Sanctuary Part 10:

Global Audience

The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center NY

Being a cyborg, Forge was able to keep track of the intruders as they had searched the mansion to no avail for any sign of mutants. He knew that the elevator shaft and everything underground had been kept secret from the public and the government. Still, the elevator doors were pretty obvious, and once they discovered there was no other way down they would attempt to climb down the shaft. Seconds ago one of the soldiers had found the elevator doors and two of them were prying them open. Not an easy feat when you didn't have the proper tools.

"They've nearly got them open," a feed from the camera in front of the elevator was playing in the upper corners of Forge's vision. "Once everyone is well on their way down I will re-activate the elevator and send it up. They'll catch a ride thinking that it will go back down, but it won't, it should by us another few minutes."

"What if they get around the elevator instead of riding it?" Cecelia Reyes asked. She was an emergency surgeon so she knew how to keep her cool under pressure but she had never had a team of well-trained soldiers come for her.

"Then we'll have to get ready to fight," Forge said grimly right as the soldiers finally propped the elevator doors open. The rest were on their way. "How many people can you protect with that forcefield of yours?"

"Just myself, maybe one other person if I really push it but not for very long," Cecilia shook her head.

"If things get too crazy, John here is our exit strategy. He's a teleporter." Forge motioned to another refugee, a black man wearing a cowboy hat and police shades. John merely nodded to acknowledge it was him Forge was speaking of.

"You just let me know when I need to fire," Dazzler said. She was standing behind him in the wide metal-walled hall, just in front of the closed elevator doors, Forge would open them if necessary. "I've been holding onto a lot of energy."

"I want a shot at them," Polaris told Forge.

"I hope that none of us has to shoot at them," Forge told her. "Remember this is streaming live to the whole world, we don't want to appear to enjoy hurting them."

"Are you kidding me?" Polaris asked, her voice rising a little too high. "They invaded our home and tried to kill us. I'm gonna love taking these sons of bitches down!"

"Keep your voice down, they're starting to lower themselves into the elevator shaft," Forge admonished. Madrox had stayed surprisingly quiet while they all stood there arguing and the lawyer Vange Whedon had taken note of it. Was he scared? She had seen him around the past few days and he was normally quite the loudmouth prankster.

"Forge," Madrox the Multiple Man finally spoke up. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Is it about the attack, because I'm just getting ready to set everything in motion?" Forge asked as he saw the last soldier lower himself into the elevator shaft using his optic display.

"I think the attack is an official government mission," Madrox blurted out. "John had heard some things. I didn't listen."

"Let's deal with these goons and then we can talk about it," Forge said as he set the elevator back up the shaft. "I need to concentrate."

Madrox simply nodded. Forge watched as the soldiers dove to the side and found that there was just enough space for them to let the elevator pass by on its way up. Forge stopped the elevator right next to them to make it as hard as possible. "Someone knows where we are and they are trying to stop us." Forge heard the leading soldier say. They were already finding a rhythm and descending almost as fast as before despite the tightness of the crawlspace.

"It didn't work, they'll be here in less than a minute," Forge barked.

"My turn," Dazzler said grimly as Forge opened the elevator doors for her. She pointed one hand like a gun. Her mutant ability was to create light from sound, and a Danger Room full of panicked refugees and teenagers created a lot of sounds. "Close your eyes. First, a light burst, to blind them." A dazzling blinding white light flashed from the former X-Man. Up above she could hear several of the soldiers cry out.

"Then I can pick them off, one by one," Dazzler aimed again with her finger.

"Get out of there!" Forge grabbed Dazzler and hauled her back just as the soldiers began shooting blindly downward. Bullets whizzed through the space Dazzler had just occupied.

"How did you know?" Dazzler asked as the elevator doors slammed shut.

Forge pointed at his cybernetic eye, "I can see everything they are doing anywhere the school has cameras, I've also hacked into their gear and can see through their own cameras. The sniper wasn't blinded, he was looking up when you blasted them. Right now he is just waiting for you to re-open those doors so he can take you out while his little buddies scramble down the shaft."

"What'll we do?" Cecilia Reyes asked in alarm.

"For starters, I am sending the elevator back down, it'll just make it a little more annoying."

"I've got a welcoming present for them," said the ever silent John Wraith, pulling a device about the size of a paperback from one of his many many pockets. Cecilia hesitated to think about what else he might be carrying.

"What is that?" Forge asked, eying it even while the man placed the device on the divide of the elevator doors.

