Okay I'm gonna change one or two tiny little things from the 'Beauty and the Beast' miniseries. This is the way I think it should have ended!

The Lord of the Ring

"Great a big battle," Logan grunted. "Just what we need!"

"I'm ready!" X23 shot out her claws as the opponents charged

Soon the arena was filled with fighting, much to the glee of the crowd. Soon it was very apparent that Alexander's team was outnumbered, not just by the X-Men and the Misfits, but several other mutants as well. In fact, more than half of the arena mutants was now fighting against Alexander and his army.

"Watch your back!" Rocker shouted at Hank as he kicked away an opponent lunging at him and Alison.

"You watch your back Horse Face!" Hank snarled.

"Hey in case you haven't noticed! I'm on your side!" Rocker snapped at him.

"You will fall to me!" Alexander sent out a psychic wave.

"Wanna bet?" Jean sent out a stronger psychic wave and knocked Alexander down.

"Time to die girlie!" Horns charged at Kitty.

"Yeah right!" Kitty let him phase right through her. She looked back to see the look on his face, but to her horror he had simply run on until he gored another mutant. The crowd cheered. "My god! These people think this is a show!"

"That's how they get their kicks kid," Ivich fought next to her. "They don't know any other way to feel alive."

Scott shot out an optic beam which missed his target but hit the wall over one of the boxes. The audience became frightened, especially when Lance used his powers to shake the place up. "They don't think it's a show now," Lance grinned as the wealthy scurried away.

"YOU!" Alison used her powers as Alexander charged at Hank.

"MY EYES!" Alexander howled as he dropped to his knees. "I can't see!"

"Shut up," Rocker kicked him. "You ain't fit to rule a cockroach farm! Much less here!" He grabbed his sword and put it to his throat. "Call it off! Now!"

"STOP!" Alexander shouted. "STOP!" The mutants stopped fighting. A loud cheer rang up from the mutants of the arena. The X-Men and Misfits said nothing.

"IT AIN'T OVER YET!" Horns snarled as he charged at Rocker.

"OH YES IT IS!" Scott snarled as he sent Horns flying into the wall with an optic blast.

Logan ran over with X23. Both of them pointed their claws at him. "Do us all a favor, stay down," Logan snarled.

"I think I would prefer it if he gave us a reason," X23 hissed. "We've won."

"Yeah if you call this a victory," Kitty shuddered as she looked at the ground. Four other mutants lay dead along with Hugo.

"You can't do this to me!" Alexander pleaded as he held up his staff.

"Your days of manipulating us and drugging us are through!" Rocker howled as he grabbed his staff from him. He held it high. "From this day on, I rule the ring!"

"You…you can't…" Alexander gasped. "You have no right…I own this building!"

"Wrong again Alex honey," Ivich pulled something out of her outfit. "The other night Rocker and I did some checking. Seems your buddy Hugo didn't trust you so much after all. Here's a copy of his will. In the event of his death, the Mutant Theater Arena goes to us, the performers! Seems the guy had a heart after all."

"Dumbest thing you ever did was to kill Hugo," Logan growled.

"So what?" Alexander hissed. "What are you going to do? Call the cops on me? They'd never touch me! I've made too many friends and know too many secrets."

"You just murdered a human in cold blood in front of thousands of witnesses," Hank snarled. "I don't think you can talk your way out of this one!"

"You forget what I can do," Alexander grinned as he started to use his powers. "Let me remind you…"

"NO!" Rocker howled as he used his sword to stop Alexander permanently. "You should have stayed down. You never did listen to anyone but yourself."

"Did you have to…?" Alison gasped.

"You know I did," Rocker snorted. "It was self defense. Besides, he was right. He made a lot of friends in this town. He would have walked away scott free and left us to rot. You know that."

"But…" Jean began.

Logan stopped her with his arm. "I hate to say this Jean, but he's right. Either way though this arena is closed for good."

