FicWad

No fancy disclaimer for this chapter but we do have a fight in here to make up for the lack of torture.


Clash of the Titans


Harry Potter sighed in annoyance as he watched the various members of the Order watch him and the other two closely. They had managed to sneak past all of Britain, the ocean, and across the entire U.S.; you’d think that would entitle them to some consideration, but rather than being able to do that they would rather, he and the other two sat here doing nothing. He was muttering to himself, while Hermione was immersing herself in some book or other.

“So, now what? I mean, we did come all this way to help, not to be babysat,” Ron growled, as he tossed the card castle he had been making to the side. “What’s the point in us being here at this mansion if there’s nothing for us to do?”

Hermione looked over the edge of her book at her friends. “I agree with Ron on this. We came here to help people that need our help, but the Order is trying to control us yet again.”

Harry nodded at his friends. “When Buffy comes back, we explain the situation to her. Till then, I suggest we try and find out what it is that we can -- maybe we can pick up on some info that will help us out as well.” The other two nodded at their friend’s plan, though they knew it would be hard to listen in, what with Moody watching them like a hawk. The old Auror obviously felt responsible for having let the trio escape from the Order and Ministry.

They watched as a number of witches and wizards were being called; even Hagrid was getting called away, leaving Remus and a handful of others to stay.

“Looks like things are starting to heat up,” Ron said, “they’re moving way too many people for this to be a simple reinforcement. Something big is going on.”

“Agreed,” Harry said, frowning, “but we’re not being left with an awful lot of people here.” The teen shivered as he felt an uneasy feeling of dread loom up on him. “Oh, not here,” the black-haired boy growled, as he turned to see a group of Dementors heading in their direction.

“Remus! We’ve got company!” Harry yelled as he rose quickly, his wand sliding into his hand. Everyone that was waiting turned to look at the approaching monsters.

Remus paled as he saw the creatures.

“Who are the Lord of the Ringsrejects?” a voice asked, as Dean Winchester pulled out a shotgun, and drew a bead on one of the creatures coming closer. The young man didn’t like those things, and the closer they got, the more he heard his mother screaming, and heard the sounds of her body being engulfed in flames. “Wrong thing to do, assholes,” the man said, as he blinked the tears away.

“Get out of here, you can’t do anything.” Remus growled, as he shot a silver looking dog toward the group of approaching monsters.

“Like hell I can’t,” the younger man returned, as he fired into the black cloak. An inhuman screech filled the air as the rock salt round tore through the Dementor.

“How can you even see it?” Remus asked in surprise.

“Kind of hard to miss a big ugly thing like that,” the blonde man returned, as he reloaded his gun. Another Dementor came at the demon hunter while his hands were empty. Dean dropped the gun, and reached for the gun under his jacket, already knowing he was too late, as inside his head, he could hear his father’s disapproving voice start berating him for sloppy work.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!!” three young voices cried out. Everyone turned and watched as a giant silver stag led an otter and a misty creature that didn’t seem to have any real form at the Dementors. The three Patronuses knocked the main group of Dementors back, giving Sam a chance to try the brothers’ flamethrower.

“Hell, yeah!” Dean cheered, as he shot at another black-cloaked demon. “Any idea what these things are, Sammy boy?” he hollered.

“They’re unknown killers,” Sam replied tersely. The flamethrower was having trouble in staying lit. “I’ve read a book or two that has brief mentions of them; rock salt hurts them a bit, and fire slows them down. Other than that, though, we got nothing.”

“Damn,” Dean growled, as he tried for a headshot on the thing that was trying to come around from the other side. He watched as a silver werewolf darted out of the wand of another witch and began snapping at the heels of another one of the demons. “How long do you think that we can last against these S.O.B.’s?”

“Not sure, though the wizards don’t seem to be having a whole lot more luck than we are.”

Dean nodded, though he did notice that the silver things they shot out of those wands were making a lot more of the bitches run off, especially the deer one.

Sam let out a relieved sigh as the black things finally backed off, the memories of Jess those things had brought back up were not ones that he had wanted to repeat. Just when he was starting to heal over that mess, those demons had to go and reopen those old wounds. He pointed the flamethrower down and looked blankly at it.

