1O-Dragon: Thanks for pointing out that mistake I'll be more careful with all of it from now on. And I'll be sure not to mix up anymore names if I can help it. I guess when you have so many characters it's hard not to mix one up with another every once in a while.
Mark C: Yeah, every single mutant group that is going to be in this battle is going to be tested. The X-Men and the Warriors, the Brotherhood and the Acolytes.
Bmarie: I hope you make it to this chapter if you're just stopping, and I hope you like the story.
Anti-clown outsiderz: Oo, a magic ring, so long as no middle earth people come knocking on my door I think I'll keep it.
Chapter 24: Test of Strength
"Lance?" Kitty asked as she gently made her way outside, standing just behind where some of the Warriors were standing, facing Lance.
James, John, William, Chris, Rebecca, Fenris, and Seth, stood there, as if ready to fight.
Scott came running up after Kitty, as did Logan, Ororo, Hank, Jean, Kurt, and Spike.
"Kurt!" James yelled looking over his shoulder. "Get everyone else who isn't out here right now, the new students, and the professor, down into the lower levels!"
Kurt looked to Scott, who nodded, and then he bamfed off, back inside the building.
"Lance don't do this!" Kitty yelled running towards him.
"Kitty!" Seth's voice rang so sharp that they halted Kitty in her tracks. "That's not your friend!"
"That's our father." Fenris finished the sentence.
Lance smirked as he took a step or two forward calmly. "So you've made it here? Good, I was hoping to see you two again."
"Shut it." Fenris said sharply. "You cursed us, so we could become your servants you twisted son of a bch"
"That's funny." Lance said calmly, still speaking in that creepy double voice, but not so loudly now. "A dog calling me the son of a dog."
Fenris' eyes literally flashed and he growled like an angry beast.
Kitty paused. "Lance I know you're in there!"
Chris was now in his full dragon form, his skin was grey scales, two large leathery bat-like wings, twenty foot wingspan total, stuck out of his back, his hands and feet were now claws, his hair was a sickly green instead of blonde, his fangs protruded from his mouth, and his thick tail swished from side to side. "Kitty. Lance's soul is no longer in that body."
She looked to him shocked and confused, a bit of tears in her eyes. "What does that mean?"
"Look." He pointed a claw to the necklace hanging around Lance's neck, it was a blue crystal, with a rather unique design.
It flashed when she laid her eyes on it and in that instant she heard her name as if it was whispered in her ear... that was Lance's voice.
"We can't kill him!" Scott broke in for the first time.
"Unless one of you is capable of excommunication, I don't see much other choice." James said looking back towards them.
"Enough talk!" Lance's double-voice boomed. His hands were pointed to the ground and suddenly the earth began to shift beneath them. A wall of dirt and rocks came up beneath Lance, and he started to ride it as it formed into a large wave.
Chris flew upwards, taking Will with him. John leapt up and back, over the heads of the X-Men. James ran forward and punched through the wall of dirt as Scott blasted it. Kitty phased through it, and Logan put in his claws as he made a jump for Lance. Jean flew up, and Spike sent several large spikes at Lance.
Lance caught one of the spikes that flew at him, the one that would've hit his leg, and stuck it deep into the stomach as he leaped up towards him. The wave faltered a bit as James and Lance hit it, and he jumped off it.
Ororo's eyes clouded over as storm clouds began to gather, and Hank leaped forward with a shout aiming a punch at Lance.
Lance caught the punch and flipped Hank over his head, slamming him into the ground. Ororo sent a lightning bolt from the sky, but that seemed to be her mistake, the earth shifted at just the right moment, and Logan took the bolt instead of Lance.
His body was smoking and he still had the spike going through him. "That's it, fight against each other for me."
Scott's optic blast hit him in the shoulder as he was laughing, and he fell to the ground.
"Way to go Scott!" Spike yelled coming forward a bit.
Lance suddenly began to laugh as he stood back up. The clothes that covered his shoulder were singed a bit, and torn now, but the skin beneath showed no damage. "It'll take more than that." He said raising his hands towards Scott. At first nothing happened, but suddenly Lance's visor shattered, a blast came out before he could close his eyes, and struck James in the back knocking him forward.
James turned around and smirked. "Fenris! Seth! Hope you don't mind, but this idiot's gone and played dirty!" James said as he walked forward towards Lance.
Lance smirked as he aimed his hands towards the earth.
"No you don't." James cut him off. Lance suddenly found himself off the ground with his hands above raised above his head in James' tight grasp. His left hand held Lance about a foot off the ground. James was huge, and very intimidating. He raised his right fist to deliver some damage, when Kitty's voice stopped him.
