Ultimate X: Long Live the Ing

Scott came to not in the warm sweat of fervent dreams and bad memories, but with the feel of cool scales under his cheek. His head was in Mystique's lap, her fingers stroking his hair from one end of his visor to the other. Like he was a small child, or a lap dog.

In front of him and Raven, the TV was on. News footage from New York. Amateur, badly pixelated, looped. A few of the people who'd streamed into the dark city, to help or scavenge, had brought cameras with them. Everything else was knocked out. The TV was muted, but the closed captioning talked about looting, rioting, fire in the streets.

Scott rose off the bed, looking over to Raven to find her back in her white attire. Rogue was nowhere to be seen. Scott had to imagine Raven had gotten her to safety. "How bad?" he asked.

Raven didn't answer right away. "The Banshee caught up with you. You've been out for six hours."

"New York. What'd he

do?

"

"Electromagnetic pulse," she said, confirming more than telling. "Downed the SHIELD Helicarrier, a few airliners. It's more than we've ever had before." Causalities. Civilian casualties. "A lot more."

His head was pounding. His eyes felt like they were burning hotter than ever, full of energy that needed to

explode

. "Where is he?"

"There's more," Raven said. She stayed on the bed. "Xavier."

Scott just looked at her.

"He's gone."

Scott's visor was still pointed at her, but he was no longer looking. He thought in gulps. They came slow and hard. "Erik wouldn't—"

"That's not Erik anymore. Not any Erik I've ever known. I've never seen him like this before. I didn't know he was capable of—"

"Yes you did," Scott interrupted. His voice had been hard before. Now it was steel. "We all did. Because no one else was willing to shoulder the load. Get on TV and declare war on the human race. But we knew this was coming."

Raven wouldn't say either way. Her blue face was spectacularly inscrutable. There were no lines to read in the scales that masked her. "You can't stop him on your own. And not without killing him."

"I've killed better men for less."

"Easier said than done. I have more Banshee. It'll even the odds."

"If it weren't for the Banshee, I could've stopped this hours ago! What makes you think I can control it?"

"I believe in you," she said simply. She held out the inhaler. "Whatever it takes, Scott. That's what a leader

does

."

He took it from her. A moment later, his blood was electric, his eyes tearing up with molten lead. Soon. He would feed the fire soon.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

Raven drew a lock of hair behind her head. "Maybe you're just that good a fuck, Summers."

***

Magneto got on the PA as Scott went through the complex. Raven had said everyone was in the shelters, barricaded against a human counterattack. All but Erik. He'd be welcoming it.

"And God say unto Noah: 'The end of all flesh is come before me: for the Earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the Earth.'"

He found Erik in the trophy room. This had to end.

They were surrounded by mutant body parts—claws, tails, wings, compound eyes. Taken off the hunted. Made into souvenirs. Magneto stood in the middle of it, a shade of his former shelf. A cloak and a helmet. That was all.

"Scott," he said. "I was wondering when you'd get here. I take it you disapprove..."

Scott fired. His optic blast rushed out of him like a flood through a broken dam, crashing into the electromagnetic shield Erik threw up. Rivulets of power were flung from the impact, shattering glass display cases, gouging the walls. And at the end, Magneto was still standing.

"You're upset then." Erik lowered his hands. Scott stood there. Seething. Planning. "It's the only possible solution, Scott. Strip away the diseased growth of this cancerous society. Reduce humanity to the barbarism it cloaks in hypocrisy. And after they're exiled to the long night, man and mutant alike, let our natural superiority shine through. We will lead them, as we always should have. You, I, Raven—we'll be priest-kings of the new order, tending our flocks with such gentle wisdom that none of them shall remember why they ever re—"

Scott fired again, his power battering itself against Erik's shields. The blast dug into the floorboards, ripping them up before and on either side of Erik, scoring the ceiling as well, clawing into it until insulation caught fire, crossbeams fell and bands of wire hung down like gutted innards.

Erik stood there. "This is about Charles, then."

"Don't say his name."

His next optic blast was a supernova, nearly filling the room, nearly flowing back against Scott. Erik stepped into it, an icebreaker sawing into the Arctic. The concussive attack sizzled around him, making his energies cackle white-hot in Scott's red fury.

