Issue #2GANG RELATED |
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Archangel
| There was a knock at the door. Mrs. Katherine Magara
is in her 40's and just recovering from the divorce from her husband of
fifteen years. Katherine's 13-year-old daughter, Kayla, has been experiencing
some strange hormonal changes. It was nothing out of the ordinary since
she was beginning puberty, but considering the fact that Kayla's room was
the only room in the house that had a tropical climate...it prompted Katherine
to call in the experts. Kayla had been sick for over six months now, with
blemishes that covered her from head to toe. The young mutant woman in question, a thin, sexy blonde cheerleader from Las Vegas, just out of high school, who has just joined up with the Dallas Cowboy cheerleading squad, arched her back as she did a backflip without any kind of running start or effort. Both Joseph and Xorn watched on eagerly. "Was that good?" Xorn whispered. "I could not tell. I was too distracted by her--" "Yeah, it was good," Joseph said with a smile. Xorn had a fish-out-of-water quality Joseph once did. He felt like an older brother to the young man, who was wearing the traditional Chinese two cloth coat. It looked kind of awkward with Xorn's metallic mask to shield the radiation and ultraviolet light his star for a brain gives off, but he wanted to embrace his culture. He was a Buddhist, as well. Even after all those years of being imprisoned by his own people, he has forgiven them and has remained at peace with himself. Candy Bearnhart shrugged, "And that's when I found out I might be a mutant." "Well, is there any other manifestations of power you might have experienced?" Joseph asked. He wore a traditional black sport coat with a silvery gray shirt and black tie. Candy sighed as she looked around in the open playing field at the public park. She held out her hands and a ripple of energy emanated from her chest, which created a localized sonic boom. "We will take that as a yes," Xorn said, as a smile formed beneath his mask. Candy giggled to herself, as she bashfully looked down at the grass, "I wasn't sure who to call. Am I dangerous?" Joseph shook his head, "No, hardly. Your agility is harmless and it could actually help with your career. As for your sonic powers, it's best not to use them in public. It's not hazardous, it just warrants unwanted attention. Other then that, you're alright, Candy." Candy put her hands in her pockets. She dug her right foot into the ground, "Um...thanks." She paused with a smile, "Are you seeing anyone, cutie?" "Me?" Joseph asked. He just broke up with his longtime girlfriend, Clarice Ferguson, otherwise known as Blink. "Um...actually, I'm a real asswipe. Xorn's not seeing anyone." "I'm not?" Xorn asked, appalled. "I'm not!" Xorn exclaimed, and suddenly realized that he's never had any women. Candy laughed, "I love that Japanese kimono. It's sexy." "Actually, it's not a kimono. And it's Chinese," Xorn explained as he and Candy began to walk hand-in-hand through the park. "Why do you wear a mask?" Candy asked. Xorn responded, "My brilliance is too much for you to possibly contain. And by that I mean my starlight." Candy remained silent for a moment, unsure of what Xorn was talking about. Out of nowhere, she became exuberant, "Let's go to a techno club! You'd be great! You can be my personal glow stick! What's your favorite drink?" "Um...water?" Xorn responded. "So sexy...," Candy swooned as she hauled Xorn through the park to get to the club. Xorn looked back at Joseph and shouted, "I shall be only a few hours...once I decipher the behavior of women!" Joseph, who observed them from a distance, laughed to himself. He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the office. "Archangel? It's Joseph." {{Great, how did it go?}} "I think okay," Joseph said. "Xorn is gonna get laid." {{...huh?}} "Don't worry," Joseph laughed. "He'll be okay. He absorbs info like a sponge. He can handle a cheerleader." {{Did you set Xorn up with a client?}} "She's 18." {{That's not the point.}} "This was sort of a throwaway case, anyway. The dingbat wanted to know if her powers were a threat to society. She's maybe a level 3 alpha mutant, tops. We didn't have to fly all this way just to tell her that." {{Let's hope you're right. Hurry back, I might have another assignment for you two. Right now, I've got a meeting.