MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Part IV: Aim High

By Dino Pollard

New Jersey

“We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.”

The voice belongs to a man dressed in black leather, with an opaque glass helmet concealing his face. His shoulders and his belt both contain silver X symbols on them, and he holds a baton in his hand.

The patrons of the bar are scattered across. Many of them are bruised and battered, some have broken bones. Some are unconscious. Some have avoided the stranger’s wrath and were able to locate sufficient hiding spots.

He steps forward, his boots echoing on the wooden floor. A white glow appears around his entire body and it seems to grow with every step he takes. He looks around the bar, trying to find someone who will speak up and answer his question.

“No takers, I assume?” he asks.

No one responds and a dead silence fills the air. He slams his baton on the bartop, and it cracks the heavy wood. The loud resounding noise shocks the patrons and they instantly look up at him, fearing they might be next.

“I will ask again…” he begins, his voice raising slightly in tone and anger. “What can anyone here tell me about Jude Black? The man had a wife and son who are now missing. I want someone — anyone — to tell me what happened to them.”

Again, nothing but silence. Archer lifts up his baton and it begins to glow brightly with energy.

“The people have spoken,” he says. “The hard way it is.”

AIM Factory
Ningxia Hui, China

“Status report?”

The question is asked of several AIM agents sitting in an oberservation laboratory. The inquiry was made by their commanding officer. Like all agents of AIM, they are dressed in yellow suits with large helmets which resemble HAZ-MAT suits. The commanding officer has insignia on his shoulder to identify him as such.

“Energy levels have stabalized,” says one of the agents. “Psionic capabilities are working at 67% capacity.”

“How long before they’re operating at 100%?” asks the commanding officer.

“Not quite sure yet, perhaps a few more weeks or so of testing,” replies the agent.

“And if there were a setback, it would be delayed further, right?”

“Well… yes, but why?”

The commanding officer puts his hand on the agent’s shoulder. The agent’s body begins convulsing with electricity. The other agents move forward, but electricity quickly emits from his fingertips. The AIM agents are all disarmed quickly, and fall to the ground unconscious. The commanding officer pulls one of the agents’ limp bodies from the control panel he collapsed on. He places his hands on the panel and begins scrambling the components with his powers. The lights begin flickering on and off. He stops and concentrates on his thoughts.

“Bedlam here. All forms of scanning devices are now offline.”

“Good soldier. Juggernaut’s up.”

“Bedlam did his job — now it’s your turn,” says Northstar upon hearing Cable’s mental command. Meltdown’s eyes travel from Northstar to the large man dressed in black armor. The Juggernaut steps beside his teammates and grins. He cracks his knuckles as he begins approaching the AIM factory.

“You mean I get to break things now?” he asks. “Looks like Christmas is comin’ early this year.”

The Juggernaut moves up closer and tears the fence as if it were paper. Automatic gun turrets start firing at him, but the bullets cause him no harm. He simply ignores them as his massive fists slam into the walls of the factory.

“Y’know, he enjoys this waaay too much,” says Meltdown. “I think he’s got some anger management issues.”

She turns to look at Northstar, but he’s already gone.

“Aww crap, guess I better move in, then…” mutters Meltdown, creating a plasma orb in her hand. AIM agents quickly begin swarming the area, weapons firing at the Juggernaut. Meltdown leaps into the fray, hurling her plasma bombs on the ground to throw them off guard. In the blink of an eye, AIM agents are missing their guns.

“Looking for these?” asks Northstar, standing beside a pile of discarded weapons.

“We’ve got our distraction,” says Cable. His left eye glows brightly behind his circular sunglasses as he looks at Xorn. “You guys ready to take out a Sentinel factory?”

Xorn nods.

“Good,” says Cable. His hand grasps the small baton strapped to his thigh. With a thought, it extends to a full-length staff. A blade extends from the tip of it, becoming a spear-like weapon. It’s called the Psimitar, a weapon which channels Cable’s psionic powers through it. The three X-Corps agents walk towards the entrance, and it opens up. A man stands there dressed in an AIM uniform. He removes his helmet, revealing the face of Bedlam.

“C’mon,” he says, tossing the helmet aside as he pulls off the HAZ-MAT suit. Beneath it is his X-Corps uniform.

Hellfire Club
New York

Angelo Espinosa grits his teeth in pain as his body strikes the cold, marble floor — hard. He tries to pull free of his bonds, but finds he can’t. The shackles are composed of energy, retracting and expanding whenever he tries to distort his skin. Angelo tries to stand, but stops once he feels the Red King’s sword resting on his shoulder. Instead, he looks up and sees a man dressed in Victorian clothing with long, black hair and sideburns.

“Well… isn’t this interesting,” says Sebastian Shaw.

“I found him snooping about,” says the Red King.

” You’ve done good work, Red King,” says Shaw. He stands and looks to his associates — Tessa, Astra, and the Vanisher. “Tell me, Mr. Espinosa… where is the real Jacob Zurit?”

“Safe,” replies Angelo.

“Xavier’s ilk is certainly growing far more overzealous these days, I see,” says Shaw.

“I don’t work for the X-Men,” says Angelo.

“Interesting,” says Tessa. “Our information shows you were last seen in their company.”

“Your information’s out of date, chica,” says Angelo. “I haven’t been an X-Man in awhile.”

“How fortuitous for us,” says the Vanisher. “That means if we kill you, the X-Men won’t come after us.”

“That supposed to scare me?” asks Skin. “Weren’t you that vato who used to run around in a costume that made the Toad look like a bad ass?”

“I say we just kill him and get it overwith,” says Astra.

“No,” says Shaw. “I have something far better in mind for our good friend, Angelo.”

