Wahoo!!! Double feature!!! Yay for long weekends. Wow, I'm sorry you all miss Rogue so much. She'll be back, I promise. I've written about two or three chapters ahead of what I've posted, and I still haven't written her back in yet, but she is coming in the next chapter I'm writing, but it'll still be a couple of weeks until it gets posted. Okay, alright. I hope you all are still having a great Thanksgiving weekend, and keep those reviews a comin'!       

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            "I really don't want to do this." Betsy said as she sat at the helm of cerebro.

            "Betsy, the Phoenix is the only thing we know of that induce physical harm. You have to talk to her." Cecelia said while a crowd watched from the doorway. Betsy looked up from the helmet in her lap at Cecelia, then over to Kitty sitting in a chair by her side.

            "Betts, if I could do it for you, I would." Kitty comforted her. Her words really struck Betsy. "You can do this. I'll be right here." Kitty slithered her hand onto one of Betsy's and she squeezed it slightly. Betsy actually smiled a little, and really did feel comforted. Then Betsy sighed and put the helmet on. Cecelia smiled and walked down the platform, ushering everyone back as she shut the door.

            "Everyone to the danger room… now!" Cecelia shouted as everyone refused to leave. Betsy finally relaxed when she heard the big metal door slam shut. The room was finally quiet. Betsy turned cerebro on, and glanced over at Kitty for help one last time before she shut her eyes.

            Betsy found herself flying about the astral plane. The same stillness from before irked her and kept her from feeling free like she ordinarily would have. She couldn't seem to shake the burden of her responsibilities, and she swiftly landed on an invisible floor. She walked around and kept her eyes peeled as if she were searching for something.

            "Looking for someone, my dear?" Betsy spun around to see Emma sitting comfortably in a large, leather armchair. "Come back for more?" Emma smiled and bounced her crossed legs up and down. Betsy grabbed her arms recalling the beating she'd received the last time she saw Emma. When she couldn't feel her bruises on her mental projection of herself, she realized Emma couldn't know how badly she was damaged. Betsy quickly pulled herself out of self pity and began to feel angry.

            "What have you done?" Betsy whispered, angry, but still afraid of what Emma might do to her.

            "Done? I haven't done anything." Emma said, surprised by the accusations.

            "The backlash… earlier… you're trying to tell me you didn't have anything to do with that?"

            "No." Emma said indignantly as she took a sip from the martini glass sitting on the table next to her chair. "Hurt like a bitch though. Didn't it, darling? Jason cried worse than a little girl."

            "Jason who?" Betsy cocked her head to the side, having once been familiar with a Jason.

            "Never mind… What makes you think I had anything to do with that?" Emma asked again.

            "The professor hadn't come out of it. I went in to get him and came out without the professor and a nasty burn. The only one I know who can do that is your bird." Betsy grumbled bitterly. Emma looked down at her knee and fixed a wrinkle in her perfectly pressed white pants.

            "I don't have her anymore." Emma muttered under her breath.

            "What?" Betsy asked calmly, not sure she had heard correctly.

            "After your little X-boy toy paid my girl a visit, she said she had business to take of and left." Emma said callously.

            "You let her go? You let the Phoenix go and you don't know where?" Betsy shouted in utter frustration and disbelief.

            "No, you bloody fool; I didn't let her go anywhere. Do you honestly think I would go of power that easily? You obviously didn't learn anything in the time you were my pet, dear Elisabeth." Betsy gritted her teeth at the way Emma talked about her. "Something clued her in to the fact she's the most powerful being in the universe." Emma glared at Betsy accusingly.

            "Me? I couldn't contact the Phoenix if I wanted to, she'd fry my circuitry. Maybe Jean sensed it in Scott. They do have an impressive connection." Emma scoffed at her. "Just because you find it hard to feel anything for another person doesn't mean they do." She looked away, having nothing to come back with. "So you really didn't have anything to do with this?"

            "No, I didn't have anything to do with this." Emma said resentfully. "But I can't speak for the Phoenix. I don't know where she is or what she's up to… And frankly, I don't care anymore. You all can destroy yourselves trying to save this pathetic world of yours if you like, but when you've obliterated perhaps one of God's greatest creations, I'll be there to stand as leader of this wretched little rock and nobody will be there to stop me." Emma smiled, knowingly frustrating Betsy. She didn't realize that Betsy had grown so angry, pink energy bands began to emerge from the chair and wrap themselves around Emma. It wasn't until they starting tightening that Emma began to have a problem with them. "You pathetic little bitch, let me out of here now!!"  She screamed and thrashed about.

