“What in the world…?”
The blonde-haired, curvacious young woman known as Bootylicious stopped dead in her tracks and looked up into the sky, as did every other student and teacher that was out on the grounds of the Xavier Institute. There was a loud rumbling noise emanating all around them, and the air seemed to be filling with excess static. There wasn’t a storm on the way, as the late afternoon sky was as clear and blue as could be; something else was coming. Something big.
The X-Men known as Colossus, Mastermind, Proteus, and Husk gathered together and watched along with Bootylicious and the rest of the students as a bright flash engulfed the sky. In a split second the light dissipated, and they found themselves in the shadow of a sleek aircraft measuring at least a hundred feet long.
“What in the bloody hell is this?” Mastermind asked, scoffing at the appearance of the vehicle.
“That’s a Genoshan presidential transport,” Colossus informed his teammates, recognizing it from his brief tenure as a member of the country’s cabinet. “I wonder why Jean would show up unannounced…?”
“X-MEN!”
The deep, powerful voice boomed loudly, as a man wearing a familiar black and purple uniform complete with cape and metal helmet descended from the aircraft above. Magneto had arrived, and none of the X-Men needed to see the angry expression on his face to know that something was very wrong.
“Where is she?” Magneto asked, as he came to a stop just mere feet above the assembled X-Men.
“Who?” Proteus asked, having no clue as to whom the Master of Magnetism was referring.
“Do not toy with me, child – that beast known as Cassandra Nova! Where is she?”
“Cassandra is in cryogenic lockdown, where she has been for months,” Colossus answered.
“Ah… that’s not entirely acurate…” Mastermind had a surprised look on her face, and turned to make eye contact with Colossus. “Ever just informed me that she’s woken up.”
“Holy shit!” Proteus exclaimed. “What are we gonna do?”
“You are going to stay out of my way,” Magneto told his one-time adversaries as he began levitating towards the mansion, “and I am going to end her pathetic existence once and for all!”
-
- CYCLOPS
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- DOMINO
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- COLOSSUS
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- KWANNON
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- EVER
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- MASTERMIND
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- PROTEUS
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- SHIVA
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- HUSK
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- THE BEAST
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- CECILIA REYES
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- ASTRID BLOOM
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- PHOENIX
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- MAGNETO
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- CASSANDRA NOVA
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- SINISTER
AWAKENING
By Ryan Krupienski
Domino, Kwannon, Ever, Shiva, Beast, Cecilia Reyes and Astrid Bloom stood inside the containment room before the woman named Cassandra Nova, who hovered in the air before them. She wore a standard gray bodysuit, accessorized with a not-so-amused look on her face. As far as the X-Men were concerned, Cassandra was a menace – and they were more than justified in feeling that way. The woman had undoubtedly pushed the X-Men in a new direction and while some good had come out of her machinations, she’d done irreperal damage to the team by not only hijacking the identity of their founder, but telepathically manipulating them all into doing her bidding.
Cassandra took the time to make eye contact with each one of them; she didn’t need to read minds to know what they were all thinking. Domino, Kwannon, and Ever especially were ready and eager to take her on, as they’d been victims of her mind control. Henry and Cecilia had been away on their honeymoon at the time; Cassandra, not being without a heart, had decided to let them enjoy being newlyweds. As for Shiva and Astrid, they were strangers to Cassandra, but she was certain their teammates had relayed all the unpleasant facts to them.
Cassandra didn’t know how long she’d been under, or what all had transpired during her slumber, but she was certainly anxious to find out.
“Please, I don’t want to fight any of you,” Cassandra told them, slowly lowering herself to the ground. “I just want to know how long I’ve been asleep.”
“Don’t worry about it, because you’re about to go back to your little nap – and this time I’ll make it permanent!” Domino yelled, as she quickly unholstered one of her guns and pointed it right at Cassandra’s bald head.
The elderly woman stood still and just looked at her would-be assailant. There was such rage in the white-skinned woman’s eyes, and that same anger was apparent in both Kwannon and Ever. It was so strong, so fiery, that it sent a quick chill down Cassandra’s spine.
