AN: Finally got this chapter underway! I've been distracted by a lot of things, namely broken glasses, bad contacts, and Labor Day weekend, but I'm settled down now! So here we go! I hope you guys enjoy the season finale fo the first season. May there be plenty more to go! Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of it's products, like the show this fiction was based off of.
Chapter 18
Lose Yourself
"Who's the realtor that sold this hunk? They must've be one heck of a smooth talker or Magneto has sucky investment issues."
"You can't talk much since you bought that scrawny little motorcycle. That thing's practically useless for anything except looking flashy."
Luke had stepped out of the giant metal orb when it landed, showing that he was on some bizarre station that looked to be embedded into rock. Then he realized that the rock was floating miles above the snow-covered ground. So that meant that Magneto had them hanging miles above the artic ground on his personal asteroid so they would be dependent on him to leave. Smart.
And there, waiting on him on some runway, was Terrence, who looked as smug as ever over something. Maybe he learned how to tie his shoes in a double knot?
"So why are we here on Santa's secret workshop, Slinky? You hardly seem like the type to want anyone's help and I'm not on vacation. Has Magnet Man given anyone some answers to why you suck so much yet?"
"I hate it when you call me that. It makes me want to pulverize you more than normal. And as far as I know, we're going to get those answers as soon as you and the other two arrive. So quit poking around and move, before I drag you by your teeth."
Luke stood where he was, firm and ready for a fight. He was more than a little pissed at what had happened to him by DJ's hand and Terrence would be more than willing to take a little thrashing. "I'm not going to go hear what some deranged lunatic has to say until I get some answers, Terrence. There's got to be something you can tell me."
Springload didn't bat an eye, hunkering down in his position for fighting, a low crouch that let him build up tension in his legs quickly. "They've got your precious professor inside waiting on you. Summers and his baby brother are here too, somewhere. But there's something I want to ask you now. Who did you fight in order to get here?"
"I fought DJ. Wrecked your house while I was at it."
Terrence scoffed, right before launching himself at Luke like a rocket. "Figures you would fight that square. I wrecked your place when I was fighting Storm and Mystique, so we're even."
Luke saw the human missile incoming and spun to the left, using his hands to direct his powers to knock Springload off course and make him crash into some railing. Instead of landing head first, Springload did some fancy acrobatics and spun around the railings, using it to launch himself at Luke feet first even faster than before.
Luke intertwined both hands and brought them down from overhead, smashing Terrence into the ground mid flight with an invisible force. Terrence was sent skidding into a roll from the hit that he recovered from with a muscle-charged lunge that cut the distance between him and Luke in the blink of an eye.
Gasping in air around the fist now buried in his gut, Luke grabbed onto Terrence's shoulders and drove his knee forward into the teen's gut in return, before catching him with a nasty backfist that sent Springload flipping away thanks to gravity deciding to knock him around. Luke's arm hung loosely at his side and he wanted to swear at the fire coursing through it. But Springload was getting up and he couldn't show weakness. Terrence's mean streak was a mile wide and now was not the time to let him know that Luke was hurting.
"You know, I've been wanting to fight you for a while now. You've been getting complacent with where you are and I've been steadily powering myself up. It's time I give myself the pleasure of proving myself better than you once and for all."
"What is up with you and trying to prove your self worth by beating me? If you ever do beat me, which is laughable at best, what then? Do you join a cooking club in Venice and spend the rest of your days knitting sweaters in your spare time?"
"When I beat you, I move on to the next person and fight them till I win. And it keeps going till I'm the best out there."
"Why does it matter if you're the best?" Luke questioned as Terrence just dusted himself off and got in a sprinter's position. The teen didn't bother to answer, but pushed off with one foot to cover ground so fast Luke lost sight of him for a moment. Terrence didn't put another foot forward, but planted it to the side, sending him hurdling sideways to a wall that he bounced off of, speeding him up even further while trying to disorient Luke. His projection off of the wall sent him to the railing that he spun off of again and slung him through the air into a spinning heel kick that dug into the air a foot from Luke's open palms. That didn't stop Terrence's attack for long though as he spun while still in air and used his other leg to kick at Luke again. The gravity manipulating mutant had stepped back just in time to avoid having his face rearranged but stayed on the defensive to let his arms strengthen back up.
After his second failed heel kick, Terrence landed on his leading foot and pivoted, spinning again to make room for a roundhouse kick to Luke's head. Luke caught it again with his powers before flipping Springload into the air by his extended appendage. A high front kick sent a push that threw Springload further up into the air, still spinning and disoriented. Luke clenched his hands and felt the gravitational grip on Terrence's arm respond back. Perfect. Luke began pulling Terrence in and spun, slamming the teen into the ground as if there was an imaginary rope tied to him. The burn began to build in Luke's arm as he slammed Springload down on the walkway they were on, denting it in a little, before jerking him into the railing. With a final heave, he spun and flung Springload into a wall with a loud crash.