"The second they open these doors they will get a little surprise," Wraith said vaguely. "It's best none of us were around to see."

"We don't want to kill anyone," Forge reminded Wraith as the man finished securing the explosive.

"These people came into a school, ready to kill children, and you're not willing to defend yourselves?" Wraith's voice was dripping with disbelief.

"There's always a better way."

"There's always a better way when you go looking for trouble, but when trouble comes knocking on your door you stop it, hard and fast, or it's your loved ones that will pay the price." Wraith stalked off toward the Danger Room and everyone was quick to follow, except Forge who stared at the device for a moment. The whole world was watching, what would they think of their choices? Finally, Forge turned and jogged back to join the others.

Alphabet City, New York

Vanisher couldn't help noticing that, as they made their way toward Wolverine's daughter, people seemed to be into their phones even more than usual. Usually, his broad dark tattoos that covered most of his body got at least a few looks but no one seemed to even notice as they passed by. Having the six-foot-six Sabretooth not drawing any glances just made it weirder. Something big must be happening that they didn't know about.

"Hey, Mystique," Vanisher tentatively spoke up. Victor's shocking amber eyes glared at him.

"I told you to call me Officer in this disguise," Mystique snapped.

"Haven't you noticed people are acting distracted?"

"Yes, and it's just the distraction we need to get our target and get out of here."

"Do you know what's happening?"

Sabretooth snorted. "The X-Geeks and their followers at the mansion are under siege from the humans they're always so fond of. It's hilarious."

"If people are willing to go after Xavier and his goody-two-shoes X-Men then what will they do to us?"

"Let's worry about that when it becomes our problem," Mystique said brusquely. "Right now we've got an assassin to catch. So let's stay focused on our problem and let the X-Men worry about theirs."

"Over here," Sabretooth made his way down an alley. "She must have slipped into one of these buildings, the trail ends here."

"Which one?" Mystique snarled.

Sabretooth sniffed about for a bit, before finally pointing to an old brick building with boarded-up windows and tons of graffiti. They looked at Vanisher, with a small flash they were in.

"Do you still smell her?" Mystique whispered, if the child had fallen asleep then she wanted her to stay that way.

"Yeah, she's here, " Sabretooth grunted back in his gravelly voice.

"I want to take her in without a fight, " Mystique ordered. Destiny simply shook her head. This wasn't going to be easy. "You hang back. You're the most valuable member of the team." Sabretooth snorted derisively.

They followed him as he slunk through the darkness, following the familiar and yet distinct scent. Mystique knew that as far as Victor Creed was concerned he was the most important member. She had a long history with Creed, including a son, she knew how to work with him, but the more people she brought into the job the more likely he'd mess it up. She had an even longer history with Destiny, also including a son, but she trusted the woman implicitly. Destiny was more important.

They found themselves in a large storage area where old pallets and tubs were piled about haphazardly. It was so dark the only two who were capable of seeing anything were Mystique and Sabretooth, both of whom had advanced eyes. Destiny stayed next to where they had teleported in, Vanisher crept along occasionally catching hints of Mystique's white outfit and did his best to keep up.

Sabretooth motioned to Mystique then pointed to a stack of wooden pallets where a small lump sat unmoving. The girl must have fallen asleep. Mystique watched Sabretooth close the gap. As normally loud and obnoxious as he was Sabretooth could be surprisingly stealthy.

With a leap, Sabretooth snatched the bundle in his clawed hands and roared in victory. He went silent the second he landed. He looked down to see the small pale face of a girl, her features contorted with a sneer. Then the searing pain hit. The girl had both the claws of her right arm sticking into Sabretooth's thigh.

He roared and swiped at her. She leaped easily out of his grasp, when she did so blood squirted violently from his wound, she had severed his femoral artery.

"You little bitch!" Sabretooth roared. Blood was coursing down his leg so copiously his footing was already slippery with his own blood. "I'm gonna tear you apart!"

"We want her alive, Victor!" Mystique shouted, but it was too late, he had already gone feral.

Snarling like a wild animal leaped at the girl, the claws on his fingers flashed dangerously. The girl was faster and more agile as she leaped again and again out of Sabretooth's grasp. Vanisher stayed back.

"Get her!" Mystique barked at him.

"There's no way I'm getting between that animal and his target, " Vanisher refused.

"I wonder if that metal goes all through her skeleton, like Wolverine, " Mystique said under her breath.

