|
#2
OCT 13 |
 |
A Day Ago
Brodie Burton was outside in a large, grassy field, not sure how he got there. He was dressed in a white tunic and brown sandals, which was out of the ordinary for the teenager, who usually dressed very casually. He could feel the wind blowing against his face as he stood there, wondering where 'there' was. He suddenly felt a chill go down his spine as he felt like someone was watching him.
He turned around, seeing nothing there. He felt something flash behind him again, running through the field at high speed. He started getting nervous as he held out his hand, ready to activate his power to shoot powerful beams of light from his hand.
“Who's there?” Brodie asked as he stepped forward. “Show yourself.”
It was then that the sky began to get dark as a large, shadowy figure appeared in the distance. He looked deeply menacing as Brodie decided it was best to run. He turned to run, occasionally turning his head back, seeing the figure standing there, unmoving, yet still coming closer. Every time he turned his head, the figure was all the more closer.
Brodie picked up the pace as he continued running, until he stepped into a black, tar like liquid. The straps on his sandals broke as he pulled his feet out, then getting his soles stuck in the tar. He fell to his knees, getting the stuff all over his tunic as he looked back and saw the figure was gone. That's when he felt the hand around his throat, lifting him into the air.
“You have failed me!” a dark, echoing voice said as Brodie felt the air leaving his lungs. “The penalty for failure is death!”
Brodie stood up in the classroom at the Xavier Academy, choking for air as his fellow students started rushing around to help, but were of no help as Brodie fell unconscious to the ground.
Charles rubbed a hand across a weary forehead. “These children and their dream states require further examination. We must see exactly what the students are mentally visualizing.”
Logan, posted up in a corner of the medical room, said, “You sure ‘bout that, Chuck? You could end up just like the kids.”
“A risk I’ll have to take.” Chares looked to Emma, Dani and Betsy. “I wouldn’t ask any of you to do the same.”
“Of course you wouldn’t, darling, because there’s no question we’re helping,” Emma said without missing a beat.
“For once, I think Frost and I agree on something,” Moonstar said. She wasn’t a strict telepath per se, but with help from one of the others she was able to bridge the gap. She just wasn’t going to ask Frost.
Charles smiled, proud of the women. “Then there is no time to waste. Each of you take a student.”
Emma moved over Celeste, Xavier over Tag, Psylocke took Mercury and Moonstar chose Brodie. Charles breathed deeply. “Be prepared for anything and remember your training.”
Beast and Wolverine watched the four mutants go into a trance. Logan pushed himself off the wall and looked at Hank. “Want Pizza Hut?”
Beast shrugged. “I suppose, given the circumstances, some unhealthy comfort food might raise the spirits.”
Emma was standing at the edge of an ancient city. In front of her flowed a great river. Getting her bearing and remembering her upper class education, Emma knew exactly what city this was: Cairo, wonder of the ancient world. It was amazing even in the heat of a blistering day but the city soon no longer caught her eye, but someone walking though it did.
It was Apocalypse, albeit a much younger one, walking through a crowded Cairo street with a throng of people cheering behind him. The sight nearly made Emma gag. The idea of Apocalypse being praised as a hero was anathema, but these people were doing just that. They cheered and praised with upraised arms and offerings at his feet.
“Vanquisher of the Pharaoh! May the gods bless you!”
“Rama-tut is no more!”
“Please take my daughter as a bride and be blessed!”
The proclamations made Emma feel intensely out of place. Why would Celeste be dreaming this? How could she be dreaming this? Every conclusion Emma drew wasn’t good for any of them, especially Celeste. “Oh my dear Celeste, I fear you are in a good deal of danger.”
Apocalypse pushed his way through the crowd, not quite the bulky man Emma knew, but still broad of shoulder. He wore the rags and armor of a bandit with a face of grim determination to match. When he passed by Emma, she expected him to walk by never noticing her. But he didn’t. He turned at her and smiled from ear to ear.
Charles heard the hum of machinery and looked around to find himself in some sort of laboratory. It was a small space, not much bigger than his own personal office. Thin blue and gray wires lined the walls, creating almost a second skin. Sectioned evenly between the wires were black pods that gave off thin, wispy smoke. Xavier’s examination brought him to Apocalypse and Ozymandias next to one of the pods.
