Trials of Hope
By Slim2000 aka David Lewis
And Sguthrie16 aka
The Sentinels have risen up to 'save' America from Mutantkind. Their rallying points the bodies of Robert Kelly and Graydon Creed. The story begins three days after the X-mansion is destroyed. Xavier is dead, along with Iceman, Polaris, Emma Frost, Thunderbird, Reyes, Bishop, and Angel. Not even non-mutant superheroes are safe Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Women, Thing, Iron Man, Cap America, and Hulk are among the bodies heaped onto the Sentinels' funeral pyres.
To make matters worse Apocalypse has gathered together an alliance of Mutant Nationals to counter the threat of the Sentinels.
In this world the remaining X-men, Magneto, the Human Torch, and Doom try to save the world and the Dream.
Resistance Roster:
Cyclops, Magneto, Psylocke, Storm, Phoenix, Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Havok, Shadow Cat, Human Torch, Doom, Beast, and Nightcrawler.
Katherine Pryde winced as she rendered herself intangible and escaped from the pinning grasp of the chunk of asphalt that had suddenly fallen upon her in the abandoned parking garage beneath Manhattan. Here she was, with the uncanny ability to phase her molecules through those of any other object, and she hadn't been able to react fast enough to protect her leg from the falling debris. She drags herself over to the far wall, away from the gaping opening above her head where the ceiling had inexplicably caved in. More than likely it was a result of one of the dozens of destructive culling that had occurred above the city streets. But at the moment, Shadowcat had much greater things to worry about, such as the unknown status of her three teammates who, until a few moments ago, had been battling four Sentinels above ground. But for the moment, the Human Torch, Gambit, and Rogue were unaccounted for, and Kitty decided that the best thing at the moment to do would be to continue
her mission and hope that her comrades were faring better on the surface. Hours before, the small resistance band had received a distress beacon from this exact area. The transmission was too filled with static to allow the X-Men to tell with any certainty who needed their help, but at any rate they could not leave fellow mutants in New York City, which had become one of the most dangerous locations in the entire United States. Gingerly, she crawled and then hobbled past demolished vehicles and cracked support beams, using her tracing beacon to locate the source of the original transmission. Amazingly the device was still intact, and according to its internal compass, it appeared as if the call had come from just a hundred yards north of her position. She continued her painful descent through the moonlit catacombs for one minute, two, then three, until she froze, hearing a tiny noise from behind her. She slowly turned, directing her vision in the general vicinity in which
she had heard the sound, but it didn't look like anything had changed. She saw just a beat-up Ford Explorer and an overturned Volkswagen Beetle. She tiptoed forward again, noticing a thin shaft of light coming from just ahead of her. When she reached the other wall, she ran her fingers slowly over their cool metallic surface, until she felt a grooved panel that, she mused, was her ticket into whatever room contained the light source. Suddenly she screamed in agony, scraping her nails against the door as her nervous system was temporarily disabled. She found herself unable to either move or phase, and could only make out a shadowy figure leaning toward her before her entire world went black.
Meanwhile, over San Francisco, California, a lone man descended over the massive wreckage of what had once been one of America's finest cities. The proud bridge was in ruins, leaving stubs of twisted iron and steel on either side of the water and dozens of pieces of floating debris. Magneto was not pleased. He could not honestly say that he had not foreseen such catastrophic events, nor could he dismiss them as simply another of a long line of tragedies wrought upon the world by humanity's fear. That was why he had chosen to band with the few remaining "heroes" including Xavier's students, who months before he would consider gutting before protecting them from the onslaught of the Sentinels. Surrounded by his electromagnetic force bubble, he touched down next to the smoldering mess that was left of one of X-Force's safe houses, where they had supposedly been staying during the Sentinels' attack on California. He did not expect to find anyone living among the crumbled stone,
but Cyclops had been quite adamant about locating any and all possible allies. Dusk was descending, and thin rays of vermilion light dazzled him as they sunk below the horizon. In another time and place, he might had been moved, but after the death of much of his family and the endless crimes committed against his race, he had grown cold towards any of nature's offerings of feeble beauty. Instead, he diverted his gaze back to the base, using his magnetic powers to levitate various pieces of furniture, crates, and what had been the metal framework of the building. Startled, he noticed a small opening out of the corner of his eye that seemed to lead below the surface. He removed all that was blocking the entrance and then lowered his self into the shaft. The air was musty and filled with an acrid odor he couldn't quite identify. A few lights sparked on and off sporadically, affording him only a partial view of his surroundings, but he was able to see enough to locate X-Force's
former ready room. The roughly domed chamber was a disaster area. Once complex machinery was strewn in heaps on the cement flooring, and several other small shafts of light were visible above his head, giving way to the ravaged landscape above. He took in his breath sharply as he saw a small slender hand jutting from beneath a gargantuan computer console, gray and covered in dust. He raised the apparatus with his mutant ability, and almost immediately wished he hadn't. There, crushed and battered, lied the bodies of both Tabitha Smith, once called Meltdown, and Bedlam, Jesse Aaronsen. His anger seethed at finding these youths shot down in their prime, and his wrath was fueled even more as he subsequently found the corpses of James Proudstar and Domino, who were apparently shot through the heart where they had sat at a small table in a corner of the room. He lowered his helmeted head, once again dejected, until he heard a low groan coming from an adjoining room. He quickly
ran through the broken wall nearest him, and gasped in astonishment as he saw the trembling body of Sam Guthrie as he pulled himself from beneath a bed frame. "Cannonball!" Magneto exclaimed, as he swiftly threw the bed off one of his former charges. He was honestly relieved to see this ex-New Mutant still alive. He had parted from the team under not exactly desirable circumstances, but he was nonetheless happy to discover the Sentinels had not been entirely thorough in their elimination of X-Force. "Mag--Magneto?" Sam stuttered as he struggled to stand. Magneto grasped him by the shoulders as he nearly fell to the ground. "What are--how did? Wait--if you're comin' to recruit me into some sort of newfangled version of Acolytes--" "At another time, I may have considered that, child, but you may be surprised that I am currently residing with your X-Men associates." Sam looked skeptical. "And so they chose you to send for us? Doubtful." "I realize that I might not sound
completely convincing, but right now I am your only hope, so I suggest you work with me rather than engaging in a superhuman battle that will more than likely attract the attention of another battalion of robotic mutant hunters," Magnus replied, his tone rather sarcastic. "Well, come on then, we have to regroup with the rest of the team and--" "They're gone, Sam." Cannonball stared at him, unbelieving. "What? It couldn't--no, I won't believe it! Tab? Tabby?" He stumbled from the room, tripping over an overturned chair, and ended up facing his dead girlfriend. "No... NO!" Cannonball's body was choked with sobs, but soon they were overtaken by another louder sound, a sort of persistent hum. Repulsor jets. Sentinels. "Sam, we have to get out of here now!" he ordered. "But... Tabby..." "We are leaving now and--" Above them, chaos reigned as the remains of the ceiling were shot to pieces...
To be continued! Well what do you think? Come on people, post more stuff!
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San Francisco-
Magneto and Sam Guthrie looked up at the metal face of the Sentinel, "Halt and surrender mutants." Before either the Sentinel or Magneto could act a blast ripped through the Sentinel's chest. Magneto had taken apart enough Sentinels to know the blast had destroyed the link between the main computer and generator. Magneto sensed another metallic presence. A hovercraft appeared over the hole in the ceiling, a figure with a huge gun stood in the open door of the craft.
"Cable."
"Happy to see you Sam and surprised to see you Magneto. Sam gather the team and prepare blow this joint."
Sam lowers his head in sadness. "I am the team now."
Cable lowers his head and sheds a tear from his organic eye. "Get on board and let's get out of here." Magneto and Cannonball fly into the craft and Cable closes the door.
"Hello Sam I am glad you're alive." Sam looks at the figure standing in the cockpit and recognized one of X-Force's founding members Roberto DaCosta aka Sunspot.
"Roberto what are you doing here?"
"Selene was killed by Nemesis and Blackheart has abandoned the Club I am free and decided to help Cable find you guys."
"Where are we headed Cable?" "A place I have been preparing for this eventuality."
New York City-
Kate opened her eyes. She was lying on a bed too hard for her taste, but then again she was glad to be waking up. The room was dimly lit and she could only make out four figures standing in the room. "Are you alright? Sorry we had to stun you it was unfortunity."
"I am fine." Her eyes finally adjusted to the light. The person talking to her was Exodus. "What are you doing here?" She jumped to her feet and was surprised by the lack of pain in her leg.
"We called you." She scanned the others. Directly behind Exodus was the man called Spiderman hanging from the ceiling. To her right was a less inspiring figure, Toad, however he had changed since she last saw him he was showing years that made him an X-veteran. To her left was a total unknown, he wore only a t-shirt and jeans, and his physical features were only unique in their blandness. He had no unique facial features and a regular tone body.
"Who are you?" Kate asked the man.
"Call me Donald. I like Exodus and Toad am a disciple of Magneto."
"Why did you bring me here?"
"We are trying to hook up with the X-men. Let's go find your friends."
Washington
It was once a place where freedom irradiated. Now it is the center of the Sentinel's power base.
The room is brightly lit. At the table was a group of men and women which formed the Committee For a Pure Humanity.
"Chairman Gyrich, our efforts to relocate the pure humans is proceeding effectively."
"What are the results from our invasion of Canada, Mexico, and Cuba?"
"Cuba is still resisting."
"Throw everything we got at them."
Havana, Cuba-
It was the capital of a totalitarian regime now it is one of the last bastions of coexistence in the America's. Upon hearing that both X-mansion had been destroyed and that the Cuban Government was going to align with the Sentinels a pro-X coup overthrew the government alongside the military.
Cyclops looked over sea wondering if the Dream was really...dead. The x-mansion had been totally destroyed with a number of his friends killed and his teacher killed. When he found out had bad things had really gotten. Most of the Avengers dead, half of GenX, the Fantastic Four ruined; and worse of all no one present knew the fate of Franklin Richards.
"Scott."
"What is it Alex?"
"I just got the exact numbers from Banshee of GenX members dead and counted for."
"Tell me."
"Jubilee, Skin, and Husk are dead. M was injured and evacuated. Penance, Chamber, and Banshee are alive and well."
"Make sure Logan gets the news when he returns from Japan."
"Alright." Havok walked away.
"Xavier, please forgive us."
Tokyo-
It was the first city to fall to Apocalypse. To the mutant called Phantazia it was a beautiful site. Apocalypse had rescued her from the Sentinels and transported her to the Asian continent to carve out a Mutant Utopia. And this was his capital. She didn't know why Stryfe had chosen her to deliver the report but she followed his orders.
She touched down at Spiral balcony and entered the Thrown room of the High Lord. Apocalypse was standing over table on it was a man. "Sinister can you do as I asked?"
"It will not be difficult." Phantazia approached to recognized the man it was Jamie Madrox.
"Good he will make an excellent addition to my army in fact he will provide me with one."
To be continued...
