"Battle of the X's, Pt. 1"
by Adam (WiSeGuY9)

Part 1


It was three A. M. Dark outside the X-mansion, dark outside New York, dark outside the world. Or at least it was according to Remy la Beau who was currently was sleeping soundly in his room inside the mansion. Suddenly he was abruptly shoved out of bed. He squinted his eyes in the lamp light that had just been turned on beside him. Rogue was standing on top of him, a wicked grin spreading across her face.

"Hello Remy dearest," she said wickedly.

"Um.. Hello chere. To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you at this late hour?" he answered, surprised.

"Oh, you owe me one large pleasure this evening," she said, her grin becoming wider. She grabbed him, pulling him up to the bed. She held his wrists down to the bed. She held them hard, so hard the bones began to crunch.

"Oww!! Rogue, you're hurting by hands."

"Don't worry dear, you won't need them," she laughed wickedly. "You see, Remy, dearest, I'll let you in on a little secret. I've always been able to touch some one, but I've never wanted to because of the fear. The fear of hurting or even killing someone. But now my fear has been taken away. And I'm going to do something I've always wanted."

"Rogue I have no idea, what you're talking about. Help me out here," said Gambit nervously.

"I'll show you what I mean, dear," she answered and bent down to kiss him.

Their lips met and pain swept through Gambit's body. Rouge had just used her mutant powers on him, drawing out his energy, his memory, his very being. She kissed him again, and Gambit felt a sharp pain, like a bee's sting, on his mouth. He tried to kick her. But she dodged at the last moment. She got back next to him.

"Shouldn't have done that darling," she scolded.

She touched him with her hand, another sting on his face. Then she rubbed her hands all over his body, letting the energy soak in to her. Gambit was in extreme pain, but Rogue seemed immune to the energies swirling around and through them. Finally her hands came to rest on his heart, and Remy felt like she had just thrust a knife through it. She would not remove her hands and he could find enough energy to remove them himself. Finally he succumbed to the burning flares of torment and fell into a coma, screaming wildly at the last moment of his consciousness.

"I'd like to go farther, but she wouldn't want that, since I might kill you in the process," Rogue said wickedly to his shell of a body. She still had an evil smile plastered on her face as she wrapped him up in a blanket and flew him out of the room.

"Sleep tight, darling," she whispered coldly.


Later on, the sun was peeking its rosy rays over the horizon. It was six A.M. and the X-man known as Colossus was up and preparing for his morning jog around the perimeter. A hand phased into the room. It belonged to the young girl named Kitty Pryde, a.k.a. Shadowcat. She has the incredible ability to move through solid objects; walls, furniture, earth, even human beings. She crept over to Colossus's back.

"Hello Peter, dear," she said coldly.

"Oh, hello Katya. What brings you here so early?" he asked surprised.

"I'm here to see you, dear. We need to talk," she answered.

"Oh," he replied, "I knew we would eventually get to this discussion. Listen, I really don't know if we should be together again. It would be strange, and after all that has happened between us, it would seem that we can't go back now."

"Actually, it wasn't that talk. I was going to suggest the one about how worthless you are to this team. How whiny you have gotten. How easily broken."

"What are you saying, Katya?" Peter sounded shocked.

"I was talking about this," she said phasing her hand into Colossus's neck, and watching him scream in pain. You see, Shadowcat can also disrupt electrical fields, and what better electrical point, that the spinal cord. Peter tried desperately to change into his metal form, but couldn't since the signal from his brain could not reach his body. His heart and lungs could receive instructions either. Asphyxia took over after that. The last image was of Shadowcat descending upon him to phase her hands into his brain, stopping activity there and causing Colossus to become comatose.

"You see what I mean, darling," said Shadowcat, leaving.


Breakfast time at the X-mansion is usually a very social gathering, where the entire body of occupants pour into the kitchen to show family spirit. Wolverine was very surprised when he found the kitchen empty this morning. He rummaged around the cupboards for any sign of his friends cooking utensils. He was going to have to start breakfast, he thought to himself. He began to dig for some pancake batter and a frying pan when the smell of brimstone filled his hyper acute senses. He turned around to find his friend Nightcrawler panting and sweating on every pore of his body.

