(A/N: Ok folks, Chapter Thirteen is here. But, the Brotherhood has made a move. What will become of our heroes and heroines? Will the X-Men finally beat a Brotherhood, even if it's bolstered by a few… extra forces?)
There was a trend beginning to develop. A car whistled by Scott's ear, bouncing across the pavement with a low thump on each landing. An angry bull roar sounded as the Blob thundered by them. Kitty yelped and leapt out of the way. Juggernaut thundered by him towards Jean and Rogue, who were trying to stop Mastermind.
Kurt sprang to his feet and raced towards his mother, who had joined them for this fight. Scott rolled to one side as a whiplike tongue flashed by him. He rolled to his feet and ducked under a spray of flame, which turned behind him and formed into a dragon, trying to smash into Scott. He was tackled out of the way by Logan, and as they both rolled to their feet.
Logan sighed exasperatedly. "Stay on yer toes, or one of 'em's gonna-" His lecture was interrupted as a baseball bat, covered with some strange pink energy, collided with his chin. The bat made an odd sound and Logan was sent sailing backwards, slamming into a car and caving it inward. Scott's jaw dropped and he leapt backwards to avoid a blow from the bat.
A slight chuckle sounded as the man wielding the bat slung it over his shoulder. "Good try, idiota, but it'll take a lot more to get away from Unus the Untouchable!" He said haughtily in an italian accent. A flicker appeared in the air around him, and then a pink orb, spinning at a crazy speed, appeared around him, slamming into Scott and sending him flying backwards. Scott landed hard on his back. Unus the Untouchable? That's new. Scott growled, pulling himself to his feet. "You're about to be 'Unus the Faceless' in a sec!"
He fired an optic blast. It slammed into the forcefield and fragmented, into five or six separate beams that curved harmlessly around the orb and dissipated behind the man. "What the…" He fired another optic blast, that slammed into the shield and bounced back at him. Scott's eyes widened. "Oh, shi-" He was cut off as he was hit by his own optic blast.
He was sent skidding back, and he let his head fall against the pavement in shock. Then he rolled to his feet, looking at the man surprisedly. "Holy shit…" He mumbled.
John was trying to fight off Blob and Juggernaut, but it looked like he was fighting a losing battle. Scott stood up, dusting himself off, and was about to chase after Unus, who was running after Logan, waving his bat, when a stiletto collided with his chin, snapping his head back. "Urgh!"
Mystique grabbed his shirt and hurled him over her shoulder. Scott rolled to his feet. "I've been waiting for this for a long time, Mystique!" He growled, circling warily around her. Mystique smirked. "To get your asses handed to you again? I'd be happy to comply-" Kurt slammed into her. "NO!" And then they were gone in a flash of light and brimstone.
Kurt slammed his mother into a building "Vhy are you doing zhis!?" He cried, and leapt back as she swung a hard left at him. "Vhy just… up and attack zhe ceety vizhout even stealing anyzhing?" Mystique kept him on his toes, throwing furious blows at him without remorse. "Well, son," Now she spat the word out. "We're here to give our new recruits a… trial run."
Kurt's eyes narrowed. "Yeah? Vell ve've got some new blood too!" Morph slammed into Mystique in the form of a jackhammer. "Ba-zing! Hey, I'd bet that 'rattled' ya!" He snickered. Then Toad slammed into Morph, and Mystique swiped furiously at Kurt with a snarl.
Something fishy was going on. Kitty phased through Pietro as he tried to punch her, too busy thinking to fight back.
Quicksilver, Blob, Juggernaut, Mastermind, Avalanche, Pyro, Mystique, and Toad they knew (And had never seen them together all at once), but this new guy Unus the Untouchable? Who was he? He was giving Beast, Logan, and X-23 trouble, all at the same time. Logan had a purplish bruise forming under his chin and X-23's shirt was torn slightly.
Pietro slammed into her, spinning her around so fast the world kept spinning when she stopped. She put a hand to her head, her knees wobbling. "Whoah-ho-ho… headrush." She blinked until her dizziness had gone.
Pietro had ran down the street and was turning around for another go at her. She ran in front of a wall and phased. He came racing toward her, the smug smile on his face fading after he realised her plan a second too late.
She giggled as he went straight through her and slammed into the wall with a sick 'THUD' and a crack of concrete. He groaned, then fell backwards. "Y'know, for such a fast guy, you're a little slow." She stepped over him with a giggle and ran off to help her friends.
Toad hopped towards Morph. "Bring it on, hopper!" He said with a smirk, then turned into a puddle as Toad hopped over him. He reformed and sat on the hood of a car. "Yo, stop movin' ya white-skinned freak!" He cried, turning and leaping at him. Morph sneered at him, and a bunch of spikes erupted from his skin, just barely missing Toad, who was stuck in between them. He gulped nervously.
