X-Men: Alpha

Episode IV

Weapon X

Part Two

Caldecott County, Mississippi...

3 years ago...

Marie burst through the gate that lead into the yard. Tears streamed down her face as she flung open the door to her house.

"Mama! Mama!"

"Marie?" A middle-aged brown haired woman stepped out from the den.

Marie ran into her arms. "Mama! I touched this boy at school and he passed out! They said he could die!"

"Hush now, sugah." Her mother said as she stroked her hair. "There ain't no reason ta fret."

"But he was twitchin' and starin' up at the ceiling! I-I think I can...hear his voice! In my head!"

"Its ok. Yer just comin' into yer own. Yer realizin' that yer special."

Marie looked up to her. "Special?"

"That's right." She wiped a tear from her daughter's eye. "You've got a special gift that normal people don't."

"I don't want it!"

"Oh, come on now, sugah. Everyone says that at first, but yer gonna come to see that this gift makes you better than normal people."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Better?"

"That's right, child."

Marie spun around to see a tall, white-haired man emerge from the den. "Who are you?"

"My name is Eric Lehnsherr. I'm a...friend of your mother's." Lehnsherr slowly stepped closer to the girl. "You have discovered that you are a mutant, a member of a superior race."

Marie stumbled backwards. "Mama?"

"There ain't no need to be scared, Marie."

"Your mother is correct. I mean you no harm. I only wish for you to understand your place in this world."

"What place?"

Lehnsherr knelt down and extended his hand to her. "At the top of the food chain."

Marie looked at him and then her mother. Reassured by her smile, Marie slowly reached out and took Lehnsherr's gloved hand.

-X-

Lehnsherr slowly approached Rogue as the girl cowered away from him.

"What's wrong, child? You act as though you've seen a ghost."

"S-Stay away from me!" Rogue tried to sound fierce but what came out was practically a whimper.

A small smirk edged Lehnsherr's face as he continued to approach. However, it vanished quickly as he was faced with his reflection in a pair of red sunglasses.

"Back off. Now." Cyclops' voice was even, but his tone made it quite clear that he was not fooling around.

Lehnsherr's eyes narrowed. Such disrespect was not often tolerated by him.

"I said," Cyclops reached up to his glasses and poised to remove them. "back off."

A loud thunder crack was heard and flashes of light emanated through the windows.

"Eric."

All three mutants looked to the top of the stairs. Storm stood tall, her eyes a pale white. Next to her, Xavier sat in his chair with his eyes firmly focused on his guest.

"Perhaps we should speak in private."

"Perhaps we should." Lehnsherr walked past Scott and leveled one more glance at Rogue before making his way up the stairs.

Storm simply watched him pass as he and the Professor headed for his study. "Ok, who is that guy?"

"I don't know. Rogue?" As Rogue looked him in the eye, Scott saw something he had seen from her before. Absolute terror.

"Rogue? Who is he?"

"Nobody!!" Rogue suddenly jumped to her feet and nearly knocked him down. She ran up the stairs and in the direction of her room.

"Rogue?! What's...?" Storm's question was cut off by a slamming door. She turned to face Cyclops.

"I don't think she wants to talk about it." He said.

"I guess not."

-X-

As Xavier and Lehnsherr entered his study, the door shut behind them.

Lehnsherr glanced over his shoulder to see McCoy standing behind him. "Some sort of hired goon, Charles?"

McCoy cocked an eyebrow. "Hardly."

"I see. Just another mutant lead astray by your idealist rhetoric."

"Is there something you needed, Eric?"

Lehnsherr turned back to the Professor. "I have come to inform you of something."

"And that would be?"

"As you no doubt have known for some time, I have recovered from the, lets just say, incident."

Xavier only nodded.

"Now that I have regained my strength, it is time for my associates and I to pick up where we left off."

The Professor shook his head. "Eric..."

"Save your breath, Charles. I'm not here to debate with you."

"Then perhaps I am missing the point of your visit."

"I am simply offering a warning."

Xavier's eyebrows rose. "A warning? Odd, I was under the impression that you didn't like me."

"Make no mistake. I hate you. I am disgusted and repulsed by you. I would love nothing more than to take that chair of yours and wrap it around your traitorous neck!"

