X-Writers are a non-profit fan-fiction e-mail group using characters that belong to Marvel Entertainments Group, we do not have their permission. No animals were harmed during the production of this story. ------------------------------------------------------- *The One Hundredth Issue of Wolverine* (Wow, I remember when this title started...) Writer: Chris Delaney Editor: Marysia (who does other neat stuff too) --------------------------------------------------------- Prologue The UN battalion had surrounded Tony Stark before he even knew they were there. They melted out of the surrounding foliage; British and American special forces. The best of the breed. Even if he had been in top shape he wouldn't have considered resisting. As it was he doubted he could put up enough resistance to discourage a rabid gopher. "Don't move or we'll drop you!" a tough looking NCO shouted at him. He felt hands seize him and the cool edge of a knife move to his throat. "I'm... I'm an Avenger." Stark wheezed. "Check it out!" the NCO barked. "I recognise the armour pieces," a British officer interjected. "He's legit. I'll bet on it." "ID checks out," the NCO reported. "Okay. Get a medic up here. Liz, you stay with him and make sure he gets prepped for evac! The rest of you, let's get going. We aren't being paid by the hour and we have a mutie to nail." The British Major waved his soldiers on. In moments only Stark, a medic and the lady officer remained. "Damn overprotective brothers!" the officer fumed. Main "WHAT!" Scott yelled. "They went where? Looking for WHO!" "As I was explaining before I was so rudely interrupted, the esteemed Professor went with Logan and Jean to the Savage Land to investigate Magneto's disappearance. They have been missing for a couple of days now..." Beast continued. "And nobody thought that anything was WRONG with THAT! What is up with you people?" Scott was getting a little hysterical. "I can't even re-establish my psionic rapport with Jean! What has happened?" "Calm yourself, Scott. We have been extremely busy with a number of problems and we assumed the Professor was just extending his trip a bit. Here, use Cerebro, that should enable you to make contact with Jean now that the astral turbulence has apparently settled down...wonder what was causing that..." "Do not stray from the issue McCoy. Those are dear friends of mine, missing beyond any reasonable explanation." "One second Storm, the analysis of that wave of psionic turbulence has just come in...Oh my stars and Garters!" "What is it now? It has been nothing but a series of crises since we arrived! What can you possibly report that would be worth interrupting this for!" "Apparently Storm... apparently two major league psis have died in the Savage Land in the last 15 minutes. They were what we were recording... One of them matches the mental signature of Magneto. The other... the other..." "Bright Goddess, NO!" "The other was Jean." A tear rolled down the Beasts furred cheek. "Somebody better tell Scott that Cerebro isn't going to do him any good..." Grim silence and horrified disbelief cloaked the room. Quicksilver looked down at his boots. If he had told the others about Stark's call maybe something could have been done. He knew it was hopeless but still, something inside of him ached for his mistake. "Time to target?" Vashkin asked. "Ten minutes off, sir," the exec replied. "Sir!" the electronics intelligence officer barked. "What is it?" "I have a confirmation that our 2nd Battalion, the one that was aboard Freedom. is still active and mobile! And they have taken control of the target area." Cheers echoed across the bridge. Xavier sighed with relief. He wasn't going to have to go through with it after all! "Nonsense. We have a weak reading suggesting Magneto might still be alive. Continue with the plan! We must leave nothing to chance!" "But sir, those are our boys down there!" "Can you guarantee they haven't been compromised?" "Be reasonable Vashkin!" Xavier said. "I can use my mental powers to ascertain the status of the UN troops..." "No. I can't afford to take the chance that you might be wrong. The stakes are way too high as it is! We continue with the original plan unless better evidence is presented!" Rogue was awakened by a UN medic removing the spear that had been driven into her. She screamed with pain, first from the removal of the shaft and then from the antiseptic they sprayed the wound with. She looked and up and saw the blurry faces of UN soldiers. "Don't try to move Rogue. You've had a hell of a time and are in no condition to try anything silly, like walking." "Y'all know mah name?" "The briefing we were given suggested that you were here assisting the indigenous population against Magneto." "It ain't Magneto that's causin' this fuss. It's a psionic sleazebag by