THE NUBIAN KING

Part II

By Brent Lambert

Bishop and Cable waded through the crowd of mutants that had encamped themselves in front of the shanty hostel that The Nubian was housed up in. Since the stoning of a mutant boy, the African country had been in an uproar over the incident. Many praised the death as a glorious act and that was the general sentiment of the country. The Nubian and his group, The Future Path, had promised changed to those angered over the tragedy. Whether that change would come about violently was what the two X-Corps intended to determine.

Psylocke had sent them, rather reluctantly, to investigate The Nubian because if he was hostile they were the most capable of dealing with it. She had become the leader of X-Corps after Wisdom was injured in battle against Sinister’s newest creation, Vulcan. Bishop and Cable respected her in her position, but they felt she should have struck first and asked questions later in this situation.

“We can’t keep being timid like this. Trying to feel out our enemies all the time is only going to cause us to get hurt,” Cable said as they slowly pushed past the chanting mutants. They were calling for justice and mutant freedom.

“We’re not even sure if The Nubian is an enemy,” Bishop replied.

Cable eyed Bishop skeptically. “Did you hear the same speech I did? The Nubian is another Magneto in the making and The Future Path sounds dangerously similar to the shining one.”

“We can’t go into this with blind assumptions. Those weren’t our orders. Psylocke wanted us to be unbiased in this endeavor,” Bishop said as he bumped shoulders hard with a bulky Ethiopian man.

Dayspring just shook his head. “You aren’t that much of an orders man are you Bishop? You weren’t so objective when laying blame at Gambit’s feet.”

That had reached Bishop. In his time he had worked for a future version of Gambit and in that time had done horrible things that he kept to himself till this day. He believed that Gambit was the man who had betrayed the X-men and created the desolate landscape that was his time. Bishop carried that assumption with him to the present and made his disgust of Gambit known to anyone that would listen. Onslaught eventually proved that assumption wrong, but the relationship between the two was a strained one.

“I’ve learned since then Cable. And lets cut to the real core of the problem here. You think you should be where Elisabeth is.”

“I have three times the experience she has in military operations.”

“But none of her finesse,” Bishop replied. “You’re a heavy handed person like me. Our type is only needed in small doses. To lead an operation like X-Corps requires more than that.”

Then like lightning the pain struck Bishop and he fell to the ground clutching his head. His world was in a tailspin and he closed his eyes to try and black it out. When he opened his eyes again the world was a much different place. He was no longer in Ethiopia, but in front of the Westchester Academy. It was on fire and the sky above him was gray and full of crackling storms.

“The visions again,” Bishop said to his dismay. Ever since he escaped capture from Shaw’s Psi-Sentinels the visions had been plaguing his dreams and sometimes his waking thoughts. The visions always conveyed the same message. Desolation and misery.

“Bishop!! What the hell man?”

Turning around, Bishop saw a sight that only added to the weight of this vision. In front of him was a bearded Samuel Guthrie with two bionic legs. Bishop must have been staring too long because Sam said, “What’s wrong Bish? I’ve had these for years.”

“What year is it?”

Cannonball eyed Bishop suspiciously. “2024.”

“He must have got knocked on the head a little too hard,” an older Rachel Summers said as she descended from the sky and landed behind Cannonball. “The Hounds knocked him up too bad probably.”

Bishop heard explosions and laser fire from afar and he asked, “Did The Hounds start this? Who started this?”

Sam looked to Rachel and back to Bishop. “Man, we need to take you to see Hank. I think you—

“Answer me!” Bishop said. He didn’t have time for this. He needed answers before the vision was over.

“The X-Factor Initiative. The assault on Los Angeles. You remember?” Rachel asked, a bit afraid of Bishop’s behavior.

Bishop shook his head and asked, “Where’s Shard?”

Cannonball sighed. “She died man. I’m sorry.”

“Tell me how,” Bishop replied.

“She was a general in the XI. Ahab killed her in the Los Angeles assault,” Rachel said.

