X-MEN
ETERNITY
THE CROSSROADS
by
R. John Burke
(Note: X-Men is a copyright of Marvel comics. Just
fan fiction, no infringement intended.)
***************
TWO: ICE
"I have bad news for you," said Scott Summers-- Cyclops, surveying the grim faces seated around the table. "Just about the worst news some of you can imagine, and believe me, I don't like it any more than you. There's no easy way to put it, but...
"All of you were destined to be X-Men."
Reality
616 (or close enough)
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
His announcement got about the reaction he'd expected: shrugs from Jean-Paul Beaubier, James Proudstar, and Theresa Cassidy-- Northstar, Warpath, and Siryn, who'd all served stints with an X-team in the past and had hung around the group in some capacity for years.
Confusion from Sarita Vazquez, Barnabas Cole, Thomas Hawkins, and Sonja Janssen-- the molecule-shaking Metralla, precognitive Savant, super-agile Hawk (or Bug, though he detested the name), and invulnerable Monolith, newcomers to the mutant scene who'd served for about 15 minutes in the shortest-lived incarnation yet of the Brotherhood of Mutants.
And outright, derisive laughter from Raven Darkholme and Victor Creed-- Mystique and Sabretooth, who'd spent a couple of months in X-Factor once when the alternative was getting shot by people with badges, and otherwise had spent about a decade trying hard to kill anything with an X in it.
"That was a good one, Cyclops, really," said Mystique. "I see you *are* developing a sense of humor. I couldn't be prouder if I gave a damn. Now... why are we really here?"
"I'm not kidding," Cyclops said, "unfortunately. Phoebe?"
Phoebe Cuckoo, the junior telepath and last functioning member of the Five-in-One, also happened to be the person in the room with best idea of what was actually going on. Although Scott had about half a clue now, and was putting more of the puzzle together all the time.
Phoebe said, "I can show you the vision, if you want. The one Bobby Drake has been seeing. It's a vision of how everything might have played out if the X-Men hadn't been scattered across realities. I'm afraid you're all in it."
"Always knew Drake was cracked in the head," said Sabretooth. "So-- what, you expect me to sign up for a Spandex jumpsuit just 'cause of him and this frail? I'd rather kill you all."
"Try it," said Proudstar through gritted teeth. "Please try. I haven't had my exercise this morning."
"Jimmy..." said Theresa warningly.
"C'mon, kid," growled Sabretooth, showing his fangs. "Make a move."
"Creed--" said Mystique.
"Enough!" said Scott, hand reaching for his visor. "Look-- no one is asking you to join the X-Men *now*. Quite frankly, you're not welcome. We're just saying... it was going to happen. Someday."
"That's why the Slayer wanted you," said Phoebe. "Why you had to recruit this mismatched team. More than anything, he wants to destroy the X-Men... present and future. That kill list you had, Ms. Darkholme? You're on it. All of you."
Mystique's yellow eyes narrowed to slits. She steepled her fingers in front of her. "Damn. That almost makes sense."
"It does make sense," Scott promised her. "Think about it, Mystique: Why are you in this? You want your children back. That's not a very selfish motive. You're acting almost like a hero."
"And I thought you were a gentleman," said the shapeshifter. She nodded in Creed's direction. "What about him?"
"Well... nobody's hopeless."
Sabretooth laughed. "I am. Don't even *want* hope. Hope irritates the hell out of me."
"So that thing you did-- risking yourself to save Blink (* in Uncanny #5-6)-- that was totally selfish of you? Nothing redeemable there whatsoever?"
"I just wanted to kill her myself."
"Uh-huh," said Cyclops, almost smiling. "Seems to me Wolverine would have said something like that... once."
Sabretooth snarled. His claws-- one set of natural ones and one synthetic, from where Blink had taken his entire arm in a skirmish (* UXM #1)-- scraped against the table. He *really* didn't like Wolverine comparisons. That was why Scott had made one.
Mystique said, "Why did that almost work? Why didn't it take over Creed like it did the rest of us?"
"Because he's ninety percent instinct." Scott frowned. "When that creature was in my head, I managed to keep myself together beneath the surface..."
