X-Force

Mutant Response Division
Trenton, New Jersey

Adamantium walls lined the holding cell. In the center of the metal room was a straitjacket, and in the straitjacket was a young girl. Her eyes were wide open, and her entire body convulsed as tubes pumped a steady stream of adrenaline into her body to keep her awake. The veins in her eyes were visible even from the monitoring station on the outside of one of the four walls. She had not slept in three weeks. If the plan held, she would never sleep again until they found a cure.

Her name was Tildie Soames, and when she slept, her nightmares came to life to kill.

The nightmares were indiscriminate. The first time her powers manifested, she killed both of her parents and the two responding officers on the scene. She didn’t sleep for days after the first incident. That was why it took so long for them to determine the problem. By the time she fell asleep the second time, she had been taken in by a foster family. That night, the creatures in the darkest recesses of her mind came out to play. The foster family’s apartment was gutted. It took three days to determine which body parts belonged to which family member.

Thanks to the Mutant Response Division, Tildie hadn’t had a chance to fall asleep a third time. Rumor had it that someone was working on something that would cure her or at least suppress it. For the time being, power dampeners and constant surveillance would have to do.

The man who stepped into the building was made of flesh and blood. He flashed the proper credentials and made sure that the correct people saw him. He used his passkey to access the sub-level where the more dangerous subjects were held and found his way to the containment area for Tildie Soames. That was where he ditched his flesh guise and reverted to what was now his default form. The Tin Man changed to cool, emotionless metal.

The two guards in the security station watching the straitjacketed girl found their windpipes crushed by solid steel fingers. They choked away their last moments as the Tin Man deactivated the security in the room with his fists. Then, smashing his way through the observation panel, he made his way to the girl.

He pulled the straps of the straitjacket from their hooks on the walls and cradled Tildie, not allowing her out of her prison just yet. On the way out of the room he grasped the briefcase of syringes, needles, and tubes of adrenaline.

“Mister?” Tildie asked, her eyes glazed over. “Can I go to sleep now?”

The Tin Man said nothing. He drew a syringe and injected Tildie with a dose of adrenaline that would keep her awake until her next dose in an hour. “No, sweetheart. Not yet,” he said.

“When?” Tildie moaned.

The Tin Man smiled, light glinting off his silver teeth. “Tonight, child. I promise, you get to sleep tonight.”

“B-but Mister, I hurt people when I sleep,” Tildie said, her head rolling back, too tired to support itself.

Trudging through the Mutant Response Division building, cradling the girl away from the bullets of the guards as he calmly forced his way out, the Tin Man took a moment to respond. “And what, dear child, made you think that hurting people isn’t the plan?”

WRITTEN IN STONE

Part IV: The Calm Before

By Hunter Lambright

District X, New York City

“The future.”

Lucas Bishop chewed the words over as he said them. “What do you want to know about the future, Dani? My future, I mean.”

“For starters, you can explain that,” Dani Moonstar said, wringing her hands. “Your future? What does that even mean?”

“You live in a world where Cable, Rachel Grey, and Shard and I all co-exist, but our futures are decidedly different,” Bishop said. “Does the potential for my future even exist anymore, based on the way I came back to it? I don’t know. Did my presence here cause it to diverge? Probably.”

“So just being here, that means your future won’t happen?”

“Look out there,” Bishop said. The thickly-built, black man paced toward the window. He squinted, and the glare accented the M-shaped tattoo over his eye. “We live in a world where mutants have their own neighborhood in New York City. In my world, Australia is a nuclear wasteland and mutants are mostly raised in camps, except for the X.S.E. Does it look like our present is on track for my future?”

“Looks can be deceiving, though, right? Tomorrow, something could happen to change everything. Some mutant could do something horrible by accident, and we’re back on the downhill slide,” Dani said. “Or, Apocalypse could come back and we could be back on track for Cable’s future. Or someone could mass-produce Sentinels and we’ll be on our way to Rachel’s future. Yeah, looks can be deceiving, but if the future is the future, is it stable, or can we directly affect what happens, what stays the same, and what changes based on our knowledge of the possibilities?”

