Switched Loyalties – Apokolypse
Chapter 3
Dairou moves towards the mansion at fast pace to destroy the X-Men, who he's been led to believe hurt him as Odion was coming in his direction at the same alarming rate...let's just say Odion was furious but with coming guilt as he'd owe Rogue an explanation, but he was fighting his rage at the moment for he knew that in his current state of mind Dairou wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he made one false move or mistake.
Dairou stops in his tracks with narrow eyes, scanning his surroundings as he felt an unnerving, deadly and weird presence as he finds Odion before him "We need to talk, Dairou" he said, his K.I rising high, having an almost physical effect causing Dairou's nose to bleed a bit.
Dairou wipes his nose and tastes a bit of his own blood, he almost wants to ask what this man is "Who are you?"
At those words, Odion flinched feeling his rage pouring over him in waves as he thought "So, after all that hard work I personally went through for him to regain what little memory he had lost, the ungrateful, apparently brainless little wolf-cub loses it again? Hmm... it's been a while since I called him my little wolf-cub."
Dairou scowled at hearing Odion's thoughts "I have no reason to fight you, get out of my way."
"No, I don't think so" Odion raises his black aura as Dairou does the same with his red aura rising as well "I intend to stop you, whatever it takes...for her."
When the auras touch, it causes sparks as one tries to push the other back.
"You...will...die" Dairou glares at Odion as they clash, before clashing several more times and both are knocked back, Dairou recover quicker however...
"You have served your purpose and out lived your usefulness to Apocolypse...for now" Dairou knocks him unconscious and moves on to the mansion.
Back at the mansion, Archangel and Storm flew above the mansion (but still low enough to see the ground) and she seemed to be troubled about Logan.
"Warren" Storm looks over to her avian friend who looks back "Hm?"
She fiddles a bit with a light blush before asking "What do you think about Logan, he seems rather close to and worried about Dairou and Rogue, don't you think?"
Warren smiles "Yeah, he's been rather close to Rogue lately" he looks down to see Logan staring up at them with a weird smirk before saluting to Ororo and sauntering away "...and interested in someone else"
"I've never noticed before" Storm looks at the slightly jealous Warren then to Logan who winked at her "...until now."
Suddenly she noticed Logan looking rather alert before jumping from his perch; she looked down to see Dairou, gravely injured but slowly healing and unconscious.
He'd been taken to the infirmary but two days had passed and there was no sign of his wound healing much or Odion. Rogue, being worried, joins him in the infirmary when he awakens but he doesn't seem to notice her at all...something that didn't go unnoticed by the Wolverine.
"This place seems familiar somehow" Dairou was emotionless "but I sense a close aura despite no one being here...strange" he gets up and leaves.
"Strange" Logan shared looks between Dairou and Rogue, who is mortified that he ignored her very existence "very strange, indeed."
Jean looks at Logan "Something's wrong...it's like he looked right through her" Scott scowls "or he didn't see her at all."
"So you noticed it too, huh Boy Scout?" Logan only glances at the man "I've got a bad feeling that something's bad happened to Odion, I'll follow him."
Dairou explored the entire mansion, seemingly unaware of Logan following him as Logan was at his wits end as Dairou was acting a bit like a deranged half-wit to him but seeing no choice, he confronts his rival (other than Sabretooth, anyway).
"Hey, bub" Logan makes himself known to Dairou who looks up at being called 'bub' "You alright?"
There was something Dairou seemed to loathe about Logan, so he settled for just looking at him in silence "Who the hell you think you're messing with...and where's-?!"
"Luna?" Logan finished for him "She died years ago...the last time we actually thought of each other as friends to be exact" Dairou was shocked by the gruff man's words before grief took him over "I'd like to be alone"
Logan rested a hand on his shoulder, receiving a glare "Dairou-" Dairou interrupted "Please, stranger...leave me alone. You know what the word 'alone' means, right?"
Logan nodded and left, hoping the man was alright as he felt that strange telepathic presence again that he had to speak to Jean about.
"Jean" Logan called out a distance away from where he left Dairou "I think I know something about what happened to Dairou, he's a telepath." Jean looked at him in disbelief but noticed he was serious "I've heard that he's still evolving but this is...the Professor and Hank have to know about this" Logan nods in silence and follows her.
