Ice

Brought to you by Stephen Crosby

Asleep, framed by the mane of red hair, the face seemed almost angelic in it’s innocence. The only flaw was the constant shifting of the eyes, a clear sign that she was dreaming. Or rather, experiencing nightmares. Dark memories these were, plucked from her mind and replayed over and over again.

“Right now, she is being raped by a number of humans. A punishment, for failing to track a minor mutant in the time allotted.” The woman sat on the edge of the bed upon which Rachel Summers was sleeping. The two looked nothing alike, but were Rachel’s eyes open a similarity could be glimpsed. “A humiliating experience, being touched by humans. She tried to kill herself for weeks afterward.”

There was a man standing in the corner of the room, his ugly face bare to the world. He saw Martinique Jason brush her hand against Rachel’s hair, and despite himself something moved. Martinique sensed this, and turned to look at Masque with a smile. “There is something about siblings that fascinates you, specifically twins. I suppose that would be called the Mengler Syndrome, wouldn’t it? A common obsession among doctors, so I’ve heard. It wouldn’t surprise me to know that the American Medical Association pushes all those fertility drugs just so they can watch and enjoy the experiment of multiple births.”

Standing up, Martinique gazed down at Rachel’s face. “Your perversion is wasted on us, however. Rachel and I aren’t related in the slightest, at least not genetically. Oh, it’s true that we share the same father, if you could call it that. No chromosomes to intermingle, nor traits inherited. The only thing that Rachel and I share is a…residue.”

Lowering her hand over Rachel’s face, Martinique clamped the thumb and middle-finger against the sleeping woman’s temples.

“But while a residue is all I’ve ever enjoyed, dear Rachel here has tasted the pure essence, the power of life itself. Time and reality are meaningless to her. While I…I must only be content with the illusion.”

“In some ways, illusion can be as powerful as reality.” Masque ran his hand over his own face, feeling all the scars and distended flesh. “So long as people can be made to think it, well then, it must be the truth.”

“I am so tired of being here,” breathed Martinique. “You mutants are so inferior, you little games so boring. No, I would must rather be alone with Rachel, suppressing her with all these childish fears that clutter her mind so. Countless times, she’s been reliving the same torments, and she believes them all to be happening in the here and now. The trap is so complete, I wonder if my powers are even necessary.”

A soft moan escaped from Rachel’s lips, which had pursed up. Reading the memory from which the illusion came, Martinique laughed.

“How delightful. She’s just been freed from the camps, and she’s thanking Franklin Richards in that crude manner the humans taught her. It gives him pleasure, and she sees it as punishment for her role in the extermination of mutants. The pleasure that she herself experiences only serves to make it worse. I think I’ll remind the memory, and it enjoy it from the beginning.”

Waving her hand at Masque, Martinique lowered herself down on the bed. “And firsthand, perhaps. Be a good little slave and step outside, doctor. See to it that I’m not disturbed with my…’sister’. Hah, yes, you do love to think of us as sisters.”

Being the good little slave he was, Masque did as he was told, even locking the door behind him. All he could do was be content with the faint noises he could hear on the other side, and his own imagination. Only briefly did he wonder if the mental images were his own.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Little pieces of glass were stuck in Archangel’s bloody fist. In front of him, the computer monitor was shattered, and the console was speckled with blood. In reaction to Archangel’s rage, his wings were at their full span, sharp edges quivering with anticipation of the kill.

At that moment, all Archangel wanted to do was kill.

The only other person in the War Room was Professor Charles Xavier.

“Tell me they’ll pay,” Archangel whispered. “Tell me that we won’t bend over and take it anymore. Tell me this won’t happen again.”

“Warren, I understand how you’re-” the Professor began, but Archangel cut him off.

“You couldn’t begin to understand. Bobby was gone, a series of puddles on the ground. Then he put himself back together. When he tried to transform back into flesh, the best he could do was color the ice to resemble his old self. Don’t even pretend to understand what it was like to see that.”

Sitting in his wheelchair, behind Archangel’s back, the Professor shook his head. “With my powers as weak as they are, no, I couldn’t. But I do know what it’s like to die.”

“So do I,” Archangel added. “We’ve both been there and back, Professor. Now, so has Bobby. Will he take it as bad?”

“The damage to his mind was extensive, as I’m sure you’re aware.” Spinning his wheelchair around, the Professor rolled out of the War Room. Archangel followed him down the corridor, towards the Medical Lab. “It could take years for Bobby to overcome the stress of reforming himself. Even then, the psychological problems would be almost impossible to eradicate.”

