Colonel Nick Fury sat in the corner booth of a small bar in Anchorage. He held a glass filled with Jameson on the rocks in his hand that he sipped. A young man with short black hair entered and walked over to him. He slid on the other side of the booth.

“Pierce,” said Fury. “What are you drinking?”

“No thank you, I’m fine,” said Pierce. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and offered the pack to Fury. The Director of SHIELD shook his head and Pierce returned the pack to his jacket. He lit it as Fury began to speak.

“What’ve you got for me, Pierce?”

“I reviewed Samson’s files like you asked,” said Pierce. “And it looks as if your theory was correct.”

“Summers knows something, then,” said Fury.

“Indeed he does, but I don’t think he realizes what he knows,” said Pierce. “Do you know what the name of the galactic space empire in his fantasy is?”

“No, don’t think so,” said Fury.

“Shi’ar,” said Pierce. “As in Project: SHIAR. I think the trauma from the plane crashed caused him to have a complete and total mental breakdown, and he used the events from before the crash in the formation of this new reality.”

“This is such a clusterfuck…” Fury shook his head and sipped his drink.

“What do you suggest, sir?”

“The X-Men are already involved, right?” asked Fury.

“According to Agent Carter’s last report, yes.”

“Then let’s see how they handle this. Right now, they’re our best bet for getting through this shit with a minimum of fuss.”

“What if they can’t stand up to the SHIAR?”

“The X-Men are expendable, Pierce,” said Fury. “Always have been, even when they were working for us. If they’re killed by these things, then I’d say that’s karma after they up and left us for Magneto. That Statue of Liberty debacle was a public relations nightmare for mutants. So far, things have died down somewhat, but it’s not gonna last. Sooner or later, something’s gonna happen that’ll light a fire under all our butts. And when that time comes, we’re all fucked.”

FAMILY TIES

Part IV: Killer Queen

By Dino Pollard

The plate of ruby-quartz slid up, giving way to the crimson-colored concussive energy held behind it. The blast struck one of the insectoid creatures and it screeched in pain as it flew back. The lens slid back into place and the optic blasts of Cyclops were once again held at bay thanks to the visor he wore.

He and his fellow teammates in the X-Men were lured to Alaska by a fake letter claiming to be from Cyclops’ younger brother, who has been missing for some time. Instead of finding Scott’s brother, they found his father, Christopher Summers—whom he believed to be dead. Summers had suffered a mental breakdown and believed himself to be Corsair, an intergalactic space pirate fighting against the Shi’ar Empire and their Brood army. In reality, the Brood was the nickname given to the creatures created through Project: SHIAR, a black ops program launched under the direction of SHIELD. The intent was to create living weapons.

As the X-Men had just discovered, the project was a success. Too successful, in fact. The creatures were vicious killing machines, even destroying their creators. Now, they roamed free in this research complex and the X-Men and Corsair were the only ones that stood between them and the outside world.

One of the Brood creatures tried to sneak up behind Cyclops. He turned his head at the last second and fired a full-force optic blast at close range. The beam punched a hole through the creature. He turned and fired off a flurry of optic blasts in quick succession at the creatures that surrounded him.

His teammates did their best to pull their own weight and retain the upper hand. For the most part, they were succeeding—albeit barely. Nightcrawler teleported out of the path of a Brood’s pointed, scorpion-like tail. The sharp claw at the end of its tail struck the ground where the X-Man had been a moment before. Kurt rematerialized on the creature’s back and gripped its head in his hands. He took a deep breath and then vanished in a flash of light and smoke, taking the Brood’s head with him. The creature’s body writhed with its last bit of life before falling to the ground. Nightcrawler rematerialized and tossed the head away, his hands covered in blood.

The bright finish of Colossus’ steel fists were tarnished and tainted red with the creature’s blood. His blows were the most effective against them, and his strength was powerful enough to break through their tough shells with minimal effert. He grabbed one Brood creature and tore it in half, cracking it open as if it were a lobster. Its blood flew freely, bathing the Russian mutant in it.

The Beast and Thunderbird were holding their own as well, however, although their strength was impressive, it was nowhere near as great as Colossus’. The two mutants refused to relent, however. They were two of the X-Men’s seasoned veterans, and they proved it through their teamwork and skill. Thunderbird moved with superhuman speed to dodge the Brood’s tail strikes. He grabbed one by its tentacles and spun it around, hurling it into the path of Cyclops’ optic blasts.

