Previously,Scott SummersandLoganof theUncanny X-Menhad a disagreement of large proportions concerningthe next generation of mutants, they had what one would call, aSchism. The Schism still lurks amongst them, but, a newgenesis dawns on the kind of people you would usuallyfear andhate. Since then, Scott and Logan have gone their separate ways, operating in different factions while keeping in mind what the two of them wanted most. They’ve been through wars, they’ve had their trials and tribulations, but now? The Children of The X-Men are taking matters into their own hands.
The Young X-Men #7
New Beginnings, Finale (sort of) – Coming of Age.
Rated M.
Page 1/
Panel 1/ Angled topographic view of Utopia. The beach is empty, seagulls are flying about. All lights are out except for those of the med-room.
Panel 2/ Cut to inside the med-room. Both Josh and Phoebe are respectively at work on an unconscious Noriko, and a comatose Laurie.
Panel 3/ “Camera” focus on Josh and Noriko. His eyes are still closed, his hands still stretched across her chest area, still pulsating with golden light. Her electrocardiogram readings show several QRS complexes at different intervals.
CPT: Joshua Foley. Elixir. Scared.
JWOP: Exactly four hours, thirty three minutesand twenty seven seconds. That’s how long I’ve been at this. That’s how long I’ve been trying to save Noriko’s life.
Panel 4/ “Camera” focus on Noriko. Her skin’s extremely pale.
JWOP: It’s not like what happened to David in Limbo. I don’t have to reattach anything. With Nori, I just need to get it right.
Panel 5/ “Camera” focus on Josh, a sweat drop trickles down the middle of his forehead towards the bulb of his nose.
JWOP: But I CAN’T get it right, dammit. I don’t know. My powers…they fluctuate. I’m an Omega-Level Healer. I have all this power and yet…I can’t do it.
Panel 6/ Side view of Josh, he stiffly tilts his head down.
JWOP: Ever since the Necrosha, since I left…I tried to get my head straight, to deal with Wither…to deal with the darkness within me.
JWOP: I wake up one morning and it’s gone, the darkness, but so am I. In Kaga’s clutches, that freak. The one who exhumed and reanimated Laurie’scorpse into a ticked off Sentinel.
Page 2/
Panel 1/ Flashback. A younger Laurie and Joshua are at Laurie’s house, eating dinner at the table. Happily laughing.
JWOP: Laurie Collins. My dead girlfriend.
JWOP: Maybe that’s why I can’t heal Nori? Because I keep thinking about her? Maybe it’s not the power…
Panel 2/ Flashback. Both Laurie and Josh, wearing their traditional White and Yellow New Mutants squad costumes, are in the danger room. Laurie is looking back at Joshua.
LAURIE: Josh, I have faith in you.
JOSH: …
JOSH: Thanks, Laurie.
JWOP: …Maybe it’s the faith.
Panel 3/ Side view of Josh.
JWOP: The first life I ever saved, lying comatose on the gurney behind me because I asked for it. How am I saying that? I saw her get shot point-blank in the head…but she’s here. What did Kaga--
Panel 4/ Josh stiffly raises his head, eyes are still closed.
JWOP: Laurie isn’t my priority now--I have to--have to try and save Nori…but I can’t. I just--
Panel 5/ He abruptly stops healing, clenching both fists above her chest. Tears begin to roll down his cheeks in rage.
JOSH: I CAN’T!
Panel 6/ He slightly curls up, rolling his head down towards Noriko’s level. Watching her as she drifts.
JOSH: …
Panel 7/ The room’s atmosphere is still. Phoebe is still working on Laurie, Sooraya has not yet returned.
Page 3/
Panel 1/ Josh grabs a phone from the table, dialling some numbers. Noriko’s electrocardiogram still shows rapid QRS complexes.
Panel 2/ He places the phone on his right ear, anxious.
JOSH: …
JOSH: …
JOSH: …
FROM THE PHONE: Josh. I’m a bit preoccupied here, sorry, what’s happening at Utopia? How’s-
JOSH: David, I-I-I don’t know, man. It’s Noriko, I-I just can’t get it right. I can’t fix her. Nothing’s working!
DAVID: Josh, calm down. What do you mean?
