Sacrificial Lamb

Just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland, the world has been turned inside out. Cyclops, Jean Grey, The Beast, Iceman and Archangel rocket towards the area in the Blackbird. As they near the area, Cyclops briefs the others.
"We have a site fix, Everyone. According to the topographical display, the nexus of the event activity is definitely Edinburgh. I had hoped the reports would turn out to be an exaggeration, but..."
"If anything, Scott, the reports were understated!" Jean said.
"Take us down, Hank." Cyclops ordered.
"The instruments indicate we're being buffeted by seventy mile per hour winds!" Archangel said, as the craft began to shake violently.
"And they're coming at us from all four sides!" Jean added.
"It's him. It has to be. He's just playing with us. He could destroy us with a thought!" Cyclops said, as their craft began to shake apart.
"This baby can't take much more of this, Cyke! We're--Breaking-Up--" Bobby said as he iced over into his Iceman form.
"Jean--Cover us--Evacute Now!" Scott ordered as the Blackbird came apart at the seams.
"I can telekinetically shield us from the debris and lower us to the ground." Jean said as she gently lowered them all towards what now passed for the ground. Everything for miles around was laid out in geometric precision, like three-dimensional computer graphs.
"Everything around us keeps shifting! We'll never figure out what's going on from down here. So let me put up an ice-slide and let's see what's what from a slightly safer vantage point!" Bobby said as he formed the slide and the others followed him up.
No sooner than they had gained a little altitude, however, than they were attacked. The landscape itself seemed to come alive and attack them.
"Keep our underbelly protected, Bobby!" Scott ordered.
"I'm fortifying my ice-slide now!" Bobby replied.
"My optic blasts and Jean's teke bursts should keep us covered from above." Scott said, as he and Jean blasted away at the many geometric forms that now attacked them.
"Trapezoids, hexagons--The expanded landscape measured in the femtometers--Incredible! I feel like I'm being assaulted by seventh-grade-trig-books!" Beast said, as he jumped and leaped to avoid the attacking forms.
"It doesn't get much better up here. There is a focal point from which all this activity is expanding. And someone--Or something--Is trying very hard to keep us from reaching it! These attacks have yet to prove dangerous. They're more of an obstacle than anything else." Archangel said, as he used his metal razor-edged wings to slice through one of the obstacles.
"I read you, Archangel--And I agree." Cyclops said, as he continued to blast away.
"But an obstacle from what? Why keep us from reaching the heart of the city? Well, we're almost there as it is. Curious. If he's that powerful, couldn't we have been stopped already?" Jean asked.
"Permanently. Before we set foot on the ground. Maybe he doesn't want to stop us--Or maybe it isn't even him!" Cyclops answered.
"I have a feeling we're about to find out." Jean said, as the outline of a man, made entirely of a greenish energy substance, appeared before them. With two women floating on green disks of energy before him.
"Good Lord...I was hoping I would be wrong." Cyclops said.
"Oh, you weren't wrong, Cyclops. You know one of our mothers, Moira MacTaggert. My other mother is Erika Benson. She prefers to be called Harness. I didn't know which side to place each of them on...from a political or Biblical stand-point, that is. For those of you who do not know us, our name is Proteus. Welcome to our new world!" Proteus told them.
"Our? Moira, what's happened here?" Cyclops asked.
"The creature is an amalgamation of my son, Kevin--And the son of this A.I.M. assassin--An energy absorbing lad named Gilbert. Gilbert and Kevin have turned anyone and everything in this city into some sort of math equation." Moira explained.
"I'm on him from behind, Cyclops. Just nod if you want me to attack." Archangel told them from just above and behind Proteus.
"There is no reason for us to fight. And you should tell that to your friend above me--Or better yet--We'll tell him ourselves!" Proteus said, as he turned Archangel's wings into soft putty. Jean caught him and telekinetically lowered him to the ground.
"Take him down fast, X-Factor!" Cyclops ordered, as he blasted, full-force with his optic blast, at Proteus.
"Don't insult us, Cyclops! Don't abuse us like everyone has done to us all our lives! We ARE the reality you stand in. Accept that fact. Don't engage us in pointless combat." Proteus told them as he shrugged off Cyclops blast as if it were nothing.
Iceman moved in and covered Proteus completely in ice and kept pouring it on until there was soon a mountain of ice covering Proteus.
