-
- PHOENIX
-
- CYCLOPS
-
- STORM
-
- COLOSSUS
-
- JUBILEE
-
- PROTEUS
-
- EMMA FROST
-
- FUSION
-
- NOCTURNE
-
- FEVER PITCH
AMBUSHED
By Ryan Krupienski
The Blackbird
Towards the back end of the passenger area, Phoenix sits at the edge of one of the benches lining the inner walls of the X-Men’s aircraft. Next to her, laying flat on his back, is an unconscious man, the same guard who was apprehended by Cyclops and Storm. Phase one of their plan is complete; Phoenix implanted certain information from the guard into the mind of Proteus, who’s taken the guard’s form and is in the process of infiltrating the facility that lies little more than a mile away from the team’s present location. For now all they can do is wait, and hope that it’s only a matter of time before their newest member reports back to them with good news.
That’s not enough for Phoenix, though. Even though she retrieved what she needed from the guard, Calib’s, mind, there’s something not sitting right with her. The man is human, which wasn’t a surprise to her at all, but the fact that he has powerful psionic blocks in place is puzzling. Could it be Emma’s doing? Phoenix can think of no other explanation, but she has to wonder what exactly is being hidden.
With both of her index and middle fingers on either of Calib’s temples, her head titled slightly upward and her eyes closed tight, Phoenix continues to try and penetrate the shields in the man’s mind. She senses something familiar behind the psionic walls, but it’s not clear enough for her to even begin guessing what it might be. She knows this should be a simple task; with her powers expanding the way they have been over the past several months, this sort of thing should be child’s play for her. It’s almost as if there’s something inside of her, holding her back for some unknown reason.
“Jean?” Phoenix’s eyes opens slowly as she breaks her connection with Calib’s mind, and she takes a deep breath and exhales as she retrieves her hands from the sides of his head. She looks to the source of the voice that called her name, and sees Jubilee standing right beside her.
“Sorry, I know you’re kinda busy,” Jubilee says, smiling weakly. “You’ve been at it for a while… what are you looking for?”
Phoenix uses her telekinesis to slide Calib down the bench a little and give Jubilee space to sit down next to her. “I don’t know, honestly,” Phoenix tells the young woman as she takes her seat. “His entire mind is an open book… everything, from his childhood memories to his darkest fantasies to even the schematics of the GeneTech facility. There’s something that’s locked away, though. Something familiar, but I can’t put my thumb on it.”
“It’s gotta be Emma,” Jubilee deduces. “Something she doesn’t want anybody to know.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Phoenix seconds. She stops for a moment and looks her young friend over, and Jubilee just looks down at her lap. “Are you all right, Jubilee?” she asks.
“Is that a trick question?” Jubilee says with a small laugh as she looks back up at Phoenix. “Jean, I… the reason I came over here was because I wanted to apologize.”
Phoenix gives Jubilee a curious look. “For what?”
“I’ve been giving you a hard time about this. I’ve been so antsy, I’ve had an attitude, I…” Jubilee stops for a moment, turning her head so Phoenix can’t see her eyes start to water. “I’m just so scared,” she confesses softly, as her older teammate moves closer and puts an arm around her. “I’m so angry… but I’m just so scared, you know?”
“I know,” Phoenix says sincerely. “You don’t have to apologize, Jubilee. You’ve been through a lot, I know it’s rough. Emma held you captive for six months… she violated you. She betrayed you, and Angelo, and the rest of your friends. I know there’s a whole whirlwind of thoughts and feelings swirling around inside your mind, and it’s difficult to sort them out. Nobody blames you.”
“I always try to be strong,” Jubilee says. “I hate feeling weak and useless. I hate people seeing me cry. I figure if I crack a joke here, make a sarcastic comment there… no one will know, and then I’ll feel better.” Jubilee stops and closes her eyes, wiping away a few tear drops before they get a chance to roll down her cheeks. “It doesn’t really work that way.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Phoenix says, putting one of her hands on top of Jubilee’s. “Bottling things up doesn’t do anybody any good. You’re not alone… we’ve all had our demons to face. No one’s looking down on you, or expecting anything more of you.”