AIM Factory
Ningxia Hui, China

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

“Before X-Corps Europe lost contact with Skin, he was able to transmit some information,” replies Cable. “Seems that Sebastian Shaw has contracted AIM to develop a new kind of Sentinel. It looks like AIM made some modifications to the Reavers, testing out some new Sentinel technology, which X-Corps Australia learned of, first-hand.”

“I got that part in the briefing,” says Bedlam. “But do we know what these new Sentinels are?”

“Only that Shaw seems to be improving them,” says Cable. “And improving Sentinel technology means bad news for mutants.”

“I feel some odd vibrations here,” says Xorn.

“What do you mean?” asks Bedlam.

“No, he’s right…” replies Cable. “The psychic impressions I’m receiving… they’re not human or mutant.”

“Alien then?” asks Bedlam. “Or Neo?”

“Nothing I’ve ever encountered before,” replies Cable. The lights above them begin flickering, signaling the return of power to the facility. “Juggernaut and the others are providing us with a distraction, so let’s make the most of it.”

Xorn steps up to a wall and places his hand against it. Beneath his iron helmet, the glow of the star that serves for his brain increases. The glow diminishes a bit more, and he turns back to Cable and Bedlam.

“Through here,” he says.

“You found ’em?” asks Cable.

“I’ve found… something,” replies Xorn. He places his hands back against the wall. Through the use of his gravitational abilities, he forces the wall to collapse and strike the ground. Xorn steps through with Cable and Bedlam following. Two AIM scientists stand in the control room and Cable steps forward.

“Sleep,” he says, his eye glowing brightly. The two scientists collapse on the ground and Bedlam runs up to the control panel.

“The psychic impressions are really strong in here…” says Cable.

“No…” says Xorn, stepping forward. “Not here… down there.”

The metal shields over the bay windows tear free thanks to Xorn’s gravitational powers. He and Cable move forward, while Bedlam moves over to one of the computer terminals. Below in the bay area they see several human-sized robots of some sort. Their heads are human, but half their cranium appears to be missing.

“The readings are coming from down there,” says Cable. “They’re not human… but they have brain activity.”

“Wish I could get you more info on them, but I’m no computer expert,” says Bedlam. “I can’t get through the security they have on here.”

“Don’t worry, Jesse,” says Cable, his eye glowing. “I have other methods.”

Using his telepathic abilities, Cable peels through the layers of the scientists’ minds, searching for the information he seeks. He sifts through protocol, regulations, years of education, fears, goals, finding his way to the truth of the project they were working on. The details open before him as if he were reading a book. He exits their minds, and the glow of his eye diminishes slightly.

“My God…” mutters Cable. “They’ve been using the brains of psi-sensitives, combining them with Sentinel technology.”

“Psi-Sentinels…” mutters Bedlam. “As if things weren’t bad enough for mutants.”

“…that doesn’t sound too good,” says Bedlam.

Cable looks down and watches as the eyes of the Psi-Sentinels light up, the sensors on their heads activating. He, Xorn, and Bedlam back away from the bay windows as the Psi-Sentinels rise up. They smash through the glass easily and hover closer towards the three agents. Cable steps forward and fires off several blasts of psionic energy from his Psimitar. The Psimitar slows down a few of the Psi-Sentinels, but not enough. A psionic whip appears in the hands of one of them, and it hurls it forward, wrapping it around Cable’s throat. His mental synapses ignite from the force of the whip.

Bedlam moves forward and extends his bio-electrical field, momentarily stunning the Psi-Sentinels. The whip releases Cable, and he falls back, Xorn standing by to help support him.

“We should get out of here,” says Bedlam. Xorn nods and Bedlam turns back to the Psi-Sentinels. He increases the force of his bio-electrical field, creating a barrier between them and the Psi-Sentinels. Xorn throws Cable’s arm over his shoulders and Cable uses him for support as they proceed towards the exit. Bedlam keeps the barrier up, increasing the voltage before following.

“Xorn, don’t you have a black hole or something you can use?” asks Bedlam.

“I do, but I cannot shut it off,” replies Xorn. “We’d all be lost in it.”

A rumbling is heard and a massive fist slams through the wall behind the Psi-Sentinels. The Juggernaut charges through, drawing the attention of the Psi-Sentinels towards him. Plasma bombs fly out at the Psi-Sentinels as they come forward, courtesy of Meltdown. Northstar races past them and moves to the aid of Cable and Xorn.

“Thought you guys could use a hand down here,” says the Juggernaut.

“And Bishop was worried about putting a former villain on the squad,” says Cable with a slight grin.

“The AIM agents began to retreat,” says Northstar. “And what are these things?”

“I’ll explain later,” says Cable. He stands upright, moving away from Xorn, his eye glowing brightly. He channels his powers into the Psimitar and charges forward with it, running through one of the Psi-Sentinels with it. The overload of energy causes the Psi-Sentinel’s brain to shut down.

“We haven’t the resources to take on the Psi-Sentinels right now,” says Xorn. “We need to move.”

“I know,” says Cable. “Cable to X-Corps HQ — we need a bodyslide transport now.”

Hellfire Club
New York

Sebastian Shaw sits behind his desk, viewing the footage of X-Corps’ assault on the AIM factory on a fold-out monitor. A knock comes on his door, and he folds the monitor down into his desktop.

“Come in.”

The door opens and Tessa steps into the office, dressed in leather pants and a leather corset. Shaw smiles as she approaches his desk, sitting on the edge of it.

“Doing your research, I take it?” she asks.

“I suppose there’s no use keeping secrets from a telepath,” replies Shaw. “Wisdom’s organization has found out too much about our efforts.”

“What does this mean for us, then?” asks Tessa.

“We have to move our plans up,” replies Shaw. “I believe it’s time the world discovered the truth of Black Womb.”

NEXT ISSUE: Hostile Takeover begins!