Luke huffed a breath in exhaustion and grimaced as the pain settled in. A cloud of dust had been created by Terrence's crash, making it hard to see if he was staying down or wanted to fight some more. As the dust settled, a figure was still standing in the midst of it, although the figure looked like they had been in a train wreck.
"We're not done yet!"
Springload ran forward again, each step pushing him a huge amount of distance. It almost looked like he was jumping forward with one foot at a time. Luke kicked out in a low sweeping kick, trying to use his powers to knock Terrence' off his feet. Springload fell forward but caught himself on his hands and flipped forward out of a handspring. The flip put him sailing through the air feet first at Luke.
With his arms still hurting, Luke used his heartbeat to power a push to stop the Brotherhood goon from caving in his chest and leaving shoeprints on his spine. Mid air, the teen was stopped by an invisible wall and Luke wheezed in pain, sucking in air and spitting out bloody spittle to the side. Terrence had taken the half-step he needed to in that time and dug one fist into Luke's ribs hard enough to literally lift Luke off of his feet. The second hit to the opposite set of ribs lifted him even higher into the air and made him gasp in pain even though he didn't have a breath to his name. The third hit connected with an audible crack and Luke could swear he felt something give way in his chest, but before he could be sure, a spinning backfist hit and ragdolled him to the side. He hit the ground in a jumbled mess, antagonizing his possibly broken ribs even worse. He felt like screaming bloody murder.
But he had to get up and he did. He stood on his feet and fought the urge to sway or stumble. Springload wouldn't get the slightest bit of weakness from him if he could help it. Terrence just grinned because he liked it that way. It made it that much more of a challenge.
Before either of the two combatants could do anything, metal sprung to life from their surroundings, lose bits from the rubble the two had made. The scraps linked up and latched onto the two teens limbs, restraining them.
"What is this? What'd you do?" Luke yelled to the teen that was in the exact same predicament as him. This was obviously Magneto's work, but why was the man interfering? It must've been on Terrence's behalf because Luke had nothing to do with the mutant.
"Settle down, Gyro. All will be revealed in time. I had to stop you to before you destroyed any more of mutant kind's new home. Let me welcome you to Asteroid M. I have invited you here personally Gyro because you have acquired my interest and I feel as if I have much to offer you. Our powers are quite similar after all."
Luke scoffed and spit at the floor, clearing out what was left of the blood from his mouth. "I'm not here to listen to what you have to say and I'm certainly not here for advice on how you handle the blood curdling agony you experience when you use your magnetism. I'm doing just fine on my own."
Terrence was silent as he watched the cloaked figure of Magneto float out of the asteroid entrance, donned in his signature red armor and helmet. The man was an imposing figure, even though Terrence was sure the man was old. Very old. The man still wielded such power that it was almost beyond Terrence. He had to respect that. But restraining him was a no-no.
After being given a moment's pause, Springload had tensed up his muscles and tried to jerk his arm free of the metal. The metal tightened, not giving Springload any room to explosively expand his muscles. His powers couldn't work in a situation where he couldn't move, He was as weak as a normal person like this. And that made him even angrier.
"Calm down, Springload. You've got much to learn as well. Your anger will only hinder you if you don't handle it properly. That is something that we have in common, our mutual hatred for weakness. But now is not the time for fighting. You two must be enlightened and set aside your petty rivalry for the benefit of mutant kind, so we can bloom out into the sun instead of being hidden in the darkness, where we've withered."
"I suppose you have some great plan for exposing mutant kind to the world and establishing us as some dominant race above all humankind. Along the way you'll destroy every bit of Western civilization that had been built up since recorded history along the way. And then you'll set yourself up as some king, which will in turn lead to a long series of bloody assassinations and wars until mutant kind is so decimated that what's left of the humans will up rise and kill us all out for conquering them. Sounds great."
Magneto chuckled as he hovered towards Luke who was spitting as he talked, so caught up in his anger and disgust. The man stopped a short bit away and the metal around Luke tightened even more. The man reached out his hand, aiming to grasp onto Luke's shoulder.
"Someone seems to have a wild imagination. What if I never made myself king? What if I gave mutant kind the chance to govern themselves just as they should? What would you say then?"
Magneto's hand stopped dead in the air, unable to pass through a certain point. Luke glared up and the helmet that obstructed his view of Magneto's face. "Men with power will never settle for being governed by others of lesser power. Mutants would never abide by any law established even by mutants because they would think they are above mere words on paper. They aren't human. They would do what ever they wanted and chaos would rule the day, until of course, a war broke out that killed off most of the population and we were then killed off by whatever was left of the humans. There isn't a single way that you could expose mutant kind to the world as the dominant force where we wouldn't end up all dying."
