The Awful Truth Must Be Told

"This is impossible…" Hank gasped as the X-Men and Misfits reacted to Shipwreck's news. Most of them were in the war room except for younger kids and Evan.

"I'm afraid not," Shipwreck told him. "Here are the logs for the teleportation watch I found outside in the bushes. I got the coordinates off the Mass Device. Look at the times and locations. It fits." He showed them the proof.

"This is a joke right?" Ororo looked at him. "Tell me this is one of your stupid jokes!"

"Ororo, not even my Dad would make up a joke like this," Althea told her. "Face it, Evan killed Spears."

"How?" Kitty asked. "I mean how could he have done it? I mean Spears… Where would he get the poison?"

"Remember what he told us a ways back?" Shipwreck asked. "He said that one of the Morlocks was an expert with potions. He could have either stolen one of them or gotten it specially ordered for the job. Way he was in tight with the Morlocks it would have been easy for him to get it."

"Acid…" Ray remembered. "Cybelle secretes acid from her hands. And she makes medicines."

"The coroner said the poison literally burned through his organs. It was an acid unlike any he'd ever seen before," Hank thought.

"And I showed Evan how watch worked," Pietro said. "It would have been easy for him to figure out how to use it. He must have taken it that day somehow."

"That's right," Kurt said. "We were in Trinity's lab and there was a whole bunch of them. He could have easily taken one while our backs were turned."

"And used it to get to the Power 8 plant unseen…" Lance thought.

"So he poisoned Spears an hour before the raid," Logan pieced it together. "Then used the teleporter to go back and stab his body later while the Morlocks kept the rest of us busy. Then he instantly took off to threaten Creed and his buddies giving himself a cast iron alibi. Teleported to the mansion, dropped off the device in the bushes after breaking it and then got back into the tunnels."

"That was the real reason he was there that night," Shipwreck said. "Just had the bad luck to be seen by Thornn."

"Evan used the leader of the FOH and Duncan for his alibi…" Hank pieced it together. "And yet he was reluctant to speak…"

"Who would have believed him?" Althea asked. "It was that tape that was the real clincher. There were security cameras in that building. Evan somehow must have taken that tape as evidence."

"But why didn't he just show it to prove he was innocent?" Kurt asked. "This doesn't make sense!"

"It makes perfect sense," Logan growled. "You wanna explain Porcupine?"

"It's simple really," Evan walked in without shame. "Remember when I was having trouble way back in civics class? You were helping me out a bit Prof. by tutoring me. Remember what you told me about trials and stuff?"

"Yes," Xavier's face darkened. "I told you that anyone found innocent of a crime can't be retried for the same crime."

"Not even if he was guilty," Evan grinned. "I admit I couldn't really understand that part. Until now."

"You committed the perfect crime…" Hank looked at him. "You even managed to harm the FOH and deal them a serious blow."

"Yeah I gotta give Mystique props for that part," Evan smirked. "I had no idea it would all work out so well. I mean come on, Creed being both Mystique's and Sabertooth's kid? That was pure luck! I mean I thought having one of the Morlocks send the tape later on would be enough but that stunt really clinched it for me!"

"You did set him up…" Jean's eyes widened.

"You mean for once Duncan Matthews was actually right about something?" Todd yelped.

"Odds are he was bound to be right about something," Jean remarked. "I just never thought it would be something like this."

"How could you do this to us?" Kurt asked.

"To you?" Evan yelled. "Spears was planning genocide on all mutants! Starting with the Morlocks! Someone had to fight back and since you all were too busy trying to make nice with the humans I had to step up to the job! This never would have happened if you had taken care of this in the first place! But noooo! You all just let Spears go on his merry way with the formula that spelled death for us without even checking up on him! Someone had to clean up the mess you all made!"

"By killing someone?" Kitty asked, appalled.

"I may have killed, but not without just cause or reason," Evan told her. "Better to purposely kill one enemy then allow dozens of our kind to be slaughtered by not doing anything!"

"More than one person died because of this!" Kurt said angrily. "Remember the riots? Entire streets were destroyed! People died in them!"

"It was their own fault," Evan told him. "They never should have started what they couldn't finish. They got what they deserved."

