Messiah!

" Uwaaaaaaah!" Bart groaned as he woke from his sleep. " Oh, man. I slept in. I'm surprised no one came to wake me for training. Must be our day off or something." Bart said as he looked out the window in his room. Bart got up from his bed and grabbed a change of clothes and quickly showered before heading down to the team's usual meeting room. But when he opened the door, no one was there. ' Okay, something's not right. And I hardly saw anyone the entire walk down here. Something's not right. Maybe I should take a look around.' Bart thought to himself as he looked around. Bart began walking through the halls.

Outside unknown to Bart, Kenji had finally gone through with his plan to eliminate Hope once and for all.

" What the hell is with everyone today?!" Hope asked in a rage as she and Kenji seemingly walked through the halls of the Facility. " Everyone's being so hostile to me all of a sudden." Hope exclaimed.

Kenji looked at the girl and smirked. " This isn't sudden. This has been a long time coming." Kenji said proudly.

Hope stopped and looked at the boy in confusion. " Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?" Hope asked Kenji.

" The way you treat people. The way you use them. You've been making enemies, Hope Summers." Kenji explained to the girl.

Hope looked around as the world around them started shifting like an illusion. Hope then realized she had been in an illusion the whole time. " What the? What's going? This feels... Wait a second, Kenji. Where's Martha?" Hope asked as she didn't see the girl. " She can't survive without being tethered... MPH!" Kenji had suddenly covered Hope's mouth with one of his tendrils.

" Enough. Martha is safe. She's just somewhere else." Kenji said to the girl. He then grabbed Hope and threw her to the ground. " You see, I might as well spoil the surprise now... I've been able to separate and control my pieces for a while now." Kenji explained as a piece of his body still attacked Hope. " I just didn't want anyone to know. It's surprising actually that you all believed I couldn't. After all, I got the idea from you. You remember? When we first met, in Tokyo. You ripped off my powers and sent a little bug flying off to infiltrate cyclops' mind. Because you wanted to control him! Like you do everyone." Kenji explained to the girl.

Hope fought and managed to rip the piece of Kenji off from her face and gasped for breath. " This is just one of your stupid mind games?!" Hope said to the boy.

" I'm surprised you didn't figure it out right away. I seem to be having trouble achieving verisimilitude. You see my mind is simply all over the place." Kenji sneered at the girl as another piece of his flesh attacked Hope.

" Dammit, Kenji! I'm telling you stop it!" Hope yelled as she tried fighting off the flesh

" Do you know what your problem is, Hope?" Kenji asked the girl and suddenly the world changed, and Hope was surrounded by monsters all over. " You want it both ways. You want to be the messiah of mutantkind. but you don't actually care about any of us." Kenji told the girl.

" I am warning you. Get your tentacles off me and let me get back to the real world!" Hope yelled to the boy.

" Fine. It's about time you wake up anyway. We're finally ready for you." Kenji said to the girl. The world started changing once again and Hope awoke in reality tied up to a cross made of Kenji's flesh. " You see, Hope. Before you can be a messiah you have to die for us." Kenji said to the girl.

Hope looked around to see nearly everyone on the Island standing before her in a zombie like daze. She looked up to see Laurie flying above her. She then looked down to see two of Emma's daughters, Irma and Celeste, and Emma herself smiling at the girl.

" AHAHA! The end of Hope! You wanted to be the messiah of mutantkind, Hope? Well, this is the reward of saviors. The ire of those who never asked to be saved." Kenji said to the girl.

' Part of me wants to believe this is a nightmare. An illusion like the one Kenji injected into my mind the first time we met. But I know this is real. Because every face I see stares into me. Like they want something from me so badly that they'll tear inside me to get it. And that's been my reality since my very first breath.' Hope thought to herself as she looked out at the many mutants on the Island. She then watched as Kenji raised himself to her face and started yelling but the words never came as Hope was still deep in thought. ' It's almost funny to think that when we first met, I thought I could help Kenji. But I can't help anyone, can I? It seems all I do is destroy everything around me.' Hope thought, she then looked up at Laurie and tears started welling up in her eyes. ' And everyone I touch.' Hope tried to use her powers to break free, but Emma laughed and grabbed the girl's head.

" No use trying to steal our powers, dear. I have taken the liberty of shutting down your brain, save for the minimum needed for you to witness your own crucifixion." Emma explained to the struggling girl.

