I'm sure you've all heard the news concerning X-Men: Evolution's future, but I won't miss the show. Why not? The show is not dead. As long as the fans keep it alive, the show will live on, even if no new episodes are produced. This story will continue, as will my other Evo fics. The fan community needs to keep the show alive, and I'll be doing my part here, for what it's worth.
Now then.
Bwahahahahahahahahahaaaawwwwww, crap. Looks like I've dug myself into a hole again. Even with a slight decrease in characters, I've got too much stuff to cover. Oh, and excuse the grammar.
Chapter Seven - Dreams Are Just Dreams
The mob gathered around the gates of the Xavier Institute, but didn't dare go inside. The few that had jumped over the wall had been shot by the automated defenses and their bodies remained there as a reminder.
Magneto sat in the war room, watching a holographic display of the United States. Red dots covered the white map, showing places where mutant hatred was highest. Wanda, Pietro, Warren and Callisto said nothing.
"Charles... you were a fool..." Magneto whispered to himself.
The room was once again silent.
"...We have a visitor," Wanda said after a few minutes. A screen showed someone at the door.
"...Mastermind." Magneto waved his hands, and the front doors opened. "He must have used his powers to convince the humans that he was one of them..." Magneto paused. "...And used an older code to deactivate the defenses!" The screen showed humans pounding against the doors. Magneto used his power to keep them closed. "Wanda, re-activate the defenses."
"...But..."
"DO IT!" Reluctantly, Wanda typed a code into her console. The humans on-screen were shot down by the automated cannons. Across other screens, they saw that the humans were running from the Institute. "Now, de-activate them." The crowd had re-gathered outside the gates. Seventeen humans had been killed, and many more injured. "Experience is the best teacher."
"Erik... Magneto," Mastermind said, having found his way to the war room. "Magneto... I'm sorry..."
"Are you?" The war room doors were pulled away from the wall and pressed against Mastermind like a sandwich. "Do you realize what you've done?!"
"I do... Erik, I don't blame you for your anger, but please, let me speak..."
"You've done enough, Jason. Your actions had consequences, and for that, you will be punished."
"Kill me if you have to, but I need to tell you..."
"Tell me what? That humanity has turned against us? That the government has turned their back on us? That Xavier was WRONG?!"
"...I have seen Viper's mind... there is something worse planned, and if you're quick, you can prevent it!"
"What, Jason? What could possibly be worse than this?"
"She is creating a weapon..." the doors tightened on Mastermind. "She's... capturing mutants to power it... Cain, Arkady, Sabretooth... Jean... they're being used!"
"Used for what?!"
"Viper's mind is too... well-trained for me to see everything... but she's somehow going to harness their mutant powers to power a weapon that will destroy all mutants..." The doors flew away and Mastermind dropped to the floor. Callisto and Warren helped him to his feet, though Callisto didn't put as much effort once Warren started lifting.
"Where are they now?"
"At the White House... the others are being held elsewhere."
"Pietro, get in contact with Fury. We'll need maps."
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"Once again, the government is offering a reward for any live mutant brought in. Rewards vary by mutant, but you are guaranteed at least six-hundred dollars if the mutant is brought in alive. Coming up next, 'Worship Today' with Father Stryker. I'm Ed Kelly, join me again tonight at six for a review of today's events." Ed Kelly left his new, larger news desk as the cameras turned off. CNN had become the PBN, the Pure Blood Network. Father Stryker was in another studio, prepared for his nightly propaganda program which drew surprisingly high ratings.
"Kathy, where's my latte?" Kelly asked.
"Ahem," Viper said.
"Ah! Madame Viper, good to... see you..." Kelly said nervously. Viper was flanked by two of her green guards. The last time she had come to see him, she had wanted Stryker to have his own show. Kelly refused to allow it, claiming ratings would drop, but she... insisted. Since then, Kelly had been more than a little intimidated by her. "W-what can I do for you?"
"You put out the notice on my bounty, yes?"
