Chapter 29: The Unstoppable Juggernaut
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters or logos.
It had been hours since the daily regimen had finished, and now the elites of the Xavier Institute were sitting on board the Blackbird in an attempt to wrangle one of the most dangerous enemies they had ever faced. The professor sat in one of the front seats, close behind Storm who was busy piloting the craft. Wolverine and his female clone occupied the next row behind the other instructors, the latter seated in Hank McCoy's usual seat because he had been tasked with watching the students back at the institute while they were gone. Sitting in the same area were Scott, Jean, Gambit, and Colossus.
Ironically there were actually more staff members on board the plane than students for a change, which was largely due to the presence of the newer recruits in addition to the promotion of the two former students from the previous semester. The only three students that were permitted to participate in the upcoming mission were Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat, all of which were the most experienced of the school's current roster. While they normally would have brought in Bobby as a source of backup, he was still on probation due to his rash actions during his brief visit to New York, and the additions of X-23, Colossus, and Gambit were more than enough to fill the slot.
"I finally thought things were settling down, and then Bigfoot shows up again." Kitty added with a note of concern. "This is, like, totally irksome."
Rogue sighed in agreement. "Well that would explain why they call him the unstoppable Juggernaut, now wouldn't it?" she snapped sarcastically. "Ya'll are stupid to think that a crazy brute like him would just stop because we took him down a couple of times."
"Well obviously!" Nightcrawler shuddered silently, his three-fingered hands digging into his knees. "I'm more worried about what he'll do to us when we see him again. If he's wearing that helmet thing, we're in for it!"
"Chill out, it's not like we haven't beaten him already." Kitty added with an optimistic grin.
Kurt smiled, looking proud of their previous accomplishment as he remembered the battle in vivid detail. It had been an awful experience fighting against an opponent that they had no chance of winning against, especially since Professor Xavier hadn't been around to disable the enemy with his mind. Using their combined abilities the young mutants had miraculously managed to drive away their leader's step brother, although until now most of them had been anticipating the day that he would resurface. Since the authorities never found him, Juggernaut had remained at large even after his defeat on top of that dam.
The blue mutant smiled nervously as he clapped his friend on the shoulder. "As terrifying as it was the last time, we've got the professor and half the school coming along for the fight this time. Maybe I'm just worrying too much."
"Well that's typical you… The rest of us would be more hard-pressed to find a time you didn't panic." Rogue looked up at her younger brother with a half-smile.
"I resent that statement!" the teleporter shot back at his adoptive sibling, turning to his other friend for some reassurance.
Shadowcat let out a tiny snicker before shaking her head jokingly. "Sorry Kurt, but I'm gonna have to side with Rogue on this one. Face it, you can be a spaz when things get rough."
His expression changed into one of embarrassment as he remembered a few notable instances, although instead of act bitterly towards them, he joined in their laughter. "Now that you mention it, I guess you're right." Nightcrawler responded with a shrug before cracking a smile. "I mean, it's not like I was the one begging for mercy that time Logan went berserk in the mountains."
"Well that does tend to happen when you're in mortal danger." Kitty's mouth curled into a crooked line, similar to a mother reprimanding her child.
Several rows in front of them, their newest recruit was seated next to her new mentor, neither of them having spoken a word since they boarded the plane. Although she had been concentrating on the upcoming mission, Laura had heard every word of the conversation going on behind them. It wasn't as though she was attempting to eavesdrop on the others, but her animal-like hearing made their incessant ranting difficult to ignore, and thus she had spent the last ten minutes picking up pieces of different conversations going on around her. Nevertheless, they had only recently piqued her interest.
Laura leaned towards the man beside her. "What exactly were they talking about?"
Wolverine had understood her question, although he seemed less than happy about having to answer. "It's got something to do with those creeps that made me into a weapon." He grunted with an angry sneer. "Let's just say that some scientists have trouble letting go of their old experiments."
"The Weapon X Project…" the teenage girl sneered, her expression nearly mirroring that of her male counterpart.
He nodded once to confirm her suspicions, his thoughts wandering back to that day. It had begun like any other, until a strange device in his head began to produce strange results. At first it only increased his aggressiveness, but then he felt drawn to a series of mountains, during which he ran into Sabretooth and a mysterious creep wearing a lab coat. The man had controlled him using the device, prompting him to attack Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, although they had all been lucky enough to escape the situation alive. Logan still wondered about the events of that day, although he was somewhat relieved that Charles had removed the implant.
Seeing that Laura wasn't planning to push the subject any further, he was actually grateful. She seemed almost sensitive to his internal struggles, or at least as compassionate as someone from her background could possibly be. His other guess was that she would rather not talk about such topics due to her own insecurities, something that they both shared. After taking a few minutes to think about how he could respond to her, the older mutant realized she was still staring at him, and decided it was best to show her some courtesy.
"All right…" he began, giving his left hand a gentle wave as if to sweep aside any possible concerns. "The truth is, even I'm not sure exactly what happened the day I took the Blackbird to the mountains. All I know is that the mess was connected to the memories that those creeps wiped from my brain after the Weapon X project."
"I told you once before that my creators were no better. At least the people that converted you erased memories of the incident." She replied bitterly.
The older mutant released a tired groan. "Maybe you're right, but at least things made sense to you, no matter how terrible it was." His female counterpart gave him a nasty expression, earning her a small shrug. "Either way, in the end we both lost out. Those bastards on both ends made us suffer in our own special way."
She opened her mouth to say something, although his blunt statement had rendered her unable to argue. There was no point in starting an argument over which one of them suffered more in the long run, although she sometimes wondered if she could ever fully identify with him, let alone the rest of the world. Laura was far from stupid despite her lack of a real upbringing, and thus was painfully aware of her shortcomings as a human being in comparison to her qualities as a human weapon. Still, she was almost glad that Wolverine's blunt nature had its way of communicating life lessons to her.
