CHEYENNE, MUTANT, VALKYRIE

Part IV

By George Cameron

Rio de Janeiro was probably one of the most beautiful cities I had ever had the pleasure of visiting. Located on the coast of Brazil, it was one of South America’s liveliest cities. Especially now, during tourist season, the streets were bustling with people. The city seemed to be submerged in a sea of flowers, and the day I arrived, one of the season’s most important bullfights had taken place. Not that I was a fan of bullfighting, but as a girl who had been brought up around rodeos, I could appreciate the spirit of the bullfight. I just didn’t see the point in killing the bull.

Rahne and Xi’an both were accompanying me on this trip, because I honestly didn’t want to deal with Allison without good friends at my back. Her behavior was, to put it mildly, unpredictable these days. Rahne insisted on going with me, and a quick call to Xi’an ensured her participation as well. She left the twins with Vange and hopped the first commercial flight to Rio to meet up with us at about the same time. While her look was more punk than I was yet accustomed to, it still looked good on her, and I knew that if we had the time to see the sights in Rio, she’d probably have a great time. Even the once-repressed Rahne had gotten into the act, wearing a plain white tank top, dark, tight-fitting blue jeans tucked into a pair of combat boots, and a hunter green jacket with red “X” symbols emblazoned on the upper arms. As for myself, I was dressed in something simple for this trip: a dark red collared dress shirt with Western-style stitching, again with sleeves rolled up to the elbows but left untucked at the waist, a pair of dark blue jeans that were snug in all the right places and hung loosely from my hips, and a pair of simple black boots. I was dressed to work, more or less, in something that I considered practical and would allow freedom of movement if need be.

Shortly after Rahne, Xi’an and I had arrived in Rio, having taken a commercial flight to the city, I rented a Jeep and set out on my mission: to locate our erstwhile friend and ally Allison Crestmere. From what Rahne had told me, someone had kidnapped her from her home outside of Rio.

Once upon a time, back when we were New Mutants, she was known as Amara Aquilla, the daughter of the First Senator of Nova Roma. Nova Roma was, to our belief at the time, a long-hidden community of Romans and Incans located in the Andes highlands, at the headwaters of the Amazon River. However, we were wrong.

Years later, during the time that I was working with SHIELD to bring down the Mutant Liberation Front, it was discovered that Nova Roma was a lie. A lie crafted by the immortal mutant Selene, so that the witch could relive the times in history that she most enjoyed. The people of Nova Roma were in fact people who were abducted and brainwashed into believing they were Nova Romans… and Amara Aquilla herself was in reality Allison Crestmere, daughter of England’s ambassador to Brazil, and one of a few plane crash survivors who were coerced into this living amusement park.

As we drove through the busy streets of Rio, making our way toward the northern countryside, the very thought of Selene’s manipulations and destruction of innocent lives made my blood boil. I swore a vow right there and then that I would make the witch pay for what she had done to my friend.

My friend… Allison certainly didn’t identify herself as such these days. In fact, we had talked only very briefly when last we saw each other. I certainly couldn’t blame her for her reaction… I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to wake up one day and find out that my entire life had been a lie. But what I couldn’t understand was what she had chosen to do with her life after the truth was exposed. From what I could discover, Allison was living here in Rio de Janeiro with Manuel de la Rocha, formerly Empath of Emma Frost’s Hellions, at the time of her kidnapping. The person responsible for perpetuating the lie in Allison’s mind. And undoubtedly one of the cruelest human beings I had ever met in my life.

“Do y’have any idea who would do this tae poor Allison, Dani?” Rahne asked me from the passenger seat.

“Well, Allison has made a few enemies over the years. It could have been anyone from Selene to whoever survived the attack on the London Hellfire Club,” I replied. In truth, I didn’t really have a clue, which bugged the hell out of me.

“Could’ve even been the government, y’know,” Xi’an suggested from the back seat. “Maybe they were just waiting for the right time to capture her, because she is a pretty dangerous young woman.”

“Wasn’t them, either,” I said.

“How d’ye know?” Rahne asked.

“Because I called G.W. Bridge,” I responded, earning me a look of consternation from Rahne and a grim nod from Xi’an.

A brief call placed to G.W. Bridge, my commanding officer at SHIELD while I was infiltrating the Mutant Liberation Front, had helped to fill in the gaps in what I knew about Allison’s activities since the Nova Roma deception was revealed. Apparently, Allison had attempted to contact her real parents in London, but after months of searching, her search had been unsuccessful. According to Rahne, Allison was permanently exiled from England, because for reasons unknown, she completely demolished the London branch of the Hellfire Club… although knowing Allison’s experiences with the Hellfire Club over the years, I could imagine why she did it. She dropped out of sight for a period of time, and eventually re-emerged as part of a villainous mutant group known as the New Hellions. This group was led by a mutant known as King Bedlam, the brother of former X-Force member Jesse Bedlam, and had included such individuals as Feral and the thought-deceased Tarot, as well as a techno-organic being known as Paradigm and a young psi known as Switch. The New Hellions met the same end, unfortunately, as their predecessors: in the process of trying to reactivate a nuclear power plant in California as part of a plot to blackmail the government, troops were sent in to contain the Hellions, massacring King Bedlam, Paradigm, Tarot, and Switch in a bloody surprise raid. Both Feral and Allison had survived the attack, both were incarcerated in The Cage in France, both had escaped The Cage with the aid of unknown parties, and both were now currently at large.

