Since I didn't mention this before and, in case it wasn't obvious, Oliver has his season one suit by this point.
TW: Thanks.
Oliver and Jean were walking behind Magneto and Mystique. Mystique and Magneto exchanged a look and Jean shook her head with a disgusted look.
"Do I even want to know what they're thinking?" Oliver asked sarcastically.
"Probably not," Jean muttered.
Suddenly, Jean used her powers to telepathically throw Magneto and Mystique forward before a red beam of energy struck the wall where they had been standing. The blast sent out a shockwave that sent all four of them to the ground and steam began filling the room.
"What was that?!" Oliver demanded, reaching his hand back into his quiver.
"Scott," Jean said as she looked up and saw her lover across the hallway. "I can handle him; you go with Magneto and Mystique."
"You can't let Magneto and Mystique reach the Professor alone," Jean added in Oliver's head when he opened his mouth to argue.
Oliver paused, considering her point. If Xavier could kill mutants, he could easily kill humans as well…with the right push from Magneto. Oliver nodded, standing up and walking over to Mystique and Magneto.
"Come on, we don't have a lot of time," Oliver said and Magneto nodded.
"This is one lover's quarrel we cannot get involved in," Magneto agreed as the three walked off.
In another part of the base, Clint was walking with Ororo and Kurt, looking for the kids.
"Thought you'd want to go with Magneto, keep an eye on him," Ororo noted.
"Always had a thing for kids. Besides, better it's Oliver. He has non-metal arrows. Magneto turns on us –and he probably will – Oliver has the only weapon capable of killing him," Clint said before stopping. "You hear that?"
Ororo and Kurt paused, not understanding at first. Then, they heard it: the sounds of the children crying out for help.
Following the sound, Ororo raced over to what looked like a sewer drain, looking down through the bars, horrified to see Stryker kept the kids in some kind of sewer.
"Jubilee?"
"Storm! Help us!" Jubilee cried out desperately.
"Just hang on," Ororo said as Clint and Kurt walked up behind her.
"Cell is too narrow to blow open without putting the kids in danger," Clint noted before glancing at Kurt. "Looks like you're up."
Kurt nodded before teleporting down into the cell. The kids back up slightly, startled at his appearance.
"Don't worry, he's a friend," Ororo assured them.
Jean was trying, and failing, to hold back Scott's optical beams when she opened her eyes, which glowed red. Feeling a burst of power come over her, Jean walked forward, pushing the beam back. Stopping a few feet away from Scott, Jean used her powers to push the beam back at him. The resulting shockwave sent both of them flying and damaged some of the equipment, inside and out.
Outside, part of the dam cracked and fell away, heading down the waterfall.
Oliver, Magneto and Mystique stopped as they felt the tremor.
"What was that?" Oliver asked, although he had a feeling he already knew.
"If I had to guess, I'd say Ms. Grey and Cyclops having their lover's quarrel," Magneto said with a smirk.
Elsewhere in the base, Logan walked into a room that felt eerily familiar. Walking inside, he saw X-Rays pinned to a wall above some tank with liquid. Seeing the tank, Logan had a flashback, remembering being put in there.
Walking over to the tank, Logan saw a grey, boiling liquid in some kind of bat with injection needles hooked up to it. Picking one up, he remembered being stuck with them.
Walking over to the container, he saw claw marks on them. Putting his hand up to one, he realized he had made them and remembered escaping from the base fifteen years ago.
"The tricky thing about Adamantium," Logan whirled around to see Stryker walk into the room with an Asian woman in a black jump suit. "If you ever managed to process its raw, liquid form, you gotta keep it that way. Keep it hot. Because once the metal cools, it's indestructible. But you already know that. I used to think you were one of a kind, Wolverine. I was wrong."
Stryker started walking out of the room and Logan, overcome with rage, attempted to rush after him. But the women struck him with the back of her hand and, to Logan's surprise; he went down to the floor, feeling like he'd just been struck with a sledgehammer. Made of Adamantium.
Logan got up with a growl, popping his claws. The woman looked at him, unimpressed before holding her hands and ten claws emerged from each finger.
"Shit," Logan muttered in disbelief.
She then jumped into the air, holding her arms out and spinning like a top as she headed towards Logan. Her claws nicked him across the face but Logan tried to strike her. She dodged before striking him in elbow. Logan cried out in pain before she dropped down to the floor, attempting to roll away. Logan rushed after her, attempting to stab her in the face but she blocked with her own claws before slashing him across the abdomen. Logan howled in pain before she jumped beside him, stabbing him in the neck before throwing Logan across the room hard enough to knock some stone off the wall.
