Due to many people liking my blog on my “Top 5 moments in X-Men: Mutant Massacre,” I have decided to do another one of my favorite scenes from a comic book! This time, I am doing my top 5 shocking moments from the “Wolverine” story, “Old Man Logan” and here is my list of the most shocking moments in that comic! (Check out my review)!

5) Hawkeye gets Shot

Throughout this book, Hawkeye, the only other surviving super hero, has been accompanying Wolverine in delivering a secret package so that he could get into the Avengers team again. Except that it turns out that S.H.I.E.L.D agents were tricking Hawkeye into getting them the super soldier serum and he ends up getting shot in the head. This scene was shocking to me because since Hawkeye was the only other surviving super hero next to Wolverine, having him be killed off in this story really made this story even darker than before.

4) Red Skull kills Captain America

The scene where Red Skull becomes the President of the United States after killing Captain America was a truly shocking scene to say the least. Probably the most frightening thing about this scene was the fact that Red Skull ended up having a trophy room where he keeps the Avengers’ costumes in display cases to show his victory in defeating the Avengers.

3) The Hulk Gang kills Wolverine’s Family

After Logan’s encounter with Red Skull, he tries to make it back home with the money he promised to pay back the Hulk Gang, only to find out that the Hulk Gang had viciously killed his family while he was gone! This moment then causes Wolverine to go back to his old violent self as he pledges vengeance against the Hulk Gang! This scene was truly emotional since the idea of having a family member killed is truly frightening for anyone.

2) Wolverine kills the Hulk

The last few pages of this book were an absolute gore fest as Wolverine goes head to toe with the evil Hulk Gang killing them all. Wolverine then comes across Bruce Banner, who has become evil and is much more powerful and stronger than he ever was before. The scene that really shocked me was after the Hulk eats Wolverine; Wolverine ends up popping out of the Hulk’s belly, killing him. It was so shocking because you never would have thought that Wolverine could ever survive being eaten and then rip his way out of a person’s belly!

1) Wolverine kills the X-Men

This scene topped my list because for one thing, you never would have thought that Wolverine would ever hurt the X-Men and another thing, who would have seen Mysterio actually trick Wolverine into killing his friends by creating an allusion where Wolverine thought that he was fighting the villains? It was truly frightening seeing the X-Men being all chopped up and lying on the ground while Wolverine looks on in horror as he saw what he had done. This causes him to not put up his claws since this memory haunted him for years.

So, what moments shocked you the most in “Wolverine: Old Man Logan?”

Title: Red Steel #3: Showdown! Part 1

Author: Rabbitearsblog

Universe: X-Men

Rating: T - For strong violence

Summary: Now that Colossus has discovered the true motives of his new friend Jerome, he will soon be in an epic battle that will determine the fate of Earth as Nigel's plans come to light and an alien invasion is threatening the world!

Notes: Please be gentle with the criticisms! :D

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Previous "Red Steel" Stories:

The Beginning of Red Steel:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Alien Mayhem!

Part 1

Part 2

Prologue:

In the last story, Colossus takes on the secret identity “Red Steel” to not only protect the people of New York City from the alien invasions, but to also prevent himself from being seen by the Avengers and the law. Unfortunately, Red Steel will soon discover that there are many aliens that are trying to do harm to the city and one of the aliens that he encounters is called the “Skin-Ripper.” The Skin-Ripper began causing mayhem in New York City when it started ripping off the skins of helpless victims and Colossus then realizes that he must stop this alien menace from killing anymore people. Red Steel then goes and fights the Skin-Ripper, but soon realizes that the Skin-Ripper is too powerful for him and he was having a tough time trying to defeat this alien. However, Jerome comes to Red Steel’s rescue and helps him defeat the Skin-Ripper. But as the Skin-Ripper was lying on the ground dying, he then tells Red Steel and Jerome about the true plans of the alien invasion and that there is a mole that is helping the aliens get to Earth! After the defeat of the Skin-Ripper, there were news reports all over New York City that mentioned about how Jerome and Red Steel both defeated the Skin-Ripper and everyone starts to notice about Red Steel’s existence. When Nigel Faust hears about Red Steel, he is outraged for he believes that Red Steel will ruin his secret plans. After talking with Commander Zoid, a mysterious alien commander from the Planet Gork, Nigel decides to take matters into his own hands in dealing with Red Steel. Meanwhile, the X-Men members at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning also saw the news reports about Red Steel and when they believed that Red Steel might be Colossus, they decided to go and find Red Steel quickly. Later on, Red Steel starts to become suspicious of Jerome, for he thinks that Jerome is keeping a huge secret from him. So Red Steel decides to confront Jerome in his secret headquarters to make him tell him about the alien invasion and what is the true motive behind it.

Chapter 1: The Big Reveal!

“So, everything that you had told me…was it a lie or was it true?” asked Red Steel.

Jerome looked at Red Steel with a cool gaze on his face and said, “Everything I said about my life as a child was all true. I was responsible for the destruction of my home and killed all of the protesters who had shot my parents. It’s true that I have been on the run from the law for many years. But what I didn’t tell you was what happened to me after that incident.”

Jerome then sat down on a chair near Red Steel and he started to explain the second part of his story:

“After I ran away from the scene, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life while avoiding the police. I tried to find a place to stay for the next few years since at the time, my closest relatives, who were my grandparents, both lived in North Carolina and I couldn’t travel that far. So, I found this abandoned building near Central Park and for the next ten years, I lived there while getting food from kind strangers and wearing old blankets and discarded clothes to keep me warm.”

Jerome slightly shuddered as he remembered the terrible life that he had lived years ago, in order to steer clear from the police. Jerome sighed quietly and then continued on with his story:

“I was barely surviving in the conditions that I was forced into; but then when I was seventeen years old, my life suddenly changed when this strange man mysteriously came to the abandoned building I was staying in. I was suspicious of this man since I thought that he was sent to the building to alert the police of my whereabouts. However, the man told me that he means me no harm and that he knows that I am a mutant and that I was involved in the murder of the protesters back at my old home. I started wondering to myself about how he even knew that I was a mutant or the fact that I was the one who murdered the protesters. The man told me that he saw the news reports and knew that the policemen were still after me, years after the incident. It turns out that this man worked at the Natural Resources Center and he needed a personal assistant to help him with his duties and he decided to offer me a job. In return, he promised that he would not reveal my true identity to the public and that I would be paid handsomely for my services. Ready to ditch the poor life I was living and stop being afraid about the police coming to arrest me, I agreed and began working for him for the past five years.”

Red Steel looked at Jerome for a few moments as he let this information sink in and then said, “This man…you said that he worked at the natural resources center? He sounds suspiciously like…” Then Red Steel gasped and said, “No, it cannot be!”

“It is,” said Jerome solemnly. “The man I started working for was none other than Nigel Faust. Once I started working for him, I started learning so much about Nigel’s life. It turns out that Nigel had been working for the natural resources center ever since he was nineteen years old and was known as a prodigy in his family for his various accomplishments in the political world. At first, everything was going well as I learned so many things about handling Earth’s natural resources. However, things started to get weird when there were news reports about many mutants disappearing from New York.”

“Are you referring to M-Day when Scarlett Witch decimated the mutant race?” asked Red Steel.