“If I wanted to, I could make your little gun explode into a million tiny particles,” Cassandra said cooly. “In fact, I could very easily wipe each and every one of your minds right no-”
“Wanna bet?” Ever intejected, pointing a finger at the older woman as he took a step towards her. “I’m ready for you this time, and I’m pretty sure me and my new buddy Astrid here can take you on.”
“I was making a point, Ever,” Cassandra told him, annoyed that she’d been interrupted. “What I was going to say is that while I could do a number of things to harm or even kill you, I’m not going to. I don’t want to. Perhaps we can make a fresh start?”
“Beatrice, please,” Beast said, putting a hand on Domino’s raised arm and pushing it, along with her gun, down and away from Cassandra. He then turned his attention back to the bald-headed woman, who had since moved her gaze to the blue-furred X-Man. “Understand this, Cassandra – nothing you say or do will make us trust you. Do not make this difficult, just surrender and we will figure out where we go from there.”
Cassandra took a deep breath and let out a frustrated sigh, as she once more looked at each and every one of the mutants assembled before her. Beast was right – she could say or do nothing to fix or excuse what she’d done, at least not yet. And what she’d done… she started to think back to it all in detail, and couldn’t believe it. Being comatose must have changed her somehow, because she couldn’t fathom the person she’d been not too long ago.
There was a mess to be cleaned up, indeed, but it would take time. So, with a nod of her head, she said, “Very well. Do with me as you wish, I won’t put up a fight.”
“Don’t worry, Ever and I will make sure of it,” Astrid quipped.
Suddenly, Cassandra’s eyes seemed to almost bulge out of their sockets, and the elderly woman grabbed her throat and started to cough. She was choking, but from what the X-Men didn’t know. They got their answer rather swiftly as Magneto made his presence among them known.
“Stand back, X-Men,” Magneto told them, holding up a tightly clenched fist as Cassandra continued to struggle in his invisible grasp. “This problem will be solved momentarily.”
Genosha
Jean Grey and Scott Summers rushed down a long, narrow underground corridor, with only one thing – more specifically one person – in mind. Cassandra Nova had awakened, and they both had a horrible, sinking feeling in their collective stomache just imagining what new damage the woman could inflict. They had to get to the Xavier Institute, and fast.
Jean was already having a horrible day, between the psychic entity that was stalking her and Genosha’s mounting troubles with the United Nations. She didn’t think the day could get any worse, but lo and behold, she was proven quite wrong. Cassandra was one of the worst enemies she’d ever faced – mainly because the woman was able to fool her, get inside her mind, and at just the right moment betray her. Jean had once admired Cassandra, but those times were long gone.
Scott, on the other hand, had been suspicious of Cassandra from day one, and it came as no surprise to him when the woman finally showed her true colors. He hated her, and he hated all that she’d done to him and his teammates. Perhaps to get the last laugh, Cassandra had left the X-Men a perfect memory of their time under her command, and it made Scott sick to think back to his short time as her right-hand man. He could only imagine what new stunts she would try to pull if given the chance – a chance Scott meant to make sure she never received.
The husband and wife finally reached the metal door at the end of the corridor, and Jean reached out with her mind to force it open faster than it would go on its own. The two walked into the well-lit room, which expanded in all directions and featured a round platform, about twenty feet in diameter, at its center. The technicians in the room acknowledged the President and First Gentlemen, and immediately got to work initiating the machine that would take them to their destination.
“Let’s hope this doesn’t take more than a minute to charge up,” Jean told her husband. “Magneto’s already there…”
“That fast?” Scott asked, surprised. “Didn’t you say he took a whole ship with him in the bodyslide?”
“Don’t ask me to explain,” Jean said as she led her husband to the platform, “let’s just hope we get there before anyone gets hurt, or worse.”
“Except Cassandra. If Magneto wants to take her out, by all means…”
“No, Scott!” Jean said, giving the first X-Man a disgusted look. “Please, promise me you won’t do anything rash!”
Scott shrugged and replied, “Not if someone’s done the job first.”
“Leave her to me, okay?” Jean pleaded with him, as the two began to fade away via the bodyslide. “There’s a way to resolve this without anyone getting hurt.”
Location Unknown
He was a nameless, faceless man, dressed from head to toe in a black and gray bodysuit. Like most of the others inside the facility, he was nothing but a lackey, a very small part of a grander operation that was much bigger than he probably even realized. Taking orders was all he knew, and it’d never once occurred to him to think for himself. It was a state of being that would likely never change.