Meanwhile, Dairou grieves for a moment before noticing someone else with him, almost mocking him about some woman called Rogue...Dairou's sclera turns black as his red pupils morph into rings as he looked at Gambit with grief now long forgotten, replaced by anger.
"Go...away" Dairou warns calmly, with a shaky voice which makes Gambit laugh at him "Well, well. I'm sorry but you look like shit."
Dairou turns to him with a evil smile that makes him tremble "Your last warning, while I'm still calm. Stop antagonizing me." Dairou leaves the room and Gambit leaves him be for the time, before noticing that he'd passed Rogue as if she were a ghost. He looks back momentarily before continuing in the opposite direction.
"Did he just completely ignore you?" Gambit asks Rogue who replies "I don't know what's happening to him, he isn't usually that snappy" she scowls at him "even with you."
Victor is at the very end of what his patience can handle with Wade, he was trying to prank him but he didn't fall for it growing very disturbed about something that had to do with Dairou.
"What are you up to?" Victor growls at the end of his patience "Dairou's gonna have yer head if he sees this"
"Yeah, whatever" Deadpool said walking out of Dairou's personal weapons vault with many of his most treasured belongings "You can tell him and your brother to kiss my ass, Creed!"
"Oh" Victor grumbles "I can't wait to shred you to pieces..."
In the Danger Room, Dairou was setting the auto self-destruct of the mansion but was caught by Barragan and Beast.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Barragan readied his pistols to shoot Dairou as Hank gets ready to fight "explain yourself, Dairou. Now!"
Dairou turned and grinned as he saw Beast, he was needed by Apokolypse "Come with me, blue man and nobody has to get hurt."
"Deactivate the self-destruct first!" Barragan yells before Dairou backhands him in his face "Shut up, pest...he is such a nuisance" Barragan is unconscious and Dairou corners Beast before knocking him out and leaving but not before Beast's scream alerts every X-Man in the mansion.
Screen splits showing the shocked X-Men, especially Logan and Victor alerted by Hank's scream echoing through the mansion.
Logan raised an eyebrow feeling a strange presence going away from the mansion "Was that McCoy?" he wondered out loud.
Victor looked at Jean "That was Hank" Jean nodded and closed her eyes a moment "the telepathic presence you and Logan were talking about...it's getting further from here fast. You think it could be...?"
"Hey, Dairou's gone" Deadpool yelled receiving skeptical looks from the two X-Men "He's been trying to get into my mind all day, good thing I'm immune to telepathy" he chuckles.
Rogue and Kurt finds Barragan okay but no sign of Dairou or Hank as Rogue grabs him "Where's Dairou?" but he was very angry and put a gun to her forehead "Get outta my face, he attacked me and must've taken Hank."
"But why?" Kurt asks as Rogue growls "I'm going after him!" but Barragan stops her by holding her in a chock-hold as Victor says "No, you're not" and Logan adds with a glare at their new company, Darius outside fighting Magik, Sunspot and Colossus "We have company"
Darius swings his scythe for the attack at Colossus and missed as Cyclops counters with his optic blasts "We'll hold him here" Kurt says looking at Rogue "Go bring Dairou back."
"I won't let that happen" Darius snarls before dodging Gambit's charged cards allowing Barragan, Victor, Logan and Rogue to go after Dairou.
Victor's group meets an ominous and silent Odion with Shade and the six pursue Dairou.
"You alright?" Victor asks Odion who flinches at the touch "I'll live, but Dairou was this close to killing me. He's becoming as powerful as Apokolypse is with no sign of stopping."
Elsewhere, Hank awaken to find himself trapped in chains as he sees Dairou bow before Apokolypse in a new form he'd never seen before.
"I have returned..." Dairou says bowing before Apokolypse as his stare turns to Beast with an evil frown "You have brought me a potential Horseman of Pestilence, I see."
Beast was shaking with fear "Dairou, stop this" he said silently as Apokolypse disappears to an unknown location with the last words "I'll leave the rest to you, my general."
"I live to serve, master" Dairou replies before turning to Beast with a very different personality "What's your name, X-Man and how do you know who I am?" He cut the chains off Hank's wrists and ankles.