Magneto must've been angered by Luke's argument and the deflection of his hand, as the metal tightened around Luke's limbs, breaking the skin and letting blood trickle out. Luke just glared at the man and when he tried to put his hand out again to touch him, Luke huffed in a breath of air before letting it out in an exhale that sent the master of magnetism back, forced by something unseen.
"Such a violent and negative mindset. I don't see how you share Xavier's ideals of having humans live alongside us. Surely you would see how they would try to cage us and use us as mere lab rats or weapons. So tell me what you believe would happen if mutant kind was ever exposed to the world?"
Luke didn't answer for a moment, letting his regenerative factor do its work. After a moment or so, when he was fit to, he grunted out "I already have."
Magneto was astounded from the sound of his voice as he asked "You think we would all die out?"
Luke didn't answer directly but said instead "I once saw a kid who at the age of 6 had created a nuclear reaction between his hands. A year later, I saw the same kid annihilate a building that was still inhabited by people, both human and mutant alike. A month after that, the kid was in the newspaper, dead from what looked like a seizure. Mutants who are allowed free reign to do whatever just because they can, eventually turn to doing wrong. Freedom is a flawed ideal because no one is safe enough for others to leave them unchecked. We have to have some kind of power above us to keep us in line. And if mutant kind is exposed as anything other than people who are just different, then I feel as if we'll lose sight of that power that keeps us in line."
"You sound so much like the philosophers of the world after World War 2. I grew up listening to the idea of the world redefining what was right and wrong and that all people should have that same standard. But the standard will never fit everybody, Luke. You, me, Terrence, we're all above the standard that we would be forced to live by if we didn't place ourselves above humans."
"I would prefer to hold myself back from controlling the world if that meant the world that controlled me was worth living in. Maybe the world that controls you isn't worth living in. If that's how you feel, I'm sorry, but I will always think that living by a standard of right and wrong that keeps me in line is the only way to live."
"That's kind of ironic considering you steal, break into, and have even destroyed other people's property for a job that you didn't even have to do. You did it for fun." Terrence sneered from his spot on the walkway. All the talk of ideals and other nonsense made him sick. He was a man of action and being restrained like he was made him angry.
"And I was wrong. I did just do it for the sake of doing it but now I've got better things to do than to be a criminal hired hand. I've raised my standard, little by little, because I shouldn't have been using my powers with such a low standard for a reason. Now I've got friends, a home, and things worth fighting over. And people like you" Luke said, turning to Magneto "would ruin all of that, even if you mean the best for mutants. I will not willingly be a part of that. No way."
"I see. You sound frighteningly similar to the Charles from so many years ago. And then he began to change from what you still are to what he is now. Someone who hides behind lies and would break any rule to keep his peace. What he lowers himself to doing just for you, the rest of his students, and his precious institute, is far worse than what I would do on any day. That is why I abandoned his cause so long ago, because the road you are on, teetering between humans and mutants, is filled with dark decisions. Maybe you'll fare better than he did."
"What have you done with Xavier, anyways? I'd like to see him if you don't mind." Luke snipped angrily, turning the conversation away from such a stupid discussion. The Professor would know what to do with this man and his talk of ideals. Luke wasn't much for it.
The metal holding onto Luke and Terrence clattered on the floor, releasing them from their confinements. As the two began to rub their wrists, letting blood circulate back through properly, Magneto floated back towards the entrance. "You're right. I'm sure you have much to ask Charles. There is much for us to discuss ourselves."
The two teenage mutants glanced at each other, their feud temporarily set aside. They followed the man into the asteroid, through hallways and to a chamber lined with glass tubes that seemed befitting of a science experiment. Inside one of the glass tubes was a redheaded girl floating in a green liquid, almost lifeless. At second glance, Luke nearly shouted when he saw it was Jean inside the tube. He held back from saying anything until the Professor got there. He would know what to do about her. Besides, Magneto's other recruits looked ready to skin him alive if he tried to do anything.
Inside the room, it seemed that the Brotherhood, with the exception of Toad, had assembled. Joy. Not a single conscious friendly person in sight. Terrence went over to the rest of the Brotherhood goons and they all began looking between Magneto and giving Luke hard looks.
He and Crystal had never made up over their spat, so she gave him a harsh glare alongside the others, which hurt Luke a little. But he weathered the hard looks and waited on the man leading the show to continue on. Magneto waved his hand and the sound of metal wheels rolling entered the room. Charles Xavier was dragged unwillingly into the room, his wheelchair rolling itself into a neat park by his student. Luke and Xavier shared a look but the telepath turned to address his oldest ally.
"Why have you drug us all here, Magnus? What is this promise of sanctuary you spoke of? It looks to me that you've brought your own and abducted two of my own. Why have you dragged us into this madness?"
"Charles, I merely mean this as a way of survival for our kind. Most of your X-men were not selected only because they did not prove themselves. But those of you here are being offered a place to grow into full mutants, mutants able to tap into their powers fully and without restraint by a society that wasn't made for us."
