CHINESE SOIL

By Brent Lambert

Lorna wished that Pietro were here with her. He would have been able to track down those two figures she picked up on without a problem. Instead they were waiting for their arrival. It would have been easy for her to simply entrap the two in a magnetic bubble and bring them to her, but Lorna knew that was wrong for a couple of reasons. The top one being that it could just be two kids running through the woods and not some imminent threat.

Being a risk taker wasn’t in Lorna’s style lately. Back when Alex, Rahne, and other others were around Polaris had far more daring. She was the one in charge now though and she had to give a good example. Ripping folks from mid run into the air wasn’t the best way to go about that. Besides they were on Chinese soil and needed to be extremely careful in how they acted. Any misstep could set off an international incident. Plenty of politicians were looking for a reason to shut down X-Factor. This would be something they would love.

“Elena cast an invisibility spell around everyone, but me. Maintain until I say the word disappear. Understood?” Lorna ordered. She had a way she wanted to address this potential problem.

Elena nodded her head and bowed in royal fashion. A green light flourished around her body for a moment and then all of X-Factor simply faded away. It was at that moment that a pair of fraternal twins stepped out of the woods. Looking up at Lorna they asked, “Who are you? What do you want here?”

“I could ask the same of you,” Lorna replied floating down to the ground gently still keeping up her magnetic field as a defensive measure. The dress of the twins didn’t suggest a great deal of friendliness. The white muscle shirts embellished with pictures of vicious dragons and tattoos of weapons lining their arms spoke of a violent nature. Their red eyes also said a lot to Polaris. Those were the eyes of someone who had seen their fair share of combat. Alex had those eyes.

The female twin stepped forward. She was obviously of Chinese descent, but her hair was significantly shorter than most women in the country. Giving Polaris an intense stare she said, “If you are here for our leader, Hokuten, then know you’ll have to go through us first! We are his top soldiers, Rhais and Thais.”

“Thanks for the introduction. Look, you give Hokuten a message for me. Tell him to cease his plans for war and I just might, if I feel nice, spare him an ass kicking,” Lorna threatened.

“You Americans amuse me. So ready to use war to prevent war. What a foolish concept,” Rhais, the male twin, sneered. Of all the nations in the world he thought of America as the lowliest. The entire nation was full of radicals and hypocrites.

Before Polaris had a chance to respond tiny cuts began to appear all over her body. Reacting out of fear a magnetic burst erupted from her knocking the twins to the ground. The cuts continued to appear and it was then that Polaris saw Rhais staring directly at her.

“I wish you assholes would just disappear,” Lorna growled. Heavenly luminescence overtook the emerging battle scene. When the light had subsided X-Factor was fully prepared for what they thought would be a brief fight. Two against six was hardly good odds.

“So it is true. The Red Lotus has turned his back o his people and sided with the filthy Americans. Disgusting,” Rhais said spitting on the ground. Rhais had heard of the immense talent and skill of the Red Lotus. Now, it seems he has lost his mind and even begun genetically mutating himself.

“You ain’t met disgusting until you meet Dr. Doom,” Stan, of the Mengo Brothers, laughed.

“Talk about smashed up pizza face,” Greg added cocking his gun.

“So you boys want to tango again,” Ms. Witch smiled black lightning beginning to arc off her fingertips.

“Hold up Wicked Witch of the West! We don’t want a fight,” Stan assured.

“Weapons usually entail the meaning that you’re looking to hurt someone,” Red Lotus said.

“You attacked our associates first! We only came in as support. Now we can all walk away from this and go about our merry business or it can get ugly,” Greg warned.

“I don’t think you two can afford to get any uglier,” Shard scorned.

Polaris cut Shard off before the situation could get any more hostile, “Fine we’ll let you guys leave, but don’t interfere with us.”

“No prob. C’mon Rhais and Thais. We got biz to take care of,” Stan said as helicopter flew overhead ready to take the four into the air.

“You’re just letting them go!” Forge hissed.

“Yea, I think I have a feeling that they’re going to lead us to where we need to be at. One of them has a tracker I’ve devised on them,” Polaris smiled.

“A tracker? Didn’t know we got issued those,” Shard replied.

“It’s not a traditional tracker. I’ve created tiny magnetic fields around thousands of particles of iron within Rhais’ blood. I can track down those magnetic fields instinctively. We’ll know exactly where they are going and find out exactly what they’re up to.”

“Score for one for Lorna though that whole disappear code word thing did not come off cool at all. Next time lets use a better codeword. Like orgy or something,” Red Lotus suggested.

“If it’ll make you shut up I’ll throw you in the middle of an orgy,” Shard declared.

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to hit me on sweetie,” Red Lotus laughed.

“No chance I’d ever be that desperate,” Shard replied.

Vargas shut all the needless banter out of his mind and was running through the details of the team’s recent encounter. He remembered tiny red diamond tattoos being on each of the twins’ necks. Now he knew exactly what X-Factor was dealing with.

“Listen up everyone. Rhais and Thais work for the Red Diamond Syndicate. It is a relatively new organization that has arisen to power quickly in China simply because they willing accept mutants in. Hokuten must be one of the branch leaders. The Red Diamonds have the resources to give us all a hard time. I suggest we tread carefully from this point forward,” Vargas explained turning his head sharply towards nearby trees to look for possible snipers or surveillance devices.