"Fair enough. Then why a warning?"

"It is not for you, but for your so-called students. You have had every opportunity to change your ways, but I have no desire to harm such young and capable mutants. They have been brainwashed by your foolishness."

"They are all here of their own free will. They have already seen the kinds of evils a few misguided mutants and humans can do. Yet, they stay committed to peace between our kinds."

Lehnsherr narrowed his eyes as he glared down at Xavier. "Suit yourself, Charles, but be warned. If your followers stand against me they will pay dearly."

McCoy stepped aside as Lehnsherr made his way to the door.

"Eric."

Lehnsherr glanced over his shoulder.

"It doesn't have to be this way. We were friends once."

"That is in the past. You have betrayed me and all mutants. That can never be forgiven. Goodbye, Charles."

Xavier hung his head as McCoy followed Lehnsherr out of the room. He had always hoped that he could convince Eric to give his plan of peace a chance to succeed.

However, each time the two crossed paths, his hopes diminished further.

"Charles?"

Xavier looked up as Dr. McCoy returned to the room. "Yes, Hank?"

"Lehnsherr left peacefully."

"Good. Was there anything else?"

"Yes actually. There was an incident last night in Canada."

-X-

Kitty entered the ballroom proudly displaying her elegant gown.

She crossed the dance floor in search of him.

A hand gently touching her shoulder caused her to stop. She turned to face him.

Their eyes met and he took her by the hand.

Without a word spoken between them, they walked to the center of the floor underneath a pristine crystal chandelier.

He took her in his arms and they danced as all the other couples stopped and watched in admiration or envy.

They didn't care which.

The long skirt of Kitty's dress twirled as they moved about. Though their bodies were in constant motion, their eyes remained locked.

It was as if they held one another in a trance.

As their dance reached it's apex, he spun her around and ended in a dip.

The other couples applauded and then returned to their own business.

Kitty was slowly lifted back up to her feet. "This has been the greatest night of my life. I'm so happy to be with you..."

"...Kurt."

"It is I, who is ze lucky one, miene Liebe."

The two leaned in to kiss. Just before their lips met something grabbing Kitty's shoulder and shook.

"Kitty?"

"Ah!" Kitty jolted awake to find herself in the study at the Institute. A geometry book was open before her, and sheets of notebook paper fell to the floor.

Storm knelt down to help her gather the scattered pages. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, fine. I guess I just dozed off."

"You must have been having a good dream."

Kitty stared at her for a moment. "How did you know that?"

"You were smiling. People only smile in their sleep when they're having a good dream."

"Ok, well, I guess I was."

Storm sat patiently for a moment. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Well, what was your dream about?"

"Oh." As Kitty relayed the details of her dream, she noticed that Storm's eyebrows peaked when she mentioned Kurt. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, I just assumed the guy was Bobby."

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe because he's your boyfriend."

"It was just a dream, 'Ro."

"I guess so, just be careful. You've been talking about this Kurt guy an awful lot lately. I'm pretty sure that's starting to irk Bobby a little. Now, you're having dreams about him."

"A dream about him."

"Whatever, just don't tell Bobby about it."

"I won't, but I think you're overreacting."

-X-

Peter stepped out of his room and immediately noticed Bobby standing near the window at the end of the hall.

"Robert? Is something going on out there?"

Bobby's face was grim as he remained focused on the window. "Oh yeah. Something's going on alright."

Peter stepped up behind him and looked out to the Institute's back grounds. He saw Kitty laying a flower by the cross she had set up for her friend Kurt.

"What exactly?"

"Look at her, man. She only knew that guy for one freakin' day. I overheard her telling 'Ro that she had a dream about him. A dream, Pete!"

"Come on, Robert. People cannot control their dreams."

"Whatever. The fact is that she's still thinking about that Wagner guy."

"Robert. I find it rather disturbing that you could be so jealous of someone who is dead."

"I am not jealous! I'm just pissed! We're together! She shouldn't be dreaming about other guys!"

Peter sighed and began to walk away. "You know, Robert, I would think that if you had any confidence at all in your relationship with Kitty, you wouldn't be acting this way."

Bobby watched the Russian walk away and then turned back to the window. "What does he know."

-X-

As the sun began to set, Duncan's convertible pulled up to the front of the Institute.

