Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get what you deserve

"We done this dance once before, pup," says Sabretooth. "An' if I remember correctly, y' didn't do so well."

In all her life, Clarice Ferguson has never felt so betrayed. She was the one person on the entire team who felt that Sabretooth could be redeemed. She felt he was making progress. She felt that she had been the person who had finally reached him.

Now, she finds out that after all his time, all the progress he has made, all the compassion he showed her, it was all an act. Clarice Ferguson has never felt so betrayed.

Or so pissed off.

"Where'd ya send the river rat?" asks Sabretooth.

"Medical bay," replies Blink. "Far from you."

Sabretooth links his fingers and stretches his arms outward. He lifts his arms over his head, and works out the kinks in his body. He flexes his neck, doing some light stretches, and then his eyes open and focus on Blink.

"We gonna do this?" he asks.

"Yes," replies Blink. "And you're going to lose."

Victor Creed let loose with a loud laugh that sent shivers down Blink's spine. Her heart has never pounded as loud or as hard as it was pounding right now. She has never felt the pain of fear strike her so hard in all her years. Not even Holocaust or Apocalypse could instill such fear into her.

But then again, neither Holocaust nor Apocalypse acted as her mentor.

"Alright then pup," he says. "Let's have us a go."

Blink lifts the javelins up and hurls them with deadly accuracy. Sabretooth leaps into the air and avoids both of them. He lands, and pounces forward once more. Blink vanishes in a flash of energy and appears behind him in the air. Her leg shoots out to kick him, but he grabs it and uses it to throw her down to the ground. She falls and he leaps above her, then falls atop of her, with his elbow driving into her back. He stands and drives his foot into her side. The force causes her to flip over onto her back and slide a bit against the rough ground. She pushes herself up to her knees, but before she can stand, a large hand wraps around the back of her head and slams it into the ground. Sabretooth pulls her head up, and smiles when he sees the blood leaking from her shattered nose.

Blink places her arms on the ground before her, and uses it as a springboard to drive her legs into Creed's chest. He staggers slightly, and Blink delivers another kick to his thorax. He gasps for air, and she grabs his arm, displacing it for a fraction of a second. He cries out in pain as pink smoke emits from it.

His arm whips out and catches her leg. He uses his other arm to grab hold of her other leg, and he begins to spin her around in circles, before releasing her legs and sending her flying. He quickly rushes over to her, but she is gone.

"Behind you!"

Sabretooth turns just in time to see Blink's booted foot slam into his forehead. She prepares to deliver another kick, but before it reaches him, a portal opens in front of his chest and her leg vanishes inside it. The portal reopens by his arm, and the leg strikes a pressure point there.

Blink begins to throw her fists about, each time, the fists travel into portals and each time, the portals reopen around Sabretooth. One instance, however, Sabretooth predicts where the portal will open, and his hand wrabs around Blink's fist. He pulls on the hand, and yanks her entire body through the portal before tossing her to the ground.

His claws are a silver blur, and when Blink can see his hands again they are covered in blood. She looks down at her chest and finds four cuts across it. Her leather jacket protected her from the blunt of his attack, but the claws still cut her flesh, and the pain shoots through her body.

That moment of shock gives Sabretooth the opportunity he needs. He grabs her wrists and squeezes them with all his strength. Blink cries out in pain as she feels the bones begin to crack under the intense pressure.

"That's so ya can't use anymore o' those damn pig-stickers," he says, referring to her javelins.

Sabretooth then lifts Blink's body and drapes it around his head. He then leaps back, bodyslamming her into the ground. He stands and dusts his hands off, then spits on her body. Before the saliva reaches her, she's gone in a flash of pink energy. He turns, expecting her to reappear behind him and sure enough, she does. On her feet... barely. Blood trickles from her nose and mouth. She wipes it on the sleeve of her jacket and continues to stare at him in a rage.

"Don't... don't make me do this..." she says. "Don't make me have to really hurt you..."

"Kid, ya couldn't hurt me even if ya wanted to," he says. "Ya ain't got the stomach for killing."

Before Blink can use her powers to displace different parts of his body at different intervals, he moves forward and slams an open palm into her chest. She feels the pain as her ribs crack.

"An' lemme tell ya somethin', babe," he says. "If ya ain't got th' stomach for it, y' shouldn't be on the killing field!"

He lifts her limp body in the air and then leaps up. He spins in midair, his adamantium claws tearing through her flesh. She lands flat on her back, unconsciousness overtaking her. Sabretooth licks the blood clean from his claws and grins.

"Not sure if ya can still hear me or not," he says. "But as long as yer huntin' down traitors, why don'tcha go after the Asian?"

Sabretooth's victory doesn't last long, for a sharp pain shoots through his back. He turns to find Vargas standing there with his sword at the ready.

"Speak o' th' devil," says Sabretooth. "I was just about t' tell Blinky over here how yer workin' for Psylocke."

"Round two..." says Vargas, ignoring Sabretooth's comment.

