X-Force

The Damocles Foundation
San Francisco, California

“Hey, Dani. Got a sec?”

Dani Moonstar turned around to face the gold-skinned teenager. Josh Foley was a mutant healer and had nearly unparalleled talent in his abilities. “Sure, Josh,” Dani replied. “What’s wrong?”

Josh shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know. I kinda feel like I’m out of my depth here. You just showed us the end of the world, and this really, really isn’t what I thought it was going to be.”

Dani tried not to laugh. “I’m sorry. What did you think you were coming into?”

“Hero stuff,” Josh said, shrugging. “I mean, this thing we have going on about destiny and dead people and being around all these X-Men who are helping you hide in the shadows while you do this—this thing…This just doesn’t feel right, you know?”

“Come over here and tell me what doesn’t feel right, Josh,” Dani said, sitting down on a small sofa in the lobby of the Damocles Foundation building. Josh took up a perch on the armrest of the loveseat closest to Dani’s couch.

“Look, Dani, I’m sorry,” Josh said. “You told me to come along to save the day, and I get that. Then you put me with the guy who hates my guts the most, even if, well, he hates them a little less now, and you stuck us on cleanup duty. Then you come and tell us that we need the guy who tried to kill us for part of your plan. And then you tell us that we need to find somebody who’s dead.” He paused and looked at the floor. “You see what I’m saying?”

Dani took a deep breath and nodded. “Josh, this is all new for you. I understand that. The others? This is just another drop in the bucket of things they’ve seen. Me, I gave up on trying to make sense of things when we were fighting for my life in the spirit realm against the Demon Bear. I realized that the words of a precog written years ago might make just as much sense as losing one of my best friends on an island of genetically-modified, talking animals to a bullet wound from a suit of armor wearing a gigantic smiley face.” She sighed. “I realized that there’s just as much order here as there was when I was captured by an ancient Egyptian mutant and forced to carry out his duty as a Dark Rider for his Revelation-themed army of mutants.”

Josh bit his lip. “Sorry, Dani. I should’ve trusted you.”

Dani put a hand on Josh’s shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re young. When I was your age, I was more worried about school and grades before some of the things that happened. Just keep an open mind. Weird comes with the territory.”

“Yeah, I’ve picked up on that much so far,” Josh said, laughing weakly.

Dani grimaced. “Get some rest. You’re heading out with Cable’s team in the morning.”

Josh cocked an eyebrow at Dani. “Cable? Why his team?”

Dani chuckled. “Believe me, you guys got the fun job…”

WRITTEN IN STONE

Part III: Destiny Hunt

By Hunter Lambright

Keepaway Barracks, Colorado
Secret Headquarters of the Hound Program

“Three more months till we’re out of this gig. Think you can handle it?” the thickly-armored guard asked his companion as they trudged down the hallway.

The second guard grimaced. “Sure, if there aren’t any more problems like last Tuesday. They say Hollingsworth might not make it after that whole Hound escape.”

“Chances are, like, one in a couple thousand, I heard,” the first guard said, shrugging. “I’m just saying, morality aside, this is kinda a gravy job.”

On the line between perception and reality, the two guards felt the compound shudder, even deep within the mountainside. “The hell was that?”

“Not sure,” the second guard replied. He took a tentative step toward what he thought might be the area where the vibration emanated from.

The building rumbled again. The guards looked at each other, and then back to the wall. It was no shuddering. Rock erupted into the hallway, forcing them to kneel and cover their heads even as their armored bodies were buffeted by debris. The guards reached for their comm. units only to find them destroyed by the rock explosion.

They thought it was a cave-in. They were wrong.

It was an attack.

The new opening into Keepaway Barracks glowed red with the flash of an optic blast. Steel clanked as a man made of metal stomped through the doorway. He was followed by a girl who walked through him like a ghost. She was passed by a man bounding in on all fours. He was covered in thick, blue fur. Other silhouettes hung back from the frontal attack, shielded by a force field.

“X-Men! Fuck!” shouted the first guard, drawing his gun and opening fire. The ghostly girl grabbed the fur-covered one. Bullets passed through them both and ricocheted off the metal man.

