HUMANITY’S SANCTION

Part I: Scrambled

By Ryan Krupienski

Seattle

Graydon Creed sits alone in his small, quaint office, located on the first sub-basement level of the abandoned sanitarium that now serves as his base of operations. From his position in the gray, fabric, swivel chair he occupies, he looks out of the window portion of his office walls and can see a section of the mutant containment area. Rows of cells running along the walls, cells stacked on top of each other, all lined with steel bars that emit a power-dampening field.

Sometimes he thinks it’s too easy… capturing the mutants should be more of a challenge. Not that he cares all that much, but one would think that the supposed next step in human evolution could put up more of a fight. It just helps Graydon convince himself more and more that mutants aren’t stronger or more advanced, they’re simply genetic abberations, and he means to eradicate every last one of them.

Graydon turns around in his chair to face his desk, which is more or less a big computer console with a few monitors built into the table top. From here, he can do virtually anything… dispatch Prime Sentinels, track down and/or contact any of his operatives, look at a layout of the compound complete with heat sensors to see where people are, activate the gas chambers inside the mutant holding cells… it’s almost like, when confined to this one room, he’s omniponent. Not that he wants to stay cooped up in here all the time, though, as he’s certainly not a recluse or one of those shadowy behind-the-scenes leaders.

“Mister Creed,” a voice says from one of the speakers imbedded in Graydon’s console, “sir, you’re not going to believe this… we’ve found them.”

Graydon’s eyes widen in surprise and pleasure upon hearing the news, and he immediately responds, “Are you absolutely sure? How?”

“The dumb freaks took a Prime Sentinel home with them,” the voice responds, obviously amused. “The tracking device led us right to them. We’re dispatching a team now to take them out.”

Graydon smiles wickedly, leaning back in his chair and pressing his hands together into a pyramid. “Excellent. Make sure you get every last one of them… I want the X-Men wiped out once and for all.”

The Xavier Institute

Seven individuals sit around the oval-shaped metal table at the center of the round, dimly-lit room, their eyes shifting back and forth between the blue and furry form of Henry McCoy, standing at the head of the table decked out in a white lab coat, and the holographic image of a dismembered Prime Sentinel in the middle of the table. Jean Grey, Cecilia Reyes, Danielle Moonstar, the young woman called Marrow, the woman known only as Kwannon, and their guests, Mutant Underground operatives Erica Shen and Cameron Dalin, were all called into this meeting – their second of the day – just ten minutes ago. Henry has finished his examination of the Prime Sentinel that was brought back to the mansion by Dani, Kwannon, and their guests several hours ago, and while he was working away, Erica and Cameron filled the other X-Men in on the situation with the Friends Of Humanity and on the fact that Graydon Creed is alive and kicking. The purpose of this meeting now is to determine how much of a threat the Friends Of Humanity pose, and what the best way to deal with that threat may be.

“Ladies – and gentleman – as you know, I’ve concluded my initial analysis of the Prime Sentinel you see projected on the table before you,” Henry begins after he clears his throat. “The models that the Friends Of Humanity have employed are quite primitive in comparison to the ones used by Operation Zero Tolerance. Whether the Friends stole the technology or developed their own version, I’m uncertain, but as far as weapons and defense systems go, these are a substantially lesser threat.”

Henry’s voice has a grim tone to it as he speaks, and all can notice this as he continues, “Studying what information we have on Bastion’s Prime Sentinels, I’ve deduced that these models have a higher percentage of body tissue that has been replaced by machine parts. They’re more like machines that have been covered with a human epidermis. Think The Terminator.”

If that was a joke, no one’s laughing, nor does Henry expect them too. “However, my friends, there is one thing that makes these Sentinels potentially more dangerous than any other kind we’ve ever faced. Bastion’s Prime Sentinels were programmed and could be mentally controlled through computer commands… not the case with these. These Prime Sentinels are entirely free of any sort of programming or mind control, they are one-hundred percent sentient.”

