Chapter 6
It was a moment or two before anybody in the bedroom said another words. Both Tabby and Kitty were watching Rogue throw things into her bag with jaws dropped and eyes bulging.
Tabby was the first to snap out of it, looking at Kitty and saying 'I think I speak for the both of us when I say what the hell?'
Rogue looked at her friend as if to roll her eyes, but she didn't answer. She went into the bathroom, clearly to continue packing.
'Bur Rogue,' Kitty called out, rising from her bed finally with a bewildered look on her face, 'Why? You said you never wanted to go back there again.'
Rogue's face appeared at the doorway, and she gave a resigned sigh. Obviously her friends were going to need some sort of explanation. It didn't have to be true of course, just an explanation.
'I had a dream; I saw the institute and the town being attacked. And I know what you're going to say, it was probably just a dream, but it felt real.' Kitty closed the mouth that had just been about to speak, and Rogue pulled herself up to her full height, 'and I don't want to take the risk of believing it was just a dream. I have friends still at the institute, and I'm not going to risk not helping them.'
Kitty held up her hand meekly. 'Are you absolutely convinced it wasn't just a dream you were having, because this has never happened before.'
Rogue considered for a moment. Suppose she was just panicking, and over reacting quite dramatically to a simple nightmare. She tried to picture the scenes she had seen in her head, and attempted to recapture the feeling she had had as the images played out before her. She gave a nod of the head, certain that this wasn't all just a dream.
There was another silence, more thoughtful than surprised this time, and when Tabby next spoke, it was with determination, and not shock.
'All right, then we're coming with you.' She walked past Kitty, and started to throw things into her own bag. Kitty joined her after only a moment's hesitation.
This time it was Rogue who was startled. 'You can't. I don't want to put you in danger, or waste your time if this really is just nothing.'
'Shut up.' Tabby said in reply, and Rogue stopped in her tracks. 'We're coming with you, and there's nothing you can do about it. I have friends back in Bayville too, and if they are in trouble, nothing you can say or do is going to stop me helping them.'
Kitty agreed with her, nodding her head firmly. 'Besides, we all remember what happened the last time you went out to handle a situation all on your own.' She stopped quickly, because of the agony that flashed across Rogue's face when she brought up that horrible night. She paused, not sure whether or not she had pushed her friend a little to far.
She hadn't. Rogue was completely still for a moment, before letting out her breath, and allowing her head to fall down in a defeated nod. 'All right, but we have to go quickly, before anyone else wakes up. I want to involve as few people in this as possible.'
As if responding to her words, the door opened, and Kurt and Scott poked their heads in, both bleary eyed, yet looking as if they'd heard all of the conversation they needed to. 'You're going back to Bayville?' Kurt asked, looking from one face to another, a slight frown replacing the smile that was usually plastered to his face.
Rogue banged her head against the wall, and went through a rather colourful variety of cuss words. When she looked up again, her brother looked floored, as if he didn't know whether to be shocked at her, or impressed by her wide vocabulary and creative imagery. Under most other circumstances, Rogue would have laughed.
'Fine.' She said, as though this was anything but fine. 'Scott, go fetch everybody else, and get them in here. Everyone might as well know now. Do it quickly, I don't want to waste much more time.' Scott didn't say anything in response; he just disappeared out the door and off down the corridor. Kitty went into the bathroom to get dressed, and Tabby ordered Kurt to wait outside while she did the same. In his present state, Kurt didn't make even a single protest, and did what he was told.
Tabby looked a Rogue with a wry smile, 'You know, kinda makes me wish you'd drop bombshells like this on him more often.'
It was about a minute later that the group was assembled in the girls' bedroom, in various states of consciousness. Rogue stood in front of them all, and began to pace back and forth as she spoke, avoiding Pietro, whose pale face never strayed from following her movements. She didn't want to deal with that just now.
'I just had, a pretty vivid dream. I saw Bayville being attacked, I could see things attacking the institute, the other mutants were getting hurt,' she paused, her voice catching slightly, ' and I don't think it was a dream. I think it's real.' She gauged their reaction before carrying on. Most, knowing who she was seemed to accept what she was saying, though she could still spot some dubious faces. 'So I'm going to Bayville. Even if it wasn't real, I want to make sure I did everything I could to help them. I'm leaving now.'
'And we're going too' Tabby said, indicating her and Kitty with a careless wave of her hand and shooting a warning look at Rogue, reminding her that nothing she could do would shake them off.
Unfortunately, everyone else (once they'd gotten over their initial shock) seemed to share their sentiments. Plans were immediately made for people to get ready to leave. Rogue stood helpless as she watched them, and felt slightly frustrated that nobody was prepared to let her do this alone. They, like Kitty, were probably remembering the last time something like this happened. If she'd been paying attention, she would have noticed the panicked look that crossed Pietro's face when she announced that she was once again charging blindly into battle.
She looked to Mystique, with an almost grimace on her face. Her mother seemed to understand and patted her on the shoulder sympathetically. 'They care about you you know, that's why they are coming with you.' She said it as though Rogue wasn't aware of the fact.
'I know' she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation, 'sometimes I wish they didn't care as much as they do.'
'You can't change how people feel towards you, and I somehow don't think you'd really want to either.'
Rogue sighed, and leaned into her mothers embrace. 'I suppose you're coming too.' She said wearily.
Mystique smiled, as though Rogue was talking about her coming to a parent teacher night, and not an imminent battle and danger. 'Wouldn't miss it for the world.' She replied, giving her daughter a quick yet meaningful hug before leaving the room.
It was a hastily assembled group that found themselves standing around in the cold in the middle of the night, waiting to get into the vehicles which Mystique and Lance were driving up to meet them in. the temperature had dropped drastically, and small clouds of steam poured from their faces with each breath they took. Stars shone brightly from the clear night sky above, but nobody was really paying any attention to them.
The two cars pulled up beside them, and everyone rushed forward to pile into them, partly because of the cold, and partly because of the sense of urgency Rogue had created. Pietro fought to get into the same car as Rogue, but she moved to the front of the crowd, and climbed into the seat next to Lance, much to Kitty's annoyance. The younger girl sat silently fuming in the back of the car with Pietro and Scott. Honestly, she thought to herself with frustration. Just because she's fighting with Pietro, she runs for Lance. She knew of course that that wasn't really fair, but some part of her was jealous for the closeness between her boyfriend and her best friend, and had been for some time.
Lance gave Rogue a little questioning look in the front, which she returned with a shake of the head. He seemed to understand her, and without saying another word, turned on the car, and pulled out down the drive. The others followed, and for once they couldn't hear Tabby and Kurt's screams and laughter.
They were all still a little bleary eyed, with the exception of Rogue, who now leaned her head out the jeep, letting the cool night air whip her hair back and forth. For so late in the night, the mutants were a jumble of emotions. Part apprehension, part suspended disbelief, and most of all, afraid, they made their way down the road, back to a place they had so recently escaped from, and quite unsure of what they would find when they returned there.
The sun rose and the day started as usual in the Xavier institute. Bobby Drake rubbed sleep from his eyes, after yet another late night training session in the danger room. It was about the fiftieth time he'd stayed up late practising. The others had stayed with him at first, but none could match his dedication and effort, and had gradually dropped out. Bobby now trained alone at night, having been given permission from the Professor to work on his own, provided he put the settings fairly low in his sessions. He didn't know yet whether they were paying off, as the X-men hadn't had a real test or mission in months. He was tired though, but he was never going to stop practising, nor being prepared.
On his way down the hall, he passed a now empty room. An untouched patch on the front of the door was the only indication that it had ever belonged to someone. Bobby stopped in his tracks, and brushed his finger softly over the shining surface. He had heard nothing from Rogue since she had left the institute in a blaze of fury all that time ago. Sure, she must have her reasons, it didn't stop Bobby wondering where she and the rest of his friends were, and it didn't stop him missing them.
It was difficult to describe just what had become of the X-men since that spectacular scene at the beginning of the summer. He would have liked to say that the loss and tragedy had brought them all closer, but it would have been a lie. Sam's eyes still misted over slightly when he looked at the space which Rahne had once inhabited, and jubilee and friends had come back to school and hadn't stopped smiling since, now having confirmed their reputation for being able to party hard. Bobby of course had thrown himself into training, not missing a session for anything or anyone. Rifts had grown between them. Some refused to let go of the past, some refused to acknowledge it, he supposed.
The Professor had become a little more reclusive too; he gave you the impression of being sort of broken inside. Bobby found it strange, but he felt that this change in behaviour was more to do with Jean's departure, than what Rogue had put him through before she had left. Bobby lay awake at night still questioning what had gone on before that day, always not entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer.
The bulk of controlling the teenagers was now put down to Wolverine and Storm. The Professor was still in charge overall, and was on hand if ever any of them had a serious problem, but other than that, he preferred to stay in his study, doing god knows what.
Bobby woke from his musings to find he was halfway through brushing his teeth. Amazed at how you could do certain things without even thinking about them, he finished up in the bathroom, and once dressed, made his way down to the kitchen to grab a late breakfast. He never even noticed the far off bangs which began in the distance, but which would get closer and closer as the morning progressed.
At the head of the pack, Apocalypse held up his hand for the mutants to pull to a stop. The jubilant cheers, which had signalled the beginning of the journey, had descended into grumbling and complaining as the band cut its way through the forest and down the roads on their journey to the town they were going to destroy. They had met passers by of course on their way, and they had disposed of them with speed and ruthlessness. Now, as their leader threw his hand out and motioned to a sign which read 'Welcome to Bayville, please drive carefully', the blisters on their feet seemed to disappear, and the tight dryness in the throats was replaced with a hoarse cry of jubilation.
