Alright guys, we made it to chapter six! Anyone still reading? Oh, right. Stupid site doesn't list R-rated fics by default. Hey, wait, maybe my account might get deleted again for speaking ill of Fanfiction.net... remember, speaking against Bush makes you a TERRORIST! Oh, and excuse the grammar.
Chapter Six - Night of the Sentinels
"What do you think, Evan? Think I should get a hook?" Pyro asked. He walked with his friends through the streets, holding up his arm. They had treated him in a hospital, which, like everything else, was abandoned. It was fortunate that Wanda had some experience in medicine.
"No way, get a little flamethrower."
"Alright, a little flamethrower! You know, in all seriousness, I think I might do that… if I can find a little flamethrower." Suddenly, a cloud of fire appeared. Surprised, they all dropped to the floor.
"Speak of the devil, huh?"
"No need to fear, mates!" Facing them were Magma, Colossus and Berzerker. "Ain't seen these guys before, though."
"I have…" Wanda said. "Pyro, you take Magma."
"Which one's Magma?"
"Oh, right. The girl is Magma. The big metal guy is Colossus. The other guy is Berzerker. Tabby, you take him. Evan and I will fight Colossus."
"Not a problem!" Before they could begin, a giant foot stepped between them, a giant metal foot.
"Holy… what is that?!" The Sentinel looked down at them, yellow eyes glowing on a black face void of any other features. It looked down at them carefully.
"It's a Sentinel! Run!" Wanda screamed. Both sides fled in opposite directions, and the Sentinel was unsure which team to follow. Having analyzed both teams, it decided to go for the strongest first. It specifically followed Colossus and loaded its arm-mounted cannon.
"Beast! We have a Sentinel!" Colossus yelled in a thick Russian accent. A earplug-like device served as a radio between Beast and his troops.
"Yes, Colossus, that was the plan…"
"No! You do not understand! It is after us!"
"What? Colossus, you worthless cretin! I told you to activate those cloaking devices!"
"We did! They are not working!"
"What? Then… then something new has been added… abort the mission! Return to base!"
"The Sentinel is blocking our way back to the ship!"
"Alright then… it's a stretch, but try to get to the base there, the one Scarlet Witch and Mystique's boy escaped from…"
"Yes, Beast! Come! We are to go to the base!" As the Sentinel followed Colossus and the others, Wanda, Pyro, Tabby and Evan ducked into an alley.
"Okay, what is that thing and why is it after us?" Tabby screamed.
"It's a Sentinel, it hunts mutants. It probably belongs to Trask. My father told me he built the first prototype."
"We could've taken it." Pyro said.
"No, we couldn't. That thing is armed to the teeth." They heard an explosion in the distance. "If only the others were here…"
"Hey, since it's going after those other guys, maybe we should make a run for it," Evan suggested. They all agreed and ran.
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Colossus, Magma and Berzerker had reached the Mexican base hidden in a cave just outside the city. In the distance, the Sentinel continued walking towards them, deciding not to use its jet boosters for some reason.
Once inside the base, they activated the communications console in the lab where Scott and Wanda had broken out of. Moments later, Beast appeared on the large screen. Behind him, Apocalypse watched something off-screen with Mastermind.
"Wha-? Oh, Colossus. I see you made it back."
"Yes, Beast. We have evaded the Sentinel."
"Alright. Stay there. The base is cloaked. The Sentinel will go after the nearest mutants, so once he's decided to go after Scarlet Witch, you can make your escape. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now, I have other matters to tend to." Beast disappeared. Colossus withdrew his metal coating and sat down on the floor. Magma and Berzerker sat down with him, but they all remained silent. There was nothing they had to say to each other. Colossus sighed, and closed his eyes.
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Scott awoke in a large, comfortable bed. His glasses were already on him, but this was a given. He sat up and looked around his room. Large windows close to the ceiling let the morning light into the room. There was a metal door opposite the bed.
"About fucking time something good happens to me." There was a knock on the door. "Come in."
"Scott, where the hell are we?" Pietro asked.
"Well good morning to you too, ass. I don't know and I don't care."
"No, really. All the other doors are locked and I'm too short to see through the windows."
"Does it matter?"
"Have you forgotten that that guy with the metal wings gassed us?!"
