Logan (Wolverine)'s Story

"Ryan... are you wearing the metal shoes?"

Ryan nodded in reply, "Yeah. We were gonna practice that thing."

"You wanna practice it now? I could throw you at one of the sentinels."

"Are you sure?.. We've never tried before."

"Yeah I'll be able to throw you and your gonna hit that thing hard!" He reached out and bumped Ryan's fist.

"Alright if your sure let's do it!"

Ryan threw open the doors and lined himself up with one of the sentinels. Thantos was looking for a strong anchor. This push wasn't gonna be easy. Finding one he nodded to Ryan who jumped up into the air. Burning steel Thantos pushed against the piping in the house and against the metal base of Ryan's boots throwing Ryan through the air (launched at an accelerating 15 feet per second approx speed at contact 40 mph). After about five seconds Ryan makes contact with the sentinel. Dousing the burning steel Thantos steadies himself against the fatigue. That worked about as well as I could have hoped.

Having caught his breath Thantos grabs another vial off of his belt pulling the cork off and downing the contents. Seeing Magneto surrounded by a group of soldiers. He starts burning pewter and runs to help him. Reaching the circle he lowers his shoulder and charges the group dropping three of the soldiers in the group. "Professor! Use these!" He throws a handful of coins towards his professor. Continuing forward he feels something hit his shoulder. The pewter strengthening his body he continues forward grabbing the soldier and headbutting him to unconscious.

(ooc I got permission to do the dialogue between Thantos and Ryan as well as throw him at the sentinel.)

“It won’t appear if you fight for the wrong side Stinger. We will win this war! The humans will lose!” Cara was careful to keep her voice down. It seemed that although she had joined Xavier’s little band of mutants she still did not completely share his vision of peace between humans and mutants. Stinger was a little surprised. “Come on; let’s move before those sentinels see us.” She said gesturing Stinger towards the mansion. Her breathing was getting heavier and her hand was now covering over her now profusely bleeding wound.

Stinger followed Cara, it was good to feel like she had her old friend back, somewhat. She was concerned to see that Cara had sustained some serious wounds. Stinger knew that Cara was always one to push herself too far, when Stinger would have long fled a fight that was getting too tough for her liking, Cara would fight until Magneto would drag her away. After a few feet Cara collapsed onto her side. Stinger knelt down beside Cara, “Dammit Cara, you push yourself way too hard!” She was about to help Cara up when she realized that the Sentinel was approaching. She quickly stood to her feet and blasted the robot with an electric charge, however her powers were ineffective against this particular model of sentinel as they were heavily insolated and immune to electric attacks. “Oh… shit this is a problem…” Stinger said as watched the Sentinel loom over her. It was programmed not to target members of weapon X so it ignored her and attempted to target Cara.

Cara made her move taking hold of its shadow she used all of her remaining strength to corrupt the machine into turning its own gun into pointing at its ‘hips’ just before it fired. The resounding thud as the third sentinel crashed to the earth. Stinger had breathe a sigh of relief. “Saving my ass must be a pastime of yours Cara.” Stinger said with a smile. She then noticed Cara had passed out. She knelt down beside Cara again and began to try to awaken her. “I need to get her to a doctor.” Stinger said as she began to pick Cara up. “I suppose I should find the infirmary in here…”

As Kyle fell from the sky after being blasted by the sentinels Scott rushed over to catch him. Scott made it just in time to intercept Kyle from hitting the ground. Kyle looked a bit stunned but he was alright. As Scott held Kyle in his arms he asked, “You took a pretty nasty blast, are you alright Kyle?”

Kyle looked at Scott with a squiggly little grin an wrapped his arms around Scott’s neck to give him a big flirtatious hug. Kyle could never pass a rare opportunity to be flirty and this close to the handsome and oh so serious Scott Summers.

Scott blushed nervously and sighed. “What am I going to do with you?”

Kyle giggled mischievously, “For starters you could help me find someplace private…”

Scott quickly interrupted, “Too far Kyle. Never mind, help me subdue those soldiers surrounding Magneto.” He let Kyle down and Kyle began to hover slightly above the ground once more.

More sentinels dropped down from the sky, the X-men would have serious trouble taking out this amount of them. Magneto knew that he’d be able to handle them with great ease but he had to get rid of this continual flow of soldiers. As Pietro knocked them out they wouldn’t stay down. Scott noticed the large group of sentinels that landed at knew that they had to help Magneto available to handle them. Scott blasted a soldier back with his optic blast and he realized that the man sparked. The soldiers that attacked Magneto and Pietro were robots made out of a non-metal alloy. This was another clever trick of Trasks to subdue Magneto while he sent the sentinels to deal with the others.

“Those are Robots! Magneto, Kyle, Pietro, Fuyumi, don’t hold back they aren’t human!” Scott warned them.

“Leave the sentinels to me. Cyclops please handle the toy soldiers.” Magneto spoke in a tone that indicated how tired he was of Trasks games. He levitated over to the mass of sentinels and as they attacked he erected his electromagnetic shield to nullify the sentinel’s blasts. “Fools will create weapons of even more foolish quality.” Magneto said as he waved his hands back and forth, the air seemed to ripple as he used his powers. The Sentinels began to slam into one another. He then mad a chopping motion causing the heads of several of the sentinels to decapitate and fall to the ground. He simply crumpled the others up. And hurled them at Trasks’ temp base.

Trask ordered everyone to pull back and retreat. He then spoke to David and Victor on his head piece. “David, Victor, We’re leaving. Collect the Weapon and X-23 and let’s get out of here. I’ve sent someone to retrieve Alexander. Frenzy can’t be found and Stinger seems to be with the enemy. Do NOT leave without the Weapon! That’s an order!!”

Charles found Frenzy waking up from her earlier encounter with Sam. She spoke to her calmly. “Hello Joanna. I am Charles Xavier. I sensed that you desired to speak with me. You comrades are currently leaving. Do you still wish to meet with me? I will let you go if you must.”

Frenzy sat up and responded, “I’d rather talk with you actually. Oh… your student, the one with the wind based abilities, he’s one tough contender I’ll give him that. You run one mean operation Xavier. I’m interested in hearing about this place from your perspective. When I listen to Trask go on about the X-men I feel like I’m sitting in on one massive propaganda session. I like to be fair.”

“Very well Joanna. I like that very much.” Charles then sat with her and began to explain his mission and mindset. He explained why Magneto changed and his vision for the future. Frenzy now seeing Charles’ vision, joined the X-men.

[inside the Danger room]

X-23 stumbled back some from the hit Logan gave her and shock it off. Her helmet had a very nice crack in it. She pulled it off and let helmet fall to the ground. Long black hair fell free. She had some build that was the same as Logan and Lady Death Strike. The two fought swapping blows equally. Logan was confirmed in his suspicions that X-23 was a copy of him. Perhaps Weapon-X still had his DNA copied to create a clone. That program sickened him. To Logan it was the most inhumane thing yet they persecuted mutants for being inhumane.

Vincent Took metal form and attacked Sabertooth. He delivered a swift punch to sabertooth that Sabertooth dodged by flipping over Vincent. Sabertooth kicked Vincent in the torso and sent him into a wall. He then pounced Vincent and pinned him to the wall. Vincent was well able to lift the pressure Sabertooth placed on him while in metal form. He punched Sabertooth in the jaw knocking him down. Vincent backed away, keeping an eye on Sabertooth.

“Why don’t you stop hiding behind that tin can metal skin and show me your REAL strength? Common, I know it stunts your Psionic power greatly. Show me what your Telekinesis can do, the telekinesis that even out does Charles Xavier. Well what do you say Vince…?” Sabertooth taunted he really wanted Vincent to focus his attention on him so that David could sedate him. Vincent then swapped forms and Sabertooth leaped with great swiftness at him. A few inches from Vincent’s face Sabertooth had stopped in midair by Vincent’s telekinesis. Sabertooth hovered in the air suspended by Vincent’s telekinesis. Vincent then slammed him into the danger room wall crushing him under the telekinetic force.

“You wanted a taste now you have it.” Vincent replied rather coldly. His exherted so much telekinetic force onto Sabertooth that he was actually smashing him into the metal walls of the danger room.

Meanwhile David nimbly dodged Philips time bombs. Hideki after timing things just right blasted David with his ‘fireworks’ but because of David’s suite, which refracts light energy, the blast of explosive colorful sparklers bounced off in multiple directions. Causing Philip and Hideki to dodge about.

David stopped and smiled at Hideki. Hideki took notice and it reminded him of the look Aidan O’doherty gave him the day before, one that shows someone has claimed something as their own. Hideki didn’t much care for that look. David then spoke smoothly “You know, you really remind me of myself, handsome with a power befitting your natural flare. Too bad my suite refracts light Matsuzaka, that would have been a pretty good shot, much like this one.” David then quickly pulled out a small energy plasma gun and shot Philip in the chest.

Philip fell backward and Hideki was startled. “Boomer!!” Hideki called out. Philip sat up and his skin seemed to glow. He stood and held his hands out and a undirected blast of pink energy shot out from Philips hands. David was knocked backwards a bit. He hit the ground shocked to see and feel that Boom-Boom had a power that their intelligence hadn’t warned them about, energy absorption and redirection. Philip didn’t often use this ability due to lack of control but this time it came in handy and he got lucky enough not to hit his teammate.

David noticed that this was his opportunity to sedate Vincent. He with the flick of the wrist pulled a sedative gun as he lay on the ground and shot a well-placed tranquilizer at Vincent’s neck. Vincent fell to his knees releasing Sabertooth from his telekinesis and the passed out. Philip and Hideki tried to run toward Vincent but as soon as their backs were turned David launched chords around both student’s necks and constricted them from behind. Hideki and Philip pulled at their leash like constraints struggling to get free while Sabertooth grabbed Vincent and darted out of the danger room doors. Leaving the mansion all together. Logan was so deadlocked with X-23 that he couldn’t pursue his predatory rival. David cut the constraints on Philip and Hideki and dashed out of the danger room. He shouted to X-23, “X-23 let’s move out! We got the weapon. Logan hope to see you soon old friend.” Sabertooth and David were nowhere to be found and Vincent had been officially kidnapped.

X-23 nodded when given the order. She gave a good hard kick landing it in the center of Logan’s chest. Pushing him back. With Vila tending to those who need help and keeping people out of harms way she was not minding what was going on around her. X-23 moved using this as the time to take a hostage. Metal claws came out cutting the bracelet off that controlled the armor. Vila was taken by surprise and startled she did not have time to react to this. Vila knew to keep calm and not react, but she did not like this. X-23 retracted her claws and held it to Vila’s lower back as she backed out of the room. Having a game piece was a good thing made it more simple to get away and made it harder for others to attack. Her other hand was at Vila’s neck. No words where need to make the point of what would happen.

Logan, after re-chambering, was ready to counter-strike. However, he had not anticipated X-23 catching Vila off guard and taking her as a hostage. The assassin silently threatened Logan. Hideki and Philip had just managed to catch a second wind when the hostage situation unfolded. Philip and Hideki stood to their feet. Hideki had a plan, he had thought to utilize a skill that he often found very taxing to pull off. He began attempting to create a full scale light hologram of Agent Zero. It looked very real, The hologram quickly walked into the danger room behind X-23, Hideki stood very still and concentrated with all of his might on keeping the hologram active and from fading away. Hideki couldn’t make the Hologram speak but he shot a glance at Logan. Logan had caught on fast.

Logan gave a purposefully startled look at the hologram located just behind X-23, “North!! You haven’t had enough or what?!” Logan yelled. It was good enough of a farce to get X-23 to turn around slightly, which gave Logan the opportunity to dash toward her and Vila. Just as he made it to X-23 she realized the trap but it was slightly too late. Logan lodged his claws in X-23’s side, causing her to release Vila. However it also left Logan vulnerable as well.

X-23 was looked at the hologram that was created of North. She turned just so, just the right amount that it have her a blind side giving Logan the opportunity to dash and Vila and her. This was when X-23 should have trusted her smell with all of this. She knew better and know had a set of claws digging deep in to her side. Hot crimson blood slid down Logan’s claws as her hostage Vila got away. This took a way her playing piece but it did not mean she would go down without a fight. She went throw the back of mind thinking about her opinions. Four on one not overly good odds however …one was a real threat, one unknown and two children. Take out Logan than go from there where her best odds and that was better than nothing.

