END OF THE WORLD
CHAPTER 11
THE WAR BEGINS
The next morning dawned gray and gloomy. The sky was overcast. A cold wind whipped through the streets of Metropolis. The rain and wind pelted the few people out and about that morning. Apocalypse looked at the sky. He knew that his energy web was completed. It was powered and ready to go. Unfortunately, it would not be very helpful until the sky cleared a bit. His mutant sensors would have a hard time penetrating through the dense clouds. At the same time the people of earth could not see the extent of his energy web beams crisscrossing the earth. The good people of Metropolis would have no idea the danger they were facing. It may serve to keep them indoors and out of the battle. That would be good for Apocalypse, as that would mean less resistance. The Super mutant checked to see if everyone was in position. Mordru was outside of Metropolis preparing to launch an attack directly against Legion Headquarters. The Time Trapper and Universo were stationed at the Super Man Museum. Their explosives were timed to go off just outside the museum at approximately 06:30 a.m., in approximately 35 minutes. The idea was to detonate the explosives and bring the legionnaires out of their headquarters. Then Mordru would attack the headquarters with his magic in hopes of leveling the headquarters, killing anyone who remained inside. The four horsemen were supposed to aid in the attack on the X-Men and Legionnaires who responded to the explosions at the Superman Museum. Apocalypse was supposed to activate the energy beams and begin the process of transforming the entire human race into his mutant army. Then he would lead his minions to overthrow the world government and destroy the legionnaires.
Unbeknownst to Apocalypse, the Legionnaires and X-Men were fully prepared for this battle. During the evening, Universo had been able to send an exact recording of the group's battle plans to his son, Rond Vidar. Rond Vidar had forwarded the message to the legionnaires. At this very moment, Ultra Boy and Brainiac 5 were inside the Super Man Museum. Brainiac had hidden his force field belt outside and set the controls to protect the Museum. They had already found and deactivated the Time Trapper's bombs. Super Boy, Mon-El, Super Girl, Rogue, Colossus, and Ms. Marvel were standing guard at Legion Headquarters. The espionage squad, (Shrinking Violet, Invisible Kid, Chameleon Kid, Colossal Boy, Duo Damsel, and Phantom Girl) including two new members, Night Crawler, and Shadow Cat, were deep underground working with the group of mutants called X-Factor who had shown up during the night. Qpid, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Cyclops and Gambit were stationed outside of Legion headquarters. Forge, Wild Fire, Pietro, and Iceman were actively working with the Legion of Substitute heroes as well as the young mutants who had volunteered to help in this epic battle. Their station was the Science Police building. Since Metropolis was earth's largest city, and the Legion expected the main battleground to be there, both Scarlett Witches along with Light Lass, Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, Blok and Cosmic Boy, Karate Kid and Jean Grey were trying to evacuate as many citizens of Metropolis as they could. The plan was to evacuate as many people as possible and then use the Legion's Phantom Zone Projector to put the city into the Phantom Zone. In this way the entire city could be protected. Mon-El knew that all of the criminals had been released to Rokyn custody. He also knew that most of the populace would not want to evacuate from their homes. He was hoping to prevent a lot of bloodshed and to thwart Apocalypse's plan to convert the humans to mutant slaves. Once Metropolis was safe, Super Boy and Super Girl as well as Ms. Marvel, would be dispatched to other cities around the globe to put them into the phantom zone as well. Avalanche, Star Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Insect Queen, Elfangor and Princess Projectra were setting up traps in hopes of entombing both Mordru and Apocalypse. Princess Projectra had cast a series of illusions that served to conceal the whereabouts of all the legionnaires.
At 06:30 two dummy bombs placed by the legionnaires to replace the ones they had disarmed, went off. While they made a lot of noise, there was not any real damage done. Apocalypse heard the noise of the two bombs. That was the signal to begin the attack. When Super Girl heard the explosions, she activated her force field belt from Brainiac 5 to completely cover Legion headquarters. The force field settled around the building just in time. Mordru let loose with a devastating blast of his dark sorcery. At the same time, the four horsemen began their attacks. Cyclops II began using his powerful blasts against the science police building. As luck would have it, Forge had activated his force field belt as well. It started to shimmer and then suddenly went dark. For some reason, it did not work. As the first blast hit the building, People began pouring out of it. Iceman aimed a freezing blast at Cyclops II. Cyclops blew apart the freezing blast. Bobby tried again. This time Polar Boy joined him in trying to ice down Cyclops. Wild Fire joined them and aimed a blast of his pure star-born energy at the renegade mutant. The three legionnaires were concentrating with all their might and the blasts combined and got through his defenses to knock Cyclops II unconscious. Bobby then froze him in a block of ice and went to help finish evacuating the building. The popular symbol of justice was becoming very dangerous. A rumbling could be heard coming from underground, and the building began to sway and crumble around them. Wild Fire used his Legion flight Ring to inform Mon-El what was happening. There were several criminals imprisoned in the building and Wild Fire was worried that they might try to join Apocalypse.
