I wrote this a long time ago as part of an unfinished project to finish all of the content in TBE...more or less. Actually, I don't remember what in the blue fudge I was doing. Same old train wreck. Anyways, I'm including it here because it enacts my vision of how exactly Ecto/Shion/Messenger goes about forming a connection with Jordan/Noir. The segment takes place in a bastardized XME Marvel-verse set in the future (past?) and pits post-BTW Ecto in the center of a team hunting down the Legacy Virus or something. Shion must make extreme measures to ensure the safety of all mutant kind, and he does something he will never live down. Huzzah.

Three Years Ago.

San Francisco, California.

At a warehouse by a pier.

At night.

I arrived first. No X-Jet or plastic helicopter or even Illyana Rasputin's slight of hand could get me there faster than I needed to be there.

The warehouse was new, pristine: in a perfect state of youngness that insultingly contrasted with the moldy, decrepit pier building surrounding. I'm amazed that we never thought to spot it out sooner on any of our previous flybys. But then again, nothing special ever happened in San Francisco mutant-wise. Nothing.

Until that night. All of the missing ends were traced to this City, to this Bayside dock, to this building. This was where the hunt for the new Legacy strain had led us, and after many considerable bumps in the road too—The death of Namor. The raid on Genosha. The recovery of Infectia—and most dramatically of all.. …

Who Hawkeye really turned out to be.

I wasn't really surprised. I wasn't even all that much hurt by it, really. The organization Betty and I joined in tracking down the Legacy strain was so professionally anonymous and unemotional that it's no surprise one of our ranks turned out to be a shape-shifter. She had been using our allied strength and combined detective skills to her advantage and her advantage alone. And, ironically enough, it was easier to conclude that our group had been unconsciously working solely for her benefit the entire time—For she was seeking to control the very substance of the Legacy strain we so diligently pursued. In the end, Mystique had made pawns of us all.

But again, I wasn't surprised. I wasn't hurt. Quite frankly, I was too numbed over by the revelation of an even darker secret: the identity of the person whom Mystique was supplying the mutant-killing virus.

ZAAAT!

I touched down in an fuming cloud of green ectoplasm. Standing up in my dark black and neon green X-gear, I paused for a moment of silence. No, nobody has died quite yet. But I had the unshakeable feeling that someone was about to. Over four months of planning, sweating, salvaging and suffering had gone into this one night—a night that fell upon us all like a fanged thief with daggers for breath.

It was like the entire world was stabbing me and my colleagues in the back. And I knew that nobody on my team understood the wounds nearly as much as Betsy, Callisto, and myself. But the two of them had already gone through so much. I couldn't run away or wait for them or dump this on anyone but myself now. If there's anything I learned from the darkest days of being an X-Man—if there's anything I learned from the one night on the Blue Area of the moon—sometimes you have no choice but to run straight ahead at full force.

I was almost scared to step forward. But I broke through that last barrier in a broad stride and marched forward into the jaws of the awaiting warehouse building.

As soon as my solid feet made contact with the concrete world, my communicator squawked as if I had been pulled up out of depths of the Ocean.

"Snkkkt—Ecto? Dammit, Ecto! Wait for the rest of us---Snkkkt!"

I icily raised the communicator to my lips and drone forth: "I can't do that, Callisto. You know as well as I do that we have mere seconds before the Shi'ar vessel decloaks and lands here for transport. None of us can afford to let the virus be carried onto that mercenary ship. The whole world's mutants hang in the balance."

"Snkkkt—We're almost there! Don't be a fucking hero, Ecto! Wait for Cage, Reeds and I! Susan's patched a call through to the Fantastic Four. They should there shortly after us by way of sonic transport to assist—"

"It's too late, Callisto," I murmured. I marched forward. I was like a war-torn android at that time. "There's no time like the present. You can all get here as fast as you can, but I am no able to wait for fear of—"

"Ecto—PLEASE!" I've never heard the head of the Morlocks beg before. But at that time, she was the team leader of the group S.H.I.E.L.D. hired for this worldwide hunt. And I realized that—after months of working together—she must never have heard me sound so emotionless before. Things had gone so far beyond hitting the fan that there was nothing to be handed around but shock, shock, shock. And the deathly scent of the Legacy Virus loomed beyond. "PLEASE wait for us! Don't let the first casualty of this goddamn new virus strain be you!"

"If I have my way, there won't be any casualties," I hissed. "Ecto out." I flung the communicator to the ground. The act of doing it made me shudder. Like I was horrified at myself. But not for long.

I crept towards the building, and on the ground before it was a familiar sight. Pitiful, but familiar. With a trail of blood and vomit leading towards the large doors of the warehouse at a crawling-length. Just the sight of it—of her—reminded me quite chillingly of the horror I would ultimately be dealing with.

