In the Morlock tunnels, Kitty Pryde stood in an area where she was the only conscious person. Her and her fellow X-Men came into the tunnels once they discovered the Morlocks who lived beneath London were being slaughtered by mutant assassins called the Marauders. One of her teammates, the Beast laid in a hospital bed. Her other two teammates, who were here in the tunnels with her, are Colossus and Nightcrawler. Both were unconscious, or at least she hoped they were.

After being struck with one of Harpoon’s energy javelins, she’s found she cannot solidify herself. As such, she cannot check the pulses for either of her friends to see if they are okay. Also in the tunnels with her were three of the six Marauders. These three — Riptide, Harpoon, and Blockbuster — are all dead, courtesy of the wrath of Colossus.

“Kitty!”

She looked up to see three of her teammates — Wolverine, Cyclops, and Phoenix — coming towards her. She smiled at them. When they arrived, Cyclops and Phoenix wore shocked expressions on their faces. Wolverine, however, remained as stoic as ever. For him, this was a warzone, and he had seen more than his fair share of his wars. He was to the point where it did not seem to affect him at all.

“What happened?” asked Cyclops. Shadowcat opened her mouth to speak, but no words came forth.

“Relax Kitty, let me pull the images from your mind,” said Phoenix. Jean Grey closed her eyes and Shadowcat could feel the claws of the Phoenix digging through her memories. Jean recoiled and grasped her head. Cyclops and Wolverine helped to steady her.

“They ran into these three,” said Phoenix. “Kurt fell first, thanks to Riptide. Then came Kitty after Harpoon’s javelin struck her. Peter killed them both as well as Blockbuster. Then he just… collapsed.”

“Are they alive?” asked Cyclops.

“Yes,” replied Phoenix. “I’m detecting brain activity in both Kurt and Peter.”

“And Kitty?” asked Wolverine. “How come she can’t talk?”

“Somehow, Harpoon’s energy javelin did something to her,” replied Phoenix. “She’s frozen in her phased state.”

“Where are the others?” asked Wolverine.

“I’m trying to locate them…” replied Phoenix. “I can sense both John and Ali nearby. They’re alive and well, so far.”

“Take ’em back to Ceci’s place,” said Wolverine. “See what you can do for ’em.”

“What about you two?” asked Phoenix.

“We’re goin’ after Thunderbird an’ Dazzler,” he replied.

MUTANT MASSACRE

Part V: Hunted

By Dino Pollard

Thunderbird nearly fell over from the force of Arclight’s quake. He and Dazzler had finally found two of the Marauders — Arclight and Vertigo. At the moment, Arclight was keeping both Thunderbird and Dazzler busy, while Vertigo simply stood off to the side and watched.

“How many Morlocks have you killed?” asked Dazzler.

“I dunno, I stopped counting after awhile,” replied Arclight with a grin. She stomped on the ground again, sending tremors through the earth. Dazzler stumbled and fell. She sat up and glared at Arclight. She absorbed the sound from Arclight’s attack and converted it into light — generating a colorful orb in the palm of her hand. She hurled it at Arclight and it exploded when it struck the ground.

“Let’s see how you like it!” exclaimed Dazzler. She hurled orb after orb at Arclight, forcing the Marauder to lose her footing. With Arclight stunned, it gave Thunderbird an opening. He charged towards her and pummeled her. His fists connected with her body and he found himself unable to hold back.

Vertigo noticed what was happening. Before she could turn her powers on Thunderbird, Dazzler’s light orbs struck her. Both the X-Men were enraged and gave the Marauders no quarter. The two female assassins found themselves on the ropes thanks to the efforts of these two young mutants.

Arclight grabbed Thunderbird’s fist before it connected. She delivered an uppercut powerful enough to send him flying across the tunnel. She was back on him and she wrapped her hands around his throat.

“I wonder what would happen if I used my powers on you right now?” she asked. “Maybe they would make your skull cave in. Would you like that, boy?”

Thunderbird gritted his teeth. He reached around with his hand and pulled a loose brick free from the wall. He smacked it against Arclight’s head, forcing her off him.

“Shut up, murderer,” he growled. He grabbed her hair and, using all his strength, slammed her head against the sewer wall.

The result wasn’t pretty.

“Arclight!” exclaimed Vertigo. “Oh, you are so dead now!”

Vertigo raised her arms and Dazzler and Thunderbird lost all sense of equilibrium courtsey of the Marauder’s power. Their heads pounded, and the feeling was the same one might experience while being involved in binge drinking — only multiplied several times over. She increased the pressure of the attack, and Dazzler and Thunderbird each wanted to vomit. It felt as if their insides were being turned inside out and they could do nothing to alleviate the attack.