"Yeah, yeah. Alright, let's try to see where we are."
"Good morning," a raspy, monotone voice called from the door. Tall, pale and fairly thin, the mutant Caliban wore a formal a dress suit with a black tie. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know you had… company. I will leave you alone. Enjoy yourselves."
"No, wait! It's not what it looks like!" Scott yelled. Caliban stepped back in, followed by a woman in a casual black dress. Callisto's beautiful, slightly curly black hair seemed to bounce as she walked. Scott already hated these two.
"You'll have to excuse my husband Caliban, he's a bit of a comedian. I am Callisto."
"Please to meet you," Pietro said through clenched teeth. "Tell me. Where are we?"
"Our home. More specifically, you're in Ireland."
"We know you have questions," Caliban said. "Breakfast will be served shortly. We will explain everything then. Please, come with us."
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The Sentinel prepared its missile launcher as it approached the fleeing group of mutants. Evan fired several spikes, but none penetrated the Sentinel's hard armor. As it marched forward, four missiles flew out of its right arm, each aimed at a different mutant. Wanda raised her arms and they flew right back at the Sentinel. The four mutants watched as it toppled backwards with fire and smoke flowing out of its chest.
"Well, that was easy," Pyro said. The Sentinel fell with a hard thud, but then there was a second thud, and a third. "What the-?"
"Fuck! FUCK!" Evan and the others turned around and gasped in horror. A second and third Sentinel walked marched towards them.
"It called for backup! This doesn't look good… okay then," Wanda said, "We'll just have to outrun them."
"You sure that's possible?!" Evan yelled. The second Sentinel had already activated its laser turret. Wanda had to concentrate in order to dissolve the laser blasts, but now the others were vulnerable. The third Sentinel took advantage of the situation and opened its machine gun turret. The others scrambled to avoid the bullet fire, but it seemed to be following Pyro more than the others. Tabby and Evan quickly climbed into an apartment building and to the fourth floor and watched from open windows. The Sentinel stopped to reload, and Evan threw a spike right at the Sentinel's eye. Its attention was now directed towards Evan. As it turned towards him, Tabby threw a large bomb into the turret. The explosion hurled them both towards the wall and the Sentinel fell against the building on the other side of the street. The burning turret was disconnected and fell off the Sentinel's arm. It raised the other arm to fire its mutant-chasing missiles.
On the ground, Pyro took control of the fire on the turret and forced it to the Sentinel's leg. Noticing its burning leg, the Sentinel activated a miniature fire extinguisher from its kneecap, but a well-aimed spike caused the pressurized container to explode.
"Are you guys almost done over there?!" Wanda called. "I can't hold this one much longer!"
"Yeah, Wanda, it's cake!" Evan yelled sarcastically. The Sentinel activated another extinguisher from its other kneecap, but it was out of the fire's reach. By now, the fire had already climbed to the Sentinel's thigh. It paused for a moment, and the burning shell coverings fell off. The Sentinel's leg was quite thin for its size, now only the internal structure and basic components.
"Ain't getting off THAT easily, mate!" Pyro simply used the same trick again, and now the Sentinel's leg caught fire… again. "Mind wearing it down for me?"
"No problem!" Evan and Tabby fired spikes and bombs at the fragile leg. In a few short seconds, the leg gave way and the Sentinel fell to the ground.
"That's the end of him," Tabby declared, dusting her hands. The Sentinel shed the second leg and held itself up with its arms, but it couldn't manage to get back up. With most of its weapons concentrated in its arms and its chest facing down, the Sentinel could do little. Pyro jumped onto its back, dancing triumphantly.
"Hey! You guys going to help me or what?" Wanda yelled.
"OH! Right. Forgot all about that!" Evan and Tabby quickly made their way to ground level and followed Pyro to Wanda's aid… however, a silver blur flew into the Sentinel's head and exploded. The headless Sentinel stopped its barrage and fell over. The armor-clad Cannonball climbed out of the wreckage.
"Sam? What are you doing here?"
"Last minute rescue!" Alex yelled. He stood at the door of a helicopter-like aircraft hovering several feet in the air. Gambit sat at the controls with Rahne next to him. "Climb in!"
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General Trask, flanked by six soldiers, arrived at the Indian base at about nightfall. Past secure doors, Trask met with the young man called Arcade in a domed chamber with a large cylindrical machine.
