The Protector Saga, Part I
A New Beginning
The Rescue
Rogue's eyes slowly opened. The light that poured into to her brain blinded her, making her close her eyes and allowing her to realize that she had a headache. Trying to ignore the throbbing pain above her temples, she opened her eyes again. She was in a gigantic atrium, at least twice the size of the Danger Room. It seemed to be natural; the floor was made of a reddish, polished rock. The walls were somewhere between a red and an orange, and were extremely rough. They came together at the top of the room, at least a hundred feet up, to form a huge dome. At the center of the room, stretching nearly have the height, was a large machine, with what seemed to be a place for someone to stand. Spaced equidistant from each other on the walls were metallic bed-like things that had wrist, ankle, and waist restraints. In each of these stood an X-Man. That was where Rogue was now.
She looked down, and saw that she was completely nude. Around her neck was a Genoshan collar. Her wrists and ankles were bound to the wall by what looked like shackles, and her waist had a metal restraining band stretching across it. She tried to free herself from the restraints, but found it was useless. They were tight enough that they didn't provide any movement, but not so tight they cut off the blood. Across from her, she saw Bishop in the same kind of thing she was. To his right was Beast and Storm, and to his left was Gambit. Like her, they all had collars around their necks, and were completely nude.
"Hey, where the hell am Ah," she yelled.
A demonic, aquamarine woman walked into Rogue's field of vision. If it were not for the leering smile she wore, she could have been remotely pretty. "It seems you are the first to awaken," the woman said, strolling towards Rogue.
"What da ya want with us," Rogue asked, her accent getting deeper in her anger.
"You will be the subjects of an experiment," the woman said. "If it is successful, there shall be a new, all-powerful being to rule the world." She smiled sadistically, "And if it fails, the world will be rid of some of the foremost heroes. What a shame."
Before Rogue could answer the woman, a loud baritone voice called out. "Succubus? Succubus, are you out there?"
"Yes, brother, I am," the woman replied, rolling her eyes. A moment later, a man, the same color as the woman, came walking from the same direction she had. As the man came into her field of vision, Rogue suddenly realized who they were. They were some of the same people that had defeated them at the mansion.
"There you are, sister," the man said. "I've been looking all over for you." He stopped short as he saw that his sister had been speaking with Rogue. "Sister, have you been speaking with the prisoner?"
"What if I have, brother Incubus? Would you let our magnificent leader know?"
"Of course," he replied.
- - - -
Gambit and Bishop woke at the same time to hear two loud, bickering voices. The big man opened his eyes to see a man and a woman, both an odd aquamarine color, yelling at each other. The only evidence that he had even seen them was a raised eyebrow on his normally stoic features. Gambit, on the other hand, was smiling slightly, his red irises glowing with a light of their own.
"And just what the Hell are you smilin' at," Incubus asked, finally noticing that more of their prisoners had awoken.
"Remy ain't smilin'." The Cajun's grin grew ever wider as he spoke.
"Wipe that smile off your face," Incubus said, striding towards the former thief, intent on doing what Remy would not do.
"If you touch him, I'm gonna have to kill you," a new voice said. Out from the tunnel stepped a massive man with brick-red skin. He had the head of a bull, and the body of a man. His horns and nails were pitch-black, and his feet appeared more as elongated hooves.
"Then kill me, Minos," Incubus said, getting into the other man's face. "Or are you too full of bullshit to back up your threat?"
"I'll crush your skull where you stand," Minos threatened, leaning over the smaller man.
"Would you two please shut up? I really don't like to hear your constant bickering. If you two aren't arguing about one thing, it's another," said a man with dark hair, walking into the room. He was dressed in what could have passed as a military uniform. On his wrists were plain, silver colored bracelets. This same metal made up pieces of armor on his shoulders, his thighs, and shins. "The next time that I have to remind you not to argue with each other, I will cut off your pinkie fingers. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," they answered together. They eyed each other warily, daring the other to say something.
"I'm glad you were able ta get them ta stop, but just who the hell are you," Rogue asked, her anger blazing.
"I can answer that for you," answered Celeste's voice. "He killed my father. I thought he was a hired assassin. But, I guess he works for himself."
"Ah, Celeste McMillan," the man said, slowly. "Truly a tragedy was your father's death. It is too bad that he was a coward"
"You do not get to talk about my father that way!" She stared down at him, her eyes ablaze with rage. "And he was not the coward. He didn't need to hide behind a suit of armor."
"Really," the man replied, an overconfident smile on his face. "Well, perhaps you should know that because of your suit of armor, I am now more of a man than your father could ever hope to be."
"You're not a man. All I see before me is a fucking coward with a severe case of penis envy."
The man's eyes blazed. With a sudden movement, his entire body became covered with metal originating from the pieces of armor already on his body. A single, double-edged blade unsheathed from his forearm as he approached her. "You would do well do respect me, bitch," he said, bringing the blade to her temple. His eyes traveled down her body, taking in every voluptuous curve. He returned to her face, a cold, malevolent smile plastered on his face. "You're a beautiful woman, you know," he said, using his blade to play with her dark tresses.
"Get the fuck away from me," she said, spitting on him.
"You have spirit. I like that," he said, bringing the blade to her cheek, tanned by the Australian sun. She turned away from the touch, her face a twisted mask of disgust. He seemed to smile underneath his helmet as the blade began to travel down her body. It traveled over the inhibitor collar she wore, and touched her chest. The sword traveled between her full breasts, leaving a thin trail of crimson. It traveled even lower, causing her taught stomach to shy away from the blade. The blade traveled still lower, past her navel, and settled between her legs, its edges pressing lightly against her labia. A smile more sinister than the first seemed to form behind the mask. Celeste's eyes widened in surprise, and then narrowed, her body tensing itself in anticipation of his next move.
"SYBRE!" It was a voice Celeste hadn't heard before, feminine, but still dark and evil. Celeste let out a sigh of relief as her body relaxed and the man's blade returned into his forearm. Out of the gloom bounded the owner of the sinister voice. The woman had coffee skin, and dark hair. She could be considered beautiful if it weren't for her eyes. They seemed to gleam with a malevolence of their own. There was something there that compelled Celeste to look away.
"Seraph is fighting the machine again," the woman said impatiently. "I need you and Minos to hold her down while I give her a sedative."
"Fine," Sybre said. "Incubus, Minos, come with me." He turned to Succubus. "Watch them; make sure they stay where they are."
Succubus watched them walk back into the hallway that led into the back of the building. When they were gone, she went to Celeste, and whispered, "You should be glad that it was Sybre who took a liking to you and not Minos."
"Why are you talking to me," Celeste asked, perplexed.
"Because," the woman said, "I have realized that Sybre is a madman. I will no longer allow him and his ideologies to taint my conscience." She paused, and looked up to Celeste. "As I was saying, you should be glad Sybre likes you, and not Minos."
