THIS IS THE END! I HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED THIS STORY! Hope you catch some of the inside jokes I put in some of the fights.
Ch. 35 – Loose Ends
"JEAN!" Wolverine broke out claws as the rage was burning in his eyes. Even though he had fallen for Oceania, he still cared for Jean. Oceania quickly got up and calmed the feral mutant down as no woman ever had before. Although one of his team members was missing, Slash was more concerned about his revenge on Sinister. He believed he had his opportunity to take Sinister out once and for all.
"Please, everyone calm down!" Cried Xavier. "I feel deep, powerful emotions flowing in all of you. Let's all settle down and get our heads on straight. One issue at a time." By now, the entire team had heard the news. "Umm, lets go to the Ready Room and take it one issue at a time."
"I knocked on her door, letting her know that our training was suppose to begin in one hour, and no response. I tried again, and kein answer. So I entered in, ready to teleport out if necessary. And she was not there! It looked as if she had some kind of struggle and was drug out of bed. I checked into all de rooms, and Herr Madison's room was empty as well. I also found his note dat he left." Beast took the note from Nightcrawler and began to scan it. Xavier had been silent, and then answered.
"Well, I will use Cerebro to track Mr. Madison." Xavier turned to Slash now. "Now, what is your situation Matt?"
"It involves Sinister and my deceased wife." He glanced over at Shadowcat, who nodded. "She was killed indirectly by Sinister. After much research, I may have found a way to kill off that menace. But it's only a theory. I want the opportunity to go it alone, and get my final victory over that bastard." Xavier gazed at him intently.
"Matt, we don't kill to reach our objectives. We always defeat them, but never take blood." With that, Matt leapt to his feet, leaning over the table.
"WHAT ABOUT ERIN THEN? SHE WASN'T A MUTANT! DID SHE DESERVE TO DIE BECAUSE OF ME BEING A MUTANT?" At this outburst, Xavier said nothing. Slash got up.
"I'm gonna find him, whether or not you help me, and his ass is mine." Slash got up and left the Ready Room. Shadowcat quickly got up and followed her husband out. Xavier sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Is there anything else I should know about." Remy smiled.
"Yes, but Gambit have good news. Last night in de late hours of de night, Gambit proposed to Rogue, and she said yes to her Swamp Rat. Heh heh." Rogue sheepishly held up the ring, and Xavier smiled.
"I saw this decision happening long ago. I congratulate both of you on your commitment." At this, they all got up and congratulated Gambit and Rogue on their decision to get married.
In Slash's room, he was readying his sniper rifle and MP-5. He was going to take a smaller two-person version of the Blackbird that he built with Forge to find and hunt down Sinister. Suddenly, Shadowcat phased into the room.
"Matt." She said in her stern womanly control voice. He turned and looked at her. Tears were in his eyes.
"Come to try and stop me? Well, can you stop the hurt and anguish and pain I felt over her loss? She was my Wife. You saw how long it took me to get over her. I swore to her I would not stop until her killer was laid to rest." He paused, and fought back the tears. "Are you worried that my other side is taking over?" She smiled, and then cradled him in her arms.
"No. And that side of you is why I'm saying get Sinister. I'm behind you all the way." They embraced. Suddenly, Beast called them on the radio.
"Slash, we may be able to get in there with you to battle Sinister. We've just found a new message written in the note. Report to the Ready Room at once." Hand in hand, they ran through the wall, and headed off to the Ready Room.
"You did leave the note in a spot they would find it, did you Visionary?" Sinister was looking at an encased Jean as he was talking to Samuel Madison, AKA Visionary.
"Of course Sinister. Now Malice has a new host. I think she should join with her new host." A smile spread over both of their faces, and they turned to see not only the Nasty Boys (Sinister's second gang of evil mutants consisting of George, Slap, Vertigo, Airbag and Ruckus) but also the Marauders (Sinister's original gang of mutant assassins, consisting of Arclight, Harpoon, Malice, Scalphunter and Scrambler) were there as well. Sinister was doubling his protection. He wanted Jean on his side, and now had the chance to change her to evil for good using Malice.
"OK Malice, do your stuff…" Malice entered into the chamber, and suddenly the once motionless Jean came to life. An evil smile broke slowly across her face as Sinister opened the chamber and Malice/Jean exited.
"Her body is so much different Sinister. I have so much more power…"
"Good. Now, we must be ready for these blasted X-Men. We know that they will not let one of their own turn to the dark side without a fight. We can expect them anytime."
"Inside this note is a message that we did not see until we put it under a ultraviolet light. Here's what it says." The note appeared on the screen. Slash leaned forward and squinted to see the tiny message.