"General Trask, sir."
"Get to work on this disk, Arcade," Trask said. He didn't bother greeting him and handed him the disk. Arcade inserted it into a small laptop computer.
"Yes… these are the plans, sir. Have you ordered any more Sentinels?"
"A few backup units. I was waiting for you to build this before I made any more."
"Okay. It shouldn't take longer than a day to get a prototype up and running… sir, my team is ready to begin."
"I expected they'd be. I've brought a Sentinel head with me for you to experiment on. Now, this little upgrade will do what, exactly?"
Arcade wanted to roll his eyes. To him, this was a simple device, but he had to remember that few non-mutants were smart enough to understand such complex ideas.
"It analyzes a mutant's genetic code and creates a magnetic field to counter the effects the mutation may have on the mutant's mind. Now, when it does this, it will do one of three things, and according to the design, they seem to happen at random. It can either produce a counter-shield that reflects mutant attacks back at them, completely cancel out the mutant's power while it stays a certain distance from the Sentinel, or in some cases, shut down the mutant's brain altogether. The coding is vague, but that seems to apply mainly to mutants with mind-based powers… you know, your telekinetic, pyrokinetics, telepaths, and so forth. With some tweaking, I could probably get it to work on geoshapers and teleporters."
"I see. You have three days, Arcade." Trask walked out of the chamber, followed by his guards. Another soldier approached him with a clipboard.
"General Trask, sir."
"Yes, Captain?"
"We have run the screening on our troops, sir."
"Great. How many mutant spies do we have THIS time?" A regular procedure of the Pure Blood movement was an enforcement of its primary philosophy. Soldiers were tested for the X-Factor gene at random times through blood analysis. This was more important in younger cadets that could possibly develop their mutations while in service, but Trask knew that mutants could be very deceitful. There had been many instances of a shape-shifting mutant posing as a soldier to gain information, or whatever it was they were after, Trask didn't particularly care. All he cared about was weeding out the mutants and executing them.
"Actually, only one. Private Doug McGregor."
"McGregor? No, he's a good kid. Couldn't be a mutant. Too well-mannered."
"That's how they all start, sir."
"Well you can't pick your enemies, can you? See to it that the boy is executed."
"You'll do no such thing," a soldier behind Trask snarled. He turned around to see who had made such a comment, but the moment he turned to face him, the soldier grabbed him by the neck and pulled him off the ground. Trask could feel the man's nails digging into his skin… nails? No, these had to be claws.
"So it looks like we missed one, Captain, good job." The other soldiers aimed their rifles at the larger soldier holding Trask up. "You fools, he's a mutant! How do you know he won't catch your bullets and fire them back at you? Stand down. So what can I do for you, mutie?"
The large soldier removed his helmet and revealed his short but wild brownish-blonde hair. He had no facial hair, but when he spoke, his sharp teeth were a dead giveaway of his true nature.
"I prefer to be called by a proper name," the man growled. "Sabretooth is a name I've grown fond of. Now it's time you and I had a nice little chat."
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Mystique held baby Kevin while Forge held a metal cylinder over him, connected by a wire into a portable machine in Forge's other hand.
"He's enhanced, alright. The machine's not picking up on what his powers could be."
"Does your device detect more… subtle mutations? Extra hair, perhaps? Increased intelligence? Misshapen liver?"
"This thing picked up on my sixth toe."
"Your…"
"Kidding. I invented this thing this morning. I don't even have toes anymore."
"Right…" Mystique couldn't see what was funny about that. "There must be something important about him."
"Well, there's certainly something special about him." Forge moved closer to baby Kevin and made funny faces which caused a high-pitched giggle. "It must be great to have children."
"It's rough, but worthwhile."
"I'll never know what it's like."
"Oh? Keep looking, Forge. You're not an ugly man. I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a wife."
"It's not that. I'm sterile. It's one of my mutations."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."
"I knew this before I had any ambitions of having kids, or even finding a woman. I guess that's helped me deal with it… if you don't mind my asking, who is Kurt and Marie's father?"
"Oh." Mystique seemed a little uncomfortable.