"Why is that?"
"Minos is …", she began. "Minos is sick – disturbed." She looked down to her hands, seemingly in deep thought. "I wish I didn't know this, but …. When Minos first joined us, he boasted that he had killed an entire family in Vancouver. He did … horrific things to that family."
"What happened," a tender voice asked. It belonged to Kurt, who was now giving her his undivided attention.
"He broke into their house," she began. "There was a father, a mother, and three daughters, ages sixteen, fourteen, and ten. Minos waited until the girls were all home from school, and then broke in that night." She paused, tears welling in her eyes. "He chained them up in their basement, and then undressed them."
"What then," Kurt asked again, afraid of where her narrative was going. But, he also knew that she had to let it go, that if she didn't, it would continue eating her up inside.
"He raped the mother," she said, her face a mask of disgust. "He forced the entire family to watch. After he finished with her, he worked his way down to the youngest of the girls, forcing the rest of the family to watch." Tears were rolling down her face, her lips trembling with emotion. "After he got bored, he had a new idea: he wanted the father to rape his daughters." She wiped tears from her eyes, now bleary and red, biting her lip to keep it from moving. "When the father refused, Minos tortured his wife. He took a broomstick, and wrapped it in barbed wire, and then he … he …."
"You do not need to finish," Kurt said softly, his voice belying the revulsion in his heart. How could someone do something like that, he thought, as he said a silent prayer for the family.
"Minos … the bastard, he killed the family." She paused again, wiping away more tears. "He burned them alive by setting fire to the house. He boasts about it all the time. When he has drank too much, he talks about it … talks about the way they fought him, the way they squirmed with him on top of them."
"I'm really sorry that you've had to listen to him boast his exploits," Celeste said, "but there is the little matter of us being kidnapped."
"There is nothing that I can do," the young woman explained. "Only Sybre knows the combination to unlock the restraints." She looked at Celeste, and then to the other X-Men. "I suppose I could try to get it from him," she thought out loud.
"We would not want you to take any undo risks," a voice said. She turned around, and saw the Beast speaking to her.
"Life is a risk," she replied brusquely, a sad look in her eyes.
X-Mansion, Westchester"Hey, do you guys feel that?"
"What," Betsy asked, looking at Jake. "What's it feel like?"
"I don't know. I can't really describe it," Jake said. "But it's kind of like a really deep vibration, like when you're bass is too high." Logan and Jean looked at each other for a moment, and then looked at Jake. The four of them were now in the Blackbird, having just taken off.
"The engines," Logan suggested, as the jet starting moving forward, ascending to its cruising height as it did so.
"No," Jake answered, puzzled. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on the feeling. "It's changed; so it can't be the engines." He suddenly realized he felt air – air moving over him, and under him, and all around him. It was rushing past him at an incredible speed, the air cooling him as it passed. It was raising him up on what felt like … wings. "Wow," Jake said, opening his eyes.
"What," Betsy asked, her eyes intense, and concern creeping into her voice.
"I was feeling the air going over the Blackbird," he said silently. "It was almost as if I was the Blackbird. I could feel the air underneath the wings, lifting me … us."
"Do you know when this could have happened," Jean asked, looking back from her seat in the cockpit.
"My only thought is that it happened last night."
"And you still don't remember what happened?"
"No, I don't remember anything other than being incredibly angry." He turned to Betsy. "Do you remember anything, Bets?" But she was seemingly lost in thought, her eyes focused on the floor. "Betsy," he asked, gently shaking her shoulder.
"What," she asked, momentarily lost. "Oh," she said, "I don't remember anything, either." But, she was preoccupied with what she thought she saw. She could have sworn that, just for a few seconds, Jean looked younger than what she was.
The Savage Land
"Hello, my little lab rats," Sybre said cheekily. He entered into the dome from the hidden hallway set into the wall. "I do so hope you are ready for our little experiment."
"The machine is almost ready, SSSybre," Medusa said, looking up from her computer console.
"Whatcha goin' ta do to us," Gambit asked, his voice dripping acid.
"Ah, the Cajun," the man said, walking up to the former thief. He looked at Gambit appraisingly, and said, "I suppose that since you will be the subjects in this little experiment, it would only be right to let you know what is going to happen." He motioned towards Medusa. "Medusa, if you please?" The serpentine woman began pressing buttons at her console, causing an electric hum to fill the room. A moment more, and hydraulics began to lift the chamber in the middle of the large space. Gambit saw that there was actually a flight of stairs connected to this machine, and that their own restraints were attached to the same machine.
"This machine is capable of copying certain genetic sequences from certain organisms, and then placing those sequences into another," Sinister explained. "What I plan to do is to target the individual genetic codes in each of you that are affected by your X-factors. Then I plan to incorporate those into the DNA of a volunteer. In so doing, she will become the most powerful being on the face of the planet." He paused for effect, an insane glimmer shining in his eyes. "And she will be at my beck and call."
"What makes you so certain she will follow you," asked a voice from behind Sybre. The armored man turned around to see Magneto burning a hole into his head with his eyes.
"I will follow him because we have the same goal." A woman with coffee skin, and dark hair stepped into the light. She was the same woman that Celeste had seen earlier. "It is our goal to rule the world."
"Then you do not have the same goal," the Master of Magnetism replied. "There can only be one ruler of the world."
"Perhaps," the woman said. "But we are willing to share." She moved toward Magneto, her loose, cotton pants spreading like wings. "And once this procedure is over, we will be on the first step towards being the most powerful beings on the planet."
"And you really believe that," asked Jubilee, incredulously.
"Of course," the woman answered.
"Then you're even more whacked out than he is," Jubilee responded, nodding towards Magneto.
"Perhaps I am," the woman said. She stood in front of Jubilee, her eyes as hard as flint. "Tell me, where are the other two X-Men? The ones called Wolverine and Phoenix."
"I ain't gonna tell. But, they're surely gonna be pissed off at you after they see what you've done to us."
"I can't wait to meet them," the woman replied facetiously. "They'll find you all dead, and us long gone."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Jubilee mumbled under her breath.
- - - -
"Are you ready, Maddie," Sybre asked the woman.
"Yes, I am, my love," she replied, kissing him where his mouth was beneath his helmet.
"Is the machine ready, Medusa?"
"Yesss."
"Good." He took Maddie's hand as she ascended the stairs. "This procedure will take a lot out of her, Minos. While she is resting, Seraph will look over her." He started to strap Maddie into the machine, when Minos came up behind him.
"What about the prisoners, Sybre," the second-in-command asked.
"Ah, yes, I almost forgot them," Sybre said, pausing his ascent. "Minos," he ordered, "find Seraph, and the two of you bring out the three prisoners."
