Four humans.
Thirty-six mutants.
Twenty mark II sentinel-soldiers.
One slightly damaged, psychotic super computer.
One room slightly larger than the DR back at the Institute.
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Sentinel-soldiers immediately stepped forward, weapons raised and blasting, determined to take down the mutants before they freed themselves from the metal tentacles in their respective cells and became more dangerous.
Jean shielded her half of the room with her TK shield, concentrating hard as blue blast after blast rained down against her shield, making it buckle. It was obvious she wouldn't last long. On the other side of the room, Shadowcat called out to Avalanche and Colossus, who'd just transformed into his metallic form and ripped off his own shackles.
"Lance! Barrier! Piotr, give him a hand!" she shouted, praying that they'd pull it off in time. Avalanche, who was familiar with her choice of wording thrust out his hand and concentrated, furrowing his brows as the earth started to shake. The ground, made of stone instead of the steel the walls had been constructed of, split in a neat line that surrounded the rest of the containment cells. Colossus leapt forward, landing with a thud that made the room shudder as he grabbed the half of the room and heaved with all his might, lifting it up in a makeshift shield as the mutants furiously worked to free themselves.
Cyclops wasted no time in freeing Jean and his brother, Havoc. The three of them quickly turned their attentions to the sentinel-soldiers as they left the duty of rescuing their friends to the others.
Nightcrawler, once the blue furry mutant regained his footing, 'ported out of his bonds, grabbing Amanda and teleporting her up onto the walkway (the safest place in his mind) and freeing the others one by one as Colossus and Jean continued to keep him shielded from harm. Shadowcat ducked behind Colossus for safety, in case the big Russian needed a hand, though so far the few blasts that had penetrated the flooring had slammed into his metal hide, bouncing off harmlessly as rainwater.
Gambit flipped up some cards into his eager hands and charged them with the warm kinetic energy that once more flowed through his system, throwing them left and right in an effort to distract and confuse the sentinel-soldiers. Quickly he leapt forward, up and over the raised flooring and ducking past his comrade Colossus to the cage where Rogue still lay entrapped. Giving her a friendly smirk, he lay his hands down on the metallic tentacles to either side of her and carefully focused his power, blowing them clean off without harming the pale-skinned mutant.
"Save me a dance for later chere," he said with a smirk and back flip. "Promised da petites I'd get 'em out first," he added, pointing at the still entrapped forms of Jubilee and Wolfsbane, right next to Rogue. Rogue nodded, keeping alongside him as he charged the tentacles to free the girls, since at the moment her powers were next to useless. So were Magneto's, for that matter. The master of magnetism had hoped to end the battle quickly, but to his shock and horror the sentinel-soldiers barely noticed his attempts to control them. They'd been made from plastic, not metal. It seemed Trask had not been idle in the days since the mutant emergence. Magneto was forced to duck aside next to the prone forms of Angel and Wolverine as the sentinels blasted the spot he'd been standing not a few moments prior. Still, he was not helpless. Those few metal objects in the room he quickly brought under his power and started flinging left and right at the sentinel-soldiers.
Angel shrugged off his trench coat, grateful he'd worn a shirt with holes for his wings as they all but burst out behind him and he took to the air, drawing the fire of the sentinel-soldiers and giving more time to the other mutants. He dove, wheeled, twisted and turned to dodge the blasts. But here he was in his element, the air, and nothing could touch him.
Wolfsbane growled, assuming her half-wolf form, or as it was more commonly known her lycanthropic form. She was about to leap forward and make herself useful when one of the sentinel-soldiers blasted the floor in front of her, 'causing her to jump back with a loud yelp, watching as the machine took a few steps forward and aimed right at her head... but before it could pull the trigger a blue and black blur sped past her and slammed into the automaton's chest, knocking it back and smashing it against the floor. The blur stopped and fell down onto two feet and turned to face Wolfsbane as she stood upright again. A blue and black blur with corn-yellow hair and an easy smile. Cannonball had saved her.
But they weren't out of the woods yet, they realized, as the sentinel-solider stood back on its feet and continued its relentless task of trying to destroy them.
Thunder crackled overhead, and all eyes turned as Storm emerged from her cell, her eyes glowing violet-white, her ivory tresses whirling about her head as the elements came at her behest to deal death and destruction. Storm did not so much fly so much as floated up towards the ceiling, taking aim with her hands and white-hot bolts of lightning sprang from them, slamming into three such sentinel-soldiers and sending them flying into the wall. Though they too had been prepared for such electrical damage, and apart from a slight slowness of movement, they were otherwise undamaged. One, less fortunate than the others, had had its left arm blown clear off.