Mon-El thought about the situation. "Saturn Girl, start the Phantom Zone sequence now!" He ordered. All of the legionnaires heard the order. It had been communicated through the Legion flight rings as top priority one. Instantly, they took flight to a height of 10,000 feet. Apocalypse saw the legionnaires take flight. He laughed. They were going above the clouds where he could utilize his energy web against them. He prepared to use the web's firing abilities. To do that however, he would have to pause his mutation program. "Oh, well," he thought. "I can always mutate them and create my army after I have destroyed a few Legionnaires and X-Men." Apocalypse hit the button to pause the mutation program. Then he began to fire energy blasts at the legionnaires. Using the web in this way required massive amounts of energy from the world's pyramids. This would also weaken his energy web. The legionnaires and X-Men all flew into the cloudbanks to seek protection. Apocalypse set the web to keep on firing and try to dispel the clouds. Suddenly, the entire sky got very dark. Shadow lass had used her power to its maximum in order to black out the sky. Just as she was beginning to tire and weaken, there was a green ray bathing the entire city below. Just as soon as it appeared, everyone in Metropolis looked up. Then everyone just disappeared. A few seconds later, the entire city also vanished. Super Boy, Super Girl and Ms. Marvel flew at super speed to where Saturn Girl was waiting with the Projector. Once they had it, they used a legion Time bubble to go through time and escape the energy web. Once outside the web, the group set time back to normal and headed for the moon. There the three Kryptonians set up a special satellite relay. They programmed this relay to hit every major city except Metropolis in rapid succession with the Phantom Zone Ray. Once they had put the relay into a low earth orbit, the three Legionnaires sped back to Earth.
Meanwhile back over the skies where Metropolis once stood, the clouds were beginning to disintegrate around the Legionnaires and X-Men. As this began to happen, the energy beams began to occur more frequently. Brainiac was trying to project his force field around as many Legionnaires as possible. However they were so spread out that he could not hope to catch them all.
Apocalypse was grinning. "How futile their fight is," he thought. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted. His computer began beeping very loudly. He had left his mutant tracking program running. He looked at the computer screen to his right. "That is impossible!" He screamed. His computer was telling him that the mutants of the world were all disappearing without as trace. So were the rest of the humans on the puny planet. He quickly scanned the entire planet. "There must be a glitch in the program," the super mutant thought. How can the entire population of a planet just vanish? Especially since he had shut off his mutation program. As Apocalypse pondered what was happening, The X-Men and Legionnaires had regrouped. The three Kryptonians had returned and reports were coming in about the disappearance of the world's population centers. Slowly, All of the Legionnaires and X-Men returned to the ground. With their cloud cover destroyed, there was no use remaining in the sky. The four super villains and the three remaining horsemen gathered together at the base of Apocalypse. Mordru had witnessed the disappearance of Metropolis and was extremely angry. He continued hurling massive bolts of his dark sorcery at the Legionnaires and the X-Men. Mon-El caught one of the bolts directly in the chest. As he fell from the sky, Super Boy rushed over to catch his best friend in the Legion. Miraculously, the hero from Daxam was not dead. Phoenix V had begun her part in the epic battle. She hurled a Psychic Blast directly at Rogue. Rogue, whose mental prowess was third to only Jean and The Professor among the X-Men, due in large part to the many times that she had absorbed Jean Grey and the Professor during countless battles, raised her psychic shields just in time and deflected the blast. Unfortunately, the blast ricocheted away and was caught in the vortex of a Chaos hex bolt from Wanda, catching Qpid right in the head.
The girl had a split second to look surprised before the blasts effect did its job, to the wrong victim. Her mind shattered from the assault and she fell to the ground, screaming. Her head seemed to explode from her body. Blood spattered everywhere. She died instantly. And she had never stood a chance.
A mournful cry joined the chaos and hysteria as Pietro watched his new girlfriend's horrible death. He collapsed to his knees, seemingly forgetting that this was a battlefield, that the universe and time itself were depending on the outcome of this struggle. He felt nauseas and realized that he had cared for her more than he ever had about any girl before, with the obvious exceptions of his mother and twin sister.
Wanda took a few steps forward mutely. She looked horrified, and tears leaked from her eyes in a similar fashion to those from her brother.
"I...I didn't mean to..." She murmured.
Pietro choked and blinked away his tears. He didn't know what to say, what to do, or why it hurt so much. He'd only just met the girl but he had obviously felt something a touch stronger than lust for her.
Rogue's eyes reflected pain as she approached. "That shoulda been me..."
Pietro closed his eyes, took a deep breath and did something he hadn't done in years. He prayed. He prayed that this was just a nightmare, that when he opened his eyes everything would be alright again. But he realized that it wasn't a dream, and he knew this whole mess would not come undone just by opening his eyes.
When he did open the pained blue orbs again, he couldn't train his eyes away from the gruesome sight that had previously been a very attractive girl. Her blood was everywhere, splattered on everything close.
Rogue looked faint. "That was meant fo' me...Ah'm so sorry Pietro."
He cast a mournful gaze on her. "What are we doing here? We're helpless! We should be at home, going to the mall and movies or something, not fighting in this stupid war!" He sobbed pathetically. This taste of war hurt, and made him regret every warlike TV show he'd ever watched; every fighting video game he'd ever played.
Wanda whimpered in agreement and buried her face in her hands. "This is all my fault!"
"Hush now," Rogue put a soothing hand on her friend's shoulder. "It ain' ya fault. An' don' ya dare even start Pietro. We could all blame ourselves, an' eachotha till the cows come home. But it ain' none of our faults, ya heah?"
"It was my hex bolt..." Wanda's face was ashen. "And I wanted her to get hurt. From the moment she was making rude comments in the store that one time. I wanted her hurt in an agonizing way...But even she doesn't deserve what she got! My powers altered the probability of what would happen..."
Pietro shook his head. "I was close enough...I could have gotten to her...if only I had been paying more attention."
Rogue pulled both of them into a pitying hug. "Guys, c'mon, we gotta pull ourselves tagetha...we're in the fight of our lives, an' mo'n just us hang in the balance. This is fo' all time an' it's the big one. We can mourn her after we win, but fo' now, we don' wan' her death to be in vain do we?"
Pietro took one last look at the disfiguration of the girl. "No. You're right." He mumbled quietly.
