SAVAGE LAND

Part III: A Gathering Storm

By Dino Pollard

Avalon

“What the hell’s a sauron?” asks Nightcrawler.

“LOOK OUT!” exclaims Ka-Zar. Nightcrawler turns his head and his glowing, yellow eyes grow wide as he sees a seven-foot, green-skinned half-man, half-pteradactyl diving towards him from the sky. Nightcrawler quickly vanishes in an explosion of smoke and light, teleporting away. He rematerializes above Sauron and drives his foot into Sauron’s back. He teleports once more and winds up next to Ka-Zar.

“What is that thing?” asks Nightcrawler.

“That would be Sauron,” replies Ka-Zar.

The dino-man circles in the air and flies towards the two of them. Ka-Zar takes aim with his bow and fires off an arrow. Sauron swerves and avoids it, swooping down low. Nightcrawler grabs onto Ka-Zar and Zabu and the three teleport from the spot. Sauron looks around in surprise, scanning the area for them, but can find nothing. Several feet away, Nightcrawler, Ka-Zar, and Zabu rematerialize in a forested area, trying to stay out of sight. They watch as Sauron continues to circle the area.

“We’re not safe here,” says Ka-Zar. “Sooner or later, he’ll detect us.”

“Okay, stop,” says Nightcrawler. “Rewind and play, this time in slo-mo if you don’t mind. What the hell is that?!”

“Sauron, the last remaining mutate,” says Ka-Zar. “After the battle with Essex, we thought all the mutates were killed. We were wrong. Sauron was still alive, and Magneto used him as a weapon against us. He used to be a scientist named Karl Lykos before Essex changed him into that… thing. He’s like a vampire of sorts, he drains a person’s life essence.”

“Okay, then we just lay low for now until he gets bored or decides to feed on something else,” says Nightcrawler.

“Not that simple,” says Ka-Zar. “We have to keep moving, Sauron’s a tracker.”

“Damn, where are Jean and the others when you need ’em?” asks Nightcrawler.

“Sonnuva…!” exclaims Kitty.

Hank looks over at her from his terminal.

“I take it you’re not having any luck, either?” he asks.

“As in not at all,” replies Kitty. “I can’t get around Magneto’s encryption codes. I’ve never seen a system so sophisticated, who knew he was such a computer whiz?”

“Not Mags,” says Logan as he enters the room. Ali stands by his side. “One of his Acolytes, Milan.”

“That weird guy with the tattoos and bad sunglasses?” asks Kitty.

“He can communicate with computers,” replies Logan. “You won’t be able to get inside that thing without making friends with the computer. An’ Milan’s the only one that speaks its language.”

“I thought you and Scott were training,” says Hank.

“We finished up about an hour ago,” says Logan. “Dunno where he is now, but he should be here soon.”

The door to the computer room slides open and John and Peter step inside. As soon as they’re through the doorway, they separate as far from each other as possible. John stands next to Ali and crosses his arm, glaring at Peter.

“Am I missing something?” asks Kitty. “What’s with the Scooby meeting?”

“We got a mental summons from Jean, told us to meet in here,” replies Ali.

“So where is she?” asks Kitty. “And where’s Kurt and Scott?”

“We’ll be meeting up with Kurt shortly,” comes Jean’s psychic voice in their heads. The door slides open and she enters the room, her eyes glowing brightly. “I haven’t been able to locate Scott anywhere on the island, though. No one knows where he is?”

“Haven’t heard from him since we finished training,” says Logan. “I have an idea where he might be, though.”

Empire State University; New York

Scott approaches the door to the room, holding a small bouquet of flowers in his hand. He knocks on it lightly, and the door opens slightly. Scott slowly pushes the door open and looks inside.

“Maggie…?” he asks. He opens the door further and sees a young man with short, black hair standing in the middle of the room. The two stare at each other for a few moments.

“Who are you?” asks the young man.

“Who am I?” asks Scott. “Who are you?”

“Jack?” comes a voice from the bathroom. The bathroom door opens and Maggie steps out, a towel draped around her body. “What’s going on? Who are you talking–”

She stops once her eyes land on Scott.

