“TROUBLE IN TRIPLICATE!”
Part VI: Case of Mistaken Identity!
♪Theme Music: “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us” by the Sparks♪
The New X-Men—Banshee, Colossus, Wolverine, Havoc, Polaris, Nightcrawler, Storm, Madrox the Multiple Man, and Sunfire—stand outside of the Champions’ headquarters to demand answers for missing members, who have mysteriously disappeared, or perhaps been abducted, recently. Wolverine stands in the forefront, rubbing his claws together, creating an unpleasant metal on metal sound.
“Tell us where we can find Jeannie…and Scott too,” he adds, almost as an afterthought, “or we’ll have to beat it outta ya!”
“Who is this little man with the claws?” Hercules looks back at Angel, while gesturing at Wolverine. “Is he mad?”
“Yeah,” Angel responds, “pretty much.”
“Petey,” Wolverine says, jumping towards Colossus. “How ‘bout a fastball special so I can teach these clowns to treat us with some respect?”
“I do not…” Colossus starts to say.
“Just wind ‘er up and let ‘er rip, Petey!” Wolverine yells, even as Colossus instinctively does grab Wolverine and hold him above his head and behind him in the traditional pitching stance. He isn’t certain that they should really be fighting, but the dye was already cast when they hit the building earlier.
“’Twould seem that he truly is mad,” Hercules comments, as Colossus tosses Wolverine across the distance separating them, and Hercules instinctively rears his fist back, ready to strike. “But the prince of power will set his mind aright!”
“No, Hercules,” Angel responds, using his own wings to propel him forward, holding his mace in his outstretched hand, a smile crossing his face. “This one’s mine!” With that, the Angel swings the Olympian adamantine mace, striking the approaching Wolverine in the face, narrowly missing his outstretched claws. The tremendous impact from the blow sends Wolverine flying back into Colossus, who is knocked off of his feet by the suddenness of the impact, and sent back six feet.
“You love that mace, don’t you?” Iceman asks, a smile crossing his own face.
“I sure do!” Angel replies. Hovering overhead, he calls out to the X-Men across the field from them. “We aren’t interested in fighting.”
“You should have thought of that before you attacked one of our own!” the haughty Storm responds, rising above the ground, summoning lightning to strike the Angel and Iceman, who both leap in opposite directions, narrowly missing what would have likely been deadly lightning strikes!
“Are they all crazy?!” Winter Soldier asks. “The last time I checked, we were fighting on the same side! Besides, Angel used to be one of them!”
“There went any hope of diplomacy,” Nightcrawler laments. “I don’t think that Wolverine and Storm are our best choices for diplomats.” He teleports out of the way of the charging Winter Soldier and Black Widow, leaving the familiar “BAMPF” sound and the accompanying strong odor of brimstone.
“I don’t appreciate you taking shots at my boyfriend!” Dazzler calls out to Storm, drawing on the sounds around her to direct a wide laser blast that strikes Storm, knocking her out of the sky.
Nightcrawler, seeing that Storm is falling from two stories up, teleports to her, grabbing her in his arms. “We might both regret this in a moment,” Nightcrawler says, as he looks down at the still-stunned Storm, “but we don’t have much choice in the matter, I’m afraid.” He then teleports away again, landing on the ground. The grimace on his face reveals that the act of teleporting someone else is something that still takes a lot out of him, and Storm, though she remains conscious, cannot resist the urge to vomit on the ground, as she falls to her hands and knees.
Winter Soldier and Black Widow rush forward to join the battle and try to end the conflict quickly, but are confronted with ten versions of Madrox the Multiple Man, who are swinging at them both, kicking at them, and swarming them with their greater numbers. “Oh, great!” Winter Soldier remarks, rolling his eyes. “A mutant that can divide himself into multiple mutants.”
“I’m sure he has his limits, James,” she responds, kicking one of the Madrox duplicates in the stomach, doubling him over.
“Right,” Winter Soldier adds, ducking under a punch from another duplicate, and swinging hard into the duplicate’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He quickly swings around and kicks another, who was approaching him from behind, in the face, knocking him out. “But, fortunately, none of them fight like Captain America! I imagine we just need to find the original and the duplicates will disappear.”
