[TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO: Anchorage, Alaska…]
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said with grim determination. “Turn around Katherine.”
“You never call me Kate anymore,” Kate Summers whispered softly through her tears.
“Put my son down.”
“Alex is my son too, damnit!” she cried. “You have no right to say we can’t leave!”
“I am his father, and I have every right to say just that,” he said coldly, blocking the doorway with his frame. “Put my son down, or you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
A shadow fell into the room, and Major Christopher Summers whirled. A large figure lurked in the doorway, with a tall, stylized Mohawk, and skin so covered in tattoos that it appeared almost indigo.
“Threats,” the massive figure said, “are not a very good way to negotiate.”
Christopher sized up the interloper. Six foot six, muscular build, though not overly massive, stance that suggested fluidity in motion and practice in unarmed combat.
“Kate has requested sanctuary within our collective. I am here to assure that she is allowed to leave safely.”
“This is not a negotiation,” Christopher said. “You are trespassing, and you will leave the premises immediately, or I will be forced to incapacitate you.”
“I am Kallark, and I represent the Shi’ar. Among my people I am known as Gladiator. You are welcome to try.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said with grim determination. “Turn around Katherine.”
“You never call me Kate anymore,” Kate Summers whispered softly through her tears.
“Put my son down.”
“Alex is my son too, damnit!” she cried. “You have no right to say we can’t leave!”
“I am his father, and I have every right to say just that,” he said coldly, blocking the doorway with his frame. “Put my son down, or you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
A shadow fell into the room, and Major Christopher Summers whirled. A large figure lurked in the doorway, with a tall, stylized Mohawk, and skin so covered in tattoos that it appeared almost indigo.
“Threats,” the massive figure said, “are not a very good way to negotiate.”
Christopher sized up the interloper. Six foot six, muscular build, though not overly massive, stance that suggested fluidity in motion and practice in unarmed combat.
“Kate has requested sanctuary within our collective. I am here to assure that she is allowed to leave safely.”
“This is not a negotiation,” Christopher said. “You are trespassing, and you will leave the premises immediately, or I will be forced to incapacitate you.”
“I am Kallark, and I represent the Shi’ar. Among my people I am known as Gladiator. You are welcome to try.”
“THE HUNT”
[NOW: Munich…]
“Please,” Elisa cried, “let me go!”
If the creature that had taken over the body of the man formerly known as Heinrich Eberstark understood her pleas, it gave no indication. Instead, it secreted ever more resin, slathering it across the chest of another unconscious victim. There were six bodies in the room being sealed in the resin, but the other five were unconscious. Only the young woman remained awake.
“Please,” she continued, “I won’t tell anyone where you are, I swear… please, just let me go, I want to go home and see my fiancé.” She began to weep. “Please, just let me go!”
“I’d do as she says,” Bobby said, and the creature whirled, baring its teeth and screeching. “God, Banshee, he sounds just like you!”
The creature lunged, and Bobby held out his hands, palms out. Sharp stalagmites of ice lurched up from the floor, blocking what Kitty had dubbed a sleazoid in mid-air. It writhed and screeched again, slamming its tentacles into the obstruction, snapping the icicles off and sending ice flying.
A burst of smoke and brimstone exploded behind the creature, and Kurt’s ebon form emerged, dropping into a fighting stance behind it. “Save your humor, Iceman,” Kurt said, grabbing Elisa’s hand. “This creature was once a man like you or I.” As the creature spun to strike him, he and Elisa disappeared, reappearing an instant later on the other side of the room in another burst of smoke. Elisa promptly dropped to her knees and vomited uncontrollably.
“ ‘Tis nae but a devil now,” Sean replied grimly, leaping into the air and driving his elbow down onto the top of the creature’s head, which slammed down onto the jagged remains of an ice stalagmite. A harsh gurgling sound poured forth, and yellow ichor spewed from the gaping hole in the sleazoid’s head. The multiple tentacles twitched spasmodically for a few additional moments, and then fell silent.
“Fraulein,” Kurt spoke softly to Elisa, “it is very important that you listen to me right now.”
She wiped vomit away from the corner of her mouth and wept openly.
“Did that creature… inject you with anything?”
Elisa merely sobbed uncontrollably, her body wracked and shuddering with emotion.
He glanced over to Bobby and Sean, who examined the other bodies, glanced back at Kurt, and nodded their heads sadly. Bobby took a pair of special plugs out of his uniform pocket and placed them in his ears.
“Miss, please,” Kurt said, gently gripping her arms with his dual fingered hands. “Look at me. Are you alright?”
Elisa looked, stared straight into the yellow eyes of this man with skin blacker than pitch, and Kurt had the answer to his second question. This woman, regardless of whether or not she was infected, would never be alright again.
A stark terror danced in her eyes, a hysteria barely concealed. A manic smile flashed across her lips for a second, and Kurt now had the answer to his first question. Her teeth had begun elongating, her gums shrinking back.
“What are they?” she asked, her eyes growing jaundiced with the transformation. Ominously, thunder peeled across the sky.
Kurt placed a pair of special plugs in his ears. He drew her close and held her. “It’s O.K., miss. Everything will be fine. Pray with me.”
