Aftershocks

The helicopter pilot, under Scott's direction, set the helicopter down outside Bayville. But as soon as the skids touched the ground, Lance's eyes snapped open and began glowing white. The ground began shaking violently, and the helicopter began rocking back and forth. Scott and Lance fell out onto the ground, and the helicopter pilot quickly took off. Scott considered blasting the helicopters rotors off while it was still low enough that the pilot would survive the fall, but soon had more pressing matters to attend to.

A tendril of earth crept around his foot and pulled him violently off balance. Several other tendrils quickly crept over his legs and pinned them to the ground. Before he could reach for his visor to blast the earth off his legs, or to knock out Lance, five more tendrils had crept over his chest, pinning his arms to his sides. Soon he was encased in an earthen shell going from his feet to his neck. He managed to twist his head to the side just enough to see that Lance was standing astride a wave of earth which was traveling towards the institute.

Scott, however, was unable to reach his communicator to signal the X-men, or Misfits, and thus could give them no warning that Lance was traveling towards them. There was one way he could free himself. Scott began to methodically shake his head from side to side, gratefully that the shell he was trapped in allowed him at least that much freedom.

Althea woke to find Shipwreck standing over her.

"Dad?" She said weakly.

"Shhhh," he replied gently, "Just calm down."

"What happened?"

"Darkshadow," said Shipwreck, his face clouding, and indicating he was not willing to go into detail. "But don't worry, Toad got the ba-" he paused, looking at Jamie, who, with a large croup of clones was doing several jobs, such as changing bandages and handing out painkillers to several Joes, "Toad got him."

"Where is Toad?"

"He found out, well, Darkshadow told him something. He left, and then he destroyed his tracker."

"Lance?"

"We haven't heard anything on Scott or Lance," said Shipwreck. Then, as if on cue, the ground shook violently.

"Looks like Lance is back," deadpanned Shipwreck, "Jamie, one of you keep an eye on Al, ok?" Without waiting for a response he ran for the stairs.

Lance was in what was left of the mansion's front yard. He was standing on top of a large spire of earth. In front of him were Magma, Roberto and Jean, encased in earth up to their necks. Peter, in his metal form, was attempting to climb the rock spire, but every time he dug out a handhold, it filled back in. As Shipwreck came out, a tendril of earth wrapped around Peter's leg and pulled him down. Before Peter could fight back, he too was so completely encased that he could only move his neck.

Kitty ran out, yelling something at Lance. Lance's eyes fluttered, and the shaking stopped.

"Kitty?" He said weakly. "Kitty! Help me!" Suddenly the shaking resumed, more violently than ever. At the same time, spikes of earth started to erupt from the ground. Many of them completely surrounded the Institute. However, a ridge of spikes started erupting, heading directly towards the town hall.

Spyke shot a spike from his forearm, pinning the wrist of a FoH militant to the wall. The man let out a scream, and started firing at Spike with the gun in his other hand. Spike punched the man in the face, knocking him out. Meanwhile, several other Morlocks were tearing down anti mutant slogans off the town hall.

The mayor stumbled out. "Y-you can't do that you freaks!" He shouted. Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and the spike Evan had meant as a warning shot grazed the mayor's head leaving a bloody streak. Before anyone could react, the ground wrapped around the mayor's feet pulling him off balance. Several tendrils of earth lifted him up so that he was spread-eagled a few feet above the ground. A spike erupted from the earth several feet away from his head. Another erupted next to it, considerably closer. A third grazed his forehead as it erupted.

Lance stood on a platform of earth as it traveled closer to the mayor. His eyes were glowing white. He raised one hand, and clenched it into a fist. A large spire of earth shattered the roof of the Town Hall, and then the whole building sank into the ground. Logan charged Lance, claws extended, but a ring of earth encircled him, and even as he cut through it, it repaired itself.

A spike of earth erupted from the ground and pressed itself against the mayor's neck. A small amount of blood appeared as it broke his skin. Not one of the Morlocks made a move to stop him.

