Fonts of Wisdom: As Silent as a Shadow by Bookworm

NOTES AND DISCLAIMER

I have a horrible confession to make: this story (and any that may follow) is set in the X-Men animated series universe.

Yes, I said "animated series". The original "X:TAS" cartoon show, not "X-Men: Evolution" (ick) and not the comic books. (Please don't hurt me!) For those of you not familiar with the animated series, there are major differences in continuity. For example:

     1. "The team" consists of: Professor Xavier; Cyclops; Jean Grey (the term "Marvel Girl" is never used); Beast (blue and furry); Wolverine (adamantium intact, and never "went feral"); Storm (identified only as "Ororo"); Gambit (without any empathy or "charm powers", he and Storm are not shown as special friends, and Sinister shows no special interest in him); Rogue (real name never revealed); and Jubilee. Iceman, Lorna Dane (not "Polaris") and Angel were once members of the X-Men, but left the team before the series "began". A shapeshifter named "Morph" is on the team in the beginning, but is "killed" very early.
     2. The following people are not now and never have been members of the X-Men:
a. Banshee (Sean Cassidy was last seen on Muir Island, engaged to Moira McTaggart)
b. Bishop (came back from the future several times but always returned)
c. Cannonball (only appears in 1 episode; offered membership but turns it down)
d. Colossus (Piotr [no "Rasputin"] was last seen still living on his collective farm in post-USSR Russia with his very-much-alive parents and a 7-year-old non-demonic Illyana. Offered membership twice but turns it down)
e. Havok (real name never revealed; he and Cyclops do not know they are related)
f. Nightcrawler (Kurt [no "Wagner"] is portrayed as a very devout Christian -- when he first appears, he's living in a monastery!)
g. Psylocke (real name never revealed; she mentions a brother, but he's neither named nor seen)
Also, in order to retain what little sanity I possess, I decided very early in this story that: 1) if an incident does not occur in the cartoon show, it never happened, and 2) if a character or group of characters never appears in the cartoon show, he/she/they do not exist. Sooooooooo …
     3. The following incidents never took place: The X-Men's "death" in Dallas; the Siege Perilous; Onslaught; Operation Zero Tolerance; the Psi-Wars; the Morlock Massacre (and, therefore, Gambit's "trial"); the Legacy virus (and probably many more).
     4. The following groups of people do not exist: X-Force (Cable exists, but only as a mysterious time traveler; his real name is never revealed); Generation X and the Massachusetts Academy (Emma Frost is still one of the "bad guys"); the New Mutants; the Hellions; the Marauders (Sinister's flunkies are the "Nasty Boys"); Excalibur (sorry, Luba!) and Black Air; and probably many more. However, X-Factor does exist, and consists of Forge, Havok, Lorna Dane, Multiple Man, Quicksilver, Strong Guy and Wolfsbane (no real names revealed except Lorna's). Alpha Flight also exists (Vindicator, Sasquatch, Puck, Shaman, Northstar and his unnamed sister, and an unnamed shapeshifter whom I assume is Snowbird).
     5. The following people do not exist (this list is obviously incomplete): Madelyne Pryor (with all that that implies). Rachel Summers (ditto). Deadpool. Trish Tilby. Gateway. Belasco. Any/all demons. Marrow. Tyger Tiger. Gabrielle Haller. Destiny. "Joseph". Maggot. Shatterstar. Valerie Cooper. Cecilia Reyes. Yukio. Stryfe. Black Beast. Lee Forrester. Stevie Hunter. Amiko. Ogun. Elsie-Dee. There are many others, but probably the two most significant absences are Mariko Yashida and Kitty Pryde.

There are other differences and omissions -- for instance, the image inducer and Wolverine's motorcycle never appear, Beast never once says "My stars and garters", no one is ever seen smoking, Wolverine is shown with blue eyes instead of brown, Scott and Jean's marital status is ambiguous, and so on and on. If you can live with these differences, read on and (hopefully) enjoy! Therefore:

"The X-Men" are the property of Marvel Comics and Saban Entertainment. They are being used here without permission or profit (Please don't hurt me!). Alma is MINE!!! Use her without my permission and a horde of rabid vampire hamsters will invade your home and nibble the toes out of all your socks. Every single one. Drs. O'Dell and Kwan are also mine, as are several other minor characters. Chris belongs to herself, and is used in this story with her gracious permission. Douglas Owens belongs to us all -- may God have mercy.

Constructive comments are eagerly sought. Flames will be cheerfully ignored. If you wish to archive this, please ask me first. Please, no MSTies or Subreality Café appearances until further notice.

[Thoughts]

~Radio transmissions~

Finally, this story is gratefully dedicated to Tom and Elsie, who encouraged me to read; and to Jay and Laurie, who encouraged me to write.