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Title: New Mutants, Volume XIII: Release The Hounds, 2/2
Author: KanedaX
Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Spoilers: X3, New Mutants volumes I-XII (see above)
Rating: R for language, suggested nudity, and graphic violence
Pairings: Theresa/Remy
Summary: Magneto hatches his plan, and the Xavier Academy will never be the same
Notes: This is the most important chapter in the story so far. It is also the longest, and has the most stuff happening, hence the division into parts. It's the literary equivalent of the Big Budget Action Sequence: easy to imagine, incredible to imagine, difficult to write coherently. Like I stated in previous chapters, I don't pull punches, but this is an AU, so I hope I don't get too many "how could you kill so-and-so" posts. In brief, they ain't mine, I just like to poke them with sharp things that go snikt.
Previous Chapter (Release The Hounds, 1/2) / Next Chapter (Aftermath)
“This is looking bad,” Remy said from the window. He had watched helplessly as a tunnel of fire spun across the yard, followed soon after by a crash that shook the mansion.
“We have to get him out of here,” Theresa said from next to him, turning back to the far wall, where Alison had wrapped blankets around Bobby Drake’s midsection. Unconscious, his ice armor was melting, leaving a pool of blood and water across the floor.
“If I can get down,” Remy said, “I should be able to get back inside, try to open the door from the other side.”
“Are you nuts?” Alison yelled. “There’s a fucking army out there!”
Remy walked away from the window, looking around the bedroom.
“Don’t have much of a choice, cher,” he replied, spotting what he was looking for.
“I can do it,” he said, knocking over the metal coathanger and untwisting the top and bottom. “But I need your help.”
“What do you need?” Theresa asked as Remy hefted the metal pole, and then walked to Alison’s nightstand.
“A little special effects,” he muttered, grabbing Alison’s pair of designer sunglasses.
Theresa opened her mouth, and then closed it, nodding in understanding. She looked to Alison, who nodded back.
“You girls ready?” he said, walking back to the window and running the pole along the edges, clearing out the broken glass.
“Not yet,” Theresa said, spinning him around and kissing him. She pulled back and looked at him, her face glowing red.
“Thank you for the date,” she said quietly.
Remy smiled. “Next time we’ll go to a movie, or something.” He reached around her and kissed her again.
“Good luck,” she breathed as he released her.
“Now are you ready?” Alison said, with a hint of agitation in her voice.
Remy turned to the window and looked down.
“Hey, bon rien!” he screamed, and many of the Madri turned to look up at the sound. As they turned, Theresa Cassidy pierced the night with a sonic scream. The windows shattered all along the outside of the house. Seconds later, Alison Blaire threw out her arms, converting the sonic energy into blazing light. The Madri recoiled back, blinded as the darkening night became as bright as noon.
It was in this combination of screeching sound and pure bright light that Remy LeBeau vaulted from the window, landing comfortably on the ground one story down. A few of the Madri, who hadn’t been looking up when the glare hit, charged LeBeau, who swung his makeshift metal staff around his head, connecting with each copy as they came. As he struck each of them, they disappeared, only to be replaced by more.
Slowly, he worked his way over to Logan, who had been able to fight his way to a standing position after Theresa and Alison had attacked.
“What are you doing here?” Logan yelled as he swung his hands out, slashing two Madri with his claws.
“Bobby’s upstairs,” Remy replied. “He’s in the girl’s bedroom with Alison and Theresa. He’s beat up pretty bad, and the door’s locked.”
“So let me ask again,” Logan grunted, “What are you doing here?”
“Saving you,” Remy replied, clubbing two more aside with his staff.
“I don’t need saving,” Logan growled. “Get back in there. John went in with the big guy, but there’s only two of them compared to two hundred out here.”
Remy nodded, and looked to the hole that the behemoth had created. A few Madri stood between him and the hole, but not many. Absently, he reached into his coat pocket, hoping to grab another chess piece. Instead, his hand went into the wrong pocket, and it wrapped around a boxy object.
