|
#3
JUN 09 |
 |
“Faster Than Light”
Logan sat quietly near the top of a tree; he didn’t know what species of tree it was and it didn’t matter at the moment. He was bleeding in multiple places, with actual chunks of himself missing. His healing factor was working quickly but that didn’t mean he didn’t need to rest. He pulled a small flask from his belt, took a swig of the strong liquor and dumped another portion over one of his larger wounds, a deep, ragged gash in his left leg. His healing factor would handle any infection, but the more he helped it the less painful it would be to heal. Most people’s systems slowed down with age, but Logan’s healing factor only seemed to grow more powerful with every year he put under his belt.
He took another sip and looked across the Amazon rainforest. He leaned against the trunk and sighed. What had happened today would put Creed on his ass again and he had to be ready for that, as he probably already knew about the school, about the students, all of it. Logan had to make this fight as decisive and brutal as possible and keep Weapon X away from them. He heard crashing in the bushes below and he growled softly and popped his claws. He was mostly healed, at least superficially, and was ready for round two.
Logan slid off the branch and allowed himself to fall, expertly using each branch to slow himself until he reached the ground. He realized as he landed that the crashing was coming from the wrong direction…it was coming from their jet. A trim figure dashed out of the underbrush and slid to a stop when he saw him.
“Dad!” Laura said. “You’re okay!”
Logan raised an eyebrow and sheathed his claws. “Comfortable enough with me now to call me Dad?” he growled. “We just met.”
“But–”
“Look, kid,” he growled, “I loved yer mother and, apparently, those feelings weren’t mutual ‘cuz she left me.” He took a deep breath in. “I didn’t know about the two o’ you for almost two years after you were born. You’re my blood but let’s not move too fast.” Laura drew back, obviously shocked by what her father had to say. “Sorry kid,” Wolverine growled. “That came out wrong. Soon as we get out here we’ll have a long talk.” He took a deep breath in and immediately began to growl.
“Oh crap,” Laura said. She had all of her father’s enhance senses and picked up on the scents of the people who were responsible for all of the recent destruction in her life. Instinct had driven her to chase down her father but now she was wishing she stayed with his two friends.
“Trouble alright,” Wolverine said. His claws popped from his knuckles again and he balled his fists tightly. “I hope you got some kind of power kid,” he said. “If you don’t, we’re in some big trouble.”
Laura popped out her own claws and Logan’s eyebrow perked up as a claw popped out from each of her feet. She nodded tersely at her Dad. “I have enough power to take care of myself.”
Logan nodded. “My kind of kid.”
Shaw Industries South Campus
Cable, Emma and Rogue had met up with Roberto and Karima at the hotel they were staying at in Tallahassee. The five of them had been tasked with infiltrating Project Glimmer, rescuing Blink and attempting to discover just what the project was for in the first place. Emma wasn’t too thrilled with being sent on the mission because of her betrayal of the Hellfire Club. Sebastian wanted her head and Emma didn’t need her sources to know that.
Sebastian Shaw was an arrogant man that prided himself on being in control of every situation. The betrayal of Emma and Sage, both women that he was extremely close to, had cut him deeply. Emma wasn’t afraid of Shaw, but she would rather avoid contact with him. Yet, here she was about to attempt to infiltrate one of his facilities. It didn’t strike her as the smartest decision, but she couldn’t run from Shaw forever. Better to deal with him now than later and, if she was lucky, Shaw wasn’t anywhere near Project Glimmer currently. Sunspot had said that Shaw left with Ozymandias and Madylene in a hurry.
“You look worried, Emma,” Rogue said as they watched the Shaw Industry building from the rooftop across the street. Emma wouldn’t dare admit to any of the people present that she was apprehensive about this mission. Most of them already hated her for past transgressions and would only enjoy any sign of weakness from her. The only people she could imagine confiding her insecurity in, Professor X and Banshee, were nowhere to be found. So she’d keep her thoughts to herself.
“Hardly worried, darling. Merely bored. I have so many other better things I could be doing besides rescue missions,” Emma said. The truth of the matter was that she wanted to be here. There had always been a small part of her that blamed herself for what happened to Blink; that young girl sacrificed herself to save them and it was just one more loss Emma was forced to deal with. Now she felt like there was a chance to redeem herself in some small way and she was going to take it.
Cable held out a small black cube that blinked red every few seconds. He held it out towards the Shaw Industries facility. “You’re going to have to allow me to link our minds Emma. This device hooks me into my psionic signal and will give us a detail schematic of the entire building. In fact, I will need to link all of our minds together as one. That way every single one of us will know this building inside and out.”
Emma huffed. “Fine, let’s just make this quick. I’d rather not be hooked to all of you too long.”