“Sounds good to me,” Black Widow responds, leaping into the air, twisting her body in mid-air to get more momentum, and kicking another in the face, knocking him to the ground.
“We are wasting time,” the hot-headed Sunfire exclaims, using his fire powers to melt the ice bridge that Iceman has created and prevent him from firing the ice balls at their foes that he had intended to. “Let us just take out these foes quickly and get the information we came here for!”
“That will not be as easy as you might think!” Ghost Rider responds, hellfire trailing behind his motorcycle as he rides towards his foes. “Let us see what you think of my version of fire!” He gestures towards Sunfire, bathing him with hellfire. Though Sunfire is immune to regular fire, the grimace on his face shows that the same is not true of hellfire, which causes him to fall back in pain. His own immunity to fire does prevent him from suffering the serious burns that would normally accompany such an attack.
“Here’s another fine mess Wolverine has gotten us into,” Havok comments, sending out his sonic powers, creating waves of plasma that buffet Hercules and Wonder Man, pushing them back from the circular waves of pure force.
“True, Alex,” Polaris responds, using her magnetic powers to send Cobalt Man flying through a nearby tree, despite his attempts to resist her powers with his repulsors and boot jets. “But we’ll get it sorted out.”
Banshee flies overhead, using his sonic powers to attack Black Goliath, who throws his head back and covers his ears from the piercing sounds. “That noise!” he exclaims, his face contorting with the pain he is experiencing from the sonic assault. “Can’t shut it out!”
Colossus, meanwhile, has regained his footing and is rushing over to Black Goliath. He sends out a punch at the already-stunned Black Goliath, driving him back towards the Champions’ headquarters.
“I would have preferred to talk to the Champions and discover what they know,” Colossus remarks, “but now the fight has been joined. It is now a matter of winning the conflict.”
“Talking is always preferable,” Black Goliath responds, “especially for a scientist. But, it was the X-Men who came to our home and attacked us.” He blocks the Russian’s next punch with a forearm and delivers a punch of his own, driving Colossus back. “Now, we’re just returning the favor!”
Winter Soldier leaps into the air, stretching out his legs so that each foot slams into one of the Madrox duplicates. On his way down, he flips backwards, landing in front of another of the duplicates. He swings his body around, slamming his fist into the face of the duplicate, knocking him to the ground with the others. “Is it just me, or are there two replacements for every one we knock down, Nat?”
“It sure seems that way to me too,” Black Widow responds, using her widow sting to knock out another duplicate.
“Your hellfire affects me in ways no other flame has,” Sunfire exclaims, sending out waves and waves of heat at Ghost Rider, knocking him off his motorcycle. “But if I have to burn the city to the ground, I will make you pay for it!”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort!” Darkstar calls out, sending out her own eldritch energy at Sunfire, encircling his head and neck with tangible energy, lifting him up from the ground and sending him flying across the field where they are fighting, slamming into a parked car on the nearby street.
“Perhaps you need to see,” Polaris calls out, using her magnetic powers to levitate a Lincoln Continental off the street and sending it straight for Darkstar, “how it feels when you have a car land on you!”
“Nay,” Hercules responds, catching the car effortlessly before it can strike Darkstar, who is relieved to see his quick actions. He holds his hands on either side of the large vehicle and spins it towards Polaris. “But mayhap ‘tis thee who should!”
Polaris’ eyes grow very large as she gestures towards the spinning car and leaps to one side, as the car smashes into the spot she was a moment earlier. She managed to slow it down enough to prevent it from crushing her under its weight.
“That’s my fiancé!” Havok yells out, directing his energy at Hercules, causing circles of pure energy to shoot out from his fingertips and slam into Hercules’ chest.
“Aye,” Hercules responds, continuing to walk forward, despite the plasma blasts slamming into him, although his movement is slowed, as if he was walking through water. “And she sought to crush our teammate under yon vehicle. Thy woman needs to learn that using deadly force will result in the same.”
“I’ve defeated the Hulk with my powers,”* Havok claims. “And I’ll give you the same treatment!”
[*A reference to Incredible Hulk #150, where Havok directed a blast of energy at the Hulk’s forehead, while he was carrying a very large bolder, the combination of which knocked the Hulk out temporarily.]