"Yes, Madame."
"Good, good... now I want you to tell them on your six-o-clock show that we will offer up to eight-thousand for any telepaths."
"Eight-thousand, Madame?"
"Are you hard of hearing, Mr. Kelly? You heard me correctly. Now get back to your coffee-drinking, or whatever it is you 'celebrities' do in your free time." Viper walked away and Kelly's assistant handed him his latte. Irritated, he threw it against the wall.
"What made you think I wanted coffee? I asked for bottled water!"
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"Disgusting habit," Storm's insect servant said to her as they watched Gambit inject legacy into his arm. Storm had returned to the underground club where she did business, though few mutants cared about drinking and watching fights when they were too busy running for their lives. Only a few of her usual entourage were with her, including her insect-like servant and her enforcers.
"Disgusting it may be," Gambit said to them, "But it gets me through the day."
"We can't hide here forever," Evan told his aunt. "They'll find us eventually. We need to fight back."
"We can't. Not until we know what we're really dealing with."
"Come on, you can just make a blizzard and nobody will fuck with you!" Tabitha protested.
"I'm not about to give myself away so easily," Storm snapped.
"I think it's time you tell us why you're so afraid to use your powers," Evan said, almost threatening. Gambit and Tabitha both looked up, likewise curious. Colossus stood with his family in a corner, not particularly listening to them. Storm looked back at Evan and her pupils disappeared. Evan backed away. "I... uh..."
"I'll tell you, Evan. Do you remember that facility I had you infiltrate? The X-Men were there, too. They hold powerful mutants there, to study them. You said Cain Marko was there? That's why. If they needed him for his power, they would have used him openly by now, along with the others. He's not a weapon. He's a lab specimen."
"What do they need him for?"
"I don't know. A few years after I left Magneto's little club, they came after me."
"This is why you won't show your face in your own club, isn't it?"
"Yes. They have spies everywhere."
"How do you know Tabby and Remy aren't spies?"
"If they were, I'd have been captured. They're very direct, whoever they are." Gambit tossed the needle into a garbage can and rolled his sleeve back down. He took a deep breath, shook his head, and smiled at Tabitha, who seemed to be somewhat ill.
"C'mon, girl, what's eating you?" Tabitha didn't reply. She was sweating and her skin was pale. "Tabby?"
"Something's wrong with her," Evan told his aunt.
"Of course something's wrong with her, she's been shooting herself up too frequently." Tabitha's eyes blinked and she collapsed. Evan quickly picked her up and set her down on a nearby couch, fanning her with a magazine. "Let her rest. She'll be up in a few hours."
"Are you sure?" Evan asked.
"When have I been wrong, Evan?" Storm scolded. Evan swallowed and continued to fan Tabitha.
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"'Whoever hates me hates my father also,'" Father Stryker read from his Bible as the cameras rolled. "'If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.'" He closed his Bible and the producers cued a hymn as the closing credits rolled. Stryker stepped away from the altar that had been fashioned in the set, exchanging quick greetings with members of the crew as he left. He walked down the hall, escorted by the X-Cutioner, who carried his blades with him and a new device attached to his belt. As Stryker reached his dressing room, he was approached by Viper. The X-Cutioner stopped him, then whispered into his ear. He shook his head, whispered something back, and continued. Her green guards were stationed at the end of the hall, with two more at the opposite end. The doors at either end were closed.
"Father Stryker, a most moving show tonight," she said half-heartedly.
"Your sarcasm is not appreciated here, Madame Viper."
"Father Stryker, I have a small favor to ask of you... guards, leave us!" On her order, the green guards left the hall, closing the doors behind them. Now they guarded the doors themselves, ensuring that nobody entered or left without their notice.
"I hope it doesn't involve murdering another innocent."
"No, but your... ward's services will be required. Nobody can get into the Xavier Institute, and we must use his... skills to enter and kill the remaining mutants inside."
"Interesting, Madame... I was unaware that you cared for such things."
"What do you mean?"
