X-Men 4: The X-Factor
[He is ancient. He is immortal. He was the first of a master race that became known as mutants. Throughout the centuries he has prepared, waiting for a moment when the world was at its strongest, so he can judge if it is worthy to live. The time is near the immortal one is gathering his four horsemen, preparing for the war ahead, preparing for the Age of Apocalypse. But it is written that there is one who will rise up and lead the battle against the immortal one. A child will be born of ashes and war, and he will bring with him hope, hope for the weak. But history is not set, it is always in motion, and the events laid out before us are not set.]
A young boy lay in a room, tossing in his bed; he clutched his head in pain and cried out, trying to cover his eyes. He screamed as a blast of red energy shot forth from his eyes, blowing a hole through the roof. The boy heard voices and turned his head frantically, the beams trailing destruction. He saw people rush towards him, “HOLD HIM DOWN!” People held him down as he felt someone strike him in the head.
“Scott, Scott? Wake up.” Scott opened his eyes to see that he was in a hospital, and everything was tinted red, he held his hands up and felt a pair of glasses on. He looked up to see a smiling African American man “Hello Scott, I’m Dr. Essex, we were beginning to worry about you, your accident left you in a coma for a year.” Essex looked at a file as young Scott sat up “What happened to me?” Essex sat the folder down “Scott, you are a very special boy; you have tremendous potential, Scott you are a mutant.” Essex began to laugh maniacally, his eyes glowed red and he lunged towards Scott.
A man wearing red glasses jerked upright in bed, he was having a nightmare, and he calmed his breathing and looked at the figure in bed next to him as she sat up “Scott, what happened did you have another nightmare?” Scott stood up and went to the window and looked out at the moon “It was that dream again Maddie, that same dream.” A baby cried in another room, Maddie stood up and put a robe on, she walked into the room and came back with a baby “Looks like little Christopher is worried about his daddy too. Scott do you think it’s guilt causing these dreams? Guilt because you never told your friends you were alive?” Scott sat down on the bed beside his wife “I don’t know how I survived; last thing I remember was standing with Jean at Alkali Lake. The next thing I remember was at an airport in Anchorage two years later. Jean’s gone, the Professor is gone, half the X-Men are gone, and Magneto. No, everything I need is right here.” He said as he put his arm around Maddie and smiled at the baby.
Camden Maine:
People were gathered in a park yelling and shouting at a man in a red and white outfit, he held a sign which read “MUTANT LIBERATION NOW!” People shouted and hurled insults at this young Japanese man, one man in the crowd through a large rock at the man, the rock struck him and exploded. The people in the crowd stilled as the mutant smiled and exploded. The explosion engulfed the entire town, nearly wiping it off of the map. When the dust cleared the mutant stood alone in a crater that used to be the town of Camden.
Westchester New York: The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters:
Several young mutants stood in the ruins of the Mansion fighting a strange reptilian monster that towered over them.
One mutant, an Asian girl, ran as the creature charged her, she turned and fired bright energy blasts from her fingers that impacted on the monsters skin, it stood over her and prepared to bite her. She looked up in terror until she was grabbed from the ground by a young blonde boy that flew through the air leaving a wake of energy behind him; he smiled at her and sat her on the ground a safe distance away before flying back towards the beast. A girl with flaming skin shot a huge ball of fire at the beast, it impacted harmlessly on its skin, the beast roared and hit her with its large tail, sending her flying into the blonde boy who shouted “I got ya Magma!” he said as he caught her and sat her on the ground, she lay there unconscious, he stood by her, his force field deactivated. The creature took a swipe at him with his claws, sending the boy soaring through the air until he hit a column and collapsed. A humanoid wolf leapt from atop some rubble of one of the higher levels and landed on the beasts back, she tried clawing the creature but was shaken from its back and knocked through a wall. An earsplitting cry pierced the air as sonic blasts shot from the mouth of a red headed woman hovering in the air, the blasts struck the creature, causing it to howl in pain, it looked about and grabbed beam and threw it though the air. The redhead saw it coming and duck below it, into the range of the creature’s claws, it knocked her into a wall, and stood over her with its jaws agape. Suddenly a feral howl pierced the air, the creature looked up to see a man with metal claws coming from his hands screaming at it from atop a pile of ruins, he jumped from the pile and dove into the monsters awaiting jaws. The creature swallowed him, much to the surprise of the other mutants, the redheaded girl cried out “WOLVERINE!” the monster loomed over her until it howled in pain as Wolverine’s claws ripped through its chest, the monster collapsed, dead.
Wolverine shook his and retracted his claws “Class dismissed.” The creature and building dissolved revealing the Danger Room; Wolverine helped the girl to her feet “Not bad Siryn. Alright all of you line up!” he addressed the group “Jubilee, your attacks had no affect on that things hide, what should you have done?” The Asian girl looked about nervously “Well, I don’t know Logan.” Wolverine shook his head “Jubilee you’re supposed to be my teaching assistant, you’ve been on actual missions with the X-Men, you should know how to adapt to a situation like this, you could have provided a distraction while your other teammates assaulted Predator X, instead Cannonball had to save you and Magma, good job Sam just don’t let your guard down again. Wolfsbane.” He said to the girl that had assumed a wolf form “Rahne, you and Terry, had the best approach, you worked together, you provided a distraction by getting to the one point it couldn’t reach, giving Siryn the chance to use her sonic blasts. You are getting better, but you can’t be this unorganized in the field.” “Especially if you face creatures like Predator X.” A cultured voice said, the group turned to see an elderly German man in dark purple robes said as he approached, Wolverine looked upon the man with obvious distaste “Magneto.” Magneto nodded “Wolverine. Class you would do well to listen to what your teacher has to say. Humanity is still not prepared to accept our kind, take Predator X for example. It was a failed experiment by William Stryker, it was supposed to be the ultimate Mutant hunter, but luckily for our kind, it failed, each version of it perished. It serves as an example of why our kind must be careful in how we interact with humans.” Magneto was interrupted by a female voice on the intercom “Logan, Magneto get up here we have a problem.”
Bobby Drake sat in his room looking at a picture of him and Rouge, he smiled at it sadly and put it on a table, someone knocked on his door, he looked up to see a girl standing there “Hey Kitty come on in.” Kitty sat down on the bed beside him “Still no word from her huh?” Bobby shook his head “No, I haven’t heard from her since her powers returned and she left.” Kitty smiled at him comfortingly “Bobby, that was well over a year ago, we all miss her, but it’s time you moved on. She made her choice to leave.” Bobby looked at Kitty as he grabbed a jacket from his closet “I’ve been out with other people, last week I went to dinner with that model from Brazil.” “And then she left for Brazil two days later. I’m not talking about one night stands Bobby; I’m talking about a serious relationship, like I have with Petey.” Bobby was about to say something when the intercom went off “Bobby, Kitty, Kurt and Piotr, please report to the Professor’s office, there has been some trouble.”
Washington DC
A group of politicians stood in front of a large object with a cloth covering it, while they addressed the press “Secretary Buckman, what exactly are you proposing as a response for the Camden attack?” Buckman motioned to an African American man and “I have proposed a bill to Congress to reactivate Project Wide-awake. This was a program developed by Bolivar Trask and Dr. Steven Lang to protect humans from the mutant menace. The culmination of their many years of research is the Sentinel!” He said as the cover was pulled off showing a huge gleaming seventy-five foot robot.
He then motioned to a skinny man with glasses “If the bill is successfully passed, we will work in accordance with David Moreau of the nation of Geonoshia to develop and mass produce the Sentinels on a global scale. Dr. Moreau.” Buckman said as he motioned for Moreau to approach the podium “My home of Geonoshia has one of the largest mutant populations in the world, roughly seventy percent of our population is afflicted with a form of mutation. Mutants are dangerous, because they allow their powers to corrupt them, they need to be guided and controlled that is what these Sentinels will be able to do, help the world control the mutant threat.” One reporter asked a question “you mention guiding them, are you talking about how your nation oppresses and uses its mutant population as a source for slave labor?” Moreau raised his hand to stop her “My nation utilizes our mutant’s abilities as a resource, giving the mutants a chance to help build their nation.”
