ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES

Part I

By Wesley Overhults

Earth-2

Charles Francis Xavier looked at the courtyard of the campus at Oxford University and sighed with contentment. It had been a long and hard journey to get to this point in his life. There was the deaths of his parents, the suffering he endured under his abusive step-father, and the taunting of his step-brother Cain. Yet now that he was in a new country it really felt like he was starting a new chapter in his life. It was a huge breath of fresh air that he desperately needed at this point. With his undergraduate years behind him already at such a tender age, Charles was ready to get to the more serious work in his life. At this point in his life, he had discovered his true passion. He wanted to know where he came from, more specifically where all of the human race came from. Biology, genetics, the study of human life and its origins, these were the subjects that excited him. He wanted to know all about them and, more importantly, he had someone who shared his passion in life.

“What’re ye thinkin’ about, Charles?”

Charles turned his head towards the lovely girl at his side. Moira Kinross was probably Charles’s dream girl come to life. She was beautiful, she was smart, and she had just as much passion and determination as he did. They spent hours upon hours talking to one another on a daily basis about the origins and secrets of life and neither of them could dream of any better way to spend their time.

“How lucky I am,” answered Charles, clasping his hand around hers and squeezing it.

“Ah think Ah’m gonna be sick,” muttered Husk under her breath, shifting her weight as she squatted in a tree that gave her a vantage point where she could watch over the two young lovers.

“But it’s all cuddly,” countered Pixie. “It needs music though, some mushy love song or something.”

Husk looked towards Pixie, her green, leafy skin making good camouflage while hiding in the trees. She didn’t see why this was such an important deal. When the Exiles landed in this reality only a couple of days ago, they were tasked with the assignment to protect Charles Xavier. Husk didn’t see why this was worth their time. In her reality, Charles Xavier was still the founder of the X-Men and still the headmaster of his school for gifted youngsters. However, Husk was a junior member of the Hellfire Club, an organization diametrically opposed to Xavier and his views. Paige spent hours in class learning that the mutant race was better than the humans and that they should rise to power. There was no need to coexist with those that were of lower status than you. That was what Emma Frost taught her and Husk found it hard to unlearn those lessons and protect someone she always thought was the enemy.

“It needs fer somethin’ ta happen soon,” stated Husk. “We’ve been doin’ this fer long enough. When tha hell is it gonna pay off?”

The two girls sat in the tree and watched the two young students talk and laugh with one another. While Paige remained irritated by the whole scene, Megan was more indifferent than anything else. By the time she came to the Xavier Institute, Professor Xavier was nothing but a name and a face that she would see in pictures or perhaps at Christmas. Cyclops and Emma Frost were the ones who really ran the school on a daily basis. Even Xavier’s teachings were losing ground in Pixie’s ideological framework. Limbo gave her a different education, a much harsher one that colored her outlook on everything.

“You don’t like Professor Xavier?” inquired Pixie casually.

“Ah don’t even know ‘im,” replied Husk. “All Ah really know is what Miss Frost taught us in school. He’s tha enemy and his ideas ’bout mutants and human gettin’ along are crap.”

“Lots of people like him,” reminded Pixie. “His school is really nice. Your brother teaches there in my world.”

“Don’t talk about Sam like ya know ‘im,” ordered Husk, shooting Pixie a very nasty glare. “Ya seem like a nice gal, Megan, so maybe Xavier’s school ain’t all bad but don’t gimme tha recruitment speech. Miss Frost gave me enough schoolin’ fer one lifetime.”

“You’re a Hellion,” realized Pixie. “That means you’re gonna . . .”

“Gonna what?” asked Husk when she saw how fast Pixie clammed up. “What am Ah gonna do, Megan?”

“Die,” whispered Pixie quietly. “In my world, in most worlds, all the Hellions get killed.”

“Well Ah ain’t from yer world,” reminded Husk coldly.