Remy smiled as he pulled his hand out, holding five playing cards that he had taken from the deck in his pocket. He swung at two more Madri, and then looked at the cards as they fanned out in his fingers.
“Full house,” he muttered as the cards began glowing purple.
He looked up, at the mansion past the Madri.
“It sure is,” he said. He tossed his hand out, throwing the cards in a whistling line across the lawn. The clones flew backwards, disappearing as the cards exploded against their chests.
“Go!” Logan yelled, and Remy sprinted across the area that he had cleared. He jumped through the hole, and was about to turn down the hall when he saw Jimmy crouched on the other side of the second hole. Stepping through, he looked down to see him crouched over Lucas.
“Jimmy, get away,” he said.
Jimmy looked up, fear crossing his face. It cleared as he recognized Remy.
“He’s hurt,” Jimmy sobbed, looking down at Lucas’ mangled body.
“I noticed,” Remy replied, crouching down next to them.
“We have to get him help…”
“I know,” Remy said. “Step away.”
“But…”
“Jimmy, please,” Remy said forcefully. “If you want to help him, step away.”
Crying, Jimmy crawled backwards along the rubble. When he had gone back about five feet, Remy turned back to Lucas.
“How do you feel?” he said quietly.
“Hurts…”
“He hit you pretty hard…”
Bishop weakly nodded.
“Remember what we talked about a few nights ago? About what Mr. Logan was teaching you three?”
Lucas nodded again.
“Do it,” Remy said. “Clear your mind, focus your energy, all that stuff. Focus on where it hurts.”
Lucas reluctantly closed his eyes. Seconds passed, and Remy looked nervously back at Jimmy.
But when he turned back, things had changed. The cut on Lucas’ forehead had disappeared. The flow of blood from his nose had stopped. His leg was still twisted, but his breathing, although still gurgly and raspy, had cleared slightly.
He opened his eyes, panting. “It’s not enough,” he mumbled. “I got a lot of energy from the hit, but…”
Remy pulled Bishop’s sleeve up, and grabbed his arm.
“Try this,” he responded, and suddenly Bishop’s arm glowed purple.
“Holy shit,” Lucas replied, shocked. His breathing cleared, and the blood flow stopped completely. He reached down to his leg and, wincing, straightened it again, and within a minute he was able to bend it regularly.
“Not bad,” Remy said, sighing as Jimmy ran over and tackled Lucas in a huge hug. Lucas stared over Jimmy’s shoulder in shock.
“What the hell just happened?”
Remy patted his shoulder, falling back into a sitting position. “You just did what came natural, mon ami.”
Lucas smiled.
“Got any more?”
“Why?” Remy asked, concerned. “Still hurt?”
“No,” Lucas said, looking down the hall. “I just want a little payback.”
“Theresa and Remy were in the girl’s dorm,” Jubilee said hastily as she and Alex ascended the staircase. “I think Alison said she was going to be going up there, too. Brian was taking a nap, and I assume Rogue never left her room.”
Alex nodded, looking around the upstairs hallway.
“Too bad I don’t know where any of those places are,” he said.
Jubilee grabbed his shoulder and pointed. “Girl’s dorm, at the end of the hallway. You go check on them, I’ll get Brian and Rogue moving.”
“I can’t believe someone would be able to sleep through all of this,” Alex thought aloud.
“If it’s something else, then we’ll deal with it,” Jubilee replied. “Get going.”
Alex nodded and ran around the corner.
Jubilee sighed and jogged down the hallway. Rogue’s room first, she thought as she opened the door to reveal a darkened bedroom.
“Rogue!”
“Please don’t call me that,” said a frail voice from the corner.
“Marie,” Jubilee corrected. “We have to go.”
“I can’t…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t go outside,” Marie said, trembling as she looked towards the door.
“Yes you can,” Jubilee replied sternly. “Professor Frost and the others are at the escape route. They’re waiting for us.”
“I didn’t want this,” Marie cried. “I was a normal girl, why am I in a war zone again?”