Oliver was still following Magneto and Mystique when they stopped, exchanging a glance.
"Is there a problem?" Oliver asked, having a feeling he knew what was coming.
"No problem, Agent Queen. We've merely decided your services are no longer necessary," Magneto said with a smirk.
"Is that so?" Oliver asked dryly, gripping his bow tightly.
"We appreciate your help, but this is war. We cannot be on the same side as a human," Magneto explained.
Mystique then turned around, jumping towards Oliver. Oliver easily dodged but she jumped on his back, wrapping her legs around his neck and attempting to choke him. Oliver gasped for breath but, not one to be outdone, pulled a flechette from under his sleeve out and stabbed it into her leg. Mystique gasped, unconsciously loosening her grip and Oliver managed to throw her off. Turning towards Magneto, Oliver pulled out another flechette and threw it towards Magneto. Magneto tried to use his powers to send it back at Oliver but quickly realized that it wasn't metal when he couldn't do anything. Mystique yanked the flechette out from her leg and threw it across the room. The two projectiles collided and fell to the floor harmlessly.
Mystique then pulled herself to her feet, transforming into Logan, claws and all, before rushing Oliver.
Logan and the woman were continuing to fight, the woman dodging most of his strikes, his claws slicing through metal and stone. They began cutting each other with their claws before, with a roar; Logan stabbed her in the abdomen with his. She gasped in pain before Logan then plugged his other set of claws into her abdomen. However, Logan then stared in shock as the woman's wounds healed, the realization washing over him.
She didn't just have Adamantium. She also had his mutant powers of healing.
She smirked at him before grabbing his wrists, placing her feet on his abdomen and using Logan as a launching pain to remove her claws from her stomach while also kicking Logan in the face. They both went down to the ground and Logan looked up just before she launched herself at him.
She knocked Logan back into some glass cases, which shattered under their combined weight, before they got back up. Quickly getting behind Logan, the woman slashed his back multiple times before Logan elbowed her in the face. Logan tried breaking her neck by forcing his elbow on her throat, bending it backwards before he realized she also had Adamantium. The woman responded by throwing Logan into the air. Logan bellowed in surprise before falling down, landing onto the metal bed like object that acted as a lowering mechanism for the tank. The woman jumped, landing on the other side. Grabbing him by his throat, she held Logan in place with one hand while stabbing him in the back repeatedly with another.
Logan gasped in pain, his blood dripping down into the water below before Logan used his claws to cut the chain holding the steel. They both fell, but Logan was on top while she was on the bottom and the water sparked from the equipment.
Oliver dodged a strike from Mystique before delivering a kick to her abdomen. She may be able to change into Logan, but she couldn't copy his abilities or skeleton.
Mystique tried to strike him but Oliver blocked her claws with his bow before he heard a metal grating sound. Oliver jumped out of the way, avoiding a metal piece of the wall that had come off.
"Your arrow may not be metal, but everything else here is," Magneto said smugly.
Almost soon as the words had left Magneto's mouth, various metal objects in the hall came flying at Oliver. Oliver ducked, rolling onto the floor to avoid the objects when Mystique, assuming her true form, jumped at him. She tackled him to the ground, pinning him before, with a well-placed kick to her abdomen, Oliver had kicked her off. Oliver began to get back to his feet when a small metal pipe came flying at him from behind, striking him in the back of the head.
Oliver went down, out cold as Magneto approached, offering Mystique a hand up.
"Sorry to leave you like this, Agent Queen but we have other priorities," Magneto said smugly before they walked off, leaving the unconscious Oliver behind.
Logan coughed, rolling onto his side before the woman jumped up and stabbed him the back with her claws. Logan wailed in pain, trying to get away but she stuck her claws into his back, painfully.
It was then that Logan saw the injection needles. Knowing they were his only chance, Logan frantically itched closer to them, in spite of the claws in his back. Grabbing one of the injection needles, Logan whirled around and stabbed the woman in the chest with it. She gasped as the Adamantium began filling up her system. She looked down at the needle before looking at Logan and gasping as the Adamantium began spilling from her eyes and mouth before she fell over as it hardened dead.
Logan breathed heavily before hearing someone enter the room. He looked up, seeing Dragon.
