HUMANITY’S SANCTION

Part II: Breaking and Entering

By Ryan Krupienski

It’s been about thirty minutes since the meeting in the War Room ended, and Marrow now finds herself stalking around the third sub-basement level of the Xavier Institute. There’s not much down here except the mansion’s power generators and the entrance to the Morlock Tunnels. It’s the only place Marrow feels she truly fits in at this fancy upworlder estate.

She hates that woman, Jean Grey. She’s the worst of them. She has looks, brains, power, the respect and love of many, and she has a beautiful family. Yet she wastes her time crying and feeling sorry for herself… it makes Marrow sick. Try living in a hellish dimension where you have to fight and kill every single day just to survive; no one is your friend, everyone is out to get you. Imagine you’re a young teenage girl, and all you have to help you survive in a place like that are jagged bone daggers that tear through your skin and cause you pain for every waking moment of your miserable life.

Marrow’s seen horrors that the other X-Men can’t begin to imagine. Her whole life has been one big, vicious, bloody fight, perhaps that’s why she can’t help but always be confrontational with her supposed teammates; but whatever. It’s not like she gives a shit anyway.

As Marrow walks through the dark, wide corridors, her senses suddenly perk up; someone else is here. Someone who’s not supposed to be, she can tell, as the movement is slow and careful. Whoever this is, he or she is right around the corner.

Silently, Marrow reaches behind her back and pulls out a long bone shard, grimacing slightly in pain as it slides free from her body, leaving another open wound to heal. She presses herself against the cold steel wall and starts creeping towards the hallway intersection; the intruder is doing the same.

In a split second, Marrow turns the corner and grabs the individual by the neck, squeezing tightly and presenting the added threat of a razor-sharp bone dagger. The individual – a man – drops the round, metal object under his arm, and it hits the sterile floor with a slight clunk. The man gasps for breath behind his ski mask as Marrow studies the fear in his eyes.

Just like Jean had seen the fear in Marrow’s eyes earlier. Except this time, the threat of death is much more real. Unlike her teammates, Marrow has no qualms about killing, especially when it comes to normal human beings like she figures this one might be.

“Hello there,” Marrow mocks the man. “Who the hell are you?”

The man coughs hoarsely, indicating that he can’t breathe well enough to talk, and Marrow loosens her grips around his neck just a tad. “L-Let me g-go,” he says between violent coughs, “m-mutant scumfuck!”

“Figures,” Marrow groans, and with that she raises the bone dagger above her head, ready to strike the man down. Instinctively, the man reacts to save himself, and manages to swing an arm up and nail Marrow on the side of her head. The attack disorients her for a moment, causing her to releases her grip on the human’s neck.

Still hacking, the man follows up with another punch, but he misses, and Marrow grabs his fist, holding it and his arm in the air as she uses the dagger in her other hand to lift his mask off his head. She snickers as his face is revealed in the dim light. “Oh, you’re an ugly one, too.”

The next thing the man knows, a sharp pain cuts through his torso, and he looks down at himself to see Marrow’s bone shard impaled into his chest. He gasps, his eyes wide, and takes a final look at Marrow before slipping away and dropping to the floor.

Marrow rolls her eyes as she looks at the man’s dead body and gives it a swift kick in the side. Just then, her gaze moves and falls upon the small metal orb the intruder brought with him. She eyes it suspiciously, wondering what it could be. She doesn’t care, though, all she knows is that she’s going to break it into lots of tiny pieces.

Removing her bone dagger from the man’s bleeding chest, Marrow puts it to good use once more and rams it into the metal orb, and the sphere’s inside subsequently short-circuit in a small display of electric sparks. “Hmph,” Marrow says as she rises up from the floor.

Marrow decides she should go find her teammates and let them know what happened, though she knows they’ll be none too pleased with her method of handling the situation. To hell with them, though, she did what she had to.

Marrow’s train of thought is suddenly interrupted as a loud rumbling, likely coming from the ground level, emanates throughout the third sub-basement level. There is a bit of a vibration as well, though not nearly enough to, say, knock Marrow off her feet. The former Morlock immediately darts down the wide hallway she originally came from and towards the elevator shaft. Arriving at the cylindric door, she quickly presses the button next to it and boards the elevator as soon as it opens. She presses another button inside and rides it to the ground level, anxious to see what’s transpiring upstairs.

The elevator arrives at the ground floor and Marrow rushes out and towards the source of the sounds, which are even louder now. She darts down the hallway and turns the corner once, heading for the main foyer, and when she arrives she sees exactly what’s causing all the ruckus – a large squad of Prime Sentinels, around two dozen, standing inside the freshly-made gap at the front of the mansion.

