Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 22:04:41 GMT From: Blake Alexander Subject: Tales of the New Phoenix chapter 10 This is not my first story, but I think this is going to be where I flourish. My previous stories lay in hibernation awaiting the day I decide to pick them back up again. ("Learning Curve" in Boy Bands, and "Johnny Boy" in High School) I've never had as many Ideas running around my head as with Tales Of The New Phoenix. I don't know exactly how fast I will be able to get chapters out, so please don't kill me. And, as you can see by my title, I am going to have a character based on The Phoenix from Marvel Comics. I am going to go a bit of my own way with the Char. so any die hard fans, please refrain from hurting me, ok? My experience with the Phoenix is limited to the cartoon, and the Dark Phoenix comic book saga. I do hope to hold true to the heart of the character, but will be making some changes just as was made with The Bat Man. Now, on to the boring stuff. I do not own any of the following: Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Pink, Christina Aguilera, The Wallflowers, and any other celebrities. I also know nothing of their sexual orientations. Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and all related characters. The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series by Laurell K. Hamilton. The Vampire Chronicles, Tales Of The New Vampires, The Mayfair Witches, all series written by Anne Rice. Buffy & Angel television series. Birds Of Prey television series. Star Wars Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, Star Trek DS9, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek The New Frontier, Enterprise television series, movies, and novels. I am restating; I do not own any of the above mentioned, although I wish I did. Those make tons of money. I do not know the sexual orientation of anyone mentioned for certain. Everything I write is purely fiction from my mind. Please don't sue me, I am a poor college student and have nothing. If you are under aged, go away. This site is for adults. Warning to the closed minded, gay fiction is about to start. Well, this is the last chapter of New Phoenix. The next part of the series, posting in about a week, is titled The Story Of The Birds Of Prey. I hope you will enjoy the new series, and that you have been enjoying the old. We have a new member of the Tales Universe Team and I personally can't wait to see what he has. That should be coming sometime in the future. I have the next 5 chapters after this written already, so I should be posting every week. I'm sorry if after that things slow, I am currently President of one club at school, liaison for another club to the ASB on campus, and a senator for the ASB. A total of 3 organizations on top of 14.5 units. I'm very busy, but plan to keep ahead of my writing if I can. Spring break will hold much writing. Anyhoo, onto the story. WRITE ME! I NEED IT TO SURVIVE! Do you like the story? Do you hate the story? Do you think I should be burning in hell? TELL ME!!!!!!! Chapter 10: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 Patrol had been pretty quiet after Blake went back to his place. Devin sent me out, even though it was my first time really, alone. We stayed in almost constant contact as I flew over the streets of San Francisco, using my new Green Lantern powers, and did pretty much nadda. One mugging. A very slow night. I came home at about 3:00 and fell right to sleep. At 6:15 my plans changed. "Hello?" I asked with my head and receiver pulled under the blankets. "Andrea honey, you need to get up. Something horrible is happening." I shot straight up hearing her say that. "Mom, did something happen to Dad?" "No sweetie, turn on your TV. Any station." I reached over and grabbed my remote at her request and turned on my TV. The scene I was greeted with was unbelievable. "Oh my god, what happened?" I stood up and ran into my living room to watch that TV. My bedroom TV was half the size. "Someone is attacking the US. They used airplanes. Comercial airlines. The flew them into the buildings." The scene on TV changed, showing a plane flying into one of the building and sending debris flying about. "Who did this?" I asked, the news reporter talking about what happened, and their lack of knowledge on it. "I don't know honey. We want you with us." I was in total shock. No one attacks us. The last time the US was attacked, really attacked, was Pearl Harbor. And we proved that we won't stand for things like that. "Come here. We can have Blake and Josh with us then." I watched the building burning, smoke billowing into the