DARK REBIRTH X

Chapter 1

Exactly sixty minutes after the events that saw Scarlet Witch resurrecting formerly dead-and-buried X-Men behind the X-mansion and after the always warrior-geared Wolverine had coldly killed the Master of Magnetism, Eric Magnus Lensherr…

"You wanted to see me, Professor M?"

It was a scene straight out of Professor X's opulent office in regards to his primary members of the Uncanny X-Men, save for two very important points…

Eric Magnus Lensherr, alive and well and seated behind said desk in an actual wheelchair of all things…

With the blue-skinned, golden eyed, red-haired Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique standing straight and tall before the exquisite escritoire in much the same manner as, in a far different Reality, Cyclops would've done...

"Yes, Raven," said the mutant most had known by the name Magneto in at least two drastically different Realities. "First of all, I wanted to once again congratulate you for leading the M-Men against the House of X recently. That successful sneak attack could've easily killed us all…had you not utilized your mutant shapeshifting powers to infiltrate their infamous number in order to discover their desperate plans."

"Thank you, Professor," said a smiling-with-self-satisfaction Mystique, currently wearing a form fitting uniform all M-Men would wear crafted from a well-balanced combination of lustrous leather and scintillating spandex. Which, of course, her shapeshifting powers could instantly alter into any combination of clothing options as well as metamorphosing her complete physicality and even her specific sexuality.

"Unfortunately, the House of X is still very much a menace," finally finished Professor M while allowing his mutant mastery of magnetism to play around with paper clips, stapler, letter opener, and the like in a subconscious fashion similar to someone doing so with their all-to-Human hands. "Not just to us, but to Mankind in general."

"Yes, I know, Professor," heavily heaved the current combat leader, answering solely to Professor M, of the Magnificent M-Men. Seconded, in combat, by the mutant Master of Fire, John Allerdyce a.k.a. Pyro. "I've been toying with a plan d'attaque for the team to possibly execute against The House of X's city-side hideout. As always, it would make maximum use of the M-Men's many abilities in a manner that would more or less ensure sufficient surprise to…"

"Yes, so I've been told," interjected the wheelchair-bound Master of Magnetism, as the hovering items of metal resituated themselves atop his impeccable desk. "Cain Marko seemed especially exited about putting his unstoppable mass and super-strength to use in such a well-coordinated all-out assault against the still-reeling House of X."

"Does that mean," sheepishly asked Mystique with a salient lifting of one red-haired eyebrow, "that you approve?"

As a slow smile spread itself across his European expression of self-certainty and self-reliance, both of which made him the singular supreme leader that he, indeed, had been since first starting his School for Gifted Youngsters and magnetically constructing Cerebro. A high-tech device developed to locate promising mutants from anywhere in the world via magnetically stimulated satellite uplinks acting as a unique universal magneto-web through which such could inevitably be detected.

"Yes, my dearest Mystique, I approve," said a smiling Professor M even as he exerted just enough of his mutant magnetic powers to manipulate his wheelchair far more pragmatically than could be accomplished with one's hands and arms. "As soon as the others are freed from their teaching responsibilities regarding the younger mutant students, we'll proceed down into the underground hangar in order to ready the M-plane for a rapid expedition into New York City."

"And this time," confidently added the blue-skinned Mystique, "the telepathy-proof metal hull your powers forged shall shield our combined minds from Charles Xavier's mental abilities. Making this particular attack completely foolproof."

Nodding in complete concordance, Professor M said, "I'll meet you and the other M-Men down there. Try not to be late, Mystique."

"Don't worry, Professor M," a gregariously grinning shapeshifter said with a wink, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Meanwhile, from Westchester County to New York City some 60 kilometers distant…

Charles Xavier, still calling himself Dr. X because he had once held an pedagogical position at NYU prior to rededicating his mutant abilities to standing against all anti-mutant Humans beginning to group together and persuading politicians and pundits, was psychically scanning a radius of some 25-to-30 kilometers.

Enough to have, previously, provided the forewarning necessary to stop the Magnificent M-Men cold.

The bald, telepathically powerful mutant miscreant had experienced prejudicial injustice during World War II at the hateful hands of Adolf Hitler and his Nazis, as well as escaping certain torturous death in the heart of his parent's Poland prior to the final defeat of Nazi Germany.

"So far, so good," he snarled telepathically while relating such to those likeminded mutants that'd joined his Holy Cause…

Logan a.k.a. Wolverine, the resident cold-blooded killer of the tight-knit team of super-powered villains, always willing and ever ready to slaughter fellow mutants, such as the M-Men, as well as hate-filled Humans.

Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm, a beautiful black lady whose unhappy experiences in that Deep South shaped her later determination to utilize emerging elemental mutant abilities against weak-minded Humans and Human-loving mutants.

Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops, whose sense of loss and subsequent desire for mutant-powered optic-blasting retribution occurred early on when his parents were cruelly killed simply from looking different, though they were not mutants.

Though unknown to everyone else in New York state, it was Scarlet Witch who had employed her mutant talents in regards to warping localized Reality, in this case far beyond New York City, that had a dual set of circumstances.

First and foremost, it brought a killed-by-the X-Men Magneto back to life while also flip-flopping localized historical certitude in connection with mutant heroes versus mutant villains. Scarlet Witch strangely not included in either.

Thus causing Charles Xavier and company to now be the evil ones, while Magneto, Mystique, and company were now the enemies of said evil.

Had such an exertion of reality-warping powers not physically and mentally depleted her, Scarlet Witch might've made the necessary adjustments to make everything "right". But after raising the dead twice in a single twenty-four hour period, her hex craft would be lucky to alter even an individual's immediate history.

Let alone the twisted Destinies of dozens of super-powered mutants and millions of New Yorkers.

Besides, this was shaping up to be an exceptionally exciting situation and Scarlet Witch found herself particularly curious as to how this new Good-versus-Evil eventuality would inevitably develop.

Maybe, thought Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch with a strange smirk, I wouldn't want to change things back. Not yet.

END OF CHAPTER 1