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ANNUAL #1
JAN 11 |
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“The Nova Trap”
The Xavier Mansion had been the home of the X-Men for almost their entire existence. It was where Xavier trained his students and housed his X-Men. But now the large living space was mostly reserved for Xavier, Emma Frost, a team of X-Men and a small number of students. Snow Valley dealt with mutant students who had some grip on their powers while the Mansion would be where his special cases would be trained in the use of their abilities. Mutants who had powers that were dangerous to other mutants would be trained by him and Emma personally.
Training, unfortunately, was the last thing on Xavier’s mind at the moment. He was seated in his office, staring out of a window with Warren Worthington for company, who had come bearing bad news. “Congress is holding a hearing about Little Rock. They want you and me to be there.”
Xavier sighed and folded his hands in front of him. “They’re looking for answers.”
Warren gave a dry laugh. “They just want someone to hang, Professor. People are angry and they’re looking for someone to paint a target on.”
“Can you blame them? My God…an entire city was wiped out.”
Warren refused to put himself on a guilt trip like Charles. “If they want justice then they should work with us. Outside of the CSA, we have gotten zero cooperation. The FBI, CIA and NSA have given us nothing but flack and bullshit. I’m not going to cry a river for people who don’t want help.”
“Consider the details, Warren. We have someone in our organization who looks exactly like the head of the Brotherhood. That’s not going to inspire confidence and, while we may know all the details, the general public doesn’t. All it would take is one political pundit pouncing on one of those organizations for helping us and it’d cost someone their job.”
“So we’re going to let fear run us? Then I guess Stryfe has already won.”
Xavier turned to face Warren. “I think we might have a more immediate threat in front of us.”
“What’s wrong?”
“When I was at Pietro’s inauguration I felt a massive psychic power for a brief moment and then it was gone. I’m feeling it again…right here…right now.”
Warren knew exactly what that meant. A major attack was about to take place and it was going to require the whole team being put together. “I think we’re going to need Clarice for this, Professor, if something really is up. Maybe Storm too.”
Clarice and Ororo had just recently been awakened but Charles knew there was truth in Warren’s words. He nodded tersely. “Agreed, but only on Clarice. We need to find her. Now!”
The woods were dark and she was alone. Her breaths came in quick bursts, escaping her open mouth as steam when it hit the cold night air. She could hear movement behind her, to the side of her, all around her. Still she ran. She was alone. She was scared. She was looking for her mother.
The girl finally reached a clearing of trees, a small open gap in the thick woods, the type of clearing you found a log cabin in, only this clearing had no buildings, but it was not empty. She could hear the screams even from her position. As she moved closer she could see the face of the victim, her mother. She watched in horror as claws—were they claws?—viciously cut through the stomach of the woman who had given her birth. Her mother’s mouth moved but the girl could not hear it. Again the strikes came, fiercer, more unfeeling and more callous then before. Whatever her mother was saying to her attacker, which the girl presumed was the mutant Feral, the girl could not hear, but it made no difference. Such pleas were lost on the attacker, until finally, the woman collapsed, dead, her mouth frozen in a scream never uttered.
The girl bent down to kiss her mother’s head but stopped as the attacker stepped closer to her. She readied herself, knowing that this would be her last moment. The attacker entered the light and the girl gasped…
“DAX!!!!!!” Laura Logan screamed as she sat up. Her door flew open and the mutant known as Rogue entered the room. “Well, Little Miss, another nightmare?” Her face showed concern.
Laura nodded mutely then swallowed. “Yes, Rogue,” she said, smiling up at the woman who had been assigned to watch her. “I’m fine, really. I’m sorry I woke you.” The adult mutant nodded and exited the room
Laura sat staring at the ceiling wondering what her dream would portend…
Rarely was there ever a time in the X-Men’s history when secrets weren’t afloat. It was natural side effect of having that many varied personalities under one umbrella. Emma Frost and Wolverine had kept a fair share of secrets in their lifetimes, as secrets had once been the currency of Emma. Their expertise in that department had prompted them to band together and create X-Force. Day to day responsibilities kept them from actually running the organization so they handed it over to Alex Summers. Taking stock of his leadership was what had brought the two together today.