Apocalypse nodded, looking around and meeting eye of them in the eye. 'We have arrived. it is time. Spare no human, be it man woman or child. Give mutants the choice, and dispose of those who are unsympathetic to our cause. Remember, leave the psychic to me.' His instructions were simple and brutally short, but they left the mutants waiting to get at the town desperately, like a pack of hounds eagerly baying for blood in a hunt.
Now smirking, Apocalypse gestured for them to get about their business, and the group unleashed a terrible cry of battle to drain the very sun from the sky. They made their way down to the streets below quickly, chasing down the people who had been strolling down the streets, and blasting open doors to houses, dragging screaming families from within.
Coming out of a shop, a mother turned to see the mob fast approaching, and in caught in the reflexes of a new parent, threw her arms protectively around her small child, who let out a cry as he watched the mutants set fire to a house about twenty metres away.
One of the men approached them. He had the face of a human, but as her eyes moved inevitably to his arms, she let out an involuntary cry. Huge steel blades were grafted to the stumps protruding from his shoulders, looking sharp enough to cut straight through bone without too much trouble. She clutched her child to her a little tighter.
Something about her reaction seemed to enrage the man further. His face clouded for a split second with something that could have resembled hurt. Then he masked it over with a furious yet gratified smile. And as he raised his arms above her head, the woman began to weep for her child, and knew that there would be no mercy.
Bobby poured himself another glass of juice, and sat down by the counter, not at all pleased to see that Evan had once again consumed the mansions entire supply of milk. The departure of the others had hardly affected him, but then Bobby supposed, they hadn't really been that close to each other anyway. As he sat there quietly drinking, Jamie came into the room with a quiet hello. He had been one of the most quiet people Bobby had ever known before everything had, well happened, and now this was even more so. Bobby couldn't help but feel a little protective of the youngest boy in the mansion, like he was a little brother or something. He smiled at Jamie, as the mousy haired mutant opened up the fridge, his face creasing into a frown as he realised what Bobby had just been complaining about.
'Perhaps we could put a lock on the bottles or something.' Bobby suggested, and Jamie gave a little laugh, before making do with some orange juice, and Bobby had had to do.
The two were discussing their plans for the day, when a crash came from a few streets away from the institute. Even at this distance, it was a big enough force to send Jamie splitting into five clones temporarily, before each folded into the original.
Bobby swore quietly. 'What the hell was that?'
His now scared friend gave a little shrug. Bobby pushed his way out of the room and quickened his pace as he went out the front door of the mansion. It didn't take a genius to work out the gist of what was going on in Bayville. Smoke was now clouding the horizon, along with the occasional flicker of high rising flame. And amidst it all, Bobby could hear things going on. Distant laughter, more bangs, and screaming, a lot of screaming.
Jamie joined him in a moment, along with several of the other mutants. They watched the scene before them for a few moments with horrified disbelief, before Jubilee broke the silence.
'Holy shit!' she exclaimed.
Her outburst seemed to stir Bobby into action. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he was fairly certain that this was something like what he'd been preparing for these last few months. He began to organise who was there, getting them primed for action, when Professor Xavier's voice cut across his own thoughts, and boomed loudly in his head. Bobby was surprised; this was the first time in a long while the Prof had spoken to them this way.
'Students, get into the mansion quickly, we are going to be under attack. I will explain in a moment, but get in quickly. We are all in grave danger.'
Not for the first time, Charles Xavier found himself sitting in his study on a Sunday morning, reflecting on just where things had begun to go wrong. He supposed it was when he had taken in Rogue. The girl had always been trouble, more than she was worth. And she had humiliated him. Destroyed him even. He had continued his work with the students who had remained in the institute, but he felt as though he were leading a half- life, a shell of what he once was.
His missed his first pupils. Scott and Jean. The perfect X-men, both lost to him thanks to Rogue. And there wasn't a thing in hell he could do about it, because she was stronger than him. And this knowledge was slowly killing him.
It was almost a welcome distraction for him when he sensed an imminent danger approaching the town. This was short lived however, as he probed slightly into the minds of the potential attackers, and discovered what the purpose of their assault was. He went quickly to his extensive bookshelves and pulled out a dust covered old volume which had never had need of until now. He slammed it onto the table, and flipped quickly to the page he was looking for. His worst fears were confirmed, as he saw the creature in his mind now reflected on the page. Apocalypse, meant to be just a myth, had been resurrected, and was on the warpath.
He had gotten together his most essential things before he even spoke to the students. It was a stupid man who would risk a battle with Rogue, but a suicidal man who would risk one with Apocalypse. He used his telepathy to bring the students to him, and informed them as tactfully as he could, of the situation they now faced, and the plan of action he intended to take.
'So you just want us to run, and let the whole town be destroyed?' Bobby asked, horrified. At the back of the group, he could see Logan frowning, as if he too knew that this just wasn't like him. And it wasn't, but they didn't know the danger that he was in.
'Bobby you don't understand. This is a battle that we shall not win.' He tried to reason, but the boy was resolute.
'We should still try.' He said darkly, eyeing his professor with something bordering on disrespect.
The others, surprisingly, backed him up. Xavier could see that support was failing, and allowed at last for the desperation he felt to show on his face. It was then that Logan realised.
'It's you they're after. Run then Charles. We'll stay and defend.' Xavier didn't know whether Logan meant to be harsh in his tone or not. Charles contemplated this, and spoke after a few seconds.
'Will none of you run with me?' he pleaded. His students and friends watched him with sad eyes, and Xavier watched them for only a moment more, before turning, and quietly fleeing the mansion. He left a resounding silence behind him. Nobody could quite believe what was happening. In the end, it was Logan who took control, and began to make plans for the leaderless defence of the mansion.
Apocalypse was enjoying himself. He hadn't seen carnage such as this for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The screams and pleadings around him assaulted his senses like an orchestra playing a fine symphony. He strode through the now burning buildings, flames licking at his body, but having no effect. Ahead of him, he could spy the mansion that housed the group of mutants. Stretching out through his exhaultation, he could feel the faint shadows of mutant activity, he could feel the imprint of the psychic on his mind, and the thrill for his own personal chase began to kick in.
But then something happened which he did not expect. The shadow that had been playing on his mind, that which he was chasing, began to fade rapidly. Face now contorted in bewilderment, Apocalypse looked up, in time to see a jet take off from the general direction of the mansion, and speed off into the horizon. But he could still feel the presence of mutants in the building, a lot of them.
'So' he murmured to himself, stopping for a moment in his tracks. 'He runs. No matter.' He called to those mutants who were around him, and ordered for the attack to be focused now primarily on the institute. They grouped together, leaving the humans who had just survived the enslaught as terrified wrecks in their wake. They moved off down the road, intent now only on the destruction of the group of mutants who were still foolish enough to remain in that mansion.
The people in the two cars first began to notice that Rogue's vision was no mere nightmare, when they saw that the 'welcome to Bayville' sign was on fire. The letters were now obscured by burning, charred paint. In the back of the car, Kitty leant forward and gripped Lance's shoulder.
'Oh my god' she cried softly, 'we're too late.'
They had probably broken about five hundred speed limits on their way back to Bayville. Most people in the car put it down to Rogue's interference that they had yet to be stopped. For her part, Rogue had been silent for the entire trip. She had taken her head in from the window, but had kept her vigil at the pane, staring out at the changing landscapes before her, but lost entirely in a world of her own.
At Kitty's words however, she stirred, as if waking from a trance. She looked at her friend, her face fixed into a stern frown. 'No, we're not too late. They're heading for the institute right now.' She looked at Lance, 'we just need to speed up a bit.'
He looked at his friend in amazement, 'what do you think we've been doing for the last few hundred miles?' he said, 'this thing just won't go any faster.'
Rogue's frown deepened. 'Well I'll just give it some help then.' The statement was followed by a sudden burst of acceleration, and the car sped through the streets of Bayville with renewed speed.
Looking out from the mansion windows, Logan could see that Apocalypse and his buddies were getting very close to the gates. He knew that the defences he and Charles had worked so hard to perfect would be torn up by the gang with ruthless efficiency. He still couldn't believe that Xavier had fled, and left his kids behind him to face peril. Whatever Chuck was afraid of, it couldn't be that bad. Logan had never heard of Apocalypse before now, and was looking forward to introducing the guy to his metal claws. He had stationed groups of mutants all around the building. He headed up some of the younger mutants, including Jamie. Bobby had taken Sam and the others to the danger room area to arm themselves, and Storm and Evan, being both more experienced than the others, were positioned nearest to the entrance, to curb the first barrage of attacks.
Logan was almost looking forward to seeing this guy, and the look on his face when he realised Chuck was not there, and everyone was ready and waiting for him. It had been a long time since he had seen any action beyond the simulations in the danger room, and he felt himself to be a man who thrived on battle. So, when the band of mutants blasted their way through the gates of the Institute, a slight eagerness overtook him, and he began the final preparations for battle.
Apocalypse blasted another tree out of his path. His followers ran ahead of him, eager to satisfy their blood lust. From above him, he could feel a breeze blowing around him. Most would have been blown away by this manipulation of the weather, but to the ancient warlord, it was but a minor irritation. He looked above him, to see a weather witch flying through the air at the centre of the wind, her white hair flying about her as though it were one with the air. To him, she was nothing but a fly to be swatted, apocalypse stretched his gigantic hand, and reached it out to her, he let his hand fly out quickly, meeting the witch in mid air, before she had the time to react. The wind stopped immediately, and she went soaring to earth, crashing into one of the only remaining trees on the ground. She did not get up.
Now able to move freely after the blustering winds, his small army was busy penetrating the meagre defences of the institute. Things flew at them through the air, some fired by automated machines, some launched at them by figures waiting in the windows of the mansion. If Apocalypse had been capable of feeling emotion, he would have pitied them in the windows, almost certainly doomed to die. He merely smiled up at them, enjoying the shock waves that coursed through them as they took in his appearance for the first time. He inspired fear in people; it was one of his greatest weapons.
