Detroit

An abandoned tenement served as the temporary quarters of the outlaw groups of mutants that called themselves the X-Men. They thought they were off the grid, hiding in plain sight from the various parties coming after them. They weren’t counting on Randall Kitson, the bounty hunter called Lockdown.

He’d already taken out many of the team. First it was Psylocke and Fantomex on the roof. Then he interrupted the poker game between members of the team, easily dispatching of Pyro, Avalanche, and Pete Wisdom, the team’s leader.

Stacy Leevald was the only one left, and his target. She had asked who sent him and his response prompted the current shock on her face. Stacy opened and closed her mouth, trying to form the words several times.

“My…my parents…?” The words sounded just as unreal coming out of her mouth as they did from Lockdown.

He nodded. “That’s right. They wanted me to bring you home.”

Her shock changed to rage. Stacy narrowed her eyes and lunged at him. The kick surprised Lockdown and his head snapped back. Stacy went for another kick, but Lockdown was ready and grabbed her leg. He swung her by it, throwing her against the wall.

“I didn’t come here to fight you, I came to help you,” said Lockdown.

“You’re lying!” Stacy spat. “As soon as my skin started shedding, my parents kicked me out!”

“I know.”

“Y-you know?”

Lockdown nodded. “They came to their senses a few years later. Spent a lot of time and money trying to find you with no luck. As soon as they saw you on TV with the X-Men, they turned to me. I specialize in a certain type of target—helping reformed criminals get a second chance, just like someone had given me once long ago. I’ve spent months looking for you, tracking your history since you left home. The Theatre of Pain, the Xavier Institute, X-Corps, Genosha, Sandstorm, and now here.”

“I…they…” Stacy could barely give voice to her thoughts—probably because they were just as chaotic.

But words weren’t going to do much. A crimson burst of energy struck Lockdown, slamming him against the wall. Stacy looked in surprise and saw Mimic flying with the aid of his feathered wings. Lockdown was pinned against the wall by the concussive optic blasts, his hand reaching for the adjacent window frame. Once his fingers touched, the frame shifted and merged into his hand.

Lockdown dropped to the ground and stepped closer. His power to absorb matter into his body and increase his strength and durability had enabled him to fend off Mimic’s power.

But strength and durability weren’t much help without gravity. Suddenly, gravity held no hold over Lockdown, and he found himself floating without his control. Xorn hovered nearby, his legs folded in the lotus position. Behind him was Tessa, who had a gun drawn and aimed at the intruder.

“We don’t take kindly to trespassers,” said Tessa. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put a bullet through your head.”

“Hold up,” said Stacy, blocking Tessa’s shot. “He’s here because of me, and I don’t think he’s a threat.”

ALPHA & OMEGA

PART IV

By Dino Pollard

Classified Location

Somewhere outside Washington, DC

Lorna Dane looked over the faces of her new “team.” She was very uncomfortable with the changes since X-Factor was restructured as the X-Factor Initiative and placed under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. Her new director, Malcolm Colcord, was a disburbing individual. And Emma Frost, though briefly on the side of the angels, had since re-embraced the darkness.

Now, Lorna was forced to answer to both of them. The rest of her team didn’t ease her nerves. The only ones she thought could be remotely trustworthy were Aurora and Caliban, though Aurora seemed to have reverted to the more extreme of her personalities. And Caliban seemed little more than a pet lapdog for Frost. She waited at the foot of the jet’s ramp as the team suited up.

“So, Lorna…been meaning to talk to you.”

Lorna glanced out of the corner of her eye at one of her new teammates—Marshall Evan Stone III, also known as the bounty hunter named Random. Polaris turned her back to him.

“After what you did to Alex—to me—we have nothing to say to each other,” she said.

“Lissen, that’s actually what I wanna tell you about,” said Random. “See, for a time back then, there was a guy runnin’ around wearing my face, usin’ my name. Working for the Dark Beast. So whatever happened, it wasn’t me, babe. I took that guy out.”

“So you’re just a killer and not a traitor, that makes me feel so much better,” said Lorna.

Random huffed and turned away. “Fine, suit yourself.”

“Would the two of you shut up?” asked the Crimson Commando as he came onto the scene. “We’ve got more important things to worry about.”

“Assuming we can trust Frost’s intel,” said Lorna, watching as the rest of the new X-Factor trickled out.

“You wound me, Lorna. But I give you my word, my inside man is quite reliable,” said Emma.

“Better be. I’m uncomfortable with this whole arrangement enough as is,” said Lorna. “Bohannon will brief everyone on the jet. Let’s get this over with so I can shower Emma’s stench off me.”