}} "Alright, bye," Joseph said as he hung up, returning the cell phone to his pocket. He reached into his coat pocket and puts on a pair of shades. X-Corp Building, Manhattan. Archangel, Diode, and Psylocke, who all wore modified black suits, walked out onto the roof of the building, which has been turned into a hangar of sorts. A large metallic dome has been constructed over the roof itself. A training facility was in the works, as well. So, in actuality, it wasn't the true roof top anymore. "This, ladies," Warren said as he held his hand out and gestured towards a large bronze-colored RS-150 jet, "is the Seraphim." "Ooh," Diode oogled. "How much money did this cost?" "Quite a lot," Psylocke responded with a smile. "It's based off of the Blackbird with some minor modifications. Without any way to teleport ourselves anymore, we need the fastest, most reliable jet we can manage," Archangel explained. "Is it faster than the Concorde?" Diode asked. "Because, if so...damn." "We can go orbital with this baby," Archangel said as he gently touched the metal plating under the wing. "What about this Danger Roof thing that's going in on the other half of this dome?" Diode asked. "That's Danger Room," Archangel corrected. "We use inexpensive androids and advanced holograms to conduct practice missions." "And why is the whole top floor being renovated?" Diode asked. "We have to equip it with a main Cerebro unit so we can detect mutants using an advanced GPS," Archangel explained. "It can also pick up on the thoughts of mutants. If a mutant is thinking of X-Corp and are in a state of emergency, we can find that mutant and help them. They don't even have to call in." "I can also use Cerebro to enhance my powers to a global range," Psylocke said. "So, that means the normal humans who are in danger have to call in? They got screwed on that one," Diode observed. "Believe me, humans aren't always the victims," Psylocke said. "Nine times out of ten, it's the other way around." "And what about the people you fired to make the six other X-Men your board of directors?" Diode asked. "I had to fire them," Archangel said, "it's just the way the business world is, sometimes. Normally, they wouldn't be able to, but in changing the company name, I found a small loophole and took full control of the company's assets -- giving me the power to replace the board." "We're just here to make sure Warren doesn't get power hungry," Psylocke said with a smile. "So, you're the president and CEO," Diode confirmed, pointing to Archangel. "Who's the vice president?" "Me," Psylocke responded in a bitchy manner. Archangel smiled. He stretched his arms and flapped his wings to get airborne, "Well, I'm going to do a sweep of the city. I'll be back." A hatch opened in the dome and Archangel flew through it. He soared through Manhattan like a true angel. Diode looked at the floor and then noticed a diamond ring on Psylocke's finger. She looked at her, "Nice ring, Queen Elisabeth." Psylocke looked at Diode with lament, "Don't even start." "So, he popped the question, did he?" Diode asked. "Yes, and I accepted," Psylocke said. She observed her ring and sighed. "You're not doing this to gain control of the company, are you?" Diode asked with a smirk. "How dare you!" Psylocke shouted and punched Diode across the face. Diode stumbled backwards. Her arms twirled around as she tried to regain balance. "Mi hija...you just pushed my red button," Diode growled as her eyes crackled with electricity. "Red for...explode!" Diode lunged at Psylocke, who simply ducked and used both of her legs to trip Roni, who fell flat on her face. Psylocke then drove her elbow into Diode's back and gripped her hair with the other arm. "Ungh...thought you were Little Miss Muffet," Diode grunted. "Far from it, seņorita," Psylocke hissed. "Don't mess with me OR my man!" The various crew workers have congregated around the dome and have begun to cheer. Psylocke released Diode and yelled, "BACK TO WORK!!" Diode got to her feet slowly, "You're real thick, you know that?" "What?" Psylocke growled. "I'm not trying to steal Warren away from you," Diode revealed. "It's the other way around." "Warren's trying to steal you...?" "No!" Diode shouted. "I want you." "...me?" Psylocke asked with disgust. "I'm not a lesbian." "Neither am I," Diode said. "Then I think your vocabulary needs an update," Psylocke said as she headed for the elevator. "No, no, you don't understand," Diode said as she walked in front of Psylocke. "I'm not gay. But your mind...it's immune to my powers. Usually, I can automatically make people like me by making them laugh or whatever, but with you...I get nothing." "So you're saying your popularity is based on a lie?" Psylocke asked. "No, I've always been funny. My powers are just the icing on the cake," Diode explained. "Then how come I don't find you funny?" Psylocke asked as she crossed her arms. "Probably because you can't probe my mind like with everyone else," Diode suggested. "We're immune to each other's powers, but that doesn't mean we have to repel each other as people." Psylocke shook her head with a laugh, "Why are you going through all of this trouble just to get me to like you? You can't force anything on me. If you'll excuse me, I've got bigger things to do than play seventh grade drama." Psylocke walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the next floor down. The metal doors closed. "Well, I tried...," Roni told herself quietly. As Diode walked away, a construction worker turned his concealed video camera off. LaGuardia. "Hey, Mac," a luggage crew member called out. "Mac, you there?" The man called Freddy walked up to the small jet's cargo. "Mac?" he asked again. "Come on, this ain't funny!" Freddy's ears perked up and his blood ran cold when he heard a slight growling behind him. Freddy slowly turned