Beginning Al Chapter 13
The trip to find Jaicen had been an eventful one. First, they had to take care of any guards that came their way, which ended up being quite a few. The plan was not to kill but to disable. Bobby was especially good at making sure they remained trapped in some icy way or fashion.
Ben had led them to the room where he claimed Trask did all of his experiments. When they got there they found a lot of blood, an unconscious man and numerous different torture devices. But they did not find Jaicen. It was around this time they heard the alarm go off, which they thought was meant for them.
So they fought their way through more of the building until Ben heard Trask's voice over the walkie talkie asking for guards to meet him in the command center. It was then that Ben led them to the command center where Al found Jaicen just in time. To Ben's credit, he had done everything they asked him to and stayed out of the way when they were fighting. He had not tried to escape and had even been helpful at times.
As he embraced his brother, he couldn't help but feel like this was not the end. He looked down at his watch; it read 1 hour and 1 minute. Their time was ticking away, but at least he had found his brother.
Al pulled away from his brother and looked him up and down, noticing no visible wounds. He smiled and shook his head.
"Jaice, I gotta know," Al said. "What made you stop?"
His brother paused.
"Because you put your hand down," Jaicen said slowly. "You trusted me to make the right decision. And I couldn't let you down."
Al couldn't help but smile at that.
He's coming Al suddenly heard in his head.
"Shit," Al said and turned to the door.
He didn't have much time to react, as Magneto used the large door and sent it flying through the door, hitting Bobby and sending him sprawling across the room. He then flicked his wrist and sent the large door flying towards Al, but Al managed to dive out of the way and the door slammed into the wall behind him, blasting through it. Al looked over and noticed the door had actually, ironically, opened up the facility to the outside. This room must've been on the outer wall of the facility around the back end.
Erik then put one hand up towards Jaicen and Jaicen couldn't move at all. He used the other hand to send a large metallic rod lying on the ground toward Al. Al tried to dodge again, but it clipped his head and sent him to the ground hard with a grunt. The bag went sprawling away and landed on the ground a few feet from him.
His vision went fuzzy as he lay there, trying to re-orient himself. He saw Bobby lying on the ground a ways away, stirring but clearly hurting. Al then watched as Erik controlled Jaicen's body. With all the metal coursing through Jaicen, Erik could essentially manipulate him to do anything he wanted.
Erik took his other hand and pointed the cameras that were in the room down at Jaicen. He then began marching Jaicen towards Trask. Trask cowered away, already bleeding profusely from his nose and the gunshot wound. Erik was going to kill Trask with Jaicen and make sure it was on film for anyone to see.
"It was never up to you to start the next World War," Erik said to Trask. "My kind will start and finish it."
Al desperately tried to get his bearings about him. He was watching his brother's body move toward Trask slowly and he couldn't help him. Jaicen was going to kill this man and it wouldn't even be his fault. Everything they had worked toward was going to be for naught because of Magneto.
Suddenly he felt something hit his side. He looked down and saw a collar laying next to him that someone had thrown to him. He looked at the collar for a moment then picked it up.
Throw it he heard in his head.
He threw it out of view of Magneto, who didn't notice it as he was too focused on his killing Trask. Jaicen was desperately trying to fight, but he was losing the battle. His body was closing in on Trask.
Before the collar hit the ground, it stopped and hovered in mid air. Al then watched as it floated towards Magento from behind. Jean Grey was standing in the doorway, moving the collar towards Magneto. That had been the contingency plan everyone but Magneto had known about. She had followed him the entire time to make sure he wasn't going to do anything like this. And he had no idea.
As focused as Magneto was, he did not even notice right away when the collar snapped shut around his neck, eliminating his powers. When he realized he was no longer controlling Jaicen, he looked slowly around the room and suddenly realization came to his face.
Just as he reached up to snatch the collar off, Bobby shot a stream of ice to his neck, wrapping the collar in ice. Magento let out a howl of fury and frantically scratched at the ice, but it made no difference. He was literally powerless.
Al watched as Jaicen then turned and walked over to Magneto and punched him squarely in the jaw, sending him to the floor.
Al looked over in the direction the collar had come from and saw Ben. He was standing there, very unassuming.
"You?" Al asked.
"I've seen a lot of things in the last 48 hours," Ben said slowly. "I've realized I don't want any part of a war between mutants and humans."
Al nodded slowly.
What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. As Jean walked over towards Al, Al noticed out of the corner of his eye that Trask was moving. He turned as did Jaicen, but not in time, his head still a little fuzzy. Trask made it to the red button and slammed his hand down on it.
"Shit," Jaicen said.
Al assumed that button was something bad, but clearly didn't know as much as Jaicen.
"What is it?" Al asked slowly.
A rumbling noise began. Trask laughed. Despite his predicament, he actually had the audacity to laugh!
"It's your doom X-Men," Trask said.
Thankfully, Bobby took this time to ice up Trask's body and mouth, making him unable to move or speak. The ground began to quake as something large could be heard opening. The last time this happened, Al remembered they were in a battle for their lives.