"Chere, I tink the cards are definitely stacked against us!" Remy LeBeau exclaimed as he leaped backwards to avoid the crashing fist of one of three remaining Sentinels. Above him, Rogue and Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, were doing their best just to evade the robots' deadly eye beams and force beams released from their fingertips. "That's an understatement, Sugah," the X-Men's Southern belle responded, just barely making it past one of the Sentinels' outstretched hands. "These tin cans sure do know how to throw a barbeque though," Johnny yelled over the din of the fight. He threw a few streams of flame in between dodging and managed to disrupt the nearest Sentinel's optical sensors. "Rogue, give me a hand here!" "Ah'm on it!" She flew around the back of the Sentinel's neck and pulled, using every ounce of her superior strength to remove the drone's head from its shoulders. Steel coils and servomotors whined in protest as the connections eventually gave way, and the
Sentinel landed in a twitching heap across the city street. That made the numbers shift in the X-Men's favor considerably. But then Rogue looked down and saw a Sentinel put Remy in its sights and the Cajun was backed against a wall. "NO!" she screamed and gave the second Sentinel's head a vicious uppercut that sent it stumbling into a Laundromat. "Thanks for the save! But now Gambit's gonna show this junk pile what true kinetic energy is! Give me a fastball special. She dove down, lifting Gambit swiftly in her arms, and then through him at the Sentinel's head. Remy grasped hold of the robot's cranium, charged it with his signature form of energy, and then leapt off, sliding on a damaged lamppost. The Sentinel's head exploded in a fiery blaze, leaving one opponent. Unfortunately, as the pair of star-crossed lovers turned around they discovered the Human Torch, now powered down, his body bent a bit awkwardly on a pile of rubble. Rogue flew quickly to his aid, but was downed by
an unexpected shot of asphyxiating gas. Gambit knew it wouldn't kill her, but she'd definitely be down for the count for the time being. "Target Identified: Omega-level threat, mutant designate Remy LeBeau. Adapting systems to compensate for kinetic energy surges." "Oh great," Remy muttered under his breath, as he threw half dozen playing cards that exploded on the Sentinel's armored chest, but to no effect. "Looks like this Cajun boy's gonna be headin' to the great beyond a bit sooner than he might've wanted." He shielded his eyes and prepared for the worst, but he opened them just as quickly as he heard a shriek of tearing metal. Floating in the gap between the robot's torso and legs, was the telekinetically powered Exodus, along with an average looking man he didn't recognize, Toad, Kitty, and of all people, Spider Man! "Well ain't this an interesting party!" "Enough of the banter, LeBeau," Exodus cut him off. "We're the ones who sent the signal, and now that your
associate Shadowcat has found us, I suggest we get you and your friends to safety quickly and then we will locate our lord Magneto."
Elisabeth Braddock, self-proclaimed action junkie was not enjoying this. She was a master of numerous martial arts, had mystical powers whose extents she had yet been able to explore thanks to her exposure to the Crimson Dawn, and immense psionic powers, especially due to her rediscovered telepathy which allowed her to generate her trademarked psychic knife. But now, in the alleys of London, she thought that the wars were getting old. She had, a few weeks before, witnessed the death of the only two individuals, besides her brother, that she could ever truly say she loved. Warren Worthington had seemed perfect to her when she first met him. All his conflicting emotions, his huge wings, his huge fortune, his unpredictable dark side... all had lead them to him and together they formed a sort of alliance from their similar experiences. Both had been altered into forms they would never have imagined, and rested in the safety of each other, but time had passed. With the regaining
of his original wings, Warren became different, she mused. She wasn't sure how he was different, but something in him, or maybe it was in her, had changed. They drifted apart and she knew it was inevitable. But she hadn't expected to fall for Neal Sharra quite so quickly. There romance was brief, but in the short months she knew him, the two had become so close, almost more than the bond Scott and Jean shared. But any dreams of being Mrs. Worthington or Mrs. Sharra had been shattered by the Sentinels' attack on the X-Mansion. All the smoking corpses had turned her off to the violence, but she had no choice but to join with her friends once again, as a small part of the last hope the mutant race, and probably the world, had of survival. At this moment, however, she had more important things to worry about. Her contact was supposed to meet her in this precise location, under the shadow of the Tower of London, fifteen minutes ago, and she considered the man to be extremely
time-conscientious. One would have to be in order to be the former Black King of the Hellfire Club. Her muscles stiffened as she felt a vague presence hovering above her. Not a Sentinel--it was a mutant signature, but not the one she had expected. Her unknown assailant dived down at her, but she was prepared and threw up an agile kick. Unfortunately, the attacker was heavier than she had expected, and she fell off balance. There, before her, towered the horseman of Apocalypse that had once been called Caliban, but was now known only as Pestilence. Silent, the hulking ex-X-Forcer reached for her with one of his meaty hands, which Betsy promptly sliced open with a set of ninja stars she produced from a pouch on her belt. He bellowed in rage, but Psylocke took the opportunity to flip onto Pestilence's shoulders and fry his brain with her mental powers. He collapsed into a row of trashcans, unable to get up. CLICK. Psylocke turned slowly, and found she was facing down the
barrels of multiple high-powered futuristic weapons. The man wielding them had a face that was a sickly green-gray, scarred multiple times and with a bionic eye that glowed yellow. She recognized him as Gauntlet, one of the original Riders of the Storm. "All right, lady, we've got you cornered. My powers allow me to be protected from psychic assaults, and I don't think you can pull another ninja stunt before I riddle you with holes, so you'd best come willingly. You are wanted as a servant of the greatest leader this world has seen for all millennia, En Sabah Nur, the Apocalypse!" She had no choice but to comply for the time being, considering that his argument was completely logical. "AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!" Fortunately for her, she had back up. Gauntlet was down for the count, hit by a powerful electrical blast. She glanced up to the rooftop and saw the imposing figures of four individuals she could all identify. Sebastian Shaw, her brother, Captain Britain, Allira
Steed, once the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club's London branch, and Bolt, the former New Warrior that had produced the electricity. "Sister," Brian called down to her. "We have to talk."
Meanwhile, in the less-than-spacious war room the Summers brothers were afforded in Havana, Cuba, Cyclops was staring intently at the view screens that gave him access to the entire government's camera systems. He was amazed that the previous regime had installed so many surveillance devices, even going so far as to put them in normal households, but now it served to benefit the Resistance, as he could detect the coming of either a Sentinel strike or any of Apocalypse's forces which were gathering in Japan. Alex was out, patrolling the grounds, but Scott knew it was more to mourn over the loss of Lorna, one of the first casualties of this genetic war. How he missed his own love, Jean, several continents away, but he knew she was where they needed her, for the time being. She, along with Hank and Dr. Doom, had formed a base in the Arctic Circle, from which they operated using a modified version of Cerebro in order to locate other mutants that they could possibly enlist in
their cause to protect humanity from itself and save their mutant brethren. Suddenly, an alarm went off overhead, and a transmission was beamed to him in holograph. "Commander Summers, it's Scanner! I'm here on the coast of the city, and we've got seventy-two unidentified blips coming in from the north. My guess is it's a pre-emptive strike from the Human Council to gauge the amount of firepower we have available." "You're probably right," Scott replied while preparing some of the automatic Shi'ar defenses the Resistance had installed. "They have thousands of Sentinels at their disposal, so why else would they send only a relatively small amount to attack the entire country?" "Granted, sir, but do you think we're ready for them? Oh my--NO! Oh no! I don't know how they've done it, but the Sentinels have suddenly appeared directly above us! They must have some sort of new teleportation abilities we weren't aware of. I'll try to bring up the shield here
before--AAAAAAIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!*" "Scanner? SCANNER?!" Cyclops yelled into the now blank screen. The war for Cuba had begun.
To be continued...
--SGuthrie19
Over the Amazon Rainforest-
Cable and Cannonball were sitting in the back of the Hovercraft. Neither had said a word since Magneto had departed to Cuba when Cable told him he just some equipment both seemed to be mourning the lost of their friends. Sam decided to break the silence. "Cable where are we headed?"
"Sam, very well we are almost there. A few years back I ran into a young mutant who had ability to access and use any power he encountered permanently. He was also a disciple of Magneto." Nodding in the direction he went. "However unlike most he believed that Magneto's way would lead to this day nor did he believe Xavier would be able to stop it. He decided the best choice was to secretly build an army and prepare. We are going to the place where he made this belief so that it can provide us with the direction we need." Cable let that stand and made it clear he would reveal no more. Eventually the hover pads died down and the craft set down. It was not the stronghold Sam had expected or wanted. It was an ancient temple evident by the amount of plants growing on it. What amazed Sam was the symbol on the front of the temple. It was two figures touching hands, one human and the other animal-like.
"What is this place Cable?"
"About six thousand years ago, a group of early mutants and humans forged an alliance and built this city. They were powerful but too few to prevent their destruction however they were the first people champion coexistence. Follow me."
Sam followed him and Sunspot trailed. "Roberto can you brighten up this wall." Sunspot turned on a palm light. The wall showed a series of memorials. The first was clearly the people building their city than it showed Apocalypse emerging from the Celestial Ship. It was followed by an image of a Nazi concentration camp complete with swastika what amazed Cannonball is that is centered on a white haired boy. It was followed two Sentinels standing around a pile of bodies. Last was a dark figure with a sword emerging from the arm. On the ground before him were the bodies of Apocalypse and many others. "Sam, Roberto these pictures are as old as this temple. These things were foreseen so thoroughly that it is no mistaking what they saw. Worse of all they are dated to the year the last one and it is, is eight years away."
New York-
"Actually Exodus we will not be joining Lord Magneto yet. I have to pick something up first at my base," ordered Donald.
"Very well Genesis. Toad and Spiderman, check on the others." Toad and Spiderman moved to checkout The Torch and Rogue.
"Genesis I am afraid that the Torch is dead." Genesis hung his head in disdain. "Is Rogue alright?"
"She will recover."
"Very well let's leave." The area blurs and then refocuses. They are no longer in the wrecked city of New York but in a metal hall.
"Never do that again Genesis."
"Sorry but I didn't want to stay in New York any longer."
"Where are we?" asked Gambit.
"My Arctic base, and I believe those are your friends." Everyone turned toward the point Genesis was pointing toward; and saw Beast, Doom, and Jean Grey staring straight at them.
Havana Cuba-
Magneto arrived over the city of Havana and was not pleased. The area was filled with laser fire; thousands of Sentinels filled the sky strafing the X-men's base. Magneto dived into the battle blowing up three Sentinels with a thought. In the center of the battle Havok and Cyclops were battling back-to-back unleashing their full power on any Sentinel that dared to come into view. Storm, Chamber, and Banshee flew through the battle laying waste to any Sentinel that crossed their path. Magneto moved to join them. "Storm what is the plan?"
"Prepare for the Blackbirds to take off the flyers will escort it out and prevent the Sentinels from targeting the ground troops." Magneto flew off to level a Sentinel that was taking a pop shot at Cyclops.
On the other side of the battlefield Banshee took a hit from a sentinel and fell to the ground. Magneto could not do anything for him as he was engaged with a trio of Sentinels. However Chamber blasted his way through the horde of sentinels to grab Banshee before impact.
A scream from the ground caught Magneto's attention. Cyclops beheaded a sentinel but Havok was kneeling on the ground burned. He then heard repulsor jets and saw the Blackbird emerge from the secret hangar. Cyclops pulled his brother in the plane. Havok's body was burned and his left hand was nothing but a stub. The sentinels pushed forward making Storm and Chamber retreat to the space right over the Blackbird. "Cyclops, Storm get out of here I will hold these machines."
"How Magneto?"
"A focused EMP charge."
"I understand good luck," responded Cyclops. He knew what Magneto had in mind and knew it was the only way. He knew the blast would probable kill Magneto. But he knew his children Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were among the dead in Avengers headquarters. Perhaps he was tired of the war, perhaps he was tired of the death, but maybe perhaps he was just tired. As the jet buzzed off the runway Magneto unleashed the most powerful magnetic burst he ever unleashed in the space of 3 miles. The stress harmed him though. The power was too much and burned him out and he fell to the ground. His last conciliation was that the Sentinels were feeling no better and he had denied them the heads of the X-men.
