Quicksilver was, unsurprisingly, first to join battle with the hated human foes. He wasn't the arrogant speedster from Rogue's world. He was dangerous, he was hate-filled. Humans had slain his sister during the very beginning of the war. Magneto grieved for her, and of course Pietro did too. They were twins, after all. Two sides of the same coin. And now Pietro could not help but always feel alone. He tried filling his life with other people, and it was a rare night when he didn't have some girl or another sharing his room with him, but nothing could fill the hole in his heart.
Except vengeance.
So it was that he zipped in the line of defense that was hastily erected, slamming his fist into the face of an unsuspecting soldier and watching with satisfaction as he crumpled like he'd been struck by a cannonball. Grimacing, Quicksilver skidded to a halt, rubbing his sore knuckles. Felt like he'd hit one too. He was faster than a speeding bullet but he wasn't more powerful than a speeding locomotive.
Speaking of dodging bullets...
By the time reinforcements arrived, Quicksilver had the enemies full attention, zipping back and forth between them, dodging their energy rifles and letting their blasts fly everywhere. Everywhere but at him, of course. Two particularly slow troopers actually managed to shoot each other as he zipped between them.
"Idiots," he grinned, whirling in and out of combat with the incredible speed for which he was famous.
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Husk took a roll as she neared the combat, dodging an energy blast that lanced over her head. Growling, she dug her nails into her right arm, drawing blood in seconds. It never failed to excite her, the delicious pain of her mutation. With absolutely no hesitation she ripped the skin clean off her arm, revealing what lay beneath... a solid steel blade.
Husk was a metamorph, though of a considerably different class than Mystique was. Husk's ability allowed her to shed her outermost layer of skin, and alter her body underneath in such a way that once the skin was removed, her new form came into effect. It had been difficult to control at first, but now she'd mastered it.
Tossing aside the rapidly decaying skin of her right forearm, she lashed out with the new blade in its place, slicing off the head of one unfortunate trooper and ripping another clean in half... vertically. Blood splattered over her uniform, but she paid it no heed.
An energy blast caught Husk off guard, lancing through her shoulder and sending her flying through the air to collapse in a heap on the ground. Grunting, she allowed her blade-arm to revert to normal. She needed a few seconds to recover her energy before she could perform another skin-metamorphosis. But that soldier had been already dispatched by her big bro Cannonball, so she sat back, waiting, and hoped she wouldn't be needed overly much in the next few minutes.
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Cannonball slammed into the back of another soldier, shattering his spine and landing on his feet, giving his little sister a thumbs up before he leapt up into the air and rocketed off again, looking for another target. They were starting to run out, but Cannonball was secretly grateful for that.
He hated this war. This war threatened all those he considered close to him. His sister, and even Rahne. Those were the only two people he cared about now. His family he didn't care about. They hadn't put up one word of protest when he and Paige had been dragged off to some mutant containment camp, shackled and experimented on, poked and prodded to find the secret of their genes. They'd been lucky enough to get away before they'd been branded. Some others weren't so fortunate.
He didn't care much for Magneto or his commander Cyclops either. Despite his hatred for humans, Cannonball wasn't cut out to be a soldier. He hated fighting, he hated killing, he hated all this death and blood. Made him sick. And only Rahne knew that in the mornings he prayed for forgiveness, asking that God forgive his sins. And he had a lot of them.
Most mutants didn't believe in God anymore. Not in any shape or form. Or if they did, they hated God. They hated him for making their world Hell, and for making them all suffer, just because they were born. Sam was, as far as he could tell, the only exception. And even he wasn't terribly devout.
But, that was the way the world turned, he thought, spotting another soldier. Fortunately Wolfsbane beat him too it, jamming her claws into his gut and ripping them clean out. Ah well, one less kill on his conscience.
He had enough sins on his heart without adding any more.
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A roar split the air as Rahne's fellow polymorph joined the fray, swatting aside guards like annoying flies and letting their energy blasts bounce harmlessly off her green scaled skin like the annoying bites of fleas. Roaring, she leapt forward and gulped up one such unfortunate soldier, chewing him up and spitting him back out again.
"Waste of good food," remarked Berzerker, giving her a nudge in the side as he slid in close, launching an electrical blast at a soldier Scaleface hadn't seen coming in time.
"You know I only chew... human flesh is disgusting," remarked Scaleface, slipping back effortlessly into her humanoid form. About half the population of mutants looked human, the other half didn't. Scaleface fell into the second category, in both her forms. Her one form was that of a gigantic lizard, hence her name. Her other was a wiry and gaunt girl of about sixteen, with purple locks and sickly greenish skin. She also had yellow, reptilian pupils.
She flipped back her purple locks in one smooth motion, grabbing the energy pistol at her side and joined Berzerker as they did clean up. Didn't matter, the battle was almost over, if it could even be called a battle. This was pathetic.
