Here we are with the next chapter, the Mentality of the Beast! So, as seen in the last chapter, Psylocke and Wolverine will be the main focuses of this chapter, after which we'll go back to the hangar one more time before the final battle with Magneto! It won't be nineteen on one, as you've most likely noticed, throughout the arc each member of the X-Men's been injured, but a certain three will make it to the end. Mimic, most obviously, Wolverine, 'cause, healing factor, y'know, and a third member of the team that I'm excited to include.

One quick note: My DC story The Vitruvian Man has finished its second arc! It'll be on hiatus for a little bit, so you can read the six chapters right now and catch up quickly, each one's about 10,000 words. You can find it in the Justice League section under comics or find it through my profile.

Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!

Mentality of the Beast

I continue down the hallway, following the sounds of intense battle and beast-like snarling. Thankfully, the room isn't too far. After turning the corner and three doors to my right I see a room made to look like a jungle, and in the center of the room I find Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting tooth and nail, literally.

Wolverine ducks under a swipe from Sabretooth and manages to get a hit in on his opponent's throat, splattering blood all over the floor. Damn, these guys are really going at it.

Wait a minute. I lean forward on the railing and look at their eyes, they're bloodshot. And there's some foam coming from their mouths. Shit, I know exactly what this means.

After Marvel Girl and I came back from getting Cyclops' motorcycle Wolverine took me aside to talk about the feral state he goes into every now and again. It usually happens when someone with a healing factor is placed under intense stress, either mental or physical. Mostly physical. When under it he becomes stronger, faster, and his healing factor goes into overdrive, but he loses mental control, going for anyone he sees, be they friend or foe. Since I have these same powers, he wanted to warn me as soon as possible, all to avoid making a choice I'd regret for the rest of my life, something I'm sure happened to him, but if he remembers, who knows.

I could go down, help him fight Sabretooth, but chances are instead of a two versus one it'll be a free-for-all between the three of us, and I'll eventually be put in the feral state if I take enough hits, which wouldn't help our situation at all. And if Sabretooth's claws are any indication, he now has adamantium—I pop my claws out—yeah, I'd be severely outgunned.

Sabretooth sticks the claws of his right hand into Wolverine's face, stabbing into both of his cheeks, lifts him up, and then slams him down hard on a rock that shatters under his weight.

What the hell can I do? Dammit, I can't go down there, they'd kick my ass before I even knew what was going on. I could try to shut them down with telepathy but that might not work, in the feral state their minds are much harder to make sense of, and while I have power and have been trained for a year I'm still not as skilled as Marvel Girl or Professor X. That's the problem with having multiple powers, having to train them all sucks hard, telepathy being one of the more difficult ones.

I take a deep breath and switch to my Marvel Girl powers. Fuck it, may as well try.

Using my telekinesis, I force the two apart into opposite sides of the room, pinning them to the walls.

They both thrash around as much as they can, trying to break free so they can continue to gut each other. I ain't having that. I then activate my telepathy and enter Wolverine's head. Immediately I recoil back, not at all ready for the onslaught of sound, smells, and memories that hit me like a truck.

Planting my feet and gritting my teeth I try again, this time ready for whatever comes at me.

I try again, and this time, I have a better understanding of the sensory overload. I see people impaled on his claws from Wolverine's perspective. I hear their final breaths. And I smell the blood form the wound. Some are quick flashes, people that don't matter to him, I'd guess, but one stays for a few seconds, one I study for a moment.

It's a redheaded girl, one who looks a lot like Jean, it's almost uncanny how similar they are, I'd guess she's her ancestor considering the old styled clothing she's wearing. This girl stares wide-eyed at Logan as blood begins to pool from her mouth, trickling down her chin, but she smiles and reaches out, caressing his cheek. Her mouth moves, but I can't hear anything. Eventually, the memory goes away, and I go back to trying to get Wolverine out of his feral state.

As I put his mind back together, I see more flashes, Wolverine with Alpha Flight, him fighting the Hulk and a giant white furred creature, and his first meeting with the Professor. I then go through many of his other memories before reaching this point.

With some careful mental movements, I feel his mind put itself back together. In the physical world, Wolverine slowly stops thrashing, taking deep breaths to calm himself down before looking around, first looking at Sabretooth's still thrashing form and then up to me. "Let me down, Shifty, I'm all in here."

I slowly lower him as I float down, standing next to Wolverine as the two of us look at a slowly tiring Sabretooth. I turn to look at Wolverine's mask less face. "What do you want me to do with him?" I ask.

"Can you knock him out?" Wolverine asks.