"You want mutants captured, don't you? You said you had something planned for them, something to wipe the rest out using their own power... yes?" Viper stared at him, confused. She was trying to think of something to say.
"Yes, well... NOW!" In a burst of smoke, Kurt and Marie Darkholme appeared in the room. The X-Cutioner threw his blades at them, but Rogue ducked and Kurt teleported out of the dagger's range, appearing behind the X-Cutioner and wrapping his black tail around his neck.
"What...?! MUTANTS!" Viper changed back into Mystique and kicked Stryker in the chest. "What are you doing?! Defend me!" As soon as he issued his command, Rogue pressed her hands against his face. He struggled and tried to push Rogue away from him, but he grew weak and limp. When it was all over, Mystique took the unconscious Stryker into his dressing room. Kurt flew across the hall and nearly hit the doors. The X-Cutioner picked up one of his knives, muttered a quick prayer, and thrust it towards Rogue. Kurt appeared behind him in time to pull him back and force his blade to drop. The X-Cutioner pressed forward with all his strength and grabbed Rogue by the neck. In a cloud of black smoke, all three disappeared. "Stryker" walked out of his dressing room and waved his hand around his face to disperse the smoke. Quickly, he ran to the door.
"Guard, guard!"
"Father Stryker, what happened?"
"A teleporting mutant appeared, he kidnapped Madame Viper and disappeared!"
"Check every square foot of this building!" the lead guard announced. As they ran, "Stryker" became "Ed Kelly" and ran to another studio.
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The X-Cutioner appeared with Kurt and Rogue on the roof of the PBN building amidst satellite dishes and other equipment. The hooded X-Cutioner took a small pipe-like object from his belt and extended it. It was his favorite weapon, his bladed polearm. He took a stance, holding the staff behind him with the blade pointed at the ground.
"Mutants... your day has come. Nothing you do can change your fate. Surrender yourselves, or this will be very painful."
"We're not here to listen to you," Rogue yelled. "We're here to take you down!"
"Then I have no choice but to send you to your fates." The X-Cutioner twirled his weapon to gain momentum and swung it at Rogue, who dropped to the ground and kicked him in the shins. Her move didn't work as well as she had hoped and he remained standing. Kurt bamfed between them and took Rogue out of harm's way. Annoyed, the X-Cutioner thrust his razor-sharp blade into the base of a smaller satellite dish. The dish began to fall precisely on the spot where Kurt and Rogue appeared a moment later. Quickly, Kurt teleported once more.
"How did he know where we'd be?" Kurt asked as he appeared outside the tumbling dish's range with his sister.
"I don't know, but I intend to find out." Rogue tossed her gloves aside. "Come on, tough guy! Show me what you've got!" The X-Cutioner jumped at them with his blade forward. Kurt rolled along the ground and threw the dagger he had stolen from him earlier at the X-Cutioner's shoulder. It cut through the black cloth of his sleeve, revealing something neither Kurt nor Rogue expected.
"His skin! It's gray!" The X-Cutioner landed and looked at his wound. Blood was slowly leaking out of the incision, but he was more worried about his exposed flesh. While he was distracted, Rogue jumped on him and pressed her hand against the open wound. Her fingers were covered in the X-Cutioner's blood and she slowly drained his power. The X-Cutioner started to weaken, but then, Rogue stopped. Her contact with the gray skin suddenly had no effect. Taking advantage of Rogue's distraction, the X-Cutioner punched her in the face and kicked her off.
"Bastard!" her brother screamed. He teleported towards the X-Cutioner and reappeared... twenty feet away. He teleported again, but reappeared in the exact same spot. "Wha...?!"
"He's canceling our powers!" Rogue said. "Get that thing on his belt!" The X-Cutioner kicked her once more and knocked her into a wall and out of consciousness.