"You all right?" Dragon asked as Logan breathed heavily.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine," Logan said with a sigh.
A group of soldiers stood outside the chamber where Stryker had left Xavier in when they heard a metal clanging sound. They looked around before the clips on their grenades suddenly flew off. They frantically tried to throw them away but it was no use. The grenades went off, killing all the soldiers and causing some debris to fall to the ground.
Magneto and Mystique then walked forward, Magneto dropping the clips to the ground. They walked over to the chamber, Magneto putting his helmet on.
Jean and Scott were walking down the hall when they stopped.
"Cerebro. We're too late," Jean said horrified.
They then dropped to their knees, screaming in pain.
Magneto moved to enter the chamber when Mystique dropped to her knees, screaming in agony as Magneto whirled around.
Clint looked around, horrified as Ororo, Kurt and the kids all dropped to the floor, screaming in pain.
"No. No, we cannot fail," Clint whispered in horror.
Logan dropped to his knees as Dragon looked over at him, confused about what was happening.
"Erik! Hurry!" Mystique shouted as she held her head, no longer able to control her transformations.
Magneto turned back to the door, concentrating. Then, it all stopped.
Clint looked around, relieved as Ororo, Kurt and the students all stopped screamed in pain.
"You all right?" Clint asked as he helped Ororo to her feet.
"I think so. They must have found the Professor," she said in relief.
Magneto then opened the door and walked inside. Walking right passed Jason, he saw Jason looked up at him. Magneto smiled mockingly, pointing to his helmet before continuing on his way.
"How does it look from there, Charles? Still fighting the good fight? From here, it doesn't look like they're playing by your rules," Magneto noted before his voice grew darker. "Maybe it's time to play by theirs."
Using his powers to levitate into the air, Magneto rearranged the metal panels along the wall before lowering himself back to the ground. He turned around as Mystique walked into the chamber, transforming into Stryker.
"There's been a change of plans," Mystique told Jason before whispering into his ear as Magneto smiled.
Magneto turned around, placing a hand on the back of Charles's chair.
"Goodbye, Charles," Magneto said before he and Mystique left the chamber, Magneto closing the door on the way out.
"Oliver? Oliver, come in."
Oliver came to at the sound of Clint's voice. Getting up, he tapped his Comms piece as he looked around, finding no sign of Mystique or Magneto.
"I'm here," Oliver said after a few moments.
"Well, you did it. Now grab Xavier and let's get out of here," Clint said in relief.
"Can't do that Clint. Because we didn't do anything, Magneto and Mystique got away," Oliver said, uneasy about what they might do next.
Outside the base, Stryker was unchaining a helicopter from the ground when Logan slugged him. Logan then picked him up and slammed him against the side of the helicopter before stabbing his arms with his claws, causing Stryker to cry out in pain.
"How does it feel, bub?" Logan snarled angrily.
"Why did you come back?" Stryker asked warily beyond the pain.
"You cut me open. You took my life!" Logan snarled.
"You make it sound as though I stole something from you. As I recall, it was you who volunteered for the procedure," Stryker said and Logan stared at him, not sure whether to believe it or not.
"Who am I?" Logan asked instead.
"You…are just a failed experiment," Stryker said and cried out when Logan moved his claws inside him. "If you really knew about your past, what kind of person you were, the work we did together…people don't change, Wolverine. You were always an animal. I just gave you claws."
Suddenly, there was an alarm and Logan noticed Stryker pale.
"What the Hell is that?" Logan demanded.
"The dam is ruptured. It's gonna flood water onto the spillway. It's trying to relieve the pressure. It's too late. In a few minutes, we'll all be under water," Stryker said, to Logan's horror. "Come with me, and I'll tell you everything you want to know. You can't help your friends, they're as good as dead, Wolverine. You're a survivor, always have been."
"I thought I was just an animal…with claws," Logan mocked, holding out one of his fists and summoning his claws, causing Stryker to whimper. "If we die, you die."
Logan then chained Stryker to the wheel of the helicopters before heading back inside.
"There are no exits that way, Wolverine!" Stryker shouted but Logan ignored him.
"You get all that?" Logan asked as he reached Dragon, who had been watching.
"Yeah. I hope you got what you needed from that, because we really need to get moving," Dragon said as they reentered the base.
Oliver found himself outside the chamber with the rubble, realizing this was it. Within seconds, he heard someone approach and turned around, seeing Clint, Ororo, Kurt and the kids.
