character by D. Briganti written by Valegra
Phoenix
didn’t have Rogue’s supersonic speed, neither did she have Storm’s hundred mile
an hour winds behind her, but none the less she was fast. The approaching
sentinel soon became small dots behind them. When they were within range of the
launch pad, Cyclops let loose a beam of laser fire and took out the line of men
guarding the entrance. Wolverine’s claws popped free scant seconds before he
catapulted himself through the opening, with Bishop close behind, wiping out
the remaining men, whose weapons were no match for Wolverine’s speed or
Bishop’s futuristic hand cannon. Both men cleared a path for Phoenix and
Cyclops to follow easily.
The
small invading party frantically ran down a seemingly endless labyrinth of
corridors and small rooms, fighting their way through wave after wave of both
human and mechanical foes. When the four X-men came to
a large door bearing an equally large red sign they stopped. The wall
separating them from the interior was a thick one. The small control panel on
the wall next to the door had been smashed, making it impossible to enter the
normal way. A nice strategic move except for one fact; the X-men had not
planned to enter the normal way. With Phoenix and Bishop covering their backs,
Wolverine and Cyclops began slicing and firing through the thick brocade.
The
double sliding doors never stood a chance. With a heavy thud they fell inward
to fall to the steel floor. The X-men gazed upon the contents of the room with
horror. Lining the walls on either side of them was row upon row of sentinel.
“My
God, Scott, there are enough Sentinel here to topple half the globe,” Phoenix
stated clearly horrified. Behind the group the sound of running footsteps
indicated they were about to have company real soon.
Taking
command. “We’re going to need to take as many of these things out as we can,
people,” Cyclops said in a grave voice still eyeing the silent robots. “Jean,
shield the doorway for as long as you can. Bishop, Wolverine, time to get to
work.”
“Don’t
bother, X-men,” a metallic voice said from in front of them. From behind a
second set of metal doors slid into place, effectively cutting off the room
from any outside intrusion.
Scanning
the room, the four X-men saw nothing. Not even Phoenix picked up the human mind
that spoke those words.
“This
fight is between you and me,” the male voice finished. From behind the row on
their right, an imposing figure made its appearance at the farthest end of the
large room. Phoenix’s eyes widened in surprise while Wolverine's narrowed as he
uttered a deep, rage filled growl. Releasing his claws, he fell into a fighting
stance. Beside him, Bishop’s massive gun powered up and he aimed it at the half
man, half machine approaching them. Cyclops stepped forward to stand beside the
other two men, his visor pulsing with restrained plasma throwing off small red
laser sparks.
"Bolivar
Trask,” the field leader of the X-men stated as if he was the least of them
surprised to see the man they’d all thought long dead.
"Yes,"
the cyborg replied while showing his metal clenched fist.
His
voice human yet so metallic, sent shivers up Phoenix’s spine. What must it be
like to be trapped in that half and half form?
"Bolivar
Trask,” it
continued. “...the man whose broken body you left in ruins not caring whether I
lived or died! But as you can see, I am very much alive. If you can call what I
am alive. I feel very little in this form. My metallic parts forged over
whatever sensory nerves I had long ago. It is because of you, X-men, that I am
now looked upon as a freak. Not a mutant but certainly no longer a human. And
today I am going to make you pay.”
"Stop
yer whinin’, bub!" Wolverine interrupted. "It's yer fault if you're
trapped in that metal jumpsuit. You built that Mastermold guy, not us! In any
case, pal, you could have got out just as fast as we did."
The
black eye glared in the short man’s direction. "Enough! How can creatures
such as you comprehend the greatness of my schemes? I know the truth...
perfectly! You preferred to leave me buried under that mountain, to assure that
no one would contest your supremacy over humans! I had built something that
could wipe you from this earth. Robots that could put an end to mutants once
and for all. Since my supposed demise I've been working to reactivate the
Sentinel project with F.O.H. funding, building better servants... And in all
that time I’ve had only one goal: to put you through all the pain that I
suffered after that day!!"
