A/N: One more chapter after this one! I've started work on the sequel, but it'll be a while before I have the first chapter posted. Thanks so much to those of you who have reviewed! Enjoy!
++Chapter IX: Imitating the Tiger++
"In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood."
William Shakespeare, King Henry IV
The X-Jet soared effortlessly through the air currents floating over the Midwest. Even with Storm's assistance, they had no way of telling what the weather would do next. Occasionally, they would encounter a bit of turbulence, and the weather goddess gave Logan a look every time he began to grumble. After all, she'd need to save her power for when they crossed over the deserts in the far west.
"But what does this Magneto want with the Space Needle?" Natalie asked again, eyes glued almost attentively, for once, on the Professor. Or the back of his head, more like.
"He's going to try to incapacitate an entire state, " Xavier answered. "Magneto has constructed a device that he will use to amplify his powers. He plans to send out electromagnetic waves through the machine at the top of the Space Needle. He hopes to disrupt the brain waves of the humans living in Washington state – or, at the very least, to agitate them to a point where the government will sit up and take notice of it."
"That's cruel, " Jessica murmured, hazel eyes darkening with anger.
"Erik and I have always had – different methods, although we share the same, common goal. I chose to work toward mutant and human unity by nurturing the school in Westchester. He chose to go down a different path and fight to achieve mutant supremacy."
Kim's forehead wrinkled a little as she caught the smallest shift in Professor Xavier's mental broadcasts. There was – sadness. He and Magneto had been friends in what seemed another lifetime, before the accident that took the use of his legs from him, before they opened the School for the Gifted together, before Magneto had decided to found the Brotherhood. She sighed a little. She could think of at least two historical figures who had a quite similar story. "And fighting with his people will be enough to sufficiently stop him in his tracks?" she couldn't help asking.
"No, " Xavier replied, "but it will hopefully be enough to sufficiently distract those who are undoubtedly lying in wait for us, and enable us to stop him in time."
Logan's irritated voice interrupted their trains of thought. "Iceboy, keep your cold hands to yourself for once."
Bobby Drake shrugged. "Hey, I didn't touch you, okay?"
"He's tellin' the truth, " Rogue interjected, glancing between her boyfriend and Wolverine.
Five minutes later, Logan growled and turned around again. "I'm warning you, Icee, hit me in the back of the neck again and I swear I'll - "
He was cut off by a wet paper ball that hit him square on the face.
"Bullseye, " Nat snickered, lowering her straw triumphantly. "I just couldn't resist." And that's as much of an apology as you're going to get, Logan.
Behind her, Kurt was doing his best to suppress his laughter. "Nice one, Fraulein Natalie."
Wolverine plucked the wet, paper ball off of his face and stared at it for a moment. "Look, Shade, I think you've got spunk, but we're about to go off and fight in a battle, and this is the first thing you think of doing?"
Nat shrugged. "I thought the plane ride was getting too quiet."
"It's a jet, " Scott muttered under his breath, from the cockpit.
Jess shared an amused look with Kim before turning her attention to the sky soaring by the nearest window. It was a beautiful day, and she wished that their trip had a more pleasant purpose. It was perfectly sunny; the sky was blue; puffy cumulus clouds surrounded them and repeatedly gave way to clear vision as Storm swept them away from them. This was the sort of day that one would go to the beach on in Florida, or perhaps an amusement park, or – well, many other things that were much more welcome to her pacifistic nature than fighting.
"Earth to Jess. Come in, Jess."
She gave a murmured, "Hmm?" as she glanced back over at her friend. "What's up, Kim?"
"You just looked sort of out of it, " the dark-haired telepath replied with a small grin. "Although I can't say that I blame you, really. Thinking about the fight that's imminent isn't helping my spirits any. If it makes you feel any better, I'm downright nervous and anxious."
Toad watched as the X-Jet began to touchdown a short distance away from the Space Needle, a frown growing steadily on his rather repulsive visage. "The X-Men have arrived, " he reported quickly through his two-way radio.
"Keep them busy, " Magneto's voice instructed. "I've begun to power up the machine."
The minute that Kim, Jess, and Nat emerged from the X-Jet, they all found themselves ducking large slews of slime.
"Gross! What is this stuff?" Kimberly squealed, ducking and forced to roll over the ground to avoid a particularly nasty bit of flying slime.