“In my experience, those that try to stop the future from happening are the ones who inadvertently cause it,” Bishop said. “What’s your situation, Dani? Sounds like you’ve got something awfully specific going on.”

Dani sighed. “I have a set of diaries written by Irene Adler, the late Destiny. I’ve only even read the first one, but everything in it that’s already happened since she wrote it has happened to the letter. I need to know if I can prevent this disaster, this catastrophic future that’s going to happen in just a few days. I need to know if there’s anything I can do, because if I find out later that there was, I won’t be able to live with it.”

“You want my honest opinion?”

Dani nodded.

“I don’t know how time works. I don’t pretend that my future won’t happen until the year it’s supposed to comes by, and it either does or doesn’t,” Bishop said. “Here’s what I say: You fight like hell, whether the future is written in stone or not. And the instant this thing goes up in your face, you call me and we’ll be on the front line. It’s what we do. We’re X-Men. You don’t get to play Atlas. This weight on your shoulders, it’s all of ours, all right?”

“Thanks, Bishop,” Dani said. “I think it’s time I get out of here, but what you said makes a lot of sense.

“I’m not letting someone tell me how this war ends.”

The Damocles Foundation
San Francisco, California

“Let me out!”

Roberto DaCosta wiped his hands off on the side of his jacket. “Looks like you’ve recovered well enough from your headshot, vilão.”

“You mutants have no right to hold me here!” shouted Odysseus Indigo, feral with rage. “No right at all!”

“You don’t seem to realize what’s going on, so I’m going to fill you in,” Roberto said, inching closer to the energy-dampening cage. “You are a far, far cry from the slick businessman that caught us off guard a few years ago. Prosh ran a few tests and found the same thing I guessed, Indigo.”

Roberto cocked his head to the side. “You’re devolving, and we’re the only ones who can stop it.”

Indigo gnashed his teeth at Roberto’s words. “You’ve told me nothing new, X-Man,” he growled. “But what price would I pay besides my pride?”

“Dani Moonstar has a plan to stop a major catastrophe. You are a part of this plan. If you play ball, we’ll help you. If you don’t…” Roberto drew a line across his throat. “You understand?”

“X-Men don’t kill,” Indigo said, smiling. “I see through you.”

“I’m guessing the bullet I shot into your brain was set on stun, then?” Roberto asked. “Even if Dani hesitates, people like Cable won’t. And besides, you’ve seen what the baseline for a Deviant is. You really want to look like one of those ugly animais daninhos?”

Indigo stretched his jaw, mentally thinking through everything Roberto had said. “Tell Moonstar that she has a deal. What do I do?”

“You’ll find out when you find out,” Roberto said, walking toward the door. “But believe me, no matter where this thing goes? She hasn’t forgotten which bastard sold her to Apocalypse in the first place…”

Chihuahua, Mexico

The man named Pasco was headed north.

He’d been walking to save money, especially since he was going to need a good chunk of what the Tin Man had paid him to bribe the officials at the border. Of course, he could always walk through them. Bullets meant nothing to the man with a personal force field. It was the attention that didn’t bounce off as easily.

He was taking a break just for a little drink. He wasn’t a bad guy. He had a conscience, and damn if it wasn’t letting him know it. The potential damage he had set into play by setting those explosives…it was frightening to think about.

The door to the bar opened, but Pasco didn’t look up. He only acknowledged the newcomer’s presence when the man came up to the bar and sat down next to him. That was when he saw the man’s metal arm. “El Hombre de Estaño…” Pasco began.

Cable turned so that his glowing eye emanated in the dark interior of the bar. “Not quite, but he sounds like a guy I want to know more about.” He grabbed Pasco by the front of his shirt, carrying him, kicking and shouting, out of the bar. The other patrons gave them no notice. It wasn’t the first time a man had been taken from his barstool, especially not an out-of-towner.

Around the back of the bar, Cable shoved Paso against the side of the building. “What do you know about the Tin Man and what’s going to happen in two days?”

