“All students please report to the main lobby immediately.”

Membrain couldn’t help but smile as he let go of the speaker button and awaited the arrival of his pupils. Sarah was already there, rubbing her head as she stepped down from the mutant-locating machine.

“That helmet could use some padding…” she muttered.

In a minute or two the other eight students had assembled in front of their teacher, wondering what the big emergency was.

“I have an important announcement to make, everyone. Just a couple of days ago I made some renovations to the mutant locator that I think will be extremely helpful. The machine can now not only tell us where the mutant in question is, but can also break down the signal and determine exactly what their power is!” Membrain practically shouted.

“And this is so important…why?” asked Noriko.

The Asian mutant’s blue hair was messy and her eyelids hung half open; she must have just woken up from a nap.

“Well, Surge, if you must know…Network just picked up the signal of a mutant with a very rare and unusual ability. This mutant has the ability…to become invincible!” Membrain said, unable to hold back the excitement in his voice this time.

“Invincible?” repeated Hellion, “Well, good for him. Can we go now?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Membrain replied, “I don’t think you understand how important this is, Julian. If we could convince him to join our cause, he would be an extremely valuable asset. On the other hand, if this mutant were to fall into the wrong company, he could be a dangerous weapon that could destroy everything Charles Xavier and me have worked so hard for all these years!”

The young mutants exchanged uneasy glances and Membrain’s smile drooped into a frown.

“Oh, come now. It’s been two weeks since that incident, and I assure you that it will not happen again. I mean, after all, this person will be invincible. Besides, are you all just going to give up now and never try again? There are people out there that are depending on us to help them. I’m sure most of you remember what it was like when you first developed your mutant powers. Don’t you want to be there for others who are going through the same thing?” the brown-haired man asked.

Match winced at the last part of his mentor’s statement, recalling how he had burned down his local park when his powers first emerged. Surge looked down at her gauntleted hands, remembering how she had lost control of her powers and had to be subdued by some of her fellow students before she came to the institute. Dryad, wanting to help those who had not been as fortunate as her to have a parent teaching them to control their powers, nodded eagerly. Indra followed suit, knowing all too well what it’s like to be alone and afraid as a mutant. The remaining three females silently agreed; for even though they had not had much trouble with their own powers, they still felt obligated to help. Hellion, however, crossed his arms and shook his head.

“I was able to control my powers just fine. If they can’t do it too that’s their problem, not ours,” he said.

A painful jolt of electricity suddenly ran through Hellion’s body, causing him to jump and shout out.

“You jerk!” Surge screamed, electricity discharging slightly from her gauntlets.

Hellion turned towards Surge and sneered, raising his arm and preparing to launch a telekinetic attack of his own. Faster than the blink of an eye, Membrain put himself between the two teenagers.

“That’s enough, you two. Surge, I understand your frustration, but violence is not the answer. Hellion, just because you have a strong grasp over your powers doesn’t mean that you can’t help those less fortunate. It wouldn’t hurt you to start thinking of the interests of people besides yourself,” Membrain said before stepping out from in between them, “Unless the two of you can start getting along you will only drag everyone else down.”

The two students gave lukewarm responses to their teacher, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. Membrain sighed and rubbed his temples, silently cursing teenage hormones.

“Now, where was I…Oh, yes; the mutant we found. They are located in an apartment complex in the Bronx in New York City. Port and Network will be sending you there the same way as last time. You are to convince the mutant and their legal guardians that they will be better off here. We will teach them how to control their ability while protecting them from any anti-mutant threats. You will probably have to mention that we are a subdivision of the institute. Just show them this emblem as proof,” explained Membrain.

He handed Dust a badge with an emblem of the letter X embedded in it; the words “Charles Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters” lined the outer rim of the badge.

“Well, off you go,” he told them, gesturing towards the teleportation machine.

The seven students (two of whom were purposely looking in opposite directions from the other) piled into the central chamber of the machine while the two raven-haired females entered their respective side chambers. There was the familiar flash of light and…

The Bronx, New York City;

United States of America

The seven mutants appeared in front of a several-story building. Unlike their last teleportation encounter, their appearance startled dozens of people who witnessed it, causing those people to leave the area as quickly as possible. Loa shivered as her brain strained to adjust to this sudden new setting.

“Ugh…I’ll never get used to that,” she thought to herself.

Julian strode forward a few steps and opened the door to the building.

“Let’s get this over with,” he said, stepping inside.

The six others followed him inside and found themselves in a small lobby. Mailboxes lined the opposite wall next to a staircase leading up. Callie walked over to them and ran her pink-skinned finger along the names and room numbers labeled on each one.

“Um…How are we supposed to know which room the person we’re looking for is in? We don’t even know what their name is…” she said, turning back to the others.

Network’s voice suddenly rang out in each of their earpieces.

