Chapter 7- High Price for Victory


Kurt Wagner could feel his tail brush up against the wall behind him as he backed away from the oncoming danger. In front of him, were his friends, however their bodies had been covered in a golden black metal and their minds had been corrupted by the evil Harvest of the Phalanx. Kurt stared helplessly at his friends: Storm, Jean Synch, Chamber, Jubilee and Professor X.

"Yo, Kurt!" called Spyke to his friend. "Make with the ‘portin’ man! We gotta get outta here!"

"I can’t! I don’t know this place vell enough to teleport safely," explained Kurt. "Ve could all end up inside a vall or vorse."

"What about you, Blink?!" asked Evan.

"All of us won’t make it through the portal in time," she answered. "It looks like we may have to fight them."

"No you want," said Scarlet Witch. She took a slight step forward and raised her hands into the air. "Winds of Fate! Change!" Suddenly a pair of neon green balls of energy began to encircle her hands. Then, green bolts erupted from the balls and hit the floor. Suddenly, the floor opened up, and the metallic threat fell through the opening.

The four remaining teens stepped forward, and stared down into the hole. Their Phalanx-absorbed friends had fallen to the level below and were struggling to get to their feet. The three members of the Xavier Schools stared at the Scarlet Witch in awe.

"Come on," said Kurt as he motioned for the others to follow him.

"Where are we going?" asked Blink.

"To find some answers, and figure out how to change our friends back," replied Kurt. "Besides, I’d rather not be here ven they get up." The others quickly nodded and followed the blue-furred teen out carefully out of Ms. Frost’s bedroom and into the hallway.

Blink paused for a moment and stared back into the bedroom. She winced as she quickly assessed the damage done to the room, then she slowly shook her head. "Ms. Frost is going to kill us for trashing her room." Finally, she turned and followed the rest of her friends into the hallway.


"HELP ME!" cried the Toad at the top of his lungs. He continued to leap as high as he possibly could to escape the speed demon, Quicksilver. The Toad kept glancinig over his shoulder to find his former ally only a inches behind him. Toad turned his eyes forward, and saw that another person was standing in front of him, blocking his path. It was Husk. "Run! He’s right behind me!"

However, Husk stood her ground. Her skin was now coated with some shiny metal. The Toad didn’t allow her to slow his escape. He continued towards her, and then leaped directly over her head. Quicksilver then saw the obstacle in his path, and decided to run directly over Husk. She continued to stand firm, and then the collision occurred. Quicksilver smashed directly into Husk, and then fell to the ground unconscious.

Husk looked down at the motionless Quicksilver. "Men. They think they can run everybody," said Husk. Then, she heard an ear-piercing shriek that made her fall to her knees. She openend her eyes slightly to find Sean Cassidy, the Banshee, using his ultra sonic blasts directly at her. Husk clinched her hands over her ears, but it was useless. She was helpless, and there was no way she could stand this for much longer.

Suddenly, the scream stopped, and Husk looked up to see the Banshee clenching his head. Then, out of nowhere, the Toad leaped into the air over the Banshee. As he started to decend, he extended his legs, and smashed his feet into Banshee’s back. A few seconds later, Banshee’s metallic covered body, was on the ground and unconscious.

"Nice job, Toad," said Husk. "But how did you distract him long enough to get the jump on him?"

"I didn’t," answered the Toad. "While he was attacking you, he just started going crazy and all."

"Maybe he was trying to resist Harvest’s control over him," suggested Husk.

"Look, you can figure it out while we’re running," said the Toad. He took Husk by the hand and started to run.

"What are we running from?" asked Husk.

"That!" said the Toad. Husk turned around to find a metallic covered Blob running directly towards them. "I know you made like a roadblock against Quicksilver, but my gut tells me that the same thing won’t work against him."

"I’m bettin’ you’re right," Husk agreed. "Let’s go!" Then, both the teens began running as fast as their legs would carry them. Along the way, Husk began to peel her metallic skin off of her body, which was replaced with a tan substance.

"What kind of skin is that?" asked Toad as he tried to take in a breath while running.

"Rubber," she answered. Then, she started to hop, and found herself leaving the Toad behind.

