Valle Soleada

A peaceful, coastal town located along the Pacific Ocean. Lots of through-traffic and occasional tourism, but not much else. Other than one thing that sets it apart from most of the country—in Valle Soleada, mutants and humans coexist peacefully. There are no religious groups claiming that mutants are spawns of hell or that Jesus was a mutant. No humans lobbying for the Mutant Registration Act, no mutants cheering as the terrorist X-Men blow up another piece of the “flatscan” establishment.

Here, people tend to keep to themselves and treat each other with respect. Mike Donovan, the proprietor of Donnie’s Diner, had taken over the business from his father. It was a small place but a staple of Valle Soleada and Mike never had much trouble.

Until today, of course.

The familiar ring of the bell came and Mike looked up from the counter. A fairly large group entered, consisting of seven people. Several of whom possessed very obvious mutations. The leader of the group was dressed in torn jeans and a leather jacket. His black hair was spiked straight up and he wore a patch over his right eye. Beneath his jacket, Mike could see a dirty white t-shirt with the words “HAVOK WAS RIGHT!” scrawled over the front in black marker.

“Can I help you folks with something?” asked Mike.

“Yeah,” said Erg. “We’d like a table.”

Mike looked over the group again and scanned the diner. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that.”

“And why’s that?” asked Erg, his uncovered eye narrowing. “Is it because we’re mutants?”

“What?” asked Mike.

“Bet he’s one of them,” said a shorter mutant, who had a slimy appearance and large bug eyes. “Sack thinks we make an example, eh Erg?”

“Mutant haters,” spat Bliss.

“Everywhere we >hrk!< go,” said Litterbug.

“We’ve had a long trip and my friends and I want to get some food,” said Erg.

“Look, it’s not like that at all,” said Mike. “I’m a mutant myself. We just don’t have any space, but if you come back la—”

“Later?” asked Tar Baby. “You mean when the flatscans are all gone?”

“No, of course no—”

“Silence, race traitor!” The large green creature known as Vessel punched Mike Donovan across the face and the other patrons and wait staff silenced and looked on in shock. One of the mutants lowered the hood of his cloak, revealing a featureless, green face and sunken sockets where his eyes would be.

“They’re afraid, Erg. All of them.”

“Of course they are, Reverb. And they should be,” said Erg. “Everywhere we go, we’re turned away. We’re not the pretty mutants, we’re not granted passage into Genosha or given a shiny Avengers ID card. So it’s obvious we’ve gotta make our own way! It’s time to set an example, to show the world that mutants aren’t gonna lay down and die! An’ Gene Nation’s gonna do just that—right here in Valle Soleada!”

STATELESS

Part II

By Chris Munn, Hunter Lambright, and Dino Pollard

Xavier Institute
The War Room

“Here’s the intelligence we’ve been able to receive from Ever,” said the Beast as he faced the gathered X-Men. “Erg has apparently formed a new Gene Nation, and Ever has confirmed that a few Morlocks have joined, including Bliss, Tar Baby, Litterbug and Masque. Also former Gene Nationals Vessel, Sack, Hemingway and Reverb. Ever believes Erg is planning something in Valle Soleada.”

“Ah heard about that place when I was workin’ undercover,” said Rogue. “Somewhere mutants an’ humans live together pretty peaceful-like. We set up a few rescued mutants with new lives out there.”

“Imagine, a peaceful, mutant-tolerant town suddenly erupts with mutant violence.” Banshee shook his head. “Sends a message that we’re not t’ be tolerated.”

“Precisely, all the more reason to quell this as quickly as possible,” said the Beast. “I want to try a diplomatic approach first. Rogue and Peter, you’ve had quite a bit of past contact with Erg, perhaps you can talk to him.”

“Not t’ undermine yeh, Hank. But if there’s trouble brewin’, we should all be on-hand,” said Banshee.

“Agreed, but I want the rest of you to lay low for now for two reasons. First, this is a very delicate situation and I don’t want to risk a violent confrontation unless it’s absolutely necessary. And second…” Hank pressed a button on the remote in his hand. A holographic image of an inhaler appeared above the circular table. “This is a relatively new street drug called Rave. For mutants, it enhances their powers. I’ve been tracking police reports of possession arrests over the past month, and based on those numbers, I believe one of the major producers may exist near or even in Valle Soleada. I’d like the rest of you to investigate. Forge.”