The Beast, after being struck by a Brood’s massive tentacle, somersaulted in the air and bounced off the wal, ricocheting back towards the creature. He curled into a ball and slammed into the creature’s head, forcing all his body weight against it. He leapt in the air and slammed down on the creature’s head multiple times, balling his prehensile feet into fists.

Cyclops allowed himself a brief glance at the Dazzler, who also held her own. He was slightly amazed at how far the former pop idol had come in her combat skills. She was extremely efficient with her powers. She soaked up the sound of the creatures in the area and used it to fuel the concentrated blasts of light she fired from her fingertips. She absorbed more sound, building it up and channeling it into orbs of light that grew larger in her palms. When she felt she could take no more, she hurled them to the ground and they exploded, incinerating the Brood caught in the blast radius.

The one teammate Cyclops knew he had no reason to worry about was Phoenix, who had become the unofficial deputy leader of the team. There was a strong bond of friendship between him and Jean Grey, one he couldn’t explain. He sometimes worried about her, as her recent displays of power frightened him and the cryptic way she sometimes spoke put him on edge. He tried to convince himself it was just nerves, but there was something else. He watched as she surrounded herself with a fiery aura, and waves of that flaming energy washed over the Brood. They roared in pain as the psionic flames seared the flesh from their insectoid bodies.

Corsair himself seemed to be holding his own remarkably well. He moved quickly and he was very spry for a man his age. Bullets wouldn’t seem to do any harm to these creatures, yet Corsair seemed to know the chinks in their armor and exploited them. He didn’t keep himself at a distance, he jumped right in there and straddled the creatures when he fired at them, saving his ammo for definitive kill shots.

The X-Men successfully cleared a way, eliminating what seemed to be all the creatures in the immediate area. They regrouped and took a moment to catch their bearings as well as their breath. They were fighting for about half an hour and they were exhausted and hungry. Cyclops removed his visor carefully, keeping his eyes closed the entire time, and wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his face as well as the sweat inside the device. He replaced it and looked at his teammates.

“That looks like all of them,” he said.

Phoenix shook her head. Strangely, she showed no signs of exhaustion whatsoever. Not a drop of sweat was present anywhere on her body, nor was she even close to being short of breath. Like many things about her, Cyclops found it unnerving.

“There’s more,” she said. “I’m picking up more thought patterns.”

“More?” asked Thunderbird, almost on the verge of panting. “SHIELD’s obviously been busy.”

“No, it’s the queen,” said Corsair. “She’s here somewhere and she’s the source.”

“So kill the queen and stop the Brood,” said Beast. “Sounds simple enough.”

“Right, how often are things simple for us?” asked Nightcrawler.

“You’re a morale booster,” said Dazzler.

“There are eight of us, so we could cover more ground if we split up,” said Cyclops. “Beast, Dazzler and Nightcrawler are with me. Thunderbird, Colossus and… Corsair… will stay with Phoenix. Keep in touch the entire time through our psychic link. We have to find this thing and kill it before it creates more of those little bastards.”

After he sent Pierce back to the hospital, Fury remained in the bar and ordered food from the kitchen. The burger wasn’t up to his usual standards, it was well-done when he asked for medium-rare and the fries were soggy and cold by the time they got the plate out to him. He felt slightly cheated, but at least the quality of the liquor was good. He was on his second Jameson that he sipped when the cell phone he left beside his plate began to vibrate. He flipped it open and pressed it to his ear.

“Fury.”

{{ Sir, it’s Pierce. I was reviewing some of the routine bloodwork done on Summers and it looks like we’ve got a problem. }}

“What’s that?” asked Fury.

{{ I’m uploading the file to your PDA right now. }}

Fury reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a handheld computer. He turned it on and the message on the screen notified him of the new files. He opened them and once he read over the results, his eye suddenly grew wide in shock.

“Pierce… does this mean what I think it means?”

{{ I’m afraid it does, sir. }}

“Shit,” said Fury. He picked up the Jameson and downed what was left in the glass and slammed it on the table. He reached into his wallet and threw a $20 bill down beside the uneaten food and ran towards the exit.

“…and now we have to clean up SHIELD’s mess,” said Nightcrawler. “I’m beginning to think the biggest mistake I ever made was getting mixed up in this whole life.”

