Night descended on the mutant city of Bayville. In the ruined city, the wind howled through the empty, cavernous buildings, moaning into the air like the sounds of whispers. Or screams. But it was deserted, and nobody was around to hear such sounds. Echoes of an attack that had destroyed a city full of people, all to destroy another group of people. People killing people. Mankind's only real predators.
The mutants in the fortress knew nothing of this. They were quiet and content, safe in the steel casings, impenetrable, inaccessible to all but those who possessed the power of magnetism.
Or so they thought.
Thus, the guards on duty by the southwestern entrance were playing cards instead of keeping an eye on things. As it was, Sunspot tossed down his hand in disgust, allowing Lucid to eager grab at his rations, hoarding them close as he drew them in like poker chips. His own hand was dropped as he grabbed at them. The scarred brazilian mutant grumbled darkly. Lucid had been bluffing.
"Better not be using your power," grumbled Sunspot, knowing the reptilian fellow would never think of such a thing. One of Magneto's laws. No mutant used their power against another, save to aid or with permission.
Neither of them noticed the sudden whiff of sulfur that filled the air.
But Lucid did notice as a clawed hand shot clear through his chest, slicing through his flesh as easily as if it'd been paper mache. And there, clutched in the clawed hand, was his own beating heart. Lucid watched with morbid fascination as it stopped beating, and then he slumped forward.
Sunspot scrambled to his feet quick as he could, activating his mutation instinctively. He wasn't very strong at the moment... he hadn't had much time to soak up solar power... but he was damn strong enough to deal with this bastard, whoever he was. Energy pulsated as his body glowed, the skin and uniform turning black as it absorbed light as well as reflected, and he turned to face his opponent.
Whoever he was, he was big. His head brushed against the ceiling as he stood to his full height, nearly seven feet tall, and broad shouldered. Long, dirty blonde hair flowed down around the giant's shoulders. He was dressed in some sort of dark navy uniform, like the human soldiers wore. But he clearly wasn't human. As he grinned, his teeth became visible. They were long and sharp, just like his claws. A mutant.
"Alright you bastard, prepare to...!" Sunspot never got to complete his threat. A sharp blade slid right into his back, penetrating his lung and killing him in seconds. He couldn't even manage another breath before he collapsed on the ground, face-first next to Lucid.
Sunspot's killer stepped into the light, cleaning off his dagger on Sunspot's uniform and re-sheathing it behind his back. Like his much larger companion, he wore a navy blue human uniform. But he was most definitely not a regular human.
He grinned, showing point teeth, and scrambled after his larger companion. They had a mission to accomplish.
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Rogue shifted on the bed, lying on her back... then her side... then on her stomach, hands underneath her chin, sighing heavily. No matter what position she lay in, she couldn't manage to get comfortable. And she was exhausted, already.
Grumbling, she grabbed her uniform and slid it back on, grateful she'd had a chance to have it washed earlier. She opened the door to her room and stepped out. No one was around. No surprise there. Not only was it late, most of the soldiers were still away wreaking havoc on the human troops who'd been posted by the border. Yawning, Rogue brushed back her auburn locks behind her ear, marching off to find the mess hall. She hoped to find some coffee. Or at least some water. Her throat felt like something had crawled down and died.
So it was that Rogue found the mess hall deserted, but thankfully had the much needed coffee she wanted. She figured she could stay up another hour. Not like she had classes in the morning. So it was that she decided to head to the arboretum.
Still half-asleep, Rogue almost didn't notice until she almost stumbled. Grunting, she glanced back to see what had tripped her. The coffee mug in her hands slipped from her numb fingers as she gave a muffled gasp.
It was Lucid. But she could only tell from the greenish, sickly skin. He was covered totally in blood. And there, lying next to him... oh god, Roberto.
Rogue, totally unsure of what to do, stumbled backwards, her back hitting the wall as she ran through her options. At the Institute, if there was trouble, what you did was simple. Holler at the top of your lungs, both orally and telepathically, and wait for either Logan or the Professor to show up. Rogue wasn't sure that would work here.
Still, no harm in trying.
"Help! Someone help me!" she shouted, running up one corridor, then another, repeating her call. Surely someone had to hear her. It wasn't like...
