Back to Gatefold
Issue #4 by Cory Wiegel
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Phoenix took slow, deep breaths as she tried to collect herself.
Moments ago after defeating The Grey King and narrowly saving Kevin MacTaggert’s life, she telepathically detected a faint trace of her husband’s mind, Scott’s mind, on Muir Island. She raced half-way across the compound to catch up with him, but her body was exhausted and her powers failed her just as he apparently fled on a helicopter, leaving her in emotional turmoil.
She dropped to the muddy ground on her hands and knees, lost in grief as the heavy rains and fierce winds fell upon her. Huffing and heaving, she sobbed in frustration as the helicopter he was in grew ever further from the island. Little did she realize that it wasn’t long before the relentless storm began to let up, the monsoon that it once was turning into a slow trickle and a cool breeze.
With one final deep breath, Phoenix regained her composure and wiped her eyes clear of the rain and tears with the sleeve of her shirt. She steadily slowed her breathing and began to rise up when suddenly she heard the splatter of muddy water behind her. Her heart skipped a beat in realization that, in her distress and with her powers weakened, someone had just snuck up on her.
Phoenix twisted her head and shot a look over her shoulder, ready for anything, except for the arrival of two decidedly concerned but apprehensive allies.
“Jean?” Joseph started to say, tilting his head to the side slightly, as he and Wolfsbane approached her. “Is everything okay? Are you alright?”
She turned away, slightly embarrassed, and put a fist to her mouth as she cleared her throat. Joseph and Wolfsbane traded glances, then Wolfsbane walked over and knelt down at Phoenix side. She put a hand on her shoulder and leaned closer.
“What’s th’ matter, Jean? Ye can talk t’ us…”
Phoenix sighed and opened her fist, pressing her palm over her face and closing her eyes. “He was here, damn it… I was so close…”
Joseph and Wolfsbane, confused, traded glances again, and then they both looked back to the X-Woman.
“Who was here?” Wolfsbane asked.
Phoenix used the back of her hand to wipe away the fresh tears from her face and started to say something, but before she could a loud bang stopped her short. The trio’s eyes shot up toward the server building’s entrance where two heavy metal doors were kicked open by a large, grayish blue man with various energy weapons and cybernetic implants covering his limbs, head, and torso.
“Well, well,” Post’s voice boomed, a maniacal grin formed on his face as he marched out of the building intently. “Looks like he was right to believe you’d be here…”
Phoenix gritted her teeth in response to Post’s taunts and rose to her feet, determined to face the impending battle head on. Joseph and Wolfsbane took their places at her left and right flanks respectively, ready to do the same.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but this ends NOW!” Phoenix said. Her opponent snickered as he marched to a stop several yards in front of the three. The weapons mounted on his body began to glow an electric blue as his grin widened.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Post said matter-of-factly. It was then over half a dozen men and women – the Brotherhood of Mutants – flooded out of the sever building’s entrance behind him and charged past him towards the three. “LET’S DO THIS!”
Moments ago after defeating The Grey King and narrowly saving Kevin MacTaggert’s life, she telepathically detected a faint trace of her husband’s mind, Scott’s mind, on Muir Island. She raced half-way across the compound to catch up with him, but her body was exhausted and her powers failed her just as he apparently fled on a helicopter, leaving her in emotional turmoil.
She dropped to the muddy ground on her hands and knees, lost in grief as the heavy rains and fierce winds fell upon her. Huffing and heaving, she sobbed in frustration as the helicopter he was in grew ever further from the island. Little did she realize that it wasn’t long before the relentless storm began to let up, the monsoon that it once was turning into a slow trickle and a cool breeze.
With one final deep breath, Phoenix regained her composure and wiped her eyes clear of the rain and tears with the sleeve of her shirt. She steadily slowed her breathing and began to rise up when suddenly she heard the splatter of muddy water behind her. Her heart skipped a beat in realization that, in her distress and with her powers weakened, someone had just snuck up on her.
Phoenix twisted her head and shot a look over her shoulder, ready for anything, except for the arrival of two decidedly concerned but apprehensive allies.
“Jean?” Joseph started to say, tilting his head to the side slightly, as he and Wolfsbane approached her. “Is everything okay? Are you alright?”
She turned away, slightly embarrassed, and put a fist to her mouth as she cleared her throat. Joseph and Wolfsbane traded glances, then Wolfsbane walked over and knelt down at Phoenix side. She put a hand on her shoulder and leaned closer.
“What’s th’ matter, Jean? Ye can talk t’ us…”
Phoenix sighed and opened her fist, pressing her palm over her face and closing her eyes. “He was here, damn it… I was so close…”
Joseph and Wolfsbane, confused, traded glances again, and then they both looked back to the X-Woman.
“Who was here?” Wolfsbane asked.
Phoenix used the back of her hand to wipe away the fresh tears from her face and started to say something, but before she could a loud bang stopped her short. The trio’s eyes shot up toward the server building’s entrance where two heavy metal doors were kicked open by a large, grayish blue man with various energy weapons and cybernetic implants covering his limbs, head, and torso.
“Well, well,” Post’s voice boomed, a maniacal grin formed on his face as he marched out of the building intently. “Looks like he was right to believe you’d be here…”
Phoenix gritted her teeth in response to Post’s taunts and rose to her feet, determined to face the impending battle head on. Joseph and Wolfsbane took their places at her left and right flanks respectively, ready to do the same.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but this ends NOW!” Phoenix said. Her opponent snickered as he marched to a stop several yards in front of the three. The weapons mounted on his body began to glow an electric blue as his grin widened.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Post said matter-of-factly. It was then over half a dozen men and women – the Brotherhood of Mutants – flooded out of the sever building’s entrance behind him and charged past him towards the three. “LET’S DO THIS!”
“FATE OF THE GENE – PART FOUR”
PREVIOUSLY IN NEW X-MEN #3: After being shattered by The Blob, Iceman managed to pull himself together in time to rescue Muir Island’s Head of Security, Tom Corsi. During that time, The Grey King fractured Kevin MacTaggert’s consciousness into four manifestations and used them to do battle with Phoenix, but she soundly defeated him and rescued Kevin and island inhabitant, Wolfsbane. However, during the battle, The Grey King absorbed the persona and powers of Proteus, leaving Kevin’s psyche unbalanced and causing him to back to his Joseph persona. Now the battle for Muir Island and the Xavier Institute’s research continues… but will these five be enough to stop the Brotherhood’s siege?
# # # # #
Phoenix, Joseph, and Wolfsbane braced themselves as Post and the Brotherhood of Mutants charged in their direction. However, it was Post who caught their eye, stopping and taking position. The energy weapons mounted on his body along with his cybernetic implants began to glow a bright electric blue, then a large and wide beam of energy surged from his body past his charging allies straight toward them.
Clenching her fist, flames erupted from Phoenix’s pores as she instinctively tried to erect a telekinetic shield to deflect the oncoming blast, but she couldn’t muster the strength. Joseph’s eyes went wide in the split second he had to notice this and react.
“Get down!” he yelled to his comrades as the massive energy blast fell upon them.
