X-MEN
ETERNITY
THE CROSSROADS
by
R. John Burke
(Note: X-Men is a copyright of Marvel comics. Just
fan fiction, no infringement intended.)
*********************
SEVEN: THE BIG DAMN FIGHT BEGINS
The rip in space-time spread out from the Scarlet Witch, a festering red crack in the blackness all around them, doing untold damage to the worlds behind each portal it touched. The pain and despair emanating from those portals was tangible, and the rip reached out hungrily for Reality 616...
And Jean Grey said, "No."
It was the moment Jean had feared since reawakening, the time when she would have to bathe in the Phoenix Force and not lose herself in its fire. The Phoenix was in *pain*, it wanted to help her, it wanted to destroy the creature that sought to corrupt the realities it meant to make pure. This was why it had awakened. Across the Multiverse, a thousand Avatars cocked their heads and saw the battle and loaned their strength, all of them expecting Jean to do what she'd been born to do, to be one of them, to destroy.
But first she would heal. The rip sputtered, stalled, and then retreated toward Wanda as the full power of the Phoenix was brought to bear. Jean gritted her teeth and dug in, sweat pouring down her face, as the Slayer/Wanda fought more desperately, channeling more and more hex-energy into a rift that would no longer expand. The forces balanced...
"Aunt Jean?" Nocturne said.
"TJ, hurry!" Jean panted. "I've got the Slayer, but I can't-- hold him-- for long! You've got to bring Wanda back to us! NOW!"
TJ and Pietro ran to her, but were repelled by an invisible force. They called to her. She shut them out. They pleaded. She could not hear them. They fought and struggled, but could not get any closer.
"MOM! Listen to me! You're hurting us! You're hurting everyone! I know you would never do that..."
She turned on them, looking confused, and a little of Wanda broke past the Slayer: "STOP CALLING ME THAT! I... I have no children..."
"Yes, you do. From here, you can sense the Multiverse. You can see everything. You know me, Mom. You have to."
"NO! You are not real! You're another trick!"
"I'm... not from your neighborhood," TJ admitted. "But I *am* real. Look at me. Part of you is in my eyes. I know you can feel it, like I do."
"I... Talia?" Wanda frowned, shook herself. The rift healed a little more. "Talia Josephine, you must leave this place. It's not safe."
"It can be, if you fight it! You're only thinking of your own world. Look at mine. Look at *all* the worlds. We know who you are. You're a hero. Things got... a little broken here. But it didn't have to be that way. We can fix it, Mom. Ever since I was a little girl, I always felt like you could fix anything. You can still fix *this*."
Wanda looked from her to Pietro to Jean and screamed, falling to her knees. The rift was pushed back further as her hex powers tried to evict the shadow from her mind...
"WANDA!" Pietro called. "We have to help her!"
"She's fighting the Slayer," Jean said. "I don't think we--"
"I could," TJ said. "I can possess people. I could add my strength to hers."
"You won't get through," Jean said. "This fight is out of your league."
Pietro looked down at his niece with a gleam in his eye. "Be ready."
Jean saw in his mind what he was planning. To her astonishment, she thought it might work. She braced herself for a final push against the Slayer while Pietro dashed up against its barrier and started pounding.
"HEAR ME, MONSTER! All of this is MY doing! It was through me that you influenced my sister-- but Wanda is too strong for you! You cannot have her! You want a new victim? Take me! WHY DON'T YOU TAKE ME?"
Jean *pushed*. The rift all but healed. For a moment, she was tempted to do more, to let it burn, to kill the dragon... but she knew that would kill Wanda and probably the others, too. She stayed her hand. She refused the call of the Phoenix.
Even as Wanda was refusing the Slayer. The shadow leaped from her mind and swirled around, then headed straight for Pietro, as he had planned. He wasn't a perfect host, but it was terribly weakened, and needed to draw strength from someone. It funneled into him, turning his eyes black. Jean winced. If they didn't time this perfectly, if the Slayer got a chance to use Pietro's speed--
It didn't. Nocturne leaped into him, using her mutant power not to possess, this time, but to join with her uncle against the creature in his mind. Pietro's eyes flashed from black to glowing yellow and then--
--back to his natural color as the shadow fled from him, slipping through the last little crack in the Universe and out of the Crossroads entirely. Jean collapsed. So did Pietro, as a shaken Nocturne stepped out of him.
