Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the final chapter... that comes next time. So what happens this time? Well, everything changes here. What is Kevin's purpose, and likewise, what does he have to do with Private McGregor? Also, there'll be some... "roster shuffling" now. Some of you will hate me when this chapter is over... in fact, most of you will hate me. Hell, some of you may not even stick around for the last chapter out of disgust for what happens to some of the characters here... oh wait, have I given too much away? Damn. Well, have fun reading, YOU LEMMING... I mean, ADORING FANS, YOU. Just so you don't get confused, there will be flashbacks to the "original" timeline throughout the chapter (or in some cases, flash-forwards... or whatever), so if you see characters suddenly go back to the original Evolution versions, you'll know what's going on. Be warned, though; this chapter is the longest one yet, and the next chapter probably won't be this long. Oh, and excuse the grammar.
Chapter Eleven - Takla Sharwa
...Once the vessel had made its trip through time and space, to the top of Makalu Peak in the Himalayan mountains on the border of Nepal and Tibet, Professor Charles Xavier used his connection through the cerebral interface to open it. They had finally arrived at the tomb of Apocalypse.
Professor Xavier was not alone. He had set out to explore the Sphinx in Giza with his former friend and current enemy, Magneto, and both had brought along their best fighters: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Iceman from the X-Men, and Colossus, Pyro and Quicksilver from Magneto's Acolytes.
The strange vessel, which Professor Xavier had learned originated from an undetermined point several centuries beyond their current point in time, had led them right to the tomb of Apocalypse, hidden at the top of the highest mountains of the world and sealed behind three doors. Months prior, a green-tattooed agent of Apocalypse named Mesmero had taken control of Jean Grey and several of Professor Xavier's students, and acquired a set of rings, which formed a key to the first door.
Only weeks prior, Mesmero had tricked Magneto into destroyed the spider guardian, an event which led to the opening of the second door. Now, Professor Xavier and Magneto looked at the tomb. A battle had taken place there, and Magneto's minions, Gambit and Sabretooth, were recovering from it.
"What happened?" Magneto asked.
"We were going for Rogue," Gambit explained. "But Mesmero blocked the way." This time, Mesmero had taken control of Rogue, who along with Mystique was to be used as the final key. Magneto looked at the open doorway.
"He has opened the third door," Magneto said with a clear tone of defeat.
"Even so," Professor Xavier told him. "We must stop Apocalypse from crossing through the door, at all costs... I sense him. He is coming this way!"
En Sabah Nur, dressed in the ancient costume of a pharaoh and glowing white with unnatural energy, hovered towards them. Immediately, the two teams were prepared to stop him. En Sabah Nur glanced at them, raised his hands, and brought them together with a thunderous clap.
That was the end of the battle. A brilliant white energy swept through the chamber, throwing aside all of En Sabah Nur's enemies, no matter how strong or heavy they were. They had never experienced power like this before, and none stood in Apocalypse's way. Professor Xavier, thrown out of his motorized wheelchair, began to issue commands, but it was futile. Only one of the assembled mutants had enough strength left to stand, and as En Sabah Nur floated towards Rama-Tut's vessel, Magneto raised his hand in a vain effort to draw him out with his control of magnetic fields.
En Sabah Nur felt Magneto's pull. He paused for a moment, looked down at his weak attacker, and released another wave of energy, making sure that all who opposed him were punished for their foolishness. Unable to stand against Apocalypse's power, Magneto fell back, unable to stand again. Apocalypse turned back to the vessel and sealed himself inside. Within moments, he was gone.
"We... failed," Magneto said with pain, both physical and mental, in his voice.
"Yes... our greatest battle is just beginning." After taking a few moments to recover, Magneto helped Professor Xavier back into his chair, and the others all slowly got back up. "It seems Apocalypse has left Mesmero behind." Mesmero sat up against the wall next to the doorway to the tomb. He groaned and blinked a few times before attempting to stand. As he did, a large metal hand took hold of his throat and lifted him into the air.
"Your master has abandoned you," Magneto said, standing next to Colossus. "You will tell us everything."
"You fools," Mesmero laughed. "Everything has gone as planned... whatever I tell you... is irrelevant."
"Very well. Crush him."
"Magnus, wait," Professor Xavier interjected. "It's clear that he won't tell us anything willingly. You said before that you had someone see into his mind?"
"Yes, be it yielded only enough information to keep us from finding the truth," Magneto revealed, referring back to the spider guardian fiasco.
"Then perhaps a stronger mind can get what we need..." Professor Xavier pressed his hand against Mesmero's face and concentrated.
"Argh... eeegh... you will... learn... nothing... AAAIGH!" Professor Xavier drew his hand away and stopped to rest his mind.
"What did you find?" Magneto asked impatiently.
"...I know where he is going."
"That's a start."
"Yes, but we are still no match for Apocalypse. We'll have to wait until the time is right..."
"We have no time, Charles!" Magneto yelled.
"Magnus, please, if we rush-"
"The longer we wait, the stronger Apocalypse becomes. We're going." Magneto summoned six metal spheres outside of the tomb's entrance, and his minions climbed inside. Before they were sealed, his son, Quicksilver, stopped to ask him a question.
"Do you really think we're strong enough to take on Apocalypse?"
"No," Magneto said with all honesty. "We will find more recruits before we battle him again, but time is against us. If need be, we will join forces with the X-Men once more. Pietro, accelerate your training. Your own team my be useful to me."
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"First thing's first," Scott said to Pietro and Pyro at the base of Mastermind's tower. "We have to find a way in."
"Everyone's too busy fighting, they ain't gonna notice," Toad said. He and Jean were also present, preparing to climb the tower to Mastermind himself. "Listen, we gotta take care of this."
"I understand. Stay cool, bro."
"See you on the other side!" Jean wrapped her arms around Toad's neck and he hopped upwards a good fifteen feet. He grabbed hold of the gaps between the stone slabs that composed the tower, waited a few seconds to prepare himself, and jumped up another ten feet.
"Callisto said one of the armies came out from under the tower, right?" Pyro asked. "We gotta look there, then!"
"No, they'll see us," Pietro said.
"So?! They're gonna see us anyway!" Scott yelled. He looked at the base of the tower, but saw only sand. He started brushing it aside, but he couldn't find anything. "Pietro, make yourself useful and kick up some of this sand."
"Yes, fearless leader," Pietro said with a sneer. He ran around the base of the tower, throwing around enough sand to reveal a metal floor. Scott looked down at it and fired his eye-beams, creating only a small dent. "Nice work. Why don't we try ramming our heads into it while we're at it?"
"Pietro, I am THIS close to ditching this fucking mission and blowing that pencil-neck of yours right off!"
"Who are you calling pencil-neck, greaser?!"
"We're in."
"Greaser?! Come here you whiny little-"
"I said we're in!" Pyro yelled. Scott and Pietro looked down to see that a hole had been burned through the floor, with the liquefied metal starting to cool into place. "I think that makes me the leader here, don't you agree?" Scott and Pietro exchanged glances, then scowled at him. "Or not... I'm not the leader, so it's not my place to decide who the leader should be..."
The human troops fell back as the mutants advanced. They aimed for the gaps between the armor, but in their panic, their aim had been thrown off. On her mount, Storm waved her white torch and Magma motioned for all troops to charge forward.
"Ain't gonna happen!" Cain appeared between the humans and the White Army, wearing a black chestplate with a black, dome-shaped helmet attached, and threw a single arbitrary punch into the mass of the mutant army. Several mutants fell back from the force of the blow, some of which didn't get back up. Storm waved her torch again.
"Ignore the humans," Magma commanded. "Stop him!"
"Stupid idea, girly," Cain laughed. Some of the humans, recognizing Cain as a mutant, began to fire at him, but their weapons had no effect on him. The others concentrated on the same mutants Cain was attacking. Magma herself fired a continuous stream of fire at Cain but it did nothing more than tickle him. She intensified the fire hoping that it would overwhelm him, but all it did was exhaust her energy. She stopped to take a breathe, still glowing white-hot in her powered form. The mutants around her rushed to the aid of their commander and launched all sorts of mutant attacks on Cain; fireballs, electric discharge, one even fired a spray of poisoned needles. Cain tossed them aside with a powerful thrust of his arm, then pounded his fist into the Egyptian sand as hard as he could. The resulting sand cloud flew up and blinded everyone, including Cain himself... everyone except Magma. With her fiery form still activated, the sand that reached her melted instantly into liquid glass and bonded to her skin instantly. She was immune to the heat of her own power, but not to that of outside forces. She turned off her flame and fell screaming to the ground as the glass cooled and hardened right onto her. Some of her troops rushed to her aid, but one attacked Cain in anger, a mutant armed not with a rough sword or an axe, but a katana, the sword of the legendary samurai.