Safely away from the action, Dani Moonstar allowed herself a chuckle even as she blocked the noise of her laugh from the guards’ perception. She had expected a little more opposition from the Hound Program’s guards, but so far that hadn’t been the case. Even here, flunkies were still just flunkies. She turned to the man beside her. “Syndicate, can you guys fry their walkie-talkies? The guards only think they’re ruined.”

“No problem,” Matt replied. His eyes veered toward his Siamese twin. “Right, Luke?”

“Right,” Luke replied, rolling his eyes. “Do we always have to ask each other for permission?”

“Ye fight like an old married couple,” Siryn muttered. The ginger mutant scowled, shoved her hands in her pockets, and kept walking.

The fourth and final member of the group shuffled his feet heavily along the walkway. Caliban hulked over the others, his wide shoulders barely fitting through the hall. “No talk,” he growled. “Mission.”

Dani nodded. “That’s right. We’re on a clock here, because my illusion will fade once we’re far enough away, but that hole we made won’t. Sirens are going to go off any minute now. We have to find Destiny and get out without dying.”

“I like how you had to tell us that not dying was part of the mission,” Matt replied.

“It’s not in the book,” Dani replied.

“And if Destiny’s wrong?” Luke asked. A trickle of nervous sweat traveled down his face.

Dani shrugged. “Destiny has never been wrong as far as I know. I didn’t know her personally, but her reputation was there.”

“Great, we’re running on reputations,” Terry said, biting her lip.

“Terry, I wouldn’t have chosen you for the team if I’d known you were going to have problems with it. You know that before Syndicate EMP’d you, you still had nanites in your bloodstream that hadn’t been deactivated, right?” Dani asked. “I get that you’re bitter about something, but your attitude kinda sucks.”

“Sorry, Team Leader,” Terry replied. “Just give me something to scream at, all right?”

The blare of sirens lit up the building. “They’re onto us,” Dani said. “You guys know what to do. Caliban, do you sense Destiny anywhere?”

“No, Caliban does not sense Destiny.”

“Then we split up. Siryn and Syndicate, you two head toward the communications room. Try to wreak as much damage as you can. That’s why you’re here,” Dani said. “Cal, you’re with me. Think you can handle that, big guy?”

Caliban smiled. “Yes.”

Dani and Caliban ran down the corridor toward the holding cells. Gabriel Jones had been kind enough to “misplace” the documents that S.H.I.E.L.D. had on Keepaway Barracks into her inbox, so she had a rough idea of where they were headed. It frightened her to think that Destiny might be here, in a place where mutants were changed into Hounds. They were stripped of their humanity and reduced to their base instincts, then trained like dogs to do their masters’ bidding.

“Caliban, what about Stone or Hound, the two operatives they encountered before with this program?” Dani asked, wishing she had thought of them before now.

Caliban shook his head. “Not them.”

Dani frowned. “Then who?”

Growling, Caliban stopped and turned toward the large, open space lined with small, cabin-like structures. “Them.”

A lone man in a white lab coat stood, facing them. A plastic surgery smile was plastered across his face. Thin, wire-rimmed glasses sat atop his nose. They were his only mark of imperfection. “Yes, us,” said the man. “I’m Dr. Harkins, Moonstar, and you two are going to be a very nice addition to my army of Hounds. You’re already half-conditioned Apoca-lapdogs.” He smiled and rubbed his hands together. “I can work with that.”

“Like hell you will,” Dani said, readying an illusion.

Harkins waggled a disapproving finger in her direction. “Sorry, Moonstar.” He tapped the side of his head. “Anti-psi implant. It’s nice when you mess with mutants not to get your head fucked with.”

Dani pulled her bow off her back and nocked a trick arrow into it. “Try me now.”

Harkins continued grinning. “Come on, Moonstar. I would, but why should I when they can?”