“Revenge is always good therapy,” Archangel said. “We find the Brotherhood. Bobby turns their genitals to ice. Everything is better. Okay, so we can play it your way and tone things down, but we need to do something!”

The sudden rise in Archangel’s voice startled the Professor. He turned to look at Archangel, as the doors to the Medical Lab automatically opened at his approach.

“Kitty and I have been doing everything we could so far to-”

“The woman’s name is Katherine, or Kate. It’s time to stop treating her like a kid. We’ve all outgrown nicknames, Charles.”

“As I was saying….Katherine and I have been running every possible search we could think of. The teleportation signature has been identified as Vanisher. Satellites have been compromised, used to cast a web over the world. Anywhere he teleports to, we should know about it. But the point of origin is cloaked in some way. It will take time to get around this.”

“What could possibly hide from Shi’ar technology?” Archangel demanded.

“The Stranger’s,” answered the Professor calmly. “We know Toad had access to it at one time. If that is what he’s using, I doubt even Shi’ar technology could beat it. I fear our best hope my be to capture one of the Brotherhood and scan his mind.”

Archangel’s face twisted in rage. “You’d be too weak to read them, even if they were shielded. All they’d have to do is resist. That’s even assuming we could capture one, considering that they’ve been kicking our asses left and right!”

“They have us at an advantage, that I admit.” The voice of Professor Xavier was soothing, meant to keep Archangel calm. “Please, Warren, you have to understand that I’m doing everything I can.”

Snorting with derision, Archangel placed his hands atop the slab of table in the center of the room. Lying upon it was a shape of ice which, in spite of the relatively warm temperature, had not even begun to melt. What was even more peculiar was that this ice was in the perfect form of a man, lacking only the details of sex. Unbelievably, this shape of ice had only recently been a living, breathing human being, a lifelong friend to Archangel and a former student of Professor Xavier‘s.

Following his near fatal encounter with three of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Robert Drake had found himself unable to return to his human form. It had taken a great deal of the Professor’s abilities to suppress Robert’s initial frenzy of madness and force him into a deep sleep.

“Oh, I understand perfectly,” Archangel whispered. “Unfortunately, everything you can do isn’t everything you once could do. Ha. That doesn’t make much sense. What do you think, Kurt?”

From his place against the wall behind Archangel, hidden in the shadows of those great wings, Nightcrawler emerged. “I think that we’ve never been at our weakest. Our most powerful teammate has been incapacitated. You, Warren, are becoming mentally unstable.”

Archangel said nothing to refute the statement. He only chuckled softly.

“Charles, you telepathy has only just begun to return. Peter and Katherine are unable to do little but console each other.”

The Professor frowned, and not at the first remark. “Neither one is fit to help against the Brotherhood, I fear. Peter is obviously afraid of them, if only subconsciously. While Katherine, I believe, is almost reckless in her desire to hunt them down.”

“I agree,” said Nightcrawler. “Someone should talk to her about what happened to her father.”

“There’s no point,” Archangel offered. “Whatever really happened, Katherine blames the Brotherhood for his death. We can’t convince her otherwise, can we?”

Neither the Professor nor Nightcrawler could answer. Though the young men responsible had been arrested, it would be impossible to prove that the Brotherhood weren’t responsible. As farfetched as though it may sound, those men could very well have been mentally influenced. It was what Katherine believed, and there was no evidence that went contrary to this.

“Thought not. That brings us back to Kurt’s observation. The way we are now, it wouldn’t take the Brotherhood ten seconds to butcher us like sheep.”

“We need help,” Nightcrawler declared. “As much as it would pain me to ask it of Scott-”

“No.” There was forceful passion in that one word. It settled over the room, and the Professor continued. “Scott won’t leave Jean, no matter what.”

“I’d have to agree with Charles on this,” Archangel stated. “There isn’t a thing in this world that will make Scott abandon his wife and child again. Hell, the thing that made him do it the first time happens to now be his wife!” Despite himself, Archangel smiled. “Heh, that’s kind of ironic.”

“Alex then. Lorna, Elisabeth, Alison. Sean, Shiro, Bishop. Ororo, certainly. We should demand that Logan come at once! There are so many more of us, even outside the core X-Men. I should think that Sam and the others would insist on helping us!”

“At the moment, X-Force has problems of their own,” Professor Xavier responded. “In case you hadn’t heard, the very disease they were credited with curing has now been running unchecked among the human population. As for the others, I’ve tried to get in touch with as many as I could, without success. Even Logan isn’t responding to my calls. It’s hard for me not to fear the worst.”

