Chapter 4
"I like, hate taking stuff like this. It makes me all jittery, and it's just not natural!" Kitty complained as the others swallowed their doses of No-Doz.
"I agree Kitty, but it is a necessity." Storm said as she sipped the rest of her water. "It's late, and we can't risk being off, not even by a second."
"Just take em' Half-Pint. A few of these aren't gonna hurt you that bad." Wolverine said as he fired up the X-Jet. Jean set the coordinates as Storm took her place next to Wolverine.
Kitty settled into her seat, and fastened the restraints. Even tried to crack a joke, but it wasn't the same. Kurt was gone, as well as Scott and Rogue, and the team were suffering for it. I hope they're okay. She thought to herself as they took off. We need them. I need them.
"So, what did you do with these horses?"
"Oh, Ah don't know Scott. You just kinda.played with em." The three of them had decided to camp out in an empty stall of the Ponyland Stables. It seemd safe enough- the ponies were very attentive, and even tried to share their oats and carrots with them.
"You know, ve never had things like that vere I came from." Kurt said between bites of carrot.
Scott was intrigued. "What did you play with then?"
Kurt continued to chew. "Vell, ve had to make do vith vhat ve had. The same way with clothes, really."
"Oh, you hand hand-me downs and stuff?" Rogue asked.
"Ja. And I had two sticks- my favorite one vas named Betty." Kurt grinned, and then dodged the handfulls of hay.
"Vhat? It's true!"
"Oh come on, how cliched is this?" Evan asked as he followed the others into the warehouse. "Can't they ever get creative with where they hide out?"
Jean frowned as she stood next to Wolverine. She worried about Evan and Kitty- they were the youngest X-Men, and though they tried to act otherwise, they were just as fatigued as the rest of them.
"There's no other way in. All we can do is go in through the front." Logan announced as he warily sniffed the air. "Mystique's been here. And so has." He trailed off.
"Magneto." Jean could sense traces of his paranoia, his hate, his teetering sanity.
"He's alive." Storm said simply.
They walked in.
Wolverine smelled it before anyone else.
"Shit- knockout gas! Get out, get out now!" He shouted.
All five covered their faces as they ran towards the exit. Wolverine was almost to the door when a shattering blow dropped him to the floor. A figure stood over him, removing the mask from his face.
"Good. It is almost done."
The five remaining X-Men lay on the floor of the dark warehouse, lit only by the ghostly green figure, floating behind glass.
They could hear coughing from outside of the barn the three of them had dubbed "The Horse Headquarters". They had been there for hours, talking, trying to fathom what had happened.
"Should ve go out?" Kurt asked. "Could be a pony in distress."
Scott smirked at this. "It's probably another dream. Maybe it's about those clove cigarettes that you sneak Rogue?"
Rogue glared at him. "You've been spying on me?" She snapped.
"I can smell Rogue. Not much investigative work required, though you can think I watch you if you'd like." His retort had come out harsher than he had intended, and Rogue faced showed it. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"Shut up Scott. Why don't ya get off your ass and be the leader and investigate." She made sure he didn't miss her sarcasm. Kurt winced at the exchange, but Scott simply got up and walked out.
Xavier was in the lab when he grabbed his head, grimacing.
"Professor?" Hank asked, his eyes worried.
"The rest," Xavier gasped, "He has the rest of them."
"Who has them?"
Xavier sighed. "Hank, let me tell you a story. It's a long one, but it'll explain everything."
"Kitty! Are you okay?"
Kitty Pryde opened her heavy lids. A familiar blue figure stood over her, a weak smile on his face.
"Kurt?"
"Ja, it's me. Vhat happened?"
Logan rolled into a sitting position. "Ambush. I shoulda known better."
"Hey man, we all make mistakes." Evan said he stood.
"Yeah, but some of us have an excuse. I don't." Logan sniffed the air, and then took in their surroundings. "What the hell kinda place is this?"
