So here we are, five chapters into this nightmare. I didn't even realized there was already an Age of Apocalypse on this site, so I've tweaked the title a bit. Sorry about that. Anwyay, this chapter makes use of the R rating, but don't worry, it doesn't get too bad. It'll get worse in later chapters... I mean, Wolverine's still in the story, isn't he? Yeah. He'll use those claws before it's all done. So here are are, chapter five. Oh, and excuse the grammar.
Chapter Five - Iceman's Struggle and Magneto's Lament
Australia… or what was left of it. This was the home of the human resistance, and the only place not yet reached by Apocalypse. Small bands of humans existed elsewhere around the world, but their population was thinning. It was strange that Apocalypse had not destroyed Australia when he had ordered New Zealand and Indonesia "cleansed." Most of the human population of Australia had been wiped out by a virus of some sort, and they suspected that Apocalypse was involved, until they learned that it seemed to affect mutants as well. Most of the human resistance in General Trask's Pure Blood movement had recovered from their illness or immunized.
Around a thousand soldiers in gray uniforms stood ready before a small building with a small balcony, their guns at their sides, all standing straight and not a single man moving out of turn. A soldier stood at either end of the balcony, where General Bolivar Trask watched his army. Trask was an older man with a graying beard and a gray uniform indistinguishable from that of his men. He walked with a noticeable limp, but always forced himself to stand tall and proper.
"Good army. Good army…" he whispered to himself. He saluted his men and they returned his salute. He limped back into the building and picked up a receiver on a small computer. He entered a few numbers.
"Yes, General?" Colonel Matthews appeared on the screen.
"Colonel Matthews, status report. Are the Sentinels ready?"
"I… er… sir, I have bad news… sir."
"Bad news…?"
"Our workforce was unable to keep up with the order, sir."
"Unable to keep up? I would have thought that so many men could build two-hundred Sentinels without too much trouble. Have you been keeping their rations from them?"
"…Wait, two-hundred? You had ordered a thousand, sir."
"A thousand?! Are you insane?! These are workers, not machines!"
"But sir, I received the order for a thous-"
"From who?!"
"Lieutenant General Eisenhaus, sir."
"Eisen-? No such person is enlisted in this army! Who could have… of course. A mutant. You've been tricked!"
"A mutant, sir?"
"Yes… a shape shifting mutant. I've dealt with her before. We are working on our mutant detection system… how many Sentinels were produced?"
"I… er… twenty, sir."
"Twenty?! How much of the workforce is left?"
"We have… forty men, sir."
"Forty?! Those damn mutants! Colonel, activate the Sentinels."
"Sir? Don't you think it's too soon? I mean, twenty…"
"We're out of options at this point. I'm sending six-hundred troops to the factory to replace your workforce. The Sentinels will have to cover for them."
"Yes, sir. Colonel Matthews out." A young man of about sixteen approached Trask, bowing slightly as he did. With such a limited amount of people available, Trask had been forced to recruit children as young as fourteen. "Private McGregor, you have what I requested?"
"Yes, sir," McGregor said. Trask took a disk from him and smiled.
"Good work. This will not go unnoticed." Trask picked up the receiver on the videophone and dialed a different number. A young red-haired man appeared on the screen he was dressed like everyone else, in military uniform, but his hair was fairly shaggy for a soldier. This man was not actually enlisted in Trask's army, but was working for him.
"General Trask, sir."
"I will be arriving in India tomorrow with the reinforcements. I am bringing the disk with me. You will know what to do with it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I hope you live up to your reputation, Arcade."
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Toad scratched his head. He sat on a cinder block in the dungeon of Apocalypse's castle with the others. The dungeon had probably been there since the castle was built, but the metal bars were replaced by a thick sheet of glass with a small vent in the center for air to pass through. A nullification device had been attached to the ceiling. Its power covered a wide range, wide enough to keep any of them from using their mutations. Toad couldn't even extend his tongue.
"Some friend," Jean said. "He gets freed and saves his own ass."
"What could he have done?" Rogue argued. "You think he could have taken all of them alone? Think for a minute, huh?"
"He could have at least tried! All he cared about was himself, that little traitor."
"Dammit, Jean, what would YOU have done?!"
"I'd take on those assholes and free my friends, since at least I care enough to save you!"
"Settle down," Freddy said. "We're not going to get anywhere if we just argue about this. I'm sure Alex will go get Magneto and come back for us."
"He will! He told me!"
"What?"
"Well… I couldn't actually hear him, but he said it! He'll get help and come back for us, so there's your answer!"
"Funny how you didn't mention this before," Jean said. Rogue was ready to punch her in the face. It was unfortunate that Freddy sat between them. "Aaah… kkkaaa… aaarrr!"
"Jean, what's wrong?"
"My… head…" Jean's telepathy had somehow activated itself. With the nullification device active, she received numerous shocks throughout her body and screamed, unable to turn her powers off.
"Jean! JEAN!" Freddy held her close to him as she convulsed. Slowly, the shocks stopped. "Are you alright?"
"No…"
"Heh, that's my Jean! You had me worried!"
"As you should be," Mastermind said through the vent. He was flanked by two mutant guards, one with spikes growing from his elbows and the other with an eye on each palm, and no sockets on his face. "I hope you didn't mind that I reached into your mind for a moment, but it's not my fault that your defenses went up. Apocalypse can help you control that, you know."
"You!" Jean yelled. She ran to the glass and pounded her fists against it. Freddy pulled her away and wrapped his large hands around her fists to restrain her. "I should have known you were working for Apocalypse!"
"You should have known to stay out of this. You could have avoided this had you come back to me when you had the chance."
"For what? So I could be a slave like you?!"
"Your brother had sense enough to refuse Magneto's offer." Toad stood up and gave Mastermind the nastiest look he could muster. Mastermind grinned. "Ah, Todd, my only son. You and your sister have grown well. You will both make such wonderful servants."
