Greetings to you all! Here is the first chapter of my story "In the Eye of the Enemy." This story is very much Sci-Fi as well as Action/Adventure/Suspense, but there is also plenty of romance involved as well. You will probably be surprised at how the X-Men first appear in this fic, but rest assured, the original X-Men of the Evolution universe are not far away. This fic was inspired by a lot of stories, video games, and movies I have seen, played, and read in the past, Terminator Trilogy, Battlefield Earth, Days of Future Past, Demon in my View by Raven2687, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Judgment Day by Scribbler and Underground Resistance X by simba317 to name a few.
Here is to the reviewers of my prologue:
jOttlUvEr: Nice to meet you! I'm so glad you are finding what I have written so far enticing! Rest assured, this story will be quite intense as well. I look forward to seeing what you think about this first chapter of this work!
Agent-G: Not one for dark futures huh? Well, I can understand that. No hard feelings. In response to your statement about time travel, yes, there will be that, but it's a long way down the road. The people whom I will send back through time are one of the biggest twists in this story! Peace out!
Slickboy444: It's you again, one of my favorite authors and one of my most encouraging reviewers! I love hearing from you Slicky! Yes, this fic is a dark one, but it has a very complex storyline as well as a twisted and warped future and past for the X-Men of the Evolution universe. All the pairings I mentioned are the major ones, and I figured an X-Men fan of your caliber would appreciate having them all in the same story! However, there will be some others as well, even though they will not be as big. I'm still deciding on the Logan/Ororo couple. I may or may not do it. I look forward to reading your review! Also, you've made some new versions of X-Men in your fics. Well, here is my first attempt at making a new version of the X-Men!
Silvia Ammons: One of my most enthusiastic reviewers! I know this one may seem slower, but I still writing this one, the other, I'm simply redoing over. But I plan to go for this one too! I'm sure you'll like it! Your words drive me like fuel does fire!
So, without further adieu, here is Chapter One, where I shall introduce you all to my own original version of the X-Men, the X-Men AXT!
Chapter 1
The X-Men AXT
Nevada Desert, U.S.A., 2007
Night had fallen across the vast, sandy, rocky landscape of the Nevada desert, and the night itself was vast. The desert itself was of forbidding presence. The air was eerily quiet and no wind was shifting the sands with the magic effect of erosion. The dark inky black night sky filled the overhead view with a dark void filled with stars and a crescent moon that curved like a silver scimitar, as if the sky god who ruled the night was revealing the weapon with which he would strike down those who displeased him.
But there was one thing about the scene that proved that something was going on. And the something was not of the pleasant type, or the humane type either. In truth however, there were several indicators of some presence that wasn't of the natural nocturnal animal world, but of a kind even the mightiest animal predator would be afraid to approach.
Here the desert wasn't flat, but rather filled with hills and rocky ridges. And in addition, the ground here was rich in minerals and metals that geologists had failed to discover from some unknown reasons in pervious decades. And that itself was one of the reasons why activity was going on.
Along the valley floor, on a treaded down road that bore only the most vaguest resemblance to a paved road that so many people years earlier had taken for granted, a massive machine was moving. The machine was big, large, and also heavily armored. It was twice as long as a city bus and had enough power to find traction on even the slipperiest surface. It moved along on big tank like treads that dug into the rough rocky ground as intense lights pierced the darkness in front of it so that the driver could see where he was going.
Being pulled along behind the massive machine were trailers. Prison trailers. Each one itself was like a multi-cell prison. Each one had 24 holding compartments on board. And a mutant prisoner occupied each and every one of them. And it could be heard too, by the continuous moans and groans of pain and misery that resulted from being in so small a space for so long. The walls separating the prisoners were titanium bars and the outer walls were made of space age plastic over a foot thick that couldn't be punctured even with a grenade explosion. And this, one could clearly see the horribly beaten mutant prisoners inside. Their bodies were covered with welts, bruises, and cuts and their clothes were nothing more than tattered rags, which was a clear sign that they had been brutally beaten. Each prisoner bore a collar around his or her neck, a silver collar with several blue lights on it that blinked continuously. It was through these collars that their powers were nullified, rendering them unusable. And without powers, there was nothing they could do to escape.
Several groups of human soldiers flanked along side the massive prisoner transporter. Each of them was dressed in a white and black military uniform, black combat boots, a bulletproof vest, and a helmet equipped with night vision goggles. Each one also carried a large weapon that housed several deadly tools of destruction. It could either fire a pulse wave to stun a target with extreme force, a plasma cannon to kill potentially lethal prisoners, and a net launcher to snare a target like a fish in the sea. And finally, bringing up the rear were two groups of specialized vehicles that hovered in the air, as if defying gravity. In addition, each one was armed with twin laser cannons, and had a black uniformed commando at the controls.
But the real scary part of the whole picture was looming up ahead three miles into the distance. A huge structure, towering high into the sky and spreading out for a least two miles in every direction from side to side loomed at the far end of the valley, a monstrous menacing image that seemed to originate from the depths of hell itself. The lights that dotted the huge structure made it seem like an entire city built into a single building. Surrounding the monstrosity were tall thick walls all around the base, towers and search lights at various locations on it, always on the look out for trouble. And finally there were the air patrol units and assault vehicles that flew around the place, their searchlights making them seem like demonic fireflies in the night as the menacing construction made up their hive. The mutants feared going to this place, for if a mutant ever went into this place, he would most likely never leave it alive.
It was one of the notorious Compounds that were stationed at various locations around the world. And the name was apt in every sense of the word. The towering structures were maximum-security prisons for mutants, and also labor camps and research facilities for scientists. They even had a wing in them that was where research and genetic experiments were conducted.
Life in a Compound was pure hell according to all legends. And that was just the kind of metaphor everyone used, even those who ran the hellish prisons. Mutants were treated like animals there. In a Compound, a prisoner had no identity whatsoever. He or she was merely given a prison designation, which consisted of a letter from the Greek alphabet and a number that was tattooed on the upper arm in a non-toxic liquid metal so that it would never fade.
