Viral Vengeance

Disclaimer: "Redneck!" - Eric Cartman, South Park

Chapter 25: The Return, Part 4: Desecration

The California Desert

"Whoa..." Rusty Collins' jaw dropped when he saw the resurrected Theresa Rourke through the binoculars. "I thought that chick was dead."

"Huh?" Eileen blinked.

"Theresa Rourke." Rusty explained. "I heard about her from the older guys. She was this Irish chick with red hair. She also had a scream that could shatter steel."

"She died during that whole rampage of Sauron a while back." Betsy explained.

"What's a Sauron?" Eileen blinked. "The only Sauron I know of is the one in The Lord of the Rings."

"The Sauron that killed Theresa was totally no master of Orcs, dudette." Jack shook his head. "Sauron was this total pterodactyl dude. He could like, hypnotize people and absorb people's lifeforce, dudes."

"Yeah, those X-Geniuses recruited him. Nice move, Xavier." Rusty snickered.

"Everyone makes mistakes." Eileen admonished.

"Yeah, but when Xavier screws up, he screws up big time." Rusty snickered. "Anyway, he killed Theresa by absorbing her lifeforce. He was on a rampage, and two of those X-Dorks died stopping him."

"Kevin Ford, codenamed Wither. Jonothan Starsmore, codenamed Chamber." Betsy explained.

"Poor Wither." Sally shook her head. "He could disintegrate organic matter by touching it. He couldn't shut his power off. And Chamber had it bad, too. He was a living furnace of psionic energy. His powers destroyed part of his face and chest."

"They both died to stop Sauron." Betsy shook her head. "Hopefully that Virus lunatic left them alone. They both deserve eternal peace." Meanwhile, the mutant heroes who were facing Virus were horrified by what the mad mutant had done.

"At we now know who disturbed Theresa's grave." Shan scowled.

"Oh God...oh God let this be a nightmare...please..." A teary-eyed Lizzie buried her face in Lucas's shoulder. "How could he? How could he?"

"Virus is a twisted psychopath, Elizabeth." Bobby scowled.

"Aww, you say the nicest things, Mr. Drake." Virus laughed. "Why did I bring back the darling Siryn?"

"I dunnae know, and I dunnae care." Lucas snarled. "This time, I'll make sure you die, and stay dead!"

"Hold that fire, Lucas." Shan ordered. "I personally would like to know how you did it, Virus? How'd you bring her back?"

"Why, that's easy." Virus smirked. "As soon as I came back to Earth to enact me plan, I remembered the last time I was there. I remembered Freedom Force and Nightshift...and how they foiled me plan to purify Earth of filthy organic lifeforms last time." He smirked evilly. "So, I tried to figure out a way I could stick it to the lot of you for ruining me last plan. Then it came to me. In me energy form, I wandered into the X-Men's computer system. They never knew I was even there."

"Sonofa-..." Scott muttered in frustration.

"While in the files, I learned of the deaths of the ones you called Siryn, Chamber, and Wither." Virus smirked. "I figured, hey, if I took their corpses and used the nanites to rebuild them into loyal cyborgs under my control, I can use them as weapons against those who try to oppose me. I chose to rebuild Siryn because she was a member of Nightshift. I liked Chamber and Wither's powers, so I decided to work on them, too." Paige Guthrie, the blonde epidermic metamorph known as Husk, paled in shock.

"No..." The Kentucky-born girl paled. She had always blamed herself to a degree for Chamber's death, and now this? "No..." She shook her head. "No...please, no..."

"How-?" Scott's jaw dropped.

"Well, me first attempt to get a corpse was messy." Virus sighed. "What was I thinking?"

"Left a lot of evidence at Theresa's grave." Shan scowled.

"Yes, well that was a trial run." Virus shrugged. "When I picked up Chamber and Wither, I found a way to not leave any evidence. You had to scan their graves in order to find out they were gone."

"Why, Virus?" Scott scowled. "They were X-Men. You didn't face us last time."

"As I said, I liked their powers." The mad mutant snickered. "Chamber was a living weapon of mass destruction. And Wither...Oh, Wither..." He laughed. "I can't help but love a guy who can destroy anything organic with a touch." He heard high-pitched whines fly through the air. "Ah, and that would be them now." Two more figures flew down next to Siryn, using jets that folded into their legs. They both were brown-haired young men, clad in black costumes, and it was obvious that they were Chamber and Wither. Like Siryn, they had strips of metal over their eyebrows and the bridges of their noses, and their eyes were Wither's black costume was short-sleeved, and his lower arms were covered by metal bands. His fingers appeared to be metallic, and metallic lines ran from his knuckles to the armbands. Jono's cybernetics showed in his mouth. His mouth and lower cheeks were metallic, looking like the Terminator's jaws.

"My God..." Rusty gasped when he saw the cyborgs. "I think that's Chamber. He looks like the Son of The Terminator." Jack climbed up the rock next to him.

"What? Let me see, dude!" Jack grabbed the binoculars, yanking down Rusty.

"Ack! Ack! You surfer bum idiot!" Rusty gagged as he grabbed at the strap that was choking him.

