Chapter 18
Upstairs a few minutes ago...
Mesmero was fleeing from the two magnetic mutants. He bursts through a double door and comes into the room within which resides the other half of the spider statue sitting inside a display case. He makes a noise of satisfaction. His goal is within reach.
Only for the elevator controlled by the father/daughter team to smash through behind him. Mesmero bolts but one of the cables manages to snare his right ankle and he gets dragged back, dropping his half of the statue as he does so. He then gets flung inside the elevator and the doors slam shut.
For good measure Magneto crushes the elevator into smaller size.
"Was that really necessary?" Polaris asks about that last bit as she and her father float into the room. Seems a bit overboard to her.
"A lesson needed to be taught," Magneto says in response.
Polaris sighs. She loves her father, sure but sometimes she worries he goes a bit over the top with the unnecessary violence. After all isn't that a human trait.
Magneto reaches out with his powers to grab the dropped half of the statue...but doing so seems to trigger something as the other half in its case starts to vibrate.
"Dad..." Polaris tries to tell him as she spots it but it's too late as the half in the case bursts free and the two halves rise into the air, circling round each other several times and then come together. The newly whole statue spins in the air.
Magneto and Polaris' eyes both widen as the statue begins to glow brilliant green. It gets so bright they are forced to cover their eyes.
Some force then knocks them both across the room and they slam into the wall, Magneto particularity on his right arm. They fall to the floor, groaning in pain. That's going to leave a bruise.
Father and daughter raise they heads just in time to bear witness as some sort of green energy grows out of the statue...and it takes a form...the form of a giant spider that must be what? 7 foot at least. Lorna reckons it's as tall as Colossus in his metal form.
The energy spider makes a screeching sound before it starts to walk off, away from them.
Magneto tries to grab it with his power...using only his left hand as his right arm hangs somewhat limply, showing he has badly injured it. As for the spider Magneto knows he can stop it because he can sense that it is some sort of electromagnetic construct. As his power is magnetism he should be able to affect it. The spider stops momentarily...but it is clearly taking all of Magneto's strength as he grunts under the strain.
Polaris determines to aid her father and reaches out with her own power...and grunts too under the strain. Dear God it was strong. She can feel it resist with immense force.
Despite their combined efforts the spider resumes its march...literally dragging Magneto and Polaris along with it as if tied to it by an invisible tow-rope.
As they struggle Mesmero manages to force his way out of the elevator. As he sneaks away he sees what is happening...and chuckles joyously.
Fools!
He pulls his hood back up and departs still laughing. It's all going perfectly to plan.
When the spider reaches the wall it uses its front two legs and cuts through the stonework, as easily as a hot knife through butter, carving out a circular escape for itself.
Magneto and Polaris grit their teeth and try and pull it back with everything they've got.
Unfortunately the wide magnetic field pulls at a steel reinforced column nearby. It crumbles and breaks in two under the magnetic stress, flying right at the father/daughter team.
Magneto throws himself into Lorna and manages to get them out of the way in time before the broken column hits them. He couldn't let his beloved daughter get hurt...but it means they had to release their hold on the spider which now escapes as it leaps away into the night sky.
Down below the Professor is rolling through the car park. Having sensed the battle taking place he realised he needed to get down here and be closer and ready to take action and he arrives just as the green energy spider lands, crushing two cars.
He looks up to where it came from and spots Magneto, clearly holding an injured right arm, standing there in the new circular opening in the wall alongside Polaris.
The spider marches off, crushing two more cars as it heads off...wherever it is going.
Inside the museum the shaking of the building brings a stop to the fight. The X-Men regroup as Magneto and Polaris arrive and regroup with the Acolytes.
They stare at each other momentarily as if deciding whether to resume this fight.
"Enough of this!" Magneto declares. "We don't have time."
Lorna is concerned for him. The way he is holding his arm. He must have hurt it bad. Perhaps even broken it. "Dad...your arm," she whispers in worry.
"I'll be fine," Magneto insists, dismissing the extent of the injury. He has more important things to do right now. "Come," he commands.
The X-Men look at each other.
