Kansas City, Kansas

{You sure this is gonna work?} asked Ecstasy, through the use of a telepathic bond.

{I looked into his mind. He’s got a bit of a soft spot for young girls. You look just like his type.} The telepathic voice Stacy Leevald heard in her head came from her teammate—Jonothon Starsmore, Chamber.

Stacy’s normally snake-like appearance was hidden with the use of an image inducer. It projected a holographic image around her body, making her appear as a blond girl in her late teens. The clothes she “wore” were conservative in appearance, making her look like the stereotypical girl next door.

She moved through the throng of protesters, trying to make her way to the front. The Kansas Humanity Church was a severely antagonistic hate group, and even those who were not in favor of mutant rights despised the KHC’s tactics of vicious protest, praising the death of mutants at funerals. It was at one such funeral protest that Stacy now found herself.

Her target was the Church’s leader, Pastor Phillip Fredericks. This mission had been organized by Stacy herself and her fellow teammate, Xorn. Two of their teammates, Chamber and Skullfire, accompanied them on the mission. It was a mission they had undertaken without the knowledge of Havok, the X-Men’s leader.

“YOU’RE ALL ABOMINATIONS!” shouted Fredericks through a bullhorn. “ALL WHO SUPPORT THE MUTANT FAGGOTS WILL BURN IN THE FIRES OF PERDITION! THOSE WHO ENABLE THE CREATIONS OF SATAN WILL BE PUNISHED, SO SAYETH THE LORD OUR GOD!”

The police kept a line between the protesters and the funeral. The mutant who was being buried had been the victim of a hate crime. He was tied to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged through the streets for miles before the rope broke, leaving his corpse at the side of the road.

“YOUR DEMON OFFSPRING IS YOUR PUNISHMENT, WHORE!” shouted Fredericks and the boy’s mother sobbed harder at her son’s gravesite. “HIS FATE WILL BE YOURS!”

Stacy pushed through the crowd, holding a sign that read “GOD HATES MUTIES.” Just carrying that sign made her skin crawl but so far, she had been able to refrain from chiming in with the protest sounds. She came closer to Fredericks, and all she needed was brief skin-to-skin contact in order to establish a connection.

When she came up behind him, she reached her hands out as if she were hefting the sign higher. And pushing up against the pastor, the tip of her finger brushed against the back of Fredericks’ neck. That was all she needed to control the pheromones in his body, giving him a brief release of endorphins. The effect was instantaneous and Fredericks briefly stopped his rhetoric to turn around. Stacy smiled at him shyly and Fredericks smiled back.

He handed the bullhorn to his daughter. “Take over, I need a break.”

His daughter appeared confused but did as she ordered, continuing to spout the same fiery rhetoric her father had just used. Fredericks led Stacy through the crowd, moving towards the outskirts so they could hear each other.

“I don’t recognize you,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

Normally, Fredericks would be very suspicious of an outsider joining one of his protests. Being one of the most hated men in America has a tendency to increase paranoia. But with this girl, he felt a strange connection to her.

“I’ve been following you for years,” said Stacy. “I agree with everything you say. About the damned muties, about how they’re agents of Satan and God will punish all who enable them. So I came to find you, I want to join with you.”

She reached out and wrapped her hands around his. Fredericks felt his arousal grow. Stacy could sense from the pheromones he was giving off that her powers were having quite the effect on him.

“Is there somewhere we could go?” she asked. “Y’know, to talk?”

“Of course, my dear,” said Fredericks with a lecherous grin. “Let’s talk about the role you can serve in the Kansas Humanity Church.”

Fredericks took her by the hand and he and Stacy crept past the protest. They were able to sneak away quite easily thanks to the distraction his family had created. As they moved, Stacy sent a thought out.

{Get ready, we’re on the move.}

THE LORD’S AMMUNITION

Part II

By Chris Munn and Dino Pollard

London

“Can I go on record as saying I don’t like this?”

Remy LeBeau tapped the bud in his ear when he heard the voice of Lila Cheney echo through the transmitter. “Heard you the first ten times, cherie.”

“This is nuts, Remy. We don’t know anything about this guy. How can you be sure he’s on the level?”

