A shiny, fresh smelling, brand new, straight from the package chapter for you, my dear, loyal readers. It seems like it's been a long time since the last post… I'm sorry I've been so busy this week. Okay… we grow ever closer to what lies within the pyramids… dun Dun DUN!! Rogue will be back in the next chapter, I swear!! Stay tuned to find out what happens. And always remember: If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie, wipe the seatie!! AND REVIEW!!!
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– CHINA –
"That has to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Psylocke said after Vertigo gave her manifesto. The Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Toad and Iceman just looked at her as if she was crazy.
"You're just jealous." Vertigo spat as she walked up to Psylocke who was standing in front of the assembled team.
"Jealous that you get to be four times the pawn that I ever was?" Psylocke responded sarcastically as she let her hands glow purple at her hips, the light reflecting in her katana swords.
"Jealous that I'm his favorite now." Vertigo clarified.
"I never wanted to be his favorite. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. That was the plan and it worked for me."
"You two know each other?" Toad interrupted Psylocke.
"Oh yes… in fact, you might say we're quite… close." Vertigo answered for her, making everyone sick. They all dropped to the ground, including Magneto. The Scarlet Witch threw a hex bolt; but she was so dizzy, it only hit Vertigo in the foot. It distracted her enough for Toad to spit in her face. Psylocke immediately jumped up and pushed her down, smiling as she pushed a psionic knife in Vertigo's forehead. Psylocke looked up in time to see a bio-electrically charged harpoon flying at her face. She jumped when it was plucked out of the air, Toad's tongue wrapped around it. The bio electricity fried his tongue muscles though.
"Toad, are you okay?" Scarlet Witch said as she jumped to his aid. Magneto raised his hands and all of the metal spears in Harpoon's quiver lifted into the air, hovering around him like a dome.
"Oh shit." Harpoon muttered to his impending doom as the spears descended upon him, piercing his flesh. The Scarlet Witch watched in disgusted horror.
"How dare you murder someone!" How dare you, you monster!" She shouted at her father as she zapped his powers. Riptide smiled at her turned back as he took off into his whirlwind. The shurikens flew from his body and the first ones hit Scarlet Witch in her back. She let out a painful scream, alerting Quicksilver to her injuries.
"Leave her alone!" He shouted as he began running circles around the spinning Riptide. Shurikens hit Quicksilver in his shoulders, but he ignored them, thinking only of his sister like he used to when they were younger. He ran faster then he ever had before, lifting Riptide in the air. No longer having any ground to anchor himself on, Riptide was no longer able to spin. He floated in the air, disoriented and growing dizzy. Iceman zapped him in a case of ice. Quicksilver stopped running and Riptide fell to the ground. The ice shattered, but Riptide was unconscious. Psylocke used another psionic dagger in his head, making sure he stayed that way.
Quicksilver stumbled over to The Scarlet Witch and collapsed, finally responding to the tendons torn by the shurikens. Magneto ripped them from his children's bodies and applied pressure to the wounds. Iceman, Toad and Psylocke all ran over to see if they could help. Scrambler, Slab and Ruckus followed them. Psylocke was too distracted to feel their presence and didn't know they were there until it was too late. Ruckus opened his mouth in her face, assaulting all their ears. Scrambler extended his hands to attack Toad and zap his powers out of control. The Scarlet Witch ignored her ringing eardrums, and managed to blast Scrambler before he could even touch Toad. Psylocke managed to kick her foot out and hit Ruckus in the ankle. He fell, making him shut his mouth. She leapt up to pin him down, overpowering him.
"Oh the memories, Psylocke." Ruckus said, knowingly pressing a button.
"Shut up, you stupid piece of rubbish." She growled at him and his sexually implicit comment.
"Aww… they took all that skin out of your uniform… I guess I'll just have to imagine." He closed his eyes and leaned his back.
"Oh no you don't, you vicious pervert." But instead of joining him in his thoughts, she slowly rolled her knee over his groin, accidentally triggering him to scream again. After a moment of being blown away by the sound, she managed to give her hand anther purple glow and hit him in the head with it, knocking him out.
"Take your sweet time." Quicksilver moaned at Psylocke.
"Shut up." She growled back.
