While X-Men: Days of Future Past did a great job bridging X-Men: First Class with the original trilogy, it did a terrible job in regards to being a sequel to First Class. I wanted a sequel because I wanted to see what happened to entire cast, not just the four most popular characters. Not only that, but there is a huge time gap in between First Class and Days of Future Past, with plenty of huge changes that we did not see.
With that in mind, I decided to write a prequel to Days of Future Past that picks up almost immediately after First Class. I also used this story as an opportunity to clear up several of the continuity errors in the X-Men franchise, and I even added a few cameos.
Now that the introduction is out of the way, please enjoy X-Men: The Sins That Haunt Us!
“Our enemy already knows everything about us. That is because they are us, hiding among us. In order to successfully fight this enemy, we must learn everything we can about them. That is Trask Industries’ mission.” A man gave this speech to a small crowd. None of them looked the least bit interested.
“That was a quote from Bolivar Trask,” the man said, “it’s one of my personal favorites. At least, that’s what they tell me to say. The truth is, I have no idea what it means.” The man who was speaking had the somewhat monotonous task of training new employees- specifically, new security guards.
“Basically, you are guarding the raw materials housed in this facility, and the scientists who are conducting research. There have been a lot of break-ins lately, so be on your guard.” The new recruits looked uneasy, but the trainer waved his hand in an attempt to lessen their fear. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve had a lot of break-ins at other facilities, but Trask Industries has facilities all over the world. The odds are low that this place is the next one to be hit. Basically, stay in your assigned areas, and don’t wander off, and this job is sure to be a breeze.”
Just then, one of the new recruits began to slowly walk away from the group, staring intently ahead.
“Hey! Didn’t you hear what I just said?” The trainer asked. “What do you think you are doing?”
The new recruit turned around and looked at the trainer, revealing a ghastly, pale face that appeared to be covered in makeup to disguise its true color. “Just checking to make sure cameras no longer operational,” the recruit said, in a thick Russian accent.
“What is that supposed to-” The trainer said, until he was cut off by the recruit teleporting towards him, and sticking a sword in his chest. The majority of the recruits screamed, and several pulled out their guns and opened fire upon the other recruit- because he was not, in fact, an actual recruit. He was a mutant named Azazel, and he had killed one of the real recruits, and stolen his uniform.
The recruits fired wildly at their trainer’s murderer, but no one could hit him. He teleported far too quickly, and he seemed to be in all directions at once. Azazel teleported into the middle of the recruits, grabbed one, and teleported to just above the ceiling.
Azael smiled at him, and the recruit briefly had hope that he would survive. Then Azazel slammed his head against the ceiling, and dropped him to the ground.
The recruit’s body fell to the ground with a sickening crunch, eliciting more screams from the survivors. Azazel had already teleported to the ground, and was attacking the others. “This job isn’t worth it!” One recruit shouted, and began running for his life. The surviving recruits followed.
As they were running from the murderous teleporter, one recruit said to another, “Be careful! There’s a shape shifter on the loose! Could be anyone!”
“What?” That was all the recruit managed to say before he was punched in the face by another mutant pretending to be a recruit. One recruit that was running behind them stopped cold when he saw this betrayal, confused.
“Could even be me!” The mutant posing as a recruit said, then leaped into the air, and kicked the paused recruit in the face while simultaneously shape shifting into her natural blue and scaly form. Her real name was Raven, but she preferred to be called Mystique.
The remaining recruits, their number growing smaller by the moment, continued to run for their lives. What they saw next was perhaps even more surprising than the teleporter and the shapeshifter- a miniature, indoor tornado. They did not have much time to wonder, though, because the tornado swiftly moved toward them and hurled most of the recruits backward. The tornado itself was actually another mutant named Janos Questad, but he was better known as Riptide.
Mystique and Azazel quickly joined Riptide, as it appeared that none of the recruits were still alive. “Nice work, comrade,” Azazel said. Riptide just nodded. He did not like to make small talk. In fact, he rarely spoke at all. Azazel was not particularly talkative, either, but that had started to change. The longer he had known Mystique, the more prone to talking he had become.
Suddenly, more experienced security officers arrived. “Die, mutie freaks!” one of the security guards exclaimed.
“If you really think we are freaks, then you haven’t seen some of the stuff your company does to mutants,” Mystique retorted. Before any of the guards could open fire, several of them screamed as fireballs were rained down on top of them. The security guards fired wildly at the flying mutant, but she was far too fast to be hit. Her name was Angel Salvadore, and her insect wings and ability to spew fireballs was a deadly combination.
“Care to be a gentleman?” Mystique asked.
“Of course,” Azazel replied, grabbing her hand and teleporting them into the midst of the guards. Azazel proceeded to stab, slash and strangle his enemies with his tail. Mystique used less lethal methods of subduing her opponents. She kicked, punched, and performed acrobatic feats to knock out the guards.
“Lift your legs higher, aim for their throats,” Azazel advised. Mystique listened, and swiftly kicked one man in the throat, knocking him out immediately.
Meanwhile, Riptide turned into a tornado once more, and threw several ninja stars at the security guards. Despite the fact that he was spinning at speeds of 80 miles per hour, he was still able to throw the stars with deadly accuracy. At the same time, Angel flew back and forth over the security guards, spewing fireballs at the guards that were not already being attacked by Azazel and Mystique.
Believing that the other mutants could handle the remaining security guards, Angel flew through the corridors toward a different area of the building. She reached a research area that was filled with computers, microscopes, and scientists. The scientists were all fairly normal-looking, in fact, the only thing that was strange about them was that they were all lying on the floor.
“I see you’ve taken care of things in this area,” Angel said as she landed. She was speaking to a mutant named Emma Frost, a telepath.
“Trask’s researchers will have trouble studying mutants when they are all in comas,” Emma said as she surveyed her work. She turned back to Angel, “Where are Mystique and Azazel?”
“They’re fighting security in the east corridors. They should be finished shortly.” Immediately after she said that, a bullet whizzed past her head. Angel lifted off the ground and spit a fireball out at the security guard that had sneaked up on them, but she missed.
“Let me handle this,” Emma said as she transformed her entire body into diamond. The security guard fired several bullets at Emma as she ran towards him, but they merely bounced off of her. She caught up with the guard and socked him in the chest, sending him flying.
“Why didn’t you just put him into a coma?” Angel asked.
“I like to use my diamond mutation at times, just so I don’t get rusty. You wouldn’t stop using your wings if you realized you only needed your fireballs, would you?”
Angel smiled. “No, probably not.”
“I actually developed my diamond skin first,” Emma said, “I was able to do that when I was just a teenager.”
“We’re back!” Mystique announced as she returned with Azazel and Riptide. “Don’t worry,” she continued, “all of the humans are dead.”
“Not all of us!” Shouted a voice that came from the opposite direction the mutants had just arrived from. “You mutants think you’re so tough? I would like to see how you handle the Sentinel exoskeleton battle suit!” A man wearing a massive suit of armor stomped into the room, flanked by even more security guards.
“Emma, put him in a coma,” Angel said as she started to lift off once more.
“I can’t,” Emma said, “he must have some sort of shield against telepathy.”
Just as the man in the Sentinel battle suit was about to attack the mutants, a masculine voice rang out from behind the massive robotic suit, “That suit of armor wouldn’t happen to made of metal, would it?”
The man inside the suit didn’t turn around, and even if he had tried, he would have failed. He was no longer in control of his suit. The Sentinel suit flipped on its side, and then it spun repeatedly, smashing into the floor and the walls, crushing the security guards in the process.
Above the wreckage of the sentinel battle suit, and the barely conscious pilot inside, Magneto floated toward the other mutants. His real name was Erik Lensherr, but he was rarely called that. Ever since he had killed Sebastian Shaw, ending a decades long Nazi hunt and avenging his mother, Erik had been very different. He now wore a helmet modeled after the one that Shaw wore, in order to protect his mind from telepaths. He also wore a cape that flowed behind him as he hovered. There was no practical reason to wear it, but it added a flair of theatricality. Erik thought this was fitting, as he was now the leader of a mutant anarchist group. They had yet to make their first public outing, but when they did, Magneto wanted to make sure he was a properly imposing figure.
“Did you find what you were looking for, Magneto?” Emma asked.
“No, unfortunately. I looked through all of Trask’s available files, but there was no evidence that the U.S. government has been involved,” Magneto replied.
“And what about the mutant? The one you were looking for?” Mystique asked. She was particularly concerned, because Erik had told her his reason for searching, which he had yet to confide in the others.
“No, unfortunately. Trask does not hold any mutants here- at least, none that are still alive.” Magneto’s face turned darker as he said this. “Considering the grotesque experiments that have been conducted here, I do not regret a single member of this facility that I have slaughtered. I trust that the five of you have killed your fair share of humans already?”
Emma, Angel, and Azazel all told him that they had, and Riptide nodded. Mystique merely looked at the ground, and said nothing.
“Raven, have you continued your stance on using non-lethal force?” Magneto asked, and Mystique nodded. Magneto shook his head. “Mark my words, some day you will find someone that deserves to be killed.” Then he turned to Azazel, whose white makeup had long since runoff, revealing his bright-red face. “Azazel, find the living personnel and take care of them.”
Azazel nodded, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Magneto turned toward the others. “While he is wrapping up the disposal of the humans, we can begin to make our exits. Remember, we are meeting again tomorrow.”
“Where are we meeting, exactly?” Angel asked, even though she already knew the answer. She was merely hoping that Magneto had changed his mind.
