IRRATIONAL CHOICES

Part V: Reclaiming Darkness

By Brent Lambert

Ch’Vayre sat at the edge of the bed waiting for the visitor that he knew was soon to come. It was only a matter of time; he had done things he would have to answer for. He just wasn’t sure which do-gooder would be coming to interrogate him until his ears bled. The Prelate had a few guesses.

Valerie Cooper walked into the room with a clipboard in hand and an ice queen expression. Guards were standing on both sides of her for her protection, but it wasn’t like the Prelate had much opportunity to do her harm. His feet and hands had been bound by titanium shackles. Taking a seat in front of the imprisoned mutant, Valerie said, “Let’s make this simple for both of us. You answer my questions and I’ll make sure your stay here is far less painful.”

Dismissing the threat, Ch’Vayre said, “I doubt you could assist with that. What do you want to know Cooper?”

“Who sent you here? Who do you work for?”

The 40th century native laughed, “I should have seen those coming. Don’t be so predictable Valerie.”

“Just answer the question,” Valerie replied curtly.

Ch’Vayre shrugged. “You already know who they are. Durklan Incorporated, but knowing that won’t do a damn thing for you. They have too many connections. You won’t even be able to touch them.”

Valerie took offense to the mutant’s assessment. “Do you have any proof of your association with this company?”

Ch’Vayre laughed again. “You’re just not getting it, are you? I could have a mountain of evidence and every last shred of it would disappear. Durklan is pulling strings everywhere. It’s not the biggest mover and shaker, but it’s getting there.”

Cooper was annoyed and pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose. “You’re not giving me details. Just general statements. If you expect me to make any kind of deal I’m going to need something concrete.”

“You should consider that a kindness Valerie. If I start telling you too much they might have you killed,” Ch’Vayre said.

“So I guess we can’t count you in for this?” Red Lotus said as he watched the bionically diminished Forge working at an elongated lab table constructing his new hand and leg. Lotus knew that it wouldn’t be overnight work and unfortunately, Polaris wouldn’t wait for them any longer. There was no telling what her captives might be doing to her or if she was even still alive.

Momentarily stopping his work, Forge pushed up his goggles and said, “I want to be there, but Elena put a stop to that. I’m confident the three of you can bring back Polaris in one piece.”

Red Lotus didn’t have to worry about saying what he really felt since Shard and Ruby Claw was prepping their jet. So it was without any concern that he said, “These Durklan crooks are complete unknowns. We have no idea what we’re walking into here.”

“Trust Shard. I know you think she’s uptight, but the woman has experience. She’ll get you through it,” Forge replied. He understood Red Lotus’ concerns and shared them, but there wasn’t time to second-guess anything. Polaris needed them. New Son had not been gentle to Lorna on Coney Island. He could only imagine what was being done to her. If only he knew why Durklan wanted Lorna, but Elena had destroyed Puma’s information.

“Believe it or not, I do trust Shard. It’s me I’m not so sure about.”

Forge turned a curious eye Lotus’ way and asked, “What would make you say that?”

“Before I joined this team, I was different,” Red Lotus said slowing to an apprehensive pause before continuing, “I was a killer and a damn good one too. When I came onto this team I did a 360. I had to for my sanity, but the way I am now might not save Lorna.”

Beginning to understand, Forge said, “So you want to be the way you once were?”

“Not want, but I may need to be that way. That person was the kind of fighter we’re going to need out there.”

Forge laughed and shook his head. He gave Lotus a fatherly stare and said, “Lotus, you should not lose what you have become, but that is not my choice to make. It’s yours. Either way this fight is not going to be easy. Durklan is a powerful entity.”

“A powerful entity we know zilch about. Damn, what the hell was wrong with Elena?” Lotus exclaimed. If it weren’t for her they would have some idea about what they were headed into.

“I’m not sure what was bothering Elena, but its obvious there’s a major problem. We can’t worry about that though until after we get Lorna back.”

Red Lotus walked into the hangar bay with mixed feelings after his talk with Forge. Saving Lorna was paramount. That they both agreed on, but the point of dispute stemmed from how Lotus should conduct himself in the fight ahead. Violence of the magnitude they were about to face scared Red Lotus. He knew that he could get lost in it and become the ruthless Triad again. For the sake of Lorna though he almost felt that he had to become that man again. They were only three and it was likely that they were facing odds heavily stacked against them. Giving in to old habits just seemed like an option he couldn’t ignore.

Shard and Ruby Claw were prepping the ship when the former XSE officer caught sight of Lotus and said, “Bout time you made it. Any longer and we would have left.”

“You two are just like sticky rice cakes. Can’t hardly pull you apart,” Red Lotus responded.

