When Will These People Learn to Fly?

As the X-Men rounded the corner, they saw a blue-skinned mutant with wings and Alex Summers waiting with visible energy radiating from his fists.

"Scott! What a pleasant surprise!" Alex greeted with mock cheer as he blasted at the X-Men with energy beams.

Scott fired an optic blast to hold back Alex's plasma blasts, protecting the other X-Men. "Go!" he shouted to the others.

Storm's power was very little help in this situation, so she hung back with Scott while Wolverine ran and Jean flew down the large hallway.

The blue mutant they had previously not recognized left the ground lightly and swooped towards Wolverine and Jean as they approached.

"Warren!" Jean gasped in recognition.

"Warren Worthington is no more. I am Archangel, Herald of the Apocalypse!"

"Who comes up with these names?" Wolverine demanded, and jumped up to try to slice his claws at Archangel.

Archangel deftly dodged Wolverine's attack and flipped forward to kick Wolverine in the chest with a surprising amount of force. Wolverine went flying back and smashed into the wall. Jean dodged a similar attack, and launched a blast of telekinetic energy at Archangel, knocking him off course, but he quickly recovered.

Meanwhile, Scott and Alex were inching closer towards each other, fighting against the force of each other's energy blasts.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Alex!" Scott pleaded.

"When will you learn to give up on this?" Alex demanded scornfully. "I'm not interested in being one of the 'good guys,' thanks."

Back in the air, Jean and Archangel were dodging each other's attacks – a bit disconcerting in Archangel's case as Jean's attacks were psychic in nature.

"What the hell did she do to you, Warren?" Jean demanded.

Archangel laughed scornfully. "You think Emma Frost did this to me? You X-Men have no idea what approaches."

xxxx

There were very few walls left standing in the X-Mansion as Juggernaut continued to rampage through it on his search for his stepbrother. The three X-Men could do little but get a few shots in here and there and quickly retreat. Each swipe of Juggernaut's massive arm scattered them.

"If you tell me where Xavier is, I promise not to play with you when I kill you!" Juggernaut shouted.

Iceman shot a blast of ice at Juggernaut which he easily smashed through, but in the intervening moments Beast landed on Juggernaut's back and tried to dislodge his helmet. He was forced to abandon this effort quickly when Juggernaut growled menacingly and reached back towards him.

As Beast back-flipped off Juggernaut's back, Colossus stepped forward and threw a powerful punch at Juggernaut. The blow had sufficient force to shatter concrete or metal, but didn't even phase Juggernaut, who almost lazily knocked Colossus aside with a swipe of his elbow, sending the metal-covered boy flying through a wall.

Juggernaut started to step in the direction Colossus had flown, probably intended to finish him, but Iceman stepped into his path and shot a blast of ice at him.

"Bad move, boy," Juggernaut scolded, and moved towards Iceman menacingly.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" a feminine voice asked casually from the doorway on the other side of the room.

Everyone whirled around to see Rogue floating in midair facing Juggernaut, her expression burning with anger and determination.

"Rogue!" Iceman shouted in concern.

Juggernaut laughed scornfully. "You're is supposed to be someone my own size?"

"Why don't you come over here and find out, sugar?" Rogue invited.

xxxx

The battle was not going well for the X-Men. And just when things couldn't get any worse, the doors slid open and Emma Frost emerged. "Enough," she stated coolly.

"You really think we're going to stop fighting on account of a second-rate psychic?" Jean's voice dripped with contempt.

Emma smiled thinly. "Charmed, as always."

Regardless of Jean's sarcasm, Emma's appearance brought the battle to a temporary standstill. If anything, however, Havok and Archangel looked more confused than the X-Men.

"Where's Magneto, Emma?" Cyclops demanded.

"So sorry, darling. I'm afraid the princess is in another castle."

Jean gasped. "Scott, she's telling the truth. She just dropped her psychic shield, and there's no one else in this base. There's no one else here."

"It's all right," Emma assured them. "I know where he's going."

"Miss Frost?" Havok asked uncertainly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Alex. I don't especially have anything against wiping out all humanity… my heart just isn't in it." She glanced at Archangel. "And I'm pretty sure Magneto's working for someone else, which scares the hell out of me."

Archangel clearly understood the way in which the tide had turned. "None shall escape the judgment of Apocalypse," he announced coolly, and without opposition took flight.

"We're just going to let him go?" Wolverine demanded.

"You have bigger problems right now. Believe me," Emma stated.

Havok looked uneasily from the X-Men to Emma. "I'm not going to try to stop you, but that doesn't mean I like this."

"Your words say no, but your cowardice says yes," Emma answered scornfully. "Thank you ever so much, darling." She turned back to Cyclops. "Follow me, if you want to stop Magneto."

Cyclops nodded to the others, and the four X-Men followed Emma into Magneto's command center. At the center of the room was a rather large table, covered with blueprints, maps, and other documents.

"Washington, DC?" Storm identified, holding up one of the maps for the others to see.

Jean dropped one of the blueprints back onto the table and stepped backwards. As she turned to the others, she wore a horrified expression. "Oh God," her voice was barely a whisper. "The Arc Reactor."

xxxx

Iceman watched in horror as Juggernaut charged towards Rogue. "No!" he shouted, to no avail.

Juggernaut swung a massive punch at Rogue, and time seemed to freeze at the moment of impact.

No. Time had not stopped, Iceman realized as he took a deep breath.

Everyone stared in shock at the scene before them. Rogue had blocked Juggernaut's punch, and now held his fist easily in her hands. Juggernaut was staring at her with evident shock, and with a great deal of effort managed to pull his fist away from her grip.

"Impossible," he rumbled. "Nothing stops the Juggernaut."

Juggernaut threw another punch at Rogue, which she again easily blocked, this time by throwing a punch of her own to knock his off course. Juggernaut actually staggered slightly away from the blow.

Rogue, still floating slightly off the ground to match Juggernaut's height, grinned. "Give up yet, sugar?"

Juggernaut growled in frustration. "You can't beat me, little girl."

The massive armored figure charged at Rogue one more time, shouting a wordless battle cry of rage and naked aggression.

This time, Rogue deftly flew above Juggernaut's attack, flipped around in midair, and grabbed the back of his helmet as he ran by.

There was a wrenching sound of metal being torn from metal, and the sound of flesh and bone solidly impacting metal.

The blur of motion was too quick to follow, but at the end Juggernaut was lying on the ground with his now helmetless head in his hands, and Rogue floated above him with his helmet in her hands.

"Now, Charles!" Beast shouted.

He needn't have said anything. Professor X, who had been psychically monitoring the contest, emerged from the elevator to the lower levels with his brow knitted in concentration.

"Xavier!" Juggernaut shouted.

"I'm sorry, Cain," Professor X said somberly, his eyes closed as he exerted his psychic power against his stepbrother.

Juggernaut's brow was already beginning to sweat. "I'll destroy you!"

"Not today," Xavier answered calmly.

Juggernaut struggled for a few moments, but quickly lapsed into a catatonic state.

Xavier sighed heavily. "Hank," he ordered calmly, "contact General Fury. Tell him we have something he lost." He then turned to the younger X-Men and smiled at them gratefully, especially Rogue. "I'm very proud of all of you."

Before anyone could say anything further, Xavier's expression suddenly contorted in concentration. "Jean?" he spoke aloud. There was a pause, then his eyes opened wide in horror. "No!"