He had gotten as far into the Hail Mary as “the Lord is with thee” when his own voice was drowned out by Sean unleashing an ultra high-frequency pulse of focused sound that pulped the victims brains within an instant.
[TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO: Anchorage, Alaska…]
Katherine screamed as Christopher spun and kicked Kallark in the jaw. The behemoth twisted only slightly, snapping back and planting the palms of his hands into Christopher’s chest. The shove was enough to send him staggering back onto the floor, where he rolled over his shoulders into a fighting stance. This big guy was going to be a tougher opponent than he originally thought.
“You treat your wife as if she was a possession,” Kallark commented, his own form standing at the ready. “Her spirit is strong, so you choose to try to dominate the flesh. This we will not allow. The Shi’Ar believe that every soul must choose-”
Christopher lunged, driving his fist at the man’s head. Kallark dodged his head to the side and reached up to grab his opponent’s wrist, but Christopher drove the ridge of his other hand into a pressure point in Kallark’s shoulder.
Kallark brought his knee up towards Christopher’s midsection, but his target twisted and brought his elbow into Kallark’s solar plexus, following up with a knee to the nose when the huge warrior bowed to the body blow. As Kallark reared back, holding his nose, Christopher spun and swept the legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground.
“You,” Kallark growled, “are beginning to annoy me.”
“Feel free to leave,” Christopher replied. “You can even take my treacherous bitch of a wife with you. But you try to take my son, and I will end you.”
“Greater men than you have tried,” Kallark said. “Yet I continue.”
Christopher stomped his foot down, narrowly missing Kallark’s face as the interloper rolled to the side and scrambled to his feet. He jumped, bringing one knee up and then switching his weight, allowing his other foot to snap forward and strike in the direction of Kallark’s jaw.
Kallark planted his hands down into a V in front of his chest, blocking the strike, as well as the follow up punch. He then punched Christopher across the jaw, and as his opponent recoiled after the punch, reversed his momentum and brought both hands across his face in a double axe handle. Blood flew from Christopher’s face as he collapsed to the ground. Kallark brought his foot down quickly, and Christopher’s knee gave in with a thick crunch.
“Just let us go, Chris!” Kate wept, clutching Alex to her breast.
Christopher spat bloody phlegm from his mouth and looked back at her. “Never.”
Kallark stepped between them, scowling. “She is coming with us. The boy too.”
Christopher stared with intense hatred at Kate. His knee was incapacitated, possibly broken. He could continue to fight, but he would not come out victorious. After a few seconds of listening to his own ragged breathing, he nodded. “Go. You can run. But I will find you. And I will take Alex back. If you get in my way, I will kill you Katherine. That is a promise.”
“Scott and Alex belong with me!” Kate replied.
“Scott?” Kallark asked.
“Scott?” Christopher repeated, a smile crossing his swelling and cut lips. “You’re not taking Scott.”
“Don’t make this any more difficult than it is,” Kate said. “Scott is already safe.”
Christopher laughed. “With Dr. Essex, right?”
Kate went ashen. “What did you do?”
“Dr. Essex works for me, Kate,” he said, “He called me shortly after you took Scott to him for his ‘check-up.’ He’ll protect Scott until I can retrieve him, and if you go after him, so help me God… I will have Dr. Essex kill him in his cradle.”
[NOW: Munich…]
“Do you really believe that this man is from the future?” Piotr asked incredulously as they made their way through the rubble of a ruined bookstore.
Ororo shrugged. “It is difficult to say. The information he had on us is not impossible to come by through ordinary means. But we have been witness to so many miracles in these days, so many strange things that most claim impossible, that we cannot dismiss him as a lunatic.”
“The science behind it is still very young, but it is possible,” Kitty replied.
“How? Wouldn’t his interaction with his own mother cause a paradox?”
“Not necessarily. So long as he doesn’t change anything that would prevent him from being born.”
Piotr shook his head. “He claims the future is doomed by something that happened here in the present, before he was born. So how do those in the future know what was supposed to happen, if it now never will?”
“Pretty astute, big guy,” Kitty replied. “Assuming what he knew of the past was accurate to begin with. If the Novikov self-consistency principle is true, whomever told him of the past may have lied to him knowing that he had to think one thing was going to happen to prevent it from happening. Or more accurately, he had to think something was not going to happen to ensure it was going to happen.”
Piotr nodded. “If his superiors in the future told him that there was no outbreak, then he wouldn’t know to try to stop it, thereby ensuring that it was allowed to happen.”
“Or there are infinite universes,” Kitty responded, “each one sprouting from every conceivable outcome to any choice ever made.”
“Quiet, both of you,” Ororo snapped. “Whoever this ‘Bishop’ is, he is not our primary concern. We need to find these BrewD and neutralize them.”
“Ororo, DOWN!” Piotr screamed, and dove at her. From above, a thick tentacle lashed out, ensnaring her neck. Her eyes grew wide as a sleazoid began to pull her up towards the bookshelf it was perched upon.