"If you don't want to, you-"
"No, it's fine. He was just a man I met a few years back. He was a government agent of sorts, and well, I was still hiding the fact that I was a mutant. We never married, and he left when I showed him what I was, shortly after Rogue was born. As fate would have it, he was one of the first to be killed by the Horsemen."
"I'm so sorry, Mystique."
"These things just happen." Mystique gave baby Kevin his bottle. "We move on. "
"You're a good mother, Mystique. Has anyone told you that?"
"Only my children," Mystique laughed. "They do have their problems, but I like to think that I raised them right. Now that you're done scanning the baby like King Magnus ordered, maybe you can get to work fixing that detection system."
"Actually, it's taken care of." Forge pressed a button on his mechanical arm. A small text message appeared on a tiny screen. "I increased its range, but it just takes a while to get going. It's already past Australia, but it hasn't picked up any of ours."
"Oh. Well… thank you, Forge." Mystique paused for a moment. "For the machine and… for talking."
"Hey, we have to stick together." Forge checked the screen once more. "Wha… there's four signatures heading this way… it's Alex and Wanda!"
"What about Scott? Shouldn't he have been with Wanda?"
"None of the others are with them, but they've got three of our old students with them, and three others. I'm surprised it didn't pick them up earlier. It must have glitches briefly. I'll have to check that."
"I'm busy with Kevin. Go tell Magnus, will you?"
"Right." Forge left the lab and headed down the hall to Magneto's room. His metal hand knocking on the metal door produced an unnatural sound that Forge told himself he would never get use to.
"Enter."
"Magnus, we've picked up Wanda and Alex's signatures. They're heading this way with Remy, Rahne and Sam."
"I hope Wanda is unharmed. Let's greet them, then." A few minutes later, Magneto and Forge stood at the entrance to the Institute, which was just a circular metal opening in the ground, surrounded by concrete and abandoned buildings. The helicopter had landed, and the passengers stepped out.
"Father!" Wanda rushed to Magneto and jumped on him with her arms around his neck. Ordinarily, she would not show such outward emotion towards her father, but after what she'd gone through, she was too glad to be home to care.
"Wanda, where have you been? I've been worried."
"It's a long story… anyway, this is Pyro, Tabby and Evan. They helped me out this last week."
"Your dad is Magneto?!"
"Yes, didn't I tell you?"
"Pyro and I have met before," Magneto explained, then turned to Alex. "Havok, I am glad to see you safe, but where are the others?"
"Apocalypse has them… they're in Germany. We'll have to go back for them."
"We will. Forge, prepare the Blackbird."
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Beast turned away from the small view screen on the console in front of him to watch, along with Apocalypse and Mastermind, as the other X-Men along with Rogue and Toad were brought in by Wolverine. They all wore nullification collars and as a precaution, handcuffs and shackles. The room was the same lab that they had all been in before, except that now the advancer tubes were behind a black curtain.
"So good to see you," Mastermind said to the group. "Today, you will witness an important chapter in the history of the reign of En Sabah Nur, Apocalypse. For today, Kurt Darkholme takes his first step into the future. Today, Kurt Darkholme will join our ranks, toda-"
"Enough," Apocalypse said. "Begin." The curtain was raised. Kurt was bound inside one of the advancer tubes, metal handcuffs holding his hands behind him and a metal collar holding him via a chain attached to the floor of the tube. Beast activated the machine.
"GET HIM OUT!" Rogue screamed. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO HIM!"
"You son of a bitch!" Toad yelled at Mastermind. "Let my brother out of there, NOW!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, son. This is not under my control. I am but a servant," Mastermind told him in mock-sorrow.
"You're a monster!"
"If it's a monster you want…" Mastermind motioned towards Kurt. Wolverine crossed his arms as the machine powered up. Kurt screamed for his life and pounded at the glass. In moments, he was engulfed in a red light so bright that he disappeared in it. The others could only stand by and listen to his screams. Soon the screams became low as his voiced was suddenly changed.
"Unlike Magneto's enhancer," Beast explained, "This machine doesn't just bring out the full potential of a mutant. It takes it much further. Ah, the process is complete. See for yourself the power of Cyttorak." The red light disappeared. Kurt Darkholme was no longer inside the tube.
"Kurt…" Toad whispered. "No… NO!"
Apocalypsed smiled wickedly.
