Moscow
Neskuchny Garden

A man in a trench coat sat out in the city’s oldest park. A lit cigarette dangled from his lips and his black tie hung loosely from his open-collared shirt. He also had a patch covering one eye.

“Take that off.” The Russian-colored voice spoke perfect English. It belonged to a man with graying hair and horn-rimmed glasses. Strange thing was one of the lenses was blacked out, serving as his own makeshift eye patch. His name was Colonel Alexi Vazhin, in charge of Russia’s mutant affairs and liaison to the Russian team of superheroes, the Winter Guard.

The smoking man chuckled as he removed the patch, revealing a perfectly-healthy eye beneath. His accent was unmistakably English. “What’s the matter, Lexi? Thought you could take a joke.”

Vazhin sat beside the man, holding a tablet in his arms. “We have business to discuss, Wisdom.”

“You made me come all the way here from London, so it better be good,” said Wisdom.

“It is.” Vazhin activated the tablet. A red light appeared next to the camera and Vazhin removed his glasses. He stared into the camera with his good eye and after a moment, the light turned green. The tablet lit up with programs and applications, and a pop-up message appeared saying “Welcome, Colonel Vazhin” in Russian.

“I passed this information on to Scott Summers several months ago, but I believe you need to see it as well,” said Vazhin. He brought up an aerial photograph of a torched facility in the middle of nowhere. “I believe you have heard of this facility that once resided in Cambodia?”

Wisdom exhaled smoke with a grunt. “Iron Hell.”

“So it’s come to be known as,” said Vazhin. “It was a mutant death camp, which the Cambodian government vehemently denies any knowledge of.”

“You believe that?”

“If you have any evidence to the contrary, I’d be happy to examine it.”

Wisdom remained silent.

“I didn’t think so,” said Vazhin. “As you are also no doubt aware, this facility was razed by a terrorist organization called the X-Men.”

“Now just wait a—”

“Relax, Wisdom. As I said, I’ve already spoken with Scott Summers. I know the X-Men operating out of Xavier’s have no connection with this group. Other than several of their former members being among their ranks.”

Vazhin made a motion on the tablet and several headshots cascaded across the screen. They were all images of known members of the terrorist X-Men group. Wisdom mentally made a note of each. Vazhin tapped on one image, of a man with short blond hair and it filled the screen.

“Led by this man, Alex Summers. Alias, Havok.”

“Summers hasn’t always been as straight-laced as his brother. Didn’t he once run with another group of terrorists?” asked Wisdom.

Vazhin nodded. “The Brotherhood of Mutants, yes. And our files tell us that he recently spent some time in an alternate universe, where who knows what he may have endured, or how long he was truly there for.”

Wisdom flicked ash from the end of the cigarette. “I don’t get it, Lexi. Why the history lesson?”

“Because of what we’ve recently discovered,” said Vazhin. “There have been new developments.”

“Not sure why you’re bringing this to me instead of Cyclops,” said Wisdom.

“As a matter of fact, I did,” said Vazhin. “Strangely, he told me to come to you.”

“Why not just send this over the wire?” asked Wisdom.

Vazhin made a few more gestures on the screen. Several maps and text boxes appeared. He handed the tablet to Wisdom. “This is why. We believe Iron Hell was just the beginning of something bigger.”

As Wisdom began to read through the information, a man in a hat and trench coat walked past them. He fixed his gaze on the pair, but in reality he wasn’t staring—just targeting.

The man threw off his coat and hat, revealing his cybernetic form beneath. Angelo Macon, one of the Reavers, drew an automatic weapon and opened fire. Wisdom caught sight of him from the corner of his eye and threw Vazhin on the ground, landing on top of him.

“Friend of yours?” asked Wisdom.

“I was about to ask you the same,” said Vazhin.

“Don’t have many cyborgs shooting at me these days, mostly just ex-girlfriends. Can you see him?”

