With Logan tracking ahead of them, the others made their way through the compounds of Asteroid M quickly and without incident. At last, they reached a large metal door, where Logan stopped. "They're in here," he said simply.

"All of them?" Scott asked.

"Couldn't pick up Mystique's scent, but if what we heard was right, she ain't a threat to us now," he answered. "So, we gonna do this or what?"

"Ja," replied Kurt, stepping up to the door. "I call dibs on Herr Magneto, as well. No-one gets to put me in a cage and walk away from it."

Rogue raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at Amara. "Is anyone else gettin' a little déjà vu here?"

"Be quiet," Amara snapped. Scott rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

"Enough!" he said, exasperated. "Look, we've got an advantage in numbers here, and they think we're still locked up, so we've got surprise on our side too. Rogue, Kitty, you take care of Simon – we'll deal with the others. Everyone think they understand what they have to do?" A general chorus of assent greeted his question and he grinned mirthlessly. "Then let's do this..."


The collective members of the Brotherhood snapped their heads around as the metal door smashed in with a dull screech of twisting metal. Even Magneto was stunned into silence as their would-be prisoners entered the room and took positions against them.

"Forget something?" Scott called.

Evan shook his head. "Dude, that's the best line you can come up with?"

"It's kind of short notice..."

Jean cut in firmly. "Could we possibly do this later, guys?"

Magneto scowled furiously. "You are too late, X-Men," he shouted. "Your friends are already dead!"

Kurt growled at him. "Even if we believed that, mein Herr... then it would mean that we have nothing left to lose, would it not?"

Evan nudged Scott with an elbow. "Now that's more like it." Scott blinked at him, then looked back at the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood glared back.

And suddenly the room, which was the size of a small concert hall, exploded into violence.


Amara was the first to single out an opponent for herself; sprinting forwards, she launched a fireball that exploded at Wanda's feet. Wanda gasped as the flames burned her, then narrowed her eyes in response to the not-so-subtle challenge. She sprinted forwards, launched herself at Amara, and the pair spun off to one side, struggling wildly.

Evan's eyes locked onto those of Pietro as he stepped calmly up against one wall and sprouted a few defensive spines. He waited, but not for long – a few moments later, the speed demon appeared next to him with a trademark sneer on his face.
"Daniels."
"Maximoff."
And the punches started flying.

Likewise, Logan never had any doubts as to who he'd be fighting. Without a pause, he ran straight toward Sabretooth, both sets of claws bared. There were no pleasantries, no formal challenges, nothing – just a heavy impact of flesh on flesh, followed by the sound of that same flesh being ripped open by claws of bone or metal.

Fred charged toward the assembled X-Men within a few moments of the others beginning their battles. He made it halfway across the room, both arms raised, before he was stopped. He was momentarily stunned – not from the force of the blow, but rather because he'd never felt his strength matched before. Breaking free, he turned to his opponent.
"You, Master Dukes, need a lesson in manners," Hank informed the enormous teenager.
"An' you, old man, need ta mind yer own fuckin' business," Fred rumbled. Seizing each other by the shoulders and breaking out in wordless grunts, they began to grapple with one another for control.

Scott stepped forward as his team picked off an opponent one by one.
"Alvers!" he shouted. "Get over here!"
Lance glared at him. "My pleasure..." The floor suddenly rippled, throwing Scott to his knees without warning. Lance advanced at his seemingly vulnerable enemy.
Mistake.
A blast of red-hot optic energy struck Lance in the chest, knocking him back onto the ground himself. With a growl, he clambered back up, regaining his feet at the same time as Scott. Glaring at one another, they moved in against one another.

Tabitha stared down Jean with a grin on her face. "What's up, red?" she called cheerfully. "Wanna have a crack?"
Jean grinned back uncharacteristically. "Don't mind if I do..." Abruptly, she lifted off the floor and shot through the air toward Tabitha. Tabitha gaped at the sight, then ducked out of the way as Jean landed nearby, then dove forwards, crash-tackling the redhead. The two went down in a tangle of thrashing limbs.