Detroit

Xorn kept Lockdown suspended in mid-air while Stacy used her phermones to help the rest of the team wake sooner from Lockdown’s attacks. Now, they were all gathered together, wondering what to do about him.

“I say we torture ’im,” said Pyro.

“I’m tempted to agree,” said Wisdom.

“Hey, he’s here to help me, not hurt anyone,” said Stacy.

“He threw me into a wall, so my head says different,” said Wisdom.

“Wisdom’s correct, just because he claims he’s here on behalf of your parents, it could well be a ruse,” said Tessa.

“Then there’s an easy way to find out,” said Betsy, moving through the group and closer to Lockdown. She closed her eyes and psychic energy formed around her head in a shape that resembled a butterfly. After a few seconds, Betsy opened her eyes and looked at Wisdom. “He’s telling the truth.”

“Or thinks he is,” said Fantomex.

“What’s that mean?” asked Calvin.

“A powerful psychic could have planted false memories or motivations in his head,” said Fantomex.

“I can detect no trace of psychic tampering,” said Betsy.

“And you’re infallible?” asked Fantomex.

As the team began to argue over the efficacy of Psylocke’s telepathic abilities, Tessa detected something out of the ordinary. She moved away from the group and reached into a pouch on her belt to produce a handheld tablet. A stealth craft was en route, undetectable to most scans, but hers were on another level.

“We have trouble,” she said.

And that’s when the building was struck.

Polaris dropped from the jet first, content to just use her magnetic powers to shake the metal within the tenement. But she wasn’t the only one on the team. Gazer, a mutant who worshipped Apocalypse and was a member of the terrorist cult known as Clan Akkaba, left the jet as well and directed the solar blasts from his eyes at the building.

“Gazer, you idiot! You’re going to take the whole thing down!”

“Good!” he retorted. “In the name of En Sabah Nur, let us rain destruction upon these heretics and let only the strong survive!”

“Multiple hostiles,” said Tessa. “Approximately eight in total.”

“Actually…” Mimic fired an optic blast that knocked Tessa off her feet. “It’s nine.”

“Cal…?” asked Ecstasy.

“Sorry, gang, but after Sandstorm, I knew things were way too serious,” said Mimic. “I was an X-Man before any of you.”

“And you were kicked off the team,” added Psylocke.

“All the more reason why I can’t be part of desecrating what they stand for,” said Mimic. “And why I have to stop y—”

A powerful burst of energy blasted Mimic out the wall of the tenement, courtesy of Xorn. “Tessa was right, there was something suspicious about him.”

“Still got the rest of them to deal with,” said Wisdom.

“I can help,” said Lockdown. “Nine on nine. We can table our shit until we’ve taken care of these jokers.”

Wisdom huffed. “Fine. Xorn, let him loose. And X-Men—make ’em bleed.”

The X-Men emerged from the tenement just as the XFI touched down on the ground. As soon as Polaris spotted Psylocke, she flew into a rage and barreled straight for the ninja.

Taking control of the metal in Psylocke’s costume and the iron in her blood, Polaris sent her rocketing up towards the roof. Psylocke was thrown hard on the surface as Polaris hovered near her.

“We don’t know each other that well, Betsy, but I would have assumed you’d know better than getting mixed up with this,” said Polaris. “This isn’t what Xavier formed the X-Men for. You’re spitting all over his memory.”

“Someone has to fight dirty,” said Psylocke. “The home team can’t do it, so it falls to us. Besides, you’re one to talk. I see even more villains on your side. Including Emma Frost.”

“I’m not happy about it, either, but this is a temporary arrangement. Once we take you down, I’ll gain control of my team, change it around and make it what it used to be. Why are you even here anyway?”

Psylocke smirked. “Because Alex asked me. When was the last time he took you into his confidence?”

Polaris snarled and held out her arms. Two cars rose from the street and they pulled apart. Polaris then whipped all the different metal components at Psylocke.

“Bugger, guess I took it too far…” muttered Psylocke as she dodged the metal.

But then they all froze suddenly and Polaris struggled to keep them going. She was then struck by a burst of electricity. Xorn used his gravitational powers over the metal and harmlessly discarded them.

“I believe Polaris is more my speed, but your assistance is no doubt necessary with their telepath,” said Xorn.

Psylocke nodded and used her Crimson Dawn abilities to create a shadow portal in order to transport her back to the fight. Xorn then turned his attention to Polaris.

“Now, where were we?” he asked.

Tessa found herself facing off against a man with a thin mustache and dressed in a blue bodysuit. “Timeshadow,” she said. “Real name unknown. You haven’t been seen since the Alliance of Evil disbanded.”

