THE DAY THE WORLD WENT AWAY

Part V

By Chris Munn

In the blink of an eye, everything can change. When I was a little girl, my mother would tell me how pretty I was, how I was going to be someone important when I grew up. I was adored as a child, doted on as the perfect little doll that my parents had so thoroughly wished for.

From what I understand, the onset of mutation generally hits in puberty during a period of extreme stress. When I was a teenager, I was faced with a decision; tell my loving parents that I was gay and face their pangs of guilt and discontent, or hide who and what I truly was, an act that would have surely crippled me inside. I woke up with lavender skin and pink hair one morning after I’d cried myself to sleep over my dilemma. My first act as a mutant, one possessing the ability to warp reality through teleportation, was to accidentally teleport my dog to another part of town. In four pieces.

Suddenly, the life of perfect little Clarice Ferguson was much different. Shattered, actually. Already a timid girl, I withdrew into myself and became gripped by an overwhelming fear of the world. My sexual orientation was no longer a matter of discussion, because that at least could be hidden. My mutation drove my parents to divorce after twenty years of marriage. I was kidnapped by an alien race, along with other mutants my age, and for the first time since puberty I finally felt the courage to stand up for myself. Naturally, as one would expect, I nearly died as a result, sacrificing myself to save my newfound friends.

A cruel woman found me later and turned me against those I’d briefly connected with. Luckily, I was again saved by these friends, and it was there that I met a wonderful girl that I fell head over heels in love with. It didn’t matter that she didn’t feel the same way, because we cared about each other nonetheless. And then I died, and she lived.

And now I’m afraid again…afraid that the next time I blink, my eyes won’t ever open again. And I’ll be alone.

Discarded and unloved.

Forever.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”

With the Lord’s Prayer whispered on her lips, Paige Guthrie was trying very hard not to be frightened. In her arms was the weakened Clarice Ferguson, emancipated from a torturous holding cell only moments prior. With her hands full, Paige was unable to wipe the tears of fright from her eyes as she watched a dance of brutality being played out before her.

The Wolverine howled in pain as his arm was snapped at the elbow, bent backward while a laced boot stomped furiously in the center of his back. He raked his other arm in a wide, angled swipe at the man behind him, catching the Apache warrior across the face with the jagged ends of his bone claws. John Proudstar allowed nary a sound to escape his breath as his blood flew across the room. He continued with a downward thrust of his leg, dislocating Logan’s shoulder as the feral Canadian hit the steel floor with enough force to dent it inward.

“It has been many years since we last encountered one another,” Thunderbird said as he held Wolverine to the ground, twisting his arm just enough to show his dominance, “and we have ever been equal warriors. But the Apache have long tamed the animals of nature, and you are no different.”

“Fuck off, Johnny,” Logan grunted from the floor. With the little amount of motion he was allowed, he raised his free hand and plunged his claws down into his deceased teammate’s foot, puncturing it through to the sole of his boot.

Proudstar screamed then. Releasing his hold on Wolverine’s arm, he staggered backward, valiantly attempting to keep balance on his wounded extremity. Finally, his back hit the wall behind him, allowing him to remain standing. Logan slowly crawled to his feet, and while turning toward his opponent he wrenched his dislocated arm back into place, a fierce pop echoing through the room as he righted the direction of his elbow.

Slowly, Wolverine turned his head to the right, and then to the left, cracking his neck loudly. In return, Thunderbird removed a large hunting knife from his belt, showing that he had a claw of his own.

“…and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Paige continued to whisper as the two former X-Men again lunged toward one another.

Douglas Ramsey was dead…again. He gurgled slightly, a death rattle that cooed up from his bowels, and with his last moments pondered a curious thought. Why, he wondered as everything went black, am I suddenly able to see the girl standing behind me?

“…but you are a madman, Adam, and I will see you dead before I allow you to touch the life of another one of our brethren.”

