METALLIC FINISH

By Brent Lambert

Vargas was picked up by Skinner and flung across the warehouse until a concrete pillar forcibly stopped his body. The Spaniard felt all air leave his body as he collided with the ground. Fighting off these villains was proving to be tougher than he had originally thought. Director Nero had almost made things sound easy, but Vargas was finding out otherwise. That much was for certain. If Nero had mentioned something about huge bone monsters Vargas might have considered asking for a little back up.

Too late for regrets now! Just get the job done!

At least the Lilin only had one arm to work with seeing as how Vargas had cut the other off. Kaine, Carrion, and Nekra were out of the picture, but Skinner and Bengal weren’t going to be so easy to take down. Vargas rose to his feet quickly as possible and charged his sword with its life killing energy. He didn’t want to kill this brute, but The Spaniard knew when it was time to start playing like a big boy. He just wouldn’t let Elena know about it. She abhorred the killing aspect of his nature and he never wanted to expose her to it.

As he charged forward he heard the ever so slight pitter-pattering of feet. Bengal was trying to blindside him! When the animal-dressed assassin was only inches away from his kill Vargas leaped up into the air and planted his foot in Bengal’s throat. Bengal’s body flew backwards and the back of his head was the first thing to make contact with the ground. Vargas landed on his feet and his sword was still laced with his death energy. Being crouched on the ground made The Spaniard look almost vampiric and it was enough to make Skinner reminiscence to his days of dealing with vampire lords. Vargas was no vampire and he was most certainly no lord. He was just a bulked up, insignificant human who he would crunch to a thousand tiny pieces.

“This fight has been interesting, but I have a cruise to get to,” Vargas said as he leaped into the air and bounced off one of the concrete pillars. He was flying at Skinner like a human bullet and his sword found its way to the Lilin’s heart. Skinner let out a cry that could have sent chills down a blind man’s spine simply from his facial expression alone. If you could call it a face.

Vargas looked up at the bone monster with the hate that came from killing. As he began to pull his sword out from the dying Skinner he felt a piercing pain in his back. Looking behind him Vargas saw that Bengal was still conscious and had placed a dagger in his back. It was in that brief moment of observation that a large white hand smacked Vargas away like a fly. The Spaniard twirled and tossed through the air like a cow in a Texas tornado, but his body finally made sickening contact with the same pillar he had leaped from to kill Skinner. Bones were broken and flesh made bloody as Vargas fell from some 40 feet in the air. A final moan of defiance came from his body as he gave out.

Bengal rose to his feet with one hand gripped around his throat. It would have been crushed it not for the metal mesh he wore under his uniform. Looking to Vargas’ broken body he laughed, “Well, my work is almost finished here.”

Pulling out a dagger he cruelly laughed again, “Almost.”

“So anyone care to tell me where Vargas is at?” Red Lotus asked as they boarded off the plane. Lotus didn’t mind that Vargas wasn’t around because it kept from hearing the warrior lectures, but it wasn’t like Vargas not to be on a mission.

“He’s doing some solo work for Nero. Nothing big,” Elena answered as she shed her black jacket. The plane had been too cold for her tastes, but L.A. was far from that. This was her first time coming to the city and while she might like to go around and play tourist she couldn’t. Maybe Vargas and her could come back her some time.

“Yeah just because the rest of us aren’t good enough for solo work,” Red Lotus half-joked. He didn’t know why so many underestimated his fighting ability just because of his clowning nature. He had rolled and fought against the best the world had to offer. His skills as a killer had been well appreciated during his time in the Triads. Just because he didn’t walk around in black and sport a big sword didn’t mean he was any less badass.

Ruby Claw was the last to board off the plane. She had heard Lotus’ comment and said, “Don’t doubt your worth Lotus. I know of just what you’re capable. The Red Diamond Syndicate spoke of your name in hushed conversations.”

“Self-doubt will get you nowhere on this team. We’ve got a nasty little problem to weed out of L.A.”

“Forge is right. The problem is indeed one worth addressing,” The Shroud said as he seemingly glided across the tarmac to greet the six members of X-Factor.

“Man you and Vargas should get together and see if you can exchange clothes,” Red Lotus commented and received a nudge in the side from Polaris.

Mongoose and Will O’Wisp seemed to tighten up a bit at the mocking of their employer, but Shroud chuckled, “I see I will enjoy the company of your team Forge.”