“Alright, guys, I’m accessing the mutant locator. It looks like…the person you’re looking for is three floors above you,” she said.

The seven students rushed up the stairs, stopping when they reached the fourth floor.

“Sarah, which room are they in?” Match asked, pressing the button on his earpiece.

“They’re just to your right,” she replied.

Dryad walked up to the door and knocked on it. After a moment she knocked again.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” she asked in the calmest-sounding voice she could manage.

“No, go away!” a muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

Hellion raised his right arm and a light blue aura surrounded the door.

“Julian, don’t!” Loa shouted.

The door was suddenly torn from its hinges with a loud crunching sound and dropped to the ground.

“Are you crazy?! You can’t just rip the door off like that!” the Hawaiian girl scolded him.

Hellion gave no response as he pushed past Dryad and made his way inside, followed moments later by the other reluctant students. A young teenage boy with striking blonde hair peered at the intruders from behind a couch. With another display of Hellion’s telekinetic power, the couch flung itself across the room. The boy ran for a door to his right but it suddenly began to glow the same hue of light blue and refused to open. He turned around, pressing his back to the door and looking at the seven mutants with fear-filled eyes.

“Stay away from me!” he shouted.

“We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help you,” Dryad said, taking a few steps towards him.

“Monster!” he yelled, pointing at her.

He shoved the pink-skinned mutant to the floor and made a mad dash across the room. Surge reached out and grabbed him by the arm, stopping him.

“Just calm down, kid! We need to talk to you!” she said.

He yanked his arm out of her grip and ran, but tripped and found himself heading straight towards the glass pane of a nearby window. He screamed and his skin suddenly changed to a gray hue only seconds before his body shattered the glass. Indra quickly tried to grab hold of him, but he was too late as the boy went plummeting down four stories to the ground below. Everyone hurried back downstairs and out the door, rushing over to his side.

“Oh my God…is he okay?” Dryad asked, tears already forming in her eyes.

The blonde-haired boy suddenly sat up and groaned as his skin returned to its normal color. His eyes widened as he noticed the other mutants standing next to him and he quickly got to his feet. He ran a few steps before Hellion grabbed him telekinetically and held him in place.

“Amazing…He fell four stories and yet he is perfectly fine,” Dust said.

“Well, duh. He’s invincible, remember?” Hellion said to her, then turned his attention back to the boy in question, “Hey, kid. What’s your name?”

“Help!” was the only response that came from him as his eyes darted around frantically.

“I’ll let you go if you answer our questions, kid. Now what’s your name?” the raven-haired male asked again.

The blonde male continued trying to move his body for a few moments to no avail before answering the question.

“Vince. My name is Vince. Lemme go!”

“Where are your parents?” asked Indra.

“They’re not here! Now let me go!”

“We need to speak with them,” said Match.

“LET ME GO!”

A loud and terrifying roar suddenly filled the air following the boy’s outburst. The seven mutants all turned towards the source of the noise and fear gripped them as they saw a giant white-furred creature charging down the middle of the street in their direction. It let out another roar, revealing dozens of long razor-sharp teeth. Before any of them could think to react it reached out with its long powerful arms and grabbed the boy named Vince, taking off back in the direction it had came. There was a brief moment of silence and confusion.

“What are you guys waiting for? Stop that thing!” Network’s voice suddenly rang in their ears.

The seven of them immediately started off after it, pushing past pedestrians as they ran in the opposite direction from the beast.

“What the heck is that thing anyway?” Surge wondered as she watched it smack some cars in its path aside up ahead. <>“I don’t know, but we can’t let it get away with that poor boy,” replied Dryad.

Without a word Dust changed into her dust form and sped through the air, quickly catching up to the fleeing beast. She surrounded it, blinding it and creating hundreds of small, but deep cuts through its skin as the dust particles sharpened themselves. It cried out in pain as it tried to swat the cloud of dust away, but quickly found itself colliding with the side of a truck in its blindness. The force of the impact knocked the truck over on its side, but the creature also lost its footing and wound up on its back on top of the tipped truck. The cloud of dust retreated into the air as Indra suddenly leapt up above the truck, clad in his violet armor, and brought his fist down towards the creature’s chest. It rolled out of the way at the last second and the Indian male’s arm smashed a hole in the steel plating of the truck’s container. He pulled it out and gasoline began pouring out of the truck, covering him and the creature (and Vince, who was still in its grip). The creature shrieked in pain as the gasoline began to seep into and infect its cuts caused by Dust. With its free arm, the creature smacked Indra across the chest and sent him flying into some nearby parked cars.

“Quick, kid…Vince! Do that thing where you turn invincible!” Match shouted, readying what would be a devastating burst of fire at the gasoline-covered beast.

The blonde-haired boy strained, but his skin remained the same color.