"Heh heh… hey yo, you know I was just jokin' 'bout ya skin, right pal? Buddy?" Morph raised an eyebrow. "Looks like we've gotten ourselves into a prickly situation haven't we?" Toad gave him a nervous grin, his yellow teeth looking nasty as ever. "Nice to meet ya, by the way. Name's Morph. And I'll assume…" The spikes retracted and Morph turned his hand into a cement block, knocking him out like a light. "That you're Toad?"
John was fighting for his life against Blob and Juggernaut. Well, not really fighting so much as trying to get away from the two behemoth fighters. Jean and Rogue were still tied up with Mastermind, and Kurt was battling with Mystique and Scott was busy trying to help Beast, Logan, and Laura with Unus, Pyro, and Avalanche.
Blob punched him in the chest, and John was sent tumbling back with a low 'Whoof!'. His adrenaline pumping in his veins had almost completely negated his eye. He was a bit glad about this and half- wishing that it was at his disposal.
Juggernaut roared and slammed a fist into the ground next to him, which he very nearly dodged. He rolled to his feet and threw a fist at Juggernaut, which bounced harmlessly off his stomach.
"Um." John blinked, stymied. His powers were of no use against the Unstoppable Juggernaut and the Immoveable Blob. And without his armored form, he had no way of standing up to their combined strength. Juggernaut swept him aside, and he was caught by the Blob.
Fred chortled dimwittedly. "You're done now, ya grey skinned freak." He threw John upwards. Despite all the velocity he could muster pulling him to the ground, he still flew high enough for Blob to grab him by the shin and swing him into a prius. There was a rumbing 'Crunch!' and John- and the car- slammed into a building. John slumped to the ground, out cold.
Morph opened a hole in his chest and a deflected beam from Scott passed harmlessly through him."Yeow!!" Kurt was still trying to stop Mystique, Mastermind was on the ground with a serious migraine, and it left the rest of them (Nobody knew where John was) to deal with Unus, Pyro and Avalanche.
Unus laughed at every attack, chortled whenever one of them hurt themselves, and sneered when they stopped to regroup. "I'm not called de Untouchable fer noting, you simpering fools."
Kitty blinked. "Oh, wait. Duh." She ran at the forcefield full speed. "What are you intending to try now, silly girl?" She passed right through the forcefield, and she barrelled into Unus, knocking him to the ground. She punched him hard enough to disrupt his concentration and knock the bat out of his hands.
Then she rolled aside as Logan picked him up by the shirt. Unus glared into his eyes. "Well, at least you keep yer cockiness even in the face of defeat." Logan grumped.
Then he knocked him over the head, making his eyes roll back. Logan dropped him, turning to Kurt and Mystique. But Mystique was gone, leaving Kurt, sitting on the ground holding his head.
"Ech… She bugged out." He mumbled. They turned to face Blob and Juggernaut. Morph frowned for a moment, then grinned. "Don't worry about this one guys… I've got a plan." Scott sighed exasperatedly. "Uh oh… this can't be good." Morph's grin only widened. "You know that old question… what happens when 'unstoppable' meets 'immoveable'?"
The plan was simple enough. Jean, Rogue, Kitty, Kurt, and Laura would distract Juggernaut, and Scott, Logan, Beast, and Morph would handle Blob. Juggernaut swatted furiously at the most nimble members of the team, while Blob was battered back beneath an onslaught of the most physically powerful.
Then they switched, Blob standing in one place while the others circled him, and Juggernaut plowed through Scott, Logan and Beast as Blob bellowed. Morph turned into a wall, separating the two from view. "Nah nah na-nah nah. You can't smash me!" He taunted, his face appearing on the wall. He stuck a tongue out at Juggernaut, who bellowed, and rushed at Morph.
"Three… two… one… NOW!" Morph shrank and rolled away, while the others scattered. Juggernaut slammed into Blob, and there was an earth-shattering 'KABOOM!' as they both fell back, Blob insensate.
The X-Men stood triumphantly as Juggernaut staggered a bit, fell to one knee. The X-Men cheered, and John came up to them, rubbing his head. Scott high fived Kurt.
Pyro and Avalance were supporting each other and beating a hasty retreat. Toad was hopping away quickly after them, whimpering. "H-hey, wait up yo!" Unus hobbled after them supporting Pietro, who looked like his brain had been disconnected. "Finally!" Scott laughed. John rubbed his head. "Well, it's about time." He grumbled.
Scott looked at him. He remembered how John hadn't been there to help. "And where were you?" He scoffed.