Quickly, he turned away from the grisly scene. Then something strange happened. A particle stream from her body came directly toward him. Pietro and Qpid were part of an extraordinary breed of mutants. Like the various manifestations of the Flash in the 20th Century, they were affected by the Super Speed Force. When one of them died, the Speed Force would exit that body and go to another manifestation of the Speed force. If one was not readily available, the stream would then enter into the first suitable human found. When the particle stream caught up with Pietro, it quickly engulfed his body and entered though his mouth and lungs. Pietro felt energized and began moving twice as fast as normal.
Rogue hid it well, but she was just as disturbed or more so than Wanda and Pietro in the way Carmen had died. She glared towards Pheonix V.
"Yo' goin' down!" She growled.
She unleashed a psychic blast of her own, followed by a Cyclops optic blast. Phoenix V raised her shields and caused a diamond like shell to appear around her person, protecting her from both of Rogue's assaults. The two continued to exchange blows with each other. Phoenix V was protected by her Shell, Rogue by her invulnerability from Ms. Marvel. The battle was nearly a draw, when Crystal Amaquelin Maximoff Summers joined her sister in law. She began to throw the force of the four elements at Rogue, all at once. Deflecting both villains powers was starting to wear Rogue down. Her defenses crumbling, her body weakened and tiring, She continued to battle with all her might.
Saturn Girl happened to look over and see Rogue's plight. Quickly, she sent a telepathic message to Jean Grey and Scarlett Maximoff to join her by Rogue. They arrived at Rogue's side just as she was ready to pass out from exhaustion.
"Hang in there Rogue." Jean reassured her teammate as Scarlet moved quickly to the girl's side to help her remain standing. "Let me take this from here."
With that she trained her own psychic powers toward her future descendent. "I won't allow you to hurt my friends!" She cried. Her body suddenly surged with an unfamiliar power. By all rights she should have been frightened as flame engulfed her body, but it didn't touch her. In fact, it felt warm and safe to Jean.
Phoenix V hesitated for a moment, realizing that now she wasn't the only one with the Phoenix force fighting in this battle.
"I can sense the conflict within you." Jean said calmly in a deep soothing voice, not her own. "You know what you and your colleagues are doing is wrong! You must desist!"
Phoenix V hesitated again. "You-You're wrong! This is right! There will be no more mutant persucution, no more hatred because we are different! Don't you understand?"
Jean shook her head. "I am Phoenix. I know all that has been, and all that will be. The fear and persecution is not pleasant, but there is a better method than this one. Turning all humans into mutant slaves is not the answer, and you know that as much as I do."
Phoenix V shrieked in frustration and sent a powerful blast toward the original embodiment of the Pheonix force. Jean threw up a psionic shield around her body and merely smiled. "We are a perfect match in terms of power. You cannot harm me, any more than I can hurt you. And even if either of us could, there is no point to this battle, and that is what is eating at your conscience."
Apocalypse's minion narrowed her eyes and sent repetitive psychic blasts at Jean. Each faded to nothingness and Jean-or rather the Phoenix force stood calmly. Saturn Girl made her way to Jean's side.
"You are weakening," Jean sighed. "My friend Saturn Girl could help me to make quick work of you, as she is nearly our equal in power. Submit to your conscience and surrender to the side your heart knows is right."
Phoenix V glanced warily at each of the telepaths. Jean levitated calmly and Saturn Girl struck a fighting pose. She was wearing down, tiring with each exertion of power. Apocalypse had boosted her powers, but she was no match for two people who both surpassed her amplified powers. With a cry of fury she burst into flame. Saturn Girl realized it was a smokescreen to enable Phoenix V to escape. She growled in frustration and bought her hands to her temples to search for their nemesis.
"Let her go, Saturn Girl." Jean said calmly. "She doubts what she does, and she will ponder her actions. She is already defeated, is that not the point of this war? To reach a peaceful end, rather than kill brutally and turn into the very threat we are trying to put an end to?"
"You are right." Saturn Girl nodded. "Sometimes, it is easy to forget one's goals and intentions in the face of war."
"War is a terrible thing. A dismal waste of life and energy. The worst thing any people can do." Phoenix said sadly.
"Just who exactly are you?" Saturn Girl asked softly. "You are very wise, and you fight with a much more civilized method than any I've seen in a long while."
Jean smiled. "I am the Phoenix Force. My purpose is simple. I must protect time, space, and the universe its self. I only appear when a people are in danger of destroying themselves and the fabric of time. This human girl is my vessel of choice at the current moment."
"Will Jean be alright?"
"She will be tired, but rest will cure that. She does not know of my presence at the current time, but if the timeline is fixed, I shall appear to her in about five years time."
Saturn Girl nodded, as if she understood what was going on.
"Now I shall release my hold on her. She is exhausted. Be sure to get her to safety. Good Luck."
With that Jean collapsed like a puppet without strings. Saturn girl managed to catch her as she fell and realized that she was unconscious. Saturn Girl called for the still-stunned Pietro.
He trotted over to her, still shaken by the gruesome death of Carmen.
"Take her to safety and hurry back. We need you."
He nodded and took Jean into his arms. He sped off and Saturn Girl turned her attention elsewhere.
Rogue had caught her breath and she and Scarlet had taken on the strawberry blond minion of Apocalypse, Crystal Amaquelin-Maximoff-Summers. Wanda had snapped from her state of sorrow and rushed to help.
"Hi Wanda." Crystal sneered and Wanda was startled and uncertain how this enemy knew her name. "How's my least favorite sister-in-law?"
Wanda was frozen to the spot with the relevation of what that one could possibly mean.
"Wanda, this ain' the time ta freeze!" Rogue called as the Elemental created a fierce gust of wind sweeping them around.
Crystal laughed cruelly. "Poor simple Wanda, it will be my pleasure to finally put an end to you. We never have gotten along very well."
"I've never met you!" Wanda cried. "I've never seen you in my life!"
