2012-06-03- Cutscene: Heroes Crisis - Last Stand of Xavier's Institute

The world is a scary place right now. All throughout the night, people were disappearing as Lorelei and Jennifer Takeda slept. When they woke up the next morning, it was only them. It takes searching the staff rooms to finally find a passed out Emma. When she finally comes to, she is able to retrieve Xavier from the mysterious sub-levels.

It only got worse though as the news reported how strange it was that no heroes were around to assist with police or a nearby natural crisis. And the next day? People were really missing, all the heroes it seemed. That is when the news began to report on the uprising of supervillain activity. At least there was one Avenger still around, Golith.

Still, Emma and Xavier began to make plans. Emma was trapped in diamond form to stop the pain, and Xavier would sleep a lot, so it was up to Lore and Jennifer to make sure supplies were in sub-level 2 where Xavier remained in the medical bay. Emma often stared out of the window in the mansion and made phone calls.

Jennifer was even more sarcastic and biting than usual. She was angry at being left behind, and nervous about what would happen. Always in that bulky Hazmat suit, she seemed to be more than willing to take it out on poor Lore. Still, Jennifer worked hard to get things done.

It was none too soon before the Brotherhood attacked.

The Brotherhood were not to be taken lightly. Emma was not going out of her diamond form, and Xavier was barely keeping alert to use what mental defenses he could. Jennifer and Lore were the ones that could handle distance defenses, not that there was much to defend against the Blob who has already totaled a chunk of the mansion.

Even as Emma protected Xavier with his body, Hazmat was using the newly developed holes in her gloves that she could open and close as needed to shoot radiation out at the enemies. Blob luckily was feeling sick after enough hits of it, and Lorelei used her wind power to push fire away, though parts of the building were already burning and even Mystique was yelling for Pyro to be careful as she did not want to give Xavier a cover for escape.

It was a standstill, in a way. They had to take turns on watch, Jennifer, Emma, and Lore. They had to yell warnings to wake everyone up when a surprise attacked happened. Jitters were the least of their concerns. Jennifer snapped at everything said to her, cursed the Brotherhood, and Xavier finally stopped asking her to stop. Emma looked intense and filled with concern, and very short with her words.

And Lore? Lost, afraid, exhausted, worn out, shaking, ready to break; what more could she feel? She's no better off than Jennifer, and has less ways of expressing herself. She can't do what she would have done even six months ago: Cut and run. She can't abandon the others, so she fights her anger and tears, focusing on helping the others that are left behind instead of curling up in a corner and giving up because life isn't fair, has never been fair, and she isn't going to see any of her friends ever again.

Three days they stood, pushing their bodies to the limit, before they retreated to the sub-level one of the mansion. The world was falling apart, and who knew how long it would take them to find a way down without the elevator, and the security systems on high alert. How long could they hold before they were forced to retreat through the sewers, the Morlock tunnels?

Who knew when the alien attack came it would bring relief from the Brotherhood, but more horror than the mind could process?