On the ground lie Mystique.. ….then Hawkeye… …then Mystique… .. ….then Hawkeye again. The shape-shifter was fluctuating in and out of consciousness, in and out of character. Blood and vomit trailed from her mouth, and I could taste her stomach fluid through my nostrils at a dozen feet. When I finally stood over her, she looked wearily up at me and turned into a nauseated Rogue for half a second before reverting back to her pathetic blueness.

"He h-has it.. …snkkt…," she sputtered. She murmured. "I g-gave it to him…. …Th-The Vial…." In the last stages of Mystique's life, she confided in me with the trust of a dying enemy on the battlefield. And sometimes—in this dark world of ours—that has always been far more trustworthy than listening to a friend on his deathbed. "Snrkkkt—You can t-try, but th-there is nothing you can do. Once he gets it into space… …"

"Shhh….," I murmured. I knelt down beside her as she was in half-Hawkeye mode and laid a hand on the one part of her neck not covered in dying juices. "I know, Raven. The virus will infect the whole world like it has infected you.. …."

Hawkeye urped, coughed, sputtered, and slinked back into a weary-eyed Mystique. "Then everything will end. No more mutants.. ….N-No more fucking war… …I-I'm just so s-sick of it.. …." She winced, wretched, and clenched her eyes shut. ".. …s-so fucking sick of it.. … … …let it all die… … …l-let it all die… …"

I held my tongue. I knew she was gone long before she was dead. I was no medical whiz, but I knew she would be suffering the entire time she laid there, unable to contain her once-malleable form. The Legacy Virus would liquefy the insides of her within an hour. If she was lucky, within the next fifteen minutes her brain would go dead and she wouldn't notice a difference from the descending hand of dark.

I stood up. I decided not to help her, as I knew she wouldn't protest. After so many years of so much strife and hardship and murder from her end of the bullet, we both knew that what she was going through was the briefest and most succinct of Hells she could deserve. That was the end of whatever understanding Raven Darkholme and I had of each other.

Actually, I take it back. The very next—very last interchange was the last.

"Sh-Shion.. …," Mystique gurgled.

I glanced down at her. "Yes, Raven?"

She shuddered. She morphed yet again and I was briefly graced with the gray, tearing eyes of Destiny when the next words mourned forth: "T-Take care of her f-for me.. …."

I felt better answering Irene than I did Raven. "Rogue is already in good hands," I nodded. "Rest.. …in knowing that."

Mystique did, and rolled back into her blue cocoon of flesh to be still forevermore.

Cl-Clakkk! I unloaded a tranquilizer dart from my utility belt. I gripped it tightly and held it up alongside my face. I took deep breaths—as if something in the death rattle of Raven sent me hyperventilating for half a second. But I only knew that it was a preview of what lie ahead of me. I took one final inhale of deepness, steeled my petite self, and stealthily slithered ahead into the dark recesses of the warehouse's mouth.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-

It was immediately clear that the warehouse served no purpose save for cover. There was absolutely nothing on the inside of the entire two stories—save for an array of metal catwalks stretching up towards the top section of the structure and a huge door leading towards the second compartment of the massive, indoor interior. What did fill the place was a massive, strobing glint of red light produced from an alien signal device, standing like a wild obelisk in the center of the place. There were only three people inside—shady individuals who were packing and sealing and gathering their criminal tools and belonging with a frenziness that nearly matched the strobing light. I didn't need to see them to know who they were—Our chief adversary and his two henchpeople, whom we had bumped into in the past when we thought that they were our legitimate allies.

Which was the centermost reason for why I felt numb that night. The leader—our adversary—was no more than a friend. A colleague of olde. An X-Man. And whether or not he knew that we knew it—We knew… … ..We knew that he was the one. He was the source of the new Legacy Conspiracy. He was the one who staged Namor's death and Infectia's banishment and Mystique's last days of treachery.

He was Jamie Madrox. And even from twenty feet away, I could spot with my Asian eyes something in him that was still as young as ever, still as desperate as ever, and still as frightened as ever. I tried and I tried, but could only postulate the latter as being the reason behind his actions as of late.

As of late? Was he doing it all along? How long was he procuring the Legacy Strain—

Moira, of course. When she died at Muir, it was over a scuffle between rogue mutant factions converging at the Island laboratory years before. During when?—The Legacy Outbreak, of course. Moira's Island was working on a cure, and they had a sample of the virus. People all around the world—mean people—wanted that. And they killed Moira for it. And little Jamie—little then—was there to watch.

The horror never left his eyes. It all made sense to me, and it numbed me all the more. I felt like I wanted to cry. Instead, I cleared my throat and aimed my tranquilizer forward—

"Jamie. Hold it right there."