“You’re not the only one,” said Dazzler. “I’m starting to wish I turned down Xavier’s offer when he came to me.”

“We’ve all been there,” said Cyclops. The Beast looked at him.

“What I wonder is whether or not you were recruited because of your father’s involvement in this whole mess,” he said.

“That’s what I’ve been asking myself since we found out what this whole SHIAR project was all about,” said Cyclops. “It can’t just be a coincidence, can it? I mean, Xavier and Logan told us that we were all located with that Cerebro machine. But maybe SHIELD already had this team mapped out before Xavier?”

“Do you really think he’s your father?” asked Nightcrawler.

“I don’t want him to be,” said Cyclops. “From what I remember of my father, he was a good man, a strong man. This Corsair… he’s nothing more than a shadow of Chris Summers. I hate seeing him like this, completely broken, no concept of reality. I’m tempted to just put him out of his misery.”

“Maybe his mind can be fixed,” said Dazzlert. “After all, Jean seems able to do some pretty amazing things these days.”

“Let’s… not talk about Jean’s powers,” said Cyclops. “I’m still not comfortable with what she’s able to do. The way she was able to defeat Magneto… it was scary.”

“She certainly seems to be our resident deus ex machina these days,” said the Beast. “There’s definitely something wrong with her, though. Granted, I don’t know much about how mutant powers develop, but such a rapid increase in power in such a short amount of time seems impossible.”

“What are you saying?” asked Nightcrawler.

“Nothing,” said Cyclops. “No one’s saying anything, understa—”

Cyclops’ sentence doesn’t pass his lips before the X-Men all hear Jean’s voice inside their heads through the psionic link she established with the entire team.

“We’ve got trouble. Big trouble.”

“Speak of the devil…” said Nightcrawler. His teammates looked at him curiously. “…figuratively speaking, of course.”

In another area of the complex, the team composed of Phoenix, Colossus, Thunderbird and Corsair discovered their chosen prey. The Brood Queen herself. She was covered in the same armor as the Brood warriors the X-Men fought earlier, but extending from her pelvis was a strange, filmy tube that spread out all along the room. Protruding out of several spots were growths, growths which held large eggs upright. The Queen herself was extremely large, easily larger than her minions. The X-Men stood in stunned silence when a bright flash of light signaled the arrival of their teammates. Once they laid their eyes on the Brood Queen, they too, underwent the same sense of shock.

“Oh my stars and fucking garters…” said the Beast.

“…that can’t be it, can it?” asked Nightcrawler. “That’s… that’s one massive queen.”

“Quiet,” said the Beast. “It doesn’t seem to have noticed us yet, so we should try to think about this carefully. It looks like she’s forced into that stationary position, but if we attack her too soon, she might—”

“DIE, YOU ALIEN SCUM!” said Corsair, leaping forward and firing both his magnums at the large creature. The Queen’s massive yellow eyes suddenly snapped open once the bullets struck its hide. The Queen roared in anger and smacked the former pilot to the side with one of her massive tentacles.

“—retaliate,” said the Beast, finishing his sentence.

“Oh hell…” said Thunderbird.

“What are you waiting for? Attack!” said Cyclops. He opened his visor all the way, allowing the crimson energy to pour out in a torrent at the Queen. “Phoenix, Dazzler, Colossus, go for the Queen! Nightcrawler, Beast, Thunderbird, start destroying the eggs!”

“What about Corsair?” asked Thunderbird.

“Forget him, we’ve got other things to worry about!” said Cyclops.

The X-Men wasted no time following their leader’s command. Phoenix and Dazzler unleashed their powers on the Queen, with Dazzler’s light bursts striking its physical body and the flames of the Phoenix inflicting psionic damage on the Brood’s mind. Colossus rushed at the creature and it slammed one of its tentacles into him. He gripped the tentacle and found his footing on the ground, then pulled hard, tearing it free from its socket. The Queen roared in pain. But worse than that was Nightcrawler, Beast and Thunderbird destroying its eggs, the Brood children it had created to replace the ones who died in combat.

“Jean, how about a boost?” asked Cyclops. Phoenix could sense his thoughts and she followed his order. Using her telekinetic powers, the Phoenix threw Cyclops onto the Queen’s back. Remembering how Corsair knew of a weak spot where the Brood’s necks met their heads, he stared down at the Queen’s neck. He removed his visor and opened his eyes, unleashing the full brunt force of his optic blast. The Queen screeched n pain as its head was severed from the rest of its body.