The man walked through an open doorway, and came into a dimly-lit control room of sorts. Inside was another man standing silently before a computer console, dressed in simple slacks and a button-down shirt under a white lab coat. The first man approached him, and came to a stop several feet away.
“Sir,” he said to the second man, who turned his head to reveal a ruggedly handsome face and a full head of blond hair. “We just received notice that our primary target is active again.”
Cocking an eyebrow, the man in the lab coat asked, “Is that so? As of when?”
“Fifteen minutes ago,” the lackey informed him. “What are your orders?”
“Dispose of her.” There was a hint of sadness in the blond man’s voice as he gave the order.
“Very well, sir. I’ll dispatch the Slipskulls. She’ll be dead within the hour.”
Magneto stared Cassandra down with the most hateful, venomous look the woman had ever seen as he continued to slowly choke the life out of her. It wasn’t difficult at all to manipulate the iron in her blood to constrict her airways, and he took great pleasure in watching the woman gasp for breath. Cassandra had done much to offend Magneto, most prominent in his mind being her unleashing the Masters of Evil to eradicate his daughter and her teammates on the Avengers.
“You are a plague,” Magneto said, lifting Cassandra into the air and close to him, “and I am the cure.”
“Magneto, stop this at once!” Beast demanded, pointing one of his blue-furred fingers at his one-time nemesis. “There will be no blood spilled here today!”
“This creature used all of you, she stole Charles’ identity, she even murdered one of your teammates!” Magneto shot back. “And yet you still defend her?”
“Hey, we’re no fans of hers, but killing her isn’t going to change anything!” Cecilia said.
“It’ll be no less than she deserves,” Domino muttered.
“Magneto, I’ll ask again, then the time for talk will be over,” Beast told him. “Release her. Now.”
Magneto stared back at the X-Man and simply answered, “No.”
“Ever, use your telekinesis – you should have no problem overpowering him,” Beast said as he turned to his teammate. The young telepath, however, did not seem the least bit interested in following the order.
“Ever, what are you waiting for?”
“For Magneto to finish the job,” Ever said as he crossed his arms.
“She killed Logan, Henry,” Kwannon reminded her friend, though Beast could tell she was somewhat conflicted. He knew Anna to be a kind, compassionate woman, but still there was a darker side to her that seemed to surface every so often.
“And she can’t be trusted – imagine what she could do next,” Domino added. “Mind control us all over again… take another stab at Genosha… not to mention she’s connected to Black Womb. She’s shown us her true colors, McCoy – yeah, X-Men don’t kill, but Magneto isn’t one of us last I checked. Just look the other way.”
As hopelessness started to overtake him, Beast looked to Astrid, who gave him an apologetic look and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t break through the mental blocks in his helmet.”
{I’m sure I can.}
The familiar voice of Jean Grey echoed through the minds of everyone in the room, as she and her husband moved in on the group. Jean set Scott down gently on the ground, but left herself airborne and moved upward to face Magneto.
“You’re done, Erik,” Jean said, as she used her telekinesis to free Cassandra from Magneto’s grasp. This caused the older woman to gasp loudly, and Jean subsequently encased her in a protective bubble. “No one’s dying today.”
“How could you, Jean?!” Magneto asked, almost yelling at the woman. “How could you save this creature’s life?!”
“How could you be so reckless?” Jean retorted, shaking her head in disgust. “Are you or aren’t you still the Vice President of Genosha? Do we or do we not have a responsibility to not abuse our powers? Do we or do we not have a lot riding on our work?”
“Work which can and will be easily undone if she is unleashed again!” Magneto exclaimed. “Do not let your petty morals cloud your judgement, Jean! She is a menace, amurderer!”
“Now if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black,” Jean began, taking Magneto aback, “I don’t know what is.”
Magneto cocked an eyebrow and told her, “You most certainly do not want to start up that conversation,” and though Jean knew full well what he was alluding to, she shrugged it off. He had settled down at that point, though below the surface he was still fuming, still aching for vengeance. “Do not protect her, Jean.”
