Summary: One year after Dark Horizons, the X-men face a trial by fire with the emergence of new foes and vengeance of old enemies.
Chapter Rating: PG 13
Chapter Pairings: Scott/Jean, Alex/Polaris
Guest Characters in chapter: Lorna Dane, aka Polaris
Chapter 20
The day had finally come. All good things had to end sometime, even if temporarily.
Every resident at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters was standing outside at the mansion's circular driveway, bidding farewell to Cyclops and his X-Factor. Scott exchanged goodbyes with every individual person until he finally made it to Jean.
"I have to go now," Scott spoke softly beside her ear as he enveloped her in his arms. He hugged her tighter before he continued, "I'm sorry, but I have to go back now." His voice was almost cracking.
All the X-Factor members were waiting for him. It had never been this hard to leave her before. Despite his feelings towards Jean, Scott just couldn't abandon X-Factor. They were as valuable to him as the X-men were. Besides, he reconsidered Stanford (upon the urging of both Professor Xavier and John Grey) and decided to take schooling there for a while, with a graduate assistantship no less.
"I know. Take care of yourself and remember to keep contact, okay?" Jean reminded him. Her beautiful green eyes were brimming with tears. Scott's would be too if his force beams didn't destroy them.
"I will." Kissing her hair, he released her reluctantly. They held hands for as long as possible, desperate to maintain some contact, until he finally let go as he stepped through Blink's golden portal. In a flash of light, they were gone. The last thing Jean saw was Scott's face as he turned back to look at her, visor dim with sorrow.
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Warren's containment unit burst into billions of pieces as twin adamentium wings lashed out sideways. Testing its feel, he retracted the wings to its normal position before stepping out of the glass tube he was standing in.
Externally, the former X-man didn't look like the Angel his friends knew at all. The only thing that remained the same was his neat blonde hair. His skin was washed over in a shiny blue, and he wore metallic turquoise body armour. His hands and feet were covered in silver gloves and boots. Unlike the other Horsemen who looked inhuman and unsightly, Sinister's Angel of Death is embodied with a look of lethality and intensity. After working on him for nearly three months, Essex regarded his latest creation to be a masterpiece.
"My dread lord, your last and most powerful Horsemen is ready," he informed Apocalypse.
"Let me see him." At his command, Death stepped into view. Apocalypse carefully examined the prized and much anticipated for soldier. The razor edges of his shimmering adamentium wings glistened in the dim light.
"As you can see, my lord, your fourth horsemen will have no need for the machines I created to assist him in flight." Sinister was referring to the mechanical 'horses' designed to give the other three the ability to fly.
"His wings are of a complex design, far more sophisticated than his organic ones, and are made of adamentium, the strongest metal yet discovered. Although the wings can be used as a weapon themselves, I added regenerating feathers that are able to shoot out of his wings and paralyse his prey on the spot. To increase his lethality," he explained.
"Impressive, Tinkerer. For once, you have met my expectations."
"The Horsemen Death was created from the mutant known as Warren Kenneth Worthington III, who served as the leader of the X-men prior to his capture. As such, it is natural that he should lead your soldiers into battle. He is certainly worthy for the part."
"Very well. It's time to test your creations, Essex. Assemble the Horsemen and ready them for battle."
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Jean was working on her half-finished science lab when she was paged. Noticing who it was, she immediately opened up her messenger account and double-clicked on Scott's name.
cyke71: Hey Red, what's up?
jeangrey: Nothing much. School's a bitch though.
cyke71: (Dramatic gasp) Miss Perfect used the word 'bitch' in a sentence?
jeangrey: har har Mr Summers. Like you never swear.
cyke71: I told you, that was Logan. Or his influence anyway
jeangrey: Right. You coming back for Christmas?
cyke71: Of course. Betsy's flying back to Europe, Jubes back home and Alex Hawaii. Clarice and I will blink over
cyke71: You didn't miss me, did you?
jeangrey: More than you'll ever know, lover boy. We're gonna have so much fun
cyke71: I thought you were going back home?
jeangrey: No, I've decided I would rather stay this year. Everyone's going away, even Rogue who's going to spend the holidays with Kurt. Don't try to stop me, because I want to spend some time alone with my boyfriend.
cyke71: I love you too. Look, I've got to beat it now, but we'll talk later, k Red?
jeangrey: k :-(
cyke71: lol. Don't work yourself too hard. You don't have to be perfect all the time, but you'll always be perfect for me
jeangrey: you're a flirt
cyke71: Whatever works, gorgeous
Scott signed off as he turned his attention back to the lecture. ~Damn time zone difference~ he thought. It is now November, and he missed her badly.
