TITLE: Children of the Evolution
AUTHOR: Simone of the Zordiak
DISTRIBUTION: Just tell me where you put it, 'k?
DISCLAIMER: All things Buffy belong to Joss, but he's mean, so I 'borrowed' them. (I give them back when I'm finished... I swear) All things X-Men belong to Marvel... I think.
SUMMARY: Some people seem to be unable to learn from their mistakes. The Initiative is dead and buried, but they still want their Supersoldier. And so they start a chain-reaction with consequences far beyond their imagination
FEEDBACK: Please.
CATEGORY: AU/Adventure/Crossover
RATING: ?
PAIRING: Not sure, yet.
AUTHORS NOTES: I am not a native English speaker, so I hope you will forgive me my mistakes (spelling and grammar).
I had trouble with my other fiction, "Gemini" and then my FFVII muse went on strike and this popped up. Since I have no idea how long the muse strike will go on, I have decided to write out this story, curious where it will lead me to.
The X-Men are mostly from the MovieVerse, with some mixed in stuff from the comics. I went AU after XMen Movie I, the stuff of XMen II has not yet happened in this story and I don't think it will happen.
Children of the Evolution by Simone of the Zordiak
--- Prologue ---
The year was 2002. After the terrorist attacks of the 11 September 2001, the world had changed once again. One year after Magnetos attempt to turn the Leaders of the world into mutants, the eyes of the world were turned towards Afghanistan and the anger and mistrust against mutants had lessened 'cause most feared and hated the less optical obvious and more dangerous threat of the Al-Quaida and their cells of fanatic and absolutely human terrorists.
It was also the year, when a normal young human called 'Xander' by most people, stood between a grieving supercharged witch and the doom of the world.
And also in the year 2002, a project was put in action, that would later change the world.
---
The mutant, that was known to most of the world as Magneto and to a selected few as Erik Magnus Lensherr, was bored. Veerrry bored. He'd been locked up in his plastic prison for one and a half year now and there wasn't very much he could do to entertain himself. Sure, Charles was coming to visit him regularly. They would play chess, talk and sometimes he would be allowed to bring him a book or two.
Each of his movements were carefully monitored on several cameras. Erik could only shake his head at their stupidity. He was called the 'Master of Magnetism' for a reason. And nothing was better to rid oneself of some troublesome videobands than a nice clean swipe with a wave of magnetically charged particles.
He settled down on his bed, starring through the plastic-ceiling of his cell, thinking. Wondering why he was still here. This prison, futuristic as it was looking, was laughable. If he'd wanted to, he could have broken out countless times. There might be no metal around here, but who was saying that he needed iron or cobalt or other metals to use his powers? Everyone seemed to think that his powers were contained in the field of ferro-magnetism, but that was only the area he liked to use most. He could work with the entire magnetic spectrum, from the simplest electron up to light, heat and different sorts of radiation. And yet, he was still here, was still sitting in this glorified hamstercage and waiting for Charles next visit. Why?
Because his machine had failed? No. Since he'd seen the images Charles had transmitted from his student, who had watched the senator die, he was glad that it hadn't worked out. He had wanted to mutate the world leaders, not kill them. Maybe he was simply tired. He was seventy-four after all and his body, strong as it was, was not immune to the effects of time.
Erik sighed. There were day now, when he felt so old, so empty and all used up. And yet, he couldn't rest. His memories didn't allow him to. Maybe that was the true reason he hadn't broken out yet. If he was free, he would feel compelled to do something and he didn't feel like he was ready for that now.
The lights dimmed down for the night. They never went out completely, but he had learned to deal with it. With practised ease he willed himself to sleep. Just two more days and Charles would come to visit.
---
As the lights of the city disappeared in the rear-view mirror he sighed with relief. Ever since his first, failed roadtrip, he felt like his cars were jinxed. None of them seemed to survive for long and none had taken him further than Oxnard. But now Oxnard was behind him and the car was still running. Maybe this time his holiday plans would work out. Xander released the breath he didn't realised he had been holding.
He'd pulled together all the vacation left for him and all the overtime hours he'd pilled up. Four weeks of freedom and absolute no hellmouth! No bimonthly apocalypse, no random demons, no vampires, no research, he was free!
And Alexander Harris laughed out joyfully, shifted gears and accelerated, driving further and further away from the mouth of hell.
---
An official stamp on an official document. A signature. That was all it took. The files were already shipped, the project waiting for the last details.
The United States of America needed soldiers. Powerful soldiers. And since the Initiative and the demonid cyborg hadn't worked, they had turned to the next best source of superpowerfull beings: mutants.
