The Genoshan Job - Part 5
Posted on Fri Mar 14th, 2025 @ 1:50am by Erik Magnus Lehnsherr & Patrick Manco & Connor Bruin & Hayden Davis & Kennedy Kelly & Kayleigh Marshall & Maeve MacKenna & Drew Williams & Desmond Greene & Alex Summers
Edited on on Fri Mar 14th, 2025 @ 1:51am
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: Genosha
Timeline: December 9th, 1990
The jungle was alive with the sounds of nocturnal creatures, the rustling of leaves, and the distant hum of Magistrate patrol drones cutting through the humid night air. Through the dense foliage, the X-Men and their allies moved in near silence, their steps careful, their breathing measured. The four strongest among them—Victor, John, Desmond, and Connor—each carried their share of nearly a ton of Semtex, the weight of their mission as heavy as the explosives strapped to their backs.
Drew scouted ahead, his movements swift and practiced, slipping between the trees like a shadow. Every few minutes, he would flash a signal—coast clear, move up. It was slow going, but necessary. One wrong step, one flicker of light against the jungle canopy at the wrong moment, and they'd be swarmed by Magistrates before they even reached their destination.
At their backs was Alex, making sure no enemies got the drop from behind and helped anybody lagging keep pace with the rest of the group.
Connor led the way, his usual silence compounded by his unwavering focus. He hadn't told them where they were going, and he hadn’t needed to—his grip on the folded map in his hand was enough to let them know he had a plan.
Victor, trudging through the underbrush, finally let out a low growl of irritation. "You gonna tell us where we're haulin' a metric ton of boom, or do we just keep playin' follow-the-leader?"
John, who had been watching the direction they were heading, exhaled through his nose. "It's the old gondola station, isn't it?"
Connor didn't confirm, but he didn't deny it, either. He simply adjusted his pace, stepping over a tangle of roots without breaking stride.
Victor clicked his tongue against his teeth, rolling his shoulders. "Tch. Figures. Only thing out this way besides jungle and Magistrate outposts." He shot Connor a glance. "Gonna take a wild guess here and say you’re plannin' to use that thing for more than just a scenic ride."
Still, Connor remained unreadable. He trudged ahead and left everyone to speculate as they wished.
Maeve's feet hurt. Her head hurt. Her body hurt. She tried to keep a good pace going, fell behind a few times but quickly made it up without some noticing. She'd had a nightmare during her brief nap. She'd woken up screaming, as if being electrocuted much like she had been subjected to by Windrider. Sweat had shone on her body like a second skin but she realised she was safe with the others and had calmed herself down quickly. She didn't want to be the reason they got caught again. She kept glancing at Victor, he certainly had a mouth on him and she silently wished he would just keep his thoughts to himself, even for 5 minutes. The sky was dark but you could see light beginning to push the darkness back. You could almost say it was beautiful if current circumstances weren't what they were.
Kayleigh was managing to keep up even though her feet were aching at the pace they were going, thankfully she was pretty much immune to the temperature fluctuations of the jungle. She wasn't going to speculate on Connor's plan, whatever was going to happen she'd simply go with the flow.
Trudging through the night wasn't Desmond's idea of fun. But for once he was grateful for his particular mutation. He wasn't feeling overly exhausted. To add to that, his muted sense of touch helped him not feel any pain in his feet. To others it might have been noticeable that the pine-like needles that acted as his hair had lost some of their vibrant deep-green hue. They had shifted to a more yellow-ish tint.
“We’ve been waiting for the Blackbird,” Kennedy said from her position at the back of the group. She hated marching through the jungle which seemed to be a common act for X-Men. “After we were dropped off, the autopilot took it back home for refueling. Xavier said that when it returned there would be reinforcements on it…” At least that had been the plan when they had first arrived at Genosha several days ago. But the prospect of having more allies arriving was an optimistic one, especially when the rebel forces had been pummeled these past. Not to mention the whole idea that trusted reinforcements would arrive, ones that wouldn’t be considered traitors. “…looks like you get that family reunion after all, Alex.”
Hayden was glad for how last night worked out. This was rough and exhausting. As if hurry up and wait wasn't bad enough by itself, they were doing it while marching through a jungle. The boys seemed quiet, which was understandable considering last night. Well, all of them except Victor. "Family reunions can be fun, or so I've heard," she said. "I can't imagine what a Summers' family reunion would be like, though."
"Sullen," Alex said plainly from behind Kennedy. "We aren't the chattiest bunch."
"Always liked that about you," Victor groused from his forward position where everyone could hear. His tone was a bit pointed from the night before.
"Victor... don't start." John wasn't having it. "Save it for Moreau and his race traitors."
That sounded good to Victor, who let out a dark chuckle. "Heh, heh. Yeah."
The ground had been descending for awhile, but now it cut a sharp incline that pushed everyone to their limits. Those carrying the Semtex packs grunted despite their enhanced strength. From somewhere up above came Drew's signal. Connor trudged uphill, determined not to let the pace slow down.
Once they reached the top, they could see the gondola station in all its fallen glory. The building itself was a skeletal ruin of rusted metal and weathered concrete, vines crawling over every surface, nature reclaiming what had been abandoned long ago. The gondola line stretched across the expanse up the mountainside, the cables sagging under years of neglect but still intact. The pod cars were old, glass missing from their windowpanes, paint stripped away by time and the elements.
Drew emerged from the underbrush, his face slick with sweat despite the cool night air. His dark clothing was speckled with mud, twigs, and bits of jungle debris from his careful movements through the undergrowth. He crouched low next to Connor, his voice low but urgent. Drew gave his short report. "There's a deserted sky tram station up ahead. Doesn't look as if anyone has been there in years. I didn't go any further, but I didn't see or hear any evidence that there was anyone else nearby."
