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Angel In The Attic	By : fusedtwilight Category: X-men Comics > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 5328 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own X-men, it is the property of marvel comics and in no way do i make a profit from this fic.

Chapter List
- 37
- 38
- 39
Angel in the Attic
Chapter 38
Fusedtwilight: A big thanks to my beta Lisa for betaing this chapter. Who is planning to go see the Guardians of the Galaxy? I will be seeing it tomorrow with a friend. Can't wait.
The Champions and the Inhumans continued on their way to the Sentinel.
"I'm not sensing anything in there," Franziska said.
"Maximus has no doubt used his technology to protect the place from detection," Karnak said.
"Then why were we able to sense Luna?" Angie asked.
"Perhaps Maximus made it so no mutant or inhuman could be found. But since Luna is both mutant and inhuman, her brain waves are different from either," Franziska suggested.
"God help him if she is hurt!" Pietro seethed.
"Halt!"
Rickard appeared and several other people were with him. Michael saw the rest of the team with him. There were others he did not recognize, some he figured were the inhuman guards who had been brainwashed as they wore similar uniforms.
But there were some he thought might be mutants.
"Rickard, you're okay!" Victor said happily.
Rickard ignored him.
"You are all trespassing on property of Lord Maximus. Rightful king of the Inhumans!"
"They've been brainwashed!" Gorgon said.
"Crap!" Devin said.
They all attacked.
Hisasko fought Gorgan. She activated her armor form but he kicked her in the chest, sending her flying back. James fought Karnak, both of them dodging each other's attacks.
Devin, Julian, Josh, and Victor were encased in ice by Idie. Crystal seeing that she was an elemental faced off against attacked her with fire but Crystal was able to send it right back at her, but Idie merely turned it to ice.
Laurie fought with Pietro, she was able to keep up with him easily.
Gabriel knocked out Franziska and Triton. He disappeared and reappeared behind Medusa but she sensed he was behind her. Her hair shot out and wrapped around him which prevented him from moving.
Teon jumped in front of Michael who was about to blast him back when Teon held up his hands.
"Friend!"
"What?"
"Bad man hurt! Bad man not hurt Teon!"
Michael tried to read his mind, but found his thoughts nebulous and primitive.
"Where is Maximus? Luna? Ahura?"
Teon shrugged his shoulders.
"Must be inside. Help everyone out!"
Teon attacked one of the inhumans, a man who looked like a centaur who fought using a ball and chain.
Michael was about to run for the sentinel when several tentacles wrapped around him.
"I will make you into art. A bloodstained angel," Kenji said.
"Been there, done that!" Michael said.
His body burned with angel fire and he was freed from Kenji's grasp.
"Alright, I don't want to hurt you. So please just-"
Kenji's body began to expand and grow. Tentacles shot out and grabbed everything from cars, to trees, to slabs of concrete.
Soon he was a towering mass of flesh and debris.
"Well shit," Michael groaned.

"I can hear them outside!" Maximus said triumphantly.
Ahura was kneeling by Luna. Maximus had used his power to force her to unlock the parts of his mind that held his power back. Now he was finally able to tap into his true potential.
"It worked! Well done Luna!" Maximus said.
"You lied, you never wanted to help Ahura. You just wanted me to test my power on him before I did it to you!" she said.
"Of course. It's never wise to have an amateur psychic go rummaging around your head. You might have fried my brain! Now with my mind control power restored, no one will be able to stop me!"
"My father will stop you!" Ahura yelled.
"The same father who allowed the Pacifiers to keep you locked up?" Maximus sneered.
"Shut up!" Ahura yelled.
"Hit a nerve, did I? He never visited you. He even forbade your mother to see you. But she snuck in a few times. At least she loved you enough to defy your father."
"I said shut up!"
Ahura's scream was magnified; Maximus was sent flying back into the wall where he fell in a crumpled heap.
"Ahura, did you do that?" Luna asked.
"I didn't mean to. But I am glad I did. Come on, let's go before he wakes up!"
Ahura took her hand and they ran out of the room, not knowing anything of the mayhem outside.

"Who the hell is this guy? Tetsuo Shima!" Devin yelled as he dodged one of Kenji's tentacles.
With Kenji as he was now, the tide had turned in favor of Maximus's minions.
Black Bolt flew in front of Kenji. He showed no fear whatsoever, despite the fact he was facing a monstrosity of flesh and random objects.
