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Post by Apocalypse on May 31, 2006 22:37:44 GMT -5
"Welcome to the laybrinth Cyclops." Apocalypse sends into the young mutant head
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Post by Cyclops on Jun 1, 2006 16:27:45 GMT -5
Cyclops shrugged off his blue sweater and took his red shades out of his pocket. Setting them aside, he steps inside.
Alright, he thought, if I were a room, where would I be? The labyrinth entrance split in two directions, left and right. He chose right, walking down the hall. He noticed that all of the walls seemed to look alike and reminded himself to take careful note of where he turned, wouldn't want to get seriously lost. At the next parting of the ways he chose left. This went on for a while, and Cyclops was becoming seriously worried that he had taken a wrong turn. Don't know that until you reach a dead end, he reminded himself.
He continued to wander and then stopped short. There's got to be a trick to this, there's no road signs but there's gotta be something I can do...he said it would test my abilities. Cyclops closed his eyes, listening for some sound or movement possibly cluing him in on the right direction. Nothing. "Alright, left it is," he muttered, continuing onward. Just as he thought of attempting to retrace his steps and head backward he came upon a room.
((hoping to avoid a huge post reflecting on the "new post thread" If by modifying it I didn't bypass that aspect of posting I apologize and will henceforth make separate posts while I'm in here))
Cyclops stepped into a large room, wide-open space in the center and four stone statues standing guard, one in each corner. “I’ve seen those before,” he whispered, eyes shifting from one statue to another. The hair rose on the back of his neck and yet nothing happened. He took one step and then another, and still they stood in place. “Maybe I haven’t seen those before,” even though they looked just like those the X-Men and Brotherhood had laid waste upon months ago.
He walked about the room, wondering if this was what a dead end looked like, until he saw the far wall. Upon it was a picture of circles and symbols interlinked by lines. Underneath was hieroglyphics, which he now understood and read. ‘The spark has been lit, the fires now burn. All else has been a prelude, warning and threat, determined occurrence, no chance to forget. When time’s on the brink all people now fear, his power flows free, the end is near. When the thirteenth awaken the end is now here. One falls as a hero, a sacrifice made, and two become one, both are betrayed. The X’s ask Y, but they die, still they die.’ “Wow, morbid much,” Cyclops asked. And then he heard the clicking of a wound up toy, the grinding of stone on stone.
Cyclops turned his head to one corner then the next. The statues that were still when he entered were quite alive, eyes alight and mechanical limbs moving, hoisting up swords. Not gonna be cornered, Cyclops thought, running towards the doorway in hopes of keeping them all to one side of him. A falcon- headed guardian took a swipe at him with its scimitar. Cyclops had to jump out of the way to avoid getting crushed. Wait, what am I doing, he wondered, I can shoot and move at the same time, can’t I? In his next leap he let off a wide beam at the nearest guardian, knocking off an arm. A jackal-headed guardian stood in front of the door as the others closed in. Cyclops aimed for the head, focusing a beam, causing it to collapse. His attention split he found himself hit by one of the other guardians, launching him across the room. “Oof,” it hurt...God did it hurt, numbing his senses as his brain focused on the dull throbbing coursing though his body.
Shaking his head to clear his head he watched as the guardians advanced on him, holding up their weapons, ready to dash out his brains. Cyclops didn’t think, he just reacted, remembering what it felt like to take off his visor and pound Juggernaut with a raw blast he let it fly. It knocked the guardians back across the room. He then took aim, destroying the legs of two of them. Cyclops pushed past the pain to work his way to his feet, watching as the last mobile guardian came at him. He focused and let go a blast that destroyed it. The other two had begun to pull themselves along with their arms. He took care of those as well. Knowing they were disabled he took the time to find out just how battered he was from his brief flying lesson. Cyclops put a hand to his back and flinched at the brief touch. “I don’t wanna know,” he groaned. “If I don’t think about it I’ll be okay. If I start thinking about the....”his brain filled with images of raw flesh and deep bruises, Cyclops shook his head, fighting off light-headedness.
“Keep going,” he ordered, walking back to the message he had encountered earlier for a second look. Something caught the corner of his eye and he turned to look. Walking closer he noticed a door hidden be hind one of the guardian carcuses. Cyclops clamored over it, hissing as his back protested the motion. It protested even more as he dropped back to the ground. "That's what you get for being stupid."
What caught his eye turned out to be a door, one that had been hidden before and during the fight. "Can't hurt to try it out," he thought. The door lead to another hallway, long and straight, and then it turned. He silently thanked God that he hadn't hit a fork, he really didn't want to deal with making decisons right now; he was tired, his back ached, and wasn't particularly looking forward to what might be next on the agenda.
