Since he didn't have money for a cab, Glen had to walk to the mansion. By
the time he arrived, it was very late at night. He eschewed the front
entrance completely and made his way around to the cliffs behind the
mansion, making sure to avoid the Institute's security systems.
He walked up to the base of the cliff and looked up. The moon was reflecting off the waterfall that obscured the entrance to the hangar. Glen grabbed the rocks and began to climb. The climb took a long time, and the waterfall splashed spray and foam on him the whole way up, making the rocks very slippery. Twice he lost his grip and nearly fell, but both times managed to hold on. After what seemed like an eternity, he made it up to the entrance of the hanger. Then, using one of the codes Magneto had given him, he overrode the security locks on the hangar doors and opened them.
Inside the hanger, he took a moment to rest and warm up and then walked stealthily across the large room. He was fully aware of the sensitive security in place, and refrained from phasing out of time in fear that Cerebro would detect his powers and give him away.
He made it across the hanger without being detected and got out into the corridor. Security was lighter here, and he relaxed a bit. As he walked through the hall, he had a mental debate with himself concerning his new appearance and powers. Part of him wanted to get this over with and go back to the way he was as soon as possible, but another part was enjoying the new Glen.
You've got to admit, Glen thought, you DO look much cuter now. Sure, the silver look might not be you, but haven't you always wanted long hair?
Ok, maybe I have, Glen thought back to himself. But you saw the way Sam reacted when he saw me. I mean, I'm practically an ADULT now!
Oh, he'll get used to it, just give him some time. Besides, what about these new powers you have? Did you see the looks on those muggers' faces? You know, maybe you should stay with Magneto after all this is over. Who knows what else he might be able to teach you?
Glen shook his head, trying to dislodge this nagging voice. He had no wish for power over others, and he certainly had no desire to be around Magneto any longer than was absolutely necessary. Why was he thinking these thoughts?
What Glen was unaware of was that besides altering his physical body, Magneto's machine had also altered his mind somewhat to make him more pliant and in essence make him WANT to be with Magneto. Fortunately for Glen, this machine did not quite have the strength of its predecessor.
Glen made his way to a junction in the hall and stopped. Down the hall was Cerebro's chamber, but there were numerous security cameras along the way. There was no way he'd be able to get by them without using his powers. He prepared himself and stepped around the corner, arms extended. Purple-white bolts of energy shot out from his fingertips and struck all the cameras, freezing them in stasis. Glen walked down the hall, unimpeded, until he came to Cerebro's door.
He looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was coming down the hall, then began working on the control panel, inputting the codes that Magneto had given him in order to gain access. After a few moments, the door cracked open, and Glen walked inside.
He looked around the room in amazement. He had never been in this room before, and was overwhelmed by the all the machinery in the room. On the wall were numerous displays that tracked mutant movements and projected emergences of people with the X-Gene. So this is how the professor found me, and all of us, Glen thought in awe. He took everything in, and then set to work.
He connected the pad to the main terminal and pressed a few buttons. The pad began scanning Cerebro's mainframe in search of the information it needed. What Glen didn't know was that the pad was also downloading every bit of information the giant computer had on mutants all over the world. This compiled list would be very helpful to Magneto when he began recruiting more mutants.
Next, Glen knelt down at one of the main terminals and removed the access panel. He studied the schematics of the computer, and then reached inside and pulled out a circuit board. This was the crucial component that would allow Magneto to produce a working duplicate of Cerebro.
Glen was also unaware that his access had triggered a silent alarm. Upstairs, Xavier was sitting in the den with Kitty, Jean, Rogue, Kurt, and the present version of Glen when the lights in the room flashed amber. A voice broke out over the intercom. "Warning, unauthorized access in Cerebro mainframe. Mutant signature detected,"
"Computer, identify the mutant," Xavier said nervously.
"Mutant identified as Glen Hilliard," the computer responded. All eyes in the room shot over to Glen, who himself was shocked. "How could that be? I'm right here!"
Jean reached out with her mind. "I can sense him, professor. It is Glen, but yet it isn't!"
"Mystique again!" Kurt shouted. "Let's go!"
"Wait! It's not Mystique," said Jean. "I can't explain it. It's just like it's another Glen down there,"
It would take a couple minutes for everybody to get downstairs. Xavier did a quick mental sweep of the Institute and saw that Scott was downstairs in one of the exercise rooms. He called out with his mind. "Scott, go to Cerebro immediately. Somebody is trying to break in. Stop him!"
"On my way, professor," came Scott's mental reply.
"Scott will hold things up long enough for us to get down there," said Xavier. "Let's move,"
Scott ran towards Cerebro. He noticed the purple glow around all of the security cameras. Had Glen done this? he wondered to himself. He arrived at the door to find that he was too late to stop the thief from getting in, but he could certainly stop him from getting out. He walked in and saw the intruder crouched at Cerebro's main console.