"No," Rocker shook his head. "This place is our home. We let ourselves get corrupted by the fame and power. But now with those two out of the way…Things are going to change."

"You mean you're still gonna put on fighting shows?" Scott's jaw dropped. "After everything that's happened?"

"Especially after everything that's happened," Rocker told him. "We allowed this mess to happen. It's up to us to put it right. But there are going to be a lot of changes around here."

"And the first one is to get rid of those who can't live by the code!" Ivich snarled at Horns.

Rocker stood tall and strode over to Horns. "If you had only stopped when the fighting did I might have forgiven you," He spoke with all the authority of a king. "But you've broken the code too many times, left too many of your brothers and sisters dead and maimed. As of now, Horns you're expelled from this Arena. Don't ever come back."

"Who needs this lousy dump anyway?" Horns snarled. "I'll get my revenge! Just you wait!" He slunk away.

"Why that dirty…" Logan snarled.

"Let him go," Rocker waved. "The outside world will deal with him."

"But he just killed…" Kitty protested.

"He won't kill any of us again," Rocker looked at the mutants that had previously fought for Flynn. "Your leader is dead. You have a choice, stay here and live by the code. All will be forgiven. If not, you can follow Horns in disgrace."

None of the mutants left. "We're with you Rocker," One mutant called out. "From now on, you're the chief."

"You're just gonna forgive 'em just like that?" Logan asked Rocker.

"Why not? Not all mutants are born to fight for justice and truth," Rocker told him. "Most of us just want to stay alive and get as much of the American dream as we can. We've had more than our share of the outside world. But here…here we can be truly free. Here mutants can be themselves."

"But it's not right," Alison said.

"So? A lot of things aren't right. But it beats living in a sewer. We take what we can get in this world," Rocker shrugged. "We're going to do more than make this arena a fighting area. We're going to make it a sanctuary too, for those mutants who can't make it on the outside."

"What makes you so sure the cops won't close you down?" Logan asked.

Rocker grinned. "Simple, Flynn and Hugo have had them in on this since day one. Some are on the payroll, others blackmailed. You'd be surprised how many cops and other government officials are investors, willingly or not. Trust me, no one's gonna lose any sleep over those two, especially after we make it known what Flynn was."

"And you guys are gonna pick up where they left off?" Scott asked.

"Why not?" Ivich grinned. "You don't need to be a telepath to find out people's secrets. And we know quite a few."

"Then there's nothing left for us to do is there?" Cover Girl shrugged.

"We're just gonna walk away after all this?" Kitty asked angrily.

"Kitty if we try to shut them down, it's gonna make things worse for mutants," Lance told her. "But if we have another secret mutant sanctuary, well semi-secret…"

"Hmmm," Remy nodded. "Not bad. You never know when you'll need a contact in show business."

"Well if you ever get tired of living this life," Scott sighed. "There are better things to fight for."

"Yeah well right now money and fame are good enough for us," Rocker told him.

"Are you all right Alison?" Hank asked as Alison started to swoon.

"I'm just so tired…" She sighed, leaning on Hank for support.

"She's really wiped," Ivich said. "Alexander doubled the dose on her because of her powers. You'll take good care of her won't ya?"

"Yes we will," Hank nodded. "Wait, you knew about this didn't you?"

"Yeah well," Ivich sighed. "Some of us were brought in to keep things under control somewhat. Let's just say we didn't have a choice."

"But she does," Rocker said. He looked at X23 and Alison. "Both of them. Lady X, consider your contract here null and void. You're free to go."

"I can't leave! I…" X23 started to protest.

"Listen kid," Rocker put his hand on her shoulder. "You should go back with your old man and his friends. They really care about you. Besides, you're too good a fighter to waste it here."

"But if I go back I could bring trouble on them," She said.

"Kid we're mutants," Rocker said. "We're born to cause trouble. But something tells me these guys can take anything that's thrown at them.

"Girl you have something none of us have," Ivich said. "A real family. Okay clone or not, it's more than what we've got."