"Don't hurt him!" Kitty yelled.
James looked over his shoulder.
That was all Lance needed apparently, James suddenly found Lance's foot on his chest, and Lance flipped over, kicking James back a few feet, but not to the ground.
James smirked. "Lance isn't that strong."
"Do you think I would take a body without giving it what I need?" Lance asked with a rather evil smirk on his face.
Fenris and Seth were now back on the scene, neither were in human form. Fenris was huge, six and a half feet, black fur covered his body, a wolf's head sat on his large shoulders instead of a human one, claws replaces his hands and paws replaces his feet, a snout with fangs, and a dog's tail. He stood on all fours with teeth bared towards Lance.
Seth looked exactly the same, only his body was covered in white fur, and his teeth were not bared, in fact he didn't even look vicious to be honest.
Jean was the first to speak. "Enough of this!" She raised her hand towards Lance, to lift him off the ground, but nothing happened, in fact, none of her powers were working at all.
Lance smirked. "What's wrong? Mind not working quite right?" He took several steps forward, locking eyes, if you could call those pupil-less white spheres 'eyes', with Jean. "You can't use your mind powers near me." He said in a soft and dark voice.
"Then let's get physical." Rebecca's foot suddenly found it's mark on the back of Lance. He was knocked forward a bit but hand flipped upwards.
"Nice cheap shot there." He said facing her. "Let's see who's faster." The two suddenly rushed forward at each other, both sending kicks and punches at each other, and both dodging at almost super human speed and with utmost agility. It was captivating to watch.
In fact all of them, James, Chris, John, Will, Fenris, Seth, Kitty, Logan (who was now almost fully recovered), Hank, Ororo, and Jean were all watching the fight. Scott was pulling out a pair of his extra glasses and finally could see again, just in time for Lance to land the first punch and send Rebecca flying upwards and backwards as if struck by a car.
"Rebecca!" James yelled as Chris swooped down and grabbed her just before she hit the ground. She must've gone twenty feet in the air.
"She's got at least one broken rib." Chris said looking up to James.
James' face fell, and he turned with such a look on his face that the Warrior's all took a step back.
Kurt suddenly bamfed back to the scene. "Vhat'd I miss?"
"Kurt, take Rebecca to the med lab." James said in a rather flat tone.
Kurt looked to Scott, who nodded again, and then he bamfed Rebecca inside.
"What are you going to do? You people can't even hurt me let alone defeat me. Let me face my sons, at least they'll offer a challenge, I hope." Lance said with a rather twisted smirk.
Fenris growled loudly but James held up a hand, and placed it on a rather large oak tree that laid up rooted from the wave of earth that Lance had used earlier. He picked it up with both hands and raised it above the ground. "Say your prayers." He swung it like a bat directly at Lance and struck something, with a rather loud cracking sound.
Dust flew everywhere and when it settled the tree lay split in two, and there stood Lance as if he had just punched something.
"How the?" Hank asked looking to Ororo.
Ororo's eyes glowed once more and fierce winds began to blow against Lance.
Lance looked to her and grimaced. "You're going to be annoying weather witch." He said above the winds. He lowered his hands and the earth shifted, creating a chasm underneath her, and making others move to the side a bit, but she just floated in the air as if nothing had happened.
"It'll take more than that." Ororo said as the wind's increased, the Warriors and X-Men grabbed onto things so as not to fly away. Lance smirked as he thrust backward his hands and his voice began to carry on the wind, suddenly the winds were tossed back at her in one single thrust and she was struck to the ground.
She didn't rise again. Hank was at her side in a second. "She's sweating." He said looking up.
"What did you do?" Logan asked yelling at Lance.
"What's the matter? The weather witch can't handle a little taste of poisonous wind?" Lance asked with a smirk.
"Do you ever run out of powers?" Spike yelled.
Lance turned and looked at him with a glare. "What do you think I am? A mutant? You are only a little better than humans. What you're dealing with here is something much, much stronger. These are not my powers boy, these are my spells."
"Magic?" Scott asked sounding confused.
"Do not put me on the same level as card tricks fool. This is pure, and complete, sorcery. Now, prepare to join your friends." Lance said taking a few steps towards Kitty.
Kitty wasn't sure of what to do, she didn't want to hurt Lance, she didn't think she even could if she wanted to...
"How can we defeat him?" Scott looked over to Fenris.
"Time to get organized." James said. "John, keep him away from us for a while!"
John suddenly jumped forward, between Lance and Kitty.
