Mutants scattered as the sentinels broke out their first attack, blasting at them with their chest components. Most managed to dodge aside safely. Avalanche was too slow, however, and was sent flying through the air as the ground beneath him exploded, crashing headfirst into a nearby piece of heavy machinery. He almost regretted not bringing his helmet, but the thought of glass shattering atop of his head wasn't very appealing either. As it was, he was simply rendered unconscious.
"X-Men! Regroup!" shouted Cyclops, dodging another energy blast and rolling to his feet, snapping his hand against his visor and returning the blast with one of his own. The sentinels -did- possess one remarkable flaw in the otherwise brilliant design. They were big, they were tough, they were powerful. But they weren't very fast. Cyclops' optic beam ripped clear the things left shoulder, letting its arm coming crashing down.
By sharp contrast, Pyro wasn't faring to well against the sentinels at all. Like their fight against the stone monoliths in Apocalypse's tomb in Egypt, his fire was all but worthless, bouncing harmlessly off the iron skin of the sentinels. And of course, it didn't matter what shape he gave it, machines did not feel fear or anger or confusion. So it was that the red-headed pyromaniac found himself fleeing, only to be swallowed up in a thick glob of green goo. He lost awareness as it hardened.
The Scarlet Witch was also quickly subdued. Nobody knew if the sentinels recognized her as a greater threat, or if Trask had programmed them with such knowledge, or even if she'd just been unlucky. But whatever the case, her powers of manipulation failed to divert the great glob of green goo that coated her and hardened in seconds. And Boom-Boom, because of her close proximity, was also taken down quickly, sucked up by the sticky green goo.
The remaining mutants began to bid a hasty retreat, firing optic blasts and flaming spikes and icicles at the sentinels, most of which bounce off harmlessly or failed to outright destroy them. Any on a sentinel, anything short of destruction was wasting your time. Spyke grabbed Avalanche as they ran and flung him over his shoulder, but there was nothing they could to help those in the green goo, it was much to heavy for those present to lift. Energy blasts rained down upon the mutants as they ran for the exit, but two of the sentinels anticipated their move and cut off their escape. Thus they found themselves trapped, cornered, and with virtually no means to fight off their opponents. Trask and Spears grinned over at them from the safety of the back of the room, and gleefully watched as their problem began to fall. Guy Spears shrugged and slipped the concentrated virus vial back into his jacket. No sense in making use of it. And of course, if there was a grain of truth in the mutant's words, he'd have it analyzed later.
The sentinels converged on the gathered mutants ominously, preparing to finish them off.
A roar suddenly split the air, coupled with a shriek and a war-cry. The sounds of warriors attacking... or animals. And to the relief of the mutants, they saw it was both.
Wolverine leapt up and slammed all six of his adamantium claws right into the sentinel's back, going straight for the things vital circuits and tearing into them with a vengeance. Alongside him, X23 gracefully leapt clear over his head, aiming for the thing's neck and slicing its head clean off, letting it come crashing down to the ground.
Sentinels again sprang into action, aiming for their nearly destroyed comrade and the newly arrived mutants, launching deadly energy blasts at them. Wolverine and X23 leapt aside, letting them finished off the sentinel, which fell backwards with a crash that shook the room. Sabertooth joined the fray, the wild mutant leaping atop of the broken sentinel and letting out yet another of his characteristic roars.
With the arrival of Wolverine and X23, the battle began decidedly one-sided. In favor of the mutants. Sentinels began to fall left and right, unable to handle the onslaught of such powerful attackers. Adamantium claws and optic blasts ripped them to pieces as Wolverine and Cyclops fought side-by-side.
"Never thought I'd be happy to see you again," remarked Cyclops.
"Shut up and watch your back, Cyke!" shouted Wolverine. Seemed the warning was unnecessary, however. Iceman had already noticed the sentinel and frozen the entire thing solid. It'd take it an hour before it got out of that.
