SINISTER RECKONING

Part III: Havoc

By Dino Pollard

Ugh… someone get the number of that truck that hit me…

“Awake, are we?”

What? Who’s there?

Heavy lids slowly began to open.

What happened… last thing I remember was sending Alex off and then… that Sinister guy… then it all went black…

“Ahh… good, you are awake.”

Scott’s eyes fully opened and he found himself staring at Sinister. He tried to leap at him, but something blocked him. Something made of… glass?

He surveyed his surroundings and found that he was naked, and he was in some sort of vat – in a liquid similar to the one he saw his grandparents in. He reached up to his face and found that there was some sort of helmet on his head. As Sinister spoke, he could hear him – meaning that the helmet must have speakers of some sort.

“Don’t bother trying to use your powers, Scott,” Sinister stated. “The helmet you’re wearing acts as a buffer to them.”

Scott tried to speak, but found he couldn’t.

“I know how to do quite a few things, actually. I’ll admit, I’m mainly here to monitor the progress of your brother – yet you’re an added bonus. In fact, I think I’ll enjoy finding the fault in your X-factor gene that prevents you from controlling your powers.”

Sinister looked at some computer printouts. He was wearing a lab coat and apparently, medical scrubs underneath.

“You’ve heard of the great minds of the twentieth century, correct? Thomas Edison? Albert Einstein? Naturally.”

He turned to look at Scott.

“Does the name Nathaniel Essex ring any bells?”

Scott simply rolled his eyes.

“Obviously, you can tell that I am Nathaniel Essex. And it also seems that you find it cliche for the villain to explain his master plan. First off, I’m a scientist, not a villain. Let’s get that straight. And secondly, I already revealed my master plan. It’s not all that elaborate – it’s actually very simple. I’m here to monitor your brother’s progression. All I’m doing is informing you about my past.”

Sinister sat in a chair and rolled it over to Scott’s vat.

“You should have been here for the turn of the twentieth century, Scott. My god, it was magnificent. However, it wasn’t perfect. And my fellow “colleagues” thought my theories on human evolution were absurd. They felt that humanity was perfect the way it was and wouldn’t evolve any more. And, that even if humanity would evolve further, it would take place over hundreds, thousands, possibly even millions of years. I was… impatient.”

What the hell is he going on about? Scott thought.

“Did you know that the evolution of mutants wasn’t natural?”

Scott looked up at this, his ears suddenly perking.

“As predictable as it sounds, Scott, I’m your father,” Sinister stated. “As well as the father of every other mutant on this planet.”

Huh?

“It was through my genetic experiments that the first mutant was given life. You’ve heard of the Invaders, haven’t you? Surely you read about them in your history books. What you don’t know is how they were created – one of them, specifically. One of them was engineered to be more than human. I realized, if I could do that, then perhaps I could spawn an entire race of these superhumans. After all, everyone has the potential for it. Here, let me explain.”

Sinister reached down and picked up a padlock. He held it up for Scott to see.

“You know how a lock works, correct? There are tumblers inside, and as the lock turns to a certain area – marked by a number – things click into place and the lock opens. It’s the same way with the X-factor gene. Everyone has it – it’s just the matter of placing the tumblers in the exact position to unlock it. That is the challenge. And it’s a hurdle I leapt over. It took me many years, but I eventually gave birth to mutant alpha.”

This guy is out of his mind! Just keep talking, jackass… once the X-Men get here, we’ll show you what mutants can do…

“Your brother, though… he is an interesting specimen…” Sinister continued, placing the lock back on the table. “He has the potential to be a step further than homo superior. However… waiting for his powers to emerge has been a tiresome task, I must admit.”

Now what’s he rambling about? Alex isn’t even a mutant, he’s just a kid! He’s been wasting his time here for nothing! Besides, how would he know if someone’s a mutant or not before they used their powers?

