Back to Gatefold#5 - "Countermeasures"
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"You are young!" Magneto said, his blood-red helmet doffed and his aged, handsome features regarding his former students with weary scorn. "I ask only that you remember what you have learned here."
What they had learned here? Roberto DaCosta fumed. The solar energy absorbed by his mutant cells flared, his skin and costume going black in the bizarre energy effect that had earned him the codename Sunspot. He was exhausted beyond his ability to describe it. They had survived the Inferno, watched Illyana regressed to childhood for her sins as the Darkchilde, and finally returned home to Xavier's school only to find it decimated by the Marauders and the X-Men nowhere to be found. He was tired and he was angry... and most of all, he was sick of the way the world was spinning out of his control. Magneto had been their headmaster, their teacher, once. He had betrayed them by siding with the Hellfire Club. Now Roberto would cheerfully rip him limb from limb, if only he could get close enough...
So absorbed in his thoughts, Roberto had missed most of Magneto's speech, but the final sentences brought him back to the moment. "In time, some of you will return to join me freely in my conquest. Know, now, that you will be freely welcome."
"Never!" Roberto moved forward, noting but not caring that Magneto's allies, Emma Frost and Selene, closed ranks around him at the movement. "We'll never join you."
"You, boy, will be the first."
"NO!"
And then Sam Guthrie, his best friend and leader of the New Mutants, was behind him, pulling him back, reasoning with him. Magneto continued to stand there and smile, and 'Berto wanted so badly to punch that look off of his face... but there was Sam, and now Warlock was shaping his techno-organic body into a helicopter to take them away... and still Magneto kept watching him with that smile.
And here was the funny part, Roberto realized, years later... though he probably wouldn't have seen the humor in it on that long-ago fall day:
Magneto had been right.
"'Berto! Come on, stud, rise and shine."
Roberto DaCosta, older and - perhaps - wiser, opened his eyes and looked into the face of Tabitha Smith. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his head as he sat up.
"Are we in Genosha yet?"
"Not even close." Tabitha waved a hand toward the front of the shuttle. "Rictor's flying and 'Star's keeping him company."
"Then why did you wake me?"
"Because Voght took Blaze and 'ported her back to Genosha as soon as you were out."
"What?"
Tabitha nodded. "I've got a bad feeling about this, 'Berto. Mags sends us all the way to South Am to get this girl--forgetting to tell us she's one of the most psychotic and powerful mutants out there--then he sends Voght in to help when we run into trouble, and Voght 'ports the psycho home to Mags the moment our backs are turned."
"What do you think is happening?"
"I think Mags isn't tellin' us something... and that can't be a good thing when we're out here risking our lives, getting turned into zombies and shit for him."
Roberto spun his legs off the cot. "Have you told the others about this?"
"We all feel the same way, DaCosta." The new voice startled Roberto, but he made a point of not showing it. Maria Callasantos - codenamed Feral - crouched in the corner near the door, silent as the jungle cat she resembled. "Magpie's not bein' straight with us... and that's unacceptable, considerin' what most o' us have given up to work for him."
Roberto nodded, a little surprised at the anger in Feral's voice. Not that Feral wasn't always angry, but 'Berto would have guessed she had the least attachment to the life of the self-styled 'superhero' they had all forsaken to work for Magneto.
"Alright then." Roberto stood and moved toward the front of the craft, Tabitha and Maria falling into step behind him. Rictor and Shatterstar were up front, in the pilot and co-pilot chairs, respectively, and their light banter faded as their three teammates entered the cockpit.
"Have you tried contacting Magneto about Voght and Blaze?"
"Not yet, leader man," Rictor said, leaning forward and punching in the communication code. "We decided to let you have that pleasure."
"Thank you so much," 'Berto sighed.
The control panel viewscreen flickered, and a woman's stern, hard-edged face filled it. The face of Carmella Unuscione. "What is it, DaCosta?"
"I need to talk to Magneto."
"Really?" Unuscione's eyes went wide. "Well, let me just patch you through to his office. Not like he's got a country to run or anything..."
"Carmella... I don't have time for this bullshit. Please just let me talk to Magneto."
"Our Lord has left instructions that he is not to be disturbed for anything up to and including the eruption of a Gamma bomb in Hammer Bay. Somehow, I don't think you rate, DaCosta."
"Fine. How about Voght?"
"She's in with our Lord."
"Fekt, I despise how they call him that," Shatterstar muttered. He kept his voice low, but the audio pick-up on the shuttle's communication equipment was state of the art, and Unuscione heard every word. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw hardened in anger.
"I'll leave a message that you called," Carmella said, then broke the link without waiting for a reply.
"Nice going, Kid Video!" Tabitha smacked Shatterstar in the back of the head.
"No, it wasn't his fault," Roberto sighed, standing up straight and looking out the forward glass of the cockpit. The Atlantic Ocean stretched out in all directions around them. "Unuscione's an Acolyte, and the Acolytes all hate us because they don't know what to make of us. They don't know why Magneto made us into our own team rather than just allowing us to be absorbed into theirs. They're afraid they're not favored children anymore. We won't get any help from any of them... except maybe for Voght."
"So what do we do?"
"Punch it, Ric," Roberto replied. "Get us back home quick. And everybody be ready to scramble the moment we land."
"You think Magneto has something nasty planned for Blaze?" Rictor ventured.
"I can almost guarantee it. Just open it up, Ric. Show me what this shuttle can do."
"You got it, boss-man."
Earlier.