Todd, for all his ungainliness, was usually one of the first ones to leap into the fray when a fight broke out – he'd discovered that his mutation actually made it possible to win a fight once in a while, substantially increasing his enthusiasm for violence. In this case, he'd hesitated, leaving only Kurt or Jamie as potential opponents. However, even he had personal limits, and one of them was taking on people – like Kurt – who he knew would be able to take him out easily.
"Only one left, yo," he muttered. Tensing his legs, he jumped long and high, landing easily next to Jamie. "Sorry, kid," he sneered, and grabbed Jamie's collar in one hand. He pulled the younger boy in close, then kicked him; Jamie flew across the room and thudded painfully into the wall, his resulting loss of consciousness meaning that no multiples appeared.
Todd stretched. "That were easy," he yawned.
"No," corrected a voice behind him. "That was rude." Todd spun around to see a further trio of Jamies glaring at him. He raised an eyebrow.
"Here we go, yo?"

Kurt waited patiently until all the others were involved in their own little battles, ensuring that no-one was going to get in the way. Then he called out to Magneto, standing alone on the other side of the room.
"You will remember, Herr Magneto, that I object to the killing of others?"
"I remember, Nightcrawler," came the stoic reply.
Kurt grinned coldly. "When I am finished here, I will take a great pleasure in making you the exception to that rule, Mein Herr."
Magneto never did reply to that sentence – before he'd even had a chance to use his powers, Kurt had teleported in a cloud of foul-smelling sulfur. He reappeared a foot above Magneto's head and dropped straight down on top of the Master of Magnetism. Magneto went down hard with Kurt on top of him.


The next room was fairly small – it contained a storage closet, a metal desk, a chair, and the heavily preoccupied Simon Kayle. Eyes closed, he was sitting at the desk, eyes closed, occasionally gritting his teeth as something on the other side of his consciousness bothered him. This was the scene that greeted Kitty and Rogue as the former phased the latter through the door. They had no way of knowing that Simon was currently trying to kill their teammates; likewise, Simon was unaware of the current battle underway on Asteroid M.

"Drain him," whispered Kitty. Rogue nodded and advanced toward the oblivious teen, bare hands outstretched.

At that moment, Simon opened his eyes.

He saw them.

A gasp and a string of profanities were all that Rogue heard before a blinding flash of light exploded before her and incredible, burning pain coursed through her. Before she fainted, she was dimly aware of Kitty screaming.

Ah, shit...


Jubilee gasped in sudden pain as a heat blast from one of the Danger Room robots cut across her back. Stumbling, she almost fell before Bobby caught her and held her up.

"Don't," he panted. "We're gonna make it..."

She nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

Ororo came up next to them. "They're getting faster," she gasped. "More dangerous."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I... noticed that too..."

Raising his hands, a pulse of blue light shot out in a nova around him. Abruptly, a wall of solid ice surrounded them. He sighed with relief. "Now... we can catch... our breath... at least..."

The three stood there, panting from exertion. Finally Jubilee looked up at Ororo.

"What's doing this?" she asked. "Who's doing this?"

"I don't know," Ororo answered. "Nothing like this has ever happened before. It's as though the system itself is trying to fight us..."

More accurate than you may think, came a sudden voice in all their heads. Ororo started.

Charles?

Yes, he confirmed. We are under attack from an extremely powerful mutant. He calls himself Megabyte, and is apparently able to control electrical systems. He's taken control of the Danger Room.

"Shit..." whispered Bobby. "Can we fight him?"

I'm working on it, came the mental reply. I have managed to regain control of Cerebro's system. With luck I'll soon be able to break Megabyte's control. You just need to survive until then.

"Easy for you to say," muttered Jubilee. "Just hurry up, okay?"

I'm doing my best...

Suddenly, there was a resounding crack as the ice wall shattered inwards. Jubilee and Ororo screamed at the charge of sim-generated opponents; Bobby never had the chance. The others were dimly aware of seeing him crushed into the floor as the next wave of attackers stormed their little fortress.


