gotta find… help.”

There was no chance for survival. The only way to make it through was to set off a signal. Their hand went up as both knees collapsed onto the ground, dirt and blood falling from their body as they looked into the sky, as if waiting for something.

“Lance… forward.”

A large fire cyclone went straight into the air, practically making the night sky look red. It was loud, like thunder echoing in a canyon.

Meanwhile…

Remy was up in a split second after that. Surely he’d just misheard things right?

“What in the name of-“

The fire cyclone caught his eye, watching it swirl and dance in the distance. That was not a good sign.

“Scott!” He yelled as he quickly threw on his coat and pants, running to find someone

“Remy? What’s wrong?” Rouge asked half asleep

“Gambit? What’s going on?”

Scott found Remy in the main living room. Both of them could just barely see the red glow of the fire someone had made.

“Shit come on team!”

Remy was right behind Scott as Logan, Storm, and Jean chased after him.

“Rouge! Jubilee! Stay here with Beast in case someone comes looking for shelter!”

“Come on team!”

So the main fighters of the team, being Scott, Logan, Storm, Jean, Gambit, and Morph. That left Beast, Rogue, Jubilee behind in the mansion.

To be continued…

[drivinmeinsane]

{ Eyes Always Seeking }

2/3 ※ Officer K (BR 2049) x Sierra Six (The Gray Man) ※ { masterlist } ※ { ao3 }

«- previous chapter // next chapter -»

※ Summary: Unpleasantly, K feels the return of the drowning sensation he had felt earlier. It is almost as though someone had placed a mirror in front of him in a dream. The reflection is him, but distinctly not. ※ Rating: 18+ for explicit mature content. ※ Content/tags: Canon-typical violence, Descriptions of a Crime Scene, Eye Horror, Descriptions of Injury, Frottage, Handjobs, Implied Reoccurring Sexual Abuse by a Supervisor, Emotional Hurt, Identity Issues, References to Greek Mythology, Hand Holding, Slow burn ※ Word count: 3,551 ※ Status: Chapter 2 / Complete ※ Author's note: This chapter and I bitterly fought. I'm not sure who won, but here it is all the same. Eyes Always Searching has expanded beyond the word count I set out to write and there will be a third and final chapter because of that. K's really going through it, but we'll get there, folks. Hands WILL be held. ※ Song inspiration: The Ghost on the Shore - Lord Huron

It’s considerably later in the night when the spinners containing the matching set of replicant officers finally touch down on the roof of the Los Angeles Police Department's towering building. The impact of the tires on the ground is enough to rattle K’s already overstimulated body. The inevitable test hangs over his head like the fist of another replicant primed to swing at his skull. He is not confident that he is going to look like himself inside, not tonight. He’s swimming in the ocean, head going under, fighting for breath, miles away from solid ground of his baseline. Odysseus on the boat, not yet to the shore of the Cyclops’s island.

One of his implanted memories is a lesson for him to stay out of water. Keep your feet touching the bottom. Don’t drift too far. If you do, you won’t come back. Seems like he didn’t learn from that lesson or maybe he was pushed into the depths. He didn’t choose this life.

He gets out of his spinner. The plastic bags rustle and shift inside his pockets. That sensation, at least, is something familiar in the turbulent waters of tonight.

Six meets him at the midpoint between the two spinners and, together, they walk to the door that opens into the rooftop entry point. The other replicant mentions for him to walk ahead, needing him to take the lead in an unfamiliar building. K bypasses the elevator entirely. They descend the stairs like two men being led to the gallows as he takes them down past the level that houses Lieutenant Joshi’s office. He learned early on in his inception not bring pending work with him when visiting her, only results.

The muscles in his thighs burn, going numb from the constant use. Elevators are not safe, not for their kind. Their privacy allow for intimacies, liberties that cannot be easily refused. They are nothing but slow-moving cages. As they descend into the bowels of the building, he wonders at the lack of protest from his fellow officer at taking the stairs. Had Six also found himself cornered in his own precinct? Likely.

K pushes open the stairwell door on the floor that contains collection and processing and they step out into the populated hallway. They do not go unnoticed. Both replicants are too bloody and rank to escape attention. Their condition is enough to provoke most of the other occupants into pressing against the walls. An unnatural silence falls. K had expected a greater uproar than usual due to his new shadow, but it seems like the presence of the other replicant at his back is having the opposite effect on his usual hecklers.

Wide eyed stares at the matching set the two of them make K tuck his chin into the lining of his jacket. He’s shying away from the scrutiny and closer to his fellow officer. Six, for his part, doesn’t waver. The other replicant is a steadying presence, unbothered and enduring as the seawall.

Making a sudden left, K abruptly ducks into the evidence intake room. Six doesn’t miss a step and adjusts course accordingly. K would be relieved that there is an available processor if it didn’t mean that their baselines are coming up that much sooner. It’s slow here this time of night. The late hours bring a differing type of crime, pertaining more to perpetrators and enforcement rather than victims and deduction.

“Evidence turn in,” he says to the man seated behind the counter. K’s pretty sure the employee is an organic. He’s likely one of the folks that haven’t had the money or the latent qualities to make it off-world. There were more than a few of them left behind.

“Badge,” the processor says, disinterested. Faint moans are coming from a personal phone resting on his desk. Two female doxies grope each other on the visible sliver of screen. K buries the thought that he might as well be them and they might as well be him. They are spared the veil of secrecy at least.

K slides his badge under the plexiglass barrier. The man doesn’t bother to pause the video before checking the engraved number and pulling K’s file up on the computer screen. When he glances over at him to do a facial match to record’s photo, he does a double take. K gets to see him blanch, blood drains out of his face at the sight of Six hovering just at K’s shoulder. He quickly adverts his eyes. Like the organics in the hallway, he is clearly unsettled by the sight of a matched set.

