BLACK WOMB

Part III: Secrets

By Ryan Krupienski and Dino Pollard

Black Womb Headquarters; East Asia

The mysterious woman known only as Domino has seen much in her life. She has been a fighter for as long as she can remember, and she has watched friends and lovers alike die in her arms. So watching as the Blackbird Two jet, housing four of her fellow teammates, comes under fire does not startle her. Instead, her instincts jump into gear and she begins moving towards the wreckage, hoping that her fellow X-Men survived.

Before she can reach the downed aircraft, however, bullets whiz past her head. She does an about-face and as she drops to the ground, she draws her guns and opens fire on the oncoming Black Womb agents.

Deathbird takes to the skies on her artificial wings, and she pulls a small rod from her belt. With the push of a button, the rod extends to its full length – about five feet – and an energy scythe appears at one end of it. She dives down, and swings the scythe at one of the guards. As the energy passes through his body, paralyzing him momentarily, and he falls unconscious. She lands on the ground and drives the blunt end of the staff into an oncoming guard. She uses it to flip him over and then slams the staff once more against his ribcage, cracking it.

Without an obvious energy source present, Bishop relies on his firearms to keep the guards at bay. The futuristic handheld guns rely on power cells to generate energy blasts from the barrels. Currently, he has the blasters set to stun, but if it comes down to it, he is more than willing to switch to a more lethal setting.

Fantomex has no such qualms. He does not even allow a moment’s respite. He moves fluidly, almost dancing around the flying bullets the Black Womb guards attempt to hit him with. He counters with his own guns, his bullets never missing a kill spot. Although Fantomex is grateful to Black Womb for giving birth to him, he despises them for holding his child captive inside their unholy collective. For Fantomex, this is not about vengeance – it’s about taking back that which belongs to him.

As the guards start to advance on the wreckage of the Blackbird Two, a plasma blast forces them back. Havok steps forth from the Blackbird One jet, using his powers to keep them at bay.

“You want them?” he asks, his eyes crackling with plasma energy. “Then you’re gonna have to go through me.”

“That can be arranged,” says one of the agents. He lifts up his weapon, but Havok knocks it from his hands with a plasma blast. Another guard reaches into a pouch on his belt and produces a small, round object. He depresses a small button on it, and throws it at Havok. It generates a small explosion of energy, enough to knock Havok from his feet. Before he can get up, the agents have him surrounded, with their guns trained on him.

“Sonics on!” exclaims one of the agents. All the Black Womb agents move their hands to the helmets they wear, and they activate a small switch. The agent who made the announcement pulls a device from his belt and switches it on. A loud, sonic blast emits from the device. The agents are all protected by their helmets; the X-Men, however, have no such defenses from the sonic attack. They all fall to their knees in pain, covering their ears in a futile attempt to block out the sound. More agents stream from the base and surround the X-Men, keeping their weapons trained on them. Once the X-Men are fully surrounded, the sonic device is disabled.

“Take them inside.”

Further inside the Black Womb base, there is a surge of electrical energy that seems to come from nowhere. The energy grows, and it slowly forms into the image of two individuals – Nightcrawler and Scanner. They instantly fall to their knees upon reformation, and Scanner rubs her head.

“Vas?” asks Nightcrawler.

“Last ditch effort,” replies Scanner. “Once I saw the missiles, I tried to teleport us all out of there, but it looks like I only had enough juice to take one person with me. And since you were the closest, guess that means you were nominated.”

“But where did you teleport us?” asks Nightcrawler.

“Inside the base, I suppose,” replies Scanner. “I dunno, I wasn’t really thinking when I did it. Just acted on instinct. But what about the others?”

“With any luck, they survived,” says Nightcrawler. “I have a feeling that Black Womb just attempted to bring down the Blackbird – they want us alive.”

“I don’t even wanna know why…” mutters Scanner.

“This was a set-up,” says Nightcrawler.

“Are you sure?” asks Scanner.

“Think about it,” begins Nightcrawler. “Domino’s team found the coordinates to this base with almost no effort whatsoever. For an organization that has covered their tracks for all these years, that’s an extremely sloppy mistake. Unless it was an intentional mistake.”

“So Black Womb lured us here just to capture us, then?” asks Scanner.

