Back to GatefoldIssue #2 by Stuart Fairchild
"Face the Change" November 2017 |
Muir Island.
The name itself spoke for itself in the chronicles of mutant history. Though its rocky shores had always remained isolated off the Northern Coasts of Scotland, its importance had always managed to pull itself into the mutant agenda. Today was no exception.
“Ms. St. Croix,” Moira greeted the mutant known as M with apprehension, “I would ask how ye are doing, but it feels as if ye and your compatriots just left. How can we be of service to ye team today?”
Monet could return nothing more than the blank expression on her face. Hope followed closely to Monet as the rest of the team trickled off the plane.
“They look like they got smacked in the mouth pretty good,” Skin whispered softly to Proteus.
X-23 sneered at the thought, hearing the comment as if Skin was talking directly to her. “That’s exactly what happened, Angelo. Hope lost her telepathy.”
Skin hid his face into his dangling gray hands while Proteus remained silent, trying not to invoke X-23’s wrath any more than Skin had already. It was Moira that remained the calm force within this disaster.
“What happened to the lass?” Moira asked, trying to get to the source of the problem as both her hands grasped Hope’s young face directing it into her smiling nature.
“We discovered an item which Hope came into contact with,” Jubilee answered. “She then became unconscious and the object just vanished.”
It wasn’t the smartest move by Hope, Moira thought, but it also wasn’t the time to second guess the young girl. “Kevin, set up the medical lab so we can get a better look at Hope.”
Kevin snapped quickly to the command. “Consider it done.”
# # # # #
Chamber walked carefully, his hands in his jacket pockets as his eyes scoped the area. There were a lot of people in the town center, each doing their own agenda. It was traditional small town America, flags waving and sparklers spinning.
He waited for the right time, a clearing or some mass gathering of attention. He would know it instantly and once the town mayor approached the stage microphone, he knew it was now.
He separated himself from the crowd, approaching the car lined street as it cleared until it was empty. Grabbing the scarf wrapped around his head, a small spark ignited as he pulled the scarf off and tossing it away like the nuisance he believed it to be.
An eruption of pure psionic energy flared heavily, sparking wildly as the gathered turned to its brilliance. Some stood frozen on the spot, others ran screaming in fear, it was always how Chamber saw the world with him in it.
“Freeze!” Multiple police offers shouted as all of them drew their sidearm, pointing straight at Chamber.
Chamber dropped to both knees, raising his hands straight up in the air. “I know not how to stop this,” his voice resonated in all their minds.
It was but a blink, but officers fired into Chamber a volley of darts into the mutant. His awareness waned, feeling the effect of the attack until everything went black.
# # # # #
“How do ye feel?” Moira asked Hope as she was connected to multiple leads and gadgets.
“Outside of not being able to access my telepathy, I feel fine.” Hope looked unsure of her next sentence. “Do you think you can help?
“I have seen stuff like this before,” Moira answered quickly, almost as if it was a second chance in life. Right before her was this young red haired girl who favored Jean Grey due to cloned DNA. To her it was surreal, but knew to Hope it was serious. Moira had only seen the templates of the cloned, each one someone she was familiar with in the past. For Hope directly, her powers altered differently than the others to this point, showing just the base powers of Jean Grey and not the other genetic markers established within her. It was a mystery, always had been since the day she met young Hope, but that would have to be put aside due to the circumstances. “I make no guarantees, Hope. I never do, but I can promise you me best.”
It was all she really needed to hear as she stretched a smile across her face. “That is good enough for me, Moira.”
“And ye are sure there is nothing else to tell me?”
Hope nodded, “I feel fine.”
“Then get some sleep, wee one. We can pick this up tomorrow, until then make yourself at home again.”
# # # # #
“Has there been any progress?” Petra asked, looking through the giant glass wall which housed the young Paige Guthrie.
There was a moment of sad silence until Aliyah Bishop knew she had to answer the question. “Paige mental stability is all over the place. We can’t seem to place a reason why. It is as if her entire mind is being shunted somewhere else. It is as if she is an entirely different person at times.”
“And now we have to figure out what is happening with Hope.”
“I am not too concerned with Hope,” Aliyah replied. “She is a lot tougher than she looks.”
“Is that because you two plus Laura were from Byron?”
“It has nothing to do with that. It helps,” Aliyah answered with a smile. “Not that Hope isn’t a priority in herself, but everyone at this facility is focusing in on Paige. I only knew her a short time, but I don’t know this woman in front of me.”