“Awww Frost, I didn’t know you cared,” Roberto joked. Of all the former New Mutants, Emma had always believed that Sunspot was the one most likely to walk down the sort of road her life had taken her down. There was an angry, dominating streak in the man. Cable seemed to have saved him from that path, but the potential for a dark swing still lurked underneath the surface. That and his prior history made him the only one really suitable to try and convince the Hellfire Club he was a traitor.
“Darling, I just rather not come across one of your masturbation sessions in my head,” Emma said.
“Get ready,” Cable said as he held up the device in the air. A thin beam of light projected from one of its sides and zipped through the air to hit a window on the Shaw Industries’ building. At that moment, Cable linked all of their minds. It was a rush of information as every aspect of the building and its underground facility rushed through their minds. They learned the exactly density of every window, the number of every office, how dirty the carpets were at the entrance…everything from the most major to most trivial detail was placed into their minds.
When it was over, Cable ended the connection and Roberto let out a big whoosh of air. “That was a rush.”
“All that knowledge won’t last forever. It’ll start to fade so we need to take advantage of the situation and get into that building now,” Cable said.
“With that kind of technology, infiltration must have been simple in your time,” Omega Sentinel said.
“Not really. In my time there were just as many devices that could block this thing’s signal,” Cable said sliding the cube back into his pocket. “Just so happens you guys are about two thousand years behind.”
“I’d rather not be bored by technobabble,” Emma said walking to the stairway entrance leading off the roof. “Let’s rescue Blink and make Charles a happy man.”
Psylocke dashed through the Amazonian jungle, gritting her teeth. Logan’s daughter, if that’s who the kid really was, was going to get her ass kicked by her personally. What she had done was stupid. Following her wasn’t practically bright, but she had more than enough training to survive doing stupid things. She stopped suddenly because a slight whisper in the air alerted her to trouble.
She took a deep breath in as the whisper turned into a growl and Betsy jumped into the air. Feral howled as she leapt at Psylocke but she slammed a psyhic dagger into the woman’s chest. Feral growled wildly from the psychic overload and grabbed the back of Betsy’s head, digging her claws into her scalp.
“Bad move,” Psylocke grunted as she took another deep breath and used her telekinesis to pull back Feral’s fist so fast that it nearly broke the Weapon X agent’s wrist, causing her to let loose an ear-splitting scream. Feral was thrown away violently and slammed against a tree.
“Good move, Betts!” came a call from behind her. Wolverine vaulted over her, fists forward and claws extended. He pinned Callasantos against the tree with them as she howled in pain. Logan pulled away from her and glanced at Psylocke. “You okay?” he asked.
She ran her hand through her hair and pulled it away. Blood colored her fingers red, but not as bad as she had expected. “Hurt, but I’m fine,” she said. She stood and glanced behind her, noticing that Logan’s daughter stood several feet away, standing alert.
“Good,” Wolverine replied. He turned back to his captive. “Let ‘Ro know we’re fine. Me and the Morlock are going to have a little talk.”
“Hah!” Feral growled. “Yeah right, old man! You think you can make m–”
Logan pulled one of his fists away just enough to dislodge it from the tree and twisted his claws. Feral gritted her teeth and choked back a scream. “You’re going to talk,” he said. “Where’s the rest of your team?”
“I don’t kn–” Logan twisted again and Feral let out a laugh laced with pain. “Who do you think we’re more scared of? You or Creed?”
Logan knew the answer to that question in the back of his mind. Victor was willing to do things that Logan would never fathom committing and he’d have to cross lines he wasn’t willing to in order to get any information out of Feral. He could put her through some pain, but the idea of what Sabretooth could do would always be more overriding.
“Arclight found us first,” Logan said. “She’s not going to be finding anyone for a while. You’re going to call your pals off and, if you do, you’ll end up in better shape than she’s in. You get it?”
“Y-yeah,” she said, nearly passing out from the pain. “I get it.”
“Good,” he growled. “Your radio.” He pulled his claws from her shoulder and held his hand out. She carefully pulled the radio from her belt. “Now you’re going to tell them that you’ve caught our scent and we’re headed south,” he growled. “You say anything different, I’ll take your head off right here, no lie. Got it?”
She nodded, believing that threat, and turned the radio on. “Creed,” she said. “Feral. Caught their scent, they’re moving–” She glanced at Logan, fear of Victor winning out in the end “–north. They’re moving north!”
Logan knocked the radio out of her hands and head-butted her, knocking her unconscious. He stood over her and chuckled. “Predictable,” he said. “The jet’s straight south.” He glanced over his shoulder at Psylocke and Laura. “Let’s move.”
Emma led the way through the lobby of the Shaw Industries facility. “I really hope that you were able to put all of the security cameras into a loop Cable or this ruse won’t last long.”
