Alright, alright. For the first time in a long time, the disclaimer is here to do its job. I don't own X-Men: Evolution. THERE. I DID IT. YOU HAPPY NOW?! Alright, alright. This is a little... different than my usual stuff. So pardon me if it's no good... or better yet, send me $50,000 so I can transfer to a good college and take some writing classes...
...yes... transfer...
...Oh, and excuse the grammar.
Humankind has ruled the planet Earth for as long as it has existed. All of the creatures on this planet have their own special adaptation. Some can fly, some can swim, some can crawl, some can climb. Some have claws, some have teeth, some have horns, some have spines. Humanity was given the greatest gift of all; intelligence. As the most intelligent creatures on the planet, humans are capable of sentience, reason, and even logic.
Humankind has used this intelligence to adapt to their environment ever since the first tools were invented. Humans were able to suit themselves to any environment on the planet, and eventually, they spread to all corners of the Earth. From this, different variations of humanity appeared. Early in their history, when these different races encountered each other, they were met with mutual curiosity, and their differences led to hatred, and eventual suffering.
Centuries have passed, and since that time of prejudice, the various kinds of humans have settled their differences, and now coexist. In the time it took for these races to unite, new technology rose beyond the early tools, and allowed humanity to take a different approach to adaptation. Rather than change themselves to suit their environment, humanity began to change the environment to suit themselves. Because of this, internal change had come to a near halt. Humanity stopped evolving.
But then, their evolution gene was awakened. It remains unclear why this happened, only that it did. Known as the X-Factor Gene, partially named after Professor Charles Xavier, an X-Factor Positive researcher who had studied the gene for years, this new twist on humanity advanced itself to the point of giving some humans extraordinary, even dangerous powers. Recipients of the X-Factor Gene are often referred to as "mutants," and the so-called "normal" humans have come to hate and fear these mutants and their powers.
All that change, however, with the awakening of the long-dormant mutant En Sabah Nur, or as he would come to be known, Apocalypse.
As Professor Xavier and his former associate, Erik Lehnsherr, recruited mutants to their causes, Apocalypse likewise did. Years after he had destroyed both the X-Men and Magneto, Apocalypse realized that his bouts with them had severely weakened him. He employed the aid of a mutant, whose name has never been revealed, to travel into the past and alter history.
This time-traveling mutant slipped through time to a period before Xavier and Magneto parted ways, when neither had fully developed their radically different philosophies, and the only thing that was known was that mutants did, indeed, exist. Erik quickly dispatched the assassin by driving a metal pin through his heart, but not before the assassin had fired. Erik had tried to stop the bullet that raced towards his friend's head, but he was met with one great misfortune: the bullet was not made of metal. Though the impact of the bullet did not kill Xavier instantly, he fell into a coma, and died six weeks after the time-traveler had appeared.
It was then that Erik looked through Xavier's old logs, hoping to salvage what he could of Xavier's research before it was all taken away by the state, as Xavier had no heir and had made no will. Erik discovered that Xavier had believed that mutants and humans should coexist peacefully, though he had never fully discussed the issue with him. Though Erik secretly believed that humans would come to hate mutantkind, he thought it was best to honor the memory of his good friend by doing everything he could to make sure that humans and mutants lived side-by-side, burying his doubts inside and hoping that Xavier would not be proven wrong.
Erik founded the Xavier Institute for Mutant Research, after his old friend, and began to recruit mutants to his cause. They would come to be known as the X-Men.
The time-traveler's movements sent ripples through time, altering certain events and affecting the lives of many people.
Raven Darkholme, a shape-shifting woman and friend of Erik, thought Xavier's philosophy to be nonsense, but she decided she would rather stay out of the conflict. With the time and reality altered, her son Kurt was never taken from her, and she went on to give birth to another girl, who she named Marie. She later adopted two other children, who had both faced ridicule due to their mutations.
This, of course, came at a time when mutants were scarce. For reasons unknown, the altering of time had somehow caused many more mutants to appear. Within a short time, humanity became the minority. Leading the human resistance against the "oppression" of mutants was General Trask, a man who fought for the preservation of the "true" human race.
At about the same time Magneto established the Xavier Institute, he was approached by a man named Jack Logan, who had escaped from a laboratory in Canada where scientists had planned to graft adamantium to his skeleton. Called Wolverine by Magneto, he joined the X-Men for a short time. His ideals conflicted heavily with Magneto's, as Logan believed that if mutants were going to destroy humanity, they should likely be hunted down to keep them from "whining so fucking much," as Logan put it. Wolverine soon left the X-Men, taking several students with him, forming a new team which his recruits nicknamed X-Force.