A beam of crimson energy shot out from behind and struck Vertigo in the back of the head. She did not have a chance to cry out, it happened so sudden. She got up, but before she could strike back, Wolverine was on top of her. He placed his fist up against her throat and the two side claws slid out, barely grazing her neck. The middle claw inched out slowly, and she could feel the point against her throat.

“Summers, check on them,” said Wolverine. Cyclops helped Thunderbird and Dazzler to their feet. Dazzler stormed past them and walked over to Vertigo. In her hand, she generated a light orb.

“Your leader,” she said. “Where is he? Who is he?”

“You heard the lady,” said Wolverine. “I suggest you answer.”

“If you think you can take on Scalphunter, you’re completely off,” said Vertigo. “You thought the rest of us were bad? Scalphunter’s worse than all of us combined. There’s a reason he’s the leader.”

Wolverine retracted his claws and slammed his fist against Vertigo’s head. The impact of the adamantium-laced bones knocked her unconscious. He picked her up by the collar and tossed her to Thunderbird.

“Take her to Jeannie, have her figure out who sent them,” said Wolverine.

“What about you?” asked Cyclops.

“Scalphunter’s still runnin’ around here somewhere,” replied Wolverine. He extended his claws. “That means I’m goin’ hunting.”

Jean Grey leaned against the wall and watched as Dr. Cecilia Reyes went to work. There were three examination tables set up — Beast, Colossus, and Nightcrawler each laid on one. Kitty was next to Jean and Jean could sense her teammate’s frustration. She was worried for her friends, as was Jean — although Kitty found she wasn’t able to communicate at all.

“How are they doing?” asked Jean.

“Hank has stabilized,” replied Cecilia. “Kurt’s in a coma, unfortunately. But Peter… I don’t know what to do with Peter. He shows no signs of life at all in this armored form — I can’t feel for a pulse or tell if he’s breathing or anything. And I can’t see any visible wounds.”

“Let me see,” said Jean. She moved over to Peter Rasputin’s body. “I can sense him weakening… all around him, energy is leaving his body through the wounds. Especially where Harpoon’s spear hit.”

“So what can we do? Bandage him up?” asked Cecilia.

“No, bandages won’t work,” replied Jean. “Let me try something…”

She placed her hands just above Peter’s body. Cecilia gasped as flames seemed to surround the two of them. Jean’s eyes began to glow brightly as did her hands. Cecilia could see the wounds now, clear as day. She watched as they glowed brightly as well, and slowly, they began to close up. The aura began to fade from the two of them and strain came over Jean’s body. Cecilia saw the young woman was about to fall over and moved to steady her.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine…” muttered Jean.

“What did you do?”

“I fused his wounds shut,” said Jean. “Basically cauterized them.”

“Hunh, I didn’t know you could do that,” said Cecilia.

“Neither did I,” said Jean. She turned her head. “Scott’s back.”

“He is?” asked Cecilia. Almost on cue, the door opened up and Scott stood there with John and Ali by his side. In John’s arms was the unconscious Vertigo.

“Another one?” asked Cecilia.

“No, this one’s a prisoner,” replied John. “Logan figured you could pull the information from her mind.”

“I can try,” said Jean. She moved over to Vertigo’s prone form and established a mindlink. While she went to work, Ali and Scott moved to check on their friends.

“How are they doing?” asked Scott.

“It looks like they’re going to be okay,” replied Cecilia.

“And Kitty?” asked Scott.

Cecilia looked at the ghostlike form of Kitty Pryde and sighed. “I’m not sure yet.”

“I’m… trying to search her mind…” said Jean. “But… there’s so much here… so much and… ARGH!”

Jean’s cry went out and she collapsed to the ground. Scott and Ali rushed to her side and helped her back up, alowing her to use them both for balance.

“What happened?” asked Ali.

“Her mind… booby-trapped,” replied Jean. “I tried to peruse her thoughts, and I was met with a violent reaction. Her mind began to shut down, and if I remained in there, I would’ve been trapped in her body.”

“So she’s dead?” asked Ali.

“Looks like it,” replied John. “I don’t hear any breathing.”

“Perfect,” said Scott. “So we have no idea who sent the Marauders?”

“None,” replied Jean. “But since Vertigo isn’t a telepath, and I don’t think any of the Marauders are, then whoever hired them had to have been. Someone powerful enough to put safeguards like that in a person’s mind.”

“This is just great,” said Cecilia. “By the way, where’s Logan?”

“He’s finishing this,” said Scott.

“Uh guys…?” said John.

“What?” asked Jean.

“Did anyone else notice that Hank’s hair is starting to turn blue?”

In the Morlock tunnels, one final Marauder remained. His name is Scalphunter, the leader of this group of assassins. He knew someone was hunting him, and he, in turn, was hunting them as well. In his hands was a high-powered rifle. He checked the clip and satisfied to see it was full, he snapped it back into the gun.