After going over all of the data that Bridge provided, I was left with many questions. Was Jesse aware of the fact that his brother was still alive, and more to the point, was he aware that his brother had been killed? How did Tarot survive the destruction of the original Hellions at the hands of Trevor Fitzroy, when I had personally viewed photographs of her body, among others, in the bloody aftermath? How had Feral escaped the Vault? How was this Paradigm connected to my old New Mutant teammate and deceased alien friend Warlock? And how the HELL had Allison managed to escape the most secure superhuman prison in the world?

When I asked Bridge why SHIELD hadn’t ascertained the identity of the parties who had helped Feral and Allison escape from incarceration, his answer had truly surprised me. Even Bridge couldn’t discover how she had escaped. And as far as I was aware, neither Allison nor Feral had those sort of contacts these days. I also couldn’t figure out why Allison would seek refuge with a man that she could consider to be a mortal enemy. Bridge asked me to look into the matter while I was down here, and while I had resigned from SHIELD (and despite what Bridge would say, I DID resign), I told him that I would do this as a last favor for him. While I respected the man very deeply for his dedication to world security, I would always resent him for placing me in a very morally compromising position by infiltrating the Mutant Liberation Front.

So, now I was on the job. I wasn’t entirely comfortable working for SHIELD again, even for something so short-term as a rescue mission to save Allison from whoever had kidnapped her, and I certainly wasn’t comfortable with approaching one of my oldest and dearest friends as a potential enemy. But I knew my duty, and I knew the hard truth of the situation: Allison Crestmere was a completely different person than Amara Aquilla, and I couldn’t afford to treat her as if she were the same girl I had grown up with. The loss of one’s identity could have any number of effects, and for a young woman who commands the volcanic forces of the Earth, the effects could be lethal for those around her.

By the time we began to approach the de la Rocha estate, I wondered if this was the right course of action. Allison had the right to live her life the way she wanted, and with whom she wanted, but I didn’t want to see her with Manuel. Was that selfish? Not in the least. It was smart. Manuel could not, and could never, be trusted. The man was supremely arrogant, vain, and cruel, and thought nothing of manipulating Allison and anyone else that crossed his path for his own sadistic pleasure. He would more than
likely be completely useless in helping me find Allison, and her rescue would probably fall into our hands. And if Manuel had had any part in Allison’s activities with the New Hellions, I would personally bring the bastard down.

The road to the estate itself was a long one, as apparently Manuel owned quite a bit of land. And despite the rather tranquil drive up the road, with the open fields and rolling hills and copses of trees scattered here and there, I’d much rather have made the approach in the Blackbird at Mach-2. A few minutes later, we came upon the estate itself. Manuel’s home was built in a very archaic, fortress-like style. I’m sure if I were more architecturally educated, I could do it more justice, but suffice it to say that his home was beautiful and majestic. There were three vehicles parked in the courtyard, all three of which were luxury European sports models. One was jet-black, the next was gold, and the third was a gleaming white. I could peg the first as belonging to Manuel, and the second possibly to Allison… but to whom did the third vehicle belong? SHIELD reports stated that Manuel didn’t employ any permanent staff, so anyone could be paying him a visit. And with Manuel, it paid to know who he was keeping company with. For all I knew, Emma Frost herself might be sitting in his living room with old photo albums. At least I had Rahne and Xi’an, who had remained mercifully silent during most of the trip from the airport, at my back.

“Danielle Moonstar.” Just the sound of Manuel de la Rocha’s condescending voice made me want to punch him in the face. “Rahne Sinclair. Xi’an Coy Mahn. To what do I owe the dubious honor?” Manuel had grown into a strikingly handsome man in the time since I’d last seen him, but I could see past those striking features into the cruel, cold heart within. His dark brown hair was slicked back, worn at shoulder-length, and his eyes were just as dark and shone with intelligence… but also with cruelty. He was clad in a black pantsuit that emphasized his trim physique, and looked every bit the businessman. Made me wonder, in fact, what he was up to these days. But the haughty timbre in his voice, the slightly-upraised eyebrows and slightly-lidded eyes as he looked me over made me remember that he wasn’t the focus of my visit here today.

“We’re here to find out what happened to Allison,” I replied, “not to get dicked around at the door, de la Rocha. May we come in and take a look around, or should I go see the authorities and come back with a warrant?”

In truth, I was pretty sure that I couldn’t go to the Brazilian authorities and acquire a warrant, but I wasn’t in the mood for any Empath games. And I wanted to see if the threat elicited any sort of guilty response. A risky play, but one that I was pretty sure would work on Manuel. He was a coward at heart.

And I did feel something from Empath, although he was quite capable of screening out my own empathic senses. I couldn’t place my finger on it, but something was going on here, and I wasn’t going to be leaving any time soon.

We stared at each other for a long moment, and I wondered what was going on in his mind at that moment. I couldn’t see the expressions on Rahne’s or Xi’an’s faces, but I could hear a very subtle growl emitting from Rahne’s throat. Manuel was hiding something; I was sure of that now. But he was either confident that he could play me, or he had something nasty in mind, because he inclined his head in an overly formal nod.