"Whoever you are, stop what you're doing!" Scott shouted. He saw the intruder stand up slowly and turn to face him. "Who are you?" Scott asked him cautiously.
Glen stepped forward. "You know who I am, Scott," he said grimly. "Stand back, and let me finish what I came to do,"
Scott tried to ignore the impossibility of what he was seeing and focused on the task at hand. "Glen, I don't what's going on or what you're doing, but I can't let you finish!" he said, his hand drifting upwards toward his visor.
"And I've come too far to let you stop me!" Glen shouted back, balling his hand into a fist.
There was a dramatic pause, and then both mutants fired at once. Glen dived out the way to dodge Scott's optic blast while Scott rolled behind a terminal to avoid Glen's stasis bolt.
Behind the terminal, Scott tried to reach out to Glen. "Glen, why are you doing this?" he called out. He got no response, and cautiously peeked out from behind the console. "Are you doing this for Magneto?" he asked. "You can't just turn your back on us like this!" He barely saw the stasis bolt coming at him, and leaned so far back to miss it that he fell over. He rolled to one side, blindly firing an optic blast at the origin of the bolt before rolling back behind the terminal. He couldn't tell if he had hit his target or not.
Glen saw the pad finish its task, and decided it was time to go. He phased out of time and retrieved the pad, and then re-entered time in the middle of the room. "Scott, I've lost too much! Don't ask me to stop!" he said in a pained voice. He saw Scott run behind another terminal and line up for a shot, and he again felt the surge of anger at his progress being impeded. "No you don't," he said darkly, and with the slightest amount of concentration produced a dozen temporal doubles. Unlike his first attempts at using this power, these images were no shadows but full copies of Glen and completely under his control.
From his new vantage point, Scott hesitated as he saw the doubles spring into existence. He hesitated, uncertain which one to shoot. Just then, the doors opened and the other mutants rushed in. "Stay back!" Scott warned them. "I can't tell which one's the real one!"
Jean concentrated, and then said, "It's that one!" and pointed to the clones. She dispelled the doubles, and Scott fired at Glen. Glen phased out of time to dodge the blast and retreated behind another console.
Xavier directed traffic, telling the X-Men to take Glen down, but to be very cautious. There was no way for them to know the full extent of Glen's new powers. He nodded at Kurt, who grabbed Rogue's hand and teleported with a loud BAMF!
Glen knew that he was going to be attacked, and he knew his fellow X-Men well enough from all the training he had undergone to anticipate their first assault. He turned around just as Kurt and Rogue appeared behind him. He dodged Kurt's blow and grabbed the fuzzy boy, and then threw him across the room.
He turned around just in time to see Rogue reaching for him with her bare hand. He quickly reached out, grabbed Rogue's wrist, and twisted hard. Glaring, he ignored the snap of bone and Rogue's cry of pain as her wrist broke. He shoved her away, and leapt up and backwards to a catwalk along the top of the room. He paused for a moment, slightly awed by his new strength. He had never been able to jump that high before. He heard the voice in his head again; See how much Magneto's given you! Join him!
While Glen was distracted, Kitty phased through the floor behind him and grabbed hold of him. Glen struggled, and rammed her hard into the railing. She cried out as she fell backwards over the railing. Jean reached out with her powers and caught Kitty just before she hit the floor. Glen shot a pair of stasis bolts down to the floor, sending the rest of the mutants scattering.
Xavier looked at the present-day Glen. "I know this may be unusual, but I need you to fight yourself,"
The present-day Glen nodded and vanished as he phased out of time. Up on the catwalk, Glen became aware of something moving behind him. Turning, he saw nothing, but could still sense somebody moving closer. Interesting, he thought.
He phased out of time at the exact same instant the present-day Glen phased back in. He reappeared behind Glen and spun him around. He looked very sternly into his eyes. "Don't fight me, Glen. I'm doing this for us!"
"What do you mean?" asked the present-day Glen.
"If I don't get out of here, Sam will die! I can't let that happen, and I know you can't either!" He dropped down from the catwalk, leaving the present-day Glen alone by himself.
Xavier saw that his efforts to stop Glen were failing, and reached out with his mind. "Glen, please, stop this," he thought.
Glen became aware of the professor in his mind. "I'm sorry, professor," he thought back. "I can't let anybody stop me, not even you," He crossed his arms across his chest and surrounded himself with a dome of temporal energy. He then shot his arms out, and the dome quickly spread out across the whole room, freezing everybody. Glen nodded at the results of his powers, and started to leave.
As he passed the frozen Xavier, he paused briefly, and picked up a pad from one of the consoles. He typed out a message for Xavier to find when he recovered, and then began to concentrate again. It was time to get back to his time. He could see the temporal vortex swirling before him, and he saw the destination he was searching for. At least it'll all be worth it, he thought, and stepped through.