As these thoughts floated through her mind, Logan noticed her obvious lack of a verbal response and decided to change the subject. "So... … …" Scratching the back of his head, the older mutant tried to find the right words. "You need to know something before the mission, or did Chuck make it clear enough for ya?"
"Professor Xavier told us that we were going up against a strong mutant, one that is supposedly unstoppable. He claimed that the enemy's only weak point is his mind, therefore a telepath must be present on the battlefield. Even with this information, several factors still concern me…" She parroted back the explanation with a disbelieving look.
"Sounds pretty direct to me... Is there something you didn't get?" asked the disagreeable man.
She stared at her lap, looking very much like a stubborn child. "Who is this person anyway, and why does our superior feel an obligation to stop him?"
Her reaction did not surprise Wolverine, although he was still somewhat exasperated by her questions. She had been a wallflower the first few days at the institute, although whenever he found the time to speak to her, the girl seemed to rely on him to answer any questions she just might happen to have. He understood why his clone was curious about the events around her, although that didn't mean he enjoyed these awkward sessions any more than the average kid liked going to the dentist twice a year.
Their relationship so far was strained at best, having only known each other for less than a year, and spending very little time together. The feral mutant actually felt inclined to spend time with her, like any caring relative would, although this was foreign to him. He looked down at the girl sitting to his right, wearing a very similar expression to his own. Seeing these moments made it feel almost like looking into a mirror. Although the similarities between them were strange when viewed by others, although it was times like this that made him wonder what it would have been like if he had ever had kids.
Her male counterpart sighed again. "The guy we're going after is the professor's brother, though there's a lot of family issues that the rest of us don't know much about."
"You still haven't answered me…" she stated in a direct fashion that rivaled his own, although for some reason it did not seem so rude coming from her.
"I told you earlier about the kind of guy that Charles is, and he knows that the cops can't handle the Juggernaut." He shrugged with a sense of indifference. "He wants to stop that guy so no one gets hurt… Plain and simple!"
She seemed to accept his answer before asking more questions. "If the professor can stop him with telepathy, than why do has he summoned such a large team of fighters?"
Wolverine guessed from her suddenly changed demeanor that this conversation ad become an attempt to gain as much information about the enemy as possible. "He might be vulnerable to Chuck's brain blasts, but the guy we're going after usually wears a helmet that blocks it out."
"So our job is to remove this apparatus, thereby allowing the professor to render the target completely helpless?" she rationalized in a calculating manner.
Her new mentor folded his arms. "Yup, that pretty much sums it up." As a former assassin for one of the most feared criminal networks in the world, he understood why she would want to obtain more intelligence concerning their target and quickly obliged. "So, is there anything else you wanna ask before I change my mind?"
A shadow of concern graced her features, although due to the presence of her permanent scowl, no one took notice. "Does this enemy possess any superhuman abilities in addition to this supposed invulnerability? Your teammates displayed signs of worry earlier, therefore our target must possess incredible destructive capabilities."
"That sounds about right." Wolverine resisted the urge to roll his eyes, although knowing that she wasn't acquainted with their opponents made him less likely to judge her lack of knowledge on the subject. "Juggernaut can lift houses and topple skyscrapers with his bare hands, although he ain't all that bright. The only advice I got… Just make sure he doesn't get a hold of you."
She answered with a small nod, looking unusually passive as the two Weapon X mutants fell silent once more. Everyone else seemed too wrapped up in their own conversations to have heard the short interaction between them, but the sound of their pilot's scream caused the entire team to shift their focus to the cockpit. The door leading into the entryway slid open, allowing Professor Xavier to roll his wheelchair through the opening. Several of his passengers began asking questions, but as the authority figure, he raised a hand to restore order to the vicinity.
Several second passed quietly without anyone interrupting until Wolverine stood up from his seat. "So Chuck, I take it you guys just found the enemy."
"After hearing Storm, it sure sounds like it!" Cyclops added with a frown, casually scratching a cheek with his index finger.
Charles Xavier cleared his throat before answering. "Yes, she was surprised by a large tree that crossed our path while she was looking for a place to land… We received visual confirmation that my brother is directly beneath us only seconds after avoiding the uprooted tree that was lobbed at the X-Jet."
The explosive card shark dropped his deck in surprise, embarrassment seeping into his surprised expression. "Just wait a second! Are you sayin' this dude tossed a log several hundred feet in the air just to smash us outta the sky?"
Wolverine shook his head disapprovingly. "Not feeling so confident anymore, are you?"
"I was just as surprised to learn that our opponent possesses such power." Colossus added.
"Immense super strength coupled with his physical invulnerability makes Juggernaut a dangerous opponent. It is imperative that the rest of you remain on high alert once we land, although if anyone wishes to back down before the battle, I shall not force you to participate." The bald telepath offered his teammates.
As the plane began to descend, the group grew tense, although no one was cowardly enough to remain out of the fight. The Blackbird sent out a loud hissing noise as the landing gear sprung from the bottom of the craft, allowing the aircraft to touch down in an open field on the outskirts of a large forested area. Finding him had been simple enough, considering that the trees leading in this direction were being smashed down by the enemy. The path of destruction left behind in his wake had made it very easy for the X-Men to follow, having seen he destroyed houses and trees from above.
The X-Men stood up and assembled into small groups based mostly on those they were most comfortable working with. Storm exited the cockpit and stood so that she was standing beside the professor, X-23 following Wolverine as he joined the other main staff members. The two former Acolytes remained where they were, while Scott and Jean joined up with their main group of friends, consisting of the original members of their student roster minus Spyke, who was currently affiliated with the sewer-swelling Morlocks.