A few minutes later, there was a low rustling coming from the hall leading to Sybre's chambers. From the shadows, a woman with almost iridescent blue eyes walked into the light. Nightcrawler recognized her at once; she was the woman that had knocked both him and Storm unconscious. Before, he hadn't been able to get a very good look at her. But, now, looking upon her once again, he realized she was beautiful, in every sense of the word. Her long, dark hair fell nearly to her waist. Her skin was pale and clear, untouched by the Savage Land's harsh sun. She wore some kind of armor over her body, with odd, intricate designs etched into the chest piece. But what caught his attention was her back. She had three pairs of large, white wings, just like a seraph. An angel. As he watched, her wings flared out, and then layered themselves, so it seemed as if there was only one pair of very large wings, and then folded on her back.
Behind her came Minos. He tugged on a chain he was dragging behind him. Out of the shadows fell two figures, both with aquamarine skin. "Get up, you fucking traitors!" He yanked on the chain, which was attached to collars they were wearing around their necks. "I said get up," Minos yelled again. He kicked Incubus in the side, his hoofed foot sinking into the smaller man's gut, driving the air out of his lungs. Disgusted, the bull-man picked Incubus up by the shoulder, and shoved him roughly into the wall. Minos then picked Succubus up by the neck, driving her into the wall. He eyed her appreciatively, his sadistic mind taking in every curve of her body.
"Easy, Minos," Sybre said. "Not yet." He turned to Seraph. "Did you get the other prisoner?"
"Yes, master," she said, bowing.
"Please bring her forth." The woman bowed again, and retreated into the dark hallway. A few minutes later, she returned, with a female prisoner in front of her. The prisoner, dressed all in black, had gloves and a ski mask on, hiding her face and hands. "This last one should surprise them," Sybre said malevolently, his eyes almost dancing with glee.
- - - -
"You may be wondering why I have two of my own people as prisoners." Sybre stood in the middle of the room, addressing the X-Men in his best oratorical voice. "I will be explaining that in a moment," he continued. "But first, I suppose I should explain who I am.
"Miss McMillan was right when she thought I worked for terrorists." He smiled, his impossibly white teeth incongruous with his malicious eyes. "I am called in to get done that which is supposedly impossible. Maybe the assassination of a politician, or the theft of something entirely top secret." His gaze roamed the room, locking on Storm's. "I was the one that killed Felix Wanabi in Zaire two years ago. Of course, the people who paid me didn't bother to think about the possibility of a civil war." He shrugged. "But then again, the more war there is, the more I get paid.
His gaze turned towards Shift. "But it wasn't until I was asked to steal a top secret prototype that I decided to go it alone. At the time, I was employed by a terrorist group that, quite frankly, makes almost all other others look like a collective group of Boy Scouts." He smiled slightly, reliving the memory. "Of course, when I returned to their HQ alone clad in this marvelous armor, they immediately grew suspicious. But, it wasn't until I assassinated their leader that they started attacking me." He turned around, his eyes moving from person to person. "They've been after me ever since," he said, a cocky smile plastered across his face. "But, as you can see, I'm still standing.
"Now," he said, "let's get down to business.
"Succubus," the man said, "you were going to help these wonderfully uncanny X-Men escape." He turned magnanimously around, his eyes sparkling with pleasure, and smiling to his audience. "And I'm sure that you're all wondering how she was going to do this, aren't you?" His voice had taken on a playful lilt, which only seemed to enhance his malevolence. "Succubus was trying to seduce me into giving her the codes to undo your bindings. Unfortunately, she did not realize that I am immune to all forms of empathy and telepathy while I am armored.… So here we all are.
"Minos," Sybre said, motioning for his second, "if you please?" The bull-man came forward, bowing slightly. "Take her to your quarters, and do as you will to her." Sybre took a length of barbed wire from an unseen pocket, and handed it to Minos. "You will, perhaps, need this." The bull-man's eyes lit up with a carnal desire, his smile malicious. Succubus' eyes went wide with terror as Minos took her by the arm and began dragging her towards the hallway at the back of the cave.
"Incubus," Sybre said, smiling. "As you've already seen, I do not take kindly to sedition." He looked directly at Professor Xavier as he spoke. "Incubus, you see, knew about Succubus' betrayal, and yet, did nothing." He activated his armor as he stood over Incubus. "For this crime, you shall pay a truly heinous penance." He stepped forward, unsheathing one of the blades in his wrists. As he did so, horrendous, pain-laden screams echoed out from the hallway, as Succubus' tender flesh of femininity was shredded by the sadistic ravaging of an inhuman monster. "Your sister is being taken care of as we speak," Sybre said, his malicious smile almost visible beneath his helmet.
"Now it is your turn," Sybre said coldly. Kneeling, he flicked his wrist, easily cutting away Incubus' pants, leaving him nude from the waste down. "Perhaps you would be interested to know that what I am about to do to you was in an excellent book that I read." With another quick flick of the wrist, Sybre had castrated Incubus, the gaping wound gushing torrents. "Now," Sybre said, "comes the interesting part." Holding what was left of Incubus' manhood in his right hand, Sybre opened the man's mouth with his left.…
- - - -
Remy felt sick to his stomach. Unable to turn away from the brutality before him, he had seen the entire thing. Even with all that he had seen as an X-Man and what he had seen as a thief in New Orleans, he did not believe he had seen such … carnage. After forcing Incubus' manhood into his mouth, Sybre had cauterized the man's mouth shut.
Looking at the dying man, Remy caught the look of all-encompassing fear as the man slowly bled out from a dozen wounds. He looked at Remy almost pleadingly, wanting to die quickly. The former thief looked away, unable to bear the pitiful sight before him. As much as he wanted to help the man before him, he could do nothing. He gritted his teeth, vowing he would not allow this assassin and his … cronies to get away with what they were doing here.
Remy's attention was drawn away as Sybre moved towards the third prisoner, casting a final glance at the dying man to his right. Sybre looked around, his face covered by the metal that covered his entire body. "You X-Men may be surprised by my final hostage," the man said. "Needless to say, I have had a great amount of fun with this … specimen. She is truly worth her weight in gold." With a sudden flourish, he tore the mask from her face.
It took a few moments for the imprisoned X-Men to comprehend what they saw before them. It was Kitty who first understood. Before them was a blonde woman, with long hair. She, like Seraph, was wearing a ringlet of silver on her head. With her blue eyes, and model-like features, the woman bore a striking resemblance to Sue Richards, the Invisible Woman. But, the woman was not Susan Richards. She, in fact, seemed to be someone that they had never met. If she was not someone they had met before, that begged the question: who was she? The answer came to her just as the armored man began to speak again.
"As I already said, you will all be surprised who this is," the man said. Turning to the woman, he said, "Show them who you really are." The blonde-haired woman transformed into a woman with dark red hair, blue skin, and yellow eyes. "Behold, the great Mystique!"
