Disclaimer: Marvel owns X-men, I don't. So please don't sue.
Author's Note: This story is becoming a life goal moreso than a side project. However, I'm still trying to post a new chapter every summer. I don't have as much time to work on them, but I would eventually like to get this finished. So for everyone who has stuck around, you have both my thanks for your support, and my apologies for the long stretch of time between updates.
Part One: Blow Me Away – Breaking Benjamin
Part Two: Running With The Devil – Van Halen
Part Three: Let You Go – Chase and Status
Part Four: Titanium - Sia
PART ONE: BLOW ME AWAY
Every member of the blue team felt the force of the explosion as it rocked through the basement level bricks. Gambit's signature move was all the warning they needed to break free of the cage "holding" them in. Beast – naturally being the strongest – tossed his disabled collar to the ground before bending back the bars. On his way out, he smashed the device to pieces with his paw, leaving the ladies to follow suit.
Soldiers flooded the facility, coming in tight on their heels. With chaos ensuing, the blue team quickly followed the trail left behind by their former teammate. Now able to use their powers, they had no need to be so careful about breaking and entering. The only thing that mattered was getting to Gambit before he blew the place (and them with it) sky high.
Always a step ahead where her padnat was concerned, Storm was the first to bust through the server room doors (or what was left of them). She was determined to stop her friend before he did something reckless, putting them in even more danger than they were already in. Her fears were realized as she took in the sight before her.
Fiery pieces of defunct machinery lay scattered about the room, while two men lay motionless at the thief's feet. The unfortunate victims appeared to be in just as bad of shape as the blown up servers. And Goddess only knew which had been his actual target...
The only thing the Gambit had left in tact were the security feeds – and he was watching them like a hawk. All while ignoring her raised eyebrow.
"Gambit! I COMMAND you to EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"
"Relax Stormy!" He drawled back. "Remy jes' be gettin' some answers from dese fools!"
A visible frost rose up with Storm's next words. "Step away from them Gambit. You have done what you came here to do. You must leave the rest to us."
The thief's face twisted in a mix of rage and resignation. He had no time to waste on the X-Men's trivial judgment calls. True to his word, he would leave the command decisions to Storm and Cyclops. But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it.
"Bien!" He snapped, kicking at one of the men with his foot. "While you all up here defendin' dese two, Remy make himself useful elsewhere. Best get 'em out o' here quick dough. Dey don' know nutthin 'bout Bastian, and dey sure ta sell us out first chance dey get. When dey wake up, dat is."
Flicking his gaze back to the security screens, Gambit knew he had to keep moving. The previously "lifeless" sentinals were starting to rise to their feet – ready to defend their existence against the encroaching wall of X-Men. Yes, there were human soldiers were in front of them, but they were no more expendable than the pawns of a chess game. Enhanced as they may be, they would still be the first to go.
Storm watched dumbfounded as Gambit tore out of the room, unaware that he had just made an important discovery. Standing over the lifeless bodies of Gyrich and Trask, the weather witch remained convinced that her friend had done the worst. But she was about to make a very important discovery herself. She was wrong about him – just as she had always had been. Both victims were still breathing. No bones were broken. In fact, Gambit hadn't really tortured them at all. The two men were merely unconscious, waiting to be removed safely from the building while the thief in question went to hunt down the one who truly deserved the title of "padnat".
PART TWO: RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL
Gambit fled down the hallway - putting as much distance between him and the others as possible. All along, the plan had been to blow up the main server that controlled the sentinels - causing all of them to shut down. But the server he'd just incinerated didn't do the trick. It didn't even phase the blasted bags of bolts!
So…if none of the servers in the server room were controlling the sentinels, that meant someone was controlling them from another location. And, that someone was about to start World War III with his girlfriend. As determined as he was to get to Jubilee before that happened, there was still one thing he had to do.
From watching the security feeds, he realized that the servers he'd blown weren't entirely useless. Although not the main power source, they did control how the sentinels' communicated with each other – and with Bastian. That meant Plan B had to go into full effect. Clearing his mind completely of his plans, he gave a silent mental go-ahead to the White Queen and her team, alerting her to do what they both knew would have to be done.