“He’s trying to make X-Fore into his own private army,” Emma said, absolutely livid with Havok’s actions as of late. Utter disobedience about summed it up, but Emma threw in a few other words for flavor.
“Lady, you can’t just jump to conclusions like that. Alex is a good man and he’s tryin to get the job done.”
“Maybe you haven’t noticed but he’s been disobeying every order we give him.”
“Every order you’ve given,” Wolverine corrected. “Sure you already know, but you have a knack for rubbing folks the wrong way.”
“An order is an order!”
“Agreed, but you’re dealing with X-Men, not soldiers. We need to try and meet him halfway.”
While there might have been some truth in Logan’s suggestion, Emma didn’t want to admit it. “The minute he agreed to work with us he knew he was going to have to follow orders.”
“Something that you have to realize is that’s out there in the trenches. We aren’t.”
“Justify his actions all you want, but I will not have it,” Emma said as she took a manila folder off her desk and handed it to Logan. “In there is a list of replacements for Havok.”
“Not just no but hell no, Emma! Havok is doing good work. Replacing him is not an option.”
“Why are you defending him?”
Ignoring her question, Wolverine said, “There are other ways of handling this. If Chuck acted like you I would have been on my ass a long time ago.”
Emma pointed a finger at Logan. “Fine, but it’s on your bloody head when he –”
She suddenly stopped talking and looked at the window ominously. Logan grabbed her shoulder and she jumped. “What’s wrong?”
“I just felt a massive psychic presence. Right here. I think we have company.”
Wolverine popped out his claws. “Well, we better go and tell them hello.”
Nathan Summers stood in the War Room, staring at the hologram of a topographical map of the United States and the leader of the X-Men frowned at the map. He had been a soldier for all of his life, but the wars he fought had usually been more direct than this…simpler. He was usually the one involved in guerilla warfare and terrorism; not the one defending it. Stryfe knew that so, naturally, that was the approach he picked for his Brotherhood.
Rogue and Omega Sentinel were also in the room. Rogue was pacing around nervously and Karima was still as a statue. Cable himself wasn’t exactly entirely an organic being but something about Karima seemed less human. Bastion’s programming had taken away a part of her humanity that he wasn’t sure she could ever get back.
Rogue groaned, breaking the silence. “We went after a cell that wasn’t even Mystique’s?”
“This Brotherhood is like the hydra,” Cable said and turned to Karima. “You familiar with that legend?”
“I can find it available for download in just a moment if you would like.”
“The hydra was a monster in Greek myth,” he said, ignoring Karima’s answer. “You cut off its head and two more grew back in its place. One of the heads was immortal and to kill the creature, the immortal head needed to be separated from the body. Hercules killed the hydra by cauterizing each neck stump, then burying the immortal head.”
“An interesting legend.”
“Stryfe and Mystique are the immortal head and the different cells are the ones that grow back…” Cable said, then stopped suddenly feeling a massive psychic force in the air.
“Nathan,” a voice said from the door. They all turned to see Psylocke standing there. “Charles says that we have a problem.”
Cable nodded. “Already felt it.” Nathan pulled out one of his many guns. “We’re about to go to war.”
“This should have been my home,” Cassandra Nova said as she walked onto the grass of the Mansion with her operatives behind her. Domino was at her right, Fatale to her left while Omega Red, Deathlok and Kaine were behind her as Sauron flew in the air above all of them. Sabretooth’s squad was moving around on another part of the Mansion.
Deathlok pulled out his gun and aimed it at one of the lawn gnomes. “Does that mean that we aren’t able to burn it down?”
Nova gave a perfect grandmother’s laugh and tapped the cyborg on the arm. “Of course you can, dear. My nostalgia does not cross into the impractical.”
“Good,” Domino said as she cocked a gun. “I’ve been waiting to put a bullet in-between Emma’s eyes for a while now. That bitch has had it coming for years.”