The typical day in such a location consisted of a getting up as early as four in the morning and working virtually nonstop until midnight. The Compound was built at the base of a large mountain range where prisoners mined the minerals and metals. The grueling labor was horrible to say the least and it was also backbreaking to anyone.
But the part that everyone feared the most about the Compound was the laboratory wing of the complex. It was here that scientists and torturers used mutant prisoners as guinea pigs in painful genetic experimentation. The main goal of each lab wing in each Compound around the world was to find a means of destroying mutants by developing a mutant-targeting biogenic weapon. The previous attempt at such a feat, the "Miracle Virus" as it had been called, had ended in catastrophe. The Miracle Virus had not been properly tested, nor had it been thoroughly researched or carefully thought through of all the potential harm it could cause. As a result, it had killed all manner of life when it had been released. Only via special viral destroying agents did humanity manage to contain the dreaded plague before the entire world was wiped out. Plants and animals alike perished from it, then humans and many mutants as well. The Miracle Virus's name was clearly the opposite of what it came to be. Now, the search of a true weapon was on.
However, there was one part about the labs that the mutant prisoners feared above all else. There were some mutants, whom were carefully selected from the Compound population, were chosen to be "Hounds" or "Hunter Dogs." Brainwashed and drugged into total loss of self and identity, Hounds were mutant prisoners who were always obedient. Using their own mutant powers, which were of a specific type, their tasks were to track down other mutants and lead the military to them, pointing the way like bloodhounds would for a hunter.
Hunter Dogs were mutants who were given specific drugs and neural-surgery that made their aggressive impulses and tendencies become uncontrollable. As a result, they would try to attack anyone they encountered, even other mutants. In this way, they were used as tools to soften up targets and make them vulnerable. And with special devices implanted in their nervous systems, the human military could "shut them off" with the mere touch of a button.
The world itself was coming apart, both for mutants and humans. For mutants, it was a fight just to stay alive. Rights and freedom would have to come later on. And for humans themselves, there were two wars. One side was the humans how had sided with mutants, hoping to stop the terror that had ransacked the world. They consisted of all kinds, mutant-sympathizer groups, scientists, doctors, even quite a large number of military soldiers from all branches. And of course, there were the families of mutants who had joined the freedom movement.
The majority though, was the side of humanity that saw mutants as a bane. They far out-numbered the mutant resistance freedom movement, but so far, neither side was really gaining the advantage over the other they so desperately needed. If neither side won soon, the end victory could very well be hollow.
Atop a sharp ridge that was on one side of the valley, several figures were carefully watching the prisoner transport unit dragging the mutant prisoners off to a fate worse than death. They had all seen this many times before and this would not be the last time either.
This prisoner transport was clearly unaware that itself and its cargo was under observation from an unknown force. And that was how that force wanted to be. Unknown. And it was. Except to itself.
The group consisted of six individuals; half of them men and the other half were women. They were all wearing slick gold and red and black uniforms that were each unique from one another, while one of them, a young woman like long dark hair, had an almost all red costume that had only a little back or gold. Their eyes were carefully observing the sight before them with the type of eyesight and sharpness that only a bird of prey on the look out for a kill might be able to equal. And in a way that's what they were. And if this operation would turn out any way that they were expecting, a kill would definitely happen.
This was nothing original. Nothing totally unpracticed. But it was nothing totally predictable either. There was always margin for error in any scenario, no matter how sharply the kinks and glitches were ironed out. If you lived life with the X-Men AXT, short for their self-appointed title X-Men Adventure Extreme Team, trial and error was most often fatal.
"Is that our target, Scott?" asked Jean Grey, her very long flaming red hair blowing in the cool desert breeze.
Scott Summers carefully looked for the transports' identification numbers printed on the right-hand side of the motorized head through his hi-tech infrared binoculars. He and his team had been asked to look for Transport Unit 7583. This was it.
"That's it, Jean," said the young field leader, "According to the data our agents managed to get to St. Genosha told the Nevada Compound was scheduled to receive a new shipment of prisoners and laborers for the mines. It was scheduled to arrive at approximately this time. That's definitely our target." Scott brought down his binoculars, revealing a pair of eyes that could have looked human had it not been for the bright ruby crimson color of the irises. He brought up the binoculars again, trying to see every single part of this situation he could see.
Sure enough, as he had expected, there was an increased number of soldiers flanking the transport. The security for transport units was being increased. No surprises there. The X-Men AXT had managed to deliver several successful attacks at certain points over the past few weeks and the effect was starting to take hold. Security was steadily increasing, as a simple math equation of reason. More successes on the enemy side, increase your ranks to compensate.
Scott carefully observed the groups of security personnel. They were there alright and from the looks of it, most were young men and women in their physical prime. Their night vision helmets were hiding their expressions, but Scott knew that they were listening to the cries of anguish from the prisoners, and more than likely reveling in it. That thought alone was enough to make Scott want to puke with disgust.
Each human solider had what was called a Tri-Fold rifle, the main handheld weapon of the humans' mutant termination squads. And on their backs he saw their secondary tool, a large gun that had a mini gun like barrel and a large ammo storage mechanism attached to multiple points on the frame. Those were lethal rapid cluster weapons that fired 50-caliber uranium slug bullets at super high velocities, and could hold up to 5000 rounds of ammunition at a time. They were obviously well armed. And of course, there were the hover cycles in the back motorcycle-like machines that cold fly over rough terrain as easily as a bird flew through the air. Any mutant being chased by a commando on a hover cycle wouldn't get far at all unless they had teleportation or super speed in their arsenal.
Prisoners in cages, beaten, starved, and tortured. A death camp waiting just up ahead. Mutant-hating ignorant foolish soldiers guarding them. Was humanity anywhere these days other than in St. Genosha? How low was the dark side of the human race falling?
"See anythin' else, Homme?" asked the man immediately to Scott's right. Remy Lebeau was gauging their targets carefully through his red on black eyes. His fighting staff was currently in its mobile mode, the extendable length of it short enough to fit into his belt under his midnight black trench coat. But it could be whipped out and extended to fighting mode in the blink of an eye if Remy so wanted to do it.