Had he not been so worried about Jubilee, he would have had more time to reflect on the sheer absurdity of the situation he found himself in. Trusting the White Queen to make this a fair fight was about as useful as entrusting his life savings to the Hellfire Club. One way or the other, she was going to make him pay...
Under Emma's supervision, the students left behind at the X-Mansion (along with Xavier and Forge) began to implement a cyber attack – imputing their own communication codes into the machinery that served as the Sentinels' small "brains".
Gambit was left with no choice but to cross his fingers and wish for luck. If this didn't work, the mission would turn into a complete blood bath.
While the Red Team stood their ground, waiting on the enemy to declare war, time stopped briefly.
With a massive wall of Sentinals now looming over the formidable X-Men, it was now or never.
Finally, the battle began.
Only not how anyone expected.
Sentinel turned against Sentinel. Sentinel against Soldier.
Some fought each other. Some fought themselves. Some struggled to figure out who they were supposed to be fighting at all. For most of the sleeper soldiers, it was all they could do to avoid getting stomped on as they tried (and failed) to regain control.
Bullets flew around the dazed X-men. The air around them crackled from the jolts of tazers. Laser blasts became mere hazards to avoid. Sentinel after Sentinel went down, falling to their knees as the soldiers were forced to turn on them.
To the Sentinals, it was kill or be killed. To the human cyborgs, it was every man for himself. For the X-men, however, it was just another day of being a mutant. Another day of getting hunted down and shot at like animals. Only they were saving their own skins, and their humans aggressors too.
As the students and their telepathic gurus continued the fight away from behind the scenes, the Blue Team made their way to the front lines. Scott blasted away at any Sentinel he could get his eye on, while Jean flew to his side to help him. She did what she could to telekinetically to keep the robots away from her husband.
Angel and Betsy operated in much the same fashion. Rogue and Joseph, however, did things their own way. Rogue was holding her own, taking out her frustrations on the metal-heads by swinging them around and smashing them into each other. Joseph merely stood back and watched the carnage of robot on robot, letting her have her fun. Instead of using his powers in the obvious way, he opted to keep the human soldiers from turning on their mutant counterparts. He'd much rather protect his own kind than have to rescue the cowards that called themselves human.
As for the rest of the team, Guthrie and Bishop tag teamed isolated groups while Beast and Bobby ran interference. Theirs was a mixture of Southern hollers, Shakespearean quotations, ice slides, and bragging about who had the bigger guns. Naturally, Bishop came up the winner every time.
Storm, for her part, took command from the air. She used the water from the dam to wash out the bigger factions – taking care not to drown anyone in the process. She found it ironic that something as simple as a little water could fry so many circuits once it penetrated the plating that wasn't so sturdy as it first appeared.
Though everyone worked together to save themselves from the Sentinels, it was apparent that the X-men were still outnumbered. The Sentinels were starting to take to the air, with more coming to join the fight. Thanks to the efforts of Emma and Gambit, though, the odds were not hopeless.
In fact, the attack went so well, that it took a massive effort from Bastion (via Mastermold) to bring what was left of his cybernetic subjects to a halt and turn them one by one back against their "attackers".
Jubilee must be giving him hell…. Gambit thought to himself as he kept running – keeping up with the security feeds posted at random intervals along the hallways.
Reaching out with what energy he had left, he called out to her – begging for a response and an update on her location.
He wasn't disappointed.
PART THREE: LET YOU GO
"Looks like my friends just blew a hole through your fence." Jubilee scoffed to the madman before her.
Bastian wheezed out what sounded like a chuckle. "Are you making a joke? There are more of my soldiers than there are of your X-men. And my technology far surpasses your own."
"Well, with all your super effective technology, you'd think you'd guard it a little better. Why trust all those tiny little humans to defend your big scary robots? They're afraid of mutants' shadows – let alone their own!"
"Silly girl! Fences can be mended. Problems corrected. New humans found. New Sentinals made. I have an endless supply of both. What I shall not suffer is an enemy to outlive me."
"Sucks for you, then! Cause I ain't going down without a fight! Be-sides, if you think the X-men won't come after you for trying to control every mutant on the planet, you want to retighten a few of those loose screws."
"Who are these X-men to ME? The same ones who handed you over without a second thought? The same ones attacking me now? Your new life with them can't mean much if you're both willing to give up on it so easily."