Multiple Man gasped and flashed about to stare at me with wide eyes. His two henchpeople immediately spun and cocked their weapons—CL-CLACK! They were two young things—the thugs. A blonde girl and a dark-haired boy. They were as young as Jamie. As young as me. As young and as scared as all of us that horrible night. The alien light strobed and strobed between us as we performed road-crossing-deer impressions upon the threshold of Doomsday.

Jamie, in his befuddlement, had dropped every expensive thing in his grasp. Everything—that is—but one item. Something that he clutched to his chest. A white cylinder. A vial.

Legacy.

"Shion?" Jamie breathed, panted with as much breathlessness as the timid thugs on either side of him. He squinted his young adult eyes at me. "Is that you?"

I replied and yet I didn't reply. "Jamie Madrox, on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., you are under arrest for possession of an illicit weapon of mass destruction. Tell your companions to lay down their weapons and—"

"Possession?" Jamie gasped. Then chuckled. Then let forth a high-pitched giggle that hauntingly reminded me of the past. "S.H.I.E.L.D. hired you and Betsy and your cockamamie cohorts to arrest me for POSSESSION of the worst substance known to mankind? Heh—Aren't you being a little easy on me there, Shion? What about what I fucking intend to USE with this stuff?"

"We all know your plan by now, Jamie," I exhaled. I narrowed my eyes into as menacing a glare as I could manage as I trained the tranquilizer front and center on him. "All this time, you've been using X-Factor Investigations as a coverup. You had all of your doubles spread across half the globe not to work at satellites for your agency—But instead to gather information and bureaucratically create a conspiracy that nobody could track. Single-handedly, through your multiples, you raided the underwater testing facility, staged the death of Namor the Sub-Mariner, constructed the prison for Infectia at Genosha, infiltrated Latveria, worked Mystique into helping you gather the last of the viral materials in New York two nights ago. And you did all of it to lead S.H.I.E.L.D.'s team along the path that YOU wanted for them—for us to go. You've been manhandling this operation Callisto's been leading for the purpose of aiding your plan—Which is to gather together the last of the Legacy Strain and bring it on board the alien ship you're now summoning." I took a deep breath and tightened my fingers on the trigger. "But now that we've gotten past the 'how' part, Jamie… …All that's left is 'why'."

"Not quite, Sh-Shion…," he smiled weakly and shook his head. "There's a little bit of the 'how' left! You ever stop to think what I'm going to do with this shit once we're all safe in the belly of the Shi'ar ship?"

I swallowed dryly. I murmured forth: "Why, Jamie?"

"I went through great lengths—using the diplomatic powers of many multiples in many corners of the globe to communicate with these people. I finally got a mercenary visiting Earth to hear me out. On behalf of the militant wing of the New Shi'ar Ruling Class, he's more than willing to fashion the orbital transport and the torpedo needed to launch at Earth and carry the strain into the atmosphere. People of his kind remember mutants well—They're still wanting to slit each and everyone of our throats after the whole incident with the Dark Phoenix: with Jean, Shion."

"Why, Jamie?"

He went on: "You know what's in this vial? It's not just the Legacy Virus, Shion. No-No.. …not the Grandma Soup that Mister Sinister could cook up overnight. This sample has been fused together with dense, hydrogen ions. The Shi'ar torpedo has exceptional, nuclear technology. The missile will cause the hydrogens to convert into pure energy and literally replicate the molecular structure of the virus contained within—So that the entire breathable air of the world will be filled with the stuff once the atomic blast transpires."

"Why, Jamie?"

"Every mutant will be gone. All the bad ones. All the good ones… ….All the way down to you and me, Shion. We will be all gone—"

"Why Why Why dammit—WHY?" I gasped and stepped forward, forcing the two henchpeople to jerk. Their hands tightened around their machine guns. "Don't tell me that after so many years of hope and rebirth, you've fallen as low and helpless as Mystique. Jamie, the world is changing! I promise you—It is!"

"What's changed about it, Shion? H-Huh?" Jamie hyperventilated. He clutched the vial to his chest like a safety blanket and shouted: "Is the human hatred any less furious? Are the mutant wars any less bloody? Has Magneto stayed dead or Jean stayed alive or the Brotherhood become X-Men and the X-Men forgiven brotherhood or the Morlocks come out for sunlight? NO!" He shook all over, furious. Seething: "It NEVER ends, Shion! And it NEVER changes! The Professor you still love and admire has accomplished only that which he has always ever accomplished—DREAMING, Shion. All he ever does is dream. All I ever did was dream too—But I've grown beyond that. With each passing day, each multiplication—I see all. All the suffering, all the pain, all the circling madness and fear and hatred in this world: I see it all, Shion. In person. In the flesh. Up front and personal—And that's more than either Xavier or Magneto will ever come close to."

"And so this is your solution, then?" I inhaled sharply with a frown. "Eliminate the problem by taking out those who have a problem?"