Piotr transformed into his metal form and grabbed the tentacle. He yanked hard, tearing the limb in half, and yanked down on the remains, hauling the creature down to the floor. Ororo dropped to the ground gasping. He picked up his foot and brought it down on the monster’s skull, crushing it with a hollow crunch.
“Shit,” Kitty said, looking around them. “Bad news, that thing already reproduced.”
Seven pairs of yellow eyes looked back at them from above the bookshelves, and leapt as one, sending the bookshelf tumbling towards Ororo. She tried to get clear, but was buried by a huge pile of tomes.
“Storm!” Colossus exclaimed. He caught one of the sleazoids in mid air and swung it by its legs, batting another one of them aside.
Kitty tunneled forward, allowing three of them to crash to the ground. She kicked another in the jaw, flipping backwards when it did not budge. She grabbed a coat rack from the corner and jabbed it forward, tunneling as it passed through the monster’s center mass. She let go, and the monster instantly howled in pain, grabbed the suddenly solid shaft penetrating its chest, and promptly exploded.
“Holy crap,” Kitty said.
“Shadowcat, see if you can get to Storm,” Piotr said, “I will take care of these bisbozhni dzemoni.”
Outside, a distant rumble rolled across the darkening sky.
“I don’t know about the demon part,” Kitty shuddered, “but I will agree with you on the unholy.” She dove into the pile of books. As she passed through the pile, she saw Ororo struggling to push herself up, but the weight of the pile kept her pinned. “She awake, Colossus, but she’s pinned,” Kitty said, emerging from the other side. “I can’t go in and grab her.”
“Try to get her free,” he replied, continued to swing the sleazoid in wide, sweeping arcs, splattering its skull against the concrete and steel walls. He dropped the carcass as another jumped at him, and he flipped the monster, using its own momentum to hurl it into the wall at terminal velocity. A third leapt in, which he caught it in mid-air and instantly crushed its windpipe, its head lolling to the side like that of a rag doll. Thunder crashed again. “Come, Godless bastards, see if you can stand before the might of Colossus!” he roared, tossing the body at the remaining three as lightning flashed across his steel skin.
“God, Pete, you have no idea how hot you are right now,” Kitty said breathlessly from behind him. She laid her hands on the top of the book pile. “Let’s see if this works.”
Kitty tunneled in place, attempting to take as many of the books with her as she could. Suddenly, Ororo sprung up, relieved of the weight of most of the pile. “Goddess curse you!” she screamed manically, staggering forward, tears of absolute terror flowing freely from her eyes, which glowed with an ethereal white light. A bolt of lightning from the skies arced impossibly through the door, dancing momentarily on the frame before whipping into the trio of creatures. Ororo screamed a hoarse wail as her hands splayed out before her, willing the lightning to strip the flesh from the bones of the sleazoids. They exploded with a shriek and covered the room with a disgusting yellow ooze.
Ororo continued to scream, her fear turned fury, as lightning continued to arc within the bookstore, igniting the scattered works and shattering the light fixtures above.
“Storm,” Kitty yelled, “you need to control this!”
“She is in a rage,” Piotr cried, shielding his eyes with his hand. “She is claustrophobic, as a result of being buried alive as a child!”
Kitty took two quick steps, crouched down behind Ororo, and then leapt up, tackling her from a low angle and tunneling into the air. Losing no momentum while tunneling, the two carried out into the open sky above the street before Kitty released her hold. Ororo, suddenly faced with the open air, snapped out of her rage. Within seconds, the skies showed signs of lightening up as she fell towards the ground. A sudden gust billowed out her cape, slowing her enough to allow her to land safely. Kitty landed a few feet away, rolling with the impact.
“I… I am sorry, Shadowcat,” Ororo said, trying to regain her composure. “I did not mean to put the two of you in jeopardy.”
“I understand, Storm,” Kitty assured her. “Believe me, I know what you’ve gone through. The first time I tried to use my powers, it felt like I was encased in that wall for about an hour.”
“Come,” Piotr said. “We should regroup with the others and assist them if needed.”
“You were awesome, Pete,” Kitty smiled. “Thunder and lightning crashing around you, power and fury personified… quite inspiring.”
“You were amazing as well,” he replied. “That was quick thinking, tunneling the books along with you. You are quite inventive with your abilities.”
“When we’re done here, would you like to find a nice quiet place where we can see how inventive I can get?” Kitty asked, her hand on his chest.
“I would,” Piotr grinned.
[TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO: Anchorage, Alaska…]
“You wouldn’t,” Kate cried.
“Never underestimate me, my wife. Don’t worry, Scott will be safe, as long as I never see you ever again. And I will get Alex back. Run while you can. Never return. Fly far, far away.”
Kallark put a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “If we are leaving, we must go now.” Kate wept as she looked back at Christopher, her resolve crumbling. “Kate… for your own safety… we must leave.”
“Fly far, little Kate,” Christopher laughed, “fly far, far away.”
Kate turned and left with Kallark, cradling Alex in her arms.
“Alex, my son,” Christopher chuckled, calling after them, “I’ll see you again someday.”