“He’s good enough for Betsy, that’s all the proof ol’ Remy needs.”

“I still say this smells like a trap. After all this time, we suddenly find out that Tessa’s been spying on the Hellfire Club and none of us knew about it?”

“I did some work for the Underground in the past,” said Gambit. “Believe me when I tell you Charlie Xavier had a lot more t’ings goin’ on than just the X-Men. Genosha alone is proof of that.”

“Fine, but don’t expect me to pull your ass out of the fire if I find out I’m right.”

Gambit grinned. He knew Lila was just running her mouth off. If there’s one thing he learned in his short time working with his new partner, it’s that she was reliable in a pinch. And her ability to teleport through time and space was certainly useful in the field.

Remy himself was dressed in a perfectly-tailored tuxedo. His normally shaggy brown hair had been dyed black and cut short, he sported a false beard and special contacts concealed his unique eyes. Normally, his sclera was black with bright red irises and pupils, but the contacts changed the sclera white and his eyes appeared to be a steel gray color.

The false identification he carried identified him as Jean Besson, a French investor interested in Shaw Industries latest offerings. The limousine he rode in pulled up to the front gates of the Hellfire Club’s London headquarters and the driver came to the back and opened the door for him. Remy had paid for both the limousine and the chauffeur with false credit cards—by the time the fraud would be discovered, Remy and Lila would be back in Genosha and Jean Besson would be nowhere to be found.

At the front doors stood large men dressed in tuxedos. They were checking invitations and identification at the door. Remy approached casually, handing both his false passport and invitation to the doorman. The invitation wasn’t flawless, but that’s where Remy’s abilities came in—a byproduct of his mutant power to take in potential energy and transform it into kinetic was a subtle kind of hypnosis.

“When did you receive this invitation?” asked the guard.

“Just a few days ago,” said Remy, focusing on the words he spoke. “It was a bit of a hassle to get here on such short notice from Paris.”

The guard appeared satisfied with this and handed Remy back his passport, but kept the invitation. “Have a good evening, Mr. Besson.”

Remy tipped his head slightly with a grin and entered the opulent mansion. Perhaps castle would be a more fitting term. A waiter passed by with a tray of champagne and Remy helped himself to a glass, moving about the room.

“You seein’ what I’m seein’?” he whispered, confident that the transmitter would pick up his words. A tiny camera was embedded in his bowtie, which transmitted directly to Lila and her laptop just a few miles down the road.

“Looks like security’s pretty tight. How do you expect to find her?”

Remy spotted a man out of the corner of his eye. He faced the direction and saw that the man was tall and his muscled form was clear even under the Victorian-style clothing he wore and his dark hair was tied back in a tail.

“Go to the source.”

“Remy, don’t be stupid, that’s Sebastian Shaw! Remy, are you listening to me? Remy!”

He ignored his partner’s plea as he moved through the crowd. Shaw was entertaining a group with a story about a recent hunting trip when Remy placed his hand on Shaw’s shoulder.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, covering up his Cajun accent with a more pronounced French one. “I’ve been looking all over for you, Mr. Shaw.”

Shaw gave Remy a cautious glance, looking him up and down a few times. “…have we met?”

“Not directly.” Remy offered his hand. “Jean Besson.”

“…I don’t believe I’ve heard of you before,” said Shaw, shaking Remy’s hand.

“Are you sure?” asked Remy. “I spoke with your assistant a few months ago. I’ve been very interested in some of your company’s recent technological pursuits.”

“Is that so?” asked Shaw. “I’m sorry, when you say my assistant…?”

“Oh, what was her name…” said Remy. He tapped two fingers on his chin, feigning a struggle to remember. “Ms. Harvey… or Harley…”

“Hartley,” said Shaw.

“Ah, tres bien!” said Remy. “That was her name, merci.”

“Interesting she never told me about you.”

“That surprises me. Where is she, I’m sure she could clear this matter up…?”

“Ms. Hartley is unfortunately no longer working with me,” said Shaw. “She’s gone on an extended leave of absence.”

“May I ask why?”

“Her mother has taken ill.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. Please give her my regards,” said Remy.

“Indeed I will.” Shaw continued to eye Gambit with some suspicion. “…are you sure we’ve never met before, Mr. Besson?”