"So let me get this straight," Freddy said. "You and Toad are siblings, and this jerk is your father?"
"Unfortunately," Jean said.
"Fred Dukes, a fine young man. Smart, honest, dependable, gentle. See? You have good judgment, Jean. Why couldn't you have applied it elsewhere? It doesn't matter anymore. Soon we'll be together again, as a family." Mastermind walked away from the cell, cackling.
"That's it, then," Kate said from the corner. "We're all going to die."
"We're not going to die, Kate!" Jean said.
"Yeah, we're gonna mutate," Kurt muttered.
"We're not going to mutate, either! Alex will come back for us!"
"Oh? Didn't you call him a little traitor a minute ago?"
"Oh shut up, Rogue. Can't you see Kate is scared?"
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"Alright, we got breakfast!" Evan yelled. Pyro, Tabby, Wanda and Jamie had discovered a ruined supermarket. The only things that had survived were canned foods, so they opened them and feasted.
"So Jamie, how old are you?" Wanda asked.
"Twelve."
"So you can make copies of yourself? I wish I had a power like that."
"Yeah, it comes in handy." Jamie seemed more concerned with eating than talking. Wanda didn't blame him. Evan and Tabby had already had their fill and were running around the store throwing things at each other. Jamie finished eating and joined them, though they tried to avoid him. Pyro stayed near Wanda, watching him.
"Give it a rest," Wanda said. "The poor kid's just scared."
"Poor kid my ass."
"What's so bad about him that you won't give him a chance?"
"Tabby can make those little bombs, I can control fire, Evan can make spikes, and you do that… witchy stuff. Jamie can make copies."
"So what's wrong with that?"
"You're not looking at the real Jamie." A large box from the top shelf fell right next to Wanda and spread powdered soap on the floor.
"What the…?"
"It starts. Don't say I didn't warn you." Pyro took a lighter from his pocket and kept it ready. A bone spike flew overhead, followed by Jamie's scream and a sort of fizzling noise.
"What was that?"
"I got one of his clones," Evan said. He started running when a butcher knife flew towards him. He quickly grew several tiny spikes on his forearm as padding and caught the knife. Jamie's giggle echoed through the store.
"Little asshole…" Tabby threw a bomb at a Jamie clone and another clone hit her over the head with a broom. A third clone then ran in with a frying pan and started hitting Tabby's legs. Pyro sent a fire bird to scare them off and helped Tabby to her feet.
"Okay, luv?"
"Yup!" Several more Jamies started running around, carrying kitchen utinsels. Wanda ran from them but they cornered her. Eleven of them ran towards her carrying forks and knives. She waved her hands and several gallons of expired milk dropped from the shelf. With that distraction, Wanda ran around the corner of another aisle, only to find another crowd of Jamies, this time carrying large and heavy boxes.
"Little bastard cut me!" Evan yelled. He fired more spikes and more Jamies dissolved. Wanda heard several small explosions on the other side of the store and assumed that Tabby was dealing with several of them herself. Wanda ran towards the general direction of the explosions, where she met Pyro and Evan as well. She looked around and realized that the Jamies had surrounded them. Pyro burned several of them while the others dealt with even more in their own ways, but the Jamie onslaught continued. Suddenly, one of the shelves fell, crushing several Jamies and nearly taking Wanda. On top of the fallen shelves, more Jamies giggled.
"That's enough!" Wanda yelled. She waved her hands, and the Jamies all went limp and fell to the ground. Only one remained standing, but he quickly fell limp as well. It was too late. Pyro kept his eye on him and picked up the real Jamie.
"Had enough fun?" He turned to Wanda. "Believe us now? Kid's a damn sadist."
"Yeah, I believe you now."
"C'mon guys, I was just playing around!" Jamie explained.
"Nope. We got you this time," Pyro said. "Hey Tabby, make a lil' bomb, willya?"
"What are you gonna do to me?"
"You still hungry, kid? Tabby's gonna make you some desert!"
"No, no! C'mon, guys! Let me go!"
"Hey, don't kill him, either," Wanda protested. "Just let him go."
"No, he's too dangerous." Tabby carried a rather large bomb in her hands and Evan pried Jamie's mouth open. Wanda slapped the bomb out of her hand and pushed Evan away.
"Are you really that evil?"
"It's him or us!" Pyro yelled. He pushed Wanda away as Tabby created another bomb.
"No, please! Don't! Please, no! NO!" Jamie tried to squirm away, but Evan and Pyro were too strong. Tabby placed the bomb in Jamie's mouth, but a blue beam knocked it out before she could push it in. The bomb rolled along the floor, covered in a thick layer of ice.
Several feet away, Iceman held his hand out. He was alone, but this didn't matter to him. He said nothing, but held his hand out. He wanted them to give him Jamie.
"Come and get him!" Pyro yelled.
"Iceman? Wait, where are the others?" Wanda asked.
"Sometimes they show up alone," Tabby said. "We can take him." Iceman frozed the floor and caused everyone to slip. Tabby threw a small bomb at him and Wanda waved her hand. Iceman couldn't fire his ice beam thanks to Wanda's hex, and the bomb hit him in the shoulder. Wanda waved her hand again, and Iceman slipped on his own ice covered. Immediately, Pyro jumped on top of him. He turned on his lighter and gathered the flame it produced.
"Guys, I need something flammable… Wanda keep your hex up!"
"I'm on it!" Tabby had found a package of computer paper, ripped it open, and threw the contents everywhere. Pyro set fire to it and turned up the head. He pressed his hand down on Iceman's chest to keep him from getting up.
"Wanda… keep that hex up!"
"I'm trying!" Iceman's frost coating was melting, but seemed to reappear the moment it melted off. Frost was beginning to cover Pyro's hand. The fire was making its way to Iceman, but it wasn't enough. The melted ice was putting most of it out.