He slid himself over to the edge of the sofa and hauled himself up. His knee gave a jolt, like a lightning bolt of pain, and he winced. It would likely be a few weeks before he’d be able to walk on it again. He reached for the phone and punched in a number he knew better than his wife had suspected.
“Essex,” the voice on the other end stated.
“Summers. Katherine is in the wind. She has Alex.”
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Nathaniel Essex replied, “Scott is here with me. He’s safe.”
[NOW: Munich…]
“It’s perfectly safe,” Scott assured Shiro as he strode towards the front of the gymnasium that a large group of people had fled screaming from moments earlier. “It’s been fifteen years since I had the treatment, and I have gotten a green light on every physical since.”
“There are complex genetic issues involved,” Shiro retorted, “the complications of the procedure may not ever show themselves in you. But I wish you luck with your children.”
Jean shot Scott a worried look, but he didn’t notice.
“Sunfire, you of all people know the science involved with the Weapon X trials,” Scott said. “The complex intricacies involved with the various implants, gene therapy, and radiation. And you think Magneto has managed to get the very same results with prayer and meditation?”
“What are you implying?” Shiro eyed the man suspiciously. In the distance, a shrill pulse ricocheted off the walls of the buildings.
“This base of his, Avalon, you called it? If this was all truly just the power of prayer… why is it that all the conversions must take place at Avalon? Why couldn’t someone just drop down to their knees at the Walmart in Saskatoon and grow wings?”
“Avalon is a place of holy power, and you would do well not to mock it,” Shiro seethed.
“Okay, point taken,” Scott said. “But what about Jerusalem? Mecca? Or the Ise Shrine?”
“The complexity of the meditation and prayer that is required to achieve enlightenment demand days of uninterrupted-”
A rumble of thunder cracked the darkening sky.
“Table this until we’re done, boys,” Jean hissed, switching to the mental uplink, {unless you want to announce to the creatures inside that there are some tasty morsels just waiting to be snatched up on their porch!}
{Point taken, Marvel Girl,} Scott relented, {can you scan the interior?}
{No,} she replied, {their minds are chaotic, hard to grasp, like a bar of soap covered in oil.}
{Okay,} Scott grasped the door handle, {we’re going in. Stay sharp.}
Scott opened the door and they stepped inside. The room was a vast empty space, almost supernaturally dark, even with the numerous windows set high in the walls.
{Sunfire, can you illuminate things in here?}
{Hai,} Sunfire replied, extending his left hand in front of him. A ball of energy coalesced in his palm, casting a strange glow across the room.
“My God,” Jean whispered.
The walls were lined with dozens of bodies ensconced in slimy cocoons, each with a wound in their abdomen. A sharp scream split the eerie silence as one of the victims began to transform. Before they could react, two more victims screamed.
As Scott raised his hand up to his visor, a thick tentacle slapped from above, striking his visor and sending it across the room. Sunfire wheeled to try and fire a bolt of energy at the creature, but two more tentacles swung down and knocked him across the room.
The trio were quickly engulfed in the BrewD swarm. A thick tentacle covered Shiro’s eyes and he was unable to see to direct his powers. {Cyclops,} he thought, {blast it!}
{I can’t, not without my visor,} he replied, struggling to hold back two tentacles that were trying to encircle his arms.
Jean fought off another of the attackers appendages, her back against the door. Of the three of them, she was in the most defensible position, but the sleazoid pressed the attack as more creatures emerged from their cocoons. {He could level the building in the instant before his head gets ripped off his own shoulders by the force of the impact!}
{I see it, by Sunfire’s feet,} Scott replied, punching the sleazoid in its eye.
{Marvel Girl,} Shiro replied, {can you reach it?}
Jean shot a panicked look at Shiro.
{Are you crazy, Sunfire?} Scott interrupted. {She’s barely holding her own! If she tries to go to it, she’ll be swamped.}
{Jean,} Shiro struggled, {you haven’t told him.}
{Told me what?} Scott asked, twisting rapidly and throwing the sleazoid to the ground before another one leapt on his back and began grasping his arms. “Told me what?!” he asked aloud.
[TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO: Anchorage, Alaska…]
“Thank you, Dr. Essex,” Christopher said, taking Scott in his arms. “Your efforts are appreciated. I’m in your debt.”
“Nonsense,” Essex replied. “It’s a pleasure to help you, Major Summers. If you need assistance in the future, call me.”
“Thank you,” Christopher said. “There are several projects upcoming that might have the need of someone with your keen scientific mind. Should something turn up, I will be sure to contact you.”
“That would be great,” Essex said. “Take care of Scott. He’s a special child.”
Christopher nodded and turned, exiting the office. Essex smiled and turned back to his desk, retrieving a vial of blood from the top drawer labeled “Summers, Scott.”
“Very special indeed.”
[NOW: Munich…]
“There are no records of this event in my time,” Bishop said, striding towards the subway station from which a crowd of panicking commuters erupted screaming. “Something this large would have to be known. Vermicom Biotech does eventually announce a gene-mod treatment that has certain negative side effects, but there was never this contagion-level threat. You mentioned a saboteur… do you have any information on him?”
“Yes,” Logan said, taking careful measure of the man. “They described him as a tall black man dressed like a weirdo.”