Phoenix and Wolfsbane ducked low as he threw up his hands, manifesting an electromagnetic bubble around them to protect them until the assault ended. He looked up when the blast was gone and saw that the Brotherhood drew closer by mere feet, so he concentrated and pushed the electromagnetic energies he called upon into a bubble outward in the form of a wave. The various mutant-terrorists cried out as they were launched backwards several yards like ragdolls.
Wolfsbane was the first to stand and growl furiously as she transformed into her feral lupine state, taking off into a run on all four and lunging at one of her enemies with claws bared. Even in her animalistic state, she knew she only had precious moments to strike before they recovered from Joseph’s defensive attack.
Joseph turned to Phoenix, who was just beginning to stand herself.
“What’s going on, Jean?! Your powers --!”
“Flying Bobby and myself here, the fight with Addison Falk, repairing your psyche… it’s all taken its toll on me…” Phoenix admitted hesitantly. “I just… I just need a moment and I’ll be back in the game!”
Joseph shook his head and turned back to the Brotherhood, his electromagnetic powers shooting him into the air in their direction.
“Well then take cover somewhere and make that moment count!” he called back to her. “We’re not going to last long without help.”
# # # # #
Muir Island’s security building was still without electricity, but that was the least of Iceman and Tom Corsi’s problems. The gaping hole in the ceiling along with the large opening in the southern wall allowed the dim lighting from outside to illuminate the thrashed command center they stood in. Even if dawn was just then cutting through the gray and moody storm clouds, the lighting would be sufficient. No, it was the highly dangerous, albeit unconscious, mutant terrorists who had razed the security building and slaughtered its staff that needed to be dealt with and promptly.
Both men were exhausted from the battle to defeat the six men and women that littered the ground, but they couldn’t just leave them unsecure. Iceman stood guard over them reluctantly while Tom raced through the darkened corridors of the building to the armory, and then quickly returned with metahuman restraints for the five that could be held by them. The two acted fast in securing the power-dampening manacles on their opponents out of fear that they would recover and resist.
Thankfully, it didn’t take as long as it felt.
“Alright,” Tom said as he stood over Mercury, who lay fast down on the ground, and locked the restraints on his arms behind his back. “That’s the last of them.”
Iceman cocked his head to the side, half-heartedly. “It’s not S.H.I.E.L.D. grade turbo-adamantium bondage gear, but it’s gonna have to do for now.”
Tom stepped away from Mercury and put his hands on his hips as he looked over his shoulder to The Blob, who was buried in a massive pile of ice with only his face uncovered. He looked back to Iceman, jamming a thumb in The Blob’s direction.
“What about him?” he asked. “Is he going to be okay like that?”
Iceman took a deep breath and shook his head.
“I don’t know, man,” he replied uncertainly. “As far as I know, Dukes is invulnerable to the cold and, from firsthand experience, I can say he’s pretty damn strong, too.”
Tom bit his lip and nodded. “Let’s hope he stays asleep then. Now we need to -- “
Before Tom could finish his sentence, the two were interrupted by the muffled chorus of a 1970s funk-dance song.
♪ Play that funky music, white boooy. Play that funky music, riiiighht… ♪
“What is that?” Tom muttered, brow furrowing.
Iceman narrowed his eyes and looked about the thrashed room.
♪ Play that funky music, white boooy. Lay down that boogie and play that funky music ‘til you die… ♪
“Dude, that’s my phone,” he said. “It must have fallen out of my pocket in the fight...”
“Who would be calling you at a time like this?” Tom asked, somewhat annoyed.
Iceman didn’t respond. He began walking around the room, following the sound of his phone’s ringtone, until he spotted it amongst the remains of a shattered desk and snatched it off of the ground. He immediately looked at the Caller ID screen.
“It’s Jean,” he said, looking up to Tom with an arched brow before answering the phone. “Hello?”
From the other line came the sound of explosions, energy blasts, and battle-cries. It was then followed by the frantic yells of his longtime friend and teammate, Phoenix.
{{ Bobby! Bobby, can you hear me? It’s Jean! }}
“I can hear you!” Iceman yelled into his phone over the sounds of battle. “What’s going on? Why are you talking to me on your cell phone instead of telepathically?”
{{ It’s a long story! I’m with Kevin MacTaggert and Rahne Sinclair outside of the server building. We’re under attack by the Brotherhood and need you here, now! }}
“Okay, okay. We’ll be there pronto!” Iceman said before hanging up the phone. He turned to Tom, who stood with energy shotgun at the ready.
“What’s going on?” Tom asked, visibly on edge.
“Something’s going down and Jean needs our help at the server building,” Iceman explained with urgency. “You ready to saddle up?”
Tom took a deep breath and then looked around the unconscious terrorists littered at their feet. “What about them?”
“We’re just gonna have to hope they stay down for the count,” Iceman cocked his head to the side before generating a sled of ice at his feet. “Now let’s skedaddle!”
# # # # #
Moments later, the northeast wall of Muir Island’s security building spontaneously and rapidly became covered in intensely cold ice, leaving it brittle. Several pulses of energy ripped through it from inside the building, causing a massive explosion of concrete and ice to leave a gaping hole in its wake. It was from that opening that a bridge of ice shot out and raced across the island with Iceman at its helm, generating ice from both hands to continue the bridge they sled on. Tom knelt behind him, holding onto a makeshift ice handlebar with one hand and holding his energy shotgun at the ready with the other.
They would be able to cross the island in minutes at the speed Iceman was able to generate the bridge, but those minutes could mean the difference between life and death for their comrades. Even as the storm and battled ravaged island passed by them in a blur, every second felt like an eternity to the two heroes joining their allies in the battle for Muir Island.
When they reached their destination, they saw Joseph wielding metal plates, beams, and scraps into members of the Brotherhood, striking and restraining multiple targets simultaneously. Wolfsbane was running about on all fours in her lupine form, chasing down terrorists on the offensive and mauling each opponent into submission with powerful blows and razor sharp claws.
It was Phoenix who was struggling. Seeing her across the battlefield locked in battle against a goliath stone mutant, with her powers apparently fading, Iceman and Tom shot past Joseph, Wolfsbane, and their opponents to join her side.
Phoenix erected telekinetic shield after telekinetic shield, but she winced and cried out with each rocky punch she deflected. The terrorist was pushing her back with every blow. Her body and mind was too exhausted to launch a successful offense, and it would only be moments before her powers would fail her once again.
As the massive stone man drew back one more punch, likely his final blow, a stream of ice crossed the battlefield and struck him in the chest, spreading rapidly. Phoenix looked in the direction of the beam and saw Iceman and Tom quickly approaching.
With Phoenix’s opponent staggering in pain from the immense cold covering his torso, Tom leapt off of the ice slide and dropped into a run towards the mutant composed of stone. He drew his fist back and punched the terrorist in the chest, his super strength allowing him to shatter his rocky, albeit brittle, foe with ease. His rocky arms and legs collapsed to the ground in pieces, and all that was left of his torso and head was frozen, stone-rubble.
Tom took a deep breath and stood upright, taking a moment to process the extent of his handiwork. However, it only took a moment for him to realize the fight wasn’t over that easily.
