Chapter 59

Influence

Kratos approached and stopped right in front of him, "You're not going to escape this time" he said cracking his knuckles.

Dean shook his head, "Why do you wish me dead brother?"

"I told you before, I must prove to father I'm worthy of being his champion!" Kratos shouted, "As long as you live you'll be in my way"

Dean sighed, "Is that your final decision?" he asked wishing things could be different.

Kratos closed the distance between them and threw a punch.

Dean blocked and countered with a powerful uppercut that sent him flying upwards, "So be it"

Blob charged at Kurt who teleported at the last second, appeared behind him and kicked him in the back, "A body in motion stays in motion" he said as Blob ran face first into a rock hard wall.

Blob took a few steps backwards and fell on his back knocked out, he ran full speed thinking he was going to crush his opponent against the wall.

Lance created a shockwave that made Spyke lose his balance and fall. The shockwave made some debris fall from above him and was about to be crushed.

Kitty grabbed him and phasing him underground.

Lance heard something behind him and turned around with a fist pulled back. He stopped when he saw it was Kitty standing there.

"I'm sorry" Kitty said before Evan smashed a few of his spikes on the back of Lance's head.

Sabretooth held Logan by his neck with one hand, chocking him.

Logan struggled to breath.

Sabretooth grinned, "Finally, I have the power I need to end you"

Logan kneed his gut and it had no effect, so he repeatedly kneed him in the gut hoping it would do something.

Sabretooth laughed not feeling a thing, "Look how helpless you are" he smashed him into the ground, severely cracking it, and punched him over and over making a miniature crater.

Logan extended his claws and went to slash his face but he caught his hand.

Sabretooth forcefully moved his hand and went to stab him with his own claws.

Logan retracted them at the last second and kicked him off.

Pyro threw a few fireballs at Scott.

Scott fired optic blasts faster than he ever could before, enough to overwhelm his opponent.

Eileen fired an EM blast at Alex.

Alex deflected it with an energy blast of his own and then countered with another blast that hit Eileen knocking her on her back.

Alex stared at his hands in amazement, "This is so gnarly! I don't even feel drained when I use my power"

He was suddenly blasted with an EM blast from Eileen.

Alex winced as he dropped to one knee.

"Alex be careful!" Scott blasted Eileen and went in front of him to protect him, "You can't let your guard down"

Alex tried returning fire but the energy that he tried focusing to his palm instead went to his torso, "What's wrong with my powers?"

Pyro projected a stream of fire towards them.

Scott fired an optic beam that pushed back the stream and struck Pyro incinerating part of his outfit and knocking him back, "Her abilities mess with our powers if they hit us"

Pietro was in the midst of dodging Evan's spikes, avoiding Kitty's grasp, and evading Kurt's random teleport attacks.

"Is it me or are you guys having trouble?" Pietro asked standing still for a moment. He sidestepped to dodge some incoming spikes, then hopped over Kitty phasing out of the ground to grab him but was kicked in the back as Kurt teleported behind him in midair.

"No, we're just wearing you down" Evan said before firing a barrage of spikes.

Pietro instantly was back on his feet, "In your dreams" he zipped by him and swept his legs from under him.

Kurt teleported next to him but before he could do anything Pietro grabbed him and threw him into Kitty knocking them on their backs, "I'm leagues above you guys"

Dean jumped and threw a high kick and as Kratos blocked it he continued with a right punch which Kratos caught.

Kratos swung at him with his other hand but Dean ducked and then jumped over an incoming sweep.

As Dean was in the air he went for a kick to the head but Kratos ducked underneath it.

Using one hand to keep him off the ground, Kratos went to leg sweep Dean as he landed but he saw the incoming attack and moved just far enough that the sweep couldn't touch him.

Dean then launched himself up, over, and behind Kratos for a tornado kick.

Kratos ducked underneath it and then blocked an incoming elbow that was aimed at his neck. He then threw Dean away from him.

Dean landed softly on the ground before rushing back in. He tried overwhelming his brother with fast attacks.

Kratos managed to block all of them and counter attacked.