Bishop stopped and looked at Logan. “It wasn’t me.”
“I dunno, you claim that you’re from the future, you seem to know a lot about Vermicom and their experiments, and you fit the exact description.”
“Why would I reveal myself to you if I were the reason-”
“You’re innocent until proven guilty, Bub,” Logan sneered, “but if I find out that you are the reason my team is in danger, you’re history!”
The two of them descended down the stairs. With the last of the civilians evacuated, the station was eerily quiet. The interior lights cast a cold, sterile light over the detritus left behind by the fleeing crowd. Backpacks, briefcases, pocketbooks and attaches littered the floor. At the far end of the station, a score of empty cocoons lined the wall. The BrewD had already hatched.
From the tunnel, a nasty hiss announced the presence of an army of sleazoids, encircling them. Bishop uttered a brief incantation, and an energy field snapped up around his clenched fist. “Call it, Wolverine.”
“Not much to call, future boy,” Logan said, holding up the back of his right hand to Bishop. He flexed the muscles in his forearm and three glistening, foot-long metal blades shot from between the knuckles. “We go to work!”
TO BE CONTINUED...
“Please,” Elisa cried, “let me go!”
If the creature that had taken over the body of the man formerly known as Heinrich Eberstark understood her pleas, it gave no indication. Instead, it secreted ever more resin, slathering it across the chest of another unconscious victim. There were six bodies in the room being sealed in the resin, but the other five were unconscious. Only the young woman remained awake.
“Please,” she continued, “I won’t tell anyone where you are, I swear… please, just let me go, I want to go home and see my fiancé.” She began to weep. “Please, just let me go!”
“I’d do as she says,” Bobby said, and the creature whirled, baring its teeth and screeching. “God, Banshee, he sounds just like you!”
The creature lunged, and Bobby held out his hands, palms out. Sharp stalagmites of ice lurched up from the floor, blocking what Kitty had dubbed a sleazoid in mid-air. It writhed and screeched again, slamming its tentacles into the obstruction, snapping the icicles off and sending ice flying.
A burst of smoke and brimstone exploded behind the creature, and Kurt’s ebon form emerged, dropping into a fighting stance behind it. “Save your humor, Iceman,” Kurt said, grabbing Elisa’s hand. “This creature was once a man like you or I.” As the creature spun to strike him, he and Elisa disappeared, reappearing an instant later on the other side of the room in another burst of smoke. Elisa promptly dropped to her knees and vomited uncontrollably.
“ ‘Tis nae but a devil now,” Sean replied grimly, leaping into the air and driving his elbow down onto the top of the creature’s head, which slammed down onto the jagged remains of an ice stalagmite. A harsh gurgling sound poured forth, and yellow ichor spewed from the gaping hole in the sleazoid’s head. The multiple tentacles twitched spasmodically for a few additional moments, and then fell silent.
“Fraulein,” Kurt spoke softly to Elisa, “it is very important that you listen to me right now.”
She wiped vomit away from the corner of her mouth and wept openly.
“Did that creature… inject you with anything?”
Elisa merely sobbed uncontrollably, her body wracked and shuddering with emotion.
He glanced over to Bobby and Sean, who examined the other bodies, glanced back at Kurt, and nodded their heads sadly. Bobby took a pair of special plugs out of his uniform pocket and placed them in his ears.
“Miss, please,” Kurt said, gently gripping her arms with his dual fingered hands. “Look at me. Are you alright?”
Elisa looked, stared straight into the yellow eyes of this man with skin blacker than pitch, and Kurt had the answer to his second question. This woman, regardless of whether or not she was infected, would never be alright again.
A stark terror danced in her eyes, a hysteria barely concealed. A manic smile flashed across her lips for a second, and Kurt now had the answer to his first question. Her teeth had begun elongating, her gums shrinking back.
“What are they?” she asked, her eyes growing jaundiced with the transformation. Ominously, thunder peeled across the sky.
Kurt placed a pair of special plugs in his ears. He drew her close and held her. “It’s O.K., miss. Everything will be fine. Pray with me.”
He had gotten as far into the Hail Mary as “the Lord is with thee” when his own voice was drowned out by Sean unleashing an ultra high-frequency pulse of focused sound that pulped the victims brains within an instant.
[TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO: Anchorage, Alaska…]
Katherine screamed as Christopher spun and kicked Kallark in the jaw. The behemoth twisted only slightly, snapping back and planting the palms of his hands into Christopher’s chest. The shove was enough to send him staggering back onto the floor, where he rolled over his shoulders into a fighting stance. This big guy was going to be a tougher opponent than he originally thought.
“You treat your wife as if she was a possession,” Kallark commented, his own form standing at the ready. “Her spirit is strong, so you choose to try to dominate the flesh. This we will not allow. The Shi’Ar believe that every soul must choose-”
Christopher lunged, driving his fist at the man’s head. Kallark dodged his head to the side and reached up to grab his opponent’s wrist, but Christopher drove the ridge of his other hand into a pressure point in Kallark’s shoulder.