((This thing might as well be posted on ff.net it's so long)) He groaned when he saw another archway. This is gonna be rough. He walked through the doorway and looked around. No stone guardians, that was a relief. He looked about and saw something in the corner, a small boy. Cyclops walked closer, when he reached about halfway the boy turned around and changed...growing taller, his hair growing longer. "Great", Cyclops muttered," Just great." He barely had time to register the person as Lucas before he was thrown across the room. His already tender back screamed at once again being hit against something solid. Fire errupted from the floor, encircling him. Lucas stood there laughing.
Cyclops grit his teeth and leapt through the flames, covering his eyes and rolling, just as Wolverine had trained him to do all those years ago. He shot wildly, hoping to hit something, but only heard the crumbling of rock. Perhaps not the smartest thing I could have done, he thought as the rocks came flying towards him. He ducked, dodged and shot, a few got by and nicked his arms, legs and yet again, his back when they came flying the opposite way. He ran towards his opponent, hoping to tackel him, but instead met up with a wall. Cyclops was thankful his hands had taken the brunt of it as he looked skyward where Lucas hung in midair, mocking Cyclop's inability to follow.
His vision went red, the dull burning building up behind his eyes, any moment ready to release. Cyclops didn't take the shot though, instead he waited, slowly circling, worried Lucas would only move out of the way. And then he felt his feet, slightly lift off the ground. His mind registered the movement and he let his blast shoot at the same time he was tossed in the air. Cyclops twisted, hoping to landon his hands an knees, but landed on his side instead, hip bone and elbow taking the brunt of the fall. He clanced over his shoulder to see Lucas cornered against the wall. Cyclops focused, just as he had at the guardians and the diamond, aiming at the heart he fired.
Cyclops sighed in relief when Lucas didn't get back up. He forced himself to his feet for what he hoped would be the last time. He really didn't want to fall anymore or get knocked down. Just about every inch of him hurt. He stood there, catching his breath and trying to convince himself that he had the stamina and ability to keep going.
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Post by Apocalypse on Jun 2, 2006 20:45:23 GMT -5
Apocalypse sends a mental link to Cyclops " Very good my child You have but one final test. The next test shall be of sprit. Pass this test and I'll shall meet you at the end of your labyrinth. Remember focus and you shall pass, blink and you shall fail."
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Post by Cyclops on Jun 3, 2006 8:44:30 GMT -5
“ Just one more,” he smiled. Provided Apocalypse didn’t have anything else for him to do he planned on taking a shower and passing out on his cot...well, soon to be bed, Apocalypse had promised the room would be adjusted to suit his liking. Right now he would like very much to be in a nice warm bed, maybe indefinitely.
Cyclops rolled his shoulders, wincing at the accompanied pain. He walked onward, pushing past the pain, glad for the adrenaline pumping through his body. He didn’t want to think about what he’d feel like tomorrow, or even later today. He walked down another series of halls, none too happy that he’d actually needed to make a decision: left or right. He was even angrier when he hit a dead end and had to retrace his steps.
When he finally reached the final room he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Jean?” Tears came unbidden as he rushed over to her. Somewhere in his heart he knew she wasn’t really Jean but he didn’t care, happy to see a friendly face. “Scott,” she whispered back, embracing him.
“What are you doing here,” he asked. “I was about to ask you the same thing,” she replied before pushing him away. “Jean, I...” “I thought you loved me, Scott,” she said as her features twisted into a mask of hate. “I do love you.” “No you don’t,” she replied, telekinetically throwing him. “If you did you wouldn’t be here.” Any other words issuing from her mouth suddenly meant very little as she threw him about and pain became his world every time he hit a wall. Just kill me, he thought, the pain coursing through his body.
“Oh, I don’t think I will,” she replied, telekinetically holding him in the air and lifting some rocks hidden in the corner, “At least not right away.”
“Don’t make me do this,” he whispered, watching in horror as the rocks were pelted at him. His reflexes acted when he couldn’t, shooting a wide beam to get rid of the rocks. ‘Jean’ shielded herself, now looking thoroughly livid at his retaliation. “You coward,” she screeched, “You’re afraid of death, aren’t you?”
Cyclops realized that on some level she was right, he was incredibly frightened of the life beyond, a little more so than life without Jean, which is why he took aim at the ceiling above her head and fired. The rubble from the blast fell down on her. Cyclops was released from her telekinetic hold and also dropped to the ground, hitting his knees hard on the rock. And then the s**t hit the fan as ‘Jean’ flung the rubble off herself in one foul swoop.