“Flattered someone remembers me, especially a looker like you,” said Timeshadow.

“It’ll pass.” Tessa drew her weapons and opened fire.

Timeshadow moved from side to side to avoid the bullets, leaving behind other versions. He continued moving, until Tessa was surrounded by a dozen of them. All of them moved on Tessa.

Tessa holstered her guns and drew a pair of knives, using them to fight back. Whereas she had the edge in combat, Timeshadow had numbers on her and they never seemed to decrease. Every time Tessa killed one version, another would appear to replace him.

The nature of Tessa’s computer-like brain allowed her to multitask far better than any living being, and she could also “read” a person’s genetic code. As one part of her mind concentrated on the battle with Timeshadow, another scanned his code to determine the exact nature of his powers and search for a weakness.

He wasn’t like Jamie Madrox, who could create actual duplicates. Instead, Timeshadow simply pulled versions of himself from miliseconds into the future to the present. That made for a simple calculation—kill the real Timeshadow, the others would cease to exist.

With that knowledge, she was able to further read his DNA and determine which version was the youngest. As soon as she found the culprit, Tessa drove her blade forward, cutting his throat.

As Timeshadow fell to his knees, bleeding out through the gash, that same gash appeared on the others. The present Timeshadow collapsed, his eyes fixed open. And one by one, each of the future versions faded into oblivion.

“Frank,” said Avalanche as he faced off against his former teammate. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“Then make it easy on yourself, Dominic. Just surrender now,” said the Crimson Commando.

Avalanche sighed. “You know I can’t do that. You haven’t seen what I have.”

“Son, I stormed the beaches of Normandy. I was there when Hitler’s concentration camps were liberated. I’ve seen my fair share.”

“And it’s happening again. Cambodia. China. Egypt. Even right here in the States, we found babies being harvested by the American military so they could develop a method of detecting the x-gene before birth.”

The Crimson Commando paused, and Avalanche hoped he was starting to get through to his old friend. But then he raised his gun-arm and opened fire. Avalanche barely had enough time to raise a section of the street in order to shield himself.

“I’m sorry,” said the Commando. “I have my orders.”

Ecstasy found herself facing off against Aurora, but the former member of Alpha Flight was far too fast for her to even lay a hand on. They’d been briefed on Ecstasy’s powers and how they relied on touch, so Aurora did her best to keep her distance.

“C’mon, you bitch!” growled Ecstasy. “Let’s make this a fair fight!”

“Stacy, listen carefully.”

Ecstasy heard the voice inside her head. It wasn’t Psylocke, but it was somewhat familiar. Took a moment before she realized it was Tessa, utilizing her limited psychic abilities.

“Tess?”

“Aurora suffers from dissociative identity disorder. If you can lay a hand on her, boost her serotonin levels.”

“What’ll that do?”

“There is a correlation between Aurora’s mental disorder and stress. Boosting the levels of serotonin in the brain can counteract high levels of stress.”

Aurora started running around Ecstasy in circles, moving faster and faster. Ecstasy quickly found it was difficult to breathe, as Aurora was creating a vacuum.

“She’s too fast…she’s gonna…gonna…”

“I’ll attempt a limited strike—be ready.”

Aurora suddenly stopped and screamed. She stumbled and fell on the ground. “Que se passe-t-til?”

Just as she started to get up, Ecstasy jumped on her back. “Hey there, howzabout we get to know each other a little better? Some girl talk always helps relieve stress…”

Ecstasy gently placed her fingers on Aurora’s temples. She concentrated, doing just as Tessa had instructed. For Aurora’s part, she felt the anger and passion that fueled her personality start to fade, and Jeanne-Marie Beaubier’s personality started to emerge once more.

“Where…?” asked Jeanne-Marie.

Ecstasy allowed her to turn over and as soon as Jeanne-Marie did, she screamed upon seeing the woman’s serpent-like skin.

“Demon! The demons are after me!”

“Ohhh no,” said Ecstasy, grabbing Jeanne-Marie’s head before she could revert back. This time, she increased Jeanne-Marie’s production of melatonin, and the woman’s eyelids grew heavy, before she collapsed in Ecstasy’s arms.

Caliban’s speed was surprising given his size, but Lockdown did the best he could to keep up. Fortunately, out on the street there was no shortage of inorganic matter for him to absorb into his body. Each bit of matter he took in boosted his strength, and soon he and Caliban were trading blows at equal levels of strength.

“Don’t talk much, do you, big guy?” asked Lockdown.