Marta Kauffman backed against the polished walls of the corridor and hid in one of the recessed doorways to an antechamber as a human guard passed by, wielding a high-powered assault rifle. Luckily, she remained unnoticed for the time being. A few years back, she wouldn't have thought twice about melting through the man's puny homo sapien brain, but at this point in her life, Strobe didn't have the time or the energy for this man's death. "Gill, are you in position?" she whispered into the tiny comlink she carried in the palm of her hand. "Almost, babe. Tamara and I will come down through the skylight like I said. I'll need you to take out the security cameras at the north and west entrances, and hopefully by then, Paradigm will have been able to interface with the security systems. If not, then we'll all be cooked. See you in five." "Over and out," she responded brusquely before easing out of the doorway and back down the hall. This was an extremely delicate operation, but
she knew the Mutant Liberation Force was needed now more than ever to free America's and soon the world's mutant populace. She only hoped that the rest of the team would be as fortunate as her to get so far in such a heavily guarded installation. The newest, and now deceased leader of the Front had given them vast knowledge of the layout of numerous government buildings, and a load of extremely advanced technology to aid them in their cause. Gamesmaster had been a genius, an omnipath with a vision for greatness, but that hadn't stopped him from getting shot through the head by a Sentinel back in San Antonio a week earlier. Amazingly, the rest of the team had survived intact, and were now equipped with powerful cloaking devices that were able to mask their presence from the newest wave of Sentinels. Now, the stakes were higher than ever before, and if the Mutant Liberation Front failed, it could be the end... of everything.
London.
Elisabeth Braddock sat in what was left of a bombed out pub on the south side of the city, along with Brian and the others who, hours before had saved her from an ambush by Pestilence and Gauntlet, servants of the madman Apocalypse. "You were not wise to come here Betsy. The situation here in England is... precarious to say the least. Parliament is now split nearly in half on whether they should form an alliance with the Human Committee in the States to avoid a battle that could end up in our proud nation's destruction." "Which is one of the reasons why I ASKED her to come," Sebastian Shaw interjected. "I would have used the mental resources of my dear Ms. Steed," he said, gesturing to the striking figure in black leather across the table, "but her abilities only go so far as to psionically skin someone, and that isn't exactly what we had planned for a few select Parliament members." Betsy's eyes widened in shock. "What are you saying, Sebastian?" The once Black King smiled
devilishly and replied, "Our plan," he began, "should be fairly obvious. I plan to use you in order to telepathically change the minds of some of the key proponents for allying with the States so that they will instead express utter distaste for it. The other remaining meeker members who had once been for the idea will lose steam, and hopefully in the interim, we will have a big enough European alliance of our own formed to beat back the Sentinel army they are constantly producing. I have agents in place that have already secured the governments of both Spain and Portugal, and others plans are well underway to gain control over Germany and France." "Despite your overwhelming confidence, Shaw, this plan sounds more than a bit far-fetched. My powers, over the past few years, have been unpredictable at best, and I cannot guarantee my influence will hold over them for any extended period of time. And even if I could, do you think what we're doing is wise? We are, in essence,
promoting a full-scale intercontinental war! It could end up becoming World War III!" Chris Bradley, Bolt, also looked a bit skeptical. "She does have a point, Mr. Shaw. Are you planning on leading this alliance? And if you do, how do we know we can trust you in a position of such power, especially after your shady dealings for over a decade with the Hellfire Club!" "My boy, you overestimate my hunger for power. I am not the megalomaniac you might think. And while I may have certain... aspirations... I do not believe that my personal interests would outweigh my desire to protect the overall safety of this planet." He sounded genuine, but from the look she saw him exchange with his apparent romantic interest, London's Black Queen, she deduced that his motives might not be as altruistic as she claimed. "Brian, where do you weigh in on all this?" Captain Britain's expression was stony beneath his patriotic mask. "I wouldn't have considered this, but Shaw's plan of action is
logical. We certainly can't sit idly by while the reign of tyranny of the Human Committee extends its grip across the world and eliminates the mutant population entirely." Psylocke sat silent for several moments, considering her options. But what options did she have now? After all, Cyclops had been in favor of the overthrow of the Cuban government, and she supposed that this scheme was no less risky or uncertain. She wasn't usually so indecisive, but... "All right. I'll do it."
Aboard the Blackbird, Cyclops was numb. He stood beside his sobbing brother as Storm leaned over him and used some medical equipment the Beast had left on the ship to cauterize his wounds and seal the huge opening left where his left hand once was. Nightcrawler was piloting at the moment, with Penance and the now paraplegic M beside him. Chamber was hovering over Banshee on a makeshift cot as he slowly regained consciousness. He stared back at the remainder of the island of Cuba, the blackened wasteland slowly receding behind him. How much had they lost back there on that tiny island that had, for a short time been there home? Would they ever really have a place to call home from now on? He hoped so, but he was no longer certain about anything. Neophyte, one of his generals back on Cuba, came from the engine room to make a few repairs. "Scott, where are we going to go now?" "I don't think we have any choice but to go back to the Arctic now to recuperate. We certainly didn't
accomplish much back there." "True... but if you don't mind my questioning your judgment, do you think that's wise? After all, we have no idea exactly what the Sentinels' capabilities are now after they exhibited that odd pseudo-teleportation ability we witnessed back in Havana." Cyclops grimaced. "I KNOW, Neophyte, I KNOW, but what other choice do we HAVE?" he snapped. The tension was getting to him, as it was to everyone else on the ship. The young ex-Acolyte retreated, a bit dejected, to join Chamber. He had been hard on him, he knew, but hurt feelings weren't exactly all that important to him anymore. Suddenly, Jonothon began holding his head in pain. "Something's... c-c-c-coming, I--NYARRRGH!!!" "Chamber, what is it?" Storm cried, rushing to his aid as he fell to his knees. "Something's disrupting my powers. Something big, and it's right above us." "But--how could it get that close without us knowing it?" Before anyone could respond, the roof of the Blackbird was peeled
off like the top of a can of tuna and the rest of the ship broke into pieces, sending all the passengers falling across the sky. Chamber, recovering, quickly used his expanded telekinetic powers to keep him and the rest of the X-Men aloft, but it took some strain on his part. Scott's mouth went dry as he viewed a monstrous robotic construction that was bigger than a dozen Sentinels combined. "Surrender, mutants, or be terminated by the power of the Ultra-Sentinel!!!"
Back in a classified government facility outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Strobe had managed to destroy all the cameras to allow her entry and that of her teammates into the main chamber. Her pulse raced as she readied herself to signal the others that they were clear. Everything had gone perfectly, but she had that awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had felt when they had been defeated by the X-Men when the Mutant Liberation Front's original leader Stryfe had attempted to take over the world. But now was not the time for worrying. She pulled the comlink close to her lips and said slowly and clearly, "MLF, we are ready to enter.... NOW." Quickly, she used her power to generate intense heat to melt through the heavy double doors on the room's north side and leapt in the opening she had created. The second door at the west shook; as it was struck multiple times before it gave way to the entrance of Unuscione, Forearm, and Random. Dragoness crashed through the
ceiling on her metallic wings, Wildside clinging to her back. Paradigm, the techno-organic member of the team, materialized through the floor. "All right, Mega Man, do your stuff!" he ordered, and Paradigm injected his tendrils into the main computer console, locking down all the entrances with blast shields while absorbing the information the Front was after into his memory systems. The rest of the team fanned out, wreaking havoc on the rest of the machinery with Dragoness's flame blasts, the brute strength of Forearm, and Unuscione's psionic exoskeleton. That accomplished they rushed back to Paradigm who had finished downloading the files they were after. "All right team, we have the info we need to take out the Sentinel army for good. Now all we've gotta do is get out of here and sell it to the highest bidder. I'm sure the high and mighty Apocalypse or One-Eye and his X-Freaks would kill to get their hands on this stuff. Now let's jet." "Not quite yet, miscreants," a
harsh, grating voice called out, and the group turned to view a distorted image of Henry Peter Gyrich on one of the cracked view screens. "Do you really think we would be unprepared for this type of espionage and intrusion? You are truly insulting our intelligence if you believe that. Prepare to die for your crimes against humanity!" With that, the screen went blank and Strobe felt the ground begin to quake as two-dozen Sentinels erupted from the floor, sending her sprawling. "Let's move people, we can make it--AAAAAHHHHH!!!" Wildside howled as a laser beam went straight through his chest. Unuscione toppled a few robots with her exoskeleton, and then powered down to check Richard Gill's vitals. "He's gone, team! This whole mission is lost!" "Not yet it isn't!" Dragoness called out as she grabbed Strobe and Random in both arm and letting Paradigm mount her back. Forearm was downed with another blast from behind, as a small canister hit the ground near Unuscione, spraying
toxic gas. She brought up her shield again, but it was too late, and only served to hold in the poison that quickly asphyxiated her. Dragoness soared and spun past the killers' eye blasts, but lost Random who was shot from her grasp by a missile. She made it through the opening of the domed room and then zipped over the verdant forest below. Two Sentinels managed to escape the conflagration that Tamara left in her wake and their first blast removed Paradigm's legs and torso and Strobe was barely able to hold onto both him and Dragoness' talons. The trio of mutants dipped in closer to the ground but another shot sent Dragoness hurtling into a tree while Strobe clung to Paradigm and hit the ground with a thud. Her elbow was out of joint, but she kept running as fast as she could, stumbling through the tangled underbrush and, according to her global positioning system, out of the compound. She knew that they would send someone for her. The duo of Sentinels, she observed, were
returning to their base, more than likely obtaining reinforcements. The money wasn't an issue now--she had to get those files to someone among the X-Men before she ended up like the rest of her team...
To be continued...
Tokyo, Japan
Phantazia couldn't believe her fortune, since Strife had not come in person she was to sit in his place and he would be bound by anything she agreed to. Fortunately, Stryfe gave her a list of things he would agree to. The message was to be opened before Apocalypse and never before that. The room was circular and ended in a pointed roof; it was the pinnacle of the Spire. The room had four seats arrayed around a throne and directed toward it, each of the four seats a forty-five degree screen attached to one of the arms. Already in the room was Sinister, Nemesis, and the Dark Beast, the Ascended Lords. Apocalypse was not on the throne yet. "Am I late?"
"No I am afraid the High Lord is late," said the Beast.
"He is not really late he is just showing who's the boss," said Sinister.
"Not to mention the fact he is not happy with Stryfe's disobedience and Sinister he is just reminding you who is the boss," said Nemesis.
Phantazia took her seat and turned on her monitor. A map of the world was displayed to her. It showed the Americas firmly in the hands of the Sentinels. The few remaining nations in Western Europe and Northern Africa, and then Apocalypse's Empire, stretch from the German-Polish border to the Bering Straits from Siberia to Australia. She felt prided that she had helped over run the human nations that now knew the Glory of Apocalypse, particularly in the Western part. She glanced a peek at the Ascended Lords. They too were noticeably awed by what they had accomplished so quickly. She felt Pride to be in the company of such powerful men. The High Lord entered the room followed by two armored guards. Apocalypse sat at his throne.
"We are here to discuss what shall next for our empire. Do we grow? Strengthen our holdings? Or do we launch diversionary attacks on our opponents?"
"Our forces are numerous even China and Russia fell before our might as though they were nothing," Nemesis.
"Yes but we were pushed back into the sea when we invaded Britain," Sinister.
Phantazia decided to speak up, "when we invaded Britain our problem was not our forces but our strategy. We plowed right into their strongest defenses. Strife believes that we still have the forces, just we have to use them more efficiently." Neither Sinister or Nemesis were smiling but the High Lord so she thought that was worth it.