There is a stunned silence in the room, even a few gasps, as the realization of how far the enemy is willing to go washes over everyone. Men and woman, willingly signing up to have their bodies desecrated and transformed into machines, all the while having their minds fully intact, their will completely their own. From what Erica and Cameron have said, there may be hundreds – even thousands – of these cyborg soldiers. How can the X-Men and their newfound allies take down an enemy like that without having to take any lives? They’ve been in similar predicaments before, but never has it seemed so dire.

“So what you’re saying… is that we’re fighting human beings, people with body enhancements who still have their own free will,” Dani finally says, breaking the silence with her slightly sorrowful voice. “The way I was tearing through them… no regard for their lives…”

“Hey, don’t get down on yourself,” Cecilia cuts in, “it’s not like they have any regard for your life. They were trying to kill you, for goodness sakes! And you had children to protect, to boot.”

“She’s right, Danielle,” Kwannon agrees with a nod. “They would have killed us. We did what we had to. To save innocent lives, we sometimes have to do things that aren’t always easy, which includes taking the lives of others.”

“Years ago, I would have contested that until I was blue in the face.” Jean stops for a moment, taking a deep breath and briefly closing her eyes. “But in this day and age… we do what we have to.”

Only Henry is somewhat phased by Jean’s seemingly edgier demeanor. The Jean he knows is passionate about life and its preservation and could never kill anyone, even though her dark avatar once consumed an entire solar system. However, he figures that recent events – losing one of her twins, Charles’ deception, Scott’s behavior – are playing the major role in getting his friend’s spirits down. Oh, but there’s one other thing, too…

“So what if we kill them? Big whoop,” Marrow says in her shrill voice, annoyed at the even small amount of compassion being shown for the enemy. “All they want to do is kill us all, they deserve to die if you ask me!”

“No one did ask you, Marrow,” Jean replies coldly. “But I will ask you… what have you done with my husband? He’s gone missing, for those of you who don’t know, and I even checked with Bobby and Ororo to see if he’d maybe accompanied them on their mission. He’s not with them, and neither is Adam.”

“Hey, if your pooh bear left and his baby brother went with him, it’s not my problem,” Marrow taunts, snickering as she props her feet up on the table. “Who knows, maybe he went to take care of his little problem once and for all…”

Jean grimaces at Marrow’s comment and stands up quickly from her chair. “You have something to tell me?” she says angrily.

“Only that you should take more care of your precious hubby,” Marrow hisses back, also rising from her seat. “Maybe if you hadn’t lost one of the sausages, he wouldn’t have started on the road to insanity.”

“MARROW!” Cecilia yells, mortified at that last comment, and by this time everyone is up on their feet. “You shut your damn…!”

“It’s okay, Cecilia,” Jean says calmly, motioning for her friend to back down as she herself walks around to the other side of the table to confront Marrow. “I can handle this one. I’ve dealt with much worse.”

Marrow half-grins, half-sneers as she meets the redhead face-to-face. “Ooooh, is that supposed to scare me, Miss Mighty Phoenix?”

“You’ve been nothing but trouble since you first joined this team,” Jean begins, still keeping her cool. “And ever since Scott and I lost our son, you’ve been trying to seduce my husband. It’s sick, Marrow… you’re sick. You disgust me. I truly feel sorry that a place like the Morlock Tunnels was ever sullied by your presence.”

Marrow growls loudly as she tears a bone shard from her wrist and brings it up to Jean’s neck. “Shut up, you pompous beauty queen…!”

Not taking kindly to Marrow’s actions, Jean activates her telekinesis and sends the younger but taller pink-skinned woman slamming into the cold steel wall behind her. Jean’s eyes narrow viciously as she approaches the pinned Marrow, who struggles against the invisible restraint, but to no avail.

“You listen to me, you twisted little bitch,” Jean says, her very tone more enough to scare Marrow, though the young woman won’t show it. “You quit these games, right now, and you tell me where my husband is, or so help me God… I’ll finish the job Ororo started and rip your other heart out!”

Two levels up on the ground floor of the Xavier Institute, five other individuals occupy the mansion’s spacious living room, sitting around it in the big black leather couch and matching chairs. For Chris Bradley and the baby girl in his arms, Rachel Summers, this place is called home, but for Angelo Espinosa, Peter Valentino, and Jacqueline Chandler, this place is merely a sanctuary, somewhere they can be safe from the threat of the Friends Of Humanity.