JOSH: I’ve tried everything: stimulating her medulla oblongata, I’ve tried kick-starting the production of acetylcholine and noradrenaline--accidentally made the Sino Atrial Node send constant polarizations within her heart--dextrinization to give her an energy boost--David--
Panel 3/ He abruptly stands up from his seat in a fit, driving his fingers through his hair. Crying.
JOSH: --I CAN’T SAVE H-
DAVID: Shut up.
JOSH: DAVID, I-
DAVID: I said shut up. And take a seat.
Panel 4/ He slowly sits down.
DAVID: Listen to me, David, I-
DAVID: No, Josh, you listen, and listen carefully.
DAVID: We’re in the middle of an international crisis because of what’s been discovered. Sentinels are annihilating people who’ve managed to find their way into the path of woman hell-bent on getting revenge.
DAVID: We find you and we find Laurie while investigating, we don’t know how, but that’s an explanation for another time. Everyone, Josh, and I mean everyone, is out there, right now, fighting, trying to find a way to end this.
DAVID: We’re aware of the stakes but regardless, we’ll do whatever we can to save these people. And we will, or we’ll die trying, because that’s all our lot has ever been.
Panel 5/ Cut Symkaria. A war-zone. Cyclops’ team of X-Men are at the scene now, along with an assortment of Avengers and teachers from the Jean Grey School.
DAVID: I don’t know what happened on your obscure “break” and I don’t care, but right now you need to get over it and save her.
Page 4/
Panel 1/ Show half of Joshua’s face, the left side. He’s stopped crying, his eyes are wide open in realization.
DAVID: Or I’ll assume that pretentious attention seeking racist I first got to know all those years ago hasn’t left at all. You’re my best friend, Josh.
Panel 2/ Show the other half of Joshua’s face.
DAVID: You saved Laurie, you saved me…now save Noriko.
DAVID: ---*
Panel 3/ Side view of Josh, he places the phone on the table besides him, wipes the tears from his eyes. Getting ready.
Panel 4/ He gulps, simultaneously closing his eyes and raising his hands once more above Noriko’s chest.
Panel 5/ A golden aura shimmers about him, his eyes open, pulsating with golden light. His hair ominously flows about. Noriko slowly begins to resonate with that same golden light.
JWOP: Maybe it’s the faith.
Page 5/
Panel 1/ Angled topographic view. Symkaria. David, Laura, Hellion, War Machine and Ms Marvel have not moved from the area.
JOSH: Lack of sedation deteriorated entirety of the nervous system. Constant siphoning her powers while conscious. Myelin Sheath.
JOSH: Terminal Bradycardia.
JOSH: I understand now.
Panel 2/ Cut to War Machine speaking to the kids.
CPT: War Machine.
CPT: Ms Marvel.
CPT: The Avengers.
WAR MACHINE: Thank you, Mr Alleyne.
WAR MACHINE: Your best interest is at heart, understand us. The Avengers have the situation under control. This isn’t a playground, or the material set of Harry Potter.
Panel 3/ “Camera” focus on a furious Julian.
WAR MACHINE: This country is, in and of itself, collateral damage, and we wouldn’t want the next generation of X-Men to fall into that category.
WAR MACHINE: I’d also like to point out that two separate teams of your elders are already-
JULIAN: …Liar.
MS MARVEL: Cool it, slick.
JULIAN: Don’t tell me what to do or the both of you a**holes can say adios to your Avenger friends.
Panel 4/ Side view. Ms Marvel walks towards Julian, in an attempt to calm him down. David watches, Laura stands by, observing the scenery.
MS MARVEL: I’ve heard about you, Julian Keller. Bright boy. I’m sorry about what happened to your arms. I came to the institute when-
JULIAN: Yeah, I was there. Remember? Do you expect any of us here to listen to you? Maybe Alleyne over there, but not me.
JULIAN: You snot-nosed jerks only ever stoop down from your pedestals when you think it’s necessary. Arrogant self-righteous pieces of sh*t.
Panel 5/ “Camera” focus on Julian, looking up at Ms Marvel as she looks back down towards him, with an unaffected demeanour.
JULIAN: We’re here because people need us. We’ve been through as many hardships as you.
Panel 6/ Close up on a shocked Ms Marvel.