“I’ll believe Logan’s dead when I’ve got the corpse laid out in front of me.” Archangel shrugged. “Even then, I’d watch it for a week to see if it healed.”

“So we’re alone, Professor?” Nightcrawler asked. “There have to be others we can contact. The Champions have encountered Toad recently, and Hank was one of the Avengers for a time.” He turned to Archangel. “You were a founding member of the Champions, and you were a Defender, with Hank and Bobby! Can’t we use that to get some help!”

“I could say the same about you,” Archangel shot back. “Aren’t some of the Crusaders friends of yours? This is just the moment you needed to get close to that Meggan thing, with Captain Britain dead and gone.”

Nightcrawler hadn’t been holding a sword earlier. But while Archangel had been talking, the blade had extended and popped out from a compartment in Nightcrawler’s costume. It was in his hand, and the point was pressed against Archangel’s throat.

“Not another word,” he hissed through fangs.

“Enough, both of you!” Barked the Professor. “Kurt, put that sword away. Warren, retract your wings, now!” The Professor had had to duck quickly to the side to avoid getting impaled when Archangel’s wings had extended outwards in reaction. “You both know by now that fighting amongst ourselves accomplishes nothing.”

Dejected, both Nightcrawler and Archangel took a step back from one another, though the glare they shared could have cut through steel. This was enough to satisfy the Professor, however, and he continued.

“To answer your question, Kurt, I have been in contact with the Avengers. While they are investigating the Brotherhood as a matter of course, they’ve made it quite clear to me that joining forces is out of the question. Politics. It’s the same situation with the Crusaders. As for the Champions and Defenders, as well as the Fantastic Four, all are currently unavailable. However, one possibility remains. I was in contact with him earlier today, and he seemed amenable...”

“Absolutely not,” declared Archangel. “For all we know, he could be leading this Brotherhood, just like he has all the others!”

“You’re talking about Magneto, Charles, so just come out and say it.” Nightcrawler then addressed Archangel. “And he did save Peter’s life, remember? He may not approve of what Toad’s doing.”

“Or he was just paying Peter back. What was it, two times he saved Magneto’s life? As if he really gives a damn about gratitude. A mutant was getting beat to death by humans, and the only reason Magneto didn’t kill the lot of them is because it’d hurt his deal with Canada. If this isn’t a trap for his Brotherhood, then it’s just another stunt to show the Canucks that he’s changed his ways.”

“Whatever his reasons, Magneto has agreed to meet with us.” Professor Xavier had turned his wheelchair around, and was starting out of the Medical Lab. “Kurt, I need for you to prep our jet for departure. I’ll be in the War Room, preparing some files.”

“Of course, Professor.” Before Archangel could say anything, Nightcrawler looked and him and continue. “At the least, we might be able to contact Alpha Flight. And I have been curious to see what Magneto’s been up to.”

It was a sound suggestion, and Archangel wasn’t about to argue against it. He followed Nightcrawler out, to help with preparing the Blackbird. This left the body of Robert Drake, the Iceman, all alone.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants found Avalanche outside the door to the monastery’s chapel. Immediately, he knew the other one was inside. Still, Toad asked the question anyway.

“He’s praying again,” was Avalanche’s reply. “For the truth, if you can believe it. I swear, he’s every bit as nutty as those freaks I ran into in Greece.”

When Pyro had first declared himself a disciple of the truth, many months ago, nobody in the Brotherhood had had the slightest clue of what he was talking about. Then Avalanche remembered that, back when he’d been a soldier in the Grecian army, he’d once come across a group of religious fanatics. Zionists, they’d called themselves.

Not liking that one of his men was getting sucked into a cult, Toad had some research done. Turned out Zionism wasn’t something new, that it had existed for somewhere around four thousands years. Around the times of Buddhism and Confucianism, Toad was surprised to discover. Apparently, the entire religion centered around a god of fire and truth known as Zion, who used flames to burn away lies and reveal the truth. Or something like that. As soon as Toad learned that fire was heavily involved, he had an idea of Pyro’s devotion and lost interest.

Still, all the hours of worshiping were beginning to wear down Toad’s patience. “Open the door!” he barked at Avalanche.

Shaking his helmeted head, Avalanche stepped away from the door. “No way. I tried interrupting Pyro once, inviting him out to a bar. He said something about alcohol fueling lies, but I was too busy running away from a scythe of fire to listen.”