I try, but the sensory overload from Sabretooth is far more intense than what's in Wolverine's mind, the few images I see are far more gruesome than what was in Wolverine's head. I'm immediately pushed out of his head. I stumble back and rest my head in my hands. "No. His mind's too jumbled, can't even tell what's a memory and what's imagination for him right now."

Wolverine growls as he scratches his cheek. "Alright. Get ready, when I say so, I want you to throw him into the trees. Make sure you use powers suited for destruction; we'll be able to tire him out faster that way."

"That's how we'll beat him? But isn't his healing factor working on overdrive right now?" I ask. I slowly begin to lift Sabretooth away from the wall and into the air.

"Yeah, but that's also taking away his energy, when a healing factor is overworked the body has to shut down, it uses up energy to heal, after all" he answers.

I nod. "Yeah, makes sense. Okay, ready when you are."

Wolverine pops his claws and bends his knees, ready to leap at a moment's notice. I turn around, my right arm back as if I were holding a javelin, which, in a sense, I am. Like me and Colossus earlier, I hold Sabretooth in a bullet-like form. "NOW!" Wolverine shouts.

Throwing my arm forward Sabretooth's shouting form flies face first into the trees of the indoor jungle, his voice gets more and more faint as he flies farther and farther away.

Almost instantaneously Wolverine shoots forward into the jungle. Quickly, I switch to my Black Tom Cassidy powers, I mean, there's trees around, these powers are a no brainer, right?

I reach out to one of the trees and rip off a piece, my other hand glows with bio-organic thermokinetic energy. I also listen carefully, and can feel the jungle in its entirety, including Sabretooth's location. He's running towards us, leaping through the trees and shit.

"He's in the trees. Coming fast," I announce.

I lift my arm and charge up the energy, and as soon as he enters my range, I fire at the branch he's leaping towards, destroying it and sending him flying back.

"Keep him pinned!" Wolverine shouts as he runs forward.

"Got it!" I shout.

Reaching out, I feel the lifeforce of the trees around Sabretooth and supercharge them, the roots reach up and wrap around Sabretooth, keeping him pinned. It doesn't last long though; he slashes through the wood. Before he can fully escape, Wolverine leaps over and stabs his claws through his arm, pinning them into Sabretooth's chest. Even if he has adamantium claws keeping his arms pinned, I still wrap some roots around Sabretooth's arms however I can.

Using my powers, I wrap some roots around Sabretooth's face, causing him to thrash around as Wolverine pins his other arm down. I wrap more roots around his legs and make some thorns that explode out, stabbing into his legs.

"Back up!" I shout.

Just as Wolverine does, I unwrap Sabretooth's head and arms use the roots around his legs to slam him into the ground repeatedly. After the fifth slam I swing the root around and then let go, sending him flying face first into the metal wall, a splat of blood follows before he slides down for a second before falling down on the ground, leaving a streak of blood on the wall.

Sabretooth quickly gets up and runs towards us. Wolverine attempts to intercept him, but the larger feral mutant just tosses him aside and heads towards me.

He's heading towards me.

Sabretooth, a mutant known for enjoying murder and gutting his victims is heading towards Mimic.

Who happens to be me.

Shit.

I slam my hands on the ground, roots erupting up and creating a wooden barrier between the two of us. But it doesn't matter, Sabretooth just jumps through with some insane athletic ability that you wouldn't expect from a man his size, and what he can't dodge he slashes through.

With one more leap Sabretooth is right in front of me, his right arm up, ready to swipe at me.

Reacting quickly, I lean out of the way, bringing up some roots that slam into his chest and send him flying right onto Wolverine's claws. My teammate then jumps forward and slams Sabretooth down face first, breaking Sabretooth's nose against a rock.

"Wolvie, move!"

Wolverine rolls away, and as soon as he's out of range I hit Sabretooth with a full powered bio-thermokinetic blast. Which I need a shorter name for. The blast hits him full force and sends him digging across the floor, digging up the dirt as he slides away.

After I stop Wolverine and I stand next to each other, staring at him, waiting for any form of movement. For a while, he's still, but eventually he begins to move slowly and sluggishly.

His right arm is shakily planted into the ground, followed by his left arm. Sabretooth lifts his face from the ground and holy shit it is gross.

The skin of his face is almost all gone, his eyeballs shown in their entirety with some dirt and pebbles seen among his muscles. His suit around his left side is destroyed, the skin a raging red as blood pours out of it profusely.

"Y-y-your d-dead, kid," he manages, the foam around his mouth being wiped away and his eyes slowly becoming white again.

Huh, looks like he's regained his bearings. He's also looking a little worse for wear. I turn to look at Wolverine, who's in a similar situation, although lesser, guess me getting him out of the feral state helped.

I smirk, my hands begin to glow as the roots around us and him begin to act up. "Come on, old man, I can take you."