X-Mansion
Storm flipped off the TV and looked at the others in the room, the people in the room were Bobby Drake(Iceman) Kitty Pride, Piotr Rasputin (Colossus), Logan, Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), Hank McCoy (Beast), Warren Worthington (Angel), Magneto. “So what do we do about this?” The room was silent for a moment until Magneto stood “When Mystique acquired the files you have for the Sentinels from Stryker’s office, they were for the Mark 1 version, this new robot seems to be much more advanced, and larger in size. Dr. McCoy, what do you suggest?” Beast shook his head “I honestly don’t know. I had not heard of this project when I was an ambassador, I might have been able to help if I had not been removed from my position. I suggest we wait and see what Congress decides to do about the Sentinels. They are talking about policing Mutants; this will most likely be in Congress for quite a while.” Warren sat up “I can see if any of my dad’s government contacts can tell us anything” Storm nodded as Magneto shook his head in disgust “Those pitiful fools, they have no idea what they are meddling with. If only I-“ before he could finish a voice with a British accent spoke over the intercom “X-Men we need to meet in the War Room, something…strange has happened.”
The X-Men stood around a holographic projection of Alkali Lake, while a beautiful Japanese woman spoke with a British accent “There is severe Psychic turbulence emulating from that area, that is where the your friend Cyclops died, and you found the Phoenix isn’t it?” The team looked down in sorrow as she said this, Magneto clapped his hands together “So am I allowed going up there as well, or am I still confined to quarters?” Logan growled at Magneto and popped his claws out “The only reason you’re here is cause Chuck said he wanted you to take over in his will, if it wasn’t for that you’d be rotting in a prison somewhere for what you did.” Magneto raised his hand and Wolverine slammed against the wall “Charles Xavier was a great man, far better than any of us, he asked me to come here, and it is out of respect for his wishes that I try to continue his dream, even if I disagree with the methods. I will act according to his wishes, out of respect for him, but I will not be disrespected by the likes of you, do not forget that your skeleton is coated by Adamantium.” Magneto released Wolverine who glared at Magneto as Storm stood up “It’ll be me, Beast, Wolverine, and Psylocke. Iceman, Nightcrawler and Angel you need to go down to the Morlock’s again, we need to convince them to stop looting on the surface, especially while all of this anti-mutant hysteria is going on. Kitty, you and Colossus keep an eye on things while we’re gone.”
Angel, Iceman and Nightcrawler sloshed through the New York sewers trying to reach the Morlocks “I hate these sewers; there’s no room for me to spread my wings.” Angel complained as they ducked under a low pipe, Iceman laughed “You’re just worried about seeing your girlfriend again.” Angel looked at him “Bobby, Callisto kidnapped me and tried to force me to marry her!” “Oh Angel, it’s not that bad.” A female voice said ahead of them, a young girl stepped out of the shadows followed by a pale skinned tall skinny mutant, Iceman smiled and waved “Hi Skids, Caliban, we need to speak with Callisto about some things, do you know where she is?” Skids nodded and waved for them to follow her. They led the X-Men through dark tunnels, until they entered a large cavernous chamber, filled with a horrific and sad collection of mutants living in squalor. Mutants, whose mutations were so hideous, they could not safely live among normal humans. Skids led them to a woman with an eye patch that was talking to a simian like mutant
“Uh, Callisto, the X-Men are here.” Callisto ignored Skids, who then said “Warren is here too.” Callisto smiled coldly and faced the X-Men “Bobby, Kurt, always a pleasure, I was hoping you had brought McCoy with you this time, one of the kids is sick. Hello Warren surprised to see you, back for more?” Bobby tried unsuccessfully to keep from laughing as Warren blushed and fidgeted nervously “Uh, hi Callisto, we aren’t here for a social call, there is trouble on the surface, and we need for your people to quit stealing, it’s getting to dangerous. There is a lot more hate up there right now, so we need you to lay low.” Callisto snorted “My people are starving, what else are they going to do, go to that mansion of yours? No thanks.” Warren sighed and Kurt walked up “please, do tis, if not for us for your people, they vill get hurt if they go ot now.” Iceman spoke up “There was an attack; a whole town was destroyed, now everyone is out for Mutants.” Callisto sighed “Fine, I’ll tell the others to lay low.” Angel smiled “Thank you, and if you need anything just let us know.”
Storm flew the X-Men’s new jet over the Canadian Rockies towards Alkali Lake,
they hovered over the lake and landed on the shore near the abandoned Weapon X facility, they exited the jet and looked at the fog covered landscape “Déjà vu.” Wolverine said as he looked about the area, Psylocke held her hand to her head “I’m getting some weird interference; I think whatever is causing this is in the lake, but I can’t tell. And there is something else here.” Wolverine sniffed the air, popped his claws and pivoted and kneeled just as a large Mutant burst through the fog, Wolverine jammed his claws into the man’s stomach “Sabertooth!” Wolverine snarled as a glowing spear shot through the air, it landed in the ground near Beast, who jumped into the air as it exploded. Three more mutants stepped forth from the fog, two men, one of which seemed to be made of crystal, and one woman, the woman spoke up “I am Arclight, this is Harpoon and Prism, we’re here to kill you, I hope you don’t mind.” She said as she clapped her hands together and a seismic blasts shook the ground in front of her, Beast and Storm dodged the blast, Storm looked at Beast in confusion “Didn’t Phoenix kill her at Alcatraz?” Beast dodged another exploding Harpoon “Apparently not!” Psylocke had snuck around behind Harpoon and jumped through the air and kicked him in the head, Harpoon looked at her and smiled, he pulled out two of his spears and twirled them about in front of himself, he smiled at her sinisterly, Psylocke raised her hands, which began to glow purple and two blade made of psionic energy appeared in her hands. She swung at Harpoon slicing his spears in two.
Storm fired blasts of lightning at Prism; each blast shot off of him and struck other objects. Wolverine and Sabertooth slashed at each other, Wolverine had one of his claws jammed through Sabertooth’s neck, while Sabertooth had both of his hands buried as far as they could go in Wolverine’s chest, one of the lightning blasts that reflected from Prism struck Sabertooth in the chest, sending him flying into the tree line. Wolverine looked at Storm as another lightning blast nearly fried him! “I don’t think that’s working!” He said as he rushed at Prism and sliced his arm off. Prism looked at Wolverine in surprise as Wolverine stabbed his claws through the crystal mutant’s face, Prism shattered to the ground in many pieces. Beast still dodged blasts from Arclight, who was struck from behind by a lightning blast, she stumbled to the ground. Harpoon looked at his companions and hit a button on his wrist; the mutants began to glow and disappeared, including Prism’s remains. The X-Men regrouped Logan looked at the others “What was that?” the others shrugged and Psylocke put her hand to her head “The interference is gone; I’m pulling whatever it is out of the lake now.” Psylocke said as she extended her arm out towards the water, which began to bubble and boil, suddenly a coffin like object rose from the water, it was a dull grayish object about six feet long.
Storm, Beast and Wolverine looked on anxiously as Psylocke used one of her psi-blades to carefully cut open the object, as she cut it the object began to dissolve, revealing red hair and the face of “JEAN!” Storm Beast and Wolverine said in unison, as they looked down at the form of their friend they thought dead. Psylocke guided the object up the ramp into the jet the X-Men followed her and raised the ramp.
Unknown to them a man stood on the edge of the woods with a video camera filming it all “I’m gonna be so rich!”
Storm rushed to the cockpit “We have to get back to the mansion.” While Beast and Psylocke tended to the still unconscious Jean, Wolverine sat in the cockpit with Storm “Storm, how is she, I mean how did. I killed her with my own two hands, how can she be alive?” Storm gazed out at the clods ahead “I have no idea Logan, but somehow she is.” Logan looked ahead for a moment “What about the Phoenix?” Before Storm could reply Psylocke entered the cockpit “I’ve checked Jean over, and she is in perfect shape, she is unharmed, and mentally, well there is no sign of the split personality Professor called Phoenix. That aspect of her seems to be gone.”
All of the X-Men stood around Jean as Psylocke stood over her “Okay, I’m going to try and bring her to, everyone stand back and give her some space.” Psylocke laid her hand on Jean’s temple, and slowly Jean began to open her eyes, she looked around the room in surprise “Where am I? What happened at the lake? ” Jean asked, Storm leaned close to her friend “Jean, you’re at the mansion, it’s been eight years since you saved us at the lake.” Jean’s eyes grew wide with shock, she looked around at the people in the room, she smiled at Logan when she looked at him, then she saw Magneto “What is he doing here?” she said with suspicion, Storm looked at her “He is with us now, a lot has changed Jean.”Jean looked around and asked the question the others had been dreading “Where’s Scott and the Professor?”
