DAMOCLES RISING!

Part I

By Brandon Mann

It was a warm, sunny day in San Francisco, but pretty much most days were warm and sunny. Samuel Guthrie, known to friends and teammates as Cannonball was walking along the seashore with his best-friend Roberto DaCosta, otherwise known as Sunspot. The two had been friends for a very long time, and had recently went through a rough spot when Sam, who had been a member of the X-Men for a time, found out that Bobby was seeing his girlfriend, Tabitha Smith, a.k.a. Meltdown.. After some arguing and fighting, Sam felt that he know had finally come to terms with the new arrangement.

“Bobby, ah’m sorry that ah got all mad at y’all…” Sam said.

“Listen, Sam, I know that you’re sorry, it was partially my fault too. But listen, after recent events, I’m glad that you’re back and on the team.”

The two smiled and continued to walk down the road, unaware of what was about to happen.

The ground began to shake and rumble beneath the feet of the two young men as they walked. At first it was slight, just barely noticeable, but then it began to grow and grow until it was hard to walk.

“Sam! What’s going on?!?” asked Bobby, extremely confused.

“Ah don’t know, but ah aim ta find out!” yelled Sam as his instincts took over and he used his mutant power to surround himself with a kinetic blast field and took to the skies. Unaware of what to do, but not wanting to back down from confrontation, Bobby powered up to, his skin turning to jet black as his body crackled with the hot solar energy. Sam scoured the area for their assailant. He seemed to be able to recognize that energy signature, but it was just at the back of his mind. Then, in a wave of concussive energy, he was sent sprawling back towards the earth.

Sunspot heard his friend’s cry for help, and, with his recently discovered ability to fly, was over by him in a heart beat. He caught his friend and landed them both safely on the ground.

“Are you all right, Sam?” asked Bobby.

“Ah’ll be fine…” he replied.

“Alright, show yourself!” yelled Bobby, outraged at their ambush.

“Ha ha ha, you two always were slower then me!” said a voice from just behind a tree to Bobby’s left.

“That voice, it can’t be!” he said, and then saw the figure that emerged from behind the tree, “but it is… Rictor!!!!”

“The one and only!” Rictor replied, grinning from ear to ear. “I told you I’d be back eventually, and here I am!”

Later, as the three were walking back to X-Force’s new warehouse headquarters, all seemed to be going well inside. Meltdown was watching TV, not a surprise, really, thinking about all of the things that were messed up in their lives, and how they were always on the run form who knows what, risking their lives for people that hate them. Domino and Bedlam were out, searching for Jesse’s long lost brother, a needle in the haystack type search. No one really believed that they were ever going to find him, most of the members of X-Force didn’t even believe that Jesse’s brother existed. Finally, James Proudstar and Theresa Rourke, known respectively as Warpath and Siryn, were talking in the make-shift kitchen.

“Listen, Jimmy, I agree with you. I dinnae want Jesse in this house any more then you do. But the problem is that Domino is sayin’ that tis’ fer the best…”

“Yeah, I know what Domino is saying, but I think that he’s bad news. I mean, what if we do find his brother and he turns out to be some kind of psycho? Or what if we waste all this time searching and wind up with nothing. I just think it’s counter-productive to spend time helping out someone who we owe absolutely nothing…”

“But Jimmy, Domino owes him, and that’s why she’s helpin him, and not us,” replied Theresa, “and by the way, have you seen Dani around at all?”

“You know, now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her since our fight with the Sword. I know that she’s experienced a change in her powers, but I don’t know where she went…”

At that precise moment, many blocks away, Danielle Moonstar was going over many puzzling questions in her mind. Her powers had changed recently, again. What she could do now, she really had no clue, and that was kind of frightening. It seemed like every time she got used to her powers, they changed on her. She continued to walk down the street, and question that she had had in her mind for quite some time popped up again.

“Am I really happy with X-Force?”

The answer, she knew, was no. Sure, they were her friends, but she didn’t really want that life, she never really has. Sort of like an unwilling hero, she didn’t know if she could actually leave. Sighing, she headed back towards the warehouse.

Back at the warehouse, Sam, Bobby, and Julio walked in through the front door.

“Look what we found on the way home guys!” said Bobby, smile on his face.

Tabitha Smith was not a stranger to having her friends and family wander in and out of her life, but she was definitely surprised to see her old friend Rictor standing in the doorway. She got up from the couch and ran over to where the three were, jumped up into the air gave Julio a big hug.

“Where have you been?!” she asked, noticeably excited.

“Here, there, and back again. You know, the usual…” the four shared a good laugh, something that was all to unfamiliar these days.