Laurie looked down at Hope and inside a feeling of regret blossomed. ' I got in trouble once in high school. My friend Melanie got us invited to hang out with the cool kids. They were messing around, racing cars through a quarry.' Laurie thought back to her younger years as Kenji prepared to kill Hope. ' I wanted them to think I was cool, too. So, I started racing around, reckless, in my car that was still brand new from my folks. But I lost control. Melanie barely survived. And once she was out of the hospital our friendship didn't. And it wasn't my parent punishment that hurt. It was seeing that they didn't really trust me after that. I just wanted to feel like I was part of something. But not like this.' "Laurie." A flash image of Bart raced through Laurie's mind and the girl braced herself. " Kenji STOP!" Laurie yelled to the boy. " Not like this! I don't want us to kill her!" Laurie yelled.

Kenji looked at the girl and frowned. " Taht's what this is about! We have to end her lies! And they tyranny of debt-- of supplication to a self-- appointed savior! This place-- These people have just been feeding into her! This is what we talked about! I can finally stop her." Kenji explained to Laurie he then floated up and grabbed her by her throat. " I can finally change minds." Kenji said evilly.

Laurie's eyes narrowed and she cut Kenji's tentacle off. " What?! Kenji, if you're controlling these people somehow, then we're no better than Hope." Laurie said to the boy. " We have to stop this. Let everyone go." Laurie ordered the boy but was suddenly snatched up by one of Kenji's pieces from behind.

" Sorry, Laurie. I had hoped you'd have the stomach for this. But I won't let your weakness interfere." Kenji said to the girl before casting her down to the mindless mutants below.

" NAAAAHHHHHH!" Laurie yelled as she plummeted to her death. However, before she hit the ground a red blur grabbed her and Hope from Kenji's grasp.

" NGGGH! How! HOW DID YOU GET FREE?!" Kenji yelled as he turned to see Bart holding both Laurie and Hope in his arms.

Laurie and Hope both looked up at Bart to see him smiling. " BART!" Both girls exclaimed happily.

" Sorry I'm late. Did ya miss me?" Bart asked the two girls.

" I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" Kenji yelled.

Bart looked at Kenji and started vibrating. " Simple, once I passed the same classroom five times it became pretty obvious that I was trapped in some kind of illusion. ' What the hell? I've walked past this room five times!' Bart remembered his time in his own Illusion. " Once, I figured it out I started running and vibrating my body. And when I really woke up, I was in the sea with a piece of your flesh floating beside me. Once I was freed of your Illusion, I ran and picked up a few friends." Bart explained to the boy as the rest of the lights and Shaw appeared to confront Kenji.

" Dude! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Gabriel asked.

" Raaagh! Kill that girl!" Kenji ordered his troops.

" Come on man, knock it off. Don't tell me you're about to go cliche supervillain on us." Bart said to the boy. " Because that's really the vibe you're giving off." Bart stated. he placed the two girls down and ran through the horde of Mutants towards Kenji and shoulder bashed him right off of his pedestal.

Kenji landed on the ground hard and skid to a stop. " Urgh! I am trying to free us!" Kenji yelled as he chucked a piece of his flesh at Bart.

Bart dodged the projectile with ease. " Look man, I get the moody artist thing. And I can understand why you don't like Hope. What she did was pretty shitty. I know she tries to be superior to everyone else. I know she has a way to order you all to do things you don't want. But not like this man. Not murder. How does killing Hope make you any better than she is?" Bart asked as he ran towards Kenji.

Kenji seeing that he couldn't keep up with Bart changed his body into one giant serpent like creature. " I expected as much. I've worked pieces of myself into each of your mind's months ago. Trying to break Hope's hold on everyone. But you Bart, you're different. Why? Why are you the only one who still has his free will and his dignity?" Kenji asked the boy.

" I'm sorry, Kenji. I can't answer that. But maybe it has something to do with me having a stronger will than yours." Bart explained to the boy as he ran up Kenji's body.

Kenji smirked and used a piece of his flesh to wrap around Bart's foot, catching him in place and throwing him off of Kenji and into the ground. " You don't know the first thing about me, Bart. Because you never shut up long enough to ask! So, don't pretend to know who I am! I've been planning this for months. And I won't let you show up and ruin my plans." Kenji yelled in frustration.

Bart rubbed his head and looked around at the others trying to hold off the many mutants of the Island. ' Damn, we're too outnumbered. At this rate we'll all die.' Bart thought to himself. ' Gotta try thinning these numbers.' Bart thought to himself. Time slowed down around him, and Bart began thinking over the battlefield. He turned to see Magneto forcing Teon back with metal plates and colossus overpowering Gabriel. ' Okay, gotta stop Magneto first, free up Teon so he can help Pixie with warpath and domino. Then Colossus. That will allow Gabriel to help Hope and Laurie with the frost family.' Bart thought to himself. Time began returning to normal and Bart's eyes flashed with electricity. Bart got into a runner's stance and just as Kenji tried to run him through with his tentacles, Bart took off. Bart ran towards Teon and used the boy's body as a springboard launching himself towards magneto. Bart slammed his fist into the side of Magneto's helmet and knocked him to the ground.

