X-Men, Meet the Starr Brothers, Revamped!

Disclaimer: "First, I have fun." - Nuclear Man, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Chapter 8: The End!

Bayville Auditorium

"We're going to have to go out there and deal with them." Mimi said.

"You got that right, babe." Angar nodded. "Hopefully, we can knock them out of action before their comrades come in."

"...wait..." The technician noticed something going on on his screen.

"What's going on?" Mimi asked.

"Somebody's trying to hack the devices." The tech's fingers flew across the keyboard, the klacking noises of the keys increasing in speed.

"Can it effect the device on the stage?" Angar asked.

"No, it's independent from the others you two placed all over town."

"Thank Heaven for small favors."

"I'll try and take care of this." The tech looked at the two villains. "I suggest you two go out there and take care of those two X-Men!"

"Yeah yeah, we're on it." Mimi waved him off.

At the biker bar

Todd Tolensky was typing on his keyboard, hacking into the machine.

"Todd, we must go and make sure no one else gets harmed during this chaos." Xi piped up.

"I can't leave here, yo!" The amphibious mutant said.

"I got an idea." Shipwrecked suggested. "Maybe two of us can look around for more people in need, and one of us can stay here and guard Todd."

"I'll do it!" Althea raised her hand up quickly. "I'll stay behind and protect my Toddles!"

"Al, come on! We're on a mission!" Todd exclaimed, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

"I don't know..." Shipwreck frowned at his eldest daughter. "How do I know that you won't let those teenage hormones of yours cloud your judgment?"

"Oooh, look who is responsible of a sudden?" Althea rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying..."

"I don't care who, just have someone watch my back!" Todd snapped.

"You know what? I'll stay here, while you two go look around." Shipwreck suggested.

"Oh, and how do we know you won't stay here and get drunk?" Althea frowned.

"Oh ye of little faith..."

"You really think Shipwreck would be that unprofessional?" Xi blinked.

"You'd be surprised, Xi."

"Oh, I am not that bad!" Shipwreck rolled his eyes.

"He really isn't..." Todd admitted. "I mean, he's a Joe, yo. They're the best of the best. He wouldn't be on the team if he couldn't do his job."

"See?" Shipwreck grinned, gesturing at Todd. "I'm one of America's Elite, baby!"

Althea mock scowled at her amphibious boyfriend. "Who's side are you on?"

"My favorite side, babe: Mine." Todd joked back, shooting Althea a wide grin that made her smile.

"You're lucky you're cute."

"I know. One of my many talents."

Bayville Auditorium

Jean and Warren flew over the area, watching the crowd dance, sing, and act crazy.

"How are we going to do this?" Warren asked.

"...I have no idea." Jean admitted. "We can't hurt these people. They're under some kind of mind control. They have no idea what they are doing."

"Can we use your TK to separate them?"

Jean put a finger on her chin. "I can...in theory, but that's a lot of people down there...and I'm not sure I have the power to keep them all separated." She frowned sadly at the crowd. "We can't just let these people act crazy like this."

"So, what do we do?"

"I...don't know." Jean admitted. "I don't know." The Hypno-Hustler had spotted the two mutants in the air.

"Ah, hell..." He muttered. "Where there's two, more of those crazy X-Men will show up..."

"Try calling for help, Jean!" Warren suggested. "We're going to need everyone down here to stop this mess!" His communicator crackled. "...Hello?"

"Howdy, yo!" Todd's voice piped up.

Warren frowned. "How did you get this channel, frog?"

"Toad." Todd corrected. "And I'm a hacker, yo."

"You. A hacker."

"Yup!" Todd said brightly. "Listen up! I think each of the devices has a central control center. If we can shut that down, we can shut down all the devices at once."

"That...would be very helpful right now." Warren admitted.

"I think it's on or near that stage." Jean theorized, pointing at the stage.

"Makes sense." Warren agreed.

"I think so, too." Todd said. "You guys have to find it and shut it down."

"Well, if it is there, it's going to be guarded." Jean noticed. "Not to mention all the crazy people own there dancing and doing God knows what."

"Can't Frogboy just hack it?"

"I can try to reprogram it, but I have limits, yo!" Todd exclaimed.

"Have you been trying to shut down the devices?" Jean asked.

"I haven't been sitting here whistling Dixie!" Jean could have sworn she was able to see Toad's giant grin. "I've been able to hack into the devices and shut them down. Took a while, though. These things got good security, but not good enough to foil me, the Terrific Toad!"

"'Terrific' is not a word I'd use to describe Toad." Warren muttered.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Angel." Jean advised. "Can you get the others to help us out?"

"I'll make the call, yo! Just hold down the fort!" Todd answered jauntily. "I may need some extra time to hack the main control if there is one. They may just have kept it unconnected with the others as a security measure."

