WEAPON X

Part VI: To All Things, An Ending

By Dino Pollard

One moment, Logan is on his feet. The next, he’s kissing pavement as the hand of Victor Creed forces his head into the ground. Wolverine can feel Sabretooth’s hot breath on the back of his neck as his opponent slowly brings his mouth down to Logan’s ear.

“Startin’ t’ wonder if you were ever gonna show up, buddy,” he says. “But I shoulda known you’d never disappoint your old pal, ain’t that right?”

“Get back,” Bishop orders Kitty. He takes out his gun and aims it at Sabretooth. “Step away from him, Creed.”

Sabretooth looks up and smiles.

“Is that… Bishop?” he asks. “Damn, it’s been awhile.”

“Don’t push my buttons, Creed,” replies Bishop. “Not today.”

“Y’ never were any fu—”

*BLAM*

Sabretooth falls backwards.

“You shot him!” exclaims Kitty.

“I know,” says Bishop. He keeps his gun ready and he moves over to Sabretooth. Something is strange… however. The entry wound… it looks like there is barely one. Suddenly, Sabretooth’s eyes open.

“Boo,” he says. His arm shoots upward and his claws catch Bishop’s gun. Bishop pulls back, and sees that the tip of the gun has been sliced off. Sabretooth gets up and his hand moves to his forehead where the bullet struck. He pulls the bullet off his head and tosses it to Bishop. Bishop examines it and sees that it’s been crushed by something.

“Guess what, Bish?” asks Sabretooth. “Logan here’s not the only one with adamantium bones.”

“Oh shit…” mutters Bishop. Sabretooth rushes towards them, and Kitty grabs Bishop’s arm. Sabretooth passes right through them, and Kitty grits her teeth in pain as he does.

“What the hell?”

“Wh-what did he do to us?” asks Bishop, clutching his own stomach.

“Dunno… ” replies Kitty. “Ugh… that’s never happened when I phased before, but for some reason, I could actually feel him passing through us.”

“Hey Vic.”

Sabretooth turns his attention to Wolverine, who’s now on his feet with his face fully healed.

“I owe you for Mastermind.”

“Don’t worry about yer ol’ turncoat friend,” says Sabretooth. “Once I’m finished with you, you’ll get to meet him again.”

“Not if I send you there first.”

The two run at each other, and Wolverine brings his claws forward. Sabretooth deflects with his own claws, and drives his free hand into Wolverine’s stomach. He tears it open, then he kicks Wolverine’s legs out from under him. Logan is about to try and get up, when Sabretooth cuts into his throat. Sabretooth follows it up by driving his foot into Wolverine’s head. He starts to approach Bishop and Kitty.

“Let’s see what you guys got.”

“Okay,” says Bishop. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small lighter. He activates the flame and uses it on his hand.

“What are you doing?” asks Kitty.

“This,” he replies. He extends his hand forward and an energy blast erupts from his fingers.

Deep within Area 51, Jubilation Lee and Alex Summers, otherwise known as Meltdown and Havok, stand watch over Dr. Stephen Lang and his ZERO teleportation system. The doors peel open with the sound of metal scraping against metal, and the leader of these two mutants enters. Behind him are the X-Men, somewhat uncomfortable following the man they were brought together to fight.

“Mission accomplished, boss?” asks Meltdown.

“Alex…?” asks Cyclops.

“Don’t worry, Scott, everything’s cool,” replies Havok. “Magneto’s followers recruited me after you left, they got to me before Weapon X did.”

“Your brother and Meltdown were planted in Weapon X as moles,” says Magneto. “And now, I believe the next step is up to Dr. Lang.”

“Do you honestly think I’m going to help y—”

Lang was cut off as his body was magnetically lifted into the air.

“You saw what I did to Northstar, Mirage, and Cannonball, doctor—and they were mutants,” says Magneto. “Imagine what I would do to an uncooperative human who doesn’t know his place on the evolutionary ladder.”

“O…okay…”

“You are to use the ZERO transport to send myself and the X-Men to Xavier’s,” says Magneto. “Do we have an agreement?”

“Y-yeah… whatever you say…” says Lang.

“So, some humans are capable of intelligent thought,” says Magneto. “Who knew.”

In the darkness, a figure stirs and lifts up a weapon. He takes careful aim, and pulls the trigger. The weapon makes no noise, so the bullet goes unnoticed before it strikes it’s mark. The eyes of Monet St. Croix go wide in shock, and then she falls to the ground.

“Monet…?” asks Beast. He looks down at the body of his girlfriend. He stares deep into her open eyes, still filled with that initial shock. But then his eyes are drawn to something else. Specifically the pool of blood beneath her head.

Magneto reaches out and latches onto the weapon that fired the bullet. With but a thought, the assailant is pulled out into the open.

“Nathan Dayspring, I presume,” says Magneto. “Or do you prefer Cable?”

“Let me down,” orders Cable.

“You’re not in any position to make demands, my misguided friend,” says Magneto. “I believe you have committed enough atrocities in your lifetime.”