"Fuck this! Going all the way!" With his free hand, Pyro gathered what fire he could and formed it into a fireball the sized of his head. With his own hand he pressed it against Iceman's chest. Iceman struggled to get away, but couldn't. The frost continued to build up on Pyro's hand, somehow passing by the fire itself. He was beginning to lose feeling in his hand, but he couldn't give up.
"Pyro, what are you doing?!" Evan yelled. "Get out of there! Even you can't stand that fire for long!"
"I know what I'm doing!" The frost on Iceman's skin wasn't regenerating as quickly as before. With temperatures clashing, both Iceman and Pyro were growing weak, but Pyro continued to hold down the fire. The frost buildup on Pyro's hand was gone, but now the fire was beginning to consume it. Pyro only pressed harder.
"Johnny, stop it! It's no use!" Tabby screamed.
"SHUT UP! I told you I know what I'm doing!" Now Iceman stopped regenerating his ice layer completely. Wanda kept her hex spell on him and Iceman was quickly losing strength.
"You like that?!" Pyro screamed. "We're having Iceman barbecue! That's some good eating right there!" Iceman realized that his powers were useless and tried to push Pyro off, but he had lost too much strength. Finally, his defenses dropped entirely. Iceman caught fire and burned, and Pyro remained on top of him. The fire spread quickly to the rest of Iceman. He screamed as his face began to burn. The smell was too much for Pyro. He got up off of Iceman and fell to the ground. Some of the ice covering the floor had melted, and he placed his hand against it.
"Pyro! You idiot, why did you do that?!" Tabby screamed.
"Heh, I got one of the Horsemen, didn't I? But the stench…" Iceman struggled to get up, but he was far too weak. Wanda at last collapsed. The pressure was too much. With his powers free, Iceman built up a layer of ice, but it melted immediately. He kept trying, but his own body was too hot. He struggled until the end. The fire finally consumed him, and he stopped moving. He made no sound. Through the fire, they could see that just about all of his skin had already burned off. Now it was just a burning skeleton with some muscle tissue and organs left.
Pyro looked at his hand. It had suffered a strange combination of frostbite and third-degree burns. He had lost all feeling and could no longer move his fingers.
"Tabby, gimme a bomb."
"What?"
"Gimme a bomb!"
"No way!"
"Then how about this?" Evan pulled a spike out of his shoulder and stabbed Pyro's hand. It shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Good enough. You're a good mate, Evan."
"Where's Jamie?" Wanda asked. He was nowhere to be found. Tabby helped Pyro to his feet and watched the rest of Iceman burn.
Outside, three figures watched the light coming from inside the store. Jamie stood with them, watching.
"Pestilence is dead," Archangel said. Avalanche and Storm nodded in agreement.
"What about me?" Jamie asked.
"Our master has plans for you." Archangel carried Jamie and flew away, followed by the wind-riding Avalanche and Storm.
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Alex Summers cursed himself. How was he supposed to get anywhere, let alone New Zealand? He couldn't remember how long he had been walking south, but from where he stood, he could still see the castle behind him… but then, it was a big castle…
He wanted to give up right there. He'd had enough. It should have ended there. No Apocalypse, no mutant war, no X-Men, nothing. Just him, his family, and his friends. And Rogue…
Why was he even thinking about her? He'd known her for what, a week and a half? Did he even really know her? He was beginning to think that he was just interested in her looks. Well, of course he was. But was that it?
And then there was his brother, Scott. He thought Scott would be happy to see him, but it didn't seem that way. Why would Scott care at all? He did have two other brothers to fill in the void, and a sister…
"Sister?" Alex asked himself. "Wait… Scott's my brother, Rogue's his… oh, hell no."
"Ouch, bangin' your sister?"
"Remy…?"
"None other." Gambit leaned against a tree with his hands in his pockets. "Been a while, Alex. Things still alright back with Magneto?"
"Sort of… what are you doing here?"
"Me an' the others managed to escape from the castle a while ago. We're just taking a break." Cannonball sat in the branches of the tree that Gambit leaned on. Wolfsbane had been sitting in some bushes, and in her wolf form, she would have probably gone unnoticed. "So you got taken in, too? Magneto turn you in?"
"No. I'm on my way back to the Institute."
"Hmm. Not far from here. What is this, Germany?"
"Well, he moved it to New Zealand."
"Aw, just like that, and now you're screwed. Tell you what, Alex. We'll find us a plane and drop you off at Magneto's place. Sound good?"
"Yeah… yeah, thanks, Remy. I think I'll stop for a minute." Alex sat down on the floor and exhaled. He closed his eyes and relaxed. Gambit looked at Cannonball, and then at Wolfsbane, and grinned.
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Scott and the reluctant Pietro had found their way to the southern United States, down a highway in the middle of the desert. Everything was going fine, except that Pietro seemed to be obsessed with making sure at least one of them was talking.
"…That's when I told Sam to push it UPWARD, and the idiot got a face full of soot!"
"For the last time, Pietro, SHUT UP!"
"Okay, then you tell me something."
"Here's a story for you. Once upon a time, there lived an annoying little fag named Pietro. This really awesome guy named Scott found him and shot him. The end."
"Who are you calling a fag? At least I keep my hair short."
"My hair is fine, alright? Now… FUCK." The truck stopped. "We're out of gas."
"I TOLD YOU! WE SHOULD'VE STOPPED!"
"Shut up already! You see a gas station around here?" Scott was handed a can of gas. "Er… where'd you get this?"
"I don't know. Try asking him." Pietro pointed to Avalanche, who stood right outside the truck and stared at Scott without emotion.
"Uh… hi. Thanks for the gas."
Avalanche said nothing.
"What's your name?"
"He is Famine," Archangel said. His metal wings flapped briefly, then folded behind him. "Scott Darkholme and Pietro Lehnsherr."