“Marrow,” Beast calls from nearby, noticing his teammate’s arrival, “there’s a lot of them, more outside.”

Marrow glares angrily at the gathering of cyborgs, replying to Beast, “Oh, it don’t matter how many there are… I’m gonna tear every last one apart!”

On the other side of the country, deep within the heart of the Friends Of Humanity’s headquarters in Seattle, Graydon Creed walks through the mutant holding pens – the ‘freak zoo’ as he and his followers like to call it. The pens are dirty, dank, and cold, and very cramped. Cells line both of the long walls of the room, running across horizontally as well as stacking on top of one another. Upon first glance, it might seem like there are thousands of mutants, as the pen almost seems to go on forever in every direction, but that would just be the old trick the mind plays, blowing everything out of proportion when awe kicks in. In truth, there are close to three hundred prisoners here, which still isn’t a small number by any means, considering that pretty much all of said prisoners are slated to die.

Creed’s expression is smug as he slowly paces past the cells, glancing around at the various mutants with pure disgust in his eyes. All the prisoners are silent, not wanting to give their captors the satisfaction of seeing them riled up, and others are simply frightened of what will happen if they open their mouths. Oh, and then there’s the ones who got bored and fell asleep.

“Well, animals,” Creed taunts, his voice echoing throughout the room, “I have some wonderful news, and I thought you all should get to hear it. Your executions have been delayed for the time being. Why, you might ask?”

Creed chuckles to himself then continues, “Well, my devoted followers are busy cleaning out another mutant infestation in New York – the X-Men. As I stand here speaking to you, over two dozen Prime Sentinels are killing off the very last of them, and that will be followed by a nanotech device being detonated from the very heart of their mutant freak sanctum. So, that means that any of you who had a conflict with those miscreants don’t have to worry about them anymore. Not that you’ll live long enough to care, though.”

There are some audible reactions to the news, and many feel any hope of escaping sink into oblivion. Many of the captives were counting on someone – the X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, hell, even Magneto – to come free them, but if the X-Men themselves are going down, what chance does anyone else have?

Of course, many have their doubts about the legitimacy of Creed’s story. Many of the captives have had encounters of some sort with the X-Men, and can’t believe that Creed’s shoddy Prime Sentinels will be a greater threat than the ones Bastion employed during Operation: Zero Tolerance. Not to mention that, really, the X-Men are pretty impossible to take out.

Neophyte and Unuscione are both former Acolytes of Magneto, gifted with the abilities to phase through solid matter and create and manipulate a psionic exoskeleton, respectively. Both have fought against and with the X-Men and know first-hand how very formidable they are, and even though Unuscione is not particularly fond of them, she knows as well as her former teammate that they don’t go down easily.

Ruckus, formerly under the employ of Sinister, and Phantazia, one-time member of the Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants and Mutant Libertaion Front, haven’t actually ever encountered the X-Men. Judging from their encounters with X-Factor and X-Force, though, the man with the deadly vocal cords and the woman who manipulates bio-electric energy both are more than sure that the X-Men will not be taken out by the Friends Of Humanity.

Leyu Yoshida, called Sunpyre, has also never encountered the X-Men, though her older brother Shiro, Sunfire, may count as he is a former member of the mutant team. She is blessed with her brother’s same ability to ionize air molecules into heat energy, she even learned to control it using some techniques that Charles Xavier himself passed onto Shiro. She knows the X-Men are very much a force to be reckoned with, and is confident they’ll arrive here in no time.

Callisto, one-time leader of the Morlocks, has had more personal relations with the X-Men. She’s known them for years, fought against and alongside them, even lived at their estate. There’s no doubt in her mind that they’ll be here soon to shut Creed up. For her newest charge, the telepath called Ever, the sooner the better, as his body – made up almost entirely of brain matter – is not fairing well against the power dampeners.

These mutants and many others present are highly doubtful that Creed’s claims hold any truth, though just as many and more think just the opposite, or couldn’t care less. However, no one chooses to voice their thoughts, as they figure it would be pointless and maybe even dangerous to do such a thing. One of the captives, though, has no fear, and decides to speak her mind.

“Nice story,” comes a dry, female voice, “but if you expect me to believe that your hack-job Sentinels are even a match for the X-Men, you’re even more of a moron than I originally thought.”

Creed turns his head in the direction of the voice and finds the scraggly, black-haired Callisto sitting in one of the bottom row cells, her expression half-angry, half-amused. Creed walks up to the cell, tilting his head downward to look at the mutant woman. “Is that so? Of course a Morlock would think so highly of the X-Men, since you are, in fact, the lowest form of the mutant abberation there is…”

“I’m going to tear your heart out, human,” Callisto says matter-of-factly. She smiles menacingly at Creed and adds, “Me, or someone else,” then silences herself, content to have threatened the man.

