XXXXXXXX
Lightning came down and struck a plane that a family of four was in, heading for a vacation to Alaska, causing it to catch fire and begin to shake rapidly. The top of the aircraft now had a hole in it and strong winds rushed inside. Loose objects inside of the plane began getting sucked out, including two parachutes. Christopher Summers struggled with the controls as he desperately tried to keep the plane up long enough to get his kids safely out.
"Come on, you've got to hurry!" He yelled to his wife, Katherine. "Get them out of here!"
Katherine pushed against the furious wind as she quickly fastened the only two parachutes left to her thirteen year old son Scott, and her other son, eight year old Alex. She gave each a hug before pulling away, looking at them both with eyes full of sorrow.
"Take care of each other."
Scott and Alex held hands as they jumped out of the plane. Once he was in the air, Scott pulled the ripcord and was violently pulled up. As he slowed, he then looked up in horror as the plane exploded. Pieces of burning debris came flying down. A piece caught Scott's parachute and burned a hole through it.
A terrified Scott looked down as the ground grew closer...and closer...
and closer...
XXXXXXXXX
"Uhh..."
The young boy stirred as he began to wake from his coma. Bandages were wrapped around his eyes. A man in a white lab coat then walked into the room as the nurse who had been looking after him left.
"Hello, Scott. How are you feeling? My name is Dr. Nathaniel Essex."
"Where am I? What happened?" Scott gasped.
A hint of pain and sorrow passed through the eyes of the doctor for a brief moment.
"You're in Alaska, Scott. At a hospital."
"Where are my parents? And Alex?"
Nathaniel carefully reached out to grab Scott's hand as the boy sat up.
"Scott, you and you're family were in a plane crash," he explained. "You're the only one who survived. You've actually been in a coma for some time now."
Scott then cried out in horror as the memories came flooding back. Tears streamed down Scott's face as leaned down and he hugged his legs, burring his face in his knees. Sobs shook his small frame as Nathaniel wrapped an arm around him, trying his best to comfort the boy. He then managed to choke out;
"How long has it been?"
"A year and two months."
Scott continued to sob as he reached up and began to feel his face.
"What is this? Why can't I see anything?"
"Wait Scott!"
Scott pulled the bandages from his eyes and an optic beam fired from them, punching a hole through the ceiling.
XXXXXXXXXXX
A mustang pulled up outside of an orphanage. Dr. Nathaniel Essex stared at the large building and sighed before looking over at Scott who was sitting in the passenger seat with his eyes closed. Reaching into his jacket's pocket, Dr. Essex placed a pair of ruby red glasses on Scott. The world is a fuzzy shade of red. He can barely make out the figure of the person in front of him, but his vision clears rapidly.
"Always remember who gave you your first pair of glasses."
That was the last voice he heard in his dream. Inside the bedroom at the mutant research center, Scott suddenly bolted upright in bed, overcome in sweat as he breathed rapidly. His actions also woke Jean from her sleep.
"Scott? Are you alright? Scott?"
Jean was by his side as Scott rubbed his eyes.
"Oh god, what a nightmare," he muttered.
"What was it?"
"The plane accident," Scott took a deep breath. "Jesus, I haven't thought about it for years. Why now?"
"Your accident?" She placed her hands on his shoulders as she then though back to what she did earlier that evening. "I hope it wasn't something I did."
Scott looked over at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe when I healed you I accidentally unlocked a memory."
"No." Scott shook his head as he placed his hands on hers. "No. It was nothing you did."
They sat quietly together as Jean began to rub his shoulders while Scott just stared at the floor trying to calm down before muttering to himself;
"Alex."
"Your younger brother?"
"Yeah...I miss him the most."
After a few more minutes the couple went back to bed. When morning came, Xavier and Moira were looking at the two different results from Jean's CAT scans. The first one she did which showed that damage to Jean's leg, and the second one, which showed her leg completely healed. They also went over the results of blood test, EKG, every test that Moira had administered to Jean. Every test came back normal. Outside the facility, Logan and Ororo boarded the jet as they were preparing to go.