"A long story." Scott said, winking at Rogue. She gave him a dirty look, her lips pouted..
"Basically, this is a shared dream. We're all here together, experiencing each other's dreams." He gestured to the cartoonish scenery. "We stayed here because it's been the most harmless one so far."
"Man, I haven't seen anything this weird since that time in the Army when we found those mushrooms." Logan said as the pony called Twilight approached him.
"They're kinda cute, in a strange way." Kitty said. Kurt put his arm around her and helped her up. "You get used to strange-looking things after a." She was interrupted by a mechanical rumbling from the horizon.
The daisies were crushed as the large conveyer-belt wheels of the tanks rolled through the valley. The ponies, usually calm and peaceful, began to neigh and buck in fear.
"What is this?" Rogue asked as the large tanks came closer. Everyone ducked as the first shot clapped throughout the sky.
"Who's dream is this?" Scott shouted over the chaos of fleeing ponies and chattering X-Men.
Logan hopped up, pulling Jean with him. "It's my dream, and we better get the hell out of here."
"I now have all of the X-men under my control. Excellent, Mystique, excellent."
Mystique looked up from her charges. A man stepped out of the shadow. "Magnus, I've done as you asked. What do you intend to do with them?" She fidgeted ever so slightly as she spoke.
Magneto noted her nervous action with amusement. Did she really think he would spare him?
"I intend to destroy the X-Men. Xavier is alone now- he is all I have to deal with before all obstacles are eliminated. And then, I shall rule the world." He suppressed a maniacal laugh.
Mystique was shocked. "But what about my part? I want the boy."
Magnus smiled cruelly. "And what would you do? Play Mommy to him? You are from two different worlds Mystique. Do you honestly think that the two of you can reach a compromise? Charles and I tried.and failed."
"He's all I have." Mystique said simply.
"You gave him up long ago. You threw him into a river, and returned to me. Me!" He began to pace the floor. "You would be dead, or part of a governmental experiment if it weren't for me. We are different Mystique, and we understand the threat that humanity poses to us." He turned to her. "The strong will flourish- the weak-willed must die. It is the way of life."
He had been caught off guard by her attack. Mystique threw a kick to his jaw, the only part of his face exposed by his helmet. She ripped it off, and it clanged on the hardwood floor.
"I should kill you." She snarled, holding the cool instrument to his neck. He tried to will it away, but it was made of.plastic. Yes, she had understood all along.
"Do it. Without me, you have nothing. No direction, and certainly no son. Understand that you have nothing unless I will it." She lessened her grip, and he threw her to the floor.
"You want your precious son? You may have him. Conditioned."
Mystique gasped.
"Yes, he'll have no memories, no experiences. He will be a tabula rosa. It is the only way." He placed his helmet back on his head. "Come. We have a meeting with Charles to attend to."
He strode out of the room. Mystique growled, and sheathed her weapon, along with a small black box. She then followed him, grudgingly.
"It is him. He's back."
Beast stared at Professor Xavier. "He never died."
The Professor pinched his brow with worry. "No, I knew before that he had survived. He was waiting for his chance- it was very well planned." Xavier hated himself for this. Magneto's plan was so simple, so thought out. He only wished that he would have the opportunity to learn for this mistake.
"He'll be after you next. We have to prepare." Beast leaned over and whispered something into the intercom. He then went to the computer, and set in its program. DEFCOM 4.
The Institute lay in ruins. Its defense system was in shambles as Magneto entered the main hall of the Westchester mansion. So simple Xavier. You honestly never thought it would come to this? Magneto thought as he destroyed part of the stairwell with a simple gesture of his right hand.
Mystique followed closely as they walked towards the Infirmary. The door was blocked, but quite simple to pass through with Magneto's immense powers.
The battle of minds was to begin yet again.
"Magneto." Xavier said calmly.
"Let's dispense with the usual formalities Charles, it becomes quite tedious after a while." Magneto swept across the room, his cape flowing behind him.