“No, this was happening a year before M-Day. I tried asking Nigel about whether or not he knew anything about the disappearance of the mutants, but he acted like he didn’t know what was going on and told me to forget about the disappearances. For awhile, I did indeed forget about the disappearances of the mutants until M-Day came and I started remembering about the mutants that disappeared earlier. I started running towards Nigel’s office again, wanting to see if he remembered about the mutants’ disappearances, but the moment I reached his office, I saw this strange blue guy talking to Nigel. I was curious about this mysterious person that Nigel was talking too and I tried to stay out of sight, but I accidentally tripped by the door and that’s when Nigel and the blue guy saw me.”

“Sounds like my first attempt at sneaking up on Nigel also,” commented Red Steel.

“You tried to sneak up on Nigel?” asked Jerome.

“Da, and it was not as successful as I thought it would have been,” said Red Steel.

“Join the club,” said Jerome and then he continued his story:

“I tried to get away as fast as I could, but then Nigel quickly caught me by the neck and dragged me away from his office. He then slammed me against the wall and he started threatening me, saying that if I revealed what I had just saw, he would make sure that my job with him is “terminated.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out the “double” meaning of that sentence and after I agreed with him, he let me go and went back to his office. It was then that I knew that Nigel was up to no good and if I kept on working with him, I would either be killed or be caught up in something that I don’t want to be involved in. I could have taken him down with my mutant powers, but I didn’t want to cause a scene, especially after he hadn’t revealed my identity to the public yet. So, I told him that I was going to quit the job to find another job and let me tell you, it did not go over too well. Nigel threatened that if he ever see me again, he was going to kill me on the spot, especially since he believes that I was going to be a threat to his “plans” after I saw him meeting with the blue guy.”

“So, what did you do after that?” asked Red Steel.

“Luckily, I had a lot of money left over from my job, so I was able to set up a secret headquarters in this abandoned building and bought a computer mainframe to help me check out everything going on in New York City,” said Jerome.

“So that is why you always ran off somewhere without warning,” commented Red Steel.

“Yeah, I had little tracking device on my beeper that alerts me on alien activity so that way, I could go across New York and defeat the aliens. I also started using the computer mainframe to keep tabs on Nigel Faust’s activities over the past few years. Ever since he went ballistic on me when I saw him talking with the blue guy, I decided to spy on him a bit to see what his true plans were and what it would mean for the citizens of New York City.”

“Did you ever found out anything about his plans?” asked Red Steel.

“Only that he was still communicating with the blue aliens. About what, I’m still in the dark about that,” said Jerome.

Red Steel looked down at the floor for a few moments and then asked, “But, why did you not tell me about all this before?”

“Well, you are a fugitive, right? Not only are the police after you, but the Avengers are too and I had to keep everything I did a secret so that way Nigel wouldn’t find out about me spying on him. Even if that meant keeping this secret from you in the process,” said Jerome.

“Oh, I understand now. So, what made you decide to tell me all this?” asked Red Steel.

“Well, apart from you coming into my headquarters like Darth Vader, I figure I could trust you. You seem like a really good person and we are both in a situation where we did bad things in the past, but are trying to make up for it,” said Jerome in a reassured tone.

Red Steel looked at Jerome with appreciation and said quietly, “Thank you, Jerome.”

“No problem,” said Jerome.

Suddenly, there were sounds of explosions outside of the headquarters and Jerome and Red Steel looked at each other worriedly.

“More aliens?” asked Red Steel.

“Seems like it, but it sounds…different than before…” said Jerome quietly.

“What do you mean?” asked Red Steel.

“It sounds like there are people trying to fight the aliens,” said Jerome.

“Could it be the Avengers?” asked Red Steel worriedly.

“I don’t know, but we got to check it out! Just stay low behind me until we can see who it is,” said Jerome.

So Jerome and Red Steel sneaked quietly out of Jerome’s headquarters to see what was going on. What they saw was a tragedy beyond anything they could have ever imagined.

The aliens were not only torturing the civilians, but the city was in shatters as the buildings were being destroyed and bombs were going off everywhere.

“Oh my god! The aliens are really tearing this city apart!” yelled Jerome.

“We must stop them right now!” yelled Red Steel as he started running towards the aliens. But just as he got close enough, he saw several figures fighting off the aliens and he immediately recognized them.

“Oh no…it cannot be!” said Red Steel breathlessly.

“What! What is it?” asked Jerome.

Red Steel just pointed at the figures fighting the aliens and said with a pained expression on his face, “It is the X-Men! They are here!”

Next chapter: Part 2

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This is the first time that I had posted any of my comic book discussion videos on Comic Vine, so here is one of my comic book discussion topics that I had just put up on You Tube and feel free to discuss about how you feel about this topic!

Everyone knows that " X-Men: Mutant Massacre" was probably one of the most pivotal storylines in the X-Men comics as it dealt with the genocide of the Morlock population and it detailed the changes in some of the characters.  After reading this story line ( see my review), I had decided to list my top 5 moments from this significant event and here they are:
 
5. Angel being Crucified

For months now, Marvel has announced the coming of Marvel NOW and now that it is finally here, would this be a good place for new readers to jump into their favorite stories?  

Basically, Marvel NOW was started after the big event “ Avengers vs. X-Men” and even though it is set up as a chance for new readers to dive into Marvel Comics, would new readers be able to jump into the stories quite as easily?  
 
In my opinion, while it’s great that Marvel NOW is switching creative teams, creating new titles ( Uncanny Avengers and Cable and X-Force), and relaunching some of their titles (Uncanny X-Force and Uncanny X-Men), I think that new readers still might have some trouble trying to jump into these new titles because the events of Marvel NOW were started right after “Avengers vs. X-Men.”  Sure, all the new readers have to do is read “Avengers vs. X-Men” to get the full gist of the new direction that Marvel NOW is taking the characters, but what happens if they want to know how “Avengers vs. X-Men” was started in the first place?  They would have to read “ Civil War,” “ House of M" to find out how the mutant population was decimated,  “ Schism”  to find out why the X-Men are split up and many other events that started before “Avengers vs. X-Men” to get the full idea of where “Avengers vs. X-Men” came from.   Now, whenever I think of a good place for new readers to start reading stories in comics, I usually think of brand new stories where readers can just jump in without having to worry about past stories to get them to understand the full gist of the story being told.  For example, I liked what Grant Morrison did with “ New X-Men” by giving a new story about the X-Men, but still have the story to be set in the same universe as the previous stories and you don’t necessarily have to read any past X-Men events to get the full gist of the story.  Sure, new readers wouldn't have much to read back on to understand "Avengers vs. X-Men," but if Marvel NOW is meant to be a new start for the characters, then there should be new stories that are not left over from past stories to really help new readers jump into the stories easily.   Of course, it's not quite certain if all the titles in Marvel NOW will follow the events of "Avengers vs. X-Men" ( Fantastic Four and Deadpool are possibilities of not following the events) but we will have to wait and see more from Marvel NOW to see where this new direction takes all the characters.
 
So what do you think?   Do you think that Marvel NOW is a good place for new readers to start or do you think that Marvel should have waited on starting Marvel NOW until the leftover tension from "Avengers vs. X-Men" is over and done with?

 Title: Red Steel #2: Alien Mayhem! Part 2

Author: Rabbitearsblog

Universe: X-Men

Rating:  T -  For strong violence

 Summary:  As Colossus becomes the vigilante "Red Steel," many events start unfolding including more alien attacks, Nigel Faust's plan coming to light and the X-Men soon discovering about the mysterious Red Steel!