Remus shook his head a bit as he pulled out several pieces of chocolate and began passing them out to various people. Watching Sirius die and reliving the night he became a werewolf were not things that he particularly enjoyed. “Are you all alright?” he asked worriedly, as he looked at the trio, Tonks and the two Muggle brothers.

“Perfect,” Harry growled out, as the face of Dumbledore finally left his eyes. “Don’t stop watching,” Harry cautioned harshly, as everyone but the Muggles were watching him anxiously. “That was probably the first wave.”

“Kid’s right, don’t let your guards down just yet,” Dean advised, as he listened to the soundless night. And he meant soundless; it wasn’t like other towns where he could hear the chirp of some animal or other. There was actually no sound whatsoever anywhere around them. The animals are definitely smarter than the humans in this town, it seems, the blonde thought wryly to himself, as he continued looking around for a threat.

“I really don’t like this,” Sam muttered as he eyed the various buildings carefully, looking for whatever it was that might be coming. The next thing they all knew, they, like several other people in town, were assaulted by new images.


Snikt, snakt; snikt, snakt. Wolverine sheathed and unsheathed his claws in boredom, as he sat on the porch and waited for someone to attack the place. He couldn’t understand it; according to their information, this place was always being attacked by either the Bringers or by some of those super vampires. Personally, he wouldn’t mind getting a chance at some of those vamps, they sounded like they might actually be a bit of a challenge.



The feral mutant turned to look at the figure that was sitting on the porch next to him calmly sharpening a number of throwing knives, and a few staffs with pointed ends. The girl wasn’t too bad company even of she did smoke those little kid cigs. Kitty and Rogue were around somewhere as well; the two girls were pretty good at finding quiet shadows to sit and wait for something to happen.

It was something that he respected.

“So tell me, did you have to mail in for those?” Faith asked, as she looked at the weapons the guy had.

“Getting these was no walk in the park, girlie,” Logan grumbled at the woman. “Imagine having liquid metal poured over yer bones, and then ya multiply whatchya think it’d feel like by a thousand, and you get an idea of how bad it probably felt.”

“Hmm, sounds like a real shit load of fun,” Faith said dryly. “Just how sharp are those things?”

“Got a knife ya don’t want around?”

The girl nodded, as she drew a wicked looking hunting knife from the small of her back. “Yeah, I do,” she said, as she ran her finger over the weapon’s edge.

Wolverine took the weapon in his hands and examined it carefully. The blade was well balanced, the grip was also made to fit the young woman’s hand, and it smelled of blood and death. This little toy had been used to take quite a few people out.

“The way ya were holding this thing, darlin’, I presume that this toy has a story ta tell. A story that ya sure ain’t proud of, either. How’m I doin’?”

“Lot damn closer than I’d like,” the woman said, as she looked at the blade with a mixture of pride and disgust.

“Yeah? Well, that’s too bad for you, darlin’. I think ya should hang onta this blade though, and let yerself redeem both it -- and maybe you.”

“Easy for you to say,” the young woman said bitterly. She accepted the weapon back reluctantly and just stared at the blade in her hand. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she looked at her distorted reflection on the blade. “I don’t even know why I took it, but B insisted that I take it. She said I could do what I wanted with it, but that it was rightfully my knife, and that she wasn’t going to give it to someone else.” She gripped the knife tightly, and Wolverine noted that the handle was strong enough to withstand the iron grip that the girl had on it. She then slid it back into its hidden sheath at her back.

“She must think that you had to deal with that thing sooner or later, and thought that the sooner it got taken care of, then the sooner you’d be less distracted. Girl uses a lot of dumb blond comments, but she seems to have a bit of an idea of who -- and what -- she actually is,” the mutant noted. “Not sure how she can be a Summers with those qualities.”

“Yeah, well that’s B for ya; always hiding what she really is and wants. I merely peeled back her wilder side a few times, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she had more layers than we know. Let me tell you though, I’m glad it’s her in charge and not me. If it was, we would have a disaster.”

“Don’t sell yerself short ‘cause ya screwed up, kid. Blondie screwed up when she took on that winery the first time, as well.” The mutant pointed out to the girl.

“Yeah? Well, because of me a lot of girls are dead, and a lot more of them nearly did die because they were having to protect me from those uber vamps, ‘cause I was too out of it to fight. Shit! I was s’posed to protect them, not the other way around!” The young woman kicked her foot through one of the remaining rails on the porch angrily.