"You can stop now." Proteus said from right behind Bobby.
"Huh--? How did you--? What are you--No--NOOO!" Bobby screamed as his iceform began to melt and he disappeared into a puddle of water.
"Bobby! Proteus--What are you doing to him?" Hank asked.
"Doing unto him as he would do unto us!" Proteus answered.
"We aren't your toys, Proteus!" Jean told him.
"Don't think about attacking us. Bad choice of words, you don't think as well as you used to, do you, Ms. Grey? No more telepathic abilities. Phoenix. Not Phoenix. Dead. Not dead. We know you, Jean Grey. We are you. Everything and nothing. Let us help you look into our mind, Ms. Grey. Look at what we are." Proteus said, as he linked his mind to Jean's.
"I--Don't--No--You--You were so alone!" Jean said.
"Dead but not dead." Proteus answered.
"And you liked it?" Jean asked.
"For the first time in Kevin's life, he was part of something good! Until we were wrenched from our peaceful bliss into this! We are going to show Gilbert the same happiness Kevin knew. We are going to restructure this world--Give it a sense of order--A sense of logic. All we want is to understand our place in this world--Is that so much to ask?" Proteus told them.
"No--But do you have to take the rest of it with you?" Cyclops asked him.
"I'm ready, Scotty. This had best work." Hank said. He had donned steel gloves, remembering that Proteus had been defeated before by his aversion to metal.
"Go Hank!!" Cyclops ordered, as he once again blasted away at Proteus to buy Beast the time to leap forward and plunge the metal gauntlets into Proteus's energy form.
"What--Metal gauntlets around your arms? Yes. We were defeated in our previous life by such an assault. Well, I'm sorry to say, it won't work this time. Our energy form is no longer allergic to metal. It's over. You've lost. That's that." Proteus said, as he enveloped them all in energy and they simply disappeared.

As X-Factor re-appeared, otherwhere, they were greeted by a familiar voice.
"It's about time you got here. We've been waiting for hours." Cable told them.
"Quite a grouping. Cable's crew I'm familiar with--and Moira MacTaggert's Muir Islanders as well--The rest of you--Are The New Warriors, Right?" Cyclops asked.
"Yes, Sir." Marvel Boy answered.
"Someone mind telling us where we are and how we got here?" Cyclops asked.
"It's a bit of a complicated story. Both X-Force and The Warriors got involved in a plan run by A.I.M. to recreate Proteus. They were using an energy-absorbing mutant boy named Piecemeal and his mother, Harness, to gather the dispersed Proteus energy across the planet. We all went to Muir Island to gain Dr. MacTaggert's help. Then we confronted Harness and Piecemeal in an attempt to prevent the reformation of Proteus. Obviously we failed. Piecemeal and Proteus merged into one being...And Edinburgh exploded. Marvel Boy explained.
"Next thing we knew, Cyke, here we were!" Cannonball added.
"And exactly where the heck is that, Sam?" Iceman asked.
"We've been talking about that...We think we're inside Proteus's mind!" Domino told him.
"But there's nothing here!" Jean said.
"Exactly! Proteus is showing us what it was like to go through the things he went through." Night Thrasher explained.
"No...That can't be right...Proteus showed me what was inside his mind. He's turned Edinburgh--Trying to turn the whole world--Into a reality of mathematical structure and order! It's how he found peace while in his discorporated state of death." Jean said.
"Then why send us here? He doesn't need to get us out of the way." Hank asked.
"Maybe he's showing us what it was like before..." Jean said.
"Before what?" Nova asked.
"I can't explain it verbally--You have to see it--I wish I had my telepathic powers--I'd show you what Proteus showed me..." Jean told them.
"Hey, Honey, Telepathy? That would be me!" Legion told her.
"I guess it would, wouldn't it, Legion? All right then--Let's establish contact with your telepathic personality." Jean said, as Legion's power flowed through her and through her into all the others, linking them telepathically. They all saw a void, a void filled only with geometric figures and shapes.
"This loneliness, isolation, pain--The serenity--Understanding--Belonging--Happiness! The energy wavelengths Proteus's body discorporated into, took on patterns of reason and structure, to an individual who had never known such things! He was happy here! After a life of misery, he was finally happy!" Jean explained to them all.
"Jean--Break the contact--I understand what we have to do now--!" Cyclops said.