Connor nodded once, absorbing the information before motioning the rest of the group forward. "MOVE IN," he signed quickly before speaking. "WE NEED TO KICKSTART THE GENERATOR TO POWER THE LIFT. ONCE WE DO, EACH CAR CAN HOLD UP TO FOUR PEOPLE, DEPENDING ON SIZE. LOAD THE SEMTEX FIRST, THEN FIGURE OUT SEATING BEHIND IT."
The group began fanning out across the station while Connor disappeared indoors in search of the generator.
Victor stomped through the brush and dropped his heavy load on the platform with a heavy thud. He push his burly hand against his neck in an audible crack. "Hope the genius's got a damn good plan,," he muttered as he toed the Semtex. "Or else this is gonna be a real short trip."
"Connor knows what he's doing" Kayleigh offered Victor a brief smile not wanting to get on his bad side. "Trust him."
Drew looked out over the terrain along the path underneath the cable. There were small clearings around where the poles supporting the cables, but everywhere else lay dense jungle. He approached Connor and gestured along their intended route. "You want me to run ahead underneath the cables? Make sure we don't have any unwelcoming committee who wants to spring a trap or ambush on us?"
Connor glanced at the dark jungle stretching below the cables, his sharp eyes scanning for movement. After a moment, he shook his head.
"NO," he signed, his speech-generating device echoed the words in its monotone voice. "IF THERE WERE MAGISTRATES OUT THERE, THEY WOULD HAVE ATTACKED ALREADY. ONCE THE GONDOLA STARTS MOVING, THEY WILL KNOW WE’RE HERE ANYWAY." Instead, Connor pointed toward the rusted generator housing, then to the thick cabling sagging above them. "HELP ME RECONNECT THE HARD POINTS," he signed. "WE NEED TO TIGHTEN THE CABLES BEFORE WE GET THIS THING RUNNING. TOO MUCH SLACK, AND IT’LL SNAP UNDER OUR WEIGHT."
Drew checked the power cable connections then threw the main breaker switch to the on position.
With power restored at least temporarily, the two X-Men returned to the rest of the team.
Connor climbed onto the loading platform, his sharp eyes sweeping over the group as they finished loading the last of the Semtex onto the gondola cars. The hum of the restored generator filled the night air, the cables above them now taut and ready. He nodded in approval before raising his hands to sign.
"THANK YOU FOR LOADING THE SEMTEX. NOW LISTEN UP. THE NEXT PHASE REQUIRES SWIFT ACTION. YOU ALL NEED TO FOLLOW ME AND DO EXACTLY AS I DO. THE MARGIN FOR ERROR IS VERY SMALL."
Victor narrowed his eyes. "Yeah? And what in the hell are we actually doin'?"
Connor just smirked, his confidence unwavering. He didn't bother answering. Instead, he turned and climbed into the first car directly behind the ones carrying the explosives, settling in like he’d done this a hundred times before.
The rest of the group exchanged glances, suspicion, frustration, and curiosity flickering between them.
Alex exhaled through his nose, stepping forward. “Whatever it is, we’re already committed.” He climbed into the next available car.
John muttered something under his breath before following suit.
Kennedy gave Connor a look, her expression skeptical but intrigued. “You better not get me killed,” she warned, then took her seat.
Hayden hesitated for half a second before sighing and hopping in.
One by one, the rest of the X-Men and their allies filed into the remaining cars. Victor was the last to board, glaring at Connor the whole time. “This better not be some dumbass suicide stunt, kid.”
Connor still didn’t answer. He just tapped the side of the car, signaling Drew to hit the switch.
With a loud clank, the gondola jerked forward, the cable humming as it began its ascent up the mountainside.
As the cars swayed gently, carrying them toward their unknown fate, Alex leaned toward Connor and muttered, "Whatever this is, it better be worth it."
Connor simply smirked again, his fingers tapping against his knee.
"JUST WATCH." loading platform, his sharp eyes sweeping over the group as they finished loading the last of the Semtex onto the gondola cars. The hum of the restored generator filled the night air, the cables above them now taut and ready. He nodded in approval before raising his hands to sign.
"THANK YOU FOR LOADING THE SEMTEX. NOW LISTEN UP. THE NEXT PHASE REQUIRES SWIFT ACTION. YOU ALL NEED TO FOLLOW ME AND DO EXACTLY AS I DO—THE MARGIN FOR ERROR IS VERY SMALL."
Victor, standing off to the side with his arms crossed, narrowed his eyes. "Yeah? And what in the hell are we actually doin'?"
Connor just smirked, his confidence unwavering. He didn't bother answering. Instead, he turned and climbed into the first car directly behind the ones carrying the explosives.
“He’s keeping us all in the dark on purpose.” It was either brave or stupid of Kennedy to comment to Victor. “That way if someone is the spy, they won’t be able to give Moreau the whole plan.”
The rest of the group exchanged glances, suspicion, frustration, and curiosity flickering between them.
Secrecy. Suspicion. Silence. Playing it close to the chest. All of this hide and seek, this spy stuff...she would be glad when the rat was outted. Then hopefully things could get back to normal.
Kayleigh didn’t question, she did as she was told. Connor had her complete trust, he was after all team leader. She hoped whatever the plan was it would go off without a hitch.
Alex exhaled through his nose, stepping forward. "Whatever it is, we’re already committed." He climbed into the next available car.
John muttered something under his breath before following suit. "You better not get me killed," he warned, then took his seat.
