Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ The Ultimate Antidote ❯ X Reactions ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The Ultimate Antidote
Written By: Matdeception

Ranma 1/2 Notes: Takes place after the Manga

X-Men: Evolution Notes: Time line all screwed up. Rogue has yet to meet Risty, takes place after 'Adrift', but before 'Angel's Wings'.

Disclaimer: I do not write using the aforementioned series in an attempt to steal, discredit, or defame said series or their characters. I write to pay homage to the original creators, as well as improve upon my own dim writing ability. Not now, nor ever will this fan fiction be used to gain monetary value at the expense of said creators intellectual properties.

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Chapter 6A: X Reactions

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Cyclops peered through the binoculars. Their target was approximately two hundred meters from the forest near by, which itself was one hundred and fifty meters from the fence surrounding the compound. The terrain between their position and the fence was flat, clear of brush and rocks, the infrared scans picking up numerous beams of lasers rolling back and forth. Behind the fence he could make out the shadowy figures of Guards patrolling the perimeter, with two clearly visible guards armed with sniper rifles atop four different observation towers at the corners of the fence.

"What's the word?" Evan, aka Spyke, or as Rogue lovingly put it, 'Porcupine', asked. Possessing the ability to grow a strong exo-skeleton of dangerous spikes from his body, he was perhaps the more up and in your face out of the group, where he could get the best use out of his damaging mutation. He was also a bull headed thrill seeker who had more then once gotten the entire team in a sticky situation from his antics.

Cyclopes rather liked him. "They're throwing out all the stops on this one. Motion sensors, snipers, dogs. It's like trying to break into Fort Knox!"

"I can do that!" Kitty, aka Shadowcat, grinned. One of the first to join Xavier's school, she was young, naive, and totally idealistic. Kitty's powers enable her to phase through walls, doing this by canceling out the space between atoms, allowing her own greater mass to slip through. She was a bit of a valley girl, but when the chips were down, you couldn't have a better friend their to help.

Rogue, the southern belle gifted, or cursed if you thought it that way, with the power of draining their enemies power and memories with just a simple touch. While the girl was loath to admit the loneliness she was forced to endure, due to anyone she touched quickly falling into a coma, Scott could sympathize with her. Both were cursed with gifts they couldn't control, his eyes always emitting their destructive energy, forcing him to wear special eye wear else he suddenly wreak destruction on a massive scale. While her gift forced her to refrain from human interaction, going so far as to cover most of her body in clothes year round, less she accidentally drain an innocent.

He knew her introduction to the team was a bit forced at first, though he was glad when it was all said and done she had ditched the Brotherhood and Mystiques iron fist to join them.

"Isn't this a sneak an peek mission?" Rogue glared at the Shadowcat, "Keep it down."

Kitty blew her the raspberry, "Neener, neener, neener."

"You're so lame." she sighed in disgust, though the small rare smile she flashed the girl spoke differently of her feelings.

"I'm worried, Scott. Kurt should have been back by now." Jean whispered. One of the first to join Xaiver's X-men, he relied heavily on her advice and moral support, not to mention her ever growing Telepathic and Telekinesis skills. A vibrant redhead, she was very beautiful and very popular among the New Mutants and Students at school, though he knew that side of her was a mask she wore. He really didn't think she had to try so hard and please everyone, but in the end he guessed that was her choice.

"Kurt's a big boy, he can take care of himself." Cyclops spared the redhead a comforting glance, before returning to the binoculars, "Everything seems quiet, If he had been discovered we'd know."

A soft popping sound, similar to a soft clap, sounded as air was displaced near by. Kurt, also known as Nightcrawler, snapping into existence. Gifted with the ability of teleportation, acrobatics, and a prehensible tail, Kurt was perhaps one of the most important members of their team. Gifted at reconnaissance, sneaking, and getting them into places they would normally have a heck of a time getting too, he was perhaps the most well rounded of the team. Though when the iron hammer came down, he was great in a fight with his wide range of abilities and skills. With a happy-go-lucky nature, Scott was proud to have him on the team, even if he didn't always say so.

"Never fear, your fuzzy savior is here." the blue demonic looking mutant bowed with a grin.

"What's the sitch?"

Kurt waved off Evan's question, "Not nearly as bad as we thought. Securities pretty beefed on the outside, but once you get in things get easier. Guards patrolling random corridors, couple of security locks here and there, nothing too bad."