"What have you done to her," Kurt asked, panic in his voice.
"Nothing yet," Sybre replied. "Although I must admit that she is an excellent … companion in the bedroom. You have never lived until you have slept with a metamorph."
"Leave her alone," Rogue screamed, struggling against her restraints. "If you hurt her, Ah'll …."
"You'll what? Throttle me with your tongue," Sybre asked, cutting off the X-Woman. "I think that perhaps you do not realize that you are in no position to threaten," he said, moving towards her. "That being said, if you threaten me again, I will tear your lungs out through your nose." To emphasize his point, he unsheathed the wrist-mounted blade in his right arm. "I do hope we have an accord," he said, bringing the tip of the blade within a millimeter of her eye. "Good," he said, seeing her nod almost imperceptibly.
"Now," Sybre said, "back to business." Walking back towards Mystique, he unsheathed his other blade. "Maddie, would you be so kind as to reactivate her higher brain functions? Just please remember not to activate her speech centers."
"Of course, Sybre," she replied. Maddie seemed to concentrate for a moment.
Suddenly, Mystique's eyes widened, lucidity rushing back into them with the speed of thought. Her eyes clouded with confusion, before focusing on the man before her. Intense rage and hate roiled beneath the iridescent orbs, her mouth opening to try to speak. She looked down, her brows scrunched in concentration. She looked back up at Sybre, her eyes questioning.
"She wants to know why you won't let her talk," Maddie told Sybre, a smile spread across her lips.
"I do not enjoy listening to the remonstrations of … whores." The metamorph struggled against her restraints, her eyes glittering with psychopathic rage. "Oh, I do enjoy a woman with spunk." With that, he unsheathed one of his blades. Holding his arm straight out from his body, blue pulses of electricity began running down the blade. With a single forward movement, electricity shot forth from the blade to the middle of Mystique's chest.
Mystique's entire body shuddered as electric pulses flowed through her body, her neurons violently firing with each pulsation. Her mouth repeatedly opened and closed, her teeth shattering to pieces, white flecks of enamel covering her lips. As her body continued to heat up from the current, her eyes began to bulge as the fluid began to boil. With a sickening plopping sound, her eyes didn't so much explode as disintegrate. Smoke began rising from her chest as the smell of burning flesh permeated the entire chamber.
"Momma." Rogue cried silently, reverently, as Mystique's corpse collapsed to the ground. Beside her, Kurt prayed silently in German, tears moving slowly down his face.
"Now that we have taken care of this unfortunate dilemma," Sybre said, "let us finish the business at hand." He nodded almost imperceptibly at Maddie.
Maddie finished her ascension to the chamber. She placed her wrists in the arm restraints, and her ankles in the leg restraints. "Power up, Medusa." A surge of power rushed through the wires of the machine, as the restraints holding Maddie's arms and legs were pulled taught. A loud humming emanated from the machinery, and slowly grew louder. The humming began pounding in their ears, the sound throbbing through the floor, vibrating the entire dome. A ball of blue energy began to build in the center of the chamber, crackling and sparkling with its strength. The louder the hum was, the brighter the ball became. Suddenly, when the sound didn't seem to be able to get any louder, blue lightning bolts erupted from the ball of energy, striking each one of the mutants square in the chest. They screamed in the pain as their muscles began flexing, each pulsation causing harder contractions. Pulses of energy flowed from the mutants to the ball along the lightning bolts. As each pulse of energy hit the ball, it expanded. The ball, now halfway between the machine and the wall-mounted restraints, pulled the lighting bolts back inside. Suddenly, the ball contracted in on itself, seemingly being absorbed into Maddie's body, creating a sonic boom that rocked the entire atrium.
Sybre's men watched as the smoke coming from the telepath's body cleared. The X-Men, and Magneto hung in their restraints, unmoving, but still breathing. Maddie was almost lifeless inside the chamber, able to just barely move her eyes. The only thing holding her up was the wrist restraints. Taking her down from the apparatus himself, Sybre said, "We need to get her to her bed." Giving her to the newly returned Minos, Sybre said, "She desperately needs her rest."
- - - -
They landed in a clearing roughly two miles from the dome that their teammates were being held in. Warlock stepped out of the jet, and marveled at what he saw.
"My God," he said, marveling at what he saw. "It's so … incredible."
"You won't think that when you meet a dinosaur," Psylocke said.
"Dinosaurs? You mean like in Jurassic Park?"
"Yeah," Logan spoke up behind them. "Only they ain't as nice."
Jean came down the ramp last, studying the PDA-sized tracking device in her hands. "That way," she said, pointing south.
Several minutes later, the four of them came upon a small clearing, a little smaller than the Blackbird. As they got past the halfway mark, they saw a large, reddish dome rising out of the earth. Just before the dome, the forest returned, becoming much more deeper than the forest they had been in just previously. Suddenly, Wolverine stopped, sniffing the air. He turned his head to the left slightly, and then turned it to the right. Taking in one more deep breath, he growled loudly.
Move it! Now! Run!
"What is it," Phoenix asked. Her question was answered as a loud roar sounded from her left. Out of the trees stepped a large tyrannosaur, long strands of saliva running from its mouth. It roared again, this time beginning to charge at the four mutants. Wolverine unsheathed his claws, waiting for the animal to get closer. His entire body tensed, ready for the fight.
"Don't," Psylocke said evenly.
"What," he snarled, casting a sidelong glance her direction.
"Leave it alone," she replied. He didn't seem to hear her, as he ran towards the animal, head low, his arms wide. Still uncannily calm, Psylocke raised her hand before her, emerald green iridescence shimmering along her skin. Wolverine stopped suddenly, standing ramrod straight, his arms at his side. The massive predator before them also stopped suddenly, an empty look coming to its eyes. Her other hand raised before her, the fingers pointing at Wolverine. With a slight "come hither" gesture, his body levitated, and was brought back towards her.
"What did you do to them," Jean asked, looking suspiciously at Psylocke.
"Nothing dangerous," Psylocke answered.
"What happened," Logan asked, as the green glow left his body. He looked around, seeing the dinosaur frozen in place.
"She's letting it know who's the boss," Warlock answered. Before them, the dinosaur awoke from its daze. Looking befuddled, it turned around, and walked back into the forest from where it had come.
- - - -
"They're up there. We can both smell 'em," Wolverine said. They were looking at a pathway that led to the entrance to a large rock dome. "We ain't too sure what it's gonna be like in there." As the four of them approached the archway leading to the large dome, they could hear low voices talking about something or other.
"Who is it, Wolverine," Psylocke asked.
"It's Bishop and Gambit," Warlock answered, before their leader could. "They're tryin' ta figure out a way to get out."