And at the back of his mind, as he watched his followers enter the building, and heard shrieks and shouting from within, he was aware that another presence was coming closer. It was more mutants; he was sure, and, yes, the girl. She had come, he did not know why. The escape of the psychic no longer mattered to him, for he now had a new, infinitely more important target. True, he would have wanted to amass a larger army before he properly faced the mutant, but he saw nothing wrong in an initial confrontation.
Apocalypse smiled again as the scent of blood came floating towards him, but he did not enter the house. Totally aware of what was happening around him, and yet not seeming to care, he stood in the grounds of the mansion, and waited.
Bobby finally felt fear creeping into his senses as he watched a crowd of mutants approaching the danger room. He looked back to where Sam was manning the controls, and made sure that everything was set. The other boy nodded, and he and the others went to stand behind him, or take their place at the controls. Knowing there wasn't much time to spare, Bobby spoke to them all quickly.
'Right everyone; we know that these simulations will only hold them off for a while. At some point, we are going to have to fight.' He saw the terror on their faces. 'Remember, we're doing this for Rahne.' He saw the terror being bottled over with grim determination, and he gave a satisfied nod. Sam in particular seemed resolute.
The doors to the danger room broke open, and a crowd of mutants swarmed in. bobby motioned for Sam to start the programme, and watched as they began to contend with all the obstacles the danger room could throw at them. He only hoped that when the time came to fight, that they would be ready.
One of the men found himself facing a giant metal fist, which was pounding on the ground with crushing blows. He threw himself onto the top of the thing, and placed his hands on the base of the fist, where metal met wall. The surface glowed red for a moment, and then the metal began to melt, and moulded in a new shape round the wall, stopping the fist in it's tracks.
He saw Jubilee put a hand to her mouth as she watched the men in action. On the other side of the room, two other mutants were busy overpowering the largest gun in the entire room. Another few moments, and it let out a final shot before crashing to earth. Evidently the destruction of the danger room was going to take these people less time than he had counted for. He began to prepare himself for battle. And it was then that Sam motioned to the computer that chartered the progress of intruders to the mansion. It had been installed a little while after they'd had that party, and one of the important information discs had been stolen. The picture clearly showed that more mutants were on the way to the danger room.
Sam let out a gulp. Before this, the odds of them holding their own in the fight had been fairly bad, now the task looked virtually impossible. They waited with baited breath to see what would happen first, whether the men who were already there would completely destroy the danger room before or after their reinforcements arrived.
So the got a complete shock when the doors were blasted open, and Tabby, Kurt, Scott and Fred came through, all pretty much ready to fight for them.
The two cars screeched to a halt outside the gates of the mansion, and again, Kitty was tempted to cry out that they were too late to do anything to save the people inside. They pushed their way through the broken gates as a whole, before branching out and coming to a halt to take in the scene in front of them.
There had been at least half a dozen fires started in and around the mansion. It looked like the battle was already well underway. They could hear shouting from the upper floors of the building, and a slumped body that looked frighteningly like Storm was lying haphazardly at the foot of a tree. And there was a thick smell of something in the air, a smell that had followed them ever since they'd driven into the town. Nobody had commented on it though, probably because they were afraid of what it was it reminded them of. Blood.
Strangely enough, it was Mystique and not Rogue who took immediate charge. She broke everyone into groups. Scott was to lead one group, which would scour the lower floors and see what help could be done. She would take Kitty, Lance and Todd up to where there was obviously some fighting by the windows, and Pietro and Rogue would go round the outskirts of the mansion, helping anybody who needed it, and trying to sum up what the general threat to the mansion was.
If Rogue was unhappy about her mother pairing her up with Pietro, she didn't show it. She looked strangely removed from everyone else, as though she was completely unaware of what was happening around her. She was looking off towards the trees, a light having come on in her eyes, giving her a sort of gleaming expression.
Mystique brought her back down to Earth, when she asked whether or not she was all right with this plan. Rogue gave a half nod in her mother's direction, and took off in the direction of the trees, leaving the others behind. Pietro stayed only a moment before following her. The others shared questioning looks, before they too split up, and began to wade into the fray.
Pietro had to partially use her powers as he ran to catch up with Rogue, she was going that fast. He caught up with her, and held his hand out to catch her arm. Even though he was now part restraining her, Rogue kept up her manic pace through the trees.
'Rogue' Pietro ventured uncertainly, 'before we get into the fight, don't you think we should..'
He had to trail off then, because Rogue interrupted him, finally stopping in her tracks. 'What? Stop and talk everything through because we might not both make it through this? People we know are being killed as we speak Pietro, we can't afford to waste one second!' she carried on, but only for a few steps. She held out her arm, and Pietro, who had resorted to running again, ran straight into it.
There was a sound, vague at first, but getting closer. The ground started to vibrate slightly, as though something massive were moving towards them. Rogue looked back at Pietro, her face now going pale.
'Run', she told him. 'Go help the others.'
Pietro didn't understand. 'No, we're supposed to be doing this together. I'm not going to leave you now, whatever's going on between us.'
Rogue moved closer to him. 'Pietro please run, you have to go.' She was beginning to sound a little desperate, and the sound and rumbling was getting louder. Rogue began to push him backwards.
'No' he said, fighting her efforts as best he could. 'I said I can't leave you. I love you!' he said frantically, clawing away at her attempts.
Rogue stopped, she leant forward, and kissed him once on the lips soundly, before she raised her hand, and sent him flying backwards through the trees.
Pietro had only the vague impression of someone absolutely gigantic storming through the trees, before he himself slammed into a trunk, and waved the world a momentary goodbye.
Scott led the others through the confines of the mansion. He was actually fairly impressed with the work that must have been done to the defence system since their departure from the institute. Still, he knew how to get around the system with as little trouble as possible, and by the trail of destruction left by the attacking mutants, they had headed for the danger room.
Scott was proved to be right when they finally broke into the chamber, and spent a second assessing the situation. There were about six or seven men, all mutants, who were at this point in time demolishing what was clearly one of the most dangerous simulations on the danger room programme. Up in the control room, he could see the stupified faces of Bobby and some of the other new students. He supposed later that they weren't the new students anymore, but the only students.
Scott gave a nod in their direction, signalling to them to stop the simulation and come down to join the fight. With his hand, he motioned for Tabby and Kurt to tackle the man who had just destroyed one of the crushing metal attachments on his own, whilst he and Fred did what they could to hold of the others before help arrived.
He and Fred moved across the room, ignoring the now stationary obstacles. They now faced up to about six mutants, all older and experienced than they were. Things were not looking good. Scott thought back to the training he hadn't done in so very long, and tried to remember the most important things Wolverine had drilled into him. The most important, he supposed, was to know your opponents weaknesses.
One of the men, he could see, had powers similar to his own. He could shoot energy beams from his hands. But whilst he shared this with Scott, he did not have his speed. He was a fairly big guy, and from what he had seen so far, was a little on the clumsy side. Seeing a pile of fallen weaponry in the far corner of the room, he took a chance a let out a surprise blast at the guy. The beam let out from his eyes hit him square in the chest, and he was sent careering back into the corner, crashing into the debris. When the guy tried to stand, he tripped on a fallen pipe, and landed straight back where he had fallen.
Fred then picked up part of the broken gun, and hurled it at him, pretty much ruling him out the fight. By this time, the others were advancing quite rapidly on them, and the two of them moved separately into action, Fred being the unmovable object he was, and Scott letting out random hits and trying to dodge what the others threw at him.
They weren't fighting alone for long. Soon the doors to the chamber burst open once more, and Bobby and the others threw themselves into the fight with abandon.
Kurt and Tabby were both on the run. They had long since worked out that their opponent's power was the ability to melt metal. This didn't really help matters, as a large portion of the danger room was in fact made of metal. As the man moved in to melt the hanging wiring above Tabby's head, Kurt bamfed her out of the way. This allowed Bobby to get in a surprise attack, and freeze the guy where he still stood.
Being who he was, the mutant had no trouble in thawing out his frozen prison, but didn't have a chance to recover before Tabby threw a bomb at him and he was knocked to the ground, and knocked out.
Tabby allowed herself only a brief punch into the air before they ran to help the others, and the fight was now very much in the younger mutants favour. As Jubilee fired off her sparks at the last man standing, the rest looked around, to take in the fact that not only had several of their number reappeared, but that they had won, against the odds.
Tabby contained herself for a moment, before launching herself at her former friends, dragging Kurt along with her. Scott clapped Fred on the back before going to join his old teammates, and for a moment, it was completely forgotten that a battle was going on above them.
They were brought back to reality pretty damn quickly, when something large hit the ground above them. Scott took most of the mutants back up with him to help Mystique and Logan, but left Fred and Sam in charge of rounding up the fallen mutants, and securing them for when they woke up.
Fred gave each of them another punch to face to ensure that this wouldn't happen in the duration of their task.
Mystique was shocked to see Logan doing so badly in a fight. He was cornered, true, by three rather large looking men, one whose blade like arms made Logan's claws look like little needles, but problems like this had never daunted the man before. He looked as though he were certain that the end was near, despite his healing capablities. Clearly something drastic was going to be needed to get rid of these people. Thinking to herself what usually conjured up fear into men's hearts, Mystique got the sudden image of a dragon in her head. But dragons were fictional creatures, she didn't know if it was possible to change into one.
It was worth a go. She focused intently on the image in her mind, and was relieved to feel her body change drastically. Her first sign of success was when she heard the mutants gasp; the second was when she broke the roof off the building in her transformation. She looked down now at the men, who stared at her with wide eyes, before running off down the halls. Unfortunately, most of the others followed suit, including the young mutants she was supposed to be saving.