“If I
may say so, this guys a fruitloop,” Bishop states in one of his less tense
moments.
"It
seems that being confined in a machine for this long had a deteriorating effect
on his mind!" Phoenix says by way of a response.
“Your
sentinel project, Trask, is not only illegal, but dangerous to both humans and
mutants as you well know. The project was doomed to failure back then, and it
will fall now. X-men, destroy this compound,” Cyclops orders. As if commanding
by example he aimed his visor at the nearest machine on his left and opened
fire. The inoperative machine’s head exploded in a blaze of fire.
“All
ready there, Cyke,” Wolverine said launching himself at the sentinel closest on
his right. “Easy as knocking pins over in the bowling alley.” With Bishop’s
plasma rifle lighting up yet another, and Jean using the broken pieces of the
machines to crush yet others, the inoperative machines began to fall like the
pins Wolverine compared them to.
With
a savage scream, Trask quickly turned to the control panel situated in the
center of the long row of sentinel. “Oh no, X-men, it’s not going to be that
easy,” the cyborg man whispers throwing a switch. Beginning at the far side of
the room one by one the sentinel came to life, their large red eyes glowing
with new found energy.
Cyclops
was the first to realize what Trask had done. Blasting the head off yet another
unmoving sentinel, he backed and turned to the line of sentinel, now activated,
approaching. “X-men prepare to defend yourselves,” he said gaining the
attention of his other team mates.
In
the blink of an eye, the room turned in a raging inferno of bullets and lasers
flying in all directions. The X-men were hard pressed to defend themselves in
the close quarters of the room. Though they fought gallantly, they were all
taking a licking. The room contained nearly forty sentinel and nearly half were
activating coming right at them.
“Scott,
we have to shut down these things controls,” Phoenix yelled just before
tumbling out of the way of a trail of laser fire. When she regained her feet
she launched herself into the air to hover before the massive robot and let
loose a trail of energy in a large circle wave. The impact drove the machine
back into two others and the three fell over with the one she’d hit smashing
one of the other two.
“Wolverine,
Bishop, can either of you get to Trask?” Cyclops asks dodging a series of
machine gun bullets. Rolling he fell to his knee and fired on the closest
sentinel staggering it. Without delay he dodged a foot that would have crushed
him. The three sentinel stalking him weren’t about to give up which meant he
wasn’t going to be able to go after Trask himself.
Wolverine
growled and with claws extended began to climb up the front of the sentinel
he’d been fighting. When he reached the top, he drew his fist back intending to
slice a hole in the things face, when he hesitated. Letting go of the sentinel,
he fell back to the floor just barely missing the laser that sliced though the
sentinels face for him. The first sentinel fell heavily to the steel floor as
the second turned now to face Wolverine. Letting loose another war cry,
Wolverine shot at the new threat.
"We
must stop this madness!" Bishop screamed as a laser burned his flesh,
leaving a red scar on his forearm. Quickly aiming both his plasma rifle
and his fist at the man on the other side of the room,
he unleashed a tremendous amount of energy, all he had in fact. Due to the
confusion, his blast were wildly off target, but one luckily caught Trask in
his cybernetic shoulder: the force of the impact hurled him onto the floor, and
a puff of yellow-gray smoke was released from his broken limb.
Bishop
fell to his hands and knees exhausted. Since the sentinel had began attacking,
he’d acquired only a small amount of energy to release back at them. The
extended use of that energy had wore him. It would take a minute or two at
least to regain his normal strength. When a shadow fell over him blocking the
muted light of the room, he looked up to see a large rounded metal foot falling
on him. Damn, so much for that minute, he thought.
When
the foot was several feet from him, a series of projectiles shot out and one by
one knocked the foot off target. The connection of the projectiles with the
metal shot off sparks. Bishop, not wasting the opportunity rolled from under
the foot’s large shadow. When he stood he saw that the projectiles kept coming.
The sentinel jerked with every impact until it fell on its back on the steel
floor.
“Don
waste time thankin’ me, homme. Gambit always glad to help,” an accented voice
said from Bishop’s left.