"You're sure you're doing the right thing?" Moira asked the Professor. "You know you can stay for as long as you need."
"I don't think there's any reason to stay longer. Jean is fine, physically. As far as the...advancement in her abilities, there's really nothing more you can do. There's no test that is going to give us the answers. And I have a school full of students to get back to."
"So what could have caused it? What do you think?"
Xavier looked at Moira.
"I do have a theory. I think that Erik was indirectly responsible for this."
Moira looked at the Professor with a quizzical look. Before she could ask what he meant by that she looked down the hallway to see that Jean was talking with her son. Kevin was leaning against the wall with a far-away look in his eyes, paying no mind to the woman who was currently leaning down right in front of him.
"Hi there," Jean smiled, but the boy didn't respond. "Kevin," She continued, "I need you to stay still for just a second, okay?"
Jean then carefully put her hand up and touched Kevin's forehead with her fingers. They began to glow and after just a few seconds, the dark look in the young teens eyes went away and a bright smile came to his face. Kevin looked to where his mom was standing and ran over to her.
"Mom, I'm hungry. Can we have French toast?"
"Oh...sure, Kevin. I'll start making it in a minute."
Kevin nodded before heading off in the direction of the kitchen. Jean then came towards them as Moira looked to her in bewilderment.
"What did you do?"
"Kevin had psychosis, didn't he?" Jean asked.
"Yes," Moira nodded.
Jean smiled.
"Not anymore. He'll be just fine from now on."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Go see."
While the Professor and Jean left the facility, Moira slowly walked in the kitchen to find her son waiting patiently at the table.
"Kevin...?"
He turned his head to look at her and smiled.
"Yeah?"
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine."
She knelt down in front of him and put her hands on either side of his head so she could more carefully at him. Kevin looked more calm and relaxed than she had ever seen him. He seemed...normal.
"Really?"
"What's wrong with you?" Kevin asked, confused by his mom's questioning.
"Nothing." Moira then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in for a hug as tears trickled from her eyes. "Nothing's wrong. Everything is fine."
Outside, the X-Jet slowly lifted off the ground and once it was at a high enough point, it took off into the sky. Back at the institute, Rogue walked into the study just as Hank hung up the phone and now had a look on his face of clear aggravation.
"Damn it."
"What's wrong?" Rogue asked.
"I have a deadline now, I can not longer wait for the Professor. My chief of staff just informed me that the secretary of defense is planning on sending armed forces down into the tunnels if the Morlocks aren't out of there soon. I don't understand why he's so hell-bent on starting a conflict."
"We'll help you, Hank."
"Yes, I know you all can handle yourselves. I just hate the thought of leaving the other kids alone."
He got to his feet.
"Okay, I'm gonna go try to talk to Bobby one more time. Also, find someone responsible to look after things until we get back."
Rogue nodded.
"Sure thing."
After changing with the rest of the team into uniform, Rogue found Theresa Cassidy, also known by her mutant name, Siryn.
"Hopefully we'll by gone for no more than an hour. If the Professor comes back while we're gone, give him this." Rogue handed Siryn a map of Manhattan and a circle around the location the group was heading to.
"No problem," Siryn said, accepting the responsibility. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."
In the walk-in-freezer, Bobby was sitting on the floor, his back against the wall of the freezer, still looking like an ice-sculpture you'd see in the winter time. Hank knelt down in front of him.
"Bobby, I am very certain you can change your appearance back to normal. I know you've never done this before but mutants like yourself discover all the time things they didn't know they could do with their ability."
"I tried changing back after my hands froze but the ice kept spreading. Now look at me," Bobby responded while stretching out his arms.
"You look incredible, are you kidding?"
"Yeah, until I leave this freezer and eventually start to melt."
"Maybe the reason you can't change back is because you're in this freezer," Hank theorized. "I know you're scared, you've just gotta trust me."
Bobby didn't look convinced. Hank sighed and glanced down at his watch.
