(Another update has arrived. I try to make each chapter now like an episode, with a beginning and end. Please let me know what you think of it and suggestions are always welcome.)
"SHE WHAT?!!!" yelled Pietro. He had just got back with Lance and the others to the Boarding house when Toad broke the bad news to them. "Like I told ya before, Lorna came home, packed all her things, and said she was joining the X-Geeks." said Toad.
Everyone moaned. "Oh man, how come this keeps happening? Magneto, Mystique, and now Lorna. Why does everyone keep dumping us?!" yelled Fred. "I always knew she was an X-Geek at heart." said Kine.
"But she helped Pietro with those robberies." said Lance. "One good act wasn't going to change her. She was gonna join them sooner or later and we all knew it." said Terrence.
"So what now?" asked John. "Forget her. She wants to waste her time with those losers, I say let her. She'll only be torturing herself." said Pietro. Then something dawned on Pietro.
"And speaking of torture." Pietro said before zooming off. "Hey, where's he going?" asked Toad. "Who knows? Hopefully someplace where he won't come back anytime soon." said John.
Daniels was riding his skateboard down the sidewalk when suddenly a blur passed by him and shoved him. He fell flat to the ground. Evan looked up to see Pietro standing over him.
"I forgot to give you your wedgie in PE class today. So I figured, I'd just take your board." said Pietro before grabbing Evan's skateboard. "Hey, give me that." warned Daniels who grew spikes on his arms.
"Come and get it pointy." laughed Pietro and dashed over to a nearby valley. Daniels ran after him. "Give that back Pietro!" yelled Evan. He didn't notice a boy approaching them both. He had the physical appearance of a Native American.
The boy walked up to both Pietro and Daniels who were both tugging on either end of the skateboard. "Evan Daniels?" asked the boy. Daniels let go from the distraction, causing Pietro to fall on his back. "Huh, do I know you?" asked Daniels.
"Are you Evan Daniels?" the boy asked again. Pietro zoomed right in front of Evan. "Yeah, that's the loser behind me. What happened, he turn your car into a pincushion?" asked Pietro. Daniels turned Pietro around. "Shut up Maximoff!" yelled Evan. "Make me." dared Pietro.
"You'll both suffice." the boy said with a sinister grin. He held up his hand and a circular portal appeared in front of him. The portal began to suck both Spyke and Quicksilver. Pietro tried to run but found himself still getting closer to the event horizon. Spyke had the same result when he was shot spikes into the ground for him to hold onto to.
Sure enough, the two were pulled into the vortex which closed afterwards. The boy then opened his own portal and stepped through.
Both Pietro and Daniels fell face down onto the floor. The two of them got to their feet and glanced around to find themselves literally in darkness. "Where are we?" asked Daniels. "You tell me, Chief Wahoo back there was obviously gunning for you." said Pietro.
"I've never seen that guy before in my life." said Evan. "Whatever, I'm getting out of here." said Pietro who zoomed off one direction and appeared from the other side of Daniels.
"Huh? How'd I get back here?" Pietro asked out loud. He ran the same direction he came and found himself on the other side of Daniels. "Dude, this is getting freaky man." said Daniels.
"Ah, you've arrived." said a low ominous voice. The two mutants glanced around but couldn't see anyone. "Who's there?" demanded Pietro. "Welcome to my prison. It's been so long since I've had any visitors." said the voice.
A figure appeared in front of them, a black demonic creature. "AHHHH!" yelled Pietro who tried to run but it was like he was running on a treadmill as he wasn't moving.
"You are in my world now and I have great plans for you." said the creature. "What are you?" said a terrified Daniels. "Very soon, you will call me master but for now you may call me Shadow King." laughed the demonic entity.
Lorna just finished up packing all her things and was on her way to the dinning room to join the others for dinner when she was approached by Storm. "Lorna, I was wondering if you saw my nephew." said Storm, somewhat worried. "Evan? No, I'm sorry. I haven't seen him all day." replied Lorna.
