Chapter 12: Fight and Rescue
Magneto watched as his Brotherhood tangled with the X-Men. He watched them fight, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Pyro and Iceman were in a battle of wills. Pyro was pushing his flamethrowers to the max while Iceman struggled to keep the heat away. Iceman was starting to strain. Pyro said, "You're melting, Frosty!"
Pyro was laughing like a maniac with his eyes closed. Which is why he didn't notice Rogue plant a kiss on his cheek. Once he felt it, Rogue said, "Goodnight, sugah." Iceman finally froze his flamethrowers as he collapsed.
Colossus and Juggernaut finally broke apart, the test of strength ending in a stalemate. So, they decided to have a fistfight. Juggernaut landed a hard right to the jaw, knocking Colossus down. He quickly got back up, charged, and responded by swinging both fists and connecting hard with Juggernaut's helmet. The force of the blow sent him crashing into a wall, destroying it. Undaunted, he stood up and said, "You can match me blow for blow, Colossus, but you can't stop me!" He then swung wildly at the Russian powerhouse.
Colossus easily ducked the punch. He said, "Forgive me for trying." He landed a left to the stomach, then a hard uppercut to where the chin would be. Juggy was down, but not out.
Mystique leaped into the air, changed into Beast and, growling, landed both feet into the real Beast's chest. She then felt herself being lifted off the ground. "What the . . .?" she began. She then looked to her right and her jaw dropped as Daphne was the one levitating her! She was having a little trouble, but she was doing it! She was then struck down by Storm's lightening and fell to the ground unconscious.
Toad leaped into the air towards Nightcrawler, but he quickly teleported out of the way. Toad began shooting his acid spit, but Nightcrawler kept dodging them with the smoothest agility. But his luck ran out as he was finally hit in the face. But before he could do anything else, Shadowcat kicked him down from behind. He went face-first into the ground. She then tried to get the goo off of Nightcrawler's face.
While Shadowcat tried to help Nightcrawler, Toad slowly started getting up. But before he could attack, he heard Jubilee's voice say, "Not so fast, Froggy!" Toad looked toward the direction of the voice only to be knocked out cold by Jubilee's fireworks. She then approached Shadowcat and Nightcrawler and asked, "Are you alright?" Nightcrawler nodded yes.
Avalanche saw the three and said, "You won't be alright after this!" He then started an earthquake that brought down some of walls and ceiling, collapsing on top of them. However, Shadowcat had grabbed both of her teammates, and they phased harmlessly out of the rubble. Before Avalanche could say or do anything else, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around to punch whoever was behind him, but the culprit, Rogue ducked and then decked him with a hard right. He fell to the ground unconscious. Seeing that she had Pyro's flamethrowers, Nightcrawler asked, "What are you doing with those?"
"I'm gonna fight Magneto with them." Rogue then flew over to where Cyclops and Jean were fighting the Master of Magnetism, who was protecting himself with a magnetic force field.
Seeing that Colossus and Juggernaut were getting nowhere, Shadowcat phased into the ground. Juggernaut had just knocked down Colossus again, when Shadowcat phased upward and pulled his foot into the ground. Juggernaut asked, "What?" Seeing Shadowcat phase back underground, Juggernaut screamed, "YOU COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" All the while, he was trying to free himself.
Seeing the opening, Colossus then ran over and punched Juggernaut with all his might. As Juggernaut fell, his foot was freed, not that it mattered. Once he landed, Iceman froze him. As Shadowcat phased out of the floor and stood next to her brother, Iceman smiled and said, "Now that's puttin' him on ice!"
Wolverine and Sabretooth were still fighting, and that was a battle nobody got involved with. Cyclops and Jean were trying to attack Magneto, but it was pointless with his force field. He hurled magnetic energy at the two of them, but Jean instinctively put up a force field of her own, blocking the attack. Rogue then flew over to her two teammates and said, "Let's turn up the heat!" She then used Pyro's flamethrower and powers to ignite Magneto's force field. The heat was affecting him, but Magneto refused to let down his guard. Jean then used her Phoenix powers to engulf Magneto.