With how Logan and her where intertwined she got an idea for a plan of what to do. As much fun as a cheap shot would be it would only anger Logan and that could and most likely would make things worse. So on to plan B for taking Logan out. Her foot came up and she slammed the base of her shoe in to his knee cap. This would dislocate the knee cap causing a huge level of pain. Fallowed by using the third blade that was in her foot much like a raptors claw to slam in to the top of his foot twisting. This would hurt and cause discomfort even more so with the pursuer point she nailed.

Logan yelled in pain as he took the serious blow dealt to him. Hideki’s heart sunk in to see Logan in such pain. Hideki for some reason always felt close to Logan. Perhaps because Logan was the gentle loner with a past steeped in darkness. It was Hideki’s nature to illuminate a light in the darkness so that Logan could see that he was no longer in the dark, that at least Hideki would never object to drawing close to Logan when others were put off, angry with or afraid of him. Hideki, although tired and slightly fearful, acted first. He blasted X-23 at chest level with all of his might. Extremely blinding and bright colorful light plasma shot across the room and sent X-23 backward. Hideki panted heavily and when he ceased firing light plasma energy he fell to his knees on the ground exhausted.

Philip was amazed at Hideki’s determination. He could tell that Hideki cared tremendously for Logan. In which way, Philip was unsure but he knew it was a true bond of friendship at least. He hoped Logan felt the same way, and didn’t doubt that Logan did. Philip turned to Vila, “Hey Vila, you use vines right? Could you constrict that assassin?” Philip called out to Vila.
X-23 moved back shacking of the light. She was having a hard time seeing but that would not stop her from attacking. In truth Hideki’s attack only pissed her off. She did not have to see to attack her since if smell was just as good. She locked in on her target and moved at it. Her claws out but the ones in her feet no longer showing. She was going to take them out even if she had to do it blind.

Vila nodded but she knew vines would not hold. She moved her eyes went white under the mask as the ground started to shack. Vila used a vine to get a base hold on X-23 but finished it up with stone. Full in casing X-23 in it, the stone would be much harder to get free from. Vila was fair from a killer and her not being happy right now was not a good thing, she started to constrict the stone. It would not take long for X-23 to back out and end up with a few broken ribs.


***this post is by Masato and My self***

Black Jack

During the battle, a figure stood on a branch, hidden within the leaves of the trees, just watching. With freshly polished black dress shoes, perfect, unwrinkled Armani black dress pants, a white button down silk shirt, with an equally unwrinkled black Armani suit jacket, with a beige trench coat, left unbuttoned, Travis made no move to help in anyway, even to those whom were suffering. A student, so he assumed, ran onto the property during the middle of the fight, taking Frenzy away from Cara. His eyes passed over Trask and his team, while keeping an eye out for just one.

He had worked with Trask in the past. Being a high bidder for his skills, he couldn't say no. He, himself, had done some things that others would consider, morally wrong, or disturbing. To him, it mattered but little. He did what needed to be done, and in his eyes, he didn't do anything wrong. Perhaps pushed the limits a little over the line. Others have said to him he was a savior, being able to erase any unwanted memories, such as deaths, bad break-ups, vicious attacks to name a few. Trask was not one that Travis would want to work with on a regular basis, regardless of the money he threw at him. He preferred to be able to choose his clients based on what they needed, and if they left the message correctly. Travis was a bit of a perfectionist, his clothes a good example. No wrinkles, perfect size, fit, and even the creases down the front were perfectly straight.

His eyes scanned over Xavier and Magneto. Travis had passed by Charles many times, and had even gone to a few of his speeches at the white house, explaining the Mutant Phenomenon. Travis respected Xavier. He approached situations with calmness, and logic. He did what he could for mutants, even making a school for them to go, be themselves, and control their powers. He had the best intentions not only for mutants, but for the future of the world as well. But no matter how good the intentions are, they are always met with setbacks, and those that won't/will never agree. Travis was positive that if Xavier saw him, he would recognize him.

Early on in his life, Travis agreed with a lot of what Magneto said, and did. Humans and Mutants would never learn to accept one another. Sure, there would be the odd few that would accept the other, but it wouldn't be enough. War would still break out. Many would lose loved ones on both sides, and today was a prime example. Trask, going all out just for one, would demolish the school, kill who needed to be killed, just to get what he wanted, not caring who he stepped over to get it, be it friends, foe, or his own flesh and blood. To prove his own point, Trask had brought his top guns. X-23, Agent Zero, Sabertooth, Frenzy, Stinger.

The battle was growing bigger, enveloping most of the Xavier Campus. It even got so close to Travis, that he took this time to teleport, vanishing from his spot in the tree, to inside the mansion. Specifically an office. The one he was watching for had not come outside, so they had to be still inside. The windows had been blown out. Glass, dirt, rocks and parts of the wall covered the floor. Glass cracked under his shoes as he scanned the room, never taking his hands from his pockets. He had studied a map of the Institute before making his way over to the school, and by the looks from outside, and the office, he was on the east side, an office most likely owned by one of the teachers. The room was useless to him, and so he vanished once again, this time appearing in front of an elevator shaft. The door opened, and Travis calmly walked in. The Doors shut, and it began it's decent downwards to the lower levels.

The elevator stopped, and just as the doors began to open, Travis teleported out, reappearing in the Control room. Below, in the danger room, he could see Vincent, Wolverine, X-23, Agent Zero, and a few of the students fighting with each other. At least the weapon is still here.. Again, the one he was looking for was not present in the Danger room, so he left, vanishing as quickly as he arrived.

Adria

She was taken to safety from Vincent, and rode the back of Ryan to the infirmary. While she was out, the battle continued. Vila had continued to hold her position in the Danger Room, while Aaiyah and Alexander dominated the surface. Agent Zero ended up taking Jonathan and Memory hostage, making them take him to the Danger Room. Cara and Stinger went neck and neck, while Logan couldn't give up a change to give it to Sabertooth. Xavier seemed to help those on both sides of the fence, while Sentinals made their entrance, tying Magneto up with their presence.

Adria didn't like what she was feeling while she was sedated. Like being in a vivid dream, she could feel something tugging at her core, her subconscious desperately trying to latch onto it. Even though she ran, she didn't move. There was darkness everywhere around her, and the only light was herself, and the white orb that she could not catch, no matter how hard she tried.

The water that engulfed her body put tremendous weight on her body from being compacted into a specific shape. Like her own power had turned against her, her eyebrows furrowed together, her lungs being rid of what air it had, and was replaced with little mouthfuls of water from her sudden gasps. The temperature had dropped, and for the first time in a long time, she could feel the coldness.

It was an odd feeling to feel life slipping from your very body, an experience Adria hadn't felt before. She`s had her fair share of wounds and blood loss, but nothing like this. It was suffocating. With her skin turning colors, Adria ran as fast as she could to the white energy orb. Slowly, but surely, she began to get closer, and eventually, what felt like years, she reached out to it. Her finger tips barely brushed it, and the next thing Adria knew, she was coughing up water, her lungs gasping for breath.

"Mission is complete."

Adria could hear Agent Six, but she never got the chance to see her. Her head pounded and her lungs hurt. She was bruised up on her side from the fight, but luckly, she didn't have any broken bones.

Adria + Black Jack

Travis had teleported to many different rooms, on the lower levels and top levels. He had no luck looking for who he wanted to, and their was only a few places left. The Infirmary was close by, so instead of teleporting, he simply walked. As he got closer, he could hear the sound of water splashing onto the floor, and someone coughing, like they were just saved from drowning. He only knew of one that could manipulate water at this institute, and that ment he was on the right track. The Infirmary door was slightly Ajar, Travis stopping in front looking through the crack.

"Mission is complete."

Pushing the door open, Adria looked over, ice blue eyes meeting Travis's brown ones. Before she could ask who he was, or where he came from, he disappeared, and reappeared beside her, his hand covering her eyes. "Been a long time Adria," he began, closing his eyes. "Sleep.. You'll feel better after."

Adria couldn't ignore what he said, her eyelids feeling like they had bricks hanging from the lids. Within seconds, she was out again. "Let me see what you've seen.." Travis whispered, the memories of the last few months playing for him like a movie on a big screen.

Aidan O’doherty

Aidan sat at home watching television. He had a long day at the hospital where he worked. There were several consultations with people that he could care a grain of salt about. The mutant human relations were getting much worse. Aidan cringed to see the Xavier mansion on television, being attacked. Nothing the news reporters on television sympathized with the school or students. Aidan wasn’t the most sympathetic person by a long shot but he definitely saw a problem with the lack of care about mutants being hunted down by the government. He had lived for a very long time, and had seen mutants punished and attacked throughout history. Times were becoming dangerous.

“It seems mankind is becoming a little too ignorant and brazen for my liking…” Aidan said as he watched the news footage from his couch. “I think history demands I strike some fear in the hearts of those ungrateful little gutter snipes. We mutants allow them to live here with us out of sheer grace and mercy, and this is the thanks we get? A dog that continues to bite his masters hand must be shot in the head.” Aidan decided that he would have to pay Charles Xavier another visit, much sooner than he had anticipated.

Vincent Xavier

As Sabertooth carried the sedated Vincent Xavier he chuckled. David looked a bit conflicted. The rendezvoused with the rest of the Weapon-X team that escaped and boarded a transport unit to head back to base. Sabertooth placed Vincent into a stasis pod so that he would remain sedated during transport. David looked puzzled at Victor. “What’s so funny Victor?” David said as he sat across from him.

Victor looked up at David after having been staring mostly toward the floor. “That guy really is somethin’ quite scary… Anyone that has me even a little frightened is a fucking person to be afraid of. He carried the look of a killer in his eyes the moment I started taunting him. He carries the fury of both his fathers and that ain’t nothin’ to trifle with.” Victor replied to David with a grin.

“Well it’s a good thing you know how to get under people’s skin otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to catch him off guard the way we did. He’s a pretty cool looking guy. I’d hop the fence for him.” David replied with a devilish smirk.

“You’re always hoppin’ the fence North.” Victor replied as he rolled his eyes. David most always played both sides of the field at his leisure. Victor only had to threaten David once that his piece of the field was off limits else Victor penetrate David’s gut with his claws. However, it was North that Victor spend the most personal time with oddly enough. The two could somehow trust each other, most likely because they were both highly efficient killing machines and could be more ruthless than most others.

“God I’m just not fully healing from that scuffle with him. That asshole almost shattered several bones while trying to damn near crush me.” Victor griped in annoyance.

“It’s a good thing he was still going easy on you. Knowing what the files said about his possible potential he should have been able to have brought down the entire danger room without much trouble. My guess is that he was trying to keep control and not fight Xavier’s locks on his powers. On another note, it seems Frenzy and Stinger turned coat on us. I’d figure that Wendy would do something fickle like that but Joanna surprised me.” David said in a thoughtful manner.

“I’m more surprised that you’re surprised North. I gotta say that those kids put up a pretty good fight. I almost crushed that Asian boy with the fireworks in my arms, just because I knew that it would really piss Logan off.” Victor reminisced.

David glanced up at Victor and then looked back down at the gun he fiddled with in his hands. “I liked that guy. He looks like me but chipper and less of a bastard than I. Also that Minerva girl… she was something else. Her brother looked like he could have gutted me good for even looking at her let alone holding her hand.” David was all smiles. “If either light bright or Memory girl asked me to join the X-men I probably would and retire.” David began to laugh at himself.

Victor cringed. “And that would be the day I actually would want to kill you. Jeez North you are crazy. But then again I don’t plan on sticking with Weapon-X and Trask too much longer anyway. I personally wanna kill him slowly. He lied to us to get us to join weapon-X in the first place. I guess I can’t blame Stinger and Frenzy for jumping ship.” Victor then smirked.

The transport unit arrived at the weapon X facility. With Stinger and Frenzy having joined the X-men and X-23 as a hostage, they were going to have to relocate seeing that their location was now compromised. Trask wasn’t worried in the slightest about X-23 telling the X-men anything, she’d rather die than to do that, also she never really spoke on a normal basis anyway so the X-men would likely not inspire her to start. The government was swift about their relocation techniques and within an hour the base was whisked away to another not too far off but just as secrete location.