"Yeah, that's us."
"You are in need of nourishment."
"Thanks… but we're on our way somewhere."
"You will not likely reach your destination before nightfall. Rogue mutants appear at night, scavengers. Come with us, and we will give you a place to stay for the night."
"I think we can make it ourselves. Thanks, but we're gonna have to decline," Scott didn't like Archangel's attitude. Pietro seemed indifferent.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Several rocks burst from the ground and toppled the truck onto its side. Scott and Pietro climbed out, only to be met with a strong wind from behind. Storm held her hands out and pushed them towards Archangel, who held a small capsule in his hand. He threw it down between Scott and Pietro and released a red gas. Once they were out, Avalanche and Storm each took one. Archangel took to the sky, and his companions followed.
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"So, being that you two are related," Rogue began, "How come you guys don't look alike?"
"Because Toad got the ugly gene," Jean snapped. "Look, if you're going to talk to me, make sure it's important, okay?"
"What, like we have anything else to do? We're sitting here, waiting for Alex to show up, or for Apocalypse to do whatever it is he's gonna do with us. The least he could've done was given us some Game Boys."
"Hmm… that sister of yours, think she'd go for a guy like me?" Kurt asked. "I mean, just because she's your sister doesn't mean she's my sister."
"Okay, Kurt, that's just plain creepy."
"No, really."
"She ain't worth it."
"She's taken anyway," Freddy said.
"No offense to Freddy," Rogue said, "But Jean, you seem so superficial. How come you're with Freddy?"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Hey, settle down, Jean," Freddy said. "I know what I look like."
"Well, Rogue, if you MUST know, I happen to like Freddy for who he is, not what he looks like."
"Well I KNEW that, but how did you get together?"
"It took a while," Freddy replied. "When she first joined the team, she didn't like any of us. Then she got to know us and things worked out."
"Hmm. I was expecting some sort of exciting story."
"Oh, well if that's what you want." Freddy cleared his throat. "Long ago, in the land of America, a beautiful princess named Jean Grey lived in a spooky castle. She looked out to the horizon and wondered when her sweet prince would arrive to save her."
"Does this story have ninjas?" Toad asked.
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. One day, the brave and valiant Prince Frederick came upon the beautiful princess while questing for…"
"A magic lamp!" Kurt yelled.
"A magic lamp! He called to her and said, 'fair maiden, I am Prince Frederick of Lubbock, pray, what is thy name?' and she replied, 'brave sir, I am Princess Jean of Connecticut! I have been trapped in this dreary castle my entire life! Brave Prince Frederick, will thou save me?' Frederick agreed to save Princess Jean, but the keeper of castle warned him that he would face three difficult challenges before she was his! The first challenge was the vicious Werewolf! Frederick's sword fighting skills dispatched the wretched beast with ease! The second challenge was band of ninjas!"
"And robots!" Kurt yelled.
"Band of robotic ninjas! They were well-trained… or well-programmed… anyway, they were quite a challenge for Prince Frederick, but he defeated them nonetheless! The third and finall challenge was the vicious…"
"It better be another robot ninja!"
"…Robotic Dragon trained in Ninjitsu!"
"And it had a three-headed dog!"
"…And he had a three-headed dog!"
"And giant spiders!"
"And giant spiders!"
"Don't forget the alien spaceships!" Toad yelled.
"…And giant spiders. Prince Frederick charged at them, sword in hand, prepared to fight for his lady love's freedom! The drag… hey, someone's here."
"Kurt Darkholme?" Beast called through the vent. He stood with Wolverine and Mastermind. "Which one of you would be Kurt Darkholme?"
"Me," Kurt reluctantly answered.
"Ah, there." Mastermind held a large metal ring in his hand. The glass wall was raised, and Kurt stepped out. Immediately, the glass door fell back down behind him. Mastermind slipped the metal collar on him and pressed a switch on the side. "A portable version," he said, slightly amused.
"What are you gonna do to him?" Toad asked.
"Don't worry, son. We won't hurt your dear 'brother.' If you're so curious, then maybe you should come watch… but first, we have a few tests we need to run."
"Yes, we won't be long," Beast said. "I'll send someone to get you when the time comes."
"Time for what?" Rogue asked. She stood up and made a fist.
"Time for the show," Wolverine joked. "Kid's gonna join our circus."
"Keep watch on them, Wolverine," Beast said. Wolverine nodded and stayed behind as Beast and Mastermind led Kurt out of the dungeon.
"I expect you to finish the story!" Kurt yelled back. Freddy chuckled at the humor of his comment, but nobody else seemed to understand it. Kate stayed close to Jean, more nervous than anyone had ever seen her.
"I hope they don't kill him… they won't, will they?"
"No, they won't."
"I hope they don't kill him…"
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Magneto sat alone in his bedroom, staring at a picture of himself standing with Charles Xavier in front of a statue of some sort. Xavier had never lost the use of his legs, and stood alongside Magnus, who had not aged a day, despite the photograph being nearly twenty years old.
"You made it look so easy, Charles," Erik Lehnsherr said to the picture. "But had I known that it would turn out this way, I never would have put their lives in danger. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to bring those kids back safely, but when I do, I am disbanding the X-Men. I've ruined enough lives chasing this dream of yours, and for what? The few 'normal' humans left have waged war on us. I knew this would happen. I should have been better prepared for it… but it doesn't matter anymore. They'll all be gone soon and mutants will rule the world. The mutants that side with Apocalypse… the moment I have the X-Men back, I will wage my own war, Charles. I made a promise I intend to keep, whether I still believe in it or not. Your dream will be enforced, Charles, and if I must do it alone then so be it, and anyone who stands in my way, man or mutant, will be crushed."