Cable looked at the Hellfire Guards ignoring them and said, “I told you it was done. That means it’s done. I don’t have to lie to my friends.”
Emma laughed. “Then Hellfire membership will never be for you, darling.”
“I’m just surprised these guards don’t have any telepathic blocks on them,” Rogue said, feeling a fist itch to knock one of the bastards out. She was usually tossing Hellfire guards around, not leisurely strolling in front of them.
“Psionic blocking technology isn’t something you can buy on every street corner, dear. It can be quite expensive and it seems Shaw was satisfied with having Madylene handle all his psionic blocks. He probably didn’t count on the combination of me and Nathan here trumping those,” Emma said. The two telepaths were using their powers in concert to make every person in this building see the X-Men as simple businessmen arriving for some kind of late appointment.
“I just hope we’re not too late. The girl looked in really bad condition when I saw her,” Sunspot said as they walked through the lobby toward the rear-most elevator the floor had. Black marble tile covered every inch of the floor and the pillars in it. It was a pristine sheen that Sunspot found himself momentarily admiring. Of course that sheen disguised a much deeper ugliness. Why did beautiful things so often have such corruption on the inside?
“To Shaw, Blink is simply merchandise. He’s not going to allow her to die. I can state that to you with full positivity,” Emma said as she pressed the down button on the elevator.
As they all entered into the elevator, Karima said, “They’re overriding our camera loop. We’ll be visible in a few minutes.”
Cable scowled. “Hopefully, we’ll already be into the tunnels by the time they do.”
Rogue leaned up against one of the elevator walls and sighed, “I think it’s about time we get some punching in anyway. This gal was starting to get antsy.”
“Move!” Logan jogged forward, leading Psylocke and Laura towards the jet carefully but quickly. The sleek black jet was only about a hundred yards away and they were almost there when Logan stopped. “Keep moving,” he said. Laura ran forward eagerly, but Betsy stopped next to him.
“Logan?”
“Betts, you have ten seconds to get there,” he said. “Go!”
*SNIKT*
“Go!”
Going against her every instinct, Psylocke broke into a run as a roar split the jungle air. She glanced over her shoulder as Sabretooth emerged from the jungle in a dead run. “LOGAN!” he screamed. “You’re dead!”
“Getting old,” Logan said. He jumped forward and slashed Sabretooth across the chest, spun and stabbed him in the shoulder.
Betsy ran into the jet as Creed kicked Logan away. “Storm!” she cried. “Logan is in trouble!”
“I’m well aware of that,” Storm said calmly as the jet began to lift off. “Take the controls.”
Psylocke ran forward, sat in the co-pilot seat and took the controls. “What are you going to do?” Betsy asked.
Storm ran to the ramp. “Help,” she said. She took several quick steps and jumped out of the door. She free fell for several seconds before the wind caught her and slowed her descent. She landed in the foliage near Logan just as Arclight and Tempo rushed out of jungle, both of whom were promptly met by twin bolts of lightning. “Logan!” Storm cried.
“Little busy right now, ‘Ro!” he cried. He slammed his knee into Sabretooth’s gut and slashed him across the face.
“We’re outnumbered!” she cried, blasting Avalanche with a massive gust of wind. The elemental blast lifted the Greek mutant into the air and sent him crashing into a thick gathering of tangled branches.
“I like being outnumbered!” he screamed as he punched Creed in the throat.
“You got no chance punk!” Creed growled and punched Logan. “Things have changed in Weapon X.” He clawed him across the face. “It’s not just the skeleton anymore…they’ve reinforced now!” He punched Logan again, forcing him to the ground. “It’s all the soft spots! Throat, kidneys, solar plexus–”
Wolverine popped his claws and lunged forward, nailing Creed in the groin. “How about the nuts?!” he growled with a grin. Sabretooth howled in pain and tumbled over as Logan stood and sheathed his claws. “Guess not. We clear, ‘Ro?”
“For the moment! GO!”
Logan spun and broke into a sprint. Halfway between his starting point and the jet, he felt a strong wind start behind him and suddenly yank him off his feet. He could smell Ororo, even over the wind, just above him. They hit the jet quickly, landing in a heap.
“GO BETTS!” Logan screamed. “GO!!”
Moments later, the jet rocketed away at full speed leaving a sonic boom in its wake. Creed stood painfully as his team began to gather together, looked up with his eyes narrowing. “This still ain’t over, runt.”
“Director Nova is not going to like that we lost the girl,” Tempo said, rising to her feet, her suit still sizzling from the lightning blast.
Creed growled, feeling his groin working to knit itself back together. “We have his son. That’s enough for now.”