The mutant shaman looked up at the Beast.

“I’ve got some samples of the drug in my lab. Perhaps you can come up with a tracking device?”

Forge nodded. “Shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ll get right on it before we go.”

“In that case, Petey an’ I should go ahead of the others. Don’t wanna waste any time,” said Rogue.

“Very true,” said Beast. “I’ve used Cerebro to pinpoint a general location for Erg and his crew. You should leave immediately.”

Valle Soleada

Hemingway sat on the beach late at night, watching as the waves lapped at the shore. He had developed battle-ready instincts while living in the hell dimension Mikhail Rasputin had sent him and the other original members of Gene Nation to. And now, those instincts went off.

He rose to his feet and spun around, driving his spiked arm towards the new arrival with a speed that defied his appearance. His intended victim, however, was much quicker and easily avoided the strike.

The figure had a slim build and Hemingway couldn’t make out who it was. The form was feminine and she held a bladed weapon in each hand. One of which she hurled right at him and it struck the ground in front of his feet. Hemingway looked down and saw it was a blade forged from bone.

He relaxed his body, his face overcome with shock. “You alive?”

The woman stepped into the moonlight, her pink skin, short red hair and bone protrusions on her face now plainly visible. “One way a’puttin’ it.”

“How?” asked Hemingway.

“Long story an’ one I don’t wanna get into,” said Marrow. “Been trackin’ you from Mutant Town. I see Erg’s tryin’ t’ take my place.”

“But now back? You take over? Be leader?”

Marrow picked up the discarded bone dagger from the sand. “Not yet.”

“When?”

“You’ll know.”

“And Erg?” asked Hemingway.

“For now, stay with ‘im,” said Marrow. “When the time comes, I’ll take back what’s mine.”

The young blond mutant watched as a night jogger in the park stopped at a water fountain. As she tried to drink, he extended his hand and the water vanished before it could reach her lips. He started chuckling and so did his companions—two other mutants, one a woman with long blond hair and the other a man with spikes protruding from his body. The girl heard their laughing and looked over. She shook her head and continued down the path.

“Stupid flatscans,” said the blond man, called Porous. “Y’know that shop owner a few blocks away from my place? Bastard called the cops on me for loitering.”

“Maybe this Gene Nation will stir somethin’ up,” said Cutter, the man with spikes in his body. “Heard they got in earlier today, started causin’ trouble down at Donnie’s.”

“Yeah, I heard about it, too,” said the woman, Dervish. “Accused Donovan of being a race traitor and shit.”

“Maybe you’d like to start a movement of your own?”

The three young mutants looked to the source of the new voice. From behind the tree, a disfigured man appeared, wearing a dark red cloak with a hood over his head. He slowly walked over to the trio, a smile on his maligned features.

“Who the hell are you, ugly?” asked Cutter.

“I’m new in town, looking to make some friends,” said the man. “My name is Masque.”

“With a face like that, maybe you should start wearin’ one,” said Porous.

“You three look like you’re lacking direction. Trying to scrape by with the bare minimum,” said Masque.

“Not all of us get to live in a fancy mansion in New York or get some sun on the Genoshan beaches,” said Cutter.

“Not exactly fair, is it? The X-Corporation, the X-Men, Magneto, Jean Grey—they all make this big stink about helping mutants. But how many of us are living on nothing but scraps the flatscans toss our way?” asked Masque. “I come from Mutant Town in New York. It’s not a very happy place.”

“Nothing we can do about it,” said Dervish.

“Oh, I beg to differ.” Masque reached inside his cloak and pulled out three inhalers. “I have the means and I believe we’ll be expecting company soon. Who better to take out your frustrations on than the people responsible for not taking appropriate action?”

“Yeah, an’ who’s that?” asked Porous.

Masque’s grin grew wider. “The X-Men.”

A glowing disc appeared in the center of a dilapidated part of Valle Soleada. Rogue and Colossus emerged from the portal, dressed in their respective uniforms. Rogue looked down at the handheld Cerebro unit Beast had supplied her with. She pointed at one of the tenement buildings, which had boarded up windows.

“Looks like this is the place.”

