Beauty and the Beast

Logan felt dizzy. He didn't know where he was. Suddenly a foul scent shocked him back to reality. When he regained his senses he saw X23 slicing apart the chains that held him. "Kid…" Logan grumbled.

"We have to hurry," X23 told him. "Your friend is in trouble!"

"Beast?" Logan blinked and rubbed his wrists briefly.

"They drugged him and sent him out to fight Dazzler," X23 told him. "I heard them talking about it. They were saving you for another show."

"Nice friends you have here," Logan grunted.

"Do you want to save him or not?" X23 glared at him.

"What about the…" He looked and saw several men knocked unconscious. "Guards…"

"Took care of 'em," X23 grunted. "That idiot Flynn tried to drug me but I only pretended to take the drink. Compared to Hydra the man is a rank amateur. Come on!"

The door blasted open. Scott and several X-Men and Misfits entered. "Logan are you all right?" He asked.

"I am but Beast ain't," Logan grunted. They could hear the roar of the crowd. "I think I've figured out where he is! Let's go!"

"Hank… Hank what are you doing here?" Alison blinked as Hank approached her snarling. "This isn't you! You don't belong here!"

"RAAARRR!" Hank roared as he charged at her.

"This isn't a joke is it?" Alison gulped. She barely dodged his claws. He shredded the edges of her dress. "Gotta think! Gotta do something!"

She dodged him again. "All right! You want to fight! I'll fight!" She concentrated, channeling the shouting from the crowd to create a blast of light right into Hank's face. This gave her enough time to do a backflip out of the way of his claws. The crowd roared with delight.

"That's right! I'll take you on!" Alison shouted. She felt a surge of power. "This is my stage! And you can't take it away from me!"

Hank charged at her. "These are my fans!" She shouted. "They love me! And in return I'm gonna give 'em a show!" She shot out hard blasts of light that singed Hank's fur and knocked him flat on his back. "I AM THE STAR!"

The crowd roared as Hank lay there and Alison stood there triumphant. The crowd roared, egging her on. Hank moaned weakly. "Alison…"

"I am the Dazzler…" Alison walked up to him, a deadly look in her eyes. "My fans need me! And I give them what they want! And they want…"

She stopped and listened. Her eyes widened in horror as if she could truly hear for the first time what they were saying.

"Kill the beast!"

"Burn his eyes out!"

"Blast him into oblivion!"

"Kill him! KILL HIM…."

Confused Alison looked around. "COME ON DAZZLER WHAT ARE YOU WAITNING FOR? KILL THE BEAST!" Someone shouted.

"KILL THE BEAST! KILL THE BEAST!" The chanting of the crowd rang in her ears.

"Kill…" Alison looked at him. "Hank… What have I done? What am I doing?"

"Hugo and Flynn…" Hank groaned. "Drugged us both…made us lose control…made us both beasts…"

"No…" Alison tried to ignore the screams and jeering. "It can't be true…"

"Look around you…" Hank said. "Is this want you really desire? Is this the fame you really want?"

"I…No!" Alison sobbed and embraced Hank. "What have I done? Oh god Hank I am so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be if you don't finish him off!" Hugo stormed out towards them with a few mutants by his side. "You're ruining the show! Kill him now!"

"NO!" Alison shouted. "You can't force me to kill!"

"Then you're through!" Hugo shouted.

"No Hugo," Alexander strode in with Horns and several other mutants by his side. "You're through!"

"What are you doing here?" Hugo snarled.

"Taking control!" Alexander told him. "Now there will be a new king of the Arena!"

"What king? We're partners here!" Hugo snarled. "Don't try anything funny Flynn. I've made precautions in case anything happens to me!"

"I doubt it," Alexander snarled. "Your days of drugging the mutants of this arena are through! KILL HIM!"

"NO KILL HIM!" Hugo ordered his mutants.

The mutants were about to attack when an optic blast stopped them. "That's enough!" Scott shouted as the X-Men and Misfit teams stepped into the arena. "Nobody's killing anybody."

"You got a lot of nerve trying to use us in your twisted scheme," Logan shot out his claws and advanced on Hugo. "But tonight you're gonna learn your lesson!"

"Hey wait a minute! You can't totally blame me!" Hugo shouted.

"Well you have been drugging the mutants haven't you?" Alexander sneered.

"Only because…" Hugo began then fell to the ground screaming.

X23 lunged at Alexander and shot out her claws close to his face. "Knock it off! NOW!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Alexander said nervously.

"Hugo may be a lot of things," Hank growled. "But I wager he's not a chemist, or a mutant."

"What are you talking about?" Alexander glared at him. "What is this garbage?"

"Cerebro picked up your powers," Jean said. "You've been using your low level telepathic powers of persuasion to control Dazzler and the others."

"And when that didn't work you turned to drugs," Logan snarled.

"Flynn's a mutant too?" Ivich said. She, Rocker and several other mutants of the arena entered the ring.

"Why didn't he tell us?" Rocker asked. "It makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense," Pietro said. "Think about it, most people would rather work with a human backer of a mutant show than a mutant backer. Especially one who can control minds to some degree."

"I never would have gotten in this business with him if I had!" Hugo shouted. "This theater was his idea!"

"Oh shut up," Alexander backed away. "You'd still be some poor shlep trying to figure out how to sell his grandma's real estate if I hadn't come along. I made you what you are today, but you had to get greedy and want more profits didn't you? You had no problems having mutants fight each other did you?"

"Yeah but it was your idea for them to start killing each other!" Hugo shouted.

"Only the weaker useless ones," Alexander growled. "This is about survival of the fittest! The strong have the right to take what they want and the weak perish!"

"No…" Alison shrank from Alexander. "You said you loved me. How could you do this to me? Tell me it isn't true. Tell me this is all a mistake!"

"The mistake was listening to this clown," X23 growled.

"It's over for both of you," Scott shouted. "You're finished!"

"No way I'm going down alone!" Hugo shouted. "He's the ringleader!"

"I'm going to shut your mouth for good," Alexander snarled as he suddenly grabbed a knife from his belt and stabbed Hugo in the chest. "You wanted a death show? You got one!"

Hugo gasped and fell to the floor. The crowd wasn't sure how to react to this at first. But when Hugo yanked out the knife and held it in the air, some of them started to cheer. "Those sickos think its part of the show!" Tabitha gasped.

"Oh god…" Alison gasped. "How could you do that? You're a murderer!"

"Like Hugo said," Alexander told her. "We have a responsibility to our public to give the people what they want. And for the money they're pouring in…"

"This is about people's lives you sick freak!" Scott shouted. "People aren't pawns so you can get rich off of! How can you treat other mutants like this?"

"Very easily," Alexander grinned. "Some are born to rule, most are born to follow. A true leader knows what's best for his people and gives them what they need!"

"Yeah well you're gonna need a lawyer pal," Sam snapped.

"I don't think so," Alexander grinned. "There's still one more act to play in our little theater." Dozens more mutants appeared and surrounded the X-Men and Misfits.

"You're not gonna get away with this you creep!" Jubilee shouted. "We're shutting you down!"

"ONLY ONE MAN'S GONNA RULE THIS RING AFTER TONIGHT!" Alexander shouted. "AND THAT MAN IS GOING TO BE ME, THE SON OF DOCTOR DOOM!"

"Okay now I know this guy's nuts!" Jubilee growled.

"KILL THEM ALL!" Alexander shouted to his troops. "ATTACK!"