"You just made my fight a lot easier!" Kurt said to him, no longer having to worry about watching out for his sister. Kurt ran at his enemy with his tail whipping behind him. He lunged at him, but the X-Cutioner blocked him with his staff, pinned in the ground and holding Kurt up. With his tail, Kurt took the device on the X-Cutioner's belt and then jumped away. The X-Cutioner stood up, but waited for Kurt to make the next move. "Say goodbye to your little toy!"
Kurt pressed the red switch, and disappeared in a white flash. Under his hood, the X-Cutioner smiled to himself, and he put his polearm back on his belt. Now all that was left was to dispose of the girl and return to see if Father Stryker was alright...
"Three more..." the X-Cutioner said to himself. Three new opponents had arrived. He turned to face them, not surprised at what he saw. "You three. The ones I missed."
"That's right," Berzerker said. He stood with Torpid and Scaleface, all three survivors of the Morlock massacre. "You think you can take all three of us?"
"I took hundreds of you at once." The X-Cutioner extended his bladed staff. "You will be no challenge." The X-Cutioner rolled under an electric burst unleashed by Berzerker and then jumped over the wave of fire sent down at him by the transformed Scaleface; she was no longer a young girl, but a monstrous green dragon. Scaleface tore a satellite dish from its bolts and threw it at the X-Cutioner, who jumped onto it and ran across it, staying upright, and then jumped off and at Scaleface's head. She returned to her human form, removing his target and leaving him open for a blast from Berzerker. He dropped to the ground and shook his head.
"You're stronger than before..." the X-Cutioner muttered in surprised. Without warning, Kurt appeared behind him once more, this time with his own black cloud.
"That was a dirty trick!" He yelled. The X-Cutioner caught Kurt's fist and threw him at Berzerker. Scaleface again transformed and stomped on the X-Cutioner, who proved too quick and thrust his blade upward, slicing the back of Scaleface's right arm from the wrist to the elbow. She returned to her human form, and the wound was not so severe, but she was still bleeding badly. Berzerker rushed to her immediately, ducking a swing from the X-Cutioner's blade, but unable to avoid the blunt end of the staff that hit him right on the spine and knocking him on top of Scaleface.
"Two to g-" the X-Cutioner didn't allow himself to finish before he turned around and stabbed Torpid's shoulder, pinning her against the door leading to the stairs. She had been trying to sneak up behind him. "You can't do that, little girl. I know where you are. I always know."
"How can you be so cruel?!" Scaleface screamed angrily.
"Lesser forms of life... spawn of the devil! I will send you all back to the fiery pit you crawled out of, and you will not crawl back to the world of light again!" Keeping one hand on his staff, the X-Cutioner took a disc from his belt and slammed it on Kurt's chest, who had just appeared behind him. Kurt was completely surprised and didn't even realize what had happened before the disc released an electrical charge that knocked him out. He pulled his blade from the bleeding Torpid's shoulder and threw her against Berzerker and Scaleface, then took the teleporter device back from Kurt. The door she had been pinned to opened and two green guards stepped out, followed by Viper and four more guards.
"Good, you've made a mess of our rooftop," she said. "The shapeshifter has been captured and Father Stryker is waking up."
"These mutants are at your mercy," the X-Cutioner told her.
"Yes, yes. We only need the one with the tail. Get rid of the others." Two guards took Kurt and carried him down the stairs. Viper followed them, and she was followed by the remaining guards. The X-Cutioner looked at the bodies around him. He extended his polearm once more and walked over to Torpid. His weapon was pulled away from him.
"What? I..." The X-Cutioner looked up.
Magneto had arrived.
The X-Cutioner's own blade flew at him, but he teleported just in time. Magneto landed near Torpid, Berzerker and Scaleface.
"Wounded..." Four metal spheres landed on the rooftop, and metal tentacles gently picked up Torpid, Berzerker, Scaleface and Rogue and took them inside. The spheres then flew into the distance. Magneto pulled the stairway access door off its hinges... only to find the X-Cutioner waiting behind it. The door Magneto was carrying dropped. "Nullified..."