Pasco smiled. “I will tell you nada, nothing. You cannot hurt me. I am invencible.”

Cable held a small black box up next to Pasco’s head. The man screamed in pain as he pressed a button on the side. “You feel that? Sonics. I can hurt you all I need to. Now, I need to know what you’ve done.”

“What are you talking about?” Pasco asked. Tears streamed out of his eyes from the pain, the first he had felt in a long time. “How do you know?”

“Let’s just say a little birdie told me and leave it at that,” Cable said, moving his finger toward the button again.

Pasco held his hands up in an act of desperation. “No, please! I will tell you what you want to know, hombre! Por favor, not the noise.”

“I was hoping you would break. What can you tell me about this Tin Man?”

Pasco nodded. “His body, it is covered in metal. He pays me very well to set explosives.” Pasco gulped. “He says he has no heart.”

“The explosives clued me in to that,” Cable said. “Where did you set them? When do they go off?”

“I put them on the boat!” Paso uttered. “Tonight! They go off tonight!”

“What boat? You’re not making this easy on me, soldier.”

“The boat called El Conquistador, the one in the middle of the ocean. Please, I have told you all I know!” Pasco begged.

“Not enough to save the world. Not yet,” Cable said. He tightened his grip around Pasco’s neck and muttered, “Bodyslide by two.”

“No, Gabe, I need you in Tokyo. No, I can’t explain why, but you’ll know when you’re there. And yes, take the damn robot with you,” Moonstar said into her S.H.I.E.L.D. comm.-unit in exasperation, even as Gabe Jones’ voice echoed into her headset.

In the space in front of Dani, a seam popped open and a dark, blue-gloved hand reached through space toward her. The space unfolded around the hand, up to a forearm, until it revealed the boy called Destiny. “Call you back, Gabe,” Dani said, removing the headset and setting the unit aside. “What’s going on, Trevor?”

Trevor Chase removed the gold, emotionless mask from his face. “We need to talk, Ms. Moonstar.”

“The end of the world is coming up fast, Trevor. Talk.”

“You’re worried,” Trevor said, pulling down the blue hood. Now he looked less an enigma and more the young teenager that he was. “My grandmother…she trusted you. She wasn’t a fatalist. If anyone can change what she saw, it’s you.”

Dani snorted before she could help herself. “I’m glad someone has faith, Trevor. If that’s all you wanted to say, I think Josh and Julian might need help getting loaded up for tonight.”

“That’s not what I’m here to tell you,” Trevor said, moving to block her path. “She trusted that you can change, but I’m…worried.”

“You’re worried? Join the club,” Dani said.

“Quit treating me flippantly,” Trevor said, his eyes flaring in anger. “I’m afraid that you’re being nearsighted. You’re playing it by the book, literally. You’re doing what you saw and hoping things change because you’re planning ahead. You’re not using all of your resources.”

“My resources?”

“You are one of the most interconnected individuals on the face of the planet. You could have all of S.H.I.E.L.D. or the X-Men searching for this boat you have Cable trying to find. Even the Avengers would take you seriously if you asked,” Trevor stated. “Why are you hiding from them?”

“I’m not. I’m protecting them,” Dani said matter-of-factly, hands on her hips. “If you’re done, I have to save the world now.”

She didn’t let Trevor get another word in. He watched her walk off into the bowels of the Damocles Foundation building. His voice was barely audible as he said, “But if you fight alone, we all die…”

“You ever wonder if we did the right thing?”

Josh looked up at Julian from his cross-legged position on the cot. “I mean, I think we did, but did we really?”

Julian strapped the belt onto his uniform, making an act of concentrating on the buckle. Finally, his eyes met Josh’s. “I don’t know, and I don’t think we’re going to know until this all shakes out.”

Nodding, Josh unfolded his legs and swung them to the ground. He reached for his boots. “Miss Moonstar just seems so sure that she’s doing the right thing here, but I can’t help but wonder…if this doesn’t work out, what happens to the people we left behind?”

“We die with them thinking we’re the biggest assholes in existence, or the biggest idiots for doing it without their help,” Julian responded.