Before Bishop could ask something else a pain gripped him in his chest and he fell to the ground. Rachel rushed to him and said, “Are you alright Bishop?”

“Are you alright Bishop?” Cable asked as he helped his teammate to his feet. “You blacked out.”

“I’m fine. Must have been the heat.”

“It’s more than that. Your mind completely vanished. I couldn’t find you. What’s really going on?” Cable asked. It was like Bishop had left this plane of existence altogether.

“I would like to know the answer to that question as well,” The Nubian said a she floated down from the sky o a ball of concentrated, rotating air. He had a countenance of royalty about him and all the arrogance that came along with it. The beige cloak wrapped around his neck appeared unblemished as he stepped off the air ball. The sword strapped to his back glistened in the sun.

Cable saw the man and said, “You must be The Nubian. My friend and I came to talk to you.”

The Nubian gave a small laugh. “You are one of many my friend. Though among the first to faint to get my attention.”

Bishop, having his composure, glared at the Egyptian mutant and said, “Believe me. It wasn’t for you.”

“So you have my attention. Now talk.”

Dayspring fought back his annoyance at the attitude being given to him. “If this situation gets out of control do you intend to fight back?”

“Of course. For too long have mutants suffered under the tyrannical rule of humanity. If they do not respect us now then they never will!” The Nubian exclaimed with a fiery passion that reminded Cable far too much of Magneto in his heyday.

“Why fight? All the mutants here could decimate any third world army,” Cable said.

“You underestimate the power and resources of the third world stranger. Considering your color though it’s hardly a surprise,” The Nubian said with the tone a snotty rich man would take with his chauffeur in a traffic jam.

Cable was taken aback. It was one thing to be insulted as a mutant, but never had he been insulted on a racial level. He almost didn’t know how to respond. “How can someone with such old world views lead the future?”

“I got a rise out of you,” The Nubian laughed. “Good. Now amplify that feeling by a thousand and you will see my frustration with humanity. We will never been as equals by them. We must force them to X-Man.”

Bishop narrowed his eyes and said, “Guess you aren’t as backwards as I thought.”

“The arrogance of you X-Men is amazing. Do you think you’re the only mutant organization in the world with intel? Underestimate The Future Path to you peril.”

Nathan knew where this scenario would eventually lead and decided to accelerate it to that point. He gave Bishop a quick glance and shouted, “Now!” as telekinetic energy erupted from his body and sent The Nubian flying backwards through the crowds of mutants. They were shocked at the sudden attack and rushed to their fallen leader.

Cable snatched Bishop’s arm and said, “Bodyslide back to location 241 now!”

They broke up into streams of light and were gone before The Nubian’s web could arrive to aid him.

Tabitha knew that seeing friends get hurt was part of the lot that she received in her line of work. Still, it didn’t make it any easier when she had to face that reality. Quentin and her had clicked very quickly. They had the same approach and his “I’m cooler than you” attitude made her laugh in a way she hadn’t in a long time. He was nothing like Sam, but he made her feel the same. She was comfortable in her own skin around them. Given her personal history that wasn’t easily accomplished.

“Stay with me Q. I’m not going anywhere,” Meltdown said as she took her friend’s hand. She had been at his hospital bed almost constantly since he was put into the infirmary along with Wisdom, Mimic, and Northstar. Worthington had sent them a doctor from X-Corporation to fill in the role that Rory Campbell had once held.

“Are you sure you don’t want something t drink? I just made a few brew,” Dr. Marcus Brown said. His youthful looks betrayed the fact that he was in his mid-30s. Tabitha found him to be quite attractive if not a bit vain. The way he tried to hide his Jamaican accent was by the cutest thing about him.

“Naw I’m good Doc. The last thing I need to be is jittery,” Tabitha said. Too much coffee and she’d be setting off tiny plasma bombs for the hell of it.

“Just call me Marc. Doc makes me feel unprofessional.”

Tabitha rolled her eyes at the silliness the good doctor was portraying and wasn’t able to spot the soft magenta glow coming from under Omega’s eye patches.