Just then Victor slipped in his own blood, he stumbled. With a savage shriek of her own, the girl launched herself at Sabretooth. He recovered but she was already on him. Her left claws buried themselves into his palm, her right slashed him across the face. His severed nose went flying. He roared, his lip split wide open.

"I'd better act now, " Mystique mumbled angrily. She pulled out a revolver as the girl leaped away once again.

The bloodied and savage Sabretooth jumped at her again. The girl jumped backward onto a short pile of pallets the side flipped to a taller stack. Sabretooth clambered after her but the old wooden pallets broke under his considerable weight. The girl leaped once more up and grabbed onto one of the exposed rafters above. Sabretooth took on the broken pallets and chucked it at her.

She leaped atop the rafter but it wasn't enough. Broken pieces of food pummeled her. She desperately struggled to regain her footing but she tumbled into the air. A single shot rang out loudly in the old abandoned factor. Blood spurt from the girl's head and fell limply.

"Get her out of here!" Mystique shrieked once more at Vanisher. Sabretooth was scrambling toward his prey. Vanisher appeared right next to the girl and grabbed her. Sabretooth roared. Vanisher and the girl disappeared.

"Get back here!" Sabretooth roared, barely human enough to form a sentence.

"Relax, Sabretooth, " Mystique shouted. "She's long gone. Get your head back in the game!"

In response, Sabretooth lunged at her, his claws bared.

Highway 81, West Virginia

Professor Xavier had his X-Men in a huddle. "Jean, please I need you to see if you can contact Warren or Logan, they can get there much faster than any of us."

"I could start the journey myself, " Storm volunteered.

"You would not arrive in time. Do we have any options?"

"Why don't you try and contact Portal to get us back?" Scott asked.

"I have tried, I can't seem to reach him. Which means he is in Cerebro, or the Danger Room or . . ." Xavier didn't finish his sentence.

"Or he's dead, " Iceman stated bluntly.

"Any other suggestions?"

"Freeze mutants!" Everyone turned to see a single soldier standing free of the ice, a gun at the ready. He had also found a psi-dampener and replaced the one that had been taken from him.

There was a puff of blue smoke and the man froze. Nightcrawler stood behind the soldier with Rogue next to him. She was touching the man's neck with her bare hand. The soldier dropped.

"They were just recalled, " Rogue told them. "The attack on the mansion is being broadcast to the world."

"Then they are likely in the Danger Room, " Xavier breathed a sigh of relief.

"That still doesn't guarantee their survival, " groused Lucinda Guthrie, who had snuck up and began to listen.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Iceman asked grumpily. Rogue punched him in the shoulder as she returned with Nightcrawler. "What? Just filling in for the missing grumpy duo."

"You're no Wolverine, " Rogue refuted.

"As a matter of fact, I do have an idea, " Lucinda piped up. "When we were attacked my daughter Melody discovered she has mutant powers of her own, and they're not too different from Sam's."

"The mansion is under attack by an elite squadron of soldiers, she'd be killed in an instant, " Cyclops argued.

"Sam's flight ability keeps him safe, " Lucinda's demanding tone softened as she stopped to think of the consequences of her plan. "Shouldn't Melody's?"

"Even in the same family, powers are rarely ever the same, " Professor Xavier lectured. "I highly doubt Melody's new powers are the same as Sam's, or that she can control them."

"We have to do something, " Lucinda moaned, her brown eyes welling with tears.

"We will!" Jean started suddenly. "Warren is on his way now and Logan isn't far behind."

"I hope that's enough, " Iceman sighed. Rogue elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"

The White House, Washington, D.C.,

"As we are unable to send a transmission at this time, this is a pre-recorded broadcast. The President wishes to address the nation in this time of crisis. Madame President."

"I would like to state here and now that those who are attacking the Xavier Institute right now are not affiliated with the White House or the Federal Government in any way. We have sent Government agents to stop whatever is happening at this time. We in no way condone the actions of these extremists and despite recent events, this White House has yet to make any decisions on the legislation of mutants."

The President droned on and on about how no one should be judged by their ethnicity, even though mutants aren't ethnic. Eventually, the Press Secretary desperately signaled for the President to end her speech. Good thing they had time to edit.

"Cut! That's a wrap!" someone called and the President immediately walked away from the pulpit. The eternally grouchy red-haired man known as Gyrich joined her side the second she was out of view.

"Have you called your attack dogs off?" the President snapped.

"They are on radio silence, " Gyrich informed her. "I couldn't call them off if I wanted to."

