Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men or any other million dollar comic book characters
Chapter 10: Summerset Part 2
As Alex lay on the ground, his life slipping away form him, Rogue and Solaris finally reached him and looked up at Graydon Creed, murder in their eyes. Solaris's eyes glowed with white fire and Rogue pulled off both of her gloves as they advanced towards the P.O.H leader
"What's the matter? Upset about little Alex? Don't be, you'll all be joining him soon enough" he replied, lifting his revolver and pointing it at Rogue, then Solaris, unsure of who to shoot, if either got their hands on him, it wouldn't be pleasant
Luckily he didn't have to decide as he, along with every other combatant was thrown to the ground as a massive arc of orange energy shot through the air, ripping up the floorboards like matchsticks and tearing through the walls like they were made of meringue and not concrete. Rogue pulled herself to her feet and saw the cause of the energy blast. Alex's body was hanging in mid-air, a few feet off the ground, the arc of energy that had done all the damage was now coiled around his body, like a boa constrictor around its prey.
One of the P.O.H raised his laser gun and snapped off a shot at the immobile mutant but as the blast hit the energy coil the coil lashed out at it, the stronger orange surge smashing the weaker yellow blast aside and continuing on to the gun it had been fired on, orange energy surged down the gun into its power pack, overloading the device. As the thug screamed and clawed at the pack, desperately trying to get it off before it exploded and took him with it the X-men sprang into action. Murmur raced over and yanked the pack and gun off the P.O.H members back and hurled it to Nightcrawler who quickly teleported away, then re-appeared in a cloud of smoke and brimstone as a small yellow-orange explosion went off in the grounds, ripping a nearby tree into toothpicks. The boy drew and brandished a short knife at the two mutants who'd saved him, his hatred of them overriding any gratitude at them saving his life. In response Murmur slammed a fist into the side of his head, knocking him out cold.
"Why didn't you finish the job?" Solaris asked
"Don't tempt me" she said, glaring down at the P.O.H member
"I'm glad you didn't, we're better than that, you're better than that" he said
"Thanks" she replied, blushing awkwardly. Other P.O.H members lifted their weapons, training them on Alex
"Don't bother, kill the other freaks first, we'll figure out how to get rid of that one later" Graydon said as he and his men climbed back to their feet, unsure of what to do.
They looked at the X-men, Amara was in her fire form holding two massive fireballs, Solaris's hands were glowing with white fire, as were his eyes, Taipan was glaring at them like a cobra glaring at a mongoose, Drac was smiling widely with his fangs visible and his cloak like coat flapping, looking every bit the vampire his powers made him resemble, Silver Whisp was looking like a stormcloud with anger management issues and Rogue had placed her hands on Solaris's and Amaras shoulders, one eye glowing with the solar white fire, the other with a primal, orange inferno
"Still wanna try your luck?" Kitty asked them, smiling broadly
"We'll pass, we did what we came here to do anyway, y'all have a nice evening" Graydon said, turning and running out of the mansion like a kicked dog. As they neared the door a massive shape dropped down to block their path, it roared like a enraged animal and the P.O.H were suddenly rooted to the spot, caught between a rock and a mutant place.
"Actually, I think we'll stick around" Graydon said, taking a step backwards
"Good, keep an eye on these jerks" Kitty said to Taipan, Amara, Silver Whisp, Stormcaller, Drac and Kurt, immediately assuming command
"My pleasssure" Taipan said, grinning as he slithered closer to Duncan
"I wouldn't try anything if I were you" he hissed
"Or what?" Duncan sneered, unable to help himself despite the danger he was in. Taipan sprayed venom at Duncans dropped laser gun, which melted into a puddle of molten slag on the floor
"Or that" he hissed, deathly serious. Duncan was very quiet after that
With the P.O.H under control Kitty looked over at the door, unaware of who'd blocked Graydons escape, whoever it was was standing in the shadows created by the collapsed building, she'd thought it was Logan but according to the Professor he was somewhere in northern Canada and wouldn't be back for a few days at the least. Then the mysterious figure stepped forwards into the light and his identity was revealed. As soon as she saw his face Kitty took a step back, Rogue pointed both her hands, still using Solaris's and Amaras powers at the figure and Kurt immediately teleported to stand next to his sister.