Vazhin indeed could see Macon approaching them from over Wisdom’s shoulder. “He’s coming towards us.”

“Good. Stay down, I’ll handle this.”

Macon came closer, raising his rifle. Wisdom flipped over, extending his arm. His fingertips glowed brightly and elongated, coming to sharp points. The tips broke off, firing at Macon. Two of the finger-knives caught the Reaver in the shoulder, but he managed to avoid the rest.

Wisdom charged at him. Macon opened fire, but Wisdom waved both hands in front of him. The heat given off by his knives was enough to melt the bullets to slag. Using them as claws, he engaged Macon in close-combat, slicing off the tip of his rifle. He tore into Macon’s chest, the cavity sparking like a firecracker. Wisdom took one more swipe, separating Macon’s head from his neck.

“Looks like you’ve pissed off some people, Lexi,” said Wisdom. “I’ve got a notion things are about to heat up.”

FOREVER ENDEAVOR

Part I

By Chris Munn and Dino Pollard

with a plot assist from Desmond Reddick

Haller
Genosha

Henry McCoy came from a nightmarish world where Apocalypse ruled North America with an iron fist. As one of En Sabah Nur’s top scientists, McCoy was a demented genius, who found his way to this reality. Also in that world, Magneto was leader of the X-Men and he was a man McCoy greatly feared.

As the Dark Beast has discovered, while being pinned to a gurney in his own laboratory and with dozens of syringes hovering above his face, some things never change, no matter which reality you find yourself in.

And the Erik Lehnsherr of this world seems far more frightening than the one McCoy knew.

“Did you truly think you could remain in Genosha for long before I would uncover your whereabouts, McCoy?” asked Magneto. He calmly hovered, his outstretched hand holding those syringes at bay. But with the slightest thought, he could send them shooting into the Dark Beast’s head at uncanny speeds.

By Magneto’s side stood two other individuals. One was a man with short, blond hair and the other a woman with closely-cropped red hair. Havok and Phoenix of the X-Men. The Genoshan government’s official stance on these two and their terrorist organization is that they have no intelligence to indicate the X-Men are even present in their country.

Unofficially though, was obviously a different matter.

“Skullfire told us you were here, that you tried to convince him to turn on us,” said Rachel. “But X-Men aren’t so easily bought, a realization I imagine you wish came earlier.”

“What exactly was your plan?” asked Magneto.

“P-please, if everyone could just relax for a moment…” said the Dark Beast.

“Your plan, McCoy.”

“IT’S NOT MY PLAN!”

“Then whose is it?” asked Rachel.

“Stryker.”

“As in William Stryker?” Magneto glanced at Alex. “You said you saw him in Australia?”

Havok hesitated, saying nothing, not even looking at the other three mutants. Rachel snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Alex, you okay?”

He shook it off. “Sorry, guess I must’ve zoned out for a minute.”

“Stryker was in Australia?” asked Magneto.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, he was. Didn’t have much to say, though. Seemed like he was leading the Reavers.”

“Indeed he was,” said the Dark Beast. “He’s planning something. More subversive than the usual.”

“What?” asked Havok.

“Camps where self-loathing mutants can find redemption in the eyes of God. He already has a group he plans to unveil, his first converts.”

“You don’t strike me as the religious type, McCoy,” said Rachel.

“These camps, they’ll be experimentation centers,” said the Dark Beast with a wide grin. “Guess who he’s putting in charge of experimentation?”

Rachel stepped closer, her eyes flashing with anger. “You’d turn on your own kind like that?”

“Mengele didn’t seem to mind.”

“That’s your justification?”

“Of course. The man’s my personal hero,” said the Dark Beast.

“You sick, sonnuva—”

“Rachel, just confirm if he’s telling the truth or not,” said Magneto.

Rachel nodded, the Phoenix avatar appearing over her eye. As soon as it appeared, it vanished again. “He’s telling the truth. Stryker’s planning a rally in Washington to announce his new group of ‘born-again’ mutants.”