"Yeah, we've got several guard units down there armed to the teeth with weapons. At least thirty five on each transport unit" said Scott, still watching the parading units marching towards their destination, "And from the looks of it, they've added security to their numbers. I think they're increasing their ranks."
The next one in the group to speak was Kurt Wagner, who was standing near Wanda Maximoff. "Zhey're are probably adding more men since ve took out zhat last military outpost in Colorado last veek," said Kurt, "That must mean ve're making progress."
Wanda was listening to Kurt as well, but she couldn't feel as optimistic about that line of logic as she would probably want to. True, there was no victory that was considered small in the X-Men AXT. However, for each victory, there was a defeat to come sooner or later. The ratio was infallible.
"So we definitely got a fight on our hands, no?" asked Remy unnecessarily, who was noticing for not the first time how it felt to walk around with a trench coat with the pockets empty. He used to carry deck after deck after deck of playing cards in his pockets, but every since he and the rest of the X-Men AXT had had their mutant "upgrades" he no longer needed ammunition to charge up.
"Yah think that after all the times we've been through this, Sugah, you've have figured we have one on our hands almost every time," Rogue, as she was known to everyone, spoke up in her southern voice. Remy looked over the young woman near him, and smiled that oh-so-charming smile of his that he used to use to drive any woman around him nuts with a crush.
"I'm well aware of that, Chere," said the Cajun, "I just like to be sure, just like always."
Rogue wasn't sure of how to respond about that, but she simply smiled at Remy and flashed her long lashes at him, all the while patting his hand with her own ungloved hand, something her "upgrades" had managed to grant her, like Scott's had relieved him of the need to wear ruby-quartz eye protection. However, she quickly turned back to the others.
"Ah think now is the perfect time to get 'em, Scott," said Rogue, "There's a tall wall of rock blocking the view from the Compound. And besides, if we're any closer to the Compound when weh attack, we'll be spotted by their HKs."
HKs, or Hunter/Killers as their full designations went, were the main air patrol unit of the humans' robotic forces. They were like a combination of Cobra Combat Chopper and B-2 Bomber Jet, with a few things on the side. As their name implied, they were designed to track down any life form that could be registered as a mutant and destroy it, and they had more than enough tools for the job. They had rapid laser cluster guns, heat-seeking missile launchers, attack nets, and a few other things. In addition, they were fully automated and all shared an uplink to a specific control center located at the top of the compound that was three miles away. If one HK was destroyed, the command center would immediately know about it and send word to other HKs in the area, making them home in on the last location of the destroyed one that had sent out the distress call. If you destroyed an HK, you could have a dozen more on you in minutes.
"You're right, Rogue," said Scott, looking over at her from his position behind the ridge they were hiding behind, "Now's the time." He looked over to Jean.
"Jean, you better tell the others now's the time to attack," said Scott.
The lovely redhead nodded and tapped the communications device on her wrist. A beep, beep, beep sound emanated from the small machine, no louder than a tapping of a foot on a floor.
"Phoenix to Storm," said Jean into the communicator, "Storm, you copy?"
"Affirmative, Phoenix," came Ororo "Storm" Munroe's voice over the carefully masked com signal, "What's your status?"
Jean's green eyes trailed down to the pack of soldiers flanking the big armored transport like motorcycle attendants for a big limousine. So far, they were all moving forward like nothing was wrong. Reaching out with her telepathy, she could tell they all thought that nothing was going down. How wrong they were.
"We're in position," Jean answered, "Scott says we need to strike now, or else we'll be spotted by the HKs in this area."
"I understand," said Ororo.
"Then it's time to act."
Ororo Munroe was only mildly anxious. But rest assured that would increase once the operation began. This was the calm-before-the-storm moment. The calm was when the human soldiers down below would expect nothing of particular threat to happen as they were making their way towards the Compound. The storm? Well, that was when these bloodthirsty human grunts would see how poorly equipped they were to handle mutants with trained powers, which were also enhanced through means that you could never truly comprehend if you were not an expert in the field of genetic mutation. But then again, getting these bastards out of the way and then freeing the poor prisoners still trapped inside was only about one fifth of this whole operation. And each "fifth" of any operational fraction was more dangerous than the one prior to the last.
This sort of job was known as an ISS operation, or an Infiltrate/Sabotage/Salvation operation. In such an operation, the main goal was to get inside the target building, which in this case was the compound. Get inside the place, sabotage it so that the humans and the robotic security forces had trouble doing their job, if they were able to do it at all, and finally, get out with whatever it was you broke in to find. Well, that sort of category was the true formula for almost every mission that the X-Men AXT went on. But, while the basic layout and formula remained the same, the parts themselves varied as much as mutant powers did from mutant to mutant.
Sometimes the target that they infiltrated was a military munitions storage facility, sometimes it was a processing assembly plant where the sentinels and the robot forces were built and upgraded, and sometimes, it was the Compounds themselves. The sabotage part was really the same all the way, just shut off or destroy the components that stood in your way, such as the mainframe of surveillance complex or the security system. Finally, there was the part about the prize you got away with as a result of the mission going successfully. It could vary a lot as well. It could have been maybe the secret data stored there, which could help out at St. Genosha headquarters, the important technology that was always being looked after until it was ready for use, the prisoners of a labor camp that needed to be freed. But more often than not, it was simply your own life.
"It's time to being phase one of the plan," said Ororo, looking over her shoulder to the people behind her. Like her, they were dressed in gold and red and black uniforms, the three identification colors of X-Men AXT, and they all bore the same identification logo, which consisted of a golden X on a black background, on the buckles of the golden belts or on triangular shoulder pads on each shoulder. Most had the logo in one place or the other. Some had it in both places on their costumes.
They all nodded to her, signaling their readiness. Ororo nodded back to let them know she knew, then turned back to the patrols down below.
She reached out one of her dark-skinned hands, clad in a fingerless black glove, a bright white glow suddenly intensifying around her hand. At the same instant, an eerie, ghostly white glow appeared in her eyes.
