Day of Reckoning:
Prelude to Revelation
The sound of heavy feet splashing into water was the only sound he could have heard during the last several minutes. He was relying on his enhanced senses, but it was causing him more trouble than it was worth to try to decipher the splashes in the sewer water.
He'd relied on scent for the longest time, but sadly, sewers do not smell the best. It was very overpowering, and he started to wonder what the in the world people were eating these days.
"It had to be the sewers, huh?" he muttered under his breath, taking a deep whiff to get some kind of hint. When he looked up, he finally saw something, a shadow behind a pipe. "Gotcha."
Wolverine raced through the pipe, but his mutant senses must have really been confused. He didn't notice the man behind him, reporting back to his superiors on his location.
"The informant was right. This guy's definitely a mutant, and it appears he's chasing someone," the man said into his communicator.
"Shadow team, take the lead," shouted back the commander.
Wolverine kept moving, unaware of the teams of men following him. He stopped at another crossroads, suddenly sensing something off. He made several deep sniffs, as well as a mental note to burn his nosehairs when he got back to the mansion. When he was certain that nothing was out of the ordinary, he shot down another junction, splashing the whole way.
Wolverine crept close, realizing very quickly that he was near his target. He approached from above, sneaking over him. When he saw the tall, animal-like figure, he suddenly leapt from a platform and threw his heavy, adamantium-laced bulk into the man's back, feet first.
He did a somersault off of him, landing in the sewer several feet away. Sabretooth growled at him, but before Wolverine could move, he heard a familiar sound of bending metal.
A long sewer grate suddenly sprung to life and landed in the sewer between them. The Canadian mutant peered at it mysteriously, before it shot at him and wrapped around him, like some kind of millipede. Sabretooth took that as a cue and headed to the ladder before him, not getting very far until claws tore through the metal and the mutant was set free.
He growled and was about to pursue Sabretooth again, but suddenly, there was a bright light hovering over him. He grimaced and shielded his eyes, but it wouldn't save him from his fate.
The probe shot several green projectiles at him, and as they hit, they expanded like some kind of resinous goop. He struggled and attempted to cut through it as it surrounded his body, but he could do nothing to it. Within seconds, it solidified, and he was as useless as a statue, barely conscious.
Sabretooth smirked and climbed out of the sewer, deciding to get out while he still could.
Beast sighed, wishing that he hadn't been sent to investigate Wolverine's last known coordinates. The sewer water was not exactly good for his fur.
"What did you find?" he asked.
Storm shook her head as she approached him. "Nothing. Not a single clue."
"I don't get it," Beast said, pacing. "A guy like Wolverine isn't about to get taken without something getting diced up."
She looked down at the water, realizing that maybe the water was disguising something. "Hmm. You are absolutely right."
She concentrated on the air, suddenly whirring to life and taking the water with it. Soon enough, there was a full vortex of air forming, and she sucked up all the water in the area and maintained it in one location.
Beast took the opportunity to look for clues, and sure enough, there was a largely bent metal crate, with several cuts and various pieces missing.
"Hmm. These slice marks…very clean, very recent. That's our boy."
"Yes, but notice how unnaturally it's twisted and bent," noted Storm. "I've seen this kind of effect before."
Beast immediately realized it. "Magneto."
Little did they know, a certain yellow-eyed owl was watching them through the missing grate, above the street on a light-post. As they realized who had done it, it flew off and into the night.
Before too long, it arrived at its location. The bird of prey landed carefully inside the once-beautiful room. As soon as it touched the ground, its body began to twist and mold into a beautiful woman with blue skin and stark red hair.
She walked down the stairs, watching the mutants silently adjusting to recent events. Some were reacting, others didn't care. Astoria had gotten close to Naomi during the brief few hours they knew each other. Needless to say, her ever-present grin was an ever-present frown now. Her eyes were surrounded by red, splotchy skin as though she'd been crying.
