Magma quickly lit up the battlefield with some magma flares, having the molten rock pour out of the earth in controlled geysers that lit up the field and gave the mutants a better view of their opponents.
A view they'd come to regret having.
The machines began to move. At first confused for tanks or some sort of energy cannons, the machines shuddered, taking on a more familiar, and sinister shape. Humanoid shapes. Beast had heard from Nightcrawler the report of what these things were like, but he hoped the other blue mutant had been exaggerating. Apparently he hadn't been.
Sentinels.
There were four of the monstrosities, one for every two mutant soldiers they were up against. Based on the size though, they could've easily handled a dozen mutants without showing a scratch on the red-plated armor.
The nearest stepped forward, making the ground shudder. Its chest glowed blue, and Beast barely managed to dodge aside before a blast shot forth, obliterating the ground behind him and sending mutants in every direction.
"Scatter!" he shouted over the confusion, even as he rolled onto his shoulder and to his feet in a practiced motion. "Give them everything you've got!" he roared, charging on all four towards the nearest Sentinel.
"Long live Magneto!" shouted some of his soldiers as they charged, shouting a battle-cry that had become common place among Magneto's soldiers.
Beast roared and leapt up, using his powerful leg muscles. He succeeded in grabbing the Sentinel by the shoulder, digging his short but still powerful fingers in between plates the hard steel covering it. Then, with a mighty roar, he yanked with all his strength, succeeding in prying loose one of the plates. This he swung hard at the sentinel's head. It retaliated by swinging its shoulder rapidly, sending the great Beast hurling to the ground. He rolled, landing on his feet, and immediately began to run as energy blasts started to rain down along the ground, nearly catching his feet as he leapt up and flipped and dodge, zigging and zagging every which way to avoid being hit.
Calliban charged forward, though at a slow pace, aiming his energy rifle and launching blast after blast. His expression was calm, his stance relaxed. Each shot hit dead center of the sentinel's chest, with little more effect than bouncing off and creating a fancy light show. Still, he continued to fire, hoping to weaken the armor enough to blast through it.
The sentinel thought perhaps the same. Or maybe it'd grown tired chasing Beast around. Whatever the case, it suddenly turned to face Calliban who still, despite the threat, remained calm. His legs tensed, however, and he prepared to leap out of the way the instant the thing tried to target him.
Perhaps it knew that as well.
The sentinel's chest compartment opened up, its arms and shoulders stretching wide as yet more energy blasters came into view. Calliban's eyes opened wide, as they all started to charge up. Oh well, he thought... I've led a miserable life...
Energy blasts rained down, and Calliban was obliterated in seconds. So was half the hillside, choked in thick clouds of dust as Beast roared, rushing forward to avenge his dead comrade. Growling, he grabbed the machine's foot, hefting with all his strength, and threw it high into the air. The sentinel stumbled, twisting backwards and falling onto its back with a shudder that shook the ground. Beast wasted no time, leaping up onto the machine's chest compartment, right in the way of fire. One chance now... had to find... there!
Calliban's attacks hadn't been in vain. He'd managed to crack open a portion of the compartment. All Beast needed. He dug his thick hands in, growling and ripping it open with all his strength. And there, inside...
... a power matrix.
He'd been right. He'd theorized (as quickly as he could, considering he was in the middle of a fight) that a powerful machine like these sentinels would need some sort of power core. And logically, it had to be housed in the very center of the machine. It couldn't fit anywhere else. And hopefully once past the armor, it could be destroyed. Without power, the machine would be helpless.
Beast didn't hesitate, swinging his enormous fist towards it, and it shattered like glass. Some of the shards sliced through his knuckles, be he ignored the pain. The explosion he noticed, as it sent him flying through the air, landing with a heavy thud on his back. But as he lifted his head, he saw to his vast relief the sentinel lay on the ground, twitching as sparks of electricity flew around its shattered limbs. It was beaten.
So am I, thought Beast. Ah well.
"Unnatural deeds, do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds to their deaf pillows will discharge their... their..."