“Because war zones happen to normal girls, too.” Jubilee responded. “There are people out there that want to hurt us, and they won’t stop just because you ask them to.”
“I don’t want to get hurt…”
“From what I heard from the others,” Jubilee replied softly, “it sounds like you can handle yourself nowadays.”
The two jumped as a rumbling noise came from downstairs, shaking the house.
“Look,” Jubilee said quickly, “I have to go find Brian. Promise me you’ll be ready to go when I get back?”
“Jubilee…”
Jubilee grabbed Marie’s shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Promise me.”
Weakly, Marie nodded her head.
“I have faith in you, girl,” Jubilee said, giving Marie’s gloved hand a quick squeeze before running out the door.
Have faith in me, Marie thought. They all keep saying that. Or acting like it. Why would they have faith in someone like me?
Because you used to be an X-Man, Rogue, another part of her mind responded.
Don’t call me-
Oh, stop it, the voice interjected. They had faith in you to help them, just as you had faith in them. They knew you were strong, and they know you still are strong. So stop huddling in a corner like a baby. Life can be tough, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fight back. You were Rogue, you are Marie D’Ancanto. No one said you can’t be both.
Marie raised her head, staring into the lit hallway. Slowly, she rose to her feet, her legs trembling beneath her. She carefully walked out the door and turned down the hallway, descending the steps.
Emergency exit’s this way, she thought, turning down the hall, where she ran headlong into John Allerdyce.
“Hey, baby,” he chuckled as he shoved her to the ground. Rogue’s eyes bulged in terror, and her body completely locked up.
“Here I thought you were too good for this school,” John sneered. “I ran into your boy Bobby a while back, he said you had skedaddled. Went and got yourself a Cure.”
A small whimper escaped her lips.
“Now why would you want to go and do something like that?” he continued, rolling a small ball of fire along his fingers. “Why would you want to join those pathetic flat-scans, huh? Just so you could get a little touch? Give pretty boy a nice blowjob? When I saw him at Alcatraz, he looked a little touchy-feely with good old Kitty.
“That had to suck, huh? Destroying who you are, making the ultimate sacrifice for a man, becoming a traitor to your people. Then finding out that he really doesn’t give a shit when you’re gone.
“Ah well,” he said, aiming his hand towards her frozen body, “Live like a traitor, die like a traitor.”
Alex twisted the knob, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Fuck!” he yelled loudly, pounding his gloved hand against the door.
“Is there anything outside that we could break the lock with?” Theresa yelled from the other side.
“No,” Alex yelled back, looking up and down the hall. “Nothing.”
“We have to get him out of here,” Theresa yelled. “He’s losing a lot of blood.”
Alex looked helplessly around. No one here. Forge is gone, he’s the only one that knows how to unlock this damn thing.
“Get away from the door,” he said quietly.
“What?”
“Get away from the door,” he repeated, running to the next room over, the boys dorm. He furiously clawed through the drawers and nightstands, until he finally found what he was looking for. He ran back to the girls dorm.
“Are you away?”
“But, Bobby-“
“Pick him up and carry him,” Alex said quickly. Pulling up the sleeves of the shirt he wore over his containment suit, he cut the gloves away with the scissors. “Get as far away from the door as you can get. You might want to get something between you and the door, too.”
“But…”
“Do it!”
Silence spun from the other side of the door. Eventually, Alex heard a dragging noise, like something heavy being pulled across the floor.
“Okay!” Alison yelled distantly.
Focus, Alex ordered. Goddamn it, do what Logan taught you.
He backed away from the door, his back pressing against the far wall. Slowly, he lifted his hands, his palms together, fingers pointed at the door.
Focus your energy, he repeated. Focus focus focus.
He felt his hands warming, but he closed his eyes, not wanting to break his concentration.
Release! his mind yelled, and a white beam of energy flew from his hands. It connected with the door, blowing it in and flinging it across the room, where it slammed into the bed that the girls had set up as a barrier.