Apocalypse had a hand on the stone man’s shoulder. “You will be a great heard to my cause, one of my many among many Chosen. When I battled Rama-Tut, visions of the future were granted to me.”
“The future is a fluid thing, my Lord.”
“This I know, my servant, and I wish to be prepared for all eventualities. You will be a large part of many of these plans. I know enmity exists between us, but I will raise you up. If I fall, you shall be a King.” Apocalypse spoke almost with something approaching friendship. Charles could hardly believe it.
“Our enmity does not come without respect.”
Charles watched Ozymandias enter into the nearest pod. The egg shaped chamber closed down on him and Apocalypse furiously went to work at the controls. Xavier had no idea how the mind of a mutant student came across a memory of Apocalypse. But there was no good answer that he could think of. Nothing involving Apocalypse ever was.
Psylocke nearly cried out when she realized where she was at. The Body Shoppe…Spiral’s personal torture chamber. It was here that many of her life’s worse moments had occurred. Why was she here? She was supposed to be in a student’s nightmare, not her own.
“Never thought I would see you here,” Spiral said.
Psylocke spun around, armed with her psi-knife. But Spiral wasn’t talking to her. The six-armed woman’s focus was on Apocalypse. He had done as much damage to Warren as Spiral did to her. Seeing the two of them together made her blood boil.
“I always come to those I feel are worthy,” Apocalypse said as he towered over her. His head nearly touched the roof.
Spiral smirked. “Meaning you want something.”
“You are a unique kind of creator. I would use your talents to help me assemble soldiers.”
“And what would I get in return?”
Apocalypse folded his arms across his chest. “I have not seen a great deal of Celestial technology in your possession.”
Spiral licked her lips. “You make a tempting offer, but I help you and I’m bound to have the X-Men on my ass.”
Apocalypse laughed. “You need not worry about them. They still reel from the wounds of Onslaught.”
“So is that it? Onslaught got you scared.”
Apocalypse looked like he wanted to slap her. “I fear no one! Onslaught has only shown me that certain plans need to be implemented.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
Laying out his palm, a perfect square opened up and out of it floated a cube. The sparkling white cube moved across the air towards Spiral. “Consider this your first piece of Celestial Tech.”
The cube landed in one of Spiral’s hands and she looked like she had been shocked, but instead she just laughed. “That was fast. I’ll call up Tullamore. Sure he wouldn’t mind helping.”
“Complete the work to my satisfaction and I’ll give you an ample amount more.”
The exchange puzzled Psylocke. This had to have happened some time ago, but they never encountered whatever Spiral was tasked to gather. Why not? If she had failed, then why hadn’t she incurred the wrath of Apocalypse? This dream, if it could be called that, was crucial in some way. But why was it haunting a student?
“Because En Sabah Nur lives.” The voice was sloppy and slick like splashed oil.
Grimacing, Betsy turned to the corpulent man dressed in an immaculate cream colored suit. “Farouk.”
The Shadow King smiled and rocked on his heels. “Oh, you could at least act like you’re happy to see me. Where are those manners, Ms. Braddock?”
“I should have known you were–”
Farouk held up a finger and her lips were literally sealed shut. “Not me. I do not lie. Apocalypse does live and he will have one of you.”
Psylocke grimaced. “And now you’re a lackey for Apocalypse? How fitting.”
Farouk smiled, wide and broad. “Not at all. The Astral Plane is my home and always will be. Having Apocalypse, even in a fetal state, is company I’d rather not have. So let’s just say I nudged him in the right direction.”
Psylocke clenched her fists together and took a step closer to Farouk. She could feel his dark presence permeating all around her. “You did this?! You would bring Apocalypse back?”
“Oh Betsy, I have always been an agent of chaos.”
The scenery around the two telepaths changed. She saw when Farouk first snatched up a young Ororo Munroe into his twisted games. She saw his first encounter with Xavier and how it banished him to the Astral Plane for all eternity. She saw the havoc that the telepath wreaked on Muir Island and how so many died as a result. She saw how he took hold of Karma and tortured the woman with nightmarish thought upon nightmarish thought.
Farouk gently traced his fingers down his chin. “Considering all of that, would it really be outside the realm of possibility for me to facilitate the rise of Apocalypse?”
“I swear on my Father’s grave, I will stop you, Farouk! I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.”
“Beginner’s luck, my dear.” Farouk’s pleasant expression quickly turned sour. “It won’t happen again.”