Who's going to replace Iceman as Pestilence? What's going to happen to Jamie? What are Apocalypse and Beast going to do to Kurt? Can Alex really trust Gambit and the rest of X-Force? What's on that disk and what's Arcade going to do with it? But the real question is... where are Mystique, Forge and baby Kevin? Oh, right. They're still there...
Chapter Five - Iceman's Struggle and Magneto's Lament
Australia… or what was left of it. This was the home of the human resistance, and the only place not yet reached by Apocalypse. Small bands of humans existed elsewhere around the world, but their population was thinning. It was strange that Apocalypse had not destroyed Australia when he had ordered New Zealand and Indonesia "cleansed." Most of the human population of Australia had been wiped out by a virus of some sort, and they suspected that Apocalypse was involved, until they learned that it seemed to affect mutants as well. Most of the human resistance in General Trask's Pure Blood movement had recovered from their illness or immunized.
Around a thousand soldiers in gray uniforms stood ready before a small building with a small balcony, their guns at their sides, all standing straight and not a single man moving out of turn. A soldier stood at either end of the balcony, where General Bolivar Trask watched his army. Trask was an older man with a graying beard and a gray uniform indistinguishable from that of his men. He walked with a noticeable limp, but always forced himself to stand tall and proper.
"Good army. Good army…" he whispered to himself. He saluted his men and they returned his salute. He limped back into the building and picked up a receiver on a small computer. He entered a few numbers.
"Yes, General?" Colonel Matthews appeared on the screen.
"Colonel Matthews, status report. Are the Sentinels ready?"
"I… er… sir, I have bad news… sir."
"Bad news…?"
"Our workforce was unable to keep up with the order, sir."
"Unable to keep up? I would have thought that so many men could build two-hundred Sentinels without too much trouble. Have you been keeping their rations from them?"
"…Wait, two-hundred? You had ordered a thousand, sir."
"A thousand?! Are you insane?! These are workers, not machines!"
"But sir, I received the order for a thous-"
"From who?!"
"Lieutenant General Eisenhaus, sir."
"Eisen-? No such person is enlisted in this army! Who could have… of course. A mutant. You've been tricked!"
"A mutant, sir?"
"Yes… a shape shifting mutant. I've dealt with her before. We are working on our mutant detection system… how many Sentinels were produced?"
"I… er… twenty, sir."
"Twenty?! How much of the workforce is left?"
"We have… forty men, sir."
"Forty?! Those damn mutants! Colonel, activate the Sentinels."
"Sir? Don't you think it's too soon? I mean, twenty…"
"We're out of options at this point. I'm sending six-hundred troops to the factory to replace your workforce. The Sentinels will have to cover for them."
"Yes, sir. Colonel Matthews out." A young man of about sixteen approached Trask, bowing slightly as he did. With such a limited amount of people available, Trask had been forced to recruit children as young as fourteen. "Private McGregor, you have what I requested?"
"Yes, sir," McGregor said. Trask took a disk from him and smiled.
"Good work. This will not go unnoticed." Trask picked up the receiver on the videophone and dialed a different number. A young red-haired man appeared on the screen he was dressed like everyone else, in military uniform, but his hair was fairly shaggy for a soldier. This man was not actually enlisted in Trask's army, but was working for him.
"General Trask, sir."
"I will be arriving in India tomorrow with the reinforcements. I am bringing the disk with me. You will know what to do with it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I hope you live up to your reputation, Arcade."
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Toad scratched his head. He sat on a cinder block in the dungeon of Apocalypse's castle with the others. The dungeon had probably been there since the castle was built, but the metal bars were replaced by a thick sheet of glass with a small vent in the center for air to pass through. A nullification device had been attached to the ceiling. Its power covered a wide range, wide enough to keep any of them from using their mutations. Toad couldn't even extend his tongue.
"Some friend," Jean said. "He gets freed and saves his own ass."
"What could he have done?" Rogue argued. "You think he could have taken all of them alone? Think for a minute, huh?"
"He could have at least tried! All he cared about was himself, that little traitor."
"Dammit, Jean, what would YOU have done?!"
"I'd take on those assholes and free my friends, since at least I care enough to save you!"
"Settle down," Freddy said. "We're not going to get anywhere if we just argue about this. I'm sure Alex will go get Magneto and come back for us."
"He will! He told me!"
"What?"
"Well… I couldn't actually hear him, but he said it! He'll get help and come back for us, so there's your answer!"
"Funny how you didn't mention this before," Jean said. Rogue was ready to punch her in the face. It was unfortunate that Freddy sat between them. "Aaah… kkkaaa… aaarrr!"
"Jean, what's wrong?"
"My… head…" Jean's telepathy had somehow activated itself. With the nullification device active, she received numerous shocks throughout her body and screamed, unable to turn her powers off.
"Jean! JEAN!" Freddy held her close to him as she convulsed. Slowly, the shocks stopped. "Are you alright?"
"No…"
"Heh, that's my Jean! You had me worried!"
"As you should be," Mastermind said through the vent. He was flanked by two mutant guards, one with spikes growing from his elbows and the other with an eye on each palm, and no sockets on his face. "I hope you didn't mind that I reached into your mind for a moment, but it's not my fault that your defenses went up. Apocalypse can help you control that, you know."
"You!" Jean yelled. She ran to the glass and pounded her fists against it. Freddy pulled her away and wrapped his large hands around her fists to restrain her. "I should have known you were working for Apocalypse!"
"You should have known to stay out of this. You could have avoided this had you come back to me when you had the chance."
"For what? So I could be a slave like you?!"
"Your brother had sense enough to refuse Magneto's offer." Toad stood up and gave Mastermind the nastiest look he could muster. Mastermind grinned. "Ah, Todd, my only son. You and your sister have grown well. You will both make such wonderful servants."
"So let me get this straight," Freddy said. "You and Toad are siblings, and this jerk is your father?"
"Unfortunately," Jean said.