"Did you find the prison?" Scott peered through the binoculars again, "There's too much interference to pick up their heat signatures."

"Ach, I'm an elf, not Superman!" Kurt chuckled, "But I'm willing to bet they're some where in the lower levels I couldn't reach."

Kitty grinned, "Ahh, looks like I have a job to do!"

"Lets get it over with."

Jean shook her head, "Wait Rogue. Scott, should we go? It feels like a trap."

Evan snorted, "It probably is." Bone spikes popping out of his skin, covering his upper torso and head in thick armor, "Think it's time we teach these pricks the price for mutant experimentation."

"Simmer down." Scott sighed, "Remember, we need to avoid detection until we've located the mutants being held here. Let's just take this nice, and easy." gazing towards Kurt, he nodded, "Take me to the infiltration point. Once I'm in, he'll come back and bring the rest of you."

"Ah man." Evan snapped his fingers, "Why do you always get to go in first? Where's the fun in stickin to the sidelines all the time?"

Scott chuckled, "You'll get plenty of action on the way out. Don't worry about that."

---

Cyclops staggered, a brief sense of vertigo coming over his senses from Kurt's teleportation. Looking around, he soon found himself on a roof. "Where are we?"

Kurt spared the buildings that made up the Research installation a long look, before answering, "Far as I could tell, were on top of the supply building." he shrugged, pointing up towards a ventilation shaft adjacent to a rotating video camera. "That gizmo takes about a minute to turn all round. We need to get up there, you do your stuff, and get in before it completes a rotation."

"Why not just port me in there?"

"Heh." Kurt shrugged, "There's motion sensors a little ways down. We'll need Kitty to get around those. After that we end up in a cafeteria. No one was in there last I checked, but people randomly come and go."

Scott nodded, "I get it. I'd rather have back up and see what's coming instead of just popping in like bugs bunny." eying the camera quizzically, "How much time do we have?"

"It's rotating now. Get ready." he whispered cautiously, wrapping an arm around his myopic colleague.

Time seemed to slow for the boys, both watching the slowly rotating camera as it passed over the ventilation shaft. Seconds seemed to pass as minutes, a pliable sense of anxiety and excitement growing in their bellies as they prepared for what's to come. As the camera's arc of vision passed the ventilation shaft, Kurt grunted, summoning the power of his blood, folding space by his will alone.

Cyclops fought the sense of vertigo brought on my Kurt’s displacement, his senses skewed for only a scant moment as the two reappeared on top the adjacent roof. "Give me some room."

Kurt nodded, stepping back and watching the area nervously.

Reaching up to his visor, he adjusted the setting down to it's lowest, before firing. With a dull roar and flash of red, he carefully focused his steady stream of energy into the bolts surrounding the grate covering the shaft, slowly but surely breaking them off as the seconds bore on.

Kurt sweated. The camera was coming back around, "Cyke, hurry up man, time's almost up!" he hissed, agitated.

"Patience is a virtue of grace." he shot back, just as the final bolt popped off. "There." Quickly lifting the grate, both teenage boys managed to crawl inside just as the camera passed over head. They stayed absolutely still, senses stretched to their very limits, listening for the alarm to sound. When no such thing came, the both uneasily let out of relieved breath. Tapping his communicator, Scott gave Kurt a pat on the back, "Yeah, it's Cyclopes. Were in."

---

Getting around the motion sensors in the ventilation shaft had been simplistically easy, Shadowcats unique ability coming in quite handy. Hell, Scott realized belatedly, the agonizing wait for the others to arrive hadn't been so bad, but that had more to do with the fact no one had even so much ass passed by the doors then anything.

Nearing the door, he risked peeking through the glass windows quickly, before ducking back for cover. "It's clear."

"Ah, the enigmatic X-men once again succeed at a perfect infiltration." Kurt chuckled, vainly pressing the back of his hand to his forehead, "Now they descend into the belly of the best, oh me, oh my, what's a cute fuzzy man to do?"

Kitty blinked, grinning at Rogue, "Oh! I know! I know! It's 'Shut up gecko boy', right?"

Rogue glared, "Hey, stop copying me!"

Kurt pouted, glancing at Kitty "Actually, I was hoping for a hug..."

"Keep dreamin man." Evan chuckled, grabbing the blue demon in a headlock and giving him a noogie. "Mission first, chicks later!"

Jean couldn't help but giggle softly at that. Kurt was always a kidder, and she couldn't help but feel better about this mission with him around lightening the atmosphere.