"Dude!" Jack gaped. "They're like those Cybermen on that British TV show!"

"Jack, I'm choking, you twit!" Rusty exclaimed.

"Uh, Jack..." Eileen pointed at a choking Rusty. Jack blinked at him, and his jaw dropped.

"Oh, sorry dude." The blond surfer helped the redhaired pyrokinetic down.

"Air!" Rusty breathed gratefully. "You blockhead!" He smacked Jack upside the head. "You nearly got me killed. Ack."

"Rusty, you didn't need to do that." Sally shook her head. "It wasn't Jack's fault."

"Yeah." Betsy nodded in agreement. "Jack's dumb, but it's not like he intends to screw up."

"Yeah...hey!" Jack exclaimed.

"Don't worry about it, Beast King." Betsy grinned. "You know I don't really have any quarrel with you." Meanwhile, Virus was cackling.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed. "Aren't they magnificent? Those three are me greatest creations!"

"Jono...?" Paige called at the cyberized Englishman. "Jono? Can you hear me? Jono! It's me! It's Paige!" The cyborg that was once Chamber didn't even look at her. "Jono! It's me! You've got to remember!"

"He can't hear ya, luv." Virus smirked at the blonde. "He ain't alive. He's just a automaton with organic and cybernetic parts."

"They had names. Identities. Lives." Shan scowled.

"Past tense." Virus chuckled. "Now, they are merely my puppets."

"Just when we thought you couldn't sink any lower, Virus..." Bobby shook his head. "You dig up three dead people and put robotic parts in them."

"This is your fault, anyway!" Lucas snapped. "Ye should be cyberized or whatever the hell he did tae Siryn! Ye didn't finish him off!" Lizzie angrily grabbed the front of Lucas's shirt and powered up slightly. She didn't grow a great amount in size, just enough to pull Lucas off his feet.

"Lucas, Ah like to think that Ah am a patient woman, but even Ah have mah limits. If you don't stop this, Ah swear to God, Ah will tear your head off, and use it as a bowling ball. You got me?" She threatened. A wide-eyed Lucas nodded. "Good." She threw him down to the ground.

"Ya didn't need tae do that." He muttered.

"I dunno." Bobby smirked. "I think it works well for you." Lucas muttered about wise-cracking snowmen as he got up. "That's a funny joke Lucas, but I doubt that is anatomically possible."

"Grr..." Lucas fumed at the smugly smirking Bobby.

"Look here, heroes..." Virus snickered. "Do you really think you can defeat my three cyborgs and me cybernetic defenses?"

"We can try!" Wolverine snarled, unsheating his claws with the trademark SNIKT!

"Fine." Virus shrugged. He looked at the cyborgs. "Destroy them whenever you want. I never liked 'em much, anyway."

"Ye're gonna pay for this, Virus!" Lucas roared as he fired a telepathic attack at Virus. However, the attack failed. The mad Englishman teleported away before the attack could hit him. "Come back here and fight, ye cowardly bastard!" The cyborg Wither pointed his arms at Lucas. With the sounds of whirring and clicking, the metallic parts on his arms shifted shape and moved themselves around until they formed themselves into a pair of futuristic cannons. The cannons' barrels started to glow white. With a VWOOM, the cannons fired two beams of white light.

"DOWN!" Scott and Shan ordered. Everyone ducked the beams of light, and they hit a cactus. In front of their shocked eyes, the cactus withered to dust in a matter of moments.

"Well, whaddaya know?" Kyle blinked. "The guy's packing disintegration guns. Like in that old Daffy Duck cartoon." Gina whistled.

"Remind me never to get him mad."

"It appears that Virus has found a way to alter and perhaps even enhance their mutations with the nanites." The Beast deduced.

"Makes sense." Shan nodded.

"Uh, the cyborgs aren't the only things we have to worry about." Ace reminded. "The giant robot thingies, too?"

"Oh, yeah..." Beast remembered. The cyborg Chamber opened up his mouth and, with a high-pitched whine, fired a beam of concussive energy from his mouth like a dragon spitting flame. "Uh oh!"

"Look out!" Everyone ducked, and the beam hit Freedom Force's helicopter, causing it to explode.

"Well, there goes our ride." Thunderbird grunted.

"Jono, stop!" Paige screamed. "It's us!"

"It's not Chamber, Paige!" Jean tried to tell her. "I can't sense anything in there. He's just a robotic shell." Scott scowled.

"Virus is going to pay for this." He scowled. "As soon as we go through these robotic monsters...He's next. He made a big mistake when he decided to desecrate Jono and Kevin like this."

"You got that right." Shan agreed.

"I may not be a fan of ye X-Men, but ye got my support, Summers." Lucas nodded. "Theresa didnae deserve this."

"Looks like those robots want us to attack 'em." Ace blinked.

"Well, let's not disappoint them." Shan smirked, unfurling her staff.

Next: The Return, Part 5: Desert Demolition As the X-Men and Freedom Force battle Virus's creations, the New Recruits decide to lend a hand!