Fifteen years ago the combined efforts of the scientists of the Weapon X project had created a soldier that had been strong, fast and deadly, but unfortunately the treatment had turned him into a savage beast and so the project had to be abandoned.
But, there were samples. Bloodsamples, tissuesamples, the man had healed so quickly that they had enough for their scientists to play with for years.
So far they had managed to locate and differentiate the genes responsible for his mutations. After several discussions they had decided to concentrate on the healing factor only. They deemed it was safer, because, who knew which of his mutations was responsible for the animalistic behaviour he'd occasionally displayed? The healing factor was relatively save and while it was a passive power, it was also a impressive one. And anyway why should they play around with boneclaws and adamantium when the greatest weapon of all had simply been dumped into their laps? True, the man was even more dangerous than Weapon X had ever been, but if they could manage to duplicate his powers they would win every war. Nobody would ever try to mess with the United States again.
These information was all that was needed. The project was stamped, approved and the lifes of three men, of one Riley Finn, one Alexander Lavelle Harris and one Erik Magnus Lehnsherr would never be the same.
---
He was asleep when the gas came. The smell and nightmarish panic allowed him to wake and he jumped out of his bed, fear and memories keeping him awake. He had to get out, get away from the gas, but his concentration was shot. Without being able to concentrate, he couldn't reign in his powers and free himself.
Was this the end? Would he die here? In his minds eye he saw the showers again. The showers and the ovens. As the gas dragged him down into unconsciousness, he screamed and released an uncontrolled blast of magnetism. In the radius of a mile every single electric item was fried, every videoband, every diskette or other electronic medium wiped clean of information and in a bedroom in a mansion in Westchester, a telepath was ripped out of his sleep, knowing that something terrible just had happened.
---
Xander looked at the building in front of him and then back at the address Willow had written down for him in her neatest handwriting. That was it? He didn't know what he had expected but it sure wasn't something like this.
And yet, it looked so, so Riley, that he simply knew he was right here. Here was a quaint little farm in the nowhere of Iowa, while little was being a matter of perspective... the fields surrounding the street and the building were smaller than some others he'd passed on his way her, but still bigger than downtown Sunnydale. And yellow... yellow and green as far as he could see.
He parked his car, shouldered his duffel and grabbed the stack of letters the others had given him to pass on to Riley. And then Xander took a deep breath and knocked at Riley's door.
---
They came in the dark of the night, wearing nightgoggles and thermo-isolated suits. Like ghosts they moved, surrounding the farm. Their mission was to abduct one former marine, Riley J. Finn for the Project Marvel Soldier. They had thought they had planned everything perfectly, believing Finn to be alone, his wife, Samantha Finn, out of town, visiting her family. None had even considered the possibility that Finn would have a guest. A guest that, despite being rudely woken by fighting noise, was able to take down three of their numbers. They tranqued him and took him as well.
Riley Jeffery Finn became specimen eight of the Marvel Soldier project. Alexander Lavelle Harris became specimen nine.
---
Glass and ceramic dominated the underground laboratories of the Marvel Soldier project. There were no metal allowed near the specimens. And as an additional security measure specimen zero, as Erik Lensherr was called here, was always under the influence of sedatives.
There were ten test specimens. Ten young men that would be injected with varieties of the Weapon X healing factor and specimen zero's magnetic genes. Each specimen would get a different gene therapy and the one that would get closest to the original specimen zero, would be used as the blue print for their army.
Specimen three died two hours after the first shot. Painfully.
Specimen ten went insane.
Specimen four committed suicide in one moment of inattention.
Specimen sevens heart exploded.
Specimen twos brain became damaged and he had the mentality of a four year old child.
Specimen eight's body rejected the healing factor and developed cancer. They didn't even bother to try specimen zero's genes.
Specimen six's' kidneys stopped working, then his liver, then his spleen, then his lungs... he smiled as he finally died.
Specimen one became violent. Very, very violent.
Specimen fives genes mutated just fine, but he stopped interacting with his surrounding, became a living, breathing statue.
Specimen nine finally was everything they wanted. His body had accepted the healing factor like he'd born with it and after some minor difficulties (he was screaming his lungs out every time they injected him) his genetic code also displayed specimen zero's gene.
The entire process had taken them three months. Now they would observe him for another month and they would allow him to interact with specimen zero for a while.
They had noticed that he couldn't control the magnetic powers he now possessed, so zero had learned to use them somehow. If he taught nine, they could learn how to teach their soldiers in the future. And after nine had learned to control the powers they had given him, they would continue to the next step: mass production.
