ISSUE # 124

" YOU DARE?! NONE MAY TOUCH EXODUS!!!" Exodus exploded with rage unfelt by any before. With a wave of his arms the X-men-Cyclops, wolverine, Strongman, Iceman, and Cannonball- that were attacking him were flung away like children. Leaving Storm alone to face the man.

Colossus fought with Frenzy, overpowering the woman quite handily, while Emma did her best to try and coordinate the battle, while also searching for the baby, Cable, and Bishop.

" You X-men never learn!" Scalp hunter shouted. He lunged at Ian with one of his blades and Ian grabbed the man by his throat, catching him in the air with ease.

" No! You're the ones who never learn, Scalp Hunter. Things have changed. The rules haven been changed. Now we play it your way." Ian told the man. He grabbed Scalp Hunter's throat and his right leg and pulled with so much force, he tore the man in half.

.....

Xavier's institute.

At Xavier's, things had finally calmed down for Hank. He had successfully managed to stabilize all of the mutants that currently filled his med-room.

" Aaaaand are meeting Wolverine and X-23 and some other people at an island called Muir Island to find Bishop and the baby. Crazy right?" Megan explained to Kurt who had finally woken up from his surgery.

" Gott Im Himel... How long was I out?" Kurt asked Hank. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How things had gotten so out of hand since he lost consciousness.

" Honestly Kurt, I don't even know. We've just been reacting to one crisis after another." Hank told the man.

Suddenly predator X came crashing through the walls of the medical wing, with Nezhno and Armor holding onto it.

" Watch out!" Armor yelled.

She and Nezhno held tightly to the creature, trying to keep it from eating the unconscious. Julian. However, the beast proved too strong. It nearly clamped its sharp teeth down on Julian's head, when Kurt managed to teleport the boy and the others out of the way.

" Ohmigod Nezhno Hit it!" Megan yelled.

Nezhno and Armor both continued trying to overpower the creature, but any attempts to harm the creature proved fruitless.

Coming to a skidding halt into the infirmary were the New X-men. They were the ones who had been fighting the predator when it suddenly changed course and went after the injured.

" He did you guys see a big- Never mind!" Santo yelled. He was halfway through asking his question when he saw the creature attacking the others.

" Anole, Rockslide, Dust- try to surround it., keep it away from Josh and Julian." David ordered the others.

" Mercury, X-23's claws could hurt it, see what you can do." Noriko yelled to the metallic girl.

" Wait!" Megan yelled. " X-23! Ian! They killed one of these things. Santo told us. I can take it to them!" Megan exclaimed happily. The girl was in such a panic that she wasn't thinking carefully.

" Megan what are you!?" Noriko was asking a girl.

However, Megan had already cast her spell, and nearly everyone in the room was teleported.

... Muir Island.

" This is getting us nowhere!" Scott exclaimed. " Ian, Logan, break off, and kill them all. Just get to that baby!" Scott demanded.

Ian looked down and grabbed Sunfire by his throat. He was ready to deliver the killing blow.

That's when it happened. In a bright flash of light, Noriko, Anole, Rockslide, Beast, Nightcrawler, Nezhno, Armor, Dust, Cessily, Pixie, and Predator X, all of them teleported right on top of Ian.

" What the hell?!" Ian exclaimed.

Predator X jumped on top of him and started biting and clawing at him.

Ian fumbled around with the creature, it wasn't able to hurt him, but this one was different from the ones he had killed before. It had evolved. Even with his strength he couldn't harm it from the outside no matter how much he punched at it, and he was running out of energy inside his body to attack with. The creature and Ian ended up thrashing around so much and ended up crashing through one of the Islands labs.

" Gah, Stupid, best!" Ian caught himself on one of the walls and used the momentum to throw himself back onto his feet. Predator X leaped at the man and Ian back handed it away. But predator X wouldn't stay down.