Colossus started to move towards it, but Rogue placed a gloved hand on his bare arm. “Petey, Erg ain’t exactly been dealt a winning hand in life. So let’s just stay frosty, okay? We’re just here t’ talk.”

Colossus smiled at his teammate. “Of course, Rogue. I have no intention of escalating the situation.”

“Good,” said Rogue. She took the lead, walking up the stone steps to the building. There was no door, just an open space with broken hinges. Rogue stepped inside the lobby and began to look around. The Cerebro unit began beeping wildly. “We got company.”

“That’s one way of puttin’ it.” In the darkness was a crackle of energy. Erg stepped from the shadows, holding his eyepatch up. Kneeling by his side was Sack, a smile on his gelatinous face and Bliss and Reverb stood by his other side. Rogue and Colossus looked up and from the second floor, looking down through the gap in the stairwell were Vessel, Tar Baby, and Litterbug.

“We had a feeling you might show up,” said Erg.

“Take it easy, sugah. We just wanna talk t’ you, no one here wants a fight.”

“Speak for yourself,” said Vessel from the balcony above.

“That true, Reverb?” asked Erg. “They just here to talk?”

Reverb nodded. “Although they’re ready to come at you if they need to.”

“Okay then, start talking,” said Erg.

“This ain’t the way to do things,” said Rogue. “You’re gonna make the problem worse if you keep this up, Erg.”

“That’s exactly the point,” said Erg. “If the problem gets big enough, then someone will start paying attention. We’ve gotta show the world that the scary thing isn’t mutants lining up on the shores of Genosha—it’s lining up inside your borders.”

“But why? What do you hope to accomplish with all this?” asked Colossus.

“Because we won’t get anything more than scraps from the humans or even mutants without a revolution,” said Erg. “We don’t have rich friends like you. We can’t get Genoshan visas. So we gotta settle for ghettos and projects designed for mutants.”

“Your methods will only set back your goals,” said Colossus. “Do you want the government to reactivate the Sentinels? Or reintroduce the Mutant Registration Act?”

“So those are our options?” asked Bliss. “Sit back and take whatever scraps they give us or be rounded up like criminals? That doesn’t sound like much of a choice to us.”

“I tried doin’ things your way, lived in the sewers for most of my adult life, waiting to be accepted. And I was hunted by humans and mutants!” said Erg. “I’m not lettin’ it happen again!”

Electricity shot out of Erg’s left eye, striking Rogue directly. Her body convulsed for a few moments and Colossus activated his powers, his skin and muscles hardening and transforming into organic steel. As he moved forward, a massive hand with a large spike attached to it burst through the wall of the tenement. Hemingway stood there and lunged at the Russian X-Man. Colossus charged at him as well, driving his fists into the Morlock’s chest and sending them both crashing out into the street.

Rogue recovered from Erg’s attack just as Bliss’ tongue snaked out from her mouth, topped with a second head that bore poisonous fangs. Rogue grabbed the second head’s jaw, holding it back to stop it from snapping at her. She yanked Bliss by her tongue, slamming her against the wall and then shot into the air, charging into Litterbug and flying the two of them out from the roof of the tenement into the night sky.

Litterbug clawed at her, his armor strong enough to pierce her nigh-invulnerable skin. She reached out and tried to get a grip on him and drove her fist against his face. Rogue positioned herself on his back and pushed downward, slamming him into the street.

Someone grabbed her from behind, and judging from the feeling of slime, it was Sack. His body seemed to merge with hers, using his mutant power to possess her. With Sack now in control of her body, Rogue flew at Colossus and Hemingway, barreling into her teammate. Colossus tried to hold her still, but her strength was uncanny.

“Rogue, what are you doing?”

“She’s stepped out for a minute,” said Rogue, speaking with Sack’s voice. Colossus threw his weight forward and headbutted her. Before Rogue could get back on her feet, Colossus punched her across the face. Sack screamed as he materialized and found himself forced out of her body. Rogue paused and took some deep breaths.

“Not…the first time I’ve had someone inside mah head…” she muttered.

The members of Gene Nation gathered on the street in front of the pair. Erg stood at the fore, ready for round two. “You picked the wrong people to fuck with, X-Men. We’re not putting up with your crap anymore.”