With the world changed, it took Apocalypse less time to find suitable minions to free him. Apocalypse would soon come to rule the Earth with an iron fist.
However, there was one last chance to turn back time. The nameless time-traveler, in this time only a teenager discovering his powers, has yet to be reached by Apocalypse…
On a tall, snow-covered mountain, four figures stood. The heavy wind blew against them, but in an instant, the wind was gone. The clouds, however, remained. The dark-skinned, light-haired woman born Ororo Monroe waved her hands, and light rain poured down the mountain. In an alternate reality, she was known as Storm. Here, she was known as War. She wore a skin-tight black bodysuit, but her hair still flowed free. As a sign of her affiliation, she had a black line tattooed on her right eye.
With the rain flowing down the side of the mountain, the surface became muddy. A second figure waved his hands, and the muddy rocks fell loose, creating a dangerous mudslide. This second man was the tall, dark-haired man once known as Lance Alvers, also known as Avalanche for a brief time, was now called Famine. Like Storm, he wore a black bodysuit, though his hair was trimmed short in an almost military style. Avalanche also had the black line tattooed on his right eye.
The third man, not quite old enough to be considered a man, projected a blue-white beam of energy that covered the tumbling rocks in a thick later of ice, drastically increasing their size. Robert Drake, recruited before he could adopt the name Iceman, was no longer human in appearance, now covered in a permanent layer of frost. Similar in appearance to his allies, his black suit and tattoo could be seen through the frost, as well as his complete lack of hair. In this form, Iceman was known as Pestilence.
The fourth figure, the leader of the Horsemen, watched as the icy rocks rolled down the mountain and into a small village, plowing through the buildings and crushing whatever villagers were unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. The fourth man had medium blue skin and jet black hair, but wore the same features as his comrades. There was on notable distinction, one that signified his leadership role. Growing from his back were two silver wings, appearing as shiny angel wings composed of tiny metallic feathers. This man was once Warren Worthington, the Angel. Now he was an Archangel, the Horseman of Death.
He turned to the others, and nodded. Archangel spread his wings and flew down into the village. Storm gathered a whirlwind that carried the others behind him.
X-Men: Evolution
"The Age of Apocalypse"
King of the Worthless
Chapter One - The Darkholme Brotherhood
Magneto stood on the observation balcony of the Danger Room at the Xavier Institute in New Zealand, watching his young recruits battle against mechanical weapons. This was just one of the many ideas he found in Charles Xavier's logs. Magneto wore no helmet, showing his neatly combed hair instead. Magneto had designed his armored costume before Xavier's death, and so he wore it, the only exception being the helmet.
In the Danger Room itself, the blonde-haired boy scout Alex Summers, better known as Havok, fired a pair of orange beams at a missile launcher and destroyed it. Magneto had rescued Alex from an orphanage at a later age, and Alex regarded Magneto as something of a father. Alex's powers allowed him to fire energy in omnidirectional waves or as a single blast aimed at a specific target. Alex's hair was kept short and neat, like Magneto's. Because Alex's powers were difficult to control, he wore an inhibitor belt that helped him control his wild powers.
A single missile escaped Havok's blast. Jean Grey, codenamed Converse, "caught" the missile in midair and re-directed it towards the wall. Jean was every bit as beautiful as our version, though that was the only real similarity. Jean had nobody to guide her telepathic abilities, and as such, they were underdeveloped and seemed to appear at random. This caused Jean much confusion and forced her to become reclusive and deeply paranoid. Her telekinetic abilities were fairly strong, and she was slowly gaining confidence from her boyfriend, a fellow member of the X-Men. Her red hair was tied into one long ponytail that reach down to her back. Because of the time-distortion, was not born to the Grey family, but was instead adopted. Her true parents remained elsewhere. As soon as the missile hit the wall, a new missile launcher appeared from another trapdoor. It fired four small missiles, which were blocked by Freddy Dukes, known as Stalwart. With mutants revealed earlier than in our time, Freddy's size problem was more easily understood, and he faced less ridicule. As a result, he was a more educated individual. His dedication to his training as a member of the X-Men improved his large physique, making him more built and less… well, less Blob. Having gained self-confidence, he was able to achieve the one thing that our version could not: he had won the heart of Jean Grey.
A mechanical arm appeared from the floor, attempting to grab Havok, and his beams appeared useless. Luckily for him, Kate Pryde, Ariel, phased through the arm and shorted it. Kate had grown up in Northbrook, Illinois, and had befriended Lance Alvers at an early age. When Lance became cold and emotionless, Kate became suspicious. When Lance tried to kill her, Kate became afraid. When Kate's mutant powers manifested soon afterward, she became paranoid. Kate could not get over the shock of seeing her childhood friend turn into an emotionless killer, and came to Magneto for help. Kate was not as involved with the X-Men, but hoped that she could overcome her emotional difficulties. Kate's hair was the same length and style, though she didn't wear a ponytail, appearing much like our Kitty.