"Well, here we are." He said as he turned in his seat to face Jean. "You were good today. I don't think too many people are going to want to face us in doubles anytime soon."

"You weren't half bad yourself."

Duncan looked her over. He payed special attention to her short tennis skirt. "Yeah, but I don't look near as good in my outfit as you do in yours."

She looked him over as well. "Says you."

Jean noticed him leaning in and gladly met him half way. Just as the two began kissing, Jean's cell phone rang.

The ringtone was a specific one. It was not a good one.

She quickly broke away from Duncan. "I'm sorry. This is important. I better get inside."

"Ok. We still on for lunch Sunday?"

"Of course."

"Alright. Until then."

They kissed one more time and Jean hurried inside.

-X-

Xavier knocked on Rogue's door.

No answer. Hardly surprising.

"Rogue, I know you're in there. Please let me in."

The door swung open and a very unhappy mutant teenager sent him a look that needed very little interpretation. "You knew!!"

"I did."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me!!"

"Can we take this inside?"

Rogue stood aside as the Professor wheeled in and then slammed the door. "Well?!"

"I felt you would panic. That you would no longer feel safe here and would try and flee."

"Oh, so you wanted to keep me here, huh? Didn't wanna lose one of yer X-Men?"

"Not at all. You were safer here than you would have been on your own. If you had left, it would not have been long before Eric's allies found you."

Rogue wanted to keep yelling, but she saw his point.

"I'm sorry that I deceived you, but I felt it was in your best interest. Am I forgiven?"

"I guess."

"Excellent. Now, hurry and change. There is need for the X-Men."

-X-

The X-Men assembled at the foot of the Blackbird's loading platform.

McCoy stood before them. "Alright, everyone, here is the situation. Last night in western Alberta, Canada, a group of deer hunters was attacked. They claimed to the local media that it was some sort of half-man, half-animal creature."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. We're investigating urban legends now, Doc?"

Cyclops looked over his shoulder at Iceman. Bobby took note and quieted. Kitty smiled as she nudged him with her hip and took his hand.

However, Bobby kept looking forward. Kitty bobbed her head around trying to look him in the eye, but was unable.

It struck her as odd. She knew a large reason he made smart-alec comments like that was to get a quick laugh out of her. Yet, he seemed to completely ignore her.

Kitty wasn't the only one to notice. Standing behind them, Peter saw Bobby's indifference. However, all he could do was frown. For now.

"Actually, Professor Xavier used Cerebro to confirm that the attacker was a mutant. However, this mutant's thoughts were apparently quite sporadic. He has identified his location and your job will be to confront him and try to peacefully detain him and bring him here."

Cyclops stepped forward. "Consider it done. Alright, X-Men, lets go."

As the team began to make their way onto the 'Bird, Iceman found that his arm was caught on something. Namely, His girlfriend.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Bobby merely shrugged. "Why would you think anything's wrong?"

Kitty reached up and placed her hand on his cheek and gently turned his head to face her. "Because you're not looking at me."

"What, I gotta look at you every minute?"

Kitty released his hand and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

She walked past him and into the jet. Bobby sighed and then followed.

After the X-Men were all onboard, the aircraft lifted from it's hanger and launched across the sky.

-X-

In the shadows of a snow-covered Canadian forest, a deer walked slowly across a small clearing.

It sniffed the ground, trying to detect grass underneath the blanket of white.

Suddenly, it's head shot up. It's ears lifted as it listened carefully.

Nothing.

As it returned to it's scavenging, a figure burst forth from a bank of snow to it's left. Before the creature could react, powerful claws penetrated it's skin.

The tattered visage of Weapon X rose over the beast. With one finally stroke, the mutant ended his prey's suffering.

Weapon X tore into his kill's flesh like an animal. Blood covered his mouth and chin.

A sound quickly caught his ears. He glanced upward as a jet, barely distinguishable from the dark night sky, passed overhead.

The mutant watched as the aircraft stopped and then hovered down for a landing.

-X-

As the Blackbird settled gently to the ground, Cyclops rose from his seat and faced his teammates.

"Ok, X-Men, listen up. Our objective is a peaceful confrontation. We need to find him, and then detain him with as little force as possible. Let's move."