"Everyone, take cover!" Medusa yelled, already knowing what her husband intended.
Crystal summoned a large pillar of rock for everyone to hide behind.
"What's going on?" Michael asked.
"Brace yourselves!" Medusa hollered.
Black Bolt opened his mouth and whispered softly.
But the whisper was like an explosion. Michael had heard Wayne scream so loud that the frequency could rupture blood vessels.
But with but a mere whisper from Black Bolt, Michael felt like a grenade went off in his ear.
A huge chunk of Kenji's body was blown off as the sheer force of Black Bolt's voice annihilated whatever it touched.
"I just remembered why Black Bolt never speaks," Victor said.
They all peeked around the corner of the pillar to survey the damage.
Kenji was still alive. He was shrinking back down to size, his body was re-knitting itself to repair the damage. The others had taken refuge behind Hisako whose armor form managed to save them from the blast, but they were now all unconscious.
"Oh my God! He did all this with a whisper?" Angie asked.
"It is his greatest power," Karnak said solemnly.
Kenji got up and went to attack Black Bolt. But the fork on his forehead glowed and a bolt of electricity shot out and struck Kenji, knocking him out.
"That and his ability to manipulate electrons," Gorgon said with a grin.
Black Bolt began to walk away, but Rickard emerged from the rubble.
Black Bolt spun around but Rickard struck. He used a sound wave so precise he struck the nerves in Black Bolt's left arm. The pain was excruciating and the inhuman king had to bite his lip to keep from screaming.
But a small gasp still managed to escape and the gasp formed a large crater around the two of them. Rickard managed to brush it aside with his power.
"How did he do that?" Pietro asked.
"He can manipulate sound waves," Michael said.
"Stop!" a voice yelled from behind Rickard.
Rickard went flying forward, the voice struck him and knocked him out.
There was a boy and girl standing at the entrance to the sentinel.
"Luna!" Pietro and Quicksilver yelled.
"Ahura!" Medusa said.
The two of them ran forward but Luna stopped and knelt next to Rickard.
"Luna, get away from him!" Pietro yelled, running next to his daughter.
"I can help him, Father!" she said.
She placed her hands on Rickard's head. Michael activated his soul-sight and saw Rickard's soul was compromised, there was some dark taint, but Luna was erasing it.
Rickard groaned and opened his eyes.
"Did anyone get the number of the jerk that hit me with that car?" he asked.
"It wasn't a car, it was a sonic scream," Victor said.
"Still hurts."
Medusa and Black Bolt were hugging Ahura.
"You're better? How? Nothing worked! Medusa said.
"It was Luna. Her power fixed me," Ahura said, tears slid down his cheeks as he hugged both his parents for the first time since he was sent to the Pacifiers.
"I can see colors coming from people and I can alter them," Luna said.
"That's my girl! I knew you would be special!" Pietro said kissing her cheek.
"But where is Maximus?" Gorgon asked.
"Here!"
Just then everyone began to scream. They could feel someone invading their minds.
"Little Luna helped unlock my power before Ahura blasted me. He is a chip off the 'ole block, brother!" Maximus said walking over to the group.
"Once I take care of you all I will return to our people. I won't need an army! I'll have my own brilliant mind!"
Black Bolt was the only one immune to his brother's mind. He was about to attack when Maximus had Medusa wrap her hair around her neck.
"One wrong move brother and your beautiful wife will be bending her neck at a lethal angle!" Maximus warned.
"Bad man!" Teon yelled and jumped at Maximus.
"Get off me, you beast!" Maximus yelled.
Franziska and Michael took this moment to work together and fight against Maximus's control.
Medusa's hair released her neck and Black Bolt blasted his brother with an electronic blast that knocked him out.
"I'm going to kill him!" Pietro growled.
"No! Black Bolt forbids it!" Medusa said.
"He kidnapped our children! He almost killed us!"
"He will be imprisoned."
"So he can escape again? Look at what he just did! His powers are stronger than ever!" Quicksilver argued.
"Black Bolt has ordered Maximus to be taken alive, he is king, Pietro," Medusa said.
"He is not my king!" Pietro replied arrogantly.
Luna walked over to Maximus.
"Luna, what are you doing!" Crystal said frantically.
"I made him strong by unlocking his power. Maybe I can lock it back up again."