Cyclops adjusted his visor, as his other teammates prepared mentally for the battle. "No need to worry about us professor. It's not like we haven't done this before!"
Just know that I trust you all with my life." The professor replied to his younger X-Men, his focus shifting to the group as a whole. "Now then, I purposely tracked Cain to the wilderness knowing that he was probably heading to the institute. This knowledge allowed me to track his movements and trajectory based on recent news reports and sightings of my brother."
"Not a bad plan, planning a fight in the middle of nowhere so bystanders don't get in the way." Gambit tucked a deck of playing cards into his coat pocket, twirling his staff like baton with a swift movement of his fingers. He swung his arm to shake it, extending the weapon to its full length. "This means we can go all out on this guy!"
"I believe that the professor was hoping to avoid heavily settled areas in order to protect innocent people from getting hurt." Storm corrected him with a brisk tone to her voice.
"Potato, po-tah-toe…" The mutant bomber shrugged off the statement with an indifferent smile.
Although the dark-skinned weather witch did not say anything in retaliation, she narrowed her eyes with a distasteful expression. The professor raised a hand to draw the group's attention back onto himself, although the crunch that erupted seconds later greatly diminished its effectiveness. A large crashing noise could be heard in the distance as their enemy kick down trees, the sound growing louder and coming closer with each consecutive step. Their landed aircraft rumbled slightly as if to signal the arrival of the unstoppable behemoth, the force of his rage so great that each step he took seemed to create tremors across the ground.
Storm shuffled over to the window of the cockpit, her eyes widening in horror as she saw a flock of crows erupting from the nearby thicket in an attempt to escape. "He'll be here any second!"
"Well then what're we waiting for?" Wolverine retaliated with a nasty expression.
The feral mutant let out a bestial growl as he unsheathed his claws, barely sparing a glance backwards glance at the others as he walked past them to the door. He kicked the door open with excessive force, causing the ramp leading out of the X-Jet to fall into place as he jumped through the newly opening passage. X-23 followed after him without a second thought, jumping through the hatch while the others descended to the ground. The professor took up the rear of the group as his wheelchair slid down the newly-opened ramp, a nervous bead of sweat sliding from his brow to the bade of his neck.
"Be ready for anything! If Cain is wearing his helmet, you must remove it so that I can disable him." The crippled psychic warned his teammates, all of which were stealing their nerves for the upcoming battle.
"We will, professor." Jean answered with a respectful nod as she joined the others.
The group formed a protective wall between their leader and the source of the noise, Storm remaining by his side while the others move closer to the noise. Logan stood in front with his female counterpart, and positioned close behind them were the rest of their teammates, all of whom seemed anxious. X-23 imitated her mentor, unsheathing the claws in her hands. Cyclops position a hand near his visor, as Colossus engaged his own powers, his muscular form turning cold and metallic as he prepared to strike. A loud roar echoed through the field as the towering form of Cain Marko smashed through the last few trees standing between himself and the assembled mutants.
For the majority of the X-Men, he looked just as they remembered. Towering around seven feet tall, the gigantic mutant's muscular body and incredible size was made even more terrifying by his enraged bellows. His fists alone were powerful enough to reduce buildings to rubble, and a large round helmet covered his entire face save for the small holes showing his eyes, nose, and mouth. Standing across the field from his arch enemies, the murderous mutant paused for a moment to take in their numbers, his teeth gritting together as he caught sight of his half-brother amidst the group.
"Hey Charles, don't you wanna come say hello to your brother?" Juggernaut bellowed. Although his words might have given the impression that he was greeting a friend, the tone was loud and boisterous, betraying a sense of deep loathing.
The professor shook his head with a frown. "Talk to me! Why do you feel this constant need to resort to violence? Such an irrational approach to life will only create more suffering not only for you, but also everyone around you."
"I got a score to settle with you, and anyone dumb enough to stand in my way's gonna end up like this!" The unstoppable mutant backhanded the closest tree with minimal effort, causing it to snap apart in much the same way that a child would break a twig.
"In your attempts to seek vengeance on me, you have needlessly caused harm to those with whom you have no quarrel. Do you feel any regret for these inexcusable actions? Is any part of you still human, or has your hatred turned you into a monster?" the wheelchair-bound man questioned his brother.
To everyone's surprise, the mutant broke out into an obnoxious booming laughter that echoed across the fields and through the surrounding trees, causing more birds to flee their homes in fright. Most of the gathered heroes were sickened by his lack of regard for other people, although some of them were indifferent to anything that he had to say. They saw him for what he really was, and had no reason to listen. Jean looked angry, while the professor seemed to pity his stepbrother's shortcomings. Of course his empathy towards him as an individual was limited by his past experiences with Cain, which dulled any concern he might have felt otherwise.
Even as kids, he had noticed how much of a sadistic bully his older stepbrother really was. When their parents were dating he had attempted to befriend him, but the future Juggernaut had spurned any and all attempts to build any type of positive relationship, instead making his younger brother his primary target for bullying. Their father had sent him to boarding school to end this dispute, although in many ways he was no better than his son, and Charles noted the all too obvious similarities between his stepfather and brother growing up.
Juggernaut slowly ceased his laughter, his expression becoming cold and murderous. "You think that makes any difference to me!" he pounded his chest once with his right hand. "Does a man spend each day thinking about the ants he might've stepped on?"
The bald telepath looked upon him with a downcast expression. "Perhaps it was optimistic to the point of insanity to believe that you would ever understand the significance of human life. I was hoping that it wouldn't have to be this way, but I regret to say that my past conclusions about your vicious tendencies will never be proven false."
"Enough talking!" the giant man screamed, his legs breaking into a run as he charged at the gathered mutants.
"I'm sorry you feel that way…" the professor felt a small tug as Storm pulled his wheelchair back towards the Blackbird for safety.