Domino had fought hard to justify her presence on this attack squad once she found out that Nova was going to hit the Mansion directly. Fending off Nova’s psyhic probes nearly destroyed all the defensive walls that Frost and Xavier had built up for her. So if she was going to make a move this was going to have to be it because resisting Nova wasn’t going to be an option for much longer.
“McCoy will be nothing but smiles if you do that, my dear. He’s been grinning for days behind Fatale’s attack on Havok,” Nova said.
Fatale smiled. “He’s had the Director replaying my memory of the event in his head over and over again.”
Domino shivered. She didn’t know what Havok was doing, but she hoped that he was okay. “Well, I’ll be sure to give him another juicy memory to feed on.”
There will be no deaths here today.
A pink flash erupted in front of Nova and standing only a few yards away was a team of X-Men. A quickly put together team, but a team nonetheless with Xavier at its forefront. “I don’t know who you are, but I know who you come from. Weapon X will not be the death of my X-Men.”
“Maybe we should talk a bit more,” Nova said as her eyes flashed red. Xavier momentarily convulsed in his wheelchair and was still.
Emma saw and felt that Xavier had been taken into the Astral Plane. Angered, she said, “Take them down! Now!”
Warren flew upwards and went right into a collision course with Sauron. Deathlok and Domino charged at a howling Wolverine.
Emma hefted up an energy rifle and shot off a round of plasma that slammed into Deathlok’s chest. The cyborg rolled back from the attack, but was immediately on his feet. Emma shook her head. “My oh my…the little bugger doesn’t want to stay down.”
Charles took each step across the green polyester carpet with great care. In the distance he could see a log white table and women clad in black. The sky above him was a blue so pristine that it could not be natural. Every cloud was frozen in place and there was sunshine without there being a sun in sight. He pressed along the massive carpet until the white table and the women in black could be seen in better detail. The white table was actually an immaculate dinner table draped in a spotless table cloth. White pitchers were spread in perfect intervals along the center of the table. Roses like new snow were in each pitcher and even the utensils were white. The dozen dinner guests were garbed in either a white tux or evening gown. Each guest was intimately familiar to Charles. He saw Storm, M, Forge, Prodigy and others all seated with perfect posture. As he walked by, they all lifted up empty crystal wine glasses and smiled.
One figure stood out at the dinner table and it chilled Charles despite him knowing it wasn’t real. The Dark Phoenix, in her traditional garb, had her chair pushed back and was resting her head in her hand. Her smile was almost inviting if not for the finger she wagged at him. It was a warning to stay away.
It was then that he got a good look at the women in black. They were all ballerinas in leotard with long, red hair. A piano was not far from them and behind it was Bishop. He was wearing a black tuxedo with cufflinks bearing the emblem of the Phoenix. Casually looking at the Professor, he began to play a slow, haunting song that the women in black danced to. Then he saw their faces and realized every last one of them looked like Jean Grey. Their faces held no emotion as they twisted and contorted their bodies to the music.
He heard a soft clap and turned around to see Cassandra standing there. “See, brother, I am perfectly capable of being civilized.”
Charles wasn’t impressed. “What is all of this? Some sick joke?”
“It’s me trying to show you that I have a healthy respect for your students and your work,” Cassandra said as she twirled her fingers to the music.
Charles pointed at the Dark Phoenix construct. “If you truly meant that then she wouldn’t be in here.”
“She is to serve as a reminder that you too have made mistakes.”
“I need no reminder of that.”
“I think you do. Now, would you like to chat like two reasonable seniors should or would you prefer to commence with the hitting? You have gotten so good at the latter over the years.”
Charles knew this was all smoke and mirrors, but he would go along with it for the moment. Nova had the upper hand and he needed time to reverse that circumstance. “We’ll talk. Though considering how you came into my home I would have not suspected you wanted to.”
A white table with chairs appeared between the two siblings. Nova took a seat and said, “If I wanted to kill you then I could have done it in Genosha.”
“That was you?” Xavier asked as he sat down. He vividly remembered the tremendous psychic force he had felt on the island. “Why were you there?”