“Yeah, it was obviously yer fault that yer still human,” Wolverine stated dryly.

“Don’t mock me, pal, metal in your head or not, I’ll still send you through the wall if I have to,” Faith warned.

“I’ll heal, kid. You need to get over yer feelin’ like yer a failure, though. So you ain’t the best of leaders? Neither am I, but we make damn good subs, and we’re better with the one on one stuff, anyways. Now, how about you shape up already, and stop sulking, ‘cause ya made a mistake in war. We all make mistakes; the question is, though, can ya still fight, or are ya gonna freeze up on us?”

“When the action starts, I’ll be there,” Faith promised.

“Good, that’s what I like ta hear,” Wolverine said, patting her on the back.

“Hey, Wolvie,” a voice said over the communicator hidden in the buckle of the X-Man’s belt. “You still there?”

“I’m still here, squirt, what’s up?”

“Not sure, but there’s something strange going on over at the outpost that those soldiers have. There was a lot of movement over there a few minutes ago, and we thought it was just a change in shifts, but then we remembered that that was like five minutes ago.”

“Stay alert, pumpkin; I think we’re about ta have some company,” Wolverine said, he raised his head slightly and sniffed at the air. Yep. He recognized the stench that was coming at him. The Hand. He growled out darkly to himself. ‘Looks like those idjits wanna go another round with me.’ He paused and wondered just how he knew it was the Hand... for that matter, who were the Hand? The image of ninjas, dressed in black and dark red, with eyes that seemed to glow, came to mind. He focused on the memory, and watched as a sword gutted one and the body seemed to disappear into smoke, leaving nothing but the clothes and weapons. An old man wielding a pair of swords followed the image; then a man in a flashy red, white and blue outfit carrying a round shield of some kind, and a flash of a girl with red hair.

“Something up?” asked Faith quietly, looking around as she spoke.

“Yeah, something...” Wolverine said, as he tasted the air for any other unfriendly, dangerous scents. “Be alert,” he warned her as he slipped into the shadows, leaving the dark haired Slayer alone in the middle of the porch.

“He never did show me how sharp those claws of his were,” the Slayer complained to herself, as she watched the night.

Wolverine strode out to the middle of the street. “Show yerselves, you Anime rejects!” He then crouched down and unsheathed his claws. SNIKT!

“Faith, what is he doing?” Giles asked as he came to the door.

“Personally, I ain’t too sure, but I think it would be better if you stayed inside till we can figure out what’s going on,” Faith shot at the Watcher, who nodded in agreement and shut the door.

The shadows seemed to come to life as a hundred members of the Hand slipped out of the various shadows surrounding the house.

“Genin,” the mutant said, nodding to the various warriors that stood at the ready; their weapons glinted under the meager light.

“Wolverine,” the spokesman of the night said. “Tonight, the Hand gets our vengeance on you, for your crimes against our kind.”

“That a fact?” Wolverine asked. “Mind telling me what it is that I did to ya that made you and yer kind hate me like this?”

The ninja stiffened at this. “You talk as if you know not of the crimes against our kind that you have committed, yet you know us; for your words have betrayed you.”

“Losing yer memory is a real pain, bub, just the occasional flash is all that I really have, and those mainly have to do with these.” The mutant held a clenched fist up and displayed his claws. “I know yer called the Hand, and that yer level are called Genin. Other than that, I ain’t got any ideas who or what ya clowns are, or what I did ta piss ya off enough to come after me with all of those fancy pig stickers.”

“We are the mighty Hand of the First, gaijin and we will be the ones to finally send you on to your ancestors.”

“I don’t think so, bub,” Wolverine growled at them menacingly. “It’ll take a hell of a lot more than a bunch of pajama boys like ya ta take me down.”

“Which is why we have come as well, gaijin,” a new voice said, as two new figures leaped from the window where a team of soldiers had been positioned.

“Let me guess, yer the leaders of this band of cutthroats?” the mutant said, noticing that there were differences in the way they dressed as compared to the others. One was an older man who was dressed in some kind of fancy Japanese shogun robes, while the other was dressed in black ninja garb and wearing a familiar red demon mask. Wolverine inhaled the scents, they were both known to him, but while one tickled the edges of his thoughts, the other was one that he recognized, since he had only smelled it a few months ago.