“Yes,” replies Nightcrawler. “I should have taken more precautions, I knew something wasn’t right about this. And why has Jean sent us on yet another suicide mission?”

“I think you’re getting too worked up over this,” says Scanner. “Look, if Black Womb wants us alive, then that means they probably took the others captive. So how about we try to find them before we start leaping to conclusions?”

“You’re right,” says Nightcrawler. “I’m sorry… I suppose I’m just a little on edge these days.”

“No problem,” says Scanner. “C’mon, let’s see what we can dig up.”

In his mind’s eye, he sees the image of a woman with long, green hair and green eyes. That image fades, and the woman’s eyes remain the same color, but the hair changes to red. Yet again, it shifts – this time her features become more Mediterranean, her hair black and her eyes dark. Once more it shifts. The eyes become blue, and the hair blonde. Red marks also appear on her cheeks, face paint or a tattoo or a birthmark of some sort.

Then, the woman’s face fades out completely. It seems to dissipate into nothingness. He sees only darkness now, but the darkness slides upwards, and he finds himself staring at a bright, white light.

“Ah!” exclaims Havok, jolting to an upright, sitting position.

“About time you woke up…”

Alex Summers blinks a few times, trying to regain his composure. The spots slowly fade from his eyes, and he looks around the room. Three of the four X-Men he came here with are in the room – Domino, Bishop, and Fantomex. Also present is Ever, who Havok assumes was part of Nightcrawler’s team.

“What happened?” he asks. “Where are we?”

“Black Womb overpowered us,” replies Bishop. “They placed us in here.”

“Who else was with you?” asks Havok, facing Ever.

“Nightcrawler, Sunpyre, and Scanner,” replies Ever.

“Where are they?” asks Havok. “Where’s Aly… Scanner?”

“When they took us captive, they found only Sunpyre and Ever in the wreckage,” says Bishop.

“So what happened to Alyssa and Kurt?” asks Havok.

“Alyssa?” asks Domino.

“That’s Scanner’s name,” replies Havok.

“I don’t know where they are,” says Ever. “They vanished just before the missiles hit.”

“They must’ve teleported out,” says Domino.

“And where’s Sunpyre and Deathbird then?” asks Havok.

“Dunno,” replies Domino. “They were taken somewhere else for some reason.”

A soft hum followed by a hiss of air being released from the cell is heard by the X-Men as the door slides open. A tall man dressed in a black suit with dark hair slicked back enters the room. He is flanked by guards who keep their weapons trained on the X-Men.

“Where’s the rest of our team?” asks Havok. The man simply offers a smile in response. Havok becomes agitated and attempts to confront the man. A guard simply moves forward, keeping his gun trained on Havok.

“Please restrain yourself, Mister Summers,” says the man. “I’m quite amazed, actually. The bait was so obvious, I can’t believe it actually worked. I thought you had more tact. Then again, considering who’s running the show these days, it’s probably not all that surprising that you X-Men are so easily led astray.”

“What are you talking about?” asks Domino.

“You four are amazing specimens,” replies the man, ignoring Domino’s question. “Bishop with his energy absorption powers, Havok’s ability to absorb cosmic waves, Ever’s unique manifestation of psionics, and Domino’s probability-altering abilities. Our director, Amanda, asked me to welcome you to Black Womb. And she also wanted me to thank you for returning our wayward son, Fantomex.”

Fantomex simply tosses a glance at the man, and then scoffs once he directs his eyes back to the floor.

“Okay skippy, since you’re so happy to have us here, then maybe you’d like to tell us what exactly Black Womb is,” says Domino.

“It’s simple, really,” says the man. “Amanda is Black Womb.”

In this room, the walls are lined with tubes – tubes filled with a reddish liquid, and inside each of them is an embryo. This is what is known as the Garden of Black Womb, where mutants are ‘grown’ and their genetic material harvested. However, this Garden is far larger than the one the X-Men encountered in Nevada.

“Gott in himmel…” mutters Nightcrawler. He and Scanner stand on a catwalk that separates the tubes. “There must be thousands of them in here…”

“We should really keep moving…” says Scanner. “We gotta find the others.”

“I know, we should keep our priorities straight,” says Nightcrawler. “But… dear God, this is insanity.”

“Yeah, I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” says Scanner. She continues walking down the catwalk. Nightcrawler takes a moment, his blank yellow eyes scanning across the various embryos before he reluctantly follows his teammate. He takes notice of the camera on the wall, and then looks at Scanner.

