WHAT’S HIS IS HIS

Part V

By Brent Lambert

Sweat trickled down Kimura’s brow as she prepared to face down the soldiers of Sinister. She knew that she was facing near impossible odds and that was when she had the aid of her teleporting mutants, but Kimura never backed down. It wasn’t in her nature to accept defeat even when it was all but assured. Besides, Mother Matrix needed as much time as she could spare. If she could slow down Sinister’s forces for even a moment then it would be worth it. Kimura owed Matrix everything. The woman had saved her from a completely pointless life and gave her purpose. Bodily harm was the least Kimura could endure to repay the great debt she owed Mother Matrix. Given whom she was about to face, bodily harm was essentially a guarantee.

Not wanting to give them time to think, Kimura leaped forward and slashed Funeral across the face with one of her knives while she kicked her leg out to strike Gaunt in the face. Landing gracefully on the ground, Kimura rolled forward and sliced the ankles of Sorrow and Requiem. Before she could rise to her feet, an orange blast of energy struck her in the face and sent her rolling across the ground. Vulcan’s hands were emanating orange smoke as he walked over to Kimura and blasted the woman square in the face. The blast blew a hole in the ground, but Kimura’s invulnerability protected her face from destruction. Unfortunately, the attack was still able to render her unconscious.

Gaunt rose to his feet and Funeral wiped the remaining blood off of his face. The wound Kimura’s knife had inflicted was already completely healed. Perfection gave The Neo a smug smirk and Funeral returned with a snarl. He turned his attention away from her and pushed Vulcan out of his way to get to Kimura. Angrily, he wrapped his hand around her throat and lifted her up into the air. Funeral attempted to use his decaying touch on Kimura, but to no effect. Seeing that his powers were having no effect only angered Funeral more. He threw the unmoving body clear across the large room and she crashed into a computer console. Vulcan looked at Funeral as if he were the most immature person he had ever seen. Funeral ignored Vulcan’s disdain and walked through the door that Kimura had been guarding.

Gaunt gave Kimura an emotionless glance and followed Funeral’s path. Sorrow and Requiem just as callously followed Gaunt and Perfection wasn’t far behind. Crown looked at Vulcan and shrugged. Then he too followed the pack. Vulcan let them walk ahead and then he used his telekinesis to gently lay Kimura on the ground. He didn’t care for her in any shape or form, but he saw no use in anger driven violence. It did not produce results.

As he walked down the hall he didn’t notice Kimura’s body beginning to stir. It didn’t take him long to reach his opinions since he was using this telekinesis to float across the ground. They were making their way down a long, narrow hallway lined with doors. The doors were uninviting and made Vulcan nervous. He had to learn a great deal in a short amount of time and the little he knew of Mother Matrix made him uneasy about those doors. Any of her creations could be lurking behind one of those doors. The Asian woman and her disappearing men were probably just the tip of the iceberg. His imagination was making him uneasy. Images of grotesque monsters filled his thoughts.

Then suddenly a feeling overtook him. No longer did he feel apprehension, but anger flooded him. He was fueled to the brim with rage and he couldn’t explain why. His thoughts of Mother Matrix were murderous ones. Flashes of brutality against the geneticist invaded his mind. Who was this woman to challenge him? How dare she place herself on the same pedestal as his creator? For such an offense, he would peel the skin slowly from her body and indulge in her screams. Then just as quickly as those angry feelings came—they were gone. Vulcan couldn’t explain why, but that brief flash of anger had somehow reinvigorated him. He felt renewed and no longer afraid of what lurked behind the hallway doors. Let danger come. Vulcan was ready for it.

“The Holding Pens have the mutant we’re looking for,” Gaunt explained. “Keep moving to the end of the hallway.”

“We’re Neo. Don’t talk to us like spikes,” Funeral warned.