Wisdom looked completely unprofessional with his feet propped up on his desk and an unlit cigarette in his mouth. In the office with him was Psylocke and Nightcrawler, each of them having grown use to Wisdom’s style. The exception to the rule of all the operatives was Bishop, who managed to instantly look annoyed anytime he was around Wisdom. Still, he was the leader of the organization and they all knew that from the day they signed on.

Pulling the cigarette away from his mouth, Wisdom said, “So lets be frank, the last two missions were absolute shite.”

Psylocke gave a charming smile and said, “I wouldn’t say that love.”

Wisdom returned the comment with a dry laugh. “I would. We suffered injuries and profited nothing. Mother Matrix is dead so any information we might have gotten from her is gone.”

“A sad fate,” Nightcrawler sighed. “I hope her soul is at peace.”

“I could care less about her soul, mate,” Wisdom said as he swiveled in his chair and stood to his feet. “I wanted the information she had on Black Womb.”

Kurt didn’t care for Wisdom’s insensitivity, but he really wouldn’t be Wisdom without it. There was a point to what he had said though. Black Womb had been a thorn in their sides for some time and any knowledge about them could only be useful. Matrix had been a former scientist for the organization and would have been a wealth of information. Her death had been a violent and pointless one.

“I think we were being used by Sinister in that respect,” Psylocke said and she didn’t continue until she was sure she had her teammate’s attention. “Sinister let us have that Black Womb information for a reason. He wanted to make us participants in his game of hide and seek. Flush out those he hated and then he’d finish them off.”

“We’re just going to have to stay a step ahead of him,” Wisdom said as he finally lit his cigarette.

Kurt folded his arms across his chest and shook his head at Wisdom’s simplicity. “Easier said than done. This is Sinister. I’m sure he has seen every possible angle.”`

“Then we’ll have to find that one impossible angle,” Wisdom said. “We should change directions. Maybe go back to looking for what Stryfe is after.”

“I think we should let everyone know what’s going on. This is too much for us to handle. Sinister, Black Womb, The Neo, and now The Future Path. Maybe Scott could help,” Kurt said. He got skeptical looks from Wisdom and the man’s ex.

Psylocke especially didn’t have the best of feelings towards Cyclops. He had removed her from the X-Men and the wound wasn’t entirely healed. “We go to Scott and we might as well hand over the reigns to him.”

“We do things in a way Cyclops might not like. I don’t have time to play by the Boy Scout code and it won’t help our situation,” Wisdom said. His point was clearly stated. Cyclops was not going to figure into X-Corps in any way.

Nightcrawler never really understood the resentment some had for Scott. He was an entirely capable leader and had the best interests of his teammates at heart. Scott always took full responsibility for his actions and that was something everyone could try to mimic. He wasn’t anywhere near as cold-hearted as Wisdom, but many mistook his great self-control for that trait. Kurt sometimes wished he could borrow some of that from Cyclops.

“No offense to the mansion blokes, but we can’t depend on them. They’re too caught up in their soap opera lives to be of much use,” Wisdom said. His tone was dripping with sarcasm.

“They can’t be much worse than X-Factor,” Psylocke said. “At least they won’t shoot me in the back.”

“My sister’s a better shot than that. She’d load one into your head,” Bishop said with an expression showing his distaste with Psylocke’s humor. He had abruptly interrupted the meeting along with Cable. Hearing Psylocke’s comment was what had prompted him to do it because no matter what his sister was his sister.

Hoping to break the tension, Nightcrawler asked, “So was the meeting with The Nubian successful?”

“No,” Cable said. “We’re dealing with a war monger, but I think Psylocke already knew that.”

Wisdom let out a smooth wisp of gray air and sighed, “Great. Another Magneto on our hands. Guess we should count our blessings.”

“I’d like to think we’re deserving of a few,” Kurt said. “Of course I have to wonder what this blessing is mein freund.”

“That the real Magneto has calmed down,” Wisdom said.