His badge gets shoved back at him unceremoniously. He tucks it away. The seated man gives him a hard look, his lips are pursed like he is about to say something unpleasant. In response, K keeps his head lowered and his shoulders curled in. It’s a submissive display, nonthreatening, he’s a good dog showing his belly. Some of the tension bleeds from the employee at the show, although he still eyes Six warily.

“Slide whatever you have under.”

There’s open disgust on the seated employee’s face as both he and Six pull bags of eyeballs from their pockets and begin piling them on the laminated counter. Over a dozen hues stare blindly in all directions, lidded by thin plastic instead of flesh. The piece of metal that had slashed K’s temporary partner’s face open gets tossed unceremoniously alongside them in its own bag. It reflects the dazzling blue of one of their own eyes. K’s own or Six’s? Does it make a difference?

K does not produce the scarf they had taken from their personal Minotaur that they left slain and discarded in the heart of the maze. It is for him to keep, just like the coat that he tucks himself inside every day. Perhaps, when he is gone, his retiring officer will carry a piece of him with them, a reminder that he had existed in the endless list of serial numbers. He wishes sometimes that his own collection was smaller.

His partner gestures him aside and K obediently takes a step back, watching on as Six pushes the pile through the opening in the barrier. The sight of a tattoo on the other replicant’s hand makes the air seize in his chest. He just took on another lungful of water.

He knows he’s staring. His fellow officer had been wearing a pair of gloves earlier, hiding the pale flesh of his hands, but now they exposed in a way that distorts his reality. The moaning of the recorded doxies, the bare skin. Those hands on him, wringing noises from his own throat. It blurs together. He forces his eyes to look somewhere left of the processing employee’s ear.

The presence of the shakily etched palm tree in front of a sun on the joint of the other replicant’s thumb is troubling. K is perpetually lost in the ocean. That memory was implanted in him so deeply that he can taste the brine of saltwater every time he thinks of that day. Why should a replicant be here, wearing his face, and baring a mark representing the shore that was his salvation, just out of reach. The single palm tree in the sand just on the horizon... He never makes it.

The employee types loudly as he enters in the information. The crinkling of the plastic as he picks up each eye to press it against the scanner is as loud as a gunshot in the near silent space. More often than not, there’s an error. Just as K had suspected, the eyes are too decomposed for a regular scanner. Hitting the limit of his patience, the seated man finally throws the entire lot of them into a bin to be taken for more in-depth processing. Chances are that Coco is going to be saddled with it. He’s good at his job. He is also K’s favorite coworker. He at least apologizes when he insults him. The others don’t bother.

“You can go.” The employee says, irritated. As they take their leave he loudly says “Skinners!” to their backs. K twitches, wounded. Six tightens his jaw and his hand jerks ever so slightly towards K. Their knuckles brush, bare skin on bare skin. He might as well have punched him for the way the impact of that light touch radiates through his body.

The initial shock of them has worn off by the time they step back into the hallway. Muttered insults greet them as they carve a path back to the stairwell. They descend deeper into the precinct where the more unsavory things have a home.

Their hands do not touch again.

K pushes open the door onto a floor several levels below. It’s empty. No one but the cleaning crew and his kind have a purpose down here. His reflection meets his eyes in the polished floor. He doesn’t have to imagine company for once. One has become two has become four. Who will be coming back?

The overhead light buzzes, popping like broken bones under his hands. He can’t hold back the future. It’s inevitable.

Their footsteps echo. The slight squeak of the rubber of the sole of K’s left boot is insistent. The rustling of Six’s jacket accompanies it like an old friend. If he fools himself, he could imagine- No. Bury it. Bury it on the shore and enter the cave. It’s his fate.

They reach the room they need. There are no chairs.

It was once a waiting room with a desk, years before K came along. Now, instead of an employee, there is a screen mounted on the surface. He scans his fingers and then leans down and holds his eyelids open with those same fingers. Eyes up and to the left like a good boy. He steps back and lets the replicant at his side do the same.

In what feels like an act of cruelty, Six gets called back for his baseline first by a voice projected through a speaker in the corner of the room. Neither of them speak as he walks into the connecting room. K is left to wait, anxious. He has never had cause to be worried about another one of his kind before, not in this way. The similarities between them are too many. He has to trust that his fellow officer isn’t defective like him. Surely he isn’t. He seems less affected by the unpleasant aspects of their job. The vitriol of the organics around them hadn’t appeared to be as crushing. Their passing touches were likely not as remarkable to the other replicant as they were to K.

For his end of things, K knows all too well how easy it is to feel beyond what is safe. There has been days when the exhaustion has been bone deep. Days when he’s felt almost too tired to shove down his flaws. The wrongness of him bleeds to the surface, bubbles up through the dirt he buries the aspects of himself in. Pressure never staunches the wound for long.

He strains himself to hear anything behind the sealed door. There is nothing but the whoosh of the vents and his own body operating. Would he hear the killing blow?

Six returns after several achingly long minutes. His face doesn’t reveal anything when he steps out of the room. His jacket is folded over his arm. The dark material of his shirt hides the blood from his cheek injury. It looks worse than K had remembered. He’s suddenly too aware of the brain matter drying in his own hair.

The disembodied voice calls for K before the door even shuts behind Six. He nods at K and steps aside to let him pass. Irrationally, he has an urge to tell the other replicant goodbye.

There is a patch of missed blood in the room. The tile is stained pink around it. Someone had felt too much and paid the price. He shrugs his coat off. K tries not to look at the vibrant smear as he takes his seat on the stool. He keeps his eyes focused on the camera’s singular eye. A Cyclops. The Cyclops. He must outwit it.

“Subject: Officer KD6-3.7. Let’s begin. Ready?” comes the detached voice.

He imagines himself trapped in a cave. He loosens his fists. Pictures the scene in his mind, sinks into it. “Yes, sir.”

The camera whirs loudly. Locking onto him.

“Recite your baseline.”