Predator X got back up and started to pursue Ian again, when it suddenly stopped. It sniffed the air and then turned, and ran.

" That can't be good." Ian stated.

He followed after the creature to stop it from doing whatever it was it was about to do, alone.

Meanwhile.

" Cable!" Xavier called out for the man. Xavier had managed to find the baby.

" I'm here." Cable replied. He appeared from the shadows in front of Xavier and held out his hands.

" Take the child. Escape into the future." Xavier told the man as he handed him the baby. " I'm going to aid my X-men."

" Understood. Thank you, Charles." Cable told the man. He took the baby form Xavier and Xavier disappeared back down the stairs to help the X-men fighting outside. " Well... Just you and me again, kid. Let's go." Cable spoke to the baby.

" You're going nowhere! It ends here, Cable. That baby dies!" Bishop exclaimed. He stood in front of Cable ready to kill both him and the baby, when the sound of a wall exploding caught both of their attention.

" Incoming!" Ian yelled. He and predator X burst into the room from the wall and crashed right into Bishop.

" What the hell is that?" Cable asked.

Ian got up from the ground slowly, watching as Predator X mauled Bishop.

" That is a very big, and very hungry problem." Ian told the man.

Predator X, then turned away from Bishop, leaving him barely alive, and then faced Ian and Cable and started charging them.

" Move!!" Ian shoved Cable out of the way and caught predator X as it jumped at the two of them. " Fuck!" Ian yelled as he and predator X crashed through the wall. They both began plummeting towards the ground and landed back in the middle of the fight.

Needless to say, everything was chaotic.

Between fighting Bishop, the Marauders, finding the baby, and now predator X. Ian was confused on who or what he should focus his attention on. Thankfully, Predator X made it easy for him to choose.

" Logan you and X-Force help Ian kill predator X!" Scott yelled to Logan.

" Right!" Logan replied.

Logan, Laura, Warpath, and Hepzibah quickly rushed to help Ian fight the big beast.

" Need a hand, kid?" Logan asked.

" Yes!" Ian yelled. Predator X had caught one of his arms in its mouth and was dragging him along the ground. " I can't hurt this stupid thing." Ian exclaimed.

" Bullshit. you just need to dig a little deep." Warpath exclaimed. He jumped onto Predator x's back and dung his knives into it. However, the moment he pulled them out, the wounds just closed up. " Okay, this might be a little more difficult than I first Thought!!!" Warpath found himself thrown off the creature's back.

" Let me take a shot." Logan exclaimed.

But his claws proved to be just as inefficient, as even though they managed to cut it, the wounds healed once again.

" Okay, this is going to be a problem. We're not making a dent in this thing." Logan stated.

" You think?" Ian asked the man. He was on the ground trying to keep Predator X from trying to eat him.

" James taught me charming human proverb. If at first, you don't draw blood. Change up." Hepzibah exclaimed. She pulled out three small capsules from her pocket and threw them at Predator X, the blast was good at getting Predator X off of Ian, but other than that it was ineffective.

Ian rolled over and bounced up to his feet, regrouping with Logan and the others.

" Okay, blasting, stabbing, punching, and explosions. None of that worked. Anyone else have any ideas?" Ian asked the group.

Logan looked at the creature and then to a nearby ledge and his brain started to move.

" I'm working on something." Logan replied. " Can you get its mouth open?" Logan asked.

" That doesn't seem to be a problem. The damn thing won't close its mouth at all." Ian replied.

" Keep it in one place and try to get its mouth open wide. I'll be right back." Logan exclaimed. He took off running leaving Ian and the others to deal with predator X alone for a while.

" Hold it in one place. great." Ian exclaimed.

Predator X ran and jumped at Ian like a mindless beast looking for a meal. But the moment it left the ground, Ian caught it in his arms.

" Got it!' Ian yelled. " Logan! If you're gonna do something! Do it now!" Ian yelled.