“Say hello to yer new traveling companion, boys and girls,” Fury stated, standing in the hangar as technicians were busy prepping an aircraft. “There’s been rumors circulating f’r just under a year about a hypersonic jet capable of mach six. It’s been dubbed the Aurora by the media. Naturally, the government’s denied any knowledge.”

“Nice story,” John stated. “What’s it gotta do with us?”

“This is the ‘Aurora’,” Fury replied. “Capable of mach six performance, this is the SR-77 Blackbird. It can get ya wherever you need t’ be in a fraction of the time yer last jet could’ve.”

“Thank you, Colonel,” Xavier stated.

“Awright, let’s take ‘er out for a spin,” Wolverine said, pulling on his black, leather gloves. “Hop on, kids. We got a teammate to rescue.”

“Hold up, Logan,” Fury warned. “You guys haven’t received clearance for a search and rescue operation. I’ll send a SHIELD unit up there to-”

“Nuh-uh,” Logan replied. “This is X-Men business, Fury. We look after our own.”

“Since when have you looked after anyone but yourself?” Fury asked.

“Since you put me in charge o’ this outfit, Nick,” Logan replied. “If ya got a problem with that, discharge me.”

Fury glared at Logan long and hard.

“You push too much, old man,” Fury stated. “Keep it up, an’ I just might start pushing back…”

“Colonel… Cyclops is a valuable member of our team, and with our small numbers, we need him,” Xavier broke in, wheeling forward. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes… I see your point…” Fury replied.

“Then… if you don’t have any objections… may we go retrieve our companion?”

“Sure… I see no reason not to… Just try not to get this one blown up…”

“You heard the man,” Xavier stated, turning to the X-Men. “Go on. Return with Scott as soon as possible.”

As the X-Men boarded the jet, many of them exchanged confused glances. Wolverine, however, simply gave Xavier a long, hard stare.

Anchorage

“What the hell happened here?” Alex asked, as he stepped through the demolished doorway. He looked around and saw something sparking in the next room.

Quickly, he ran to find the remains of… something which resembled his grandmother. It was a robot of some sort, cleaved in half by something.

“A… a robot?!” Alex shouted. “What the hell is going on here?!”

He felt the energy building up within him and ran down to the basement, slamming into the door. It was locked.

“Don’t have time for this!!”

*FWZAAAM*

The energy released from Alex’s hands vaporized the door. He ran down into the basement, until he saw the open entrance. Slowly, he crept inside, his fists clenched tightly.

He saw a man with chalk-white skin dressed in a lab coat. He was laying out some sort of surgical instruments, and then Alex looked to see the vat he was standing in front of – the vat Scott was in.

“Oooooooh no…” Alex stated. “Surgery is canceled!!”

He lifted his arms and fired a plasma blast at Sinister, causing the madman to fall back. He then ran to the vat and tried to figure out a way to open it.

“Okay… what do I do?” he asked himself, looking over the controls. “Damn, why can’t there just be a button that says, ‘open’?!”

Alex pressed a button, yet all that did was cause Scott’s helmet to rise off of his head.

“Okay… guess that wasn’t it…” Alex muttered, watching as Scott held his breath. “Shit!! Now what?”

He banged on the control panel and stepped back, raising his arms. Scott’s eyes grew wide in shock as energy began to gather there.

“Brace yourself, man…” Alex muttered. “…pleasedontscrewuppleasedontscrewuppleasedontscrewup…”

Scott lifted his arms to cover his face and shut his eyes tightly just before the energy was released.

*FWZAAAAAAM*

*CRASH*

Scott opened up his eyes and slowly stood up. Aside from some minor cuts from the glass, he was fine. Then… he realized something else. The helmet was off, and he wasn’t wearing his glasses or his visor.

“What the hell is going o–”

Scott was cut off as his optic blasts suddenly shot out from his eyes. He closed them quickly.

“Alex, grab my glasses!!” he shouted.

“R-right… gotcha…” Alex stated, grabbing the sunglasses from the table. He ran to Scott’s side and slipped them on. “There. Now how about we kick some ass?”

