Evolution: Father of Mine
Chapter 8: Redemption part 3
Time for the end to finally come. I have nothing more to say, except that I hope that all of you that have been reading this story will take the time to read my other stories and give me your honest opinion. With that said, Lets get started!
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Notes: italics mean that people are thinking or speaking with the mind
Bold denotes song lyrics.
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Scott sat in the corner of the room he had been using since he left the X-men. Sitting was not the correct word; he was more convulsing in torment than sitting quietly. The things he wanted to do to the people of this world went against everything he was taught as a child by both Charles Xavier and his parents. He was tired of fighting! It had taken everything he ever loved from him and because of this fatigue he just let the rage, pain and sorrow take over. He stopped his violent seizures and quietly rose to his feet.
"Finally," he said as a grim smile crept across his face "the whimpering idiot has finally given up." Suddenly the ground underneath his feet were ripped sunder as a quivering Cerberus flopped on the floor of the Egyptian hotel that they were staying in. "Cerberus you're useless." said Scott as he pulled the strange circlet from his minions head. She sprung to life and the ground began to shake as her glance darted in every direction.
Finally she came back to her senses and realized where she was. She turned to her master and quickly lowered herself to a submissive position. "Ma..master!"
"It's all right Cerberus, I was going to destroy this place anyway."
"The X-men, master!"
"I know Cerberus, we had better get started." Scott stated calmly as scooped her up and tore through the ceiling into the sky above the hotel and shot into the eastern direction.
Meanwhile, the S.R. 71 Blackbird shredded the clouds as if it where a hot knife through butter. The X-men had broken the sound barrier four times over, and were quickly drawing on top of their target. However, the interior of the plane was filled with a thick blanket of unrest. Nightcrawler was at the helm of the plane with Rogue sitting co-pilot. Tessa and Kitty sat quietly in the back, each of their minds racing with many different emotions. Finally, Kitty, not being able to stand the silence spoke up. "So, um, how far do we take this fight? I mean its Scott." She asked.
Rogue froze, as active leader it was her job to answer this question. The very question she was trying to avoid, after all Scott had done so much for everyone on the team, and the tragedy that had fallen on him. It was no small wonder that he snapped the way he did, but the only answer that reveled itself to Rogue was the answer that she did not want to hear herself. "As far as it takes to keep the people of this world safe." She answered. Murder, she had not said the exact word but everyone knew that that was what she had meant. The occupants of the jet silenced as the mixed emotions engulfed them. Rogue noticing the awkward silence decided to say something; just as she begun to speak a voice entered their heads.
"Children," it spoke "What is you're progress?" Professor Xavier inquired
"We are almost there, Professor." answered Kurt
"What happened at the mansion?" wondered Tessa
"We where attacked by Cerberus. She was hoping to do some serious damage, but we managed to get the upper hand." replied Charles
"What about Nathan?" asked Rogue
"He slept through the whole thing, which is surprising." The Professor paused and after a minute of solemn silence spoke again "Scott is on his way to Geisa; we have discovered that the pyramid that he is currently on route to has a large concentration of alien technology. We believe that he is going to use this technology to cause a serious breakdown in the cellular structure of all the humans on earth."
"What does that mean, Professor?" inquired Kurt
"He's going to make every human on the planet die a painful death." Rogue answered Kurt's question.
"NO!!" screamed Tessa "My father wouldn't do that!!!!!"
"No, Scott Summers would not, however, Ragnorok would." replied the professor.
"Like, just what are you getting at professor?" wondered Kitty
"At our last encounter I sensed a budding second presence in Scott's mind."
"What!?!" the occupants of the jet exclaimed in complete unison.
"I believe that this is the key to ending this conflict; If we can separate the two consciousness we can save Scott. The only people that have a chance of doing this are Rogue and Tessa."
"Can't we do anything, Professor? I want to help save him! Scott was the first person to treat me like a human." informed Kurt
"Everyone will have to help. Kurt, set the autopilot for Gesia, we need to talk." said Charles as everyone prepared for the worst.
Meanwhile, a dark man in a dark room stood behind a dark monitor that displayed the very person in question. Suddenly, in a flash of wind a moderately sized man appeared beside the dark man. "Master, the time draws near."
"I know Fenrir." replied the dark man as he turned his pale face to his subordinate. "I can smell your fear Fenrir, speak."
"Master, We do not stand a chance if Summers decides that he wants Cerberus with him." voiced Fenrir as the dark man chuckled.
"Dear boy, we will not be the ones doing the fighting. We will simply wait for a time that Summers is weakened and then strike."