Xavier hung his head and slammed his hand down onto his arm rest. "You've gone too far, Eric. You mean to enhance the X-gene but you know the results of it. We've both witnessed it. It's far too dangerous for you to expose such young mutants just so they can be your army to create a new world."
"You are too determined to see peace and equality spread to the humans that you've shut yourself out from other views, Charles. Times have changed. I've undergone the enhancement myself and I am now in full control of my powers. But I fear not of how you think, because for every non believer, there is a new convert."
With that, Magneto gestured to Scott and a tanned blonde-haired teen that Luke assumed to be Scott's brother. They were dressed in the matching uniform of tight jeans, white shirts and thick brown jackets that made them look more like jocks than anything else.
"Scott, I…I don't understand."
"We're just here to listen Professor. That's all." Scott tried to explain, his brother hunkering behind him like a shadow.
"What about her, Scott? Is she here to just listen?" Xavier asked, pointing to Jean.
Appalled at what he saw, Scott turned to Magneto, hands at his shades, ready to rip them off and blast the man. "Hey, what is this?"
"It's simply a precaution, Scott. Not everyone here has the maturity to except the coming change like you do. Not yet."
"Let her out, now!" Scott warned, taking steps forward to get in Magneto's face.
"Anything you can us, she should hear as well. She's got more maturity in her left big toe than all of you assembled losers behind you." Luke said, stepping away from the Professor only to get his arm grabbed and tugged back. Scott got held back by his brother and while he was talking to Scott, Xavier began to converse with Luke telepathically.
'Should something happen to me, you must get Scott and Jean and find a way out of here. At the most, Jean could carry you three to the ground if you were to reduce the weight. Erik would never harm me but I cannot trust him now. I ask you to do this for me because I know you have the determination to do what even Scott can't at times. Do not be fooled or mislead by his words, Luke. Promise me this.'
It was almost scary for Luke to hear all of this from Xavier, the most powerful mutant Luke knew. The man always had a way to work through things no matter what the situation, and now he was making plans for them as if he wouldn't be around. A small jerk of his head was all Xavier needed before they returned to the conversation at hand, namely to Magneto telling Scott that Jean was perfectly safe.
Xavier began to focus to told Scott something telepathically. Magneto must've noticed and turned, sending Xavier's chair rolling towards a tube that opened up to capture him. Luke had reacted quickly and pulled back on the chair with his powers. The chair locked up in a stalemate between the two mutants. Charles hardly seemed to notice, too busy calling out telepathically to someone.
Luke's arm muscles degenerated before he could get another grip on the wheelchair and it was sent rolling into the tube that quickly shut itself and filled with gas. Xavier was out in a second, not even given the time to struggle.
Good arm cocked back to smash the metal armored man, Luke spun and nearly released a wave of gravity, but saw Scott had the better idea. His powers were flaring and even behind the sunglasses Luke could see the red energy building up, ready to shatter every last glass container on the wall.
"Do that and neither of them will survive the decompression."
"Oh yeah? The odds aren't looking that well for you either. Let them out, now!" Scott threatened, back in the man's face again. Luke looked past the old man and to the crowd of other mutants waiting to back the master of magnetism up at the drop of a dime. Luke could knock them all back until Scott had finished blasting Magneto to smithereens, then they could free the Professor and Jean and get out of there. They could do this. But Luke was going to wait on Scott to make the shot first.
"Hey Scott, come on man. This isn't any good. They're getting a little time-out, so what? It doesn't matter. Look, no one should be getting hurt here. I don't know much, but I do know that Magneto wants to help. You can't blame him for being a little cautious. He's offered us help and I need his help." Scott's brother came pacing forward, holding his hands out to push Scott back off of Magneto. Scott almost looked ready to drop his hands from his sunglasses, but Luke didn't like it.
"Scott, I know you and your brother want to be close right now, but he's mentally retarded. This man had kidnapped Jean and knocked out the Professor. And for what? Because he's scared of telepaths reading his mind and letting everyone else know he's full of hot air. If you stand down now, then this will be the last time I ever look to you for orders. Xavier didn't train us just so we could cower before old men past their prime whenever he wasn't around. He taught us how to take a stand for what we knew was right."
While the speech was certainly touching deep down in the heart, it didn't make the reaction Luke wanted from Scott. Scott dropped his hands to his sides and took a step back, letting out a deep breath before saying "The Professor taught us more than just to fight. He taught us how to work things out without violence and to find a mutual agreement for everyone. Alex, you want to find some answers from this guy. We'll see if he can give them to you after all."
"Very wise, Cyclops. Soon you will see that I am not your enemy, nor Gyro's, or even your beloved Professor. I am only here to help."