"Well, they just got a way," Phoenix said. The four of them entered the archway slowly. Though they had scanned the room for their teammates' captors, but knew there may still have been one of them in the room, nonetheless. They were surprised by what they saw as they entered through the archway. Around them, they saw vertical beds of sorts, each with one of their teammates. All of them were nude, and shackled spread-eagle. Few seemed conscious; most of them had their head resting on their chest or shoulders. The four of them split up, so they could free more of their teammates faster.
Warlock went to Gambit and Bishop. They seemed to be the only ones that awake. It only seemed logical to start freeing their teammates with them.
"I'm happy to see ya, mon ami," Gambit said, as Warlock used his sword to cut off the Genoshan collar. "Happy you got my clothes, too."
"I'm happy I've got your clothes, too," Warlock said, a shit-eating grin plastered across you face. "When your done gettin' dressed, start freeing the others," he said, starting to work on getting Bishop loose from his bindings.
Wolverine was getting Professor X out of his own binding. The bald telepath looked up, and saw the short X-Man come up, and cut off the Genoshan collar around his neck. Logan, I am happy to see you.
An' I'm glad ta see ya too, Chuck. But right now, we're gonna hafta find a place where you'll be safe.
"Just undo my bindings, Wolverine, and place me on the ground. I should be alright like that."
"Ya sure, Chuck," the feral mutant asked. Yes. Release the others, and get us out of here.
Wolverine placed the geneticist on the ground, and moved to the man's left. He freed Colossus, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler before one of Sybre's henchmen came into the room. Minos walked in, and for a moment, was completely stunned. The sight of so many of their captors free surprised him into silence. Finally coming out of his stupor, he spoke into his wrist-mounted radio. "Sybre, we got some more of them X-Men punks here. I'm gonna need some reinforcements."
Before the man-bull could get a response, he was knocked to the ground by Nightcrawler, who had just teleported above him. Minos stood up and faced the German mutant. Balling his fists, he exhaled suddenly, creating a small cloud of gas from his nose. He lowered himself to the ground, his horns menacingly sharp. Suddenly, he charged forward, his head low, aiming for Nightcrawler. He ran right through the place where the former circus performer had been. He looked around, smelling only sulfur.
"Looking for me," asked a voice from behind Minos. Nightcrawler was standing with his arms crossed across his chest, a smug smile plastered across his fuzzy face. Minos charged the blue mutant again, his head down so that his neck and spine were in a straight line. This time, he was stopped when something hard and cold planted his feet to the ground.
Minos looked down, only to see chunks of ice up to his knees cementing him to the ground. Minos turned to his left, and saw four … ice sculptures, each identical to the temperature deficient Iceman. "I bet you can't figure out which one is me," the smaller man taunted. The large bull-man, though heavily muscled, lacked a lot of brain activity. He gored the middle piece of ice head on, but found that it was merely a block of ice. He turned to his left and, with all his considerable might, hit the ice sculpture as hard as possible. It exploded into a thousand pieces of ice, just like the previous one. The bull-man turned around, facing the last two, knowing one of them had to be Iceman. Running at a full tilt, he spread his arms wide, clotheslining the last two Iceman-shapes. Looking down, he was surprised to see that both had shattered, ice shards spread across the floor.
"You really thought it would be that easy," a voice asked from behind Minos. He turned around, to see the newly freed wolf-man, already transformed into his lycanthropic form. Beside Lobo was standing Iceman, a broad smile across his face. "We've got something on you that you don't."
"And what is that," Minos growled, half-crouching.
"We're a team," Iceman said, pointing behind the bull-man.
Minos turned as a coil of beige, gelatinous gloop hit him square in the chest. Tentacles wrapped around him with a sudden, powerful ferocity, squeezing him with an intense strength. A large pedicel grew out of one of the tentacles, cementing itself to the floor. Picking up the bull-man, the tentacles started swinging as a lasso above a cowboy's head. Picking up speed, the tentacles let go of bull-man, throwing the man across the atrium with an incredible intensity. As Minos hit the apex of his journey, the pedicelled tentacles metamorphed into Shift.
"Nice throw," Iceman said.
"Thanks," she replied. As Minos began his descent, he was suddenly caught as a long metal rope coiled around him, and lowered him to the ground. Following the coil, they saw that Sybre had returned from the back of the cave. Behind him came the rest of his henchmen.
"Oh, goody, more playmates," Lobo said, cracking the knuckles on his massive hands. He looked behind him to see the last of the X-Men finish getting dressed.
"You won't be saying that when you are looking up from the ground," Sybre said. With a sudden movement, a metal tentacle came out from under his wrist, rushing at Lobo with unstoppable speed. The end, tipped with three pincers, clamped together, forming a spear-head. Before he could grab the tentacle, the end went through the middle of Lobo's chest, and out his back. Sybre tugged suddenly with intense strength, pulling Lobo towards him.
Planting his feet, Lobo gripped the ground with his claws. Wrapping his wrist around the metal coil, he heaved Sybre towards him, the cybernetic man came flying through the air. With his other hand, Lobo ripped the harpoon-like coil tip out of his chest with an animalistic intensity. Falling to his knees, and clutching his chest in pain, he watched as Sybre landed on his shoulder, at Rogue's feet.
"You killed her," Rogue said, her voice low and menacing. She cocked her fist above her head, and with a punch with all the power of a Mack truck, hit Sybre across the mouth spinning his entire body. Her fist trailing rock dust from the hole in the ground, she backhanded him across the atrium as he got back up.
"And I'd do it again," Sybre replied viciously, as Rogue landed before him. He lashed out with a ferocious kick that hit her square in the chest, sending her flying back to where she had been.
Gambit looked on, seeing Rogue being kicked so hard. He was about to help her, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "We've got bigger problems."
Bishop pointed ahead of him, towards the back of the cave, where there were now standing nearly fifty robots, each similar to Sybre's armor. Even as he spoke, the robots began fanning out, targeting the X-Men. They began firing darts from their chests; the same darts that had been able to take them out before. "Watch the darts," he heard Warlock shout above the din of fighting.
"I was always told the bigger a man's gun, the smaller his … equipment," a female voice said behind him. Turning around, Bishop saw the woman, Vortex, standing before him. She was trying to pull of a sexy look, but with too much makeup, ratty hair, and a costume that showed a little too much, she looked like she was trying too hard. Her over-eyelined eyes looked him up and down appreciatively. "I guess I was wrong."
"What do you want," he asked, leveling his gun at her.
"Oh, just some energy," she replied devilishly. She opened her mouth, and Bishop suddenly felt his life-force draining from him. Unable to move, he had the eerie feeling of a string being continuously drawn from his chest. He could feel his throat closing shut; his lungs unable to draw in breath. He could feel himself growing weaker by the moment, his strength leaving him faster and faster. Abruptly, the feeling of energy being stolen from him stopped, his strength beginning to rebound almost immediately.