Moving towards the door, Toad snorted. “Zealous idiot. People are at their most truthful when they’re drunk. Showed me how bad a fighter Batroc the Leaper was.” But almost immediately after placing his hand against the door’s handle, Toad quickly snatched it away. His face displayed a clear feeling of pain.

“Yow, that’s hot!”

“I tried to warn you,” Avalanche started.

“Did you say anything about Pyro heating the door? No.” Spitting on his hand to paralyze the nerves, Toad glared at Avalanche and pointed his injured had at the door. “Open it.”

When Avalanche hesitated, Toad only repeated himself.

The armored plates covering Avalanche’s body rippled faintly. Then the air between him and the door rippled. Then the two great doors of the chapel flew back off their hinges. They didn’t go more than a few feet before a wall of flame incinerated them to ash.

Through the wall of fire, Toad could just make out Pyro’s form. He was kneeling on the floor, his back to the wall, facing a great gout of flames burning over the alter. If he had noticed the interruption, Pyro gave no sign of it.

“I told you I wanted both of them alive!” Toad screamed, carrying his voice over the roar of the flames. “You gave me a cook animal and left behind puddles of water!”

“Death is the ultimate bringer of truth.” The voice was Pyro’s, but it actually seemed as though the fire itself was speaking. “Now Iceman will no longer spread lies of peace.”

“Shove the zen babble!” Toad screamed. With little effort, he leaped over the wall of fire to land just behind Pyro. “Seeing you get a little more dangerous with your powers is nice, but I’m the only one around here who should talk like a nut.”

With a sigh, Pyro rose up off his knees. “Fine. The bloke scared the hell of out of me. I wasn’t lying though, about how him and all the X-Men tell lies. Humanity hates us, and we need to kill them before they kill us.” Pyro held his hand up level with his face. A flame was dancing in his palm. “The complete truth is that Iceman was too powerful, even for me. We couldn’t have held him, boss. As far as the animal, heh, it was just fun. Besides, he’s still alive.”

Toad grinned, from ear to ear. “Yeah, I figured it was. Still upset you did it without me watching, though.”

The wall of flame had dissipated, and Avalanche stepped into the chapel. “Don’t go blaming Pyro for the Iceboy. No way was he getting up after I took him down. And hey, if the guys who were in Boston are it as far as X-Men, we took down their most powerful member.”

“Tsk tsk.” Toad turned to face Avalanche, shaking his head. “There you go, with your military strategy. Better we had him as helpless as his friend, screaming for mercy until his throat got hoarse.”

“We’ll have another chance.” The three Brotherhood members turned to see that Vanisher had teleported into the room. “Mountjoy just reported. First, he bagged the jailbait.”

Toad cackled. “Oh ho! That man is secret agent material all the way!”

“And second, Iceman’s still alive. Put himself back together, if you can believe it!”

At this news, Toad’s eyes widened. “Without all the king’s horses and all the king’s men!? Although,” Toad added as a second thought. “What do horses have to do with putting something together again?”

Avalanche and Pyro shared a nervous and confused glance. Vanisher just ignored the question.

“Third and final, they’re meeting with Magneto.

All three expected Toad to become furious at this update. Instead, he just clapped his hands together in glee.

“Oh goody! I get to kill Magneto faster than I’d hoped! Let’s get the boys together and head out. Pyro, I’m putting you in charge of setting up the barbecue! Main course will be a crazy old bastard’s head on a stick!”

__________________________________________________________________________________

The flight from Westchester County, New York, into Quebec, Canada, hadn’t been very long. In the X-Men’s modified Blackbird jet, the flight had taken less than half an hour. The only thing Archangel noticed of interest during the flight was that Shadowcat’s walking was somewhat awkward.

Of course, Archangel thought, that was how Colossus had been “consoling” her. From the look in Colossus’ eyes, Archangel didn’t dare say anything. Nightcrawler wasn’t much of a threat, but Archangel knew that Colossus could easily beat him to death. And, again judging from the look in his eyes, Archangel had a feeling that Colossus would enjoy it.

A familiar voice crackled from the cabin’s speakers, though Archangel couldn’t quite place it. One of Magneto’s followers, no doubt. They were nearing the Magneto Territory’s airspace. Nightcrawler was piloting the jet, and he gave a reply into his headset.

“This is Kurt Wagner of the X-Men. We have an appointment with Magneto.”

“Tell them that if they try to stop us,” Archangel spoke up. “I’ll go out there and-”

“With your metal wings, Magneto would rip you apart,” Colossus interrupted. “Not to mention we have no idea who else is down there. So just shut your mouth.”

