WAKANDA

Weeks had passed and the rising tensions in Genosha had slid into a state of careful caution. Magneto no longer wanted to rain down nukes on Sunspot’s head, which was much to the relief of his cabinet. The game of chess between him and Abyss had slowed to a grind with the latter having not made a move for some time. Magneto assumed he was licking his wounds from his pact with Thanatos.

So instead of scheming, Magneto sought out ways to improve Genosha’s image. He personally went with members of his Fallen Angels to the damaged Wakanda. An attack orchestrated by the aforementioned Thanatos had wrecked most of the count’s capital. Magneto extended an offering hand and Wakanda’s monarch graciously took it. So it was that Magneto and Black Panther were worked side-by-side. The image would disturb the powers of the world.

Lifting a dozen broken and burnt cars upward, Magneto said to Black Panther, “This Maestro must have been a creature of massive power to do this much damage. What manner of man was he?”

Standing a few yards away, Black Panther pointed Meltdown to a pile of debris he wanted destroyed and answered Magneto’s question, “He was an evil, psychotic super Hulk if you can imagine such a thing.”

Rising into the air, Magneto stretched his arms outward and clasped his hand together as he replied, “I can indeed imagine, but I would prefer not to.”

Watching as Magneto’s powers crushed the cars into a convenient ball, Black Panther said, “If that option had been available to me I would have gladly taken it. I just had the unfortunate luck of nearly being killed by him.”

Orphan and Feral were dragging concrete to a large transport vehicle, but both were able to actively hear the conversation of the two world leaders. Orphan was the first to comment as he said, “Do you hear them? They sound almost friendly.”

Growling under her breath, Feral said, “He betrays himself more and more everyday.”

Guy was almost inclined to agree, but he knew Magneto possessed more conviction than that. The man had been a champion for mutants his entire life. He made their plight his life’s only purpose and had let none, not even family, sway him from it. All of this was simply a new approach.

“We can’t jump to that conclusion yet. He’s done too much for us to not give him the benefit of the doubt,” Orphan replied to a nasty growl from Feral.

Black Panther saw the two conversing mutants and looked up to a levitating Magneto as he said, “I get the feeling your charges have no desire to be here.”

Giving a tired sigh, Magneto descended to the ground and stood next to Black Panther. Folding his arms across his chest, Magneto quietly replied, “They think me folly for coming here to help you when the world ignored us after Zemo’s attack.”

Nodding, Black Panther said, “I understand their frustration and for it’s worth I believe you about Zemo. Hawkeye informed me of his demise. It was far too clean.”

Magneto’s expression was somewhere between satisfaction and anger as he said, “If only belief and action worked hand in hand. Then perhaps both our countries would be healed by now.”

The monarch smiled. “Or destroyed depending on whose beliefs. I rejected the help of SHIELD for such a reason.”

Magneto gave a genuine laugh. “I had no help to reject at all. Though my response to Fury’s drones would have been the same.”

Black Panther found himself truly surprised at how casual the exchange was between him and Magneto. Times had indeed changed and T’Challa was able to see that something had occurred in Magneto. Perhaps having to lead, truly lead, had given him a new perspective to ponder. Then again, it could have been the violence wrought by The Magistrates and Zemo. Such destruction would have an effect on any man.

“Do you ever fear they will come for you?”

Magneto knew that T’Challa’s ‘they’ was all inclusive and so he replied accordingly. “They may come, but they will not find me lacking in resolve. I will not fail my people, Black Panther, and they won’t fail me.”

GENOSHAN LABS

Underneath Magneto’s citadel was an expansive underground laboratory that had been built specifically to house the work of Dr. Even Sando, Genosha’s Head Geneticist. She controlled the experiments that were crucial to the protection and security of Genosha. For that reason and others, Mikhail Rasputin felt completely justified in making an unexpected visit. The former cosmonaut had steeled himself for Sando’s inevitable swearing, but she was nowhere to be found. He had hoped that the circumstances would be favorable to him, but he hadn’t quite expected such a large stroke of luck. The stars looked favorably upon his visit. Depending on where Sando had went, time was on his side as well. At least time enough to make a stop.