"Sentinels," Jaicen said softly, his eyes full of anger.
Al looked down at his watch. 41 minutes. They really didn't have time for this. Bobby and Jean walked up next to Jaicen and Al.
"Okay, let's make a break to the jet," Al said. "Hopefully we can get there and take off before they realize what's happening. Jean, relay Storm and tell her to be ready for us."
Jean nodded her assent and Al turned to Ben.
"Is there any way to prevent this?"
"Run," Ben said softly. "I can try and override it from here, but I can't guarantee anything. Bolivar made things like this only accessible to himself. So run and I'll do what I can."
"What about him?" Jaicen asked, pointing to Magneto on the ground.
"We can't leave him here," Al said.
Jaicen walked over and picked up Magneto, slinging him over one shoulder. While he did that, Al went back to his bag and opened it to make sure the statue was in one piece and then slung the bag over his shoulder. The four then proceeded to leave the building out of the large hole the door had made previously. They ran around the side of the building and towards where the jet was. The fog had dissipated, giving them a better view of where they were going.
As they ran, the jet slowly started to come into view. They were still a good distance away when they heard the metallic voice.
"Halt mutants."
"Halt this," Al growled, turning and unleashing everything he had into one powerful blast.
The optic beam slammed into the Sentinel's face, staggering him backwards. Al let out a yell of fury as he didn't let up, the beam exploding through the Sentinel's face and out the other side. The robot dropped to the ground, unmoving.
Unfortunately, 4 more took up right behind that one.
Before Al could blast another, it shot at him and he had to dive out of the way. Just then a large sheet of ice shot up in front of Al and straight up, forming a huge wall roughly fifty feet high.
"Let's GO!" Bobby said.
Al turned and took off with the others right with him. Shortly after they began their run, Al heard the shattering of ice and knew the Sentinel's were in pursuit again. The jet was too far away; they were never going to make it.
The wind began to whip up around them and thunder was heard in the air. Al felt something whiz by his cheek and knew they were not going to make it without a fight. He looked to his side and saw Jaicen stop and drop Erik, who had regained consciousness. Jaicen extended his claws.
"Ya know," he said. "I was hoping for a rematch."
Al stopped, as did the rest of the X-Men and turned to face their adversaries. It almost felt like an old western, as the five X-Men (Storm was hovering now in the air above them) and the Sentinel's stood facing each other.
"Surrender, mutants," one of the Sentinels commanded.
"I don't think so," Al said and blasted at the lead Sentinel.
This time, the Sentinel was ready and shot out a blast with his palm extended outward. The two beams slammed into each other and Al was a little caught off guard. He dove to the side, taking his hand off his visor and the blast exploded the ground where he had been standing. The rest of the X-Men went into motion as the attacks began.
In his periphery Al noticed Erik had crawled to a corner and was frantically trying to get the ice off from around his neck. Al thought about his brother and tried to place him as he moved, but Jaicen was a blur and very clearly not paying attention to him.
It was then that Al realized what he had to do. Jaicen had already been able to give into his instincts as Wolverine, but Al was tentative, trying to map out every decision he made. It was time to let the leader, in Scott, take over and guide his movements.
A funny thing happened at the moment Al allowed his instincts to take over. Suddenly, the X-Men seemed a completely cohesive team. Al would blast a Sentinel's knees, dropping it down and Jaicen would come right in with slices to the chest of the Sentinel's. Bobby would blast a stream of ice at a Sentinel and Al would follow up with an optic blast, shattering the ice and the frozen arm of the Sentinel. Ororo would use her wind to whip Jaicen up in the air and he suddenly was a clawed battering ram (with help from Jean Grey to assist his trajectory).
Despite the cohesion of the team, these Sentinels were durable. The X-Men were managing to stay a few steps ahead of them and had managed to knock down another, leaving it three against five.
Amongst the fight, Al managed to dodge a large blast from a Sentinel and dive behind a large tree occupying the island. He stayed there for a moment, his back against the tree, a little frustrated. The X-Men were giving the Sentinels all they had and were still barely surviving. If the Sentinel's managed to land an attack, one of the X-Men could be in big trouble. It was a dangerous game they were playing and Al wasn't sure they'd be able to survive. Suddenly his brother slid around the tree and sat next to him.
"These things are tenacious," Jaicen growled.
"I'm scared to think these are just proto-types," Al breathed. "Can you imagine their later versions?"
Silence ensued.
"What can we do?" Jaicen asked.
There was an incessant beep that suddenly was sounded from both Jaicen and Al. It surprised them for a moment, till they realized it was coming from their watches. Al looked down and saw the watch reading 0.
"I.. uh," Al stammered. "Out of … time…"
"What does this mean," Jaicen asked, tentative.
Al noticed Jaicen looked down at his watch so he did the same. The number went from 0 to 10:00 and began counting down. The brothers looked at each other then the carnage that was going on. Al's eyes noticed his bag lying in the middle of the battle field. The statue.