Erik stopped a few handspans away from Scott. The hem of his cape had been shredded by the coruscating shields. It smoldered faintly. "Have you ever wondered why you're so obsessed with Jean Grey? Was it love at first sight, Scott? Do you believe that actually happens in the real world? Or is it just that as long as you can remember, you've had this

need

for her? Like an addiction, wouldn't you say?"

Scott's fingers were at his visor, but the dial remained still. "That was a long time ago."

"But the wound is ever fresh, ever bleeding, is it not? Why is that? Why was such a cunning boy as you consumed by a woman you kept at a distance? Until she reciprocated, of course. Who would've expected that?"

"Thousands will die because of what you've done today—"

"

Millions

will die if you stop me.

Listen to me, Scott.

Think

. You're not Xavier's lapdog anymore. You knew his beliefs. He didn't care for my methods, but he was just as devoted to his cause. What would he do to make his motley band of freaks into superheroes? Surely, you did notice how photogenic the five of you were, how well-suited your powers were to TV cameras, gossip rags. No one like the Blob or Toad in his ranks. What a run of luck that the first mutants he found were all young, attractive

badasses

."

"You're accusing someone else of moral grays?"

"All I do, I do for mutants. I've never lifted a hand against my own kind without provocation. And I've never lied to you. Now use that intellect, Scott. Think of how useful a Lord and First Lady would be to Charles's media circus. Young, white, attractive, heterosexual. You and Jean were meant to be together, they say. But

who meant you to be together?

"

"My feelings are real. I know what I felt."

Magneto took a step closer. Scott twisted the dial, but not all the way. Not enough to hit the first notch.

"Relationships are transitory, fragile, especially at your age. And yet, you and Jean were paired off from the moment the two of you met. Like animals on Noah's ark. Tell me—doesn't that seem the slightest bit suspicious? How is it that even now, you love Jean and not the woman who's sharing your bed?"

"I don't love Jean."

"You don't

want

to." Another step closer. "You can't help it. You will always have her in your heart. Because he

put her there

."

"You're lying."

"You can't serve two masters, boy. Stop clinging to him like a child's blanket and embrace the world I will give you. Our work is almost complete, Scott. A world finally at peace, finally made

safe

. It's not my will—it's God's."

"I can't—" Scott's finger was sweating on the dial. "I can't let you. I'm supposed to be—supposed to be—"

"You're not his lackey anymore. Stop pretending to be; you've tasted blood. Either kill me or help me. There is no more compromise. Become the man you need to be. Say it. Admit it. You want them dead as much as I do."

There was a terrible clarity the Banshee brought upon him. A loud, cold-hot light. It let him see the scars where the different hims rubbed up against each other. He was no longer an X-Man, but he wasn't in the Brotherhood either. A killer, but not a murderer. A soldier who didn't take orders. He was nothing. A shadow cast by both Xavier and Magneto.

But he knew who he wasn't.

Scott slapped Erik's hand away. "Never. Even if I can't kill you, I won't be like you."

And Erik's hand came back, now lodging itself on Scott's throat. It tightened, the metal gloves enhancing his grip tenfold. "You can never be part of a world you won't fight for."

The red-gloved hands came to Erik's neck from behind. In his shadow, behind his cloak and armor, Scott had never seen Wanda approach. She put the inhibitor collar on him as easily as she would tie a noose.

Erik looked back. Saw her step out of the way. And then Scott twisted the dial like he was breaking a bone.

The optic blast picked Erik up, pulled him back, but he actually hung onto Scott's neck for a few seconds. Then he was gone, thrown back, carried off. He tumbled through the debris of the ripped-out floor, hit the stone wall with a bone-jarring, bone-

breaking

impact before Scott twisted the dial back off.

"He would've wanted it this way," Wanda said, "if he were in his right mind. He'd rather die than betray the cause, but that's exactly what he's done, turning the world against us. Ruining all your work. We can't let him speak for us anymore."

"No, we can't." It wasn't Scott saying it. It was Raven. She stepped through the doorway, her white dress pristine. It hadn't been anywhere near the destruction.

Scott had underestimated her. He'd known she wouldn't chose sides, but he hadn't foreseen how quickly she would arrive to congratulate the winning team.

"We all know what needs to be done," she continued, nodding to Erik. "Even him. Letting him live would be so—Xavier."

"Then get it over with," Scott said, eying her. An order.

If the three of them were going to bring down Caesar, all their knives would have to be bloody.