Tristan was in his usual 'disconnect' mode that was ideal for an assassin of his caliber; he was the one who had taken the last shot, and even if it didn't kill her, it was the last thing she had felt before the entire building went down.
Jade was pretty mellow, as was Lily. Archie seemed to be a little off, but Mystique suggested it was more that he was guilty he had to fight his sister than it was that he was actually upset about the mall incident.
"Well, I see you are all hard at work building a brighter and better tomorrow," the woman said as she walked down. She'd been pretty lax on orders since Naomi's death, allowing them to grieve if they needed it.
"Can't we go out and do something?" asked Jade suddenly. "I'm tired of sitting around here doing nothing."
Mystique looked at her with a snide grin. "Oh, we're about to do something. Something very big. It appears our friend Magneto is up to something quite significant. Believe it or not, he's abducted Wolverine."
Everyone gasped. "Wolverine? Metal bones or not, that's an accomplishment," said Tristan.
Lily growled. "Nobody gets to kill or capture him except me and my father!"
"Well, that may be," snickered Mystique, ready to use that anger against her former employer. "But to actually snatch one of the X-Men? Why?" She sighed as she looked out of the window. "There's a larger strategy at work here, I can feel it." She took a deep breath. "Now I'm forced to make my move!"
The Brotherhood looked at her and then at each other, and even Astoria was forced to wipe up her tears. The time for moping was over.
Action was now.
The door to the Danger Room opened suddenly, revealing Camille covered in orange paint. She cursed herself in French and looked around at the other younger mutants, most of them had already been wiped out.
"Geez, that session was rough. Rougher than usual," she remarked.
"Totally," Haley declared, trying to pick the paint out of her green-tinted hair. "What's his problem, putting us through something like that?" That was the question on all the eliminated students' minds.
Meanwhile, in the Danger Room, a rocky crag-like simulation was being produced. Explosions were ringing around the crag, breaking off rocks and sending them tumbling around. Smoke littered the area, making it hard to see. And even harder to aim at their objective.
Rivera and Reese were hidden on a cliff-face, surveying the area. Rivera could see the others, hidden far below them at the base of the cliff. On the other side of the chasm-like opening, surrounded in smoke, was the target. A life-size, robotic Magneto. Covered in a cloak and helmet, just like the real version would be.
"Look!" she cried out. "There he is!"
But before they could do anything to stop it, they heard the sound of the hovering drone behind them. It flew high in the sky and prepared to fire.
"Spartan! Get it!"
The black-haired, soldier-like boy raised his arm and generated his shield construct out of purple energy, covering both he and Rivera in a riot shield-like form. Orange projectiles clattered against it, but the impacts were nothing to the mutant boy.
When they stopped firing for a moment, he dispelled the shield and created a spear in his right hand. In one powerful stroke, the pre-teen hurled the energy rod at the drone.
To their dismay, the drone shot up suddenly, and the spear missed in an arc-like formation, falling to the ground harmlessly before disappearing.
It suddenly shot again, and Reese didn't notice it. "Look out!" Rivera cried out, throwing him to the ground. Orange splattered all over her chest and stomach, making her frown.
Reese, on the other hand, cried out for help as he tumbled towards the edge of the cliff. He lost his balance and fell, rolling down the rock hard and landing amidst the group of mutants below.
"What happened?" asked Alex, as soon as he was sure Reese was okay.
"Echo's down," he muttered, standing up and shaking himself off, trying to ignore the pounding in his skull. "The drone got him."
Kris shuddered. "That's one powerful drone. How'd it get practically all of us?"
Ava, her mind still on the events of last week, decided that she was not about to get overtaken by a single target again. "Hey, we're not down yet! Aurum, can you give us a birds' eye view?"
The gold-skinned boy nodded and suddenly stretched his head, snaking his neck along the cliff-side to peek over the corner and check to see where the Robo-Magneto was.
But before Grant could get half-way up, the drone suddenly appeared and fired at the group, spreading orange paintballs almost like a shotgun. Everyone backed up against the rock-wall, just as Grant yanked his head back to his body.