Clarice Ferguson turned her head slightly, watching the images scroll over the television screen as her head rolled forward. She had been in a drugged state for nearly two months now, not that it really mattered to her. She had been blissfully ignorant of everything that had happened to her. Shaw’s abuse of her humanity was completely irrelevant to her as she hung in drug induced bliss. It was the most pleasant dream she’d had in a long while.
There was a loud bang outside, followed by gunfire. She rolled her head to the side, looking toward the exterior wall. Who or whatever was out there was making a lot of noise. She looked back at her screen, wondering who it was out there. There was a hissing sound then the door swung open and five silhouettes entered into the room.
“Clarice,” one of them said. She had a nice accent…British, Clarice thought. “Clarice, my name is Emma Frost. We’re here to rescue you.”
“Isn’t that just sweet?” a voice came from the doorway of Blink’s prison.
The five mutants turned to the source of it and they all almost jumped. The woman standing in the doorway looked like just like a replica of Mr. Sinister. To her right was Sebastian Shaw and to her left was Ozymandias. Emma quickly got over her shocked and started to laugh. “Sebastian, dear, I know you have your fetishes, but don’t you think this is taking it a bit far?”
Sebastian ran a finger along his new companion’s cheek. “Miss Sinister is hardly a fetish, she’s a weapon…a new weapon that will solidify the Inner Circle’s power.” Shaw then turned his attention to Sunspot, holding Blink in his arms. “I knew you couldn’t be trusted, DaCosta. I should have let Ozymandias kill you when I had the chance.”
Cable pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the stone immortal’s head. “Try it and you’ll be in pieces.”
Sebastian laughed. “I think it’s us who have the advantage here Cable. None of you are going anywhere.”
Emma shook her head as she tapped into the unconscious Blink’s mind. “You always underestimated me, Shaw. You’ll have to learn to stop some day.” Using her telepathy, Emma accessed Blink’s powers and teleported them all in a series of pink flashes.
Shaw smiled. “I was hoping they’d find a way out of here without it having to get physical.”
“You wanted them to leave?” Ozymandias asked, entirely confused by the statement. Then a flash of the future came to the man and he smiled. “Ahh…I see. A very clever strategy, Shaw.”
“I knew you would agree. Now come, we have another meeting to get to and we won’t be able to use Glimmer to transport us this time.”
The Mansion
The Next Day
Nathan stood in the Mansion’s medical wing, waiting outside the small three-bed room where Clarice was being checked out. He kept his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet in impatience. Finally Hank McCoy emerged from the room, drying his furry hands on a towel.
“Well?” Cable asked.
“You don’t already know?” Hank said, raising an eyebrow.
“You know I don’t intrude unless necessary,” he said.
Beast nodded and glanced over his shoulder. Emma sat next to Clarice’s bed, her eyes closed. Cable could feel the almost overwhelming guilt right on the edge of Emma’s mind. Nathan wondered just how much guilt did that woman hold in her if it was radiating off of her without him even trying to feel it. Was this why Xavier accepted her? Did he feel this emotion?
“Clarice, the poor child, is going to need a tremendous amount of therapy.”
“Pretty messed up?”
“Very,” Hank said. “The drug cocktail they were pumping into her will require some extremely intensive detox. Emma will have to put her into a psychic coma for however long it requires, which will help.”
“That’s at least halfway good news,” Cable said.
“I’ll be able to come up and check on her as often as possible,” he continued. “Otherwise, Emma and Charles have downloaded the information they need from me.”
“You doing okay up there?” he asked.
“We’re getting warmer,” Hank said. “I wish I had more to say than that. Really, we’re trying to inspire people again. The Avengers attacked in public like that? Shakes public opinion pretty badly.”
“Good thing Stark is leading the team at the moment,” Cable said.
“Indeed, my friend,” Hank agreed. “Ororo and Logan?”
“Home in a couple hours,” Cable replied. “This Weapon X business has me almost as worried as the Hellfire Club. I can’t imagine what we’re going to have to deal with next.”
Shaw looked out his window with his hands behind his back. “Roberto DaCosta was able to provide me with the list of telepaths that I needed. His ruse as a so-called double agent against the X-Men was never something I believed, but I still found him to be useful. I let him believe that I believed him and he gave me a crucial piece of information.”
Turning back from his window, Sebastian pointed down at a piece of paper on his desk. “This is the list of all known telepaths in the United States. It was the price I asked of Roberto to allow him back into the Hellfire Club and to begin proving his loyalty to me.”
The paper floated off of the desk and into the hands of Shaw’s visitor. Shaw continued on his with his story. “I allowed the X-Men to find out about Glimmer because I wanted them to focus on Blink and to forget about the list. I’ve already obtained all the genetic information I need from the girl so the project has only been halted temporarily. Now you can push forward with your plans and I can push forward with mine.”
Clutching the piece of paper, the man asked, “And what do you want in return?”