"Now you sound just like Magneto," Logan growled.

"No there's a difference," Evan told him. "I don't give a damn about world conquest. I'm only concerned about survival. I learned a long time ago that you have to do whatever it takes to stay alive in this world."

"Even at the expense of innocent people?" Rogue was horrified. "What about Mr. White? He's a mutant and his career was trashed because of you!"

"Sooner or later people would have found out his secret," Evan told her. "The way the government's testing people that work for them or live in certain buildings. Who's to say private companies aren't already doing it? I'm sorry it happened like it did but I'm not the one who made an issue out of it. That was the FOH."

"Wait one thing doesn't make sense…" Bobby began.

"One thing?" Sam asked.

"How could Evan poison Spears in the first place?" Bobby began. "How did he know he'd drink it?"

"Simple," Evan said. "I made sure he did."

"What?" Ororo felt a chill over her heart.

"No I didn't exactly put a spike to his throat," Evan told her. "I sort of tricked him. With the help of Feral and one or two Morlocks I could trust not to go running to Callisto… not to mention the assistance of a certain teleportation watch, I managed to take out the security office. We do have a few psychics in the Morlocks."

"Who also put blocks on your mind in case I would read it," Xavier frowned.

Evan continued. "While the guards were thinking they were watching the Playboy channel, I was able to sneak in Spear's office. I learned that he did a little quality control taste testing every day in his office. That's why he always had a supply of Power 8 in his office. So I put the stuff in the drink, wrote him a note about the latest new taste and left it on his desk where he would read it. I made sure I used gloves so my fingerprints wouldn't show. Went back up to the security room with the others…And watched the show…"

"God in heaven…" Kurt whispered, appalled.

"I tell you one thing, it was poetic justice of him to choke on his own soft drink," Evan snarled. "The same way he made Jackdaw die!"

"What happened to you?" Jean's voice was barely above a whisper. "The Evan we knew would never do what you did!"

"The Evan you knew didn't have to watch his friends fight for scraps of garbage to eat every day," Evan told her. "The Evan you knew didn't see other mutants die at the hands of gang members. Or humans who got their kicks by experimenting on them! The Evan you knew could go out on the streets in broad daylight without people throwing rocks at him in revulsion! The Evan you knew didn't know anything about the real world! Only the fantasy the Professor told him. You all want to dress up and play hero, but all this time you were really learning how to be soldiers. We all were! The only difference between us is that I learned that sometimes you have to kill faster than you have!"

"It's one thing to kill in self defense or even battle…" Lance told him. "But to actually plan a murder and watch it? Dude you're sick!"

"Sick?" Evan snarled. "Spears planned, watched and taped Jackdaw's murder and analyzed it. He made Jackdaw his lab rat! You can't say that's sick? I watched it not out of pleasure but because I owed it to Jackdaw. I couldn't save his life but I had to make sure he was avenged! And that Spears could never hurt any other mutant again! Face it, you're all just jealous 'cause I took care of a problem none of you could handle!"

"You said you were innocent…" Kurt whispered. "We believed you. We trusted you!"

"I'm sorry I had to do that," Evan sighed. "I'm sorry I lied to you. But come on, what did you expect me to say? 'Yeah I killed Spears but don't tell anybody? It's part of a plan to save the Morlocks?' Give me a break!"

"I oughta…" Rogue made a fist.

"Look I didn't want it to come to this," Evan told them. "But I didn't have a choice! Somebody had to protect the Morlocks! Even if it did get me thrown out, at least they're alive and safe. And from now on people will think twice about hunting them again. That's something at least."

"You're actually proud of what you've done in a way…" Jean was appalled.

"It was more than you ever did for them," Evan told them.

"You son of a…" Sam began to lunge at Evan but was held back by Shipwreck. "You're not going to get away with this!"

"What are you going to do? Tell my mom?" Evan asked sarcastically. "Yeah she'll really believe you."

"He's right. We can't even tell the authorities," Scott growled. "Not without revealing some of our secrets and tarnish our name even more."

"Not to mention giving the FOH credibility," Logan growled.