"Bishop?" The big man looked up, his back on the ground, to see Warlock standing above him. Green energy was being siphoned from him, his entire body bathed in an intense emerald iridescence. Sitting up, he saw Vortex sucking energy from Warlock into her mouth. But, something was wrong with her. He saw that her eyes were wide, and her limbs were trembling.
"Warlock," Bishop asked.
"It's alright," Warlock replied, a confident smile across his face. As Bishop watched, the emerald aura increased, the flow to Vortex increasing, in turn. Her eyes began to glow with a slight green radiance. It slowly increased, the luminescence spread to her mouth, light seemingly coming out of her throat. But, the light continued to spread, stretching out slowly to the rest of her body. The iridescence kept increasing, so much so that he could hardly look at it. Suddenly, just as he thought he could no longer bare to look at her, the energy seemed to rebound to Warlock with an almost sickening wet ripping sound. The light slightly increased around his body as he re-absorbed the energy, before it dissipated into nothingness.
Bishop looked to Vortex, her body lying prone on the floor before Warlock. "Did you …?"
"No," Warlock replied, "she's still alive." He kneeled before Bishop, placing his hand on the other man's shoulder. "You may need this," Warlock said, emerald energy flowing around his hand. With a slight push, the energy surged into Bishop with the force of water breaking through a dam. The big man's back arched as power beyond anything he had ever felt rushed into his body, flooding his senses with peaceful ecstasy. "Feel better," Warlock asked.
"Yes," Bishop answered, as a massive thud resounded from behind them. Turning around, they saw Colossus shatter a robot, thousands of metal parts falling to the ground as he moved to the next. Around him, the rest of the X-Men were easily taking out the machines. But, that was not what had caused the mammoth collision. They saw, to the right of the Russian, Lobo and Minos engaged in mortal combat of mythological proportions.
- - - -
The two animal-like mutants had seemingly targeted each other from the outset. They had migrated, almost instinctively, towards one another. They had both wanted to finish the fight they had started earlier.
"You dog," Minos shouted. "Where do get off thinking you're better than me!" Blood was dripping from his snout, a massive gash running from his cheek to his chest.
"I am better than you," Lobo growled back. Though he didn't have any wounds on his chest, his grey fur was stained crimson red. Minos' blood stained his clawed hands up to his mid-forearm. "I'm not the one that raped and killed an entire family!" He crouched to all fours, his massive teeth bared in a menacing snarl. His powerful legs pistoned below him, launching him into an impressive jump. Descending, he spread his clawed fingers wide, aiming for Minos' abdomen. He landed, half-crouched, his right hand dripping fresh blood.
"You cut me, you fucking dog," Minos yelled, a massive red hand clutched over his chest. Five long gashes stretched from his left shoulder to his right abdomen, the wounds converging as they closed on Minos' waist. "You'll pay for that," the man roared. He cocked his fist, and with a mighty effort, swung with all his strength, aiming for Lobo's face.
But the lupine mutant was too fast. The minotaur-like mutant's fist soared over Lobo's head, as the X-Man crouched on all fours. The big Apache stood straight behind the punch, striking out with his own blow. His massive paw struck Minos' shoulder with the force of a speeding semi, the large claws cleaving the scapula, and shattering the shoulder socket. Minos' blood flowed freely, his subclavian artery severed, the entire arm hanging by a few shreds of flesh, and part of the clavicle. The blood … the blood was starting to make Lobo's mouth water, the Wolf in him taking control of the man. Unable to stop himself, the Wolf entirely controlling his mind, he opened his mouth wide, and chomped down on Minos' shoulder. Shaking his entire head and shoulders, as a dog would a rabbit, he tore a massive chunk of meat out of Minos. Dropping the chunk of meat into his awaiting arms, Lobo raised his face to the sky, howling with primal, victorious rage.
- - - -
It was Shift who first saw what had happened. Looking in his direction, she saw a blood-streaked visage of Lobo, man-flesh in his arms, the very image of a werewolf. "Joey … no," she whispered sorrowfully.
Sybre used her momentary lapse of concentration against her, ripping through the gelatinous tentacle that held him, and throwing her across the room. Shift hit Rogue in the abdomen with the force of a speeding train. Looking towards the remains of his second, Sybre started walking towards Lobo, his wrist-blades unsheathed. Before he could get far, though, he was knocked down to the ground by Rogue, her immense strength driving him into the rock floor.
Standing up, Sybre turned to face Rogue, his sneer almost visible through his helmet. "Coward," he sniped.
"I am not a coward," Rogue replied, standing tall.
"If you are not a coward," Sybre said, "then kill me." He stepped towards her imperiously, electricity buzzing down the wrist-blades. The woman's fists clenched tightly, rage sparking in her green eyes.
"You're not worth it," she said, gritting her teeth. From out of nowhere, Sybre's arms were bound tightly together, beige tentacles wrapping up his forearms. Seeing him tied up so, Rogue flew at him with as much speed and strength as she possibly could. Her fist struck Sybre's temple with the power of a speeding train, knocking him into the opposing wall.
Sybre landed on his buttocks, his back driven deep into the wall. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Raising his head, he said, "You will not defeat me that easily!" The rocket boosters on his back fired suddenly, accelerating him towards Rogue and Shift. He fired the electricity from his blades, striking both women in their chests. Shift's body fell to the ground in a large gelatinous pool, sparks of electricity running over the trembling goo. The surge barely affected Rogue as she flew towards Sybre once again, her fist cocked.
But, Sybre was too fast this time. He dodged her, her body cruising past him, over his shoulder. He stood up to face her, his blades drawn. But his attention was drawn to a sudden, ferocious growl. Turning his head, he watched with rapt fascination as Beast and Nightcrawler took down the last of his robots in a complicated, deadly ballet. "NO," Sybre yelled as the last robot fell. He wheeled around, pointing his blade in the direction of Professor Xavier. "YOU," Sybre screamed. "You are the reason I have failed. For this, you will pay!"
"You won't touch him," Cyclops yelled, turning his attention towards the other man.
"No, I won't," Sybre said menacingly. "Seraph," he called into his helmet. A moment later, the same woman with pale skin, and long dark hair stepped out from the shadows, the blank stare still in her eyes. "Kill Professor Xavier!"
"Yes, Master," the woman replied, bowing before the armored man. Standing up, she flung her head back, and opened her mouth wide. A massive blue stream of concussive energy spewed forth, racing towards the geneticist with almost inconceivable force.
Reacting almost on instinct, Cyclops raced in front of his mentor, and unleashed his optic blast. The two streams of energy met each other with a sonic boom, fighting for dominance. Purple energy bled out from where they collided, the two streams melding together. Cyclops dropped to one knee, the force of the woman's blast almost making him lose his balance.