Logan ducked under a wild swing and retaliated with a claw-tipped uppercut that sliced into Sabretooth's belly, causing foul-smelling blood to gush all over his arm. The huge man grunted with the sudden pain, but was still able to deliver a sledgehammer blow that sent Logan reeling back. By the time Logan had regained his balance, the wound in Sabretooth's stomach had already healed over.
"Yer gonna have to do better than that, Runt," he snarled.
Logan raised his claws. "Gladly."
They moved in once more.

Scott stumbled back, one hand pressed to his now-swelling jaw. Across from him, Lance cursed as he wiped a steady flow of blood from his nose. Of the two, Scott recovered first, sending an optic blast in Lance's direction; Lance simply caused the floor to crack open in front of him and dropped out of range. Scott advanced cautiously – but not cautiously enough. As he approached the crack in the floor, the tiles on which he stood suddenly shook under him, throwing him to the ground. Lance climbed to the surface and threw himself at the X-Men's captain, and the two of them rolled slowly toward the broken crack in the ground as they struggled and pummelled at one another.

Bolts of fire and energy ricochet off the walls and floor as Wanda and Amara duelled with one another. A backhand blow from Amara sent the Scarlet Witch reeling back; unfortunately, at that moment a stray hex bolt struck Amara in the stomach. Moments later, a tile fell from the roof of the room and smashed against Amara's shoulder, almost knocking her down. By the time she'd recovered, Wanda had reached her once more. When she was within grabbing range, Wanda took hold of Amara's arm and tried to use her free hand to pull the Nova Roman off balance. Amara growled at her, lashed out with one foot, and brought both of them to the ground. She landed badly; Wanda was able to crack Amara's head against the floor tiles and pin the girl beneath her. Reaching down, Wanda smirked into Amara's face as she tightened her hands around Amara's neck and began to throttle her.

Evan's head jerked back as Pietro landed yet another punch to his long-time rival's jaw. Evan had been giving as well as he got for the first part of their fight; now, however, his endurance was waning. The burns on his chest from Simon's electrical charge had hurt him more than he'd let on, and the pain was beginning to make him stiffen up. Shaking his head, he ducked a lightning-fast blow and threw a punch at Pietro's midsection. The speed demon dodged easily.
"Gettingtired, areweDaniels?"
"Can it, Pie-pie."
Evan heard a growl at the sound of the despised childhood nickname, and suddenly he felt himself carried across the room as Pietro threw him into a nearby wall. He tried, but couldn't regain his feet before the speedster reached him again.

Fred and Hank had been grappling against one another for supremacy for some time. However, while Hank enjoyed a marginal size advantage and was even slightly stronger than Fred, he didn't possess Fred's invulnerability to physical harm. His exertions were taking their toll, and Fred was slowly getting the better of the large blue mutant.
Breaking away, Hank changed his tactics; attempting to knock Fred's feet out from under him, he simultaneously delivered a heavy blow to Fred's skull. The enormous teenager grunted from the impact, then gave Hank an answering blow that knocked the older mutant back and nearly off his feet.
Come on now, Hank, he thought. You're fairly evenly matched, physically... but you're meant to be a genius... do something!
Unfortunately, inspiration didn't come before Fred let out a deep-throated bellow and launched himself into a charge.

In contrast to most of the other battles taking place, Jean was winning a very one-sided fight. Tabitha had managed a few early blows when she'd pounced on the redhead; now, however, she wasn't nearly as successful. Via telepathy, Jean was able to anticipate Tabitha's every move, and simply pre- empted her attacks, knocking the blonde back with ease. Tabitha narrowed her eyes. "Having fun in my head, Red?" she snarled.
Jean grinned. "Not really – your mind isn't all that advanced..."
Tabitha glared hot liquid death at Jean.
Oh yeah? Well, two could play mind games.
I'm going left, Tabitha thought. I'll attack her from the left side.
Instantly, Jean began guarding her left.
Tabitha, fully expecting this, went right.
Jean hardly knew what had happened.
A kick from a steel-capped boot almost knocked Jean over, and a freshly generated boom-ball appeared in Tabitha's hand. She smiled coldly. "Not so high and mighty now, are we Red?"
Jean's eyes widened as the ball of energy arced toward her.