Silence once again descended like a cloud between the two girls. Husk turned Pixie’s words over in her mind, trying to make sense out of everything. The risk of death was something she lived with every day, even before she became an Exile. The combat training Miss Frost gave the Hellions wasn’t for the weak of heart. Yet Paige always assumed that such training was for toughening them up so they could face a harsh, cruel world that wanted nothing but their extinction as a race. The Hellfire Club believed in survival of the fittest and Husk was bound and determined to be one of those fit. So why did it scare her so much to think about someone murdering not only her but all of her classmates as well? What was the point in entertaining such an idea if it was never, could never, come to pass?

“Did you just see something?” asked Pixie suddenly. “I sort of . . . felt something.”

“We got a problem now,” agreed Husk as she looked past Charles and Moira and saw a shadow flit through the night air. “Looks like we’re not tha only ones interested in those two.”

“Yay for violence,” chirped Pixie before putting her hand on Husk and then teleporting the two of them out of the tree.

In a cloud of pixie dust, the two girls appeared where they had noticed the shadowy figure standing watch over Xavier and his girlfriend. Unfortunately, said shadowy figure had hastily abandoned his post. Husk turned to her right and could see him in the process of fleeing. She darted after him with Pixie on her heels. Paige was closing in fast on her target and all it took was one leaping tackle to bring him down.

“Alright,” said Husk as she took a good look at her captive. “Now who tha hell are ya and what were ya doin’?”

“I take it you two ladies aren’t from around here.”

Pixie and Husk both turned to see a man with brownish-red hair leaning against a nearby lamppost and watching the scene before him. He wore a pair of battered jeans and a t-shirt with a strange pattern on it along with a brown, leather jacket. Strangely enough, he looked like an exact copy of the man that Husk had subdued. The strange newcomer smiled in response to the look of bewilderment both girls had on their faces. Ever since he joined a team of reality-hopping superheroes, Sean Madrox was used to seeing that look on the faces of people he once knew.

“Oh my God, you look like . . . oh wow, blond moment!” exclaimed Pixie. “Paige, what’s that guy’s name who clones himself?”

“That would be Jamie Madrox,” answered Sean before Husk could. “Funny thing, actually. He’s my dad. Back to business though. You’ve got something, or rather someone, that belongs to me and I’d like him back now.”

As he spoke, Sean reached out his hand and reabsorbed the duplicate being held by Husk. Both Paige and Megan watched as more Madrox clones came out of the shadows to stand with their creator.

“My team and I are the ones who were charged with guarding Xavier,” explained Sean. “So that leaves me to wonder exactly who the hell you two are and what you’re doing here when you obviously don’t belong. Maybe you’re what we’re supposed to be protecting Xavier from?”

“Ah don’t know what yer tryin’ ta pull but we’re tha ones who’re supposed ta be watchin’ Xavier,” countered Husk, moving closer to Pixie even as the small army of Madrox duplicates encircled the two girls.

Sean was about to give the command to attack when a cloud of vapor heralded the arrival of his team’s leader. He wasn’t familiar with Amelia Voght but in the short time he had been a member of her team, he had grown to respect her. She was a very capable field commander with an extensive knowledge of battle tactics garnered over the years she had been a member of the X-Men back in her home reality. That was something all of them had in common and it was the reason why they chose to call themselves the X-Men. All of them had an affiliation with the group at some point in their lives so it seemed only fitting that they take up the name now that they were forced into a life of constantly running from one reality to the next. If there was one thing X-Men knew about, it was being outsiders.

“You abandoned your post,” stated Voght. “I’ve got Rogue and Marrow tailing Xavier while Speed and Sunfire are combing the campus for any potential threats. Who the hell are these people?”

“Haven’t found that out yet,” admitted Sean. “They said they’re the ones who are supposed to be watching Xavier but I’m not sure I buy that.”

“So I see,” noted Voght, looking at the two Exiles for the first time. “My name’s Amelia Voght and I’m the leader of the X-Men. This sounds crazy but we’re . . .”

“Ya’ll are from different realities and yer here ta complete some kinda mission,” finished Husk. “That’s a nice bracelet yer wearin’, Miss Voght. Ah’ve seen one like it before.”

