The Song of Eternity
Canto 7
A Normal Life
Verse 3
True power is revealed,
An evil man comes,
And is driven off as they catch a glimpse of heaven,
Or is it hell?
Quicksilver mover slowly through the woods. "All I need to do is spot you," he whispered as he scanned the trees for either of his opponents. He heard a sound and whirled around to face nothing. "Just an animal," he laughed as he turned around, looking right into the grinning face of Cole. Cole held his finger to his lips for Pietro to remain silent as he quickly swept his legs out from under him and pinned him on the ground. "I give," Pietro acknowledged after finding himself unable to move. He was helped up by Cole, who then shook his hand and disappeared into the woods again.
Pietro is out. Iceman was surprised when he heard Xavier's telepathic announcement. "Wow, wonder how they pulled that off," he muttered as he transformed to his ice form and immediately sensed a heat signature behind him. He whirled around and immediately tried to freeze his opponent.
Murphy laughed as he created a fireball, melting all the ice harmlessly. "You should give up now," he added as he created another fireball and stopped it an inch from Bobby's face.
Bobby is out as well. Jean was surprised when she heard the signal. Guys, maybe we should… she stopped trying to send her signal as Cole dropped from a tree in front of her. "Oh crap, this is a case of not enough information," she pouted before turning and leaving the woods.
Jean is gone. Jubilee looked around nervously. "We are in trouble here," she whispered. She fell down as a gust of wind knocker her off balance and she tripped over a tree root. She looked up as Murphy crouched in front of her.
"Tag, you're out," he laughed before running back into the woods.
Jubilee too. Shadowcat ran through the forest quickly in her phased form, but still could not spot the twins. She stopped to catch her breath before taking off again and running right into a tree. "Ouch," she rubber her head as a hand helped her up. She looked at Cole who just pointed out of the woods.
Shadowcat as well. "What the hell is going on?" Spyke swore and he stopped moving and waited for an opponent. Murphy strode onto the same path a second later, looking surprised to see Spyke. "Finally," Evan muttered as he pinned Murphy to a tree. He walked over to Murphy, stopping a foot in front of him. "Ha, got you," he said triumphantly.
"Did you?" Murphy laughed. Evan turned around to see a ball of fire staring him in the face. "Let's call this a double knockout, I'm hungry anyway."
Spyke and Murphy are done. Madrox ran into Nightcrawler in the woods as they both looked for Cole. "Wonder what his power is," Madrox muttered as they both stopped as they heard something in front of them.
Kurt swore in German as he felt intense pain in his shoulder. "Crap, I give," Madrox shouted as Cole released both of their pressure points. "Way unfair, way unfair," he griped as they left the woods.
Rogue, Scott, Sam, and Cole are the only ones left. Sam's eyes opened wide as a pair of hands covered his mouth and pulled him up into some tree branches. Scratch that, Sam is done.
Scott stood in a clearing and waited. Cole did not disappoint him. They walked up to each other and began to spar using each's respective fighting and martial arts skills. Scott was on his rear in a minute.
Rogue was alone when the message came that she was the only one left. Not a minute later as she was walking, she came along a calm Cole leaning on a tree in her path. "You may have got the others, but ah'm not like them," she said in her southern accent.
Cole shuddered like he was laughing, then closed his eyes and stood still in the middle of the path, inviting her to do her best. She walked up to him and removed a glove, placing her hand on his face. She looked at him in dismay as she drew her hand back and he shook his head at her.
"That was unfair, they knew our powers, but we didn't know his," Madrox complained as he put mustard on a hot dog.
"We never said you had to split up, you doomed yourself like that," Murphy pointed out.
"But we had no way of knowing powers don't work on him," Madrox continued to complain. Everyone gathered at tables and ate for a bit while complaining about the game. Eventually they quit and a few went to play basketball, while others just lounged around.
"That was interesting," Damon joked to Logan. "What kind of attack formations do you teach them here anyway?"
"Shaddup, they underestimated your boys. They'll hear about it later," he added as the demon laughed at him. Logan and Damon continued to make small talk while Elena and Ororo watched the others in amusement.
"Hard to picture those two getting along," Elena pointed at Logan and Damon. "Chaos used to be an evil S.O.B. when I knew him."
"Logan didn't take to kindly to their first encounter here either," Ororo laughed. "How is Vincent doing?"
"He's a survivor, he's been rolling with punches forever now. He is fine," Elena explained.
"Girl talk is never a good thing," Hank noted to Vincent as he watched Ororo and Elena laughing.