"Nonetheless a more efficient use of troops would be taking Northern Africa. I believe it would give us a good platform to hit Western Europe." Sinister
"I agree with Sinister." Nemesis
"Agree." Phantazia and Beast.
"Very well but afterwards I would like to develop our internal facilities. There would be no point in conquering this fine empire if our enemies annihilate its weak defenses. Sinister and Stryfe will hit Northern Africa, Beast will deploy to the Philippines to keep the machines guessing, and Nemesis will guard the Polish-German border."
With that we all departed.
The sky-
Everyone stood still unable to react to the Sentinel. Chamber still quivered in pain. Cyclops was tempted to tear off his visor and let the Sentinel have it. He saw Storm charging a lighting bolt. Before either the Sentinel or Storm could act though the Sentinel started to shift. "Internal malfunction, components missing, unable to contact..." the sentinel turned into water and fell into the sea.
Cyclops looked out across the sky and saw a man with red hair just gliding toward them he did not know who the man was but he knew he was the one who save their lives.
"Need a lift?" He did not recognize the boy but he was about fourteen had red hair and a fairly muscular body he was also pretty handsome. He wore a tight jumpsuit that had only one marking four X's arrayed in a circle. Cyclops realized who it was.
"How do you intend to help us?" The boy pulled out a device.
"Tracker portal to HQ." The boy closed the device and a circular vortex opened behind him. "This is your ride to a soft landing want to come." He entered the vortex and disappeared. Chamber began fielding them in.
Arctic Base-
The level of technology had surprised Hank McCoy initially; and much of it was a clone of the X-men's. He was more surprised that it had been abandoned. But when he got underneath the terminals he discovered the technology was based on bio-organics. This was incredible advanced using organs or life forms as machines, since they wasted far less energy. What surprised Hank was that it had been abandoned, but Hank didn't really believe that.
Now Hank knew whom the owner was.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Donald Essex. I believe I have more guests than I intended." He offered his hand to Hank, knew the others; Gambit, Rogue, Shadowcat, Exodus, Toad, and Spiderman.
"Hank McCoy, so this is your base?"
"Yes it is. Observe, computer identify Genesis."
A computer screen flipped on. "Identity confirmed Donald Essex."
"Thank you. Are you having trouble with this?"
"We are trying to figure out how it works." Doom
"Let's not bother with that now I have a number of refugees to take care of. Please let's head to the cafeteria." A door Beast hadn't noticed opened and Cyclops and a number of X-men followed a young man walked in he. Donald noticed them and shook his head in frustration.
"Leave your door unlocked for one day and see what happens."
"Genesis I have a list of dead and wounded from the X-men." the boy.
"Give it to me later. Cyclops, may I ask where is Magneto?"
"He unleashed a EMP blast on the Sentinel army I believe he is dead."
"Genesis I am going to go find him." Exodus.
"Very well. Take care." Exodus teleported out of the room to Havana.
Hours later-
Cable (who had just arrived), Cyclops, Genesis, and Beast sat in Genesis's war room. The only thing they discussed was how bad things had gotten.
Her name was not important nor was her rank. Only her mission mattered. It was her job to place beacons on the Iberian coast prior to the Sentinels invasion. The beacons would allow there teleportation units to hit the beach without raising an alarm. She activated the last one and waited. The sky above her filled with Sentinels and all she could do was smile. The invasion of Europe had begun.
to be continued...
London was in a state of panic. The news of the Sentinels attack on Eurasia had arrived a couple of hours before, and the entire city's populace were quickly packing, getting ready to relocate to... where? At this point, there weren't many choices. Either one would have to side with the Committee for a Pure Humanity and trek to the states, or to stand under the iron thumb of the dictator Apocalypse. When the Sentinels made there move against Eastern Europe, which was less heavily fortified than the more established and wealthy nations in the West, they had originally not encountered much resistance. That is until they came face to face against Nemesis' mutant army. Chaos reigned in Germany, Poland and Greece, and Shaw had received word that his operatives there had perished. However, he did have a trump card in place, and hoped that she would prove herself worthy. But none of the rest of his companions knew of these dealings, and didn't need to for the time being. At this
moment, Sebastian Shaw, Bolt, and Captain Britain were perched atop one of the tallest buildings in London's business district, prepared to respond to any call of distress from the two psychics who were beginning to implement the plan to sway the Parliament. The war in the east had been both beneficial and hazardous to their scheme, for although the delegates were still largely uncertain of whom to side with, they were considering more seriously joining someone. So they might have to improvise, but Shaw had enough faith in her to succeed. After all, Allira Steed knew what she was doing and would keep tabs on Psylocke in case she was to have second thoughts. Several blocks away, Elisabeth Braddock stealthily leapt from the roof of a neighboring house and clasped onto the vine-covered trellis running vertically against the side of Parliament member Willard Garrison's dark brick mansion. Hand over hand, she eased herself up the latticework until she reached a third story window
and carefully removed her ninja sword from its sheath. Slowly, she carved a circle in the thick glass, and then removed it with her low-level telekinetic powers. Originally, she could have just flown up to the window, but Jean's and her power switch from several months back, long before the Sentinels began their attempts at global domination, had begun to fade and she was unsure if she'd be able to remain aloft for more than a few seconds. She stepped into the room of one of Mr. Garrison's sleeping servants, careful to mask her presence telepathically as she crept out the door and down the hall. According to the layouts of the mansion that Shaw had procured, Garrison's chambers were located one floor down, and she would have to crawl down a ventilation shaft in order to slip in unnoticed. Everything went according to plan for several minutes, and she kept in contact with Ms. Steed who was guiding her progress. After climbing down the shaft, she unscrewed the grate in the
ceiling and dropped in, agile as a cat, onto the polished oak flooring. She tiptoed to his bedside and placed her fingertips on the man's wrinkled forehead and began to concentrate... until her back was ripped asunder by razor-sharp claws. She screamed in agony, falling forward onto Garrison's bed and waking him up. There, in half-shadow behind her, was Victor Creed, the murderous savage known as Sabretooth.
Cannonball wasn't a big fan of waiting, but he didn't really have a choice. Cable had left for the X-Men's Arctic base over a day ago to discuss plans with the Resistance on their next move, so Sam and Sunspot were left to wait for his return with a load of supplies and weaponry to use to defend the temple as a sort of fortress haven for any other mutants who they recruited to their cause. "I'm... sorry about Tabby and the others Sam..." Sunspot whispered as the two sat it a moss-covered chamber at the center of the ancient stone building. "I know... forget it," Sam responded, the inner turmoil starting all over again at the mere mention of her name. "You know there was nothing you could have done for them." Sam knew Roberto was only trying to be sympathetic but his arguments were hollow and weak in the face of his grief. "I'm just glad to see that you're all right. I'm... sorry for abandoning you guys for the Club. It seemed like the only thing I could do..." His friend
nodded, "I know, 'Berto. It's all right, and you don't need to tell me your reasoning--it must have been pretty important for you to make that decision. Besides, none of that really matters now that--" Sam was silenced by a sudden tremor followed by an ear-piercing alarm that went off seemingly from all around them. The previously normal stone quivered and transformed into a sort of alien material the two members of X-Force had never seen. Screens appeared on all sides, revealing various locations within the jungle. One set showed a familiar female whose body was entirely covered in flames. Magma was coming in their direction, riding on a save of fiery rock she was controlling. Two other monitors displayed another former New Mutant, Moonstar, who was currently tangling with a pair of modified Sentinels armed with adamantium blades implanted in their forearms to clear the overgrown brush, missile launchers and cannons which released poison-tipped darts. So far, Danielle
seemed to be holding her own against her attackers, and was also en route to the temple from another direction. The third mutant was a total unknown. His head was completely shaved, his body muscular and clad in dark blue leather and a long gray trench coat. Single-handedly, he was demolishing Sentinels in one move, as a spear-like rod extended from under the palm of his hand and impaled the robots' metallic brain. "This must be some sort of mutant detection device similar to Cerebro, but according to these readouts, it's far more powerful and precise," Sam observed. "No time to check that out now--let's get out of here and lend them a hand!" Roberto advised his teammate. The pair took flight, Sunspot's body turning jet black with solar energy as they burst from a square opening directly above them in the roof. Below, the massive trees were falling and being set aflame all around their temple hideout, and Cannonball realized that they would have to destroy all the robots in
order to ensure that this hideout would remain undetected. With his knowledge of the new waves of Sentinels that had been produced, this particular model was not equipped with any sort of transmitting beacon that would link it back to Master Mold, so if they managed to wipe them out, they should be in the clear. So, without a word, the pair of friends dove down into the carnage of battle once again.
Back in the palatial residence of Willard Garrison, Psylocke's blood had run cold. Here was one of her worst enemies, a man that had beaten her nearly to the point of death, to where it had taken mysticism to release her from the clutches of death. "Hey, if it isn't one of my favorite X-chicks! Surprised to find you alive after our last run-in," Sabretooth goaded her. "A condition you won't share when I'm finished with you, you animal." "Wh-what's going on? Who are you people?" Garrison was quaking with fear and dread beneath his bed sheets after his rude awakening. "So Apocalypse has stooped so low as to add a unshaven Neanderthal to his ranks," Betsy insulted her opponent as she extended her psychic blade from the back of her hand. "My employers aren't nearly so benevolent as that relic," Creed replied, catching her off guard. Who was he working for then? If not the ruler of the East, and he certainly wasn't among the organized Resistance, then what were his motives for
this attack. He lunged for her, and she quickly slid beneath his legs and kicked him in the back, only managing to make him stumble a few feet. She leapt back onto her feet and rammed her elbow into his gut as he turned around. But Victor proved to be faster than she had anticipated, and soon had her in a headlock, his claws less than an inch from her throat. "Now listen, and listen good, I want you to use your powers to put him back to sleep and then you're coming with me so we can help change the rest of the good people of Britain's mind to join the Human Committee." "What? You're betraying your whole race for THEM?" Psylocke gasped, incredulous. "Hey, Gyrich said he needed a few muties to serve as tracking Hounds, and I'm one of 'em, so you'll do as I say or we'll have a repeat of what happened a year or two back---GYAAARRRRHHH!!!" Creed bellowed as he held his head that appeared to be enveloped in mental flames. Behind him was Ms. Steed, using her power of psionic
skinning to peel back the layers of his mind. "You're lucky I arrived when I did, Ms. Braddock, or you would have been lunch meat." "Grrr... no, I saved that for you," Sabretooth muttered as he surprised them both and whirled back, gutting the old Black Queen. She squealed in pain, tumbling and whacking her head on the pillared wall. "Now it's your turn, Psy-witch." But as he reached for her throat, his head suddenly erupted before her eyes, completely mutilated by a powerful shotgun blast. She turned to see Mr. Garrison, wielding a weapon he had hidden in a secret panel behind his bed. "Now, I'm not sure what's going on here, but i think it's safe to say that you're not the enemy. What do you want from me?" he demanded of her. Betsy turned to see Ms. Steed who was lying completely still and pale in the corner of the room, obviously dead. Sabretooth, on the other hand, would most likely recover in a manner of minutes due to his accelerated healing factor. "Mr. Garrison, I
was sent by a group of resistance mutants to try to telepathically sway you to against siding with America's Human Committee so that the Sentinels would not take over Europe, though obviously I've failed my mission." "I wouldn't exactly say that," he responded tentatively. "Obviously your motives were a bit more ethical than those of our assassin here. I will side with your cause in Parliament, as long as you provide protection for me." "Agreed," she conceded, and readied herself to contact her brother and leave...