“By all means, come in and see what you can discover that conventional authorities haven’t, girl. I have nothing to hide.” He leaned a little closer to me, his voice dropping to just above a whisper. “In all honesty, I’m hoping you do find what happened to Allison. I’m sure she’s terrified right now and would like nothing more than to come home.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Manuel,” I replied acidly as I stepped past him. Rahne and Xi’an followed me, not even acknowledging Manuel’s presence, which was probably for the best.

Manuel’s living room was decorated with what I knew to be priceless artifacts and artwork of Spanish origin. The room had a museum-like quality to it, and I had an overwhelming urge to pick up the beautifully-rendered pieta from the marble fireplace’s mantle and throw it against the wall. But before I noticed all of the tasteful opulence of the room, I noticed the tell-tale signs of a struggle. SHIELD training definitely came in handy sometimes. It looked as though Manuel had done his best to clean things up,
but since Allison had only disappeared two days ago, he hadn’t had much time to clean things up after the Brazilian authorities had investigated. Frankly, I was surprised that they’d already opened up the crime scene, but I had to remind myself that this wasn’t America. This was a country which was infamous for the corruption within its ranks. I wondered if they were even pursuing the case at all. Though with Manuel’s financial connections, I was pretty sure that they were making at least a cursory effort.

“Should I come back at a later time, de la Rocha?” asked a man that I wasn’t acquainted with, who was coming into the expansive living room from the next room over. He was very handsome in a WASP sort of way, with close-cropped golden blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a bronzed, well-toned physique accentuated well by the white pantsuit he wore. He regarded me with an
unreadable expression, and I couldn’t for the life of me get an emotional reading from him. I didn’t like that at all, and I hadn’t quite marked him off my Potential Threat list in my head yet. And worse yet, he reminded me of someone, although I couldn’t quite figure out who.

“If you would not mind,” Manuel replied, his dark brown eyes never flinching from my gaze. “These women are old… friends of Allison, and have come to search for clues as to who has taken her.”

The man nodded once, and crossed the room with a practiced, graceful glide to clasp hands with Manuel. “We will conclude our business after your guests have finished here.” He looked at me then, his eyes boring into mine and the smallest hints of a smile playing at his lips. “Danielle Moonstar. You are as beautiful in person as I’ve heard you to be.”

“Albeit in an underfed, gamine sort of way,” Manuel quickly added, earning him a baleful stare from Rahne and not much more than an eye-roll from Xi’an and myself. But his comment did make me wonder how he knew me, because I could rest assured that Manuel did not describe me using the word beautiful. Call it a hunch.

“And just how is it that you’ve heard of me in the first place, Mister…”

“Frost,” the man replied, the sudden shock of just who he was just starting to hit me. I’d thought his features were familiar, but I didn’t know just how familiar. “Christian Frost. I believe you know my sister…”

“Emma.”

This was an interesting development, indeed. I didn’t even know Emma Frost, the former White Queen of the Hellfire Club and a woman who had been one of the X-Men’s deadliest foes, had a brother. Then again, I didn’t know much about Emma… no one did, really. But it begged the question: what the hell was this man doing here?

“An’ how is it that ye know of Dani, Frost?” Rahne asked before I got the chance.

“Through Warren Worthington. As the new head of Frost International, I’ve had numerous dealings with the X-Corporation. Quite the ambitious undertaking, and one that I’m honored to participate in.”

That stopped me cold. If my guard hadn’t been up already, it sure as hell was now. Warren was working with Emma Frost’s brother, and very possibly Manuel de la Rocha as well? Oh, we were gonna talk about this one when I got back. Frost I could probably deal with, if he were on the level. But Manuel? Some people just don’t change, no matter how many chances they’ve been given.

I inclined my head in a slight nod to Christian. “I’m sure Warren appreciates your enthusiasm. And thank you for the compliment.”

“If you’re quite finished being a harlot, Danielle,” Manuel stated nasally, “I’d appreciate it if you did your work quickly so that you can leave my home.”

This time, there was no restraining Rahne’s reaction. Without thinking, she shifted into her transitional lupine form, a werewolf-like form with beautiful reddish-brown fur. Her ears became pointed, and fangs and claws manifested themselves. She stepped menacingly toward Manuel. “How dare ye! Dani came all o’this way t’help find Allison, an’ all ye can repay her with is yuir snide, condescending contempt!”

Manuel actually had the good sense to take a few steps back, and Rahne began to close the distance between the two of them. As much as I would enjoy watching her teach Manuel an object lesson in manners, I couldn’t let her hurt him. I reached out and put a hand on her arm, catching Rahne in a firm grip, just enough to let her know what was up. “Cool it, Rahne. Don’t let
him get to you.” I looked at Manuel then, giving him an intent yet non-hostile stare. “He’s just stressed out about Allison’s kidnapping and is lashing out.”

To my surprise, Rahne accepted my rebuke with a slight nod and a nearly-instantaneous transformation back into her normal human form. Xi’an decided at that moment to move the process along by politely excusing Manuel and Christian from the scene, and I began to take a look around. Admittedly, I wasn’t a trained detective, but the years I’d spent affiliated with the X-Men had taught me a thing or two. Behind one beautiful portrait of one of Manuel’s Spanish ancestors, I noticed a very slight charring on the wall. I moved closer to the painting and very carefully lifted it from the wall, and what I found didn’t surprise me, nor sit very well with me.

Xi’an moved up alongside me, even as Rahne shifted again into her transitional form to allow her heightened senses a chance to tell us things that we might otherwise miss. She gazed thoughtfully at the charring for a moment. “That’s not from conventional weapons fire. That looks more like an energy weapon. And something sophisticated, too.”