Gaunt effortlessly ignored The Lost Souls’ leader and kept pressing forward to his destination. His metallic feet clanked loudly against the hallway’s floor, but he made no effort to quiet the noise. Mother Matrix already knew of their arrival and if she wanted to continue attacking them, then she would. Stealthy was not necessary at this point. It was a moot concern and Gaunt had no time for those. Vulcan’s distaste, Funeral’s anger, and Perfections’ abrasiveness were all inconsequential in fulfilling the wishes of Sinister. Darwin would be captured, Mother Matrix eliminated, and The Rapture returned to Sinister. Nothing else mattered to Gaunt until those goals were accomplished.

As he continued to lead the pack, Gaunt was abruptly flung backwards and was sent crashing into the arms of Requiem. Perfection and Funeral were thrown into the nearest door as a stern Cable descended from the rooftop. He was surrounded in a telekinetic bubble and was gripping a futuristic rifle in his hands.

“I’d give you a chance to surrender, but then I’d be lying,” Cable said as he opened up a slight hole in his bubble and opened fire.

The first shot zoomed towards Sorrow and struck her in the chest. She was sent flying backwards and skidded across the hallway. As she began to stand on her feet, Cable telekinetically flung her through the nearest door. Vulcan saw what was occurring and used his control over energy to completely sap away Cable’s telekinetic field. Nathan was caught off-guard and with lightning quick speed, Perfection was able to uppercut him. Cable fell backwards, but swept Perfection’s feet out from under her. Lifting up his rifle, he shot The Neo point blank in the face.

Vulcan, as much as he didn’t like the woman, rushed to her defense. He flew above Cable, grabbed him by his hair, and, with a TK assist, flung him into the roof. There was a loud crash and Cable fell back to the ground with wires and plaster covering his unconscious body. Vulcan was about to inflict more damage when he suddenly clutched his head and fell to the ground in pain.

[This is what I like to call a mind fuck. Scrambling around memories, rearranging emotions. All in good fun bloke.]

Omega taunted Vulcan as he slowly approached him. Digging through the rubble that was atop Cable, he grabbed the soldier’s gun and aimed it at Vulcan’s head. Before he pulled the trigger, he said, “Sorry. Have to play for keeps here.”

Vulcan flashed a look of rage at Quentin and the gun was shattered into a hundred pieces. Leaping forward, Vulcan wrapped one hand around Omega’s throat and lifted him into the air with his telekinesis. With a nearly animalistic expression, Vulcan said, “Never do that again!”

Omega was barely able to breath and could amount no assault against Vulcan’s mind. It was like his psyche had completely barricaded itself against Quentin and anyone else. Vulcan continued to squeeze with one hand and lifted two of his fingers into the air behind them. His control over energy allowed him to do a large number of things and one realm he controlled was that of heat.

Vulcan heated his two fingers to the temperature of two hot iron rods and drove them into Omega’s eyes. Quentin let out a blood-curdling scream as his body began to shake and boiling blood oozed from the two orifices. Vulcan pulled his gunk-covered fingers back and dropped the London native to the ground.

Standing over the convulsing mutant, Vulcan asked, “Now who’s fucked?”

“Fuckin hell,” Wisdom groaned. “There’s just about zero chance of us finding the controls in this whopper.”

“How are we possibly going to find this Munoz guy?” Spyke asked as the three X-Corps moved amongst the neatly packed rows of protein vats. The bodies were barely visible so Evan had absolutely no clue how Wisdom intended to find his needle in the haystack.

“I’m going to write that questions off as inexperience,” Wisdom replied as his eyes darted back and forth in the dimly lit Holding Pens. The green glow of the protein vats provided the most light. “We’re looking for any kind of console. If not—

“We start shooting open vats till we get to the right one,” Fantomex finished.

Wisdom smirked at Evan. “Or spikes in your case.”

Spyke was about to reply, but a black heel connected with his jaw and he went crashing into a vat. Evan spun off of it and hit the ground with an echoing thud. Fantomex and Wisdom stopped their run and kept themselves in front of the young mutant. Whoever had attacked him had been fast. Pete’s first guess would be a Neo, but there was no way for him to be certain.

“Matrix’s work will not be harmed,” a European man said as he stepped out of the shadows. He was garbed in the black suit of a Shotokan warrior. “You intruders will be dealt with.”

