The Song of Eternity
Canto 9
Ronin
Verse 7
Redemption,
Salvation,
Do not exist.
In the end, you do what you can,
And pray to whatever is out there,
That you've made the right choices.
"This wall will do nicely for our guests," Apocalypse said as he stopped leading Cole, Rogue, and his horsemen. They had popped through a portal being created by a large machine in the next room over a short time ago. "Pardon my rudeness, but I cannot take the chance of your escape, I do not trust highly in the promises of prisoners," Apocalypse spoke. "The girl first Logan," he ordered as he pointed at a set of chains and manacles coming out of the stone floor.
"There we go," Logan said as he locked her hands in the manacles, leaving her a five or six foot radius to walk around.
"But for you, we will have to use a somewhat rougher way of containing you, considering how dangerous some of my horsemen believe you to be," he said while glancing at Chaos. "Chaos, put him in the wall shackles," Apocalypse ordered.
Cole walked over to the set of chains and manacles coming out of the wall and let Chaos lock him in. "You will not kill her, as we agreed?" Cole spoke directly to Apocalypse.
"For now, so long as you do not try to escape that is," Apocalypse replied. "I have work to do. Chaos, Logan, stay here and make sure he is what you would consider adequately restrained," Apocalypse laughed before leaving with Pyro and Wanda.
"Logan, let us go, please," Rogue pleaded with her former mentor.
"No can do darlin'. Working for a different boss now," he told her.
"Enough talking, we need to retrain him more," Chaos said nervously.
"He's chained to a wall Chaos. His power is to stop other powers. I don't think he's going anywhere," Logan sighed.
"He is a danger to us all," Chaos replied angrily.
"How is he a danger? Mind filling the rest of us in on it?" Logan mocked him.
"He doesn't have a complete memory at his disposal, part of him is locked away and protected from whatever brainwashing Apocalypse did to him," Cole replied from his spot on the wall.
"Enough talk, we need to stop him," Chaos replied as he grabbed several sharp metal rods from the corner. "Wings extended against the wall," Chaos ordered.
"Look away Rogue," Cole ordered as he complied with Chaos. Rogue looked away as Chaos drove the first rod through Cole's wing with a sickening noise. She closed her eyes as the sound repeated itself three more time, but no noise came from Cole.
"There, you pinned him to the damn wall, happy now?" Logan asked Chaos.
"He made no noise. No noise at all," Chaos said angrily.
"Probably in shock, let's get out of here and get ready," Logan said as Chaos picked up another rod. "What the hell are you doing?"
"We should pin his arms too, maybe his legs," Chaos said as he stepped back towards Cole.
"Enough Chaos," Apocalypse's voice came into the room. "I would like him alive if possible. Come to the control room now, we can watch them from here," he ordered.
Chaos frowned and threw the rod he was holding back into the corner. "You better stay still," he threatened Cole before slugging him in the face and leaving the room with Logan.
Rogue opened her eyes and turned around to look at what they did to Cole. He hung limply from the wall, supported by the manacles digging into his wrists and the four rods pinning his wings to the wall. He shook his head and spit out some blood as he regained his senses. He was bleeding where the manacles dug into his wrists. Blood flowed down his wings onto the wall, turning it red. On top of all that, his leg was still bleeding from where Elena grazed it.
"Oh my god, are you okay Cole?" she asked him quietly.
"Never better," he replied quietly.
"Why did you come here, they're going to kill both of us now," she told him.
"To buy time. Valentine will come for us, hopefully you will make it that long," he told her.
"What about you?"
"The end is near for us," he told her as his voice got deep at the end.
Rogue fell asleep on the floor exhausted and woke up some time later. "Cole? What happened?" she asked as she looked at Cole who looked like someone had used him for a punching bag.
"Valentine and the others are here, Chaos took exception," he laughed.
"How?"
"Starmore's and Xavier's machines can sense mutant presences across the planet. I've been making the void field as big as I could, then contracting it back into me for a few hours now. I gave them a signal a blind man could follow," he explained.
"I told you he was dangerous," Chaos said calmly as he stood with Logan, Pyro, and Wanda at the entrance to a pyramid.
"Shut up, we need to buy Apocalypse enough time to gather the genetic material and escape," Logan ordered him.