“Relax,” she says. “I’m scrambling our bio-electric signals, we’re essentially invisible to any type of sensor.”

A door blocks their exit from the Garden. There is a sensor pad on the wall beside it for handprint identification. She places her hand on it, and using her powers, confuses the computer into thinking she’s authorized to enter the room. The door slides open, and the two X-Men enter.

The next room is a large laboratory, which is presently vacant. Computers line the walls, and there are several metal tables with test tubes and microscopes on them. Scanner approaches one of the computers and takes a seat in it. Nightcrawler teleports behind her.

“See if you can bring up a map of the installation,” he says.

Scanner tries to access the computer’s system, but a prompt for login information comes up.

“Oh shit…” she mutters. “You don’t happen to have any computer hacking skills, do you?”

“Nein,” replies Nightcrawler. “And I’m assuming you don’t, either?”

“Nope,” she says. “But I’ve got an idea.”

“What?” asks Nightcrawler.

“I could transform myself into electrical current and try to merge with the server,” says Scanner.

“Have you ever done that before?” asks Nightcrawler.

“No, but I also never teleported anyone before Fantomex said I could,” replies Scanner. “I’ve been experimenting a lot more with my powers lately, and I think I can do this.”

“It’s too dangerous,” says Nightcrawler. “We don’t know what will happen.”

“Yeah, well that’s a risk we have to take,” says Scanner. “It’s the only way, Kurt.”

“I know…” mutters Nightcrawler. “Alright, do it.”

Scanner’s eyes go blank, and an electrical charge begins to course through her body. Her body begins to dissipate and travel through the keyboard into the computer. Nightcrawler takes the seat once her body vanishes, and watches the monitor intently. Suddenly, the login ID and password appears in the appropriate boxes and the computer accepts it. Scanner has successfully merged with the system, and now all of Black Womb’s files are open to Nightcrawler. He begins to look through them, and his eyes go wide at what he sees.

“Mein gott…”

“I want to see this Amanda,” says Domino. “Now.”

“No one has ever seen Amanda, not even me,” says the mystery man. “And you are certainly in no position to make demands.”

The lights of the cell begin to flicker slightly. All eyes look towards them in confusion. Not only in that room, throughout the entire base power flickers on and off. The power completely shuts down for a moment, and the X-Men take that opportunity to spring into action. By the time the lights come back on, the mystery man finds his guards lying on the ground, unconscious, and the X-Men surrounding him. Domino and Fantomex each hold the guns the guards were carrying.

“Now now…” says the man. “Let’s not do anything rash…”

Fantomex slams the butt of his gun against the man’s face, knocking him out cold.

“How’s that for rash?” he asks and turns to exit the cell. The other X-Men follow him, but Ever suddenly stops.

“What’s wrong?” asks Havok.

“I’m picking up ambient thought waves…” replies Ever. “From Scanner.”

“Where is she?” asks Havok.

“She’s merged her bio-electric form with the installation so she could grant Nightcrawler access to the files,” replies Ever. “She said she’s also freed the others. I know where they are.”

Elsewhere, in the laboratory, Nightcrawler sits at the computer terminal, attempting to soak in all the information he is now becoming privy to. The information he finds sends chills down his spine as he reads it.

He finds contracts between Black Womb and various governments. The purpose? To sell diseases such as SARS and AIDS. He tries to unearth the names of the governments, but they are not listed in the contracts for some reason.

He sees another file, this one labeled, ‘NOVA, CASSANDRA’. Kurt wonders why Black Womb would have a file on the headmistress of the Xavier Institute. He brings it up on the screen, but before he can begin to read it, the door opens up. Ever, Domino, and Fantomex enter the room.

“C’mon fuzzy, it’s time to check out,” says Domino. “Havok and Bishop went to find Sunpyre and Deathbird.”

“The Garden…” mutters Fantomex. He walks through the opposite door, and Domino watches him leave.

“Aw shit…” she curses and follows him.

“Ever, can you reach Scanner with your telepathy?” asks Nightcrawler.

“Who do you think led me here?” asks Ever.

“Good, tell her to get back into human form, and see if she can retain the information on Cassandra,” replies Nightcrawler. Ever nods and closes his eyes. A few moments pass before they open once more.