“At least someone around here can take a joke,” Red Lotus whispered.

The two teams congregated and formed a party of nine as they made their way from the airport. Red Lotus whistled Star-Spangled Banner as they made their way to the two stretch limos that were going to be their transportation. Polaris got close to Forge and said, “The government definitely pays him good.”

“To work in L.A? Yes, they’d have to pay me very well too,” Forge smiled.

“We’ll be heading back to my HQ to discuss the matter at hand,” Shroud explained as he sunk into the shadows and was gone.

“So I guess he isn’t riding with us?”

Mongoose looked over to Red Lotus and snarled, “He never rides with us. Shroud has his own way of doing things.”

“I will make this very clear upfront. If we’re going to succeed I’m going to need you to do things my way,” Shroud proclaimed as he pulled up a 3-D hologram of the abandoned warehouse where the largest mutant chop shop was located.

Forge nodded, “We’re at your disposal Maxmillion.”

“Thank you Forge. Now to begin with there are three easy and safe ways from which to enter this building,” Shroud said when three red lights appeared in different locations across the building.

Red Lotus listened to the babble of The Shroud and was barely paying attention. He just couldn’t believe that Vargas had been picked over him for a solo mission. He respected Vargas, but he was far better suited for solo work. At least in his opinion, but Valerie barely gave him the time of day ever since their little spat after he got bit in Mexico. The changes that he had undergone weren’t exactly pleasing to the eyes, but they had made him better. He had slowly been approving in his body morphing abilities and his super-strength had given his punches some more pep behind them. Valerie and subsequently Director Nero didn’t trust him and figured the attack had weakened his abilities. They were dead wrong and this mission was his chance to prove it.

“So are we all clear on what we have to do?” Shroud asked having finished up his briefing.

“Crystal,” Red Lotus said tightening his hand into a fist.

The young Latino girl was dragged down the hallway kicking and screaming the entire time. She had been on the streets ever since she was ten and recently the rash of disappearances had prompted her to be a lot safer in her escapades. She had heard the stories of how her brethren were cut up and sewn like Levi jeans. Being a mutant was almost a guaranteed death sentence these days. Groups like the X-Men might try and portray things positively like progress is being made, but she knew better. Mutants were hated now more than ever. Every time a building fell, a child died, something caught on fire, and a monument fell. All those things were blamed on her kind and it was the ones on the fringes like her who suffered for it.

She ceased her screaming as her eyes caught the gaze of the man who was in charge of the facility. His eyes were cold and unforgiving. He had dealt with mutants for a long time. That much she could tell.

“Put her in Pen 120,” Donald Pierce commanded as he checked her off on a list like she was a piece of cattle.

“You’re sick! You’re sick! I hope you burn in hell you bastard!” the girl cried out between sobs and sniffles. She knew what awaited her. Her life was over and she couldn’t help but feel that this was all a dream. She wasn’t meant for this. Stardom and having gossip articles written on her was supposed to happen. Not this. Never this. Why?

“Let her go!” a voice cried out as the young girl was snatched from the guards who had intended to drag her to her doom. She flew forward until she was in the arms of Elena Boon who spoke softly to her, “Run home and don’t worry. I’ll make sure he burns in Hell.”

The young woman nodded her head and ran away.

Donald looked down at the intruder and smiled, “You don’t know what you’ve stepped into mutant.”

“Oh believe me I do!” Elena yelled as fireballs began to rain down from the chop shop’s roof.

“I can’t believe she ran off on her f’ing own!” Red Lotus exclaimed.

“She claims she felt someone in danger,” Mongoose said as he kept his run in step with that of everyone else. He could easily run ahead of them, but they had to charge this place head on now because of Ms. Witch’s foolhardy mistake.

“I don’t like the way you said claim. If she felt it she felt it,” Shard snapped.

“Everyone stay alert! Regardless of why Elena has put herself into danger and I don’t want to see her harmed,” Shroud said gliding along the ground like a wraith of some sort. As they neared one of the entrances to the building Maxmillion held out one of his hands and a shadow hole blanketed nearly the entire side of the building.

The collection of government agents made their way through the hole and to Elena.

Dr. Osman led the Polaris clone down the hallway and as they neared what he had bought there for he said, “I’m about to show you your team. They’re all comatose right now, but we’re reviving them. Be mindful. There appearances were wrecked by the Polaris of this world so we’ve worked with them as best as possible.”

