MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Part II: Things Change

By Dino Pollard

Cardenas, Cuba

Telford Porter stands on the balcony of his penthouse suite dressed in only a bathrobe. He slightly leans against the black iron railing, cradling a small whiskey glass filled with ice and bourbon. He lifts the glass to his lips and takes a nice, long sip from it, emptying the glass. He lets out a sigh of contentment as he looks up at the stars in the night sky.

“Nice view.”

He smiles slightly and turns around. He walks through the open balcony door. Laying naked in the large, king-sized bed is a woman with pale skin and jet-black hair which frames her face perfectly. The white bedsheet clings to the curves of her body perfectly, and Telford could feel blood rushing through his body upon viewing her.

“Why thank you,” says Porter. He walks over to the minibar to refresh his drink and glances over to her. “You want a drink?”

“Manhattan,” she says. Porter nods and mixes some rye with sweet vermouth in a cocktail glass. He picks it up and walks over to the bed, handing it to her. She accepts it and smiles, lightly taking a sip. Porter takes a seat beside her on the bed and looks into her eyes.

“So tell me…” he begins. “What exactly does Shaw want with me?”

“What makes you think I’m here on Shaw’s behalf?” she asks.

“Come now, Tessa, don’t insult my intelligence,” replies Porter. “I begin making strides in my private enterprise, Sebastian Shaw’s right hand woman shows up in my bed and I’m to believe it’s all just a coincidence?”

“Well, I will admit that you’ve definitely come a long way from your days as the Vanisher,” says Tessa. “With that horrendous green costume and cape.”

“Don’t remind me,” says Porter. “It was the style at the time for all criminals to dress up in ridiculously flasy costumes and think up stupid names. I personally blame Magneto.”

“Times change,” says Tessa. “Magneto is now on the side of angels and a head of state in Genosha. And you’re a drug kingpin. But why Cuba of all places?”

“Castro’s an old friend,” says Porter. “When I was stealing intelligence reports, he was one of my clients. He owes me, so he gives me autonomy when I’m in his country. Now, I’ll ask again… what does Shaw want with me?”

Tessa slides off the bed, keeping the sheet wrapped around her body as she walks to a pile of discarded clothes. She begins to pull them on over her lithe body, purposely giving Porter a bit of a show. She looks back at him with a flirtatious smile.

“First and foremost, Mr. Shaw is a businessman, Telford,” says Tessa. “And he has a business proposition for you. That is, if you’re interested in increasing your capital.”

“My dear, money is the language of the world,” says Porter as he reclines on the bed. “And it just so happens that I’m fluent in it. Let’s hear what you’ve got to say.”

X-Corps HQ; Australia

“Any luck?”

David North turns his head to see a man with short, black hair standing behind him, holding an opaque helmet with an M on it in his arms. He shakes his head and turns his attention back to the large computer terminal.

“I’ve been in contact with the other branches, but so far our Cerebra net has yet to pick up any trace of Wildchild,” he says. “If he is a prisoner, Black Womb’s able to keep him hidden even from Cerebra.”

Archer nods his head slightly. Wildchild, one of their fellow teammates, was lost to them on their last mission when they investigated a Black Womb facility in New Guinea.

“Any updates on the bodyslide technology?” asks Archer.

“Last I heard, Cable’s still working on it, but he’s close to completion,” replies Maverick. “One of the downsides to not existing is we can’t enlist the help of Forge to help us out when things break. What are the others up to?”

“Proudstar and Mimic are off sparring,” says Archer. “Not sure about Rictor or Shatterstar, though.”

“Hmm…” says Maverick. “This is driving me nuts, we can’t even get a blip of his genetic code. It’s almost as if he dropped off the face of the earth. There’s got to be some way we can track him down. Part of me wants to return to New Guinea, but I’m not sure if the facility there is still active or not. Any suggestions?”

Maverick hears no response, and turns slightly in the swivel chair to face Archer. Except he finds he is alone in the room.

“Archer…?”

Location Undisclosed

“Guards!” exclaims Madison Jeffries.

“Take Kyle,” says his wife, Diamond Lil. She hands over her former teammate and Madison throws Kyle’s arm over his shoulder to support the weak young man.