She’s about to discover what a mistake that was.

Creed shakes his head as he reaches under his jacket and pulls out a small, black pistol. Even upon seeing this, Callisto does not flinch. “Oh, a gun. How positively human. I’m not afraid to die.”

Creed wastes no time and empties a clip into Callisto, painting the inside of her cell with blood and innards. This time there are some very loud gasps and a new wave of fear sent through the captives, though many still refuse to be intimidated.

“Animals don’t understand the concept of death,” Creed says to the dead body as he holsters his gun. “Guards, get this shit cleaned up.”

As two guards approach the cell, Creed suddenly stops them. “Wait,” he says, “I’ve changed my mind. Leave it there… I want the rest of these freaks to have a constant reminder of what’s in store for them.”

The Xavier Institute

Letting out an almost inhuman battle cry, Marrow rips into the cyborgs surrounding her with sheer ferociousness, not holding back any of her killer instincts. None of the X-Men can afford to hold back, and as she glances around at her teammates, Marrow notices they seem to be following her lead, hitting the Prime Sentinels with everything they have. She smiles at this; it’s about time they came around.

Using the bone daggers occupying both of her hands, Marrow swipes and slashes at the quartet of Prime Sentinels that have surrounded her. The first one’s throat is sliced open, cutting off the circuits in the brain to the rest of its mechanical body, automatically rendering it non-functional, and a second cyborg is stabbed clear through the chest, with sparks and wires flailing about wildly after the deed is done. As their partners fall to the ground, the remaining Sentinels both go for Marrow’s throat at once and catch her off-guard, causing her to drop her weapons. Instead of trying to reach for the daggers, the young woman improvises, clasping one hand each to the heads of her attackers and smashing their steel skulls together. The clang of metal is followed by the Sentinels’ eyes flickering then their bodies dropping to the ground.

As Marrow gets back on her feet and surveys her work momentarily before going back into the fray, Beast and Cecilia, their backs to each other, battle against seven Prime Sentinels. Working together comes natural for them, they’re the perfect team; they cured the Legacy Virus together, for one thing, and all their hours training together in the Danger Room have helped them become very aware of how the other thinks, how the other will react in any given fight situation.

Cecilia’s body transforms to a translucent green, and the energy begins to extend from her body, her hands growing into giant weapons in the form of large, spiked fists. The machines before her let loose with repulsor rays from their eyes and palms, but the blasts simply deflect off Cecilia’s body and actually end up striking one of the Sentinels down. The remaining three advance on their prey, but Cecilia thrusts her fists forward, sending the machines flying through the air, away from her and outside through the large gap in the front entrance of the Xavier Institute.

Behind Cecilia, Beast growls – albeit, tamely, never one to give in too much to his animal instincts – at the Sentinels as they charge their weapons, preparing to singe every last bit of blue fur off the original X-Man’s body. He leaps forward, claws clearly visible in the dim moonlight shining down on the battle, and pushes two of the cyborgs to the ground while barely dodging an energy blast from the third. Beast jumps lightly and places his hands on the ground, using his feet to kick the third Sentinel away and send it crashing into the nearby wall.

“Watch it, Hank,” comes a female voice as Beast suddenly sees two Sentinels to his right get swept away in a blur of green energy spikes. He turns to see his lady love standing before him, still in her translucent form, a grin on her face. “Well, I finally got that whole ‘separate the energy from the body’ thing down.”

“You did, my dear,” Beast says with a proud nod, and he gives Cecilia a quick peck on the check before they both rush off towards another conglomeration of Sentinels.

Nearby at the mansion’s grand staircase, Phoenix holds her crying daughter in her arms, protecting herself and the child with a telekinetic shield while knocking away the more than half-dozen Sentinels advancing towards them. Phoenix is one of the most powerful X-Men, the cyborgs know this, hence why so many of them are opting to go after her. With great power, though, comes the need for concentration and especially caution, lest that power get out of control.

Phoenix doesn’t care about that now, though. These monsters are trying to kill her daughter, and that’s just unacceptable.

“You people have thrown your lives away,” Phoenix calls out to the five remaining Sentinels as their eyes and hands begin to glow furiously with energy. “You’ve sold your souls to the Devil himself, and for what? I’m sorry, but there’s only one way to stop you…”

“Somebody shut that bitch up,” one of the Sentinels says in a cold, mechanical voice, letting out a plasma energy blast and striking Phoenix’s shield. The blast has no effect, but still the others follow suit and let loose with their own energy blasts. Phoenix easily deflects the second wave of attacks, and decides now is the time to finish the quintet off.