Storm sighed. "Is everything alright?" asked Lorna. "No, he's not in the mansion grounds and no one has seen him for the past several hours." said Storm. "Does he usually do this?" asked Lorna. "Sometimes he'll go out for several hours at a time but he never misses dinner with us. This isn't like him." said Storm.
Kurt teleported right beside them, wearing a chef's hat. "Bojour ladies. Come to the dinning room and enjoy some of my fine feast foule'." he spoke in a fake French accent. He seemed to be enjoying cooking duties real well.
"In a minute Kurt, I need to see the professor first." said Storm then walked off. Nightcrawler turned back to Lorna. "Get it while it's hot." said Kurt before teleporting away.
Storm met up with Charles and explained Daniel's absence to her. "Don't worry Ororo, I'll see if I can connect to him." said Xavier. He reached out telepathically to Spyke but for some reason, couldn't sense his presence. He stretched his mind outwards, searching through the entire city.
Suddenly, a portal behind Storm and a boy came leaping out. He kicked Storm in the back of the head, dropping her. "Hello Xavier." the boy smiled evilly. "What is the meaning of this?" demanded Xavier, preparing to send a psychic blast.
"Charles, you offend me. You don't remember the one telepath whose mind you couldn't read?" mocked the boy. Xavier reached out and found an incredibly powerful mental shield around the boy. It would take all his effort just to get through it.
"Don't bother trying to get through Charles. I'll be long gone before you do." said the boy. "Who are you?" demanded Charles. Storm got back to her feet and was charging up for a lightning bolt. "Do that Ororo and you'll never find your precious nephew." warned the boy.
Storm stopped after his last statement. "You have grown much since I took you into my care. I can only imagine what we could have accomplished together Windrider." said the boy. Storm and Xavier's eyes went wide, realizing who the intruder was.
"It can't be." gasped Storm. "Farouk." said Xavier. "Yes, the one you tried to kill back in Cairo but as you can see, you failed." laughed the intruder, his eyes turning dark black. The boy was nothing but a host, Farouk was now a being of pure psychic energy.
"What have you done to Evan?!" yelled Storm. Wolverine bursted into the room and knocked Farouk to the ground. He put his claws right up to the boy's neck. But Farouk only laughed.
"Go ahead, kill this body. You would only be killing the poor innocent wretch whom I have taken to be my vessel." laughed Farouk. Wolverine growled but removed the claws after Xavier sent him a message to do so.
"What do you want Farouk?" demanded Xavier. "Farouk is no more. I am Shadow King and I have come bearing a message." said the boy before sending a metal image into Xavier's brain of both Evan and Pietro screaming in pain.
"If you wish to see the brats again, you will face me in the astral plane once more. Make your decision quickly Charles, I don't know how much longer they'll last." laughed Shadow King. A portal opened up behind him and he leaped through it. It closed before Logan could stop him.
The rest of the X-Men all waited in the study as Xavier, Storm, Beast, and Logan were all talking in the professor's office. The kids didn't know what was going on other then an intruder came and gave them a message.
"What do ya thinks going on in there?" asked Rogue. "I don't know but the professor sounded pretty worried." said Jean. "You think it's Evan?" asked Lorna. "I don't know." said Jean.
Finally, Xavier and the other two stepped out of the office. "What's going on professor?" asked Summers. "It's Evan, he's been kidnapped." said Xavier. That caught everyone's attention. "What? By whom?" asked Kurt.
"His name is Amahl Farouk, a very powerful telepath who calls himself Shadow King. He lived in Cairo about twenty years ago where he forced Ororo to steal for him." said Xavier. "That was not a pleasant part of my life." said Monroe.