“Do you hear that?”
Husk’s eyes opened quickly at the voice as she remained sprawled on the floor, her head buried deeply into her arms. It had frequented her often since that day.
“They think you are crazy. If they actually knew then they would know you are more misunderstood,” He said, squatting near Husk.
Husk had grown to hate the voice. It had a tone of self-importance which seemingly mocked her very existence at every attempt. The more she heard it the more anger arose from deep within herm until it erupted in different variations of her power. This time she shredded her skin, revealing a metal clad arm which extended into razor sharp claws which lunged at the voice.
“You know you cannot hurt me, Paige.” He said with her arm striking through his intangible body. “Not like this. You know that. It actually hurts you more than me. Just look at how your teammates view such actions.” He said with his finger tapping at the glass.
Petra had a shocked look upon her face as Husk claws raked across the glass wall. It wasn’t the action that shocked the Danish mutant, it was Husk’s eyes. She had talked with Paige Guthrie many of times since coming onboard the team but she had never seen such raw emotion when her eyes connected with Husk’s eyes. She believed she might have seen into the depths of insanity, and Husk knew it.
Husk staggered back, and then dropped to both knees as tears raced down her face. “Somebody help me. Anybody!”
# # # # #
Chamber’s eyes startled open, instantly recognizing he was in a jail cell. His back rested upon the dark walls as his butt could feel the firm coldness of its floor. The hallway lights lit dimly into his cell, not noticing anyone in the vicinity.
His eyes began to inspect the cell, easily noticing this was no ordinary room. The room had to be a dampener of some sort, his ability to focus his visible psionic energy nothing higher than a spark.
There was a loud crash with the sound of heels tapping louder and louder as he could hear someone approaching. The figure stepped out of the darkness with a smile to ascent her dark hair and long legs.
“Hello, Jono. It has been a long time.”
Chamber’s eyes grew larger, recognizing the face and the voice. “You were at the Byron Agency?”
“I am so happy you remember my face,” she said. “Incase you don’t know, I am Doctor Claudine Renko. Nice to have you back.”
# # # # #
There was an emptiness she could not describe as Hope looked outwardly toward the setting horizon. All she had known were her powers once she was activated from stasis. Her powers were her and now part of her were gone.
“Hope!” X-23 shouted from the distance. “What do you think you are doing?” She shouted at her friend looking from a cliff top.
Hope turned and smiled toward X-23, seeing her dark hair blow freely from the wind created off the shore of Muir Isle. Since the day they both were freed from the Byron Agency, she had considered Laura as a sister. Someone she could trust with her deepest concerns. “Something is coming.”
X-23 stood next to Hope, looking outward into the moonlight ocean. “Nothing is coming, Hope. Get off the damn cliff.”
Hope reached out quickly, gripping X-23’s arm. If she had not felt the same sisterly connection she would have hacked off her arm.
“You don’t hear it, Laura?” Hope asked.
“My nose knows, sista. There is nothing coming. Get off the cliff and get back inside.” X-23 uttered, heading back to the research facility.
“Laura…” Hope said her name aloud to get her attention. “…They’re here!”
SNIKT!
It was instinctive. Her claws unsheathing from her hands as Hope announced the mysterious arrival. She could now smell this foreign scent she had never experienced as she turned toward her friend. “Hope. Move. Now!”
Hope moved quickly toward X-23 as the duo were bombarded with what felt like a tropical storm. The strong winds made Hope stumble to her knees while forcing X-23 to shield her eyes from the wind force. There was an immense burst of white light which engulfed the entire island for seconds but seemed like forever.
The storm had died; leaving an item both Hope and X-23 had seen recently – an immense black box which easily eclipsed the size of the research facility behind them. It hovered in the air, suspended by nothing, seemingly looking at the two.
The dimensions of the massive box started to split slowly into two objects as it approached the cliff of Muir Isle, shedding chunks of its black mass into the rocky shores below. The two objects began to melt away until forming two humanoid beings before them - two winged beings bearing a battle axe in both their grasp.
“I am Uriel,” the gray skinned visitor announced with his axe rested upon his dark armor clad shoulder.
The other had red skin, draped in cloth of black and purple, both her hands grasping her axe in front of her. “…and I am Eimin”
Both looked upon Hope and X-23, showing no emotion but both greeting the two in unison. “Prepare to die.”