Scott stood in his kitchen in Alaska smiling at his wife and baby in the next room, he casually looked at the TV that was showing breaking footage of a recent mutant battle “Yesterday morning a hiker in the Canadian Rockies near Alkali Lake caught this explosive video of Mutant‘s battling each other over an object that seems to have contained a woman. This video has further sparked more anti mutant protest, especially since the fact that former ambassador to the UN; Dr. Henry McCoy was among the participants of the fight. This is an image of the woman; if you have any information regarding her please contact this number.” Scott dropped the glass he was holding as he looked at the image of Jean Grey.
Jean sat in what had been Professor Xavier’s office, with a look of shock on her face “I did all of that, I killed all those people, Professor Xavier, Scott…” Magneto patted her on the arm “You did none of that my dear, it is more my fault than anyone’s. I tried to use that unstable creature to my own ends and it backfired, horribly. I lost everything I had, my followers, my only friend…” Logan kneeled beside her “But it wasn’t you Jean, it was something else.” Jean looked at the others “So what happens now? Where do we go from here?”
Logan found Jean outside later that day, she was in the garden looking at the tombstones for Professor Xavier, Scott and herself.
She turned when she saw him “Logan, you startled me. I can’t believe I did this. It’s weird, seeing your own grave.” She said solemnly, Logan walked up to her and held her hands “Jean, that wasn’t you, it was something else, the Phoenix was evil.” Jean shook her head “No Logan, I found the Professor’s files, that thing was a part of me, deep down inside, I could be that evil, I’m scared Logan.” Logan held her closely and kissed her softly “Jean, don’t worry, I won’t let nothing happen to you this time, I promise.” Jean looked at Scott’s tombstone sadly “Logan, just in case it happens again, how did the X-Men kill me, it, last time?” Logan looked down, at a loss for words “Logan, did you kill me?” She looked at him with tear soaked eyes, after a moment he nodded sadly “Yeah, I had no choice, you-it was going to kill everyone, I had no choice, it had to be me.” He chuckled sarcastically “it had to be me, I’m the best at what I do, and what I do isn’t pretty.” Jean wouldn’t look him in the eyes “Jean, doing that, a part of me died too. I, well you know how I feel about you, I thought I would have your death on my conscience for the rest of my life.” “Which for him may have been a very long time.” Magneto said as he approached, Logan looked at him “What the hell do you want?” Magneto ignored Logan and turned to Jean “My dear, do not blame yourself for what happened, or even Charles’s pet here. If anyone is at fault it’s me, I goaded that poor creature into doing my bidding. It had all of your memories, but none of your emotions and controls, in many ways it was a blank slate, an innocent child, no real world experience of its own. I took advantage of her and it saw my war against humanity, and went a step beyond the horrors that even I would wish on humanity. It followed the example I set. It cost me everything, my followers, my friend.” He said as he put his hand on Xavier’s tombstone.
Scott stood packing in his bedroom as Maddie stood there with the baby in her arms
“Damn it Scott! Why are you leaving now, I’ve given you every chance in the world to go back to the X-Men. And now you’re going just because SHE is back.” Scott zipped up the duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder “Maddie I have to go.” Maddie looked at him with tear stricken eyes “If you leave us tonight, don’t bother coming back.” Scott looked at her “I’m sorry.” He said as he walked out of the room, Maddie sat down with the baby on the bed and cried.
Jean sat on a metal table in the infirmary with Hank, Storm and Psylocke, Beast had finished giving her an examination “Well Jean, physically you are in great shape, I can’t account for your lack of telepathy, I can only assume that the strain of what you did at Alkali Lake burnt out your telepathy and somehow amplified your telekinesis.” “How much?” Jean wondered aloud.
They reached the main hall to see a large group of the students and other X-Men standing around someone, Storm and Beast saw him first “Oh my God” she said while Beast said “My stars and Garters.” Jean pushed past them “Who is it…” She saw him; it was Scott, their eyes locked from across the room “Scott.” She said breathlessly as they rushed towards each other, they grabbed each other in a fierce hug and kissed passionately, forgetting that there was anyone else in the room. Logan stood on the stairs looking down at them, he turned to see Magneto standing beside him “She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd, And I lov'd her that she did pity them.” Logan looked at Magneto with disgust, he then looked back at Jean and Scott, except he noticed a ring on Scott’s finger “Son of a...” Magneto held out a finger and spoke to Logan with a smile “O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on.” Magneto smiled and descended the steps.
In a darkened room, figure with glowing purple eyes walked forward, he was confronted by a deep dark voice “Is the team ready?” The glowing eyed man nodded and held up a playing card, which began to glow, illuminating the area behind him. Revealing eleven people behind him, including the ones the X-Men had fought earlier. The deep voice laughed “Go my Marauders; I want you to exterminate those loathsome creatures. But first I need you to acquire something for me.”
Logan found Scott standing over his own grave that night
“Thought I might find you here, welcome back.” Scott turned towards Logan “I should have come back a long time ago.” Logan walked over to him “But you didn’t because of her.” Scott looked up in alarm; Logan shook his head “I saw your ring earlier, before you took it off. Don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone. What is she like?” Scott pulled out a picture and handed it to Logan “She looks just like.” “I know.” Scott said as he snatched the picture back “Her name is Maddie, Madelyn Pryor, we’ve been married for little over a year, and we have an infant son.” “She know about you coming back for Jean?” Scott put his hand to his head “Yes, she told me if I left to never come back, and I left.” Logan wouldn’t look at Cyclops “What happened, and why did you wait so long to come back?” Logan said as he popped a claw out and began scratching it on Scott’s tombstone “Well, I went up to Alkali and I found the other Jean, we kissed and I blacked out. The next thing I remember I was sitting on a bench at the Anchorage airport, two years later. I sat there in a daze for hours, until late that night, then she walked up, she was a pilot for a small charter company. She talked to me and saw how confused I was, and she took me in. We hit it off instantly, and a few months later we were married, had a kid.” Logan looked at Scott out of the corner of his eye, as he continued to carve into the headstone “Why didn’t you let us know you were alive?” “Because Logan, look what happened. I was unconscious or brainwashed during the whole mess with Stryker and Jean ‘died’. Then when I found out what happened at Alcatraz, I saw that the team I trained did better without my leadership. If they had followed me, the fake Jean would have killed us all.” Logan stood up and retracted his claw “Well Scott, what are you going to do now?” Logan said as he walked away “I don’t know Logan.” He looked at the tombstone to see what Logan had carved, Logan smirked as he heard Scott swear in disgust and blast the tombstone with his optic blast.
A few nights later, deep beneath New York in the dark Morlock tunnels two mutated children played with a ball, it bounced down a dark tunnel, and before the kids could retrieve it the ball bounced back to them, one of the boys picked it up and looked up to see the sinisterly smiling face of Sabertooth, who smiled revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. From behind Sabertooth the man with the glowing eyes and the rest of the Marauders exited the tunnel into the Morlock tunnels.
One woman with green hair smiled evilly “Arclight, Blockbuster, Harpoon, Prism, Riptide, Sabertooth, Scalphunter, Scrambler, Vertigo you know what to do.” She looked at the man with the glowing eyes “Gambit, lead the charge.” Gambit pulled out a telescopic bo staff and grimly ordered the Marauders to attack the gathering crowd of Morlocks. The villains rushed the innocent Morlocks, and were met by screams of fear and pain, Gambit looked away.
Screams echoed down the tunnels and Callisto rushed to her room and grabbed the communicator the X-Men gave her. She looked behind her frantically as the sounds of death and destruction neared, she hit the button they told her about and sent out an emergency distress signal to the X-Men. “Callisto, help!” a voice called from behind her, Callisto turned to see a woman rushing towards her, and behind her were the Marauders. Harpoon threw a spear that turned to pure energy and killed the woman the instant it pierced her heart. Callisto saw that several other Morlocks had appeared behind her “You monsters are going to pay for what you’ve done here!” Callisto threatened, one of the Marauders laughed and raised a gun
“You’re Callisto right? The leaders of these freaks, I’ll save you for later. Vertigo, the rest are yours.” Vertigo smiled and raised her arms “Awesome Scalphunter.” Vertigo said as the Morlocks’ world began to spin, for them it was as if the ground had become fluid, the Morlocks stumbled around and collapsed as they tried to fight back, and then Arclight made things all the worst. She slammed her hands on the ground, causing a massive concussive blast that collapsed a large section of the tunnels and scattered the remaining Morlocks, who crawled away into the tunnels to protect their brethren.