He moved amongst the sea of laboratory coats with ease. None of them questioned his presence or asked for any clearance identification. He was Mikhail Rasputin, Minister of Defense. To question him was to question Magneto and none of them had the bravery required to do that. With that thought securely in mind, Rasputin made his way to one special chamber. It was of interest to Rasputin because it held a former member of Magneto’s Cabinet.

Finding the room that held who he was looking for was not a hard affair. He simply looked for the most heavily guarded room. Three members of the Psi-Corps were posted outside the heavy metal door. Mikhail approached the three psionics and said with absolute authority, “I’ve come to see the prisoner.”

“Yes, sir,” the head of the posted guards, a short Latino woman, said. She went to the keypad at the center of the thick door and entered in the code necessary to unlock the door. Looking back to Rasputin, she said, “We’ll have to open the door. It can only be opened by telekinetic energy.”

Mikhail nodded and let the Psi-Corps open the door with their combined telekinetic power. Once there was a large enough space for him to slide through, he passed through it and was shocked at what he found. Dangling from the roof of the room was Exodus with large manacles covering both his hands and feet. A tight red collar was around his neck that had tubes coming out of it that connected to his chest and back. One of the world’s most powerful mutants had been subdued. Mikhail just needed to see it to believe it.

“Comrade what have you let them do to you? I thought you were a fighter. It seems otherwise, Exodus.”

The captive’s eyes flashed opened at the calling of his name and he said, “No longer Mikhail. There is only War, loyal servant of Apocalypse.”

Mikhail laughed. “You and I both know Apocalypse has been dead for some time.”

“One can serve their creator even after they have passed on. Only the strong must survive and I will assure that,” Exodus said in a voice not his own.

Rasputin laughed again. “Cut the crap already, comrade. Do not try to take on a new mantle simply because you lost your old. Besides, I doubt insanity as an excuse would work with Magneto.”

“My thoughts are clearer than they have ever been. I know my purpose,” Exodus replied with all sincerity.

Boizhe moi! He truly has lost his mind!

Now being careful with his words, Mikhail said, “You are one Horseman. Aren’t there supposed to be four? How can you continue to carry on a legacy?”

“The four shall come. Make no mistake about that. I would grant you such a worthy position, but you are far too treacherous. Only the loyal can fight at my side,” Exodus said as his manacles began to rattle.

Mikhail wanted to yell out to the Psi-Corps for aid, but his mouth had been telekinetically shut and his body frozen in place. The manacles exploded and the tubes were ripped form his body. A half-naked Exodus now floated in front of a frozen Mikhail. The situation was no longer a favorable one.

“The future is coming, Mikhail. I want you to think long and hard about where you will stand in it,” War said as he vanished in a burst of red light and left Rasputin to wonder just what had been unleashed.

 

ELSEWHERE IN GENOSHA…

Amelia had been calling Gloria repeatedly for weeks and had received no answer from her. Things were beginning to appear bleak for Exodus. Fontanelle could potentially be in harm’s way and there was nothing that Voght could do about it. She had her duties in Genosha and couldn’t let Magneto know that she had knowledge of his dealings with Abyss. Though she still believed in his goals, she had lost faith in the man. How could he have been so desperate to have allied himself with Abyss? True, the alliance was now dissolved, but it was appalling that it had ever existed at all.

The disappointment of it sat hard with Amelia as she walked through her door from night duty fully armored in her Acolyte uniform. She passed by her telephone and plopped herself face first onto her bed. Even as she buried her sweat-stained face into her pillow, the telephone was calling out to her. Voght’s gut was telling her to pick up the phone and try to contact Fontanelle. Call it a woman’s intuition, but Amelia simply couldn’t ignore the urge that tugged at her tired body. It was the classic battle of sense and instinct. Sense dictated her to get some sleep and not lift a finger to dial a number but instinct demanded she rise and call Gloria. Surrendering to instinct’s incessant call, Amelia rose slowly and sorely off of the bed.

Her shoulders slumped forward as she slinked towards the phone and with lithe fingers she dialed Fontanelle’s number. In all her attempts, Amelia had not been able to trace the number that Gloria gave her. The woman covered her tracks far more thoroughly than Amelia would have initially given her credit for. Yet, she was trying to hide herself in the forces of Abyss and that would be a dangerous feat for even the most skilled espionage agent.