"Alright team." he glanced out the window again, before turning back towards them, "We made it in, but let's not get careless. There's people here who need our help." he focused on Kurt, "Which way from here?"

---

"Doctor Stromwell! Doctor Stromwell!"

Stromwell stopped with a sigh, turning towards the woman, "What is it Ms. Tracy?"

Puffing, the tired nurse leaned up against the wall, trying to catch her breath. "Sir.." she was torn between retaining a serious appearance, or collapsing to the ground and catching her breath, "Dr. Roswell asked if the reports on the new experimental gene therapy was ready, and if you could spare the time he'd like to see you about upgrading test subject B-3 to Primary experimental unit." She exhaled, her lungs hurting from having to say so much so fast.

Stromwell scratched his chin. Damn, he really needed to shave, scruffy beards just itched so damn much, it was aggravating, "Tell Roswell the lab report is in the morgue, and that the new gene therapy is ultimately a failure. See Dr. Strattum for the full report on the subjects autopsy." he hmmed, nodding, "B-3's the mutant capable of absorbing Solar Waves. Hmmm.. I don't see a problem with upgrading him. See that it's done, Ms. Tracy.. and tell Professor Trask I'll be in the holding area drawing new DNA samples on the bezerker."

"Yes Doctor." she nodded, taking in a deep breath before turning around and running the way she came. Stromwell just had to send her after the three doctors who's offices were practically on opposite sides of the complex! Arrgh!

Stromwell watched as the young nurse ran down the corridor, disappearing around a corner, before launching into a fit of chuckles as he retrieved his cell phone from his coat pocket. "Oh man, I can do that all night." quickly dialing a number, the good doctor waited for the other end to pick up before speaking, "Hey, Bob? Yeah, it's me. Look, the intern's running over to you about the reports and upgrading that solar freak. Yeah... just Trask and Strattum." he hmmed nodding, "I see. Just tell her theirs a critical sample accidentally flushed down a toilet, she'll be digging through the Latrine all night."

He turned and continued down the hall, "Heh. Yeah, I still remember my Internship. I wanted to kill Trask for that nightmare..." Ah, it was good to be a top dog, yes, yes it was. He peered at his watch and sighed, "Sorry Bob. I need to run, I'll stop by once I finish with the freak show." he grunted, clicking his phone off and replacing it back in his coat.

"You should rest, doc." a voice with a thick southern accent spoke up from behind him, startling him. Before he could so much as turn to face his stalker, he felt a hand grasp his neck, and a queasy feeling erupt in his stomach, before collapsing, unconscious.

Evan and Kurt, peered down the hallway the good doctor had been traveling, seeing no one they gave the all clear.

"Good work, Rogue." Scott praised seriously, turning to Jean, "Have you been able to sense our friends?"

Jean shook her head with a sigh, "No. I'm not picking up anything."

"Don't worry about it." Scott waved her apparent failure off, "It would be too easy if you could. Kurt, can you dispose of the good doctor?"

"On it, moi capitan." Kurt grinned, grabbing the unconscious doctor before disappearing.

"Rogue?" Kitty blinked. When the girl failed to respond, she tentatively reached out and touched her shoulder, "Rogue? Earth to Rogue, you in there?"

Startled, Rogue snapped her gaze to the valley girl. Blinking in confusion, she mumbled softly, "I'm fine. Just.. little overwhelmed."

"Hey Midas, that doc said he was going to the holding cells." Evan smirked, "You know where it is?"

Hesitantly, she nodded, "Yeah. But we better watch it." she said seriously, "There's scanners down that way set to detect dick heads, and with porcupine here, we'd be in deep trouble."

"Oh ha ha." Evan scowled, "Very funny."

"I thought so." Kitty chirruped shyly.

"Oh shut up."

"Enough!" Scott hissed, glaring at the three, "Can we please be a little more serious?"

Teleporting back in, Kurt appeared with a smile on his furry face, "All done." he dusted his hands, voice taking on a tone of false bravado, "Yep, what would you guys do with out me?"

"Sleep better." Kitty instantly chimed in.

"Wouldn't have to worry about fur on my clothes." Rogue followed suit.

"I'd get to beat some one's head in instead of sneaking." Evan grumbled.

"Ow.. le harsh!" Kurt cried in a shrill, condescending voice, "Wah! No one loves me!"

Cyclops groaned. Why couldn't he get some serious people on his team for a change? "Why me?"

