Rogue's unconscious form was giving off a slow waft of smoke as Simon prowled the room looking for Kitty. Part of his mind was still focused on his work at the Institute; however, since things were fairly well under control there, he'd set the computers to work for themselves, and the only thing he was really working on was keeping Xavier's wheelchair in motion in the hopes of eventually making roadkill out of Wolfsbane. The rest of his mind was focused on the job at hand. He'd just seen the girls in time to stun one of them; he had half a mind to kill the injured one now, but that would take up valuable time. The second one – Shadowcat, he recalled from Magneto's briefing – had dropped into the floor when Rogue had gone down. Now he wasn't sure where she was.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are" he called loudly. "Come on now, Shadowcat, give it up. I'll even let you live if you surrender now!"
There was no answer. He hadn't really expected that to work, anyway
Suddenly, a faint noise caught his attention – inside the storage closet. With a grin, he crossed over to it, tensed himself, and flung the doors open. Empty.
He scratched the back of his neck with one hand. Now what?
Then a voice hissed into his ear. "Jerk!"
He didn't turn around in time before he felt a hard blow to the back of his head, and he was pushed forward into the closet. The doors slammed shut behind him.
Kitty sighed with relief – she hadn't actually beaten him, but he was second priority for the moment. Her friend came first. Kneeling beside Rogue, she gently shook the prone Goth.
"Rogue?" she hissed. "Can you hear me?"
Rogue groaned, giving Kitty some hope. Careful not to touch any exposed skin, she lifted her friend's head and shook her shoulders once more. "Rogue?"
Rogue's eyes fluttered open and she coughed weakly. "Boy, when geeks go bad" she managed. Kitty grinned.
"Like, tell me about it," she agreed.
Rogue looked around carefully. "Where�"
"I, like, locked him in the storage closet," Kitty announced proudly.
"That won't hold him"
"Like, do you have a better idea?"
It was a shame that the answer was 'no'. Because at that moment, the closet door exploded open. As sparks of residual energy flew out, Simon followed them with murder in his eyes. A swift blast of energy knocked both girls back, and he giggled at the sight.
Rogue began to hyperventilate at the sound of that laughter. She'd called him nuts before; she never actually thought he was insane. He was, seriously, a madman.
The madman giggled again. "Sorry, girls," he informed them, "but it's time up for you two. I don't know where smart-assed bitches go when they die, but when you get there" he grinned. "Say hi to Vicki for me."
The girls were too frightened to scream as he raised his electrically-charged hands to end it. And to surprised to move when he suddenly froze, eyes wide, listening to something they couldn't hear. Rogue and Kitty exchanged confused glances, but Simon was oblivious to everything but the voice in his head.
Hello, Megabyte, said Professor Charles Xavier. I believe this is known as 'checkmate'?
This fortunate turn of events was of little help to Kurt, however. Back in the larger room, he had managed to regain his feet before the projectiles hit. Just. Now, he spun blindly, dodging as they sliced toward him. Turning around one blade, he ducked the second and lashed out with a fist, knocking the other off course in mid-air. Instinctively, he rolled forward on one shoulder as the other two blades hurtled over his head. He was, in spite of Magneto hampering his senses, preforming admirably.
But Magneto's power wasn't so pathetic that mere willpower could overcome it. As Kurt evaded the first two blades once more, the third spun sideways in mid-air, slicing toward Kurt's shoulder. It struck, sending a spray of blood into the air nearby. As Kurt howled in agony, the first two blades turned toward him yet again. When he ducked under them, it was then that he saw something strange. Something unexpected.
There was a black shape flying into the room. It circled over the various struggles going on before seemingly noticing Magneto, whom it moved toward. It was, Kurt realised, some kind of black bird. A crow, maybe?
No, he realised, that wasn't right. It wasn't a crow, and it wasn't a blackbird.
It was a raven...
Charles walked along the pathways of Megabyte's mind. Here, unlike the real world, his useless legs did not matter one bit – instead, he was able to be whatever he wished. He was, of course, exactly the way he was in the real world, except that he did not choose to restrict himself to a wheelchair.
On this particular occasion, however, he didn't enjoy the sensation of walking as he sometimes did. This time, simple pleasures were the last things on his mind.
Or, for that matter, Megabyte's mind.
Lesions and rifts abounded here, where the mind of an ordinary person was normally ordered and understandable. To anyone else, this seemed incomprehensible; to the experienced Charles, he recognised it clearly as one of the hallmarks of Megabyte's insanity. Unable to resist the temptation, he glanced into the various rifts as he went, seeing fragments of Megabyte's life, the more dramatic moments that had contributed to his psychological collapse.
A crowd of people, jeering at him, whilst one of the Jocks of Bayville High mercilessly pounded the helpless boy with his fists.
A remarkably attractive young woman, his sister apparently, screaming insults at him.
His father, consumed with the loss of his wife, shutting the boy out of his life.
Loneliness.
Pain.
Self-pity.
Charles felt sadness welling up inside him as he recognised, all too well, the events that had fractured the mind of this boy – Simon Kayle, as he now knew him to be – beyond repair. Simon had had so much potential, the will and the intelligence to go far in life. All wasted by the taunts and discriminations of a world that needed someone to step on, and had chosen Simon for the job. When the boy had been so shattered, beginning to believe the claims of others that he was worthless, what Magneto had offered him – overwhelming power – was too beautiful a thing to pass up. He had taken Magneto's deal without question, believing that it would improve his life. Now, the once brilliant young man was no more than the psychotic puppet of a megalomaniac.
