|
#8
FEB 14 |
 |
“Forgotten Worlds” Part Two
Alternate Genosha
“In retrospect, I’m starting to like this idea less and less,” Wraith said as they boldly approached the black spire where Revanche said Sugar Man was housed. “Four of us against a building of unknowns is not exactly the best idea.”
“What part of being reckless don’t you understand?” Domino asked, not wanting ot hear a peroration from the man. “Besides, we’re running out of choices here.”
And my telepathy is increasing your abilities, John. You won’t require physical contact to teleport us as long as I keep our mind linked. And I’ll give you access to as many lines of sight as possible. We can do this.
“Glad you have so much faith,” John said, as they stood only a few years from the entrance to the spire. It wasn’t that he was unaccustomed to lopsided circumstances because Weapon X had their share of them, but something about this made him uneasy. They were about to walk into a place with absolutely no idea what they were up against.
Wraith handed a shape charge to each of them. “Press the red button on the bottom, throw and close your eyes upon impact. We’ll get a boom and some bright lights. Should give us a few seconds of surprise if all goes according to plan.”
Gambit looked at the steely device. “Ok, ready to go?” Everyone nodded tersely. “Ok, then let’s do it.”
Revanche connected all of their minds and pushed on John’s powers, increasing them tenfold. In an instant they went from being on the street to the inside of a sleek, sparsely decorated lobby full of grays and blacks. Gambit and the others wasted no time throwing their shaped charges in different directions. Light, shrapnel and smoke filled the lobby as dozens of people in white, light armor were caught off guard.
“Hit em!” Gambit said, leaping into the air and slamming his bo staff down on the neck of one man. A loud crack whipped through the air and the man dropped to his face having been rendered unconscious. Spinning around, Gambit pulled out two of his cards, powered them up and threw them in the direction of a group of confused soldiers. The cards exploded and the soldiers were sent propelling through air. They flew back with screams mixed with confusion and pain.
Wraith had a plasma blaster in each hand, taking out soldiers to his left and right. Their armor just wasn’t made to withstand he blasts from his weapons and, considering how easily they were going down, Wraith had to assume that most of them were human or mutants with powers that didn’t get them an offense edge. Still, something in the back of his head warned him that this as too easy. He couldn’t allow himself to get comfortable.
Looking over his shoulder, he spotted Revanche kick one of the soldiers in the jaw. Blood and teeth flew out of the man’s mouth as he crashed to the ground. She performed the maneuver with such elegance and grace that it seemed like shouldn’t have ever been a source of harm. They’re all screaming it loud and clear. Sugar Man is on the top floor.
“Den get us up dere Wraith!” Gambit said, dropping to the ground and kicking the feet out of one soldier.
Revanche filled Wraith’s mind with images of where he was about to teleport all of them and they were gone without any indication they had ever been there besides for the violence they left behind.
Sugar Man saw a bit of a Renaissance man quality in General Lucian Graywolf. He carried himself like he had come from an aristocratic background and has hid fair share of education. There was a slight edge to him thought hat implied a much darker side. In that way, the General reminded Sugar Man of Sinister. He always could simultaneously look haughty and menacing. It was an unnerving quality that Sugar Man never learned to master.
General Graywolf sat behind a gothic, black desk with gargoyle faces sculpted into each corner. On the top of his desk, a black diamond hovered over each corner humming softly. It was an eerily mystical piece of attire and Sugar Man wondered what purpose it might serve. The General didn’t seem to pay much attention to the gravity-defying jewels as he threw back a shot glass of scotch. “I have to thank you, Sugar Man. From the first time in millenia, you got High Lord Typhonus to defy the plutocrats. That is a feat I would pay to see produced again and again.”
He spoke like a man yearning for some remnant of better days. Sugar Man’s visits to the General’s world had revealed to him so little information that he often considered relinquishing his assistance from Typhonus. Now seemed like a chance for him to mine for that eagerly sought information. “Plutocrats? I wasn’t made aware such a class existed on your world.”
General Graywolf laughed bitterly, taking another shot. “You wouldn’t have. The High Lord’s mantra is to declare them insignificant time and time again, but we all know better. They control all the labor and all the distribution of resources, forcing us Generals to try and gain favor to get the forces we need. I refuse to bow to them.”
Sugar Man could see it in the man’s beige, sunken eyes. He needed someone to talk to and the geneticist intended to milk it. “Sounds like quite the struggle.”
“It is. I sometimes lament the hardship my resistance has brought this island. The plutocrats denied me of all superhumans forces and made sure it would be my principality that was first sucked into this new dimension.” General Graywolf winced for a moment, clenched his fists and took a deep breath. “They expected me to believe this would be a mission of acclaim and not one of suicide. I believe they would rather me dead.”