Luna was able to successfully lock his power away. She wasn't able to fully block it but he was not as strong as he had been.
Franziska and Luna worked together to free the others of Maximus's control. The Inhumans went inside and quickly gathered the terrigen shard Maximus had stolen.
"We also found a lot of bodies in there," Gorgon said grimly.
"Just another reason why we should kill him!" Pietro spat.
"We'll call the X-Men. They will come here and gather the bodies and give them a proper burial," Michael said.
Black Bolt extended his hand to Michael.
-You have my thanks. You helped save my niece and son.-
"Glad we could help. What will you do with Maximus?"
-We will take him back to Attilan. It is not the first time we have kept him imprisoned.-
"Good luck. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who is easy to keep contained."
Luna walked over to Michael. He got on his knee so he could speak to her.
"Thank you for saving me, Michael." She got on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. "And I think you are cute."
She blushed a little and let out a giggle as she walked over to her mother and father.
Crystal was smiling but Pietro looked like he wanted to break Michael's neck.
The Inhumans gathered around the giant dog, Lockjaw. His antenna flashed and the whole group vanished.
Michael looked over to the five mutants who survived Maximus's experiments.
"So, you guys want to come with us to Utopia?"
"Home!" Teon said enthusiastically.
Might as well, I have nowhere else to go," Iya said.
"It matters not to me," Kenji said.
Michael called Eve.
"Eve, call the X-Men."

Little over an hour later the X-Men had arrived on Genosha.
Hank and the other tech savvy X-Men were going over Maximus's records he kept of his experiments. The X-Men were still gathering the bodies. They would be identified and their loved ones would be informed of their deaths.
Hank was planning to dissect the bodies to learn more on how they had been affected by the mist.
Emma was speaking with the new mutants. She was asking them about their families so they could be contacted.
Michael was talking with Scott.
"You should have contacted us, Michael," he said.
"We had the situation under control, Scott. Luna and Ahura were saved and Maximus was stopped."
"The inhuman royal family has already contacted us. Black Bolt himself spoke highly of your teams' skill."
"Spoke?"
"Through Medusa I mean. I won't deny you did good here, Michael, but our job is to protect and educate our students. If we let you do this then we violate our code."
"Scott, either we go looking for trouble or trouble comes to us. That is the world we live in. I would rather find trouble before it finds me."
"I am sorry, Michael. But you can't be an X-Man and a vigilante," Scott said.
Michael was quiet for a moment.
"I see. I will gather my things from Utopia. Thank you for everything you have done for me."
Michael walked away. Scott looked at the ground seeming both angry and disappointed.
Michael walked over to Warren.
"I just quit the X-Men," he told him.
"And now what?" Warren asked, his face neutral.
"I will go back to St. Peters. And I am still going to do the hero thing. I won't make the others come with me. This is my choice, Warren. I know I disappointed you and let you down. But this is something I have to do. Saving people...it makes me feel amazing. Knowing I helped save a life, that I stopped some psycho from hurting people makes me feel complete. I'm not doing this because I feel like I have to. I am doing it because I love it. And I won't ever stop. This is my life."
Warren hugged him.
"Stupid kid, as if I could ever be disappointed in you."
"You're not?"
"Of course not! You are right, you're not that much older than I was when I joined the X-Men. Scott was wrong. You may be seventeen, but you're not a child. Life killed that." Warren's expression turned firm. "But don't think you are leaving the nest yet. You are going to live in my penthouse in New York and go to St. Peters. You may be a hero but that doesn't mean you can shirk your schoolwork."
"Thanks, Warren. I am glad you understand."
"Between you and me, I would have done the same thing you are. What kid doesn't dream about having a secret base?"

Michael and the Champions were getting ready to leave.
Scott had told them they had to make a choice like Michael did. The Ark or the X-Men.
Hisako apologized, she enjoyed being a Champion but she had wanted to be an X-Woman for so long.
Julian was staying with the X-Men. He wanted to work on his relationship with Sofia and mend their bond which had deteriorated since he lost his arms.
Megan and Victor were staying behind as well. Michael had asked Megan to stay; the X-Men needed her more than the Champions. With the Ark's technology they could go wherever they wanted. Megan was one of the strongest teleporters in the world and she would be a great help to the X-Men.
Victor stayed because Rickard wanted him to. Rickard didn't want to risk alienating him from his friends on Utopia.