“Maybe if I had some pants…” Scott muttered, covering himself up, while looking around for his clothes.

“Don’t try anything rash, gentlemen,” Sinister stated. He held some sort of object in his hand. “You see this? It’s a bomb. If it detonates, I’ll survive. And I can work just as well with dead mutants as I can with live ones.”

“Who the hell are you?!” Alex demanded. “What gives you the right to invade our house?!”

“Your house?” Sinister asked. Then, he simply laughed. “Child, I’ve been living here for years. Why do you think I have a laboratory down here? Or a secret entrance for that matter?”

“Oh…” Alex muttered.

“Now then… let’s discuss our current situati-”

Sinister was cut off as lightning suddenly struck him from behind. Scott and Alex looked to see Storm hovering near the doorway. As she slowly floated in, she suddenly dropped to the ground.

“Shit…” she muttered.

The other X-Men followed, with Wolverine moving to the front of the group. He looked over at Sinister, then to Scott and Alex.

“Cold, Cyke?” he asked with a grin.

“Fuck off!!” Scott replied, covering himself up once again. Psyche and Dazzler suppressed giggles at his embarrassment.

Sinister stood up and simply laughed.

“Do you people truly believe that you can defeat me?” he asked. Don’t make me laugh.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t,” Wolverine replied, extending his claws. “I’ll just make ya bleed.”

Logan ran towards Sinister, slashing at him ferociously. Sinister simply took the beating, before lifting up his arm and slamming Wolverine to the side. Then, he chuckled as the wounds began to heal.

“I should have mentioned that once I discovered how to unlock the x-factor gene, I tried it on myself,” he stated.

“Oh shut up!!” Dazzler shouted, hurling light bursts at him. “God, all you bad guys just LOVE to brag, don’t you?!”

“Apparently so, Dazz,” Beast noted, as he leapt over to Scott. “Maybe it’s a requirement to get into the Supervillain Academy.”

He removed the backpack he was wearing, and pulled out some folded pieces of clothing with Scott’s visor lying on top of it.

“Your pants, sir,” Hank stated with a grin. Scott grabbed the clothes and quickly slipped them on. He then removed his glasses and carefully replaced them with his visor.

“Thanks man, I owe you.”

“UGH!!!” Thunderbird exclaimed, as he was thrown into the wall near them, courtesy of Sinister.

“You all right?” Scott asked.

“Never better…”

“So… what do we do?” Alex asked.

“Well, let’s look at this rationally…” Beast began. “Bad guy wants to kill us. Bad guy likes to brag. Bad guy just laughs with whatever we throw at him. Does that answer your question?”

“So… you’re saying what?” Alex asked.

“Simply put… excuse my French… we’re fucked.”

“Aren’t you guys supposed to be superheroes or something?” Alex asked.

Cyclops, Thunderbird, and Beast looked at each other, and then replied in unison, “No.”

“Then what are you? A bunch of guys with a leather fetish? I’m gonna give it a shot!”

Scott sighed. The three stood there for a moment, before John spoke up.

“Dude… that was a pretty good slam…”

Beast and Cyclops looked at Thunderbird.

“What? It was.”

They both shook their heads and ran after Alex.

“Sorry for appreciating a good slam…”

Psyche struggled with her telekinesis, lifting up various objects in the room and slamming them into Sinister. He just stood there and took it all, as if nothing could affect him.

“This guy is REALLY starting to piss me off!!” she exclaimed.

M drove right at him, exchanging blows. She was confident that her resistance to injury would protect her just as his own apparent resistance protected him.

*SLAM*

She was wrong.

“Hey, whitey!!”

Sinister turned to see Alex standing there, his hands beginning to glow.

“RARGH!!!” Wolverine shouted, leaping onto Sinister’s back, and driving his claws into the geneticist’s head. Logan watched as the flesh of Sinister’s head appeared to mold itself around his claws. He wondered briefly what the extent of Essex’s powers were, until Sinister grabbed him, and threw him off.