Vincent had awoken, his eyes were heavy and the room was somewhat dark. He was strapped down to a metal table. The restraints placed on him were made with heavy adamantium metal including the locks. Vincent wondered where he was and what was happening. He looked to his left and right and noticed that he wasn’t as alone as he felt. He was surrounded by five petit sisters of blonde hair. They looked to be in a trance. They were concentrating, Vincent could feel it. They were telepaths no doubt about it. He tried to read their minds but they were strong. They were quintuplets and their powers were linked making them a formidable telepathic force.

Vincent struggled and asked, “Who are you? Where am I?” He shifted into his left and right as he asked anxiously.

The five young ladies, with eyes closed, replied in a trance like manner, “We are the Stepford Cockoos. Weapon-X desires your power be set free. Charles Xavier has locked your potential away. We undid the bindings that Kept the Phoenix locked inside of Jean Grey, setting her free. Charles Xavier has contain you in much the same way. We shall release you too. Where you are is not important. Who you are is.” The five ladies spoke in unison and never broke concentration.

Vincent was horrified at what was about to happen. He had already knew that he wielded a destructive power. He knew of the horrible trouble and chaos the Phoenix caused and hated a part of him-self for being like the Phoenix himself in a way. Vincent felt that he wasn’t meant to exist. He was someone’s weapon that tries to lead a normal life. Losing control, to him, reinforced the feelings of being a danger to others. Now these people were threatening to unleash what he hates most about him-self.

Trask walked into the room with his hands held military style/ at attention behind him. He stood over the table grinning at Vincent. The Cuckoos were silent and still concentrating. After a moment of staring Trask finally spoke. “My dear weapon, how nice it is to have you back! You don’t realize how long I’ve waited for you to be back in my grasp. The child of Magneto and Charles will finally realize his full potential! After Xavier tried to ruin my work of art by covering portions of it up! The fool!” Trask stood sinisterly over Vincent as if he personally was going to do the violating that was about to be done to Vincent’s life.

Vincent struggled and trying to get free. He first changed to metal form and tried to break through his restraints but Adamantium metal proved too much for him to overcome. He then tried to use his telekinesis to lift the restraints to free him-self. He was making progress until the Stepford Cuckoos hindered the use of his power. They were strong together, very strong. They suppressed his telekinetic powers. He then Vincent began to panic. He then shifted into metal form again, this way he could defend his mind from telepathic attacks. The Cuckoos were able catch Vincent before he could fully shift into metal form and suppressed that ability as well. Vincent struggled helplessly, he lay there turning red with fear and breathing heavily. His best chance was to try to defend him-self from their telepathic workings.

Trask added. “I won’t turn you into a mindless drone if you cooperate with me. You should be excited! This will turn you into the person you were created to be! You might experience some physical appearance changes but hey… you look good now you’ll probably look great after this so no worries, Agent V.” Trask said with a maniacal laugh. He ordered the Cuckoos to begin.

The women began to hum and they glowed. Vincent felt them prying open his mind and his X-gene. It felt like psionic hands smashing down the barriers that Xavier placed. Vincent fought hard to resist the physical changes he was feeling, he felt stronger with each seal broken and his cries for help were in vain. With his final seal broken from him he felt an alternate personality and presence in his body. It was strong and wanted to release its power. Vincent knew that to give into the desire and accept the power that was locked away, would change him forever. In a last ditch attempt to save himself from being taken over he used the sheer force of telepathy and will to divide the newly released portion of his X-gene away from the current portion of the X-gene he had always used, and expelled it from his body. That portion shot out from his body like a blue light and into a nearby embryo waiting to become a clone for Weapon X.

This was something that Trask had not accounted for. David and Victor looked on at the scene in amazement. They had never seen anything like this before. The machine that held the embryo that now held the other half of Vincent’s X-gene then exploded yet the embryo glowed and was protected. It floated in midair growing into a baby instantaneously. The growth and aging process didn’t stop until he was a grown man who looked much like Magneto, when Magneto was that age. The man opened his eyes he floated above the ground shattering most all of the glass around with his powers.

Trask was amazed. “Look at that!! His fighting our influence created a whole new being!! He’s magnificent!! My Agent V [OOC: Roman numeral 5] you’re my beautifully created mutant KILLING MACHINE!!! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..” Trask cackled loudly.

He lifted the metal the bound Vincent and set him free. “Set my brother free…” He said quietly. He began to destroy the lab sending metal flying everywhere. The Cuckoos tried to suppress him but the combined efforts of both he and Vincent subdued the women. The Stepford Cuckoos fled in fear of both mutants’ powers. They could not control Both Vincent and Agent V.

Trask ran for cover as both Vincent and the new mutant lay siege to the base. Trask tried to command David and Victor subdue the weapon. However David and Victor knew not to attempt to stop Vincent and Agent V. Victor grabbed Trask and positioned him so that he could snap Trasks neck. Trask struggled in Victor’s arms. The base was being ripped apart around them. “I ought to snap your pathetic little neck and rip your worthless skull off of your body right now, case I’ve been itchin’ to do it since I found out you lied to me. But I’m gonna let you go.” Victor released Trask. Trask was afraid breathing heavily.

David placed his magnum up to Trasks throat. “I suppose I should tell you why Victor and I won’t kill you for now at least. If we give you what you deserve now, then the dick that follows in your horrid footsteps, which there surely will be one, will be twice as annoying. So you be sure to keep a low profile okay. Else we might welcome the opportunity to waste another asshole for the sport of it. Now piss off you mutant hating son of a bitch.” David put his gun away and the two watched as Trask hightailed it out of the base.

Agent V turned to Victor and David. “You too are mutants, and if my brother, Vincent’s, memory serves me correctly, you are the two mutants responsible for attacking our father’s school and home, kidnapping Vincent. You have wronged your own kind, however I will give you another chance to reform and make peace with your mutant brethren. Come with us or be punished.” Agent V lowered him-self to the ground after having levitated above the ground. He stood naked before the others and not much concerned about it. Vincent felt comfortable with Agent V. He was a part of him but at the same time they were separate entities.

David and Victor looked at each other and then turned to Agent V once more before David replied, “We’re in so we’ll follow you. We’re done here.” Victor nodded in agreement. They were smart and knew when to take down. David thought, “It looks like we’ll be with the X-men for a while…”

Victor added, “First let’s get you some clothes. And second, if you wanna start a gang of mutants or at least rescue some, there’s someone locked away here called Agent six. We should spring her and bring her too.” Victor found a scientist hiding in fear and killed him on the spot by snapping the man’s neck.

Vincent snapped angrily, “MUST YOU DO THAT? Why did you kill him? He was just trying to survive!”

Victor replied, “Well VINCENT, your new brother needed clothes, even if they are crappy middle aged clothes. And, he’s trying to survive, just like us! You didn’t see him going out of his way for us or you whe you were trying to survive did you? Us mutants are tired of TRYING to survive, we WILL and ARE surviving, and if offing the rest of those worthless people is our ticket to survival then I say fucking be it!” Victor spoke harshly but honestly.

Vincent couldn’t respond. Agent V stared taking note of Victors words. They struck a chord with him. People like Trask needed to be punished. They were infectious. Mold that spread from one apple to the next. Agent V continued to ponder, “If humans were the beloved people that the world said could do no wrong, by the Bible’s standards they are Able. The mutants were and are the underdog, thus we are Cain. From this point further I am to be called Cain. The humans, no, Able gave me the name Agent V. It represents my stance of never being society’s stepping stool again.” Cain spoke with conviction. David and Victor smiled, they liked what they were hearing. Vincent could understand Cain’s feelings because he was linked with Cain in many ways, but he didn’t agree with the, at least not anymore.

After Cain got dressed in the dead scientist’s clothes, the group followed David to the chmbers that held Agent Six. Cain using the power of magnetism easily removed the heavy metal door. Revealing Agent six inside the small room alone. “Hello my friend. I’m Cain. We’re here to set you free.”

Outside the mansion

Stinger had stuck with Cara while she stubbornly checked out the wounds of the others. “I’m fine and so are they. Gee Cara, you have become SUCH the good teacher~!” Wendy teased.

Charles had heard Hideki’s thoughts. “Professor!! Vincent has been Kidnapped!!! They took him!! We tried to stop them but we just couldn’t I’m sooo sorry!!” Hideki’s thoughts rang loud and clear in the professors’ mind.

Charles turned to Erik and Pietro. “Vincent has been kidnapped… our fears have come to pass… Our son… Erik!” Charles was actually beginning to panic. Erik had no words but cried out loudly, most metal objects nearby trembled and or were crushed under the pressure of his anguish. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! They took MY boy!” Erik yelled.

Pietro gave Magneto a hug. “We’ll get him back father. Don’t you worry okay. I’ll just zip back to their base and scope the place out. I’ll be back in like ten minutes.” Pietro zoomed off before another word could be said. But unfortunately the Weapon-X group had already moved base. Pietro returned and reported the news. Everyone’s disposition seemed to fall drastically. The X-men were about to enter a time of much confusion.

Black Jack

Being inside was like operating a computer. He could refine his search, calling upon memories that only included a specific person, place, or time. Or if he preferred he could watch the whole story from the earliest memory they have until now, but that would take a while. He was only interested in her dealings with Trask, specifically over the last few months, from the last time he saw her before she infiltrated, until now.

While he sorted, and called forth specific memories for information, he could feel the cracks in the shield he had erected around her brain, preventing anyone that he didn't want from poking around. He made a note to self, to repair the cracks after he got what he needed.

He grabbed what information he wanted from the memories he shifted through, slipping far enough out to let them, the memories, slip back to where they belonged. Travis then went on to the repairs. It wasn't like when he sorted through memories like a computer. Erecting boundaries and barriers was like encasing a piece of the person inside a dark tomb. Each tomb contained an image of the person, with a part of them locked inside. The human brain was a fragile thing, and too much erasure, implantation, meddling could permanently damage it.

Travis let his hand fall from Adria's eyes once the repairs were done, taking a deep breath. He didn't use up too much power, since he didn't implant any memories or erase anything, but to still sift through all of it was exhausting in it self. Adria's mind was now secure for the next little while, but her body would have to heal on it's own.

He rested Adria back down onto the bed, and brushed a few strands of her hair away from her face. It wouldn't be long now before she woke up. "See you again soon." Travis said, teleporting out of the Infirmary, and off the campus grounds.

Adria

Adria slowly slipped back into consciousness, her eyes blinking repeatedly to adjust to the lights and be rid of the glossyness. She tried to remember what happened last, and she shot up, looking to the doorway. "Who...?" The sudden jolt up caused her face to contort in discomfort from the pain in her side. It was obvious that she was alone now, but before she had blacked out the second time, she recalled a tall man, dressed like he was someone important. Not knowing who he was or what he possibly had done to her while she slept was an unnerving feeling.

The silence is what got Adria up and out of the bed. How long had she been out? Was the mission successful? She didn't know. It defiantly brought more questions that answers, and she thought about it as she made her way from the infirmary, sliding her hand along the wall to help her along as she walked. Once at the elevator, the doors opened, Adria stepping inside. The doors closed behind her, and she rested her back up against them as it went upwards.

It wasn't like her to keep obsessing over what has happened in the past, but she couldn't help but think if it was the right thing to do in helping Trask get the weapon. Had she known it was Vincent all along, would she have still gone through with it? No. Regardless of who it was it didn't change what needed to be done. Get the weapon back to Trask. I didn't do anything wrong. Just what I was ordered to do.. she thought to herself, repeating it in her mind. You can't change what has already been done, but the feelings she had just as the attack began were back, and they were bringing doubts with them. Adria shook her head, shaking away the doubts.

Adria had forgotten she was in the elevator, so lost in her thoughts that when the doors opened, she stumbled back at the sudden loss of a leaning post, catching herself on the frame. It was quiet on the surface, and Adria knew the attack was over. Glass crunched under her feet like snow from the blown out windows. There was a hole in the wall, and she stepped through it. A short cut to everyone outside. As she got closer, Xavier's voice rang loud and clear.

"Vincent has been kidnapped... out fears have come to pass.."

Mission completed.