When
Bishop looked over he said only one word. “Lebeau.”
The trail of white energy that shot
between the two men made Bishop reach for his gun, Gambit on the other hand
wasn’t phased. The white energy connected with an approaching sentinel and
shattered it into pieces.
“While
you two are talking, you could be fighting,” the newcomer stated angrily.
Dashing between the two, the silver-eyed man launches himself into the fray.
Bishop
was just about to ask who the man was when the floor shook beneath his feet
nearly toppling him. Once steadied, he had to grab at the wall nearest him to
stop himself from falling again as another quake shook the steel floor. Around
him the other X-men appeared to be having the same problem as were the sentinel,
several of which had fallen over already. The only one of them not having a
problem with the unsteady floor was the man that arrived with Gambit, who was
continuing to blast the sentinel as if they were ducks in a shooting gallery.
Phoenix
jerked and fell to her hands and knees. Deciding enough was enough, she lifted
herself in that air and turned. She almost fell back to the floor when she
spotted Gambit beside Bishop. “Gambit,” she cried relieved to see him. “What’s
going on?” Around her she could see the walls cracking and above her she could
see the ceiling nearing. The ship-compound they were within was becoming earth
bound literally.
“I
wouldn’t worry too much about the shakes and quakes, dollface. That’s just
Storm making sure that this project is grounded,” the silver eyed man responds
from just below Phoenix.
The
sentinel unable to fight the unsteady surface of the floor began to fall all
over the room. The close confines did not enable them the ability to fly. And
as they one by one fell back, the X-men moved closer to each other, regrouping.
From across the room, the robot that was Bolivar Trask climbed shakily to his
feet and approached the control council.
“And
who are you,” Cyclops asks of the man keeping a close eye on the retreating
sentinel.
“Name’s
Renegade...” the man begins.
“Wouldn’t
spend too much time on him, Cyke. Kids harmless,” Gambit finishes for the man
smirking.
“You
wish, Lebeau, you wish,” the man, Renegade, replies to the slight.
When
the compound hit grass it was something of a soft landing having the same
effect as little more than an elevator settling on ground level. The X-men and
company turned to the sentinel expecting the remaining few to pursue their
attack, but all the group met was silence. Dead silence; an expectant silence.
Scattered in various mountains of disarray were the remaining sentinel, each
with their red lights out. Not a one of them animated with life. Before any of
the X-men had a chance to comment the muted red light of the room began to
blink repeatedly and an alarm was sounded.
Renegade
stepped forward, the first to comment. “I may be crazy, but somehow I get the
feeling the ‘bad guy’ just decide ‘to hell with this.’”
“Guy’s
gotta point, Cyke. Them ain’t no church bells ringing,” Wolverine answers
seconding what the new comer suspected.
From
before them a shadow slowly rose from the shoulder of a fallen sentinel. The
X-men weren’t surprised to see that it was what was left of Bolivar Trask, the
mad inventor. “No, no, X-men. You’ll never defeat me. This day is yours because
I was not fully prepared. But the next time I will be. And that is no threat.
That is a promise,” the android finishes just before he slams his fist on the
control panel shattering it into sparks and busted metal. Turning abruptly the
man machine dived through a panel barely seen by the X-men firing upon them,
causing the X-men to dive for cover, waylaying any plans of pursuit. When next
the X-men looked up, Trask was gone.
“Cyclops,
do we pursue?” Traker Bishop asks.
Before
the leader of the X-men could respond the lights of the room flickered out and
blazed back on a bright red. The siren alarm blared to life with a vengeance as
a prerecorded warning filled the room. "Warning: self-destruct sequence
initiated. 5 minutes to detonation. All personnel evacuate the compound
immediately. Repeating: self-destruct sequence in effect. Evacuate the compound
immediately. In 4 minutes 15 seconds and counting...”
"Let
Trask go for now. We must leave this place at once!" Cyclops yelled as he
motioned the rest of the team back to face the large steel replacement double
doors blocking their retreat route. Cyclops having used the majority of his
reserve knew there wasn’t a chance of him blowing the doors through. Beside him
Bishop was thinking along the same lines. It was Wolverine who stepped forward
and began hacking at the large obstacle. Unfortunately, his progress was slow.