I nodded slowly, my own gaze studying the marks on the wall. “That’s what I was thinking, too, Shan. And look at the blast pattern.” I traced my fingers along the charring slowly.

She nodded as well, her expression becoming more intent. “They look very precise. This doesn’t look like random weapons fire at all. This was more surgical.”

“I guess that’s why Manuel was so easily able to clean things up,” I agreed. “I’d be willing to bet that whoever did this did it quickly, and knew exactly how to do it.” I looked over at Rahne. “Picking up anything, Scooby?”

Rahne looked over at me with a smirk on her face, her eyes alight with humor. “Y’mean, other than Manuel’s repulsive cologne?” I smirked at that, and continued to look around the room.

Suddenly, Xi’an exclaimed so excitedly that I almost flinched. “Wait a second! I have an idea!”

I turned to Xi’an then, and regarded her with amusement. “No, we’re not going dancing. We have work to do first.”

“No, no, I’m being serious,” Xi’an said. “We can just look and see who took her. Or at least, you can, Dani.”

“What d’ye mean, Shan?” Rahne asked quizzically. But I already knew what she was referring to, and I was actually surprised that the idea hadn’t occurred to me.

“She means that I can use my power to instant-replay the kidnapping,” I answered for Xi’an. “My power can ‘read’ events that have occurred in a place if they were emotionally powerful, and I’d say this qualifies. After that, I can create illusions of those events. But there’s a drawback.”

“What’s that?” Rahne asked.

“Since I have to channel the emotional energy through my own mind, I feel what they felt. And in this case, I’m fairly certain I will be feeling the terror that Allison felt when she was taken.” I sighed at the thought of that, then shook my head. “But that doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is finding Allison and bringing her home safely. So if you both wouldn’t mind stepping back for a few moments while I do this?”

Xi’an and Rahne both stepped into the doorway leading into one of Manuel’s expansive, palatial rooms, leaving me standing near one of the walls as I initiated the probing process that would seek out these events and bring them to life. Again, as when I sought out images in the minds of others, it wasn’t a process that I had any conscious control over; I simply knew that I was probing. And as my gaze traced along the room, I could see the beginnings of my own psychic energy rising like smoke from several locations in the room, the telltale sign of my power in action.

And suddenly, there she was. Allison Crestmere, clad in an ensemble that was certainly different than the Nova Romanii princess that I had grown up with. She wore an elegant turtleneck sweater in a deep crimson, along with a pair of dark khaki pants and black shoes. Nothing too flashy, but definitely more… modern than I remembered her. Her wavy, golden-blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail, which was then wrapped and held to the back of her head with a clip that I couldn’t see. Even her make-up was
subdued, emphasizing her naturally sculpted, elegant features, and her jewelry was kept to a bare minimum. Allison looked remarkably at ease, as if she were adjusting to her life very well. She was standing in the living room, alone, when the attack began.

There was a massive blast from wall opposite the front doors, which was in actuality completely comprised of beautiful glass and gilding. Something else that Manuel must have had quickly repaired, for they were intact when we got there. When the light from the blast cleared, a trio of men in powered armor stood in the room, their onboard weapons trained directly on Allison. One of them spoke then, his voice mechanically distorted and in stereo. An interesting effect, and definitely one that added to his menace.

“Allison Crestmere, you will come with us immediately or be taken by force. The choice is yours.” From the tone of his voice, it almost sounded like he wanted her to resist. He wanted to fight her. And as for Allison, I was pretty sure she was remembering the last time armored soldiers came for her, which was when Fenris captured her during the Younghunt. That had happened
very shortly after she discovered who she really was, and if she connected the two events in her mind, the armored men were not going to like her reaction. Allison’s powers were dependent on her self-control, and if she lost that control…

“Who are you?” she asked in her oddly-accented voice. Xi’an would later tell me that it was an amalgamation of her native British, with a Brazilian dialect, and Nova Romanii. It was a pleasure to listen to, but not in this instance, because I was beginning to feel what Allison felt: irrational terror. Fortunately, I had enough willpower and training to be able to block most of it out. In my mind, I knew that the emotions were not my own, but it wasn’t always so easy to know that in my heart.

“We are the Magnum Shells,” the attacker replied, which instantly set off an alarm in my mind. I’d have to check on that name, but I thought I knew who they worked for. And if my suspicions were correct, Allison was in terrible danger. “Our employer wishes to have a word with you.”

“Get out of my house!” Allison screamed as she seemingly burst into intense flames. In reality, as I could feel inside me, she was channeling her fear into anger, and activating her mutant powers. A bright flash later, and she had assumed a form only vaguely similar to her own powered-down self, a female human shape seemingly formed from lava, her eyes ablaze with fiery energies and her hair transformed into a raging inferno. Flames danced all around her body, and she used her right hand to gesture toward her
attackers. With that gesture, she fired off an intense blast of heat that solidly impacted the attacker who had threatened her.

Her anger quickly fluctuated to fear again when the heat seemed to dissipate upon contact with the attacker’s armor. The Magnum Shells each took a step forward, their weapons readying. Suddenly, the lead attacker fired off a beam of sickly green energies, one that caused Allison to scream in pain as it impacted her chest. The same green energies crackled across her body
like electricity, and she reverted again to her normal state. It was everything I could do not to clutch my own body in phantom pain as I screamed in unison, and my knees met the floor even as Allison crumpled into unconsciousness in front of me. And with that, my illusions dissipated, leaving me on my knees in the room and Rahne rushing to my side.