Beast's head rolled back, and he lay very still.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The superhumans opened fire as soon as they had targets, and like Beast's team miles away, Storm's split into small pairs and one-man groups. Mutant tactics generally did this, since having too many people close together tended to draw them into each other's crossfire. The fog cleared, and both sides could clearly see one another now. Jubilee's sparks lit up the air, and then rained down on the human soldiers, keeping them distracted as the mutants charged.
Cannonball was first into battle, rocketing forward, fist extended, determined to take down as many as he could, as fast as he could. End this battle as soon as possible.
But he soon found out the superhumans had other plans. They were good. Very good. At time he shot at one they moved out of the way, and another opened fire on him. He was invulnerable while he blasted, true, but he couldn't slow down, couldn't take time to readjust his course and remain safe. Thus, he ended up crashing through trees and rocks more often than targets.
He kept at it though. They had to tire sooner or later. Or his friends would arrive. They'd better make it soon though.
Suddenly they were there.
Husk waded into combat with such confidence and daring that for a moment Cannonball was tempted to rush to his little sisters side and save her. That was, of course, before he was able to stop and get a good look at her.
Husk had shed all of her outer skin, and beneath she looked essentially the same, though now her entire body gleamed with a shiny texture of metal. No, not just any metal. Adamantium. Husk had transformed herself into solid adamantium! Even her clothes had been duplicated, her uniform adamantium molding against her body. Her hair was the same texture, as if some artist had taken a huge hunk of adamantium and decided to craft a statue of Husk. A moving, breathing, fighting... statue...
Bullets didn't even leave a scratch as she casually walked up to one such superhuman and grabbed him by the throat, snapping it with the barest twist of her wrist. And through it all, she had a tiny little smirk on her lips. She was enjoying herself.
His sister's life out of danger, Cannonball turned his attention about the field of battle, searching for the other important woman in his life.
Wolfsbane was having much more difficulty however, grappling with one of the superhumans, a dark-haired man not much older than she was. His uniform was covered in scratches and tears, but Wolfsbane was visibly tired and struggling against his superior strength. His gun lay on the ground beside the two clashing titans, as they stared into each other's eyes and tried their very hardest to break the other's grip.
Cannonball solved their problem by moving up behind the superhuman and tapping him on the shoulder. His attention diverted, Cannonball's fist slammed full force into his jaw, sending him reeling to the ground. Rahne leapt down and jammed her claws into his gut, ripping it to shreds.
"Well that was fun," remarked Cannonball, wringing his wrist. His knuckles hurt abysmally. "Didn't even need my powers."
"Come on," she said, bounding off. "Husk needs back-up."
"Comin'," he replied, shooting up into the air and following after her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the Atlantic ocean, not half an hour travel from the coast of England, the S.S. Pearl coasted at a leisurely pace, patrolling the waters. It was mostly a job for show. Few mutants bothered to travel by the ocean, but there was always the possibility, and thus the earth powers had arranged for a pooling of resources. The S.S. Pearl was the flagship of this new navy, which was greater than any that had ever been amassed in the history of the world.
For all the good it would do them.
"Admiral?" asked one sailor, peering through his binoculars at the horizon.
"Yes sailor, what is it?" asked the admiral.
"Uhm... you may want to take a look at this," replied the sailor, numbly handing over his binoculars. He was visibly shaken, his skin pale and his eyes wide. Curious, the admiral put the binoculars to his eyes, peering through them in the same direction.
No... that couldn't be right... not here. He adjusted the viewed, but he got the same image.
"Oh... my... God..." he murmured. The binoculars dropped from his hands to clatter on the deck below them. Neither paid any attention. Neither did any of the other crew in the fleet. They could all see it now, clear as day. It was far too big to ignore.
A tsunami.
A great wall of water, easily as high as any mountain any of them had ever seen, and rushing towards them at great speed. Already the S.S. Pearl was being dragged into the undertow as the great waves soared overhead, blocking the little starlight with the great black waters.
The crew panicked, struggling to move the fleet, to abandon their ships, even to rig some of the helicopters and try to take off. The admiral new it was hopeless. But then something caught his eye. The only one not desperately trying to escape, only he saw it.
There, atop the very tip of the wave, was a girl.