“Figures the Timebroker would want more than one team out there hopping through dimensions,” realized Voght. “Alright then. Between our two teams, we should be able to . . .”

“We found some trouble,” cut in Marrow’s voice over Voght’s radio. “We need backup.”

“They have radios,” said Pixie. “How come we don’t have radios, Paige? I want a radio.”

“Ya talk too much as it stands now,” reminded Husk. “At least with a radio we could turn ya off when we felt like it so maybe that’s not a bad idea.”

“On it,” replied Voght, ignoring the two Exiles. “C’mon, it’ll be faster if I take us.”

The two Exiles didn’t have time to say anything. Their heads were spinning enough from all the new information. There was another team of reality-hopping heroes out there and they just happened to cross paths with them? Neither Husk nor Pixie were naive enough to blithely accept Voght’s explanation for their meeting. Both of them kept their guard up even as the four of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke thanks to Voght’s power.

Harry Osborn looked down at the campus of Oxford University from high above. His nanotech suit gave him a visual spectrum far beyond that of an ordinary human, including superb night vision. He still felt like he was looking for a needle in a haystack. Truthfully, he didn’t even know what he was looking for. Sandman told him and Wasp to be their eyes in the sky and scout for potential threats but he was never specific on what those potential threats might be.

“I can’t believe it’s stayed quiet for this long,” said Wasp.

“Given our track record, I would have to agree,” agreed Goblin. His eyes lingered on Wasp for a moment and he could tell she was trying not to think about something. “Kate? Are we ever going to talk about . . . you know?”

“Oh, that,” said Wasp, looking momentarily perplexed until she realized he was talking about the kiss they had shared. With lives as hectic as theirs were, it was too easy to forget such moments. “It was a moment of weakness, Harry. I mean I’m not saying I didn’t like it otherwise I wouldn’t have done it, you know? It’s just that, well . . .”

“You’re a beautiful girl,” complimented Goblin. “Unfortunately, I already have a girlfriend.”

“Right, totally,” agreed Wasp. “I don’t want to get in the way of that because you obviously love her very much. So that kiss was just . . . I dunno, it was just a fluke or something I guess.”

“I wouldn’t use that word but I get the message,” said Goblin.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, both of them too wrapped up in their own thoughts. They both returned to scanning the ground below but something out of the corner of his eye diverted Goblin’s attention. He tilted his head upwards and saw a streak of fire shoot across the night sky. It was coming towards them and as it got closer, Goblin could see that there was a man inside the trail of fire or at least it seemed that way.

“Who the hell are you people?” asked Sunfire as he stopped in front of them and hovered in the air. “Are you the people we’re here to protect Xavier from?”

“No, we’re the ones protecting Xavier,” answered Goblin. “You see we’re from a different reality, well more than one actually. A being called the Timebroker . . .”

“Liar!” snarled Sunfire, the expressionless mask that was his face failing to convey his anger. The flames that composed his body flared in intensity and coalesced in his palms. “The Timebroker sent no one but us.”

A ball of fire erupted from Sunfire’s hand and flew towards Goblin. Goblin flew low to avoid the fireball and checked over his shoulder to make sure that Wasp did the same. He couldn’t see her and he assumed it was because she had gone microscopic. He turned his attention back to Sunfire and flicked a round of pumpkin bombs at him. Sunfire ionized the bombs and caused them to explode before they could reach him. The explosion sent both him and Goblin backwards in different directions. Wasp chose that moment to return to normal size behind Sunfire and sting him in the back. Sunfire didn’t feel anything due to his lack of a human form but the attack did reveal his opponent’s position. He turned and fired a blast of superheated plasma at Wasp. Wasp zipped to avoid the blast and then kicked herself backwards as Sunfire let out a radial, wide-range heat blast designed to put space between the two of them.

“I have no clue who this guy is,” said Wasp as she regrouped with Goblin. “Whoever he is, I don’t think he’s friendly.”