"What are you doing here Sabertooth?" Kitty yelled
"Calm down kid, I aint here to start anything" Sabertooth said, holding his hands up as he advanced
"That's far enough" Rogue said, knowing all too well what a bad idea it was to let Sabertooth get too close
"Why are you here? The Proferssor's gone and so's Logan, neither of them are gonna be back for at least a few hours" Kitty asked the Wolverines oldest enemy
"Creed's my problem, I wanna help put right what he's done" Sabertooth said
"Your problem? how's he you're problem?" Rogue asked
"That's my business, now d'you want my help or not?" Sabertooh snapped, not too happy at being asked that question
"And how d'you plan on helping?" Rogue asked sarcastically
"Well for starters I can tell you what's wrong with Cyclops's brother over there" he said, looking at the comatose Alex
"You know?" Kitty asked
"I got a theory, but if you don't let me get a better look that's all it's gonna be, a theory, not a cure"
"Fine but try anything"
"And I get beat black and blue, and that's nothing compared to what Wolverine'll do to me when he gets back here" Sabertooth said, completing Rogues sentence. He slowly walked over to where Alex was floating, growling threateningly at the P.O.H as he passed by them, who shrank back in fear except for Graydon Credd, who continued to glare at Sabertooh with something close to absolute loathing in his eyes. Sabertooh stopped a few feet away from Alex and remained silent for a minutes, drumming his fingers on the nearby wall thoughtfully before replying
"O.K, from what I can see, he's hurt, real bad"
"Wow, like we didn't already know that" Rogue replied sarcastically, Kitty elbowed her in the ribs and Sabertooth continued
"It looks like his power's protecting him, he's gone into some kind of hibernation while it's trying to heal him, or stop him from dying" Sabertooth said
"Can it heal him?" Kitty asked, Sabertooh sighed as he replied
"Unless he's got some new powers from the last time I saw him, no, it can't, he'll be like that for the rest of his life, I'm sorry" he said, sounding as if he genuinely meant it
All of the students present stared into space, expressions of shock and sorrow on their faces. A cry of pain from behind them brought them all to their senses. Graydon was standing with Duncan, having shoved Kurt aside, and holding the massive cannon they'd salvaged from the sentinel
"DIE FREAKS!!!" Creed shrieked at the top of his lungs as the cannon charged up and fired. Unfortunately he hadn't realised just how heavy the cannon was and as it fired, his arms gave out and he dropped the cannon, the ensuing blast shot right past where Rogue, Kitty and the others were, and where Sabertooth was standing, hitting the comatose Havok.
"YOU STUPID IDIOT DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Rogue yelled at Graydon
"He killed Summers little brother" Duncan said
"No, remember what happened when one of your goons shot at it before? What d'you think it'll do now you've hit it with fifty times as much power?" Kitty said
"Oh, didn't think of that" Duncan replied as the energy field shuddered under the impact, than blasted outwards, engulfing everything near it in a massive orange maelstrom of explosive energy. Sabertooth threw himself into the air but saw he wasn't to get away form it before a small blast of wind lifted him up further and carried him to where the X-men were standing.
"Why'd you do that? Didn't Xavier tell you I aint on your side?"
"Hey, we mutants gotta look out for each other" Stormcaller said
With the X-men and Sabertooth distracted by the energy storm, the P.O.H decided it would be a good time to make their escape. They'd cleared the debirs and were nearly out of the door when they saw their way blocked yet again.
A battered and bleeding, but still very much alive Beast, Jean, Cyclops, the Professor, Storm and Archangel were standing on the lawn outside the Institute
"You leaving so soon? The party's just starting" Cyclops asked. The Professor used his telepathy and the P.O.H's weapons dropped to the ground with a clatter and they all sat down, unmoving.
"That should keep them there for awhile" the Professor said as the returning X-men entered the Institute. Scott dropped to his knees as he saw the energy maelstrom and Alex in the centre of it. Then he saw Sabertooth
"What did you do?" he growled, rising to his feet and advancing towards the Acolyte
"Relax Scott, he's with us" Rogue said
"What…what happened to Alex?" Scott asked
"Creed shot him" Kitty said, Scott turned around to look directly at Creed, reaching up to remove his glasses. Jean took his arm
"Don't Scott, it won't help your brother, Creed's not worth it" she said, Scott sighed and hugged her
"You're right, Alex wouldn't want me to anyway" he replied, breaking contact and turning to look at the Professor, who'd been filled in on Alex's condition by Sabertooth
"Is there anything we can do?" he asked desperately
"I don't think so Scott, unless there's some way to heal him and even then I don't know if he'll be able to get his powers back under control"
"Right, none of us have healing powers" Scott said
"I do, sort of" Warren said suddenly
"You do?"