"That's more than I could do."
"You haven't been consciously guarding your every emotion all your life. I wasn't able to control my body, unfortunately, but I did learn a few interesting things about him: First of all, he needs something to work with. A mind perfectly at peace, or one like Sabretooth's that's mad with unthinking rage--"
"Screw you," said Creed.
"-- and he comes up dry. Second, he hates metal. A couple of our teams had speculated about that. There's a little part of him that's magickal, so the way to his heart-- the way to cutting it out-- is with cold steel."
"A couple of X-Men suggest themselves for that job," said Northstar.
"Yes, they do. Creed, too," said Scott, glancing at Sabretooth's metal prosthetic. "But you knew that, didn't you, Mystique?"
That got him a little smile. "If you mean, did I suspect we might be dealing with magic? Did I arrange the materials for his implant? Well, of course. I'm nothing if not thorough, Cyclops."
Sabretooth growled at her. "Wondered why the arm didn't even try t' grow back. You gonna tell me how you messed with my healing factor, babe?"
"No," said Mystique, still smirking.
"Maybe you're the one I oughta kill."
"Just put it on my tab."
"Third," said Scott before the subject changed, "what he *really* wants is Professor Xavier."
"So where is the old geek?" asked Sabretooth.
"I wouldn't even tell Mr. Summers," said Phoebe. "What makes you think I'll tell you?"
"'Cause I'll rip ya in half if ya don't, babe."
"Hmm. Do the words 'frontal lobotomy' mean anything to you?"
"Plenty. Kid like you ain't gonna crack my brain, that's damn sure."
The Cuckoo's eyes glowed bright. "Somebody needs a saucer of milk. I've always wanted a kitty; I think I'll call you 'Muffin'..."
"Phoebe." Scott pushed her back, although her expression was a little frightening and he was tempted to let her try. "Finally, with Phoebe's help, we've broken down his powers. Excepting the time-travel, they all seem to be related to the X-Men he's trying to absorb. Dimensional teleportation, psionic energy, telepathy, intangibility, power absorption, shadow, even duplication..."
"And cold," Creed added. "Sucker was ice-cold to the touch."
"That could be Storm's doing," said Northstar.
"Even the witch ain't *that* cold."
"He's right; the cold's from Bobby." Scott caught Mystique's eye. "Which leads me to our brilliant plan..."
"Is there where I turn noble and heroic?"
"If you're interested."
"I'm interested mostly in my self-interest, Cyclops." Mystique shrugged. "I'm still not convinced *joining* the X-Men would be in my self-interest, much less dying as one."
"He's got Rogue already," said Phoebe quietly. "Her game is over. If you don't play this one, you'll never see her again."
Mystique glared at her. Before she could reply, Metralla cleared her throat--
"Hey, what about our answers?" she said. "Me an' Barnabas an' these other freaks have sat here nice an' quiet an' let the Big People talk--"
"And that's physically painful for Hawk," Sonja added.
"It is, it really really is," said the frenetic little mutant, who kept bouncing in his chair. "Now that we're going to be X-Men, I have so many questions! Particularly about this, this whole Jean Grey/Madelyne Pryor/Phoenix/Dark Phoenix thing. Do you have any IDEA how confusing that is? Will there be a test? I've got to study!"
Scott held up his hands. "I called you here for a reason, don't worry. But that should wait for Bobby. A lot of this is really his story."
"So where the hell is he?" asked Metralla, who didn't like the Iceman much.
"He's... running an errand. He should be back soon. Trust me, Ms. Vazquez, this will be worth waiting for. Especially for him."
Everyone turned to follow Scott's line of vision. He was pointing straight at Barnabas.
****
Lockheed
SR-73 Blackbird
Airspace Between New York and Massachusetts
Bobby Drake looked out at the scenery passing below him and wished he could coax just a little more speed out of state-of-the-art engines.
Damn Scott, anyway! He thought he was being so clever, sending Emma and Jubilee off on a little covert mission under cover of kicking Emma off the team. (* Uncanny X-Men #4-6) But Scott didn't understand-- none of them did-- how well the Slayer was pushing their buttons.