"Bobby, I'm sorry, I have to go for now. I promise I will be back soon and we will figure this out."
Hank left the kitchen area and headed out the foyer where the hummer he drove to get here was with the 'X-Kids' sitting in wait. Hank got into the hummer and closed the door. Rogue, Colossus, Archangel, Jubilee, and Shadowcat all the looked at each other in confusion as they just continued to sit. Hank then glanced at them all.
"Seatbelts."
The younger members of the team all rolled their eyes but did what they were told as Hank finally started up the vehicle and began driving it to their destination.
XXXXXXXXXX
The jet that Sinister had piloted had settled on the ground on the outskirts of Battery Park as the Marauders all prepared themselves.
"So, how are we going to know where to go once we get down there?" Riptide asked.
"I wouldn't worry about that. One of you actually lived among them once. Isn't that right, Pyro?"
The rest of the team turned to him as Pyro narrowed his eyes. He didn't like that Sinister had been apparently reading his mind.
"Very briefly when I was younger," Pyro explained. "I was living on the streets when a couple of them found me. They took me down in the tunnels to stay with them. I was with them for only a couple of months, max."
"You'll do just fine."
Sinister then approached him with something in his hand. He then placed at red mask over Pyro's face. It covered most of it, but left his mouth exposed.
"You'll be my chief executioner for this assignment."
The Marauders then exited the jet which then quickly took off back into the air. Sinister had told them he would come to pick them up once he and Gambit finished a mission of their own. The group kept walking until they reached an access hatch down on the ground. This was the main entrance to the largest Morlock tunnel, known as "The Alley" by the underground residents. Buried a mile beneath city of New York and running the entire length of Manhattan.
Pyro opened it up. There was a ladder mounted on the side that would take them all the way down. Havok looked around at his teammates.
"You guys sure you want to do this?"
"I will gladly do it," Harpoon said while raising his chin. "I would consider it my duty."
"Screw it, " Pyro spoke as he turned to leave. "I'm outta here."
"You can't!" Scrambler shouted.
Pyro turned back around and through the eye-holes of his mask, gave the smaller mutant a challenging look.
"Oh yeah? Who's gonna stop me?"
"You don't get it. Sinister has your DNA. If you turn against him he'll shut your body down. You'll be trapped in a coma-like state only you'll be completely self-aware, a prisoner in your own body."
Pyro was taken aback by that, and by judging the look on their faces, the rest of the Marauders were too.
"Didn't Sinister say they weren't real people?" Havok asked himself out loud. "They are just a science experiment gone wrong?"
Pyro sighed.
"Yeah well, that's another thing. Just how much of a whack-job is this guy?"
"Whack-job or not, he did amplify all of our powers," Riptide reminded them all. "And he does have the right idea about us being at the top of the food-chain. I would rather be with Sinister then against him."
"Fine. Christ already, let's just get this over with," Pyro growled with aggravation.
One by one, they began climbing down the ladder until they were standing in a dimly-lit labyrinth of an abandoned concrete passageway filled with graffiti, crumbling walls, and other unknown dangers. The Marauders walked through the tube shaped structure, rock on either side and above them.
They kept going until finally reaching the entrances of three different passageways.
"Now what?" Havok sighed.
"It's okay, I remember this," Pyro said as he glanced over the three entrances. "I'll take the middle, Scrambler and Havok, take the one on the left. Riptide and Harpoon, take the one on the right. Just keep heading straight. Eventually they all lead to a place called the den, it's the largest area. Usually that's where most of the Morlocks hang around."
They did as Pyro said and split up. Down through the first passageway, a young mutant with pinkish skin walked along the tunnel with the shadow of a puppy guiding him along the way.
"I know you're there, Rebecca."
A wave of shadows then disappeared as Silhouette was now standing before him with a smile on her face.
"Hey Bliss. Shadow puppies are the cutest."
"Yeah, they are," Bliss grinned at her.
The brown haired girl looked down at the shadow puppy as it continued to run around until it too vanished. Bliss then kissed her as something began to go up her inner thigh. Silhouette gasped as Bliss' right arm had been replaced with a tentacle.