"What do you think you can-." Lance was cut off as John's hands sent forth such a blast that he was literally tossed into the air, about fifty feet or so up and back.
"Lance!" Kitty yelled.
"Kitty get inside!" James yelled. Kitty looked to him. "NOW!" He yelled and gave her such a look that if she didn't obey him out of duty she did it out of fear.
"Fenris, Seth, Hank, Logan, and I will take the front line. Jean, get Ororo into the med lab downstairs. Scott, stay back, and hit him at range. Spike, you too. Chris you stay up and give us what we need. Will, go find Joe. John, you keep him at bay for a while." James said as everyone began following his orders.
Lance got back up on his feet after a few seconds and sent a few shockwaves of earth towards them, creating walls of dirt that went waving towards them.
John kept his hands forward, sending out fields, not a tremor passed him, all the walls of dirt got knocked backwards, exploding into the following waves.
"How long can he keep that up?" Spike asked looking to Scott.
"Not long." Scott said as he and Spike ran back a bit, getting higher than the rest of them, except for Chris who was flying.
It was funny to see the front line, Hank, Fenris, Seth, James, and Logan were in front, and James and Logan were the only ones standing on two feet. Fenris, Seth, and Hank were on all fours.
John was in front of them, keeping up the shields. Jean and Will got Ororo into the building, and Kurt suddenly teleported back into the field, next to Scott and Spike.
"Vhat's going on?" Kurt asked looking to Scott.
"We're getting beat." Spike answered.
"We're doing fine." Scott answered. "They're going to engage him, we're going to cover them, I want you to bamf in there when you see your chance, and take his necklace."
"His necklace?" Kurt asked.
"Yeah." Scott said with a nod. "Bring it to me."
"Okay..." Kurt said hesitating a bit as he looked to watch what would happen.
"How come John can use his powers when Jean couldn't?" Spike asked looking to Scott.
"His aren't Psychic. Will and John have powers based on warping the space around their bodies, they're not telekinetic at all." Scott answered.
"How do you know that?" Kurt asked with a brow raised.
"Professor told me." Scott said with a nod.
"I can't hold this much longer!" The waves of earth were getting more numerous and more vicious, each time John sent a field at them it had less and less effect, and he was getting tired.
"Chris! Get John out of there!" James yelled as he waved his hand. "When the final shield goes out we rush forward, Beast, Fenris, Seth, you guys leap and avoid, Logan, stay behind me, I'll clear a path."
Chris swooped down and picked John up, gaining air again as James, Logan, Beast, Fenris, and Seth rushed forward. The waves of earth increased and then suddenly stopped. Juts of earth came out of the ground, creating almost a fence around Lance. Henry, Seth, and Fenris leaped over it. James punched through it, it was only dirt, and Logan ran in behind him.
They stopped as they got into the circle of earth. Suddenly an optic blast sounded over heard and knocked Lance into the hole with them. James gave him a good punch in the chest slamming him back and through the walls. Fenris was next at him, and his claws sank into his chest, swiping away most of his shirt and cutting him. Hank kicked him and knocked him back even more, towards the mansion. Seth shoulder tackled him from behind sending him flying towards Logan who close-lined him and sent him to the ground.
"Yeah!" Spike shouted.
Lance was suddenly back on his feet, and picking Logan up by the neck sent him hurling into James, who caught him as best he could and set him back on his feet. The wound on his chest was healed and a smirk was on his face.
He set his hands downward and the earth beneath him rose so quickly that he used it to propel him over the heads of James, Fenris, Logan and Hank.
"Now!" Scott said to Kurt as he sent a blast at Lance while he was in the air, knocking him away from the others and to the ground.
Kurt suddenly appeared in a cloud beside him and grabbed for his necklace. The noise that came from Lance upon seeing Kurt was horrible. It was the most horrid shriek you had ever heard. And Kurt hadn't even touched him.
Lance scrambled to get away from him, but Kurt teleported in front of him again. The noise sounded as one tormented as he turned around again. Kurt teleported again, but this time he teleported onto Lance's back, grabbed the necklace, ripped it off, and then jumped off, and teleported back to Scott.
Lance's eyes turned to Scott as he held the necklace aloft. "Hey Leif!" Scott shouted, holding the pendant of the necklace in his left hand. "We win." He smashed it with his right fist.
Such a terrible shriek was never before heard by any one of that group, nothing really seemed to happen other than that, and Lance's body fell to the ground.
"Did it work?" Spike asked looking over to Scott.