“Don’t worry about looking around too much Vargas. I’ve already scanned the area. Nothing is around,” Polaris said confidently.

“You can’t always be sure. Magnetic signal blockers are entirely within the realm of possibility here. We can’t afford to be cocky,” Vargas replied.

“True, but sitting around isn’t going to do anything for us. We need to move!” Forge exclaimed.

“He’s right. Everyone follow me! We got a long run ahead. Can’t risk flying,” Lorna said taking off in a run.

Durklan Inc. Home Office

Slade absolutely hated seeing these two. Though they were his superiors and had initiated the ingenious M-Core Project he still felt they were too attached to the past and being attached to the past didn’t do much for you in the corporate world. Most of all, this husband and wife duo stood in the way of his own ascension up the company ladder. To get anywhere anytime soon he would have to appease them and while butt kissing was an art form he had long ago perfected it wasn’t one he wanted to waste on these two.

Stepping through the door Slade put on his best business smile and said, “Did you two want to see me?”

Both Susan and Jacob Dane were seating at the same desk together giving Slade just as fake a smile as he gave them. Only since the couple was part of the board could they stay in the same office. Susan was the first one to speak, “Yes, Slade we needed to talk about you handling a potential problem?”

The air suddenly began to get more humid and Slade tugged at his tie, “What kind of problem are we talking about Mrs. Dane?”

“Someone is digging into Durklan’s special projects. His name is Thomas Fireheart. I want him to understand that he should mind his own business,” Jacob said tossing Slade a disc.

Slade wanted to shove that disc down Dane’s throat, but both Danes were far too powerful to be taken on in a physical fight. The Danes had been the first humans to have the M-Core Virus placed in their system. When humans were overloaded with the virus all their latent mutant abilities were unleashed. The same effect went for mutants whose powers had not yet emerged. So both Danes possessed multiple abilities that made them deadly powerful. All of the board members of Durklan Inc. now had been infected with the M-Core Virus and they all were brimming with power.

Susan Dane watched Slade walk out of the door and close it slightly behind him. Rubbing her thumb and index finger on the bridge of her nose the middle aged woman let out a deep sigh. Removing a hair band that was keeping her ponytail together Mrs. Dane let her hair run free. It was a signal to her husband that she was ready to relax.

“Do you think Slade will be able to keep it all together?” Mrs. Dane asked worrying about the pieces that they had all put together. The tower they were creating was a large one and they couldn’t afford to have it tumbling down.

“Slade’s a keen manipulator. He knows how to keep all his ducks in a row. He bought Nero into the fold after all,” Jacob reminded stroking his rough, calloused hand through Susan’s auburn hair.

“Only after months of digging through the Arctic,” Susan giggled. She wanted to relax. With everything she had inside her being she wanted to be easy and pretend everything would work out. She couldn’t though. Not when something so precious to her was at the center of it all.

Jacob had been married to his wife for many years and he could read her like a book. He could see what was wrong with her, “Don’t worry about Lorna. We’re going to have her back with us soon.”

Looking into her husband’s baby blue eyes she almost began to cry, “What if she doesn’t want to be back with us? What if she hates us?”

“Baby what child doesn’t want to be with their parents deep down? She’s been probably waiting for us as long as we’ve been waiting for her,” Jacob replied.

Placing two spread palms on her husband’s face Susan made the baby faced Jacob look her in the eye, “There’s a difference J. We abandoned her. She didn’t abandon us.”

“Once we explain everything Susan she’ll understand. Everything we’ve done we’ve done for her. She’ll understand that,” Jacob implored. He could feel the distress rising in his wife and he didn’t want her to panic. Panicking wasn’t going to make this situation any easier for either one of them. It just wasn’t.

“Do you really think so Jacob? Do you think she’ll understand Nero? Do you think she’ll understand the virus? Do you think she’ll understand why we made a clone of her?!! Because I’m not seeing it J. I’m not!” Susan exclaimed throwing her ams up in frustration. She could just see Lorna’s rejection of the both of them. Imagining that was so painful she could barely stand it. She wanted to give up everything right now and go hug her daughter. Durklan could go to hell for all she cared. Of course she couldn’t express that thought because it could get her, Jacob, and Lorna all killed. Durklan Inc. didn’t keep around disgruntled employees. Especially those who knew as much as board members.

“She might not understand it at first Susan. I’ll admit that, but in time she’ll come to understand the way things are. Just like we did. Then we can all be a family again,” Jacob assured.

“A family? Is everything really that easy for you J. Is it? I’m just not as optimistic as you,” Susan sighed plopping herself down into her seat. Jacob loved to look at her auburn locks moving freely about. She really looked almost primal with her hair down.

“Lets just take one problem at a time Sue. Step by step,” Jacob smiled rubbing his hand on Susan’s stocking covered knee.

“Alright baby fine. I’ll relax,” Susan sighed.

China

“Lorna you look a little tired. Ain’t use to running huh?” Red Lotus asked with a bit of a chuckle as he slowed down his pace a great deal to keep stride with Lorna.