"Oh you would, if you weren't going to die today, darling sister." Crystal spat. "It gives me the greatest pleasure to finish you off before I ever have the misfortune of meeting you." She sent a frigid burst of water towards the three mutants fighting her.
They coughed and spluttered and Crystal aimed a fireball towards Wanda with a malicious grin on her face. But suddenly the fireball was aimed at a different target. Pietro had zoomed in and was standing directly in front of his twin.
"You're-messing-with-the-wrong-guy's-sister-lady!" He trained a stun-gun he'd been issued at Legion HQ that morning towards her. "You-want-her-you'll-have-to-kill-me-first!"
"Pietro?" She appeared shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"Do-I-know-you?" Pietro raised an eyebrow.
She gasped and moved back as if she'd been slapped. "You should!" The hard cruelty was back in her eyes. "But no matter. Stand aside. My fight is with your sister, not you. Our differences have obviously been settled."
"I-don't-think-so." Pietro glowered. "I'm-not-gonna-let-you-at-Wanda-you-crazy-psycho!"
"That hurts Pietro." She frowned. "Cuts straight to the heart."
"Good." He smirked. "I-don't-know-who-the-Hell-you-are-so-I-don't-have-to-worry-about-hurting-your-feelings."
A tear appeared at the corner of her eye. "Just go away Pietro! I can't stand seeing you!" She hurled another gust of wind at the group. It caught Scarlet and Wanda and after lifting them into the air, threw them against a tree. A sickening thud accompanied Scarlet's moan of pain as she slid down and passed out. Wanda screamed and looked in fear at the girl who looked so much like her.
She crouched beside her, and sighed in relief upon finding a pulse. She jumped up, ready to return to battle. Crystal fired another gust of wind at Wanda who slammed into the same tree very hard. Her powers helped her stand and sway a bit as she tried to regain balance. She had enough time to glare at Crystal and call her a particularly nasty name before she collapsed.
"Wanda!" Pietro cried. He turned tail and rushed to her side. "Don't-be-dead-don't-be-dead!" She had a pulse, a weak one but it was still there. He guessed slamming against the tree so hard had cracked a couple of her ribs and possibly broken her arm. She was in rough condition, but she'd live.
He turned angrily to Crystal. "You'll-pay-for-that! Nobody-hurts-anybody-in-my-family-and-lives-to-tell-the-tale!"
He fired his stunner and she dropped in shock. He walked slowly over to her. "Right now, I would love nothing more than to pull this trigger." He said coldly. He knew that at this close a range, a stun to her chest would kill her. And she seemed to know it too.
"Pietro, you can't kill me!" She wept. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, don't kill me! Luna needs me! If I don't come home, she'll have nobody! Have mercy on me Pie, you aren't a killer! Don't do this!" She cried.
He hesitated. No, he wasn't a killer. "You're right, I won't kill you." He smirked. "But that doesn't mean she can't!" He watched as Rogue approached the immobilized girl with a hand that was pale as death. A series of bright light flashes later, Crystal lay unconscious with a power nullifier and Rogue was holding a hand to her head.
"Woah...her memories..." She looked at Pietro in wonder. "She's apparently ya ex-wife." He gaped in disbelief. "Well mo' like ya futa ex-wife. Ya gonna take 'er ta prom an' then...well y'all end up married with a daughta named Luna. Ya put two an' two t'getha, alrigh' Sugah?" Rogue smiled ruefully. "An' hot dang yo' gonna be cut like a diamond when ya grow up, Quickie."
He looked highly uncomfortable, but honestly anybody would be unnerved hearing about their future in this way.
"Um...okay?"
"Just...wow." Rogue shook her head. "These images are weirdin' me out big time." She made a disgusted face. "An' it gets worse. 'Parently afte' she took off with Luna ta go an' be free ta be with whoeva she wan'ed wheneva she wanted, the two of 'em got displaced in time an' she ended up fallin' in love with Scott and Jean's great-great-grandson. Cyclops 2." She wrinkled her nose. "Ah'm gonna need some serious therapy sessions afta this."
"You-aren't-the-only-one." Pietro groaned. "That's-real-disturbing."
Rogue nodded. "Ah'm gonna go help the othas. Get ya sista an' Scarlet ta safety, alright?"
Pietro nodded. She helped him get a good hold on each girl and then he took off.
She observed the battleground and found Mesmero attacking her friends and teammates with powerful psychic blasts. Each fell, suspecting nothing until they screamed in pain and collapsed. In blind fury she flew over in his direction, using her borrowed from Ms Marvel powers.
Mesmero watched as Phoenix V departed from the battlefield. He had also been heavily involved in the battle. Using his vast mental abilities, he had taken on several Legionnaires and X-Men. Many of them were now unconscious on the battlefield. His victims included Sun Boy, Night Girl of the Substitute heroes, Nightcrawler and Cyclops of the X-Men.
He focused on Gambit next. However, when the psychic blast hit this young man's skull it didn't disable him. Remy LeBeau had strong mental sheilds, for the simple reason that he didn't like telepath's playing around in his head and fishing through his memories. He'd had them boosted after Mesmero had taken control of him to steal the key from Angel's house.
And now he was alerted to the threat that had been picking off his teammates left and right. He turned and tossed a card.
It exploded at Mesmero's feet. "Yo' lil mind games won' work on' Remy now, will dey?" He taunted.
"You insolent fool!" Mesmero howled. "You shall pay for your ignorance!" He fired another, more powerful mental blast at the Cajun.
"Sorry, y' caught Remy at a bad time." He panted. "Lef' m' cash back home in de twen'y-firs' cent'ry. But Remy be mo' den happy t' give y' is charge!" The young mutant tossed another charged card.
"You believe this to be a game, don't you, you simple minded fool?" Mesmero asked with a disturbing laugh.