the name a' the Shadow King..." The officer and the medic exchanged glances. "Calm down girl. You have had a nasty time of it and confusion is only to be expected. Listen, I'll go see if I can get a chocolate bar from one of the troops and some coffee as well. In the meantime why don't you get some rest. You'll be going home soon." "Ah ain't no girl an' ah know what ah'm talkin' about." Rogue struggled briefly as a sedative was introduced into her system. "Listen, y'all have ta listen ta me..." Slowly she faded into a warm, dark sleep. The mood was grim as the X-Men assembled in preparation for a rescue mission to the Savage Land. The room was full of dark anger and resentment. Scott was silent, as if nothing had happened. Storm was talking quickly as she tried to finish preparations. Beast was back to monitoring Luna and Quicksilver had gone with him. Warren stood his ground like an avenging angel, wings spread out. Psylocke had departed to fetch Bishop. "So according to Dr. Cooper the UN task force was sent in along this path here," she indicated a point on the map, "to attack this fortress, here. Satellite pictures confirm a multi- megaton explosion there which vaporised the entire mountain. The UN ground forces are all dead if they went in to their primary drop-zones and we must presume the Avengers are too." "Is that where Jean was killed?" asked Warren. "No, she was killed over here. Hank thinks that he has found the Professor's mental signature cloaked by telepathic dampeners. We are going there and heaven help whomever has him captive. The transmission from the British authorities confirms that Excalibur is already enroute in one of the captured UN ships. Lila, are you ready?" "Any time yah want Stormy." "Don't call me that." Bishop rushed in with Psylocke just behind him. "I came as soon as I heard!". "Just in time Big Guy!" Lila said with a smile. In a flash, the X-Men vanished and re-appeared in the Savage Land. David R. Henry was a respected Senator from the state of North Dakota. He had worked for the FBI and CIA before getting into politics and retained strong support from both of these organisations. In fact, if it wasn't for a scrupulous sense of ethics, Senator Henry could have gone far. He smiled a demon's smile in the mirror. That would no longer be a problem. He walked down the luxurious hallway, admiring the opulence of his chosen home. The Hellfire Club had remained true to the principles on which he had founded it so long ago. His mind reached out and searched, gently as to not startle his prey. The inner circle had all fallen, all but three. Two of these he closed in on now. He reached the appropriate door and smiled. This was going to be fun. Poor little Shinobi Shaw. Poor little Candra. Nothing had ever prepared them for HIM! The Shadow King had come home Wolverine appeared out of the shadows. His eyes were wild and his claws bloody. The crowd of mutates tearing at the armoured man melted away before him as he walked forward. Not even the boldest of them wanted to face him. He strode up to Magneto and looked him in the eyes; his animal senses registering the sickness and pain. He shoved Magneto aside and approached the prone body of Jean Grey-Summers. He bent down and looked at her; senses probing. Then he let out a bone- chilling cry of grief. Natasha stepped into the clearing and looked at the crowd of mutates and the man whom they had been chasing. "It's the end of the line, Magneto." "Are you mad woman? We are allies!" "You? Allied with humans? I don't think so. The Shadow King has been defeated or his slaves wouldn't be acting in this confused manner. That means there is no reason not to take you in." "You can try it... and take the consequences." Natasha fired and a plastic round burrowed into Magneto. "That has a quarter ounce of plastique in it. Do you want me to set it off?" Wolverine continued to cradle Jean's body in his arms, tears streaming down his cheeks. Gaza stepped forward from the crowd of mutates. "He is ours woman. Stand aside." "Like hell." Gaza swung his club in a low arc aimed at the Black Widow's midsection. She dodged sideways and fired a Widow's sting that took most of his head off. The mutates charged her. She fired desperately as she was overwhelmed by the horde of savages. With a flash of light the X-Men were among them. Vashkin blinked as the motley crew appeared on his bridge and desperately hit the panic button to summon help. He relaxed when he recognised the seven individuals as the X-Men: Storm, Cyclops, Bishop, Archangel, Cannonball, Psylocke and Lila Cheney (although the status of the last was somewhat suspect). What an incredible stroke of fortune; all his plans had just been greatly advanced. "Professor!" Storm cried, "We were quite worried about you! What has happened here? Why didn't