Caliban responded by snarling at Lockdown and clawed at his chest. Lockdown felt pain radiating through his torso and pulled away. He was surprised to see that Caliban’s claws had been strong enough to draw blood, even with his current state.

Nearby, Lockdown saw Pyro contending with Gazer. Pyro created creatures forged of fire and sent them after the mutant, who fought them off with his optic blasts.

“Hey firebug, need a hand?”

Pyro glanced over quickly and responded with, “Wouldn’t say no, mate.”

“Get ready for incoming then!”

Lockdown braced himself. Caliban was strong and fierce, but didn’t seem to be high on intelligence. As Caliban charged into him, Lockdown went with it and fell back, allowing him to use Caliban’s own energy against him.

The former hound flew through the air and crashed into his teammate. Gazer forcefully pushed Caliban off him and stood. He kicked the former Morlock a few times to boot.

“Cur! An acolyte of Apocalypse should not have to suffer such indignities!”

Caliban’s yellow eyes narrowed as he stared at Gazer. “A…po…ca…lypse…?”

“Yes, you evolutionary dead-end. Apocalypse, the great En Sabah Nur, who will lead this world in a brilliant new era!”

Caliban growled as his mind was filled with images of all the tortures inflicted upon him by the mutant Gazer worshipped as a god. He charged at Gazer, going insane with rage and Gazer found himself having to fight for his very life against his own teammate.

Pyro sidled up beside Lockdown. If not for the masks both men wore, they would see just how wide their eyes had become.

“You plan that?” asked Pyro.

Lockdown shook his head. “Nah, man. I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

“Heard about you, Frenchie,” said Random, firing hardened protoplasm from the guns his arms had formed into. “Thought you were some kinda merc. Curious what these guys are payin’ you.”

“Nothing,” said Fantomex, easily dodging the projectiles.

He returned fire with his own handguns, a replacement pair after Lockdown had absorbed the ones he’d bee carrying. But Random just laughed as his protoplasmic body took the bullets and then spat them back out.

“You drew the short straw, Matrix-boy. I can counteract anything you throw at me. An’ all you’ve got is a pair of guns and some fancy reflexes,” said Random.

Fantomex bent his arm. “Is that what they told you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I know about you as well. And one of those rounds is still inside your body. Also, it wasn’t a bullet.”

“Huh?”

“One more thing, my powers are not remotely limited to fancy footwork,” said Fantomex. “The time has come.”

Random felt something strange inside his stomach. It was like he was about to vomit, except a lot different. There was something inside him, growing larger and larger. It soon grew too large and Random’s body blew apart, leaving chunks of protoplasmic goo everywhere. In his place was a small, spherical ship, floating in the middle of the street. Fantomex walked up and placed his hand on it.

“Thank you, EVA,” he said.

“Can’t believe you turned on us, Rankin,” said Wisdom as he launched a flurry of hot knives at the Mimic.

“I knew Charles Xavier, Wisdom,” said Mimic. He used a combination of optic blasts, ice blasts, and telekinesis to deflect Wisdom’s projectiles. “I may not have always made the best choices in my life, but one of the only good things I did was when I first joined the X-Men. And what I saw at Sandstorm…what Havok and the old team did…I can’t be part of that. You shouldn’t want to be, either.”

“Never claimed I wanted this, old son,” said Wisdom. “Just that it had to be done. And if anyone’s going to do this, might as well be someone who can do it right.”

Wisdom moved in closer. It was going to be difficult to take out a man who could adapt the powers of everyone on the field. But then again, maybe that was exactly what they needed to do.

“Betsy, tell me you’ve got your psychic ears on, love.”

“I’m a little busy at the moment, Peter!” shouted Psylocke back into Wisdom’s thoughts.

Her and Emma Frost currently stood in front of each other, their bodies completely still, seemingly like they were doing nothing more than staring. However, what they were actually doing was waging a battle on the astral plane.

Psylocke’s avatar wore a suit of samurai armor and wielded two katana swords. Emma, for her part, was dressed as a bullwhip-wielding dominatrix, albeit in white leather as opposed to black.

“Is this really the way you want to die, darling?” asked Emma.

“You think you’ll be the one to kill me?” asked Psylocke. “I’ve got bad news for you, traitor.”

Psylocke lunged forward, but as she brought her swords down, Emma’s avatar multipled into hundreds. Psylocke spun, trying to keep up with her. She attacked avatar after avatar, but her blades had no effect. And the laughter from hundreds of Emma Frost’s echoed across Betsy’s mind.