“We’ll have to be there,” said Alex.

“Return to the airfield and prepare your team. I will remain here until my officers arrive to arrest McCoy,” said Magneto.

“We’re on it.” Alex left McCoy’s lab with Rachel moving faster to catch up to him.

“Hold on a sec, are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Rachel. “We don’t know who Stryker’s working with. And with Jono running off to meet his old classmates, plus with my own powers wonky ever Australia, is this really the best time?”

“McCoy didn’t know?”

“Nope.”

“Looks like we’ll be in for a surprise,” said Havok.

“Alex, what’s up with you? First you start zoning out, and now you want to leap before you look?”

“Think about it, Ray. If we take Stryker out at this rally, it’ll show the world that the X-Men won’t tolerate this kind of bullshit,” said Alex. “We’ll send out a powerful message.”

“‘Take him out’? You’re not saying what I think you’re saying, are you?”

“And if I am?” asked Havok.

“When you came to me with this idea, we had an agreement—there’s a line we do not cross,” said Rachel.

“Yeah, well maybe that line’s crossed us.”

Nearby, a powerful telepath smiled, able to keep herself masked from Rachel’s own abilities. She sent out a message to her superior.

{McCoy’s played his part. The X-Men bought his story.}

{Did the mindwitch scan him?}

{She did. The false memories I planted on his surface thoughts only verified what he told them.}

{Good. Meet Sawyer at the rendezvous.}

Washington, D.C.

The Reverend William Stryker stared out at the crowd that had gathered before the reflecting pool of the Washington Monument. He adjusted his tie with a smile on his face and just a few feet away stood a pair of Cambodian mutants. One was male, with a tattoo of a lion on one arm and a snake on the other. The female was young, possibly a teenager, and had a blindfold wrapped around her eyes.

“Today is the day, my friends,” said Stryker. “The day that we begin the next phase of my plan.”

“This is also a far bigger step than the others,” said Khimaera. “Are you certain they’re ready?”

“Positive. I have personally selected this group,” said Stryker. He glanced at the blindfolded woman. “My dear Kachenh, it is such a shame what they did to you.”

“Blindeye,” she responded, wanting to be addressed by the new name she had chosen for herself.

“Of course, my apologies,” said Stryker. He reached for the comm-link in his ear. “Overrider, are we ready?”

“Yessir. You’ll be on every TV in America.”

Stryker smiled. “Wonderful. Let’s make history.”

He stepped towards the podium with Khimaera and Blindeye flanking him. When he reached, he tapped the microphone and began speaking. “Brothers and sisters, I would like to welcome you to our nation’s capital on such a beautiful day. My brothers and sisters, for years I have preached the word of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have talked of the demonic nature of the so-called mutants and warned that they must be purged from our society.

“And I am here to tell you, on this day, that I was wrong.”

The crowd grew quiet at this revelation. Stryker paused for effect, allowing the implications to hang in the air.

“Yes, that’s right, I was wrong. Because, my brothers and sisters, I forgot one of the key teachings of our Lord—love the sinner, hate the sin. And for this, I have seen the error of our ways.

“Mutants are not inherently demonic, they are simply possessed of a demonic spirit. Did Christ kill the man from Gadarenes possessed by the demons who called themselves Legion? No, he did not! Christ cast out the foul creatures! And so, we must do the same, we must exorcise the influence of Satan from our mutant brethren!

“But, it is not such a simple feat, my brothers and sisters. For in order to heal the mutants, the mutants must want our help!

“And so, I have announced a new phase in my ministry! Across the world, my Church of Humanity is establishing treatment centers, where trained exorcists can work with mutants to expel the evil from their bodies!”

Cheers erupted at this and Stryker smiled. “I am proud to announce that I have completed the first of these transformations! I have driven the evil out from fallen sons and daughters of the Lord! I would like to introduce you to the Nephilim!”