Ava suddenly took flight, dodging through the projectiles and hurled as much wind as she could against the drone. But it didn't seem to be phased by it.
"Here, let me help!" Augustus yelled, suddenly spinning his arms in the general direction of the drone. They rotated so fast that they became a blur, creating a sort of vortex that spread and combined with Ava's own. The two mutants together caused the drone to slam against the cliff-face, and the force was enough to blow it to pieces.
"Thank you, Spindle," she said as she landed. "Now, everyone, let's get ready to move!"
"You're stalling, Tempest," said a voice over the intercom. The disapproval was thick in the Professor's tone. "Magneto won't be sitting around, waiting for you to get ready or make tactics. Make a move, or relinquish command to Alex."
She nodded, masking her hurt. "Okay. Only thing left to do that we haven't tried is a frontal attack! Move!"
She took flight and flew high into the sky, looking straight down at the area where the robotic copy was supposed to be. The smoke was still clouding her sight, but a very fast gust of wind was enough to dispel it.
Alex and Kris found their way to the top of the cliff and both shot nearly identical blasts. The Robo-Magneto suddenly evaded the two energy attacks, but didn't move against them.
Grant attempted to make his body like a slingshot, while Reese created energy boulders, which Grant then hurled with his stretching powers. Again, the clone of the megalo-maniacal mutant simply evaded the attacks. Augustus even added his own spinning vortexes to make them go faster, but the boulders never made contact.
Ava charged as much air as she could around herself, electricity spiraling off of her body in waves. Amaranth bolts struck the ground around the clone, who was deftly dodging most of the attacks. Alex took initiative and fired one more blast, the distracted robot unable to evade it.
It suddenly exploded, breaking up the simulated earth underneath it and causing everyone to be blown out of the way. The shockwave was enough to make Ava fall to the ground, where she landed hard next to Alex and Kris.
"Where's Reese and Aug? And Grant?" she asked, looking around, but there was no sign of them.
They looked up to see both boys sailing lightly to the ground, bolstered by a parachute-shaped golden mutant, and even Grant's face was inscribed in the inside of the parachute. The sight was enough to make everyone laugh, lessening the tension for a moment. Augustus gave them a thumbs-up.
"This is no laughing matter!" the voice of Xavier barked over the intercom.
As soon as he was finished, four more drones suddenly appeared. Alex yelled for everyone to duck, but it wasn't enough. Soon after, everyone was covered in orange paint again.
"I want to see all of you in the planning room. Now!"
"You rushed him? Like you were going to take him by surprise?" asked the Professor incredulously.
"But, Professor, I-"
"You will never take Magneto by surprise! He is always two steps ahead!" exclaimed the telepath.
"What's up with you, Professor? You've never driven us this hard! We can't keep up!" Ava exclaimed.
The professor sighed and turned around in his wheelchair. "The incident with Naomi was a key factor in my decision to push you to your limits. It's difficult to deal with the fact that she died, and even more difficult to deal with the guilt that follows." He turned to look at them, each of them. "But you can't spend your time wondering what would have happened. We have to prepare for mutants like her, mutants able to go to no lengths to stop you! Mutants like Magneto!"
"Are you asking us to stoop to their level?" asked Alex. "Are we supposed to be driven insane with our training?"
"Of course not," he said. "It's just that I-"
Rivera shook her head. "No, Professor. Stop. We're just kids! Things are going to go wrong, we're going to make mistakes!"
The professor looked at her, a fiery determination in his eyes that not a single one of them had ever seen before. "You expect Magneto to coddle you like babies? This is the real world. Clearly, not a single one of you are ready to face Magneto!"
"You're wrong," Ava argued.
"Am I?" the professor questioned, but didn't elaborate. He turned to the junior squad, the New Mutants. "You newer students, your inexperience will jeopardize the mission. I simply can't risk using you." Masato was the only one not visibly upset, but then again, he always looked like that.
