Back to GatefoldPrelude by D. Golightly
[This story was originally presented in X Unlimited #50] |
“Resurrectionary”
Featuring Cypher and Havok
“I don't understand.”
Alex Summers sighed, not in aggravation, but because of his own uncertainty. He ran a hand through his hair, pausing at the back of his neck to place pressure against it in anticipation of a building headache. He looked down at the younger man sitting before him, the one who had spoken, the one who was obviously confused and scared.
“I know, Doug,” Havok replied. “I don't really understand much of this either. I was surprised to see you in SHIELD custody. I'm still trying to get up to speed myself here.”
“You're lying,” Doug Ramsey shot back. “Tell me the truth!”
Havok was surprised at the outburst. Havok's paper-thin story wouldn't have been believeable to a kindergartener. What snake oil was he trying to sell this former X-Man, anyway? As a liason between SHIELD and the mutant community, Alex often found himself spouting polictial jargon that he didn't actually believe himself. This little-white-lie stuff was more in Scott's realm of expertise.
They were locked into a black room, devoid of decoration or anything else, save for a table and two chairs. It was a bare-bones interrogation room and no amount of sweet talk was going to turn it into anything else.
After taking in a deep breath, and holding it in, Alex finally released his neck and said, “Screw it.”
With a quick wave of his hand he sent a pulse of plasma into the corner of the room, exploding the pivoting camera mounted there that had been monitoring their conversation. Doug sat back in his chair, but his face didn't reveal any sense of fear from Havok's sudden strike. It was almost as if he had expected him to do what he did.
“Doug,” Havok began slowly, “tell me what you remember?”
“I remember dying. I remember a bright light. That's what you want to hear, right? Sure, I saw all that standard stuff. But I also remember Warlock telling me everything was going to be okay. The next thing I know I'm getting arrested, you're pretending that you're in the dark, and I'm getting pissed. Now. Tell me. What. The hell. Is happening to me!”
“It's pretty complicated-”
“I can read your body language, Alex,” Doug blurted out. “You're uncomfortable, but confident in your expression. I can see the words while they're spilling out of your mouth. Most are distorted, but I can recognize the half-truths mixed into the jumble. You can keep trying to ease me into whatever it is you're eventually going to tell me, but since you just blew up your boss' eyeball into our little room, I'm thinking we only have a few seconds before they kick in the door. So, cut the crap and start giving it to me straight, dammit!”
“...you can see my words?”
Doug nodded.
Doug Ramsey had once been know as Cypher, an omnilingualist, whose mutant power allowed him to comprehend language in any form. He had been an expert in computer sciences since he could understand computer code like no one else could. He had been a valuable member of the X-Men and the New Mutants before he died.
Then a week ago he had turned up randomly at a library, pulling hundreds of texts off the shelves so he could feel the pages. The police had thought him homeless and crazy, but SHIELD's facial recognition software flagged him as a person of interest and he was transferred to a secure facility. Havok was brought in to try and better assess the situation, evaluate Doug, and make a recommendation on how to proceed. It wasn't everyday that a long-dead mutant popped back up on the radar.
Reading body language, seeing words...this was obviously not the same Doug Ramsey.
Havok hesitated a second further before saying, “An hour ago I was shown footage of you climbing out of your grave.”
Doug's jaw dropped open, but he quickly recomposed himself. “Okay...so, I was dead and now I'm back. That happens, right? I mean, to us. To mutants. Hell, to people in general, right? Didn't Thor die once? And he's a god or something, so-”
“Not too long ago a would-be world-changer calling herself Wicked attempted to ressurect scores of mutants that had been killed in a horrific event called the Hecatomb. She succeeded.” *
[* Check out X-Men: The Lazarus Contract, but that pretty much sums it all up.]
“But I wasn't part of this Hecatomb thing,” Doug protested. They heard footsteps coming down the hallway. They weren't rushed, but it sounded like several pairs of feet was heading for them. “What does this Wicked person have to do with me?”
