Battle Lines
After three weeks had passed since the raid of Sinister's base and being accepted back onto the team, along with Domino, Rogue's relationship with the others had improved greatly: as Kitty, Bobby and Forge had forgiven her for setting them up and exposing them to the public.
And even though Selene and Amelia were still somewhat not thrilled with the brunette and the former blue/grayed skinned mercenary being back on the team and residing in the X-Mansion, but knew they had to come to terms with it as they earned their place in the X-Men.
Meanwhile, at a top secret MRD facility in a different part of New York, an African American scientist named Dr. Peterson had just gotten off the elevator and approached a guard, who was standing sentry to another top secret floor in the compound.
The guard asked. "Something I can help with, Dr. Peterson?"
The scientist answered. "I'm needed at Omega level."
The guard replied. "I'm sorry sir, but you're not authorized to be on this level."
Dr. Peterson would ask with a glare on his face. "Who does?"
The guard answered. "Colonel Moss and Dr. Rao, but you should..." But before the guard could finish his sentence, 'Dr. Peterson' had performed and landed a powerful roundhouse kick to his face, which caused him to spin around before collapsing to the floor, unconscious!
Once the guard was taken care of, 'Dr. Peterson' had changed into 'Colonel Moss', leveled his 'eye' with the retina scanner, entered the elevator and rode it down to the Omega level; where he was greeted by scientist in charge: Dr. Rao.
Dr. Rao stated while standing up from her chair. "Colonel Moss, I wasn't expecting..."
'Col. Moss' stated plain and simple. "Raise her, Dr. Rao."
Surprised by the 'Colonel's' order, Dr. Rao had reluctantly did as 'Moss' commanded: typing in a few keystrokes into the computer which activated a containment pod with a Mutant, a teenage girl sleeping inside.
After 'Moss' ordered Dr. Rao to open the pod, the Indian scientist strongly refused, stating that the pod was programmed to not be opened...and cried out in pain, as 'Moss' landed a powerful blow that knocked her unconscious.
Shortly after Dr. Rao was out cold...'Colonel Moss' had approached the pod before revealing that 'he' was actually Mystique, sent by Magneto to free the Mutant, who was sleeping peacefully inside.
Meanwhile at the Brotherhood's hideout
Quicksilver was speaking to a hologram of his father, Magneto in his personal quarters. Magneto stated with a deeply disappointed expression on his face. "Pietro, I am deeply disappointed in you. You thought it would be wise to bring a mutant who couldn't control his powers like Nitro to Genosha?!"
Pietro countered. "I thought you'd be pleased if I brought you a prize like Nitro! I mean, sure, he was a bit unstable but he would've made a fine addition to our cause!"
Magneto countered, "And what if he had lost control of powers, Pietro?! If you had brought Nitro to Genosha and he lost control, his powers would've no doubt killed everyone on the island: including your sisters!"
Pietro stated after realizing his father's words were true. "Father...I'm sorry. I-I didn't think..."
Magneto stated bluntly, "That's your problem Pietro: you never think things through." But the powerful mutant stated softly. "However...I'm willing to give you one last chance."
Quicksilver asked softly. "What do you need me to do, Father?"
Magneto answered plain and simple, "One of my best agents has already infiltrated and released a power mutant from an MRD facility to attack the city. You and your team are to prevent the X-Men from interfering: as this attack will show Kelly that we Mutants will no longer tolerate being threatened."
Pietro stated as he understood his orders. "Consider it done, Father. We've made sure to keep the X-Men and their vampire friends preoccupied while the Mutant attacks the city. But after this...I expect to be welcomed back home with open arms."
Magneto replied. "If you carry out this task and succeed, you will be indeed welcomed back home, son. However, if you fail..."
Quicksilver stated strictly. "I won't fail."
Magneto stated plain and simply. "I hope you are right...for both Wanda's and Lorna's sakes...and yours."
Shortly after the hologram of his father faded away, Pietro had simply snarled angrily before pounding his fist onto his table: leaving a deep dent before exiting his room and entering the living room, where he saw Blob helping himself to a candy bar while Avalanche was playing darts by himself.
Avalanche stated plain and simple after tossing the final dart, which hit the bullseye on the board. "Pietro, we've got a problem."
Quicksilver asked after noticing that only Blob and Avalanche were present in their hideout. "Where the hell are Rogue and Domino?"
Blob answered simply. "That's the problem Avalanche was talking about: Rogue and Dom and left."
Pietro asked with a shocked look on his face. "What do you mean they left?!"
Avalanche answered his overly obese friend and teammate. "They just left, Pietro! Neither Dom or her useless girlfriend said a word to me or Freddie!"