"Cyclops!" the Professor's urgent mental message slams into his brain. "Forget the fight for now. Outside. Immediately!"
"What's happening?" Iceman asks.
"The statue's been reunited," Superman answers. "And it's become a giant energy spider that is marching through London as we speak," he relays what he saw.
Cyclops' jaw sets hard. Damn it!
They run to the exit, following the Acolytes who are already following Magneto that way.
Outside they find the Professor rolling up.
"I don't care what it takes. Destroy that spider!" Magneto orders his Acolytes.
"On it!" Rogue cheers and using Quicksilver's power blurs off after it.
"Rogue!" Superman shouts after her before he blurs off in pursuit before she gets herself killed.
The Acolytes obey Magneto, Quicksilver too, though much slower because Rogue has absorbed a great deal of his power. He'll be having words with her about that. Polaris stays by her father's side, worried over how badly injured he is.
"Magnus...Erik. Stop," Charles pleads with his old friend not to be so rash. "We don't know anything about it," he argues.
"I know enough!" Magneto dismisses any debate. "That is one key that will not be unlocking any doors!" he spits out angrily as he floats himself up. He will not allow his dream to fall to ruin.
Polaris gives the Professor an apologetic look before she floats off after her father.
The X-Men come to stand in front of the Professor.
"We have to capture and protect it. That spider stone has answers we need. Not to mention we don't know what will happen if we try and destroy it...especially in a city," Charles orders his X-Men. If it explodes in a city as densely populated as London...Charles can just imagine the horror.
"We're on it Professor," Cyclops promises and he the X-Men and Angel head off in pursuit.
With Quicksilver's speed it only takes moments for Rogue to overtake the spider and stand in its path. "Hey there big, green and ugly!" she greets it. She cracks her knuckles. "Prepare ta beh squished!"
She charges at it, fist drawn back and slams her right into it...which does basically nothing.
"Ooh tough one are ya," she drawls. Her lips curl upward. "All tha bettah!" she declares. She loves a good fight.
Suddenly a red/blue blur slams into the side of the spider knocking it on its back.
Clark instantly staggers backward, the pain screeching into every cell of his body. Clark knows this pain and only one substance can cause it. Kryptonite. The spider is giving off kryptonite radiation. Hell considering its green colour for all Clark knows it is constructed solely from kryptonite radiation and it is leeching his strength despite his costume. He's never seen anything that gives off that much of the deadly radiation. He shakes his head trying to ignore the pain.
"Hey!" Rogue protests. "Get your own dang spider!" she complains at him for ruining her fun.
"Do you ever think through things any more?" Clark asks her plainly with a harsh glare at the fact she just ran off in pursuit of it without, it seems, any sort of forethought or plan. Rao he doesn't even think his ID driven alter-ego Kal was this impulsive.
Rogue opens her mouth to argue but the spider is back on its feet and back on the move. "We'll discuss that anothah tahme," she decides, utterly ignoring the plain facts in front of her on how ill Clark is. Rogue charges at the spider while Clark looks around for something he can use. He can't get near it. He'll need to use long range attacks to slow it down till the X-Men catch up.
That plan goes out the window as the spider wraps one of its legs around Rogue and delivers a massive shock of some sort of energy into her. Rogue screams out in pain, her clothes beginning to smoke before she passes out.
Clark unleashes a blast of heat vision at the leg making the spider screech in what could be interpreted as pain.
It drops Rogue and Clark blurs in to grab her...yeah stupid.
He almost instantly loses his balance due to a severe wave of dizziness and he finds himself the one in the grip of the spider. His costume burns away and his skin starts to pucker and burn where it has him gripped around the waist. Clark does his best not cry out in pain but the agony is beyond imagining.
The spider's many eyes suddenly blink as they focus in on the symbol on Clark's chest. It makes a series of squeaks and screeches.
Through the pain Clark blinks and looks at it. It's...speaking to him...and more amazingly he can understand it.
At this stage Colossus comes to his rescue leaping from a half ruined wall and grabbing the spider around its neck.
