CHAPTER EIGHT

"We shouldn't have just gone like that,"Rogue was insisting, as she, Bobby, Warren and Jubilee walked through the mansion hallway. "We just left Harmony behind."

"We didn't really have a choice,"Jubilee tentatively suggested.

Rogue rounded on her angrily. "Yeah? What would you know about it?"

Bobby stepped in front of his girlfriend. "Rogue…Marie. We will go back and we'll find Harmony and we'll get Onslaught. I promise."

Rogue softened slightly and let him hug her. "I just…I just miss her. I miss her so much I can barely think. But you're right. We've got to be clever."

"That's the plan."

Warren had remained silent during the conversation. His attention was drawn to the end of the corridor where Kitty was standing. She nodded to him then headed into one of the empty lounges. "I'll catch you up,"Warren said distractedly to the others before following her.

Kitty was waiting in the centre of the room with her arms folded. "I warned you not to go after Onslaught,"she reminded him.

"But we did good,"Warren protested. "We saved that other mutant, Neal."

"I told you. Onslaught's plans benefit all mutants. Including him. Including you. You have to stop the other X-Men or they'll ruin everything."

Neal was in the office with Wolverine, Storm, Beast...and also Havok, who had been summoned to the mansion on the X-Men's return. "Those Sentinels came after me,"he explained. "They…they killed Karina, my girlfriend. Took me."

"They were probably planning to absorb you,"Havok said. "Like they did the others."

"Like Onslaught did,"Storm corrected.

Beast nodded. "He is the true crux of all this. If he can be defeated, the Sentinels will be neutralised."

"But we need to be smart,"Storm added. She looked pointedly at Wolverine. "We're not going to win this by just running in there and sticking claws into him."

Wolverine shrugged. "It seemed like a good plan at the time."

"So are we all in this?"Havok asked. "X-Men and X-Factor?"

Storm nodded. "Even the New Mutants. We need to have all the powers we've got at our disposal."

"Does that include me?"Neal asked.

Attention turned to him. "If you're willing to help us, we'd be grateful,"Storm told him.

"I have nothing else to do." He thought for a moment. "Do I need a codename?"

"It is generally the done thing,"Beast agreed.

Neal considered the matter. "What about Thunderbird?"

Wolverine looked at Storm and Beast. "Has that been used before?" They both shook their heads. "Okay. Thunderbird it is."

Somewhere inside Onslaught remained Xavier, Magneto and Harmony. "What's going on out there?" Harmony wondered, sounding close to tears. "What's happened to Mum and Dad?"

"I sensed them close by, not too long ago,"Xavier noted.

"Which means they were probably defeated,"Magneto pointed out.

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "You of all people should know that a defeat for the X-Men is only temporary. I am certain they will be back for us."

"They will be back for me,"corrected a large booming voice.

The three of them looked around the endless void that surrounded them. "Who was that?"Harmony asked.

"Our host,"Magneto replied. "Onslaught."

Xavier addressed the darkness around them. "You can hear us? Our words, our thoughts?"

"You are part of me now,"Onslaught replied.

Magneto stood alongside his friend. "We are not. We are separate. We will remain so."

"Your independence is an illusion. You are nothing."

"We are everything,"Xavier replied. "We will resist you."

"Your resistance has already been accounted for."

"What do you want?"Harmony asked.

There was a pause before Onslaught's answer came. "Peace."

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Somehow I'm not convinced of that."

"Peace through strength,"Magneto said dismissively. "There have been many like you. I was one of them."

"And I am one through you,"Onslaught replied. "I am the embodiment of both your dreams. I am the final solution to human/mutant conflict."

"Talk of final solutions make me uneasy."

"Mutantkind will survive in me. They will all be absorbed, become one with me. I will have the power of every mutant in existence. And then the rest of humanity will be destroyed. The earth will be razed clean of contamination and conflict. And only Onslaught will remain."