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They were born mutants--possessing powers of a genetic origin which made them outcasts of society. But one man -- Professor Charles Xavier -- brought them together to learn to use their unique gifts in the service of a world that hates and fears them... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents... Uncanny X-Men #2 “DEATH OF A DREAM” Part Four Written by Cory Wiegel From a story originally by Gwyna --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now. In Professor X's study, he sat in his hover chair in a sort of triangle with Phoenix and Psylocke sitting in modern Victorian chairs. The curtains were closed and the lights were dimmed, giving the room a relaxing ambiance to help calm their nerves. The three sat quietly until an announcement came from the communication line on Professor X's hover chair. {{ “Kitty here. The lower levels are on lock down and Hank's team is prepped and ready.” }} “Thank you, Kitty,” Professor X replied. He looked to his two students. “Shall we begin?” Phoenix and Psylocke nodded, to which he nodded in return. The three closed their eyes, linked their minds telepathically, and ascended to the Astral Plane from their mortal bodies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Earlier. “Thank you for coming,” Professor X said to Rogue and Angel as they walked into Beast's laboratory. “Of course,” Angel said. “How's the Geek Squad doin' down here?” Rogue asked. “Geek Squad?” Shadowcat said, shooting a look from Rogue to Beast. “I rather like the name,” Beast remarked with a smirk. Rogue shot him a wink, but Shadowcat just rolled her eyes. Beast then explained, “Kitty and I have been working through the schematics that Forge sent over for his telepathic blockers ever since the professor hatched this plan.” “It looks like you had some options to choose from,” Angel said as he looked over the digital schematics displayed across the laboratory monitors. “Which one did you end up picking?” Beast pointed at what appeared to be the schematics for a slimmer Cerebro helmet. “This one,” he said. “It was the only one that we had the materials to craft on such short notice that could provide us optimal protection from a powerful telepathic intrusion. It's based on Magneto's helmet. However, without his exact schematics and magnetic talents, it's difficult to say how effective it will be and for how long.” “Well, ah'm assumin' we tested it, yeah?” Rogue asked. Shadowcat and Beast glanced at Professor X, who steepled his fingers together. “We did,” he said. “And?” Angel asked. Professor X telepathically turned his hover chair around and moved away from his X-Men towards the laboratory's exit. “It will have to do,” he said curtly. “I'm going to join Elizabeth and Jean in my study. Notify me when we're ready to begin.” Now. When Professor X, Phoenix, and Psylocke opened their eyes, they had fully ascended to the Astral Plane. While the telepathic plane of existence could take on a variety of forms, depending on the mental state of its visitors and inhabitants, it was in a state of peace and twilight when their spectral avatars arrived. It appeared to the three X-Men as an ethereal portion of space with distant stars and interstellar clouds of brilliant colors illuminating the plane. “It's time,” Professor X said. “Open your mind to us, Elizabeth.” Psylocke looked upwards and took a deep breath. A spark of purple light erupted from her head, then manifested into a pink butterfly that gently fluttered above her. Professor X, standing freely, gestured toward her and began to draw out large portions of psychic energy from her mind. Phoenix took flight alongside the flowing streams of energy and began to shape it into a cobblestone path that led to a distant tower with no apparent entrance or exit. “Excellent work, Jean,” Professor X said. The three then ascended through the Astral Plane towards the power they had worked to manifest from the telepathic prison in Psylocke's mind. However, as they moved closer to the tower, Phoenix shuddered as if a chill went down her spine. Psylocke glanced at her with some worry in her eyes. “Professor...” Phoenix said with some hesitation. Before she could say what was on her mind, Professor X extended his arms and opened his hands, as if to cause the top of the tower's walls and ceiling to explode. Spectral stone scattered in all directions, pink and purple flashes of energy dripping from the stones. An empty dungeon cell was all that remained at the top of the tower. Psylocke gasped in shock. “What?! It can't be...” she yelled. “But I've sensed him there this whole time!” “BWUAHAHAHA!!!” A sinister laughter echoed loudly throughout the Astral Plane. The X-Men searched in all directions for its source, but found that it was coming from everywhere. “It's what I feared,” Professor X said. “The Shadow King has been free this whole time!” The colorful interstellar clouds on the Astral Plane lost their brilliance as they thickened and darkened into what appeared to be storm clouds. The stars began to fade rapidly and shadows fell upon the three X-Men, nearly suffocating them in darkness. As they took ready stances to defend against an impending attack, an explosion of navy and crimson energies shook them where they stood. Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King, took form high above the X-Men as a monstrous beast with large spikes protruding from his hide and elongated claws for hands. Dozens of sharp teeth and furnace of telepathic energy made up the mouth of his angular face. His skull was smooth and his eyes cackled with a haunting light. “Yes. You sensed what I wanted you to sense, my dear Elizabeth,” the Shadow King's voice boomed throughout the Astral Plane. “As you will soon do what I command you to do.” Wearing a Cerebro helmet on his head, Angel patrolled the perimeter of the Xavier Institute by air on his powerful angelic wings. All had been quiet since Shadowcat gave the command to begin the exorcism of the Shadow King's consciousness within Psylocke. The rest of his teammates had gone on a similar patrol in preparation for the worst. Suddenly, mid-patrol, the natural light of day that the estate basked in began to rapidly fade into nightfall and then into complete darkness. Angel looked to the mansion for a single sign of light, such as from a room's window or computer monitor left on, but found it only in shadows. Angel's flight came to a stop as he flapped his wings to hold himself upright and aloft in midair. He touched the encircled 'X' communicator on his breast. “Hank, it's Warren,” Angel said. “Something's definitely not right out here...” There was no response. “Hank? Kitty?” Angel called out, becoming increasingly concerned. “Does anyone hear me?” He was met again with radio silence, but shortly after his radio call a bright psychic energy then erupted from the window of Professor X's study, much like it had on the Astral Plane, and a thunderous boom echoed throughout the area. Taking a deep breath, Angel flapped his powerful wings to soar high into the air and then fell into a dive bomb towards the mansion. Rogue, wearing a Cerebro helmet as well, had been walking through the halls of the mansion when the natural light from outside and the electricity flickered off. She stopped for a moment and glanced about the mansion, waiting for the back-up generators that would normally illuminate the mansion during a power outage to kick on, but after a moment nothing had happened. She went to tap on her communicator, but before she could say anything a shadowy arm wrapped around her waist and a hand covered her mouth. She screamed out underneath the hand and struggled against her attacker's grip, but it was as if a being of supernatural strength had taken hold of her. In one swift movement, she was pulled down the hall into the shadows. Beast bounded through the lower levels beneath the mansion, bouncing from floor to wall to ceiling and back with increasing momentum, as a flash light on a harness he wore illuminated the otherwise pitch black halls. It would seem that all of the mansion's electronic systems were down and his teammates were out of contact. While this didn't exactly mean that Shadowcat and him were trapped in the lower levels, it did mean that leaving if the others needed them was a lot more complicated. As Beast continued to bound from point to point throughout the halls, barreling towards the War Room that acted as a sort of command center for the Shadow King's exorcism, his feet struck the ceiling and seemed to slip out from underneath. He crashed into the floor with a loud thud, his Cerebro helmet rolling off and away from him. He immediately recovered by rolling onto his back and drawing up a tranquilizer gun from a holster on his harness. No one was there. Beast directed his flash light over the ceiling, and then the walls, and then back to the ceiling. It was unlike him to fall, but it was also unlike him to be paranoid. His flashlight began to flicker. Before he could check it, a shadowy void descended upon him rapidly. Shadowcat was manually trying to restart the computer systems in the War Room when she heard the muffled scream of Beast in the distance. “Hank?!” she yelled out. “HANK!” She sprung up from behind the War Room's table and grabbed a bola gun that she had laid down. She listened carefully. There was no response, which meant she needed to investigate. However, she was at a loss as to the safest way to do that. She had two choices. The first one was to remove the Cerebro helmet and phase through the walls, so as to not damage the helmet with her powers, and risk a telepathic attack. The second was to try to manually open the door so that she could keep her mind protected from intrusion, but that would take time and strength she didn't have. With no time to waste, Shadowcat decided to remove her helmet, pick up the light baton that was illuminating the room, and sprint for the exit. Before she could reach the door and phase through it, Shadowcat slid to a stop and gasped. Shadows melted from the wall from three different directions and formed into that of three identical tall, lean, and muscular women, devoid of any other distinguishing features other than a crimson tattoo over the left side of their face. “Psylocke?!” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEXT ISSUE: Head over to Uncanny X-Men #3 by Cory Wiegel (from a story by Jay Corafa) for “DEATH OF A DREAM,” Part Six! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |