Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters and do not make any money off of this fanfiction.
Chapter 6: Blitz
"Do you guys have emergency lights or anything?" Alice asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice. The lights had been out for nearly five minutes and they were all beginning to worry.
"Yeah, we do. Or we did," Kitty added quietly, as scared as Alice was. "They should have come on a few seconds after the other ones went out, but if they're out for the reason we think they are then…" she trailed off, not needing to say what they were all thinking. Magneto was at the school.
"Hold on guys," Corey said, levitating a few inches above everyone's heads to avoid hitting them. After a few seconds a small flickering flame appeared in from of him. It slowly blossomed until it lit the entire room with yellow, flickering light.
"We need to check on the other children," Colossus said, looking around the room as if expecting Magneto or one of the Brotherhood to be in the room with them. He headed to the door but Corey stopped him before his hand even touched the handle.
"Um, maybe we should just try my way," he said, making air quotes as he said it. He landed gently and grabbed Alice's and Rogue's hands and motioned for Kitty and Colossus to join them.
"Is Angel up in the school?" Alice asked suddenly, remembering the blonde man who had helped them all into the basement. "Maybe he got the children in their rooms already," she added hopefully.
Corey's eyes began to glow slightly and took on a slightly glazed appearance, making them look like phosphorescent blue marbles. He reached out with his mind, searching for Angel in the school. He knew within seconds that the older man was not there.
"Angel is not there. He probably went to talk to his father about the Cure" Corey answered, his head spinning with the slight disorientation that always came when he used his telepathy. "But there are at least five members of the Brotherhood in the foyer, maybe more. I think there are some of the older students keeping them from getting further into the school, but they're not going to last long."
"Take us up there Corey," Kitty commanded, now more concerned about her friends and the young children than she was about her own personal safety. She grabbed Corey with her left hand and slipped her right hand into Colossus' left.
There was no slow shift when Corey took them to the foyer of the school, only a dizzying disorientation as their minds told them they were still in the med lab while their eyes told them they were in the foyer.
"Hello," an elderly man that they all recognized to be Magneto said kindly, stepping forward. The group simultaneously released each others hands and moved slightly apart, prepared to defend the school in case Magneto decided he wanted to get further in.
"My, my," the elderly man said jokingly, pretending to be taken aback by their anger at him and fear of him. "Whatever do they teach you kids in school? I've been explaining to these children that I only want to talk to all of the students, but they won't let my poor mutants any further in," he said, gesturing at another group of mutants who were standing further back in the hallway.
Corey and Kitty glanced back to see the telepath Emma Frost supporting an injured Wallflower. A student named Sway who had arrived a few weeks before Corey was leaning against a wall, ready to freeze time or create a temporal distortion if need be. A pretty girl named Psylocke was holding her hands out before her, creating a force field to prevent the mutants from advancing any further.
"You're not welcome here Magneto," Rogue declared, stepping forward. Her hands were trembling and ice was forming in delicate patterns around her bare feet.
"And what're you going to do about it, Princess?" Pyro sneered, stepping forward until the two were less than a foot and a half apart. "Your precious Iceman isn't here to protect you, and I'll roast you to a nice golden brown before he can stop me."
"I'm not so defenseless anymore," Rogue spat. She raised her hands and fired a beam of ice that punched through Psylocke's barrier and hit Pyro square in the chest. The blow knocked him off of his feet and he landed towards the door, his upper body covered in thick frost.
"My, my," Magneto chuckled appreciatively. "You have come quite a long way since the Statue of Liberty my girl. If I had known how strong you could have grown I would have changed my plans."
"She's right Magneto," Alice said, stepping forward and grabbing Rogue's hand. Corey noticed the slight sparkle as she did so and realized that she was protecting herself from Rogue's power. "I don't even know who you are but I know what you did. You tried to make a good person into a weapon and millions died because of it. You're not welcomed here, and no one will ever want to hear what you have to say. Leave!" she shouted with a finality that took everyone by surprise.