Adam gave no outward sign of surprise as he turned to see the broken Ramsey hanging limply in the hands of Monet St. Croix, her allegiances cemented with the wet snap that signaled the severing of the young boy’s head from his shoulders. His body fell to the ground lifelessly as she released her grasp from his ears, a dismissive wiping of her palms showing just easy it had been to claim her fellow mutant’s life.

“You may have the lips of an angel, my dear,” Adam said as he turned back toward the recovering trio of mutant youths that remained in front of him, “but your life means nothing more to me than one less blowjob in the morning.”

A wave of energy passed from the bearded man’s fingertips as he threw back his hand toward the charging Algerian girl. The brilliant light burst caught her full force, incinerating the air around her as it enveloped her body. She hit the wall to her back with enough force to splinter it into metal shards and cracked plastics, unconscious and smoldering as her black bodysuit melted into a puddle beneath her.

“Now,” he said, towering over Jon Starsmore and Everett Thomas, eyes ablaze with furious anger, “where were we?”

“Leave them alone, mister,” a small, thin voice said from inside the room behind the two young men. Adam looked up and snickered evilly as he saw the little girl that had so boldly threatened him. Illyana Rasputin, the little sister of the X-Men’s Colossus, scowled as the pupils of her eyes went white.

Without warning, an incredibly bright circle of light appeared in the floor beneath Adam’s feet, blinding him with its brilliance. Jon and Everett scampered back into the room, desperate to put some distance to the man that Illyana was teleporting away. They turned back when they heard Adam’s laughter echoing through the halls.

“What, did you expect me to fall in?” Adam asked through fits of cackling, his hands resting on his hips as he floated effortlessly over the stepping disc. “I, who strode across the water without the soles of my feet getting damp, am far from that clumsy.”

And to this, Illyana smiled. Jon and Everett, not in their finest moment to be sure, moved behind the girl, not noticing the small horns and red tail that had sprouted from her body. “Look,” she said innocently, “I found a friend.”

Hands – large, purple, and clawed – burst through the puddle of light and grabbed tightly around the ankles of the man floating above. A demon emerged as Adam screamed in both surprise and unexpected pain, clawing ferociously as it climbed up the man’s body as if it were a human ladder. The disc closed just as the demon’s large tail followed it into the room, promptly curling around its victim’s body as it weighed him down onto the floor.

“Howdy, darlin’ Darkchilde,” the demon said through cigar clinched teeth, “S’ym never ‘spected on seein’ you again.”

“Hi, S’ym,” Illyana said with a pout, “this man isn’t nice. Hurt him for me.”

“Oh shite, mate,” Jon said as he pushed himself and Synch back further into the small room, “tell me we ain’t seeing this.”

“Be quiet, you mewling brat,” Dr. Essex hissed as he snuck through the corridors of Wonderland, “lest I rip the golden DNA strands from your pink shell and leave you for the dogs.”

The baby he’d snatched from the pediatrics room had spouted off varying fits of crying and cooing during their slow march through the large facility, nearly betraying their secret journey at every Byzantine turn. The Reincarnation Room was only minutes away, the destination mapped out in the scientist’s mind, and he would be damned if he were discovered this close to the materialization of his plot.

John Summers was too young to know much other than what his instincts told him, but every fiber in his infant being was telling him that the man cradling him was evil. But the man that had been known as Sinister cared not for the child’s welfare… he was nothing but a wellspring, the product of a union that would be the fruit of the madman’s long, long years of labor.

So close, he was…he could see the door at the end of the hall. So close…

“Doctor Essex?”

…yet so far.

“Hello, Carter,” Essex said as he quickly turned around to face that man that had discovered him, the son of another scientist of questionable intelligence, “how can I help you?”

“Well,” Carter Ryking replied, pointing out the child in Essex’s arms, “you can tell me just why you have the Summers child with you. Not up to your old tricks, are you?”

“Old tricks,” Sinister said slowly as he reached behind his lab coat, “are for old men.”

With more speed than a normal human should have possessed, Essex flung the long-needled syringe forward from its concealed position in his belt. It stabbed harshly into the neck of the man named Hazard, and the plunger had been depressed before he could make any kind of move of protest. He staggered backward, needle still stuck in his neck, and attempted to activate his mutant abilities. He fell to the ground with only a slight sparkle of light from his fingertips.