The name itself spoke for itself in the chronicles of mutant history. Though its rocky shores had always remained isolated off the Northern Coasts of Scotland, its importance had always managed to pull itself into the mutant agenda. Today was no exception.
“Ms. St. Croix,” Moira greeted the mutant known as M with apprehension, “I would ask how ye are doing, but it feels as if ye and your compatriots just left. How can we be of service to ye team today?”
Monet could return nothing more than the blank expression on her face. Hope followed closely to Monet as the rest of the team trickled off the plane.
“They look like they got smacked in the mouth pretty good,” Skin whispered softly to Proteus.
X-23 sneered at the thought, hearing the comment as if Skin was talking directly to her. “That’s exactly what happened, Angelo. Hope lost her telepathy.”
Skin hid his face into his dangling gray hands while Proteus remained silent, trying not to invoke X-23’s wrath any more than Skin had already. It was Moira that remained the calm force within this disaster.
“What happened to the lass?” Moira asked, trying to get to the source of the problem as both her hands grasped Hope’s young face directing it into her smiling nature.
“We discovered an item which Hope came into contact with,” Jubilee answered. “She then became unconscious and the object just vanished.”
It wasn’t the smartest move by Hope, Moira thought, but it also wasn’t the time to second guess the young girl. “Kevin, set up the medical lab so we can get a better look at Hope.”
Kevin snapped quickly to the command. “Consider it done.”
# # # # #
Chamber walked carefully, his hands in his jacket pockets as his eyes scoped the area. There were a lot of people in the town center, each doing their own agenda. It was traditional small town America, flags waving and sparklers spinning.
He waited for the right time, a clearing or some mass gathering of attention. He would know it instantly and once the town mayor approached the stage microphone, he knew it was now.
He separated himself from the crowd, approaching the car lined street as it cleared until it was empty. Grabbing the scarf wrapped around his head, a small spark ignited as he pulled the scarf off and tossing it away like the nuisance he believed it to be.
An eruption of pure psionic energy flared heavily, sparking wildly as the gathered turned to its brilliance. Some stood frozen on the spot, others ran screaming in fear, it was always how Chamber saw the world with him in it.
“Freeze!” Multiple police offers shouted as all of them drew their sidearm, pointing straight at Chamber.
Chamber dropped to both knees, raising his hands straight up in the air. “I know not how to stop this,” his voice resonated in all their minds.
It was but a blink, but officers fired into Chamber a volley of darts into the mutant. His awareness waned, feeling the effect of the attack until everything went black.
# # # # #
“How do ye feel?” Moira asked Hope as she was connected to multiple leads and gadgets.
“Outside of not being able to access my telepathy, I feel fine.” Hope looked unsure of her next sentence. “Do you think you can help?
“I have seen stuff like this before,” Moira answered quickly, almost as if it was a second chance in life. Right before her was this young red haired girl who favored Jean Grey due to cloned DNA. To her it was surreal, but knew to Hope it was serious. Moira had only seen the templates of the cloned, each one someone she was familiar with in the past. For Hope directly, her powers altered differently than the others to this point, showing just the base powers of Jean Grey and not the other genetic markers established within her. It was a mystery, always had been since the day she met young Hope, but that would have to be put aside due to the circumstances. “I make no guarantees, Hope. I never do, but I can promise you me best.”
It was all she really needed to hear as she stretched a smile across her face. “That is good enough for me, Moira.”
“And ye are sure there is nothing else to tell me?”
Hope nodded, “I feel fine.”
“Then get some sleep, wee one. We can pick this up tomorrow, until then make yourself at home again.”
# # # # #
“Has there been any progress?” Petra asked, looking through the giant glass wall which housed the young Paige Guthrie.
There was a moment of sad silence until Aliyah Bishop knew she had to answer the question. “Paige mental stability is all over the place. We can’t seem to place a reason why. It is as if her entire mind is being shunted somewhere else. It is as if she is an entirely different person at times.”
“And now we have to figure out what is happening with Hope.”
“I am not too concerned with Hope,” Aliyah replied. “She is a lot tougher than she looks.”
“Is that because you two plus Laura were from Byron?”
“It has nothing to do with that. It helps,” Aliyah answered with a smile. “Not that Hope isn’t a priority in herself, but everyone at this facility is focusing in on Paige. I only knew her a short time, but I don’t know this woman in front of me.”