One by one, the rest of the X-Men and their allies filed into the remaining cars. Victor was the last to board, glaring at Connor the whole time. "This better not be some dumbass suicide stunt, kid."
Connor still didn’t answer. He just tapped the side of the car, signaling Drew to hit the switch.
With a loud clank, the gondola jerked forward, the cable humming as it began its ascent up the mountainside.
As the cars swayed gently, carrying them toward their unknown fate, Alex leaned toward Connor and muttered, "Whatever this is, it better be worth it."
Connor simply smirked again, his fingers tapping against his knee.
"JUST WATCH."
The gondola creaked as it ascended higher up the mountainside, its steel cables groaning under the strain of the weight it carried. The air had grown thinner, crisper, but that wasn’t what made Connor uneasy. He had been watching the sky, waiting. And then, as if on cue, the first streaks of lightning split across the storm-darkened clouds above the mountain's peak.
Victor saw it too. His sharp eyes narrowed as he let out a low, knowing chuckle. "That'll be the weather witch waitin' for us," he muttered darkly. Then, turning his gaze to Connor, his grin twisted into something more accusing. "So, genius, what's the plan now?"
Connor didn't waste time answering. His eyes had already locked onto exactly what he had been searching for—industrial ventilation exhaust vents embedded in the mountainside ahead of them. It was a long shot, but it was their only shot.
He turned back toward Alex, catching his attention with two fingers pointing at his own eyes before making a pair of finger guns at the grates. The message was clear: Blow it open.
Alex hesitated, glancing at the approaching peak. One wrong move and they were all dead. But Connor stood firm, his expression unwavering. "TRUST ME."
Exhaling sharply, Alex raised a hand. Plasma energy crackled between his fingers before lancing forward, slamming into the vent covers with an explosive force. The grates buckled and blew inward, revealing a dark, open tunnel leading into the mountain’s depths.
Connor didn't hesitate. He sprang from the gondola, landing hard against the grated metal walkway just outside the opening. He turned back, waving urgently. "MOVE, X-MEN. ON ME."
Kennedy was grateful for her training with Kurt in this moment, the high rise jump was easy compared to their work together on the trapeze. With a graceful leap and a barani flip she landed on the walkway with minimal disturbance.
Hayden jumped and landed rather awkwardly on the metal gates that passed for a walkway. There would be some bruising, but she was no worse for wear. She stood up and dusted herself off while taking inventory of the area.
Kayleigh leapt over following the others, a less than graceful landing but no harm done as she stood ready.
Desmond fell. No writer nor storyteller has ever described the sight of falling lumber as graceful. With a heavy thud and the creaking of the walkway. His eyes met Kennedy's for a moment, and the big guy forced a smile of embarrassment, the difference between her quiet landing and his loud one making him awkward for a moment.
Drew lept to the catwalk, his reflexes and recent training with Jennifer making it a flawless landing.
Maeve followed the group down to the opening. Her landing not as graceful as she would have liked but her legs felt like jelly, a wobbly mess of muscle and bone. Getting back to her feet she entered the darkness of the tunnel.
One by one, the team followed—some leaping, some scrambling, some barely making it before the next surge of wind rocked the gondolas violently on their cables.
Victor was the last one out, landing in a roll before pushing himself up with a growl. "That better not have been our ride back down," he snapped, but the words had barely left his mouth before the answer presented itself.
The gondolas, still carrying nearly a ton of Semtex, finally reached the peak. And the lightning found them. The explosion was blinding, a chain reaction of fire and concussive force that ripped through the station at the summit. Metal twisted, cables snapped, and then, with a deafening groan, the very mountainside seemed to come alive.
It was an avalanche. There would've been no escape if not for the newly blasted opening in the ventilation.
Tons of snow, ice, and rock began to roar down all sides of the mountain, swallowing everything in its path. The shockwave sent tremors through the ventilation shaft and filled the opening. The crush of displaced snowpack kicked up dust and debris from the ceiling as the team huddled inside, catching their breath.
Connor turned back toward the darkened tunnel before them. "WELCOME TO THE FLESH FACTORY."
Drew looked at Connor. "What first boss? Hit the cell blocks or the labs where they're doing the experiments?"
“We have to get Ty and Kurt first.” Tandy replied with a hint of desperation, they were so close to freeing Cloak that it made her antsy. “Moreau could kill them out of spite if he knows we’re here.”
"That was a pretty big explosion," said Hayden. "Other than his goons, we're probably the only other ones on the island that could do that. Or even dare to. And he doesn't seem dumb enough to think it was a distraction."
“He also knows just what some, if not all of us, can do. They could have prepared ready for any intervention” Kayleigh looked at Connor. “We may have to organise some opponent swapping just in case they’ve had time to prepare.”
As the conversation continued, Connor remained silent, his expression unreadable as he turned and led them deeper into the Flesh Factory away from ventilation tunnels. The cold steel walls echoed their footsteps, the only sound beyond the distant groans of a wounded, crumbling facility. The avalanche had done its job. Now it was time to finish theirs.
Alex quickened his pace to walk alongside Connor. "The Machine and the surrounding labs are on a lower level," he said. "If we’re going to destroy Moreau’s operation, that’s where we need to go."
Connor shook his head. "WE AREN’T GOING THERE FIRST,” he signed.
John frowned. "Why the hell not? That was the whole point of this op."
Victor remained quiet, his sharp gaze narrowing on Connor as he waited for an answer.