“Yea I understand,” the clone replied. She hated what this world’s version of her was doing. This team of hers would be ruthlessly efficient in stopping anymore damage from being caused by Polaris and her villainous comrades.

They stopped at the first cell and Osman said, “This is Junpe. He was our first survivor. We had to do extensive work on him and it was the same with all the others.”

Junpe was somewhere around 7 feet tall and large bone protrusions stuck out all across his back. His skin was red, bumpy, and his veins looked like they were pumping enough blood to fill a dam. The man’s (if you could call him that) eyes were a deep green and on the bridge of his nose was a black crescent moon. When the Polaris clone looked down at his feet she was astonished to see that he had one large toe with a gigantic grayish toenail. Junpe’s hands were large enough to wrap around the throat of a tiger easily and while there were no visible nails it was easy to see that the skin was incredibly rough.

“Moving on,” Osman coughed.

When they got to Ingersoll the clone couldn’t help but to yelp. His face looked like a Picasso painting. Two eyes were where the nose and mouth were supposed to be. There were two mouths on each side of his face. The mouths were full of serrated teeth and one of them had a snake’s tongue that had to be at least four feet long. Tiny blue quills were visible all along the slimy purple tongue. His four muscular arms ended in ten spindly fingers that had suction cups akin to an octopus. Ingersoll’s pink tail wrapped around his legs twice and Polaris was positive this guy was a child of Echidna.

“He must have been really messed up when you found him?” Lorna asked.

Osman nearly wanted to laugh, “Yes. He was in awful shape. Now moving on to the next subject.”

“I won’t lose my lunch over this one will I?” the clone inquired, but received no response from Osman.

Kaleb was actually a bit easier for the clone to deal with. He had the frame of Namor, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of having hair he had hundreds of tiny tentacles that each ended with their own little mouths. He had red eyes that seemed to shake and jiggle like Jell-O. There was no visible mouth to be seen and black elbow blades gave Kaleb a bit more of a threatening look.

“You were kind to this guy,” Lorna said with all seriousness, but again she received no response.

Alexi had two golden horns that came from atop his head. They went up for about three feet and then twisted back down until they were touching his shoulders. His face protruded outwards and two large teeth hung from his massive jaw. Translucent inflated sacs lined his bulky chest and skinny arms. What looked like rock calcifications covered his kneecaps and instead of feet he had large hooves.

“One more to go,” Osman said ignoring the various reactions of the clone. She would get used to her team’s features and the fact they looked so shocking would help give her team an advantage when facing X-Factor.

Nick was so close to normal that Lorna almost let out a gasp again. She had been getting accustomed to the freakish, but seeing something almost normal was a welcome sight. He pretty much looked like the Silver Surfer with the exception of having a Thing body build and four arms to boot.

“He’s your most powerful member. He can switch into three stages. Each of them unique and deadly. This is your squad Polaris. Do you accept them?”

“Do I get free reign in how I train with them?”

Osman nodded, “Of course.”

“Then we have a deal, good doctor.”

“She’s gone,” Red Lotus sighed.

“As is everyone else involved with this evil place,” Shroud said with equal defeat. The shop had been cleaned. The only evidence of a fight were all the burn marks and flickering fires that had been left behind. Everyone figured they came from Elena, but there was no way of being for certain. Maxmillion was beginning to regret accepting the help of X-Factor in this endeavor.

“We have to find Elena. That’s the top priority,” Shard made sure to point out.

“You’re right. I want all of you to head back to base and see if you can begin conducting a global search. I’ll be here in L.A. looking for her with Shroud and his crew,” Forge commanded.

“Yes sir,” Ruby Claw said before Lotus and Shard had chance to protest.

“Lets find her and pray no harm has been done to her,” Forge said.

Valerie was just about to make herself a good cup of tea before heading to bed when the doorbell to her apartment rang. Sitting down the cup, Valerie moved slowly to the door and made sure to pick up her fully loaded gun that was by the lampshade. Keeping the weapon behind her back she creaked open the door and was surprised to find a very large package at her doorstep. It was actually a big gift and came with the wrapping and red ribbon. Valerie was damn near about to shoot the box when heard muffling come from inside. Horrified at the thought of someone being inside she dropped her gun and began tearing at the package.

Finally ripping through the package she lifted back the top of the box and let out a blood-curdling scream…