Cain blocked the Samurai's sword blow, but he felt such strength within it that he almost staggered back. The Samurai had the ability to focus intense strength into his sword, a strength almost equal to Cain. The Samurai was almost too fast for Cain to block, but at the very least, Cain was kept busy.
"Well what are you looking at?!" Cain yelled. Sabretooth had just been sitting on the ground the entire time. He shrugged and jumped into the crowd, slashing away at the mutant soldiers. Cain blocked another slash from the Samurai, then grabbed the blade with both hands and snapped it in half. Startled, the Samurai began to retreat, but Cain grabbed his arm and flung him into the air. He landed somewhere among his army, taking a few others down with him. "Creed, you're too slow!" Cain charged into the army, crushing mutants with his fists and his feet. "Where's War?"
"Behind you!" Sabretooth yelled. Cain turned around to find Storm, off her horse, floating in the air right behind him. He staggered back as she grabbed his domed helmet and charged it with electric energy. It wasn't anything Cain couldn't handle, but he knew that Storm was stronger than that. Reflexively, he threw his fist at her, but she flew back in the blink of an eye, still firing electric energy into the helmet from several feet back.
"Sabretooth!"
"I'm busy!" Sabretooth growled as he slashed the face of a green mutant with a red monocle. "You're a big boy, you can take care of yourself!"
"Sabretooth, get over here!"
"Alright, you big baby!" Sabretooth kicked off a red-eyed mutant and tackled Storm to the ground. Cain shook his head and stretched.
Havok waved his blue torch upward as an XT Sentinel marched forward. Immediately, Colossus grabbed its foot and lifted it. More mutants jumped onto it, launching energy attacks into it. The XT Sentinel's eyes brightened and it activated its anti-mutant field. The lesser mutants fell off, but Colossus continued holding the XT Sentinel up by one foot. With his power slowly diminishing, he found it more and more difficult to hold it.
Havok stopped and fired a bright red beam at the XT Sentinel's head. With the resulting explosion, Colossus's strength return, and he toppled the dead machine onto the human soldiers behind it. Colossus jumped onto the wreckage and ran forward to attack the human soldiers. Their bullets ricocheted off his thick skin that appeared to turn into metal whenever light was flashed onto it. He slammed his powerful fist into the head of an enemy commander, splattering thick red blood over him and the other humans. Frightened, the humans began to fall back and let their Sentinels fight for them. Three regular Sentinels marched towards the pyramid at Colossus's left. He looked behind him to see Havok waving his blue torch towards them. Colossus led the Blue Army to the Sentinels. Before they had even arrived, one of them began firing down on a trio of mutants who wore no armor. Colossus recognized one of them as being the previous incarnation of Famine, Lance Alvers.
"What do we do about the Sentinels?" Freddy asked.
"We'll have to fight them," Lance answered.
"Maybe they'll go after the others instead."
"Yeah, that might work. We'll just have to wait and see." The Sentinels saw the Blue Army rushing towards them and turned their attention towards them. A green beam cut through the ranks like a burning knife, but still the mutants rushed forward. A sharp-toothed mutant was hurled at the Sentinel's head by a larger, green-haired mutant, and producing two long blades from his forearms, sliced into the Sentinel's head and deactivated it. It toppled over onto the second one, which pushed its demolished counterpart aside and destroyed the sharp-toothed mutant with a hail of gunfire. The other remaining Sentinel launched a volley of missiles into the gathering army, crushing more mutants and depleting the total numbers.
"The Sentinels will surely kill us all," Colossus said to Lance.
"What are you suggesting?"
"If we are to continue our battle, we must first deal with our common enemy."
"Right." Lance created a powerful tremor that knocked one of the Sentinels on its back, but the second avoided it and took to the sky while several of Colossus's men jumped onto the downed Sentinel to make sure it didn't stand back up. It was Kate who finished it off by phasing through the Sentinel's head and disrupting its circuitry, and she smiled when Lance gave her a thumbs up. Following Havok's signal, Colossus motioned to one of the others and pointed up at the Sentinel. The young mutant held her fists together and charged a sphere of purple energy. On Colossus's command, she released it and shot it at the airborne Sentinel, destroying the central motors in its torso. Colossus motioned again, and several mutants cleared the way for the Sentinel's wreckage to land without hurting anyone. "With that settled..."
"Wait," Colossus said. "We are on the same side."
"What?" Freddy said. "What do you mean?"
"It will take some time to explain, and that is time we do not have."
"What about Alex?" Kate asked. "Is he with you?"
"Famine is loyal to Apocalypse." Kate sighed, and looked down. Lance wanted to comfort her, but knew there was no time for that. "If you are with Callisto, then I know your objective. By taking human lives I have convinced both sides of my allegiance, and the human army will deal with them. I will help you."
"You'll need all the help you can get," Havok said, standing behind Colossus. He jumped off his horse and fired a wide beam that threw Colossus, Lance, and Kate back... but Freddy held his ground.
"C'mon, Alex, I know your strengths and weaknesses," Freddy yelled, resisting Havok's power. "You know you can't move me that easily."
Havok said nothing in reply, not even intensifying his beam as Freddy marched forward. In his distraction, Havok failed to notice Colossus sneaking up behind him.
Wanda did not have the luxury of a horse as the others had; an XT Sentinel had already knocked her off her mount and attacked her mercilessly. Even with its anti-mutant field activated, Wanda was capable of at least causing its projectile attacks to miss, even if by only a slight margin. Though a few mutants attempted to come to her aid, Wolverine took advantage of the situation and began issuing his own commands, completely ignoring his leader. With claws extended, he hacked through the human army, intending to go after Trask himself. He didn't care how gruesome his methods were. He didn't even care if his victims were completely dead, leaving several to suffer slowly and wait for their deaths. Wolverine slice off the barrel of a human soldier's rifle and thrust his other set of claws into the man's face and tossed him aside. Any human that fired quickly learned how effective his healing factor had become. He had been shot in the face four times since the beginning of the battle, and yet, he appeared to have no injuries of any kind, save some blood that had initially leaked out before the bullet was ejected and the wound sealed. The humans learned quickly and kept their distance from him. So Pestilence had been right all along.
He stopped for a moment and ordered his troops to move forward without him. He smelled something... many things, actually... that hadn't been there before... he smelled the X-Men. There were a few others he smelled, but couldn't recognize... and one he knew all too well.
"Where are you, Sabretooth," Wolverine whispered to himself. He moved towards the source of the scent, ignoring the army he had taken command of.
Wanda pushed forward with all of her strength and the anti-mutant field vanished. She wiggled her fingers, and the XT Sentinel shut down entirely. Quickly, she got back on her horse and lifted the red torch up. She rode forward to find Wolverine, but seeing him abandoning his own men, she rode ahead to try to choose another commander. She realized then that it was no use, as only Wolverine had been drilled on her command signals. Apocalypse's plan was flawed, Wanda realized.
No, it wasn't. Apocalypse was the master. His plan was flawless.
Wanda shook off her earlier doubt and continued forward. Finding nobody that she knew would be fit to lead the army, she jumped off her horse and decided to take active command herself. What was the point of having her relay signals to someone else?
There had to be a point. Apocalypse would have removed such a detail if it had no point.
Archangel looked down at a regular orange flare waving around in a triangular pattern. He recognized the signal and recognized Caliban holding the torch. With his black torch, he signaled to Sunspot to lead the army forward, towards Trask. Once the army had gone past Callisto and Caliban, ignoring them, Archangel landed to meet them.
"We have the X-Men with us," Callisto explained. "They're going for the other Horsemen."
"Do you have anyone to cover the child?" Archangel asked. Callisto and Caliban nodded. "The humans are putting up a better fight then I had anticipated, thanks to those Sentinels." Colossus made his way past several mutants running into the battle, which had now moved south, away from the pyramid as the humans doubled back, carrying Havok over his shoulder. "Colossus. Is he alive?"