“Surprised to see me, Logan-San?” the demonic masked one asked. “Now, where is my Honored Daughter? We have much catching up to do.”

“She ain’t yers, mas-Ogun.”

The figure chuckled at this. “Ah...even after all that has happened you still find it hard not to call me by the name that is my right.”

“Dunno ‘bout that one, bub, seeing how I killed ya the last time that we danced; I figure I might be the big cheese now.”

“Yes, I owe you for that one, Logan-san. Hand ninja, attack!”

Before the first weapon could be drawn, though, each person froze.


“What did ya think you were doing ta th’ boy?” the half giant asked, as he cast a worried looked down at the weakened mutant Russian boy. Hagrid hated it when something like this happened.

“Watch how the grownups do it, kid!” Juggernaut cried out to Colossus. He walked up to an abandoned MR2, and tossed the small car at the big man.

Hagrid nodded, as he set his feet to catch the incoming missile that was flying his way. Both of the large men were surprised when a new figure came seemingly out of nowhere and caught the car in their hands.

Clark carefully set the small car down before he turned to the armored man. “We don’t have to do this,” the teen tried, “we can all stop right now, and no one else has to get hurt here.”

“Kid, do ya honestly think that you can stop me?”the Juggernaut asked mockingly.

“I can stop you.” The teen assured the man assuredly, he then sent a blast of heat at Juggernaut.

The man looked down at his chest plate as two small singes now decorated his armor. “That the best ya got?”

Before the teen could answer, a black and red blur came up from behind Clark and slammed into him. The two men watched as Clark was tossed across the road into a statue of a Mayor Wilkins.

Clark shook his head as he looked up at the person that had just slammed into him. To say that he was shocked would have been an understatement, as his jaw fell in surprise at the person that stood before him. “Kal-El,” the farm boy whispered in near silent shock.

“That’s right, Clark Kent,” his double said, as he looked over the edge of the sunglasses that were sliding off his nose. “The improved version of you is here to play.”

“I’d hardly say that you’re an improved version,” Clark returned warily.

“Oh, that was just a real witty comeback, Clark. Did you think of it yourself, or did you have to get Chloe to think it up for you?” Clark swallowed nervously at this, causing his double’s smirk to grow larger. “What farm boy? Surprised that I know about Miss Wall of Weird Chloe? Please; I am you in a roundabout sort of way, and I know all about Chloe, Lana, Pete, Lex, and Dr. Swann. Hey, now there’s an idea,” the dark Kryptonian said, snapping his fingers, as if he had just thought of something monumental. “Let’s go and see the good Doctor, shall we? Catch me if you can.” Another instant and he was gone, as he ran off.

“Think you can handle this guy?” a pale farm boy asked the larger man.

“Yeah, go on, I can deal with this ‘un,” Hagrid said, waving the boy on after his double.

“Thanks.” The boy was then gone in a blur as well.

“That would be a useful trick ter have,” the half-giant muttered, as he turned back to the armored figure.

“So I guess that means it’s just you and me now, eh, fuzz face?” Juggernaut said, as he stretched himself out.

“I guess so,” Hagrid mumbled, as he eyed the man warily.

Juggernaut nodded, and wrenched a stop sign out of the street.

Hagrid walked to the other side of the street and jerked out a yield sign.


The two largest of the two sides stood together facing each other.


Witches and wizards apparated in, followed by a handful of various other people. Xander stood with the Charmed Ones, the Potentials, and Connor, watching from the shattered wall and window; the X-men dropped to a rooftop, unobserved by most of the people.

“Do we interfere, Professor?” Scott asked. He knew all about Juggernaut, A.K.A Cain Marko and what he was capable of doing.

“I’m afraid not, Scott. If we were to interfere, then I’m afraid someone could be seriously hurt.”

“That they would be; I almost wish I could sell tickets to this thing, though,” a voice said.

The group turned to see the Slayer standing by them and watching.

The First smirked and changed in a flash of light.

