"I can take ‘em!" Deadpool replied as he shot a different Sentinel. He un-sheathed his sword and ran at the nearest robot. The robot raised a hand and touched the sword as Deadpool brought it down. The Sentinel's hand melted around the sword before reforming back inside the Sentinel, taking the sword with it. "Ah oh. Fall back!" The trio turned tale and ran into the labyrinth of caves, the Sentinels in hot pursuit.

"SUBJECT DESIGNATE: CABLE MUST NOT ESCAPE. HE IS INSTRUMENTAL TO OUR OBJECTIVES. FIND AND [WIRR, CHK] SUBDUE. HIS T.O. VIRUS WILL MAKE IT RELATIVELY EASY FOR US TO.....ENSURE CO-OPERATION."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"Here that Natey boy. They're only after you. Be a good boy and give yourself up. For me! Please!" Deadpool jokingly pleaded.

"Yeah right. Good one, soon to be *dead* pool. I got an idea. Mav' give me a sonic grenade." Cable asked. Maverick threw him over an object the size of a large potato. Cable set the grenade onto its highest setting. "Better get some serious ear protection in place boys. In these caverns this'll be echoing around for days!" The three placed their various ear protectors in place and took up strategical positions in the large cavern. Seconds later two of the three Sentinels entered the cavern.

"GENE SCANNERS INDICATE THE THREE MUTANTS ARE HERE."

"AGREED. TARGETS ACQUIRED. INITIATING ATTACK."

‘S*~t' thought Nate, their scanners are good. "Now!" he shouted at the top of his voice as he threw the grenade into the Sentinels midst. Even under his ear protectors Nate could hear the scream emanating from the bomb.

"ARRRRGGGGHHHHH. 100011101110101. COMMAND 1001 LINK LOST 10111."

The three emerged from their respective hiding places and prepared to fire, but are stopped dead by the sight they see before them. The two Sentinels were no longer Sentinels. Their bodies writhed and pulsated as they seemed to ever change. "What in the world?" Nate stood gobsmacked. Even for a seasoned veteran like himself the sight of the two creatures made him want to be sick. Deadpool was the first to snap out of it and he raised his shotgun. Suddenly the shotgun flew out of Deadpool's hand as a repulser ray hit him full force, knocking him unconscious. The third Sentinel had arrived. It raised its hand and two tendrils shot out and connected themselves to the other two creatures. Immediately they stopped their shifting and, once again, regained forms similar to their brother.

"COMMAND LINK RE-ESTABLISHED. CONTINUE ASSAULT"

The three turned their attention back to Cable and Maverick who were busy pumping all sorts of shot into them to no effect.

"Mind if I try?" came a voice from the roof of the cavern. The pair look up just in time to see an arc of energy emerge from the shadows. The blast struck a Sentinel full in the chest. It exploded violently leaving liquid metal everywhere.

Another, gruffer, voice came from the shadows, "X-Treme, X-Terminate!" With that, six figures dived from the shadows. As soon as they hit the ground they set about systematically destroying the Sentinels. Nate didn't recognise any of them but soon picked up on their names. The one named Archer created energy arrows, pinning one of the Sentinels to the wall with continuous fire, while the one called Fusion, who, it became apparent, was their leader, seemed to manipulate massive energy bursts to take on the other. The man called Marine dropped back and fired his hand weapons from a distance. The remaining three encircled Maverick, Cable, and the prone form of Deadpool. Within minutes the Sentinels were a thing of the past. The one called Fusion approached Nate. "We'll have to get moving, they'll reform soon." he pointed out.

"Agreed," nodded Cable, "Quickly, this way." He turned to go down a side tunnel. He got about a metre before Fusion grabbed his arm.

"I have a quicker way." he pointed out. "Vortex, if you please."

"Yes sir." a short, apparently blind, man replied. He raised his hands. Strands of purple energy crept up his body and converged on his two hands. He thrust his hands forward and the energy leapt from his fingertips. More and more energy spewed from him, and slowly but surely a dimensional portal opened up.

"Lets go." ordered Fusion. The seven mutants entered the portal, some more reluctantly than others. When all were through, the man named Vortex picked up Deadpool and followed them through. Unbeknownst to them a small piece of liquid metal, roughly a centimetre in diameter, flows through the portal, just before it closes.

"We have sustained too many losses as it is." Charles Xavier firmly stated, "The time for action is now. We must fight back before it is too late. I have sent a message out through Ceribro to all the mutants in the world. They will all come here, we will amass for a huge assault, the like of which the world has never seen."

" Howd'ya figure chuck?" Wolverine asked, "You know what happened the last time."

"This time we will not charge in blindly, we will amass all the information there is about these Sentinels, we shall learn their weaknesses." Xavier replied. Suddenly a light on a control panel began flashing. "Already they are arriving. Let us greet our new arrivals."

A lone jet streaked across the night skies over Hawaii. Onboard the members of the mutant team X-Treme, along with a mercenaries and a time lost mutant, sat in the cockpit. While all eyes were facing forward, the man called Fusion slipped out and entered the cargo bay. He pulled out a small hand-held communicator and switched it on. A silhouetted figure appeared on the communicators small screen.

"Report." demanded the silhouette.

"We have secured the three and are on our way back to base, sir."

"No. Head for the Xavier Institute. There you can assist the mutants already gathered there."

"Yes, sir."

"You shall be my eyes and ears there. I will send what information I have to Xavier. This new threat must not interfere in my plans. Go now and implement my orders."

"Affirmative.....master Sinister!"

"Welcome Morlocks. What we have is yours to do with as you wish. We must prepare for the coming battle." Xavier addressed the assembled crowd of the newly arrived Morlocks and X-Men. "This threat concerns us al....., [uch um], excuse me a minute." Xavier responded to Colossus' interruption. He turned and walked off with Colossus to the control room. Minutes later he returned and, once again, took the podium. "I have just received information from an anonymous source. The information makes so much sense. I do not know why we did not realise these facts before. The aliens we have heard so much about, and the Sentinels we are fighting against, are in fact one and the same. What is more, we can now place a name to our aggressors. We are facing, not any Earth built robots, but a deadly alien race, built for conquest. We are facing .....The Phalanx!"

Next Issue.....
Its all out action as the final battle begins and sides are chosen!
But whose side are X-Treme on? Stay tuned to find out!
See you all in 30!