“Genosha is an interesting step for our people. I wanted to be there to witness a new era for it.”
“What is it that you want, Cassandra?”
Nova poured a glass of wine for Xavier and herself. “I want to help us understand our place in the world.”
“By attacking my home?”
“It is for the pawns to fight. Generals need only provide direction.”
“My students are not pawns.”
Cassandra laughed as Bishop’s song began to pick up in pace. “Please don’t be delusional, brother. You have played those young men and woman like chess pieces since you formed the X-Men. Charles, you command an army, don’t pretend you haven’t recognized that face.”
“My students believe in my dream of co-existence.”
“And my soldiers understand evolution does not come without a cost. Do you see why we’re diametrically opposed? Mantras of evolution and co-existence will always be at odds.”
Charles swished his wine around. “Then why waste time talking?”
“Because the world is shades of gray and I believe there is a middle ground we can strike upon.”
“And that would be?”
“We carve up the world between ourselves. Let there exist a balance. Those who wish to follow you can do so and vice versa. We live out our dreams without interfering with the other.”
Charles leaned forward. “You could not have possibly thought I would agree to such insanity.”
“I knew you lacked all sensibility, but I figured I would at least try. We are family after all,” Nova smiled ingeniously.
White vines erupted from the handles of Charles’ chair and began to wrap around him. The music began to pick up violently in tempo and the ballerinas moved in positions completely unnatural as the vines entirely covered Xavier. He tried to let out a scream, but it only allowed the vines to crawl into his mouth and down his throat.
Cassandra raised a glass to the air and said, “You will see things from my point of view one way or another, Charles.”
A chasm opened up under Charles’ chair and he was pulled into it.
Clarice’s wide eyes and small frame belayed a certain innocence; dangerous killing machine would probably be the last read anyone got off her. Even so, Kaine kept his distance when initially approaching the young woman because he knew how unpredictable mutants could be. Frightening power often found its home in the most innocent and frail. This was especially true in the mutant community.
The clone had no desire to kill the young woman, but people he loved were at risk if he crossed Director Nova. To put it simply, the choice was completely out of his hands. “Forgive me, but I am only doing what I have to.”
“Comrade, you make it sound so tragic.”
Oh no, Kaine thought as he looked to his right and saw Omega Red. The bastard would enjoy killing this child. Kaine was sick at the thought of watching a smirk crawl across the Russian’s face as he broke the young girl. He imagined Omega Red’s tendrils wrapping around the girl’s lithe limbs and snapping them while Arkady laughed the entire time. It was an image that made Kaine’s stomach flip.
Kaine wasn’t going to allow that monster such satisfaction so he charged in first. If he could end the child’s life with one painless blow then it would all be over and he wouldn’t have to watch Omega Red. So he ran, trying to ignore the frailty of the young woman as he moved in closer. Two yards…three feet…BLINK!
The young woman vanished out of sight and appeared behind Kaine. She planted her feet and crouched low. Kaine looked at her and saw something different in her eyes and posture. This was no longer some scared young girl…he was now dealing with someone who knew how to handle themselves in combat. She held no pity for him as she said, “Leave my home. Now!”
“That won’t be happening, my little rose petal,” Omega Red said from behind Blink as his tendrils moved in to entrap her.
She had teleported again before Omega Red landed a blow. Appearing behind Kaine, she tried to kick him across the head but she underestimated just how fast the clone was. He ducked the blow, grabbed Blink with both hands around her calf, and slammed her into the ground. Clarice saw stars and tried to hold onto consciousness. Refusing to let the blackness swimming around her eyes win, Blink teleported out of Kaine’s grasp and reappeared right above him. She slammed an elbow into the back of his head and thrust a knee into his spine. Despite Blink’s precision, Kaine only budged slightly. He had taken blows from the likes of Spider-Man so the attacks of an average woman meant little to him and what she didn’t know was that he let her get those blows in.