“What the hell?!” Tom yelled as the remains of his opponent came to life at his feet. One of the mutant’s hands had gripped his ankle while another bounced up onto his pant leg, tugging at him.
He frantically bobbed and weaved around the living rocks, almost dancing about, before pulling his energy shotgun off of its sling and taking aim. He fired off round after round into the living rock, pulverizing it further, but it only created even tinier pieces of living rubble that attacked him from all sides.
Iceman brought his ice slide around to Phoenix’s side and he stepped off to help Tom, but Phoenix reached out with her arm and stopped him short. He looked to her, confused, and she shook her head.
“He and the others can handle it,” she insisted. “We have to get inside the server building! If Hank’s right, the Brotherhood’s already destroying the research.”
Reluctant, Iceman looked to Tom, who continued firing off blast after blast.
“She’s right!” he called out to him. “Just go!”
Reluctantly, Iceman nodded and generated another ice bridge at his feet. He looked to Phoenix and said, “Fine then. Hop on and let’s roll!”
Phoenix wrapped her arms around Iceman’s waist, and they launched off of the ground on his ice slide towards the server building, racing past energy blasts, explosions, and the struggles of their allies.
Crossing the battlefield in mere moments, they were nearly to their destination when a flash of brilliant light appeared in front of Iceman’s path. His eyes went wide in horror when Post appeared in place of the light with a maniacal grin on his face, then launched a barrage of energy blasts in their direction.
They were sliding too fast to stop, so all Iceman could do was veer off to the side and erect a shield of ice in front of them, but it was too little too late. The energy ripped through the shield, Iceman, and the bridge at their feet. Iceman and Phoenix cried out as they struck the ground, with Iceman taking the brunt of the attack.
Phoenix rolled with the attack and ended up on her stomach, but Iceman was flat on his back, seemingly unconscious. She looked up to Post as he laughed a hearty laugh, and then scowled at the fallen X-Men. He charged the two and took aim at her, firing another barrage of energy blasts.
She shuffled to her feet and flew into the air telekinetically, narrowly avoiding Post’s energy blast and surviving on pure adrenaline. Psionic flames erupted out of her body in the form of her fiery avatar and she drew a talon back, ready to strike, when the sound of a ferocious battle-cry stopped her short.
A yellow and blue blur collided into Post’s back, causing the gargantuan mutant-cyborg to stumble forward and cry out in agony. Something -- no, someone -- had been thrown onto his back at high speeds and was now holding on as if for dear life.
“Logan!” Phoenix called out.
“Hurry up an’ flank the bastard already!” Wolverine yelled as he began slashing and hacking mercilessly into Post’s back. She quickly flew to Post’s left just in time for a piercing cold beam of ice to collide into the terrorist’s right side.
It was Iceman on wobbly legs, having barely recovered from Post’s attack, on the attack. Phoenix joined him and Wolverine, pounding their foe with a telekinetic blast.
Post summoned all of his strength and let out a powerful roar as he was bombarded with attacks. He reached over his head with both arms and grabbed Wolverine by his torso, unleashing a powerful energy blast from his hands into the mutant. Wolverine cried out the energy scorched his body, loosening his grip on Post, who then flung him into Iceman. The two collided painfully and collapsed to the ground, stunned.
He then turned to Phoenix and unleashed a barrage of energy blasts. Phoenix’s eyes went wide in shock at Post’s powerful display of strength and versatility, but she was able to instinctively deflect the blasts with a telekinetic shield. She then countered with a telekinetic shove, flinging Post away while simultaneously doubling-back to distance herself away from her opponent.
Before either could strike again, Post was struck in the side of the face at a downward angle with two massive, blue feet. Blood splattered from his mouth as he stumbled in the opposite direction and a large simian figure flipped backwards off of his head, landing in a squat with acrobatic grace.
It was Beast.
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you to respect a woman’s personal space?” he quipped as Post recovered from the surprise attack.
“ARGGHH!!” Post groaned in frustration and he impulsively swung his massive fist at the new arrival, but he struck air and fell off balance as Beast leapt out of the way and landed on his hands in front of his opponent. The X-Man then sprung off of his hands and delivered his powerful feet into Post’s torso, sending him reeling backwards, stunned and flailing out of control.
It was then a pink and purple vortex manifested behind Post and a woman in a green and yellow jumpsuit with a bomber’s jacket leapt out, dropping down onto her hands and knees. Her skin shimmered quickly and turned to organic steel, and Post fell over her metal body into the vortex she had created, vanishing with a surprised yelp.
Rogue quickly leapt up to her feet, her skin reverting back to its human form, and she snapped her fingers, causing the vortex to disappear. Moments later, a deep throated scream could be heard. It grew ever louder as mere seconds passed, and Phoenix looked up to see the same pink and purple vortex nearly a mile up in the gray cloud covered sky, dumping the grayish blue mutant-cyborg into a free fall.
After nearly a full minute of screaming, Post struck the muddied ground dozens of feet behind Rogue with such force that he struck with a booming thud and was buried several yards deep in a massive crater.
Marie Charleston, the Southern woman with auburn hair and a white skunk-stripe known as Rogue, dusted off her gloved hands.
“Done like dinner,” she remarked with a smirk, satisfied beyond words.
Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief and powered down, then rushed up to Rogue and Beast. Iceman and Wolverine stumbled over, both still visibly dazed from Post’s attack, and equally taken aback from his takedown by Beast and Rogue.
“Wow,” was all Iceman said.
“The bigger they are…” Wolverine added before trailing off.
“Indeed. Excellent job, Rogue!” Beast said. “I need to catch up with Jean and Bobby. Please cover us and help the others with the Brotherhood!”
“Got it, sugah!” Rogue replied with a nod as she tapped into the vast mutant power catalogue her mind possessed. She squatted down low and reached her fists into the air, then shot into the air like a rocket propelled by thermo-chemical energy, quickly joining the battle at hand.
Beast turned to Iceman and Phoenix in particular.
“Quickly, you two,” Beast beckoned his teammates. “What’s the situation?”
“I hit up the security building first and tried to find the security team. The Brotherhood practically slaughtered them, man,” Iceman said as he swallowed the lump in his throat. “Only Tom Corsi made it out in one piece. We took down who we could and restrained them with power dampeners, then met up with everyone here.”
Beast gritted his teeth and then looked to Phoenix, who didn’t have much better news. “While Bobby was doing that, I made my way to the living quarters to see if Moira or any other staff members made it to the panic room,” she began with some hesitation. “The Grey King was there, or at least his psionic form was. It’s a long story, but he fractured Kevin’s psyche and stole his reality warping powers. I had to rebuild his mind with what was left. Now the Brotherhood’s made it to the server room, just like you thought they would.”
Wolverine sensed his longtime friend’s hesitation and spoke up.
“Anything else?” he asked knowingly. Phoenix looked to him and frowned.
“Like I said. It’s a long story…”
Beast surveyed the battle around the team before looking to the three X-Men assembled before him. It appeared as if Rogue, Joseph, Wolfsbane, and Tom Corsi had the situation under control, so the four of them were free to act. He looked back to his teammates and nodded with determination.
“Right then. We have to move quickly,” he said. “If my assumption is correct, the Brotherhood’s targeting the Mutant Genome research we’ve compiled.”
