Time for the next chapter! Alright, so, this chapter's gonna follow a lot of people, but mainly Magneto's kids, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Polaris, and then we'll hit the end of the Brotherhood Arc! And we'll finally get to see what could have been Nolan's last name, which is an idea I've had in my head since Psylocke's recruitment way back when. Oh, and I just realized that this arc will end at chapter 30, after which I'll go on a little break to properly plan out the next one, talk about perfect.

And to answer a review!

Age Of X: You'll just have to wait and see. And yeah, when his friends, or more, get hurt Nolan tends to be pretty damn aggressive. Thanks for the kind words about their romance, I wasn't sure if it'd be convincing considering the fact that they are the literal first romantic relationship I have ever written. Thanks for reading and reviewing, I appreciate it!

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

Silver, Scarlet, and Emerald

Thunderbird shouts as he is blasted through the air by Scarlet Witch, slamming into the bulkhead separating them from space. He reaches down and carefully touches his chest, recoiling in pain. Thunderbird brings his fingers up to his face and is rather surprised to see blood. "A lot stronger than I thought," he whispers.

"Watch out, comrade!" Colossus shouts.

Thunderbird barely rolls out of the way, avoiding some metal shards thrown at him by Polaris. Before he can get up a group of Multiple Man clones dogpile him, greatly annoying the Native American X-Man. "How many of you are there?"

"Enough," a Multiple Man replies.

The weight of the clones becomes lighter as Marvel Girl lifts the clones and tosses them at Scarlet Witch, some managing to hit the powerful daughter of Magneto. In response, Scarlet Witch telekinetically grabs them, the clones surrounded by a scarlet red aura, and tosses them back at Marvel Girl.

"Hey! I'd appreciate it if you didn't use my clones as weapons! Thank you!" One of the Multiple Men shouts.

Seeing the opportunity, Storm hits that one with a lightning bolt, knocking him out and causing all of the clones to turn their attention to her. "Oh. It seems I have found the true Multiple Man," she whispers.

"Get her!" A clone shouts.

The clones create a small ramp, all so they can try to get at her, Storm just flies higher, avoiding the clones, although one manages to grab her by the foot. "Got ya!" The clone shouts triumphantly.

Storm just smirks. "Yes, you do."

With that, she raises her hand, her eyes glowing white as lightning travels across her arm. The clone's eyes widen but it's too late. Storm lowers her arm and aims at the clone, hitting it with a lightning bolt that travels through the ramp of Multiple Men, electrocuting them all.

Thunderbird and Colossus walk forward, the former giving her a thumbs up. "Nice one, Storm! That guy was a real pain in the ass."

"Da," Colossus agrees. The three look around. Avalanche is starting to wake up, as is Toad, Pyro's keeping Angel away from him thanks to his flames, Polaris is more than capable of keeping Gambit, Rogue, and Beast busy, and Scarlet Witch and Marvel Girl are stuck in a deadlock, neither gaining the upper hand. "I will assist Angel."

"Seems best," Thunderbird agrees with a nod. "Storm, help Marvel Girl. I'll deal with Avalanche and Toad."

The other two nod and head over to deal with their respective enemies. Avalanche sees Thunderbird coming and causes an earthquake localized to only affect him. The Native American mutant sees this coming and leaps forward, completely bypassing the earthquake and landing just where Avalanche stood a moment ago. Avalanche barely avoids Thunderbird's landing and turns to Toad. "Do something!"

Surprising the both of them, Toad spits some weird goo at Thunderbird. Not taking the chance, the superhuman mutant rolls out of the way, he then turns around to see the ground he was just standing on being dissolved by acid.

'I'll have to talk to Kurt after this,' Thunderbird thinks.

Avalanche stares at the hole before turning to Toad, wide-eyed. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Not a lot of people know what I can do," Toad softly replies. "Look out!" Shooting out his tongue, Toad grabs Avalanche by the waist and pulls him back, barely avoiding a punch by Thunderbird that would have surely knocked Avalanche out.

Thunderbird grabs a sheet of metal and tosses it at Toad's tongue, cutting it badly and forcing the amphibian mutant to recoil in pain as his tongue retreats back into his mouth. "AGH! YOU BATHTARD!"

While Thunderbird is distracted by his teammate, Avalanche slams his palms down, breaking the floor open and causing Thunderbird to fall down the hole. "Can't fly outta this hole like that asshole Mimic, now, can you?"

Avalanche then closes the floor. Toad leaps down and crouches next to him. "Don't be so sure of your victory yet, he's an X-Man, and Magneto told us-"

"Yeah, I know what Magneto told us," Avalanche interrupts. "If you can't see their body, you haven't won the fight."

"So, let's make sure he's-"

Toad is interrupted by Thunderbird jumping through the ground between the two of them, the superhuman mutant grabbing the two by their legs as he jumps by them. While in the air, Thunderbird throws the two down, Toad recovers mid-air and manages to catch Avalanche with his tongue, the two land rather roughly but recover quickly.

Thunderbird attempts a shoulder charge, but Toad spits at him again, this time the goo causes Thunderbird's foot to be stuck to the ground, again, surprising the two. "Avalanche!" Toad shouts. His teammate turns around to see the amphibian mutant pointing at a well-placed jet. "Bring it down on him!"

Avalanche extends his arms outwards and creates another localized earthquake, this one quickly bringing the jet down on Thunderbird just as the Native American mutant escapes from the goo. Seeing the jet dropping towards him, Thunderbird lifts his arms and stops the jet from falling any further, but Avalanche intensifies the earthquake, causing Thunderbird to lose his balance and for the jet to fall on him.

Avalanche turns to Toad. "Think you can hit him with anymore of that acid goo?"

Toad nods his head. "Yeah, but I won't be able to do a lot, after a bit it starts to hurt me, y'know?"