'BY NOW X-MEN, YOUR JEAN GREY HAS BEEN ABDUCTED FROM YOU BY A PERSON WHO LOOKED LIKE ONE OF YOUR ALLIES, BUT IS AN AGENT OF MINE. WOLVIE DEAR, IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR PRECIOUS JEANNIE AGAIN, I'M HANGING OUT AT A THE CASTLE AAAAAAGH IN ENGLAND. WE SHALL BE WAITING…SINCERELY MR. SINISTER AND "OTHERS"' Wolverine growled. Oceania put her hand on his shoulder.
"Down boy." Wolverine growled lustfully at her. Slash jumped up.
"We move then. All of us. We're after Sinister, and rescuing Jean." Xavier cautioned them.
"This could be a trap. And what does he mean by 'others?'"
"I don't know, but if we take it carefully once we're inside, we should be fine. I know Sinister is luring us in, but we can't just leave her in there!" Beast, normally the most cautious member of the group, spoke up next.
"Sinister has been after Jean and Cyclops ever since we ran into him. He has stolen Scott's genes and has abducted Jean away from us. In this case, we must throw caution to the wind and go there as soon as possible and get Jean out of there." Wolverine jumped up and spoke up too.
"I'm behind
the squid and hairball on this one. We
can't leave Jeannie in there with that madman. And if Slash wants to try and kill Sinister, then so be it. We've lost to many battles to him, and he
needs to be wiped off the earth like the scum he is…" Xavier looked and saw everyone nodding in agreement.
"Well, before we go, we need a
plan…"
The Marauders were on top of the castle watching for the X-Men. Malice/Jean was watching leaning on the rocks on the parapet, looking out into the open plains that surrounded the castle. Suddenly, Scalphunter came up beside her. He was closest to one of the original members who was now a member of the X-Men.
"Hey Malice, can you…you know, pry into the minds of the people you hold?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just wanted you to see if Remy LeBeau is still a part of the old X-Men gang."
"Yeah, I forgot about ole Remy. Lemme see." "Jean's" eyes shot back into her head, then came back down again. "Yeah, he's still an X-Man." She looked out over the plain as an airplane flew overhead.
"You think he still remembers us Malice?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Why do you think he went straight?"
"I dunno Scalphunter. Your guess is as good as mine." They stared in silence as the plane that had just flown overhead had just suddenly lost altitude and was heading for the ground off in the distance. "Seems we won't have to wait long for them to come." She pulled out her radio…
The Blackbird landed and Slash led Shadowcat, Wolverine, Oceania, Gambit, Rogue, Iceman, Archangel, Storm, Beast, Nightcrawler and Psylocke off the plane. Within seconds, Gambit sensed the Marauders.
"Oh no." He paused. "Gambit non go in der." He slowly backed towards the plane.
"What's the matter Cajun, suddenly got a yellow streak?" Rogue ignored Wolverine's comments and rushed to her fiancé's aid. Storm, who had know Gambit the longest, was puzzled by Gambit's odd behavior.
"I have never seen him act like this."
"What's wrong Remy?"
"Gambit's past came back to haunt him." When everyone heard this, they turned to him.
"Why's that sugah?" Gambit went on to explain to them about the Morlock Massacre, and how he had led the Marauders, under Sinister's orders to exterminate the mutants of that underground society. They all sat silently around as Gambit slowly lost his composure. Rogue carefully embraced him as Archangel began to speak.
"Tell me about regretting your past Remy. I think we all have something. I still remember being under Apocalypse's control and how he changed me forever and I killed so many people under his control." He paused as Gambit looked up at him. "It's the past Remy. We can't change it. Only make a better future." Slash nodded.
"Yeah, I plan to amend the past tonight." He patted his M-88 McMillan sniper rifle. "C'mon Remy. All of us together," as he made eye contact with each member of the X-Men, "have an opportunity here to amend the past and secure mankind's future and the future of mutants with this rescue tonight if my weapon works here." Wolverine put his arm around Oceania, who smirked. "Let's go in there, get Jean and knock Sinister off balance for good." They all nodded and Gambit wiped away his tears.
"Alright den. Gambit say we get Sinister, and nail dat fat ass of 'is to de wall of dis castle." The team cheered, and then moved forward.
They arrived far outside the castle wall. Slash looked and saw no one on the parapet. He turned to the group.
