X-Men: Black Fire

By Paradox

BOOK I

Four

Cole dodged to the side as a metal arm snapped out to grab him. He back flipped out of the way and drew his guns, firing a shot at the arm before he landed. The energy shot severed the arm in half, dropping the clawed hand to the ground, twitching in its electronic death throes. Cole spun around, scanning the area with his guns. All about, metal skeletons of robots lay, their circuits sparking from the areas of their bodies that had been snapped open. When he saw there were no enemies left, Cole calmly slid the guns back into their holsters and looked up at the observation/control center. “So, how did I do?”

“Very well Cole,” came Charles’s voice over the intercom, “It is apparent your training was quite extensive.”

“I was trained by the best.” His voice held a hint of remorse.

“Indeed. How about we see how well you do against a super-powered opponent.”

Cole cocked an eyebrow. “Like who?”

“Like us.”

Cole spun and saw Wolverine and Gambit standing on the other side of the Danger Room. Uncertainty crept onto his face. “You really want me to fight them?”

Gambit smiled, balancing a playing card on his finger. “What’s de matter pup, afraid we’ll beat de tar outta you?”

Cole smiled and opened his arms at his sides. “Let’s dance.”

Immediately, the card Gambit had balanced on his finger crackled with energy. His fingers closed around it and he hurled it at Cole. The young assassin rolled out of the way of the energized projectile and came up running. Gambit hurled another card, but Cole merely shifted the course of his run slightly so the card sliced right by him. Before Gambit could react, Cole was on him, grabbing the hand that was outstretched with the throw, and hurling him halfway down the Danger Room.

“Try that with me.”

Cole whirled just in time to see Wolverine slice at him with his claws. Cole spun to the side of the strike and smashed an elbow down on Wolverine’s elbow, hitting him right in the nerve cluster of the joint. Wolverine gave a yelp of pain and his arm went limp, just before Cole grasped his wrist and flipped him down onto his back. Wolverine snarled and swept back with a clawed hand, aiming at Cole’s knees. The young assassin jumped over the claws and slammed both feet down on Wolverine’s face. The clawed mutant howled in pain and scrambled out of the way. When he looked up, Cole was smiling at Wolverine with a grin that rivaled his own berserker rages. “Giving up so soon?”

“Don’ bet on it.”

Cole whipped his head around just in time to see Gambit throw a card at him. Judging by the amount of energy that crackled around the simple piece of waxed cardboard, Cole knew it was enough to blow him into a thousand pieces. There was no time for him to dodge out of the way, so Cole did the only thing he could.

He spun and caught the card. Gambit’s mouth dropped open as Cole hurled the card back with deadly accuracy. An explosion later and Gambit was nothing more than smoke and ashes. Cole felt something grab his arm and spin him around. He found himself face to face with Wolverine, and he was not happy. A flash of bone was all the warning he had before three of Wolverine’s claws appeared before his eyes. Out of pure instinct, Cole shifted the position of his body so he was inside Wolverine’s wrist. The strike stopped as the clawed mutant’s wrist struck the young assassin’s shoulder. Cole grabbed the wrist and again flipped Wolverine onto his back. This time, Cole balled up his fist and slammed it into Wolverine’s chest. There was the sound of a thunderclap and Wolverine’s body practically exploded. What remained was not enough to be considered a body.

Cole took a step back and dropped down to one knee, breathing deeply. “How was that?” he asked to the air.

“Excellent Cole. Although those where not Wolverine and Gambit, and their fighting levels were not at what the real ones truly are, you have certainly proven that you are most adept at combat.”

Cole smiled. “Hell, what do you think I was trained for?”

“Indeed, so let us see how you react to this.”

Suddenly, the Danger Room shifted to look like the streets of New York. Cole was on a rooftop, looking down at a crowded street. It seemed peaceful enough until an explosion blew out the side of a building. Cole looked over to see three men jump from the hole in the brick wall. They all wore strange costumes, giving them the appearance of super powered beings. One lanced out with a beam of energy from his hands, striking down a group of pedestrians. Cole wasted no time in waiting for the other two to attack and leapt from the roof, angling at the three. He knew that if he hit them at the speed he was going, he would break several very important bones, thereby taking him out of the fight. Calling upon his magick, he created a miniature cyclone that slowed his decent enough so that when he slammed into the men, he only felt the impact of punching one in the face. That one fell to the ground, stunned for the moment. He spun and faced one of the other men, this one with a white and gray costume. This one pulled a gun and fired at him. Cole dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, drawing out his own guns and opening fire. The energy blasts punched into the man, tearing out his insides. The gunman fell to the ground, his own weapons skittering across the sidewalk. Cole dropped the clips on his guns and pulled out two more from the tactical vest he wore, slapping them into the guns. He spun to face the one standing man.

That man smiled at him and said, “You’re good in a fight, but I bet your mind is weak.”