Sabretooth comes running at us, claws low, ready to swipe up. I clench my fists as the secret roots beneath the dirt explode upward, wrapping around his body and exploding in spikes, stabbing into his body. Wolverine runs forward and jumps on the roots, slashing at Sabretooth's face, blood flying everywhere.

Wolverine leaps back, and once he's clear I send a branch forward in a fist shape, it slams into Sabretooth's face, snapping his head back. The feral mutant slowly brings his head back and glares at me as his face begins to heal, blood still dripping down his chin. "You are so fuckin' dead," he threatens.

I roll my eyes as I aim my fists at him, my tree blasts ready. "Whatever."

With a giant blast Sabretooth is blasted through the wooden constrictions and is slammed into the wall, my attack keeps him pinned. I turn to Wolverine as I intensify the attack. "How the hell do we take him out?"

"Just tire him out," he answers. "His healing factor's already being taxed, anymore damage and he'll be out."

I feel Sabretooth slowly walking forward. Dammit, I can't do anymore, this is taking a lot of my power. "Any other way? It might be awhile until he decides to go nap-nap."

"Suffocate him."

I turn to him in shock, accidentally lessening the attack momentarily, which allows Sabretooth to run forward. I quickly focus again and increase the attack, slowing him down again. "I'm sorry, suffocate him? Is that really the only other way?"

Wolverine nods. "Yeah, healing factor can't exactly make air, y'know?" He walks away from me, circling around Sabretooth. "Keep him pinned, don't hold back. Got it?"

I have some roots under me, ready to lift me in the air at a moment's notice. "Got it."

The second I stop the blast the roots under me erupt upwards, helping me avoid a swipe from Sabretooth that cuts through almost half of it in one go. He then goes for another swipe, but Wolverine tackles him from the side, slamming his head down on a log, I decide to help and manipulate the log to wrap around his eyes.

This is working pretty well, the Black Tom powers, but I feel like I need something stronger, something explosive. Something…flashy.

Oh, oh fuck yes.

I create some wooden throwing knives and wooden bandoliers, placing them in an X formation around my chest and a wooden belt. I place the throwing knives all around the belt and bandoliers, I then create some more smaller bands around my legs and arms, putting more very sharp wooden knives on them.

Alright, let's fucking go.

I lower the roots holding me up and swap to my Gambit powers. I grab two of the knives and supercharge them. "Wolvie!"

Like before, he rolls out of the way just as I toss the supercharged wooden knives. They stab into his left knee and right shoulder and let off the familiar whine and glow before an explosion erupts, sending him flying into a tree, his leg and arm torn to shreds.

Wolverine turns to look at me, an eyebrow arched. "Nicely done. What's up with the bandoliers?"

I shrug as I get another two knives in my hands, supercharging them. "We're in a jungle, may as well look the part," I tap one of the knives on my forehead. "Should've made a headband," wait, I'm in a jungle! Reaching down, I grab some dirt with both index and middle fingers and wipe them across my cheeks, adding to my guerrilla look.

Sabretooth leaps towards me. I barely roll out of the way, but he still manages to nick my leg, cutting through my armor and leaving some scratches along my leg. I get up from behind a rock and throw the knives, one behind the other. He tosses the first one aside, causing it to explode on the ground in front of Wolverine, sending him flying away. The other knife stabs into his forearm and explodes, creating a giant smokescreen.

I then barely notice a golden and brown blur move out of the smokescreen towards my right. I throw a knife there, but it hits nothing, exploding and kicking up dirt. The blur is then behind me, I throw another knife that also hits nothing.

Reacting quickly, I bring up two knives just as Sabretooth tackles me onto the rock, the knives barely keeping his claws away from me. He chuckles as he leans in close, his horrible breath hitting my nose like a Sentinel. "Like I said, you're dead, kid. And I'm gonna enjoy killin' you."

"I don't know about that, Victor."

Sabretooth and I look to see Wolverine standing right next to us, one of my knives in his hand. "Shifty?"

I smirk as I stab the knife in my right hand into Sabretooth's neck. As he recoils away, I quickly touch the knife in Wolverine's hand. He stabs the knife into Sabretooth's side, and I stab my remaining knife into his hand, pinning him to the rock, 'cause I made them wooden knives sharp as fuck.

A massive pink explosion then envelops Sabretooth. Looking up I can see his body flying in the air, a trail of blood following. His body falls into the trees, we hear nothing. "I'm not taking the chance," I walk forward and hold three knives per hand.

After charging them up I throw the six knives towards the location Sabretooth fell, after throwing them I throw more knives. I reach for more knives on my back but grasp at air. Wolverine walks forward and places a hand on my shoulder. "Used 'em all up," he looks at the destroyed section of the indoor jungle. "I think you got him."