"WE are the problem, Shion," Jamie hissed. "This world would have been a Hell of a lot happier and safer if mutants like us never jumped into the mix and started so much suffering. I don't believe that we're the next step anymore, Jamie. I don't believe that we're some evolutionary complement to humankind. Because if what's happened over the past ten years on this planet is what you call 'Evolution'—Then I frankly want my ticket out of the god damn gene pool."

"Would Moira agree with you, Jamie?"

Jamie gasped. His furious eyes twitched somewhat. I detected a hint of moisture in the cornea.

I murmured forth: "When she was lying—dead on the floor of her laboratory—slain to death only because she was trying to cure the world of the very same disease that you are spreading—Would she agree? Would she…be proud of you?"

"Don't you do this, Shion… …," Jamie hissed. "Don't you pull none of Xavier's shit here! The only person who knows the Hell and torment Moira went through before she died was me—The ONLY damn survivor of the nightmare that went on that island!"

"Don't you think that this is what it's all about?" I exclaimed breathlessly. "Dammit, Jamie! You don't always solve the world's problems by creating bigger problems! The brightest, most beloved people on this planet are those who are willing to shoulder the suffering necessary to save the world by saving the world! Yes, there IS change coming along the way, Jamie! But you must have FAITH. Who's to say that another Moira isn't coming along the way to actually manage and save us all? Without making sacrifices like Hank and Piotr had to make on the Moon. Without having to spread fear like Magneto—And sure as Hell without killing off the potential for future generations of people who can make a difference in this world! Jamie, we won't ever know if you KILL every goddamn mutant that's to live or to come behind us!"

"You don't control suffering by squeezing its TAIL!" Jamie shrieked. "Shion, I am taking everything out at the source! This world will still live on after we're done here!" He gestured wildly to the alien beacon. "But WE won't!"

I raised an eyebrow. I glanced aside at the thugs.

The young man and woman tried not to tremble. They dressed the same way. Tan jackets and fatiques. It was like they were siblings or cousins or something else, something more. Her with her blonde bangs like nectar tears and him with his frayed black hair like a starved stallion. I was overcome with the fact that both thugs were frighteningly normal. They were human. They were helping this old friend of mine kill off the menaces to the world.

How did this madness start? How?

Rogue, I need you right now. I need you so badly, please.. …. …If you have it in my heart to forgive me. To forgive me for everything.

Cl-Clik! I aimed the tranquilizer out at Jamie again.

Everything.

"You're past reasoning with, Jamie," I spoke. "I am going to have to take you down. Unless you hand over the virus to me right this second.. … ..and wait for the rest of my team to come here and arrest all three of you."

There was a firmness to my voice that I got in training. A training that Jamie missed out on. Years ago—distraught over Moira's death—he stumbled off into the personal obscurity of X-Factor Investigations. He had become an anthropomorphized figure of the frightened little rabbit that he was at heart. An animal forever howling at the moon in the shadows of a dead mother-figure. You couldn't reason with an animal. But you could shoot it.

"But can you shoot all of us, Shion?" Jamie murmured with a renewed vigor to his eerie voice.

I glanced at him. At the blonde. At the boy—Three targets with six tranquilizer darts to fire—And I was stabbed with the subtle humor of this little boy whose brown head of hair we all loved to dutch-rub back in the days of the Institute. I wanted to cry, but was suddenly to frightened to.

Because once Jamie's sentence had settled in, he walked sideways—Both ways. Two doppelgangers split out of either shoulder and strafed aside. Then four more doppelgangers out of those two. In swift, fluid motion.. …a crescent moon composed of over sixteen Multiple Men stood around me, and each and everyone of them raised a pistol—

Cl-Cl-Cl-Cl-Cl-Cl-Clakkk! I was in the epicenter of a ring of gun barrels and sights. The two thugs knew their place and tremblingly stepped back.

"You're a good shot, Shion," one of the Jamies muttered with a fresh iciness. "And an even better teleporter. After Logan's training, you can run and shoot almost better than everyone in the world. But I am 'everyone in the world', Shion. Do you want to try your luck?" All of the faces furrowed their brows. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill you.. …."

I stared down all sixteen pairs of 'menacing' eyes. "Weren't you going to anyways, tonight, Jamie?"

All of the Multiple Men were silent. The strobing of the alien beacon glistensedoff their mirrored eyes.

Then a slight rumbling throttled through the floor. The warehouse's foundation began to rattle and shake.

The girl thug tilted her head up and gasped: "The ship! It's arriving!"

"Man, we'd better get out of here!" the young man trembled. "The Shi'ar dude said he w-wouldn't wait for long…!"