"But what if He wins, Master? What if he succeeds in destroying the world?" worried Fenrir
"Then we simply start over with a new dimension."
Elsewhere, Scott Summers and Cerberus where rapidly approaching their destination. Scott smiled as the object of his plans came into view. He would finally be able to destroy the bastards that have ravaged this planet for eons. Scott's blood lust grew and grew until he could no longer remember what started his rampage, nor did he care any more. He just wanted the blood to stain the streets red. As he came upon the pyramid he noticed that there was a large black jet blocking his path. The X-men stood defiantly in front of it as if to purposefully block his path. He set down in front of his former teammates and set Cerberus gently on her feet. Cerberus seemed to hiss as the X-men decided to approach the duo slowly. "Well, well; It looks like the cockroaches are making a stand, Cerberus." laughed Scott.
"Scott we can help you get over this!" yelled Kurt
"Over what? The only way you can help me is to get out of the way." He responded
"Ragnorok, I don't care what you are or where you came from, but give Scott back to me NOW!" commanded Rogue as she shot a bolt of lightning in his direction. Cerberus quickly caused the ground to rise and absorbing the electricity leaving Scott unscathed.
"Master, Let me end the bitch." requested Cerberus
"Have fun Cerberus." answered Scott as Cerberus turned smiling to face Rogue, but was immediately met with a punch reinforced by Juggernaught powers. Cerberus went flying into the distance bouncing off of several sand dunes before landing on a cushion of grass that suddenly sprung from the ground.
"X-Men keep him away from that temple!" ordered Rogue as she charged Cerberus.
"Don't worry about me!" yelled Ragnorok "I'm always in the mood for a Cat fight!" he laughed. Rogue ignored the taunt and leapt on top of the downed Cerberus. Cerberus kicked Rogue off her and produced a pit that swallowed Rogue beneath the sands. All was quiet and, for a moment, Cerberus thought she had won, however, Rogue was not done yet. Within seconds rogue had managed to dig herself right under Cerberus. Using the powers she had stolen from berserker, Rogue grabbed Cerberus's leg and released ten thousand volts of electricity directly into her body. Cerberus's inherent resistance to electricity protected her so that she was not immediately bacon. Cerberus tried to make the ground crush her attacker but found it hard to concentrate. She was only able make the ground spit Rogue into the air. Rogue released her electrifying death grip as they both ended up in the air. Rogue smirked as she witnessed panic creep across Cerberus's face; She had found the bitch's weakness. Cerberus knew that she was helpless when she was not touching the ground and Rogue had found that out. With an almost demonic pleasure, Rogue called on the powers she'd taken for Jean and levitated them both high into the air. Cerberus squirmed against the invisible bonds that held her tight. Rogue grabbed each of Cerberus's limbs with her mind and gently stretched them in opposite directions.
"You can't do this! You're the good guy!" screamed Cerberus worriedly
Rogue closed the distance between them so that they where face to face "Tell me, if it was you who was doing the pulling. Would you spare me?"
"B...but you're not me!!" whined Cerberus as Rogue tightened her mental grasp around her captive's thought. Rogue was enjoying Cerberus's squirming so much so that she began to pull on her other limbs to the point of breaking. Rogue wanted to end this woman miserable life but just could not bring herself to do it. So she broke Cerberus's arms and legs and bashed her into the ground. Rogue set herself down in front of Scott and theatrically surged with power.
"Very impressive, but I'm afraid it is going to take more than that to stop me." informed Scott playfully
"I'm giving you one last chance, Ragnorok! Leave, or be forced out!"
"What makes you think that Scott and I are separate people? Have you ever thought that the humans of this planet deserve this?
"No."
"Well I'm afraid that's where we differ." he said as he knocked her back into the waiting arms of her teammates. They stood up and formed an offensive formation behind Rogue.
"Scott, don't make us fight you." pleaded Kitty
"That's not my father!" interjected Tessa. With that Kurt leapt at Scott with an animal like howl. Tessa, Kitty and Rogue followed suit; each attacking from the direction that the others had not taken. They fought as if one person and one mind but to no avail. Scott swatted them away as if they were flying snails. Kurt was the first to be unconscious, as he had taken the full force of a backhand across his left cheek. Scott lunged at Kitty with the same hand only it passed through her. Remembering Kitty's mutant ability; he stopped his hand while still inside of her and surged with power. Kitty's mind could not handle the stress and quickly shut down on her. Tessa tried, successfully, to hit him with telekinetic bolt. She had hoped it would stun him long enough to connect their minds and force the second presence out, but he shrugged the feeble attempt off with out being the least bit phased. Ragnorok grabbed her using the force of gravity and repeatedly slammed her into the ground. She fell limp as Scott turned his attention to the only one left standing.