A black pit appeared underneath Psylocke and she was consumed by it, screaming out her hatred for the Shadow King the entire way.
The four telepaths woke from their trance simultaneously. They each scanned each other without even thinking and Charles summed up their experiences. “Apocalypse.”
Logan, a mouth full of food, damn near choked on it. “You got to be shitting me.”
“I can assure you, Logan, that is one task I will never do to you,” Emma said, rubbing a hand across Celeste’s face. There was worry there.
“So Apocalypse is the cause of this unfortunate series of events?” Beast sat down his slice of pizza and immediately started scanning vitals. “But how is that possible?”
“His body died but not his mind,” Psylocke said, trying her best to wash the Body Shoppe from her mind. “But it’s not just him…bloody Farouk is in this too.”
“And based on the memories we all saw, Apocalypse was a lot more busy than any of us suspected,” Moonstar said. The hunter in her demanded she track down whatever Apocalypse had created.
“We’ll handle that later, but the students come first. What part does Farouk play in this?” Xavier asked.
Psylocke telepathically showed all of them her conversation with Farouk. They turned their eyes to Celeste. Emma frowned. “I will not let Apocalypse have her.”
Charles sat a hand on top of Emma’s. The two shared a loving glance and Xavier said, “We won’t let him have any of them, I promise you that, Emma. I have seen too many of my friends taken and used by this monster. He will not return to this world and the Shadow King will be made to answer for ever thinking he could make it happen.”
Logan sucked his teeth. “Too bad I can’t come with you, I’d love to sink a claw or two into Farouk. He’s come after ‘Ro one too many times.”
Psylocke folded her arms across her chest. “Believe me, Logan, I will make sure that the bastard knows exactly how we all feel.”
“So that’s the first step? Stopping Farouk?” Moonstar asked.
Charles nodded. “It would seem so. I suggest we all rest. We have a bit of a trek ahead of us and we will need to be as mentally strong as possible.”
Beast agreed. He could hardly believe it, but he had a swell of sympathy for Emma. Perhaps the woman was really starting to work her way into the hearts of the X-Men. Had Rogue and others not done the same? “Do not worry, Emma, we will look after the students, especially Celeste. We take care of our own.”
“Yea, I know what it’s like to have Apocalypse screwin’ with your head. Won’t let him do it to a kid,” Logan said, knowing there really wasn’t much he could do, but it felt better pretending he could. That was the kind of man he was. Even if he couldn’t do a damn thing, he never let himself believe it.
The Hellfire Club
Ozymandias strode into the office of Sebastian Shaw, doing his best to contain his apprehension. It wasn’t for Shaw’s benefit; Ozymandias had met more threatening men in his lifetime, though not many. It was because of what Ozymandias felt. An all too familiar presence, full of darkness. An all too familiar force that once ruled him.
“We need to talk, Shaw.” Ozymandias immediately was met with the smell of jasmine and vanilla upon entering the well-lit room. A gentle, classical song was playing in the background as Shaw flipped through a well-worn notebook. Once, Ozymandias’ only vision came through his prophetic visions, otherwise he had been blind. But things were starting to change him and he couldn’t say why. Ever since joining the Hellfire Club, Ozymandias felt himself growing into something more than what he once was.
Shaw closed the notebook and sat it down on his oak desk. He looked up at the stone man and smiled. “And what is this urgent matter we need to speak on?”
Ozymandias’ face curled up like bile was about to come out of his throat. He hadn’t felt bile in ages. “Apocalypse…I feel him. He’s coming back.”
Shaw nodded thoughtfully. He looked like a sage man considering some great sudden, swell of wisdom. “I know. He’s quite the strong entity. No matter how many times it seems that he’s disposed of, the man always finds a way to come back it would seem. Quite admirable, though bothersome.”
Ozymandias had not seen this. “And how did you know?”
Sebastian Shaw lifted up the worn notebook he was reading. Scrabbled on the cover was the word Destiny. “One of her diaries. I’m sure you’re familiar with it.”
Dread crept up from Ozymandias’ chest and sat hot around his neck. He took the slightest step back and pursed his lips. “You have that? How?”
“We’ll discuss that in time. But I do know about Apocalypse’s rising. And believe me when I say that the Hellfire Club will be watching events unfold with great interest.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To Be Continued...
Previous Issue | Next Issue