While all of this was going on, Daphne thought, 'Now's my chance to save my parents.'
There was only one hallway to go down right now, and Wolverine and Sabretooth were carrying their battle down it. She followed, careful not to get too close. She didn't know if this would work or not, but decided to try it anyway. [Mom, can you hear me?]
In the room where Daphne's parents and friends were being held captive, Cindy picked up the message. She said aloud, "Daphne? Is that you?" John, Freddy, Velma, Scooby, and Shaggy looked on in astonishment.
[Yes, it's me. Where are you? Are you and Dad alright?]
"We're fine," answered Cindy. "Your friends are fine too."
Daphne went white when her mom mentioned her friends. Deciding to push it aside for the moment, she continued [Where are you?]
"I'm not sure. We're in some kind of steel room, being held by some sort of energy bonds."
Wolverine screamed and leaped at Sabretooth, claws extended. They stabbed right into his chest, taking him down, but that wasn't going to stop him. He roared in pain as Wolverine stood up and asked, "Give up, bub?"
"Never!" screamed Sabretooth as he tackled Wolverine into the wall. The wall just so happened to be the door to the room where Daphne's parents and friends were held. Cindy screamed while the rest looked on in fear as the two feral mutants struggled on the ground like wild animals. Daphne saw them barrel in. When she heard her mother's scream, Daphne knew where to go.
Sabretooth was finally on top of Wolverine, going for his skull with his own claws. He said, "When I'm done with you, runt, I'm going to gut your girlie, Jubilee!" Wolverine screamed in outrage as he kicked Sabretooth out of the nearby window. He hit his head on the rocks as he fell down. He fell to the bottom unconscious. Wolverine knew the damage would eventually heal, but it was still going to leave a mark.
Daphne ran into the room and asked, "Mom? Dad? Guys?"
Cindy turned her head to where her daughter's voice came from. She said, "Daphne!" John, Freddy, and the others couldn't see her clearly since they could barely lean forward, if at all.
Wolverine approached a panel on the wall. Taking an educated guess, he stabbed the panel, freeing Daphne's parents and friends. "Get out! Now!"
Cindy and John ignored him and immediately went to hug her. Seeing what she was wearing, all Freddy could say was, "Whoa!"
Wolverine said, "Ahem. I hate the spoil the moment, but there's a battle going on out there and you all need to get to safety. Especially you, Lil Red." He was obviously referring to Daphne.
Freddy went over to the broken window. The others joined them, including Daphne and Wolverine. Pointing to where the Blackbird and Velocity sat, Wolverine said, "See them? That's where you need to go and wait for us."
Seeing Sabretooth's downed form, Freddy said, "Um, in case you hadn't noticed, that guy's still down there. He could jump us the second we get down there."
"Not if I can help it," said Daphne. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Everyone wondered what she was doing. Everyone except Wolverine. He already knew.
Before anyone could ask anything, Daphne's parents and friends felt themselves lifting off the ground. "Jinkies!" said Velma in amazement. Daphne was straining, but she somehow managed to get them to the edge of the forest where the Blackbird and Velocity sat, and safely (at least momentarily) away from Sabretooth. They were able to run the rest of the way. Finally, Daphne fell to her knees from exhaustion.
Helping her up, Wolverine asked, "Why didn't you go with them?"
She frowned and said, "Stop being so overprotective! I hate being treated like a weakling!"
Wolverine thought, 'Guess it's true what they say about redheads and their tempers.'
"I heard that!"
Wolverine berated himself for not shielding his thoughts.