Iceman nodded back and aimed a hand at the ground, manifesting a sled of ice at his feet to carry him into action.
“Alright then, gang. Giddyup!”
# # # # #
Inside the server building, psionic flames consumed the reinforced metal doors and exploded with telekinetic force, blowing them off of their hinges. Beast was the first to bound through the front doorway and drop into a squat. He quickly scanned the front room of the building, an empty security check point, and then his yellow eyes fell on a long corridor leading into the center of the building.
Behind him, Phoenix flew through the doorway enveloped in the same psionic flames, with Iceman and Wolverine running up behind her.
“There!” Beast pointed to the corridor. “Closely, follow me!” With another great leap he crossed the space between his teammates and the corridor and fell into a run on his knuckles and feet, moving much like a great ape on the hunt.
His three teammates followed him into the corridor with the same urgency, until Wolverine groaned and slowed to a stop. He stumbled sideways, grabbing his ribs with one hand and using his other to support himself against the corridor wall. Beast and Iceman continued on their trek without noticing, but Phoenix immediately sensed his distress with her telepathy and looked back at him.
“Logan!” she called out, stopping her telekinetic flight and moving to his side. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she noticed the dark blood dripping from the back of both of his hands where the exit wounds of his claws should have healed shut.
Wolverine shook his head slightly and stood upright, growling slightly. “Don’t worry ‘bout me, Red,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Phoenix was taken aback by his condition, but before she could press the issue they both heard the sounds of explosions and energy blasts at the end of the corridor. Together they looked down it to see Beast and Iceman enter the main server room of the building, then quickly attacked by its occupants.
“Let’s go!” Wolverine snapped.
Without a word of rebuttal, Phoenix took off into telekinetic flight back down the corridor with Wolverine running closely behind her. In mere moments, the two entered the center of the building. It was a massive, circular room with multiple catwalks spanning several stories high. Large computer mainframes lined the walls along with chairs, terminals, and monitors. At the center of the room was the central mainframe, essentially a large terminal that controlled the island’s server.
Furthermore, upon the arrival of the X-Men, the server room had erupted into a battleground. The team’s sole opponent was a tall and lanky man with black hair, covered almost exclusively with metallic armor, cybernetic parts, and energy weapons that were firing off in all directions. Wires lined his body and were seemingly integrated into the central mainframe along with the rest of him.
His name was Hard-Drive, for obvious reasons, and at that moment he was psionically and cybernetically linked with every computer in Muir Island’s server room. That moment wouldn’t last very much longer.
Beast leapt across several terminals and barreled for him head on while Iceman flanked him on a long bridge of ice, both narrowly dodging concussive blasts along the way. Hard-Drive’s weapons unconsciously adjusted and locked on to the two X-Men as they descended upon him, but suddenly deactivated as Phoenix exercised her telekinetic powers over them.
Hard-Drive tried frantically to fight against the telekinetic control Phoenix had over him, but to no avail. He looked down to the wires connected from his body as they were forcefully removed from the room’s central terminal, then he looked up in shock just in time to see Beast drop on his chest feet first.
The sheer weight of the X-Man caused Hard-Drive to collapse violently. Beast leapt off of him and dropped to his feet in front of him, then picked him up by the armor and cybernetic implants on his chest.
“What have you done?!” Beast demanded.
“It’s too late!” Hard-Drive exclaimed smugly, albeit bruised and defeated, as he hung from Beast’s grip. “I’ve already installed and activated the virus. It can’t be stopped now!” The X-Man grumbled irritably at this.
“May posterity forgive me for trying anyway,” Beast shot back sardonically. He flung Hard-Drive aside with a loud thud and leapt across the room to the central terminal. On landing, his fingers danced frantically across the keyboard Hard-Drive was standing at in order to determine exactly what was happening.
Phoenix quickly flew across the room to join Beast’s side while Iceman unleashed a wave of ice into Hard-Drive, freezing him to the ground so that he couldn’t intervene.
“Hank, what’s happening?” Phoenix asked with haste. “Can you stop what he’s done before it’s too late?!”
“The virus has already spread through over thirty percent of the island’s research files, but the files are also being uploaded to a remote server moments before they’re being deleted,” Beast explained as he worked, his mind racing a mile a minute. “I may not be able to stop the virus in time, but perhaps I can hack into the Brotherhood’s remote server and form a digital loop -- “
“We got other problems, guys ‘n gal!” Wolverine yelled from across the room, interrupting his teammate. “I’m smellin’ blocks of C4 all over the place and I’m bettin’ they’re set to blow any second now. We gotta disarm ‘em before this whole places goes up!”
Beast growled in frustration as he continued working at the terminal.
“There isn’t any time to disarm them!” he roared as his temper began to rise. “Start sniffing out each block of C4 one by one. Phoenix, telepathically route the locations from Wolverine’s mind into Iceman’s. Iceman, find the bombs and carefully freeze them in place. We’ll have to worry about disarmament later!”
Wolverine nodded and took off into a run around the room. Phoenix closed her eyes and linked Wolverine’s mind with Iceman’s as he worked. When Wolverine began locating the first blocks of C4 using his senses, Iceman formed an ice bridge at his feet and rushed to each location, carefully freezing the bombs left behind by the Brotherhood one by one.
While the X-Men were distracted, Hard-Drive mentally activated the teleportation device imbedded in his cybernetic body and vanished in a sharp flash of energy, leaving only the massive bulk of ice restraining him behind.
When Iceman and Wolverine were finished with their task, they rushed back to the center of the server room to join Phoenix and Beast.
“Got ‘em all. How’s it lookin’ here?” Wolverine asked.
Beast was silent as his fingers continued moving across the keyboard at a rapid pace. He paused once he was complete with his operation, then a moment later a few beeps and clicks from the terminal signaled his victory fanfare.
“Success!” he said with the clap of his blue fur covered hands. “I was able to hack into the Brotherhood’s remote server and reroute the download of our data back into the institute’s computers while simultaneously quarantining the Brotherhood’s virus before it spread beyond Muir Island’s research files.”
Phoenix let out a sigh of relief as Wolverine nodded quietly. Iceman put his arm around his longtime friend’s shoulders and patted him on the chest.
“Hank, my man, didn’t I totally tell you spending that spring break getting a Computer Science degree at Cornell wasn’t a waste of time?!” he said.
Beast looked to Iceman and narrowed his eyes at such an audacious statement. He shrugged his teammate off of him.
“I was detained and ejected by airport security on our way to the Cancun after you altered my passport photo!” he proclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air. “What else was I to do with you and Warren on vacation?”
“Oh, c’mon. That was just a joke that went bad!” Iceman replied.
“Robert, they gave me a full cavity search and put me on the No Fly List! Hercules and Wonder Man were guest-hosting Girls Gone Wild, and they asked me to -- “ Beast fired off, but then clenched his fists and tried to calm himself down. “Alright, Henry. Settle down. You saved the day. Everything will be fine…”
Before Iceman or Beast could say anything else, Wolverine tensed up suddenly and sniffed the air. It was then quick flashes of light caught everyone’s eyes, drawing their attention to the catwalks.