"Yeah, whatever, just get it done," Avalanche orders. "The sooner he's beat the sooner I can beat Belmont."

Toad looks at Avalanche with an arched brow. "What did that guy do to you? Steal your kill in Halo?"

Avalanche just glares at Toad.

Toad raises his hands in surrender and leaps on the wing of the jet. "Alright, alright, I'll take him out-WHOA!"

Toad and Avalanche jump back, but some debris manages to get Avalanche in the leg, pinning him down. Due to the sudden shifting Toad spits out the acidic goo, and it manages to fly towards Avalanche. Avalanche raises his arm to protect his face, the acid burning through his armor.

The acid burns through his gauntlet and begins to eat through his skin. Reacting quickly, Avalanche throws the gauntlet off and shakes his arm violently, getting the acid off, but a bad burn is left on his right arm.

The jet is tossed aside, Toad along with it, as Thunderbird marches towards the prone Avalanche, each stomp shaking the floor in a way that unnerves even Avalanche. Thunderbird stops and stands over Avalanche, glaring down at him. "Please stay down, pal, it will make things easier for both of us."

Avalanche just glares. "I don't do surrender "pal"!" Avalanche shouts in defiance.

He lifts his arm and attempts to slam it down, but Thunderbird, faster than what seems possible, lashes out and grabs Avalanche's arm, causing the rebellious mutant to shout in pain as Thunderbird's strong hand squeezes his new burn.

Using his strength, Thunderbird manages to pull Avalanche out from under the debris pining him down, making sure to raise him high enough that even by straining, Avalanche wouldn't be able to touch the floor. "Let go of me!" Avalanche shouts.

From out of nowhere, some more elastic goo slams into Thunderbird's face, blinding the superhuman mutant. Reflexively, he drops Avalanche and grabs at the goo, trying to tear it off, but that just succeeds in getting Thunderbird's hands stuck to his face.

Toad leaps over and helps Avalanche up, but Avalanche pushes him back. "Don't you ever spit your acid shit until you're sure. Got. It?" He threatens.

Toad's eyes widen in fear. He gulps and nods his head vigorously. "Y-yeah. Got it!"

Avalanche sneers before turning around, facing the still struggling Thunderbird. With a smirk he slams his foot down and raises his arms, shaking the ground around Thunderbird, causing him to fall over. Avalanche looks up at Polaris. "Hey! Polaris! Think you can help with this asshole!"

Polaris barely raises a metal panel in time, blocking one of Gambit's explosive cards. Using the smoke, Beast leaps up and punches the metal sheet, leaving in a dent that barely stops in front of Polaris' face. "Kinda busy right now!"

Avalanche looks at Toad. "Help her," he orders with a nod.

"I don't think you'd want that."

Jumping, the two turn around to see Thunderbird standing right behind them. The Native American mutant managed to tear off the sticky goo, leaving some marks around his face and tearing off his domino mask in the process.

Before they can react, Thunderbird lifts the two up by their necks, mulling over which one to toss. Making his decision, Thunderbird smashes their heads together, disorienting the two, he then tosses Avalanche back, finding Toad to be the bigger threat at the moment.

Thunderbird tightens his grip, being careful to not snap Toad's neck. "Gotta say," he begins. "Nightcrawler's info on you was almost on point. Never mentioned the goo spitting though."

With the mention of his one-sided rival, Toad's adrenaline spikes, giving him a burst of energy that he uses to his advantage by spitting an acidic glob of goo at Thunderbird's face. Not taking the chance, Thunderbird dodges, dropping Toad as well.

"That showoff doesn't know everything about me!" Toad shouts. He shoots his tongue out and wraps it around Thunderbird's arm, hoping to pull the superhuman mutant towards him. It doesn't work.

Instead, Thunderbird jerks his arm back, bringing Toad flying towards him. Thunderbird raises his arm, clotheslining the amphibian mutant. Thunderbird drops Toad's tongue and stomps on it, ignoring the owner's cries of pain. "Seriously, man, just stand down and know when you're beat. Yeah?"

The ground shakes again, forcing Thunderbird to step off of Toad's tongue. Using one of the wings of a destroyed nearby jet, Avalanche runs up and leaps off it, his fist reared back to punch Thunderbird. He then falls down and punches Thunderbird in the face with his unarmored arm. Avalanche lands on one knee, for a moment he's silent. And then he shouts in pain and grasps at his arm.

Thunderbird just stares at the two with an arched brow. "Did you two really think you could just pull me around and punch me without any armor without being hurt?" Thunderbird shakes his head and rubs the back of his neck. "Shadowcat was right about one thing: you really aren't the smartest guy out there, are you?"

Avalanche growls in anger before slamming his left hand into the ground, shaking not only the ground around them, but in the entire hangar.

"Oi, Mate!" Pyro shouts in the distance. "Cut that shit out!"

Avalanche ignores Pyro and looks around, noticing the battle between Marvel Girl and Scarlet Witch and then finally noticing the damage on Thunderbird's torso. 'If anyone can do that, it's Wanda. Now how do I—got it!'

"Toad!" Avalanche shouts. "Hit the redhead with some sticky goo!"

Toad immediately follows the order and blinds Marvel Girl. Quickly, Avalanche hits the floor around Thunderbird with an extra powerful earthquake, causing the ground under him to shoot up, launching the Native American mutant towards the two powerful mutants.

"Scarlet! You've got incoming!" Avalanche shouts.

Looking to her right, Scarlet Witch notices Thunderbird flying towards her and nods. She then traps Thunderbird in a sphere and bombards him with a massive amount of energy, causing him to shout in pain as Scarlet Witch's energy causes more and more damage to him.

After calming down, Marvel Girl uses her telekinesis to tear apart the goo, she then sees Scarlet Witch hurting Thunderbird. Glaring, Marvel Girl hits Scarlet Witch with a powerful telekinetic blast, sending the older daughter of Magneto flying back, loosening her grip around Thunderbird.