"If someone has to take a dive it won't be me, " the President warned. "Any ideas on how to save yourself?"

"It'll be our word against theirs, " Gyrich said.

"In case you haven't heard, " the President said wearily. "Our word isn't worth much these days."

"Have you sent Ms. Marvel?"

"Where do you think she is?"

"She has a history with these people."

"Which is why I sent her."

"The men won't talk."

"Thank God for small miracles."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Keep the heat off me."

"By which you mean?"

"Find someone to blame. And make it stick."

"Lucky for you, I've already got someone."

The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center, NY

"Why haven't they opened the doors yet?" Wraith demanded. The team stood at the entryway of the Danger Room, awaiting an explosion together.

Inside the elevator shaft, six soldiers neared the bottom. The elevator was the only thing blocking their way. "Wait for us, Webster!" the leader barked at the newest member who arrived first. "They're probably waiting for us down there."

"Just a peek, " Webster said. He spotted the emergency trap door on the elevator's ceiling and peered in. "There's no one there."

"Webster, I said to wait!" the leader commanded but the newest soldier dropped down through the opening.

"Dammit!" the leader cursed and accelerated his descent, only forty more feet to go.

"I can see into the hallway and it's empty too!" Webster showed through the trap door.

"Soldier, I told you to halt!"

"Wait! I might have seen something!" Webster shouted from below. "There's n-!" Webster never got to finish his sentence. A massive fireball caused the entire ceiling of the elevator to come shooting up. Flames easily twenty feet high singed their uniforms. There was nothing left of Webster but a blackened skeleton and some smoking weapons.

"Sons of bitches, " a soldier called Lewis screamed. "They're gonna pay for what they did to Webster!"

"Quiet!" the leader admonished. "Drop down as quietly as possible and await my command."

By the time the leader, who had taken the rear, (he had been so sure they'd be attacked from behind) arrived everyone could see that the elevator doors were just a mangled mess and no one was waiting for them. This just made his hackles stand on end.

"Five point formation, move to the right!" The soldiers moved as one at his command.

Five doors down the mutants huddled in darkness and silence. Well, almost silence.

"These are the people these soldiers came to kill, " Dazzler motioned dramatically at the thirty or so students huddled in fear behind her. "And these!" she cried out, motioning to a dejected group of mutant refugees, including Madame Drache. "What brave soldiers these men must be to target the weak and the young!"

Forge stood before her, broadcasting what he saw.

"This new wave of anti-mutant hysteria must be stopped!" Dazzler said a bit too loudly. "This is a school shooting perpetrated by government-trained adults!"

BLAM!

An explosive tore at the thick steel door that led to the Danger Room. The soldiers had found them.

On the other side, the soldiers blinked at the practically unmarked door to the Danger Room. After that much C-4, the door should have flown across the hallway.

"Set another charge!" the leader barked. They all settled into positions as far away as possible. Another hot conclusive explosion. The leader approached, this time some of the metal had bent.

"Again!" the leader commanded,

There was a sudden whoosh of air and everyone turned around. A man with blue skin and large metallic wings stood behind them, a look of rage on his pretty face.

"I don't think you gentlemen want to do that, " the man said, his voice had an edge to it.

"Fine, " the leader said. "Gentlemen, open fire." His hand was pointed right at Warren.

Warren cocooned himself in his nigh unbreakable wings. He could feel the bullets ricocheting off them. With each second that passed, he became angrier. How dare they come here? Who did they think they were? Who had sent them? Questions boiled in his mind.

The soldiers realized their guns were doing nothing and stopped firing. Warren created the smallest of cracks between his wings to see. They opened fire again. Warren roared in frustration. They were consistently aiming above his waist. With a flick of the bottom of his wings, he released four deadly metal 'feathers'. One of the soldiers screamed. The metal dark had entered his stomach. The soldier doubled over in pain and fell to the floor, blood spilling from his guts.

Taking advantage of the distraction Warren opened his wings and sent more deadly metal darts their way. One sliced the leader's cheek opening it up so you could see the molars underneath. The leader opened fire but Warren was already upon him. One big metal wing smacked the leader aside as another stabbed at a soldier. The soldier used his gun to deflect the wingtip, but it broke his gun in half. Warren readied for another attack but something stopped them all.

A loud booming sound came from the now mangled elevator doors, almost like a jet flying overhead, but this just kept getting closer. Warren cocooned himself from the shocked soldiers but stared back at the elevators. Someone was coming. Was it a friend or an enemy?