"You like, do you? Maybe later, you'll get another kiss. Won't that be nice?"
A spear was then hurled through the air and pierced right through the chest of Bliss. Silhouette screamed as a weapon stabbed her as well, right in the mid-section. She fell to the ground and looked widely around for her attacker. Harpoon pulled up another spear as Riptide walked over and put a foot on her chest to stop her from possibly trying to get up and run.
"Please...please..." she managed.
"Don't try to fight. You'll just make things worse for yourself."
"Why at you doing this?" Silhouette choked out the words through tears and pain. Riptide however showed no signs of remorse.
"It's all in the best interest of science, little Morlock. At least take comfort in that."
In the middle passageway, Pyro suddenly came to a halt when he heard the blood-curdling scream of a young girl. Meanwhile in the 'den' of the tunnels, Callisto stood before a table, going over the plans of their next run.
"The food truck should be arriving at ten o'clock."
Caliban and Arclight were standing on either side of her. Spyke was also there with his younger lighter-skinned cousin, Marrow who had similar powers to his as she could use her bones as weapons.
"I think that Marrow should come with us tonight, Spyke," Callisto then said.
"I don't know," Spyke responded while looking down at the young girl. "She's still a little young."
"You're never too young to be taught how to survive."
Suddenly, the room shook violently which caused all of them to look at each other. Caliban however looked more frightened then the rest of them.
"What is it?" Callisto asked him.
"Something is coming. There are five intruders down here."
Back in the third passageway, Havok had just blasted two Morlocks, Bertam and Bouncer away. Their bodies lay on the ground, fried as smoke came off the two. Suddenly, Diamondback, a mutant with snake-like skin came at him and spat acid. Havok managed to dodge most of it but a little splashed off the wall and hit his right arm which began to burn him. Havok yelled out in pain as Scrambler quickly came at Diamondback, touching his neck which shut off his powers. Now filled with rage, Havok blasted the mutant with such force, it took him all the way to the ceiling, blasting him out into the street above.
The ground erupted upward, tossing a car into the air which crash landed in a diner. The hummer Beast was driving was only a few yards away. He quickly drove up and stopped at the large hole in the road and the X-Men filed out of the vehicle to gather around it. To their shock, Diamondback was buried under some debris. They began pulling it off of him and the snake-mutant coughed up blood. He was badly wounded and near death.
Beast crouched next to him. Diamondback opened one eye and stared at him. He noted his appearance.
"Help us. Strangers...in the alley...they kill...Morlocks...dying..." Diamondback managed to get out before he died. Beast now looked terrified.
"Oh my god," he gasped as he turned to the rest of the team. "Come on, we have to go down."
The X-Men then carefully began to climb down the large hole in the road. Down in the middle passageway, Pyro continued on he noticed that a passageway entrance was coming up on the right. He paid no mind to it while heading straight when suddenly he was thrown off-guard when someone jumped on his back.
Pester, a mutant who had fangs for teeth was now biting him on the side of his neck. He reached back and threw her off just as Mole busted out from under the ground and grabbed Pyro's legs, knocking him down. Samson, Thorn, and Hump, several Morlock children then all came out of hiding and began pelting him with rocks. Pyro attempted to shield himself with his arms.
"Stop! Damn it, I don't want to hurt you!"
He then was then roughly grabbed and pulled up by his throat. Ent, a bulbous Morlock with large muscles and super-human strength was now choking the life out of him. Having no choice, Pyro raised both arms and released a wave of fire from both hands. All six Morlocks were engulfed and their bodies instantly turned to ash. Raising the back of his hand to his mouth, Pyro gagged at the smell before turning away from the horrific sight. He felt sick and once he was a good distance away, Pyro vomited.
