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SERVICES RENDERED written by Richard 'Kurogo' Palmer
Warning: This Fan-fiction deals with mature such as substance abuse, profanity and violence.
Monet woke up to the grotesque face of her brother, Marius, now the Mutant parasite known as Emplate. She looked around the rest of the team seemed to be covered in some kind of resin, the same as herself. As she struggled she guessed that this stuff had some kind of a dampening effect on their mutant powers.
"Hello Monet." Emplate's voice scratched, "You're just in time for dinner." Emplate's new set of followers seemed to have gotten the drop on them, although it was still hard to understand how. "It seems this is the endgame Monet, as you see I've managed to incapacitate you and all the other genetic snacks that make up the mutant ciriculum at this school." He wandered over to Sequel, "And with not much of a struggle I might add."
"Hey, Hoover!" Kevin yelled, "You wanna struggle I'll give you one, just give me two seconds outta this rubber cement here and I'll kick your ass into next Tuesday… then I'll get your attachments and clean the couch."
"Quite a display from someone who has no real mutant powers, Dallas. However your certain condition does present me with an added bonus. You are, as they say, the free refills."
"No." Monet thought as she struggled.
Thunder cracked above them; quite unusual considering it was a cloudless night. "As it is with the roulette wheel of life, there are those who are given the benefits of a privileged life, and then the rest." Came a voice from beyond the trees, "for it is not power that governs who we are but what we become." A tall white-haired man in a Grey-blue overcoat walked into view. "Marius St.Croix, You are the other, one of the genetic throwbacks of life. A man, if you can still call yourself that, who operates on the primal instincts. That is your crime. Even those selected by fate to be merely human have the ability to overcome the primal urges and rise to become more than the beasts they evolved from. You embrace the primal urges, hunger in this case, and forgo everything else for it's sake. Pathetic."
"And you are?" DOA asked as his master stared at the new arrival.
"Call me Equilibrium. I've balanced my powers and my standing in human society to become… more than human. You have taken the genetic steps backward, on the other hand. You are now no more than a parasite, like a flea or a wood tick. And like those pests, to be exterminated from society." He walked forward, in between Emplate and his younger sister, "I see it in your eyes St. Croix, Even now your mind is not on me, but the genetic material you feed off of. If that is what you want then by all means…" The man said as he leaned forward, arms spread out in an inviting fashion. Emplate paused for merely a second before he lunged at Equilibrium's forehead. He soon found himself sprawling on the ground several yards away as his body was being infused by electrical energy. The lightning bolt had emanated directly from Equilibrium's forehead and was driving him hard into the ground. Equilibrium let up on the electrical attack and smirked as Emplate sizzled.
"You are trash Marius. It's time to live up to that status." Equilibrium smiled. DOA leapt at him in attack. After a quick glance by Equilibrium he fell to the ground encased in a block of ice. "You were a mistake of fate, my friend. One of those that shouldn't be. And you have no place in the world to come." Marius stood up to face his attacker. As he did the three mutants that had accompanied him leapt at Equilibrium from behind, Equilibrium turned incinerating all three in one blow. They were ashes by the time they hit the ground. He grinned as Emplate backed away from the large man. Equilibrium's hair flowed as if rustled by a gust of wind, then it happened. The wind hit like a tornado, taking anything that wasn't secured to the ground high into the air.
Emplate and the frozen DOA were tossed about in the fierce winds. Equilibrium laughed maniacally. Emplate crashed roughly a hundred yards from where he was standing less than a minute ago. DOA landed near him and was shattered out of his ice prison on impact. Emplate used the opportunity to create a portal to the next realm and quickly made his escape. "Wait for me boss!" DOA Sniveled as he dashed through behind him. "Wait!"
"Ye have our thanks, sir." Banshee said as the white-haired giant approached him.
"Keep it, I'm here on business." Equilibrium stated as he walked past him. "Emplate was just an added bonus. My real target is right here." He said as he stopped in front of Sequel.
"Dallas? Do you know this guy?" Jubilee asked the young biker.
"I've never seen him before in any of my lives." Kevin responded as Equilibrium reached down and pulled him from the resin he was encased in.