Turning an evil eye towards him Polaris replied venomously, “I can still cut off the blood flow to that cobweb filled brain. Or more interesting places for that matter. Erectile dysfunction might hit a bit early.

“No wonder you can’t keep a boyfriend,” Red Lotus blurted before he thought about what he had said. Before Lorna had a chance to reply or fling some object at him he picked up the pace quickly and moved to the head of the pack. That woman’s wrath was not one he felt like taking the brunt of anytime soon.

“Are you always running away from women?” Vargas asked just as Red Lotus had caught up to him.

“Yep. Ever since my Mom took to beating me off the porch with a broom,” Red Lotus said sounding hardly out of breath.

“No woman likes rodents in the house,” Shard snapped.

As Vargas tried to hold back a smile the ground beneath all of them began to quake violently knocking Forge and Shard to the ground. Elena immediately used her magic to lift all of X-Factor into the air and as she did so the ground caved in creating a very large crater filled with boulders and fragments of Earth.

“That wasn’t suppose to happen like that,” a tall, very muscular Chinese woman said with an almost childlike dismissal. She had long, straight black hair that descended down to the middle of her back. A red tiger paw tattoo was easily seen on her right shoulder, which was openly exposed due to the fact she was wearing a shirt with only one sleeve. In fact, the right side of the shirt nearly exposed her breast. The skimpy red shirt matched perfectly with the red pants and the rubies that lined her black belt and the knuckles of her wrist length black gloves.

A blue magic bubble quickly arose around the woman and despite trying to move the woman’s black boots felt like they were a ton each. She had to watch X-Factor descend to the ground and wonder what they would do next. To be completely honest the woman was hardly afraid. She was quite sure that nothing would be done to her once she gave them the information that she knew.

“Drop your field Elena,” Polaris ordered not wanting to have Elena use up her magical reservoir. Ms. Witch could only call upon so much power a day and while she hadn’t used much there was no telling what they could be facing at any moment.

Elena did as she was told and dropped her field. Lorna immediately erected a magnetic one a split second after. Approaching the woman who could probably be a pro wrestler Lorna asked, “Who are you and why did you attack my team?”

“My name is Ruby Claw. I didn’t mean to attack your team. I was trying to get your attention,” the smooth skinned, 30 something woman promised.

“Well, you most certainly did that,” Forge replied standing close to Lorna.

“With a name like yours I’d expect some Wolverine claws or something,” Red Lotus teased.

Ruby Claw guffawed, “My name has nothing to do with my powers great assassin. It has everything to do with my personality. I am beautiful like ruby, but I also possess its hard nature. And the claw comes from the fact I’m not afraid to get a bit rough with my opponents from time to time.”

“That’s nice and all, but I rather know why you wanted to get our attention in the first place,” Elena said almost tempted to use her abilities to pry the information out of this woman. Though she was weary to do it after what happened with Genemaker. She was still trying to sort out everything she seen.

“I can tell you about Hokuten and exactly what he has planned,” Ruby Claw assured.

“In exchange for…” Shard replied knowing good and well that information like that wouldn’t just be handed out without a price stamped on it. Besides, if worse came to worse Lorna could just do some blood flow reversal until the woman decided to talk.

“Just let me stay with your team. That’s all I want. Now that I’ve broken away from Hokuten he will see me dead. The Red Diamond Syndicate does not let members just leave their fold.”

“Fine. Then tell us everything you know. We’ll decide if the information is good enough for us to worry about having you tag along,” Polaris said.

Ruby Claw smiled, “The Red Diamond Syndicate wants all the mutant cells in China under one leadership. To be exact, they want Hokuten in charge. Hokuten already makes plans for war as he’s bought mutants from Yvon Rendom. Though we might not be alone in this if Hokuten’s brother, Genemaker, makes himself known.”

“Hold on! Hokuten is whose brother?” Elena exclaimed her voice screeching in pitch like a boy in the middle of puberty.

“Genemaker. I take it you know the guy then,” Ruby Claw replied.

“Oh do I know him,” Elena said her voice no longer so angry as things began to set in her mind. All the images she had seen were beginning to make sense. The reason he had left her at the altar was because his mother begged him to find his brother and rescue him from the thugs who supposedly held him for ransom. He didn’t tell her about because he didn’t want her to talk him out of it.

In truth, Hokuten had never been kidnapped. He just wanted to lure his brother to China to offer him a seat in his rising criminal power base. Ricki refused, but was determined to save his brother. He did that in the only way he thought possible and became a part of the world his brother had immersed himself in. It was never a world he wanted to live in, but to bring his family together he would do anything.

All these sudden and immediate revelations overwhelmed Elena. She had to fight back tears. Vargas could see she was visibly disturbed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He didn’t know exactly what was bothering her, but he did know that Genemaker had done emotional harm to her in the past.

“Fine. Your information passes the test. Now, just get us to Hokuten’s location and you have yourself a deal,” Polaris said.

Cracking her knuckles and neck simultaneously Ruby Claw laughed arrogantly, “Fine, but you Americans better get ready for a nasty fight.”