"Fred Dukes, a fine young man. Smart, honest, dependable, gentle. See? You have good judgment, Jean. Why couldn't you have applied it elsewhere? It doesn't matter anymore. Soon we'll be together again, as a family." Mastermind walked away from the cell, cackling.
"That's it, then," Kate said from the corner. "We're all going to die."
"We're not going to die, Kate!" Jean said.
"Yeah, we're gonna mutate," Kurt muttered.
"We're not going to mutate, either! Alex will come back for us!"
"Oh? Didn't you call him a little traitor a minute ago?"
"Oh shut up, Rogue. Can't you see Kate is scared?"
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"Alright, we got breakfast!" Evan yelled. Pyro, Tabby, Wanda and Jamie had discovered a ruined supermarket. The only things that had survived were canned foods, so they opened them and feasted.
"So Jamie, how old are you?" Wanda asked.
"Twelve."
"So you can make copies of yourself? I wish I had a power like that."
"Yeah, it comes in handy." Jamie seemed more concerned with eating than talking. Wanda didn't blame him. Evan and Tabby had already had their fill and were running around the store throwing things at each other. Jamie finished eating and joined them, though they tried to avoid him. Pyro stayed near Wanda, watching him.
"Give it a rest," Wanda said. "The poor kid's just scared."
"Poor kid my ass."
"What's so bad about him that you won't give him a chance?"
"Tabby can make those little bombs, I can control fire, Evan can make spikes, and you do that… witchy stuff. Jamie can make copies."
"So what's wrong with that?"
"You're not looking at the real Jamie." A large box from the top shelf fell right next to Wanda and spread powdered soap on the floor.
"What the…?"
"It starts. Don't say I didn't warn you." Pyro took a lighter from his pocket and kept it ready. A bone spike flew overhead, followed by Jamie's scream and a sort of fizzling noise.
"What was that?"
"I got one of his clones," Evan said. He started running when a butcher knife flew towards him. He quickly grew several tiny spikes on his forearm as padding and caught the knife. Jamie's giggle echoed through the store.
"Little asshole…" Tabby threw a bomb at a Jamie clone and another clone hit her over the head with a broom. A third clone then ran in with a frying pan and started hitting Tabby's legs. Pyro sent a fire bird to scare them off and helped Tabby to her feet.
"Okay, luv?"
"Yup!" Several more Jamies started running around, carrying kitchen utinsels. Wanda ran from them but they cornered her. Eleven of them ran towards her carrying forks and knives. She waved her hands and several gallons of expired milk dropped from the shelf. With that distraction, Wanda ran around the corner of another aisle, only to find another crowd of Jamies, this time carrying large and heavy boxes.
"Little bastard cut me!" Evan yelled. He fired more spikes and more Jamies dissolved. Wanda heard several small explosions on the other side of the store and assumed that Tabby was dealing with several of them herself. Wanda ran towards the general direction of the explosions, where she met Pyro and Evan as well. She looked around and realized that the Jamies had surrounded them. Pyro burned several of them while the others dealt with even more in their own ways, but the Jamie onslaught continued. Suddenly, one of the shelves fell, crushing several Jamies and nearly taking Wanda. On top of the fallen shelves, more Jamies giggled.
"That's enough!" Wanda yelled. She waved her hands, and the Jamies all went limp and fell to the ground. Only one remained standing, but he quickly fell limp as well. It was too late. Pyro kept his eye on him and picked up the real Jamie.
"Had enough fun?" He turned to Wanda. "Believe us now? Kid's a damn sadist."
"Yeah, I believe you now."
"C'mon guys, I was just playing around!" Jamie explained.
"Nope. We got you this time," Pyro said. "Hey Tabby, make a lil' bomb, willya?"
"What are you gonna do to me?"
"You still hungry, kid? Tabby's gonna make you some desert!"
"No, no! C'mon, guys! Let me go!"
"Hey, don't kill him, either," Wanda protested. "Just let him go."
"No, he's too dangerous." Tabby carried a rather large bomb in her hands and Evan pried Jamie's mouth open. Wanda slapped the bomb out of her hand and pushed Evan away.
"Are you really that evil?"
"It's him or us!" Pyro yelled. He pushed Wanda away as Tabby created another bomb.
"No, please! Don't! Please, no! NO!" Jamie tried to squirm away, but Evan and Pyro were too strong. Tabby placed the bomb in Jamie's mouth, but a blue beam knocked it out before she could push it in. The bomb rolled along the floor, covered in a thick layer of ice.
Several feet away, Iceman held his hand out. He was alone, but this didn't matter to him. He said nothing, but held his hand out. He wanted them to give him Jamie.
"Come and get him!" Pyro yelled.
"Iceman? Wait, where are the others?" Wanda asked.
"Sometimes they show up alone," Tabby said. "We can take him." Iceman frozed the floor and caused everyone to slip. Tabby threw a small bomb at him and Wanda waved her hand. Iceman couldn't fire his ice beam thanks to Wanda's hex, and the bomb hit him in the shoulder. Wanda waved her hand again, and Iceman slipped on his own ice covered. Immediately, Pyro jumped on top of him. He turned on his lighter and gathered the flame it produced.
"Guys, I need something flammable… Wanda keep your hex up!"
"I'm on it!" Tabby had found a package of computer paper, ripped it open, and threw the contents everywhere. Pyro set fire to it and turned up the head. He pressed his hand down on Iceman's chest to keep him from getting up.
"Wanda… keep that hex up!"
"I'm trying!" Iceman's frost coating was melting, but seemed to reappear the moment it melted off. Frost was beginning to cover Pyro's hand. The fire was making its way to Iceman, but it wasn't enough. The melted ice was putting most of it out.
"Fuck this! Going all the way!" With his free hand, Pyro gathered what fire he could and formed it into a fireball the sized of his head. With his own hand he pressed it against Iceman's chest. Iceman struggled to get away, but couldn't. The frost continued to build up on Pyro's hand, somehow passing by the fire itself. He was beginning to lose feeling in his hand, but he couldn't give up.