Marvel Girl telekinetically stops Thunderbird from falling down, instead she slowly lowers the two down. "John! Are you okay?"

Thunderbird tries to get up, but he winces and falls back as his chest basically screams in protest. "I've been better. Toad and Avalanche are still up, by the way."

Marvel Girl nods as she gently lifts Thunderbird safely away. She then floats back up and immediately finds the two mutants, both staring up at her with wide eyes. Without much effort, Marvel Girl knocks the two out with a quick telepathic attack, taking them out of the fight.

Marvel Girl then hastily raises a shield as Scarlet Witch comes in for another attack, this one forcing the omega level mutant back.

"Just," Scarlet Witch begins, hitting Marvel Girl's telekinetic shield with a powerful blast. "Stay," she raises a wing from the jet Avalanche destroyed, throwing it at Marvel Girl, forcing the redhead mutant back. "Down!" Using both hands, Scarlet Witch fires a powerful blast, hoping to get Marvel Girl as well. Instead, Marvel Girl fires her own powerful blast, sending both mutants flying back.

Marvel Girl slams into the wall behind her, coughing up some blood due to the impact. Once on the ground, she slowly gets up, shaking her head once she's standing tall and glares at an equally tired Scarlet Witch.

"Hate to break it to you," Marvel Girl begins, wiping the blood trickling down her nose away. "But that's not happening. You want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet, we can't let that happen."

Scarlet Witch growls as her eyes glow, well, scarlet. The metal floor around her begins to float around her, creating a metallic orbit. Scarlet Witch snarls and aims one of her arms at Marvel Girl, some metal fusing together to become a giant spike. "They deserve it," Scarlet Witch says.

Marvel Girl warps the metal around her as well, creating her own metallic orbit. She then mimics Scarlet Witch's movements, creating a giant metal spike as well. With her other arm she creates a shield. "And what makes you so sure of that?" Marvel Girl asks.

Scarlet Witch throws her spike forward, Marvel Girl does the same, causing both weapons to collide mid-air and for sparks to jump off them. "I've seen them at their worst! And trust me, they can be deplorable," Scarlet Witch answers.

"So, you've seen a few despicable humans," Marvel Girl replies. She brings her shield in front of her as some parts of Scarlet Witch's spike separate and fly towards her. "Doesn't mean they're all the same."

Scarlet Witch bobs and weaves as Marvel Girl sends some shards flying towards her, one managing to nick her arm. "When I was young, my Mother was killed in front of me by the people we called friends," she begins. "They were going to kill me next, thankfully my brother and Father saved me. Every human we've met since then has been nothing but a mutant hating racist who wants nothing but to see our people burn. Why do you fight for them?"

After learning of the fate of her mother, Marvel Girl's defenses are momentarily dropped, which allows for some metal shards to cut into her armor. Thankfully it doesn't go in too deep, but there are some cuts along her arms and body. Lifting some more metal Marvel Girl creates a giant fist. "Like I said, not all humans are bad. My family supports me, they've been there for me since when I first got my powers," she pauses, contemplating whether or not to share this next part, but considering what Scarlet Witch said she may as well. "I gained my powers when I was young, my best friend died right in front of me. I still get nightmares every now and again."

Scarlet Witch pauses, the only sound being the battle going around in the hangar. For a moment Marvel Girl thinks she's gotten through to the powerful mutant, but her hopes are dashed as soon as Scarlet Witch's eyes and fists begin to glow again. Scarlet Witch then floats in the air and tears more metal towards her, creating a multitude of spikes aimed at Marvel Girl.

"Losing a best friend is nothing compared to losing your Mother."

With that the spikes shoot towards Marvel Girl.

Using all of her strength she's barely able to keep them from entering the telekinetic shield she hastily puts up, but the spikes slowly move in. Using more power Marvel Girl's able to push them out of her shield, but her migraine increases in intensity, and her nose bleed becomes more prominent.

From out of nowhere a bolt of lightning hits Scarlet Witch's shield, sending the daughter of Magneto flying away. Looking up, Marvel Girl sees Storm floating in the air, lightning crackling along her arms.

Even with the attack the spikes stay around Marvel Girl, although they sway for a moment, almost falling over. Marvel Girl nods at Storm as she keeps the spikes away from her. "Nice of you to join in. But I have this totally covered."

Storm hums. "Yes, you absolutely have this covered. I guess I don't need to help," she shrugs her shoulders. "I guess I will just sit back and relax."

"I'd say do so, but doesn't look like she's gonna agree," Marvel Girl says, nodding towards an approaching Scarlet Witch, her eyes glowing and energy crackling along her hands.

"No, it doesn't," Storm spares a glance at the spikes surrounding Marvel Girl. "Her multitasking skills are rather impressive, especially for fighting two mutants of our power."

Scarlet Witch shoots hex bolts at Storm, the weather manipulator uses her flying skills to avoid the attacks, barely avoiding the first salvo, but gets hit by a third that knocks her off course.

Using her powers, Storm creates two small tornadoes around her arms and aims them at Scarlet Witch. The daughter of Magneto reflexively shoots more hex bolts at the tornadoes, creating a tornado that sends her flipping back mid-air.

Dropping the temperature, Storm creates some baseball-sized hail within the tornadoes, hitting her with the rather large pieces of ice. Scarlet Witch brings her arms up to protect herself, some managing past her defenses and hitting her in the head. Scarlet Witch's eyes flare red as she flies out of the path of the ice. After escaping, she hits Storm with two powerful hex bolts that hit Storm in the abdomen, sending her flying back and slamming to the floor.

While disoriented, Storm slowly gets up, which Scarlet Witch uses to her advantage by hitting Storm with an attack similar to the one she hit Thunderbird with, this one far less powerful though, what with Thunderbird's superhuman durability.