“Guess we’ll hafta continue this later,” said Rogue. She grabbed Colossus and the pair of them took off into the sky. They could hear Gene Nation’s laughter echoing behind them as they retreated. Rogue was able to get them a few miles before she found it difficult to stay aloft anymore and they almost crashed into a rooftop, but she was able to prevent too much damage.

Colossus knelt beside her, as she tried to catch her breath. “Easy.”

“Gimme…a few minutes an’ I’ll be fine,” she said. “Gonna get some payback on that walkin’ jellyfish.”

“There are too many of them,” said Colossus. He drew a communicator from his belt and tried to contact his teammates. The device displayed the words NO RESPONSE.

A teleportation disc opened in a basement set up almost like a meth lab. The remaining X-Men stepped through the portal and Forge looked down at the tracker he had devised. When they had a chance to look around the area, they found nothing but dead bodies.

“Saints preserve us…” muttered Banshee, kneeling down to inspect one of the bodies. “These people were massacred.”

“I’m getting a lot of readings on the Rave drug,” said Forge. “This is definitely the place.”

“What happened to all these people?” asked Shadowcat.

“Maybe they got what they deserved,” spat Magik. Shadowcat gave a concerned look at her old friend but it was Shiva who gave her worries a voice.

“How could you say that?” he asked.

“They were profiting off the misery of mutants. Hard to have sympathy for scum like that,” said Magik.

“We’ve nae time for bickerin’,” said Banshee. “We found the factory but someone beat us t’ shuttin’ it down. Our job now is to find the people who did this an’ take them out.”

The door opened and Cutter, Dervish and Porous entered the room. All three of them had bloodshot eyes and were almost foaming at the mouth. Forge put away the Rave tracker and reached for the holsters strapped to his legs which each held an energy blaster.

“Wishes just happen to be horses today,” he said.

“What’s the meanin’ of this carnage?” asked Banshee, pointing at the trio.

“Just like your little blond friend said—they had it comin’,” said Porous.

“Traitors like them are keepin’ mutants down, forcin’ us to live in the slums, hookin’ us on drugs so we forget how bad things really are,” said Cutter, blades protruding from almost every inch of his skin. “It’s time for a class overthrow! We’re not gonna let the flatscan establishment or Uncle Toms like you keep us down anymore!”

Dervish stepped forward, cyclonic kinetic energy swirling from her palms. The X-Men found themselves swept up in her wake, trying to right themselves as the energy served to disorient them. Magik created a teleportation disc and slid through it, rematerializing behind Dervish. But before she could strike with her Soulsword, she collapsed to the ground, her body quickly feeling massively dehydrated. She began sweating profusely, courtesy of Porous’ ability to suck out moisture.

Dervish directed the energy against the wall, slamming the three X-Men into it. Cutter moved in next, a blade protruding from the palm of his hand. He brought it up, and it raced towards Banshee’s throat.

NO RESPONSE was all the display read. Colossus sighed as he replaced the device in his belt. Rogue looked over from a few feet away, now on her feet again. Her strength was returning and she was ready to get another crack at Gene Nation. “Still nothin’?”

“Nyet.”

“Looks like it’s about to start,” said Rogue. “Be ready.”

They stood near the center of town where a crowd had gathered and the members of Gene Nation pushed through. Hemingway raised a parked car over the crowd and slammed it down into the center of a large circle that had formed around them. Erg jumped on top of the car and held up his hand to silence the gathered mutants.

“So they say mutants are equal now? They’re tellin’ us that we can live in peace with humans? So why are we livin’ in slums and squattin’ in abandoned buildings?” he asked. “Why are we diggin’ through trash cans and bein’ treated like second-class citizens?

“You know what I saw today? I saw a woman who can create water with her hands. And what was she doin’ with that? She was cleaning the streets! She could wash away this entire stinkin’ town with a tidal wave if she wanted to, and the flatscans are paying her minimum wage to clean up their trash! What kind of life is that for someone with the power of a god?”

The crowd cheered and Erg raised his eyepatch. He looked at a nearby gas station and electricity arced from his uncovered eye. It struck the pumps, igniting the station in an incredible fireball.

“It’s time to send America a message!” he shouted. “You thought you had race riots before? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”