"Somebody help me…" The Scarlet Witch said, still battling Scrambler as she lay in Magneto's lap, unable to stand. Scrambler was beginning to gain on her.
"I got 'chya covered!" Iceman said, laying down a sheet of ice on the ground beneath Scrambler, causing him to slip. Toad hopped about and wrapped his tongue around Scrambler's wrists, having regained muscle control. Gorgeous George slipped himself around Iceman's ankles. Iceman tried to step out of him, but he couldn't free himself from the gelatinous goo. Instead, he sunk his hands into George's liquidy form and froze him still. Iceman slid out of him and tried to regain his composure. Scrambler was still trying to break free of his restraints, and flung Toad forward. Scrambler was surprised when Toad didn't let go, and he ended up flying forward with him. They both crashed into a solid George, shattering him into a million pieces. Magneto grew angry with Scrambler and used his powers to pluck a bloody spear out of Harpoon's body. He drove it straight though Scrambler's unwitting skull. The Scarlet Witch grimaced as rage soared up within her body. She suddenly saw flashes of being in a straight jacket and crying in the rain. Trees in the distance began bursting into flame.
"Wanda…" Magneto tried to calm her. "Wanda, this is not the time."
"Then when is the time, father?" She said with an eerie calm as she pushed herself to stand, regaining feeling in her legs. She approached him, muttering hexes and curses. Slab was slowly walking up behind her with a big rock when Psylocke tapped him on the shoulder.
"Slab, do you remember me?" Psylocke spoke to him as if he was a child. No one noticed what she was doing, for they were all too afraid of what The Scarlet Witch might do.
"Is it still murder to kill a murderer?" Wanda whispered as she walked slowly toward Magneto.
"I think so." Slab answered Psylocke. "Pretty…"
"Thank you." Psylocke blushed. "Slab, do you know what you're doing?" He had to think for a minute to remember his instructions.
"I think so." He said again. "Kill the X-Men."
"Why would you want to do that?" She asked. Slab had to stop and think again, but he couldn't come up with an answer, so he shrugged his shoulders. "You're going to take a nap now, Slab." She informed him as her fist glowed purple again.
"Okay." He said. Psylocke reached to extinguish her knife just under Slab's ear. He dropped the rock on Psylocke's foot and fell to ground.
"Goddammitt!!" She screamed as she nursed her throbbing foot. Still no one noticed as Magneto continued to back away from The Scarlet Witch. "Wanda! Cut it out!!" She ordered, not afraid to get involved. Still, no one answered.
"Uh… guys?" Iceman said, his attention focused on the exposed pyramid.
"Uh-oh." Toad trembled as he saw the same thing.
"Wanda..? Wanda?!" Quicksilver tried to divert her concentration to the rumbling monument.
"No… It can't be…" Psylocke muttered as the top of the pyramid dropped down inside, leaving an opening.
"It can't be what?" Toad asked.
"I've got a feeling it could be anything." Iceman interjected.
"Guys… get back!!" Psylocke shouted, finally drawing The Scarlet Witch's attention away from killing Magneto. Magneto quickly created a protective magnetic shield around everyone. "Things are about to get biblical…"
– MEXICO –
"You're a clone? That's fascinating!! How does it work?" Vertigo just looked at the Beast as if he was crazy. After her speech and what she had to say, this was the response she got? She was hoping for something more like absolute fear or complete terror, but instead, she was met with curiosity from a big, blue, fuzzy beast.
"I think you're missing the point, Hank." Storm answered.
"Geek." Vertigo mumbled under her breath. She looked over at Ruckus as she stepped behind him, signaling him to go. He opened his mouth and reverberated the sounds of the ocean waves in the Gulf of Mexico, magnifying it 1000 fold. The team was instantly debilitated.
"This is so easy!" Vertigo had to shout to George over the echo. Standing behind Ruckus protected the Infinites from a direct assault. "I wonder if we're havin' it this good everywhere else!" Just then, Beast managed to kick up some sand into Ruckus's face, causing him to choke. Then Beast jumped up and pounced on him.
"Great, Vertigo. Look what's your talking's got us!" George scolded her as he moved out to attack.