Kitty was stuck on monitor duty; she sat in the War Room with her feet propped up on a console, leaning back in the chair, trying to fight off sleep when the alarm went off. She was so startled that she phased through the chair and landed on the ground beneath it, she jumped to her feet and flipped a switch which showed the battered face of Callisto “X-Men help us, we’re under attack! No, no NO!” the connection died, Kitty hit the alarm switch that activated a siren, alerting all of the X-Men of an emergency. Kitty rushed up to a row of lockers and phased into one and came out of it in her X-Men uniform. Storm rushed into the room “What’s going on?” she said as Wolverine and Colossus entered another door, Kitty pulled up Callisto’s message “It’s the Morlocks, they are under attack!” Storm saw the video and ran to the ready room as Scott stood in the doorway “Who are the Morlocks?” “Mutants my dear boy.” Magneto said as he walked up behind Scott “Mutants driven underground out of fear, forced to live in dark sewers.”
Storm and the rest of the X-Men came out of the ready room and saw Jean and Scott standing near Magneto as Psylocke walked in. Storm looked at them a moment before Angel asked “What about them?” Storm looked at them “If you think you are able, we could use your help…” Scott looked hesitantly at Jean, who nodded. Psylocke smiled “I’ll stay here and monitor the mission with Magneto; we’ll place the student teams on alert as well.”
Storm led the team which consisted of her, Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, Beast, Colossus, Kitty, Iceman, Angel and Nightcrawler. They walked down to a large elevator which led to a large tunnel deep beneath the subbasement “When did this get here?” Scott wondered aloud as they walked into the tunnel Storm looked at him “Things changed while you were gone Scott, we had some problem with the Morlocks and we thought it would be a good idea to have a way to get to them if we had to.” The team walked a short distance until they came to a large metal disk, Storm held her hand to her ear “We’re ready Magneto.” She said, soon the metal rose with them on it and started to move down the dark tunnel, until it began picking up speed. Angel spread his wings “I’ll scout ahead.” He said as he flew down the tunnel into the darkness.
Angel was able to get a good distance ahead of his teammates and he eventually made it to the entrance to the Morlock tunnels, he could hear distant screams echoing in the tunnels, he looked down and saw bodies in the tunnels, many of them had been mauled. He made his way around the bend of a tunnel and saw two mutants, blockbuster and Harpoon; standing over a wounded Morlock, Blockbuster was holding him while Harpoon stabbed him with his harpoons. Angel slammed into Harpoon at an incredible speed, knocking him into a wall. Angel spun around to confront Blockbuster but before he could do anything he was shot in the shoulder by Scalphunter. Scalphunter shook his head and walked back down another tunnel shouting as he went “After you finish with him, watch out, he will have backup.” Harpoon walked over to the bleeding Angel as Blockbuster snapped the Morlock’s neck “Hey Blockbuster, I say we leave his friends with a little warning.”
Sabretooth launched himself through the air and landed with his claws on the throat of a Morlock, ripping it out. He heard a scream and turned to see an older woman and Caliban guarding a group of children. He smiled sinisterly as he approached them, when the woman grabbed his arm and cried “Let’s see if you can handle a touch of the Plague!” Sabretooth’s skin began to change color and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed to the ground. Caliban and the children ran down a tunnel. The woman turned to follow when suddenly she saw a bright light from a side tunnel. She walked down the tunnel as she a large profile in the light, it was too bright for her to see his face, but she heard a deep voice call to her “You are seen as a plague among these insects, pledge yourself to me and you shall become a Pestilence to all the land.” She sunk to her knees as the light engulfed her.
The X-Men made their way through the tunnels; Storm looked at the team “We’ll split up into two teams. Scott you take Jean, Bobby, Hank you track down Warren’s signal. Logan, you Kitty, Kurt and Pete are with me, we are going to look for Callisto. All of you make sure you keep your eyes open for survivors, and trouble.” The team split up and went deeper into the tunnels.
Logan led the way down the tunnels, until he stopped and raised his hand “I smell something, they’re here!” he said as a torrent of shurkins flew through the air and stabbed him in the chest. As Wolverine slumped to the ground Harpoon, Riptide, Blockbuster and Scrambler walked around the corner. Wolverine tried to rise, but was grabbed by Scrambler, who caused his healing factor to disappear, wounds from the shurkins appeared all over him as he slumped to the ground. Storm blew Scrambler into a wall with a bolt of lightning. Harpoon threw an energized projectile at the team; Kitty jumped towards it and phased the projectile into the ground. She then rushed towards harpoon and tried to deliver a spinning kick. Only to have her leg pass through his head he laughed as she tried to attack him, he and the other two remaining Marauders simply walked through her as she cried out “What’s happening, I’m stuck in phase!” Colossus cried out “Kitty!” as Nightcrawler teleported onto the shoulders of Riptide who grabbed him and began to spin with incredible speeds, he then swung a dazed Nightcrawler out. Nightcrawler flew through the air until he slammed into a low arch in the tunnel and dropped to the ground. Colossus roared in a rage and rushed towards the Marauders, he batted Harpoon out of his way as Riptide began spinning faster and started throwing hundreds bone shurkins, all of which embedded into the skin of Colossus. Riptide laughed “Fool, I’m spinning at hurricane speeds, that’s fast enough to put a piece of pine straw through an oak, you have no chance at all!” he said as more shurkins stabbed into Colossus who cried out in pain as was barley two feet away from a fearful looking Riptide. Colossus threw a punch, which snapped Riptides neck. Colossus slumped to the ground, he metal skin in pieces, if he turned back into his human form now, he would die. He heard a scream and saw Blockbuster, who had been held at bay by Storm’s lightning, rush towards him. Blockbuster rammed into him and knocked Colossus through three walls, until he slammed into a wall and an entire section of tunnel fell on top of him. Blockbuster looked behind him as he heard a roar, he saw a bloodied Wolverine, whose uniform was barely hanging on in rags rush towards him claws draw. Blockbuster charged Wolverine at full speed, as they neared each other Wolverine leapt into the air and over Blockbuster, as he did he swung a clawed arm out, decapitating Blockbuster. Wolverine landed hard on the ground as Blockbuster’s body fell. He felt Storm drag him to his feet and looked around “Where did the other two go?” said pointing to where Harpoon and Scrambler had lain, Storm shook her head “We have to get them back to the mansion.” She said pointing to and unconscious Kurt and then to Kitty, who was kneeling near the rubble covering colossus, crying as she tried to move the rubble, but her hands simply phased through the rocks, she couldn’t touch anything as she cried “Don’t worry Petey, I’ll save you.” Wolverine stood there “You get them back to the mansion, I’m going further into the tunnels, maybe I’ll find some survivors.” Storm looked at him “And what if you run into mor of them.” She said pointing to the dead Marauders. Wolverine walked into a tunnel “Then there will be a few less of em.”
Gambit of the Marauders walked through the darkened tunnels, hearing the screams of the dying Morlocks around him, until the green haired woman walked up to him “Hey Cajun, why aren’t you joining in on the fun?” He looked at her and answered in a thick Cajun accent “What fun is dis Malice? Killin a bunch o helpless people?” she laughed at him “They’re weak, pathetic! Anyway look sharp, Harpoon and Scalphunter say the X-Men are down here, they already killed Blockbuster and Riptide.” Gambit nodded as Malice walked away. He walked to a side tunnel and heard a noise from a pipe about two feet wide, he leaned down and lit up a card and looked into it. He saw a young girl with bony growths on her body, he reached in and pulled her out, she began to cry and he looked around quickly before hushing her “It’s alright petite, Gambit isn’t going to hurt you. He inint hurtin no one, not anymore.”
