Final Evolution

CHAPTER THREE

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Squad B's transport vessel shuddered violently as it ran itself aground. With a loud groan, the main doors swung open, allowing the students to jump out.

"Okay boys, it's time to do or die." Instructor Gray announced from the vessel entrance. "From here on out, the three of you are on your own. So get out there and do your best. May God be with you."

Pietro grunted and took off toward the flight of stairs that led to the city entrance. "Hurry up, you two! We've got Hydras to pummel!"

"I zink I can guess Lesson Zree on Teamwork: No lagging ze leader." Kurt joked.

Evan shrugged as he ran after their speed-enhanced squad captain.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Squad B is officially in position." Pietro declared to no one in particular. "How many Hydras have we got so far?"

"Zree at a parking lot, two on an overhang, two in a junk shop, one at ze cinema entrance....." Kurt counted off. "I zink eight."

"Only eight? That's pathetic....." Pietro scowled and kicked a mutilated car. "Can you hear me, Hydras?! Don't hide from me!! Come out and fight like men!!"

A fragment of unknown element broke free from the wreckage, bounced on the street and rolled to a stop just a few inches from a dried up fountain. Suddenly, there was the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Nice going, O' Fearless Leader." Kurt accused. "Here zey come now."

Evan reached up and pulled his teammates behind the car Pietro attacked earlier. Safely under cover, they watched as at least one dozen soldiers ran down the street in single file, each one donning the official Hydrian 'octopus' insignia. All of them were headed for the far end of town.

When the last soldier was finally a safe distance away, Pietro was first to come out from hiding. "We're moving out, Squad B. Our next destination lies just ahead." He pointed in the direction where the soldiers had disappeared.

"Pietro, have you forgotten vat Instructor Summers said?!" Kurt protested. "Ve're not supposed to leave our post!"

"Then you can stay here." Pietro sneered. "We don't need any Mama's boys."

Kurt muttered a German oath before looking to his other teammate. "How about you, Evan?"

"I'm going with the captain."

"VAT?!"

Pietro smirked. "So you wanna have some fun too, huh?"

"This is my chance to seriously test my skill." Evan stated. "I want to see for myself my true strength." And maybe yours, too.

Kurt swore another time in German. He threw his hands up as though seeking divine aid. "Ach! Fine! I'm in! Let's all get in trouble togezer!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Following the Hydras didn't prove too much of a task. The dumb weaklings, as Pietro took to calling them, just left too many clues in their wake: injured Morlocks, broken windows, empty bullet shells, pockmarked Morlock weapons, etcetera, etcetera.

"This way!"

Pietro led them in an ascent up a hill. Halfway there, a nearby hedge rustled.

A filthy looking Morlock soldier stood up, clutching what was a crossbow in its past life. "Are you the X-Men?"

"That'll be us." Pietro replied smugly.

"Hurry!" The Morlock pointed at the top of the hill. "They're after our communications tower! I-" Suddenly he disappeared back into the hedge with a startled cry. Another pained scream announced it too late to save him. Seconds later, a giant cobra rose from that same hedge, hissing savagely.

"MEIN GOTT IN HIMMEL!!!"

Pietro backed off a few feet. "Why didn't the briefing mention something like this?!"

"I doubt anyone even knew about something like this." Evan exposed his spikes and fired.

The snake ducked and charged at Kurt.

"YOW!!" Kurt teleported out of harm's way. In the next two seconds, he reappeared in between Evan and Pietro, then all three disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The cobra hissed. Then it morphed into a blue skinned woman with fiery red hair. She pulled out a walkie-talkie. "HQ. This is the Mystique. They have called in the X-Men..."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

#BAMF#

"That was too close."

Pietro snorted indignantly. "It was just a big dumb snake."

"Nein. It vas a big dumb *pissed* snake vith even bigger pointy fangs."

Pietro rolled his eyes and took the lead across the leveled hilltop. "There's the communications tower."

Evan looked down at the entrance below. "And there are the Hydras."

"I just love my life." Pietro sighed blissfully.

The doors opened, and two more Hydras came out. The first two went in.

"Mmph. Change of guard. As if that will help them any."

Evan rolled his eyes. Could there possibly be anything bigger than Pietro's ego? Kurt's appetite, maybe....

"Say Evan," Pietro muttered. "Do you have a dream?"

"What do you mean?"

"A dream? Also known as an ambition? A foresight? A goal in life? A wished destiny?"

Evan rolled his eyes. "I know what a dream is."

