The Song of Eternity
Canto 9
Ronin
Verse 6
From the land of darkness they return,
No longer as they once were,
Taking what they want,
Taking who they want.
It had been three weeks since the mutants had returned to school. Things had calmed down in Bayville. Murphy, Elena, and Vincent had left the mutants to their own devices and so far things had not gone badly. Cole continued to watch over the mansion at night, despite the residents' protests. In the meantime Vincent, Ororo, McCoy, Elena, Magneto, and Creed had kept an eye on their various devices, but had yet to find a trace of their missing companions.
Lance, Scott, and the rest of the mutants who were having lunch were sitting together, a few deserted tables separated them from the rest of the student body. "It isn't the being left alone that bugs me, it's like we have the plague or something," Lance complained to Pietro.
"It isn't that bad," Pietro shrugged. "Hell, no even gets near Cole anymore," he pointed out Cole who was leaning against the wall across the lunchroom. Cole looked down as he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Who would be calling him?" Pietro asked.
"Probably Valentine, where's Murphy anyway?" Lance asked.
"He hasn't showed up for lunch yet, so I ….. have… no….. idea," his words got slower as he looked quizzically at Cole who was making his way over to their tables.
Cole's pace quickened as he started to unbutton his shirt. He got angry and pulled his shirt and jacket both up over his head and tucked them under his arm. As he passed the last area of normal student tables he grimaced as half of his tattoo faded and his black wings ripped out from his back, spraying the area with blood. He tossed his clothes on the ground near the surprised mutants before speaking quickly and tossing his phone to Madrox. "Call Vincent, speed dial 1. The rest of you, get the norms out of here or do what you can," he said before flapping his way into the air. "If you don't have superpowers, I would advise you to get the fuck out of here!" he shouted before part of the far wall began to crumble.
As students began to scatter, the wall collapsed and Murphy ran into the lunchroom, soaking wet. "Ice!" he shouted as a burst of flames enveloped him. A figure walked through the wreckage, creating a wall of fire around Murphy.
"Isn't that Pyro?" Gambit asked as he looked across the room.
"Maybe, but those are Dark Riders and Marauders with him!" Lance shouted as he watched people stream through the wrecked wall from outside.
"Peitro, Madrox, Rogue, get these people out of here!" Cole shouted before flying at the action. He narrowed his eyes as he stopped and hovered in the air, looking into the eyes of another with black wings. "Chaos, what is the meaning of this?" he asked as he recognized the demon.
"Death and destruction, of course," he laughed before clawing at Cole.
Murphy delivered a roundhouse kick to Pyro out of desperation as his ice and barrier spells started to weaken. A few minutes ago Pyro had shown up outside when Murphy went out to get a breath of fresh air and started to try to kill him. Luckily his barriers and ice spells had counteracted the fire enough to buy him enough time to call Cole and warn him. A minute ago he saw the Dark Riders and Marauders show up, and decided to get help by blasting the school wall. He jumped back from table to table as the Marauders and Dark Riders filed into the lunchroom. He stopped as he was caught by something huge. "That better be you Dukes," he said as he looked up. "Thank god," he sighed as he got to his feet.
"What's going on here Murphy?" Dukes asked him as dozens of duplicate Rogues and Madroxes herded students to the exits while Pietro whizzed around grabbing and carrying out those who were corned off.
"No idea, Pyro's gone nuts I think. Cole can't shut him down either," Murphy explained. "Where's Cole?"
"Fighting some flying thing up near the ceiling," Fred explained as he pointed up to where Cole was dodging Chaos's attacks.
"Okay, new idea here," Murphy shouted as some of the others got close enough to hear him. "Pyro and Chaos are probably brainwashed, so that means that Logan and Wanda are probably with them as well, so be careful!" he added as he looked back to see who was closest to him. "Summers brothers, blast them out of the building!" he shouted as he unleashed an Ultima spell at the attackers. His spell was joined quickly by optic blasts from Scott and cosmic energy from Alex.
Vincent picked up his phone at the office after the first ring. "Vincent," he answered.
"This is James Madrox, Cole says for you to get over here quick, the school is under attack and all hell is breaking loose!" Madrox shouted into the phone.
"On my way," Vincent replied as he dropped the phone and vaulted his desk, running for the door. "Elena, school, battle, now!" Vincent yelled as Elena grabbed her coat and ran out the door after him.
"Let me drive, you get ready to shoot," she shouted as she slid across the hood of her car and jumped in the driver's seat. "Who's fighting who now?" she asked as she floored the gas and sped toward the school.
"No idea, Madrox called on Cole's phone, said to get over," he explained as he looked toward the school. "That looks like Cole flying around outside though, and it looks like he is fighting something," Vincent said before a building blocked his view.
"Creed, Elena," she said as she picked up her phone and called the mansion. "Get to the school," was all she said before dropping the phone and cranking the wheel as they made a sharp turn. "Wow," was all she said as the school came into view.