"Not just yet," Raven countered. "There's a reason we've kept him around so long. Crazy or not, he is powerful. And we can still use that power."

"You can't control him," Wanda insisted. "No one can."

"I don't need to control him. Just how he dies."

***

It was an hour later that Rogue was brought before Erik. Raven needed time to make preparations; but not for her new role as majordomo. Already, she had taken over for an exhausted Scott, sparing Wanda the messy details by sending her away, and Scott to comfort her. The two of them needed to bond. It would smooth the transition.

They were in Raven's private room, in a wing off the facility off from the trophy room that had recently been devastated. A small fire was consuming the evidence of what had happened. It cast its light into Raven's chambers, even through the one-way glass. The slight orange tint of the flame invaded the stark white light that had guided Raven's efforts. When Rogue came in, she saw Erik secured to an armchair. Raven had bound his wrists and ankles with iron manacles. A long time ago, she had not cared for the way Erik referred to her.

"Have you ever drained a man to death?" Raven asked, her voice solicitous. A mother's voice.

Rogue nodded. "He was trying to—he's still inside me. And he wasn't as strong as Mr. Lehnsherr."

Raven nodded sagely. "Magneto was always the sum of two parts. The man and the power. The man has outlived his usefulness. The power, not so much. I'm going to need you to take it. It has to live on after 'Mr. Lehnsherr.'"

"He'll be in my head. I'll suck him right up with all the rest. He'll use my hands and kill you all."

"Not if there's nothing of

him

for you to absorb." And with that said, Raven removed Erik's helmet—she'd wanted to leave him a little dignity for Rogue's last meeting with him. Underneath, she had already shaved his head. Now she removed a portion of that scalp, setting it on a nearby table. No blood came from the clean incision: Raven had been meticulous in tying off the major arteries before she sawed into the skull. Through the small hole, Rogue could glimpse his brain. It was pinkly gray, or grayly pink, and Rogue thought she saw it throb before she looked away.

Raven allowed her to cover her eyes and ears as she did the dirty work. She only cut out the frontal and temporal lobes. She wanted to leave the grouping of neurons that controlled Erik's powers largely intact, to save Rogue time in learning or relearning the use of her new powers. But she also cut severely. She wanted all of Erik's memories amputated from him. He had led a tragic life, and she didn't want any of it going into Rogue.

Erik came to during the procedure. He slurred his words and rattled his chains. Raven ignored him.

"Is this on Xavier's behalf? I thought the knife he'd placed in your back was big enough to cut out your love for him."

"Please. I still remember the sick brain behind 'the dream,' and that prissy schoolmarm he left me for. Your mistake is in thinking that you're the only other option. Done," she said, when the gray matter was thrown away and she'd veiled Erik's surgery from sight with a linen napkin. "Hurry, Marian. Get all you can before he dies."

Rogue came immediately when called; perhaps she'd been listening just a little. She put her hand on Erik's, squeezing it as if to comfort him, even as the veins grew, trying to carry the load Erik's body told them was going to the point of contact.

As he died, Raven stared into Erik's glossy eyes. Abruptly, she was Scott. "I wanted to tell you something before you go," she recited flawlessly in his voice. "For the longest time, you've had the luxury of thinking in black and white. Humans and mutants. God's will and disobedience. But we weren't chosen by God. We were made in a lab. Knock-off Captain Americas. There's no more special about us than there is anyone else. So every time you killed one of them, you might as well have been killing one of us. If it's hard to live with that, don't worry. You won't have to for long."

Erik stared straight ahead. As Raven turned back, she thought it hadn't registered. Then his eyes twitched. Crying without tears. "God forgive me."

"Don't worry. We've set up a meeting."

"Please, Raven... please...

The eyes may be fooled by a woman's disguise, but the heart never fails to recognize

..."

Raven was almost unmoved, her scales a cold, blue dark. But after a moment, the change begun. And then she was Pietro.

Erik's brain, damaged beyond repair, could not tell who the boy was, nor could he even remember that the body he was observing had so recently been Mystique. But he could still feel a slight comfort—just enough to drown out the pain as his powers were pulled from the very chromosomes of his cells.

Erik had long expected to die, but he'd never expected to find peace before he did.

***

Scott laid into the punching bag, each blow sending a jolt of pain through his wrapped knuckles and a shockwave of sound through the gym. He knew he should've taken a break by now, that he was liable to injure himself if he continued another hour, but that knowledge changed nothing. He was full of energy, too much energy to contain. Only it wasn't Banshee; he couldn't wait for it to leave his system. It was guilt.