Oh god. What if they were already dead?
"HELP!"
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Fortunately the first people Rogue encountered were Meltdown and Magma. The two girls came running up, powers ready, fully expecting an invasion. Instead they found a shaken Rogue and two murdered comrades.
"Someone's loose in the base," stated Meltdown. "Magma, go with Rogue, get back up... I'll find whoever it is," she added with a grin, filling her hands with glowing energy bombs.
Magma nodded, and she and Rogue took off, immediately bumping into Angel.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Lucid and Sunspot are dead," replied Magma. "We've got an intruder. Possibly more than one."
"Where's Meltdown?"
"Went on ahead to find them."
"What the hell is going on?!" came Jubilee, running up to join Angel and the others. "What's all the ruckus?"
"Intruders."
A muffled boom came from down one of the nearby corridors, and that was all it took for all four of them to spring as quickly as possible down the path towards the explosion. Angel normally would've flown but his wings were still not in the best condition. And Rogue still had yet to completely master flight from Carol's absorbed powers. Thus, the four staggered themselves out so they wouldn't trip over each other's feet as they ran.
They came across Tabby, clutching a line of blood dripping from her forehead and holding a time-bomb in her hand.
"Watch out! There's a lot of them, they're all around!" she shouted, glancing back and forth in confusion.
"Don't worry, there's more of us now!" replied Magma. She and Jubilee powered up, going back to back to back with Meltdown. All three of them watched out for signs of another attacker.
"Rogue! Angel! Go down the way," shouted Tabby, pointing down another corridor. "I saw another one heading that way! Hurry, I think he has a captive!"
Rogue wasted no time, sprinting off down the corridor, Angel following behind her.
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They caught up with him at one of the entrance/exits to the fortress. However, it wasn't sealed shut. The iron plating had been completely torn into a rough hole, and the great man-beast had just grabbed up his captive, throwing him roughly over his shoulder. Rogue skidded to a halt as she recognized them both.
Sabertooth was kidnapping Mindbender.
"Let him go!" she shouted, wasting no time in launching herself forward, using her speed to boost her attack as she slammed her fist right into Sabertooth's chest... and immediately regretted it, wringing her hand in agony even as he flew back. Damnit, that wasn't flesh and bone. That felt more like metal.
Sabertooth growled and shook his head to clear it, growling as he pounced atop of Rogue, slashing at her. She raised her arm and his claws dug in deeply, drawing blood. Rogue gasped in pain, sinking to her knees. She could only stare in her arm at shock. She was bleeding. Sabertooth's claws had drawn blood. How? How was that possible? The pain she could possibly believe. Being invulnerable meant she could still feel sensations, both pain and pleasure, but her skin shouldn't have been penetrated. Not even by the sharpest of steel blades. Were Sabertooth's claws stronger than steel?
Stronger than steel...
Of course!
Sabertooth drew his hand back as Angel slammed into him, his shoulder aimed for Sabertooth's gut, doubling over the giant mutant and slamming him against a wall. Sabertooth clenched both his hands into fists and double-slammed them into Angel's back, sending him to the ground in a crumpled but thankfully still breathing heap on the ground. As he shifted, his claws came into view, and in the light Rogue saw them glitter with an unmistakable shine. Adamantium.
"I'll come back and finish you guys off later," grumbled Sabertooth. "I got a delivery to make," he said, grabbing the unconscious Mindbender and again throwing him over his shoulder. Rogue tried to stand but her wounded arm made her wince and again fall to her knees. She was damn lucky he hadn't completely sliced her arm off.
So it was that Rogue had to let Sabertooth and his prisoner go as Meltdown, Magma and Jubilee rushed up moments later. Their concern was, of course, primarily with the wounded, and thus Meltdown and Magma helped Angel to his feet while Jubilee ripped a strip of cloth from her uniform and wrapped it around Rogue's bleeding arm.
"What happened?" asked Meltdown.
"He took Mindbender... adamantium claws... ripped clear through my arm," replied Rogue, wincing as Jubilee tightened the strip around her arm, sending waves of pain throughout her body. When Jubilee caught her expression of pain she just glared, tightening it. Deal with it, her body posture seemed to say. Reminded Rogue a lot of Wolverine.
