Post by thejellyfish on Oct 2, 2014 1:49:58 GMT -5
Astonishing X-Men #2
Transcending Dimensions
By thejellyfish
Three Days AgoPurifier HQ, Washington DC
‘That bloody cyborg and his damn hunches; I could be in New York by now, but no, I have to gather intel that might be useful to the X-Men.’ thought the ninja known as Psylocke as she shuffled her way out of a vent and onto the ground making sure to not make noise. Gathering her surroundings, she noticed the cameras pointed towards the door opposite her, the computers she was meant to gather the intel from and a safe.
Despite there not being anyone around and being out of sight from the cameras, Psylocke stuck to the shadows and walked to the computers, plugging in the device that Remy’s tech guy made and running the program before getting to work on unlocking the safe.
It didn’t take her long to crack the safe, however the program was finished running and had stolen the data she needed as well. Unplugging the device, she opened up the viewer for the security camera footage and clicked the one in view of the secret cells the Purifiers had built. ‘For a private military with a secret agenda, you guys sure do have shit security.’
She zoomed in on the cell that was busted open, a hole on the other side of the wall leading to outside world. Moving the camera slightly down an inch she realized exactly why the Acolytes attacked this place, other than retaliation for their hatred for mutants.
“No, it can’t be.” she said out loud, her jaw dropping an inch. The cell was labeled as belonging to ‘John Greycrow.’
Greycrow, a notorious assassin, was one of the best, in fact, he would be the best if not for people like Remy’s ex-wife or that Hand assassin making moves in the criminal underworld. He was a ghost, no one could find him and government agencies didn’t even know his full name. Psylocke only knew of his name after the horror stories Remy told her about some jobs they did together a long time ago.
Psylocke shut the computer down and looked at the contents of the safe. ‘Ooh, interesting.’ she thought wile grabbing the files in the safe, before sticking to the shadows and leaving the way she came.
Present Day
Xavier School, Westchester
“And you would’ve been here sooner, if not for that?” asked an annoyed Remy LeBeau, seated across from his fiancé at a table surrounded by the rest of the X-Men. Betsy nodded in reply, before going back to tapping her fingernails on the wooden surface. Hank McCoy, otherwise known as Beast, sat picking at his fur, as he was starting to shed. Ororo Monroe, also known as Storm, sat staring intently at both Remy and Betsy, hoping they could keep their relationship matters in the privacy of Remy’s apartment in town.
Kurt Wagner, the mutant known as Nightcrawler, spoke up first. “So, obviously, ze Acolytes have taken to recruiting vhat zhey consider being top tier talent, zhat much makes sense. But, vhy vould the Purifiers have or vant him?”
“Well, he’s a mutant, so if the Purifiers came to the US Government with one of the most wanted assassins in the world and told them that he’s a mutant, then not only do they gain the trust of government officials, they may also be contracted by the government to head up a division that hunts down mutants.” replied Betsy, sliding the file that she stole into the center of the table. “As to how they captured him, it’s all in there.”
Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men and headmaster of the Xavier School, put his hands together and placed his elbows on the table before speaking. “Well, Miss Braddock, I greatly appreciate the effort you put into retrieving this information. I think it goes without saying that considering this and your relationship with Remy that you will be a great addition to the X-Men.”
The team began to file out of the staff room and walked over to their assistants when the alarm sounded. “Brats...” said Remy with a dejected sigh, placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose.
“Feed the cats, you got it boss.” replied Kitty Pryde.
Early Morning
The Outback
Manifold was starting to get on Frenzy’s nerves. He was an opponent that could not be hit. He would be in front of you, take a step and be behind you, take another step, and disappear completely. Forge had told her that he didn’t really disappear, he just went somewhere else. Point is, he was an opponent Frenzy couldn’t hit and that made her angry.
Frenzy swung her fist to hit who she thought was Manifold, only to find air. She then turned to see Carmella and Abyss standing beside her. “Okay, maybe there’s a bit of a flaw in this plan.” said Abyss.