Phoenix and Dazzler worked on destroying the remains of the eggs with their powers, until the X-Men and Corsair were the only living creatures left in the room. Cyclops replaced his visor, but Phoenix’s eyes were wide with shock.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There’s still an alien thought pattern,” she said. She looked at Corsair and the X-Men’s gaze followed. “It’s coming from inside him.”

“…that’s not possible,” said Corsair. He brandished both his magnums, prepared to fire them at a moment’s notice as he slowly baked away. “You’re in league with D’Ken!”

“Nobody move,” said Cyclops, lifting his hand up to hold his teammates at bay.

“Lies, all of it!” said Corsair. He fired off a few rounds, which were quickly deflected by a psionic shield formed by Phoenix. When he saw his weapons were ineffective, he dropped them and ran down a corridor.

“Stay here, make sure none of those things are left!” said Cyclops as he broke into a run after his father. Once again, Scott was amazed at how quickly the man could move and he wondered if that had something to do with the Brood inside him. Cyclops watched as Corsair turned a corner. Before he reached the same corner…

*BANG*

Cyclops pumped his legs harder and turned the corner as well. He saw his father lying on the ground. Corsair’s skin had started to blister over and his eyes were a different color. His teeth were also sharp, far too sharp for a human’s. Standing over the dead man was Colonel Nick Fury, smoking gun in hand. Fury quickly brought his gun and aimed it at Cyclops.

“Don’t even think about it, Summers,” he said. “I could shoot you between the eyes before your hand gets anywhere near that damn visor.”

“You…” said Cyclops. “This is all your fault!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Fury.

“No use trying to bullshit me, Fury. I know SHIAR was a SHIELD black ops program.”

“You’re half right,” said Fury. “It was a Weapon X program. One of Wraith’s pet projects. Stuff I had no access to. It was only after his death that we’ve started to clean up the messes that bastard made.”

Cyclops looked down at Corsair. “Was he my father?”

“Yes,” said Fury. “He was a good man, one of SHIELD’s first recruits. Wraith brought him onboard Project: SHIAR in the eighties. This was before we knew a lot about mutants, so Wraith was still tryin’ t’ play Frankenstein. He tried to leave the project when he figured out what Wraith was doing, so Wraith had his plane sabotaged. Only problem was he survived and was left comatose. He was John Doe under the care of the state until a few years ago when I found out about him and who he was. I kept him away from Weapon X, but it turns out I failed in that. Before he died, Wraith got to Summers. Implanted him with a Brood embryo. A Queen in case his project failed. It was starting to emerge just now, which explains his appearence.”

“So now what?” asked Cyclops.

“Now we get rid of it,” said Fury. “The Brood are all dead and SHIAR is a closed file. The last embryo was inside him and now he’s dead, too.”

“A cover up,” said Cyclops. “Where does that leave the X-Men? Are you going to shoot me now or just ship me off to some hidden prison?”

“Neither.” Fury slid the gun inside the holster beneath his jacket. “You helped us out of a tough spot, Summers. Two of ’em, actually. I know it had to be you guys who took out Magneto for us and now you’ve taken out the Brood as well. Plus, through the grapevine I understand you stopped some major shit from going down in Europe. That means I’m givin’ you a free pass for now.”

“Why do I get the feeling there’s a catch to this?” asked Cyclops.

“Because there is,” said Fury. “Do yourselves a favor—quit while you’re ahead. Go back to a normal life.”

“None of us have a chance for a normal life after everything that’s happened.”

“Tough guy bit. Guess you got that from Logan. But when you get down to brass tacks, you’re just a bunch of kids who got lucky. I’m givin’ you guys a chance to walk away from all this, free and clear. If you wanna stick together, fine, do that. But if you fuck up just once more, I won’t be able to protect you. You’ll have the full force of the United States on your ass and trust me, Summers—that’s not somethin’ you want.”

Fury opened his cell phone and spoke into it. “This is Fury, I need a cleanup crew here, stat. No sign of the X-Men, they must’ve slipped out before I got here… Good, make it quick. Fury out.”

He closed the phone and turned his back to Cyclops. “Now go. Before I change my mind.”

NEXT: Bound By Honor