Magneto gazed out over the war-torn streets of Hammer Bay, capital city of the island of Genosha. He could see mortars vying with bright mutant energy signatures near the center of the city--fortunately, it was the only open battle between mutant and Genoshan magistrate he had heard about so far today. Another slow day in nearly a week of slow days that plainly illustrated how Magneto's rule was positively affecting this troubled land.
He'd never thought of himself as a peacemaker--that had always been Charles's calling. And yet here he was... setting Genosha on the road to rebirth. Granted, Charles wouldn't have approved of his methods--gunning down rebellious flatscan magistrates in the streets, public executions, torture, martial law--but Charles had always lacked initiative in these things...
"Magnus."
Magneto turned from his balcony and considered the two women who were now standing inside the doors to his private suite. One was a familiar face--Amelia Voght, former lover of Charles Xavier and probably the only Acolyte Magneto came close to trusting. The other was someone he'd never met, though he'd heard much about her since she'd exploded onto the international mutant scene months ago as a member of the Upstarts.
"Ah, Amelia, thank you for returning with our guest so promptly."
Amelia nodded and gestured toward the other woman. "Magnus, this is Maria Campo."
"I have heard much about you, Ms. Campo." Magneto extended a hand, and Campo took it after a moment's hesitation. Reaching out with his own power, the master of Magnetism prodded at the incredible energies housed within this young woman's body. She would be perfect. And the fact that she didn't remember who she truly was--Voght had signaled as much by introducing her by her assumed name--would only make what was to come easier.
"Do you know who I am, child?"
Campo nodded. "Of course... you're Magneto, mutant terrorist and ruler of Genosha." She paused, apparently expecting the word 'terrorist' to have a more visible effect on her host. "Forgive me, sir... I'm a trifle undone by all this. Six hours ago I was the mistress of a Buenos Aires businessman, and now the most powerful mutant in the world is going to a lot of trouble to gain an audience with me. Just what is going on here?"
"You're aware of your abilities?"
"Yes, of course. I helped your Fallen Angels team against a man named Corpo before Ms. Voght brought me here."
"And you're aware of the fact that you had a life before becoming Ricardo Torres's consort?"
"I had assumed so, yes."
Magneto swept his cape around. "I'll tell you everything you wish to know about who you are and where you come from, but first I require a service of you. Come with me, please."
Campo looked toward Amelia Voght, who raised her eyebrows. Shrugging, the woman Roberto DaCosta had codenamed Blaze followed Magneto out of the room.
"Alpha Six-Niner to Hammer Bay Ground Control, requesting clearance to land. Over."
"Hammer Bay Ground Control to Alpha Six-Niner. That's a negatory, Alpha. We've only got one runway intact following a rebel bombing last night, and we're currently trying to get the last two aircraft off of it. How are you doing on fuel, over?"
Rictor glanced at Shatterstar, who'd already checked the information. "About a third."
"We're at about a third capacity, Ground Control. That's one-slash-three capacity. What are your instructions, over?"
"Request you divert to Corbeau International, Alpha. If not, you're in for a long wait, over."
Rictor turned and looked at Roberto, who was leaning in the doorway. "What do you think, 'Berto?"
"I think we don't have time to wait. Is this thing VTOL-capable?"
"Yup."
"Tell them we'll fly out to Corbeau, but take us over Avalon Tower instead. I'll bail while you find a nice, wide-open street to land in. You, Tabby, and Feral should be able to handle any magistrate opposition, and if any of Magneto's forces give you hell, tell them to take it up with me later. Then get your butts to the Towers as fast as you can." Stepping forward, he tapped Shatterstar on the shoulder. "'Star, you're with me. Let's go."
Shatterstar nodded, unsnapped his harness, and moved to follow as Sunspot strode toward the rear of the craft.
"Tabitha," he said as he passed his teammate in the main hold, "go sit up front with Rictor in case he needs help with the landing."
The young woman known as Meltdown stood and grabbed Roberto's arm. "You're taking Shatterstar with you? 'Berto, what are you thinking? You need somebody with distance powers. Take me."
Shatterstar gave her an insulted glare, but Roberto simply shook his head. "It's my call to make, Meltdown. Get up there and help Rictor."
She dropped her hand, looking angry, hurt, and confused all at once. As the men moved out of the hold and into the airlock, Tabitha heard Feral snicker from her darkened corner.
"Better luck next time, 'Meltdown'."
"Fuck you, Garfield," Tabitha replied, and moved toward the front of the craft without giving her teammate another look.
Magneto led Voght and Blaze into a high-speed elevator that whisked the trio to a chamber near the top of the Towers.
"Months ago, before I was given control over this land, a man calling himself Crucible, who apparently fancied himself the next Victor Von Doom, usurped control of Genosha and established his headquarters in this tower. The inevitable battle with the world's superbeings - in this case, the Fantastic Four - resulted in the tower being gutted by flame."*
(* See Marvel's Fantastic Four vol. 3 #12 for that story - Russ)
"You couldn't tell," Siena commented. "Place looks brand new."
Amelia Voght cut in. "That's because it is for the most part. Magneto had the structure completely refurbished when he arrived."
"And I've operated from here ever since, doing my best to quell riots and rebellions initiated by the humans who once enslaved our kind in this land."
"This is all very nice, but what does it have to do with me?"