“Take Spyke, find Munoz, and free these people,” Wisdom said. Fantomex did not move and Wisdom said more harshly. “Go! That’s an order!”

“You are brave. I’ll make your beating swift,” Spyke’s attacker said as he went into a crouched battle stance.

“Bloke, you’re going to need more than kung fu to do that.”

Professor Harkins approached a seated Mother Matrix from behind and said, “Mister X has encountered resistance.”

“Good,” Mother Matrix replied as she flicked one of her many surveillance screens to The Holding Pens. “He’s been in need of combat for quite some time.”

Handing Matrix a porcelain cup of tea, Harkins said, “Kimura is active again and back to tracking Sinister’s men.”

“Thankfully,” Matrix murmured. “The damn teleporters abandoned her! The behavior modification must have been defective. It could have cost me Kimura’s life.”

Harkins took a sip of his own tea and said, “We can worry about the teleporters later, but Kimura is still going to need back-up.”

Matrix nodded. “What do you suggest?”

“Phi Squad 5. They’re fully prepped and ready for combat.”

“Do it,” Matrix said.

Harkins left the room without a word and Matrix became entangled in her thoughts once more. Nothing disastrous had occurred yet, but the geneticist knew better than to be optimistic. The Neo had been neutralized while X-corps and Sinister’s enforcers cancelled each other out, but Black Womb was still a visible threat. Wherever they were, Matrix was sure she was their number one priority. If there was one list she didn’t want to be at the top of, it was theirs. Still, her preparations were in place and she could only hope they would keep her secure. She could only hope that Kimura and the others would give her the time she needed. All of Matrix’s plans hinged on time.

She was loath to release Phi Squad 5, but Harkins was right. Kimura would need back up and that squad was the best to provide her with that. The only thing that concerned Matrix was…she pushed the thought out of her mind. So far, time had been on her side.

Time had not been on the side of Psylocke’s team. Sinister’s new soldiers had made their presence known too quickly. Northstar was quickly taken off the battlefield and Betsy was trying to help Mimic stay on it. One of Sinister’s new Marauders, Subject 36, had engaged Calvin in a psychic battle. It was a battle that Betsy could feel him losing.

Entering into the mind of Mimic, Psylocke suddenly found herself on what was a scene right out of Armageddon. Craggy rocks, exploding gas, and an ebony sky was the setting for the battle between Mimic and Subject 36. Equipping purple psionic armor, Braddock prepared to thrust herself into the right. She wasn’t prepared for Mimic’s flaming astral form as it barely missed the crown of her head.

Psylocke watched in horror as the form crashed into one of the jaggy rock formations and rolled across dozens of razor sharp rocks. The fire had dissipated and Mimic’s psychic form had recovered, but he was weak. That much she could tell.

“Hopefully you can provide me with more entertainment than he has.”

Psylocke turned around and saw Subject 36 in his astral form. His body was engulfed in flame and the way it billowed around his body gave him a destructive aura that made Psylocke shiver. Standing firm, she replied, “Hun, I’ll provide you with a proper ass kicking is what I’ll do.”

“Brave words. I’ll make you choke on them,” Subject 36 said as fire ripped forth from his arms and came rushing at Psylocke.

By raising her triangular shield in front of her and increasing its size, Psylocke was able to completely deflect Subject 36’s attack. Disappearing in a flash of smoke similar to one of her teammates, Psylocke appeared behind Subject 36 and stabbed him with a psi-dagger in the back of his head.

Subject 36 let out a groan of pain and fell to the ground, his astral form dissipating into nothing. Psylocke quickly pulled herself back into the physical realm and began to attend to Mimic’s mind.

Good lord. His mind is in shambles, Psylocke thought as she sought to undo the damage that Subject 36 had done to Calvin’s mind.