“Charles Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters,” Magneto replied, then he turned his attention to the pilot of the Sentinel suit.
“Wait, stop!” The man said, as Magneto came closer. “You don’t have to kill me! I promise I won’t tell a soul!”
“I’m sorry,” Magneto told him, even though he was not sincere. “But the Brotherhood has a policy. No survivors.”
…
Hank McCoy was under attack. He was leaping, dodging, and nimbly avoiding everything his enemy threw at him- but he knew he was tiring, and he was probably going to lose.
Even though Hank was his real name, he was affectionately referred to as Beast. This nickname was given to him by one of his teammates shortly after his transformation, and at times, Hank wondered if it was now a more accurate title.
You see, Hank had undergone a secondary mutation after attempting to make himself look more normal. He did this for the same reason many young men do stupid things- he wanted to impress a girl. Her name was Raven, and Hank though she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. At least, he thought that at certain times. Hank was something of a science whiz, and he created a serum to change the appearance of his hideous, apelike feet. The serum was also intended to change Raven’s appearance, so that she would no longer turn a natural shade of blue. When Raven started to get cold feet about the serum, Hank tried it, in order to prove that it worked.
Actually, the serum did work- for about ten seconds, and then Hank’s skin turned blue, and his entire body became covered with fur. He had become a true Beast.
It was a cruel twist of irony, in that when Hank tried to cure a woman of her natural blue skin, he ended up with blue skin himself.
All of these things were far from Hank’s mind at the moment. Raven had left the school, and the team, more than a year ago. At the moment, he was just trying to survive.
“Remember, Hank, you don’t have to just fight defensively. The less aggressive you are, the more your opponent will take advantage of you.”
Beast decided to take the Professor’s advice. He was usually right about this kind of thing. Not only that, he also had programmed the robot that Hank was currently fighting. Hank somersaulted and leaped toward his opponent, dodging the projectiles it was firing, and tackled it. He broke it off of its stand, and snapped its robotic spine.
“Nice job, Beast!” said Alex Summers, Hank’s teammate. In fact, he was the one who had given him that nickname. He was also working out in the Danger Room, but he had paused for a moment to watch Beast. Alex’s code name was Havok, and it was given to him by Raven, on account of how he had trouble controlling his mutant powers. He had the ability to channel cosmic radiation through energy blasts that fired from his chest. Even though he had trouble controlling them at first, the longer he had been at Xavier’s academy, the easier it became.
Unfortunately, Havok’s momentary observation of Beast caused him to stop paying attention to his surroundings- which was was never a good idea in the Danger Room. “Havok, look out!” cried another of Alex’s teammates, named Thunderbird.
Hank tackled Alex to the ground, just as a projectile hurled past the area where Alex’s head used to reside.
“Get off me, you big furball,” Alex said as he shoved Hank off.
Beast nimbly leapt to his feet, rolling his eyes. “You’re welcome.” he mumbled.
Thunderbird helped Havok to his feet. “Looks like you’re trying to get yourself killed.” Thunderbird said. John Proudstar was his real name, but he had taken on the code name Thunderbird after coming to the school.
“Relax,” Havok replied, “it’s the Danger Room. Nothing here is lethal.”
“Everything’s lethal in a combat situation,” Thunderbird replied with a grin, then he turned around and charged at a robot.
“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t remember seeing you when I was nearly murdered by a teleporting demon.” Alex shouted back.
“Havok, pay more attention to this situation at hand, instead of watching your teammates. Beast, good reflexes.”
“Thanks, Professor,” Beast replied, before jumping onto a series of bars that went higher and higher, until they reached the roof.
The Professor that the X-Men were talking to was of course, Professor Charles Xavier, affectionately called Professor X. He was sitting in a booth next to the Danger Room, a sheet of bullet proof glass protecting him from whatever crazy combat scenarios that the room could re-create. He was communicating with the X-Men through telepathy, as the Danger Room’s walls were sound-proof.
Somewhat hypocritically, the Professor was not following his own advice. He was supposed to be paying attention to the X-Men as they trained, but instead, he was thinking about their teammate, Banshee, who was no longer with them.
Specifically, he was sitting in the booth next to the Professor. “Um, can I go yet?” Sean Cassidy asked, which was his real name.
“No, Banshee,” Charles replied, “I want you to watch and see why you “died,” and why Havok, Thunderbird, and Beast still remain.”
Banshee sighed. He had not actually died, but he had lost in the exercise that they were practicing. They were supposed to fight a small army of robots, each with different abilities. Banshee had flown directly toward a group of laser-blasting robots, and was struck by the non-lethal blasts.
“Watch Beast,” Professor X said, “he is climbing the wall to avoid those two machines because he knows he cannot match their strength. Thunderbird is fighting the enhanced strength machines up close, because he can match them blow-for-blow. In contrast, Havok is as far away from the machines as he can get, so he can attack them from long-range. Do you understand the point I am trying to make?”
“Mm hmm. Thunderbird is stronger than Alex.”
Charles put his face in his hand. Sean’s gift of wit was a blessing at times, but this was not one of them. “The point is that you must pick your battles. You can’t defeat every enemy, sometimes you have to accept help from other people.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” Banshee said.
“It’s not enough that you are sorry for what happened,” the Professor said, “you have to acknowledge your mistake and learn from it, and make sure it never happens again.”
“Oh, I see now,” Banshee said. The two men sat in silence for a few seconds. “Can I go now?”
“No, I want you to stay here and watch the rest of the session with me.”
Sean sighed once more, and neither of them spoke for several minutes. Finally Sean spoke up. “So, have you heard from Moira lately?”
Professor X was surprised by Banshee’s inquiry, as he had not thought of Moira McTaggert in several months. She was a CIA agent that worked closely with Charles during the battle against the Hellfire Club, but she had left after Charles erased her memory of her time at the school.
“The last time I heard from her, she was no longer working for the CIA, but she had moved to Scotland, and she became a scientist.” Charles finally said.
“Wow,” Banshee replied, “that’s a big career change.”
“I agree,” Charles replied, “she said she’s working on an anti-aging serum, but I don’t know if she’s going to be successful.”
Once again, there was silence for a few minutes. Sean broke it by saying, “Do you know if she has a boyfriend?”
Their conversation was interrupted by the ending of the Danger Room session. All of the robots powered down and slowly rolled back toward their storage spaces within the walls. The various obstacles slowly moved back into the walls as well. Soon Beast, Havok and Thunderbird were standing in a blank, white room.
“You are dismissed,” Professor X telepathically told the three mutants.
“Great!” Alex said as he removed his mask. It was part of his new uniform. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, all of the X-Men got new uniforms with more emphasis on personal differences. “John, do you want to go to a rock show with me?”
“Sorry, I’m all done for today, and I’m driving to the reservation to see my family.” Proudstar replied.
Havok turned to Beast. “What about you, Hank? Want to go see a rock show?”
“No, sorry, I have class in a few minutes. And to be honest, rock and roll doesn’t really interest me.” Hank replied. Havok tried to think of a way to explain that he meant an actual show where they would be looking at rocks, but he could not think of a way that did not make him sound nerdy.
Beast was not just making up excuses. He actually did have class, even though he was not a student. He was actually a teacher, as were his teammates. When the school first opened its doors to the general public, Professor X taught all of the classes. However, as the number of students increased, this became too much of a burden for Charles. It was around to this time that Hank finally mentioned that he also had a PhD.
Of course, the Professor made Hank a teacher as well. The only other adults at the school at the time were Banshee and Havok, but fortunately, Charles was able to find a class for each of them to teach. Banshee taught a singing class, and it was not just for irony. Sean had actually been singing all of his life. Unbeknownst to other students, Alex started teaching a geology class. He was no expert, but he had been fascinated by the subject for years.
It was merely a stroke of luck that Charles had met Thunderbird when he took a trip to Arizona to find more students. John was actually a high school history teacher, specializing in Native American history, who just happened to be out of work. Not only that, he was a mutant, and he had earned the rank of Corporal during World War II, so he knew quite a lot about combat.
Beast walked up the stairs leading outside of the Danger Room, where he ran into Sean. “Hey, Hank! I was thinking about going out for a fly, do you want to come with me?” Sean asked as he patted him on the shoulder.
“Uh, that’s okay. My class is about to start, and the last time we did this, I came back with bleeding ears.” Hank replied.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, by the way. The Professor has been teaching me to control it better, so that the sound goes toward my enemies, not my allies.” Banshee was referring to his mutant power of sonic screams. He could concentrate his screams to shatter glass, and if he used the right pitch, he could even fly. Lately, he had been testing his ability to fly by carrying other people for significant periods of time.
“That is certainly a commendable idea,” Beast said, “why don’t you see if Alex is available? He said something about a rock and roll concert.”
“Nah, can’t stand those things. Too loud for my taste,” Banshee said, then he turned around and walked away.
Hank stood there for a moment, trying to decide if Sean was being serious. Eventually he shrugged, and decided that there were better uses for his mind. So he walked toward his class.
Meanwhile, Professor X was wheeling himself toward his room. He did not have any more classes to teach that day, so he was free to relax. He had been taken aback when Banshee had mentioned Moira, since it had been quite some time since he last thought of her. He had thought that erasing her memories and sending her away would protect the school from the prying eyes of the government. However, he was beginning to think that he had made a mistake. He had told Sean that she left the CIA, but she was actually fired. Her superiors did not take too kindly to an agent who completely forgot everything she did on a previous case. In retrospect, Charles knew he should have realized that wiping her memories would cost her her job, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
Not only that, Charles missed Moira. She was not exactly the love of his life, but he was attracted to her, and they had kissed right before she left. Of course, as Charles thought about why he had sent Moira away, this led him to thinking about another person who had recently abandoned him- Erik.