you contact us..." "My children..." Xavier choked with emotion. "My dear children, I have tidings that are dire beyond words. Jean is... I mean I felt her..." "She's dead isn't she!" Cyclops cried. "I had hoped this was a ruse of some kind... That there was some sort of mistake..." "I felt her die. But I have news even more dire. My oldest foe, the Shadow King, has taken control of Magneto's mindless body and is using it to fight a war against us. He is doing horrible things, unmentionable things, all in the name of his mad dream of hatred. He must be stopped." "Why don't you tell them the whole story Xavier," Danielle Moonstar interjected. "Shut her up!" Vashkin barked. "Forgive us, the girl was captured and reprogrammed by the Shadow King. You can trust nothing she says; she will say anything to advance the cause of her master." He watched as security guards dragged the poor young woman from the room. "I should try to scan her but the psionic dampeners here make this impossible," Psylocke observed. "The dampeners are here for our own protection. Without them he could penetrate here into the very heart of our defences," Vashkin explained. "Dear children, I must ask you to go forth in the hardest mission I have ever asked of you. You must defeat the Shadow King at any cost!" "Don't worry Professor, that bastard killed Jean. I will make sure he doesn't walk away from this one!" Cyclops swore. "Magneto is not necessarily our enemy. It is his body that the Shadow King inhabits; perhaps we should consider some less lethal option. We don't kill our own, not unless there is no other choice." "You don't understand Storm, we must stop him..." "If I can do it without killing him?" "Then more power to you my child," Xavier said in a conciliatory tone of voice. "I just don't think it is possible." "We are X-Men, we specialise in the impossible," Storm replied. "Storm's right. We can't kill our own unless there ain't no other choice; and, much as ah hate ta admit it, Maggie is one of ours. He was mah teacher for a while an' ah figure we can handle him... by other means." "He has Rogue under his control as well," Xavier cautioned. "All the more reason to show mercy. Lila, bring us down there and let's settle this once and for all." "I will stay behind and shield you from the Shadow King," Xavier volunteered. "Okay Stormy, let's get this show on the road!" Lila quipped. "Don't call me that!" The X-Men vanished in a flash as Lila brought them down to the ruins of Sauron's Citadel. "Remember our agreement, Xavier," Vashkin warned. "That slut Ororo could jeopardise everything with her righteous set of morals!." "Don't call her that Vashkin! And don't worry about her conduct, I have the problem well in hand." The marines rounded the hill and looked down on chaos as Natasha Romanov desperately struggled against a handful of mutates. Guns roared as the Marines fired on the mutates. "Hands in the air, Lady!" Natasha heard. "I'm an Avenger..." Natasha heard a rifle roar as she was hit in the shoulder by a spinning piece of metal. She jolted backwards and fell. "Who's the runt?" another soldier inquired as Wolverine rose from Jean's body, bloodlust coursing through his veins. He charged the Soldiers who had gunned down Natasha, claws flashing as he tore into them. Panic spread as gunshots failed to drop him and soldiers watched their comrades being eviscerated. Finally, a combination of bullets and rifle butts dragged Wolverine to the ground. "Christ, he took Joe's entire Platoon with him," one marine swore. "Quiet," the only surviving NCO barked. The man was a long time SAS veteran and he remembered the feral berserker. "We're damn lucky we only lost a dozen or so to him." A man in bloody and battered armour crawled into view. The assembled soldiers swore and swung weapons to bear on him. Magneto looked at the shredded corpse of Wolverine and felt his power return as anger flowed through him. Too many had died. Seconds later, the surviving soldiers joined their comrades in death. Rogue rose swiftly into the air. The sedative was designed for a human physiology and she was no longer entirely human. She scanned the scarred ruins and saw soldiers crawling through the rubble like ants. In the distance she saw a flurry of action and heard the echo of screams. She headed towards the disturbance fearing the worst for her companions; the truth was almost as bad. Magneto stood there glowering, surrounded by the torn corpses of a company of soldiers. She recognised Jean's prone form and noticed it wasn't moving. Then she saw Wolverine. "Jean! Logan!" Rogue cried as she headed down to the ground. "They are both dead Rogue," Magneto announced, his voice dry and crackling with anger. "But they have both been avenged and that is something to take satisfaction in." "Satisfaction? At