"Toad's slime!" Scott yelled back in response, shooting his optic lasers toward the blasts of slime. "Don't let it get onto you; it hardens instantly upon whatever it touches!"
Ice shot past them and elicited a strangled yell from the slime-throwing minion.
"Go on through; I'll keep him covered!" Bobby hollered.
As Toad struggled to evade Iceman's blasts, the rest of the X-Men charged past him and began heading for the base of the Space Needle.
"Get down!" Logan roared suddenly, leaping forward with his claws unleashed to meet a large blur of brown that was hurtling toward them through the air.
Sabretooth growled, frustrated, as he collided with his archenemy instead of an X-Man that would be much easier to finish off.
"You're always getting in the way, bub, " Wolverine said casually, locking claws with the other mutant.
Sabretooth snarled in response as the two began to fight, slashing at each other in a display of uninhibited, animalistic anger.
"Let's sneak around them while they're busy fighting, " Natalie hissed toward Scott. "They won't notice us!"
"Shade, I'm the field leader. I'll give the orders, " he replied, equally quietly. After a short pause, he added, "Let's sneak around them and keep heading toward the entrance."
Kim exchanged an amused look with her friend as they complied. Casting a glance back over her shoulder, she noticed that Logan was slowly drawing Sabretooth farther and farther away from the entrance to the Space Needle, giving them more time to head for the doorway.
"It's eerie being in here at night, " Jessica whispered as the team entered the base of the Needle. "Isn't this place usually swarming with tourists?"
"Thank goodness Magneto chose to carry out his plan when there weren't any people in here, " Kimberly whispered back. "I can't imagine the effects of the machine on people inside the building. Being outside of it will ensure damage enough."
Cyclops suddenly held up his hand, halting the team's movement. "Hold it. Something's happening."
The ceiling above their heads began to tremble slightly, accompanied by a low rumbling that gradually began easing into a soft, metallic hum.
"We're too late!" Rogue cried, eyes wide. "He's already started the machine!"
Hurry!
As Xavier's urgent call echoed through their minds, several team members, Kim and Jess included, dashed for the stairwell.
"Um, guys?" Nat called after them.
"Yeah?"
"Haven't you forgotten something?"
There was a pause.
"We're mutants, remember? We don't need to take the bloody stairs!"
"Storm, Shade, we'll need your assistance, " Scott ordered. "Let's go!"
As Ororo's eyes whitened, a wild breeze swept into the room, steadily growing in strength until it was a full out gale, gusting enough to send team members up into the air. At the same time, a blast issued from Scott's visor blew large holes in the ceiling, tearing through the barriers that separated them from each floor. Steadying herself atop her own shadow, Natalie quickly solidified it and began gathering the shadows of her teammates around her, melding them together to create what resembled an immense, black boogie board.
"Hop on!" she hollered wildly to those who weren't already being dragged upward by Storm's winds.
"This is insane!" Kim yelled back, pulling herself up onto the makeshift board with a Herculean effort. "And it definitely isn't the beach!"
Next to her, Jessica muttered something that sounded very much like, "I really didn't just do this, " but the gales quickly carried her words away.
"Nope, but she's producing enough wind to create a tsunami!" Nat shouted back, grinning. "Hold on!"
As the shadowy board flew upwards, buoyed by the wind, there was a loud BAMF!
"You weren't going to do this without me, were you, Fraulein?" Kurt asked loudly, clinging to the bottom of the board for dear life.
"Kurt!" Nat yelled back, surprised. "What are you doing on this thing? You could have just teleported up there!"
"And miss out on all of the fun? That's what you're suggesting,ja?"
"You two can quibble over this later!" Kimberly shouted, casting an anxious glance at the floors above them. "Six more floors to go and the vibrations are getting worse!"
And indeed, they were getting worse. As the X-Men passed floor after floor, the metallic hum increased in volume, eventually growing into a high-pitched whine. Even Storm's roaring winds couldn't quite drown out the sound as they neared the top of the tower.
Suddenly, the winds died down and the shadowy board slowed its ascent, drawing to a halt on the observation deck of the Space Needle. Directly above them was a magnificent and awe-inspiring sight. Collectively, everyone looked up.
The roof of the Space Needle had been torn off of the building and now was suspended some thirty to forty feet above its original location. Spinning wildly, it was hovering in place, orbited by two immense, silver hemispheres. Large, metal arches curved over the Space Needle's roof, connected to the tower itself. And the magnetic field being generated by the contraption was becoming more and more visible; a crackling, perpetually moving field of blue and white light bounced back and forth between the sides of the building.