Holding his anger in check, Archangel did as he was told. It wasn’t like Colossus, speaking out like that.

After a brief pause, a response was crackled through the airwaves. They were given permission to land. Gently, Nightcrawler guided the delicate controls of the Blackbird jet. In the seat beside him was Shadowcat. Archangel and Colossus were in the two seats behind. At the rear of the cabin, Iceman was lying prone on a table extending out of the wall. Sitting in his wheelchair next to the table was Professor Xavier.

In a few minutes, the Blackbird was crawling through the air over the Magneto Territories. The sprawling town was extremely well organized, with a center courtyard and streets extending outward like the spokes of a wheel. Seeing it from above, Professor Xavier saw that it the town’s design appeared simplistic, but in the back of his mind he was aware of a grand pattern that was just taking shape. Less than a third of the Magneto Territories was made up of this town, which stretched for about a mile and a half in diameter. None of the buildings were taller than four stories, save for a great spire which rose up from the center of the courtyard.

“Set us down there,” Professor Xavier said. Nightcrawler had no doubt he was referring to the spire. Clearly, that was where Magneto made his home. Without so much as disturbing a single tree leaf, the Blackbird landed outside the main entrance to the spire, near a great fountain. The sculpture in the center of this fountain was a little girl, who’s identity the Professor was certain of.

Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were the first out of the Blackbird, phasing and teleporting out as the ramp opened to allow for the others to exit. Professor Xavier wheeled down this ramp, Archangel behind him. Iceman’s form remained inside.

Greeting the X-Men outside was Magneto, standing in the doorway of his spire home. Standing beside him was a young woman with light purple skin, wearing a white blouse and skirt. The X-Men recognized her as Blink, a mutant from a divergent reality. They’d last seen her a little over a year ago, when she reminded Joseph who he really was. Not an amnesiac Magneto like he and the X-Men had believed, Joseph had in fact been a child, the son of Magneto in that divergent reality. This revelation had shunted Joseph into his actual state as a child, and Magneto had left with Blink and his “son”.

“Charles,” Magneto said it greeting. “I’m pleased to see you here.”

“You’ve done well with what you’ve been given, Magnus,” Professor Xavier replied. “I only wish I could be here under better circumstances.”

“Yes, I understand you’ve been having some problems lately.” Magneto nodded his head to Colossus. “Peter, I see that you’re well. I’m glad for that, and for all of you. Kitty, I was sorry to hear about your father-”

“We’ve said our hellos, now let’s get to business,” Shadowcat barked out sharply. “Nobody knows Toad better than you, Magneto. What’s he up to? Where can we find him?”

“I don’t have the faintest idea. Poor Mortimer has always been unbalanced. I expect he’ll come here, sooner or later. Either to kiss my feet or try to kill me, it doesn’t matter. I’m deal with him, the same as I always have. You all don’t have to bother.”

“Oh yes, we do,” Archangel said. “Hank’s been taken captive, and I have a good idea of what Toad must be doing to him.” He threw his arm back to point at the Blackbird. “Bobby’s lying in there, comatose! Maybe your warped sense of justice can forgive what Toad did in Genosha and Boston-”

“Tell me retribution wasn’t deserved!” Magneto snarled. “You knew Tabitha Smith. She was a student of mine! She was murdered, and the killer when unpunished by human law! Perhaps Toad was overly harsh in his dealing of true justice, but I won’t fault him for doing what had to be done!”

Shadowcat and Archangel were each about to speak, but Xavier spoke first.

“We aren’t here about Boston. Magneto, you must realize that Toad is unstable, and whatever his motives may be, he’s targeting the X-Men specifically. We’re here to ask for your aid.”

Nobody said anything, everybody choosing to give Magneto the chance to speak. After a few long seconds, he did.

“Let’s go inside, talk further. I’ll bring in Bobby. There’s a chance I may be able to help him.”

Archangel heard it first, but all the X-Men turned their heads in response to the tearing sound from within the Blackbird. Perfectly even, the metal table floated down the ramp, Iceman lain upon it.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“I chose to deal with Canada because I am tired of fighting,” Magneto began. “Building this sanctuary, it’s what I’ve worked my entire life towards. All the terrorism, all the conflict, it was all towards acquiring a place for mutants to be safe. Because of Toad’s past association with me, his actions jeopardize everything I’ve fought for. If stopping him will help to keep the world’s nations from bothering me, then I will gladly stop him.”