"Well, we can't just let you go stomping around the universe like you own the place, Bowser!"
"Tell me the truth you little maggot. Why did you come back?"
"You know why! I've got questions, and unfortunately, you're the one with the answers."
"Ah! I see you have discovered your new gifts then?"
"Gifts?" Jubilee spat. "Yeah about that Mr. Sinister…what the fuck did you even do? I've been asking myself for years now. Not even Beast can figure it out! If you're going to threaten to kill me, you could at least let me in on your big fat juicy secret."
All those late night training sessions with Remy came pouring back to the firecracker as she tried to imagine herself back with him – popping gum in his face and gleefully testing his patience just to see what he'd say. That's right petite….play to his ego…Keep him talking. Make him think you de one who stupid…
His words made her better able to breathe as Bastion rambled on.
"Do you really want to know? Well, it's quite simple really. For decades, I have been developing a new piece of cybernetic technology that will allow me to control mutants in the same way I am able to control humans. You might remember that my soldiers have cybernetic implants that allow me to access their bodies. I can control their movements as easily as I control my sentinels. This, I was content with. Until I happened across the most dangerous mutant faction on the planet – and a host body with all the information on them I could ever need!"
"TAKE A NUMBER PAL! So you hate the X-men and want to get back at them by using me? How totally original!"
"Your wit did not save you then – and it can not save you now. You have always been the weakest link to them. They abandoned you to me for months. Years, even. Yet, I took no chances at being interrupted in the short time we had together. For weeks I tested the limits of your shell – your body - if you want to call it that. All of those shots and surgeries were used to gain access to your memories and to test the limits of your powers. You were able to help me develop my first prototype – a small implant which was inserted into your brain a mere week before your untimely escape."
"Just tell me what it does asshole!" Jubilee forced the words through her clenched teeth.
"You haven't figured it out yet? It allow sme complete control over your powers. You see, I explored my progress in three phases: mental, emotional, and physical control. All those nightmares and late night 'conversations,' we had? They were very real indeed. I had you doubting your very sanity! Surely if I could access your mind so easily, your body wouldn't be far behind. After testing your mental instability, I started to cause your physical body to react to enhanced amounts of stress. Xavier foolishly thought your powers were evolving. He had no idea that it was me using your own powers against you. All of those sicknesses and fevers were attempts to bend your body to my will. The distance, of course, made the results difficult to monitor. And Xavier's constant meddling was an unwelcome interference. But after using my connection with the late Graydon Creed to force your hand, you lost the control you were guarding so tightly. You were even more susceptible to my manipulation than before! In fact, you very nearly incinerated yourself before my research was complete."
Jubilee felt her stomach drop. She had sealed off that dark place where her mind refused to go. The place that Remy was trying so hard to make right. Her voice carried the emotional numbness she was still wrestling with – even now. "Why not just let me die?"
Bastian answered her question happily, too full of himself to care about something as insignificant as her feelings. "Well, we couldn't have that, now could we? Not when my research was almost complete. Never before have I had such a powerful psychic to study before. Xavier…Emma Frost…Jean Gray… they have always been beyond my control. But not you! You were far too unstable to pose any real threat to me. And you proved it when you tried to end your life."
"But WHY?" Jubilee was close sobbing now – her feelings coming back full force. "Why go ON AND ON for FIVE FUCKING YEARS? Is TIME TORTURE one of your BRILLIANT new tactics? WHEN were you planning on ENDING IT?"
Have you just now begun to realize what I've done? You should be honored to have been chosen. You see, I too have been experimenting with astral projection and telepathy. And, it took me those five long years to learn what little I could about your psychic immunity. With just that one little piece of me implanted in your mind, I was able to use your psychic powers against you - trapping you within the astral plane. You may have tried to kill yourself, but it is I who kept you alive.
The firecracker began to feel her face again – pale and shaking with each word. Not from fright, but from the effort it took to keep herself and her powers under control.
"I finally had you in my grasp - in my own private little hell that I created for you. And then your insolent friend had the audacity to interfere. Had it not been for him, I would have continued to toy with you until you were of no further use to me. Then, and only then, would I eliminate you using the powers that had evaded me for so long."
"Not to make a mockery of your plans or anything – especially seeing as how you love to hear yourself talk - but it sorta looks like you failed….y'know…seeing as how I'm still breathing."
