First Blood
Alkali Lake was completely obscured by a blizzard as Scott began his descent. "Storm, can you do something about that?" he asked.
Storm's eyes went white, and the conditions outside did just the opposite. Visibility improved dramatically. It was a calculated risk, of course, because if any of Magneto's people on the ground were near the landing site they would notice the sudden shift in atmospheric conditions.
Scott skillfully brought the jet down for a soft landing, and everyone began unstrapping their crash restraints.
"Maybe we should've brought Bobby," Storm commented as she allowed the natural weather to take back over, and wind and snow hammered the jet.
Cyclops smiled in amusement, and Wolverine chuckled.
"Let's spread out," Cyclops ordered as they exited the jet. "Storm, fly overhead and see if you can see anything from the air without being spotted. Nightcrawler, Wolverine, stay close but not too close. We want the widest search pattern possible. Stay in radio contact. Do not engage without calling for support." Cyclops looked significantly at Wolverine as he gave that last order.
Storm couldn't clear much of the blizzard without arousing suspicion, but she did her best to lower the intensity of the wind to a reasonable degree. The four X-Men headed in the general direction of the abandoned, flooded base.
The lake was frozen over. Of course, there hadn't been much of a lake on this side of the dam a few weeks ago. Even as she struggled in her own way with the death of her best friend, Storm had been trying to keep an eye on Scott and Logan, both of whom had been emotionally distraught ever since that tragic day.
Logan had grown even more impulsive and aggressive ever since Jean's death. Storm tried to help, but she didn't know how to break through the shell he had built around himself.
Scott she had known longer, and had a better idea what was going on in his head. Though he had initially been very emotional, recently he had begun to draw within himself and bury himself in his duties as the X-Men's field leader. The healing process would take its toll on him, but he would struggle with it in private. He wouldn't let it affect the team.
Of course, that didn't make it any easier to watch him go through it.
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Even with Storm's efforts to lessen its intensity, the heavy wind and snow was beginning to make Cyclops's face go numb. It was just as well; it made his features more closely resemble his emotions.
Scott was not the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. The pain of grief was a constant companion these days, but it wasn't something he needed to constantly address. He recognized the reality of the pain, worked around it, and was already beginning to accept it as a fact of life. He would probably grieve for Jean in some fashion for the rest of his life, but from any outside observer it would seem that he was bouncing back remarkably quickly.
As Scott reached the top of the hill he caught a flash of movement. He paused, staring through the blowing snow. It was difficult to make out any details, but there was definitely something moving towards him.
"Storm," Cyclops whispered barely loud enough for his earpiece to pick it up, "I think I see something, can you give me more visibility?"
No response.
"Storm?"
Cyclops cursed under his breath. He had been afraid of this; the cold weather was obviously too much for the electronic devices to handle.
The vague movement Cyclops had noticed was gradually becoming more recognizable as a running figure.
Running towards him.
The path was too direct for Cyclops to even bother hoping he hadn't been noticed. He sighed warily, recalling his own now impossible orders not to engage without backup. Wolverine is going to get a laugh out of this.
"Whoever you are, keep your hands where I can see them and approach at a slower pace or I'll have to assume you're hostile," Scott shouted over the wind.
The man – Cyclops was now fairly certain it was a man – sped up.
Cyclops lined up a shot and fired quickly, but the running man deftly dodged to the side as snow kicked up the ground where the shot hit. He fired again, and this time the mysterious assailant had to tumble through the air to avoid it. That proved to be his undoing as Cyclops fired again, hitting him full in the chest.
Impossibly, the man merely stumbled backwards and resumed running full speed.
"What the hell?" Cyclops demanded aloud, a second before he had to block a swift kick to his chest. He caught the man's leg and tossed him sideways. In a flash he saw the familiar face.
"Alex?" he gasped.
"Hello, Scott," Cyclops's brother greeted with mock pleasantness, a second before taking a swing at his face.
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A sudden flash of light caught Storm's eye. Lightning? Storm wondered, but was skeptical as she hadn't sensed any such potential in the snowstorm.
Her suspicions were confirmed by the second flash of light. While lightning in a snowstorm was not unheard of, red lightning was a phenomenon with which Storm was unfamiliar.