Ah, more mysteries! Who are Caliban and Callisto, and how did they save Scott and Pietro? What's on Colossus's mind? What does Sabretooth want with Trask? What happened to Kurt? Mwahaha!
Chapter Six - Night of the Sentinels
"What do you think, Evan? Think I should get a hook?" Pyro asked. He walked with his friends through the streets, holding up his arm. They had treated him in a hospital, which, like everything else, was abandoned. It was fortunate that Wanda had some experience in medicine.
"No way, get a little flamethrower."
"Alright, a little flamethrower! You know, in all seriousness, I think I might do that… if I can find a little flamethrower." Suddenly, a cloud of fire appeared. Surprised, they all dropped to the floor.
"Speak of the devil, huh?"
"No need to fear, mates!" Facing them were Magma, Colossus and Berzerker. "Ain't seen these guys before, though."
"I have…" Wanda said. "Pyro, you take Magma."
"Which one's Magma?"
"Oh, right. The girl is Magma. The big metal guy is Colossus. The other guy is Berzerker. Tabby, you take him. Evan and I will fight Colossus."
"Not a problem!" Before they could begin, a giant foot stepped between them, a giant metal foot.
"Holy… what is that?!" The Sentinel looked down at them, yellow eyes glowing on a black face void of any other features. It looked down at them carefully.
"It's a Sentinel! Run!" Wanda screamed. Both sides fled in opposite directions, and the Sentinel was unsure which team to follow. Having analyzed both teams, it decided to go for the strongest first. It specifically followed Colossus and loaded its arm-mounted cannon.
"Beast! We have a Sentinel!" Colossus yelled in a thick Russian accent. A earplug-like device served as a radio between Beast and his troops.
"Yes, Colossus, that was the plan…"
"No! You do not understand! It is after us!"
"What? Colossus, you worthless cretin! I told you to activate those cloaking devices!"
"We did! They are not working!"
"What? Then… then something new has been added… abort the mission! Return to base!"
"The Sentinel is blocking our way back to the ship!"
"Alright then… it's a stretch, but try to get to the base there, the one Scarlet Witch and Mystique's boy escaped from…"
"Yes, Beast! Come! We are to go to the base!" As the Sentinel followed Colossus and the others, Wanda, Pyro, Tabby and Evan ducked into an alley.
"Okay, what is that thing and why is it after us?" Tabby screamed.
"It's a Sentinel, it hunts mutants. It probably belongs to Trask. My father told me he built the first prototype."
"We could've taken it." Pyro said.
"No, we couldn't. That thing is armed to the teeth." They heard an explosion in the distance. "If only the others were here…"
"Hey, since it's going after those other guys, maybe we should make a run for it," Evan suggested. They all agreed and ran.
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Colossus, Magma and Berzerker had reached the Mexican base hidden in a cave just outside the city. In the distance, the Sentinel continued walking towards them, deciding not to use its jet boosters for some reason.
Once inside the base, they activated the communications console in the lab where Scott and Wanda had broken out of. Moments later, Beast appeared on the large screen. Behind him, Apocalypse watched something off-screen with Mastermind.
"Wha-? Oh, Colossus. I see you made it back."
"Yes, Beast. We have evaded the Sentinel."
"Alright. Stay there. The base is cloaked. The Sentinel will go after the nearest mutants, so once he's decided to go after Scarlet Witch, you can make your escape. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now, I have other matters to tend to." Beast disappeared. Colossus withdrew his metal coating and sat down on the floor. Magma and Berzerker sat down with him, but they all remained silent. There was nothing they had to say to each other. Colossus sighed, and closed his eyes.
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Scott awoke in a large, comfortable bed. His glasses were already on him, but this was a given. He sat up and looked around his room. Large windows close to the ceiling let the morning light into the room. There was a metal door opposite the bed.
"About fucking time something good happens to me." There was a knock on the door. "Come in."
"Scott, where the hell are we?" Pietro asked.
"Well good morning to you too, ass. I don't know and I don't care."
"No, really. All the other doors are locked and I'm too short to see through the windows."
"Does it matter?"
"Have you forgotten that that guy with the metal wings gassed us?!"
"Yeah, yeah. Alright, let's try to see where we are."