He signaled for the X-Men to begin the battle, but soon found the gesture unnecessary as he looked up in time to see the remaining mutant running towards their mutual opponent. He felt a tiny pang of guilt for letting his followers defend him, although at the same time a sense of pride. They were brave enough to stand up against such a powerful opponent without backing down, even when given the chance to leave. Whether due to the confidence in their abilities, or a desire to defend the lives of other people, it showed that his students and staff were all individuals of very strong character.
Wolverine met the Juggernaut mid-way and attempted to slash the titanic killer, but was forced to leap away as a shower of playing cards rained down from the skies above his head. The feral mutant dove for the ground and covered his head, rolling sideways as the glowing pieces of cardboard bombarded his opponent. As if on cue Gambit appeared from behind, sending another wave of explosives at the enemy fighter. Although his attacks hadn't even stunned the gigantic mutant, the smoke created by the explosions temporarily blinded him, allowing the others to move in.
"I've got him!" Jean raised her arms in the air, using his telekinetic powers to lift the opponent off of the ground.
Juggernaut roared in frustration as he began failing his arms and legs around rapidly in an attempt to free himself, his eyes burning with an intense fire as they settled on the source of the problem. The female psychic was clearly having trouble holding him in the air, but her boyfriend quickly noticed this and blasted the unstoppable mutant with an unusually large beam of energy, sending him tumbling onto his back. Kitty Pryde phased through the ground beside him, her hand instinctively reaching down to pry open his helmet, only to find thick metal straps in the place of the buckles.
Kurt teleported over to her position, gasping when he also noticed the new obstacle, his eyes settling on the new addition to their old enemy's helmet. "Oh man, this isn't good?" he pondered out loud.
"Guys, there's something different about his helmet!" she called out to her teammates, letting out a high-pitched scream as the behemoth lashed out at her.
"Yikes!" Nightcrawler grabbed hold of her and teleported them both to safety as the Juggernaut stood back up, his hands grabbing air in the place they were standing moments before.
Before he could react, Colossus barreled into him with as much strength as he could muster, having moved in to protect his comrades in case they needed his help. The attack pushed his opponent back several feet, but the Juggernaut responded by seizing the former Acolyte by the head, his attempt to crush the mutant's face being thwarted only by Wolverine. The feral mutant slid between the gigantic mutant's legs stabbing him in the thigh. His attack was ineffective, but the slash had caught the enemy's attention, allowing both X-Men enough time to move out of range of his deadly fists.
He attempted to pursue them, but was pushed back by another beam of energy shot from Scott's visor. The unstoppable mutant growled like a bear that had just been poked with a stick as he remembered the previous fight he had with the X-Men. Even at full power, the younger mutant's energy attacks were still no match for his invulnerability. Juggernaut raised an arm and broke into a mad dash like a football player preparing to tackle an opposing player, although his attempt to crush them met in failure as Jean pulled her boyfriend to safety in the air.
"You little brats!" he bellowed, reaching over and uprooting a nearby tree with his bare hands.
The brute-like mutant brandished the log like a club, making an attempt to swat them out of the sky as the female psychic pulled them out of range of his attack. Their enemy roared in frustration as he prepared to toss it at them, but Gambit vaulted into the air from behind him, touching the tree with his hand as he flew by. The plant gave off a strange glow for a few seconds, blowing up in its wielder's face as the card bomber touched down on the ground several feet away. The force of the explosion stunned the villain for a second, allowing the close-range fighters to participate.
Wolverine and his female clone ran towards the enraged monster, making futile attempts to wound the invulnerable mutant, although if their slashes caused him any pain, he seemed not to care. They used superior agility and acrobatics to avoid being crushed by the enemy's super strength, their assault distracting him as Colossus aimed a few punches from behind. The metal mutant had learned from his earlier mistake, and quickly retreated before the enemy could return the strike, although the trio found the battle equally infuriating due to the fact that they were unable to harm the enemy, forcing them to dance and weave around his assault.
While they other distracted the enemy, the professor was receiving the news from his students. "I see…" he commented with a thoughtful expression.
"Yeah, his helmet is, like, bolted onto his head!" she added with a small shudder.
Kurt shook his head fearfully. "Looks like he's learned some new tricks since last time? He really doesn't want that helmet to come off."
"I see…" The professor nodded with a grim expression, quietly taking the moment to consider the options. "You mentioned something about metal straps holding his headgear in place, meaning that it can still be removed if we exert the necessary force."
"So, what do ya'll think we should we do?" Rogue added in thoughtfully.
"Perhaps I should enter the battle?" Storm interjected, her eyes moving towards the battle going on nearby. "It sounds like they can use all the help they can get right now."
"That remains to be seen." Their leader sized up the group in his mind, silently thinking of how they could assist the others, although when he looked up, the telepath turned to face the younger members instead. "I don't believe it will be necessary for Storm to get involved yet, although I believe the rest of you will be more than enough to win this battle."
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked with a nervous expression. "If fighters like them can't stop Juggernaut, what chance do we have?"
The professor gestured urgently towards the battle. "We don't have time to explain… Just assist them in any manner possible! I have confidence in you all."
As the three students ran back towards the fray, their teammates were starting to lose. Juggernaut nailed Logan in the stomach with a bone-shattered punch, sending him flying several hundred feet into the surrounding woods. X-23 let out a feral growl as she avoided his attempt to grab her, leaping onto his shoulders and attacking him, but her assault ended as the large man reached up to the grab her. Remembering her mentor's advice from earlier, she leapt from his back to avoid getting smashed, rolling sideways as he attempted to stomp her like a bug.