In the second passageway, awakened from a peaceful sleep and forced from their mattresses by screams, blasts, and the shaking of the ground and walls in the second passageway; Morlock men, women, and children found themselves thrust into an unimaginable nightmare of terror. Suddenly facing the very real threat of extermination, the thing they all had feared may happen one day, they ran for their lives. Riptide blew through the tunnels, mowing down anyone in his way. His cyclonic spinning gave great velocity to the myriad arsenal of bladed weapons that Harpoon carried and tossed into the air. The blades sliced through flesh and bone at hundreds of miles an hour, cutting off arms and legs and even decapitating a few. Harpoon got anyone that was still alive, impaling and eviscerating them with his powered-up spears.
Spilled blood and guts littered the dirt floor as the mangled bodies of Erg, Piper, Tommy, Annalee, Cybelle, Zeek, Skids, Magik, Scaleface, and Blowhard lay in wake as The Marauders were getting closer and closer to the den. Lucid, a mutant who had a beaked face with yellow eyes and a mutant with the appearance and strength of a silverback gorilla, Ape had joined the others. Callisto and Arclight got ready as Marrow hid behind Spyke.
"Here they come," Caliban warned.
Arclight began sending shockwaves at the entrance of the den. Riptide, Harpoon, Havok, and Scrambler all crouched as large pieces of rock began falling down around them. Scramble looked to Riptide and grinned;
"They're all yours, Rip. Cut them loose from life."
Riptide laughed in glee and began his death spin. His momentum turned cyclonic and rotated into funnel form. He engulfed Arclight, cutting her to pieces. Spyke slammed Marrow to the ground, covering her body as his began to be cut up as well. Caliban was thrown backwards into the wall at a great speed as was Callisto. Running into the den, Havok blasted Lucid away, while Harpoon's spear impaled Ape's ribcage. Ape roared with fury, clutching the long handle of the charged weapon as he fell to the ground in agony, the weight of his intestines threating to pull away from his body.
Back through the second passageway, Beast was leading the way as everyone gasped and cried out in shock while stepping over the bodies. They all looked like they were either getting ready to cry or scream. They were doing their best not to look down at the horror of just what it was they were stepping over.
"Oh my god, how could someone do something like this?" Shadowcat cried.
"We better watch our backs or we'll find ourselves in the same way," Beast responded, wanting to keep the team on high-alert.
"This wasn't the military, was it?" Archangel asked.
Beast shook his head.
"No. It couldn't have been."
The sounds of the battling occurring in the den could be heard more clearly now as the X-Men finally reached the entrance. Riptide stopped spinning just in time to see the X-Men run into the area.
"Heads up, people! We've got trouble!"
The Marauders immediately began to attack the X-Men. Havok quickly nailed Beast with a strong blast of cosmic energy which sent him crashing backwards against the wall, knocking him unconscious. Shadowcat ran at him as he fired another blast of energy at her but she phased herself through it.
"What are you?" Havok asked, somewhat shocked. "A ghost?"
"No, worse. I'm a shadowcat and you can't touch me your murderer."
She ran at him and grabbed him around the waist, pulling him down through the ground, leaving him sunken in at the chest. She glared down at him.
"How can anyone be so cruel?"
Havok narrowed his eyes and blasted himself out from being stuck but he fell, crashing down to floor below.
Callisto, who possessed the gift advanced strength, speed, and stamina now stood back up, ready to assist the team. Scrambler tried to grab onto her but she landed a right cross to his chin. Scrambler fell to the ground, spitting out blood and a few teeth. Callisto then hit Harpoon with a crescent kick to the head which nearly knocked him out.
Riptide only shook his head at the scene.
"Oh you poor boys," Riptide mocked. "Need a rescue?"
The Marauder laughed maniacally as he began to spin wildly. Sharp objects and spikes flew through the air, cutting into everyone standing in their way. Callisto ended up getting stabbed through the chest by a sharp object. Colossus was the only one not affected by sharp objects so he tried to place himself between his teammates and the Marauders. Harpoon, kneeling at Colossus' feet, came up with another spear and slammed it into his chest, but the colossal X-Men held his place, making his stand as a white fire seemed to race through his metal form.