“Pathetic…” Sinister muttered.

“Oh yeah?” Alex asked. “Well… in that case…”

He lifted his arms, and braced himself for the release of energy that he knew was coming.

“SUCK ON THIS!!!!”

*FWZAAAAAAAAAAAM*

Sinister had no way to protect himself from the massive plasma blast fired by Alex Summers, nor did he think he needed any.

He was wrong.

He felt the pain and the heat from the energy, even after Alex had cut the stream short.

“This is… impossible…” Sinister muttered. “It cannot be happening…”

“What’s he babblin’ about?” Wolverine asked.

“Dunno…” Alex replied.

“The boy… more powerful than I imagined…” Sinister muttered weakly. Alex simply grinned and fired another blast. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left but ashes.

The X-Men looked at the young mutant, who was staring at his hands and the remains of Sinister in awe.

“Cool.”

Fury inhaled the smoke from his cigar, and then dropped it into the snow once he heard footsteps approaching. He turned around to meet the X-Men face to face.

“Well?” Scott asked.

“Yer grandparents are fine, Summers,” Fury replied. “They’re at a local hospital right now. They got no memory of what happened, an’ we should keep it that way.”

“What about Sinister’s lab?” Scott asked.

“We’ve already gutted it. Nothin’ special down there. But regardless, it’s gotta be confiscated, an’ we’ve built a solid wall to the entrance to th’ lab. That way, your grandparents won’t be confused if they stumble in it. The question I have is, what’s gonna be done about the kid?”

“He did good, Fury,” Logan noted. “He’s got power, an’ I think he’d be really useful on the team. I say we sign him up.”

“I’d have to talk to him about that…” Scott said. He looked over to see Alex watching the SHIELD agents load Sinister’s equipment onto a transport.

“What was that guy’s deal, anyway?” Jean asked.

“Sinister?” Fury asked. “I checked it out, an’ as it turns out, Nathaniel Essex did own this place. He disappeared around the second World War, though, an’ it was auctioned off by the state.”

“So he was living underneath in his lab all those years,” Monet noted. “I wonder…”

“About what?” Hank asked.

“Nothing,” Monet replied. “Just thinking out loud.”

“Well, we’re about wrapped up here,” Fury said. “Good work, people. We’ll be in touch.”

“Kind of funny for him to be all supportive when he didn’t want us to come here in the first place…” Jean noted.

“There’s a reason for that,” Logan replied.

“What?” Jean asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Logan replied, walking towards the Blackbird. “Tell Summers that we’re heading back.”

“Dude… this is so cool!” Alex exclaimed. “You’re a government agent!! Like James Bond type superspy stuff, right?”

“Not really…” Scott replied. “It’s more complicated than that.”

“So what’s it like?”

Scott looked at Alex, noticing his brother’s innocence. He then thought about his grandparents, and how they would need help. And how he couldn’t offer that help since he had to be in Westchester. And he thought about his brother losing that innocence. He didn’t want it to happen.

“It’s… pretty boring…” Scott stated. “Look, I gotta get going. Gramps and Nana didn’t know I was here, so let’s leave it that way for now. Too much stuff has been going on recently. But listen up, dude… you can’t tell anyone about what happened. You can’t let anyone know what you can do, all right?”

“Yeah… that goes without saying, man.”

“Good…” Scott said. “Stay cool, man. I’ll keep in touch.”

“You better,” Alex warned, giving his brother a hug. “‘Cause if you don’t, I’ll kick your ass.”

Scott chuckled and walked off.

“He comin’ or what?” Logan asked, waiting for Scott outside the Blackbird. Scott looked towards Alex, and then looked back at Logan.

“No…” he lied. “He’d rather stay here. Gramps and Nana are gonna need help, and he knows he’s the one who’s gotta offer it. Besides, he wants to finish high school before he considers being a government agent.”

Logan stared at Scott for a few moments.

“What?” Scott asked.

“Nothing,” Logan replied. “C’mon, let’s get going.”