Faster than we can react, Sabretooth comes running out and manages to get in a good hit in on me, making deep gashes in my left shoulder as he tears through my armor, the bandoliers also fall over. I roar in both pain in anger as I fall back, grab a knife from my belt and stab it into his armpit, the explosion sends him flying through the air.

"Kid!" Wolverine comes over and helps me up, inspecting my shoulder. "Damn, that looks bad. Okay, stand back, I've got this."

"No," I push off him. I then switch to my Sabretooth powers and feel the wounds close, four new scars across my left shoulder. Nice. He mutters sarcastically. I bring my right hand up to my face and extend my claws, flexing my fingers as I study them. "I want a piece of this. And you aren't stopping me."

Wolverine just shakes his head before standing next to me, his claws out as Sabretooth slowly walks towards us, his arm hanging limply and breathing heavily. "Alright, Shifty. Let's take him down."

Me and Wolverine run full sprint at Sabretooth, who can barely react as my claws cut through his arms, exposing the adamantium infused bones in his forearms, and Wolverine stabs into his chest and side. While in position I sink my claws into his arms and flip over Sabretooth's head, ending up behind him. I then grab two more knives from my belt and stab them into his legs, causing him to stumble into Wolverine's elbow.

With his good arm, Sabretooth punches Wolverine away and reaches back and grabs me by the throat, the claw on his thumb stabbing my throat. He then flips me over and slams me back first onto the ground. Sabretooth continues the attack by stomping on my chest a few times, my ribs cracking, but healing before they can break.

I then stab into his thigh just as his leg slams into my chest, forcing him to stop and reach down at the wound. And while Sabretooth's down Wolverine comes in and tackles him away, stabbing his claws into his rival as they tumble away from me.

I slowly get up and watch the two fight. While Wolverine does have the upper hand, it doesn't seem like Sabretooth's going down any time soon. Sabretooth goes for a kick, but Wolverine grabs his leg and slams his elbow into Sabretooth's knee, breaking it. Hold up, some of my knives are still in his legs. I see the one in his hand is gone. I can use this.

I grab two knives and run towards him, keeping my head low. Sabretooth sees me coming and throws Wolverine at me, I try to dodge but he still slams into me, the two of us land on the floor. "You got a plan?" He asks as he lays on top of me.

I groan as I try to crawl out from under him. "Yeah," I strain out. Damn, Wolverine's heavy. "The blades of my knives are still in his legs. I'm trying to stab his hands."

"After that?" Wolverine asks.

"Secret."

"Aw, now why'd you have to go and say that?" Sabretooth taunts as he stands over us. "Would you wanna be left out of a secret?" Sabretooth leans down towards me, getting in my face. "Now, would ya mind sharing?"

I chance a look down to see one of his hands resting on the knee of the leg he placed on top of Wolverine, adding to the weight. It's out of reach. The other hand's on his hip, also out of range.

"I'd rather not. I mean, I don't know any of your secrets now, do I? How would it be fair if I shared one without an equivalent exchange?" I ask.

Sabretooth hums as he reaches down and grabs me by the neck, somehow bringing me out from under Wolverine. "Alright, I'll play your game," he nods his head towards Wolverine, still pinned down by his leg. "Your friend here's a killer. I mean, yeah, he's killed bastards who deserved it, but there's a lot of innocent blood on his hands," Sabretooth smirks. "Bet ya didn't know that."

"No, I didn't," I reply, looking at Wolverine from the corner of my eye.

"So? What's your secret?" Sabretooth wonders.

"Oh, just that I think you'd make great fertilizer for some trees," I answer, smiling.

Sabretooth arches an eyebrow in confusion. Using that to my advantage I stab the wooden knife into his wrist, forcing him to drop me and step off of Wolverine. I avoid a swipe from his other arm and stab the knife into his other wrist. Good.

Wolverine gets up and cuts at the knife handles, leaving the blades inside his arms. He then slashes upwards, getting Sabretooth in the chest. I run forward and kick Sabretooth's chest, sending him tumbling backwards.

I quickly switch to my Black Tom powers and reach out to the wooden knives in Sabretooth's limbs. With a smirk I snap my fingers, and the knives become trees. I try my best to ignore Sabretooth's roars of pain as his limbs are trapped by four trees, the thought of his healing factor doing little to help me deal with this. After all, we can still feel pain, probably even more acutely with a healing factor.

I guess it's pretty obvious how I feel about all of this, since Wolverine places his hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eyes. "He has a healing factor, he'll live. Think about this as well: he's a murderer, nothing more, there's no reason for you to feel bad about this, Shifty, alright? And, as much as I hate to say it, Sabretooth's a survivor, he'll find a way out of this."