sky. "Oh God mom, Debra works there. Call Blake, I need to try and get a hold of Debra." I hung up and started looking for my phone book. "Ring, ring, ring." The sound no one ever wants to hear when they are sleeping in. I rolled over and saw my alarm clock glaring 6:30 at me. I picked up the phone wondering why someone would call me at this hour. "Hewo," I cleared my throat. "Hello?" "Blake, turn on your TV, now." It was Ma. I blinked a couple times. "Gwen? Why are you calling me this early?" "Just turn on your TV, you won't believe me until you do." She sounded freaked so I started searching for the remote. After finding it and turning on the TV, what I saw shocked me. "Josh, wake up." He only stirred, so I started shaking him. "Josh, wake up now!" He bolted up at the urgency in my voice and started staring about the room. Normally I would think he looked cute, but I was too much in shock. "Ma, I'll call you later. Take care of Pop ok?" "Ok sweetie. I think we should all be together though. Can we come there?" I looked at Josh who had finally found the TV and was staring in shock. "Yeah. Tell Andy to come over too. Love you." She said the same and hung up. "What the hell is happening Blake?" We both sat there and watched as the Twin Towers billowed smoke out the tops. Then the video feed changed and we saw only one of them burning. "I don't know Josh. I don't know." Then a plane suddenly came into view. We watched as it arced towards the second building and with a great explosion slammed into it. "Oh god..." We sat there in horror as the buildings burned. In no time Josh's cell phone was ringing. "Hello?" he asked into it. "Yeah Chris, I'm watching." He sat silent for a while. "Call Lance and Joey, let me know how they are. I'm calling Justin right now." They said their goodbyes and hung up. He then dialed Justin. "Hun, I'm going to go make some coffee." He nodded waiting for Justin to answer and I walked into the kitchen. I turned on the Kitchen TV and turned on the machine. I then went in and turned on the Living Room set. California may be suffering from a power crisis, but this was more important. As I heard the coffee maker signal it was ready, I was distracted. The reporter was declaring that the Pentagon had also been attacked. He didn't have much information, but wow. The Pentagon. Who would attack America in such a way and why? Josh came in, crying. "Are you ok sweetie?" I walked in and pulled him into a hug. "No. This is... it's all too much. Why would someone do this?" He cried onto my shoulder, my tears falling freely from my eyes. "I don't know. I just don't know." We both sat there sipping coffee, waiting for Andrea, Ma, and Pop. We learned more about what was going on and sat in shock. "I should call Devin." Josh nodded and reached over to get the phone. I lifted my hand up and activated my wrist communicator. I pressed the glass down. "Contact Devin." It beeped and I awaited his response. "Go ahead." "Devin, this is Blake. I wanted to check in with all that's happening." I looked over at Josh who was staring at me with a grin. "Right. All Slayers are on hold while The Council looks into the American Attacks. They don't know what's going on and are worried that this may be linked to the attacks on The Council." I could hear how tired he was. "Also, when on communicators we need to use codenames. I now realize I didn't tell you that, but I am now. I need to go; we are all trying to figure out what is going on. Both you and Andrea need to go about your routines, and stick to the set schedules. Owl out." The communicator beeped and I lowered my arm. "You have wrist communicators disguised as watches. Congrats, you are official Superhero's." We both giggled, trying desperately to take our minds off of what was happening even only for a moment. There was a knock at the door and I stood to answer it. When I opened it Andrea was standing there in a frantic state. "Debra. She works at the towers Blake. I can't get a hold of her." I pulled her into a hug. "Come on, let's go sit down..." I was cut off by a sudden wave of... of fear and pain. I fell to my knees and closed my eyes fighting the urge not to scream. Andrea started yelling my name and started pulling me to my feet. I got my mind back under control and let her. Josh was now standing looking at us worried. "What happened?" He asked helping me to the couch. "I don't know, suddenly I..." We were all cut off by the view on the TV. One of the towers was collapsing. "Oh my God." We watched as it fell from view being replaced by smoke and dust. "All those people." "Is that why you fell Josh? Did you feel it?" I looked at Andrea, thinking