A portal opened up behind Stryker. Joining him were several other mutants. A gathering which included, alongside Blindeye and Khimaera, an imposing man in a suit of armor—the childlike Peter who had since become known as the Orphan-Maker. A woman dressed in a leather catsuit with flowing red hair and green eyes—the former Goblin Queen, Madelyne Pryor. A man in a flight suit with a helmet—Tom Skylark, former Sentinel pilot and mutant technopath. A man who stood on a small hovercraft wore a red and white suit of armor with a helmet that concealed his entire face—another technopath, this one known as the Overrider. The woman who transported the group had blue skin and red hair—Edie Sawyer, U-Go-Girl. And also, Wade Cole and Murray Reese, the remaining members of the cybernetic Reavers.

“They have fallen, but with our help, they can rise again!” said Stryker. “This is a new dawn for all of God’s children, human and muta—”

Another portal opened up, this one between the podium and the crowd. Once the light diminished, the X-Men stood ready.

“You really think we would let you get away with this, Stryker?” asked Phoenix. “The X-Men won’t allow any human to exert superiority over mutantkind!”

“Indeed?” asked Stryker. “Madelyne, my dear.”

Madelyne stepped forward and Phoenix glared at the clone of her mother. “Pryor. Last I heard, you were working with Cassandra Nova. Seems like you’re always someone else’s pawn.”

Madelyne just smiled. “Big words, honey. Let’s see you back them up.”

“Oh trust me, I will!”

Phoenix hovered, her avatar surrounding her body. She dove towards Madelyne, and there was a brief flash and the sound of a bird screeching. But what the crowd saw was unexpected.

Rachel was on her knees, and Madelyne had her fingers wrapped around the younger woman’s throat. Madelyne grinned wickedly, her hair beginning to rise up. Her green eyes flashed with fire. And as for Rachel, the psionic flames that surrounded her body began to diminish, slowly dying out. As they did, the psionic flames around Madelyne began to burn ever brighter, until she threw Rachel back into the X-Men. Warpath caught her and Madelyne threw her head back, cackling.

She hovered above the crowd, the flames of the Phoenix surrounding her body. “The Reverend was right! The power of the Lord flows through my body!”

“Praises unto Him!” called out Stryker and the rest of the Nephilim joined his cries.

“I’m gonna take a stab in the dark here and say that this don’t look good for us,” said Ecstasy.

“Very astute, Stacy,” said Xorn.

“James, how’s Rachel?” asked Havok.

Warpath checked her pulse and nodded. “She’s alive, but looks like she’s down for the count.”

“We got a plan, boss?” asked Avalanche.

“Yeah, we do,” said Havok, his eyes crackling with cosmic energy. “Take no prisoners.”

He channeled the cosmic rays through his body and extended his arms. Rings of plasma energy traveled from his chest, flowing around his arms and shooting out into the pair of Reavers, blowing their bodies apart.

“That was for Australia.”

Blindeye moved towards Ecstasy, holding a knife in her hands. “Don’t think I forgot what you did to me in Genosha, you bitch!”

“Oh yeah, ready for round three?” asked Ecstasy. She used her control over her body chemistry to boost her adrenaline and charged at Blindeye. But when she moved in for a kick, her foot hit nothing but air. Ecstasy swung her fist, narrowly missing the bridge of Blindeye’s nose. And out of nowhere came a sharp pain. It couldn’t have been Blindeye, she wasn’t close enough to strike. But when she looked down, she saw Blindeye pulling the dagger from her side.

“Spatial distortion means I’m never where you think I am. Guess you forgot about that,” said Blindeye with a smile

Khimaera was swift enough that he could keep both Gambit and Warpath engaged simultaneously. The strength of the lion was more than a match for Warpath, while the agility of the snake made it easy to avoid Gambit’s charged playing cards.

“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here,” said Warpath, reaching for one of his vibranium daggers. “You sold out your kind once before, why not do it again?”

