BROTHERS IN ARMS

Part IV: Decisions

By Dino Pollard

“Do you remember when I looked like this, Charles?”

Xavier sat in his wheelchair, his gun trained on the woman in front of her. The indigo-skinned intruder had already changed her shape. Now she was Caucasian, with long, black hair. He noticed the bullet wound in her leg had began to clot. Her shape-shifting abilities gave her accelerated healing – not as fast as Logan’s, but better than nothing.

“Do you, Charles?” she asked. “Back when I was Raven Darkholme? Back when we were young?”

Xavier offered no reply, just held the gun tightly. His finger rubbed the trigger slightly, as if he was tempted to fire at any moment.

“No?” she asked. “Fine.”

Her appearence altered once more. This time, she changed into a man with short, white hair.

“Do you remember him, then?” she asked. “It seems so long ago, doesn’t it? The three of us were going to change the world back then. Things didn’t work out so well, did they? Remember when you and Erik went away for that week? Remember what happened?”

“…yes,” muttered Charles.

“Those humans killed them…” continued Mystique. “Magda and the twins. Erik was devastated. And you? You blamed yourself for what happened. That was when it started to go downhill, remember?”

Xavier flinched slightly as he recalled the events of years past.

“That’s when you abandoned me…” said Charles.

“I had no choice,” replied Mystique. “Erik was driving himself insane. He started talking about destroying all of humanity. You tried to convince him that that wasn’t our goal, that we needed to work with the humans. But he didn’t listen. The two of you fought constantly. I couldn’t take it anymore, I felt like a babysitter. So I left. I began to continue the dream we started – to train young mutants in the use of their powers – to prepare them for the hard world they would have toi face. That’s what the Brotherhood is, Charles. It’s our dream personified.”

“No Raven… it’s not,” said Charles. “You turned the dream into a nightmare.”

“What the hell is this?!” exclaimed Toad.

“It’s called a raid, ugly,” replied Psyche.

“Take ’em out, X-Men,” ordered Wolverine. Cyclops turned the dial on his visor once more, and a wide optic blast emerged. The blast struck Toad and sent him flying into some crates. He leapt out of them and crashed back down to the ground. His feet left indentations in the concrete.

“Yer dead now, mate,” he said, focusing on Cyclops.

“Don’t think so,” said Beast as he leapt feet first into the Toad. He began to deliver a pummeling on the Brotherhood’s field leader with his fists.

“Divide an’ conquer!” ordered Wolverine. “Don’t give ’em a chance ta use any team tactics against ya!”

He heard a low growl and turned to face the source.

“Where ya think yer goin’ old man?”

Logan turned to see the deformed mutant known as Marrow standing before him. She had numerous bones growing from her body. She grabbed one of them and pulled it out with a sickening SCHLUCK. If it had caused her any pain, she certainly didn’t acknowledge it. Bringing the blood-stained bone dagger to her mouth, she licked the crimson liquid from it and smiled.

“Y’ think ya got what it takes t’ play in th’ big leagues?” asked Wolverine.

Marrow offered no response. She simply twirled the dagger in her hand, then pulled another one out. She crouched low and prepared to do battle with them. Wolverine lifted up his claws and got into a defensive battle stance.

“Alright girlie,” he stated. “Let’s dance.”

Thunderbird rammed into Colossus at the speed of approximately one hundred and twenty miles an hour.

“How’d y’like that?” asked Thunderbird. He cracked his knuckles. “Now get up, I’m not finished with you yet.”

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!!” exclaimed a voice. Thunderbird looked over his shoulder to find Avalanche running towards him.

“Bring it,” stated Thunderbird. He prepared himself to deal with Avalanche, when the ground beneath Dominick Petros suddenly lifted him up and hurled him directly towards Thunderbird. John had no time to defend himself before Avalanche’s fist struck him square in the jaw and sent vibrations running through his entire body. Thunderbird stumbled back and landed on the ground.

“…ow… wow…”

“There’s more where that came from, too, you sack of shit,” said Avalanche. He held out his hands, palms outstretched, and Thunderbird felt the ground begin to vibrate beneath him.

“Thanks, but I’m not really in the mood for a massage…” he muttered. That was right before the ground began to rise, and rocketed towards the ceiling. John saw it rapidly approaching.