“The prince of power hath also fought the Hulk,” Hercules responds, throwing his mace at Havok, “and I doubt that thee hath the power to overcome the green one.” The mace flies through the energy blasts, although the energy blasts do manage to slow down its velocity somewhat. The mace continues along its trek, striking Havok in the head, knocking him to the ground!
Wolverine rushes towards the Angel, his claws drawn, while the Angel is distracted with one of Madrox’s multiple bodies.
“Warren!” Iceman exclaims. “Look out!” Iceman catches the scene out of the corner of his eye and sends out ice blades at Wolverine, just as he is starting to slash the Angel with his claws. He manages to cut the back of the Angel’s shirt, but the blades stop him from being able to do any more damage.
“You lunatic!” Angel exclaims, turning around quickly, the back of his blue uniform slashed up along his back by Wolverine’s claws. He slams the adamantine mace into Wolverine’s face, sending him flying into the base of a tree.
Wolverine gets up quickly, thanks to his heading factor, and rushes the Angel, who stands his ground. Wolverine slashes at the Angel with his adamantium claws, but the latter sidesteps the slashing motions, putting out his mace defensively. The claws clang loud on the indestructible mace, creating sparks and loud metal-on-metal sounds.
“I never liked you!” Wolverine exclaims. “And you never have explained what you and your group’a clowns had to do with Jeannie’s missing.”
“The answer is obvious,” the Angel responds, ducking under another slashing motion, and sending the mace into Wolverine’s solar plexus. “Nothing! That should be clear, even to someone with a low IQ like yours! Oh,” Angel continues slamming the mace into Wolverine’s chin in a violent upper-cut that sends his opponent flying back, “the feeling’s always been mutual!”
Winter Soldier leaps into the air, kicking Madrox the Multiple Man in the jaw. He falls to the ground instantly. As he falls, all of the other duplicates disappear, including the one that Black Widow was leaping into the air, twisting her body to apply more strength into her kick. As it disappears, her legs go through the fading body and her momentum carries her onto her derriere, as she hits the ground.
“Sorry, Nat,” Winter Soldier says with a sly smile, as he holds out his hand, helping her back to her feet. “I guess I found the original version of the Multiple Man.”
“It’s all right,” she responds. “It was bound to happen to one of us.”
Storm rises slowly to her feet and looks at Wonder Man, who is rushing towards Black Goliath and Colossus, to intervene in their battle. “I won’t let you interfere with Peter’s battle,” she says with confidence, even as the air seems to be super-charged with electricity. She sends out a lightning bolt, which strikes Wonder Man squarely in the chest.
The impact of the lightning bolt moves Wonder Man back a few feet, but he does not lose his footing. “If that’s the best you’ve got lady,” Wonder Man says with a confident smile of his own, “you should have just stayed on the ground.”
“We’ll see about that!” Storm responds, her eyes flaring with rage. From her fingertips, she directs lightning bolts to strike Wonder Man. He is hit by ten different lightning bolts.
“So we will,” Wonder Man replies. “But this time, I can see your attack coming, and I’m prepared for it.” With that, he remains in place, not moving, as the lightning bolts strike his chest, one after another. He looks over at Storm, shaking his head.
Darkstar gestures towards Storm, as black energy surrounds the mutant, encircling her upper body and her head. “I think you have been trouble enough,” Darkstar remarks, as she mentally controls the dark energy, causing it to gain greater substance. Storm, unable to see outside of the dark energy field, sends out lightning strikes from the energy field, trying to strike back at her attacker.
Iceman, who is almost hit by one of the lightning bolts, puts up an ice shield to protect himself just in time. “Whoa!” he exclaims. “She’s dangerous!”
“Are you all right, Bobby?” Darkstar asks, turning to look at Iceman. As she does so, she is surprised to see him fade away from her very eyes.
Shocked, Darkstar screams, causing everyone to look her way.
“Iceman….he’s gone!” she screams.
“What the flamin’…?!” Wolverine exclaims, his right fist drawn back, his claws popping from his knuckles.
“What’s going on here?” Banshee asks. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t know,” Angel replies. “The same thing happened to Beast on the way here.”