Mia

Mia had been on vacation for the past two weeks, much to the insistence of Charles. She hadn't taken a day off in a few years, and Charles had given her an ultimatum. Go willingly, or I'll force you to go. So Mia decided the first option sounded better. While she was away, she was worried about how her restaurant was fairing, and everyone at the institute. She hadn't been away from them for any longer than a day at most, and it caused her to fidget in her seat as the plane touched down. She was excited to be home, and highly excited to see everyone.

The plane came to a complete stop, and not long after, the passengers began filing out. Unbuckling herself from her seat, she grabbed her carry on from the overhead compartment, slinging it over her shoulder.

The baggage area was packed, and Mia was tiny enough at 5'3'' that she could push her way through to the front. The baggage was starting to appear on the belt, and she hoped that the bag with the souviniers had held. There was a few fragile pieces that she had, and she did wrapped them in bubble wrap just in case. But even still it could break. Other passengers had began grabbing their luggage, the area thinning out. She had caught a glimpse of her pokadot suitcases, getting more excited as the minutes passed. She was that much closer to home.

The suitcases were heavy when she lifted them off the belt, extending the handle to drag them behind her on the wheels. One for each hand. Maneuvering through the crowd, she made it outside, the traffic stopping long enough to allow her to pass to the parking garage. Her purple Honda civic stood out against the other cars, giving the trunk a nice pat before opening it up and placing her suitcases inside. Jude had bought her the car the day before their anniversary, and had given it to her that night, a day early. She had wondered if he had waited till that night, if he would still be here, and had they taken the car instead of walking. She shook her head of the thoughts. She couldn't change the past. What was done was done, and all she could do was move forward.

She lid into the drivers seat, pushing the brake and clutch down as she put the key in the ignition and turned it, hearing the roar of the engine come to life. Taking the e-brake off, she placed it into reverse, slipping out of her stall. Shifting the car into gear, she left the parkade, wondering what everyone was doing during the drive home.

It was quite a sight when she drove up to where the gates should have been. Instead, they were torn off their hinges, laying on the grass all bent out of shape. "What-What happened here?" She muttered to herself, the car not going more than 10KM. Her mind began to race with scenarios of what transpired, which only got her more worried. Charles, Magneto, and-was that Pietro as well-all stood around to the left. Bringing her car to a stop, she got out, making her way over to the group, the bit of her stomach in knots with a terrible feeling. Charles and Magneto were in great distress. She could tell by the flashes of anger on Erik's face, while Charles held it in. Something had to have happened to Vincent, she concluded. Only Vincent could get such a response out of the both of them. She didn't verbally say anything. Instead, Mia wrapped her arms around Charles from behind in a hope to comfort him in some way, resting her cheek at the top of his head.

After fighting through wave after wave of soldier Ryan and Thantos stand amid the bodies of the broken soldiers panting and searching for the next threat. Between breaths Thantos pants out, "Well Ryan we did it. We stopped them. No more soldiers." He turns to his buddy and smiles holding his hand out.

"Vincent has been kidnapped... out fears have come to pass.."

Thantos's face dropped. He was stunned. After all of that they had failed. He had failed to protect his family. His friends were hurt and missing. He began to breath faster hyperventilating. 'It's going to happen again. I'm going to be alone. They won't stop until my entire family is dead and I'm alone again.' These thoughts continued to play over and over in his head getting worse and worse each time.

"R-Ryan this can't be right... There's no way we lost. Right Ryan?"

"No, I'll be fine. I’ve had much worse." Cara insisted again, leaning herself up against the wall of the mansion to support herself. "What do you mean inside? Did the soldiers sneak past us?" she didn't need an answer it made sense to her as soon as it left her lips. With the majority of the battle-trained mutants outside there wasn't much in Project X's way to Vincent.

“Vincent has been kidnapped…"

Cara felt the air in her lungs freeze as the message came. That’s what the attack was for, that’s why the soldiers didn’t force them back, although it wasn’t for not trying generally the soldiers would have put up a much better fight then they had today. They didn’t want to get inside the mansion; it was just a distraction.

"Our fears have come to pass…"

Although Cara was never a greatly emotional person she couldn’t deny the feeling of dread inside her, she may not have shared the visions of Vincent’s family but she could not deny he was a friend.

Sliding herself down the wall she was leant on Cara stared up into the smoke filled sky, the pain she was experiencing slightly dampened by shock. She looked out across the mansion’s grounds; the once bright and vibrant gardens were now covered in the bodies of black clad soldiers, guns scattered around them, the massive gates that once adorned the driveway to the mansion were now broken, bent and half buried in the flowerbeds and the sentinels that had caused the most damage now lay in burning ruins, only huge metal husks remaining of the great mutant-killers.

Eventually her eyes slowly drifted back to the blackened skies and there they remained for some few minutes as Cara just sat and listened to the sounds around her until Pietro returned. Then as the echo of Magneto’s cry was still ringing in her ears she finally pulled herself to her feet and limped over to hear the news.

"Well Ryan we did it. We stopped them. No more soldiers." Thantos said, smiling. He held out his hand for Ryan to bump fists with. Ryan did so, with gusto. He heard Thantos's knuckles crack, they weren't broken, but his hand should have hurt a little. Ryan smiled. "That's for almost killing me with that Sentinel." Ryan joked. "I swear, I actually thought I was gonna die there! If my bones were any less dense, my skin any less scaled, my healing any slower, I would have died. I was scared!" He laughed. Then he heard it. Professor Xavier's plaintive voice.

"Vincent has been kidnapped... out fears have come to pass..." He said. The sadness evident in every syllable. The world froze around Ryan. Everything stopped, everything was quiet. Ryan almost didn't even hear Thantos say, "R-Ryan this can't be right... There's no way we lost. Right Ryan?" Ryan tried to speak, but nothing came out. His mouth moved wordlessly, his brain hopelessly, desperately trying to grasp the fact that Vincent was gone. It was a joke. A sick prank. "Stop it you guys." Ryan said, chuckling, mostly out of nervousness. "You're kidding right? Vincent is really in the bushes over there or something and we're all gonna laugh about it before we go back inside and start repairing the damage from the attack. Right? Right?" Ryan asked, hoping someone, anyone would tell him he guessed it, that it was all a clever ruse, that Vincent would crawl out of a bush and they would all laugh. There was no such response. Ryan was greeted with only sad nods and tears. Ryan felt his heart shatter, next was the dull thud of his knees hitting the ground. He heard Magneto's pained cry and matched it with his own sobs. Tears flooded down his face, there was no holding them back. Ryan cried like a child. He cried so hard he had trouble breathing. He cried so hard, his whole body shook with the force of his sobs. Vincent wasn't just a friend. He was a brother, a mentor, he was everything Ryan could have wished for in a fellow mutant. Ryan just kept crying and crying. He felt Thantos's hand on his shoulder but it did nothing to console him. He just kept crying. Eventually he ran out of tears and just sat there, on his knees, sobbing silently.

Charles Felt caught up in feelings of despair and sorry. He let his son down. He let his students and family down. The faces of each one of them flashed in his overwhelmed mind. He placed his face in his hands and wept. He then felt the gentle embrace of one that he could only be Mia. She was one of a sweet heart and she knew how to make one feel better, she didn’t have to say a word. Charles began to feel centered once again. He placed his hand over Mia’s and said, “Thank you Mia. I needed that.”, softly to her.

Fuyumi felt horrible. She thought back to earlier in the day when Vincent, Vila, and her were formulating their plan of action. They were to protect the students. But once they found out that the students weren’t the actual target she should have switched modes. She wished she had not have allowed the steady flow of things to sweep her into quick brash decisions. She racked her brain for ways to help make this right. Then it hit her, Cerebro. Fuyumi sprinted over to the professor who was crouched on the ground next to Mia, Erik and Pietro who all stood. “Professor you must use Cerebro! I’m sure you’ll get a location on where Vincent is if you search for him that way.” Fuyumi sounded flustered. She was usually very calm in disposition but today’s events proved to be a bit much for even her.

Charles looked up with a sense of hope. He was so grief stricken that he had forgotten all about Cerebro. Charles replied, “Yes… Fuyumi you’re right! I must go to Cerebro immediately. Erik will you see to the students? I also received another communication from Hideki in the danger room just now. It seems they managed to subdue a rather dangerous mutant who’s abilities seem to mirror Logan’s. I can trust only you to safely handle someone of that caliber Erik.” Charles said swiftly.

Erik stopped him before he could continue. “Charles, it’s alright. I’ll handle things here. Please find our son, I know you will. We need your calm disposition more than ever right now. Vincent will be fine and you will find him. Don’t you worry.” Erik gave Charles a gentle smile and helped him to his feet. Charles nodded in response and headed off to the danger room swiftly.

Erik then levitated off of the ground high enough for all to see him. He then spoke calm and authoritatively to the group outside the mansion. “Listen well everyone. I know today’s incident was indeed difficult. Today we were attacked by people who are afraid, afraid of you for your strength, afraid of you for what you have been blessed with. Fear stems from misunderstanding. They don’t understand us and thus out of fear they tried to harm and destroy us. But we mustn’t harden our hearts and close our minds off to the mission we all believe in. Vincent, my son…, has been taken from us. However, we WILL find him. We won’t let Weapon-X claim a member of our family, as X-men, and as a Mutant family! Charles is using Cerebro to locate Vincent now. The best thing for us to do is to be strong, be proud, and carry onward believing that our future will be better than our pasts! You all have made me very proud today. Charles is proud of you. You stood up for each other and fought hard not to kill even though they tried to kill us. I know how hard it is to come from a place of killing humans without a thought, to protecting those very humans that would rather see me dead. It’s difficult to love someone who hates you. But love suffers long for its cause and so shall we until our desired end is met, harmony. Rest now, tend to your wounds, continue to support one another. Know that all is well.” With that, Erik lowered himself down to the ground and headed into the mansion.

Fuyumi felt relieved after Erik’s speech. He was so charismatic and a natural leader. Fuyumi noticed some of the other’s dispositions improving slightly. However one person’s disposition showed they needed a little tending to. Fuyumi calmly walked over to Ryan and sat down beside him. She placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Ryan, don’t you worry. You were so brave today. I’m sure Adria will greatly appreciate saving her. Vincent looked proud to see you all work so well together in the middle of danger. You did what was best for the team and I know for sure he’d be proud of that. I believe that for myself as well. I wish I could have stayed by his side, but there were others that needed me too. I believe he’ll return to us, in one piece.” Fuyumi then gave Ryan a gentle hug. She liked Ryan for his gentleness and strong spirit. He took things so seriously and tried his best. She was very much the same way when she was younger.
Kyle stood next to Scott who looked as upset about today’s event’s as he did. He noticed Scott’s face cringe when he heard that Vincent was taken. Scott was definitely silently dealing with a great deal of anger and disappointment. Kyle looked on as Jonathan tried to console Memory, who seemed to be breaking down. Jonathan was most likely hurting heavily as well, but he needed to be strong for Memory and he was doing a very good job. Kyle wondered how his best friend was doing. Hideki was there when Vincent was captured. Kyle was sure Hideki wasn’t in the best head space. Kyle wasn’t in the best head space. He felt kind of useless. He wished he had been more helpful than he was. He wasn’t exactly sure of what would happen to Vincent but he prayed silently to on the spot that Vincent would be okay.

Kyle didn’t cry or look angry. He simply stood silently next to Scott and watched everyone else. He did however look disappointed. Kyle was a very interesting individual. He was very personable and quite the people person. However he had a very existent lonely side to him. He developed that way of being during the time when he couldn’t control his absorption abilities thus he couldn’t touch anyone. This problem had persisted for nearly two and a half years before he was able to be helped. He was used to being the charming guy you could see but never really get close to. Even now that people could get close to him, it was hard for him to take down those inner barriers that he placed up long ago. Vincent was a good friend to Kyle. Kyle could only imagine how hard Philip was taking the situation. Kyle thought to himself, “Whe the professor locates Vincent, I’ll fly as far as I need to so that I can meet up with him and make sure he gets home safely. I promise.”

Hideki plopped down on the floor of the danger room. He was tired and upset. He was relieved that X-23 had finally been subdued but Vincent was gone. He felt terrible having to tell the Professor that he failed to help his son. As much as Hideki beat himself up on the inside he tried to keep a slightly upbeat disposition on the outside. He never liked to look down and sad if he could help it. “Today was not a very good day…” He commented.