Scott paused for a moment. "I don't know." He said honestly. He looked down at his hand, shards of the crystal pendant were in his knuckles, he was bleeding, but he needed to make sure that it was over.
James picked Lance up and opened his eyes. He had pupils, it looked like everything was normal, he was breathing, he had a pulse, all was normal, he was just asleep. "We're good!" James said standing up and coming back towards them.
Chris landed as Will and Joe came running out. Fenris and Seth returned to their normal forms, minus their now shredded shirts, James, Logan, and Hank, came walking up, and Scott, Kurt, and Spike joined them as well. James was carrying Lance.
"Anybody know why he freaked like that when he saw Kurt?" Spike asked confused.
"Forgive me friend, but if there is one thing my father fears, it's his demons." Fenris said looking to Kurt with an apologetic look.
"He thought I was a demon?" Kurt asked, confused more than hurt.
"He did. He'll know better next time." Seth answered.
"We have to be prepared." Scott said with a strong nod. "Let's get inside."
VVVV
"Scott, you're bleeding!" Jean rushed up to them as they came in the door to the room several floors below the ground level.
"I take it we passed the test?" The professor asked looking to Chris.
"With flying colors in his mind." Chris answered. "He'll be looking forward to facing Kurt again. We'll have to be careful, he'll be wanting revenge for being made a fool of in his moment of weakness."
"You'll have to tell me the full story of what happened later." The professor said with a nod. "But for now we need to get the students out of here. Including the Warriors."
"Hell no." Will said speaking up. "This ain't just for the adults."
"William I don't think-." The Professor started but William cut him off.
"Professor, with all due respect, you need every able body you can get. I can understand why you don't endanger your own students, but we are not your students, we're doing this of our own free will." Will said politely. "There's strength in numbers, and us Warriors know our stuff a bit better than your X-Men. No offense."
"What do you mean by that?" Xavier asked raising a brow.
"No offense to anyone here. But you guys train your powers and bodies in order to help others. And that's great, really it is, but we Warriors are a bit different. We've used our minds, powers, and bodies, ever single day of our lives, for survival and to protect others." Will said. "Half the time we don't even need to use our powers to fight, Kitty would probably freeze if a gun was pointed at her, I doubt if she'd remember that she could phase and avoid death. As much training as your kids have, there's no replacing life experience sir, and that's what we Warriors have."
"That's enough Will." James said stepping forward.
"No James." The professor paused. "He's right. They do know what they're doing, and so do you." Xavier paused for a moment longer. "All right, we do need all we can get, but only the X-Men and the Warriors will be staying here. I want the other students removed to a safe place."
"Hey." John said speaking up. "Has anyone seen Ares, Nathan, or Mike?"
"I'm right here." Mike's voice spoke up from the group of new students in the room.
"So am I." Nathan said standing up from his seat on the floor.
"Where were you two during the fight?" Chris asked with a brow raised.
"Right here." Nathan answered. "It's not like we could've been much use."
"I'm never any good in battle." Mike said shaking his head.
"And unless you wanted to use Lethal force in a completely inhuman way I wouldn't have been able to contribute much." Nathan added.
"And vhere's Rogue?" Kurt asked confused.
"Ah'm here." She waved from across the room. "Professor wouldn't let me go."
"I think that it's too dangerous for non-fighters to be fighting with this man." The professor said. "Nathan, Michael, and Rogue will be accompanying the children. Joe, it's up to you what you want to do."
"Nathan." James said looking over to him. "Worse comes to worse I want you to protect those kids. They're just kids."
"I'll make sure they're safe, without doing it front of them if possible." Nathan said with a nod.
Kitty gulped a bit. "Is Lance okay?"
"He's sleeping." James answered. "You got a place I can lay him?"
"We had a few medical tables together in case." The professor said gesturing to some beds set up against the far wall.
James laid him down on the bed, and then went to Rebecca's side. Spike went to Ororo's, and Kitty and Chris stayed by Lance.
Hank came up to Ororo and placed a hand on her forehead. "Do we know what poison she was hit with?"
"Seth is already working on it." Fenris answered appearing out of seemingly nowhere. "He's good with herbs and plants."
"Will it work?" Hank asked raising a brow.
"It did last time." Fenris answered.
"This whole thing seems out of proportion." Logan said. "Why is this all happening?"
"Leif is trying to draw out people like myself and yourself." Chris answered. "Immortals."
"Immortal?" Kitty asked looking to Chris.
"You have memories from World War Two, do you not Logan?" Chris asked looking to him with a raised brow.
"How do you know that?" Logan asked raising a brow.
"And I am far older than that." Chris said with a sigh.