The session had entered a second level. Several laser beams spread across the Danger Room like a series of red webs. Wanda Lehnsherr, the Scarlet Witch, waved her hands in the air, and the laser projectors burst into flames, one by one. Wanda had jet-black, shoulder-length hair and wore a strange silver frame around her face. She wore a standard X-Men uniform, only she wore a cape behind her, signifying her role as Magneto's right-hand-agent and field leader. Wanda had been raised by Magneto to believe in Xavier's ideals and dedicated herself to the X-Men more than anyone else. Having been the first recruit, she also had the most experience of any team member.
"They work so well together," Magneto said to Forge. Forge was the team's inventor and had designed all of the Institute's high-tech equipment, including the Danger Room. Forge was an older man with a black mustache, having narrowly avoided being absorbed into a pocket dimension he created in his youth. Forge had lost his left arm and both legs during a battle with Wolverine, shortly before X-Force was formed. Forge wore mechanical prosthetics, his own design of course, but this only added to his uselessness in battle. As a result, Forge mainly worked behind-the-scenes with Magneto.
"Yes…" Forge replied with some worry in his tone. "Magnus, what about the report from Tibet?"
"Tibet?" Magneto turned to Forge with a look of concern. "You mean?"
"Yes… do you think it was them?"
"I'm almost sure of it. Any survivors?"
"If there are any, they haven't been found. I'm worried, Magnus."
"As am I." Magneto turned to the Danger Room. "X-Men! We will continue the session at a later time. I want you all to meet me in the conference room."
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Magneto sat at the head of a large, metal table. Most everything at the Institute was made of metal; Magneto found it more convenient to rearrange things with his power than through physical strength.
"There's been a disaster in Tibet," Magneto announced. "I want you to investigate the site. Any survivors would be valuable to us as witnesses."
"What happened?" Jean asked.
"I'm not quite sure. The coordinates have been programmed into the Blackbird." Magneto was reluctant to reveal details about the incident.
"We'll get right to it," Wanda said. "X-Men, move out!"
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The Blackbird landed in a clearing near the small village in Tibet. Freddy exited first, being the least vulnerable of the team, to make sure it was safe. Freddy signaled back to them, and the others followed.
"Oh, man," Alex remarked. "This is terrible."
"Tell me about it," Kate said. "It's like a graveyard…" There were no buildings left standing, only bits and pieces, thrown about. There were bodies everywhere, all bloody, some not completely whole. "Who could've done this?"
"Someone sick," Freddy said. He noticed something embedded into an old man's back. "Hey guys, check this out."
"What is it?" Jean knelt down to inspect it. "It's… a feather?"
"Looks metal to me."
"A metal feather?" Jean wasn't sure what to make of the strange evidence.
"We'd better radio Magneto," Wanda said. "Magneto, this is Scarlet Witch. We have news."
"Please, tell me," Magneto said over Wanda's small radio.
"Stalwart found a metal feather stuck into a man's back. Ariel found chunks of ice, but otherwise, we have no real evidence."
"I see…" Magneto paused. "Resume your search. It's important that we find a survivor."
"Yes, sir. Scarlet Witch out."
"Ew… the ice… it's… some guy!"
"What?" Wanda took a closer look. It looked as if an ice sculpture of a man had been shattered. "This is just too weird…"
"A little freaky," Jean said.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Freddy said with a cheesy grin.
"My hero!" Jean replied in an equally cheesy manner.
"Hey! I found someone!" Alex yelled. They all rushed to one of the many collapsed houses. A woman sat up against what was left of a wall, her face covered by a cloak, but clearly soaked in blood. In her arms she held a small bundle of blankets close to her.
"Lady? Are you alright?" Wanda asked. She lifted the cloak just enough to see the woman's face. If she had one.
"Oh my God…" Somehow, her face had been sliced clean off. Wanda backed away from the woman. Freddy took a closer look, being the only one with the stomach to get near her.
"Looks like someone used a pretty sharp knife… couldn't have been a saw or anything like that. Like a big razor." Freddy then looked down at the blankets. "Oh man… I hope they didn't …"
Freddy carefully unwrapped the blankets. Inside he found a baby. The little boy was scared, but at the very least, he was alive.
"The baby's alive!" Freddy took the little boy into his arms. "Looks like he's okay."
"I'm glad the baby's fine," Alex said, "But I don't think he's going to give us much information."
"Well, he DID say 'any survivors,' so the boy will have to do."