Bobby did, thanks to his precognitive dreams. The Slayer's game was absorbing powers; he *wanted* the X-Men to push themselves to the limit, like livestock fattening themselves up for the kill. So he constructed a series of games.
Storm was pitted against "herself" and forced to pull out all the stops. Rachel was infuriated 'till she tapped her nearly limitless potential. Rogue was induced to reclaim her Ms. Marvel powers, stronger than ever. Chamber's raw power got hiked up beyond even his usual impressive levels. Kitty was tricked into finding ways to use her phasing that she never even considered. And so on and so forth.
Even Bobby was playing into his hands, the way he'd been pushing himself to explore his powers since all this had started. Phoebe had warned him about the danger: Bobby *might* be the one to kill the Slayer, as he'd seen in his dreams, or he might screw up and be the cause of his friends' defeat.
He couldn't let himself think about that. If he had a dime for every mission he could potentially have screwed up over the years...
Of course, thinking back, he actually *had* screwed up a number of them. He didn't want to count the dimes from those.
It couldn't be allowed to happen this time. Bobby was an Omega mutant, capable of just about anything if his powers found their ultimate expression. He'd never wanted to explore that far; Bobby *liked* being a regular guy. He didn't want the responsibility of being anything else. But if the Slayer got him before he got the Slayer...
Not going to happen. The X-Men were counting on him. Scott, Jean, Hank, and Warren had been more of a family to him than his real father. He'd spent most of his life at least theoretically in love with Lorna Dane. Even Alex... well, who knew what Lorna saw in him, but Bobby couldn't imagine life without that particular thorn in his side.
Not to mention Jubilee, Rogue, Northstar... too many friends to count, and they all needed him. It was time to step up.
"Game face on, Drake," he murmured, turning to ice. He brought the Blackbird in for a landing beside a little river. If he had the geography right, this thing ought to flow right past the Academy. If so, he could outpace even the Blackbird with the skills he'd been perfecting of late...
Bobby popped the jet's hatch, hit the ground running, and leaped into the river after three strides. Then he was *part* of the water, moving through it at the speed of thought...
...and just like that he was on the grounds of what had been the Academy. He wasn't done, either. Normally he'd have made his way to the Academy on an ice-slide. If he'd been feeling playful, he might have skated there. This time Bobby took it to the next level. With a tremendous effort, he lifted himself out of the water and became vapor. He couldn't travel through air for long, or as fast as he could through water, but it beat other forms of transportation to hell. In moments, he was at the front door.
Which was half open. Somebody else had beaten him there. Bobby groaned.
"C'mon, Emma, tell me you didn't do this..."
But of course she had; Bobby followed a trail of dusty footprints and doors left ajar into the Academy's basement. He didn't know which was creepier; the creaking floorboards or the omnipresent shadow. Considering what he was up against, probably the latter, but one thing he couldn't do was make an ice-candle. He had to wait for his eyes to adjust.
While they did, he groped his way to the bottom of the stairs, then looked around: Somebody had pried a panel or something off one wall, but it just looked like dark space beyond; Bobby couldn't tell where Emma and Jubilee might have gone. He wondered if he had enough strength to try that vapor trick again...
And then, as he'd feared, the shadows all around him started to *move*.
--Welcome, Robert Drake,-- said a voice in his head. --Are you ready to meet the future?--
"Been there. It's full of Sentinels and high gas prices and spam e-mail. I'll pass."
--*Your* future, Robert, is with me.--
"Thanks, but I'm in a relationship right now. And even if started batting from the other side, I'd ask out Jean-Paul long before this week's random villain."
To his surprise, the Slayer laughed. --Ah, Robert. Do you know I had hardly any sense of humor before absorbing you?--
Bobby frowned at the darkness swirling all around him. "As far as I know, that hasn't happened yet."
--But it has. You saw it. Everything's happened -somewhere- in time. Unlike you, I am not limited to doing it all in order. I've been known to skip ahead. As my power grows, I can access everything that has been and will be me. And Robert, you must know by now... a lot of me is you.--
"Sure," Bobby said, getting nervous. "They always blame the parents..."