I take a deep breath before looking back into Wolverine's grey-blue eyes. "Alright," I look at Sabretooth one more time. "Can we get out of here?"

Wolverine has a small grin before he nods. "Yeah, let's go."

The two of us exit the jungle, ignoring Sabretooth's curses directed towards me. I've probably made an enemy now. One that, as I've said before, loves to murder and has no moral compass whatsoever. Yay.

As soon as we leave the room, I begin to feel better, I guess not seeing my brutal work does make me feel better. A little though, the image still comes back every now and again. Crap, I hope I don't become some psycho in the future. I turn to Wolverine and hold my fist out; he just stares at it. "It's a fist bump," I explain.

"I know what it is. What do you want me to do?" He asks.

I blink before shaking my fist. "Fist bump back, bro."

Wolverine's face drops into a deadpan stare. "Don't push it, Mimic. And besides, don't call me bro."

My smile drops as I watch Wolverine walk away. He looks around, sniffing the air. "What happened to Frosty, Elf, and your Girlfriend?"

I blush at that last one, although not of embarrassment but out of realizing that Kitty is my girlfriend now, isn't she? My smile comes back, greater than before, but it then dims when I realize his question.

"Oh, uh, there was another dude calling himself Mimic, he could copy multiple powers at once," I explain. "He copied Iceman's powers and was able to get some good hits in on them."

"Hm. That explains the other two, what about Iceman?" Wolverine asks.

Wolverine and I turn the corner, nearing the door to the med bay. "He used up a lot of energy during an earlier fight. Not sure if he can fight effectively from this point on."

Just before we enter the med bay, I place my hand on Wolverine's shoulder, stopping him from entering. "What?" He asks.

"When, um, when I was getting you out of that feral state, I saw some memories, some people you killed," I begin. Wolverine's face is mostly unreadable, but for a moment I see a flash of surprise. "But one in particular stood out."

"Which one?" He whispers.

My eyes dart around before I look Wolverine in the eyes. "There was a woman, a redhead with green eyes, sound familiar?" I ask.

Wolverine's eyes widen just a little bit. "Jeannie?" He mutters.

I shake my head. "No, not Jean, someone who looked almost exactly like her. Honestly, if it weren't for her old looking clothing, I'd totally think she was Jean, but she wasn't. Maybe her ancestor or something. Look, the thing is, the memory of her lasted a lot longer than the others, and she seemed to know you."

Wolverine's silent. Without saying a thing, he opens the door.

The two of us enter the med bay to find Shadowcat and Nightcrawler talking, a sleeping Iceman nearby. The two get ready to fight once the doors open, but they calm down once they realize its us. Shadowcat runs forward and wraps me in a tight hug. "You're okay," she whispers. "I was worried you'd be hurt."

She then backs up and notices my new scars. She faintly traces them with her fingers. "And you were. What happened?"

"Sabretooth was able to get a good hit in," Wolverine explains. "Don't worry, he'll live. Your boyfriend's a tough one."

Kitty looks down and places her head on my chest, a blush and a smile on her face. Wolverine goes over and sits next to Nightcrawler, the two begin to talk, but he and I make quick eye contact. While they converse, I walk towards some chairs at the other end of the room, bringing Shadowcat with me. The two of us sit down, silent for a while as she holds my hand, inspecting it, tracing her index finger of her other hand around my knuckles. "How'd you beat him?"

The image of Sabretooth pinned by trees growing from his limbs comes back full force. The sound of wood growing and flesh tearing being the only thing I hear. "I beat him. We can leave it at that."

Shadowcat nods, thankfully understanding the meaning behind my words. "Yeah, got it."

I look at Wolverine and Nightcrawler, the two having a conversation about whatever. I turn to Shadowcat. "Did you tell him?"

She shakes her head, also looking at them. "No, not yet. Now's probably the worst time to tell him, we all need to be on the top of our game, you know," she looks at Iceman's sleeping form. "He passed out twenty minutes after you left. Doesn't look like he'll get back up in a while."

I sigh deeply. "Kurt's got a broken leg and his arms wounded, same with your arm. Bobby's mad tired. Who knows how the others are faring?"

Shadowcat scratches the back of her head. "Jubilee got a concussion from Blob, and Shiro's ribs are probably broken after his fight with Juggernaut."

"Goddammit," I mutter.

"Hey, the others are probably doing better, and besides, you and Logan are looking pretty good. And we're beating the Brotherhood worse than they are us, maybe in the end the two of you will only have to fight Magneto," Kitty says, looking on the bright side.

I let out a deep breath as I run my other hand through my black and blond hair. "Yeah, Logan—the guy with a metal skeleton—is the perfect teammate against the Master of Magnetism," I mutter sarcastically.