“Dani! Are ye alright?”

“Yes…” I said as I got to my feet slowly, making sure I remained steady and didn’t lose my footing, “and no. Our problem just became a whole lot bigger.”

“What do you mean?” Xi’an asked, joining the two of us.“If I’m not mistaken, I’m pretty sure that the Magnum Shells work for
Moses Magnum, the man who was responsible for Banshee losing his powers years ago. And if that’s true, then Allison is in more danger than even she knows.”

Moses Magnum. Not a name I’d even thought about in a long time. He’d come into conflict with the X-Men way before my time, as well as with the Avengers and other superpowered individuals. He was essentially a terrorist and an arms dealer, Magneto on a smaller scale. He had even used racism as a platform for his own megalomaniacal scheme, which was essentially to conquer the African nation of Wakanda and rob it blind. Trust me, if you’ve seen one of these guys, you’ve seen them all. As soon as we left
Manuel’s house, I used my laptop to contact G.W. Bridge so I could find this guy.

Bridge was actually very helpful. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been monitoring him for some time, especially in the wake of his failed attempt to conquer Wakanda. And he had an office not too far from Rio, relatively speaking… Magnum Munitions had a branch office located in Buenos Aires, and Bridge believed that he was present there at the time of Allison’s disappearance. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was why… why would he kidnap Allison? What possible use did he have for her?

Rahne slid up next to me as I finished talking to Bridge via the remote link to S.H.I.E.L.D. that I carried just in case situations like this occurred. “Y’know, doesn’t Magnum have some sort o’power over the Earth as well? I seem t’remember Sean mentionin’ this to me mum.”

I lifted my head at that, and looked forward from where I sat in the passenger seat of the Jeep, with one of my legs hanging out of the open door. This was as relaxed as I could be at the moment. “That’s true, but that doesn’t explain why he’d kidnap Allison.”

“Maybe he needs her for something that his power can’t get him alone,” Xi’an added as she came up to join us. “Allison or Amara, she still packs the heat, and she can help Magnum do quite a bit of damage, if he sticks to his M.O.”

I nodded at that. “I just wonder how he intends to get her to help him. Allison may not be Amara anymore, but she’s not evil or sociopathic by any means. She’s still a good person at heart, and I doubt very much that Magnum is going to be able to persuade her easily to do whatever it is he’s wanting her to do.”

“What should we do, Dani?” Rahne asked. “Surely we cannae just leave her t’Magnum’s mercies.”

“Or Empath’s,” Xi’an added solemnly. “If he tries to rescue her, Dani, it’ll go bad. Real bad.”

They were right, and I knew it. Funny thing is, I had come to Rio fully expecting to have to take up arms against enemies. I just didn’t know that it was going to lead to a conflict with an international terrorist and mass murderer, a conflict that might see harm or even death come to my friends or myself. But alas, that’s the path that a true X-Man walks, and for better or worse, that’s what I was. A true X-Man.

“Anybody up for a quick charter flight to Buenos Aires?” I asked. The answers I got didn’t surprise me in the least.

Buenos Aires. The Latin Paradise. I had been doing quite a bit of world-hopping in the weeks that I’d been gone from the Xavier
Institute. From New York City to London, from there to Scotland, and from there to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, respectively. And I still wasn’t any closer to finding the answers that I sought. Life just has a way of derailing your train, I suppose. But I couldn’t think about myself when Allison was still in danger, and even if she wasn’t my friend anymore, I wasn’t about to let her down.

The Magnum Munitions building was not a difficult one to find, located in the heart of Buenos Aires’ downtown business district. Xi’an, Rahne and I entered the building without fanfare, because in a few minutes, there would be fanfare aplenty. We remained attired in our civvies, only because none of us wanted to associate what we were about to do with the Xavier Institute. Entering the building, Rahne and Xi’an stood near the door while I approached the receptionist working the massive half-circle desk situated
at the center of the massive lobby.

The receptionist was a hatchet-faced black woman, a fact I found significant only because of what I’d read in Magnum’s file about his tendency to only employ people of African descent. It was a fact that I’d actually laughed about, because as an American Indian woman, I found his methodology to be sloppy and ill-conceived, not to mention flat-out idiotic because only a complete idiot would follow just a butcher. But to each his or her own. Placing my hands on the desk, I addressed the receptionist evenly.

“Hello. I am here to see Moses Magnum.”

The woman looked up at me with an expression that was borderline hostile, and certainly disdainful. “Yes, well, I’m sure he’s very busy. What is this in regards to, anyway?” Before the receptionist could reply, I could see the tell-tale sign of Xi’an initiating a light possession, as her eyes became blank and vacant, and her expression went slack.

“Yes,” she replied, her voice distant and empty, “of course. I will announce you.”

Announce me? Who the hell was this guy, Henry the Eighth? But apparently she did as Xi’an commanded her, because in less than two minutes, a pair of rather well-muscled gentlemen in monochrome business attire stepped out of the elevator located at the far end of the lobby. They promptly walked over to the desk and looked at the three of us with expressions that pretty much mirrored the one that the receptionist gave to me: complete, condescending disdain.

“What’s your business with Moses Magnum, girl?” one of them asked.