Sugar Man pretended to muse on the comments for a moment. “High Lord Typhonus struck me as a man of tremendous power. It seems abhorrent to me that he would allow his generals to suffer so.” Sugar Man knew how to sweeten up his language when the occasion called for it.
“Ruling the world without opposition for so long has made him complacent and bored. He became content to let the plutocracy handle the affairs he deemed beneath him and in a world with no war, generals begin to become relics.” General Graywolf then looked up at Sugar Man with a spark of hope in his aging features. He wasn’t an old man but the stress of his predicament had brought many wrinkles across his brown brow.“That is why I hope this new conquest might incite High Lord Typhonus to action. That it might open his eyes to how corrupt he has allowed his empire to become.
“Perhaps it might, General...and perhaps we can restore the empire that you deserve to be a part of.”
A chorus of chaos erupted outside the General’s door and a soldier came crashing through, writhing in pain on the ground. Standing in the doorway were four of the last people that Sugar Man wanted to see. He stomped forward, flashing all of his razor sharp teeth. “Guess the hype about you X-Men is true.”
Gambit flashed a card and charged it up with kinetic energy. “Yea, mon ami, it is – so just give us what we came for and we’ll be on our way.”
General Graywolf stood up from behind his desk and transformed into chimera-like beast. He had the head of a wolf, the legs of a goat and was covered in gray scales that all had short needles sticking out of them. “I applaud your effort, but I suggest you leave. Now!”
Wraith suddenly appeared behind the General and had his plasma blasted pointed at the back of his head. “Fat chance.” The first shot at full power incinerated the mutant’s head and the next put a football sized hole through his chest.
Sugar Man looked back at Wraith, annoyed, and his tongue shot out of his mouth with unnatural speed. The appendage whipped through the air and cracked Wraith’s blaster I half. “Stupid punks. You trying to ruin everything.”
Gambit, I’m going to increase your power so you can—
Remy shot her an indignant look, but Revanche persisted. It’s the only way. We have to stop this now.
“We don’t even know–”
I do. I’ve seen it in that thing’s head. Now hurry before he kills John.
Gambit felt a sudden rush of power as Revanche telepathically pushed on and augmented his mutant abilities. He knew what it was like to experience this kid of power and it scared him. A man like him didn’t need that much power, but Kwannon was right. This needed to end. Reaching out with his hand, Gambit charged Sugar Man’s entire person, inside and out, with kinetic power.
The otherworldly geneticist looked at Remy with hateful eyes. “You sonnuva—”
Then he exploded.
Doctor Nemesis perfectly shot four of his poisoned syringes into the fake Sugar Man’s mouth. It was some small repayment for the real sugar Man putting him through the ordeal of having to face his alternate counterpart. A man’s identity was one thing that they always held precious and Sugar Man forced him to face a part of himself he wanted to leave in the past. Doctor Death was a journey he never should have taken and seeing just where that road would have finally taken him was an affront he couldn’t forgive. Even more so than his dimension smasher being stolen and used for ungodly purposes.
The fake Sugar man shook and screamed as Doctor Nemesis’ poisons set his body on fire. Doctor Nemesis took savory pleasure in every pained yelp. Deep down he knew it wasn’t right, but he never claimed to be a saint either: Heaven wasn’t made for jerks like him. “That should teach you to think twice before stealing things that don’t belong to you!”
Ulysses ran up behind the fake Sugar Man and drove his sword down into the mutant, nearly cleaving him in half. Blood splattered across the Deviant and he looked up at Doctor Nemesis coldly. Nemesis imagined those eyes came right out of some Grimm’s fairy tale. “It is indecent to take pleasure in other’s pain. You should have finished him.”
Nemesis waved a dismissive hand at him. “Save the tales of karma’s reprisal for later. Let’s just get to this island and help Gambit put an end to this madness.”
The red tear in the sky started to rumble and steady streams of red lightning began to rise up from whatever Sugar Man had summoned. They weren’t close enough to the coast to actually tell what it was. Doctor Nemesis immediately knew what was going on. “The dimension smasher must have been damaged.”
Fantomex kicked one of the cyborgs’ heads at Nemesis’ feet. “Then why haven’t these lovely gentlemen started to do the same thing?”
“Because they were allowed time to stabilize after their dimensional jaunt. They’re aligned to our universal attunement. Whatever Sugar Man brought over hadn’t fully stabilized and now it’s being pulled back to its place of origin.”
Angel landed by Fantomex’s side. “Gambit and the others might still be on there!”
“Wraith should be able to get them out,” Fantomex said, half believing it. His brains had worked out the worst case scenario, but he wasn’t going to deliver the news. “Unless there’s something else you need to tell us Nemesis.”
“Teleportation would probably be ineffective or dangerous at this juncture. Keeping with my previous theories, if Gambit and the others are still on that island they’re going to be sucked back along with it.”