As Storm screams in pain Marvel Girl continues to struggle against the spikes. 'Dammit, this isn't looking good. And I can't exactly telepathically close her mind, it's taking almost all of my energy to hold these things back,' Marvel Girl thinks. Looking around, Marvel Girl finds an opening just big enough for her to escape through. With one powerful push that causes her head to spike in pain, the omega level mutant throws the spikes aside before escaping through the opening, just barely avoiding the spikes all slamming into the floor where she just stood, catching Scarlet Witch's attention.

Out of the corner of her eye Marvel Girl notices that Scarlet Witch has now created double the spikes from the ones embedded in the floor, thankfully these ones are smaller. Half the size, actually. 'But if my train of thought is right then they'll just grow in number exponentially until they're done. Great,' Marvel Girl deduces.

Using her increased acrobatic skills, Marvel Girl is able to avoid more spikes, these ones stabbing halfway through one of the walls. Proving her theory, these spikes double in number but half in size again.

"Called it," Marvel Girl mutters.

Running around and jumping over some metal debris Marvel Girl manages to avoid most of the spikes, one managing to slice her arm. 'What can I do to make her stop?' Marvel Girl thinks. She could go for the cliché what would your mother think, but would that work? 'Eh, may as well work with it.'

Marvel Girl slides to a stop and quickly turns around, using her telekinesis to stop the yet again doubled and half-sized spikes. Using a lot of power, Marvel Girl is able to stop the spikes, keeping them between her on the ground and Scarlet Witch in the air. Gritting her teeth, Marvel Girl clenches her fist, crushing the spikes, forming them all into one metal ball roughly the size of a motorcycle. Marvel Girl tosses the ball aside, slamming it into the wall.

Scarlet Witch tilts her head as she lifts the ball from its place in the wall, slowly transforming it back into the multiple spikes. "Why are you talking to me now? In the past you've only ever fought us, barely any conversation to be had. What makes now so different?"

"Because now you're father is planning to kill everyone. In the past he's only ever gone for specific targets, people that only want us dead, but this time he's going for everyone. I can't stand by and let that happen," Marvel Girl answers.

"I-it doesn't matter, they all die so we can live. We're next in line on the evolutionary ladder, the Earth will be ours sooner or later. May as well make it now," Scarlet Witch argues.

"Was your mother human?" Marvel Girl asks.

Scarlet Witch stops, the spikes floating. Marvel Girl smirks as she finds the perfect opportunity. "This is totally gonna be a cliché, but I gotta ask: what would your mother say? I mean, I know next to nothing about her, but if you really love her this much, she must have been an amazing person. One who doesn't want her husband and children to commit genocide, am I right?"

Scarlet Witch slowly floats down, the spikes dropping softly to the floor beside her. She looks down at her shaking hand and clenches it into a fist, bringing it to her chest. Scarlet Witch takes some deep breaths and looks up at Marvel Girl. "You'd better not be altering my thoughts," she threatens.

Marvel Girl smiles. "Promise," she looks around to see the others still fighting. "You, uh, wanna help us fight these losers?"

Scarlet Witch narrows her eyes. "Don't push your luck."

The door opens, and from it comes Cyclops, looking a little worse for wear, and Havok. The two leaning on each other. Havok holding a hand over a faint red spot on his side, and Cyclops' breathing being shallow.

"Scott!" Marvel Girl shouts. Hopping on the spikes, she runs towards the two, carefully grabbing Cyclops by his other arm. "What happened!?"

Cyclops just waves off her concern. "I'm fine, Jean, Havok just broke some of my ribs is all."

With that Marvel Girl finally notices the other mutant. Looking around Cyclops' head she glares at him, her eyes glowing as she prepares to knock him out. "What did you do?"

Havok's eyes widen in fear. "Whoa! Hold up! I'm Alex, his brother!"

Marvel Girl's glare stays, but she slowly looks back at Cyclops. He nods. "Yeah, it's Alex," he says with a large smile. He then laughs but quickly cringes as he reaches for his ribs. "I regret that."

"ALEX!"

Looking up the three find Polaris coming at them, multiple metal weapons aimed at Cyclops and Marvel Girl. "What did you do to him?" Polaris asks in a low voice.

"Lorna, they didn't do this!" Havok shouts. He moves his arm and points at the wound from the gunshot. "Mystique shot me."

Polaris blinks in shock. She also puts up a metal barrier that protects her from a kick from Beast, it then wraps around him and drops to the floor, Beast's head hitting the ground and knocking him out.

Polaris slowly floats down. Once she lands, she walks up to Havok and touches around the wound. "Why?"

Havok nods towards Cyclops. "Because I found my brother."

Polaris looks at Cyclops and studies him for a moment. "Scott?"

Cyclops nods. "Uh, yeah, name's Scott Summers. Nice to meet you."

"Polaris! Havok! Move!"

Looking up, the four see a fire ball coming at them, courtesy of Pyro. Problem was, the warning came a little too late, the four wouldn't have enough time to avoid the fire ball. Before it connects, a scarlet red bubble appears over them, protecting them from the attack.

"What the hell!?" Pyro shouts in anger. He barely dodges a punch from Colossus and trips over Angel's unconscious form. Colossus stomps forward and lifts the Australian mutant by the front of his suit, lifting him up to eye level and then headbutting him, knocking Pyro out.

A shout comes from behind them, looking up they see Gambit leaping towards the sisters, his staff raised high, the tip glowing pink. "REMY'S GONNA SAVE DE DAY!"

"Remy's gonna stop," Marvel Girl counters. She aims her arm towards him and telekinetically stops him in the air but regrets it immediately as her head spikes in pain. "Jean's gonna sit down."

Marvel Girl walks over and slides down next to the door, looking around the hangar. "Man, we really messed this place up, didn't we?"