"Rogue, come with me. We could rebuild this world together." He offered
"You're nothing but a figment of Scott's imagination! What right do you have to remake the world?" Rogue spat.
Ragnorok lunged in and pinned her against the blackbird. "Scott is dead! He died when Jean did and there's nothing you can do to bring him back!" sneered Ragnorok
Rogue smiled "You're talking in the third person." she stated calmly. Ragnorok jumped back realizing that he had given away his secret. At the very second that he dropped his guard Tessa pounced on him with a feral yelp. normally this wouldn't have hurt him at all, however, this time she had used her bare skin and the powers that she had naturally inherited from Rogue. Ragnorok stumbled and struggled against the fifteen-year-old girl's vice grip, but still his life was draining fast. Before Rogue could even react Ragnorok threw Tessa off him, her head hit the underbelly of the blackbird and quickly knocked unconscious. Rogue turned back to Ragnorok, who was stumbling back and forth, shaking his head. Rogue saw an opportunity to attack, so she did. However, it was not meant to be, as Ragnorok quickly regained his composure and parried the attack.
Meanwhile, at the mansion, Professor X, and the other x-men that had stayed behind where expectantly huddled around Cerebro. They watched with morbid curiosity as Rogue and the person once known as Scott Summers proceeded to beat the living hell out of each other. For every blow, energy blast, or block that Rogue made successfully; Ragnorok rained two damaging blows on her. Rogue was loosing, while no one wanted to admit it they knew it was the end. Suddenly, Professor Xavier was visibly jerked from the Cerebro mainframe. He collided against the hatch door and slowly raised his head. "Jean?"
"What?" wondered Hank
"Storm, Where is Nathan?" asked Charles ignoring Henry
"In his crib sleeping. In Jean's old room." Storm responded hesitantly
"Logan, Bobby, Ororo. Come with me." ordered the professor as he wheeled himself to the elevator. Seconds later the small group arrived at the hallway only to notice an eerie red glow emanating from Jean's old room.
"Fire!" yelled bobby as he covered himself in ice, ran to the door and powered up. Just as quickly as he did so, he powered down and stared in awe at the scene before him. The others noticed his odd behavior and rushed to his side. Nothing could prepare them for what they saw next. There was indeed a fire, however, it was the likes of which no one had ever seen before. Beside the crib stood a solitary flame in the shape of a young woman. It leaned against the crib and stroked the small child that lay sleeping, however, nothing lit on fire. Nathan slowly awoke from the gentle stroke and looked into the eyes of the being before him. He smiled an innocent smile and rolled towards her as best he could.
"I know, little one." she whispered, "It's going to be alright."
"J..Jean?" stuttered Professor X. The being turned, what seemed to be its head, toward the small group of mutants at the door. She walked slowly towards the group with brightly colored flowers springing up in her footprints. She came close to Professor X had put her hand on his cheek.
"Do not blame yourself for their death. There was nothing you could have done." Said the being. "At the moment though, you should focus on the matters at hand."
"Rogue!" Professor X exclaimed as he was brought back to his senses. He tried to respond to the being only to find that she had disappeared into thin air.
"What is wrong must be righted." came a whisper to Charles mind.
Elsewhere, Rogue was taking the brunt of an all out assault at the dominating hands of Ragnorok. She was managing to stave off the more damaging of the attacks, but she would not be able to so forever. Ragnorok was laughed manically as he saw the energy dwindle from Rogue's body. She was dizzy and staggering, and yet the mutant abilities that she had taken from her teacher, wolverine, kept her in the fight. Soon Ragnorok grew tried of the game that they had been playing, and opted to end the fiasco. He pounced on her beating her with all his strength, but something was wrong. As he rose for the final blow, his fist came to a screeching halt inches away from crushing Rogue's skull. He lifted his hand again for the final blow, but the same effect was had.
"NO!!!!!" He screamed, "You won't hurt her, I won't let you!"
"Shut up! This is my body now!" He screamed again
"You've hurt to many people! I've hurt to many people! It ends now!" Ragnorok and Scott mentally struggled for control. Neither giving any leave to the other. Rogue sat up from the position on the ground she'd been beaten into as her stolen healing abilities finished healing her. It was about this same time that the other X-men that had been apart of this battle stirred to consciousness. Scott's body became stiff and motionless, yet his, obviously strained, face turned to Rogue and the other X-men.