Clark gets thrown aside as Colossus wrestles with it but he soon ends up exactly like Rogue. Immobilised and thrown away.
Clark crawls onto his belly, cradling his burnt skin as Sabretooth attacks the spider with a broken wooden...pole or something.
The large hairy mutant's luck is no better than anyone else who has thus far tried to engage the energy construct as the spider tosses him away too and he lands heavily on the roof of a people carrier. Even with his healing factor that has got to hurt.
The spider resumes its path, it's almost to the river now. Pyro has managed to get ahead of it and surrounds it with flame before the flames grow and engulf the creature. Pyro laughs manically. "Yeah! Barbecued spider! Speciality of the house!"
Pyro dampens the fire down...only to find the spider gone and a hole in the ground. He gasps. "It's gone down under."
The ground beneath Pyro's feet cracks and splits, forcing him to dive out of the way as the spider digs its way to the river.
Gambit watches it go into the water, the green glow from below the surface being the only indication of its location...and realises he needs to be clever and leaps away. He has a plan!
Back at the museum Mesmero is making his way into the nearby park and heading for the undergrowth where it's time to vanish. He's done what he needed to do. It wasn't easy. It was risky and he did suffer but any amount of suffering and pain is worth it to free his master. He stops when he spots the bald man in the wheelchair blocking his path. "Xavier," he says in surprise, not expecting to run into him.
Charles' expression sets hard. He has a score to settle but more importantly... "Mesmero. I want answers!" he declares forcefully.
"Answers! Answers!" the Professor's voice echoes in Mesmero's head as the world's most powerful telepath probes hard into the his foe's mind.
Mesmero grabs his head and groans out in pain, desperately trying to keep Xavier out.
Charles pushes hard. Last time he had been unprepared for not only Mesmero's strong power level but the unseen other that was there. This time he doesn't hold back. He attacks hard and swiftly and with a ferocity that sits uneasily with a normally peaceful man but he needs to know the truth. They need answers and Charles will get them this time no matter what.
The barriers in Mesmero's mind, weakened by the earlier attacks and probing of Regan and Martinique, give way and images and information flow into the Professor's mind. He sees Mesmero using the first key, the door opening...and what is beyond it...the other, the powerful Master, Mesmero serves.
Charles' head rocks back in his chair, he breathes hard as the other ejects him out again. He looks for Mesmero...but the man is gone. "Vanished," he whispers. Just like before. But Charles saw enough. He now knows the name of their true enemy. "Apocalypse."
The X-Men come across the fallen victims of the spider. He has Jean check on Rogue and Beast check on Colossus while he checks on Clark...and has to suck in a breath when he sees how badly burnt Clark's mid-section is. And it's worse. The veins around the injury are distended and green as if kryptonite was still nearby...and Clark literally looks green at the gills. Really. His pallor is close to a pale green almost.
"Take it easy," Scott says to his friend.
"Kryptonian," Clark murmurs.
Scott bends his head down further. "What was that Clark?"
"It was speaking Kryptonian," Clark says, sounding as if he is in disbelief.
"What was?"
"The spider," Clark explains. He reaches for Scott and takes a hold of his costume, though his grip is very weak. "Scott, listen to me. I know what it is. It told me. It's not a key. It's a guardian. Whatever happens Magneto can't destroy it. No matter what you have to stop him."
Scott looks into Clark's eyes and sees the honest earnest look. He completely believes that.
"I'll be alright," Clark promises in case that is delaying Scott. "Go," he tells him.
Scott hesitates for only a moment more. "X-Men! Move out! Go!" he orders and they obey.
Clark pulls himself up to a sitting position, gasping in pain. Scott probably thinks he's nuts. Hell Clark himself thinks he's nuts but those squeaks and screeches the spider made, they're too high pitched for human hearing, they probably sound like just noises but to Clark he could hear it. It was speaking Kryptonian. It's some sort of Kryptonian construct. It didn't give details. Just a description of what it was and its purpose. It's like a prison guard is the closest comparison Clark can think of that might apply.