“No matter how evil she is, no matter what she’s done…” Jean trailed off for a moment, letting out a slow, sad sigh. “She’s still Charles’ sister. And he would not approve of this. Not at all.”
“Oh, bullshit!” Domino called out from down below. “Xavier is dead. And he knew this nutjob for, what, two minutes? During which she tried to kill him. Sorry, I’m with Magneto on this one, and I’m sure I’m not alone.”
Jean turned to look at her husband, who had made the decision to remain silent. Nonetheless, Jean knew what he was thinking, without having to read his mind, and she understood how he felt. She understood why Magneto, and some of the other X-Men as well, felt it best for Cassandra to be done away with, and a part of her agreed. However, she couldn’t, she wouldn’t, go there. Not this time.
“No one’s dying. That’s final,” Jean declared, exchanging a look with everyone in the room. She then turned her attention to Cassandra, who had more or less recovered from Magneto’s attack. “As for you – don’t even think of pulling any of your dirty tricks. You may be powerful, but so am I, and I’m more than ready to take you on this time if I have to. Mess with me and it’ll be the last mistake you ever make. Understand?”
Cassandra gave Jean an appreciative look, and nodded. “I understand completely. In fact, I was remanding myself to your teammates’ custody before Magneto charged in here and attacked me.”
“Great, so what the hell are we going to do with her now?” Domino asked, her frustration more than evident.
“For now, confinement as well as a power dampener,” Beast told her. “Not to mention, the watchful eyes and minds of our many resident telepaths.”
“Z’noxx Chamber,” Cyclops said, finally breaking his silence. “It’s all repaired and the psionic shielding’s been enhanced. We’ll stick her in there and seal it shut.”
“Works for me – so are we all in agreement? No more attempts on her life?” Cecilia asked, looking around at her teammates. “Let’s just cut the drama, okay? This is going to turn out much better if we all work together.”
“X-Men don’t kill, remember?” Domino said, somewhat sarcastically.
Jean looked over at Magneto. “Erik?”
“I think you are making a grave error,” Magneto told her. “But I will comply.”
Just as the figurative smoke in the room had finally cleared, a loud alarm started to blare throughout the room.
[INTRUDER ALERT!]Outside on the grounds of the institute, the various students and the small group of X-Men were startled when the alarm went off outside as well. Many of the students started to panic, as they were already on edge from Magneto’s abrupt appearance, while Colossus and his teammates looked around for any signs of trouble.
“What’s goin’ on?” Husk pondered aloud. “Is it that Nova woman, Martinique?”
“No, Ever told me she’s surrendered,” Mastermind answered. “Besides, she wouldn’t be an intruder. She’s already inside the mansion.”
“Maybe some buddies come to bust her out?” Proteus suggested. He looked around at the students, who were doing an okay job of keeping their cool, but some were understandably freaking out. “How do we get all the kids to calm down?”
“Martinique, do you sense anything?” Colossus asked, and the woman shook her head.
“No, nothing…”
“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
The four X-Men all made a mad dash in unison towards for the direction of the shrieks of terror, but they didn’t get far before they saw a myriad of dark purple portals opening all around them. They watched as gruesome creatures came through the gateways, which quickly closed, and started leaping and crawling towards the mansion. They were large and muscular, with mustard-hued skin and long metal claws. They bore mutiple sets of eyes, and one howled at a nearby student to reveal a set of razor-sharp teeth.
Most of the students ran away in a panic, though the creatures more or less left them alone. They just wanted to get inside, it seemed.
“Good, Ah’ve been achin’ for a fight!” Husk said, while starting to tear off her skin to reveal a rock-like form underneath. At the same time Colossus shifted his own skin to its metal state, and along with Proteus and Mastermind they ran towards a cluster of the unwelcome guests.
{Marti, what’s going on?} came Ever’s telepathic call. {The alarm’s going off but we can’t pick up any thought patterns.}
{Monsters, Ever, lots of them,} Mastermind told her teammate. {And something tells me they’re headed your way.}
Just as the X-Men were about to engage the enemy, they heard a large explosion behind them. As the students fleed in every direction, the quartet stopped dead in their tracks as they watched the burning hunk of metal that was once a Genoshan aircraft come crashing down on top of the mansion.
