Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men.
LeBeau Legacy: The End
Chapter Nine: The Die is Cast
"He had an idea that even when beaten he could steal a little victory by laughing at defeat."
~Jack Steinbeck
Masquerading as Sinister, Gambit led Rachel and Sarah to the Shi'ar throne room.
Sarah had been an invaluable source of information. She told them where Sinister had been, how he had gotten there, and who he had contacted. However, there was still much that Sinister had kept hidden, and that's where Rachel came in. She would telepathically anticipate the expected reactions and relay them to Gambit. Also, she was in constant communication with Emma, who was still on Earth.
Cyclops and his X-Men were quickly assembling and creating a portal which could transport them to the Shi'ar throne room, too. His mission was retaliation.
Gambit knew they had to hurry before the X-Men brought down the hammer of war.
As a man approached, Gambit was suddenly blinded by a vision. In a flash, he saw twenty-five toddlers and knew their names. He remembered their mothers – all of them – and knew where all of the children were being held.
'What was that?' he asked Rachel.
'Stress, Gambit… Try to focus.'
The man wore elaborate, heavy armor that covered most of his body. Only his eyes and bottom half of his face was revealed.
'I can't get a read on him,' said Rachel. 'Be prepared for anything.'
"Only one X-Man? Sinister, my friend, you are coming up short."
"Don't be foolish," replied Gambit, "You know as well as I do that X-Men are never alone. More shall be forthcoming, Khan."
'You know him?!' Rachel asked.
'An old foe. Jumps dimensions and crushes his opponents. He's with the Shi'ar – who's using who here?'
Almost on cue, Xavier entered the throne room and requested the Empress Lilandra. This must've been too uncanny for Khan, who ordered Xavier's immediate execution. Only Lilandra's unexpected intervention spared Xavier. Begrudgingly, Khan submitted to his empress's whim. As he slithered away, Gambit couldn't help but gloat.
"How the mighty have fallen."
Khan flashed a wicked grin, "Today the reign of the aerie ends!"
No one else heard, least of all Lilandra, who was embedded in a lover's quarrel with Xavier. They were untangling the mess of who had attacked who first. Listening to them argue, Gambit realized the X-Men and Shi'ar had been edging each other for years. This confrontation was long overdue, and if it had happened months ago, endless lives could have been saved. The two leaders seemed to realize the negative residue they were spilling in this sloppy airing of dirty laundry, and moved into more private sectors.
Gladiator, Lilandra's personal bodyguard, informed Khan that the Starjammers were approaching and had the imperial family's code for clearance.
'Here comes some cavalry,' Rachel thought.
"What's this?" Gambit asked Khan pre-emptively.
Khan wanted to blast the spaceship from the sky, but couldn't endanger a member of the imperial family.
The Starjammers docked without any initial complications. No one attempted to disembark. Moments later, the Shi'ar detected a tiny wormhole opening inside the vessel. Lilandra's guard, Plutonia, offered to investigate. Instead, she swelled like an explosive and leapt thru the portal. Whichever X-Man had been holding the other end was likely dead.
'Tess hacked the system and faked the codes,' Rachel told him. 'Without her, they would never have gotten this close.'
But Khan had been suspicious from the start. How could he anticipate their every move while even the X-Men didn't know what they were doing?
'Something's gone wrong… Xavier needs me,' Rachel thought.
The X-Men blew the door from its hinges – figuratively. Actually, they charged through the portal with enough force to blast away half the Shi'ar throne room.
Magneto led the attack. His flesh had turned to mercy and liquid lightning flashed from his eyes and through mortal wounds along his chest and ribs.
"The line of Lehnsherr dies today!" he roared, "But not unavenged!"
Cyclops and the others flooded the structure – Wolverine, X-23, Psylocke, Iceman, Angel and… Madelyne Pryor?! They landed in waves, crashing, blasting, punching, fighting. The Shi'ar had the home advantage, but the X-Men progressed with wave after merciless wave.
Gambit quietly told Rachel, "If you're lookin' for a distraction, dis is it."
She wasn't the only one waiting for a chance to slip away. Gambit noticed Khan unceremoniously fleeing and followed.