"He is unconscious."
"He will be alright then. We'll need to find Mystique's daughter so that she can absorb the spark, as she did with his predecessor."
"She's gone after Pestilence, with Forge and War's nephew."
"I'll keep up the facade. Find them and take Pestilence down." Archangel slipped his golden skull mask back onto his head and returned to the sky. Sunspot motioned for the mutant troops to march forward, though slowly.
Storm summoned a devastating wind to throw Sabretooth away from her, but Cain resisted. She dispersed the wind and pointed her arms into the sky. Cain pushed aside a wide-eyed mutant before realizing what Storm was doing. He rushed to tackle her before she could strike, but he was not fast enough. A bolt of lightning came down from the sky right into Cain's domed helmet, conducting it right into his head and his entire body twitched and moved uncontrollably as he screamed in pain. A heartbeat later, he fell back, thick black smoke pouring out of the openings in his helmet. Sabretooth tried to tackle her from behind again, but a quick gust of wind threw him back. Storm was fortunate that there was someone else in the vicinity willing to deal with Sabretooth.
"Leave him to me. You got some troops to command," Wolverine growled. Storm nodded, picked up her lance, and led the army forward. Sabretooth stood back up, only to be stabbed in the stomach by the durable claws of Wolverine.
"Logan..."
"Yeah, it's Logan alright. Long time no see, Creed." Sabretooth swiped Wolverine's head, knocking the metal mask off. Wolverine jumped back and began to tear the rest of his armor off. "I don't need no tin suit, bub."
"You always took the easy way out, Logan."
"I always took the smart way out." Wolverine ran forward slashing, but Sabretooth jumped over him and kicked his back. Wolverine spit out some sand and stood back up. "You're just making this harder, Creed. Why don't you do the smart thing and just let me finish you off right now, like Fury did?"
"So you killed him... you killed Rogers, too?"
"If you wanna get technical, Cap committed suicide," Wolverine told him with a malicious grin. "You're the last one, Creed. All your buddies are dead and you've got nothing to live for."
"You're nothing but a tool, Wolverine! You've never been able to think for yourself!" Sabretooth slashed Wolverine's face, only to watch as it healed in the blink of an eye. "What?!"
"Apocalypse's influence!" Wolverine slashed Sabretooth's chest, then his arm, and finally his face. Sabretooth backed away as he waited for the wounds to begin healing, but Wolverine kept trying to land more attacks. Sabretooth grabbed both of his wrists and slammed his head into Wolverine's face.
"AARGH!"
"Care to try that again? My bones are stronger than adamantium now!" Wolverine jumped at him and plunged his claws into Sabretooth's shoulder. He received a swipe to the chest in return, but it healed almost instantly. Sabretooth kept clawing at his chest, but nothing lasted long enough to damage Wolverine. Wolverine grinned, showing his dull gray teeth, and stabbed Sabretooth in the face. Sabretooth struggled against the pain, now unable to see and barely able to breathe. Wolverine retracted his claws and Sabretooth began to heal... but the damage was too great. Wolverine's claws had penetrated into Sabretooth's brain, and his breathe was too difficult to hold up until he was done healing. "Dying's a bitch, ain't it?"
"Wol... Wolverine..."
"Don't waste your breath now, Creed," Wolverine said with a grin. With a final thrust into his face, Wolverine finished Sabretooth. He growled triumphantly and looked back towards the battle... then he smelled something. With the sound of thunder, a snarling beast appeared behind him and pinned him to the ground face-down. Unable to see, he struggled to get up under the beast's weight as it mauled him. Within moments, it disappeared again. Wolverine stopped to let the wounds heal, which took a little longer than usual, before he stood back up. He saw the beast appear again on top of a damaged Sentinel and begin attacking everything it could find, human and mutant.
"Nightcrawler? Who let him out?" Wolverine shrugged, then smelled something else that caught his attention. He turned his attention to one of the towers.
Colonel Matthews looked at a display on a table in the middle of command center showing the human forces being driven back by the mutants. The Sentinels were of little help.
"This isn't working," Matthews told General Trask. "There's still too many of them."
"Have a little faith, Colonel, our men will pull through."
"Why isn't the winged horseman attacking?" Trask looked at the display and noticed that Archangel was just flying around, and the soldiers under his command were moving forward very slowly.
"Peculiar. Bring me a report on this mutant," Trask told a soldier standing nearby. It was in his hands within minutes. "Warren Worthington the third, became an agent of Apocalypse sometime within the last ten years. Hmm... nothing on here indicates that he would wait like this. Any agent of Apocalypse would surely rush into battle."
"He might have something planned."
"Yes, I thought that too. All we can do for now is wait."
Scott stood at the release control for the cage that held Nightcrawler. Rather than attack them when released, Scott's mutated brother simply teleported away.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Pyro yelled.
"You have any idea how dangerous that thing is?!" Pietro added.
"That 'thing' is my brother!" Scott yelled back. "And besides, he'll keep the army up there busy for a little while. Now which way to Apocalypse's control room, or wherever it is he's keeping Kevin?"
"We can in through there," Pietro said, pointing to the doorway at one end of the cell hold that led to a tunnel that connected all twelve towers to the pyramid. "So logically, it'll be that way." Pietro pointed to the only other exit in the room.
"Right. Let's keep going then."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast," Gambit said, entering the room with Cannonball and Rahne. "It's nice that you boys have come to join us, but just what do you plan to accomplish?"
"Out of our way, Gambit," Scott told him. "This doesn't involve you."
"No, but it does involve our boss. Now, we'd like to stay in his favor, so it looks like we're gonna have to fix this little 'intruder' problem!" Gambit smacked Scott right in the chin with his staff, then used it to launch himself forward and kick him to the ground. Cannonball launched himself at Pietro, who quickly dodged. Rahne just stood at the doorway.
"Oh. Guess that's you and me, huh?" Pyro said. He casually aimed his flamethrower at her, then held it back. "Naw, I can't do it. You're just too cute..." Before he could bring his flamethrower forward again, Wolfsbane pounced on him and tried to bite at him, but he managed to block her teeth with his flamethrower.
Scott fired an optic blast at Gambit, who did a backflip, then another to avoid the second blast, then as he avoided a third, he threw a set of charged needles at him. Scott barely managed to dodge them in time as they exploded against the glass wall of Nightcrawler's cell. Cannonball flew past him and he fired another blast at Gambit, hitting him in the arm. Before he could recover, he hit him in the chest.
"So much for that." Scott blasted Wolfsbane off of Pyro, then hit Cannonball in the head right as he came out of another launch. "Alright, I've saved your asses, let's get out of here." Quickly, they left the room.
"I told you this was a bad idea," Cannonball muttered to Gambit.
"Shut your mouth! You wanna be on the wrong side when the big war comes?"
"I don't know if it makes a difference anymore," Rahne said.
"Fine! You two weaklings can stay here and mope all you want. I'm going after them and proving to Apocalypse that I've got what it takes to stand at his side!" Gambit stood up and ran after the others.
"He's nuts," Cannonball said. "Now what do we do?"
"We do what we know is right."
"Which is?"
"You tell me..."
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...By then, Apocalypse had grown considerably in power. It was with great reluctance that Magneto had accepted Professor Xavier's plan to bide their time, and Professor Xavier had accepted Magneto's idea of mass-recruitment. There were flaws in each of their ideas; Xavier had made them wait too long, and Magneto had been unable to train such a large amount of mutants. By the time they were ready to fight, it was already too late, and there weren't nearly enough mutants available to take on the increasingly powerful Apocalypse. Alone, these mistakes would have been disastrous: together, they were fatal. They had long ago cost Magneto his life, and the lives of Xavier's X-Men.
"Takla... Takla..." Professor Xavier called. Takla Sharwa, one of the many new recruits Magneto had found, ran to the fallen Professor's side. Xavier and several newer mutants had tracked Apocalypse to a black, volcanic-rock cavern in Northern Italy. The moment he sensed their presence, Apocalypse manipulated the cavern itself and created a rockslide that caved the cavern in, so to speak. It was too late for Takla's fellow mutants; the seven others who had come with him had perished. Only Professor Xavier, who had been thrown forward by his chair when Apocalypse created the seismic disturbance, had survived, though he wouldn't last much longer. His body had been pinned down by a large chunk of the cavern ceiling, and his breathe grew short and forced.