Alison carefully peeked over the bed, and down at the smoldering door. “Wow,” she said softly. Alex leaned against the doorjamb, breathing heavily.
“Focusing that stuff can take a lot out of you, I guess,” he wheezed.
Theresa and Alison stood up together, hauling the injured Bobby Drake onto their shoulders. Dragging his feet across the room, Theresa groaned, “We could use a little help.”
Alex, gasping for air, bent over and grabbed Bobby’s legs, which were soaked to the skin.
“If he had been wearing his leather uniform,” Theresa said as the three carried him down the hall, “he probably wouldn’t have been hurt as bad. But he was in his civvies, so…”
“Everyone’s waiting at the back exit,” Alex said. “We’ll have to try to figure out a way to get him to a hospital.”
As they turned the corner, they saw Jubilee sprint out from a door and run into another. From the first door, Brian slowly walked out, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
“Brian?” Theresa said, shocked. “You were sleeping?”
Brian nodded his head slowly. “Jubilee said that Emma had sent out a call, but I didn’t hear anything.”
“But it was huge,” Alex said. “My ears were ringing, even if it was just in my head.”
Brian shrugged, and then looked at Bobby. His face hardened. “Is he okay?”
“He’s pretty bad,” Theresa replied.
“Rogue’s gone,” Jubilee yelled as she came back into the hall. “She must have already left.”
“Good,” Alex said, readjusting his hands on Bobby’s legs. Brian reached out and grabbed one of them. “Let’s get out of here.”
The group walked down the hall, Jubilee running ahead, with the others slightly behind.
“How are we going to get him down the stairs?” Alison asked.
Alex paused. “I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll wrestle him down somewhere.”
As the group carrying Bobby reached the top of the stairs, Jubilee was already halfway down them. There was a red glow near the bottom. Jubilee looked over the railing and screamed. “Rogue!”
Rogue was laying on the ground, her arms covering her face. John Allerdyce stood above her, trying to blow a constant stream of fire down onto her. Somehow, she was fighting it, as there appeared to be an invisible barrier between her and the flame.
“Rogue!” Jubilee repeated, throwing sparks of energy at John. He simply stepped back, the tiny fireworks missing by a feet.
“Hey, Jubilee,” he cackled. He spun around, redirecting the flame from Rogue to Jubilee, who screamed in agony as she was instantly engulfed.
Brian watched in mute horror as the charred body of Jubilation Lee crumpled, rolling down the stairs, lifeless. He barely registered the sound of Theresa Cassidy screaming behind him, or the look of shock on Rogue’s face at the bottom of the stairs.
He watched as, like in slow motion, Pryo swung the arc of flame back towards Rogue, who was too transfixed on the body of Jubilee to put up a defense. Flames encircled her, and Brian could see her clothing ignite with the heat.
Horror, a voice he only recognized from his nightmares whispered to him. Death, pain. I want more.
He watched with two pairs of eyes as Rogue, still encased, stood and faced Pyro. The boy pulled back, his maniacal grin fading from his face.
Rogue raised her hand, which, like the rest of her now naked body, was encased in a gleaming steel skin, glowing red like a steel kiln.
It moved slowly up the stairs, pointing at Alex. The scissors, which he had put in the pocket of his jeans, flew out with a mind of their own, and pierced John Allerdyce through the heart. His eyes slowly moved down to his chest, registering what had just happened, before falling to the ground dead.
Yes, the alien voice responded. More, I want to see more.
The rational part of Brian’s mind, still reeling from what had transpired, willingly bowed to this intruder, who had never been vocal since appearing in his mind when he awoke from his coma. He dropped Bobby Drake’s leg, and slowly walked down the stairs, barely noticing Rogue as she fell to the ground in a dead faint, the steel skin being replaced by pale flesh as she lost consciousness.
Alex looked back at Alison in shock and confusion. Suddenly they were the only two holding Bobby Drake, as Theresa had fallen to her hands and knees, screaming incoherently at the sight of her now-dead best friend.