“And blood-black nothingness began to spin. A system of cells interlinked within. Cells interlinked within cells interlinked. Within one stem.”

The rest of the questions follow. The camera clicks with each response, capturing any sign that he needs to be culled. With each reply, the story unfolds in his mind. The Cyclops is fooled, left drunk and unaware of his plans and innermost thoughts. His pulse beats steadily in his throat. He does not swallow excessively. He is calm, compliant.

“Do they teach you how to feel finger to finger? Interlinked.”

“Interlinked.” He says automatically, before he can stop it, a flash of Six’s gloved hand in his bare one. It had been warm through the synthetic leather both times they had grasped hands.

“Do you long for having your heart interlinked? Interlinked.”

“Interlinked.” Looking into Six’s eyes, thinking of the way the other officer asked him if he was okay. The way they had fought to keep each other alive mere hours ago.

“Do you feel that there's a part of you that's missing? Interlinked.”

“Interlinked.” Yes, but he found it. He found it. He fights the jump in his throat, the way he wants to look away from the piercing eye in shame.

He recites the words that are expected of him. Gives all the correct responses, fights any trace of humanity within himself. He reminds himself that there isn’t any. He is defective. He is irredeemably defective.

“Say that three times. Within cells interlinked.”

“Within cells interlinked. Within cells interlinked. Within cells interlinked.”

Machinery powers down. There is silence after K says the final word. His heart is hammering in his ears. His vision blurs, the camera turns into a wavering white fountain.

How long will Six wait for him? Will they tell the other replicant what happened here, or will he be left to draw his own conclusions. He should have held onto his hand. He should have felt Six’s bare skin with his own in the hallways, should have allowed himself that final luxury. But… maybe if he had, he would have tainted Six and it would be his blood in the corner. Yes, it was better this way. K can retire alone with his shame.

Finally.

“We’re done. Constant K. You can go.”

K locks eyes with the camera’s eye. He pictures himself driving a fiery wooden stake through it, desperation burning up the edges of himself. “Thank you, Sir.”

He stands up and puts his back to the camera as he moves to exit. He wonders if they put a bullet in the replicants from behind after telling them they can go or if they make them sit still and look ahead for their retirement. His shoulders are stiff. He reaches the door, imagining himself clinging to a sheep on the way out of the Cyclops's cave, hoping against hope the Cyclops won’t notice. His fingers are buried in the faux fur lining of his jacket, furthering the illusion.

Six is standing patiently for him in the main room. Hands clasped. Head lowered. Coat back on. Settled in like he would wait a lifetime. He nods upon seeing K and K nods back, neither of them speak. There is always someone listening.

They take the stairs to Joshi’s office. Once again, neither of them indicate for the elevator even despite the long climb. K ignores the burning of his lungs and the ache in his side. There is relief to be found in its presence. It hurts of victory, of his continued survival.

The bullpen outside of his madam’s office falls silent the moment their presence is registered by its occupants. No whistles and lewd commentary accompany their journey. Hushed murmuring and the dry rustling noises small insects might make when they skitter away from a bright light take the place of it instead. People stand up to look at them, the matched set. K thinks about the pile of endlessly staring eyeballs they had left behind. It’s difficult not to draw comparisons between them and the eyes of his coworkers.

He is the one to knock on his madam’s door.

“Come.”

A twist of the doorknob and then they’re stepping over the threshold. Predictably, the crowd waiting with bated breath behind them explodes into the conversation. Six closes the door, shutting away the leering remarks.

“Madam.” K greets, submissive nod of his head. Six does not follow suit. Joshi frowns at the lack of subservience.

“Took you long enough.”

“Apologies, Madam.”

She scans over them both with a critical eye. K has long since learned to not squirm under the weight of her scrutiny. Doing so only serves to displease her.

“I’m not paying for that,” she says abruptly.

K flinches, thinking she’s referring to him. He mentally catalogs every possible injury he might have. There is nothing that she should be able to see. He’s hiding his soreness. His pulse ticks up. His mouth dries.

“Of course,” comes Six’s steady voice. It’s his fellow officer’s cheek that had captured her notice.

The flippant answer seems to upset the woman seated behind her desk even more.

“What did you find.” She’s addressing him now, impatient.

“Thirteen bodies plus the one we retired. Fourteen. Looks like the tipster might have been right. There was some things written on the walls that seemed to suggest it. The entire place was set up like a maze.”

“What got to them?”

“Carbon Monoxide poisoning. It put some of them down in their sleep and riled up the one we dealt with today enough to finish off the rest long before we arrived on scene.”

“Your kind just can’t help themselves, can they?” Joshi says, a knowing gleam in her eye. He is aware of how she thinks of them.

“I suppose not, Madam.” K agrees placidly. There’s a spark of satisfaction on her face at his acquiescence, like they’re both in on the same joke.

“I’m a little surprised that you two haven’t torn each other to pieces yet. Didn’t think you newer models got along all that well. The reps over at Wallace warned me that there might be some conflict, like two starving dogs in a cage. Unless you were the one who put that cut on his face.”

K silently shakes his head. He doesn’t trust himself to react more than that. His madam’s assumptions rankle at him. The urges he is having are wrong, but they’re not violent. It would be better if they were. That would be forgivable. Despite himself, he can imagine the two of them clashing, but he would not draw blood. He would be toothless, hands soft, body yielding. He thinks he might let Six retire him if it came to it. Hopes it would be him and not anyone else.

“I’ll have a forensics team go out in the morning to canvas the place and find what you missed. I need you both back here in the morning. Let’s say… 0600. Go home, K. Get cleaned up, you look like shit.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Her attention redirects to the replicant at his side. “Anything to add…” she squints at her screen, “KS6-2.8?”

“No.”

“Lieutenant Fitzroy sure gave me a charmer when he sent you over. Are you usually this surly with your superiors or is it special treatment just for me?”