"Professor... I'll help you out, give me a second..." Takla was still young, having only recently turned seventeen, with short black hair and narrow brown eyes. He was dressed in the common black X-Recruit jumpsuit, as all of his fellow recruits had been. He had rushed to Xavier's side, but he had no delusions about the situation. He knew that his comrades were gone, and that his leader would soon join them... but he didn't want to leave him there, either. He knew Professor Xavier would die, but at the same time, he hoped that he wouldn't.
"...Get out of here, Takla... you're not match... no match for Apocalypse..."
"You'll all have died in vain..."
"If at least one of us... one survives... then our cause... is not lost." Professor Xavier gasped, and his head fell limp. Takla Sharwa muttered a quick prayer, and stood up. Professor Xavier had told him to run, but Takla had absolutely no intention of doing that. He turned around to face the darkness of the cavern, where Apocalypse had gone. Now there was nothing to hold him back.
Apocalypse paused as he sense not only the younger mutant's anger, but his increasing power as well. The deaths of his comrade had awakened a surge of power within him that even Apocalypse had to take notice. A few of his servants milled about the metal chamber at the end of the cavern tunnel, but none could sense what Apocalypse did. He motioned for them to stop what they were doing and prepare themselves.
The moment Takla entered the chamber, Apocalypse's servants began to fall. Takla had gained unnatural strength and tossed even the strongest of followers aside in his rage. His eyes were glowing a bright, pale green, and slowly, his skin began to turn this same shade of green, and when it did, his very touch burned those he touched, igniting them in a bright display of green energy. Apocalypse grew concerned.
"Apocalypse!" Takla yelled. His voice clearly came from his mouth, but the sound felt as if it had no specific direction, as if it came from every direction at once. "You won't leave this cave alive!"
Takla threw his fist at Apocalypse will all of his mutant strength, but Apocalypse easy caught it in his hand. He pressed down on Takla's fist, ignoring the burning pain, but it wasn't enough. Takla applied pressure to his fist, and Apocalypse watched in horror as his hand dissolved into a cloud of green dust. For the first time in his life, Apocalypse was terrified.
He had seen this before, in ancient Egypt; the situation was all too familiar to him. He looked into Takla's green, vengeful eyes and saw a fighting spirit, even beyond the anger that was fueling him, and he knew that even without this surge of strength, he was a force to be reckoned with.
The same had been said before of En Sabah Nur. The warriors of Rama-Tut had attacked his tribe, seeking to end his life, but instead took that of his adoptive father, Baal.
Now he understood. Xavier was Baal. Takla Sharwa was En Sabah Nur.
Apocalypse staggered back and raised his remaining hand and projected an intense beam of energy that pushed Takla back, but within seconds, he continued his march forward, determined not to let anything stand between him and Apocalypse. His green, glowing skin began to melt around him, but still, he would not stop.
Takla charged forward and placed his hand on Apocalypse's chest.
The light died down.
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"Hello?!" Paul McGregor called once more, in vain. He had lost all sense of time in the strange white place, and even if it had only been a few minutes since he had arrived, it felt like it had been months. Somehow, that exaggeration didn't seem so off. His forehead continued to burn. "Anyone?!"
"I am here," A skinny man said. He had a tattoo of an eye on his forehead. McGregor now had a sense of direction, seeing something else to compare to, and he no longer felt dizzy. Now he felt like he was standing, facing this new person.
"Who are you?"
"In order for any of this to make sense, I'm going to have to ask you to save that question for the end."
"Then where am I?"
"You're in-between dimensions. Your mutant power has just appeared... it will take a long time to get used to, but soon you'll spend less time here."
"Less time? Why am I here at all?"
"You come here whenever you want to go someplace else. This way, you can move anywhere in space with a thought. Eventually, you'll move through this dimension so quickly that you won't even notice it."
"So then... how do I get out?"
"If you concentrate hard enough, you'll get out."
"Those are my only real questions... now who are you?"
"I am you."
"What?! No really, who are you?"
"Let me explain. Whenever someone travels through time..."
"Travels through time?!"
"Excuse me, I'm telling the story here," Shifter said. "When someone goes through time, they create an alternate timeline. See, imagine that you go back in time and kill Albert Einstein. Then there are two timelines, the one you came from, and the alternate one you created that when you killed Albert Einstein and changed the course of history. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah... I think." McGregor was a little overwhelmed by all this sudden information, but tried to keep up.
"Alright, now that you have created this second timeline, the first remains unaltered. The second, however, becomes distorted simply by your existence. If you exist at two points in time, you risk changing events that you don't directly, or even indirectly, interact with. For example, after you killed Albert Einstein, maybe you also triggered a change in Winston Churchill's demeanor, or you somehow caused Napoleon to become a painter instead."
"That makes sense, I guess..."
"Most importantly, the fact that you exist at two different points in time alters your own history. If you went back to 1891 to kill Einstein as a boy, a number of things could happen... for example, you could be split into two people and be born the moment you arrived in 1891 and later be born again at the time you had originally been born."
"What are you..."
"That's right, Paul. That's what happened. We used to be one man in our original timeline, but he came back into the past on Apocalypse's orders to change history in his favor. I was born several years before you, at the exact same time that our alternate self arrived, and you were born at the exact same time that our alternate self was born in our original timeline."
"So you mean... in this other timeline... I work for Apocalypse?" Somehow, this was a more pressing issue to McGregor. Trask had made him loyal to the Pure Blood movement, and to find out that in an alternate world he was working for the enemy came as a bit of a shock to him.
"Sort of. You see, because we existed at two points in time, our very beings were altered. I manifested my powers right at birth... this eye you see on my forehead? The original didn't get that until he was sixteen. How old are you?"
"Sixteen..."
"You should be getting a third eye soon, then. I was born with the knowledge that he had at the time of his arrival, too. It would be years before I could even interpret its meaning, but I knew everything that he did. As for you, you're a rough idea of what he was originally like, but your personality isn't exactly like his. Similar, but somehow off."
"But if we're the same, why don't we look the same?"
"You were born a human. I was born a mutant. Differences in lifestyles can lead to differences in adult appearance. I was malnourished for most of my life... and I guess that's affected the way I look now. You know I'm not as old as I look, I'm only about fifteen years older than you."
"This is all so..." McGregor couldn't find the words. "But you're with Apocalypse, how do I know you're not lying?"
"You don't. He had to trust me, too."
"What?"
"Apocalypse sent our original self back with specific knowledge, specific plans. I knew that from birth, and when Apocalypse was freed, I sought him and tried to tell him everything his original self had told our original self to tell him. It was difficult, but eventually it clicked in his head."
"So I'm just going to have to risk trusting you."
"Yes, Paul."
"Is your name Paul, too?"
"No. I was never given a formal name. Our original self was codenamed Shifter, and that is the name I go by. I'm sure you're tired of hearing about all this and you're ready to get out of here. The first shift is always the hardest, but I'll make it easier for you." Shifter held out his hand. McGregor wasn't sure if he should take it or not, or if he wanted to take it or not. He seemed like a nice enough guy, with all the time-travel strangeness aside... but he was a mutant. Mutants were not to be trusted.
But then, McGregor himself was now a mutant. He had to accept it. Trask's blood test had indicated it, and his transportation to this dimension had confirmed it.
McGregor took Shifter's hand, and they disappeared.
-------------------------------
"How unfortunate," Mastermind said to himself. "They're hardly using my illusion. I'll try something new, then."
With a twitch of her finger, Wanda launched Evan's spikes right back at him. Evan rolled to avoid them as Forge fired a red laser weapon from his right hand, but she gathered the blasts into a cloud of energy and dispersed it. An Asian mutant kicked him in the chest and thin flipped backwards into a fighting stance. She evaded Forge's blasts and ran at him with what appeared to be an energy knife, but Forge landed a direct hit and knocked her back into another group of mutants. Another mutant stepped forward and screamed. Everyone, including Wanda and the other mutant soldiers, covered their ears. Evan fired a spike right into his throat, and the excruciating sound stopped. Freddy would have attacked, but he needed a pause to catch his breathe and regain a little energy, so he sat between the arm and torso of a fallen Sentinel, with Rogue and an unconscious Havok next to them.
