A/N: Sorry about the delay, folks. The Demon that is Real Life (bane of authors everywhere) has been savagely pinning me down and piling heavy weights on top of me. But I'm back! Yay!
Readers, you are good people. Reviewers, you are fantastic people and I love you. I'd marry you all if it were legal and not so weird. As it is, we can just keep a platonic relationship, okay?
On with the ficcery!
As the plane began to turn toward Asteroid M, Scott grabbed the controls and fought with them, trying to regain control over the jet. However, he'd not been struggling long before the loudspeaker crackled again.
"Behave yourself, Mr. Summers."
A sudden fork of static electricity arced out from the console and struck Scott in the chest, stunning him and knocking him back from the controls. Behind him, the others watched open-mouthed as their invisible adversary set the Blackbird on a collision course with the hard, stony ground of Asteroid M.
Everyone else, that is, except for Hank.
Electricity, he thought. Whoever this is, he affects electricity... therefore he can control the jet... but if it were shorted out...
He shot to his feet and, fighting the effects of gravity that threatened to throw him off balance, made his way over to the screaming Kitty. He pulled her out of her seat and carried her bodily toward the console.
"Katherine!" he shouted. "Phase! You must short out the controls!" Kitty stared uncomprehendingly at him. Hank pushed her forwards. "Whoever's doing this is using the Blackbird's computer to control it! You have to deactivate it!"
As Kitty's brain kicked into gear, she spun around and stepped into the console. Instantly, the Blackbird's lights went out as the computers stopped working. Seizing the controls, Logan began to fight the Blackbird's descent.
"Jeannie!" he yelled. "Ya got anything ya think can help, now's a good time!"
Whilst the on-board computer was deactivated, the control stick was still able to move the rudders on the Blackbird's wings. As Jean lended her powers to Logan's efforts, the plane slowly straightened out and turned towards an empty area that would – just – serve as a landing strip. Another push from Jean opened up the landing gear seconds before the plane reached ground level.
Hank grabbed Kitty under one arm and braced himself against the seats. "Hold on to something!" he shouted to the others. "This is going to become rough!"
This was a firm contender for the understatement of the year. When the wheels of the Blackbird hit the ground, there was a deafening screech of metal and the sparks flew up on either side. While the mutants inside clutched at whatever they could hold onto and tried desperately not to scream, loose items flew around inside – medical kits, body armour, radios, all of the useless little items that you find on any plane that's used regularly – and crashed into them. Jean screamed aloud from the effort of keeping the Jet from smashing into any buildings or rocks, but managed it; although it seemed like an eternity, it was only a few short minutes after the Blackbird had spun out of control that it came to a stop. Slowly, the X- Men looked out from under protective arms and rose to shaky feet. Jamie, who hadn't fastened his seatbelt, groaned from one corner of the Jet. That is, roughly a dozen of him groaned.
"Are we there yet?" asked one.
"I think so," answered another.
With a groan of relief, the all stopped moving, and suddenly vanished, leaving one Jamie sitting on the floor rubbing his head. "Let's not do that again," he suggested.
Rogue walked over and helped him to his feet. "Ya got a deal, squirt," she agreed.
Grouping together, the X-Men slowly disembarked the Blackbird and made their way toward the facilities. Whilst they didn't yet know who had attacked them during their approach, they knew one thing; until that individual had been dealt with, there was no way they could leave Asteroid M.
Now, it was all or nothing.
Inside the facility, Sabretooth's face contorted with renewed fury. "They're still alive," he snarled. "First, ya send me an' Mystique on some bullshit job to catch a rat. Then Mystique pisses off to Christ knows where. Then you put everything down to this Meggie-Bite bastard – and he screws it up." He glared venomously at Magneto. "What the hell're ya doin'?"
Magneto frowned. "Contain yourself, Sabretooth. Admittedly, Mystique's disappearance is both unexpected and concerning. However, the rest of your statements need correction: you were sent to capture Nightcrawler in order to use him as bait to catch the rest of the X-Men, and through their defeat to gain ourselves a powerful ally. And secondly, Megabyte did not fail. The X-Men are demoralised, fearful, and being extremely cautious of their actions – making an ambush simple enough..." he turned to the rest of the assembled Brotherhood. "You know what to do. If you do it right, then the X- Men will not stand a chance..."
