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#7
JAN 14 |
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“Forgotten Worlds” Part One
Cavern X (Two Days Ago)
Fantomex didn’t have a lick of sweat on him and he had been training with Gambit for the tune of two hours. Remy wondered if it was just a state of mind or it was some part of the masked man’s mutation, but it flat out annoyed him. Fantomex wasn’t even breathing hard after the long sparring exercise. “Do you know what Professor Xavier unofficially calls us?”
Remy knew Fantomex was quite the talker, but with good reason. The man actually had a lot of interesting things to say. “I don’t have a clue. I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“The Mansion computer security is actually mapped out with a good bit of sophistication. It took me ten minutes to break through it. It was full of traps and backdoors, but I ended up finding a bundle of interesting things. Among them was our name. The Dark X-Men.”
Gambit tried to keep his face from betraying any sort of reaction. Fantomex was said to be incredibly skilled a treading body language so it was probably a wasted effort. “Dark X-Men huh? Definitely sets us apart from the rest, eh? How you feel ‘bout it, mon ami?”
“If the point is rehabilitation, I think it might be a bit dangerous to refer to us as such. It’s almost like a mark of Cain in its own way.”
Gambit laughed. “A tad bit drastic, I tink, but on the whole I agree wit ya. We can’t change hearts if that’s how we’re referred to at the top.”
“Of course we could do like every other oppressed group and just revel in the name.”
‘Yea, maybe so,” Gambit said, biting his bottom lip. “But let’s just keep this between us for now.”
Fantomex nodded. “Of course…wouldn’t want to poison the well.”
Agua Buena, Panama
Fantomex’s bullet bounced off of Cyber’s adamantium arm without doing a bit of damage. The large man looked like his body was still attempting to repair itself from the damage that Juggernaut had rendered upon him. Fantomex gave the man credit for even surviving that battle. A healing factor was truly a wonderful thing; thought not quite along the lines of Cyber and Wolverine, Fantomex’s own biological processes were a force to be reckoned with.
He figured sharing that bit of trivia with Cyber probably would do him little good I the long run. The man’s posture and facial expression screamed that he was a bully lacking any charm. He probably had spent his whole life pushing people around so Fantomex wasn’t going to feel so bad putting him in his proper place. Carefully aiming one of his guns, Fantomex pulled the trigger and a bullet ripped through the air. The smiley face on his bullet tore through the flesh and bone between Cyber’s eyes. A large chunk of the back of Cyber’s skull was blown out and he was flung backward through the air, crashing limply into the ground.
“Well, that’s one way to take someone out of it,” Typhoid Mary said, leaning casually against Fantomex’s shoulder. Mary seemed to have more of a heart for battle than Fantomex and it excited him. He wanted to be able to latch onto those kinds of feelings and lift himself out of his boredom. For so long he found himself in a world of blood and bullets that it was beginning to be an absolute bore to him. He wanted something more, but he wasn’t sure that could ever be the case for someone like him. Fantomex had been created to be a weapon for all seasons. He wasn’t even sure if it was him in to be able to stop.
Doctor Nemesis ran by the two, being chased by a much faster Doctor Death. “Stop flirting and get back to work!”
Typhoid May shrugged, laughed like a girl being romanced at prom and flipped into the air. Perfectly placed, her feet struck Doctor Death on the side of his face and sent him rolling across the ground. She had hit him hard enough to dislodge one of his red, cybernetic eyes. It rolled in the dirt and stopped in front of Typhoid Mary. Looking down at the device Typhoid lifted her foot into the air and slammed it down. Metal, wires and glass were crushed upon impact. Doctor Death howled in anguish and swayed back and forth on the dirty in agony. Typhoid wished she could take more time to enjoy the noise, but Nemesis was right…they needed to finish this as soon as possible so they could help the others.
Reaching behind her, Typhoid Mary pulled out three small shurikens from her belt. She flung them at the reeling Doctor Death with deadly accuracy. As each metal star pierced flesh, an electric shock coursed through the man’s body. Doctor Nemesis, having spotted Typhoid Mary’s assistance, doubled back and lashed out at his alternate counterpart with a swift kick to the head.
“You’re nothing like me.”
Alternate Genosha
When Gambit and the others appeared with Wraith, they were on the coast of an island behind an aircraft hangar. Gambit ordered everyone to crouch low for safety purposes as there was no telling what they were walking in to. Sugar Man’s insanity had caused him to draw forth an entire landmass from another dimension. Talking in his lowest voice possible, Gambit said, “We need to know what we dealin wit here. Kwannon, what kind of thoughts are you sensing?”