  Chapter 2: The Skin – Ripper

Later that night…

Red Steel was running across the top of the buildings in New York City, trying to avoid being noticed on the streets below.   After he heard the reports about an alien ripping off the skins of innocent bystanders (which was a gruesome thought indeed), he decided to find the alien himself and take him down before it harms anymore people.   As he was jumping from building to building, Red Steel felt an exhilaration that he had never felt before.   Being an X-Man in the past, he had always trained his body to control his unimaginable strength in his steel form.   Red Steel rarely jumped across buildings before since his steel form was excessively heavy, but over time, he had learn how to move a bit more quickly in his steel form so that he could escape from his enemies or take them down much quicker.   At the moment, Red Steel felt as free as a bird leaping from one building to the next, as he felt that he could do anything that he puts his mind to; an activity that he rarely offered to himself ever since the decimation of the mutants first started.
 

Once Red Steel landed on a small building, he heard a commotion down below and he immediately leapt from the building to the ground.   Once Red Steel reached his destination in a few strides, the sight he saw ahead of him had terrified and angered him all at once.   He saw an alien grab a young woman by her neck and while the young woman was screaming in terror, the alien then punctured the back of the woman’s neck with its sharp claws.   Then, the alien proceeded to tear along the woman’s skin with its sharp claws until it reached the woman’s bottom half and then it ripped her skin off while dropping the bloodied form of the young woman on the ground.   The alien was just about to hang the skin on another flagpole nearby a building when it suddenly heard a booming voice from across the streets.

“You have made a grave mistake, Tovarisch!   You have taken the life of an innocent person and I will not tolerate that!”

Red Steel then ran at the alien and punched it three feet across the street and into a building, which crumbled at the alien’s impact.   Red Steel than looked down at the bloodied body of the woman and said to himself, “This is truly utter madness!   How could anyone do this to an innocent bystander?”   Suddenly, Red Steel heard the sound of debris, from the building that the alien had crashed into, being thrown around.   There standing among the crumbled building stood the alien unscathed.

“What?   How are you still standing?” said Red Steel surprised.

“Easy, you bumbling Earth life form!   I cannot be hurt no matter what moves you can put on me!” said the alien.

Red Steel was taken aback as the alien spoke, but then he regains himself and spoke, “Who are you?   Why have you come here?”

“So many questions, so little time to answer to a puny life form.  Very well, since you seem so insistent on knowing who I am, I will tell you.   I am known as the Skin-Ripper, the only alien around the galaxy who has the ability to rip the skins off of any opponent that I come across,” said the Skin-Ripper with pride.

“So you are an alien who can rip people’s skins off.   What is the pleasure in doing this horrible deed?” said Red Steel with disgust.

“I live to see the terror in my victims’ eyes!   And hanging their skins on whatever flagpole I can find is like my own personal display of my trophies!   Trophies that I intend to get more of for my collection!   It might take a little more time to skin you alive, but it would be worth it!”

The Skin-Ripper then leapt at Red Steel and tackled him to the ground.   Red Steel tried to push the malicious alien off of him, but the alien held on tight and started scratching at his steel body.   Even though Red Steel can barely feel the pain of his steel skin being scratched at, he knew that if he doesn’t do something quickly, the alien will scratch at him until there is nothing left of his body.   Red Steel then raised his legs to reach the alien’s stomach and then with a mighty grunt, pushed his legs against the alien’s stomach and sent it flying up into the sky.   Once the alien came back down again, Red Steel then grabs the alien and threw it down into the ground.

“Have enough yet?” asked Red Steel through gritted teeth.

Even though the alien’s head was a few inches into the ground, it responded, “I am not even finished yet!”

The Skin-Ripper than lifted itself from the ground and kicked Red Steel up his chin and then made a 180 – degree turn in the air and kicked Red Steel in the stomach, throwing him three feet across the street.   Red Steel then crashed into a building and looked dazedly at the alien who was approaching him.

“Give it up, weakling!   You cannot possibly think that you defeat me with your puny---“

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded out in the streets and the Skin-Ripper yelped in pain.   A bullet had busted through the alien’s stomach and dark purple blood started shooting out of its body.   Once his head started to clear up, Red Steel saw a man standing on a building not too far off and immediately recognized him.  

“Hey, slime and ugly!   Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” yelled the man at the alien.

The Skin-Ripper then looked behind itself and saw Jerome Brown jump down from the building and onto the ground with two smoking pistols at his sides.

“Well, it seems that I have another interloper to deal with!” the Skin-Ripper said through gritted teeth.   Then, the alien stood up quickly and the bullet wound in its stomach started to heal up.   After the wound was completely healed, the alien then started running towards Jerome, who had his pistols at ready.   Suddenly, the alien was tackled down by Red Steel once again and as Red Steel held the alien on the ground, the alien screamed, “You again? Don’t you ever give up?!”

The alien then raised itself from the ground and pushed at Red Steel until Jerome ran up and started shooting at the alien again, this time hitting it in the leg.   The alien screamed again, but healed itself once more and started running for Jerome.

“This isn’t working! There’s got to be a way to kill this thing!” yelled Jerome.

Red Steel thought for a moment and then said, “If this alien cannot be killed from the outside, then it could be killed from the inside!”

Red Steel then ran quickly towards the alien, who was about to rip Jerome’s skin off, and grabbed the alien by the neck.   He then proceeded to lift the alien over his head and ended up snapping the alien’s back on his knee.   The alien then screamed and fell to the ground, limping as it slowly felt the sharp pain in its back.

“Nice work!” complimented Jerome.

“Thank you, my friend!” said Red Steel grinning.

“You’re welcome! You’re pretty handy with the fighting moves.”   Jerome then leaned close to Red Steel and whispered, “Colossus.”

Red Steel looked at Jerome in shock and said, “How did you know?”   Then he looked embarrassed and whispered back, “Oh, the steel body gave it away, did it not?”

“Yeah, pretty much.   But, I will admit that this is really clever and don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about this.” Jerome whispered back.

“Thank you,” said Red Steel

The Skin – Ripper was moving slowly on the ground and then whispered, “Fools! You are both fools!   You may have defeated me, but you cannot defeat our master!”

 Red Steel and Jerome than looked at the alien in shock and Red Steel said, “Master?   What master?”

The alien laughed quietly and said, “Our master has great plans for your pathetic planet.   Plans that could easily destroy every life form on this waste of a planet.   Our mole has done a brilliant job in making our master’s plans succeed!”

Red Steel then grabbed the alien from the ground and started shaking it as he said, “You have a mole on this planet?! Who is this mole?!”

The alien laughed for one last time and then died in Red Steel’s hands.   Red Steel then dropped the alien on the ground and said to himself, “I thought that it was bizarre that aliens have suddenly invaded this planet.   But, who is this mole and what do they want with this planet?”

Jerome shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s pretty bad.   We got to figure this out before it’s too late.”

Suddenly, Jerome’s beeper started beeping once more and he looked at Red Steel and said, “Oh, I got to go.   I got something important to do, but it was great fighting alongside you, now that we took down this alien threat. Goodbye!”

Jerome then ran off down the streets and Red Steel just stared after Jerome and said with suspicion laced in his voice, “Yes, although I will be seeing you much sooner than you think.”

