Genosha. A small island-nation off
the coast of Africa. The country was once the envy of the world,
but Genosha held a secret--it was built on the backs of mutant
slaves called mutates. After the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants
caused a ruckus in Genosha,* the country began to change its
methods. This resulted in a civil war between the now-independent
mutates and the former oppressors, the magistrates, a situation
further inflamed by Cortez attempting to rule the country, and
later Exodus.**
[*The X-Tinction Agenda **Bloodties--Dino]
Recently, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, the mutant known as Magneto, was
thought to be de-aged with no memory of his past, and calling
himself Joseph. Joseph turned out to be a clone of Magneto, a fact
which was revealed when Magneto made his return, demanding control
over a country by threatening the world. The UN complied with his
demands, and ceded him control over Genosha.*
[*The Magneto War--Dino again[
Now, although the magistrates continue to try and reclaim their
land, Magneto has far exceeded the UN's expectations of him.
Genosha's laws, dubbed the "Word of Magnus." is enforced by the
Acolytes, the fanatical followers of Magneto.
However, Magneto has recently acquired a second team of mutants.
They are former followers of Xavier's dream, former members of the
mutant strike team called X-Force. Now, they go by another name:
the Fallen Angels.
"If I may be so blunt, Magneto, what's the purpose of this
exercise?"
"You have a lot of courage to question me in such a tone, Amelia,"
Magneto replied, turning to face Amelia Voght, the field commander
of the Acolytes.
"I've always been a gutsy kind of gal," she replied. Magneto
grinned at her response. His other Acolytes thought of him as a
messiah. But Amelia was different. She respected him and believed
in his dream, but she didn't worship him as a god. It was nice to
know that there was someone close to him whom he could connect
with.
"The purpose is to discover who is best fit to be the leader of
the Fallen Angels," Magneto stated.
"Shatterstar seems to have the most battle experience," Amelia
noted. "He's a warrior, born and bred."
"True, but I am not simply looking for a warrior to lead this
team," Magneto retorted. "If I was, then Unuscione or Cargil would
be leading the Acolytes as opposed to you. I make my decisions on
many factors, Amelia. The main reason you were chosen was due to
your leadership qualities. As well as the fact that, as you put
it, you've always been a 'gutsy kind of gal.'"
Amelia stifled a slight chuckle. For some reason, she felt
comfortable around Magneto. Most people, the Acolytes included,
would be filled with fear. But, Amelia was different. Magneto was
a strong, passionate man, and she found herself very comfortable
around men like that.
"So, any thoughts on the outcome?" she asked, breaking the air of
silence.
"I will keep them to myself for now," Magneto replied. Despite the
fact that he was a lot more comfortable with Amelia than with the
other Acolytes, he still didn't trust completely. After all, you
have to keep some things to yourself.
The battle was opened when Tabitha Smith, called Meltdown, hurled
a plasma time bomb into the center. Roberto DaCosta, Sunspot,
replied by unleashing a solar blast at his teammate.
Sunspot looked around, analyzing his competition. Maria
Calla-Santos, Feral was the most dangerous, due to her extremely
blood-thirsty nature. There was also Benjamin Russel, Shatterstar,
a born warrior. Those two needed to be taken out first.
Drawing as much solar energy as he could, he unleased a barrage of
energy blasts at Feral. He was greeted by another of Meltdown's
time bombs.
"Sorry 'bout that, Bobby," she said. "But no way can I keep you up
a--"
Meltdown was cut-off as the ground began to shake, courtesy of the
team's walking earthquake: Julio-Estaben Richter, known as Rictor.
"Watch your back, Tabitha!!" Ric exclaimed.
"Thanks for the assist, Ric," Sunspot stated as he downed Meltdown
with a solar blast. "And sorry about this."
"Sorry about what?"
Before Sunspot could (or would have) answered, he immediately
lowered his descent at a rapid rate, slamming his legs into
Rictor's chest.
"Surrender, beast!!" Shatterstar ordered, slashing Feral's
abdomen with one of his swords.
"Hey!!" Feral exclaimed, using her claws to scratch his face.
"Watch where yer pointin' that thing!!"
"Perhaps it's time you paid more attention to the other details
besides my swords," Shatterstar retorted, executing a flawless
roundhouse kick. "Like where my feet are!!"
Feral went flying and struck the hard, metal wall of the training
room. She slowly got to her feet, to find Shatterstar advancing on
her. She saw something streak behind him, coming up fast. And
then, Sunspot rammed into him.
"Sorry about the sucker-punch, 'Star," Sunspot said. "But
sometimes, these things are necessary."
Feral slowly got up, staying as low as possible to the ground.
Then, his hands began to glow, seconds before a solar blast struck
her in the chest.
"Can't have that, Feral," he muttered, as he delivered another
blast to take Shatterstar out of the picture. Then, it took a
simple punch to finish off Feral.
"Well, it looks like Sunspot's the victor," Amelia noted,
looking at Magneto.
"I see that..." Magneto stated. "I half-expected Shatterstar to
take him out. But, it turns out Roberto has grown much more
powerful since he was a New Mutant."
The windows of the observation room (lined with metal, of course)
began to slide apart, allowing a passage for Magneto to hover down
to face the Fallen Angels. Amelia met him down there by using her
mutant ability to teleport from one location to another.
"You all performed well in the simulation," Magneto began. "Yet,
this battle was not only to test your capabilities, but to
discover who the leader should be. And now, I've decided that
Sunspot is best-qualified."
There didn't seem to be any conflict with Magneto's decision.
After their battle with X-Force,* they had suspected that Sunspot
was the leader. Only now was it made official.
[*X-Force #2--Dino]
"Now then, it's time for your first mission," he began. "You must
travel to South America to find a young girl."
NEXT ISSUE: Enter--the
Three!
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