Next to Campo, Amelia Voght stiffened. Before her amnesia had mellowed her, Siena Blaze had been the textbook definition of a sociopath, completely uncaring of anyone other than herself. She had used her incredible power over the Earth's magnetosphere again and again, though each time she did so it risked splitting the planet's ecosphere open like an overripe melon. Since Sunspot had located the woman in Buenos Aires, her post-amnesiac personality had shown none of these traits, had actually seemed somewhat meek and soft-spoken. Maria Campo speaking thus to Magneto himself might signal the resurgence of her Siena Blaze personality.
Voght clenched her fist. She would keep an eye on the woman, and if 'Maria Campo' tried anything, Voght would teleport her heart out of her chest. Or her brain out of her skull. Maybe both just to be sure. And to hell with Magneto's plans for her. The woman was too dangerous to dick around with.
But Magneto himself seemed unconcerned with Maria's flippancy. "I wish to give you an idea of what we're fighting for here, Ms. Campo." The elevator dinged, and Magneto led the women out into an unoccupied corridor on the tower's top floor. Voght looked around as they moved down the hallway. Even she had never seen this floor before.
Magneto paused at a doorway about halfway down the corridor, and gestured with one hand. The latch clicked and the door swung open under the sway of his magnetic abilities. Inside was a laboratory, centered around two steel pylons jutting out of the metal floor.
"Genosha, as small as it is, has the potential to be a world power, Ms. Campo... but not in its current state. In its current state, it is highly vulnerable to attack from the outside world. I would like you to help me remove that danger."
"How?"
"We both control aspects of the planet's magnetosphere, and we can bend it to our will. Join your abilities with mine, and help me create an impregnable magnetic forcefield around this island."
Campo was silent for a moment, considering first Magneto, then the machinery in the center of the room. "And what do I get in return?"
"Your previous life returned to you. If I cannot find a way to restore your memories, I can at least tell you everything there is to know about your former self."
"And if I refuse?"
"You won't," Magneto replied.
Sunspot thumbed the intercom at his side. "Okay, Ric. Open it."
With a gasp of decompressed air, the shuttle's airlock cycled open. Sunspot braced himself against the straps hanging from the ceiling until the doors were completely open, then leapt out into the open air.
"You okay, 'Star?" Bobby called.
"Fine," Shatterstar replied from his perch on Sunspot's back. "Ready for prime-time action!"
"Something tells me you're gonna get it, friend," Bobby muttered. He activated his sunspot powers, his skin and costume going black and bubbly, and swooped into a shallow descent, headed straight for the newly-christened Avalon Tower.
Voght watched the two mutant powerhouses take their positions, uncertain of just what Magneto was up to. She knew she had Magneto's trust--as much as he was capable of giving to a subordinate, anyway--but there were still plenty of things he didn't share with her. His plans for Siena Blaze had been one of those things.
Magneto stood at one of the two pylons in the center of the room, facing toward the second with his hands buried in grips in the pylon's side. Maria Campo mirrored his position at the second pylon. Voght stood at a small console that would allow her to activate whatever process the two were about to initiate. Magneto had told her enough to set the process in motion, but she had no doubt he was hiding something from her and Campo both.
"You know what to do, Ms. Campo?" Magneto asked.
"Yes. Let's get this over with."
"Very well. Amelia, engage power."
Carmella Unuscione was pissed. Most of the Acolytes were out on field duty today, crushing magistrate uprisings or seeing to the rebuilding of those parts of Hammer Bay under Magneto's control. She had drawn communications duty. With no major operations going on, what that meant was she got to play Lord Magnus's not-so-glorified receptionist. Normally that freak computer boy-Pipeline--pulled this duty, but he'd fallen prey to one of the weird African viruses all the western Acolytes didn't yet have defenses against. So Unuscione, probably the most battle-hardened of the Acolytes, got to sit at a desk all day and play secretary.
She was brooding over this when the picture window over her desk shattered inward.
Immediately she was on her feet, green psionic armor flickering into being over her body. She was ready for anything, she thought--magistrates, X-Men, S.H.I.E.L.D. troops... anything except what came through that window.
"DaCosta?" she said in disbelief. "Showing your true colors, huh X-baby?" She threw a fist at the flying form of Sunspot, her armor reacting by extending its own fist across the room. Sunspot dodged easily, and as he pulled up, Shatterstar launched himself off his back, drawing his swords and hopping across the room.
"I knew you'd betray us!" She sent out both fists now, battering the walls and floor as Sunspot and Shatterstar dodged. "First Rasputin, now you 'Fallen Angels'. None of you Xavier groupies can be trusted!"
"Hush," Shatterstar said at her ear, and put his boot in Carmella's face. She had been so focused on Sunspot--who she'd seen as the real threat--that the super-agile Shatterstar had moved right through her defenses. Carmella's armor flickered around her, then dissipated altogether as Sunspot blasted her through the plaster wall at her back.
"Pathetic," Bobby stated, dropping to the floor at her side.
"Don't kid yourself, DaCosta," Shatterstar grunted, kneeling beside the fallen warrior. "She could have canceled both of us if we hadn't caught her by surprise."
"Is she still conscious?"
"Barely." Shatterstar leaned in close to the woman. "Carmella, tell us where to find the woman Voght brought to Magneto today."
"Fuck... you..."
"Where is Magneto himself?"
With what was probably the last of her strength, Unuscione spit in Shatterstar's face. He jerked back in surprise, then viciously stroked the haft of his sword across her temple. That put her down for the count.
"Well, I didn't really expect her to be any help anyway," Bobby sighed.
"What now?" Shatterstar asked, wiping an arm across his cheek.
