July 2011

The month began with the fourth - and most damaging - invasion of the mansion, when a group of men in the employ of the mysterious Nightmare took over the mansion and trapped the residents in shared nightmares. While Doug Ramsey, David Haller, Crystal Amaquelin and Kurt Sefton attempted rescue from outside, Garrison Kane, Vanessa Carlysle and Jean Grey discovered that Nightmare was in fact Parker Matthews, the psi responsible for freeing Jean's alter ego Jane and who had been thought to be in an irreversible coma. During rescue attempts, Kurt was captured, Amelia Voght was killed by a psi-blast as an example and Sophie Stepford was caught in the psionic backlash and also died. Eventually the invaders were overwhelmed, both both the outside rescue team and a group inside that had escaped the nightmares - Garrison, Vanessa, Meggan Szardos, Jubilation Lee and Amara Aquilla - Charles Xavier freed from the Box and a bomb left as a failsafe disarmed by Sarah Vale and Henry McCoy. Jean herself battled Nightmare, and while she defeated him, the psychic damage was so great she was left in a coma herself, which lasted many weeks.

In the aftermath of his capture and torture, Remy LeBeau thanked his fellow Trenchcoats for rescue, before he and Ororo Munroe left for France for recuperation. In the meantime, the rest of the group focussed on HYDRA's next move. Wanda Maximoff also returned from a self-imposed retreat, warning her colleagues her powers were acting strangely in the aftermath of her fight with the Red Skull.

Klara Prast left the school to take care of her brother's newest son and her sister-in-law after a difficult birth and Artie Maddicks apologised to Molly Hayes for his behaviour post-the Morlock incident. Doreen Green scored a dinner from Kyle Gibney after a Danger Room scenario ended with them tangled up together in a dumpster, which later led to the arrangement of a 'formal' date and a burst of excited screaming from Dori that raised the curiosity of the mansion. Laurie Collins made good her New Orleans road trip plans, with Jean-Phillipe Colbert, Kyle, Angelica Jones, Kevin Ford and Laura Kinney joining her. Unfortunately, this was also the time that Yvette Petrovic's mother died suddenly; Yvette took Sarah Vale back to Kosovo for the funeral, and to her deceased father's family for moral support. The meeting went badly, although a later conversation with Yvette's half-sister, also a mutant, proved a bit more productive.

In the course of a missing persons investigation, Vanessa Carlysle vanished from her motel room, her disappearance not realised until her failure to respond to the news that Jean had awakened from her coma (following telepathic intervention from Charles Xavier and Haller). Frantic about his girlfriend's disappearance, Warren Worthington sought out her co-worker Lucas Bishop for information and offered his help in the office.

Finally, taking advantage of a moment in France and with their typical secrecy, Remy and Ororo got married, much to the (pleased) surprise of their friends and team.