"Just WAIT!" the centermost Jamie impulsively barked while glaring at me. Weapon trained. A pause… ..a fuming… … …and as the thundering engines of the decloaking Shi'ar vessel descended on the warehouse, and spoke breathily to me: "There was a time, Shion, when I wanted no more than to be your little brother." His and all the other Multiple Men's fingers squeezed the triggers, shaking ever so slightly. "You were the coolest person to hang out with in the Institute—When nobody else would hang out with me."

I nodded. "Your powers. You were too clumsy. Plus.. …you always had a cowlick that none of us could keep a straight face around."

Two or three of the doppelgangers smiled bitterly at that. "Yeah…. … …But days of being cute are gone. Although those memories never left, Shion… …." He stumbled, shuddered, and swallowed a lump down his throat before continuing through the voice of a meek doppelganger to my right. "I l-love you and the rest of the X-Family, Shion. I r-really do. But I love them t-to much to let all of this madness continue. It ends. Tonight."

I inhale and lower my tranquilizer. "You've taught me, Jamie. People are capable of doing anything out of desperation. Capable of turning to dark sides hitherto untouched…. .." My mouth hung open as my voice lingered. The warehouse shook with the landing ship outside. The thugs shifted about nervously and the Multiple Men trained in on me as I added: "… …there are s-some dark places I will never willingly go. But that hasn't stopped me from going halfway. Like you and Legacy… …." I reached into my pocket.

The Jamies were too slow to react—

Sllp! My pouch ruffled as I pulled out a thin, metal cylinder fixed with circuitry. "… …and like me and Sinister's Laboratory."

All of the eyes of all the Jamies widened. "You didn't—"

"I did," I frowned. I held the mutant restraining collar up high. "And as far as I'm concerned, Jamie.. ….Legacy began with Sinister, and so it shall end with Sinister. The snake eats its own damn HEAD!" THWOOOSH! I tossed the collar high up into the air.

The Multiple Men all flinched. At least half of them knew what was coming. The thugs were oblivious—

Th-Thwoosh! I knelt, aimed the tranquilizer, squinted one eye, and—Thriiiipft!

Swissssssssh! A single dart flew up, crushed through the power cell of the neck collar, and exploded the anti-mutagen core inside.

POWWWW!

THWOOOOOOSH! A vapor ring of air exploded outward, announcing a distorted ripple of light that represented the charged electrons of the exploding energy core.

"AA-AAA-AAA-AA-AAA-AA-AAUGH!" Eight of the Multiple shrieked as they were instantly vaporized from the blast. The rest fell to their knees…

…as did I. "Nnnngh!" my eyes strobed a hot green and then died out as I partially collapsed. I felt the Middleverse being sucked away from me by its fingernails. Only the fresh Cytorrak crystal in my skeletal structure kept me from losing any and all consciousness as my mutant powers temporarily faded.

But what I wanted to achieve happened. The Multiples were fading away. The thugs were confused. And the one Jamie—the TRUE Jamie—was limping half on his feet with the vial ready to fall out of his grasp—

"NNGNH!" SWOOOOSH! I charged forward on lead feet. The rumbling and the thundering of the warehouse lifted me like a feather. Two half-faded Multiples shrieked and lunged at me. I slammed them across the head and ribcage with my boot, dissolving them into oblivion.

"He's going after the vial!" the boy shouted. "Hit him!"

RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!

RAT-A-TAT-TAT! Both thugs fired at me.

I leapt, dodged the bullets, rolled on the ground, and fired two tranquilizer darts. Thriipft! Thripft!

The boy gasped and fell back, both darts impaling into his rifle instead of his torso. The girl stepped ahead, snarled, and fired directly at me. BLAM! BL-BLAM!

I tensed my body into place—Briefly horrified to remember that I could no longer teleport for the time being. Powerless, I gasped and lunged myself back. Th-Thwisssssssh! The bullets streamed over my nose and grazed a ravine open through the front of my suit. I swung a hand to my belt and tossed a smoke grenade the girl's way. Cl-Clank—POFFFFFF!

She coughed and stumbled back by her companion. I was already rocketing back onto my feet and charging towards a confuzzled Jamie who as clutching at his vial and trying in vain to create a double of himself to fight me.

I did the last thing I wanted to do. "Nnnngh!" WHACK! I punched Mr. Madrox. Right in the face.

For once in his life, the mutant boy took the impact. He slid back and fell to his rear. The vial dripped out of his grasp and rolled across the floor.

Legacy!

I leapt. I flew towards the bane of the world and tackled it like a fumbled football. I slid and scampered to run out of there—

GRIP! Jamie's hand grabbed my ankle. In a split second, he reminded me that he was no longer the little baby of the Institute. He yanked my petite body down by the calf muscle and wrestled me for the vial.

I used my head—ramming his neck. He coughed and sputtered. I slapped my elbow across his cheek and kicked him up off of me.

