Electra felt as if she was flying as she traveled along the power lines
that ran across the German countryside. She had used up a large amount of
her energy in destroying Magneto's machinery, and she was badly in need of
a recharge. She 'looked' farther down the power lines as the driver of a
car would gaze at a faraway intersection to decide which way to go. She
sensed a very large source of power off in the distance, and headed
straight for it.
X
"Where is she heading?" Gambit asked Magneto as their sphere flew across the sky.
"There is only one place she could be heading to," said Magneto. "There is a small city nearby with an electrical plant. She will need to recharge herself soon. When she appears, we will be waiting for her. I will NOT let her slip through my fingers again,"
He clenched his fist and the sphere flew faster, spurred on by Magneto's will.
X
"The sphere just increased its speed," said Scott from behind the controls of the X-Jet. "We can't keep up with it for much longer,"
"If Magneto gets to Electra before we do," Jean began.
"We'll just have to hope we aren't too late," said Xavier.
"Why's Magneto so confident he can handle her?" Logan asked. "She trashed his place better than anything I could have done,"
"He is desperate at this point," said Xavier. "He sees the girl as being crucial to him for something. Exactly what, I cannot say. We will have to determine that later,"
"I think I know," said Wanda, walking up to the front of the plane.
Xavier turned around to face her.
"Magneto said something about Apocalypse coming back, whoever that is, and how Electra's going to help make him more powerful," she said.
"Apocalypse," Xavier said softly. "That explains it. Magneto is so bent on preventing his return that he will do whatever he thinks is necessary. It seems no that there is no limit to how far he will go,"
"But how exactly would she help Magneto stop Apocalypse?" asked Jean.
"You saw how she took care of that machine," said Scott.
"Perhaps," said Xavier. "But if my knowledge of Apocalypse is correct, not even her powers would be sufficient to stop him,"
"Then why kidnap her and turn her into a mutant?" asked Jean. "Unless, no, you don't think he,"
"Precisely, Jean," said Xavier. "He was using this girl as a test subject for the procedure he created. I think he was planning to do this to himself and needed her to make sure it was safe,"
"Can you imagine what we might have to deal with if he had succeeded?" asked Scott. "Everything you've told us about Apocalypse makes him seem like big trouble, but if Magneto had that kind of power, he'd be unstoppable!"
"Yes. We should be very fortunate that Electra destroyed his machinery before he could increase his powers," said Xavier. "But we must still be careful. Even in his current state Magneto is still a very grave threat, and one that we will have to confront very soon,"
"This time, I'm going to finish what I started with him," Wanda growled. "He's going to pay for what he's done to all of us,"
"Wanda, we cannot kill your father," said Xavier. "Our goal must be to apprehend him so that the authorities can deal with what he has done,"
"Chuck, are you kidding?" asked Logan. "You know how many laws he's broken? Hell, he's committed crimes for things they don't even have laws against! What do you think Simons and his MAD is going to do to him? Do you think locking him up is any kind of punishment? Humans can barely keep track of their own affairs, how can they possibly hope to deal with ours? I agree with the witch, we should finish this once and for all!"
"Logan, I will NOT allow it!" said Xavier sternly. "My decision is final. The proper authorities must be allowed to deal with this. Now I agree, there is very little chance that Magneto can rehabilitated, but we must pursue real justice. We cannot allow ourselves to become vigilantes. Now, I've made my decision, and you will respect that,"
"I hope you know what you're doin' with this, Chuck," Logan muttered.
Wanda glared at Xavier while his back was turned. We'll see about this, she thought, and then went to the back of the plane to tell the Brotherhood about what had just transpired.
X
"He wants us to let Magneto just get away with this?" Lance asked incredulously.
"Shh!" Wanda hissed. "He'll hear you!"
"How does he think the police are gonna be able to handle Magneto and the rest of his mutants?" asked Fred.
"No kiddin'!" said Toad. "After what he had Electra do to me? I say we get some payback Brotherhood style, yo!"
"Right on!" said Lance. "I've had enough of Xavier's high minded moralizing all the time. Apocalypse or no Apocalypse, it's time somebody taught Magneto a lesson!"
"Right!" they all softly agreed, and began planning on what they would do once they landed.
X
Electra arrived at the power source she had been seeking. She quickly found a socket and reemerged back into the real world. She looked around to see herself standing inside a large power plant. Her sudden appearance startled several people inside the power plant. She ignored them and looked up at the object that was beckoning her: the massive generator that operated the power plant and provided electricity for most of the city. She began to walk towards it, ignoring the reactions of the plant workers. One of them dashed to a telephone and made a frantic call.
X
At the airport, Simons listened closely on his radio as he monitored the call from the plant. When the caller was finished, he started the car.
"I think we've found what we're looking for," he told Jan. ":Some people at a power plant a few miles away from here just reported spotting some kind of mutant. They said it was heading for their generators,"
"This must be some kind of attack!" said Jan. "But why would a mutant want to destroy a power generator in the middle of Germany?"
"Who can really understand these people?" Simons asked, and hit the gas.
X
Inside the plant, Electra reached the generator. She climbed up the ladder on the side and walked across the top of it to the large pylons on top. Electricity arced back and forth between the two pylons. Not hesitating, Electra stepped in between them and felt the power course through her body.
Electra's feeding began to interfere with the regular flow of power to the city. Lights began to flicker in numerous buildings all over the city.
X
Outside, Magneto's sphere touched down in an alley next to the power plant. Magneto and his mutants stepped out and observed the effects of Electra's feeding. Magneto scowled at being too late to stop her from refreshing her powers.
"We cannot allow her to fully recharge her powers," he told his mutants. "If she does, we will not be able to control her,"
He waved his hand and the doors of the plant sprung open. The mutants headed inside.
X
Simons picked up another call on his radio as he was driving. The call told him that the mutant was begging to drain power off of the generator, and just now several more mutants had entered the building.
"They were smart not to put up any resistance," said Jan. "They might have been killed if they had,"
Simons said nothing, but just pressed down harder on the gas desperately.
X
Back at the airport, Mesmero flinched as a voice suddenly filled his head.
"Why are you still waiting here!" insisted Apocalpyse. "Magneto and Xavier are far ahead of you. Get moving now!"
"But my master, I do not know,"
"Silence! I shall provide you with what you were too blind to see," said Apocalypse's voice.
Mesmero cringed as images came into his head, of a power plant in a nearby city, and an artifact resting on the top floor of that city's museum.
"I understand, master," Mesmero said, and started up the car.
X
"Hey, you can't be in, waaah!"
One of the plant managers had tried to stop Magneto and his group of mutants, but his protests were cut short as Colossus brushed him aside as if he were a mosquito. The mutants made their way to the center of the plant and saw Electra standing in between the generator pylons. Magneto lifted off the ground and floated up to the top of the generator.
Before he could do anything, Electra stepped out of the electric field. She saw Magneto hovering in front of her, and she felt herself bristle with anger upon seeing him again.
"Electra, you will come with me, now!" Magneto insisted.
"Or what?" she challenged.
Magneto clenched his fist. The pylons on top of the generator warped and bent down towards her. Electra dived out of the way of the flailing pieces of metal.
"You expect me to help you when you can't even control me?" she taunted. She looked down to see Gambit and Colossus climbing up the generator.
"No you don't," she said, and entered the generator.
As Gambit was climbing up the ladder, sparks began to fly out of the generator as Electra surged through it. Suddenly a bolt of electricity leapt out of the machine and struck him in the chest. Stunned, Gambit lost his grip on the ladder and fell. He landed on top of Colossus, who was beneath him, and they both fell back down to the ground. Gambit sat up slowly, rubbing his head as he recovered his senses.
Magneto scowled at his mutants as Electra emerged from the machine.
"I am afraid you leave me no choice," he said. He raised his hands and the entire generator began to shake as Magneto tried to tear it loose from the ground.
"That's enough!" Electra shouted, as she felt the energy inside of her swirling. She reached down inside and drew up her power, gathering it in, preparing to use her untapped abilities. "You can't understand the word 'no', so here's something you will understand!"