Connor exhaled sharply through his nose, then pointed to the thick hard-line cables running along the tunnel walls, their insulation marking them as data lines. "THE CENTRAL STATION WAS JUST ONE PART OF THEIR COMMAND NETWORK. A BIG PART, BUT NOT THE WHOLE THING. GENOSHA STILL HAS ITS SATELLITE UPLINKS. THAT MEANS MOREAU’S AIR AND NAVAL FORCES CAN STILL COORDINATE WITHOUT A HITCH. DESTROYING THE TRANSIT HUB HURT THEIR LOGISTICS, BUT IF WE DO NOT TAKE DOWN THEIR COMMUNICATIONS, THE RESISTANCE WILL STILL BE FIGHTING A LOSING BATTLE.”
Alex clenched his jaw. "Is that really the best course of action? We're stronger with more numbers."
Before Connor could answer, Victor let out a low, amused chuckle. "Heh. Finally, some real strategy." He cracked his knuckles, rolling his shoulders like he was itching for a fight. "Hitting Moreau where it hurts? Now that’s a plan I can get behind. To hell with those lab rats. We cut the head off the snake first."
John sighed heavily. "So how do we even find this thing?"
Connor gestured at the cables again. "WE FOLLOW THESE. THEY WILL LEAD US STRAIGHT TO THE SATELLITE CONTROL CENTER."
Sure enough, the ventilation shaft they’d blasted open had put them closer than expected. After rounding a corner, the team saw a reinforced door marked TELEMETRY CONTROL. The hum of electronics vibrated faintly through the walls, and the glow of monitors flickered behind the narrow reinforced glass of a small observation window.
But they weren’t alone.
A squad of Magistrates stood guard outside the room, their rifles at the ready. Their uniforms were heavier than the standard foot soldiers—these weren’t the usual enforcers. They were hardened military.
The moment they spotted the team, one of them barked an order to fire. The guards raised their weapons.
Connor’s hand shot up. "ATTACK!"
The first shots rang out.
Drew shot forward as Connor gave the order. He dropped low as if he were sliding into home plate and knocked one guard off his feet. He performed a kippup, something Jennifer had taught him in their gymnastics lesson, and struck a second Magistrate with his cattle prod.
As chaos erupted in the control room, Kennedy remained focused on the equipment rather than the Magistrates that stormed the space. The comm channels began to buzz and chatter with Magistrates sharing information and requesting backup. Kennedy fired golden arrows into all the equipment until it was all smoking and smoldering, the communication between Magistrate teams now silenced.
With a roar that sounded like a sequoia falling, Desmond rushed forward. The load noise drew some of the Magistrates' attention, and fire on Desmond. Thudding sounds came from his chest as he closed the distance. The first was smacked into the side of the mountain, a crunching sound came from the helmet. The other two Desmond grabbed by their chest plate. He lifted them off the ground, and with a snarl slammed them both into the floor. When he took his hands away, the chest plate had clear indentations where Desmond's fingers had curled. Three down from his rush, two down from Drew. A good start.
Maeve looked at the Magistrates and did something unexpected. She froze. Images flashed through her mind of being manhandled by smaller versions of them only the day before. They'd pick her up, put her back in that chair. Windrider, whom she'd heard the name Ororo muttered, would subject her to electrical burst to 'correct' her behaviour and help her 'see. Weapons fire flew by her head and she snapped back and noticed the walls had cracks formed and she took cover behind something sturdy.
Kayleigh turned her attention to the natural heat radiating from the magistrates bodies, using the combined warmth to generate fire that she could focus right nav at them.
Desmond ran interference, literally shielding the others from gunfire while they made their advances.
As Victor and John tore into the remaining Magistrates, joining the X-Men in reducing the satcom room to nothing but smoldering wreckage, Connor kept his focus on the control panel. His fingers flew over the interface, eyes flicking between lines of code as he systematically disrupted Genosha's satellite network. On the readout, he saw the geosynchronous satellites began shifting from their designated positions, no longer providing real-time coordination for the Genoshan forces. Instead, one by one, they were sent into decaying orbits, destined to plunge into the sea.
"OBJECTIVE ACCOMPLISHED," Connor signed to the team.
Then, the flickering, shattered remains of the monitors suddenly all lit up in unison. A face materialized through the static. It was the Genegineer himself, Dr. David Moreau. His expression was one of calculated amusement, his posture relaxed, but his cold, analytical eyes gleamed with something deeper.
"Congratulations," Moreau purred, his voice smoothly cutting through the sounds of sparking electronics and distant gunfire. "You've proven yourselves to be far more troublesome than I anticipated. An impressive feat. I had so hoped to welcome you to the Machine in person—where I might scan the newcomers and perfect the process for those of you I’ve already sampled—but alas, even now, I am not without contingencies."
He tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something off-screen. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
"The old ways have their uses. Mutant control collars are crude, but they remain effective." His smirk widened, his gaze flickering off-camera. "Retrieve them. Bring them to the Machine."
Before anyone could react, the room was plunged into a creeping, oppressive darkness. The air thickened with the acrid scent of sulfur. Then—bamf!
Shadows slithered across the walls like ink spilling through water, curling and stretching as if something alive was creeping forth from the void itself. A thick mist of brimstone drifted along the floor, its sulfurous scent invading their lungs before it settled into the unmistakable shape of two figures.
Kurt and Ty.
Both stood motionless for the briefest of moments, eerie in their stillness, before their glowing eyes snapped open—Kurt's golden, Ty's hauntingly white—and locked onto their friends with an emptiness that did not belong to them. Thick metallic collars gleamed at their throats, the red indicator lights blinking in ominous synchronization.
And then they moved.