Xavier continued. "When I met him, he wanted me to join him. He had a dream of conquering the world and making all of humanity bow before his feet. I refused and he attacked me. The two of us fought with our minds until our consciousnesses were battling on the astral plane. I managed to gain the upper hand and banish him there forever. At least, I thought he was but clearly I was wrong. It appears he has found a mutant to help him escape from the astral plane and that is where he is holding both Evan and Pietro." said Xavier.
"Wait a minute, Pietro? Why does he have him?" asked Lorna. "I don't know. But Shadow King is a sadist and he showed me memories of him torturing both of them." said Xavier. "Then we need to get 'em out of there." said Kitty.
"It's not that simple. Their physical bodies are trapped in the astral plane and the only way to free them is that boy Farouk possessed. His mutant powers are what took Evan and Pietro away and is the only way we can bring them back." said Xavier.
"And let me guess, the kid in the astral plane." said Bobby. "Yes, Shadow King wants to force me to face him there once more." said Xavier. Wolverine growled, "I don't need to be a telepath to know this is a trap Chuck." he said.
"I know, which is why I called some help." said Xavier. Wolverine frowned. Charles turned to Jean. "Jean, I won't force you to go but I will need as much help as possible in fighting him. Only telepaths can enter the astral plane." said Xavier.
"You can count on me Professor." said Jean. "Wait a minute, that's it? You're only taking Jean with you against this guy?" said a worried Summers. "No. I have someone else coming to help. Speaking of which…" said Xavier just as the doorbell rang.
Everyone followed Xavier to the front of the mansion where a woman was standing outside. She was dressed an exotic white dress and had long golden hair. All the guys were instantly stunned from her appearance, except Wolverine who recognized her immediately.
"Thank you for coming so quickly." Xavier said as the woman entered. "You know me Charles, I'm always dependable." said the visitor. Charles turned to everyone else to introduce their guest. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Emma Frost." he said.
Wolverine was anything but happy about this. The reason why being that Emma had her own school for mutants, only she taught her students that mutants were superior to humans unlike Charles who taught equality.
Still, Emma was willing to help Charles get Daniels and Pietro back at the risk of her own life. And since she was one of the most powerful telepaths in the world, she would be extremely helpful in fighting Shadow King.
The three of them entered Cerebro, planning on using the device to allow them to enter the astral plane without too much effort. They were going to need their strength for the coming battle. "Everyone ready?" asked Xavier as he put on his helmet.
"As ready as we'll ever be." said Frost who was lying down along with Jean since they were about to leave their bodies and didn't want to fall down. Xavier was going to mentally pull out their consciousnesses using Cerebro's mental enhancement abilities. "This will feel a little weird." said Charles.
He tugged at his colleagues' psyche, causing them to leave their bodies. Their bodies slumped as their astral projections floated into the air. Soon Xavier joined them and a portal opened up in front of them, created by Charles.
They passed into a landscape covered in volcanic ash and molten rock. Streams of lava flowed down in crevices like rivers and the ground was covered in ash. Not a single plant was visible in sight.
"Shadow King should fire whoever his land decorator is." said Emma, knowing how to keep her sense of humor even in situations like these. Xavier, walking on his own two feet, walks forward. "They're this way." he said. The other two followed him over a hill and saw a massive menacing looking stone castle.
"Something tells me that's where we're supposed to go." said Jean. "First bad landscaping and now terrible construction work. Shadow King should really know how to hire better help." said Emma.
The three made their way to the castle. Standing in front of it were black demonic-shaped creatures hissing and flapping their wings. Xavier was going to use his telepathy to keep them at bay but found that wasn't necessary as the creatures moved aside for them.
"Hmm, it appears that Shadow King doesn't want us to be distracted." said Xavier. "But is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Jean as they continued walking through the hordes of creatures. The entities continued to growl and hiss at them but nothing more.
Inside the castle, the three telepaths made their way into a massive throne room. Sitting at the end was Shadow King, fifty feet tall, on his throne chair. The center of the room was like a coliseum from Rome, with rows of benches filled with demonic hordes all flapping their wings excitedly.