Kallark brought his knee up towards Christopher’s midsection, but his target twisted and brought his elbow into Kallark’s solar plexus, following up with a knee to the nose when the huge warrior bowed to the body blow. As Kallark reared back, holding his nose, Christopher spun and swept the legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground.
“You,” Kallark growled, “are beginning to annoy me.”
“Feel free to leave,” Christopher replied. “You can even take my treacherous bitch of a wife with you. But you try to take my son, and I will end you.”
“Greater men than you have tried,” Kallark said. “Yet I continue.”
Christopher stomped his foot down, narrowly missing Kallark’s face as the interloper rolled to the side and scrambled to his feet. He jumped, bringing one knee up and then switching his weight, allowing his other foot to snap forward and strike in the direction of Kallark’s jaw.
Kallark planted his hands down into a V in front of his chest, blocking the strike, as well as the follow up punch. He then punched Christopher across the jaw, and as his opponent recoiled after the punch, reversed his momentum and brought both hands across his face in a double axe handle. Blood flew from Christopher’s face as he collapsed to the ground. Kallark brought his foot down quickly, and Christopher’s knee gave in with a thick crunch.
“Just let us go, Chris!” Kate wept, clutching Alex to her breast.
Christopher spat bloody phlegm from his mouth and looked back at her. “Never.”
Kallark stepped between them, scowling. “She is coming with us. The boy too.”
Christopher stared with intense hatred at Kate. His knee was incapacitated, possibly broken. He could continue to fight, but he would not come out victorious. After a few seconds of listening to his own ragged breathing, he nodded. “Go. You can run. But I will find you. And I will take Alex back. If you get in my way, I will kill you Katherine. That is a promise.”
“Scott and Alex belong with me!” Kate replied.
“Scott?” Kallark asked.
“Scott?” Christopher repeated, a smile crossing his swelling and cut lips. “You’re not taking Scott.”
“Don’t make this any more difficult than it is,” Kate said. “Scott is already safe.”
Christopher laughed. “With Dr. Essex, right?”
Kate went ashen. “What did you do?”
“Dr. Essex works for me, Kate,” he said, “He called me shortly after you took Scott to him for his ‘check-up.’ He’ll protect Scott until I can retrieve him, and if you go after him, so help me God… I will have Dr. Essex kill him in his cradle.”
[NOW: Munich…]
“Do you really believe that this man is from the future?” Piotr asked incredulously as they made their way through the rubble of a ruined bookstore.
Ororo shrugged. “It is difficult to say. The information he had on us is not impossible to come by through ordinary means. But we have been witness to so many miracles in these days, so many strange things that most claim impossible, that we cannot dismiss him as a lunatic.”
“The science behind it is still very young, but it is possible,” Kitty replied.
“How? Wouldn’t his interaction with his own mother cause a paradox?”
“Not necessarily. So long as he doesn’t change anything that would prevent him from being born.”
Piotr shook his head. “He claims the future is doomed by something that happened here in the present, before he was born. So how do those in the future know what was supposed to happen, if it now never will?”
“Pretty astute, big guy,” Kitty replied. “Assuming what he knew of the past was accurate to begin with. If the Novikov self-consistency principle is true, whomever told him of the past may have lied to him knowing that he had to think one thing was going to happen to prevent it from happening. Or more accurately, he had to think something was not going to happen to ensure it was going to happen.”
Piotr nodded. “If his superiors in the future told him that there was no outbreak, then he wouldn’t know to try to stop it, thereby ensuring that it was allowed to happen.”
“Or there are infinite universes,” Kitty responded, “each one sprouting from every conceivable outcome to any choice ever made.”
“Quiet, both of you,” Ororo snapped. “Whoever this ‘Bishop’ is, he is not our primary concern. We need to find these BrewD and neutralize them.”
“Ororo, DOWN!” Piotr screamed, and dove at her. From above, a thick tentacle lashed out, ensnaring her neck. Her eyes grew wide as a sleazoid began to pull her up towards the bookshelf it was perched upon.
Piotr transformed into his metal form and grabbed the tentacle. He yanked hard, tearing the limb in half, and yanked down on the remains, hauling the creature down to the floor. Ororo dropped to the ground gasping. He picked up his foot and brought it down on the monster’s skull, crushing it with a hollow crunch.
“Shit,” Kitty said, looking around them. “Bad news, that thing already reproduced.”
Seven pairs of yellow eyes looked back at them from above the bookshelves, and leapt as one, sending the bookshelf tumbling towards Ororo. She tried to get clear, but was buried by a huge pile of tomes.
“Storm!” Colossus exclaimed. He caught one of the sleazoids in mid air and swung it by its legs, batting another one of them aside.
Kitty tunneled forward, allowing three of them to crash to the ground. She kicked another in the jaw, flipping backwards when it did not budge. She grabbed a coat rack from the corner and jabbed it forward, tunneling as it passed through the monster’s center mass. She let go, and the monster instantly howled in pain, grabbed the suddenly solid shaft penetrating its chest, and promptly exploded.
“Holy crap,” Kitty said.
“Shadowcat, see if you can get to Storm,” Piotr said, “I will take care of these bisbozhni dzemoni.”
Outside, a distant rumble rolled across the darkening sky.