“So, you don’t know where Scott is?” Havok asks, turning his attention towards the Angel.
“No,” Black Widow responds, “of course not.”
“We were hoping that the X-Men might know something about the disappearance, actually…” Dazzler adds.
“That is,” Winter Soldier says, stepping forward to face Banshee, “until your group of mutants showed up and attacked us.”
“Winter Soldier,” Banshee comments. “I’ve heard a lot about you. And none of it was good.”
“I know about your work too, Banshee,” Winter Soldier responds. “Especially your work at Interpol and some other projects.”
“I know your work,” Banshee responds, eyeing Winter Soldier suspiciously. “On the other side.”
“He didn’t do any of that willingly,” Black Widow intervenes, as Winter Soldier and Banshee exchange glares. “He was under the control of the Red Room operatives, and you know what they’re capable of doing. He’s free now, and he’s back to doing what he was doing before they captured him.”
“There’s no time for that right now, Banshee,” Havok says, as Nightcrawler walks in directly behind him. “What do you know about where Scott and Jean are?”
“I don’t know anything,” Angel responds, “other than the fact that the Beast…and now Iceman…both disappeared before our eyes. But, with Scott and Jean also missing, it seems like an attack on the original X-Men.”
“That makes a strange kind of sense,” Polaris says, placing her hand on Nightcrawler’s shoulder, as she draws closer to Havok. “But that would mean that you’re the only one left.”
“The original group certainly has its enemies,” Angel admits. “But we’ve got to get our friends back, no matter what it takes.”
“That is more like it,” Darkstar says. “We can’t sit around here, fighting each other, when Bobby and your friends are missing.”
“None of us intend to do that,” Black Widow responds, reassuringly, as she places her hand on Darkstar’s shoulder. “This is all new to us and we are processing information so that we can learn our next move.”
“Our next move,” Wolverine sneers, scraping his claws on his right hand up against his claws on his left, “should be to find out who caught Jeannie, and slip him ear to ear.” He adds the latter while making a motion of slitting someone’s throat with his sharp claws.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning on bringing that psychopath with us to look for Jean and Scott?” Angel asks, holding is fist in front of his face, with his thumb pointing in Wolverine’s direction. “I never approved of Professor bringing this psycho into the X-Men, but that was his decision. It’s not a mistake I’m going to make.”
“I don’t need ya to like me, bub,” Wolverine sneers, glaring at the Angel, “but there ain’t nothin’ you can do that’ll stop me from searching for Jeannie.”
“Laddie,” Banshee offers, looking at the Angel, “don’t ya think it’d be better to have eyes on someone you consider a threat than to let him roam about unattended? Isn’t that what you’re doing with the Winter Soldier there?”
“Look, Sean,” Winter Soldier interjects, stepping up to face Banshee. “I thought we’d already been through that. I fought for my country during World War II, and got captured after I diffused a bomb intended to strike the United States. It wasn’t fun being a part of a Soviet Strike Squad. My memory of it isn’t strong, but I’m just glad to be on this side of the Atlantic. I know what happened and I’m not proud of it, any more than some of the raids I know your country had you do when you were a part of Interpol.”
Banshee looks over at Winter Soldier, who stands his ground, wondering just what Winter Soldier does know of his work with that organization. The spy game isn’t the most sanitary kind of work, and Banshee doesn’t take pride in some of the missions his superiors had him do when he was working either. He decides it’s just best to take Winter Soldier at his word and make a mental note of checking more into the specifics later, when there is more time. He’s heard enough stories of the Winter Soldier’s prowess to know that he’ll be a valuable asset in trying to find Scott, Jean, Hank, and Bobby.
“All right, I…” Angel starts to concede the point to Banshee, but is halted by the sound of movement behind him.
Standing before him are a large group of villains that Ares has been gathering for some time now. Ares stands in the center of the group, the lovely Satanna at his side. With them are the Orb, Rampage, the Fly, Whiplash, Incinerator, Madam Masque, Phobos, Enyalios, Lightmaster, and the Blizzard.
“Your travel plans have changed, Angel,” Satanna comments with a sinister smile. “You’re not going anywhere…ever again.”
“You have managed to find allies,” Ares adds, “but they will not save you from my War Bringers!”