He stepped aside and gestured toward the barracks, where Moonstar could see several figures emerging, moving with awkward, bestial gestures. They were hunched over, often dropping to all fours. “Like ‘em?” Harkins asked. “Found these bastards hiding in the sewers in Chicago. They were calling themselves the Morlocks. I showed them what happened to the last Morlocks.”

“You sick piece of shit,” Dani hissed, keeping the arrow leveled at the doctor. Finally, giving into her anger, she let go.

The arrow bounced off Harkins without causing him any harm. The instant she had let go, one of the Hounds had reacted with superhuman speed. The Hound seemed amorphous in nature, using its single-celled body to protect its master. From within his inhuman shield, Harkins said, “Thank you, Cell. The rest of you Hounds, what are you waiting for? Attack her!”

As the bestial mutants advanced on them, Dani turned to Caliban and rolled her eyes. “I hate fate. Why couldn’t the diary have sent us on Cable’s mission?”

“AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Julian Keller spat, charging up the turquoise light of his telekinesis. “Dani sent us to fight this?”

“Best advice I can give you, soldier? Suck it up,” Cable said, staring at the monstrosity before him. Dani’s instructions had led him and his four charges to an abandoned storage facility rented out to an anagram of the Mad Thinker’s birth name. Opening the door had gotten them this far, activating the prototype of the Assemble robot, complete with the combined abilities of the founding Avengers.

Amara Aquilla charged up her molten form, surrounding her body with a protective shield of seething, liquid rock. “Allow me,” she said, stepping forward.

“No!” Cable shouted. “Dani says we need it intact! You’re going to have to be a little more subtle here, people!”

“Very subtle, yes,” Empath hissed under his breath. “What good did Dani think I’d be, exactly, on an emotionless robot?”

Josh Foley looked down at his golden hands. “Ditto. I’ll be back here if you get scraped or something. Robots, you can’t heal to death. The hell am I here?”

“It’s in the book,” Cable said through gritted teeth, as Assemble attacked. Even as Cable watched, the robot grew in size with the size-changing prowess of Hank Pym. Cable launched his psimitar at the exposed cords in its unfinished abdomen, but Assembled swatted the crackling spear away with a small movement of his oversized hands. “On second thought, Magma, I’m not sure how much damage you can do! Hit it with what you can!”

“ASSEMBLE SMASH!” shouted the android, clapping its enormous gray hands. A shockwave erupted from the impact, knocking Julian and Empath to the ground.

Cable looked at Magma. “Do something!” he shouted.

Magma stood rooted to the spot as Assemble cranked toward her. Her arms quivered. “I can’t do it,” she whimpered.

The Assemble robot brought its hands together, ready to hammer them down on Magma. “It’s going to kill her!” Josh warned.

“No, it’s not,” Empath said. He threw himself at Amara, grabbing her by the molten ankle. The flesh was seared from his hand, but he managed to speak through the pain. “You have confidence. You can do this!”

“I have confidence. I can do this,” Magma repeated, as if in a trance. Empath rolled away as Magma raised her hands, calling a plume of lava to the surface under Assemble’s feet, causing its arms to miss her head by inches. The liquid rock ate away at the non-metal parts of the robot’s legs before cooling to free it in place at its ankles.

“I need a hand, Josh!” Empath shouted, tears trailing down his face as he gripped his severely burned hand. Josh ran over and gripped Manuel’s hand in his. Slowly, the blackened and blistered cells of his hand reverted to the smooth skin in his palm. With his other hand, Empath wiped the tears from his face.

Cable leveled a blast from his gun at Assemble while it was off-kilter. “Not done yet, people! Julian, you take the high road! Magma, you hit it down low!”

Hellion complied, leveling a series of telekinetic blasts at Assemble’s head and shoulders. “What about you, Cable?”

“I’ve got the precision work,” Cable said, trading the blaster for his Psimitar. Channeling his powers through it, his eyes locked onto the creature’s seventh mechanical rib. He let loose the energy within the Psimitar and heard the crunch of metal and wires. “Looks like the old crone was right,” he said, watching as Assemble deactivated itself. “Power down, team.”