"Correct," Vincent nodded. He turned as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Cole?" he said as he tried to read the boy's lips. "Slow down," he ordered as he lost the message. After a minute of lip reading and hand signals, Vincent looked up at the sky and quickly noted where the kids all were. "Crap. Hank, start getting the kids inside," he ordered as he took off at a run towards Xavier.
"What is it Vincent?" Xavier asked him.
"No time, read my mind and make it quick," he gasped, out of breath. He felt a bit woozy as Xavier looked over his recent thoughts. "We need the kids inside quickly," he said as Xavier was already sending out a message. A second later the kids dropped what they were doing and rushed over to the back patio entrance to the mansion.
Elena, Ororo, Logan, Hank, and Damon all met in front of the building for a second. "Fifteen in the woods and one above us," Vincent whispered quietly. He quickly turned and talked to Cole. "Get in the house with Murphy and the others, only one is a mutant. This is not your fight," he ordered as Cole shrugged and went into the house where all the kids were heading to windows to get a look at what was going on.
"How the hell does he know all this? What is the extent of his powers?" Logan asked as he popped his claws out and sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything and the alarms ain't gone off yet."
"That is because I disabled your security system," came a voice from above as a man dressed in red body armor descended to the ground.
"Magnus, what is the meaning of this?" Xavier asked as he recognized his old friend/enemy.
"Quite simple Charles. I am here to take my son with me," he said as he looked into one of the windows where Pietro stared back at him.
"The kid wants to stay here," Logan growled.
"You don't have a choice in the matter, I will take him when you are bust with them," he gestured to where fifteen crude robots armed with swords were shambling in their direction. Magneto laughed as he floated up into the air, leaving the seven adults as the robots closed in.
"Stop the robots as fast as you can, my powers are useless against them," Xavier said. "I'll try to get past his psychic defenses," he said as he closed his eyes and began to assault Magneto on the astral plane.
"Sure no problem, six of us, fifteen of them," Logan muttered. "Circle it up, we need to make sure none of them got to Chuck," he commanded as the six of them formed a circle around Xavier.
"Elena, are you armed?" Vincent asked as he pulled the Agememnon from an ankle holster.
"I'll manage," she replied as she pulled a pistol from somewhere hidden.
"Finally, some fun around here," Damon shouted as he dropped the human guise and flew at a pair of robots as Chaos.
"Let's do this," Logan shouted as the remaining five of them spread out and took the fight to the robots. Logan ran right at three of them in front of him and ducked under the first sword slash. "You think you got a chance?" he roared as he clawed at one of them, slicing partway through it. He flipped backwards as the others converged on him and waited for an opening to strike.
Vincent took off at a run at four robots in front of him. He took careful aim as he ran and started squeezing off shots of varying elemental powers hitting the robots. They shuddered as they were hit, but kept coming at him. He stopped right in front of them as they surrounded him and smiled. "Knights of the Round," he whispered as the summon took effect.
Chaos dove at a pair of robots and sunk his claws into the metal, denting it a little, but opening himself up for attack and was struck. The blade bounced off of his demonic flesh. "Weaklings, false men," the demon spat as he clawed the metal. "You are worthless!"
"Henry, get them together!" Ororo shouted as she lifted herself into the air using the wind. She watched as Hank jumped around causing the crude artificial intelligence to follow him, making the robots bump into each other. Ororo's eyes turned white as she used her power to bring lightning down from the sky, striking the robots until they were nothing but a lump of melted metal.
"It's made of metal and I'm shooting it," Elena frowned as she ducked under a sword swipe and fired at point blank range, not doing any damage. "C'mon Elena, you're a Turk. Think damnit!" she swore at herself as she eyed the two robots, one on each side. Her eyes opened wide as they swung at her, missing horribly because she was no longer there, but taking each other out nicely. "It's a diversion," she said angrily as she turned back to the mansion and the sound of breaking glass.
Magneto floated in the air up to the third story of the mansion to the window where Pietro stared at him defiantly. "It is time to leave, my son. It is time you joined me," he said menacingly as he used his power to remove the wall in front of his son.
"Any ideas guys?" Madrox asked as he, Pietro, and Rogue who were watching from the window saw one of the most powerful mutants in the world in front of them.
"Logan and the others are busy," Rogue said as they heard gunshots and the sound of battle.
"Run," Pietro said as he grabbed Madrox and Rogue and pulled them with him, back down the hallway at super speed.