“Doesn’t matter,” replied Goblin before Sunfire came at them. “Whatever his reasons for being here, he’s determined to take our heads off.”

Wasp and Goblin both separated as Sunfire struck. The fiery mutant caught nothing but empty air with his attack and it infuriated him even more. He turned to strike again but something diverted the attention of all three combatants. Something was going on below them on the ground and it made all three of them momentarily stop what they were doing.

“Looks like Sandman and Daredevil found more of these clowns,” realized Wasp before swooping towards the battle below. “C’mon, let’s give them a hand.”

Sandman didn’t know who these two women were or what their interest in Xavier was but he had his mission and his mission was to protect Xavier from anything and everything. Of course, it didn’t help that Daredevil shot his mouth off every chance he got and had exacerbated the situation until it was out of control.

“Who are you people and what do you want with me?” questioned Xavier, aghast at the scene unfolding before him.

“It would take too long to explain, Professor Xavier,” said Sandman. “Just keep your head down and try to stay out of the way.”

“I’m not a professor, I’m a student,” corrected Xavier.

“If we have our way then you’ll live long enough to be a professor,” said Sandman.

“Oh the jokes I could make at your expense,” cut in Daredevil, weaving his way through a round of bone spikes that flew from Marrow’s forearms. “I just love it when the universe gives me such great material to work with.”

“I really wish you would shut the hell up,” retorted Marrow, springing towards him for some hand-to-hand combat.

“You and me both,” agreed Sandman before extending a giant hand made out of sand and grabbing Marrow before she could attack Daredevil.

“I would resent that remark if I didn’t know you better and knew that you loved me,” remarked Daredevil. “I don’t need your help in a fight either.”

“Remember that next time,” said Sandman as Marrow tried to stab him with her bone daggers and caught nothing but sand.

“Rogue,” she called out to her teammate. “I need you on this.”

The teenaged Southerner stood away from the fight, a forlorn and somber expression permanently plastered on her face. In her home reality, Rogue’s powers had been augmented by Apocalypse so she could serve him as his Horseman of Death. Thanks to Apocalypse’s technology, Rogue’s powers could not only suck the life force out of anything living but could also burn through inorganic matter like acid. It was this facet of her powers that Marrow needed.

Rogue wordlessly nodded in agreement and crept closer to Sandman while Marrow continued to hack and slash at him. Rogue reached out and jammed her hand through Sandman’s chest. Her touch began to eat through Sandman’s body, causing him to literally fall apart. Rogue would’ve continued had not a d-disc struck her in the head, almost knocking her unconscious in the process.

“You couldn’t have done that sooner?” asked Sandman as he reformed himself.

“I was having too much fun watching you sweat,” clarified Daredevil. “Metaphorically speaking of course.”

Sandman didn’t have time to listen to Daredevil. He took a visual survey of the immediate area and realized that a very important person was missing. Xavier and Moira had escaped during all the confusion. Sandman mentally kicked himself for not keeping up with them even in the middle of the impromptu brawl. This lifestyle was draining enough but ever since he officially took on leadership of the Exiles, Sandman felt like he was out of his depth. His team hung together by threads and those threads were fraying with every mission.

“I don’t know who you two are but we’re going to get to the bottom of this now,” decided Sandman, turning his attention to Marrow and Rogue.

“You would do well to watch your tongue the next time you speak to my teammates,” cautioned Sunfire, descending from the night sky to stand with the two X-Men members while Goblin and Wasp landed next to their own teammates.

“He came out of nowhere at us,” explained Wasp. “He said the Timebroker sent him and his team to watch over Xavier.”

“Someone better start giving me some straight answers,” ordered Sandman as his hands turned into hammers and he looked at the X-Men. “If that doesn’t happen in the next thirty seconds, all of you are in for a very rough night.”

“They’re with me,” spoke up Voght after appearing in a cloud of vapor with Sean Madrox, Husk, and Pixie in tow. “X-Men, we need to regroup. I think we’ve caused enough chaos here for one day and we need to find Charles and Moira to complete our mission.”