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Rogue stayed close to Cyclops throughout the entire fight. Not that she needed protection. Her mutation and the energy pistol in her hands made her a deadly enough opponent. But that was perhaps what concerned her.
They were killing the soldiers. And doing so gleefully, in a number of cases. It was yet another shock to her system.
X-Men never kill. It was one of the main principles Professor X had attempted to teach his students when he'd instructed them. Killing solved nothing. It only increased fear, anger, and distrust of mutants. And you could not change the views of a dead person. Plus, most of the X-Men were, admittedly, little more than kids and teens. They should not have to endure that sort of unpleasantness.
But now Rogue was enduring it. Had to endure it. But to watch men and women being casually slaughtered was enough to sicken anyone. Rogue felt her stomach start to rebel, and she felt weak. Cyclops grabbed her shoulder to steady her.
"It's okay, we're almost done here," he said, punching off an optic blast and knocking another soldier aside. The nature of his attacks left to much desired in that they could not kill a person unless he held his gaze on them for a long period of time. However, unconscious, they could be killed at the leisure of any of the other mutant soldiers present. Scaleface drove this point home when she... oh god...
Rogue turned and unleashed the contents of her stomach, noisily unleashing that morning's breakfast. Cyclops, sensing the battle was quieting down a little, kept watch over her.
"Oh gawd," she moaned, wiping her lips with the back of her hands. "How on earth can you people do stuff like that?" she asked.
Cyclops's gaze hardened behind his ruby visor as he turned to regard her coldly. "It's either us or them, Rogue. Most of us came to terms with that a long time ago."
"Cyclops," said Ms. Marvel, drifting down to rejoin them. "Two stragglers managed to get away. They're heading east, back the way they came. They might have reinforcements."
"Keep an eye on Rogue," ordered Cyclops, climbing atop of a nearby car hood and shouting out orders. "Quicksilver! Grab the injured and get them back to the base, ASAP! Husk, you still good?"
"I'm fine sir!" she replied heartily, covering her wounded shoulder with a cloth, pressing her free hand against it to stanch the bleeding.
"You and Avalanche redeploy to the east, we might have company!"
"Yes sir!" she and Avalanche replied, doing as they were ordered.
Suddenly an explosion rocked the ground, and Rogue stumbled, barely able to catch herself against one of the trucks. All the mutants looked up. A military chopper. Big, high-tech, and hovering right over their heads. A flurry of bullets rained down, as Cyclops dodged for cover. The hood of the truck he'd been on exploded as he rolled to safety. Immediately fire was returned. Electricity and bone spikes shot through the air, but they bounce harmlessly against the thick, armored helicopter.
Growling, Rogue opened fire, aiming for the pilots, but her blasts flew wild as it dipped down and over the collected mutants. She wasn't used to using such weapons anyway. She barely knew how to throw a shuriken.
"They're trying to destroy the convoy!" shouted Avalanche, frustrated his powers were useless against an aerial opponent. "They want to deny us the supplies!"
"Get down!" Scaleface shouted.
A missile flew from the plane, aimed for the supply truck nearest Rogue. It exploded on impact, and Rogue leapt backwards. Ms. Marvel, seeing her peril, swooped back from her attack on the chopper to protect her friend. Ms. Marvel grabbed Rogue and safely shielded her body from the worst of the blast with own invulnerable form. Chunks of the truck, however, flew everywhere, and one slammed clean into Rogue's head, giving her a nasty gash, even as she fell forward... right atop of Ms. Marvel.
What happened then could only be described as a disaster.
Rogue's bare skin hit Ms. Marvel's even as her body hit hers. Both effects hit simultaneously. Carol cried out in the pain normally associated with having her life-force drawn out of her body, but Rogue did not even stir. The blow to her head had knocked her unconscious, as she fell atop of Carol, knocking her to the ground. Worse, their contact was not broken. Carol quickly lost consciousness.
It was a strange sensation. Your life, your energy, your powers, your memories, everything about you was being completely drained out of your body. Carol's last thoughts were utter shock, and then her body collapsed underneath Rogue.
Cyclops, unaware of the situation involving the alternate Rogue and the good soldier Ms. Marvel, was taking matters into his own hands.
"Take this you bastards!" he roared. Without hesitation he ripped off his visor, unleashing his full, unrestrained optic blasts at the helicopter. Waves of rippling ruby energy poured over it, and in seconds even the dura-steel hide of the humans most advanced technology could not stand up to the raw power of Cyclops's mutation. Barely any debris hit the ground, and as for the pilots and crew, they didn't even leave anything left to bury. Not that Cyclops and his men would've done it anyone.
Grunting softly, Cyclops replaced his visor, seeing again to the wounded. Worst off was perhaps Berzerker, who was bleeding heavily from a cut above his torso where some twisted metal had hit him. Husk was more or less okay. And then... oh god, Rogue.