"Good morning," a raspy, monotone voice called from the door. Tall, pale and fairly thin, the mutant Caliban wore a formal a dress suit with a black tie. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know you had… company. I will leave you alone. Enjoy yourselves."
"No, wait! It's not what it looks like!" Scott yelled. Caliban stepped back in, followed by a woman in a casual black dress. Callisto's beautiful, slightly curly black hair seemed to bounce as she walked. Scott already hated these two.
"You'll have to excuse my husband Caliban, he's a bit of a comedian. I am Callisto."
"Please to meet you," Pietro said through clenched teeth. "Tell me. Where are we?"
"Our home. More specifically, you're in Ireland."
"We know you have questions," Caliban said. "Breakfast will be served shortly. We will explain everything then. Please, come with us."
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The Sentinel prepared its missile launcher as it approached the fleeing group of mutants. Evan fired several spikes, but none penetrated the Sentinel's hard armor. As it marched forward, four missiles flew out of its right arm, each aimed at a different mutant. Wanda raised her arms and they flew right back at the Sentinel. The four mutants watched as it toppled backwards with fire and smoke flowing out of its chest.
"Well, that was easy," Pyro said. The Sentinel fell with a hard thud, but then there was a second thud, and a third. "What the-?"
"Fuck! FUCK!" Evan and the others turned around and gasped in horror. A second and third Sentinel walked marched towards them.
"It called for backup! This doesn't look good… okay then," Wanda said, "We'll just have to outrun them."
"You sure that's possible?!" Evan yelled. The second Sentinel had already activated its laser turret. Wanda had to concentrate in order to dissolve the laser blasts, but now the others were vulnerable. The third Sentinel took advantage of the situation and opened its machine gun turret. The others scrambled to avoid the bullet fire, but it seemed to be following Pyro more than the others. Tabby and Evan quickly climbed into an apartment building and to the fourth floor and watched from open windows. The Sentinel stopped to reload, and Evan threw a spike right at the Sentinel's eye. Its attention was now directed towards Evan. As it turned towards him, Tabby threw a large bomb into the turret. The explosion hurled them both towards the wall and the Sentinel fell against the building on the other side of the street. The burning turret was disconnected and fell off the Sentinel's arm. It raised the other arm to fire its mutant-chasing missiles.
On the ground, Pyro took control of the fire on the turret and forced it to the Sentinel's leg. Noticing its burning leg, the Sentinel activated a miniature fire extinguisher from its kneecap, but a well-aimed spike caused the pressurized container to explode.
"Are you guys almost done over there?!" Wanda called. "I can't hold this one much longer!"
"Yeah, Wanda, it's cake!" Evan yelled sarcastically. The Sentinel activated another extinguisher from its other kneecap, but it was out of the fire's reach. By now, the fire had already climbed to the Sentinel's thigh. It paused for a moment, and the burning shell coverings fell off. The Sentinel's leg was quite thin for its size, now only the internal structure and basic components.
"Ain't getting off THAT easily, mate!" Pyro simply used the same trick again, and now the Sentinel's leg caught fire… again. "Mind wearing it down for me?"
"No problem!" Evan and Tabby fired spikes and bombs at the fragile leg. In a few short seconds, the leg gave way and the Sentinel fell to the ground.
"That's the end of him," Tabby declared, dusting her hands. The Sentinel shed the second leg and held itself up with its arms, but it couldn't manage to get back up. With most of its weapons concentrated in its arms and its chest facing down, the Sentinel could do little. Pyro jumped onto its back, dancing triumphantly.
"Hey! You guys going to help me or what?" Wanda yelled.
"OH! Right. Forgot all about that!" Evan and Tabby quickly made their way to ground level and followed Pyro to Wanda's aid… however, a silver blur flew into the Sentinel's head and exploded. The headless Sentinel stopped its barrage and fell over. The armor-clad Cannonball climbed out of the wreckage.
"Sam? What are you doing here?"
"Last minute rescue!" Alex yelled. He stood at the door of a helicopter-like aircraft hovering several feet in the air. Gambit sat at the controls with Rahne next to him. "Climb in!"
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General Trask, flanked by six soldiers, arrived at the Indian base at about nightfall. Past secure doors, Trask met with the young man called Arcade in a domed chamber with a large cylindrical machine.
"General Trask, sir."
