"Reawakening"
I
Outside Xavier's mansion, right within the confines of the tennis court, the ground begins to tremble. Everything moves like an earthquake, while the floor of the tennis court splits perfectly in two, revealing a hangar bay; home of the Blackbird. The engine bursts to life and the jet takes off into the sky with a BOOM! Leaving nothing but a trail of vapour as the tennis court closes back up.
II
Just outside Alkali Lake, a massive eighteen-wheeler hauling an even bigger trailer pulls up alongside an expansive forest. Fallen trees and a few feet of snow block them from heading any further in. It has "DEPARTMENT H" written on both sides of the trailer. Military personnel pour out of either end of the trailer and surround the entire truck. Probably no less than fifty people all together. The last two people out are Director Sublime, followed by General Kirby.
Everybody else begins construction on a mobile command station.
'This is as far as we can go, sir,' Sublime states to Kirby, 'the snow is too deep.'
'Is it ready for release?' Kirby asks.
A soldier replies, 'The system hasn't fully rebooted yet. It will need another few minutes.'
'What were you doing on the drive here?' Sublime interjects.
'It takes forty-five minutes in total.'
Sublime nods his head and turns back to General Kirby. 'It will be ready soon.'
'Surely you don't trust this thing to find and capture the asset. It wasn't built for search and rescue.'
'It will do whatever we tell it to do. That's how it works,' Sublime responds.
The general shakes his head silently. 'I have never understood your fascination with controlling these creatures. A few dozen, sure, but..' Kirby trails off. 'It's been twenty-five years, John. I don't recognise you anymore.'
'Do you know what we could do with an army of mutants like this one? An unstoppable army? Millions of them. The great mutant empire. All of them controlled by me.'
'"Controlled" is not the word I would use. Need I remind you of the incident in Roanoke six months ago? Which I might say, was only fifteen miles from where we stand right now.'
'A clerical error.'
'It massacred an entire town and you call it a "clerical error"? That is not a risk I want to take.'
'What's your point?' Sublime asks sardonically.
'Should it escape, it will kill each and every one of us. One by one.'
'It is a beast. A mindless drone. It does as it is told so long as it has the controller helmet on. Besides, my own men couldn't destroy a town in under an hour, could they?'
Kirby stands there in disbelief, paralysed by Sublime's words. By fear. 'One day, it will defy your programming. Despite your beliefs, despite your damned scientists. It is a living being with its own free will. And it will escape,' Kirby pauses for a moment. 'And when it does, you best hope that it does not remember you.' Kirby turns and steps back into the truck, leaving Sublime alone. Anger growing in his eyes.
A soldier speaks up. 'Sir, it's ready.'
'Set it free.'
III
A frozen lake, untouched by man. A light frost falls on the ice, building clumps of bright, white snow scattered across the light-blue lake. A downward burst of air sends the snow flying in every direction, accompanied by the deafening screech of a hypersonic jet engine. As soon as the Blackbirds wheels make contact with the ground, the hydraulic ramp in the hull opens with a mechanical swooshing. At the top of the ramp stands Cyclops and his team, clad in their full, individualised outfits.
Cyclops wears mostly navy with yellow trunks, topped by a red "X" belt, yellow gauntlets, gloves and cuffed boots which come nearly to his knees. His head is covered by a skin tight hood, leaving only his mouth and chin uncovered, and attached to this is his ruby quartz visor, allowing him to control his concussive blasts.
Firebird is fittingly in red and like Cyclops she has yellow thigh high boots, yellow gloves that come past her elbow, a yellow sash wrapped tightly around her waist, and a large yellow caricature of a phoenix emblazoned on her chest. Her hair, tied behind her head, in a messy sort of bun; orphaned strands dangle down to frame her face.
Colossus, like Firebird, is also in red and yellow, though far more balanced. His outfit is most reminiscent of a circus strongman or a tank top, leaving the muscles on the side of his body exposed. The shoulders of the costume come out to large, flared points, making a triangle shape from shoulder pad to waist. He has red gauntlets and red boots which stop at his knees and turn into knee pads, far too big for any practical use.