Dean blocked the incoming attacks but as one got through his defenses he acted quickly and kicked Kratos in the jaw.

Both of their attacks collided simultaneously. They were knocked back a few feet.

Both of them were bruised.

"What happened? You're not hitting as hard as before" Dean pointed out with a cocky grin.

"Then allow me to refresh your memory" Kratos charged at him. He put all his power into his punches.

Dean dodged his punches and countered with an uppercut to his gut.

Kratos gasped as he felt a surge of pain through his body, 'What's going on?!' he threw a right hook aimed for his face.

Dean ducked underneath it hit his ribcage with a left hook.

Kratos winced and continued his relentless attack.

Dean dodged his attacks and punched him in the jaw with enough power to send him skidding back a few feet.

Kratos shook off some minor dizziness. He looked at his brother with a frustrated look.

"You're wondering what happened" Dean said reading the look on his face, "Wondering why you're not winning as easily as last time" he rushed towards him and struck him in the ribcage again with a right hook.

Kratos hit him in the jaw with a right cross.

Dean's head turned from the force of the blow, then he faced him again before throwing a punch.

Kratos leaned forward, avoiding the punch, and struck his chest with an overhand left.

Dean dug his feet into the ground to keep him from skidding back, he couldn't let Kratos get any breathing room, and threw an underhand punch to the gut.

Kratos took the hit and hit Dean in the face with a downward punch.

Dean spat out blood from the powerful blow but he persevered. He threw another right hook to Kratos' ribcage.

Kratos ignored the pain he felt and grabbed Dean's hand before throwing a punch to his face.

Dean grabbed his hand and the two of them pushed against each other in a test of brute strength.

Kratos attempted to push him back but found himself unable to do so, "I don't understand!"

Dean grit his teeth as he held him back, "I've leveled the playing field" lightning began to spark around him, "We now stand on equal footing"

Kratos felt the slight sting from the lightning.

"At least in physical power" Dean headbutted him knocking him back.

Sabretooth kicked Logan into the stone wall cracking it, "I dunno about you, but I'm getting tired of all this itchy and scratchy garbage. You know, I slash you, you slash me, and our healing factors just make us better…"

Logan went to get back up, slowly, but Sabretooth wrapped both of his hands around his neck and squeezed as hard as he could.

"That's why it struck me that suffocating you might be the one way to actually finish this thing" Sabretooth said with anticipation, "God knows why I haven't thought of this before. I mean how does a healing factor fix a suffocated brain? And even if you do survive, you're gonna be a frickin vegetable for the rest of your life, right?!" he shouted maniacally.

Logan's turned red and looked like he was losing consciousness.

"You hear that popping noise in your skull runt? That's your brain cells exploding! You hear them snapping and crackling like rice krispies? I doubt you're ever gonna be on 'Who wants to be a millionaire' now…"

SNIKT!

Sabretooth loosened his grip as his eyes widened, he yelled from the pain he was under.

"Well at least I've got enough brains to cover my family jewels in a fight!" Logan shouted as he kicked Sabretooth away from him who was cradling what was left between his legs.

Eileen flew out of the way of an optic blast.

Scott had his hands full dealing with both of them and protecting Alex while his powers were on the frits.

Pyro projected a stream of fire at him.

Scott fired an optic beam to push it back.

Pyro manipulated the stream to wrap around the beam.

Scott leapt, avoiding the stream.

The stream of fire split into 4 different ones, came around, and went towards him again.

Scott pulled back his body and then fired a giant optic blast then encompassed all of the streams, disintegrating them.

The blast struck the rocky ceiling blowing off a good chunk of it.

Eileen then hit him with an EM blast to the back of the head.

Scott felt a sharp pain and lost control of his power. He tried firing an optic blast at her but the energy he gathered wouldn't leave his eyes.

Eileen then blasted both Scott and Alex, knocking them both out.

Kurt was teleporting around like crazy trying to catch Pietro, but he was impossible to catch.

Kitty reached out to grab him but he was too fast.

Evan, as usual, tried tagging him with his spikes but once again failed to hit his target.