JULIAN: Our innocence and naiveté was taken the same day our friends were murdered.
Page 6/
Panel 1/ As Julian continues to harshly speak to Ms Marvel, War Machine steps in front of her, much to her surprise.
JULIAN: And if you don’t like the fact that we’re staying, you can shove your--
WAR MACHINE: That’s enough. We knew it was only a matter of time before the children of the X-Men attempted to save the day. I’ve been given strict orders to find, detain and then remove any of you to prevent further casualties.
Panel 2/ “Camera” focus on Laura, she now diverts her focus onto Ms Marvel. Giving her direct, cold, eye contact.
WAR MACHINE: Whatever peak your hormonal levels may have reached while coming here…*fade out*
LAURA: Ms Marvel.
MS MARVEL: --Sorry, Laura, is anything the matter?
LAURA: Has the Black Widow spoken to you about anything specifically grave, lately?
MS MARVEL: …No. Not that I can remember. Why?
Panel 3/ “Camera” focus on Laura’s face. The wind eerily blows her hair to the left. She’s still looking at Ms Marvel.
LAURA: ...
Panel 4/ Flashback. Angled topographic view. Laura, clothed in her usual combat gear, is in a dark, red circle. The circle consists of several other teenagers, some with obvious mutations and some not. They’re all unconscious. In the middle of the circle is a suited man, a mad man.
LAURA: Nothing. But if you do happen to see the Black Widow or Hank Pym...
Panel 5/ Laura whispers something into Ms Marvel’s ear. Ms Marvel is extremely shocked.
MS MARVEL: *gasp!*
Panel 6/ Laura walks off from them, Julian stops arguing with War Machine, having gotten her attention.
MS MARVEL: …
LAURA: Prodigy, Hellion, let us leave.
Page 7/
Panel 1/ Ms Marvel is somewhat frozen, trying to contemplate what Laura had told her.
WAR MACHINE: Carol?
MS MARVEL: I’m fine…
Panel 2/ Julian, David and Laura start to leave. Ms Marvel tries to preserve herself, War Machine prepares his weapons.
WAR MACHINE: I warned you before, you either leave by yourselves, or I take you out. I will not allow-
Panel 3/ “Camera” focus, he pulsates with green telekinetic force. His right arm is raised towards War Machine, with a sinister grin.
JULIAN: Look at my f*cking hands, tin-head. I’d say they could match your gizmos any day.
MS MARVEL: Hellion, please.
DAVID: Julian…
JULIAN: What do you want?
Panel 4/ David puts his right hand on Julian’s shoulder, prompting him to stop, while covering his own face from Julian’s force.
DAVID: This…this isn’t what we came here to do. Stop it.
Panel 5/ He looks over to Laura, standing unaffected by his force.
Panel 6/ Side view. Julian quickly wraps himself, David and Laura in a TK bubble, hovering the other way, while doing so he also raises a piece of the ground and throws it in the Avengers’ direction.
SFX: *SKRIIINCH!*
JULIAN: Just try and stop us, flat-scans, I dare you.
Panel 7/ War Machine attempts to act but Ms Marvel stops him.
WAR MACHINE: What are you-
MS MARVEL: There’s no point, he’s right, they’re not kids anymore. They are the X-Men, but with what Laura just told me…
Page 8/
Panel 1/ Scene change. Utopia’s med room. “Camera” focus on Phoebe, still working on Laurie.
MS MARVEL: I’m not sure whether the future’s bleak or bright.
CPT: Phoebe Cuckoo. 1/3 of the Stepford Cuckoos.
Panel 2/ Zoom in on her head.
Panel 3/ Further zoom in on her head.
Panel 4/ Black panel.
PWOP: My name is Phoebe Cuckoo. A part of the Stepford Cuckoos. The three-in-one.
Panel 5/ Black panel.
PWOP: For so long I’ve been in the shadows. Nobody ever knew or saw the real me, because I didn’t allow it, I never chose it.
PWOP: I walked out on Ms Frost a few days ago. Perpetual lamentations. The price, I suppose, of trying to assert individuality.
Panel 6/ A light begins to form in the middle.
PWOP: But I needed to do it, just like I need to mend what’s been found here. The mind of Laurie Collins.