Meanwhile, in a bar about ten blocks from their current base of operations, Jesse Bedlam and Domino were enjoying a quiet drink. For days now, Domino had been helping Jesse search for his brother, since Jesse helped Domino escape from her captivity by Operation: Zero Tolerance. They had few leads thus far, and both were getting very anxious for something to happen.

“Well, Jesse, I can guarantee you that we won’t find what we’re looking for here. Let’s go,” she said, as she put on her hat and pushed in her stool.

“Wait, Domino, I… well, I just wanted to thanks.”

“‘Thanks’? What for?”

“Well, you’ve helped me out a lot, and I’m grateful, really. No one has ever really helped me out like you have, and I appreciate it.”

“Look, you can thank me when you find your brother. In the meantime, what have you thought about X-Force?” asked Domino.

“Oh, well they’re great, I guess. I don’t know, they don’t seem to like me very much,” replied Jesse.

“Don’t worry, they will…”

The two got up and headed for the door. Outside, the world was bright as usual. The two were walking along the road, when a very fancy limousine pulled up next to them.

“I don’t like the looks of this…” muttered Domino as she saw the limousine’s licence plate, which read ‘DMCLS1′.

The window rolled down and Domino saw a familiar face – Odysseus Indigo, head of the Damocles Foundation. Domino remembered when Indigo had threatened X-Force, after their encounter in the small town of Almost Reno in New Mexico, recently.

“Ah,” he began, “Domino and Bedlam, two of the people that I have been looking for. You see, I’m not at all pleased by the events that transpired during your little scuffle with the Sword, and then your rejection of my offer in Almost Reno. I asked you to either join me or perish, and you chose the latter…”

Indigo snapped his fingers and then turned to his driver and said “Let’s go, Jamal.”

With that, he raised the power window and the limousine drove off.

“Why would he threaten us and then just leave?” Domino asked of noone in particular.

Her question was unexpectedly answered in four parts, actually. The four members of the Sword jumped down from nearby buildings, effectively surrounding Jesse and Domino.

“Okay, now I REALLY don’t like this!” exclaimed Domino.

The four members of the Sword were virtually aliens to them. All of them were Deviants, a form of evolved human, so to speak. Off to her left was one who was huge and blue in color. She believed his name was Stranglehold. He looked like he was wearing old-fashioned armor, but he was massive nonetheless. To his right was the one female, Zona. She was very nearly transparent, with a thin line accenting all her features. The only really visible part of her was her helmet and neck-piece, which were both orange colored. Behind her and facing Jesse were the other two members. One looked sort of like the Human Torch, only he was wearing what seemed to be a containment suit. His name was Pyre. The final one, Argos, wore red armor and wielded a staff.

“Okay, lets get this over with…” she said.

Argos was the first to move. He threw his staff at Jesse. Jesse, not being the most agile or the best fighter, was taken unawares and found himself taken out of the battle rather quickly, which was unfortunate for Domino. Zona turned herself invisible and made her move. Too bad for her, things seem to fall into place for Domino, a trait that she finds particularly useful. Zona charged forward, but Domino was already in the air, and landed behind her. Domino aimed a kick at where she thought Zona’s face to be, but missed.

Zona circled around, but Domino had already decided that it was pretty pointless to fight an invisible foe, so she took the fight to Stranglehold. She leapt up into the air, did a flip, and planted both of her feet squarely on Stranglehold’s chest. The move definitely caught him by surprise, and he was temporarily down.

She got up just in time to duck underneath Argos’ staff, but didn’t have enough time to retrieve it, for she was now under assault from Pyre. She managed to dodge his first blast, but the second one got her in the side. The pain was excrutiating, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. She tried to take the fight to Pyre, but felt a sharp pain in her side.

She realized that it was Zona, who had just given her a painful reminder of what happens when you forget about an enemy. She was now beginning to feel light-headed and faint from the pain. Just when she thought she might be able to retreat and get X-Force, she felt a vice-like grip on her waist. She tried to twist around, but she was now in mid-air and couldn’t get any leverage.

“It must be Stranglehold…” was her last thought before she blacked out.

The limousine came back around the block a few minutes later. Indigo lowered the power window and motioned to Argos.

“Place them in the trunk whilst we finish up business here.” he said.

Stranglehold and Argos placed both Domino and Jesse in the trunk. Indigo then addressed the assembled members of the Sword.

“Now then, X-Force’s headquarters is just over there,” Indigo pointed, “and we will go as planned. I will confront them directly, then you will take them by surprise.”

With that, the Sword moved off towards X-Force’s headquarters…

NEXT ISSUE: X-Force vs Indigo and the Sword! How will X-Force stand up to their combined might? And will they survive to be able to rescue Jesse and Domino?