"Welcome Charles. For twenty years, I've been waiting for this day. Now I want to savor the moment." said Shadow King. "Where are they?" demanded Xavier.
"Ah yes, the brats. Come out boys." chuckled Shadow King. Pietro and Daniels stepped out of the shadows, dressed in dark exotic looking armor. "We serve the master." said Daniels. "All hail Shadow King." said Pietro.
"What have you done to them?" yelled Jean. Shadow King laughed at her anger, amused. "I played around inside their minds. So pathetic, so easy to manipulate. But enough of this exchange." said Shadow King before rising to his feet.
"You two dispose of Xavier's pets, no one is touch Charles. I want to kill him nice and slowly myself." glared Shadow King. Pietro dashed forward holding a black axe. Emma turned into her diamond form just as Pietro slammed the sharp end into her. The axe bounced off Emma but Pietro continued swinging it.
Spikes emerged from Daniel's body which he fired at Jean. She used her telekinesis to protect herself but Evan was in overdrive with his spikes, continuously firing more and more. Shadow King leaped forward and landed right in front of Charles. He tried to step on the Professor but Xavier held up Shadow King's foot as if he were Juggernaut. Charles shoves the foot forward which causes Farouk to fall over. But Shadow King begins to shrink and lands in a back flip on his feet.
"Impressive Charles, but you must know that you've lost." laughed Shadow King. Dozens of Shadow King-like mimics formed around the original and swords and shields appeared in their hands. Using his own manipulation of the astral plane, Xavier summoned his own set of gladiators, which looked just the X-Men.
"Time to say goodnight bub." said the Wolverine mimic, it's claws emerging. The two sides clashed while Xavier and the real Shadow King fighting each other with their own weapons. Xavier used a broadsword while Shadow King used a battle axe.
Emma continued to maintain her diamond form as Pietro started hitting her with super speed. She couldn't maintain her shield forever and reached out into Pietro's mind. It was fragmented, torn to shreds by Shadow King but if she could put it back together, he might stop.
Daniels continued to fire his spikes, getting exhausted. His body could only fire so much at a time and was growing weaker. "Evan, you have to stop. If you don't, your body will be too exhausted to even breath." said Jean, trying to reach Evan but he continued to fire despite his exhaustion.
Shadow King shoved Xavier into the wall. Charles struggled to get to his feet, only to jump out of the way as Farouk's axe nearly took off his head. "You're weakening Xavier, it happens to all telepaths in the astral plane when they're put under too much stress. But this is my home now and I no longer have such weaknesses." said Shadow King.
His axe formed into a ball and chain which he hurled around and sent the end flying into Xavier. Charles was sent flying onto the throne. All the creatures in the audience cheered their approval. "You're no match for me Xavier, not in this place." taunted Shadow King.
"Doesn't he ever shut up?" growled Emma, trying to concentrate on Pietro's mind. She was having difficulty piercing his mind back together while avoiding his attacks. But they were getting easier as Pietro was getting exhausted, putting too much effort into trying to swing the axe.
Finally, she pierced the last fragment together and Pietro screamed. He then glanced around, confused. "What the…Where am I?" said a confused Pietro. The audience screamed their disapproval at this.
Emma then concentrated fully on Daniel's mind and got it back into one piece. Daniels shook his head and glanced around, confused like Pietro. "Wow, freaky man." he said.
Shadow King growled at this. "The game is over for all of you. Kill them!" yelled Farouk. The creatures in the audience leaped to the floor and charged. Emma and Jean used their telepathy to hold the creatures back.
Meanwhile, Shadow King and Xavier were continuing their fight and it was clear that the demonic entity was winning. Another block and a backhand sent Charles flying back. "This is my world Charles and you cannot beat me here." laughed Shadow King.
"You're right, I cannot beat you but he can." said Xavier. Farouk frowned and turned to see the boy he used as his host. Shadow King laughed at this. "He can't do anything. He is a slave to my will." chuckled Farouk.