Cyclops led the team down the loading platform and into the snowy surroundings.

"Everyone fan out, but make sure that another team member is in sight at all times."

The X-Men complied with their leader's commands.

Rogue walked into the woods with little regard for the location of her teammates. Her mind was elsewhere.

Eric Lehnsherr was alive.

He had not forgotten their history and he was not the kind of person that let things go.

-X-

Somewhere in the North-Western United States...

2 ½ Years Ago...

Marie watched the rain beat down on the window.

The young mutant sat and stared at her reflection in the glass. She frowned as she thought back on the last six months.

She wasn't really sure about this place or any of these people.

Mr. Lehnsherr was a nice man, but some of his "friends" were really creepy.

"Something the matter, my dear?"

Marie looked over her shoulder at Lehnsherr. "No."

The middle-aged mutant sat down beside her. "Come now. There is clearly something on your mind."

"I'm jus' a little homesick."

"You will eventually think of this place as your home."

"I guess. Mama ain't bein' much help. Where she been anyway?"

"Now that you are here and safe, your mother has returned to her work."

Marie cocked an eyebrow. "What kinda work?"

"That is not important. Now, onto a different problem. You need to chose your name."

"I have a name."

"You have a human name, which no longer has any meaning. You need a mutant name. One that represents you, not some long dead human ancestor."

"Well, I was kinda thinkin' 'bout Rogue."

Lehnsherr placed his hand on his chin and considered the name. "Yes. Yes, I think that name suits you."

The mutant placed his hand on her shoulder. "Very well, from this day forth you will be called Rogue."

-X-

A snapping tree branch jolted Rogue out of her memories.

She froze and glanced around. As far as she could tell, she was alone.

Staying in sight of her teammates as Cyclops had said was sounding like a good idea.

-X-

A few miles away, a soldier stepped away from a military jeep.

"Sir. The squad has identified several mutants in the area, but none of them is our guy."

His superior took a drag off a cigar and then flicked it into the snow.

"We don't want 'em getting in the way. Take 'em out."

-X-

As Rogue searched the area, she was oblivious to a small red dot that climbed up her coat and stopped at the back of her head.

Suddenly, Colossus burst from the nearby trees and threw Rogue to the ground.

As she landed in the snow, machine gun fire erupted from the woods. Dozens of bullets struck steel and ricocheted away.

As the Russian stalked closer to the source, a military jeep burst through the trees. It roared toward him at top speed while a soldier continued to fire.

Colossus simply stopped and planted his feet. The machine struck him with an incredible impact, but the mutant didn't move an inch.

The soldiers riding inside, however, were thrown forward. The driver smashed through the windshield and skidded to a stop in the snow.

The gunner flew over the top and landed hard. To his credit, the soldier still clutched his rifle and began to rise to his feet.

However, before he could go too far, Rogue delivered a vicious kick to the back of his head.

This time, he did not rise.

"What tha hell is goin' on?! Where'd these punks come from?!"

Colossus looked over to his teammate. "I am not certain, but I am willing to wager they are not alone."

-X-

Cyclops tilted his head skyward as a searchlight shone down on him. A helicopter hovered high above.

"What the..."

Before he could finish his thought, gunshots rang out.

He quickly activated his communicator, "X-Men, regroup, I repeat..."

Again he was interrupted as a vehicle roared over a snowbank and came barreling down on him. As a man in military fatigues aimed an automatic weapon, Cyclops fired an optic blast.

The shot connected with one of the vehicles tires, and sent it careening out of control.

Just before the jeep slammed into a tree, both passengers were lifted from their seats by invisible hands.

The men were placed gently on their feet...

...and were then violently thrown together, colliding with a sickening thud.

Cyclops turned to Marvel Girl. "I have to question whether that was necessary."

"Ok, but I don't have to answer."

Just then, the searchlight fixed in on both mutants. "Jean, take cover!"

Scott grabbed her arm as the two ran through the trees. Gunfire erupted from overhead and bullets rained down.

As the projectiles fell, Jean called upon her telekinesis and threw herself and Cyclops away from the area.

The rain of bullets tore through the trees and pulverized the area the two were standing in just a few seconds earlier.

The duo landed in the snow several feet away. The first thing they saw as they picked their faces up from the ground, was a pair of boots.