            "Hurts. Doesn't it?" Betsy said calmly as she tightened the bands. "Pity is, you'll wake up without a single reminder anything ever happened while my bruises still have yet to fade."

            "Alright, Alright, I'm sorry!! Let me go!!" Emma pleaded.

            "On the other hand," Betsy continued, ignoring Emma's cries for help. "I could press those pain buttons a little harder." As she spoke the restraints grew tighter and tighter. "Send your body into shock… give you a heart attack, cause a seizure… then I'd never have to worry about you ever again." Betsy paused. "Hmmm… yes…" She pondered coldly. Emma was actually beginning to fear for her life. "That seems a fitting punishment for your crimes…" Then suddenly, Betsy stopped. The pink bands dissolved. Betsy looked like a puppy that had just heard a dog whistle. "Did you feel that?" Betsy asked Emma as if nothing had happened.

            "Of course I felt that, you evil heathen." Emma gasped. Betsy just looked around to see if she could feel it again.

            "Not that…" Betsy said. Since she was distracted, Emma got up from her chair and approached Betsy as if she were going to strangle her. Without even looking, Betsy threw up her hand, causing a brick wall to ride up between the two, surprising Emma as she was cut off from contact with Betsy's mind. She stared at the wall in silence for a moment, then prepared to break though it when a door appeared. Betsy poked her head in, startling Emma. "That really was a lot of fun, love, but I really should be getting back. Ta-ta!" Betsy slammed the door in her face. The wall then disappeared, along with Betsy.

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            "So?" Kitty asked eagerly as Betsy took off the helmet and disconnected from cerebro.

            "She didn't have anything to do with it." Betsy mumbled, disappointed. "But I think the professor's awake." She said as she and Kitty got up.

            "So he'll be okay?" Kitty asked as they walked down to the med-lab.

            "I dunno. I guess we'll find out." Betsy shrugged her shoulders.

            "So how'd it go… with Miss Frost?" Kitty asked cautiously. She was surprised to be met with a wicked smile.

            "It was a liberating experience, let me tell you." Betsy said cryptically. Kitty looked but confused, but Betsy ignored it as she continued to smile to herself. They both walked into the med-lab to see Magneto, Logan, Scott and the doctors crowded around the professor's bed. "It was the Phoenix, wasn't it?" Betsy asked, announcing their arrival. Xavier leaned forward on his bed, confirming his consciousness.

            "No." He answered Betsy's question simply. She stopped, surprised.

            "Hey, what makes you think it was Jean?" Scott asked defensively.

            "Not Jean necessarily… the Phoenix." Betsy clarified for the millionth time. "Although, if it was Jean, it would make sense she'd go to the first person she could trust, but she wouldn't have to force her way in…" Betsy said to herself. "I mean, Emma doesn't know where the Phoenix is. She broke free of the Hellfire Club's control and has since been AWOL. Emma's pulled out entirely, not wanting anything to do with the consequences of whatever she's done." She explained. "So if it wasn't the Phoenix, who was it?" Everyone just stared blankly at Betsy as she finally came for air from her conversation that vacillated between talking to herself and to everyone else.

            "Apocalypse." The Professor responded. "He said he's ready for our trial… to determine if we are fit."

            "'If we are fit'? Like the hieroglyphics…" Betsy mumbled.

            "Yes." Xavier nodded. "It's time for the troops to move out."

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            "I can't believe I'm taking orders from you." The Scarlet Witch grumbled at Magneto in the helijet bound for China.

            "Wanda, this is not the time." He responded, focusing on flying the plane, and the trial that stood before them all.

            "We've got some unfinished business and if we don't handle it now, we may never." She growled back.

            "Why are you angry at him anyway?" Iceman interrupted from behind them. Quicksilver tried to shut him up, but it was too late. However, instead of becoming irate, Scarlet Witch just looked puzzled in her seat beside Magneto, befuddled.