"If you wish to save your charges, you would best leave." Magneto realized that with his powers shut up, the spheres were falling. He ran from the X-Cutioner, who tossed a disc at him. He had stepped far enough out of range for his powers to return and he deflected the disc, and then lifted the spheres, now several yards away from him.
"This isn't over," Magneto announced. He flew off the roof after his spheres. The X-Cutioner pressed the red button on his teleporter and disappeared.
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Pyro idly tossed a rubber ball against the wall of the foyer in the Xavier Institute. Despite the chaos in the rest of the country, Pyro couldn't help but feel incredibly bored. He was still holed up in the Institute with several other people he hardly knew. The only people he really knew were Pietro, Wanda and Scott, and Pietro was busy in meetings with Magneto, and whenever Wanda wasn't with them, she was hanging around with Scott, and they wanted to be alone. There were the younger students, but Amara had gotten creepy. Drake? Drake was too stupid. Alvers? Too ignorant. Pryde? Too easily hurt.
That just left Toad and Jubilee.
The ball bounced out of Pyro's range, towards Toad.
"Toad, mind getting that for me?" Toad's green tongue grabbed the ball out of the air and set it down in Pyro's hand, slimy and wet. Pyro looked at it, then at Toad. "I've asked you not to do that."
"...Well none of this would have happened if you weren't so self-absorbed!" Callisto screamed further down the hall. Pyro and Toad glanced at each other, then at Jubilee.
"Just having another fight with Warren," Jubilee sighed. Callisto and Warren walked into the foyer together, arguing. "Just don't ask them about it, and we'll get through this."
"Self-absorbed?! Callisto, I have a company to run, and whether I like it or not, being a mutant would have affected our stocks, we could've gone bankrupt if everyone knew about these!" Warren motioned to his wings.
"So you show them to us?!"
"I didn't turn my back on you, a lot of Magneto's funding comes from me!"
"Enough, both of you!" Mastermind yelled, behind them. "The way you both argue over such minor things, I would have thought you were still kids running around these halls. There are more important matters. Callisto, your Morlock friends left the Institute earlier and managed to get themselves injured."
"What?!" Callisto started running, but Mastermind stopped her.
"They are fine. They're in the infirmary, resting. You're among the only adults in this building, I expect you to behave like adults. Put aside your relationship problems and focus on the real issues."
"It's very hard to work with someone as selfish as Warren."
"And I can't work if I have her hounding me to fight some war against discrimination!"
"Hey! It doesn't matter anymore!" Toad yelled. He hopped to them before Jubilee could stop him. "Protest as much as you want, the government's fucked us over and there's nothing you can do about it... and your business is still around, but sooner or later someone's gonna find out you're a mutant. I think you two are just having trouble accepting each other's view, since you're got different styles of thought, but it's clear there's enough common ground for you to have a nice, healthy relationship." Callisto and Warren stared at him. Mastermind was quite surprised. "What, just 'cuz I'm sixteen doesn't mean I don't know anything."
"He's right," Warren said. "Callisto, it's not that I don't agree with your views, I wanted mutant equality as much as anyone, but it's just such a hard business, I would lose business if people knew what I was... and then I wouldn't be able to give back to the school that gave me so much. I'm sorry, Callisto."
"Warren, I've just been so caught up with all this racism, I didn't really think about why you were letting all of that happen." Callisto put her arms around Warren's neck. "Warren, I'm sorry..."
"There," Mastermind said. "Everything is better. Honesty and communication are the keys to a healthy relationship."
"Thank you, Jason... and Todd." Warren and Callisto left for the control room, holding hands. Jubilee stared at Toad, dumbfounded. Pyro laughed to himself.
"...What just happened here?" Jubilee asked.
"Just a display of my son's inherited insight," Mastermind said. "It's good to be back, son."
"I'd hate to break up the moment," Pietro said, leaning on the wall. He had apparently been there the whole time. "But Magneto needs to see you in the infirmary."
"Well, alright. Come on, son."
"Whoa, hold it. Just you."