“I know,” Jubilee says. “I know it, I just wish I could feel it.”
“You can,” Phoenix tells her. “And you will. Believe that.”
Jubilee manages a faint smile, and looks at Phoenix as if to say thank you. “I guess still no word from Pete,” she says after a few short moments of silence. “I hope he’s okay in there.”
Phoenix looks past Jubilee for a moment and over at her husband, who’s standing with Storm and Colossus at the other end of the passenger area. Cyclops shakes his head, signaling that there’s been no word from Proteus yet.
It’s still frusterating to her that she can’t use her telepathy to check on the young man, see how he’s doing, see if he needs help. Phoenix can only sit and wait with the others, and it’s not a position she particularly enjoys being in. She moves her gaze back to Jubilee and finally answers, “I hope he is too.”
Inside GeneTech
The man who looks like Calib Moore, but really isn’t, strolls cautiously down the sterile metal hallways of the GeneTech facility. He thinks to himself how, in some ways, the place reminds him of the sub-basement levels of the Xavier Institute, except with much dimmer lighting, plus it’s not quite as sleek. He can also tell it’s an old complex; the snow does a good job of covering up the outside, but the marks and dents on the walls and the scent of the air all contribute to revealing its true age. He can feel the chills crawling up and down his spine, every nerve ending in his body tingling, as he walks. It’s not so much fear of failing his mission now as it is the pure creepiness of the complex.
Proteus continues to walk the hallways, following the map laid out by Phoenix in his mind. He’s getting closer, and he just made his last turn a few minutes ago, so the room he’s looking for should be just down the way. He keeps moving ahead, continuously keeping an eye out for any guards or worse yet, Emma Frost herself. He was told to do nothing if he encountered Emma, just to play his role and get past her. He wonders, though, if he has the opportunity… why not just end this all and take her out?
He purges those thoughts from his mind, though, and refocuses his attention on the mission at hand. After a few more steps, the door leading to where he needs to be is directly to his left, and he turns to face it. He’s a bit surprised to see that it’s a regular door with a regular door knob, but he doesn’t give it a second thought as he grips it and gives it a turn. As he steps into the room, a motion sensor is triggered and at first he’s startled, but then he realizes it’s only function is to turn the lights on.
Gently closing the door behind him, Proteus lets out a sigh of relief. He can’t believe he’s made it this far, but he’s proud of himself nonetheless. He immediately sets his sights on the large, round computer module at the center of the room, and quickly moves towards it. As he studies all the different controls, using Calib’s thoughts to guide him, he doesn’t sense a figure coming at him from behind.
The next thing he knows, a gun is cocked and its barrel pressed against the back of his head. He stops what he’s doing and raises his arms in the air, not wanting to give the individual a reason to shoot. “Look what we have here,” the person, a man, says. “So just what do you think you’re doing?”
Central Lab
Emma Frost stands before the six containment chambers in the main lab, staring at the five occupied chambers with anticipation. Nocturne, Feverpitch, and her White Queens stand behind her, all equally anxious for what’s about to happen next. An Indian woman approaches Emma, and the tall blonde turns to her. “Is everything in order, Doctor Roy?” Emma asks her.
“We’re all set,” the doctor says with a slight nod. “Doctor Perevko is initiating the reanimation sequence as we speak.”
“Splendid,” Emma says, smiling her devilish smile. “I trust you’ve done a good job, but you know I’ll be quite cross if they don’t turn out as I…”
Suddenly, the entrance to the lab slides open, and two armed guards walk in swiftly and up to Emma. “Miss Frost, we have a security breach,” one of the men informs her.