“I…I can’t!” he yelled.

Ben cursed under his breath and lowered his arm. A light blue aura surrounded Vince again as Hellion tried to yank him out of the creature’s grip, but it held tight even against his telekinesis. Trying a different approach, he lifted the beast up into the air instead and slammed it against the side of a building. Rubble rained down onto the sidewalk and frightened pedestrians who had been watching hurried to avoid being hit by it.

“Julian, stop!” Loa exclaimed, “You could hurt innocent people like that, including Vince!”

Hellion grunted and released his mental grip on the creature, causing it to fall to the ground. It got back to its feet, a mixture of its blood and gasoline dripping from its fur in a trail as it started running away again. However, vines suddenly sprouted from cracks in the sidewalks to either side and quickly extended, wrapping themselves around the beast’s legs and bringing it down.

“Well done, Dryad,” Dust complimented as she returned to her normal form by her side.

The seven mutants quickly made their way to the struggling creature, ready to pry the boy named Vince from its grip.

A Few Minutes Earlier

A man dressed in what many might consider the most ridiculous costume they’ve ever seen strolled along the streets of New York City. His clashing yellow, purple and pink colors drew the attention of almost everyone within eyesight of him. His cape and hat flapped in the wind as he grinned behind his mask. He held a video camera in his left hand and filmed his surroundings with it. In his other hand was a red child’s bubble gun which he fired off into the air every now and then. He hummed a happy tune as he looked into the eyes of some nearby pedestrians and waved with his “fun gun.” One of those people got down on their knees and nibbled on some grass poking out through the sidewalk while mooing like a cow. Another began prancing around through heavy traffic, barely avoiding being hit several times while screaming the song “Singing in the Rain” at the top of their lungs. Yet another person started punching herself in the face and body repeatedly while spinning around in circles. The man who called himself Madcap laughed with glee and filmed every second of it as he continued skipping down the sidewalk like a schoolgirl coming home from her last class. He continued looking people in the eyes on his way, filling them with feelings of overwhelming euphoria and causing them to act silly or reckless. His handheld video camera followed their every move.

“This is good material,” he thought to himself, “Good, but not great. I have to show my audience how random and nonsensical this universe they live in is! I need something better! Something exciting! Something…like that!”

His attention had just been caught by the sight of a giant white-furred creature running through a busy intersection up ahead, smacking cars aside as if they were toys. Several individuals followed after it, many of them strange in appearance. Striving to seize the opportunity, he took to a sprint and rounded the corner after them. Trying to keep his camera steady as he ran down the street, he filmed the fight between the two forces. He had finally gotten to a good filming distance when he saw the creature fall to the ground and the others surround it.

“Aww, it can’t be over already! We haven’t even gotten to the good part!” he exclaimed.

The seven teenage mutants looked over in his direction, wondering who this strange man was. One raven-haired male in particular caught his gaze.

“Gotcha. Now the real show begins,” Madcap thought to himself as he locked eyes with the boy.

A wide grin came over Hellion’s face as he began jumping up and down, making fart-sounding noises with his tongue.

“Julian, what the hell are you doing?” asked Surge as she stared at him in shock.

A blue aura surrounded a nearby car and it flew through the air in random directions before crashing into the side of a building. Several other objects, including trash cans, street signs, and small trees found themselves leaving the ground as well and sailing through the air.

“Dude, what the-…What are you doing?! Stop!” Match shouted, but suddenly found his body being lifted into the air as well and thrown across the street like a rag doll.

The strange man laughed and jumped in the air, clicking his heels together.

“More! More! Let’s tear this city apart!” he yelled in glee as he directed his camera to film the telekinetically-affected objects.

Match groaned in pain, but quickly got back to his feet and rejoined the others. In the meantime, the white-furred creature had managed to free its legs from Dryad’s vines and took off down the street once more. The six still-sane mutants turned to pursue it, but a minivan suddenly landed in their path with a loud crash.

“Damn…This is no good! We can’t leave Hellion like this!” Noriko said, clenching her gauntleted fists.

“But we cannot let that beast escape with Vincent,” Dust chimed in.

“And what about that man over there? I think he did this to Hellion somehow,” Dryad added.

“I will take care of Hellion,” Indra stated, a determined look coming over his face.

“And I’ll stop that lunatic over there,” Loa volunteered.

“Okay, so the rest of us will go get Vince back,” Match said, “Let’s go! There’s no time to lose!”

Dust, Surge, Match and Dryad ran in the direction of the fleeing creature while Loa and Indra turned towards the two mentally unstable individuals. The Hawaiian mutant made the first move, rushing towards the colorfully-clad man. He noticed her and shot his bubble gun into the air, doing a little jig.

