Last Rook
Chapter 2
The X-Men continued their pursuit of Bishop's clone on foot.
"I'm trying to get a lock on him telepathically," Jean said. "It's difficult."
Suddenly, the team ran into Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and the Thing.
"Fantastic Four!" Gambit said. "What brings you here?"
"The same thing as you, I suspect," Mr. Fantastic answered. "We were en route home when we saw that man causing damage. Do you know who he is?"
"He's a clone of Bishop, a mutant we met a couple times from the future," Cyclops answered. "He has the power to absorb energy blasts and channel them into his own. Where's the Human Torch?"
"Flying around looking for the guy," the Thing answered.
"Have you determined what Bishop is after?" the Invisible Woman asked.
"No, and Jean has found his mind difficult to penetrate in this state," Cyclops answered. "I'm also wondering what Sinister is up to."
"I have been considering that very question, Cyclops," Storm said. "We know that Sinister was willing to forge a terrible alliance with Apocalypse to rewrite the universe. Perhaps he feels that Bishop's time traveling could be beneficial to him."
A burst of fire appeared in the sky.
"It's the Human Torch," Mr. Fantastic said. "He's found Bishop."
"Jean, reach out to the Human Torch," Cyclops said as everyone ran towards the source of the fire. "Tell him not to engage. We don't want to give Bishop any ammunition."
As they neared the Human Torch, the heroes saw fire pouring out of him and into Bishop. Despite the Torch's distance in the sky, everyone could hear him grunting. Suddenly, Cyclops fell over and his optic blasts shot out into Bishop.
Storm summoned winds to carry both the Human Torch and Cyclops away, but found that Bishop was still able to absorb their energy.
"This is new," Gambit commented.
"So he absorbs energy. Well, I'd like to see him absorb this!" the Thing said as he ran into Bishop and proceeded to punch him.
Upon impact, the power drain stopped. The Human Torch fell towards the ground until Storm used the wind to keep him aloft.
"Storm, let's get them away from here," Jean said as she helped Cyclops up.
The Thing continued to fight Bishop until Bishop shot an enormous blast, sending the Thing back nearly a block. Mr. Fantastic quickly wrapped himself around Bishop, only to be burned. He recoiled in pain.
Iceman then encased Bishop in ice, only for Bishop to blast through it. Bishop then charged at Iceman, the Invisible Woman, and Gambit with energy accumulating in his hands.
The Invisible Woman put up a shield, but Bishop absorbed it, permitting him to knock the three heroes to the ground. Suddenly, he slowed down as Jean reappeared.
"I've entered his mind," Jean said. "I'm still limited in what I can do, but I can slow him down, prevent him from going on the offensive again."
Iceman tried again to encase Bishop in ice, this time finding it finally working after a few minutes.
"He's finally subdued and his mind is more open to me now. He's actually been looking for us, like the first time he came, but something's perverted his judgments. Now, he's trying to kill us."
"Now what do we do?" Iceman asked.