"Ah, welcome, X-Men!" Erik Lehnsherr called, striding toward them. "You're just in time to see my latest creation."
"Just in time to destroy it, you mean!" Jess hissed at him furiously as Natalie's shadowy board began to slowly change its shape.
The helmeted, cloaked man stared at her for a moment and then chuckled. "You must be one of Charles' newest recruits. I've heard interesting things about all of you." His silvery gaze flicked from hazel eyes to brown, settling on Nat. "You have all migrated to New York in time to avoid the anti-mutant wave sweeping Florida at this very moment; how very fortunate for you."
"How very unfortunate for you, " she shot back, mouth pinching into a snarl as she glared at him.
"Ah yes, I have to admit that you have a point there, " he replied gravely, raising his hands before him into a conciliatory 'who would have guessed that?' gesture. Before anyone could guess his intentions, he clapped his gloved hands together, causing the machine above them to whine just that much louder, strengthening the field of bluish-white light. And as everyone raised his or her hands to her head in an attempt to block out the sound, he pushed his hands violently outwards, ripping the railings from the observation deck. Another twirl of a hand twisted them into violently shaped crowbars, and a flick of the other hand caused them to fly toward the X-Men without warning.
The first one met resistance with a solid thud; Natalie's reshaped board was now an immense, black shield. Even as she gritted her teeth against the sound, she forced herself to remain upright, intent on blocking the deadly weapons from the rest of the team. "You can still stop the machine!" she yelled. "I'll hold him!"
Storm immediately began to ascend toward the humming device, white gaze focused on the crackling field of energy that was steadily gathering more and more power. A bolt of lightning shot down from skies that had suddenly turned dark, shoving its way into the electromagnetic waves. Behind Nat's shield, Scott had turned his attention to the spinning hemispheres, flipping the intensity setting on his visor to full power as he shot a blast toward them. Kurt teleported rapidly around the room, watching keenly for an opportune moment to remove Magneto's helmet, as he hoped that it would distract the older mutant long enough for them to stop him. Jess had turned her head toward the windows, focusing on the trees lining the road the Space Needle. With harsh, strident cries, an enormous flock of crows flew toward the tower, bursting through the windows just as Pyro shattered them with hurtling balls of flame.
Assaulted on all sides by squawking birds attempting to peck his eyes out, and distracted by Storm's attempts to manipulate the energy that he was still attempting to charge, Magneto quite missed the moment when Nightcrawler finally succeeded in removing his helmet from his head – until a series of voices broke into his mind simultaneously, becoming so loud that an intent buzzing began between his ears, along with what promised to be a smashing headache. And at that very moment, several things happened in rapid succession.
Storm's lightning suddenly recoiled as another boom of thunder resounded, bouncing off of the electromagnetic waves to find a new conductor through Storm. As she fell toward the deck, the bolt continued burning through the entire top of the Space Needle, charging the entire structure with deadly electricity.
Unable to maintain the integrity of her shield for much longer, Natalie was forced to her back on the floor by the pressure, and the crowbars shot straight over her head, heading for a recently teleported, triumphant Kurt Wagner.
Kimberly's concentration broke, enabling Magneto to throw his arms up before his face to protect it from the demanding, cawing crows. Meeting with resistance, they turned and swarmed in the other direction, attempting to flee the Space Needle. Some of them ended up in the path of Cyclops' visor along the way, and with a screech, they blindly attacked it, causing it to fall.
Head falling back in a roar of pain and horror, immense beams of energy shot from Scott's eyes, destroying the machine that was so intent on damaging the innocent. The force of the lasers knocked him off of his feet, sending him reeling toward the edge of the deck.
Scott!
But Xavier's cry was too late. Cyclops slipped, toppling almost gracefully over the edge of the Space Needle. It seemed to take an eternity for him to stop falling, he found himself noting peacefully in the back of his mind. Aware that Xavier was still connected to his thought-patterns, he quickly focused on something very, very important that he needed to say before he landed. I'm sorry. At least this way, he won't be hurting anyone for a while. You've all been my family since I've gotten to know all of you – take care of each other. And as for my bike and car ... give the car to Bobby and the bike … to Natalie.
He impacted with the pavement far below with a jolt, crumpling into a heap of motionless limbs. The ruby lasers flickered once, twice, and then died.