"I think my son can be trusted with whatever it is Magneto wants to hide."
"If you say so. Come on."
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"Just relax," Mastermind said. Rogue sat in her bed in the infirmary, with Mastermind sitting in a chair next to her, holding his hands close to her face. Magneto, Pietro and Toad stood a few feet away, watching. "This won't hurt." Mastermind's eyes emitted a pale blue light and Rogue could see nothing else. It was nearly a half hour until Mastermind had gathered what he needed and shaped it into a coherent pattern.
"What did you find?" Magneto asked.
"Nothing. Stryker and the murderer don't know any more than we do about Viper's plan... but there are other things I learned..."
"Tell us."
"Stryker... he was an altarboy back then. He was just a boy when the father... did things to him."
"Like we didn't see that coming," Toad muttered. Pietro rolled his eyes.
"Stryker never told anyone... eventually, he was ordained, but before he began preaching at the cathedral, in Donegal, he traveled to other churches. Twenty-six years ago, he met a young woman who had joined a convent... the most beautiful woman he had ever seen... and seeing his memories, I agree. She was like a living angel... he wanted to be with her, but they were bound by their oaths. He talked to her about it, said they could keep it a secret... she didn't feel the same way about him..." Mastermind paused, slightly depressed.
"Well?" Magneto asked.
"...He... snuck into her room and..." Mastermind winced as he recalled the memories he had seen. "He... forced himself..." Mastermind paused. "Anyway, he never told anyone about that either... he told her that if she told anyone, he would find her and kill her. A few months went by before he heard from her again. She was carrying a child, and she could no longer hide it. The nun had told people she had been raped, but she claimed not to know the assailant. She gave birth to a gray-skinned child... a mutant." Now Magneto had grown interested. Mastermind was hesitant.
"Go on."
"Stryker couldn't live with the fact that his own seed had produced a mutant. He felt he was being punished by God... in order to atone for his crime, he felt that he should kill the 'demon' and devote his life solely to the Lord. He planned to meet the nun again, but she was lynched by a mob, for giving birth to a mutant. The other nuns had kept the child safe, and Stryker convinced them to allow him custody of the child." Mastermind exhaled. "He took the boy and wrapped him in a blanket, and on his way back to his cathedral in Donegal, he stopped in an alley in Dublin. He was about to stab the infant, but a homeless man saw him. He instead stabbed the homeless man, but his screams brought attention to the alley. Hearing people coming to investigate, Stryker quickly opened a manhole and dropped the child in... when the people arrived, he told them that the man had assaulted him, and that he took the knife and killed him in self-defense. They bought his story, and nobody knew about the infant... nobody there knew he had been carrying the boy with him. When he returned to his cathedral, he came up with a story for the nuns, and said that he had left the boy in the care of an orphanage. To cover his tracks again, he..." Mastermind paused again.
"Out with it."
"...He sealed the doors to an orphanage in Dublin, and locked everyone inside... nobody could ever know that he never left the boy there..."
"He locked it?" Magneto asked, slightly confused.
"Yes... and then he burned it to the ground. Nobody escaped the fire..."
"He has a darker heart than I could have imagined."
"...The boy was found in the sewers by... I'm not sure who. The boy's memory is too faded for me to see that face clearly... but he was brought to the United States soon after... and placed in a normal orphanage until..." Mastermind's eyes widened. "...Until he was rescued by a white-haired man..."
"...No... he's..."
"He is... he was trained by you, Magneto... your fifth recruit, trained by Mystique, Forge and myself... and then... he betrayed us... he nearly cost me my life... he was responsible for putting me in that coma... he was the one who cut Hank... who... resented Warren... and... plucked Callisto's eye... who initiated Ororo's cynicism..."
"No, this can't be... I was sure he died."
"You were sure I died, too... oh my God... I knew he had thoughts... but I didn't know he was capable of mass-murder..."
"So he was behind the Morlock attack."
"Yes... seventy-six... and then the deaths here... and several more murders at the request of his father..."