Magneto was in a bad spot. It was bad enough dealing with Rogue using Pyro's powers. Now he had the Phoenix Force to deal with. Then Storm conjured up a tornado, making his force field useless. Jubilee then shot him down with her plasmoids. Magneto, though weakened, got to his knees and hurled magnetic energy from both hands, forcing everyone to dodge or duck. Nightcrawler teleported to him, pulled off his helmet, and teleported away from him. "No!" yelled Magneto as his last line of defense against a telepathic attack was taken away from him. Jean didn't hesitate and began a telepathic attack to disable him. As he tried to resist, Magneto said, "Oh, no . . . you don't." He held out his hand and fired more magnetic energy straight at Jean. Colossus quickly moved in front and took the brunt of the blow. It wouldn't kill him, but he did fall on top of Jean, knocking her unconscious and stopping her attack.
The weakened Magneto got to his knees. He said, "I can still crush you! And the girl shall yet be mine!"
"Magneto!" Magneto turned behind himself to see Daphne. "You want my powers? Then take them!" Out of sheer rage, she picked up where Jean left off, attacking his mind, and causing him to scream in pain. After what seemed like and eternity, both Magneto and Daphne fell to the ground unconscious.
While Cyclops tried to awaken his unconscious wife, Colossus, now in human form, approached Daphne's fallen form and picked her up. Shadowcat then approached, checked for a pulse, and said, "She's okay. Just out cold."
Beast said, "We'd better make arrangements to have them taken to the Void."
"No time!" came a voice. Wolverine ran in and said, "I found a communications room and tried to call the Void. Magneto's set this place to self-destruct! It's gonna blow in less than a minute!"
Realizing the urgency, Cyclops said, "Let's move it, people!"
The X-Men quickly made it back to the Blackbird and Velocity. Jean regained consciousness just at everyone looked at the dome. The X-Men, the Mystery, Inc. gang, and Daphne's parents watched as the dome exploded.
On the flight back, Daphne lay down in the back of the Blackbird. As Kitty and Beast were examining her, John asked, "Is she alright?"
"She'll be fine," said Beast. "She just needs to rest. She should be waking up any minute now."
"But, like, what about Magneto?" asked Shaggy. "Is he really . . . you know . . .?
"Dead?" finished Wolverine, who was now unmasked. "Boy, there have been many times in which we were sure ol' Buckethead was gone, only to resurface later."
"You mean he's been in worse situations than this?" asked Velma.
"Yup."
Beast then said, "Look at this way: The more sure you are Magneto's dead, the more likely he's alive."
"Ruh oh," said Scooby. "Rhat is rot rood."
Daphne moaned as consciousness began to return. Once she woke up, a smiling Fred said, "Welcome home, Daphne."
"Raphne!" said Scooby happily. "Rou're rokay!"
"Freddy?" she asked. She looked around and saw the rest of her friends. "Velma. Shaggy. Scooby. You're okay. Mom?"
"I'm right here, sweetie," said Cindy, who was by her side immediately.
"Magneto . . . did I stop him?"
"Yup," answered Wolverine. "It took a lot outta ya, but ya did it."
"But, Mom, Dad," Daphne began, looking at her parents, "don't you . . . hate me?"
"Daphne," said John, "listen to me. We love you. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing!"
"But why did this have to happen to me?" asked Daphne. "I just wish my life were normal again."
Logan shook his head and said, "Darlin', you're life stopped being normal the minute you discovered you were a mutant."
"She's right," said Kitty. "All of our lives stopped being normal when we discovered our mutations."
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Daphne," said Cindy. "I, on the other hand, do."
Daphne asked, "You mean . . ."
"Yes," interrupted Cindy. "Your Aunt Jean. Please don't blame her for keeping that a secret from you. If I had been in her place, I would have done the same thing. Try to forgive her. And me."
"I will, Mom," said Daphne. "I promise."
Cindy walked back toward the front of the Blackbird. Jean was sitting there, not talking to anybody. She then heard Cindy say, "Jean?" She looked up to see her sister looking at her. Cindy smiled and said, "You and I have a lot to catch up on."
Seeing her sincerity, Jean smiled and said, "That is an understatement."