"Now!!" He yelled "Kill me now; while I still have control."
"Scott." Sighed Rogue hesitantly as she came close to him as possible. She was just about to press her skin to his as suddenly the landscape around her was engulfed in a fiery inferno. The pyramids, her teammates, the blackbird and even Scott disappeared. She had no idea where she was, then their came a familiar voice.
"Kiss him."
"Jean?" wondered Rogue as a giant majestic bird, that appeared to be clothed in flames, appeared in front of him.
"Kiss him." Said the bird as it vanished and was replaced with the previous scene. However, all of her clothes had been burned away and replaced with a gathering of flames all over her. Tessa, and Kitty quickly covered Nightcrawler's eyes. Rogue knew what she had to do. She gently leaned in, searing the clothes off of Scott's body. As she kissed him their minds joined as their bodies pressed.
Before she knew it she was in a messy, wreak of a house. The halls where filled with debris and the walls broken and crumbling under the weight of the of the roof. Rogue stepped over a large piece of sheet rock that had been knocked off the wall. Pictures where laying strewn all over the floor. The pictures were all of Scott's friends, family and teammates, but Rogue noticed that herself, Jean, Nathan and Tessa where all missing from the cache of debris. As she wandered further into the disheveled house she began hear loud crashing noises that increased in volume as neared the point of origin. When she entered the room that the sounds where coming from, she was startled by what she saw. There where two Scotts at a stand off in the middle of the room. Both of them looked where beaten bloody. They paid no attention to her presence in the room as the objective of their fight came painfully clear. One of the Scotts was standing in between the other and the only untouched space in the whole house. Behind him stood a somewhat empty bookcase, except for a row of pictures on the top shelf. Rogue strained to see the pictures and found five. They consisted of herself, Jean, Tessa and the Nathan from the future, but it was the last picture that startled her. It was a picture of all the people he loved. Weather it was brotherly, romantic or otherwise everyone he had an affection for was in that picture, but what startled her the most was that Rogue, Scott, and Jean where at the center of the picture and the only ones in color. She thought back to the broken, torn pictures on the ground and realized that none of them where in color either; in fact they also seemed to be fading away. She knew why she was in this house.
"Scott!" she yelled as she removed the gloves on he hands
"Rogue? Stay back he's dangerous! I don't want you hurt!" said the Scott that was protecting the bookcase.
"I'm dangerous? That's like saying you're dangerous!" said the other as he attacked the first
"I'm not you!" The first Scott crowed.
Rogue was about to jump into the fray, until a hand was laid on her shoulder. She snapped around to find that the source of the hand was none other than Jean Grey. Rogue gasped in surprise as she pulled away from the startling image. Jean reached down and touched Rogue's skin. Rogue's powers had no effect on her, and what is more important Jean was warm. "Rogue," Jean spoke "This is Scott's mind, you're just a spectator here."
"Jean? Why are you here; why am I here if I can't do anything?" wondered Rogue as the two Scotts clashed violently in the background.
"You are here to do what I can't." Jean replied
"What?"
"Scott believes that Ragnorok is an invader that has stolen his body. However, this assumption is inaccurate. Ragnorok is in fact all of Scott's negative emotions and thoughts that he has bottled for the entire expanse of his life, the death of his lover and son was too much for him to handle."
"You're not Jean. Who or what are you?"
"A friend, when Jean died I transferred my residence to the new born where I resided until things got out of hand. I have been watching everyone of the X-men since this started, and I came to the conclusion that you, Rogue, where the only one that could truly end this."
"But how can I end this?"
"You're here, in his mind. Both Ragnorok and Scott allowed you in there minds."
"But you're here!" Rogue protested
"I am using you're mind to project my image. I'm not really in Scotts mind."
"So you're trying to tell me that he trusts me." asked Rogue as another loud crash sounded through the house. Rogue was jolted back and lost the connection to Scott's mind. She landed on her butt just a few inches away from Scott's still stiff body. As she looked up she noticed that one of Scott's eyes had turned red. Scott smiled wickedly then pounced on top of her and held her down. The other X-men saw this and rushed in to help but where thrown in every direction as they collided with an invisible barrier of energy. Scott wrapped his hands around Rogue's neck and began to squeeze as the other x-men looked on helplessly.
Look at me; my depth perception must be off again
Cause this hurts deeper than I thought it did
It has not healed with time
It just shot down my spine.
"Scott," she gasped, "I know you're...in there. Don't fight......him!"