"Yes, well my blood can heal pretty much any injury, I'm not sure if it'll work on such a bad gunshot wound though" Warren replied
"Even if you can heal him, we can't get it to him, nothing could survive that energy storm" Beast said
"We've got to try, Jean, can you hold it back long enough for me to get Warrens blood to Alex?" Scott asked
"I'll try, but why does it have to be you?" Jean asked, not wanting him to risk his life like that
"I've got to, he's my brother, the only family I have" Scott replied. Warren grabbed a hypodermic syringe and quickly stuck it in his arm, then he drew it out and handed the full syringe to Scott
"Just drip it into the wound, it should heal in a few seconds" he said
"Thanks Warren"
"Don't mention it, and good luck"
Scott and Jean advanced to the edge of the energy storm, Jean stretched out her hands and the energy parted, clearing a path big enough for two people. After taking a few steps into the storm, Jean cried out and sank to her knees, the pathway ahead of them shrank, then vanished completely.
"Jean, go back, you can't keep this up" Scott told her
"I can't, the path needs to be maintained from in here" she said
"I'll be O.K, I won't leave you" he said, Jean gabbed him and kissed him
"You'd better not" she said, breaking away and backing out of the storm. As she did her barrier failed completely and the orange energy storm descended on Cyclops. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the full force of the storm, but he didn't feel anything, he opened his eyes and saw he wasn't even scratched. Amazed he tried to walk forwards but couldn't, the storm might not be hurting him, but it was still a strong storm and he couldn't move any further forwards. Gripping the syringe tightly in his hand he suddenly had an idea, reaching up and removing his shades he let the full force of his powers blast outwards. When his red optic blasts hit Alex's orange energy they seemed to merge, cancelling each other out, Scott walked forwards, the storm now feeling like nothing but a light breeze.
He reached Alex and held out the syringe, letting the blood within it fall down onto the gunshot wound in his brothers chest. As he watched the blood seemed to sink into the wound and it started to close, within a few seconds it had healed completely and he looked around to see the storm fading away.
Jean ran over to him
"Did it work?" she asked eagerly
"No" he said softly, Jean looked down to see Alex still floating a few inches off the ground, a thin tendril of energy still coiled around his chest.
A few hours later Scott was sitting out on the front steps of the mansion, watching as Graydon, Duncan and the other P.O.H members were put in the back of police cars and driven away, sirens blaring.
"Hey" he said dully as Rogue came out to sit next to him
"How's your brother doing? Any improvement?" she asked
"None, he's still in a coma, Beast and the Professor say there's a chance he'll come out of it, but not a good one" he replied
"I'm really sorry Scott" Rogue said, resting a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. He pulled away and stood up
"Thanks Rogue" he said, smiling faintly before going back inside, looking for Jean and wondering how he was going to explain this to his brothers adoptive parents.
As Rogue stood up to leave Sabertooth walked out, on his way out
"Thanks for helping us" she said
"It was nothing, like I said, Creed's my problem" he said
"What's that mean? How come he's your problem?" she asked, Sabertooth stopped before replying
"Logan never told you my name did he? It's Victor, Victor Creed" he said before continuing down the steps, hopping on his motorbike and driving out of the gates, leaving a very shocked Rogue behind.
The next day Logans bike pulled into the Institute and stopped outside the door to the mansion, he and his passenger hopped off and walked up the steps. She stayed in the foyer as he went into the living room, where all of the Institutes residents had gathered.
"Looks like I missed one hell of a party" he said. Scott immediately stood up and walked out of the room
"Scott, wait" Jean said, running after him
"What's up with shades?" he asked
"He had a rough night" Kitty said, Logan looked over at the Professor, who nodded, giving Logan the go ahead to make his big announcement.
"Well, in case the Professor hasn't told you kids, the reason I left was to bring a new mutant here to the Institute" he said and a girl wearing the same outfit she'd been wearing the last time she'd been here walked into the room. Kitty, Beserker and the other students who'd been here then immediately realised who she was, and couldn't believe Logan would risk bringing her there
"This is Laura Kinney, better know as X-23" he said, introducing his clone
"Hi" she said, extending her claws
To be continued in The Next Evolution: The Weapon, The Serpent And the Vampire
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