Hearing such words from Magnus was something that Professor Xavier had thought he would never experience. They were the words of a tired old man, once a wild youth, finally ready to settle down and build something with his life. Xavier didn’t say it aloud, but he hoped that Magnus would succeed.

“Just so I’m there,” Shadowcat snarled. “Toad killed my father, he-”

“I’m heard enough of you directing blame,” Magneto stated sharply. “Your father is dead because his daughter was a mutant, and she made the whole world aware of it. Vengeance is a waste of time, Ms. Pryde, particularly when it’s misdirected. Just be glad the boys who killed him are death themselves and move on.”

Stunned, Shadowcat didn’t say anything for nearly a minute. Along with Nightcrawler, Archangel, and Colossus, they were all in a relatively spacious antechamber, standing around the inert form of Iceman. Attached to his icy body were wires connected to machines, which would monitor his condition if he reverted back to human form. Magneto had called in a doctor who was also a mutant, whose name Xavier couldn’t quite recall. Also a mutant, she’d used her control over water to probe Iceman’s body. She’d said that a few things were out of place, but that she’d been able to fix them properly. She and Magneto exchanged a few brief words, and then he’d sent her away. He told the X-Men that it would only be a matter of time before Iceman awoke. It was simply a question of when the shock wore off. Then he’d explained why he would help the X-Men.

Finally, Shadowcat spoke. “How do you know they’re dead?”

“By indirect means, I assure you. Torturing a few hate mongers to death would have been too risky for me.” Turning from Iceman’s form, Magneto started for the door. “I regret that I can’t stay. There are too many urgent matters which demand my attention. I suggest you all get some rest. You’ll be notified should Bobby awaken from his coma.”

“I’ll keep watch,” Archangel told everybody.

Shadowcat was already moving, following Magneto out of the room. It was with only a little hesitation that Colossus went after her. Nightcrawler and Professor Xavier didn’t move to go.

“There are other things to do,” added Archangel. “Unless there’s a fight, I’m not of much use. Go get things done, Professor. I’ll stay here.”

“I’ll still be here,” the Professor assured his long-time pupil. Wheeling the chair around, he rolled out. Only Nightcrawler remained with Archangel, keeping vigil.

“Kurt…”

“What kind of a leader would I be if I didn’t watch over my fallen comrades?” Nightcrawler asked.

Archangel had a quick response. “The sort who watches over the ones that still need it. Kitty’s been pulling apart since her father died, and something about Peter seems off.”

“You have a good sense of people.”

“I’ve been there often enough to see the edge, and when some people are teetering on it. Most of those times, it was Bobby that pulled me back.” Placing his hands on the edge of the table, Archangel stared down at the frozen face of his friend. “How many real friends would you say you have, Kurt? And don’t go counting every one of the X-Men, because I personally don’t consider you a friend.”

“We don’t know each other very well,” Nightcrawler agreed. “A handful, I would say. Peter, Kitty, Ororo. Logan, certainly. Scott and Jean, but not so much. There are others, but only those among the X-Men.”

“I’ve never had many friends,” said Archangel. “There were some I considered friends, once. There’s only four people that I truly count on in this world. Two of them are together, with a child on the way, and I couldn’t be happier for them. Another is in the hands of the madman that raped his girlfriend, and him being dead is probably the best I could hope for at the moment. The fourth, the best friend I’ve had in all the world, is right here on this table, trapped in a coma he may never come out of. Even if he does wake up, there’s a chance he might become somebody completely different from the guy I knew. Please leave, Kurt. I’d like to be alone with my friend.”

With a silent nod, Nightcrawler turned and left.

__________________________________________________________________________________

There was a beginning of a pattern. Looking out over the city, Professor Xavier knew that he could see it. When he couldn’t see was the end result, the final culmination of Magneto’s grand design.

“It’s going to be a face,” Blink said. She was standing in the doorway of Xavier’s guest room, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed.

“Excuse me?”

“You were wondering what you saw when you were flying over head.” There was a smile on Blink’s face. “When it’s done, this city is going to take up the entire Magneto Territory. And it will resemble a face. Of Magda, his wife.”

“I know of her, yes,” Charles turned away from the window. Even with that knowledge, he couldn’t quite see the face. Maybe when the city was close to it’s final completion.

“This building, it’s a little mole that she had just below her eye. Magnus gave Box very intricate instructions for the end result. He still thinks she’s alive, you know. Hasn’t been seen in nearly thirty years, but hey, she could still be alive.” Walking into the room, Blink approached Charles with her hand out. “We haven’t really met. I’m Blink.”