Josh smirked. “Maybe we are the biggest assholes in existence, but I’d still heal one of our bullet wounds in a heartbeat.”

“That’s the difference between you and me, Foley,” Julian said. “You heal things, and I break them. You mend the wounds and I toss things around to cause more damage. Yin and yang, both in personality and in power. And you know what? I think Miss Moonstar knew that when she picked us.” He paused. “And she also knew that Odysseus Indigo would slice me open, and that I’d need you there to sew my guts back up. If she’s right about that…maybe she’s right about all of this. Who am I to question that? If this is fate, like, really fate, who are any of us to question it?”

Julian’s words echoed in their minds as they finished getting ready in silence.

“I want you to know, before we go…there is something I have to say,” Manuel said, looking into Amara’s eyes.

Amara stared back at him. “Then say it.”

“For a woman whose passion burns so hot, you seem so cold,” Manuel said, shaking his head. “Amara, you have to know this. This finality that is in the air…I have to tell you that this feeling I have for you is not fabricated, even if you don’t believe that the feeling you have for me in return is real.”

“I believe you.”

Amara closed her eyes and let Manuel take her into his arms. “Last week, in the fight with the Assemble robot… it was the first time you’ve manipulated my emotions in a long time. I hadn’t felt that kind of manipulation in so long. It hurt, but it opened up my eyes.

“No matter what happens out there, I think I love you too.”

From the monitor room, Prosh kept watch. Though the night was young, the Damocles Foundation building was quiet. Almost all of Dani Moonstar’s X-Force was restless. He could see Elixir and Hellion sitting on their cots, talking away the night in an effort to pretend that they weren’t nervous for the coming day. He could see Magma in Empath’s arms, neither of them asleep, but neither willing to move for fear of ending the moment.

In another room, Prosh saw Trevor Chase holding a worn, leather-bound volume, reading it in the dim light of a dying lamp. When he finished, he waved into the air with one hand, ripping open a turquoise pocket in reality, and placed the book inside the pocket. Then he killed the lamp and shut his eyes.

Elsewhere, Siryn held onto a rosary with one hand and her Alcoholics Anonymous three-year chip in the other. She whispered a prayer, her eyes tightly shut. Her “amen” was followed by another “dear god,” continuing in a cyclical pattern of forgiveness and safety. Prosh hoped she would find both on the battlefield.

The bed in Caliban’s room was empty, but he slept nonetheless. His large form was splayed out on the floor, one hand across his chest and the other on the floor. He did not stir despite his own snoring.

Syndicate’s room was brightly lit, as the two brothers took turns at the phone. Matt spoke first, asking their sister about her surgery, while Luke, in turn, told her not to worry about them, and that they would see her soon. When they hung up the phone, they made a pact between each other not to let that promise be an empty one.

Moonstar stood on the spacious back deck of the Damocles Foundation’s building, her face unreadable. Sunspot sat in the chair next to her, sneaking worried glances in her direction, but unwilling to voice his fears.

The platform behind Prosh glowed with energy, signaling Cable’s arrival. Prosh tore his gaze from the screen.

“Get another spot in the brig opened, Prosh,” he said, holding Pasco by the scruff of the neck, his forcefield keeping Cable’s hands from actually touching him. Cable’s other hand held the sonic blaster leveled at the man’s head.

[Did you get the information Moonstar needed?] Prosh asked, remotely unlocking the cell next to Indigo’s.

Cable grunted. “He sang like a bird, but he didn’t have everything that we needed. Dani should be able to pull a little more out of him, and if not, we have enough to get us where we need to be by daylight.”

[Should I tell her you have returned?]

Shrugging, Cable said, “I think it can wait. Girl looks like she has enough on her mind. We’ll need her at her best tomorrow for this all to work.”

Today was the day that the world would change.

Dani Moonstar stood in the monitor room, looking at the map she had drawn out, detailing who would be sent to which of the cities from Destiny’s book. She had already received confirmation from Gabe Jones that he and S.H.I.E.L.D. were set up in Tokyo, while the rest of X-Force was sent across the globe. Sunspot and Odysseus Indigo were the last to leave, bodysliding to New York City with Caliban in tow.