“Looooook intoooooo my eyeeeeeees,” he chanted in a silly-sounding voice, “Embraaaaace the maaaaaadneeeeeess.”

He giggled behind his mask as he pointed the bubble gun in the young girl’s direction.

“The fans love that line,” he thought to himself, “Wait…Do I have any fans?”

Loa swung her arm around and her hand went right through his bubble gun, breaking it into pieces. Her other arm came up as well, doing the same thing to his video camera.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY MATERIAL!” he shrieked as he dropped to his knees, picking up the pieces of his deconstructed camera.

He let out a sob and looked up at Loa (who had thankfully been avoiding making eye contact with him ever since his earlier statement), the smile painted on his mask turning to a frown in response to the muscles in his face to match his own facial reaction.

“You meanie. I hate you,” he said.

His mask changed back to a smile as he suddenly sprang to his feet and began skipping away from her, laughing maniacally. She chased after him as he rounded a corner into an alleyway. Madcap pounded his fists against a dumpster and kicked an empty can for tomato soup on his way down the alley, laughing even harder as he did so. He eventually stopped at a chain-link fence and slapped his hands against his cheeks.

“Ohhhhhh no!” he exclaimed in a sarcastically afraid voice, turning around and pressing his back to the fence.

Loa, who had become quite frustrated at this point, finally caught up to him and put her hand through the fence next to his head, causing the pieces of it to fall onto his shoulder. She threw him the best glare she could without making eye contact.

“Put him right or that’ll be your head,” she threatened.

“Put him right? Ahahahahaha! That’s so funny! Put him right!” he exclaimed, “I wish I had my camera for that one, but someone broke it! That wasn’t very nice, you know.”

“I’m serious! You better fix him right now!” Loa shouted, her temper rising even further from his response.

“Alas, fair maiden, if only I could. I am afraid-eth that he-eth will only become-eth sane-eth over time-eth,” Madcap replied, “‘Tis-eth a shame-eth, no-eth?”

Loa screamed in anger and threw her fist just above him, causing his hat to fall to pieces off his head.

“Don’t you ever mess with me or my friends again, you got that?!”

She turned and stormed off, leaving Madcap standing alone in the alleyway. He shrugged his shoulders and did his best impersonation of Robin Williams’ voice.

“Gee, what was her problem?”

Moments Earlier

Indra sighed as he saw the strange man take off, followed closely by Alani. He had hoped they could convince him to set Hellion right, but it looked like there was no other choice. He would have to resort to drastic measures, and hoped that he wouldn’t mess this up. He took a deep breath and tried to remember what he had been taught…

Division M Headquarters,

One Week Ago

Professor Membrain was hard at work on drawing out blueprints for a renovated mutant locating machine when heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” he said, looking up from his desk.

The door opened and his purple-skinned pupil appeared in the doorway, looking very nervous (though this seemed to be a common state with Indra).

“Yes, Paras? What brings you to my office so late at night?” he asked with a warm smile.

“Well, professor…I have been thinking about that training exam you gave us the day we came here,” the Indian male replied.

“Yes? What about it?”

“Well, as I am sure you saw…I was forced to attack my fellow student,” Indra continued.

“And I’m sorry it had to come to that, but we’ve already been over this,” Membrain sighed.

“Yes, but…I am afraid that I could have seriously hurt him. I feel as though I was lucky that he was not. If something of that sort ever happens again, where I am forced to detain a teammate…”

Membrain opened one of the drawers of his desk and slid the blueprints into it before closing it again. He stood up and walked over to Indra, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I understand. Come on, we have some training to do,” he said, steering his student out of the office and closing the door behind them.

The Bronx, New York City;

Present Day

Indra rushed forwards towards his euphoria-blinded teammate, his eyes focused on a certain point on the back of the other mutant’s head. He took hold of the raven-haired male to keep him still as armor plating formed over his fingers. He quickly jabbed his hand at the spot he was focused on, striking it with the tips of his plated fingers. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt Hellion go limp in his arms, meaning that he had successfully struck the pressure point and knocked him unconscious. He gently lowered Julian to the ground and looked around, wondering what he should do now. He could go check on Loa, or he could head after the others to aid in the retrieval of Vince, but either way he would have to bring Hellion with him; he couldn’t very well leave him unconscious in the middle of New York City. He scratched his chin and pondered this decision for a few moments before an eerily familiar sound distracted him from his thoughts. It was a sound he had heard only a couple of weeks ago; the sound…of helicopter blades. He looked up to the sky and a feeling of dread washed over him as he saw the same black helicopters heading in their direction.

“No…It can’t be…”

Next Issue

Looks like our young heroes haven’t seen the last of SHIELD! How will they escape this time? And what of the strange creature that kidnapped Vince? Where is it going, and will they be able to stop it before it gets there? Find out in the next exciting issue of New Mutants: Division M!