Berzerker, watching from the sides, could see that more juice was going to be needed to take care of these damn things. Glancing around, he spotted the Blob, and beckoned the gigantic mutant over as he turned to the wall, running his hand along the side... there!
"Smash this!" he shouted, and was mildly relieved when the Blob complied, breaking open the wall and exposing the electronic wiring which Berzerker eagerly grabbed onto, soaking up the juice. His hair stood on end (not that many could tell, it was so short) and his entire body became wreathed in electrical waves as he started to power up. Blob, sensing his plan, stood in front of him to give him the time he needed, providing one of the most immovable of barriers yet.
He just hoped they'd have enough time.
Toad in the meantime was busy leaping around, trying to keep out of the line of fire and doing a rather poor job of it. Though he did not realize it, as he backflipped and dodge and turned this way and that, he was doing an invaluable job by keeping the machines distracted as Cyclops and Havoc blasted away at their sides and backs, slowly but surely wearing down the armored hides. Three more had already fallen to the two Summers boys, with their assistance from Jean keeping them relatively safe in her TK bubble. It was a common strategy she and Cyclops used, and the addition of his brother Havoc only added that much more firepower. The three of them could probably take on the danger room's highest setting right about now. Most of the other mutants had split up into small teams of twos and threes in an effort to ward off the sentinel-soldiers, but all they could do for now was hold their own.
Nightcrawler teleported over to Charles, then teleported him to the far end of the room, near the door, as he stood and made his way to the controls. He had to get the Professor out of here as soon as possible. Unfortunately a stray blast shot over their heads, and a pile of broken plaster, metal and rock fell down, knocking Nightcrawler unconscious and pinning Professor X with no one around to assist him.
A near silence came over the battlefield as a distinctive 'snickt' sound filled the air. Not one, not two, but six sets of adamantium claws sprang from their respective sheaths as Wolverine and his semi-offspring launched themselves in perfect unison at one of the sentinel-soldiers, slicing it to pieces in mere moments. Their attacks could not have been better coordinated if they had ever trained together, for they knew instinctively when to move with each other as they danced a deadly dance, claws flashing in the air as they ripped to pieces their metallic attackers, leaving shredded arms, legs, heads and torsos twitching on the floor behind them. Several stray blasters, some still intact, were also tossed aside.
Now that everyone had been freed Colossus and Shadowcat returned to the fray, with little Stall tagging along to keep safe, but they were quickly ambushed by the spider-sentinel, that until now had been crouched above them on the roof. It dropped down and immediately opened fire on the three of them.
"Get down!" shouted Colossus, shielding the young girls with his body, energy bouncing off his iron back harmlessly, though it shredded his white sleeveless shirt. To his surprise, however, Shadowcat leapt up, through his chest and out his back, running straight towards the spider-sentinel and leaping right through it. The machine shorted out and collapsed, twitching, as she stood triumphantly over it, giving Colossus a victory salute. He just gaped, watching her. He had no idea a girl, especially such a young one, could be so powerful of a fighter as this X-Woman Shadowcat.
"Cyclops!" shouted Sunspot, gaining the attention of team Summers as he pointed at the ceiling. "I could use a hand here!" he added. Cyclops nodded, nudging his brother and aiming his head upwards at the same time Havoc pointed his hands. Triple bolts of red energy lanced from Cyclops's eyes and Havoc's hands and hit the ceiling in a wide arch, as they circled around a blew a chunk clear out of the ceiling, raining down huge chunks of stone that quickly reduced two more of the sentinel-soldiers to little more than plastic scrap. Wolverine and X23 had to jump clear, and Angel swooped out of the way to avoid damage himself. But more importantly, it allowed the sun to shrine through. Sunspot stepped forward as the dust cleared, raising his hands and leaning his head back as the glorious hot sun poured its energy over him, and he became his namesake.
"Now we're talkin'!" he shouted gleefully, as he charged headfirst into the next sentinel-soldier and ripped its wiring out bare-handed, his body ablaze with the power of the sun.
The sentinel-soldiers were slowly being beaten back, the main force now reduced to a mere ten, the remainder piles of scrap, sputtering from opening in their torso's or headless bodies, and one now under a pile of thirty-three identical brown-haired boys. True, their armor was thick, but Bobby's ice helped to weaken it enough for others to blast, break, or slice their way through.