A blunt tower of earth appeared, shot up, and cracked several of the mayor's ribs. The spike at his throat continued to press against it.

As Althea watched, Charles took the Cerebro helmet off his head.

"I'm afraid that it's no use," he said, "His mind is so jumbled that it would be impossible to stop him without leaving him in a vegetative state.

"What exactly is happening to him?" Asked Althea.

Ray tried to zap Lance, but a wall of earth shot up, absorbing the blast. Then the wall slammed into Ray, who crumpled to the ground.

"For some reason, he experienced a sudden drop in his conscious control of his powers. As a result, his subconscious took over." Replied Xavier.

"So why is he trying to kill the mayor?"

"I can't tell you for certain without being able to read his mind, but I would say that he's lashing out at the most obvious symbol of bigotry and mutant hatred. Which, it comes as no great surprise, is the mayor."

Iceman approached Lance from behind.

"If I can just get close enough to tackle him," he murmured, having learnt from Ray's mistake not to attempt a long range attack. However, no sooner were the words out of his mouth, then the ground underneath him opened into a hole. As soon as he hit the bottom it sealed over him.

"The only way to stop him would be to either kill him or manage to render him unconscious. And the only practical way to do either would be to get close to him. And since all attempts to physically reach him have been halted…" Charles stopped talking and donned the Cerebro headset.

Earthen pillars shot up around Rahne as she charged Lance, and then formed a roof over her head, low enough that she would have to stay in her wolf form.

Jubilee created a brilliant flash of light, hoping to blind Lance, but, despite this, she was still sunk up to her neck in earth. Wolverine, seeing this happen snarled and began even more frantically to try and cut through the earth wall separating him from Lance. However, it still continued to renew itself, even as he hacked away at it.

Storm soared overhead towards Lance, who, startlingly enough seemed to take no notice of her.

Ororo, came a voice from behind her ear, it is imperative that you stay in the air, and out of his sight, I will explain later. For now, be ready to act on a moments notice.

Charles, she thought, what must I do?

Jamie handed Beast another bandage, then…

Multiple, I need you to relax. I'm going to borrow your central nervous system. As one, Jamie and his ten clones walked towards the door.

The Mayor whimpered as another pillar of earth smashed into his kneecap, shattering it. Suddenly a beam of bright red light struck at Lance, smashing through the earth wall that rose to block it. It hit Lance, who fell, then rose again.

Scott's uniform was badly torn, he was caked with dirt, and he was favoring his left leg. What's more, he had lost his visor. Lance clenched his fist, and the ground started to shake violently.

Now! Storm, hearing Xavier's urgent command struck at Lance with a lightning bolt. A wave of earth stretched over his head and froze there, absorbing the bolt.

Continue! You can't afford to let up! She cast lightning bolt after lightning bolt, but the earthen sheild continued to absorb them. Meanwhile, Scott was looking directly towards Lance, who had an earthen wall deflecting the optic blast. Then fifty Multiples charged towards Lance. Most of them were trapped in earthen cages, but one of them got through and jabbed a needle into Lance's arm. Lance's eyes rolled up in his head, and he collapsed. The ground started shaking extremely violently, one of the effects thereof being that a great deal of dust was cast up into the air, making it impossible to see exactly what was happening.

Back in the Institute, Xavier started suddenly, and then slumped back into his wheelchair, unconscious.

Wolverine quickly realized that the wall was no longer renewing itself, and managed to cut through, and, using his sense of smell reach the area where Jubilee was imprisoned. However, a large chunk of rubble fell on him, pinning him to the ground.

When Logan came to, Blob was standing over him, tossing the chunk of concrete that had been on top of him into a large pile. Jubilee and the rest had already been freed. However, there was no sign of Lance.

Some time later, at the institute…

"Does someone want to explain to me exactly what just happened?" Asked Althea, "I mean, I know what happened to Lance, but how did any of the Multiples get through, and where did Lance go?"

