"It's no good. How do you explain the final battle to people that weren't there?"
"Try, Maia, you are nearly finished."
"Easy for you to say, Logan, you haven't helped at all."
"So…. start with the lineup. Who was nearby, where were we, that sort of thing."
"Logan, how do you explain war?"
It was like something out of a bad movie. We were all lined up on one side of the field, and they were all lined up on the other. We must have looked pathetic: there were about 100 mutants in matching leather outfits facing off against most of the US military. When I looked down the line, though, I thought we were evenly matched. They had tanks, we had Piotr and Juggernaut. They were aiming missiles at us, but Jubilee was stretching and Scott was sliding a sight attachment into his visor. Their helicopters were circling, but so was warren and Banshee was humming scales to himself to warm up. Gambit was showing off his card tricks, like he did when he was nervous, and Kurt was trying to untie the knot Bobby had tied in his tail. And with Hank and the Professor as our strategists, we couldn't lose. I almost felt sorry for the other guys.
Logan squeezed my hand. I hadn't noticed he was holding it. "Ready?"
I sighed. "No. But how can you ever be?"
Some higher up on the other side walked toward us. He was carrying the traditional white truce flag. The Professor and Hank went out to meet them. Their voices echoed through the now silent clearing.
"This is your last chance to surrender, Sir." The general said stiffly, eyeing Hank warily. He seemed surprised when the Professor answered.
"I should tell you, Mike," The man flinched when the professor said his name. I noticed it wasn't on his name tag. "We fight only in self defense. If you will stop the persecution of mutants, we will gladly go back into hiding. We never meant any harm, and we simply wish for peace."
"I will take that as a refusal to surrender." The general's face softened. "Look, if you give up mow, I can guarantee they won't kill you. They will cure you, help you…"
Hank stopped him. "We don't need a cure. There is nothing wrong with us."
"Very well. You have been warned. We... I must take that as an act of war against the United States." He turned on his heel and returned to his men. The professor turned back to us.
What happened next happened both in a lifetime and an instant. There was a crack from one of the tree tops nearby. The professor jerked in his chair, then fell forward. Everyone froze. I could see the wound in his neck even from here, and I knew it would be fatal. None of us moved for an instant, then Hank turned and, with a roar, showed us all why he was called "Beast".
He launched himself at the General that had offered us peace, swatting aside the men in front of him and grabbing hold of him by the neck. With a sickening crack, the man's neck snapped.
The instant was over. Both sides sprung into action. We ran at them. Piotr with his armor fully up, reached the line first. He bowled men over, bullets pinging off him, and rushed to Hanks aid. Juggernaut headed straight for the line of tanks, tearing through one and coming out the other side, before slowing down and turning back to fight.
It was clear most of these men were not trained for close-quarter combat. And all of them were terrified. Kurt was teleporting around in the trees, knocking snipers from their posts. Bobby was skating above us on an ice bridge, freezing over the tank barrels so they couldn't fire. Aqua was tearing through the line, a small silver bullet, working effectively against one or two men at a time. Logan and I shadowed Electra, helping her break through the line to get to their communications center. They were bringing out the big guns now, switching off the safety's of their machine guns and loading grenade and rocket launchers as fast as they could. One of the men lobbed a grenade straight at a group of mutants nearby. They didn't notice.
I teleported over to them, throwing myself in the way of the blast. To spare you most of the details, let's just say I would have been blown in half if not for my Adamantium spine. From my place on the ground, I watched the battle. I saw Bobby and Pyro shake hands before turning back to back to defend each other. Aqua and Kurt were fighting next to each other, perfectly timed attacks keeping the enemy at bay. An order came crackling over the radios in the main tents: Do not engage, repeat, do not engage! Fall back! All units, full retreat!
The battle dissolved into several small shootouts, individuals battling. Most of the others had retreated.
As soon as I had enough muscle regenerated (it took an achingly long time) I dragged myself to my feet. I looked up in time to see 4 soldiers drop their weapons at the sight of me and surrender. I told them to get on their knees with their hands behind their heads. As they were bending down, their helmets all caved in, crushing their skulls and killing them. I turned, noticing magneto behind me. "What the hell? They had surrendered!"
"I did nothing they wouldn't do to us." He snarled.
"You are no better than they are." I spat.
Infuriated, he held a hand out toward me. I felt a pain like I never had before, as though my bones were being turned liquid, a fire spreading through my body, burning so hot I screamed myself hoarse. A thin, shimmering something was being dragged from my body, out through the pores in my skin. He was ripping the adamantium from my bones.
Logan came flying out of nowhere, knocking Magneto down. "This is just what they want!" he shouted. "They want us to tear each other apart." The pain lessened. My bones seemed to re-solidify.
Logan went flying backward, and magneto rose slowly into the air. "I had forgotten how weak the X-Men were. Willing to protect those who would destroy you. We are the future! They deserve to die for what they did to us!"
There was a small popping sound, and a dart appeared in magnetos neck. He faltered, falling to the ground. We all turned to see Aqua lower a gun. She must have taken it from one of the men Magneto had killed.
She swallowed. "H-he was going to kill you…"She dropped the gun and turned into Kurt's arms, sobbing.
She had 'cured' Magneto.