Indeed, it was Erik’s reflection of a bullet fired at him by Moira that had crippled Charles. Charles did not blame Moira for this. She was just doing her job, as Erik was trying to kill hundreds of American and Soviet soldiers at the time. However, he definitely blamed Erik for what happened to his legs. If Erik had not been so selfishly overcome by his desire for revenge and retribution, Charles would still be able to walk.
Oddly enough, the use of his legs was not even the worst thing that Erik took from him that day. He also took Charles’ adopted sister, Raven. Charles and Raven had met when they were only children, and Charles gave her a home and a family. However, as the two grew up, they developed very different worldviews, especially in regards to how mutants should react to the rest of society. Raven’s beliefs were far closer to Erik’s, and when the two parted ways, Charles encouraged Raven to leave with Erik. It was a decision he had grown to regret. He missed her even more than Moira. Losing a potential lover was one thing, losing a sibling was quite another.
Charles sighed deeply, and poured himself a bottle of wine. He tried not to think about Erik and Raven, whenever he did, he would become depressed. His depression would lead him to the bottle, and drinking would lead to a terrible hangover the next day, making it difficult to teach. Charles had plenty of responsibilities, plenty of things that he needed to remember, but for the moment, he just wanted to forget.
…
Early the next morning, the school had a visitor. To be specific, they had six visitors. Magneto calmly walked into the center of the campus. He was flanked by Mystique and Azazel on his left, and Emma, Riptide and Angel on his right.
Angel would have preferred to have been flying, but Magneto told her not to. He wanted the six of them to be as nonthreatening as possible.
Meanwhile, Beast and Banshee were in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Hank was reading the newspaper, and he did not like what he was reading. “Sean, did you hear about the break-in at Trask Industries?” he asked.
“No, what happened?” Banshee said in between chews.
“Someone broke in, disabled all of the security cameras, and killed all of the scientists and security guards. At least half of the victims were stabbed to death.” Hank said, a look of revulsion of his face. “Do you think it could have been a mutant?”
Sean shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe.”
Just then, Professor X rolled into the room, extremely hung-over. He opened a cabinet, and grabbed the aspirin.
“Good morning, Professor!” Banshee said. “We were just talking about the massacre over at Trask Industries.”
Charles took a moment to mentally turn the words over in his mind. Since that did not work, he said, “What?”
“Someone broke into a Trask Industries facility yesterday and murdered everyone who worked there. We think it may be a mutant.” Beast told him.
“Oh, I don’t even want to think about evil mutants at the moment,” the Professor said, rubbing his aching head.
It was at that moment that Havok ran into the room wearing his full uniform, shouting, “They’re here! Suit up, they’re here!”
“Alex, what
are you talking about?” Hank asked.
“Erik, Raven, Angel, the mutants we saw in Cuba, they’re all here!”
“What?” The Professor exclaimed, mentally willing himself to snap out of his hangover. “Banshee, Beast, put on your uniforms, they might be here to attack!”
The two mutants immediately got up to change. Charles turned to Havok. “I can’t telepathically sense them, which probably means their telepath is blocking me. Quickly, push me where I can see them!” Alex quickly complied.
A few minutes later, Professor X was watching the Brotherhood of Mutants as they stood on the lawn. Havok, Beast and Banshee were behind him.
“They aren’t attacking at the moment, which is probably a good sign,” Charles said, “but be wary, we don’t know what their intentions are. Find out what they want, but be ready for a fight.”
“Should we wait for Thunderbird?” Banshee asked.
“That would certainly be ideal,” the Professor said, “but we might not have time. “There are children at this school, we need to stop Erik as quickly as possible.”
Moments later, Beast and Havok ran out of the building, and Banshee flew out. Angel mistook Banshee’s flight for a sign of aggression. Like Professor X, Magneto had told the Brotherhood not to attack unless provoked. However, the sight of Banshee and screaming and flying directly at them appeared to be an attack. She lifted off the ground herself, and fired several fireballs at Banshee.
Fortunately, Banshee had been training with the Professor since his last meeting with Angel, and he easily dodged the fireballs. “Professor, they just attacked Banshee!” Havok told the Professor telepathically. Professor X usually communicated with the X-Men telepathically during their battles. He was a great strategist, and even though his body was confined to a wheelchair, his mind was not.
“Take them out, quickly!” Charles told the X-Men. “Havok, hit the man that creates tornadoes!”
Havok unleashed a blast of cosmic energy, striking Riptide in the chest. Riptide cried out in pain as he was blasted backward. He rarely spoke, but he did cry out in pain a lot.
At the same time, Beast ran swiftly on all fours and tackled Magneto. Erik was caught off guard, and had the wind knocked out of him. Beast briefly thought they had just gained a major advantage, until Emma Frost yanked him off of Magneto. Normally, she would not be strong enough to perform such a feat, but she was in her diamond form at the time.
“Hands off, sweetie,” she said, right before punching him in the face. Beast would have reacted quicker, but Emma had caught him off guard, and he was sent flying backward.
Meanwhile, Banshee and Angel were having a rematch of their aerial battle in Cuba. She repeatedly spewed fireballs at Banshee, but she was unable to hit him. Banshee was trying to angle his screams toward Angel, in an attempt to hurt her ears in the same way he had inadvertently hurt Hank’s. The two flying mutants chased each other over the trees, disappearing from the view of their battling teammates.
Of course, both the X-Men and the Brotherhood were too busy fighting each other to care. The only exceptions were Emma and the Professor, who were both telepathically shielding their teammates from attack by the opposing telepath. Of course, Emma could not use her telepathic abilities while in her diamond form, so she quickly resumed her flesh and blood form after punching Beast.
Beast was knocked off guard after being punched by Emma, but not for long. Just as he was about to attack Magneto once more, Azazel teleported in front of him, and kicked him in the chest.
“Comrade Magneto must not be disturbed,” Azazel said, a wicked grin on his face. Beast did not know what Azazel was talking about (he had forgotten that Raven had given Erik the nickname Magneto), but he did not care. He tackled Azazel, and Russian mutant teleported them to the roof.
Magneto was getting up, recovering from the shock of Beast’s attack. Things were not going as he planned. He had not actually intended on fighting the X-Men, but somehow a fight had broken out anyway. Seeing that Magneto was alone and unguarded, Havok prepared to strike him with a cosmic blast. He missed, mainly because Mystique covered his eyes while he was taking the shot, and then flipped him backwards. Havok wildly fired a blast of energy into the air, hoping to hit Mystique.
Magneto was standing, ready to call off the Brotherhood, when Thunderbird arrived. Thunderbird did not completely understand what was going on, but he had seen pictures of several members of the Brotherhood before, and knew they were not friendly. Riptide had just gotten back onto his feet, but he did not stay that way for long.
Magneto was still standing on the ground, but the sound of Riptide crying out in pain alerted him to the fact that Thunderbird was charging at him. Magneto lifted into the air just in time, evading Thunderbird’s blow. Seeing as he could no longer reach his enemy, Thunderbird ripped a huge chunk of soil from the lawn and hurled it at Magneto. The master of magnetism was thrown backwards, but remained in the air. Magneto did not come to fight, but he was getting angry. Thunderbird had bands of metal armor on his forearms, and Magneto used them to twist his arms behind his back, and make him topple over.
Meanwhile, Beast was still fighting Azazel on the rooftop of one of the buildings. It was always difficult fighting Azazel. Beast had one advantage, he was significantly stronger than his opponent, and they were evenly matched in speed. The problem was that Azazel used two swords, and it was difficult for Hank to concentrate on evading them, and dealing out a few blows of his own at the same time. Azazel’s tail was another obstacle, as he sometimes used it to grab one of Beast’s limbs, and had even tried to stab him with it a few times. Of course, the fact that Azazel could teleport also made things difficult.
Azazel was pressing his attack, repeatedly slashing at Beast with his swords. Beast leaped, dodged, and flipped over backwards. He found himself in the same predicament that he was with the robot during the Danger Room session the previous day. Suddenly he realized that he had to stop backing up- mainly because he was on the edge of the roof.
Azazel smiled. “Good-bye,” he said, before kicking Hank off the roof.
Beast did not have time to grab onto anything with his hands or his feet. Luckily, someone caught him.
“Feel like going for a fly now?” Banshee asked in between screams.
“How did you know I was here?” Beast asked, still in shock.
“The Professor told me. Anyway, are you still into acrobatics?”
“Um, yes,” Hank replied, not sure where Sean was going with this.
“Great!” Banshee said, and flung Beast backward, straight into a collision with Angel.
“Oh my stars and garters!” Beast exclaimed right before he ran into the winged mutant.
Banshee briefly wondered if he should have given Beast more warning before tossing him at another mutant. He did not have long to contemplate this, as Azazel teleported on to his back.
Banshee screamed the moment Azazel attacked. This was not a scream intended to keep them aloft, this was a scream of actual fear, as the teleporter had surprised him. Unfortunately, such a scream was not adequate to keep him in the air, as it was not the right pitch, and the two mutants began to fall.
Azazel flipped himself around so that he was facing Banshee, and attempted to slash at his throat. Sean had never actually fought Azazel, and had never gotten a good glimpse of him.