Cole felt something that could best be described as a tapping in his brain. He knew that normally it would have been a stabbing pain, but the young assassin had had mental barriers of magick erected within him since he was five. Unfortunately, the telepath did not know that. His face changed from glee to shock as Cole raised up the guns and fired one shot from each gun, obliterating the telepath’s chest.

A scream of fear made Cole spin and bring up his guns. His eyes went wide when he saw the man that he had stunned was holding a young girl by the throat with his other hand pressed up against her temple. His fist glowed with deadly energy, waiting to be released into the girl’s head. “Put the gun’s down.” he growled.

Cole clenched his teeth together and slowly put the weapons on the ground. He stood back up and raised his hands. “All right, you’ve got me, let her go.”

The man laughed. “You idiot, you might have taken me out even after I killed her, but now you’re both dead.”

In the instant before the man unleashed a bolt of energy that would vaporize the girl’s head, Cole whipped his hand out, as though he were throwing a baseball. In effect, he was, for a ball of crackling energy formed in his hand as he began the motion. The man’s eyes went wide a split second before his head became fine red mist. The body dropped to the ground with a thud. Cole picked up his guns and put them in their holsters before going over to the girl, who was on her knees sobbing. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

She looked up at him with complete and utter fear. “Get away from me!” she screamed.

Cole took a step back, no indication of surprise on his face. All around, people started running at him with sticks and pieces of metal. All of them were yelling, “Kill the mutie!”

With a sigh, Cole spun and walked into a nearby alley. The citizens poured into the alley.

Charles sighed and went to freeze the program, knowing that Cole would be beaten to death soon. His hand froze over the controls when he saw the young assassin appear on a rooftop a block away, unharmed. He looked up at the control booth and said, “Well, how was that?”

For a moment, Charles did not say a word. “You killed the humans?”

An expression of hurt came over Cole’s face. “What do you take me for, just look over there.”

Charles looked, and indeed the humans all walked out of the alley, looking confused and disappointed, but not harmed in any way. “How?”

Cole smiled. “Easy, I’ve been hiding in shadows for a lot of years. I’ve become part of them.”

As the young man hopped down onto the street and headed for the exit doors to the Danger Room, Charles turned to face Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine. “Comments?”

“He definitely has great combative skills,” Storm said, “But I think that perhaps he is too lenient towards violence as opposed to trying for a peaceful outcome.”

“True,” Cyclops said, “But in these situations, violence was necessary to stop the enemy from creating more destruction and killing innocent people. Also, he did not try and stop that mob that came after him, he only evaded them and then disappeared, effectively removing the cause of their hostility. All of this was in a completely passive nature and not one civilian was harmed.”

Charles nodded at Cyclops’s explanation. “Wolverine, your opinion?”

Wolverine took out a cigar and lit it, puffing away for a few moments before responding. “If we got into a scrap, I’d feel a lot better if he was on our side.”

Charles smiled at Wolverine’s blunt, yet truthful statement. “Your opinions are all dully noted and I will take them under consideration. Would you like to give your opinion as well, Kitty?”

The four of them looked over at the entrance door to the control room as Kitty passed through the door, a sheepish expression on her face. “Hi Professor.”

Wolverine chuckled. “Decided on checkin’ the kid out yourself punkin?”

Kitty shot Wolverine a look. “I, was just going to check and see if the Danger Room systems were okay.”

“Very well,” Charles said, “The systems appear to be fine, and since you obviously saw Cole’s demonstration, would you like to give an opinion?”

For a few moments, Kitty didn’t say a word. She had a look on her face that described deep thought. “Well, he’s definitely a good fighter, like Logan said, but maybe he’s a little too fierce. Maybe all of that assassination training will make him unpredictable.”

“I was an assassin too Kitty.”

The mutant girl looked over at Wolverine and blushed, realizing she had just described Wolverine as well as Cole. “Oh yeah.”

Charles smiled and shook his head. “Why don't we go have some lunch, and then we can start on teaching our young protégé some of the finer points of the team.” The group turned and headed for the mess area.


Cole was already eating when the group entered. He looked up casually at them and then returned to his meal of a salad. “You guys have a nice meeting?”

Charles floated his hoverchair so he was across the table from Cole. “I have some good news, we have decided that you would make a fine addition to the X-Men.”

Cole had started to raise his fork to his mouth and stopped, his eyes looking up at the mentor of the team. “I feel a ‘but’ coming on.”

Charles nodded. “You will require training before you start going out with the team regularly.”

“I figured as much.”

“We won’t be teaching you much in the way of combat,” Cyclops said, moving to stand beside Charles, “It’s apparent that you already have a firm grasp of that. What we will be instructing you on are ways you can better hone your powers, so they might be more effective. We will also train you in other knowledge so if we get into a battle with a super-powered enemy, you’ll know how to handle it.”

Cole stood up and took his empty plate to the sink. “Sounds good. When do I start?”

“Well, I can begin your tutelage right away if you would like.” Beast said, wiping his glasses with a cloth.

Cole smiled and pulled back the bolt on his gun, letting it snap back forward. “Let’s party.”