Again, Gambit concentrated on the words as they passed through his lips, exerting his subtle influence over the Black King of the Hellfire Club. “Oh, I’m quite positive, Mr. Shaw.”

“But if you would like to know more about investment opportunities…” Shaw reached inside his jacket and produced a gold case. He drew a business card from it, passing it into Remy’s palm. “Call my office and we’ll see if we can set something up.”

“Merci,” said Remy.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some guests I need to check on,” said Shaw. “By your leave, M’sieur.”

“Certainly.”

Remy stepped aside and allowed Shaw to pass. But the mutant thief kept his gaze locked on the Black King as he moved through the crowds.

“That was too risky.”

“Gambit didn’t get his name by playin’ safe, chere.”

“What if Shaw recognized you?”

“Then we’d be havin’ a whole ‘nother discussion right now. You get anyt’in from that Cerebro unit?”

“Without a telepath, this technology’s not that great. I can’t identify what signatures I’m getting, all I can tell you is that there are at least three in that building.”

“How much you wanna bet the third is our mark?”

“You’d better watch your step, Remy. No telling what you might find in there.”

“Can you give me an idea of where she might be?”

“Basement tends to be a popular place to lock people up in, might wanna try there.”

“Goin’ silent for a bit,” said Gambit. “Let you know if I need extractin’.”

Kansas City

“Pastor! Pastor, wake up!”

Phillip Fredericks felt his head pounding. He lay sprawled on a motel bed, completely naked. He pulled himself into a seated position, pulling the sheet over his body. Looking up, he saw Bobby, one of the members of his church standing over him.

“What’s going on?” he grumbled.

“Should ask you the same thing, Pastor.” Bobby held a remote in his hand and used it on the motel’s television set. Fredericks strained to look at the screen, but his vision was slightly blurred. He glanced around and saw a few empty whiskey bottles scattered around.

“It’s coming on again. Lord help us…”

“What’s coming on again?”

“Just…watch.”

Fredericks concentrated on the screen and it slowly came into focus. He could hear the announcer. “If you’re just joining us, Pastor Phillip Fredericks, seen here on the Todd Keller Show, has managed to attract even more controversy.”

“Are people still bitchin’ because of what I said about Kelly’s wife being a whore?” asked Fredericks.

Bobby said nothing, just hung his head. Fredericks continued to watch the coverage. “A few hours ago, a video surfaced on the Internet and instantly went viral. This video appears to be a homemade sex tape, featuring Fredericks in bed with an unnamed mutant woman.”

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY IS THIS HORSESHIT?!” demanded Fredericks. Bobby said nothing, just took a smartphone from his pocket, and then tossed it to Fredericks. The pastor watched the video on the phone and indeed, it featured him in the very same motel room. The woman he was with was not the young blond he remembered meeting at the protest. Instead, the woman had short, dark hair and snake-like skin. It only lasted a few seconds and no real sexual activity could be seen. But what it showed was clearly very damaging.

“This is…this is insanity,” said Fredericks. “The last thing I remember was bein’ at the protest…with that girl…”

“What girl?” asked Bobby.

“She was new, some blond bitch.”

Bobby sighed. “Pastor, you’re the one who told us to be wary of outsiders! What did you think you were doing?”

“I…I don’t know…” said Fredericks. His eyes narrowed as a realization came to him. “It was a set-up! She was one of them!”

“That’s the story we’re going with. Sheila’s all over this, draftin’ up documents to sue the ever-lovin’ shit outta the networks who are reporting on it.”

“There’s another funeral this week, isn’t there?” asked Fredericks.

Bobby nodded. “Some mutant soldier, was fighting overseas.”

“We’re making our presence known at that genejoke’s funeral and celebrating his damnation,” said Fredericks.

London

Gambit followed one of the waiters down into the wine cellar. Halfway there, the waiter turned and spotted him. “What are you doing?”

“Excusé moi, I was looking for the little Frenchman’s room,” he said.

“…why would you be looking in the cellar?” asked the waiter.

“Well, it’s a funny story, actually…” said Gambit. He moved towards the waiter and then lunged into him, slamming the poor man’s head against the wall and knocking him unconscious.