"Oh hush." Jean giggled, "You aren't fooling anyone."

He smirked, "You're right. Come on, let's go."

---

It wasn't long before they came upon their first obstacle. A rather huge door with numerous steel bars sealing it from both ends, a computerized digital monitor to its right displaying a touchpad with retina scanner.

"What's this?" Evan eyed the huge red sign painted on the door, proclaiming it's contents to be 'DANGER! DANGER! BIO-CHEMEICAL CONTAINMENT CELL! DANGER! DANGER! "Yo Cykes, think our friends are in there?"

"It's possible." he glanced to Rogue, who simply shrugged, before turning to Kitty, "Kit, can you check it for us?"

"Sure." Kitty nodded, walking through the huge iron door. It wasn't long until she reappeared, her eyes wide, her tone frantic, "Guys! Guys! You, like, aren't going to believe this!" she reached out, grabbing hold of Scott, who grabbed Evan in surprise, who in turn grabbed Jean, who grabbed Rogue, who snagged Kurt's tail.

"OW! NOT THE TAIL MAN!" he cried as the chain gang was pulled through the door.

Calling the area they found themselves in a room would be vastly understating the truth. It was a freaking dome! Fifty feet in height, the room expanded at least a good two hundred meters in all directions. The lighting was poor for a room this size, but it was enough for them to make out the rows upon rows of metal tables, white sheets covering bodies upon bodies that littered the tables.

"Oh my god.." Jean gasped, "What.. what is this place?!"

Cykes scowled, "Kitty! What's the big idea? This isn't part of our mission!"

"Hey!" Kitty winced, "I didn't mean, ah.. damn it. I didn't mean to ruin the damn mission!" she scowled, that legendary temper coming to the fore, "It looked suspicious, what the heck did you want me to do? Oh lookie here, this rooms filled with weird scary stuff, come and see?" she bit off sarcastically.

Kurt whimpered, cradling his tail like a mother would a weeping child, "Papa's here baby. I'm never going to let that mean ole nasty Rogue hurt you again." he kissed the tip, "Forgive me?"

Kitty sweated, her temper guttering out at the sight.

Cyclops blinked, and try as he might he couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping.

Rogue paid the others no attention, her eyes locked on the rows of beds, and the bodies lying atop them. "I know where we are."

"Where?"

Turning to Jean, Rogue sighed, "It's a graveyard. Dumping ground for mutants who didn't survive."

That killed the mood.

"Maybe we should leave?" Kitty desperately offered.

"Yeah, lets.." Scott began, only to get cut off.

"No." the southern belle raised her hand, pointing towards the far exit, "That's the way to the containment cells."

"Can't we just go around?" Jean really didn't want to be in here. The whole room just gave her a bad, bad feeling, "I don't like it here..."

Rogue snorted, "Gee, I don't see why? Who wouldn't like ta be surrounded by bodies?" she bit off sarcastically, taking off towards the far exit, the exit she knew would lead them to the holding cells, thanks to the good doctors memories.

"Scott..."

"Let's go, Jean." he sighed. If this was a quicker route, they should take it, "We'll get through quickly."

Jean sighed, quickly following after Rogue.

Kitty grimaced, arms stretched out overhead, gazing blankly at the roof, "Man, this bites... what the.." she blinked, noticing for the first time a pair of yellow eyes blinking in tandem with her own. "Uh.. guys.."

"What is it Kit?" Evan gave the room a once over, "Man this place gives me the creeps."

Kitty screamed as the owner of the yellow eyes emerged, a black shape flashing down with speed she had only seen Peitro pull off. "ROGUE! LOOK OUT!"

Startled, the southern belle whipped around at Kitty's scream, totally missing the black flash land behind her until she felt a stabbing poke at the back of her neck, and all went dark.

Cyclops scowled as Rogue collapsed to the ground, "Get away from her!" he fire, a beam of red death exploding from his visor. Impossibly, the black figure dodged his initial blast by ducking low, then before he could redirect his blast, the figure charged him at high speed.

As the figure dodged bolt after bolt of from Cyclops visor, he closed on Jean, who was still shocked by the sudden attack to put up more then a paltry defense, unable to block the sweeping leg of the creature as it passed by, she fell to ground hard. Continuing forward, the creature managed to reach striking distance of Scott, ducking low before launching upwards, it's voice sickly mechanical, "SEI!"