"Well, go on then. What's your dream?"

"Guys?" Kurt queried in a low voice. "Are you having a love talk, or discussing battle plans?"

"Quiet, Freako. This is private."

Kurt was silent. Evan could only guess what curses his blue furred friend was trying to keep suppressed.

Suddenly, the tower doors opened again. There were muffled shouts from the inside, and the two guards ran in.

"There's our cue." Pietro straightened up. "One day, Evan Munroe, I plan to drag you to one corner, and we'll have a little talk about dreams." With that, he turned and hyper-sped down the cliff.

"Err.....did I miss somezing?"

Evan opened his mouth to reply, but was promptly interrupted by a loud "There you are!!"

Evan looked up, standing near the ledge was a panting girl with blonde curls. Evan was about to point out the pathway to her when she stepped even closer to the cliff edge and promptly fell downward.

Kurt whimpered as he hid his eyes. "Someone's going to die........."

Evan took a few steps back as the girl tumbled through the hedges and landed squarely at his feet. "Are you okay?"

"No sweat, hon. I'll live to a healthy hundred." The girl got up and dusted herself off. "You're Squad B, right?"

Evan nodded. "That's right." I think I've seen her before...

"Hey wait! I know you! You're that Evan guy who showed me around!"

Okay, now I remember: Tabitha Smith.

"I'm acting as a messenger from Squad A. So....." Tabitha look around. "Which one of you is the captain?"

Evan pointed to the bottom of the cliff they were on, where Pietro was at the tower doors.

"One of these days, I'll tell the world of my ROMANTIC dream!!" Then Pietro disappeared into the tower.

"Squad B Captain!! Wait up!!" Tabitha charged to the end of the cliff and threw herself downward. "COWABUNGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kurt's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Is she *insane*?"

"Hey you guys!! Hurry up!!" The apparently fine Tabitha hollered.

Evan sighed. "Kurt. Get us down there."

"Ja."

#BAMF#

Tabitha waited impatiently as Kurt and Evan reappeared next to her. "Why didn't you just jump and save the energy?"

"Vat do you mean 'save ze energy'?!" Kurt pointed back up at their formal spot. "Don't you realize how high zat zing is?!"

"So it's high enough to break a few bones. So what?"

Kurt tentatively backed up a bit. "She is insane."

Suddenly, there was a loud scream. The tower doors swung open, and a mass of terrified Hydras scuttled away with Pietro on their tails.

"Humph. Cowards." Pietro snorted. He turned and ran back into the tower.

"Captain, WAIT!!" Tabitha called after him. When he did not come back, she ran in as well. "Come on, you two! The captain's getting away!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Darn this stupid thing......where's this [G-EDIT] wire supposed to go.....?"

Private Webber Torque hesitantly approached his superior, who was struggling to reconnect the circuit board in the control area. "Err....Major Matthews, sir? Everything's in-"

"To [G-EDIT] with the [G-EDIT] report!! Can't you see I'm busy?!"

"Um...pardon me, sir." Private Torque saluted before retreating out of shouting range.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Where did he go?"

Evan, Kurt and Tabitha scanned the interior of the tower. There was nothing there except for a platform elevator.

"I didn't think it'd be this hard when I agreed to take the message." Tabitha muttered.

"Best guess is he went up. Let's go."

All three stepped onto the platform. With the push of a button, they started to rise frighteningly high into the air.

"Woohoo! This is *fun*!" Tabitha peered over the side.

"Don't jump off." Kurt warned.

"As if I would!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Let's see.....this goes here......that goes there.....and this goes........Done!"

Evan, Kurt and Tabitha reached the top just as the entire tower started to rumble and shake. Tools fell over the edges and plummeted into the sea. With a loud whir of engines, a large metal beacon shot out and realigned itself into a gigantic satellite.

Evan then noticed a lone Hydra standing next to a sparking opening in the control area. "What are you doing here?"

"???" The Hydra spun around, looking menacing. "Likewise, *mister*. What are *you* doing here? Torque!! Take care of these imbeciles!" Then he seemed to realize he was missing something. "...Torque?" His looks of menace promptly faded into fear.

"I....err.....my work's done here, so I'll just be going now...." The Hydra shoved his way toward the elevator. "Argh, I'm outta here! Move it! Move it! Move it!"

Then Pietro appeared in a rush of air and tripped him. "I don't think so."

The Hydra became furious. "Grargh!! Are you CRAZY?!"