“I don’t know about the demon part,” Kitty shuddered, “but I will agree with you on the unholy.” She dove into the pile of books. As she passed through the pile, she saw Ororo struggling to push herself up, but the weight of the pile kept her pinned. “She awake, Colossus, but she’s pinned,” Kitty said, emerging from the other side. “I can’t go in and grab her.”
“Try to get her free,” he replied, continued to swing the sleazoid in wide, sweeping arcs, splattering its skull against the concrete and steel walls. He dropped the carcass as another jumped at him, and he flipped the monster, using its own momentum to hurl it into the wall at terminal velocity. A third leapt in, which he caught it in mid-air and instantly crushed its windpipe, its head lolling to the side like that of a rag doll. Thunder crashed again. “Come, Godless bastards, see if you can stand before the might of Colossus!” he roared, tossing the body at the remaining three as lightning flashed across his steel skin.
“God, Pete, you have no idea how hot you are right now,” Kitty said breathlessly from behind him. She laid her hands on the top of the book pile. “Let’s see if this works.”
Kitty tunneled in place, attempting to take as many of the books with her as she could. Suddenly, Ororo sprung up, relieved of the weight of most of the pile. “Goddess curse you!” she screamed manically, staggering forward, tears of absolute terror flowing freely from her eyes, which glowed with an ethereal white light. A bolt of lightning from the skies arced impossibly through the door, dancing momentarily on the frame before whipping into the trio of creatures. Ororo screamed a hoarse wail as her hands splayed out before her, willing the lightning to strip the flesh from the bones of the sleazoids. They exploded with a shriek and covered the room with a disgusting yellow ooze.
Ororo continued to scream, her fear turned fury, as lightning continued to arc within the bookstore, igniting the scattered works and shattering the light fixtures above.
“Storm,” Kitty yelled, “you need to control this!”
“She is in a rage,” Piotr cried, shielding his eyes with his hand. “She is claustrophobic, as a result of being buried alive as a child!”
Kitty took two quick steps, crouched down behind Ororo, and then leapt up, tackling her from a low angle and tunneling into the air. Losing no momentum while tunneling, the two carried out into the open sky above the street before Kitty released her hold. Ororo, suddenly faced with the open air, snapped out of her rage. Within seconds, the skies showed signs of lightening up as she fell towards the ground. A sudden gust billowed out her cape, slowing her enough to allow her to land safely. Kitty landed a few feet away, rolling with the impact.
“I… I am sorry, Shadowcat,” Ororo said, trying to regain her composure. “I did not mean to put the two of you in jeopardy.”
“I understand, Storm,” Kitty assured her. “Believe me, I know what you’ve gone through. The first time I tried to use my powers, it felt like I was encased in that wall for about an hour.”
“Come,” Piotr said. “We should regroup with the others and assist them if needed.”
“You were awesome, Pete,” Kitty smiled. “Thunder and lightning crashing around you, power and fury personified… quite inspiring.”
“You were amazing as well,” he replied. “That was quick thinking, tunneling the books along with you. You are quite inventive with your abilities.”
“When we’re done here, would you like to find a nice quiet place where we can see how inventive I can get?” Kitty asked, her hand on his chest.
“I would,” Piotr grinned.
[TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO: Anchorage, Alaska…]
“You wouldn’t,” Kate cried.
“Never underestimate me, my wife. Don’t worry, Scott will be safe, as long as I never see you ever again. And I will get Alex back. Run while you can. Never return. Fly far, far away.”
Kallark put a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “If we are leaving, we must go now.” Kate wept as she looked back at Christopher, her resolve crumbling. “Kate… for your own safety… we must leave.”
“Fly far, little Kate,” Christopher laughed, “fly far, far away.”
Kate turned and left with Kallark, cradling Alex in her arms.
“Alex, my son,” Christopher chuckled, calling after them, “I’ll see you again someday.”
He slid himself over to the edge of the sofa and hauled himself up. His knee gave a jolt, like a lightning bolt of pain, and he winced. It would likely be a few weeks before he’d be able to walk on it again. He reached for the phone and punched in a number he knew better than his wife had suspected.
“Essex,” the voice on the other end stated.
“Summers. Katherine is in the wind. She has Alex.”
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Nathaniel Essex replied, “Scott is here with me. He’s safe.”
[NOW: Munich…]
“It’s perfectly safe,” Scott assured Shiro as he strode towards the front of the gymnasium that a large group of people had fled screaming from moments earlier. “It’s been fifteen years since I had the treatment, and I have gotten a green light on every physical since.”
“There are complex genetic issues involved,” Shiro retorted, “the complications of the procedure may not ever show themselves in you. But I wish you luck with your children.”
Jean shot Scott a worried look, but he didn’t notice.
“Sunfire, you of all people know the science involved with the Weapon X trials,” Scott said. “The complex intricacies involved with the various implants, gene therapy, and radiation. And you think Magneto has managed to get the very same results with prayer and meditation?”
“What are you implying?” Shiro eyed the man suspiciously. In the distance, a shrill pulse ricocheted off the walls of the buildings.