"Get to work on this disk, Arcade," Trask said. He didn't bother greeting him and handed him the disk. Arcade inserted it into a small laptop computer.
"Yes… these are the plans, sir. Have you ordered any more Sentinels?"
"A few backup units. I was waiting for you to build this before I made any more."
"Okay. It shouldn't take longer than a day to get a prototype up and running… sir, my team is ready to begin."
"I expected they'd be. I've brought a Sentinel head with me for you to experiment on. Now, this little upgrade will do what, exactly?"
Arcade wanted to roll his eyes. To him, this was a simple device, but he had to remember that few non-mutants were smart enough to understand such complex ideas.
"It analyzes a mutant's genetic code and creates a magnetic field to counter the effects the mutation may have on the mutant's mind. Now, when it does this, it will do one of three things, and according to the design, they seem to happen at random. It can either produce a counter-shield that reflects mutant attacks back at them, completely cancel out the mutant's power while it stays a certain distance from the Sentinel, or in some cases, shut down the mutant's brain altogether. The coding is vague, but that seems to apply mainly to mutants with mind-based powers… you know, your telekinetic, pyrokinetics, telepaths, and so forth. With some tweaking, I could probably get it to work on geoshapers and teleporters."
"I see. You have three days, Arcade." Trask walked out of the chamber, followed by his guards. Another soldier approached him with a clipboard.
"General Trask, sir."
"Yes, Captain?"
"We have run the screening on our troops, sir."
"Great. How many mutant spies do we have THIS time?" A regular procedure of the Pure Blood movement was an enforcement of its primary philosophy. Soldiers were tested for the X-Factor gene at random times through blood analysis. This was more important in younger cadets that could possibly develop their mutations while in service, but Trask knew that mutants could be very deceitful. There had been many instances of a shape-shifting mutant posing as a soldier to gain information, or whatever it was they were after, Trask didn't particularly care. All he cared about was weeding out the mutants and executing them.
"Actually, only one. Private Doug McGregor."
"McGregor? No, he's a good kid. Couldn't be a mutant. Too well-mannered."
"That's how they all start, sir."
"Well you can't pick your enemies, can you? See to it that the boy is executed."
"You'll do no such thing," a soldier behind Trask snarled. He turned around to see who had made such a comment, but the moment he turned to face him, the soldier grabbed him by the neck and pulled him off the ground. Trask could feel the man's nails digging into his skin… nails? No, these had to be claws.
"So it looks like we missed one, Captain, good job." The other soldiers aimed their rifles at the larger soldier holding Trask up. "You fools, he's a mutant! How do you know he won't catch your bullets and fire them back at you? Stand down. So what can I do for you, mutie?"
The large soldier removed his helmet and revealed his short but wild brownish-blonde hair. He had no facial hair, but when he spoke, his sharp teeth were a dead giveaway of his true nature.
"I prefer to be called by a proper name," the man growled. "Sabretooth is a name I've grown fond of. Now it's time you and I had a nice little chat."
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Mystique held baby Kevin while Forge held a metal cylinder over him, connected by a wire into a portable machine in Forge's other hand.
"He's enhanced, alright. The machine's not picking up on what his powers could be."
"Does your device detect more… subtle mutations? Extra hair, perhaps? Increased intelligence? Misshapen liver?"
"This thing picked up on my sixth toe."
"Your…"
"Kidding. I invented this thing this morning. I don't even have toes anymore."
"Right…" Mystique couldn't see what was funny about that. "There must be something important about him."
"Well, there's certainly something special about him." Forge moved closer to baby Kevin and made funny faces which caused a high-pitched giggle. "It must be great to have children."
"It's rough, but worthwhile."
"I'll never know what it's like."
"Oh? Keep looking, Forge. You're not an ugly man. I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a wife."
"It's not that. I'm sterile. It's one of my mutations."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."
"I knew this before I had any ambitions of having kids, or even finding a woman. I guess that's helped me deal with it… if you don't mind my asking, who is Kurt and Marie's father?"
"Oh." Mystique seemed a little uncomfortable.
"If you don't want to, you-"
"No, it's fine. He was just a man I met a few years back. He was a government agent of sorts, and well, I was still hiding the fact that I was a mutant. We never married, and he left when I showed him what I was, shortly after Rogue was born. As fate would have it, he was one of the first to be killed by the Horsemen."