"How old are you?" Kitty asked, eyes getting wider all the time.
"More than eight-hundred." Chris answered.
"You jerk." Will slapped him on the back. "You coulda told us instead of hiding it and telling us lies."
"Couldn't be helped." Chris answered with a shrug.
"Here's the antidote... I hope." Seth said as he came into the room with a rather small vial in his hand. "It took a bit of research, but I think I found it."
Hank took it from him. "You're sure it'll help and not kill her?"
"Well I had to substitute a few roots, so it won't work as quickly, but it should work." Seth answered with a nod.
"Should or will?" Hank asked raising a brow.
"Will. Or you could wait another twenty minutes to give it to her and she can die." Seth retorted. "If it doesn't work it'll at least slow the poison long enough to work up a different antidote."
Hank looked to the professor who nodded, and he opened the vial pouring it into Ororo's mouth and then rubbing her throat in a few short and smooth motions.
"It'll make her sleep for about half an hour, when she wakes up she'll have a headache, and she'll be a little tired, but she should be okay." Seth said looking to him with a slight smile. "Anyone else get hurt?"
"Rebecca, but she has a few broken ribs, Hank will set those when he gets the time." James said looking over to Hank who nodded. "And Scott's hand is still bleeding."
"Let's get that bandaged up." Seth said coming over to Scott.
Scott looked to the professor who nodded. "Don't worry Scott, Seth has studied medicine probably as much as Hank here. Though medicine of a different style."
"Less science, better work." Seth said with a slight smile.
"So what's going to happen next?" The professor asked looking over to Chris.
"We should split into two groups. Rebecca, Grace, Elise, Megan, Danielle, Rogue, Ororo, yourself, Michael, and your younger students should take cover somewhere safe. You'll be the last line of defense for the younger students if we fail." Chris answered. "Logan, Hank, Nathan, James, Seth, Fenris, Scott, Spike, John, Will, Kurt, myself, Joe, Kitty, and Jean will do the fighting in two teams when the time comes. X-Men in one team, Warriors in the other. Logan, you lead X-Men. James you lead Warriors."
"Okay." James said with a nod. "Joe, and Nathan, you two are my aces. You stay up the sleeve until needed."
"You want me to use my powers?" Nathan asked raising a pierced brow.
"No." The professor interjected.
"Only if we need to." James answered.
"I can't allow that." The professor argued.
"Professor with all due respect, if it comes down to killing one evil man or having everyone in this room die, I'm killing one man." James argued.
"You might not have a problem with these barbaric tactics, but I do." The professor said strongly. "We are above that."
James sighed. He didn't feel like starting a fight with his own allies at this point. "We'll see what happens when the time comes."
"In that case I want Nathan to stay with myself and the others." Xavier said looking up to James.
"Take away the temptation eh?" James asked with a smirk. "Fine. But Professor, if it comes to it, you better pray that I can kill him."
"There will be no killing!" The professor raised his voice ever so slightly.
"Stop it both of you. Leif won't fight us again. He'll send his allies to do it for him and aid them from afar. That's his style. IF we defeat them, we can argue about what to do with him." Chris interjected.
"If?" James asked looking to Chris. "Who exactly are we fighting?"
"I have no idea." Chris said shaking his head. "We'll see when we fight them."
"Great." Logan snorted. "In the meanwhile everyone just relax a bit and let's start moving out of here."
"He won't make a move until at least tomorrow." Fenris said. "He's been weakened from being extracted from Lance's body so rudely." He turned to Scott. "Nice job."
"Thanks." Scott said slightly confused.
"We should relax for tonight, and move out early tomorrow morning. Everyone relax, and go about life as normal for tonight. We'll see what comes with the dawn." Fenris said looking to the professor. "Is that okay with you?"
The professor nodded.
The students went back upstairs to start packing up their things, and Nathan went into the living room and turned on the TV. Logan and the Professor joined him as did Seth and Fenris. The attitudes of everyone were a bit tense. He flipped through a few music channels and then he stopped when he hit the news.
"Weird if you ask me." The news reporter finished up a report. "In other news skater tony-." The news report was cut short as Nathan flipped the channel again.
The professor left, and so did Seth and Fenris, but Logan stayed behind. "You wouldn't have used your powers on that Leif guy anyway. Wouldya?" Logan asked looking down to Nathan who was sitting on the couch.
"Of course I would." Nathan answered. "If it meant all of their lives, or his, I would kill him in a heartbeat, I would only regret one thing."
"What's that?" Logan asked.
"Taking the pleasure from Fenris." Nathan answered.