Kitty rolls her eyes and flicks my cheek. "You need to work on your sarcasm."

I arch an eyebrow in amusement as I look at her. "Really now? And why's that?"

"Because I'm the queen of sarcasm," she says, placing her other hand on her chest and looks up all snooty like.

I let out a chuckle and kiss her hand, lightly laughing at her blushing face. "That you are my lady, that you are."

Before I can continue flirting, I fell Psylocke's presence in my mind, and with the way the others are reacting I'd say they feel her presence as well. "Guys…'tis I, Psylocke, your favorite British girl in an Asian body with good news."

"We could use good news," Colossus comments.

"Well, I'm here to provide. I've secured a route to the room where the Professor and Forge are in. Oh, took out Mastermind also, by the way," Psylocke answers, sounding extremely tired.

"Are you okay? You sound tired," Nightcrawler points out.

"Oh, I'm…fine, yeah, fine. Thanks for worrying," Psylocke's quiet for a while. "I'm going to sleep, whoever finds me, don't wake me up, alright?"

Before we can even reply Psylocke's presence leaves our minds. Shadowcat and I look at each other and nod, heading towards Nightcrawler and Wolverine. "What's next?" She asks.

Wolverine looks at Iceman before turning back to her. "We're getting you guys back to the Blackbird, that way your safe. Mimic and I will help clear out the hangar and then whoever's injured will stay on the jet."

"After that?" I ask.

"Me, you, and whoever else can will go to Psylocke's location, you'll send her to the hangar then come back. We'll rescue Chuck and Forge then take down Magneto," Wolverine plans.

I feel Shadowcat squeeze my hand. "Are you sure about that?" She stands her ground, even if Wolverine's glaring at her. I'm impressed, Wolverine's glares can be pretty effective. "I mean, I don't know what Nolan's been through before you guys recruited me, but are you sure he can take him on? I mean, what if the two of you are the last ones able to fight? What then?"

Wolverine's glare lessens. He looks down and lets out a breath, running his hand through his hair. "I see your concern, but we gotta do it, no matter what," he then looks at me. "Hope you're ready, Shifty."

I nod, determination alight. "I am."

"Vait," Nightcrawler interrupts. "Our mission vas to destroy ze engine, Shiro and Jubilee aren't able to do it, and neither are ve. Vhat about zat?"

Wolverine hums, he then nods and looks at me. "Mimic, think you can do it?"

I nod, determined. "Most of the Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy is in the hangar. B-Mimic, Sabretooth, Mastermind, Juggernaut, Blob, Mystique, and Destiny are out of it for sure. I can handle it."

"Alright. Let's go to the hangar, can you do anything about these two?" Wolverine says, getting up from his seat and heading towards the door.

"Yeah," I swap to my Multiple Man powers and create some clones, two to hold Iceman and one to help Nightcrawler. "Let's do this."

The clones pick up Iceman, one holding his shoulders and another holding him by his legs. Another clone has Nightcrawler's arm over his shoulder as he helps Nightcrawler. The clones follow us out of the room, towards the elevator. As we walk, I turn to Kitty and squeeze her hand. She looks at me and I smile at her, she smiles back.

Yeah.

I can do this.

Psylocke

Psylocke grunts as Mastermind pushes against her mental defenses, albeit, far weaker than before. That Crown definitely gave him a power boost. Psylocke grits her teeth as she retaliates, forcing Mastermind to grasp his head in pain. Psylocke smirks. "What's wrong, not so strong without your Crown? A shame, really, having to use an outside source to be stronger."

Mastermind growls in annoyance as he attacks again. "I wouldn't sound so sure of yourself, girl, you don't seem to be so strong yourself right now?" He taunts. "Maybe you aren't as strong as you say you are."

Psylocke's smirk drops into a frown. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Psylocke then triples her efforts and Mastermind shouts in pain as he takes steps back, clutching his head as blood flows from his nose. Mastermind growls before looking forward and aims his gun at Psylocke. "Screw this," and with that, he starts to shoot.

Ignoring the flash of pain from her leg, Psylocke dodges Mastermind's shots, all while hitting his mental defenses in their weak spots. 'Well, that didn't last long now, did it?' Psylocke thinks. She activates two psionic swords from each arm. 'May as well work with it.'

Using the almost unnatural grace of her new body, Psylocke deftly avoids the bullets, getting closer to Mastermind as he becomes more frantic, especially once he has to reload. Psylocke takes advantage of the momentary cease of bullets and slashes at Mastermind, he barely avoids the attack, only getting a cut across his chest.