You look so beautiful tonight
Remind me how you laid us down
And gentelly smiled before you destroyed my life.
"She speaks the truth Scott, you can't win! Just give up!" hissed Ragnorok
Would you find it in your heart?
To make this go away
And let me rest in pieces
"Accept him." Rogue chocked out. The hands that where crushing her windpipe, pulled away allowing for some much needed air to enter her lungs. "He is gasp nothing but your cough bottled emotions." Ragnorok lunged at her again but stopped short.
Would you find it in your heart?
To make this go away
And let me rest in pieces
"I am not!" yelled Ragnorok
"Shut up! I have had enough of hurting my friends!" yelled Scott
"What are you doing?" wondered Ragnorok and his voice changed to and from Scotts "God, it hurts." Scott yelled as his body tossed and turned and fell to the ground as Ragnorok resisted with all his might.
Look at me; my depth perception must be off again
You got much closer than I thought you did
"Rogue," whimpered Scott "It's my fault! I could've stopped that monster!"
I'm in your reach
You held me in your hands
Rogue ran to Scott's side "It wasn't yer fault, you where doing what any good leader should."
But could you find it in you heart?
To make this go away
And let me rest in pieces
"The blood... the blood was everywhere. Oh God, Nathan." He sobbed
Would you find it in your heart?
To make this go away
And let me rest in pieces
"Nathan is alive, Scott." said Rogue
And let me rest in pieces, pieces.......
Scott looked up at Rogue "He's alive?" Scott's eyes filled with tears as the one red eye returned to its natural brown color. The moment was shattered as Scott's body convulsed out of Rogue's arms into the sand nearly digging a whole. Suddenly, he rose into the air and waves of sonic energy began resonating off of him. Followed soon by blasts of shock waves that tore through the air as if three, seven forty-seven jets before landing. The blackbird was knocked on its side and the pyramid had a large chunk of it ripped lose. Just as loudly as it began, it ended as all the energy that Scott had at his control gathered around, wrapping him in a cocoon of light. Rogue starred at the second sun that hovered above her head as a final shockwave howled through the air knocking everyone on their backs. Scott fell to the ground with a loud thud. The X-men ran to where he landed and quickly checked his pulse.
To everyone's relief he was still alive, and quite peaceful as well. Everyone was flooding the unconscious Scott with attention. Rogue had planed to do the same until something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Cerberus was awake, and what is more, had a tall elderly man in a finely tailored suit with a polished wood cane, standing before her broken body.
"Hey you!" yelled Rogue as the attention of the X-men shifted in the direction that she had yelled.
"Poor disobedient child." said the man to Cerberus as he ignored the X-men
"M..Master Sinister!" Cerberus stuttered feeblely
"It is time to end this experiment." Said the man before he turned his focus toward the X-men. "I would like to apologize. This was only meant to be an experiment with Scott's DNA. I did not wish to cause this scale of trouble."
"Who are you?" asked Kitty
"I am just a lonely scientist trying to break the bonds that bind me." With that a young man appeared from what seemed like nothing and scooped the broken Cerberus into his arms. "Thank you, Fenrir. Take my wayward daughter home." The young man disappeared with Cerberus into nothing. The elderly gentleman smiled as walked to Rogue. "You ruined my experiment, and managed to stop Cerberus without killing her. You are indeed the one I am looking for, however, you will never see me in this dimension again. This I promise." He turned around and vanished into the breeze. The X-men stared at the fraction of space that the man had disappeared into while quietly tending their own injuries. They were tired and it was all that they could do to stay near each other.
"Rogue! You're hands!" screamed Kurt as he noticed the position of Rogues hands.
"They're, like, touching Scott's skin." noted Kitty as Rogue's bare-skinned hands were in contact with Scotts and not hurting him in the least. Rogue gasped and tried to pull them away, but was stopped as Scott grabbed and held them in place.
"Just a little longer." he stated weakly as he clenched her hand tightly. All the X-men could do was wait for a rescue. Soon the X-men that had stayed at the mansion arrived in the helicopter. Beast managed to upright the Blackbird and piloted the jet full of injured mutants back to the mansion. They had won, it was a long and hard fought battle, but they had won.
THE END
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Well that is that. It was my first major stab at writing a fan fiction. Well what do you think? Do ya'll know who the elderly man is? Should I write an Epilogue tying things together? I would like some honest opinions, please. Please excuse the feeble attempt at a song-fic. I just thought that the song fit the tone that I was trying to convey. Well I'm off to continue Evolution: Through the looking glass. Bye.