Magma shifted out of her lava form, allowing the molten rock to flow off her body and into the ground where it hardened once more. She looked at Empath. “We need to have a talk later,” she said venomously. She crossed her arms and began to walk away.

“I did what I had to do to protect you,” he yelled after her. “I knew you hadn’t used your powers since Argentina. I just didn’t know you were afraid of them.”

She whipped around. “I am not afraid of my powers!” she shrieked. The ground began to shudder.

“Stand down, Magma,” Cable said. “That’s an order.”

Amara looked at Cable and raised her arms to attack. Then, catching herself, she lowered her arms and looked at the ground in shame. “I understand.”

Julian cocked an eyebrow at Josh. “Doesn’t seem all that afraid to use her powers to me.”

Josh opened his mouth to reply, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of an approaching aircraft. The spinning air kicked up dirt and gravel, flinging it through the air as a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport ship dropped in for a landing. “What’s going on?” Josh mouthed.

The rotor speed slowed as a well-built black man in a standard S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform stepped off the lowered ramp. “My name is Gabriel Jones,” he shouted. “My task force has been assigned to take this android off your hands.”

“Due respect, but this is a little over your head,” Cable said, planting his Psimitar in the dirt. “We need the Assemble robot as part of a world-saving effort.”

Gabriel Jones chuckled noiselessly. “It make a difference if I tell you that Dani Moonstar sent me?”

Confusion lit up across Cable’s features. He gestured toward the downed Assemble android with his techno-organic arm. “Be my guest.”

Cable stood with his team as they watched Gabriel Jones’ strikeforce secure Assemble’s arms and legs before carrying it aboard the transport vehicle. After the aircraft’s rotors had sped back up, carrying it up and away from the scene, Julian voiced what they all were thinking. “What was that?”

“That,” Cable grunted, “was not part of the plan.”

The Damocles Foundation

Sparks shot out of the circuitry as the cybernetic entity known as Prosh worked on the wiring of a holding cell in the Damocles Foundation building. He aimed to have the cell finished by nightfall, because there was no telling when X-Corporation would be able to release the prisoner to their custody, however temporarily.

Roberto DaCosta entered the room and flashed his trademark grin at Prosh. “How’s it going, Prosh?”

[The wiring is going as well as can be expected,] Prosh said. [However, the dubious legality of the holding cell’s intentions and the obvious problem of only ever having one or two of us on hand at a time in case of a failure is worrisome.]

“If Dani says she needs strings pulled to get things done to save the world, strings get pulled as far as I’m concerned,” Roberto replied. “Besides, you’re one of the few people on Earth who could whip up the proper containment for a Deviant strain. X-Corporation has half a dozen armed me pointing assault rifles at his head 24/7 until we get this thing hooked up.”

[Understood,] Prosh said. [You believe in Moonstar?]

“Yes,” Roberto said after a pause, “I do.”

[I am from the future, Sunspot. The attack she has described does not happen in my future,] Prosh said.

“Then it must mean that she ends up being successful in preventing it,” Sunspot said.

Prosh stared at him with blank eyes. [Or it means that all of this has been a fool’s errand. It is my hope that you are correct, Sunspot. It sincerely is.]

Chicago, Illinois

“Something is happening to Dani Moonstar, and I don’t like it.”

Warren Worthington stood with both hands on the conference table in front of him, speaking to the only other person in the room. “She left me awhile back to do something she said she needed to do. She asked me to trust her, and she’s asked for help, money, along the way. I’ve done what I can, but I can’t keep moving without the truth. That’s why I’m here. I need your help, and I’m willing to pay for it.”

“Sorry, Wings, but you’re a little outside my usual set of customers,” said the woman on the other side of the table. “What’s in it for me?”

“There’ve been pictures showing up,” Warren responded. “She’s been seen in Pakistan, fighting alongside an associate of yours. You’re…intimately acquainted…with Cable, right?”

Domino stood up with a twinkle in her eyes. “Cable?” she asked. “Forget about the money, Worthington. I’ll do this job for free. When do we start?”