"If they're smart, they would do that." Warren remarked. "Is the locator in your communicator active?"

"Of course."

The biker bar

Todd ended the communication as he, Althea, Xi, and Shipwreck left the building. He then pulled out his light keyboard and tablet and started typing on it.

"You let them know, babe?" Althea asked.

"Yup, my little sea siren." Todd answered as he typed. "I am trying to shut down all the devices, but it would be easier if I can get into the main control panel."

"Huh. Didn't think some firewalls would be too much for you, Toad." Shipwreck remarked.

Todd shook his head. "It's not that, yo. The main control panel must be somehow kept separate from the others as as sort of security measure."

"Can that be done?" Xi asked.

"Yeah, it can be done." Todd answered. "I'll have to go to where it is in order to hack it."

"So, where is it?" Althea asked.

"Marvel Girl and Angel think that it may be at the stage where the Mercy Killers are performing." Todd explained. "The Bayville Auditorium."

"...Marvel Girl?" Xi blinked in confusion. "I thought Jean Grey did not have a codename."

"Evidently, the X-Men couldn't come up with one for her." Shipwreck recalled. "And we'd know if they did."

"Thank the Internet, yo." Todd smiled. "Somebody called her that as a joke, and it ended up sticking." He went back to his work. "Yeah, I can't get into the main device controlling the others. Definitely separated from the others."

"Makes sense." Shipwreck nodded. "If it is the Mercy Killers behind this, they would want to make sure we'd have a tough time cracking their machines."

"Pretty much. I had a heck of a time cracking this one." Todd confirmed, jerking his thumb back inside the bar. "But that leaves another question: What do we do with it now?"

"I say we transport it to Airtight." Shipwreck suggested. "He and Tripwire may know what to do with it."

"Tripwire?!" Althea exclaimed. "You think that thing's a bomb?!"

"You never know, Althea."

Xi frowned. "Isn't Tripwire infamous for his...awkwardness?"

"You mean clumsiness." Althea corrected the artificial being. "Yeah, Tripwire is infamous for it."

"Oh, yeah." Shipwreck rolled his eyes. "Always tripping on things, knocking things over, knocking into people, the works. Funny enough, it goes away when he's defusing a bomb. Weird."

"Wouldn't be a Joe if he wasn't weird in some way." Althea muttered, rolling her eyes.

Bayville Auditorium

"Friggin' X-Men..." Antoine grumbled as he and the band stuffed their loot into an armored truck. He noticed Mimi and Angar heading to the stage. "Where are you two going?!"

"We're going to get those two X-Men out of our hair!" Mimi told him. "The hell you doing?!"

"What you think?! I'm loading up the loot! If those X-Men shut us down, we gotta make like bananas and split!"

"You better not be holding out on us!" Mimi snapped.

"Your cut's in the truck!"

"Come on, Mimi! Focus!" Angar snapped, dragging the woman behind him. The two made it to the stage, where they saw the two X-Men discussing the crowd situation.

"I'll hit them with an E first." Mimi told Angar.

"E? What does that note do again?"

"Dizziness and vertigo." Mimi told him. She opened her mouth and started to sing.

"Oogh..." Warren groaned, holding his head.

"Angel?" Jean blinked.

"I don't feel good...muh head..."

"What's wrong?"

"Ugh...m'dizzy...WHOA!" Warren seemed to tumble backwards in the air, his wings going wild. "Up! Which way is up?!"

"What the...?" Jean saw Mimi. Her mouth was open...and she was singing a tune. She must be doing this! Eyes narrowed in determination, Jean dove towards Mimi.

"Watch this, babe." Mimi grinned, nudging Angar with her elbow. "I'll hit Red over there with a A." She then started singing in an A note.

"Oog..." Jean groaned and blinked. "What?! My eyes! My eyes!" Jean screamed and put her hands to her face. "MY EYES! I'm blind!"

"And now I'll hit her with a F."

"Ohhh..." Jean moaned, clutching her stomach. "I feel like I was in a centrifuge..."

"You really like F, don't you?" Angar asked.

"Heck yeah!" Mimi laughed. "You wanna have some fun with these brats?"

"Sure." Angar shrugged. "With my sonic powers, I'll give them a nice fright." He started to wail.

"Uhnnn..." Warren moaned as he shook his head. "What happened? My head...feels like I got a case of...what the?!" The winged millionaire saw something fly towards. "Aw, no!"

"KREEEEEEEEE!" The green gargoyle screamed as it dove towards the Angel.

"The hell did that thing come from?!" Warren exclaimed. "GAH!" The monster grabbed at the mutant and he found himself grappling with it. "God, this town is crazy!"

"KREEEEEEEE!"

"Yeah yeah, shut up!" Warren tried to punch the monster, but it no-sold the blow. I really have to look into getting some offensive weaponry. Maybe like a baseball bat or something... Mimi and Angar watched this battle. To them, and anyone else, it looked like Warren was grappling with the air.