Kurt knew what was coming. As the creature neared their leader, he made a flying leap towards Cyclops, grabbing him and porting near Rogue by only the barest of margins. Cyclops, unprepared for the transport, collapsed as vertigo through his senses for a loop.

Robbed of his target, the creature practically defied the laws of gravity, turning in mid air, he brought his foot down in a brutal spin kick towards the next closest mutant, which happened to be Kitty.

"WHOA!" Kitty screamed as the things foot passed right through her face. Back stepping desperately, the creature continued it's attack, launching series upon series of lightning fast punches and kicks that were about as effectual against the Shadowcat as a cup of water was to a blazing inferno.

"Get you're filthy hands off her ya dick!" Evan screamed, tackling the black figure, his exo-skeleton fully formed and piercing the things body as they crashed into the floor. Relieved to have the heat taken off her, Kitty backed up to give Evan room to fight.

Rolling with the tackle, Evan couldn't believe it when the thing managed to press it's feet against his chest, flipping him as they rolled. Evan was torn between the impulse to scream, "Look Peter! I can fly!" and the urge to swear like a sailor. Crashing on top a steel table, he flipped to the ground and landed on his back hard. "Geesh.."

Jean struggled to her feet just as the creature made his move towards the still recovering Spyke. Leaping into the air, she raised her hand and summoned her power just as the creature was delivering a flying snap kick to Evan's head.

Evan sweated, staring at the foot no farther then half a foot from his face, before sighing in relief, "Thank god."

"SCOTT!" she screamed, "SHOOT IT NOW!"

Regaining control of his senses, the leader of the X-men grunted, "With pleasure." before taking aim.

The creatures cold, mechanical eyes turned towards Jean, causing the girl to shiver at the cold hostility buried in those depths. When the creature raised it's hand towards her, she couldn't help but sweat, "Uh, Scott, any time now.."

"On it!" his visor flashed red, before a beam of promised pain shot forth like a meteor. At the same time Scott was firing, a misshapen orb of light formed in it's hand, which shot out just as Cyclop's beam connected, blasting the dark figure back thirty feet, where he crashed into the ground before rolling to a stop, unmoving.

The misshapen ball of light traveled faster then Jean thought anything had a right too. She barely was able to raise her hand and still the attack while it was no more then an inch from his chest. "Okay.. that was a little.." small strands of blue lightning began to pass over the sphere, until it eventually exploded violently, the shock blasting Jean back fifteen feet, where she crashed like a doll who's strings had been cut, unconscious.

"JEAN!" Cyclops cried, pushing his way through the tables of corpses. He fell to his knees, pushing the red head on her back. She was breathing. Thank god she was breathing, "Evan? Is it down?"

Standing over the unmoving thing, Evan kicked it in the ribs, "Yeah, this suckers bbq."

"Good. Get over here and help me with Jean!"

"Comin." Evan grunted.

"Kurt, Kitty, how's Rogue?"

Kitty gave the goth chick a serious look over, being careful not to touch any exposed skin, "She's breathing. I think she'll be fine."

Kurt grunted, "Mein Gott. What was that thing?" he scratched his head. Looking up, he peered towards the monster that had practically killed Jean, only to blink in shock and stutter in horror, "Uh, guys.. GUYS IT'S GONE!!!"

Cyclops looked up from where he was holding Jean. Sure enough, the creature wasn't lying down where he was before. "Be on you're guard, who knows what it's going to try!"

"No kiddin." Kitty shivered, "That thing really gives me the creeps!"

"Ah, don't be scared Kit." Kurt wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "The fuzzy elf's here to protect you."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, joy."

Unbeknownst to either Kitty or Kurt, the black figure once again dropped down from the roof, this time behind Kurt. Pulling it's fist back, which suddenly started glowing slightly, before slamming a foot on the demons tail to prevent escape, and smashing him in the back of the head, dropping him like a sack of bricks. Kitty screamed, backing away, the creature ignoring her as he charged towards Cyclops and Evan.

Cyclops grimaced. This thing wasn't going to stop until it killed them. Turning his blaster to maximum power, he scowled, "Kitty! Get some cover, this guy is TOAST!" before firing a steady stream of deadly red beams at the charging thing. Once again, as if it were mocking them, the creature literally danced around the beams, coming no closer then an inch of being struck by them before flipping over and continuing it's forward run.

It was going for Scott, Evan knew. It had done it before, but this time there wasn't anyway Kurt would be able to stop him. Stepping in front of Cyke, who was forced to stop firing, the skater summoned his power, creating a fifteen foot high and wide wall of bone. "Better come up with a plan Cyke, it's only going to delay that freak."