They looked up to see Storm's pale white eyes looking up at their attacker.

At her whim, the clouds began to pull together around the chopper. The wind picked up and snow began to beat against the aircraft.

Within seconds, the helicopter had to pull away.

Storm's eyes returned to normal as she offered her teammates each a hand.

Cyclops brushed snow from his jacket. "We need to find the others before more of these guys show up."

-X-

Bobby picked up a rock and tossed it into the air and pointed his palm at it.

A stream of white projected upward and engulfed it. He held out his hand and caught the now frozen solid rock.

He looked at it for a minute and then threw it into the woods. Iceman turned around to find Kitty right in front of him.

"Geez!" He exclaimed as he jumped backward. "Don't do that!"

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"Tell you what?"

"You know what."

Bobby simply looked at her and shrugged.

"What is the matter with you?!"

"I already told you. Nothing."

"You are so full of it!"

"Alright! Fine! You want to know what's wrong with me?! I..."

Cyclops voice interrupted. "X-Men, regroup, I repeat..." As the communication was cut off, gunshots rang through the trees.

Kitty listened closely, trying to determine how far away the shots were coming from. "We better head back to the 'Bird and meet with the others. Don't think for a second that we're done talking about this."

Iceman looked past her and saw three men with rifles emerge from the shadows. "Kitty, get down!!"

Shadowcat dropped to the ground as the soldiers opened fire. However, before any of the bullets reached their targets, Bobby unleashed a wide cone of frost that solidified into a thick wall of ice.

Bobby extended his hand down to his girlfriend. "Lets get out of here."

She took his hand and the two began to run for the Blackbird.

-X-

The whirling of the chopper's propeller's foreshadowed it's return.

Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Storm picked up the pace as the made for the jet. Suddenly, several more gunmen emerged before them.

Storm stopped in her tracks.

She summoned forth hurricane-force winds and unleashed them on her would-be attackers. One-by-one the soldiers were thrown backward.

Just then, the searchlight fell upon them again. Gunfire quickly followed.

As the trio dove for cover, Cyclops shouted to his teammates. "Jean! Can you catch that helicopter?"

Jean had to work to keep her hair out of her face. "Are you kidding me?!"

"What if Storm helps?!"

She looked up at the aircraft. "I...I don't know!"

"Now is not the time for 'I don't know's, Jean!"

"I..I think so!"

Cyclops quickly jumped out from behind his cover and reached up to his visor. "That's good enough for me."

A streak of energy shot into the sky, coloring the area with an eerie red light.

The blast struck the tail of the helicopter, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. The aircraft began to spin out of control.

Jean looked over to Storm. "Ready?"

Storm answered with a small tornado that rose up under the plummeting machine, slowing it's descent.

Marvel Girl called forth all of her power and focused it on her target. The chopper shuttered and popped under the pressure of the young mutants telekinesis.

Sweat began to bead on Jean's forehead. She closed her eyes and held her arms outstretched toward the aircraft.

"Scott! I...I can't!!"

Cyclops looked to her and saw that she was far to close to where the chopper would no doubt come to a crashing halt. "Jean, get away from there!"

"They'll die!!"

"You can't help that now!"

"I can't let that happen!"

"Dammit!" Cyclops ran across the clearing as the fallen aircraft barreled down on them. He tackled Jean just as the wounded vessel crash down in the snow and exploded.

The impact sent both mutants rolling down a steep incline. Cyclops lost track of Jean by the time he came to a thudding stop.

-X-

"Sir, the mutants are on the run but they have taken out the chopper and several of the men."

The commanding officer spit into the snow as he thought. "Alright. Call 'em off. As long as those freaks are gone, we can focus on finding our boy."

"Yes sir." The young soldier returned to his vehicle and picked up the receiver of his radio. "All units, fall back. Repeat, all..."

Something suddenly landed on the roof of his vehicle. The soldier slowly raised his head and found a disturbingly familiar pair of eyes glaring back at him.

"Colonel!!" The youngster began to draw his sidearm, but a quick flash from a set of metal claws sliced the weapon into pieces.

The soldier stumbled backward as Weapon X leapt down from the vehicle. He turned to face his superior.

He was horrified to find no one. "Colonel?"