He walked up to the base of the cliff and looked up. The moon was reflecting off the waterfall that obscured the entrance to the hangar. Glen grabbed the rocks and began to climb. The climb took a long time, and the waterfall splashed spray and foam on him the whole way up, making the rocks very slippery. Twice he lost his grip and nearly fell, but both times managed to hold on. After what seemed like an eternity, he made it up to the entrance of the hanger. Then, using one of the codes Magneto had given him, he overrode the security locks on the hangar doors and opened them.
Inside the hanger, he took a moment to rest and warm up and then walked stealthily across the large room. He was fully aware of the sensitive security in place, and refrained from phasing out of time in fear that Cerebro would detect his powers and give him away.
He made it across the hanger without being detected and got out into the corridor. Security was lighter here, and he relaxed a bit. As he walked through the hall, he had a mental debate with himself concerning his new appearance and powers. Part of him wanted to get this over with and go back to the way he was as soon as possible, but another part was enjoying the new Glen.
You've got to admit, Glen thought, you DO look much cuter now. Sure, the silver look might not be you, but haven't you always wanted long hair?
Ok, maybe I have, Glen thought back to himself. But you saw the way Sam reacted when he saw me. I mean, I'm practically an ADULT now!
Oh, he'll get used to it, just give him some time. Besides, what about these new powers you have? Did you see the looks on those muggers' faces? You know, maybe you should stay with Magneto after all this is over. Who knows what else he might be able to teach you?
Glen shook his head, trying to dislodge this nagging voice. He had no wish for power over others, and he certainly had no desire to be around Magneto any longer than was absolutely necessary. Why was he thinking these thoughts?
What Glen was unaware of was that besides altering his physical body, Magneto's machine had also altered his mind somewhat to make him more pliant and in essence make him WANT to be with Magneto. Fortunately for Glen, this machine did not quite have the strength of its predecessor.
Glen made his way to a junction in the hall and stopped. Down the hall was Cerebro's chamber, but there were numerous security cameras along the way. There was no way he'd be able to get by them without using his powers. He prepared himself and stepped around the corner, arms extended. Purple-white bolts of energy shot out from his fingertips and struck all the cameras, freezing them in stasis. Glen walked down the hall, unimpeded, until he came to Cerebro's door.
He looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was coming down the hall, then began working on the control panel, inputting the codes that Magneto had given him in order to gain access. After a few moments, the door cracked open, and Glen walked inside.
He looked around the room in amazement. He had never been in this room before, and was overwhelmed by the all the machinery in the room. On the wall were numerous displays that tracked mutant movements and projected emergences of people with the X-Gene. So this is how the professor found me, and all of us, Glen thought in awe. He took everything in, and then set to work.
He connected the pad to the main terminal and pressed a few buttons. The pad began scanning Cerebro's mainframe in search of the information it needed. What Glen didn't know was that the pad was also downloading every bit of information the giant computer had on mutants all over the world. This compiled list would be very helpful to Magneto when he began recruiting more mutants.
Next, Glen knelt down at one of the main terminals and removed the access panel. He studied the schematics of the computer, and then reached inside and pulled out a circuit board. This was the crucial component that would allow Magneto to produce a working duplicate of Cerebro.
Glen was also unaware that his access had triggered a silent alarm. Upstairs, Xavier was sitting in the den with Kitty, Jean, Rogue, Kurt, and the present version of Glen when the lights in the room flashed amber. A voice broke out over the intercom. "Warning, unauthorized access in Cerebro mainframe. Mutant signature detected,"
"Computer, identify the mutant," Xavier said nervously.
"Mutant identified as Glen Hilliard," the computer responded. All eyes in the room shot over to Glen, who himself was shocked. "How could that be? I'm right here!"
Jean reached out with her mind. "I can sense him, professor. It is Glen, but yet it isn't!"
"Mystique again!" Kurt shouted. "Let's go!"
"Wait! It's not Mystique," said Jean. "I can't explain it. It's just like it's another Glen down there,"
It would take a couple minutes for everybody to get downstairs. Xavier did a quick mental sweep of the Institute and saw that Scott was downstairs in one of the exercise rooms. He called out with his mind. "Scott, go to Cerebro immediately. Somebody is trying to break in. Stop him!"
"On my way, professor," came Scott's mental reply.
"Scott will hold things up long enough for us to get down there," said Xavier. "Let's move,"
Scott ran towards Cerebro. He noticed the purple glow around all of the security cameras. Had Glen done this? he wondered to himself. He arrived at the door to find that he was too late to stop the thief from getting in, but he could certainly stop him from getting out. He walked in and saw the intruder crouched at Cerebro's main console.