Hank was silent for a moment, which vexed Dairou who uses his telekinesis to choke him in mid-air "Well?" Dairou awaited his answer and after one and a half hours of silence, Hank broke it "I'm Hank McCoy...Beast, we've been friends for years and you know who I am."
Dairou was still vexed but dropped his hold on the blue mutant as he coughed blood "Good" Dairou forced Hank's head up to look into his eyes "We'll see how long you live before you spend your eternity serving Apokolypse."
By this time, Victor and company arrive a distance away from Dairou who turned to them surprising them that his eyes were black with red rings for pupils and his hair was turning a silvery white "Back off, bub" Logan growls.
Dairou looks a bit curious as he mocked "No, bub" he then looks at Victor then grins at Odion "You X-Men sure are persistent, I don't have to warn you what you're up against here, do I Odion?"
Odion nods "Be careful...very careful" he warns the others as Victor nods and charges in as Hank yells "No Victor, look out for his telekinesis!"
Screen splits as everyone is amazed as Sabretooth asked "Telekinesis?! Since when was he able to do that?" but before he could stop, it was too late as Dairou raised one hand and stopped him dead in his tracks with a smirk at Hank "I don't care what you tell them, they're fates are still sealed."
He starts laughing madly as he slams a helpless Sabretooth all over the place as the others decide to counter and make him move away from Beast.
Barragan twirls his guns "NOW!"
He fires at Dairou, not hitting him but making his attention turn from Victor as he moves away but not enough for his taste as Shade attacks, kicking Dairou across the head "You've become...a monster and...a serious threat."
"Monster?" Dairou slashes at Shade as he takes his ash form to counter the sword strike "I'll show you who the real monster is" He was distracted enough for Wolverine to get close behind him and stick his claws through his spine.
Dairou fell to his knees as Sabretooth regained control over himself and he was about to attack before he discovered something.
Back with the others and Darius back at the mansion, they were not faring any differently from Victor's group against Dairou.
Kurt throws a dagger at Darius but he went through a portal causing the dagger to nearly take Gambit's head off as he growled "Watch it, Nightcrawler!"
Nightcrawler had no time to smirk as he replied "Sorry, where'd he disappear to?" but he was suddenly grabbed by Shadowcat as Darius' scythe phased right through his head and Peter comes from his left with a hard punch but he disappears in mid air again before Iceman could put the ice on him as he snapped his fingers in frustration "Shoot!"
This time, when he disappeared through the portal, Illyana chanted a spell to keep it open long for Kurt to throw a dagger in and Remy to throw some cards, hearing a grunt inside as he reappears afterwards still standing, but injured and furious.
Thinking fast, Iceman freezes him in a block of ice up to his neck "Not so tough now, are you?" he boasts as Darius chuckles "Hehe, I was only a diversion for nii-san to separate the ferals from you and...I wouldn't underestimate my opponent if I were you."
"No" Daken says rushing off as Kurt yells after him "where are you off to?" as he glanced back "I have to prevent Dairou from killing my father...no matter the cost."
"But he'll kill you!" Kitty added but he couldn't hear her.
As for the others and Dairou, he defeats them with ease but Victor and Odion just won't stay down. He could sense their auras and knew they won't stay down without a fight and that bring a dark smile to his face.
"W-why?" Sabretooth asks as he and Odion barely make to their feet as a bloodied Odion continued "Stop this...I can't fight my own son but then again you're no longer my son."
Sabretooth looks at Odion in disbelief "Odion, you won't k-?" but Odion growls "I wished it didn't have to come to this, I really did, Creed but we have to stop holding back out of fear of dying or killing him."
Dairou seemed distracted for a moment but as Victor and Odion decided to attack, he dodged both and countered with a crazed grin "Time to end this..."
From a distance Daken heard the screams of Odion, Sabretooth and Wolverine which he followed fearing the worst.
"Father?!" Daken calls out "Victor...anyone?!" but he received no answer but signs of a serious fight had been going. Suddenly, hearing a sound he turns around to see Dairou standing across from him with Victor's phone playing 'Pop goes the Weasle' as he hummed along.
Daken jumped back in fright the looked more confused than he'd ever been as Dairou looked at him "Looks like you just missed him...Logan, I mean." Dairou crushes the phone and throws it aside as Daken backs away from him as he comes closer "Where's Hank and my father, you monster?!"