“Yes, I know who you are,” said Charles as he took her hand. “You come from another reality, one where I died, as I understand it.”

“Yeah, by your own son traveling back in time, I heard. Well, that was the gist of Bishop’s mad rantings. Magneto, my world’s Magneto, gave up everything to save you. The two of you must have been good friends, when you died.”

“The best,” Charles said. “I remember you. This reality’s you, at least. I had a file on her. Do you know what happened to her?”

Sadly, Blink nodded. “Yeah, I was told that in order to, cross over, my counterpart had to be dead. I don’t know the details though.”

“She died saving the lives of her friends, and many others,” Charles told her. “She…you, died a hero.”

“It’s a good way to be remembered,” Blink said with a sad smile. For a moment, neither person said anything, as they silently mourned the tragic death of Clarice Ferguson.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Charles began. “Why are you here?”

Blink gave a soft laugh. “That can be interpreted a lot of ways. My reality was destroyed when Bishop fixed things in the past. Maybe my powers interacted with the M’Kraan Crystal in some way, or maybe some higher beings thoughts I could be of use here. I’d like to think it’s the latter, that I was brought her to help this world’s Magneto be more, more like the other one.”

“Actually, I was wondering why you came here to speak with me.”

“Oh. That.” Blink shrugged. “Well, I guess I just wanted to meet you. I’ve heard about you all my life, ‘The man that inspired Magneto to form the X-Men.’ Seeing how different everything is, and knowing that you’re the reason, it’s a bit awesome.”

“There are some things I’ve been curious about,” Charles said when she’d finished. “Do you mind if I ask some more questions?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Well, for one thing…” Charles appeared visibly uncomfortable. “You said that Magneto formed the X-Men. Who…um…how?”

Blink raised her hand to stop Charles. “Yeah, so many questions, you don’t know where to begin. Well, Colossus was there from the beginning, and along the way he got seriously messed up. Left Magneto for a time to try and stop the cullings in Russia all by himself. Managed to save a lot of people, I heard, but his family was slaughtered. Married Kitty, and the way I’ve seen this one acting now is nothing compared to the bitch I knew. But they loved each other, so much so that she didn’t phase when he came bearing down on her, to get at something she was in the way of. She trusted that he would stop, and ended up dead. Then he went to pieces, and joined her shortly after.”

“That’s…that’s horrible.”

Blink gave a great sigh. “Oh, that’s nothing compared to the horror stories I have. Nightcrawler was darker too, always carrying around those swords of his. Iceman, well, if this is the first time yours has shattered, he should be fine. Took nearly a dozen times before mine started to get unhinged. Angel I heard was running a nightclub on Apocalypse Island, playing neutral while dealing information to all sides. Umm, Canada was pretty much a wasteland, and South America was a nuclear wasteland.” Blink paused, trying to gather her thoughts. “Let’s see, I’ve been reading a lot lately. Quicksilver was the X-Men’s leader, he and Storm were lovers. Gambit used to be leader, but he quit when Rogue chose Magneto over him. She’s the mother of little Charles. I’d never even heard of these Brotherhood guys you’re fighting now. So much, so much is different.”

“Not everything,” Charles said. There was a deep sadness in his voice. “While you were searching for which thoughts to voice, I was scanning those thoughts. I’m sorry but….my god, there was so much pain.” His eyes were starting to tear up. “Never would I have imagined Magnus sacrificing so much. His own daughter was killed, and he kept fighting. All of you kept fighting.”

“And we ended up winning,” Blink finished. She was smiling now, and not sadly. “That place is gone now, and in it’s place we now have this bright place, filled with hope. A place where I was willing to die for my friends. I, I never thought I could be so brave.”

“It’s that very bravery that keeps hope alive.” Looking out the window, Professor Xavier saw the whole world laid out in front of him. “Hope that heroes will never stop fighting for what they believe in. Hope that the world can be changed for the better, if you never give up. Hope that, no matter how great the danger, life will go on.”

“I can see why Magneto looked up to you,” Blink said. “You’re one of those brave people.”

“So are you, Blink.” Suddenly, Professor Xavier whipped his head around, his eyes widening. Then, Blink could hear a rhythmic beeping. She knew what it meant, and the Professor gave voice to it.

“Bobby just woke up.”

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There were no bones to knit back together. Blood did not rush throughout the body, pumped by a beating heart. Lungs did not take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. Organ did not produce chemicals and process wastes.