The others look around and some recoil as they realize the amount of damage the two teams actually caused. During the silence the six hear the sound of stomping, looking at the source they find Colossus walking towards them, Storm and Rogue under each of his arms. He stops and stares once he notices Polaris and Scarlet Witch standing among his teammates.

Colossus blinks before walking forward, placing the two down gently. "I will go collect the others," he whispers.

For the next few minutes Colossus walks around the hangar, the others standing around awkwardly, not sure what to say.

Using the silence, Polaris pulls Havok aside, careful not to aggravate his gunshot wound. Once a fair distance away she carefully puts Havok down and sits next to him, taking his hand in her own. "Are you sure about this?"

Havok looks at their intertwined hands, rubbing his thumb along her hand. After a moment of thinking, he nods. "Yeah, I am," he finally answers. "I mean," he points at Cyclops as Marvel Girl looks over his wounds. "There's my fucking brother. My. Brother. I didn't think I'd get to see him ever again. Guess I can thank Magneto for one thing, yeah?"

Polaris follows his arm, looking at Cyclops before her eyes trail to her sister. Scarlet Witch notices and gives her sister a smile, something Polaris mirrors. "Yeah, I get it," she rests her head on Havok's shoulder. "I don't remember my Mom, not like Pietro or Wanda, but I know she was…perfect, and I get so damn angry when I think about what happened to her, and that I was taken away. But Father found my skills to be adequate and recruited me, then a few months later we found out that I happened to be the same Lorna they lost. Talk about a coincidence."

"But you didn't want to join," Havok points out. "You only did 'cause I wanted too. I'm sorry."

Polaris smiles. "Don't be, I don't think I'd get to reunite with them otherwise. So, thanks for dragging me along to another one of your misadventures," she sighs dramatically as she drapes her other arm over her head, dropping onto Havok's lap. "Alas, a girl can only have so much fun running from the law. We need to spice things up."

Havok chuckles as he plays with her hair. The fact that her hair changed from brunette to green was always a point of fascination for him. "Well, what if we joined the X-Men?"

Polaris looks at him with an arched brow, prompting him to continue. "I-I mean, yeah, some of them probably won't trust us, but Scott's the leader, so they gotta give us the benefit of the doubt, right?"

Polaris gets up, her hand still connected to Havok's. "Continue."

"And you're tired of running from the law, so what if we became the law?" Havok continues with a smirk.

Polaris quirks an eyebrow and nods. "I see your point," she admits, her next words wipe the smile off of Havok's face. "But I'm pretty sure the X-Men are considered criminals in a lot of places," she then gets up, holding her hand out for Havok to take. "But what the hell. Why not?"

Havok smirks as he takes her hand, getting up with Polaris' help. "What the hell indeed. C'mon, let's go to them."

The two come back to the group, the brothers sharing a nod as Polaris gently places Havok down next to Cyclops. "You guys okay?" The elder Summers brother asks.

Havok and Polaris share a smile. "Yeah, we're fine," Havok replies.

Eventually, Colossus helps Beast sit down next to Marvel Girl. The blue furred mutant looks up at his metallic ally. "Thank you, Piotr, your help is greatly appreciated."

Colossus nods. "Of course," he then looks around. "What happens now? Most of us are incapable of doing anymore, and I think the asteroid is still moving."

"But you can," Gambit says, leaning on his staff for support.

Colossus looks at him, scratching his chin. "Yes, but are you sure I would be the best for fighting Magneto?"

"You're still formidable outside of your metal form, and if you have other teammates who can fight then your chances are better," Polaris replies.

The door opens, and from it walks Mimic, Nightcrawler, Mimic, Iceman, another Mimic, Shadowcat, and Wolverine.

The Mimics, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler stop and stare at the Brotherhood members among their friends, though they don't attack considering how the two sides are sitting and talking instead of fighting each other.

"So, friends?" The Mimic holding Nightcrawler says.

Scarlet Witch rests her cheek in one of her hands. "I wouldn't go that far. Scarlet Witch, we haven't met, have we?"

"Uh, no," the Mimic shakes her hand. "Name's Mimic, this guy's Nightcrawler. And she's Shadowcat."

Shadowcat nods as she sits down next to Storm. "Will she be okay?"

Scarlet Witch waves off her concern. "She'll be fine, I didn't use to much energy on her."

Shadowcat glares at her. She then gets up and walks into Scarlet Witch's personal space, glaring up at the taller girl. "What did you do to her?"

Scarlet Witch sighs and shakes her head. "We were enemies, now we're not, simple as that. Look, I'm going to call my brother and the three of us are gonna stay away from whatever battle you have with Father. Good luck."

Wolverine growls, catching everyone's attention. "Tin Man, you better not be the only one ready to fight."

Colossus sighs deeply. "I am," he then points at the Mimics. "Mimic looks ready to fight, though."

"These aren't the real ones," Wolverine says.

One of the clones holding Iceman brings a hand to his chest, nearly dropping his friend. "Well, I take great offense to that."

"The real Mimic's off to shut down the engines, looks like things are gonna be pretty easy for him if everyone else here's knocked out. Then again," Wolverine looks at Scarlet Witch and Polaris. "Where's your old man?"

"He should be in the throne room, he hardly leaves, scared that Professor X and Forge will find some way to escape if he doesn't keep an eye on them," Polaris answers.

"Yes, but Pietro's still out there. The actual Mimic will have to deal with him," Scarlet Witch adds.

Cyclops nods his head. "He can handle him. Actually, Marvel Girl, think you can connect Polaris and Scarlet Witch with him? If he runs into Quicksilver, we can have them talk to him through Mimic, maybe that'll help."

Wolverine gets up and lowers his cowl. "While you do that me and Colossus are gonna go to Psylocke, may as well get ready," he looks at one of the clones who brought in Iceman. "You come with us. If Psylocke is out of it, you can bring her back here."