To Be Continued
Magneto watched as his Brotherhood tangled with the X-Men. He watched them fight, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Pyro and Iceman were in a battle of wills. Pyro was pushing his flamethrowers to the max while Iceman struggled to keep the heat away. Iceman was starting to strain. Pyro said, "You're melting, Frosty!"
Pyro was laughing like a maniac with his eyes closed. Which is why he didn't notice Rogue plant a kiss on his cheek. Once he felt it, Rogue said, "Goodnight, sugah." Iceman finally froze his flamethrowers as he collapsed.
Colossus and Juggernaut finally broke apart, the test of strength ending in a stalemate. So, they decided to have a fistfight. Juggernaut landed a hard right to the jaw, knocking Colossus down. He quickly got back up, charged, and responded by swinging both fists and connecting hard with Juggernaut's helmet. The force of the blow sent him crashing into a wall, destroying it. Undaunted, he stood up and said, "You can match me blow for blow, Colossus, but you can't stop me!" He then swung wildly at the Russian powerhouse.
Colossus easily ducked the punch. He said, "Forgive me for trying." He landed a left to the stomach, then a hard uppercut to where the chin would be. Juggy was down, but not out.
Mystique leaped into the air, changed into Beast and, growling, landed both feet into the real Beast's chest. She then felt herself being lifted off the ground. "What the . . .?" she began. She then looked to her right and her jaw dropped as Daphne was the one levitating her! She was having a little trouble, but she was doing it! She was then struck down by Storm's lightening and fell to the ground unconscious.
Toad leaped into the air towards Nightcrawler, but he quickly teleported out of the way. Toad began shooting his acid spit, but Nightcrawler kept dodging them with the smoothest agility. But his luck ran out as he was finally hit in the face. But before he could do anything else, Shadowcat kicked him down from behind. He went face-first into the ground. She then tried to get the goo off of Nightcrawler's face.
While Shadowcat tried to help Nightcrawler, Toad slowly started getting up. But before he could attack, he heard Jubilee's voice say, "Not so fast, Froggy!" Toad looked toward the direction of the voice only to be knocked out cold by Jubilee's fireworks. She then approached Shadowcat and Nightcrawler and asked, "Are you alright?" Nightcrawler nodded yes.
Avalanche saw the three and said, "You won't be alright after this!" He then started an earthquake that brought down some of walls and ceiling, collapsing on top of them. However, Shadowcat had grabbed both of her teammates, and they phased harmlessly out of the rubble. Before Avalanche could say or do anything else, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around to punch whoever was behind him, but the culprit, Rogue ducked and then decked him with a hard right. He fell to the ground unconscious. Seeing that she had Pyro's flamethrowers, Nightcrawler asked, "What are you doing with those?"
"I'm gonna fight Magneto with them." Rogue then flew over to where Cyclops and Jean were fighting the Master of Magnetism, who was protecting himself with a magnetic force field.
Seeing that Colossus and Juggernaut were getting nowhere, Shadowcat phased into the ground. Juggernaut had just knocked down Colossus again, when Shadowcat phased upward and pulled his foot into the ground. Juggernaut asked, "What?" Seeing Shadowcat phase back underground, Juggernaut screamed, "YOU COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" All the while, he was trying to free himself.
Seeing the opening, Colossus then ran over and punched Juggernaut with all his might. As Juggernaut fell, his foot was freed, not that it mattered. Once he landed, Iceman froze him. As Shadowcat phased out of the floor and stood next to her brother, Iceman smiled and said, "Now that's puttin' him on ice!"
Wolverine and Sabretooth were still fighting, and that was a battle nobody got involved with. Cyclops and Jean were trying to attack Magneto, but it was pointless with his force field. He hurled magnetic energy at the two of them, but Jean instinctively put up a force field of her own, blocking the attack. Rogue then flew over to her two teammates and said, "Let's turn up the heat!" She then used Pyro's flamethrower and powers to ignite Magneto's force field. The heat was affecting him, but Magneto refused to let down his guard. Jean then used her Phoenix powers to engulf Magneto.