            "You know… I'm not really sure." She said. Both Magneto and Quicksilver heaved a sigh of relief. Psylocke stared out the window of the plane, trying to focus on the scenery outside instead of the visions flooding her mind. All she saw were warnings to give up and submit. If not, they would all die. She nearly cried there, believing this would be the end. She saw terrible, bloody images of all of her friends, dead. She thought of all the things she wished she had done. As a tear dripped on her hand in her lap, she decided she couldn't breathe a word to anyone. If they knew what was to happen, she feared they would give into their destiny, and only then does it fail. She prayed dearly that everything she saw was merely an incarnation of her fears and not the future, but she couldn't convince herself to make them stop.

            "Do you all have any questions about the battle plans?" Magneto asked his team, consisting of The Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Toad, Iceman and Psylocke. they all sorrowfully shook their heads as the plane landed in front of the giant purple dome. "This is your last chance to be afraid. You grow up here and now, and you never get the opportunity to look back. Tonight, you are soldiers. You are fighting, not for a mutant's rights to exist in a human society, but your right to go on living as a human being."

            "No pressure, right?" Toad tried to joke, but not even his own mood was affected.

            "Shut up, Toad." Quicksilver barked.

            "Charles…" Magneto said into his wrist communicator. "We've landed."

            "Alright, Magnus. Proceed with caution; don't make the first move." Xavier warned. "Let him show us what he's got." With that, Magneto waved his team out. They all slowly unbuckled their seat belts and hopped out of the plane to the ground and stopped, afraid to get any closer to the energy dome. They stood around Psylocke as she tried to sense what might be lying within. After a few moments, she opened her eyes and shook her head, signifying she couldn't get through. Magneto led them all a few steps closer and they stood there, watching and waiting.

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            The team on their way to Mexico sat silently in the plane, all contemplating their fates. Storm sighed as the energy dome came into view in front of her. She had a look of utter fear on her face.

            "What are you thinking Ororo? What's the prognosis?" The Beast asked her, hoping to relive some tension.

            "This isn't good." She answered. "The atmosphere's so out of alignment I can hardly think at all."

            "Great pep talk." Cannonball mumbled.

            "Seriously, Strom, you're freaking us out." Magma chimed in.

            "I'm not going to lie to you all." Storm said frankly as she landed the plane. "We don't know what's waiting for us on the other side of that dome. We may very well not be able to defeat it, but we are going to give it the fight of our lives. Understand?" Magma, Cannonball, The Blob and Sunspot all nodded fearfully in their seats behind her, while Beat nodded in the co-pilot's chair.

            "We'll take 'em down." Sunspot said confidently.

            "Yeah, we're gonna squash 'em!" Blob said. Storm forced out a smile to keep their optimism. They all silently unbuckled their seat belts and walked outside. They all stopped just a few feet outside the plane.

            "C'mon guys, just remember your training in the danger room. This'll be a piece of cake." Beast said as he led all the students forward. Storm stopped and looked up to the dark clouds overhead.

            "Charles?" She called into her wrist communicator. "We're ready."

            "The team in China has just landed." He answered. "Wait for my signal."

            "Of course." She said as joined her team. She stopped to take a moment to envelop herself in the environment.

            "What is it, fearless leader?" Beast asked her. She opened her eyes and shook her head.

            "Whatever it is… the planet feels it too. The winds are preparing for war."

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            "We're breaking off now, Charles." Wolverine called to Xavier in the other plane they were flying in a formation with as they approached the Sphinx in Egypt.

            "Yes, Logan. We'll be in contact." Xavier said.

            "Alright, everybody, I'm in charge--" Mystique started.

            "No you're not. We both are." Wolverine corrected.

            "Bloody hell, you two squabble like siblings." Pyro interrupted. "Why don't we just settle this thing and say I'm in charge?" Mystique and Wolverine both glared back at him.

            "I think what he's trying to say is that your fighting isn't helping us save the world." Nightcrawler explained.

            "Seriously. We can handle this." Jubilee said. "All we need is to get the right message at the right time."

            "Don't make any unilateral decisions." Mystique barked at Wolverine

            "Alright then, I'm the final word. Don't do anything unless I say so." Wolverine announced.