The Mimic nods as he walks with the two out of the hangar. "On it."

"Wait!"

Turning around Colossus and Wolverine see Polaris standing behind them, a look of determination on her face. "Let me help you," she begins. "I may not be as powerful as Father, but I can help you."

Colossus looks at Wolverine. The feral mutant studies Polaris for a moment before grunting, turning around and heading towards the door. "Don't slow us down."

Polaris smiles and follows the two to the door, ready to battle Magneto.

"Good luck!" Gambit says.

"Don't need it," Wolverine replies as the door closes.

Mimic

"Alright, this is where we part ways for a bit, see you guys later," I say.

"Good luck, mein friend," Nightcrawler says.

"Stay safe," Shadowcat says, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck, boss," my clones say.

"Don't die," three guesses as to who said that. Hint: he's short.

The group exits the elevator and heads towards the hangar, once the doors close, I go for the bottom floor, where the engines are. On the way down I contemplate switching my powers, but I decide against it, who knows what will happen to my clones if I do, don't wanna test that out right now.

I hum as I look up, contemplating the battle so far. Psylocke's taken down Mastermind, but it sounded like she was pretty winded, gotta see what that was about, I'm sure she's a more powerful telepath than him. Sabretooth's…incapacitated. Destiny took some hits, so Mystique's gonna stay back and help her, that's for sure. B-Mimic's out of commission. Blob and Juggernaut won't be problems thanks to Iceman, Sunfire, and Jubilee, but they're out of it too.

Damn, like I said earlier, this isn't looking so hot. For every fight we win, we take hits that take us out of the fight, and with the way things are going it looks like me and Wolverine will be the only ones able to fight Magneto.

Then again, things in the hangar might not be so bad, maybe some of the others are able to fight, that'd be great. Then we can all go at Magneto, overwhelm him with our numbers. Who am I kidding? The hangar's probably worse than all the other fights throughout this place, what with almost everyone being there. Colossus better not be the only one able to fight, if so, I'll hate everything in the universe. Well, everything except Kitty, of course.

And Mom and Dad too. And Grandma. And my friends.

Okay, so I'll hate anything I don't like, but the message still stands.

The elevator doors open, I take a deep breath, bounce around, and rotate my neck. Time to get serious.

As soon as I exit the elevator I'm immediately tackled by a blue and silver blur. "Owww…"

"Sorry, but I can't let you take out the engines, not when we're so close," Quicksilver apologizes.

"Whatever," I mutter. I slowly sit up, the two of us stare at each other for a moment before I stand up straight. "Why so sorry now? Didn't seem apologetic back in Germany. What makes now so different?"

Quicksilver looks around, his eyes landing on a camera. He looks back at me, a hidden message in his eyes.

I nod and create a multitude of clones. A "fight" breaks out between the two of us, during the faux battle I tear off a panel from the wall next to me and toss it towards Quicksilver, aiming it upwards. He sees it coming from a mile away and dodges the metal panel, it then flies up and slams into the camera, destroying it.

"Okay, now that daddy dearest isn't watching, what makes now so different?" I ask again.

Quicksilver looks at me for a moment before sighing deeply, folding his arms. "Because now I'm not so sure my Father's way is the right way."

I hum in interest as I absorb my clones. "You sounded so sure earlier."

"That was before I thought about my Mother, and what her reaction would be about all of this," Quicksilver admits. "I-I think what he's planning is a big mistake."

"Mistake's probably too light of a word to use," I comment. "Okay, if you're seeing reason then maybe he can, right? I mean, yeah, your mother's death is tragic, but if you can move forward then so can he."

Quicksilver isn't so sure. His eyes dart around as he rubs the back of his neck. "I'm not so sure it'll be so easy to persuade him to let go of his crusade. He's lost more than Mother to the humans."

I arch a brow. "What else happened to him?"

"It isn't my place to say," Quicksilver whispers. "I take it you're down here to shut down the engines, yes?"

"Uh, yeah."

Quicksilver nods down the hallway. "Door at the end. This area doesn't have a lot of rooms."

I then feel three presences in my head, Marvel Girl being one but the other two I don't recognize. "Nolan, how are you?" Marvel Girl asks.

"Oh, you know me, doing great. Quicksilver just told me where the engines are by the way," I reply.

"Is he still with you?" A feminine voice asks.

"Yeah. Sorry, who's this?" I ask.

"Scarlet Witch."

"I'm Polaris."

"Oh, Magneto's other kids are here too. Is that a good thing?" I wonder.

"They aren't gonna fight us, so that's something. Get Quicksilver's attention," Marvel Girl orders.

I look up to see him get ready to walk towards the elevator, to stop him I put a hand on his shoulder. "Hold up, there's a mental conversation I gotta bring you into."

Quicksilver looks at me with an arched brow but nods. "Alright, do it."

I then feel Quicksilver's presence in the mental call. "Okay, Wanda, Lorna, tell him," Marvel Girl says.

"Pietro-" Scarlet Witch begins.

"We're leaving the Brotherhood and joining the X-Men. You wanna come?" Polaris interrupts. "Oh, and I'm gonna help some of the X-Men fight Father, so there's that."

Quicksilver's face becomes deadpan before he lets out a chuckle. Scarlet Witch then chimes in. "Yes, Lorna and I are leaving the Brotherhood, but she jumped the gun on the whole joining the X-Men thing."

"What? C'mon Wanda, the X-Men will be great for you. Don't you agree, Pietro?" Polaris says, trying to persuade her siblings.

"I'm with Wanda on this one, Lorna, I'm not so sure about joining the X-Men," Quicksilver says. "Look, now probably isn't the time to talk about this, wouldn't you say so, Mimic?"