Cyclops and his team rushed through the dark tunnels Bobby iced up a wall behind them “Hey Scott, do you think that nut with the gun is still after us?” “No but we are.” Said a female voice, they turned to see Arclight, Scrambler and Prism behind them, standing in front of a large group of captured Morlocks, which included Callisto, Skids and Caliban. Cyclops shot an energy blast at the Marauders, but Prism jumped in front of it and deflect the beam back at them, the beam hit Beast, slamming him into a wall Jean thrust her hand out and telekinetically slammed Prism into a wall, the blow caused Prism to crack, and shatter, much to Jean’s surprise. Arclight looked at him and sighed “Oh my God, they killed Kenny.” She said in mock surprise as she raised her hands “You bitch.” She cried as she clapped her hands together, slamming the X-Men back from the seismic blast. Iceman tried to created a ice wall, but Scrambler jumped on him, Iceman looked at the Asian mutant in surprise as he lost his ice form and his powers. Bobby looked at him and then punched him in the face, breaking Scrambler’s nose and grip. Iceman looked back to see another blast from Arclight, which slammed him into a wall. Cyclops shot her with a beam, while Jean used her telekinetic abilities to throw her and Scrambler into a side tunnel, while Scott caused a cave in, which blocked them off. He then looked at the Morlocks “Come on, we’ll get you out of here!” he said as he and Beast untied them, Callisto looked at them “Did you see what they did to Warren?” Scott looked at the others and shook his head, Callisto looked down and pointed towards a dark side tunnel. The four X-Men walked down the dark tunnel until they came to a tunnel with a broken, flickering light, and there on the wall opposite of them was the Angel, Warren Worthington. He had been pinned to the wall by having harpoons driven through his wings and into the wall, he was barely breathing as his head lolled to one side as he tried to look at his teammates.
Wolverine moved quietly throughout the tunnel, until he smelled something familiar, his claws quietly slid out as he lunged around the corner to see a very surprised Gambit holding the child. They looked at each other for a moment in surprise, until Gambit spoke first “You have to help us, them Marauders is evr where!” Wolverine looked at him suspiciously “What are you doing here?” Gambit turned and pointed behind him “I heard the commotion and came down here to help, I’m a mutant too.” Wolverine looked around quickly “Come on, let’s get outta here, fast. I don’t like the smell of this place.” He said as they rushed back down a tunnel. As they moved out of sight, Sabretooth dropped down from the shadows above “How interesting…” he muttered as he followed them into the darkness.
Storm and Scott led their teams into the subbasement back at the mansion, all of them were wounded or dirty. They rushed Kurt, and Warren into the med ward on gurneys, while Magneto had to lift Colossus with his powers. The team waited outside the room as Hank looked over the injured, including Kitty. He determined that Magneto could repair Colossus’s metal form allowing him to live “But Peter, you must understand if he does this, it will save your life, but you may be paralyzed.” Colossus nodded and Magneto took him into another room, Hank turned to Kitty “I can’t help you my dear, after this is cleared up, we are going to find a way to get you to Moira MacTaggart on Muir Island, she may be able to help.” Beast called Scott Storm and Jean into the room “Kurt has a concussion, and will be fine, and Bobby has some cracked ribs and a broken leg, but Warren needs a hospital immediately. He is beyond my abilities.” Storm looked to Scott who said “We have no choice, we’ll take him immediately. Storm, you, me and Jean should go as well to keep an eye on him. Hank you get the jet prepped and get Kitty and Peter to Muir Island as soon as Magneto gets his skin fixed. Psylocke and Magneto can keep an eye on things until us or Logan gets back.” Psylocke nodded “Take care of em Scott. We have things on this end.”
Scott, Jean and Storm sat in the lobby at the hospital in civilian clothes as they waited on the doctors in the operating room. In the OR it was not going well, doctors were rushing about trying to heal the injured mutant “How do we treat him?” One doctor asked as he hooked up a respirator, a woman replied “I don’t know, his bones appear to be hollow, and the ones in his wings are like crushed gravel, we can’t fix them, and if we leave them as is, gangrene or another infection will just set in.” Another doctor nodded “We’re going to have to amputate, or else we’ll lose him.” One doctor snorted “Damn Mutie should be thankful for losing these abominations.” He said as a cart with sharp instruments was wheeled in.
Several hours later Psylocke watched as Beast raised the X-Jet from beneath the basketball court and watched as it sped off into the night. She returned to the War Room when he comm. unit crackled to life “Is anyone there, this is Wolverine, I am nearing the mansion with two people over.” Psylocke picked up the mike “Logan, oh thank God.” Logan sighed in relief on the other end “Betsy? It is great to hear your voice. What the hell happened down here darlin?” Psylocke sighed “I don’t know, there was some kind of jamming that blocked me from contacting you. The rest have made it back, many of them have serious injuries. Scott, Jean and Storm have taken Warren to the hospital, and Beast is taking Kitty and Peter to Muir Island for treatment. Kurt has a concussion and Bobby has some cracked ribs and a broke leg. How did you hold up?” Wolverine grunted “Couldn’t find any of em, all I found was a Cajun and a kid. We’re at the basement now, we’ll head up stairs and meet you in the mansion.”
Psylocke and Wolverine took the young girl up to the dormitory, where the other Morlocks were sent, after they settled her into a room they went downstairs to the study the X-Men met at earlier and sat with an obviously uncomfortable Gambit. Wolverine looked at him for a moment “Alright bub, why don’t you tell us who you are?” Gambit stood, straightened his jacket and bowed “My name is Remy, Remy LeBeau, but you kin call me Gambit if you wish.” Gambit looked up at them with a charming smile made all the more so by his dark glowing eyes. Logan looked at him with a raised eyebrow “Okay bright eyes, what were you doing in the sewers?” Gambit sat back in a chair and pulled out a deck of cards which he absentmindedly shuffled with one hand as he spoke “Well, I am an entrepreneur of sorts, I was workin dis job in the area, when I heard tha fightin. I went to investigate and that was how I foun the lil petite upstairs.” Logan shook his head “Okay, ‘Gambit’, one quick question… Is that accent real? Or is it just for comical effect?” Gambit smiled and sent a card spinning through the air into his other hand “And what accent is dat?”
Magneto walked down a dark hallway in the Xavier Institute, he had a troubled look on his face ahd he paused near a metal rail at the top of a staircase. Magneto closed his eyes for a moment and smiled, suddenly a metal post in the stairway shifted towards the elevator to the subbasement.
Wolverine and Psylocke walked through the halls of the mansion as they spoke with Gambit who was speaking to them “So after that about three years of ma life is a blank, I got no idea what happened.” Wolverine nodded “Trust me, I know how you feel, for me it’s about…” He trailed off and sniffed the air. He quickly spun to his right and brought out his claws towards a nearby door as Sabretooth burst through it roaring. Wolverine stabbed him in the chest as Sabretooth drove him through the large second story window and they crashed out onto the lawn in a heap. Wolverine rolled to his feet as Sabretooth leapt from ten feet away and landed with his clawed hands around Wolverine’s throat. Wolverine stabbed Sabretooth in the stomach several times until Sabretooth’s grip broke.
Sabretooth then slashed Wolverine in the face, tearing away chunks of flesh and revealing metal deep beneath. Wolverine then slashed Sabretooth in the face. Sabretooth howled in pain as he backed up and is face healed up, he looked back at Wolverine, who’s own face had healed “We’re going to be here a while.” He said with a laugh as he lunged through the air “Not if I have anything to say about it!” Psylocke shouted as she leapt from the window, he hands glowing a deep purple as her trademark telekinetic katanas were extended from her hands. She brought them down on the large mutant, stabbing him through the back and then telekinetically hurtling him into a wall, pinning him there as Wolverine walked up “Thanks Betsy. Alright bub, talk! Why were you in the tunnels, who ordered you to kill the Morlocks?” Sabretooth laughed “Why not ask that Cajun of yours? He could tell you better than me.” Wolverine held his claws under Sabretooth’s chin “I don’t have time for this, tell us.” Wolverine said as he pulled back and raised his arm in the air, only to not be able to move it, in fact he couldn’t move at all. Suddenly he hovered in the air and was turned towards a surprised Psylocke, who began backing away slowly “Magneto! You bastard!” Wolverine shouted, then a feminine voice spoke up behind him “I’m insulted that you would even compare me to that dried up has been. Magneto is a weak, delusional old man, while Malice is a whole new breed of mutant.” Malice said as she walked into view and flipped her green hair over her shoulder “One minute Vic, I have some business here, then I’ll let you have the school. Alright Braddock, drop the furball and I may let you live.” Psylocke shook her head defiantly “Sorry, but I don’t take orders from body jackers like you. That’s right, I’m psychic I can tell that that’s not your real body, you just found some poor mutant and decided to hitch a ride. I bet you don’t even have a body, do you? You’re nothing just a few random ions.” Malice scowled as she hurtled Wolverine through the air, claws extended towards Psylocke, until suddenly he stopped, and was turned in mid air, toward Malice.