“Oh this is gonna hurt…”

*CRASH*

Colossus barely had a chance to stand up when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked over just as a small fist struck his face and shattered his jaw.

“Shall we?” asked M.

Colossus got to his feet and transformed his skin into bio-organic steel. He reached up and felt his jaw, which was now perfectly in place. He then simply grinned and motioned for M to attack.

M pulled back for another punch, but Colossus caught her fist and swung her around before throwing her into the wall. She got to her feet, and Colossus was already on top of her. He slammed his fist into her face once more.

“Dibs on blinky!” exclaimed Sunspot.

“You and what army?” asked Cyclops. He fired an optic blast from his visor. Sunspot simply stood his ground, and allowed the blast to strike him. The blast didn’t affect him in the least, save for the fact that the flames around his body grew brighter.

“Thanks,” said Sunspot. He took aim and unleashed a solar blast which Cyclops had to leap away to avoid. “I’m called Sunspot because I absorb solar energy. Looks like that’s what your blasts are.”

The flames around Sunspot’s body began to increase in intensity. He looked down at Cyclops and fired solar blasts from his eyes. Scott dodged them as much as possible. Sunspot then began to direct the blasts through his hands, and Cyclops attempted to deflect a few of them with his own optic blasts. Sunspot began to hover in the air, generating solar energy all around him. Cyclops kept his focus right above Sunspot’s head, and turned the switch on his visor.

*ZAKT*

The spot where his blast struck the ceiling caused the roof to cave in ontop of the mutant. Cyclops walked up to the fallen Sunspot and saw that the solar energy around him had dissipated, and all that remained was a young, Brazillian man.

“Let’s make this quick, babe,” said Iceman. Dazzler felt the temperature rapidly decrease around her. “I’ve got better things to do than hang around here playing cat and mouse with you.”

Ice columns shot forth from the ground, forming a prison around her. Inside this prison, Iceman continued to lower the temperature to sub-zero levels. Dazzler’s leather uniform was insulated and it provided her with some protection from the elements, but not the protection she required. She concentrated instead on the sounds around her, trying to soak them all in.

*KRAKA-THOOM*

The sound of thunder rocked the air as Storm fired a bolt of lightning at the Iceman. The thunderclap was exactly what Dazzler needed, and her eyes began to glow. A huge, multi-colored light dome appeared around her and grew larger, vaporizing the ice prison. She hurled several of these light bursts at Iceman to catch him further off-guard. She looked up at Storm for thanks, but instead, she gasped when she saw Rogue, who seemed to come out of nowhere, leap onto Storm.

“After I saw what Erik did to New York – and after what I saw you do to Erik – I decided it was time for action,” said Mystique. “Erik lost his mind after his family was killed. And you sold out, Charles.”

“Magneto needed to be stopped,” said Charles. “I couldn’t allow him to kill more people.”

“And that excuses your actions?” asked Mystique. “I knew what had to be done, Charles. I did what had to be done. After what I’ve seen over these past few years, I knew that the government would never accept mutants unless they were controlling mutants.”

“You don’t give them enough credit, Raven.”

“Oh no?” asked Mystique. “I have two words for you, Charles – Black Air.”

“What’s Black Air?” asked Charles.

“I knew a change needed to come, so I put the Brotherhood into action.”

“To do your dirty work…” muttered Charles. “Don’t you realize that you’re exploiting these people?”

“I saved them!” exclaimed Mystique. “I only made offers, I forced no one!”

“You care nothing for any of them, Raven.”

“Don’t you even say that…” stated Mystique. “Two of them are my children – my own flesh and blood.”

“Children…?!”

From the shadows, two glowing, yellow eyes watched the whole battle play out. His name is Kurt Darkholme. He is the son of the Brotherhood’s founder, Mystique. A teleporting mutant with jet-black skin and a demonic appearence.

And of all the members of the Brotherhood, he is the most conflicted. He watches his teammates, his fellow brothers, fighting against the sellouts. The mutants who have betrayed their own kind.

He knows what he must do. He must fight them. His mother was right, she’s always right. The humans would kill them if given the chance – so it was up to the mutants to take away that chance. In fact, the mutants were already putting their plans into action by bringing in other mutants to hunt them down.

“You really think it’s that simple, Nightcrawler?”