The fighting had spilled outside where everyone was split up trying to do what they could. Pyro had retreated a bit, but Cole was still grappling with Chaos in the air. The young mutants were slowly beating back the Dark Riders and Marauders by sheer force of numbers. Scott turned away after blasting a Sabretooth clone, hearing a gunshot, his eyes resting on the rapidly approaching car. "Back now!" he shouted, causing the mutants to scatter.
Elena slammed on the brakes as she stopped the car directly between the two groups. She and Vincent dove to the other side of the car and started to fire as the air around them erupted in various forms of mutant energy. "Murphy!" Vincent shouted as he lined up the Agememnon and took down a Gambit clone.
"What?!" the Murphy replied irritably as he cast wave after wave of elemental magic at the enemy forces.
"Knock Chaos away from Cole," she said as she kept firing at the Dark Riders and Marauders.
"Easier said than done!" he shouted as he directed a jet of fire into the air, totally missing the fast moving targets. "They're too fast," he shouted to Elena.
Elena frowned as she pointed her gun at the two flying combatants and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew at them fast enough to clip both of them and send them spiraling toward the ground. "There, now kill them!" she shouted as she kept firing.
Suddenly a car came crashing down out of the sky, wiping out the enemies that were still standing. "I trust no one has any qualms about killing those monstrosities," Magneto said as he floated down to the ground with Creed, McCoy, and Storm.
"Is everyone okay?" Storm asked as she started looking over the children.
"No one hurt too bad auntie O," Evan replied.
"Where are Chaos and Pyro?" Scott asked quickly.
Magneto waved his arm, moving the debris to reveal the angry forms of Chaos and Pyro. "You took out the weaklings pretty easily, but we will not leave until we achieve our mission," Pyro said coldly.
"Give up, we'll find a way to fix what was done to you. You're hopelessly outnumbered here," Vincent said as he pointed the Agememnon at Chaos. "What the hell?" he swore as the air behind Pyro shimmered and revealed three more forms.
"Who's 'dat?" Gambit asked as he tried to get a look at the new figures.
"This is very bad," Cole said as he got up from the ground breathing hard and bleeding from where Elena's bullet had grazed him. "That is Apocalypse," he sighed before his body shuddered a bit.
"Very perceptive of you, Cole," Apocalypse's voice boomed.
"Logan, and Wanda too…." Magneto muttered as he recognized the final two bodies. "What have you done to them?"
"They are no longer the ones you knew. They are now my four horsemen, their powers are increased greatly, along with being immune from certain other power, namely Cole's void field, Magneto's power, and telepathy," Apocalypse explained.
"Great," Lance muttered. "Perfect if you consider how many times Wanda has nearly fought all of us to a standstill by herself," he said under his breath to Scott.
"Enough wasting time here, come my horsemen, time to cull the weak," Apocalypse said as he moved with incredible speed swinging his enormous arms into the gathered mutants and scattering them.
Vincent managed to do a back flip out of the way of Apocalypse's initial attack, but found himself face to face with Chaos when he landed. "Are you ready to die Valentine? Ready to fail all of these people as you have failed everyone else in your life?" the demon taunted him.
"You cannot kill me demon, unless Apocalypse is far more powerful than he appears, we are still linked," Vincent said as he pointed the Agememnon at Chaos. "He's brainwashed you Chaos. You are being used for his goals," Vincent said as he dropped his gun arm.
"Foolish human!" Chaos roared as he swung his claw, slicing into Vincent's other arm.
They both cried out in pain together, Chaos in a but more surprise though. "You moron, he's controlling your mind, but not your memories, otherwise he never would have attempted this mission!" Vincent shouted at the demon.
"I cannot hurt you, but I can hurt the children," Chaos growled as he attempted to fly away from Vincent.
"You will not!" Vincent shouted as he took aim and fired at the demon's wings, bracing himself for the pain he himself would endure.
"Secure the objective Logan!" Apocalypse shouted amidst the roar of battle, as he and the others fought to a standstill.
"Yes, Apocalypse," Logan replied as he punched Lance in the face, knocking him to the ground. He quickly knocked Ororo, Lance, and a few Madroxes out of his way before putting his fist up to the side of Rogue's head. "Stop now, or the girl dies!" he shouted at everyone.
"It seems you are reluctant to sacrifice one to stop your foes," Apocalypse taunted as the fighting stopped and his horsemen returned to his side, save Logan. "We are leaving now, and we are taking her with us. We will spare your lives, this one and only time," Apocalypse ordered.
"I cannot let you take her," Cole said as he unsteadily walked up to Logan.
"You do not have a choice, Cole," Apocalypse told him.
"I cannot let you take her, you will just take her DNA to clone her and use her power, then kill her," Cole said as he glared at Logan.
"That may be, but we will kill her now if you try anything," Logan told him.
"I will give you myself, if give your word not to kill her," Cole told Apocalypse.
"As you wish," Apocalypse laughed as a vortex appeared behind him. "Through the portal, now," he ordered.
"Cole, stop," Murphy shouted.
"I cannot. I trust you will do what you can," Cole replied as he walked with Logan and Rogue to the portal. "Valentine, you should be smart enough to figure this out, I am very weak," Cole said as he followed Logan, Rogue and the others through the portal before it closed behind them.