"I have won. I have defeated your X-Men, and now I have come to kill you." Magneto and Charles both ducked as Beast flew across the room into a wall. Mystique ran towards him, prepared to fight again. But instead, she withdrew a syringe, and slammed it into Beast's neck before he could grab her hand.
Beast snarled, and jumped to his feet. The triple dose of sedative proved to be too much even for him, and he swayed before he fell hard on his hindquarters. "Professor.I'm sor." His eyes closed, and his chin fell to his chest.
"Mystique!" Xavier said sharply. "How could you do this? They are children- don't you understand what he intends to do?"
Mystique nodded. "Through him, we mutants will take our rightful place as the superior beings in this world. My conscience is clear."
"But he'll kill them. He'll kill your son. How can your conscience."
"My son will remain alive." Mystique said. "It will be done."
Magneto laughed as he roughly pulled Xavier from his wheelchair. Xavier hit the ground hard, and struggled vainly to sit up.
Magneto chuckled at his efforts. "The boy will live, and be reconditioned. He will join us as the rightful rulers of this planet."
Xavier blanched. "But.he'll be no more than a body- a shell of a person. Mystique, he will be your son in form only. All that he is.it will be destroyed. You can't possibly want that for him!"
"Silence!" Magneto shouted. "It is now your time to die." Magneto raised his arms over his head, and random objects began to levitate. Scalpels flew from their drawers, scissors from the desks, trays from their cabinets.
"Though this may not be the most satisfying way to watch you die, it will be the most efficient. I won't have you slip away due to your dumb luck again Charles. You are like vermin- you come back, build your ranks, as pose just a large of a threat as you did before. But no more." The metal flew towards Xavier's prone form, ghostly assassins to tear away his flesh, his very being.
There was a loud clatter as the metal instruments fell to the floor, less than a foot from Xavier. Magneto joined them on the floor, and large syringe jutting from his Adam's Apple.
Mystique stood over Magneto's sleeping form. "The next time we meet Xavier, one of us will die. And I don't intend on dying anytime soon." Her form began to shift into that of a bird. Her ghostly voice filled the room as she flew over Kurt's body.
"Goodbye."
The young blonde man stepped over the rubble from the previous fight. In the room, he recognized Jean Grey, Evan, Kitty, and the adults known as Ororo and Logan strapped down to tables. Floating in a vat of pale solution was a young man, not much older than his brother.
Alex Summers ripped the thick black tubes from the glass, and liquid began to pour onto the ground. He placed his hand against the glass, concentrated, and then stood back as the glass shattered. Knocking away the remaining glass in the frame, he pulled the man out. He was thin, with dark hair plastered across his forehead.
"Dude, I hope this works." He said to himself, as he placed his glowing hands on either side of the dark haired man's head.
The X-Men were fighting Magneto again. In this world of dreams, Magneto's superior mental capabilities made the match rather one-sided, even though it was many pitted against his one.
He was far more adapted to the mental battleground than the young X-Men, and both Storm and Wolverine were weakening.
"Scott!" Jean screamed as a Magneto appeared from nowhere, and grasped the boy by his neck. Rogue ran up from behind him, and grabbed him from behind, gloves off, trying to find bare skin.
"You foolish child!" Magneto roared as he threw her off. She landed in a heap on top of Wolverine, who was preparing to attack Magneto while he was distracted.
Storm's cold rain soaked all of them as she vainly tried to slow Magneto down. The winds whipped around them, and Kitty began to lose her footing.
Something firm wrapped around her waist, and she looked down to see Nightcrawler's forked tail holding her down.
"Thanks Kurt!" She shouted over the wind.
Storm was stirring up a hurricane, and the others split up as they tried to find something to hold onto. They were cold, shivering as the winds continued to rise.
"Scott, we can't win!" Jean yelled as they held each other.
He grimaced. "I know!" He shouted over the commotion. "Jean, I'm so sorry."
And then everything stopped.