Th-Thwump! He stumbled back into the alien beacon. CLANK! It teetered, teetered, and fell down behind him—CRACK! The bulbous head of the strobing device exploded in a rupturing flash of light.

"Nnngh!" Blinded, I crawled backwards on all fours. I felt around. I grabbed a cylinder of metal that was the hydrogen-Legacy vial. I looked up, blinking my eyes.

Cloudy little 'moths' scattered the grayness from my vision as the light returned and so did Jamie's foot, flying into me at the end of a running charge.

THWACKK! His boot flew up my face.

I spat blood in a tiny fountain and fell back so hard that I could have sworn my skull cracked.

Cl-Clank!—was the sound of the cursed vial landing and rolling far away. I could see nothing but stars now, forget the moths.

GR-GRIP! I was hoisted up off my legs and held high into a hot breath: "Nice try, Shion. But I've outgrown you."

I wheezed… ..winced… …then realized—Four hands were gripping me.

The collar's explosion has worn off. Jamie can use his power again. Which means—

Z-ZAAAT!

Two doppelgangers stood side by side, empty-handed. Blinking. "H-Huh?"

ZAAT! I appeared above them and fell with a foot planted in each Multiple Man's face. Th-THWUMP! I kick them hard to the floor, backflipped, and dashed forward into the open space of the warehouse---

Only to freeze. Gasping.

The vial! The vial!

Where is it?

I spun—I looked—I saw…

The young man had picked it up. He stood with it cradled nervously in his grip. The blonde rushed up beside him with her machine gun trained at me.

I held my breath. I squatted and prepared to teleport my way towards the two henchpeople—

WHAM! Multiple Man's face slammed against my cheek. I flew back into the arms of…Multiple Man, who twisted my arms painfully from behind.

"A-Augh!" I shuddered.

A third Multiple Man marched up to me. Seething. "Why must you be the death of the death of things?" He slammed his fist into my gut. WHUMP! Again. WH-WHUMP! Again. WHAM!

I coughed and sputtered and hissed…

"Don't you see, Shion?.!.?.!" He snarled. WHAM! "This is the only cure!" TH-THWACK! "The ONLY way—"

CRASSSSH! A huge explosion rumbled throughout the Warehouse against the steady, thunderous ambiance.

The thugs looked up.

"Th-The ship?" the girl murmured.

"No… …," Jamie breathed. He and four other Multiples looked towards the far wall of the warehouse—

SMASSSSSH! Luke Cage smashed his way inside through a gaping hole. "Night school's in session, bitch!"

I wheezed.

Finally… …

Cl-Cl-Clak! Clak! Eight Multiple Men lined up with a phalanx of pistols aimed. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Luke Cage stepped back as the Invisible Woman lowered down from outside the whole. FLASH! She erected a bubble of telekinesis that deflected all the bullets. After a few seconds of ricocheting monotony, Callisto marched in through the hole beneath Susan and cocked a huge laser rifle the size of her body.

CL-CLACK! Wriiiiiiiiiii! "You're done with scurrying, Madrox."

ZAAAAA-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAP! The laser burned and swept its way in. I ducked and flattened myself to the floor. Those Multiples that didn't were instantly vaporized by the burning stream. One or two that survived rolled across the ground, thundered up to their feet, and charged in exploding numbers.

"RRRRRRRRAAAAAUGH!" Suddenly, a flood of thirty-six or more doppelgangers were hurtling themselves at my teammates. They pulled out guns, daggers, and tasers and created an army in under five seconds flat.

The Invisible Woman lowered her force field and stepped aside as Luke Cage came storming through to meet the hideous charge. "HAAAUGH!" THWOOOSH! The first two punches he threw swept away a dozen and a half flailing doppelgangers into the air. The Multiples then exploded and clamored all over him, stabbing and biting and firing point blanc into his titanium skin. Rippling waves of telekinesis slapped a few of the Jamie soldiers off of him while I watched the epic warehouse battle from a distance.

I panted. Wincing, I weathered my bruises and glanced back to the opposite end of the warehouse.

The two thugs watched. Horrified. Overwhelmed. The warehouse thundered all around them, the Shi'ar ship was landing outside. The world was coming to an implosion and Doomsday…

…the vial was still in the young man's hands.

"GO! GO!" they heard a voice shout. I heard a voice shout. We all heard a voice shot.

I looked up.

One of the Jamies was waving his arm madly at the two thugs. "You must go! Take the vial to the ship! You know what to do from there!"

They breathlessly nodded and ran out. The blonde trailed behind with the machine gun and ducked through the huge compartment doors beyond.

The shouting Jamie turned and aimed his gun down at me—

ZAAAAAAP! From the battle scene, Callisto's laser swept through and disintegrated the doppelganger. 'Jamie's' gun fell to the floor before me. Cl-Clak!