Kaine’s ‘spider sense’ was far greater than that of Peter Parker’s to the point where it was a low level precognition. He had seen Blink’s attack before she even committed to it, but he let her in so he could deliver a blow of his own. Swinging his arm back, Kaine was able to strike Blink in the chest as soon she dug her knee into his spine. The limb smacked into her like a log and sent her tumbling across the grass like a dust ball. Before coming to a stop, her knee hit the ground in an awkward way and was twisted. She bit back a scream.
Looking up from the greenery, Blink saw Omega Red’s coils making their way toward her. They were coming at her in arc that would likely break bones if they hit her. She didn’t have time to get up so she took her next best option and teleported Kaine right in front of her. With a flash of lavender, the clone was right in front as Omega Red’s cybernetic appendages came down. Kaine had seen that attack coming too, but he had been powerless to stop it.
He was struck with enough force to create two thick welts on his back as he soared over Blink. Closing her eyes for just a split second, Kaine was teleported behind Omega Red and the two Weapon X agents were smacked into each other. They both fell to the ground and Omega Red was immediately frustrated. He roughly rolled Kaine off of him and said, “This little slut has started to test my patience.”
Kaine ignored Omega Red’s rant and leapt into the air over him. He was going to close the distance between himself and Blink because he now intended to hold nothing back. The child he had thought was innocent was anything but. In the middle of his maneuver, he watched Blink teleport again. He smirked knowing exactly where she was going to appear.
In the midst of his jump, he turned back and grabbed Blink from behind by both of her ankles. “You’ll have to move faster!”
Using the momentum of his downward fall, Kaine flung a completely shocked Blink over his head. She careened through the air until she crashed through a second floor window of the Mansion. Kaine landed perfectly and started to sprint toward the window where Clarice had been deposited.
Meanwhile, Blink had found herself sitting in a sea of broken classes. She had numerous bleeding cuts along her arms, legs, face and back. A few of the tinier pieces of glass were lodged in her, but no major damage had been done. Clarice was thankful for small miracles at least, but looking at the glass around her she now saw something else. Weapons.
Standing to her feet, Blink saw Kaine and Omega Red approaching fast. She waved at them as every piece of broken glass was glittered with lavender light. They teleported exactly where she needed them to and knew she had succeeded when the two Weapon X operatives crumbled to the ground. It was in the nick of time too because all the teleporting was beginning to exhaust her, but she had a few more jumps left in her.
“Not sure how you’re going to do it,” Blink said as she teleported a few yards away from the two. She was standing awkwardly as she had to put more weight on one leg. “But I hope you enjoy getting glass out of every major organ. Oh, and say hi to the Pacific for me.”
Neither Kaine or Omega Red had time to protest as they were dumped into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from the Mansion.
Cable was so pre-occupied trying to avoid Deathlok’s attacks that he didn’t realize Sabretooth was on top of him until his claws bit into his shoulder. Creed dug in, using his momentum to flip over Cable, tearing deep, jagged holes in his flesh. He fell face first in the dirt. “Hey there, Summers,” Creed growled. “Miss me?”
“Not in the slightest,” he hissed through the pain. He threw out his hand and a wave of telekinetic energy swept Sabretooth off of his feet.
“You know, Victor...” the southern accented voice drawled lazily from above, “…it’s not polite to call on a lady unannounced.” At stunning speed, Rogue landed in front of Creed, threw out her leg and roundhouse kicked the surprised Sabretooth where he landed. “Your Mama needs to teach you some manners.”
The larger man went sprawling and fell against the wall. Omega Sentinel was in front of him in a second, a hose popping out of a compartment in her chest. Acid was sprayed all across Sabretooth’s body and he howled as his flesh began to melt and hiss. Karima did none of this with any pleasure, she was simply doing what worked as the most effective attack.
“Victor!” Feral hissed. The rest of Sabretooth’s Weapon X team stood assembled around Maria.
A low growl started from behind them, followed by a strange sound. They turned to find a a teenager, her hair recently bleached blonde, standing in front of them with Psylocke at her side. Two claws poked from each fist, much like Wolverine’s. She was the first to speak. “You killed my mother. Prepare to die, bitch!”
“Strong words,” Feral said. “Get them!”