Amelia had been gathering research on Abyss and thought she didn’t find out much about him, information on his henchmen was readily available Abyss employed mutant and magical beings in his arsenal. Fontanelle was not exactly equipped to handle such analectic group, but Voght had underestimated her before. There was always the chance that Gloria was completely unharmed. Considering the likes of Selene and Charon such a possibility seemed slim. Still, her gut ordered her to call.

Nervous fingers wrapped around the beige phone and she stretched the cord to reach her ear as her other hand dialed the number. Each number she pressed filled her with more and more anticipation. The phone rag for three times when a groggy voice answered, “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to call.”

Amelia’s response was a curt one. “I’ve been calling you for weeks! What the hell do you mean?”

Gloria laughed. “I was actually referring to this current call. My apologies for not returning your calls. I had to go off the grid.”

“Why?” Voght immediately asked. “Did Abyss discover what you were up to?”

“No,” Gloria answered, but her voice fell into a softer tone. “My team abandoned me.”

“Abandoned?” Amelia asked as she tried to mask her shock. “I thought they wanted to take Abyss down?”

“They did, but only not on my terms. I’ve been trying to assemble a new team, but I haven’t been successful thus far,” Fontanelle replied.

Amelia sighed. “And my allies are beginning to run thin.”

“Rescuing Exodus may have to be a two woman operation,” Gloria said without the fuss of seriousness.

“You’re kidding right? He’s too heavily guarded to ever hope for one of us to get to him,” Amelia exclaimed.

“I know, but we’ll think of something, but I have to go. Keep faith. We’ll free Bennet,” Fontanelle said as she hung up the phone. She hated lying, but she knew that Exodus had already freed himself. By his own power he managed to gain his freedom, but under a new name. War was necessary for the future of Genosha and Amelia’s survival. Gloria couldn’t interfere in that.

 

Interlude 1

 

Glance threw back a drink and held another one in the air as he yelled, “For Genosha!”

Everyone in the bar followed the proclamation with wild cheers and crashing glasses. Glance had only recently discovered the miracle of man that was beer and found himself completely in love with it. Madrox and Anarchist had accompanied him to the bar, but only to make sure Glance didn’t overindulge himself. Jamie didn’t like being a babysitter, but he didn’t exactly like being on the opposite end of the world either. Life threw you punches. You just had to roll with them.

“How many do you think he drinks before he passes out?” Anarchist asked from behind the pink-skinned mutant.

Jamie shrugged. “Sinister probably hooked him up with some mega metabolism or something. I give it six.”

“Wanna put money on it?” Anarchist asked.

Madrox shook his head. “I still haven’t converted the US dollars I brought with me yet.”

“You better hurry while they’re still worth more here,” Anarchist advised. “Magneto keep the oil trade the way he is, we’ll pass up the dollar in a year.”

As they watched Glance pour himself another glass, the door of the bar blew completely open and standing in the doorway was a white haired woman carrying a petite Asian woman in her arms. With a psychotic expression, she licked her lips and asked, “Can anyone tell me where that sexy beast Magneto is?”

---

 

 

Abyss looked out at the San Marco horizon and to his back was Selene, Elias Bogan, Charon, and his newest ally, Ragnarok. Not turning around to face them, he said, “Our attack on Genosha is on the horizon. Has everything been prepared?”

The tremendous empathy known as Elias Bogan gave his confirmation. “The Superior Force is en route to Genosha. They should make contact with Shaw’s convoy at the exact moment it takes off from the docks. Though I have to ask, why is Shaw taking a ship back to America?”

Abyss gave Elias his answer, but in a tone that accused the man of stupidity. “Shaw has his own interests at heart in Genosha. He’s allied himself with the US government and NATO. He intends to take over the country.”

Selene laughed at the revelation. “Just like a Shaw to betray his allies. Are your soldiers ready, Ragnarok?”

The silky hair, Adonis-like Ragnarok nodded and said, “My soldiers have been prepared as has Selene’s spell. What of the opening salvo?”

Abyss looked upward and saw what looked like a glittering star in the sky. Giving a faceless smile, he said, “The Fallen One has been eager for more battle ever since his brief encounter with The Avengers. He’ll have his fill soon enough.”