“Here little mouse…” he whispered to himself as he hefted the rifle. “Come out come out, wherever you are…”

He inched along the wall, certain that his prey was on the other side. He heard a bit of rustling and knew it had to be. He quickly turned the corner and took aim only to find nothing.

“Hunh…” he said. He shifted the rifle to one hand and reached into one of the pouches on his belt. He produced a cigarette from it and placed it between his lips. He turned, but before he could snap open his lighter, he saw someone standing right behind him.

“Got another of those?” asked Wolverine.

Scalphunter pulled back and lifted his rifle up. Wolverine moved quickly and his claws sliced through the rifle, rendering it inoperable. Scalphunter tossed it at Wolverine, and the X-Man simply ducked it. He leaped towards Scalphunter and the assassin fell back. He drove his legs into Wolverine’s chest to kick him back. Scalphunter grabbed various components off his vest and instantly began assembling a new gun.

“Nice trick,” said Wolverine. “Go ahead and shoot.”

Scalphunter lifted the rifle up and fired a bullet right between Wolverine’s eyes. His head rocked back and Scalphunter smiled.

“At this range, did you really think I’d miss?” he asked. He stepped over to Wolverine’s body and looked down at it. “You didn’t know who you were messing with, did you?”

“I’d say you didn’t,” came Wolverine’s reply. Scalphunter’s eyes went wide in shock. The mutant leaped to his feet and slashed forward, his claws catching Scalphunter’s side. Scalphunter pulled back, his hand clutching his wound. He looked up at Wolverine, who smiled and tossed something at Scalphunter.

“I believe this is yours.”

Scalphunter glanced down at it and saw it was the bullet he shot Wolverine with. It was flattened, as if it had struck something it couldn’t break past. Wolverine rapped lightly on his skull and Scalphunter could have sworn it sounded like metal.

“Adamantium-laced skeleton,” said Wolverine. “See, you may think yer the perfect killing machine, Scalphunter — but you’re not.”

He charged forward, his claws impaling Scalphunter in the abdomen. He moved his head close to Scalphunter’s ear and whispered into it, “I am.”

Wolverine pulled his claws free and Scalphunter slumped down to the ground. Wolverine kneeled before him. He grabbed one of the cigarettes and the lighter from Scalphunter’s belt and lit it. He took a drag on it, then placed it between Scalphunter’s lips. The Marauder took a drag and exhaled. Wolverine drew and lit a second cigarette for himself.

“Who sent you?” asked Wolverine.

“A professional never rats out his employer,” came Scalphunter’s reply. “This was supposed to be a simple sweep and clean mission. Just off the degenerate little fucks and be done with it. I guess none of us expected to run into a bunch of superheroes down here.”

“You didn’t,” said Wolverine. He placed his fist under Scalphunter’s chin and his middle claw shot straight through. Wolverine retracted the claw, and Scalphunter fell over, a look of shock frozen on his face. Wolverine flicked the cigarette butt at his body then stood up.

“Superheroes don’t kill.”

Scott Summers stood outside the building where Cecilia Reyes’ practice was located. He had his arms folded across his chest and he wore his ruby quartz sunglasses as opposed to the visor he had grown so accustomed to. A leather jacket was draped over his X-Men uniform, granting him some semblance of normalcy. He looked up as Logan approached, a cigar between his lips.

“Well?” asked Scott.

“It’s over,” replied Logan. “I took care of Scalphunter.”

“Good,” said Scott.

“How’s everyone doin’?” asked Logan.

“Kurt’s in a coma and Kitty’s stuck in her phased state,” replied Scott. “But Hank’s healing nicely… or so we think. And Peter’s doing fine.”

“Half an’ half, that’s better than expected,” said Logan. “At least we didn’t lose anyone.”

“That’s not true,” said Scott.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve lost you.”

Logan looked at him with a puzzled expression. “What are you talking about, Summers?”

“We’ve been following your lead for too long,” said Scott. “I personally hold you accountable for what happened to Peter, Kitty, and Kurt. You shouldn’t have left them in the tunnels alone. And if we hadn’t gotten to John and Ali in time, who knows what would have happened to them?”

“Somethin’ you wanna say, Slim?” asked Logan.

“You’re off the team,” replied Scott. “Effective immediately.”

“And who’s gonna take charge then?” asked Logan. “You?”

Scott remained stoic in his expression and posture.

“You said it yourself — you won’t be around forever,” he replied. “I’m not putting anyone else at risk because of your actions.”

“Fine,” said Logan. He removed the cigar and dropped it on the ground between them. He stepped right up to Cyclops, their faces inches apart. “I’ll play your game, Summers. But mark my words — you’ll come crawlin’ back.”

Logan turned on his heel and began to walk away. Scott remained in that position for several moments. Once the adrenaline rush wore off, Scott Summers would find his entire body shaking from the fear he experienced by standing up to the Wolverine.

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