“What? What is it?” Emma asks, her excitement quickly dwindling to irritation.
“There’s a test subject, from an old experiment. It was being held in the underground containment area, but it got out. It killed the surveillance team, ma’am,” the guard explains.
Emma grits her teeth for a moment, then rolls her eyes. “Alright, get a squad together and take care of that thing, dammit,” she orders him. “And, if you ever address me asma’am again, I’ll feed you to my girls.”
The guard steals a glance at the five girls behind Emma, who all stare back at him blankly with their glowing eyes. “Yes, Miss Frost,” the guard says, and he quickly makes his way out of the room with the second guard following suit.
Emma turns her attention to Doctor Roy, who’s standing near the main control unit with Doctor Perevko. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Emma barks at them. She turns back to face the containment chambers and says, “Open them up. I want to see how my darling students are doing.”
Control Room
“Turn around,” the man with the gun demands. ‘Calib’ does as he’s told and slowly turns his body around, keeping his hands in the air where the guard can see them. His eyes land on the man holding him at gunpoint, an older gentleman with graying hair buzzed into a crew cut. He wears a variation of the outside guards’ uniform, his being black, indicating he’s inside security.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the guard asks him. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“It was open,” Proteus says somewhat sarcastically. He’s incredibly nervous at the moment, but is doing a good job of hiding it along with his true form. He’s not sure how he’s going to get out of this, but he’s determined to accomplish his mission.
“Don’t be a smart-ass,” the guard retorts. “You got two seconds to explain yourself before I report you.”
Acting on an instinct he didn’t even know he had, Proteus ducks down and rams his fists into the guard’s mid-section, causing the older man to double over in pain. The X-Man doesn’t stop there, and delivers a swift kick in the jaw, then another in the chest. The guard falls limply to the ground, and Proteus stands where he is for a moment to make sure his attacker is truly unconscious. The guard does not make a move, and the only sound that can be heard coming from him is his shallow breathing.
“Maybe martial arts doesn’t suck after all,” Proteus quips as he turns back to the computer console. Accessing Calib’s thoughts, he studies the myriad of controls, trying to discern which is which. Calib himself has never used this particular console, but the controls are the same as those one any other unit in the complex. Proteus moves around to the other side of the console, and finds a green button waiting for him next to a large keypad.
The green button is pressed and the monitor that wraps around the top portion of the console comes to life, displaying a menu with a list of command options. Letting Calib’s mind take over, Proteus navigates through the system with relative ease and opens the entry/exit menu. He selects a passageway on the side of the complex, one that’s barely ever used, and enters the code to open it up. The computer acknowledges the command and gets to work, and the young man smiles, relieved that he’s successfully completed his task.
Reaching into the large winter coat he wears, Proteus takes out a small communication device and turns it on. “Hey, it’s me. I got that one entrance opened up, you can move in now,” he speaks into it. “Uhm, over. Sorry.”
“Acknowledged. Good job, guy,” comes Cyclops’ reply, and Proteus can’t help but smile a little. “Over.”
“What do I do know?” Proteus asks.
“Just stay put. We’re on our way.”
The Blackbird
“Okay, we’ve got access,” Cyclops says as he walks towards his four teammates, all of them with relieved expressions on their faces. “It’s parka time.”
Using her telekinesis, Phoenix lowers the plane’s ramp as the others finishing suiting up. Colossus looks at her, then at the unconscious man lying on the bench. “What about him?” he asks.
“He’s in a deep sleep, he won’t be waking up anytime soon,” Phoenix assures him. She looks around and sees that everyone is dressed and ready to go, and motions for them to head down the ramp.
As Jubilee moves down the ramp behind Storm and Colossus, Cyclops approaches Phoenix, gazing into her green eyes. “Are you okay?” he asks her.
“I’ll be fine. It’s going to be strange not having my telepathy, but hopefully that’s something that won’t last for long.” She smiles at her husband, and moves forward to give him a delicate kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he replies with a smile of his own.