Betsy could only watch as Shatterstar kicked Kandi in the side of her ribs and sent her sprawling across one of Sinister’s laboratory tables. Test tube glass stabbed her across her back and stomach. The pain was plainly evident on her face as she rolled off the table, but Shatterstar didn’t allow her the luxury of removing the tiny shards. The Mojoworld warrior was on her like a hunting dog as he delivered a kick to her head and sent her colliding into another laboratory table. Kandi had even more of her blood intermingling with glass. Shatterstar refused to stop the pressure on the woman because her potential power was too deadly.

“Slut of Sinister, you die today!” Shatterstar yelled as he brought his word across Kandi’s kneecap. The Marauder crumbled forward, but again made no sign of being in pain. Shatterstar felt anger at her ambush, but was deeply impressed with how she handled it. The sweat profusely coming down her face was plenty of proof that her body was in pain, but she refused to let her physical expression show it.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Kandi said as she popped a sugar cube in her mouth. As she licked and chewed at the substance her body transformed into organic diamond. Shatterstar’s weapons suddenly weren’t quite as useful. Still, he held them with a warrior’s pride.

Shatterstar growled in anger and said, “Disarm me at your peril!”

Smugly smiling, Kandi said, “I won’t have to.”

With new vigor, Kandi stood up and charged at Shatterstar. He waited until she was within a few feet and jumped. Kandi ran right under him and Shatterstar kicked her in the back of her head. The blow threw Kandi off balance and sent her crashing through a metallic pillar. Landing like a cat, Shatterstar spun and sheathed his swords. Potentially, his swords could do her damage, but he wasn’t about to risk losing his weapons in trying. Before she could rise to her feet, Shatterstar ran forward and locked an arm around her neck. He jerked her head back and flipped the Middle Eastern woman over his shoulder.

Kandi let out a scream of frustration as she crashed through another pillar. Shatterstar knew that he would either need help or his tactics would have to change. She was too dense to keep throwing around. There wasn’t anyone he could look to for help honestly. That didn’t bother him because he was created to fight alone, but he was running short on ideas. Ideas against a diamond hard woman he couldn’t hurt weren’t as available as he thought they would be.

Standing to her feet, Kandi said, “That’s it! You’re dead!”

Shatterstar braced himself for the attack, but suddenly a large wall of a man materialized in front of him.

“Move back to Psylocke! Savant is going to transport us out,” Bishop commanded as he opened laser fire on Kandi. The blasts from the double-barreled rifle were enough to keep The Marauder at bay despite her continual ravenous charges. She was literally mad with rage at her treatment by Shatterstar. Bishop hadn’t seen such a lack of emotional control in an individual in quite some time. It made him wonder just what kind of company Sinister was keeping nowadays.

Betsy was still tending to Mimic when she yelled, “Move it people! We have injured.”

The two did as she said and with Bedlam formed an awkward perimeter around Betsy. As Subject 36 rose recovered from Psylocke’s attack, the first thing he saw was the mutants break up into glowing yellow globes and vanish. Kandi went over to him and helped him to his feet. Reverting back to her flesh form she said, “We should have finished them all off!”

Dusting himself off, Subject 36 replied, “We took out two of them. That’s enough for the moment.”

“What about Weapon Zeta?” Kandi asked motioning to the unconscious liquid metal body.

“He’ll be fine. The X-Man just knocked him out cold. Short circuit might be a better term for it,” Subject 36 replied.

[You all did well. The message has been made clear. The Marauders have returned]

Peter Wisdom backpedaled from Mister X’s punches and flung a trio of well-aimed hot knives at his opponent’s face. To Wisdom’s surprise, Mister X easily ducked out of the way. Wisdom wasn’t prepared for his opponent’s quickness and received a swift kick to his gut. The blow lifted Peter off his feet and crumpled him around X’s knee. Grabbing Peter’s hair, Mr. X flung Wisdom into one of Matrix’s many protein vats. The experiment in the vat shook from the impact and Wisdom slid to the ground with ringing ears. Not to mention the colossal sized headache that was going to require a bottle of aspirin.

“You’re almost making this too easy. Give me a challenge,” Mr. X taunted as he lifted Peter to his feet with a fierce grip around his shirt collar. Peter’s mind was still swirling too much for him to react. The smug smirk on Mr. X’s playboy face was almost enough to stir Peter to action.