Mystique changed form again, and found that only Logan had remained. Lance, Kitty and Todd had followed in the direction of the running kids.
Wolverine was watching her was a bizarre expression on his face. He seemed part knackered, part disbelieving.
He cleared his throat. 'Thanks' he said gruffly, like he could believe he was saying it.
Mystique nodded in reply. 'Welcome' she said, unable to keep a little smirk away. She didn't let him see it, by turning in the direction the others had run to, and following.
Having just seen a dragon appear out of nowhere, there was nothing really that could scare Jamie. Or so he thought. On his way out of the mansion, he turned around to notice that he was being pursued. By a man with blades for arms. This was particularly scary.
He had no idea how to use his power to help him in a situation like this, and was so much slower than this man. He held up his arms over his head to uselessly try and protect himself, and ran for all he was worth, knowing it was actually no good.
The guy was getting closer. There was a smile of triumph lighting up his eerie face, and he was raising his blade above his head.
He was about to swing back, when something leaped out of the air, and threw Jamie aside.
He looked up to see just what it was that had saved him, and realised that it wasn't a what, it was a who. Todd Polanski was lying panting on the ground beside him.
'Shit, you run fast kid' he gasped. He didn't get a chance to recover, because the man had stopped in his tracks, and was now advancing upon the two of them, blades raised high in the air.
It was then that Todd did something both brave, and incredibly stupid. Sticking out his tongue, he lashed onto one of the blade arms the man was waving about, and wrapped it round it, getting a firm hold. Then as a fisherman flicks out his line, he used his only weapon to send the man flying into the trees beyond, letting go only at the last moment. He drew back his tongue, not wanting to see the damage done to it by the sharp blade. He could feel the pain well enough.
Jamie didn't seem to know what to say, and so started immediately trying to save Todd's incredibly injured tongue, waiting till later to show gratitude, when they weren't in quite as much mortal peril.
About five minutes later, and things were definitely looking good for the X-men. Lance stood on the first floor of the mansion, and caused the ground below to rumble, knocking several mutants at once off their feet. Scott and Tabby fired at them from the ground. Kitty and Kurt led some through the trees, straight into the waiting ice of Bobby, and the heat of Magma. Despite the separation, the X-men seemed to work as a seamless team still, even with the addition of people who once, a long time ago, had been enemies.
Logan threw a last punch at a guy could shoot vines from his hands, and that was it. Together, the threat to the mansion had been abolished. The mutants stood for a while, watching their fallen opponents, and getting their breath back. It was over.
Something then erupted a while away in the trees, which sort of disproved their point, and they ran to the source of the trouble.
When they finally arrived there, they couldn't believe their eyes.
He was absolutely huge, Rogue remarked to herself vaguely. About ten times the size of herself. She knew she should be afraid, but she supposed she would not allow herself to be so.
'Apocalypse' she said, unable to think of anything witty or clever to say at this exact moment in time. She just hoped she was actually as calm as she thought she was, and that her legs would function when she actually needed them too.
'You know me' he replied, looking slightly startled that she addressed him by his name. There was something in the way he was watching her that was heartening for Rogue. It was almost as though the creature was wary of her, like there was a little respect buried in the fathomless depths of her eyes.
'I know you' she confirmed. This was a bit of lie. She didn't really know what he was here for, and where exactly he came from, or anything really other than his name.
'I felt you coming' he said, and Rogue waited apprehensively for more. 'I felt you at the back of my mind, you burn brighter than any other matter on the planet.'
She supposed he was paying her a compliment, and resisted the urge to say thank you.
'Join me' he hissed out, 'together, no thing on Earth could put an end to our dominance. Refuse, and one of us will have to die.'
He didn't beat about the bush; she had to give him credit for that. Finding her tongue, Rogue answered him. 'Thanks for the offer and everything, but I think we'd have a clash of opinions. On killing people, for example.'
He had no sense of humour. 'Foolish child,' he spat at her. 'You have chosen death over absolute power.'
'Well maybe somebody will remember that in the afterlife.' She responded, 'I'll be sure to spit on you from up there.'
He raised his giant hands in fury, and slammed them down on the ground. Something close to a minor earthquake rocked the ground below her. Rogue couldn't keep her balance, and tumbled to the ground.
Apocalypse pressed his advantage, and sent the earth rolling her backwards, the ground peeled backwards easily. She hit ground, and pulled herself to her feet painfully, knowing she'd find bruises all over her the next day.
But she wasn't beaten yet. Since she had come into her powers, Rogue had not yet found the chance to really stretch her legs. Now, here was the perfect opportunity. Apocalypse looked down to find the ground below him was now shaking, and rumbling was coming from beneath. Soon, a hole erupted from under him, and torrents of water shot out at him with the force of a missile, swirling him round in a small whirlpool that had the strength of a tsunami. Rogue rose to her feet, hands out and necklace glowing.
Apocalypse fought himself free of the torrent, and now faced Rogue, dripping wet, and still deadly. He picked up a tree; wrenching it from the ground it was still attached to, and hurled it at her like a javelin.
Rogue held up her hands, and the tree stopped mid flight. She spun it around for a moment, and then sent it, still spinning, towards its origin. Apocalypse ducked, and several of the trees around him were destroyed by the gigantic missile.
It was at this point, that Pietro ran in at top speed. As Apocalypse again fired another vastly heavy object in Rogue's direction, which she again fended off, Pietro ran round and round and round him, building up a small whirlwind round him, despite Rogue's protests for him to stop.
Pietro did stop, but only when he was made to realise how futile his efforts were. Apocalypse endured the annoyance for a moment, before he closed his eyes, and began to grow, getting to be about twice the size he was before. Pietro's whilrwind was now rising only to the tops of his legs. He raised his foot slightly, and kicked at the boy, who was sent soaring through the air. Rogue stopped him mid flight, and landed him at the other side of the freshly made clearing.
High above her, the voice of Apocalypse boomed to the heavens. 'I could squash you like a bug, but it would make death far too quick for you.' He said, watching her with contempt.
Rogue looked around her frantically. She saw now that everyone had stopped fighting, and was now watching her confrontation. This meant that the house was now empty. Which gave her an idea.
'Well that's true,' she agreed, 'but it also wouldn't give me a chance to do this.' Her necklace glowed bright white round her neck, and her eyes seemed to shine like beacons. And, slowly at first, but with growing pace, the part of the mansion, which was still in tact, began to rise into the air. As if they knew what was coming, everyone ran as fast as they could, save for Pietro. Rogue let the partially destroyed structure hover for a few tantalising moments, before she let it fall right on top of Apocalypse.
As the house came crashing down, she went running to Pietro, putting a shield around them both. He was lying quite still on the ground, but Rogue was fairly sure he was alive. She watched as the part building came crashing down on the mutant, and heard his cry of surprised pain. Then there was absolute silence for a moment. Then the ruins and rubble began to stir.
His body, now back to its original size, levitated itself from the wreckage. With it, came the unconscious figures of his small, fallen army. He watched Rogue as he rose.
'When we meet again, I will be stronger.' He said as a parting warning, before he and the other figures moved away, coming to land a safe distance from the mansion.
Everything seemed to zoom back to reality for everyone else, and they realised that there was in fact a ruined town around them. They could hear sirens in the distance, and knew that camera crews wouldn't be too far behind. They still had to do what they could to help, and attract as little attention as possible to the institute, or their involvement in the fight.
Still, they couldn't help but be affected a little by what had just taken place. Kurt watched his sister with a stupified expression, after approaching the rubble with Tabby.
'You threw a house at him?' he asked blankly.
He didn't get an answer. Rogue was too busy seeing to Pietro. She turned him over gently, and stroked his hair softly, bringing him back to consciousness. He watched her with a slightly dizzy look.
'I'm sorry I didn't listen to you' he said, but she put a resigned finger over his lips, holding it in place for a second or two.
'I love you too.' She responded, before lowering her head and replacing her finger with her own lips.
On the other side of the world, in a far off, mountain temple, a cloaked figure made his way hastily through the stone passageways. He ended up running full on, coming to a halt when he arrived in a massive stone chamber.
Throwing off his hood, he revealed himself to be fairly old, yet noble in face, the rugged crags of his skin adding character to his appearance. A rough, short beard covered the lower half of his face, and he stood now scratching it slightly in anxiety.
He looked to his two compatriots, both who wore similar apparel to himself. He looked from face to fear, the fear clear in his eyes.
'Is it true Cassius, Hermes?' he asked, knowing already the answer. His two friends looked positively terrified.
The two heads fell in solemn nods. 'It is true, the war lord has returned to the Earth.'
'Can you be sure?' he said, clinging onto the final, desperate strands of hope.
In response, the men gestured to the huge stone alter that was the centrepiece of the room. On it, a stone in the middle of the surface was now glowing a bright light.
'But, but this means that the champion must be active also.' He said, and was met by more nods from his fellows.
'Yes' one of them said, with slightly more hope than before. 'It means, Brutus' he said, and his thin lipped smile that had before been firmly in place faltered a little, and he gave a slight cough. 'We're going to America.'
Brutus's jaw hit the floor in horror.
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation are property of Marvel and WB
AUTHORS NOTE: I am sooooo sorry this took so long, and no offence to the American's by the last remark, trust me it should all make sense soon. But next chapter, we will see the aftermath of the battle, including the interest the rest of the world takes. Lance and Rogue will have a heart to heart, Kitty will have to work on her revenge, Apocalypse will need to plan again, and Scott will have to do something about his standing Lydia up (or someone else will have to do something for him!). There's a bunch of other stuff still to happen as well, I'll just have to sort out which order it happens in! So till next time, keep reviewing. Oh yes, what do people feel should happen to the 'new students' now that their fearless (ahem) leader has left them to go into hiding?