Chapter 3: Plans and Consequences

The next morning…

In the large glass building located near a lake, Nigel Faust was looking at the morning news on a widescreen TV, in which Sharon Whittner was stating:

“In today’s news, the alien menace known as the Skin-Ripper, that was responsible for ripping the skins off of innocent people, was found dead in the streets of Brooklyn.   According to our sources, there were two men at the scene when the alien was defeated and one of the men was an African-American man named Jerome Brown whose background information is unidentified at this point. The other man, who seems to have a steel body and a red costume, is known as the new mysterious vigilante crime fighter, “Red Steel.”   These two men are now hailed as the heroes of New York City as they have defeated one of the constant threats that this city has suffered over the past few weeks.   Citizens can now rest easy knowing that the Skin-Ripper is no longer threatening the city.   This is Sharon Whittner reporting from the Morning News.”

Suddenly, a remote control flew at the TV, smashing the glass to pieces. Nigel Faust then started panting in rage and then screamed, “HOW?! How is it possible that the plans that I had laid out so carefully are ruined by a vigilante and his partner in crime?!”   Nigel banged his fists on his desk in anger and then he said to himself, “And that Jerome Brown, I cannot believe that he’s still alive after all this time.   What is he doing with this “Red Steel” character?   I must find out more about this “threat” or else my plans will come unwinding before my very eyes.”   

Nigel then heard a beeping noise coming from his desk and a secret TV screen started rising up from the top of the desk as an alien face appeared on the screen.

“Nigel Faust,” said the alien on the TV screen.

“Commander Zoid,” said Nigel giving the alien a salute.

“What is happening over there?   Why hasn’t the shipment of the Earth’s resources been delivered to the planet Gork yet?” Commander Zoid yelled angrily at Nigel.

Nigel stuttered a bit before saying, “I’m sorry commander.   I was planning on shipping the Earth’s resources to your planet, but it seems that we are having some problems on Earth at the moment.”

Commander Zoid stared coldly at Nigel and said, “You better handle this problem right away or you will find yourself as a personal slave to the Gorkian Race!   This is your last warning!”   The TV screen then went blank and slid back into the desk.

Nigel then sat back down at his desk, looking defeated and then he said to himself, “Well, I may have to deal with this “Red Steel” character sooner than I thought.   My plans will come to fruition, at any cost!”

Meanwhile…
 

Everything was quiet at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning (except for the sounds of the students going to their classes) as all the staff members were recovering from their battle with the Phoenix Five.   Even though they won the battle against the Phoenix Five, their spirits were low as they realized that they had to fight their closest friends to prevent the world from being destroyed.

Ororo Munroe, who had left Utopia after the Phoenix Five were defeated and came to the school to teach the students, was standing by a window and seeing the students coming from the field and going inside the school to get ready for their classes.   Her thoughts were troubled as she remembered being on Cyclops’ team after the Schism between him and Wolverine in order to prevent Cyclops’ team from going overboard with their plans to protect the world.   Little did she know, the Phoenix Force had come to Earth searching for a new host and it had affected her teammates, Colossus, Magik, Emma Frost, Namor and Cyclops.    Even though she tried everything to stop the Phoenix Force from overtaking her teammates, she realized that it was a lost cause once they were lost to the destructive forces of the Phoenix Force.   Now, her former teammates were on the run from the law while Cyclops was imprisoned, even though it was the Phoenix Force that ultimately took control of the others’ good intentions to make the world a safer place.    

Ororo continued looking out the window solemnly, until she heard a light female voice in the background, “Need some company Ororo?”

The voice belonged to Kitty Pryde, who was now the headmistress of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.   Even though she was at the school when the Avengers were fighting the Phoenix Five, the events that had happened with the Phoenix Five, had hurt her deeply especially since one of the members came to the school and… that was a memory that she did not want to think about.

“Why, hello Kitten!  It is nice seeing you here.   So, how was your day?” asked Ororo.

“Well, the students are acting up, as usual, and one of the students manages to blow up a tree during their power controlling lessons,” said Kitty.

Ororo laughed quietly, but then she noticed Kitty’s sad smile.   She then asked Kitty, “Do you still miss him?”

Kitty looked down and sighed sadly, “It’s so weird Ororo.   I know that it was the Phoenix Force that possessed his body, but even then, the Peter I knew had changed so much.   It’s like he’s much…darker now and I don’t know if I could ever have that relationship I used to have with him when he was just a sweet and innocent man who would do anything to protect his friends.”

Ororo looked at Kitty with sympathy on her face and said, “I know Kitten, I know.   But, even though things are terrible right now, we cannot lose hope for Scott and the others.   Let us just hope that they will see the errors of their ways and come back to us.”

Kitty smiled and said, “Yeah, I hope so too.”

Suddenly, Bobby Drake ran into the room and yelled out, “Hey! There’s something on the news you got to see!”

Kitty and Ororo looked at each other and ran to the main room with the other X-Men members Logan and Hank.  

“What’s going on?” asked Kitty.

“There seems to be an alien invasion in downtown New York that occurred a few days ago.   But, a new Representative of the Natural Resources Division named Nigel Faust, was actually taking care of the problem for the past few days,” said Hank.

“How come we didn’t know about this?” asked Bobby.

“Maybe the military whackos didn’t want us mutants to interfere with their so-called alien problems,” said Logan sipping on some beer.

Then, the news announcer came onscreen and stated:

“Hello ladies and gentlemen!   This is Ronald Quest reporting live from the Morning News!   In today’s news, there are some rumors circulating around New York about a mysterious red costumed vigilante named Red Steel along with his partner, Jerome Brown, protecting New York City from the alien invasion.   Last night, the two men were responsible for the death of one of the greatest alien threats that New York City has ever faced, the Skin-Ripper, and now, they have been hailed as true heroes for dealing with such a threat. We are now trying to find more information regarding these two men and how they came into the picture in the first place.  This is Ronald Quest, reporting from the Morning News.”   

The X-Men then looked at each other in shock until Bobby said, “Red Steel? Is that who I think it is?”

The X-Men were speechless for a moment while Kitty looked at the television with a shocked expression on her face.

“Only one way to find out,” growled Logan and then said,   “Alright, we gonna go check this “Red Steel” guy out and see if he’s all he’s cracked up to be.”

Later…

While Nigel Faust was busy plotting for Red Steel’s demise and the X-Men were making preparations to locate Red Steel, Jerome was going back to his secret headquarters that was located in one of the abandoned buildings. Once he reached inside the den and was about to go to the large computer mainframe, a deep voice echoed across the room.

“Why hello, Jerome.   It is a pleasure seeing you here.”

Jerome looked around the room in shock as two knives came out of his hands and he was ready to throw the knives at the intruder when he saw the figure in his chair and recognized him immediately.

Red Steel was sitting in the large chair in front of the computer mainframe and as he turned the chair around, he started looking at Jerome with narrow silver eyes that were deeply unsettling.

“How…how did you find this place?” asked Jerome nervously.

“Simple, I just followed you across town after our fight with the Skin-Ripper.”   Red Steel then got up from the chair and started walking towards Jerome slowly while saying, “But, what I want to know is what do you know about Nigel and these aliens?”

Jerome stood his ground, but then he hung his head down and said, “I guess I got some explaining to do.”
 