"Hey! Wait up!" he called as he began to leap after her. Both of the teens continued to leap away from the Blob who continued to chase them, and knock over anything in his path.


Shadowcat covered her eyes as the ground in front of her exploded. A cloud of dirt and debris clouded her view and filled her lungs as she stumbled backwards and away from the cloud. By the time she could see clearly, Avalanche was walking towards her. Shadowcat, still coughing and gasping for a breath of air, stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. The gold metallic hand of Avalanche reached to grab Shadowcat, however, the tendrils now protruding from his fingertips passed through Shadowcat’s body.

After a moment of confusion, Avalanche decided to try something different. The metal that was coating his skin began to ooze out like some sort of liquid and cover Shadowcat like some sort of cocoon. Shadowcat tried to move, but found that the metal was solid and she couldn’t pass through. She looked down at her glove and noticed that the same golden black metal that covered Avalanche was now absorbing her glove. She quickly took the glove off and tossed it away. The cocoon continued to enclose around Shadowcat, as she helplessly coiled herself into a ball, trying to escape the metallic ooze.

Suddenly, an optic blast nailed Avalanche in the chest, and sent him soaring in the opposite direction. He landed a few feet away and appeared to be unconscious. Through a small opening Cyclops could see Shadowcat coiling herself tighter and tighter into a ball. He wanted to slice through with his optic blast, but thought that it may be too dangerous, especially if one of his beams went through and hit Kitty.

Suddenly, the answer presented itself in the form of Penance. The red-crystal skinned girl slowly approached Cyclops and looked down at the metal enclosing itself around Kitty. Cyclops pointed to the metallic cocoon and asked her, "Can you open it without hurting, Kitty?"

The girl remained silent and turned her attention to the cocoon. Suddenly, she charged towards the cocoon and began swiping away at it with her razor-sharp fingers. Her claws shredded through the metal like a knife through hot butter. Shadowcat quickly leapt out of the cocoon and rolled away. The metal tried to follow her and recapture it prey. However, an optic blast from Cyclops incinerated the metal and left it as nothing more than straps of charred metal.

"Kitty, are you okay?" asked Cyclops as he turned his attention to her.

"Yeah, I’m fine," responded Shadowcat. Then, she turned her gaze towards Penance who was standing a few feet away from them, obviously still slightly apprehensive of them. "And thank you too," she said to Penance.

Penance slowly approached Shadowcat, but was halted as something a several golden metallic tendrils wrapped themselves around her throat. Penance was ready to slice at the tendrils, and free herself. However, she heard shouts for her not to do so. Her captor turned Penance around, and she understood why her friends had told her to stop. She was now being wrapped by fingers belonging to Angelo Espinosa, Skin of Generation X.

"Can you free her Cyclops?" asked Shadowcat.

"It’s too risky. With her that close to him, I may hit her as well," he responded.

"Then, we’ll just have to get her out of the way!" cried Shadowcat. Then, she dashed off towards Penance and Skin.

"Shadowcat! Wait!" cried Cyclops as he ran after her.

Shadowcat heard the warnings, but didn’t listen to them. She continued to run towards Penance. Suddenly, she saw that Skin had noticed her approaching them. The metallic covered mutant wasted no time and began to fire tendrils from his other hand at her. Shadowcat dove to the ground and saw that it was a mistake. There was no way for her to get any closer without being touched. Penance’s skin may be able to resist the alien metal of the Phalanx, but if her skin was touched she’d be assimilated.

Suddenly, a series of red bolts of energy soared over her head and met the tendrils, which retreated after being hit. Shadowcat looked back and saw Cyclops nailing each approaching tendril with absolute precision.

"Keep going, Kitty. I’ll cover you," said Cyclops.

Shadowcat got to her feet and continued towards Penance. Once she reached Penance, she grabbed her leg and started to phase. Suddenly, Penance began to phase through the grip Skin had on her. Once both of the mutant girls fell to the ground, Cyclops fired a huge optic blast that floored Skin, and left him unconscious.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Cyclops. Both of the girls nodded. "Good," he responded and let a breath of relief slip through his lips. "Kitty, you took a big chance trying to free Penance like that. How did you know….?"

"Well, it seems the Phalanx are mono-faceted. In other words, they can only focus on one target at a time. As far as I can tell, only Harvest can target more than one person at a time," Kitty answered.