"We have a way in. Rogue, Archangel, Storm and myself will carry everyone who cannot fly or transport him or herself up to the top of the parapet. We meet there and go from there." Nightcrawler instantly disappeared. Beast and Wolverine ran for the wall, bent on climbing straight up the outside wall. Shadowcat ran through the wall, and appeared on top next to Nightcrawler. Iceman created a sheet of ice and slid his way up to the top. Rogue picked up Gambit, while Slash picked up Oceania and Archangel grabbed on to Psylocke. Storm flew up herself and everyone met up with everyone on top. Slash then turned to Wolverine as he drew his MP-5.
"Can ya smell 'em Wolverine?" He sniffed.
"I smell some trash over this way." Slash motioned them to spread out and follow Logan. They proceeded down a flight of stairs and next to a doorway. Wolverine nodded. Gambit charged a card and flung it at the door. It exploded and the X-Men rushed into the room. Arrayed in front of them were the Nasty Boys and the Marauders. Sinister stood on an elevated platform behind them.
"Welcome X-Men. I trust the in-flight movie was to your satisfaction."
"It doesn't compare to tearin' your boys apart down here." Growled Wolverine.
"You hairy beast. You cannot hurt me."
"Yeah Sinister, but I will try." Cried out an upset Slash. "Tonight, your reign of terror will end."
"I see. And you plan on destroying me how?"
"Wait and see Sinister."
"Oh and by the way, X-Men. Here's a former friend of yours. Say hello to Jean Grey, now known as Malice." She came out from behind the Nasty Boys and Marauders and looked over the X-Men.
"Eh, what a scraggly bunch a misfits. I can take them down in a second."
"Jeannn…" Logan wailed. With that, Logan realized his feelings of passion for Jean were dead, along with the old Jean, and decided he loved Oceania more.
"Well, I'm not going to wait any longer. George, Scalphunter…finish them." With that, Sinister disappeared down a long hallway and out of sight.
"With pleasure boss." Said George, and the Nasty Boys and Marauders attacked the X-Men.
Vertigo and Nightcrawler became engaged in battle. Vertigo tried her best to un-balance the teleporting mutant, but to no avail. Nightcrawler appeared behind her and had her out of the fight.
Beast and Airbag found themselves facing each other. Airbag rushed Beast, but Beast simply leapt up onto the ceiling. Beast jumped back down as Airbag turned and they stood, ready to pounce on the other at their opponent's first mistake. Beast accidentally made that mistake as he turned to watch Nightcrawler finish. Airbag pounced on what he thought was a distracted Beast. But Beast simply fell to the floor, and picked Airbag up with his feet and flung Airbag against the wall.
Archangel personally called out Harpoon. It had been on another mission that Harpoon tore apart Archangel's original feathered wings, and Warren wanted vengeance. Except this time, Archangel had his techno-organic metal wings that had the exploding feathers. Harpoon quickly fired off a harpoon, and thought he had pinned Archangel against the wall. Harpoon laughed as he thought he had Warren again. But to Harpoon's horror, Archangel pulled of the wall, and the spot where the harpoon entered simply healed over and Archangel turned again for Harpoon. "You had me last time. Now I've got the edge." He fired off tens of his exploding arrows and Harpoon was soon out from the hailstorm of feathers.
Shadowcat went after Arclight, who could create bright flashes of light from hitting her hands on objects. 'This one's gonna be a tough nut to crack.' Thought Shadowcat. They mirrored each other, trying to gain the advantage. Suddenly, Arclight clapped her hands. Shadowcat took advantage of that and leapt straight at Arclight. She managed to pull Arclight through a wall, but then pulled back, leaving Arclight en limbo in the wall. 'Oops, gone to far Kate.'
Visionary had part of Cyclops' psyche. He took on Wolverine to finish him off for going after Jean all those times in the past. "You wanna piece of me bub?" "Yeah, Scott Summers shoulda finished you a long time ago!" With that, Visionary fired and actually hit Wolverine. It simply singed his clothing, but left a giant burn mark on Logan's chest that disappeared within a few second. "Was that EVER the wrong thing to do Slim." With that, Wolverine lunged at Visionary and after they fought hand to hand a few seconds, Visionary's head rolled off and away, while the body slumped to the floor. "You know what? You weren't Slim bub. I'm glad I killed ya."
George stretched after Storm. "Now Georgie boy's got the white haired weather witch, and you're gonna get squeezed like a python squeezes its prey. OI!" Storm rolled her eyes, and then unleashed her lightening. George was rolling on the floor from the attack. "Crikey! That was…YEAOW!" as Storm attacked again. This time, George said nothing, because he was out cold. "Goddess be praised. One more down."