It was a moment or two before anybody in the bedroom said another words. Both Tabby and Kitty were watching Rogue throw things into her bag with jaws dropped and eyes bulging.
Tabby was the first to snap out of it, looking at Kitty and saying 'I think I speak for the both of us when I say what the hell?'
Rogue looked at her friend as if to roll her eyes, but she didn't answer. She went into the bathroom, clearly to continue packing.
'Bur Rogue,' Kitty called out, rising from her bed finally with a bewildered look on her face, 'Why? You said you never wanted to go back there again.'
Rogue's face appeared at the doorway, and she gave a resigned sigh. Obviously her friends were going to need some sort of explanation. It didn't have to be true of course, just an explanation.
'I had a dream; I saw the institute and the town being attacked. And I know what you're going to say, it was probably just a dream, but it felt real.' Kitty closed the mouth that had just been about to speak, and Rogue pulled herself up to her full height, 'and I don't want to take the risk of believing it was just a dream. I have friends still at the institute, and I'm not going to risk not helping them.'
Kitty held up her hand meekly. 'Are you absolutely convinced it wasn't just a dream you were having, because this has never happened before.'
Rogue considered for a moment. Suppose she was just panicking, and over reacting quite dramatically to a simple nightmare. She tried to picture the scenes she had seen in her head, and attempted to recapture the feeling she had had as the images played out before her. She gave a nod of the head, certain that this wasn't all just a dream.
There was another silence, more thoughtful than surprised this time, and when Tabby next spoke, it was with determination, and not shock.
'All right, then we're coming with you.' She walked past Kitty, and started to throw things into her own bag. Kitty joined her after only a moment's hesitation.
This time it was Rogue who was startled. 'You can't. I don't want to put you in danger, or waste your time if this really is just nothing.'
'Shut up.' Tabby said in reply, and Rogue stopped in her tracks. 'We're coming with you, and there's nothing you can do about it. I have friends back in Bayville too, and if they are in trouble, nothing you can say or do is going to stop me helping them.'
Kitty agreed with her, nodding her head firmly. 'Besides, we all remember what happened the last time you went out to handle a situation all on your own.' She stopped quickly, because of the agony that flashed across Rogue's face when she brought up that horrible night. She paused, not sure whether or not she had pushed her friend a little to far.
She hadn't. Rogue was completely still for a moment, before letting out her breath, and allowing her head to fall down in a defeated nod. 'All right, but we have to go quickly, before anyone else wakes up. I want to involve as few people in this as possible.'
As if responding to her words, the door opened, and Kurt and Scott poked their heads in, both bleary eyed, yet looking as if they'd heard all of the conversation they needed to. 'You're going back to Bayville?' Kurt asked, looking from one face to another, a slight frown replacing the smile that was usually plastered to his face.
Rogue banged her head against the wall, and went through a rather colourful variety of cuss words. When she looked up again, her brother looked floored, as if he didn't know whether to be shocked at her, or impressed by her wide vocabulary and creative imagery. Under most other circumstances, Rogue would have laughed.
'Fine.' She said, as though this was anything but fine. 'Scott, go fetch everybody else, and get them in here. Everyone might as well know now. Do it quickly, I don't want to waste much more time.' Scott didn't say anything in response; he just disappeared out the door and off down the corridor. Kitty went into the bathroom to get dressed, and Tabby ordered Kurt to wait outside while she did the same. In his present state, Kurt didn't make even a single protest, and did what he was told.
Tabby looked a Rogue with a wry smile, 'You know, kinda makes me wish you'd drop bombshells like this on him more often.'
It was about a minute later that the group was assembled in the girls' bedroom, in various states of consciousness. Rogue stood in front of them all, and began to pace back and forth as she spoke, avoiding Pietro, whose pale face never strayed from following her movements. She didn't want to deal with that just now.
'I just had, a pretty vivid dream. I saw Bayville being attacked, I could see things attacking the institute, the other mutants were getting hurt,' she paused, her voice catching slightly, ' and I don't think it was a dream. I think it's real.' She gauged their reaction before carrying on. Most, knowing who she was seemed to accept what she was saying, though she could still spot some dubious faces. 'So I'm going to Bayville. Even if it wasn't real, I want to make sure I did everything I could to help them. I'm leaving now.'
'And we're going too' Tabby said, indicating her and Kitty with a careless wave of her hand and shooting a warning look at Rogue, reminding her that nothing she could do would shake them off.
Unfortunately, everyone else (once they'd gotten over their initial shock) seemed to share their sentiments. Plans were immediately made for people to get ready to leave. Rogue stood helpless as she watched them, and felt slightly frustrated that nobody was prepared to let her do this alone. They, like Kitty, were probably remembering the last time something like this happened. If she'd been paying attention, she would have noticed the panicked look that crossed Pietro's face when she announced that she was once again charging blindly into battle.
She looked to Mystique, with an almost grimace on her face. Her mother seemed to understand and patted her on the shoulder sympathetically. 'They care about you you know, that's why they are coming with you.' She said it as though Rogue wasn't aware of the fact.
'I know' she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation, 'sometimes I wish they didn't care as much as they do.'
'You can't change how people feel towards you, and I somehow don't think you'd really want to either.'
Rogue sighed, and leaned into her mothers embrace. 'I suppose you're coming too.' She said wearily.
Mystique smiled, as though Rogue was talking about her coming to a parent teacher night, and not an imminent battle and danger. 'Wouldn't miss it for the world.' She replied, giving her daughter a quick yet meaningful hug before leaving the room.
It was a hastily assembled group that found themselves standing around in the cold in the middle of the night, waiting to get into the vehicles which Mystique and Lance were driving up to meet them in. the temperature had dropped drastically, and small clouds of steam poured from their faces with each breath they took. Stars shone brightly from the clear night sky above, but nobody was really paying any attention to them.
The two cars pulled up beside them, and everyone rushed forward to pile into them, partly because of the cold, and partly because of the sense of urgency Rogue had created. Pietro fought to get into the same car as Rogue, but she moved to the front of the crowd, and climbed into the seat next to Lance, much to Kitty's annoyance. The younger girl sat silently fuming in the back of the car with Pietro and Scott. Honestly, she thought to herself with frustration. Just because she's fighting with Pietro, she runs for Lance. She knew of course that that wasn't really fair, but some part of her was jealous for the closeness between her boyfriend and her best friend, and had been for some time.
Lance gave Rogue a little questioning look in the front, which she returned with a shake of the head. He seemed to understand her, and without saying another word, turned on the car, and pulled out down the drive. The others followed, and for once they couldn't hear Tabby and Kurt's screams and laughter.
They were all still a little bleary eyed, with the exception of Rogue, who now leaned her head out the jeep, letting the cool night air whip her hair back and forth. For so late in the night, the mutants were a jumble of emotions. Part apprehension, part suspended disbelief, and most of all, afraid, they made their way down the road, back to a place they had so recently escaped from, and quite unsure of what they would find when they returned there.
The sun rose and the day started as usual in the Xavier institute. Bobby Drake rubbed sleep from his eyes, after yet another late night training session in the danger room. It was about the fiftieth time he'd stayed up late practising. The others had stayed with him at first, but none could match his dedication and effort, and had gradually dropped out. Bobby now trained alone at night, having been given permission from the Professor to work on his own, provided he put the settings fairly low in his sessions. He didn't know yet whether they were paying off, as the X-men hadn't had a real test or mission in months. He was tired though, but he was never going to stop practising, nor being prepared.
On his way down the hall, he passed a now empty room. An untouched patch on the front of the door was the only indication that it had ever belonged to someone. Bobby stopped in his tracks, and brushed his finger softly over the shining surface. He had heard nothing from Rogue since she had left the institute in a blaze of fury all that time ago. Sure, she must have her reasons, it didn't stop Bobby wondering where she and the rest of his friends were, and it didn't stop him missing them.
It was difficult to describe just what had become of the X-men since that spectacular scene at the beginning of the summer. He would have liked to say that the loss and tragedy had brought them all closer, but it would have been a lie. Sam's eyes still misted over slightly when he looked at the space which Rahne had once inhabited, and jubilee and friends had come back to school and hadn't stopped smiling since, now having confirmed their reputation for being able to party hard. Bobby of course had thrown himself into training, not missing a session for anything or anyone. Rifts had grown between them. Some refused to let go of the past, some refused to acknowledge it, he supposed.
The Professor had become a little more reclusive too; he gave you the impression of being sort of broken inside. Bobby found it strange, but he felt that this change in behaviour was more to do with Jean's departure, than what Rogue had put him through before she had left. Bobby lay awake at night still questioning what had gone on before that day, always not entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer.
The bulk of controlling the teenagers was now put down to Wolverine and Storm. The Professor was still in charge overall, and was on hand if ever any of them had a serious problem, but other than that, he preferred to stay in his study, doing god knows what.
Bobby woke from his musings to find he was halfway through brushing his teeth. Amazed at how you could do certain things without even thinking about them, he finished up in the bathroom, and once dressed, made his way down to the kitchen to grab a late breakfast. He never even noticed the far off bangs which began in the distance, but which would get closer and closer as the morning progressed.
At the head of the pack, Apocalypse held up his hand for the mutants to pull to a stop. The jubilant cheers, which had signalled the beginning of the journey, had descended into grumbling and complaining as the band cut its way through the forest and down the roads on their journey to the town they were going to destroy. They had met passers by of course on their way, and they had disposed of them with speed and ruthlessness. Now, as their leader threw his hand out and motioned to a sign which read 'Welcome to Bayville, please drive carefully', the blisters on their feet seemed to disappear, and the tight dryness in the throats was replaced with a hoarse cry of jubilation.