"So what you’re saying is while Skin was blocking my attack, you were able to phase Penance from his grasp," concluded Cyclops. Shadowcat nodded. "Good, then it’s time to use that to our advantage. Attack each assimilated individual in small groups. Then, we can worry about Harvest."

Shadowcat nodded at Cyclops. Then, all three teens rushed back towards the battlefield with a sense of hope that victory was within their grasp.


M carried Wolverine back towards the battle. After a few seconds of scounting, Wolverine pointed out a direction to M. In that direction stood Harvest. Next to him, was Emma Frost. Harvest was busy battling Warlock, and from the looks of it, was winning with ease.

"You disappoint me, Warlock," said Harvest. "I really expected you to put up a better fight than this."

Warlock was on the ground gasping for air. He tried to get to his feet, however by the time he was half way up, Harvest delivered a swift kick to his mid-section that sent him back to the floor once again.

"I am sorry, Rogue," said Warlock softly. "I didn’t know he would be this powerful."

"Then, let me take over!" came Rogue’s voice from Warlock’s lips. The hands reached out towards Harvest’s face, but were caught before she could make contact.

"Did you really think I wouldn’t see that coming," said Harvest. Then his fist smashed into Rogue’s metallic covered stomach. She fell to the ground gasping for air. Then, Harvest drove his foot into Rogue/Warlock once again allowing a sinister laugh to escape his lips. "Pitiful," said Harvest as she shook his head slightly.

All of a sudden, Harvest felt a pair of feet smash into his chest. He stumbled backwards and began to fall to the ground. As he fell he managed to make out his attacker. It was Wolverine. The short, agile mutant had managed to flip and land on his feet, with his claws unleashed and ready for action.

"Didn’t your momma ever teach ya not to kick someone when they’re down!" said Wolverine.

"Unfortunately, no," responded Harvst. "Why don’t you try to teach me?"

That was all Wolverine needed. He leapt forward and began to slash and cut with the utmost precision. However, none of his blows were able to make contact. At every move Wolverine made, it seemed that Harvest was there. It was as if he knew what Wolverine was going to do, before he did it.

"The telepath," whispered Warlock, who was struggling to get to his feet. "Harvest is using her telepathic powers. You must disable her to defeat him."

"Leave that to me," called M. The young teen wasted no time in charging towards her instructor. M smashed both of her fists into the mid-section of Ms. Frost with just enough strength to render her unconscious.

"NO!" shouted Harvest.

"Oh yeah! Let’s dance, ‘Bub!"teased Wolverine, who began to slice away at the golden metal which makes up Harvest’s body. Harvest found himself at somewhat of a disadvantage, however he was still quite a formidable opponent. Wolverine found that Harvest still possessed the skills of a seasoned warrior.

Wolverine and Harvest continued to battle each other, still matching each other blow for blow. Then, Wolverine noticed something catch Harvest’s attention briefly. The next thing, Wolverine knew, was that he had the upper hand. Harvest was backing down, and appeared to be losing the fight.

"What gives?" thought Wolverine to himself. "A few seconds ago, this guy was about as good as I am. Now, all of a sudden a putting up about as much of a fight as a bowl of cereal. Which means he must be trying to sucker me in, but for what?"

Then, Wolverine’s answer was clear. Now, only a few feet away was a gigantic Blob lunging towards Wolverine. There was no way he had enough time to dodge this hit. And if he tried to absorb it, he’d most likely end up assimilated. Without much of an option, Wolverine decided to try and dodge the attack. He leapt backwards into the air, and realized that he wasn’t going to make it. In less than a second, the Blob was going to make direct contact with his skin. He could already see the tendrils begin to emerge from his skin.

Then, Wolverine saw a golden flash of light open up in front of the Blob. It was a disc, which began to spread wider and wider. Suddenly, the Blob disappeared into the golden disc of energy, and disc also vanished. Wolverine landed on the ground well away from Harvest, but ready for action. Harvest realized this and decided it would be best to make a retreat at this time.

"Don’t leave yet," called a voice. Then, an optic blast nailed Harvest behind the knee. Harvest’s legs went out from under him, and his massive backside smashed into the ground. Cyclops stepped into view, his visor still glowing red. Beside him were Shadowcat and Penance.