Kurt vanished in a rapid-fire succession of bamfs, playing at cat-and-mouse throughout the room before finally reappearing above John Proudstar before he could react. His three-fingered hands gripped the Apache's giant shoulders as he teleported him away in a puff of brimstone. At the same time, Ty raised a hand, his cloak unfurling like an abyss. With a pulse of unnatural energy, the shadows along the walls surged forward, stretching toward the team like grasping hands, swallowing the light in their path.
"No!" Alex jumped forward and used his lung as a counterweight to pull Maeve and Kayleigh out of the way. The creeping darkness swept up his legs and sucked him into the void.
Connor gritted his teeth and began signing in a flurry. "BACK TO BACK, EVERYONE. DO NOT LET THEM TOUCH YOU."
Despite Connor's order, Drew stayed in motion. Standing still was the worst thing for a speedster to do. He stayed in motion and continually changed direction. He just needed a fraction of a second to stun Kurt with the cattle prod as he bamfed in to snatch the next person.
While Drew had experienced some good luck with his gymnastics, a single training session with a cheerleader wasn’t enough to redefine his skills as an X-Men. Ignoring Connor’s directions and leaving his team behind, he failed to realize that Kurt was not the immediate danger to him.
Ty’s dark force cloak extended and wrapped around Drew with a preternatural speed. Like the foolish gazelle that strayed from the herd, the speedster was picked off and culled. Drew was swallowed up into total inky darkness. No up or down, in or out greeted him. Drew was trapped in blackness without any hope of escaping on his own.
Hayden watched everything happen at what seemed like breakneck speed. The magistrates, the control center, and now Kurt and Ty. She put her back to Tandy's back, eyes darting around the room for the shadows. She began circling the water in the room near her when she saw Ty.
"There he is!" she shouted. She hated to do it to him, but maybe it'd be enough to distract him. She brought a water sphere, which she affectionately called the Fish Bowl, around his head. "I'm sorry, Tandy. I can let him go in a minute or two before he passes out."
“It’s okay Honey, I understand” While Tandy was agreeable, Hayden could hear the heartbreak in her voice. She loved Ty and to see him become a weapon in someone else’s arsenal, it made her heart hurt. “Don’t let him pass out all the way, give him enough air to keep him conscious, if those two get lost in the dark force, they might be gone forever.” Taking a step away from Hayden and moving towards the pawing and frantic Ty, daggers of light appeared in her hands. There was no one else who knew Ty’s dark force better than Tandy. He was the shadow and she was the light. “Hold him until you get that collar off, I’ll go in and find them.” Without fear or hesitation, Tandy vanished into the blackness of Ty’s cloak.
Hayden watched as Tandy disappeared. She adjusted the Fish Bowl to give Ty enough air to keep him conscious while Tandy was away. She could certainly hold him in place, but getting the collar off was different story.
Another flurry of bamfing filled the satcom center. One puff after another left a trail of Kurt's involuntary stalking of his friends turned prey.
"DO NOT GET CAUGHT APART FROM THE GROUP!" Connor's device called out at max volume.
"KURT!" Maeve yelled out into the darkness. "STOP! It's Maeve! Remember!" Her powers fluctuated as debris around her, components of the earth began to float subtly at ankle level. She hoped her pained cries would spark some recognition. They had both been subjected to horrible practices and hoped that shared experience would have bonded them somewhat. Maybe it was wishful thinking but if he threatened the team more she didn't know if she could control her powers enough to not explode the very room they all stood in.
But no voice answered her call.
Instead bamf echoed right behind her, making her spin with a gasp—only for the space to be empty again a second later.
From the side, Victor snarled low, something feral flashing in his eyes. "To hell with this," he spat.
In a quick motion, like a beast springing from the shadows, Victor seized a heavy upturned desk and hurled it where Kurt had last appeared. It clattered and smashed against the wall as Victor surged forward, catlike and fast, in the opposite direction
"Gotcha, you little bastard!" Victor barked as Kurt bamfed again—right into his path—and Victor latched on, claws tearing into the demon-like mutant's middle as they vanished in a sulfurous swirl of smoke and light.
The two reappeared mid-air, locked in a violent grapple, only to bamf again, reappearing atop a smashed console—Victor never letting go, teeth bared in a ferocious grin.
Another bamf and they reappeared against a wall. Then another, this time slamming into the ceiling.
"You're not... gettin'... away from me!" Victor snarled between gritted teeth as Kurt twisted and fought.
With a final desperate bamf, Kurt wriggled free—but not before Victor’s claws tore through his jacket, leaving ragged gashes near his right side ribs. Victor hit the ground in a crouch, growling, but Kurt was already moving.
In a flash of smoke, Kurt was behind Victor—bamf—and SLASH! His blade cut clean through the back of Victor's left hamstring, his lead leg.
"AHHH!" Victor bellowed, staggering to one knee.
A second bamf—and SLICE!—Kurt's sword opened a deep gash under Victor’s right arm, forcing him to drop his guard and roar in pain.
"SHOW YOUR FACE, YOU FUCKIN' GOBLIN!" Victor spat, spinning around—
But a third bamf came and Kurt appeared directly behind him. His glowing eyes burned foreign and alien—and before Victor could react, Kurt drove his blade through Victor’s back and deep into his torso, the tip piercing out the front of his chest.
Victor choked out a harsh gasp, blood spilling from his lips. "Ghhh...damn you..." he snarled, but his knees buckled, and he collapsed face-first with a sickening thud.
Kurt stood over him, swaying down to one knee, his own hand clutching at his bleeding side while propping himself up on the hilt of his sword. His breath came fast, ragged, but his face betrayed none of the pain he had to be feeling.