"Whoever you are, stop what you're doing!" Scott shouted. He saw the intruder stand up slowly and turn to face him. "Who are you?" Scott asked him cautiously.
Glen stepped forward. "You know who I am, Scott," he said grimly. "Stand back, and let me finish what I came to do,"
Scott tried to ignore the impossibility of what he was seeing and focused on the task at hand. "Glen, I don't what's going on or what you're doing, but I can't let you finish!" he said, his hand drifting upwards toward his visor.
"And I've come too far to let you stop me!" Glen shouted back, balling his hand into a fist.
There was a dramatic pause, and then both mutants fired at once. Glen dived out the way to dodge Scott's optic blast while Scott rolled behind a terminal to avoid Glen's stasis bolt.
Behind the terminal, Scott tried to reach out to Glen. "Glen, why are you doing this?" he called out. He got no response, and cautiously peeked out from behind the console. "Are you doing this for Magneto?" he asked. "You can't just turn your back on us like this!" He barely saw the stasis bolt coming at him, and leaned so far back to miss it that he fell over. He rolled to one side, blindly firing an optic blast at the origin of the bolt before rolling back behind the terminal. He couldn't tell if he had hit his target or not.
Glen saw the pad finish its task, and decided it was time to go. He phased out of time and retrieved the pad, and then re-entered time in the middle of the room. "Scott, I've lost too much! Don't ask me to stop!" he said in a pained voice. He saw Scott run behind another terminal and line up for a shot, and he again felt the surge of anger at his progress being impeded. "No you don't," he said darkly, and with the slightest amount of concentration produced a dozen temporal doubles. Unlike his first attempts at using this power, these images were no shadows but full copies of Glen and completely under his control.
From his new vantage point, Scott hesitated as he saw the doubles spring into existence. He hesitated, uncertain which one to shoot. Just then, the doors opened and the other mutants rushed in. "Stay back!" Scott warned them. "I can't tell which one's the real one!"
Jean concentrated, and then said, "It's that one!" and pointed to the clones. She dispelled the doubles, and Scott fired at Glen. Glen phased out of time to dodge the blast and retreated behind another console.
Xavier directed traffic, telling the X-Men to take Glen down, but to be very cautious. There was no way for them to know the full extent of Glen's new powers. He nodded at Kurt, who grabbed Rogue's hand and teleported with a loud BAMF!
Glen knew that he was going to be attacked, and he knew his fellow X-Men well enough from all the training he had undergone to anticipate their first assault. He turned around just as Kurt and Rogue appeared behind him. He dodged Kurt's blow and grabbed the fuzzy boy, and then threw him across the room.
He turned around just in time to see Rogue reaching for him with her bare hand. He quickly reached out, grabbed Rogue's wrist, and twisted hard. Glaring, he ignored the snap of bone and Rogue's cry of pain as her wrist broke. He shoved her away, and leapt up and backwards to a catwalk along the top of the room. He paused for a moment, slightly awed by his new strength. He had never been able to jump that high before. He heard the voice in his head again; See how much Magneto's given you! Join him!
While Glen was distracted, Kitty phased through the floor behind him and grabbed hold of him. Glen struggled, and rammed her hard into the railing. She cried out as she fell backwards over the railing. Jean reached out with her powers and caught Kitty just before she hit the floor. Glen shot a pair of stasis bolts down to the floor, sending the rest of the mutants scattering.
Xavier looked at the present-day Glen. "I know this may be unusual, but I need you to fight yourself,"
The present-day Glen nodded and vanished as he phased out of time. Up on the catwalk, Glen became aware of something moving behind him. Turning, he saw nothing, but could still sense somebody moving closer. Interesting, he thought.
He phased out of time at the exact same instant the present-day Glen phased back in. He reappeared behind Glen and spun him around. He looked very sternly into his eyes. "Don't fight me, Glen. I'm doing this for us!"
"What do you mean?" asked the present-day Glen.
"If I don't get out of here, Sam will die! I can't let that happen, and I know you can't either!" He dropped down from the catwalk, leaving the present-day Glen alone by himself.
Xavier saw that his efforts to stop Glen were failing, and reached out with his mind. "Glen, please, stop this," he thought.
Glen became aware of the professor in his mind. "I'm sorry, professor," he thought back. "I can't let anybody stop me, not even you," He crossed his arms across his chest and surrounded himself with a dome of temporal energy. He then shot his arms out, and the dome quickly spread out across the whole room, freezing everybody. Glen nodded at the results of his powers, and started to leave.
As he passed the frozen Xavier, he paused briefly, and picked up a pad from one of the consoles. He typed out a message for Xavier to find when he recovered, and then began to concentrate again. It was time to get back to his time. He could see the temporal vortex swirling before him, and he saw the destination he was searching for. At least it'll all be worth it, he thought, and stepped through.