"As for the rest, I'm left with a need to bolster your ranks," he said, as he whirled around to the entrance. "Therefore, I'd like you to welcome your new teammates!"
Everyone looked up to see the door open, revealing the five Brotherhood members looking very smug, as though they liked the idea that Xavier asked them for help. But at the same time, there was an emotional edge to the group. Astoria looked as though she was still fighting tears.
"Seriously?" asked Kris.
"They work with us one week, attack us the next," Grant groaned.
"What's the point of this, Professor?" asked Rivera. "After last week, not one of us wants them here."
Lily grumbled, "It's not exactly our choice either, Echo."
"Exactly," Archie reminded, not able to keep his eyes off of Camille. It was making her uncomfortable.
"It will be difficult for some of you, but despite your feelings, we face tremendous odds going against Magneto, and we will be a much stronger team with their help," the professor explained.
"If you don't want to be here, then why are you here?" asked Alex, pointing at Tristan.
"We have our reasons," he explained, smirking at Ava. The girl blushed but did nothing else in response.
"None of this matters," explained Xavier. "The point is that we need them to help us. Get over your personal feelings and start working together."
Alex rolled his eyes uncharacteristically. "Fine."
Ava nodded. "Agreed. But don't expect any special treatment, all right?"
Tristan agreed, and the two teams headed upstairs together.
Xavier called out after them. "I'm heading downstairs to use Cerebro. The sooner we find Wolverine, the sooner we can find Magneto."
The first thing Wolverine saw as he resumed consciousness were the two men unloading him from the vehicle. He had no clue where he was or what was happening, only that he needed to get free.
He suddenly growled and shot out his claws, striking out at one of the men who dodged at the last second. His claws stuck in the side of the van, and Wolverine used the leverage to lash out and kick the other man, the impact tossing him across the room.
The man growled and was about to strike the next man when the restraints around his wrists and ankles suddenly sent electricity coursing through his body. He yelled out as he was forced onto his knees by the pain, gripping his very being.
"Into the elevator," a man's voice said from behind him. The two men dragged him into said elevator, and soon enough, it was going downward.
Wolverine looked around the underground chamber, something not right about it. "This isn't Magneto. It's more like," he looked up to the man on his left, "…SHIELD."
"SHIELD has nothing to do with this," explained the man. "I severed my connection with that short-sighted government agency long ago. But I was there long enough, to learn about mutant scum like you!"
Wolverine sighed. "Oh, great. A fanatic." He looked up. "Okay, bub. What did mutants ever do to you?"
"You are a threat! A menace!" the man adamantly explained. "You poison our gene-pool and upset the natural balance of power!"
"We're not all the same!" Logan argued. "Some of us fight the good fight."
"Yes," the man agreed, "but we get caught in the crossfire! Someone must ensure the survival of our species! Before it's too late!"
Wolverine looked up to see several large robotic parts move by on a conveyer belt. His eyes widened at the implications of what was going on.
"That's why I'm leveling the playing field," explained the fanatical man.
"Yeah? What do you think you're going to do?"
"Ah," the man noted. "Skepticism. Good. We'll see how long that lasts, after you've assisted me in a little… experiment."
As soon as Xavier got a fix on Wolverine's healing powers, the teams were assembled and ready to move out. The Brotherhood, as well as Rivera and Beast were on the Blackbird.
Meanwhile, someone else was ready, preparing some last minute business. She opened up the transceiver, a blip for where the others were about to go beeping in red.
Noting that the location had not changed, she smiled and then went straight for the security mainframe. She pressed a few keys and recalled something she had noticed the last time she was in the mansion, back when she stole the files for Naomi's powers.
She smiled as the words, "Defcon Four Countdown," appeared on the screen. The shape-changing woman smirked as she walked away.
Reese ran towards the Velocity hangar, hoping to join the group even though Xavier said that he couldn't. But as he got close, he realized it was too late. Velocity and the Blackbird were already in the sky.