Previous Story: Part 1

 Title: Red Steel #2: Alien Mayhem! Part 1

Author: Rabbitearsblog

Universe: X-Men

Rating:  T -  For strong violence

Summary:  As Colossus becomes the vigilante "Red Steel," many events start unfolding including more alien attacks, Nigel Faust's plan coming to light and the X-Men soon discovering about the mysterious Red Steel!

 
The story of “Red Steel” began when Piotr Rasputin, also known as COLOSSUS, was on the run from the law.   Piotr’s life went spiraling out of control after the events of him being possessed by the Phoenix Force along with his fellow X-Men members Cyclops, Magik, Namor, and Emma Frost as they all caused destruction and mayhem in their powered forms.   This then led to the Avengers chasing after him and his teammates to put them in justice. While in hiding, Piotr noticed that strange aliens were attacking New York City and what was even more unusual was that a man named Nigel Faust, who was the representative of the Natural Resources Division and commander of the Alien Demolisher Army, had shown up saving New York City from the alien invasion.   However, Piotr soon becomes suspicious of the so-called savior Nigel Faust as the aliens suddenly showed up around the same time when he showed up.   Piotr then decides to sneak into Nigel Faust’s building to learn more about him, but he was soon caught and thrown out of the building.   After that mishap, Piotr sees some aliens attacking the city again and as he rushes over to fight them, he meets up with a mysterious man named Jerome Brown who he instantly becomes fast friends with.  Meanwhile, Piotr sees that the Avengers are gaining up on him and he had to come up with a plan to hide from the Avengers while maintaining his dedication to protecting people.   It was then that Piotr decided to become the mysterious vigilante “Red Steel” who is a costumed crusader who protects the people from forces of evil while protecting his true identity from the law.

Chapter 1: Spooky Revelations

It was a dark and cold night in New York City and everyone was asleep in their beds, dreaming of the daily activities they must endure the next morning.   One man however, was not asleep like the other citizens of the city and instead, he was roaming the dark streets of New York City as he had just recently moved to New York City and he wanted to get better acquainted with the city by exploring its streets at night.   Now, most people would believe that this is a truly idiotic thing to do for there were burglars and other horrifying things lurking about the night.   But, the man didn’t care about all those things as he hurried along the streets to get back home after exploring the outskirts of the city.   The young man was just getting near his apartment, when he heard a low growling sound coming from behind him.

“Who’s there?” the young man asked nervously.

He looked around the streets, but saw no one.   With a nervous shrug, the man once again turned towards his apartment when he heard the low growling sound again except this time, it was much closer than before.

“Alright, look! I’m not playing any games tonight so whoever you are, you better show yourself before I get angry!” shouted the young man at the air.

No sooner than the man spoke those words, then a large, dark, slimy figure jumped out from behind a building and started clawing at the man.   The man’s cries, which were filled with terror and pain, echoed throughout the streets of New York City.   But, there was no one to help the young man, no one to hear his screams of terror…

Once the dark figure finished his work, he got off the man and started walking towards a flagpole and put something up on the flagpole. Then, the figure started walking down the streets looking for more prey to torture.   After the figure left, the man was lying on the ground, but all that was left of him was his bloody, skinless body as his skin was hanging off the flagpole…

The next morning…

In an old abandoned building, Piotr woke up and as he struggled to get off the mattress, he realized that he had a bad ache in his back.  

“Oww… boize moi, it is getting harder to sleep on this mattress every night!   But, I guess that is the life of a fugitive, yes?” Piotr said to himself while rubbing his back.

Piotr finally got up and started walking over to the other side of the building and saw a red costume on the wall near the entrance.

“So, this is how everything will be for now on, yes?   It is funny, just yesterday I was on the run from the law with no place to go.   And now, I think I have finally found my identity!”

Piotr picked up the costume and looked over it for a few minutes. Then he said to himself, “It feels so strange that I am finally taking charge of being a hero (or a vigilante, whichever makes sense at the moment).   I have never done anything on my own before.   It makes me feel so…alive!”

Piotr smiled broadly at the costume and put it back on the wall.   Then, he grabbed his cloak and started walking out towards the city.   As Piotr carefully walked down the street, he came across a hot dog stand.   Piotr’s stomach then growled and he said to himself, “I am so hungry.   But I do not have any money to get one hot dog.   I wonder…”

“Hey, Mac! I like to order three hot dogs!” called out a happy voice.

Piotr turned around to see where the voice was coming from and he saw the face of his old acquaintance, Jerome Brown, coming up towards the hot dog stand!

“Jerome! What is he doing here?” asked Piotr to himself.

Jerome then quickly went up to the hot dog stand and took the three hot dogs he order and suddenly saw Piotr standing to the side.

“Oh, hey! I didn’t see you there!   Would you like a hot dog?” asked Jerome.

“Umm…well I…” Piotr’s stomach suddenly growled and he looked at Jerome in embarrassment.

“Yep, I definitely know you want a hot dog! Here you go!” said Jerome, offering a hot dog to Piotr.

Piotr took the hot dog and started eating it.   Jerome then started eating his hot dog and said to Piotr, “Hey, do you want to walk around the city for a little awhile with me?”

Piotr looked at Jerome and said, “Well, I could.   But as you can see, I am not really wearing the most attractive type of clothing.” Piotr pointed at his cloak to prove his point.

“No problem! We’ll just get you some fresh clothes for you to get comfortable in!” said Jerome.

“New clothes? But what about…” Piotr began.

“Don’t worry about you being a fugitive.   As long as we keep low, no one will even notice you,” whispered Jerome.

Piotr agreed and then followed Jerome to the shopping mall without being seen by any of the customers.   While inside the store, Piotr tried out several different outfits and found the perfect outfit for himself: a white T-shirt and blue jeans.   After Jerome paid for the clothes, he and Piotr walked out of the store together and towards a Starbucks restaurant. As they sat down to drink their coffees, Jerome asked Piotr, “So, what’s your story?”

Piotr looked up at Jerome and said, “Excuse me?”

“Well, I pretty much told you my life story the last time we met. So, I like to hear your life story,” said Jerome.

Piotr looked down at his coffee and then said, “Well, my life story is extremely long, so I will just explain about what had just recently happened to me.   So you know that there were reports of the Phoenix Five overtaking the world and trying to make it a better place. Well, I was apart of the Phoenix Five since the Phoenix Force overtook our bodies and made us do all of these crazy activities.   Before that though, I was also an avatar of the Cyttorak, which I lost when the Phoenix Force took over my body.   But now that the Phoenix Force has vanished, I am back to normal, but I am on the run because of my crimes as a host of the Phoenix Force.”

Jerome looked at Piotr for a long time and then said, “But that’s not fair! The Phoenix Force overtook your body.   You had no control over your actions! So you can’t be condemned for being possessed by some cosmic entity!”

“Maybe and maybe not.   But since we started fighting with the Avengers (although I do not know why we could not have just discuss about what to do with Hope Summers instead of fighting each other for her) I am not surprised that we are on the wanted list,” said Piotr sadly.

“So you’ve fought with the Avengers!   What does that have to do with you guys being possessed by the Phoenix Force and being blamed for the actions of a cosmic entity?” said Jerome indignantly.

“Well, it is a bit difficult to explain. However, anything dealing with the Phoenix Force has never been easy to explain,” said Piotr.

Jerome then sighed deeply and asked, “Well, is there anyone you know who is willing to defend you?   Any of the X-Men members?”