"Gone...but alive for now, I assure you" Dairou smiles charmingly but also wickedly as he continued humming "You call me a monster, can I show why that is, Akihiro?!"
Daken was defenseless but attacked as Dairou drew his swords and sang along with Pop goes the Weasle "Pop goes the Kaiju..." Everything went black, just then Dairou is seen with a beaten, scared and possibly mentally scarred Daken over his shoulder before disappearing.
Meanwhile, Apokolypse has been busy in the Forgotten City building cell that hold the X-Men and a very sad Odion when Dairou returns with Daken and seemed less than happy at the sight of what his master did to his former home.
Odion looked to Victor who looked away from him "Victor" Odion called out to him but he has his eyes fixed on Dairou alone "I owe you an apology...I just couldn't find it in myself to fight Dairou and I owe the X-Men an apology as well."
"You owe no one an apology!" Wolverine looks at Dairou with pure hate as he saw the unconscious Daken in his arm "apologize when this is over but I have no intention of rolling over and dying, do you?" he looks at Odion who shook his head along with the others.
Gambit/Death is the only one not in a cell as Dairou was permitted not to put him in one as long as he became a horseman again but truly Death only wished to be permanently separated from Gambit and Apokolypse could do that...but at what cost?
"Sorry, Vic" he chuckles as Victor glares at him "but I don't care what happens if I can get my own body" Dairou appears beside Death with Daken and throws him in with the X-Men...again he feel like he's being watched and everyone is aware of Rogue but him as he stares at Wolverine long and hard then walks away without a word.
Gambit follows him as he goes to find Darius with Rogue in tow "Hey, General" Dairou rose an eyebrow at him and to the new name "What is it, Death?"
Gambit points a finger in his face "Tell Apokolypse that I want my own body" Dairou turns and walks away "I'll see what I can do...you talk too much."
Dairou returns to the mansion and has Death stand watch but he is attacked by the remaining furious X-Men who had captured Darius.
Archangel and Storm went seemingly undetected in the air, informing the others of the impending attack but revealing themselves in doing so, they'd caught Dairou's and Death's attention.
"Stop!" Storm summons lightning but Dairou absorbs it before looking to Death "Handle them" then runs off after the other X-Men still in the mansion.
"As you wish, General" Death nods before attacking the two as Archangel asks "Why have you betrayed us, Remy?!" he barely dodges a frontal assault taking to the air again "Rogue really used to look up to you when Daken was gone, so why?"
"Stupid girl never looked at me" Death snarls "she only barely looks at that weakling, Remy...now die." Remy attacks relentlessly as the two dodged.
Meanwhile, in the mansion...
Dairou has telepathically located Darius and makes his way to him but was confronted by a certain X-Man who'd never trusted him and he never liked in the first place...Cyclops, who is the only thing standing between him and Darius.
Dairou's expression was serious, easily sensing Jean nearby despite her attempts to hide from him "You know coming against me with a sword is suicide, right?" he asks as Cyclops seems to be just as angered as Storm and Archangel outside, if not madder as he was about to rip off his visor to attack at full power "Traitor! I'll obliterate you!" but he thought twice, knowing it would only serve to anger him and Dairou even further and he didn't need that as well as ineffective to Dairou.
He raises a sword as tears strode down his face "I'm so sorry, Jean" he attacks and Dairou defends himself and easily defeats him forcing him to his knees "Don't worry...I promise that you'll die but not before you watch as she does."
He looks at Jean and Magik and spreads his arms welcoming them "Ladies, welcome...right on time" He matched Jean with telekinesis but eventually pushed her back, this wasn't easy though with Magik distracting him more than he'd like as she seemed to get through to the real Dairou a bit "Dairou, think about what you're doing!" she said "You can't help Apokolypse if it means your friends die...your family."
Dairou fell to his knees writhing from a massive headache as he seemed to be fighting Apokolypse's power as one of his eyes were a red ring on black as the other normal but the fear was all too real "Jean? Help me, please!"
She then turns to glare at Jean "Jean, don't just stand there like a fucking light post, do something to help him!" that woke her up as she entered the dormant Dairou's mind only to find him there being consumed by his own inner darkness and it scared her half to death almost as much as it scared him.