Pietro zipped by each of them striking them and knocking them down ever so briefly to avoid being tagged.

The three of them grouped up, all panting from fatigue.

"Anyone have any ideas?" Kitty asked.

"I've tried everything, aiming where he is, where he's going, where he might be, nothing touches him" Evan said.

"I might have an idea" Kurt said, "Give me an opening"

"Come up with a plan?" Pietro asked as he zipped over to them.

Kitty reached for him making him flee.

Evan then shot spikes in the direction he was going resulting in him making a U turn.

As Pietro slowed to turn around Kurt managed to teleport and grab him.

Now you see, the thing about Kurt's power, and all powers is that it takes energy to use. When Kurt first started teleporting it used to drain him, but now that he grew accustomed to it it no longer has that effect. However it still drains those who he teleports with him, not a lot but enough to feel drained after a few

Kurt teleported dozens of times in the air, filling the area with the sulfurous smoke he leaves behind.

When he finished Kurt dropped from above with an unconscious Pietro.

Kitty and Evan caught them.

"You ok man?" Evan asked.

Kurt looked exhausted, barely keeping himself conscious, "I think so, I never used my power that much before"

Kratos was knocked back. For the first time in his life he was being beaten senseless by someone of equal ability.

"Your confidence is wavering" Dean noticed as he panted. He had a trail of blood trickling down his chin, bruises all over his body.

They were both in similar conditions.

Dean hit Kratos in the face with a haymaker that made him spew out blood.

Kratos grit his teeth in anger and started swinging wildly with all the energy he had left.

Dean used his superior speed to avoid as many hits as he could while he returned some of his own.

They began trading punches at an alarming rate.

Dean could see that his opponent's stamina was decreasing far faster than his own.

Kratos threw another punch aimed at his face.

Dean sidestepped, avoiding it, and hit him in the kidneys with a left hook.

Kratos dropped to his knees from the surge of pain.

Dean caught his breath, "Stay down"

Kratos chuckled as slowly got to his feet, "You think beating me is going to be that easy?!" He raised his fists and clenched them, "You're gonna have to put me down!" He punched Dean in the gut faster than anticipated.

Dean spewed out blood as he was sent skidding backwards.

Kratos waited to see how his brother would respond.

Dean wiped away the blood that was trickling down his chin, "You were right about one thing brother" he admitted, "My life of privilege did make me soft" He grunted as he forced his power to emerge. The lightning around him increased to crackling, "But you underestimated how much I could grow!" Dean punched him in the face knocking a few teeth out.

Kratos took a few steps back from the force of the hit. He shouted and ran at Dean with a pulled back fist.

Dean stood still letting him attack.

Kratos punched Dean in the face making his face turn.

The lightning began hugging Dean's skin, giving him a light golden glow, and the static electricity made his hair stand on end making it look spiky. It felt like his body was supercharged.

Dean's head turned, pushing back his fist, and glared at Kratos.

Kratos took a step back out of fear, just for a moment, then it turned into hate, "You…" he clenched his fist in rage, "I don't care what father said" he drew his adamantine blades from his back, "YOU DIE NOW!" he slashed at his neck to chop off his head.

Dean grit his teeth as he blocked both blades with his gauntlets and struggled to hold them back, "I don't…think so" he purposely fell back as he kicked Kratos into the air.

Kratos flew up and hit the rocky ceiling cracking it.

'I don't know how long this is going to last, so I better make good use of it' Dean pushed off the ground and leapt up as he pulled down his fist, readying for an uppercut. The lightning that was hugging his body began to focus around his fist.

Kratos then fell downward face first.

Dean struck him in the face with an uppercut and the energy that had built up exploded like a thunder.

Kratos fell to the ground, his face smoking, and unconscious.

Dean landed wobbly, he felt the surge of energy leave his body and the lightning faded, 'That took more out of me than I thought' his legs gave out from under him and he sat down, overwhelmed with fatigue.

Dean turned to see his teammates had prevailed against their opponents as well.

Magneto sighed, "Must I do everything myself" he willed several metal plates to come out of the floor.