Revanche took a deep breath and sweat started to drip lightly down her forehead as she closed her eyes and started to concentrate. In all the chaos, Gambit had barely taken the time to really think about how much this woman reminded him of the Kwannon he had known. He wasn’t particularly close to the woman, but she was an X-Man and losing any one of their number was always hard. Seeing her also reminded of the Legacy Virus and how that had tested mutantkind’s mettle so sorely. He couldn’t help but to wonder how the others might react to her. Honestly, every mutant that Sugar Man had summoned touched a chord in one way or another.
After about a minute, Kwannon opened her eyes and wiped he sweat from her forehead. “I could only pick up surface thoughts. There are telepaths on this island and it took a great deal to avoid their notice, but no one on this island is surprised by what Sugar Man has done. In fact, they seem to be eager about it. They’re preparing an invasion force.”
Revanche’s words chilled everyone because there were so many unknown factors involved. Just what kind of forces were on this island and how dominant would their attack be? Gambit wondered if any kind of greater outside response was being mounted to this obviously larger threat. At the very least S.H.I.E.L.D. had to be running around in circles.
“Were you able to find Sugar Man?” Wraith asked. Gambit detected a bit of tenderness there and wondered just what had transpired between the two to cause it so suddenly. Revanche was a beauty, but John Wraith didn’t strike him as the type of man to fall head over heels that quick. If he did half the kind of work that Wolverine did for the Canadian and United state governments, then he probably knew better than to fall for a pretty face.
“No one is really thinking about him. Most of the psychic chatter is revolving around someone called Typhonus and something called Reapers. Is that anything all of you are familiar with?”
Gambit shook his head. “No, chere. I tink we gonna have to draw some attention to ourselves and help someone tinks da wrong thang and gives us Sugar Man’s location.”
Juggernaut smiled. “Let me handle that, gumbo. Drawing attention is something I pretty much do on sight. And I been itching to bust some more heads anyway.”
Gambit knew they couldn’t’ afford to languish around any longer and Juggernaut was a physical powerhouse practically unmatched on Earth. “Ok, Cain, do what ya do, but be careful. I want to find ya in one piece.”
“Ahh gumbo, didn’t know you cared.”
“Just don’t bite off more than ya can chew, eh?” Gambit said, turning to Wraith. “We gonna need some random jumps around dis place to see what we’re dealing with. Maybe if we lucky, we’ll run into Sugar Man and put a stop to dis.”
Juggernaut waited till Gambit and the others were gone before rising to his full height. He clapped his hands together loudly, vibrating the entire aluminum hangar. Then he easily punched both of his large hands through the wall and lifted up the entire back wall of the hangar. He tossed it over his head behind him and watched a bunch of people armored in blue and gold swiftly moving to converge on him. They all had sleek rifles pointed at him expect for one.
It took Cain a moment to recognize the man because half of his face was gnarled plant matter. But the other half had a regal, Macbeth-like quality to it; rugged, bearded and stone-eyed. In his own world he knew the man as Black Tom Cassidy, a former frequent partner of his. Lifting a green hand, this new Cassidy pointed at him. “Whoever you are heathen, you’re defying the kingdom of High Lord Typhonus, Majestic Emperor of the Superior Species. Surrender yourself now and you might be spared the torment the High Lord would surely see you suffer.”
“Ahh shaddup and save me the sermon.” Juggernaut slammed both of his fists into the concrete beneath him. The ground buckled and shook under the force of the attack. Cracks splintered off into the concrete and rocked many of the armored soldiers to the floor. Running forward, Juggernaut grabbed one of the smaller aircraft, his fingers bending the metal like clay. He flung the vehicle like a Frisbee and sent it crashing with explosive effect into the grouping of soldiers. They scattered like roaches encountering an exterminator, at least the ones that were still conscious from Juggernaut’s plane throwing.
The blue and gold soldiers split into two groups, each huddled against an opposite wall. They aimed their rifles at Juggernaut and let loose a barrage of laser fire. Juggernaut shook his head and laughed as the attack bounced harmlessly off of him. “Buncha losers.” He spotted the alternate Black Tom and said, “C’mon and get these stooges out of the way so me and you can get down to business.”
