( OMG, TimDrakeFanatic's prophecy came true 00 … )
myth buster, how would he know ?
2stupid, hmm ... I am not sure how that can be arranged properly, but it's possible. thanks :)
Confrontation
A few grunts and screams, plus some gunshots later, Wolverine reappeared, dragging the soldier towards the front of the cell by the legs.
The latter was in an identical outfit to the group who tried to sneak in on the X Mansion. Desperately clawing the floor, he strained his already hoarse voice to shout for help, yet only managed gasps for air, as if he were in the process of being pulled down a tar pit.
Letting go of his legs, Logan knelt down and rolled him over to face the ceiling. The soldier stared up at the furry, rugged face with an expression of absolute terror. His chest no longer pressed against the floor, he began squeaking for his life. "P – Please let me go ! I've got a wife and kid ! And … and …"
"Yeah, yeah …" Logan rolled up his eyes. "Everyone has been saying that. Even when it doesn't make sense." He waved his claws to emphasize his irritation. The soldier, on the other hand, got the wrong message and his face went another shade paler.
"Stop scaring him now, Logan. If he dies of fright, I will burn all your hair off !"
The soldier jerked his eyes towards the cell where the voice was coming from. Behind the columns of lime green light, there stood a boy dressed in what appeared to be a loose fitting shirt and a blue kilt. He had long spiky hair, and glowing red eyes.
The soldier's face was now literally bone white.
"Now, let's see …" The three characteristic commas emerged from the edge of each of Sasuke's pupils. "You, will disable the barrier, show us the quietest route out of here, take us to the fastest carriage you have, with a driver, and then after that you will go stuff your head in a pile of shit and forget that any of this ever happened. Understood ?"
The soldier gulped, unable to peel his gaze away from the Sharingan. "Um …" he began in the subdued, breathless voice of one who was being hypnotized.
For a second, all four of them remained silent and motionless. Then, with an impatient, "hmph …" Logan waved his claws in the soldier's face again. "Just get us out of here, take us to the fastest transport you've got, with a pilot, and then go jump down a river somewhere. Need we repeat ourselves ?"
"N – No, Sir …" Came the soldier's instinctive reply, with no hint of the usual panic or resistance.
"Good, you try something funny, and I'll throw you down the river myself." Logan faced the cell and smiled, "See, the old method is more efficient."
"Whatever …" Sasuke shrugged. "If this doesn't work, you could still use your limbs to block the green light, while Ororo and I rush out through the opening created."
"Hm … funny." Logan rubbed the fast vanishing scars on his back.
Xxx
Sleepless summer night.
Being used to telepathic contacts with the people around meant that being temporarily unable to feel that psychic rapport was a very uncomfortable experience.
To Jean Grey, it was terrifying. As she tossed and turned in her bed, her mind wandered and conjured up nasty imaginary scenarios one after another.
"Calm yourself, Jean. They will be fine." Came an elderly male voice.
"Professor, why didn't you let me go ?" Jean thought back.
"It's not safe." The voice replied. "I have a … premonition …"
"So who's imagining things here ?" Jean chuckled bitterly.
A few loud sharp taps drew her attention abruptly away from the telepathic conversation, and she sat up with a start, to see the silhouette off a large bird perched at the ledge of her open bedroom window.
The bird's eyes glowed a phosphorescent blue-grey, the various shades arranged in concentric circles around each pupil. In its beak it held a small hair thin object which gleamed in the moonlight.
Slowly, keeping her eyes on the strange creature, Jean got up from her bed and walked over towards the window. As she approached the bird, she got a clearer glimpse of the object it was holding.
One of Ororo's special lock-picking hairpins.
"Where …" The bird jerked its head back, and Jean lowered her voice to sound as non-threatening as possible. "Where did you get that ?"
The bird tilted its head and stared silently back at the red-haired psychic. The latter, without showing it, tried to read the bird's mind, but instead got a jumble of contradicting thoughts, as if she were randomly scanning the minds of more than one person.