"How could you do this after everything we've been through?" Ororo asked Evan. "How many times have we fought to help people and you did this? Why?"

"Because we were helping the wrong people," Evan told her. "We should have been looking out more for our kind instead of trying to please everybody. I learned the hard way most humans want nothing to do with us. And to be honest, I want nothing to do with them."

"You were right about one thing Spyke," Scott growled. "You don't belong with us! You're not an X-Man!"

"You're damn right I'm not," Evan glared back. "I never did fit in here. I wanted to be myself instead of the perfect little soldier you wanted me to be. Well you made me a fighter all right, just not the kind you wanted me to be."

"And what kind are you?" Kitty asked bitterly.

"The kind who will do whatever it takes to see that mutants aren't slaughtered or driven away," Evan told her. "No matter what. Maybe I couldn't make it as a hero, but if I have to be a villain to get the job done, so be it."

"Mr. Daniels I admit that I have made more than my share of mistakes," Xavier intoned. "But recruiting you seems to have been the most grievous one of all. Despite all our efforts you have ignored our teachings and turned your back on everything the X-Men stand for. You have abused my hospitality long enough. I want you to leave the Institute and never return."

"That's fine with me, you hypocritical old goat…" Evan snarled.

Scott lost his temper and blasted him with his eye beams. Evan sailed across the room. "You wanna play it like that? Huh?" Evan got up and readied his spikes. "Bring it on!"

"No!" Xavier stopped the fight. "Let him go."

"You mean you're just gonna let him walk out of here?" Todd asked.

"We don't have a choice," Logan growled as he got in Evan's face. "But if I were you Spyke…I'd be real careful from now on." He shot out his claws. "Next time you slip will be your last! Capice?"

"And we'll make sure as hell you're locked up behind bars where you belong!" Rogue snapped.

"You people make me sick," Evan snarled. "The great protectors of mutantkind. What a joke. I mean look around here! You got thieves and criminals hanging all over this place. I'm not exactly the only killer around here now am I? Right Wolverine? Gambit? Colossus? X23? Xi? Avalanche? Hell, you even let former members of the Brotherhood come over here nearly every day! And you think I'm not good enough for you? Forget it! I've had enough of this."

"You never were a team player," Scott snapped.

"If you mean I always had to think for myself and do what I thought was best instead of what Xavier thought was best, then I guess I'm not," Evan told him. "And you know something, I'm glad. I am out of here."

Evan turned to Ororo. "Auntie O…I never meant to hurt you like this. It's just…"

SLAP!

Evan stood in shock as his aunt stood at him, her hand slightly bleeding from hitting his face. She didn't even notice where she had scraped her hand from the spikes on his face. "Get out of my house…" Ororo choked. "I never want to see you again."

"Fine…" Evan's eyes grew hard. "Be that way." He turned and left without another word.

Everyone was in shock. Shipwreck felt horrible. "Ororo I…" He began.

"I know…" Ororo said softly as tears rolled down her face. "You had to tell me. You couldn't keep this a secret from me and I understand. It just…." She started to break down.

"Oh Storm…" Jean's eyes teared up.

"I am so sorry," Xavier wheeled over to Ororo and put his hand on hers. "I'm so sorry I failed you Ororo."

"It wasn't you alone. I failed most of all. What have we done Charles?" Ororo sobbed. "What have we created?"

Now before you start screaming at me, there's a reason I made Evan into a bad guy type for now. He's going to play an important role in future fics, especially when a certain firebird comes to town. Let's just say I'm making him a more interesting and complicated character.

Evan: Well at least you gave me a sex life and didn't make me as lame as I used to be! I mean you gotta admit these lines are a lot better than 'I'm a city kid'! Geeze. And if you've read the comics and stuff you'd know I'm not exactly the first X-Man to go the villain route for a while. Emma Frost and Juggernaut are X-Men in the comics! Even Cyclops went nuts! Okay he was possessed by Apocalypse but still…

Evan is going to impact the X-Men, Misfits and other Marvel Universe characters in a lot of ways and I thought the best way to do it is through this way. Trust me, it's going to be an interesting ride. Read the final chapter and you'll see what I mean.