Quicksilver asked, as he had a rather good idea of where both Domino and Rogue had gone. "When exactly did they leave?"
Avalanche answered softly. "When you spoke to your father the other day after the X-Men kicked our asses and handed that sniveling wimp Nitro back to the MRD."
Pietro growled softly. "Oh, that backstabbing merc and ungrateful bitch!"
Blob asked, as he was confused about what caused his friend to get all riled up. "What's the matter boss?"
Quicksilver answered while trying to keep his anger under control. "Rogue went back to the X-Men...and she must've somehow convinced Domino to go with her!"
Avalanche stated while shaking his head in deniability. "Domino, joining the X-Men? Do you have any idea how crazy.."
Quicksilver countered. "Think about it, Lance! Rogue hated it here and so did Dom! Plus, we all know that breaking Nitro out of that MRD facility and trying to take him to Genosha was the final straw for them both: especially since Dom refused to help us out during the fight after Iceman froze our engine and forced us to crash!"
Blob asked while standing up from his seat. "So what do you want to do, Pietro?"
Quicksilver answered plain and simple. "I believe you and Avalanche know what I have in mind, Freddie."
Avalanche stated with a smirk on his face, along with Blob. "Indeed we do, Pete."
Meanwhile, in Kelly's office
As the senator was talking to his assistant about public resentment for him and his methods of fighting the mutants, threatening to cut funding for the MRD. "I won't let that happen, I can't. Humanity's survival depends on it."
But that was when Magneto appeared, having been teleported by the mutant woman Blink. "And yet you risk a war that will ensure their destruction." The elder mutant said before Blink teleported Kelly's assistant to the middle of the streets.
Kelly got up and quickly closed his curtains. "If anyone sees you, it'll ruin everything. This wasn't the deal."
"The deal, senator, was that you deliver to me every single mutant your blundering MRD captures."
"That's exactly what we've done."
"Stop playing games, Robert, it doesn't suit you. I know that the MRD has been holding back the most powerful mutants they capture."
"You must think the humans are pretty stupid, Magneto! Do you really think we would just hand you weapons like that?" Kelly asked while going to sit back down. "You've your country, your people, all as we agreed! We're only keeping the most dangerous ones. Besides, what are you gonna do about it?" He asked smugly.
"Going to do? Why, dear Senator, I've already begun." Magento said before Blink teleported Magneto away.
And no sooner did he say that, MRD facilities were broken into by mutants fighting for Magneto's cause while the remaining Brotherhood members were teleported to the X-Mansion. "We leave none left standing, especially those bitches Domino and Rogue!" Pietro said with an evil grin.
Meanwhile inside the X-Mansion
Rogue and Domino were currently speaking to Logan, Blade, Selene and Amelia in the living room whilst Bobby and Kitty were out on a date, as the young blonde finally had the nerve to ask Kitty out and much to his great surprise...the brunette had accepted.
Logan asked. "Okay, so what do you and Domino need to tell us, Rogue?"
Rogue answered simply. "Before Dom and I left the Brotherhood, I overheard Pietro speaking to Magneto on his computer."
Blade asked, as he and his co-leader were interested in what Pietro and his father were talking about. "What were Quicksilver and Magneto talking about?"
The brunette answered truthfully. "I didn't hear the whole conversation...but from what I overheard, whatever Magneto has planned involves you, Blade."
However, before Rogue or Dom could reveal anything else that she overheard...that was when the entire mansion had started shaking...and the steel doors to the main entrance were being tossed through the living room windows!
Rogue stated as she, her girlfriend and the rest of their friends spotted Blob and Avalanche outside the mansion. "Oh, shit...the Brotherhood is here!"
Domino stated while drawing out her handguns. "Guess they finally figured out that you and I quit, Marie."
Before her girlfriend could respond, that was when Quicksilver entered the living room. "Indeed we did, Dom...and both you and Rogue are going to pay for betraying the Brotherhood!"
"Over my dead body, Quicksilver. Or better yet, your crippled body, Mr. Daddy's boy!" Dom said with a smirk.
When the mansion began to break, Blob entered and tried to jump on. Dom but Rogue tackled her girlfriend out of the way, making the obese mutant fall through the floor before Rogue jumped after him and used her powers on him, making him pass out as she absorbed his powers, jumping back up as Storm used her power to nullify Avalanche's earthquake power, allowing Blade, Selene and Amelia to land a team kick that sent him flying out of the mansion.
"Better cut your losses while you can, daddy's boy." Domino said while pointing her guns at him.
"Unless you want to be drained completely dry." Amelia added while showing her vampire features.