Mystique changed from a lion to a mouse and escaped from the plate that was holding her, then she changed back into her humanoid form.

They all gathered behind Mystique.

"We need everyone else" Logan made their objective clear, "Taking him on is too much for any of us"

Dean was surprised at the lack of confidence he had in them, or was it that he had a lot of it for Magneto's abilities?

After resting briefly, Dean got up and joined them, "Running low on steam, we have to do this quickly"

Magneto floated over to the chambers, guarding them, "Attack at your own risk"

Toad hopped over to them.

"Where have you been?!" Mystique shouted.

"I only got beef with him" Toad pointed at Magneto, "I didn't wanna fight my boys" he said sheepishly.

"Whatever" Logan said before looking at Dean, "I'm not gonna be much help, so you're gonna have to take charge"

"No problem" Dean said preparing to charge, "If you find an opening cut the cables above the chambers" they attacked simultaneously.

Magneto immediately flung Logan across the room and wrapped a metal plate around him to keep him from moving.

Evan shot spikes at him.

Magneto moved a metal plate in front of him, blocking the spikes.

Kurt teleported behind him but a metal plate smacked into him.

Dean summoned a lightning bolt and threw it at him.

Magneto created a magnetic field around him and the lightning bolt struck it with no effect. He chuckled in response, "Don't you know that electricity is related to magnetism?"

'Good point' Dean thought, lightning won't have any effect on him.

Toad spit sludge at him.

Magneto threw a metal plate and wrapped it around Toad's upper body.

Mystique tried sneaking up behind him as a bird and then changed into a bear, falling towards him.

Magneto willed a few plates to merge together and wrapped around her completely.

Pyro fired two streams of fire at him.

Magneto blocked by putting up his magnetic field and willed the ball that contained Mystique to shrink forcing her to revert to her humanoid form, "You won't be escaping from that"

Eileen then fired an EM blast at him.

Magneto blocked that with a metal plate, if that hit him it could be over. He willed the metal plates underneath Pyro and Eileen to wrap around them.

Evan, seeing an opening, shot some spikes at the cables of the chambers.

Magneto blocked them with another plate and then flung it at him.

Kurt teleported, grabbed Evan, and ported out of there.

Kitty had been watching, she couldn't reach high enough to do anything, Magneto was way too high up. But if she could rush him… "Dean throw me" she whispered knowing he would hear.

Dean immediately knew what she was thinking. He ran over to her, grabbed her, and threw her.

Magneto put up a few plates in front of him.

Kitty phased through the plates and was about to grab him but he floated to the side, avoiding her.

"You know, I don't know much about you" Dean said as he tried to maneuver around the plates, "Besides the fact that you hate humans"

Magneto willed a plate to expand and wrap around him, "I have witnessed firsthand the death and destruction humans produce"

Dean broke through the plate, "Whatever it is that you saw, you have to realize that not all people are the same"

Magneto split a metal plate in half and morphed them to be sharper before he threw them at Dean.

Dean dodged both.

"When the dead bodies of your people pile in the hundreds before your eyes, I dare you to look upon humanity and not see them all as the same" Magneto said with bitterness in his voice.

Dean used his momentary distraction to rush him.

Magneto willed all the metal plates to fly towards him.

Dean jumped off each of them until he was a few feet away from him.

Magneto was about to put up a magnetic field around him when he spotted Dean's gauntlets. He changed his mind and decided to manipulate those instead. He reached out with his power but to his surprise found nothing to manipulate, "What?!"

Dean tackled Magneto, "Now!"

Evan shot spikes at the cables above the chambers.

The gas flow stopped and they all slowly woke.

They fell to the floor and Dean punched Magneto in the gut knocking the wind out of him.

Magneto grit his teeth in anger as he willed a metal plate to knock Dean off him.

Evan shattered the glass freeing everyone.

The previously downed Brotherhood began waking up as well.

Jean quickly freed anyone wrapped in metal, "What happened here?!"

"Too much to explain, where's the x-jet?!" Logan shouted.

"Observation deck, that way!" Charles pointed.

"Gather there o—"Wolverine was stomped on by Sabretooth and crushed the ground beneath his feet.