Kurt was lying on the bed, counting the cracks in the ceiling of his cell. He'd finished eating the contents of his food tray, and none of his captors were guarding him. Not that he needed guarding; he'd spent a good couple of hours exhausting all potential escape routes, and he was very well contained. It was just that without guards he was unable to engage in banter with anyone.
He was bored. Being a prisoner was far less interesting than he remembered.
Funny, the way your mind plays tricks on you... he thought.
An electronic whirring signified the door opening, and he glanced over to see who was coming into his little prison. His eyes widened, and he didn't say anything for a while after the door had eventually whirred shut.
Finally Scott spoke. "Well? Aren't you going to say hi?"
Kurt leaped to his feet and leaned against the glass wall. "I'll say hello once I'm out of here," he retorted.
"Like, no problem," Kitty announced, and phased through the glass, grabbed Kurt, and headed back the way she'd come.
THUD
Kurt raised an eyebrow as Kitty rubbed her sore forehead. "You're a smart one, aren't you?" he asked her. Kitty glowered as Logan chuckled at them.
"Half-pint, the elf's a teleporter. If ya could use powers in that cell o' his, d' ya think he'd still be there?"
Rogue and Evan looked at each other and shook their heads. "Unbelievable," was Evan's comment. The others just grinned at the sight. Eventually, Kurt looked back out his window at the others.
"As funny as this is..." he said, "...would it be alright if we tried to get out of here now? Herr Magneto has a new pet, and I do not wish to be caught off-guard once more..."
Logan grunted. "Hold on a sec," he answered as he unsheathed his claws and moved toward the glass wall. "So, who's Maggie's new pet?" he asked.
"He calls himself Megabyte," Kurt replied nervously, "but we already know him, and he's not going to be happy to see any of you."
Jean raised an eyebrow. "So who is he?" she asked.
Kurt opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a familiar whirring sound. "Sheisse!" he screamed. "Hurry up! He's here!"
Those who remained outside the cell, which Logan had not yet penetrated, spun to see the new arrivals. At the door, the entire Brotherhood (sans Mystique) stared back at them. At their head, next to Magneto himself, stood the mysterious Megabyte.
"Salve, Moritorium es!" he called to the astonished crowd.
Amara's eyes widened as she took a step back. "That... that's impossible," she gasped at Megabyte.
Alive and well, Simon Kayle grinned back at her.
Kurt glared at Simon from inside his cell. "Salve, and osci assinus meum, Simon," he spat.
Simon stopped for a moment, blinked, then burst out laughing. "Oh, very clever, Kurt," he congratulated. "Except that assinum refers to ass as a beast of burden, not a bodily part." He smiled benignly at Kurt. "You just told me to kiss your donkey."
Scott cut in. "Um... don't take this the wrong way or anything... but aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Simon shook his head, finishing up his laughter. "Nope. Oh, sure the house burned down... sadly, Vicki and Dad didn't make it out... but I'm fine."
Jean's jaw dropped. "You know they're dead?"
"Sure I do. Been looking forward to it for a while, now. They've had it coming to them."
Rogue shook her head in disbelief. "You're fucking nuts."
"Ja," agreed Kurt. "That's what I said."
Simon's face contorted with fury. He ignored Kurt and screamed at Rogue. "Nuts? Nuts was when I put up with all that shit from people who aren't worth the dirt I walk on! Nuts was letting those assholes at school beat up on me when I could have killed them all with a thought!" His breathing was ragged as he paused in his tirade. "I'm not nuts anymore. For the first time, I'm thinking straight. I'm not going to let anyone push me around ever again."
Evan shook his head. "And once again... you, pal, are fucking nuts."
"Ja, that's what I said."
Simon smirked. "Wanna know what I said?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer, just raised one hand. A steady stream of static energy shot from his raised palm and struck Evan in the chest. Evan screamed in agony as the blast threw him against one wall, and dropped into a heap when the stream stopped, smoke rising from his burned chest.