"Sup, Crawler? Been training in the Danger Room? How's about giving me a hand over here," said Wolverine smiling.

"Mein Gott! We have bigger problems than breakfast right now Wolverine!" yelled Nightcrawler.

"Such as what? Don't tell me Magneto feels like attacking us again!" said Wolverine, "Or maybe he's thinking about joining us again," he added with a chuckle.

"This is no time for jokes Logan, I believe one of our teammates is insane," panted Kurt. He was cut off their because at the moment a large bone club had hit him on the head, sending him diving for the floor.

"Down, you go demon-dear," said Marrow, holding the bone club that had just knocked out Nightcrawler. "Too bad, I really liked you the best out of all of them. Almost ugly enough to be a morlock."

"Marrow, what did you do that for?" screamed Wolverine, pulling out his own set of bone claws as he spoke.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough, old man. Soon enough." She suddenly leaped on him, tearing a bone dagger into his arm. Wolverine reacted with a slice that sent her nose to the floor.

"Ow! That almost hurt, you bastard," Marrow exclaimed. She jumped at him again, but he swerved to the side, sending her sprawling out the kitchen door, and into the backyard. Then he ran after her, pining her on her stomach by holding her arms and legs to the floor.

"Marrow, what has gotten into you?" he said, trying to calm her down.

"The same thing that's about to get into you," she replied, butting her head back and sending one of the bone growths on her head into Wolverine's left eye.

"Damn!," he shrieked, "I'm gonna have to take you down kid."

"Come and get it old timer," Marrow taunted back. Then he leaped at her throat, and would have made it if a lightning bolt hadn't just ripped through his back sending him to the ground unconscious.

"Sorry, Logan, dear. But the queen wants you alive, and Marrow plays too rough," came the voice of Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm from high in the sky. "Sarah, get him with the other bodies in the hangar."


Interlude:

The buildings of the Massachusetts Academy. Inside the room of headmistress known as the White Queen, Emma Frost was preparing to file another batch of students, new arrivals for the spring semester. The students are normal, human, while she is actually a mutant, a psychic with mind controlling abilities. She used to be an evil member of the Inner Circle, she used to lead a group of teenagers called the Hellions, and she used to have to only deal with eight students. But now her roster has moved into the hundreds and she is a little more than ticked off.

"Damn these papers! I'm the headmistress, why the hell should I have to do this work!" she screamed out loud, throwing the papers down to the floor.

"Emma, is there a problem?" came the voice of Sean Cassidy, the headmaster of her school.

"No, no I'm fine. It's just all the new-," she answered back, but before she could complete her sentence, a psychic voice came into her head, taking control of her mind momentarily.

"Emma, I need your help. He took control of her mind, and now they're nearly unstoppable. Quickly, before it's too late." Emma managed a muffled scream just before shadows engulfed her body, pulling it away.

Sean Cassidy had managed to hear this scream and tore into the room. It was empty by the time he got there, and remarked, "Where has she run off to now?"

End Interlude


We resume the story in Anchorage, Alaska, where the Blackbird, the famous flagship of the X-men, is touching down in the backyard of a small, suburban house. The four X-women, Rogue, Storm, Shadowcat, and Marrow emerge from the ship and walk out onto the fresh snow. They are each dragging behind them the body of one of the four X-men. Marrow is grumbling loudly.

"Why do I have to carry him! He's the heaviest and I don't think he's taken a bath for at least a week."

"Shut up and just make sure he doesn't wake up because of his healing factor," comes an angry reply from Rogue.

"Both of you quit whining!" shouts Storm as she opens the back door to the house.

They enter into a twisted version of a kitchen. The walls and ceiling are set at odd angles and dark flame lick the air setting it ablaze. The continue to the living room where Jean Grey Summers, a former X-woman, is siting atop a psionically made throne, hovering a few feet in the air. In back of her is her husband, Scott Summers, wincing and writhing with pain as he is held in an, also psionically made, altar.

Storm approaches Jean and presents her with the X-men. "My queen, Phoenix, we have brought you your army."

"Good work. And do not call me Phoenix any longer. From now on my name shall be, the SHADOW QUEEN!"

To be continued...