"Storm, Rogue, prepare the jet" Charles told them and they ran towards the observation deck, "Jean, let's get to Scott and Alex"

Magneto floated back into the air and willed the metal around the door way to the observation deck to crumble the rock around it and to block it.

"I'm not done with you yet, Evan" Pietro said as he ran circles around him and hitting him every so often. His speed was greatly reduced from before, making it easier to follow his movements.

"Hey, been here, done this" Evan sprouted spikes all over his body, "New game!" he shot them all in a straight line where he saw Pietro was heading.

Pietro was forced to stop in his tracks in order not to step on one, "Whoa! Tire hazard!" as he stood still Evan grinned at him, 'What the hell is he smiling about?' he thought as Rogue touched him and took his life force.

The others were caught between battling and escaping, Dean wasn't sure who to help.

"Brother" He heard behind him.

Dean turned around and saw Kratos slowly walking towards him, holding his face.

Kratos let go of his face. The right side of his face was charred, and his right eye was wounded and bleeding. Over his eye the wound looked like a lightning bolt, "This isn't over" he leapt at Dean, tackling him into the rocky wall severely damaging it.

The whole asteroid started shaking immensely.

"Enough with the tremors man!" Blob said to Lance.

"That ain't me, this rock's cracking up!" Lance said. All the steel pipes and rocks above their heads started to bend and break from the pressure.

Ororo was trying to clear the debris by projecting thunder at it, but she couldn't use a lot of power or else she might wreck the asteroid in the process.

Mystique leapt backwards as she tried to avoid two floating metal rods that were chasing her, courtesy of the master of magnetism. They missed her as she hid behind a boulder but they turned back around like boomerangs and smashed through the boulder as she leapt out of the way.

Magneto almost managed to intercept her with a kick of his own as Mystique was distracted but Mystique was a little faster.

Magneto sent the two metal rods at her again, but one was caught by Toad's hand and the other was caught by his tongue.

This gave Mystique the opportunity to strike. She jumped at the master of magnetism only to have a metal plate knock into her and send her into the enhancer.

"No! My enhancer!" Magneto yelled, "Get out of there!" he flew inside after her.

Toad hopped in front of Blob and Avalanche, "Now let's make like a Toad and hop to it"

"Hey which side are you on Toad?" Lance asked as he held Pietro over his shoulder.

"The side that lives, come on!" Toad led them towards the caved in doorway.

As Ororo was trying to clear a path with her thunder she heard some stomping behind her.

"Coming through!" Blob shouted as he charged at the rubble. He broke right through the rubble and the door.

Everyone started running out, "Get aboard the jet quickly!" Ororo told everyone.

Rogue zipped over to Ororo, "Scott and his brother are still here and Logan's got his hands full!"

"Go!" Ororo told Rogue who zipped out.

Dean noticed everyone making a run for it and the whole place falling apart, "Looks like we're going to have to cut this fight short"

"No! We need to finish this!" Kratos shouted.

"Maybe some other time" Dean swept his legs and sprinted for the exit.

Kratos grit his teeth as he fell, "COME BACK!" he yelled in rage.

Wolverine leapt at Sabretooth and slashed his chest.

Sabretooth healed almost instantly but before he could try and finish Wolverine a tornado formed and blew him into some rubble.

"Let's go Logan!" Ororo shouted.

Charles and Jean approached Scott and Alex.

Scott looked around and noticed the destruction, "You and the others….you're ruining everything! This was our chance to unite, all of us"

"Unite? For what Scott? And at what cost?" Jean asked, "Look what Magneto did to you!"

"He's helped me! I'm evolved. No more training. No more hurdles. My powers are now at my mercy!" Scott said clenching his fists.

"Yeah, so you blasted your friends with it. I mean how united is that?" Jean asked.

"You don't understand. We are the future" Alex said pointing to himself.

Jean looked at Scott in melancholy, "Really, Scott? I mean are you the future? Because if you are, I don't want any part of it" Jean walked away tearing.

Scott's heart started aching, he didn't know why but something Jean said must have affected him more than he knew.