"Right," Wanda said. "Alright, X-Men. We'll split up and do a quick search to see if we missed anything. We'll meet back at the Blackbird."
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Magneto walked through the main hall of the Xavier Institute with Forge. A metal orb followed them through the well-lit metal hall.
"There's no doubt. This is Apocalypse's doing."
"What's he up to, though?" Forge asked. "Apocalypse isn't into mass slaughter."
"You've obviously never met him."
"So he's big on blood?"
"Not so. There wasn't a single mutant in that village. Apocalypse's agents only kill humans."
"He's wiping them out, then?"
"It would seem so." Magneto pulled the orb towards him. A blue bulb on the side lit up and produced a blue hologram of the planet, covered in red and green dots. "The mutant population is now dominant. Humans became the minority in a few short decades."
"Magneto, sir, we have news," Wanda said over the radio, which was also built into the metal orb.
"What did you find?"
"A baby."
"A baby? No other survivors?"
"Not a single one. It's pretty dead here."
"I see… bring the child here."
"Yes, sir."
"Are you crazy?" Forge yelled. "We can't bring a baby here! How are we supposed to care for a little kid when we've got all these war machines built into the walls?"
"We're not going to do anything. I know someone who owes me a favor. She will take care of the child for us."
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The Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House in upper New York was quiet that evening, with one small exception. Raven Darkholme, called Mystique by many, stood on the roof, meeting with a visitor.
"You're crazy!" she yelled. Her young charges heard her arguing with Magneto from inside the house. They had nothing else to do, so they gathered in front of the television to watch a game show.
"Who's she talking to?" Rogue asked. No longer the gothic young girl we came to know, Rogue had grown up with an actual mother and a sort of family. Though they were adopted, Marie Darkholme thought of her adopted family as real brothers. Rogue's skin was a light tan color and her brown, white-streaked hair grew to about her mid-back. Rogue had no control over her abilities, but decided not to cover herself so much. Most people knew she was a mutant, and if they touched her, it was their fault.
"Magneto again," Kurt Darkholme replied. Kurt, oddly enough, had not mutated. While he had developed his teleporting abilities, Kurt was completely normal in appearane, with one exception. He kept his face clean-shaven, but his facial hair was the blue hue we're all familiar with. His hair was naturally blue, but he dyed it black not to look normal, but because he liked black. In fact, Kurt wore nothing but black.
A long, sticky tongue with a silver stud on the end snagged some popcorn from the bowl on the coffee table. Todd Darkholme munched it happily, then hopped onto the couch next to Kurt. "Sup, bro." Todd, or as he called himself, Toad was still thin and strange-looking, though he was fairly built despite his light frame. He had a spiky green Mohawk, a nose ring, an eyebrow ring and several earrings. Toad had a strange arrogance to him, like he felt himself smarter than anyone else. In most other aspects, Toad seemed to have low self-esteem.
"Hi, Todd."
"Hey, call me Toad."
"Sure, Todd," Scott Darkholme said. Scott had lived in an orphanage until Mystique adopted him when he was ten. Scott had survived the same plane crash as his brother Alex, only he was unaware that his brother had survived at the time. Scott's powers manifested fairly late, and he had yet to learn to control them, so he wore a special pair of glasses. Black framed with metal iris-shutters on each eye, with a layer of Ruby-Quartz on the inner side to keep his beams in check. A button on the side opened the shutters to produce two clear beams. Scott had slightly long hair, rather unkempt and running down to his shoulders, not too unlike our version of Lance. His face was covered with stubble and he wore a black leather jacket with a pair of jeans. "So what's mom up to with Magneto?"
"Can't tell," Toad said. "His voice is too low for me to hear. Mom… well, you can hear her here, so that ain't a problem."
"Magnus, I've settled down. I'd like to raise my family in peace."
"Your family," Magneto said. "Have you forgotten that three of them were sought by Apocalypse's agents as potential servants?" Mystique had nothing to say to this. "His followers are growing in numbers. You will not be safe here for long."
"Look Magnus, I will do what it takes to protect my children, but if it means risking their lives, then what is the point?"
"You can watch them be slaughtered for their disloyalty to Apocalypse, or you can watch them die fighting for their freedom." Mystique was at a loss for words. She looked away from Magneto to the city beyond the boarding house. It was once a nice, quiet neighborhood, but it had become filthy and unsafe. All sorts of mutant thugs ran the streets. Magneto was right. They were loyal to Apocalypse, or at least to someone who was loyal to him.
"Let's get one thing straight. My children are not X-Men, only temporary allies."
Magneto smiled.
Who is this mysterious baby, and more importantly, why was he spared? All will be revealed!