“Well at the moment, no.   I cannot ask the X-Men for help because I do not want them to get in trouble for protecting me.   But also, we have been very…distant with each other ever since the incident with the mutant population dwindling.   I mean, the mutant population is restored and everything, but the X-Men is still separated and I do not know how to bring everyone back together again,” said Piotr sadly.

Jerome looked down and asked, “Well, have you’ve been friends with the X-Men for a long time?”  

“Yes, for many years we have been close to each other,” said Piotr.

“Then, why would they let something like this get between you?   If you have been an X-Men member for years and you’ve been friends with them, then they’ll have to defend you no matter what happens!” said Jerome.

“I wish it was that easy,” said Piotr crestfallen.

Suddenly, a news bulletin came up on one of the flat screen TVs hanging on the wall in the restaurant and a news woman reported:
 

  “Hello ladies and gentlemen!   This is Sharon Whittner, reporting live from the Morning News and we have some tragic news indeed.   There has been a report of a horrific murder last night in the northern end of New York City.   A young man was seen lying on the ground with his body being skinless and his skin hanging on a flagpole nearby.   Authorities believe that the same aliens who had attacked the city days ago were responsible for this terrible act.  Representative of the Natural Resources Division, Nigel Faust, is set on trying to bring in more alien destroyer armies to take down the aliens in the city and put an end to this tyranny.   Sharon Whittner reporting from the Morning News.”

Both Jerome and Piotr looked at the TV screen in complete shock when suddenly, Jerome’s beeper started beeping and he reached down to shut it off.   Jerome then told Piotr, “Sorry about that, I have to go and take care of some business right away.”

“Umm…yes, I must also take care of some business myself,” Piotr said quickly.

“So until next time then?” asked Jerome.

“Until next time.” Said Piotr, shaking Jerome’s hands.

After Jerome left, Piotr then ran out of the restaurant and straight towards the abandoned building to get some things.   
 
Next Story: Part 2

Over the years, the formatting of comic books has been changing from lengthy dialogues to using fewer dialogues to tell a story.  So the question here is: are comic books better with lengthy dialogues and story narrations or are they better off with fewer dialogues and narration?

My opinion: I think there’s great potential for using both formats and there are also certain disadvantages in using both formats; so in other words, I actually enjoyed reading both formats for different reasons.

I enjoyed reading the comic book format that uses lengthy dialogues and story narrations for the comic book stories because they help explain so much about the characters and the story itself (such as explaining about the characters’ feelings and thoughts about a certain situation and the narration telling the fans what is going on in the story).  However, the biggest thing that irks me about comic books that have lengthy dialogues and narration is that it takes so long to read the comic itself because you would be spending so much time trying to read through the dialogues and the narration and sometimes you just don’t have the time to read everything in the comic.  Another problem I had with comic books that have lengthy dialogues is that you are wondering to yourself about whether or not all that dialogue is really necessary to the story.  The biggest thing that gets on my nerves is that sometimes the narration tends to repeat a character’s power set in every issue, like for example, in the older X-Men comics, there were times where Nightcrawler’s powers of being able to teleport anywhere with the smell of brimstone behind him were being repeated in every issue of the X-Men comics.

I also enjoyed reading the comic book format that doesn’t use lengthy dialogues and lets the artwork tell the story because for one thing, it makes it easier to read the comic since it’s much quicker to read through.   Another thing I like about comic books with less dialogue is that I can admire the artwork and see it move the story forward if it’s done well.  The main thing that I don’t like about comic books with less dialogue and narration is that sometimes not everything is explained in the story and you’re left wondering how this event happened and what the characters are thinking about in these situations.   Also, if the artwork is done terribly and there is no dialogue explaining what is going on, then it would definitely be difficult to even understand the comic at all if the artwork is not done well enough to explain the situation.

 So, what are you opinions on this?   Do you rather read comic books that have lengthy dialogues and narrations or do you rather read comics that have short dialogues and story narrations?   And do you think that comic books are better off with short dialogues and narration or should they extend the dialogues and the narrations a bit more?

Title: Red Steel #1: The Beginning of Red Steel Part 3

Author: Rabbitearsblog

Universe: X-Men

Rating:  T -  For some violence

Summary:  This series will be about Colossus taking on a secret identity after the events of AvX and trying to help out the city, while trying to atone for what he had done during AvX. Also, there will be a new villain introduced that Colossus will have to face!

Chapter 4: The Birth of Red Steel!

Back at Nigel Faust’s headquarters, an alien was running towards the doors of the headquarters and was admitted in by Nigel’s guards.   This was the same alien that Piotr had thrown across the streets of New York City and the alien had somehow landed near Nigel Faust’s building, with only a few injuries.   Once the alien reached Nigel’s office, Nigel was working on some papers when he looked up and saw the alien standing in the doorway and said, “Well, well, well, what have we here?   You seem to have run to my headquarters in a hurry.   Well, come in so we could…talk.”

The exhausted alien slowly came inside Nigel’s office and Nigel said, “Well, did you complete your job?”

The alien was silent for a moment and then he started speaking to Nigel in an alien language that only Nigel could somehow understand.   Nigel looked at the alien with a cold look in his eyes and he said, “So, in other words, not only have you failed to annihilate our…problem, but our problem seems to have gain an ally…an ally that I thought I had eliminated years ago.”

Nigel then slowly walked up to the alien, who was trying to back away from him, and he told the alien, “I don’t like failures and you have failed to eliminate the problem that could cause our plans to falter in an extreme level.   Do you know what I do with failures like you?”

The alien started to whimper constantly as Nigel got closer and when Nigel touched the alien on its stomach, the alien started screaming as its body started to shrivel like a raisin.   Once Nigel pulled his hand away, the alien fell to the ground in a white, papery mess and Nigel said to himself, “Well, if you can’t use an alien to take out your problems, you have to do it yourself.”

Meanwhile in the afternoon…

Jerome was walking through the streets of New York when he came across a secret entrance way at the bottom of one of the unknown buildings.   Jerome whips out a remote control and presses a red button on it and the doorway to the entrance way opens and Jerome quickly goes inside.   Inside the entrance way was a large den that was filled with numerous computers and weapons that were created by Jerome himself and Jerome approaches a large computer mainframe that was located in the middle of the den.

Jerome presses a few buttons on the computer mainframe and said, “Computer, tell me about the whereabouts of ‘Nigel Faust.’

The computer mainframe then pulled up several locations in New York City and it located Nigel’s building that was near a lake.

“Computer, maximize screen to pinpoint on Nigel Faust himself and turn up the volume to follow Nigel Faust’s speech patterns,” said Jerome to the computer.

The computer zeroed in on Nigel Faust and the volume was turned up to follow Nigel’s speech patterns.   Nigel was saying to his guards, “Gentlemen, it appears that the alien that we had sent to destroy our problem has failed to complete his task and our plans are now in jeopardy.   We must eliminate this problem ourselves if our plans are meant to succeed and that problem is none other than COLOSSUS, the fugitive!”

Jerome looked on in shock and said to himself, “What does Colossus have to do with all this and what is Nigel planning?   I got to figure this all out before it’s too late!”

Later that night…

Piotr was still walking down the streets of New York City when he suddenly heard police sirens in the distance and he ducked behind an old building to hide.   From his hidden position, Piotr then saw a couple of police cars patrolling the area and then he gasped when he saw that the Avengers were among them!