“No shit, Nils. Don’t see why we didn’t kidnap that fairy girl that’s with the X-Men, kill two birds with one stone.” replied Carmella, in between gasps for air while looking for the target.
“’Cause the girl’s untrained, she’s more likely to get us killed than actually get us where we need to go.” said Frenzy, finishing the conversation before taking a striking position.
She never did land her punch.
The Acolytes found themselves on an unfamiliar landscape. The soil was green, the stars were shining brightly, and the gas giants surrounding this unfamiliar planet were in clear view. They could still breathe, which was surprising to everyone.
“Do you see my power?” Manifold walked closer to the group, before making a portal behind Carmella and shoving her through it before closing it and disappearing.
“With a thought, the human body can move from one place to another.” he said tackling Abyss onto the ground and sending him through another portal before disappearing again.
“I do the same, but I can go farther than most humans.” he replies with a flying kick to Frenzy’s face, kicking her back to Australia, before disappearing again.
The Acolytes look up at the sight before them. Manifold standing tall and proud on the top of Uluru, brandishing his wooden spear.
“Do you think that this scares me? Do you still think you can beat me?”
Meanwhile
Skies Over The Outback
“Professor, what’s the situation?” asked Storm from the pilot’s seat of the Blackbird.
“Eden Fesi’s back on the grid. And even better, he’s fighting the Acolytes. Eyewitnesses placed them in the area around Ayer’s R- sorry, Uluru, quite recently. You will be dropping in to help him and hopefully capturing the Acolytes.”
“And what do we do if Scalphunter turns up, do we fight him or do we pull back?” questioned Beast from a seat in the back of the Blackbird.
“If we can keep the pressure on him, then I think we can take him out of commission. He ain’t invulnerable, Hank ol’ buddy.” replied Gambit from the seat behind Hank.
And with that, the Blackbird began to drop into the Outback. Barely hovering just above the ground, the ramp opened up and the X-Men piled out. Storm and Gambit took charge of the team and led them over to Uluru where the Acolytes were staring up at the giant rock.
“Do you think this scares me? Do you still think you can beat me?” yelled Manifold from the edge of the rock.
“Jeez, mon ami. I don’t know how ya attract this kinda crowd.” replied Gambit. The Acolytes turned around and looked to see the X-Men gathered before them. Nightcrawler brandishing his swords, Storm hovering in place, Psylocke holding her katana, Gambit charging his cards, and Beast cracking his knuckles.
“When I figure it out I’ll tell you Gambit; say, you guys mind helping out?” shouted Manifold back down to the crowd gathered below.
“Well sure homme, we happy ta help a friend in need.”
Storm was first to strike, luring Carmella into the skies with a blast of wind and flinging lightning then using gusts of wind to keep Carmella off balance. Nightcrawler and Beast leapt towards Abyss; however Abyss stretched out of the way of both mutants and swung back with a punch of his own.
Gambit threw his cards at Frenzy who blocked them with her arms, taking no damage. “Didn’t think we’d attract the X-Men to our little party. Any particular reason for you guys to be out here in this neck of the woods?”
“We’re here to stop you guys. Duh.” replied Psylocke attacking her with her psychic knife and swinging the katana down on Frenzy.
Frenzy swung her fist and Psylocke dodged with a flip through the air. Gambit then followed up with a strike to Frenzy’s side with his bo staff.
“I’m disappointed in you LeBeau, I thought the so called ‘King of Thieves’ was better than this. Fighting for peace between mutants and humans.” said a voice from behind Gambit.
Scalphunter swung his sniper rifle at Gambit’s head; luckily, Gambit parried the swing with his bo staff. Gambit made his move with by disconnecting from Scalphunter and throwing a volley of cards at his enemy.
“You guys ready to move?” yelled Manifold from the top of Uluru. “Nevermind, I don’t care.” And with that, Manifold leapt from the top of the rock, creating a giant portal with his hands that encompassed the entire group fighting, including Storm and Carmella, who had dipped closer to the ground to keep each other on their toes.