"Hey!" She shouted, offended. She was going to go after him and give him a piece of her mind when she was tackled from behind by Sunspot. "Get off me!" She ordered. Sunspot sat up, dizzy. Vertigo smiled at him wickedly as he went from his blacked out form back to normal… then green. Then he threw up on her. "Uggh… gross…"
"Hey, you asked for it." Sunspot said as he fired up again. While she tried to wipe herself off without touching any of the vomit, Sunspot picked up a boulder off the ground and carried it over to Vertigo. "Hold this for me." He said, drawing her attention.
"Aahhh!!! No!!" She screamed as he dropped the rock on her. Harpoon charged up a spear with is bio-electricity and threw it at Sunspot. Magma fired up and shot thermal energy at them, melting them in mid air before they ever reached Sunspot. Scrambler snuck up on her from behind and put his hands on her shoulders, sending her powers out of control. She couldn't shut off her thermal heat blast, or its intensity. She aimed at the ground before she hurt anyone, forming a giant hole. It kept getting wider and wider, and deeper and deeper. Vertigo, under the boulder, and Harpoon fell in. Beast and Ruckus, still fighting nearly fell in as well. Sunspot dove in just in time to grab Beast's big paw before he slipped, but Ruckus fell into the abyss. Storm struck Scrambler with a bolt of lightning, shocking him into unconsciousness and pushing him over the edge the hole. When Scrambler let go, Magma was finally able to stop her blasting, but couldn't power down.
"Concentrate, Amara." Storm tried to help her as she imagined the professor would do. Everyone rushed to her side, grateful for her help in their battles, even if she didn't do it on purpose. Sunspot stayed behind to continue fighting, as there was still much to do. Across the chasm, still standing at the base of the pyramid, Riptide took advantage of the fact that no one could reach him and started spinning. He hit Blob with his shurikens. Blob quickly altered his body mass to compensate and the shurikens bounced off him, and he stood as a shield to protect everyone else. Cannonball stepped back a few feet, then took off. The shurikens that hit him were deflected as he flew over the hole like a bullet. He dove straight into Riptide and pushed him back against the wall of the pyramid so hard, they both plowed right through it. Slab walked up behind him and plucked Cannonball off by the collar of his uniform, dazed. Riptide, however, didn't have the luxury of a kinetically invulnerable envelope and lost consciousness. Cannonball was too out of it to resist as Slab dangled his limp body over the hole. Sunspot, thinking quickly, took to the air, plucking Blob up with him as they flew over the hole. As they reached the other side, Sunspot threw Blob at Slab, knocking him back, but making him drop Cannonball.
"SAM!!" Sunspot shouted as he darted down the hole after him. Sunspot flew as quickly as he possibly could down the surprisingly deep pit, but still couldn't get fast enough to catch up to Cannonball. Luckily, Cannonball regained his bearings just in time to activate his powers before hitting the bottom. He slammed into the ground so hard, it created a small crater, but he was safe. As he saw that his friend had safely reached the ground, Sunspot attempted to slow down, but he had gained too much momentum. They both screamed as Sunspot careened out of control toward Cannonball.
"'Berto, SLOW DOWN!!" Cannonball shouted.
"I can't!" Sunspot yelled back. The Beast peered over the edge to see what was going on, but they had gone too deep for him to see. Behind him, Storm was still tending to Magma, trying to get her to focus on controlling her powers. Neither of them noticed as George slithered up behind Storm. Before they knew it, George had engulfed Storm. Magma watched, too shocked to do anything as Storm gurgled her muffled screams.
"Get me out of here!" Strom cried for help. Magma slowly backed away, working on auto pilot. She stared in petrified horror as George continued to wrap himself around Storm. "Amara, help me!" Storm begged from inside her gelatinous cocoon. Finally, Magma aimed her thermal heat blast at George and concentrated hard on not blasting Storm as well. All of the water in George's body quickly evaporated, and he hardened on Storm like a crispy tomb. All was quiet for a second until a bolt of lightening burst from within George, turning what was left of him into ash. When the dust settled, Storm was gasping for air as she tried to regain her focus.
"Ororo, are you okay?" Beast said as he rushed to her side.
"How could you leave me inside there?!" Storm heaved as she still struggled to lock on reality.