To be continued…
Part VI: Case of Mistaken Identity!
♪Theme Music: “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us” by the Sparks♪
The New X-Men—Banshee, Colossus, Wolverine, Havoc, Polaris, Nightcrawler, Storm, Madrox the Multiple Man, and Sunfire—stand outside of the Champions’ headquarters to demand answers for missing members, who have mysteriously disappeared, or perhaps been abducted, recently. Wolverine stands in the forefront, rubbing his claws together, creating an unpleasant metal on metal sound.
“Tell us where we can find Jeannie…and Scott too,” he adds, almost as an afterthought, “or we’ll have to beat it outta ya!”
“Who is this little man with the claws?” Hercules looks back at Angel, while gesturing at Wolverine. “Is he mad?”
“Yeah,” Angel responds, “pretty much.”
“Petey,” Wolverine says, jumping towards Colossus. “How ‘bout a fastball special so I can teach these clowns to treat us with some respect?”
“I do not…” Colossus starts to say.
“Just wind ‘er up and let ‘er rip, Petey!” Wolverine yells, even as Colossus instinctively does grab Wolverine and hold him above his head and behind him in the traditional pitching stance. He isn’t certain that they should really be fighting, but the dye was already cast when they hit the building earlier.
“’Twould seem that he truly is mad,” Hercules comments, as Colossus tosses Wolverine across the distance separating them, and Hercules instinctively rears his fist back, ready to strike. “But the prince of power will set his mind aright!”
“No, Hercules,” Angel responds, using his own wings to propel him forward, holding his mace in his outstretched hand, a smile crossing his face. “This one’s mine!” With that, the Angel swings the Olympian adamantine mace, striking the approaching Wolverine in the face, narrowly missing his outstretched claws. The tremendous impact from the blow sends Wolverine flying back into Colossus, who is knocked off of his feet by the suddenness of the impact, and sent back six feet.
“You love that mace, don’t you?” Iceman asks, a smile crossing his own face.
“I sure do!” Angel replies. Hovering overhead, he calls out to the X-Men across the field from them. “We aren’t interested in fighting.”
“You should have thought of that before you attacked one of our own!” the haughty Storm responds, rising above the ground, summoning lightning to strike the Angel and Iceman, who both leap in opposite directions, narrowly missing what would have likely been deadly lightning strikes!
“Are they all crazy?!” Winter Soldier asks. “The last time I checked, we were fighting on the same side! Besides, Angel used to be one of them!”
“There went any hope of diplomacy,” Nightcrawler laments. “I don’t think that Wolverine and Storm are our best choices for diplomats.” He teleports out of the way of the charging Winter Soldier and Black Widow, leaving the familiar “BAMPF” sound and the accompanying strong odor of brimstone.
“I don’t appreciate you taking shots at my boyfriend!” Dazzler calls out to Storm, drawing on the sounds around her to direct a wide laser blast that strikes Storm, knocking her out of the sky.
Nightcrawler, seeing that Storm is falling from two stories up, teleports to her, grabbing her in his arms. “We might both regret this in a moment,” Nightcrawler says, as he looks down at the still-stunned Storm, “but we don’t have much choice in the matter, I’m afraid.” He then teleports away again, landing on the ground. The grimace on his face reveals that the act of teleporting someone else is something that still takes a lot out of him, and Storm, though she remains conscious, cannot resist the urge to vomit on the ground, as she falls to her hands and knees.
Winter Soldier and Black Widow rush forward to join the battle and try to end the conflict quickly, but are confronted with ten versions of Madrox the Multiple Man, who are swinging at them both, kicking at them, and swarming them with their greater numbers. “Oh, great!” Winter Soldier remarks, rolling his eyes. “A mutant that can divide himself into multiple mutants.”
“I’m sure he has his limits, James,” she responds, kicking one of the Madrox duplicates in the stomach, doubling him over.
“Right,” Winter Soldier adds, ducking under a punch from another duplicate, and swinging hard into the duplicate’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He quickly swings around and kicks another, who was approaching him from behind, in the face, knocking him out. “But, fortunately, none of them fight like Captain America! I imagine we just need to find the original and the duplicates will disappear.”