"Son of a... that thing's like an oil slick wrapped around your brain." She dropped to hands and knees beside Jean and wretched. "Please tell me it's dead now."
"No," Jean said. "But it's hurting bad. It will try to take Bobby right away, I think. It can't wait any longer. We've done what we can; now it's up to the others."
TJ nodded. She turned toward the unconscious forms of her mother and uncle. "When he wakes up, tell him I'd only have done that for family..."
Then she, too, collapsed.
****
Xavier's-616
The pinkish-purple mutant followed up too quickly for the Cassidys to react, leaping onto James Proudstar's chest with a javelin in hand. Proudstar brought up one of his knives to block it, and-- BLINK!-- the knife disappeared.
"Well, hell," he said, staring at his empty hand.
Blink laughed. Then she backhanded him across the face, snapping his neck back. With a quick move she could *break* his neck...
Jamie Madrox grabbed her from behind. She grinned fiercely and-- BLINK!-- ripped him in half, appearing across the room with only part of his body, while the rest remained with Proudstar.
Disgusting though that was, at least it wasn't the main Jamie. He'd wisely remained back and allowed a duplicate to deal with the enraged teleporter. Now he made three more and sent *them* after her. BLINK-BLINK-BLINK! She dealt with those almost as quickly, but they'd really only been a diversion, allowing Theresa to sneak around behind Blink and whisper in her ear.
These weren't any sweet nothings, either: They were a specially-modulated pulse the Siryn used to calm bystanders-- or victims of telepathic intrusion. Instead of merely putting Blink in a stupor, they cut through the interference in her brain. She dropped, shaking her head, trying to get hold of herself...
"Er... how much longer will yeh need with her, Terry darlin'?" the Banshee asked.
Unable to speak, Terry held up two fingers-- a couple of minutes. She looked a question at her father, but it was Proudstar who answered:
"'Cause there are people coming this way. A whole army of them."
****
Under normal circumstances, Rahne Sinclair would have said there were worse fates than being the only woman in an enclosed space full of hundreds of moderately attractive men. In this case, however, they were almost all the *same* man-- Madrox-- and she presumed they would rather kill her than cater to her every whim, which did change the equation somewhat.
At least she was proved right in her theory that the Slayer's ability to be everywhere at once came from his absorbing one of Jamie's dupes. Rahne thought 'I Was Right- Nyah!' might make a decent inscription for her headstone.
While she was contemplating mysteries, Sam Guthrie grabbed her hand. "Hang on, Rahne!"
BLAM! He blasted right through the Danger Room door and into the corridor beyond, seeking reinforcements, with an entire horde of Madri on his heels. Just when Rahne thought they'd need the entire X-team to battle this invasion...
"Get behind me, hurry!" said Jamie's voice, and a whole detachment of Multiple Men came around the corner, bearing down on... himself.
"Well... great," Sam said. "How're we supposed to tell which ones are which?"
"The ones wi' brown eyes are on *our* side."
"You got any idea how hard it is to tell the difference between brown and black in this light?"
Sam touched down behind the first wave of Jamie's, in a group which included James Proudstar, Theresa & Sean Cassidy, the prime Madrox, and another mutant on hands and knees, who appeared to be in some discomfort as the Siryn sang to her.
"Erm-- maybe a strange question to ask, but does anyone else see a pink elf on th' ground?"
"That's Blink," Proudstar said.
"An' I used t' think 'Wolfsbane' was a bad code name..." Rahne took one step and smacked Madrox solidly across the back of the skull, causing another duplicate to appear. "I TOLD ye he multiplied himself like a Madrox!"
"Yeah, yeah..." Jamie rubbed the offended area while his dupe ran off to battle. "What difference does it make now?"
"It means he's no' made up of eight mutants, but nine. Nine! As I recall, that's th' same number o' X-Men who sacrificed themselves to beat th' Adversary the first time. Perhaps it's some kind of... er... cosmically significant... erm..."