By Slim2000 aka David Lewis
And Sguthrie16 aka
The Sentinels have risen up to 'save' America from Mutantkind. Their rallying points the bodies of Robert Kelly and Graydon Creed. The story begins three days after the X-mansion is destroyed. Xavier is dead, along with Iceman, Polaris, Emma Frost, Thunderbird, Reyes, Bishop, and Angel. Not even non-mutant superheroes are safe Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Women, Thing, Iron Man, Cap America, and Hulk are among the bodies heaped onto the Sentinels' funeral pyres.
To make matters worse Apocalypse has gathered together an alliance of Mutant Nationals to counter the threat of the Sentinels.
In this world the remaining X-men, Magneto, the Human Torch, and Doom try to save the world and the Dream.
Resistance Roster:
Cyclops, Magneto, Psylocke, Storm, Phoenix, Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Havok, Shadow Cat, Human Torch, Doom, Beast, and Nightcrawler.
Katherine Pryde winced as she rendered herself intangible and escaped from the pinning grasp of the chunk of asphalt that had suddenly fallen upon her in the abandoned parking garage beneath Manhattan. Here she was, with the uncanny ability to phase her molecules through those of any other object, and she hadn't been able to react fast enough to protect her leg from the falling debris. She drags herself over to the far wall, away from the gaping opening above her head where the ceiling had inexplicably caved in. More than likely it was a result of one of the dozens of destructive culling that had occurred above the city streets. But at the moment, Shadowcat had much greater things to worry about, such as the unknown status of her three teammates who, until a few moments ago, had been battling four Sentinels above ground. But for the moment, the Human Torch, Gambit, and Rogue were unaccounted for, and Kitty decided that the best thing at the moment to do would be to continue
her mission and hope that her comrades were faring better on the surface. Hours before, the small resistance band had received a distress beacon from this exact area. The transmission was too filled with static to allow the X-Men to tell with any certainty who needed their help, but at any rate they could not leave fellow mutants in New York City, which had become one of the most dangerous locations in the entire United States. Gingerly, she crawled and then hobbled past demolished vehicles and cracked support beams, using her tracing beacon to locate the source of the original transmission. Amazingly the device was still intact, and according to its internal compass, it appeared as if the call had come from just a hundred yards north of her position. She continued her painful descent through the moonlit catacombs for one minute, two, then three, until she froze, hearing a tiny noise from behind her. She slowly turned, directing her vision in the general vicinity in which
she had heard the sound, but it didn't look like anything had changed. She saw just a beat-up Ford Explorer and an overturned Volkswagen Beetle. She tiptoed forward again, noticing a thin shaft of light coming from just ahead of her. When she reached the other wall, she ran her fingers slowly over their cool metallic surface, until she felt a grooved panel that, she mused, was her ticket into whatever room contained the light source. Suddenly she screamed in agony, scraping her nails against the door as her nervous system was temporarily disabled. She found herself unable to either move or phase, and could only make out a shadowy figure leaning toward her before her entire world went black.
Meanwhile, over San Francisco, California, a lone man descended over the massive wreckage of what had once been one of America's finest cities. The proud bridge was in ruins, leaving stubs of twisted iron and steel on either side of the water and dozens of pieces of floating debris. Magneto was not pleased. He could not honestly say that he had not foreseen such catastrophic events, nor could he dismiss them as simply another of a long line of tragedies wrought upon the world by humanity's fear. That was why he had chosen to band with the few remaining "heroes" including Xavier's students, who months before he would consider gutting before protecting them from the onslaught of the Sentinels. Surrounded by his electromagnetic force bubble, he touched down next to the smoldering mess that was left of one of X-Force's safe houses, where they had supposedly been staying during the Sentinels' attack on California. He did not expect to find anyone living among the crumbled stone,
but Cyclops had been quite adamant about locating any and all possible allies. Dusk was descending, and thin rays of vermilion light dazzled him as they sunk below the horizon. In another time and place, he might had been moved, but after the death of much of his family and the endless crimes committed against his race, he had grown cold towards any of nature's offerings of feeble beauty. Instead, he diverted his gaze back to the base, using his magnetic powers to levitate various pieces of furniture, crates, and what had been the metal framework of the building. Startled, he noticed a small opening out of the corner of his eye that seemed to lead below the surface. He removed all that was blocking the entrance and then lowered his self into the shaft. The air was musty and filled with an acrid odor he couldn't quite identify. A few lights sparked on and off sporadically, affording him only a partial view of his surroundings, but he was able to see enough to locate X-Force's
former ready room. The roughly domed chamber was a disaster area. Once complex machinery was strewn in heaps on the cement flooring, and several other small shafts of light were visible above his head, giving way to the ravaged landscape above. He took in his breath sharply as he saw a small slender hand jutting from beneath a gargantuan computer console, gray and covered in dust. He raised the apparatus with his mutant ability, and almost immediately wished he hadn't. There, crushed and battered, lied the bodies of both Tabitha Smith, once called Meltdown, and Bedlam, Jesse Aaronsen. His anger seethed at finding these youths shot down in their prime, and his wrath was fueled even more as he subsequently found the corpses of James Proudstar and Domino, who were apparently shot through the heart where they had sat at a small table in a corner of the room. He lowered his helmeted head, once again dejected, until he heard a low groan coming from an adjoining room. He quickly
ran through the broken wall nearest him, and gasped in astonishment as he saw the trembling body of Sam Guthrie as he pulled himself from beneath a bed frame. "Cannonball!" Magneto exclaimed, as he swiftly threw the bed off one of his former charges. He was honestly relieved to see this ex-New Mutant still alive. He had parted from the team under not exactly desirable circumstances, but he was nonetheless happy to discover the Sentinels had not been entirely thorough in their elimination of X-Force. "Mag--Magneto?" Sam stuttered as he struggled to stand. Magneto grasped him by the shoulders as he nearly fell to the ground. "What are--how did? Wait--if you're comin' to recruit me into some sort of newfangled version of Acolytes--" "At another time, I may have considered that, child, but you may be surprised that I am currently residing with your X-Men associates." Sam looked skeptical. "And so they chose you to send for us? Doubtful." "I realize that I might not sound
completely convincing, but right now I am your only hope, so I suggest you work with me rather than engaging in a superhuman battle that will more than likely attract the attention of another battalion of robotic mutant hunters," Magnus replied, his tone rather sarcastic. "Well, come on then, we have to regroup with the rest of the team and--" "They're gone, Sam." Cannonball stared at him, unbelieving. "What? It couldn't--no, I won't believe it! Tab? Tabby?" He stumbled from the room, tripping over an overturned chair, and ended up facing his dead girlfriend. "No... NO!" Cannonball's body was choked with sobs, but soon they were overtaken by another louder sound, a sort of persistent hum. Repulsor jets. Sentinels. "Sam, we have to get out of here now!" he ordered. "But... Tabby..." "We are leaving now and--" Above them, chaos reigned as the remains of the ceiling were shot to pieces...
To be continued! Well what do you think? Come on people, post more stuff!
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San Francisco-
Magneto and Sam Guthrie looked up at the metal face of the Sentinel, "Halt and surrender mutants." Before either the Sentinel or Magneto could act a blast ripped through the Sentinel's chest. Magneto had taken apart enough Sentinels to know the blast had destroyed the link between the main computer and generator. Magneto sensed another metallic presence. A hovercraft appeared over the hole in the ceiling, a figure with a huge gun stood in the open door of the craft.
"Cable."
"Happy to see you Sam and surprised to see you Magneto. Sam gather the team and prepare blow this joint."
Sam lowers his head in sadness. "I am the team now."
Cable lowers his head and sheds a tear from his organic eye. "Get on board and let's get out of here." Magneto and Cannonball fly into the craft and Cable closes the door.
"Hello Sam I am glad you're alive." Sam looks at the figure standing in the cockpit and recognized one of X-Force's founding members Roberto DaCosta aka Sunspot.
"Roberto what are you doing here?"
"Selene was killed by Nemesis and Blackheart has abandoned the Club I am free and decided to help Cable find you guys."
"Where are we headed Cable?" "A place I have been preparing for this eventuality."
New York City-
Kate opened her eyes. She was lying on a bed too hard for her taste, but then again she was glad to be waking up. The room was dimly lit and she could only make out four figures standing in the room. "Are you alright? Sorry we had to stun you it was unfortunity."
"I am fine." Her eyes finally adjusted to the light. The person talking to her was Exodus. "What are you doing here?" She jumped to her feet and was surprised by the lack of pain in her leg.
"We called you." She scanned the others. Directly behind Exodus was the man called Spiderman hanging from the ceiling. To her right was a less inspiring figure, Toad, however he had changed since she last saw him he was showing years that made him an X-veteran. To her left was a total unknown, he wore only a t-shirt and jeans, and his physical features were only unique in their blandness. He had no unique facial features and a regular tone body.
"Who are you?" Kate asked the man.
"Call me Donald. I like Exodus and Toad am a disciple of Magneto."
"Why did you bring me here?"
"We are trying to hook up with the X-men. Let's go find your friends."
Washington
It was once a place where freedom irradiated. Now it is the center of the Sentinel's power base.
The room is brightly lit. At the table was a group of men and women which formed the Committee For a Pure Humanity.
"Chairman Gyrich, our efforts to relocate the pure humans is proceeding effectively."
"What are the results from our invasion of Canada, Mexico, and Cuba?"
"Cuba is still resisting."
"Throw everything we got at them."
Havana, Cuba-
It was the capital of a totalitarian regime now it is one of the last bastions of coexistence in the America's. Upon hearing that both X-mansion had been destroyed and that the Cuban Government was going to align with the Sentinels a pro-X coup overthrew the government alongside the military.
Cyclops looked over sea wondering if the Dream was really...dead. The x-mansion had been totally destroyed with a number of his friends killed and his teacher killed. When he found out had bad things had really gotten. Most of the Avengers dead, half of GenX, the Fantastic Four ruined; and worse of all no one present knew the fate of Franklin Richards.
"Scott."
"What is it Alex?"
"I just got the exact numbers from Banshee of GenX members dead and counted for."
"Tell me."
"Jubilee, Skin, and Husk are dead. M was injured and evacuated. Penance, Chamber, and Banshee are alive and well."
"Make sure Logan gets the news when he returns from Japan."
"Alright." Havok walked away.
"Xavier, please forgive us."
Tokyo-
It was the first city to fall to Apocalypse. To the mutant called Phantazia it was a beautiful site. Apocalypse had rescued her from the Sentinels and transported her to the Asian continent to carve out a Mutant Utopia. And this was his capital. She didn't know why Stryfe had chosen her to deliver the report but she followed his orders.
She touched down at Spiral balcony and entered the Thrown room of the High Lord. Apocalypse was standing over table on it was a man. "Sinister can you do as I asked?"
"It will not be difficult." Phantazia approached to recognized the man it was Jamie Madrox.
"Good he will make an excellent addition to my army in fact he will provide me with one."
To be continued...