Before his leader even got a chance to nod bitterly, Evan gasped in shock as the creature jumped clear over his wall, some how defying all the laws of physics when it stopped in mid air, before shooting down like a comet. Scott, desperately trying to ward the creature off, fired one last desperate blast, which completely missed as the thing twisted around the beam, before slamming his glowing fist down on Scott's head, knocking the leader of the X-men out.

Dropping his bone wall, Evan leaped into a forward roll. He might be cocky, but having this dude attack from behind while he held up that wall wouldn't have been good, for anyone. "Kitty!" he scowled, "Get Kurt and Rogue and RUN!"

The creature kicked Scott's unconscious body once, for good measure, then turned on Evan.

"What about you?!?" Kitty whimpered! No no no! Everything was going wrong wrong wrong! Damn it, and it was all her fault! If she hadn't lead them in here this thing never would of found them!

"DO AS I SAY!" Evan screamed. The creature hadn't made a move yet, but that wouldn't last. Now was the girls only chance to get the heck out of dodge!

Kitty didn't know what to do. Seeing Evan there, willing to sacrifice himself, Jean, and Cyke for her and the others.. "You better not lose!"

"Heh. I wont." he smirked, completely full of himself.

Grabbing hold of Kurt and Rogue, she began to phase through the floor, dragging both unconscious teens with her.

The creature suddenly moved, cupping it's hands as streams of blue white energy began to form.

Startled, Evan summoned bone spikes from his wrists, which made for handy swords in a pinch. Charging the creature before he could get that shot off, he was caught off guard when it leapt straight up, and launched it's attack. Not at him, not at the unconscious Jean or Cyke, but at the escaping Kitty. "KITTY! LOOK OUT!"

Startled by Evan's scream, Kitty looked up, eyes widening in horror as the blue energy ball descended upon her. With a cataclysmic boom, she felt her consciousness being ripped away from her. She had one last horrifying thought as consciousness was robbed from her. She was still phasing...

Evan grunted, the force of the explosion nearly tossing him off his feet. As the dust cleared, he was treated to the most horrifying sight he could ever remember seeing. Kitty, half phased through the floor, hung limply to her side.

Slamming into the ground, the creature rose to it's feet, it's cold yellow eyes examining it's handy work, before turning on Evan.

Evan gulped. This was going to seriously, seriously suck.

"End program."

Spyke sighed in relief as the creature vanished, followed shortly by the corpses, and then the entire installation. Appearing in a rather large metal room, more commonly referred to as the Danger Room, he silently thanked all the gods he knew of for not having to face that monster alone.

All at ounce, Rogue, Jean, Scott, Kitty, and Kurt began to rise, none of them looking too happy after that fiasco.

The sound of clapping turned their attention to the exit, where Xavier, Logan, and Forge were approaching.

Removing his head set, Xavier gave the mutants a kind comforting smile, "Well done, kids. You managed to successfully infiltrate the installation with out incident, and even managed to locate the captive mutants." he gave Kurt, and Rogue an appreciative nod. "However..."

Logan snapped, "You gung-ho kids decided to take a short cut, and ended up getting killed by one man!" he quickly snarled toward Evan when he looked ready to disagree, "Don't even kid yourself, bub. You didn't have a prayer against it." which shut the skater up right quick.

Xavier sighed, shaking his head before turning to Forge, "Thank you, Forge. The new holographic projectors and safety protocols seem to be working fine."

Forge grinned, removing his own head set, "Thanks doc. It was simple really, to recalibrate your old models into the current ones. Hey.. wanna hear how I did it?"

Xavier sweated, "Uh, maybe later."

"Professor." Jean spoke up.

"Yes, Jean?"

"Why couldn't I feel the mutants? No matter how much I tried, I couldn't even get a whisper out of them."

Xavier shrugged, "The containment area had specialized shields preventing telepathy. If you had made it to the holding cells, you would have seen that."

"Now wait a minute!" Rogue snapped, "That's not fair! What the heck was that thing? Why the hell was it even there?"

Scott nodded in agreement, "It doesn't make sense. That thing was tougher, stronger, and faster then Peitro, and Blob put together!"

Kurt grumbled, "He was mean too! Honestly, who steps on a guys tail before decking him! It's cruel and unusual punishment!"