Shadowcat suddenly had a plan, but it required an important partner, and unfortunately Avalanche was unconscious. Cyclops and Wolverine were busy... so was everybody else... there!
"Hey, uh, Sabertooth!" she shouted, getting the bigger mutant's attention. "Up!" she shouted, holding her hands out before her, indicating what she wanted him to do. Sabertooth's eyebrows shot up, but he complied reluctantly, interlacing his fingers at Shadowcat took a running start at him, stepping into his hands. He launched her up into the air, and she took over from there.
Gravity had no effect on Shadowcat when she phased. At least, so far as she'd been able to find out in the Danger Room when they'd tested her ability. She could move down through the earth, or up just as easily. Theoretically, it was even possible for her to fly while phasing, but she was a little reluctant to test this theory. But now she felt almost like she was flying as she phased, her leap and Sabertooth's toss heading her straight towards one of the sentinels, and she passed right through the chest, landing gracefully behind it.
The sentinel short-circuited in moments, and then collapsed, twitching with little sparks of electricity along its frame. And that was the last one. Thus it was that Trask and Spears suddenly found themselves surrounded by a sea of unfriendly faces. Or rather, just Spears had. Trask had, inexplicably, vanished shortly after Wolverine and his comrades had arrived.
Spears fumbled at his jacket, holding out the vial. It was his only protection now.
"Stay back! I'll shatter this I swear!" he shouted.
"You do that and you'll get yourself killed too!" replied Bobby, as he iced down. The fight was over, after all. Now that had to try reasoning.
"Stay back! Damnit I'm warning you all!" he said, and his hand shook fearfully. Reluctantly, Cyclops ordered them to back away a few feet. Spears looked crazy enough to do it.
That's when a loose beam suddenly shook. The battle between the sentinels and the soldiers and the mutants had taken its toll on the factory, of course. And this one beam, while not knocked down, was very loose. And the stress 'caused it to now collapse. The sound echoed throughout the facility, and the mutants tensed, as if expecting another sentinel to show up.
But Spears was terrified, and not thinking straight. He misread their movements as a signal to attack, and flung the vial at the nearest one of them. Bobby Drake. He, in turn, could only watch in horror, as he threw up his hands to protect him instinctively, not able to think fast enough to conjure an ice-shield or something.
Suddenly a small body slammed into Bobby, and he caught sight of dark locks before he was hurled out of the way of the vial. He hit the ground hard, and then looked up, watching as the vial shattered as it hit the temple of X23, the green contents splattering her face and upper body in seconds, and it was quite clear to any and all present that she'd been infected. The mutants congregated around her, trying to help her, to get her cleaned off, even as she collapsed backwards, her body wracked by coughs that were the first stage of the virus.
Spears, seeing their attention was elsewhere, turned on his heel to escape, and slammed straight into the worst person he could've at that particular moment. A short, stocky man with dark hair who grabbed him and pressed three adamantium claws to his throat.
Wolverine.
"I'm only gonna ask this once, bub," he growled darkly, pressing his sharp blades against Spear's throat. Not enough to draw blood... not yet. "What... is... the cure?" Spears hesitated, his mouth open but no sound came out, and Wolverine shook him dangerously. "What is it?!"
"There isn't one!" replied Guy, shaken to the core. And despite his fear, Wolverine could tell he spoke the truth.
Wolverine growled darkly, rearing back his hand as if he intended to plunge all three of his blades deep in Guy Spear's head... but then at the last moment retracted them and just slammed his fist straight into his face, breaking his nose and his jaw and knocking him out for at least a month or so.
Grunting in mild satisfaction, Wolverine tossed him aside, and then made his way over towards X23. She was tough, he knew that... but right now she was hurting, and he couldn't help her. Her skin was covered in sickly green lesions, and from the looks on the gathered mutants, that didn't bode well.
"So there is no cure..." whispered Kitty softly, even as she helped Lance to his feet. He'd regained consciousness, though his head still hurt abysmally. All was silent then, as the impact dawned upon them. There was no cure. There was no way to save their friends and family.