Typhoid Mary moved past Fantomex and grabbed Doctor Nemesis by the collar. “You should have told them that before you sent them off! What were you thinking? You better be able to bring them back or I swear I’ll–”
Doctor Nemesis smacked away Mary’s hand, earning a harsh glare from Fantomex. “Save the tirade, woman. I told them to retrieve the dimension smasher, not to destroy it. If they’re caught it’s because of their own failure to follow instructions. Besides, when did you start caring about any of them? You’re a hit man, remember?”
Mary pointed at her temple. “Xavier fixed the jumble in my head. The least I owe him is to be what he wants me to be...an X-man. And last I checked they didn’t just abandon one another!”
The astral form of Professor X appeared among them. “Please, my X-Men, fighting won’t solve this problem. Return to your X-Jet and report back to Cavern X. I will provide more instructions once you arrive.”
The Xavier Mansion (the Next Day)
“They aren’t happy with the situation, but they understand it is in the best interest of their teammates if your organization is allowed to handle the retrieval effort,” Charles said to Speed over a video conference call. He decided to take the call privately because everyone’s emotions were still raw about losing Gambit and the others. Charles himself was working to keep himself composed because Cain had been on that island as well.
“I appreciate your vouching for us, Professor. Finding Gambit and the others is one of my organization’s top priorities at the moment. I’ve been personally assigned to manage the problem. As we speak, I have people scouring through our databases and scanning known dimensions for their attunement signal.”
Charles heard sincerity in the young man’s voice. He could only hope those under his command had similar intentions. ‘Explain to me what this attunement signal precisely is.”
“Every dimension gives off a unique molecular vibrational signal. Out of place signatures stick out like a bad note in a hymn. That’s not to say that makes our search any easier. Most dimensions we know of have hundreds of out of whack signals in them so we have to look at those signals and narrow it down. This search, at best, could take weeks.”
“At worst?”
Speed’s eyes couldn’t meet Xavier’s. “Years, I’m afraid...but that probably isn’t the case here as we have a clue to work off of. The tear Sugar Man created over Panama has allowed us to narrow our search by at least sixty percent.”
“Do what you have to do, Agent Shepard. Just bring my X-Men home.”
“Of course. I do have one question for you, Professor. What happened to the mutants that Sugar Man brought over to fight your team?”
Charles folded his hands together. “They all escaped and I believe they had help. But leave that to my X-Men, Agent Shepard. We’ll track them down. You just worry about ringing my people home.”
The two exchanged a nod of understanding and Speed’s video feed ended. Xavier sighed and leaned back in his hoverchair. The list of people that could have helped the mutants Sugar Man brought over was numerous. His X-Men’s new successes had brought along with it a host of new enemies. Whose door was he going to have to knock on to find these fugitive mutants?
Elsewhere
Belladonna and the other mutants she had been joined with all sat in the underground cavern waiting for their still mysterious savior to arrive. What appeared to be servants had been meeting all of their needs for the past day, making sure they were adequately taken care of. A few of them still had injuries from their battles with this reality’s X-Men, but they were relatively comfortable.
“I’m this close to just breaking out of here,” Cyber said, scratching his adamantium nails along the stone walls.
“We don’t know anything about this world and you all saw Sugar Man get killed,” Firefist said. “It would be monumentally idiotic to try and forge our own way out there. I suggest we just wait and see who our mysterious rescuer is.”
“I don’t need anyone to baby me,” Cyber replied.
The door to the cavern opened and in stepped a man that Genesis was instantly familiar with. He jumped to his feet and had to fight the urge to run. “Ozymandias!”
“Yes, I am glad at least some of you are familiar with me,” the stone man said as he entered the chamber. “I’m sure you want to know why I took the time to see to it that you were rescued.”
“Just how did you mange it anyway?” Infectia asked.
“A six-armed woman thought it would be interesting,” Ozymandias said. “So it would seem you all owe me a great deal considering where you might presently be otherwise.”
Cyber looked like he wanted to truck right over the man and out the chamber. “We don’t owe you anything, rocky.”
“I don’t believe in holding anyone captive, Cyber. I suffered under the yoke of slavery for centuries so if you wish to leave then you will be free to. All I ask is that you hear me out because I believe you will find my offer very interesting.”
“And just why is that?” New Son asked.
Ozymandias smiled. “You know that the Sugar Man used the dimension smasher to pull you all from your dire situations, but did you ever stop to ask yourself who inspired him to take the device in the first place?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To Be Continued...
Next: In Dark X-Men #9: Who is going to lead the Dark X-Men in Gambit’s absence? Whoever it is, they’re going to find themselves face to face with Matsu’o Tsurayaba and the Assassin’s Guild that he now firmly controls.
Previous Issue | Next Issue