While all of this was going on, Daphne thought, 'Now's my chance to save my parents.'
There was only one hallway to go down right now, and Wolverine and Sabretooth were carrying their battle down it. She followed, careful not to get too close. She didn't know if this would work or not, but decided to try it anyway. [Mom, can you hear me?]
In the room where Daphne's parents and friends were being held captive, Cindy picked up the message. She said aloud, "Daphne? Is that you?" John, Freddy, Velma, Scooby, and Shaggy looked on in astonishment.
[Yes, it's me. Where are you? Are you and Dad alright?]
"We're fine," answered Cindy. "Your friends are fine too."
Daphne went white when her mom mentioned her friends. Deciding to push it aside for the moment, she continued [Where are you?]
"I'm not sure. We're in some kind of steel room, being held by some sort of energy bonds."
Wolverine screamed and leaped at Sabretooth, claws extended. They stabbed right into his chest, taking him down, but that wasn't going to stop him. He roared in pain as Wolverine stood up and asked, "Give up, bub?"
"Never!" screamed Sabretooth as he tackled Wolverine into the wall. The wall just so happened to be the door to the room where Daphne's parents and friends were held. Cindy screamed while the rest looked on in fear as the two feral mutants struggled on the ground like wild animals. Daphne saw them barrel in. When she heard her mother's scream, Daphne knew where to go.
Sabretooth was finally on top of Wolverine, going for his skull with his own claws. He said, "When I'm done with you, runt, I'm going to gut your girlie, Jubilee!" Wolverine screamed in outrage as he kicked Sabretooth out of the nearby window. He hit his head on the rocks as he fell down. He fell to the bottom unconscious. Wolverine knew the damage would eventually heal, but it was still going to leave a mark.
Daphne ran into the room and asked, "Mom? Dad? Guys?"
Cindy turned her head to where her daughter's voice came from. She said, "Daphne!" John, Freddy, and the others couldn't see her clearly since they could barely lean forward, if at all.
Wolverine approached a panel on the wall. Taking an educated guess, he stabbed the panel, freeing Daphne's parents and friends. "Get out! Now!"
Cindy and John ignored him and immediately went to hug her. Seeing what she was wearing, all Freddy could say was, "Whoa!"
Wolverine said, "Ahem. I hate the spoil the moment, but there's a battle going on out there and you all need to get to safety. Especially you, Lil Red." He was obviously referring to Daphne.
Freddy went over to the broken window. The others joined them, including Daphne and Wolverine. Pointing to where the Blackbird and Velocity sat, Wolverine said, "See them? That's where you need to go and wait for us."
Seeing Sabretooth's downed form, Freddy said, "Um, in case you hadn't noticed, that guy's still down there. He could jump us the second we get down there."
"Not if I can help it," said Daphne. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Everyone wondered what she was doing. Everyone except Wolverine. He already knew.
Before anyone could ask anything, Daphne's parents and friends felt themselves lifting off the ground. "Jinkies!" said Velma in amazement. Daphne was straining, but she somehow managed to get them to the edge of the forest where the Blackbird and Velocity sat, and safely (at least momentarily) away from Sabretooth. They were able to run the rest of the way. Finally, Daphne fell to her knees from exhaustion.
Helping her up, Wolverine asked, "Why didn't you go with them?"
She frowned and said, "Stop being so overprotective! I hate being treated like a weakling!"
Wolverine thought, 'Guess it's true what they say about redheads and their tempers.'
"I heard that!"
Wolverine berated himself for not shielding his thoughts.