more people being dead? Ah think ya've finally flipped Magnus. These are people ya killed here, not simple objects of revenge." "The humans will learn what it is to dare the wrath of Magneto. Too long have I walked a gentler path and while I tried to return to my old ways I didn't have my heart in it. I somehow believed that it was possible to win victories that didn't require slaughter. To enable co-existence without strife. To find allies to call my... my friends. NO MORE!!! I will break them, human or mutant, all who would destroy my people! I have been soft and look at the result! Once again, those I loved have been destroyed and I have been unable to..." Magneto's rant was cut off as an optic blast slammed into him from behind. He screamed and fell and the air was filled with the smell of scorched flesh. Rogue looked at the X-Men, standing there almost as if they had come out of nowhere. "There was no call to do that to him! Sure he was upset but ah could have convinced him to see reason. What were you all thinking?" - - - - Aboard the Helecarrier the psionic dampeners were lowered and Xavier's mind struck forth like a striking snake and seized control of Storm. She resisted with all the passion and fury in her but Xavier was too strong and she was caught completely by surprise. - - - - "We're thinking it is time for you to die, Sugar!" Storm said as Xavier released all of her inner demons and drove her into a near berserk fury. Rogue screamed as she was wreathed in a wreath of lightening. "Storm, what are ya doing?" Cannonball cried. "She is doing what she must do, just as I am doing what I must do!" Scott replied as he fired another optic blast at Magneto's prone form. "Scott, what is wrong with you? This is murder!" Warren cried at him. Neural laced wing feathers shot at Cyclops but he was too agile and managed to dodge them. "Have you all gone mad?" Bishop bellowed. "No, they are doing what they have always done... only now I am no longer blind to it. I let myself think that you were better than me... more moral somehow... and so I held back... NO LONGER!" Magneto turned and Cannonball screamed. Psylocke unleashed her psionic powers against Magneto and was drawn into the maelstrom of his thoughts. His pain and anger tore at her psyche like knives until it gave out and collapsed in wet, hissing shreds. She howled like the damned and fell. Storm hit Rogue again, her lightening burning in Rogue's young body. She screamed in agony and thrashed in the confusion of the hurricane force wind around her. "Storm! Why are ya doin' this? Stop it, please, ah don't want ta hurt you!" Storm struggled, pitting her will against Xavier's mental stranglehold. *Why are you doing this to me!* she raged to him as he continued to use her powers to batter Rogue. *A deal I made, to sacrifice some to save the rest, Vashkin compared it to an amputation...* Xavier replied, not loosening his grip on her one iota. Then Rogue was there. Battered and burned but still alive and kicking. She punched Storm and Storm felt her ribs cave in on her left side, puncturing the lung. She responded by hitting Rogue with an even stronger bolt of lightening. Rogue screamed and fell in flames to the ground below. "Release the woman Xavier, now it is time for the second part of our plan." Vashkin ordered. "Isn't there another way..." Xavier pleaded. "Weak as always. If you don't co-operate then they will all die, I guarantee it. You will be the first to go, you have my word on it." Xavier was always a weak man when it came to physical violence and he caved into the Russian Colonel's demand. Vashkin pressed a button and a dozen nuclear weapons were launched from remote vehicles surrounding the Savage Land. Xavier focused on screening them from observation. Wolverine woke slowly, his healing factor as hyper charged as it had ever been. He looked up at the battle raging around him. He quickly took in the casualties. Cannonball was fried to a crisp and Rogue had burns over her body, burns made by lightening. Psylocke was lying at an odd angle, bleeding from her nose and ears and drooling. Archangel lay next to her; he had been battered to pieces by debris and was barely breathing. Magneto was standing in the centre of three attackers. Bishop was turning his energy back on him while Cyclops continued to batter him with optic blasts and Storm sucked the very air from his surroundings. He was unnoticed. Maggie had killed Sam and struck down Rogue with lightening, and if he had done this then maybe he had killed Jean as well. Wolverine went Berserk. Lila Cheney deposited the prone body of the Black Widow on the deck of the Helecarrier. She looked up as Colonel Vashkin approached her. "Hiya big guy. I rescued this gal from the fracas below and I'll be back in an sec with some more wounded." "I