The four of them stared emotionlessly across the desert sand as the Blackbird landed and Vincent, Elena, and the mutants disembarked. Vincent looked at the four waiting for them and spoke into his headset. "Apocalypse must still be inside, stick with the plan, try just to knock them out, but kill them if necessary."
"You should have stayed away while you had the chance!" Logan shouted as the two groups got closer and closer together.
"Yeah, we're dumb like that," Scott replied.
"Now," Vincent spoke into the microphone as everyone sprung into action. Vincent thought back to his days in ShinRa as a Turk. He thought back to all the training and preparation that had gone into all of his sniping missions. He would learn everything he could about the target before killing them, preparation and knowing your enemy's strengths and weakness are 90% of the battle.
They had all been caught by surprise at the school when they were initially attacked, but given time to prepare, the mutants were a different force entirely. Vincent ran straight at Chaos, never looking anywhere else until at the last second he leapt over Chaos and the others with the aid of Jean's telekinesis. Chaos roared as Vincent eluded his attempts to grab him from the air. "Face me Valentine!" he roared as he turned to chase Vincent.
"You had best worry about other things," McCoy spoke as he swung a blue furry fist at the demon from behind, knocking the demon to the sand.
"Give it up kids, remember who taught you everything you know," Logan said as he brought his claws out to face most of the X-Men. "I know all your moves. I'm faster and stronger than all of you, run while you can," he growled at them. "What makes you think you have a chance?"
"You trained us well Logan," Scott said as he faced off against his old teacher.
"You're just kids, I'm gonna gut you," Logan growled as his claws popped out, but he did not advance.
"Little problem with the 'gutting'?," Murphy asked as he smiled at Logan. "You see, you got the drop on us before, but out here with no civilians in the way…. Let's just say we have the upper hand. And I put a stop spell on you, so you aren't going anywhere for another minute or so," Murphy explained.
"Which gives us enough time to knock you out, and for me to immobilize you," Magneto said as he concentrating on pulling some metal girders to the area from the closest city.
"Stick with the plan guys!" Lance shouted as he sent a tremor at Wanda and Pyro. "Now!" he shouted to the others as Wanda and Pyro split up.
"Go get him you Russian," Bobby said as he covered Colossus's metal form with as much ice as he could.
Colossus rushed at his dazed former teammate and quickly sucker punched him, knocking him out.
Meanwhile, Fred, and a Blob powered Rogue pushed their way forward past Wanda's hexes until Gambit and the others with them got a clear shot and hit Wanda.
"Quickly, subdue them and bring them with us," Magneto ordered as the four horsemen were dealt with. "Vincent and Elena need us inside," he said as he worked to immobilized Logan and the others.
Rogue looked to the door of the room she and Cole were being held in as she heard footsteps. "Cole, someone's coming," she whispered as she checked on Cole. He had lost some blood, but not enough to warrant the dazed look on his face.
"S'okay," he whispered. "It's Elena," he added as Elena came into the room with her gun drawn.
"Elena, get us out of here," Rogue pleaded as Elena crossed the room.
"Where's Apocalypse?" Elena asked as she examined Rogue's shackles.
"Waiting to get a drop on the would be rescuer," Apocalypse's voice boomed as a section of wall slid away revealing Apocalypse and a room full of machinery. "They are mine. You on the other hand are going to die," Apocalypse threatened Elena.
The area was silent as Apocalypse stiffened up. "Elena, get them out of here. I'll deal with him," Vincent's voice came from behind Apocalypse where the Turk had his gun pointed at his back.
"Mr. Valentine, you are proving yourself to be a nuisance!" Apocalypse roared as he swung his arm at an impossible angle to knock Vincent back. "You are nothing to me," he said as he ran at Vincent.
Vincent moved as fast as his feet would carry him backwards, but was slowed by the effect an unconscious Chaos was having on him. He fired off a few shots of fire, ice, and lightning magic, but none of them really had an effect on Apocalypse.
"That's all you have, your so called elemental magic," Apocalypse laughed as he landed a huge fist to Vincent's midsection. "It is so easy to negate given the proper knowledge," Apocalypse taunted him.