He heard the click of Mystique's heels, announcing herself. She entered the gym, looking around, clocking its abandonment. Only Scott stood in the dark hallows, pushing himself. Trying to outrun what had happened. She went onto the mat, shifting to her bare feet, and held the bag for Scott to drive his fists into.

"They bought it," she said. "For the most part. Forge scanned the Internet. Only the usual conspiracy nuts believe Magneto is anywhere but where we said he is—at large, a sleeper agent, ready to strike again if a move is made against Genosha. And the Brotherhood? If they suspect anything, they're too loyal or too scared to say otherwise. It all worked out."

Scott's knuckles thudded into the bag, rocking it into Raven. "Not for New York."

"That crowd? They love a catastrophe now and then. Makes them feel special."

Scott's next blow almost knocked the bag through Raven. "Then you got everything you want."

"Erik was a great man—" Raven protested.

"You wanted him gone—"

"He was never going to step down—"

"You wanted this! His power in Rogue, who you've got under your thumb, maternally, erotically. His leadership in

me

..."

"And do I have you, Scott?" Raven let go of the bag, walking around it. She gave it a push, letting it swing on its rusty chain. "That's fine for grunt work. Want to try something that'll hit back?" She shifted, becoming Xavier. "Someone?" Magneto. "Anyone?"

He just stared until she went back to herself. Then he feinted. She easily batted the weak blow aside. "Guess the relationship's getting a little stable for us to still be doing role-play..."

"Did you know about the bomb?" He jabbed at her. She ducked aside. "The ambush?"

"I'm a survivor, Scott. I wouldn't risk myself that way."

"Unless it was the only way to get Pietro out of the picture." He jabbed again. She dodged, but her felt his fist passing through her hair. "The heir apparent. One of the only people Erik still cared about."

"A psychopath, just like his old man." Mystique's leg flicked out, catching Scott lightly in the shin. He hobbled back, fists up, guarding. "You rely too much on your optic blasts. You should practice more with your body. Guns, knives—they'd be useful to you." She tapped her skull. "Everything's up here with you..."

"Not enough. I didn't see the bomb coming—"

"You did."

"—not soon enough."

Raven came for him, throwing an aggressive punch. Too aggressive. He weaved out of the way, caught her body in a hold, his hands flowing over her scaly body before tightening on her, pressing her cool flesh to his sweat-soaked warmth. She groaned as he locked down on her. "I wouldn't have risked Rogue. Can you believe that, if nothing else?"

"Did you want this? Raven,

do you want this?"

She slipped free of him, swinging around behind his back, her knee jabbing into his spine. Scott went down on all fours, Raven spinning on top of him to lock up one arm and one leg with her unjointed body, holding herself aloft with one limb while she chained him with all the others.

"I want to survive. Do you believe that you leading us is my best chance?"

He couldn't reply. Just struggled, fruitlessly, against her hold. Until he finally overwhelmed her, rolling them across the mat. But she'd already compensated for his superior strength. As they rolled, she fell behind him, trapping him in a chokehold, legs around his, left arm around his. His right hand was free, and with a herculean effort, he got it back far enough to grab a lock of unsecured hair. He didn't pull on it, though. He hung onto it with a clenched fist.

Raven's lips were by his ear. "You can be a great leader, Scott. Better than Charles or Erik ever were. If I doubted it, I would lead them myself. You can do what I can't.

You can keep my daughter safe."

And she let go of him.

Scott moved over her in an instant, pinning her on her back with his hands crushing her arms, his knees holding down her lower body. "Why should I believe you?"

She waited a moment before smiling. "You shouldn't. I'm an untrustworthy bitch who just killed her last boss. But you should at least believe how useful I am."

"Yeah." Scott jerked down his zipper. "You are."

Raven spread her legs.

In one unrelenting lunge, Scott plunged more than half of himself into Raven. Her eyes rolled back in her head, her surrendering body shuddering from head to toe as he shot deep inside her. It felt like sparks were flying from her pussy, sparks that landed in her blood, burned in her nerves, set fires in her brain. Every sweating, quivering inch of her now tingled with his entrance. She shook her head in disbelief as he pulled back a ways, then rammed the rest of his cock into her.