Men covered from head to toe in high-tech, form-fitting, black and gray body armor were teleported into the room from all sides. Some rushed in from the ground floor with energy rifles raised on the X-Men while others leapt and flipped through the air off the catwalks with stunning grace, long sword-like rods in holsters on their backs.
“Uh… guys…!” Iceman started to say as the invaders dropped to the ground from all sides. “CYBORG-NINJA AMBUSH ATTACK!!!”
The X-Men instinctively fell into defensive positions, back-to-back at the center of the room, as they watched brilliant flashes of blue light dance around the room, across the catwalks, and even in mid-air as the armored men flooded the room via individual bursts of teleportation.
“Phoenix -- “ Beast began, but the X-Woman answered before he could even ask.
“Dampeners,” she said as telekinetic flames erupted from her body and lifted her just slightly above the floor. “I didn’t even sense them coming in!”
“Beautiful.”
“Somethin’ tells me these ain’t Brotherhood foot soldiers,” Wolverine growled as he unsheathed his claws. “Guns, high-tech armor, formation…”
Iceman drew in moisture from the air to bulk up his ice-physique, causing spikes to erupt from his shoulders and over his fists.
“Well, let’s not let that keep us from kickin’ their tushies back to whatever sci-fi anime cartoon they came from,” he quipped. “Jeanie, it’s time to go Super-Saiyan Phoenix Mama level four!”
As the armored men surrounded the X-Men with weapons drawn, they began to slowly pace circles around them, the tension rising even with the tactical advantage being obvious. Several of them lifted up long rods cackling with electricity and readied reinforced riot shields. Every one of them was waiting on the right sign to act, especially the four mutants. Before they could make a move, a command broke.
“HOLD IT!” a voice boomed from the corridor the X-Men had entered from. The X-Men shifted their stances and collectively looked to the front of the server room.
The armored men held their weapons and aim on the X-Men, but nonetheless made way for the new arrival. A tall and muscular woman emerged from the corridor, dark green shades covering her eyes and her dark green hair tied back in a ponytail. She strode across the room with authority, wearing assault gear similar to the men’s but was unarmed and without a helmet.
She took her place at the head of the troops and stopped just short before the X-Men, shifting her weight onto one leg and putting a hand on her hip. Beast narrowed his simian-like eyes onto hers despite her dark glasses.
“Doctor McCoy… It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she said with an authoritative tone. “My name’s Abigail Brand. We’re with the X.S.E.”
TO BE CONCLUDED…
NEXT ISSUE: The X-Men have stopped the Brotherhood’s siege on Muir Island, but now they have to deal with Director Abigail Brand and the premiere international mutant task force – the X.S.E! Who are they and what do they want?
# # # # #
MAKE WAY FOR… NEWMANIAM!
Feedback is as feedback does.
Any love, hate, or meager shrugs can be sent to [email protected]!
I want to thank everyone who read New X-Men #3 and provided me with some much needed feedback, especially Brent Lambert, Daniel Ingram, and William Sinclair for posting full-on reviews. I know I’ve been even slower than typical in output with this series, but I’m glad to know that I’ve kept some readers’ interest piqued. Next issue is the conclusion of the first arc, but it only sets up more to come!
Hopefully you’ll get to read it sooner rather than later. ;)
- Cory W.
April 6, 2011
# # # # #
Phoenix, Joseph, and Wolfsbane braced themselves as Post and the Brotherhood of Mutants charged in their direction. However, it was Post who caught their eye, stopping and taking position. The energy weapons mounted on his body along with his cybernetic implants began to glow a bright electric blue, then a large and wide beam of energy surged from his body past his charging allies straight toward them.
Clenching her fist, flames erupted from Phoenix’s pores as she instinctively tried to erect a telekinetic shield to deflect the oncoming blast, but she couldn’t muster the strength. Joseph’s eyes went wide in the split second he had to notice this and react.
“Get down!” he yelled to his comrades as the massive energy blast fell upon them.
Phoenix and Wolfsbane ducked low as he threw up his hands, manifesting an electromagnetic bubble around them to protect them until the assault ended. He looked up when the blast was gone and saw that the Brotherhood drew closer by mere feet, so he concentrated and pushed the electromagnetic energies he called upon into a bubble outward in the form of a wave. The various mutant-terrorists cried out as they were launched backwards several yards like ragdolls.
Wolfsbane was the first to stand and growl furiously as she transformed into her feral lupine state, taking off into a run on all four and lunging at one of her enemies with claws bared. Even in her animalistic state, she knew she only had precious moments to strike before they recovered from Joseph’s defensive attack.
Joseph turned to Phoenix, who was just beginning to stand herself.
“What’s going on, Jean?! Your powers --!”
“Flying Bobby and myself here, the fight with Addison Falk, repairing your psyche… it’s all taken its toll on me…” Phoenix admitted hesitantly. “I just… I just need a moment and I’ll be back in the game!”
Joseph shook his head and turned back to the Brotherhood, his electromagnetic powers shooting him into the air in their direction.
“Well then take cover somewhere and make that moment count!” he called back to her. “We’re not going to last long without help.”
# # # # #
Muir Island’s security building was still without electricity, but that was the least of Iceman and Tom Corsi’s problems. The gaping hole in the ceiling along with the large opening in the southern wall allowed the dim lighting from outside to illuminate the thrashed command center they stood in. Even if dawn was just then cutting through the gray and moody storm clouds, the lighting would be sufficient. No, it was the highly dangerous, albeit unconscious, mutant terrorists who had razed the security building and slaughtered its staff that needed to be dealt with and promptly.
Both men were exhausted from the battle to defeat the six men and women that littered the ground, but they couldn’t just leave them unsecure. Iceman stood guard over them reluctantly while Tom raced through the darkened corridors of the building to the armory, and then quickly returned with metahuman restraints for the five that could be held by them. The two acted fast in securing the power-dampening manacles on their opponents out of fear that they would recover and resist.
Thankfully, it didn’t take as long as it felt.
“Alright,” Tom said as he stood over Mercury, who lay fast down on the ground, and locked the restraints on his arms behind his back. “That’s the last of them.”
Iceman cocked his head to the side, half-heartedly. “It’s not S.H.I.E.L.D. grade turbo-adamantium bondage gear, but it’s gonna have to do for now.”
Tom stepped away from Mercury and put his hands on his hips as he looked over his shoulder to The Blob, who was buried in a massive pile of ice with only his face uncovered. He looked back to Iceman, jamming a thumb in The Blob’s direction.
“What about him?” he asked. “Is he going to be okay like that?”
Iceman took a deep breath and shook his head.
“I don’t know, man,” he replied uncertainly. “As far as I know, Dukes is invulnerable to the cold and, from firsthand experience, I can say he’s pretty damn strong, too.”
Tom bit his lip and nodded. “Let’s hope he stays asleep then. Now we need to -- “
Before Tom could finish his sentence, the two were interrupted by the muffled chorus of a 1970s funk-dance song.
♪ Play that funky music, white boooy. Play that funky music, riiiighht… ♪
“What is that?” Tom muttered, brow furrowing.
Iceman narrowed his eyes and looked about the thrashed room.