“Poor little Elizabeth. Still just as helpless as you’ve always been. You were never good enough. You were a failure as a STRIKE agent, a failure as Captain Britain, and a failure as an X-Man. I’ve gone toe to toe with Jean Grey, and you, my dear, are no Jean Grey,” said Emma. “But I suppose you knew that already, which was why Cyclops rejected your advances.”

Psylocke lowered her swords, her chin dropping. “Is that what you think, Emma? That because I’m not Jean, it means you have the edge?”

The multitudes of Emma avatars merged back into one. “What would you call it?”

Psylocke looked up, the mark of the Crimson Dawn over her left eye glowing bright red.

“I’d call you dead wrong.”

Shadows emerged from beneath Psylocke’s feet, stretching out towards Emma. They rose from the ground, tendrils wrapping around Emma’s body and pulling her down into the abyss.

“You’re right about one thing, Emma—I’m no Jean Grey,” said Psylocke. “Because Jean would never cheat.”

“What is this?” demanded Emma. “What are you doing to me?”

“The Crimson Dawn gives me control over darkness, including the darkness in your own soul,” said Psylocke. “I think it’s time you faced what you did to the children we left in your care.”

Emma screamed and collapsed. Psylocke then turned her psychic abilities towards the Mimic, closing her eyes and concentrating. She temporarily blocked control of his powers.

“What’s happening?” asked Mimic as his body started shifting, becoming protoplasmic. The ground shook under his feet and his fingers grew into white-hot talons.

As Polaris battled Xorn above the streets of Detroit, she heard a voice in her head.

“Lorna, your team is almost done. So far, Timeshadow is the only casualty,” said Psylocke’s telepathic voice. “I must emphasize: so far. If you continue to push us, we will execute every last one of you. And don’t for a second think your past association with the X-Men will give me pause.”

Polaris gritted her teeth. “Frost, tell me you can hear me. Tell me Psylocke’s lying.”

“Emma’s taking a stroll with her inner demons right now, she won’t be very responsive for at least a week,” said Psylocke. “But I’d be happy to verify your team’s status for you.”

Suddenly, Polaris was able to see through the eyes of all her teammates. She saw Crimson Commando now being ganged up on by multiple X-Men, felt Mimic’s fear at his powers raging out of control, felt Caliban’s rage as he battled Gazer and Gazer’s own desperate attempts just to stay alive. She felt Random’s consciousness, barely clinging on as his protoplasmic form tried to knit itself back together. She saw Jeanne-Marie dreaming, and when she was given the opportunity to peer into Emma’s psyche, that was enough for.

“You win, Betsy.”

Polaris dropped the attack on Xorn and flew to the ground. She used her powers to restrain the Crimson Commando, Gazer, and Caliban. And she stared hard at Psylocke.

“X-Factor, it’s over. We either stand down now or we die.”

Psylocke nodded. “Thank you for seeing things rationally, Lorna. For your sake, I hope we don’t meet again anytime soon.”

The mark of the Crimson Dawn flashed brightly and the X-Men retreated into the shadows, where they were transported away. Lorna sighed as she watched them go.

Colcord was not going to be happy.

“You sure about this?” asked Wisdom.

Stacy nodded as she glanced back at Lockdown. “Not sayin’ this is goodbye or nothin’ like that. But…my parents and I didn’t exactly leave things nice and tidy. If they were willing to send someone to bring me home, I at least should go see what they have to say.”

Wisdom nodded. “Fair enough, love.”

“There will be a spot waiting for you if you decide to come back,” said Psylocke.

Stacy exchanged goodbyes with the rest of the team. She hugged Xorn and held him tightly. The Chinese mutant returned the gesture, the light beneath his iron helmet dimming.

“Gonna miss you and your crazy zen Buddhist crap,” she said.

“I’ll miss you too, Stacy.”

“Least you won’t be stealin’ any more of my money with the way you cheat at cards,” said Dominic.

She scoffed. “Maybe next time I’ll teach you how you should really play.”

“One more thing.” Tessa moved through the group and approached Stacy. She handed her a small device that looked like a Bluetooth earpiece.

“What’s this?” asked Stacy.

“We don’t know where we’ll be,” said Tessa. “This device links you directly to my own private server. It’s keyed to your genetic marker so only you can use it. If you want to come back, put it on your ear and press the button.”

Stacy nodded and accepted the device. “Thanks, Tess. And thanks for helping out in the fight.”

Tessa nodded. Stacy turned away from the group and walked towards Lockdown, who sat on the hood of his car.

“All set?” he asked.

“I dunno…” Stacy took one last look back at the rest of the team. “But I guess it’s time to find out.”

NEXT: Escalation