"No!" Magneto shouted as he realized that they were going to run for it. He swept his hand forward, sending a shockwave of magnetic energy flying towards the three fleeing youths. The effect was instantaneous. A dozen more unconscious Madroxes popped up between Rogue and Pietro, creating two effects. The first was pushing Pietro further and further down the hallway away from his father. The second was the opposite effect, sending Rogue flying out the hole in the wall, falling to the ground below.
Rogue winced as the magnetic pulse hit her, then opened her eyes again as she felt herself change direction and lose all contact with the floor. She saw the ground coming up below her and closed her eyes again, hoping it wouldn't hurt too much. She felt the sharp cutting pain as something scratched the skin of her back through her clothes. She opened her eyes a crack when she realized that she didn't hit the ground, someone had caught her. Someone who was bleeding bad, she realized as she felt the wetness dripping onto her from her savior.
"Upstairs, now. We need to help them," Scott shouted as he lead most of the team up to the third floor.
Evan stayed behind as he and Murphy tried to get Cole to come with them. "Cole, move it, they need us up there…" Evan yelled before the pulse wave hit. "What the… crap!" he shouted in surprise as he saw Cole dive head first through the glass window, catching a falling body in midair.
Magneto watched, prepared to catch the girl before she got hurt. He was not there to hurt innocent children. He saw the window explode outward as one of the people that arrived with Vincent caught Rogue in midair. He heard Cole's scream as well. He watched in amazement as his shirt bulged and the back of it exploded out in a shower of blood as a pair of enormous black wings sprouted from his back in a second's span.
Rogue felt her feet touch the ground and stepped away from who caught her in the air. "Cole..?" she asked as she looked on the transformed teen. He was bust pulling the remains of his shirt from his body and eyeing Magneto. She saw what looked like a tattoo of a white winged angel covering half of his chest and most of his left arm. As he turned to looked at Magneto, she got a look at where the wings sprouted from back. The skin looked like it had been cut open by Logan's claws. The wings came right out of his back, but the skin did not meet with the wings as if they were meant to be. She watched as the wings rubbed against his skin where they emerged and noticed the steady flow of blood from where they came out. She then looked at the wings themselves. They were huge, ten feet apiece, dripping with his own blood from when they emerged.
He flapped them strongly and took to the air, flying towards Magneto. He stopped ten feet from him and settled to the ground, looking up with a steely gaze. "Nice trick, but I have my son and will leave now," Magneto laughed as Pietro floated in the air beside him. Cole stared up at Magneto and raised his arm, opening his hand at Pietro. Pietro immediately fell to the rubble of the mansion. "What is this…?" Magneto said in disbelief.
"Called the void field, on account of him being Void," Murphy explained as he stepped through the rubble with Evan and helped Pietro up. "Means that you are screwed," he laughed as Magneto felt his powers failing and slowly drifted to the ground.
"Give up Erik," Xavier said as Logan wheeled him up behind Magneto, surrounding him. "You depended on the element of surprise to take Pietro before we could defeat the robots. They are done for, so is your plan."
"I will have my son," he said with hatred.
"No father, I want to stay here," Pietro said as walked up beside Cole. "Just leave, please. Cole, let him leave," he asked Cole who shrugged and let his arm drop.
"As you wish Pietro, for now," he admitted defeat before flying straight up into the atmosphere.
Once he left, Cole collapsed and caught himself on all fours. He screamed as he forced the black wings to fold and draw themselves back into his body. After a bit the wings disappeared into the physically impossible space of his torso again and his chest and back glowed for a second before a second tattoo, this one of a black winged angel appeared opposite the white winged one, the feathers meeting and intertwining on his spine and his sternum. He breathed heavily, then closed his eyes and passed out from exhaustion.
"Well, this was an interesting day," Elena said sarcastically as she tucked her pistol away. "I think it's about time we get him home," she said as Murphy picked Cole up in a fireman's carry.
"What is the extent of his power Vincent?" Xavier asked as Damon walked over and offered to take Cole from Murphy, who declined the offer.
"That's his business. Maybe he'll tell you sometime. I respect their privacy," he explained as Damon and Murphy made their way to the Jeep with Cole. "They may not tell the whole truth, but they are good kids. But, we are all running from our past in one way or another, and if they want it secret, who am I to interfere," he said before heading after the others.
"Sorry for the melodrama with those four," Elena apologized. "Great barbeque, tell the kids that Cole and Murph look forward to seeing them in classes next week," she bowed slightly before running after the others as she heard the jeep and motorcycle start.