“Sounds good to me,” Black Widow responds, leaping into the air, twisting her body in mid-air to get more momentum, and kicking another in the face, knocking him to the ground.
“We are wasting time,” the hot-headed Sunfire exclaims, using his fire powers to melt the ice bridge that Iceman has created and prevent him from firing the ice balls at their foes that he had intended to. “Let us just take out these foes quickly and get the information we came here for!”
“That will not be as easy as you might think!” Ghost Rider responds, hellfire trailing behind his motorcycle as he rides towards his foes. “Let us see what you think of my version of fire!” He gestures towards Sunfire, bathing him with hellfire. Though Sunfire is immune to regular fire, the grimace on his face shows that the same is not true of hellfire, which causes him to fall back in pain. His own immunity to fire does prevent him from suffering the serious burns that would normally accompany such an attack.
“Here’s another fine mess Wolverine has gotten us into,” Havok comments, sending out his sonic powers, creating waves of plasma that buffet Hercules and Wonder Man, pushing them back from the circular waves of pure force.
“True, Alex,” Polaris responds, using her magnetic powers to send Cobalt Man flying through a nearby tree, despite his attempts to resist her powers with his repulsors and boot jets. “But we’ll get it sorted out.”
Banshee flies overhead, using his sonic powers to attack Black Goliath, who throws his head back and covers his ears from the piercing sounds. “That noise!” he exclaims, his face contorting with the pain he is experiencing from the sonic assault. “Can’t shut it out!”
Colossus, meanwhile, has regained his footing and is rushing over to Black Goliath. He sends out a punch at the already-stunned Black Goliath, driving him back towards the Champions’ headquarters.
“I would have preferred to talk to the Champions and discover what they know,” Colossus remarks, “but now the fight has been joined. It is now a matter of winning the conflict.”
“Talking is always preferable,” Black Goliath responds, “especially for a scientist. But, it was the X-Men who came to our home and attacked us.” He blocks the Russian’s next punch with a forearm and delivers a punch of his own, driving Colossus back. “Now, we’re just returning the favor!”
Winter Soldier leaps into the air, stretching out his legs so that each foot slams into one of the Madrox duplicates. On his way down, he flips backwards, landing in front of another of the duplicates. He swings his body around, slamming his fist into the face of the duplicate, knocking him to the ground with the others. “Is it just me, or are there two replacements for every one we knock down, Nat?”
“It sure seems that way to me too,” Black Widow responds, using her widow sting to knock out another duplicate.
“Your hellfire affects me in ways no other flame has,” Sunfire exclaims, sending out waves and waves of heat at Ghost Rider, knocking him off his motorcycle. “But if I have to burn the city to the ground, I will make you pay for it!”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort!” Darkstar calls out, sending out her own eldritch energy at Sunfire, encircling his head and neck with tangible energy, lifting him up from the ground and sending him flying across the field where they are fighting, slamming into a parked car on the nearby street.
“Perhaps you need to see,” Polaris calls out, using her magnetic powers to levitate a Lincoln Continental off the street and sending it straight for Darkstar, “how it feels when you have a car land on you!”
“Nay,” Hercules responds, catching the car effortlessly before it can strike Darkstar, who is relieved to see his quick actions. He holds his hands on either side of the large vehicle and spins it towards Polaris. “But mayhap ‘tis thee who should!”
Polaris’ eyes grow very large as she gestures towards the spinning car and leaps to one side, as the car smashes into the spot she was a moment earlier. She managed to slow it down enough to prevent it from crushing her under its weight.
“That’s my fiancé!” Havok yells out, directing his energy at Hercules, causing circles of pure energy to shoot out from his fingertips and slam into Hercules’ chest.
“Aye,” Hercules responds, continuing to walk forward, despite the plasma blasts slamming into him, although his movement is slowed, as if he was walking through water. “And she sought to crush our teammate under yon vehicle. Thy woman needs to learn that using deadly force will result in the same.”
“I’ve defeated the Hulk with my powers,”* Havok claims. “And I’ll give you the same treatment!”
[*A reference to Incredible Hulk #150, where Havok directed a blast of energy at the Hulk’s forehead, while he was carrying a very large bolder, the combination of which knocked the Hulk out temporarily.]