Page 9/
Panel 1/ The light shines brighter.
PWOP: Her mind is so fragile.
PWOP: It’s been scathed, brutally damaged, tampered with to the extremes. So many missing and misplaced pieces.
Panel 2/ It begins to fade out.
PWOP: She’s supposed to be dead.
Panel 3/ An unclear telepathic projection of someone begins to appear.
PWOP: Although, X-Men get better. But Esme and Sophie weren’t so lucky…still, back to the mission.
Panel 4/ Close up. The projection becomes clearer, it’s Phoebe’s face.
PWOP: All those years ago, before things got complicated, seems like yesterday.
Panel 5/ She’s looking about the darkness, searching for something.
PWOP: Shot in the head by a Purifier, she comes back to life through a means of…advanced technology. Her mind warped, fighting against us, knowing nothing of a life once lead.
Panel 6/ Close up on Phoebe’s eyes. She spots something.
PWOP: If I’m to bring her back, I need to surgically strike the source. The crux of the missing pieces. The centre-piece.
PWOP: The moment of interception.
PHOEBE: (Laurie?)
JOSH: Don’t tell me about the bus, Laurie!
JOSH: YOU WEREN’T THERE!
LAURIE: I know, but Sam told me what happened--how you tried to save everyone.
Page 10/
Panel 1/ From behind view (Phoebe). Scene change. Near Xavier’s Institute. Josh and Laurie are having a dispute. Josh is extremely angry, with his back towards her. Laurie’s left arm has been drained, decayed, decomposed. Phoebe watches on.
PHOEBE: (This can’t be…)
JOSH: Yeah, I tried…but everyone I touched was dead…everyone but DJ.
JOSH: I could feel him dying…his life bleeding out of him. I held on to it with everything I had…I didn’t let go…my hands, my bones and blood burned but I never let go…but he still died.
LAURIE: Josh--
JOSH: And when he died, he took a piece of me with him. A piece of me died, too.
JOSH: Now I feel cold--dead--empty. And I’ll never get that piece back…
JOSH: NEVER!
JOSH: So whoever did this to us…to me…is going to die.
JOSH: And I’m going to be the one that kills them.
LAURIE: Josh, no.
Panel 2/ Close up on Phoebe’s eyes. They’re glowing a bright white. She searches the area in which she’s in. Her presence evidently unnoticed, being a telepathic projection.
PHOEBE: The Purifiers shot her in the head. A month later, they managed to briefly identify the perpetrator.
PHOEBE: I wasn’t there, and I wasn’t told, either.
PHOEBE: But this is it.
Panel 3/ “Camera” focus on Laurie and Josh. Josh reaches towards Josh, with her decayed hand, he’s still reacting with hostility. Shouting at her with rage.
JOSH: You don’t know anything about me, Laurie! So stay the hell out of my way!
SFX: *PAF!*
PWOP: This is where Laurie Collins was assassinated.
Panel 4/ The entire scene pauses, except for Laurie. Crouched down, shielding her head, of which, a bullet is frozen in mid-air, right in her direction. Phoebe’s the only thing standing between Laurie and the bullet.
Panel 5/ “Camera” focus on Laurie. Still crouched down.
LAURIE: …J-Josh? Josh are you--am i--Josh?
PHOEBE: You’re not dead. Turn around, Laurie.
Panel 6/ Laurie quickly turns around, slightly staggering back in fear.
LAURIE: What is this?! Cuckoo?! Where are we?!
LAURIE: What happened to Josh?!
PHOEBE: Evidently not the afterlife. And we’re in your mind. I’ve been looking for this memory for hours, Laurie.
LAURIE: Memory? I don’t--I don’t understand…
PHOEBE: We don’t have much time, but hold my hand. Please. If you want to have an understanding of these…events, do it.
Panel 7/ Laurie reluctantly grabs a hold of Phoebe’s hand.
PHOEBE: 3…2…
LAURIE: What are you doing?
PHOEBE: Confronting the man who killed you--1.
SFX: *PAF!*
Page 10/
Panel 1/ “Camera” focus on Laurie’s eyes. She squints. The bullet touches the centre of her forehead.
Panel 2/ Splash. Black panel.
To be continued…
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