WEAPON X

Part I: Shadows

By Dino Pollard

Harry’s Hideaway. A local coffeehouse not far from the Xavier University. Sitting here are seven members of the government-sponsored mutant strike force known as the X-Men. Hank McCoy sips his coffee slowly, while his teammates eye him curiously. He sets down the cup and his eyes scan over each of them.

Kurt Darkholme, a recent addition to the team and former terrorist sits next to him. He wears a hodded sweatshirt and gloves to hide his demonic appearence, but the glow of his yellow eyes can still be seen. He doesn’t like putting on this get-up for going out in public. Forced to shove his birdlike feet in shoes made for human feet, and flinching uncomfortable with his tail stuffed down one of the legs of his baggy jeans. He goes by the codename of Nightcrawler, and has the ability to teleport across distances.

Next to Kurt is his sister, Marie Darkholme. Like Kurt, she is a recent, albeit reluctant addition to the team. Unlike her brother, who is possessed of pitch-black skin, she is Caucasian with short, brown hair that has a white stripe in it. Her attractive features, however, draw away from her ability to absorb the memories and abilities of anyone she comes into contact with. As Rogue, she fought beside her brother as a part of the terrorist Brotherhood. Currently, she possesses abilities she absorbed from an absent X-Man, Storm.

Hank’s eyes next move to Scott Summers. A relatively well-built young man with short, spiked brown hair and a slight goatee. His eyes are concealed by ruby-quartz sunglasses, designed to keep his uncontrollable optic blasts at bay. He goes by the name Cyclops.

John Proudstar, a former high school athlete called Thunderbird sits next to Scott. Apache by birth, as well as a mutant gifted with superhuman strength, speed, and stamina. Something of a braggart and a hothead, but he’s proven himself reliable when it counts.

Alison Blaire, the Dazzler, sits to John’s left. She’s a former pop star who lost her career after the truth of her mutant identity was revealed. She possesses the ability to convert sound into light, and unlike her teammates, she still hasn’t fully adjusted to the life of a mutant. In fact, she downright hates it.

Sitting between Ali and Hank is Monet St. Croix, or M, a young Algerian woman whom Hank is romantically involved with. One would think that her ability is perfection. Superior intellect, superhuman strength, flight, and resistance to injury make her a force to be reckoned with.

And, of course, there is Hank himself. Christianed the Beast (much to his dismay) due to his simian appearence. He possesses superhuman strength and agility, as well as prehensile hands and feet. Currently absent from this group are three X-Men. Logan, or Wolverine, the team’s field leader, who is off on an assignment for SHIELD. Ororo Munroe, or Storm, who was kidnapped while she was in a comatose state. And Jean Grey, or Psyche, who is currently comatose and the reason these X-Men have gathered here today.

“So… someone gonna speak up or what?” asks John.

“I’m sure you all know why I asked you here today,” says Hank.

“Not really,” says John.

“Dreams, John,” says Monet. “Specifically, dreams of Jean.”

“Hey, I didn’t have dreams about her,” says John. “I got zero interest in her.”

“Not sexual dreams, you buffoon,” says Monet.

“Who says buffoon anymore?” asks John. “Honestly…”

“Soo…” says Ali. “How’d you know about the dream?”

“Because I have a feeling we all dreamed the same thing,” says Hank. “Jean came to each of us in our sleep. She said something about the Professor being controlled by someone called the Shadow King.”

“What’s it mean?” asks Scott.

“Isn’t it obvious?” asks John. “Too much White Castle. Hey, why’d we come here anyway?”

“Suppose Jean actually is trying to contact us,” replies Monet. “This Shadow King is obviously a telepath of some sort, and with Xavier’s powers added to his own, he could easily read our minds if we were back at the mansion.”

“What are we gonna do then?” asks Marie. “If he can read our minds, then he’ll figure it out as soon as we get back.”

“Think back to the screening techniques Xavier taught us,” says Monet. “Use them.”

“That’s fine for you all, but what about Marie and I?” asks Kurt. “Xavier’s been comatose since we joined up with you.”

“Okay, then what about the other new addition?” asks Ali.

“What?” asks Hank.

“Kitty Pryde,” replies Ali. “What do we do about her?”