Xavier’s blood turned cold, as he looked in shock as his mother stood there before him. “What’s the matter, Charles, nothing to say to me?” the woman asked sweetly. The figure morphed and his father stood there, a man that had died more than fifty years ago in an explosion. “One such as you should never have come here, Xavier. Your life is so full of loss and pains that you can never admit to.” The figure shifted again to take on the image of Gabby Haller, a woman that he had loved dearly till she had been driven insane.

It had also been the day that he and Eric had parted ways.

“You’ll find it will take more than former loves and parents to rattle me,” Xavier said coolly.

“And what of you, Beauty? The figure said, as the form flashed into a dark skinned woman with blue eyes. Storm swallowed in fear, as she saw her mother with her eyes for the first time in years.

“Mother,” the weather controller choked out.

“You have turned into such a beauty, Ororo; your father would have been proud. Despite the bad blood in you that gives you your powers.” Storm flinched at this, and took a step back.

The figure then turned to the two Summers men, flashing again into a brown haired woman. The two stiffened at the form. “As for you two, I leave you with this: The family you yearn for is hidden within the life of pirates, vengeance and stars.”

“Until we meet again, X-Men.” In another flash, the figure was gone, and they all let loose the breaths that they had been holding unconsciously.

“That was not something I wanted to see,” Alex grumbled.

“Agreed, but now be silent, I think that all will wish to see this,” Xavier said as he brought his hands to the sides of his head, and reached out with his mind and touched all of the minds still in the city that were not already here watching. Whether they were people fighting for the dark, light or of the shadows he touched them and let them see through the eyes of some of the others here. Everyone froze in what they were doing, as new images came to there minds.

Everyone watched willingly and unwillingly, as the two figures stood there with their hastily scavenged weapons held ready. Like this, they were only two immense beings of destruction, which at the moment had only each other in their sights. They paused for a moment, then charged at each other, their weapons reflecting a few lights back into the night. The two swung their weapons fiercely, the signs used with such power that they shattered as they connected. The two men tossed the useless metal remnants away, and prepared to go at it hand to hand. They swung at each other so hard that their twin blows knocked each of the two figures back several feet.


Juggernaut rubbed his chest as he had got back up; he had actually felt that shot.

The two Titans charged again. This time, though, there would be no messing around. These two were near equals, and it was time to find out which one was actually the weaker of the two.

Hagrid glared coldly at the other large man in a manner that would have surprised a number of the wizards and witches that had known him just as the simple Groundskeeper and Keeper of the Keys, who had always had a fairly nice word for nearly everyone, no matter what. Hagrid looked more like the dangerous part giant right now that Rita Skeeter had accused him of being. Hagrid realized that this was a fight that he was going to have to go all out at if he was to win; he accepted that, and there was a brief flash of sadness that was quickly stowed away, even as he felt his clothes getting heavier.

Looking down, he saw that his clothes and long coat had been transfigured into a type of cloth-like metal that should protect him somewhat. The clothes then glowed for a moment, as protective charms were added. The half-giant nodded his head in thanks to Flitwick and McGonagall as they finished altering his clothes.

The two professors observed their handiwork worriedly, as their friend headed into battle.

Juggernaut grinned maliciously; now things had just gotten even more interesting. “So, ya think that new outfit will help ya? I’ll tear that fancy stuff off of ya, and slam it down yer throat!” Saying this, the Juggernaut lowered his head and charged, intending to slam the big man through a few walls to soften him up a bit.

The half-giant braced himself, but was thrown into another building despite what he had done.

Juggernaut smiled at this as he released the man. He was the unstoppable Juggernaut, and not even this guy would be able to stop him! He then laced fingers together, and slammed his two fists into Hagrid’s stomach; Marko then knocked the walls and ceiling down on top of the half-giant. Juggernaut chuckled with satisfaction; no one got up after he buried them, especially after a handful of blows like those.

He stepped back and admired his handiwork. Then, to the shock of the Avatar and several others, the stones practically blew apart as a figure stormed out of the remains of the building.

Everyone watched intently; the half-giant had gone from righteous protector to raging warrior. The difference this time, as opposed to the other times he had lost his control, was that there was no Dumbledore to talk him down anymore. Growling angrily, Hagrid lunged at Juggernaut, and dealt him several shots to the stomach and arms before he sent a wicked left hook that knocked Juggernaut up into the air, through where a second-story window should be, and through both the glass and a part of the wall.