"Kevin Dallas, the sole survivor of Asylum 7, you are about to be readmitted into the institution. Canon has use of you."
Quickly Emma frost's mind raced, Canon, the name Kevin had found inside Asylum seven before one of his lives was terminated. The name of the one running the institution. She struggled to free herself.
Equilibrium hand glowed with a low electrical charge as he lifted Sequel up. Kevin quickly passed out. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, You'll excuse me if I take my leave now. I'm on a deadline."
Monet's eyes shot past him to a glimmer of red behind him. It must've been Sequel's lucky day. Penance shot down from the tree above him and knocked down Equilibrium. She quickly dashed towards her captive friends and clawed to get them free. Equilibrium stood up. This was a minor oversight, nothing he couldn't handle. The ground shook as several bursts of electricity shot from the ground. Ripping apart the landscape around Equilibrium. Moments later as the cloud of dust rose, he smiled. He pulled out a small transceiver and said, "Emily, open the gate I'm bringing back the goods."
A small portal appeared a few yards in front of him and he walked towards it with Sequel over his shoulder. "HOLD IT!" came a voice from behind him, "I don't care how powerful you think you are, when I was with the X-Men we took out guy's five times as powerful as you three times before breakfast!"
Equilibrium glared back at the wreckage, apparently his attack did little more than free the team. "Though I'm under orders I'm still a gentleman, and as a gentleman I do not ignore any challenge even if it's from someone of your stature. A 'greenie' in the business as it were." He dropped Kevin and launched another gust of wind at the team, along with a few more electrical bursts. M soared through the wind attacks and landed a powerful blow on the big man.
"This guy beat Marius without breaking a sweat." She thought as she dodged a fireball attack from the large man, "We can't afford to underestimate him."
Emma drew back in pain; Equilibrium's mental block seemed to be even stronger than the one put on Sequel. She decided to instead use her talents to try to revive Kevin. "Come on Kevin Wake up!" Emma said as she shook him, and while doing so gave him a controlled mental burst. Kevin was the only one that would have any information that could lead to this man's defeat. M sailed past her to join Jubilee and Chamber as they attacked Equilibrium.
"Keep him steady you guy's" Everett said, more to himself than to Jubilee and Chamber, "As soon as I synch with this guy the fight will be over with." His aura finally locked onto the white-haired man. Suddenly a sharp pain shot through his body. Flames lit up on his arms as ice particles formed on his legs. Everett started to fall into convulsions. Balam dashed in, grabbed him, and leapt out of range of Equilibrium. "Th…thanks." Synch stammered as Christy set him down. He was still going through convulsions from the experience, but they were dying down now. Balam didn't stay long enough for anything else. She grew to a good twenty-five feet as she dashed off.
Emma was still performing small controlled mental blasts on Kevin now, as the full effect ones didn't have any result on Equilibrium. If she could wake Sequel up, that was one less thing to worry about. Finally Kevin began to come to.
"Kevin," She said as she tried to ignore her headache, "I was beginning to wonder if…" She stumbled.
"You tried the mental bit on him didn't ya?" Kevin said as he helped the White Queen up, "It won't do any good, Canon had us protected against mental powers."
"Why," Emma said, "What is you connection to this Canon person?"
"He's gathering an army, Frost," Kevin said as he grabbed his baseball bat, "Followers willing to follow him blindly. But I don't remember why. Dammit!" He looked at his teacher; "I know somethin' he doesn't want known, somethin' that I wasn't supposed to know till I was another soldier who'd been mind-fucked." He started to dash off.
The White Queen grabbed his shoulder, "Kevin try to remember!"
Skin managed to entangle Equilibrium, as Husk was about to pound him in her stone form. Suddenly Skin cried out, releasing his grip he pulled his hands back as they were burned by the fire emanating from Equilibrium. Equilibrium Grabbed Husk by the throat and held her up, "a Metamorph, interesting. But you chase the wrong form to assume for you see my power is that of the elements, that includes flame, air, water and…" The ground shook as rocks burst from the ground and combined together creating large simple forms such as giant hands and basic humanoid shapes. "The very ground on which we walk!" he laughed, "which mean's in your stone form I have a limited control over you." He let go of Husk and she sailed at Chamber, in a stiff way like all her muscles had locked up. Chamber caught her as he shot a beam of energy at Equilibrium. Equilibrium continued to grin as he sidestepped the attack. M shot straight at him and sent him flying through one of his stone creations. Equilibrium grunted as he stood.