Storm began to turn towards the source of the energy blast. She was about to call Scott on the comm when a sudden impact almost knocked her out of the sky.
As she spun around and desperately oriented the wind to keep her in the air, Storm caught sight of giant white wings. At first she wondered if she was the victim of the largest bird to ever attack a human, but then she realized the wings belonged to a man.
Storm heard a voice in her earpiece, but whoever it was spoke too quietly for her to hear, and she was a bit preoccupied at the moment.
"Whoever you are, stand down!" Storm shouted over the wind. "I am not going to warn you again."
Instead of responding, the man swooped toward her again. Storm cursed, realizing he was too close to risk a lightning bolt. She tried to knock him off course with a sudden burst of wind, but he expertly rode the gust and swept his legs forward to kick her in the chest.
Storm cried out as she lost control of her flight yet again, and this time she didn't think she had time to reorient herself as the ground came rushing up at her.
Storm heard a sudden whoosh and felt strong arms wrap around her. Another whoosh, and after the blue smoke cleared she found herself safely on the ground.
"Thanks, Kurt," Storm said gratefully.
"It vas my pleasure," Nightcrawler answered cheerfully. He disappeared again, and reappeared in the air close to the winged attacker. Storm had trouble following the dizzying battle between the disappearing and reappearing Nightcrawler and the flying man, but before she could get herself close enough to help, the unknown assailant banked hard and flew away.
"Now angels are trying to kill us," Storm pointed out as she and Nightcrawler both returned to the ground. "Maybe God really does hate us like those pro-human groups say."
"God does not hate anyone, Ororo," Kurt answered seriously. "Not even the poor soul who tried to kill you, who I assure you is no angel. And who vill likely be coming back this vay vith backup. Ve need to get out of here."
"Hold on a second," Storm answered, suddenly remembering the comm static a moment ago. "Scott? Logan? Did one of you call for me?"
"Wasn't me, darlin'," Wolverine's voice answered. "I've got a whole lot of nothing going on here. How about you? Any luck?"
Storm and Nightcrawler exchanged glances. "You could say that," Storm answered ruefully. "We'll check back with you soon, Logan. What about you, Scott?"
No answer.
Storm frowned in concern. "Scott, do you copy?"
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Cyclops blocked the punch sideways, spun, and drove his elbow into his brother's chest. Alex gasped in surprise, but recovered quickly enough to shove Cyclops down into the snow. He quickly jumped onto his back and tried to hold him down, intending to suffocate him.
"That's enough, Havok!"
With obvious reluctance, Havok backed away from his brother, allowing him to uneasily make his way to his feet. Cyclops, for his part, was shocked to see the woman approaching him.
"Emma?" Scott demanded. "What the hell are you doing here?"
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The snow didn't really bother Logan. Whether that was a byproduct of his healing factor, or simply the result of spending so much of his life in northern Canada, he didn't know, and didn't care.
The wind, which was likely giving the other X-Men fits, was actually very helpful to Wolverine because it carried scents over long distances. Right now, he was trying to follow Cyclops's scent. The guy might be a total prick, but he was still a teammate, and it sounded like he might be in trouble. But every time Logan thought he had picked up the trail, an animal-like scent kept interfering.
Wolverine stopped dead in his tracks when the animal-like scent became so strong he realized it must be right on top of him. Wolverine quickly deployed his claws and whirled around, just in time to see a blur of blue flying towards him.
"What the—?"
The blur turned out to be a man-shaped being covered in blue fur, who landed on his feet in front of Wolverine. "Please retract the claws, my boy. I mean you no harm."
Wolverine sniffed contemptuously. "Whatever you say, furball."
Without any other warning, Wolverine lunged at him, claws-first. The animal-like man proved surprisingly nimble for his size, and he flipped away from Wolverine's claws with ease, caught both his arms between his legs, and flipped him over his head.
Wolverine went tumbling uncontrollably through the air, landing face-first in the snow.
"I really must insist that you cease this aggressive behavior at once."
Wolverine lunged at him from the snow, and once again Beast deftly dodged. Wolverine kept swinging, and Beast somersaulted backwards, stopped, and flipped forward to deliver a quick kick to Wolverine's midsection.