Jean floated several feet above them carrying Scott, who continually bombarded the enemy with focused blasts of energy. Colossus used their distraction to aim a few punches, but Cain Marko was unwilling to fall for the same trick again. Seizing his attacker by the fist, he crushed the metal man's fist, causing him to scream in pain. Juggernaut seemed to take a sick pleasure out of his enemy's suffering before tossing him at the flying duo causing all three mutants to smash into the ground several yards away.
Kitty ran onto the scene, her eyes widening in panic as she realized that everyone had been downed by their opponent. "Get up… we can still do this!" she beckoned to the others.
"You punks are finished!" the unstoppable mutant screamed as he prepared to crush them.
"Oh, no you don't!" Shadowcat made a quick dash, grabbing hold of Colossus and fazing him through the ground so that the enemy's foot stamped the dirt.
The rest of the team stood back up as Gambit re-entered the battlefield, using a fistful of cards to cover their escape, allowing them to regroup closer to where the professor was sitting. Juggernaut attempted to follow them, but Cyclops ripped off his visor, allowing the wave of energy to drive their opponent back for a few seconds. Kitty helped Colossus back to his feet as they fled from the enemy. Kurt reappeared several seconds later with Wolverine, the latter of which looked as though he had just fallen headfirst out of an airplane.
Seeing that his X-Men were together in a single group, the crippled man wheeled his chair towards them and addressed the group as a whole. "It appears that removing that helmet will be more difficult now that Cain has attempted to permanently attach it."
"Gee, you think?" Wolverine shook the blue-skinned mutant off as he approached the professor, angrily snapping his back into place as his wounds healed. "The creep bolted it onto his head, and we can't get a good shot at it without getting broken in half."
"I believe that you and Laura may be the key… If you use Kitty and Kurt to move within range, then it might be possible to…"
Before he could even finish, a large boulder rolled towards them, causing the group to flee. Although the rock narrowly missed him, Professor Xavier fell from his wheelchair while attempting to escape, landing on the hard ground with a thud. Pushing himself into a kneeling position with his hands, the telepath gasped in horror as he looked up to see his stepbrother looming over him with a twisted sense of satisfaction. Stomping forward towards the disabled man, he reached down to finish what he had started all those years ago.
"Cain… You don't have to do this!" the professor pleaded, even though he knew it was futile.
His cries fell on deaf ears as the Juggernaut balled his hand into a fist and prepared to crush the telepath. Charles Xavier closed his eyes in preparation for his own demise, but a floating sensation filled his stomach as he was pulled out of reach by Jean Grey's telekinesis. He made a mental note to thank her for that later as Storm rushed to his side, helping him back onto his wheelchair in an attempt to flee the scene. Their attacker attempted to follow, but was blocked by the other X-Men, who had not only recovered, but had formed a perimeter to protect their leader.
"Get out of my way!" he shouted before running towards them.
Jean pushed him back with a psychic blast, but this time the enemy resisted her attack, flailing his hands groping around violently as if he would like nothing more than to strangle them all to death. "Now!" she screamed to the others.
Gambit ignited a few more cards in the unstoppable mutant's face for the umpteenth time, creating a smokescreen between them which allowed the others to move into the smoke. Wolverine and X-23 ran headfirst into the smog, using their enhanced sense to locate the enemy and quickly began hacking away at the metal binds that held his helmet in place. Groping blindly around in the smoke, the Juggernaut stamped the ground to throw the hunters off balance, the smoke clearing just enough for him to see Wolverine.
Aiming another punch, the invulnerable villain came inches from grabbing him, but his hand passed through dead air as Nightcrawler teleported him away. He reached out to kill the others, but Kitty emerged from the ground, and pulled X-23 to safety, surprising her new teammate due to her lack of familiarity with teamwork. Laura looked shocked when the enemy's hand fazed through their bodies, shaking off the other girl's grip as she popped up and slashed open another latch holding the enemy's helmet in place.
"That's enough!" Juggernaut declared loudly, swatting at his attackers in an insane rage.
He slammed Logan into the floor with a punch, causing his clone to go into a rampage of her own. She felt an odd sense of anger at having seen her mentor hurt, causing a rare spike of emotion to flow through her body like a lethal poison. Snarling like an angry cat, she charged at the invulnerable mutant from his the right side, leaping over his arm as he swung at her, and instead grabbing onto his shoulder. She severed two of the metal straps holding his helmet in place with each claw, flipping backwards as he reached up to attack her. Spinning around mid-air, she used the claw in her foot to aim for another latch, but was seized by the leg by her opponent.
"Let go!" she screamed, using her other foot to gouge him through the eyehole of his helmet.
"You little runt!" He dropped her with an angry roar and tried to crush her, but Jean pulled her to safety in much the same manner that she had done to the professor.
The group began their attack again, Gambit detonating objects to distract the enemy, using his explosions as a diversion due to their lack of effectiveness against the villain. They also attempted to protect the injured Wolverine while his body healed itself. The X-Men fought using different tactics than usual because they had no real chance of stopping the enemy so long as his helmet was in place. Just then, Shadowcat burst from the ground behind him, this time bringing Colossus along for the ride.
The enemy was so busy attempting to crush the others, that he seemed unaware of their presence. Lunging forward, the metal man used his hands to pry open the last lock on their enemy's helmet, causing the unstoppable mutant to swing at him. Juggernaut screamed again at having been thwarted by the intangible girl again as his hand passed through the target, letting out an earsplitting roar as she sunk back into the ground once more. He aimed at the others, but X-23 flipped backwards and broke into a run to escape his wrath while Kurt grabbed hold of Logan's injured form and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"All right… Now!" Scott Summers called out, causing his teammates to scatter. He released a large beam of energy from his visor, blasting the damaged helmet off of their opponent's head just like he had done the last time.