“The prince of power hath also fought the Hulk,” Hercules responds, throwing his mace at Havok, “and I doubt that thee hath the power to overcome the green one.” The mace flies through the energy blasts, although the energy blasts do manage to slow down its velocity somewhat. The mace continues along its trek, striking Havok in the head, knocking him to the ground!
Wolverine rushes towards the Angel, his claws drawn, while the Angel is distracted with one of Madrox’s multiple bodies.
“Warren!” Iceman exclaims. “Look out!” Iceman catches the scene out of the corner of his eye and sends out ice blades at Wolverine, just as he is starting to slash the Angel with his claws. He manages to cut the back of the Angel’s shirt, but the blades stop him from being able to do any more damage.
“You lunatic!” Angel exclaims, turning around quickly, the back of his blue uniform slashed up along his back by Wolverine’s claws. He slams the adamantine mace into Wolverine’s face, sending him flying into the base of a tree.
Wolverine gets up quickly, thanks to his heading factor, and rushes the Angel, who stands his ground. Wolverine slashes at the Angel with his adamantium claws, but the latter sidesteps the slashing motions, putting out his mace defensively. The claws clang loud on the indestructible mace, creating sparks and loud metal-on-metal sounds.
“I never liked you!” Wolverine exclaims. “And you never have explained what you and your group’a clowns had to do with Jeannie’s missing.”
“The answer is obvious,” the Angel responds, ducking under another slashing motion, and sending the mace into Wolverine’s solar plexus. “Nothing! That should be clear, even to someone with a low IQ like yours! Oh,” Angel continues slamming the mace into Wolverine’s chin in a violent upper-cut that sends his opponent flying back, “the feeling’s always been mutual!”
Winter Soldier leaps into the air, kicking Madrox the Multiple Man in the jaw. He falls to the ground instantly. As he falls, all of the other duplicates disappear, including the one that Black Widow was leaping into the air, twisting her body to apply more strength into her kick. As it disappears, her legs go through the fading body and her momentum carries her onto her derriere, as she hits the ground.
“Sorry, Nat,” Winter Soldier says with a sly smile, as he holds out his hand, helping her back to her feet. “I guess I found the original version of the Multiple Man.”
“It’s all right,” she responds. “It was bound to happen to one of us.”
Storm rises slowly to her feet and looks at Wonder Man, who is rushing towards Black Goliath and Colossus, to intervene in their battle. “I won’t let you interfere with Peter’s battle,” she says with confidence, even as the air seems to be super-charged with electricity. She sends out a lightning bolt, which strikes Wonder Man squarely in the chest.
The impact of the lightning bolt moves Wonder Man back a few feet, but he does not lose his footing. “If that’s the best you’ve got lady,” Wonder Man says with a confident smile of his own, “you should have just stayed on the ground.”
“We’ll see about that!” Storm responds, her eyes flaring with rage. From her fingertips, she directs lightning bolts to strike Wonder Man. He is hit by ten different lightning bolts.
“So we will,” Wonder Man replies. “But this time, I can see your attack coming, and I’m prepared for it.” With that, he remains in place, not moving, as the lightning bolts strike his chest, one after another. He looks over at Storm, shaking his head.
Darkstar gestures towards Storm, as black energy surrounds the mutant, encircling her upper body and her head. “I think you have been trouble enough,” Darkstar remarks, as she mentally controls the dark energy, causing it to gain greater substance. Storm, unable to see outside of the dark energy field, sends out lightning strikes from the energy field, trying to strike back at her attacker.
Iceman, who is almost hit by one of the lightning bolts, puts up an ice shield to protect himself just in time. “Whoa!” he exclaims. “She’s dangerous!”
“Are you all right, Bobby?” Darkstar asks, turning to look at Iceman. As she does so, she is surprised to see him fade away from her very eyes.
Shocked, Darkstar screams, causing everyone to look her way.
“Iceman….he’s gone!” she screams.
“What the flamin’…?!” Wolverine exclaims, his right fist drawn back, his claws popping from his knuckles.
“What’s going on here?” Banshee asks. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t know,” Angel replies. “The same thing happened to Beast on the way here.”
“So, you don’t know where Scott is?” Havok asks, turning his attention towards the Angel.