“Have you’ve seen any sign of the fugitives from the Phoenix Five?” Captain America asked one of the police officers.

“No sir.   But, we will let you know if we have any leads on any members of the Phoenix Five,” the police chief responded to Captain America.

“Oh no! The Avengers are with the police! If they see me, I will be arrested and I might never get a chance to explain my side of the story! I must find a safer place to hide!” said Piotr to himself.

Piotr quietly sneaked away from the area and approached the empty roads of New York City and started walking down them.

“How did things ever come down to this? I was once a hero along with the X-Men and now I am a fugitive on the run!   How can I make things right again?” Piotr said sadly to himself.

Piotr than sat down on the sidewalk to think on his predicament.   He did not know what to do about his predicament and he feared that he may never be the hero that he once was. Not with the destruction that the Phoenix Force had caused around the world hanging over his head.   Piotr then looked down at his cloak that he had taken off a few minutes ago and then he had an idea and said to himself, “Well, I may be a fugitive on the run, but I am still an X-Man whose sole mission is to protect innocents from any harm and I think I know how to accomplish that!” With a small smile on his face, Piotr than raced back to the building he was staying at, determined to put his plan into action.  

A few hours later…

A young woman was walking through the streets of New York City alone at night, trying to get back home after working at the medical center.   Even though she normally comes home at this time, since the aliens had started invading New York City, she started feeling uncomfortable about being alone at night.   Just as the woman was near her apartment, a large alien creature suddenly jumped in front of her and caused the woman to scream wildly.   The alien creature then started approaching the young woman while hissing in a menacing manner when all of a sudden, a low rumbling voice echoed through the streets.

“I would not harm that young woman if I were you, tovarisch.   You might find yourself in an unlucky position that would cause you great pain.”

Suddenly, a large red figure came up behind the alien and grabbed the alien by its neck.   The large figure then proceeded to lift the alien in the air and slammed the alien on the ground, instantly killing the alien.  

The young woman then looked up at the large red figure in shock, but was entirely grateful that the red figure had saved her life and she asked the figure, “Who are you?”

The red figure was dressed in a red jumpsuit that covered his entire body and was wearing a red mask over his face.   However, the red figure’s face seem to shine in a way that steel would shine in any kind of light, making him seem like a familiar character.  

The large red figure smiled at the young woman and then introduced himself and said, “Well Miss, I am known as Red Steel and I am New York City’s newest savior!”

  Previous story: The Beginning of Red Steel Part 2

Title: Red Steel #1: The Beginning of Red Steel Part 2

Author: Rabbitearsblog

Universe: X-Men

Rating:  T -  For some violence

Summary:  This series will be about Colossus taking on a secret identity after the events of AvX and trying to help out the city, while trying to atone for what he had done during AvX. Also, there will be a new villain introduced that Colossus will have to face!

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Nigel Faust

The airship continued to sail over New York City until it reached an extremely tall glass building that was located near a large lake.   The glass building was over one thousand feet tall and as the sun bore down on it, it glittered with such beauty, that anyone from miles around can see the beauty of this building.   Piotr gazed at the building in such wonder, but then he remembered why he was riding on the airship and continued to concentrate on the mission at hand.   The airship then headed to the back of the glass building where the lake is; however, when the airship was about to land on the lake, a secret tunnel opened up in the lake and the airship started landing inside the tunnel.   Piotr looked on with awe at this new development and when the airship finally landed, Piotr quickly jumped off the airship and ran around a dark corner to hide.   The door to the airship then opened and Nigel Faust stepped out of the airship with two large security guards surrounding him and started walking towards a small door at the end of the tunnel.   As Nigel Faust and the security guards disappeared from the tunnel, Piotr then came out from the corner and started running towards the door that Nigel entered in and he starting following Nigel and the guards through a lavish looking hallway at a safe distance.   When Nigel and the guards reached a small office at the end of the hallway, Piotr quietly stood by the door to the office, trying not to be seen.   Nigel than began talking to his security guards about his plans:

“Well, gentlemen, I think that we have really proven ourselves to the citizens of New York today.   Those miserable aliens did not know what was coming when we arrived in the airships attacking them out of the city!   However, it seems that our “negotiator” was impressed by today’s performance and wants to congratulate us on a job well done.”

“Performance?” thought Piotr worriedly.   What was going on?   Suddenly, Piotr felt a gun being pushed up his back and heard a low voice, “Back away from the wall, dirt bag.”

“You do not wish to threaten me in this manner, tovarisch ,” said Piotr slowly.

“Oh, a guy with a funny accent, eh?   What nationality are you? European or something?” sneer the guard holding the gun.

“You will see soon enough,” said Piotr and then he turned his body to steel and suddenly grabbed the guard and started gripping him in a death grip where he was slightly squeezing the guard, careful not to kill him but just simply make him unconscious.   Unfortunately, even though Piotr succeeded in knocking the guard unconscious, several other guards suddenly came running up towards Piotr and had him surrounded.

“Well, well, well!   It appears that we have an intruder in our midst, gentlemen!   Or should I say, a fugitive?” said a slick voice behind Piotr.

Piotr stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to see Nigel Faust standing right at the doorway of his office.   Piotr then cursed himself for being so reckless, but said politely to Nigel, “Nigel Faust, I presume?”

“Yes, and you must be…Colossus,” said Nigel coolly.

“How do you know my name?” asked Piotr.

“Oh, it’s not that surprising that I see your name on the wanted posters these days.   It’s amazing how the law had never caught up to you yet.   Although, I have a mind to call the law enforcements right now, unless you tell me what you are doing here,” said Nigel quietly yet in a dangerous tone.

Piotr thought quickly and then said, “Umm…I had heard so much about your accomplishments that I wanted to visit you in person.   I guess I got a bit too excited and started wandering around the building until I got lost and ended up here.   I know that I should have contacted you first about my coming here, but I just could not resist meeting you in person!”

Piotr privately hoped that Nigel would buy that lie, even though he was never very good at lying.   But, Nigel just looked at Piotr with a cool gaze and said, “That’s alright.   I didn’t notice that I have many…fans.   Gentlemen, please escort Colossus to the exit and make sure that the security in this building is handled much better in the future.   And also do something about the guard that is lying unconscious in the hallway.”

The two guards then took Piotr away and left him outside of the building and went back inside.   Piotr then looked up at the building and said to himself, “This is very strange indeed.   I was not able to get enough information about this man, but from what I have heard from his conversation about his “performance,” he cannot be trusted.   I must watch out for him.”  

As Piotr walked away from the building, Nigel was looking down at Piotr through the window of his office.   Nigel then told his guards, “Gentlemen, it seems that Colossus seems to know too much about our plans.   We must keep him…busy so that way our plans will never be discovered.”

Later on…

Piotr was walking down the streets of New York City, witnessing the destruction of the city caused by the alien attack early on.   As Piotr gazed around the streets, he started to remember about when he was the avatar of the Cyttorak and how he had ran rampant in the streets in order to defeat Cain Marko’s reign of terror.   These were memories that Piotr wished that he could forget since they were extremely painful for him.    
 
  Suddenly, Piotr heard high-pitched screams coming from the top of a building and he saw yet another alien being attacking an innocent bystander.

“Another alien attack?” Piotr asked puzzled.
 