Frustrated with Wisdom’s limp form, Mr. X threw the former Black Air agent into another protein vat and yelled, “This is pointless unless you fight back!”

Wisdom slid down the hefty vat and slumped to the ground. He was struggling to hold onto consciousness. The effort seemed impossible, but Wisdom managed it. He began to crawl away from Mr. X and attempted to hide behind another vat. He could only hope that Spyke and Fantomex had found Darwin and were on their way to help him.

“This is pathetic! Are you dispatched that easy?” Mr. X asked.

Wisdom watched from behind his chosen protein vat as Mr. X was suddenly covered in orange telekinetic energy. Matrix’s soldier cried out in surprise as he was lifted into the air. As this was happening, Wisdom made sure to keep himself out of sight. Whatever was about to occur, Wisdom didn’t want any part in it.

“This fool serves Mother Matrix,” Vulcan said as he twisted Mr. X’s body around and brought him to eye level. “Where is Darwin? And please—don’t lie.”

Mr. X smiled. “I don’t know.”

“I told you not to lie,” Vulcan said as he telekinetically ripped the flesh from X’s fingers, leaving only bloody muscle. X let loose a scream as Vulcan said, “I’ll ask again. Where is Darwin?”

“Rip apart his mind already and be done with it,” Funeral said impatiently as he stood behind Vulcan. The boy’s cruelty was unnecessary. Sometimes the least bloody solution was the most appropriate one. What Sinister’s “son” was doing was flat-out unnecessary.

“His psi-shielding is too complicated. I’d ruin his mind and lose any valuable information,” Vulcan replied as he turned back to a heavily sweating Mr. X. “Are you ready to tell me what I need to know?”

“There’s a computer. It’ll tell you where he is.”

Vulcan nodded. “Thank you for your cooperation. It is highly appreciated.”

“Don’t indulge the weakling,” Perfection scolded.

Vulcan dropped X to the ground and ripped apart his vocal chords. Giving his rationale, Vulcan said, “I can’t have you trying to call for help.”

The barbarous treatment of Mister X snapped Wisdom back to attention. He had watched what had transpired with honor. Not only for X, but because if Sinister’s men were here then Cable and Omega had failed. Wisdom would burn out all their eyes if they had suffered any similar treatment. Now though he knew he had to act because Fantomex and Spyke needed more time. He had to buy it for them.

“Now that the fun’s over we need to split up and over more ground. Vulcan is coming with me. Perfection and Requiem you stick together. Crown go with Sorrow—and Funeral, you’ll go alone,” Gaunt ordered as Wisdom tried to formulate some plan of attack in his head.

“Be careful,” Vulcan warned. “Something just started scrambling my telepathy.”

Wisdom counted his blessing for that. If he had to guess the source of the psionic scrambling, he would lean towards either Black womb of Matrix. Neither of which were his allies, but for now he was thankful they were around. An opportunity was an opportunity, regardless of its source.

Feeling uncomfortable with Vulcan’s warning, Gaunt said, “Let’s move. We may have some hidden opposition.”

“Like that’s not obvious,” Perfection mocked as Sinister’s soldiers scattered into their various groups.

Vulcan and Gaunt were headed in the direction of Wisdom after Perfection’s remark and that was when the tension set in. No matter how many combat situations a person found himself or herself in, there would always be that tinge of fear. Fear of pain, death, and loss, but a good combatant could metabolize those feelings. Those feelings could be re-directed to a purposeful use. Wisdom, with his many years of training, was doing just that. He was using that energy to focus on exactly how he intended to dispose of his intended opponents. He knew he was outnumbered just based on the younger man who vaguely reminded Wisdom of Cable. The other did too, but in a different way. He was clearly composed of the same material that was one of Cable’s appendages. Knowing the endurance of that material and having witnessed Mr. X’s defeat, Wisdom knew his only chance for a successful offense would be a sneak attack.