"Some of us would give anything for that," Another mutant said.

"You and Dazzler will always be welcome here," Rocker said. "But you both belong with the X-Men. They can help you two better than we can."

"Why didn't he say Misfits?" Pietro whispered.

"Shut up!" Wanda elbowed him. "Let them have this one!"

X23 looked at the X-Men. "You really want me back, after all I did to you?"

"Girl we all know you were kind of out of it," Tabitha said.

"Yeah I got locked in a lab and went nuts too," Jubilee said. "We don't really blame you for how you acted."

"Welcome to the X-Men kid," Logan grinned. Then he hugged X23. She hugged him back. "I guess we'd better get going."

"There's one thing I don't get," Tabitha thought.

"One thing?" Roberto asked her.

"Do you really think there's any truth to what he said about being Dr. Doom's kid?" Tabitha asked.

"Nah," Rocker shook his head. "He probably just made that up. See ya around Hairball. Take good care of the lady."

"Likewise Horse Face," Hank grinned wryly. The X-Men and Misfits left to the cheers of the Arena mutants.

"Okay first thing we need to do is clean this place up," Rocker ordered. "Ivich, you take a group and get rid of that lab in the back."

"With pleasure," Ivich grinned.

"Scar, put together a crew to take care of the bodies there," He ordered another mutant. "Do whatever you want to Hugo and Flynn. But the Arena mutants all get a decent burial. Tomorrow we will have a memorial service and then a meeting to plan our future. For the next 48 hours there will be no training. We have more important things to worry about. I'm going into Hugo's office and see what I can make out from all the papers. Garak, you're in charge until I get back."

Rocker went off to the bowels of the theater. He stopped at a dark alcove. "I thought I saw you earlier," He growled to a figure in the shadows. "What are you doing here? I thought you never left the castle."

Dr. Doom stepped out into the dim light. "I had heard rumors about some upstart claiming to be my son. I thought I would investigate the matter personally. I see now that I need not have bothered at all."

"Well sorry you've wasted a trip for nothing," Rocker said sarcastically. "But if you stop by the gift shop you'll find some lovely souvenirs."

"Do not take such a frivolous tone with me," Dr. Doom warned. "You forget your place."

"Really? Let's see, hmmm…I'm the leader of a group of mutants in my own theater in the USA. No I know where I am. You're the one who forgot. Although I'd love to forget you."

"Despite the lies your mother told you I actually feel sorry for you," Dr. Doom said.

"Listen," Rocker glared at him. "You're not the first royal pain to have an illegitimate freak and ditch him and you probably won't be the last! So spare me the self righteous indignation."

"How dare you insult me!" Dr. Doom roared. "If you were not…." He stopped short.

"Your son?" Rocker's voice dropped to a low whisper. He then glared at him. "Don't worry…Father, as far as you're concerned I'm not! I didn't need you before and I ain't gonna need you now. I'm going to stand alone and run the Arena my way! No more killings! And I'm gonna look out for any mutant that needs help! We got too many damn problems with you flatscans to fight with each other! Only mutants can help each other in this world and I'm the mutant to do it see! I'm gonna stand tall and rule alone! Because only I can do it and I don't need any family to get in my way! I have no father!"

Rocker turned his back on Doom. "Now why don't you go back to your precious kingdom and forget that we ever saw each other? It's demeaning for us to continue this way!"

Doom stood there in silent contemplation for a moment. "Perhaps I was mistaken," He said in a somber tone. "You do have the blood of greatness in you."

"That blood is there because I put it there," Rocker sneered at him. "Not because you gave it to me! Now leave this place, and never return!" He strode out the door with his head high.

Doom nodded and spoke to himself. "Such as it must be. Such as I must stand alone to guard my kingdom…So shall you to create yours…my son."

Next: As the X-Men return home, bonds are created, a love affair begins (sort of) and trouble starts all over again! So what else is new?