Lavender energy continued to flow out of the collision, the entire atrium shaking as the titanic test of will continued. Fascinated by the purple energy, Medusa approached the outer reaches of the discharge, her arms extended to feel the power therein. As her right hand reached the edge of the discharge, a spike of lavender light struck out at her. A sudden, insurmountable force struck against her, sending her crashing into the machinery on the wall behind her. Her back was bent at an odd angle, her upper half laying on the top of one of the holding beds, her lower half hanging in the air.
The energy kept on leaking from the confrontation, as the two powerful mutants kept their respective energies flowing. The other X-Men watched as the purple energy started striking against the atrium's walls. Pieces of rock began falling from the places where the energy struck; beginning to ever so slowly weaken the walls. The excess energy had now spread so that none could get to the other side of the collision without touching.
Professor Xavier, unable to be effective in the fight, had been watching as Cyclops and Seraph had squared off. He was especially intrigued with the metal band she wore on her head. It was holding her hair away from her face, and behind her shoulders. It was intricately designed, made to look almost Celtic. At the point directly above her nose, there was a small gem. During the fight, he had noticed that it seemed to change color, from a royal blue to a rich red, and back again. It was only now, seeing her head on, that he was able to study it fully. And he was surprised by what he saw.
Bishop, the geneticist called telepathically.
Professor?
The metal band on the woman's head; I need you to remove it.
The big man looked towards the winged woman, the blue energy flying from her mouth. And watching the band, he understood. Okay. He made his way towards the woman, making sure he wouldn't be seen.
Scott.
Professor?
When I let you know, I need you to stop firing at Seraph.
Professor? Are you sure?
Yes. Cyclops acquiesced silently, knowing his mentor knew something he did not.
Bishop reached for Seraph's metal band. As he did so, Professor Xavier spoke to Cyclops. Now! The red optic beam cut off suddenly, just as the blue energy Seraph was emitting stopped. The last of the purple discharge dissipated, clearing the room.
Seraph almost immediately dropped to her hands and knees, her wings limp at her sides. She suddenly retched, violently, spilling the contents of her stomach on the ground. She kept retching, her throat growing hoarse, and her mouth sour with vomit. She began dry heaving, her stomach entirely empty. As the convulsions finally stopped, she fell on her back, exhausted. "Where am I," she asked wearily.
"You are in the Savage Land, in Antarctica," a voice said from above her head.
She opened her eyes to see a slim man with glowing yellow eyes, and indigo fur. She raise her hand to his cheek, and smiled. "You are an angel," she said softly, before passing out.
- - - -
"What happened to her," Kurt asked, looking up to Professor Xavier.
"The circlet of metal on her head," the Professor began, "was controlling her mind." He seemed perturbed, almost as if it had hurt him to enter her mind. "She was imprisoned by Sybre, and was fighting the machine. Her mind … it reached out to me."
"Kurt," Jake interrupted.
"Ja?"
"I want you to get her out of here," Jake said. "Hank, go with him, make sure she is going to be all right." He turned towards the Professor. "Professor, sir, I would strongly recommend that you go with them."
"I will not leave until we all leave," the older man replied, a knowing look in his eyes.
"What is happening," Hank asked, catching the look the telepaths shared.
"The experiment," the Professor said, "I think it was successful." He was looking intently towards the back of the atrium, almost as if he could see straight through the rock.
- - - -
As Kurt and Hank left the front of the atrium, the rest of the X-Men turned towards the hallway at the back. Out of the gloom stepped Maddie, still dressed in the same clothes she had worn earlier. As she stepped closer, they could see that her skin was almost radiant. A broad smile that didn't quite reach her eyes was on her face. But, what drew their attention were her eyes. Normally a dark brown, they were now glowing white, the pale light shedding faint shadows on the floor. "Hello, X-Men," she said. And with a sudden movement, she raised her hands, and unleashed bolt after bolt of lightning.
The X-Men scattered, trying to dodge the powerful discharges. Unable to duck fast enough, Rogue received a bolt straight to the chest. She flew back against the wall behind her, destroying the equipment. Shaking her head to clear it, she took to the air, and charged towards the transformed mutant. Picking up speed, she aimed for the woman's chest.
Maddie raised her hand towards Rogue, and with but a thought, stopped the woman dead in her tracks. From her side, a powerful blast of ruby energy rocketed towards her with the strength of a speeding freight train. Snapping her head around, she greeted the blast with one of her own. The energy blasts met each other directly between the two mutants, canceling each other out. From her other side, a loud "snikt" was heard. She dropped Rogue, and with the same hand, created a TK barrier on her side.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, a metal bed came rocketing towards her. Realizing her mistake, she armored her body, the metal shining dully in the bright light. The bed caught her on the temple, though it only moved her head slightly. But it was enough. Her eyes had closed, cutting off the crimsons flow of energy. In that moment, Cyclops, realizing what she had done, increased the power of his own optic blast, easily knocking the woman off her feet.
"You'll pay for that," she hissed. She cocked both her fists back, and fired two massive energy blasts from her hands, flying towards Cyclops.
"NO, SCOTT!" Jean pushed him out of the way just in time, the great energy blasts hitting her in her abdomen. They sent her crashing into the wall behind her, her eyes slightly dazed.
"JEANNIE!" Logan was at her side in an instant, barely controlled anger bubbling under his eyes. "You okay, darlin'?"
"Yeah," she replied, as Scott now made his way towards her. "Oh, God," she said, looking down at her stomach. Beneath her rib cage, and above her navel, there was a large hole in her stomach, about the size of a CD. But, even as she noticed the injury, it started to heal. She could already feel her muscles starting to knit together, a million small pinpricks of pain, as if an army of ants was dancing on her stomach. She watched as the muscle, and then the skin, pulled together before her eyes. The whole effect was more than a little disconcerting. "It feels … weird," she said, slightly amazed.
"Good word fer it," Logan said, turning around. He saw Maddie fighting Storm and Cable. A powerful series of lightning bolts hit Maddie, seemingly striking against an invisible force field. In response, Maddie created a bolt of lightning that struck Storm in the back, the woman falling, unconscious, to the ground. She stopped less than a foot from the ground, before she was let down slowly, carefully. Wolverine came to her side, feeling for a pulse. Feeling one, he looked up just as Cable threw a bed at Maddie.
She swatted it aside, her entire body once again armored. Another bed came flying at her, and another, and another. Beds continued being thrown at her until the walls were bare. But, yet, nothing had fazed her. "I am growing tired of this game," Maddie yelled, yellow energy beginning to coalesce around her body. With a sudden yell, tentacles of energy snaked out from her body, homing in on the X-Men. The first tentacle struck Gambit in the chest, life energy pulsing from him towards Maddie. Rogue flew towards Gambit, intent on freeing her lover. But, as she touched him, some of the energy jumped to her, freezing her in place, and sucking out her life force.
"What's going on," Jubilee asked loudly. "None of us can do that."