♪ Play that funky music, white boooy. Lay down that boogie and play that funky music ‘til you die… ♪
“Dude, that’s my phone,” he said. “It must have fallen out of my pocket in the fight...”
“Who would be calling you at a time like this?” Tom asked, somewhat annoyed.
Iceman didn’t respond. He began walking around the room, following the sound of his phone’s ringtone, until he spotted it amongst the remains of a shattered desk and snatched it off of the ground. He immediately looked at the Caller ID screen.
“It’s Jean,” he said, looking up to Tom with an arched brow before answering the phone. “Hello?”
From the other line came the sound of explosions, energy blasts, and battle-cries. It was then followed by the frantic yells of his longtime friend and teammate, Phoenix.
{{ Bobby! Bobby, can you hear me? It’s Jean! }}
“I can hear you!” Iceman yelled into his phone over the sounds of battle. “What’s going on? Why are you talking to me on your cell phone instead of telepathically?”
{{ It’s a long story! I’m with Kevin MacTaggert and Rahne Sinclair outside of the server building. We’re under attack by the Brotherhood and need you here, now! }}
“Okay, okay. We’ll be there pronto!” Iceman said before hanging up the phone. He turned to Tom, who stood with energy shotgun at the ready.
“What’s going on?” Tom asked, visibly on edge.
“Something’s going down and Jean needs our help at the server building,” Iceman explained with urgency. “You ready to saddle up?”
Tom took a deep breath and then looked around the unconscious terrorists littered at their feet. “What about them?”
“We’re just gonna have to hope they stay down for the count,” Iceman cocked his head to the side before generating a sled of ice at his feet. “Now let’s skedaddle!”
# # # # #
Moments later, the northeast wall of Muir Island’s security building spontaneously and rapidly became covered in intensely cold ice, leaving it brittle. Several pulses of energy ripped through it from inside the building, causing a massive explosion of concrete and ice to leave a gaping hole in its wake. It was from that opening that a bridge of ice shot out and raced across the island with Iceman at its helm, generating ice from both hands to continue the bridge they sled on. Tom knelt behind him, holding onto a makeshift ice handlebar with one hand and holding his energy shotgun at the ready with the other.
They would be able to cross the island in minutes at the speed Iceman was able to generate the bridge, but those minutes could mean the difference between life and death for their comrades. Even as the storm and battled ravaged island passed by them in a blur, every second felt like an eternity to the two heroes joining their allies in the battle for Muir Island.
When they reached their destination, they saw Joseph wielding metal plates, beams, and scraps into members of the Brotherhood, striking and restraining multiple targets simultaneously. Wolfsbane was running about on all fours in her lupine form, chasing down terrorists on the offensive and mauling each opponent into submission with powerful blows and razor sharp claws.
It was Phoenix who was struggling. Seeing her across the battlefield locked in battle against a goliath stone mutant, with her powers apparently fading, Iceman and Tom shot past Joseph, Wolfsbane, and their opponents to join her side.
Phoenix erected telekinetic shield after telekinetic shield, but she winced and cried out with each rocky punch she deflected. The terrorist was pushing her back with every blow. Her body and mind was too exhausted to launch a successful offense, and it would only be moments before her powers would fail her once again.
As the massive stone man drew back one more punch, likely his final blow, a stream of ice crossed the battlefield and struck him in the chest, spreading rapidly. Phoenix looked in the direction of the beam and saw Iceman and Tom quickly approaching.
With Phoenix’s opponent staggering in pain from the immense cold covering his torso, Tom leapt off of the ice slide and dropped into a run towards the mutant composed of stone. He drew his fist back and punched the terrorist in the chest, his super strength allowing him to shatter his rocky, albeit brittle, foe with ease. His rocky arms and legs collapsed to the ground in pieces, and all that was left of his torso and head was frozen, stone-rubble.
Tom took a deep breath and stood upright, taking a moment to process the extent of his handiwork. However, it only took a moment for him to realize the fight wasn’t over that easily.
“What the hell?!” Tom yelled as the remains of his opponent came to life at his feet. One of the mutant’s hands had gripped his ankle while another bounced up onto his pant leg, tugging at him.
He frantically bobbed and weaved around the living rocks, almost dancing about, before pulling his energy shotgun off of its sling and taking aim. He fired off round after round into the living rock, pulverizing it further, but it only created even tinier pieces of living rubble that attacked him from all sides.
Iceman brought his ice slide around to Phoenix’s side and he stepped off to help Tom, but Phoenix reached out with her arm and stopped him short. He looked to her, confused, and she shook her head.
“He and the others can handle it,” she insisted. “We have to get inside the server building! If Hank’s right, the Brotherhood’s already destroying the research.”
Reluctant, Iceman looked to Tom, who continued firing off blast after blast.
“She’s right!” he called out to him. “Just go!”
Reluctantly, Iceman nodded and generated another ice bridge at his feet. He looked to Phoenix and said, “Fine then. Hop on and let’s roll!”
Phoenix wrapped her arms around Iceman’s waist, and they launched off of the ground on his ice slide towards the server building, racing past energy blasts, explosions, and the struggles of their allies.
Crossing the battlefield in mere moments, they were nearly to their destination when a flash of brilliant light appeared in front of Iceman’s path. His eyes went wide in horror when Post appeared in place of the light with a maniacal grin on his face, then launched a barrage of energy blasts in their direction.
They were sliding too fast to stop, so all Iceman could do was veer off to the side and erect a shield of ice in front of them, but it was too little too late. The energy ripped through the shield, Iceman, and the bridge at their feet. Iceman and Phoenix cried out as they struck the ground, with Iceman taking the brunt of the attack.
Phoenix rolled with the attack and ended up on her stomach, but Iceman was flat on his back, seemingly unconscious. She looked up to Post as he laughed a hearty laugh, and then scowled at the fallen X-Men. He charged the two and took aim at her, firing another barrage of energy blasts.
She shuffled to her feet and flew into the air telekinetically, narrowly avoiding Post’s energy blast and surviving on pure adrenaline. Psionic flames erupted out of her body in the form of her fiery avatar and she drew a talon back, ready to strike, when the sound of a ferocious battle-cry stopped her short.
A yellow and blue blur collided into Post’s back, causing the gargantuan mutant-cyborg to stumble forward and cry out in agony. Something -- no, someone -- had been thrown onto his back at high speeds and was now holding on as if for dear life.
“Logan!” Phoenix called out.
“Hurry up an’ flank the bastard already!” Wolverine yelled as he began slashing and hacking mercilessly into Post’s back. She quickly flew to Post’s left just in time for a piercing cold beam of ice to collide into the terrorist’s right side.
It was Iceman on wobbly legs, having barely recovered from Post’s attack, on the attack. Phoenix joined him and Wolverine, pounding their foe with a telekinetic blast.
Post summoned all of his strength and let out a powerful roar as he was bombarded with attacks. He reached over his head with both arms and grabbed Wolverine by his torso, unleashing a powerful energy blast from his hands into the mutant. Wolverine cried out the energy scorched his body, loosening his grip on Post, who then flung him into Iceman. The two collided painfully and collapsed to the ground, stunned.