Lieutenant Joss Silverson was really annoyed and irritated, and if she didn't get to dish out some her aggression, she was sure to burst from sheer aggressive impulses. She was good at her job. That much she was wiling to admit, but the things that were really getting on her nerves were the constant bickering of mutants in the slave-holding cells groaning and gasping for breath.
I should be doing what I was meant for, he thought to herself, not looking after some mutie prisoners like a farmer looks after shit-smelling pigs in a pen. Good gods, what was ever going to be relief from all this overtime work on minimal pay for the hard working soldier?
This ordinary routine of daily mutant hunting was really of a predictable pattern. When there really was some action involved in the game of cat-and-mouse against mutants, there was no real threat. She sometimes wondered just how much she was wanting to go for some real hard-core dangerous action where the risk of getting hurt or even fatally harmed was up their in the high probability range. But for the past several days of being on the constant lookout for mutants that were doing nothing less that dirty the world with their mistake of nature genetic codes, it was easy to bag them. It was really starting to get on her nerves.
If work gets boring, don't waste your time.
Silverson merely looked around her, only shifting her eyes as to not display she was not concentrating on the task at hand. Anything other than watching the slave transport and the road head that led to the Compound was nothing short of insubordination in the book of the hard-assed military leaders who ran this whole business. Piss them off, kiss your career good-bye.
The only thing that Silverson could really care to look at was the pitiful excuses of human beings who were pleading with their eyes to be let out of their cells. She stole a quick glance to the trailer she was near. And sure enough, she saw what she had expected, what she had known, to see. The bodies were there. Most were standing but only just. Others were collapsed in the cells where they remained is weird positions that were so cramped up and awkward that there was no way some who wasn't drop-dead exhausted could stand being in them for very long.
If Silverson could have had any sort of satisfaction at all, she would have taken it from merely being there to do the job that God had put her on this Earth to do. Which was probably clearing up the mess that Mr. Almighty and Omnipotent had put here in the first place, the polluting mutant gene that had turned the pure human gene pool into a contaminated soup of freakish mutie broth.
"Why can't we just shot these damn muties where they stand?" she heard the voice of Lieutenant Judas Ravencroft.
Silverson was really itching to shoot off a few mutants, but Ravencroft was really just a blabbermouth who wanted some action. Protocol meant next to nothing to him as long as there was a chance for some action. But being around soldiers who disregarded authority for simply the thrill of the kill made you wonder just how many levels there really were to commitment in the armed forces.
What happened next however, was something Silverson didn't expect, nor anyone else in their unit. The air around them, which was previously crystal clear and still, for their wasn't a single cloud in the desert night sky. The air suddenly grew moist, which didn't seem plausible since it was already dry herein thedesert, even at night. But yet, fog was coming, and it wasn't just coming, it was APPEARING all around.
Just like that, out of nowhere, the heavy veil was spring up to life all around them as if Mother Nature had just decided to cast this pea soup recipe into her pot of natural phenomena.
The others around Silverson were aware of this too, for they as well were suddenly caught off guard my the sudden appearance of the fog. And the fog was also thickening and it was becoming harder and harder to see anything. But what the hell was causing it?
But in just that same instant there was something else as well, but it wasn't seen, it was heard right in the heat of an instant. And everyone heard it.
The sound was no ordinary desert music of nature, but a huge burst of noise. And it was the sign of something big. Frankly, something big was going down. The soldiers saw flashes of light that were striking the vehicle they were swore to protect and it was heating up hugely. The colors of the flashes themselves were big and frightening, for they were bright red and yellow bursts, and they were destructive blasts as well.
The flashes were casting enormous bang explosions all around. In fact, it was explosions in the true sense.
The officers were scattering now, trying to get away from blinding mist as well as the terrible blasts so that they could see what was causing it all. Whatever it was, it sure as hell didn't want them to be near the transport they were supposed to be.
Silverson, Ravencroft, and a multitude of others stumbled out of the fog. All of them were raising their rifles and firearms, cause they were going to make sure those who interfered with their schedules was shown how to pay for it out of their own hide and no one else's. Backing away, all of them could see the other transport was having the same problem, for there were the telltale signs of lights blinking on and off, meaning that soldiers were struggling to activate the vision lights and laser sightings on their weapons, probably to make sure they could hit a target they could see more or less.
A bizarre flash of light suddenly diverted the attention of the soldiers over to the sandy ground that was beyond the reach of the fog, which everyone had realized had formed only around the transports themselves. That was a surer sign than any that this was clearly not natural fog. And that meant one thing. Foul play.
The soldiers saw that standing in front of them were four figures, all of them dressed in black and red and gold uniforms. One as a tall young man in his mid twenties with brown hair, but his eyes were glowing bright red. In addition, both his hands were up as if he was holding something, which he was. Strange glowing spheres of red energy were in each of his hands, like fireballs. There was also a tall slender redheaded woman with green eyes who had her fingers up to her temples. Then there was a brown haired man, who bore the strangest red on black eyes, in a long black coat and holding a long silver Bo in a way that indicated he was more than skilled in using it. And lastly, there was what looked like a demon, with bright blue skin and hair, golden eyes, and strange elf-like ears as pointed as the end of dagger. In addition, it had a long prehensile tail, and three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. This creature was armed with a long sword, which it was holding out in front of it like a Jedi would in the Star Wars universe. And in addition, it had another sword in a sheath on its back, and two long combat daggers in sheathes fixed to its boots. All four of the individuals had stoic stares, yet an aura on them that made more than few of the soldiers intimidated.
Oh man! This is really not a good night to be on patrol!
The shit had hit the fan big time! These were members of the notorious X-Men AXT. They were the major foes of this war, and were the cause of all the problems in the world other than other mutants being out here. These mutants, these terrorists, outlaws, whatever the hell you wanted to call them, were pretty much the worst type of criminals any person could imagine. And on top of that, they possessed superhuman powers that gave them more than enough terror and mayhem to throw at you.
"MUTANTS!" a lieutenant bellowed out loud "X-MEN MUTANTS!"
Without hesitation, every single soldier in the group brought up their weapons and started firing.