Shaw shrugged. “If you’re going to pick a city to ruin could you make Little Rock. They denied me a contract a few months ago.”
“Ha! I like your style Shaw.”
Shaw held out his hand and the man took it in a firm shake. “And it was a pleasure doing business with you, Stryfe.”
To Be Continued...
Previous Issue | Next Issue
He took another sip and looked across the Amazon rainforest. He leaned against the trunk and sighed. What had happened today would put Creed on his ass again and he had to be ready for that, as he probably already knew about the school, about the students, all of it. Logan had to make this fight as decisive and brutal as possible and keep Weapon X away from them. He heard crashing in the bushes below and he growled softly and popped his claws. He was mostly healed, at least superficially, and was ready for round two.
Logan slid off the branch and allowed himself to fall, expertly using each branch to slow himself until he reached the ground. He realized as he landed that the crashing was coming from the wrong direction…it was coming from their jet. A trim figure dashed out of the underbrush and slid to a stop when he saw him.
“Dad!” Laura said. “You’re okay!”
Logan raised an eyebrow and sheathed his claws. “Comfortable enough with me now to call me Dad?” he growled. “We just met.”
“But–”
“Look, kid,” he growled, “I loved yer mother and, apparently, those feelings weren’t mutual ‘cuz she left me.” He took a deep breath in. “I didn’t know about the two o’ you for almost two years after you were born. You’re my blood but let’s not move too fast.” Laura drew back, obviously shocked by what her father had to say. “Sorry kid,” Wolverine growled. “That came out wrong. Soon as we get out here we’ll have a long talk.” He took a deep breath in and immediately began to growl.
“Oh crap,” Laura said. She had all of her father’s enhance senses and picked up on the scents of the people who were responsible for all of the recent destruction in her life. Instinct had driven her to chase down her father but now she was wishing she stayed with his two friends.
“Trouble alright,” Wolverine said. His claws popped from his knuckles again and he balled his fists tightly. “I hope you got some kind of power kid,” he said. “If you don’t, we’re in some big trouble.”
Laura popped out her own claws and Logan’s eyebrow perked up as a claw popped out from each of her feet. She nodded tersely at her Dad. “I have enough power to take care of myself.”
Logan nodded. “My kind of kid.”
Shaw Industries South Campus
Cable, Emma and Rogue had met up with Roberto and Karima at the hotel they were staying at in Tallahassee. The five of them had been tasked with infiltrating Project Glimmer, rescuing Blink and attempting to discover just what the project was for in the first place. Emma wasn’t too thrilled with being sent on the mission because of her betrayal of the Hellfire Club. Sebastian wanted her head and Emma didn’t need her sources to know that.
Sebastian Shaw was an arrogant man that prided himself on being in control of every situation. The betrayal of Emma and Sage, both women that he was extremely close to, had cut him deeply. Emma wasn’t afraid of Shaw, but she would rather avoid contact with him. Yet, here she was about to attempt to infiltrate one of his facilities. It didn’t strike her as the smartest decision, but she couldn’t run from Shaw forever. Better to deal with him now than later and, if she was lucky, Shaw wasn’t anywhere near Project Glimmer currently. Sunspot had said that Shaw left with Ozymandias and Madylene in a hurry.
“You look worried, Emma,” Rogue said as they watched the Shaw Industry building from the rooftop across the street. Emma wouldn’t dare admit to any of the people present that she was apprehensive about this mission. Most of them already hated her for past transgressions and would only enjoy any sign of weakness from her. The only people she could imagine confiding her insecurity in, Professor X and Banshee, were nowhere to be found. So she’d keep her thoughts to herself.
“Hardly worried, darling. Merely bored. I have so many other better things I could be doing besides rescue missions,” Emma said. The truth of the matter was that she wanted to be here. There had always been a small part of her that blamed herself for what happened to Blink; that young girl sacrificed herself to save them and it was just one more loss Emma was forced to deal with. Now she felt like there was a chance to redeem herself in some small way and she was going to take it.
Cable held out a small black cube that blinked red every few seconds. He held it out towards the Shaw Industries facility. “You’re going to have to allow me to link our minds Emma. This device hooks me into my psionic signal and will give us a detail schematic of the entire building. In fact, I will need to link all of our minds together as one. That way every single one of us will know this building inside and out.”
Emma huffed. “Fine, let’s just make this quick. I’d rather not be hooked to all of you too long.”
“Awww Frost, I didn’t know you cared,” Roberto joked. Of all the former New Mutants, Emma had always believed that Sunspot was the one most likely to walk down the sort of road her life had taken her down. There was an angry, dominating streak in the man. Cable seemed to have saved him from that path, but the potential for a dark swing still lurked underneath the surface. That and his prior history made him the only one really suitable to try and convince the Hellfire Club he was a traitor.