One second they were in the desert, with its sweltering heat and dry landscape. The next second, every member of the X-Men was submerged in water. Gambit brought himself to the surface to see Scalphunter holding Eden by the neck, he was speaking to him, but Gambit couldn’t hear what was being said before Greycrow reached onto his thigh, detached a large metal device, and attached it to Manifold’s neck.
Eden stopped fighting. The Acolytes won.
“NO!” Gambit yelled, fighting the water to get to the beach. Once he reached it, he pulled out an entire deck of cards from his jacket. They were soaking wet, but that didn’t matter. Not even bothering to take some cards out of the pack, Gambit charged the entire deck and hurled it at Scalphunter. He turned for a second to protect himself from the explosion and saw the rest of the X-Men clambering out from the ocean behind him.
“Thank you for disposing of that, Eden. You’re going to do well with us.”
Eden was silent and his eyes stared a thousand yards away. Scalphunter placed his hand over his ear and began speaking to someone. “Forge, we’ve got him.” Scalphunter paused. “Yes, it’s time we send the message to the world.”
Nightcrawler was being helped up by Beast a few inches from Gambit. “Vhat message? Vhat are you planning?” he asked, coughing between sentences.
Scalphunter paid him no mind and kept his hand on his ear for a short time before taking it off. “You’ll find out soon enough. For now, you’ve got other problems, namely the overzealous group of mercenaries coming to get you. Oh, and Erik the Red gives his regards.”
The rest of the Acolytes moved over to Eden and Scalphunter. “Manifold, I think it’s time we get out of here.” said Carmella. And with that, the Acolytes were gone.
Meanwhile
Xavier School, Westchester
“I’m bored, can we watch something else?” whined Julian Keller, the mutant known as Hellion, from the couch in the teacher’s lounge of the Xavier School. A resounding ‘shhh’ from his friend, Doug Ramsey, was his answer.
“We just wanna see how it’s going in Australia. When we get an update that says things are going well, we’ll tu-“ Kitty started before being interrupted by the television going out.
“What the fuck was that?” asked Julian with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Doug was already headed to the door, before the power came back on like nothing had happened.
A face flickered on the screen of the television screen and the four mutants in the room could hear sounds of discontent among the students coming from the other side of the door.
“Greetings, world. I am Forge and these are my friends. You may know us as ‘those pesky mutant terrorists,’ but we prefer to be called ‘The Acolytes,’ because that is what we are.” said the man as the rest of the Acolytes appeared behind him.
Carmella Unuscione stepped up to speak. “When I was a child, my father told me horror stories of the infamous Soviet Union and the threat of nuclear annihilation. Just one misstep and boom, it ends. Now, the Soviet Union like many other corrupt and evil regimes is gone and the nukes walk among you.” Carmella said before pausing.
“Gal’s got her dramatic pausing down, I’ll give her that.” said Meggan Gwynn, tucking a strand of pink hair behind her elf-like ear.
“Shh” said Doug and Kitty at once.
“My fellow mutants, this is not a bad thing. You have so much power in the palm of your finger tips; it pains me when you don’t live up to your potential. Humans hold you back and your own kind would police you.” Another pause from Carmella.
Sounds of unrest could be heard from the other room. Julian was placed in charge of the students while the X-Men were gone and the regular teachers had left for the night. “I don’t like this, she’s gonna set some of the students off.” said Julian, before heading out into the living quarters to try and calm down their former classmates.
“It’s time we stood up and became free. Humanity, you have another Cold War on your hands. The ball is in your hands now.”
And with that the television went back to its regularly scheduled programming. Doug, Kitty, and Meggan looked at each other and then looked at the door, where they heard two people screaming at each other.
Julian rocketed through the door and slammed into the wall, his telekinetic shield protecting him from harm.
“Oh my God, Jules, what happened out there?” asked Meggan, letting the worry for her friend show through.
“That pink-haired fuck has finally done it.” said Julian telekinetically telling his metal hands to unlatch themselves from his wrists. The door opened revealing a large mass of students destroying the Xavier School. “That shithead finally started a riot.”
Next Time: Riot Rhythm