Not willing to give up so easily, Juggernaut turned his attention to the professor and charged at the professor who was watching the battle alongside Storm. He barreled through the others, sending the remaining X-Men flying through the air without so much a backwards glance. He was now focused solely on killing his half-brother before the psychic realized that he had been unmasked, determined to reach him despite the blasts of lightning that his bodyguard had begun to unleash.
"You forgot about me, freak show!" Rogue screamed as she leapt from the bushes.
She seized the villain by his face and absorbed some of his powers, although during the last fight with their lives had depended on her abilities, while during this battle they had a much better method of stopping him. He attempted to shake her off, but her newfound abilities allowed her to push him away from the professor. Despite her diminutive size in comparison to the giant, she possessed enough of his invulnerability to turn his weight against him. The power-absorbing mutant used leverage to push her opponent into the ground, slamming his head into the Earth repeatedly to make sure he stayed down.
The Juggernaut looked up at her, but the familiar sensation of someone worming into his mind prompted him to turn to the source. The bald telepath wheeled over to him with an unusually gaunt expression, his face displaying small signs of pity as he watched the unstoppable mutant's attempts to escape. Rogue had pulled one of his arms up and was sitting on top of him, using his own powers to prevent the enemy from struggling around. After a moment or two, Cain's arms fell limp, his vision blurring as the world around him went black. Muttering his brother's name, the berserk supervillain passed out on the ground beneath his attacker.
"I am still sorry…" the professor looked down at his brother's defenseless form.
Storm stepped out from behind his wheelchair, taking a second to inspect the situation for herself. She tapped the power-sucking mutant's shoulder, giving her a gentle shake. "I don't believe it is necessary for you to continue sitting on him."
Rogue rubbed the back of her head with a slightly embarrassed look. "Oops, guess I might've overdone it."
The other X-Men rushed forward to see what was going on, many of them having been injured during the previous battle. Kitty and Nightcrawler walked beside Colossus, supporting his weight as he attempted to keep himself from collapsing. The Russian mutant's powers were no longer active, but since he had received most of his current injuries in his metallic state, he was only mildly injured. Gambit and X-23 remained relatively unharmed, although she was walking with a noticeable limp. This was nothing compared to Wolverine, who had taken several direct punches and stomps, and was now draped over her shoulders.
Remy LeBeau poked the villain with the end of his staff. "Looks like Monsieur Unstoppable wasn't so tough after all."
"I'm sure Logan would beg to differ." Kurt pointed his thumb in the feral mutant's direction.
Wolverine's head snapped up as if he had just woken from a bad dream, a tiny snarl escaping his throat. "That's easy to say when you can escape in the blink of an eye. Try fighting that guy up close and personal and then come talk to me about pain."
The group's attention seemed to gravitate towards their conversation, but a scream of fright quickly caught their attention. Everyone looked at Kitty, but her eyes were focused on the body of their defeated enemy. "What is that?" she screamed, pointing down for them to see.
Professor Xavier felt his jaw drop as he saw what was going on, something that rarely happened to him. His brother's body gave off a strange green-colored glow as though someone had placed a series of neon light inside of his body. In a matter of seconds, the light radiating from his body grew too bright for them to handle, prompting the X-Men to shield their eyes so that they would not be blinded by the spectacle. The effect only lasted a moment, but by the time they were able to see again, the Juggernaut's body had vanished into nothingness.
The other looked too shocked to speak, but Wolverine was the first to recover. "Do you guys have any idea what just happened?" he began calmly, although his voice soon broke into a shout. "What the Hell was that?"
"I regret to say that I do not know..." the professor took a deep breath, slowly attempting to regain his previous composure before his team.
"Don't know how exactly he did it, but it looks like Juggernaut flew the coop." Gambit added with a look of interested.
Logan scowled at the comment. "Thanks, captain obvious… Maybe you can finish off the lecture by telling us what color the grass is."
The Cajun shrugged off the insult. "Well I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas."
Jean ignored their squabble and turned her attention to their leader. "Either way, I don't think he could have gotten very far." She suggested helpfully, earning her a glance from her telepathic mentor. "Should we search the surrounding woods?"
The professor struck a thinking pose as he went over the circumstances in his mind. He realized that they hadn't seen anything due to the flash of light, but even if his brother had escaped, he probably wouldn't have retreated willingly. Cain was known for being a brute, and if he had somehow recovered from the psychic attack so easily, he would have resumed the attack rather than make an escape. After several seconds of consideration, the psychic shook his head in response to his student's idea.
"My brother was a sadistic bully who would never have fled of his own volition." Charles Xavier reasoned out loud, his hands settling into a relaxed position in his lap. "He may have escaped, but I have a strange feeling that he did not do so of his power.
"You think someone else was to blame for what happened?" Scott questioned.
Their leader slowly nodded his head. "I did not sense the use of mutant powers when the Juggernaut vanished." He began with a note of internal dread. "Some other power unknown to us may be at work here, but I just don't know…"
Meanwhile…
Juggernaut opened his eyes, moving into an upright position as he searched around for the source of his misery. His surroundings were entirely different than before, the wilderness replaced by the interior of what appeared to be some type of laboratory. He glanced around in confusion at the metal walls and floor, ignoring the large number of unfamiliar machinery as he wondered who would have brought him to a place like this. He had expected to wake up in prison, yet to his disappointment there was no sign of guards or anyone he could take his frustration out on.
Sliding off of the object he was sitting on, the unstoppable mutant realized he had been lying on an examination table of some kind, but still he had yet to make sense of the situation. The last thing he remembered was fighting the X-Men in the middle of a forest before Charles completely overwhelmed him with a series of psychic blasts. After being humiliated by the mutants, he had suffered the indignity of allowing his hated stepbrother to defeat him. The very thought made his blood boil, and he roared in anger. Reaching over to the table he had been sitting on, the villain began smashing everything in sight to vent his anger.