“Wh-what are you doing…?” asks Cable.

“What do you think, you little pissant?” asks Magneto. “I’m seperating your cybernetics from your flesh.”

“Don’t… I’ll d—”

Cable’s voice is cut off as the cybernetic parts of his body are ripped clean from his flesh. With them being the only thing Magneto latched onto, Cable falls to the ground, his body losing a lot of blood at a rapid rate.

“I’m sorry, what was that you were going to say?” asks Magneto. Cable offers no reply. “Oh well, it probably wasn’t important.”

He turns to Lang.

“Activate the transport,” he says.

“Y-yes sir…” says Lang and he goes to work quickly.

“What about us?” asks Meltdown.

“Stay here,” replies Magneto. “Once we are through, destroy the transport.”

“And Lang?”

Magneto looks at the doctor, then back to Meltdown.

“He’s been cooperative,” he says. “Let him live.”

“There’s a problem,” says Fury.

“I know,” replies the Shadow King through Xavier’s body. “Wolverine left and he took Pryde, and Magneto liberated the X-Men.”

“We’ve also lost contact with Wraith,” says Fury.

“That’s because Magneto killed him. But no worries. Gambit is dead and Sabretooth is dealing with Wolverine. Besides, the instant the X-Men and Magneto arrive, I can easily force Magneto to do whatever I wish, just like I did before. I’ve known about every move Magneto has been making.”

“Then why didn’t you stop him?”

“To increase his confidence, of course. This is all a game, Colonel. It’s fun. The only possible advantage the X-Men could have is a telepath—and I’ve already ensured that Ms. Grey is out of commission.”

“What should I do?”

“Call in SHIELD.”

Bishop’s first energy blast took Sabretooth by surprise. Sabretooth easily dodged the second, and before Bishop could fire the third, Sabretooth tackles him to the ground.

“Y’know, once you saw what I did t’ Logan over there, you should have played smart and ran away,” says Sabretooth. “But I guess no one’s ever accused you of havin’ much in the brains depart—”

*SNIKT*

“ARGGH!!!” cries out Sabretooth.

“Next time… make sure ya get your rectum laced with adamantium,” says Wolverine. He pulls his claws down, slicing through more than just Sabretooth’s rear. “An’ that’s t’ ensure that y’ don’t start breedin’.”

Sabretooth falls back and clutches his wounds. He looks up at Wolverine, his claws dripping with blood.

“I expected better from you, Vic,” says Logan. “At least a cup.”

“I’ll kill ya…”

“Promises,” says Logan as he drives his claws into Sabretooth’s side. He drives the claws as far as possible, reaching underneath the rips. Then, he tears and pulls them out. He doesn’t worry about causing a mess.

Logan’s claws retract into his hands and he jams his boot on Sabretooth’s throat and covers his mouth and nose. Creed begins to gasp for breath, but Wolverine holds his grip. He leaves it there for a few minutes until he feels Sabretooth’s pulse begin to slow down. Then, finally, it comes to a stop. Logan stands and spits on the body.

“No matter how well you can heal, you still need to breath,” says Logan. He looks at Bishop. “You okay?”

“Yeah…” says Bishop. “How about your friend?”

“Pryde?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” she replies.

“Everything cool?”

“Yeah, yeah, I suppose,” she says.

“Good,” says Logan. “Let’s get moving, then. Find your partner, and move from the—”

The sound of helicopters interrupts Logan. They begin to fill the sky, and soldiers drop from them on ropes. They’re dressed in SHIELD uniforms, and all of them hold their weapons at Wolverine and Kitty. One man steps through the crowd and smiles at Logan. He wears a black suit, has short red hair, and glasses.

“Knew you’d screw up sooner or later,” he says.

“Piss off, Gyrich,” says Logan.

“I know that these bullets won’t stop you, Logan,” says Gyrich. “But your friends over don’t have an adamantium skeleton or a healing factor. “So if you want to fight, go ahead and fight. But they’ll be the first two taken out.”

Logan sighs and lifts his arms. He interlocks his hands behind his head and drops to his knees. Kitty and Bishop follow suit.

The X-Men and Magneto teleport in front of the Xavier University in Westchester. The Shadow King sits in the body of Xavier waiting by the front entrance, with Fury standing behind him. Once they appear, Xavier approaches them.

“Hello Erik,” he says. “My, it’s certainly been awhile.”

Magneto offers no reply, just hoists Xavier and his wheelchair into the air. The chair begins to slowly wrap around Xavier, and the Shadow King simply laughs. Then… Magneto stops.

“You didn’t seriously believe you could kill me, did you?” asks the Shadow King. “Come now, Erik. You are my puppet, remember? Now dance for me.”

Magneto stand perfectly still for a few moments. He twitches slightly, and folds his arms across his chest. Then, one by one, he lifts each arm to the back of his neck, then around his waist…

“…is he doing the Macarena?” asks Thunderbird.