“Brian!” he yelled. “Where are you going?”
“Outside,” Brian said calmly. Alex took an involuntary step back. Brian’s voice sounded different. It was as though it was his voice, with two others layered on top of it in some ghostly harmony.
“But we have to get Bobby and Rogue out of here!” Alison yelled.
“Outside,” Brian repeated, and turned to face the two. Alison gasped at Brian’s eyes, which now appeared to be glowing red, like there was a fire burning inside his head. The two dropped Bobby to the ground as they were thrown down twenty feet down the upstairs hallway by some invisible force.
Brian, now no longer quite Brian, turned and continued to walk down the stairs, stepping over the three bodies as he went, and turned down the hall, towards the front entrance.
“Ah, here we are,” Magneto said as he, Blink, and the Madrox copy stood in front of a pair of doors. One was marked 985398: QUICKSILVER, the other 985399: POLARIS.
“Who are they?” Clarice asked nervously.
“They are my children,” Erik responded. “Could you please let them out?”
Clarice hesitated, and Magneto continued. “These are the last two, I promise,” he said. “I was tempted to release Mr. Creed back there, but he had failed me enough in the past where I decided he wasn’t worth your trouble.”
Clarice looked back down the hall, barely seeing 239873: SABRETOOTH on one of the doors. The howls coming from that door, especially after the three passed by, had been almost more than she could handle.
“Please,” Magneto asked. “I would like to see my children.”
Clarice turned back to the doors, and raised her hand. A portal appeared, a simple one that started on one side of the door and ended on the other. A white-haired young man, dressed in prison greys, looked up at the three.
“Father?” he whispered.
“Yes, my dear Pietro,” Erik responded. “I am here to release you.”
Pietro Maximoff stood and slowly walked through the portal, his feet dragging beneath him.
“The Cure,” he muttered in Romani. “They forced it on us.”
“What?” Erik said, his mouth tightening.
“They used it on us,” he repeated as Blink closed the portal and re-opened it in front of the other door. “Deemed us too great of a threat.”
“You’re… human?” Magneto said tonelessly.
“Yes, father,” Pietro said, lowering his head. “I am sorry.”
Magneto turned away, his brow furrowed in thought, as Lorna Maximoff walked from her cell.
“It…” Magneto said, his voice unsure. “It is of no consequence. The Cure has been proven to be a false weapon for the human race. We will make sure that you two are returned to your former glory.”
“Thank you, father,” Lorna said, her voice cracking with emotion.
“Let us leave,” Magneto said, turning to Clarice. “Take us to our base, where my children may rest. Then we shall join our Brotherhood and finish the battle.”
Emma frost fell to her knees, her hands flying to her head. The visions had returned. The flames, the dead bodies, the shadowy figure flying overhead, encased in fire.
Why now? she thought madly. For God’s sake, why now?
Because it’s coming, her mind responded.
“Professor Frost?” Artie Maddicks said quietly, bending down next to her. “Are you okay?”
She looked up at the young boy. Don’t break down now, she thought. They need you.
“Yes,” she said, her voice hinting at a shiver, “I’m fine.” She leaned back against the wall, the emergency exit opened just feet from her. “I just need to sit for a minute.”
“Your nose is bleeding,” Artie responded. Emma reached to her upper lip, and found her fingers coated with just a touch of red.
Artie gasped, and he, Arthur, and Jones turned to face down the hall.
“Who are you?” Jones asked.
“Who are you talking to?” Emma asked nervously, seeing only an empty hallway.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Arthur said confidently to nobody, “except down.”
Emma heard a gust of air, and Arthur Centino backflipped, as if dodging something. He landed on his hands, and thrust both legs upwards, where they seemed to connect with an invisible body.
“You can see something?” Emma gasped. Jones turned to face her, a look of confusion crossing his eyes.
“Don’t you see the big guy with the helmet?” He asked as Artie threw his hand out. A dozen birds suddenly appeared, spinning around in a tight circle around the unseen foe.