His rampage continued for a minute or so before he attempted to escape, but upon reaching the exit, he discovered that the doors would not open. Punching the walls caused the room to shake, but for some strange reason he was unable to shatter them no matter how much strength he placed behind each blow. He tried to pry the door open with his bare hands, but the entryway would not budge, further enraging the villain. He pounded the floor in annoyance, but his actions yielded no results.
"What is this place?" he shouted to the surrounding walls, his eyes settling on a camera positioned above his head. He stomped across the room and glared into the optical lens with as much hatred as he could muster. "Show yourself, coward!"
As if on cue, the hatch across the room slid open, prompting him to run back to the doors and escape his confinement, but he was instantly repelled by a strange green glow. The force of the opposing blast sent him flying across the room, driving him into the opposite wall with a loud crash. Although this drawback did little to slow him down, the invulnerable mutant took a moment to recover from the attack. Whatever had happened had actually caused him pain, and this was a sensation that Cain hadn't felt since the day he had first unlocked his mutant abilities.
Two figures entered the room, both very different as could be. The first was a slender, shapely woman garbed in a form-fitting green outfit consisting of an elegant skirt and pants which clung to her legs. The woman had a toned body, her shoulders and cleavage visible, while her arms were covered in striped, tight-fitting gauntlets in a lighter green color that covered her arms up to her elbow, leaving the upper half of her arms and her hands visible. Her pale complexion and long blonde hair emphasized the deep blue of her eyes. A green headdress framed her facial features, but her ruthless and calculating smile was in stark contrast to her angelic appearance.
Her companion was a large man rivaling the Juggernaut in size. He was heavily armored, giving him the appearance of an ancient warrior. His head was almost entirely bald, and he had a small beard and mustache, his facial expression was cold and pitiless. The man was extremely large and muscular, a large battle axe slung casually over his shoulder, and a pair of thick battle gauntlets covering his hands. His skin tone was slightly darker than the woman standing in front of him, and his features sharper.
"Who are you people?" Juggernaut shouted at them as he charged the duo, only to be repelled by the swing of an axe.
The formerly unstoppable mutant doubled over in pain as he fell to his knees, once again in awe that someone had actually managed to wound him seriously. Glaring up at his captors, he tried to attack them again, but found himself unable to move his body. Looking down, the Juggernaut realized that his entire body was giving off a green glow, his expression turning into one of utter hate as he realized that the woman's hands were surrounded in the same aura. It was almost like the enemy was sapping his strength with some kind of power. The idea only enticed his anger, but the more he struggled, the worse the pain became.
"No one stops me!" he screamed in pent up frustration, his arms struggling to break free of the hold. "Nothing stops me! I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!"
"What language…" The woman replied in a casual manner, giving her hand a gentle wave.
He opened his mouth to say something else, but found himself completely wordless. Whoever his enemy was had somehow rendered him unable to speak. After struggling for several more minutes, the normally unstoppable mutant seemed to yield, his face falling to the floor as though he had conceded defeat. Once he had settled down, she took a step towards the immobilized mutant, bending over and placing a hand under his chin. She forced his head into a more desirable pose, moving his face so that they were looking directly at each other. Once this was done, she took a step back and stood beside her companion.
"You need not be so rude to the person who saved you from the X-Men." With a snap of her fingers, his voice returned to him.
"How did you do this to me?" the Juggernaut seethed angrily, now unable to move anything beneath his neck.
She ignored his protests, bearing down on her prisoner with a patronizing tone. "I have heard much about you, Cain Marko. Your mutant powers are so powerful that they refer to you as an unstoppable entity, and yet now that I see you in person, it appears that your abilities are more fragile than I was originally led to believe."
The Juggernaut would've liked nothing more than to snap her neck at that very moment. "What do you mean by that?"
"To answer an earlier question of yours, the power I wield is magic." The woman raised her hand, a faint glow emanating from her fingertips. "As a master of the dark arts, I can sense the magical energy flowing freely in your body, keeping your mutant abilities active. Would I be correct to assume that you used some form of mysticism to awaken a dormant mutant gene?"
The invulnerable villain was surprisingly disturbed by the fact that someone he had never met had discerned so much about him. "What're you, some kind of witch?" he raged, earning a look of amusement from his captor.
"Very astute of you… Since I know so much about you, perhaps introductions are in order." She seemed to be mocking him, which only enraged him further. "I am the Enchantress, and the man you see before us is known as Skurge, the Executioner. If you are interest in knowing, we hail from the greatest of the Nine Realms!"
Juggernaut ignored her trivial pleasantries. "I don't give damn who you think you are! You can't keep me trapped in here forever!" he spat on the floor defiantly, a bellow of rage escaping him as he struggled again to move.
The witch smiled in response to his actions. "I probably could keep you trapped in here forever, but where would the fun be in that?" he replied with a twisted expression. "After going through the trouble of rescuing you from the X-Men and nursing you back to health, do you honestly believe we would simply leave you here to rot?
"I've got my own plans!" he retorted with a nasty expression.
"Your abilities are far too useful to be wasted on acts of petty vengeance." The Enchantress spoke condescendingly.
Cain Marko gave his captors a glare that would have foretold death were he free. "After this, you think I would help you?"
"If you agree to join me, I will allow you to take your revenge on Charles Xavier at the earliest convenience." She reassured him.
"You actually believe I need your help to kill my brother?" he asked with an insulted expression.
His captor smiled again. "Judging from your latest defeat, it appears that his followers have proven themselves more than a match for you in the past." The sorceress remarked with a sinister smile, looking as though she were enjoying his torment. "Against them you are impossibly outnumbered and therefore outmatched. Thus is the case for those of us foolish enough to fight a team of heroes alone."