---
In his glass and ceramic cell, lying on his plastic cot, Xander smiled for the first time since his capture... Willow had just established a mental link with him.
tbc
AUTHOR: Simone of the Zordiak
DISTRIBUTION: Just tell me where you put it, 'k?
DISCLAIMER: All things Buffy belong to Joss, but he's mean, so I 'borrowed' them. (I give them back when I'm finished... I swear) All things X-Men belong to Marvel... I think.
SUMMARY: Some people seem to be unable to learn from their mistakes. The Initiative is dead and buried, but they still want their Supersoldier. And so they start a chain-reaction with consequences far beyond their imagination
FEEDBACK: Please.
CATEGORY: AU/Adventure/Crossover
RATING: ?
PAIRING: Not sure, yet.
AUTHORS NOTES: I am not a native English speaker, so I hope you will forgive me my mistakes (spelling and grammar).
I had trouble with my other fiction, "Gemini" and then my FFVII muse went on strike and this popped up. Since I have no idea how long the muse strike will go on, I have decided to write out this story, curious where it will lead me to.
The X-Men are mostly from the MovieVerse, with some mixed in stuff from the comics. I went AU after XMen Movie I, the stuff of XMen II has not yet happened in this story and I don't think it will happen.
Children of the Evolution by Simone of the Zordiak
--- Prologue ---
The year was 2002. After the terrorist attacks of the 11 September 2001, the world had changed once again. One year after Magnetos attempt to turn the Leaders of the world into mutants, the eyes of the world were turned towards Afghanistan and the anger and mistrust against mutants had lessened 'cause most feared and hated the less optical obvious and more dangerous threat of the Al-Quaida and their cells of fanatic and absolutely human terrorists.
It was also the year, when a normal young human called 'Xander' by most people, stood between a grieving supercharged witch and the doom of the world.
And also in the year 2002, a project was put in action, that would later change the world.
---
The mutant, that was known to most of the world as Magneto and to a selected few as Erik Magnus Lensherr, was bored. Veerrry bored. He'd been locked up in his plastic prison for one and a half year now and there wasn't very much he could do to entertain himself. Sure, Charles was coming to visit him regularly. They would play chess, talk and sometimes he would be allowed to bring him a book or two.
Each of his movements were carefully monitored on several cameras. Erik could only shake his head at their stupidity. He was called the 'Master of Magnetism' for a reason. And nothing was better to rid oneself of some troublesome videobands than a nice clean swipe with a wave of magnetically charged particles.
He settled down on his bed, starring through the plastic-ceiling of his cell, thinking. Wondering why he was still here. This prison, futuristic as it was looking, was laughable. If he'd wanted to, he could have broken out countless times. There might be no metal around here, but who was saying that he needed iron or cobalt or other metals to use his powers? Everyone seemed to think that his powers were contained in the field of ferro-magnetism, but that was only the area he liked to use most. He could work with the entire magnetic spectrum, from the simplest electron up to light, heat and different sorts of radiation. And yet, he was still here, was still sitting in this glorified hamstercage and waiting for Charles next visit. Why?
Because his machine had failed? No. Since he'd seen the images Charles had transmitted from his student, who had watched the senator die, he was glad that it hadn't worked out. He had wanted to mutate the world leaders, not kill them. Maybe he was simply tired. He was seventy-four after all and his body, strong as it was, was not immune to the effects of time.
Erik sighed. There were day now, when he felt so old, so empty and all used up. And yet, he couldn't rest. His memories didn't allow him to. Maybe that was the true reason he hadn't broken out yet. If he was free, he would feel compelled to do something and he didn't feel like he was ready for that now.
The lights dimmed down for the night. They never went out completely, but he had learned to deal with it. With practised ease he willed himself to sleep. Just two more days and Charles would come to visit.
---
As the lights of the city disappeared in the rear-view mirror he sighed with relief. Ever since his first, failed roadtrip, he felt like his cars were jinxed. None of them seemed to survive for long and none had taken him further than Oxnard. But now Oxnard was behind him and the car was still running. Maybe this time his holiday plans would work out. Xander released the breath he didn't realised he had been holding.
He'd pulled together all the vacation left for him and all the overtime hours he'd pilled up. Four weeks of freedom and absolute no hellmouth! No bimonthly apocalypse, no random demons, no vampires, no research, he was free!
And Alexander Harris laughed out joyfully, shifted gears and accelerated, driving further and further away from the mouth of hell.
---
An official stamp on an official document. A signature. That was all it took. The files were already shipped, the project waiting for the last details.
The United States of America needed soldiers. Powerful soldiers. And since the Initiative and the demonid cyborg hadn't worked, they had turned to the next best source of superpowerfull beings: mutants.