Claws extended, Laura leaped into the air toward Feral. Swiping furiously, she made contact with Feral’s skin and threw her end over end like an acrobat at the circus. Feet flying, she continued to kick Feral before putting a claw at her neck. “Give me one good reason not to do this, lady. You killed my mother, kidnapped my brother and made my life hell.”
The cat-like woman almost purred when she said, “Killing you will be as much fun as breaking your brother.” She pushed Laura away from her and then quickly pounced on the younger woman, fists flying.
Psylocke moved quickly, targeting Arclight with a thrown psychic katana. She countered with a shockwave, the blast tearing the ground apart beneath them. Betsy dodged Arclight’s next blast, finding a better angle and stabbed Arclight with a fully focused katana. The former Maurader tumbled away from her. Psylocke pushed her advantage, but was stopped suddenly by Avalanche as a pillar of Earth slammed into her.
With a growl worthy of her father, Laura surprised Feral with moves of her own. As the women rolled end over end, Laura sunk her claws into Feral, pinning her down. “Tell me again how much fun it was to break my brother. He taught me everything I know.”
Feral hissed then spat in the teenagers face. “Weakling…you will never be the warrior he is. You are a weakling, like your father…like your mother…and you will die…”
Taking a clawed hand and retracting them, she punched the cat-woman heavily in the eye, knocking her unconscious. “I am my father’s daughter...” Laura roared then added, in a smaller voice no one could hear, “whether he wants me to be or not.”
Warren flew over Sauron, grabbed him by the tail, and started spinning him around in the air. He kept spinning him until he saw a good enough place to aim the Weapon X operative. Without a concern for Sauron’s safety, he let the mutant loose and sent him flying into a stone fountain. The pterodactyl man crashed into the structure, clearly having broken bones given the awkward positions of his arms and legs.
“That was easy enough,” Warren said as he surveyed the battlefield around him.
He spotted Fatale edging towards Emma so he made up his mind to help her, but not before checking on Clarice. The young woman looked visibly shook.
Fatale walked casually towards Emma Frost with her wrist blade extended. Her fingers tapped on the blade in tune with her step. “For such a high maintenance bitch I didn’t think you’d know how to get your hands dirty.”
Emma held the energy rifle at her side and still managed to exude sexiness while doing it. The woman had learned to make anything appear sexual in her time as the Hellfire Club’s White Queen. So much so that it had became a force of habit. “You’d be surprised what all I can do.”
Fatale laughed. “Considering that outfit…I doubt it. Probably could make Xavier walk again if you put a skimpy enough thong up your ass.”
Frost rebuked the comment with a smile and started firing off the energy rifle. She knew Fatale was trying to keep her talking so that she could move in close range where her weapon wouldn’t very effective. Emma kept firing the weapon while backing up because Fatale was deftly dodging the shots and moving in ever closer. If she was able to, Fatale could do some substantial damage with that blade of hers.
“You just don’t know how to survive without those mind tricks of yours huh?” Fatale laughed as she spun, flipped and side stepped around every shot Emma made. Eventually, she was right in front of Emma. With a quick roundhouse, she kicked the rifle out of Emma’s hands and dropped to the ground to sweep Emma’s feet out from under her in one fluid motion.
The hard smack into the ground nearly sent Emma into unconsciousness, but she held on. It was impossible to concentrate and thus impossible to conjure up her telepathy. She already knew how futile that was anyway. When the Weapon X agents first showed up on the Mansion grounds she tried to get in their heads and was met with the psi-equivalent of a steel reinforced concrete wall. She could break it down, but not before someone got a few licks in.
Fatale pulled her arm back and was about to stab Emma when a small rock hit her in the back of her head. She looked behind her and saw Warren Worthington diving down at her with a bat in one hand. There was no time for her to avoid contact with him and the last thing she saw was a playboy smirk cross his face.
“Batter up!” Warren yelled as she swung the bat into Fatale’s face and sent her flying over Emma. She flew back into the grass, rolled for a little bit and stopped moving.
As she was helped to her feet by Warren, Emma said, “I almost don’t want to ask where you got a bat from.”