“Can you read me, Moonstar?”

“Yeah, Cable, I can hear you. Have you had any luck finding El Conquistador?”

“That’s an affirmative,” Cable responded. His voice was muffled by the sound of wind. “My pilot’s going to swing back around and drop me. I’ll check back when I’ve reached the ship.”

Cable’s voice went out, and Dani assumed that he was preparing to parachute in. Finding the boat was the first part of the plan, but it was far from the end of it. Once Cable had landed, she would have the coordinates to bodyslide out to join him.

“We need to talk.”

Dani’s heart skipped a beat. “Warren?”

Silhouetted in the doorway, wings spread outward, was Warren Worthington, the X-Man known as Archangel. He folded his wings inward to fit through the door. “Dani, what are you doing here?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Dani asked, folding her arms across her chest. “I told you, I needed some time to do something—and now is the absolute worst time for you to confront me on it.”

Warren shook his head. “I thought you wanted alone time. I thought you needed time to go off the reservation and get things worked out. Instead, you kidnapped two students from Xavier’s, ran off to Genosha, asked me to pay for some little girl’s operation, and haven’t explained a word of it to me!”

“If you help me any more than you already have, the plan will fail,” Dani said, the color draining out of her face. “You have to believe me, Warren.”

“The plan?” Warren asked. “I trust you, Dani! But how can I do that when you’re not telling me everything? I love you, but there has to be some trust in there, too.”

“Then trust me, and I’ll explain everything in a few hours,” Dani said. She moved to brush past him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Domino stood in the doorway, leveling a rifle at Dani. “You’re acting kinda crazy, and we really don’t want another Dark Phoenix on our hands. Too many Judases around here to risk that.”

“You brought her, too?” Dani asked.

Warren shrugged. “She happens to have some personal investment in this, too. Cable went off the grid, and we found satellite footage of you with him in Pakistan fighting the Phalanx.”

“Moonstar? I’m on the boat. It’s a big place, but I think I found the way in. Coordinates are being uploaded as we speak,” Cable’s voice sparked into the transceiver in Dani’s ear.

“Stay there, Cable,” Dani said. “I’ll be there as soon as I take care of a small roadblock.”

“Are you talking to him right now?” Domino demanded.

Dani ignored her. “Warren, the world is going to go to hell if I don’t leave right now. You will die. Every superhero on the planet will die. These people, they think they’re the next step in evolution, and they’re going to eradicate the step before them on the way there.”

“I’m sorry, Warren,” Dani began. “Bodyslide by—”

“Grab her!” Domino yelled, grasping the tip of Warren’s wing even as he snagged Dani’s wrist.

One moment, they were in the Damocles Foundation. The next, they were caught in a swirling cloud of smoke and fire, tumbling out onto cold metal. The smell of salt filled the air. Dani coughed, but Warren, with several strong beats of his wings, cleared the air in the immediate vicinity.

“Glad you made it, but you should have told me you were bringing company,” Cable said, standing with his Psimitar poised to attack.

Dani coughed. “What happened?”

“The charges the Tin Man had Pasco set blew before I could get to them,” Cable explained. “I’m sorry, Dani. These people, these Children of the Vault…they’re already gone. We’re already a step behind.”

“Then it’s time we make a comeback,” Dani said, grabbing onto Warren and Domino again. “Meet back at the Damocles Foundation. Bodyslide by three.”

The Tin Man kept one hand on the wheel of the 1987 Chrysler LeBaron, with the other planted firmly—painfully—on Tildie’s shoulder, making sure that she did not fall asleep.

“I’m tired,” Tildie complained. “You promised I could sleep.”

The silhouette of the Washington Monument came into view as traffic thickened. The Tin Man smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “Very soon, child. I promise, you can sleep very soon.”

Next Issue: X-Force takes on the Children of the Vault! Can they save the world, or will they die trying?

 

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