"We have to get him back," stated Magma.
"Are you stupid? They've probably got a whole platoon out there," replied Jubilee angrily. "This was their plan all along, lure away the soldiers then break in. We're just lucky they stole Mindbender instead of planting bombs!"
A thought occurred.
"Why did they just take Mindbender?" murmured Rogue.
"Maybe their buddy knows," remarked Angel, pointing down the corridor. The group tensed, but relaxed mildly when they saw that only Colossus was coming, dragging something behind him. Something blue, from the looks of it. Roughly, he tossed their intruder into the light, and Rogue received yet another shock to her already over-stressed system.
Dark, navy-blue hair, shorn extremely close to his head in military fashion. Natural navy-blue, no less. A uniform of a similar dark color, molded against his athletic body. Blue fur clung to every visible part of his flesh, and his mouth hung slack, his fangs clearly visible. A red vertical stripe graced his cheek under his left eye, going almost all the way down to his jaw. Clearly a mutant.
"Oh god... Kurt..."
Author's Notes:
Mutants killing mutants? What has the world come to? Victor and Kurt working together? The world no longer makes sense! Arrrgh. Regular Lucid would so cheat at cards though, wouldn't he? X-Ray vision. Who wouldn't? All will be explained in time. Kurt's appearance, including the red stripe tattoo/scar is of course referring to his Age of Apocalypse alter ego. Those familiar with said alter ego are no doubt familiar as to why Kurt and Victor were together, and what they're doing. As to why they kidnapped David? I'll take guesses, but I'm not telling until next chapter, so nyah! Ah, one final thing regarding Rogue's invulnerability vs. adamantium. I'm not 100% sure she's vulnerable to said metal, but I do need the poor girl to have at least one or two weak spots, and if she isn't well... creative license! Double nyah!
X00001: Seems you are destined for disappointment... for this story focuses on Rogue. And, as you can see... the super humans was a red herring. To draw attention away from the real plot. Ha! Tricked you all!!
Nessie6: Of course that'd hurt. That's the point. Anything that'd take out Logan isn't going to be subtle or gentle. It's gonna rip the poor man to shreds. And yeah, frequent updates due to the fact that I was on a roll. Roll is now ended.
Star-of-Chaos: Who the heck pairs Jubilee with Wolverine? I admit I've seen her with some strange partners though. Pietro. Bobby. Arcade (I rather like that one though, actually.) She just has so little time on Evo she's tossed around casually. Poor Jubes.
Sashi: Dark Hollow, home of BlackEagle and his grand daughter, Danielle Moonstar. The mysterious fear-inducing mutant. Yes, that was a Charlie-esque motion that I had Magneto do. And I didn't really in to intend Ororo and Warren as anything other than good friends, but I guess you can read it as a cute couple too. Although I think Warren's a little young for her.
Peace215: Special enough for ya? I certainly hope so. Yes I love foreshadowing and ominous build ups. Its how I work best. Ooooh I am so deliciously evil, aren't I?
The-unnamable666: Ah, like the poor mutants, you worry what is at the front door, and ignore the back. Muwahahaha. There is a reason I had Rogue stay behind, you know. I'm very crafty about such plot development. If I do say so myself. And I do.
Todd fan: Horrible way to die. But could've been worse. There are -plenty- of worse ways to die, believe me. This story will examine just a few of 'em. Glad you enjoyed the Tabby/Amara implied scene, as well as Warren's brief screen time. He'll get more later. He's so underused. And for a season that had Apocalypse for crying out loud.
Princess Myra: A fair question. Bobby lost his mother, father, and brother, who were trying to protect him. Some mutant families cared about their offspring, some did not. In my AU, at least. The Pryde's shipped off Kitty too without too much trouble. Meanie AU Pryde's.
Terminatrix T-X: 'fraid not. But I do have something in mind. Soon, Rogue will have enough troubles to worry about before she can go home. And yeah, I was kinda hoping to inspire the hatred for the humans with all they were doing. The bit with the stars and stripes becoming a symbol as much as the swaztica was meant especially to inspire hatred towards the AU humans.