Banshee screamed in fear once again. Fortunately, since the scream was inadvertently angled toward Azazel, he was hurled away from Sean. Unfortunately, this scream was still not the pitch required to keep Banshee in the air, and they both hit the ground.
At the same time, Beast was feeling fairly awkward. He was not used to fighting girls, let alone girls that he already knew. Angel was having difficulty just keeping aloft. Unlike Banshee, she had not been training to carry other people, and she was not sure if her wings could support anyone other than herself.
“Get off of me!” she exclaimed.
“Um, I’m sorry about this, could you please land?”
That was exactly what they did. Fortunately, they hit the ground just as Magneto had had enough.
“Brotherhood, stop!” Magneto exclaimed. Havok was very grateful for this, as Mystique was currently choking him, and she let him go after Magneto spoke.
“We did not come here to fight you!” Magneto announced. “I do not know how this conflict started, but I would like to apologize. Charles, I would appreciate if you would come out where we can see you,” as he said this, he slowly descended to the ground.
Once his feet came into contact with the grass, Magneto removed his helmet. “I just want to talk.”
…
It had taken quite a bit of negotiation in order to convince Charles to speak with Erik face to face. He telepathically told Erik his demands through Banshee. Taking off his helmet was not nearly enough for the Professor- he demanded that Magneto give it Thunderbird. He also demanded that Emma resume her diamond form, so that she could not use her telepathy, and to remain that way the entire time Magneto was in the building. Beast and Havok were to guard her to make sure she did not return to her flesh and blood form. This might seem like overreacting, until you consider the fact that the last time Charles saw Erik, he was crippled by him.
It was almost noon by the time Magneto and Professor X were able to meet in the study. “Erik, it amazes me, after everything you’ve done that you would come here for help. You put me in this wheelchair, you take my sister away, you force me to endure the same pain as the man who killed your mother while he dies, and to top it off, you are working with the very same people who used to work for him!”
“I’m not here to argue you with you, Charles. Nor am I here to ask you for help.”
“Oh, that’s lovely,” Professor X said, as he drank from his glass. He did not usually drink this early, but at the moment, it seemed like the appropriate action. “So, you didn’t come here to argue, ask for help, or even fight, so tell me, why on earth are you here?”
“I’m here to make a deal,” Magneto replied, “I know you must have difficulty finding students. The easiest way to find mutants was using that device Hank built for the CIA.”
“Yes, yes, Cerebro. But what about it? We cut ties with the CIA more than a year ago.”
Erik smiled. “When you have someone in your organization that can impersonate anyone they wish, infiltrating a top secret facility is not that difficult.”
The Professor put his head in his hands. “Please tell me you did not send Raven into a heavily-secured government facility.”
“Don’t worry, Charles, she escaped without anyone realizing she was there. She even managed to find the blueprints to Cerebro,” Magneto said as he handed them to the Professor.
“And you want me to… sneak into the CIA and use it?” Charles asked.
“No, I want to rebuild it. Here, at the mansion.”
“That’s a nice thought, but what do you get out of it?”
“It’s simple,” Erik replied, “you get Cerebro, which you can use whenever you wish, and in exchange, you help me find a mutant with a particular ability.”
“A mutant who can instantly kill all humans?” Charles asked sarcastically.
“You don’t need to be so cynical. I am not the monster you make me out to be.”
“Oh, really? Let’s ask my legs what they think.”
“Charles, I am serious. I want to help you build Cerebro so that I can find a mutant that has healing abilities.”
The Professor was confused for a moment. “Why don’t you just find that WWII vet who told us to go-”
Magneto interrupted him. “I need a mutant who can heal other people, or more specifically, other mutants. I need him to heal a little girl.”
“A little girl? Now you are doing charity work?”
“This little girl,” Erik paused for a moment before he continued, “is my daughter.”
Professor X was certainly surprised. “I didn’t know you had any children.”
Magneto nodded. “I actually met her mother the same day I met you.”
Charles was puzzled. “The day you attacked Shaw’s submarine?”
“No, we actually met years before that, but I don’t blame you for not remembering. I went by the alias Max Eisenhardt at the time. We both attended a lecture on molecular physics at Oxford University.”
“Oh, that’s right, I was only seventeen at the time,” Charles said, “I was researching potential universities.”
“I was actually there because I believed a man who was partially responsible for the murder of my parents would be attending. Unfortunately, I was mistaken, but I found something even better. Her name was Magda Maximoff, and she was very beautiful. Unfortunately, I could not stay with her, as my hunt for for Shaw took me around the globe.”
“You seem to have reconnected with her at some point.”
“Yes, I did visit her from time to time. She became pregnant a few years before our conflict with Shaw, and we both agreed that it would be best if I was not involved in the child’s life.”
“What made you decide that?”
Erik was silent for a moment. “I led a very violent life. I would not be able to stay with them for extended periods of time. I decided it would be better for them to never know their father, instead of missing him constantly.”
Charles nodded. “But it’s a decision you’ve come to regret, isn’t it?”
“At times I do,” Erik replied, “but at the moment, I just want to do everything I can to make sure she will survive.”
Even though he was sitting with the man who he had blamed for all of his problems for more than a year, the Professor felt an emotion he had not expected- sympathy.
A few minutes later, Beast was with Magneto and the Professor. It had taken some convincing to make Hank agree to help Erik. Like Charles, Beast still viewed Erik as evil incarnate. This changed after Hank heard the story of Magneto’s daughter.
The three mutants soon stood on a concrete platform that jutted out into a large, rectangular room. “What on earth is the purpose of this room?” Magneto asked.
“I don’t know, my step-father had a lot of weird things built in this house,” Professor X replied, then he turned to Beast, “do you think we could build a new version of Cerebro in this room?”
“It’s certainly possible,” Hank replied, “though it would be a lot easier if the room was circular in shape.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Magneto said.
The trio worked together to rebuild Cerebro for the rest of the day. Beast provided the instructions for building the machine in the makeshift space, Magneto moved all the metal pieces into the places that Beast told him to, and Professor X provided the template upon which to base Cerebro’s acute systems.
It was almost nightfall when they finally finished building Cerebro. The new version was significantly different from the original, at least from a visual perspective. It was much bigger, and it looked a lot more polished than the one the CIA built. Instead of a white dome covered with metal lines, It was a shiny, silver, symmetrical room. Only the master of magnetism could have built something like this.
Professor X wheeled himself toward the edge of the platform. It was not the safest place to be, but the closer to the center of Cerebro, the better. He put on the harness, closed his eyes, and was silent for a few seconds. Then he cried out in pain.
Beast came running closer. “Is something wrong?”
“No, Hank, I’m just afraid I’ll never get used to shock of suddenly having my mind linked to all of these people. It’s getting clearer now.”
“Did you find the mutant I was looking for?” Magneto asked, eagerly stepping forward.
“No, and I’m afraid it might take a while, since we aren’t looking for a particular mutant, just a mutant with a particular ability.” So the Professor sat there diligently searching the planet for a mutant with healing powers. He did this for almost an hour, until he found success.
“I found him!” Charles finally exclaimed.
“Where is he?” Magneto asked.
“He is at a Trask Industry facility in Ohio, possibly underground.”
“That’s not surprising,” Magneto said, his face darkening.
“Why do you say that?” Professor X asked.
“Trask has bases all over the country, and perhaps even more all over the world,” Erik replied, “they perform unimaginable experiments on mutants.”
Charles slowly turned around. “You know this because… you were the one who broke into Trask Industries yesterday.”
Magneto shook his head. “Charles, that was by no means the first Trask Industries base we invaded.”
“Did you murder everyone on the premises of the other bases you invaded as well?” the Professor asked, starting to get angry.
“Charles, you wouldn’t pity them if you knew the grotesque experiments they were carrying out on mutants. On our people.”
“I’m not so sure we should have helped him,” Beast said, growing angrier.
“Think about it, Charles,” Erik said, “can you imagine how horrible an experiment would have to be to disgust me?”
“I think a human calling a mutant a bad name would disgust you,” Beast said, on the verge of growling.
“Hank, calm down,” the Professor said, “Erik, do you have any proof?”
Magneto nodded. “Walk with me.”
Several minutes later, Professor X and Magneto met with both the X-Men and the Brotherhood.
Professor X turned to the X-Men. “Beast, Havok, Thunderbird and Banshee, I have something to tell you. Magneto and his allies are going to invade Trask Industries tomorrow. You will be going with them.”
The room erupted with a series of objections, mostly from the X-Men.
“Shut up, everyone!” the Professor exclaimed. “You can voice your complaints one at a time. All of this negative mentality is giving me a headache. Also, Banshee, please stop abusing your powers.”
Banshee did not respond, he merely gave the Professor a dirty look.
“Are you serious?” Havok said. “We are teaming up with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants? People will think we’re part of them!”
“We’re the Brotherhood of Mutants,” Mystique said, “why would we call ourselves evil?”
Charles ignored Mystique, which was difficult. He had not seen his adopted sister in more than a year, and he did not know how to react to her. So he decided to focus on the X-Men. “Havok, no one will even know we were there. Erik has promised to disable all of the security cameras before we even make it into the building, and Emma Frost will wipe the memories of any of the personnel you encounter.”
“Well, that’s quite a commitment. Thanks for letting me know ahead of time,” Emma said.
“What’s the point of wiping their memory? Aren’t you just going to kill them all?” Beast asked, glancing at Azazel while speaking.
“No, I made Erik promise there would be no killing. From anyone.”