He then turned to Phoenix and unleashed a barrage of energy blasts. Phoenix’s eyes went wide in shock at Post’s powerful display of strength and versatility, but she was able to instinctively deflect the blasts with a telekinetic shield. She then countered with a telekinetic shove, flinging Post away while simultaneously doubling-back to distance herself away from her opponent.
Before either could strike again, Post was struck in the side of the face at a downward angle with two massive, blue feet. Blood splattered from his mouth as he stumbled in the opposite direction and a large simian figure flipped backwards off of his head, landing in a squat with acrobatic grace.
It was Beast.
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you to respect a woman’s personal space?” he quipped as Post recovered from the surprise attack.
“ARGGHH!!” Post groaned in frustration and he impulsively swung his massive fist at the new arrival, but he struck air and fell off balance as Beast leapt out of the way and landed on his hands in front of his opponent. The X-Man then sprung off of his hands and delivered his powerful feet into Post’s torso, sending him reeling backwards, stunned and flailing out of control.
It was then a pink and purple vortex manifested behind Post and a woman in a green and yellow jumpsuit with a bomber’s jacket leapt out, dropping down onto her hands and knees. Her skin shimmered quickly and turned to organic steel, and Post fell over her metal body into the vortex she had created, vanishing with a surprised yelp.
Rogue quickly leapt up to her feet, her skin reverting back to its human form, and she snapped her fingers, causing the vortex to disappear. Moments later, a deep throated scream could be heard. It grew ever louder as mere seconds passed, and Phoenix looked up to see the same pink and purple vortex nearly a mile up in the gray cloud covered sky, dumping the grayish blue mutant-cyborg into a free fall.
After nearly a full minute of screaming, Post struck the muddied ground dozens of feet behind Rogue with such force that he struck with a booming thud and was buried several yards deep in a massive crater.
Marie Charleston, the Southern woman with auburn hair and a white skunk-stripe known as Rogue, dusted off her gloved hands.
“Done like dinner,” she remarked with a smirk, satisfied beyond words.
Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief and powered down, then rushed up to Rogue and Beast. Iceman and Wolverine stumbled over, both still visibly dazed from Post’s attack, and equally taken aback from his takedown by Beast and Rogue.
“Wow,” was all Iceman said.
“The bigger they are…” Wolverine added before trailing off.
“Indeed. Excellent job, Rogue!” Beast said. “I need to catch up with Jean and Bobby. Please cover us and help the others with the Brotherhood!”
“Got it, sugah!” Rogue replied with a nod as she tapped into the vast mutant power catalogue her mind possessed. She squatted down low and reached her fists into the air, then shot into the air like a rocket propelled by thermo-chemical energy, quickly joining the battle at hand.
Beast turned to Iceman and Phoenix in particular.
“Quickly, you two,” Beast beckoned his teammates. “What’s the situation?”
“I hit up the security building first and tried to find the security team. The Brotherhood practically slaughtered them, man,” Iceman said as he swallowed the lump in his throat. “Only Tom Corsi made it out in one piece. We took down who we could and restrained them with power dampeners, then met up with everyone here.”
Beast gritted his teeth and then looked to Phoenix, who didn’t have much better news. “While Bobby was doing that, I made my way to the living quarters to see if Moira or any other staff members made it to the panic room,” she began with some hesitation. “The Grey King was there, or at least his psionic form was. It’s a long story, but he fractured Kevin’s psyche and stole his reality warping powers. I had to rebuild his mind with what was left. Now the Brotherhood’s made it to the server room, just like you thought they would.”
Wolverine sensed his longtime friend’s hesitation and spoke up.
“Anything else?” he asked knowingly. Phoenix looked to him and frowned.
“Like I said. It’s a long story…”
Beast surveyed the battle around the team before looking to the three X-Men assembled before him. It appeared as if Rogue, Joseph, Wolfsbane, and Tom Corsi had the situation under control, so the four of them were free to act. He looked back to his teammates and nodded with determination.
“Right then. We have to move quickly,” he said. “If my assumption is correct, the Brotherhood’s targeting the Mutant Genome research we’ve compiled.”
Iceman nodded back and aimed a hand at the ground, manifesting a sled of ice at his feet to carry him into action.
“Alright then, gang. Giddyup!”
# # # # #
Inside the server building, psionic flames consumed the reinforced metal doors and exploded with telekinetic force, blowing them off of their hinges. Beast was the first to bound through the front doorway and drop into a squat. He quickly scanned the front room of the building, an empty security check point, and then his yellow eyes fell on a long corridor leading into the center of the building.
Behind him, Phoenix flew through the doorway enveloped in the same psionic flames, with Iceman and Wolverine running up behind her.
“There!” Beast pointed to the corridor. “Closely, follow me!” With another great leap he crossed the space between his teammates and the corridor and fell into a run on his knuckles and feet, moving much like a great ape on the hunt.
His three teammates followed him into the corridor with the same urgency, until Wolverine groaned and slowed to a stop. He stumbled sideways, grabbing his ribs with one hand and using his other to support himself against the corridor wall. Beast and Iceman continued on their trek without noticing, but Phoenix immediately sensed his distress with her telepathy and looked back at him.
“Logan!” she called out, stopping her telekinetic flight and moving to his side. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she noticed the dark blood dripping from the back of both of his hands where the exit wounds of his claws should have healed shut.
Wolverine shook his head slightly and stood upright, growling slightly. “Don’t worry ‘bout me, Red,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Phoenix was taken aback by his condition, but before she could press the issue they both heard the sounds of explosions and energy blasts at the end of the corridor. Together they looked down it to see Beast and Iceman enter the main server room of the building, then quickly attacked by its occupants.
“Let’s go!” Wolverine snapped.
Without a word of rebuttal, Phoenix took off into telekinetic flight back down the corridor with Wolverine running closely behind her. In mere moments, the two entered the center of the building. It was a massive, circular room with multiple catwalks spanning several stories high. Large computer mainframes lined the walls along with chairs, terminals, and monitors. At the center of the room was the central mainframe, essentially a large terminal that controlled the island’s server.
Furthermore, upon the arrival of the X-Men, the server room had erupted into a battleground. The team’s sole opponent was a tall and lanky man with black hair, covered almost exclusively with metallic armor, cybernetic parts, and energy weapons that were firing off in all directions. Wires lined his body and were seemingly integrated into the central mainframe along with the rest of him.
His name was Hard-Drive, for obvious reasons, and at that moment he was psionically and cybernetically linked with every computer in Muir Island’s server room. That moment wouldn’t last very much longer.
Beast leapt across several terminals and barreled for him head on while Iceman flanked him on a long bridge of ice, both narrowly dodging concussive blasts along the way. Hard-Drive’s weapons unconsciously adjusted and locked on to the two X-Men as they descended upon him, but suddenly deactivated as Phoenix exercised her telekinetic powers over them.
Hard-Drive tried frantically to fight against the telekinetic control Phoenix had over him, but to no avail. He looked down to the wires connected from his body as they were forcefully removed from the room’s central terminal, then he looked up in shock just in time to see Beast drop on his chest feet first.
The sheer weight of the X-Man caused Hard-Drive to collapse violently. Beast leapt off of him and dropped to his feet in front of him, then picked him up by the armor and cybernetic implants on his chest.
