Onset War (5 of 5): The End has Come

The battle had been joined and all those who fell under the flag of Exodus had been removed from the battle. All that stood left now was a crippled and tired Trevor Chase. Above him floated three figures who came straight from his nightmares. Onset, the would be mistress of Onslaught and long-time foe of the Exiles. Armageddon, the being created from the forms of Ramses Xavier and Talyn. The last figure was the most terrifying of all for Chase because he had once been an ally. Mutant Forger now looked upon the grandson of Destiny with an intense hate and urge for death.

"Lord give me strength!" Chase cried out one last time before exhaustion overtook him and his face slammed into the ground.

How sad? The child has fallen. It seems this day belongs to us my dear men.

"You jump too soon to conclusions woman! We stand here now and your tyranny ends here!" Exodus yelled as his team of Exiles stood behind him.

"How can it be? They were all defeated!" Mutant Forger yelled his eyes switching back and forth between Blink, Colossus, Polaris, Havok, Proudstar, and Sunfire. They all looked like they hadn't been scratched and were ready for battle.

The boy did this! That Chase boy bought them back to health!

"And his sacrifice won't be vain!" Blink yelled as she teleported behind Onset and stabbed her in the back with two of her javelins. Simultaneously, Exodus battered her with a dozen telekinetic energy stabs and a powerful mind bolt. Onset cried out in pain at the assault.

Polaris began to piece-by-piece rip the armor off of Armageddon and Havok blasted every vulnerable spot. Sunfire blasted Forger out of the sky and right into the brutal arms of Colossus and Proudstar.

"You have lost this battle Onset. Too many lives have been wrecked by your hand! I'll have it no more!" Exodus exclaimed as he unleashed the full force of his telekinesis grotesquely crumpling the bodies of Onset and Armageddon into metal balls. Then with all the force he could muster he hurled them out into the sky and most likely into space.

That left Mutant Forger alone against the fury of all seven Exiles and despite the immensity of powers he couldn't seem to access them at the moment. Exodus smiled as he tapped his head, "My telepathy is keeping you from accessing your powers at the moment. I can't undo what Onset did to you yet my friend. So until then…sleep."

Forger's eyes went white and fell on the ground with a thump. All the Exiles seemed to sigh at once and Exodus looked back to Trevor, "That child saved us all today. Onset had nearly had her victory."

"Doesn't seem like we won much though," Blink replied looking out into the battlefield of the broken.

Two Days Later

Colossus walked into the room where Nereel and Solidity were waiting for him. All of those who had been under Onset's lock where now released. Most had taken up temporary residence in the Hulkbuster Base until they could decide what to do with themselves. Piotr had come up with a path for himself and he intended to follow it.

"You sure about this?" Blink asked trying to maybe get one last good look at Colossus and find some doubt, but she found none there.

"I'm more than sure Clarice. I have a family now. That means more to me than anything. I won't fail in taking care of my son," Colossus said giving Blink one last good squeeze. His time with the young woman had taught him the meaning of being stern and tender all at once. In some ways she reminded him of Logan. And being around her remained him of the weakness in himself. He had given into Sinister. How could he? What

"Good luck man. If you see Allie give her my love," Longshot said his voice cracking a little. He couldn't even remember the last time he spoke Allison's name. With all his heart he hoped that she was okay.

"I will my friend. Take care," Colossus said grabbing his son and Nereel's hand as he walked out of the large entrance where a jeep was waiting to take them to whatever destination Peter had in mind.

As the door closed Blink clasped her fists together tightly, "Nuts. That's another one. Proudstar already returned to his reservation and Havok just left without a word."

"It was a brutal battle Clarice. Things will get better soon enough," Longshot said. He barely knew the girl at all, but she had been kind to him these past couple of days.

Sunfire picked up the note that was lying on Lorna's bed and began to read it slowly.

Hey Guys!

I don't know how to put this, but I had to leave. I just keep trying to get things right, but it doesn't seem to happen. Now I'm pregnant and Havok has just left without even the slightest word of notice. He doesn't want this child that's in my stomach and that's fine. I just can't stay here though and be reminded of her around every corner. It's too much to bear right now. Way too much! I just had to go. I'll keep in touch with all of you of course. I just had to get away. I hope you all understand.

Sincerely,

Lorna Dane

Crumbling the letter up in his hand Sunfire groaned in annoyance. The piece of paper quickly turned to ashes and Shiro slammed the door of the room violently behind him.

"What's wrong Shiro?" Legolas asked as he came down the hallway. He could obviously see that Shiro was upset about something. Usually he didn't converse with Sunfire too much, but in this instance he felt compelled to.

"Nothing for you to worry about. Now go on and do something productive," Sunfire replied snidely.

"Whatever Shiro. Go screw yourself!" Derrick cursed as he walked away from the living plasma man and made his way down to the cafeteria.