Philip looked on at the pile of rock and vines X-23 was constricted in. He stood looking on as if he were in a trance. His breathing was broken and winded. His eyes began to tear at the thought of his lover being snatched away from him and he couldn’t protect him. He began to weep heavily and didn’t wipe away a single tear. “Why… why… wasn’t I strong enough? I couldn’t save him… what kind of boyfriend am I?” Philip criticized himself.

Logan walked over to Philip and placed a hand on Philip’s shoulder. “Look kid, the guys we were facing were nothing easy to overcome. They aren’t just strong but as tricky as they come. There was no way we could have planned for this. You did what you could. This doesn’t mean you can’t protect who you love or that he ain’t comin’ back. We’ll get him and we’ll make Trask pay big time for this I swear.” Logan knew that Trask was to blame for all of this. It fit his M.O. perfectly. Philip seemed to take well to Logan’s encouragement and slowed in his weeping. Logan then turned to Vila, “Thanks Vila. You did an excellent job at keeping little miss assassin under wraps.” Vila didn’t say anything, but nodded as she left out of the danger room. Logan knew that Vila was taking this as hard as Charles, Erik, and Philip did.

Erik shortly afterward entered the danger room. His face was stern looking. He walked over to Hideki and helped him to his feet. “Thank you, all of you for helping my son as best you could. I do not take that lightly.” Erik the turned to Philip. “Philip my boy, I know… I know… but continue to be strong enough to believe that Vincent will be fine. Charles is looking for him right now with Cerebro. A mutant of Vincent’s strength will not be hard to spot with Cerebro.”

Erik then looked at the pile of stone and vines that held X-23 captive. He scowled at the pile angrily. With a wave of the hand he brushed the heavy stones aside using his power and levitated X-23 in the air. She was just like Logan indeed, with an Adamantium coated skeleton. X-23 was stuck in one position, as if she were standing at attention with floating in the air. “When will Trask learn that coating things in such an alloy is simply a heavy handicap? I’ll bring her to the holding cell myself. You all should tend to your wounds and get rest as best you can. Things from this point forward will not be easy.” With that Erik turned and walked out of the danger room taking X-23 with him.

He brought her to the confinement cell that was actually tested to be able to hold a mutant even as strong as Logan and stronger. He hurled the assassin into the cell using his power. He had very little remorse for the deadly mutant. Erik knew a stone cold killer when he saw one. He grew up suppressed and threatened by them every day in his youth. He said only one thing to X-23 before leaving her in the containment area alone and secure. “You, young one, are very fortunate that I am a changed man. Charles’ rubbing off on me has saved your miserable life more than you know… the old me would have ripped your bones apart and beat the remains with them but I have learned to suppress such uncontrolled and vicious urges. Do know that I can smell your bones miles away. So if you did manage to escape, you won’t be getting far before you feel your head begin to snap from your body. Just a bit of encouragement for you to be a good girl and behave.” Erik’s tone was composed but very serious. He meant every word and could more than back it all up.

Erik left the holding area and met with Charles. The room that contained Cerebro was enormous. The large spherical room had one extended platform from the room’s entrance. At the end of the platform sat Charles at the station that carried the helmet that the user would use to operate the machine. Only telepaths could operate Cerebro and not just any telepath could effectively use it the way Charles or Vincent could. It amplifies the telepathic strengths of the user. Erik slowly approached Charles. “How’s the search. Have you found him?” Erik asked, sounding like a worried parent whose child hasn’t returned home after curfew.

Charles was about to reply that he had not yet located Vincent but he, just then, picked up on Vincent. “I’ve just located him Erik!! He was miles away in an underground base. He and several others have escaped it seems and the base has been destroyed. But something puzzles me and concerns me. It appears that I am sensing double signatures on Vincent’s X-gene. There is another present with him that shares Vincent’s reading. This is much different than clones like the young lady in captivity right now. She has a different signature than Logan. But it is as if there is two of our son.” Charles explained. He had communicated with Vincent and instructed him that he would be sending Scott in the blackbird to go pick him and his companions up soon. They would be back at the mansion in a couple of days.

Charles then proceeded to inform everyone else telepathically that Vincent was alright. “Everyone there is good news. I have located Vincent and he is alright it seems. I will have Scott and Logan fly to his location to pick him and his companions up. Rest easy and thank you all for your bravery and strength today. To all of our guests please make yourselves at home. I will have repairs initiated as soon as possible. I will aim to keep you all posted on the status of things.” With that Charles ended his telepathic communication with the others.

The next day had arrived and things were busy at the mansion. Repairs were underway and everyone was given the day off from all meetings and classes. They were encouraged to take it easy. Scott, Logan, and Philip set out to pick up Vincent. The trip would take a little while. They weren’t aware that David, Sabertooth, Agent Six, as well as Cain were the extra people that would be accompanying them back to the mansion. They were in for a deadly reunion…

After a long time, Ryan was finally feeling a little better. People were moving around and starting to get stuff done. Professor Fuyumi had suggested the use of Cerebro to find Vincent. It was brilliant, anyone with an X gene as powerful as Vincent's would stick out like a sore thumb.Ryan had finally, for the most part, regained his composure. He'd stopped sobbing but everytime he tried to talk nothing happened. His voice was sealed away, unable to come out. At tht moment, Ryan noticed Professor Fuyumi approaching him. Fuyumi calmly walked over to Ryan and sat down beside him. She placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Ryan, don’t you worry. You were so brave today. I’m sure Adria will greatly appreciate saving her. Vincent looked proud to see you all work so well together in the middle of danger. You did what was best for the team and I know for sure he’d be proud of that. I believe that for myself as well. I wish I could have stayed by his side, but there were others that needed me too. I believe he’ll return to us, in one piece.”

Fuyumi then gave Ryan a gentle hug. Ryan closed his eyes and he hugged Professor Fuyumi back, but not as hard as he could or else he would have crushed her. He almost started crying again. Luckily his tear ducts were pretty dried up, so he managed to keep it together. It was exactly what he needed. Someone to tell him everything was going to be ok and that he did the best that he could. To hug him like... like his mom used to. That nothing was his fault and they were gonna get Vincent back. It was perfect. Ryan managed to whisper, "Thank you, Professor." As they broke apart, Ryan stood up, offering his hand to the professor to help her up. He did so with the palm of his hand, so she wouldn't cut herself on his claws. As she got up, Ryan said, "Thank you so much for your kind words and for the hug. Must not be so nice to hug someone who's scaly. I still appreciate it though."

Charles then proceeded to inform everyone telepathically that Vincent was alright. “Everyone there is good news. I have located Vincent and he is alright it seems. I will have Scott and Logan fly to his location to pick him and his companions up. Rest easy and thank you all for your bravery and strength today. To all of our guests please make yourselves at home. I will have repairs initiated as soon as possible. I will aim to keep you all posted on the status of things.” With that Charles ended his telepathic communication with the others.

The next day had arrived and things were busy at the mansion. Repairs were underway and everyone was given the day off from all meetings and classes. They were encouraged to take it easy. So Ryan did. He woke up early and took a walk around the campus. He helped out a little bit with moving heavy things and opening some stuff, but for the most part, he relaxed. He felt perfectly fine, his body healed very quickly, it always did. Wounds on his body weren't what was vexing him. It was Vincent, and the rest of his friends. They must have felt so terrible. Ryan had no idea how to console them, so he did the only thing he knew how to do at a time like this. He walked down to the basement where the art room was. As he walked in the door, the art teacher looked up, and started to put himself together. He must have been in the middle of something, "Please don't bother yourself with me. I know where all the supplies and things are, I come here a lot actually. I'm just feeling like painting." Ryan said with a smile. He'd taken great care to grind the scales all over his body down extra this morning so he could have as much freedom of motion as he needed to paint. It would be tricky, like it always was, but hopefully, with the foresight to grind most of his scales off this morning, it would come a little easier.

Ryan prepped his canvas and grabbed his five colored tubes marked white, blue, red, yellow, and black. He set himself up in a corner, facing the door, so his work wouldn't be seen by anyone in the room. It would be embarrassing if someone looked at whatever horrid monstrosity he made with his clumsy hands. Still, Ryan got started. He mixed some basic colors together to give himself a full spectrum of paint to work with and got to painting. He'd wanted to portray what he really felt like at the moment, so he'd started with mostly blues and blacks and grays. He'd started with the sky, like he always did, forming big angry rain clouds that pelted his canvas with rain. Next was the sea. It was turbulent and tempestuous. Obviously it wasn't in a good mood because it was rampaging like an angry rhinoceros. However, there was a single opening in the rampaging waves. A small spot where the sea was calm. It was far away, but it must have been a good place to be because the sky was clear there. A metaphorical oasis in the middle of such harsh environs. Finally, Ryan filled in the space between with the horizon, clouded and bleak. There was no hope there. Just an almost empty space that was only filled with the rage and sadness of the sea and sky around it. Next, Ryan began the last component of his painting. It was a boat. A small sloop whose sails were stowed and was in danger of tipping. It was headed for that calm spot with as much speed and urgency it could muster. Ryan tried to convey as much desperation in that sloop as he could. The lines were lashing about, some of them hadn't been battened down and were whipping about as the storm tossed the ship. The sails were beginning to come undone from their bindings, and the mast was ever so slightly bent out of shape from the force of the wind and the rain. Ryan didn't make any people on the boat, but he figured there were a few on board, maybe one of them was below decks attempting to prepare something warm for the sailors who were about to go out and battle the storm. Maybe yet another was in his bed, holding a bible and praying that this wouldn't be the end for him. Finally, he managed to make a dark, humanoid shape over the boat's wheel. Perhaps he was the captain, steering the ship to clearer waters, or perhaps he was some mutinous villain, set on sinking what little hope the ship had. Either way, Ryan had spent a very long time in the art room. As he finished, Ryan sat a while, lost in thought at the painting he had created. It was better than his previous attempts at art, which made him feel good. The scale grinding had definitely helped. He had wanted to making something inspiring and hopeful. This dark thing in front of him felt more like the blues than a march. Shaking off his uncertainties about the piece, Ryan started to clean up. He'd made a mess and felt it was time to get out of the poor art teacher's hair. He'd been here long enough.

“Everyone there is good news. I have located Vincent and he is alright it seems. I will have Scott and Logan fly to his location to pick him and his companions up. Rest easy and thank you all for your bravery and strength today. To all of our guests please make yourselves at home. I will have repairs initiated as soon as possible. I will aim to keep you all posted on the status of things.” With that Charles ended his telepathic communication with the others.

'He's safe. He's coming back. We didn't fail.' Thantos looked to Ryan and saw him being comforted by Professor Fuyumi. 'He'll be ok. He doesn't need me right now. I wouldn't be any help anyway.' Thantos went to retrieve his fallen coins. As he went to grab some off of the ground he whinces at the pain that explodes in his arm. 'Oh, yeah I got shot. He begins burning Pewter to cancel out the pain. Burning Iron he pulls the coins into his hand and tosses them into his pouch. He turns to walk into the mansion going to the infirmary. Once he got there he falls into one of the bed and extinguishes the Pewter letting himself feel the burning pain of the bullet in his shoulder. After a while he passes out and sleeps.

His sleep isn't restful or relaxing. He dreamed of his parents and the kidnappers. He felt the desolation of abandonment the fear of being alone. He woke with a start in the middle of the night. He was coated in a cold sweat. His shoulder was bandaged and arm in a sling. The pain had decreased in his time asleep. He lied awake staring at the ceiling for a few hours thinking about the dream, his past. He started to panic. Hyperventilating he jumps out of the bed and runs outside. He gasps the cool night air calming himself. He looked into the sky and saw a skyscraper a few blocks away. He ran putting distance between himself and the mansion the pain in his arm flaring as he ran. Reaching the base of the skyscraper he flares Steel pushing himself to the top of the building. He stood on the top of the spire surrounded by darkness. Tears were streaming down his face. He was scared and alone. He spent the rest of the night atop the building. In the morning he returned to the mansion. He sat atop the mansion alone thinking.

Kyle and Hideki

Kyle happened to be looming about the mansion in a blah sort of mood. There were many people about the mansion pretending not to be bothered and others that didn’t even attempt to pretend. Kyle usually went about the mansion stalking the cute guys and laughing at how he made them feel uncomfortable when he flirted with them playfully. However today was much different. He was in a mood of solitude and desired to be mostly an observer of others. He walked past the Art room. There were a few people there including Jonathan, Ace and Ryan. Jonathan caught his eye. Kyle leaned against the door of the art room quietly so that no one would notice him. Ryan and Jonathan were talking a little.

