Avalanche thrust out his hands, and the ground obeyed.  It shuddered, it shook, it rippled like the unsteady tide of the ocean.  But water was soft.  Rock was hard.  Guards could not find their feet, and thus it was harder for them to aim their guns.  It gave the mutants time to scatter, time to counter-attack.

Boom-Boom was one of these, hurling her bombs left and right, not so much to injure as to distract, to confuse, to scare the soldiers and cause their fire to go wild.

"Re-group!" shouted Trask over the explosions.  "Re-group and take down those filthy mutants!"

"Filthy?!  Filthy?!  I had a bath not 'alf an hour ago!" shouted Pyro in retaliation, still standing up in the middle of the factory as if he hadn't the faintest idea bullets were all whizzing about his head wildly.  Cyclops charged over and knocked him down, getting him out of the line of fire.

"Alvers!  Quit the earthquakes, you'll bring down the whole place on us!"

"Shut up Summers!" he retorted, ignoring his command.  "I know what I'm doing!"

This he stated moments before one particularly weak point in the ceiling was wracked by shudders, and a great chunk of rock started to fall... right atop of Wanda's head.  She gave a shriek and thrust her hands up, but even she didn't have the kind of power to stop something like that in time.

Thus it was that the rock came crashing down, and Wanda vanished as great clouds of dust arose.

One down.  Seven to go.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spyke growled and hurled himself forward, directly at Trask and Spears, determined to bring them down and thus end the threat to mutants once and for all.  However, they were more than aptly prepared to once again move away from the heat of battle, and led their soldiers do the work.  Six of them surrounded Spyke, but he made quick work of their weapons with his flaming spikes, letting the metal break and scatter on the ground.  Still, he hadn't hit any of them.  They weren't his targets, their bosses were.

So it was that he popped a spear free and swung it about  him, giving them a clear idea that he knew how to use it, then he dropped down and held it behind him, under his arm, and beckoned them on with his free hand.

Two guards had the wits to charge from both angles at once, but Spyke was far too quick, swinging out his staff and whirling it in a circle, striking them both hard on the head and rendering them unconscious.  Without even turning he could sense the third guard rushing at his back to try and overbear him, so he leapt up and backwards, backflipping and slamming his foot into the guards back, sending him sprawling into one of his comrades.  That left only two.  One who had the good sense to run, and the other who was reaching for a grenade.  Spyke's eyes widened, and he shot a tiny, unlit spike into the guard's leg, dropping him to his knees.  The grenade, minus the pin, rolled over roughly between them.

Time seemed to slow...

Spyke's first instinct was to leap backwards and clear the blast of the grenade.  But, he realized, the guard would never be able to escape with his leg like it was.  And some part of him was pleased by that fact.  After all, he worked for Trask and Spears, and he must have known what he was doing, must have known how he'd be hurting mutants.  His death wouldn't be a tragedy, as far as Evan was concerned.

As the seconds seemed to stretch on, Spyke took a good look at the guard.  He was only a young man, perhaps no more than thirty.  Probably with a wife at home, and maybe kids.  They'd miss him, they'd mourn his death.  And, he realized... they would blame mutants, and the hatred would be fanned.

It was for this reason and this one only, that Spyke leapt forward and grabbed the grenade, hurling off into a distant part of the factory where it exploded without causing significant damage.

For a while they regarded one another.  Soldier and mutant.  Two sides, not really that unalike at all.

Then Spyke slammed his staff against the soldiers face and rendered him unconscious with a vindictive smirk.  He owed the bastard far more, but this'd do for now.  He had to attend to his employers.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cyclops and Pyro ducked out of sight behind some an overturned piece of machinery, as bullets rained down along their path, narrowly missing their feet.

"Great, this is all we need," grumbled Cyclops.  Grunting, he peered over the edge of the machinery, spotting Trask and Spears retreating towards the small elevator-lift to try and regain some ground since, as far as they could see, none of the mutants present could fly.

An idea occurred to Cyclops.