Nightcrawler wears red, black and white. Shoulder pads like Colossus, white gloves and boots that cover his three-fingered hands and three-toed feet. His blue face is the only skin he shows. His cutlass is fastened to his hip, ready to be unsheathed at a moment's notice.
These are the X-Men.
'Alright team,' Cyclops says, 'I want Colossus with Firebird and Nightcrawler with me. You two go East and we'll go West.' They all nod in agreement and go their separate ways. Colossus and Firebird head into the woods while Cyclops and Nightcrawler move to the clearing in the forest.
As they search for any signs of Magneto, Firebird can't help but feel like something is following them. She could have sworn there was something snarling behind them, but she just put it down to nerves. She wasn't normally nervous in any situation, but this was their first proper mission out in the field. And the fate of the world could be riding on their shoulders. That, surely, would give just about anyone nerves.
Cyclops and Nightcrawler do the same and their search comes up empty. No signs of any life at all. Not so much as a bug. Nightcrawler squints into the distance, his keen vision allowing him to see further than a normal man.
'Do you see that?' he asks Cyclops.
'No, what is it?'
'I am not sure. It looks like a big metal steering wheel on ze ground. A hatch, maybe?'
'Let's check it out,' says Cyclops. He is solely focused on finding Magneto, because like Firebird, he knows there is a lot riding on the success of this mission. But his mind wanders elsewhere when he hears Firebird scream in the distance.
'Scott! Scott!'
The two men book it towards the trees in the direction of the sound. When they reach the others, they find what caused the commotion. Before them stands an animalistic, beastly creature. They can't quite tell if it's wearing a strange, fur-like suit, or if it is covered entirely in hair. It appears to be bipedal, but it's hunched so low to the ground that it's nearly on all fours. Standing straight up and down it could be no taller than five feet and three inches. Strapped to its head is a helmet, concealing all but its sneering mouth and it has a red visor where its eyes should be, much like Cyclops'. It snarls and it howls and grunts in between the snarls and the howls. It knows no other form of communication.
Department H calls it Weapon X.
'Is it an animal?' Nightcrawler posits, 'Or something else?'
'We don't have time to find out,' Cyclops says. 'Leave it alone and keep looking for Magneto.'
Weapon X balls its hands into fists. Snikt. Three, foot-long adamantium metal claws extend from between its knuckles.
'I'm not sure that's going to be an option,' Firebird concludes.
Colossus turns his skin to metal in retaliation, perhaps to show off his strength to the creature. Cyclops and Firebird change their stances and Nightcrawler unsheathes his sword. Weapon X charges at them like a bull seeing red. It goes for Nightcrawler first, the smallest of the herd, but he quickly teleports away, reappearing behind it. Enraged, Weapon X turns around and once again runs at Nightcrawler. Cyclops shoots a concussive beam into its back, knocking it face down in the snow. It clambers to its feet and sprints at Firebird, screaming all the way. Using her telekinetic powers she picks it up and throws it into the air where Colossus picks Weapon X from the sky and cracks it over his knee. It lets out a whimpering yelp as it falls limp onto the ground.
'Colossus! You're taking it too far! We're just trying to subdue it!' Cyclops yells.
There's a crack, like bone shifting back into place. Weapon X writhes in the snow as its spine does exactly that. It stands up, uninjured.
'What the fuck?' Colossus says in Russian. And just as he does, Weapon X tackles him to the floor. Pulling its arm into the arm and about to stab Colossus right through the forehead, Nightcrawler grabs the Russian by the arm and teleports them both to safety. Weapon X's claws plunge into the soft soil where Colossus had lain seconds prior.
Angered by the humiliation of being bested by the beast, Colossus moves to mow Weapon X down with sheer strength, but Cyclops blocks his path. 'Let it go,' he tells him. Nightcrawler slashes Weapon X along the back with his sword.
'I cannot. I would not live with this shame. I will not.'
'Let. It. Go.'
Firebird throws Weapon X a hundred feet back through the air, barely landing before it bounds back to the fight.
'I cannot!'