Kyle whispered to himself, “I didn’t Know Jonathan and Ryan painted.” Kyle’s parents were painters and photographers back in France. They taught him to excel in their crafts as well. He always appreciated a good painting or interesting photo, but he chose to be the center piece of the art by becoming a model. Kyle wanted to say something to the boys but as they approached the door he ducked back against the wall and swiftly flew around the corner. “Where was Memory? She’s almost always with Jonathan. She was taking things rather difficultly yesterday.” Kyle said to himself.

Kyle thought back to earlier that morning. He had asked the Professor if he could be allowed to tag along with Logan, Scott and Philip when they went to rendezvous with Vincent. He had promised himself that he’d help find Vincent in any way that he could. However the professor wouldn’t allow it. “You must take it easy and rest Kyle. Scott, Logan, and Philip can handle this. Besides, there are others here at the mansion that need you more. Hideki could use a good distraction right now.” Kyle remembered the professor’s words and he smiled. He decided to visit Hideki.

Hideki sat in the library slightly depressed. He decided to create a sword of light. Magneto had been coaching him lately with the use of his power and creating light energy objects that were actually tangible. It took so much concentration to do so Hideki decided to stop and try something simpler. He placed his hands together and created a ball of light. That ball of multicolored light swirled and moved about serenely. From the ball flew a butterfly of light that fluttered around creating sparkles where it flew. Hideki felt much better when looking at the delicate creature of light. It was carefree and he felt carefree for a moment. He just wished that he’d feel better after the butterfly was no more too.

Kyle walked into the library, searching from aisle to aisle for Hideki. There he found him, seated at the back of the library at a small table near a window. The sunlight fell peacefully onto Hideki and the surrounding area. The butterfly Hideki created gracefully flittered over to Kyle, once Hideki realized that Kyle was watching him. The butterfly landed on the tip of Kyle’s nose and batted it’s wings a couple of times before flittering off toward the light from the window and fading away into the golden sunshine. “That was pretty nice I see you’ve found your distraction.” Kyle said with a smirk.

The two students stalked for a while and then decided to head downstairs to the common area and watch television. Once they reached the common area the say Stinger. She was seated on the couch, legs crossed, and flipping through channels. She was obviously very bored. Kyle was at first a bit hesitant to sit next to her. She was just yesterday their enemy. She seemed to know Cara, and Kyle thought perhaps if Cara knew about Stinger, she could have possibly known about the attack on the mansion. As Hideki sat down seemingly without a care Kyle stood deep in thought. “Kyle you alright?” Hideki asked.

“Oh, I’m fine. I must have been spacing out.” Kyle replied with a quick smile. Kyle sat down and Stinger began to talk. “So you boys know of any good malls around here? I’m dying to do some spending therapy. Cara’s off getting all medicated, I don’t do manual labor so helping to fix the joint is out of the question and TV has failed me miserably today.” Stinger spoke to the students like she was unaware of the previous day’s circumstances. They were shocked at her whimsical disposition.

Hideki brightened up when he heard the word mall. “Do I ever!” He replied. Kyle rolled his eyes as Stinger and Hideki chattered on about their future shopping expeditions.

Fuyumi Abe

Fuyumi had helped out with a few things around the mansion. There were several things that needed to be taken in and out of rooms that were too large to fit through doors, so Fuyumi phased them through the walls for the professor. She decided to take a break and sit outside for a while. The sky was pretty sunny and the breeze was pleasant and soft. She wondered if Vincent had suffered any while captured. She truly hoped that things would remain peaceful for a while. She then heard a familiar voice approach her, “Fuyumi! Is everyone ok?!”

The voice belonged to Mutt Ant the mutant enthusiast. Fuyumi smiled as the man approached her. “Mutt! It’s been a while! Yes everyone is fine for the most part. Nothing too major on the physical injury side of things but emotionally we’ve been hit pretty hard. Vincent, Professor Xavier and Magneto’s son, was kidnapped by Weapon-X yesterday. They are the ones who attacked the Mansion. The good news is that the professor was able to locate Vincent and he seems okay. Scott, Logan and Philip are headed to go pick him up. I hope you aren’t too bothered by the state the mansion’s in.” Fuyumi replied calmly. Mutt could be a little strange at times but his heart was always the one to speak volumes for his genuine spirit.

Vincent and Cain

Miles away from the destroyed Weapon-X facility, Vincent, Cain, Sabertooth, David, and Agent Six walked seemingly aimlessly along a hot sun. They were on a road that seemingly rarely had traffic. They had walked a long way. Vincent and Cain lead the group walking side by side. Agent Six trailed just a few paces behind them. David and Victor followed up the rear. Victor looked up at the sun and cringed, “You mind telling me why we were allowed to take one of the many vacant Weapon-X vehicles and just drive back to the mansion Hmm?” Victor’s voice clearly showcased his annoyance. He peered at the back of Cain’s head with one eye squinted.

Cain turned around and replied with a calm that only showcased a subliminal hint of his serious anger. “I refuse to use anything that was created to hunt, hurt and kill our kind. We’re better off without Weapon-X’s trinkets.” When they were still at the Weapon-X facility, Victor and David wanted to simply steal a Weapon-X car but Cain wouldn’t let them. Victor knew he couldn’t challenge Cain and decided to take down to the superior mutant.

Vincent added, “Well in Victor’s defense, it would be better for us to hitch a ride or something. It’s pretty hot out here an I’m not quite sure how close the nearest town is. Here’s my plan, I’ll scan the area for a motorist and when they drive by, you all ask for a ride I will get them to stop for us by using my empathic powers. Is that alright?”

David quickly agreed. “That’s a magnificent plan of action. Let’s get to it.”

About five minutes later they caught the attention of a family in a mobile home. They were to travel to upstate New York. Vincent using his empathic abilities had the family decide to help the group. The father of the three member family was a short and simple little Caucasian man with round glasses. His wife was also petit and blonde. She seemed pretty gentle and a Texan. Both parents looked to be in their 30’s. Their son was about six years old and had very light brown hair. He was excited about having the group on board. It gave him something more interesting to look at.

The mother spoke first once the group of mutants got settled in the tiny mobile home. “So where y’all comin’ from?” The woman smiled like a pageant queen, She was very pretty. “We’re traveling from Virginia to our new home in upstate New York. My Husband’s originally from Virginia and I’m from Texas. Y’all seem like a motley bunch!”

Cain replied first. “We actually just escaped a government facility that was created to, in genocidal manner, wipe out all mutants from existence. We are now trying to make it back to the only safe haven known to mutants the Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr School for Gifted Students.” There was a silence in the RV. Vincent put palm to face and sighed.

The father of the family slowed down the car slightly. He needed to process what he was hearing. “Y-you are mutants?” The man asked nervously.

The son jumped in joy at the thought of them being mutants who were like the comic book characters he was a fan of. “Wow you’re mutants!! That’s awesome!” He dashed from his mother’s lap and jumped toward David who was seated across from her. He hugged onto David and he realized that David had no discernible smell. Something like that didn’t always stick out until you were close to David, and you realized that you usually smell something on others whether good or bad but with David there was and absence of aroma. The boy looked up at David’s face and asked, “You don’t smell like anything Mr. usually somebody smells like something how come you don’t?” The boy asked innocently and curiously.

David smiled and returned the boy’s hug. “You are such a bright boy! That’s right I don’t have a discernible scent. Your parents must be smart too.” David said as he glanced up at the boy’s parents as if to say, ‘Pull something dumb and we will kill you.’

The father pulled over the RV and turned around pleading with the group. “Please don’t harm us. We don’t want trouble.”

Vincent quickly intervened, “Neither do we. We simply want to return home. Would you and your family help us? We’ve gone through a long and tough couple of days. We mean you no harm.” Vincent using him empathic ability calmed the family to a relaxed state. They weren’t nearly as agitated as before.

Cain added, “You assume we are dangerous and want to cause trouble because we have powers. But your fear is horribly misplaced. Humans wield a power far more deadly than any mutant power, prejudice and hatred. Those are weapons that continue to live and to destroy others throughout time, yet humans are so blind to it’s everyday use in persecuting mutant kind.” Cain was very serious and passionate. Vincent could feel his heart and his emotions, both men were one. Vincent understood Cain’s pain because it was his own, however the two chose to handle it differently.

The mother replied nervously, “Well… I never looked at it that way. I’m so sorry for making y’all feel uncomfortable in my mobile home. We learned us a valuable lesson today didn’t we honey! Mutants ain’t all bad like the news portrays them to be. We’ll take you where you wanna go no problem. And when we move into our nice big house upstate, y’all are more than welcome to home over for dinner!” The lady was simple but sweet. Her husband nodded in agreement. Vincent was very glad that the conflict was resolved.

A bit afterwards Vincent received a telepathic communication from Charles. “Vincent, Scott, Logan and Philip are in the BlackBird and nearing your location. They will pick you up.” Charles’ communication was filled with the sound of joy. He was very happy to communicate with his son.

Vincent replied telepathically, “Good to hear your voice dad. I have a view unlikely companions with me… we’ve hitched a ride in an RV. We’ll ask the family to drop us here then.”

Charles replied, “Alright son. I’ll communicate that with Scott. Everyone misses you more than you know.” With that the transmission ended.

The little boy asked, “Um mister, what are you up to?” He noticed Vincent holding his hand up to his head.

Vincent smiled gently, “I’m communicating with my Father telepathically. I’m a telepath, I can communicate with people in their minds as well as move thing with my mind.” Vincent turned to the father and notified him that they could be dropped off at their current location.

The little boy jumped up and down. “Wow sooo cool!!”

Vincent replied, “Yes, it can be but it takes a lot of studying and training to understand my gift. I have to study hard so that I can be wise about using my power. I should never be irresponsible or I could get into trouble. So remember you have to train your mind and study hard too. Promise?” Vincent smiled face to face with the boy.

“Promise!” The little boy replied with a wide smile.

Victor huffed, “Now I want a kid… It’s really time to go.” David chuckled upon hearing Victor’s complaining.

The family dropped the group off and Vincent was sure to get the family’s information so that once day they could meet again. The family drove off and the Blackbrid came into view overhead. The jet lowered down to the ground and opened its door. Philip ran outside of the Blackbird and jumped into Vincent’s arms. “Vincent I’m so sorry… I- I let you down. Are you alright?”

Vincent hugged Philip tightly and closed his eyes. He was so glad to be in the arms of the one he loved so dearly. Cain watched and immediately felt a pang in his heart. He felt an overwhelming love when Philip drew near. He was experiencing Vincent’s emotions. He knew who Vincent knew, he felt how Vincent felt about others. He loved Philip like Vincent loved Philip. It was truly and odd phenomenon. Cain tried to keep himself from blushing and to steady his breathing. Vincent replied, “It’s alright Philip… It’s alright… I find no fault with you or anyone else. It couldn’t have been helped. We must get back.” Vincent was calming.

Philip replied, “Alright love.” Philip looked up and noticed the others. He was shocked to see Sabertooth, David North, Vincent’s very captors. “Wha-what are they doing here?!” Philip shouted.

Just then Logan and Scott stepped out of the black bird to examine the situation. Logan immediately extended his claws. “GET HIM OUTTA HERE!!” He said in a rage and motioned toward Sabertooth.

Victor grinned. “Aww Logan… you’re not happy to see me? What a shame! I’ll be sticking around the X-men for a while. Who knows I might even pick up teaching like you did and turn all soft.” Victor taunted with a huge smile.

Logan replied angrily, “Shut-Up YOU EGG SUCKIN’ PIECE OF GUTTER TRASH!! As long as he’s here I’m gonna be somewhere else!!”

Vincent interjected, “Logan please…”

Cain jumped in before Vincent could add anymore. “Why must we fight our brothers? We should work together not be at each other’s throats.” Cain spoke calmly.

Logan shot Cain a quick angry look, “Who the HELL are you?!”

“My brother, or to put it more accurately, he’s another me.” Vincent replied.