"Negate this," Vincent said as he got right up to Apocalypse and fired point blank at Apocalypse's face. The result was instantaneous, Apocalypse's head snapped back and his body dropped to the ground. "Elena, you got them out yet?" he asked her as he walked his way over.
"Almost," she replied as she looked up. "Look out!" she shouted at Vincent as he eyes widened.
Vincent was flung against a wall as Apocalypse's swing connected. "Fool, I am a metamorph. It will take more than you can muster to kill me," he snorted as he walked over to Elena and knocked her away as well. "Magneto and the others will be here soon, too bad the two of us will not," he said as he pulled Rogue's shackles from the floor and dragged her with him.
"What are you doing?" Cole shouted at him as he watched Apocalypse begin to operate a machine.
"We are leaving, with her power I can build the ultimate warrior to defeat you and your allies, but today is not the day for my victory," he replied as he hit a switch and a swirling black vortex appeared. "Goodbye, you young fool," Apocalypse taunted as he disappeared into the portal with Rogue.
"Cole!" Rogue shouted as the portal closed behind her.
"Vincent, are you okay," Lance asked as he and the other mutants entered the chamber.
"Damn, he got away with Rogue," Vincent explained as he rubbed his head where he hit the wall.
"Cole, are you okay?" Elena asked quietly as she shuffled over to him. He remained motionless, staring down at the floor. "Cole?"
Cole's head snapped up as he strained against the shackles holding him. His wings made a sickening noise as they pulled free from the poles pinning them to the wall, ripping chunks out, making Cole bleed even more. "I am not fine!!´he shouted as he tried to pull his hands from the shackles, cutting his wrists, making them bleed even more. Elena stepped back in shock as Cole's right hand made a cracking noise and slipped through the shackle in a misshapen mass. "I am very far from fine!" he shouted as he planted his foot against the wall and tried to free his other hand.
"Calm down Cole," Vincent said as he came over. Vincent blasted the chain free from the wall with the Agememnon and grabbed Cole by the shoulder. "We'll find her, Richards probably knows a way to track where he went," Vincent suggested.
"Valentine, I think we have a big problem here," Murphy said as he tapped Vincent on the shoulder and Cole stormed away to where the portal had formed. "That portal, have you ever seen something like it? Because I know I have," Murphy said meaningfully.
Vincent searched his memory for a second before his jaw dropped. "It was a dimensional rift, like Starmore used to make," he realized. "They're on another world," Vincent said as he closed his eyes. "There's no way to track those things, only he could do it," Vincent sighed in defeat.
"So what are you saying? That we cannot find them?" Magneto asked him quietly.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. The portals are random. Starmore himself could barely control where he went. We can activate the machine, but the chance in nearly non-existent that we would end up on the right world," Vincent told him.
"Hopeless. It is hopeless," Cole whispered as he dropped to all fours on the ground where the portal had been.
"There has to be a way, we just need to figure it out," Scott said angrily to Vincent.
"I'm sorry Scott, but there's nothing I can do," Vincent confronted him roughly.
"Yes Vincent, there is nothing you can do," Cole said with his voice growing deeper and rougher at the end. "Nothing at all," Cole continued before his body twisted in pain.
"Cole!" Lance, Scott, and the others shouted and went to aid him.
"Stay back, all of you," Murphy threatened them. "Turks only please," he ordered as he knelt by Cole. "Cole, man, what are you doing?"
"I think it is fairly obvious what he is trying to do," Elena said aloofly.
"Cole, this is not the way it has to be," Vincent comforted him. "We'll find another way to get her back, we just need time," Vincent continued.
"Time? Look what he did to Chaos in a short period of time," Cole said through gritted teeth. "No Vincent, Murphy, Elena. This is the only way," he said before he began to cough out blood.
"As you wish," Vincent said quietly and backed away from the twin quickly. "Everyone, get ready," he shouted as he pulled out the Agememnon.
"For what?" Lance asked.
"For that," Vincent pointed at the portal that was appearing in front of Cole.
Cole raised himself to his knees and faced the portal bleeding from old wounds and new ones that sprouted on his body by their own accord. He raised his mangled right hand at the vortex and screamed," Give her back!" before falling face first to the ground.