"You have any idea what he's seeing?" Mimi asked.

"No idea." Angar admitted. "I'm not a telepath. But speaking of telepaths..." The two noticed Jean getting to her feet.

"Better take her down fast!" Mimi snapped. Angar nodded.

"Give her a mix of G and High C." He told her.

"Headaches and hallucinations." Mimi smiled. "So I can harmonize with you. I love you."

"Ugh..." Jean glared at the two villains. She then glared at them. "Alright, you two! I'm going to make you both really scream!"

"Sorry Red, but we do the screaming here!" Mimi mocked. She and Angar blasted the redheaded mutant with their own sonic abilities before Jean could bring her powers to bear.

"AGH!" Jean screamed as pain racked her head, preventing her from concentrating. She tightly closed her eyes as she attempted to power through her headaches.

"Uh uh, Red." Angar smiled, waving his finger. "Young lady must open her eyes..." Jean did so, and she screamed.

"Get away! GET AWAY!" The redheaded mutant yelled as she saw monsters jump at her. She tried to duck and dodge their strikes from their clawed limbs and tails. "Where did these things come from?!"

"We'd better make our exit, Mimi." Angar reminded.

"You got it!" The white-haired villainess agreed. The two then ran towards the truck containing their loot, noticing something odd. "What the-?!"

Antoine and the band were laid out, unconcious. The two saw a smirking Pietro strutting out from behind the truck.

"Didn't see me coming, huh?" The silver-haired speedster cockily leaned on the truck. "Your friends here certainly didn't." He held up a diamond ring and looked it over. "Pretty nice. I can certainly see why you guys would help yourselves to this."

"Kid, we just took down the redheaded telepath, and she's supposed to be one of the most powerful of you X-Clowns." Mimi mocked. "You really think that silver hair of yours makes you a tough guy?" Pietro chuckled.

"One thing, I'm not an X-Man. Never was." The silver-haired mutant smiled. "Also, the redheaded telepath lacks something I got." He gestured at the downed men. "I'm fast, baby."

"You faster than sound?" Angar sneered. Pietro theatrically made a face that indicated he was thinking about it.

"I think I may be." Pietro smiled. "But I also have something else." Xi made himself visible behind the two villains. He tapped Mimi's shoulder.

"Huh?" The villainess turned around...

Whack!

"Ungh!" Mimi grunted as she hit the ground.

"Mimi!" Angar gasped in horror.

Thuk!

A dart embedded itself in the activist-turned-supercriminal's neck. Angar blinked and pulled out the dart. He stared at it, but then started to sway, his face looking sleepy.

"Hee hee...sleepy time." He fell face-first to the ground. Jinx emerged from some shadows, a blowpipe in her hand, Wolverine with her.

"Huh." Wolverine blinked. "I can imagine the others finding that a bit anti-climactic."

"I'm a ninja, Logan." Jinx smiled as she put the blowpipe in a pocket in her uniform. "We're about getting the job done."

"A shame, really. I was expecting an epic brawl." Pietro looked around and then shrugged.

BAMF!

Nightcrawler appeared, carrying Toad.

"Can you find the master control?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, no problem." Toad nodded as he hopped away. "The others are helping Red and Wings, as well as those crazy people in the audience."

"I wonder what these guys were thinking, coming here of all places." Jinx frowned, looking at the Hypno-Hustler and his bandmates.

"My guess? They were so bent on a big score they decided to take the risk." Logan shrugged.

"Well, if I were them, with the luck they got? I wouldn't go anywhere near Las Vegas anytime soon." Jinx chuckled.

"Like that time you went to Vegas and got that guy's arm broken?" Pietro recalled. "No wonder they call you Jinx."

"Kid, remember what happened to Big Lob when he made that joke?" The Japanese woman glared at the speedster, whose face instantly went plane and face went gaunt.

"...IrememberJinxI'msorryJinx." The speedster whimpered.

The Xavier Institute, Later

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brains!" Paul Starr sang as he sat at Storm's piano, then playing a riff. "Too much love drive a man insane! You broke my will! But what a thrill! Goodness gracious, Great Balls of Fire!" Paul then started singing the Jerry Lee Lewis tune with Lance playing guitar and Craig playing bass. The young Misfit had the idea that after the craziness of this adventure, some steam needed to be let out. So, a constructive way to do it would be to throw a party.

"So, I take it that the malefactors were taken to the proper facilities?" Xavier asked as he wheeled up to Recondo.

"Yup." The jungle warfare expert nodded. "We helped the Guardsmen with that." He then chuckled. "Funny, I never heard some of the curse words Screaming Mimi was spewing out. I think she could make Shipwreck blush. Although to be fair, all you'd need to do that is put the Windrider over there in a swimsuit."