“Nothing,” says Monet. “Jean doesn’t know her, so she wouldn’t have contacted her. No reason to bring someone else into this matter. It’s bad enough Nightcrawler and Rogue don’t know how to shield their thoughts.”

“And what are we gonna do about that?” asks Kurt.

“I’m more than qualified to teach them to you,” replies Monet.

“I think we’re still forgetting about something,” says John.

“What’s that?” asks Scott.

“O,” replies John. “What are we gonna do about her?”

“The only way we can locate her is with Cerebro,” says Hank. “And with Xavier possessed and Jean comatose, none of us are suited to use it. It only works for telepaths, remember?”

“So we let her stay missing?” asks John.

“It sounds cold, but that’s our only option,” replies Hank.

“And what about Xavier or the Shadow King or whatever the fuck he calls himself?” asks Scott. “What are we gonna do about him?”

“Lay low,” replies Monet. “Try and figure out what his game is.”

“Shouldn’t we tell Fury about this?” asks Ali. “After all, he’s like, the guy in charge, right?”

“I’m not sure if we can trust Fury yet,” says Monet. “When the time is right, we’ll tell him.”

“How will we know when the time’s right?” asks John.

“I’ll tell you,” replies Monet.

Scott Summers glances away for a moment, then turns back to the group. He stops, as if confused, and looks back in the direction he glanced in not a moment earlier. Slowly, he stands, and walks closer in that direction, his eyes fixated on something.

“Guys…” he says. “Remember how you were worried about finding O?”

“What about it?” asks John.

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” he replies.

“Huh?” asks John. He stands and walks to Scott’s location. Scott simply lifts a finger and points at a television set hanging from the ceiling. The other X-Men gather around him and watch in horror.

A leather-clad finger taps the top of Gris Gris’s head. He slowly opens his eyes and finds himself staring at a large black man with very short hair and a goatee. The man is dressed in a suit with a trench coat over it.

“Found one,” he says.

A young, attractive black woman with short blonde hair approaches. She’s wearing a suit and trench coat as well, although hers is obviously more feminine. The man stands as she comes close, and towers over her by several inches.

“What the hell happened?” asks Gris Gris.

“Interesting choice of words,” says the woman. She reaches inside her trench coat and pulls out a wallet of some sort, and flips it open. Gris Gris can plainly see the letters “FBI” printed on the identification card which also bears the woman’s photograph.

“We were about to ask you the same thing.”

High above the city of New York hovers Ororo Munroe, the woman known as Storm. Although the body is hers, the mind in control is that of the mysterious being known only as the Shadow King. Her eyes glow a bright red, and she grins as her body begins to crackle with lightning.

“Pathetic humans…” ‘she’ says. “Watch them scatter!”

She raises her arm and lightning soars from the clouds, striking a point in the center of the street. People run from the floating woman, and she laughs. She points a finger at one of them, and lightning soars from her fingertip, striking the man dead.

She hovers to the ground and lands. As she does, gale force winds begin to whip all around her. So strong that they take people with them and turn over cars. Rain and sleet and hail begin to pour down from the darkened clouds in sheets. Fog covers the streets. The temperature begins to lower. Lightning strikes random people.

“I never realized how fun controlling the weather could be.”

{{ Colonel Fury, would you mind telling me why a member of the X-Men is wreaking havoc on American citizens?! }}

“Wish I had an answer for that, Mr. President,” says Fury. “But I don’t. Storm vanished from the infirmary not too long ago, and this is the first we’ve seen of her since.”

{{ And what in God’s name are you going to do about it?! }}

“Xavier’s trying to get in telepathic contact with the other X-Men right now,” says Fury. “We’ll take care of this, sir.”

{{ You had better. }}

The form of Charles Xavier wheels into the war room where Colonel Nick Fury is speaking to the President via video uplink.

“Here he is now,” says Fury with a motion towards the X-Men’s founder.

{{ Xavier? }}

“I’m sorry, sir,” says Xavier. “But for some reason, I haven’t been able to locate the other X-Men.”

“What?” asks Fury.

“They don’t seem to be responding to my summons,” says the Professor. “I’m not sure what it could be.”

{{ Why wouldn’t they be responding? }}

“Could be several reasons,” says Xavier. “The one that concerns me the most is that they might already know of Storm’s terrorist actions, and perhaps don’t wish to stop her.”