Magneto spoke up. “The reason we are attacking this base is to find and release several mutants that are being held against their will. If you saw some of the horrible things that they are doing to our brethren, you would be lining up to invade Trask Industries.”
“Even if it’s for a good cause, how do we know we can trust them?” Banshee asked. “After all, they were trying to kill us earlier today.”
“Hey, you started that fight!” Angel cried.
“I did not, you did!” Banshee exclaimed, a little too loudly.
“Silence!” the Professor said. “What happened this morning was an accident. I have read Erik’s mind, and he is telling the truth. Now, it’s already late, and we want to be at Trask Industries early in the morning, so I offered Erik and his allies to stay here for the night.” Plenty of grumbling followed, but eventually everyone agreed, and Havok was even willing to show the members of the Brotherhood to some of the mansion’s empty rooms.
Even though there was verbal agreement all around, not everyone was happy. Hank McCoy was a prime example. He knew that he should be sleeping if the battle that was to take place the next day would be as difficult as Erik promised, but he was restless, and angry. He had looked at the paperwork that Magneto had brought with him, he had seen the evidence that Trask was conducting inhumane experiments on mutants. He did want to help- but not with Magneto. Hank would have preferred if the X-Men had went in alone, and freed all of the mutants. Or perhaps the Professor could sue Trask Industries, which would put a stop to these experiments for good. Unfortunately, from what Hank knew about the legal system, that could take months, or even years. Plus, they would have to explain how they gained access to this evidence, and it would turn into a legal nightmare.
Unfortunately, Beast knew that once again, vigilante justice was the preferred choice. Hank did believe that the U.S. government could be an effective tool for change, which was why he had worked for the CIA for several years. He had even considered becoming a politician at some point. However, he was frustrated by the lack of acknowledgement from the government on the presence of mutants. Even though the U.S. government knew about the existence of mutants, they still acted as if they were nothing but a fairy tail. At the very least, they were no longer trying to actively destroy them like they had on the beaches of Cuba, and that was certainly progress.
Hank was musing on these things as he exercised in the Danger Room. Unbeknownst to his teammates, and the Professor, he often went there to be alone. It was part of the reason he did so well during the team sessions in the Danger Room, he had had plenty of practice.
However, Hank was not alone for long, Thunderbird soon joined him.
“Hey, Hank! Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” He asked as he jumped right into the exercises.
“Nah, I’m not really tired. What about you?” Beast replied.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t sleep much. I think it might have something to do with my mutant powers, like my ability to age slowly.”
Hank had not heard this before. “Really? How old are you?”
“I’m actually 53,” Thunderbird replied.
“Wow, I would have guessed late twenties, early thirties.”
“Most people do. Most of the men in my family have it, and I’m pretty sure my little brother, James, has it as well.”
“What makes you say that?” Beast asked.
“Well, he’s looked like a baby for almost five years,” Thunderbird replied with a laugh. “I know, you’re probably wondering if it has any scientific implications. As a matter of fact, I’m sending blood samples to a Scottish scientist right now, and she’s working on an anti-aging serum.”
“That sounds promising,” Hank replied. The two men exercised for a few minutes in silence.
John finally broke the silence. “Hank, I know why you’re here.”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t exactly hide your disgust when you heard that we would be teaming up with Magneto and his gang.”
Beast shrugged. “Alex and Sean weren’t particularly thrilled, either. It’s not the same, you didn’t see Erik betray us back in Cuba. Suddenly, our former enemies are his allies. And we are just supposed to help him kill humans?”
“The Professor said there would be no killing,” Thunderbird said.
“Yeah, but I’m not sure I believe him.”
“Look, I only met Magneto for the first time today, but I’ve certainly heard a lot about him. I know he’s untrustworthy, and dangerous. But if the Professor trusts him, then so do I.”
Hank grimaced. “I guess I’m not as trusting of authority.”
“To tell you the truth, I’m not usually that trusting of authority figures myself. There are times when I would openly rebel against them- and I’m sure you can imagine how helpful that was when I was in the army.”
Hank chuckled, and John continued, “I was angry for a long, long time because of what the U.S. government did to my people, and to my family in particular. When I got over that, I became angry because of the way mutants were treated at times. My anger caused me to be rude and obnoxious. I got into a lot of fights when I was a younger man.”
“What did you do to get rid of it?” Beast asked.
“One day I just realized that it was my problem, not theirs. I was never going to get an apology, so I just decided to forgive.”
“Forgiveness isn’t always that easy,” Hank replied.
“It’s almost never easy,” Thunderbird said, “especially when there is a woman involved. Are you sure your anger doesn’t have anything to do with that blue girl?”
“You mean Raven?” Beast paused for a moment, not sure how to respond. Finally, he said, “Maybe. I feel bad complaining about it, because the Professor, well, he lost a sister. What did I lose?”
“She’s cute,” Thunderbird said, “in a blue, scaly way. No offense.”
“None taken. She didn’t always look like that, and neither did I. The reason I became like this,” Hank paused for a moment to indicate his blue, furry flesh, “the reason I became a freak was because I was trying to help her. I wanted to be normal back then, but instead, I just became ever stranger. I would give anything to go back to the way I was before.”
“Maybe you are looking at this wrong,” Thunderbird suggested.
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe, instead of convincing you to become a freak, she really convinced you to reveal your full potential. After all, you are faster, stronger, and more agile than you were before. Maybe that serum was a blessing in disguise.”
Hank sighed. “That’s easy for you to say. You don’t shed on the furniture.”
…
Mystique and Azazel sat together in their room, contemplating the day’s events. “You did well, in the battle,” Azazel said. He had been training her to fight for several months, and she was a fast learner. Of course, she was not blessed with as many advantages as he was. She did not use weapons, she had no tail, and she could not teleport. What she did have was an ability to sneak up on almost anyone, and a bold, brutally efficient fighting style that perfectly complimented Azazel’s.
“Thanks,” Raven replied, “so did you. But I wish you would go easier on the X-Men, especially Hank. You could have killed him.”
“Do not worry,” Azazel said, as he gently stroked her cheek. “He would have certainly survived the fall.”
“Still, I don’t like it. These people were my friends and allies, and I don’t want to see them get hurt.”
Azazel nodded. “What about your brother? Did you speak to him?”
“No,” Raven replied, not looking directly at Azazel, “I don’t know what to say to him.”
“Does he blame you for what happened in Cuba?”
“No, but I doubt it makes him feel better, knowing that I left. I wish I had at least helped him get to a hospital, and stayed with him a few days afterward. It seemed wrong to just leave him like that.”
“I am no stranger to regret,” Azazel said, as he put his arm around Raven. “Did I ever tell you about my time in Russia?”
“Do you mean the time you were sent to assassinate-”
Azazel interrupted her. “No, not that. I mean when I was a young man.”
Mystique snuggled closer to Azazel, and said, “No, I don’t believe I’ve heard this one before. Are you keeping secrets from me?”
Azazel smiled. Raven’s sense of humor was part of the reason he loved her. As she rested her head on his shoulder, he began his story. “I was actually born there, but I was persecuted by my fellow countrymen. Even though most mutants develop their powers when they are teenagers, I was red from birth.”
“So you’ve always had this gorgeous complexion?” Mystique asked as she touched his face.
“Yes, but not everyone liked it as much as you do,” Azazel’s face darkened. “Actually, they hated it. The only thing that made me feel better was whiskey. I spent many years in a drunken stupor. I don’t remember much from those years, but I do remember I was called a demon so many times that I eventually started to believe it. I started to believe that I was sent to this earth to have as many children with as many women as possible, so that my offspring could take over the world.”
Raven gave him a strange look. “Don’t worry, my dear, it has been a long time since I believed that,” Azazel said as he patted her stomach.
“Good,” Mystique said, as she leaned in to kiss him, “because that would be a difficult thing to explain to little Kurt.”
…
Like many others currently residing in the Mansion, Angel Salvadore could not sleep. She had never actually been to this particular location before, but being near the people who lived there still brought back bad memories. As hard as she tried to relax, and fall asleep, she could only see one face- Darwin. Not Charles Darwin, but the young man who had given himself the nickname Darwin, due to his ability to adapt to his current environment. Both Angel and Darwin were part of the group of young mutants recruited by Charles and Erik to fight the Hellfire Club. They were hanging out with Hank, Alex, Sean and Raven in a CIA facility when the Hellfire Club attacked. Sebastian Shaw, Azazel, and Riptide killed dozens of CIA agents, and once they were finished, Shaw gave a speech to the young mutants.
You might think that after watching a man murder the people who were trying to protect you, that you might not be willing to listen to what they had to say. However, Angel could identify with Shaw, at least to a certain extent. Like her, he was a mutant, and as a mutant, Angel had faced persecution all of her life. People treated her differently when they saw her wings- some people had even tried to kill her. Shaw had suggested something that Angel had never thought of before, that mutants could be superior to humans. He told the future X-Men that if they joined him, they could live like kings and queens.
So Angel had chosen to go with Shaw, to join the Hellfire Club. However, before they could leave, the young mutants decided to fight back. Angel watched as Darwin turned around, and said something to Alex. At the time, she had assumed they were arguing about joining Shaw, but she later realized they must have been talking about attacking Shaw. Seconds later, Darwin said that he wanted to join the Hellfire Club, but it was all a ruse. Darwin grabbed Angel and shielded her with his own body in order to protect her as Alex hit Shaw with a blast of cosmic energy.
Since absorbing energy was Shaw’s mutant ability, he was not harmed. In fact, he used the energy that Alex gave him to mercilessly kill Darwin. Azazel teleported them away before she could see the final results, but she knew that Darwin could not have survived that.