With a hoot, the bird pushed itself out of the window with its webbed feet and spread its wings.
"Wait !" Jean called out and dashed forward but by the time she reached the window, the giant seabird was already out in the air, far out of her reach, unless …
Bending forward so that her head and shoulder peeked out of the building, she hopped lightly, and drifted gently out through the window, like a mermaid in pyjamas swimming up through water.
The albatross hovered over the Institute campus for a while, and then descended and landed in the outer edge of the courtyard. Jean brought herself down gracefully three metres behind it and pointed an open palm towards it. "There, I've got you. You can't run away now."
To her surprise, the bird's body convulsed and then exploded into a cloud of ash and smoke, which gradually dispersed in the night breeze, leaving nothing but the hairpin on the pavement where it stood.
"What's going on ?" Jean muttered to herself with a slight frown.
"I'll tell you !"
Jean looked up towards the source of the voice.
From behind a tree at the edge of the courtyard, a black figure emerged and stepped out into the moon light. It was covered head to toe in a black hooded cloak. "You are coming with me !" the figure sauntered towards Jean, and as it got closer, she could make out a glowing red eye peering out from underneath that hood. The crimson orb looked extremely familiar to her.
"Sasuke, is that you ?" Jean narrowed her eyes. "No, you are not."
"Hmm, I could have convinced her I'm someone else. Now why didn't I think of that ?" The figure thought aloud. "No matter, now she's out, I'll just grab her and run …"
"Hold it right there -" Jean placed a hand on her hip and took a step back. "You are not referring to me aren't you ? No, wait, first things first … who the hell are you ? If you are with those Shiar Enlightenment wierdos, I am so throwing you outta here."
"Well, yes I was referring to you." The figure took a corresponding step forward. "As to who I am, take an 'informed' guess, Ms Jean Grey."
Jean held a fist to her chin and stared sideways at the figure. "You …" She raised an eyebrow, "you are the mysterious guy Sasuke was searching for. You two are related."
"Indeed, though it's more like I was searching for him." The figure bowed slightly, tilting its head up to keep its penetrating crimson gaze on Jean. "Uchiha Madara."
"He's not in." Jean yawned in a visibly exaggerated manner. "What do you want with me anyway ?"
"All will be explained in time," Madara replied. "Marvel Girl, or should I say … Phoenix …"
At the mention of that name, Jean cringed for a while and then forced herself to relax again. "You know what ? Why don't you wait here, and I'll go talk to the Professor about this."
She turned around and gasped in shock to see Madara standing right in front of her again.
"There is no time for that. You must come with me, immedia -" Madara bowled over as an invisible force slammed into his chest and knocked him off his feet.
"Don't … ever … pop up … behind me … without warning !" With a flick of her hand, Jean sent Madara hurtling backwards, limbs flailing in front of him, towards the wall of the X-Mansion's main building. He hit the wall with a weird flop, as if his body were made of cloth.
"Now that's better." She completed the move with a grasping motion in the same hand. "And you can forget about teleporting away. I am not letting you go until you tell me exactly what is going on."
In response, Madara pressed his hands together and hurriedly performed a few Mudras, so quickly they appeared as a blurry sign language. A soccer ball sized sphere of fire erupted above the tip of his fingers. As soon as it materialized, it flew straight at Jean's face.
The seasoned X-Man dropped immediately to a high kneel, an arm held up instinctively. A second later, sure that her hair was not on fire, she lowered the arm and looked up. Madara was no longer pressed against the wall.
She felt a sharp metallic tip against the back of her neck.
"Let's do this quietly." There was now a heavier air of menace in Madara's voice.
"Of course." Jean smirked.
Madara's visible eye glowed in shock as, against his will, his outstretched arm curled up inwards and brought the tip of his Kunai ( throwing dagger ) towards his own chest.
Slowly, Jean stood up and spun round to look Madara in the eye. "Now, shall we talk ? Or do you want me to rip everything from your mind ?"