“We need to find Darwin quickly before Mother Matrix is able to escape with The Rapture system,” Vulcan said to Gaunt as they made their way past the vat Wisdom was hiding behind.

Wisdom listened for the sound distance as Gaunt replied, “I doubt she’s going anywhere. We’re apparently not the only ones after her.”

Vulcan frowned. “Still, she may have anticipated all of this.”

Measuring that they were far enough away, Wisdom rolled out from behind the protein vat and propelled ten hot knives at Gaunt and Vulcan’s backs. The knives collided with an orange telekinetic shield. Vulcan turned back in Wisdom’s direction and said, “I saw your body heat the moment we came in here. You had no element of surprise.”

Wisdom was lifted into the air and his limbs were spread apart as if he was about to be telekinetically quartered. Vulcan’s face spread into malicious smile as he moved towards Peter. It was time to prepare for the worst as Vulcan gripped Wisdom’s testicles and said, “Since you didn’t have the balls to attack us as a man you’re obviously not deserving of them.”

A blood-curdling scream reverberated throughout the base as Vulcan literally ground Wisdom’s testes to powder with his telekinesis. Dropping the broken mutant to the ground, Vulcan said, “Let that be a lesson to you. Don’t fight my father. Ever.”

“DIEEE!!” an enraged Kimura screamed as she leaped off a protein vat and slammed into a totally surprised Vulcan. With one knife she slashed him across his eye and the other knife she dug into his ribcage.

Gaunt was on the move to help Vulcan when an energy blast struck him in the face and knocked him on his back. When he rose to his feet he saw Cable with Omega on one shoulder and Wisdom on the other. In his non-cybernetic hand was a smoking metallic futuristic handgun. Cable kept the gun pointing forward as he said, “First shot’s a warning. Don’t make me fire again.”

“You don’t have to worry about letting off another shot. Your hand will be ripped off before then,” Gaunt replied as his golden fingers sharpened and grew in length at his command. He had to rid himself of Cable quickly so he could help Vulcan. Matrix’s woman had wounded him so he couldn’t concentrate on his powers. Just a few attacks and he could dispose of the X-Corps member.

“I’d be careful if I was you. Your hands could go before mine,” Cable said to Gaunt’s confusion.

BAMF! Two demonic feet latched onto Gaunt’s wrists in a plume of sulfuric smoke. BAMF! Those appendages were deposited behind the soldier of Sinister. It took a moment for him to realize what had happened, but by then Nightcrawler had relieved Cable of Omega and Wisdom. So Gaunt wasn’t able to stop the two blasts that struck him and propelled him through two protein vats.

Dayspring moved forward to see if the job had been finished when he was struck from behind by a plasma blast. Trying to rise to his feet, Cable heard a chilling voice saying, “I don’t see why I even waste my time enlisting help. You and yours always manage to hamper things.”

Turning back, Cable saw Sinister with an unconscious mutant on his shoulder that Nathan could only assume to be Darwin.

Kimura backed off of her brutal attack against Vulcan by mental command from Sinister. Seeing his battered son he snarled at Cable and said, “You’ll find your two teammates not far from here. Take them and leave with your lives.”

“And if I decide to tell you to go to hell?”

“Then we put a hurting on you,” Requiem said, as Sinister’s soldiers appeared behind him eager for a fight.

Rising to his feet, Cable weighed his options and said,” This isn’t over Sinister. Not by a long shot.”

Essex laughed. “Nathan, you and the rest of Xavier’s brood are very low on my priority list. Your affairs are of infinitesimal importance to me. Be gone and mind who you decide to challenge.”

Cable didn’t respond as he lifted himself upward and left out of Sinister’s sight. Essex turned back to his soldiers and said, “Take Vulcan and Gaunt out of here. We have Darwin. I’ll confront Mother Matrix on my own terms. That charlatan has much to answer for.”

“Are you sure sir?” Sorrow asked.

Essex nodded. “Indeed I am. The woman is an atrocious pushover and a fraud. Only one thing could be threatening about her and that’s the woman’s terrible attire. I have nothing to fear here.”