Meanwhile, Todd was getting more than a little frustrated. There were roughly eight Jamies circling him; every time he landed a blow, another pair of opponents appeared. Every time he tried to land a serious blow, the Jamie he'd grabbed simply vanished. Now, Todd snapped out his tongue at one of the Jamies; he abruptly vanished. The nearest one clapped his hands, producing a replacement.
Okay, Todd thought. I heard about this kid before, right? The original one – he can't disappear. So I gotta find the original.
He looked around. There should have been four or five Jamies lying unconscious on the ground by now; however, each time one should have been knocked out, another multiple simply absorbed the injured one. The only Jamies visible were moving around with menace in their identical faces.
Eeny Meeny Minie Moe...

Todd suddenly tensed his legs and launched himself at a random Jamie, now christened as 'Moe'. Todd had expected the Jamie to simply vanish like the others had, but this didn't happen. Instead, his target stood firm, absorbed the blow, then vanished, causing Todd to drop to the ground. He raised himself to his hands and knees, shaking his head. Another Jamie was in front of him; Todd whipped out his tongue once more.
And this time, it hit.
Bingo...
Todd pulled the Jamie in toward him and grinned.
"Gotcha, kid!" he crowed.
Jamie shook his head. "Nope. We've got you..."
Todd blinked in confusion, then looked up. His internal temperature dropped well below normal in sudden fear.
There weren't eight Jamies any more. They'd multiplied yet again.
Now there were at least thirty of him. All surrounding him. All looking at him. The Jamie that Todd was holding abruptly vanished, quenching any hope Todd had held of getting out of this lightly. Totally defenceless, he looked around the ring of identical faces.
Thirty teenagers grinned simultaneously back at him and surged forward.
Todd let out a strangled scream as he disappeared under the pack.

Kurt was growling continuously as he pulled Magneto to his feet once more, and knocked him to the ground with a heavy punch to the head. His initial assault had been so sudden, so fierce, that Magneto had been totally unprepared, and hadn't been able to begin to defend himself. Now, Kurt was holding a powerful upper hand. Grabbing Magneto's arm, he pulled the Master of Magnetism over one shoulder and threw him across the room. As Magneto skidded to a halt, he shook his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. Seeing Kurt tense himself to teleport again, Magneto summoned up a weak magnetic field around him, hoping he'd get a chance to use some of his power as a weapon. An instant later, Kurt teleported, and Magneto tensed himself for the impact.
But the impact never came. Kurt, unexpectedly, reappeared upside-down roughly six feet to Magneto's left. With a surprised cry, he landed ungracefully on his back and scrambled to his feet, glaring at Magneto and wondering what had happened. Magneto, more than a little surprised himself, experimentally increased the power of his magnetic shield.
Kurt dove toward Magneto again and teleported mid-air, intending to use his momentum as a weapon against Magneto. And, once again, he missed; he reappeared on the other side of his target, and his momentum carried him headfirst into the wall. Kurt groaned as he got to his feet again.
Magneto suddenly was exuberant as realisation dawned. "You can't target me, can you?" he exulted. "Magnetism affects your abilities, doesn't it? Throws out your senses or something?"
Kurt shook his head slowly, eyes wide. Nothing like this had ever happened before. He'd known for some time that his teleportation ability had something to do with the magnetic pull of the Earth – he never thought it would be a disadvantage to him...
Magneto laughed aloud and gestured at Kurt with one hand. Kurt felt his sense of balance vanish and he slumped to the ground once more, leaning helplessly against the wall. A set of six metallic blades detached themselves from somewhere on Magneto's form, and aimed themselves at him. Kurt began struggling to reach his feet as three of the knives suddenly hurtled toward him.