"ECTO!" Callisto shouted from the battle-fray. She swung her laser around like a bat and smacked Multiple Men down by the dozens before burning them into oblivion. "DAMMIT, KID! THEY HAVE WHAT WE ALL CAME FOR!" Her one eye glared at me as she swung and fired. ZAAAP! ZAAAP! "YOU MUST CHASE THEM DOWN, ECTO! EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON YOU GETTING…THAT….VIAL!"

I nodded breathlessly. I already knew everything that she was telling me. However, I also already knew that I had suddenly and inexplicably lost my tranquilizer pistol in the midst of my scuffling with the one Jamie. Now I had nothing but—

"…. …."

The still-hot pistol lie before me.

"…. …." I swallowed a soreness that was already forming in my throat from the thought…

Snatch!

I swept up the pistol into my grasp, scampered to my feet, and ran full-force through the compartment door after Jamie's henchpeople.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

This mission. This whole mission. Every mutant in the world….

I ran up the steps of a catwalk.

I was breathless.

I pulled myself up by the metal railings and shoved myself to the side to crane my neck and look up, up, up…

Ascending above me by about thirty feet were the two thugs. They were desperately running up the catwalk towards the upper platform of the warehouse rear. An exit door at the topmost corner of the interior awaited them, and that was where the Shi'ar rumbling thundered loudest.

A landing pad.

They're getting away with Doomsday.

I ran and ran and ran.

Up another flight—Until I half-perched on a railing and aimed directly up at them through the hollow lattice work of the metal catwalk platforms. "FREEZE! DROP THE VIAL—"

I had barely finished when both gasped and the boy whipped out a pistol in his one free hand to fire down at me.

BLAM! BL-BLAM!

I gasped and ducked my green highlighted head—

PING! P-PING!

I dove my upper body back out, aimed, and fired---BLAM! I nearly tossed myself off the catwalk's railing from the blast. High caliber, Jamie……Why?

CRACK! A section of the platform exploded beneath them from my bullet shot. The boy gasped and leapt aside, clutching the vial to his chest. The young woman took his place, sweating, peering over, firing—RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

Bullets flew down the catwalk stairwell and ricocheted all around and above me. Metal bits flew and sparks showered. P-P-P-P-PING!

I gasped and flew aside, flattening myself against the warehouse wall. Panting. My heart beating. The whole night thundering. Throbbing. Burning. "Th-This is your last w-warning!" My voice crackled as I re-aimed the gun. "I cannot allow you to make off with that vial—"

BLAM! PING---(Right beside my skull)—I flinched.

"Go to Hell, you damn mutie!" the boy wailed, at the end of his breath. "We'll sleep at night with the lot of you gone!"

He shouted.

I hyperventilated.

The sweat and the catwalk steps and the ceiling and the rush of blood to the head—

BLAM! BLAM! P-PING! "Always menacing… ..Always threatening… ….Always thinking you're more powerful than the rest of us!" BLAM! PING "It was mutants that killed our parents! Our friends! Back when Stryfe paid our school a visit! All you freaks are the same! I hope you suffer long and hard after tonight!"

I swallow. My throat is dry. I murmur more to the air than to him: "You've got it all wrong… …You've got it all wrong… …"

"Stay back!" the girl shrieked. "P-Please! J-Just stay back!" She was near sobbing.

The moon.

Jean, her body on fire.

Bodies floating in zero gravity—Melted into ashses.

"We would never… … …I-I would never harm a-anyone.. …Never…"

P-PING! "Go! Go! Go!" the boy shouted as the blonde ran up past him.

I held my breath, frowned, and dipped over the edge. I aimed up. I fired—BLAM!

CRAKKK! The bullet landed in the pistol in his hand. The gun shattered. His fingers burned and bled. "AAA-AAAAUGH!" He clutched the vial, bleeding. He sweated, panted, and stumbled up the catwalk steps after his companion.

I shook… ..shivered—Then snarled. SWOOSH! I ran madly up the steps. The metal lattice flew past me. The night thundered and howled all around me. The battle. The alien ship. The world crashing down like it was settling to do for the past few months, few years, few eons of human evolution.

She glowed with the fury of ten thousand suns.

Shi'ar space craft littered the lunar surface all around her.

Together, we charged.

The X-Men.

Into her flaming embrace.

The henchpeople made it to the top floor and ran for daylight. The girl paused to aim over the platform's edge at me and fire—RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

I instantly ducked, flattening myself against the metal steps. Scraping—

PING-PING-PING! P-P-PING! PING! Bullets. Sparks. Noise. Noise. Noise.

I aimed up from where I lie. BLAM! BLAM!

She ducked both shots, stood up again, fired—RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

Bullets impaled the metal catwalk above and below me.

I rolled aside to avoid the shrapnel and fired again—nigh upside down. BLAM!