“A thank you would be nice,” Warren said and then added, “Blink found it for me.”
“As opposed to just helping me herself? A lovely child, that one.”
“I think she knows about your connection with Shaw. Needless to say she’s probably leery around you.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “I haven’t been with the Hellfire Club since…never mind. You people and your grudges…”
“Charles, wake up. Ye have been sleep all day.”
Xavier opened his eyes and saw Moira McTaggert smiling over him. She was holding a metal chart in her hand and reviewing some papers. Charles immediately popped up from his hospital bed and said, “Moira! You’re alive!”
Moira looked at him with grave concern. “Of course I’m alive, Charles. I always have been last I checked.”
Charles shook his head. “No, Mystique killed you. What’s going on here? Is this some trick?”
Closing her chart, Moira put a calming hand on Charles’ chest and laid him back. “Ye’ve got to calm down, Charles. You came to me two weeks ago talking about your psychic powers lashing out at you. Do ye not remember?”
“No. Why would they be lashing out?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out. Apparently, your subconscious has created an entity called Cassandra Nova who has been waging war on your mind. You told me that she claims to be your sister.”
“Yes, I know her. She attacked my school. She was in Genosha,” Charles said as he tried to remember his last encounter with the woman, but he was only able to recall a strange music and her laughter.
“No, Charles. She is creating scenarios in your head to make you think that she is real. Nova wants you to doubt yourself. She’s nothing more than a construct of your powers. I have been using hypnotherapy to force you to confront her head on.”
Charles wasn’t sure what to believe, but Moira’s story made sense. How could he have had a sister and never known about her? And why would such a sister bear such an eerie resemblance to him. He had heard of siblings looking alike, but Nova was far too close for comfort. Something ached at him though and he couldn’t quite place it.
“Your encounters with the lassie have proved unsuccessful thus far. That’s why I’ve called in some assistance. Perhaps you can conquer this construct with the aid of your students.”
“Who?”
Standing the doorway of the observation room was Jean Grey and Psylocke. “Us, Professor.”
They walked in followed by Rachel Summers and Emma Frost. He now doubted whether he was even with Emma in a romantic relationship. What was real and what wasn’t? Putting his hands to his head, he said, “I fear I’m losing my mind.”
“That’s why we’re here to help,” Jean said as the four women formed a circle around Charles’ bed.
“But you have to let us in your mind,” Rachel said.
“Lower your defenses,” Emma said soothingly.
Charles nodded and opened up his mind to the four women. That’s when he felt something black and horrible. His white sheets turned into a black sludge and the images of his four students turned into that of Cassandra Nova. The sludge was extremely cold and crawled up his body until it reached his neck. “Stop this! Stop this now!”
The four Novas’ spoke as one. “No, dear brother…we have just begun.”
The sludge covered Charles’ head and muffled his scream.
“I’ll gut the whole lot of ya!” Wolverine said as Domino and Deathlok circled around him.
“I wanted the bitch but I guess the hairball will work too,” Domino said as she fired off a plasma blast at Wolverine.
Wolverine leaped over the plasma charge and kicked Deathlok in the chest, but as the cyborg was falling back he grabbed Logan’s ankle and flung him hard over his shoulder into the ground. As Wolverine ate dirt, Domino blasted him in the lower back. He howled as flesh was singed and peeled away. He quickly rolled out of the way of another blast.
Standing to his feet, Logan charged at Deathlok and dug both sets of claws into the cyborg’s chest. They fell to the ground and started rolling around so Domino wasn’t able to get a clean shot. That was until Deathlok grabbed Logan by the wrists and lifted his claws out of his chest. Holding the diminutive mutant in the air, Deathlok said, “Shoot, Domino!”
The pasty mutant mercenary smiled. “My pleasure.”
With one blast to the head, Deathlok was out cold and Logan said, “’bout time. Was wondering when you were going to step in.”
“I had to play up the performance a little bit.”
“Next time try not to shoot me,” Wolverine groaned as the wound on his back stitched itself together.