"So far, I have only managed to awaken your powers, but not take control of them like I have dreamed of for so long. Every time I try, something or someone gets in my way. THAT is the reason why you are here now. It was only a matter of time before you came after me. Alone. I have been calling you back all these years - so that our time together can come to an end. My final act will be to take possession of your body and incinerate it, sending you back to the ashes from whence you came. Then, and only then will I infuse what's left of your powers onto that same DNA implanted microchip I put in you all those years ago. Coincidentally, it will be the only piece of you left behind."
"What good is a stupid microchip with a carbon copy of my powers to you?"
"Really! How selfish! You merely see your powers as an extension of yourself. I see them as a weapon: a weapon that you will only use against me, and against those who weaker than you. With that one device, I could eliminate you and insert your powers into any sentinel of my choosing! And once I've done it to you, I can do it to any mutant of my choosing! Finally, I'll possess a microchip with something I can actually use instead of wasting my time talking with its former body."
"So that's your "prime objective"? You want to take the one thing that makes me special and use it to wipe all of us mutants off the face of the earth?"
"In so many words: Yes."
"And if you fail?" Jubilee challenged, raising an eyebrow of her own.
"Then I shall leave no traceable evidence behind.
PART FOUR: I AM TITANIUM
Finally, Jubilee felt like it was her turn to laugh. "Well, I guess the microchip's out of the bag. Your prototype doesn't exist anymore numbskull. I had it removed."
"You don't think I noticed?" Bastian ployed. "Mind you it does have a tracker. I managed to trace it to a specific laboratory before it was destroyed. Would you like to know which one?"
Jubilee's blood ran cold. "I'd rather you tell me how you plan to control me without it."
"That question is hardly worth my time. You did manage to remove the first one, but I daresay you missed the second.
Jubilee's mouth froze in mid sentence. The thoughts left in her head were better left unrepeated.
Bastian only huffed. "I knew that idiot crime boss would fail to get you back to me. But he did manage to inject you with a new chip. Don't tell me you were foolish enough to think it was merely a sedative! The only difference with this one is that I kept this one dormant so you wouldn't notice it readily."
The firecracker refused to let words fail her. "I don't care if you DID put another chip in my head. I'll destroy it AND I'll destroy you. Or are you foolish enough to think I could only do it once?"
"FOOLISH GIRL! I WILL HAVE WHAT I WANT!"
The roar from Bastian's mouth was the last thing Jubilee heard as she finally let go of the rage she'd been holding onto. Machinery exploded. Wires sparked. Large crackles of electricity interacted with her pyrotechnics and commanded the attention of her nemesis as the the four walls of technology that enclosed them erupted into flames.
Jubilee had been so sure of herself when she'd walked through the front doors of his fortress. Now, she wasn't so confident. To hear Bastian reduce all she had gone through to a mere bid for a micro-chip, made her knees go weak and her mouth turn dry. She had been violated. Her own body used against her. Ravaged by technology that had no more business being inside of her than those Friends Of fucking Humanity.
She had felt so much better thinking Bastian couldn't get to her - knowing he was no longer in her head. Now she saw he was just in hiding. And knowing why didn't make a damn bit of difference. How was she supposed to fight against a technology that she didn't even know she still possessed until now? How was she supposed to take control of a body that didn't even feel like hers anymore? How was she supposed to save her family from being destroyed by this mad man? And how was she supposed to save Remy after all he had done to save her?
There were a lot of deaths she carried with her to this day. Her real family died because of her. Her best friend died because of her. Her first boyfriend died because of her. Her adopted family almost died because of her. And now, somehow Bastian had to die.
How in the hell was she going to make that happen? Ideas began to form in her mind, each one more improbable than the next. Was it possible to isolate the chip that was still inside of her and use it to blow up the bastard? To trap him on the astral plane instead of her? His DNA was implanted on that chip just as much as hers was…so at least she had a shot.
In the dark…
There just had to be a way to be herself, and accept her "manipulated" powers back into that self. Maybe if she could take back control of what she thought she had no control over, she could get Bastian out of her head for good. Then, she could blow him up into bite sized pieces just like she had with Emplate.
Only this time, she might not live to tell about it.
padnat - partner
Bien – Fine!