The darkness pinwheeled around him, then stopped. A face emerged, similar to his. --I know you'll fight now, but it's hopeless. You can't change what you are. You'll choke in the clutch.--
"Choke on this," Bobby said, and shattered into a billion shards of ice.
****
"Just what I like t' see after a long trip," said Remy LeBeau-- Gambit-- hugging the girl who stood with him in the corridor underneath the Massachusetts Academy. "Pretty face t' greet me wit' a smile. How you been, cher? It possible you got even more beautiful while I was gone?"
Jubilation Lee beamed. "Wow. Remy, it's been-- like, first I tried to give up the whole hero thing and I went to New York, but then-- *major* 180-- Scott shows up and he's like, 'Dude! Where's my X-Men?' and I'm like--"
"Scott said 'Dude?'" laughed Cecilia Reyes, part of Gambit's remaining team along with Sam and Paige Guthrie-- Cannonball and Husk-- and Warren Worthington, the Angel.
"I'm paraphrasing. Then that hairball Sabretooth shows up, and Clarice-- wait'll you meet Clarice, Remy, we're like best buds even though at first I thought she was a skank, but we went to Chicago and we fought Mystique but I never did get to do any shopping so then Bobby like starts to totally freak out on us, and I think he's developing a really significant crush on me but he is so in denial and Emma got kicked off the X-Men only she's not really kicked off the X-Men it's like a game only she doesn't know it's a game and we found this portal and I wanted to hurl 'cause it's completely like WHOA but then I saw Wolvie and--"
Remy put a finger to her lips. "Take a breath, Jubilation. You gon' strain somethin'."
"Oh. Right." Jubilee looked all around her and suddenly teared up. "It's just really great to see you guys."
"It's mutual, believe me," said Paige, who had been unconscious when Remy's team arrived and was still a little woozy. She wrapped Jubilee up in a hug.
"Oh, how sweet is this?" said a new voice. "Are we getting the band back together? I refuse to be Ringo."
Jubilee and Paige exchanged a weary look. Stepping out of the portal among with Emma was another errant X-Team, this one including Monet St. Croix, who had spoken, along with Bishop, X-23, Cable, slightly woozy versions of Forge and Hank McCoy-- a *human* Hank McCoy, which raised Jubilee's eyebrows, but not as much as the last one through the portal--
"Jean! Wow, it's really-- I mean, I heard you might be alive but it's one thing to hear and another thing to-- wow. You look great. Okay, so the windblown look is *out*, but I guess you know you've been dead so it can't be easy to keep up with the styles and am I talking too much 'cause I feel like I'm talking too much and--"
Jean fielded an enthusiastic hug, although it almost knocked the wind out of her. Meanwhile Monet half-hugged Paige and smirked:
"She's always... enthusiastic, isn't she?"
"God bless Jubes," said the blonde girl.
"Hmm," said Monet. She gave her former teammate an up-and-down glance. "You look good, Paige. Honestly."
"Thanks-- you, too."
"Naturally." Monet frowned. "Speaking of the band, wasn't Jono with--?"
"Later," said Warren, who started to drop a hand on Paige's shoulder, then seemed to think better of the gesture and leaned awkwardly against the wall.
Monet arched an eyebrow at Paige that said: Trouble in paradise? Paige glared daggers at her, but was spared the necessity of responding thanks to the second airing of Jubilee's monologue:
"--completely like WHOA but then I saw Wolvie and... Wolvie. Jean, wow, this is awesome, I mean... Wolvie's gonna be PSYCHED!"
Jean turned to Emma with a frown. "You didn't tell her about--"
Emma cleared her throat loudly. "Everyone, if I could please have your attention! I realize we're all confused and-- well, a little cramped here. We are also pressed for time. We have two more teams returning, but those will be delayed, and I for one don't fancy waiting around here for the Slayer to come back. So--"
"Why you reckon he hasn't come back yet?" Gambit asked.
"That's a good question," said Jean.
"Before anybody answers it, can I finally get an answer to *my* question, please?" said Jubilee. "I keep trying to understand why the Hellfire Club made this corridor so *long*."
"Wait, the Hellfire Club built this place?" said Cecilia. "Danger, Will Robinson..."