Egypt
Nathaniel Essex was not a man who scared easily, if at all; instead he had a reputation for inducing fear in others. His adopted name – Sinister – perfectly relayed his true nature to those that knew of him, and they knew to be wary of him. He was a brilliant geneticist, and once upon a time, he’d also been an almost unstoppable force to be reckoned with. That is, until he perished at the hands of one of his longtime enemies.
Essex still replayed his death at the hands of Phoenix in his head now and then, and it unnerved him. She was now one of only two people who could entice such emotions from him. The other happened to be the lord and master of the domicile that Essex was treading through, and though said individual had been deceased for many years now, his presence could still be felt all around.
That man was En Sabah Nur, the Apocalypse, who had come to Essex well over a century ago and presented him with an offer. In exchange for becoming Apocalypse’s servant, Essex would be granted unimaginable power as well as unlimited resources for his research. Being the man of science that he was, and with nothing left to lose, Essex agreed. After a brief time in hybernation to undergo transformation, he’d emerged a new, very different man.
However, upon his death, Essex was stripped of the superhuman abilities Apocalypse had granted him, and still wasn’t quite sure why; all of the mutants who had been transported to Wonderland retained their powers, yet that was another mystery – Essex wasn’t a mutant, so he wasn’t sure why he’d been taken to Wonderland in the first place. It was a ‘mutant afterlife’ on the surface, but there had to be much more to the place than even he’d uncovered during his time there.
It was a strange sensation to be human again, and it was a concept that was now so foreign to Essex that he was willing to do anything he could to go back to being the man he was, to being Sinister once more. Even if that meant taking the harrowing trip down into the very heart of one of Apocalypse’s pyramids, he was willing to take that risk.
It had been decades since Essex had been inside one of Apocalypse’s strongholds, as the two had parted ways not long after the former’s initial transformation. Everything still looked the same as far as Essex could remember – dark, cold, walls made of brick, hieroglyphics scrawled on every surface. A typical pyramid, certainly, though Essex hadn’t yet reached the room housing the technology that made this pyramid unique.
With a torch in his hand to illuminate the otherwise pitch black corridor, Essex continued on his path to being born again. He’d been walking through the structure for hours now, and it’d been no easy feat. If he hadn’t been depowered, it would have taken mere seconds to teleport to his exact destination; however, he did somewhat enjoy the challenge of navigating the old fashion way.
Not far up ahead, Essex could see that the pathway came to a halt, meaning either that it was a dead end and he’d have to turn back or it was in fact the same hidden doorway he remembered. He began to walk with greater urgency, his dirt-ladden boots now kicking up even more sand and dust, and he arrived at the wall quickly.
Essex started to move his hand around the right side of the wall and pressed against the bricks, looking for the one that would open the hidden door. It didn’t take long, and as he pushed a smaller brick inward, there was a slight rumble beneath his feet. A large section of the wall moved forward, then slid up into the frame of the doorway, revealing an expansive room on the other side.
Essex wasted no time and walked through the passageway, and a wicked grin formed on his face as he gazed across the room. The ceiling reached high into darkness, and at each corner stood a tall pillar covered in glowing symbols. Four planks stretched from all sides of the room, each making a walkway over a seemingly bottomless pit, and they coverged at the room’s center. There lied an elevated platform with a large, alien machine resting atop it.
Pulling a small recording device from his pocket and holding it up to his mouth, Essex spoke into it, “After a long journey, I’ve finally arrived at my destination in the heart of Apocalypse’s former lair. Once the lazarus chamber is operational, it will only be a matter of hours until I am Mister Sinister again…”
NEXT ISSUE: Who or what is out to destroy Cassandra – and can the X-Men protect their sworn enemy from her attackers? It’s an all-out brawl at Xavier’s, and everyone’s invited! Plus: Sinister is reborn, but at what cost?
The next two issues will be wrapping up some odds and ends, such as what happens to Cassandra and Scott & Jean’s future, and will set the stage for the next ‘phase’ of UXM. You can expect some roster changes, some big developments for Genosha, plus the beginning of the next X-Men vs. Brotherhood rounds. We’re finally getting somewhere! I’m on a roll, and hopefully I stay on it…
I guess that’s all for now. Until next time!
~Ryan
5/20/07
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