Back at the mansion, the defeated X-man had managed to make their way home, sore, tired, and battered. They saw the front doors knocked off of the hinges and the glass in most of the windows shattered. They stepped inside the foyer to see it thoroughly trashed and ruined. In the middle of the foyer stood Mystique, her heel planted firmly into the back of a figure laying on the floor. The X-men saw the white hair and immediately sprung into action. Kitty slipped beneath the floor while Evan fired bone spikes rapidly at the blue figure now aware of the team's presence, his anger fueling him. Mystique flipped away easily, her acrobatics making it seem easy until Kurt ported behind her and kicked her hard in her back.
"What are you doing here, Mother?" Kurt snarled angrily at the woman now getting back to her feet. Kitty had picked up Storm and helped her up, supporting the woman between herself and Rouge while Evan grew more spikes to threaten Mystique with.
"If she's still here, then she must be a loser! We all are if we're still here." The mutants all turned to see Toad perched in a window sill, where he flipped from and landed closer to them, dressed in his ridiculous combat suit.
"Don't you dare call me that, Tolanski!" Mystique warned, her voice rising as a threat even though she was in a precarious situation herself. Toad noticed and bucked up the courage to say "Shut up, witch. You're just mad cause Springload took your place by Magneto's side. You shouldn't even want to see that man again, since he's probably gonna flay you alive when he finds you."
Mystique stuck her nose up a little at the comment, "Hmph. Is that what his little Acolyte told you? That I'm a traitor to the man? I've served Magneto with more loyalty than any of his other pawns and he dares to question where my ties lay? I merely need to see him to straighten this all out and to correct these lies. So X-men, if you would please excuse me, I'll be taking your jet and going after the man."
Kurt waved both hands in the air and shouted "Hold on a second! Someone tell us right now what is going on! Why were we just ambushed by the Brotherhood, who is this Magneto guy, and why does he want to kill you?"
"Don't bother wasting time asking these clowns, Elf. I'll fill you in on the way. All you need to know is that Magneto has our friends and we're going after him. So suit up and head to the hangar." The X-men nodded at the order from their teacher. Logan had arrived, looking worse for wear, but when he gave orders, you didn't question them. You just did as he asked and prepared for the worst. As the team of younger mutants, plus Storm, made their way into the mansion, Mystique turned to Wolverine and demanded to come along.
"I know the man so I should be calling the shots."
"Get your own ride then." Wolverine grunted, striding by without a care. Mystique snarled, but didn't dare attack Wolverine. Instead, she kicked out at Toad, hoping to vent on the cowardly mutant. But Toad wasn't a coward anymore… Or at least he wasn't scared of her. Toad squatted down to avoid the kick and lashed out with his tongue, yanking the woman's leg out from under her and making her fall flat on her back. With that, he turned and followed Logan, planning on going with the X-men. He wanted to be with his friends and the X-men seemed like the only way to get there.
Mystique just screamed at the roof in anger, before flipping up and storming down the hallways after the others, breaking a few vases along the way.
Once everyone was there and ready to go, Logan opened the hangar and pointed to the hangar's newest addition.
"Welcome to the first test flight of the XM Velocity."
"I wanted to be there for you Alex. I'm sorry."
Oh how Luke wanted to just throw himself over the railway he was leaned against. When Scott backed down from his shot at Magneto, the little gathering was over and Scott had gone out for a breather with his brother. Not wanting to be left alone with Magneto and the Brotherhood, Luke joined them. Oh how he wished he would've stayed with the Brotherhood. At least he could made fun of them to pass the time. Then he wouldn't have to listen to all the brotherly bonding going on. It made him sick.
This Alex brat had convinced Scott to back down from Magneto just because his hands were hurting. Cry baby. At least the surfer boy's pains came and went. Luke's pains were a guarantee every time he used his powers. Luke didn't like the blonde boy, but he couldn't actually try to make him and Scott split apart. Not only would it have been useless to try, but it would've been cruel. So Luke just left the two to it.
He turned to the entrance to the asteroid when he saw Magneto float back outside, joining in on the tail end of Scott's conversation with his brother. What an eavesdropper. He said something that caught Luke attention, something about a renaissance and being a part of it. The man gestured for them to follow and led them to a new part of the asteroid, a chamber with a large vault door as a wall.
Sabretooth was there and waiting on Magneto's return, it seemed. Luke hardly bothered wondering why the feral man was there. It seemed all of the X-men's enemies seemed to be friends. Maybe Magneto had sent out invites on Facebook or something? The Brotherhood were waiting as well, glaring at the three mutants trailing behind Magneto.
"I built it directly into the asteroid. Behold, the next step in mutant evolution!"
"What is it?" Scott asked, clearly unimpressed by the vault door.
"A genetic enhancer. Perhaps you've heard of the legendary Gems of Cytorak? Well, they do exist. Once believed to have mystical properties, these stones actually emit a radiation." Magneto explained, pulling out a red shard from his armor and holding it aloft for them all to see.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Alex cried out, but Luke cut him off before Magneto could himself.