"Oh please," says Sabretooth. He slams Vargas's sword to the side and tears into the assassin's stomach. Then, he delivers a hard kick to Vargas's face, and he falls to the side. "We'll talk once ya come outta intensive care."

Sabretooth feels the temperature begin to drop. At first he assumes that Rogue recovered from his attack sooner than expected and is using the Iceman's powers. However, it is not a typical coldness. More like something... inside of him. He sniffs the air and then he turns and sees Psylocke rise from a shadow portal. Her entire body is concealed in the shadows, save for the mark of the Crimson Dawn, which glows brightly like a beacon of energy.

"Looks like we found you first," she says via telepathy. "Lucky me."

"'Member what happened the last time you tried t' take me on?" asks Sabretooth.

"Yes, quite vividly."

The shadows seem to gather around her hand and the globule mass slowly forms into the form of a shadow blade. She swings it around, testing the feel for it.

"And I have come to a conclusion about that incident."

"An' what'd that be?" asks Sabretooth with a grin. Psylocke slowly steps into the moonlight, and Sabretooth saw that she, too, was smiling.

"Forgive the cliché—but you should have killed me when you had the chance."

"Babe, that's one mistake I'm about t' rectify!" shouts Sabretooth.

"ROGUE!" exclaims Quicksilver. In the blink of an eye, he is at his lover's side, examining her wounds. She just appeared in the middle of the medical bay. He lifts her up and carries her to a bed.

"Out of my way!" he exclaims to the rest of his teammates. He moves as a blur, insuring that he performs his task right. By the time he stops, Archangel, Pyro, and Joseph see that Rogue's body is hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor. Pietro begins examining her body, and he moves as a blur once more, gathering bandages.

"Blink must have teleported her here," says Joseph.

"Guess that means that Sabretooth didn't run off," says Pyro. "So much for that wish..."

"Looks like Psylocke and Vargas have already left to search for him," says Archangel. "Joseph, Pyro, we should go out there, too. Pietro, you should probably—"

There is a sudden gust of wind back and forth.

"Pietro...?"

Pietro Maximoff, the son of Magneto who goes by the name Quicksilver, now stands before them with weapons strapped to his body.

"Well... looks like someone paid a visit t' the armory," says Pyro.

"I'm going with," says Quicksilver. "Creed has gone too far this time."

"No," says Archangel. "We don't kill."

"I'm not going to kill him," says Quicksilver. He cocks one of the guns and looks through the scope. Then, he unleashes some gunfire at the wall. He hoists the gun up on his shoulder, and looks to Archangel.

"But by the time I'm through with him, he'll wish I had."

Psylocke expertly avoids Sabretooth's claws with fluid movements. Her lithe body combined with her skills in ninjitsu allow her to move quicker and flow in a method that is much more smoother than Sabretooth. His attacks are brash and instinctive with no sort of rhyme or rhythm. He is a wild animal on the loose, while Psylocke is the personification of grace and finesse. The smile never fades from her face as she drives her foot into Sabretooth's neck. The same place Blink struck, but Psylocke puts more foce behind her blows.

Sabretooth recovers and moves forward. His arms are spread apart and he brings them in close as he approaches Psylocke, planning to catch her with his claws. She leaps back, and as his arms cross, she brings her shadow blade down on his wrists. It travels right through him, and though there is no physical mark, Creed still roars out in pain. He feels his hands become numb and cold.

Psylocke leaps forward and performs a double roundhouse in midair. Sabretooth falls back, and she continues her assault on him. She brings her sword down on his arm, and he cries out again as the darkness seems to envelope him.

She plans each attack before she makes it, insuring that each blow is well-placed. She never skips a beat as she pounds on him. The last time these two faced off was in the Danger Room, when Sabretooth was a prisoner of the X-Men. She was trying to distract him so Boomer could get away. However, she was overconfident in her skills, and Sabretooth took her to the brink of death. If not for the Crimson Dawn, she would have died.

The memory burns in her mind like an inferno. The scene replays before her over and over again. Elisabeth Braddock will ensure that this boogeyman never comes back to haunt her again. No one shall ever intimidate her again. Not the Mandarin, not the Shadow King, and certainly not Sabretooth. Because, this time, she is in control.

"Psylocke!"

She instinctively turns when she hears her name, and then she feels adamantium claws cut through the flesh of her back.

"Shouldn't have turned yer back, babe," says Sabretooth.

*CHK*

Victor Creed's hearing picks up the sound of a weapon cocking, and his nose detects the scent of gunpowder. Before he can even react, Pietro Maximoff is already unloading several rounds into him. Sabretooth still presses forward, his body already beginning to repair the damage. None of the bullets were able to get past his skeleton, unfortunately, leaving vital organs such as his brain, lungs, and heart intact.

Flames begin to surround Sabretooth, courtesy of Pyro. Creed can see him through the flames, and for once, he doesn't have a smirk on his face. Instead, Pyro looks directly at him, the reflecting of the flames flickering off his sunglasses. He extends a hand towards Sabretooth and slowly closes it into a fist. The flames surrounding Creed close in, and the scent of human flesh being cooked is detected.

