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#5
AUG 13 |
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“Old Places and New Horizons” Part Five
Agua Buena, Panama
Domino’s body hit the ground hard and she landed in some gunk that was probably a mixture of trash and feces. She rolled to the side, completely out of breath and struggling to maintain consciousness. Stars whirled in front of her eyes like some strange kaleidoscope. All she knew was that she had to get up and make some attempt to defend herself otherwise she might as well start thinking about funeral arrangements. She tried to grab on to a coherent thought to form some kind of a plan, but her head was till spinning too badly. Things were not looking good for her.
A hard thud on the ground let Domino know that Genesis was about to be upon her. Her best hope, crazy as it sounded, was that this version of Genesis was as sadistic as the one she knew. He moved towards her slowly as if savoring every step. “Did you al really think you could hinder Sugar Man’s plan? He holds all the cards and you’re just stumbling around in the dark.” He reached down, grabbed Domino’s hair and yanked her head back. “I think I’ll enjoy this bit of violence. You should have never worn her face, harlot. Never at all.”
Before he could lay a hand on her, a purple spike of energy flew through the air and stuck him in the chest. He was propelled off his feet, slammed into the nearest brittle wall and pinned there. Genesis struggled under the telekinetic grip. Hs arms and legs were spread apart like he had been crucified. He thrashed back and forth like some raid animal eager to take a bite out of something. Fontanelle stepped into Domino’s view with the Juggernaut behind her. Concentrating on keeping genesis stuck, Fontanelle said, “It would be unwise for you to keep struggling. I might slip up and break your neck.”
Domino stumbled to her feet, gripping a ginger shoulder and fell into the arms of Juggernaut. He scooped her up effortlessly and pulled her in close to him. She could feel his warmth all across her body; the man was practically the size of a car so it was hard not to. She looked up at the dome on top of his head and wished for a moment that it wasn’t there. Not being able to explain to herself why, Domino wanted to look more closely at his face. She wanted to see if she could find the answer to the seeming duality of his nature. Brutish and kind, strong and scared. It didn’t make sense, but Domino was use to having men in her life who were walking contradictions.
She tucked herself more into his arms and said, “Thanks, guys. He might have just had me.”
Fontanelle pushed her telekinetic field down harder and harder until Genesis passed out. “Unlikely. If I had to guess, it was your powers that made me and Juggernaut decide to come to you first over the others. Truly a remarkable ability.
Juggernaut didn’t have time for flattery. “We need to get to the others. I can hear their battles. The folks around here might be glad when we put a stop to this.”
Cavern X (Five Days Ago)
“Is the ink for the deed on this place even dried up yet?” John Wraith asked as he took in his new home along with the rest of Gambit’s new team. If he dared to ask the price of all the top of the line equipment in the abode Wraith was afraid he might find himself in cardiac arrest. What was probably once a ghoulish cave had been altered into a state of the art facility…apparently they didn’t need to be at the Xavier Institute, everything they needed was right here for them. Heck, all they needed was some robotic butlers and they would be set.
Fantomex looked around his new base of operations, curiously taking in the holographic screen projectors, 3-D monitor interfaces and snazzy black leather chairs. “So Xavier has either given up his entire fortune or he’s bartered us out for some ungodly operation. Considering the economy, my brains lean toward the latter.”
Fontanelle brushed arms with the man casually. “So are we to assume you’ve taken on the role of court jester?”
“Such a task would require a bit more humility than I actually possess.”
Fontanelle smiled. “Good answer.”
“A man might be considered greedy for living in a place as lavish as this,” Wraith said.
“Easy for you to say,” Juggernaut said, his every step reverberating through the main lobby of the newly furnished cavern. “My helmet’s almost scraping the roof.”
“Well, maybe if you took off that mini fortress you might not have to worry about your head making contact with the top.” Doctor Nemesis moved past him and directly to Gambit. “How much do you know about this place? Where are the science facilities?”
“De second floor, mon ami, but don’t hurt yourself getting down dere now,” Gambit smiled as Doctor Nemesis huffed and walked past him as well.
“Well, he’s certainly not as cheery as Hank,” Domino said as she watched him toggle through the nearest elevator’s touch screen buttons to take him to the second floor. The indigo stream of light that slid down the middle of the elevator faded away as the doors opened and Doctor Nemesis quickly hustled into them.
“He’s not meant to be Hank, chere. Nemesis be an anchor for us. In his own way, he keep folks grounded. It a pity he don’t loosen up more, but dat just de way de man is.” In his own way, Gambit could relate to the man. They were both trying to bury past mistakes. Bother of their actions as younger men bore fruit they didn’t like the taste of. They just dealt with that fact in different ways.
Typhoid Mary sat down in one of the lobby’s plush chairs. “I hope the training facilities for this place are fixed up nice and proper. My footwork needs some tuning up after being chained down for so long.”