"'F dis be a game den looks like Remy be winnin' non?" The Cajun chuckled impishly and tossed off another round of charged cards. The impact of the blast knocked the psychic mutant from his feet. "Losin ain' Remy's style." He chuckled.
The telepath climbed to his feet and sent a few frustrated blasts at the younger mutant. He pointed to his head and then wagged a mocking finger. "Y' can' play round in here. Y' should know betta."
Mesmero growled, appearing helpless to Remy.
"Looks like Deala wins. Not yo' day." He smirked. "But Remy take it easy on y' oui? Jus' give y' a nice pow'r inhibitor an' a comfy jail cell."
Mesmero snarled and then smirked. He waved his hands and a telepathic wave of a different sort hit Remy.
Remy stared blindly around as the scenery changed dramaticly. Suddenly he was three years old, hiding in a shadowed corner of an alley. He was hungry and had taken a bunch of bananas off a grocer's cart. Initially the elderly man had felt sorry for the waifish boy and had kindly asked him to come closer and maybe have a full meal. But he caught a glimpse of the boy's eyes and started calling him a demon child. He'd called his big nasty dog to chase the monster away.
Remy trembled in fear. The dog had growled and chased him down this alley. He'd torn the boy's t-shirt before trotting back to the grocer. The small boy was afraid to move lest the dog come back.
Suddenly he was four, and he was still starving to death. He saw a rich man with a pretty wife pushing a little girl in a stroller. A boy who was a lot older than Remy walked beside them. He could see the lining of a wallet in the man's pocket and bit his lip.
He'd seen people in stores and restaurants buying food by using the green paper that came from wallets. He needed one of his own so he could get food. He'd been eating out of the trash cans behind a restaurant, but he'd tipped a can once and the owners thought it was a raccoon. So they got a big dumpster and locked it every night now.
He hadn't eaten in three days and his tummy was very aware of it. But he felt bad taking away the man's wallet. What if this man, and the pretty lady and the boy and baby girl ended up living like he was because he took their green paper? His tummy growled and he set his nerve. Besides, the big man could probably get into the dumpster better than Remy anyway.
He weaved through the crowd and got close to the man. He carefully reached up to grab the wallet. He made sure that there was no way the man would feel the wallet slide from his pocket. When he was certain it was his, he grinned. Suddenly the man turned. "What you doin' boy?"
Shame prickled the child's face.
Flash, he had just been adopted by the man he had tried to pickpocket. He wanted to impress them so he tried to take on a gator. Instead his arm had nearly been torn off. The stitches hurt like nobody's business, but what hurt worse was his pride. He was embarrassed and ashamed that he'd made such a fool of himself.
Flash! He was five and had been riding his adopted brother's big-boy bike. He had been doing really well until he hit a patch of sand in the path. He skidded out of control and swerved to avoid the tree. The bike went off the curb, throwing the small boy to the street. He skidded along for a bit, pinned by the bike. He whimpered as he realized his blood was coloring the street around him bright red. Henri came out of the house and started yelling at Remy, calling him stupid and saying his new bike was ruined.
Flash! He was at the playground and some bigger boys dropped him in the frog pond, calling him a freak and a monster. Everyone was laughing at him, even the bullfrog sitting next to the small boy. He tried to sit up but slipped in the muck, causing everyone to laugh harder. Tears bit at his eyes, and loneliness surged in his heart.
Flash! He was eight and trying to climb up the rope ladder to the tree house Henri and his friends were playing in. He slipped and called his brother for help. One of the other boys laughed at the helpless kid.
"Henri, it's your dumb lil brother again."
Henri rolled his eyes. "He'll go 'way eventually."
The child was stunned and ran off, crying and upset.
Flash! He was eleven and skipping rocks on the river. Henri was getting married soon, to his pretty girlfriend Mercy. Remy wondered if anyone would ever love him. But then he remembered that nobody ever would, because of his scary eyes. His best friend was his nine year old sister and that was sad to him, because she was his only friend. Most brothers and sisters couldn't stand each other. He knew someday that she'd get taken from him just like Henri had been by his friends and Mercy.
Flash! He was thirteen and sitting on the riverbank with his 13 year old neighbor from the assassins, Belladonna. They were watching the sunset and he was wearing dark glasses to hide his demon eyes. All of a sudden she pinned him down and kissed him on the lips.
He was shocked but happy to return the kiss, his first ever. She pulled away and smiled.
"Not too bad, yo' a great kisser Remy." He swelled with pride at her words and smiled. "Now if on'y ya didn' have dose horrible eyes y'd be de perfect homme."
He felt his spirits crash but he smiled anyway and moved in to kiss her again, to hide his pain.
Flash! He was fifteen and he was standing guiltily in his father's study, a girl's jacket around his waist the only thing keeping him decent. The girl in question had a bathrobe wrapped around her and she was leaning against the door looking like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar.
"Remy, why y' do dis stuff t' me, boy?" Jean-Luc sighed. "Skinny dippin'! Skinny dippin' in de 'sassins pool in full range o' yo' girlfriend's fat'er's office? What de Hell be wrong wit' y'?"
Remy shrugged impishly and winked at Belle. "Got a fille drivin' Remy crazy. Can' expect anyt'in' mo' den crazy t'ings, non?"
Bella smirked and Jean-Luc burried his face in his hands.
"Remy, yo' gonna drive y' père inta an early grave. Marius an' Julien wan' y' dead fo' deflowerin' de fille now. It gonna take a lot t' fix dis one."
"It ain' like dat was de firs' time somet'in' happened." Remy crossed his arms insolently.
"I don' wanna hear bout dis Remy!" Jean-Luc cried. "Y' keep up dis fool behavior an' yo' gonna cost me m' best t'ief."