around and let out a yelp. There, on the runway, was Mac, disemboweled. He was laying on the ground in an awkward position, almost as if he was wiggled around by the jaws of a large feline. Freddy looked around and picked up his walkie talkie and yelled, "Someone get the fuck down 'ere! Mac's been torn to fucking shreds! He's fucking dead!" "Calm down, struggling makes it worse," a voice said to Freddy from above. The voice came from a man much taller than Freddy was. The balding man looked up and could barely see the silhouette of a large blonde haired man just as claws slashed at his throat. "Charlotte?" Archangel asked as he flapped his wings and made a graceful landing on the runway. The sun just set. There were police lights blaring all around the scene. Various detectives and cops were rustled around and asked questions from the witnesses and employees. Two outlines of bodies were drawn with white chalk. Pools of dried blood were an eerie reminder of the crime that has just taken place. Detective Charlotte Jones looked up from her pad of paper and found it hard to smile around her former lover, "Congrats on the engagement." Archangel smiled as he buttoned his jacket, which had a superimposed white "X" that ran along the abdomen. The rest of his suit was black. He sighed as his wings seemed to fall back a little, "Thanks." "It would have been worse if you told me," Charlotte said bluntly. "Thank God I caught it on Extra." Warren shrugged, "What can I say? That's the game we're in now." "Yeah, so I've noticed. Follow me," Charlotte said as she walked over to the two outlines on the ground. Archangel followed her and kneeled down to observe the jagged positioning of the bodies. With his enhanced sight, he could see fairly well in the dimly lit area. "How did they die?" Archangel asked. After a pregnant pause, he turned his head upward and repeated, "Charlotte, how did they--?" "I can't believe you, exploiting your fiance and your friends just so you can 'act' like you're celebrities!" Charlotte shouted suddenly. "Are you soulless or what?" Archangel sighed and exaggerated his shoulders as they slumped downward, "Oh my God, I'm not exploiting them, the media is! And barely at that!" "Yeah, but they will be, once the craze sets in!" Charlotte countered. "After that, it's tabloids and constant camera flashes." "I've dealt with it my whole life! Anyway, that's what my team signed up for, it's the only way I could make the dream work! Can we please concentrate on the investigation? You called me down here personally," Archangel said. Charlotte crossed her arms across her stomach and sighed. She was wearing badge pants and an elegant white blouse under a brown leather jacket. "One had his guts torn out and the other had his throat slit," Charlotte finally revealed. "Any weapons that were used? A knife, maybe?" Archangel asked. Charlotte glared down at Archangel. Her eyes followed his as he raised to his feet. "Are you going to answer me, or not?" Archangel growled. Charlotte shifted the weight and swiveled her pelvis to the side, "I've got a few questions of my own, you know." Archangel flailed his arms in the air and then rested his hands on his hips, "Ask away, sister!" "The wings," Charlotte began, "...how? And don't give me some bullshit excuse like you did on TV." "They grew back," Archangel said. "Simple as that. Anything else? My favorite color is red and in the 80's, I had a stylized mullet." "You're such an asshole," Charlotte sighed. "Forensics recovered a couple of hair samples that might interest you. We're running some DNA tests right now. We'll let you know." "Let me see the samples," Archangel commanded. "Now." "It's dusk and we can't exactly light up this place like Vegas..." "Give. Them. To. Me," Archangel said. "You called me in, so X-Corp is getting involved." "Austin, get the samples over her, pronto!" Charlotte shouted. A forensics member jogged over and humbly handed the plastic bag of hair samples to the detective. Charlotte gave the bag to Archangel. Warren held the bag close and saw three tiny strands of what appeared to be coarse, brownish-blonde hair. He's seen hair of this length and texture before, in his Colorado mansion. "Can't be...," Archangel whispered. His throat jumped as he became a little sick to his stomach. Archangel pressed his left temple, "Psylocke? You astral?" "Yes, dear," Psylocke mocked. "Are you sitting down?" "Why?" "I...think Sabretooth is back." "WHAT?! That's...impossible! I felt him die! We saw his body! It was..." "Apparently not, these hair samples match Creed based on my visual analysis. I'm taking the samples with me so we can run more tests, but for now, set Cerebro up for Sabretooth's frequency just to be safe." "Bloody hell. Just when everything was starting to look up, this happens. Ugh! Are you sure this isn't some other feral mutant pulling a copycat?" "No, it's Creed, I'm sure of it. The way these victims were killed...no way his style, as violent as it is, can be duplicated." "Maggott and Pyro are still in Sioux Falls. They should be back in a few hours." "Alright, I'll be back at the