"I like, hate taking stuff like this. It makes me all jittery, and it's just not natural!" Kitty complained as the others swallowed their doses of No-Doz.
"I agree Kitty, but it is a necessity." Storm said as she sipped the rest of her water. "It's late, and we can't risk being off, not even by a second."
"Just take em' Half-Pint. A few of these aren't gonna hurt you that bad." Wolverine said as he fired up the X-Jet. Jean set the coordinates as Storm took her place next to Wolverine.
Kitty settled into her seat, and fastened the restraints. Even tried to crack a joke, but it wasn't the same. Kurt was gone, as well as Scott and Rogue, and the team were suffering for it. I hope they're okay. She thought to herself as they took off. We need them. I need them.
"So, what did you do with these horses?"
"Oh, Ah don't know Scott. You just kinda.played with em." The three of them had decided to camp out in an empty stall of the Ponyland Stables. It seemd safe enough- the ponies were very attentive, and even tried to share their oats and carrots with them.
"You know, ve never had things like that vere I came from." Kurt said between bites of carrot.
Scott was intrigued. "What did you play with then?"
Kurt continued to chew. "Vell, ve had to make do vith vhat ve had. The same way with clothes, really."
"Oh, you hand hand-me downs and stuff?" Rogue asked.
"Ja. And I had two sticks- my favorite one vas named Betty." Kurt grinned, and then dodged the handfulls of hay.
"Vhat? It's true!"
"Oh come on, how cliched is this?" Evan asked as he followed the others into the warehouse. "Can't they ever get creative with where they hide out?"
Jean frowned as she stood next to Wolverine. She worried about Evan and Kitty- they were the youngest X-Men, and though they tried to act otherwise, they were just as fatigued as the rest of them.
"There's no other way in. All we can do is go in through the front." Logan announced as he warily sniffed the air. "Mystique's been here. And so has." He trailed off.
"Magneto." Jean could sense traces of his paranoia, his hate, his teetering sanity.
"He's alive." Storm said simply.
They walked in.
Wolverine smelled it before anyone else.
"Shit- knockout gas! Get out, get out now!" He shouted.
All five covered their faces as they ran towards the exit. Wolverine was almost to the door when a shattering blow dropped him to the floor. A figure stood over him, removing the mask from his face.
"Good. It is almost done."
The five remaining X-Men lay on the floor of the dark warehouse, lit only by the ghostly green figure, floating behind glass.
They could hear coughing from outside of the barn the three of them had dubbed "The Horse Headquarters". They had been there for hours, talking, trying to fathom what had happened.
"Should ve go out?" Kurt asked. "Could be a pony in distress."
Scott smirked at this. "It's probably another dream. Maybe it's about those clove cigarettes that you sneak Rogue?"
Rogue glared at him. "You've been spying on me?" She snapped.
"I can smell Rogue. Not much investigative work required, though you can think I watch you if you'd like." His retort had come out harsher than he had intended, and Rogue faced showed it. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"Shut up Scott. Why don't ya get off your ass and be the leader and investigate." She made sure he didn't miss her sarcasm. Kurt winced at the exchange, but Scott simply got up and walked out.
Xavier was in the lab when he grabbed his head, grimacing.
"Professor?" Hank asked, his eyes worried.
"The rest," Xavier gasped, "He has the rest of them."
"Who has them?"
Xavier sighed. "Hank, let me tell you a story. It's a long one, but it'll explain everything."
"Kitty! Are you okay?"
Kitty Pryde opened her heavy lids. A familiar blue figure stood over her, a weak smile on his face.
"Kurt?"
"Ja, it's me. Vhat happened?"
Logan rolled into a sitting position. "Ambush. I shoulda known better."
"Hey man, we all make mistakes." Evan said he stood.
"Yeah, but some of us have an excuse. I don't." Logan sniffed the air, and then took in their surroundings. "What the hell kinda place is this?"