"Chere, I tink the cards are definitely stacked against us!" Remy LeBeau exclaimed as he leaped backwards to avoid the crashing fist of one of three remaining Sentinels. Above him, Rogue and Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, were doing their best just to evade the robots' deadly eye beams and force beams released from their fingertips. "That's an understatement, Sugah," the X-Men's Southern belle responded, just barely making it past one of the Sentinels' outstretched hands. "These tin cans sure do know how to throw a barbeque though," Johnny yelled over the din of the fight. He threw a few streams of flame in between dodging and managed to disrupt the nearest Sentinel's optical sensors. "Rogue, give me a hand here!" "Ah'm on it!" She flew around the back of the Sentinel's neck and pulled, using every ounce of her superior strength to remove the drone's head from its shoulders. Steel coils and servomotors whined in protest as the connections eventually gave way, and the
Sentinel landed in a twitching heap across the city street. That made the numbers shift in the X-Men's favor considerably. But then Rogue looked down and saw a Sentinel put Remy in its sights and the Cajun was backed against a wall. "NO!" she screamed and gave the second Sentinel's head a vicious uppercut that sent it stumbling into a Laundromat. "Thanks for the save! But now Gambit's gonna show this junk pile what true kinetic energy is! Give me a fastball special. She dove down, lifting Gambit swiftly in her arms, and then through him at the Sentinel's head. Remy grasped hold of the robot's cranium, charged it with his signature form of energy, and then leapt off, sliding on a damaged lamppost. The Sentinel's head exploded in a fiery blaze, leaving one opponent. Unfortunately, as the pair of star-crossed lovers turned around they discovered the Human Torch, now powered down, his body bent a bit awkwardly on a pile of rubble. Rogue flew quickly to his aid, but was downed by
an unexpected shot of asphyxiating gas. Gambit knew it wouldn't kill her, but she'd definitely be down for the count for the time being. "Target Identified: Omega-level threat, mutant designate Remy LeBeau. Adapting systems to compensate for kinetic energy surges." "Oh great," Remy muttered under his breath, as he threw half dozen playing cards that exploded on the Sentinel's armored chest, but to no effect. "Looks like this Cajun boy's gonna be headin' to the great beyond a bit sooner than he might've wanted." He shielded his eyes and prepared for the worst, but he opened them just as quickly as he heard a shriek of tearing metal. Floating in the gap between the robot's torso and legs, was the telekinetically powered Exodus, along with an average looking man he didn't recognize, Toad, Kitty, and of all people, Spider Man! "Well ain't this an interesting party!" "Enough of the banter, LeBeau," Exodus cut him off. "We're the ones who sent the signal, and now that your
associate Shadowcat has found us, I suggest we get you and your friends to safety quickly and then we will locate our lord Magneto."
Elisabeth Braddock, self-proclaimed action junkie was not enjoying this. She was a master of numerous martial arts, had mystical powers whose extents she had yet been able to explore thanks to her exposure to the Crimson Dawn, and immense psionic powers, especially due to her rediscovered telepathy which allowed her to generate her trademarked psychic knife. But now, in the alleys of London, she thought that the wars were getting old. She had, a few weeks before, witnessed the death of the only two individuals, besides her brother, that she could ever truly say she loved. Warren Worthington had seemed perfect to her when she first met him. All his conflicting emotions, his huge wings, his huge fortune, his unpredictable dark side... all had lead them to him and together they formed a sort of alliance from their similar experiences. Both had been altered into forms they would never have imagined, and rested in the safety of each other, but time had passed. With the regaining
of his original wings, Warren became different, she mused. She wasn't sure how he was different, but something in him, or maybe it was in her, had changed. They drifted apart and she knew it was inevitable. But she hadn't expected to fall for Neal Sharra quite so quickly. There romance was brief, but in the short months she knew him, the two had become so close, almost more than the bond Scott and Jean shared. But any dreams of being Mrs. Worthington or Mrs. Sharra had been shattered by the Sentinels' attack on the X-Mansion. All the smoking corpses had turned her off to the violence, but she had no choice but to join with her friends once again, as a small part of the last hope the mutant race, and probably the world, had of survival. At this moment, however, she had more important things to worry about. Her contact was supposed to meet her in this precise location, under the shadow of the Tower of London, fifteen minutes ago, and she considered the man to be extremely
time-conscientious. One would have to be in order to be the former Black King of the Hellfire Club. Her muscles stiffened as she felt a vague presence hovering above her. Not a Sentinel--it was a mutant signature, but not the one she had expected. Her unknown assailant dived down at her, but she was prepared and threw up an agile kick. Unfortunately, the attacker was heavier than she had expected, and she fell off balance. There, before her, towered the horseman of Apocalypse that had once been called Caliban, but was now known only as Pestilence. Silent, the hulking ex-X-Forcer reached for her with one of his meaty hands, which Betsy promptly sliced open with a set of ninja stars she produced from a pouch on her belt. He bellowed in rage, but Psylocke took the opportunity to flip onto Pestilence's shoulders and fry his brain with her mental powers. He collapsed into a row of trashcans, unable to get up. CLICK. Psylocke turned slowly, and found she was facing down the
barrels of multiple high-powered futuristic weapons. The man wielding them had a face that was a sickly green-gray, scarred multiple times and with a bionic eye that glowed yellow. She recognized him as Gauntlet, one of the original Riders of the Storm. "All right, lady, we've got you cornered. My powers allow me to be protected from psychic assaults, and I don't think you can pull another ninja stunt before I riddle you with holes, so you'd best come willingly. You are wanted as a servant of the greatest leader this world has seen for all millennia, En Sabah Nur, the Apocalypse!" She had no choice but to comply for the time being, considering that his argument was completely logical. "AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!" Fortunately for her, she had back up. Gauntlet was down for the count, hit by a powerful electrical blast. She glanced up to the rooftop and saw the imposing figures of four individuals she could all identify. Sebastian Shaw, her brother, Captain Britain, Allira
Steed, once the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club's London branch, and Bolt, the former New Warrior that had produced the electricity. "Sister," Brian called down to her. "We have to talk."
Meanwhile, in the less-than-spacious war room the Summers brothers were afforded in Havana, Cuba, Cyclops was staring intently at the view screens that gave him access to the entire government's camera systems. He was amazed that the previous regime had installed so many surveillance devices, even going so far as to put them in normal households, but now it served to benefit the Resistance, as he could detect the coming of either a Sentinel strike or any of Apocalypse's forces which were gathering in Japan. Alex was out, patrolling the grounds, but Scott knew it was more to mourn over the loss of Lorna, one of the first casualties of this genetic war. How he missed his own love, Jean, several continents away, but he knew she was where they needed her, for the time being. She, along with Hank and Dr. Doom, had formed a base in the Arctic Circle, from which they operated using a modified version of Cerebro in order to locate other mutants that they could possibly enlist in
their cause to protect humanity from itself and save their mutant brethren. Suddenly, an alarm went off overhead, and a transmission was beamed to him in holograph. "Commander Summers, it's Scanner! I'm here on the coast of the city, and we've got seventy-two unidentified blips coming in from the north. My guess is it's a pre-emptive strike from the Human Council to gauge the amount of firepower we have available." "You're probably right," Scott replied while preparing some of the automatic Shi'ar defenses the Resistance had installed. "They have thousands of Sentinels at their disposal, so why else would they send only a relatively small amount to attack the entire country?" "Granted, sir, but do you think we're ready for them? Oh my--NO! Oh no! I don't know how they've done it, but the Sentinels have suddenly appeared directly above us! They must have some sort of new teleportation abilities we weren't aware of. I'll try to bring up the shield here
before--AAAAAAIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!*" "Scanner? SCANNER?!" Cyclops yelled into the now blank screen. The war for Cuba had begun.
To be continued...
--SGuthrie19
Over the Amazon Rainforest-
Cable and Cannonball were sitting in the back of the Hovercraft. Neither had said a word since Magneto had departed to Cuba when Cable told him he just some equipment both seemed to be mourning the lost of their friends. Sam decided to break the silence. "Cable where are we headed?"
"Sam, very well we are almost there. A few years back I ran into a young mutant who had ability to access and use any power he encountered permanently. He was also a disciple of Magneto." Nodding in the direction he went. "However unlike most he believed that Magneto's way would lead to this day nor did he believe Xavier would be able to stop it. He decided the best choice was to secretly build an army and prepare. We are going to the place where he made this belief so that it can provide us with the direction we need." Cable let that stand and made it clear he would reveal no more. Eventually the hover pads died down and the craft set down. It was not the stronghold Sam had expected or wanted. It was an ancient temple evident by the amount of plants growing on it. What amazed Sam was the symbol on the front of the temple. It was two figures touching hands, one human and the other animal-like.
"What is this place Cable?"
"About six thousand years ago, a group of early mutants and humans forged an alliance and built this city. They were powerful but too few to prevent their destruction however they were the first people champion coexistence. Follow me."
Sam followed him and Sunspot trailed. "Roberto can you brighten up this wall." Sunspot turned on a palm light. The wall showed a series of memorials. The first was clearly the people building their city than it showed Apocalypse emerging from the Celestial Ship. It was followed by an image of a Nazi concentration camp complete with swastika what amazed Cannonball is that is centered on a white haired boy. It was followed two Sentinels standing around a pile of bodies. Last was a dark figure with a sword emerging from the arm. On the ground before him were the bodies of Apocalypse and many others. "Sam, Roberto these pictures are as old as this temple. These things were foreseen so thoroughly that it is no mistaking what they saw. Worse of all they are dated to the year the last one and it is, is eight years away."
New York-
"Actually Exodus we will not be joining Lord Magneto yet. I have to pick something up first at my base," ordered Donald.
"Very well Genesis. Toad and Spiderman, check on the others." Toad and Spiderman moved to checkout The Torch and Rogue.
"Genesis I am afraid that the Torch is dead." Genesis hung his head in disdain. "Is Rogue alright?"
"She will recover."
"Very well let's leave." The area blurs and then refocuses. They are no longer in the wrecked city of New York but in a metal hall.
"Never do that again Genesis."
"Sorry but I didn't want to stay in New York any longer."
"Where are we?" asked Gambit.
"My Arctic base, and I believe those are your friends." Everyone turned toward the point Genesis was pointing toward; and saw Beast, Doom, and Jean Grey staring straight at them.
Havana Cuba-
Magneto arrived over the city of Havana and was not pleased. The area was filled with laser fire; thousands of Sentinels filled the sky strafing the X-men's base. Magneto dived into the battle blowing up three Sentinels with a thought. In the center of the battle Havok and Cyclops were battling back-to-back unleashing their full power on any Sentinel that dared to come into view. Storm, Chamber, and Banshee flew through the battle laying waste to any Sentinel that crossed their path. Magneto moved to join them. "Storm what is the plan?"
"Prepare for the Blackbirds to take off the flyers will escort it out and prevent the Sentinels from targeting the ground troops." Magneto flew off to level a Sentinel that was taking a pop shot at Cyclops.
On the other side of the battlefield Banshee took a hit from a sentinel and fell to the ground. Magneto could not do anything for him as he was engaged with a trio of Sentinels. However Chamber blasted his way through the horde of sentinels to grab Banshee before impact.
A scream from the ground caught Magneto's attention. Cyclops beheaded a sentinel but Havok was kneeling on the ground burned. He then heard repulsor jets and saw the Blackbird emerge from the secret hangar. Cyclops pulled his brother in the plane. Havok's body was burned and his left hand was nothing but a stub. The sentinels pushed forward making Storm and Chamber retreat to the space right over the Blackbird. "Cyclops, Storm get out of here I will hold these machines."
"How Magneto?"
"A focused EMP charge."
"I understand good luck," responded Cyclops. He knew what Magneto had in mind and knew it was the only way. He knew the blast would probable kill Magneto. But he knew his children Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were among the dead in Avengers headquarters. Perhaps he was tired of the war, perhaps he was tired of the death, but maybe perhaps he was just tired. As the jet buzzed off the runway Magneto unleashed the most powerful magnetic burst he ever unleashed in the space of 3 miles. The stress harmed him though. The power was too much and burned him out and he fell to the ground. His last conciliation was that the Sentinels were feeling no better and he had denied them the heads of the X-men.