{I know you’re here.}

“Who’s that?” asked Gambit.

{You already know the answer to that question. But you have to hurry.}

Tessa. Had to be. Gambit shot his thoughts back at her. {Where are you?}

{Keep walking forward, you’ll come to a T-junction. Go left.}

Gambit followed her directions and found his path blocked by a wall. {Dead end, girl.}

{There’s a loose brick on your right. Find it.}

He placed his palms against the surface, running over the wall. One of the bricks was indeed loose. Gambit pushed it further in and the dead end rumbled as it lowered, revealing a hidden corridor. Down there were a row of cells, but only one was occupied.

“Figured Shaw would have somet’in more sophisticated than this,” he said.

“It was just to be temporary. Before he had a chance to figure out what I knew,” said Tessa.

“Stand back.”

Tessa got to the other end of the cell and Gambit placed his hand on the lock. He charged the lock with kinetic energy and stepped away himself just before it blew open. The cell door swung out and Tessa came to his side.

“We have to hurry, he’s already suspicious of you.”

“Do me a favor an’ don’t tell my partner that. She’ll never let me live it down,” said Gambit. He touched his earpiece but he couldn’t get any signal. “Lila, you read me? Lila?”

“The walls are too thick, you won’t be able to contact your friend,” said Tessa.

“There another way out?”

Tessa shook her head.

“Merde…”

He led Tessa back the way he had came but they were met by Shaw himself standing at the foot of the steps and several Hellfire Club guards. Sebastian clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“My dear Tessa, is this any way to absolve a partnership? Especially one as long as ours?” He turned his gaze to Gambit. “And Mr. ‘Besson,’ I get the impression you weren’t being completely honest with me.”

“You right about that, Sebby.” Gambit didn’t bother disguising his accent any more. His hand was in his pocket and when he pulled it out, he held the business card Shaw had given him. “An’ since we won’t be doin’ business, I won’t be needin’ this.”

Gambit flicked the card towards his opponents. When it left his fingertips, it was glowing with explosive kinetic energy. Shaw took the exploding card to the chest. Although he absorbed the energy without any harm, it still caused enough of a distraction for Gambit to move towards him and knock his legs out from under.

The guards were upon Gambit now, but he gained some fast assistance from the woman he was here to rescue. Tessa’s fighting skills were unparalleled and she wasted no effort in dispatching them with complete ease. Gambit was almost frozen in amazement at watching her move.

Shaw lunged up, wrapping his arms around Gambit from behind and squeezing him. Gambit felt it more and more difficult to breathe and Shaw grinned, whispering into his ear.

“Exploding cards and that ridiculous accent. Don’t think I’ll forget about this, LeBeau.”

“You won’t have to,” said Tessa.

Shaw screamed in pain, releasing his grip on Gambit and collapsing to the ground. Tessa said nothing else, just darted up the steps and Gambit followed. “What’d you do to him?”

“Psychic attack, should keep him down long enough for us to escape,” said Tessa. They emerged onto the main floor of the mansion. The guests backed away as other armed Hellfire Club guards approached. “You should be able to contact your friend now.”

Gambit touched his earpiece. “Lila, could use a hand.”

“LeBeau, we don’t have much time.”

Gambit shouted into the earpiece. “Lila! Move it, girl!”

A portal opened between the guards and the two mutants. A young woman with long, black hair emerged from the portal briefly. She blew a kiss to the guards as Gambit and Tessa entered the portal and then Lila followed them back through. It closed before the guards could fire off a single shot.

Kansas City

The Kansas Humanity Church’s protest was one of the fiercest yet. And due to the recent video released of Fredericks, all the media was on hand to cover it. Fredericks himself was at his most vitriolic, standing on a makeshift podium and screaming into his bullhorn as his followers shouted anti-mutant slogans and waved their signs.

“THESE GODLESS GLOBS OF SATAN SEMEN USE THEIR BLACK MAGIC IN A DIRECT AFFRONT TO THE LORD! AMERICA WILL BURN IN HELL FOR ITS ENABLING OF THESE MUTANT FAGGOTS WHO RULE THE STREETS! ALL WHO CONGREGATE WITH THE BEASTS ARE WHORES AND FAGGOTS WHO WILL STAND IN JUDGMENT BEFORE THE LORD SOON! AND WHEN HE COMES, HE SHALL COME WITH GREAT VENGEANCE AND PURGE THIS DISGUSTING NATION OF ITS LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE DENIZENS OF HELL!”