Kurt flinched at the voice ringing through his head.

“What…?”

“Let me tell you a little story, Mr. Darkholme – no, better yet, let me show you.”

And Kurt Darkholme sees, a young girl who, upon her thirteenth birthday, discovered she could hear what people really wanted to say. And he sees her driven to the brink of sanity by these voices in her head. He sees a kind young man – bald. A former student of her father’s. He helped her. Showed her how to use these powers.

Kurt Darkholme sees her given a choice – a choice to work with the government in order to form more unity between humans and mutants. A chance for a better world. He sees all this, and he realizes that for the first time in his life, his mother is wrong.

“I… I don’t know what to say…”

“Then don’t say anything.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see a young girl with short, red hair standing over him. She was dressed in the same uniform the rest of the X-Men were. And up close, she didn’t appear to be an enemy.

“They call me Psyche,” she said, still speaking with him telepathically. “But my real name is Jean Grey – so why don’t you call me that?”

“Jean…?” he asked.

“And you’re Kurt,” replied Jean.

He looked towards the battle, and saw Rogue make contact with Storm’s face. The effect was delayed, but Storm suddenly became weak and fell to the ground. Rogue, however, remained in the air.

“I have to put a stop to this…” he muttered.

*BAMF*

“Weak,” said Wolverine. “Slow. Unfocused. Arrogant.”

He rattled off each of the faults of Marrow as his adamantium claws began to tear through her body.

“An’ t’ top it all off…” he continued, slashing one of her bone daggers into three seperate pieces. “Sloppy.”

“Gonna tear ya t’ pieces, old man…”

“You an’ what army, kid?” asked Wolverine.

“DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ ARMY T’ SLASH YER GODDAMN HUMAN-LOVIN’ THROAT!!”

Her back suddenly exploded with bone spikes – spikes which impaled the X-Men’s leader. She retracted them suddenly and stood to face him. The wounds on his body were numerous, and blood was leaking from them.

“That’s gonna be a bitch for yer dry-cleanin’ bill, traitor – blood don’t come out of leather so easy.”

“Won’t be much of a problem, really…” muttered Wolverine. The wounds were already beginning to close up. “I’ve faced up against th’ best, kid.”

A scream of pure animal rage issued forth from her mouth. She leapt at him, daggers in each hand.

*SNIKT*

*SNIKT*

Logan turned away from her and drew a cigar from his inside jacket pocket. He sliced off the end and lit it. He made no effort to even look at her.

“Feel free t’ scream now.”

And she did just that, the stumps where her hands used to be spouting blood.

“This is actually sort of fun,” admitted Beast. He continued to pummel the Toad into submission with his fists. Once Toad stopped moving, Beast stepped back to examine him.

“Did I win?”

The response came from the force of Toad’s legs, which slammed full-force into Beast’s chest.

*KRAK*

“That’s th’ sound of yer ribs breaking, mate,” Toad revealed. “I’m a tad bit curious t’ see what happens when I apply pressure t’ that big college noggin of yours.”

Toad placed his foot on Beast’s head and began to push down. But then, once he looked up to see the coming storm, he removed his foot and focused his attention there.

The sound of thunder rocked across the room. The roof tore itself completely free of the tenement, leaving the Brotherhood and the X-Men exposed to the raw elements.

However, these elements weren’t commanded by Ororo Munroe. Rather, they were commanded by Rogue. Storm, on the other hand, was currently lying unconscious on the ground.

“Now who wants t’ play?” asked Rogue with a grin.

“NO!”

Rogue pulled back in shock once she felt the sudden weight of Nightcrawler land on her back. She tried to pull away, thinking it was one of the X-Men, but with no luck.

“Marie, stop!” he exclaimed. “This is not what we should be doing!”

“Wha-?” asked Rogue. “Kurt?!”

“Please Marie, listen,” said Nightcrawler. “Mother was wrong. This is not the answer. They are not the enemy. Please Marie…”

“Ah… ah can’t think straight…” muttered Rogue. The memories and thoughts of Storm were beginning to mix with her own. “Ah’ve never seen… never known… it can’t be right, can it?”

“No, it’s not right,” said Charles. “Don’t you realize that?”