Wolverine grunted in surprise, swung again for the blue creature's midsection, but missed again.
"You're really starting to piss me off, bub," Wolverine warned him.
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"I could ask you the same thing, Scott," Emma replied icily. "Attacking my students? Surely this is not the way Charles Xavier's X-Men behave."
Cyclops was irate, but kept his anger in check. "Emma, order your 'students' to stand down, and I'll order my people to stand down as well. And then we can have a nice long chat about this."
Frost closed her eyes, and Cyclops knew she was communicating with her students telepathically. Of course, Scott lacked that ability, so he called over the comm, "X-Men, stand down. Storm, clear the weather so you can see me. Everyone, form up here. Emma is going to order her people to stand down as well."
"I hope you have a really good story to tell me," Scott warned.
Emma slithered toward him. "You always did like my stories… didn't you, Scott?"
Scott felt strangely drawn to Emma, but he forced himself to maintain his distance. "I'm sorry," he answered firmly. "I preferred someone I could trust."
Emma was standing uncomfortably close, but Scott didn't feel like moving away. "You can trust me, Scott," she whispered.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Scott turned to find the three other X-Men gaping at him. Wolverine, who had asked the question, stood at the forefront. Storm looked like she might fall out of midair with surprise; only Nightcrawler seemed unaffected by the scene.
Cyclops awkwardly stepped away from Emma, and joined his gathered team. As he did so, he noticed the blue figure walking towards Emma and Alex. "Hank?"
"Hello, Scott," Henry greeted, a trace of his characteristic cheerfulness emerging despite the circumstances.
"As the presence of your friend should assure you," Emma continued, "this is a perfectly legitimate research trip."
"Actually," Henry interjected, "not to undermine your position, Headmistress, but the exact nature of your research remains a mystery to me."
Emma glared icily at her student, but turned back to Scott. As she did so, Scott was surprised to see a man with wings suddenly land at her side.
"That's the guy who attacked me," Storm exclaimed.
"Perhaps we would benefit from some introductions here," Emma suggested mildly. "Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, Ororo Munroe, aka Storm, Logan, aka Wolverine, and Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler; meet Alex Summers, aka Havok," Wolverine and Kurt both glanced at Scott in surprise upon hearing the name of Scott's brother.
"Friend of yours?" Wolverine asked.
"He's my brother," Scott answered simply, "and definitely not a friend."
"Henry McCoy, aka Beast," Emma continued as though the interruption had not occurred, "and Waren Worthington, aka Angel."
"Well," Scott resumed, "now that we've all been properly introduced, perhaps you could answer my – and Henry's, apparently – question instead of continuing to stall."
"There's no need to be rude, Scott."
"Don't manipulate me, Emma."
"Do you two need a moment alone?" Logan snapped.
Cyclops glared at his teammate, but turned back to Emma. "Why didn't you contact Professor Xavier before you came here? You obviously knew this looked suspicious. You brought bodyguards," he nodded at the three students gathered around her, "and you went to the trouble of blocking Cerebro—"
"I didn't block Cerebro, Scott," Emma corrected.
"Oh, really?" Scott countered skeptically.
"Scott… "I'm sorry to seem insensitive, but this place is full of the most incredible psychic power I've ever seen. It's not surprising that Charles's device didn't work the way it's supposed to."
"Psychic power," Scott repeated.
"Yes," Emma confirmed. "I had to come here to study it… maybe even gain strength from it."
In a flash of anger and indignation, Cyclops took a swing at Frost. "That's Jean you're talking about!"
Logan and Storm both grabbed Scott and dragged him backwards, and Emma appeared flustered by the sudden outburst, but she smiled triumphantly at Scott when no one else was looking.
"Alright, let's calm down here," Logan insisted as he and Storm released Scott but stayed between him and Emma.
"I believe you have the explanation you came for," Emma concluded icily. "Now, if you're quite finished attacking me and my students without provocation, I suggest you leave while I am still willing to let you do so."
"I don't respond well to threats, Emma," Scott warned.
"Based on today's encounter, I don't think you respond well to anything, Scott," Emma answered scornfully. "Pull yourself together, for God's sake."
Scott glared menacingly at Emma, but turned and led his team back to the jet.