Keepaway Barracks

The usual silence of Keepaway Barracks was shattered by Siryn’s screams. The sonic blasts were capable of bursting eardrums, but Theresa only used the frequency as a last resort. Instead, they were focused in strong blasts that stripped sheet metal and drywall from the hallways. Hired mercenaries were forced to spend less time firing at Siryn and Syndicate because they were too busy dodging falling debris and keeping their hands over their ears.

Matt and Luke did their best to keep up, lumbering forward in their single body with the mass of two. The problem with being Siamese twins meant that they had to coordinate their movements. They had mastered this in normal, everyday situations. Doing so in combat situations was something else in entirely.

“Left, right, left!” Matt shouted. “C’mon, just do it as I say it!”

“I am!” Luke retorted. “C’mon, time for another EMP. I see something electrical that’s still working up there.”

Matt groaned. “Fine. One, two, three!” The two concentrated on their heart, which was the focus of an electromagnetic pulse that kept their body running. A light blue blast of energy emanated in a radius around their body, frying each and every bit of technology around them.

“Charge forward!” Siryn shouted at a level that wouldn’t destroy their eardrums. Then she aimed her sonic blasts back toward the oncoming guards once more. Blood streamed through the guards’ fingers even with their hands over their ears.

With the attack force on the ground writhing in agony, Siryn stopped screaming. “The control room is up ahead. It’s where ye’re needed most,” she said to Syndicate.

Matt and Luke nodded and ran forward, counting off each foot as they went. They hit a rhythm and soon kept up with Theresa despite the fact that she was in flight. “How much further?” Luke asked.

“Here,” Siryn said. She opened her mouth to scream, and the door flew in off its hinges, shattering several of the video monitors as it hit the screen-lined wall. Changing the frequency and tone of her voice, Siryn lived up to her name as she whispered to the men inside. “Go outside, leave this place. Do it for me.”

The three technicians stood up from their formerly shocked positions in their chairs and, casting puppy-dog eyes at Siryn as they did, left the room and marched down the hallway. Siryn rolled her eyes in disgust and said, “Your turn, boys.”

Syndicate stepped into the control room and stood in the center. “Here we go,” Matt said. “One…two…three!”

The room flashed blue with the electrical light of the EMP, and then the entire facility was plunged into darkness.

Dani stared each Hound down, looking from right to left, trying to determine which was the biggest threat. One of the female Hounds crackled with electricity, and Dani knew she had no possible way of protecting herself from an energy attack. The others’ powers were less obvious.

“Electric Eve, fry her!” Harkins shouted. “Trader, go blank!”

Even as the electrically-empowered woman launched a river of electricity from her hands, another Hound disappeared from sight. Dani dove out of the way of the electrical stream. Caliban took the hit instead to his back. “Get invisible one!” he grunted.

Dani mentally tracked where she first saw the Hound and where the logical point of attack would be. On a hunch, she swung with the sharpened tip of her bow toward where she thought Trader would be and was rewarded with the sound of the Hound’s scream. Another electric blast arced Dani’s way, but she put an end to the Hound’s assaults with a trick arrow. The electric blasts went wide of Dani’s location thanks to a well-timed illusion.

Then the lights went out.

“Caliban, looks like they did their job!” Dani hissed. “Keep these guys on their toes!”

“You think this means you have the upper hand?” Harkins shouted from somewhere in the darkness. “Angel Dust! Shatter! Postman! Take them all out! The only one hurt by this is you! Your illusions are meaningless, and my Hounds can see in the dark!”

“Postman destroys minds,” Caliban whispered. “No touch.”

He picked up what felt like a paper bag of powdered cement mix. Harkins was wrong about them being blind. Caliban had the ability to sense other mutants and know exactly where they were at. Using this power, he could feel the most dangerous Hound, Postman, less than twenty feet away. He launched the bag of cement mix and heard it connect with Postman’s chest, taking him to the ground. He did not get up.

“Just two,” he said.

Dani nodded. Her eyes were having trouble adjusting to the light, though she could sense movement near her. The Hound called Shatter bounded toward her, clutching what seemed to be water bottles. He threw them at her, using his power to transmute liquids to solids, making the water bottles into deadly projectiles. She dodged one, but the second connected with her thigh, taking her down to one knee.