“Darling, I just rather not come across one of your masturbation sessions in my head,” Emma said.
“Get ready,” Cable said as he held up the device in the air. A thin beam of light projected from one of its sides and zipped through the air to hit a window on the Shaw Industries’ building. At that moment, Cable linked all of their minds. It was a rush of information as every aspect of the building and its underground facility rushed through their minds. They learned the exactly density of every window, the number of every office, how dirty the carpets were at the entrance…everything from the most major to most trivial detail was placed into their minds.
When it was over, Cable ended the connection and Roberto let out a big whoosh of air. “That was a rush.”
“All that knowledge won’t last forever. It’ll start to fade so we need to take advantage of the situation and get into that building now,” Cable said.
“With that kind of technology, infiltration must have been simple in your time,” Omega Sentinel said.
“Not really. In my time there were just as many devices that could block this thing’s signal,” Cable said sliding the cube back into his pocket. “Just so happens you guys are about two thousand years behind.”
“I’d rather not be bored by technobabble,” Emma said walking to the stairway entrance leading off the roof. “Let’s rescue Blink and make Charles a happy man.”
Psylocke dashed through the Amazonian jungle, gritting her teeth. Logan’s daughter, if that’s who the kid really was, was going to get her ass kicked by her personally. What she had done was stupid. Following her wasn’t practically bright, but she had more than enough training to survive doing stupid things. She stopped suddenly because a slight whisper in the air alerted her to trouble.
She took a deep breath in as the whisper turned into a growl and Betsy jumped into the air. Feral howled as she leapt at Psylocke but she slammed a psyhic dagger into the woman’s chest. Feral growled wildly from the psychic overload and grabbed the back of Betsy’s head, digging her claws into her scalp.
“Bad move,” Psylocke grunted as she took another deep breath and used her telekinesis to pull back Feral’s fist so fast that it nearly broke the Weapon X agent’s wrist, causing her to let loose an ear-splitting scream. Feral was thrown away violently and slammed against a tree.
“Good move, Betts!” came a call from behind her. Wolverine vaulted over her, fists forward and claws extended. He pinned Callasantos against the tree with them as she howled in pain. Logan pulled away from her and glanced at Psylocke. “You okay?” he asked.
She ran her hand through her hair and pulled it away. Blood colored her fingers red, but not as bad as she had expected. “Hurt, but I’m fine,” she said. She stood and glanced behind her, noticing that Logan’s daughter stood several feet away, standing alert.
“Good,” Wolverine replied. He turned back to his captive. “Let ‘Ro know we’re fine. Me and the Morlock are going to have a little talk.”
“Hah!” Feral growled. “Yeah right, old man! You think you can make m–”
Logan pulled one of his fists away just enough to dislodge it from the tree and twisted his claws. Feral gritted her teeth and choked back a scream. “You’re going to talk,” he said. “Where’s the rest of your team?”
“I don’t kn–” Logan twisted again and Feral let out a laugh laced with pain. “Who do you think we’re more scared of? You or Creed?”
Logan knew the answer to that question in the back of his mind. Victor was willing to do things that Logan would never fathom committing and he’d have to cross lines he wasn’t willing to in order to get any information out of Feral. He could put her through some pain, but the idea of what Sabretooth could do would always be more overriding.
“Arclight found us first,” Logan said. “She’s not going to be finding anyone for a while. You’re going to call your pals off and, if you do, you’ll end up in better shape than she’s in. You get it?”
“Y-yeah,” she said, nearly passing out from the pain. “I get it.”
“Good,” he growled. “Your radio.” He pulled his claws from her shoulder and held his hand out. She carefully pulled the radio from her belt. “Now you’re going to tell them that you’ve caught our scent and we’re headed south,” he growled. “You say anything different, I’ll take your head off right here, no lie. Got it?”
She nodded, believing that threat, and turned the radio on. “Creed,” she said. “Feral. Caught their scent, they’re moving–” She glanced at Logan, fear of Victor winning out in the end “–north. They’re moving north!”
Logan knocked the radio out of her hands and head-butted her, knocking her unconscious. He stood over her and chuckled. “Predictable,” he said. “The jet’s straight south.” He glanced over his shoulder at Psylocke and Laura. “Let’s move.”
Emma led the way through the lobby of the Shaw Industries facility. “I really hope that you were able to put all of the security cameras into a loop Cable or this ruse won’t last long.”
Cable looked at the Hellfire Guards ignoring them and said, “I told you it was done. That means it’s done. I don’t have to lie to my friends.”
Emma laughed. “Then Hellfire membership will never be for you, darling.”
“I’m just surprised these guards don’t have any telepathic blocks on them,” Rogue said, feeling a fist itch to knock one of the bastards out. She was usually tossing Hellfire guards around, not leisurely strolling in front of them.