“Stop!” Kennedy screamed as the violence and gore escalated between Victor and Kurt. With Ty being held by Hayden and Kurt distracted by his injuries, Kennedy dared a rather bold attempt to free Kurt before he recovered and teleported once more. Remaining back to back with the rest of the team, she nocked an arrow and took aim at the collar around Kurt’s throat. The shot was a difficult one to make but the kinetic charge she needed to provide was ever more challenging. Too much and she would blow his head off, too little and it would merely pop like a firecracker. She would have to hit the hinge of the collar just right with enough force to break and loosen it while Kurt remained unscathed.
“Tut mir leid.” She muttered in the terrible broken German she had picked up from spending so much time with Kurt. With a final, steadying breath she adjusted her aim a final time before firing the arrow.
Kennedy's arrow streaked through the air, and for a heartbeat, time seemed to freeze. The tension in the room crackled like static until the arrow slammed into the metal collar around Kurt's throat.
There was an elastic shockwave as the alloy deflected the impact and sent the arrow bouncing away in a tailspin. A sharp crack of energy released outward like a contained explosion. The collar snapped open with a metallic shriek, but not before the force of the impact knocked Kurt clear off his feet, sending him sprawling to the ground in a heap.
"Scheiße..." he groaned, breathless, as he rolled onto his side, gasping for air. His fingers dug into the ground, claws scraping against the metal floor. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, swaying slightly, his head hung low as he coughed and fought for focus.
"Mein Kopf..." he rasped in hoarse German. "Alles wie ein Albtraum..."
The collar lay on the floor beneath him, broken and useless, the soft glow of the suppressing tech flickering before dying out completely.
Across the room, Connor stood with one hand still outstretched, steam curling from his palm where he had caught Kennedy's deflected arrow mid-air, absorbing the rest of its detonation into himself before it could harm anyone. His other hand gripped Ty's collar, now cracking under the strength Connor had fueled from the blast. His fingers, glowing faintly with residual kinetic energy, wrenched the metal apart with a final guttural effort, tearing it free from Ty's neck.
The moment the collar snapped loose, Ty let out a low, strangled gasp, his body shuddering as his eyes flared with returning power. His head jerked back, and from within the folds of the swirling Darkforce that made up his cloak, Tandy, Alex, and Drew were violently expelled like a marsupial pouch, thrown out as debris from a storm.
Tandy hit the ground in a smooth roll, her landing controlled and graceful despite the violent exit, her body already glowing faintly as she gathered Lightforce into her palms. That was far from her first foray into the void.
Alex and Drew weren't as lucky. They tumbled in a rough sprawl across the floor, groaning as they rolled to a stop, disoriented and blinking furiously.
Ty rose to his full height, pulling his cloak tighter around him as his head dropped, panting from the strain. The Darkforce that clung to him like smoke was no longer feral and weaponized, but instead slowly retracting, its corrosive presence retreating as though ashamed of how it had been used.
“BABYYYYYY!” Tandy squealed in an octave that only dogs could hear as Ty collected himself and returned to the present. She ran through the room and lept over any obstacles in her way in order to rush Ty with as big of a hug as she could manage. “Are you alright?” Tandy asked between kisses she lavished across the entirety of his face. “I was so worried about you!”
“Easy, girl.” Ty warned but he still managed to smile “I’m better now that you’re here and ready to tear this place down.”
Drew made it to his hands and knees, but only for a moment before experiencing a severe bout of vertigo and collapsing to the floor again. His head felt like it was spinning around like Linda Blair in the Exorcist.
Kayleigh moved across to Drew crouching by him to check on him. “Are you alright? Lean on me.”
Drew took a few deep breaths and struggled back to his hands and knees again. "Just...give me a minute."
“I’m so sorry,” Kennedy murmured as she crouched down and offered Kurt a hand up. “I didn’t know what to do but I knew I had to do something.” Kurt looked rather worse for wear thanks to the injuries Victor had provided. “Are you okay? Your side is still bleeding.”
Kurt's hand trembled as he took Kennedy's, her grip steady and warm in the chaos still swirling around them. He rose to his feet unsteadily, a pained breath hissing through clenched teeth as he pressed a hand to his bleeding side. His eyes, bright gold and usually filled with gentle humor, were dimmed now, fogged with pain and guilt.
"I've suffered... worse," Kurt rasped, forcing a thin smile, though it was a poor mask for the turmoil beneath. His gaze flicked toward Victor, the larger man still writhing weakly on the floor, blood pooling around him, and realization dawned in Kurt's eyes as he connected the dots.
He staggered, his hand slipping from Kennedy’s as he took a shaky step forward, staring at what he had done. His tail lashed anxiously behind him. "Oh Gott..." he breathed, a tremor shaking his entire frame. "What hef I done?"
“Welcome to a life of heroing.” Kennedy dryly replied while looking over at the now gurgling Creed. The massive man was twitching and coming back to life thanks to his healing factor. “I don’t think you have to worry too much, nothing can kill Victor… I assume it’s because hell doesn’t want him.”
Kennedy looked at Kurt’s side, it was bleeding a little less now that he had calmed down. “I threw up the first time I accidentally killed someone.” She attempted some small talk while tearing an unconscious Magistrate’s jacket into some sort of sad wrap. “Truth be told, I don’t know what I’m doing, but this seems like a good idea.” Kennedy wrapped the strips of cloth around his side in an attempt to dress and apply pressure to his injury. “Think you can keep going?”
"Ja... I vill manage..." Kurt nodded. He was in agony but after getting that collar off, he never felt more alive.