Marta Kauffman backed against the polished walls of the corridor and hid in one of the recessed doorways to an antechamber as a human guard passed by, wielding a high-powered assault rifle. Luckily, she remained unnoticed for the time being. A few years back, she wouldn't have thought twice about melting through the man's puny homo sapien brain, but at this point in her life, Strobe didn't have the time or the energy for this man's death. "Gill, are you in position?" she whispered into the tiny comlink she carried in the palm of her hand. "Almost, babe. Tamara and I will come down through the skylight like I said. I'll need you to take out the security cameras at the north and west entrances, and hopefully by then, Paradigm will have been able to interface with the security systems. If not, then we'll all be cooked. See you in five." "Over and out," she responded brusquely before easing out of the doorway and back down the hall. This was an extremely delicate operation, but
she knew the Mutant Liberation Force was needed now more than ever to free America's and soon the world's mutant populace. She only hoped that the rest of the team would be as fortunate as her to get so far in such a heavily guarded installation. The newest, and now deceased leader of the Front had given them vast knowledge of the layout of numerous government buildings, and a load of extremely advanced technology to aid them in their cause. Gamesmaster had been a genius, an omnipath with a vision for greatness, but that hadn't stopped him from getting shot through the head by a Sentinel back in San Antonio a week earlier. Amazingly, the rest of the team had survived intact, and were now equipped with powerful cloaking devices that were able to mask their presence from the newest wave of Sentinels. Now, the stakes were higher than ever before, and if the Mutant Liberation Front failed, it could be the end... of everything.
London.
Elisabeth Braddock sat in what was left of a bombed out pub on the south side of the city, along with Brian and the others who, hours before had saved her from an ambush by Pestilence and Gauntlet, servants of the madman Apocalypse. "You were not wise to come here Betsy. The situation here in England is... precarious to say the least. Parliament is now split nearly in half on whether they should form an alliance with the Human Committee in the States to avoid a battle that could end up in our proud nation's destruction." "Which is one of the reasons why I ASKED her to come," Sebastian Shaw interjected. "I would have used the mental resources of my dear Ms. Steed," he said, gesturing to the striking figure in black leather across the table, "but her abilities only go so far as to psionically skin someone, and that isn't exactly what we had planned for a few select Parliament members." Betsy's eyes widened in shock. "What are you saying, Sebastian?" The once Black King smiled
devilishly and replied, "Our plan," he began, "should be fairly obvious. I plan to use you in order to telepathically change the minds of some of the key proponents for allying with the States so that they will instead express utter distaste for it. The other remaining meeker members who had once been for the idea will lose steam, and hopefully in the interim, we will have a big enough European alliance of our own formed to beat back the Sentinel army they are constantly producing. I have agents in place that have already secured the governments of both Spain and Portugal, and others plans are well underway to gain control over Germany and France." "Despite your overwhelming confidence, Shaw, this plan sounds more than a bit far-fetched. My powers, over the past few years, have been unpredictable at best, and I cannot guarantee my influence will hold over them for any extended period of time. And even if I could, do you think what we're doing is wise? We are, in essence,
promoting a full-scale intercontinental war! It could end up becoming World War III!" Chris Bradley, Bolt, also looked a bit skeptical. "She does have a point, Mr. Shaw. Are you planning on leading this alliance? And if you do, how do we know we can trust you in a position of such power, especially after your shady dealings for over a decade with the Hellfire Club!" "My boy, you overestimate my hunger for power. I am not the megalomaniac you might think. And while I may have certain... aspirations... I do not believe that my personal interests would outweigh my desire to protect the overall safety of this planet." He sounded genuine, but from the look she saw him exchange with his apparent romantic interest, London's Black Queen, she deduced that his motives might not be as altruistic as she claimed. "Brian, where do you weigh in on all this?" Captain Britain's expression was stony beneath his patriotic mask. "I wouldn't have considered this, but Shaw's plan of action is
logical. We certainly can't sit idly by while the reign of tyranny of the Human Committee extends its grip across the world and eliminates the mutant population entirely." Psylocke sat silent for several moments, considering her options. But what options did she have now? After all, Cyclops had been in favor of the overthrow of the Cuban government, and she supposed that this scheme was no less risky or uncertain. She wasn't usually so indecisive, but... "All right. I'll do it."
Aboard the Blackbird, Cyclops was numb. He stood beside his sobbing brother as Storm leaned over him and used some medical equipment the Beast had left on the ship to cauterize his wounds and seal the huge opening left where his left hand once was. Nightcrawler was piloting at the moment, with Penance and the now paraplegic M beside him. Chamber was hovering over Banshee on a makeshift cot as he slowly regained consciousness. He stared back at the remainder of the island of Cuba, the blackened wasteland slowly receding behind him. How much had they lost back there on that tiny island that had, for a short time been there home? Would they ever really have a place to call home from now on? He hoped so, but he was no longer certain about anything. Neophyte, one of his generals back on Cuba, came from the engine room to make a few repairs. "Scott, where are we going to go now?" "I don't think we have any choice but to go back to the Arctic now to recuperate. We certainly didn't
accomplish much back there." "True... but if you don't mind my questioning your judgment, do you think that's wise? After all, we have no idea exactly what the Sentinels' capabilities are now after they exhibited that odd pseudo-teleportation ability we witnessed back in Havana." Cyclops grimaced. "I KNOW, Neophyte, I KNOW, but what other choice do we HAVE?" he snapped. The tension was getting to him, as it was to everyone else on the ship. The young ex-Acolyte retreated, a bit dejected, to join Chamber. He had been hard on him, he knew, but hurt feelings weren't exactly all that important to him anymore. Suddenly, Jonothon began holding his head in pain. "Something's... c-c-c-coming, I--NYARRRGH!!!" "Chamber, what is it?" Storm cried, rushing to his aid as he fell to his knees. "Something's disrupting my powers. Something big, and it's right above us." "But--how could it get that close without us knowing it?" Before anyone could respond, the roof of the Blackbird was peeled
off like the top of a can of tuna and the rest of the ship broke into pieces, sending all the passengers falling across the sky. Chamber, recovering, quickly used his expanded telekinetic powers to keep him and the rest of the X-Men aloft, but it took some strain on his part. Scott's mouth went dry as he viewed a monstrous robotic construction that was bigger than a dozen Sentinels combined. "Surrender, mutants, or be terminated by the power of the Ultra-Sentinel!!!"
Back in a classified government facility outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Strobe had managed to destroy all the cameras to allow her entry and that of her teammates into the main chamber. Her pulse raced as she readied herself to signal the others that they were clear. Everything had gone perfectly, but she had that awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had felt when they had been defeated by the X-Men when the Mutant Liberation Front's original leader Stryfe had attempted to take over the world. But now was not the time for worrying. She pulled the comlink close to her lips and said slowly and clearly, "MLF, we are ready to enter.... NOW." Quickly, she used her power to generate intense heat to melt through the heavy double doors on the room's north side and leapt in the opening she had created. The second door at the west shook; as it was struck multiple times before it gave way to the entrance of Unuscione, Forearm, and Random. Dragoness crashed through the
ceiling on her metallic wings, Wildside clinging to her back. Paradigm, the techno-organic member of the team, materialized through the floor. "All right, Mega Man, do your stuff!" he ordered, and Paradigm injected his tendrils into the main computer console, locking down all the entrances with blast shields while absorbing the information the Front was after into his memory systems. The rest of the team fanned out, wreaking havoc on the rest of the machinery with Dragoness's flame blasts, the brute strength of Forearm, and Unuscione's psionic exoskeleton. That accomplished they rushed back to Paradigm who had finished downloading the files they were after. "All right team, we have the info we need to take out the Sentinel army for good. Now all we've gotta do is get out of here and sell it to the highest bidder. I'm sure the high and mighty Apocalypse or One-Eye and his X-Freaks would kill to get their hands on this stuff. Now let's jet." "Not quite yet, miscreants," a
harsh, grating voice called out, and the group turned to view a distorted image of Henry Peter Gyrich on one of the cracked view screens. "Do you really think we would be unprepared for this type of espionage and intrusion? You are truly insulting our intelligence if you believe that. Prepare to die for your crimes against humanity!" With that, the screen went blank and Strobe felt the ground begin to quake as two-dozen Sentinels erupted from the floor, sending her sprawling. "Let's move people, we can make it--AAAAAHHHHH!!!" Wildside howled as a laser beam went straight through his chest. Unuscione toppled a few robots with her exoskeleton, and then powered down to check Richard Gill's vitals. "He's gone, team! This whole mission is lost!" "Not yet it isn't!" Dragoness called out as she grabbed Strobe and Random in both arm and letting Paradigm mount her back. Forearm was downed with another blast from behind, as a small canister hit the ground near Unuscione, spraying
toxic gas. She brought up her shield again, but it was too late, and only served to hold in the poison that quickly asphyxiated her. Dragoness soared and spun past the killers' eye blasts, but lost Random who was shot from her grasp by a missile. She made it through the opening of the domed room and then zipped over the verdant forest below. Two Sentinels managed to escape the conflagration that Tamara left in her wake and their first blast removed Paradigm's legs and torso and Strobe was barely able to hold onto both him and Dragoness' talons. The trio of mutants dipped in closer to the ground but another shot sent Dragoness hurtling into a tree while Strobe clung to Paradigm and hit the ground with a thud. Her elbow was out of joint, but she kept running as fast as she could, stumbling through the tangled underbrush and, according to her global positioning system, out of the compound. She knew that they would send someone for her. The duo of Sentinels, she observed, were
returning to their base, more than likely obtaining reinforcements. The money wasn't an issue now--she had to get those files to someone among the X-Men before she ended up like the rest of her team...
To be continued...
Tokyo, Japan
Phantazia couldn't believe her fortune, since Strife had not come in person she was to sit in his place and he would be bound by anything she agreed to. Fortunately, Stryfe gave her a list of things he would agree to. The message was to be opened before Apocalypse and never before that. The room was circular and ended in a pointed roof; it was the pinnacle of the Spire. The room had four seats arrayed around a throne and directed toward it, each of the four seats a forty-five degree screen attached to one of the arms. Already in the room was Sinister, Nemesis, and the Dark Beast, the Ascended Lords. Apocalypse was not on the throne yet. "Am I late?"
"No I am afraid the High Lord is late," said the Beast.
"He is not really late he is just showing who's the boss," said Sinister.
"Not to mention the fact he is not happy with Stryfe's disobedience and Sinister he is just reminding you who is the boss," said Nemesis.
Phantazia took her seat and turned on her monitor. A map of the world was displayed to her. It showed the Americas firmly in the hands of the Sentinels. The few remaining nations in Western Europe and Northern Africa, and then Apocalypse's Empire, stretch from the German-Polish border to the Bering Straits from Siberia to Australia. She felt prided that she had helped over run the human nations that now knew the Glory of Apocalypse, particularly in the Western part. She glanced a peek at the Ascended Lords. They too were noticeably awed by what they had accomplished so quickly. She felt Pride to be in the company of such powerful men. The High Lord entered the room followed by two armored guards. Apocalypse sat at his throne.
"We are here to discuss what shall next for our empire. Do we grow? Strengthen our holdings? Or do we launch diversionary attacks on our opponents?"
"Our forces are numerous even China and Russia fell before our might as though they were nothing," Nemesis.
"Yes but we were pushed back into the sea when we invaded Britain," Sinister.
Phantazia decided to speak up, "when we invaded Britain our problem was not our forces but our strategy. We plowed right into their strongest defenses. Strife believes that we still have the forces, just we have to use them more efficiently." Neither Sinister or Nemesis were smiling but the High Lord so she thought that was worth it.