"Fluke?" Sam suggested.
"It could be tha'."
"A better question now," Sean said, "is how do we stop that many Madri?"
Jamie watched as the possessed Madroxes threw themselves, kicking and scratching, into battle with his somewhat more reserved, but no less determined, friendly selves. "Well, we could beam a whole bunch of me to the Klingon engine room..."
Theresa looked up from her song. "Something less bizarre would be grand."
"Yeah... I got nothing."
"I do," Blink croaked. She convulsed as the last tendril of shadow drifted out of her, and her eyes resumed their pale-green shade. Theresa and Proudstar helped her to her feet, and she leaned against the latter somewhat shakily while she surveyed the ever fiercer contest of Madri.
"I'm going to need a lot more javelins..."
****
Kitty Pryde knelt beside Longshot and frowned at the Collossus standing over her. She had plenty of time to kill them both before their friends could arrive and stop her. Her master particularly wanted these two destroyed. Piotr Rasputin's metal body was a danger, and Longshot was... well, all that good fortune was simply disgusting. And Kitty could deal with them both easily, if she handled it right.
She grabbed both sides of Longshot's skull. "You know how this goes, Pete. I need you to drop the armor for me."
"I cannot do that, Katya."
She smiled sweetly. "Do it, or I'll kill him."
"If I do, you will kill both of us."
"And if you don't, what? Kill me? Beat me to death with your bare metal hands? I don't think you'll do that."
Piotr looked down at his fists. "I would rather help you remember who you are."
"I know what I am. I'm Shadowcat. You all think you're so tough-- I could kill you all, *easy*. I *want* to kill you all."
Piotr shook his head. He knelt beside her. "That comes from him, not you. Remember what you told me, Katya? You said he couldn't make you do something a tiny part of you didn't want. Some part of you may be angry. Some part may even wish to hurt me. But I know you, Katherine Pryde. I do not believe *any* part of you wishes to warm someone so... innocent. Look at him, Katya."
Kitty hesitated, trembling. She shouldn't be listening. She was wasting time. The Slayer would be very angry. Why didn't she strike?
"LOOK AT HIM!"
Kitty flinched, couldn't help glancing at Longshot. He smiled at her, a dopey grin, completely without guile. Longshot was like a cross between a rockstar and a giant stuffed animal. Kitty wanted to smile back...
She remembered her mission. She turned back to Colossus, who had reverted to human despite his protests. He spread his arms wide.
"You are right. I cannot kill you. Perhaps it is best if you strike."
"I... I killed you before. (* X-Factor #4) I can do it again."
Piotr nodded. "I trusted you blindly then, Katya. Now I *choose* to trust you. Do what you're going to do."
She reached toward him. "I'm going-- I should-- I love-- I'm -- ARRRRRGH!"
Overwhelmed by conflicting desires, Kitty phased right through the floor. Part of her wanted to cheer, but she couldn't understand why. She *knew* who she was... didn't she?
She touched down on the next floor of the mansion, only a few meters from where a Chinese girl in a raincoat was pounding on somebody's door.
"Drake! Will you quit the drama and get out here? Stop ignoring me! You think I've got nothin' better to do than keep your sorry butt from getting killed? HEY!"
Kitty grinned from ear to ear. The Slayer told her that Drake was more important than any of the others. Here was something she would not have to feel conflicted about. She approached the girl silently, muscles tensed to strike.
"Arrrrrrgh!" Jubilee said, turning from the door. "Brainless macho stubborn MALE! I am SO over my crush on you! That I NEVER HAD, by the way!"
She tried to storm away, but stopped short. "Oh... crap. Hey, Kitty. Long time. You're lookin'... kinda evil. I think I'll just..."
She raised her hands to summon fireworks, but Kitty spun and delivered a kick to her jaw that sent her sprawling. The Slayer didn't want this one seriously hurt unless necessary. Fair enough. But Kitty didn't see any reason to treat her with kid gloves. She moved toward the door, ready to phase...
PAF! Something bright exploded between Kitty and her target, hurting her eyes.