Cursing, he headed back inside as fast as he could. As he did, he realized something very strange was happening. There were metal plates across the windows, and several klaxons were blaring.
"What in the world?" he asked. He was in the foyer when both Masato and Haley ran past him, but they definitely didn't stop to comment.
Reese looked over and saw the front door, still not covered in the same metal-plating as the other windows. He took a chance and dashed forward, just as it started to shut before him.
"No!" he yelled, reaching the glass just as it was covered. He was lucky that he hadn't smacked right into the material. "Damn it!"
He created a crobar with his powers and tried to wedge the door open, but was clear that it wasn't going to budge.
"Move!" Masato yelled, suddenly rushing forward in his black-skinned earth-form. He held out his fists like he would be holding a sword and swung them as hard as he could, trying to bludgeon the steel-plated door. It was denting the metal material, but nothing else was happening.
"We're locked in!" Haley yelled, coming behind him with Jackie and Aug.
They heard a whirring noise and were met with a laser blast, which only their training helped them dodge. Haley whipped out her hand and the potted plant suddenly burst into growth like a huge vine and grabbed the cannon mounted on the wall, crushing it in its grip.
"Come on! Let's get to the mainframe and figure out what's going on!" Reese yelled, generating a shield just in time to block another laser blast. He gave them cover as they ran into the hallway, heading straight for the elevator.
Wolverine still had his hands bound, but his legs had been generously unlocked. He was the only one on the elevator now, and it was hard to see in the dark depths of the facility.
"Step forward, Wolverine," the voice of Trask said from above.
The mutant did as he was told, hating every second of it.
Lights suddenly cut on, making him growl. "What's your game, Trask?"
"Call it, 'research.' I've created a prototype designed to defend mankind against the mutant threat," Trask explained, hitting a button and releasing Wolverine's handcuffs.
The lights suddenly cut off, making all of Logan's danger instincts act up.
"Meet my guardian of the human race," said Trask, "the Sentinel!"
Wolverine suddenly rolled forward, evading a huge foot from stomping him. He backed up slowly as something around twenty-five feet tall with shining yellow eyes walked towards him. His claws were now out and completely ready to defend himself, but he had no clue what was happening.
The behemoth looked directly at Wolverine before a triangle-like light suddenly lit up, illuminating the massive robot's form for a moment.
Logan did another roll as a large laser erupted from its body, exploding against the spot where he had been standing. But he didn't go far enough and the shockwave threw him against several crates along the wall.
He recovered with his combat reflexes, jumping from the spot as it was blasted apart by another blue light beam, sending wood shrapnel everywhere.
Wolverine ran forward, dodging two more blasts, but the third struck too close and sent him rocketing across the ground. He came to a stop near a tire and tried to clear his head, but then watched the machine step closer and closer.
He looked over quickly to realize that the tire was connected to a crane. He hopped onto it and waited for the Sentinel to get close, before he suddenly sliced into one of the crane's support beams, making the metal fall straight onto the robot's shoulder.
He grabbed onto the rope and sliced it, the pulley yanking him toward the robot. He landed on the Sentinel's metallic hip and began hacking at the giant with his claws. He spun around the body to evade its attempts to grab him, cutting as he went, but it wasn't enough. The monster robot snatched him and threw the Canadian mutant across the ground, hitting several crates that were lined up on the walls.
It stalked towards him. He could hear its footsteps, and Logan knew what was about to happen. He took a deep breath and picked himself from the crates, just as he saw the Sentinel's chest opening up.
Can't be good, he thought, jumping from the crates and heading straight for the frame on the wall. He attempted to climb up the tresses, but the Sentinel fired the missiles. They exploded against the base of the tower-like frame, forcing him to the ground in a heap.
"C'mon, this way!" Reese declared, just as they passed yet another laser cannon. The underground was just as armed as the aboveground, to their frustration.