Clark knew nothing of this. This unnamed being, this First One as the spider called the one it imprisons...Kryptonians must have done that long ago. That's what Clark knew nothing about. Jor-El mentioned that, 'First One' but refused to elaborate at the time. Well when Clark gets a chance remind him to have some serious words with his father about not telling him stuff he needs to know.
Clark closes his eyes and tries to block out the pain. Something is...wrong. He still feels weak, sick and dizzy as if kryptonite was nearby but the spider is long gone. He's never had a reaction like this before. Not only was it more severe than any before its effects are still lingering long after he has normally healed and recovered. If it truly was kryptonite that stone was made of then Clark can safely say it's different from any kryptonite he has experienced before.
The X-Men run to the river bank. Angel flies over the water and spots the spider. "It's in the river. There!" he points as he hovers above the eerie green glow percolating up through the water.
Jean rises into the air and uses all her telekinetic power to grab the spider and lift it out of the river, trapped in a telekinetic bubble. It fights against it, the ends of its legs glow hot red and with immense power it shatters Jean's bubble sending the telekinetic energy back at her in a wave that knocks her from the sky.
Scott has to dive to catch her and just barely manages it.
Jean groans as she rubs her throbbing head. "Eugh, how did it do that?" she asks because that has literally never happened to her before.
Scott doesn't have the answer. He puts her down and starts firing blasts at the creature that is now back in the water after forcing Jean to drop it.
"Scott, don't damage it," Jean reminds him of what they're trying to do, in case he's mad at it for hurting her.
"Just trying to slow it down," Cyclops assures her...but it doesn't work as it climbs out on the opposite bank.
"Iceman, bridge us over," Beast orders.
"Hang on," Iceman asks for a moment as he focusses enough power to create a bridge thick enough to get over a space this wide. Yes he does have a basic understanding of the physics. They climb on behind Iceman as he slides them across the water.
The spider continues its march, continues the purpose it was created for and it will fulfil its programming. The fact it is awake can only mean that the first door must have been opened. The First One's prison will be resealed. The First One must never be allowed to escape. This is its function, its purpose, the reason it was created. This is its task and it will carry this out no matter what.
No matter the bus being driven at it by Gambit...along with Quicksilver standing next to him. Hey how do you think the native of New Orleans got ahead of it?
"Been waiting for ya," Gambit remarks from behind the wheel. He figured out where it was heading and where he could cut it off and got Pietro to give him the lift. He turns hard, tipping the bus onto its side as he and Pietro climb out on top. The bus slides across the ground. Gambit and Pietro wait till the last moment before leaping off as the bus collides into the spider...and on top of it, pinning it down.
Gambit rushes over to the crashed vehicle and places his hands against it as he charges up the whole thing.
Angel is rushing in when he sees the bus glowing and barely manages to swerve away before the bus explodes.
"You are crazy," Quicksilver spits as he glares at the Cajun thief for that whole escapade with the bus. Gambit never told Pietro he was going to do that flip it on its side stunt. Pietro picks himself up and dusts himself down, never releasing his death glare. He's going to get Gambit back for this.
Gambit smirks as he fixes his gloves in a self-satisfied manner. "Gambit do believe d'at slowed it down."
"Just long enough," Magneto comments as he, followed by Polaris, float down and land. Gambit had indeed slowed it enough for himself and his daughter to catch up. "With me my daughter," he commands as they walk toward the creature pulling itself out of the wreckage. They raise their hands and focus all their magnetic power into eliminating the electromagnetic field the spider stone generates.
Magneto's theory being eliminate it and effectively destroy the stone as he explained on the way here to Polaris.
"Stop!" Cyclops yells as he and the X-Men rush onto the scene. The Velocity with the Professor lands behind his students and he rolls out as Magneto and Polaris struggle to carry out their plan. Even with their combined might the spider is still fighting them to a stand-still at the moment.
"Don't do it, Magneto! Don't destroy that spider!" Charles shouts.
"I must!" Magneto declares through gritted teeth. He won't allow his dream to be destroyed. Whatever the cost, whatever it takes, he will stop it here and now and he reaches in deeper into himself and unleashes all of his vast power, focussed into the single aim of eliminating this threat.