"Shit," he said.
"What?"
"The Statue."
Jaicen looked to where Al was looking and nodded.
"I'm on it," Jaicen said and ran off in the direction of the bag.
Al didn't have a chance to stop him, so he decided to try and defend him. Jaicen was fast in this body and agile as anything Al had ever remembered seeing (not that that really meant much). Thankfully, the other 3 Sentinels were mostly preoccupied, as Al watched Jaicen slide down and scoop up the bag and statue. All in one motion, he rotated his body and came back to his feet, headed back to Al.
Jaicen made it back to Al fairly quickly. Al looked down at his watch. 8 minutes 12 seconds. Jaicen pulled out the statue and the brothers looked down at it. The ruby on the forehead was blaring red and blinking.
"So what do we do?" Jaicen asked. "What happens next?"
What happened next was a Sentinel noticed the two behind the tree. He extended a hand out and blasted the tree, sending the brothers sprawling to either side. Al grunted as he landed and turned to his side, firing off a blast at the Sentinel. The Sentinel staggered back a step and then Iceman slid in, icing the ground around the Sentinel and causing it to stumble to one knee.
Al looked over and saw his brother laying on the ground but still conscious. Jaicen stuggled to his feet, the statue still in his hand.
"We gotta make a break to the jet," Jaicen yelled to his brother. "We're living precariously here."
Al nodded and scanned the field of view. Storm was holding her own against a Sentinel while another Sentinel was climbing back to its feet. The third was chasing after Bobby. Jean Grey was using her telekinesis to help Storm, sending the newly shredded branches towards the Sentinel Storm was engaging.
Al ran over to Jean Grey.
"Jaice and I are running out of time," he said. "We have got to get out of here or finish this fight and quick."
Jean looked over to him and he flashed his watch to her, which read 6 minutes 3 seconds.
"Any ideas might be good ones," Jean said softly.
Jaicen ran over next to them.
"I think I've got one," Jaicen said. "But it would be dangerous and you'd all need to get away as quickly as possible."
"Talk quick," Al said.
Jaicen pointed to an area and Al turned and looked over, seeing Magneto hiding behind a protruding wall, frantically still trying to rip the icy collar from his neck.
"He might attack us," Al said.
"I'm going to bet he wants to survive and helping against those Sentinels would be in his best interest," Jaicen said. "And we're out of time."
Al looked at Jean who nodded and sent a telepathic message to Bobby. Bobby, after dodging a blast, sent a hand out a melted the ice from around Magneto's neck. It only took him a few seconds to realize what had happened and he ripped the collar from his neck. Jaicen advised Jean and she sent out a mental plea to the rest of the X-Men to start making a retreat to the X-Jet.
A lot of things happened at once. Magneto's powers, dwarfed by the collar, had made him virtually invisible to the Sentinel's. Now that his powers flared to life, the closest one to him turned its attentions to him.
After successful attacks staggered the two that were attacking Storm and Iceman, they began to make their retreat towards the jet. Jaicen, Al and Jean also started to make their retreat.
To say Magneto was angry was an understatement. But he was not a stupid man and he was also trying to survive. So the Sentinel attacking him was met with quite a barrage. Al wasn't sure, but perhaps when Trask built these machines, he believed the material he was using could not be used by Magneto, but he was wrong. Magneto held one hand out and began ripping the Sentinel apart piece by piece. Another Sentinel noticed what was happening and also turned to attack Magneto.
Al looked down at his watch. 2 minutes, 17 seconds. His heart began to pound in his chest.
They were nearing the X-Jet when he third Sentinel caught up to Jaicen and fired a beam at his back. Jaicen went sprawling forward and the statue went flying through the air. Al watched in horror as the statue flew ten feet away, upside down and landed on the top of the head of the statue.
What Al expected to happen, the statue to shatter to pieces, did not. Instead, the head pressed down into the rest of the body. The statue then rolled and came to a standing position. The head was still visible and slowly, vibrating, it began to rise back up to its natural position.
A loud noise ensued as the statue righted itself completely and then a beam, small at first but growing, shot out from the forehead ruby and opened up what Al could only explain as a portal the size of an elephant in front of it.
Luckily, Storm and Iceman were simultaneously attacking the Sentinel that had attacked Jaicen. Al ran to his brother and helped him up then looked down to his watch. 53 seconds.
"We've gotta go," Al said.
"But," Jaicen said. "We don't know what it is or what it'll do."
"This is it," Al said. "We may not know for sure. But I believe that's the way home."
The brothers turned and took one last look at the carnage. It seemed like it was more in hand with Magneto joining the fray and the X-Men were close to the jet by now, so Al thought they'd make it out okay.
"Goodbye X-Men," Jaicen said quietly.
As the seconds ticked down, Jaicen scooped up the statue and slung the bag over his shoulder. Then all at once the brother ran to the "portal" and leapt headfirst in.
Only darkness followed.
End Al Chapter 13