"The Professor guessed, correctly, that even in that state, there was a limit to how much Lance could handle at one time," explained Scott, "He projected his astral form to guide me to Lance, and coordinated my attack with Storm's. At the same time, he controlled Multiple and his clones, and, with Lance concentrating on holding off Storm, Logan, and I, he managed to get one of them through, and hit Lance with a…" He turned to Hank, "What was in again?"

"Low grade horse tranquilizer, actually," replied McCoy. "We couldn't risk using anything less potent."

"Anyways, Xavier is resting. Even with Cerebro, and Multiple's semi-linked consciousness, it took quite a toll on him to be in over fifty places at once."

"What about Lance? Does anybody know what happened to him?"

"By the time the dust had cleared, he, and for that matter, the Morlocks, were gone."

"I wonder if there's a connection there," mused Hank, "Is it possible that the Morlocks took him with them when they left?"

"It's possible, but if they did so, it's not going to be easy to find them. Lance's breakdown probably did as much damage to the sewers as it did to the surface," replied Scott, "And what's more, the professor shorted out Cerebro when he used it to stop Lance, so we can't even use that when we try to pinpoint them."

"I may be powerful," added Jean, "But without a full powered Cerebro scan, which rules out the portable in the Blackbird, I would have a hard time finding him, especially if the Morlocks are trying to hide him."

"I'll take a team down to the sewers," said Scott, "And question the Morlocks, but I doubt that they'll admit it, even if they do have him. Does anybody now the extent of the damage Lance did?"

"Well, almost everybody had been evacuated by that point," replied Bruce, who had reverted to his human state shortly after Cobra had pulled out of Bayville, "So the worst case, aside from the mayor, was two broken arms. But as far as the property damage goes, I'd be lying if I said some primal part of me wasn't impressed. I'm not sure I even ever managed to cause that much damage in that little time."

"Mayor's still in intensive care," said Lina, "But he's stabilized. He's also still sedated, which is good, because as soon as he wakes up, chances are he's going to denounce Lance as a terrorist and an attempted murderer."

"Which only makes even more imperative that we find Lance as soon as possible," said Scott. "Logan, X23, you're with me. Kurt, scout out above ground. You need to familiarize yourself with the town again anyways, considering how much rubble there is lying around." Scott attempted to stand, but his leg gave way beneath him, and he collapsed back into the chair.

"Ow! I think I may have sprained my ankle when I tried to stop Lance back when we landed. Ow!"

"Maybe I had better lead the team," said Storm, "You stay here and recover."

"Well, I'd help look," said Althea, "But I'm kinda still recovering from the sword through my stomach. Fred, help sort rubble, if Lance is trapped underneath, I want to know. Lina, go with him. If anybody is trapped under the rubble, they're going to need medical attention."

"Got it," said Lina, and she and Fred left.

A few hours earlier.

Lance awoke, opened his eyes, and saw nothing but darkness. He blinked several times, and as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw that he was in a large, cool chamber. The only light came from a grimy light bulb mounted on one wall. Around him were many inert forms, most with some sort of bandaging.

"You're awake then?" Came a voice. Lance looked up to see Spyke standing over him. Lance tried to sit up, but Spyke forcibly shoved him down, and put a spike to his throat. "Listen, I didn't want to bring you down here, but Callisto said that after what you did to the mayor, you at least deserved some basic medical attention. But you see all these people down here? Only about half of them got hurt by the police, the FoH, or whoever the hell those others were. You know what happened to the rest of them? You. Your little stunt with the earthquakes. So let me make this perfectly clear. The only reason you're still alive is on Callisto's orders. But there is no way in hell I'm going to let you go back up to your cozy little sunsider life and forget about what you did to these people. So what you're going to do is this, you're gonna stay down here and help these people. And then, after you've done enough to make up for what you did, I'll let you go. If you try to run, I'll kill you, and damn my orders. Got it?"

Lance nodded, and Spyke said, "Good." He handed Lance a canteen. "Drink." Lance complied and felt something hot sting his throat. Spyke saw his expression and smiled mirthlessly. "It'll get you up on your feet. Now get up and start helping."

Wordlessly, Lance obeyed.

Next: Lance's imprisonment, and the after effects of Kick.