They were not breaking up, they would just have to see a little less of each other.
Jericho was coming with Michael, he tried to persuade him to stay but he wanted to come with him.
"Family sticks together, right?"
"I'll see you at the penthouse later tonight," Warren said patting Michael on the shoulder. He looked at Jericho. "You're welcome to live with us as well."
"Hmm, super awesome penthouse or super awesome hero hideout...choices," Jericho said.
"There is no way I am leaving you all by yourself in the Ark. Knowing you, you would hack the computer cameras of all the women in the world," Michael said.
"I would not! I would hack the cameras of only the good looking ones."
Scott walked up to Michael. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, Scott."
"Very well. I hope you will call us if you need assistance," Scott said.
"We're not trying to be the better heroes, Scott. We just want to help people. But in our own way," Michael said.
"Just as long as you remember you're always X-Men."
"Always," Michael said.
Michael went to stand with his team.
"Eve, take us to the Ark," Michael said.
There was a flash of light and the Champions disappeared.
"I'm surprised you let them go, slim. I was sure you would try harder to keep them here," Logan said.
"There was no point. This was in Destiny's Diary," Scott said.
"You mean that book we recovered from Magneto?"
"Yes. It spoke how the scion would break away to walk his own path. Him and his Champions."
"Those diaries will really screw with your head," Logan muttered.

Anna was in her room.
She was watching news reports about what happened in Manhattan.
A few people had used their cell phones to take pictures and record what had happened. A lot of it was blurry but it was obvious from eyewitness accounts it had something to do with some kind of meta-human.
Already anti-mutant protests were picking up. Some were blaming Magneto, others were saying it was a mutant manifesting his or her gifts.
A lot of people were afraid and angry. Anna was the former.
She had not told her family what happened. All they knew was that she had been gone for a few hours to blow off some steam.
They had no idea how close to death she had come.
There was a knock on her window. She looked to see Michael smiling at her.
She opened the window and let him in.
"Are you okay?" he quickly asked her.
After they had dealt with Abreal he had gone to where Wayne had hidden her and brought her home.
"Yeah...is he dead?" she asked.
"We're not sure. He impaled himself on his own sword."
"Why would he do that?" she asked.
"He was really messed up, Anna. I saw his memories, Adonai...he made him like this. You wouldn't believe what he did to him just to make him into some weapon. I am not excusing him. But I think if things had been different, Abreal could have been a good guy."
"I can't believe he could ever be anything but evil," she said with a shudder.
"Evil isn't born. Sometimes it is made. In any case, I have cut ties with Adonai. I have not spoken to him since Abreal, nor do I intend to."
"He just let you go? You made it sound like he is the kind of guy who doesn't just le an investment go."
Michael shrugged. "I don't care. He has nothing to offer me. Nothing I need anyway."
Anna could tell he was serious. Michael was a gentle person and normally forgiving. Whatever he learned of Adonai's past must have been pretty bad for him to want to cut all ties with him.
"So the X-Men know about the Champions now. How did that go?" she asked.
Michael told her about the Champions splitting from the X-Men.
"So you guys are on your own now?" she asked.
"More or less. Warren is still my guardian and all. But I'll be living at the Ark mostly."
They were quiet for a moment.
"So...how did the trials go?" she asked.
"Good. My powers are all unlocked now. They will be a lot of help."
"Good. So what can you do now?" she asked.
"Well, I can track people by their psychic imprints, I can astral project, oh, and I got my telepathy back."
"So can you hear my thoughts?" she asked.
"Yes I can...Anna!" he said as he suddenly began to receive some very vivid images from her mind.
She smirked at him. "What? Nothing wrong with a girl imagining her boyfriend naked."
Michael blushed furiously.

Michael returned to the Ark several minutes later.
He wanted to stay longer but Anna's mother had been coming up the stairs to tell Anna it was time for dinner, so he had to leave.
But not before his girlfriend filled his mind with very explicit images.
He sat down and rubbed his head.
The last few days had been exhausting: the trials, Abreal, Maximus, it had all been tiring.
Now that he had broken off from the X-Men, he was wondering if he did the right thing.
He laid his head on the table and shut his eyes.

Michael was back on Genosha.
It was dark out and the moon was full.
The air was chilled and it was quiet.
Then the ground began to shift as if something was moving underneath it.