“How could you, Scott?” The rubble trembled and turned into a cyclone. Scott dove for cover behind a convenient boulder and took a shot at her feet. In retaliation she lifted herself into the air and sent a telekinetic blast across the room, pushing back the boulder and thereby Scott. “Don’t, don’t make me,” he whispered, head shaking and tears that were once of joy turned to anguish.
“I don’t make you do anything you don’t want to, Scott, you know that,” she responded agreeably, lifting the boulder he had ducked behind. “Now, why don’t you do me a favor and hold still?” Cyclops once again purely reacted, shooting the boulder and running for some sort of cover. “You can’t hide from me, Scott,” she reminded him. He stopped short, turning towards her and aimed a shot he hoped was strong enough to knock her backwards, strong enough to knock her out, anything so he wouldn’t have to deal with her the way he had Lucas or the guardians. She deflected it.
It’s not really Jean, his inner voice told him. Jean wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t be here. While Cyclops had to agree it didn’t make it easier, knowing what he’d have to do. What if he was wrong? She flung him across the room. Cyclops had had enough of falling down and being pelted into walls. He shot a series of short blasts at her as she flung him once more. She dropped him, putting her attention towards deflecting the beams, which he forced himself to dodge. He wasn’t altogether sure they’d hurt him, Alex’s blasts didn’t, but he didn’t want to risk it. He did it again, and again, one blast finally hitting at an angle that caused her to spin, turning her back to him. This was his opening, his one chance. Cyclops let go a focused beam, just as he had with the others, aimed at her heart. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, as soon as the beam hit her, “so sorry.” ‘Jean’ fell to the ground and didn’t move. Knowing he had succeeded Cyclops collapsed. Ignoring his physical pain Cyclops curled himself into a fetal position, broken in every sense of the word.
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Post by Apocalypse on Jun 3, 2006 12:46:15 GMT -5
Apocalypse watches the final battle from a room above the labyrinth. As it draws to an end He moves in to the chamber. " Cyclops you have past all test. You've shown that no matter who you face you will fight to survive and, that is all i ask of you from this day forth is to be stong and survive the war we will soon enter." Apocalypse lifts Cyclops into the air and carries him to the infemiry and lays him down on a bed. " You will stay here untill you have healed from your injuries."
Apocalypse waves his hand and machines begin to work on the beatin mutant. " When you have healed we shall go over your mission for in the mansion." Apoaclypse leaves the room to let the machines do there work. He stands in the hallway for a moment and thinks to himself " He is willing to kill the wommen he loves to live. He is stronger willed than i though." Apocalypse continues the walk back to his throne room.
"The best is yet to come from this one."
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Post by Cyclops on Jun 4, 2006 17:52:08 GMT -5
Scott barely registered Apocalypse's words. Strength? Survive? He didn't particularly feel like doing any of those things at the moment. He couldn't believe that he'd killed her. It wasn't her, the same voice as before told him. Silent tears dripped down his cheeks as Apocalypse lifted him and he was too steeped in guilt to care that thanks to Apocalypse he could now easily wipe them away with the back of his hand if he wanted to.
'Mission for in the mansion' was all he heard before letting the sleep of exhaustion overtake him.
Scott groaned, opening his eyes what he guessed was the next morning. He really had no clue what time it might be and some small part of him didn't care. Whatever those healing contraptions did they did well. The pain from his multiple meet and greets with the walls had dulled. He was too scared to try to touch it though, to see if it had healed completely. He really didn't want to feel anything raw or disgusting, might make him thow up whatever precious little was in his stomach.
Scott really hadn't paid much attention to the room Apocalypse had brought him to the day before...he still wasn't sure he much cared at the moment. His stomach gurgled for sustenance but there was something else that took priority number one. He had to go to the bathroom. And while he had no idea where one might be he wasn't going to let that stop him.
Scott forced himself to his feet, the pain was definitely still there, though duller by far. He looked around, leaning for support on the medical bed. His whole body was stiff and sore. When no present solution to his problem came to mind he gave voice to his question. "Where's a frikkin' bathroom when you need one?"
There was all of one door leading out of the med lab so he decided to take it , silently wondering what he'd do if he didn't find a bathroom...or got hopelessly lost. Maybe he'd come across some ancient chamber pot.
He squashed that idea as soon as he noticed where he was. The hallway ran straight down one way, no turns but lots of rooms. Scott hurried along as much as possible and as he continued on he realized he could figure out where he was. A room to the left was Apocalypse's throne room, the door on the other side of it lead to..."My Room!" There was a bathroom in there. He hurried on, and when he reached his destination he was the happiest mutant alive.
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