"Rogue, now!" Blade ordered... before Rogue used her power to absorb Quicksilver's memories while also making him pass out.
"Marie, are you alright?" Domino asked while putting away her guns and holding her girlfriend.
"I'm alright, Dom. But we got a problem: this attack was only a diversion." Rogue informed them, making everyone worried as Kitty and Bobby entered the house.
"Whoa! What happened here?" Kitty asked with surprise.
"Let's just say my former comrades didn't like the fact that I quit, Kitty." Dom answered.
When everyone gathered at the conference room, they saw a news report that 12 MRD facilities were destroyed by a mutant army, with only the central facility in New York still intact.
"Damn. So that's why Magneto wanted you guys out of the way. He wanted to take out the MRD." Domino said with a bit of amazement. "Kinda serves the bastards right in my opinion."
"Except the fact that Kelly's going to get all the funding he needs to build those Sentinel machines. Now he's got all the motivation he needs, along with the politicians who support him." Selene said with anger.
"Which means Magneto will finally get the war he's always wanted. By giving Kelly the motivation he needs, Kelly's going to get possibly every single mutant who supports his mad cause all the motivation they need to rally behind him." Amelia added after her lover.
"And thanks to the Professor, we've seen where that way leads." Ororo said with worry.
"If that's true, we should at least stop the rampages going on right now! We'll figure out our next move after that." Blade told everyone, getting a nod of agreement from Wolverine.
Later in the city
The X-Men were flying overhead when they saw something crash and they landed before seeing an unconscious Juggernaut. "This is really bad." Ororo said with concern.
"Yeah. Juggernaut." Logan said.
"Who is this Juggernaut?" Amelia asked curiously.
"1 of the most unstoppable mutants in the world. I encountered him years ago when I was with the X-Men the 1st time. It wasn't easy, as it took all of us to even incapacitate him. And believe me, that alone is a difficult challenge." Blade answered.
"If he's as powerful as you say, then who or what could do that to him so easily?" Selene asked with worry, as she thought that only a mutant who had a power far greater than his could do something like this to the Juggernaut.
But that was when a giant red energy monster burst out of the MRD facility and started to rampage through the city, taking down the MRD aircraft that tried to stop it.
"Frost, go with Forge in the Blackbird and try to shut that thing down. Keep us in telepathic contact." Wolverine told his teammates, who did just that.
"Hank, Rogue, Kitty, protect the crowds." Blade told the others. "Domino, you're with the rest of us."
"And what are we supposed to do against that?" Domino asked.
"Guess, Domino. You'll figure that out." Selene told her unlikely ally as she and everyone with weapons engaged the creature.
"Emma, are you getting a read on this thing?" Amelia asked her teammate and friend.
'No, Amelia. It's very odd. It's as if there's static in its mind.' Emma answered telepathically.
As Storm carried her leaders close to the creature, she let go and they used their blades to stab the creature, having no effect on it. But they did manage to get a look inside it, seeing the imprisoned mutant girl at the source.
"Blade, you seeing this too?" Wolverine asked his co-leader.
"Yes. It's a kid." Blade answered before they were blasted into a building, nearly falling on innocent humans until Hank saved them.
When the red creature kicked a car, nearly sending it falling on a nearby woman, surprisingly, Domino had saved her, using her luck manipulation power. "You're welcome." She said seriously before rejoining her unlikely new teammates and girlfriend. "What did you 2 see?"
"A girl." Wolverine answered.
"There's a little girl in the creature. She must be the source of its power." Blade added after his co-leader.
That was when Emma informed them telepathically. 'I've broken through the static. The girl's name is Tildie Soames. Juggernaut has placed a device on her. Something that's causing her to lash out. She can't stop, you'll have to remove the device!'
"I can stop her!" Kitty said before trying to run to the creature.
But Selene and Amelia grabbed her. "No, Kitty! Even your power won't be enough."
"But I think I know who can get through that energy, with your power combined with that Juggernaut mutant." Amelia said while looking at Rogue.
But Domino was completely against that plan. "What? No way! You're not sending her near that thing, I won't let you!" She said, not wanting the woman she loved being sent on a suicide mission.
But Rogue put a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Dom, it's alright. Right now, I'm the only chance we've got at helping that little girl. It's what the X-Men do."
Domino didn't want to lose the 1 person who had shown her love for the 1st time in years, but she knew that she was right. Plus, she wasn't so heartless as to let a little girl die. So, giving her girlfriend a hug, she whispered. "Be careful, baby. I don't wanna lose you."