"A long story." Scott said, winking at Rogue. She gave him a dirty look, her lips pouted..
"Basically, this is a shared dream. We're all here together, experiencing each other's dreams." He gestured to the cartoonish scenery. "We stayed here because it's been the most harmless one so far."
"Man, I haven't seen anything this weird since that time in the Army when we found those mushrooms." Logan said as the pony called Twilight approached him.
"They're kinda cute, in a strange way." Kitty said. Kurt put his arm around her and helped her up. "You get used to strange-looking things after a." She was interrupted by a mechanical rumbling from the horizon.
The daisies were crushed as the large conveyer-belt wheels of the tanks rolled through the valley. The ponies, usually calm and peaceful, began to neigh and buck in fear.
"What is this?" Rogue asked as the large tanks came closer. Everyone ducked as the first shot clapped throughout the sky.
"Who's dream is this?" Scott shouted over the chaos of fleeing ponies and chattering X-Men.
Logan hopped up, pulling Jean with him. "It's my dream, and we better get the hell out of here."
"I now have all of the X-men under my control. Excellent, Mystique, excellent."
Mystique looked up from her charges. A man stepped out of the shadow. "Magnus, I've done as you asked. What do you intend to do with them?" She fidgeted ever so slightly as she spoke.
Magneto noted her nervous action with amusement. Did she really think he would spare him?
"I intend to destroy the X-Men. Xavier is alone now- he is all I have to deal with before all obstacles are eliminated. And then, I shall rule the world." He suppressed a maniacal laugh.
Mystique was shocked. "But what about my part? I want the boy."
Magnus smiled cruelly. "And what would you do? Play Mommy to him? You are from two different worlds Mystique. Do you honestly think that the two of you can reach a compromise? Charles and I tried.and failed."
"He's all I have." Mystique said simply.
"You gave him up long ago. You threw him into a river, and returned to me. Me!" He began to pace the floor. "You would be dead, or part of a governmental experiment if it weren't for me. We are different Mystique, and we understand the threat that humanity poses to us." He turned to her. "The strong will flourish- the weak-willed must die. It is the way of life."
He had been caught off guard by her attack. Mystique threw a kick to his jaw, the only part of his face exposed by his helmet. She ripped it off, and it clanged on the hardwood floor.
"I should kill you." She snarled, holding the cool instrument to his neck. He tried to will it away, but it was made of.plastic. Yes, she had understood all along.
"Do it. Without me, you have nothing. No direction, and certainly no son. Understand that you have nothing unless I will it." She lessened her grip, and he threw her to the floor.
"You want your precious son? You may have him. Conditioned."
Mystique gasped.
"Yes, he'll have no memories, no experiences. He will be a tabula rosa. It is the only way." He placed his helmet back on his head. "Come. We have a meeting with Charles to attend to."
He strode out of the room. Mystique growled, and sheathed her weapon, along with a small black box. She then followed him, grudgingly.
"It is him. He's back."
Beast stared at Professor Xavier. "He never died."
The Professor pinched his brow with worry. "No, I knew before that he had survived. He was waiting for his chance- it was very well planned." Xavier hated himself for this. Magneto's plan was so simple, so thought out. He only wished that he would have the opportunity to learn for this mistake.
"He'll be after you next. We have to prepare." Beast leaned over and whispered something into the intercom. He then went to the computer, and set in its program. DEFCOM 4.
The Institute lay in ruins. Its defense system was in shambles as Magneto entered the main hall of the Westchester mansion. So simple Xavier. You honestly never thought it would come to this? Magneto thought as he destroyed part of the stairwell with a simple gesture of his right hand.
Mystique followed closely as they walked towards the Infirmary. The door was blocked, but quite simple to pass through with Magneto's immense powers.
The battle of minds was to begin yet again.
"Magneto." Xavier said calmly.
"Let's dispense with the usual formalities Charles, it becomes quite tedious after a while." Magneto swept across the room, his cape flowing behind him.