            "Or me." Mystique interjected, angry about having her authority diminished

            "Okay, look, the world is resting on our shoulders. Your fighting is only adding to the burden because we won't be able to trust that you're not just giving us orders to try and one-up the other to see who has more followers. I'm picking Wolverine to be in charge, okay? We've trained with him a lot more and we all trust him better. If you don't like it, Mystique, then get out of here. I mean, what can you do anyway? Morph into a bird and peck Apocalypse's eyes out?" Everyone in the landed plane stared at Berzerker in awe. He was usually meek and submissive, but the pressure appears to have caused him to snap. "There. It's decided. Now everyone shut up and lets go save the stupid world." He unbuckled his seat belt and stormed out of the plane, waiting for no one. They all continued to stare at him as he blew past them.

            "I oughta peck your eyes out…" Mystique muttered under her breath.

            "Uh… I think he's just tired." Jubilee said.

            "Well, you heard the kid, everyone out!" Wolverine ordered. "If that's okay with you, Mystique?" She just growled at him.

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            "What's in there?" Gambit asked the professor who was sitting in front of him in the fourth and final helijet.

            "I don't know, Remy. I honestly don't know." He replied.

            "Alright, I'm taking her down." Cyclops said as he dropped the plane down in front of the energy dome encasing one of the pyramids at Gizeh a few hundred yards away from the Sphinx. The occupants of the plane were silent as no one had anything they wished to say aloud.

            "Do you think we can win?" Shadowcat asked Avalanche. Her expression as he looked down at her begged for comfort and encouragement.

            "Sure, Kitty, we can do anything." He said, trying to convince himself as much as her.

            Colossus sighed as he looked out the window. All he could think about was his sister. He was determined to rectify all the bad he had done under Magneto and make her proud, just as he'd promised. He would die saving the world, if need be. He'd gladly give his life if it meant he could see her on the other side. He wouldn't fail all of humanity the way he'd failed Illyana.

            Gambit thought about Rogue. He wondered if she was safe, if she was scared, or if she even knew what was going on. He could understand that there was no time to go look for her and Carol before they took on Apocalypse, but he didn't like it. He didn't like knowing that he could die without ever seeing her brilliant green eyes again. The only thing he couldn't comprehend was why he cared more about her than the world itself.

            Cyclops focused on the landing the plane, but also on Jean. He wondered if he could trust her to fight off the Phoenix long enough to help him when he needed it most. He didn't know if he could trust the Phoenix to destroy Apocalypse without destroying the world as she so desperately hungered to do. He decided all he could do was feel as though he needed her, and hoped she would come. No one knew where she was, but he and Jean were stronger than that.

            "Alright, my children. This is it. I will be here for you. I trust and believe in all of you. I trust and believe you with the world." With Xavier's words, Cyclops, Gambit, Colossus, Shadowcat and Avalanche stepped off the plane and out into the unknown. 

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roguewanderer – thanks for the encouragement. I think it's funny how much he really hated it. Wow. Hope he's enjoying his Harry Potter fan fiction. Hope this answers some questions about what's been going on with our favorite mutants!! I can't say too much, cause I'm really trying to be dramatic and I don't wanna make anything too obvious. Thanks for reviewing!!!

Ishandahalf – bwah ha ha ha ha!! Your world has turned upside down… has it not??? (that was supposed to be in a creepy, deep, evil voice.) Yeah… poor Kurt. But if he doesn't have his dreams, then what has he got? It's really sad. Yeah, still no Rogue… little bit of Romy-ish-ness there in Remy's thoughts. And a teensy bit of Lancitty (blech, I hate Lancitty!!). So keep those reviews comin' supafast!!

Rogue151 – Nope!! You were wrong!! Fooled you!! Not the Phoenix that blasted Betsy. I'm glad you're still enjoying it without Rogue. Never fear. She will be back, as I said way, way up there^^ And it will be totally cool, I promise. Just stick around and keep reviewin'!!

GothicCajun – You're lucky you got your review in before I posted!! Oh… no… wait… I waited just for you to review, then I posted… yeah, that's the ticket. Rogue will be back, don't cry. Keep reviewing and maybe she'll get in quicker!

Okay, now some business: to view my fan art, go here: walmartshoplifter.deviantart.com

Just copy it into your bower thingy!! Yay!!!