"Shut up, Mr. Aloha. Those things wont hurt you, because in case you didn't know, it's a pretty common theory that the X-gene was formed by some type of radiation. Those things really would help you out. But where exactly did you get them because there were a dozen reported Network missions of mutants specifically powered towards tracking that came up with nothing but wild stories? I could believe that they are real, but I don't believe that those are the genuine thing. There's no way you found them if nobody else could." Luke pointed out, causing a wave of doubt for the others listening in.
Magneto merely scoffed at the statement and said "If you do not believe me, then let me give you an example. Sabretooth!"
The large man stepped forward and entered into the room behind the vault door as Magneto opened it for him. Machinery inside began to activate as the man stepped through the metal walkway and the door shut behind him.
"I want to show you and the others just what I am offering. And it is an offer, Gyro. Make no mistake on that."
Luke ignored the man as he focused on the sounds the machine was making behind the vault door and he waited for it to die down. After a few moments, it did and Sabretooth walked back out, looking completely different. He was much taller, standing over 7 feet in height compared to his normal 6'3. He had gotten much broader as well, but that was hardly noticed compared to the fact that instead of being clothes, the man's chest was now completely covered in fur that hid the mass beneath it. The man's hair had grown longer and his canines even longer, looking much more like his codename. But to top it all off, the man looked near brain dead, even compared to his normal features.
Luke kept quiet to stop himself from making fun of the man, because Luke definitely saw the upgrade the man had undergone. There was no mistaking that Magneto had indeed found the Gems of Cytorak and was using them to enhance X-genes.
"I'll go next." Everyone turned to stare at Luke in shock. "What? I'm all for getting free power-ups, but it's not just that. Scott, what if that machine didn't do all it was supposed to? What if Magneto has it rigged to do something else to just us because we aren't loyal lackeys like Bigfoot over there? I'll go and if he does anything funny, then you can take your brother, bust Jean and Xavier out of here, then make it back to the mansion safely. If this thing doesn't do anything funny, then I'll get super buff and we can still free the Professor afterwards if need be."
Scott nodded his head in agreement, watching Magneto to see if he did anything suspicious. Luke made his way to the still open vault door and stepped inside the glowing fluorescent light, faintly hearing Magneto say something. A moment later, his head was barraged by a telepathic voice.
'Luke, what are you doing? Magneto is going to use that thing to alter your mind!'
'Professor? Well, better me than Scott and his punk brother. Can you fix me when I get back out?' Luke asked, turning around to see the vault door shut and his connection with the man break. What was it with metal blocking out Xavier's powers? He would really need to ask Xavier about that later, so they could find a way to work around it. Before Luke knew anything else, a blinding light erupted from behind him, overcoming his mind and leaving him totally blank. Then, almost as if he was having an out of body experience, he felt his body began to change.
It only took an instant, but Luke could still feel something inside of himself change. Then, as the instant faded, pain crept in. It was slow at first, like that of a long day muscle soreness. Then it gradually increased, to the feeling he had after Danger Room sessions with Logan. It stayed there, almost as if Luke had used his powers like he did in those sessions. But instead of the pain fading, it continued. The fire continued to burn, even though it should've stopped. Luke gasped out for air and clutched his arms, trying to wring out the pain in them, out of his whole body. The pain his powers caused always faded before. It always stopped. But not this.
Was this what his powers were really meant for? Luke could hardly wonder about the question before he felt something foreign creep into his mind. Something sentient and wasn't his. Distracted as he was by the pain, Luke didn't have a chance to fight it as the mental entity took control and swept Luke into the back of his own mind, like a third party observer. And even in the back of his mind, he could still feel a portion of the pain that he was so accustomed to with his powers. And yet this pain was different. It was permanent.
Luke felt his body walk back out of the hallway he had been in, returning to the chamber where he saw everyone waiting, even the two mutants who had been unconscious in glass tubing earlier. His friends looked at him with shock and awe, while he noticed that the Brotherhood almost look scared of him. Magneto was impossible to tell, his face completely guarded for some reason.
"I should have known you were one of those." Magneto hissed, turning from Luke and to Xavier. "Charles, you simply took this one in for your own ideal's gain. How could you possibly explain letting a mere human waste space at your school for mutants? Are you trying to get a head start on assimilating yourself into society by making them more like us?"
Luke wanted to shout, to demand, to question the man. His body didn't respond to his urges, it just stood and suffered its own pain.
Xavier couldn't bare to look at Luke any more, turning his head away as he answered "The boy wasn't given the chance to come into his own. That doesn't make him any less deserving of his powers, nor any less deserving of being able to control those powers. And now, look at you. You've awakened his powers fully for your own gain. Luke's not even in control of himself now, thanks to your meddling into things beyond us, Erik! You are as much to blame for him being a mutant now as whomever did that to him in the first place!"