Timeline

Jul 1 - Tabitha posts from the Hamptons, enjoying herself. Don't Close Your Eyes: A group of men, with a disturbing knowledge of the mansion, infiltrate the building and overcome the residents with the mansion's security measures; Haller discovers what is going on when he tries to return to the mansion and receives an ultimatum - four Brotherhood members to be released from jail, no feds, in twelve hours, or they will blow up the mansion; Haller manages to contact Doug, Kurt and Crystal and they discuss options; Kurt teleports into the Box to rescue Charles, but is taken down by an illusionist pretending to be Charles; in retaliation for the attempted rescue, Amelia is killed; Meggan, Jubilee and Amara are trapped in a dream where Selene has taken New York and Meggan is her apprentice; Amara is forced to generate a volcano in which Meggan is sacrificed while Jubilee watches; the dream repeats, only this time the girls manage to overwhelm Selene and escape the nightmare; Jubilee contacts Doug from inside the mansion and lets him know that the mansion dwellers are trapped in nightmares and that she, Amara and Meggan managed to escape the Danger Room under cover of the distraction of another death; Amara, Jubilee and Meggan manage to get to the Box and rescue the Professor while the illusionist flees the mansion; Doug, Haller and Crystal sneak into the mansion via the escape tunnels and Crystal takes on the teleporter while Doug hacks the system and Haller shields them psionically; the group returns to the Danger Room and come up with a plan - Haller and Charles will try to wake the sleepers while Crystal and Meggan tend to the injured and act as guards and Jubilee and Amara create a distraction; having second thoughts, the technopath reluctantly arms the bomb, and is killed by one of his co-hostage takers; Charles and Haller find the sleepers are all linked together and to Jean and that simply trying to cut the connection between her and their attacker will lobotomise everyone; Haller also tells Charles of Amelia and Sophie Stepford's deaths; in their shared nightmare, Angel, Yvette, Sarah and Klara are vacationing in a small seaside town where things seem a bit off; discovering they are being followed, Angel and Yvette move to accost their stalker, only to have the crowd attack Klara and Sarah for being witches; Yvette's suit fails and she injures several of the crowd before she and Sarah are overwhelmed and taken by Dr. Henry McCoy, seeking new mutants to sell overseas; Hank tortures and disfigures Sarah while Yvette is locked in a crate nearby, helpless to save her; Vanessa and Garrison are trapped in Jean's nightmares with a version of Scott, first experiencing her memories of Alkali Lake and then her memories of having a miscarriage in California, while they are betrayed to William Stryker - Phase 1 by Jane; Jean realises who is responsible - Parker Matthews, also known as Mesmero, now calling himself Nightmare; Jean shoves Garrison and Vanessa out of her mind and when they wake up, they tell Charles and Haller who is pulling the strings; in their dream, Angel tries to save Klara from being burned at the stake, but her powers go out of control and set fire to the town; Kurt enters the dream and has to kill his brother, Stefan, in order to save Klara; chased down to the docks, they see Hank sailing away with Sarah and Yvette, but Angel's powers fail as she pursues him; as the mob draws closer, Kurt is ready to kill Klara to stop her being burned to death, but Charles and Haller manage to sever the link to Jean at the very last minute; Monet, Kyle, and Piotr wake up in an abandoned stadium in Sydney; Monet is horrified to discover herself in the body of Marius St. Croix; Kyle, recognizing his old foe, attacks her while Piotr tries to stop them but cannot understand what they're saying; eventually Kyle realizes Monet is trapped in Marius's body but he suddenly loses control and starts to attack people; they are soon rescued from the nightmare by Xavier and Haller; Kyle might have woken, but a trigger implanted by Nightmare sets him to attack Meggan, injuring her before Kurt teleports him into the Box; the reminder of the White Room drives him into a worse frenzy and Kurt is injured as well before teleporting back out; Kurt runs into Hank and Sarah, on their way to disarm the bomb in Cerebro and joins them; Sarah manages to shut down the bomb, although suffering from electric shocks in the process; Jean fights Nightmare on the astral plane and defeats him, but nearly destroys her mind in the process; Garrison and Vanessa go to help Amara and Jubilee battling the two remaining men in the mansion, only to have the teleporter escape and the other, calling himself the Fear Eater, collapse unconscious as his link with Nightmare is cut; Charles and Haller discover Jean's mind is too damaged to contact her; the mansion dwellers regroup and discover what has happened, to Nightmare and to Jean.

Jul 2 - Kurt posts his regret that Amelia died for his actions. In the Cotwolds, Amanda and Nico meet Homily and ask for her help.

Jul 3 - Charles makes a post announcing what happened on July 1 and the list of casualties, also that most of the residents are going to be staying at the Hamptons for a few days while the damage is repaired. Matt and Jean-Phillipe run into each other at the beach in the Hamptons and Matt ends up deciding he likes Yvette better.

Jul 4 - Remy makes a post to x_snowvalley thanking them for rescuing him, then updating them on his period of captivity and interrogation. Callie texts Amara after hearing about what happened at the mansion. Yvette stops by to see Sarah V. after what happened and they have a talk about that and other things. Jubilee posts about her nightmares and having problems sleeping. Finding Tabitha fretting about the students, Warren gives her some tips on how to relax.

Jul 5 - Doug posts a status wrap-up to x_snowvalley and suggests it's time to figure out HYDRA's next move.In LA for a family visit, Dori is shocked and confused when she has to do a court-ordered blood test to prove her paternity.

Jul 6 - Yvette posts to the grads area about missing having a roommate, especially with the nightmares she has after recent events. Matt makes a journal entry about the attack on the mansion, and about going to the beach for the first time.

Jul 7 - Amanda makes a journal entry upset about being away while the mansion was attacked and asks if Meggan and Kurt are okay. Ororo and Remy arrive at his house in France and get to take some much needed recuperation time. Klara posts about her sister-in-law, who just had a new baby boy after a complicated pregnancy, and announces she's leaving to move in with them to help look after her sister-in-law and the child. Callie posts a picture of a dangerous plant and warns people not to touch it. Amanda and Meggan talk about the nightmare Meggan was trapped in.

Jul 8 - Wanda makes a journal entry on her return to the Brownstone, explaining her absence and warning people that her powers seem to be misbehaving lately. Laurie goes to check on Kyle in his tree.

Jul 9 - Monet visits Kurt and manages to finally get him to breakthrough his emo mood.

Jul 10 - Kyle makes a journal entry about having slept for four days straight in a tree. Sarah V. makes a journal entry about thinking about finally leaving her room for the first time in ages. Laurie e-mails Kyle, Kevin, Laura, Angel, and Jean-Phillipe about their New Orleans roadtrip together.