She spread her arms and let the energy surge through her. Magneto looked at her in amazement as her aura grew brighter and brighter, to the point where it filled the entire room with blinding light.
Electra released the massive surge of power she had stored up, and a great shockwave of electromagnetic energy flew out from her body. Magneto erected a force field around himself, but the power surge passed right through it and struck him, knocking him out of the air. He hit the ground hard. The massive pulse spread through the room. In its wake, machines began to short out, their circuits fried by the power of the devastating EMP that Electra had released. Simons pulled up to the front of the plant just before Electra released her pulse. He and Jan got out of the car and quickly ran up to the door of the plant. Simons opened the door just in time to see the pulse before it enveloped him
X
The pulse reached the walls of the plant, and it did not stop there. The pulse traveled for several miles before it dissipated, and it left a giant swath of electrical carnage in its wake. Outside, generators overloaded and exploded, starting fires and causing small buildings to collapse throughout the city.
X
Meanwhile, the X-Jet had just reached the outskirts of the city. Jean was monitoring the sensors to locate Electra while Xavier was probing for her mental signature.
"I'm getting strong electric readings at these coordinates," said Jean.
"That must be her," said Scott. "Any sign of Magneto?"
Jean turned back to the sensors. "Yes. It looks like their sphere touched down here," she said, pointing to a spot on the radar map.
Suddenly, alarms began to blare.
"We're picking up a massive shockwave of electromagnetic energy," Jean announced. "It originated from a power plant near the center of the city,"
"Taking evasive action!" shouted Scott, jerking on the controls of the X- Jet. The jet started to climb, but it was too late to avoid the shockwave. It passed through the jet with blinding speed. The jet began to shake as the helm controls shorted out.
"I've lost navigation!" Scott shouted above the noise.
"Scott, switch to backups!" shouted Xavier.
"They're not responding! Everything's dead!" Scott shouted back. "We're losing altitude fast!"
"Everybody strap in!" shouted Logan. "We're going down!"
Everybody hurried to secure themselves. Xavier tried to move his wheelchair but found that it too was useless. Logan picked Xavier up and carried to the back, where he strapped himself into a seat.
X
X
"Where is she heading?" Gambit asked Magneto as their sphere flew across the sky.
"There is only one place she could be heading to," said Magneto. "There is a small city nearby with an electrical plant. She will need to recharge herself soon. When she appears, we will be waiting for her. I will NOT let her slip through my fingers again,"
He clenched his fist and the sphere flew faster, spurred on by Magneto's will.
X
"The sphere just increased its speed," said Scott from behind the controls of the X-Jet. "We can't keep up with it for much longer,"
"If Magneto gets to Electra before we do," Jean began.
"We'll just have to hope we aren't too late," said Xavier.
"Why's Magneto so confident he can handle her?" Logan asked. "She trashed his place better than anything I could have done,"
"He is desperate at this point," said Xavier. "He sees the girl as being crucial to him for something. Exactly what, I cannot say. We will have to determine that later,"
"I think I know," said Wanda, walking up to the front of the plane.
Xavier turned around to face her.
"Magneto said something about Apocalypse coming back, whoever that is, and how Electra's going to help make him more powerful," she said.
"Apocalypse," Xavier said softly. "That explains it. Magneto is so bent on preventing his return that he will do whatever he thinks is necessary. It seems no that there is no limit to how far he will go,"
"But how exactly would she help Magneto stop Apocalypse?" asked Jean.
"You saw how she took care of that machine," said Scott.
"Perhaps," said Xavier. "But if my knowledge of Apocalypse is correct, not even her powers would be sufficient to stop him,"
"Then why kidnap her and turn her into a mutant?" asked Jean. "Unless, no, you don't think he,"
"Precisely, Jean," said Xavier. "He was using this girl as a test subject for the procedure he created. I think he was planning to do this to himself and needed her to make sure it was safe,"
"Can you imagine what we might have to deal with if he had succeeded?" asked Scott. "Everything you've told us about Apocalypse makes him seem like big trouble, but if Magneto had that kind of power, he'd be unstoppable!"