"Please...help me...I-I don't want to die!" he echoed as he reached for her and the dark goop substance pulled him in more and she struggled "I...can't!"
The black substance however, with a conscience all of its own decided to attack the threat with a part of Dairou's own mind that it had already absorbed, Yang-Dairou.
Yang-Dairou swung at her but she evaded as he said "I...must...embrace my darkest desires...and kill" Jean summoned psychic weapons to fight him despite how much she didn't want to "Dairou...listen to me, I can't fight it alone you must fight it too!"
Yang-Dairou glances at Yin then back to his opponent "A telepath like you could never understand...what it means...to be regarded as a monster...so death shall be your teacher."
He rushes forward to attack Jean again but found he couldn't hit her because of the Phoenix's aura and as he is about to attack again, he freezes as in the real world, Scott jams a sword into his back. Yang-Dairou turns and looks back at his attacker mirroring Dairou in the real world.
Jean emerges from his mind to see the horror "Scott...no!" as Scott looks at her "It...had to be done" but Dairou was all but dead or done with him as he summons a 12 foot long katana with a black blade called Ameterasu and jams at least 6 feet of it straight through Cyclops' chest.
"SCOTT!" Jean screams as the man she loved was now dying before her and Illyana consoled her. Jean had a bad feeling about Dairou's sword as well as a sense or pure evil, anger and hatred emanated from a mere weapon.
Dairou then sets his dying friend down, his mind hasn't exactly caught up with what he's done yet then he looks at Jean as he pushes Magik out of his way "I missed his heart, so don't bury the body as I'll be back for it, Phoenix" then he holds her chin and whispers into her ear "...or I will kill you as well."
He finds Darius "Your master still needs you, ya fool" he leaves with his unconscious brother.
Back outside, Death couldn't hit Storm and Archangel but they couldn't easily hit him either as Dairou came out and ended the battle.
"Death, we're leaving" Dairou said as Death groaned childishly "Why, I wanted to kill them first?" Dairou glared at him brandishing his Ameterasu "Alright let's go."
Dairou then turns to the two X-Men "You'd best worry about your 'leader' as he has seen better days" he then left as they went inside to see what he was talking about.
On the roof, Bloodshot has a clear shot at Dairou's head but then he spots her and literally dodges the bullet and destroys her kinetic sniper rifle as she snarled "fuck" looking over her destroyed gun but when she looked back at Dairou, he and Death were gone.
She heads back into the mansion to see Jean crying as Illyana consoled her "What's she bellyaching about?" Illyana walked up to her and wanted to hit the clearly dangerous woman but thought against it "Dairou...he killed Scott."
Bloodshot looks around for Starbolt and Trigger "God, their childish and I'm not in the mood. Come out, boys, time for some explosive fun." Starbolt steps out and tries to grope Jean and Trigger slammed his arm in the back of his head "I thought Dairou warned you not to do that, jackass?!"
Starbolt grinned evilly "Stop hitting me, you twat!"
Jean was getting tired of them and pinned both to the wall "Stop fighting NOW or I'll tell Dairou on you!" that stopped them as Dairou was going to separate the best friends which was if he wasn't thinking of killing them first.
"Please don't tell him, he'll leave me in Tibet again with those creepy-assed monks" Starbolt begged as Bloodshot smirked "Hey, don't you dare insult Tibetan monks"
"Yeah, its better than staying with him all day... that Wolverine-obsessed moron travels way too much" Trigger shrugs "but we do have to save him somehow or this place would by mighty boring without him."
"Then, shut up and follow me" Bloodshot growls as the two reply in unison "Yes, Ma'am"
"Where's Scott, I wonder?" Starbolt asks dodging a stool to the head from Jean as he scowls at her "Bitch" under his breath.
"What's made her blow her fuse" Trigger groans as Bloodshot deadpanned "Don't worry, she'll get over it as it isn't your fault. Dairou...killed Scott right in-front of her."
Both young men froze as Trigger said "That mother..." and Starbolt finished for him angrily "Did what?!"
The three made it to the Forgotten City entrance and met Dairou, Death and the imprisoned X-Men.