The two of them break their embrace and Cyclops fastens his ruby quartz visor over his eyes, then pulls the fur-lined hood of the parka over his head as Phoenix does the same. They both make their way down the ramp and join their teammates, who all stand facing in the direction of the complex. As Phoenix folds up the ramp of the plane with her teke, Cyclops tells his team, “Let’s move.”
Inside GeneTech
Cyclops told him to stay put, but he just couldn’t do it; he was afraid the guard might wake up and attack him again, and he’s not sure he could do his fancy martial arts trick a second time. Proteus is unsure of where exactly he is, though, as Calib’s memories are starting to fade from his mind. He’s trying to retrace his steps, get back to the lobby area and get back outside, but everything looks the same, it’s a maze to him.
He hurries down the wide hallway and comes to an oversized metallic door. He stops, his curiosity piqued, and gazes through the glass panel to its side. His eyes widen with surprise as they fall on a tall blonde wearing a white business suit. He realizes who she is, and feels an urge, a slight tug at his mind, telling him to go a step further and take her out. Imagine if he managed to take down the bad guy all by himself? The other X-Men would have no choice but to be impressed.
Inside the room, Emma’s smile grows wider as the five containment chambers filled with milky pink fluid are drained, leaving only their occupants inside. Five young men and women, half-naked and clearly disoriented, stumble out of the chambers, just as the door to the laboratory slides open.
“Good God, what now?” Emma turns to see a guard dressed in white walk in, a large gun in his hand. “What the hell do you want? I told you people to take care of the beast. I’m busy.”
“I’m not here for that,” the guard says as he raises his gun and points it at Emma. “I’m here for you.”
He fires off several shots, and everyone in the room takes cover, including the newly-released test subjects. Emma yells out some obscenities, then orders Feverpitch to deal with the unruly guard.
“Back off!” Feverpitch shouts as a jet of flame shoots from her hand and in Proteus’ direction. He ducks just in time, then fires off a couple more shots. A couple bullets hit Feverpitch, but they simply melt against the scorching heat.
“Idiot!” comes a voice from behind Proteus, and he barely has a chance to turn around as a hand grabs his shoulder and starts to drag him away. His heart skips a beat when he sees that it’s the same guard who attacked him in the control room.
“If I wanted to kill you, I would have already,” the older man tells him as he drags him down the hallway. “Follow me and we’ll both get out of here alive.”
Realizing it’s either go with the guard or face Emma and her minions, Proteus hesitantly nods his head in agreement and says, “Okay.”
Inside the lab, Emma stands up and grimaces as the lab door seals shut. “X-Men!” she yells angrily. “We have X-Men lose in the base!” She turns to Doctor Perevko. “How in the bloody hell did this happen?!”
“Miss Frost!” comes the voice of yet another guard, who enters the room just as the doctor is about to answer. “We have five mutants moving towards the South tunnel entrance.”
A quick scan of his mind tells Emma that the guard is not an imposter, and she replies, “Then take care of them.” Suddenly, she has another idea, and looks over at her five reawakened students, who are still regaining their composure. “On second thought…”
She then turns to Feverpitch, and the flaming woman perks up. “My dear,” Emma says to her, “you want some real action? You’re about to get it.”
Outside
The five X-Men move quickly through the snow, their destination straight ahead. Using a low-level telekinetic barrier, Phoenix shields her teammates from the harsh cold, making it easier for them to move along. Storm, Colossus, and Jubilee are in the lead, with Cyclops and his wife following close behind.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Phoenix says to her husband as they walk. “I feel like we’re walking into a trap.”
“Which is how we’re going to approach it once we get inside,” Cyclops tells her. “It’s okay, Jean, we’re going to be fine.”
After a few more minutes of walking, the team finally arrives at the tall, spherical passageway, which lies open for them. There is only darkness beyond the entrance, but thanks to the blueprints they have of the facility, they know it’s only a short way inside. Cyclops steps forward, moving to the head of the group and towards the entrance.