“No,” Black Widow responds, “of course not.”
“We were hoping that the X-Men might know something about the disappearance, actually…” Dazzler adds.
“That is,” Winter Soldier says, stepping forward to face Banshee, “until your group of mutants showed up and attacked us.”
“Winter Soldier,” Banshee comments. “I’ve heard a lot about you. And none of it was good.”
“I know about your work too, Banshee,” Winter Soldier responds. “Especially your work at Interpol and some other projects.”
“I know your work,” Banshee responds, eyeing Winter Soldier suspiciously. “On the other side.”
“He didn’t do any of that willingly,” Black Widow intervenes, as Winter Soldier and Banshee exchange glares. “He was under the control of the Red Room operatives, and you know what they’re capable of doing. He’s free now, and he’s back to doing what he was doing before they captured him.”
“There’s no time for that right now, Banshee,” Havok says, as Nightcrawler walks in directly behind him. “What do you know about where Scott and Jean are?”
“I don’t know anything,” Angel responds, “other than the fact that the Beast…and now Iceman…both disappeared before our eyes. But, with Scott and Jean also missing, it seems like an attack on the original X-Men.”
“That makes a strange kind of sense,” Polaris says, placing her hand on Nightcrawler’s shoulder, as she draws closer to Havok. “But that would mean that you’re the only one left.”
“The original group certainly has its enemies,” Angel admits. “But we’ve got to get our friends back, no matter what it takes.”
“That is more like it,” Darkstar says. “We can’t sit around here, fighting each other, when Bobby and your friends are missing.”
“None of us intend to do that,” Black Widow responds, reassuringly, as she places her hand on Darkstar’s shoulder. “This is all new to us and we are processing information so that we can learn our next move.”
“Our next move,” Wolverine sneers, scraping his claws on his right hand up against his claws on his left, “should be to find out who caught Jeannie, and slip him ear to ear.” He adds the latter while making a motion of slitting someone’s throat with his sharp claws.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning on bringing that psychopath with us to look for Jean and Scott?” Angel asks, holding is fist in front of his face, with his thumb pointing in Wolverine’s direction. “I never approved of Professor bringing this psycho into the X-Men, but that was his decision. It’s not a mistake I’m going to make.”
“I don’t need ya to like me, bub,” Wolverine sneers, glaring at the Angel, “but there ain’t nothin’ you can do that’ll stop me from searching for Jeannie.”
“Laddie,” Banshee offers, looking at the Angel, “don’t ya think it’d be better to have eyes on someone you consider a threat than to let him roam about unattended? Isn’t that what you’re doing with the Winter Soldier there?”
“Look, Sean,” Winter Soldier interjects, stepping up to face Banshee. “I thought we’d already been through that. I fought for my country during World War II, and got captured after I diffused a bomb intended to strike the United States. It wasn’t fun being a part of a Soviet Strike Squad. My memory of it isn’t strong, but I’m just glad to be on this side of the Atlantic. I know what happened and I’m not proud of it, any more than some of the raids I know your country had you do when you were a part of Interpol.”
Banshee looks over at Winter Soldier, who stands his ground, wondering just what Winter Soldier does know of his work with that organization. The spy game isn’t the most sanitary kind of work, and Banshee doesn’t take pride in some of the missions his superiors had him do when he was working either. He decides it’s just best to take Winter Soldier at his word and make a mental note of checking more into the specifics later, when there is more time. He’s heard enough stories of the Winter Soldier’s prowess to know that he’ll be a valuable asset in trying to find Scott, Jean, Hank, and Bobby.
“All right, I…” Angel starts to concede the point to Banshee, but is halted by the sound of movement behind him.
Standing before him are a large group of villains that Ares has been gathering for some time now. Ares stands in the center of the group, the lovely Satanna at his side. With them are the Orb, Rampage, the Fly, Whiplash, Incinerator, Madam Masque, Phobos, Enyalios, Lightmaster, and the Blizzard.
“Your travel plans have changed, Angel,” Satanna comments with a sinister smile. “You’re not going anywhere…ever again.”
“You have managed to find allies,” Ares adds, “but they will not save you from my War Bringers!”
To be continued…