"I don't think I will," Magneto replied, clenching his fist and letting lightning skip across his knuckles. "I'm afraid I have no choice but to get rid of you all." And with that he hurled a bolt of lightning at Corey, who quickly raised a shield to push away the blow.
"Kitty, Peter, take Colossus!" Corey cried, racing forward. "Rogue take Pyro! Alice handle Multiple Man! I've got Mystique and Magneto. Emma, Psylocke, Wallflower and Sway, get the younger students and get them out of here just in case."
Suddenly the Brotherhood attacked as one, each aiming for a different mutant, and the young X-Men stepped forward to stop them.
xXx
"Do you remember the Juggernaut little lady?" Juggernaut inquired mockingly, swatting at Colossus as he did so. He hit the teen with a blow that would have killed him if he had not been covered in a substance as hard as adamantium. Even so the boy flew nearly ten feet into the nearest wall.
"Leave him alone," Kitty cried, jumping on top of him. As he tried to ram her into a wall she phased. He stopped short where he thought the wall should be and she allowed him to go solid, trapping him inside the wall.
She then phased threw him and stood with hands on hips, looking at him mockingly. "How does it feel to get beaten by a little girl, again?" she asked, smirking at him.
"I'll let you know as soon as I've been beaten," he replied, preparing to break through the wall. But as soon as he had the slightest of momentum going she touched the wall, allowing him to run unimpeded.
Colossus was waiting right in front of him, his foot out. Juggernaut ran into it full tilt and would have continued going if it hadn't been for Alice, who had been nearby. She fired a hex-bolt at him and he tripped, crashing full force into the wall.
In a second Colossus and Kitty were on top of him. Colossus was beating him badly, never letting up the assault. And whenever the Juggernaut tried to move Kitty would phase him into a new and awkward position on the floor.
xXx
"Ah, come on Rogue," Pyro said, flames flickering in his open palms. "You know you always wanted me instead of Bobby."
"Please," she laughed, blowing out his flames with another beam of ice. "I wanted you about as much as I want a starving lion in my bedroom. I'd rather catch malaria than kiss you," she continued the barrage of insult, sarcasm dripping from her every word.
"Fine, eat this then you whore," Pyro shouted, shooting a huge column of flame at her.
She was prepared for his assault though. Pyro had always had a hot temper and a huger chip on his shoulder, and she was fairly sure that any insult would be enough to make him do something reckless. As soon as she saw the flames coming towards her she ducked low, allowing the burning flame to pass harmlessly where her head had been.
When Pyro let his flames die to see whether she had been burned to a crisp as he had hoped she froze the floor under his feet. As he took a step forward to see what had happened to her because he was temporarily blinded in the dimness by his own fire, his feet went out from under him.
In a second Rogue was straddling him. She quickly put a thick layer of frost over his lighter to prevent him from conjuring fresh flames then she leaned in close to his face, so close she could feel his hot breath on her own.
"So, you want to know what it was like all of those times Bobby took a chance an' kissed me?" she asked gently, her southern drawl slightly more pronounced than it usually was. She saw the terror in his eyes when she asked the question and smiled inwardly, feeling an odd pleasure at his obvious fear.
"Come on, don't ya' wanta' take a ride with me?" she asked gently as she kissed him. She felt the heat of his flames pour through her as she did so. It was exhilarating, feeling the fire, knowing its destruction while at the same time feeling its beauty. It was so powerful she didn't want to stop kissing him, but she knew too long would kill him. So after about five seconds she drew her lips away and stared into his now slumbering face.
"Not half bad for a first time sug'," she drawled, enjoying not being the most defenseless member of the team. "But Bobby was better," she added, knowing the insult would be lost on him but wanting the last jibe just for old time's sake.
xXx
"Listen, girl, I really don't want to hurt you," Multiple Man said, backing away slightly. He had never been comfortable with the ideas of killing humans, or anything like that. Alcatraz had only convinced him that there were better ways to make mutant life easier than by violence.
"You don't?" Alice asked, not entirely trusting the man but not willing to attack him if he said he didn't believe in violence.