“Xi’an,” I said. Just a single word, and a moment later, the two bully-boys were possessed. I knew that Xi’an had more difficulty possessing multiple individuals, so even now she was using her mutant ability to erase the receptionist’s short-term memory so that when Xi’an released her control over the woman, she would remember nothing of the encounter, as we had planned.

Meanwhile, the men were escorting us to the elevator, their movements a tad stiff but otherwise normal. No one in the lobby even paid us any notice. It was always nice when a plan worked out. We stepped into the elevator, and Xi’an then mentally ordered them to take us to the top floor of the building, where Magnum’s office was located. Xi’an appeared intent upon maintaining her concentration and Rahne merely looked slightly nervous and angry all at once, but I merely closed my eyes and enjoyed the soft vibration of the elevator as it ascended the skyscraper swiftly. Even in moments of danger, I could find a moment to center myself and clear my mind of unwanted distractions. And right now, all I could afford to do was think about Allison, and keeping all of us safe.

Less than a minute later, the elevator doors opened into a room that I could only describe as decadent. Everything in the room was gold and silver gilt, including several full-length mirrors and all of the plush, purple-velvet furniture, and the floor was completely covered in dark-red carpeting. There was even a beautiful marble fountain in the center of the room, the cascading waters creating a pleasant ambience in the room that belied the nature of the man who occupied the room. Even as I did a brief but thorough visual scan of the room, the two guards re-entered the elevator and were gone as the doors closed behind them. Apparently, Magnum didn’t perceive us as a threat. His mistake.

Moses Magnum stood from his expansive wooden desk, clad in a business suit that did justice to his muscular, bulky frame. He was a rather distinguished black man in middle age, the only feature that really stood out as odd being the mohawk that he’d shaved his hair into. He allowed an oily smile to slide across his face as he rose to greet us, and I could tell that despite our past affiliations, he didn’t know who we were. So we could talk shop for a few moments, at least until we could figure out where Allison was being kept. After that, it was anybody’s guess.

“Welcome to Magnum Munitions,” he stated, his voice a rich, deep baritone. “What is it that I can do for you?”

“I’m interested in making a purchase,” I said, completely winging it. While I might have been relatively successful in infiltrating the Mutant Liberation Front a few years back, I wasn’t altogether comfortable or skilled at the art of subterfuge. I’m an honest gal like that.

Magnum raised an eyebrow at that. “And that requires my personal attention?” He stepped around the desk slowly, his hands clasped behind his back, and he gave me a penetrating stare. “Who are you, girl? Not many people would enter the presence of Moses Magnum so boldly. At least, not without a reputation preceding them.” His stare became one of indifference, perhaps even biased because I was a woman, I was young, and I wasn’t African. If he were biased against me for any or all of those reasons, it
really didn’t matter at this stage, because he wasn’t hurting my feelings.

Before I could answer him, an expression of enlightenment crossed his features. And I didn’t know how, but he knew. He knew why we were here. For some reason, I couldn’t get any sort of emotional reading from him, but I had the same problem reading the emotions of Rictor of X-Force, who possessed similar abilities. Perhaps this was the case here.

“You’re here for the girl, aren’t you? You came here for Miss Crestmere.”

My silence was answer enough for him. He nodded thoughtfully, and regarded Xi’an and Rahne for a moment before returning his gaze to me. “That would make you Moonstar, Karma, and Wolfsbane, then. Come to rescue poor Magma from my control, have you?” He smiled in an expression I could only describe as sinister. “You are certainly welcome to try.”

Suddenly, an incredibly bright light filled the room, accompanied by the noise of energy lacerating the air, and before I even cognitively recognized what was happening, I turned toward the source of the energy disturbance. The light faded, only to reveal three individuals that I was acquainted with on differing levels. Manuel and Christian Frost stood with a woman, one that I knew a little too well for my tastes. During my time in the Mutant Liberation Front, we had almost been friends, but she was a cold-blooded killer through and through, and I knew that her presence here would lead to violence. She waved at me as she noticed me standing in the room, and though I couldn’t see her eyes past the reflective goggles she wore, I was sure that they were alight with madness.

“Locus,” I said, “what are you doing here? With Manuel, no less?” I wasn’t aware that the two knew each other. But seeing her here, now, and knowing who she really was and her connections to people I knew, I could imagine how the two of them came into contact. And if that was the case, something very wrong was going down.

“We’re here,” Manuel answered for her, “to bring Allison home.” He looked at Magnum then, and I could almost see the fury radiating off him like heat. Beside him, Christian Frost stood, brandishing some sort of energy weapon. If he was anything like his sister, I wouldn’t be turning my back on him anytime soon.

Moses Magnum laughed, a deep, guttural laugh that in different circumstances would have been pleasing to hear. “How thoughtful of all of you to gather yourselves in one place. Don’t worry, you will be seeing dear Allison soon enough. But first, let me introduce you to my Magnum Shells.” With that, Magnum disappeared. A hologram! That was why I couldn’t sense his emotions!

Not two seconds after Magnum’s holographic image disappeared, the massive windows that comprised an entire wall in his office shattered in a massive blast, and when the blast cleared, several of his armored Magnum Shells hovered before us, borne on rockets that were built into their boots. Their weapons were already trained on us. And before I could form a psychic bow in my hands, a bright flash filled the room, and I felt myself slip into unconsciousness.