Using the coupled resources of his natural infra-red vision and the sensors built into his ruby quartz visor, he surveys the tunnel, looking for any surprises that may be lurking in the shadows. He picks up nothing out of the ordinary, and turns to his team and says, “It’s all clear.”
Just as Cyclops takes his first step into the tunnel, balls of flames rain down on the X-Men from above, catching them off-guard and causing them to scatter. The fire scorches the winter surface, but quickly fizzles out rather than exploding. Quickly regrouping, the X-Men turn to face the source of the attack, and looks of shock cross all their faces as their collective sets of eyes land on another group of mutants standing not too far from them.
A brown-haired man, his hands glowing brightly with yellow electricity.
A large, brutish man with short blonde hair.
A cat-like woman with incredibly sharp claws, her skin layered thick in dark purple fur.
An Indian man with shoulder-length black hair, a reddish-pink energy spiraling up from his legs to the rest of his body.
A blonde woman, holding glowing black disks between several of her fingers.
All of them, save for the cat-like woman, wear form-fitting bodysuits colored pink and purple, with small white triangles afixed on the left breast area. “I do not believe it,” Storm says as she looks at each of the young men and women. “I watched you all die…”
“Well, the only ones who’re gonna die today are you guys,” comes a young woman’s voice. The source is Feverpitch, whose fiery form lands between the X-Men and the other group of mutants. “I guess you used to know my friends here, before they were murdered back in the day. So before we kill all you losers, how about you shout a big ‘welcome back’ to the Hellions!”
Somewhere inside
“We’ll be safe here for a while,” the older guard says to Proteus as he leads the young man into the small room. The man closes the door behind them and lets out a sigh of relief, then shoots a mean look at ‘Calib’. “What the hell were you trying to do, get yourself killed?”
His heart pounding and his mind racing in a million different directions, Proteus can no longer keep up the illusion, and the visage of Calib Moore fades away, winter suit and all. What is left is a young man with brown hair and gray eyes, dressed in a black X-Men uniform. The guard registers a bit of shock at the revelation, but follows up quickly with an amused grin.
“So the X-Men are sending children to do their dirty work nowadays?” the guard asks rhetorically. “Lovely to see there’s more metamorphs out there… we really are a rare breed, you know.”
“Who are you?” Proteus demands to know, swallowing back a lump in his throat.
The guard drops his gun and his arms fall to his sides, and he stands completely still for a brief second. Suddenly, his clothes begin to sink into his body, and his husky frame melts away into something much more slender. His caucasian skin turns a deep indigo blue, and dark red hair sprouts from his head. A black leather bodysuit, complete with high-heel boots and a small utility belt, covers the body from neck to toe as the last of the male guard disappears. What is left is a devilishly beautiful woman, who apparently has the same abilities as the now-speechless Proteus.
“I’m a friend, that’s who I am,” the woman answers after she retrieves her gun from the floor and holsters it in her belt. “My name is Raven Darkholme, but you can call me Mystique.”
NEXT ISSUE: The proverbial $#!% hits the fan as Mystique makes a shocking revelation and the X-Men battle the Hellions! Are the resurrected mutants the secret project Emma has been working on, though, or is something worse yet to come? And will Emma escape before the X-Men bring her to justice? What is the shocking true nature of GeneTech, and how does Mystique fit into it all? And what happened to Generation X??? The answers (and of course more questions) are on the way!
I’m still on a roll, this issue is already done and I’ve started on #4. I’ve just had this massive writing bug infect me and I can’t stop. Hopefully it will continue for a long time to come! But anyway, #4 will be out next week, and #5 the week after (or maybe sooner). Thanks to those who have given me feedback, I always love getting it 🙂
Later, y’all.
~Ryan
05/28/03
Recent Comments