It took several months for the reality of his death to set in. She knew he almost certainly died, but it took her a long time to realize that he died for her. He had sacrificed his life in an attempt to protect her- and she did not even know his real name.
Angel was interrupted from her own thoughts when she heard a knock on her door. “Come in,” she said, assuming it was Emma. Sometimes she would visit Angel late at night when neither of them were able to sleep. The two women actually had a lot in common.
So Angel was surprised to see Alex Summers walk through the door.
“Alex!” she exclaimed, as she sat up. “I thought you were Emma.”
“Maybe I am! Maybe I’m using my mental powers to disguise myself as that handsome fellow!” Havok said, and Angel gave him a funny look. “Sorry, that was a bad joke. Anyway, I came here because I wanted to ask you a few questions about Trask Industries.”
“Why didn’t you ask earlier today, when we were all talking about it?”
“Well, I was still too angry at that point to learn that we were teaming up with them,” as he said this, Alex awkwardly searched for a place to sit. Unfortunately, there were no chairs in the room, so he settled on sitting on the floor. He continued, “but not you, you’re different. You used to be with us. Why are you following them?”
“I’ve heard Professor Xavier’s speech on peace and tolerance. I find Shaw and Magneto’s beliefs to be a little more acceptable.”
“Why is everyone calling him Magneto? That sounds really silly.”
“Says the guy who calls himself Havok?” Angel retorted.
“Good point,” Alex said, “but anyway, what kind of security do they have at Trask’s?”
“It’s not that great. Mostly security guards with handguns. I’ve seen grenades on the belts of a few, but I’ve never seen them throw them. They also have guys in giant robot suits, but we’ve only seen one of those once.”
Havok nodded. “Doesn’t sound too difficult.”
Angel nodded as well. “It’s not.” The two sat in silence for a few moments.
Eventually, Angel broke it. “So, why do you call yourselves the X-Men?”
Havok laughed. “Actually, the kids gave us that name.”
“Really?” Angel asked, allowing herself to smile.
“Yeah, something about how we have an “extra power,” or something. We’re the teachers at this school, but we also deal with mutant threats around the world. Sometimes we rescue mutants from evil humans, but usually we protect humans from evil mutants.”
“I guess you consider yourselves to be superheroes,” Angel said.
“Yeah, something like that,” Alex replied, “I don’t know if you remember this, but Shaw said something about defending the humans being like protecting those who hate and fear you, and I think that’s kind of what we do.”
Angel nodded, and she was silent for a few seconds. Then she got up from the bed, and sat down on the floor next to Alex. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, about Darwin?”
Alex was surprised, he had not heard that name in while. Both he and his teammates tended to avoid the subject, as it was a reminder of the peril that they put themselves in almost every day. “Um, yeah, sure,” he said.
“Do you know what his real name was?”
Alex thought for a moment. “I think the Professor said it was Armando.”
“Armando,” Angel said, quietly repeating the name to herself. It seemed silly, but finally knowing the name of the man who had sacrificed himself for her made her feel a little better. She turned to Alex. “What was the last thing he said, before he stepped outside? I know he was talking to you, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.”
“I don’t remember his exact words, but I know it was something like, “Act like you’re mad at me. I’ll protect Angel, you hit Shaw.” And I said to him, "It's too dangerous,” and I clearly remember the last thing he said to me. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.” Alex paused for a moment, then he continued. “He said, “We have to show the world that we’re not all like them.””
Angel looked at the floor. She had nothing to say in reply, so she said, “Have you ever felt like you’ve been given a gift, not necessarily something that you asked for, but something that you can never repay, or there’s not even a way to thank that person?”
“Angel, I know you think that he died for you,” Alex said, “and that’s probably true. But I like to think that he died for all of us. Not just for those of us who were at the CIA headquarters at the time, but for all mutantkind. I think Darwin is a symbol that we can choose to be something better, that we don’t have to be like Shaw.”
“We left right after Shaw injured Darwin, did he say anything before he passed away?”
Havok shook his head. “No, he didn’t have time. All he could do was reach out his hand toward us, like he was trying to connect with us in his last moments.” As he said this, Alex reached out his arm in a manner similar to the way Darwin did.
Angel noticed this, and in response, she lifted up her arm in the same way, and grabbed his hand. Alex was surprised by this, and he turned to look at Angel. She just smiled faintly at him, the smile of a person who was deeply injured, but might be starting to heal.
As Angel rested her head on his shoulder, Alex thought of many things. He thought of how much he had missed having women at the school, and how soft her head felt. More importantly, he thought he had made a genuine connection with Angel, and he wondered if maybe she could be turned back to side of the X-Men once more.
Even though he tried not to think about, he also could not help but deeply regret blasting her out of the sky back in Cuba.
…
Once again, Professor X was drinking. He was not nearly as depressed as he had been the previous day, but the return of Erik, the rebuilding of Cerebro, and the plan to attack Trask Industries were stressful enough. Just as he was pouring himself another glass, there was a knock at the door. “Who is it?”
Banshee opened the door. “Oh, uh, it’s me.”
“Can I help you, Sean?” Charles asked.
“Oh, not really, I just came to see how you’re doing,” Banshee said as he sat down.
The Professor sighed. “Do you drink, Banshee?”
“Sure I do! I am twenty-one!” Banshee said, then added under his breath, “In three months.”
Professor X smiled. “I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you whisper.”
Banshee smiled as well, even though he expected that the Professor would not share. To his surprise, he poured Sean a glass anyway, and handed it to him. Before he took a sip, Sean asked, “So, are you angry that Erik and Raven have come back?”
Charles thought for a moment, then replied, “Not really, no. I was when I first saw them, but surprisingly, they are here for a fairly noble cause.”
“Is that why you want us to team up with them?”
Professor X nodded. “Yes, that’s why. Perhaps I am a fool for trusting them yet again. It’s not the first time something like this has happened to me, actually. I had a stepbrother, and he was extremely annoying. He just wouldn’t stop talking.”
“Couldn’t you use your powers to make him stop?”
“No, that didn’t work, he was just unstoppable,” Charles replied, “and when he grew older, he actually became a violent criminal. More than once, he tried to convince me he had changed, and I believed him. I don’t regret forgiving him, but I do regret trusting him again. And I guess I am doing the same thing with Erik.”
While the Professor was talking, Banshee had tried a sip of the alcohol the Professor had given him. He grimaced upon tasting it, but did not want to spit it out while Professor X was speaking. Instead, he swallowed it, wincing the whole time.
“Yeah, I don’t think I like drinking,” Sean said, “but anyway, your situation kind of reminds me of what you told me yesterday during the Danger Room session.”
“What do you mean?” Charles asked, as the previous day already seemed like a distant memory.
“Well, you told me it’s not enough that I am sorry for what happened, I have to acknowledge my mistake, learn from it, and make sure it never happens again. No offense, but it appears that you are not really learning from your mistakes.”
“Trust me, Banshee, there is at least one significant way I have learned from my mistakes.”
…
Early the next morning, the X-Men suited up and assembled in the docking area where the Blackbird was kept. “Wow, you guys look tired,” Banshee said to his three teammates.
“We, uh, probably went to bed late,” Beast replied, “regardless, I do not believe this will affect our performance today.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Havok said, “I’m ready to get in there and demolish Trask Industries, perhaps by myself,” he would have preferred that Angel was by his side, but he did not mention that part.
“I am just hoping that we finish this quickly, so that I have time to visit my family,” Thunderbird said as he put on his mask, “it’s my little brother’s birthday today.”
Havok looked at the Brotherhood, who had gathered on the other side of the docking area. “Do you think we should go join them?”
“Nah,” Banshee replied, “we should just wait until Magneto and the Professor get here.
Currently, Magneto and Professor X were doing what they did best- arguing.
“I told you, Erik, I’m not a field agent anymore.” the Professor said.
“Come on, it will be like old times,” Magneto replied, “like Russia, or Cuba.”
“You seem to forget that our mission in Cuba did not end well for me. There’s not much more to say, I’m in a wheelchair now, I can no longer move fast enough for combat!”
“I thought that you telepathically spoke to your students during combat,” Erik said.
“That’s when they are close enough! This is Ohio, even my range can’t extend that far.”
Magneto sighed, put on his helmet, and walked away. He felt bad about what had happened to Charles, but he did not believe he was fully responsible. He believed that the fault lied with Moira. She had been the one firing the gun, after all. Erik had merely been defending himself.
Of course, Charles did not see things the same way. This was a shame, as Erik still thought of Charles as an old friend. He had hoped to patch things up with Charles during this trip, but alas, that did not appear to be the case.
Magneto walked into the docking area and immediately caught the attention of both the X-Men and the Brotherhood.
“Where’s the Professor?” Banshee asked.
“Charles has decided not to join us. He has decided to remain here to look after the children.” This was actually the first excuse Charles had given him, and while technically true, it was not the main reason he had elected to stay.
Erik turned to Beast. “Is there room for all of us in your jet?”
“The Blackbird? Yes, there is room for at least ten people. I wouldn’t suggest using it for combat, though, it is more like a regular private plane. We didn’t have the budget to make this one as maneuverable after the last one was destroyed.” Upon hearing this, Riptide looked down at the ground, not making eye contact with anyone.
“Excuse me, but can’t the teleporter just take us there?” Thunderbird asked.
“Azazel could teleport us there, but teleporting with this many people over such a distance would be straining for him, and I need him well-rested for the upcoming attack.” Magneto explained, and Azazel nodded.