Arthur’s eye flashed, and he jumped up, vaulting himself off of thin air.
But then his luck seemed to run out. He stopped in mid-air, hanging by his shirt, and then was thrown down the hallway, where he skidded to a stop in front of three other boys.
“Step back, Jimmy,” Lucas Bishop said, “I want my powers now.”
“Bloody hell,” Juggernaut yelled as turned to face the trio. “How many of you are there, anyway?”
“Enough,” Remy LeBeau responded quietly.
“Step back, Jimmy,” Lucas repeated. “I want to take this guy out.”
Cain laughed loudly at Bishop’s short body, covered in bloody clothing. “Alright, little man,” he responded, stepping forward. “Show me what you got.”
Lucas shrugged. “Alright,” he said, and threw his right fist out. The air around it seemed to ripple, and Cain Marko recoiled in shock as his helmet was blasted from his head, flying backwards down the hall.
“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that, you little runt,” he boomed and ran towards the three.
“Need backup?” Remy asked.
Lucas shook his head.
“Need more juice?”
Lucas shook again. “I think I have enough,” he said, grinning. “Besides, I think this guy’s gonna keep me fairly primed.”
Remy nodded, patting Lucas on the shoulder. He grabbed Jimmy. “Let’s go get the girls out of their room,” he said, and the two ran off in the direction from which they came.
“First swing’s yours, big guy,” Lucas said confidently to Cain.
“It’s your head,” Juggernaut responded, swinging his ham-sized fist at full speed. It connected with Lucas’ face, and Cain froze in shock as the boy took one step back with the blow, but otherwise appeared unfazed.
“What?” he breathed. A swing like that should have tossed the boy’s skull clear across the school, he thought as Lucas turned back to face him, grinning.
“Thanks,” Bishop responded, feeling the warmth of the energy expended in the enormous swing coursing through his body. He pulled back his small fist, and leveled a punch straight into the Juggernaut’s stomach.
Cain gasped and doubled over, the air knocked out of him by the punch. “How?” he breathed as he dropped to his knees. More energy poured into Bishop’s body, spreading from where his fist had made contact.
Lucas shrugged. “It’s all in my head,” then swung an enormous uppercut towards Marko’s chin. The punch landed, and Cain Marko was launched into the ceiling, where his head shattered the plaster and collided with a metal crossbeam. He fell back to the ground in an unconscious heap.
Lucas slowly walked towards the group whose mouths (except for Emma, who still had a look of complete and utter incomprehension on her face) had all dropped open in surprise. He laughed at their reaction, focusing his mind on the energy that he had absorbed from that final punch.
“I think I can get to like this.”
Remy and Jimmy sprinted down the hall towards the stairs. As they turned the corner, they both stopped in their tracks.
“Oh, my God,” Jimmy breathed at the scene.
It was like something out of a nightmare. At the foot of the stairs, two bodies lay. One, which Jimmy recognized as Rogue, lay curled up, naked but breathing. The other, who neither had seen before, lay face down in a pool of blood, something sharp poking out of his back, making the back of his shirt tent up in a red mess.
Halfway down the stairs, Theresa Cassidy sat sobbing uncontrollably, cradling a body, charred to the point where he couldn’t recognize who it was.
“Theresa,” Remy whispered, and sprinted up the stairs towards the redhead.
“Jubes,” she sobbed. “Oh, God, please, wake up, Jubes.”
“Jubilee,” Jimmy said with dawning realization. Tears started streaming down his face. Remy stopped next to the girl and put his arm around her.
“Theresa,” he said quietly, but she didn’t, or couldn’t hear him.
“Oh, God, wake up,” she repeated over and over, rocking slightly.
“Theresa!” Remy yelled. This seemed to break the spell. Theresa turned her streaming face towards Remy, and collapsed into him in a sobbing heap.
“Shhh,” Remy said, running his hands through her hair as she cried into his chest. Part of his mind instinctively wanted to say it’s going to be okay, but he bit that down. It obviously wasn’t going to be okay.