Jacquleyn morphed into her tiger form and snapped one of the turrets on the wall in half, the thing crunching to pieces in her jaws. She spit it out adamantly before dodging another blast.
"Geez, do they ever stop?" Augustus said, spinning one arm to create a wall of wind, forcing a saw blade shot from the wall to be deflected. "I mean, seriously, what's the problem?"
Reese hurled another spear, impaling a tentacle as it shot out of the wall. "It's Defcon Four. Alex showed it to me," he explained. "Remember when we had that party, and the entire mansion went crazy?" Haley nodded. "Yeah, it's sort of like that. Only worse."
"Great," muttered Masato. "Just what we need."
Haley raced forward, pressing the button on the wall that lead to the Planning Room, where the security panel was located. She held the door as everyone rushed inside, and Reese yet again guarded their backs with one of his shields. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the door shut on its own.
"Guys, look at this!" Aug yelled, pointing to the console in front of him.
The computer panel kept repeating "alert" over and over again. And then the voice rang out, loud and clear, "Initiating Defcon Four Override. Switching to Demolition Mode. The mansion will self-destruct in ten minutes." The screen began to count it down, and every one of the New Mutants stared at the machine in horror.
The spheres finally touched down, and the girl appreciated the time to stretch her legs. Sitting within a metal sphere was not the most comfortable position to be in, considering how she had to sit in fetal position.
She touched one of her silver hairs in the darkness of the sphere, frowning that when they opened, the sunlight would change them into plain brown. In fact, she'd feel weaker in the sunlight. She automatically decided that she would do her best to keep herself covered; she may not like what her powers did to her, but in a situation like this, she needed full power.
Suddenly, the sphere opened and sunlight poured in. She cursed as she saw the same silver hair turn into the color of mud.
Stepping up, she looked around at her surroundings. Some kind of nondescript, abandoned warehouse. It was always warehouses, wasn't it?
She turned to her "teammates," although that was probably a strong word for them.
The tall, beast-like man with nasty blond hair that hung down in a rocker-like fashion was scary in his own way. Victor Creed, AKA: Sabretooth.
On the other side of him was a man with a cocky, self-assured smile. He had spiky blond hair and was wearing a sickly-green and black combat uniform, with steel boots and shoulder pads. Jayden "Jay" Richards, AKA: Acid.
A girl with blond hair and bright eyes stood next to him, with a sort of cheerleader look. She had a slight aroma that was ever changing. Mandi Masters, AKA: Bliss.
And last, but certainly not least, was the newest recruit. Strangely enough, she was probably the strongest one of them here, maybe more than the helmeted man in the middle. Her face was one of stupor, and every once in a while, her mouth quivered. Like a baby, strangely enough. Naomi David, AKA Sorcerer.
Valkyrie, the silver-haired girl, knew why that was. But before she could think further, the slightly larger sphere opened slowly.
The man wearing a red and purple suit of armor, complete with a cape and a matching helmet stepped out of the sphere.
How'd you like it? Everything is sort of set-up for next chapter! :D I had to make some changes, from the original plot (which is a good thing sometimes), because I couldn't see any of the X-Men leave the team like Scott did. In the ReduxVerse, things weren't as hostile between the Brotherhood and the X-Men as they were in the CanonVerse, since they had teamed up a few times. I just didn't think it logical, even if they helped Naomi fight last chapter.
Speaking of last chapter, why no reviews from some of the regulars? Obviously, you reserve the right to review as you please, but it was kind of disheartening… And well, I screwed up and had to fix one of the details, so I guess you noticed. I just didn't expect almost everyone to hate it that much.
I'm trying really hard to make ^^^ that not sound so narcissistic. Sorry if it does, it was not my intention.
Yep, and Naomi IS alive. You'll get a glimpse of how in the beginning of the next chapter. Also, some other loose ends will be expanded upon and hopefully relinquished. :D
Special Shout-Outs to EmberIce for Acid and Sai Axel for Valkyrie. And the other Acolytes, you've already heard about. :D