Pietro snorted. "Just shut up."

There was a burst of gunfire as a smaller Hydra charged into the scene. He threw a gun over to his larger comrade. "Major Matthews! Are the repairs done, sir? What are these guys doing here?"

"Torque!! Where the [G-EDIT] were you?! I'm reporting you to the commander!!"

"There goes my paycheck." The smaller Hydra muttered. "Should've stayed home....."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

I'm awfully low on time, and I also suck at fight scenes. Therefore, I shall cut short and bring us straight to after the fight. Sorry to those who wanted to see Duncan-bashing. (It's pretty obvious he's Major M, right?.....no? Well, he is. :P )

~ Howling WereWolf

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

If anything could be considered most humiliating, it couldn't be worse than getting pummeled into oblivion by four kids.

Major Duncan Matthews lay sprawled on the floor, attempting to look as dead as he possibly could. Private Torque was already out for count.

"That oughta teach you some respect." The silver-haired one with a mainly green suit commented. "Alright, you. Tell us why you're here and not with your squad."

"The signal couldn't be carried out, so I'm here to deliver a message." The scrawny blonde replied. "There's an emergency recall of all X-Men cadets to the docks by 1900."

"What? That gives us only thirty minutes!"

"Don't blame me. I'm just the messenger."

"Well then, let's scoot."

The elevator whirled as it went down. Alone once again with his unconscious subordinate, Major Matthew dragged himself to a small handheld device he had dropped.

Good thing Trask built these Sentinel prototypes ahead of time. Too bad they're not water-proof and flight-capable yet, but no matter.... "There. Those X-Brats are the targets. Go GET THEM!!!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Squad B Captain! Wait for the rest of us!"

The hyper-speeding Pietro was already long out of earshot.

"*Tch* This is Pietro Maximoff we're talking about. Should be expected."

Evan led the other two up the first cliff. Just then, a gigantic robot rose from the ground.

"OH HOLY [G-EDIT]!!! WHAT IS THAT THING?!?!" Tabitha gasped.

The robot's arms converted themselves into huge machine guns and started to pelt bullets in their direction.

"Everyone hang on!!" Kurt grabbed Evan and Tabitha. Within half a second, they disappeared with a #BAMF#.

The robot ceased fire. It's radar whined as it scanned the area. Finally, it locked onto it's targets' location and charged.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

#BAMF#

#BAMF#

#BAMF#

#BAMF#

"Kurt!! Stop!!" Evan pulled Kurt's hand off his uniform. "It won't help us if you pass out before we get there."

Kurt nodded, looking slightly paler than usual. "Ja. Point taken."

The ground vibrated as the robot advanced again from a distance.

"HOLY MOLY!! HERE IT COMES AGAIN!!!" Tabitha clapped her hands together and produced a palm full of glowing balls. "Here's hoping these stall it. FIRE IN THE HOLE!!"

As the balls hit the nearby abandoned buildings, they exploded into debris that slid forward and blocked the robot's path. The robot's sensors whined again before it proceeded to smash through.

"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!!!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

There's no stopping this thing.

Evan drew back and fired a roll of spikes into a Hydrian rigged set of concrete slabs.

The docks were just ahead, with nearly all the students already on board.

As the slabs blew up and made another pile of debris, Evan fled for the transport vessel.

There was a short whine before the robot body-slammed its way through, nearly squashing Evan in the process.

"Evan!! Come on!!" Tabitha hollered from the last available vessel. "HURRY!!!"

Evan did his best to weave across the beach while bullets sprayed down like rainfall.

All the vessels opened fire at the persistent robot. One of the legs was shot off, and it came crashing downward.

"EVAN!!!!"

Evan waited for impact when a familiar #BAMF# transported him from the shadowed crash zone to the interior of the transport vessel. A muffled explosion hailed the robot's timely end.

"Thanks, Kurt."

Kurt smiled weakly. "....no problem...." Then his eyes rolled up and he collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion.

= * =

Howling WereWolf:

Yup. You saw right. Kurt just passed out. Nope. It's not a cliffie. He just needs to sleep it off.

For general info, Webber Torque is that darned kid who messed with Cerebro in "Fun and Games." Apologies for how some of the sentences turned out, but as the story is rated PG, I do not wish to upset any good little children by putting in the actual profanities. Imagination is all you need.

This has been a pretty long chapter. No guarantees if the others will meet up to this quota.

All ye who love the plot bunnies, say "aye"!

= * = * = * =