Gambit had apprehensions about everyone on this team in one way or another, but none more than Typhoid Mary. Xavier had plucked a certifiably insane woman out of Ravencroft and claimed she was healed of her mental disorder. Telepaths were capable of some amazing feats, especially telepathy as powerful as the Professor’s, but Gambit still didn’t completely buy it. The mind had a way of working itself back into is original settings one way or another. He just hoped that he was lucky enough to notice the signs before the woman put a knife in his back.
“Well, dis be our home, ladies and gents. Might as well get comfortable.”
Agua Buena, Panama
“Idiot! Stop fighting like a child.” The Witcher parried a blow from Fantomex but the mutant had actually put little effort behind it. And his opponent knew it. “Perhaps I was wrong to think you a man of power. You skitter and dodge as if this were a game.”
Fantomex smiled beneath his white face mask. “All war and its affiliates are a game…an awful, bloody game, but a game nonetheless. I mean no insult to your work, hunter, but even what you do is a game by fashion.”
“I may enjoy my kills but I would never reduce their lost lives to a game. It is the highest form of disrespect,” the Witcher said, forming another fireball in his hands that Fantomex dodged.
“I rather think they would have preferred you respected them in life rather than death,” Fantomex said, flipping into the air with acrobatic ease and striking a few blows against the Witcher’s sword. Neither one of them were getting any openings on the other. Landing on his feet, Fantomex quickly side-stepped a long arced blow from the Witcher’s lengthy broadsword. “You think me insulting but I simply see the essence of existence for what it is. I don’t try to run from it. Life is the Devil and we’re just all its demons.”
“Save your philosophy for someone who cares,” the Witcher said as he sheathed his sword into the leathery sword scabbard strapped across his back. “My version of you knew when to keep his mouth shut.”
Fantomex laughed. “The idea of that is simply shocking!”
A knife flew through the air and cut the Witcher across his cheek. The source of the weapon surged through the air and landed by Fantomex’s side. She was a redhead beauty with half of her face painted white. “I like his talking.”
“And she lands with a strong bit of personality,” Fantomex said. “I assume that means you handled your dastardly dimensional dolt. I rather like the way that rolls off the tongue.”
“Be quiet!” The Witcher’s runic tattoos began to glow a bright purple and his entire body started to reflect this haunting glow. Fantomex imagined the less educated might have thought him a ghost.
“Yikes! Think you made him angry enough?” Typhoid Mary asked with a playful nudge.
“Appearances are deceiving. This is just reserve psychology, my dear Mary. Our friend here happens to love my conversation.” Fantomex dropped his sword and pulled out two guns. “But let’s not be overzealous in testing my theory.”
As if his soul was being torn asunder, the Witcher let out an agonized scream. Fountains of energy poured out of every tattoo on his arms, flying in every direction. Typhoid Mary and Fantomex’s vision were nearly taken from them because of the intensity of the disorganized lights. Not a single one of the Witcher’s runic strikes touched them. Each strike made contact with the ground and burned the dirt where it struck. From each singe mark rose a large chunk of black goop that almost immediately gave form to twisted animal hybrids.
Horses with lion’s legs, wolves the size of tigers and an assortment of other twisted animals surrounded Typhoid Mary and Fantomex like some grim pack. They put themselves back to back both enthusiastically anticipating the rigorous battle that was to come. Typhoid Mary licked her lips, reached into her boots and pulled out a short sword for each hand. “Careful, careful little ones. Death will have dinner with one of us today.”
“Death is a fickle entity, she has avoided my company so far. Besides, I’d imagine she’s a lousy cook,” Fantomex said, shooting one of the larger than normal wolves square in the head.
Cavern X (Three Days Ago)
“The Sugar Man stole my dimension smasher from me a few weeks ago and as payment for me being part of shit team, Xavier promised that your first mission would be to help me retrieve it,” Doctor Nemesis explained. They were all seated around a circular, metallic table that could sit up to twenty, but only half the seats were in use now. All around them were computer monitors plugged into every new outlet across the world and a few organizations that might not be too happy to have the X-Men hacking into them. The center of the table was a holographic projector and Xavier’s head was floating in it.
Fantomex faked a yawn and propped his feet up on the table. “Yesterday’s news, Nemesis. All of my brains knew about your item being stolen weeks ago.”
Doctor Nemesis’ eyes narrowed. “Don’t try and impress me with all that talk about your physiology. I saw it the minute we met and it’s not as impressive as you think.”
“You only say that to avoid embarrassing yourself.”
“Enough,” Xavier said, giving both men a warning through his yes. “You are all X-Men now and as such are guardians of mutant/human relations. If we can’t get along amongst ourselves how can we expect humans to ever fully accept us?”
Fantomex put a hand to his chin. “Full acceptance is an unfeasible concept Professor, but–”
“Not now, Fantomex,” Charles said with more curtness than usual. “This dimension smasher in the hands of Sugar Man is a proverbial vault of disaster waiting to be unleashed. Given what we know about alternate dimensions, there is literally no limit to the kinds of things that madman could summon forth to ransack this world.”