A hand burst forth from the dirt, followed by another and another and another.
Michael tried to fly away but they caught his legs and began to pull him under.
As he sank into the earth, he saw a mountain of bones. On top of that mountain was a woman dressed in black.
The last thing he saw before his head was pulled down was a terrible blue light glowing from her. There was an explosion and the bones turned to dust and the woman turned into a blue-glowing giant.
Her laughter sounded like a yell of triumph from the Devil himself.

Michael woke with a start.
"Are you okay, Michael?" Eve asked.
"Yes, I just had a bad dream," Michael said.
"I have been studying the subject of dreams. Being an AI I do not dream as humans do. I have stimulated my own virtual reality simulations to mimic the experience."
"You...make your own dreams?" Michael asked.
"Oh yes, it is a very fun experience. My last dream experience I visited the Eiffel Tower and before that I enjoyed a trip to the Caribbean."
Michael chuckled. "Dreams are not like that, Eve. You don't control your dreams. They are wild and chaotic. You never know if they will be good or bad."
"Hmm, so I should factor in random scenarios even if they are traumatizing?"
"Well, if you can avoid having bad dreams then good for you. Believe me, bad dreams can be...scary."
"Organic beings are such a curiosity. You value dreams yet fear them. I find many human concepts or double standard and contradictory."
"We're...complex is all."
"No, I am complex. It took several billion dollars to build me. You were made for free."
"Fair point," Michael said.
Just then Devin came running in, he zoomed around Michael speaking so quickly he couldn't understand what the boy was saying.
"Whoa, Devin, slow down! What is going on?"
"Apparently our wiki page got updated," Angie said walking in followed by the rest of the Champions.
"Our what?"
"Apparently we are on the Superwiki. That name does not sound right," Rickard said.
"At the risk of sounding uncool...huh?" Michael asked.
Jericho rolled his eyes. "Superwiki is a Wikipedia website all about superheroes and super villains. It is the most reliable source for anything and everything about mutants, meta-humans, magic users, aliens, and everything in between."
"And we have our own page?" Michael asked.
"Check it out!" Devin said.
He began to type on the keyboard. Everyone gathered around to look at it.
Michael saw the page had pictures of the Champions and links to their own individual wiki pages.
"The Champions are a mutant group that first came together at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Part of the X-Men training program their teacher is the founding member, Warren Worthington the third. They temporarily disbanded after the school was attacked but seem to have reformed." Franziska read.
The other images showed the Champions in costume fighting thieves and muggers.
"Who took these pictures?" Angie asked.
"I think it was the people we saved," Jacob said.
"They were taking pictures of us when we were saving their lives?" Angie asked with a frown.
"I'm more concerned about what our profiles say," Franziska said.
"Click mine!" Jericho said excitedly.
"You don't have a profile," Devin said.
"Why the hell not?" he asked.
"You've only been with us for like two hours."
"So, I should still have a profile." Jericho crossed his arms like a child.
"What does my profile say?" Jacob asked.
Devin clicked on the link to Jacob's profile. His link provided a detailed biography and a few pictures to go with it.
"Wow, this is kind of cool," Jericho said.
"More like creepy. Isn't this like an invasion of privacy or something?" Angie asked.
"Well it's not like we have secret identities or anything so it wouldn't be too hard for someone to Google us and learn our info," Devin said.
"Kid Wendigo has superhuman strength and endurance in his wendigo form as well as enhanced senses. The full scope of his strength is unknown but believed to be around fifty tons." Rickard read the section about Jacob's powers.
Jacob laughed. "Fifty? Please, I can lift more than seventy-five."
"Click me!" Wayne said.
Devin clicked on Wayne's link.
All of Wayne's info was in his biography: his reign as Kid Devil in Bloodsworth and surprisingly, even his recent mutation.
"How could they know this? Only a few people know it was caused by a mutagen," Michael said.
The more they read their profiles the more they realized that whoever was editing their page knew more than they should. Angie's profile actually mentioned her bra size, a fact she was willing to spill blood over.
They even had Michael's new powers listed, something the general public should not be aware of.
The one with the biggest profile was Devin. It had info from his early childhood all the way to the present.
"Look at the trivia. Likes Anime, is Quicksilvers biggest fan. Likes blondes. Dreams of becoming the fastest mutant to ever live. Who edits this?" Franziska asked.