"Yes, the party is just getting started," said Wanda. Then she raised her arms into the air and shouted, "Winds of Fate! Change!" The green hex-bolts escaped her hands and surrounded a large oak tree, which fell and crashed onto Harvest’s body. Next, to her stood Nightcrawler, Blink, and Spyke.

Harvest found himself unable to move at all. Suddenly, he found a pair of adamantium claws right under his chin. "All right, ‘Bub," began Wolverine, "you’re as good as beat. Now, tell us how to change our friends back, and you just might get outta here in something other than a dust pan."

"Fool! Do you really expect me to tell you how to free your friends! Especially when I have six other lieutenants ready to dispose of you at my command."

"I think you’re on your own," said Blink.

"What are you talking about?" said Harvest. Suddenly, a loud crash filled the air. The noise had come from the mansion.

"Let’s just say the Blob dropped in on them," said Nightcrawler.

"You fools think that this is the end, don’t you?" said Harvest.

"Well, let’s see," began Spyke, "Bad guy beat, friends out of danger, world still in one piece. Offhand, I’d say you lost."

Harvest began to chuckle. "Your friends would have a different opinion," he said. Then, everyone noticed that all the bodies of their assimilated friends started to convulse violently. "When I lose, there is always a price to pay."

"What’s going on?!" shouted Toad. "What’s happening to them?!"

"I still control their bodies," reminded Harvest. "Therefore, I can terminate their life functions at will."

"Warlock!" shouted Paige. "Isn’t there anything we can do to save them?!"

"The only way to save your friends would be to get Harvest out of range," answered Warlock.

"How far avay does he need to be?" asked Nightcrawler.

"About 2.5 light-years way," said Warlock.

"Or in another dimension," whispered Blink.

"Yes, that would suffice," agreed Warlock.

Blink turned to face Nightcrawler. He looked into her eyes, and knew instantly what she was thinking. He started to shake his head, but she simply grabbed it and kissed him before anywords could escape his lips. Blink felt the tears roll from her eyes onto Kurt’s cheek. "Good-bye, Kurt." She pulled away from him and vanished in a disc of golden energy.

"Clarice! NO!" shouted Nightcrawler. Then, he vanished in a cloud of brimstone.

Blink appeared on the tree trunk next to Wolverine. She turned and looked at Wolverine in the eyes. He nodded and leapt off of the tree trunk. Blink placed her hands against the trunk of the tree. A disc of golden energy began to spread across the trunk. The disc slowly engulfed the tree, and began to absorb Harvest as well.

"NO!" shouted Harvest. Then, Blink leapt upwards, as the golden disc started to recede. Harvest was inside and the portal was closing. Suddenly, Blink felt something grab her ankle and pull her back towards the portal.

"Clarice!" shouted Nightcrawler. The blue-furred elf slid across the grass to grasp her hand. "I von’t let you go!" He held on as tightly as he could as he stared into her eyes. "I love you!"

Kurt began to pull with all of his might. Slowly, Blink began to emerge from the portal. Inch by inch, she was closer to freedom. Then, she stopped and stared into Kurt’s eyes, with joy, pain, and determination in the same gaze. "I love you too, Kurt," she said.

Then, in a single move, she pulled her hand free of Kurt’s grasp and allowed herself to fall into the portal. After she disappeared into the golden disc, the portal disappeared from sight.

"NO!" cried Kurt as he scrambled to the spot where the portal had been. He began to dig into the ground with his bare fingers hoping to some remnants of the portal, but knowing that it was useless. "Clarice! Clarice!"

"Then, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up to find Kitty and Evan standing at his side. "Come on, man," said Evan. "She wouldn’t want you to do this to yourself."

After a short while, Kurt finally stood on his feet. With Kitty and Evan’s help they made it back to the Blackbird where they sat silently waiting for their friends to return as well. During that time, Kurt simply sat with his face buried in his hands.


"Ugh!" cried Jubilee. "Someone get this over-sized hippo off of me!"

"Who are you calling over-sized?" asked the Blob.

"Fred, could you please just get off of us," said Jean calmly.