"So they said I just have to touch him, like Lance, right?"
"Simple enough." Rogue slipped off her glove, but hesitated. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know if I can do this..."
"You'll be helping him, Rogue. He can't feel anything right now, it won't hurt him."
"I know, but..."
"This is Famine. He's not gonna be Alex again until you absorb his power." Rogue nodded, but slipped her glove back on. "Rogue, come on, you can-" She surprised Freddy by holding Havok's head and kissing the unconscious mutant. The transfer of energy took a few moments, and then, Rogue broke the kiss.
"It's done, then. Just have to wait until he wakes up."
"I'm not an expert on this... but aren't you technically his stepsister?"
"Aw, who cares? World's coming to an end." Freddy nodded, and he still thought it was a little weird, but he had cousins who had done worse, so he decided it wasn't so bad. After all, they weren't blood relatives, nor had they been raised as siblings. "Don't tell Scott and Toad about this. Especially Scott."
"Your secret is safe with me," Freddy replied with a casual smile.
An XT Sentinel arrived among the group and activated its anti-mutant field. Wanda concentrated now on destroying it before she could continue fighting the X-Men. Realizing that their powers were also nullified, she instead ran from the XT Sentinel as it turned its attention towards the larger, and according to its programming, more important group of mutants.
"Rogue, quick! Go after Wanda!" Freddy yelled. Rogue nodded and ran after her as Freddy stood back up, prepare for another round of fighting.
Lance found that his seismic powers had no affect, so he ran from the XT Sentinel in order to leave the ant-mutant field, but he wasn't fast enough. Several bullets hit his leg and he fell onto the sand.
"Lance!" Kate cried out. She ran to his side, phasing through the XT Sentinels' gunfire.
"Kate, no!" Forge yelled. "Get away from that Sentinel!" The fire stopped as Kate ran. Instead, the XT Sentinel dropped a small orb between Kate and Lance. She ignored it and ran past it as it opened up and poured out a thick, green gas.
"Kate, get away! The gas-" A bright beam shot the XT Sentinel's shoulder and separated its mechanical arm from its socket. The robot looked towards the source of the beam: Rogue. She had ignored Wanda and stopped to help Kate and Lance, using the power she had absorbed from Alex. Unknown to her, the XT Sentinel had called for backup. Two more approached behind her, but another beam appeared that destroyed the entire chest section of the first Sentinel.
"Alex?"
"Right here, Marie," Alex said. He had awakened, now free of Apocalypse's control, just as five more Sentinels appeared. They locked eyes for a brief moment, exchanged reassuring smiles and turned their attention to the invading Sentinels.
Mastermind grinned at the brilliance of his plan. The X-Men had no idea that most of the Sentinels they were fighting weren't real, just products of Mastermind's imagination. He heard a thud behind him and turned to see his children, Jean Grey and Todd Darkholme.
"I hope my abuse hasn't left the two of you without a sense of humor." Mastermind motioned down towards the battle. "You see all those Sentinels? Guess how many are real." Jean looked down, but only saw a few, and the X-Men were swatting at thin air.
"There are six Sentinels left," Jean said. Mastermind paused.
"So you can see through it. I knew one of you would be good for something." Mastermind turned his attention away from the battle, but kept the illusion up, then held out his right hand. "Todd, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Five... argh... seven? Two! Nine?!" Mastermind's hand changed constantly, holding up only a certain amount of fingers sometimes, and others, adding more fingers than a human hand actually had. A sharp-toothed mouth appeared at the palm of his hand and roared at Toad, and then Mastermind's entire arm became the neck and head of a growling dragon. His head became a set of wings, and his other arm became a long tail with thick spikes at the end. "What?! What's going on?!"
"Toad, whatever you're seeing, it's just a trick! Snap out of it!" Toad jumped to avoid the dragon's flaw, then ducked the swing of his tail. "Toad, you idiot! It's a trick!"
"What?! A dragon AND a demon?!" In Toad's vision, Jean had become a horned, laughing red demon, calling to him in tongues with a menacing voice. "Jean! Jean, where are you?! Everything's crazy here! I don't know what's going on?!" Todd jumped over the demon's mace and rolled aside to evade the dragon's fiery breath.
"He can't hear you, Jean," Mastermind grinned. "Now what? Do you think you can stop me alone?" Jean pressed her fingers to the sides of her head and closed her eyes. "What are you doing?"
'Toad! Can you... me?'
"What?! Can I what?"
'Hear... can...'
"Can I hear you?" Todd yelled, still hopping around. "Yeah, sort of... you're fading in and out, where are you?"
'Standing... demon... illus...' Jean paused for a moment. With her telepathic powers so underdeveloped, it was difficult for her. 'I can see him, Toad. He's the dragon, I'm the demon.'
"What do you think you're doing?" Mastermind yelled. "Are you trying to help him? Your powers aren't quite as strong as mine, Jean! He can't hear you!"
"What do I do?!" Toad cried out. "I can't tell who to believe here!"
'Toad, jump!' Toad did as Jean told him. 'Use your tongue, straight forward!' Toad threw out his amphibian tongue at his father's face, but something interfered. Toad fell to the ground, grabbing his mouth in pain and feeling his blood flowing out of it. Jean looked down at the floor and watched his severed tongue twitching. She kept herself from screaming and looked up. Mastermind's old pal Wolverine had climbed up to the tower.
"Mah thung!" Toad cried. A picture of blood and green slime spilled from his mouth, combining into a gray sludge that dripped onto the stone floor. Quickly, Jean contacted him again.
'Wolverine showed up, Toad... he used his claws...' Jean shook her head. 'Toad, we can't give up. Wolverine or not, we have to get Mastermind.'
"Aight... ack..." Toad managed to stand up, trying to ignore the pain in his mouth. The dragon and the demon disappeared, and now Toad saw nothing at all, only a dark emptiness. Had he gone blind? No, it had to have been another trick.
'Here he comes, jump!' Toad jumped and avoided Wolverine's running slash. 'Quick, stomp!' Toad stomped down and felt himself hit something. 'You got him down, now jump forward and kick!' Toad did as told and felt his foot connect with something. The darkness faded, and the real world appeared to him again.
"Son, no!" Mastermind yelled. Toad had knocked him off the top of the stone tower, where a gruesome death awaited him below. Thanks to the help of his sister, Toad had killed his own father.
Except Toad had also flown off the side of the tower.
"Er... aagh! Jheann!" Jean rushed over and caught Toad with her telekinesis, and held him in the air for a moment before pulling him back up. When he was safely back on the tower, she hugged her younger brother.
"Todd, we did it! It's all over now!"
"Ughnh... Jheann!" She had forgotten entirely about Wolverine, who dashed forward and slammed his claws into Toad's back. With his other hand, he pushed him forward and off of his claws.
"Toad, no!" Jean yelled as her wounded brother fell off the tower, to the dark sand below, where his dead father waited. She reached down for him, but Wolverine punched her in the stomach and broke her concentration. "You..."
"Me! He just killed my buddy, it's only fair. As for you, I like you. I think I'm gonna keep you around," he said with an evil grin. "But don't do anything just yet! Look down there! See that big guy? Freddy, right?"
"Freddy?! What happened to Freddy?!" She looked out, and saw that he was alright. Now that the fake Sentinels had disappeared, the X-Men had concentrated on Wanda, but Storm had come to her aid, and Nightcrawler was teleporting around the battlefield, mauling anyone he could find before teleporting again and finding another victim.
The XT Sentinel deployed a whipcord at a large mutant with red face-paint and strangely enough, a red eagle painted onto his chest armor. The mutant grabbed the cord and pulled with his all his strength, but his powers became nullified and his strength became that of a normal human being. Of course, he was still immensely strong, and he still had the axe he had been given. The mutant swung, but the cord was made of metal twine.
Forge was busy firing his beam weapons at the XT Sentinel to notice the large mutant behind him, who pulled the whipcord with him as he ran to Forge's other side and wrapped the cord around his neck. Forge converted one of his hands into a cutting tool to free himself, but he couldn't cut it without first cutting himself. With his other hand, he tried to pull the cord away, but the mutant had cleverly wrapped it around the XT Sentinel's leg, and at the moment, the giant robot was busy firing missiles at a crowd of mutants behind it. It walked forward, dragging the choking Forge behind him. The large mutant smiled at his handiwork before the XT Sentinel gunned him down.