"I- I- I'm sorry…" Magma stuttered, finally powering down as her powers returned to normal.
"It's alright, Amara." Beast comforted both women at the same time.
"I'm sorry." Magma repeated.
"YAHOOOOO!!!" Cannonball interrupted them as he suddenly shot up through the mouth of the hole, holding Sunspot. Beast, Storm and Magma all watched as they flew a few dozen feet into the air, then promptly fell to the ground.
"Good catch, Sam." Sunspot grumbled as he dusted himself off.
"Well, it was either that or let ya try an' stop yerself." Cannonball said back.
"Hey guys!! What about me?!" Blob shouted from the other side, an unconscious Slab at his side.
"Push a bunch of rocks in, and I'll seal it up!" Magma said, hoping to rectify one of her errors. Everybody went to work repairing the damage. Magma melted the rocks that had been dumped in the hole and the ground once again became stable. Storm stirred up a wind to replace the sand of the beach back where it belonged.
"So… uh… What now?" The Blob asked Storm as he rejoined the group. They all looked to her for an answer.
"Charles?" She said into her wrist communicator.
"Storm? Have you defeated your group of Infinites?" The professor promptly responded.
"Yes. What do we do now?"
"You wait. You are far from finished." He answered.
"Why? What--" Her question was interrupted by a heralding clash of thunder in the dusk sky.
"Uh… Storm?" The Beast asked for an explanation as the winds began to gust.
"This isn't natural." Storm responded as the clouds of above began to swirl, acting as though they were trying to form a tornado. Storm's eyes began to glow white while the irises and pupils of her eyes disappeared as she attempted to connect with the atmosphere. The luminosity of her eyes quickly flickered out as the Earth was ripped away from its mother. In the clouds, where the funnel spout would drop down to the ground, the spinning grew faster and faster as a white light began to burn through from above.
"What's happening?!" Magma had to shout over the howling wind.
"I don't know!" Storm yelled back, finally admitting her ignorance. Suddenly, the white light from sky dropped down. The beam of light crashed through the top of the pyramid, allowing for an opening. Something from within the pyramid rose up from the new entrance. The Beast and Storm had to squint to see what it was. "That's not what I think it is… is it?" Storm muttered to herself.
"It can't be." Beast said back, afraid.
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Rogue151 – Never fear, for… uh… I… am here!! You were definitely right about your predictions with the fighting and what not. I'm glad you could tell what was going on, I hate writing fight scenes because I this try to hard to be descriptive and it ends up going too slow. I hope this one passes inspection!! Also, don't cry, Rogue will be back in the NEXT chapter. That's right, the NEXT chapter! You better not miss it!!
Ishandahalf – Stick around, you won't be disappointed!! Rogue will be back next week, and we'll get a little taste of Romyness. And you talk about drama and excitement!! Was this dramatic and exciting enough for you?! Gah!! So demanding! Whatever you think of these past two chapters, it gets better in the next one, stick around and keep those reviews comin' supafast!
AthenaAlpha – Okay, don't worry now, Rogue will be back in the NEXT chapter!! (I'm I repeating myself a little here?) Thanks so much for your sweet review!! I know how you feel. I didn't really know anything beyond TAS cartoons until this summer when I totally took a nose dive into the comicverse. Uncannyxmen.net and mutanthigh.com are great internet resources for information on the comics. I'm glad you like my spin on things!! It's okay if you write long reviews… I have nothing better to do :*( (just kidding!) Keep 'em comin'!!
X-Men fanitic – Yay!! Your reviews always make me soooo happy!! I'm glad you like the accents. I'm always afraid I'm layin' it too thick or not enough. (I live in the south, so you'd imagine writing southern accents wouldn't be that hard, but it is!) Keep your reviews comin' and I'll keep postin'!
Bea H. – Your review made me so happy!! (Do you and X-Men fanatic hang out or something??) I really don't know what to say. It knocked me off my rocker. It's so well put together and complete, and I really love that word 'recontextualised' it rocks my socks, baby. I'm so glad you like my fic so much!! You don't know how happy it makes me to hear that!! Thank you so much, and keep reading!! (By the way, I accept anonymous reviews, so you don't have to e-mail me. It's a lot easier and then every one can see your review too!) Thanks!!