“What have you done?!” Beast demanded.
“It’s too late!” Hard-Drive exclaimed smugly, albeit bruised and defeated, as he hung from Beast’s grip. “I’ve already installed and activated the virus. It can’t be stopped now!” The X-Man grumbled irritably at this.
“May posterity forgive me for trying anyway,” Beast shot back sardonically. He flung Hard-Drive aside with a loud thud and leapt across the room to the central terminal. On landing, his fingers danced frantically across the keyboard Hard-Drive was standing at in order to determine exactly what was happening.
Phoenix quickly flew across the room to join Beast’s side while Iceman unleashed a wave of ice into Hard-Drive, freezing him to the ground so that he couldn’t intervene.
“Hank, what’s happening?” Phoenix asked with haste. “Can you stop what he’s done before it’s too late?!”
“The virus has already spread through over thirty percent of the island’s research files, but the files are also being uploaded to a remote server moments before they’re being deleted,” Beast explained as he worked, his mind racing a mile a minute. “I may not be able to stop the virus in time, but perhaps I can hack into the Brotherhood’s remote server and form a digital loop -- “
“We got other problems, guys ‘n gal!” Wolverine yelled from across the room, interrupting his teammate. “I’m smellin’ blocks of C4 all over the place and I’m bettin’ they’re set to blow any second now. We gotta disarm ‘em before this whole places goes up!”
Beast growled in frustration as he continued working at the terminal.
“There isn’t any time to disarm them!” he roared as his temper began to rise. “Start sniffing out each block of C4 one by one. Phoenix, telepathically route the locations from Wolverine’s mind into Iceman’s. Iceman, find the bombs and carefully freeze them in place. We’ll have to worry about disarmament later!”
Wolverine nodded and took off into a run around the room. Phoenix closed her eyes and linked Wolverine’s mind with Iceman’s as he worked. When Wolverine began locating the first blocks of C4 using his senses, Iceman formed an ice bridge at his feet and rushed to each location, carefully freezing the bombs left behind by the Brotherhood one by one.
While the X-Men were distracted, Hard-Drive mentally activated the teleportation device imbedded in his cybernetic body and vanished in a sharp flash of energy, leaving only the massive bulk of ice restraining him behind.
When Iceman and Wolverine were finished with their task, they rushed back to the center of the server room to join Phoenix and Beast.
“Got ‘em all. How’s it lookin’ here?” Wolverine asked.
Beast was silent as his fingers continued moving across the keyboard at a rapid pace. He paused once he was complete with his operation, then a moment later a few beeps and clicks from the terminal signaled his victory fanfare.
“Success!” he said with the clap of his blue fur covered hands. “I was able to hack into the Brotherhood’s remote server and reroute the download of our data back into the institute’s computers while simultaneously quarantining the Brotherhood’s virus before it spread beyond Muir Island’s research files.”
Phoenix let out a sigh of relief as Wolverine nodded quietly. Iceman put his arm around his longtime friend’s shoulders and patted him on the chest.
“Hank, my man, didn’t I totally tell you spending that spring break getting a Computer Science degree at Cornell wasn’t a waste of time?!” he said.
Beast looked to Iceman and narrowed his eyes at such an audacious statement. He shrugged his teammate off of him.
“I was detained and ejected by airport security on our way to the Cancun after you altered my passport photo!” he proclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air. “What else was I to do with you and Warren on vacation?”
“Oh, c’mon. That was just a joke that went bad!” Iceman replied.
“Robert, they gave me a full cavity search and put me on the No Fly List! Hercules and Wonder Man were guest-hosting Girls Gone Wild, and they asked me to -- “ Beast fired off, but then clenched his fists and tried to calm himself down. “Alright, Henry. Settle down. You saved the day. Everything will be fine…”
Before Iceman or Beast could say anything else, Wolverine tensed up suddenly and sniffed the air. It was then quick flashes of light caught everyone’s eyes, drawing their attention to the catwalks.
Men covered from head to toe in high-tech, form-fitting, black and gray body armor were teleported into the room from all sides. Some rushed in from the ground floor with energy rifles raised on the X-Men while others leapt and flipped through the air off the catwalks with stunning grace, long sword-like rods in holsters on their backs.
“Uh… guys…!” Iceman started to say as the invaders dropped to the ground from all sides. “CYBORG-NINJA AMBUSH ATTACK!!!”
The X-Men instinctively fell into defensive positions, back-to-back at the center of the room, as they watched brilliant flashes of blue light dance around the room, across the catwalks, and even in mid-air as the armored men flooded the room via individual bursts of teleportation.
“Phoenix -- “ Beast began, but the X-Woman answered before he could even ask.
“Dampeners,” she said as telekinetic flames erupted from her body and lifted her just slightly above the floor. “I didn’t even sense them coming in!”
“Beautiful.”
“Somethin’ tells me these ain’t Brotherhood foot soldiers,” Wolverine growled as he unsheathed his claws. “Guns, high-tech armor, formation…”
Iceman drew in moisture from the air to bulk up his ice-physique, causing spikes to erupt from his shoulders and over his fists.
“Well, let’s not let that keep us from kickin’ their tushies back to whatever sci-fi anime cartoon they came from,” he quipped. “Jeanie, it’s time to go Super-Saiyan Phoenix Mama level four!”
As the armored men surrounded the X-Men with weapons drawn, they began to slowly pace circles around them, the tension rising even with the tactical advantage being obvious. Several of them lifted up long rods cackling with electricity and readied reinforced riot shields. Every one of them was waiting on the right sign to act, especially the four mutants. Before they could make a move, a command broke.
“HOLD IT!” a voice boomed from the corridor the X-Men had entered from. The X-Men shifted their stances and collectively looked to the front of the server room.
The armored men held their weapons and aim on the X-Men, but nonetheless made way for the new arrival. A tall and muscular woman emerged from the corridor, dark green shades covering her eyes and her dark green hair tied back in a ponytail. She strode across the room with authority, wearing assault gear similar to the men’s but was unarmed and without a helmet.
She took her place at the head of the troops and stopped just short before the X-Men, shifting her weight onto one leg and putting a hand on her hip. Beast narrowed his simian-like eyes onto hers despite her dark glasses.
“Doctor McCoy… It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she said with an authoritative tone. “My name’s Abigail Brand. We’re with the X.S.E.”
TO BE CONCLUDED…
NEXT ISSUE: The X-Men have stopped the Brotherhood’s siege on Muir Island, but now they have to deal with Director Abigail Brand and the premiere international mutant task force – the X.S.E! Who are they and what do they want?
# # # # #
MAKE WAY FOR… NEWMANIAM!
Feedback is as feedback does.
Any love, hate, or meager shrugs can be sent to [email protected]!
I want to thank everyone who read New X-Men #3 and provided me with some much needed feedback, especially Brent Lambert, Daniel Ingram, and William Sinclair for posting full-on reviews. I know I’ve been even slower than typical in output with this series, but I’m glad to know that I’ve kept some readers’ interest piqued. Next issue is the conclusion of the first arc, but it only sets up more to come!
Hopefully you’ll get to read it sooner rather than later. ;)
- Cory W.
April 6, 2011