Funeral spoke for everyone in saying, “We don’t doubt. We’ll be waiting.”

“You won’t have to wait long. This will be short.”

Mother Matrix had watched the battle and noticed that one element was missing. Black Womb had carefully avoided their competition and was making their way straight for her. They were coming to issue a permanent pink slip and one of Mueller’s creations would be its deliverer. She had seen how Severus had dealt with The Neo and was both impressed and frightened by his power. Project: ROMAN had been something that Matrix was against from the start. The idea of creating so many powerful psis, particularly to the US government, was simply not a good one. To Matrix, it yielded too much potential for self-destruction. The USA would not let Black Womb exist after it was through milking it. Her prediction was that their very own creations would be used as weapons against them. Today that prediction was slightly coming true, at least for her.

The only advantage she had on Black Womb was her surveillance system. It allowed her to monitor the every move of her opponents. She knew that Black Womb and Sinister were both making their way to her. Sinister might have teleported ahead of Black Womb, but Matrix’ control room jammed that ability. She knew what he wanted. The Rapture.

It was a temporal genetic scanning system. Essentially, it was your normal mutant tracking system on crack. The system was able to locate mutants globally, catalog their DNA, and even catalog mutant DNA from the past. Having The Rapture would give Sinister access to any mutant DNA that had ever existed. The Rapture system was the Holy Grail of any mutant geneticist. Essex had developed it and so far no one had been able to duplicate it. She could only imagine his anger at his system being snatched away.

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Hearing the automated voice, Matrix let out a sigh of relief. There was some hope now that things would play out in her favor. Everything would hinge on how her upcoming encounters went. Sinister would be the hardest to redirect. The Victorian with his cold logic and morbid curiously was not easily taken off his chosen path.

Looking at one of her monitors, Matrix saw that Sinister was right outside her control room door. She took a deep breath as he blasted it wiped open and sent shattered metal in every direction. Matrix looked through the murky smoke and said, “I thought you would have been here sooner.”

“This time is just awful for traffic,” Sinister said as he stepped out of the smoke. Matrix found his smile to be ravenous one. He was looking upon her as prey for consumption. She planned to give him a bitter aftertaste if that was indeed his true intention.

“So why Darwin? Of what importance is he to you?”

Sinister threw his head back and laughed, “Do you think I would tell a worthless scientist what I have planned? You and your fellows at Black Womb have desecrated my work.”

“I’m not quite as worthless as you would like to think,” Mother Matrix angrily replied as her five teleporting mutants appeared above Sinister and pounced him. Though they had abandoned Kimura, they would not leave their creator. Each teleporter dug their swords into Sinister’s metallic flesh.

Each sword poured out energy that disrupted Sinister’s molecular structure. The teleporters quickly pulled out their swords and Sinister fell to one knee. Essex was struggling to stay coherent from the assault. It had indeed surprised him and with a crimson glare he both congratulated and condemned Matrix. She, on the other hand, was inwardly reveling in seeing the mighty Sinister wounded. From behind her back she removed a sleek green gun. Taking care to aim, she shot Sinister in the forehead. In his weakened state, the blast knocked Sinister backwards. Seeing that gave Matrix all the more reason to gloat. Her she was, a normal human, beating one of the planet’s deadliest men. If there was ever a time for the feminist to come out in her…

“This gun is designed to scramble mental faculties. I’m sure by now its effects are taking hold,” Matrix triumphantly said.

Triumph was short lived as Sinister rose to his feet and snatched the gun out of her hand. With his other hand, he smacked Matrix across the face and sent her crashing into the ground. He then proceeded to press his foot into her throat and asked, “Where is what I came for?”

“That should be the least of your concerns,” Severus said as he entered the control room with his Black Womb agents. Every last weapon they had was pointed at Sinister. With his wall of weaponry behind him, Severus ordered Sinister to, “Surrender now and let us deal with the woman as we would.”

“Do you honestly believe you could stop me? Any of you?” Sinister asked with slow-burning rage. “Do you think me foolish enough to come here alone?”