Apocalypse nodded, looking around and meeting eye of them in the eye. 'We have arrived. it is time. Spare no human, be it man woman or child. Give mutants the choice, and dispose of those who are unsympathetic to our cause. Remember, leave the psychic to me.' His instructions were simple and brutally short, but they left the mutants waiting to get at the town desperately, like a pack of hounds eagerly baying for blood in a hunt.
Now smirking, Apocalypse gestured for them to get about their business, and the group unleashed a terrible cry of battle to drain the very sun from the sky. They made their way down to the streets below quickly, chasing down the people who had been strolling down the streets, and blasting open doors to houses, dragging screaming families from within.
Coming out of a shop, a mother turned to see the mob fast approaching, and in caught in the reflexes of a new parent, threw her arms protectively around her small child, who let out a cry as he watched the mutants set fire to a house about twenty metres away.
One of the men approached them. He had the face of a human, but as her eyes moved inevitably to his arms, she let out an involuntary cry. Huge steel blades were grafted to the stumps protruding from his shoulders, looking sharp enough to cut straight through bone without too much trouble. She clutched her child to her a little tighter.
Something about her reaction seemed to enrage the man further. His face clouded for a split second with something that could have resembled hurt. Then he masked it over with a furious yet gratified smile. And as he raised his arms above her head, the woman began to weep for her child, and knew that there would be no mercy.
Bobby poured himself another glass of juice, and sat down by the counter, not at all pleased to see that Evan had once again consumed the mansions entire supply of milk. The departure of the others had hardly affected him, but then Bobby supposed, they hadn't really been that close to each other anyway. As he sat there quietly drinking, Jamie came into the room with a quiet hello. He had been one of the most quiet people Bobby had ever known before everything had, well happened, and now this was even more so. Bobby couldn't help but feel a little protective of the youngest boy in the mansion, like he was a little brother or something. He smiled at Jamie, as the mousy haired mutant opened up the fridge, his face creasing into a frown as he realised what Bobby had just been complaining about.
'Perhaps we could put a lock on the bottles or something.' Bobby suggested, and Jamie gave a little laugh, before making do with some orange juice, and Bobby had had to do.
The two were discussing their plans for the day, when a crash came from a few streets away from the institute. Even at this distance, it was a big enough force to send Jamie splitting into five clones temporarily, before each folded into the original.
Bobby swore quietly. 'What the hell was that?'
His now scared friend gave a little shrug. Bobby pushed his way out of the room and quickened his pace as he went out the front door of the mansion. It didn't take a genius to work out the gist of what was going on in Bayville. Smoke was now clouding the horizon, along with the occasional flicker of high rising flame. And amidst it all, Bobby could hear things going on. Distant laughter, more bangs, and screaming, a lot of screaming.
Jamie joined him in a moment, along with several of the other mutants. They watched the scene before them for a few moments with horrified disbelief, before Jubilee broke the silence.
'Holy shit!' she exclaimed.
Her outburst seemed to stir Bobby into action. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he was fairly certain that this was something like what he'd been preparing for these last few months. He began to organise who was there, getting them primed for action, when Professor Xavier's voice cut across his own thoughts, and boomed loudly in his head. Bobby was surprised; this was the first time in a long while the Prof had spoken to them this way.
'Students, get into the mansion quickly, we are going to be under attack. I will explain in a moment, but get in quickly. We are all in grave danger.'
Not for the first time, Charles Xavier found himself sitting in his study on a Sunday morning, reflecting on just where things had begun to go wrong. He supposed it was when he had taken in Rogue. The girl had always been trouble, more than she was worth. And she had humiliated him. Destroyed him even. He had continued his work with the students who had remained in the institute, but he felt as though he were leading a half- life, a shell of what he once was.
His missed his first pupils. Scott and Jean. The perfect X-men, both lost to him thanks to Rogue. And there wasn't a thing in hell he could do about it, because she was stronger than him. And this knowledge was slowly killing him.
It was almost a welcome distraction for him when he sensed an imminent danger approaching the town. This was short lived however, as he probed slightly into the minds of the potential attackers, and discovered what the purpose of their assault was. He went quickly to his extensive bookshelves and pulled out a dust covered old volume which had never had need of until now. He slammed it onto the table, and flipped quickly to the page he was looking for. His worst fears were confirmed, as he saw the creature in his mind now reflected on the page. Apocalypse, meant to be just a myth, had been resurrected, and was on the warpath.
He had gotten together his most essential things before he even spoke to the students. It was a stupid man who would risk a battle with Rogue, but a suicidal man who would risk one with Apocalypse. He used his telepathy to bring the students to him, and informed them as tactfully as he could, of the situation they now faced, and the plan of action he intended to take.
'So you just want us to run, and let the whole town be destroyed?' Bobby asked, horrified. At the back of the group, he could see Logan frowning, as if he too knew that this just wasn't like him. And it wasn't, but they didn't know the danger that he was in.
'Bobby you don't understand. This is a battle that we shall not win.' He tried to reason, but the boy was resolute.
'We should still try.' He said darkly, eyeing his professor with something bordering on disrespect.
The others, surprisingly, backed him up. Xavier could see that support was failing, and allowed at last for the desperation he felt to show on his face. It was then that Logan realised.
'It's you they're after. Run then Charles. We'll stay and defend.' Xavier didn't know whether Logan meant to be harsh in his tone or not. Charles contemplated this, and spoke after a few seconds.
'Will none of you run with me?' he pleaded. His students and friends watched him with sad eyes, and Xavier watched them for only a moment more, before turning, and quietly fleeing the mansion. He left a resounding silence behind him. Nobody could quite believe what was happening. In the end, it was Logan who took control, and began to make plans for the leaderless defence of the mansion.
Apocalypse was enjoying himself. He hadn't seen carnage such as this for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The screams and pleadings around him assaulted his senses like an orchestra playing a fine symphony. He strode through the now burning buildings, flames licking at his body, but having no effect. Ahead of him, he could spy the mansion that housed the group of mutants. Stretching out through his exhaultation, he could feel the faint shadows of mutant activity, he could feel the imprint of the psychic on his mind, and the thrill for his own personal chase began to kick in.
But then something happened which he did not expect. The shadow that had been playing on his mind, that which he was chasing, began to fade rapidly. Face now contorted in bewilderment, Apocalypse looked up, in time to see a jet take off from the general direction of the mansion, and speed off into the horizon. But he could still feel the presence of mutants in the building, a lot of them.
'So' he murmured to himself, stopping for a moment in his tracks. 'He runs. No matter.' He called to those mutants who were around him, and ordered for the attack to be focused now primarily on the institute. They grouped together, leaving the humans who had just survived the enslaught as terrified wrecks in their wake. They moved off down the road, intent now only on the destruction of the group of mutants who were still foolish enough to remain in that mansion.
The people in the two cars first began to notice that Rogue's vision was no mere nightmare, when they saw that the 'welcome to Bayville' sign was on fire. The letters were now obscured by burning, charred paint. In the back of the car, Kitty leant forward and gripped Lance's shoulder.
'Oh my god' she cried softly, 'we're too late.'
They had probably broken about five hundred speed limits on their way back to Bayville. Most people in the car put it down to Rogue's interference that they had yet to be stopped. For her part, Rogue had been silent for the entire trip. She had taken her head in from the window, but had kept her vigil at the pane, staring out at the changing landscapes before her, but lost entirely in a world of her own.
At Kitty's words however, she stirred, as if waking from a trance. She looked at her friend, her face fixed into a stern frown. 'No, we're not too late. They're heading for the institute right now.' She looked at Lance, 'we just need to speed up a bit.'
He looked at his friend in amazement, 'what do you think we've been doing for the last few hundred miles?' he said, 'this thing just won't go any faster.'
Rogue's frown deepened. 'Well I'll just give it some help then.' The statement was followed by a sudden burst of acceleration, and the car sped through the streets of Bayville with renewed speed.
Looking out from the mansion windows, Logan could see that Apocalypse and his buddies were getting very close to the gates. He knew that the defences he and Charles had worked so hard to perfect would be torn up by the gang with ruthless efficiency. He still couldn't believe that Xavier had fled, and left his kids behind him to face peril. Whatever Chuck was afraid of, it couldn't be that bad. Logan had never heard of Apocalypse before now, and was looking forward to introducing the guy to his metal claws. He had stationed groups of mutants all around the building. He headed up some of the younger mutants, including Jamie. Bobby had taken Sam and the others to the danger room area to arm themselves, and Storm and Evan, being both more experienced than the others, were positioned nearest to the entrance, to curb the first barrage of attacks.
Logan was almost looking forward to seeing this guy, and the look on his face when he realised Chuck was not there, and everyone was ready and waiting for him. It had been a long time since he had seen any action beyond the simulations in the danger room, and he felt himself to be a man who thrived on battle. So, when the band of mutants blasted their way through the gates of the Institute, a slight eagerness overtook him, and he began the final preparations for battle.
Apocalypse blasted another tree out of his path. His followers ran ahead of him, eager to satisfy their blood lust. From above him, he could feel a breeze blowing around him. Most would have been blown away by this manipulation of the weather, but to the ancient warlord, it was but a minor irritation. He looked above him, to see a weather witch flying through the air at the centre of the wind, her white hair flying about her as though it were one with the air. To him, she was nothing but a fly to be swatted, apocalypse stretched his gigantic hand, and reached it out to her, he let his hand fly out quickly, meeting the witch in mid air, before she had the time to react. The wind stopped immediately, and she went soaring to earth, crashing into one of the only remaining trees on the ground. She did not get up.
Now able to move freely after the blustering winds, his small army was busy penetrating the meagre defences of the institute. Things flew at them through the air, some fired by automated machines, some launched at them by figures waiting in the windows of the mansion. If Apocalypse had been capable of feeling emotion, he would have pitied them in the windows, almost certainly doomed to die. He merely smiled up at them, enjoying the shock waves that coursed through them as they took in his appearance for the first time. He inspired fear in people; it was one of his greatest weapons.