"I'm so sorry, Mystique."
"These things just happen." Mystique gave baby Kevin his bottle. "We move on. "
"You're a good mother, Mystique. Has anyone told you that?"
"Only my children," Mystique laughed. "They do have their problems, but I like to think that I raised them right. Now that you're done scanning the baby like King Magnus ordered, maybe you can get to work fixing that detection system."
"Actually, it's taken care of." Forge pressed a button on his mechanical arm. A small text message appeared on a tiny screen. "I increased its range, but it just takes a while to get going. It's already past Australia, but it hasn't picked up any of ours."
"Oh. Well… thank you, Forge." Mystique paused for a moment. "For the machine and… for talking."
"Hey, we have to stick together." Forge checked the screen once more. "Wha… there's four signatures heading this way… it's Alex and Wanda!"
"What about Scott? Shouldn't he have been with Wanda?"
"None of the others are with them, but they've got three of our old students with them, and three others. I'm surprised it didn't pick them up earlier. It must have glitches briefly. I'll have to check that."
"I'm busy with Kevin. Go tell Magnus, will you?"
"Right." Forge left the lab and headed down the hall to Magneto's room. His metal hand knocking on the metal door produced an unnatural sound that Forge told himself he would never get use to.
"Enter."
"Magnus, we've picked up Wanda and Alex's signatures. They're heading this way with Remy, Rahne and Sam."
"I hope Wanda is unharmed. Let's greet them, then." A few minutes later, Magneto and Forge stood at the entrance to the Institute, which was just a circular metal opening in the ground, surrounded by concrete and abandoned buildings. The helicopter had landed, and the passengers stepped out.
"Father!" Wanda rushed to Magneto and jumped on him with her arms around his neck. Ordinarily, she would not show such outward emotion towards her father, but after what she'd gone through, she was too glad to be home to care.
"Wanda, where have you been? I've been worried."
"It's a long story… anyway, this is Pyro, Tabby and Evan. They helped me out this last week."
"Your dad is Magneto?!"
"Yes, didn't I tell you?"
"Pyro and I have met before," Magneto explained, then turned to Alex. "Havok, I am glad to see you safe, but where are the others?"
"Apocalypse has them… they're in Germany. We'll have to go back for them."
"We will. Forge, prepare the Blackbird."
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Beast turned away from the small view screen on the console in front of him to watch, along with Apocalypse and Mastermind, as the other X-Men along with Rogue and Toad were brought in by Wolverine. They all wore nullification collars and as a precaution, handcuffs and shackles. The room was the same lab that they had all been in before, except that now the advancer tubes were behind a black curtain.
"So good to see you," Mastermind said to the group. "Today, you will witness an important chapter in the history of the reign of En Sabah Nur, Apocalypse. For today, Kurt Darkholme takes his first step into the future. Today, Kurt Darkholme will join our ranks, toda-"
"Enough," Apocalypse said. "Begin." The curtain was raised. Kurt was bound inside one of the advancer tubes, metal handcuffs holding his hands behind him and a metal collar holding him via a chain attached to the floor of the tube. Beast activated the machine.
"GET HIM OUT!" Rogue screamed. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO HIM!"
"You son of a bitch!" Toad yelled at Mastermind. "Let my brother out of there, NOW!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, son. This is not under my control. I am but a servant," Mastermind told him in mock-sorrow.
"You're a monster!"
"If it's a monster you want…" Mastermind motioned towards Kurt. Wolverine crossed his arms as the machine powered up. Kurt screamed for his life and pounded at the glass. In moments, he was engulfed in a red light so bright that he disappeared in it. The others could only stand by and listen to his screams. Soon the screams became low as his voiced was suddenly changed.
"Unlike Magneto's enhancer," Beast explained, "This machine doesn't just bring out the full potential of a mutant. It takes it much further. Ah, the process is complete. See for yourself the power of Cyttorak." The red light disappeared. Kurt Darkholme was no longer inside the tube.
"Kurt…" Toad whispered. "No… NO!"
Apocalypsed smiled wickedly.
Ah, more mysteries! Who are Caliban and Callisto, and how did they save Scott and Pietro? What's on Colossus's mind? What does Sabretooth want with Trask? What happened to Kurt? Mwahaha!