So for the next few hours, both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of mutants flew toward Trask Industries. The ride was fairly peaceful, largely due to the fact that the X-Men stayed at the front of the plane, and the Brotherhood sat in the back. Magneto found that the separation between the two groups was key to keeping the peace.
The violence only began after the mutants arrived at the base. However, first Magneto had to disable the security cameras. While still a safe distance away from the facility, Magneto knelt in the grass, and concentrated. If all of the security cameras were right in front of him, it would be easy to crush them all in an instant. These cameras were separated, and they were present all over the base. Magneto had to concentrate for several minutes, stretching out with his mind to detect the presence of every camera on the base. Once he had found them all, it was not difficult to prevent them from working. He merely had to switch around a few essential components inside the camera itself. He would have completely demolished the security cameras, crushed them like tin cans, but that would attract the attention of the staff, and alert them that something out of the ordinary was occurring.
Once Magneto was finished, the full scale invasion began. They had decided that it would be best to split up their forces, and break into the facility from two different entrances. They did not have a map of the base, so they would be searching blindly for the captive mutants. The two groups would fight their way through their side of the facility, searching as they went, and they would meet up in the middle.
The simplest way to split up was to have the X-Men attack from one entrance, and the Brotherhood from the other. Getting inside the facility itself was no problem, as Magneto was able to unlock doors for both groups. After they had both entered the facilities, both the X-Men and the Brotherhood closed and locked their respective doors. After doing this, Magneto had the Brotherhood wait while he telekinetically searched for cages in the facility. Unfortunately, since his power only allowed him to find metal, not people, he had no idea who was being held in these cages, if anyone.
However, the X-Men started searching the facility immediately.
“Where do you think they would hold a bunch of mutants?” Banshee asked as they walked through an empty corridor.
“Probably in a cage specially designed to suppress their mutant powers.” Beast replied.
“There are ways to take away mutant's powers?” Banshee asked, perplexed. He had never heard of such a thing before.
“Oh yeah, definitely. I have been working on something like that myself, so that I can disguise myself as human when I need to.”
Thunderbird and Havok were behind them, ignoring their conversation. “Are you planning on paying attention to our enemies this time, or will you just be watching Hank?” Thunderbird asked.
Havok understood the reference to the Danger Room session a few days ago, and retorted, “Actually, I thought I would leave to visit my family, then return right at the end of the battle.”
Both conversations were quickly interrupted when a swarm of security guards appeared in front of the mutants. “Stop! Who are you people?” the head security guard asked.
Before any of the others could respond, Sean spoke up. “We’re… clowns.”
“Clowns?” The security guard replied, skeptical.
“Yeah, that’s right, clowns. We’re here to entertain the scientists.”
“Where’s your make up?”
Banshee sighed. “Okay, plan B,” he said, screaming and taking to the air. Immediately after he did this, Beast leaped forward with a roar, and smacked the head security guard in the face. He was sent flying back, and crashed into several of the guards that were standing behind him. Banshee was already in the air, and he flew toward the guards, screaming so loudly that he knocked several of the men over like bowling pins.
A few of the security guards had recovered, and were starting to fight back. Worse yet, reinforcements had arrived, and they began firing their weapons at the X-Men.
Of course, they were not fast enough for Beast. He charged at the men, leaping and flipping, and striking down security guards with his hands and feet. Even though most of the guards were aiming at Beast, a few fired at Thunderbird and Havok. Moving with the swiftness that was given to him by his mutant abilities, Thunderbird stepped in front of his teammate, and blocked the bullets, which harmlessly ricocheted off of his body.
“Stay back!” Thunderbird warned, before he also charged at the security guards. Like Beast, he attacked the guards using only his bare hands. His fighting style was not as refined as his furry teammate, as he used his blunt strength and speed to bludgeon his enemies.
It was a breathtaking sight, the two X-Men fighting side by side. Unfortunately, Havok had no time to enjoy it. He knew he was not fast enough to avoid getting shot, like Hank, and he definitely was not bullet proof, like John, but Alex Summers was certainly not helpless. He unleashed a blast of cosmic energy at the security guards, making sure not to hit either of his teammates.
In less than a minute, all of the security guards were unconscious. “What’s next?” Thunderbird asked.
Banshee flew back to his teammates at that moment. He landed, then said, “There were a few goons in the hallway, but I took care of them. They said something about prisoners, should we go check it out?”
“Most certainly!” Hank replied, and they began running in the direction Banshee had just come from.
Meanwhile, Magneto had finished locating all of the rooms with cages. “Let us begin our search of the premises,” he told the Brotherhood. “Azazel, scout ahead to see which humans are in the vicinity,” Azazel nodded, and turned to leave, when Magneto added, “sheathe your swords. I promised Charles there would be no killing, and I intend to keep my promise.” Azazel raised an eyebrow, but he did as he was told, and teleported away.
Magneto turned to the rest of the team. “The rest of us will follow at a steady pace. Angel, you and I will remain on the ground until we encounter opposition from the homo-sapiens. Emma, Riptide, you two will lead us. Emma, scout for the humans using your telepathy, and put them in comas before they can reach us.”
“Of course,” Emma replied.
“Riptide, turn into a tornado and wipe out the first wave before they can even reach us,” Magneto said, and Riptide nodded.
As they began to walk, Magneto turned to Raven. “Mystique, our primary concern is to find the mutants, but when you get the chance, feel free to slip away to any sort of office that you can find.”
Mystique nodded. She knew that Erik wanted her to find evidence of the U.S. government’s involvement with Trask Industries.
Moments later, Azazel appeared in front of Raven and Magneto. “Many guards are ahead,” he told them.
“Did you take care of them?” Magneto asked. Then, as he glanced at Azazel’s hands, he said, “in a non-lethal manner?”
“A few of them,” Azazel replied, “Emma and Riptide are dealing with them.”
“Good.” Magneto said, and it was at that moment that a squad of security guards arrived from behind them.
“Turn around with your hands on your head, or we will shoot you!” The head security guard declared.
Magneto allowed a small smile to play on his lips. At times, the arrogance of the inferior species amused him greatly. “Humans and their guns,” he wryly remarked to Azazel and Mystique, before adding, “I’ll handle this.”
Azazel grabbed Mystique and teleported them away. Magneto turned around to face his enemies. “Gentlemen, do you honestly intend to shoot me?”
“If you do not surrender, we will be forced to use lethal force.”
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Magneto said, before ripping the guns out of their hands. He levitated the guns in front of the men, and then rotated them, so that a gun was pointing at every man. Erik was tempted to open fire and kill them all, since that was what they deserved. However, he had made a promise to Charles, and Magneto was a man of his word.
Magneto made the guns slam into the heads of the security guards, knocking them out. Then he turned around, and followed the rest of the Brotherhood.
At the same time, the X-Men were busy trying to find the prisoners.
“Are you sure they said prisoners, Banshee?” Thunderbird asked. The only thing they could find were blank, empty corridors.
“I’m pretty sure,” Banshee replied.
“Maybe they were lying,” Havok suggested, “maybe they don’t want to give away all of their secrets to the mutant invaders.”
“Shh, I hear something,” Beast said, placing a finger in front of his furry face. He stealthily crept towards a bend in the corridor that they were currently residing. When he got to the edge, he stopped, and listened. His three teammates followed suit.
“Can you hear anything?” Banshee asked. He was whispering, which was fairly unusual for him.
Beast nodded. “They know we’re coming. They are talking about guarding the prisoners. Their grasp of the English language leaves a lot to be desired, but I believe I understand.”
“How many?” Havok asked.
“At least a dozen, probably more,” Beast replied.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Havok said.
Moments later, the X-Men burst into the room. Banshee flew, and Thunderbird and Beast led the charge on foot, using their enhanced speed to reach their enemies quicker. Havok stayed back, randomly blasting at anything that moved (that was not one of his teammates). Their strategy was pretty much the same as with the previous room full of security guards. Banshee flew above their heads, and use his sonic screams to knock the guards back. Thunderbird and Beast fought on foot, taking full advantage of their speed, strength, and in Beast’s case, agility. Havok stayed back and fired cosmic blasts from a distance. There was one major difference between this room and the last, and that was the number of security guards contained within. There was at least a hundred.
“I believe they are holding the mutants somewhere in the vicinity,” Beast said, in the middle of the scuffle.
“Yeah, but we’re going to have to fight our way through these guys first,” Thunderbird said, as he sent a man flying.
Beast kicked a guard in the face, and said, “Yes, unfortunately, until we have finished this fisticuff, we have no way of reaching the prisoners.”
It was at that moment that Banshee flew over their heads, and shouted, “Yes we do!”
Beast grinned. Sean was usually quick to volunteer his talents, even when he was not asked, and today was no exception.
Banshee flew over the chaotic battle below him, searching for the room where the prisoners were held. He found a door that looked suspicious, so he landed near it. Of course, there were plenty of security guards near him, but most had their back towards Banshee, as they were facing the other X-Men. After he landed, a few of the guards turned around, but one well placed scream knocked all of the nearby men backward.
The rest of the security guards were focusing their attention on his teammates, so Banshee had a free shot at the door. He had been practicing with the Professor, and he had been successful in bending some of the weaker forms of metal by concentrating his sonic scream. He started screaming at the door knob, hoping to break the lock. He screamed for almost a minute, with no visible change. He was getting desperate, so he grabbed the knob and shook it in frustration.