"Not anymore." smiled Xavier, who had reconstructed the boy's mind while combating Shadow King. It was difficult but he managed to pull it off. The boy screamed and summoned a portal right in front of Shadow King.
The demonic entity screamed and tried to get away from the singularity but the force of the portal sucked him closer and closer. "Farewell Farouk, and stay gone this time." said Xavier. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled Shadow King as he disappeared into the portal. It closed soon afterwards.
The castle, creatures, and lava filled landscape all disappeared. "With Shadow King gone, all of his manipulations of the astral plane are gone as well." said Xavier. "That was a close one Professor." said Jean.
"Close or not, job well done all of you." said Xavier. "So where did Shadow ugly go?" asked Daniels. "Why don't we ask him?" said Xavier, turning to the boy he found out was called Gateway.
"I sent him to a dimension between the astral plane and the real world. Where nothing exists but him." said Gateway. "Ha, sucks to be him." laughed Pietro. "And I hope he stays there for good. Well, I don't know about all of you but I would like to get back home." said Emma.
Xavier turned to Gateway. "Would you please drop these two off at the Institute?" asked Charles. "Yes, but I will not stay. I must return to my home." said the boy. "Well should you ever feel the need, the doors at the Institute are always open." said Charles.
"I don't need a door." chuckled Gateway who formed a portal. On the other side, they could see the living room where the X-Men were all sitting. "Hey, they're back." said Summers.
"I'm outta here." said Pietro who dashed through the portal and out of the mansion. Daniels followed as well. Once he stepped through, the portal closed behind him. Gateway then opened one for himself and stepped through. "Alright, time to go." said Xavier who opened a rift for the telepath's consciousnesses to return to their bodies.
"Thank you again Emma." said Xavier who was escorting the young telepath on her way out. "It was my pleasure Charles. Just because we may disagree on certain things, don't think I won't hesitate to help." said Frost. When she left, Xavier heard some yelling.
"Wait a minute, where's my board? Maximoff! I'm gonna kill you!" yelled Daniels. "Well, at least things are back to normal around here." chuckled Charles.
"And then Xavier summoned like the entire X-Men to fight the dozens of duplicates. Meanwhile, the hot blond managed to free me out of my daze along with Daniels. The demons in the audience then attacked us." said Pietro, telling the rest of the Brotherhood what happened.
They all threw disbelieving looks. "Hey, this really happened!" yelled Pietro. "And let me guess, you made out with the hot blond." chuckled Alvers. "No, I wish I did but I didn't. I didn't even try to hit on her, I just wanted to get out of there." said Pietro.
"That's it, no more caffeine drinks for you." said Fred who walked away. "Scary demons, hot blonds, yeah right." chuckled Kine as he and Terrance walked off. "It's the truth I swear!" yelled Pietro. John laughed and walked off, with Toad right behind him. "Guys, please. I'm not making this one up." he continued to plead.
(Poor little Pietro. Ah well. Now instead of telling you what's going to happen in the next chapter, I have a special guest to do that. Take it away Summers.)
SUMMERS: Finally, I get some respect from you. It's bad enough you called your fic the Brotherhood but also all the stories are mostly about them.
HARDBOILED: Just read the preview already.
SUMMERS: Alright. (opens an envelope and reads the preview) WHAT?! This is the dumbest idea ever!
TOAD: What's it about? (reads the preview for himself). Oh this is awesome, I can't wait for this chapter. The Silver Samurai kidnaps the X-Men and now their only hope is the Brotherhood.
ALL X-MEN: WHAT?!!!!!!
PIETRO: What do you people expect? You're just supporting characters. We're the real stars, just read the title of this fic.
SUMMERS: Get 'em!
(The Brotherhood and the X-Men start fighting.)
HARDBOILED: (sighing) Maybe I should go back to doing the previews myself?