None of that matters in determining life. Only brain activity matters. Synapses firing, sending off signals and receiving information. Information was life.

The body of ice was driven by nothing but thought. That it had been shattered didn’t matter. The work of a water shaper had been meaningless. So long as a single molecule was active, energy was available. Thought was alive, and extension so was the whole.

Sounds entered the body, creating minute vibrations that could be translated and identified. Touch was also derived from vibration, because there were no physical nerves in ice. Scent was nonexistent, but taste could be construed through chemicals entering and mixing with the partially melted ice. Light traveled through the ice, and it was able to identify certain images. But for the most part, sight was substituted by sensing the heat given off by all objects.

Living creatures gave off great amounts of heat. They could be sensed from a great distance away. Six living creatures were gathered around the ice, and so was a large piece of warm metal. More warm metal was coming off one of the living creatures, and in fact the metal was pulsating with so much warmth that it could have been alive. Only the occasionally clicks gave it away as metal.

“Bobby, speak to me.” The vibrations were familiar. An elderly man, one of authority. The Professor. It had to have been. “Please, Bobby, say something!”

Flexible ice writhed and contorted. In the shape of a man it was, a man who was in pain. Ice couldn’t be in pain, but the mind was chaotic. The illusion of pain, the belief of pain, had overtaken it. Something was soothing the pain, but chaos was still rampant.

“I wasn’t there the first time.” Voice belonged to a young woman. “From what I hear, it was bad. Maybe this bad. The last time I saw it happen, he reformed himself almost immediately, with no side effects that I could see.”

Thoughts were numbing. Mind was slowing down. Writhing ceased, but anguish remained. Numbed, but still there.

“Charles what are you doing?” Another familiar voice. Too tired to identify.

“Putting him to sleep. I can try to reawaken him later, in a more controlled manner.”

“We’ll still have the same problems, the same difficulties.”

“Dammit, Erik, you can’t feel the pain he’s in!”

“If he doesn’t work through it now, he may never!”

Numbness faded. Thoughts sped up, racing past the pain. Senses were alive, in every direction! A man with wings of living metal. Warm steel in the shape of a man. Two women, one of whom didn’t make a sound. A man in a chair, with no hair on his head. A man with lots of hair all over his body, and a tail. Another man, wearing metal and radiating heat.

“Bobby, say something,” the man with metal wings urged.

Yes, speech. Even with ice, speech was possible. Minute passages throughout the body, allowing air into a chamber. Run it up through a channel, through thin filaments of flexible but tight ice. Escape the air through an orifice, at the bottom of which form a flexible muscle of ice. Vibrations will be made, sound will form.

The speech came. It was silvery and lilting, like the sounds made from rubbing glass.

“Bobby? My name is Bobby. Robert. Robert Drake. Called Iceman. I’m called Iceman.”

Professor Xavier was smiling. There others soon followed.

“That’s right. Bobby, we’re glad to see that you’ve-”

“No!”

Living ice was sitting upright. Arms were raised, hands of flexible ice clenched. Formed into itself into one piece, a ball of ice at the end of each arm. Extended out and grew slender, into long blades. Sank back, sectioning off to make fingers, back into hands.

“Not Bobby! Not Robert Drake. I’m not even an Iceman.”

Frozen feet rested on the warm floor, positioning the ice upright. Heat was taken in, forced through the air chamber and released in hot breaths. The immediate air grew cold enough for condensation on body to harden, becoming more ice. In seconds, the body grew in bulk, becoming nearly as large as the man of warm metal.

Colossus. That was his name. And the winged man was Archangel. There was Nightcrawler and Shadowcat and Professor Xavier and Magneto. The other woman looked familiar, but can’t be placed.

“I’m not an Iceman anymore. Need to be a man for that. Look at me. This isn’t a man. I am not even human anymore.”

Ice wouldn’t reform into bones. Organs wouldn’t form. There was only the ice, with no frozen flesh trapped within. The flesh was gone. Only the frozen water remained, and the mind controlling it.

“Just ice. That’s all I am. Just ice, because of Pyro.”

“He melted you,” Archangels voice was hard and cold. “You put yourself together, but, you say something’s missing.”

“Flesh. My flesh is gone. Incinerated.”

“My god,” whispered Nightcrawler. Professor Xavier said the same thing.

“I’m dead, Professor. Just a mind in ice. They killed me!”

“We’ll make them pay,” Professor Xavier promised. “There’s been too much pain. From this moment on, we take the fight to the Brotherhood!”

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