“Step
aside, homme,” Gambit told Wolverine. Once the man was aside, Gambit launched a
trail of playing cards at the steel doors, each of them sharp edged embedded
themselves firmly into the steel. Each of them pulsing with yellow kinetic
energy.
“Allow
me,” Renegade says stepping up and launching a thin stream of energy directly
into the center of the card configuration. The white light smacked the door the
same time the cards exploded. The resulting hole was large enough for Bishop to
step through comfortably.
“Nice,”
Wolverine compliments Renegade.
Renegade
wipes his hands together and smiles in the shorter mans direction. “Thanks.”
Phoenix
was the first to go through the opening. “Come on, this is not the time to be
patting yourselves on the back.”
“Warning
detonation in 2 minutes minus 20 seconds and counting. Evacuate premises
immediately...” the voice said over the speaker system as the group frantically
made their way through the corridor maze of the compound; Cyclops, Bishop,
Gambit and Renegade blasting through doors as they went. But even though they
were exiting the base a lot faster then they’d entered, there was no way they
were going to be away from the facility enough to avoid getting caught in the
blast.
Before
them the main entrance comes into view. “We leave this compound running, X-men,
don’t stop for anything,” Cyclops orders as they approach the doorway. Behind
them they could hear the fire of the central explosive flooding the passageways
they’d just exited. In fact, they could not only hear the fire, but see the
flames licking the walls as well.
Barely
twenty feet from the facility, the group was catapulted forward off their feet
as the five story building exploded behind them. Falling none too gently, but
at least without flames covering their backs, the X-men slowly turned to see a
wall of foliage ablaze with fire; a fire that should have been atop them,
shielding them from the fire of the compound. A wall of foliage that hadn’t
been there a moment ago.
Overhead
a stream of lighting split the sky followed closely by an impatient rumble of
thunder, just before a thin rain began to fall.
“The
perfect ending to a perfect day,” Bishop complains regaining his feet and
checking the power level on his hand cannon.
The
man introduced as Renegade regained his feet and ran his fingers through his
long black hair, frowning when he encountered a tangle. “Hey, I wouldn’t
complain too much if I were you. Things could have been worse.” That said he
separated himself from the group and began to scan the sky.
“I
agree. Trask’s destruction of the compound was a blessing. He got away but at
least the sentinel he’s created thus far are worthless. Not a threat to either
mutant or human,” Cyclops replies helping his wife to her feet. Still a bit
wobbly, Phoenix leaned heavily onto her husband.
When
she regained her balance, she turned an accusing eye on Gambit. “Gambit, we
thought you were incinerated. What happened? How did you get into the room we
were in without coming through the door? And who is this man?” She asks
indicating the man staring into the wet night sky. And more importantly, where
is Storm? she added silently. If Gambit was okay, so shouldn’t she be?
“His
name is Sidney Meyers, Jean,” a voice answers her from behind and up. Everyone
in the group turns to see Storm floating elegantly to the ground next to the
man she spoke of. Only this was an altered version of the Storm they knew.
Still the same, but definitely different. Her uniform was white, from elbow
length gloves to crocheted knee high boots bordered with gold. This was a
change from the dark blue she had recently favored. The only real color coming
from the kaleidoscope of streamers in her hair, the blazing red X-men insignia
at her hip and the crocheted design on the side of her copper toned face. The
cape she wore was also white but along its edges could be seen, when the wind
caught it just right the silhouette of a winter ravaged tree. When Storm
landed, she walked into the waiting arms of the man, known as Renegade.
They
both turned to face the others, all of whom were looking confused except for
Gambit, who was looking decidedly disgruntled.
With
one last look in the man’s direction, Storm turned to address the red headed
X-men once again, appearing slightly sheepish. “He is my husband.”
character by David written by Valegra
Valegra2@aol.com or KmvayiaT2g@aol.com David Briganti renegade@ipsnet.it