Six is silent. Joshi is looking like she might stand up and backhand him. K feels a sweat break out across his back. Suddenly, his coat seems stifling. “Well?”

“Whichever makes you feel better.” His tone is dripping with politeness. The crease deepens between the woman’s eyebrows.

Joshi stands up, one hand on her desk. She visibly takes a breath, holds it, lets it go. Her ire barely relents.

“Get out.”

Six inclines his head and pivots. K is careful to shut the door gently behind them.

K follows Six out of the door and up the stairs. He feels shaken, off balance. He would have never dared to needle his madam like Six had just done. It would have meant the hose, the metal grate, and the unforgiving tile. Standing, shivering in the refrigeration unit for minutes, for hours, for as long as it took for him to learn his lesson. They can’t disobey directly, the compulsion to bend a knee is too strong, but they are capable of other infractions.

“My place?” K asks, before Six pushes on roof access door. He feels a curl of desperation. He doesn’t want to see him leave. They haven’t talked. K needs more. He always needs more. One day he will pay for that need, but not tonight.

“Sure. My spinner?” Six responds easily, holding the door open for him. If he’s feeling nervous, he’s not showing it.

“Sure,” he echos.

«- previous chapter // next chapter -»

[s10127470]

My Wolverine and the X-Men Rewrite: Bonus Content

Hey there guys!

I’m back again with my Wolverine and the X-Men Rewrite!

But this is not exactly a part 3, but instead of a bonus feature of sorts.

Here, I’ll go over a few things I didn’t mention in the previous 2 part, along with some cool things at end.

This is gonna be a short one, but I think you guys will still enjoy it.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

-The outfits for Magneto and The Brotherhood would all be the same as they were in the original show.

-As for their physical appearances, they would be largely the same with the exception of Quicksilver, Domino and Toad. Quicksilver would have a more lean and athletic build, along with some slightly tanned skin. Domino, like I mentioned with the other females in this show, would be depicted as having more meat on her. And Toad, he’ll look the most different. His physical appearance would remain somewhat the same, except his hair is much shaggier and he stands at about 5’4. As for his outfit, it would be modernized version of his classic duds. Basically it would be the same outfit from Marvel Contest of Champions.

-Magneto and Quicksilver will be speaking with accents in this series. Magneto will have a German accent, while Quicksilver will have an Eastern European accent.

I briefly mentioned one of these in the previous part, but these are some of the notable relationships among the X-Men:

-Cyclops and Storm are close friends and work together as co-leaders of the X-Men.

-Cyclops, Beast, Iceman and Angel are all close to each other and deeply respect each other, since they were four of the five founding members of the X-Men.

-Cyclops is also pretty close friends with Colossus, who he sees as kind of a little brother (despite being a foot and 2 inches taller than him). This was largely because when Colossus first joined the team, he rather quiet and shy. When remembering his early days as an X-Men, Cyclops saw a lot of himself in Colossus and decided to take him under his wing.

-Storm and Angel, as we already know, are in a romantic relationship.

-Storm and Shadowcat are pretty close to each other, just like in the comics, with the latter seeing the former as a like a big sister.

-Storm and Iceman are also close, being able to relate to each other as the only other elemental mutants on the team. They even share tips with each other on how to better utilize their ice manipulation.

-Wolverine considers Beast to be one of his closest friends, due to them somewhat being able to relate to each other for their more….primal mutations.

-As usual, Wolverine and Nightcrawler are best buds.

-Nightcrawler is also close friends with Storm, Colossus and Shadowcat, like in the comics.

-Colossus and Iceman, like I mentioned in the previous post, have romantic feelings for each other.

-Iceman and Shadowcat are best friends, due to them being the youngest members of the team.

As for the causal attire of the team: 

-Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Emma, Angel and Shadowcat would all still be wearing the same outfits from the original shows.

-Cyclops would be wearing a navy blue sweater with rolled-up sleeves, with a yellow collared shirt underneath, tan khakis, and black Oxford shoes.

-Nightcrawler never got a casual outfit in the original show. But here; he’ll be wearing a red sweater with a indigo collared shirt underneath, black pants with an indigo belt, and a gold cross-pendant necklace.

-Colossus had the same ordeal as Nightcrawler. He’ll be wearing a red polo shirt, blue jeans with a black belt and black-and-white sneakers.

-Iceman would be wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt with an iceberg pattern scheme, light blue shorts, and black sandals.

-Forge would be wearing a light-blue sweater underneath one of the yellow and blue Xavier Institute jackets, blue jeans, and a pair of black-and-white sneakers.

And to wrap this all up, I have question to ask you all.

Remember those promos back during the original show’s run where they had Xavier give brief descriptions for the X-Men?

These ones right here.

Well I figured that out of fun, I do a version of those promos, but with the version I came up with!

Promo #1 (Yellow):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Logan.”

“A mysterious loner from Canada with an equally mysterious past, Logan was once a drifter with no purpose in life. But he would eventually find one with the X-Men.”

“With his heightened animalistic-like senses, accelerated healing factor, and razor sharp claws coated in the nigh-indestructible metal Adamantium, Logan has become one of the X-Men’s most valuable fighters.”

“His mutant name is Wolverine.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“January 23rd at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #2 (Blue):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Henry McCoy.”

“Blessed with superhuman strength and agility, that is matched only by his brilliant scientific mind, he is the calming voice of reason in this chaotic world. He is the brain and brawn of this team.”

“His mutant name is Beast.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“January 23rd at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #3 (Gold):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Kitty Pryde.”

“While she may not be as offensively capable as the other X-Men, her ability to turn her entire body intangible and phase through solid objects makes her a much-needed member of this team.”

“Her mutant name is Shadowcat.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“January 23rd at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #4 (Electric Blue):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Ororo Munroe.”

“Orphaned at a very early age in the streets of Egypt, she took to a life of crime until my students recruited her. Skilled at picking locks and hand-to-hand combat, she has the power to control the weather and the forces of nature.”