Cain Marko scowled at the fact that he had been caught like that; no one did that to him. He was the unstoppable Juggernaut! People trembled in fear when he walked by, afraid that this would be the place that he would decide to trash. He never lost, ever, and it was time the bozo learned why the world feared the wrath of the Juggernaut! Striding over to the window, he walked out, and leaped down to the ground, landing on his feet next to the half-giant. “Now, where were we?” he asked, as he sucker punched a startled Hagrid. Hagrid stumbled back swinging blindly grazing the other man forcing him back. “Come on, wild man, surely you can do better than that,” he taunted through lips that were starting to swell from being hit.

The half-giant came forward, and delivered a right cross that sent Juggernaut flying halfway down the block. Juggernaut’s flight was stopped when he slammed into a truck, crumpling the side of the vehicle. He lay there against the truck, stunned. Hagrid uprooted a large tree and slammed it into Juggernaut’s chest; the mighty tree broke as it connected with him.

Juggernaut glared at the man before him as he got back up, he was beginning to get tired of fighting this guy, and he had come to deal with that freak of a stepbrother of his and his little cult members, not fight some fuzz face with an accent! Still, he was proving to be a really good fighter, he thought to himself, as he tore the door off the truck and threw it.

Hagrid ducked under the metal and tackled the man. The two went rolling across the street, as they both tried to force the other one down. Juggernaut grunted as they slammed into the side of the ornamental stairs that led up to the museum. The two men kicked off of each other the moment that they stopped rolling. Hagrid went flying into one of the few remaining cars on the block, while Juggernaut was pushed deep into the stonework of the stairs.

The two paused where they had been slammed and caught their breaths for a moment. It had been sometime since either of them had been in such a long drawn out one on one fight. Hagrid hadn’t actually been in a fight that lasted half this long in a couple of decades. No one had ever challenged him this much before, though those two vampires had forced him to keep moving.

Juggernaut glared at the big figure. His gem should have given him the power to crush anyone that dared get in his way. Yet, here was this jerk that had dared to do such a thing; and what was more, they appeared to be nearly equals in power. He was sure he was stronger, but this Hagrid seemed to have slightly better protections. Their fighting styles were also similar enough that neither of them seemed to be able to block the others blows, since they were in the middle of hitting the other.

The two men stumbled back to their feet and readied themselves again. Hagrid was ready a hair faster, and slammed a fist into Juggernaut’s shoulder.

Marko grimaced, as he felt something inside his arm pop where the half-giant had hit. Gritting his teeth and steeling himself for pain that he knew he would be feeling later, he delivered several punches to Hagrid’s ribs, grinning as he heard them cracking as he connected. The car that Hagrid had slammed into a few minutes ago exploded and knocked the two back into the stairs.

The two pulled themselves up, and Hagrid wiped the blood out of his face. “You really should give up, an’ stay down,” Juggernaut said gruffly, flicking his head to one side to get some of the blood out of his face.

“Can’t do that lad, I let Dumbledore down, I won’t make the same mistake with Harry and McGonagall,” replied Hagrid, as he pushed some of his long, shaggy hair out of his eyes.

“What’s the matter big guy, you got some guilt over some old fossil dying?” Juggernaut had heard this particular story several times from the Death Eaters over the past several days. He also had learned enough to know this was likely to be a sore spot for the half-giant.

The half-giant’s eyes flashed dangerously. “NO ONE INSULTS ALBUS DUMBLEDORE AROUND ME!!!” the shaggy haired man exclaimed, as he ran at Juggernaut and slammed himself into Marko, surprising the Avatar with the amount of anger being thrown at him. All of the half-giant’s grief and rage over his friend and protector’s death came out, as he began smashing his fists into the small bits of face that were visible through the dome helmet. Changing tactics, he grabbed Juggernaut by the shoulders and kneed him in the gut, then slammed his head into the ground repeatedly.

Gathering himself together, Juggernaut managed to knock Hagrid off him, and then began running with him till they slammed into the side of a building and went through that, and stopped with Juggernaut pinning Hagrid to the wall.

The enraged half-giant grabbed his opponent, and flung him around into the wall beside him. His foot then caught the former soldier in the stomach, and the man felt something give as the foot, the size of a trash can, connected. He backhanded the groundskeeper back into another wall. The two broke each other’s grips, and swung at each other again. The two fists actually hit each other, causing a small sonic explosion that shattered all of the glass and sent plaster raining down on top of them.