“Okay, I’m seriously confused,” said Daredevil.

“Miss Voght and her team have a Tallus just like we do,” explained Husk. “Guess we need ta do tha same since it’s our mission too.”

“Wait, what does the Timebroker look like?” asked Sandman.

“Short, pudgy, wears this ridiculous bowtie,” answered Voght. “Why?”

“He’s a corporate leech,” explained Sandman. “He looks like your basic scumbag of an attorney. He’s definitely not short and definitely not pudgy. So either there’s something else going on or . . .”

“You’re lying,” finished Daredevil, crouching into a fighting stance automatically in preparation for the apparent showdown.

“You better watch your mouth,” warned Sean Madrox.

“I say he would be better off without it,” added Sunfire.

The two groups of reality-hopping heroes separated into their respective teams, sizing each other up to see if one group was lying. The X-Men looked slightly outnumbered due to one of their teammates being absent. Sandman looked to his teammates and then eyed the surrounding area, waiting for the X-Men’s missing member to strike from out of nowhere. He knew that if the two groups were supposed to be the same then there would be six members just like the Exiles. Where was that missing X-Men member?

“There is no Timebroker,” explained Voght. “He told us he was a construct of our collective unconscious. He could look like anything he wanted to if that was the case.”

“So why not tell us the same thing?” countered Sandman.

“Screw this, let’s take ’em out,” decided Daredevil.

He leapt towards the X-Men and, to no one’s surprise, Sunfire met him in mid-air. What did surprise everyone was the streak of green that intercepted Daredevil before Sunfire ever got the chance to touch him. The X-Men’s sixth member, the teenager known as Speed, entered the fray. He delivered six lightning-quick blows to Daredevil in under a second before knocking him away and standing in front of the rest of his team.

“Sorry I was late,” he apologized, looking to Voght and grinning. “I was busy chatting up this British cutie and had my com turned off. Who are these clowns, this world’s Avengers or something? Man, if they are then they are seriously in need of a membership drive.”

“Fightin’ words, kid,” warned Husk while peeling her skin off to reveal concrete underneath.

“X-Men, stand ready,” ordered Voght.

“Exiles, attack,” commanded Sandman.

The two teams collided with one another. Sandman sent a giant fist of sand crashing down on the X-Men. Voght turned her body into vapor and slipped through the attack. Sunfire shot into the air and shrugged off the sting blasts that Wasp tried to hit him with. Speed began to run circles around Goblin, confusing Osborn and throwing him off balance. Daredevil fought as hard as he could against an army of Sean Madrox clones but the harder he fought the more of them came after him. Rogue’s toxic touch threatened to eat away at Husk’s concrete skin while Marrow and Pixie squared off in hand-to-hand combat.

“We don’t have to do this,” reminded Voght, slipping from Sandman’s grasp and trying to figure out how to attack him. “There’s a mission to complete. Something is coming for Xavier and the longer we fight amongst ourselves the greater the chance that Charles will get injured or worse.”

“You’re wasting your breath with them,” stated Sunfire, raining hot plasma down on Sandman to protect his team leader. He turned and received a sting blast in the face from Wasp.

Kate turned her attention to more important things. She dove low and grabbed Daredevil by the arm, hoisting him into the air to keep him from getting overwhelmed by an army of Madrox clones. Daredevil flashed her a grin as his thanks and then let go of her to drop in on Marrow and blindside her.

“Trade up,” he ordered to Pixie.

Megan nodded gleefully and turned towards Sean Madrox and his army of clones. She tossed one of her soul daggers at the first clone she could, a tendril of energy attached to its end. The dagger stuck in the Madrox clone and started to suck the life out of all of them thanks to their shared psyches.

“Good idea,” decided Voght, sucking the air away from Pixie’s head and almost choking her to death. “We didn’t want to do things this way but you’re not leaving us a choice.”

“Please, you act like this is hard,” cut in Speed, zipping in between the sandstone spikes that shot from Sandman’s body at him. “These losers can’t even keep up with us.”