“I’ve injected you with a mixture of morphine and scopolamine,” Essex said as he walked over to the lethally drugged Ryking. “It’s called Twilight Sleep, and it produces both paralysis and amnesia in its users.”

Gripping the child tight in his arms, Mr. Sinister began to stomp furiously on the head of the defenseless man. Blood, hair, and teeth stuck to the sole of his boot as he continued to assault Hazard’s face, only stopping when the man’s skull caved in completely.

“Congratulations,” Essex said as he turned back toward his destination, “you’ve just been date-raped.”

Logan’s left lung and one of his kidneys had been punctured by the large hunting knife wielded by his foe, but still he fought on.

Similarly, John Proudstar had already lost an eye, gouged out on the end of Wolverine’s claws. He, too, refused to lay down arms.

Blood sprayed against the walls behind the two fighters, their battle having moved them through various rooms and hallways in the Wonderland complex. The two men, more similar than either would dare admit, were at a stalemate. To be honest, only Wolverine’s prodigious healing ability had kept him alive so far. Thunderbird, it seemed, was surviving on sheer will alone.

“Paige,” Blink said, finally able to move on her own without being carried, “can we stop following these two around? We’re just gonna get killed this way.”

Husk tore her eyes away from the carnage, truthfully unaware that she’d been following the two men through their ferocious melee. “Can you port us out of here, Clarice?” she asked. “We need to find the boys and get out of here.”

Before Blink could answer, the two girls shrieked in surprise as Logan flew past them into a facing wall. Slowly, the Canadian made his way back to his feet, a growl on his lips. “Why the hell are you two still here? Don’t you know a diversion when you flamin’ see one?”

“Yeah, he’s right,” Blink agreed as she readied a teleportation shaft, “we’re so out of here.”

Paige took one last look at Wolverine, trying hard not to stare at the broken shards of bone that had been the claws on his left hand. “Thank you, Wolverine,” she mumbled as Clarice activated her power, ‘blinking’ the two girls away.

Logan nodded to the departed gesture of thanks before leaping back into the fray.

“God, she is heavier than she looks,” Synch huffed as he adjusted the unconscious Monet that rested across his shoulder.

“Not a surprise, though, mate,” Chamber replied with a false smile, “since, y’know, you been banging the gel since we got ‘ere.”

Everett furrowed his brow at his teammate’s statement. The two had been wandering the halls of Wonderland for several minutes, following the vague mental map that Sinister had implanted in Chamber’s mind via the boy’s telepathic power, but really had no idea where they were or where their destination lay. “Do you have a problem with me, Jon? If so, can you curb the bullshit commentary until we make it out of this place?”

“Blinding sarcasm has become me way of coping, Ev,” Starsmore replied while peaking around a corner, “sorta overcompensating fer me years as an angst-filled wanker. I finally got me face back, so why be glum?”

“You’re no Spider-Man, Jon,” Synch stated. Chamber smiled genuinely at this before waving his friend forward into the adjacent corridor. They saw the sign for the Reincarnation Room first, but were halted when they found the lifeless body between them and their destination.

“It’s one of the scientists we met earlier,” Starsmore said while crouching down to feel for the man’s pulse, “and he’s dead as bloody disco. Though who the fuck knows in this place, maybe this was just a good place fer him to take a nap?”

“So who killed him?” Everett asked. “Paige and Wolverine been through here?”

*Blink!*

“Guys!” Clarice yelled as she materialized in front of the two men, her arms thrown around Jon’s shoulders as he yelled in surprise.

“Jesus, gel,” Jon said as he returned the girl’s hug, “you just scared what life I’ve got left the fuck right out of me.”

Setting the unconscious St. Croix carefully on the floor, Everett embraced the pink-skinned girl as well, happy to see her alive. “I take it Paige and Logan found you?” he asked.