However, Master Mold was not yet finished with the mutants.
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Unnoticed by the others, Trask and Wraith bid a hasty retreat, opening the main doors to the containment room and sealing the mutants in, sparing not so much as a glance back to Professor X and Nightcrawler as they crawled over them and took off in a dead run, hoping not to run into any other Master Mold controlled sentinels. Trask took off down an adjacent corner and Wraith followed as Trask led him to a hidden landing pad and helicopter. Wraith arrived just as Trask had started up the vehicle, preparing for lift-off.
"Where are you going?!" shouted Wraith.
"Getting out of here, what do it look like you fool?! Master Mold and the mutants can all destroy themselves for all I care," he added angrily. His inability to control Master Mold had still stung. So had that stupid mutants-are-human comment.
"You can't just leave me here!" shouted Wraith, jumping onto the edge of the helicopter and grabbing Trask's black jacket.
"Let go of me you freak!" shouted Trask, kicking off his former comrade as he lifted the helicopter up into the air. Wraith hit the ground hard, and by the time he'd regained his feet Trask was long gone through the sliding ceiling escape route.
"Curse you to hell, you insufferable fool!" shouted Wraith, shaking his fist at the retreating helicopter. "Well no matter... all I need to is obtain my subject and be on my way as well... there is still time," he hissed, as he made his way back into the complex and too the room where he'd been working on Sabertooth. Thankfully, no sign of the sentinel-soldiers were around, they were likely busy dealing with the mutants. Excellent. All was working out.
Colonel Wraith of the Weapon X Program opened the door and stepped inside. But there, at the table, the shackles had been shattered, and nobody lay on the cold metal table. The door slid shut behind Wraith, as he heard a low, sinister growl coming behind him. Shaking, he turned, to see his worst nightmare hovering over him, half-hidden in the shadows of the room. The light glinted faintly off the metallic edge of his enormous canines as he took a slow, menacing step forward.
"No..."
"You're gonna pay for what you did to me," growled Sabertooth, as Wraith stumbled backwards against the table, half-lying on it, one handed raised to ward off the behemoth mutant, who gingerly ran his tongue along his now super-sharp, adamantium laced teeth. "Pity we can't use anesthetic... that'd ruin the fun!"
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The mutants were winning, as Berzerker returned to the fray and shot a massive electrical bolt at a nearby sentinel-soldier and overloading its circuits, making it collapsing in a pile of scrap. The other new recruits weren't doing too bad either. When it came down to it, they had really pulled together as a team worthy of the name X-Men.
Pyro watched in fascination as Magma flamed up, and started to throw her weight around, tossing fireballs at this and that sentinel-soldier. He smirked, realizing this was the source he needed.
"Yo Sheila!" he shouted over at Magma, who turned in shock at being addressed so rudely by the red-headed aussie. He didn't even notice, just waved her over. "Mind tossin' me some fire to start a barbecue?!"
Magma obliged, starting a rather large fire next to the pyrotechnic (and psychotic) mutant, who cackled gleefully, back in his element. He raised his hands, and three flaming dragons arose from the fire, as he thrust out his hands and they launched forward at the sentinel-soldiers, burning and destroying as blasts of red energy, crackling white lightning, exploding cards, and a slew of other powers laid waste to the last of the sentinel-soldiers, leaving them crumpled and ruined.
But Master Mold was not finished.
Now that the mutants were tired, it was time for round two. The wall slid back completely, as Master Mold's computerized face vanished, and two full-sized sentinels stepped into view, their great metal heads nearly scraping against the ceiling as their chests spread and blasts of blue energy launched itself at the tired defenders, who scattered in all directions to avoid being outright blasted into oblivion. Those with offensive powers fought back, but like the prototype, it was an uphill battle. And these newer versions obviously had been greatly upgraded. Cyclops's optic blast could barely make a dent.
Then they started to go down.