"Pyro, what are you doing?!" Evan yelled. "Get out of there! Even you can't stand that fire for long!"
"I know what I'm doing!" The frost on Iceman's skin wasn't regenerating as quickly as before. With temperatures clashing, both Iceman and Pyro were growing weak, but Pyro continued to hold down the fire. The frost buildup on Pyro's hand was gone, but now the fire was beginning to consume it. Pyro only pressed harder.
"Johnny, stop it! It's no use!" Tabby screamed.
"SHUT UP! I told you I know what I'm doing!" Now Iceman stopped regenerating his ice layer completely. Wanda kept her hex spell on him and Iceman was quickly losing strength.
"You like that?!" Pyro screamed. "We're having Iceman barbecue! That's some good eating right there!" Iceman realized that his powers were useless and tried to push Pyro off, but he had lost too much strength. Finally, his defenses dropped entirely. Iceman caught fire and burned, and Pyro remained on top of him. The fire spread quickly to the rest of Iceman. He screamed as his face began to burn. The smell was too much for Pyro. He got up off of Iceman and fell to the ground. Some of the ice covering the floor had melted, and he placed his hand against it.
"Pyro! You idiot, why did you do that?!" Tabby screamed.
"Heh, I got one of the Horsemen, didn't I? But the stench…" Iceman struggled to get up, but he was far too weak. Wanda at last collapsed. The pressure was too much. With his powers free, Iceman built up a layer of ice, but it melted immediately. He kept trying, but his own body was too hot. He struggled until the end. The fire finally consumed him, and he stopped moving. He made no sound. Through the fire, they could see that just about all of his skin had already burned off. Now it was just a burning skeleton with some muscle tissue and organs left.
Pyro looked at his hand. It had suffered a strange combination of frostbite and third-degree burns. He had lost all feeling and could no longer move his fingers.
"Tabby, gimme a bomb."
"What?"
"Gimme a bomb!"
"No way!"
"Then how about this?" Evan pulled a spike out of his shoulder and stabbed Pyro's hand. It shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Good enough. You're a good mate, Evan."
"Where's Jamie?" Wanda asked. He was nowhere to be found. Tabby helped Pyro to his feet and watched the rest of Iceman burn.
Outside, three figures watched the light coming from inside the store. Jamie stood with them, watching.
"Pestilence is dead," Archangel said. Avalanche and Storm nodded in agreement.
"What about me?" Jamie asked.
"Our master has plans for you." Archangel carried Jamie and flew away, followed by the wind-riding Avalanche and Storm.
-------------------------------
Alex Summers cursed himself. How was he supposed to get anywhere, let alone New Zealand? He couldn't remember how long he had been walking south, but from where he stood, he could still see the castle behind him… but then, it was a big castle…
He wanted to give up right there. He'd had enough. It should have ended there. No Apocalypse, no mutant war, no X-Men, nothing. Just him, his family, and his friends. And Rogue…
Why was he even thinking about her? He'd known her for what, a week and a half? Did he even really know her? He was beginning to think that he was just interested in her looks. Well, of course he was. But was that it?
And then there was his brother, Scott. He thought Scott would be happy to see him, but it didn't seem that way. Why would Scott care at all? He did have two other brothers to fill in the void, and a sister…
"Sister?" Alex asked himself. "Wait… Scott's my brother, Rogue's his… oh, hell no."
"Ouch, bangin' your sister?"
"Remy…?"
"None other." Gambit leaned against a tree with his hands in his pockets. "Been a while, Alex. Things still alright back with Magneto?"
"Sort of… what are you doing here?"
"Me an' the others managed to escape from the castle a while ago. We're just taking a break." Cannonball sat in the branches of the tree that Gambit leaned on. Wolfsbane had been sitting in some bushes, and in her wolf form, she would have probably gone unnoticed. "So you got taken in, too? Magneto turn you in?"
"No. I'm on my way back to the Institute."
"Hmm. Not far from here. What is this, Germany?"
"Well, he moved it to New Zealand."
"Aw, just like that, and now you're screwed. Tell you what, Alex. We'll find us a plane and drop you off at Magneto's place. Sound good?"
"Yeah… yeah, thanks, Remy. I think I'll stop for a minute." Alex sat down on the floor and exhaled. He closed his eyes and relaxed. Gambit looked at Cannonball, and then at Wolfsbane, and grinned.
-------------------------------
Scott and the reluctant Pietro had found their way to the southern United States, down a highway in the middle of the desert. Everything was going fine, except that Pietro seemed to be obsessed with making sure at least one of them was talking.
"…That's when I told Sam to push it UPWARD, and the idiot got a face full of soot!"
"For the last time, Pietro, SHUT UP!"
"Okay, then you tell me something."
"Here's a story for you. Once upon a time, there lived an annoying little fag named Pietro. This really awesome guy named Scott found him and shot him. The end."
"Who are you calling a fag? At least I keep my hair short."
"My hair is fine, alright? Now… FUCK." The truck stopped. "We're out of gas."
"I TOLD YOU! WE SHOULD'VE STOPPED!"
"Shut up already! You see a gas station around here?" Scott was handed a can of gas. "Er… where'd you get this?"
"I don't know. Try asking him." Pietro pointed to Avalanche, who stood right outside the truck and stared at Scott without emotion.
"Uh… hi. Thanks for the gas."
Avalanche said nothing.
"What's your name?"
"He is Famine," Archangel said. His metal wings flapped briefly, then folded behind him. "Scott Darkholme and Pietro Lehnsherr."
"Yeah, that's us."
"You are in need of nourishment."
"Thanks… but we're on our way somewhere."
"You will not likely reach your destination before nightfall. Rogue mutants appear at night, scavengers. Come with us, and we will give you a place to stay for the night."
