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#17
JAN 14 |
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“The Five Who Were Six” Part One
“Professor, I am beginning to question your sanity.”
The tension hung in the room like a miasma between Storm and her longtime mentor, Charles Xavier. Oftentimes, Storm appeared so regal that she mistakenly suffered the characterization of aloof. But no one could make that mistake today. She was livid and it showed on every curve and dip of her body. “How could you possibly think letting this woman be in charge of anything is a good idea?”
“Emma has more than proven herself at this point. I must admit to some frustration at having to have this conversation again and again with all of you. We all, ALL of us, have had our missteps and failings. Emma is with us. Logan can see that and I honestly thought, with your wisdom, that you would too.”
A slight breeze, stronger than his antique office fan could ever whip up, rolled across Xavier’s face. He could see Storm’s hairs standing on end and her eyes had gone white. “Ororo, there is no need to be so angry. This is no slight against you. You know that I have always respected and appreciated the work you’ve done as field leader.”
Storm clinched her fists together and her eyes turned back to their normal blue. Sometimes Charles believed that it was in Ororo’s anger that she looked the godliest and, ever since what happened in Egypt, Charles hadn’t been able but to wonder if perhaps Ororo now approached something akin to a true godhood. It’s a fact that worried him, though he kept it to himself. Somewhere beyond the grave he can hear Erik admonish him for his hypocrisy.
“Let us be honest with one another, Professor. You do not want me as field leader because of Sekhmet making me into one of her Pharaohs. You are not entirely sure that you can trust me yet.”
Charles felt his cellphone buzzing in his jacket pocket, but ignored it. “Ororo, I have always trusted you.”
“But you know nothing of Sekhmet. I do not blame you for this, Charles…I fear too what that woman might have left behind in me. But – Emma?? Do you really feel there is no better choice?” Storm asked the question with such desperation that Xavier was truly disheartened by it.
“There are many qualified choices, Ororo. I am not blind to that fact, but in this time and space I believe that Emma is the best choice. She has proven herself to be dedicated to our cause despite her rocky beginnings and she has been front and center as one of our ambassadors to the rest of the world. It would be foolish to not use the amount of time she’s spent in front of the media to our advantage.”
Storm took a deep breath and let it out with a slow, measured pace. Xavier had a notion that if her mutation allowed it, Ororo would be breathing fire. He knew the source of her anger and didn’t blame her for it, but that had been years ago. How could they ask the humans to accept them when they couldn’t even accept one another? He wondered if Erik foresaw these complications and simply decided the fight for mutant unity was the wiser choice.
“Emma’s time in front of the media is troublesome as well, Charles. You know that woman’s history and now she might as well be the face of the X-Men!”
“I wouldn’t take it quite that far, Ororo. I am not attempting to make you her biggest fan nor would I expect you to erase all transgressions. But remember Rogue…”
Storm turned on Xavier like a wildcat and pointed a finger down at him. “Don’t! Don’t you compare them, Charles, not even for a moment! Rogue was a teenager being raised by a manipulator. Emma Frost was a grown woman and her choices were completely motivated by her own dark desires. Nothing more and nothing less.”
Xavier had to cool his own anger, remembering to temper his love for Emma with some of the truth in Ororo’s words. “Will you stay?”
Storm looked like she was being asked to swallow a bag of nails. “I will stay. Only because I know me leaving would give her too much satisfaction.”
Xavier sighed and gave a sagely nod. “In time, I think Emma and you will come to understand one another.”
The Mansion Foyer
“This will be your new home, Julian. Not quite the style we’re used to but I assure you that it comes with a beautiful history,” Emma said, holding a hand out to direct Julian to take in the Mansion’s splendor. He did so reluctantly and in his face Emma saw her former students, the Hellions. It shook her for a moment to be reminded of how ruthlessly they were cut down.
Julian removed his Versace sunglasses and took a look around the foyer, the hesitation slowly melting off. “I’m going to imagine this is a little bit what moving into Heaven must feel like.”
Julian was the poster boy for rich youth, but Emma saw so much of herself in him. Ambition and a desire for something greater roiled in him and begged to be released. She would be for this young, dark-haired man what she wished she would have had for herself. The closest she’d had to a mentor at his age was McCoy…another road she’d rather not walk down, especially considering her sisters were now dealing with that monster.
Emma smiled with a genuine warmth outside her norm. “Though there will be many who would tell you otherwise, becoming an X-Man is one of the proudest moments of my life. I know you will be absolutely fabulous, Julian.”
Emma knew that she was going to have to get Julian and the other newer members of the team on her side if her leadership was ever going to stick. The veterans were too hard set against her and Emma herself wouldn’t be able to change their opinions. But hearing their hypocrisy from a fresher perspective might be the ingredient she needed to get what she wanted.