The bullhorn started to short out and then grew very hot. Fredericks released it and it burst into flames. The members of the church all stood back. And standing nearby was a man wearing black leather pants and gloves, with an X on his belt buckle. He was topless, and it made his translucent green skin and the skeleton beneath all the more shocking to behold as his hand glowed with nuclear energy.

“Fucker sure likes to talk, huh?”

From another side of the group came another man. This one wore a long black trench coat and had a raging furnace of energy where his mouth and chest should be. When he spoke, everyone present could hear his voice in their minds.

{He won’t be doing much of it anymore.}

Coming from another side was a young woman, her skin like that of a snake and with short, dark hair and yellow eyes. Her clothing left very little to the imagination and she was particularly familiar to everyone present. She gave a little wave at Fredericks.

“Hey Phil. Remember me, baby?”

And finally came the forth. He hovered from above, his legs folded in the lotus position. Like the others, he wore a uniform composed of black and red with an X marking his affiliation. But like the others, he also had something unique—the iron, skull-like helmet he wore. From the eyeslits, the bright energy of the star that served as Kuan-Yin Xorn’s brain almost struggled to pour out.

“You should have simply gone away in disgrace, Pastor,” said Xorn. “Instead, you chose to instigate once again. And this time, we can wait no longer for you to see the error of your ways.”

“Fuck you, genejoke! Your whore of a mother chugs demon seed in Hell!”

Fredericks and his congregation began throwing whatever they could find in Xorn’s direction. The Buddhist mutant simply allowed them too, using his gravitational abilities to divert them from striking him. He shook his head and sighed.

“You leave me no choice, Pastor. Know that you brought this on yourself.”

The air started to rush in towards Fredericks and the congregation felt themselves being pulled towards him, as did the three X-Men other than Xorn.

“Hey Xorney…what’s going on?” asked Ecstasy.

Xorn offered no explanation, just focused his cold gaze on Fredericks. And then, a crack in space and time appeared. It opened wider, forming into a miniature black hole. Fredericks was the first one to be sucked in, his body being torn apart by the sheer gravitational power within. One by one, the members of his congregation were sucked in as well—men, women and children. Each one of them torn apart by the power of the mutant known as Xorn.

When the last of the congregation was gone, the hole closed and Xorn lowered himself to the ground. The others gathered around stood in complete and utter shock at what they had witnessed, and the cameras were rolling the entire time.

{What the bloody hell was that?} asked Chamber, being sure to limit his thoughts to just the X-Men.

“That was justice,” said Skullfire.

Ecstasy seemed to be in a state of shock as she spoke. “Xorn…that was…”

Xorn looked directly into the camera and when he glanced at the reporters, they visibly flinched. He extended his arms, projecting a gravitational field around his fellow X-Men.

“I believe it’s time for us to take our leave.”

London

In a hotel room, Tessa sat before Lila, Gambit and the man who hired the pair of thieves to liberate her—Pete Wisdom. “I know that it was through Shaw’s manipulations that allowed X-Corps’ existence to be made public,” she said.

“And crippled a valuable operation.” Wisdom lit a cigarette as he contemplated Tessa’s story. “What else do we know about Shaw?”

“I think he’s suspected me, or rather someone he’s working with did, because he kept me in the dark on quite a lot of his recent dealings,” said Tessa. “All I know is that the Hellfire Club is heavily involved with an organization deep within the United States government.”

“Don’t sound too promising for us,” said Gambit.

“I’d wager things are about to get a lot worse,” said Wisdom.

“So what do we do?” asked Lila.

“Go back to Genosha,” said Wisdom. “Lay low for now. When I need you, I’ll contact you.”

“What do you mean when?” asked Lila.

Wisdom smirked. “Didn’t think this was over, did you, love? Nah, you lot an’ me? We’re just getting started.”

NEXT: Judge, Jury, X-Cutioner