"If any other Acolytes were in the building, we'd be surrounded right now. Magneto probably got them all out so he could do whatever he's going to do to Blaze. Same goes for the civilians. If we can do a security scan of the building's motion detectors, find out where any people are, he'll probably be--"
A tremor suddenly rocked the entire building. Sunspot and Shatterstar reached for the nearest wall to steady themselves until the tremor passed. Eventually it did, but there was still an odd vibration in the air, an almost electric current that made the tiny hairs on their bodies stand on end.
"An earthquake?"
"I don't think so. That came from the roof. Hop on, 'Star, I think we just found Magneto and Blaze."
Shatterstar got onto Sunspot's back again, and the two of them flew out the window they'd shattered on their way in.
Lightning danced between the two pylons and both Magneto and Blaze showed signs of strain as Voght looked on with concern. The initial burst of power between the two powerhouses had shaken the entire building, and she was half-tempted to teleport Magneto, Blaze, and herself out of here. Magneto guessed what she was thinking though, and shot her a warning look while he wrestled with the energies he'd unleashed.
What was he up to? She didn't buy that 'magnetic shield' business for a moment. What could--?
Blaze screamed, and Magneto was showing every sign that he wanted to join her... and suddenly it all clicked into place. Concerns she hadn't even known she'd had over the last months since Magneto had brought them to Genosha, observations she wasn't even aware she'd made, became clear.
She knew, suddenly and without a doubt, what Magneto was up to.
At that moment, the door to the hallway blew open, and DaCosta and Shatterstar were standing there, both of them temporarily frozen in awe at the electrical storm before them. Voght looked toward Magneto, unsure what she should do... until DaCosta started to move forward, reaching for Blaze as if he meant to peel her off of the pylon.
That decided Voght. With a thought, she teleported herself, Sunspot, and Shatterstar out of the building. In the next moment, the top three floors were consumed in an explosion of electromagnetic fury.
"What the hell are you doing, you stupid punk?" Harlan Kleinstock bellowed as Rictor climbed out of the shuttle. "We got a goddamn war going on here, you can't just park that thing right in the middle of a battlefield!"
Rictor ignored him, looking past the enormous Acolyte at the barrage of heavy weapons fire down the street. He hadn't wanted to drop down so close to that, but it had been the only stretch of clear road he could find near Avalon Towers.
"Which side are the magistrates?" Rictor asked.
"The ones at the other end of the block, good for you. Now get that shuttle out of here before one of 'em gets off a lucky shot and blows its fuel tanks!"
"How's your fastball?"
"What?"
Rictor looked to Meltdown, who was even now climbing out of the shuttle behind Feral. "Tabs, can you make me a really big timebomb?"
"How big?"
"Big enough to penetrate Roberto's thick skull."
"Ooh, big. No prob." Tabby concentrated, and a glowing sphere of plasma the size of a baseball appeared in her hand. "How much fuse do you want?"
"Give it about 5 seconds after you hand it off to Harlan. Harlan, can you chuck that mother down the block?"
Kleinstock grinned suddenly. "Please... I can chuck it to America if you want." Meltdown tossed him the plasma bomb, and the Acolyte reared back and hurled it down the block, right into the middle of the magistrates. There was a beat of silence, and then the bomb detonated. Magistrate bodies flew every which way, and the mutate forces that had been barely holding them at bay whooped in triumph and charged the magistrate lines.
"Now can we park here?"
"Do whatcha like, kid," the Kleinstock brother replied with a grin. "Thanks for the--"
And that was when the top of Avalon Tower, five blocks away, disappeared in a flash of electricity and fire. The four mutants gathered around the shuttle looked at each other, then turned as one and sprinted toward the tower.
Voght, Sunspot, and Shatterstar materialized on a nearby roof as the explosion was beginning to dissipate.
"What the hell are you doing Voght?" Bobby demanded, grabbing the Acolyte by the collar.
"Saving your life. Look." She pointed. "That could have been us."
This sobered Sunspot. He released her and looked away. "What's going on, Amelia?"
"It took me a while to figure it out too, but... haven't either of you noticed that Magneto hasn't fully utilized his powers since you came here? It's because he can't. When Joseph absorbed his power in the Arctic,* it left him drained, I'm sure of it. He can still do simple things--fly, unlock doors, move objects with little mass--but he's nowhere near his former power levels." Voght nodded toward the burning tower. "He just did to Siena Blaze what Joseph did to him."
(* See the climax of the "Magneto War" storyline - Russ)
"Absorbed her power?"
"To kickstart his own. Now come on. Let's see if there's anything left."
Voght gestured, and the three of them vanished again, only to reappear in the smoking ruin that was now the top of Avalon Tower. The steel pylons were relatively easy to spot amidst the rubble, and Sunspot went about unearthing one while Voght and Shatterstar handled the other.
"Madre," Sunspot whispered. Blaze was still attached to the pylon she'd channeled her power through, the skin of her palms fused with the steel grips. She was alive, though, moaning in pain as Bobby shifted the pylon away from her.
"Is he alive?" Bobby called, looking over his shoulder toward Amelia and Shatterstar.
"Better than alive, Roberto," Magneto declared. A large pile of rubble moved aside and the Master of Magnetism rose into view from beneath it. He looked haggard, weary... but he was also the most magnificent site Roberto had ever seen, a modern Caesar returned to the glory of his power and station.
"And now, my Fallen Angels," Magneto said, dropping to the floor before Voght and Shatterstar, "now our work truly begins..."