Devin got a nervous look on his face.
"Must be a big fan."
"Wait...is your profile pic a selfie?" Angie asked pointing to Devin's profile pic.
It showed Devin doing the peace sign with a big smile.
"Hey, it is a selfie!" Jericho said.
"Oh my God, someone hacked my computer and stole my picture!" Devin said nervously.
"Who edited this?" Michael asked.
"Someone called...SpeedDemonRocks."
"Wait a minute...Devin...are you the one who edits our articles?" Angie asked giving him an icy glare.
"Um...no," he muttered.
They all glared at him now.
"I mean...I might have made a few updates to some of the articles. You know, to keep our fans up-to-date on our statuses. It's not like I told anything too personal."
"You told them my bust size, you little bastard!" Angie yelled at him. "How do you even know that?"
"Well...I may have gone through your dresser in your room when you were not around...I was curious myself."
Angie turned to Michael.
"I need to borrow your spear."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I am going to shove it up his ass!" she yelled.
"Oh crap!"
She jumped at him but he ran away before she could strangle him.
"Get back here!" she screamed.
She spun into a twister and chased after him down the hall.
"Should we help him?" Jacob asked.
"I have a better idea," Franziska said.
She clicked a few buttons and the monitors showed Angie chasing after Devin.
"I could watch this all day," Michael said with a grin.

Deep in the desert of Egypt, beneath the shifting sand, a sinister man was working a dark science.
He had chalk-white skin and midnight-black hair with glowing red eyes and a red diamond mark on his forehead.
He was typing away at a control panel in front of a metal cylinder.
"Sinister."
The man turned around to face the speaker.
"Lord Apocalypse. Perfect timing. I was about to let you know our latest project was finished."
Apocalypse remained in the shadows, almost unseen.
"Show her to me," he said.
Sinister pushed a few buttons and the cylinder opened up like a metal flower to reveal X-23. Her eyes were white and she wore a suit with many wires that pierced her skin.
"The Facility did wonderful work with her. Mentally conditioning her was easy. She is now your horseman of death!" Sinister said.
"Good. Her skills will prove useful soon enough. What of the others?"
"Holocaust's new armor is almost finished and Abyss is monitoring the X-Men. He says the target has left the island. We do not know where he is."
"He cannot remain hidden from me forever. No one can hide from Apocalypse!"
He stepped forward revealing a man with gray skin and blue lips with blue and silver armor.
"And what of the machine?" he asked.
"It's all set. All we need it the mutant and it will be ready to go," Sinister said.
"Perfect. The time has come for the strong to rise up and wipe out the weak!" Apocalypse said.
Sinister rolled his eyes keeping his back turned towards the megalomaniac so he would not see the gesture.
He had served Apocalypse for centuries and in all that time he had not lost his fanatical belief in the strong killing the weak. It had seemed like a wonderful view at the time but after hearing it spew from his mouth for all these years it kind of lost its luster.
Not that he dare say that to Apocalypse.
"Perhaps if we sent out Blood King, he might be able to lure him out. The X-Men have been looking for both him and X-23 for a while now," Sinister suggested.
"Yes. Let us arrange a scenario to convince these so-called Champions that Blood King, my horseman of war, is in need of their help. Then once they take him to their lair he will bring me my prize."

A few weeks after the Champions broke away from the X-Men things were going smoothly so far.
Michael continued to see Anna and still lived with Warren and went to school.
Some of the other Champions had no problems moving to the Ark.
The younger members like Devin and Wayne had difficulties. Scott had informed their families of what they were doing. Wayne managed to convince his mother he would be fine.
Devin's parents were still upset he had broken away from the X-Men. Devin had to leave the Ark for several days. He made his parents realize there was nothing they could do to stop him.
Hard to ground your son when he is capable of running faster than a race car.
Things had been quiet for the group. They had not fought any major battles, save for the occasional low level super-villain. Thanks to the Ark's teleportation technology, they could go anywhere they desired.
The group was relaxing in one of their recreation rooms. Jacob and Rickard were playing a game of pool. Jericho, Josh, James, and Angie were playing cards.
Michael, Devin, and Wayne were playing Halo and Franziska was silently reading a book.
Suddenly, Eve's voice echoed throughout the room.
"Excuse me, Michael. But something most curious has occurred."
"What is it, Eve?"