Malice backed up as Wolverine hovered towards her in the air, she raised her arm towards Wolverine as if that would stall his approach, she then looked behind Psylocke and saw Magneto standing there his arm raised towards her “Old?” He said as Wolverine’s claws were retracted and he was sent hurtling into her, knocking her back to the ground as Magneto hovered towards them in the air “Delusional?” he said as Wolverine slammed into her again “Weak? Am I, then why are you the one in the dirt my dear? I certainly hope that a worm like you isn’t the next stage in evolution, if you are then we are truly doomed. Leave this place now, and leave that girl’s body, or else I will be forced to use the pointy end of this.” He said as he forced Wolverine’s claws out of his hands and pointed them towards her. Malice looked up at him with genuine fear “Wait! I can’t, I’m trapped in here, because the body I’m riding is a ferrokinetic! Her magnetic powers forced me to be stuck here, I’m just a victim!” Magneto dropped Wolverine to the ground and raised his hand towards Malice “Of course you are. It appears that you are electromagnetic, I can easily remove you, but I promise, it won’t be pleasant, for you.” Malice cried out “Don’t!” then she began to scream until a blast of energy shot from her face and her host collapsed to the ground.
Wolverine pulled himself to his feet “I think you enjoyed that. Is she okay?” He said as Magneto looked down on the green haired girl “The girl has no trace of Malice let in her, I think. She is just a victim. Now on to Sabretooth. My dear Miss Braddock, can you glean anything from my former associates troubled mind?” Psylocke had her eyes closed as she still held Sabretooth on the wall of the mansion “That’s what I’ve been doing, while you have been playing with Wolverine. All I keep getting is images of an orphanage and a woman with a wedding ring that looks strangely like Jean…and a baby.” Wolverine looked up sharply “Madelyne!” They looked at him puzzled “Scott’s wife. We have to get in touch with him, now!”
Scott, Jean, Storm had left Warren, who was still in surgery, at Wolverine’s urging. They stood in the War Room with Wolverine, Psylocke and Gambit, who stood quietly in a corner. Psylocke keyed in some things on a monitor “Through the images that I was able to pull from Sabretooth’s mind, I was able to determine that whoever sent him after the Morlocks is using this orphanage as a cover.” An image of a small orphanage in a poorer area of New York came up, Scott looked up in surprise “That’s the orphanage that I grew up in!” Psylocke nodded solemnly “I did some digging and discovered that the orphanage was actually a subsidiary of an S-X Industries. A privately funded corporation that has recruited mutants in the past with promises of controlling their powers, they have a research facility on Governors Island. I hate to say it, but they may use the orphanage as a clearing house for potential mutants, so they can discreetly pick the ones they want to test on.”
She then hit another button and pulled up a picture of a redheaded woman that looked nearly identical to Jean
“And this is Madelyne Pryor…” Psylocke said as she cut her eyes towards Jean, who stood giving Scott a cold glare “…Scott’s wife. According to Sabretooth’s memories… she may be captured, which is why Scott and Storm will be taking the jet to Alaska to investigate her and their son’s whereabouts. Hopefully all he will find is a scorned red head, but if not then the situation is getting more complicated.” Scott nodded quietly and walked out of the room after Storm, he glanced at Jean, who turned away from him. After they left Psylocke continued “The only people we have fit for battle is Scott, Jean, Logan, Ororo, Magneto and myself. We can bring in Jubilee since she is on reserve status anyway, Logan do you think she is ready to return to active status?” Logan nodded “She is headstrong and conceited, but she is learning. I’d also like to bring in Sam Guthrie, he is the best out of the new mutants, the rest should be able to stay here and guard the younger students and the Morlocks as well as our unconscious Jane Doe.” Magneto nodded “I agree with Wolverine, for once. The New Mutants have much potential, and Cannonball and Jubilee may be of some benefit to us. But I still worry though… it would take someone or something of great power to control Sabretooth, and to turn him against me as well. It strikes me that this team was extremely well assembled, they were even able to find a mutant that could harm Wolverine.” Jean looked at him curiously “What are you getting at Magneto?” He smiled and turned towards Gambit, who was absentmindedly shuffling cards “I believe my dear, that we need a wild card.” Wolverine looked in surprise “Him? We don’t even know if he can fight.” Gambit kicked back from the chair “Oh I can fight, Gambit fights real well.”
Scott and Storm flew the X-Jet high over the Alaskan wilderness,
Storm sat looking over her console as they flew in silence, until she spoke up “So what’s she like?” Scott was silent for a moment “Jean.” He said quietly, Storm sighed “Scott, we’ve barely said three words since you came back. I know things have been difficult for you. But if you want to talk about what happened… I can help. We’ve known each other for years I’m here for you Scott.” Scott was about to reply when they made their way over a ridge to see a crater in the center of the valley where Scott’s house once stood. They sat down and searched the rubble and charred remains of the house “There’s no sign of them… anywhere!” Scott said half relieved. He then turned over a pile of wood and saw a baby rattle, he picked it up and hugged it to his chest as he sank to his knees and began sobbing softly. Storm walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder “We’ll find them Scott, we will. We know where to look next.”
The X-Jet flew through the night sky towards Governor’s Island, it was packed with the team which consisted of Cyclops, Storm, Jean, Wolverine, Psylocke, Magneto, Gambit, Jubilee, and Cannonball. The latter two looked out the windows in awe at the city as it passed below them in the dark. Cannonball looked around at the others “So what are our targets again?” Storm looked back at him “Our primary target is the S-X facility, and our secondary is the Our Lady of Faith orphanage.” Cannonball looked doubtful “So we’re probably attackin an orphanage?” Wolverine sighed “Yep.” Cannonball sat back and exchanged a confused glance with Jubilee, who shrugged in her yellow jacket “Okay.” He said.
In a darkened room the remaining Marauders stood in the edges of the shadows facing the man with the glowing red eyes “The X-Men are near… and if I guess correctly Gambit is with them as well, just as I planned.” Scalphunter approached him “Do you want us to take care of them sir?” the glowing eyed man with the deep voiced laughed lightly, not a pleasant sound “No Scalphunter. I think it is time for me to implement operation Inferno. I want you to send the others the others to clear out the orphanage, I want them transported to another facility immediately, afterwards I want them to initiate a clean sweep. While they take care of that, you and Vertigo will distract the X-Men long enough for me to prepare to receive them.” Scalphunter went to leave but stopped “What of the Summers boy?” the red eyed man smiled in the shadows “He will stay as well, he has great potential and has a large role to play in what will soon transpire. Everything is going exactly as I planned.”
Bolivar Trask sat at his desk smiling at a projected prototype for the Mark III Sentinels, he looked up as a man came into his office “Ah. Dr. Lang, what can I do for you?” Stephen Lang, one of the developers of the Sentinels stood catching his breath “I heard that you had given an okay for a Sentinel to be set into the field. How can you do this? We have no government clearance.” Trask raised his hand “Actually we do. Shortly before his death my predecessor William Stryker gained government approval to attack a mutant terrorist training camp. Well we found out that after he disappeared the muties moved back. So we are only being prudent in safeguarding the nations interest by rooting out terrorists here at home.”