“We had to leave Wolverine behind,” Husk said from the door to the Reincarnation Room, having moved to open it as soon as she appeared alongside Blink, “and I don’t want his sacrifice to be in vain. Let’s get out of here.”

The door slid open, and Paige jumped backward after seeing the man standing directly in front of her. Nathaniel Essex scowled at the young mutants, the infant Jonathan Summers cradled in his arms. “I was beginning to wonder if involving you was a mistake, my dear,” he said to Guthrie, “time is of the essence.”

“Clarice,” Husk began, looking back over her shoulder at her friend, “you’re on deck, gal.”

“A teleportation shaft,” Sinister stated, pointing to the large chamber that took up near the entirety of the room behind him, “throw one into the machine. We’re a moment away from returning to our lives.”

“Yeah, fine,” Blink replied. Her hand shimmered with light as the spike of energy took form. She shot her arm forward, releasing the shaft past the oddly calm Essex, landing it in the center of the room. The Resurrection Chamber activated with the teleportational catalyst that it needed, and a portal began to form, coalescing into an orb of blinding light.

“Hot damn, we’re going home,” Everett whispered as he helped the awakening Monet to her feet. The five members of Generation X took a collective step forward, but halted at the sound of a throat clearing quite loudly behind them. Each one turned in unison, their eyes widening and curses uttering from their lips.

Adam stood at the end of the corridor, the broken body of Illyana Rasputin clutched by the throat in his hand. He had indeed been wounded in the battle against the dead girl’s demon playmate, but his injuries were healing rapidly before their eyes. Tossing his hair out of his eyes, Adam’s eyes danced with fire and anger. “You would send a child to do a man’s job, Essex?” the ruler of Wonderland asked. “I thought you more intelligent than that.”

“Goodbye, children,” Essex said as he ran his fingers over the keypad on the inside of the door, “may you find the peace in death that was denied you in life.” The door slide shut behind him as he turned toward the gateway back to the real world, trapping the ones that had assisted him outside with certain death. If he felt any remorse for his actions as he stepped through the portal, infant in hand, he showed none.

For he was Sinister, and betrayal was in his blood.

“You fucking bastard!” Paige yelled as she pounded futilely on the door.

“Worry not, my children,” the caretaker of the dead said as he dropped the Rasputin girl’s body to the floor, “for the Last Adam will make sure the peace Essex wished upon you will never come to pass.”

“Drop dead, bub,” a voice said from behind Adam, followed by the familiar snikt sound that everyone gathered had heard at least once in their lives. Adam looked down at his chest, genuinely surprised to see the three claws of bone protruding from his body. Wolverine howled as he ripped his hand free from the man’s back, following this action with a swipe from his other hand, jagged and broken claws ripping across the side of Adam’s face. The self-proclaimed messiah of mutantkind fell with a scream of pain, the back of his hand jutting out in desperation, connecting hard with Logan’s jaw. Wolverine staggered backward, stunned by the momentous blow struck against him.

Everett Thomas watched this…watched the courage and selflessness of the X-Man that was trying to save him…and came to a decision. “Blink, make sure you guys get through that door,” he said as he turned toward his friends, “no matter what, don’t follow me.”

“Everett?” Monet asked as he placed a hand to her face, stroking it gently.

“Thank you, Monet,” Everett expressed, “for letting me know the real you.” He kissed her, deep and passionately, a last goodbye. Only Jon noticed the rainbow halo that flowed around the black man’s body.

“You will die like a dog!” Adam screamed as he straddled Wolverine, who was lying helpless on his back. Adam’s fingers dug deep into the X-Man’s eye sockets, burrowing into his skull with a fury sufficient to crack the bone. With a massive burst of kinetic energy, Wolverine’s head exploded. “Heal that, you craven animal.”

“Adam!” Synch yelled as he tackled the madman at the waist, flying as fast as he could with the power he had copied from Monet. He carried Adam down the hall, bracing himself as he crashed through the steel walls between himself and his destination.

“Come on, guys,” Blink said as they watched Synch and Adam disappear from sight, “we have to go.”

“What?” Jon shouted. “We can’t leave him behind!”