Ruckus screamed after a flying Rogue. She was bound and determined to hammer him. As Ruckus finally managed to get Rogue in range, she flew through the 'flak' and managed to hit Ruckus with one mega pulverizing power punch. Ruckus didn't just stop at the outside wall; he crashed through it and ended up breaking his leg about twenty miles away. "He didn't have any good ole southern charm."
Iceman went after a fleeing Scrambler, who was going to defend his master Sinister to the end. Iceman launched several ice projectiles at Scrambler. He evaded them, but temporarily incapacitated Iceman as he tried to launch another series of projectiles. Iceman writhed in pain as Scrambler retreated to protect Sinister. Beast leapt over to tend to Iceman.
Oceania was enjoying her first action with the X-Men. She had been cornered by Slap, one of the Nasty Boys' super strong men. He managed to land a few punches. She too got upset like Storm had before with George. She began to pull the moisture out of the air and from any nearby body of water. She gave herself more time by drop kicking Slap back to the wall. The water entered the room, and she fired a steady stream of water right at Slap. He couldn't take the water and soon drowned on dry land. Oceania stopped the flow, and 'blew' the tip of her finger like a gun. Wolverine smiled at her and quickly kissed her for a few seconds, rivaling the kisses between the married Slash and Shadowcat.
Scalphunter decided he had to kill his old friend Gambit personally. "Hello Remy. It's good to see you again." "As wid you too Scalpie boy. Wish we could talk bout ol' times, but look like you wanna fight me. Well, guess we better go at it." They swung, fought and used their skills of thieves and assassins to evade the blows of the other. Gambit managed to pull out his cards and fire them just as Scalphunter pulled out a Desert Eagle .357. They both fired and hit each other. But Scalphunter's wounds were fatal. Gambit cralwed over and made peace with his old friend, and Scalphunter died in Gambit's arms. Rogue came over and tended to Gambit's bullet wounds.
Slash told Psylocke to eject Malice from Jean's mind. Malice knew what was going to happen, and so she engaged in a telekinetic battle with Psylocke. The two stood ten feet apart, yet were grappling with every inch of strength they had. Before Slash went off to get Sinister, he saw that Psylocke needed help. He fired a three round burst in the back of Malice/Jean's leg. He hoped he didn't do any permanent damage. Slash then turned to follow Sinister and Scrambler. Psylocke managed to gain the upper hand and used her telepathic powers to make Jean's brain so untenable that Malice had to abandon it. When Malice did so, Jean's body dropped to the floor as Beast ran to tend to her. Psylocke wielded her psyonic knife and killed the mental entity of Malice.
Slash however had not been idle in this fight. He wanted Sinister. He ran after the retreating Scrambler, as he knew that Scrambler would lead him to Sinister. Slash still had his MP-5 out and was feeling the wall to a point where it opened up. Suddenly, Sinister's voice boomed out in the darkness.
"You may have me here Slash old boy, but you still have to deal with Scrambler!" Out of nowhere came Scrambler as he leapt on top of Slash. Slash managed to fire wildly at his attacker. Slash dealt a fatal burst of gunfire at the mutant, but not before Scramber managed to destroy the nerves in Slash's legs and temporarily inhibited his flying ability. Slash fell to the ground in pain and flung the mutant's corpse off him. Sinister then turned on the lights as Slash painfully reached for his sniper rifle and loaded the depleted uranium shell.
"You shall now pay for your treachery Slash!" Slash could see Sinister's hands charging as he brandished the weapon and set it on Sinister's chest, but not the heart. If it worked, he wanted Sinister's dead corpse to have been wrangled by Slash's hands on Sinister's neck. As Sinister was about to blast Slash, he said, "Do you feel lucky punk? Do ya?" and fired the rifle. The bullet passed through Sinister's shoulder and ended up in the wall. Suddenly, the power shrank from Sinister's hands as he slid down to the floor. Blood poured out of the wound. Sinister put his hand to the wound and saw the blood.
"No…NO! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?!?" Slash chuckled as he dropped the rifle and crawled forward.
"You see Sinister, that wasn't an ordinary rifle round. It was made of depleted uranium." He stopped to gain his strength and crawled forward again, and was on top of Sinister. "It still had radiation in it. I was counting on that level of radiation to destroy your regenerative powers." Slash put his hands around Sinister's neck as Sinister was starting to lose consciousness. "Now you will go to hell." He twisted Sinister's neck, and soon afterward he stopped breathing, moving and finally heart beating. Slash let go and collapsed onto the floor as the rest of the team came up. He reached up to his wife and kissed her.
"We've done what we came here for. Let's get Jean back to the plane and go home."