over her question. "I don't know Andy. My powers have grown greatly since becoming Phoenix. I could have sensed... sensed the death of all those people." I began examining what I had felt. The fear of so many, so many who felt pain as they went to their deaths. We all sat silently, Josh holding me as I wept. Ma and Pop arrived at 7:15. We all sat in the living room glued to the TV. The events were unbelievable. I was about to walk into the Kitchen to get more coffee when I was hit again. I pulled myself into a fetal position as I experienced it. This time it was like my powers locked onto the people. I could hear them screaming in my mind as it happened. As they died. I immediately started to try and build defenses, something to block it out. Before I knew it, it had ended. It had ended and I knew that they had died. I stood, everyone looking at me in absolute shock. "They're dead." I pointed to the TV as the signal delay finally showed the second tower collapsing. Ma gasped, Josh started weeping. I walked to the balcony. I knew Andrea had followed me, and it didn't even take super powers. "Blake, you had nothing to do with any of what happened." She came up behind me and held me. "I could hear them. I could hear their prayers, hear their pain, hear their questions of why this is happening, and hear their fear. It's all in here!" I pulled away and pointed at my head. "It's all trapped in my mind and will never get out." I fell to my knees and started crying. "Why? Why did those innocent people have to die? They did nothing, NOTHING to deserve that." I could feel her holding my trembling form. Echoes of those lost ringing in my ears; I knew nothing would ever be the same for anyone. By early afternoon we had had to turn the television off to try and keep our psyches safe. Seeing the pain at what was the Twin Towers, the destruction that had happened at the Pentagon, and the loss of a fourth aircraft, it had become all too much. Questions were being asked of how many had died, and there were estimates in the thousands. And I had known that the estimates were right. Whenever I closed my eyes I heard them. The amount of death at one time must have been what let me hear them so far away. But whatever the cause, I knew that the experience had marked me forever. I sat looking at Andrea being held by her father. She was unable to get a hold of Gwen, and she was crying and praying for her friend's safety. Josh sat next to me, never letting my hand go, as we all experienced the silence of San Francisco. The air traffic had been shut down. I never realized how much background noise planes produced. Even the sound of cars was more subdued. Most business had shut down out of fear, out of respect, out of mourning. I had erected every psychic wall I had to keep from hearing or feeling other people's emotions and thoughts. I had finally had enough of the silence. "I'm going." "Going where Blake?" I turned to see Josh's worried eyes focused on me. "I can't just sit here. I'm going to fly to New York and do whatever I can to help." I stood and headed into the bedroom. Ma and Josh followed behind me. "Sweet heart I know you feel badly. But all flights are grounded. You will never be able to reach New York so soon after the attacks." I turned to see Ma. She had been like a mother to me ever since Andrea and I became friends. "You remember the attack in San Jose, the mutant attack?" She nodded nervously. "Do you remember reports of a man who could generate a giant flaming bird around him? Reports that he helped save the people inside the Fairmont?" She again nodded nervously. I held up my hand and created a small version of the Phoenix. It sat in my hand preening. I turned to Ma and smiled. "I'm the Phoenix. I can't sit by and not help if I have the power to do good." She sat on the bed. The entire time Josh just stood at the doorway with an unreadable expression. "Well, I always knew you were a mutant. You never hid that from us." She looked at me. "you're right, if you can do good you should. I'm proud of you for being brave enough to." She stood and pulled me into a hug. "If you get yourself killed doing it though, I'll kill you." "Thank you Ma." I started crying. "You're my boy, I don't care what genetics or the law says." She cried on my shoulder. "You are good, and I care about you. Pop cares about you as much as I do, and we all know Andrea just wishes you were straight." We laughed at that, even unreadable Josh. "You go do some good, hear?" I smiled at her. "I hear." She turned, and left Josh and I alone. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I looked at him. He was walking towards me. "Are you sure you should be going to New York right now?" "Josh, if you are able to do something. To help someone who is in need, you can't just sit and watch. New York is in need of help, and I can help. I'm going to do what I can. I have to." He pulled me into a deep hug. "I love you so much Blake. So much it hurts. You be careful, ok?" He pulled back and I realized why he was so expressionless before, he was fighting not to cry. "I love you back." I smiled. I put some clothes in a duffel bag and went into the living room. Andrea must have been doing a similar demonstration to mine because she had a small falcon flying about. "Well, my two kids are superheros. Not something you really expect to hear." Pop was sitting in his chair with a confused look on his face. "Any other announcements? Blake, are you straight?" "He better not be." Josh gave me a wry grin. "No pop." I smiled and set down my bag. I went and grabbed the cordless phone. "When do we leave Blake?" I looked at Andrea, pausing my dialing. "I, and I say I here, will leave shortly. San Francisco needs a defender. You also need to keep training with your ring. I may not have had my powers much longer than you, but I am more in tune with them. You also need to explain to Devin why I'm not in town." She just sat there looking lost. "I'll do my best to find Deborah Andy." She looked at me and smiled. "Damn psychic." She said wiping away a tear. "No, I just know you." I smiled and started dialing. "Hello?" Eric had answered. "Eric, this is Blake. I'm heading for New York. I can't just sit here and do nothing." I took my call out to the balcony. "Well, you remember Jessica mentioning the X-Men on the roof that night?" Eric responded. I looked up at the empty sky. "Yeah." "They just contacted me. They are going to be taking me up to New York to their school tonight. I expect them in just a couple hours. Do you think you can come here? We can then all go to the city together." "I'll be there in an hour." I started back in to grab my bag. "An hour? Can you really fly that fast?" I smiled at his skepticism. "I am Phoenix. You haven't seen anything yet." With that we said our goodbyes and hung up. Josh was sitting waiting for me. "You leaving now?" "I want to get there as soon as possible. I'm actually going to Lance and Eric's, then to New York." I looked at everyone gathered, then to Andrea. "You keep them safe, ok?" She smiled at me. "Ok. You do some good over there, ok?" "Ok." I walked over and pulled her into a hug. "I love you sis." "I love you too bro." I walked over and gave Ma and Pop hugs, then went back to Josh. "I love you so much Josh." I pulled him into a deep kiss. I put as much as I could into the kiss, as well as let him feel my love telepathically. We finally parted and he looked at me, crying and smiling. "I was so proud when you started fighting the bad guys here." We both laughed at that. "I am even more proud of you for going to help others on the other side of the country. I'm also so thankful to be with you." I pulled him into a hug. "I'm the lucky one Josh. I'm the lucky one." I finally grabbed my bag, stopping to grab my leather coat, and everyone followed me outside. I was standing with all the people I love the most, getting ready to fly across the continent. I turned to them. "Well, I'd better change." I set all my stuff down, my jacket on my bag. I stood and focused on changing into The Phoenix, minus the flames. When I had changed into my black outfit I opened my eyes and saw Ma and Pop with shocked expressions. I grabbed my stuff and looked at them. "I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you all." I then shot into the air as fast as I could. When I was so far up that the buildings were mere specks, I unleashed the Phoenix fully. He spread out to be the size of a small jet. I knew that the people bellow me would be able to see me, and I smiled at that. I think it's the child in me, but being a visible super hero was really cool to me. With a great cry, I started flying as fast as I could towards Orlando, and the first stop on my journey to the decimated Twin Towers. This closes the "Tales Of The New Phoenix". Keep yours eyes open, "The Story Of The Birds Of Prey" will be coming soon. Now, if you haven't read the other stories in the "Tales Universe" go do that now. Tales Of A Real Dark Night (The series that started it all.) celebrity/boy-bands/tales-of-a-real-dark-knight/ Marvel Knights celebrity/marvel-knights/ Tales Of A Super Hero Band celebrity/boy-bands/tales-of-a-superhero-band/ Tales Of A Young Mutant celebrity/tales-of-a-young-mutant/ You can E-Mail me at WriteMeAStory@Juno.com