“The Brotherhood has to take its place as humanity’s betters!” exclaimed Mystique. “Why can’t you realize that, Charles? Why can’t you realize that you and your X-Men are expendable? Once they’re done using you to do their dirty work, they’ll just get someone else. Mutants are the future, and I won’t allow them to be controlled.”

“Then I won’t allow you to leave this room.”

“I want you to try and stop me, Charles.”

Xavier rubbed the trigger again… contemplating… forming a strategy in his mind…

“GET OFF OF HER, Y’ BLEEDIN’ TRAITOR!” exclaimed the Toad. He leapt into the air, shoving Nightcrawler away from Rogue. The two tumbled together on the ground, and Toad ended up on top.

“I always knew y’ were trouble,” said Toad. “I would’ve killed you a long time ago if y’ not f’r yer mum.”

“Toad…” muttered Nightcrawler.

“What, y’ got some last words before I tear your sodding head off right?”

“I’ve got two…”

Nightcrawler wrapped his legs around Toad’s.

*BAMF*

“ARGH!!!” cried out the Toad in pain. His legs had vanished from the lower half of his body alongwith Nightcrawler.

Kurt reappeared a few feet away, the Toad’s legs lying on the ground in front of him.

“You lose.”

“I can’t believe I stood up for that little shit!” exclaimed Avalanche. “I’m going to kill all of you!”

Before Avalanche could make a move, a bolt of lightning struck him. Electricity coursed throughout his body, and he fell unconscious.

“Leave mah brother alone,” warned Rogue.

“DOM!” exclaimed Colossus. M simply rammed her elbow into his face. The impact forced him back and startled him enough to force him to shift back into his human form.

“Oh do be quiet.”

Thunderbird took this opportunity as a blessing and slammed his fist into Colossus’s nose. The force shattered it.

“Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?” he asked just before Colossus faded into unconsciousness.

“Looks like that’s all of them,” noted Beast. “What now?”

Wolverine took a radio out of his belt and activated it.

“Special Agent Logan, codename: Wolverine,” he stated. “We need a clean-up crew at the following location…”

“Y’ really think it’s that easy, don’t you?” asked Toad from the ground as Wolverine continued to speak into the radio. “This battle’s a lot closer t’ home than you arseholes think.”

“Closer to home…?” asked Psyche. She turned to Rogue and Nightcrawler, who both sighed.

“The mansion…” replied Nightcrawler. “The founder… Mystique… she’s there…”

“Oh no…” muttered Psyche. “LOGAN!”

“…we’ve got th’ Brotherhood all accounted for – eight mutants in total, prepped for arrest.”

He looked up at the approaching Psyche.

“Hold for a moment, agent,” he stated before covering up the radio. “What is it?”

“The Professor,” replied Psyche. “He’s in danger.”

Logan looked at Nightcrawler and Rogue, then back to Psyche.

“Belay that last command,” he stated. “We’ve got six mutants in total, prepped for arrest. You’ll be greated by Agent St. Croix when you get here. Logan out.”

He turned off the radio, and pointed at M.

“Stay here until th’ clean-up crew arrives,” he ordered. “The rest of you, get t’ the Blackbird – includin’ you two. Thunderbird, carry Storm.”

“The M-Squad has failed, Shiner,” stated Gyrich. “You disappointed me, commander.”

“We weren’t prepared enough,” replied Shiner. “If you give us more time to train, then we’ll be able to take out the mutants.”

“Your record says otherwise,” said Gyrich. “At this point, I don’t think the M-Squad is worth the money I’ve invested in it.”

“So what do you plan to do, then?” asked Shiner.

“Follow me,” replied Gyrich. He entered a command into a keypad and the door slid open. It was a circular room, with a large opening in the center of it. A keypad was in front of this, and Gyrich entered a code, followed by the turn of a key. Slowly, something slid up through this opening. It was a tank of some sort. Inside it, left in a state of suspended animation, was a man with short, silver hair.

“This is our chance to eliminate those X-Men,” he said.

“CHUCK!” exclaimed Wolverine. He kicked open the door to Cerebro and was met with a shock, as were the rest of the X-Men.

Mystique lay on the ground in a pool of blood. Motionless. Dead. In the wheelchair nearby, holding a smoking gun in his hand and rubbing his head with tears streaming down his face, sat Charles Xavier.

“I had no choice… may God forgive me… I had no choice…”