"I have detected two mutant signatures. One registers as X-23 and the other as Blut. They are currently in Canada."
"Franziska, can you see if you can make contact with them?" Michael asked.
"Of course, Michael."
The Champions made their way to their version of Cerebro they called Brainy (Wayne and Devin's idea).
The room where Brainy was kept was similar to the room where Cerebro was kept with the X-Men. It was a large circular room but instead of walking on a platform there was a flat surface and a desk-like structure with several computer consoles sitting on it.
Franziska sat down on the chair that stood in front of it and placed the helmet on her head.
She activated the device and the room turned dark, showing a map of Canada and two moving red dots.
She zoomed in on the dots.
"I am trying to make contact, but something is blocking me. I can feel Blut is excited about something. Like he is having fun."
"Knowing that little freak, his idea of fun involves a lot of blood," Angie said.
X-23 and Blut were both creations of the Facility. It was a program that wanted to recreate the original Weapon X program's work. X-23 was their attempt to recreate what Weapon X did with Logan. Blut was a different program, taking mutant children and conditioning them to become killers.
Blut's ability to control his own blood and use it as a weapon made him a perfect subject.
He met X-23 when she allowed herself to be recaptured to bring down the Facility. No one knew exactly what happened but the two formed some kind of bond and after the X-Men attacked the Facility's base, they took in Blut.
The first day he trained with the students in the Danger Room he almost killed several students and seriously injured many more.
"What about X?" Michael asked.
"I can't get anything from her. Except bloodlust," Franziska said.
"Then let's go find out what's going on. X-23 and Blut have been missing since the mansion was attacked. Eve, call Warren and let him know about the situation," Michael said. He turned to the others. "Let's suit up, guys."

"You're going to have to do better than that, X!" Blut yelled out playfully.
He dodged another of her swipes.
She brought her foot up and he brought up his hands, her foot blade cut his palms.
"Jeez X, why you got to be so mean?" he asked with a fake look of hurt.
X-23 let out a feral growl and charged at him. He just smiled and held up his hands. The blood from his wounds shot out and turned into a web-like net. It hit her and began to constrict around her.
He licked his hands as the wounds closed.
"I like you better when you are not brainwashed. You're much smarter."
X-23 freed herself by cutting the web off her body.
She launched herself at Blut and he dodged her attack.
"Is this really necessary?" Blut asked.
A voice answered from the darkness.
"The Champions must believe this is for real. They should arrive soon."
"Hopefully not too soon. I am having fun!" Blut said with a laugh.
"Just remember the plan. Sinister is more creative in his punishments then Apocalypse. Fail them and you will find your organs sitting in glass jars in Sinister's lab."
"Blah, blah, blah. I grew up surrounded by mad scientists, you know," Blut said.
"Impudent little shit," the voice said.
X-23 and Blut continued to fight for a while. Blut was quickly growing bored of dodging her attacks.
He formed blood armor and gave her an uppercut that sent her flying through the air.
She was about to hit a tree but with amazing flexibility she twisted around and as soon as her feet touched the tree she shot forward, slamming her fists into Blut's chest, her claws easily piercing his blood armor.
Blut formed blood claws on his fingers.
"Let's see how you like it!" he said as he thrust the claws into her chest.
They stood there, both impaled by the other.
Blut knew X-23 had a stronger healing factor then he did. She would heal from her injuries a lot faster than he could heal from his.
He could keep his claws in her for a week and she would not die.
He could keep his blood from bleeding into his organs but it required concentration, and sooner or later he would slip and die.
But then there was a flash of light and Blut grinned.
"Stop!" a voice called out.
Michael and the others ran towards them. Rickard hit her with a sound blast that blew her away from Blut.
"X-23! Laura!" Michael said.
She did not respond.
"Why was she attacking you?" Angie asked Blut.
"Brainwashed. She won't hesitate to attack you," Blut said.
A darkness suddenly enveloped X-23. Michael saw a face in the dark void and there was something familiar about it. The darkness wrapped around her and then vanished.
"What the hell was that?" Devin asked.
Michael suddenly realized where he had seen the face before. "It kind of looked like-"
"Abyss. He works for Apocalypse now," Blut said.
"WHAT?!" the Champions all shouted.

A little while later the Champions were in the Ark's med-room.
Michael helped Blut heal his injuries.