Private Mack Gargon heard the word before he could register the whole scenario. Why hadn't he seen this coming like he was trained to? Fog appears, it only surrounds where you are, then explosions of unnatural color drive you out of it and then it clears. How stupid was he becoming?
Gargon hastily looked for the switch that would activate the laser sightings on his weapon. He continued to flick switch after switch, hoping to get the right one the next time he flipped one. Why did these guns have to have so many switches in so many places?
The confused and disoriented soldier felt another soldier slam into him from behind, probably from not being able to see where he was. The force was driven by panic, that much Gargon could guess without even thinking about it. Hell he just knew it right from the start. He also knew he was lying face down on the ground, and was looking at the booted lower legs of his fellow Anti-Mutant Squad members. He was in a position that was dangerous enough to not ignore. If he didn't stand up, he would be trampled for sure.
Gargon struggled to climb to his feet and regain his stance to defend himself, but this was really starting to become a human stampede. But he managed to regain his balance. All around him he heard cries and shouts of soldiers saying that mutants in the X-Men AXT were close by. Maybe even on the top of their heads.
Gargon quickly brought up his weapon, just as he stumbled out of the fog. And then he saw them. Four figures standing just outside the mist, awaiting the soldiers to stumble out so they could see them. He recognized their uniforms at once, these were those mutant soldiers from the resistance alright. He saw a very tall, massively muscled man who looked like his entire body was made of mobile metal, for it gleamed and shimmered in the moonlight like a bar of silver as he moved. He also saw a tall woman with long purple hair and purple eyes, who was holding what looked like two long samurai swords made of bright purple light.
Gargon immediately saw his associates raise their weapons to attack, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw soldiers looking in another direction. Looking over to that place, he saw two more mutants wearing X-Men AXT uniforms. One was a very big, very muscular tall African-American with long dreadlocked smoky dark hair and short trimmed beard and mustache who was armed with a large plasma rifle and had two additional hand weapons in his belt. But the golden glow in one of his eyes indicated he was armed with more than just that. The other mutant was young man who looked like his entire body was made of transparent crystal, which gleamed and sparkled like quartz and diamond.
Alright, this was the hardest part yet. Which one should Gargon aim for? This was almost like a little kid trying to chose which flavor ice cream he wanted at the frozen yogurt shop. Jezz, these mutant attacks were really complicated procedures. Gargon made a mental note to not volunteer for this job again until he was at least a lieutenant.
Gargon turned back to the other group, trying to decide which one was closer to him. But no sooner did he turn his head did he see the two-foot long spear of purple energy flying towards him. The strange missile struck Gargon, and the effect was instantaneous. The effect raged across his nervous system like fire through dry grass. Each neuron was now charged to peak with some stimulating charge, then it all neutralized and took his synaptic energies along with it.
The last thing Gargon could see before he fell into mental darkness was the face of the purple haired women looking right at him with a smile of triumph, meaning she was the one who had taken him out.
Look out guys. She's gonna take you down.
The entire windshield was fogged up with moisture. How the hell did that happen out in the middle of Dryville? The driver of Transport Unit 7583 was completely blinded by the fogged up glass. He couldn't even see what was a few inches in front of him on the other side. But it wasn't the poor visibility that was making him uneasy, it was what caused it.
Out of the ordinary was best way he could think of to describe it. How could he really explain it when nothing was going as it should. Right now everything was gong wrong and all.
He immediately tried fumbling with the controls. He reached for the radio control on the main control pad in front of him. He had to signal his other troops and perhaps alert the Compound he was driving towards. That Compound was three miles away, but he had to do something to get out of this mess!
A strange sound, like some weird whisper and phase of light, reached his ears. But he couldn't place what type of sound it was. Pretty much any sound he could think of, yet nothing would click into place with this bizarre call of sonic vibration. But what he did realize was that it was coming from the right-hand side of the cockpit of the transport. And that was when he looked to see what was causing.
A young woman, whom he guessed to be twenty-three or twenty four years of age with long brown locks and sparkling blue eyes was sitting in the seat right there. But what the driver really noticed was the attire she was clad in. A sleek form-fitting red, gold, and black uniform, bearing a golden belt and shoulder pads that all held a large gold X on a pure back background.
She also wore a mischievous, sly smile.
Before the driver could even think of responding, or wondering how the hell she got into the cockpit without using any conventional means of entry, the girl reach out towards the radio panel that he had tried to reach for moments ago. But, instead of pressing any buttons, she reached inside the panel.
That's right, she was reaching inside the panel. Her hand, which he now noticed, no longer looked like a human hand at all, but now like a strange three dimensional silver-white construction of light in the shape of a hand, had entered the metal casing as easily as human hand moves through empty air. And not only that, but then the entire panel started to spark and smoke. Sparks crackled along the buttons and switches as the girl pulled her hand along the other controls, making them spark and short out as well. The entire dashboard was suddenly smoking and useless.
Mutant alert! Get your ass out of there now!
Suddenly, there was a loud squeak and then a slicing sound right above him. It was like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard followed by a puncture similar to a nail being driven through a plate of aluminum.
A huge set of claws, three in all as he counted were right in right of him, were moving with tremendous speed as they were cutting through the top of the cockpit. The top layer was over a foot thick, yet judging from the speed of the claws, they were cutting the metal like a red-hot knife cuts butter.
The large circular cut was then pulled up and then peeled back like the skin of a banana. And the face the driver saw next almost made him faint from sheer terror.
Looking down at him, teeth bared in a wolf-like snarl, was a big, blurry, muscular man with wild blue-black hair and hint of stubble on his chin and cheekbones.
Before the massive fist that would feel more like a metal ball coated in concrete hit the driver unconscious, he was sure he heard the brunette girl beside him say, "Good work, Wolverine."
The first bullet fired at the X-Men AXT mutants was like a biological catalyst to the other soldiers. The sound, the sudden bang and then gone just as quickly, made their fingers squeeze the triggers of their massive firearms. The bullets were now flying like lethal flies that only knew how to fly in a single straight line.