"Come on Kevin, we need your knowledge to fight this man! What is it he's after, just what do you know?" Emma said. Kevin struggled; the mental block was just to powerful. Suddenly his head shot up. "Do you remember?" Frost questioned. Kevin didn't answer he dashed off in Monet's direction.
"Heh, Monet St.Croix, as much as your brother is a degenerate waste you must realize that with the perpetual ease I handled him you would be little more than…" Monet cut him off as she landed another blow. Equilibrium staggered back, "Very well." he muttered. He drew his hand back. Faster than Monet's eyes could follow he shot them at her as a burst of electricity leapt from his palm. Monet closed her eyes.
"Look out!" came a familiar voice as she was knocked aside. She opened her eyes and looked in horror as the bolt tore a hole into the side of Kevin Dallas. Kevin tumbled to the ground and lay still, unmoving as smoke emanated from his wounds.
"Dammit," Equilibrium muttered, "Abort!" he yelled and then dashed back into the woods.
"I'm goin after him." Banshee said to the White Queen. The White Queen stood in shock at the Fallen sequel, "Frosty?…" he said, blood poured from his mouth. "It's cold… I can't feel my legs… Where's Christy?"
"I'm right here." Christina said as she held his hand.
"Wait… for me?" he smiled.
"Of course!" Christy said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Kevin smiled, "Tell… Monet… tell… she's not that… badda…" Kevin coughed a bit and then slowly collapsed.
"Is he?…" Jubilee asked.
Emma looked at her, "Before I couldn't scan his mind because it was blocked, now there's nothing there to scan."
Chamber walked over to Christy and placed a hand on her shoulder. Christina slowly dropped her old friend. She stood up and threw her head back. The sound that came next could only be partly called human, it was like a feline roar and a man's scream of anguish mixed as one.
Banshee was close, he knew that that Equilibrium person was still here in the woods. Suddenly he heard a rustle over a few feet away he flew towards the sound. Suddenly he was knocked to the ground. The blow felt like an automobile slamming into him at seventy miles an hour. He looked up and a man in a purple and white bodysuit with a black jacket and a derby looked down at him. the Jacket was embroided with club symbols like from a cards suit, and on the back in purple letters were the words 'King of Clubs' The man then turned his head towards Equilibrium. "You moron, fouling the mission on a personal whim. You’re a disgrace."
"You saw it Anthony, it wasn't my fault that…"
"Save it for Canon." The man called Anthony replied as a portal opened. Equilibrium stepped through.
"Inspector… Kubrin?" Banshee stuttered. Anthony looked down at Banshee again. Banshee peered harder at the man, he had a short beard and his hair was done up in several braids, in fact he was almost the spitting image of a man he'd worked with years ago.
"Shit." Anthony said to himself, He bent down next to Sean, "Cassidy that was another lifetime. I'm not the man who worked with you all those years ago. If you know what's right you'll ignore the fact that we were ever here."
"You… killed…" Banshee started.
"An accident, Kevin's life is important to us." He stood up and walked to the portal, "Don't do this to yourself Sean, you aren't a part of this. You and your team aren't a concern right now. Leave it that way." He walked through the portal and it closed behind him.
Banshee watched as his attacker left. He thought about Kevin, another life he couldn't protect. "Naye a concern?" he muttered to himself, "I'm a concern now ye bastards." He lay there trying to gain his strength back. He was starting to be able to move again. Soon he'd head back to the academy and face Emma and their fallen student.
The End
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The legal stuff: The Characters from Generation X and the concept of Mutants and are a product of Marvel comics and it's employees and are used without permission. Christina Laine is based off of the Samurai Spirits character Cham-Cham, Beyond that she's a character of my own creation. Kevin Dallas is a character of my own creation, all rights reserved.
Oh my God, they killed Kevin! You bastards!