I opened my eyes, and the first thing I noticed was that I could not move my arms. They were, in fact, kept restrained above my head. I could feel the wind against my face, and looking around, I knew immediately where I was: the rooftop of the Magnum Munitions building. I looked to both sides, and I could see my companions, all similarly restrained, but I couldn’t feel their emotions at all. In fact, I knew the truth as I attempted to empathically scan them: my powers were being neutralized. As soon as the
realization hit me, I felt a massive wave of nausea and a feeling that I could only describe as emptiness.

Before us stood Moses Magnum, clad in a rather foppish costume that reminded me of something out of a ‘70s blaxploitation movie. With him stood six of his Magnum Shells, and he was manipulating the controls of a massive machine that occupied a rather large portion of the rooftop. And then, I saw…

“Allison!” Rahne shouted from beside me. “What has he done t’ye, lass?”

Allison was strapped to a platform on the machine, her arms and legs bound very tightly, and from what I could tell, she was unconscious. The machine looked to me like a massive weapon, and I knew that’s what it was, and the only thing I could think of was that I had to get us out of this situation fast, before the shit hit the fan. As if it hadn’t already.

“What have you done to her, Magnum?” Empath snarled.

“I’ve treated her exceptionally well, Manuel de la Rocha,” Magnum replied. “After all, it wouldn’t do to damage the power source of my Earthshaker, now would it?” Earthshaker? Yeah, this was bad.

“End this, Magnum,” Christian Frost said, “before you do something that you can’t take back.”

“Are you serious?” Xi’an asked. “This man is about to use Allison to do God knows what, and you’re trying to negotiate with him like he’s a jumper?”

“Do you have a better idea?” Frost asked.

“Hush now, children,” Magnum stated disdainfully. “I want you to see this.”

Magnum turned again to his controls, and the soft thrum of the weapon began to increase in volume and tempo. Empath struggled frustratingly against his bonds, but all I and the rest of us could do was watch the events unfold. We were pretty much powerless here, and unless my back-up plan showed up soon, lives were going to be lost.

Suddenly, I heard a scream. Allison was awake. And the ground began to shake violently.

There was a terrible explosion of energy as Allison’s powers began to flare out of control, which I only knew was the case because I’d seen this happen to her before, although not on such a large scale. Magnum was knocked flat on his ass, and Allison’s volatile energies lashed out at the Magnum Shells, taking out two of them and causing the rest to be thrown to the ground at our feet.

“What’s happening?” Xi’an asked as Allison continued to scream, her energies crackling along the weapon and causing secondary explosions to ripple down the length of the weapon’s barrel. If we were lucky, her loss of control might disable the Earthshaker before Magnum could put it to use.

“Stop this!” Rahne exclaimed, and suddenly, she almost subconsciously shifted into her lupine transitional form, ripping herself free of the bonds that restrained her. Our powers… they had returned, which meant that Magnum had lost control of the situation. I knew then that we had one chance to take control of what was going on before Magnum and his men recovered from the Pandora’s box that they’d unwittingly unleashed.

Rahne moved toward one of the Magnum Shells, her claws already reaching for vulnerable spots on the armor. Manuel and Xi’an, still restrained but with their powers being effective once again, began to take control of the remaining Magnum Shells. While Xi’an merely caused them to use their weaponry to free the rest of us from our restraints, Manuel used his ability to control the actions of others through their emotions to force the Magnum Shells to launch assaults on each other with their onboard weapons.

As one of the Magnum Shells used his wrist blasters to destroy my restraints, I got to my feet and moved toward Magnum through the chaos of battle, my stride a bit unsteady as the ground continued to shake. I began to visualize the pain of Allison losing control of herself, losing control of her life and her identity, and began to channel that fear and loss into a tangible form. And just like that, a small psychic knife had manifested in my grip. I looked once at the knife, and then looked up at Magnum, and I moved to strike.

As I raised the psychic dagger in preparation to plunge it into Magnum’s back, which would have pretty much the same effect as nailing him with one of my psychic arrows, he was suddenly engulfed in a bright white light, and when the light cleared a moment later, Magnum was gone.

I looked to my left, and I saw Locus hovering in the air, her arms crossed haughtily and her smile one of complete and utter superiority. “Sorry, Moonstar, but you were movin’ too slow.” As I turned forward again to see Allison, Locus continued. “I sent him somewhere very special, where he won’t be causin’ any more trouble for a while. And hey, at least I didn’t teleport his head off. And believe me, it was a tempting thought…”

I shook my head in dark humor as I moved toward Allison. Her screaming began to quiet down, and the earthquake that she had unwittingly unleashed had begun to subside as well. I believed she was tiring herself out, and it was a perfect opportunity to help her regain control and get her out of the Earthshaker.

As the battle between the Magnum Shells and my companions continued to rage around me, with the Magnum Shells receiving reinforcements from the building even as Rahne and the others were gaining the upper hand, I stepped next to where Magma was strapped down. I could feel that her emotions were in complete turmoil, so violently shifting that I couldn’t tell exactly what she was feeling. I slowly reached out with my right hand and gently stroked her face, so that she would know that I wasn’t a threat.

“Allison…?”

As my hand met the skin of her face, her eyes suddenly flew open, and were burning with volcanic energies. Her face was twisted in rage, and her lip had curled into a snarl.

“My name…” Allison said as the earthquakes suddenly came back with full force, “is Amara.”