“I should be in that meeting,” Chris grumbles softly to himself as he gently bounces baby Rachel on his knee, holding her under her arms.

“Cheer up, dude,” Peter, sitting next to Chris, says. “You get to hang out with the baby, what could be better than that?” Peter coos at the baby and holds his finger out for her to grab onto. She does just that and smiles widely while making that gurgly giggle sound that babies make. “Hehe, yeah, good baby.”

Chris feels an awkwardness wash over him; this is a strange picture, him and Peter here with the baby like this. Angelo, who sits to the side of the couch in one of the chairs, doesn’t seem to notice, nor does Jacqueline, who sits next to Peter on the couch. Angelo’s just trying to relax and get rid of the headache that’s plaguing him, and as for Jacqueline, well, she just wants to go home. So what else is new?

“This place is okay and all, but give me a break,” Jacqueline whines. “Where’s the damn color? It’s so plain, so dark… it’s as depressing as being a damn mutant!”

“Maybe that’s the point, chica,” Angelo responds, “but no one really cares. Please, just shut up already.”

“Don’t tell me to shut up, you prick!” Jacqueline snaps, succeeding in turning all attention to herself. “You’ve been giving me shit for no good reason since the moment we met… what’s your damn problem?!”

“You been bitching non-stop, that’s my problem!” Angelo snaps back, louder this time. “Sorry you don’t like it here, even if it is the only place you’re actually safe, and sorry if you don’t think any of us are up to your high-and-mighty standards, but with all due respect, you can blow me.”

Upon hearing Angelo’s last comment, Peter breaks out laughing, and even Chris snickers a bit. “Oh MAN!” Peter exclaims, slapping his knee in the process. “That was too good! I mean, with her powers and all… HA!”

“Go to hell, you fag!” Jacqueline hisses, immediately silencing everyone and getting a puzzled look from Peter. “Oh please, don’t even try to deny it… you so totally were checking out Cameron during our little road trip, you still can’t wait to get his pants down! And now you’re drooling over him,” she says, pointing to Chris. “Why don’t you just hand out invitations to every guy in this place to do you up the ass and get it over with!”

“Nah, I’m sure they’d like someone a bit looser, like you,” Peter replies, keeping his cool much to Jacqueline’s chagrin. “You can do that whole five-in-one special, and I’m just not that talented.”

Jacqueline’s eyes widen in shock and her mouth hangs open as Peter’s words sink in. Never before has she met anyone who could stand up to her like this, and though she would rather dig her eye out with a spoon than admit it, it turns her on. Since that fantasy isn’t going to come true, obviously, she’ll have to compensate by being her usual bitchy self, and then some.

“Screw you!” Jacqueline says angrily, punching Peter in the arm just before she rises from the couch and storms out of the room.

“OW! You bitch!” Peter grabs his arm, which is throbbing like hell thanks to the assault on it. He’s still healing from being shot by that Prime Sentinel, and even though his body can regenerate itself, it’s a rather slow process.

“Hey, can you all shut up now?” Chris says in a demanding voice, bringing the whimpering baby he holds to his chest. He gently pats her head and does his best to calm her down. “The baby doesn’t need to hear you two fighting, okay?” With that last comment, Chris gets up from the couch and slowly walks around the living room, still trying to calm Rachel down.

Peter just shakes his head and sighs, and after a moment catches Angelo staring at him absently. “What?”

“Was she right?” Angelo asks simply, digging his hands into each of the chair’s armrests. “Are you…?”

“Heh, yeah,” Peter says with a bit of a chuckle. In a way, he finds it hilarious how guys react to him when the big secret is revealed. “Don’t worry though, I’m not gonna jump you.”

“Yeah, no worries, hombre,” Angelo says with a nod. “I’m cool with gay people. Especially lesbians.”

“Of course.” Peter laughs this time and rolls his eyes, and from that point on, he and Angelo sit there, chatting away like friends.