Remy sighed, having gotten this lecture many times. "Remy sorry père. Won' happen 'gain."
"Damn right it won't." Jean-Luc growled. "Dey want blood t' be paid fo' catchin' de bot' of ya in de pool. An' I don' know what t' do bout it dis time."
The trio sat in silence for a few moments with Jean-Luc glaring at his son. "An' where de hell did yo' clothes go!"
Both the teens grinned coyly. "T'ink we lost em bout half-way between de tree house an de pool." Bella smirked.
"Marius gonna kill me." Jean-Luc shook his head. "Belle, go upstairs an' borrow somet'in' from Mercy, please?"
The blond shrugged and headed out of the room.
"Remy Etienne LeBeau! Got half a mind t' sell y' t' gypsies an' make em dress y' up like a clown o' somet'in'. Y' gotta git yo' head outta her bedroom! She's an assassin!"
The teen shrugged nonchalantly.
Bella strode back into the room, blond hair tossed into a high ponytail, wearing a pink halter top and Daisy Duke shorts.
"Dose ain' Mercy's." Jean-Luc sighed.
"Course not. Ah stashed dese in Remy's room a long time ago in case somethin' like this ever happened. Besides, Ah can' wear Mercy's thin's. Ot'er den bein' horridly unfashionable, she be a few sizes bigger'n me. Ah'd hafta be carryin' twins t' fit her clothes." Bella shook her head pityingly.
"Good lo'd yo' ain' are y'?"
"No of course not." Bella scoffed. "Ah ain' stupid ya know. An' anyway Ah have a way ta keep Remy outta trouble."
"Oh?"
"Oui. Tell m' père Remy agrees t' de marriage pact."
Remy's jaw dropped. "Quoi! Quelle marriage pact!"
Jean-Luc ignored his son's outburst and looked thoughtful. "Hm, dat could work. It'd keep us all outta trouble an' unify de guilds at de same time. Y' t'ink Marius'd agree?"
"Mais oui. Daddy'll agree ta anythin' if it's makin' me happy." She batted her eyes at Remy.
"Den dat's what I'll do." Jean-Luc smiled. "T'ank y' Belle. I t'ink I'll call him right now."
He picked up the phone and dialed. A few moments later Belle took the phone away from Jean-Luc and after a few moments squealed and hung up. She turned to Remy practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Guess what Remy! We're gettin' married!"
His jaw dropped in confusion but he faked a smile. Fooling around was one thing but getting married? He was only fifteen for crying out loud!
FLASH! He was lying on the floor staring up at the ceiling. He glanced to his left and saw Belle, still writing out plans for the wedding. She had an extravagant affair planned, with live doves and a horse drawn carriage and pink and lacy stuff everywhere.
"Remy, should de napkins be rose ou blush?" She held up the two color tags from the caterers book.
"Dere a difference?" He asked, not personally seeing one. "Dey bot' look pink t' Remy."
She groaned in frustration from her perch on the couch. "Yo' hopeless ain't ya?"
"Oui." He nodded.
"Dis is yo' weddin' too Remy Lebeau!"
"Oui." He nodded again.
"Don' ya wanna help pick de decorations wit' me?"
"Non." He shook his head and sighed. She'd been an absolute nightmare since they'd gotten permission to get married, on his birthday, Halloween. Most guys looked forward to their sixteenth birthdays, but Remy found himself dreading it.
"Remy why y' lyin' all over the floor anyway?" She pouted. "Come sit wit' ya fiancée!"
He groaned and stood, dropping next to her and looking like he lost the will to live. "Bella Chère, y' ever t'ink mebe we be too young t' be gettin' married?"
She looked at him sternly. "What y' sayin?"
"Jus' dat, shouldn' we wait a lil?"
"Why? We do everything married people do. An' we both got jobs in de guilds. We got homes an' everyt'in. Dere ain' nuttin' stoppin' us." She stared suspiciously at him. "Why? Y' wanna be wit' someone else? Is dere someone else Remy?"
"Non." Remy sighed. "Jus' we still kids an' all."
"Dere's another woman ain't there!" Belle accused. "It's that Genevieve Marcielle ain' it!"
"Course not Belle!" Remy sighed. "Y' know Remy love y'." He leaned over and kissed her, his favorite method of shutting her annoying voice off. She smiled and kissed him back then pushed him away.
"Dere'll be plen'y of time fo' dat aft' de weddin'. But Ah still got so much t' plan." She gestured at her notes. "So now, tell me, how d' y' intend t' hide dose awful eyes o' yo's?"
He sighed. "Ah'll wear de sunglasses."
"Ah wish there was somethin' else t' do." She pouted. "All de pictures gonna be ruined an' we'll look like a joke."
He frowned. "Belle, Chère, Remy can' do nuttin' bout de way he was born."
"Of course not." She smiled. "Well jus' make sho' dey be good lookin' shades at least."
"Oui Chère." He sighed, feeling worse about his eyes than he ever had before.
FLASH! He was decked out in a nice expensive tuxedo, with designer sun glasses and standing at an altar hiding his misery behind a smile. Henry stood beside him silently.
The organ music started and a young girl born an assassin started down the aisle tossing flower petals. Shortly behind her, Mercy and one of Belle's friends headed down the aisle. And shortly the doors opened again to reveal sixteen year old Belle at her father's side. They walked down the aisle and soon Remy's life was flashing before his eyes.
"Dearly beloved we gather here today in celebration of the blessed union between Remy Etienne LeBeau and Belladonna Brigitte Boudreaux." The aged priest smiled at the assassins on one side of the church and the thieves on the other side. "This union is not only tying together two guilds and ending a war, but two lives and starting a family. May Remy and Bella find eternal love and peace among their families."
Henri slipped the rings into Remy's hand with a somber nod. He knew his brother wasn't looking forward to this.