With her other sword she goes for Mastermind's gun arm, but he raises his other arm, sacrificing it instead. He then hits Psylocke with a mental blast, causing her to back up and hold her hand to her head. Upon opening her eyes, she finds herself in an unknown location. "Hm, illusions aren't so effective when you're against another telepath," she dodges and slices the head off of an apparition. "Or when you're aware of the illusion."

Mastermind chuckles as more shadow apparitions attack her, some getting in hits that causes damage to her mental fortitude. When another apparition attempts an attack, she dodges out of the way and cuts its head off as well. She then somersaults and cuts another in half. "Your illusions aren't so good, man."

Mastermind walks out from behind a fake pillar, the shadow apparitions float around him. "Oh, please, you really thought that was my best?" He snaps his fingers. The shadow apparitions all spin around, creating a little tornado before fusing together, becoming a giant shadow samurai. "That was your homework, my dear, and this, well, this is the test," he walks over to a bench and sits down. "I'll have fun watching your mind be torn apart."

Psylocke flips him off with both of her hands before focusing her attention on the Shadow Samurai. The two study each other for a moment, blades raised and feet ready to move at a moment's notice. Psylocke looks at the wall to her right out of the corner of her eye, realizing how useful it would be for jumping around. She can use that to her advantage. After all, she's smaller, should be more maneuverable, then again, the Shadow Samurai isn't a real thing, who knows what it could do with its body.

The Shadow Samurai makes the first move, shooting forward with its katana raised high, ready to swing it down to chop Psylocke in half. She dodges out of the way and attempts to cut off the left leg, instead the psionic blade cuts about half-an-inch into the back of the knee before it is stuck. Instead of trying to pry the psionic blade free Psylocke rolls away, leaving the blade to fade away.

Slowly, the Shadow Samurai gets up, stumbling slightly due to its injured leg, before turning to Psylocke, three shadow shurikens forming in its left hand. The apparition then throws the shurikens, Psylocke dodges most but one manages to get her arm, it doesn't sink in too deep, but she does grit her teeth in pain. Mastermind laughs in delight. "Not so easy now, is it? Maybe you should've studied?"

"Oh, shut the hell up, would you!?" Psylocke shouts.

Psylocke then goes for a psychic attack against Mastermind himself, breaking through part of his defenses immediately due to him not expecting the attack. The Brotherhood's telepath grunts in pain, clutches his head, and bends down as more blood drips out of his nose, staining his pants. The Shadow Samurai is also affected, its form wavering and one of the shadow apparitions separating from it, making the samurai smaller.

Smirking at the opportunity, Psylocke jumps towards the lone apparition, using the Shadow Samurai as a springboard, and cuts it in half, causing the Shadow Samurai to shrink even further and Mastermind to shout in pain.

'Found your weak point, you bloody bastard,' Psylocke thinks.

Psylocke makes some more psionic knives and throws them at the Shadow Samurai, forcing it to take a knee. She then goes for another psychic attack against Mastermind, this time he's prepared, but the attack is still successful, kind of. Another shadow apparition separates from the Shadow Samurai, slightly, it's bottom half still connected to the Shadow Samurai, but it still shrinks even further.

Psylocke flips away, barely avoiding a swing from the Shadow Samurai's katana, but it's easier, thanks to it losing two of its parts. 'There were eight of them, I took down two,' Psylocke thinks as she avoids another slash, stabbing the Shadow Samurai in the arm when the chance arises. 'Attacking Mastermind outright will become less and less likely as he now expects the attacks. I'll have to damage his pet enough.'

She creates smaller psionic knives that she throws at the Shadow Samurai, getting one into its left eye socket, another in its abdomen, and a third in its knee. The illusion stumbles down and attempts to get up, but half its body is locked up due to the psionic knives. Mastermind slowly gets up and raises his gun, half of his body moving stiffly as well.

Psylocke just throws some psionic knives at the hand holding the gun, forcing Mastermind to drop it and grasp at his hand, falling to his knees in pain as the mental attacks from the knives increases. While her back is turned, the Shadow Samurai manages to get up and punches Psylocke in the back of the head, she falls down face first and slams into the ground, she then realizes her nose is bleeding once she slips over to find the Shadow Samurai's blade at her neck.

Mastermind slowly gets up and stumbles towards Psylocke. Once he reaches her, he reloads his pistol and aims his gun at her head. "You," Mastermind says as he breaths heavily. "Are…so…dead."

Mastermind's finger begins to pull the trigger, and the Shadow Samurai raises its blade, prepared to stab it into Psylocke's neck. Instead of being fearful, Psylocke smirks, confusing Mastermind, but not for long. His gun arm aims at his feet just as he pulls the trigger, the bullet going into his foot, the Shadow Samurai shakes violently before the psionic knives in it morph and cover its form, changing it into a Pinkish-purple Samurai, under Psylocke's control.