Scott, having heard enough said, “Alright, does the professor know about you wanting to bring them back to the mansion? They are a danger to everyone. Did weapon-x screw with your head or something?”

Cain got in Scott’s face, “They sure tried to screw with his head and everything else but he fought back, together! That how it should be for all mutants fighting together not against one another in distrust. Charles knows about them. If they pull something, I will kill them on the spot.” Cain placed a hand on Agent Six’s shoulder indicating that she wasn’t included in those that he threatened.

Logan cringed, “Just great… another magneto…”

Charles Xavier

Charles returned to his office after leaving Cerebro. The was a knock on the door. Charles sensed the situation and smiled. A new student was here. He was overjoyed that although the mansion had been attacked and things were not their safest at the mansion, others weren’t afraid to come to seek safety at the X-men mansion. Charles was relieved, “Perhaps I haven’t failed after all.” He said to himself. Charles walked to the door and opened it.

“Hello Annabelle, I’m Charles Xavier. Welcome to the Xavier and Lehnsherr School for Gifted students.”

Charles ushered Annabelle into his office and offered her a seat. “I hope you’ll excuse the state of the mansion, we had an emergency situation yesterday and it took quite a toll on the place. So what brings you to our school?”

Agent Six

after her little shoot out they left the facility sometime ago and had been walking for sometime in the sun. she heard Sabertooth complain about not having a car but she wasnt bothered a bit by the sun since she had her parasol with her providing her with cool shade.twirling it she walked taking careful steps she didnt have much of a reflective surface other than a shard of glass she had picked up earlier.

despite the fact that she was well aware of their discomfort of walking in the hot sun she explored a little but found no towns or place of human dwellings anywhere near them. at least before they ran into a vehicle of 3 human people. the humans let them ride with the help of the Weapons power.

she gave no indication of ever actually interacting with others as they rode. upon hearing they were mutants the father she assumed slowed the vehicle down just the slightest. "please dont hurt us" she ignored the man and focused more on the child that seemed to have taken a likeing to them. Cain gave them a big lectrue about humans fearing mutants but she couldnt quite understand where he was going with it. she could hear the passion he had in his voice but she couldnt understand why he was so passonaite about it.so she stopped listening to him and focused more on the boy who noticed Agent Zero had no scent.

hearing him bounce about the vehicle with excitment she more or less stared at nothing. getting tired of the boy she decided to focus more on the plane that was headed their way that she had spotted earlier trying to place an observer spirit on the plane and she realized it was going to fast for her stay on properly. the vehicle stopped and she imeidetly got up and walked off taking the steps with ease. one would think she would have trouble with this as she was blind but with the help of her observer spirit she was fine.

the others followed suite and the plane she saw earlier landed before them. she didnt move fom where she stood despite the wind it caused. finally able to place an observer spirit on it she quickly dissolved the one on the vehicle and placed it on the plane giving it a quick look over. she recognized two people; Wolverine and Cyclops and a younger man. the younger man ran out and hugged the Weapon as if he hadnt seen him in a life time while apologizeing to him.

the young man philip as the Weapon called him realizing who accompanied him,shouted out in shock. Wolverine and Cyclops getting off the plane and also took notice of those who accompanied the Weapon. Wolverine drawing his claws aproaching Sabertooth who simply joked about the whole thing. the Weapon tried explaing but Cain stepped in giving another little speech of muntant unity and in return Wolverine lashed out at him not knowing who Cain was. which the Weapon explained was him in a way.

Wolverine still upset Cyclops asked if the Weapon told his 'father' about all this asking him if weaponX messed with his head. Cain intervened once more with mutant brotherhood promising the X-man that he would kill any of them on the spot but excluded her when he placed his hand on her shoulderwhich then seemed to stare at before returning her gaze back to nothing, not once did Agent Six's expression changed and simply stared at what was infront of her but if one looked close enough it would look almost like she was frowning.

Tired of just standing there listenjng as the others argued. shrugging off Cain she walked towards where she assumed was the entrance of the plane. her observer spirit had died out from exhaustion. so she was blind;not that it bothered her, it did bother Wolverine a bit as she was about to walk past him, he said something to her and she could feel something come her way. most people would have thought she triped and feel instead of dodgeing but she did;in her own strange way. before completly hitting the ground she moved her feet and used her momentum to stand back up. and continued walking towards the plane. suddenly she heard a high pitch sound in her ear.'not now of all times, my body must not healed all the way after useing that'and the small girl fell to her knees then her whole body with a small 'thwump' trying to get back up but failing,only manageing to sit up. Agent Six said one word, "Ow".

The Molocks having heard of the increase in anti-mutant sentiment on the surface decided to strike out. They sent a scout, the mutant known as leech, to venture up to the surface to look out for any opportunity they could jump in on. The Morlocks didn’t feel brave enough to launch an attack on the humans without the aid of another party. Juggernaut’s assault on the city was the perfect opportunity for them. As long as they stayed out of Juggernaut’s way, they would have a better shot at dealing a blow to the city since most forces would be crippled when trying to stop the unstoppable Juggernaut. With Leech’s return to the sewers and his report on the activity currently taking place, Callisto gave the okay to launch the attack.

On the surface Alliyah joined the group of X-men trying to subdue Juggernaut. “so who poked the bull with the hot poker” she asked.

Stinger replied, “Kyle here did. He did a little flirting with the big guy and let’s just say he got a bit too grabby and went haywire. The Juggernaut must have been affected cause he’s looking a bit groggy. Kyle is still trying to pull himself together. His absorption attack was about the only thing we could do that was effective against him. Mine and Hideki’s attacks only seemed to tickle the big lummox.”

Alliyah then said, “what’s the plan?”

Charles, Erik and Annabelle had arrived on the scene to help. Charles replied, “The plan is to distract him enough so that we can remove his helmet. Then I and perhaps our new student Annabelle can launch a Psychic assault on him. Telepathy and Mystical energy are about the only forces that affect him. Unless you are about as physically strong as him, which very few are.”

Frenzy added, “Yeah I was barely going toe to toe with him. He’s a bit much for me. And Kyle here is really strong as well and he seems to be just below the Juggernauts strength level. I don’t see how those who are here will be able to remove his helmet so easily.”

Magneto added, “Help is on the way.” After Magneto concentrated to see if Juggernaut had any metal possession on him it was only his helmet. The latches that attached the helmet were made from another alloy that was pretty tough. Magneto then said, “I fear this won’t be as easy for me as I had thought it would be…”

Just then the Morlocks flooded into the streets from the sewers. Many crude and odd looking mutants attacked the humans nearby on Callisto’s command. Storm was the technical leader of the Morlocks however in her absence she allowed Callisto to become acting leader of the group. Storm was indeed away not only from the Morlocks but from the X-men at the moment. Therefore Callisto could make negative decisions for the group without consequence from Storm.

Juggernaut looked around having caught a second wind, and saw the large group of Morlocks. “Well if it isn’t the local mutant sewer rats! What brings you vermin to the surface to be clobbered?” He asked the leader Callisto.

Callisto, who now stood on top of a nearby car, replied, “Oh… We Morlocks decided it was time to teach the surface dwellers to respect their mutant superiors. We’ll try not to get in your way Mr. Juggernaut. We couldn’t help but hear your magnificent work up here and we wanted to join in on the party. You don’t mind do you big boy?” Callisto smirked.

Charles interjected, “Brother stop this immediately! Why must you hurt innocent people?!”

Juggernaut saw Charles and became enraged. “You RELLY shouldn’t have to think that hard egg head! Now that you’re here… I really think the Morlock intrusion is welcome!” Juggernaut then turned to Callisto and replied, “Sure scareface! Keep Xavier busy and I’ll even let you carry my boots!!”

The morlocks began to go to town on the surrounding area and the X-men were getting prepared to engage. Just then the Blackbird flew overhead. The hatch opened and out jumped Wolverine claws extended. He landed on Juggernaut taking him down. He stood on top of the man ready to strike. Scott, Vincent, Cain, Philip, Agent Six, Sabertooth, and David jumped from the jet as well Vincent lowered the group down using his telekinesis.

Fuyumi and Mutt also joined to group, Mutt drove his vehicle. Charles then Telepathically communicated with Ace, Max and Mia. “If I could ask of you all to handle the Morlocks that would be a great help. There are many of them and they are seeking to capitalize on this opportunity to settle a long standing vendetta against humans. Juggernaut is also a force to be reckoned with and will require everyone’s assistance to handle as well. I will also contact an associate of mine for his assistance as well. We will definitely need all the help we can get.”

Juggernaut smacked Logan off of his chest sending him flying into a building. The juggernaut stood to his feet ready for the challenge. “Oooo yes!! Now this is what I’ve been dying for!! A chnce to ruin the X-men!! Come on kiddies!! Papa Juggernaut is ready to RUMBLE!!”

Annabelle asked Charles, "What's so special about the helmet?"

Charles replied, “The helmet protects his mind from mental probing and psionic assaults. Similar to Magneto’s helmet., which he rarely wears now.”

Erik chimed in, “It’s because I trust Charles, that I don’t wear the helmet anymore. Actually I’m not afraid for him to scan through my mind anymore.” Erik gave Charles a glance and grin.

Sabertooth cut in, “Why don’t you two just fucking get married already?” He couldn’t pass up the opportunity to poke fun at Professor X.

Vincent ran over to Xavier and gave him a hug. He then hugged Erik. They were very glad to see him and have their son back. Cain stood and watched with a smile. He longed to give the two a hug as well but he felt that he should formally introduce himself to his parents before trying to embrace them. Cain felt the emotions Vincent did for his parent’s, his lover Philip, Vincent’s friends and family at the X-mansion like Vila. He longed to relate to them all in the same manner that his brother and other-self did. However he knew that they didn’t know who he was like he knew all of them. It would be odd for him to act so close to them when they didn’t realize that he indeed did know them.

Just then a tall and very muscular man approached the group. Logan got up from the rubble he’d been knocked into and looked and the costumed man. “Well I must be seeing things… Colossus?” Logan said to himself. He hadn’t seen Colossus in a few years since he’d last left the X-men to spend time at home in Russia. His little sister had wanted to see Colossus and he could never resist her call. Logan shouted, “Peter, just in time tin man!!”

Peter smiled and replied, “Logan!! I was in the city and planning on visiting when Xavier called me. I see our big buddy Juggernaut wants to play some more. Colossus here to help.” Peter noticed Stinger holding Kyle, whom he had never met before, and was concerned. “Is the little one alright?” He asked.

Kyle had begun to wake up and saw the new face staring caringly at him. ‘God he’s handsome…’ Kyle thought. Kyle, always ready with a cool come back, replied with a wink, “I’ll be even better if you helped me up Mr. wonderful.” Colossus blushed and gave Kyle a hand.

Aidan O’doherty had arrived at Charles’ request. Erik didn’t approve of Aidan and was slightly cross with Charles for calling him. However he didn’t make a fuss due to the fact that they indeed needed his help. Aidan was a very strong mutant and he could help them get the upper hand over the Juggernaut. “Charles why can’t you control your brother…?” Aidan said as he drove up to the group and got out of his car.
Scott decided to interrupt Aidan before too much time passed so that they could begin to take action. “Sorry to cut off the reunion Professor but Juggernaut isn’t going to wait and we need to take him down. Shall I take command?”

“Yes please.” Xavier replied.

Scott spoke loud enough for the others to hear, “Alright everyone, Juggernaut is invulnerable and highly dangerous. Psionic attacks are his weakness but they won’t work unless we remove his helmet. He’s not a mutant and his power is mystical in nature so that gives him an advantage over us because he won’t tire out as fast or for as long as we will. We need to work as a team, those with superior physical strength should try to work together to keep him occupied. Those whose powers don’t affect him should focus on subduing the Morlocks. I need not have to tell you that you are to try to harm them as minimally as possible. Once juggernaut’s helmet is removed we can launch a psionic assault on him and subdue him so telepath’s be on standby. Be careful and stick together. X-men, let’s move!”