"Do try." The three commas in the iris of Madara's exposed Sharingan eye swiveled in and elongated to join up with each other and form a triangle with curved edges, while a red dot appeared in the centre of each bulbous corner. From the middle of each edge of the triangle a thick black band ran outwards into the edge of the iris. "Let's see how great those mind powers of yours really are, Marvel Girl."
A veil of utter darkness descended over their surroundings.
Xxx
They came to a clearing the size of a basketball court in the middle of the pine forest surrounding the underground Weapon X facility. In its centre was parked a small black helicopter.
"Weird place for a landing spot." Logan stared hard the cockpit of the aircraft as he, Ororo, Sasuke and the soldier walked briskly towards it. "Where's the pilot ?"
"I am the pilot." The soldier replied flatly as they reached the door of the aircraft. He pulled it open and motioned for the other three to climb in.
Before anyone could react, Logan bounded up the foot support and stopped halfway through the door. There he sniffed the air around the passenger seats.
"What are you doing ?" Ororo, who was standing right behind him, frowned.
Abruptly, Logan spun round and ran right into her, wrapping an arm around her and pushing her backwards by several metres. "Get back !"
"Wha –" Ororo stopped short as her back hit the ground, squeezing the remaining air out of her lungs.
She felt her face warm up as Logan threw himself on top of her. "Logan, this isn't the time to –" And then she saw Sasuke sandwiched between her and Logan, with an equally stunned expression on his face.
"Logan, what the h -"
The rest of the sentence was drowned out by a deafening explosion accompanied by a flash of orange light from somewhere behind Logan, a rush of hot air along her sides, and the sensation of being pounded on her back by a wrecking ball.
The next thing she noticed was the smoke and blood trickling over Logan's shoulders and a numbing pain in her feet.
"Logan ?"
"I'm alright." Wolverine huffed and with some effort hauled himself over to one side, allowing both Sasuke and Ororo to sit up and stare in disbelief at the flaming wreckage of the helicopter.
"Poor guy." Wolverine coughed, nodding at the burning corpse nearby. "Probably never saw it coming as well."
"They sacrificed their own man just to kill us ?" Ororo shook her head. "I don't get it …"
"Hn." A slight movement behind a tree at the edge of the clearing caught Sasuke's attention. "Logan …"
"Yes, I smelled it." With some effort, Wolverine pushed himself up and eyed the surrounding woods. "Probably waiting for the bomb to go off before closing in."
The former Weapon X agent stopped turning and stood facing one particular tree. He smiled and extended his claws. "Getting smarter huh, Sabretooth ?"
"Or you just gotten stupid." From behind said tree, a tall muscular man in tattered singlet and jeans and sporting a long golden mane stepped out.
From behind nearby trees, vague figures in identical vests emerged and pointed their weapons towards the centre of the clearing.
Under the dim moonlight and glow from the fire behind him, Logan counted twenty gun barrels in all. He leaned back slightly and whispered. "Hey kid, you fast enough to take them all out ?"
"Possible," Sasuke scanned the trees with his Sharingan. "though I don't think we should act that rashly."
"Right." Logan nodded. "You passed the test."
"Whatever …" Sasuke staggered over to behind the broader man. "I assume that if we stay behind you, we should be safe."
"That's a very big assumption there, kid." Logan chuckled dryly. "The old man gets no peace huh."
"Whatever you're planning there, it's not gonna work. These aren't your average cheap mass produced rifles." Sabretooth leaned confidently against his tree and crossed his arms."This is the end for you, runt."
"Yeah, but unlike you, we have friends." Wolverine crossed his own arms and called out,"Ain't I right, Colossus ?"
And then came a faint but resounding answer from deeper within the forest. Resounding, and firm as steel.
"Right you are, comrade !"
Next chapter will obviously have the X-Men doing most of the action.
Yeah, I know, Madara hasn't shown his true power. Nobody knows his true power.
Also, I am assuming Marvel Girl is capable of preventing her enemy from teleporting/phasing away.
Have a nice day/night
-Star