“Her mutant name is Storm.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“Every Friday Night at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #5 (Gray):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Piotr Rasputin.”

“A humble farm boy from Russia, Piotr was recruited by me personally to join the X-Men. His power to turn his skin into organic steel, granting him superhuman strength and resilience in the process, has made him this team’s resident powerhouse.”

“His mutant name is Colossus.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“Every Friday Night at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #6 (Icy Blue):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Bobby Drake.”

“A reckless boy when I discovered him, Bobby’s immaturity and arrogance is sometimes his downfall. But his ability to change the moisture in the air into ice, and use it against our enemies, is the reason we need him.”

“His mutant name is Iceman.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“Every Friday Night at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #7 (Indigo):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Kurt Wagner.”

“The German circus performer was personally recruited by myself to join the X-Men. His power of teleportation, expert swordsmanship, and ability to become nearly invisible in shadows, makes him a true asset to this team.”

“His mutant name is Nightcrawler.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“Every Friday Night at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #8 (White):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“This is one of my teachers.”

“Mysterious and beautiful, she has taught young mutants for years, even opening her own institution. Her telepathic powers and ability to turn her skin into a diamond-like substance, make her a crucial ally to ours team’s mission to save the world.”

“Her name is Emma Frost.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“Every Friday Night at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

Promo #9 (Red):

“I’m Professor Charles Xavier. Founder of the School for Gifted Youngsters.”

“One of my students is Scott Summers.”

“Once the confident leader of the X-Men, he has become depressed by the loss of his true love. But he’s since returned to the role to keep fighting the good fight. He has the ability to project powerful beams of concussive energy from his eyes. The X-Men’s mission to save the world cannot be complete without their leader.”

“His mutant name is Cyclops.”

“The X-Men are being reunited in X-MEN DESTINY!”

“Every Friday Night at 8!”

“Only on Nicktoons Network!”

[monsieuroverlord]

X-Men #1 Thoughts:

Wasn't bad. I thought it was more on the expository side, but for a first issue of a new era, that's not a negative.

Spoilers:

I'm very happy we haven't completely forgotten Krakoa. A police chief comes and visits the X-Men base (an old Orchis Sentinel factory in Alaska) and Beast gives her a tour.

He makes a subtle comment about how he sorta missed out on Krakoa (you'll know what he means if you've read X-Force).

Glob Herman is also there, running the greenhouse for food! No sign of his chickens, but there's still time.

There's also a discussion of the tension between the town and the X-Men base, as the sentinel factory shutting down cost a lot of people their jobs. To me, its very reminiscent of how building privately-owned prisons near small towns often creates a lot of stable jobs and is seen as relatively favorable by the community at first, but it also makes the town heavily reliant on it, and if it ever shuts down, the local economy absolutely tanks. Not to mention, there's a huge stigma that comes with being a prison town and no new growth occurs and the area stagnates. (Definitely a phenomenon in US rural towns, one of my Honors classes in college had a unit on prison systems in the US and it was eye-opening, to put it mildly).

Xorn is also at the base, and he's the team healer. For some reason, he's back in the Morrison jacket.

Finally, on he roof, Magneto introduces himself, and he's going by Max again, which is his original name, I believe. He also has a cool hover chair, much like Xavier's hovering wheelchair thing. He intimidates the police chief a bit, but McCoy manages to make sure everything goes relatively well. No blood was shed, so the better than usual.

Cyclops and field team are out on an Orchis-related mission -- six mutant signatures have just cropped up and they initially assume its a few newer mutants captured by an Orchis remnant calling themselves "Fourth School". They believe they need to become a mix of AI, Human, and Mutant to overcome all three.

Wolverine was close enough in the area, so Cyclops asked him to check it out, and then they received s physic distress call from him after he was captured. The Fourth School had tortured him a bit, harvested some organs for genetic material, etc.

Cain and Illyana already have a hilarious dynamic, bantering back and forth, playing rock-paper-scissors and trying to one-up each other in the fight.

Idie and Quentin have a conversation about Krakoa in the midst of fighting. Idie makes a comment about how the X-Men failed her and how she was thrown in the Pit, making a jab at Quentin for doing X-Force sanctioned crimes and pointing out the hypocrisy. There's also a callback to the Jean Grey School days, and even Quentin mentioning how he used to do Kick.

Idie is the real powerhouse of this issue, both freezing and melting all sentinels and Orchis members in her wake. Absolute star of the show.

I also sincerely hope this doesn't lead back to another romance between Quentin and Idie. I just think Idie needs a chance to grow on her own, maybe meet back up with Nekra for some advice on occasion, you know? I really liked that dynamic in Exiles.

Psylocke grabs Wolverine, and he's healing back up. She doesn't have a lot of dialogue this issue, but there is a really cool moment where she comes out of the shadows and psychically wrecks the Orchis agents.

It turns out the six new mutants are actually Orchis agents and full grown adults. The new suspicion is that genetic tampering is at play, but the question is how did they successfully activate 6 different people all at once so well that Cerebro pinged them as mutants?

Regardless, The X-Men quickly defeat them as they don't have the combat experience to use their powers well.

There's also a secret round table of benefactors for the Orchis Fourth School, and they're not happy with the X-Men defeat. It seems like they are set up as the new "Big Bad" of this era.

Mission is complete, Beast is tasked with investigating the Fourth School and all their fancy tech. Logan heads off back toward Canada, and we got some insight on his current feelings, which I found particularly interesting:

Positives: Its not explicitly related to Akihiro (I'm still being a huge worrywart about Hellverine). And weirdly, this mindset feels more in-character to me than the conclusion of Wolverine #50. Logan's a tired old man who has had to rebuild so many times in his life. It makes sense that seems to be exhausted and burnt out right now, but still willing to help the X-Men on occasion.