think not," Vashkin said and drew his pistol. "Good- bye Lila. I would have liked to study you, but your power doesn't permit it." He fired as she desperately teleported. When the flash cleared, she was gone but the deck had blood and bone fragments splattered on it. He had no way of knowing if the shot was fatal or not but it was unlikely she would have survived that much damage. Wolverine crouched as Cyclops fell before Magneto's onslaught of debris. Bishop kept firing but his shots only added to the storm of material battering the X-Men senseless. Only Storm resisted, continuing to suck the very air from the Master of Magnetism's lungs. It was affecting him even more than it should; he wasn't going to win this one. Wolverine was certain. But too many times Wolverine had failed to strike when he had the chance. If he had finished it back on Asteroid M then perhaps Jean would still be alive. He stepped forward. Magneto saw him and gestured; for a brief second Wolverine felt a tug at his bones, but just for a second. "A degaussing field built into your new adamantium? How..." Magneto's surprised outburst was cut off as Wolverine drove his claws deep into Magneto's chest. Magneto felt his heart and lungs being sliced and realised he wasn't going to survive this one after all. Scanner stepped unto the bridge, her mind still reeling from the horror of what she had endured and the awful revenge she had taken on her attackers. She had heard enough to know what Xavier was doing, enough to loathe him with her very soul. She did a running jump at Xavier while she flung every mental resource she had into breaking his deception. Caught by surprise he lost contact for a moment, but that was all that was needed. Suddenly Magneto sensed them coming; Nuclear Warheads shielded against magnetic pulses. "Ah Xavier, I never suspected you of such ruthlessness." He activated his newest ability, telepathy, and force fed the knowledge of what their mentor had been doing to the X-Men. Then he encased them in magnetic bubbles and launched them to safety. He sunk down onto the hard rubble; his talent barely keeping his chest intact. "What is happening here?" Major John Holden shouted as he led a squad into the clearing. "It appears your superiors feel you are expendable," Magneto observed. "They have fired nuclear weapons at us." "What? Why should we believe you? Is there anything we can do?" "We can die together. Die together and achieve the only lasting peace humans and mutants will ever experience... that of the grave." Vashkin pistol whipped Dani across the face, hard. She collapsed to the deck. The little witch had been freed by Scanner when she had fried his men. Idiots! Didn't they realise the dampeners had been turned off! Scanner herself had already been beaten into submission by his men after the psionic dampeners had been reactivated. Leave the bridge for a moment and this is what happens. "Okay Xavier. One last job and then it is all over." "What?" the battered and crying Xavier sobbed. Rogue struggled inside her bubble of magnetic force. There wasn't time to stop the nuclear weapons but there might be enough to save Magneto. With a blow she hadn't realised she was capable of, she broke free and headed back. Magneto was cradling Jean's body in his arms when Rogue came out of nowhere. She grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and began to fly him out of the target zone. "Rogue? Are you insane girl? There isn't time to get clear!" "Just drop the bimbo Maggie and ah'll get us outta here." He saw the missiles impact and put up the strongest shield of which he was capable. Then the world ended in a burst of white light. "Here's to many more such happy occasions!" Vashkin toasted. The battered X-Men had put up little struggle. He strutted across the deck. Everything had worked out perfectly. So some deadwood soldiers had been killed and some primitive tribes exterminated. This was scant price to pay to be known as the man who killed Magneto... and the man who brought the X- Men to justice. "Sir! We are registering a ship in the vicinity; it matches some of the specs on the freedom but... it seems really odd... almost like..." "Like what?" Vashkin snapped. "Like it had been turned into a Celestial Battleship?" a young woman on the view screen inquired. "I hear you have some of my friends aboard. Ship's sensor recorded what happened. They better be okay or you'll get a lot worse." "I know who you are you little bitch," Vashkin fumed. "You realise you are threatening an officer of the UN engaged in a lawful mission against terrorists..." "Who nukes his own men? Hardly sounds like a lawful mission to me. I wonder if the media would agree with you, or would they see things my way?" A purple dragon crawled onto the woman's shoulder and hissed. "What do