Connor hurried to Alex, who was still on the floor, bracing himself against a wall. His hand went out to pull him up. "LET ME HELP YOU," Connor signed firmly with one hand.
Alex, pale and breathing hard, let himself be hauled to his feet, but then shoved Connor's arm off him with a grunt. His voice was hoarse but filled with unyielding resolve. "We need to get to the Machine... finish this." His eyes burned with determination, even as his body swayed.
Connor gave him a sharp nod. "RIGHT. WE SHOULD MOVE."
Ty gathered his wits quickly now that his mind was his own again. His Darkforce cloak rippled around him, but his stance was steady as he stepped forward, pulling Tandy protectively close. She clung to his arm, and her sharp eyes were sharply scanning surroundings like she was ready to lash out the second anyone touched him again.
"Let me get us there," Ty murmured. The Darkforce shimmered around them, swirling and gathering with its unnatural tides and eddies. "I know it. Allow me... this much."
Connor nodded once. "DO IT."
In seconds, the team was swallowed by Ty's shadow and re-emerged at the threshold of the Machine’s core.
What they saw made them stop in their tracks.
John Proudstar was in the Machine. His body arched, convulsing as waves of energy coursed through him, sparks and light cracking around his form. His cries of pain were raw, guttural, and seemed to shake the walls. Veins of white-hot power ran up his arms, glowing from within his skin like molten lines being carved through him.
Standing before the Machine, Moreau watched with an almost reverent smile, like an artist admiring his creation.
The moment Moreau noticed them, he turned, his smile widening—a grotesque parody of welcome. "Ah... my most troublesome guests." His voice oozed with mockery. "You've made it just in time to see perfection made flesh."
Before they could take a step forward, emitters lowered from the ceiling, crackling with energy, and forcefields shot up around each of them. The translucent barriers shimmered with a faint, burning heat that bit into their skin the moment anyone pressed too close. Everyone flinched away from the sides of their cells as the sizzling forcefields trapped them in place.
Moreau tsked. "Is there any trap you lot won't happily stumble into? Truly, you X-Men are consistent if nothing else." He clasped his hands behind his back, leisurely strolling between the now-prisoners like a tour guide in a museum. "These little containment cells? Ah, the 'Cone of Shame'—a cruder cousin to my reconditioning chambers, but no less effective. Portable for special occasions such as this."
He paused to admire their scowls, then turned toward Hayden, eyeing her like a scientist about to dissect his next subject. "Now, let’s see… who haven't I gotten a good sample from yet?" He mused aloud as her perused the readings taken from the captured moments. He began gesturing toward Desmond, Kennedy, and Hayden. "Hm. So many options, but I do love surprises."
His gaze finally settled on Hayden, and a slow, delighted smile crept across his face. "You," he purred. "Hydrokinesis, is it? A delightful quirk of nature. Come now, don't look so glum—your friends will get to witness your ascension firsthand. What a gift for them."
"Don't you touch her!" Alex snapped, fists slamming uselessly against the forcefield, which sparked in warning.
Moreau merely smiled wider, relishing the outburst. "Oh, I insist. After all, how often does one get to mold nature's accidents into something... better?"
With a gesture to Dr. Jarvis, the assistant keyed in a command, and John was unceremoniously ejected from the Machine, his body half a meter taller, his muscles swollen grotesquely, glowing white eyes burning like embers. His breathing was ragged as he fell onto all fours with the Machine's marks clear in his new hulking frame.
"Behold," Moreau announced with pride, "another masterpiece. Is there anything I cannot do?" His eyes gleamed with egotistical triumph as he turned back toward Hayden, gesturing for her to be forced into the Machine.
Two Magistrates seized her by the arms once her forcefield dropped and unceremoniously dragged her kicking and screaming to the Machine's pod. Her frame disappeared behind the closed hatch, leaving only her terrified face faintly obscured by the viewport.
Kayleigh could only watch as Hayden was dragged away, wondering if Moreau would get around to using them all in his machine.
Maeve began to breathe heavier, "Not again..." she mumbled at being caught like an animal in a cage once again. She could feel something crawling through her mind, trying to gain control. Her eyes flickered from pure white back to blue but she kept shaking her head as if to clear it. Noise from around her made her look up and see Hayden being taken and a steely resolve seemed to fill her veins. She needed to get out of this cage. The ground... if she could push through it and then somehow back up in an open space she could take on those causing them harm and disable the forcefields that held her team.
“Hey, now,” Kennedy commented on Maeve’s momentary struggle and dared to touch her shoulder. “Don’t bring the roof down on our heads. We’re together now, we’ll get out of here.”
While the Machine went to work on Hayden, Windrider burst into the room, her body scorched and smoking from burns, but standing defiantly. Evidently she had survived the mountaintop explosion. "Sir! Contact... hostile aerial inbound." She winced, her voice strained but resolute. "They broke through the defense grid... heading straight for the Factory!"
Moreau's smile faltered. "What?" He turned sharply. "No plan survives first contact," he muttered under his breath, before glaring at Windrider. "Who?"
"Unknown," she admitted, straightening despite the pain. "But powerful. They forced me to retreat."
Connor's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. His head snapped toward Alex and the others. "THE BLACKBIRD. IT MUST BE X-FACTOR, THE PROFESSOR'S PROMISED REINFORCEMENTS."
He turned to the others, signing furiously with an imploring look on his face. "START YELLING! LET THEM KNOW WHERE WE ARE!"
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Kayleigh started yelling hoping that the combined noise of all of them together would help them to be located.