Lillian Crawley steps forward as the three Black Womb guards open fire on her. She stands her ground as the bullets have no effect on her and she rushes forward. She grabs a rifle from one of the guards and pulls it from his grasp. She swings it around and hits him with the butt of it. The second guard tries to distract her while the third moves past her. She kicks the legs out from the second guard and drives her fist into his face. She turns to see the third guard opening fire on Madison and Wildchild, and Madison simply raises his free hand. The bullets freeze in midair and the guard watches in shock, the distraction Lil needs to ram into him from behind with all her weight.

“Lil, over here,” says Madison. He places his hand against the metal door and then removes it. The door slides open. He steps inside and motions to the young woman laying on the ground. Diamond Lil runs in and examines her.

“Well?” asks Madison.

“Jackpot,” replies Diamond Lil. “It’s Aurora, alright.”

“Good,” says Madison. “That means part one of the mission is accomplished. Time to move on to part two.”

X-Corps HQ; Muir Isle

Angelo Espinosa stands in front of a mirror, concentrating hard to reshape his facial features into that of Jacob Zurit, the man whose photograph he has. He hears a knock on the door and he shouts for the visitor to come in. The door opens and Leyu Yoshida steps in. Angelo sees her reflection in the mirror and turns to face her.

“Looks like you have that down,” she says.

“Pretty much,” says Angelo. “And this time a loud noise didn’t make me lose concentration.”

“Are you sure you can handle this?” she asks.

“No,” he replies. “But I gotta try, right?”

“Go back to normal,” says Leyu. “Now.”

“What if I say no?” asks Angelo, crossing his arms over his chest. Leyu smiles and walks up to him. She wraps her arms around his neck and lightly kisses it. She moves her mouth up slightly to his ear and whispers into it.

“Then you never see me naked again.”

Angelo’s face instantly returns back to its normal shape and Leyu smiles.

“That’s better,” she says. She moves her mouth to his and the two kiss. Angelo wraps his arms around her and slowly moves her over to the bed when all of a sudden they hear knocking on the door.

“Dios mio…” mutters Angelo.

“Angelo, it’s time to go,” comes the voice of Fixx from outside the door. Angelo and Leyu both sigh.

Location Undisclosed

Inside a communications room, Diamond Lil stands by the door, keeping watch. At a computer terminal sits Madison Jeffries with Wildchild and Aurora hovering over him, their eyes focused on the same screen his are.

“What exactly is it we’re looking for here?” asks Wildchild.

“I don’t really know…” replies Madison, scanning through various files.

“You don’t know?” asks Aurora.

“Why was it just the two of you?” asks Wildchild. “Where’s the rest of Alpha Flight?”

“We’re not part of Alpha Flight anymore, Kyle,” replies Diamond Lil. “We’re here on our own.”

“Alpha Flight has its own share of problems right now, so we figured it was best to do this solo,” says Madison. He opens a file and his eyes grow wide. “…but it doesn’t look like that’s much of an option anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” asks Wildchild. He looks at the computer and his reaction is similar to Madison’s, as is Aurora’s.

“Lil… you might want to take a look at this,” says Madison. Diamond Lil walks over to the computer and looks over the file Madison opened up.

“Oh my god…” she says.

“Let’s get to work,” says Madison. “We have to get this info to Heather immediately.”

X-Corps HQ; Muir Isle

Angelo Espinosa sits in a chair wearing a white sheet over his body. Fixx stands behind him, holding an electric razor with a large clipper on it.

“…is this really necessary?” he asks.

“Yes,” replies Havok. “Zurit is bald, and since your shapeshifting abilities are limited to just manipulation of your skin, we have to make some adjustments.”

Fixx turns on the razor and begins sliding it across Angelo’s head, shaving off his short, brown hair. It only takes a few moments before Angelo has nothing more than a thin layer of brown hair on his skull. Fixx removes the clipper from the razor and then begins shaving Angelo’s head completely bald. She removes the sheet and shakes out the hair.

“All set, boss,” says Fixx.

“Good,” says Havok. “Let’s move on to the next part.”

Angelo’s skin begins to shift into the form of Jacob Zurit.

“Now the rest,” says Havok.

“Really now, is this all necessary?” asks Angelo.

“Jacob Zurit doesn’t have gray skin, so yes,” replies Havok. “Now strip.”