Rogue hooded before 1st absorbing Kitty's power and the Juggernaut's power before she held back a foot from the creature. As she then used Kitty's power to go through the energy and got close enough to Tildie, she saw the device Juggernaut had placed on the little girl's neck and got it off her before crushing it.
When Tildie realized what was happening, she became scared. "I...I can't stop! Please help me!"
Rogue took off her left glove and touched her head while assuring the little girl. "It's okay. It's gonna be alright." She said as she absorbed the girl's power, making the energy creature disappear.
When Tildie woke up in Rogue's arms, she asked. "Who are you?"
Blade, his vampire sisters, Wolverine and the rest of the team gathered around Rogue as Domino knelt down and caressed Tildie's cheek and said with a smile. We're the X-Men." She answered, accepting herself as an X-Man and making Rogue smile at her girlfriend as even Selene and Amelia smiled as well.
The next morning
Senator Kelly was addressing the nation. "The Mutant epidemic grows larger by the day and our means of defending ourselves against these... creatures has been destroyed! With the support and funding I have been promised, and the help of Worthington Industries, humanity will level the playing field." He said before showing a hologram of a Sentinel. "This is the savior of Mankind. Project Sentinel has begun! And when the war begins, humanity will win!"
At the same time on Genosha
Magneto was giving a similar speech to his Mutant army. "The human threat is larger than ever. The uneasy peace I have tried to construct has been destroyed. Betrayed by humans who hate us simply for existing. The MRD has been imprisoning Mutants, never to be seen again. They build weapons, preparing for war. Make no mistake: the humans will strike 1st, and when they do, we will be ready!" He said, making them all let out a cheer for what was to come.
Meanwhile at the X-Mansion
Blade and Wolverine were talking to Charles about recent events and the inevitable war. "No way around it, Magneto got what he wanted. Kelly's preparing for war, and we didn't make a shred of difference."
"Maybe the end of the world is inevitable, regardless of the X-Men or me being co-leader. There's nothing more we can do now, Charles." Blade added with regret.
"My friends." Charles said to comfort them.
"Face it, Chuck, you were wrong. I'm no leader and neither is Blade. We both failed." Logan said with regret.
"He's right, Charles. I've never been a team player, let alone a co-leader of 1. This world is yours and Logan's, not mine or Selene or Amelia's, the vampire world is. I don't have any place here, not in the past, present or future." Blade said to his old friend.
But Charles thought differently. "Do you both really believe what you say, my friends? Because from where I sit, what you've accomplished together is nothing short of remarkable. You reassembled the X-Men, rebuilt the school. And even Domino, who believed she was fighting for the right cause, has finally found her place in the X-Men."
"That was only because of Rogue. Though I don't know why she's gotten so close with her and is very protective of her." Wolverine corrected.
"But regardless of her reasons, she's become a valuable ally for your team. And by doing all you've done recently, you've both given hope for the future. But sometimes, success is measured by 1 life at a time." Charles said with a smile. "And you, Blade: you may come from and belong to a different world from ours and a part of you will always belong there, but there is another part of you that will always have a place in our world. You may be different from us Mutants in many ways, but you are like us on the outside and the inside, more than you know. Besides, everyone here seems to have taken a liking to you and your sisters and they've seemed to have found a piece of home here too."
After Wolverine and Blade left the chamber and went outside, they saw that Kitty was sitting beside Bobby, Selene and Amelia were talking with Emma and Hank and Ororo were talking as well, making them both smile before they went to the training room to spar.
But Emma, Selene and Amelia wondered where Rogue and Domino were. "Where did Rogue and Domino go? They thought they'd be out here with us."
Emma smiled, as she thought that Rogue might be wanting to celebrate her girlfriend joining the X-Men to be with her, in private. "I think I know where they are."
Amelia seemed to get what her friend was saying and smiled before chuckling. "Can't say that I blame that for wanting to have some fun. After all, Domino chose to be here because of Rogue and if I were either of them, I'd want to celebrate as well."
Meanwhile, in Rogue's old room
The Southern belle and her girlfriend were on the bed, completely naked as they kissed lustfully, with Dom being on top as she was the more dominant between the 2 as Marie had her arms and legs around her lover's waist as they rubbed each other's breasts together, making their nipples hard as they tongue kissed while also rubbing their pussies together as they moaned very quietly, both women celebrating Dom joining the X-Men and Rogue for having the woman of her life, as they knew no matter what, they'd never be apart.
There you go, my dear friends, Battle Lines is complete and Domino is now an X-Men, which will play a major role in the upcoming episodes/chapters. Next will be the Stolen Lives episode, where Wolverine and Blade will save Christy Nord from Weapon X, with help from a very unlikely ally. Rate and review and I'll see you next time, my dear friends.