Kitty shivered, subconsciously holding her hands to her chest. She had always known the danger of phasing, but this was the first time she actually had it happen to her ever since she gained control of her power. It may have only been a training session, but it was still too close for comfort.

Logan grunted, "Does it matter? You still got your asses handed to you!"

"Logan." Xavier scolded, "No need to be rude." he turned to the kids, "I believe you all deserve a straight answer. The man you faced today was a program Logan, and I, with Forges help, created to represent a certain mutant we had the pleasure of meeting a few days ago in Japan."

Scott sighed, rubbing his head. It may have been simulated damage, but it still stung something fierce, "The one who turned down you're offer?"

"Why put him in at all? Guy's all the way in Japan, it's not like we'll ever meet him!" Rogue snorted. She was more pissed that she of all people was taken out first, and with just a touch too. What the heck had he used anyway?

Logan snorted, "You kiddin right?"

"Logan." Xavier frowned. He didn't want him telling them everything, not yet at least. "To the point, children. We included him for the simple fact that everything you witnessed, the blasts, the strength, the speed, none of it had anything to do with his mutant power."

Jean blinked askance, "What? What does that mean, Professor?"

A ringing sound from Forges head set grabbed everyone’s attention for a second, the genius chuckling nervously as he excused himself to take the call.

"What Chuck's trying to say, is that people as strong as this kid exist, and most of them are not mutants. A day may come when you have to face one of these martial artists in combat, this crude copy of that kid back in Japan was to get you use to the idea not all power comes from Mutant genes."

"But... he is a mutant, right?" Evan questioned. It would be a serious blow to his pride if he wasn't. He prided himself on the fact he was a mutant, using that knowledge to enforce his own confidence in himself and everything he did.

Xavier sighed, but nodded, "Yes Evan, he is. However.." he eyed the group, who had already started looking more upbeat with that affirmation, "We decided not to include his mutant abilities in this simulation. In all reality, you were defeated by a pale human copy of a powerful mutant."

"Gee, way to kick a girl down." Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Doc!" Forge interrupted, "Storm's transferring a video file to my lap top. She says you need to see it immediately. I'm hooking it up to the holographic projectors. The image may be a skewed, but she said you had to see it now, no questions asked."

Surprised, Xavier nodded, "I see. Where's it from?"

Tapping busily away at his lab top, the imagers at the corners of the room began to rotate, locking into place once it found it's preferred position, "She said it was a live feed from something going down in Japan. It got cut off towards the end, but what she's got recorded is more then enough."

Xavier spared the X-men a long look, before nodding, "Go ahead and play it back."

With a final stroke, Forge nodded, "It should be coming up any second now."

Slowly the holographic imagers came online, the room around them vanishing into a black void. "It was filmed from about fifty meters away, but the computers managed to filter down the excess footage and put us right dab smack in the middle of it."

Logan snapped, growing impatient, "Hurry up already."

"Kurt.. I'm scared." Kitty whimpered. It was so dark in here.

"Oh.. want to hug?"

"Uh.. no."

He chuckled, poking Evan in the ribs while whispering, "She sooo wants me."

Evan glanced at the guy like he was nuts, "Uh, yeah, right dude."

Slowly the imagers began to rebuild what it had been feed. First a grassy landscape with a pond situated towards the north appeared, followed by a rather nice looking house and dojo. The house looked beat up a bit, but hardly enough to detract from it's rustic nature. When bodies began to appear near the pond, they all started looking nervous. What the hell was on this tape that had bodies in it?

That was when the sentinel appeared, towering over the bodies, almost like a silent gravestone marking the people who had been killed.

"A sentinel!" Cykes hissed.

"I thought they put an end to that? Wasn't Trask arrested?" Jean couldn't understand it. How could their be more sentinels?

Rogue grimaced, "Looks like they started it up again."

Other people started to appear, Military men of all sizes carrying automatic machine guns, all positioned in a firing position slightly up and in front of the sentinel. A stone wall began to rise from the ground all around the house and dojo, stopping when it reached about eight feet in height. A man sealed in a pile of green goo appeared close to the bodies, another man slowly forming with a gun aimed at the guy who was trapped in the bakali.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Forge whispered hesitantly.

The final piece to the image began to form slowly, on top of the wall directly in front of the sentinel. It was here everyone realized the soldiers true target. As the final image formed, that of a boy with clenched fists, mouth opened as if he were screaming, that was when everything started to move.

"Chuck! It's the kid!" Logan scowled.