Putting a gentle hand on his shoulder, Emma said, “Let me show you to your room. And then we can begin introductions with the rest of the team.”
The War Room
Rogue sat alone with the man who first gave her a chance, the chance to walk away from a life she didn’t really want. Without that chance, Rogue imagined she would be as full of hate and bitterness as her adopted mother. And now he was asking her to give that same chance to someone else.
“Charles, I’m starting to understand now why everyone was so against me joining the team,” Rogue said.
“Yes, but you are in the unique position now of having been on both sides of the track. More than anyone else, you understand Emma’s struggle for acceptance amongst the X-Men.”
Rogue sighed. “Maybe but I do. But even you gotta admit, Professor, that Emma don’t make it easy on herself either. She still acts like she’s in the damn Hellfire Club!”
Charles smiled like a sage looking down on his disciple from the mountaintop. “We all have our defense mechanisms, Rogue. Emma’s is just a bit more abrasive than say…Gambit’s charm or Logan’s gruffness. We all mask our hurts in different ways.”
Rogue looked off to the side and scratched her shoulder. “Emma hurt? She doesn’t need to turn to diamond, that woman is already cold as ice.”
“Winston Frost was not a kind man to his children. But you already know about bad fathers and the damage they can do.”
Rogue stiffened. “Pulling out the big guns, huh?”
“I’m not being left with much choice I’m afraid. I want Emma here and I want you all to come to care for her the same way I do.”
Rogue laughed. “Just realized sumthin…Logan was the first to cut me some slack and he’s cutting Emma some too. You know I trust Logan’s judgment so if he can do it then so can I. But don’t make me regret it.”
Charles looked like he was a thousand miles away for a moment. “Seems your crucible as a team is coming far sooner than I expected. It would appear that A.R.M.O.R. is here to see us.”
The Bleed
We wander the endless Omniverse on the back of the Bleed. And I have loved every damn minute of it!
At this minute, my wonderful vessel happens to be under attack by another group of would be pirates. But they’ve never met the likes of us. No one comes up against the Crimson Pirates and gets to walk away.
I come out of my captain’s quarters to find my crew engaged with the would-be invaders. Laughing at the carnage around me, my gun finds its way to my hand and the bullets start to fly. Tracker bullets given to me by the Sage of New Orleans on one of many Earths we’ve traveled. These bullets aren’t your ordinary run of the mill shit from your standard Earth though. They move like heat seeking missiles until they reach their intended target. The Sage designed these bullets to strike at sentience. So if you’re self-aware these bullets sniff you out like a wolf.
So I fire wildly and maniacally knowing that all of my bullets will find a target. And just like the little gold-eyed bastard said they would, they each and everyone find a target. It’s always an amusing soundfest when bullets tear through flesh. All the blood is starting to give the old rig a new paint job.
The Sea Dogs drag a prisoner (probably the only one) in front of me. Green, slimy bastards with weird goggles to some, but one of the most reliable mates an honest working man like myself could ask for. Singular because all the Sea Dogs are using the same damn brain. Like I said, weird.
The beaten woman they drop to my feet irks me when I first look at her. She’s not drooling and sniveling like I’m used to seeing my prisoners. There is still fire in her brown eyes and she’s directing every bit of it at me. Now I am hoping she has friends still kicking because I am going to break this woman, bit by bloody bit.
Bending down, I grab the brown-skinned woman by the chin. I make sure to squeeze. Bloody Bess tells me quite often that my voice is creepy as fuck. Today is going to be one of those days I act like it. “Your name?”
“A bit rude, don’t you think, since I don’t know your name?”
Oh yea. This one is going to be needing the Crimson Pirates’ reeducation program. “Oh, don’t be coy, darling. You obviously know I’m Killian and these are my Crimson Pirates. Nobody comes after us without knowing who we are.”
Yanking her head up, I bring our faces closer together. “Now your name.”
This little cunt wants to slap me, bite me or do anything to lash out. But she knows better. I’d turn her insides to mashed potatoes before she ever got a breath out.
“Aliyah Bishop.”
Akabba
Sekhmet laid her back down flat on the stone table. She put her hands on her belly and took a deep breath. Surrounding the table was Medea, Holocaust, Nikare and Moses Magnum. Closing her eyes, Sekhmet said, “The time has come for my child to be born. For too long have I kept him contained in my womb. He must know freedom and restore his Father’s legacy.”
“Will bringing my brother forth harm you in any way?” Holocaust asked. Sekhmet knew he secretly hoped that neither one of them would survive her child’s birth. She did not admonish Holocaust for his ambition; she would expect no less from a child of Apocalypse.
“No. My people have long since evolved past childbirth being anything of harm. Orcus Nur shall be born and we shall take back the legacy that Stryfe and the X-Men robbed from us!”
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To Be Continued...
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