NEXT ISSUE: A new purpose and a new direction. Be here...
What they had learned here? Roberto DaCosta fumed. The solar energy absorbed by his mutant cells flared, his skin and costume going black in the bizarre energy effect that had earned him the codename Sunspot. He was exhausted beyond his ability to describe it. They had survived the Inferno, watched Illyana regressed to childhood for her sins as the Darkchilde, and finally returned home to Xavier's school only to find it decimated by the Marauders and the X-Men nowhere to be found. He was tired and he was angry... and most of all, he was sick of the way the world was spinning out of his control. Magneto had been their headmaster, their teacher, once. He had betrayed them by siding with the Hellfire Club. Now Roberto would cheerfully rip him limb from limb, if only he could get close enough...
So absorbed in his thoughts, Roberto had missed most of Magneto's speech, but the final sentences brought him back to the moment. "In time, some of you will return to join me freely in my conquest. Know, now, that you will be freely welcome."
"Never!" Roberto moved forward, noting but not caring that Magneto's allies, Emma Frost and Selene, closed ranks around him at the movement. "We'll never join you."
"You, boy, will be the first."
"NO!"
And then Sam Guthrie, his best friend and leader of the New Mutants, was behind him, pulling him back, reasoning with him. Magneto continued to stand there and smile, and 'Berto wanted so badly to punch that look off of his face... but there was Sam, and now Warlock was shaping his techno-organic body into a helicopter to take them away... and still Magneto kept watching him with that smile.
And here was the funny part, Roberto realized, years later... though he probably wouldn't have seen the humor in it on that long-ago fall day:
Magneto had been right.
"'Berto! Come on, stud, rise and shine."
Roberto DaCosta, older and - perhaps - wiser, opened his eyes and looked into the face of Tabitha Smith. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his head as he sat up.
"Are we in Genosha yet?"
"Not even close." Tabitha waved a hand toward the front of the shuttle. "Rictor's flying and 'Star's keeping him company."
"Then why did you wake me?"
"Because Voght took Blaze and 'ported her back to Genosha as soon as you were out."
"What?"
Tabitha nodded. "I've got a bad feeling about this, 'Berto. Mags sends us all the way to South Am to get this girl--forgetting to tell us she's one of the most psychotic and powerful mutants out there--then he sends Voght in to help when we run into trouble, and Voght 'ports the psycho home to Mags the moment our backs are turned."
"What do you think is happening?"
"I think Mags isn't tellin' us something... and that can't be a good thing when we're out here risking our lives, getting turned into zombies and shit for him."
Roberto spun his legs off the cot. "Have you told the others about this?"
"We all feel the same way, DaCosta." The new voice startled Roberto, but he made a point of not showing it. Maria Callasantos - codenamed Feral - crouched in the corner near the door, silent as the jungle cat she resembled. "Magpie's not bein' straight with us... and that's unacceptable, considerin' what most o' us have given up to work for him."
Roberto nodded, a little surprised at the anger in Feral's voice. Not that Feral wasn't always angry, but 'Berto would have guessed she had the least attachment to the life of the self-styled 'superhero' they had all forsaken to work for Magneto.
"Alright then." Roberto stood and moved toward the front of the craft, Tabitha and Maria falling into step behind him. Rictor and Shatterstar were up front, in the pilot and co-pilot chairs, respectively, and their light banter faded as their three teammates entered the cockpit.
"Have you tried contacting Magneto about Voght and Blaze?"
"Not yet, leader man," Rictor said, leaning forward and punching in the communication code. "We decided to let you have that pleasure."
"Thank you so much," 'Berto sighed.
The control panel viewscreen flickered, and a woman's stern, hard-edged face filled it. The face of Carmella Unuscione. "What is it, DaCosta?"
"I need to talk to Magneto."
"Really?" Unuscione's eyes went wide. "Well, let me just patch you through to his office. Not like he's got a country to run or anything..."
"Carmella... I don't have time for this bullshit. Please just let me talk to Magneto."
"Our Lord has left instructions that he is not to be disturbed for anything up to and including the eruption of a Gamma bomb in Hammer Bay. Somehow, I don't think you rate, DaCosta."
"Fine. How about Voght?"
"She's in with our Lord."
"Fekt, I despise how they call him that," Shatterstar muttered. He kept his voice low, but the audio pick-up on the shuttle's communication equipment was state of the art, and Unuscione heard every word. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw hardened in anger.
"I'll leave a message that you called," Carmella said, then broke the link without waiting for a reply.
"Nice going, Kid Video!" Tabitha smacked Shatterstar in the back of the head.
"No, it wasn't his fault," Roberto sighed, standing up straight and looking out the forward glass of the cockpit. The Atlantic Ocean stretched out in all directions around them. "Unuscione's an Acolyte, and the Acolytes all hate us because they don't know what to make of us. They don't know why Magneto made us into our own team rather than just allowing us to be absorbed into theirs. They're afraid they're not favored children anymore. We won't get any help from any of them... except maybe for Voght."
"So what do we do?"
"Punch it, Ric," Roberto replied. "Get us back home quick. And everybody be ready to scramble the moment we land."
"You think Magneto has something nasty planned for Blaze?" Rictor ventured.
"I can almost guarantee it. Just open it up, Ric. Show me what this shuttle can do."
"You got it, boss-man."
Earlier.