"Oh, I can imagine." Xavier smiled in amusement. "I had quite an interesting life myself." He gazed at Paul and Craig, who were jamming with Lance. "Born entertainers, those two."

"Yup." Recondo nodded. "I had no idea Avalanche was that good a guitar player, too."

"I had heard they wanted to start a band." Xavier noted.

"An all-mutant rock band." Recondo blinked. "I can only imagine the controversy that would cause."

"They could become pioneers." Xavier said. "Music can have amazing effects on people. It can inspire them. It can save them. Look at this..." He waved to the X-Men and Misfits dancing, hanging out, and having some fun. "Imagine that, but with regular humans."

"That's all fine and good, but..." Recondo frowned. "Being the first is dangerous. There are no shortage of people who want my boys dead because of what they are. Let's say they manage to do it. They become famous rock stars. Fantastic. That leads to a problem. They'll be in the public eye."

"They can use it to spread the message of human-mutant peace."

"It will also make them targets." Recondo countered. "It will be harder to keep them safe."

"Indeed." Xavier said, closing his eyes and steepling his fingers in thought. "It is risky...but it is rather unfair to deny them their dreams simply because we fear for their safety."

"Yeah." Recondo nodded. "I've had those boys for a short time, but I have grown rather fond of them." He then noticed one of the X-Men was missing. "Hey, where'd Cyclops go?"

BZZZART! BZZART!

Scott blasted some drones in the Danger Room with his optic beams. He deftly dodged one drone's attempt to blast him and it got some optic beams for its trouble. Another tried to slash at him, but it also got some optic blasts.

"Huh?" Scott blinked under his visor when he saw the drones retreat. "Who shut off the-?"

"I did." Jean Grey floated into the room.

"Oh. What's up?" Scott asked.

"What're you doing here?"

"Oh, just doing some training." Scott explained. "Felt a bit rusty."

"I think you handled yourself fine." Jean said.

"Still, gotta stay sharp." Scott pointed out.

"Storm told me once that a blade sharpened too fine will shatter." Jean recalled. "Scott, are you trying to avoid the party?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, you aren't having fun with the others. You're here."

"I wasn't feeling up to partying." Scott admitted.

"Why not? We're all having a good time. It's actually...kind of nice." Jean smiled.

"If you say so." Scott shrugged. Jean sighed.

"Scott...we need to talk." The redhead said to him.

"...is this about the whole thing with that Starchild clown?"

"Scott, is he really that far under your skin?" Jean smiled in amusement.

"I...I don't know." Scott admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "It's just...the way everyone seems to take to the guy. I just wonder why he'd hook up with the Misfits of all people?"

"Well, to be fair, they did find him first." Jean pointed out.

"Yeah, true..."

"And he's actually nice." Jean smiled. "He's also polite, too. How many Misfits are like that?"

"That's also true..." Scott admitted. Is that what's so irritating about him? That he's a Misfit that acts so...un-Misfit-like? "Maybe that's it. He's so...not your idea of what the Misfits would be like."

"I guess it had to happen sometime."

"Look Jean, I..." Scott rubbed the back of his head. "I am sorry about that whole blow-up earlier at the laundromat. I lost my head over that whole thing with the Starchild."

"It's alright." Jean smiled. "I suppose I did moon over him a bit. It's that rockstar mystique, after all."

"Of course." Scott rolled his eyes. His stomach started to grumble. "Hoo boy." He held his stomach. "I guess I'd better leave."

"Men." Jean playfully scoffed. "Always thinking with their stomachs."

"We are simple folk." Scott joked as the two left the Danger Room. "Is Starchild still jamming."

"Yes." Jean nodded. "His brother and Lance are playing with him."

"...I knew Alvers played guitar, but...yeah." Scott blinked as he heard the music. "...are they playing Elton John?"

"Island Girl." Jean confirmed with a nod. "Pretty good rendition, too."

"I'll say." Scott noted. "You think they know any Jackson Browne?" The Alaskan mutant had a fondness for the famous singer-songwriter, often listening to his music while he studied.

"I don't think they're the type that listens to him." Jean said.

"Oh, come on! 'Running on Empty'? Everyone likes that song!" Scott insisted. "It was in Forrest Gump and everything!"

Meanwhile, Ray was leaning on a wall, arms crossed, a scowl on his face. He watched Paul, Lance, and Craig play. He wanted to rush the purple star-birthmarked boy, but remembered the beating he took last time he tried that stunt. He then glanced at Tabitha, who was happily clapping and dancing.

Unbelievable! Just unbelievable! The electrokinetic ex-Morlock mentally muttered. I finally get to ask Tabitha out on a date, and then this whole thing happens! He glanced at Tabitha. And he's got her under his spell... His glower darkened. I've gotta do something about this...

Thanks for reading!