Jul 11 - Jubilee posts about kidnapping Doug and taking him to the Bahamas. Molly makes an entry about her birthday and liking Ron Weasley. Angelo and Sarah V. go for a drive with Joyita and talk about the mansion invasion. Kyle, Sarah V., and Yvette go to visit the foxes in the nearby woods, and lessons are discussed to improve Sarah's sneakiness.

Jul 12 - Yvette posts about moving into Suite 1 with Laura. Garrison posts about getting Scott away from Jean's side for a bit. Jubilee kidnaps Doug to the Bahamas for a week.

Jul 13 - Jean-Phillipe posts about the New Orleans road trip, advising anyone needing an RA to speak to Yvette and asking someone to take over the New York bus run.

Jul 14 - Remy emails Amanda, asking her to book him and Ororo tickets home. Vanessa posts about going out of town for work and requests that someone let her know when Jean wakes up.

Jul 15 - Emma thanks everyone for their birthday wishes and Doug for his delivery, and apologises for not being around much. Dori makes a journal entry about being back in the mansion and posts her to-do list. Kyle takes Dori through a Danger Room training program, which ends after an awkward moment in a dumpster, and Kyle needing a cold shower.

Jul 16 - Laurie posts about music choice for the road trip. Meggan has a bad dream and Molly suggests a Night Owl Breakfast (among other things) to help and they wind up talking about the future of their roomie-ness and Meggan possibly joining the team.

Jul 17 - Sarah V. posts about wanting to learn how to drive. Jan leaves Kevin a birthday present of a potted Super Mario mushroom. Megan emails Garrison, asking him if he wants to play golf with her.

Jul 18 - Meggan leaves a late birthday present for Kevin. Megan and Garrison play golf - badly - and talk about the Pixie's plans for herself. Meggan loans Sarah V. her driver's instruction manual. Yvette's mother passes away and Yvette asks Sarah V. to come with her to the funeral.

Jul 19 - Remy turns up at Charlie Plunder's gravesite and Amanda discovers what he and Ororo did while in France.

Jul 20 - The Problématique: Vanessa sends a text to Warren and an email to Bishop bemoaning how long her missing persons/runaway case is taking.

Jul 21 - Kyle posts about the joys of food with heads and making crawdad finger puppets. The Problématique: Vanessa is abducted from her motel room. Sarah V. accompanies Yvette on a visit to her father's family and they end up having an awkward conversation with Yvette's half-sister.

Jul 22 - Amanda wishes Angelo a happy birthday. Dori e-mails Kyle about dinner and stuff, and a date is made. Don't Close Your Eyes: After no improvement in Jean's condition, Hank and Haller discuss what the next step should be. Kevin makes a journal entry about Kyle choking because his phone or the internet was trying to kill him. Meggan makes a journal entry about Dori freaking out and screaming hysterically before running up into a tree. Dori e-mails Doug about her good news. The Problématique: Warren texts Vanessa to apologize and explain why he missed her last text. Dori runs into Julian and gives him her good news re: Kyle in person; he is not impressed.

Jul 23 - Matt posts some poetry on his journal. Don't Close Your Eyes: After weeks with no change, Xavier and Haller go inside Jean's mind; Haller and Xavier split up, each meeting a different version of Jean - Haller with Jane, Charles with a teenaged Jean; returning to the mansion, they attempt to go in, but a memory of Nightmare attacks them, forcing them to retreat to the centre of Jean's mind where they find an untouched child version of Jean; Jane and Jeannie join with the child Jean to become the adult Jean and they banish the memory of Nightmare from her mind; Haller makes an announcement that Jean has woken up and is tired and needs to rest, and to check with Scott if she's able to see visitors. The Problématique: Warren texts Vanessa again hoping that she's ok and letting her know that Jean's awake.

Jul 24 - Yvette posts to her journal to announce that she is back from Kosovo and is glad to be back home. Don't Close Your Eyes: Warren visits Jean the day after she wakes from her coma, and they discuss what happened.

Jul 25 - Sarah V. posts to her journal to announce she's back from Kosovo as well.

Jul 26 - The Problématique: Warren asks if anyone has heard from Vanessa lately after his messages go unanswered; no-one has; going to the X-Factor offices, he discovers Bishop is already working on the case and offers his services.

Jul 27 - Amanda announces the news of Remy and Ororo's marriage while they were in France.

Jul 28 - The Problématique: Warren announces on x_team that Vanessa's phone was found in a field and asks Garrison to have it dusted for fingerprints. In New Orleans, Laurie wakes Kyle and Jean-Phillipe outrageously early to take her sight-seeing.

Jul 29 - Marie-Ange posts about wedding gifts for Remy and Ororo.

Jul 30 -

Jul 31 - Artie runs into Molly at the gym and after some hiccups, manages to apologise for his behaviour earlier. Amara posts about a new HeliX project, a Big Brother/Big Sister program for young mutants.

Plots

Don't Close Your Eyes

The Problématique

External Links

July 2011