Magneto gazed out over the war-torn streets of Hammer Bay, capital city of the island of Genosha. He could see mortars vying with bright mutant energy signatures near the center of the city--fortunately, it was the only open battle between mutant and Genoshan magistrate he had heard about so far today. Another slow day in nearly a week of slow days that plainly illustrated how Magneto's rule was positively affecting this troubled land.
He'd never thought of himself as a peacemaker--that had always been Charles's calling. And yet here he was... setting Genosha on the road to rebirth. Granted, Charles wouldn't have approved of his methods--gunning down rebellious flatscan magistrates in the streets, public executions, torture, martial law--but Charles had always lacked initiative in these things...
"Magnus."
Magneto turned from his balcony and considered the two women who were now standing inside the doors to his private suite. One was a familiar face--Amelia Voght, former lover of Charles Xavier and probably the only Acolyte Magneto came close to trusting. The other was someone he'd never met, though he'd heard much about her since she'd exploded onto the international mutant scene months ago as a member of the Upstarts.
"Ah, Amelia, thank you for returning with our guest so promptly."
Amelia nodded and gestured toward the other woman. "Magnus, this is Maria Campo."
"I have heard much about you, Ms. Campo." Magneto extended a hand, and Campo took it after a moment's hesitation. Reaching out with his own power, the master of Magnetism prodded at the incredible energies housed within this young woman's body. She would be perfect. And the fact that she didn't remember who she truly was--Voght had signaled as much by introducing her by her assumed name--would only make what was to come easier.
"Do you know who I am, child?"
Campo nodded. "Of course... you're Magneto, mutant terrorist and ruler of Genosha." She paused, apparently expecting the word 'terrorist' to have a more visible effect on her host. "Forgive me, sir... I'm a trifle undone by all this. Six hours ago I was the mistress of a Buenos Aires businessman, and now the most powerful mutant in the world is going to a lot of trouble to gain an audience with me. Just what is going on here?"
"You're aware of your abilities?"
"Yes, of course. I helped your Fallen Angels team against a man named Corpo before Ms. Voght brought me here."
"And you're aware of the fact that you had a life before becoming Ricardo Torres's consort?"
"I had assumed so, yes."
Magneto swept his cape around. "I'll tell you everything you wish to know about who you are and where you come from, but first I require a service of you. Come with me, please."
Campo looked toward Amelia Voght, who raised her eyebrows. Shrugging, the woman Roberto DaCosta had codenamed Blaze followed Magneto out of the room.
"Alpha Six-Niner to Hammer Bay Ground Control, requesting clearance to land. Over."
"Hammer Bay Ground Control to Alpha Six-Niner. That's a negatory, Alpha. We've only got one runway intact following a rebel bombing last night, and we're currently trying to get the last two aircraft off of it. How are you doing on fuel, over?"
Rictor glanced at Shatterstar, who'd already checked the information. "About a third."
"We're at about a third capacity, Ground Control. That's one-slash-three capacity. What are your instructions, over?"
"Request you divert to Corbeau International, Alpha. If not, you're in for a long wait, over."
Rictor turned and looked at Roberto, who was leaning in the doorway. "What do you think, 'Berto?"
"I think we don't have time to wait. Is this thing VTOL-capable?"
"Yup."
"Tell them we'll fly out to Corbeau, but take us over Avalon Tower instead. I'll bail while you find a nice, wide-open street to land in. You, Tabby, and Feral should be able to handle any magistrate opposition, and if any of Magneto's forces give you hell, tell them to take it up with me later. Then get your butts to the Towers as fast as you can." Stepping forward, he tapped Shatterstar on the shoulder. "'Star, you're with me. Let's go."
Shatterstar nodded, unsnapped his harness, and moved to follow as Sunspot strode toward the rear of the craft.
"Tabitha," he said as he passed his teammate in the main hold, "go sit up front with Rictor in case he needs help with the landing."
The young woman known as Meltdown stood and grabbed Roberto's arm. "You're taking Shatterstar with you? 'Berto, what are you thinking? You need somebody with distance powers. Take me."
Shatterstar gave her an insulted glare, but Roberto simply shook his head. "It's my call to make, Meltdown. Get up there and help Rictor."
She dropped her hand, looking angry, hurt, and confused all at once. As the men moved out of the hold and into the airlock, Tabitha heard Feral snicker from her darkened corner.
"Better luck next time, 'Meltdown'."
"Fuck you, Garfield," Tabitha replied, and moved toward the front of the craft without giving her teammate another look.
Magneto led Voght and Blaze into a high-speed elevator that whisked the trio to a chamber near the top of the Towers.
"Months ago, before I was given control over this land, a man calling himself Crucible, who apparently fancied himself the next Victor Von Doom, usurped control of Genosha and established his headquarters in this tower. The inevitable battle with the world's superbeings - in this case, the Fantastic Four - resulted in the tower being gutted by flame."*
(* See Marvel's Fantastic Four vol. 3 #12 for that story - Russ)
"You couldn't tell," Siena commented. "Place looks brand new."
Amelia Voght cut in. "That's because it is for the most part. Magneto had the structure completely refurbished when he arrived."
"And I've operated from here ever since, doing my best to quell riots and rebellions initiated by the humans who once enslaved our kind in this land."
"This is all very nice, but what does it have to do with me?"