The knob turned in his hands. “Oh…” Sean said to himself, as he realized it was unlocked. He opened the door, walked in, and immediately realized why the door was unlocked. The security was much better inside the room than it was outside.
“Are you one of the mutants that has come to bust the other mutants outta prison?” asked an enormously obese man with a smirk on his face.
“Isn’t that sweet. He’s protecting his own kind.” Said a man who was dressed all in red.
“Let me tell ya, the humans outside? They’re pushovers. You’ll find that it ain’t so easy to push over Fred J. Dukes.” The enormously obese man said.
“And if you want to get near to the prisoners, you’ll have to go past me first. Good luck getting close to me,” Said the man dressed in red. His name was Unus, and he had been nicknamed Unus the untouchable.
Banshee stood there for a moment, contemplating what his enemies had just said. He was not used to bantering with his enemies, nor was he used to taking on two mutants at once. At the very least, he assumed they were mutants, since they seemed pretty confident in their abilities. He knew that it would be wise to go back and wait for his teammates, so that they could take on the mutants together.
Of course, Banshee knew he was never going to do that. He lifted into the air, and flew directly at the obese man, screaming as loud as he could. Fred was surprised at Sean’s reaction, but he was also prepared. He planted both of his feet firmly on the ground, and remained standing despite the barrage of Banshee’s scream.
Banshee flew over Fred’s head after screaming at him. He was puzzled, usually when he hit anyone with a scream like that, they were thrown backward, or at least knocked over. The most that happened to the obese man was that the fat all over his body jiggled.
Of course, this came as no surprise to Fred. When he planted his feet firmly on the ground, there was no force on earth that could make him lose his balance- at least, nothing that he had come across.
Banshee decided to go back to the obese man later, and concentrate his efforts on Unus. Unfortunately, Unus was ready for him. Banshee flew toward Unus, attempting to blast the red-clad man with a powerful scream.
The scream never even came close to Unus, nor did Banshee. He felt like he had struck a wall, as he slammed into an invisible barrier and fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of him. Unus walked toward Sean, crouched down, and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Now you know why I’m called untouchable,” Unus said, smirking. He had the ability to maintain a force field around himself, and he also had the ability to take it down. “Of course, I can touch other people, but when I don’t want other people to touch me, here’s what I do,” immediately after saying this, Unus activated his force field, and hurled Banshee backwards.
Banshee flew through the air, but this time, not of his own power. He screamed, but it was a scream of pain, and he had no control over it. If it managed to hit either of the evil mutants he was fighting, it would only be pure luck. Sean was already in a lot of pain, so he was not looking forward to landing on the cold, hard floor once again. He braced himself for a hard landing, but it was actually quite soft. Unfortunately, what caught him was far worse than the floor.
“Don’t even try to struggle, buddy,” Fred told him, “Once I got ya, ya ain’t gettin’ free.”
Meanwhile, Mystique had successfully infiltrated the room where much of Trask Industries’ paperwork was kept. She had to pose as a security guard in order to do so, not to mention knock out at least one guard, but it had been worth it.
She looked through all the files she could find for several minutes, looking for evidence of an alliance between Trask Industries and the U.S. government.
What she found, however, was far more interesting than that.
Azazel teleported into the room as Raven was looking at the file. Noticing her wide-eyed expression, he asked, “What is it?”
Mystique looked up at him and grinned. “Oh, Erik is going to love this.”
At the same time, Thunderbird, Beast and Havok had finished their battle with the security guards. Havok ran to catch up with his teammates. “Which way did Banshee go?” he asked.
“This way!” Thunderbird said, running in the direction he last saw his friend. Beast ran after him, not far behind. Havok did not have the benefit of enhanced speed, so he lagged behind the other two.
“Hey, guys, wait for me!” Alex exclaimed as he ran after them.
Fred J. Dukes did not particularly care for his job. Sure, the pay was good, and he was able to hang out with his buddy, Unus. However, most of the time, it was pretty boring. Fred knew he was basically a glorified security guard, and his job required a lot of standing around. The only thing that made his job worthwhile was days like this. Every once in a while, some crackpot mutant would get it in his head that he needed to free his fellow mutants from the grasp of Trask Industries. On days like this, Fred was able to show off, and put his mutant ability of super strength to good use.
Fred thought about this as he held onto Banshee. His sonic scream had so far been ineffective against Fred’s fat-covered flesh, but Fred grasped Banshee tightly by the throat just in case. This was, of course, not at all comfortable for Banshee. In fact, he was in agonizing pain,he could barely breathe. He could only hope and pray that his fellow X-Men would be able to save him.
Unfortunately, someone else arrived first. He wore an expensive suit and sunglasses, and was flanked by several security guards. He had a full-time job working for the United States government, but he also owned stock in Trask Industries, and every so often, he came to one of their many bases to check up on things.
The man walked toward Unus, Fred, and Bansee. “Oh my, what do we have here?” He asked in a condescending tone. “What can this one do?”
“He can scream real loud.” Fred replied.
“Yelling? That’s his superpower? Well, then I guess my wife is a mutant!” The man said, turning to the security guards next to him, and they managed to muster a fake laugh.
“He can also fly, so he wasn’t easy to defeat,” Unus said.
“Ah, sometimes I just don’t know what gets into these mutant’s heads,” the man said, as he shook his own head. Then he turned to Sean. He looked directly at him, and said, “Do you know what keeps the world from erupting into chaos? When everyone knows their own place. The two men behind you are also mutants, but do you know why they are productive members of society? They know their own place. The trouble comes when people like you- especially people like you- try to be something they’re not.”
The man turned to one of the security guards behind him. “Marcus?” the man said, and the security guard handed him a long, glittering knife. Bashee’s eyes widened in horror when he saw the glint of the blade, but the man just chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you.”
Then the man plunged the knife into Banshee’s stomach. Sean wanted to scream, but he could not, he could only scream internally at the horrifying pain he was being being subjected to. The man continued his rant, and said, “I am just going to make an example of you in regards to what happens when a mutant forgets its place.” With that, the man beckoned toward the cages to his right, and Banshee saw what he had been looking for the entire time. He had been too busy fighting Fred and Unus to notice the cages filled with mutants behind them. The last thought Sean had was, “I’ve failed,” before he mercifully lost consciousness.
It was at that moment that the X-Men arrived. Thunderbird was first, and he witnessed the man removing the blood-covered blade from Banshee’s stomach, and Sean’s head going limp. The man looked up as Thunderbird let out a scream of primal rage, and then charged toward him. The man knew that he had to escape, and quickly, so he ordered two of the security guards to carry Banshee, and he began to run outside. Right before he left, the man ordered Fred and Unus to guard the prisoners.
Unus and Fred stepped in front of the cages, expecting Thunderbird to try and free the captive mutants, like so many had tried to do beforehand. Of course, John completely ignored them, and ran toward the door.
Beast followed soon after, and entered the room just in time to see Thunderbird exit the building. Hank assumed that was the direction Banshee must have gone, so he followed.
Meanwhile, Thunderbird was chasing after the man in the suit, shouting multiple Apache swear words at his enemy. They were on a launching pad with two jets, and Thunderbird was unable to catch the man before he could enter one of the jets.
Thunderbird was furious. He was angrier than he had been in a long time, and that was saying something. He had seen plenty of terrible things in the war, and he had seen plenty of good men die. However, he had never seen anyone murdered right in front of him, execution style, let alone a teammate and a friend. He screamed as loud as his lungs could muster as he realized what he had to do.
Beast arrived in the docking area just in time to see Thunderbird leap onto one of the jets. He also witnessed several security guards loading Banshee’s limp body into the other jet. Beast immediately ran toward the latter jet. He did not know what had happened to Sean, but Hank assumed that John was attempting to avenge him.
Beast ran toward the aircraft, hoping to get onboard before it took off. Alas, he was too late, and the jet lifted off the ground. The only thing he could do was watch in desperation as it flew into the sky.
Havok finally caught up with Beast, panting from the exertion. “What happened?”
Beast shook his head in helplessness. “Banshee’s been injured, and Trask personnel took him away. Thunderbird leaped onto that other jet, presumably to avenge him.” As he said this, he pointed to the jet that was further away.
“I would blast either of them, but I’m afraid I might hurt one of them,” Havok said.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Beast said with a sigh.
It was exactly that moment that the first jet began to plummet from the sky.
Thunderbird had repeatedly battered and bashed the jet, hoping to bring it down in any way possible. He guessed that the reason for his success was because he was fairly close to the engine. Oddly enough, as he swiftly fell toward the earth, he had a sense of peace. He continued to smash and bash the jet, not caring that it was already damaged beyond repair. He thought to himself that he had avenged his brother, that he was an Apache warrior, and on this day, he had definitely proved it.
And that was the last thing he thought before he died.
Beast and Havok began running toward the jet the moment that it hit the ground. Beast arrived first, being much faster than his teammate. He searched the perimeter of the plane, hoping to find any trace of his friend. By the time Alex arrived, Hank had already found it. There was not much left, only the charred remains of a human skeleton.
Beast had begun to choke up, and Havok nearly did as well. Instead, he said, “John was a very brave man, and he deserves a funeral. But right now, Banshee is still alive, and we have to whatever we can to save him.”
Hank nodded, blinking back the tears. “The Professor. We just rebuilt Cerebro, wherever Trask takes Sean, he can find him.”
“Let’s get Magneto, and the rest of his mutants. If we’re going to save Banshee, it will take all of us.”
Part two is coming soon!
What did you think of part one? Let me know in the comments!