“We don’t have a choice,” Clarice said sadly, three gleaming shafts striking her teammates, who had already started their way down the hall after Everett. She disappeared a second later, arriving inside the Reincarnation Room with them.

Breaking through the final wall, Everett finally ran out of stamina just as Adam’s elbow came crashing down at the base of his neck. The two men collided hard with the heavy machinery that was in front of them, and when the dust settled only Adam was on his feet. “You stupid boy,” he chided as he readied an energy blast with his raised palms, “you haven’t saved your friends. Do you realize how easily I can return to the plane of life, to kill them all over again?”

“I did realize,” Everett groaned from the floor, a strange smile on his lips, “that’s what I had to do this.”

“Do what, my child?” Adam asked, an eyebrow cocked in amused curiosity.

“I copy mutant powers,” Everett replied as he rose from the floor, “take a look at where we are.”

Adam’s eyes widened in understanding. The boy had outsmarted him after all…he copied mutant powers, and had brought them to the one place in Wonderland where he would have the advantage.

The Amalgamation Chamber, which housed the genetic matrix of every mutant deemed too dangerous for life after death.

“This place is an evil that can’t be allowed to continue,” Synch said as he began to float off the ground, his body soaking in the immense catalogue of mutant power in the machines surrounding him, “and if I have to die to stop it…then so be it.”

Adam screamed vile words of protest, but they went unheard as Everett brought his power to the point of critical mass. Apocalypse… Legion… Joseph… Gaia, a girl he had once loved… Destiny… countless others that had been reduced to nothing by the man behind Wonderland, their souls destroyed in order for Adam to play God. Everett smiled widely as possible before the build-up of energy became too much for him.

“Just wait until my father hears about this,” Adam warned.

And he exploded with a force unimaginable, obliterating Adam into ash as the wave of devastation expanded outward. Everett Thomas’ thoughts, his dying words amplified by the minds of the most powerful psychics now removed from life, were broadcast into the minds of his friends as Wonderland ended around him.

Don’t mourn me, because I did this for you. We were all given a second chance at life after it was unfairly taken from us… so enjoy it. For me.

The force wave hit the teenagers seconds before Wonderland was destroyed, pushing each through the portal behind them. They had stayed behind in argument over leaving their friend behind, but as Blink had said earlier…they had no choice after all.

And then there was nothingness. Wonderland was gone, and Adam’s pocket dimension was an empty void. Every mutant rescued from death by the madman’s power was dead once more, joined by Everett Thomas himself. Suicide by way of genocide.

The void was empty…except for the robed man who had watched it all unfold, his head shaking in disappointment.

They appeared in the blink of an eye onto the grassy lawn, tossed back to the world with no fanfare and little joy. Blink, Husk, and Monet remained on the ground for several moments before opening their eyes, a familiar sign greeting them as they realized that they had truly returned home…to Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters, the only home they’d known for the later years of their lives.

“Oh my God,” Paige whispered, “we did it. We’re back…we’re alive.”

The three girls refrained from saying anything else as they picked themselves up from the ground. They embraced each other in a group hug, tears freely running down their faces, both out of happiness and loss. Finally, Paige broke away, her eyes frantically darting around the area for the person she’d only then realized was missing.

“Oh no,” she said in shock, “where’s Jon?”

THE END OF THE BEGINNING

Okay, I swear to everyone…if you go back and read all five issues together, this story makes a lot more sense than it really should. Had I been able to keep an even semi-regular schedule on this series, maybe things would have turned out more to my liking. But, nevertheless, GENERATION X 2.0 has come to an end.

However, the characters will be continuing on. Chamber will moving directly over to X-MEN, written by myself; Blink will appearing shortly in Dino Pollard’s NEW WARRIORS; and both Husk and Monet will be making a stop in the pages of UNCANNY X-MEN by Ryan Krupienski.

So, yeah, it’s been a long, frustrating, but fun ride to the end of GEN X 2.0, and I hope to see you all in the pages of X-MEN.

Chris Munn
07/18/05