“She was manipulated into generating this worldwide event that some have referred to as a Ressurection Wave,” Havok explained. “She didn't just bring back the mutants that were killed in the Hecatomb. Countless scores of mutants have been rising from their graves all across the globe. Your cemetary was being monitored since several deceased X-Men were buried there. It's not a big stretch of the imagination that our enemies would desecrate our final resting places, right?”
“I died.”
It was Havok's turn to nod. Then, after a brief pause, Havok asked, “What were you doing in the library, Doug? They said you were running your fingers over the books but not actually reading them.”
“I was reading them. Just not cognitively. I could feel the language contained inside. I intuitively understood the contents by touching the pages. I...couldn't do that before.”
“It seems like a whole lot has changed for you.” Havok pointed under the table where Doug. “Like that.”
Doug glanced down at his right leg, which wasn't entirely organic any longer. Instead of a flesh and blood limb he was staring at a metallic, techno-organic appendage. He could feel his thigh, calf, and foot just like they were an extensive of himself, but when he tapped on the metal skin it clanged hard as a rock.
“Yeah,” Doug muttered. “I don't get it either. Was I...was I buried with an artifical leg?”
“No.”
Someone pounded on the door, demanding to me let in. The doorknob shoook violently as whoever was on the other side attempted to force the lock to undo itself. Havok glanced at the door and then turned back to look at Doug again.
“Doug, I want to help you,” Alex said. “You believe that, right?”
Doug's mutant ability translated Havok's body language and other nonverbal cues into a logical understanding that seemed obvious to the resurrected man. He saw the verbal language flow out of Havok like a translucent encoded transmission, recognizing the authenticity of the intent behind it.
“Yes, I believe you.”
“Then let me. I promise you we'll figure this out.”
A final warning that the door would be broken down prompted Havok to simply reach back and unlock the handle, letting the SHIELD agents into the room. He matched stares with Doug as the blue-suited agents stepped in to surround them, and despite the tension Doug still found himself trusting his fellow mutant.
Featuring Cypher and Havok
“I don't understand.”
Alex Summers sighed, not in aggravation, but because of his own uncertainty. He ran a hand through his hair, pausing at the back of his neck to place pressure against it in anticipation of a building headache. He looked down at the younger man sitting before him, the one who had spoken, the one who was obviously confused and scared.
“I know, Doug,” Havok replied. “I don't really understand much of this either. I was surprised to see you in SHIELD custody. I'm still trying to get up to speed myself here.”
“You're lying,” Doug Ramsey shot back. “Tell me the truth!”
Havok was surprised at the outburst. Havok's paper-thin story wouldn't have been believeable to a kindergartener. What snake oil was he trying to sell this former X-Man, anyway? As a liason between SHIELD and the mutant community, Alex often found himself spouting polictial jargon that he didn't actually believe himself. This little-white-lie stuff was more in Scott's realm of expertise.
They were locked into a black room, devoid of decoration or anything else, save for a table and two chairs. It was a bare-bones interrogation room and no amount of sweet talk was going to turn it into anything else.
After taking in a deep breath, and holding it in, Alex finally released his neck and said, “Screw it.”
With a quick wave of his hand he sent a pulse of plasma into the corner of the room, exploding the pivoting camera mounted there that had been monitoring their conversation. Doug sat back in his chair, but his face didn't reveal any sense of fear from Havok's sudden strike. It was almost as if he had expected him to do what he did.
“Doug,” Havok began slowly, “tell me what you remember?”
“I remember dying. I remember a bright light. That's what you want to hear, right? Sure, I saw all that standard stuff. But I also remember Warlock telling me everything was going to be okay. The next thing I know I'm getting arrested, you're pretending that you're in the dark, and I'm getting pissed. Now. Tell me. What. The hell. Is happening to me!”