Angelo mutters curses under his breath and pulls his X-Corps uniform off, leaving it in a pile on the floor. He steps into a small, pod-like chamber and closes the door. Fixx steps over to the controls and activates them. Inside the chamber, Angelo closes his eyes as various jets surround him and bathe him in body paint to dye his skin to the skin tone of Jacob Zurit. The jets retreat back into their respective holes and small heat lamps as well as warm air blowers activate to dry the paint quickly. Once the paint is dry, the door to the chamber opens and Angelo steps out. Fixx hands him a folded pile of clothes and he pulls them on–a brown business suit.

“Good,” says Havok. He walks over to a table and picks up a small, metal box and takes it over to Angelo. Havok opens the box and inside is a small, flesh-colored patch. Havok removes the patch and places it on Angelo’s throat.

“Let’s give it a try,” says Havok. Angelo nods and opens his mouth.

“My name is Jacob Zurit,” he says. His eyes grow wide and a smile appears over his face once he realizes the patch works and his voice is completely disguised.

“Good,” says Havok. “Fixx?”

Fixx closes her eyes and from the small object on her forehead, a psychic faerie emerges and flies directly into Angelo’s head. Knowledge of Jacob Zurit’s life is suddenly engrained into his brain, and he remembers everything about the man.

“Whoa…” he says. “What happened to the real Zurit?”

“We have him held up in a safehouse,” replies Havok. “Your flight to New York leaves in two hours, so you should get moving, Mr. Zurit.”

X-Corps HQ; Australia

A massive optic blast forces James Proudstar back against the side of a mountain. He falls slightly once the blast dissipates and looks up at his attacker. With incredible speed, Proudstar rushes forward. The Mimic fires off several optic blasts in rapid succession, but Proudstar dodges around each of them. He leaps in the air and comes barreling down, but finds himself striking an ice barrier the Mimic has erected around his body.

The barrier suddenly drops and the Mimic slams his gigantic feet against Proudstar’s head, thanks to the superhuman strength of the Beast. Proudstar charges into him, but the Mimic gets in sync with his powers and uses Proudstar’s speed to avoid his attacks. The Mimic’s feathered wings carry him into the sky and Proudstar chases after him on the ground, picking up momentum. He charges up the side of a small mountain and from the top he drops down, crashing onto the back of Calvin Rankin. The two plummet in free-fall, trading blows, before their descent begins to slow and they are slowly lowered to the ground thanks to the Mimic’s telekinesis.

“Not bad…” says the Mimic.

“Thanks,” says Proudstar. “Never realized how tough it would be to fight all five of the original X-Men.”

“Heh, not as easy as you thought, huh?” asks the Mimic with a chuckle.

“I wonder why Ric’ and ‘Star didn’t want to join in?” asks Proudstar.

“Dunno, I stopped by Shatterstar’s room and I heard a lot of grunting, so I assumed he was exercising in there,” replies Mimic. “And I couldn’t find Rictor.”

“Are you serious?” asks Proudstar.

“Yeah, why?” asks Mimic. “Something wrong?”

“No… nothing at all,” replies Proudstar with a knowing smile. “Just…”

“Just what?” asks Mimic.

“Nevermind, it’s not important,” replies Proudstar. “Think Maverick had any luck tracking down Wildchild?”

“No clue,” replies Mimic. “…huh?”

“I didn’t say anything,” says Proudstar.

“No, not you,” says Mimic. “I just… my telepathy just picked something up.”

“What is it?” asks Proudstar.

“Not sure,” says Mimic. “But it seems to be gone now.”

A sudden explosion from behind draws the attention of the two. They turn towards in in shock and Proudstar moves at superhuman speed towards it. Mimic quickly adopts Proudstar’s speed and follows him in the air. When the two arrive at the site of the explosion, however, they find nothing there.

“What do you suppose that was?” asks Mimic.

“Not a clue,” replies Proudstar.

“Let us fill you in on the details then, mates.”

Mimic and Proudstar turn around. Before them are six individuals. A man with tanktreads for legs, another who looks human, a man who has a mask with a fractured skull on it, and three other men who all appear to be dressed in similar clothing.

“I suppose introductions are in order,” says the man with tanktreads for legs. “My name is Bonebreaker and we’re the Reavers. And you’re in our home.”