John shook his head. "Out cold over there, why?" Scott looked past him to see that, indeed, there was a crumpled Prius smashed into a wall with a John-sized dent in it. He sat down on the hood of a car, rubbing his head. Scott blinked. "Oh. Sorry." Then two things happened at once. Juggernaut got to his feet with an angry snarl. And then there was a burst of light from a searchbeam, and a sentinel stepped around the corner. Scott paled. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.
Kurt looked up with horror at the giant robot as it stepped around the building at the end of the corner. "Anozher sentinel!? I zhought zey vere all scrapped!!!" He cried. The X-Men fled, away from the giant robot and towards the X-Jet landing behind them. "Come on guys let's get the hell out of here!" Scott yelled. Juggernaut was marching towards the robot angrily.
"Who cares Kurt!! Let's just vamoose!" Morph turned his legs into large monster truck tires and sped towards the Jet as Scott hopped into it, followed by Kitty, then Jean, then Laura and Morph, then John, Beast, Rogue, Logan, then finally Kurt. He stopped, looking back as the Juggernaut was slammed into the ground by a giant robotic foot.
The Sentinel now looked almost human (Except for its size), with a humanoid face, purple-red-black iridescent metal covering it's head, upper arms, and thighs. Deep purple metal covered boot-like lower legs and feet, and bulbous, bulky forearms with multiple weapon hatches built in. it's overly bulbous chest and triangular stomach made it seem almost comical, if it werent so terrifying. Then he looked away, and stepped on the X-Jet, and the X-Men hastily fled the scene as news helicopters approached.
Laura sat next to John, elbows on her knees, hands supporting her head, and listened to Logan, Jean and Scott argue back and forth about the Sentinel.
They were all in the rec room; as soon as they had gotten back the Professor had called them all there to discuss what was to be done. It was almost as if two teams had formed, people who thought that they should have stuck around to fight, and people who thought it was a good thing they left. Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue on one side, John, Morph, herself, Logan and Storm on the other. Morph was oddly quiet, which could only mean he was thinking. His preferred demeanor aside, Morph was a technical, biological, and metaphysical genius, to the point of knowing Einstien's theories- all of them- backwards and in german.
Whenever he wasn't pranking people, he was thinking. And when he thought you could feel the stillness around him, as if the very air wanted to keep him like that. He sat in the classic 'the thinker' positioning, eyes down on the floor at his feet, brows furrowed in deep thought.
Scott's frantic waving and anger drew her back to reality. "Logan, you're not understanding me! That thing may have killed us if we had stuck around!"
Jean nodded vigorously. "We can't stand up to something we know so little about." Scott pointed at Logan. "Exactly."
He crossed his arms and stepped closer to Logan. Logan growled, pushing Scott back. "Get outta my face, shades, unless ya want ta find out what it feels like ta breathe through a tube…"
Scott's glasses smoked. "Oh really Logan? I wonder how hard I'd have to hit you to knock you out like a light and-" The professor slammed his fist down on his wheelchair. "ENOUGH!" He roared.
This action from the professor, coupled by the fact that none of them had ever heard him yell before, got everyone's attention, even breaking Morph out of his thoughts. Laura stared at him wide-eyed in surprise. Scott jumped a bit, and Logan turned to him, then sat down with a thump on the couch. The professor looked tired, as if summoning anger had used energy. He sighed, pressing the tips of his fingers together.
"We are not going to defeat the Hellfire Club if you cannot control yourselves and work as a team!" Scott glared at Logan for a moment.
"You know what? You're right, professor." The professor smiled. "Thank you, Scott. Now then-"
Logan cut him off. "This isn't the kind of team I want to work on. I'll see you all later." He stormed out. A brief moment of stunned silence followed. Kitty looked from the Professor, to Storm, to the door where Scott had left. She kissed Kurt gently on the lips, hugging him. Kurt's eyes flashed with sorrow when he realized what was about to happen. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry professor."
She followed him. Kurt gave a light squeak of pain as he watched her leave.
Laura looked around at everyone. Some people looked as though they wanted to follow as well. Laura realised she wanted to follow them. But could she leave John? A few minutes into the silence Logan came back.
"If anyone else wants to join us, we'll be in the garage. We're not waiting more than five minutes, then we're going to San Fransisco." He turned again, and they were left to their musings.
Laura looked from John, to the door, to John, to the professor and back again. Then she stood. John grabbed her hand. "Laura-" She slipped her hand out of his grip. "Sorry, John…" She turned and ran out the door. Tears, unexpected, filled her eyes and she put her hands over her mouth as she heard Jean gasp in surprise behind her.
(A/N: Awww, snap! Shit is goin' DOWN now! Will the X-team still be able to pull through if they aren't a complete team? Will they pull through when it really matters? And how will Kurt react to his beloved Katzchen following Logan? Stick around, I promise you'll find out!)