"We're falling apart at the seams. We can't survive for much longer," Sunfire whispered to him knowing what was going to come soon enough.

"The Exiles are going to be disbanded," Exodus announced to the audience of all his former students and what remained of his other allies. Sinister and Dark Beast's forces had already returned to whence they came. All that remained in the Hulkbuster Base were all those who had once fallen under the banner of Exiles.

"What? Why? Don't we have a say here? I've put as much into this thing as much as you have," Ever said outraged at even the suggestion of disbanding the Exiles. He had too much invested into the team to just see it burned up and tossed away like yesterday's trash.

"I've put you all in more danger than it is worth. I won't do it anymore! I expect all of you to be out of this base within three days," Exodus yelled teleporting himself out of the large auditorium. All the students and former members of Exiles could do was stare at one another in uncomfortable silence.

Shiro had known this was coming. Too much had happened and too much had changed too fast. Everything seemed like it was spinning uncontrollably. In the time Sunfire had known Exodus he knew that Bennet did not enjoy when things felt out of his control.

Star Prophet felt sick as she walked into the bathroom. Ever since Exodus had made his little announcement she had been extremely upset, but she didn't expect sickness to be involved in that. Sitting down on the edge of the tub she sighed deeply and fell over unconscious. The whole world began to spin black around her.

It was two hours before Ever went into the room to check on Star Prophet. Entering the bathroom he was shocked to find two women on the floor out cold. Even more shocking was the fact that the two women had only been joined together hours ago. Astra and Fontanelle were now separate entities.

"The Dark Zodiac magic must have worn off," Ever said bending over to hoist Fontanelle on his shoulder.

"Or perhaps the magic has finally started to take it's true effect," Exodus said appearing from behind and lifting both women into the air with his telekinesis.

Ever only stared at Exodus with the hatred a mad son has for a father. Bennet saw this and sighed not wanting to incite anger, "I'll take these two to the infirmary. I'll more than likely need your help. See you there."

With that the former leader of the Exiles teleported away and Ever could only watch disgusted with himself and Exodus. He hated the fact he cared so much and he hated it even more that Exodus didn't seem to care at all.

"You guys think he'll come after us?" Cortez asked as he flew the plane as fast as he could. He wanted to get as far away from Morocco as possible. Fabian had finally made his move against Sinster. He had managed to convert a few of Sinister's soldiers to his cause and they would be his new Acolytes.

"I'm positive of it. Sinister doesn't take kindly to betrayal," Dust warned having personally seen what happened to those who betrayed Sinister. She didn't fear the man though and she knew his way wasn't the right one. For too long had she followed his course.

"I'm surprised you even asked the question at all," Whiteout laughed.

"We'll be okay. I think we pack enough punch to beat whatever Sinister might throw at us," Cortez said looking at his new allies in his quest for power.

They were going to be his six pillars. Dust. Post. Gryphon. Whiteout. Babylon. Glance. Each of them had the power and skill needed to be of aid in whatever opponent he may find himself up against next.

Fabian smiled. The future did indeed look bright.

"So what's going to happen to us now?" Ever asked as he moved up the cliff to sit beside Blink who was staring off into the sunset.

"We move on I guess. What can we do? Exodus doesn't want us around anymore," Blink said trying to not sound too disappointed.

Ever sighed, "I just hate to see it all end like this."

"That just the way these things go sometimes. Believe me I know. I've seen my share of heartbreaking moments," Clarice said thinking back to the reality she had experienced. How many men and women had she see die at the hands of Apocalypse? In comparison to some of the stuff she's seen the disbanding of the Exiles was barely anything to fuss over.

"I did care about this team you know. Now Exodus is going to isolate himself off trying to bring Proteus and Forger out of their comas. I'm afraid he might lose it," Ever said shivering at the thought of Exodus slipping into his old ways again.

"If that happens we'll be there to stop him. Though right now we gotta just accept the fact it's over. The Exiles are no more," Clarice said sadly staring off once again into the sunset.

Author Notes

Well I got loads of people to thank so let me jump right to it.

Dino Pollard- He's the guy who gave me this title in the first and fought for me to get it in as series on the site.

Russ Anderson- He was weary of Exiles at first, but he did give me the chance to do it in X-Men Unlimited and because of that I think I still have written the most XMU issues to date.

Cory Weigel- Always offered ideas and came up with ways for Exiles to branch out of its own little universe.

Brad Horton- He gave me half of my roster around beginning with issue 30. This guy has always been willing to lend a hand and help a brotha out.

Derrick Ferguson- Positive and encouraging. Those two words describe my fellow brotha perfectly. He always build you up even when he's telling you what you did wrong.

Thanks you all for the fun ride that was Exiles. It was my baby in fanfic for quite a long time, but I do feel it's time to end it. Thank you all once again and I hope the characters I worked with in this title go on to continue getting some spotlight in the future.

Much love,

Brent Lambert