Before the realization of what Allison – Amara – had just said could sink in, the machinery of the weapon began to work again, and there was a tremendously piercing noise of energies as well as a bright green flash that emitted from the weapon.

The Earthshaker had fired.

Hours later, aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, I stood with G.W. Bridge over one of the infirmary’s hospital beds, where Amara Aquilla lay. She was sleeping rather soundly, which was just as well considering just how much of her energies she had unleashed upon the world. Bridge’s expression was unreadable, but I could tell that he was just barely restraining the urge to scream at me.

“So,” I began, “do you have any more news about Buenos Aires?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk about it right then and there, but I knew that it would do both of us good to just get everything out in the open.

Bridge took a deep breath before he answered. “Buenos Aires is gone. Wiped off the map. Thanks to this little lady here.” He looked down at Amara, and his expression was somewhere between sympathetic and murderous.

I immediately stepped up to Amara’s defense. “You can’t possibly blame what Magnum did on Amara! That sick bastard kidnapped her from her home and was going to use her to power that weapon of his!”

Bridge didn’t back down. “He damn well did that, too, Dani! Millions of people missing, presumed dead, and the earthquakes haven’t even completely subsided yet!” He looked down again at Amara, who was still asleep and oblivious to our conversation. “And what do you suppose I should do with her, huh? Put her on trial for what she’s done? Or should we just throw her back in The Cage without possibility of ever being released again?”

He turned towards me then, his eyes dark and unreadable. “I could even have her lobotomized, make her unable to access her powers again. That might be the safest route to take.”

I shook my head at that, folding my arms across my chest. “You can’t punish her for something that she had no control over. Hell, she doesn’t even remember it happening! Hasn’t she been through enough, Bridge, without you ruining what’s left of her life?”

Bridge sighed again, and I could feel his emotional turmoil as he considered what I was saying. Even he couldn’t blame her for this, and I knew it. The one that would pay for this, someday, would be Moses Magnum. Who, thanks to Locus, had completely vanished. As for Locus herself, she returned Manuel and Christian to the de la Rocha estate, then proceeded to vanish into
whatever bolt-hole she had crawled out of. Only Xi’an, Rahne and myself had been present on the collapsing Magnum Munitions building when SHIELD’s rescue craft arrived.

“What do you suggest I do about her, Dani?” Bridge asked after several long moments of silence.

“Remand her to my custody,” I said without hesitation. “The only place she’s going to get the help that she needs right now is at the Xavier Institute, not sitting in some hole with her brain half-fried.”

Bridge laughed, in a fashion that was disturbingly similar to Magnum’s laughter. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I shook my head. “Not at all. You know I’m right about this, despite your own reservations about the X-Men. Just think about it this way: you’ll have a bonafide ex-SHIELD op keeping a very close eye on her, and the X-Men can’t afford to screw up Amara’s rehabilitation because we’re public now.”

Watching Bridge carefully, I could see that I’d scored a direct hit. He knew I was right, but my play was still a gamble. He might very well kick me off the Helicarrier and send Amara out to a waiting firing squad, for all I knew. But I was hoping that he’d see it my way.

He let out a long breath, and nodded. “Alright, Dani. I’ll release Amara on a probationary basis, but I want something in return. Two things, actually.”

I met his gaze evenly. “What’s that?”

“First, I want regular reports on the progress of Amara’s recovery. Detailed reports. Something I can present to Fury to keep him from handing me my ass for this.”

I nodded. “Done. And what else?”

He smiled, but it was a smile without humor. It was hard to muster up humor when there were countless people dead or dying below. “I want you to reactivate your status with SHIELD.”

That stopped me cold. I never in a million years would’ve expected G.W. Bridge to ask me to come back to S.H.I.E.L.D., even on an inactive basis. Then again, he was the same man who refused to process my resignation at one time, so I suppose that I’d done a good job infiltrating the Mutant Liberation Front for him.

“Why?” I asked.

“I never wanted you to leave, Dani,” he replied. “And it has the added benefit of looking good on paper, in case Fury or anyone else starts asking questions about this arrangement.”

I slowly nodded. “I’ll agree to be on call for you, Bridge. But I’m not going active duty again, not at this time. I have… personal matters to attend to.”Bridge nodded. “I suppose that’s the best I’m going to get from you.” He extended his hand to me, and I met his strong grip with my own. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Dani.”

As he released my hand, I turned from him and walked over to one of the viewports in the Helicarrier’s side. Standing at the viewport, with Bridge standing behind me and to the right, I looked down upon what was once the Latin Paradise. The majority of the city was in ruins, smoke billowing through the skies and fires still raging in dozens of places. Countless rescue vehicles were on the scene, but it wouldn’t be enough. Some buildings were still coming down, as the aftershocks of the Earthshaker’s effects hadn’t quite ceased occurring with disturbing regularity.

Gazing down at the ruins of Buenos Aires, I held myself in an unconscious effort to brace myself against the cold I was feeling. More disturbing to me than the disaster that had unfolded before me were the effects that only I could see. In my mind’s eye, I could see nothing but death. The city radiating such a deathglow, which only my Valkyrie sight revealed to me, chilled me so much that I wanted to run into a room, lock the doors, bolt the windows, and hide underneath something. Sometimes a gift really is a curse.

“Take me home, Bridge,” I said, unable to turn my gaze from the carnage below. “There’s nothing left here but death.”