CLANGGG! A bullet ricocheted off the ground by her feet. Scaring her. She ran after the boy. The two of them were bolting for the door. For the Shi'ar ship.

They're getting away!

Legacy!

Dani.. …Betsy… …Logan……Sam……!

Rogue……

"Nnnng-NNNGH!" I ran, I leapt, I flew off the platform and—ZAAAAT!

I blurred through the green barriers. I defied gravity. I climbed through the Middleverse and caught sight of mirror-house reflections of the horrors of the past that resurfaced into my palpitating heart that night.

Cyclops fell unconscious. Iceman screamed as a hand of flame melted him into organic oblivion. Hank's head burned off and his blue carcass littered the lunar dust. Then the Legacy sample went into Colossus' hands. He charged the final death charge across the Blue Area while Logan held me down. Logan held me down screaming. Fucking held me down as the bane of us all was carried by a titanium warrior into the burning womb of the Dark Phoenix.

Into Jean.

ZAAAAAAAT!

I teleported up.

Through the floor.

At the final exit and before the two.

Swooosh! The boy with Legacy flung the door open into a bright-lit night of noise.

CLACK! I aimed the pistol dead-center at him. "FREEZE!"

The blonde gasped and aimed at me, but dared not fire. I was one trigger ahead of her. Ahead of him. Ahead of the fate of the world of Mutants.

And he froze—like I told him to—standing there at the doorway to fate. The Shi'ar ship decloaked outside and bathed him with a bright silver upon the event horizon of his mission. He instead stood trembling, staring straight into the supernova. His stallion-black hair fluttered behind him, and his eyes curved as if blinded and saddened by everything. Blinded—by the space ship. Saddened—by….

"Don't… …take…. …another… …step….," I hissed into the tumult. I squeezed both sweaty hands around the gun and stretched it out at full length. I tried not to tremble, and I was doing half a better job than he was. "Drop the vial… …."

He didn't. He stood there, staring into the white. His lips quivered. His bloodied hand dangled at his side. It was as if he didn't even register me, and I realized then and there that he and I had the same heart. The same determination and desperation. The same necessity—Only I couldn't tell suddenly who was in the worse spot.

Until my throat cracked with the next utterance: "Pl-Please don't take another step.. ….Pl-Please don't make me do this… …" My eyes were watering. My throat was on fire.

The blonde shivered and shook. She could barely train her weapon on me—Especially when I had the drop on one of them first. She cast a fearful glance back and forth from me to--:

"I have to… …I-I have to….," the boy murmured. What was he? Twenty? Twenty-One? Dear God Dear God Dear God Dear God…… "I can't l-let this go on… ..I-I can't…."

"Drop the vial now….," I murmured. Jean's eyes burned. At the last second, they were tearing as she sobbed her way into an agonizing sizzle. When Cyclops woke up, he saw. And he was screaming. He was screaming. "It doesn't have to be this way, a-alright?" I barked. "We d-don't have to kill!"

"I'm sorry—"

"Don't make me fucking do this--!" I fell with my voice with my breath with the thunder with his step…

His step through the door—"—STOP—" Rogue.

BLAM! SPLORCCCH! My bullet entered his right side and his stomach flew out his left. He lurched for a second, then his eyes glazed over, and he fell back from the light. Th-Thwump!

" JORDAN" the blonde shrieked.

Gasping, I looked over.

In a kaleidoscope of tears, she dropped her weapon and dove over to his side. She clutched his arms and held him close. "J-JORDAN! Oh God….Oh God Oh God Oh God—No—NO!"

"Snnkkt-Hckkk—Ana…," he gurgled. A limp hand groped the air a few inches in front of her face. "I c-can't…snkkt…ssnkkt-can't f-f-feel…"

"No-Stay with me, Jordan! Oh God—STAY WITH ME!" She clutched the living half of him to her chest and rocked, rocked, rocked. Her face was a waterfall of sapphire tears as she quivered and sobbed a warbling wail into the naked warehouse. "Nnnngh—Haaaaa-Haaaaa-Gawwwwwwwwd!" A sharp inhale. She melted all over him, for he was quickly deflating. "Nnnnghnsnkthaaaaaaaaaaaugh!" And the rest of it was a muffled tremor into his throat, like a scar.

He gazed past her. Bright eyes brown and lifeless forevermore. Emptying his soul into the ceiling…. …

… …and straight through me.

"… …. …..," I stood. My breath escaped me in multiple hiccups before I dropped the gun and hobbled backwards from the holocaust. The numbness compounded. The fire in my shoulders worming their way into my heart. I was squatting down my haunches besides the lonely vial of Legacy—dropped to the floor. And as the symphony of sorrow wailed quieter and quieter into the dying night, I subconsciously found myself clinging to the bane of the whole world in my arms. Trying to hold onto whatever it was that I had loss myself to.

And failing.