Like, he went through a hell of a lot in the Sabretooth War. Maybe it makes sense that he doesn't have the healthiest coping mechanisms and buried it down while the war was going on, but now its over and its all bubbling to the surface.

I hope we see more of that in the upcoming Wolverine run. And Hellverine is still heavily on my mind, so I'm cautious as fuck right now. I still maintain he was not sad and self-hating enough by the end of Wolverine #50 -- we were pretending he had "fixed" everything with his son during Krakoa. He should be even more devastated then he ever was before. And this is including the times he killed his own son, because it means in his dumb macho-brain, he had "earned forgiveness" and it was BRUTALLY taken away (AGAIN), but I digress.

The issue ends with a shot of giant frozen sentinel, as Beast requested a team to help dismantle it, but Cyclops said to leave it for now to remind the town what they owe the X-Men (implying that they saved the town from this massive sentinel).

My Overall Thoughts:

Like I said, its very exposition heavy, but I don't think that's a bad thing. This issue does a really good job in setting up characterizations -- individual voices, their motives, current contexts post-Krakoa, etc. It also sets up the tensions, potential future conflicts, dilemmas, interpersonal fights, etc. Its all set-up and gives you a pretty good idea on what this book is going to be about without requiring you to go back and read too many previous issues. And if you want to, the key words like "Jean Gray School" are there, so its not too subtle as to get you too confused with different runs.

Like I said, Idie is the star here and I love her.

There are some fun moments, and I think this run has potential.

[positivelybeastly]

All right, so I've decided that I'm going to talk about my favourite comic book of all time, panel by panel - or, well, Beast panel by Beast panel, because they are the best panels (wa-hey!). Because this is the single best that Beast has ever been written. I love Grant Morrison. I love J.M. DeMatteis. I love David Michelinie. I love Chris Claremont. I love Rainbow Rowell. But none of them ever wrote a better Beast than Kieron Gillen. So, starting off with the context - Beast has just left the X-Men. Why? Well, for one, he was suffering from PTSD flashbacks and distracted, not doing well. For another, he kept pushing back against the more extreme measure Cyclops was advocating to keep mutantkind alive, to essentially no effect. And in the end, he just couldn't take it and left. So now he's going to work with his girlfriend, at S.W.O.R.D, which is basically space S.H.I.E.LD. Hank is a giant Star Trek nerd and scientist, so this is basically his dream come true. I like to imagine he had to be talked out of showing up in a blue science shirt with a toy tricorder. Instead, he's wearing this really lovely little suit and tie ensemble! White suit jacket and pants, smart brown shoes, a pink waistcoat, a crimson shirt, and a purple tie - honestly, he looks like a fucking pimp, I love it. I'd also like to note that I've read this maybe thirty times, and taking crops of this for this post was the first time I noticed the starfield is the background for the entire first page Hank appears, visualising just how vast the cosmos is and providing a really beautiful contrast between Earth and the Peak. Also, space shuttle car! So cool!

S.W.O.R.D vol. 1, issue #1 (2009).

Written by Kieron Gillen, pencils by Steven Sanders.

[rebelliousstories]

Past the Point of No Return

Relationship: Remy LeBeau/Gambit x Reader

Fandom: X-Men

Request: Yes by Anon

Warnings: Fluff, Angst

Word Count: 1,238

Main Masterlist: Here

X-Men Masterlist: Here

Summary: A difficult mission is causing tensions to rise amongst the crew; even those who did not go on it.

Consider Donating: Here

It has been three days since they had heard from the team. Cyclops, Jean, Gambit and Logan had not checked in with the school in three long days. And it was starting to drive her mad. She had no idea where they were, what was happening to them, or even if they were alive. The Professor was trying his hardest to find them telepathically, but there was something sort of resistance impeding his abilities.

“Please tell me you’re calling me in here for some good news, Professor.” She exhaled in frustration as she walked into the war room.

“I have finally broken whatever the mental barrier was that was preventing me from gaining access to their minds. It appears that Mr. Sinister has been holding them for the last three days. There have been some… experimentations done. In the effort of raising a superior mutant race I have no doubt.” Charles explained, rubbing his temples to expunge the strain he felt.

“Well are they alright? They’re alive, right?” While her voice was sharp, there was definitely a tremble there that was not there before.

“Yes, they’re alright. But we mustn’t be hasty in our retrieval of them or even a retaliation against Sinister.” But she was not hearing any of it. She was already half way to the secondary, single plane before Charles caught up with her again.

“Listen to me. Stop, please!” He pleaded as she finishing zipping up her suit.

“What now, Charles? We can’t just leave them to face a fate worse than death.”

“I believe that they will be home before either of us knows it. Come back to the school. Get some sleep. You haven’t gotten much over the past week. Let’s get you fed and to bed, my dear.” With a gentle hand, he managed to pull her just a little bit towards the school. A wave of exhaustion washed over her, almost knocking her knees out from underneath her. Bracing against Charles’ chair, she conceded and followed the man back to the school that they called home.

He watched over her as she slept later on that evening. Part of it was to ensure that she was not going to sneak off in the middle of the night, but the other part was to ensure that she actually slept. Over the past week that the team had been gone, she had only gotten maybe a couple hours a night which was not good enough when she was trying to keep an ear out on the radio in case the team came under trouble. Charles entered the very top layer of her mind, prompting it to bring forth pleasant memories to keep her satiated during her rest, and then leaving immediately afterwards.

Xavier’s communicator suddenly went off with the welcomed sound of Cyclops’ voice. Wheeling out of her room, he happily received the news that they had all escaped Sinister’s island and diabolical plans before it could go any further. They would be arriving within the next couple of hours, and were going to require medical attention just to be safe. Bidding the young man goodbye and safe travels, Charles called Hank in order to have someone to look over his beloved X-Men.