"You...what are you pests doing here?" Dairou says coldly as he balances on a singular pillar in a crouched position then raised an eyebrow "I'll assume you're not fighting me with kids."
"You're pissing me off and don't EVER call me a kid!" Trigger yells as Starbolt said something that caught his and everyone's attention "Tell me, Cerulean, did you kill Scott?!"
Dairou picked his ears "So annoying and loud! Yes, I did...he got in my way. Do you wish to die as well?" He asks as Starbolt shot into the air "No, but you will!"
He shot star bolts at Dairou who dodged a few but was eventually hit causing a cloud of smoke "Yes!" he celebrated but it was short lived as Dairou emerged unfazed and came charging after him first "You die first then!" he attacks but is distracted by Bloodshot summoning Gatling guns "Trigger, free the X-Men and we'll hold him here!"
"Gotcha" Trigger said "but what about you guys?" that made Bloodshot shoot at him and reply "What about us?! Move it and stop asking fucking questions!"
Dairou quickly went after Trigger but was stopped by Starbolt "Your fight is with us so don't you dare try to get away!" but that turned out to be an illusion as Dairou caught him from the side and laughed madly "You're fun, but Scott's waiting for you on the other side" he countered with starbolts again but Dairou caught one and threw it back at his face, then punched the man more time and faster than he could count.
"Don't die" Dairou begged "I can't have you die before I'm through with you!"
"Hey" Odion's voice caught Dairou's attention as he turned to see the X-Men free and ready to fight "I wasn't finished with you...baka"
Suddenly, Dairou grins darkly as Beast, Wolverine and Gambit/Death are levitated into the air and Apokolypse makes his return as all others are shocked to see Storm try to attack them only for her, Archangel and the Professor to be captured as well.
"The end of mutantkind is near" Apokolypse said as the captured mutants spoke with him against their will "giving rise to the Age of Apokolypse."
"Apokolypse!" Death yells with little control over himself "Separate me from Gambit first."
Dairou grins as does Apokolypse "that will not be necessary...my Horseman of Death" Death yells death threats as he succumbs to Apokolypse's control.
The Horsemen, now under Apokolypse's control move to remote places in the world via flight or teleportation setting up control pyramids and protecting them if need be so Apokolypse can control the planet. Wolverine and Beast goes to Canada, Storm goes to Africa, Archangel and Xavier head to Russia, while Gambit/Death remains in the US with Dairou. Meanwhile, elsewhere Darius has awakened apparently no longer under Apokolypse's power or remembering what happened to him.
Darius rises to a sitting position and rubs his throbbing head "W-where am I?" but jumps back now fully awake and finding himself in the mountain peaks just outside Bayville "Well, that explains that, now how do I get down and how'd I get here in the first place?"
He began his journey down carefully from the icy peaks, slipping a few times until he could see Storm fly by but when he called out to her, she doesn't reply and looked strange.
Hours later, he makes it to see Bayville half destroyed and Rogue "Rogue?" but she was only thinking of attacking him "get away from me, you bastard!" He decides to leave her be but as he is about to walk away she stops him "Wait" she grabbed him with tears in her eyes "can you help Dairou...make him see me?"
"See you?" Darius wondered "How can he not see or hear you?"
"Apokolypse" she growled as he said in a clipped tone "say no more, then."
"You can do something?" she asked hoping he could as he replied "I think so, you see I think I can make him see you again if only momentarily but he must be weakened and immobilized first. What's going on?" he then asks as his father and most of the X-Men appear.
Odion punches Darius in the face for the trouble he put them through before the X-Men fill him in on what had happened. Meanwhile in several locations across the globe, the Horsemen were doing as told by Apokolypse, little did they know their fight was going on within them despite still being at Apokolypse's mercy.
"Death, go set up the control pyramid" Dairou said looking from Death to spying on the X-Men "I'll stay here and have some more fun" he chuckles wickedly as Death is gone with his own ulterior motives in mind.
A/N – What will the X-Men do now that more of their allies are working for Apokolypse? What are Death's true motives and what will it have to do with Dairou? What are Dairou's plans of the dying Cyclops and what does it have to do with his new sword, Ameterasu? Nothing good, I'm sure but that and more to be answered in the next chapter.