“It's pretty complicated-”
“I can read your body language, Alex,” Doug blurted out. “You're uncomfortable, but confident in your expression. I can see the words while they're spilling out of your mouth. Most are distorted, but I can recognize the half-truths mixed into the jumble. You can keep trying to ease me into whatever it is you're eventually going to tell me, but since you just blew up your boss' eyeball into our little room, I'm thinking we only have a few seconds before they kick in the door. So, cut the crap and start giving it to me straight, dammit!”
“...you can see my words?”
Doug nodded.
Doug Ramsey had once been know as Cypher, an omnilingualist, whose mutant power allowed him to comprehend language in any form. He had been an expert in computer sciences since he could understand computer code like no one else could. He had been a valuable member of the X-Men and the New Mutants before he died.
Then a week ago he had turned up randomly at a library, pulling hundreds of texts off the shelves so he could feel the pages. The police had thought him homeless and crazy, but SHIELD's facial recognition software flagged him as a person of interest and he was transferred to a secure facility. Havok was brought in to try and better assess the situation, evaluate Doug, and make a recommendation on how to proceed. It wasn't everyday that a long-dead mutant popped back up on the radar.
Reading body language, seeing words...this was obviously not the same Doug Ramsey.
Havok hesitated a second further before saying, “An hour ago I was shown footage of you climbing out of your grave.”
Doug's jaw dropped open, but he quickly recomposed himself. “Okay...so, I was dead and now I'm back. That happens, right? I mean, to us. To mutants. Hell, to people in general, right? Didn't Thor die once? And he's a god or something, so-”
“Not too long ago a would-be world-changer calling herself Wicked attempted to ressurect scores of mutants that had been killed in a horrific event called the Hecatomb. She succeeded.” *
[* Check out X-Men: The Lazarus Contract, but that pretty much sums it all up.]
“But I wasn't part of this Hecatomb thing,” Doug protested. They heard footsteps coming down the hallway. They weren't rushed, but it sounded like several pairs of feet was heading for them. “What does this Wicked person have to do with me?”
“She was manipulated into generating this worldwide event that some have referred to as a Ressurection Wave,” Havok explained. “She didn't just bring back the mutants that were killed in the Hecatomb. Countless scores of mutants have been rising from their graves all across the globe. Your cemetary was being monitored since several deceased X-Men were buried there. It's not a big stretch of the imagination that our enemies would desecrate our final resting places, right?”
“I died.”
It was Havok's turn to nod. Then, after a brief pause, Havok asked, “What were you doing in the library, Doug? They said you were running your fingers over the books but not actually reading them.”
“I was reading them. Just not cognitively. I could feel the language contained inside. I intuitively understood the contents by touching the pages. I...couldn't do that before.”
“It seems like a whole lot has changed for you.” Havok pointed under the table where Doug. “Like that.”
Doug glanced down at his right leg, which wasn't entirely organic any longer. Instead of a flesh and blood limb he was staring at a metallic, techno-organic appendage. He could feel his thigh, calf, and foot just like they were an extensive of himself, but when he tapped on the metal skin it clanged hard as a rock.
“Yeah,” Doug muttered. “I don't get it either. Was I...was I buried with an artifical leg?”
“No.”
Someone pounded on the door, demanding to me let in. The doorknob shoook violently as whoever was on the other side attempted to force the lock to undo itself. Havok glanced at the door and then turned back to look at Doug again.
“Doug, I want to help you,” Alex said. “You believe that, right?”
Doug's mutant ability translated Havok's body language and other nonverbal cues into a logical understanding that seemed obvious to the resurrected man. He saw the verbal language flow out of Havok like a translucent encoded transmission, recognizing the authenticity of the intent behind it.
“Yes, I believe you.”
“Then let me. I promise you we'll figure this out.”
A final warning that the door would be broken down prompted Havok to simply reach back and unlock the handle, letting the SHIELD agents into the room. He matched stares with Doug as the blue-suited agents stepped in to surround them, and despite the tension Doug still found himself trusting his fellow mutant.