The Blob was the first, catching the full brunt of an energy blast that knocked the heavy teen down flat onto his back against the wall, shattering the glass of a nearby containment tube (previously being unused). Havoc and Avalanche went next as a stray energy blast destroyed the walkway above Jean, 'causing her and the Summers team to scattered. Unfortunately, Havoc barreled into Avalanche, knocking the two boys out. More of concern, however, was as the walkway above started to teeter, Amanda lost her balance and fell forward, barely managing to snag onto a loose railing as she screamed in terror. Immediately Nightcrawler was by her side, grabbing her wrist just as they both fell, teleporting them to safety. Unfortunately his misfired, landing hard on the ground as he cushioned her body with his, though he was knocked unconscious. Amanda stumbled and rolled over to one side, watching helplessly. Berzerker, Cannonball, Shadowcat, Quicksilver, Wolfsbane, Beast and Colossus were also fairly quickly brought down and knocked unconscious by the energy blasts of the sentinels, which seemed on a rather painful setting of stun.
However, Master Mold had no intention of taking prisoners.
The two sentinels' eyes glowed briefly as their programming changed, and their weapons barrels narrowed. Now concentrated blasts poured out, the sort that sliced through flesh, bone and steel as well as a hot knife through butter. The two moved forward now, and the mutants were hard pressed just to avoid being fried. Magneto tried once more to bring down the behemoths with his awesome might, but his efforts produced only a shaking of their shoulders, housing the metallic rockets. True, he could redirect their fire if they tried anything, but in such close quarters, he could easily kill those present as well. Not a pleasant prospect.
The second sentinel's gaze fell on the unconscious form of Nightcrawler as it raised its hand and prepared to slaughter the blue-furred mutant. Before it could however, a bright blue bolt of energy slammed into its leg, 'causing it to stumble. It's head swiveled to the right, when who would it detect but Amanda, using one of the discarded mark II sentinel's weapons to try and save her boyfriend? The sentinel turned to fire, but it was distracted again by another optic blast, and it and its partner disregarded the rather useless Amanda and the unconscious Nightcrawler. Jubilee screamed, shooting her sparklers up at the behemoths, but they bounced off like rainwater against their red metal armor, and they didn't even slow. Still, she continued, not know what else to do, just screaming for someone, anyone, to help her.
Her prayers, it seemed, were answered.
Suddenly a hissing sound, drawing the attention of the defenders as the door to the room melted clean off its hinges, and a two solid feet slammed into it from the otherside, being propelled there by a makeshift bone javelin. A dark-skinned woman in a yellow sweater stood there, replacing her gloves, and beside her was Spyke, having just knocked down the door. But Spyke had changed considerably. All over his body, from his waist up, were huge, plated spikes, covering his skin, sans his face. And his look was not that of the innocent, street-savvy skater they'd know. This look reminded them more of Wolverine, of the hardened, deadly warrior.
Spyke wasted no time, springing forward and onto his skateboard as he launched his deadly spikes at the sentinels, drawing their attention as he zigged this way and that. Scaleface roared from the hallway as she stormed in her giant lizard form, slashing at the sentinels as the other Morlocks poured in, in twos and threes, grabbing the injured and making an escape, particularly after they rescued Stall. Lucid grabbed the little girl and made his way out of the fight as quickly as he could, since he'd be little use in it.
"Everybody out!" shouted Spyke. The others needed no such urgings as the remaining injured were gathered and hauled back as those still able to fight distracted and knocked back the sentinels (covered in battle scars but no significant damage) and fleeing through the broken and melted doors. In the end, the very last, Cyclops, paused at the doorway, glancing back as the sentinels prepared to destroy him. Jean and Spyke stood by his side.
"Destroy them! Destroy them all!" roared Master Mold from his computer screen, his face wavering slightly, still fighting the virus Arcade had infected him with. "I... I... I am Mazzzzzzzzter Mold! I cannot be destroyed!"
"You are the embodiment of all that is evil," stated Cyclops quietly, almost oblivious to the two towering sentinels as he reached up to his visor and closed his eyes. Slowly, painfully aware of the risks, he slid the metal and ruby quartz off his face. "You must be destroyed."
Ruby-red, hot searing energy poured from Cyclops's now exposed eyes as he went to full power, giving both the sentinels and Master Mold the full deadly power of his optic blast, which blanketed the room in a crimson glow. Master Mold gave one final noise, which sounded vaguely like a mechanized scream, as the sentinels were overwhelmed, their armor vaporized and then the circuits beneath, as the entire room was laid to rubble, one's arm flied clear off its body, smashing into the far wall. To say the damage done was overwhelming was an understatement. Not a single piece of metal, plastic or stone survived the blast of the Cyclops at full strength, and he would have cleaved clear through the mountain had it not just at that very moment to weaken and start to crumble. Huge chunks of the ceiling started to break up as the mountain itself shuddered under the power of Cyclop's optic blast. Jean and Spyke watched in horror as the chunks fell atop of their friend, and Jean cried out his name in horror.