"Nothing can stop me so long as I got my helmet!" he screamed wildly, his eyes almost ready to burst from their sockets out of shear desire to murder his captor.
"Ah yes! I thought we would get to that." She cast a quick spell, causing his helmet to appear in her hands. "My offer to you is to grant you a spell that will remedy this problem. In exchange, you will complete some jobs I have for you."
The invulnerable mutant's eyes narrowed. "What kind of jobs are you talking about?"
Enchantress waved her hand dismissingly before addressing the issues. "Hmmm… Well there are some favors required from those I make a pact with, but when the time is right you will have your revenge, as well as the freedom to do as you please without interference. I do not intend to keep you as a servant for longer than a year."
The Juggernaut nodded in agreement. "You're saying if I tolerate you for a year, you'll give me the power to do whatever I want?"
"Something like that…" she answered with a look of interest. "So, do you accept my offer?"
"If you're serious, then I'll agree, provided you let me out of this place." He replied angrily.
His captor smiled in response to his words, extending her hand in a friendly manner. "Very well, it appears that we have a deal then!"
The sorceress undid the spell by shooting a blast of magic from her hands, instantly releasing the hold her magic had on his body. Cain Marko flexed his arms and took a few steps forward to ensure that he had been given full use of his limbs before following her. He snatched at her in an attempt to strangle the witch, but was promptly repelled as the large axe-wielder jumped between them. He raised his weapon in an attempt to slice the Juggernaut in half, but the invulnerable mutant seized the axe for himself, causing the two combatants to fight for control of it.
The unstoppable mutant pushed down in an attempt to push the blade into his opponent's throat, but before he could deliver the finishing blow, a sudden weakness overtook him. He could feel his strength slipping away, allowing the Executioner to push him off and reverse the situation. Slamming the weakened Juggernaut into the floor, Skurge stomped on the mutant's back with excessive force, slamming the moon-shaped axe-blade inches from his neck. For the first time in over a decade, Cain Marko was afraid for his life.
"What did you do to me?" he questioned the pair of magic users.
"Foolish mortal, you know not how weak you truly are!" Enchantress placed a hand on her hip, her simpering expression becoming more sinister. "Your mutant powers were only brought to the surface by the use of magic, therefore the mystic energy is all that keeps it active. Using my abilities I can control, manipulate, or disrupt that flow of energy anytime I wish."
Juggernaut reached towards her, but the Executioner kicked him in the face to silence him. "I'll kill you!" the mutant screamed at her.
To drive the lesson home, she blasted him with a pulse of magical power, relishing his poisoned expression as he endure the punishment. "Know that you are alive only because your abilities may prove valuable to my plans. Until I release you, there's only one thing that to remember about your miserable life…" she smiled sinisterly. "It belongs to me!"
The Enchantress turned to leave him, gesturing for her servant to do the same. The doors opened to reveal the hallway beyond, but the Juggernaut was too weak to stand. He muttered some incoherent words, his hand reaching towards the exit. While this motion seemed unnoticed by his captors, she stopped at the door, turning her head to spare him the tiniest of glances. The powerful mutant attempted to lunge at her, only to end up face-first on the floor of his new prison. Her expression was devoid of pity, and for a split second it looked as though she was still enjoying his plight.
"This could have been easy, yet you chose to make it difficult." The witch explained with an indifferent shrug. As the doors began shutting behind her, she decided to add one last thing. "The walls are composed of a metal forged by the Dwarves of Nedavillr, an alloy that no mortal can break. As you have no doubt discovered, not even your full strength can shatter these walls."
Once the doors had closed, the Enchantress continued after her servant, both of whom had more pressing matters to attend to. They rounded several corners and ascended a flight of stairs before entering the witch's personal chambers, having expected an important visitor to appear to them soon. It was a large room modeled in stone like an ancient castle, several shelves filled with spellbooks lining the wall. The carpets were covered in extremely intricate designs, having been hand-weaved by the Elves of Alfheim several centuries ago.
The Enchantress strode over to the large mirror lining the wall, using her powers to activate its magical properties. The images beyond the reflective surface twisted until only darkness remained, although through the shadows depicted by the mirror stood a silhouette. The dark figure was tall and thin with large horn-like appendages branching off from his head. Although the newcomer gave off a much more sinister aura than even her, the Enchantress seemed completely undaunted by his presence.
"Amora…" the shadowy figure hissed with a note of pleasure. "I trust you have found another puppet for us to command?"
"All goes according to plan, my lord. I believe this newest pawn will prove most useful to us. For a mortal, he possesses some very interesting abilities." She bowed gracefully, her smile deepening with a sense of malice.
Her benefactor snickered. "I trust that Zemo is playing his part, just as I have envisioned?"
She sat down in the chair in front of the mirror, gently folding her hands in her lap. "These humans have proven most useful to us, yet I sensed during our last conversation that you have an interest in mutants."
"All will be clear in time…" the silhouetted answered her, the lower half of his face moving into the light just enough for her to see a smile.
Note to Readers: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, although admittedly it was largely irrelevant to the main plot. Of course, X-Men Evolution had a lot of episodes like that, as did Wolverine and the X-Men. This is a chapter that hints largely at what will happen in the sequel should I ever get around to writing it, plus it gave me a reason to write some cool actions scenes. Either way, I still apologize for typos, or mistakes in spelling or grammar, but as usual I usually write chapters for this story late at night.
If any of you guys get a chance, please review. If you liked anything in particular or have any suggestions for the story, I would like to hear about it.
I also introduced two more Avengers characters this chapter, although if you don't like it, don't worry because they probably won't be making any appearances for a while, possibly not until the sequel assuming I get around to writing it. Anyone who knows Marvel, or watched the Thor movie, probably knows who the dark figure is that Norman Osborn and the Enchantress were talking too.