"How the hell did you do that?" Mastermind demands, bouncing around on his good foot. His eyes then widen once he notices Psylocke standing up, his mental apparition now on her side.

Psylocke chuckles as she tosses a psionic knife around between her hands. She shrugs as she lightly elbows the samurai. "My psionic knives. That's all your getting."

Mastermind growls. He gingerly puts his injured foot down, flinching and recoiling his leg before gritting his teeth and putting his foot down. "How the hell are you in my head?"

Psylocke just taps her head, a psionic katana in her other hand. "I got in a pretty good hit earlier. Surprised you didn't notice. Oh, well, guess you aren't as good a telepath you think you are," she then raises her arm and dramatically points the katana at Mastermind. "Sic 'im."

The Samurai runs forward, its katana shifting into a wakizashi. The Samurai slashes at Mastermind, and due to his lack of physical training and injured foot most of the attacks connect, creating more tears in his jacket and causing more damage to his mental defenses.

With a roar Mastermind attempts to take back the Samurai, thanks to Psylocke's growingly tired state a battle for control begins. The Samurai falls on one knee and shakes wildly, shifting from black and pink-purple constantly.

'This isn't gonna work,' Psylocke thinks, looking for ways to get the upper hand on Mastermind. Eventually, an idea comes to mind. 'Oh, this is definitely gonna work.'

Instead of trying to take the Samurai over, Psylocke hits it with one final effort. The pink-purple color localizes to the center of the Samurai's chest, completely surrounded by the inky blackness symbolizing Mastermind's mentality.

Mastermind laughs, but his laughter is cut short when he steps forward, his bad foot flares up. The Samurai turns around, it's katana ready to lash out and cut into Psylocke. "Look's like your little moment in the sun is now over. How sad," Mastermind taunts. "Oh, well, looks like you've lost."

Psylocke just smirks again, greatly irritating Mastermind. "What?" He demands. "What's so damn funny? I've beat you, I'll shatter your mind, shoot countless bullets into your empty body and then throw it into space! How's that for funny!?"

Psylocke shrugs. "Eh, not really funny," she calmly replies, causing Mastermind to grit his teeth in anger. "You know what is funny? The fact that you think you've already won."

Mastermind tilts his head in confusion. "Explain," he demands.

"Look at your little Samurai," Psylocke says. Mastermind looks and finally notices the pink-purple circle in the center of its chest. "That's my little attack. I'd back up just a wee little bit if I were you."

Almost immediately, the Samurai explodes in a flash of black and pink-purple light. The explosion sends Mastermind flying away, slamming headfirst into the wall, knocking him out. Psylocke slides back thanks to being prepared, but she still slams into the opposite wall rather hard. She feels a bone crack in her left arm, and the air is forced out of her lungs. Her head also slams against the wall, making light explode behind her eyes and her vision begins to morph.

Everything's silent as the illusions fade away. Psylocke smirks in victory before reaching out to the X-Men. "Guys…'tis I, Psylocke, your favorite British girl in an Asian body with good news."

Almost immediately Colossus replies. "We could use good news."

"Well, I'm here to provide. I've secured a route to the room where the Professor and Forge are in. Oh, took out Mastermind also, by the way," Psylocke replies, pausing to regain her bearings.

"Are you okay? You sound tired," Nightcrawler points out.

Psylocke smiles at the concern. "Oh, I'm…fine, yeah, fine. Thanks for worrying," She then pauses momentarily. "I'm going to sleep, whoever finds me, don't wake me up, alright?"

Without waiting for a reply Psylocke closes the psychic call. She lets out a sigh as her eyes begin to close. "Took down a mutant even after he got a power up, secured a route to save two of us, and I'm still alive. I'm badass."

Psylocke takes a deep breath as her eyes become heavy. "And now, this badass needs to sleep."

And with that, Psylocke's eyes close, earning a well-deserved rest.

Next time: Silver, Scarlet, and Emerald

Shit, I almost lost this chapter. If I had, it probably wouldn't have been posted today, thank you Microsoft for document retrieval!

And that's the end of that, two more chapters and this arc is over! By the title of the next chapter you can obviously tell who's gonna be the main characters, in that chapter is when things will begin to hit the climax of this arc. Oh, and in the next arc I'm about to reveal one of the bigger plot points of this story: Nolan's dad's last name. Trust me when I say, it's important.

Oh, and the girl in Logan's memories? If you know his history then you know who she is, and she'll become a little more important in the future.

On a non-story related note, I finished Final Fantasy VII Remake on Tuesday, and holy shit that ending, actually gives me hope for the fate of a certain character, if you know, you know.

That's all from me! Please, leave a constructive review and remember to stay awesome! See you next Thursday!