Piotr wasted no time in running towards the building and once he reached the top of the building, he grabbed the alien and threw him several feet across the streets.   Piotr looked on with satisfaction on his face, not noticing that another alien was watching him from above. The other alien then jumped on Piotr’s back and caused Piotr to struggle with the alien as he tried to get the alien off of him. As Piotr was struggling with the alien, he and the alien were suddenly blown off the build by a big explosion.   As Piotr landed on the ground, he then looked up to see where the explosion came from and out from the smoke, stood an African-American man who had tattoos all over his body.   When the alien, who was on Piotr moments ago, saw the man and tried to attack him, the mysterious man suddenly slashed the alien in the belly and dark purple blood squirted out of the alien’s body.

Piotr stared at the man in shock and then asked, “Who are you?”

The mysterious man just looked at Piotr with a wide smile on his face and said, “Just a friend, buddy! Just a friend!”

Chapter 3: A New Friend!

“A…friend?” Piotr asked the mysterious man.   As Piotr looked at this man, he noticed that this man was not quite as ordinary as any other human being he has seen.   For one thing, how often is it that a human being would suddenly jump out in a cloud of smoke and slice open an alien in a few seconds? Another thing that was odd about this man was that he had white tattoos all over his body, although his black jumpsuit was covering his body head to toe.   The man’s eyes were a deep brown color that really made him look quite distinguished and his hair was in dreadlocks that were tied up in a ponytail. Piotr cautiously approached the man and asked again, “Who are you?”

“Ah, I could ask the same about you.   Now, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but you have one weird accent.   Is it European?” asked the man.

“Russian,” said Piotr, a bit annoyed.

“Oh, so that’s what it is!   Well, I might as well introduce myself then.   I’m Jerome Brown and I can tell by the look on your face that you’re wondering how I am able to produce knives out of nowhere.” Jerome than produced the knives from his hands and then they disappeared quickly.   “It’s because I am an alchemist.   Well, not exactly. I’m actually a mutant who has the ability to produce weapons out of my bare hands.   I also can cause small explosions by creating bombs out of my hands.”

Piotr just looked at Jerome in surprise and said, “I have never seen another mutant who could produce weapons out of their hands before.   How…”

Piotr was then interrupted by some yells at the bottom of the building.

“Well, it seems that we have some fans down there,” said Jerome.

“Fans?” Piotr said puzzled.

“You’ll see,” said Jerome and he and Piotr headed down to the bottom of the building to meet up with the people.   Unfortunately, when the people saw that Jerome and Piotr were mutants, they started screaming at them:

“Mutant scum! They brought that alien here to attack our city!” yelled one of the protesters.

“Get out of here you stinking mutants! We don’t want you here!” cried the protesters as they started throwing rocks and trash at Piotr and Jerome.   Piotr and Jerome than ran away from the protesters and came upon an abandoned part of the city.

“Man! We just don’t catch a break here!” said Jerome irritated.

“Well, this certainly was not the first time this has happened to me, my friend,” said Piotr, “This is just the tragic life of being a mutant.”

“Yeah, don’t I know it?   Hey, now that we are on speaking terms, I forgot to ask your name.   What is your name?” asked Jerome.

“Umm…I am…” Piotr stuttered, not wanting to give away his name or his X-Men codename.

“Say, you wouldn’t happened to be one of the mutants that the Avengers are chasing after, are you?” asked Jerome.

Piotr stiffened at Jerome’s inquiry and Jerome quickly said, “Hey, hey, don’t worry. I’m not going to turn you in.   Colossus is it?”

Piotr nodded slowly and Jerome continued, “Well, you don’t have to worry about me turning you in or anything.   Actually, I should say that you and me are in the same boat as in we both seem to be running away from the law.”

Piotr looked surprised and said, “You are on the run from the law also?   But what did you do that would make the police come after you?”

Jerome looked down on the ground for a second and then looked up at Piotr and said, “I’ll tell you more about it later.   For now, let’s find a place to crash for the night.”

“Wait a minute.   Forgive me for saying this, but I do not know you very well and well, I am on the run from the law and it is hard for me at the moment to go off with anyone,” said Piotr miserably.

“That’s alright. I understand your situation and I can see why you wouldn’t trust me at the moment, but like I said, I’ll explain more about myself once we find a place to crash.   You got a place where we could go to?” asked Jerome.

“Well, there is this old abandoned building I stayed at last night.   It is not much, but it will have to do at the moment,” said Piotr.

“That’s fine! Let’s go!” said Jerome, following Piotr.

Piotr and Jerome then went to the old building that Piotr had stayed at last night and the two mutants went to the old mattress and sat down on it.  

“Nice place, for your typical old abandoned building,” said Jerome impressed.

“Yes, it is.   So, about what you had said earlier, why are you on the run from the law?” asked Piotr.

“Well, here’s my story and since it’s really tragic, I don’t normally discuss this with anyone else, but here it goes.   Like many mutants at a young age, I was seven years old when I first discovered my mutant powers and even though I’ve learned how to create things out of my hands, I still couldn’t get control of handling the explosions whenever I created bombs.   My parents were at first shocked about my new powers and the fact that I was able to create weapons, for my parents despised weapons of any kind.   But, my parents really did love me and they tried to keep my powers a secret from the world.   But one tragic day, there was a leak somehow that I was able to create weapons out of my hands and the neighbors thought that I was a walking nuclear bomb and they wanted to kill me before I discovered my full potential.   My parents tried to protect me from the mutant protesters, but…” Jerome paused and took a deep breath and said, “But they were shot by the protesters and died right in front of my eyes.”

Piotr looked shocked and then said, “Oh Jerome, I am so sorry for your loss.”

Jerome nodded and then continued, “Well, my troubles didn’t end there.   After I saw my parents’ lifeless bodies on the ground, I just lost control of my powers and ended up throwing bombs all over the place, blowing up not only the protesters, but my home too.”  

Jerome wiped at his eyes and sighed.

“What did you do after that horrible event?” asked Piotr.

“Well, after that tragic event, I just ran away from it all.   I was only a child at the time and I didn’t know what to do.   After I ran away, the police came and surveyed the area and they guessed that a mutant was responsible for the destruction.   Worst yet, they found out that I had lived there and tried to take me into custody.   But I escaped and the police never found me and for the past twenty years, I was living on my own, trying to gain a new identity for myself so no one will find me again.   You’re actually the only person that I have told my story to, since I saw that you were in the same situation as I was,” said Jerome.

Piotr looked down and then said, “Are the police still looking for you?”

“To be honest, it’s been years since I’ve last check up on the police, so it’s possible that they’re still after me.   That’s why I always have to be careful where I go in case the police find me again,” said Jerome.

“Well, I supposed that we are fugitives together,” said Piotr.

“Yep! Fugitives now and forever,” said Jerome jokily.

Piotr laughed and then Jerome’s beeper started to beep and then Jerome said, “Oh! I got something I need to do really quickly!   I guess I’ll see you later!”

“But wait! Is it something urgent that you might need some assistance on?” asked Piotr concerned.

“Nope! It’s just one of my daily routines that I usually do during the day and I really got to get to it!   Well, it was nice meeting you!   Bye, Colossus!”   Jerome then ran out of the building and disappeared into the streets.

Piotr watched Jerome and he said to himself, “Hmm…that is one unusual man right there.   I wonder if I will truly see him again.”

Piotr then put on his cloak and started walking out into the streets, trying to find some way to make it through the day in one piece.

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