"What are you talking about Professor? Why is he saying Luke's not a mutant? He is. He's got powers just like the rest of us. And what did Magneto do to him, cause he hasn't said a word since he stepped out of that thing?" Scott asked.
Luke wanted to hug the teen, but even if were in control of his body, he wouldn't have. Cyclops had asked just what Luke wanted to know.
"Luke didn't have his X-gene awakened through means like ours, whether stress or natural growth. He had his forcibly awakened, through mysticism, like my brother, Cain. It happened before he can consciously remember, which is why I don't know more about it. But Magneto has enhanced Luke's X-gene when it was in a hibernate state. I can only imagine that he must be in pain and is now capable of what Rebecca told me in the beginning about him."
"Well can you wake him up from whatever Magneto has him under?" Alex asked, now genuinely worried. He had trusted Magneto against his older brother's better judgment and now Scott's friend was brainwashed. Before Xavier could answer, an alarm began going off, cutting out any conversation.
"Aircraft!" Sabretooth cried out over the shrill alarm. He sounded even dumber than normal too, Luke noticed.
Magneto merely smiled and asked "Really? Let's see who it could possibly be." A mere gesture caused a skylight to open and reveal the night sky, incredibly clear from so high up in the atmosphere. Magneto reached out with his magnetism, but seemed to fail to grasp the helicopter that was barely in view but coming in fast.
"No metal!" Magneto cursed, looking at Charles, who merely smirked at his old friend's lack of fortune.
"No matter. Luke, bring it down!"
Luke wanted to swear, curse, cry, shout, or do anything to tell the world how much it hurt when he lifted his arms above his head in preparation to use his powers. Luke could see the muscles in his arms, noticeable bigger now, twitching and tearing beneath his skin, which had taken on a grayer tone than before. And then, as his arms were brought down, Luke felt a connection to his powers that was infinitely stronger than before. He could see the helicopter jerk off course and begin to fall towards the skylight without control. It was under his control now.
And what was even better, was that now his arms weren't hurting so much. The pain, while still there, had lessened after using his powers. It was completely opposite of how his powers normally worked. The plane came crashing down, landing on one of the balconies crashing in through the hallway. It broke through the chamber and was spinning wildly, heading straight for Luke. The tail of the helicopter spun forward and was about to smash into Luke when it suddenly caved in on itself and avoided him entirely. Luke felt some of the pain ease out of his chest from the back of his own mind and wanted to shout for joy, even if he had probably just killed whoever was in that helicopter.
The copter stopped spinning and immediately after it stilled, Kitty phased Evan out of the side, Kurt ported Rouge outside, and the hatch flew off as Toad, Wolverine, Storm, and Mystique climbed out. "Knock knock."
Oh, how clever she was! Luke wanted to laugh at Mystique's little opening line but couldn't. After all, he was still stuck being his own self conscious or something.
Mystique let out a battle cry before flipping out of the helicopter and beginning her kicking assault on Magneto, shouting out between attacks "You know damn well that I only told them what they needed to know for your sake, Eric. You left me out to dry and now it's time for vengeance!"
If his body hadn't been forced to help protect Magneto, Luke would've loved watching Mystique fight him. She was kicking his can all over the place, literally. Hell hath no furry as a woman scorned, Luke supposed. But when he stepped in, he sent the blue-skinned woman flying with a mere hand gesture. Springload soon took after the woman, the two jumping and flipping around trying to outdo each other in a type of combat only trained acrobats could do.
Wolverine had jumped on top of the glass tubing and shredded the wires, freeing Xavier and Jean. "Where's the X-jet?" Wolverine questioned, shouting over the sounds of other little battles taking place.
"The observation deck." Charles replied, raising his voice as well to be heard over the fights.
"Gather there!" Wolverine shouted, right before being stomped straight through the glass tubing he was on and through the floor beneath by Sabretooth.
The Professor turned to Jean and ordered "Go! Prepare the X-jet. I'll take care of Luke and get the other ones there. Hurry!" Telepathically, he called to Storm and asked 'Please go with Jean and have the X-jet prepped for immediate takeoff. I fear we will have to leave here in a hurry.' The woman flew from the plane and towards the jet, guided by Xavier's instruction.
Jean took off as ordered and Xavier wheeled his chair around to find Luke. Meanwhile, the other X-men were fighting their own fights, with some luck. The Blob had charged Nightcrawler, who had his back to the vault door wall, pinned. The Blob came thundering in, only for Kurt to vanish in a crack of smoke and reappear behind Blob, kicking him forward and making him continue into the metal wall, wear his head collided with a resounding thud. The large mutant hit the ground hard and stayed there, thoroughly dazed as the vault door swung open from the impact of Blob's head.