Magneto was in a bad spot. It was bad enough dealing with Rogue using Pyro's powers. Now he had the Phoenix Force to deal with. Then Storm conjured up a tornado, making his force field useless. Jubilee then shot him down with her plasmoids. Magneto, though weakened, got to his knees and hurled magnetic energy from both hands, forcing everyone to dodge or duck. Nightcrawler teleported to him, pulled off his helmet, and teleported away from him. "No!" yelled Magneto as his last line of defense against a telepathic attack was taken away from him. Jean didn't hesitate and began a telepathic attack to disable him. As he tried to resist, Magneto said, "Oh, no . . . you don't." He held out his hand and fired more magnetic energy straight at Jean. Colossus quickly moved in front and took the brunt of the blow. It wouldn't kill him, but he did fall on top of Jean, knocking her unconscious and stopping her attack.
The weakened Magneto got to his knees. He said, "I can still crush you! And the girl shall yet be mine!"
"Magneto!" Magneto turned behind himself to see Daphne. "You want my powers? Then take them!" Out of sheer rage, she picked up where Jean left off, attacking his mind, and causing him to scream in pain. After what seemed like and eternity, both Magneto and Daphne fell to the ground unconscious.
While Cyclops tried to awaken his unconscious wife, Colossus, now in human form, approached Daphne's fallen form and picked her up. Shadowcat then approached, checked for a pulse, and said, "She's okay. Just out cold."
Beast said, "We'd better make arrangements to have them taken to the Void."
"No time!" came a voice. Wolverine ran in and said, "I found a communications room and tried to call the Void. Magneto's set this place to self-destruct! It's gonna blow in less than a minute!"
Realizing the urgency, Cyclops said, "Let's move it, people!"
The X-Men quickly made it back to the Blackbird and Velocity. Jean regained consciousness just at everyone looked at the dome. The X-Men, the Mystery, Inc. gang, and Daphne's parents watched as the dome exploded.
On the flight back, Daphne lay down in the back of the Blackbird. As Kitty and Beast were examining her, John asked, "Is she alright?"
"She'll be fine," said Beast. "She just needs to rest. She should be waking up any minute now."
"But, like, what about Magneto?" asked Shaggy. "Is he really . . . you know . . .?
"Dead?" finished Wolverine, who was now unmasked. "Boy, there have been many times in which we were sure ol' Buckethead was gone, only to resurface later."
"You mean he's been in worse situations than this?" asked Velma.
"Yup."
Beast then said, "Look at this way: The more sure you are Magneto's dead, the more likely he's alive."
"Ruh oh," said Scooby. "Rhat is rot rood."
Daphne moaned as consciousness began to return. Once she woke up, a smiling Fred said, "Welcome home, Daphne."
"Raphne!" said Scooby happily. "Rou're rokay!"
"Freddy?" she asked. She looked around and saw the rest of her friends. "Velma. Shaggy. Scooby. You're okay. Mom?"
"I'm right here, sweetie," said Cindy, who was by her side immediately.
"Magneto . . . did I stop him?"
"Yup," answered Wolverine. "It took a lot outta ya, but ya did it."
"But, Mom, Dad," Daphne began, looking at her parents, "don't you . . . hate me?"
"Daphne," said John, "listen to me. We love you. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing!"
"But why did this have to happen to me?" asked Daphne. "I just wish my life were normal again."
Logan shook his head and said, "Darlin', you're life stopped being normal the minute you discovered you were a mutant."
"She's right," said Kitty. "All of our lives stopped being normal when we discovered our mutations."
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Daphne," said Cindy. "I, on the other hand, do."
Daphne asked, "You mean . . ."
"Yes," interrupted Cindy. "Your Aunt Jean. Please don't blame her for keeping that a secret from you. If I had been in her place, I would have done the same thing. Try to forgive her. And me."
"I will, Mom," said Daphne. "I promise."
Cindy walked back toward the front of the Blackbird. Jean was sitting there, not talking to anybody. She then heard Cindy say, "Jean?" She looked up to see her sister looking at her. Cindy smiled and said, "You and I have a lot to catch up on."
Seeing her sincerity, Jean smiled and said, "That is an understatement."
To Be Continued