“–to,” she finishes. “Oh god… Scott…”

“You know this guy?” asks Jack.

“I’m her boyfriend,” replies Scott.

“Boyfriend?” asks Jack.

“Ex-boyfriend,” says Maggie.

“When were you going to tell me?” asks Scott.

“I thought I made it pretty clear the last time we spoke,” replies Maggie. “You know, the whole ‘I never want to see you again’ part?”

“I thought you were just upset…” says Scott.

“Listen pal,” says Jack, stepping between Scott and Maggie. “Obviously she’s not interested. So why don’t you just go back to wherever it is you came from? Y’know, beforethings get ugly.”

“So, you going to the Delta party tonight?” asks the young brunette girl.

“I dunno,” replies her raven-haired roommate. “Partying gets kind of old after awhile, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get you,” says the brunette. “Sometimes I wish something exciting would happen here.”

Almost on cue, the girls react in shock as Jack’s head crashes through the wall of their dorm room. He’s pulled back out. In Maggie’s dorm room right next door, Scott throws Jack against the far wall. Scott rushes towards him and punches Jack in the abdomen, then delivers another punch to Jack’s face. He throws Jack on the ground and reaches up for his glasses.

“Scott stop it!” exclaims Maggie. She gets down on the ground beside Jack, whose nose is bleeding, and stares up at Scott. “Get the hell out of here now, you bastard!”

Scott sighs and slowly lowers his hand away from his glasses. He picks up the flowers and drops them beside Maggie.

“These are for you,” he says. He turns and leaves the room, a crowd gathering in the halls to see what just happened.

Avalon

“He asked me to send him to New York,” says Gateway, sitting cross-legged in the middle of a large, empty room.

“New York?” asks Peter. “What’s he doing there?”

“His girlfriend goes to college there,” replies Jean. “Bring him back.”

“What’s so important anyway?” asks John. “I mean, the dude hasn’t seen his girlfriend in months. Cut him some slack.”

“This is important, John,” replies Jean. “Bring him back, Gateway. Now.”

“Alright, just relax,” says Gateway. He closes his eyes and a portal opens up. Scott Summers appears in the center of it, and the portal slowly begins to vanish.

“What’s going on?” asks Scott. Almost on cue, the entire room seems to melt away, and the X-Men all find themselves standing in empty space. Jean is in the center of them, flames surrounding her body and her eyes glowing brightly.

“Everyone listen closely, because we don’t have a lot of time.”

“What’s going on?” asks Scott. “Where are we?”

“The Astral Plane,” replies Jean. “Right now, I’ve put up psychic shields on all of us, so I’m trying my hardest to keep Magneto’s psychics at bay. We don’t have a lot of time to discuss anything, so just open up your minds to me. Kurt and I have discovered that Avalon is powered by captive humans. Magneto’s been lying to us all this time, and he’s exploiting these poor people for his own gains. Sinister used to run this area, and Magneto came and helped the humans rebel against Sinister. But after Sinister was driven out, Magneto turned on the humans. Now, Kurt is with Ka-Zar, the only human still free in Avalon, and from the message I’ve gotten from him, they’re being pursued. We have to help Kurt and Ka-Zar and then we take the fight to Magneto.”

Magneto sits in a large, leather chair, dressed in full uniform, with his helmet resting on the desk. He turns his chair to face the Acolytes who stand in the room with him—Milan and Voght.

“And you’re certain of this, Milan?”

“Positive, my Lord,” replies Milan. “The computer system informed me that Shadowcat was attempting to get around Avalon’s encryption codes.”

“But did she succeed?” asks Magneto.

“No sir,” replies Milan.

“The X-Men are getting too close, my Lord,” says Voght.

“You’re correct, Amelia,” says Magneto. “Where are they now?”

“They’ve gone,” says Voght. “I’ve had our psychics try to pierce their minds, but they’re heavily shielded.”

“Phoenix’s doing,” says Magneto. “She has proven to be more powerful than I originally imagined.”

“What do we do, Lord Magneto?” asks Milan.

“Assemble a search party,” replies Magneto. “We can’t afford to have the X-Men running about now.”