Then the water crashed down, and the entire navy was utterly swept away, the sailors drowned, the ships destroyed, and nothing remained of the great fleet that had once been the terror of the oceans.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Among the wreckage of destroyed battleships and floating corpses, the young mutant girl stepped lightly along the water, skipping to and fro as easily as a normal man might walk on the land. The water held her up, the surface creating tension to keep her feet on the surface, though she could've glided through the currents just as easily.
Her entire body was made of the stuff, all watery and partially transparent, her wavy hair flowing like ocean currents. Then, she shifted, her body losing its aquatic appearance as she willed herself back to her normal state, still standing on the surface of the water. Her body was slim, wrapped in a black uniform that doubled as a swimsuit, and her brown locks flowed back behind her head as she peered out at the destruction she'd caused. Her blue eyes, like chips of ice, sparkled delightfully. She'd done it. She brushed back her brown hair, as well as the one lock of blue that never complied with her wishes and dangled in front of her eyes.
Torrent let the water lift her up, as she traveled towards the main land. She wouldn't be of much use on land... unless there was a river or an inlet nearby, but at least she could be there if her comrades needed her.
Author's Notes:
The battle scenes were decidedly too long, so I've broken them up into four chapters. This is obviously the first one, with more to come afterwards, showing how mutants fight when nothing like morals get in their way. Calliban's final thoughts were basically that he was glad he was going to die. Sad, isn't it? Beast's final words were, of course, Shakespeare. He didn't quite finish the quote. Torrent, in case no one recognizes her, is the hydrokinetic Darcy Harper from Kinomi's 'Melt Me' story. Awesome, she is. Too awesome not to use. Read her story to find out more details about her. The next chapter mostly concerns the OC's and canon characters, and can be skipped in case anyone here hates such non-Evo characters. Though it's your loss.
Todd fan: Its like I said before, Xavier just has no luck with human girls. He'll be happy enough once his particular woman happens to fall from the stars. Glad you loved the interaction, I too am enjoying the witty banter.
Star-of-chaos: *builds a giant wooden rabbit, then rolls it up to your castle* *hides in the bushes with Logan, Scott, and Kurt, with whom he was planning to originally overtake your castle with, inside aforementioned giant wooden rabbit*
Risty: Well admittedly I've taken many trips to England so I know the lay out pretty well. Writers are always encouraged to write what they know about, so it just makes it easier. Plus, I just really like Stone Henge... so in my AU I destroyed it. Muwahahaha. Anyways, in the spheres you find out next chapter. Enjoy.
DoubleL27: It's quite a challenge to create a meaningful AU, but well worth it. I only hope the twists and surprises I have later don't come back to bite me in the butt. And yeah, its nice seeing the characters from fresh angles. Especially Lance. Definitely a death wish... kinda the 'we'll be reunited in death' kinda death wish. And of course Kurt's good. I have yet to see an AU of Comic Kurt that was ever completely evil. It's just not in his nature. As for Rogue? You'll see... I'm not done with her yet.
X00001: Mission Impossible, huh? Impossible is not a word that those with the mutant gene often use. But yeah, its not gonna be easy by any stretch of the imagination. And hell yeah, the mission is go. It is time to layeth the smacketh down.
Sashi: You have entirely too much confidence in me. Look at all my past storylines. With the only possible exceptions of 'African Fire' and 'Blue Christmas' (not my proudest work) they're all based on previous X-Men comic or TAS plotlines. Or worse, those ugly movie crossovers I made.
Terminatrix T-X: Oh, I see. Well that's interesting. I look forward to reading it. Just out of curiosity, by AU standards, where did things go differently to make such a radically different universe?
Comet-hime: I'm glad someone has such confident in my abilities. As for Willow, thank you for letting me use her. I am ever so grateful. Plenty of her, as well as your favorite girls, Tabby and Amara, coming up as always. As the story gets much, much better.
Nessie6: Effeminate. Got it right the second time. Enjoying the action? Not enough... good... plenty more to come. And of course, like you say... down with humans... down with humans! Except Amanda! Except Amanda! Am I right? I know I am.
Rogue14: Probably, but at least I know someone else is reading, which is a good thing. All reviews are good. Hehehe… delicious reviews. Mmmmm.