Anna would've been shoulder-to-shoulder with their friends: fighting and dying heroically. If she were still alive, she would've followed Cyclops, and Remy would've followed her. But she wasn't alive. So while her friends died without her, Remy went back to the shadows, playing the snake in the grass. He intended to discover who'd been manipulating the X-Men from the start. The endgame was their destruction, but Khan had the answers to preventing that. If 'Sinister' could get him to gloat, Gambit might yet save his friends, his children, and what remained of the world.
New Orleans
Honor opened her eyes, seeing clearly.
She and Hero went downstairs and found Nate washing blood off his shirt in the kitchen skin. Nude from the waist up, one of his metallic hands revealed an arm consumed with steel, which was slightly larger in size but equal in shape to the other. Flesh became steel at the shoulder joint. The border wasn't a clean line, but an incoming tide frozen in place. Computer circuit veins dug into his skin, and the effected flesh had been badly scarred.
"Sorry, guys," Nate tried to hide the blood. "Did I wake you?"
"No," said 'On, "I had a vision. You need to be there more than I need you here."
Shi'ar Throne Room
Over the deafening battle, Gladiator broadcasted an image of himself holding Lilandra's decapitated head.
"Super-guardians! The Majestrix Shi'ar has been murdered – by her former consort – Charles Xavier! For this crime, he and his accused X-Men must die!"
Shi'ar warbirds poured into the throne room like bees on a bear nose. The indestructible Gladiator struck against the spine of the army, but the line held. Even the giant warrior Titan, who destroyed much of the throne room stomping and swatting at X-Men, was brought down by X-23 alone.
Scott realized he'd been used. Xavier would have never harmed Lilandra. He tirelessly petitioned against any confrontation with the Shi'ar. The Empress had been murdered, though – they'd all seen the evidence. But who? Gladiator was as unlikely a candidate as Xavier. As truthful as he was loyal, Gladiator would not have accused without the full strength of his convictions.
They'd all been played.
But the machine of war could not be turned this late…
Rachel had gone in search of Xavier. No one stopped her from leaving the throne room, and the further she went, the darker the halls and rooms became. Finally, she crossed a threshold, and found herself standing before Xavier's proud school. The windows gleamed in the setting sun and water from the fountain burst forth clean and freely. She could even hear birds chirping.
The enormous campus was deserted. Rachel never even saw birds. In one of the classrooms, she found Xavier tied helplessly to a desk. He drooled and wept pathetically – his tongue paralyzed and his eyes blind. His captor watched with wicked glee. Ignoring his mumbled pleas, Rachel found herself facing Xavier's archenemy, Cassandra Nova.
"This is a wise decision on your part, Sinister," said Khan, unalarmed by his uninvited shadow. "We both stand to benefit."
"That's the plan…"
"Did you complete the inter-dimensional tesseract?"
"You lack the subtleties required by the art of conversation, so I'll speak in terms you can grasp. What about my payment?"
Khan's brow creased. "There are greedy men and greedy men, and then there's you. What about all the Shi'ar technology I've given you? We agreed you were in my debt, which is why I accepted all those orphaned primates. By the way, the Slaver's Guild is just as tight-fisted as ever, so I'm still losing out."
"Demand's increased. I trust you don't need a lesson in economics."
"Do you think you're the only one in the galaxy capable of opening a portal into another dimension? I'm moments away from total victory! Once the Shi'ar and X-Men have decimated each other, the puppet master will leave the trenches.
"The Brood and Warskulls won't heel without a common enemy. I don't care who's behind it, they're no match for both armies, or they would never have enlisted their help. Perhaps I'll wait for the dust to settle and enjoy my newly annexed dimension."
'Sinister' crossed his arms. "I've yet to discover a universe superior to this one. Your plan appears sound… Wait for others to defeat an enemy you can't even identify. You will need to escape before I."
Shi'ar Throne Room
Light exploded on the battlefield. Bright as a supernova, every combatant stood stunned, temporarily blinded. But as their sight returned, their hearing was flooded by a single voice.
"Peace! Please!" Nate cried.
His astral form appeared gigantic, but not tyrannical.