"What is it, Scott?" Jean asked, after she had broken the link.
"This level of existence--This all-encompassing nothingness--If this is what Proteus defines as happiness--Then this is what we should try to give him!" Scott explained.
"But the only way to do that is to kill him--He only entered this state after he died." Night Thrasher said.
"And we all know he's too powerful to kill, right?" Scott answered.
"Then you're saying the only way to stop Proteus may be to convince him he can't be happy unless he's dead?" Namorita asked.
"We have to make Proteus want to end his existence. The only way to save earth--Maybe all of reality--Is to get Proteus to commit suicide!" Scott told them.
"How could you even consider it!" Namorita said.
"We can't do that!" Sam added.
"It makes sense!" Night Thrasher said.
"Everyone please--I fully understand the ramifications of what I'm suggesting--And of course we should discuss what our course of action should be..." Scott explained.
"I don't know if I like this, Scotty. Our job is to save mutants, not destroy them!" Hank said.
"We do what we have to do! Mutant or not--This thing is simply too powerful to get into an ethical discussion over!" Domino said.
"That can't be the answer, Domino. If there's a chance t' help Proteus, we should--Think of all the good things he can do for the planet!" Sam said.
"Let's not be ridiculous here, People! We're dealing with two arrested personalities which have been abused since childhood! What are we going to do--Help them 'Come Around' to a decent way of thinking?" Archangel asked.
"We waited for you, Warren. We helped you 'Come Around.'" Jean told him.
"Fekt! Enough of this babble! What difference how our foe is defeated--The ends are what matters, not the means!" Shatterstar said.
"I gotta agree with Shattybuns. Geez, we've all led pretty much miserable lives! Why should Proteus get special consideration if he can't handle the hand he's been dealt?" Feral said.
"The very fact that we have been through it should allow us some measure of compassion. We should be trying to help Proteus." Jean said.
Cable looked at the woman who had raised him and taught him so much. He remembered all the sessions, teaching him to control his techno-organic virus. He remembered how she used to hold him gently in her arms and put him to sleep with stories of a time when heroes walked the earth and people with special powers used them to help others, not to lord over weaker people. And he wondered how he could have forgotten so many of those stories and the deeper meaning that they had held. He remembered his own pain when she and his father had been taken away from him and sent back to their rightful place in time. He remembered all of this and turned to the others and said,
"I agree with Grey."
"You agree with the open hand approach? I understood your preferred adage has always been, 'In order to save the village, we had to burn it'!" Hank said.
"You don't know anything about me, McCoy. Leave it at that." Cable told him.
"Come to think of it, Gang, this is really stimulating conversation and all, but...Even if we decide what to do, how the heck are we gonna get outta here?" Feral asked.
No sooner had this been voiced, however, than the whole group was transported once again, to reappear in front of Proteus.
"You have felt what we felt. Seen what we've seen. What have you learned?" Proteus asked.
"Actually, we're having a major difference of opinion. We find ourselves with two ways to address this situation." Scott told him.
"Oh, do you now? We find that rather amusing...Since we are in control here!" Proteus told them.
"Of course you are--We're trying to help you make the right choices--For yourself and humanity." Marvel Boy said.
"Kevin--Gilbert--We know you've been treated unfairly in life--But there must be another way to solve your dilemma!" Jean told him.
"How? Do I rejoin humanity--Moving from host body to host body--Burning away the facade of flesh you all hold so dear? What do I do? What can I do?" Proteus asked.
"Let us help you! There may be a way we can create a permanent host body for you!" Namorita said.
"Your recreation was the result of certain people who were trying to use you as a weapon." Marvel Boy added.
"Use me? Always to use me! Abuse me! Hurt me! Hate me!" Proteus said.
"Something good can come from this, Proteus! They were workin' on a humanoid shell-casin' t' put your energy form in!" Sam said.
"You wouldn't need to use human beings as host bodies!" Warpath added.
"I would still be a freak! An outsider! An outcast!" Proteus said.
"Look at us, Boy! Look At Us!! One way or another, we're all freaks, outsiders and outcasts!" Cable stepped forward and told him.
"That's not good enough for us! That's not what we need!" Proteus replied.
"What they need is a good, swift kick in the butt!" Nova said.
"You're more'n welcome to go ahead, Nova." Sam told him.