Cyclops reaches for his visor control, ready to stop this as Clark said he must do, only to have a gust of wind knock him down, Quicksilver. A wall of flame surround him and the X-Men, cutting them off and preventing their interference. Courtesy of Pyro who has caught up along with Sabretooth. Superman, Colossus and Rogue haven't managed yet to get here.
Magneto and Polaris cry out in effort as their hands reach for the spider stone and they dig into their powers as deeply as possible...and it starts to work. The creature begins to shrink back into the stone until it vanishes completely, the stone held in both their hands, smoking as he and Polaris collapse to their knees exhausted.
Pyro lets the X-Men go and Charles rolls over beside his old friend, his expression one of great sadness. "You've done the very thing Mesmero wanted," he informs the Master of Magnetism.
"That's baloney!" Quicksilver dismisses it as he comes to his father and sister's aid.
"No," Magneto says to Charles, as Sabretooth helps him to his feet, breathing heavily and for once agreeing with his son. "The key...has been destroyed," he says between weary sounding breaths.
Pietro helps his sister to her feet, with her leaning on him, utterly drained. That was the hardest thing Lorna has ever had to do in her young life so far.
Charles slowly shakes his head. "And he knew only you and your daughter had the power to do it. That wasn't just a key."
"It was a guardian," Superman finishes as he Rogue and Colossus finally catch up. Clark is still holding his burnt midsection gingerly and in fact has his arm across Colossus' shoulders, the big Russian aiding him in walking since he is still deathly sick. In fact he should have seen it before. The word guardian was one of the Kryptonian ones on the statue he could translate.
Charles nods. "Designed to prevent Apocalypse's release," he continues. "And with its destruction the 2nd door will now open," he reveals the grave consequences of Magneto's misjudgement that he gleamed from Mesmero's mind.
"But...ah absorbed him," Rogue argues. "Ah saw it in his mind that tha statue was a key," she explains that this can't possibly be right.
"You saw what he wanted you to see, Rogue," the Professor tells her what else he learned from probing Mesmero's mind. "You forget Mesmero is never alone in his mind. Apocalypse is there and he is so powerful he can ensure what he wants to be seen is seen. Mesmero used you, all of you...from the beginning," he informs them of the deception they fell for.
Anger swells up in Magneto. He knows Charles isn't lying. The whole thing from start to finish, using Gambit, it was a set-up, a ploy. He's been played...and he will not forget nor forgive that. Next time they meet Mesmero...well Mesmero better pray there is never a next time.
Lorna's mouth hangs open slightly. She's never been used like this before. It's not a nice feeling. "What have we done?" she asks in a whisper.
"Hey. Wasn't you fault," Pietro assures her, being a half-decent big brother for once.
Angel and Beast track the holes in the road that were the spider's footsteps. "It was heading directly south-east," Angel works out.
"But where was it going?" Beast asks the question.
"I don't know," Charles admits. He didn't get that information out of Mesmero before he was ejected. "But it is in our best interest to find out because when Mesmero finds the 3rd and final key the world as we know it will change forever," he warns with deep foreboding over what is to come.
Far, far away in the high mountains of Tibet and inside the cave that hides the tomb of Apocalypse the 2nd door with the carving of the spider crest suddenly lights up along the lines of the carving and the door slides upward to reveal the 3rd and final door.
Just one more door and the world will once again tremble under the power of Apocalypse.
Just one more door until the true destiny of the Star Child is revealed.
Author's Note: Well that went badly for all except Mesmero who played them all like suckers. I thought it a nice addition that the spider actually speaks to Clark in Kryptonian to keep up the theme his kind had been involved somehow with Apocalypse's imprisonment. In the current DC canon kryptonite is a very rare substance but to counter that they've ramped up its effects making them more severe and longer lasting and that's what I chose to go with for the effects of the spider stone, that it is slightly different from the normal everyday kryptonite Clark has experienced thus far in his life. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Under Lock and Key part 5 as we just wrap up the ends of this story(Ok, yes technically the episode ended here but I'm just going to add my wrap up to it and call it part 5).