Teon seeing his opportunity jumped at Magneto as the man was getting to his feet and punched him hard in the side of the head again, this time knocking him out. " FIGHT!" Teon yelled.

" Good job, Teon. Fight!" Bart said to the boy. Bart then turned and looked at Colossus. ' He's tougher than the others. If I hit that metal skin of his, I'll only break my own hand. But if I run fast enough. Speed is weight. So, if I run fast enough, I should be able to send even Colossus flying with a punch.' Bart thought to himself. Bart took a deep breath and sprinted towards colossus, breaking the sound barrier in the process. And just as Colossus turned towards the sound, Bart's fist was already right in his jaw. Colossus grunted and was sent flying into the nearby sea.

" Sihal Novarum Chinoth!" Pixie chanted teleporting colossus away from the fight.

" Good job!" Bart yelled to the girl who smiled at him in return. ' Now, I just need to figure out how to stop Kenji. I can't reach him up there and the second he feels my foot on his body he'll just throw me off again. There has to be a way. I can't go to fast if I do, I could kill him. I have to...' Bart was thinking to himself however, Kenji suddenly exploded and everyone who was possessed by him started yelling in pain as his possession was undone. " What?! What happened?" Bart asked in a panic.

" I've got you. And we'll all be safe now." Hope said as she held Martha in her hands.

Bart ran up to Hope and Martha and asked once again what happened.

" Martha, she... She exploded him." Hope explained to Bart.

Bart turned and looked at the carnage that was once Kenji and felt disappointment. And sadness.

Hours later after treating those with injuries and debriefing Scott on what had happened while he was put under by Emma, Hope held a meeting with the lights to discuss the future of their group.

" I never intended things to go the way they did today. And I thank God none of you were hut. But whether I was under his influence or not, I betrayed you too, Hope. Because Kenji is gone, and I still feel that the way you've treated us was wrong." Laurie explained to Hope and the group.

" You're right, Laurie. I've been treating you all, thinking of you as weapons. It was just easier. Filling my thoughts with tactics and making our time together about drills. Especially when it seems like every time, I care about someone... I lose them. And just end up getting hurt. Everyone I grew up with. My father. Idie had to be taken from us. But the way I was running things never made it any better." Hope explained to her teammates as she began crying. "So, once I realized what my powers could do... I'd just let myself think about what I wanted from you all, and it seemed to edge you toward doing it. Because otherwise... I didn't think you'd stay with me. That's not an attempt to justify it. Just to explain why I did what I did. And to say... I'm so sorry" Hope said to the others.

" I'm glad to hear you say all that." Gabriel said to the girl. " But we didn't follow you just because of some mutant persuasion power. You saved our lives, Hope. Each of us. The first time we met." Gabriel explained to the girl

" Grrr." Teon growled in agreement.

" Wot? Not me..." Megan stated "Right, never mind. Not the point." Megan said again.

" The point is, the risk you took for us, for the future it was inspiring." Gabriel explained.

" And that's how you need to lead, inspire respect. Because you really can't demand it." Laurie said to the girl.

" Would you all be willing to give me another chance to try" Hope asked the group.

" If you're willing to listen and maybe read some books I've got on conflict resolution." Laurie replied.

" You're giving me a chance." The reformed Shaw said to the girl.

" Fight!" Teon cheered.

" And let's be honest, if we want to light up some new mutants and get this party going, I don't see any other choice." Gabriel stated.

" You're a good chip, Hope summers." Megan said to the girl. " And I doubt anything can change that."

" What about you, Bart? What do you think, man? You've been unusually quiet." Gabriel asked the boy.

" I can't say anything really. I don't know. If Hope hadn't been using her power to influence Kenji, he wouldn't have ended up like he did. Honestly, I stayed on this Island for..." Bart was saying as he took a small glimpse at Laurie. For a brief moment both Laurie and Bart locked eyes with one another and the emotions shared between the two seemed to have grown causing Laurie to smile. But Bart suddenly looked down and broke the loving contact sadly, causing Laurie to do the same. " But not for this. I don't know if I belong on this team anymore." Bart said to the lights.

Hope and the others watched sadly as Bart turned to leave the room, but as he opened the door Bart ran right into cyclops.

" I overheard your conversation and I gotta admit, I agree. you don't belong on this team. Starting tomorrow morning you'll be working with the X-Men." Scott said to the boy before walking away and leaving Bart and the lights stunned by his sudden promotion.