"Pyro.  I need a distraction.  Can you get those guards away from the main tower over there?" he asked, pointing in its direction.

"Sure thing mate!" he replied, standing up and igniting both of his flame-throwers.  Fiery hot energy poured forth, shaping itself into a great winged demon, which gave a great roar, immediately drawing all attention to itself.  The mutants, recognizing Pyro's attacks, wisely chose to keep clear, as the soldiers, foolishly, opened fire on it.  Quickly they learned a lesson about fire.  Like the other elements of the world, it was difficult to damage.

Thus it was that the fire demon swooped down low and the troopers scattered fearfully, running in all directions as the fire monster roared and swooped at them, though to the relief of the X-Men they saw Pyro was having too much fun to try and actually kill anyone.  He wanted to have more fun.  Still, they could thank heaven for small mercies.

This gave Cyclops the opportunity he needed.

His optic blasts lanced from his eyes, bursting out and slicing clear through the working mechanisms above the elevator, cutting off Trask and Spear's escape.  If they got caught in the heat of things they might start to sweat and do something stupid, but better than then allow them to escape.

Cyclops released the hold on his visor, allowing it to seal off his deadly optic blasts and returned to the fray.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the battle in the abandoned Legacy factory raged on, in the rest of Bayville, things were becoming decidedly worse.

Because the virus was airborn, even imposing quarantine on all the houses and apartment complexes wasn't enough to keep them completely safe.  People, normal human beings, were starting to become sick.  At first their neighbors and relatives blamed them, saying they were filthy mutants and such.  But as time went on, and the plague spread, it became apparent that this was not the case.  Everyone was susceptible now.

Thus it was that Dorothy, secretary to the Mayor of Bayville, covered her mouth once more, coughing violently, as she staggered towards the door to Kelly's office.  She needed to warn him before he caught anything from her.  Then she needed to get to a hospital.

She pushed open the door… and screamed.

Mayor Edward Kelly lay unconscious on his desk, papers scattered everywhere.  And all over his face and hands, were the sickly green lesions of the virus.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Scarlet Witch was pissed off.

Having a huge chunk of granite fall on anyone's heads would do that to you.  Thought thankfully, she thought as she stepped out of it, it hadn't even hit her.  Kitty slipped out beside her, and released her hand.  Thank goodness she'd been underneath when it'd hit.  That was twice she owed the brunette.  She'd repay it by not carving her initials in Lance's hide for nearly killing her.

But still, had to get the anger out somehow.

Bright, pulsating blue energy permeated her entire body, glowing fiercely like a bonfire, as her powers reached their fullest.  And this time, she made no effort to hold herself back.  With a cry of rage and frustration at the world in general, she let loose her powers.

"This is for my brother!" she roared.

To describe what happened next as chaotic would have been a dreadful understatement.  To be more accurate, it would perhaps have been better to say that each and every law of physics was suddenly repealed.  Violently.

Objects exploded.  Objects flew around the room.  Soldiers flew around the room.  Pyro's flame monster suffered a most violent death as the flames bent, twisted, and writhed, suddenly sprouting off into smaller demons that flew about the room like cackling imps, chasing after the soldiers.  Through it all, Wanda watched, her eyes bathed in blue light as her hands were thrust out, forefinger and pinky extended, commanding her powers.

Wanda and Pietro were more than just brother and sister.  They were twins.  They were two halves of the same whole.  They were not complete without the other, despite their dislike of one another.  Those long years they'd been separated had been hard on both of them.  And the thought of losing him now... enraged her.  And her power fed on her anger.

When it was over, not a single soldier was left standing.  They'd either been knocked unconscious or sent running for their lives.  Only two remained, their escape cut off on one side by an angry, flaming spiked Morlock and the other by a blonde who made things blow up.  Their useless escape route behind them, and no where to run.  Unless they both spontaneously mutated the ability to fly.

"It's over, both of you," stated Cyclops, pleased to note that no casualties were involved.  Mutant or otherwise.