"Do you know why you're fighting?!"
"Xavier brought his army!" Gladiator answered. "He slaughtered our Empress!"
"Because you destroyed our school!" said Cyclops.
"No, dad," Nate replied. "Someone's betrayed the Shi'ar, too. They sold information to Sinister, and Stryfe stole it from him. Warskulls helped Stryfe use the Shi'ar technology to destroy the school. Why? Because they knew you'd strike back. Every warbird in the galaxy is coming for you, so the Brood were free to attack the Shi'ar capital. Poor Lilandra didn't die alone. One million souls – everyone in the capital's dead!"
Gladiator wasn't moved. "More lies! Xavier came under the banner of peace, too, and the deceit cost the Empress's life!"
"I'm sorry," said Nate, "but your Empress died long ago when her mind was possessed. Xavier offered a more tempting host."
"Who could defeat Xavier?" asked Cyclops.
"That would be me - Immensity!" Xavier answered, blasting away Gladiator and cutting down Wolverine.
X-23 dove claw-first at his bald head but a telepathic shield shredded her flesh from bone.
"Shi'ar! X-Men! Who considers themselves a match for me?"
"I'm sorry, Charles, but I see no other way," Cyclops said quietly before firing a beam at Xavier's jugular. His mentor's head was cleanly severed. The cranium spun to the ground, stopped, and then re-attached to its body.
"Nice try, Junior, but I'm no longer bound by corporeal physics!"
Rachel grabbed Cassandra Nova's skull and let her fingers sink into the old woman's bald head. She intended to scramble her mind, but the obvious target concealed a trap. Cassandra Nova's head opened like a jar and a flood of spiders with the villainess's naked head poured out. Rachel screamed and swung her arms, mostly disgusted, and found herself overwhelmed.
"Damn you!" roared Khan. "Name your price!"
"Knowledge. A man like you doesn't hedge his bet. Who else promised to commission your portal?"
"No one could come close without the Shi'ar technology."
"Your implied loyalty doesn't persuade me. How many dimensions? How many survive in your wake?"
"So… not the geneticist after all, but the thief come to steal my secrets."
"Nah. Keep your secrets. I want your life."
Gambit charged a handful of cards and launched them at Khan, who dove out of harm's way.
"You fooled my examiners, thief – I'm impressed!"
"Just charmed 'm."
Khan retaliated with a blast from his hands, which Gambit summersaulted to avoid. He came back up to Khan's fist and barely escaped collision. Dropping quickly, Gambit sprang up feet-first and caught Khan's chest, hurling him across the room.
"How does it feel, Gambit, to discover your father is a monster?"
Khan smacked into the wall and opened fire once more, this time hitting his target. The blast knocked Gambit off his feet, spilling cards everywhere.
"What matters, Khan, is that my kids know their daddy isn't." Disoriented, Gambit reached weakly for a card. "Should'a left well enough alone, homme. It's a big dimension, room t' share."
"I don't share, X-Man! I conquer!"
Khan shot to kill, dead cards thumping on his chest. One lodged there by happenstance, but Khan was too pleased to notice.
"I have laid claim to scores of dimensions. In due course, I will have them all! Why should yours be any different?!"
"Always beware, Khan, the fella who saves his best for last."
With a snap of his fingers, every card lit with explosive energy.
Khan noticed the ace of hearts stuck to his chest as it charged his armor. The suit designed to protect him had been turned into a time bomb and burned the skin beneath.
"This is for my Anna."
"No! Not like this!" Khan tried to rip off the unstable armor as it exploded. "It can't end like this!"
Beneath the swarm, the eye of the Phoenix burned. The spark within Rachel cried to her mother for help, and the ghost of Jean Grey swooped into the Shi'ar throne room, unaware of the trap.
"Jean! I've never been so glad to see anyone!" said Cyclops.
He would've known this woman anywhere, but her body was not her own. Flames licked her scalp and her skin was brightly translucent. She sensed his confusion and turned with sorrowful eyes to explain.
"This body is still in a transitional phase. Until I am completely whole, I am as vulnerable as you. It was unwise to come here. But nothing is more important than our children. We must protect them, whatever the cost."