“WHAT?!” demands Fury.

The President looks offscreen for a moment, and then his eyes turn back to the camera.

{{ I have other matters to attend to. Fury, you had better get to work on this problem immediately. }}

“Yes sir,” says Fury.

The image of the President vanishes from the monitor, and Fury turns to face Xavier with a confused look in his remaining eye.

“Can you explain to me why you just fed Bush that load of bullshit?” he asks.

“It wasn’t bullshit, Colonel,” replies Xavier.

“I don’t believe you,” says Fury. “You’ve been acting weird ever since you came out of that coma.”

“Have I?” asks Xavier. “Apologies Colonel. Killing a person does that to me. I know that I may not be as adept in it as you are, but that doesn’t make it easy for me to deal with.”

“Something’s not right here,” says Fury. “And I’m gonna get to the bottom of it.”

Fury turns away from Xavier and heads towards the door. Before he reaches it, he stops short. His hand grips his head as he feels tremendous pressure inside his mind. He opens his mouth to try and say something, but no words come forth. Xavier wheels himself closer, and pulls Fury’s head back. The Director of SHIELD stares into the glowing red eyes which once belonged to Charles Xavier, but now belong to the Shadow King.

“I don’t think you understand, Fury. Storm will not be stopped. This is all a part of the plan. Do you understand?”

“It’s all… part of… the plan…” mutters Fury.

“There, that’s a good puppet. Just like your ancestors, you know your place as a slave.”

“Yes… I do…”

“What is it, Gyrich?” asks President Bush after he cancels the connection with Fury. Henry Peter Gyrich steps into the President’s office, followed by a man in a SHIELD uniform with a bald head and a mustache.

“Sir, this latest escapade proves that the mutants can’t be trusted,” says Gyrich. “For the safety of Americans, I implore you, allow me to go ahead with Project: SENTINEL.”

“Who is this man?” asks Bush, referring to the bald man.

“Colonel John Wraith of SHIELD, Mr. President,” replies Wraith. He extends his hand. “A pleasure to finally meet you, sir.”

“I don’t ever recall hearing your name before, Colonel,” says Bush. “Why is that?”

“I head a special black ops program within SHIELD, sir,” says Wraith. “Very hush-hush. So much that very few people in the government even know of its existence.”

“What would that be?” asks Bush.

“Weapon X, sir,” replies Wraith. “We’ve been active since the ending days of World War I.”

“What’s Weapon X?” asks Bush.

“Like I said before, a special black ops program,” replies Wraith. He drops a folder on the President’s desk. “Everything you need to know is in there. We’ve been training our own mutant strike force since before Project: X-MEN. And now, they’re prepared to take out this terrorist threat.”

Bush looks through the papers in the folder, shock and anger evident on his face.

“Why was I never told about this, Colonel?”

“Two words, sir,” replies Wraith. “Plausible deniability.”

“Sir, this man is psychotic,” says Gyrich.

“Says the man promoting genocide,” says Wraith. “Done any goose-stepping lately?”

“Colonel, what do you want me to do with this information?”

“Frankly sir, all Weapon X has been allowed to do under the guidelines of our program is train a mutant strike force,” says Wraith. “In order to unleash our forces on this terrorist, we need the permission of the Commander in Chief.”

“Wraith, did you look inside this folder?” asks Bush.

“Sir?”

“All I see here is a list of codenames and photographs to accompany them,” says Bush. “I need more to go on than that.”

“I’m sorry sir, but that’s all the information I can provide you with,” says Wraith.

“Then it’s not enough,” says Bush. “If you want me to permit the use of Weapon X, then I need to receive a complete debriefing, understand?”

“Yes si—”

The sound of a ringing phone interrupts Wraith in the middle of his sentence. Bush picks it up and listens for a few moments. Anger seems to completely take over his features. He clutches the phone so tightly that his knuckles begin to turn white. Slowly, he lowers it from his ear and places it back on the receiver.

“What was that?” asks Wraith.

“The Statue of Liberty was toppled by gale force winds,” replies Bush. He fishes through a pile on his desk, and finds a large packet. He flips to the last page and, grabbing a pen, quickly signs his name at the bottom of it.

“What are you doing?” asks Wraith.

“This has gone far enough,” replies Bush. “I’m authorizing Project: SENTINEL.”