The team activated the stealth mode on the jet and slowly came to a stop in the courtyard of the facility on the island. The team quickly disembarked and quietly moved across the courtyard. Suddenly Wolverine’s head snapped back and he collapsed to the ground as a rifle shot reverberated through the air. Scalphunter smiled as he moved his sniper rifle away from his sniper post atop a tower at the facility. Then doors all along the building opened up and dozens of armed guards rushed out to great them. Cyclops shot a beam out knocking several back, he then ordered his team into action “Storm, Jubilee, create a distraction and split them up!” Storm’s eyes went whit and she raised her arms in the air as a heavy fog rolled in, Jubilee then raised her hands and pointed them at the guards and showers of blindingly bright sparks shot out at the guards “Move!” Cyclops ordered as the X-Men rushed into the fog. Magneto meanwhile had pulled Wolverine to his feet as e shook his head to clear it “Why do I always get shot in the head?” Magneto shook his head “Oh stop complaining, it’s not like a bullet can give you brain damage, even an adamantium bullet would just bounce off.” Wolverine snarled at Magneto as he popped out his claws and rushed after the others into the fog. Wolverine yelled as he jumped through the air and stabbed his claws through the backs of two guards that were lining up a shot on Jean, she then spun around and telekinetically slammed a guard behind Wolverine into a wall. Cyclops was surrounded by about seven guards, all of which began to open fire, he rushed to the one right in front of him he dropped to the ground and leg swept the man sending him to the ground. He then rolled to the right and leapt to his feet as a maelstrom of bullets. He grabbed a guard and used him as a human shield while he aimed his visor and blasted the rest of the guards. Gambit meanwhile flipped through the air and threw a half dozen glowing cards which slammed into the guards and exploded. As he landed amongst some other guards he pulled out a telescoping staff which extended in his hand and slammed the staff into the heads of two guards. He then dropped to the ground as two guards opened fire on him. He used the staff to take their feet out from under them. Scalphunter lined up a shot on Storm as she took out several guards with a burst of lightning, before he fired he heard a loud humming sound. He turned to be blinded by a flash from Jubilee as Cannonball slammed into him at full speed, sending him flying through the air as he landed in a heap below. Cannonball landed on the building by Jubilee “Guess ole Logan was right about teamwork huh?” Jubilee laughed “Not bad farmboy.”
The last of the guards rallied together and stood against the X-Men defiantly, the X-Men stood ready until Magneto stepped in front of them “Allow me.” He said as he raised his hand, as he did all of the guards rose into the air, slammed into each other and were flung into the river.
The X-Men rushed towards the entrance to the building as the smoke cleared from the courtyard. They were confronted at the entrance by Vertigo, as she raised her hands Gambit yelled “Everyone git don!” he cried as the world turned to liquid and the X-Men collapsed to the ground, Gambit tried to charge a card, but it exploded slightly at his feet as he fell to the ground. Jean looked up through tear stained eyes as she tried not to throw up, she closed her eyes and held her hand to her head. Suddenly a wave of telekinetic energy shot forth from her, taking out everything in front of her, including Vertigo and several hundred feet of wall. Cyclops rushed to his feet as Magneto stabilized the wall “Come on people, let’s get in there, Magneto can’t hold it forever!” the X-Men rushed through the hole in the wall, after the last X-Men were in Magneto let the rubble drop behind them, sealing off the exit.
The red eyed man laughed eerily as he watched the X-Men wind through the corridors of his facility. He looked over at the silhouette of a woman “Looks like we’re going to have some company. Are you ready?” the silhouette nodded “Good, things are going perfectly.”
Outside the building a form of what seemed to be pure energy appeared and a looked down on the remnants of the battle below “The Chosen is in peril, his time has come. I must be ready to act, to protect him from the evil of En Sabah Nur.”
Siryn sat on the roof of the Xavier Institute looking at the moon in the sky, she turned as she heard a sound behind her, she saw that it was a friend “Ah ello, Jim, come and sit with me for a spell.” James Proudstar, the young Native American mutant known as Warpath sat beside his friend “Nice night Terry. Peaceful, we need more of those around here.” He said as a rocket exploded on the ground below them. They look up to see the fearsome form of a Sentinel soaring through the air towards them. James grabbed Terry and jumped to the other side of the roof as the metal behemoth crashed through the roof, collapsing a section of the school “Thank tha Lord it wasn’t the dorms!” Warpath sat her down and shook his head “I said we should move, I said it was a bad idea staying here.” He said as he began running towards the robot and pulled out two deadly looking knives. “We should have left after the Stryker incident, but does anyone listen to the Indian? NO!” he said as he jumped through the air and landed on the Sentinel’s head with a tremendous impact, knocking the robot back a few spaces.
As he did Wolfsbane, Magma and a Hispanic boy joined him and Siryn. Terry screamed a sonic screech at the Sentinel, she then told the others “Come of it now! As Wolverine told us!” she cried as she hit the robot with more sonic blasts, actually warping the metal slightly as Warpath continued to pound on the face of the robot. Magma began heating the leg of the Sentinel but had to dodge quickly as it shot an explosive shell at her. Wolfsbane dodged a blast in her dog form, she then stopped by the Hispanic kid and reverted back to human “Rictor I’m useless here, you need to aim for the legs, I’ll try and draw it’s fire.” She said as she leapt into the air and turned into a dog again and ran towards the robot. Rictor pounded his hands on the ground, creating a massive shock wave which caused the Sentinel to fall into the school, demolishing another section as students and Morlocks ran screaming from the building, including Iceman. Iceman began freezing the robots frame, making the metal more brittle “Magma! Heat it as I freeze it!” Magma began heating the Sentinel as Iceman froze it behind her eventually the robot’s armor began locking up and cracking. It reached up and grabbed Warpath from it’s face and threw him across the yard and through several trees, Iceman looked from him to the stress cracks on the Sentinel “Siryn, Rictor! Aim for the chest.” The both concentrated their blasts on the chest plate section of the Sentinel, which began to crack more, as it did Iceman filled the cracks with ice, expanding them until eventually it split. The Sentinel’s chest broke away from it and it began sparking and shuddering “Everyone run!” Iceman shouted as he hobbled away. The Sentinel exploded in a huge ball of energy, spraying shrapnel through the air and catching part of the mansion on fire, which Iceman put out. Siryn walked up to him “Ya know Bobby, you’re a much better teacher tha Logan. But don’t tell him ah said that.”
The X-Men wound down a long series of corridors until they came to a large cavernous laboratory filled with equipment and large vats and clear cylinders big enough to hold Colossus in his metal form. In the center of it all was a man on a chair his face hidden in shadows “Hello X-Men I have been waiting for you for some time. And Scott I’ve been waiting for you to return home your entire life, welcome home. We’re so glad to see you.” The man said as he stood from the shadows revealing bone white skin, glowing red eyes, sharp teeth, a red diamond like object on his forehead, and he was wearing a strange body armor.
Scott had a sudden flashback to the creature from his nightmares, he absentmindedly felt his visor “Yes Scott that was me, I was the doctor at the orphanage when you were a child, I gave you the ruby quartz which allowed you to control you powers, I raised you and watched over you your entire life. I saved you from that rouge clone of Jean Grey. I have invested much in you Scott. Much.” Jean stepped forward “Clone? Of me?” the man nodded and laughed lightly “Yes how else do you explain it? You see my dear Miss Grey I have studied yours and Scott’s families for generations, waiting like a farmer patiently nurturing his crops. I wanted to combine you DNA to produce the perfect being. It wasn’t easy but I was able maneuver it to where you both ended up together at that fool Xavier’s school. And I let nature take its course.” He looked at each of the X-Men as if he was analyzing specimens under a microscope “But unfortunately a byproduct of a previous experiment got in the way, William Stryker, had to meddle with things.”
Wolverine looked up sharply “What do you have to do with Stryker?” The man laughed “I made him what he became. I was a top scientist for his pathetic Weapon X program. It was a good cover for me to conduct my experiments. You were just an afterschool project as far as I’m concerned.” Storm put a hand on Wolverine’s shoulder and asked “Who are you?” the man laughed again in his eerie laugh that made Jubilee visually shudder “I have been called many things over the years. But the one name that I find most suits me is sinister in nature, Mister Sinister.”
Scott shot a warning shot at Sinister “What has this got to do with my wife and son?” Sinister’s eyes narrowed “I’m getting there boy, be patient. Long before Jean’s apparent death at Alkali Lake, I had made several attempts to clone her, all failed. It seems that her psychic powers are so strong that they inadvertently wiped the mind of anything with brainwave identical to hers. But after she telekinetically sealed herself beneath the lake, a part of her consciousness, calling itself the Phoenix was transferred to the mind of one of my clones, awakening it. I kept it sedated for months, but eventually it broke free and called you Scott to Alkali Lake. I was able to stop that creature from killing you, and I smuggled you away to my lab. I think you know what happened next. I knew that clone was unstable, so I prepared what I call Project Inferno. A clone of Jean Grey that was slightly altered to obey my will. I altered its brain so what I came to call the Phoenix Force would not degrade it’s sanity. I released yourself and the clone, which came to be called Madelyn Pryor into Alaska where I knew you would wed and have a son. I kept you from contacting your teammates by implanting a hypnotic suggestion in your mind, but it was broken when you saw Jean Grey. I admit I didn’t expect that.”
