Chapter 2: Precious Jerusalem
It was an ordinary day at the mansion. As ordinary a day you can get in a mansion inhabited by a dozen or more supercharged mutants at any rate. No brotherhood activities had been noted as of late and no FOH members doing their best to be a nuisance either. The mansion and life there had been what Professor Xavier had wanted it to be from the start. A school, a home and a safe haven. That was soon to change though. Maybe for good.
Which Xavier knew, much to his dismay. There were not many people that knew that Scott and Ororo were on a secret mission, secret to the two of them as well. They thought they were on a sort of recoignance mission and maybe pick up mission but it was so much more than that.
Xavier sighed in resignation. He didn't like himself very much at all right now. Truth be told, he saw himself as a traitor and murderer. He had used Scott and Ororo. They're bait, plain and simple. If the mutant was who he thought it was, they don't stand a chance. He tried to reassure himself that he was doing it for the greater good but didn't quite suceed in doing so. He knew it was important to have the upper hand on the enemy and make him think he couldn't be beaten even by the best. That's the only way he himself and Fate had been able to think up.
Fate. He didn't like the name his old friend had chosen for herself. It made it sound like there was no way out of the dangers that lies ahead. But fitting, he had to admit. Whenever she had one of her glimpses of the future, it was very rarely wrong. And when it comes to matter of life and death, it had yet to be wrong. It didn't say if Ororo and Scott would make it though. It was rarely that precise.
Not a very reassuring thought. And she was also the one that had found out who it was that made such an impact in Cerebro. An even less reassuring thought. If it's truly him not much will stop him if anything. One of the major reasons X-men had been founded in the first place. If that plan had any chance whatsoever was as of now written in the stars.
Xavier rolled away from his desk, away to the panorama window. He looked out into the gardens, wanting to take his mind away from every trouble he has.
What he saw, and felt when he let his thoughts stray a bit, was everyone thoroughly enjoying themselves in their own peculiar ways.
Bobby and John were involved in their version of a snowball fight. Bobby throwing iceballs towards his friend and roomie who in turn did his best to either dodge the balls or throwing fireballs back to melt away the balls before they could hit him.
Remy, the most recent inhabitant, did what he always did. Leaning back against a wall, the ever present cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, looking at the girls. His only regret was that it wasn't warmer so they would have been more scantily clad.
Logan, Jean and Rogue were each off on their own somewhere, enjoying the rare chance of solitude they all had a need for.
Kitty and Jubes were, as always, at the mall and probably had some security guards on their tail. They'd managed to give themselves a reputation as troublemakers there, much to the surprise of everyone. Not that Jubes was one - that was as much her trademark as the ever-present yellow jacket but none had seen the shy and timid Kitty that way. Some thought she was too shy and insecure in herself and that Jubes was a bad influence on her.
That just leaves Piotr, Kurt and a bunch of the younger crowd unaccounted for, doing their things all around the mansion grounds.
That's when it happened. Totally unexpected, as with many a thing that changes everything. An explosion could be heard in a far corner of the estate. As soon as the initial surprise was gone, everyone hurried towards it as soon as their feet could get them there. Unexpected to even Fate. Her mind had been too preoccupied with what was going on in Israel to pay the home turf much attention.
What they saw was the Brotherhood making their appearance with Magneto in the lead. Everyone had thought he was still safely contained in his plastic cell so there had been no real plans made to counter for his awsome powers. And besides, the people at the school now had no real battle experience either. Remy had some but not at the expertice Magneto and Sabretooth possessed.
Magneto just smiled. A smile that said it all. He knew. He knew perfectly well that this was the perfect time for him to attack and to render the school and the X-men's HQ inoperable. The brotherhood had expanded quite a lot recently and there were some members none had known about beforehand. Magneto's a formidable strategist and his underlings knew exactly what to do. Well, save for Sabretooth. He had no clear orders except apparently to cause as much mayhem and destruction as possible.
Xavier cursed silently to himself and sent out a distress signal to the people outside of the school-grounds. Things were already getting out of hand and the biggest danger had yet to be adressed.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem
Scott and Ororo had now been walking around Jerusalem and outside for
the better part of a day and still no sign of any mutant
activity. A small bleep every now and then from the portable Cerebro but
nothing really tangible. Still, both felt that there
was something there. Something hidden. Something sinister. They didn't
know why but their instincts screamed "Run! It's a trap!".
That there was absolutely nothing to cause that reaction didn't make it
better, quite the opposite.
Their respective "upbringing", if you want to call it that, had learned them to trust what their guts were telling them. Ororo's career as a thief in Kairo and Scott's time on the streets, both had thaught them that you need to trust yourself and what you feel.
Which made them more alert than usual. Not that it helped them in the end. Xavier's and Fate's deductions had been correct and the mutant caught them completely by surprise and knocked them out cold before they were even aware he was nearby.
Some hours later they awoke, finding themselves shackled to a wall with a man, tall and menacing looking, standing watching them.
"Ah, so you're awake. Cyclops and Storm."
"Do we know you?" Cyclops asked, even though he perfectly well knew he
had never seen the man before.
"No. But I do know you. Members of the X-men, following the orders of a
Charles Francis Xavier. Cyclops, real name Scott Summers,
fire optic blasts from his eyes. Storm, also known as Ororo Munroe,
controls the weather. No danger to me and if Xavier thought
he could fool me into revealing myself that easily he is more of a fool
than I thought him to be."
The man sounded so self-assured in his assessments that neither Storm or Cyclops could help but believe him.
Cyclops, always in control even under the direst of circumstances, refused to be intimidated by the mysterious stranger though.
"Okay, so you have us trapped and you know who we are. What now?"
"Wouldn't you like to know? Since it's too late for you to do anything
about it I might just as well answer. A little anyway.
What we're seeing here is the next stage of the human evolution and just
as Magneto tried a few years ago on the Statue of Liberty, a
event that woke me up from my deep slumber, I intend to increase the
rate of that evolution. But not in his small way of just causing
random mutations. Any fool can do that. No, what I am going to do is to
get rid of the weaklings, humans and mutants alike. You and
the rest of the X-men are not weak but you're standing in my way."
"Woke up?"
"Yes. I had been sleeping for quite a while to regenerate my strength.
I'm old, much as my name implies if you knew the language it's in.
I was old when your country had yet to be founded."
"Well, you know us. How about you tell us your name then?"
"En-Sabah-Nur - The First One or The Ancient one. Quite fitting that I
have my home here, where three of the ancient religions meet. Maybe
not the Prophet the Bible and the Quaran speaks of but a prophet
nonetheless. There's no longer a need to hide it. I've found out who
I am. I rise and fall and rise again, time eternally. The Almighty is
still alive. This is where Apocalypse's rises to ascenscion."