Next to Campo, Amelia Voght stiffened. Before her amnesia had mellowed her, Siena Blaze had been the textbook definition of a sociopath, completely uncaring of anyone other than herself. She had used her incredible power over the Earth's magnetosphere again and again, though each time she did so it risked splitting the planet's ecosphere open like an overripe melon. Since Sunspot had located the woman in Buenos Aires, her post-amnesiac personality had shown none of these traits, had actually seemed somewhat meek and soft-spoken. Maria Campo speaking thus to Magneto himself might signal the resurgence of her Siena Blaze personality.
Voght clenched her fist. She would keep an eye on the woman, and if 'Maria Campo' tried anything, Voght would teleport her heart out of her chest. Or her brain out of her skull. Maybe both just to be sure. And to hell with Magneto's plans for her. The woman was too dangerous to dick around with.
But Magneto himself seemed unconcerned with Maria's flippancy. "I wish to give you an idea of what we're fighting for here, Ms. Campo." The elevator dinged, and Magneto led the women out into an unoccupied corridor on the tower's top floor. Voght looked around as they moved down the hallway. Even she had never seen this floor before.
Magneto paused at a doorway about halfway down the corridor, and gestured with one hand. The latch clicked and the door swung open under the sway of his magnetic abilities. Inside was a laboratory, centered around two steel pylons jutting out of the metal floor.
"Genosha, as small as it is, has the potential to be a world power, Ms. Campo... but not in its current state. In its current state, it is highly vulnerable to attack from the outside world. I would like you to help me remove that danger."
"How?"
"We both control aspects of the planet's magnetosphere, and we can bend it to our will. Join your abilities with mine, and help me create an impregnable magnetic forcefield around this island."
Campo was silent for a moment, considering first Magneto, then the machinery in the center of the room. "And what do I get in return?"
"Your previous life returned to you. If I cannot find a way to restore your memories, I can at least tell you everything there is to know about your former self."
"And if I refuse?"
"You won't," Magneto replied.
Sunspot thumbed the intercom at his side. "Okay, Ric. Open it."
With a gasp of decompressed air, the shuttle's airlock cycled open. Sunspot braced himself against the straps hanging from the ceiling until the doors were completely open, then leapt out into the open air.
"You okay, 'Star?" Bobby called.
"Fine," Shatterstar replied from his perch on Sunspot's back. "Ready for prime-time action!"
"Something tells me you're gonna get it, friend," Bobby muttered. He activated his sunspot powers, his skin and costume going black and bubbly, and swooped into a shallow descent, headed straight for the newly-christened Avalon Tower.
Voght watched the two mutant powerhouses take their positions, uncertain of just what Magneto was up to. She knew she had Magneto's trust--as much as he was capable of giving to a subordinate, anyway--but there were still plenty of things he didn't share with her. His plans for Siena Blaze had been one of those things.
Magneto stood at one of the two pylons in the center of the room, facing toward the second with his hands buried in grips in the pylon's side. Maria Campo mirrored his position at the second pylon. Voght stood at a small console that would allow her to activate whatever process the two were about to initiate. Magneto had told her enough to set the process in motion, but she had no doubt he was hiding something from her and Campo both.
"You know what to do, Ms. Campo?" Magneto asked.
"Yes. Let's get this over with."
"Very well. Amelia, engage power."
Carmella Unuscione was pissed. Most of the Acolytes were out on field duty today, crushing magistrate uprisings or seeing to the rebuilding of those parts of Hammer Bay under Magneto's control. She had drawn communications duty. With no major operations going on, what that meant was she got to play Lord Magnus's not-so-glorified receptionist. Normally that freak computer boy-Pipeline--pulled this duty, but he'd fallen prey to one of the weird African viruses all the western Acolytes didn't yet have defenses against. So Unuscione, probably the most battle-hardened of the Acolytes, got to sit at a desk all day and play secretary.
She was brooding over this when the picture window over her desk shattered inward.
Immediately she was on her feet, green psionic armor flickering into being over her body. She was ready for anything, she thought--magistrates, X-Men, S.H.I.E.L.D. troops... anything except what came through that window.
"DaCosta?" she said in disbelief. "Showing your true colors, huh X-baby?" She threw a fist at the flying form of Sunspot, her armor reacting by extending its own fist across the room. Sunspot dodged easily, and as he pulled up, Shatterstar launched himself off his back, drawing his swords and hopping across the room.
"I knew you'd betray us!" She sent out both fists now, battering the walls and floor as Sunspot and Shatterstar dodged. "First Rasputin, now you 'Fallen Angels'. None of you Xavier groupies can be trusted!"
"Hush," Shatterstar said at her ear, and put his boot in Carmella's face. She had been so focused on Sunspot--who she'd seen as the real threat--that the super-agile Shatterstar had moved right through her defenses. Carmella's armor flickered around her, then dissipated altogether as Sunspot blasted her through the plaster wall at her back.
"Pathetic," Bobby stated, dropping to the floor at her side.
"Don't kid yourself, DaCosta," Shatterstar grunted, kneeling beside the fallen warrior. "She could have canceled both of us if we hadn't caught her by surprise."
"Is she still conscious?"
"Barely." Shatterstar leaned in close to the woman. "Carmella, tell us where to find the woman Voght brought to Magneto today."
"Fuck... you..."
"Where is Magneto himself?"
With what was probably the last of her strength, Unuscione spit in Shatterstar's face. He jerked back in surprise, then viciously stroked the haft of his sword across her temple. That put her down for the count.
"Well, I didn't really expect her to be any help anyway," Bobby sighed.
"What now?" Shatterstar asked, wiping an arm across his cheek.