"SCOTT!!" she shouted, thrusting out her hand to do her best to hold up the chunks of stone, though they were far heavier than anything she'd previously tried to move. She could barely hold them up. And the instant her grip wavered...
No. I will not let him die! I loved him, she howled mentally, and her inner strength blossomed. To the casual observer (Spyke was at the wrong angle to see) her eyes seemed to blaze with inner fire as she thrust out her hands and angrily shoved the chunks of stone aside, leaving Cyclops unharmed saved for a ton of dust that had accumulated in his lungs. He coughed as Jean and Spyke took his shoulders and guided him from the room. Suddenly one of the sentinel's robot arms, somehow having survived the optic blast, jerked suddenly up and fired off a random blast at the group, unable to aim without its sensors. Still, its blast was accurate enough to serve its purpose.
Spyke made no sound as the bright blue bolt of energy lanced clear through his back and out his chest, slicing clear through his heart. He collapsed, as Jean and Scott now moved to try and support him, hoping against hope they could save him in time, though the wound looked even to their untrained eyes to be fatal.
Behind them, the system that was Master Mold, though damaged and all but broken to a thousand pieces, if not outright obliterated, managed to execute one final backup program.
Self-Destruction.
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Authors Notes:
Wow, that was some intense stuff. Hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Scott's final line I stole from the old animate X-Men series, though it was originally Xavier's. Still, it seemed fitting. Obviously Jean's fiery nature from X2, since she -is- going to be Phoenix. And I've got something rather interesting planned for Spyke, but its coming up in the next chapter. 'Uprising' was awesome, but I have two complaints. One, they introduced Leech, so now my whole story is pointless! Two, they threw off every single theory I had about Apocalypse by making that second energy sphere. Damn them! Other than that, it was frickin' awesome (my highest possible rating).
Rogue14: Poor everybody?! They're mutants again! Nobody messes with the mutants. Still, they're not out of the woods yet.
Emerald Lightning Goddess: I told you, Spidey will show up again, briefly. But this is an X-Men Evolution story, not a spider-man. Hope you liked the battle though. I've got a few more chapters left, mostly an epilogue and wrap-up. That's about it though.
Todd fan: I thought you'd like that. Plus, it just strikes me as something he'd say. His lingo's so whacked. Hehe.
CC Grayson: There, hope that'll keep you alive for a little longer.
Comet-hime: I dunno about this Generation X, I only know Leech as a Morlock, so obviously that's where he's going once all this is over with. I'll toss in some more Tabitha/Amara at the end when I wrap everything up, never fear.
P-Chan5: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Damnit calm down there, take some sedatives or something and reeeelllllaaaax. This story is almost finished, so you can enjoy it all you want. Until then, take deep breathes, in and out, ja?
Chaoscat: I know, Arcade and Forge both get overlooked, so naturally I made them the instrumental heroes in my story.
~*Britt*~: I don't think three is all that many questions, really. Hopefully this chapter answered them.
Gyuumajo: Cute. Hope those 'gears' survived that.
Unknown Source: That enough action for ya? Sappiness and angst to come, though I you'd be surprised at some of the sources. As for Arcade, I too was once something close to a computer geek, so I emphasize, and I wish I'd had more time to expand upon his character. And of course I promote equality between mutants and humans. Or did you think my favorite Evo couple being Kurt and Amanda was pure coincidence?
TallieCat: That enough wicked awesomeness for ya?
Calamari Rings: Lance is there, fret you not. Glad you like the story, I love some of that artwork on your website.
Mayra: I've seen her eyes glow all sorts of strange colors, but mostly white, with tinges of purple or blue (lightning colors). I agreed, Sins of the Son was a bit of a letdown. Master Mold, in the comics, was a giant sentinel who basically made the other sentinels in his chest, hence his name. He rebelled against his creators, Trask and Guyrich, same as mine has. My version is more computer-like, and I've modeled this version after various other psychopathic computer-villain types. Kurt and Amanda have a child in the comics, I think, called Bluebelle… though I doubt such a character will show up in Evolution. Still, you never know. The bo staff is an oriental weapon, but Remy is not oriental, he's Cajun (I think). He's simply a man of the world. And yes, you can go bo staves from most martial arts dojos. I used to own one.