The two ignored the new white film that lay everywhere, and slammed their fists together again, this time causing another boom. A creaking sound was heard this time, and was the only warning they had before the entire building collapsed on top the two of them.

Figures from both sides rushed over and stood near the building as the dust began to settle to the ground.


“Are they dead yet?” a figure asked, as the last of the obvious dust settled to the ground.

“Good question,” another figure muttered.

They were all surprised a minute later. As the two erupted from the remains everyone held their breaths.

The two were now covered in injuries. “So, you give up yet?” Juggernaut asked sneeringly, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“Nevah,” Hagrid gasped out.

Some of the onlookers noticed that the bad grammar of the half-giant sounded worse than ever, and a few people saw that something was wrong with his jaw.

The two began grappling again, and somehow Hagrid managed to break the clasps on the dome shaped helmet. The thing came off in his hands; at that, not bothering to look surprised, Hagrid began slamming the man with his own helmet.

Juggernaut fell to the ground, one meaty hand going to his cheek. It came away bloody, from a fresh, large cut where the edge of his own helmet had caught him and opened him up.

Xavier smiled; Hagrid had opened up the one weakness that his stepbrother had.

Growling, the half giant brought the helmet down as hard as he could. At the same time, Juggernaut was coming up.

The watching crowd heard two distinct sounds: a crack, as Hagrid’s leg gave way and a loud gonging sound as the entire strength of the half-giant was used in knocking the huge mutant unconscious.

Hagrid dropped the helmet wearily and looked at the man sprawled out on the ground. He then weakly hobbled a few steps back, before he fell down beside the giant metal dome shaped helmet, and passed out in exhaustion.

“Quickly, we must get down there,” Xavier said urgently. “Peter and Mr Hagrid need our help now.” He felt all of the other people go back to what they had been doing; unfortunately, he was needed here and couldn’t look too deeply into their thoughts over what was happening to them. The only thing he knew was that they were fighting.

Charles felt an odd jerking sensation, and then he was between his stepbrother and Hagrid. Reaching out with his mind he entered Cain’s mind, and came upon the psychic imprint of his brother. “Hello, Cain; I see that, once again, you have been causing trouble,” Xavier said as he regarded his stepbrother. The stepbrothers-turned-mortal enemies stared at each other as Xavier connected their minds. The two looked like they had during the war.



Cain Marko and Charles Xavier looked around as they found themselves back in the place they had last stood as simply two soldiers. The two of them had once again returned to the temple of Cyttorak.



“This is not the time for us to fight, Cain, but rather unite against this threat. Is this destruction really what you want for the world?” the younger image of Charles Xavier pled with his stepbrother.



“Don’t get it, do you, brother? I don’t care one bit about the world! All I care about is proving once and for all that I’m better than you!” The image of Cain began growing, the army uniform ripped at the seams, and in the place of Cain Marko, The Juggernaut now stood.



“One of these days, that temper of yours is going to get you in trouble, Cain. Particularly when you add in those bitter feelings of yours toward me,” chided Xavier.

“That may be, brother, but you sure won’t be around when I finally do go down. You can’t escape me every time...and one of these days, I will get you.”

“Perhaps, Cain, but that day is not today. Though since you refuse to help us, I shall simply have to lock you up for now.” Unseen by Juggernaut, Charles began manipulating the energies of this mind-space to his will, concentrating fiercely while seeming cool and calm on the surface.

“HAH! No cage can hold me brother,” Juggernaut said smugly, as he crossed his huge arms over his chest.

“Not a regular one, no; but this shall be a cage with no walls for you to tear down either, Cain.” Charles’ voice seemed to echo strangely for a moment.

“What are you talking about, Charles?” The words were no sooner out of the Juggernaut’s mouth than gigantic chains appeared from the air and wrapped around Juggernaut, imprisoning him within his own mind for the moment.

“No, you can’t do this! I was so close to winning!” wailed Marko furiously, struggling against the restraints.

“No Cain, you weren’t,” Xavier explained, a hint of sadness in his cool baritone. “You lost to the half-giant, though I have to admit that there were several close calls.”