“This base of his, Avalon, you called it? If this was all truly just the power of prayer… why is it that all the conversions must take place at Avalon? Why couldn’t someone just drop down to their knees at the Walmart in Saskatoon and grow wings?”
“Avalon is a place of holy power, and you would do well not to mock it,” Shiro seethed.
“Okay, point taken,” Scott said. “But what about Jerusalem? Mecca? Or the Ise Shrine?”
“The complexity of the meditation and prayer that is required to achieve enlightenment demand days of uninterrupted-”
A rumble of thunder cracked the darkening sky.
“Table this until we’re done, boys,” Jean hissed, switching to the mental uplink, {unless you want to announce to the creatures inside that there are some tasty morsels just waiting to be snatched up on their porch!}
{Point taken, Marvel Girl,} Scott relented, {can you scan the interior?}
{No,} she replied, {their minds are chaotic, hard to grasp, like a bar of soap covered in oil.}
{Okay,} Scott grasped the door handle, {we’re going in. Stay sharp.}
Scott opened the door and they stepped inside. The room was a vast empty space, almost supernaturally dark, even with the numerous windows set high in the walls.
{Sunfire, can you illuminate things in here?}
{Hai,} Sunfire replied, extending his left hand in front of him. A ball of energy coalesced in his palm, casting a strange glow across the room.
“My God,” Jean whispered.
The walls were lined with dozens of bodies ensconced in slimy cocoons, each with a wound in their abdomen. A sharp scream split the eerie silence as one of the victims began to transform. Before they could react, two more victims screamed.
As Scott raised his hand up to his visor, a thick tentacle slapped from above, striking his visor and sending it across the room. Sunfire wheeled to try and fire a bolt of energy at the creature, but two more tentacles swung down and knocked him across the room.
The trio were quickly engulfed in the BrewD swarm. A thick tentacle covered Shiro’s eyes and he was unable to see to direct his powers. {Cyclops,} he thought, {blast it!}
{I can’t, not without my visor,} he replied, struggling to hold back two tentacles that were trying to encircle his arms.
Jean fought off another of the attackers appendages, her back against the door. Of the three of them, she was in the most defensible position, but the sleazoid pressed the attack as more creatures emerged from their cocoons. {He could level the building in the instant before his head gets ripped off his own shoulders by the force of the impact!}
{I see it, by Sunfire’s feet,} Scott replied, punching the sleazoid in its eye.
{Marvel Girl,} Shiro replied, {can you reach it?}
Jean shot a panicked look at Shiro.
{Are you crazy, Sunfire?} Scott interrupted. {She’s barely holding her own! If she tries to go to it, she’ll be swamped.}
{Jean,} Shiro struggled, {you haven’t told him.}
{Told me what?} Scott asked, twisting rapidly and throwing the sleazoid to the ground before another one leapt on his back and began grasping his arms. “Told me what?!” he asked aloud.
[TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO: Anchorage, Alaska…]
“Thank you, Dr. Essex,” Christopher said, taking Scott in his arms. “Your efforts are appreciated. I’m in your debt.”
“Nonsense,” Essex replied. “It’s a pleasure to help you, Major Summers. If you need assistance in the future, call me.”
“Thank you,” Christopher said. “There are several projects upcoming that might have the need of someone with your keen scientific mind. Should something turn up, I will be sure to contact you.”
“That would be great,” Essex said. “Take care of Scott. He’s a special child.”
Christopher nodded and turned, exiting the office. Essex smiled and turned back to his desk, retrieving a vial of blood from the top drawer labeled “Summers, Scott.”
“Very special indeed.”
[NOW: Munich…]
“There are no records of this event in my time,” Bishop said, striding towards the subway station from which a crowd of panicking commuters erupted screaming. “Something this large would have to be known. Vermicom Biotech does eventually announce a gene-mod treatment that has certain negative side effects, but there was never this contagion-level threat. You mentioned a saboteur… do you have any information on him?”
“Yes,” Logan said, taking careful measure of the man. “They described him as a tall black man dressed like a weirdo.”
Bishop stopped and looked at Logan. “It wasn’t me.”
“I dunno, you claim that you’re from the future, you seem to know a lot about Vermicom and their experiments, and you fit the exact description.”
“Why would I reveal myself to you if I were the reason-”
“You’re innocent until proven guilty, Bub,” Logan sneered, “but if I find out that you are the reason my team is in danger, you’re history!”
The two of them descended down the stairs. With the last of the civilians evacuated, the station was eerily quiet. The interior lights cast a cold, sterile light over the detritus left behind by the fleeing crowd. Backpacks, briefcases, pocketbooks and attaches littered the floor. At the far end of the station, a score of empty cocoons lined the wall. The BrewD had already hatched.
From the tunnel, a nasty hiss announced the presence of an army of sleazoids, encircling them. Bishop uttered a brief incantation, and an energy field snapped up around his clenched fist. “Call it, Wolverine.”
“Not much to call, future boy,” Logan said, holding up the back of his right hand to Bishop. He flexed the muscles in his forearm and three glistening, foot-long metal blades shot from between the knuckles. “We go to work!”
TO BE CONTINUED...