“What do we do when we find them?” asks Voght.

“They’ve become a liability,” replies Magneto. “Kill them.”

With a bright explosion of light and smoke, Nightcrawler appears within another brush, holding onto Ka-Zar and Zabu. Kurt falls to his knees and gasps for breath.

“Are you okay?” asks Ka-Zar.

“I’m exhausted,” replies Nightcrawler. “That much teleporting… especially with passengers… takes a lot out of me.”

“We can’t stop now,” says Ka-Zar. “Sauron will find us soon.”

Zabu turns and begins growling, his tail raising up. Ka-Zar moves to Zabu’s side.

“What is it?” he asks.

Zabu motions up at the sky, and Ka-Zar looks to see Sauron swooping in low. The mutate locks eyes with Ka-Zar, and he finds himself paralyzed, unable to move.

“Crap…” says Nightcrawler, watching as Sauron comes in low. Sauron hovers in the air and wraps his talons around Ka-Zar’s arms. Before he flies off though, he turns his head around, searching for some new threat. Seemingly out of nowhere, a blast of crimson energy strikes Sauron, forcing him off Ka-Zar.

“Scott…?” asks Nightcrawler.

“And company, elf,” says Shadowcat. She runs to Nightcrawler’s side and gives him a once-over. “How you doing?”

“I feel like I’ve just gotten over a week-long bender,” he replies.

“He’s weak,” says Shadowcat. “I don’t think he’s going to be much help.”

“Stay with him,” says Wolverine. “Beast, you too. See what sort of medical attention you can give him.”

“What about me?” asks Colossus.

“You’re with us, big guy,” replies Wolverine.

“But Kurt’s my friend,” says Colossus.

“I don’t care, we need yer strength,” says Wolverine.

“Pfft, we don’t need it that bad…” says Thunderbird.

“Do you gentlemen mind if we save the pissing contest for later?” asks Phoenix.

“Don’t look now, but dino-boy is back,” says Dazzler, pointing up towards the sky.

“Yeah, I see that,” says Wolverine. “Petey, you remember that manuever we talked about?”

“Of course,” says Colossus.

“Daz, Cyke, Jean—you three be ready to back us up.”

“Not a problem,” says Cyclops, raising his hand to his visor.

“Good,” says Wolverine. He turns to Colossus. “Ready?”

“Ready,” says Colossus. Wolverine leaps into Colossus’ arms. “One Fastball Special coming up!”

The Russian mutant coils his arm back and hurls Wolverine into the sky with all his strength. Wolverine soars through the air, claws first, and slashes them at Sauron as soon as he gets within range. Sauron tries to force Wolverine off, but finds he cannot get a good grip. Wolverine manuevers himself around Sauron so that he’s on the mutate’s back.

“Now!” he shouts.

Cyclops and Dazzler let loose with their powers, knocking Sauron unconscious. The two drop from the sky into freefall. Phoenix hovers in the air and snags them both in a telekinetic field, and brings them safely to the ground.

“Not bad,” says Wolverine, getting to his feet. He kicks the unconscious Sauron in the head once more for good measure. Phoenix kneels down beside the creature and places her hand on his head.

“What’s she doing?” asks Colossus.

“I don’t know,” replies Cyclops. “Jean, what are you doing?”

Phoenix closes her eyes as flames begin to surround her body. Sauron slowly begins to revert from the form of a green-skinned pteradactyl-man into a human being with long brown hair and a beard. She opens her eyes and stands from the ground.

“He was being used by Magneto as a weapon against the humans here, in case they ever escaped,” says Phoenix.

“So now we gotta shut this operation down,” says Wolverine. “Hey Tarzan, you gonna show us where we need to go?”

“My name is Ka-Zar,” he says. “And yes, I will.”

“Good,” says Phoenix. “Let’s start moving then.”

“Wait…” says Wolverine. His claws extend with a SNIKT as he readies himself in a battle stance. “We got company…”

A cloud of smoke appears before the X-Men, and once it fades, they see several Acolytes standing before them. Havok steps to the front of the group.

“Did you really think it was gonna be that easy?”