“NOOO!!” Cain Marko’s voice echoed inside his head, as Xavier returned to his own mind and body.

Xavier woke up to the real world and looked down at his brother.

“Oh, Cain. You can be quite stubborn sometimes,” Xavier said softly, looking pityingly at the unconscious man.

“Well, what do we do with him now?” a soldier asked, as he gingerly toed the massive figure.

“To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure,” the mutant leader of the X-Men admitted. “I don’t quite know what would be able to hold him when he’s like this.”

The soldier who had spoken shrugged. “It was worth a shot, Sir; we’ll just move him out of the way. Too bad we can’t send him to a prison planet though,” the soldier muttered as he eyed the big man.

“Take him to a warehouse or something for now,” Xavier ordered, “Hopefully he’ll stay out of it for the rest of the fight.”

The soldier nodded, and began bellowing orders for a forklift and a flatbed to move the man. “And how is our dear Mr. Hagrid?” Xavier questioned, as he rolled over to the man that had just saved his student.

A woman was waving a wand at the man and making faces while she did. “It would be much easier if I could heal him like a regular patient, but due to his unique heritage he is annoyingly resistant to a number of spells. Including nearly every healing spell I know of,” she added crossly under her breath. The woman paused in her motions and glared menacingly at the half-giant, as if it was somehow his fault that he was resisting her attempts to heal him.

“I see,” Xavier said worriedly. Looking up from the unconscious Hagrid, his eyes scanned for a familiar figure, and spotted the person he sought crouched beside an Army doctor beside Colossus.

“Hank,” he thought sent to his former student.

“Yes, Professor?” McCoy’s ears twitched, but he managed to keep his dialogue with Doctor West, the Army physician, going as he mind-spoke with Charles.

“I require your assistance with Hagrid; please bring your medical bag,” Xavier requested.

“Of course, Professor,” the blue furred mutant returned.

Grabbing his bag, he then began leaping and flipping toward the group. Beast took a moment to look at the destruction that had come from the two fights, and couldn’t help but shudder slightly.

Colossus obviously needed more training before he tried to take on someone like Juggernaut again, while the other fight had destroyed two or three different building, created a dozen or so pot holes, and lighted around a dozen different fires. Landing in a crouch beside the fallen man, Beast took out some of equipment and began to examine him.

“Hmm, it appears that our gargantuan comrade in arms has taken an extreme pounding on this eve, Charles. Offhand, I’d say he has been taken out of the struggle after this debacle, since he will need all of his strength to heal his multitude of grievances,” Hank began.

“I see, and Colossus?” asked Charles gravely.

“The boy has several cracked ribs, one leg broken, the other has a twisted knee, and a dent in his metallic cranium that could result into a concussion when he finally decides to power down.”

The medi-witch who had been hovering over Hagrid began an examination of the teen, and quickly summoned the small Charms professor to her side. The two of them then began the process of using their magic to heal the Russian, focusing on the dent in his head first.

The two mutants watched as Colossus’ eyes fluttered open, and he somehow managed to hold back a scream of pain as his injuries were healed. He actually crushed a brick into a fine powder before they finally stopped.

Xavier smiled sadly at his student; his head injury was as repaired as was possible at the moment. They had just lost two of their bigger muscles though, and the final battle hadn’t even begun yet. He couldn’t help but feel as if that was partly his fault, since it had been his stepbrother that did this.

One of the wandless witches walked up to him, and smiled sweetly at his student.

“Once you get some more training, you’ll be really dangerous,” Phoebe assured him.

“Thank you,” Colossus said, smiling weakly at the woman.

The young woman winked at the young Russian, and was gone off to another group.

“He’ll probably have to stay off of his legs for a few days while the muscles and tissues re-grow,” the medi-witch said.

“But... there is still so much to do!” Peter argued, as he finally returned to his human form.

“You are done, young man!” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. “Even with magic, you need to allow your body time to finish healing, or you risk damaging your legs more.”

“But...”

“I’m afraid that I agree with her Peter; you are on the reserve list for the moment unless we need your strength, and there’s no other way to do it.” Xavier looked sternly at his student.

The teen sighed. “Very well, Professor. I shall attempt to do my best.”

“You already have, Peter,” Xavier told him proudly, as he turned to all of the people that had survived the fight.