“Hahahaha, perfect! Dance monkey, dance!”

“Oh fuck this!” exclaims Cyclops. He fires an optic blast that strikes Xavier and breaks the Shadow King’s hold over Magneto briefly.

“Thanks…” says Magneto.

“Yeah, thanks,” says Thunderbird. “If I had to watch that for another second, I would’ve killed myself.”

The X-Men and Magneto freeze in their places, and the Shadow King smiles.

“You people are so easy,” he says. “You honestly have no idea what you’re up against, do you?”

“What now, genius?” asks Thunderbird. “Didn’t count on his mind control, did you?”

“Shut up, Proudstar,” replies Magneto.

“My my, dissention in the ranks, Magneto? Well, I can see why. After all, when you first met the X-Men, you were trying to kill them.”

“Only because of you…” says Magneto.

“You know, it really is a pity about your children and your wife. Killed like that for no reason.”

“Shut up…”

“I killed them for exactly this reason. To make you into what you are today. Everything that has led up to this moment has been carefully orchestrated by me, and me alone. I knew about your plans to defeat me a second before you did. Why do you think I made it so easy for you? Honestly, the arrogance of you people…”

“…hey, you guys see what I see?” asks Nightcrawler.

“It’s the sky,” replies Dazzler. “It’s getting… brighter.”

“That’s an understatement,” says Nightcrawler. “It looks like the damn thing’s… I mean, it can’t be but…”

“The sky’s on fire,” says Beast. “I know.

“Eh?”

The Shadow King looks up to the skies, and the flames building up in the sky rocket down into the mansion.

Then, the mansion itself explodes.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS—”

Before Thunderbird can finish his sentence, he sees his teammate, Jean Grey, hovering in the air before them. Surrounded by flames. Even her hair appeared to be on fire, and her eyes glowed brightly.

“Okay… that’s new…” says Cyclops.

“Shadow King!” exclaims Jean.

“What is this?”

“I’m hurt to see that you almost forgot about me.”

“You were imprisoned. How can you…”

“Trust me, I’m more powerful than you can imagine.”

“You’re a low-level telepath at best, Grey. You are nothing to me.”

“Only what you were led to believe. Xavier placed blocks on my powers to prevent me from accessing them unless the need was great. And then he purged that information from his memory to prevent you from learning it.”

“Don’t make me laugh. The pyrotechnic show is very impressive but it’s going to take more than magic tricks to send me away.”

“Fair enough.”

The flames around Jean begin to take the form of a giant bird of some sort, a bird composed completely of fire.

“You’re dealing with the Phoenix now, buddy.”

“Phoenix…?” asks Thunderbird.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” replies Dazzler.

The bird’s talon reaches down and wraps around the Shadow King. The Shadow King attempts to try and shut down Jean’s mind, but he is hit with a wall of resistance.

“Wha… impossible!”

Jean smiles and the wings of the Phoenix engulf Xavier’s body.

“The only way to stop me is to kill me, and to do that, you must kill Xavier! You don’t have that in you!”

“Wanna bet? Xavier’s body may be dead, but his mind is still out there somewhere.”

“And without me, you’ll never be able to find it again!”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

The flames grow stronger, and the Shadow King cries out. There is a wave of light which blinds everyone briefly. When the light has gone, Jean stands on the ground before them, with her eyes still glowing. Xavier’s body is on the ground, lifeless, and Fury is unconscious.

“Umm… Jean?” asks Dazzler.

“Yeah, it’s me,” replies Jean.

“How’d you do that?” asks Dazzler. Jean shrugs.

“Man, that was fucking awesome!” exclaims Thunderbird. “Shit, did you guys see that? She just went fucking medieval on his ass!”

Jean blushes slightly.

“Guess if I could impress you then it was worth it, huh?” she says.

“Damn straight,” says Thunderbird.

“So now what do we do?” asks Cyclops.

“Guess we just wait for Fury to wake up,” replies Jean. She looks back at the ruins of the mansion. “Oh… oops. Sorry about that guys.”

The sound of helicopters is heard overhead. SHIELD transports begin to surround the X-Men, and SHIELD agents armed to the teeth follow.

“Everyone freeze!” exclaims an agent. “You’re all under arrest! Move and we shoot!”

“Wait… what?” asks Thunderbird. “Don’t they realize that we’re the good guys?”

“I guess not,” says Nightcrawler. “What do we do?”

“I think the time has come for us to leave,” says Magneto. He extends his arms and hovers in the air. The other X-Men begin to hover with him.

“Fire!” exclaims the agent. The SHIELD infantry opens fire, yet the bullets seem to strike some sort of invisible barrier.

“What do we do?” asks Cyclops. “I mean, we were supposed to be working for those guys.”

“You have a better path ahead of you, X-Men,” replies Magneto. “Trust me, this is just the beginning.”

Elsewhere, two men, one larger than the other, both well-built, stand in front of a window and watch the sun rise.

“The Phoenix.”

“Yes.”

“Five hundred years, on the dot.”