'Fine,' Cyclops says, disappointed. And without a second thought he fires a concussive blast at Colossus' metal head, knocking him out cold. 'He won't be out for long, so we have to deal with this before he wakes back up.'
'It won't stop,' Firebird says.
'Try getting in its head! See if you can't hold it down for a while.'
As Weapon X races back to the X-Men, Firebird raises her middle and forefinger on both hands to her temples. Telepathic waves erupt from her forehead, shooting at Weapon X. The waves finally reach it, but it pushes past them with ease; they have no effect on the beast.
Firebird stands there, paralysed by shock. 'There's nothing there,' she panics.
'What the hell do you mean?' Cyclops fires back.
'It has no thoughts. Its mind is totally blank.'
Cyclops tries to think of something to do, anything. He fails. 'I didn't want to do this, but we've been left with no choice. Nightcrawler, you know what to do.'
'Yes, sir,' he says as he teleports behind Weapon X, but it turns around. Expecting this, Nightcrawler thrusts his cutlass forward, impaling it through the gut. Howling in pain, blood dripping into the perfect snow, it drops to its knees and Nightcrawler teleports back to the others.
It doesn't stay down for long. Clasping its abdomen, Weapon X stands straight up again, the wound fully healed. It starts towards the X-Men, at first slowly, but it gradually picks up speed until it reaches a full sprint, almost galloping. 'Fall back,' Cyclops orders, 'Fall back!' Almost nothing can stop Weapon X at this speed. It gets faster and faster and faster still. It's nearly caught up to them now, but running right behind it is Colossus, who managed to sneak around it without anyone noticing, using the giant pine trees as cover. Weapon X is fast, but Colossus is faster. He goes to pick up Weapon X and throw it directly into a tree to aid their escape, but it stops dead in its tracks and pivots on the spot. Holding its hands low and pointed to the sky, Colossus rams himself onto all six claws, just under his ribcage. His metal skin instantly transforms back to flesh and he lets out a soft breath.
'Oh no…' Cyclops whispers.
Despite its small stature, Weapon X lifts Colossus into the air above its head and as the claws sink deeper into his body. The claws retract and Colossus drops to the ground. Weapon X stands over him, satisfied. Blood pours from the incisions and Colossus doesn't seem to be breathing.
'Nightcrawler, get Peter in the jet, now!' says Cyclops. In a puff of sulphuric smoke, Nightcrawler grabs Colossus and in another flash they are both gone. 'Get the jet ready, Jean.'
'I'm not going to leave you alone with that thing.'
'Do it!'
She nods, tears dribbling down her cheeks. As she runs back to the Blackbird she wipes her eyes and nose dry.
Out of nowhere Cyclops fires a massive beam of energy at Weapon X's head. Seething with anger, he adjusts the power limiter on his visor and the blast becomes more powerful and intense. Raw energy sparks off in each cardinal direction. It sounds like crackling thunder in the distance and then for a brief moment, when he saps himself of strength, everything goes silent. There's a BOOM as the blast breaks the sound barrier and an explosion erupts from Weapon X's helmet, destroying it. As the smoke clears, Cyclops sees what is left behind.
Weapon X, still standing upright, but his face is charred; the skin burned right off of his face, revealing his skull, coated in pure adamantium metal. The skin and flesh regrow like an elaborate tapestry being woven together. First the meat and then the skin over it. Weapon X grins a wicked grin.
'What are you?' For the first time since he was a child, Cyclops is utterly terrified. A ball of purple and black smoke materialises behind Cyclops and he disappears into it with a bamf, leaving Weapon X behind in the frozen tundra. Alone.
IV
At the mobile command station, every computer screen flashes red. Warning pop ups cover the monitors. 'What happened? What is this?' Sublime asks.
'The controller helmet has been destroyed, sir, but the sedative injectors are still functional. Should I proceed?' one the grunts in fatigues responds.
'Does it have the asset?'
'No, sir.'
'How much longer can we keep it out?'
'If we wait any longer we'll lose it.'
'Bring it back in,' Sublime says reluctantly.