"Guess that's that," says Pyro.

Sabretooth leaps forth from the flames and tackles Pyro to the ground. His melted flesh is beginning to heal, but his body is now hairless and his clothes have been reduced to ash. Creed is suddenly pulled off of Pyro's body and thrown around as if he were a plastic bag caught in the wind. Joseph hovers before him, magnetically controlling him by his adamantium skeleton. He remembers reading in the X-Men's files how Magneto had tore the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton, and he contemplates doing the same to Sabretooth.

Then, he turns thought into action.

A scream of pure agony erupts from the throat of the animal called Victor Creed. Through the pores of his skin erupts streams of silver. It begins to pile up on the Australian soil. All throughout the attack, Joseph cannot even see what he is doing. All he can see is Rogue, his mother, lying in a bed hooked up to life support. And he sees Blink lying on the ground. Bruised, broken, and bleeding. Near death. Joseph has spent far too much time playing possum. He has been docile during his time with the X-Men. But now, he is simply put, sick of it.

When all the adamantium has left Sabretooth's body, he drops to the ground with a loud thump. The X-Men surround their foe, yet Psylocke steps to the forefront. The shadow blade is in her hand, and the mark of the Crimson Dawn burns like a fire.

"You should have left well enough alone, Victor," she says through the use of her telepathy to her fallen foe. "But I suppose now you deserve to know the truth. You were used, luv. I placed subtle mental suggestions in the minds of the X-Men to prevent them from carting you off to SHIELD once Bishop left. You were a tool I needed in order to eliminate Marcus Tsung. I knew of your damaged restraint the instant before you did."

Sabretooth looks at Psylocke, his eyes wide with shock.

"And poor Clarice. Forever thinking that her mentor betrayed her. A pity she will never know the truth."

"What truth?" asks Sabretooth through the psi-link. Psylocke smiles.

"You had no real desire to rebel against the X-Men. You were on your way to rehabilitation, Victor. This entire debacle, taking Rogue and Blink to the brink of death, it was all because I mentally forced you to rebel. And now, here is where you're going to die. Alone. Just like you have spent your entire life. Logan survived having his adamantium torn out, but that was because Xavier and Grey were there to help him through it. You have no one."

Psylocke began to feel the fade from Sabretooth's body. He was slipping away, and she had no quarrel with it. In fact, none of the X-Men did. She stood and walked towards the other X-Men. Joseph held the comatose Blink in his arms. They all gathered together, and Psylocke opened up a shadow portal to take them away. As they left, she transmitted a final psychic message to Sabretooth:

"By the way, you made a perfect patsy."

SEND OFF

"He seems to know what he's doing."
-David Wheatley

"Dino does a great team book and his dialogue is always on key."
-Brent Lambert

"X-Men Omega just keeps on ticking, it's scripted un-believably well. The plot makes me eager to read the next issue. The cast, undoubtly, is the best and Marvel surely could take a few pointers."
-Jason

"Dino still has Omega's characters down, even after taking the backseat from scripting X-Men Omega for awhile. Just goes to show you he still has it."
-Brad Horton

"Dino, if nothing else, knows how to make his villains threatening and deliciously evil."
-Brent Lambert

"Eventhough I think your an egotistical ass ninty-nine percent of the time, when it comes to fanfic—you da man."
-JJ

"There is without a doubt in my mind that X-Men Omega has the best cast of characters of any X-Men title written, which is probably why it's become the flagship title for the X-Men branch here at M2K. Dino's put a lot of work into this cast, and it shows tremendously for those who've been following. They're all unique and different from your everyday X-Men, but not without the endearing chemistry that is required but often lacked in an X-Men book. You can just see how far they've come since being assembled by Bishop back in the day."
-Cory Wiegel

"Holy fucking shit."
-Steve Crosby

"Who the hell are you and why are you following me?"
-Grant Morrison

Those are just some comments I've received about my run on X-Men Omega, and I decided to post them in my final issue. Yes, you read that right.

My. Final. Issue.

As strange as it may seem, X-Men Omega #50 is the last issue of Omega that I'll write. And it's amazing to see how far the book has come since then. I've worked on this title for the past three years, and there have been some ups and downs—but all in all, it's been a fun ride.

Gwyna and Jay Corafa both deserve a great deal of thanks, since it was because of them that my ideas for this title began to take shape. Also, Logan Trent gets credit because he came up with the name for the title, and he helped me with some interesting plots. Same goes for Steve Crosby and Cory Wiegel. And, of course, Brad Horton made this title great when he scripted over my plots.

Fifty issues is a lot, especially in fanfic, and even though I'm going, the title isn't. Brad's taking over the book with #51, and after reading his first story-arc and hearing his plans, I can safely say that his run will kick serious ass.

And who knows, maybe I will come back to the title some day. Never's a long time, after all.