Scott Summers was already charging up his mutant powers even before the first bullet was fired, and the power itself was more lethal than any bullet if you used it with as much skill as Scott could use. The concussive force of Scott's powers was charged up like lightning in thundercloud. And just as the first bullets were fired, they protected him just as easily.
A bright red light suddenly appeared all around Scott's body sheathing in a bright red film of exotic force. Every inch of him was covered, nothing unprotected. The bullets hit. Dead on. They struck areas that would have fatally wounded any ordinary man instantly. But with Scott Summers, the bullets bounced off the red force field of concussive force like tennis balls bouncing off a wall. The bullets simply struck and ricocheted off.
Even now, Jean Grey herself was not even scratched by the onslaught. Her own psychic fields were hard at work, solidifying into shielding walls of psionic kinetic action. And it was just as effective as if she had placed a solid steel wall in front of her being.
The human soldiers started firing away even more. The emptied bullet cases in their guns started to fall to the ground like hailstones falling from a cloud. The sounds of the continuous bangs and snaps of chemicals igniting in the munitions and firing the lethal rounds was filling the entire area with noise. And not to mention, there were more flashes and bangs here with the firing than on the Fourth of July.
Scott and Jean were merely standing there still and undaunted by the gunfire. And it was also occurring to the human soldiers how ineffective their weapons were proving.
The firing still continued as Jean reached out with her hand, her psychic shield still protecting her from the hundreds of rounds smashing into her barrier. Then, Jean's mutant psionic energies began to kick into hyperdrive across her nervous system, shifting into her pryokinetic patterns.
As the two X-Men still continued to stand their ground, a sudden burst of heat, washed over the human soldiers. It occurred with such suddenness, such unexpectedness, that the firing immediately stopped. The human soldiers were so unprepared that they had to cease firing in order to see what was the cause of it. But it turned out they didn't even have to move their heads or even shift their eyes to see.
A blazing wall of fire had suddenly appeared all around them, the flames of red, orange, and yellow erupting from the ground in such a neat line that you would have thought it to be a thin line of gasoline ignited by a spark. The heat made the soldiers sweat and back away. Most of them were shielding their eyes from the bright glare.
Silverson was closer to the line of flames that most of the others. She saw that those two X-Men with the weird films covering their bodies were still standing there like eerie energized statutes. They were easy targets.
A couple of other soldiers also started firing as well. However, they were instantly noticing, for the second time in less than three seconds that their bullets were useless. The male X-Man, who was still glowing red, turned his head over to a group of four soldiers who were training their weapons on him.
Scott raised his left hand, on which was a brilliant crimson flare, almost like a red neutron star on the end of his arm. With a quick sweep of his arm, a wave of red energy shot from his hand. The energy blast struck the soldiers like the volley of a cannon, lifting them up off the ground like rag dolls and sending them flying back. The weapons they held were bent and crushed like tin cans by the concussive force. The grunts crashed to the ground unconscious.
A couple of other soldiers were still training their attention to Scott, but the X-Man field leader merely looked at them with an intense red flare in his eyes. The humans were still thinking that maybe they could punch through this guy's bodily energy shield if they just kept plummeting him with volleys. But Scott merely smiled.
A massive beam of red energy fired out of his eyes, and plowed into the body of one of the soldiers. The soldier was then hurled back as a physical force equal to bomb explosion lifted him off his feet and sent him back through his comrades behind him. The soldiers scattered like bowling pins, falling and blacking out.
The fiery wall produced by Jean's pryokinesis was keeping the soldiers from advancing to bring on hand-to-hand conflict. But long-range weapons were still a problem. Since the fire was already burning, Jean had no real reason to keep intensifying it.
The redheaded woman reached out with the invisible forces of her telekinesis, grabbing the guns in the humans' hands like a human would wrap their fingers around a glass of water. But with telekinesis, it was more than simple to grab onto several objects at a time. And when it was at level alpha, as Jean's was, it could be used on more than a dozen objects at once, and lift weights of over ten tons.
In the blink of an eye, the firearms were yanked of the hands of the soldiers by Jean's powers, plucking them from their grasp like picking a flower. The incoming rounds instantly stopped hitting Jean's body, for the guns' triggers no longer had human fingers to operate them.
A few of the humans tried grabbing for their weapons, but Jean merely jerked back with her telekinesis. The guns were then flung far out behind Jean, where no one could reach them without going through her wall of fire.
Immediately after throwing away the guns, Jean placed her hands to her head, closing her green eyes. The soldiers were suddenly wondering what she was doing, but then they all felt a strange, fiery sensation in their heads. The feeling was totally new to them, yet it hurt worse than any physical gunshot. It felt like electricity was surging through their minds, their neurons and thinking powers burning up like a burnt out light bulb. The power increased until they were certain their minds were on fire from within. They then collapsed after a mere moment of this untold mental attack. And they would be out for several hours at least. A psychic blast from the X-Woman Phoenix was enough to knock you out for hours on end. They would have the mother of all headaches once they awoke.
Kurt Wagner and Remy Lebeau were pleased with the edge they had gotten via Jean's wall of fire. It gave them something that really helped out in situations like this, surprise. It could catch an enemy off guard. Off guard, off balance, fall down with the mere touch of a feather to the skin.
They were slow and easily surprised these humans. They only had the basic genetic codes that gave them normal human physical attributes. They were marines and soldiers, but humans could only reach their physical peak at one point in their lives. Mutants like Nightcrawler and Gambit were more athletic than any human, Olympic class in acrobatics and martial arts. Add that to mutant powers and you got two very tough mutants.
Kurt raised his sword as his got ready to wield it, the titanium alloy blade shined menacingly in the firelight. He could feel all that was going on, knew where people were and where they weren't. He could teleport to where he wanted without the worry of teleporting to where another was. No two things could exist in the same place at the same time. That didn't bother him in the least. All locations in his vicinity were tuned into his being, a sense his genetic "upgrades" had granted him.
With the trademark BAMF, Kurt vanished in a puff of brimstone and sulfurous smoke and appeared right in front of a human who was fidgeting with his weapon. It had the intended effect. Total surprise and unexpectedness. This human had been looking at an empty air space just moments ago. Now he had a mutant here, and his reaction time was pathetically slow.