At that moment, Scrambler recovered and raced toward Rogue who grabbed onto him, ready to drain his powers. Instead, Scrambler reached up and grabbed onto Rogue's face. Because their mutant abilities were similar; his worked to disrupt mutant powers and she absorbed others powers, they ended up neutralizing each other and fell to the ground.
Harpoon saw Rogue down and vulnerable and decided to take advantage of the opportunity. He threw a charged-up spear at her back but Shadowcat saw the attack coming. Her reaction was instinctive to protect Rogue. As the spear came in for its strike, she tackled Rogue and phased her teammate with her, praying that Harpoon's energy blast would pass right through them without harm.
It was a nice idea and it was the bravest of tries but when Rogue landed, she quickly noticed that Shadowcat didn't land right beside her.
"Kitty?" Rogue looked around widely but the other girl had disappeared. She was no where to be seen. "Kitty! Where are you!? Kitty!?"
No answer.
Archangel didn't have a lot of space to fly, but he did so in an attempt to distract the team's opponents. Harpoon glared at him before sending a charged up spear directly at his left wing. He screamed in agony as the spear impaled his wing, kept going and struck the wall, leaving him stuck. Archangel continued to scream as he tried to pull the spear out of his wing but could barely reach it.
"That's music to my ears, fly-boy," Harpoon sadistically laughed. "You sing just like a bird."
He then sent another spear at him, this time at the right wing, Archangel was now crucified to the wall. The pain made him pass out.
"Warren!" Jubilee screamed.
She then began shooting at Harpoon with her sparks. Riptide however took his attention off of Colossus, spun himself around to Jubilee's direction. The sharp winds sent an even sharper blade straight at the teenage girl and slashed her throat. Colossus could only watch as everything seemed to go in slow-motion.
"NO!"
Jubilee collapsed to the ground. Colossus quickly crawled over, grabbing her in his strong arms. Blood sprayed from the wound into Colossus' metal face. Jubilee looked up at him, she tried to say something but all that came out was a gurgle of blood. Jubilation Lee, the newest member of the X-Men was now dead.
Colossus seethed and gave Riptide a look of sheer mayhem.
"You care so much for that bitch?" Riptide laughed. "How about I send you to hell with her?"
"You go ahead and try." Colossus yelled in a rage.
"My hurricane force winds can even cut you down to size, my robust friend."
"You are NOT my friend!"
Riptide let loose with his speed again, but even as the spinning grew more in intensity, it wasn't able to stop the large mutant. Colossus clenched his teeth in fury as he snatched Riptide's throat with his steel grip. Riptide struggled to breath or to scream, digging at the metal vice around his neck.
CRACK!
Riptide's body went slack and the dead weight pulled the murdering Marauder to his knees.
"And you were wrong."
Colossus held him there by his broken neck and looked over his shoulder for his other opponent. Seeing Archangel pinned against the wall by his wings made him snarl at Harpoon who began to back away.
"Make peace with your maker, little man! You are next!"
Dropping Riptide's dead body to the ground, he went for Harpoon when he was suddenly engulfed in flame. Colossus swung around to see Pyro now standing there with flames in the palms of his hands.
"Tell me Colossus. At what temperature does steel begin to melt?"
He continued to concentrate all his power onto Colossus. The big steel mutant tried to walk forward but the flames were just to great and it forced him back until he was pressed against the wall. The blaze grew further and Colossus fell to his knees, passed out. Pyro continued on for another minute before finally pulling his fire away, leaving scorch marks on the once stainless steel of Colossus.
Pyro then saw the shadow of someone sneaking up on him. He swung around and nailed Rogue right in the face knocking her into unconsciousness. Pyro's eyes widened when he saw who he had just hit.
"Oh, shit."
Harpoon then raised a spear to bring down on her.
"No!" Pyro yelled while shoving the other mutant away. "We'll take her with us! Sinister can use her!"
It was the only thing he could think of that would spare her from his teammates. The rest of the X-Men had all been taken out. Pyro then bent down and picked Rogue up in his arms, cradle-carrying her as he led the way out of the tunnels.