Cyclops jogged over towards the fallen girls, gently grabbing Rogue and rolling her onto her back so he could judge her condition. Painfully aware of her mutation, Cyclops looked for obvious signs of life before he did anything like check for a pulse. But she was breathing, and from what he could see she wasn't injured, except for a nasty gash along her head...
No, wait... the gash had sealed up, right before his eyes. He blinked, double-checking that his perpetually red vision and the blood hadn't tricked him. No, he was right. It was completely gone. Ms. Marvel, on the other hand, wasn't breathing. Cyclops leaned in, checking her for a pulse. There was one, but it was faint... very faint. Grimacing, he lifted his head.
"Quicksilver! Get here, now!" he shouted, not entirely surprised when the white-haired speedster appeared before he'd shouted out the second word. "Get these two back to the base now, and have Forge and Beast take a look. They need medical attention."
"You got it boss," he replied, grabbing Ms. Marvel and throwing her over his shoulder. He was about to grab Rogue when Cyclops's hand stopped his, inches away from her.
"Don't make skin to skin contact with this one."
"Oh come on, where's the fun in that?" asked Quicksilver with a smirk.
"Your funeral," replied Cyclops, standing up and brushing off his trousers. Ignoring him as he grabbed Rogue and zipped off, he turned his attention back to his other soldiers and their mission. They'd lost one truck full of supplies, but the rest of the convoy seemed to be in good shape. He gave out orders to grab what they could and haul ass as fast as they could away from here.
No one complained. Last thing they wanted was to be caught out in the open without back up. Cyclops just hoped Quicksilver could get Rogue and Marvel back in time for help. He could travel at Mach 2, speed of sound, when the need suited him, and Cyclops hoped he didn't run into anything on the way.
He couldn't lose her... again.
Author's Notes:
Poor Rogue. Such an angst-magnet, its so natural for her. Ah well. Hope you liked the insights into the AU Quicksilver, Husk, Cannonball and Scaleface. Scaleface's joke about chewing but not swallowing is a reference to 'Dragonheart.' More of those to come with the other AU Evo characters, as well as some of the AU OC's. This is why I rated the fic R, by the way, vividly described battle scenes. I am pulling no punches here, so keep the little kiddies away from this. It gets worse after this. Adult issues. Run, little ones, run. As for Pietro's max speed, I honestly don't know how fast he's capable of in the comics, but I'm leaving Evo's at Mach 2. That's plenty fast.
Ray1: I try to be as accurate and impartial as I can. But the guy in me just enjoys writing little scenes like that. Glad I am that Ray1 enjoys Rurouni Tyriel's work. Ackt, now you have me referring to myself in third person.
Risty: Little slow on the uptake, are we? Well, frankly... YES! Yes its because Kitty's dead. Details later. Mystique's gotten a really bad hand dealt to her, especially in Evo where she's been locked up, thrown around, tossed out, and even damn near killed. I try to emphasize her good qualities.
Sashi: 'fraid not, no Lorna. Hope my portrayal of Husk was up to your standards. Oh and yes, Caldecott was Evo Rogue's hometown. I love using little details like this in my stories. Like you, I like to keep the audience on their toes. Crafty ff.net writers, we are.
Todd fan: Poor muties? You should worry about the humans a little. They're the one's on the receiving end of a lot of punishment these days. I say, poor everyone. Especially poor out-of-place-not-my-universe-Rogue. She is truly to be pitied. Especially now.
Nessie6: How's that for dialogue and time for your favorite speedster? Even got some insight into his new AU personality. TAS I don't think is on anymore, like Evo its just been retired from the air waves. Well, mutants kicked some ass. Was it everything you ever dreamed it would be? Hehe.
Son of Logan and Ororo: Nah, I'll just leave that to your imaginations. And I love little scenes like what I did with Rogue and Mystique. I did something similar back in Infection with Charles and Moira. It's always those last words that make the audience laugh. Hehe.
DoubleL27: 'fraid those quickfire updates have to end. Finals coming, and I really got to buckle down or I'm gonna get kicked out of the university. But I'll try and make it weekly at worst. And yeah, poor Rogue. But you're probably right about how Lance will react. And he will. Glad the Mom joke cracked you up. I'm always worried, because humor isn't my strong point. As for why Rogue and Carol were bonding so well? Rogue's all alone in a strange world. She needs to make some friends.
Elrohirthewriter: Glad you're enjoying the story, as well as its similarities to DOFP. That is where I'm drawing most of the elements of it. Bishop's worse, but I've seen some good Evo Cable's every once in a while. Julia345 did him remarkably well, all things considered. But he still will never be number one with me.
Rogue14: Of course not Romy! Remy's dead in the AU! *dances a little jig* Scogue later. Or at least elements of a Scogue that'll make all you and your fellow Scogue shippers go "Awwwww."