"I have won. I have defeated your X-Men, and now I have come to kill you." Magneto and Charles both ducked as Beast flew across the room into a wall. Mystique ran towards him, prepared to fight again. But instead, she withdrew a syringe, and slammed it into Beast's neck before he could grab her hand.
Beast snarled, and jumped to his feet. The triple dose of sedative proved to be too much even for him, and he swayed before he fell hard on his hindquarters. "Professor.I'm sor." His eyes closed, and his chin fell to his chest.
"Mystique!" Xavier said sharply. "How could you do this? They are children- don't you understand what he intends to do?"
Mystique nodded. "Through him, we mutants will take our rightful place as the superior beings in this world. My conscience is clear."
"But he'll kill them. He'll kill your son. How can your conscience."
"My son will remain alive." Mystique said. "It will be done."
Magneto laughed as he roughly pulled Xavier from his wheelchair. Xavier hit the ground hard, and struggled vainly to sit up.
Magneto chuckled at his efforts. "The boy will live, and be reconditioned. He will join us as the rightful rulers of this planet."
Xavier blanched. "But.he'll be no more than a body- a shell of a person. Mystique, he will be your son in form only. All that he is.it will be destroyed. You can't possibly want that for him!"
"Silence!" Magneto shouted. "It is now your time to die." Magneto raised his arms over his head, and random objects began to levitate. Scalpels flew from their drawers, scissors from the desks, trays from their cabinets.
"Though this may not be the most satisfying way to watch you die, it will be the most efficient. I won't have you slip away due to your dumb luck again Charles. You are like vermin- you come back, build your ranks, as pose just a large of a threat as you did before. But no more." The metal flew towards Xavier's prone form, ghostly assassins to tear away his flesh, his very being.
There was a loud clatter as the metal instruments fell to the floor, less than a foot from Xavier. Magneto joined them on the floor, and large syringe jutting from his Adam's Apple.
Mystique stood over Magneto's sleeping form. "The next time we meet Xavier, one of us will die. And I don't intend on dying anytime soon." Her form began to shift into that of a bird. Her ghostly voice filled the room as she flew over Kurt's body.
"Goodbye."
The young blonde man stepped over the rubble from the previous fight. In the room, he recognized Jean Grey, Evan, Kitty, and the adults known as Ororo and Logan strapped down to tables. Floating in a vat of pale solution was a young man, not much older than his brother.
Alex Summers ripped the thick black tubes from the glass, and liquid began to pour onto the ground. He placed his hand against the glass, concentrated, and then stood back as the glass shattered. Knocking away the remaining glass in the frame, he pulled the man out. He was thin, with dark hair plastered across his forehead.
"Dude, I hope this works." He said to himself, as he placed his glowing hands on either side of the dark haired man's head.
The X-Men were fighting Magneto again. In this world of dreams, Magneto's superior mental capabilities made the match rather one-sided, even though it was many pitted against his one.
He was far more adapted to the mental battleground than the young X-Men, and both Storm and Wolverine were weakening.
"Scott!" Jean screamed as a Magneto appeared from nowhere, and grasped the boy by his neck. Rogue ran up from behind him, and grabbed him from behind, gloves off, trying to find bare skin.
"You foolish child!" Magneto roared as he threw her off. She landed in a heap on top of Wolverine, who was preparing to attack Magneto while he was distracted.
Storm's cold rain soaked all of them as she vainly tried to slow Magneto down. The winds whipped around them, and Kitty began to lose her footing.
Something firm wrapped around her waist, and she looked down to see Nightcrawler's forked tail holding her down.
"Thanks Kurt!" She shouted over the wind.
Storm was stirring up a hurricane, and the others split up as they tried to find something to hold onto. They were cold, shivering as the winds continued to rise.
"Scott, we can't win!" Jean yelled as they held each other.
He grimaced. "I know!" He shouted over the commotion. "Jean, I'm so sorry."
And then everything stopped.