Kurt swung his sword at the man's weapon, the blade slicing through the main body of the gun. The now halved weapon dropped from the man's grasp, circuitry and chemical fluids pouring of the diced cartridges inside.
Kurt's next attack was with his feet. The blue-furred mutant did a back flip, bringing up the hard-boned portions of both his feet to the human's chin. The soldier's head snapped back and then he toppled over completely, falling onto his back.
A click that could only come from a trigger was what brought Kurt to look up again. And it was good thing he did. For if he hadn't he would have been filled with holes. He saw that a second soldier was there behind the one he had just taken out, and was already ready to give him a taste of gunfire.
The first sound was a bang rather than a bamf. And it was of a gun type. But Kurt teleported at that same instant, and the shots passed through the space had only recently occupied.
The soldier was about to look around to see if he could spot that weird blue creature. But the view before him went from a picture of humans aiming their rifles to a close up of a chest clad in red and black garmenting. And a blue head with fangs and goblin eyes toping it off.
Acting with superhuman reflexes, a three-fingered hand grabbed hold his Tri-fold rifle. Instead of yanking it out of the human's hands, Kurt used one of his newly gained abilities, the skill of teleporting something he was touching all by itself instead of along with him.
Air was the only thing that the soldier then felt his hands grasping. One second, his weapon was in his hand, and the next minute, it was like vaporized. The change couldn't have taken longer than an instant; for that was half the time it took for the man to register the sudden occurrence. The only thing that he felt next was a hard blow to the face that took his consciousness away.
Two targets out of he-didn't-know-how-many were down. It was time to take out some more.
Kurt turned around, clutching his sword incase he needed to cut a few things in his way. What he did see, was that Remy was twirling his bo ready to take down a soldier. But the Cajun was not aware of another soldier who was fixing the gun on Remy's back, and Remy would only notice it once he was shot.
Kurt's arm shot out immediately and a strange flash of white energy lashed out from his hand. The flash struck the soldier targeting Gambit's body, which instantly surrounded the grunt's entire being with a dimensional wormhole pattern. Then in a flash of light, the man, and the weapon he was carrying disappeared.
The teleportation beam Kurt used to save Remy immediately drew the attention of another human that was trying to figure out which X-Man to shoot. In fact it was several of them, as Kurt could see their try to ready their Tri-fold rifles. But Kurt would be more than able to handle it. He had gotten out of worse situations before. A sword-wielding, acrobatic teleporter was never someone to take lightly. And it was a lesson Kurt would make sure these humans would learn.
The hard way.
A white beam and flash was all the Remy needed to notice before he realized Kurt had just used his teleportation blast to teleport a target away. To where, Remy couldn't be sure, but it was certainly somewhere where the target, whatever it was, wouldn't bother them again any time soon. Teleportation beams sure came in handy. But Remy Lebeau had a few beams of his own. And some other things on the side.
Several soldiers near Remy had tried to attack him outright with their powerful Tri-fold rifles as clubs, trying to use their heavy framework to strike Remy down with force. Maybe if they got him down on his knees then maybe they could fill him full of bullets once he was at their mercy. That was going to be a really treat for them. But a treat was earned only through hard work in the world during this war-filled era. And taking down a mutant like Remy Lebeau was nothing you achieved without at least getting a headache in the process.
He used his metal combat staff to swing several powerful blows to the humans who were currently giving him a hard time. But more to the point, Remy liked to think of it as giving them a hard time. And when he gave someone a hard time, they had the worst day in a very long time.
Martial arts and agility were Gambit's top assets in a battle, with the exception of his mutant powers, and Remy Lebeau was a man who loved variety in life, which made it as spicy as the Cajun fried meals he used to eat all the time back in Louisiana all those years ago.
Remy swung his staff into the gut of a soldier whose side was toward him, knocking the wind of the grunt's lungs. The human bent over as a loud whoosh of air gusted out of his mouth, which was a move Remy had already anticipated. As soon as the man's face was down low, Remy kicked the man in the face with a lightning fast roundhouse kick, bring the heel of his metal combat boot into the man's face with such force, it took the guy's consciousness with it.
It was easily done fighting one guy at a time, but he was particularly fond of fighting several opponents at once. It gave him challenge, and Remy was always looking for a challenge. And not just in the battle, but in women as well, which was the main reason why he was so attracted to Rogue. Challenge gave him "the thrill of the hunt" as he would say.
A quick glance over his shoulder revealed a grunt that had raised his gun over his head, ready to smash Remy's skull in. Quick reflexes and a sixth sense of motion was what allowed Remy to avoid being hit. But the truth was that Remy didn't actually dodge the blow. What he really ended up doing was catching the rifle with his free hand. Griping the metal weapon in his grip, Remy's mutant powers suddenly activated as easily as throwing a light switch.
Metal started to glow as if being heated. Pulses of energy surged through the weapon, mutating the potential energy of each and every molecule and atom in the gun into kinetic energy. Within a matter of seconds, the glow had intensified so much that the soldier had let of his weapon so that he could cover his eyes to avoid being blinded from the light.
Gambit's next move on the soldier after charging up his weapon was a powerful kick to the gut that made the human topple over and fall.
Explosive energy surging through the weapon started to glow even brighter, indicating that it was going to explode real soon, and with a bang no less. Which was also the favorite sound of Remy.
Carefully catching the weapon on the end of his staff, Remy catapulted the glowing rifle away from his body towards a group of other soldiers who were occupied with trying to shoot down Kurt and having no success, for the blue-furred mutant was teleporting and flipping too much for them to kit him.
The rifle landed softly on the rocky sand right behind the trio of humans, their notice never catching the weapon. A second later, there was a loud bang and then a massive explosion that sent the humans toppling head over heels over one another and in several directions at once as the kinetically charged rifle exploded and disintegrated in a flash of fiery sparks and searing force. Taking three soldiers out of the fight was a helpful task, but there were plenty more where those came from.