Scott had had enough “Enough talk! Where is Maddie and Christopher?” Sinister hit a button on his arm “Little Nathan Christopher Summers is fine. And as for your wife, she is right here.” A corner of the room was illuminated revealing Madelyn, except she was different, she was clad in a skintight leather leotard with thigh high black boots “Scott honey, we need to talk.” She said as Scott flew through the air and slammed into a bank of equipment. Sinister laughed “Did I forget to mention that she also inherited much of Jean’s powers?” he said as he walked out of the room, leaving the X-Men to face Madelyn.
Madelyn swept her arms down and a telekinetic blast slammed the X-Men into the corners of the room and pinned them there, all except for Jean that is. Madelyn walked towards Jean menacingly “whore! Couldn’t leave me and my family alone could you? COULD YOU!” She said as she telekinetically slammed Jean, who was able to counter it with her own powers “Madelyn, I’m sorry I didn’t know! Blame me if you want but don’t hurt Scott and don’t let that monster have your son!” Madelyn snarled “I can’t even look at him anymore, now that I know I was just Sinister’s brood mare, nothing more!” She said as she used she telekinesis to increase her speed as she tackled Jean to the ground {Jean. It’s me, Psylocke. I can open a link with her mind. If what Sinister said is correct I believe you can reabsorb the Phoenix part of yourself, stopping her.} Jean thought back to her {I don’t want it, all the damage it’s done!} Psylocke’s tone softened {You have no choice Jean, she will kill us all.} Madelyn was using her powers to create a miniature tornado in the room, causing tons of equipment to fly through the air. Across from Jean a form quietly crawled across the floor towards the door Sinister had left through.
Gambit snuck down a corridor trying to find Sinister, he turned a corner to see Sinister standing there, waiting for him “How is the battle going Gambit? Well I hope. I gave her specific instructions to make sure you weren’t harmed. I have another mission for you Gambit. I want you to stay with the X-Men there is trouble on the horizon, and I want someone on their side in case I need information.” Gambit looked down “This is it, after this ahs owe you nuthin! You helped Gambit, years ago, but that was then this is now. I will stay with them, but I won’t betray them.” Sinister shook his head “Gambit, who said anything about betraying them? Now go and help them before they become suspicious.” Sinister watched as Gambit left, he then continued down into his lab, he opened the door to see a large shadow surrounded by light over baby Christopher’s crib “No what have you done! You’ll ruin everything!” the shadow laughed and spoke with a deep voice “I have tolerated you games long enough Sinister, they were amusing at first, but they grow tiresome. This is to remind you that you still and always will serve no one but APOCALYPSE!” the shadow said as Sinister walked into the light and they both disappeared in a flash.
Meanwhile Gambit had returned to find that the X-Men had broken free of Madelyn’s power and were engaged in a heated battle. Storm was trying to counter act the psychic tornado with a real one with limited success. Magneto was diverting all of the machinery form the X-Men as it flew through the air. Wolverine was trying to get close enough for a kill shot, but Madelyn slammed him through the roof. Jubilee blinded her for a second, causing her to lose her concentration, as she did Cyclops crawled to his feet from beneath a pile of rubble “Honey, I’m home!” he said as he blasted her with an optic beam, slamming her into the wall, she created a telekinetic cocoon around herself , diverting the blast. Psylocke looked to Jean “I have the link, do it now while she’s distracted!” Jean closed her eyes and her and Madelyn’s eyes became one Jean gasped as her mind became flooded with memories, fear and dreams that weren’t her own, and yet were. She felt the original Phoenix clone’s pain as she was killed by Wolverine at Alcatraz. She saw Madelyn kiss Scott, the joy of the honeymoon, the pain and wonders of child birth, the unconditional love of a child, a feeling of completeness. And then the cold soul shattering feeling of having it all taken away. And then it was all over. Jean was herself, both she and Madelyn collapsed to the ground. Scott rushed to her side “Jean! Are you okay are you, you?” Jean looked up to see Storm checking Madelyn’s pulse “Dead. Strange, she almost looks peaceful.” Storm said as she looked down at Madelyn’s body. Jean looked at Scott “No Scott, I’m not myself, I’m all of us, me Madelyn, Phoenix. All of me.”
Scott and the X-Men made their way through the corridors until they came to the room with baby Christopher. Scott and Jean looked over the side of the crib and Jean Gasped “Scott! What have they done to our, I mean your baby?” the child was covered with metallic growths that were coming from his skin itself “A Techno Organic Virus. There is no cure at least not in this era.” Said a feminine voice behind them, they turned to see what appeared to be a being of pure energy walk towards the baby and lift him from his crib. Scott raised his hands “What are you doing to my son?!?!?” he demanded. The energy woman looked at him “I am the Askani, mother of a people two thousand years from now, I was sent back in time to protect the Chosen One, the Askani'son, your son. He has been infected by a foe that you will come to know all too well soon. I can save him, by taking him to my time, but only with your permission.” Scott looked down at his son, Jean put her hand on his shoulder “Scott, we can trust her, I can’t explain it, but it’s like we know her already.” Askani nodded “You may come to, such is one of many possible futures.” Scott looked at her hard “You say you can save him? Please do so, it’s not like we have any choice.” She held Christopher closely “What we do today was foretold, but not in this manner, even I cannot predict the outcome of my actions today. We Askani believe that no matter what happens in a situation, you must accept what you face. What is, is. Remember this and I promise that you will see your son again. Farewell Scott Summers.” Askani said as she and Christopher disappeared in a flash of light. Jean wrapped her arms around him “Don’t worry Scott, it will be alright.” He stood up straighter “I know it will be, somehow I can feel it.”
The X-Jet flew towards the X-Mansion, as they did they saw smoke and eventually the wreckage from the battle. They landed in the hanger and made their way upstairs where they saw a bandaged Bobby with a cast on his leg supervising clean up and repairs, he filled them in on what happened. Scott looked down as he heard Bobby ask the inevitable question “So what do we do now?” Scott looked up “Rebuild. It’s what we’ll always do. We can’t let them win, next time we’ll be ready, they know that now. You did good, all of you.”
Scott sat with Jean under a tree watching as the others repaired the mansion, Jean looked at him “How are you holding up?” “Okay I guess all things considered. I’m worried about him. I hope I did the right thing.” Jean kissed him softly “You did.” They sat there for a moment until they saw Storm waving for them, they rushed towards her, when they reached her Scott asked “What happened, is there word on Warren?” Storm shook her head “No he is still recovering from surgery. It’s Beast he has news.”
All of the X-Men and the New Mutants were gathered in the War Room looking at Beast’s image in the monitor, Wolverine looked at him “You want to repeat that furball?” Beast nodded “Charles is alive! He was here on Muir Island. Moria Mactaggart said he left here two years ago to return to us, and that was the last she heard from him.” Scott sat stunned “Well if he’s missing, we’ll have to find him. He would do the same for any of us. We owe it to him. After all we are, all of us, X-Men.”
In a dark room in an unknown location Professor sat strapped to a chair with a helmet like device strapped to his head. He looked up as a door opened and blinding light flooded the room he squinted up into the face of Mister Sinister.
[The savior was saved from the hands of the immortal, but he was not unscathed. A long and treacherous road lies ahead, and the future is always in motion. We must learn to accept what we are faced with. What is, is.”]
Post credits:
Askani walked through a dark room in her normal form, which was of an aging woman with red hair that had light streaks of grey running through it, she also had an M tattooed over her eye, holding baby Christopher in her arms “Hush little brother, you are safe here, in one of the most dangerous places in all of time, here in the Age of Apocalypse.” she said looking out a window which showed a twenty story tall statue of a large mutant, known as Apocalypse, surrounded by advance technology in states of disrepair.
Well that is it. I hope you liked it. Let me know what you think. I did not do a casting vid for this one if you want to see who I would pick check out my 330 X-Men character casting.
HAWK out