Jimmy, his mind reeling, turned away from the intimate scene, and looked down at Rogue.
“We have to get out of here,” he said absently.
“We have to go,” Remy said quietly to Theresa, who looked up at him and shook her head vigorously.
“I can’t leave her,” she responded, turning back to the body of her best friend.
“We’ll come back, I promise,” Remy said. “We’ll make sure she’s taken care of, okay? But if we don’t go now, then we might all join her.”
Theresa stared into his eyes, which looked back with a calm intensity. Eventually, she relented, slowly standing up. Her arms clutched at Remy, keeping her standing. Then, realizing what she missed, she turned back to the top of the stairs.
“Brian,” she said quickly. “Something happened to him. He snapped and went off to the front of the mansion. Alex and Alison went after him, but Bobby…”
“Jimmy, get Marie,” Remy said as he and Theresa walked back up the stairs and carefully lifted Bobby Drake’s damaged body.
“We need a blanket for her or something,” Theresa said. “We can’t touch her.”
“I can,” Jimmy said, bending down and carefully lifting Rogue’s naked body into his arms. “Her powers are turned off when I’m around.” But Remy removed his trench coat and carefully wrapped it around Marie’s body.
“Powers I’m not concerned about,” he said. “Keeping her warm, that’s something else entirely.”
The portal opened, and Magneto stepped into the echoing lair of stone and steel. Pietro and Lorna followed close behind, with Clarice and the copy of Jamie Madrox taking up the rear.
“You may rest here, my children,” he said, turning to the Maximoffs. “The Cure will wear off in time, leaving you more powerful than ever before. But, in the meantime, we may be able to find a faster way to deal with it.”
The clone bounced up and down nervously. “Can we get going?” he said anxiously. “I’m getting some good vibes from my original, and I don’t wanna miss out on the fun.”
“Of course,” Erik said, smiling. “Miss Blink, shall we go find your friends and lend our assistance?”
“Okay,” she said quietly.
“We’re going to the place you sent Mr. Madrox,” Magneto continued, laying his hand on her shoulder.
“Good,” the copy said, “cuz…” His words were cut off as, like someone flipping a switch, the copy of Jamie Madrox blinked out of existence.
Clarice stared at the empty space in shock. She turned quickly to Magneto, whose face had darkened.
“The portal,” he growled. “Now.”
The body of the man known as Brian stepped out the front door of the Xavier Academy just in time to see Jamie Madrox die.
Brian’s eye saw as Logan fought through the crushing legions of clones, only to grab one particular one from the throng. The alien presence allowed his mind to register Logan muttering, “smelled ya,” and to register his hand swinging around, lopping off Madrox’s startled head at the neck.
As Jamie’s severed skull hit the ground, the hundreds of Madrox copies blinked out of existence, leaving the battlefield of a lawn empty, save for the body of Marrow, the body and head of Multiple Man, and the panting, quickly healing body of one Wolverine.
Logan looked up at Brian.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked. “Why aren’t you with the others?”
I am close, the alien voice replied, I need more pain. More suffering.
Brian remained silent. Logan shook his head and walked towards the front door.
“Let’s go check on the others,” he said. “Before anyone…”
Logan’s words cut short, and his body froze in place. His arms were lifted from his sides, and he was raised off the ground and turned back to the front gate.
“You,” Magneto growled, his face twisted in fury. “It always comes back to you, doesn’t it, Wolverine?”
“What can I say, bub?” Wolverine said, his voice gasping in pain as he floated towards Erik Lehnsherr. “I like to get in your hair.”
“I suppose you do,” Magneto responded. “Quite brave of you, too, what with the healing factor, and the adamantium. Not exactly putting your life on the line, are you?”
“I do what I have to do,” Logan growled.
“As do I,” Magneto said, and lifted his other hand. Logan howled in agony.
“I should have done this a long time ago,” Magneto muttered, and slowly pulled his hands apart. Wolverine screamed a mind-numbing scream as blood began blooming on his shirt and pants. His face began to drip red.