A deep, hot pain in his back quickly made him forget about the colonel. As he spun back around, he saw blood dripping from Weapon X's claws.

He knew it was his blood.

The mutant stalked closer as the soldier slowly backed away. Finally, he made a break for it.

The young man ran as fast as he could. He brushed aside branches and leapt over bushes.

He had no idea where he was going and at the time, didn't care. He ran around a clump of trees and froze.

He was face to face with Weapon X.

The soldier just stared at the snarling man standing before him. After a few moments, he began to back away again, but this time, Weapon X was in no mood for a chase.

The mutant pounced on him and rose one set of claws high into the air and brought them down with all his might.

The soldier closed his eyes...

...but nothing happened.

He opened them slowly and saw the adamantium claws frozen in the air just a few inches away from his face.

Then he saw her.

A red haired young woman stood several feet away from them. She held one hand to her temple and had the other outstretched toward them.

He then realized that she was one of the mutants that they had tried to take out.

Weapon X sniffed the air and jerked his head toward her.

Jean started at his sudden movement, but did not release her grip. "I don't want to hurt you. We're here to help."

While the mutants' focus was on each other, the soldier began to feel around him to locate anything he could use as a weapon.

"Please. Leave him alone. We don't want anyone else getting hurt tonight. Just, please come with us. We can help you." Jean continued to try and talk to Weapon X, but he didn't seem to understand her.

Finally, the soldier felt something hard and heavy; a large rock. He gripped it in his hand and smashed it into Weapon X's head as hard as he could.

The rock shattered and yet Weapon X didn't move a muscle. Unfortunately, the sudden movement surprised Jean and the mutant took advantage.

He drove his claws down with all his might and broke Marvel Girl's telekinetic grip.

Jean could only watch horrified as Weapon X drove his claws into the young soldier's head. Just as soon as the claws were removed, Weapon X sprang to his feet.

He threw himself at Jean with all his ferocity. The psychic tried to stop him, but she was already tired and was easily taken down.

Weapon X pressed her head down to the ground with one hand and raised the other, claws out, to strike.

Jean was mentally and physically drained. All she could do was stare into his dark eyes.

Weapon X glared down at her, his claws poised for the killing blow.

Yet, there was something about her eyes, shimmering green as emeralds. Something stayed his hand, and yet he could not tell what.

It was terror he saw. Yet, he had seen it in Cornelius' eyes, in the young soldier's eyes, even in the deer's eyes, but this was different.

It was unthinkable to him, but it was almost as if he didn't want to harm her. But that was impossible. He was a killer.

His very reason for living was to end life.

And yet, the thought of killing, or even hurting, this person made him feel...

...well, made him feel.

Before Weapon X had a chance to understand what was going on, the sound of footfalls in the snow alerted him to a presence. He looked up to see a young man in a strange visor.

"Jean, don't move a muscle." Cyclops unleashed an optic blast that plowed into Weapon X and slammed him into a nearby tree.

Scott ran to Jean's side and pulled her up. "Are you alright?"

"I think so. We have to be careful, Scott. This guy is really dangerous."

The sound of snow crunching attracted the duo's attention. Weapon X pulled himself to his feet and let out a low growl.

Jean turned to her leader. "You shouldn't have pulled your punch."

Cyclops stared at the mutant in disbelief. "I didn't."

Just then, Weapon X ran toward them, claws out and drool dripping from his mouth.

Scott pushed Jean behind him and placed his hand on his visor switch. "I'm warning you. Stop now and come with us peacefully."

The raging mutant paid his words no mind and lunged forward. Just as he leapt into the air, a beam a red energy struck him in the stomach and launched him backwards.

This time, he slammed into the tree head first and cracked the trunk.

After Weapon X hit the ground, his claws slowly retracted as he slipped from consciousness.

Cyclops and Marvel Girl stepped over to the fallen mutant.

"Is he alive?" Scott asked.

Jean reached out with what little mental power she had left. "Yes. We should get him to the Institute before he wakes up."

As if on cue, the Blackbird soared overhead.

"Hey, guys. Need a lift?" Storm's voice emerged from their communicators.

Cyclops looked up to the 'Bird. "Perfect timing, 'Ro. Make sure a seat is reserved for our guest."