"What the Hell is this?" Clint wondered.
"Cerebro," Ororo said simply.
"Storm," they turned back to see Scott and Jean rush over, Scott supporting Jean.
"Jean, are you okay?" Ororo asked, seeing this.
"Fine."
"What's happening?" Ororo asked as they turned to the chamber and Jean used her powers.
"The Professor's still in there…with another mutant. Oh my God, Magneto's reversed Cerebro. It's not targeting mutants anymore," Jean said horrified.
"Then who's it targeting?" Ororo wondered but Oliver and Clint had already caught on.
"Us," Clint said as he and Oliver exchanged a horrified glance.
They'd later try to describe what it felt like. They couldn't.
Both Oliver and Clint dropped to their knees, crying out in pain as the mutants looked horrified.
"Stand back," Scott said, pushing Jean away.
"Scott, no, his mind is connected to Cerebro. Opening the door could kill the professor and everyone his mind is linked to," Jean disagreed.
"Well someone do something," Clint grunted in pain.
"Kurt, I need to you to take me inside," Ororo said as she turned to the stunned mutant.
"Who is this guy?" Scott wondered.
"He can teleport. Does it matter right now?" Oliver snapped against the pain.
"I told you, if I can't see where I'm going-" Kurt began.
"I have faith in you. Right now, they need you to have faith in yourself," Ororo said as she gestured to Oliver and Clint, who were on their knees in pain.
Kurt took a look at them and, finally, nodded. Ororo grabbed onto him as Kurt began muttering a prayer to himself. Then, they disappeared.
"Where'd they go?" Scott asked.
"Hopefully, where we need them to go," Jean said as they glanced at the door.
After less than a minute, Oliver and Clint lifted their heads, the pain gone.
"They did it," Jean said in relief.
The relief was cut short when a large tremor shook the dam.
"What was that?" Oliver asked as they all looked around wildly.
"I don't think the dam is safe anymore," Clint realized.
"Logan. Logan, where are you?" Jean muttered worriedly.
Soon after she had spoken, Kurt teleported back out with Ororo, before teleporting back in, repapering seconds later with Charles.
"Professor," Jean said in relief.
"It's good to see you Jean, but we don't have much time. We need to leave, quickly," Charles said firmly.
Not long after, the group was rushing towards the spillway, Oliver and Clint supporting Charles. Suddenly, the doors began closing. They all stopped, looking in horror and bewilderment as they closed, locking them in.
"You don't wanna go that way," they all turned to see Logan with his claws sticking out of a panel, which was sparking. "Trust me."
"He's right," Dragon said as he walked over, looking like he was a little worse for wear but alright. "The dam's unstable, it's about to flood."
As if to prove Dragon's point, water began spilling out the doors before a second set of doors closed.
"Come on," Logan said as he pulled his claws out of the panel. "There's another way out of here."
Logan and Dragon led them through the back exit and they walked out onto the snowy ground. They walked over to the hillside but stopped, staring. Dragon was in disbelief as Logan, who had stopped to pick up a boy who was having trouble walking, walked up, stunned to see the helicopter was gone.
"The helicopter was right here!" Logan exclaimed in shock.
"Well right now, it's not. Get over it, because we still need to find another way off this lake," Clint pointed out.
"Otherwise we're all gonna die," Oliver said grimly.
Barely had the words left Oliver lips when they heard a rumbling. They looked up, all of them stunned to see the X-Jet flying in the air.
"What the Hell?" Dragon muttered.
"Rogue," Logan realized.
The X-Jet landed several feet away from them and, not needing an invitation, the group began running towards it. Kurt teleported Charles onto the jet as Oliver noticed Logan lagging behind, walking into the forest.
"Oliver?" Clint asked as he noticed his student linger.
"I'll be right behind you," Oliver said before running after Logan.
Making his way into the forest, Oliver stopped, seeing what had caught Logan's attention: Stryker, chained to a concrete wall. Oliver frowned as he saw Logan take off his dog tags and toss them at Stryker's feet.
"I'll take my chances with him," Logan said before walking off, seeing Oliver watching.
"Come on, we don't have much time," Oliver said and Logan nodded, walking off with the boy in his arms.
"One day! Someone will finish what I started, Wolverine! One day!" Stryker ranted as Logan walked off, not looking back.
Oliver smirked in amusement as the boy stuck his forked tongue out at Stryker. Then Stryker turned his attention to Oliver.