"Well, yes," Emma admitted. "Sebastian Shaw warned them of the threat, Magneto-- in his tenure as White King-- apparently opened the wormhole, and Selene used her ability with inanimate objects to create this chamber."
"Which raises rather an interesting point of order," said Hank McCoy, who could still use big words even though he looked and sounded like he had a hangover. "To my recollection, you and Selene did not have what I would characterize as a warm working relationship..."
"Meaning she hated you," said Jubes.
"As far as I know, Selene hated everybody. What of it?"
"Well... like... even if Shaw an' Magneto were on our side for once, who says *she* was?"
Emma started to respond, but her mouth froze in a small 'O' of surprise as she thought it over. She changed to her diamond form.
"Well, then, the good news for all of you is, you'll be mocking me for *years* over this."
*Rumble*.
The X-Men looked around at each other. X-23 started growling like a watchdog with a grudge.
"Pardonnez-moi," said Gambit, "but did anybody just hear..."
"LOOK OUT!" somebody cried, and then the room turned 90 degrees.
It happened so fast, no one had time to grab hold. One minute they were upright, the next they were sliding down the walls. Monet managed to stay aloft, and Warren did for a moment before the space constricted around him, denying him the use of his wings. The rest plummeted. Jean and Cable slowed the descent with their teke, but something seemed to be acting against them, pulling the others down into black nothingness...
Gambit tried to hold himself in place by wedging his staff against the walls, but the walls... well... seemed to pull away from his staff, so that he could never catch hold. X-23 was having similar luck catching hold with her claws. Then the spikes started appearing. One of them ripped Gambit's arm, leaving a streak of red down his sleeve while he cursed away. The others were taking a pounding, too, excepting those with a force-field or invulnerability.
It was much like traveling down the gullet of a large, angry monster, only its teeth went all the way down its throat and it seemed to want to hurt you before it ate you. And that was before you dealt with the sudden stop at the bottom.
"Sam!" Gambit cried. "Can you--"
"On it," said the X-Man named Cannonball, and he blasted into the lead with the widest field he could generate, crushing the sharp edges in their path. This worked for a few moments; then the chamber seemed to adjust to that, too, widening before Sam so his field didn't impact it, and closing up again for the others. It was all very disconcerting to Remy, and he thought he saw even more gleaming spikes forming further down-- large enough to impale them all.
"Emma!" Jubilee cried. "Two corridors! Remember? There were two!" (* see Uncanny #6)
At first, it didn't seem that Emma had heard. Then she inhaled sharply: "Mr. Guthrie, hard left! NOW!"
Sam banked sharply to port and smashed right through the wall, leaving a wide-open gap into an adjoining corridor. It started to close...
"Follow him, quickly!"
Gambit's stomach almost fell out of his body as a supreme telepathic effort from Jean Grey jerked them all to a stop and tossed them haphazardly into the parallel corridor. He expected to resume his fall on the other side...
But he simply hit the ground, in a chamber where the ground was once more properly beneath his feet. His teammates fell in behind him, some of them sounding sick. All were bruised, battered, or bleeding. Jubilee fell past them, but Hank caught the opening with his feet and her with an outstretched hand and pitched her inside, then swung in himself. Last came Jean, Cable, and Monet, sneaking through before the hole closed again. For a moment, it was all they could do to breathe.
"...the HELL was that?" Bishop managed at length.
"Selene's idea of a joke," said Emma. "On our way in here, Jubilee and I had to choose between two corridors. One way was safe, the other must have set the wheels in motion to trap the unwary. Only my esteemed associate 'forgot' to tell me which was which."
"Am I bad person for wanting to paff her butt back to the Paleolithic?" Jubilee asked.
"I'm sure Nightcrawler could tell you," Hank said. "Lacking his theological expertise, I shouldn't hazard a guess."
"You also lack his blue fuzziness. You were gonna explain that part, right?"
"Really good electrolysis?" said the non-bestial Beast, and she laughed.
Emma drew shakily to her feet. "Well... I've spent quite enough time in the company of my past. Who's for the exit?"