" Right! Just hold right there! Let me take a good look inside!" Logan shouted. He jumped at Predator X, soaring straight into the beast mouth, shocking everyone, including Ian.

" Logan!!" Laura yelled in absolute terror. She along with the others began cutting and punching at Predator X, trying their best to free Logan from the beast's stomach. " Nuuur! You won't take him! Not you! Not you!!!" She yelled.

" What the hell were you two thinking?" Warpath asked Ian.

" I didn't know he was going to do that?" Ian replied. He grabbed Predator X and slammed it hard on the ground, doing his best to keep it in one place. But the beast was just so big and wild, that it was hard to keep control over it. " Come on, Logan!"

* Skrutt,

Suddenly one of Logan's claws exploded out from the creature's skin and tore a line straight down the beast's body, disemboweling the creature.

Logan came sliding out of the beast's stomach, covered in blood, and the creature dropped to the ground dead.

" Heh! You know what they say, Beauty's only skin deep." Logan joked.

Ian took one look at the man and the beast and then shook his head.

" I'm so fucking done with this bullshit!" Ian collapsed onto his back and just sighed. The chaos of it all finally becoming too much for him. " The baby, the Marauders, this damn thing. What's next?" Ian asked.

" What? Not having fun?" Logan asked.

" Fuck you." Ian groaned.

" Come on, runt. Let's go see this to the end." Logan told the man.

He picked Ian up and helped carry him to their final destination. To the end of the line.

The X-men, all of them, began to converge on Scott and Cable's location, and there they watched as Scott held the Baby in his arms.

Quietly, Scott looked down at the baby. His thoughts were running wild. Here was a pivotal moment for all of Mutant kind. Their fate was riding on his decision.

" Nathan." Scott finally spoke. " Take her." Scott turned to Cable and handed him the baby girl.

" What?" Cable asked the man.

" Take her out of here. Let her be herself. Choose for herself. And not be a key, or a strategic resource or a playing piece in someone else's game. Give her the freedom I was never able to give you." Scott told the man.

Cable nodded and took the baby girl into his arms.

" Summers."

" Scott."

Hank and Logan both spoke up. Neither of them were sure what Scott was doing was the right thing to do, especially after everything they had went through to finally find her. But Scott didn't care.

" Leave it." He told the others. " Nathan, do you need any help getting back to mainland?" Scott asked the man.

" No. I've got my temporal circuitry I took from Forge." Cable replied. " Scott, I."

Scott cut the man off and placed his hand on his shoulder.

" Save it for a better time. This isn't goodby." Scott told his son.

" No. It isn't." Cable replied. " I'll drop by as soon as we're settled. Give you a progress report. Until then take care." Cable pushed a button on his belt, and he quickly began to fade away.

However, unaware to the others, Bishop returned. And just as Cable faded away, Bishop fired at the man, missing Cable and hitting Xavier right in his head. Multiple bullets riddled Xavier's body and the man dropped to the ground, dead.

Scott immediately returned fire, blasting Bishop right in his face.

" The professor! Is he?" Scott started to ask.

" It's a head shot Cyke!" Logan exclaimed. " And man... It's deep. He's not breathing."

" Back off everyone and let me look at him." Hank yelled. He rushed through the crowd of people surrounding Xavier and put his finger on his neck to check for a pulse but felt none. " Oh no. Oh, Charles."

The X-men gathered around the body of Charles Xavier in shock and disbelief.

" Scott... What do we do now?" Bobby asked the man.

" Pray. Pray that child's birth means something. That we won't be the last. that there's still something good left in the world." Scott replied. He paused for a moment, and then spoke again. " It was his dream, wasn't it? It began with him, and it ends with him. As of this moment-- There are no X-men." Scott exclaimed.

The End of An Era. The X-men Are done? But what about Logan and his team? The Purifiers are still out there plotting on Mutant extinction. And what of the new dangers that are surely going to pop up?

Find out what happens in the Dark Days.