"Yes. We should be very fortunate that Electra destroyed his machinery before he could increase his powers," said Xavier. "But we must still be careful. Even in his current state Magneto is still a very grave threat, and one that we will have to confront very soon,"
"This time, I'm going to finish what I started with him," Wanda growled. "He's going to pay for what he's done to all of us,"
"Wanda, we cannot kill your father," said Xavier. "Our goal must be to apprehend him so that the authorities can deal with what he has done,"
"Chuck, are you kidding?" asked Logan. "You know how many laws he's broken? Hell, he's committed crimes for things they don't even have laws against! What do you think Simons and his MAD is going to do to him? Do you think locking him up is any kind of punishment? Humans can barely keep track of their own affairs, how can they possibly hope to deal with ours? I agree with the witch, we should finish this once and for all!"
"Logan, I will NOT allow it!" said Xavier sternly. "My decision is final. The proper authorities must be allowed to deal with this. Now I agree, there is very little chance that Magneto can rehabilitated, but we must pursue real justice. We cannot allow ourselves to become vigilantes. Now, I've made my decision, and you will respect that,"
"I hope you know what you're doin' with this, Chuck," Logan muttered.
Wanda glared at Xavier while his back was turned. We'll see about this, she thought, and then went to the back of the plane to tell the Brotherhood about what had just transpired.
X
"He wants us to let Magneto just get away with this?" Lance asked incredulously.
"Shh!" Wanda hissed. "He'll hear you!"
"How does he think the police are gonna be able to handle Magneto and the rest of his mutants?" asked Fred.
"No kiddin'!" said Toad. "After what he had Electra do to me? I say we get some payback Brotherhood style, yo!"
"Right on!" said Lance. "I've had enough of Xavier's high minded moralizing all the time. Apocalypse or no Apocalypse, it's time somebody taught Magneto a lesson!"
"Right!" they all softly agreed, and began planning on what they would do once they landed.
X
Electra arrived at the power source she had been seeking. She quickly found a socket and reemerged back into the real world. She looked around to see herself standing inside a large power plant. Her sudden appearance startled several people inside the power plant. She ignored them and looked up at the object that was beckoning her: the massive generator that operated the power plant and provided electricity for most of the city. She began to walk towards it, ignoring the reactions of the plant workers. One of them dashed to a telephone and made a frantic call.
X
At the airport, Simons listened closely on his radio as he monitored the call from the plant. When the caller was finished, he started the car.
"I think we've found what we're looking for," he told Jan. ":Some people at a power plant a few miles away from here just reported spotting some kind of mutant. They said it was heading for their generators,"
"This must be some kind of attack!" said Jan. "But why would a mutant want to destroy a power generator in the middle of Germany?"
"Who can really understand these people?" Simons asked, and hit the gas.
X
Inside the plant, Electra reached the generator. She climbed up the ladder on the side and walked across the top of it to the large pylons on top. Electricity arced back and forth between the two pylons. Not hesitating, Electra stepped in between them and felt the power course through her body.
Electra's feeding began to interfere with the regular flow of power to the city. Lights began to flicker in numerous buildings all over the city.
X
Outside, Magneto's sphere touched down in an alley next to the power plant. Magneto and his mutants stepped out and observed the effects of Electra's feeding. Magneto scowled at being too late to stop her from refreshing her powers.
"We cannot allow her to fully recharge her powers," he told his mutants. "If she does, we will not be able to control her,"
He waved his hand and the doors of the plant sprung open. The mutants headed inside.
X
Simons picked up another call on his radio as he was driving. The call told him that the mutant was begging to drain power off of the generator, and just now several more mutants had entered the building.
"They were smart not to put up any resistance," said Jan. "They might have been killed if they had,"
Simons said nothing, but just pressed down harder on the gas desperately.
X
Back at the airport, Mesmero flinched as a voice suddenly filled his head.
"Why are you still waiting here!" insisted Apocalpyse. "Magneto and Xavier are far ahead of you. Get moving now!"