Even though he was now on somewhat good terms with his brother, Juggernaut still found the man’s righteousness to be grating. “Just tell us where to hit, Charlie, and we’ll do it.”
“If only it were that simple, Cain. I’ve been trying to locate him on Cerebro and he’s been jumping from location to location. It’s all random and doesn’t seem to have any kind of pattern,” Charles said as the hologram of his head switched to an image of a globe. Various red points popped up across it. “These are the places where Cerebro has spotted Sugar Man. He doesn’t stay anywhere longer than a day so I have to assume he has a teleportation device or a teleporter with him.”
Fantomex studied the points for a moment and smiled. “Actually, Professor, there is a pattern to his travels. If you connect the points you’ll begin to see the Arabic scripting for the letter ‘S’, which of course has obvious meaning, even for the less keen.” Fantomex traced his fingers from location to location and finally stopped on Panama. “This is where he’ll be three days from now.”
“Why not just hit where he’s going to be next?” juggernaut asked.
Gambit answered that. “Because we’re not ready, Cain. Three days should be enough time to get some kind of team skills down.”
Fantomex nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”
The holographic globe was replaced once again with Xavier’s head. “So be it. Work hard and succeed, X-Men.”
Angel groaned. The lull before doing something was sometimes actually worse than just doing it. “I’m starting to think I was better off working for tips.”
Typhoid Mary laughed. “Honey, you have no idea how many times I’ve said that to myself.”
Agua Buena, Panama
It was a quick struggle for Doctor Nemesis. The cyborgs had quickly subdued him, tied him up in golden energy bands and were now serving as the new guardians for a gloating Sugar Man. The other dimensional geneticist as practically skipping around like a child, his wide girth made it look even more awkward. “You and your friends have lost! Did you really think, you stupid fool, that I would risk this chance?”
Doctor Nemesis rolled around in his bands so Sugar Man could see his face. “You are a fraud scientist who has to use stolen goods just to get anywhere. I promise the first chance I get I’m going to pop you like a little zit. Bank on that.”
Sugar Man’s four tiny arms touched his wide stomach. “Jabber on all you want. I’ve already activated the dimension smasher and with my modifications to it. I will create a world that warms my pretty little heart.”
Nemesis could see off in the distance a very large red tear opening over the Pacific Ocean. The power of his device had been escalated in a way that he never intended. Nothing angered a scientist like him more than the unauthorized use and manipulation of his inventions. Doctor Death must have been able to read that indignation on his face because he was grinning from ear to ear. Nemesis could only imagine the panic that the Agua Buena community and maybe all of Latin America were experiencing right now. Perhaps even the international community as well. An unknown interdimensional phenomenon was opening and who knew what was about to come through.
Doctor Death leaned over his counterpart and his cybernetic eyes peered into him. “When this new union of worlds is finished, I’m going to tear you up into your individual organs and sell them dirt cheap to the first black market merchants I can find. I’m sure your eyes would be particularly interesting.”
“You’re just jealous mine are prettier,” Nemesis smirked. He was quickly yanked off the ground by Doctor Death and hoisted into the air. The quick motion forced Nemesis to hold on to consciousness. He was losing blood from Sugar Man’s attack and wasn’t able to grab anything in his suit that could help him.
Sugar Man waddled over to Doctor Death and slapped his arm, forcing him to drop Doctor Nemesis. “No, no, no! Not yet. I’ll let you collect your pound of flesh when this is done. I want this arrogant prick to see his device destroy the world he knows.”
The Xavier Mansion
Xavier, Emma and Omega Sentinel were in the War Room monitoring the situation. Karima was busy analyzing the energy readings that were coming in from off the coast of Panama. “It is a large interdimensional tear, Professor Xavier. My readings are showing that it’s pulling in large mass off of the coast. The mass is attempting to synch in to our reality.”
“Charles, I think it’s time we have all the teams report here and fill them in on what is happening,” Emma said.
Charles pursed his lips. He wanted to give Gambit and his team a proper chance. They would never trust in his plan for them if he swooped in to save the day on their first mission. “What more and you tell me, Karima?”
“The mass is the exact size and shape of Genosha, Professor, though initial readings suggest a much smaller population. Around five million, less than half of our world’s Genosha.”
Charles slumped in his hoverhciar. “Five million entities brought into this world just like that. My Lord. Emma, put the teams on standby, but don’t have them mobilize yet. I need to talk with Nick Fury first.”
Emma nodded and walked out of the War Room. Xavier went to one of his communication consoles and was about to open up a line to S.H.I.E.L.D. when another face appeared on the screen. He was a young man in his early twenties with gray hair and large red goggles. “Hello, is this Professor Charles Xavier?”
“Yes, it is. May I ask who I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
“My name is Speed. I’m an agent of A.R.M.O.R. and I think we might need to talk.”
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To Be Continued...
Next: In Dark X-Men #6: Gambit and Belladonna’s battle comes to an end. Sugar Man’s new island is risen and just what makes it so dangerous?
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