"Gragh... Freddy!" Forge gasped. Freddy, unfortunately, was out of earshot, but Forge's flailing caught his attention. He arrived too late, and Forge had already suffocated.
Rogue and Alex continued firing at the XT Sentinel, and at Wanda, but with Storm's help, they found themselves on the losing side. Lance had been wounded and Kate had been knocked out by the XT Sentinel's gas. Colossus and Freddy were making progress keeping other mutant soldiers away from the others, but Evan was hesitant to battle.
"Evan, get in here!" Freddy yelled. "You had your chance to back out, now get over here and help us out!"
"But-"
"But nothing! You've picked the wrong time to get emotional, kid!" Freddy pounded a mutant soldier into the ground.
"Fine!" Evan jumped up, and with his good arm, launched as many bone-spikes as he could at Wanda. She deflected them with ease, as he knew she would. Storm's wind threw Evan aside, but Rogue and Alex stood their ground and continued their assault on Wanda. Taking notice of this, Storm brought a bolt of lightning down from the sky, but it missed, and hit a busted Sentinel. Storm dropped to the ground, and didn't get back up.
"What? Evan..." Freddy saw what had killed her... a bone spike driven through her heart.
"I had to..." Evan himself couldn't believe it himself. Without saying another word, Evan pointed his palm at his own chest and drove a spike into his own heart. Freddy observed a brief moment of silence before continuing the battle.
Wanda was alone in her fight, but she was stronger than her enemies. Rogue was beginning to weaken as the power absorbed from Alex began to fade, and Colossus and Freddy wouldn't be able to lay a finger on her, so there was no point in paying attention to them. She decided that she had wasted enough time. She raised her hands to-
Thunder struck behind Wanda. She turned around to see Nightcrawler viciously mauling Freddy, who had been trying to sneak up on her. Freddy had regained some of his strength since Nightcrawler's last attack, but the beast wanted to make sure that he finished what he started. He clasped his jaws around Freddy's head and snapped his neck.
Jean had seen it. The world around her seemed to stop. Wolverine's laughter was distant to her, as was the thunderous sound of Nightcrawler teleporting away. She felt her strength leave her, as if air was rushing out of every pore in her body. The ground beneath her felt uneven, and then she felt no ground at all.
"The tower's coming down!" A human soldier yelled. Humans and mutants rushed to get out of the way of the crumbling tower, but few managed. Wanda backed away, and Sunspot dashed to recover Lance and Kate, but he didn't make it in time. It was just as well that Kate had just woken up. She looked up at the crumbling tower and then turned to Lance.
"Bye," she said, sadly and innocently.
Seeing no other option, Sunspot ran, but he gone in too close and despite his strength, he was not invincible. Two of the remaining Sentinels were crushed by the falling stones, as well as every mutant guard positioned inside the tower. Once the stones had settled into place among the stand, Wolverine climbed out, severely beaten, but alive. Having been at the top of the tower, his injuries were minimal compared to those at the bottom. He stopped to catch his breath as his wounds healed. Within moments, he was as good as new again.
When the dust had settled and the fighting resumed, Nightcrawler appeared once more near the group, this time setting his sights on Colossus. The steel-skinned mutant would not have it. When he tried to maul him, Colossus pounded his fist into the beast's shoulder, then punched him right in the face. Nightcrawler cried out, but a final blow to the top of the head silenced him.
Rogue saw this, but thought little of it. She had already accepted that the creature was no longer her brother, and that soon she would be gone as well.
"This is not looking good," Trask said to Matthews. "All of our men are in full retreat and the only ones doing any damage are those kids... there's no sense staying here. I'm ordering a full retreat."
"We won't get another chance, General."
"I don't care!" Trask yelled. "The destruction of mutantkind isn't worth sacrificing the entire human race over! We'll at least live to fight another day. This is General Trask. All units, retreat!"
"Where to?!" A commander asked via radio. It wasn't until then that Trask saw the utter stupidity of his plan. He had been so confident in their victory that he hadn't thought about a retreat. They had arrived on Sentinels, but most of them had already been destroyed. A retreat into the desert would make them easier targets to be hunted down. That was it. Trask couldn't find any other alternative. The humans had lost, and it was all his fault.
Suddenly, the mutant army stopped. All of them. Trask saw the metal-winged mutant standing in front of them, waving a torch in a circular pattern.
"What? Mesmero!" Apocalypse commanded. Mesmero stepped forward and closed his eyes. He shuttered, then looked at his master. "What happened?"
"I... cannot reach him. He is in complete control of his mind." Apocalypse glared at him and Mesmero shrunk back in fear.
"Two of my Horsemen have left me. The leader has betrayed me." Apocalypse waved his hand slightly, and Mesmero levitated in the air in front of him, face-to-face. "You have failed me, Mesmero."
"What are you doing?!" Wolverine yelled. He looked around him. Famine had been fighting alongside Rogue. War lay dead next to her nephew. Pestilence awaited Death's instructions. Death's commander stood over the body of Freddy Dukes, as War's commander lay dead with shards of glass fused to her skin. He himself had abandoned Pestilence to fight the battle the way he wanted to. It all made sense to him. "Traitor!"
Wolverine rushed at Archangel with his claws drawn, screaming at the top of his lungs. With one swipe of his metal wing, Archangel cut him down. Wolverine's body dropped to the sand, twitching, as his head fell several feet from it, still growling angrily. Separated from his vocal cords, Wolverine's mouth made no sound, except a sick gurgling noise that accompanied the blood and sand that crept up his severed throat and spilled from his mouth. Archangel stretched his wing, then folded it back behind him.
"This battle has continued long enough," he said. Caliban and Callisto stood behind him. "We have spent long enough fighting each other. It's time we realized how the real enemy is." Behind him, Trask stepped out of the command center, with Colonel Matthews, Arcade and a few others behind him. "General Trask," Archangel regarded him.
"Are you suggesting we join forces, mutant?"
"Exactly. Apocalypse will have enslaved us and exterminated you. If you won't let go of your bigotry, at least realize that we have a greater common enemy." Colossus pushed through the crowd, dragging a wounded mutant with a broken leg through the sand by his arm. It was Berzerker.
"Where... what?" As Berzerker looked around.
"Ray Crisp," Trask said, "Codename Berzerker. This one's caused quite a bit of damage in the past."
"Mesmero has released his hold on them, for whatever reason," Archangel explained. Around them, several mutants looked around, their environment completely new to them.
"Death... General Trask..." Berzerker tried to crawl away with his good leg, but Colossus's grip was too tight. "No, please!"
"Don't worry. I'm not your enemy."
"Nor am I," Trask announced. He nodded to Archangel, who realized that Trask had been smart enough to accept Apocalypse as the greater enemy.
"There's only one thing left now. We'll have to go in after the child." With a flash of white light, Shifter appeared between them. "Shifter... status?"
"I've brought back the second one... the older boy. You can begin." Archangel nodded. "And my reward?"
"You'll get your reward when we're finished here."
"I just hope it will be worthwhile, because I'm taking a deadly risk. If he finds-"
"You're safe. We'll worry about ourselves." Shifter grunted and disappeared. "Now then-"
"Traitor!" Wanda yelled. Somehow, she was still under Apocalypse's control. Wanda's first instinct was to run to the pyramid, to tell her master. She was sure that he already knew, but it was better to be safe.
"Ms. Darkholme?" Archangel politely addressed Rogue.
"On it!" Rogue ran after Wanda and tackled her. Before Wanda could fire a hex bolt, Rogue placed her hands on the sides of Wanda's face. The transfer of energy was almost too much for Rogue, but she held on. It was taking longer than it had with Lance or Alex. Finally, it was done, and Rogue collapsed onto the sand, out of breath and energy.
"Who's left to fight?" Archangel asked. Colossus stood next to him and nodded. Alex was ready to fight, and a few minutes later, Rogue as well. Wanda would be unconscious for a while. Callisto and Caliban, though not very good at fighting, could always be counted on. Half of the mutant army was wounded, the other half confused after leaving Mesmero's trance. "We're not much, but we'll manage. Everyone to the base."