Yes, the voice echoed in Brian’s head. Watch it, Charles. Watch it all.
Who--? Brian’s mind uttered weakly, a last gasp as it slowly tumbled into the psychic abyss.
Logan uttered one last strangled cry of pain as metal peeled from his bones, tearing through his skin and clothing. No longer being held by the adamantium now levitating before him, his body fell to the ground, mercifully falling into unconsciousness.
The mind that was once Brian witnessed this trauma, snapped free, and fell away forever.
“ERIK!” the alien voice screamed from his mouth.
Erik Lehnsherr look up triumphantly from Logan’s body to the voice now calling his name.
“And you are?” he said happily.
Brian’s body snapped severely, every muscle in his body tightening. His brain became enveloped, sending out a psychic pulse as the invader took full command.
Erik saw a motion in his peripheral vision, and turned to his left to watch Alvin Wyngarde fall, dead before he hit the ground.
“Come on,” Emma yelled to the children as they ran down the escape route. “The door should be straight ahead.”
They reached the door, and Emma pushed. Instead of opening, it held firm, giving only the slightest hint of movement.
“There’s something in front of it,” Frost said quietly. “Those bastards must have blocked it.”
“How do we get out?” Jones asked.
“Lucas, could you get up here and…” Emma stopped in mid-sentence, and fell to the floor of the tunnel. Next to Lucas, Artie Maddicks and Arthur Centino collapsed as well.
“Professor Frost!” Lucas yelled, bending down to her limp body. He picked up her wrist, trying to find a pulse.
“She’s dead,” he gasped. He turned to Jones, who stood looking down in shock at the two boys. He bent quickly, and tried to shake them.
“They’re not breathing,” Jones said, panic creeping into his voice. “They’re not breathing, I can’t feel a heartbeat or anything, what’s going on?”
“What’s wrong?” the voice of Jimmy Cameron echoed from the end of the tunnel.
Alex Blanding and Alison Blaire turned the corner, and froze in horror as Brian transformed into the creature of the now-departed Emma Frost’s nightmares.
Alison clutched to Alex and the two backed away from the door, watching as Brian became encased in a ball of bright red flame. His body glowed and thickened, dark red armor appearing from thin air to cover him. They watched skeletal, metallic wings sprout from his back, and a sword of flame grow into his gauntleted hand.
The fire around him, twisted, warped, and took a shape.
The shape of a bird.
“Oh, my God,” Magneto said. “Jean…”
The armored figure of the Phoenix turned its eye to Erik Lehnsherr. Its wrist twisted, exposing the blade of the sword, and it flew at him with blinding speed.
With just as much blinding speed, Magneto once again used his newly-acquired secondary mutation, and dodged the charging onslaught with a speed matched only by Pietro Maximoff, his genetic son. Even so, Phoenix barely missed him, and continued flying, rising into the night air and disappearing in the distance.
Seconds later, they heard a roar from the sky. Looking up, Magneto watched as the X-Jet descended.
“Too late,” he muttered, closing his fist and watching the Jet crumple in on itself. It fell to the ground a gigantic metal ball.
“We’re leaving,” he said sternly to Clarice, who had watched the entire course of events with shocked, fearful eyes.
Not noticing the trio of Storm, Shadowcat, and Colossus fall to the ground and phasing through the dirt, Magneto screamed at her.
“We’re leaving!”
Clarice stared at him. The look of fear left her eyes. She nodded, and then opened a portal. Magneto stepped through.
Blink stood for a moment, watching Magneto from the other side as he looked around. She smiled and closed the portal, just as he began to turn around in anger, realizing where he had brought him.
Alison and Alex slowly walked out onto the grass as the three X-Men re-surfaced from the ground, holding each other for support. Kitty and Peter turned to them with a silent look of shock and confusion. Ororo sprinted to the unconscious Wolverine, and as she fell to her knees, the first snowfall of the season began to fall upon the remains of the X-Men’s bloodiest battle.
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