Kitty swallowed her nausea. "You're a murderer," she snapped at Simon. "You killed your family, even though they, like, cared about you; now you're trying to kill us, too? You are crazy."
Simon lowered his hand. "They didn't care about me," he retorted. "Vick was nice enough to me in public, but... well, if you weren't an only child, you'd understand. She could be a bitch when she wanted. And Dad... well, he hasn't cared about me since Mom died. I was just... there. He never even noticed me." He smirked. "Guess he noticed when Sabie passed on a message from me..."
Behind him, Sabretooth grinned, though he never dropped his gaze from Logan's face. Magneto stepped forwards. "Enough," he announced. "My dear X- Men, although I would simply love to kill you all now, I don't have the time. Therefore, we'll put you on storage until we have time to deal with you." At a gesture from him, the metal door of the cell slid open. "Get in. Now."
The X-Men glared pure venom at him, but faced with no choice entered the cell, Hank half-carrying Evan on one arm. Magneto smiled coldly. "Good," was all he said. Turning, he walked through the assembled Brotherhood out of the room. Todd looked nervous.
"So we just leave 'em here, yo?"
"That is correct, Toad," Magneto called over his shoulder. "They won't be getting out anytime soon. Now, come; I need all of you to witness this..."
They left the room, and the newly arrived prisoners looked around. Kurt walked back to the bed and sat.
"So..." he said to the others. here often?"
Hank deposited the still-groggy Evan next to him. "Only to find you," he retorted.
"Oh, so this was a rescue attempt, Ja?"
Scott raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"
"No offence? But you kind of suck at rescuing people..." Kurt waved one hand, taking in their surroundings and current situation. "And now, who will rescue you?"
As the Brotherhood took positions around the room, Magneto turned toward them.
"Congratulations," he said gravely. "We have just captured the majority of the X-Men without a single one of us being harmed – and the others will be easy prey for us without their friends..." activating a nearby computer console, an image of the Xavier Institute flickered into view on a large screen. Magneto glanced at Simon. "You know what to do." With a grin, Simon rose to his feet and left the room.
After he'd left, Tabitha shuddered. "That guy creeps me out," she commented. "He might be on our side and everything, but Blue-boy and his pals were right. He's out of his fucking gourd."
Magneto smiled mirthlessly. "Perhaps. But his power is not to be underestimated. Without his influence, it's unlikely that we'd have succeeded thus far. And if Nightcrawler were to escape the cell, Megabyte is probably the only one here, excluding myself, who would stand a chance against him. And this next part... that's all dependent on Megabyte's capabilities..."
Lance and Fred looked at each other and shrugged. "What's the next part, then?" Fred asked. Magneto simply pointed to the screen, which suddenly changed to a view inside the Institute itself, taken from the Institute's security cameras. "Watch..."
At the mansion, none of the remaining X-Men were aware of their friend's plight. Currently, Charles and Rahne watched from the observation deck as Ororo led Bobby and Jubilee through a training simulation in the Danger Room. They were nearing the end of the sim, and therefore running low on steam. Ororo glanced up at the observation deck and gave a tired wave, which was answered by Rahne. Charles merely smiled.
Then every light in the room went out. The sudden darkness startled them all, and for a moment silence prevailed. When the lights came back on, it took Charles a moment to work out what had changed. Then he saw it.
The training sim had reset.
Not only that, it had reset itself onto another program; one that was faster, tougher, and infinitely more dangerous than the previous one. However, it wasn't yet active.
"Rahne!" Charles barked. "Shut off the console! Do it now!"
Rahne nodded and ran over to the controls, flicking switches and pressing buttons as she tried to shut the program down.
And, seconds later, was hurled across the room by a powerful blast of electricity that arced out of the console itself. Charles, too shocked and stunned to speak, simply watched in mute horror.
This silence was broken by a burst of static from the Danger Room's loudspeaker system, and a voice none of them had heard before.
"Satan salve, moritorium es!"
As the computer generated opponents on the floor below began to move, Charles suddenly felt himself lurch forwards as his chair, no longer under his control, began to move toward the elevator.