And at the back of his mind, as he watched his followers enter the building, and heard shrieks and shouting from within, he was aware that another presence was coming closer. It was more mutants; he was sure, and, yes, the girl. She had come, he did not know why. The escape of the psychic no longer mattered to him, for he now had a new, infinitely more important target. True, he would have wanted to amass a larger army before he properly faced the mutant, but he saw nothing wrong in an initial confrontation.
Apocalypse smiled again as the scent of blood came floating towards him, but he did not enter the house. Totally aware of what was happening around him, and yet not seeming to care, he stood in the grounds of the mansion, and waited.
Bobby finally felt fear creeping into his senses as he watched a crowd of mutants approaching the danger room. He looked back to where Sam was manning the controls, and made sure that everything was set. The other boy nodded, and he and the others went to stand behind him, or take their place at the controls. Knowing there wasn't much time to spare, Bobby spoke to them all quickly.
'Right everyone; we know that these simulations will only hold them off for a while. At some point, we are going to have to fight.' He saw the terror on their faces. 'Remember, we're doing this for Rahne.' He saw the terror being bottled over with grim determination, and he gave a satisfied nod. Sam in particular seemed resolute.
The doors to the danger room broke open, and a crowd of mutants swarmed in. bobby motioned for Sam to start the programme, and watched as they began to contend with all the obstacles the danger room could throw at them. He only hoped that when the time came to fight, that they would be ready.
One of the men found himself facing a giant metal fist, which was pounding on the ground with crushing blows. He threw himself onto the top of the thing, and placed his hands on the base of the fist, where metal met wall. The surface glowed red for a moment, and then the metal began to melt, and moulded in a new shape round the wall, stopping the fist in it's tracks.
He saw Jubilee put a hand to her mouth as she watched the men in action. On the other side of the room, two other mutants were busy overpowering the largest gun in the entire room. Another few moments, and it let out a final shot before crashing to earth. Evidently the destruction of the danger room was going to take these people less time than he had counted for. He began to prepare himself for battle. And it was then that Sam motioned to the computer that chartered the progress of intruders to the mansion. It had been installed a little while after they'd had that party, and one of the important information discs had been stolen. The picture clearly showed that more mutants were on the way to the danger room.
Sam let out a gulp. Before this, the odds of them holding their own in the fight had been fairly bad, now the task looked virtually impossible. They waited with baited breath to see what would happen first, whether the men who were already there would completely destroy the danger room before or after their reinforcements arrived.
So the got a complete shock when the doors were blasted open, and Tabby, Kurt, Scott and Fred came through, all pretty much ready to fight for them.
The two cars screeched to a halt outside the gates of the mansion, and again, Kitty was tempted to cry out that they were too late to do anything to save the people inside. They pushed their way through the broken gates as a whole, before branching out and coming to a halt to take in the scene in front of them.
There had been at least half a dozen fires started in and around the mansion. It looked like the battle was already well underway. They could hear shouting from the upper floors of the building, and a slumped body that looked frighteningly like Storm was lying haphazardly at the foot of a tree. And there was a thick smell of something in the air, a smell that had followed them ever since they'd driven into the town. Nobody had commented on it though, probably because they were afraid of what it was it reminded them of. Blood.
Strangely enough, it was Mystique and not Rogue who took immediate charge. She broke everyone into groups. Scott was to lead one group, which would scour the lower floors and see what help could be done. She would take Kitty, Lance and Todd up to where there was obviously some fighting by the windows, and Pietro and Rogue would go round the outskirts of the mansion, helping anybody who needed it, and trying to sum up what the general threat to the mansion was.
If Rogue was unhappy about her mother pairing her up with Pietro, she didn't show it. She looked strangely removed from everyone else, as though she was completely unaware of what was happening around her. She was looking off towards the trees, a light having come on in her eyes, giving her a sort of gleaming expression.
Mystique brought her back down to Earth, when she asked whether or not she was all right with this plan. Rogue gave a half nod in her mother's direction, and took off in the direction of the trees, leaving the others behind. Pietro stayed only a moment before following her. The others shared questioning looks, before they too split up, and began to wade into the fray.
Pietro had to partially use her powers as he ran to catch up with Rogue, she was going that fast. He caught up with her, and held his hand out to catch her arm. Even though he was now part restraining her, Rogue kept up her manic pace through the trees.
'Rogue' Pietro ventured uncertainly, 'before we get into the fight, don't you think we should..'
He had to trail off then, because Rogue interrupted him, finally stopping in her tracks. 'What? Stop and talk everything through because we might not both make it through this? People we know are being killed as we speak Pietro, we can't afford to waste one second!' she carried on, but only for a few steps. She held out her arm, and Pietro, who had resorted to running again, ran straight into it.
There was a sound, vague at first, but getting closer. The ground started to vibrate slightly, as though something massive were moving towards them. Rogue looked back at Pietro, her face now going pale.
'Run', she told him. 'Go help the others.'
Pietro didn't understand. 'No, we're supposed to be doing this together. I'm not going to leave you now, whatever's going on between us.'
Rogue moved closer to him. 'Pietro please run, you have to go.' She was beginning to sound a little desperate, and the sound and rumbling was getting louder. Rogue began to push him backwards.
'No' he said, fighting her efforts as best he could. 'I said I can't leave you. I love you!' he said frantically, clawing away at her attempts.
Rogue stopped, she leant forward, and kissed him once on the lips soundly, before she raised her hand, and sent him flying backwards through the trees.
Pietro had only the vague impression of someone absolutely gigantic storming through the trees, before he himself slammed into a trunk, and waved the world a momentary goodbye.
Scott led the others through the confines of the mansion. He was actually fairly impressed with the work that must have been done to the defence system since their departure from the institute. Still, he knew how to get around the system with as little trouble as possible, and by the trail of destruction left by the attacking mutants, they had headed for the danger room.
Scott was proved to be right when they finally broke into the chamber, and spent a second assessing the situation. There were about six or seven men, all mutants, who were at this point in time demolishing what was clearly one of the most dangerous simulations on the danger room programme. Up in the control room, he could see the stupified faces of Bobby and some of the other new students. He supposed later that they weren't the new students anymore, but the only students.
Scott gave a nod in their direction, signalling to them to stop the simulation and come down to join the fight. With his hand, he motioned for Tabby and Kurt to tackle the man who had just destroyed one of the crushing metal attachments on his own, whilst he and Fred did what they could to hold of the others before help arrived.
He and Fred moved across the room, ignoring the now stationary obstacles. They now faced up to about six mutants, all older and experienced than they were. Things were not looking good. Scott thought back to the training he hadn't done in so very long, and tried to remember the most important things Wolverine had drilled into him. The most important, he supposed, was to know your opponents weaknesses.
One of the men, he could see, had powers similar to his own. He could shoot energy beams from his hands. But whilst he shared this with Scott, he did not have his speed. He was a fairly big guy, and from what he had seen so far, was a little on the clumsy side. Seeing a pile of fallen weaponry in the far corner of the room, he took a chance a let out a surprise blast at the guy. The beam let out from his eyes hit him square in the chest, and he was sent careering back into the corner, crashing into the debris. When the guy tried to stand, he tripped on a fallen pipe, and landed straight back where he had fallen.
Fred then picked up part of the broken gun, and hurled it at him, pretty much ruling him out the fight. By this time, the others were advancing quite rapidly on them, and the two of them moved separately into action, Fred being the unmovable object he was, and Scott letting out random hits and trying to dodge what the others threw at him.
They weren't fighting alone for long. Soon the doors to the chamber burst open once more, and Bobby and the others threw themselves into the fight with abandon.
Kurt and Tabby were both on the run. They had long since worked out that their opponent's power was the ability to melt metal. This didn't really help matters, as a large portion of the danger room was in fact made of metal. As the man moved in to melt the hanging wiring above Tabby's head, Kurt bamfed her out of the way. This allowed Bobby to get in a surprise attack, and freeze the guy where he still stood.
Being who he was, the mutant had no trouble in thawing out his frozen prison, but didn't have a chance to recover before Tabby threw a bomb at him and he was knocked to the ground, and knocked out.
Tabby allowed herself only a brief punch into the air before they ran to help the others, and the fight was now very much in the younger mutants favour. As Jubilee fired off her sparks at the last man standing, the rest looked around, to take in the fact that not only had several of their number reappeared, but that they had won, against the odds.
Tabby contained herself for a moment, before launching herself at her former friends, dragging Kurt along with her. Scott clapped Fred on the back before going to join his old teammates, and for a moment, it was completely forgotten that a battle was going on above them.
They were brought back to reality pretty damn quickly, when something large hit the ground above them. Scott took most of the mutants back up with him to help Mystique and Logan, but left Fred and Sam in charge of rounding up the fallen mutants, and securing them for when they woke up.
Fred gave each of them another punch to face to ensure that this wouldn't happen in the duration of their task.
Mystique was shocked to see Logan doing so badly in a fight. He was cornered, true, by three rather large looking men, one whose blade like arms made Logan's claws look like little needles, but problems like this had never daunted the man before. He looked as though he were certain that the end was near, despite his healing capablities. Clearly something drastic was going to be needed to get rid of these people. Thinking to herself what usually conjured up fear into men's hearts, Mystique got the sudden image of a dragon in her head. But dragons were fictional creatures, she didn't know if it was possible to change into one.
It was worth a go. She focused intently on the image in her mind, and was relieved to feel her body change drastically. Her first sign of success was when she heard the mutants gasp; the second was when she broke the roof off the building in her transformation. She looked down now at the men, who stared at her with wide eyes, before running off down the halls. Unfortunately, most of the others followed suit, including the young mutants she was supposed to be saving.