"All units, advance!" Trask ordered.
"No, General. Get your men out of here. Enough human lives have been lost."
"Agreed, but we have no escape plan."
"There are three planes just outside the base perimeter," Callisto explained. "You can probably fit your remaining forces in the cargo holds." Trask felt insulted by her use of the term 'remaining forces.' Over half of his men had been killed.
"I don't trust you. How do I know this isn't some mutant trap?"
"Suit yourself," Archangel said, "But there's no other means of escape. If you won't accept our help, get as far from the base as you can."
"We'll do that. You just worry about taking Apocalypse down, mutant. All units, retreat into the desert." Callisto raised her fists, ready to go after him, but Caliban stopped her, simply shaking his head.
"We'll have to move quickly if Apocalypse has the second Shifter."
-------------------------------
...Moments later, Apocalypse was helped out of the pool by his weaker servants. The battle with Xavier's pupil years prior had been the hardest battle of Apocalypse's life... Takla had been the only difficult adversary he had ever faced.
Indeed. Takla Sharwa was a worthy adversary.
Takla Sharwa still walked the Earth, searching endlessly for Apocalypse so that he could finish the battle he had begun when his teacher was killed. Apocalypse remained one of the strongest mutants on the planet, but he had been weakened considerably, and he knew that were was no way that he could ever beat Xavier's pupil. He had wasted so much energy that he was shriveled and weak. He felt as he did when he first emerged from his tomb, only he knew that there was no source of energy waiting for him. He took a deep, strained breathe and accepted that he would never defeat Takla Sharwa.
It was ironic that Takla had abandoned the principles of Professor Xavier in his mad quest to avenge him. Takla's anger had all but consumed him, and nothing stood in his way. With every report of Takla's activity, Apocalypse was reminded more of himself, that young warrior so many ages ago who destroyed everything in his path in his quest for vengeance. The similarity was uncanny; Takla had even abandoned his given name and took a new name, and Apocalypse knew that when Takla finally found him, he would take his place and conquer the world, ruling those beneath him under his new name.
If Takla Sharwa was En Sabah Nur, then Apocalypse had become Rama-Tut. Now he hid deep underground like a coward, beneath the ruins of an Incan city, where he was forced to take periodic baths in a pool of life-sustaining blue fluid, water infused with nutrients. By the time he was finished with the bath, he had absorbed all of the nutrients in the fluid, leaving only leftover waste particles that effectively turned the water into a black poison. As his servants dried him off, he called one of his higher ranking servants. A tall, well-built man with an eye tattooed onto his forehead came forward. This was the mutant called Shifter, capable of moving between any two points across the world, and once advanced, he gained the ability to move not only through space, but through time as well.
Apocalypse had long planned to send Shifter on a special mission, but he was well aware of the consequences of affecting time and altering history. The smallest action could damage the entire timeline, so Shifter would have to be extremely careful if he was to change the past to Apocalypse's benefit. While he contemplated sending him on this mission, he drew up a sort of list of everything he wanted his past self to know. Shifter had to memorize everything he was told, and now he knew more about Apocalypse than any man, save Apocalypse himself.
"The time has come, Shifter. There is no sense waiting for the boy to finish me. You know what you must do."
"I will be cautious, master."
"You will. You will find the boy as well."
"Yes, I know where to find him. The boy will be in your hands, master. I will not fail you." Shifter closed his eyes and in a flash of light, disappeared. Apocalypse closed his eyes. He opened them, and the world he knew had disappeared.
-------------------------------
"You have done well," Apocalypse told Shifter as they entered the lab beneath the pyramid. Scott, Pietro, and Pyro hid behind some equipment on the far side of the room. In the center of the room, McGregor was held in an advancer, like the one Scott had been in.
"Shifter, you cheating little bastard!" McGregor yelled as he pounded his fists against the glass tube. "I trusted you, Shifter! I trusted you!"
"Calm down, Paul, it's for the better. Few mutants manipulate as much energy as we do. If not for my inherited knowledge, I would be in there instead." This information obviously didn't help the furious McGregor. Even if he knew how to trigger his powers, the nullification device inside the advancer prevented him from doing so. Beast entered the lab, carrying baby Kevin with one of his feet and propelling himself forward with his large gorilla arms. He jumped up to an overhead pipe and made his way over to the advancer. Still holding himself up with one hand, he opened a trap door near the bottom of the advancer and gently deposited the baby at McGregor's feet.
"It's ready," Beast informed his master, then moved to the controls. "This will only take a moment."
"Now!" Scott yelled. A fiery bat flew out from behind the crates and onto the control panel. Scott fired a quick beam at Beast to keep him away from it and Pietro ran to the advancer, only to be tripped by an extended staff.
"Well what do you know, I beat you boys here," Gambit gloated. "We have your approval?" Apocalypse nodded. "It's about time I get to have some fun!"
"I concur," Beast said. "Do you mind if I take the Summers boy?"
"No no, mon ami, be my guest." Beast lunged at Scott with a powerful swing of his ape-like arm and threw him against the wall before rearing back and pounding his chest. The grin on his face showed that his gesture was more out of humor than out of actual rage. As Pietro stood back up, Gambit threw a set of charged metal pins, which he easily dodged. It was a trap, of course; Gambit tripped him with his staff yet again.
"Trip me once, shame on you... trip me twice..."
"Shame on YOU!" Gambit yelled as he swept his staff under his feet and tripped him yet again. Pyro aimed his flamethrower right at Gambit, but he kicked it away and delivered a fast punch to the face, followed by a roundhouse kick. As Gambit took a moment to regain his footing, Pyro swept his feet and knocked him over.
"Why are you doing this?" Pyro asked. "You think Apocalypse cares about you?"
"No, but I have a better chance if I'm on his side." Gambit twirled his staff and knocked Pyro in the face. Behind him, Pietro ran by and smacked the back of his head.
"Will you two idiots stop ganging up on Gambit and help me out over here?!" Scott yelled as Beast lifted him over his head and threw him down. Pietro dashed by and caught him in time, then ran back to Gambit. Beast looked behind him and faced a fiery lion, courtesy of Pyro.
"...Oh my." The lion chased Beast around the lab, and while Pyro kept himself busy keeping the lion together, Scott fired a beam at Gambit's shoulder.
"That's it. Now you boys have made me mad." Gambit tossed his staff aside and reached into his coat with both hands. In each hand he held a deck of cards and grinned. "Now we play by my rules." He laid one hand flat with the deck stacked on his palm, and keeping the other deck between his fingers, threw out charged cards with his thumb. Pietro ran as the cards hit the wall behind him and exploded, and Scott tried his best to fire them out of the air. With his concentration broken, Pyro ignored Beast and created a fire shield. Beast, meanwhile, jumped to the overhead pipes and wisely stayed there to avoid Gambit's cards. Scott made the mistake of firing at a card too close to him and he was thrown against the wall once again as it exploded a few feet from him. Just the same, the cards that hit Pyro's flame shield exploded and sent him flying back as well. Pietro was fast enough to avoid the remaining cards, which hit walls, consoles and equipment, but completely missed Pietro.
Beast jumped down and seized the opportunity to attack Pyro and jumped down at him. His timing was poor, as Pyro had already aimed his flamethrower upwards and grabbed Beast with a full blast. Pyro rolled out of the way of the burning mutant, who rolled around madly, and upon realizing that his rolling wasn't helping, he ran out of the lab. Scott, Pietro and Pyro turned their attention to Gambit, and Apocalypse wasn't about to help him out. Gambit was alone against the three.
"Guess I gotta change those rules. Here goes nothing." Gambit charged the remaining deck... the entire deck at once. He threw the deck in the air and the room was filled with charged, floating cards. Again, Pietro ran around fast enough to avoid them. Scott had learned from his mistake and hid behind the same crates from earlier. Pyro sent out a fire-eagle to set off the cards farthest from him while he hid next to Scott. Apocalypse stood in the exact same spot with his arms crossed, not even looking at the cards that were disappearing when they got close to him.
"I'm tired of this," Scott muttered. He stood up and fired a beam straight at Gambit's chest, knocking him back right into three of his cards, and the explosion knocked him forward and onto his face. Scott waited a few minutes to see if he got up, and when he saw that he didn't, he motioned for Pyro to come out.