Several students had asked him about his glasses and why he always has to wear them. By mutual consent, both Scott and Professor Xavier decided it would be best if his peers didn't learn of his mutant ability at the moment. Thus, the Professor formulated a bunch of fake medical records that indicated Scott's eyes were extremely sensitive to light. This was enough to satisfy his teachers, but did nothing to prevent his fellow peers from asking questions. He was tired of explaining the same thing repeatedly for every new person he met, which numbered in the twenties everyday.
The lecture ended, and Scott filed himself out of the room with his laptop. Unlike the others, he didn't live in the dormitories, instead opting to have Clarice take him home after school. ~Now, for my favorite time of the day....~ he thought as he walked through the halls.
~....the Danger Room~
Which reminded him; he still needed to test out the mutant abilities of their latest 'victim' to be captured. He smiled as he recalled the incident from which she was 'kidnapped.'
*Flash*
"I know the pain you are going through, Lorna. I once had it myself. Let me help you."
"Get away from me you creep!" The green haired girl flung a metal pole at Magneto's head. He stopped it easily with his own power over magnetism.
"This could've been easy. Regrettably, you chose to make it hard." With a simple wave of his hand, Magneto picks up a garbage can, compresses it into a metal sheet, and wraps it around her.
"No! Please, why don't you leave me alone!" the girl cried. Magneto was turning around when he noticed something barrelling towards him in the distance.
"Arrghhhh!" Magneto screamed when a beam of orange struck him backwards into a truck.
"You heard her. Hands_Off_The_Lady!" Alex proclaimed. He fired another blast, which Magneto blocked by manipulating the truck and using it as a shield. Suddenly, a huge lion of fire came charging at X-Factor, causing them to scatter. "Lookie here. We've got X-men!" Pyro's aussie voice laughed as he prepared another attack.
"Blink, get to the girl now! Everyone else, cover," Cyclops ordered as he let loose an optic blast at a charging Colossus. A battle of wills ensued, as the metallic mutant was stopped in his tracks, yet wasn't pushed backwards either. Cyclops continued to pour on the power.
Psylocke jumped elegantly away from a river of flames that came crashing down on her position as Havoc extended a hand and blasted Pyro into unconsciousness. However, he felt a slight breeze before being knocked off his feet. ~Damn Quicksilver~ he thought, as he chased the speedy mutant with orange blasts.
Betsy decided to help Cyke as she landed behind Colossus and impaled him with a mental knife. The large mutant instantly collapsed and was thrown backwards as he was too weak to defend against the crimson assault. Satisfied, Scott turned to see Sabertooth giving Jubilee a hard time, so he floored the hairy mutant at max power. The powerful attack picked its target off its feet and slammed him into a building, burying Sabertooth in rubble.
"Cyke, I can't get her out of this!" Clarice exclaimed as Magneto recovered. Thinking fast, he called out, "Alex, blast the girl free," knowing that his brother had a LOT more control over his powers than he did. Pietro, seeing this as his opportunity to attack, sped towards the blonde mutant, but Jubilee saw this coming and blasted him before he could land an attack.
Now that he was clear, Alex shot a focused beam, not even an inch in diameter, along the side of the metal sheet that trapped the green-haired girl. The metal melted away and split in half. However, every single member of X-Factor was then thrown off their feet by a magnetic shove. "Fools! You think you can defeat me?"
"Yeah," Scott responded and shot a beam directly at Clarice. Magneto was convinced the kid finally lost it, until a golden disk opened up, consuming the crimson streak. Almost simultaneously, another opened up behind him, and the optic blast traveled through the portals and slammed him from behind. Seeing this as their chance to escape, X-Factor and the girl disappeared in a flash of light.
*End Flash*
~Alex was more than a bit tongue-tied when we brought her back home~ he chuckled. ~Looks like he won't be going back to Hawaii any time soon.~
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jeangrey: So, tell me about the new girl you picked up
cyke71: Not much really, except she's 17, about your height, maybe an inch taller, has green hair and magneto's powers. Actually pretty good looking, and seems to hang around me a lot
jeangrey: ????
cyke71: Ah, you're jealous! rotflmao
jeangrey: Am not! (pouts) Should I be?
cyke71: Of course not, Gorgeous. She hangs around me because she wants to learn more about Alex, but is too shy to ask him. Alex is equally tongue-tied.
cyke71: Someone should get them really drunk and lock them in a closet or something.
jeangrey: Scott, that's gross. Lol
cyke71: so, tell me about what's going on in the mansion. The stooges still causing trouble?
jeangrey: Whops, gotta go. Professor just paged us. Something's up.
cyke71: Is it serious? You want X-Factor to come along?
jeangrey: No, it should be fine. We'll be able to handle it
cyke71: At least tell me where it is.
jeangrey: Niagara falls, border between Canada and the U.S.
cyke71: Be careful
As Scott signed off, he suddenly had a bad feeling about this. Always one to trust his instincts, he forgot about the paper he was working on and assembled X-Factor. Time to go to the Falls.