"I think we can make it ourselves. Thanks, but we're gonna have to decline," Scott didn't like Archangel's attitude. Pietro seemed indifferent.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Several rocks burst from the ground and toppled the truck onto its side. Scott and Pietro climbed out, only to be met with a strong wind from behind. Storm held her hands out and pushed them towards Archangel, who held a small capsule in his hand. He threw it down between Scott and Pietro and released a red gas. Once they were out, Avalanche and Storm each took one. Archangel took to the sky, and his companions followed.
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"So, being that you two are related," Rogue began, "How come you guys don't look alike?"
"Because Toad got the ugly gene," Jean snapped. "Look, if you're going to talk to me, make sure it's important, okay?"
"What, like we have anything else to do? We're sitting here, waiting for Alex to show up, or for Apocalypse to do whatever it is he's gonna do with us. The least he could've done was given us some Game Boys."
"Hmm… that sister of yours, think she'd go for a guy like me?" Kurt asked. "I mean, just because she's your sister doesn't mean she's my sister."
"Okay, Kurt, that's just plain creepy."
"No, really."
"She ain't worth it."
"She's taken anyway," Freddy said.
"No offense to Freddy," Rogue said, "But Jean, you seem so superficial. How come you're with Freddy?"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Hey, settle down, Jean," Freddy said. "I know what I look like."
"Well, Rogue, if you MUST know, I happen to like Freddy for who he is, not what he looks like."
"Well I KNEW that, but how did you get together?"
"It took a while," Freddy replied. "When she first joined the team, she didn't like any of us. Then she got to know us and things worked out."
"Hmm. I was expecting some sort of exciting story."
"Oh, well if that's what you want." Freddy cleared his throat. "Long ago, in the land of America, a beautiful princess named Jean Grey lived in a spooky castle. She looked out to the horizon and wondered when her sweet prince would arrive to save her."
"Does this story have ninjas?" Toad asked.
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. One day, the brave and valiant Prince Frederick came upon the beautiful princess while questing for…"
"A magic lamp!" Kurt yelled.
"A magic lamp! He called to her and said, 'fair maiden, I am Prince Frederick of Lubbock, pray, what is thy name?' and she replied, 'brave sir, I am Princess Jean of Connecticut! I have been trapped in this dreary castle my entire life! Brave Prince Frederick, will thou save me?' Frederick agreed to save Princess Jean, but the keeper of castle warned him that he would face three difficult challenges before she was his! The first challenge was the vicious Werewolf! Frederick's sword fighting skills dispatched the wretched beast with ease! The second challenge was band of ninjas!"
"And robots!" Kurt yelled.
"Band of robotic ninjas! They were well-trained… or well-programmed… anyway, they were quite a challenge for Prince Frederick, but he defeated them nonetheless! The third and finall challenge was the vicious…"
"It better be another robot ninja!"
"…Robotic Dragon trained in Ninjitsu!"
"And it had a three-headed dog!"
"…And he had a three-headed dog!"
"And giant spiders!"
"And giant spiders!"
"Don't forget the alien spaceships!" Toad yelled.
"…And giant spiders. Prince Frederick charged at them, sword in hand, prepared to fight for his lady love's freedom! The drag… hey, someone's here."
"Kurt Darkholme?" Beast called through the vent. He stood with Wolverine and Mastermind. "Which one of you would be Kurt Darkholme?"
"Me," Kurt reluctantly answered.
"Ah, there." Mastermind held a large metal ring in his hand. The glass wall was raised, and Kurt stepped out. Immediately, the glass door fell back down behind him. Mastermind slipped the metal collar on him and pressed a switch on the side. "A portable version," he said, slightly amused.
"What are you gonna do to him?" Toad asked.
"Don't worry, son. We won't hurt your dear 'brother.' If you're so curious, then maybe you should come watch… but first, we have a few tests we need to run."
"Yes, we won't be long," Beast said. "I'll send someone to get you when the time comes."
"Time for what?" Rogue asked. She stood up and made a fist.
"Time for the show," Wolverine joked. "Kid's gonna join our circus."
"Keep watch on them, Wolverine," Beast said. Wolverine nodded and stayed behind as Beast and Mastermind led Kurt out of the dungeon.
"I expect you to finish the story!" Kurt yelled back. Freddy chuckled at the humor of his comment, but nobody else seemed to understand it. Kate stayed close to Jean, more nervous than anyone had ever seen her.
"I hope they don't kill him… they won't, will they?"
"No, they won't."
"I hope they don't kill him…"
-------------------------------
Magneto sat alone in his bedroom, staring at a picture of himself standing with Charles Xavier in front of a statue of some sort. Xavier had never lost the use of his legs, and stood alongside Magnus, who had not aged a day, despite the photograph being nearly twenty years old.
"You made it look so easy, Charles," Erik Lehnsherr said to the picture. "But had I known that it would turn out this way, I never would have put their lives in danger. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to bring those kids back safely, but when I do, I am disbanding the X-Men. I've ruined enough lives chasing this dream of yours, and for what? The few 'normal' humans left have waged war on us. I knew this would happen. I should have been better prepared for it… but it doesn't matter anymore. They'll all be gone soon and mutants will rule the world. The mutants that side with Apocalypse… the moment I have the X-Men back, I will wage my own war, Charles. I made a promise I intend to keep, whether I still believe in it or not. Your dream will be enforced, Charles, and if I must do it alone then so be it, and anyone who stands in my way, man or mutant, will be crushed."
Who's going to replace Iceman as Pestilence? What's going to happen to Jamie? What are Apocalypse and Beast going to do to Kurt? Can Alex really trust Gambit and the rest of X-Force? What's on that disk and what's Arcade going to do with it? But the real question is... where are Mystique, Forge and baby Kevin? Oh, right. They're still there...