By the time she had awoken, her clock stated that it was five o’clock in the morning; the following day. She hastily dressed and brushed her teeth in order to make her way into the war room, when something caught her eye. Remy’s jacket was not there when she went to bed last night. And this one had a new cut on the shoulder that she would inevitably mend later. Could it be possible that they were home?

Weaving through the maze of the different hallways and corridors of the mansion turned school, she tried to focus on finding the voices that she had been dying to hear again. She checked the library, the study, common rooms, kitchen, even the Professor’s office; they were nowhere to be found apparently. It was not until she had made her way down to the level below that faint vibrations became soft whispers. Following those sounds, she found that she was being pulled towards the lab that doubled as a medical room when needed.

As she made her way to the threshold, there they were. A much needed, welcomed sight to her eyes and mind. Remy was getting his shoulder bandaged up. Jean held Scott’s hand as they lay their heads against one another in silent relief no doubt. Logan, being his usual self, was leaning against the wall with his eyes shut. He looked almost to be asleep, that is until her footsteps reached his ears as she stepped inside.

“Remy. You’re home!” Her exclamation caught everyone’s attention. Beast was still busy working on his shoulder, but that did little to deter the Cajun or his lover.

“Chere, is alrigh’. Da Gambit is here.” He held his uninjured arm out in order to receive her. As carefully as she could, without disrupting her friend’s work to repair him, she wrapped her arms around his body. Gambit placed a kiss to her head as soon as she nuzzled herself into his chest.

“I was so scared, Remy. I was so worried you weren’t coming home. Thinking about you guys in there, being experimented on. Just made me feel so horrible knowing that I couldn’t get you out.” Her voice darkened just a touch as she continued thinking about what had occurred.

“Now, now, chere. Ain’t no need to be thinkin’ ‘bout such things now. We alrigh’. We make it back home.” Remy tried to reassure her but he felt her still tense underneath his hands.

“But it’s not right. We’re just letting Sinister get away, after everything he’s done to you. Even after all he’s done specifically to Jean and Scott,” she shot up and out of her spot. “So why can’t we go hunt him down now? You guys are safe. He shouldn’t be. I’m tired of waiting around for him to do something. We’re waiting for an attack instead of going and doing the attacking ourselves.”

Consumed by her own thoughts, she shot out of the medical lab and started making her way to the Blackbird. She heard the shouts of her friends from behind her but paid them no mind. After today, she would make sure that Mr. Sinister could not harm them anymore. However, blindsided by her rage, she failed to notice that her lover had run after her. Grabbing her by the hand, he spun her around to face him.

“Chere, chere, look at Gambit, yeah? C’mon, let’s see dem pretty eyes. Der ya go,” he patiently waited for his girlfriend to lock eye with himself.

“Der she is. My beautiful lady. We live t’ fight another day, yeah? We gonna get Sinister one of des days, but for now, we jus’ happy we home. You ain’t gonna be able to take him out by ya self, and we’d sure miss ya if ya gone.”

Tears streamed down her face as she realized her boyfriend’s words. Nodding, she buried her head back into his bandage clad chest.

“Let’s go lay down now, chere. I jus’ want a night wit you in my arms again. Please?” She nodded again and let him lead her away, back to their room. Revenge could wait. They had another day to spend together. It has been three days since they had heard from the team. Cyclops, Jean, Gambit and Logan had not checked in with the school in three long days. And it was starting to drive her mad. She had no idea where they were, what was happening to them, or even if they were alive. The Professor was trying his hardest to find them telepathically, but there was something sort of resistance impeding his abilities.

“Please tell me you’re calling me in here for some good news, Professor.” She exhaled in frustration as she walked into the war room.

“I have finally broken whatever the mental barrier was that was preventing me from gaining access to their minds. It appears that Mr. Sinister has been holding them for the last three days. There have been some… experimentations done. In the effort of raising a superior mutant race I have no doubt.” Charles explained, rubbing his temples to expunge the strain he felt.

“Well are they alright? They’re alive, right?” While her voice was sharp, there was definitely a tremble there that was not there before.

“Yes, they’re alright. But we mustn’t be hasty in our retrieval of them or even a retaliation against Sinister.” But she was not hearing any of it. She was already half way to the secondary, single plane before Charles caught up with her again.

“Listen to me. Stop, please!” He pleaded as she finishing zipping up her suit.

“What now, Charles? We can’t just leave them to face a fate worse than death.”

“I believe that they will be home before either of us knows it. Come back to the school. Get some sleep. You haven’t gotten much over the past week. Let’s get you fed and to bed, my dear.” With a gentle hand, he managed to pull her just a little bit towards the school. A wave of exhaustion washed over her, almost knocking her knees out from underneath her. Bracing against Charles’ chair, she conceded and followed the man back to the school that they called home.

He watched over her as she slept later on that evening. Part of it was to ensure that she was not going to sneak off in the middle of the night, but the other part was to ensure that she actually slept. Over the past week that the team had been gone, she had only gotten maybe a couple hours a night which was not good enough when she was trying to keep an ear out on the radio in case the team came under trouble. Charles entered the very top layer of her mind, prompting it to bring forth pleasant memories to keep her satiated during her rest, and then leaving immediately afterwards.

Xavier’s communicator suddenly went off with the welcomed sound of Cyclops’ voice. Wheeling out of her room, he happily received the news that they had all escaped Sinister’s island and diabolical plans before it could go any further. They would be arriving within the next couple of hours, and were going to require medical attention just to be safe. Bidding the young man goodbye and safe travels, Charles called Hank in order to have someone to look over his beloved X-Men.

By the time she had awoken, her clock stated that it was five o’clock in the morning; the following day. She hastily dressed and brushed her teeth in order to make her way into the war room, when something caught her eye. Remy’s jacket was not there when she went to bed last night. And this one had a new cut on the shoulder that she would inevitably mend later. Could it be possible that they were home?