Maeve snapped to Windrider. "WINDRIDER!" she yelled as the woman ignored the young woman she'd tried to break. "ORORO!" she yelled with more confidence and power. "This is it! You can choose to follow this a******e of a man, someone who treats our kind like lab rats and playthings. Who treats you like property and like someone who's beneath him, or choose us! We actually care for mutants, flaws and all! We can beat him if you help us! Fight with your people, not against us! Please! Surely you see this only goes one way!"
At the mention of that name, Windrider's attention snapped onto Maeve. "How do you know..."
The ceiling above them shattered in a shriek of twisting metal and stone, cutting Windrider off mid-sentence. Like a can being peeled back, great ribbons of reinforced alloy screamed apart as a massive figure descended, silhouetted against the blood-red hues of the setting sun.
Magneto.
The crimson and violet armor gleamed in the dying light, and as he alighted to the floor, the air around him pulsed with magnetic force, charged and alive, like the very planet itself held its breath. Behind him, Acolytes began sliding down the ruined rebar like a pack of wolves descending on prey.
The first few Magistrates managed to raise their weapons, but with a simple flick of his hand, Magneto's power twisted the rifles from their grips, snapping them backward into the Magistrates' own chests and throats. Gunfire erupted—but it was turned on them, shredding them in a brutal cacophony.
From behind Magneto, Multiple Man's duplicates surged in, bodies forming and reforming in waves, tackling and subduing the panicked scientific staff, driving them to their knees in tight clusters. Dr. Jarvis lunged for a control panel, but Pyro was faster, flicking his lighter with a sharkish grin.
"Sorry, Doc. Guess this ain't your day."
The flames roared to life, engulfing Jarvis in a column of fire, his shrieks cut short as he crumpled in a human candle that quickly burned down to a smoldering husk.
Windrider, stunned, tried to take to the air on a burst of wind—only to be slammed from the sky as Toad's vile mucus struck her across the face. Her flight cut short, she hit the ground with a choking rasp, clawing at the goo for breath.
The Genegineer himself, who had backed toward his precious Machine, now stared with cold fury—but the edges of his composure cracked as Magneto finally turned his sharp, regal gaze on him.
"Genosha is my soil," Moreau snarled, though his voice lacked its usual venom. "You dare invade a sovereign nation? There will be consequences for this—"
Magneto smiled darkly, his eyes gleaming like molten steel. "I certainly hope so, Doctor. That's the point."
Without lifting a finger, metal shards from every corner of the room ripped free and wrapped around Moreau's wrists and ankles, forming jagged, constricting manacles. They dragged him across the floor, scraping deep grooves into the tiles as he snarled and twisted, helpless against their grasp.
"I do suppose there is a bit of irony in the moment," Magneto said in the face of Moreau's pleas for mercy. "Hardly recompense for what you deserve, but it will have to do."
Maestro had access the Machine and turned it down enough to free Hayden, who looked ready to collapse once the pod opened.
"Hey, hey, stay with me, hot stuff. You're alright. We got you." he murmured, taking her by the hand and steadying her as she leaned on him.
The Machine—still humming, still alive—loomed empty now, waiting.
Magneto's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and cold. "Maestro. Do you understand this device?"
Maestro looked it over, his cocky attitude faltering for a breath as he took in the raw power thrumming through it. He glanced up and nodded. "Yeah... yeah, I think I got a read on it. Enough to make it sing."
"Good." Magneto's smile was razor-thin. "Set it to full power."
Moreau's face finally cracked, his bravado giving way to panic.
"No—wait, you don't understand—!"
"Oh, I understand perfectly," Magneto retorted, the Machine now whirring louder as it powered to its limit. "You wanted to 'perfect' mutants, Doctor? I wonder what perfection looks like when turned inward."
With a violent magnetic pull, Moreau was flung into the Machine's chamber, the door slamming shut behind him. The mechanisms inside began to glow and churn, a sound like a monstrous heartbeat filling the room. Moreau's screams echoed out, growing sharper as the process began to tear through him.
Magneto stood, unmoving, watching every second of it with a glint of dark satisfaction.
Finally, he turned—his attention sliding over the battered but standing X-Men for the first time since his arrival.
"Well, if it isn't the X-Men," Magneto said, inclining his head slightly, though a sharp smirk curled his lips. "We simply must stop meeting under such... dire circumstances."
The forcefield emitters over their heads imploded like crumpled wads of paper. After a few flickers, the forcefields surrounding the X-Men were deactivated.
Hayden thought she was going to die in that thing. Her blood felt like it was on fire as it coursed through every part of her body. It was pain. It was terror. She had screamed so loudly...but no one could hear her. Her throat was sore, her voice raspy, and her strength gone when they freed her. Whoever 'they' were.
She felt the hand and heard the voice and immediately leaned against the person. All she could muster was a slight nod of her head. "Thanks," she said in a low, scratchy voice.
Kennedy remained silent and stunned by the chain of events that unfolded in front of them. They had expected reinforcements to arrive but not the Brotherhood in all their bloody justice. Their removal of the satellites must have exposed Genosha to the outside world and with it, the mutant that made others pay for their hate crimes.
As Moreau twitched and twisted inside the hell that was The Machine, chaos unfolded around them. This whole thing felt cruel and awful but an opportunity was still given.
“Free them.” Kennedy called out to Magneato despite her throat still being sore. “Free the mutant slaves of Genosha.”
Magneto looked directly at Kennedy and searched his memory. "Ah, Artemis, is it? The archer. Charles and his mythic penchant." The look on his face turned from solemnity to approval. "Never you fear. I intend to do far more for my mutant brothers and sisters of Genosha than free them." He took to the air again, declaring, "Come and see!"
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