"Get away from there!"
When she could see again, Jubilee was running at her, bloodied and angry-looking. Kitty ducked under a wild punch, stepped in, and delivered a blow to the girl's midsection that doubled her over.
She whispered in Jubilee's ear: "You don't want to get in my way."
"You are so dead, you little geek--"
Jubilee's elbow came up and struck Kitty under the chin, staggering her. A nice move. But it wasn't going to matter.
WHAM! Kitty kicked her in the stomach, then drove an elbow into her back, knocking her down. Jubilee reached up with another burst of fireworks-- PAF!-- but Kitty phased through these, grabbed her by the lapels of her stupid raincoat, and threw her against the wall. Jubilee hit it hard and bounced off. Kitty stood over her while she lay on the ground, groaning.
"You know... I think I'll tell him it was necessary," she said, and reached down with a phased hand for Jubilee's chest. "You have spunk, Jubes. That buys you some last words, if you've got 'em."
"Wolvie always liked me best," Jubilee croaked, and spat at her.
Kitty laughed. Reached down. And--
ZAP!!! Part of the ceiling caved in under a focused laser blast. Dazzler and Wolverine dropped through it. Kitty whirled to deal with them--
"Ali, NOW!"
What came next wasn't a dazzle-blast, exactly. It was a weird light show that made Kitty feel sick. She staggered against the wall, unable to think straight...
Logan hurried to Jubilee and helped her stand, fussing more like a mother hen than a vicious killer. Jubes pushed him away.
"I'm cool. I'm cool! Watch the threads."
Alison grinned at her. "C'mon, kid-- help me light her up."
paf-paf-PAF! Between Jubilee's fireworks and Alison's light show, the shadow was chased further back into Kitty's mind-- until it recoiled entirely, and Kitty collapsed. She sat on the ground trying to breathe, and now it was her turn to get fussed over.
"You still with us, darlin'? You all right?"
"Yeah... I will be, Logan. I didn't hurt Piotr. Oh, thank God I didn't hurt Piotr."
"He's fine," Alison said. "C'mon, we have work to do."
"Coming." Kitty frowned at Jubilee. "Uh... sorry about that?"
"No big. You're not so tough, y'know."
"Yeah." Kitty picked something up off the floor and held it out to her. "These teeth are yours, I think."
"I hate you."
****
"Throw away the visor, Scott. You won't need it."
It was true. Scott could feel it; with the Slayer's jolt enhancing her power, Rachel could block his optic beams. He didn't throw away his visor, but he *did* lift it, displaying the world in brilliant color. In the back of his mind, something whispered...
Rachel smiled down at him. "That's better. I just wanted to look in your eyes one time, and hear you admit the truth. You never loved me. You never loved my mother. You don't even love Emma. The only person you love is yourself."
"That's not true," he said. "Whatever you're going to do, Ray, I want you to understand that: Nobody ever loved another human being the way I loved Jean. It didn't work. It happens. Part of me would give a lot to change that. I can't, and neither can you. But I *did* love her, and I do love her, very much."
Rachel smirked. "Me, not so much?"
"That's not true, either. I admit, it's been weird between us, but..." Scott cleared his throat, lowered the visor, and said: "but I'm proud of you. Remember that... after."
"After what?"
"This."
ZRAAAAACK!!! Thinking his optic beams suppressed, Rachel had left herself wide open. But something suddenly interfered with her control, releasing Scott's power, and she was blown across the corridor.
He ran to her, praying her hadn't done serious damage, and turned her over. Her eyes fluttered open-- black at first--
"That's better," someone whispered. "Let him go. You don't want anything to do with him."
-- and then the eyes turned green. Rachel gasped. "Scott?"
He breathed again, looked up at the astral form of Phoebe Cuckoo, who had appeared in the corridor along with her sisters.
"Thank you," he said. "How did you...?"
"Emma called to us," Phoebe said.
"She thought you might need an assist," said Mindee.
"We're always happy to help," said Sophie.
"Can you mindlink me to the other X-Men?"
"On it," the girls said together, and the Four-in-One sprung into action.