The War Room

“Well, what’s it going to be, Marrow?” Jean says angrily, still pinning her aforementioned teammate against the cold steel War Room wall with her telekinesis. “You want to die for real this time?”

“JEAN!” coms the voices of Henry, who instantly places his hands on his friend’s shoulders in an effort to calm her. “Stop this, right now! You’re too riled up, you have no idea what you’re saying!”

“Back off, Hank! I know exactly…” Jean’s words trail off into nothingness as she locks eyes Marrow; she can see the terror in the young woman’s eyes. Jean gasps, also deactivating her telekinesis, and brings a trembling hand up to her forehead. “My God, what am I doing…?”

Henry moves one of his blue-furred hands to Jean’s back and gently massages it, soothing her with the words, “It’s alright, Jean, just relax.”

“No, it’s not alright!” Marrow yells angrily, rubbing the back of her neck. “Psycho tried to kill me!”

“Right, let’s forget how you tried to slit her throat open a few minutes ago,” Cecilia says wryly from her place next to Henry. “Just back off, girlfriend.”

“I ain’t your ‘girlfriend’…”

“Excuse me, everyone,” comes another female voice from behind the small group. The X-Men all turn in the voice’s direction to see Erica standing near the oval table, Cameron by her side. “I hate to sound cold, but we have more important matters to attend to. Certainly this is not how Charles Xavier runs his operation.”

“Well Charles isn’t here right now, obviously,” Dani quips. “Trust me, things aren’t usually like this…”

“Look, I apologize,” Jean interrupts, addressing everyone in the room. “I let this get out of hand. I’m just extremely worried about my husband.”

“Yeah, right,” Marrow mutters under her breath, earning her an angry glare and a gentle punch in the side from Cecilia.

“Zip it,” Cecilia whispers in a demanding tone.

“We all are, Jean,” Henry reassure his longtime friend, “but Erica is right… at this time, we have to focus on rescuing all the mutants that Creed’s people have kidnapped. We have to bring down the Friends Of Humanity’s entire operation. Scott’s a smart and resourceful man… I don’t think we have to worry about him. I promise you, though, when this is over, we will find him.”

Jean sighs as she mulls over Henry’s words. He’s right, of course; the Friends Of Humanity have potentially hundreds of mutants in captivity, ready to be executed. As much as she hates it, freeing those mutants – those people – takes precedence over finding her husband. She’d expect Scott to realize the same if she was the one missing.

“You’re right,” Jean finally confesses. “We’ll worry about Scott later… it’s time to show those bigots what happens when you mess with the X-Men.”

One level down, right outside the Morlock Tunnels entrance to the Xavier Institute, an uninvited guest has arrived. Dressed from head to toe in a dark, navy blue bodysuit, he blends in almost perfectly with the shadows as he stalks towards the round, metallic door that sits firmly along the dank, dreary wall before him.

Under his right arm he holds a shining silver orb, about the size of a soccer ball, and in his left hand is a small device resembling a pen, also made of metal. The man arrives at the round doorway and holds the device in his hand up to the door and presses its small button. A beam of hard, red light shoots forth from the tip and strikes at the center of the door, starting to cut its way through. The man runs the laser up the door then down, creating a perfect incision in the middle from top to bottom. The residue from the laser energy starts to finish the job, expanding from the middle of the door and eating away at the rest of it.

The man pockets the laser and uses his now-free hand to press a touch-sensitive communication pad on his chest. “Amira here. You there, Lyson?”

“Right here. You in?”

“Yeah, just calling to let you know I’m on my way in… I’ll plant this sucker and call you back when I’m clear,” Amira responds.

“Sounds good. Can’t want to see the freaks go up in smoke, eh?”

“No shit,” Amira chuckles. “Okay, I’m goin’ in. Amira out.” He touches the communicator on his chest once more to turn it off, and grins as he steps through the wide open doorway.

Things are about to get ugly.

NEXT ISSUE: Humanity’s Sanction Part 2! The Friends Of Humanity turn up the proverbial heat as they launch their first full-scale attack on the Xavier Institute! And as the X-Men fend off their attackers, Graydon Creed puts the kibosh on a well-known mutant from the team’s past!