"No, I don't. I don't believe in killing people, or hurting kids just to get revenge. After Alcatraz I want nothing to do with Magneto and his gang. Please let me stay here, I…um…I think I might want to…join the X-Men," he said, tugging at his shirt collar. He pulled all of his copies into himself to prove that he wasn't going to attack.
"You…do?" Alice asked, dumbfounded by the man's candid confession. When he nodded all she could do was shake her head in disbelief.
"Is that a no?" Jamie asked, depressed and scared at the thought of having to go back with the Brotherhood and follow their orders.
"Um, no," Alice replied hastily, still trying to wrap her head around the idea that a member of the Brotherhood wanted to join the X-Men. "But, I'll have to bind your powers. At least until Storm or Logan talk to you," she added, afraid that the thought of living without powers would deter him from joining.
"Fine," Jamie said happily, dancing at the thought of not having to use his copies in the Brotherhood any more or have to do any of their dangerous and vindictive missions. "Slap the cuffs on whenever you want girlie, just don't make me go back with those psychos."
"'Kay," Alice replied numbly, unleashing the hex the moment he gave the go-ahead. "But get in a corner or something so you don't get hurt," she said, pleased at how the encounter had ended.
She turned around just in time to give Peter and Kitty a helping hand and duck behind a column as one of Magneto's stray lighting blasts came her way. She surveyed the carnage in the foyer where Jamie was crouching behind a staircase, Rogue was pulling an unconscious Pyro behind a column and Kitty and Peter seemed to be having a good time beating up the brute Juggernaut, so by process of elimination she chose Corey, who had yet to attack either Magneto or Mystique and appeared to be falling back a little more each second.
xXx
Corey instantly threw up a shield against Magneto's lighting strikes and was aware that Mystique had circled behind him.
All around the fight raged, or not. He saw Rogue take Pyro out in less than a minute, and out of the corner of his eye spotted Kitty and Peter beating up Colossus. He even saw Alice come to some sort of agreement with the man who make copies of himself, Jamie Madrox.
He maintained the shield constantly, shoving it to the edge of his consciousness as he watched the various battles unfolded. Eventually he forced himself back to the task at hand, but couldn't bring himself to attack either Mystique or Magneto, although both were doing their very best to break through his shield.
It wasn't as though he didn't know that they were bad people, or that they wanted to kill him in an effort to try and recruit more members to the Brotherhood. He knew all of these things, and yet he couldn't bring himself to attack them.
The truth was that despite the emotional control Storm had taught him, and the Danger Room session with the giant Sentinel, he wasn't sure he could control his powers. Deep inside he was afraid they would break free, ignoring his commands and desires, and simply destroy everyone and everything around him, and he would be alone again. He didn't want that to happen, and couldn't bear the thought of it happening.
Suddenly he saw Alice running towards him. However, Mystique intercepted her. The blue monster gave her a slap that sent her reeling.
"Leave her alone!" Corey shouted. Although he had not had the initiative to defend himself, seeing one of his friends hurt was more than he could bear. He sent out a wave of telekinesis that sent the blue woman sprawling before she could do any more damage. His eyes glowed with the same fierce blue light that always appeared whenever he used his powers and he rose slowly into the center of the room.
Magneto sent another bolt of lightning at Corey, which he reflected back at the older man, knocking him down. He extracted Juggernaut from underneath Peter and Kitty, and pulled Magneto, Pyro and Mystique into the air until they were floating in front of him.
"Hear this," he said coldly, glaring at him with his cool blue eyes, "none of you are welcome in this school. Ever! You have hurt my friends and my family, and that is something I cannot tolerate. Right now I am going to teleport you as far away from this school as I possibly can, and you will not come back. If any of you so much as touch the doorknob of this school I promise you I will make what the Phoenix did look like a walk in the park."
Although he was nothing more than a teenager no one doubted a word he said. The young X-Men looked impressed and even Magneto and Mystique looked slightly scared of the young telekinetic.
Then, keeping true to his word, they were gone in a flash of pale blue light. Corey drifted slowly to the ground where he sank down wearily. The rest of the X-Men joined him one by one, exhausted by the fight.