He hurled the dagger and Khimaera opened his mouth, blowing flames forth. “Of course, I’m built to survive. What care I for these pathetic groupings you put yourselves in? All I care about is self-preservation.”

Khimaera nimbly avoided the next dagger and wrapped his clawed hand around Warpath’s throat, the lion tattoo illuminating his arm. “Now let’s see how strong you are against fire.”

Gambit tried to strike from behind, but Khimaera grabbed him just as the Cajun’s fingers were about to make contact with his clothing. The snake tattoo burned brightly and Gambit could feel the toxin infecting his body. With the thief out of the way, Khimaera focused his attention on Warpath.

“Where were we?”

Khimaera’s hand grew heavy. He couldn’t keep it up any more and it slammed into the ground, cracking the granite. The mutant tried to heft it up, wrapping his other hand around his wrist, but it wouldn’t budge.

“What…in the hell…?”

“I’ve increased the gravitational pull on your hand a thousandfold,” said Xorn, hovering above. “If you continue to struggle, I will increase it to the point that you burrow through the earth until you end up on the other side. Perhaps you will find yourself back in Cambodia?”

[Destroy.]

Xorn heard the robotic voice and could slow the descent of the giant, purple fist that slammed into him just enough to save his life. The battle-damaged Sentinel towered over the capital, with Tom Skylark perched on its shoulder.

“Sorry, Rover and I can’t have that,” said Skylark. “Khimaera may be a bit of a chore, but he is a teammate.”

[Dest—*]

A bright, green streak of fire burned through Rover’s head. Skullfire stopped mid-flight and turned, firing more nuclear-powered blasts of energy, reducing the Sentinel to rubble.

Skylark fell, but the Overrider caught him on his sled and carried him to safety.

“Since when could he fly?” asked Avalanche, as he used his seismic powers to keep the Orphan-Maker at bay.

“Boy’s full of surprises,” said Lila. Her and U-Go-Girl were trying to see who could out-teleport the other with strikes, but the constant jaunts were wearing on each of them physically. And Lila had recently exerted herself more by teleporting the entire team from Genosha to Washington.

“Boss, think we might be in trouble here!”

“Agreed,” said Havok. He fixed a cold gaze on Stryker. “So I’m going to finish this now. Skullfire, cover me.”

Havok slowly moved towards the reverend. The Overrider tried to get in a strike, but Skullfire intercepted him. Before the young mutant could try anything else, a psionic blow from Madelyne knocked him out of the fight.

“Do you mean to kill me, Mr. Summers?” asked Stryker.

“That’s a nice way of putting it.” Havok clenched his fists, the plasma rings pulsing around his hands. “What I’m actually going to do is fry you down to the bone and leave you a sizzling, charred corpse. You’ll be a message that we won’t tolerate this bullshit any more.”

“Is that really what you want, Alex?” asked Stryker. “Have you forgotten about Australia?”

Havok paused for a moment. Australia…Stryker was there…but the rest was a blur.

“Remember what I told you, Alex.” Stryker stepped away from the podium, shortening the distance between the two. “This path your on, it’s dangerous. You don’t want to isolateyourself.”

Havok stopped dead in his tracks and his powers shut down. His eyes went blank, but only for a moment. Avalanche and Lila watched in shock as Havok kneeled down in front of Stryker.

“Summers, what in holy hell are you doing?” shouted Avalanche.

“You’re right…dear god, you’re right…” muttered Havok. “I want to be saved…I want this evil gone…”

“Not good, definitely not good!” said Lila.

“Get outta here, girl! Go get help!” shouted Avalanche.

Lila nodded and opened a portal, but it opened right back up, dropping her onto the ground. Madelyne hovered above, laughing. “You wouldn’t want to leave just when things have gotten interesting, would you?”

Havok turned his powers on Avalanche, knocking the last X-Man standing to the ground. Stryker laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve done good, my son.”

To be continued…