Remy quickly looked over the vicinity surrounding him, looking for a few more targets to take out. He got his wish mere seconds later. Several humans stood in front of him, their tri-fold rifles charged with power from their guns' energy cells, the transmission heads of their plasma blasters glowing with white raw energy.
Under ordinary circumstances, Remy would have been forced to use his agility or throw his staff to knock these guys off their feet in order to gain an advantage. But that was before now. And when a mutant was combat fighter in the X-Men AXT circumstances were anything but normal, as the soldiers already taken down had already found out.
Remy clenched his right hand into a tight hard fist, the mutant potential/kinetic energy fields charging through his flesh and bone. Then, the Cajun raised his fisted hand and aimed it at the gun of the nearest solider, the glow suddenly blinding as Remy brought his charge up to a maximum output.
A beam of yellow energy shot from Remy's fist, striking the weapon of the soldier square on the head of the front. Just like that, the energy filled the weapon as if Remy had simply transferred it through direct touch. And the charge went from neutral to dangers in half a second, bathing the weapon in a yellow kinetic charge field that grew brighter and brighter.
The flash of the weapon exploding was bright and blinding, and forceful. The soldier was thrown backward fro the blast, the burst leaving the front of his uniform blacked, seared, and smoking with charred burns. The blast was so powerful that the soldier was thrown back a full ten feet, crashing into a second group of thugs who were trying to shoot down Scott and Jean, who were still shielded by their fields and firing concussive or psychic blasts that were taking down the soldiers the way a gunman shoots down the targets in a shooting gallery. The man crashed, the others tumbled over.
Watching the whole event would have been immensely entertaining for Remy, but there was no time for pleasantries at the moment. The other four soldiers had already recovered from Remy's attack and their plasma guns were already to fire again. And at a range this close, there was no way they would miss.
Remy simply shot up his hands, both of them, fired up his energy beams, and fired them at the guns of the remaining for soldiers. The Cajun was quick, and the beans hit before a single shot of plasma from the humans could be fired. And then, there were four explosions that sent the remaining four of the group out of the game and glowing pieces of destroy rifle that were sent showering down on either side of Remy.
Remy wasted no time in admiring his work. He quickly grabbed his bo, which he had dropped and quickly looked around for his next enemy.
He wasn't sure what he would find in his next target. But what he didn't expect was to find one facing away from him. And that suited him fine.
A smile spread across Remy's handsome face as he imagined the effect this attack would have.
Energy glowed on Remy's hand again, and the mutant's hands' glow then spread to his staff. It traveled through the material of the staff like electricity through a wire. As Remy charged up his staff, the weapon went from looking metallic to looking like it was made of pure energy.
He thrust one end of his staff at the ground under the feet of the human whose back was to him, and entire energy field suddenly burst from the end of the staff, returning the weapon to its ordinary appearance, the beam leaving it like magic leaves a magic wand.
The beam hit just where Remy was hoping. The bean hit the sand under the man's feet, and the spread like ripples on water, bathing a large portion of the ground in an explosive energy field.
For a second nothing occurred, but then, as the soldier looked down, surprised by the sudden appearance of light under his feet, the ground exploded with tremendous force upward and outward. Shockwaves rippled through the ground as the tremors made the soldiers around them loose footing and fall, sand and bits of rock raining down as the man who was previously standing on the spot was thrown straight up into the air before landing hard on his back.
Satisfied with that job, Remy looked for his next opponent. He wanted to take out a few more before the fight was over.
Down below, the groups of humans and X-Men were fighting it out in a fierce battle. The dark desert night was punctured and sliced by the flashes from energy blasts and the torn by the raging sounds of gunfire and explosions. The continuous movements of the fighters made them swerve and shift their positions every second, making their dark bodies down below look like ants warming over the defeated body of a larger insect.
The transport unit was quaking slightly from side to side as the prisoners, excited by the battle outside in the hopes of getting freed, pounded on the walls of their and leapt in their small, small cells.
A small hole could be seen in the top of the cab at the front of the transport where Wolverine and Shadowcat had take out their transport's communications, and small plumes of smoke billowed out of the opening.
The human soldiers were still fighting, but they were dropping like flies from the X-Men AXT's attacks.
Meanwhile at the very back of the commotion, the farthest point from the Compound over three miles away, the hoverbikes and their riders were starting to get their gears together. The lights of the front of their bikes were not set to high beam mode, the guns and laser cannons built into the chassis's of their machines now glowing with laser plasma, and the guns they wore on their shoulder straps were now off and being wielded by one arm as the other steered the hoverbikes.
One could clearly see the dozen hoverbikers speeding towards either side of the transport where humans were fighting mutants, speeding towards them with accelerated speeds. But high above, was something they were not aware of.
Three figures were flying around in circles over the battlefield, two women and one man, all three of them mutants, all three of them X-Men. Rogue, Storm, and Archangel flew over the scene carefully observing everything.
The bikers were coming in quick, but the three flying X-Men were able to soar into situations faster than any machine could, partly from natural ability, partly from years of experience to sharpen their skills to razor edges.
Powers began to fire up for the three mutants.
Storm's eyes glowed the silver-white glow of weather manipulation energy, lightning sizzling on her hands as white mists began to swirl and wind blow around her like an air/moisture force field.
Rogue's eyes started to fill with a ruby-tinted light, her green eyes going featureless with red as Storm's did with white, all the while, her normally soft skin becoming hard and shiny like metal as three long-pointed claws composed of very durable bone popped out from between her knuckles on each hand.
Warren "Archangel" Worthington, in all his blue-skinned, golden-eyed glory, spread his powerful wings, each wing covered with thousands of white feathers with jagged, razor-sharp edges and pointed tips more lethal than harpoons. Cerulean and crimson veins stood out on each blade-edged feather, droplets of paralyzing neurotoxin forming at secretion points along each jagged edge and pointed tip.
Without a thought, breath, or hesitation, the three flying mutants dived downward towards their targets. Attacks from above would surely gaurntee this victory.
And there is the first chapter of "In the Eye of the Enemy." I'm sure you all have questions about this! I hope you keep wondering! Next chapter will be up in a while, so stay tuned. And remember, I NEED reviews! Need them! Need them! Need them!