"Yeah, you're right. I still need to take out that engine and then join the others in beating Magneto," I physically turn to Quicksilver. "You sure you don't wanna help us with that at least? Same with you, Scarlet Witch."

The two of them are silent for a moment, probably having some twin conversation even in our mental conversation. Cool. "Leaving the Brotherhood is asking a lot, fighting our Father is too much. Honestly, I'm not even sure why Lorna's helping you fight him."

"Because if anyone's best to counter him, it's me, especially when you consider the X-Men available to fight him," Polaris reasons.

"Oh, right. You're not gonna like this, Nolan," Marvel Girl warns.

Quicksilver pats my shoulder and walks opposite the elevator, heading towards the engine room. I follow after him as we continue the conversation. "What? Why won't I like this?" I ask.

"Piotr and Logan are the only ones able to fight."

I turn to Quicksilver and grab the front of his suit. "Please help us fight. You too, SW, your help would be greatly appreciated."

Quicksilver grabs my wrists and pushes my hands back to me as we reach the door, he inputs a code and it opens, revealing the engines to Asteroid M. "I know that Logan has a metal skeleton, but what are Piotr's powers?" He asks.

"He can coat himself in organic metal," Scarlet Witch answers.

"Oh. Well, good luck."

"Really? That's all you have to say. "good luck"? Thanks, we'll definitely beat Magneto now," I dryly reply.

"You've got this, Nolan, don't worry," Marvel Girl reassures. "We'll be in the Blackbird, if you need any help just yell, alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks Jean, see you in a bit," I reply. And with that, the mental conversation is over.

From somewhere—he doesn't have a utility belt—Quicksilver hands me a piece of paper with some writing on it. "You're lucky you ran into me. The codes for control of the engines are only held by my Father, Wanda, Lorna, and I, use this if you wanna shut them down."

I take the paper and nod at him. "Thanks, I appreciate it," he nods and heads towards the door as I walk towards the computer. "You sure you two don't wanna join the X-Men? Polaris seems pretty adamant about it, do you really wanna leave her?"

Quicksilver turns his head to look at me. "We aren't leaving her; I'll be sure to write to her. But yeah, we're sure. And Nolan? Thanks, for helping me see the errors of my ways."

I give him a thumbs up. "No problem, man. And hey, keep in touch."

Quicksilver just nods before disappearing in his trademark blue and silver blur.

Alright, time to shut this engine down.

I head towards the computer and login, honestly, this desktop isn't much. Everything on it pertains to the asteroid and the status. I see things like life support, power, navigation, and etc. but when I click on them its just reports, looks like they can't be controlled from here. It's all cool, came for the engine anyway.

Some clicking and some clacking later and I now have full control to the engines of Asteroid M. After some more navigation I hover the mouse over the "shut down engines?" message. With a dramatic raise of my arm I aim my finger at the left click. "Yes, computer, shut down the engines."

And with that, my hand drops down in a dramatic fashion.

Well, to me it was dramatic, not so sure about outside sources.

Loud beeping then goes off and a voice over the intercom speaks. "Engine shutdown imminent, please, brace yourselves in three…two…one."

Thanks to the warning I don't fall over as Asteroid M slows to a stop before suddenly stopping. Curious, I look at the navigation of the computer to find us still over the Indian Ocean. Good, if this thing were to fall it won't hit any major cities.

I feel Marvel Girl's mental presence again. "Nicely done, Nolan! Now, go with the others, one of your clones is on its way back with Betsy."

"Got it," I reply as the mental connection is cut.

As I head towards the door I stop.

There's gotta be a master computer, right? And who else would have access to that computer but Magneto? With it he could totally reactivate the engines, that'd make all the pain the others went through for nothing. Hell, he might even make this computer useless by completely overriding this one, I can't take that chance.

Do I? Fuck it, may as well. I run to the door and wait in the doorway, looking at the engines on the opposite wall. Hoping I don't hurt Psylocke, I swap to my Cyclops powers and blast the engines, destroying them. The resulting explosion sends me flying out of the room, I slam on the ground and skid a few feet. Ow.

My earpiece activates. Hm, was expecting Marvel Girl in my head again. "Hey, uh, boss?" One of my clones says. Looks like they don't disappear if I swap powers, good to know. "What was that?"

"That's what I'm wondering," Wolverine replies.

I slowly get up and dust myself off, swapping to my Wolverine powers to get rid of the soreness and the ringing in my head. "I kinda blew up the engines," I nonchalantly answer. "Hey, how's Jean?"

"She's unconscious," Beast answers. "What do you mean "I kinda blew up the engines"?"

"I think it's pretty obvious what that means," I reply.

"But why'd you blow 'em up?" Wolverine asks.

"I thought, "hey, what if Magneto has a master computer that lets him reactivate the computers from where he's at. May as well destroy 'em now so we won't be over civilization later." You know?" I answer.

"Good point," Beast says. "Okay-"

"Hold up," Wolverine interrupts. "Mint Leaf here just told me you shouldn't have done that kid."

"Who the hell is Mint Leaf?" I ask.

"Polaris. Look, apparently even if the engines were off, they were the only things keeping this thing afloat, now that they're destroyed, we're gonna fall into Earth's orbit," Wolverine continues.

I stop in shock just as the elevator doors close. "I'm sorry," I gulp. "Did you say Asteroid M's gonna fall into Earth's orbit?"

"Yup. We gotta save Chuck and Forge quick, then get the hell outta dodge," Wolverine replies.

"It doesn't seem like it's falling yet," Cyclops chimes in.

As if that were the signal, we feel the asteroid begin to plummet, everything around me shaking. "Oh, now it's falling," Cyclops says. "Mimic, your clone just got here with Psylocke, he's heading back, probably to meet up with you."

"Got it. Logan, Piotr, I'm on my way. See you guys in a bit," I say.

"See you soon, comrade," Colossus replies.