“We have a problem…” he says.

“What?” asks Nightcrawler.

“It’s Scanner,” replies Ever. “She’s stuck inside the system.”

In the Garden, Fantomex moves his eyes across the various embryos. He tries to take all of them in, trying to see if some paternal instinct will tell him which child is his.

“Where?” he asks, looking back and forth. “Where is he?!”

“Yo!” exclaims Domino, running up to his side.

“I have to find him,” says Fantomex. “He’s here somewhere, he has to be.”

“There’s thousands of embryos here, you’ll never find your kid,” says Domino.

“No, I will,” says Fantomex. “Don’t get in my way!”

“I’m not trying to get in your way, but you have no way of knowing which embryo is which,” says Domino.

“I can find him…” says Fantomex. “I can…”

His words die in his throat as both he and Domino are slammed by some unseen force. The two pull themselves back to their feet, and they see an old woman appear before them. Her body is aged almost to the point of decay. She looks at them with eyes that have seen more than a person could possibly see in the span of a human lifetime.

“Introductions are in order,” she says. “My name is Amanda Mueller.”

“Black Womb herself,” says Fantomex.

“You’ve caused quite a ruckus here today,” says Amanda. “But, I suppose I can excuse it. After all, it’s given me a chance to observe you X-Men up close and personal.”

Fantomex tries to move forward to attack Amanda Mueller, but his body freezes up. It won’t respond to his mental commands. He finds himself held in place by Amanda.

“I built this organization up from nothing, selling my babies to the highest bidder in exchange for money and technology,” she says. “Black Womb is my life’s work – my life, in fact, and I don’t appreciate you X-Men attempting to tear it apart. Regardless, I must leave you now. But do come back sometime. And please give my regards to my darling Cassandra.”

“What?” asks Domino. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” asks Amanda with a grin as she begins to fade away. “Well, I suppose you’ll discover the truth for yourself eventually.”

“Wait!” exclaims Domino, but her words come too late. Amanda has already faded away into nothing. With her exit, Domino and Fantomex find they once again have control over their bodies. Havok and Bishop arrive with Sunpyre and Deathbird following behind them. Nightcrawler and Ever emerge from the laboratory as well.

“We just met Amanda Mueller, the psycho who runs Black Womb,” says Domino. “She’s got some connection to Cassandra.”

“I know,” says Nightcrawler. “I discovered a file on her, but there is far too much encoding for me to try and read it all now. We haven’t the time, we have to go.”

“I’m not leaving,” says Fantomex. “Not until I get what I came here for.”

“The base is losing power,” says Nightcrawler. “The embryos most likely won’t even survive, and there’s no guarantee your child is even at this facility.”

“I won’t leave!” yells Fantomex. “I have to find him!”

“I think we’ve had quite enough of this,” says Ever. Using his telepathic abilities, he renders Fantomex unconscious. Fantomex begins to fall backward, his descent stopped only by Havok.

“How’d you do that?” asks Domino. “He’s supposed to be invisible to psionics.”

“Virtually invisible, but not completely,” replies Ever. “I’m communicating with Scanner right now. She says her powers are highly amplified right now, and she can teleport all of us to safety.”

“What about her?” asks Havok.

“She can’t exit the system,” replies Ever.

“We’re not leaving without her,” says Nightcrawler.

“Damn straight we’re not!” adds Havok.

“She says we don’t have a choice,” says Ever. “The self-destruct sequence on the base has been activated.”

“Bullshit, we always have a choice!” exclaims Havok. “Put me through to her, Ever. Now!”

Before Ever can turn thought into deed, the X-Men all dissipate into nothing and reappear near the remaining Blackbird. Havok moves back towards the base, but Nightcrawler stops him.

“Let go of me, Kurt!” exclaims Havok, as he tries to pull himself away. “Ever, put me in touch with her now!”

“I’m trying…” says Ever. “Okay.”

“Alyssa…?” says Havok.

{Alex,} Scanner replies through the newly-established link. {I’m sorry.}

“NO!” exclaims Havok. He pulls free from Nightcrawler’s grip, and rushes back towards the base. He doesn’t take two steps before the base explodes into flames. Alex Summers stands and watches the flames as they consume the installation. He drops to his knees as tears begin to stream down his face.