Chapter 5- From Bad to Worse


As the supersonic pitch filled the air, Shadowcat clasped her hands against her ears as she tried to drown out the sound. She looked around herself, and saw that everyone seemed to be doing the same. Then, her eyes fell on Wolverine. He was completely out. His hyper sense of hearing must have made him lose consciousness completely. Then, Shadowcat saw a gold and black tendril wrap around Wolverine’s torso, and began to pull him forward.

"No!" Shadowcat heard someone shout. It was Jubilee. She quickly rose to her feet, and ran in front of Harvest. "Do you really think that’s going to work on us? We’re teenagers!" Then, an explosion of fireworks erupted from her fingertips. The flash was so bright, that Harvest’s scream ceased as he brought his hands up to cover his eyes.

Then, before Harvest could open his eyes, to beams of energy hit him directly in his chest. Cyclops and Chamber unleashed a pair of blasts with as much energy as they could manage. They were both still dazed from the effects of the sonic blast. However, their combined force was strong enough to send Harvest crashing through the behind him.

"Kitty, is Wolverine okay?" asked Cyclops.

"He’s out cold," she reported.

"Get him out of here, and meet the others at the blackbird," ordered Cyclops.

"How? He ways like a ton!" said Kitty as she strained to lift Wolverine.

"Here, I’ll help you," said M. She stepped forward and lifted Wolverine without even straining. Then, Kitty placed her hands on both Wolverine and M. All three of them began to slowly phase through the ground, and out of sight.

"So, now what do we do?" asked Synch.

Before Cyclops could answer he felt the ground move beneath his feet. Then, without warning, the portion of the ground erupted into the air like a fist, and hit Cyclops directly in the chin. It was a knockout blow, because he lost consciousness at the moment of impact. Cyclops fell to the ground a few feet from where he had been standing.

Chamber, Jubilee and Synch all turned their attention back to the house. Through the broken shards of glass, they could see Harvest standing there. He slowly began to step through the broken window and approach his opponents. As he got closer, the three remaining Generation X students backed up and began to clump closer together.

"All right, mates," said Chamber, "give ‘em everything you got!"

A strong blast of psoinic energy began to erupt from the mouth and chest cavity of Chamber. He was puttying everything he had into his blast. Synch had decided to "synch" up with Chamber. When he did, he was surrounded by an aura of colorful energy, as the bio-blast erupted from his fists. Jubilee also unleashed a volley of fireworks at Harvest. However, after a moment, their powers began to slowly die down, as if they had all run out of energy.

"Hey! What gives?!" protested Jubilee.

"Pitiful," said Harvest. Three golden tendrils exploded from his body and wrapped themselves around the necks of the members of Generation X. They brought their hands to the tendrils and tried to free themselves, but it was useless. "You still don’t understand do you? I gain the powers of all the mutants I absorb. I used the telepathy of your own teacher, Emma Frost, to shut your powers down. And soon, I’ll have you’re powers as well."

Their resistance was valiant, but futile. Within a few seconds, Jubilee, Chamber and Synch were absorbed by Harvest. Harvest could feel his power grow, and savored every moment of it. Then, he turned his attention to Cyclops, who had now begun to stir awake.

"Well, Summers," said Harvest, "it looks like it’s your turn." As Harvest approached Cyclops, the young X-Man rushed to his feet and tried to gain his balance. "Are you going to put up a fight as well?"

Cyclops looked around, and saw that everyone else was gone. He was here by himself, and there was no one that could help him against Harvest. The alien was already powerful, but now he had the combined power of nearly a dozen mutants. Right now, there were only to choices for Cyclops: to fight or to give up, and Cyclops wasn’t planning on giving up.

"Well," said Cyclops, "I’d hate to be a disappointment." Then, Cyclops unleashed an optic blast. The blast soared just past Harvest’s head. Harvest allowed several tendrils to explode from his chest towards Cyclops. The young teen fired optic blasts to incinerate the tendrils before they could reach him. However, upon seeing he had missed a few, he instinctively rolled out of the line of fire. Then, Cyclops felt something grab his leg. He looked down to find a gold and black metallic cord had wrapped around his leg and was pulling him towards Harvest.

"I warned you boy," said Harvest as he pulled Cyclops closer. "Now, it your turn to be absorbed as well."

"Let’s see how you like it!" shouted a voice. The next thing Cyclops saw was Harvest crying out in pain as the tendril released his leg. Harvest fell to his knee, and the cause of his pain became clear. Rogue was holding onto Harvest with her bare hands. The longer Rogue held on, golden and black metallic objects began to appear on her face, and cover her body. She also began to scream out in pain the longer she held on.

"Rogue!" cried Cyclops. "Rogue, let go!"

"I can’t!" yelled Rogue. Cyclops noticed that her voice sounded as if it had been digitized. Cyclops took careful aim with his visor. Just as he was about to fire, he felt a hand pull his arm away. It was Jean. Cyclops halted his attempt, and decided to let Jean handle the situation.