“Do you hear that?”
Husk’s eyes opened quickly at the voice as she remained sprawled on the floor, her head buried deeply into her arms. It had frequented her often since that day.
“They think you are crazy. If they actually knew then they would know you are more misunderstood,” He said, squatting near Husk.
Husk had grown to hate the voice. It had a tone of self-importance which seemingly mocked her very existence at every attempt. The more she heard it the more anger arose from deep within herm until it erupted in different variations of her power. This time she shredded her skin, revealing a metal clad arm which extended into razor sharp claws which lunged at the voice.
“You know you cannot hurt me, Paige.” He said with her arm striking through his intangible body. “Not like this. You know that. It actually hurts you more than me. Just look at how your teammates view such actions.” He said with his finger tapping at the glass.
Petra had a shocked look upon her face as Husk claws raked across the glass wall. It wasn’t the action that shocked the Danish mutant, it was Husk’s eyes. She had talked with Paige Guthrie many of times since coming onboard the team but she had never seen such raw emotion when her eyes connected with Husk’s eyes. She believed she might have seen into the depths of insanity, and Husk knew it.
Husk staggered back, and then dropped to both knees as tears raced down her face. “Somebody help me. Anybody!”
# # # # #
Chamber’s eyes startled open, instantly recognizing he was in a jail cell. His back rested upon the dark walls as his butt could feel the firm coldness of its floor. The hallway lights lit dimly into his cell, not noticing anyone in the vicinity.
His eyes began to inspect the cell, easily noticing this was no ordinary room. The room had to be a dampener of some sort, his ability to focus his visible psionic energy nothing higher than a spark.
There was a loud crash with the sound of heels tapping louder and louder as he could hear someone approaching. The figure stepped out of the darkness with a smile to ascent her dark hair and long legs.
“Hello, Jono. It has been a long time.”
Chamber’s eyes grew larger, recognizing the face and the voice. “You were at the Byron Agency?”
“I am so happy you remember my face,” she said. “Incase you don’t know, I am Doctor Claudine Renko. Nice to have you back.”
# # # # #
There was an emptiness she could not describe as Hope looked outwardly toward the setting horizon. All she had known were her powers once she was activated from stasis. Her powers were her and now part of her were gone.
“Hope!” X-23 shouted from the distance. “What do you think you are doing?” She shouted at her friend looking from a cliff top.
Hope turned and smiled toward X-23, seeing her dark hair blow freely from the wind created off the shore of Muir Isle. Since the day they both were freed from the Byron Agency, she had considered Laura as a sister. Someone she could trust with her deepest concerns. “Something is coming.”
X-23 stood next to Hope, looking outward into the moonlight ocean. “Nothing is coming, Hope. Get off the damn cliff.”
Hope reached out quickly, gripping X-23’s arm. If she had not felt the same sisterly connection she would have hacked off her arm.
“You don’t hear it, Laura?” Hope asked.
“My nose knows, sista. There is nothing coming. Get off the cliff and get back inside.” X-23 uttered, heading back to the research facility.
“Laura…” Hope said her name aloud to get her attention. “…They’re here!”
SNIKT!
It was instinctive. Her claws unsheathing from her hands as Hope announced the mysterious arrival. She could now smell this foreign scent she had never experienced as she turned toward her friend. “Hope. Move. Now!”
Hope moved quickly toward X-23 as the duo were bombarded with what felt like a tropical storm. The strong winds made Hope stumble to her knees while forcing X-23 to shield her eyes from the wind force. There was an immense burst of white light which engulfed the entire island for seconds but seemed like forever.
The storm had died; leaving an item both Hope and X-23 had seen recently – an immense black box which easily eclipsed the size of the research facility behind them. It hovered in the air, suspended by nothing, seemingly looking at the two.
The dimensions of the massive box started to split slowly into two objects as it approached the cliff of Muir Isle, shedding chunks of its black mass into the rocky shores below. The two objects began to melt away until forming two humanoid beings before them - two winged beings bearing a battle axe in both their grasp.
“I am Uriel,” the gray skinned visitor announced with his axe rested upon his dark armor clad shoulder.
The other had red skin, draped in cloth of black and purple, both her hands grasping her axe in front of her. “…and I am Eimin”
Both looked upon Hope and X-23, showing no emotion but both greeting the two in unison. “Prepare to die.”