As these characters vary slightly from our normal 616 X-Men I am going to include a few short bios in each issue going forward.

Jean Grey: (Psyche) This Jean Grey is much like the Jean Grey of the Early Nineties cartoon when it began, her whole family is alive. She has not turned into the Phoenix yet, but hints have been made that it is coming. She is in a good relationship with Scott and she has become the poster girl for the X-Men despite Storm having a much larger following around the world. She sees herself as somewhat of a daughter to Xavier and looks up to him quite a lot but she is more practical than Scott about it as she does not hero worship Xavier. She is generally the peacekeeper of the X-Men and usually clear-headed during a crisis. She sees herself as a bit of a mentor to both Moonstar as well as her other-dimensional daughter, Rachel Grey. As of yet this is the only child she knows of that exists, not yet knowing that Cable is her son and having never met Nate Grey. She did briefly date Angel early on in their career. She sees herself as somewhat of an older sister to Bobby as he hasn't had much feminine influence in his life. She and Beast respect each other greatly and get along well but were never incredibly close. Since Rachel's arrival, Jean chose to change her codename to keep it free for Rachel. She has tried a number of them including, Marvel, Red, Ms. X, and currently Psyche.

Marvel Girl: (Rachel Grey) The daughter of an alternate timeline Jean and Scott, Rachel was raised in a much more violent world. The Days of Future Past timeline to be precise. There she was raised by her parents until they were both slain. Rachel was captured and the brainwashed into becoming a mutant-hunting mutant called Hound. Her psychic powers helped her eventually break free of her programming and rebel so she was sent to a death camp where she met Franklin Richards, they were rescued by their version of the X-Men and eventually met our timeline X-Men and was accidentally brought into their timeline. This was about 3 months ago and at first, she suffered culture shock then became very depressed until she got to know another new student, who had suffered a lot, Chamber. In trying to alleviate his suffering she had begun to alleviate her own. She still feels rather awkward around the young version of her parents but it's still nice to have them alive. At first, she was eager to return to her home dimension but it seems she had forgotten that idea. Her mother never turned into the Phoenix. She does however want to figure out if this is her past or another reality.

Forge: (real name unknown) Native American cyborg Forge is only known by his nickname. Before Forge was ever a part of the X-Men he trained under a powerful shaman of his People and honed his supernatural skills. After his mentor was killed by a demon Forge abandoned his spiritual powers for his technological ones. This led him to Shield which led him to Gyrich, which led him to Rogue which led him to the X-Men. He was a member for a few years before his People called him back for spiritual needs. There he stayed until he saw that all mutants were in trouble once more and went to the only people he knew could make a difference, the X-Men. Part of the reason he left was his unrequited love for Storm, they had tried but failed to make a go of it, seeing her every day was becoming too much for him. He also didn't feel appreciated amongst his more offensively gifted comrades in the X-Men. He's not a very big fan of Wolverine or Angel. He still loves Storm but is respectful of her choice.

I have thrown a ton of characters and info dumps into this X-Men series as I want to build something special for all mutants in my story but I imagine for my readers it must be confusing who is where in this universe so I compiled a few lists for you to help clarify things.

X-Men: Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Colossus, Angel, Beast, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine,

Students: Cannonball, Legion, Blink, Empath, Sunspot, Karma, Firestar, Firefist, Warlock, M, Catseye, Cypher, Magma, Wolfsbane, Roulette, Wiz Kid, Copycat, Moonstar, Beef, Shadowcat, Sunpyre, Siryn, Warpath, Hollow, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Chamber, Rictor, Magik, Marvel Girl, Synch, Jubilee, Ernst, Skin, Husk, Prodigy, Icarus, Spyke,

Refugees: Switchback, Portal, Connie, Wing, Papillon, Polaris, Multiple Man, Forge, Dazzler, Forgetmenot, Mimic, Wraith, Madame Drache, Evangeline Whedon, the Arm, Dr. Nemesis, Cecilia Reyes, Tek, Iceheart, Wildfire, X, Rush, Leech, Healer, Bevatron, Lucinda Guthrie, Aero, Discharge, Elizabeth Guthrie, Joelle Guthrie, Lewis Guthrie, Cissy Guthrie,

Mystique's New Brotherhood: Mystique, Vanisher, Destiny, Sabretooth,

X-Force: Archangel, Wolverine, Switchback, Cannonball

Missing: Sunspot, Leong & Nga Coy Manh, Wolfsbane,