Fifteen years ago the combined efforts of the scientists of the Weapon X project had created a soldier that had been strong, fast and deadly, but unfortunately the treatment had turned him into a savage beast and so the project had to be abandoned.
But, there were samples. Bloodsamples, tissuesamples, the man had healed so quickly that they had enough for their scientists to play with for years.
So far they had managed to locate and differentiate the genes responsible for his mutations. After several discussions they had decided to concentrate on the healing factor only. They deemed it was safer, because, who knew which of his mutations was responsible for the animalistic behaviour he'd occasionally displayed? The healing factor was relatively save and while it was a passive power, it was also a impressive one. And anyway why should they play around with boneclaws and adamantium when the greatest weapon of all had simply been dumped into their laps? True, the man was even more dangerous than Weapon X had ever been, but if they could manage to duplicate his powers they would win every war. Nobody would ever try to mess with the United States again.
These information was all that was needed. The project was stamped, approved and the lifes of three men, of one Riley Finn, one Alexander Lavelle Harris and one Erik Magnus Lehnsherr would never be the same.
---
He was asleep when the gas came. The smell and nightmarish panic allowed him to wake and he jumped out of his bed, fear and memories keeping him awake. He had to get out, get away from the gas, but his concentration was shot. Without being able to concentrate, he couldn't reign in his powers and free himself.
Was this the end? Would he die here? In his minds eye he saw the showers again. The showers and the ovens. As the gas dragged him down into unconsciousness, he screamed and released an uncontrolled blast of magnetism. In the radius of a mile every single electric item was fried, every videoband, every diskette or other electronic medium wiped clean of information and in a bedroom in a mansion in Westchester, a telepath was ripped out of his sleep, knowing that something terrible just had happened.
---
Xander looked at the building in front of him and then back at the address Willow had written down for him in her neatest handwriting. That was it? He didn't know what he had expected but it sure wasn't something like this.
And yet, it looked so, so Riley, that he simply knew he was right here. Here was a quaint little farm in the nowhere of Iowa, while little was being a matter of perspective... the fields surrounding the street and the building were smaller than some others he'd passed on his way her, but still bigger than downtown Sunnydale. And yellow... yellow and green as far as he could see.
He parked his car, shouldered his duffel and grabbed the stack of letters the others had given him to pass on to Riley. And then Xander took a deep breath and knocked at Riley's door.
---
They came in the dark of the night, wearing nightgoggles and thermo-isolated suits. Like ghosts they moved, surrounding the farm. Their mission was to abduct one former marine, Riley J. Finn for the Project Marvel Soldier. They had thought they had planned everything perfectly, believing Finn to be alone, his wife, Samantha Finn, out of town, visiting her family. None had even considered the possibility that Finn would have a guest. A guest that, despite being rudely woken by fighting noise, was able to take down three of their numbers. They tranqued him and took him as well.
Riley Jeffery Finn became specimen eight of the Marvel Soldier project. Alexander Lavelle Harris became specimen nine.
---
Glass and ceramic dominated the underground laboratories of the Marvel Soldier project. There were no metal allowed near the specimens. And as an additional security measure specimen zero, as Erik Lensherr was called here, was always under the influence of sedatives.
There were ten test specimens. Ten young men that would be injected with varieties of the Weapon X healing factor and specimen zero's magnetic genes. Each specimen would get a different gene therapy and the one that would get closest to the original specimen zero, would be used as the blue print for their army.
Specimen three died two hours after the first shot. Painfully.
Specimen ten went insane.
Specimen four committed suicide in one moment of inattention.
Specimen sevens heart exploded.
Specimen twos brain became damaged and he had the mentality of a four year old child.
Specimen eight's body rejected the healing factor and developed cancer. They didn't even bother to try specimen zero's genes.
Specimen six's' kidneys stopped working, then his liver, then his spleen, then his lungs... he smiled as he finally died.
Specimen one became violent. Very, very violent.
Specimen fives genes mutated just fine, but he stopped interacting with his surrounding, became a living, breathing statue.
Specimen nine finally was everything they wanted. His body had accepted the healing factor like he'd born with it and after some minor difficulties (he was screaming his lungs out every time they injected him) his genetic code also displayed specimen zero's gene.
The entire process had taken them three months. Now they would observe him for another month and they would allow him to interact with specimen zero for a while.
They had noticed that he couldn't control the magnetic powers he now possessed, so zero had learned to use them somehow. If he taught nine, they could learn how to teach their soldiers in the future. And after nine had learned to control the powers they had given him, they would continue to the next step: mass production.
---
In his glass and ceramic cell, lying on his plastic cot, Xander smiled for the first time since his capture... Willow had just established a mental link with him.
tbc