“Psionic blocking technology isn’t something you can buy on every street corner, dear. It can be quite expensive and it seems Shaw was satisfied with having Madylene handle all his psionic blocks. He probably didn’t count on the combination of me and Nathan here trumping those,” Emma said. The two telepaths were using their powers in concert to make every person in this building see the X-Men as simple businessmen arriving for some kind of late appointment.
“I just hope we’re not too late. The girl looked in really bad condition when I saw her,” Sunspot said as they walked through the lobby toward the rear-most elevator the floor had. Black marble tile covered every inch of the floor and the pillars in it. It was a pristine sheen that Sunspot found himself momentarily admiring. Of course that sheen disguised a much deeper ugliness. Why did beautiful things so often have such corruption on the inside?
“To Shaw, Blink is simply merchandise. He’s not going to allow her to die. I can state that to you with full positivity,” Emma said as she pressed the down button on the elevator.
As they all entered into the elevator, Karima said, “They’re overriding our camera loop. We’ll be visible in a few minutes.”
Cable scowled. “Hopefully, we’ll already be into the tunnels by the time they do.”
Rogue leaned up against one of the elevator walls and sighed, “I think it’s about time we get some punching in anyway. This gal was starting to get antsy.”
“Move!” Logan jogged forward, leading Psylocke and Laura towards the jet carefully but quickly. The sleek black jet was only about a hundred yards away and they were almost there when Logan stopped. “Keep moving,” he said. Laura ran forward eagerly, but Betsy stopped next to him.
“Logan?”
“Betts, you have ten seconds to get there,” he said. “Go!”
*SNIKT*
“Go!”
Going against her every instinct, Psylocke broke into a run as a roar split the jungle air. She glanced over her shoulder as Sabretooth emerged from the jungle in a dead run. “LOGAN!” he screamed. “You’re dead!”
“Getting old,” Logan said. He jumped forward and slashed Sabretooth across the chest, spun and stabbed him in the shoulder.
Betsy ran into the jet as Creed kicked Logan away. “Storm!” she cried. “Logan is in trouble!”
“I’m well aware of that,” Storm said calmly as the jet began to lift off. “Take the controls.”
Psylocke ran forward, sat in the co-pilot seat and took the controls. “What are you going to do?” Betsy asked.
Storm ran to the ramp. “Help,” she said. She took several quick steps and jumped out of the door. She free fell for several seconds before the wind caught her and slowed her descent. She landed in the foliage near Logan just as Arclight and Tempo rushed out of jungle, both of whom were promptly met by twin bolts of lightning. “Logan!” Storm cried.
“Little busy right now, ‘Ro!” he cried. He slammed his knee into Sabretooth’s gut and slashed him across the face.
“We’re outnumbered!” she cried, blasting Avalanche with a massive gust of wind. The elemental blast lifted the Greek mutant into the air and sent him crashing into a thick gathering of tangled branches.
“I like being outnumbered!” he screamed as he punched Creed in the throat.
“You got no chance punk!” Creed growled and punched Logan. “Things have changed in Weapon X.” He clawed him across the face. “It’s not just the skeleton anymore…they’ve reinforced now!” He punched Logan again, forcing him to the ground. “It’s all the soft spots! Throat, kidneys, solar plexus–”
Wolverine popped his claws and lunged forward, nailing Creed in the groin. “How about the nuts?!” he growled with a grin. Sabretooth howled in pain and tumbled over as Logan stood and sheathed his claws. “Guess not. We clear, ‘Ro?”
“For the moment! GO!”
Logan spun and broke into a sprint. Halfway between his starting point and the jet, he felt a strong wind start behind him and suddenly yank him off his feet. He could smell Ororo, even over the wind, just above him. They hit the jet quickly, landing in a heap.
“GO BETTS!” Logan screamed. “GO!!”
Moments later, the jet rocketed away at full speed leaving a sonic boom in its wake. Creed stood painfully as his team began to gather together, looked up with his eyes narrowing. “This still ain’t over, runt.”
“Director Nova is not going to like that we lost the girl,” Tempo said, rising to her feet, her suit still sizzling from the lightning blast.
Creed growled, feeling his groin working to knit itself back together. “We have his son. That’s enough for now.”
Clarice Ferguson turned her head slightly, watching the images scroll over the television screen as her head rolled forward. She had been in a drugged state for nearly two months now, not that it really mattered to her. She had been blissfully ignorant of everything that had happened to her. Shaw’s abuse of her humanity was completely irrelevant to her as she hung in drug induced bliss. It was the most pleasant dream she’d had in a long while.