A terrasect portal ripped open behind the Black Womb enforcers and a powerful sonic scream tore through it. The agents quickly dropped their weapons and gripped their ears. Severus even was forced to do so. The source of the scream, Ruckus, came out of the portal with the rest of the Nasty Boys and Stryfe behind him. The pink-haired mutant said in his thick Australian accent, “Sorry for running late boss.”

Stryfe telekinetically burst the hearts of all the Black Womb enforcers except for Severus, who he kept prisoner in a telekinetic bubble. “I would strongly suggest not struggling. You’re outnumbered and outpowered.”

Satisfied that the situation was being handled, Sinister turned back to matrix and said, “The Rapture is mine. Tell me where it is now!”

“Can’t get through my psi-blocks huh?” Matrix smiled with bloody teeth.

“I could destroy your mind, but I was attempting the gentle course,” Sinister replied and then smiled. “Consider the course failed.”

Essex spread his hand wide and unleashed the killing blow. One destructive scientist had been removed from the picture.

Cable, Psylocke, Bishop, and Nightcrawler had assembled only a few hours after their returns from their missions. Psylocke began the gatherings’ dialogue. “We took a beating today. We’re looking at four injured operatives. All of which won’t be active again for weeks or months, if ever. I’m not even bloody sure it was worth it.”

“If nothing else, we’ve found out a great deal more about Sinister and his operations,” Nightcrawler said, hoping to inject some optimism.

Dayspring grunted. “We know we don’t have enough to take him and his goons on.”

Bishop disagreed. “We have more than enough. We just can’t hold back anymore. Sinister obviously isn’t.”

“I just wonder how things went down in Pakistan. I almost want to pull for Matrix in this situation,” Psylocke said.

“It’s doubtful she made it out. Sinister and Black Womb had it out for her. Even with just one of those elements on her tail she would have had a hard time coming out on top,” Cable said.

At that moment, Maverick walked through the office door in full armor and said, “I’m leaving.”

“You’re what?!!” Cable asked nearly biting his tongue in the process. One more operative gone is not what they needed.

“A friend called in a favor. I have to go where I’m needed,” Maverick replied unmoved by Cable’s anger.

Bishop wasn’t a bed of smiles, but he kept his feelings to himself. Nightcrawler was of the same mood, but was sympathetic to the call of a friend. Betsy knew more than anyone else in that room and with that in mind she said, “Go and take care of yourself out there. You have a rough road ahead.”

Daypsring and Bishop eyed Betsy suspiciously, but both made a note to say nothing of it. That was when a telepathic message peeked into their heads.

[Trust me on this. He’s needed where he’s going. We’ll make due]

That message wasn’t enough to satisfy the two mutants, but they allowed Maverick to leave without argument. Before closing the door, North said, “All of you be careful. X-Corps got into some dangerous territory today. Make sure you remember why you’re here.”

“We will my freund and God’s speed to you,” Nightcrawler said as Maverick shut the door.

Epilogue (Germany)

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Professor Harkins breathed a sigh of relief, but knew that his friend was gone. When the air cleared he would try and collect as much of her work as he could. The Facility would live on. He would make sure to that. With whatever he could, he would rebuild it and gain retribution against her murderers.

They had taken from the world a great friend and an even greater scientist. Such an offense would be taken lightly. It couldn’t be.

“Professor Harkins. I feel passion coming from you. You want revenge. I can provide you that which you seek if you only you promise allegiance to me.”

In the dark of this secluded laboratory, Harkins thought he was losing his mind when he heard the voice. Swiveling away from his computer, Harkins looked out into the shadow and asked, “Who’s there?”

“I can help you Harkins. Just pledge allegiance.”

“Step into the light!” Harkins yelled.

The voice step into the light and gave itself physical form. “I’m here Harkins. I’m not going to hurt you. I see your genius. I want to cultivate it.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m the Genemaker.”

NEXT ISSUE: Big issue 25 hits next! Who is The Nubian? X-Corps’ latest threat and possibly the match that will ignite a continent wide genetic war.