12 Adaption

When the boy that should have been dead rose stumbled out of the mansion, it hadn't even registered in Cain's mind. His brother's little group of Mutants that he called the X-Men and the other group of children led by the one that freed him from prison were currently occupying his full attention. Especially with his powers being limited as they were, the being that had provided him power for the first time, restricting how much he possessed.

It was a test, a challenge and Cain hated it.

With that power, none of these Mutants would prove a challenge to him, yet thanks to this test, they were proving extremely difficult. The fat one, the one they called Blob, was only slightly weaker than himself. Not to mention the Wolverine and Storm, two Mutants that were proving even more dangerous for their own reasons.

Beating Wolverine in the beginning when his power wasn't restrained was easy, now it was proving incredibly difficult. They were weak and he was strong, so why should he have to struggle like this to defeat them? All because some being wanted to test him, to amuse itself with his struggles?

Cain couldn't accept that.

So he had vowed to not fail, to prove himself here and now so that he would not have to do so again in the future. Cain would make his victory here so overwhelming, so absolute that there was no doubt in anyone's mind about his strength.

It was why the child that should be dead did not register as a threat to his mind. Not when he drew close, the other Mutants were also injured and on the verge of defeat, having exhausted their powers in their battle against him. Despite their numbers and breadth of powers, Cain had proven an insurmountable foe. As tired as he was, Cain still stood strong and so, the child did not register as a threat to him, more of an amusement.

His arms were dangling limply down by his side, the bones within them shattered. The movement of his chest was shallow, almost non-existent, breath short and laboured, throat gurgling with blood.

The damage done to him by that blow was extensive, and the fact he was alive was a miracle in itself. The fact he was moving even more so, but something did register on his mind as he swatted Wolverine to one side, the energy beams fired by Cyclops smashing into the shield provided by the gem and proving incapable of penetrating through it.

The boy's eyes were white, pure white.

'He's unconscious?' A strange thing, but it did explain why he was able to move despite his injuries. He couldn't feel the pain he was in and therefore, able to move as if he was completely fine. 'No matter.'

Even so, the boy was too severely injured to prove any measure of threat and so, he rose his hand and swung it, intending to backhand the boy away and bring this whole debacle to an end. Only for the boy to crouch down, body twisting at an unnatural angle that even without his injuries, shouldn't be possible without extensive training.

Then, with his broken arm, swung up and punched him in the face, knuckles bouncing off the armour of his helmet, proving completely ineffective. However, Cain was bewildered all the same, not quite sure if what he had seen had happened.

"Test the boy." The being whispered, words echoing in his mind as Cain ground his teeth in anger. Had he not done enough? Had he not proven himself worthy? Yet even now, the being wanted to further test him? To test this boy to see if he was better than him? How much more would he have to do until this entire thing was behind him?

Even as another two blows smacked against his helmet, blood from cracked knuckles flying into the air, Cain just lined up his fist and brought it down with all his might. However, the boy ducked underneath it and came round to his side, a hook slamming into his flank.

Cain followed, a hook of his own that the boy flipped over, the back of his knuckles smashing into Cain's helmet once more. This was followed by a quick one-two combo that Cain interrupted by attempting to crush the boy, both arms swinging around to meet in the middle. Only for the boy to have jumped in the air, hands clapping together with nothing but air between them.

A jump that led to a knee strike that only further angered Cain.

These strikes were nothing more than an annoyance, they do next to nothing to him. But still, he could not hit the boy. Just one strike was all he needed. He just needed to land one strike and this whole thing would end and yet, he could not.

Despite being unconscious, the boy was still moving.

Despite being unconscious, the boy was still fighting.

It was humiliating.

And then it came, that one strike that changed everything. Except, it was not Can that threw it, no, it was the boy, the boy who should be no threat to him, the boy who was no threat to him. The haymaker strike smashed into his helmet and Cain took a step back.

No, he did not take a step back, he was forced to.

The strike had made him stumble, had made him, the Juggernaut, the unstoppable force, step backwards. 'Impossible! I will not allow it!' Cain raged, fists clenching tightly as he watched the boy come rushing towards him. Yet Cain made no attempt to do anything, he just stood there and allowed the boy to hit him once more.

This was a matter of pride.

An unstoppable force only moves in one direction, forwards.

It did not stop, it did not move backwards unless it wanted to.

Cain refused to be stopped, to be forced backwards by any will but his own.

So he waited, allowed the strike to come and stood still, taking it all.

'Again?' Cain thought, feet shifting just slightly, not as noticeable as before, but to Cain, it was glaringly obvious. He had moved backwards again and all the while, he could hear the chuckling of that being in his head. Mocking him, taunting him, its interest in him diminishing and interest in the boy growing. 'I'll kill him!'

-X- Line Break -X-

As Cain slumped to the ground, helmet landing behind him on the ground with a clunk, Charles lowered his hand, a deep sigh escaping his lips. This was not how he imagined things to have gone and for a little while things seemed to have been working in their favour. When the X-Men and the Brotherhood arrived, they had nearly been able to remove Cain's helmet.

His powers have seemingly weakened allowing them to gain the upperhand.

Then he changed, no longer underestimating them and that's when things changed. Cain had been in the military and had used that training to its full effect in conjunction with his powers to completely overwhelm many of them. One by one, members of the X-Men and Brotherhood dropped, unable to withstand the power of Juggernaut.

Worst of all, Cain had no qualms against killing and had come close to doing just that on more than one occasion. None more obvious than the attack upon the young Esau who had been unseen for the majority of the fight, right until the end.

Charles had seen him come out of the mansion, Charles upon the landing, watching over the fight and waiting for the helmet of his brother to be removed. When Esau had come stumbling out, it had been a shock, he had thought there would be a need to bury the boy who had been struck by Juggernaut. But when he tried to stop Esau from going out there to face Juggernaut again, his words had fallen upon deaf ears.

He tried to reach out mentally, only to discover why Esau could not respond, he had been unconscious. Then Esau and Juggernaut clashed and at first, as shocking as it was to see Esau manage to put up a fight, the outcome was as Charles had expected.

Juggernaut was just too strong.

Only for all that to change after one strike.

A strike that was stronger than anything Esau had thrown before, something that made Cain stumble backwards. At first, Charles had thought he was imagining things, that perhaps the ground was unstable when Esau struck true and perhaps that was why he had been able to knock Cain back.

Except, again and again, Cain and Esau clashed.

Both of them traded increasingly stronger and faster blows back and forth, Esau dodging the strikes while Cain took them all head-on. But even from the distance, Charles could feel the wind that rushed across the fields produced from their blows, hear the echoing sounds of Esau striking Cain's armour.

Cain was no longer holding back his power.

Esau at the same time, seemingly growing stronger and stronger.

Eventually, it all came to an end.

One of Cain's blows struck true, Esau flying limply through the air and Wolverine capitalising upon this opening, removing the helmet that stopped Charles's telepathy. It was a victory, but one that was almost pyrrhic in nature.

However, it also provided more worries for Charles.

Esau's powers and his temperament would make him a serious threat.

One that currently he wondered if any of his young X-Men could actually prove capable of defeating.