"If any other Acolytes were in the building, we'd be surrounded right now. Magneto probably got them all out so he could do whatever he's going to do to Blaze. Same goes for the civilians. If we can do a security scan of the building's motion detectors, find out where any people are, he'll probably be--"
A tremor suddenly rocked the entire building. Sunspot and Shatterstar reached for the nearest wall to steady themselves until the tremor passed. Eventually it did, but there was still an odd vibration in the air, an almost electric current that made the tiny hairs on their bodies stand on end.
"An earthquake?"
"I don't think so. That came from the roof. Hop on, 'Star, I think we just found Magneto and Blaze."
Shatterstar got onto Sunspot's back again, and the two of them flew out the window they'd shattered on their way in.
Lightning danced between the two pylons and both Magneto and Blaze showed signs of strain as Voght looked on with concern. The initial burst of power between the two powerhouses had shaken the entire building, and she was half-tempted to teleport Magneto, Blaze, and herself out of here. Magneto guessed what she was thinking though, and shot her a warning look while he wrestled with the energies he'd unleashed.
What was he up to? She didn't buy that 'magnetic shield' business for a moment. What could--?
Blaze screamed, and Magneto was showing every sign that he wanted to join her... and suddenly it all clicked into place. Concerns she hadn't even known she'd had over the last months since Magneto had brought them to Genosha, observations she wasn't even aware she'd made, became clear.
She knew, suddenly and without a doubt, what Magneto was up to.
At that moment, the door to the hallway blew open, and DaCosta and Shatterstar were standing there, both of them temporarily frozen in awe at the electrical storm before them. Voght looked toward Magneto, unsure what she should do... until DaCosta started to move forward, reaching for Blaze as if he meant to peel her off of the pylon.
That decided Voght. With a thought, she teleported herself, Sunspot, and Shatterstar out of the building. In the next moment, the top three floors were consumed in an explosion of electromagnetic fury.
"What the hell are you doing, you stupid punk?" Harlan Kleinstock bellowed as Rictor climbed out of the shuttle. "We got a goddamn war going on here, you can't just park that thing right in the middle of a battlefield!"
Rictor ignored him, looking past the enormous Acolyte at the barrage of heavy weapons fire down the street. He hadn't wanted to drop down so close to that, but it had been the only stretch of clear road he could find near Avalon Towers.
"Which side are the magistrates?" Rictor asked.
"The ones at the other end of the block, good for you. Now get that shuttle out of here before one of 'em gets off a lucky shot and blows its fuel tanks!"
"How's your fastball?"
"What?"
Rictor looked to Meltdown, who was even now climbing out of the shuttle behind Feral. "Tabs, can you make me a really big timebomb?"
"How big?"
"Big enough to penetrate Roberto's thick skull."
"Ooh, big. No prob." Tabby concentrated, and a glowing sphere of plasma the size of a baseball appeared in her hand. "How much fuse do you want?"
"Give it about 5 seconds after you hand it off to Harlan. Harlan, can you chuck that mother down the block?"
Kleinstock grinned suddenly. "Please... I can chuck it to America if you want." Meltdown tossed him the plasma bomb, and the Acolyte reared back and hurled it down the block, right into the middle of the magistrates. There was a beat of silence, and then the bomb detonated. Magistrate bodies flew every which way, and the mutate forces that had been barely holding them at bay whooped in triumph and charged the magistrate lines.
"Now can we park here?"
"Do whatcha like, kid," the Kleinstock brother replied with a grin. "Thanks for the--"
And that was when the top of Avalon Tower, five blocks away, disappeared in a flash of electricity and fire. The four mutants gathered around the shuttle looked at each other, then turned as one and sprinted toward the tower.
Voght, Sunspot, and Shatterstar materialized on a nearby roof as the explosion was beginning to dissipate.
"What the hell are you doing Voght?" Bobby demanded, grabbing the Acolyte by the collar.
"Saving your life. Look." She pointed. "That could have been us."
This sobered Sunspot. He released her and looked away. "What's going on, Amelia?"
"It took me a while to figure it out too, but... haven't either of you noticed that Magneto hasn't fully utilized his powers since you came here? It's because he can't. When Joseph absorbed his power in the Arctic,* it left him drained, I'm sure of it. He can still do simple things--fly, unlock doors, move objects with little mass--but he's nowhere near his former power levels." Voght nodded toward the burning tower. "He just did to Siena Blaze what Joseph did to him."
(* See the climax of the "Magneto War" storyline - Russ)
"Absorbed her power?"
"To kickstart his own. Now come on. Let's see if there's anything left."
Voght gestured, and the three of them vanished again, only to reappear in the smoking ruin that was now the top of Avalon Tower. The steel pylons were relatively easy to spot amidst the rubble, and Sunspot went about unearthing one while Voght and Shatterstar handled the other.
"Madre," Sunspot whispered. Blaze was still attached to the pylon she'd channeled her power through, the skin of her palms fused with the steel grips. She was alive, though, moaning in pain as Bobby shifted the pylon away from her.
"Is he alive?" Bobby called, looking over his shoulder toward Amelia and Shatterstar.
"Better than alive, Roberto," Magneto declared. A large pile of rubble moved aside and the Master of Magnetism rose into view from beneath it. He looked haggard, weary... but he was also the most magnificent site Roberto had ever seen, a modern Caesar returned to the glory of his power and station.
"And now, my Fallen Angels," Magneto said, dropping to the floor before Voght and Shatterstar, "now our work truly begins..."
NEXT ISSUE: A new purpose and a new direction. Be here...