Mystique changed form again, and found that only Logan had remained. Lance, Kitty and Todd had followed in the direction of the running kids.
Wolverine was watching her was a bizarre expression on his face. He seemed part knackered, part disbelieving.
He cleared his throat. 'Thanks' he said gruffly, like he could believe he was saying it.
Mystique nodded in reply. 'Welcome' she said, unable to keep a little smirk away. She didn't let him see it, by turning in the direction the others had run to, and following.
Having just seen a dragon appear out of nowhere, there was nothing really that could scare Jamie. Or so he thought. On his way out of the mansion, he turned around to notice that he was being pursued. By a man with blades for arms. This was particularly scary.
He had no idea how to use his power to help him in a situation like this, and was so much slower than this man. He held up his arms over his head to uselessly try and protect himself, and ran for all he was worth, knowing it was actually no good.
The guy was getting closer. There was a smile of triumph lighting up his eerie face, and he was raising his blade above his head.
He was about to swing back, when something leaped out of the air, and threw Jamie aside.
He looked up to see just what it was that had saved him, and realised that it wasn't a what, it was a who. Todd Polanski was lying panting on the ground beside him.
'Shit, you run fast kid' he gasped. He didn't get a chance to recover, because the man had stopped in his tracks, and was now advancing upon the two of them, blades raised high in the air.
It was then that Todd did something both brave, and incredibly stupid. Sticking out his tongue, he lashed onto one of the blade arms the man was waving about, and wrapped it round it, getting a firm hold. Then as a fisherman flicks out his line, he used his only weapon to send the man flying into the trees beyond, letting go only at the last moment. He drew back his tongue, not wanting to see the damage done to it by the sharp blade. He could feel the pain well enough.
Jamie didn't seem to know what to say, and so started immediately trying to save Todd's incredibly injured tongue, waiting till later to show gratitude, when they weren't in quite as much mortal peril.
About five minutes later, and things were definitely looking good for the X-men. Lance stood on the first floor of the mansion, and caused the ground below to rumble, knocking several mutants at once off their feet. Scott and Tabby fired at them from the ground. Kitty and Kurt led some through the trees, straight into the waiting ice of Bobby, and the heat of Magma. Despite the separation, the X-men seemed to work as a seamless team still, even with the addition of people who once, a long time ago, had been enemies.
Logan threw a last punch at a guy could shoot vines from his hands, and that was it. Together, the threat to the mansion had been abolished. The mutants stood for a while, watching their fallen opponents, and getting their breath back. It was over.
Something then erupted a while away in the trees, which sort of disproved their point, and they ran to the source of the trouble.
When they finally arrived there, they couldn't believe their eyes.
He was absolutely huge, Rogue remarked to herself vaguely. About ten times the size of herself. She knew she should be afraid, but she supposed she would not allow herself to be so.
'Apocalypse' she said, unable to think of anything witty or clever to say at this exact moment in time. She just hoped she was actually as calm as she thought she was, and that her legs would function when she actually needed them too.
'You know me' he replied, looking slightly startled that she addressed him by his name. There was something in the way he was watching her that was heartening for Rogue. It was almost as though the creature was wary of her, like there was a little respect buried in the fathomless depths of her eyes.
'I know you' she confirmed. This was a bit of lie. She didn't really know what he was here for, and where exactly he came from, or anything really other than his name.
'I felt you coming' he said, and Rogue waited apprehensively for more. 'I felt you at the back of my mind, you burn brighter than any other matter on the planet.'
She supposed he was paying her a compliment, and resisted the urge to say thank you.
'Join me' he hissed out, 'together, no thing on Earth could put an end to our dominance. Refuse, and one of us will have to die.'
He didn't beat about the bush; she had to give him credit for that. Finding her tongue, Rogue answered him. 'Thanks for the offer and everything, but I think we'd have a clash of opinions. On killing people, for example.'
He had no sense of humour. 'Foolish child,' he spat at her. 'You have chosen death over absolute power.'
'Well maybe somebody will remember that in the afterlife.' She responded, 'I'll be sure to spit on you from up there.'
He raised his giant hands in fury, and slammed them down on the ground. Something close to a minor earthquake rocked the ground below her. Rogue couldn't keep her balance, and tumbled to the ground.
Apocalypse pressed his advantage, and sent the earth rolling her backwards, the ground peeled backwards easily. She hit ground, and pulled herself to her feet painfully, knowing she'd find bruises all over her the next day.
But she wasn't beaten yet. Since she had come into her powers, Rogue had not yet found the chance to really stretch her legs. Now, here was the perfect opportunity. Apocalypse looked down to find the ground below him was now shaking, and rumbling was coming from beneath. Soon, a hole erupted from under him, and torrents of water shot out at him with the force of a missile, swirling him round in a small whirlpool that had the strength of a tsunami. Rogue rose to her feet, hands out and necklace glowing.
Apocalypse fought himself free of the torrent, and now faced Rogue, dripping wet, and still deadly. He picked up a tree; wrenching it from the ground it was still attached to, and hurled it at her like a javelin.
Rogue held up her hands, and the tree stopped mid flight. She spun it around for a moment, and then sent it, still spinning, towards its origin. Apocalypse ducked, and several of the trees around him were destroyed by the gigantic missile.
It was at this point, that Pietro ran in at top speed. As Apocalypse again fired another vastly heavy object in Rogue's direction, which she again fended off, Pietro ran round and round and round him, building up a small whirlwind round him, despite Rogue's protests for him to stop.
Pietro did stop, but only when he was made to realise how futile his efforts were. Apocalypse endured the annoyance for a moment, before he closed his eyes, and began to grow, getting to be about twice the size he was before. Pietro's whilrwind was now rising only to the tops of his legs. He raised his foot slightly, and kicked at the boy, who was sent soaring through the air. Rogue stopped him mid flight, and landed him at the other side of the freshly made clearing.
High above her, the voice of Apocalypse boomed to the heavens. 'I could squash you like a bug, but it would make death far too quick for you.' He said, watching her with contempt.
Rogue looked around her frantically. She saw now that everyone had stopped fighting, and was now watching her confrontation. This meant that the house was now empty. Which gave her an idea.
'Well that's true,' she agreed, 'but it also wouldn't give me a chance to do this.' Her necklace glowed bright white round her neck, and her eyes seemed to shine like beacons. And, slowly at first, but with growing pace, the part of the mansion, which was still in tact, began to rise into the air. As if they knew what was coming, everyone ran as fast as they could, save for Pietro. Rogue let the partially destroyed structure hover for a few tantalising moments, before she let it fall right on top of Apocalypse.
As the house came crashing down, she went running to Pietro, putting a shield around them both. He was lying quite still on the ground, but Rogue was fairly sure he was alive. She watched as the part building came crashing down on the mutant, and heard his cry of surprised pain. Then there was absolute silence for a moment. Then the ruins and rubble began to stir.
His body, now back to its original size, levitated itself from the wreckage. With it, came the unconscious figures of his small, fallen army. He watched Rogue as he rose.
'When we meet again, I will be stronger.' He said as a parting warning, before he and the other figures moved away, coming to land a safe distance from the mansion.
Everything seemed to zoom back to reality for everyone else, and they realised that there was in fact a ruined town around them. They could hear sirens in the distance, and knew that camera crews wouldn't be too far behind. They still had to do what they could to help, and attract as little attention as possible to the institute, or their involvement in the fight.
Still, they couldn't help but be affected a little by what had just taken place. Kurt watched his sister with a stupified expression, after approaching the rubble with Tabby.
'You threw a house at him?' he asked blankly.
He didn't get an answer. Rogue was too busy seeing to Pietro. She turned him over gently, and stroked his hair softly, bringing him back to consciousness. He watched her with a slightly dizzy look.
'I'm sorry I didn't listen to you' he said, but she put a resigned finger over his lips, holding it in place for a second or two.
'I love you too.' She responded, before lowering her head and replacing her finger with her own lips.
On the other side of the world, in a far off, mountain temple, a cloaked figure made his way hastily through the stone passageways. He ended up running full on, coming to a halt when he arrived in a massive stone chamber.
Throwing off his hood, he revealed himself to be fairly old, yet noble in face, the rugged crags of his skin adding character to his appearance. A rough, short beard covered the lower half of his face, and he stood now scratching it slightly in anxiety.
He looked to his two compatriots, both who wore similar apparel to himself. He looked from face to fear, the fear clear in his eyes.
'Is it true Cassius, Hermes?' he asked, knowing already the answer. His two friends looked positively terrified.
The two heads fell in solemn nods. 'It is true, the war lord has returned to the Earth.'
'Can you be sure?' he said, clinging onto the final, desperate strands of hope.
In response, the men gestured to the huge stone alter that was the centrepiece of the room. On it, a stone in the middle of the surface was now glowing a bright light.
'But, but this means that the champion must be active also.' He said, and was met by more nods from his fellows.
'Yes' one of them said, with slightly more hope than before. 'It means, Brutus' he said, and his thin lipped smile that had before been firmly in place faltered a little, and he gave a slight cough. 'We're going to America.'
Brutus's jaw hit the floor in horror.
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation are property of Marvel and WB
AUTHORS NOTE: I am sooooo sorry this took so long, and no offence to the American's by the last remark, trust me it should all make sense soon. But next chapter, we will see the aftermath of the battle, including the interest the rest of the world takes. Lance and Rogue will have a heart to heart, Kitty will have to work on her revenge, Apocalypse will need to plan again, and Scott will have to do something about his standing Lydia up (or someone else will have to do something for him!). There's a bunch of other stuff still to happen as well, I'll just have to sort out which order it happens in! So till next time, keep reviewing. Oh yes, what do people feel should happen to the 'new students' now that their fearless (ahem) leader has left them to go into hiding?