Xavier nodded, earning more then a few disbelieving glances from the students, "Yes it is, Logan."

The boy screamed something in Japanese, which forge was quick to translate, "No! Wait! Father!"

They watched, in fascinated horror, as the man in the gel was systematically executed. His killer holstering his weapon and walking away, but not before saying something. "Kill him."

"Mein gott! They just killed his father?!"

The soldiers raised they're weapons, ready to open fire. The X-men watching as the kid began to shake almost uncontrollable.

"He's going to snap." Logan stated seriously. He had seen it often enough through out his years.

Rogue slapped Forge in the back of the head, "What's the guy sayin?"

Forge shuddered, "He's saying.. 'Die... die..... You're all going to die.."

Silence descended on the group as the kid launched forward, jumping over the sentinel's beam attack, using the giant Robot as a spring board to launch towards the house, and then back at the sentinel. Evan whistled when the kid slammed his fists through the mech's back, and then knocked it down as if it were nothing.

Forge blinked, "Look at this soldier!" drawing everyone’s attention to a certain soldier near the south end of the yard. Shouting something most couldn't understand, they watched in shock as the soldier kicked the weapon up, morphing into Mystique, and then proceeding to mow down a group of soldiers near the feet of the Sentinel.

"OH MY GOD!" Kitty screamed, "Look at him! He's.. he's.." she shuddered.

The sight of the boy ripping a spinal cord, and skull, free from the Sentinel's back could be described as nothing more then gut retching. Kitty, frightened, latched onto Kurt, shielding her eyes from the bloody murder by burying her face in his shoulder. Kurt only dimly realized she was doing that, far to engrossed with the deadly melodrama playing out before his eyes.

Dodging bullets, they watched as he slammed the skull against a soldiers head, only to add insult to injury by shoving the spinal cord through his throat and out the back.

"Oh god, I'm going to be sick." Jean turned green.

The scene of a soldier dropping his weapon and running for it, made the redhead feel a little better. At least some one wouldn't be brutally killed.

Forge blanched as he translated the kid's words, "There's no escape."

The boy brought his arms together, a subtle if entirely visible distortion forming in front of him.

"Demon God Assault Bomb."

The distortion quickly took a black sheen to it, shooting out from the kids hands. They watched as it passed through the soldier, seemingly doing no damage, before destroying the outer wall ahead of him. They watched as he got two steps, before his body split in half, his intestines spilling over the floor like rotten spaghetti.

Rogue covered her mouth, the urge to vomit at the sight of that monstrous murder almost sending her over the edge.

The fighting quickly came to an end from there, the boy running and jumping over the dead sentinel while shouting.

"Eh.. I think he's saying 'Demon Gods Big Mad Dance.."

Tiny blades of darkest pitch formed around his form, shooting out and laying absolute devastation to the house, Dojo, and every last soldier still left standing. As the boy landed, a brief aura of burning blue blazing around his form, the image began to swerve in and out of focus, until the last shot of Mystique walking towards the boy was seen, then it cut out entirely.

Silence descended upon the room for a time, most of the kids far too shock to do anything but stare blankly, or cry into some one's solider.

After a time of silence, Scott managed to break it, "That.. that was the kid you met in Japan?" his voice was weak, as if he feared hearing the answer.

"Yes." Xavier nodded gravely, "Go eat dinner, then it's bed time."

People were too numb to even counter his order with a question, most simply stumbling from the room. He highly doubted any of them were actually going to eat, and he hoped they could get over what they witnessed before too long. As it was, he knew right then and there, he made a mistake leaving the boy in Mystiques care.

Once the kids were gone, Logan scowled, "Chuck.."

"I know Logan, I know." Xavier sighed. "This is trouble."

"You don't say?"

"Heh. If we saw this, it's safe to assume Magneto did as well."

"Yep." Logan growled, "And since Mystiques got em, bet we can expect this kid to join their side."

"Maybe.." Xavier allowed. He didn't believe it, personally, having touched the boys mind. Yet.. his mother.. that's were he was his weakest. If Mystique asked him too, he wasn't sure if the boy would say no. Things were going to get very very complicated, and soon.

---

To be continued:

AN: Well, that’s another chapter, and it was a doozy, wasn't it? Heh. The next chapter will deal with Magneto's end of things. If it ends up too short, I'll include Nero's in as well. Oh, and be sure to leave reviews. I like to know how I'm doing/sucking or when you think I should write more/go drown myself. Heh. See yah.

Matdeception