"How did he come back into Stryker's service?" Magneto asked.
"I don't know... it's another face, a different one... I can't tell who it is, it's blurred... but he trained him further... even enhanced his mutant abilities... now he could hide from mutant detection... he could nullify powers at will... and his father was reluctant to take him back... both memories of this are blurred... someone must have blurred them on purpose... and he will do anything to gain the approval of his father... and his father still hates him for what he is, but feels that he is useful for now... a tool." Mastermind closed his eyes. "Magneto, we must tell the others."
"No. They can't know, especially not Callisto and Warren. Their emotions will blind them. This information does not leave this room. Wipe it from Marie's memory. I will assemble a team to deal with Caliban." Magneto walked out the door. Pietro and Toad exchanged concerned glances as Mastermind erased Rogue's memory.
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Wanda Lehnsherr stood in the war room with Magneto and a handful of others. The hologram on the table displayed an image of the X-Cutioner.
"You have been assembled partly because my own team has been cut down in size, and partly because you have all proven yourselves capable of handling this mission. The Scarlet Witch will be leading this mission, but if anything should happen, command will be given to Pyro."
"Oh man, Pyro?!" Scott Darkholme complained. Scott had traded in his civilian outfit for a black outfit, standard among the younger X-Men recruits. He had added silver shin guards, forearm guards, and a chestplate, taken from some of the spare outfits.
"Yes, Scott, Pyro. Now, your objectives are simple. You are to get inside this building and bring back Stryker, dead or alive. I want Caliban alive. If you can't manage that, then do what you must." The team nodded. Pyro stood by Scott and Wanda, and Jubilee next to him. She had been given a black suit as well, though the only thing she added were silver boots and shoulderpads. Todd Wyngarde was crouched on the war room table itself, just a few feet from the hologram itself. He had also been given an X-uniform, with similar armor additions, plus heavier boots and thick gloves. Danielle Moonstar wore the same standard training outfit she usually did, for this mission, she had add a purple scarf. The final member was young Dorian Leech, dressed in his regular training outfit. "In addition, I want at least one of you to keep an eye on Leech at all times. He is of tactical importance, but he lacks training. Remember: Stryker must be dealt with, but I don't care how you do it. If you don't kill him, bring him here. However, I want Caliban alive. In the meantime, I will assemble a separate team to deal with... other matters." The hologram disappeared, and the briefing was over.
"Good times, Darkholme," Pyro said to Scott. "About time you join us."
"I'm not an X-Man. I'm just here for Wanda. This Caliban guy... he was the fifth student?"
"Yeah. I wasn't here yet when he did his little thing and screwed everyone, but from I'm told, it was terrible."
"The incident forced my father to increase the defenses around here and install security systems," Wanda said, walking next to them. "He was almost ready to quit after what happened, but he decided to keep the dream alive... for the sake of his children."
"I'm going to die, aren't I?" Dorian asked suddenly. Everyone stopped. "We're all going to die, aren't we?"
"No," Pyro said. "Only way we'd die is if we fail, and we're not gonna fail. Tell you what, stick with me, mate. I'll keep an eye on you, make sure nothing happens to you."
"Thanks Pyro, but no."
"No?"
"Maybe I need to grow up a little. I can't hide behind you guys all my life." Dorian continued forward, and after a momentary pause, the others followed him to the hangar.
Caliban? That's right, the X-Cutioner was really Caliban. How many of you saw that coming? So that brings the original class up to Storm, Callisto, Angel, Beast and Caliban. So, how about that Stryker, evil man or what?
Anyway, those of you who've read AoA:AR, here's some trivia for you:
Alternate Reality: Caliban has a mansion in Ireland as part of a deal he made with Apocalypse.
Legacy of Apocalypse: We learn that Caliban is himself Irish by birth, the illegitimate son of Stryker.
What's up? That's right, in AR, the cathedral was demolished and the surrounding area landscaped to form Caliban's estate. Woohoo!