Xavier woke up in a world of fire and ash. He was garbed in a black body suit that was torn across his right thigh and chest. Standing up slowly, he looked around at the volcanoes surrounding him in the distant. The ground beneath was black from layers of soot and the roar of the still exploding magma raged around him. His eyes eventually fell on a calm Cassandra Nova who was garbed like a stereotypical jungle explorer. Her eyes squinted up and were nearly blanked out by wrinkles as she smiled at him.
“Welcome, brother. I have been wanting to take you here for a while.”
Charles sneered. “I don’t want to be anywhere where you are.”
“The depths of my mind, Charles. You are in the depths of my mind, where I am the most powerful and you are no match for me.”
“Do not be so sure to declare your victory.”
“In here I have absolute control, Charles. What can stop me?” Cassandra asked as she rose into the air and a pink shockwave came out from her body. It struck Charles head on and sent him flying into the air like a Frisbee. She rolled back in laughter while still hanging in the air. “Come now, Charles. Don’t just let me toss you around.”
Charles repositioned himself in the air and a knight’s armor appeared across him. In one hand, he held a large broadsword branded with a red X and in the other hand he had a giant mace. “You may be powerful here, but I am not going to be taken quietly.”
“I would never dream of it. Let’s keep this fight classic shan’t we?” Cassandra said as she quickly transformed into a gargantuan black dragon. She looked to be about the size of a jumbo jet and her claws were as big as tires. Flying at Charles, she let loose a roar and sent out a green fireball.
Charles dodged the fireball and flew at his sister, unaware that the fireball had doubled back and was now behind him. The attack struck him full on and his body was enveloped in flame. His armor cracked and disintegrated into dust as did his weapons. Falling to the black ground, Charles struggled to rise to his feet, but couldn’t. From above he could hear Cassandra in a voice completely unlike her own. “You are lost, brother. I offered you peace and you did not take it.”
A loud clicking noise reverberated throughout the landscape that was very much like a gun being cocked. It was just amplified a hundred times over. That’s when Xavier heard a familiar voice…his ace in the hole.
“Let him go, bitch, or I blow your brains out!”
“I knew you were always going to cause me problems,” Nova said as she pulled her mind back into the physical world. “Your betrayal will not be forgotten.”
All of the X-Men were suddenly telekinetically lifted up into the air and flung at the Mansion. Nova stood to her feet and looked at the unconscious Fatale. Using her telepathy, she accessed the woman’s mutant powers and created teleportation portals underneath herself, Sauron, Deathlok and Fatale.
Before she disappeared into the portal, Nova left a telepathic warning for all of them.
This isn’t the last time we will meet, X-Men. My plans are more grand than you could ever imagine.
Rogue cursed silently. She started to dive toward Nova when a lightning bolt split the air and struck her. She looked into the air and saw Storm descending from above just as hailstones began to fall around them, slicing into their skin. Rogue couldn’t help but to wonder why the hell Hank let the recently revived woman out of her hospital room. She wasn’t ready for this kind of action.
“Weapon X!” Storm bellowed. “This battle is over! You have lost! Leave these grounds or face me!”
“T-The hell we will,” Tempo said through charred lips.
“Sorry, gal,” Avalanche said, “but she’s right.” The ground began to quake around them. The remaining conscious Weapon X members slapped their belts and they all vanished in a shimmering light.
Domino remained behind, grateful to be free of the organization.
The X-Men had celebrated their victory until news began to trickle in.
“How bad is it?” Hank asked Rogue as they gathered somberly in the war room.
“We thought it was bad that Nathan got his shoulder shredded,” she sighed. “But that’s nothing…Firestar is dead. The Weapon X attack on Genosha is ugly...but Pietro won’t release exact details, even to us.”
“So we got lucky,” Logan said from the doorway. Everyone turned to see the diminutive wild man.
“Logan, are you—?” Storm started to ask.
“I’m fine. We were damn lucky that Domino was able to weasel onto that attack team.”
“So what does this mean?” Betsy asked.
“It means we have found the new enemy for our new era,” Nathan said. “From today forward...everything changes.”
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To Be Continued...
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