There was a loud bang outside, followed by gunfire. She rolled her head to the side, looking toward the exterior wall. Who or whatever was out there was making a lot of noise. She looked back at her screen, wondering who it was out there. There was a hissing sound then the door swung open and five silhouettes entered into the room.
“Clarice,” one of them said. She had a nice accent…British, Clarice thought. “Clarice, my name is Emma Frost. We’re here to rescue you.”
“Isn’t that just sweet?” a voice came from the doorway of Blink’s prison.
The five mutants turned to the source of it and they all almost jumped. The woman standing in the doorway looked like just like a replica of Mr. Sinister. To her right was Sebastian Shaw and to her left was Ozymandias. Emma quickly got over her shocked and started to laugh. “Sebastian, dear, I know you have your fetishes, but don’t you think this is taking it a bit far?”
Sebastian ran a finger along his new companion’s cheek. “Miss Sinister is hardly a fetish, she’s a weapon…a new weapon that will solidify the Inner Circle’s power.” Shaw then turned his attention to Sunspot, holding Blink in his arms. “I knew you couldn’t be trusted, DaCosta. I should have let Ozymandias kill you when I had the chance.”
Cable pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the stone immortal’s head. “Try it and you’ll be in pieces.”
Sebastian laughed. “I think it’s us who have the advantage here Cable. None of you are going anywhere.”
Emma shook her head as she tapped into the unconscious Blink’s mind. “You always underestimated me, Shaw. You’ll have to learn to stop some day.” Using her telepathy, Emma accessed Blink’s powers and teleported them all in a series of pink flashes.
Shaw smiled. “I was hoping they’d find a way out of here without it having to get physical.”
“You wanted them to leave?” Ozymandias asked, entirely confused by the statement. Then a flash of the future came to the man and he smiled. “Ahh…I see. A very clever strategy, Shaw.”
“I knew you would agree. Now come, we have another meeting to get to and we won’t be able to use Glimmer to transport us this time.”
The Mansion
The Next Day
Nathan stood in the Mansion’s medical wing, waiting outside the small three-bed room where Clarice was being checked out. He kept his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet in impatience. Finally Hank McCoy emerged from the room, drying his furry hands on a towel.
“Well?” Cable asked.
“You don’t already know?” Hank said, raising an eyebrow.
“You know I don’t intrude unless necessary,” he said.
Beast nodded and glanced over his shoulder. Emma sat next to Clarice’s bed, her eyes closed. Cable could feel the almost overwhelming guilt right on the edge of Emma’s mind. Nathan wondered just how much guilt did that woman hold in her if it was radiating off of her without him even trying to feel it. Was this why Xavier accepted her? Did he feel this emotion?
“Clarice, the poor child, is going to need a tremendous amount of therapy.”
“Pretty messed up?”
“Very,” Hank said. “The drug cocktail they were pumping into her will require some extremely intensive detox. Emma will have to put her into a psychic coma for however long it requires, which will help.”
“That’s at least halfway good news,” Cable said.
“I’ll be able to come up and check on her as often as possible,” he continued. “Otherwise, Emma and Charles have downloaded the information they need from me.”
“You doing okay up there?” he asked.
“We’re getting warmer,” Hank said. “I wish I had more to say than that. Really, we’re trying to inspire people again. The Avengers attacked in public like that? Shakes public opinion pretty badly.”
“Good thing Stark is leading the team at the moment,” Cable said.
“Indeed, my friend,” Hank agreed. “Ororo and Logan?”
“Home in a couple hours,” Cable replied. “This Weapon X business has me almost as worried as the Hellfire Club. I can’t imagine what we’re going to have to deal with next.”
Shaw looked out his window with his hands behind his back. “Roberto DaCosta was able to provide me with the list of telepaths that I needed. His ruse as a so-called double agent against the X-Men was never something I believed, but I still found him to be useful. I let him believe that I believed him and he gave me a crucial piece of information.”
Turning back from his window, Sebastian pointed down at a piece of paper on his desk. “This is the list of all known telepaths in the United States. It was the price I asked of Roberto to allow him back into the Hellfire Club and to begin proving his loyalty to me.”
The paper floated off of the desk and into the hands of Shaw’s visitor. Shaw continued on his with his story. “I allowed the X-Men to find out about Glimmer because I wanted them to focus on Blink and to forget about the list. I’ve already obtained all the genetic information I need from the girl so the project has only been halted temporarily. Now you can push forward with your plans and I can push forward with mine.”
Clutching the piece of paper, the man asked, “And what do you want in return?”
Shaw shrugged. “If you’re going to pick a city to ruin could you make Little Rock. They denied me a contract a few months ago.”
“Ha! I like your style Shaw.”
Shaw held out his hand and the man took it in a firm shake. “And it was a pleasure doing business with you, Stryfe.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To Be Continued...
Previous Issue | Next Issue