"But my master, I do not know,"
"Silence! I shall provide you with what you were too blind to see," said Apocalypse's voice.
Mesmero cringed as images came into his head, of a power plant in a nearby city, and an artifact resting on the top floor of that city's museum.
"I understand, master," Mesmero said, and started up the car.
X
"Hey, you can't be in, waaah!"
One of the plant managers had tried to stop Magneto and his group of mutants, but his protests were cut short as Colossus brushed him aside as if he were a mosquito. The mutants made their way to the center of the plant and saw Electra standing in between the generator pylons. Magneto lifted off the ground and floated up to the top of the generator.
Before he could do anything, Electra stepped out of the electric field. She saw Magneto hovering in front of her, and she felt herself bristle with anger upon seeing him again.
"Electra, you will come with me, now!" Magneto insisted.
"Or what?" she challenged.
Magneto clenched his fist. The pylons on top of the generator warped and bent down towards her. Electra dived out of the way of the flailing pieces of metal.
"You expect me to help you when you can't even control me?" she taunted. She looked down to see Gambit and Colossus climbing up the generator.
"No you don't," she said, and entered the generator.
As Gambit was climbing up the ladder, sparks began to fly out of the generator as Electra surged through it. Suddenly a bolt of electricity leapt out of the machine and struck him in the chest. Stunned, Gambit lost his grip on the ladder and fell. He landed on top of Colossus, who was beneath him, and they both fell back down to the ground. Gambit sat up slowly, rubbing his head as he recovered his senses.
Magneto scowled at his mutants as Electra emerged from the machine.
"I am afraid you leave me no choice," he said. He raised his hands and the entire generator began to shake as Magneto tried to tear it loose from the ground.
"That's enough!" Electra shouted, as she felt the energy inside of her swirling. She reached down inside and drew up her power, gathering it in, preparing to use her untapped abilities. "You can't understand the word 'no', so here's something you will understand!"
She spread her arms and let the energy surge through her. Magneto looked at her in amazement as her aura grew brighter and brighter, to the point where it filled the entire room with blinding light.
Electra released the massive surge of power she had stored up, and a great shockwave of electromagnetic energy flew out from her body. Magneto erected a force field around himself, but the power surge passed right through it and struck him, knocking him out of the air. He hit the ground hard. The massive pulse spread through the room. In its wake, machines began to short out, their circuits fried by the power of the devastating EMP that Electra had released. Simons pulled up to the front of the plant just before Electra released her pulse. He and Jan got out of the car and quickly ran up to the door of the plant. Simons opened the door just in time to see the pulse before it enveloped him
X
The pulse reached the walls of the plant, and it did not stop there. The pulse traveled for several miles before it dissipated, and it left a giant swath of electrical carnage in its wake. Outside, generators overloaded and exploded, starting fires and causing small buildings to collapse throughout the city.
X
Meanwhile, the X-Jet had just reached the outskirts of the city. Jean was monitoring the sensors to locate Electra while Xavier was probing for her mental signature.
"I'm getting strong electric readings at these coordinates," said Jean.
"That must be her," said Scott. "Any sign of Magneto?"
Jean turned back to the sensors. "Yes. It looks like their sphere touched down here," she said, pointing to a spot on the radar map.
Suddenly, alarms began to blare.
"We're picking up a massive shockwave of electromagnetic energy," Jean announced. "It originated from a power plant near the center of the city,"
"Taking evasive action!" shouted Scott, jerking on the controls of the X- Jet. The jet started to climb, but it was too late to avoid the shockwave. It passed through the jet with blinding speed. The jet began to shake as the helm controls shorted out.
"I've lost navigation!" Scott shouted above the noise.
"Scott, switch to backups!" shouted Xavier.
"They're not responding! Everything's dead!" Scott shouted back. "We're losing altitude fast!"
"Everybody strap in!" shouted Logan. "We're going down!"
Everybody hurried to secure themselves. Xavier tried to move his wheelchair but found that it too was useless. Logan picked Xavier up and carried to the back, where he strapped himself into a seat.
X