"You're right, mutants shouldn't be divided, but we didn't draw the line. Magneto did" Charles said, "And it's still there, you've just crossed over it" Charles rolled towards the jet.

Scott looked at Alex, "I think we might have made a mistake"

The Professor rolled into the jet.

"What about the boys?" Logan asked.

"They'll do what they must" Charles said leaving the decision to them.

The asteroid was now filled with explosions. The chamber opened up and out came a totally different looking Mystique. Her body now was immensely muscular and almost looked masculine.

Right as she walked out Kratos walked right up to the machine. There's only one way to find out what it'll do to a half-blood.

Logan turned on the thrusters and was about to take off.

Jean looked outside to see if Scott could be seen anywhere but nothing. She looked over to the Professor.

"We couldn't force them. They're too powerful" Charles said to her.

Jean looked back and spotted them, "Here they come!"

Scott and Alex came running across the platform but just as they were in reaching distance to the X-jet the platform broke and the jet fell.

Before the jet could hit the ground head on it fired its thrusters and soared through the air.

Asteroid M's gravity stabilizer was destroyed so it started flipping over which resulted in Scott and Alex to slide off the platform.

"Whoa!" they yelled in unison.

In midair they held hands, mirroring what they did when they fell from the plane crash. They looked at each other and they knew what to do.

They shoot their beams at the ground to slow their decent and soften the icy ground below. They hit the ground and they landed in a huge puddle of water.

The x-jet floated above them and descended so they could get on. The side door opened and Jean was there, "Scott!"

Scott couldn't help but smile.

Out of nowhere Asteroid M started to break apart.

The X-jet had to move in order to avoid being crushed by the debris.

Two metal spheres shot out of Asteroid M before it started falling down.

Judging by how fast it was descending, Scott and Alex needed to destroy Asteroid M in order to escape.

"Ready Bro?" Scott asked as his eyes glowed red.

"Ready!" Alex said as his fists glowed blue.

They both fired the most powerful beams they could muster in unison and hit he center of the asteroid together.

The asteroid's descent slowed down a bit and explosions increased throughout the whole base. The beams shot clear through the asteroid right before it exploded into a million pieces in midair.

Right before it exploded however, another metal sphere flew out.

The explosion sent some sort of energy shockwave then hit the sphere as well as Scott and Alex.

The effects of the power up chamber reversed and their bodies reverted back to their original state.

Alex collapsed to the floor while Scott closed his eyes out of necessity.

The X-jet landed and Jean ran over to them with Scott's visor in her hand, "Easy Scott, I'm here"

"Jean…is everyone ok?" Scott asked.

Jean put on his glasses, "See for yourself"

Scott opened his eyes to see the red image of Jean smiling. He then looked over to the X-jet and saw everyone else standing there.

"I'm sorry, all of you" Scott said sincerely, "Professor, I just—you know, I….I made some bad choices"

"More like misinformed choices" Charles gave him some credit, "But we owe you our lives, both you and your brother"

Toad grunted where he was standing with the rest of the Brotherhood, "I wonder what's gonna happen to us?"

"3 metal spheres shot out of that asteroid before it blew. Mystique is out there, believe it, and she'll be back" Lance said knowing her too well. That lady doesn't let go of a grudge.

"So much for Havok huh?" Alex said to his brother.

Scott laughed, "Yeah"

"Hey Scott, if nothing else, at least I have my brother back. And that's what really matters to me" Alex said finding some joy from all this.

"Yeah, me too. And I promise, nothing is ever going to split us up again" Scott hugged his little brother.

Charles rolled towards them, "With time Alex, your powers will emerge on their own. And if you'll allow, we will be there to help you along the way. All of us, together, unified, cause we are the x-men" he said proudly.

Alex nodded, "I like the sound of that"

Scott looked ecstatic, "You mean it? You'll come to the institute?"

"Absolutomoundo" Alex said with a smirk.

Scott looked at him weirdly, he'll have to get used to his surfer talk.

Author's note: Hope it was worth the wait, I'll try to keep these coming every week. Enjoy ;)