"I wish you'd have let me do that," Pyro grumbled. "Just one of 'em left."
"We can take him," Scott assured them. "The console's fried, he can't do anything."
"Insects." Apocalypse blinked, then waved his hands. Scott and Pyro were thrown aside and Pietro, who had just begun to run towards them, was stopped and thrown with them. He stepped forward towards the advancer, where a frightened McGregor held baby Kevin, and held his hand out. McGregor and Kevin began to glow a bright white, and when Apocalypse closed his hand into a fist, the glass shattered. Kevin was gently pulled from McGregor's arms and they both fell limp, hovering in midair.
"Please forgive me, Paul," Shifter said from Apocalypse's side. "But you will aid our master in his quest. This is a sacrifice any of us would gladly make."
"Agreed," Apocalypse said. McGregor was dropped and thrown aside, and Shifter was drawn to the spot where McGregor had been floating.
"What?! Master, I-"
"The boy is not strong enough to generate the energy needed. You will have to do." Apocalypse did not tell Shifter, but the other reason for his change of plans was the fact that he knew McGregor would grow up to become a powerful ally. It was best to have a fresh start instead of working with a weak, older version. Apocalypse brought up his other hand and tightened his grip. Kevin had turned a pale green color, and soon he was glowing green and bright. Scott looked on from the floor several feet away, and had to shield his eyes, even with his ruby-quartz lenses. The green light became so intense that he couldn't even look.
Then the light faded. Kevin was glowing a mild green color, and the wilted body of Shifter dropped to the ground. All of Shifter's energy had been drained, even the last energy that sustained his very life, and given to Kevin. Apocalypse held out his hand and took Kevin in his arm, then pointed his free arm upwards. The lab began to tremble.
"We've got to get out of here!" Scott yelled to the others. Though lacking in strength, they all got up as quickly as they could and ran out of the lab. McGregor trailed behind them, but Scott didn't care about him. Hell, he didn't even know him.
"This way!" Pietro called. They found an opening that led to an exit out of a tower near the pyramid. They had no time to observe the carnage outside, but they found the others and quickly joined them. As Scott and Pietro ran to rejoin them, Pyro had to stop to observe the body at the base of the pyramid. It was Mesmero, lying dead with every joint in his body twisted the wrong way. Pyro shook his head, then ran to the others. Archangel, Callisto, Caliban, Alex, Rogue, Colossus and Wanda watched the trembling pyramid before noticing them.
"You're alright!" Rogue said. "Where's Kevin?"
"Apocalypse has him... he did something, something's going on."
"Scott!" Wanda yelled. Before Scott could even register the word, she ran up to him and gave him the hug of his life. Instinctively, he hugged back, before realizing what he was doing and almost pushing her off. "Scott, what's wrong?"
"N...nothing, I..." Scott was still unsure about his feelings. It was fortunate that she had chosen a bad time to ask him, since he could forget about the question now that they all had Apocalypse to worry about. "Just stay sharp, he's up to something."
"He's... advanced the boy further," Magneto said. He floated out of the same exit that Scott and the others had taken, then dropped to the sand. He was still weak, but somehow he had managed to free himself while Apocalypse was busy in the lab. Wanda rushed to her father and held his head up.
"Dadd... fath... Magneto," Wanda said, remembering formality, "What have they done to you?"
"Nothing compared to what Apocalypse is going to do to the rest of you."
"Shouldn't you be dead by now?" Pietro said.
"Why don't you show a little respect?!" Wanda yelled. "You know, it's been a while since I've even seen you, and now that we're back together as a family, you have to start this little grudge again!"
"All of you, shut up!" Scott yelled. "Settle this later, we've got other stuff to worry about!"
"Yeah, like that pyramid," Alex said.
"Did I say you could talk?!"
"What happened to 'we've got other stuff to worry about'?"
"Don't be a smartass Alex! If we weren't here, I'd-"
"Enough!" Archangel yelled. "We're all going to have to work together. If we're busy fighting each other, then we're as good as dead."
"Yeah, easy for you to say!" Scott yelled. "You want me to work with him?! I can't trust him! I don't see how any of you fucking idiots can trust this guy!"
"Stop your whining and put it aside!"
"He killed them!" Scott yelled. "If it wasn't for him our parents would still be alive! Our real parents! If this shithead hadn't been playing around on the plane, they'd still be alive!"
"Scott, it was an accident!"
"Enough, both of you!" Archangel yelled once more. "Put it aside or I'll kill you both myself." The pyramid's trembling intensified. "He'll be ready soon. Scott, what did you find inside?"
"We went to the lab, but we were ambushed. We took care of Beast and Gambit, and there was some kid there."
"Some kid...?"
"Yeah, and this skinny little fucker. He's dead, though."
"Dead? Caliban, find Shifter." Caliban nodded and closed his eyes. "Well?"
"I cannot sense him. He must be dead."
"But who was the boy? Sabretooth reported that he had been killed... see if you can sense him, Caliban."
"...Yes... he is... no... he has disappeared. He has left our dimension." Archangel felt the ground tremble. He looked up and the pyramid began to crumble from the center outward.
"Everyone, move back!" Archangel took Caliban and Callisto by their arms and flew away from the scene. Colossus took the wounded Magneto and ran ahead, while the others ran under their own power. They had all made it clear in time, and Apocalypse stood on the top of an unmetal platform that had been at the core of the pyramid, suspended several stories up with an unmetal column. He held the glowing green Kevin up, showing the boy to his enemies.
In another time, Takla Sharwa had been Apocalypse's most worthy enemy. He had once believed himself to be the only advanced mutant, but now he knew that he was only the first. Takla was born with greater potential than En Sabah Nur himself, and one day, Takla would meet another with even greater power. Apocalypse knew that keeping the child was a great risk, but he believed that with time, the boy would be loyal to him. Mastermind had already warped his mind, and now, the boy had absorbed the energy of Shifter. However, the boy was not finished.
"What? I..." Rogue felt herself drawn towards Apocalypse. "Someone... I... I can't control it..."
"Rogue!" Alex yelled. He grabbed her and tried to pull her back, but he was being pulled in after her.
"The sparks!" Archangel yelled to them. "He's drawing you back in!"
"What's going on?!" Scott asked.
"She's absorbed the sparks of three Horsemen... she has stored massive amounts of energy within her, from Mesmero, the Horsemen, and Apocalypse himself. The boy is attracting the greatest power source to him... Alex, let go!"
"I won't!"
"Alex, let go! You can't help her now!"
"I can't!" Alex freed one arm and fired a wide blast at Apocalypse and the boy, but Kevin absorbed it. The baby had no emotion on his face. In fact, it appeared that he was almost dead. Somehow, the blast only intensified the pull. Rogue and Alex were now both being drawn, and there was nothing they could do. In a flash of green light, they were gone.
"NO!" Scott yelled. He had just lost his remaining siblings, but his screams were drowned out by Apocalypse's commanding voice.
"Observe, my heir!" He bellowed. Apocalypse had decided that Takla Sharwa was indeed a worthy enemy, and so he decided to honor his foe by giving his son the name his future self had taken. "The Son of Apocalypse! You will bow to him as you bow to me! He will be known to you as Proteus!"
What? Proteus?! I know, I know, Proteus isn't named Takla Sharwa in-continuity, but I'm taking some creative license. That's what Evolution's all about, taking original ideas and screwing with them so that the old fans whine and bitch, but the new fans are cool with it. But hey, I at least got part of his name right (in-continuity, Proteus is Kevin MacTaggart... how many of you guessed that he would be Proteus when you read that Mystique had named him Kevin?). Most of the loose ends have been tied up by now: you know what Kevin's purpose is, you know about the Shifters, and you now know why Scott held a grudge with Alex... which, unfortunately, will never be settled now. You already knew that Archangel was a traitor, but now you know that Colossus and Sunspot were his co-conspirators. Those of you keeping score, he's a tally of who's still alive:
Good Guys: Scott, Wanda, Pyro, Pietro, Caliban, Callisto, Colossus, Archangel, Magneto... wow, I didn't kill off as many as I thought I had. Well, Caliban, Callisto, and Magneto can't do much...
Bad Guys: Apocalypse, Proteus
????: Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Tabitha.
Looks a little uneven. We'll settle this. Next chapter: the final battle! It's almost over!