"Is there anybody among us on this joyous day who can produce any reason these two should not be married?" Remy stared around hopefully, biting his tongue so he wouldn't shout out or beg for somebody to come forth.
"Then let us proceed with the ceremony." The priest smiled, not catching the misery in the groom's eyes. "Belladonna Boudreaux, do you take this man Remy Lebeau, to be your lawfully wedded husband for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"
"Ah do, Ah do, Ah really do!" She smiled joyfully. Remy started sweating nervously.
"And Remy LeBeau, do you take this woman, Belladonna to be your lawfully wedded wife in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer as long as you both shall live?"
He took a deep breath and forced himself to start saying what was expected of him, as opposed to what he really wanted to say.
"Remy-sorry, I mean I d-" He broke off to stare at the rings he'd been holding tightly in his hand. They felt tingly and warm and suddenly they were glowing pinkish orange. Some instinct told him to drop them and within seconds they exploded. Everyone started screaming and running, but Remy was frozen in place. He was staring at his hands in horrified awe. Somebody knocked into him and his sunglasses were askew.
The priest gasped on seeing the boy's eyes and was barely able to cross himself. Remy backed away, scared and confused. He bumped into a pillar. He put his hand on it to steady himself and to his horror noticed the pink orange charge start creeping up it. The priest had enough time to cry out and run to the door. Everyone made it outside but Remy who stared in horror at the pillar. When he pulled his hand away, the church came down around his ears. He barely made it to safety before the accusation started. He ran, and ran, for his safety, for everyone's safety. He ran until he encountered a man named Eric Magnus Lenshurr.
Rogue knew something was wrong. Remy's eyes were unfocused and he was crying out and holding his head. "REMY!" She cried as she saw Mesmero planning to take advantage of the mental confusion of being trapped in his bad memories.
She flew rapidly to Remy's side and pushed him out of the way of the blast. It missed the two of them by a hair and she gasped. "Remy come on, focus! Ah need yo' help!"
He was panting heavily as his eyes returned to normal, "Chère? Remy seein' thin's horrible thin's." He sounded pained and weak.
"Shh, Sugah it's alright. Ya gonna be okay, just help me take down Mesmer-" She broke off screaming in sync with Remy as Mesmero hit the both of their weak and tired minds with a mental blast that rendered them unconscious.
Mesmero took a deep breath, he too was beginning to tire from his exertions. He sent a telepathic message to Apocalypse about the need to rest and regroup. Apocalypse received the message and scanned his forces. Cyclops II was missing. Apparently he vanished with the city. Crystal was unconscious and trapped in a power nullifier and Phoenix V was back in her recharging pod nearly unconscious. Mordru was continuing to blast the Legionnaires with his bolts of magic power. The one known as Universo seemed to be in a battle with the purple skinned legionnaire, Brainiac 5 and one other being. The more he observed this part of the battle, however, he began to realize something was wrong. Brainiac 5 was firing some sort of ray at Universo. Suddenly, Universo seemed to be moving in slow motion. Realizing that his forces were weakening, Apocalypse called his troops to retreat to their base. He also recalled Crystal in her power nullifier. All of the super villains just seemed to disappear from the battle. The Legionnaires looked all around for their foes. As the smoke began to clear, the consequences of the battle became apparent. Many of the Legionnaires and X-Men were wounded, or severely injured. One of the injured was Mon-El. He had barely survived a direct assault from Mordru. Near him lay the unconscious bodies of Rogue, Avalanche, Gambit, and Pyro. A little further away were Forge, who was bleeding heavily from his wounds, Sun Boy, Polar Boy, Night Girl and Phantom Girl. All of these heroes needed medical attention. The only problem was that all medical facilities and doctors were currently in the phantom zone. Super Boy, Ms Marvel and Super Girl gathered together. They were soon joined by Quicksilver, Ultra Boy, Shadow Lass, Rond Vidar, Element Lad and Wildfire. They were the only ones still standing. Even Brainiac 5 had succumbed to exhaustion and was unconscious on the ground.
Super Girl scanned the area with her X-Ray Vision. Soon she found a well hidden cave. As deputy leader, she had to take charge of the Legion. Mon-El was still unconscious. She quickly told Super Boy and Ms. Marvel about the cave. Then she ordered the remaining legionnaires to start taking their teammates to the cave. Everyone who was able made their way to the cave. All of the injured heroes were placed in the back of the cave and put under the care of Lana and Pete who had both regained consciousness. Once all the living heroes were assembled in the cave, Super Girl began the grisly task of scanning for any dead bodies. She found only one. Carmen Maria Rodriguez, known to her teammates as Qpid, was the only fatal casualty on this day. Super Girl knew there would probably be more in the days to come. She gathered up the body of Qpid and found her detached head. She wrapped the dead girl in her cape and brought it to the cave. Then, Super Girl flew into space. She quickly found and dismantled the Satellite they had placed in orbit earlier in the day. She had a feeling that she would need the phantom zone projector again. When she returned to earth, she dug a shallow grave and placed Carmen's Body in it and covered her up. Using her heat vision, she carved a Kryptonian symbol on a rock at the head of the grave to mark its location. Then she returned to the cave.
Super Girl rested when she got back to the cave. She knew that the next day was going to be another long and tiring day. She was deep in thought about what they should do. The plan to put the entire population of the planet into the phantom zone had a major drawback. They had also removed all of the buildings. This meant that there were no medical facilities or places to procure food or drink. While Super Girl, her sister, Ms. Marvel, her cousin, Super Boy and Mon-El did not need food or sleep, the rest of the legionnaires and X-Men did. She could not expect any of them to go into battle without proper nourishment to sustain them. While Super Girl was pondering this dilemma, Saturn Girl and Rogue each began to wake up. After a few moments, Saturn Girl sat up and looked over at her friend. Super Girl noticed Saturn Girl was awake. A few seconds later, Rogue was also awake.