Avalanche and Crystal had teamed up against Spyke, using their combined powers to send rolling waves of sharp crystal at him. He would've been shredded if not for Kitty's timely intervention, pulling the bleach-blonde boy through the floor. When the floor had settled, Crystal and Avalanche didn't see any sign of Spyke and turned to each other only to be hit by flying side-kicks to the head from Kitty and Evan. The two collapsed side by side, groaning in pain near the Blob's crumpled form.
Nearby Mystique, Toad had taken his up his beef with Magneto over not being chosen, leaping after the man who hovered away while sending to spinning pipes at the slimy mutant. Toad was too agile to be hit by the pipes and caught one with his hand and the other with his tongue. "Is that all you got, bucket brain?" Toad taunted, only to be tossed through the air by the metal pipes he was still holding. The boy hit Mystique, who had been knocking into the air by a strong hit from Terrence. When the two collided, Mystique was knocked into the open walkway that led to the Gems of Cytorak.
"No! Get away from my genetic enhancer!" Magneto bellowed, leaving the two Brotherhood goons to look at each other in confusion and shrug simultaneously.
Spyke, after nailing Avalanche with his kick, had made his way towards the others, trying to regroup. Halfway there, the familiar flash of silver began to encircle him, hitting him with small hits that knocked him about.
"Ready for some more, Evan?" Quicksilver taunted from his whirlwind of speed.
"Been there, done that. Time for a new game!" Evan shouted sending out spikes to stop Pietro in his tracks. The blur stopped muttering "Whoa, tire hazard!" Rouge stepped out of the shadows and tapped the speedster on the face with her ungloved hand, sending the teen to the floor in a heap.
Luke watched all of this from his position in the middle of the room. Rocks had come tumbling down from the ceiling around him and he knew that the place was going to collapse on itself. But he could do a thing. He couldn't control his body and Magneto was instructing him to move any more. So he had to watch as his teammates cleaned up shop without him, beating the Brotherhood and sending them running for the jet with their metaphorical tails between their legs. And he watched all of that while Scott and Alex shook his body and shouted at him, trying to get him to respond. As if he could when he couldn't earlier. As if he wouldn't even though he was going to die if he didn't get to the X-jet.
Xavier finally made his way over and began to search through his mutant student's mind, beginning to swipe away at the sentient being that was waiting on Magneto's orders. More rocks came down and Scott blasted them apart before they could squash the group. Xavier stopped his mind clearing and began to order "Take Luke to the Blackbird. There's no sense of clearing his mind if we all die. I'll help him there."
Scott and Alex grabbed the still rigid body of Luke and began to pull him along towards the jet, only for Magneto to shout "Luke, defend me!" A ripple appeared between Luke and the two brothers, knocking them away. Luke's body then began to float off towards Magneto, who was still being attacked by an angry and enhanced Mystique. Scott and Alex tried to go after him, but the roof collapsed again, blocking them off.
"Come on. Eric will keep him alive and we will find him later and free him. I promise."
At those words, Scott turned and pushed Xavier's wheelchair towards the jet as fast as he could. Inside, his stomach was cutting flips over abandoning Luke yet again. The teen had gotten himself brainwashed and was now in the hands of a dangerous mutant because of him. He hadn't blasted Magneto when he had his shot and he let the teen take his place in the enhancement chamber. He had failed Luke as the leader of the X-men and as a friend.
All of that inner turmoil was knocked aside when they made it to the jet and barely made it out of the asteroid, which exploded violently as soon as they made it out. Scott and Alex both had to shoot down fragments of the asteroid to protect the Blackbird as the full plane made it's way back to Bayville, minus one X-man.
Scott took a seat beside Xavier, silently berating himself because he couldn't say out loud what he was feeling. It was pathetic how he felt. Xavier simply put a hand on his elder student's shoulder and told him "I saw three of Magneto's orbs leave the asteroid before it blew. And I could guarantee that Mystique found her own way off of the asteroid. We will find him Scott, just like before. And it wasn't entirely your fault. It was mine as well. For now, just rest knowing that we're all safe."
AN: Pretty good season finale, huh? I thought it was pretty cool myself. And I know that the whole 'kidnapping' thing is a little cliché by now, but I think you guys can grit your teeth through it. I had to get Luke some personal time with Magneto without him defecting from the X-men. I also explained the gist of the Mystique/Magneto beef and I plan to finish that explanation later. I hope you guys are a little interested by what Magneto and Xavier were talking about with Luke. That'll play a large chunk of his back story, which will come up later as I fit it in the plot. So for now, enjoy the chapter, as I'm taking a breather for a bit to work on other things I probably won't publish any time soon. But I want to play around a little, so I finished this for you guys so you wouldn't be waiting on me to get done goofing around.
I shouldn't have to explain the song title origins, as it's pretty famous. It's Eminem's theme for 8 Mile and the anthem for a Chrysler commercial. Review if you have any comments, both positive and negative about the chapter. It'll make me happier than you think. Until next time, BigWillis out!