In a split second, the five Prime Sentinels are floating in the air above Phoenix. They’ve lost all control over themselves and are completely at the mercy of the female X-Man. Despite the fact that they are machines, their human minds remain intact, and right now, they are very, very scared.

{Like I said before, there’s only one way to stop you,} Phoenix says, her voice booming loudly inside the cyborgs’ heads. With but a thought, she begins to worm her way inside each on of their bodies… hooking her mind onto every nerve ending, every electric wire, every cell and psynapse still inside them… and then she begins to tear them all apart.

“Rest in pieces,” is all Phoenix says before she tears the five Sentinels apart, sending mechanical body parts flying every which way. As the steel limbs drop to the ground, Phoenix feels a painful nudge inside her mind before regaining her composure – and realizing what she’s just done. Except, she doesn’t even remember doing it.

“Oh no… no no no…” Phoenix says, and she crumbles to the stairs, tears starting to flow from her eyes as she clutches her daughter tightly. “What happened…?”

Unbeknownst to her, a lone Sentinel creeps her way, weapons charged and, thanks to Phoenix’s shields being down, able to kill her. Suddenly, though, a bolt of red energy in the form of an arrow rips through the machine and it topples to the ground and to the bottom of the staircase, catching Phoenix’s attention. As she looks up, Phoenix sees Moonstar and Bolt rushing towards her, and behind the two of them she can see that the battle has pretty much come to a halt.

“Jean, are you all right?” Moonstar asks, and the young Cherokee woman takes baby Rachel into her arms as Bolt helps Phoenix to her feet. “Jean, come on… it’s alright. We’ve pretty much taken care of the Sentinels. What happened to you?”

Phoenix says nothing as the trio walks down the staircase and over to the gathering of Beast, Cecilia, Skin, Peter, and Jacqueline in the middle of the foyer, and almost immediately they are joined by Kwannon, Marrow, Erica, and Cameron, all returning from outside. “Sorry, your front lawn is a mess,” Cameron quips, giving Beast an apologetic look. “So what now?”

“First, is everyone all right?” says Moonstar, and every indicates in one way or another that they are. Erica asks Peter and Jacqueline again herself, wanting to make sure they haven’t been hurt; she’s become somewhat attached to those two and couldn’t bare it if she failed to protect them.

“Jean’s kind of out of it,” Bolt says, holding Phoenix up in his arms. “She really went crazy with her powers… did any of you see it…?”

“Christopher, get her down to the med-lab, I’ll be there momentarily,” Beast orders his teammate, and the young man does as he’s told and goes off towards the elevator to the lower levels. Turning back to everyone else, Beast continues, “I don’t think we should leave this place empty. Christopher, Jean, obviously Peter and Jacqueline, and… myself will be staying here. Just in case more of those things return… we can’t afford them confiscating any of our technology.”

“Hank…” Cecilia begins, but Beast silences her with a tender finger to her lips, knowing what she’s going to say.

“We’ll be fine, Cecilia. Trust me. The rest of you must get to Seattle at once, those mutant captives may not have much time.” Before turning his back to the group and signalling for them to follow, Beast quickly surveys the damage around him. It’s going to be a bitch to fix this place up again, he thinks.

“Come on, it’s time to suit up. I’ve got brand-new uniforms waiting for you downstairs…”

She watches the captured mutants from over one hundred feet above the ground, looking out from behind the gate of the vent shaft she’s currently occupying. She’s more anxious than ever to get this show on the road, to take down Creed and his people, and set her fellow mutants free. She can’t say she’s hurt by Callisto’s death, she didn’t even know the woman, but seeing the brutal treatment these prisoners are enduring is more than enough to fuel her fire.

In the pale, dim light, her long, silky black hair and milk-white skin is slightly visible, but it’s not like anyone can see her anyway. No one even knows she’s here, and it’s just her luck that she was able to get inside the compound undetected. She may not have some fancy offensive mutant ability, but nonetheless, things usually work out the way she wants them to.

She takes a gun from the holster around her waist and holds it in front of her, positioning the barrel outside the vent gate and aiming it at the head of Graydon Creed. “Alright, scumbag,” she mutters softly, “time to die for Auntie Domino.”

NEXT, IN 2001 UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL: Humanity’s Sanction concludes! As Domino launches her assault on the Friends Of Humanity, the X-Men rush to Seattle in hopes of shutting the organization down for good. But will they be too late to really do any good? And when they do finally enter the fray, what fatal consequences will befall one member of their team? It’s the end to the story that will ultimately rock mutantkind and set up the new status quo for the X-Men!