you want?" "I think you had better surrender... NOW. I'm not really happy and from what Ship has told me, well I'm kinda hoping you will resist." Vashkin shrank before her glare. He would kill her. She would die screaming for mercy, mercy that he wouldn't give. He gave the order to surrender, even though it almost choked him. He had one surprise left. I didn't think we were going to make it. I am still hurt worse than I have ever been and dying of this damned virus, but I am home at last. I send both of the women to sickbay immediately, at least one should benefit as a result. I hold off going there myself. Instead I look at a blue-green globe and I wonder... wonder if I could have done anything differently. I was given a second chance, somehow. and I swear a deep and personal vow; I will make this chance count. Brian Braddock stepped off the deck and headed down, bringing the last case of anti-radiation treatment. It was going to be sorely needed down below. Cannonball followed him down, being an External he had recovered from mortal wounds in recorded time. On the deck Kitty Pryde was embracing her friend Storm. "It doesn't matter Ororo, we have done all that we can and we can only hope it is enough. I share your grief but we are X-Men and we endure, no matter what." "Thank you child. It means a lot to me right now to have somebody to turn too. Some things happened... that I am not sure of... and the implications frighten me. But please, be careful of my ribs. Bright Goddess, I never realised Rogue packed such a wallop, or that she cared bout Magneto enough to go back for him like that." "The only thing I don't understand is why Magneto let you live." "Perhaps, at the end of his life, any life had meaning to the poor man. We'll never know for sure... LOOK OUT KITTY!" Vashkin pulled her head back and went for the throat hoping to slice it before she could phase. Unfortunately for him, Storm's warning gave Kitty time to phase. Before he could do anything else he was struck by a bolt of lightening and flung across the deck by a sudden wind. Ororo strode across the deck and looked down at Vashkin as he clung to the side of the ship. "I thought you were safely locked up little man. Is there no end to your evil?" "I had friends..." "Who will help you no longer." "You're not going to kill me are you?" "No. Whatever else has happened we X-Men don't kill. No, I will send you over to Ship and you can try escaping from him!" "X-Men don't kill? Really? Ask Xavier about that sometime." "Worm." Storm enveloped Vashkin in a tunnel of air and sent him towards ship. "Don't let him get to you Storm," Kitty advised. "I'm afraid he already has," Storm replied. Epilogue I stare off into space and I wonder what it is all about. When I joined the X-Men I was a loner and a rebel; without friends and family. I loved that feeling, knowing that you could rely on other people. But what do you do when the family falls apart? When the father to us all proves to be weak and have feet of clay? When the dream is betrayed by it's founder. I pop my claws and I stare at the new Adamantium that I have acquired and I wonder, why did Apocalypse do this to me? What am I to him? So many questions and too few answers. What are we going to do with Scanner? I don't particularly like the idea of locking her up in the basement and throwing away the key; I wonder if Chuck is just a little too revenge minded to make this decision. His actions with Storm, good reasons or not, will come back to haunt us yet. Storm is tough, she'll get over it; but I'm gonna have to decide if I can ignore what he's done. I'm proud of Kitty though, she showed me that our hopes for her would come to fulfilment: she truly is a leader of tomorrow. If only she didn't collect such odd pets; first an alien dragon and now a sentient battleship! I can take Solace in the low casualties. Externals are tough and Ship has some pretty advanced medical technology. The only X-Men we lost were Rogue and Jean. Jean, just thinking about her brings pain into my breast. I loved her so much. Me, the feral berserker who could take on anyone, reduced to a schoolboy whenever she was around. Losing her is a wound that will never heal. I have learned of honour since I joined the X-Men. Of duty. Of giri. I am bound to them by as many lines of obligation as there are stars in the sky. There are my family and I will stand by them no matter how dark the days become and no matter how tough it gets. It is my path and I am content with it! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Next: Wolverine #101: Somebody is killing witnesses to the UN atrocities in the Savage Land and Wolverine is forced to intervene. For more of Magneto, see a blink and you miss it cameo in Cable #27 and then join Andrew for Uncanny X-men #330 as Magneto returns.