“So what are we going to do?” Psylocke asked with the intent of keeping the conversation focused. “We can’t tackle every problem at once.”

Wisdom tried his best to not look like he was thinking and said, “We handle the immediate threat. A gene war in Africa is not what we need. It would draw all our attention.”

“Agreed,” Cable said wishing he had cut loose when he first saw The Nubian. That could have saved them all a great deal of trouble. “So who is going to be on the attack team?”

“Do we have any of the abilities of The Nubian camp?” Wisdom asked.

Psylocke shook her head and the physic image of Wisdom faded away. Cable looked at her and said, “I don’t like us doing that. We can get by fine without him and he needs to heal after Pakistan.”

“He demanded to be involved despite that, but trust me. I agree with you. As far as he’ll know he was here for the entire meeting. I just needed something to base his fake memories off of,” Psylocke replied.

Not wanting to dwell on it, Bishop asked, “The attack team?”

Psylocke didn’t mind the nudge to get back on track. “I have my team in place. The squad into Ethiopia will be led by me and include Bishop, Rictor, Shatterstar, and Skin.”

Cable was not at all happy with what he heard. “Don’t you think I should be there? We still have enough people available for a heavy assault.”

“And enough problems to make that too risky,” Psylocke replied. “I need you here to take over in case things go bad. With Omega down we’re the only telepaths on the team.”

<Bishop is having some issues right now.>

<That I’m fully aware of.>

<Then why take him on this mission?>

<Bishop would never let me into his mind without some lengthy explanation. In the heat of battle I can slide into his mind and maybe see what’s wrong.>

<You’re taking a risk with lives here.>

<Like you did with a bunch of children when starting X-Force? I know what I’m doing Cable. Let me run this how I need to.>

Nightcrawler, in contrast to Cable, looked more concerned than angry. “Are you sure you would be able to quell a civil war if things go wrong?”

“Our objective isn’t to stop the fighting. It’s to stop The Nubian. Everything else will fall when he does,” Psylocke said.

“A snake without a head can only rattle so long. It is a sound plan in concept, but we’re not sure if the Nubian is the head here,” Bishop said. He hoped that possibility had crossed Psylocke’s mind. Why she was left in charge confused Bishop when there were much better candidates around.

Psylocke was feeling the heat from the three and began to blister under it. “Look! I don’t know what the malfunction is, but lets make things clear. I’m in charge. You blokes never even questioned Wisdom half this much.”

Nightcrawler took a deep breath and said, “Maybe we should have. Pakistan might not have been such a disaster. But that’s not the point. You have a history recklessness. To expect us to follow you like blind sheep is a bit much.”

Psylocke shook her head in disbelief. “Guess that black mark is going to follow me around forever. I can’t change that so it’s like this. Either trust me to lead or go home. Any takers?”

None of the men flinched under Psylocke’s ultimatum. Satisfied with the response, Psylocke said, “Good. I want us to be a smooth team and I value your input as long as there is respect coming with it. My past is my past and I make no apologies for it.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t include Fantomex in this mission. He’s always good in a fight,” Bishop said. Cable and Fantomex made combat more relaxed for the once XSE officer. Being around war-hardened professionals took some of the burden off of his shoulders. Going into Africa he would have neither.

“Fantomex is tracking Gloria Mueller. I’ve given him kill orders.”

Just when I was starting to think you might have your head on straight, Cable thought. “You send him to kill the one person he won’t?!”

“Ja, he’ll want to find out where his son is first.”

Psylocke gave a smug smile. “I know that full and well.”

Bishop’s face hid his being impressed with Psylocke. “You did it on purpose. You never wanted him to kill Mueller.”

Psylocke laughed. “At least one of you figured it out. I want Fantomex to find his son, but he doesn’t take pity from anyone. So I came up with this mission to let him do that.”

<Another dangerous gamble.>

<The only way I manage to get through life besides for mascara and heels.>

<Your ex is starting to rub off on you.>

<No love. I rubbed off on him.>

<That might explain the busted balls.>

<You’re awful.>