Despite his pity, Charles proceeded with caution nonetheless. Regardless of the how and why of it, he was inside the mind of a psychopath – an extremely intelligent one at that – and Simon was still able to harm him, should he take Charles by surprise. As Charles wandered the paths of Simon's mind, he surrounded himself with psychic armour, always scanning the wilderness of Simon's scattered sanity for threats.
Walking without incident, he came at last to what he supposed was his destination – a sheer wall, stretching as far as he could see in either direction, likewise straight up. Impenetrable, except for a large, metallic double door before him, with the path leading straight up to it. The stronghold of Simon's mind, and the place he had to enter if he were to save his students and staff. Determinedly, he strode up to the door.
"Megabyte!" he called. "Open this door!"
There was no answer.
"You challenged me. We fought in an arena of your choosing – from which I emerged victorious – and now we fight in mine. Open the door, or I will open it for you!"
Still, no answer.
Charles sighed and shook his head. Raising his hands, he focused his power. Were there any to see him in this bizarre landscape, it would have seemed that his eyes glowed and shimmered with his incredible power – a power he flung outwards with the force of a bullet from a gun. With a shattering explosion, the enormous metallic doors smashed inwards, revealing a darkened room. As Charles entered, he sent out another wave of energy, filling the fortress with light. Revealed by the glow, Simon Kayle cowered in a corner, attempting to hide from his opponent even though he knew he'd been discovered. Charles gazed at him, impassive, not allowing any of his sympathy for this boy show.
"Salve, moritorium es," he called. Then he shook his head. "No, Simon, I'm not going to kill you. I simply thought it prudent to return the same greeting you first gave to me."
Simon snapped upright, a wild light of madness illuminating the air around him. Charles frowned. Yes, he was powerful, but he was in Simon's home ground, and the power of a madman was not to be underestimated.
"Leave me alone!" Simon screamed. "You hear me, old man? Get out of my goddamn head!"
"Why?" countered Charles. "You're in my home. You're trying to kill my companions. Why, therefore, should I respect the privacy of your mind?"
Pure, unrelenting fury shimmered in the mix of emotions swirling around Simon's form. Then he raised one hand – abruptly, that hand was wielding a sword. A shield materialised in his other hand, and he charged forward screaming incoherently.
Charles stood firm, making no move to protect himself. There was, of course, no need. When Simon came within six feet of Charles, he slammed into an invisible wall and slumped pathetically to the ground. His psychic weapons vanished instantly, and the helpless boy looked up at Charles, terror suffusing the air around him. With a negligent gesture of one hand, Charles lifted Simon's form off the ground with the power of his mind.
"Goodbye, Megabyte," he said simply. Then he slammed a bolt of psychic energy into his opponent.
Simon Kayle, both in his mind and in the real world, slumped unconscious to the ground. Charles looked down at the defeated boy, sadness in his eyes. But, sadness or not, there was still a job for him to do. Concentrating his power once more, he began to work within Simon's mind for the final time.
In the Danger Room, Ororo was fighting desperately, trying to reach Bobby before their opponents finished the weakened boy off. Beside her, Jubilee was filling the air around them with fire and light, shorting out robots and knocking enemies back on every side. Prone on his back, bleeding from a dozen wounds, one leg bent out at an unnatural angle from the first assault that had resulted in one tracked robot driving over the top of him, Bobby was surrounded by sculptures of ice, enemies he'd frozen solid in what seemed to be his indomitable last stand. He had fought harder than he'd ever struggled in his life, putting up an effort that would have made Logan weep with envy. They all had. But there were too many of them, far too many opponents for them to hope to win. They simply didn't have the strength to hold out much longer.
Which was why, when the simulated battle abruptly shut down, they didn't even move for a full minute, such was their shock.
What galvanised them into life once more was a familiar voice in all their heads, three simple words that seemed a greater blessing than they could have believed possible.
It is over, Charles informed them all.
An instant later, Jubilee and Ororo ran to Bobby's side, kneeling next to him, trying to help him up. Tears of relief flowed down Ororo's face – and, not caring in the slightest, she let them come.
Rahne had nothing left. She'd used almost all the strength she had in getting herself into this hopeless, almost comical situation – repeatedly dodging a malevolent wheelchair at the bottom of a giant supercomputer being used by a telepath – and now was at her limit. She'd been avoiding the chair for almost ten minutes now, and it had been getting increasingly difficult. The chair had been increasing in speed, and when at one point she'd attempted to jump into it to avoid being run over, another blast of electrical energy had arced from the exposed wiring and knocked her back down, whining in exhausted pain.
Now, slower than she'd ever felt in her life, she lurched to one side once more, and knew she'd been too slow – pain flared in her side as the chair clipped her in the side, and she stumbled at last, collapsing in a pile of paws and lashing tail. Unable to regain her feet, she felt a sense of resignation as she watched the wheelchair turning towards her for the final time. Closing her eyes, she panted furiously as she waited for the end.
Which never came.
A strange shudder seemed to vibrate through the walls of Cerebro's chamber, and a screeching sound was heard as the wheelchair's automatic brakes kicked in. Rahne, scarcely believing that she'd survived, opened her eyes.
Seven inches from her lupine face, the chair had come to a stop. For good.