"Of course…" he said.
The fiery image of the Phoenix expanded to massive proportions, and Jean flew towards Xavier's possessed form. Everyone else stood in wonder, helpless spectators in this battle of titans.
Madelyne found her way to Scott and said, "I heard that."
"What?"
"You swore to protect the children. What about our child? The one you abandoned for her? You would abandon them all – for her. You haven't changed, but she has."
"Maddie, you may not believe me, but I think about you every day. I think about the life we should have had together. There's nothing I can do to make things right for you – or Nate."
"It's never too late."
Jean had impressively displayed her telekinesis by tying Xavier in ropes of fire and throwing him into the belly of the Phoenix, but Cassandra Nova grabbed the cosmic entity by the throat and tore off its head. Tearing Phoenix from Jean was similar to tearing vein from heart. Jean's weakened spiritual form erupted in flames, leaving a corpse in her place.
"This can't be happening!" Scott erupted.
"Now," said Gladiator, "I believe we have the same enemy!"
By the time Nate found his sister, she'd become completely infested. The only thing that had spared her from thorough possession was Cassandra Nova's preoccupation with the greater threat of the Phoenix. He pulled Rachel from the swarm, helped her beat off the hybrid spiders, and was rewarded with a breath-stealing embrace.
"Thank you, baby brother, thank you!"
The spiders massed together and re-formed Cassandra Nova. She beat the palm of her hand with a ruler, looking agitated.
"You were told to stay put!" She told Nate. "You should have listened!"
Rachel reared back. "How-!"
"The X-Men have relied on telepaths to communicate their schemes for years. It's not only predictable, it's fruitless. No bond is too secure for the most powerful telepath in existence."
With an eyebrow twitch, letters on the chalkboard rose and surrounded the pair. Nate ripped them away, threw them down, and Rachel incinerated them with her thoughts. A giant 'X' finally pinned down his arms, and isolated, Rachel couldn't withstand the onslaught for long. They sunk into the wall, holding hands in sweet death. The irony wasn't lost on Cassandra Nova – she and her brother had never joined hands in life, and their continued existence ensured the survival of their war.
She laughed until tears ran down her cheeks.
"Well done," Rachel said.
Behind the villain, she and Nate watched stoically. The illusion successfully trapped her wicked, supposedly omnipotent mind.
"If I could just signal the others-" Rachel started, but Nate shook his head.
"She's monitoring their minds. If we call for the X-Men, she'll know. 'On said they'd come through. We just have to wait."
"And you never once thought this might be a trap?"
"Because of what happened on the moon six years ago? She's had plenty of chances to kill me since then."
"None that would make her look so innocent."
"She was right, wasn't she? We stopped the farce war, uncovered the true murderers, and saved your butt. Trust her a little longer."
Psylocke flanked Xavier and thrust her psychic knife through the back of his skull. Stunned, he staggered, grasping blindly and spinning in an attempt to lose the assailant.
Madelyne realized Cassandra Nova was temporarily paralyzed, but Psylocke required more power to finish the job. Unfortunately, all the most powerful telepaths were detained or – her eyes found Jean's corpse – eradicated. Madelyne couldn't cast a shadow on Jean's power, but they shared the same blood. Hell, they'd basically shared the same life: both had loved the same man, and both had found him wanting. Since they shared a body and heart, why couldn't they also share a soul?
All her faults – jealousy, fear, selfishness – were suddenly overwhelmed by trust, comfort, and love. As Madelyne accepted Jean's ghost and gave the Phoenix a proper host, she was finally home.
The full force of the Phoenix poured through Psylocke's weapon, devouring Cassandra Nova from the inside out. On the astral plane, Immensity tried to move to a different host, but Nate and Rachel held her firmly in place. If it had cost their lives, they would have paid the price to hold her still. Even Psylocke feared that the power would be more than she could withstand. But Phoenix was no longer half-formed. Madelyne made her complete. With precision and strength, she broke the villain's core and incinerated the shreds. Xavier's body reverted to its astral form and then withered away like a slug in a salt pot.
…:::…
To Be Concluded…