They were raised in the harsh environment of a crime syndicate. The Red Diamonds were every bit as cutthroat as the Triads, with violence, loss and treachery serving as their only constants in life.

“The two of us are enough to take them,” Ruby Claw smiled.

“Then three should be a charm,” Red Lotus replied.

“Six should be success then,” The Shroud said as he approached the three mutants with Mongoose and Will O’Wisp behind him. Needless to say, Red Lotus was shocked at their appearance, but he knew the likely source.

Shard did as well and was the first to voice it. “Forge must have filled you in.”

Maxamillion nodded and said, “It’s why I brought the boys. I owe you for helping me finish off Pierce’s chop shops. The L.A. underworld can wait.”

“Besides, I should have covered Lorna better. She might not have been kidnapped if I had done that,” Will O’Wisp said from behind The Shroud. He had been there at Coney Island when X-Factor had confronted Regalo del Ferro. Coney Island was still a glaring sore in X-Factor’s record since the new team had been assembled. No one liked to bring it up.

“With that said, we need to get moving. I don’t want to waste any more time,” Shard said as she walked up the hangar stairs to make her way to the cockpit. Ruby Claw followed quickly behind her.

Red Lotus shrugged at the two women’s swiftness and followed behind them. “We better hurry. Anxious as those two are they might take off without us.”

The Shroud extended his cloak under Mongoose and Will O’Wisp’s feet and all three disappeared into the shadows.

The Gobi Desert was a desolate feature of Mongolia and one of the world’s driest places. The air conditioning on X-Factor’s jet was on its highest setting as they entered the arid territory. Shard was fortunate that she could not feel the heat that the others were beginning to dread. Ruby Claw was in the co-pilot’s seat and said,” These are the co-ordinates Forge’s information provided, but I see nothing. Could the systems be malfunctioning?”

“Forge anticipated this,” Red Lotus said as he pulled a device out from under his chair. The machine looked almost like a PSP and Red Lotus only added to that comparison by the way he was frantically pushing buttons. The clicking quickly annoyed his teammates.

“Are you going to tell us what you’re doing or should we beat it out of you?” Mongoose asked.

Lotus didn’t bother to look up. “Forge figured that the base would be cloaked in some way. Same as our jet. So he gave me something to detect whatever they might have up.”

“Good. If I have a visual then I can transport us all in,” The Shroud said.

“Probably why Forge told you to help us,” Shard said as she guided the aircraft to a smooth landing. “Soon as you get that visual Lotus it’s time to move in.”

The projected imagine of the base came from the top of Forge’s machine and Lotus said, “Time to move! Can you handle this Shard?”

Standing up from his seat, The Shroud’s cloak began to spread outward underneath the feet of everyone in the plane and he said, “Shouldn’t be a problem. Hold on.” The blackness coldly crept up everyone’s ankles and they were sucked into a world of darkness.

There was no screaming because the transportation process was too fast to allow it. In an instant they had been taken from their vehicle to the inside of a cold, gray metallic laboratory. Everyone had arrived from the process fine except for Shard who was doubled over on the ground. She was crying out, but her voice could not be heard. She was crying out, but her voice could not be heard. Ruby Claw rushed to her side and exclaimed, “What’s wrong with her? What did you do Shard?”

A projected image of Forge’s head appeared from the device that Lotus was holding. “Shard is a photon based lifeform. Traveling through Darkforce was probably very painful, but the fact she still retains her form tells me she’ll be fine. Give her a few minutes.”

“What the hell Forge!” Red Lotus exclaimed. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

“My apologies,” Forge’s image smiled. “I just didn’t want to be out the action. Plug me into the nearest computer. I’ll see if I can locate Polaris.”

Red Lotus fumbled with the handheld device and said, “I don’t see anything to plug into something.”

Forge’s hologram flickered and he said, “Press the blue circle on the back. A jump-drive cord should pop out. Plug that in.”

Lotus did as he was told as Ruby Claw watched over Shard and Mongoose watched the door. Forge was plugged into the system for two minutes before he gave an analysis. “Things are a lot deeper than we thought. Seems Lorna’s biological parents are responsible for her being kidnapped.”

Through a pained expression, a recovered Shard said, “I thought Lorna said they were dead.”

“Apparently not. We’re dealing with something very intricate. I’m not quite sure what it is quite yet.”

In all honesty, Red Lotus could care less about the extent of Durklan’s influence in the world. He was only out in this forsaken landscape for one reason. “You find Lorna yet?”

“3rd floor. Cell 20. Hurry up and get going! I’ve been detected and security forces are on the way.”

“What about you?” Mongoose asked.

“I need to keep loading files. Let them destroy the device. Good luck and bring Lorna home safe.”

The team was already gone by the time Forge ran across the file about Lorna’s clone.

