X-Men: Night of the Living Brain Dead by Ben Church bchurch@su.edu All major characters are the property of Marvel Comics except Hotshot. Chapter 9 Professor Xavier reached out with his mind, straining to find some trace of the missing Jean Grey and X-Factor. When he'd received the news of X-Factor's disappearance two days ago, he'd immediately shut himself in the war room to search for them with the help of Cerebro. When he failed to find them after a day, he sent the X-Men to the last known location of X-Factor to look for clues. "Nuthin' over here Cyc." Wolverine said. "I've got their scents but they don't continue from here." "Then they must have been teleported." Cyclops reasoned. Soon Beast, Bishop and Psylocke entered the clearing followed by Iceman and Gambit. "Greetings Scott," said Beast "I take it from the expression on your face that you have not met with success in your search." "No Hank we haven't. Wolverine says the scent doesn't continue on from here. They must have been teleported." A rush of wind heralded the return of ArcAngel and the others. Cyclops quickly related his theory to them. "So what do we do now?" Rogue asked. "Wait a minute," said Wolverine suddenly, "I smell 'em! Their comin' this way!" At that instant they found themselves surrounded by X-Factor and a purple clad man they didn't recognize. "This doesn't look good boss." Iceman said. "It looks like their gonna-" They attacked. "Warren! Storm!" Cyclops yelled "Give us air support! The rest of you just try to knock them out! We don't want to hurt them!" "What if dey don't feel de same 'bout us?" Gambit asked. Cyclops didn't have time to answer, as he was attacked by Multiple Man and Havok. Wolverine found himself fighting Jubilee, Majik, and Karma. "This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts y- Wuulf!" Wolverine was hurled into a tree by Jubilee's fireworks. He looked and saw Cyclops keeping Multiple man and his dupes back with his Optic Blasts but soon there would be more dupes than he could handle. Havok's Plasma bolts were having little effect on his brother. Wolverine launched himself at his three attackers and knocked out Karma. No sooner had he done this than she disappeared. He tried to tell Cyclops, but he'd disappeared under a pile of Madrox's dupes. Random changed his arm into an energy cannon and fired at Bishop hitting him in the chest. Bishop absorbed the energy and shot at Random with it, blowing a hole in his pelvis. While Rogue traded punches with Strong guy, Beast and Iceman fought Forge and Wolfsbane. Gambit and Psylocke attempted to subdue Quicksilver, while in the air, Storm and ArcAngel battled Polaris. The man in purple hung back and observed the battle. Cyclops was pinned down by the duplicates of Multiple man. Havok calmly walked forward and placed a strange object on his chest and Cyclops disappeared. "Goddamnit!" Wolverine roared in fury, but was impaled by Majik's sword. He banged Majik's and Jubilee's heads together and they disappeared. Apparently they'd been put out of commission he thought. He then laid into the dupes, his claws stopped them and didn't create more of them. Random quickly refilled the hole in his stomach and immediately he had another blown in his chest by Bishop's gun. He destroyed the gun with his energy weapon and threw himself at Bishop. Rogue was having trouble taking on Strong Guy by herself. For all that she gave, he returned just as much if not more. She began trying to herd him towards a cliff. Beast effortlessly dodged the shots from Forge's gun, and leaped at him from above. Forge was knocked down but not out. His gun went flying. Iceman froze the ground beneath Wolfsbane's feet causing her to slip, but she quickly recovered and tackled him. As they fell, she slipped another teleportation device on him and he disappeared. When she landed she hit her head on a rock and she too disappeared. Gambit calculated the point where quicksilver would pass and threw his card at a point two feet ahead. Quicksilver dodged the explosion and before either Gambit or Psylocke knew what had happened, he'd slipped teleporters on them and they disappeared. ArcAngel's feathers were deflected back at him by Polaris but he dodged them. Likewise Storm's lightning was deflected. Polaris attempted to attach two teleportation devices to them but Storm shorted hers out. ArcAngel wasn't as fortunate. He disappeared in a blast of light. "Enough!" Storm shouted. "This battle ends now!" She summoned gale force winds and blew Polaris into a stand of trees. The subsequent light display showed that she was gone. There was only Multiple Man left now that his dupes were gone. Every one had been killed by Wolverine and reabsorbed by Madrox. Wolverine quickly advanced and slammed Madrox's head into a tree. He disappeared without creating any dupes. Wolverine was blasted by Havok. Random produced a teleportation device and tried to put it on Bishop. Bishop grabbed his wrist and grappled with him. Random began to ooze out of his grip and so Bishop grabbed the glove that Random was wearing. Exerting all his strength he slammed the device into Random's chest, causing him to disappear leaving Bishop holding nothing. Rogue saw a blur behind Strong Guy and correctly surmised that Quicksilver was attempting to out flank her. With all her strength she sent Strong Guy sailing off the cliff and into Quicksilver's path, knocking him off as well. They both disappeared before they landed. Forge warded off Beast's attacks with his artificial hand and fished a device out of his pocket. Beast quickly figured out what it did and jerked back. His head impacted with a low branch and he fell onto Forge they both disappeared in flash of light. Wolverine was being forced back by Havok's blasts. His uniform was in tatters. Havok had him on the edge of a cliff, and Wolverine began to wonder if he could survive the fall. Suddenly Storm attacked from the air subduing Havok quickly. He too disappeared. Wolverine and Storm were joined by Rogue and Bishop. "The situation has grown serious Logan. We have lost over half our number in this battle alone." Suddenly Bishop shoved her aside and shouted "There's still one here!" he pointed and sure enough the man in purple had advanced from the trees. He held up one of the devices and prepared to throw it. Rogue flew at him and grabbed his arms. He shrugged her off and put the teleporter on her chest. SHLUCCT! Wolverine's claws buried deep into his chest and he disappeared, but Rogue was already gone. "We must return to the mansion immediately." Storm said. "No way Ororo." Wolverine said. "You saw what happened when we came too close. Well that kid Creed rescued knows everything Jean knew. He may not remember, but they don't know that. Those bastards've got to make a play for him. And when they do we're gonna be there." To be continued...