"Bobby... get Sarah to the Blackbird," ordered Scott, breaking the silence. "Alvers, give me a hand if you're up to it, we need to break out the captives," he said, indicating the mutants captured in the hard green goo. "Wolverine, get the others back to the Institute, we'll stay here. Get Sarah to the Danger Room, it's a makeshift med ward. Beast will... will find a cure..." he added, but his voice choked on that last sentence, and it became abundantly clear even steadfast Cyclops had lost his faith.
Everyone snapped into action, glad to be able to do something... anything, at all. Sabertooth vanished into the shadows as they carried out their tasks, but he'd done his part, and he had no claim to any of this any more. Though, silently, he wished them luck.
The Blackbird roared through the air, back to the Institute.
Author's Notes:
No cure. Bet none of you saw that coming, didja? If that shocked you, what comes next will blow your mind. Sorry for the rather poor quality of the fight against the sentinels, but again I make the mistake of far too many fighters all in one room. I really need to learn to divide them up into twos and threes. But, my bad. I'll work on that. And now that the bad guys have been taken care of, all that remains is the virus and an ending. Be it a happy one or a sad one. You'll see soon enough.
Todd fan: That was my intention, to give everyone a little start and act surprised. Glad it worked. If you're reading this, you noticed I did close to the same thing with Lance above. X23, however... well...
DoubleL27: Damn straight, I will. It wasn't a literal body switch. But I've seen plenty of those, and they're mostly humor (like this Kurt/Kitty where they switch bodies). But yeah, I've seen a few stories where Lance and Scott come to terms and its good reading. Maybe I'll do something like that later in my stories.
Comet-hime: You'd marry any of these x-girls, and you know it! Definitely go with the harem, but X23's mine so hands off! Glad you love the insight into Spyke and Scarlet Witch, more of that to come. Plenty of mushy moments to come, you just worry about my subscription! I want my issues!
Taineyah: Amyro isn't evil. But seriously, those two never even met face to face! Everyone just thinks they're cute 'cause of their abilities! I say (*censored*) that! These are the same people who said Iceman and Magma would look cute because of -opposing- abilities! (*censored*) that too! I only work with couples who have chemistry!
Nessie6: She remembers nothing. At the end of Nullification, Wanda's memory was, at her own request, changed so she remembered only the happy, false images Mastermind showed her. And yes, I did notice she was perhaps a tad weaker. But people who want to fight, tend to fight better than those who don't want to. As for Magneto, him later. Trust me, I got somethin' planned for the Brotherhood (plus one Sister).
Deb1: Well thank you, glad you enjoy my combat writing work. I do pride myself on it, but at the same time I'm overly critical of my own work.
Risty: Well that is interesting knowledge, I'll bear it in mind. I'll have to read your stories to find out more. As for the action, glad you liked it. I was going for that kind of effect, just a little.
Aro: Why, so you can get lost again? I updated at my pace, you read at yours, deal? Hope you enjoyed my other stories, like Weapon X24 and Nullification. Or even the little fics like African Fire, Nightmares or Blue Christmas.
Ray1: Oh trust me, Trask and Spears will both get what's coming to them. I am going to come down on them with the Hammer of God. Hard. Already did come down on Spears with the Adamantium Fist of God. Very painful, believe you me.
Rogue14: You didn't see that coming? Muwahahaha! Believe me, I have done nothing evil until I bring about the most feared sentinel ever... Nimrod! And believe me, some day I shall. All that you saw in Ascension shall come to pass. Eventually.
Nessie6: Hehe ya, Sabertooth gets plenty of time in my stories. I can't tell why. Ah well, power to Quicksilver. But Flash has his moments too. A match between them would be something to see... if someone could slow down the instant replay enough to actually see them. Okay, please review those two, I love reviews! Ehehehe, delicious reviews!