Speed ran towards Sandman and tried to hit him at supersonic speed. Sandman shifted his body into sandstone and laughed when Speed almost broke his hand while trying to punch him. The failed attack momentarily stunned Speed and stopped him from moving. It was all the time Sandman needed to almost knock him out with just one punch.

“This is completely unnecessary,” realized Goblin. “Worse yet, I think we lost Xavier.”

“We put these clowns down and then we find him,” decided Sandman. “It’s not rocket science, Osborn.”

“You’re the one that’s not thinking,” retorted Goblin. “Will, stop for a second and think. If they’re imposters then how could they know about the Timebroker or any of this at all?”

“You should listen to your teammate,” suggested Voght. “He’s obviously the brains of your outfit.”

“Everyone stop!”

To everyone’s surprise, everything stopped. The Exiles and the X-Men looked around and saw that time had literally stopped. People, animals, every molecule around them was completely frozen in time. They could move and speak as freely as they wanted to but everything else around them was fixed in time.

“Good, I’m glad we got all that out of the way,” stated the pudgy Timebroker in the bowtie. “I don’t know why you Exiles are here but you’re interfering with my team’s mission. Please kindly vacate this reality and let the X-Men do their work in peace.”

“You think we actually wanted to come here?” asked Sandman before gesturing to the Tallus. “This damn thing sent us here and we have no clue what the hell’s going on. All we know is that we’re supposed to be the ones protecting Xavier.”

“It brought you here because I wanted it to,” answered the Timebroker that the Exiles had come to know. “I see you’ve met my friend John and his team. I trust things are well since the last time we spoke, John.”

“The Council hasn’t taken you off probation yet, Jules,” reminded John. “After seeing how you ran your first mission with these Exiles, I decided it was best to let you hang yourself. Still haven’t created enough rope for that?”

“Please,” scoffed Jules. “You would cover for me just as you’ve done before. You’re too good of a friend to do otherwise.”

“Just get your team out of my mission.”

John shook his head sadly and continued glaring at what he grudgingly called his best friend. At one time, they were as close as brothers but now Jules had changed and that relationship was strained to its breaking point. That didn’t give Jules the right to interfere with his missions and with the business of his team. They still had a job to do and he was going to make sure that mission was accomplished.

“What the hell is going on here?” asked Sandman.

“We are Timebrokers,” explained John before Jules had a chance to. “We exist as a race of guardians, protecting the space-time continuum from peril. We’re ruled by The Council. They give us our directives and we in turn relay them to our agents. The Council’s told me that something was coming for Xavier, something that must be stopped before it creates a catastrophe that will alter this reality’s timeline irrevocably.”

“That’s exactly what The Council told me,” agreed Jules. “Apparently, this threat is too big for one team to handle. Exiles, you and the X-Men are going to stop what’s coming. How you do it isn’t important but until you complete your mission you’re stuck here. Get it done.”

“Looks like our only option is to work together on this then,” realized Sandman, extending his hand towards Voght.

“Let’s just get this over with then,” suggested Voght, shaking Sandman’s hand and calling a truce to their fight. There were bigger things at stake here than a petty rivalry. They had to stop what was coming and protect Xavier at all costs.

“So what the hell is this big, bad boogeyman that’s got everyone so scared?” wondered Daredevil aloud as time returned to normal around the Exiles and the X-Men.

No one had time to say anything as a glowing portal of energy suddenly appeared in front of them. A figure emerged from the portal and stood before the combined team of time-tossed heroes. His eyes glowed with a magenta-colored energy that matched the power welling up in his hands.

“That can’t be who I think it is,” realized Voght.

“Greetings, mutants,” said Bastion with a cruel grin spreading across his lips. “I am here for the mutant designated as Charles Xavier. Anyone that impedes my objective will be terminated with extreme prejudice.”

Next Issue: It’s the Exiles and the X-Men against Bastion with the life of Charles Xavier and the fate of the future on the line.