Fred Dukes began to pick himself up, and noticed as small beads of golden black metal rolled off of his skin. "We’re free!" Fred started towards the nearest opening, so that he could search for the rest of his friends.

"Professor? Are you all right?" asked Storm, as she helped Professor Xavier to his feet. Chamber had grabbed his other arm and was helping lift him up as well.

"I’m fine, Ororo," he replied. "However, I feel that our victory has come to us with a great sacrifice.

Ororo’s expressions of relief were now replaced with concern. As they made their way to the opening, there eyes fell upon the scene before them. The grounds of the Snow Valley Xavier Institute were devastated. The only comforting scene was seeing the teens embrace one another. Scott had made his way towards Jean and was holding her tightly in his arms, as she rested her head on his shoulders. Paige had found her way to Jono, whom had embraced her with his free arm. Wanda had found her brother Pietro, and was helping him to his feet with tears of joy streaming from her eyes.

Suddenly all of the metallic debris from the Phalanx began to scramble across the grounds towards Warlock. After the mass of metal had engulfed Warlock completely, a small opening appeared. And like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, Rogue stepped out. She was still dizzy from the transformation, and was about to fall, however, Wolverine managed to grab her in time.

"My friends," said Warlock, whom had assumed his former shape, now however with his own body, "I wish to thank you for your help. I am forever indebted to you for your sacrifice."

"No Warlock," said Paige, "you don’t owe us anything."

"But your friend, Blink… she sacrificed herself to…."

"She sacrificed herself so that we could all be free, Warlock," added M. "It would tarnish her memory if we were to enslave you now."

Warlock nodded. "Very well, my friends. In that case, I must leave you now."

"Wait. Where are ye going to go?" asked Sean Cassidy.

"I must search the galaxies that Harvest had enslaved. To see if I can save any of my people as you save yours. Farewell."

"And how do you plan on getting there?" asked Scott.

"Well, now that I have consumed all of Harvest’s body mass, I have access to his ship in orbit. Good-bye my friends. I hope the next time we meet, it will be under better circumstances." Then, after a few chimes on his wrist, Warlock disappeared in a flash of light.

"Emma, I’m truly sorry for you loss," said the Professor.

"Not as sorry as I am, Charles," she replied. "I promised myself I would never let this happen again. Ever."

"Emma…," began Charles, but Emma had turned and headed for the mansion. Professor Xavier sighed and turned towards Sean Cassidy, the Banshee. "Sean could you…."

"Of course, Charles. I’ll keep ye posted," he replied. "However, it’s just that right now, I think she needs time to herself. She’s a strong woman. She’ll make it through this. If not for her own sake, then for the sake of these children."

Professor Xavier nodded, as the other headmaster of the school began to round up his students and escort them back to the mansion.


The members of the X-Men and the Brotherhood stepped off the Blackbird in silence. Kurt simply teleported from the Blackbird once they had landed. He obviously wanted to be left alone. As the Brotherhood began to leave the X-mansion, Professor Xavier called to them.

"You all do realize that you are welcome to stay here. I know that neither Mystique nor Magneto have made an attempt to contact you," he said.

The members of the Brotherhood looked at each other briefly, to assure themselves that they were all on the same wavelength. Then, the members of the Brotherhood followed Lance Alvers to the door as they began to head home.

"Evan," called Wanda. "I wanted to say ‘thank you.’" Then she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "For everything."

She started to follow the rest of the Brotherhood, and Evan watched her as she disappeared out of the front door. "Hey, Daniels," came a voice from behind. Evan turned around to find himself face-to-face with Pietro. "Stay away from my, sister!" he said as she drove his finger into Evan’s chest. Then, he disappeared in a blur.


Nightcrawler sat on the roof of the mansion, and stared out into the horizon at the night sky. He sighed as he continued to stare into the heavens. "Clarice," he began, "vhen I told you that I loved you, I meant every vord, just as I do now. And because of that feeling, I know that you’re not dead. I can feel it in my heart. And I promise you that some day, I vill find you again."

Suddenly, a golden flash of light appeared just in front of Kurt. He shielded his eyes and felt something knock him onto his back. When he opened his eyes and looked up. The sight before him made him feel as if his heart had stopped beating, and the next words that he heard made his heart melt with joy.

"Did you miss me?"