Terra

They had traveling with the Morlocks for some time now, as much as Terra appreciated all the help Callisto had given them he couldn’t help but find the whole thing strange; especially due to the fact that one of the mutants tried to hit on his adopted sister Canann. ‘Wait now that I think about it where is she’ and Terra’s look of calm flickered into a more worried look but it quickly passed. Getting up he looked around hoping to find her; but alas he did not and began to ask around as to her whereabouts ‘Aye dios mios! She has firkin white hair how can they have nor noticed her, is it because they have already seen stranger things than a 6’2 girl with white hair And a God damn tail!’ coming back to his sense he heard some people yelp.
Without realizing it Terra had made the earth tremble a bit and some rocks jutted out of the ground causing some people to trip and panic a little. 'Oh crap' and with a well-defined blush of embarrassment Terra walked away fast hoping no one knew it was him, pulling up the hood of his jacket for good measure.

Walking around a bit cleared his head some and he heard a couple kids screaming. It was the kind a child would make when they had fun. It brought a small smile to his lips and he headed towards the direction of the screaming to see what it was they were having so much fun about.

Turning a corner he found Canann crouched down on the ground looking at something on the ground; noticing that there were no lids and assumed she must have scared them off. He gave a light chuckle and leaned against a small structure his hands in his pockets and watched her. After a while a walked over to her and touched her on the shoulder "hey you alright" his voice soft and full of worry.

Canann

having been bored for an incredibly long time she decide to explore what little space she could of the Morlocks sewer home. She thought the people here were nice enough but her adopted older brother Terra didn’t think so. 'Ugh why does he have to be so protective of me' completely unaware of the real reason Terra got mad. "If the situation had turned to That i would a have killed the ugly bastard myself or at least hurt his manhood" and she giggled to herself imagining the Morlocs face if she did so.

Cananna’s mood lightened a bit but was still irritated by what happened the other day. She then came upon a group of kids each one with distinct markings somewhere on the persons that clearly said they were mutants.

Watching them play Canann became jealous of how happy they were 'they have such a nice childhood while mine was-' she shook her head to keep thinking of her past; whispering harshly to herself. "No, no, no i will not think of that i will think happy thoughts and that’s it" repeatedly hitting her head as if by doing so it would stay.

Upon doing so the kids noticed her and ran away scared of her little tantrum leaving behind the pieces of the game on the dirty floor. "Hey wait-"reaching out to them she took a step forward stepping on a plastic jack. Her face instantly light up with joy as she remembered this game as the one Terra taught her when they first met.

Smiling softly Canann thought about Terra and all the things he did for her and she was glad she met him. When a hand touched her shoulder for a moment she thought it was someone she didn’t know until she noticed the scent. 'Ahh Terra' turning to face him she suddenly stood up giving him a giant hug." Terra I’m so glad we met did you know that and don’t worry i forgive you about yesterday okay i still think you’re awesome!” she said smiling into his face.

Terra&Canann

Surprised by the sudden hug Terra fell backwards on his butt and blushed as Canann said he was awesome rubbing the back of his head in the process. "Yeah i guess i am, well um any way could you maybe get off me please" he asked and Canann complied and sat back on her heels looking at him with a mischievous smile. "hehe don’t be so mean Terra so what are we gonna do today?" her curiosity in full.

"umm i don’t know really want to train for a bit or something?" he replied. Standing back up, brushing off the dirt that was on him. Not that it would ever go away fully as he was always dirty no matter how hard he tried.

"Oh i know lets go see what Callisto has for us today" and grabbed Terra’s arm pulling him towards where she assumed the leader of the Morlocks was.

"Canann I’m sure Callisto is busy right now" but Canann simply looked back at and shrugged "i don’t care i wanna see how their doing" and with that she continued to pull Terra behind her despite his outcry of letting him go.

Finally reaching the Morlocks main base they saw Leech one of the scouts go inside informing Callisto of something. After that Callisto had all the able bodied Morlocks to go to the surface and wreak havoc above.

Canann curious as to what was going down followed them up to the surface Terra close behind. The two covered their eyes as they adjusted to the light after being underground for so long. What lay before them was a fight between an incredibly large man vs. mutants (he guessed) some in uniforms; who were trying to hold the big guy back. The opposing mutants then began to attack the group of Morlocks that had swarmed to the surface.

“Hey why are they attacking us for?” Canann looked towards Terra awaiting an answer. And as a reply Terra slammed the palm of his hands into the ground, sinking into the pavement. With a load groan terra then began to pull his hands out of the ground, which resulted in the pavement to follow. The pavement rumbled a multiple mounds appearing the size of large bears. For a moment nothing happened then with a loud rumbling the mounds cracked and shook and uncurled to reveal large Golems. Their eyes glowed and each had a kind of stone in their chest that seemed to glow.

“Alright time to fight boys!” Canann smiled excitedly and ran off to confront the mutants in uniforms going straight towards a man his hair almost in the shape of ears .(OOC: Wolverine) The Golems followed after her lead some of the Morlocks were afraid at first then some jumped on top of the Golems riding them. The Morlocks lead Golems towards the opposing mutants while others ran off and began to trash the place. Terra watched everything from where he stood not really wanting to go head to head, besides he had to concentrate on keeping the Golems from falling apart.

Annabelle was shocked that a metal could stop telepathic waves but didn't dwell on the thought instead she focused on the battle currently happening, she listened to Cyclops' orders and took into account what Xavier had told her earlier,
"I must ask that you try not to get too involved. I don’t want you hurt."
She watched as more people joined the fight, mainly the Morlocks, if they came near her all she'd really be able to do was make them fall asleep and even then that wouldn't do much they'd just wake up 5 minutes later. 'I'll deal with that when I have too.' She thought to herself and returned to the fight before her.
Annabelle mainly focused on dodging anything thrown at her, but her dodging style consisted mainly of dropping to the ground or jumping away from any object flying towards her, but whenever she noticed civilians trapped or too scared to move she'd help them.
Annabelle took note of the Stone golems attacking some of the X men, when she looked back at Juggernaut she was met by a dust bin being hurled towards her, she was knocked through a window with the dust bin. She got up and clutched her chest, she took in heavy breaths as the bin had winded her and made it sore to breathe. She looked back up to the battle and tried to get up but she was far too weak and ended up on all fours gasping for air. "Maybe I should just stay here." She wheezed, not noticing the shards of glass around her and the pieces that managed to lodge themselves in her skin.

Mutt Ant

The engine to Mutt's van rumbled as they arrived at the scene, smoke was already billowing from some of the nearby buildings and there had evidently already been quite a bit of damage made. He pulled the handbrake up and pulled it out of gear. “Shit…” He muttered under his breath as he scanned the ensuing destruction, it took some time for his senses to kick in and everything else come to view. The Morlocks had apparently decided now was a good time to make most of the chaos and had spilled forth from their sewer and Juggernaut appeared to be fighting with them.

Mutt couldn’t deny he was in awe, the fanatic in him was running about wildly in his head screaming for joy at this opportunity to see this level of mutant prowess first hand but he had his own duties to fulfil first, already news reporter vans had filled the scenes and many were already spewing the generic anti-mutant propaganda that was the norm for these sorts of events.

Taking out his phone he alerted his followers to the scene in the hopes for backup to stop the media lies. Until then however he would have to do this alone, he picked out the nearest reporter and ran flying into them butting them out of the shot. “It’s all lies! Only some of the mutants here are bad! The big guy there! He’s the bad guy! The X-men are good! They want to help! Don’t listen to the mediaaaa…” He was pulled out of the shot by the sort of person who thought necks were a band and flung into the road beside them.

Mutt pulled himself to his feet and gave himself a quick brushing down, that plan wouldn’t work twice and that guy didn’t look like he’d let it happen a second time anyway. ‘Looks like it’s onto Plan-B.’ He thought to himself as he ran back to his van, Mutt threw open the back doors and grabbed at his radio equipment switching everything on as quickly as he could before he began spouting off information about the scene ranging around behind him.

Ryan walked calmly and quietly through the halls of the Mansion. After he'd squeezed Jonathan, he'd kind of... well... run away. He said he was sorry and he really meant it. He hated that about himself. How he couldn't do much of anything without hurting someone or inconveniencing someone. Even his stupid tail was a nuisance. Just as he was about to go up to his room, he caught a glance of something happening on the TV in one of the bigger rest rooms. It was the X-men. They were fighting again in the city not too far from the Mansion. Ryan didn't recognize the behemoth they were facing, but he did recognize that the mutant they were fighting was beyond them and they weren't just fighting to suppress him, they were fighting for their very lives. Just then, more mutants burst from the ground and began to attack the X-Men who fought back. Ryan shook off his discomfort with Jonathan. He could apologize properly later, now he was needed.

Ryan ran outside and sat in the grass. He'd been practicing this for a little while, but he'd never really had to use it before because he'd never ground his scales down so hard before. Ryan could use his healing factor to regenerate his scales. However, he had to focus very hard. The scales were obviously a part of his body, but they had no nerve endings. That's why it didn't hurt when he ground his scales off in the morning. Ryan concentrated as hard as he could. He thought of the scales as a part of him that was missing, like a layer of skin. As soon as he had accepted that fact, as hard as it was, and made it a reality in his mind, Ryan noticed an itching sensation on his whole body, however he couldn't open his eyes and look or else he'd lose focus. He sat there, with his eyes closed and thought. If he did this, he'd have to accept who he was. He wasn't even close to looking like a human. The thought scared him. What would the others think? What would they say? What would they do? He'd spent his whole life trying to run from this. From the image of his parents telling him to leave, tears in their eyes, and telling a six-year-old Ryan he wasn't welcome in their house anymore. Worse yet, what would his new family say? Doctor Xavier, Thantos, Memory and Jonathan, Logan, Scott, Jean, Fuyumi, his other friends at the Academy, what would they think? Ryan thought long and hard. Was he sure this was what he wanted? There was no turning back after this. The whole world would be watching the place he was going to. Was he confident enough in himself to show who he really was to everyone in the world? Could he really do this? All of that was irrelevant, he was needed. Ryan's own pride, his own reservations would have to step aside. His family was in danger and he wasn't going to let an incident like Vincent's happen again.

While Ryan was lost deep in thought, his scales were growing at an accelerated rate, covering his body in a matter of minutes with thick, hard protection. Spikes jutted from his body, out from the sides of his forearms, from his spine, and from the end of his tail. The spikes were an extension of his scales, rock-like and sturdy. Without his knowing, since his horns were also an extension of his scales, they had grown as well, and now stood at their full length of 14 inches. The horns themselves were sturdy, buttressed, and black as midnight. They swept back around the sides and top of his head, protecting it from attacks. Ryan's fists became heavy and powerful, he felt strength fill his whole body as he finally stood and faced the city.

Ryan knew what he looked like, he looked like a monster. However, if a monster was what was needed, Ryan would be it. Ryan crouched low to the ground, after a second of hesitation, Ryan blasted forward towards the city in the distance. It wasn't that far, about a ten minute drive by car. Ryan would have to do his best to pace himself and get there fast. Making the distance in about 20 minutes, and surprisingly without tiring himself as much as he tought he would, Ryan surveyed the battle field and was shocked at what he found. A white haired girl was engaging Logan and there were massive stone... men? Ryan shook off his doubts, it must be someone's power. Ryan looked over to where he could smell Doctor Xavier was. Ryan could see the Professor and... what was that smell, that shape... it smelled like, it was! Vincent! Ryan was so glad he was safe, however, now was not the time for reunions, there was work to be done. "Professor, Vincent, it's me, Ryan." Ryan thought as hard as he could, directing his thoughts toward his teachers "I'm here to help. I realize you might not recognize me like this but... if this is what is needed, this is what I will be. I can be a monster for my family if a monster is what they need. You're all my family, so it's you I must protect. I will not let what happened to Vincent ever happen to anyone again!"

With that he roared, making his presence known. The roar was long and loud and filled with Ryan's primal might and urge to protect his family. With that, he leaped off the ground, again, a bit faster than he anticipated and jumped onto the nearest stone man. What was different, Ryan felt so... powerful. It wasn't at all like he used to be. Was it because he had accepted who he was? Or was it because he was a terrible monster. Regardless, he raised his fists and smashed the thing's face in, pummeling the rock until the giant no longer had a head. However, when he jumped off to attack another, the giant was still moving. Ryan dodged it's fists and tackled the behemoth, smashing its chest in and ripping its arms off. Finally, the thing had stopped moving and that weird rock in the center of its chest had stopped glowing. Good. Ryan roared again, the force of his bellow shook the dust from his body. Ryan was here, and he wasn't going to let anything happen to his family again.