"Never!" shouted Spears, turning to his comrade.  He grabbed Trask by the jacket, now clearly afraid.  And with good reason, Spyke was advancing on him with a very unfriendly look on his face.  "Trask, this is why I bothered to bring you in!  Stop these filthy mutants!"

"It's already done," remarked Trask who was, despite being so close to so many deadly enemies, unafraid.  Grinning, he held up something in his hand.  And though the gathered mutants tensed... it wasn't a gun.  It was a remote.  With a single red button.

The whirr of metal moving, of machines preparing.  Five pairs of golden eyes appeared in the darkened corners of the room, and as they shifted, red and black steel became visible in the light.  Sentinels.  They'd been hidden all around the room, under heavy machine, inside some of the storage containers, one even popped up right under the floor.  They'd been hidden, but now they were active, in motion, and hunting.  Hunting mutants.

The screen of one sentinel's golden gaze settle on Avalanche, Shadowcat, and the Scarlet Witch, who were moving closer together for safety.  Its inner gaze lit up with its orders as it locked onto them.

[Mutant signatures... detected.]

[Terminate.]

Author's Notes:

And now that we're done with the opening act, let the show begin.  I hope you all liked some of the good combat writing I did.  It went by a little fast but, again, that's because so many fighters were involved.  I really should start cutting back on the numbers involved, so I can do better.  Ah well.  And of course I hope you liked the team dynamics, working together (or not) as they did.  As well as the insights into Wanda and Evan.  More to come soon as available, promise.  Now the virus is spreading, people are getting sick, and even Kelly and Dorothy aren't immune.  That'll teach 'em!  Oh, and I see clarification is needed on perhaps one simple point.  After his disaster in 'Nullification', Trask studied Cyclops and learned about the ruby quartz in his visor and sunglasses.  Perhaps I didn't clarify how he knew about it.  I know its not exactly common knowledge among non-mutants.

Todd fan: Paul?  What'd he ever do?  Oh wait, he did point out the Scott-Rogue relationship.  You're right, go Paul!

DoubleL27: Close indeed.  And you'll see soon enough.  As for Scott and Lance, I see some things like that all the time.  I remember this particularly bad story where some author had them switch roles for a day.  It sucked, but it does prove my point.

Comet-hime: I may take you up on that offer.  Hehehe, jk.  But glad you like Tabby.  I like her too, she's got so much energy.  Just you remember our agreement!  Fan ficcies for fan piccies!  Preferably pictures that should properly belong in Playmutant.  ^_^

Risty: Build up, and more build up!  Now we got Sentinels baby!  And you say no one's ever used the ruby quartz idea before?  Well, perhaps nobody ever knew about it being how Cyclops controls his power.

Nessie6: Well more than glad to remind you.  Well, as you could see, mostly Wanda for now, but I did mention her twin.  Pietro to come later.  Yes, yes, more Pyro, more Avalanche, more Cyclops, everybody you like and quite a few you don't, all comin' at ya!.

Rogue14: Oh you do, do you?  Then I say you will not be disappointed… with the next few chapters.

Ray1: I dunno if they consider their job very fun.  But yes, they are most definitely going to rip Trask and Spears a new one or two.  And I always let there be justice in the world, if you've read my other stories.  Bad guys never get away with being bad.

Raphaella: Updating fast as I can, but I can only type so fast, dontcha know?  In the meantime, check out my other stories.  That'll keep you preoccupied for plenty of time so I can update.  If you love this, check out Weapon X24 and Nullification.  This is a sequel to those stories.

CrypticIdentity: Chronologically, considering who caught it first, Kurt, Todd and Jamie.  But you'll see whom I plan to kill and whom shall live.  And they'll take down Trask and Spears the same way they do every villain they've fought.  The Weapon Xees will be along to give 'em a hand soon enough.

Elrohirthewriter: Not what I had in mind.  And since Irene is referred to as a foster mother, I don't think it was together, per se.  But yes I know what you mean.  And of course I'm not.  Just like I'm not crazy.  I'm delightfully eccentric.