"And you! A human, trying to protect mutants! You're a traitor to your species!" Stryker snarled as Oliver turned to him in disgust.
"And you're a traitor to your country," Oliver said coolly, causing Stryker to look at him in disbelief. "Here you are, so worried about protecting yourself. A real soldier would be more worried about protecting someone else. And now you'll die because of your own actions. You're getting what you deserve."
Oliver then turned and walked after Logan, ignoring Stryker's enraged shout.
"Hey, you okay?" Clint asked as Oliver entered the X-Jet.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Oliver assured him.
They heard the X-Jet rev up but, to everyone's confusion, they weren't taking off.
"What's wrong?" Logan demanded.
"The vertical thrusters are offline," Scott said.
"Well, fix 'em," Logan snapped.
"I'm trying," Scott said annoyed.
"Has anyone seen John?" Rogue asked as they all looked around, realizing he was missing.
"Pyro? Where the Hell is he?" Logan asked.
"He's with Magneto," Jean realized.
A moment passed before the adults went back to trying to get the thrusters back online. Oliver glanced at Bobby and Rogue, seeing the looks on their faces and remembering how he felt when Yao-Fei had betrayed him.
"Oh no, we just lost power," Ororo said horrified.
They then heard a loud cracking sound before they heard the roar of rushing water.
"Well, nice knowing you guys," Dragon said and Oliver and Clint shot him a look. "Hey, if we're stuck here, there's no way we're surviving this."
"He might be right," Logan muttered.
"Jean?" Charles called out and they looked around, suddenly realizing she was missing.
"Where's Jean?" Logan asked.
"She's outside," Charles realized.
Scott jumped to his feet and rushed towards the ramp, Logan not far behind him. But just as they reached it, the ramp closed, locking them in. Seconds later, the jet came online.
"No! We're not leaving! Lower the ramp!" Scott shouted.
"I don't think we're in control anymore. Jean is," Clint realized.
Outside, Jean stood in front of the X-Jet, turned towards it when a flood of water came rushing towards her. She turned to the water, using her powers to making the water part, avoiding both her and the jet.
"She's controlling the jet!" Ororo cried as Scott and Logan rushed towards the front.
"You! Get her, now!" Logan barked at Kurt, who tried to teleport but found himself unable to do so.
"She's not letting me."
"You mentioned something about an explosive arrow. Can you unlock the door?" Ororo asked as she turned to Clint.
"Not without killing us," Clint said regretfully.
"I know what I'm doing," Charles said and they all turned towards him to see his eyes closed. "This is the only way."
"Jean?" Ororo gasped as Scott rushed towards Jean/Charles.
"Jean, listen to me. Don't do this," Scott begged as he dropped to his knees beside Jean/Charles, who turned their head towards.
"Goodbye," Jean/Charles said and they realized this was it.
"No!"
"No, no!" Scott and Logan cried out at the same time as the X-Jet began lifting up into the air.
Charles opened his eyes and they realized Jean was no longer with him. They took off into the air and saw the part in the flood was gone as well.
"She's gone. She's gone," Logan said in shock and grief.
"Don't you say that!" Scott snarled as he rushed over to Logan, grabbing him by his suit jacket. "We gotta go back."
"She's gone," Logan repeated.
"No! No," Scott said in denial.
The fight then left him, the truth washing over to Scott as he sobbed, nearly falling if Logan hadn't caught him. He wailed, sobbing into Logan's jacket as Charles, Ororo, and Logan all cried as well.
"She's gone. She's gone. She's…she's gone," Logan said, his lips trembling with grief.
No one said a word for a long moment, merely watching the sadly. The kids all looked on the verge of tears as Oliver looked at Clint, who stared back at him with a look that told Oliver he was similarly affected by this. Even Dragon seemed saddened by the loss. Then, Kurt began to speak.
"The Lord is my Shepard. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Yea, as I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."
No one else said a word as Kurt continued to pray, the X-Jet leaving Lake Alkali – and Jean - behind.
Well, that was a big one but finally done.
I know it's mostly the same as to how it happened in the movie, but it kind of had to happen that way for plot reasons.
Regarding Jean, I haven't 100% made up my mind, but I'm most likely going to have her be dead rather than just transforming into the Phoenix. I love the Phoenix arc from Last Stand (even if the movie itself sucked, the Phoenix was a good storyline), but it's just not a direction I want to go I this series.