Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters. I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike
Summary- The lives and adventures of the X-men right where Evo left off. Would the Professor's visions from the mind of Apocalypse come true or were those just future possibilities that are subject to change?
Who- Whoever I can fit in :-P
When- The story starts a few hours after Xavier's speech to the X-men after the defeat of Apocalypse
Beyond the Evolution
by demiducky25
Chapter 1- Setting the Stage
Thanks to you all, we have averted catastrophe. It was not without its price, however. But steel is forged through fire, and like it we have been made stronger. We are prepared for what the future brings. I know this, because I have glimpsed into the mind of Apocalypse. Many challenges still await us. But I have seen some who were our enemies become friends. And with a heavy heart, I saw the dearest of friends become the most terrible of enemies. I saw my X-Men grow and change and of course, I saw that some people never change. But one thing was clear, that no matter what awaits us, terrible or wondrous... my X-Men will always be there, ready. And of that, I am proud.- Professor Xavier's speech at the end of X-men: Evolution "Ascension."
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Xavier sat in his study and contemplated what he had seen in the mind of Apocalypse. But even for his powerful mind it was too much, and it gave him a headache. Hardly a few hours prior he left his students, as well as their temporary allies, with cryptic words about the future. Despite the headache, he tried to sort out what he had seen. Anti-mutant protesters- did that mean his dream of humans and mutants living peacefully would be even harder than he thought? Magneto training some of the junior X-men- did his old friend finally take him up on the offer to join him in his dream or did the young ones go to Magneto's side? Somehow Xavier believed that it was the former since he could sense the peace in the image as well as the X-men uniforms on the children. The next image was even more disturbing perhaps than any of the others he had seen. It involved Jean Grey being engulfed in flames, and he could sense a darkness as she transformed into something powerful and evil. If he could find a way to stop that, he certainly would. She was the only one able to truly fight him when he was made into one of the Horsemen, so it is possible that she could become even more powerful. He did sense something in her during that battle, but he couldn't figure out what. Another disturbing image involved dozens of flying Sentinels…what did it all mean?!
But other images gave him hope, such as his X-men growing into fine young men and women, some with different powers than they sported now, particularly a flying Rogue was what perplexed him. Could her powers have evolved further? He also reveled in the thought of there being other X-men in the picture that he didn't recognize or rather did recognize as former enemies, such as the Russian and Cajun henchmen of Magneto. Jean was also in that image which gave him some hope for her future. Xavier also contemplated the image of the Brotherhood working for SHIELD. It wasn't what he had imagined them doing, but if it kept them out of trouble, then all the better.
Before Xavier could exacerbate his migraine further with more thinking, a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in Scott," he summoned to his loyal student. The young man entered the study, closed the door, and sat in a chair in front of Xavier's desk. Scott, codenamed Cyclops, wore an expression of great worry on his face. Scott always looked like he had something on his mind, but this time the expression was even more intense. Right away he got down to business.
"Professor, I know you said that you wanted to be alone, but you didn't really tell us what you saw. You just vaguely hinted at things to come. I don't understand."
"Neither do I Scott, neither do I."
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Rogue sat cross-legged on her bed with her head between her hands. She was beyond exhausted. So much had happened lately that she was having trouble processing it all. First, she and her team watched as the Professor and Storm were seemingly destroyed by Apocalypse, then she remembered the sheer horror she felt as they saw their beloved leaders made into pawns of that madman. She remembered the trusting innocence of Dorian Leech as he allowed her to take his powers to save everyone, and she remembered the distain she still felt for Mystique when all was said and done. She couldn't even begin to think about the cryptic message the Professor left with the team as he debriefed them. What enemies would become friends and what friends would become enemies? Would it be her? It wasn't impossible if her psyches acted up again. Somehow she doubted it would be her since she had been in total control of the psyches ever since that time when they took over her consciousness. Still, it was a scary thought to know that someone would betray them, and it could be her as easily as it could be anyone else. Well for whoever it would end up being, she hoped for an accidental betrayal like what happened to Storm and the Professor rather than an intentional betrayal. Finally she remembered the words of Kurt right after she emerged with Logan from the lair of Apocalypse: "You did it Rogue. The girl who shut herself off from the world just saved it."
Despite the fact it was still light out, Rogue uncrossed her legs, curled under the covers of the bed she had been sitting on, set her alarm to go off right before dinner, took solace in laying her throbbing head on her pillow, and went to sleep. Rogue smiled at the thought of Kurt's words as she started to lull off to sleep. Perhaps things were starting to look up for her. Who knows what the future would hold for her. Well, except for maybe Xavier, she thought to herself before falling asleep.
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Jean Grey stared into the mirror half expecting another person to look back at her, but all she saw was her own reflection. She felt weird, as if another person was quietly whispering into her mind. She tried to convince herself that it had to be the stress of recent events. After all, one doesn't go head-to-head with the Professor in mental combat without some temporary side effects. Unlike most of her teammates, she wasn't feeling tired. Rather, she felt invigorated; she felt like an immense power was flowing through her. She couldn't tell if this "power" was new or dredged up from the deep recesses of her mind. Unlike the time her powers spun out of control, she felt like she was in total command of the situation this time. This feeling both thrilled and frightened her. For a brief second she thought she saw her eyes flash a fiery red-yellow color. Perhaps she was more exhausted than she thought…
However, Jean did not have time to dwell on what was happening inside her head or what she thought she saw in the mirror. Her heightened empathic abilities picked up on the anxiousness she sensed in Kurt and a few of the other younger students. She concentrated for a second on Kurt's thoughts. This was something she normally never did, but for some reason his thoughts, as well as the thoughts of everyone else in the Mansion, seemed strangely amplified. She took a moment to try to suppress the noise all these thoughts produced, but not before she picked up on what got Kurt so agitated. One word screamed out loud and clear: INTRUDERS! Someone that wasn't welcome at the Mansion was on its grounds. Jean splashed cool water on her face to snap herself back to reality and proceeded to make her way downstairs, ready to face whatever challenges awaited her.
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What on Earth was going on in there, thought Kitty Pryde. Even with her ear to the door, she still couldn't make out what was being said in Professor Xavier's office. Scott went in to talk to the Professor about what he said to the group earlier that day. She was hoping to get answers just as badly as everyone else. She especially wanted to know what was going to happen with the members of the Brotherhood. After Xavier's speech they split, but she was hoping that part of whatever plan Scott and the Professor had involved bringing Lance into the X-men. Maybe, just maybe…. She thought about partially phasing her ear through the door, just enough to hear but not enough to be seen. She would have done it to, except she was interrupted when Kurt, codenamed Nightcrawler, BAMFED in behind her.
"KITTY," the fuzzy blue mutant exclaimed. He wasn't wearing his "human" disguise created by his image inducer since he was in the safety of the Mansion. However, he wasn't the physical appearance of the young man that startled Kitty, but rather the way he snuck up on her. After all this time she still couldn't get used to the idea of someone appearing out of thin air like that. It was still a bit unnerving. Then again, so is the idea of being able to phase through a solid object, she thought recalling her own powers could have a disturbing element about them.
"SHHHHH," Kitty hissed as she turned to face Kurt. "Do you want them to hear us?! I'm trying to find out what's going on!"
"I'll tell you vhat's going on. Ve have intruders! Come on," he said as he grabbed her arm and BAMFED them to the scene of action.
To be continued…
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What do the images Xavier saw mean? Will they see fruition or are they just a long-shot possibility? Only time will tell….. Thank you to those of you reading this! I hope you stick around to see what happens next:-)