"Get here quick, Shifty. I can't wait to sink my claws into that bastard," Wolverine says.

And with that the link goes dead.

For a few floors things are silent. Well, if you ignore the constant shaking and the fact that one's heartbeat is probably going at a thousand miles per second when they realize they're standing on a doomed asteroid. But silent, nonetheless.

The doors open, and in comes my clone. "Hey," he says.

"Hey."

"Going up?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Same."

For a while the two of us are silent as we go up some more floors, keeping our little bit going.

The elevator stops again and the doors open, this time to reveal Mystique holding Destiny, some bandages around the precogs abdomen.

The four of us stare for a while before my clone and I stand to the side, giving them space to come in.

With the four of us in the elevator the silence goes from funny to awkward. Me and my clone would make eye contact, and occasionally we'd make eye contact with Mystique. Well, I think we do, can't tell, what with her golden-yellow eyes that actually do look a lot like Nightcrawlers.

…

Holy shit, how long is this elevator ride?

"Did you tell him?" Mystique suddenly asks.

"Huh, oh. No, not yet, Kitty and I felt like this would be a bad time," I answer.

There's another moment of awkward silence.

"Good point. Even if he can't fight, he'd need all of his focus on this," Mystique says, praising me? Huh, that's a first. "Is there a reason you have a clone here?"

Me and the clone look at each other. I swap to my Multiple Man powers and absorb him.

"Where's the other Mimic?" I ask.

"Does it matter?" Mystique counters.

Before I can reply Destiny's eyes glow blue, which I can somehow notice, even with her full-face mask. Mystique and I watch as the glow intensifies before stopping abruptly. "Ah, I see."

I see a new powerset.

"What, Irene? What did you see?" Mystique asks.

Ignoring her, Destiny looks at me. "Nolan, come with us."

I blink as the elevator doors open, although, no one comes inside. "We don't have time to drag this child along. Let's go, the escape pods should be on this floor," Mystique says as she tries to exit the elevator, but Destiny's arm on the doorway stops her. Mystique sighs deeply before turning around to glare at me. "Come on, kid. Now."

I look at the console. "Uh, rain check? My destination's literally a floor up, can't keep them waiting for long."

"No," Destiny gently argues. "You must come with us, it's extremely important that you do."

"Besides, she's a precog, no matter how much you argue this has already happened. There's no use fighting it," Mystique adds.

I still look at her, wary about the gun on her hip. I swap to my Quicksilver powers as I back up just a little bit.

Mystique just rolls her eyes, I think, and grabs my wrist, pulling me out of the elevator.

"Okay! Damn, I'm coming, no need to be so freaking rough," I mutter as I wrench my hand out of her grasp.

The three of us stop in front of an escape pod. "Put me down on the floor, Raven, get the pod ready please."

Mystique gently lowers Destiny down and opens the door to the pod, but before she enters, she puts her gun in my face and hits me with a glare. "If you do anything to her, you're dead kid. Clear?"

"As a pane of glass," I reply.

Mystique grunts before entering the escape pod, muttering to herself as she gets it ready.

"Come here child," Destiny says, catching my attention. Once I look at her she takes off her mask to reveal a woman around her late forties to early fifties. She has auburn hair and brown eyes that look like they've seen a lot. Which they have, what with her ability to see the future.

"You're friends with Anna Marie, aren't you," at my nod she continues. "Good, good. Ever since she got her powers, she's been hard on herself, even though she doesn't show it in an outwards manner, and she has few friends, only that LeBeau boy. Keep being her friend, alright?"

I look at her with a questioning glance. "That sounds pretty final, what's up with that?"

"The pods ready! Kid, bring Destiny in here then go die or whatever. I don't care," Mystique shouts from the pod.

With a sad smile Destiny slams her hand on the pod, shutting the door and separating Mystique from us. The blue-skinned mutant runs towards the door and slams on it, shouting who knows what at me. Honestly, don't wanna know.

"I have a diary, it's filled with everything I've ever seen in my visions, it's in my room on this asteroid," Destiny begins explaining. "There was one entry of great importance. The date of the death of Irene Adler. My death."

I look at her, both in shock and awe. Shocked 'cause ever since she got her powers she'd know when and how she would die, and she had to live her entire life with that. Awe because she didn't let that define her, or maybe it did? Never know with precogs.

"That's today, isn't it?"

Destiny smiles. "You catch on quick. Do you know why I asked for you to come here?"

"Because I have some big impact on the future of mutants?" I ask.

She nods. "Monumentally big."

Destiny takes a deep breath, although I notice her cringe in pain as she clutches at her abdomen.

"En Sabah Nur will try his best to break you. Don't let him."

I look at Destiny, confused. "What? Who's En Sabah Nur? And why will he try to break me?"

Eventually the pod shoots out of the asteroid, heading towards Earth. Looks like Mystique's safe.

Destiny doesn't answer my question. She lays down, silent. Unmoving.

Carefully, I kneel down next to her and check for her pulse. After a few minutes I get nothing. Dammit.

"Sorry," I whisper to Irene Adler's corpse.

With a deep breath I turn around and enter the elevator, ready to fight Magneto and end this whole ordeal.

Next time: Plummet

And there's the first death of the story. Rest in peace, Irene Adler, you were pretty interesting to write for your very few appearances. Oh, and that final warning, third time Apocalypse has been referenced. The second time was seen at the end of the Sinister Arc, the first time was when Sinister and Nolan were talking back in chapter four, Sinister mentioned a "him", a guest figured that out. And Destiny's diary will become a plot point later, just not sure if I'll make it a part of a bigger arc or its own arc, we'll see.

But yeah, one more chapter and this arc will be over! Man, this feels pretty long, maybe 'cause it's been a while since I've made a plot heavy arc instead of a world building one. Probably. Also, with the next chapter we'll finally get to solve the mystery of Cayde's last name.

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