“You dare speak to a Magnate of the Silver Republic of Typhonus in such a manner? This world truly is full of brute simpletons. Our illustrious leader will lead our forces off of his island and crush your people to–”
Juggernaut mimicked his previous action and flung a tire at the alternate Black Tom’s head, knocking it clean off. The body crumbled to the ground, oozing green and black sludge that looked thick enough to be molasses. This Black Tom was definitely a different breed from the one Cain had always known. “My Tom is a lot of things, but he sure ain’t a brownnose.” Looking at the remaining soldiers, Juggernaut smiled. “Anyone else want some?”
Agua Buena, Panama
Fontanelle formed two telekinetic scythes that extended out from her fists and tore a large scar into the chest of a cyborg. A wealth of oil and sparks poured out of the cyborg’s chest. She pushed herself telekinetically into the air and cut off the cyborg’s head. The appendage went rolling to the ground and Fontanelle could muster scant pity for the act she just committed. This was war and her principal job was to survive it.
Five more of the bulk cyborgs were coming at her from her right, shoulder cannons all aimed directly at her. She ran a plan through her head of how to take them out, but she wasn’t sure if she could properly enact it. Her telekinetic powers were still relatively new to her and she was already beginning to become exhausted from the use of them. Scanning her immediate vicinity, she saw that one of her teammates wase close by. If these cyborgs were going to be stopped, she needed to it on her own. Taking a deep breath, Gloria tried to remember the recitation that Xavier gave her to center her mind.
Those words of calm were interrupted by the cyborgs opening their shoulder cannons and lobbing large, purple blasts at Fontanelle. She was forced to haphazardly put telekinetic shields in some poor simulation of a poorer defense. Her dome-shaped shields were holding up after the first dozen rounds, but her legs were beginning to weaken and her arms shake. It wouldn’t be long before she collapsed.
Knives cut through air over Fontanelle’s head and into the faces of the attacking cyborgs. The weapons were delivered courtesy of the scantily clad Typhoid Mary. “If you’re going to hit them then I suggest you do it now, hun.”
Sweat beading down her forehead, Fontanelle shook he head. “I can’t.”
“Well good thing I have one of these,” Typhoid said, pulling a grenade off of her belt. She pushed a red button in the center of it and tossed it in the midst of the cyborgs. She roughly grabbed Fontanelle by the arm. “Time to go, hun.”
The two were gone when the explosion ripped the five cyborgs into scrap metal. When they were a safe distance away, Fontanelle stopped to catch her breath. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more help back there. I’m still getting use to my new abilities.”
“Don’t apologize like it some big scandal, hun. You barely had those powers a month, can’t expect you to be phenomenal with them.”
Gloria heard and recognized the wisdom in Mary’s words, but it didn’t do much to remedy her shame. “Where are the others?”
Typhoid pointed north of them. “Dealing with the fake Sugar Man, but he’s not going down easy.”
Fontanelle sighed. “I was afraid of that. Hopefully, Gambit and the others can put an end to this soon.”
Alternate Genosha
As they moved across the island through Wraith’s phase jumps, Gambit could tell that Juggernaut had succeeded in drawing the inhabitants’ attention. Alarms were blaring and people in gold and blue armor were flooding the streets, all headed toward Juggernaut’s general direction. Remy just hoped that Cain hadn’t brought more attention to himself than he could handle. Xavier would have his head if something genuinely harmful actually happened to his stepbrother.
When they came to their next stop, they were behind a large cargo truck right in front of a towering black spire. Gambit looked at Kwannon, still nervous about relaying on her so much. For all he knew, she could be walking them right into a trap. “You feel anything yet, chere?”
“Yes,” Revanche said, pointing to the spire. “Sugar Man’s in there. But so are many others. Obtaining the dimension smasher won’t be easy.”
Gambit smiled, a rush of exhilaration filing him. “Never figured it would be. Now come da fun part. We get to be little reckless, yea?”
Domino, still sore from her encounter with Genesis, couldn’t help but to feel infected by Gambit’s excitement. “Reckless doesn’t sound too bad. Just remember I want to come out of this alive.”
“So, reckless leader, what’s the plan?” Wraith asked.
“We about to see just how god you are wit your phase jumps.”
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To Be Continued...
Next: In Dark X-Men #8: Just what sort of world does this alternate Genosha come from? And what will Gambit and his team do when put face to face with the General in charge of it?
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