Jean brought her hands against her temple and used her telekinetic powers to pull Harvest and Rogue apart. The strain of the task was apparent on Jean’s face. She appeared to want to cry out in pain. However, just as she was about to release her telekinetic grip, Harvest and Rogue came apart. Jean stumbled backwards and Cyclops braced the small of her back with his hand.

"Jean, are you okay?" asked Scott.

"Yes, but let’s check on Rogue before he wakes up," said Jean.

The two teens raced over to fellow X-Men, and the sight before them was caused nothing but utter terror to appear on their faces. Cyclops kneeled down and lifted Rogue into his arms. Her body was completely covered with golden and black metallic components, and she was unconscious. Tears began to flow from Jean’s eyes as a squeaky sob escaped her lips.

"Come on, let’s get to the Blackbird," said Cyclops. "Maybe the Professor can help her." Both of them raced as quickly as they could to the lower levels of the mansion to the hangar, with Rogue in tow. Their only hope was that they would be able to help Rogue somehow.


The doors of the hanger slid open, and Cyclops and Jean came dashing through it. The Professor slid down the ramp from the Blackbird and approached his eldest students. Cyclops and Jean halted once they reached the Professor. Professor Xavier looked at Rogue’s body and felt his heart break into pieces.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She tried to stop Harvest," explained Cyclops. "She tried to save me. And I couldn’t save her."

"Now, is not the time for grief, Scott," said the Professor. "We will do all we can for Rogue. However, right now, you need to get her aboard the Blackbird. We must leave the mansion immediately."

Cyclops began to climb the stairs, and then paused. "What about the others? What about the files on Cerebro?"

"I have already downloaded Cerebro’s files onto several disks, and erased the main computer. The disks are already aboard," explained the Professor. "As for the others Scott, we can’t help them if we fall victim to Harvest’s attack as well. Now, hurry."

Scott continued up the ramp and entered the Blackbird. Then, Jean ran behind the Professor’s wheelchair and began to push him up the ramp and into the Blackbird. The Professor hung his head as they moved up the ramp. How could he have let things get this bad? And how could he remedy the tragic actions of Harvest? Would it even be possible to save the lives of Harvest’s victims?

"Ahh!" shouted Jean. The Professor felt his wheelchair began to roll backwards. As it hit the floor of the hangar, the chair tilted over and the Professor crashed to the floor. Professor Xavier looked up to see Jean being engulfed by Harvest.

"Jean! No!" shouted the Professor. Then, a golden, black tendril wrapped around his waist and began to pull him towards Harvest as well. The Professor pounded his fists against Harvest’s tendrils, but it was useless.

"Jean! Professor!" shouted Cyclops. He ran to the door of the Blackbird, and saw two of the people he cared most about being pulled inside of Harvest. Cyclops tried to rush out the door, but felt someone pull him back. "No! Let go! I have to help them!"

"You can’t help them now, Junior," said Wolverine as he pulled Cyclops back into the plane. The door slid shut right in front of Cyclops’s face. "‘Crawler, fire this bird up, and get us airborne! Yesterday!"

Cyclops felt the Wolverine’s grip release, and felt the pain as it exploded in his gut. The Blackbird began to roll across the hangar deck, and then lifted into the air. Wolverine started to head for the cockpit, but felt Cyclops’s arm turn him around. "Why?! Why did you stop me?! I could have saved them!"

"Look kid," began Wolverine. "There was nothing you could do."

"Liar!" cried Scott. Wolverine could see the angry expression on his face as tears rolled from under his visor. "You don’t care! You don’t care about any of them!"

"Sit down, kid," said Wolverine quietly. Then, he turned around and started towards the cockpit again. However, Scott grabbed his arm and wheeled around once more. Wolverine brushed Cyclops’s hand off of his arm and stared at the young mutant eye-to-eye. "Look, I said ‘sit down!’ And if you don’t sit down, I’m gonna make it so that you can’t get up! Got it?" Wolverine turned and proceeded towards the cockpit, then he came to a stop. "I know that you wanted to help ‘em Scott, but there was nothing you could do back there, and you know it. Your best chance of helpin’ them, is being here with us." Wolverine looked at Scott who simply lowered his head and silently stared down at the floor of the Blackbird.

Wolverine headed into the cockpit, where Nightcrawler was sitting in the pilot’s seat and Blink was sitting next to him in the co-pilot chair. Wolverine tapped the lavender-skinned girl on the shoulder. She immediately stood up and allowed Logan to take her seat. Blink moved until she stood behind Nightcrawler’s chair. She started to lean on his chair as she stared into the sky through the windshield.

"So, vhere are ve going?" asked Nightcrawler.

Wolverine glanced at the control panel, and then turned his gaze forwards. "The Professor wanted to head back to Snow Valley. He believes the answers we need to stop that thing are there."

All three mutants in the cockpit remained quiet. Kurt and Clarice briefly exchanged a glance. Kurt could see the worry in her eyes. She placed her hand on Kurt’s shoulder, and then he placed his on top of hers. Logan caught the brief exchange and then turned his attention back to the empty skies.


"What are you doing here?!" said Monet.