"Well...I meant it figuratively..." Nova replied.
"Nova, Jean, Siryn, Firestar, Namorita, Sam, Warren--Get up There--Keep trying to reason with him! But offer him the alternative as well!" Scott ordered.
"Scott--!" Jean started.
"I don't like it any more than you do. But the choice has to be his!" Scott said.
"NO!" Cable shouted.
"The stakes are too high, Cable! I don't know what's burning up inside of you, but let it go! This isn't the time or the place. Let it go!" Scott told him.
Cable wondered if this was how he made the decision to send him two thousand years into the future. With no feeling, no compassion, no love. To just let go of every good and noble feeling you ever had and just issue a cold dispassionate order. Cable looked his father in the eye and told him,
"I let it go a long time ago, Summers. Do what you have to do."
"Flight team--GO!" Cyclops ordered.
"What would you have us do, Mothers?" Proteus asked the two women before him.
"If you've found happiness, Son, go to it--Let it be a part of you--But ye've no right to impose it on everyone else." Moira told him.
"No! You can fight back, Gilbert! I can show you how to use people the way you've always been used!" Harness told him.
"That's not what I want, you savage!" Proteus said.
"Kill them all, Gilbert! Kill Them All!!" Harness screamed.
"I--I can't!" Proteus said.
"I once said I wished ye could find a peace in death ye never had in life, Kevin--And ye did, Son! Let go o' this world!" Moira told him.
"What are you going to do, Proteus? What's it going to take to make you happy?" Jean asked him.
"Being normal. Being with them--And having them love us..." Proteus answered with unshed tears in his voice.
"What if they can't?" Marvel Boy asked.
"What if they're too human to give you what you need?" Jean added.
"Then we want none of it. We want nothing of the burdens your flesh brings. Nothing of it's saddened tears." Proteus answered slowly.
"You're willing to let this all go, Proteus?" Jean asked, tears now running down her face.
"And go back...Yes...I am..." Proteus said.
"But why?" Jean asked, now crying openly.
"We understand now--No matter how much we wanted this life to be right for us--It never will be...There is too much that we need, which you cannot provide us...There is too much we demand of reality, which it can never--Should never--Be required to fulfill. We'll never be happy in your world, your world will never be happy in ours. Like so little else in our lives has ever been, that much is very clear to us...Good-Bye Mothers--We leave this world the way we found it...Forever Flawed...And we choose to go...Someplace better..."
With this everything was suddenly back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.
"Yow!! Everythin's back to normal--No matter how cruddy that may be." Tabitha said.
"No...no." Cable whispered to himself, as a lone tear rolled down his face.
"It's over. We couldn't save him from himself. He couldn't save us from ourselves." Jean said, as she rejoined the others.
"We can't make it that easy! Harness I could understand, but Moira--Didn't you even care for your own son?!" Cable asked.
"Cable, I cared enough t' know I couldn't give him what he needed..." Moira answered. What Cable and the others, still, didn't know was that Moira was still under the control of a supreme telepath known as The Shadow King and that he had suppressed all Moira's feelings in the matter and only wanted to get his vassels back to Muir Island.
"Maybe--Just maybe--He'll be happier without humanity than he ever was with it." Cyclops said.
"But we'll never know that, will we, Summers?" Cable said, stepping forward and adding, "Because we did everything we could do to take the choice away from him...And we'll all have to live with that decision...But Kevin MacTaggert and Gilbert Benson had to die with it..."
Everyone fell silent at Cable's words...For in their heart of hearts...They knew them to be true.

Perched atop a mountaintop in Vail, Colorado, is a mansion owned by the External known as Gideon. Inside Gideon and the mutant known as The Toad discuss these events...
"It is a draw." Gideon says.
"Are you sure?" Toad asks.
"Positive. The game is inconclusive. In all ways. I had wanted to mass-produce Proteus as the ultimate tool in my control of this planet's economic structure..You sought to ingratiate his tortured psyche--And formidable powers--To participate in your Botherhood of Evil Mutants." Gideon explained, as he poured them both a drink.
"It was a good gambit for us both, wasn't it, Gideon?" Toad asked.
"Indeed, my dear Toad. And there's always tomorrow, after all." They both raised their glasses, in a toast, as Gideon said,
"To the kings of life, the kings of death, and everything in between...To The Kings of Pain."