"Nonetheless a more efficient use of troops would be taking Northern Africa. I believe it would give us a good platform to hit Western Europe." Sinister
"I agree with Sinister." Nemesis
"Agree." Phantazia and Beast.
"Very well but afterwards I would like to develop our internal facilities. There would be no point in conquering this fine empire if our enemies annihilate its weak defenses. Sinister and Stryfe will hit Northern Africa, Beast will deploy to the Philippines to keep the machines guessing, and Nemesis will guard the Polish-German border."
With that we all departed.
The sky-
Everyone stood still unable to react to the Sentinel. Chamber still quivered in pain. Cyclops was tempted to tear off his visor and let the Sentinel have it. He saw Storm charging a lighting bolt. Before either the Sentinel or Storm could act though the Sentinel started to shift. "Internal malfunction, components missing, unable to contact..." the sentinel turned into water and fell into the sea.
Cyclops looked out across the sky and saw a man with red hair just gliding toward them he did not know who the man was but he knew he was the one who save their lives.
"Need a lift?" He did not recognize the boy but he was about fourteen had red hair and a fairly muscular body he was also pretty handsome. He wore a tight jumpsuit that had only one marking four X's arrayed in a circle. Cyclops realized who it was.
"How do you intend to help us?" The boy pulled out a device.
"Tracker portal to HQ." The boy closed the device and a circular vortex opened behind him. "This is your ride to a soft landing want to come." He entered the vortex and disappeared. Chamber began fielding them in.
Arctic Base-
The level of technology had surprised Hank McCoy initially; and much of it was a clone of the X-men's. He was more surprised that it had been abandoned. But when he got underneath the terminals he discovered the technology was based on bio-organics. This was incredible advanced using organs or life forms as machines, since they wasted far less energy. What surprised Hank was that it had been abandoned, but Hank didn't really believe that.
Now Hank knew whom the owner was.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Donald Essex. I believe I have more guests than I intended." He offered his hand to Hank, knew the others; Gambit, Rogue, Shadowcat, Exodus, Toad, and Spiderman.
"Hank McCoy, so this is your base?"
"Yes it is. Observe, computer identify Genesis."
A computer screen flipped on. "Identity confirmed Donald Essex."
"Thank you. Are you having trouble with this?"
"We are trying to figure out how it works." Doom
"Let's not bother with that now I have a number of refugees to take care of. Please let's head to the cafeteria." A door Beast hadn't noticed opened and Cyclops and a number of X-men followed a young man walked in he. Donald noticed them and shook his head in frustration.
"Leave your door unlocked for one day and see what happens."
"Genesis I have a list of dead and wounded from the X-men." the boy.
"Give it to me later. Cyclops, may I ask where is Magneto?"
"He unleashed a EMP blast on the Sentinel army I believe he is dead."
"Genesis I am going to go find him." Exodus.
"Very well. Take care." Exodus teleported out of the room to Havana.
Hours later-
Cable (who had just arrived), Cyclops, Genesis, and Beast sat in Genesis's war room. The only thing they discussed was how bad things had gotten.
Her name was not important nor was her rank. Only her mission mattered. It was her job to place beacons on the Iberian coast prior to the Sentinels invasion. The beacons would allow there teleportation units to hit the beach without raising an alarm. She activated the last one and waited. The sky above her filled with Sentinels and all she could do was smile. The invasion of Europe had begun.
to be continued...
London was in a state of panic. The news of the Sentinels attack on Eurasia had arrived a couple of hours before, and the entire city's populace were quickly packing, getting ready to relocate to... where? At this point, there weren't many choices. Either one would have to side with the Committee for a Pure Humanity and trek to the states, or to stand under the iron thumb of the dictator Apocalypse. When the Sentinels made there move against Eastern Europe, which was less heavily fortified than the more established and wealthy nations in the West, they had originally not encountered much resistance. That is until they came face to face against Nemesis' mutant army. Chaos reigned in Germany, Poland and Greece, and Shaw had received word that his operatives there had perished. However, he did have a trump card in place, and hoped that she would prove herself worthy. But none of the rest of his companions knew of these dealings, and didn't need to for the time being. At this
moment, Sebastian Shaw, Bolt, and Captain Britain were perched atop one of the tallest buildings in London's business district, prepared to respond to any call of distress from the two psychics who were beginning to implement the plan to sway the Parliament. The war in the east had been both beneficial and hazardous to their scheme, for although the delegates were still largely uncertain of whom to side with, they were considering more seriously joining someone. So they might have to improvise, but Shaw had enough faith in her to succeed. After all, Allira Steed knew what she was doing and would keep tabs on Psylocke in case she was to have second thoughts. Several blocks away, Elisabeth Braddock stealthily leapt from the roof of a neighboring house and clasped onto the vine-covered trellis running vertically against the side of Parliament member Willard Garrison's dark brick mansion. Hand over hand, she eased herself up the latticework until she reached a third story window
and carefully removed her ninja sword from its sheath. Slowly, she carved a circle in the thick glass, and then removed it with her low-level telekinetic powers. Originally, she could have just flown up to the window, but Jean's and her power switch from several months back, long before the Sentinels began their attempts at global domination, had begun to fade and she was unsure if she'd be able to remain aloft for more than a few seconds. She stepped into the room of one of Mr. Garrison's sleeping servants, careful to mask her presence telepathically as she crept out the door and down the hall. According to the layouts of the mansion that Shaw had procured, Garrison's chambers were located one floor down, and she would have to crawl down a ventilation shaft in order to slip in unnoticed. Everything went according to plan for several minutes, and she kept in contact with Ms. Steed who was guiding her progress. After climbing down the shaft, she unscrewed the grate in the
ceiling and dropped in, agile as a cat, onto the polished oak flooring. She tiptoed to his bedside and placed her fingertips on the man's wrinkled forehead and began to concentrate... until her back was ripped asunder by razor-sharp claws. She screamed in agony, falling forward onto Garrison's bed and waking him up. There, in half-shadow behind her, was Victor Creed, the murderous savage known as Sabretooth.
Cannonball wasn't a big fan of waiting, but he didn't really have a choice. Cable had left for the X-Men's Arctic base over a day ago to discuss plans with the Resistance on their next move, so Sam and Sunspot were left to wait for his return with a load of supplies and weaponry to use to defend the temple as a sort of fortress haven for any other mutants who they recruited to their cause. "I'm... sorry about Tabby and the others Sam..." Sunspot whispered as the two sat it a moss-covered chamber at the center of the ancient stone building. "I know... forget it," Sam responded, the inner turmoil starting all over again at the mere mention of her name. "You know there was nothing you could have done for them." Sam knew Roberto was only trying to be sympathetic but his arguments were hollow and weak in the face of his grief. "I'm just glad to see that you're all right. I'm... sorry for abandoning you guys for the Club. It seemed like the only thing I could do..." His friend
nodded, "I know, 'Berto. It's all right, and you don't need to tell me your reasoning--it must have been pretty important for you to make that decision. Besides, none of that really matters now that--" Sam was silenced by a sudden tremor followed by an ear-piercing alarm that went off seemingly from all around them. The previously normal stone quivered and transformed into a sort of alien material the two members of X-Force had never seen. Screens appeared on all sides, revealing various locations within the jungle. One set showed a familiar female whose body was entirely covered in flames. Magma was coming in their direction, riding on a save of fiery rock she was controlling. Two other monitors displayed another former New Mutant, Moonstar, who was currently tangling with a pair of modified Sentinels armed with adamantium blades implanted in their forearms to clear the overgrown brush, missile launchers and cannons which released poison-tipped darts. So far, Danielle
seemed to be holding her own against her attackers, and was also en route to the temple from another direction. The third mutant was a total unknown. His head was completely shaved, his body muscular and clad in dark blue leather and a long gray trench coat. Single-handedly, he was demolishing Sentinels in one move, as a spear-like rod extended from under the palm of his hand and impaled the robots' metallic brain. "This must be some sort of mutant detection device similar to Cerebro, but according to these readouts, it's far more powerful and precise," Sam observed. "No time to check that out now--let's get out of here and lend them a hand!" Roberto advised his teammate. The pair took flight, Sunspot's body turning jet black with solar energy as they burst from a square opening directly above them in the roof. Below, the massive trees were falling and being set aflame all around their temple hideout, and Cannonball realized that they would have to destroy all the robots in
order to ensure that this hideout would remain undetected. With his knowledge of the new waves of Sentinels that had been produced, this particular model was not equipped with any sort of transmitting beacon that would link it back to Master Mold, so if they managed to wipe them out, they should be in the clear. So, without a word, the pair of friends dove down into the carnage of battle once again.
Back in the palatial residence of Willard Garrison, Psylocke's blood had run cold. Here was one of her worst enemies, a man that had beaten her nearly to the point of death, to where it had taken mysticism to release her from the clutches of death. "Hey, if it isn't one of my favorite X-chicks! Surprised to find you alive after our last run-in," Sabretooth goaded her. "A condition you won't share when I'm finished with you, you animal." "Wh-what's going on? Who are you people?" Garrison was quaking with fear and dread beneath his bed sheets after his rude awakening. "So Apocalypse has stooped so low as to add a unshaven Neanderthal to his ranks," Betsy insulted her opponent as she extended her psychic blade from the back of her hand. "My employers aren't nearly so benevolent as that relic," Creed replied, catching her off guard. Who was he working for then? If not the ruler of the East, and he certainly wasn't among the organized Resistance, then what were his motives for
this attack. He lunged for her, and she quickly slid beneath his legs and kicked him in the back, only managing to make him stumble a few feet. She leapt back onto her feet and rammed her elbow into his gut as he turned around. But Victor proved to be faster than she had anticipated, and soon had her in a headlock, his claws less than an inch from her throat. "Now listen, and listen good, I want you to use your powers to put him back to sleep and then you're coming with me so we can help change the rest of the good people of Britain's mind to join the Human Committee." "What? You're betraying your whole race for THEM?" Psylocke gasped, incredulous. "Hey, Gyrich said he needed a few muties to serve as tracking Hounds, and I'm one of 'em, so you'll do as I say or we'll have a repeat of what happened a year or two back---GYAAARRRRHHH!!!" Creed bellowed as he held his head that appeared to be enveloped in mental flames. Behind him was Ms. Steed, using her power of psionic
skinning to peel back the layers of his mind. "You're lucky I arrived when I did, Ms. Braddock, or you would have been lunch meat." "Grrr... no, I saved that for you," Sabretooth muttered as he surprised them both and whirled back, gutting the old Black Queen. She squealed in pain, tumbling and whacking her head on the pillared wall. "Now it's your turn, Psy-witch." But as he reached for her throat, his head suddenly erupted before her eyes, completely mutilated by a powerful shotgun blast. She turned to see Mr. Garrison, wielding a weapon he had hidden in a secret panel behind his bed. "Now, I'm not sure what's going on here, but i think it's safe to say that you're not the enemy. What do you want from me?" he demanded of her. Betsy turned to see Ms. Steed who was lying completely still and pale in the corner of the room, obviously dead. Sabretooth, on the other hand, would most likely recover in a manner of minutes due to his accelerated healing factor. "Mr. Garrison, I
was sent by a group of resistance mutants to try to telepathically sway you to against siding with America's Human Committee so that the Sentinels would not take over Europe, though obviously I've failed my mission." "I wouldn't exactly say that," he responded tentatively. "Obviously your motives were a bit more ethical than those of our assassin here. I will side with your cause in Parliament, as long as you provide protection for me." "Agreed," she conceded, and readied herself to contact her brother and leave...