Had she been standing, her head would have been taken off her shoulders by a punch from the super-strong Angel Dust. Dani threw herself at the Hound’s knees, forcing her to the ground. “Cal!”

“Coming!” Caliban shouted, throwing the still-moving Trader over his back. He rammed into Angel Dust with the force of a freight train, leaving Dani to deal with Shatter. She could see now, but she didn’t let him know that, only letting loose with a trick arrow at the very last second. It exploded on contact, blowing the Hound off his feet.

The emergency lights came on then, and at that moment, reality began folding in on itself.

Cavernous space began folding into smaller, claustrophobic area in a trick-house game of perception. “This place is going to collapse, Harkins! Is that what you want?” Dani asked, looking the deranged scientist in the eye. It was only then that she recognized the terror.

“This isn’t me!” Harkins shouted. “This is something—someone—else! Retreat!” The Hounds, injured as they were, had no choice but to listen to the commands of their master, following him on all fours.

Caliban moved to prevent their escape, but Dani held him back. “Not what we’re here for,” she said. “Destiny is.”

With Harkins out of the picture, and the cavern still folding, Dani rushed toward the barracks-like building inside the facility that she had seen before the attack. She threw open door after door on empty, barely furnished rooms. Finally, after nearly a dozen empty rooms, she found what she was looking for.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor with their back to the door, a figure clothed with light blue glowed with power. The sounds of the cavern and folding space stopped, and the figure stood up. It turned around and pulled off the gold mask that covered its face.

Dani forced herself not to shout. It was not Irene Adler. It was a teenage boy.

He waved his gloved hand in the air and a spacial rift opened. He reached in and withdrew a book, handing it to Dani. It was the second volume of the Books of Truth. “My name is Trevor Chase,” he said, grimacing. “I am Irene Adler’s grandson. I am an inmate of the Hound program. And, Dani Moonstar, I am your Destiny.”

The Morlock Tunnels
New York City

Metal footsteps echoed against the concrete floor of the underground habitat known as the Alley. Though the original Morlocks had long since left their old home, mutants who found themselves rejected from the surface world still found a place to hide and to call home under the streets of New York.

The Tin Man cared not for the Morlocks, only for the mutant that they called one of their own. A woman walked up to him as he strode through the dwellings. “Sir, I do not recognize you,” she said. “They call me Delphi. Can I help you find a place to stay?”

His steel fingers found her throat. “Show me the one called Qwerty. I will do her no harm. I will leave your people in peace.”

As he relaxed his grip, Delphi massaged her throat. “C-come this way, sir,” she said. “I hope that you find the answers that you seek in this place.”

“For your sake, I hope I do as well,” the Tin Man responded.

Delphi led him to a side corridor that led to a side room. The Tin Man noted that there was writing on the walls here, scribbles over scribbles, all unintelligible from age and being constantly overwritten. “Qwerty lives here,” Delphi said, and left.

The Tin Man strode in and took note of the writing on the wall. Qwerty lay with her back against the wall, mouth open, not acknowledging his presence. “The master of future and prophecy lies reduced to this,” said the Tin Man. “I know you can hear me, Qwerty. I know what you can do. You see every possible outcome of every possible action. If you turn on a light somewhere in the city, you see that it will cause a short in an appliance miles away, killing its user. You bump into someone on the street and can see that, by delaying their commute by a split-second, they will be hit by that car instead of barely be missed by it.”

He paced the floor before her, eyeing a book that lay open on a pedestal. “What an unfortunate ability, to be burdened with such awful truth. Yet, for some reason, you chose to write down what you saw would happen as a result of the writings you made. It was your last effort at choosing your own fate, and now I do my part.”

Eyeing the prophetess in her self-induced coma, he could not help but chuckle to himself. “I relieve you of your book of truth so that I can combat the other Books of Truth.

“Your effort has not been wasted.”

Then, carrying the book, he stepped out into the Alley and away under the rest of New York.

To be continued

 

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