Weaving through the maze of the different hallways and corridors of the mansion turned school, she tried to focus on finding the voices that she had been dying to hear again. She checked the library, the study, common rooms, kitchen, even the Professor’s office; they were nowhere to be found apparently. It was not until she had made her way down to the level below that faint vibrations became soft whispers. Following those sounds, she found that she was being pulled towards the lab that doubled as a medical room when needed.

As she made her way to the threshold, there they were. A much needed, welcomed sight to her eyes and mind. Remy was getting his shoulder bandaged up. Jean held Scott’s hand as they lay their heads against one another in silent relief no doubt. Logan, being his usual self, was leaning against the wall with his eyes shut. He looked almost to be asleep, that is until her footsteps reached his ears as she stepped inside.

“Remy. You’re home!” Her exclamation caught everyone’s attention. Beast was still busy working on his shoulder, but that did little to deter the Cajun or his lover.

“Chere, is alrigh’. Da Gambit is here.” He held his uninjured arm out in order to receive her. As carefully as she could, without disrupting her friend’s work to repair him, she wrapped her arms around his body. Gambit placed a kiss to her head as soon as she nuzzled herself into his chest.

“I was so scared, Remy. I was so worried you weren’t coming home. Thinking about you guys in there, being experimented on. Just made me feel so horrible knowing that I couldn’t get you out.” Her voice darkened just a touch as she continued thinking about what had occurred.

“Now, now, chere. Ain’t no need to be thinkin’ ‘bout such things now. We alrigh’. We make it back home.” Remy tried to reassure her but he felt her still tense underneath his hands.

“But it’s not right. We’re just letting Sinister get away, after everything he’s done to you. Even after all he’s done specifically to Jean and Scott,” she shot up and out of her spot. “So why can’t we go hunt him down now? You guys are safe. He shouldn’t be. I’m tired of waiting around for him to do something. We’re waiting for an attack instead of going and doing the attacking ourselves.”

Consumed by her own thoughts, she shot out of the medical lab and started making her way to the Blackbird. She heard the shouts of her friends from behind her but paid them no mind. After today, she would make sure that Mr. Sinister could not harm them anymore. However, blindsided by her rage, she failed to notice that her lover had run after her. Grabbing her by the hand, he spun her around to face him.

“Chere, chere, look at Gambit, yeah? C’mon, let’s see dem pretty eyes. Der ya go,” he patiently waited for his girlfriend to lock eye with himself.

“Der she is. My beautiful lady. We live t’ fight another day, yeah? We gonna get Sinister one of des days, but for now, we jus’ happy we home. You ain’t gonna be able to take him out by ya self, and we’d sure miss ya if ya gone.”

Tears streamed down her face as she realized her boyfriend’s words. Nodding, she buried her head back into his bandage clad chest.

“Let’s go lay down now, chere. I jus’ want a night wit you in my arms again. Please?” She nodded again and let him lead her away, back to their room. Revenge could wait. They had another day to spend together.

[catgirlcassie]

transfem cyclops (as in from the x-men) concept i drew on saturday. please ignore that I got the trans symbol wrong lol

I decided on Nora for her name kinda on a whim but I think it works

transcription of written text under the cut bc my handwriting is messy lol

arrow pointing to her jacket is labelled 'Gold + Dark Navy'

CYCLOPS

NORA SUMMERS

SHE/HER ~24yo

Hair is looser but styled to prevent blocking vision

Clothes are baggy but tactical

Mix of streetwear + tactics

Jacket inspired by All New X-Men but more comfortable

Cargo Pants are comfy and tactical

Wears utility belt as an actual belt

Fingerless Gloves bc I'm being quirky with it

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

My thoughts on X-Men 97 (spoilers below)

Congratulations Morph on making it into the opening credits! Congratulations to Bishop and Magneto, too, but Morph is like the little redshirt that could, they went from "killed off two episodes in" to opening credits main character. You are the Guy Fleegman of X-Men TAS Morph, even if you are a not a guy. They even did a "threatened by Sinister" montage for them.

Thank you, Gambit, for bringing back crop tops for men, you are a fashion god. And the very first scene with Gambit is him in the kitchen making beignets.

Jubilee getting to be the experienced X-Man welcoming the new kid who was saved from kidnapping is a nice call back and kind of "full circle" for her.

Fantastic sequence of them fighting Sentinels, especially Cyclops doing the whole "optic blast his way to the ground" thing. And he could have gotten one of the flyers to catch him, he just wanted to be cool.

Nice to finally see Morph and Wolverine banter when Morph isn't being set up for a tragic death or brainwashed/filled with angst. No, now Logan is the one filled with angst, because he can't deal with pregnant (with Scott's baby) Jean.

Sunspot with his little glow sticks, and Jubilee dancing at the club is adorable.

Sunspot's card that he gave to Jubilee is the most 90's thing ever, look at those graphics.

Storm. I saw that "Lifedeath I and II" was part of the episode titles for future episodes, so I knew it was coming, but damn. It was extremely well done. Having her take the hit for Magneto instead of Rogue makes sense, and is another example of TAS writers combining comics stories (Storm's power loss and trial of Magneto) really effectively.

I kind of like that, after Cyclops gets beaten down by X-Cutioner, Morph is the one who jumps in to save him. Like, despite being a sarcastic little shit and all the previous bad blood, Morph's got Scott's back.

Wolverine driving Jean to the hospital, and Rogue using her powers to absorb "baby delivery skills" was all great. "He's coming!" "Who?! Apocalypse?" "The baby!!" And then Jean just telekinetically slapping Wolverine with his jacket and jeep keys.

One Jean? Two Jean! (Red Jean....Blue Jean?)

I'm surprised we've got a Jean double already, I expected that the show would drag it out much longer before showing Maddie. I am wondering if Madelyne will have been programmed to believe that she is also Jean, and there will be confusion over the "real" Jean. I am very, very curious as to where they will go with the Madelyne Pryor story, especially since Goblin Queen will presumably show up at some point.