A second later two figures emerged from the vortex. "Pietro, get her," Vincent ordered as the speedster quickly removed Rogue from Apocalypse's grasp. "Everyone, hit him with whatever you have left," Vincent ordered as the combined attacks from the mutants forced Apocalypse back through the portal, which abruptly closed.
"Oh my god, Cole!" Rogue shouted as she made her way to the bloody and battered teen. "Cole, can you hear me?" she asked as she rolled him over with Murphy's help.
"His breathing is very weak, he isn't going to make it," Murphy told her.
"Can't you just use your cure spells on him?" Lance asked Elena.
"His void field is going nuts, I can't do anything. Besides, he is too far gone," Elena said quietly.
"There's nothing we can do?" Rogue shouted to Vincent.
"Nothing at all, he knew what he was doing," Vincent said calmly.
"But that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do," came a new voice.
Most of the room whirled around as another wall slid open and four hooded figures came into the room. "We mean you no harm, just doing what we are told to," the leader explained.
"Who are you?" Vincent asked.
"You'll figure it out," another of them laughed. "Right now, Magneto needs to use a small EMP blast into those four's brain to scramble the nanotech machines that have been making the four of them turn on you," he ordered, pointing at the captives.
Magneto shrugged and waved his hand, creating a bright flash, then releasing the four of them from their metal prisons. "Logan, are you okay?" he asked.
"Peachy," Logan replied as he rubbed some sore spots.
"See, we mean you no harm," one of the hooded men replied. "But we need to get down to business now."
"We have been sent here by Order, one of the four forces of the universe. Just bear with me, there are Chaos, Order, Eternity, and Infinity, but we need to deal with are Chaos and Order. Anyway, Order and Chaos are assembling warriors to do a battle for some cosmic reason that they do not want to tell us, but we are here to grab certain people to serve order," the leader explained.
"In exchange, you will be given what it is you most desire, Order can see into your minds and can tell what it is that will make you happiest in life. Anyway, the four of you that have been chosen are what we call Ronin, masterless samurai. You've been fighting for everyone but yourself your entire life, we just need you to do it one more time. All you have to do is accept the offer," the last one explained.
The four hooded figures split up, one to Vincent, Chaos, Logan, and Cole's barely moving form each. "You can smell it, can't you?" the one who went to Logan asked.
"Yeah, this isn't a trick is it?" Logan asked as he stared into the dark hood and sniffed the air.
"No, it is not," the figure replied.
"Fine, do whatever you need to," Logan replied. The hooded figure reached out and touched Logan, making him disappear.
"Who the hell are you?" Chaos snarled at the hooded figure.
"Maybe now you'll recognize me," the figure said as he pulled back his hood, revealing a black man with a shaved head that no one had ever seen before, save Chaos.
"This is impossible," Chaos muttered in disbelief.
"No, it isn't," the man laughed.
"Then get on with it," Chaos ordered before the man touched him, making him disappear.
"Vincent and Cole, you have more to consider when you decide," the leader explained to the two of them. "You have both been very brutal in your worst moments of life. You will need to be physically and mentally as you were at those times again," the man explained.
"Happiness you say," Vincent muttered. "I agree," he added quickly before disappearing.
"And what about you Cole?" the final hooded man asked the near death teen.
"I don't want it anymore," Cole muttered as he looked away from the man.
"Will he be okay if he goes with you?" Rogue asked the man.
"Yes, he will be physically fine," the man replied.
"I do not want to do it anymore!" Cole shouted at the man. "I would rather die," he added quietly.
"Cole, you need to go with him, we don't want you to die," Rogue told him.
"Rogue, leave him be for a minute," Murphy said as he pulled the girl away and crouched by his brother and the man. "Cole, do you realize who these people are?" Murphy asked him.
"Yes I do. I can still use my void field, I know who they are," Cole replied angrily. "If I go, do you realize that I will have to kill people again? Use all of my powers to their full potential again," he said loudly. "We are sick of it," he added.
"Cole, do both of your personalities really want to die here in Egypt," Rogue asked him.
"Both of my personalities….," Cole muttered to himself. "Is it worth it?" he asked the man.
"More than you could ever imagine," the man told him.
"This is the last time," Cole told the man before grabbing his shoulder and vanishing.