"Ugh, did y'all catch the license plate o' the train that hit meh?" She looked around, disoriented. After a few seconds, she realized her situation. "Ah guess this means anotha day started without ma daily dose o' caffeine an' sugah..." she sighed jokingly.
Kara and Imra looked at the mutant. "Coffee is the least of our issues right now, Rogue," said Super Girl. "When we put the entire planet's population centers in the phantom zone along with their infrastructure, we took away our own abilities to secure food and medical assistance, in order to deprive the bad guys of their chance to raise a super army to use against us. Unfortunately, We have several members of our team injured."
"We could always bring back the City of Metropolis, Kara," said Saturn Girl.
"No, we can't. At least not until this battle is over. We can not afford to give Apocalypse the opportunity to create slaves," Super Girl replied.
"What can we do, then?" Rogue asked.
"I have been wondering that myself." Super Girl replied.
Just then, Mon-El and Brainiac 5 woke up. Mon-el was still a bit groggy. He had taken a extremely powerful blast from Mordru but was otherwise uninjured. After shaking his head, he sat up. "Did someone get the number of that intergalactic cruiser that hit me?" he joked.
Super Girl turned around. "Mon-El, you are awake. How do you feel"
Mon-El looked at the three girls. "Is the battle over? Did we win?"
"No, Mon-El," Super girl replied. "The battle is not over. Apocalypse and his team retreated and I had everyone brought here. We have a problem however." Super Girl told him about the issues facing the Legion and X-Men. As she finished her story and its catch 22 dilemma, she asked him what to do.
Meanwhile, at the villains' base, all was not peaceful. Apocalypse was angry. The Legionnaires had turned Earth into a barren rock, devoid of life. They had apparently captured or killed Cyclops II and had been able to nullify Crystal's inhuman abilities. He had not been able to find a way to remove the power nullifier from her neck. To make matters worse, The Time Trapper and Mordru were arguing incessantly about their past issues. Mordru was about to hit the Time trapper with a powerful bolt of dark sorcery, dispatching him from existence when Apocalypse yelled at them. "SILENCE! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THESE PETTY DISAGREEMENTS TO IMPEDE UPON THE PLANS !"
Mordru looked at Apocalypse. "No one silences Mordru," he growled. Turning his attention to Apocalypse, he began to berate him as well. "This is all your fault, mutant. Where is this army of slaves you promised us?" What happened to your power grid.?" he shouted angrily.
Apocalypse looked at Mordru. My power grid works fine but The legionnaires are using some sort of illusion to make us think the planet is barren. We just have to find a way to destroy the illusion and we will get our army."
At this moment, Phoenix V entered the room. "Boss, I don't think the absence of people is an illusion. I can only detect the Legionnaires remaining on the planet. I can't find my brother anywhere. It is like he just vanished off the planet." Then she began to cry. Her emotions were all over the place since the fight with her ancestor. All she wanted at this point was to go home. She missed her cat, Allergenio, and the times where she didn't have to obey the orders of a psychotic lunatic bent on universal domination.
Apocalypse looked at his team of super villains and told them all to get some rest. Then he turned and set his computer to scan for any and all human life forms on the planet earth. To his surprise, the only human life forms were all Legionnaires or X-Men or his small group of 7 villains. "Where did all of the humans go?" he thought.
Back at the cave, Super Girl and Mon-El had become involved in a discussion about what to do. Saturn Girl and Rogue had moved over to the cave's entrance. Saturn Girl looked at Rogue. "You know that you are probably the key to this battle, Rogue?"
Rogue stared at Saturn Girl. "What ahr ya talkin about, Saturn Girl? How can ah be the key?" She asked, confused.
Saturn Girl realized her friend did not realize what she was talking about. "You have the power to remove Apocalypse's energy grid. Do you remember when I was inside your head? When I gave you the ability to touch?" Rogue nodded. "At that time, I also removed the impediment that only allowed you to utilize a mutant ability for a short time after you acquired it. You still have the ability to shut off all forms of power. Since Apocalypse's energy grid appears to work on electricity, you can easily shut it down. You can selectively decide which power to shut down and you can also shut down more than one power source at a time."
Rogue grinned. "Ah did not know that. Thanks, Saturn Girl."
Saturn Girl laughed with her new friend. "You may be able to single handedly defeat Mordru as well. He does not know what you are capable of. Neither does Apocalypse, really." A few moments later the sun began to rise. Rogue and Saturn Girl went back inside the cave to join their teammates. Most of the Legionnaires and X-Men had awakened from their slumbers and unconscious state. Except for the physically injured ones, the rest had all collapsed from exhaustion but were now ready to go. Before leaving the cave, it had been decided by Mon-el and Super Girl that only the physical city of Metropolis would be restored from the phantom zone. This way, the Legionnaires would have their headquarters available to them as well as medical and food facilities. They had decided to leave the people in the phantom zone until after the battle was over. There would also be secure prison facilities to put any prisoners in. Brainiac 5 quickly made the correct calculations and adjusted the settings on the phantom zone projector. Then Super Boy flew high into the sky and hit the reverse button. Suddenly the city of Metropolis was back where it originally stood. It was still unpopulated. The Legionnaires all flew or were carried to Legion headquarters. The first thing Rogue did when she saw the building was go and make herself a cup of coffee. "Ahhhhh, coffee, strong and sweet. Just the way Ah like it." She thought with a smile.
That is it for this chapter. I want to thank my Reviewers Heartsyhawk and JediTwitch for their kind reviews. Patience my friends. As you can see, there are some surprising developments here. The war is on. Stay tuned for the next chapter but before you go, please review this chapter. Thank you!
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