"I believe that once she absorbed our powers, her DNA mutated, combining our powers in new ways," Celeste answered her. "We're going to have to team up on her, if we want to defeat her."
"Everyone," Jake spoke loudly, as if hearing Celeste. "I want you to give her everything you've got, all at once." Looking around, he made sure that everyone had heard him. "ON MY MARK!"
"YOU FOOLS," Maddie cried. "DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT A GODDESS?" With that, energy tentacles began rushing towards them. First one rushed them, then ten, then twenty, and then more, and more, until there were too many to count.
"NOW," Jake cried, white energy surrounding his arms. They fired all at once, massive discharges of energy attacking Maddie's. The energy met half-way between the combatants, a massive explosion rocking the atrium. Slowly, ever so slowly, Maddie's energies were forced back, the combined might of the X-Men more than she could handle. But as her energy reached her body, she erected a massive TK shield, protecting herself from the worst of the blast.
"Is that all you've got, X-Men," Maddie taunted. During the attack, both Gambit and Rogue had been freed. But, they were both lying on the ground, unmoving. "You couldn't even take your teammates from me before I took their lives."
"Remy!" It was Storm, having just recovered from her bout with Maddie. She'd seen her friend on the ground, and heard the other woman taunting them. With but a thought, she sent a lightning bolt towards Maddie. It struck against the same TK shield, sizzling the air around it, and dissipating, leaving the sharp tang of ozone.
"I've had just about enough of this." Betsy had become angry, frustrated at not being able to harm the super-powered woman before her. She'd been feeling a growing sensation in the pit of her stomach, and at the back of her mind. It had wanted her to fight, to maim, to kill the woman in front of her. But, she had been holding it back. It was not until she had seen Storm fire an ineffective lightning bolt, weakened though she was, that something snapped.
Jake looked to his side, only to see an amber glow overtake his lover's eyes. Her nails grew into claws before his eyes, her teeth becoming almost canine. Seeing her like this, he felt memories unloosen from his subconscious. He saw, almost as if he were still there, a wild version of himself maim and destroy several men, their blood and viscera staining the grass beneath them. And he suddenly knew what was going to happen. "No," he cried. But it was too late.
The creature that Betsy had become leapt forward, amber energy encasing its entire forearm. It leapt forward, cocking its clawed hand backwards. With a powerful motion, it struck the telekinetic shield, amber energy flowing along the invisible barrier. Maddie shrieked, holding her head in her hands, the blow not only breaking down the barrier, but causing a massive feedback.
The woman looked up, blood gushing in torrents from her nose. "You'll pay for that," Maddie hissed, spraying blood on the ground. She sent out more of the energy tentacles, intent on catching what had done this to her. But the Betsy-creature was too fast. It dodged, leapt, and rolled away from the tentacles, portraying agility that not even Beast or Nightcrawler could achieve.
Maddie sent out yet another tentacle. This time, though, the creature jumped towards her, the appendage missing it completely. The creature's entire arm was glowing with the same amber glow it had before, and with a singular, powerful blow, knocked Maddie into the wall behind her. But, the Betsy-creature did not stop there. It leapt forward, landing before Maddie, and began pummeling her. Blow after blow after blow, the creature beat on Maddie, both its arms glowing. With each blow, a small amount of energy stayed behind, seemingly boring into the woman. After what seemed like an eternity, the amber glow in the woman's abdomen began growing brighter, and brighter. At last, with a massive whoomp, the woman exploded in a massive eruption of light, blinding everyone in the atrium.
- - - -
"Betsy?"
"Betsy? Can you hear me?" She woke up suddenly, looking around her as if she'd just had a horrible nightmare. Above her, she saw Jake kneeling, his arms around her. She looked down, to see that she had been wrapped in Remy's ever-present coat.
"Why am I wearing Remy's coat," she asked.
"Your uniform was a little … small while you were that … um … thing," Jake said, not knowing what to call what she had become. It was the same thing that he had become, he had realized. And whatever it was, it was massively powerful.
She looked underneath the coat, careful not to open it too far. "Oh," she said softly. Sitting up, she looked around, slightly confused. "What happened to Maddie?"
"Um," Jake began. "You kind of made her blow up," he said a little sheepishly.
"Yeah," Jubilee cut in, "Celeste thinks you might've atomized her."
"And Sybre," Betsy asked. Despite the fact that she wasn't exactly proud of the fact that she may have killed someone, it was clear to her that more than one of her teammates was impressed.
"We don't know," Jake said, offering her a hand.
"We think he got away," Rogue added, supporting the other X-Woman.
"That is too …", Betsy began. She had gotten a far off look in her eyes. "Did you feel that," she asked, suddenly feeling a presence.
"Yeah, I felt it, babe," Jake answered. Looking around, they both tried to figure out what they had felt. But they couldn't see anything.
"It was probably nothing," Bobby said. Jake and Betsy looked at him, then at each other, and nodded. He was probably right. The X-Men walked out of the atrium, exhausted by their ordeal.
- - - -
At the apex of the dome, a creature, camouflaged with the rock, hissed as the last of the humans walked out. It had not expected them to be able to detect him. It had also not expected them to win; they were much stronger than they had given them credit for. Jumping down to the ground, it easily cushioned its 100-foot fall as it landed.
"Master will not be pleased," the creature hissed silently, as a black portal opened up. Stepping through, the portal closed behind him.
Epilogue – En Route to New York
"How is she doing," Jake asked.
"She is doing quite well," Hank replied, indicating the young woman near the back of the jet.
"Do you know what happened to her," the Professor asked, sitting next to Hank.
"She has told us she was kidnapped by Sybre maybe five years ago," the doctor replied. He hesitated; the woman's history was none too pleasant. Fortunately, Kurt had come up to speak with him, just as he had finished his sentence.
"She has been telling me quite a bit about who she is," Kurt said sadly. "Sybre, he used her, abused her. She was his personal bodyguard, assassin, and his lover." The furred man's tone was forlorn for what the woman had gone through. "He raped her mind, and her body. How anyone could do something like that …."
"And how is she doing now," Jake asked, placing a hand on Kurt's shoulder.
"Well," Kurt replied. "She keeps telling me I am an angel," the man said softly. But there was something that he was holding back; his body was tense, almost as if he was ready to fight.
"Kurt, what is it?"
"She said," Kurt began, "She said that Sybre had a boss; one that he spoke with once a week or so." He paused, looking about ready to jump out of his skin. "She told me that his boss was Evil incarnate." He lowered his eyes, his shoulders hunching, as if he was taking on a heavy weight. "She said she had overheard them saying that we are to have three tests … three trials that will be forced upon us. And if we fail even one, we and everything we know, will be destroyed."
End – Part I
Please, please review. I want to know what you think. And check out the next part, "Creatures of the Night", coming soon.