"What about the other teams?" Sam asked, helping a steel-husked Paige to her feet.
"I can still feel the portal. It's buried. Fortunately--" Emma's lip twitched. "*someone* taught me how to control it from a distance. She was, as I recall, rather insistent." (*eXcalibur #6)
"I did that because you were *supposed* to get the hell out of here and not wait around, endangering Remy's team," Jean shot back.
"Come, dear, how could I miss a chance to welcome you home?"
"Emma, if you're trying to prove some kind of a point, then--"
"Ladies!" said Gambit, holding up both hands. "You fight later, eh? Mebbe we sell tickets, if you willin'. Right now, exit sounds good. Where..."
Then Jubilee screamed, and something fell on them from above
****
If Bobby Drake had still had a mouth, he would have been screaming obscenities by now.
He'd been practicing this trick so hard-- dissolve, re-form. Dissolve, re-form. In theory, by controlling the very moisture in the air around them, he ought to be able to asborb the Slayer as easy as the other had absorbed his friends. Only it wasn't working. It was hard enough to keep his consciousness intact in this form, and now he felt weak and disoriented. He started to lose himself...
And re-formed in the middle of the room, first in his ice form and then all the way back to flesh and blood, gasping for breath. His skin felt hot, but he couldn't seem to sweat...
--Confused?-- said the Slayer. --I've just been using Ororo's power to superheat the air and remove all the moisture. Your simple trick won't save the day. I could roast you alive, Robert Drake.--
"Heh," said Bobby, his fevered mind going an odd place with that. "My very own superhero roast. I wanted to organize a roast for Spider-Man once, but the dude mocks *himself*. Where's the challenge?"
--Why don't you give yourself to me?-- the Slayer asked. --I don't want to hurt you. If you knew how important you were...--
"Yeah, I know," Bobby gasped, on hands and knees. "Me and Jubilee. Boy, we really screwed up. We had a plan, in the future, to take you down, and it turned into this whole Terminator predestination thing. (* see UXM #3-6) Guess that's about our speed. I saw it all in my dream..."
--Then you know what must happen next.--
"Well, here's the thing, pal," he said, "my dreams *never* come true..."
With that, Bobby melted into the floor. He cycled straight through from ice to water and seeped through the floorboards, leaked into the basement and then through the cracks in the basement to join with the ground water. Bobby had the most disconcerting feeling of earthworms crawling through his essence...
...but that was gone, and none too soon. Now he was seeping into a stone chamber, where it was nice and humid and damp...
"OH!" cried Jubilation Lee, as several of gallons of sentient water splashed down on her head. She leaped back and Gambit caught her. "HolyCRAPwhattheheckwas... that?"
She finished just as Bobby Drake reconstituted in human form at her feet. "Heya, Jubes. I'm here to rescue you. There's... the slight possibility I suck at rescuing."
While Jubilee was still flummoxed, a new voice called Bobby's name. Suddenly he found himself starting into familiar green eyes. He reached toward her, and she squeezed his hand.
"So... Jeannie... how've you been?"
Jean Grey laughed. "I've been asleep in the White Hot Room beyond time waiting to reawaken and burn the Universe. You?"
"Oh, I've been turning into sentient vapor and accidentally setting into motion space-time paradoxes. So I guess we've both learned a little lesson, huh?"
"I guess." Jean frowned. "What would that be?"
"Damned if I know. Help me up, please."
It was Hank McCoy who actually grabbed his friend's arm and dragged him to his feet: Bobby did a double take:
"Don't tell me. Something's different. You changed your hair."
"Good of you to notice, Bob, m'boy! (And they say men are unobservant.) So... tell the truth... what do you think?"
"I think I'm gonna pass out now," Bobby said, and he did so.
Emma Frost rolled her eyes and said: "That's it. Everyone *out*. Right now."
"Allow me," said Jean, and she manifested the portal again.
As they followed her through, Paige turned to the still-soaked Jubilee: "When we get home, you oughta wash that man right outta your hair."
"You think you're so funny.."
"*Somebody*
had to say it."
Whatever Jubilee said to that was lost as
they stepped through the portal. There's a solid chance it was
unprintable anyway.