Ruby Claw and Mongoose were neck and neck to be at the head of the pack as they rushed down the hallway. They had not yet met any interference, but they were still moving with a purpose. Mongoose was actually capable of moving much faster, but he didn’t want to be the first one in the line of fire. He had smacked it around with the likes of Thor, but he still wasn’t feeling particularly invulnerable. His time in the pen and with The Shroud had taught him that humans with the right technology were as dangerous as any superhuman opponent. His strength could easily be reduced to nothing. Working with The Shroud was merely his parole. He didn’t intend to get killed in the process of it.

On the other hand, Ruby Claw wanted to be front and center. The only reason she was able to keep ace with the brutish African-American man was because of her height. She was 6’1 and had long legs that provided her with a large stride. In that respect she was not the typical Chinese woman. Her height and muscular frame had made her an undesirable mate, but a fierce warrior in her native country. Right now her ability was to absorb kinetic energy and convert it to muscle, but in two hours that power would change. Every six hours her powers shifted, and that unpredictability made her a liability in certain combat situations, especially when they had no idea what they would be facing.

The two saw a door coming up at the end of the hallway and Mongoose said, “I’ll handle it.”

Two slabs of metal flung to the left and right of Mongoose as he tackled through the door. Ruby Claw and the rest of his allies were right behind him. They were in a large circular room that was close to the size of a football field. Red Lotus whistled and said, “Well I’m clueless. Where do we go next?”

“There should be an interface somewhere around here that we can interact with,” Shard said as she walked past Mongoose and began to scan the large room.

“How about interacting with us?”

Looking upward, the team saw Polaris coming down from the roof in a magnetic bubble with what could only be described as monsters. The Shroud bit back any horror that he might have had and said, “It seems we’ve found your missing teammate.”

“Yea but she doesn’t look too happy to see us,” Red Lotus replied. Whoever or whatever was accompanying her didn’t look too friendly either. Things had been going too smoothly for Lotus. This was just the universe balancing things out.

“I’m not your pathetic Polaris! Not even close. Let’s go to work boys!” she said as she dropped her shield and her teammates crashed into the floor. They immediately sprung into action.

“Back monster!” Will O’the Wisp said as he made himself intangible to avoid the swipe of Ingersoll’s spindly fingers. Jackson quickly rose above his opponent and looked down at what he was about to engage in combat. The sight didn’t give him a great deal of confidence.

Ingersoll looked like a Picasso painting given life. He had ruby eyes where his nose and mouth were to suppose to be. His skin was slick and pink. The hand that swiped at him had ten fingers lined with white suction cups. Jackson had a feeling it was dangerous to get near those. He would have to keep his distance. Again he blamed himself for being in this situation. If only he had better watched Polaris’ back then New Son wouldn’t have nabbed her.

Unlike Jackson, Mongoose was not choosing to evade his opponent. He took the battle straight to Alexi by grabbing his golden horns and flipping him into the nearest wall. Alexi’s back slammed into the wall and crated a large dent in it. Mongoose ran forward and grabbed Alexi’s horse-like face by the snout and sent him skidding across the linoleum floor. While he was still down, Mongoose ran forward and jumped into the air. He landed on top of Alexi’s head and sent it crashing through the floor. The impact broke off both of the golden horns and they shot through the air like rockets.

Shard ducked and rolled to miss one of those flying horns. Her roll took her in front of Kaleb and she kicked his feet out from under him. She flipped away from the monster before he crashed into the ground. Standing to her feet, she turned to Mongoose and said, “Watch where you’re throwing these guys!”

The creature that Shard had sneak-attacked stood to his feet and crouched low like a wild beast. His red eyes shook like jelly, but they still looked as if a flood of rage was behind him. Instead of hair he had hundreds of tentacles hanging from his head and each ended with a mouth.

“That’s just disgusting!” Shard said as she fired off a plasma blast and it struck the monster square in the chest to no effect.

Kaleb might have smiled, except that he had no mouth to speak of. His turquoise skin covered the area where there might have been one. He began to charge at Shard and she knew that she would have to avoid the black blades protruding from his elbows. They were long enough and sharp enough to cut her down to size.

Wait. Stop thinking like you’re human, Shard said to herself. She was a photon-based life form. Kaleb’s blades couldn’t do her any serious harm.

Before Kaleb was able to reach her, Shard felt a cold grip around her neck as her feet left the ground. She grabbed at her neck and felt the metal around it. It didn’t take rocket science to figure out who had attacked her.

Shard felt Polaris’ finger run down her cheek as she said, “I didn’t feel any iron in your bloodstream and then I realized you didn’t have one at all. That means you’re not human. That means I get to have fun with you.”

Photons were beginning to be magnetically pulled apart and Shard gritted her teeth.

NEXT ISSUE: The fight continues as does Valerie’s interrogation!