The red, crystal-skinned girl moved slowly from the corner and approached Monet. When she got close enough, Monet kneeled down and wrapped her arms around the crystal-skinned girl, who did the same and returned the gesture.

"You know her?" said Wanda. Wanda sat up, and grabbed the side of her head with her hand. She was obviously still feeling some pain. She almost toppled over, but Todd grabbed her and straightened her back up.

"Of course I do," replied Monet. "Her name is Penance. She’s the combination of my twin sisters, Claudette and Nicole St. Croix. She’s trapped in this form, thanks to a villain called Emplate. Who just happens to be my brother, Marius."

"Whoa, talk about a dysfunctional family," said Todd. He began to chuckle, however, when all eyes turned on him, his laughter seemed to die away. "Well, only when using the term very loosely."

"How did she get to Bayville?" asked Wanda. "Did she come with the rest of you to see Xavier?"

"No," replied Monet. "She’s always had a way in disappearing when she doesn’t want to be found, and reappearing when she likes. However, how she got here, I can’t say."

"Maybe Harvest brought her here," said Kitty.

"No, I doubt it," said Wanda. "She doesn’t seem to like it very much. From what I’ve seen, the monster would have had great trouble bringing her to New York, all the way from Massachusetts."

"Well, I don’t care how she got here," said Monet. "I’m just glad she’s safe." Monet squeezed Penance closer, and when she pulled away, she saw that her red and yellow jumpsuit had several rips and tears in it. She looked at Penance, who appeared nervous after seeing the tears in Monet’s suit. "It’s okay. As long as you’re safe." Penance’s nervousness seemed to fade away and was replaced by a smile.

The stirring and groans of Rogue interrupted the calmness in the cabin. Her voice still sounded slightly digitized. Her eyes began to flutter open. She was still covered with black and gold metallic bits. As she sat up, her eyes fell upon each of the inhabitants. Then, she opened her mouth and said softly, "Must stop Harvest."


"Scott?" called Paige. Scott lifted his head to see the blonde teenage girl smiling faintly at him. She obviously wanted to cheer him up, but didn’t know how to go about it. "You know, Logan’s right. There really wasn’t anything you could have done back there."

Scott looked into Paige’s eyes, and the pain he had previously felt began to grow. He sighed and swallowed hard before looking at Paige again. "I know. You’re right. And so is Logan," he stated. "I’m not angry with Logan for stopping me, I’m upset with myself."

"What are you talking about? You just said that you know there was nothing you could do," said Paige sounding confused.

Scott looked into Paige’s eyes. "I’m talking about you," said Scott softly. He noticed that Paige looked shocked that he had mentioned her name, but she also appeared to have a sense of relief. "I feel this… this attraction towards you. At first I thought it was just a sense of competition between us, but it’s more than that."

Scott looked up and saw that Paige was nodding along. She seemed to be indicating that she understood, and possibly felt the same way. This made the next words to come out of Scott’s mouth harder to say. "But, now I know that those feelings were simply that, an attraction. When Jean cried out, the only thing in the world that mattered to me, was getting to her. Even though I know there was nothing I could do, I just felt I had to try."

Scott looked at Paige, and could see tears begin to flow from her eyes. "I’m sorry, Paige," he apologized. "I shouldn’t have said anything now."

"No," said Paige. "I know how you feel. I feel the same attraction that you do, but my heart always has belonged to Jono. I can’t even explain it. He really ticks me off sometimes, but…."

Scott nodded that he understood, and Paige grabbed his hand and squeezed it. They both started to smile, apparently both of them were relieved to have confessed their feelings. "Well, I think it’s about time we got our friends back," said Scott.

"Scott! Paige!" called Monet. "Rogue’s waking up." The two teens made their way to the back of the Blackbird, where Rogue had been laying. Wanda was also up and around as well. Todd leaned as closely as he could to the wall of the plane, apparently not wanting to get close to Rogue. Kitty and Evan were at Rogue’s side trying help her up.

"Rogue, are you okay?" asked Scott. Scott looked at Rogue’s golden black metallic skin. He even noticed that her hair had been covered with the same metal, and was now standing on top of her head, albeit in every direction.

Kitty and Evan helped Rogue to her feet. Once she was standing, she looked into the eyes of Scott. She smiled and said in her digitized voice, "Must stop Harvest. Tried to stop Harvest, but too weak. You help me stop Harvest."

"Rogue, what are you talking about?" said Scott.

"Oh, you are referring to this vessel," said Rogue, and shook her head. "I am not Rogue. I am Warlock. I am here to stop Harvest. You will help Warlock?"

"Wait, hold on a sec. If you’re Warlock, then where’s Rogue?" asked Kitty.

"Rogue is here," replied Warlock, as he gestured at the body. "She helped Warlock. Since, Warlock not strong enough himself, she lent Warlock her body until Warlock strong enough. Now, you help Warlock stop Harvest?"

"Okay," began Evan, "now everything has officially gone from weird to outright freaky!"

"Yeah," replied Todd. "We just left Star Trek, and stepped into the Twilight Zone!"