They surveyed the damage that had been done by the ten-minute battle. Columns had been smashed and broken, burns criss-crossed the wood paneling, there were ruts and scars in the smooth mahogany flooring and every bust had been shattered.
"Well, at least no one was seriously injured?" Kitty joked half-heartedly, wanting nothing more than to go to bed and sleep for the next ten years.
"And I don't think the Brotherhood will be coming back thanks to that little speech Corey gave them. And we have a new member," Alice said, pointing at Jamie. She had pretty much highlighted the only good points of the night and no one felt any need to add on to the list of what had gone right.
"Thanks for standing up for me," she whispered in Corey's ear, sneaking him a quick kiss while the others weren't looking. "It was nice of you."
"It was nothing," Corey replied, kissing her back. He hadn't wanted to use his power to attack other people, afraid of what might have happened if he had liked the feeling. But he had needed to protect a friend, and he had. The power hadn't consumed him; he had been in control the entire time. When, and if, there was a next battle, he wouldn't hesitate to use his powers when someone else was trying to hurt him.
Suddenly the door to the basement burst open and a harassed looking Storm appeared, accompanied by Logan, a lady they did not know who appeared to be a doctor and a man whom none of them recognized.
"Are you alright?" Storm cried, seeing the destruction that had occurred. She rushed to the group of exhausted children and examined them one by one, making sure there were no major injuries.
"Was anyone else hurt?" the woman asked. "I am Dr. McTaggert, and I may be able to help," she added seeing their curious expressions.
"Wallflower was hurt," Alice offered, barely whispering the words. "Emma, Psylocke, Sway and she are upstairs, protecting the younger students. You should find her their," she added helpfully although she was so tired she couldn't see straight.
"You're all pretty tired," Storm said gently as Doctor McTaggert rushed up the stairs. "You can tell us what happened tomorrow. Classes will of course be cancelled, so we'll have the meeting around ten," she added upon seeing their stricken faces at the very idea of getting up for a five A.M. meeting.
Slowly they began to file upstairs, so tired that they could barely move but wanting to sleep. The thought of their warm beds was all that pulled them onwards.
"Sleep well," the unknown man called before they had passed through the door. Kitty nearly collapsed when she heard the voice, but luckily Colossus was there to catch her. Rogue turned to look at him with tears in her eyes. Corey and Alice grabbed each other's hands, uncertain of what was happening but realizing it was important nonetheless.
"It can't be," Rogue whispered, tears pouring down her face. "Professor, it can't be…," she sobbed, dissolving into tears.
"Yes Rogue, it is me," the Professor said. Kitty turned around and began to sob into Colossus midsection, unable to keep the tears at bay. Alice and Corey hugged each other as they realized that the man they were talking to was Professor Xavier, a man who had supposedly been killed by the Phoenix.
"Go to sleep," the Professor said soothingly, feeling their exhaustion despite his dramatically weakened telekinesis. "We can talk about it in the morning. Everything will be all right."
Peter supported Kitty through the door because she was too tired to stand on her own. Rogue pushed past Corey and Alice, sad and exhausted as the others and absorbed in her own thoughts.
Corey and Alice stood on the stairs for a few minutes after the others had left, staring down as the Professor talked to Storm and Logan.
"Professor," Corey called to get his attention. The Professor turned his kind face upward, ready to listen to what the young man had to say.
"It's not all going to be all right," Corey said calmly. "Dark things are on the horizon, things that no one can stop. We'll fight our hardest, but it won't matter. None of us will be able to stop it before it happens," Corey said, adding an odd amount of stress to the word before. "It won't be our fault," he said cryptically and he walked through the door to the dormitories with Alice clutching his hand tightly.
So here's the end to chapter six. I'm not sure how the fight seen came out, it was surprisingly tough. I hope you liked it; there is definitely some much darker, more dramatic stuff on the horizon.
Thanks DarkAngelmi818, La Noir Rose, dancingelf1986, roguepixie04, and Scarlett Ivy for the reviews. Keep um' coming.
Also, I think that Psylocke may have been killed in the movie, but she was only a member of the X-Men and I really wanted her in my story so I thought I'd bend the rules a little.