"After the mansion was attacked I decided to go solo. It was obvious it didn't matter where I went, no place was safe. Plus it was a great opportunity to get away from those pesky X-Men," Blut said.
"They have been trying to find you and X-23 for a while," Rickard said.
"I figured they would. I didn't want to go back with them though. All my life I have had people telling me what to do. I wanted to try being free for a while without anyone watching over me."
"How many people did you kill?" Angie asked.
"Oh a lot!" Blut said happily.
"And you wonder why the X-Men kept an eye on you," she said with a sigh.
"I didn't kill anyone who didn't deserve it. I first went to Chicago to try and give the superhero thing a try. That and for the pizza. But apparently my methods were…"he raised his middle and index fingers and bent them. "…extreme for the local authorities' liking. Something about needing a sponge to clean up the mess."
They all got a sick look on their faces.
"X found me, no surprise there. We decided to team up and travel around. Boy did we have some adventures! We got to see new places, kill-I mean, meet new people. It was fun!"
"So how did you guys get mixed up with Apocalypse?" Jacob asked.
"Sinister. He kept sending his Marauders after us. He clones them so every time we killed them he would just make new ones to replace them. It got kind of boring after a while. There is only so many times you can kill a person before it bores the crap out of you," Blut said with a huff.
"But he finally managed to capture you?" Michael asked.
"Yep. He wanted to make us into Apocalypse's new Horsemen. Luckily I managed to escape before he could do to me what he did to X. He sent her after me to bring me back. Thankfully you guys showed up." He looked around. "So is this the new X-base or something? Where are the other X-Men?" he asked.
"We kind of broke off to do our own thing," Devin said.
"Cool! Can I join! I always wanted to fight the X-Men!" Blut said with a bright smile.
"We're not their enemy. We're just not on speaking terms right now," Michael said.
"Still can I join! I promise I will try not to kill things. Unless you want me to, that is."
"Michael, can we talk to you?" Franziska asked.
Franziska and Rickard excused themselves from the others to talk in private with Michael.
"Michael, something is not right. I have been trying to probe his mind to verify his story but my telepathy is not breaking through!" Franziska said.
Michael looked over at Blut. He tried to sense the blood user's mind; he could only sense his mind but not hear his thoughts.
"Odd. Maybe it is something he was taught to do or was engineered with by the Facility," Michael said.
"Maybe. But I don't trust him. He gives me the creeps," Franziska said.
"His heartbeat never faltered, so normally I would say he is telling the truth. But Blut is not like normal people. His heart only beats faster when he is fighting."
"I think we need to contact the X-Men," Michael said.
"Are you sure?" Franziska asked.
"They have been looking for Blut and X for a long time. Besides, if Apocalypse and Sinister are involved in this then we need to let them know. There is no way we can risk taking them on alone."
While the three of them huddled together, Blut spoke with Jericho.
"So, who are you?" he asked him.
"I'm Michael's cousin," he said.
"Oh wow!" I thought his family was all dead!" Blut said.
Jericho gave him a withering look, not liking how Blut said that so cheerfully.
"My dad and his mother were estranged. Michael found him and that's how we met."
"That's great! Can you shoot fire too?"
"No, I can sense and alter mutations."
"Neat! Does that mean you can make them stronger? Could you make me stronger?" he asked.
"You're creepy enough as you are dude, you don't need a power boost," Devin said with a frown.

"Lord Apocalypse, Blut has infiltrated the Champions lair," Sinister said.
"Excellent," Apocalypse said.
"But Abyss is unable to enter the building. There is some kind of force that keeps him from teleporting inside."
"Really? As long as my Blood King is there it matters not. But we need to lure the Champions out. Order Holocaust to take X-23 and a squad of our best warriors to meet up with Death on Utopia."
"Death?" Sinister asked.
"My former Horseman. He thinks he has escaped my influence. But once a Horseman always a Horseman. All this time he has been a Trojan Horse, not knowing at any moment I could bring him back under my control. I'll have him soften the X-Men up then send in Holocaust and the others to go in for the kill. The Champions will come to their mentor's defense, allowing Blut to bring us the boy."
Apocalypse examined a large pyramid-shaped device.
"Once we have him then we will call forth the mutant gene that has yet to awaken and wipe out the race of man!"
Fusedtwilight: You know when Apocalypse is involved bad things will happen. What is his plan? Find out next chapter.
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Angel In The Attic