office in fifteen minutes. Bye." "Bye, luv. I'll get the board prepped." "What the hell was that?" Charlotte asked. "You blanked out for a full five minutes!" "What are you, timing me now?" Archangel countered. "Betsy's telepathic. When I'm in the city, I like to use her. Less static compared to a cell phone." "Use her?" Charlotte asked as she arched her eyebrow. "That's not what I meant," Archangel said. "Then, what did you mean, Worthington?" "We have a rapport, Jones. It's easier to use than a cell phone!" Archangel shouted. He holds his index fingers up, "You know what? I really don't have time for this." "You're just not man enough to admit you're still the stuck-up prick I broke up with," Charlotte said. "No, I was the depressed and brooding prick you broke up with, remember? The deadly metal wings with a mind of their own didn't help out, either." "You're all the same, you rich pieces of shit don't care about anyone else but yourselves!" Charlotte yelled as she shook her fist in Warren's face. Archangel rolled his eyes and flapped his wings and took off as he rose twenty feet into the air, "Sabretooth is in town, so watch yourself. Tell your friends at the station." He turned around and looked at Charlotte, "And if you want to argue with me, schedule an appointment!" Charlotte silently vented as she stared intensely at Archangel as he flew off. As one of his discarded white feathers batted her in the eye, she screamed an obscenity that would make Jesus cry. Joseph yawned as he threw his suitcase on the couch of his small loft in Manhattan. As he opened the door to his bedroom, he heard a growl coming from inside. Joseph flipped the lightswitch up and down, but the lights were still dark. "I've got a couple hundred bones to pick with ya, Joseph," Sabretooth said. He was crouched in the corner of the bedroom, covered in darkness. Joseph could see the back of the insides of Creed's eyeballs reflect a yellow glow. Joseph's eyes bursted with energy as he grit his teeth, "Get out of here, unless you want a reenactment of--" "Where you thought you killed me to save your precious little girlfriend?" Sabretooth asked. Victor stood up fully now, the city lights revealed his facial features. He smiled, "Oh, that's right...she left after you couldn't deliver." "Don't push me, Victor," Joseph said. He trembled, "I don't know how you're alive, but...Betsy told us you were making a break through." Sabretooth laughed out loud, "Yes. I've taken up frolicking in my spare time." His smile faded, "Cut the crap, asswipe! You know more than anyone what it feels like to slaughter." Joseph looked at Sabretooth dumbfoundedly. Creed rolled his eyes, "I've read up on you. Remember you little trip to Central America? Your little sugar mama, Sister Maria? You slaughtered a bunch of soldiers or whatever." "They were holding children, innocent children," Joseph said as his voice cracked slightly. He growled as his eyes lit up. He tried to take command of every metallic object in his apartment, but he couldn't even reach the doorknob. Sabretooth realized what Joseph was attempting to do, and smiled, "Can't keep it up like you used to, huh? Heh heh heh." Creed held up a small rectangular device in his hand that looked similar to a handheld electronic barometer, "You know those radiation shields they have for cell phones? This here's a more powerful version...even cancels out all electromagnetic interference. Even you. Ironic how something so small can be used to...well, you know where I'm goin' with this." Sabretooth leapt from the corner and clawed Joseph across the face before he kicked him in the stomach, sending the young man into the living room. Joseph fell flat on his back as he struggled to apply pressure to the left side of his face, which was severely lacerated and bleeding badly. "What do you want?" Joseph muttered as he laid on his back, looking helpless. Sabretooth stepped out of the bedroom and smiled. "Adamantium's expensive. If you were going to rip it from my bones, the least you could've done was give it to me so I could sell it," Sabretooth said as he picked his teeth with his pinkie claw. "I...don't know what happened to it. S.H.I.E.L.D. took it," Joseph said. "Heh, heh. Right. Word is, H.Y.D.R.A.'s crowd has their hands on some adamantium," Sabretooth revealed. "They're probably givin' it to the runt." "Huh...?" Joseph inquired. Before Sabretooth can answer, a shadowy blur of muscle rocked Sabretooth against the front door. Shadows seemed to swirl around, lifelike, until they condensed into the form of a massive man dressed in all black. "We have some unfinished business, Sabretooth," the man known as Vargas growled as his eyes have become completely black. "What the hell is this, a Mafia movie?" Sabretooth shouted as he was thrown through a coffee table. X-Corp. Archangel impatiently rattled his fingers against the conference table. The other X-Men sat around him with tired looks on their faces. It wasn't everyday they had an all-nighter. "Maybe he's caught in traffic?" Diode suggested. "Or he got sucked into some weird magical dimension?" Pyro asked. "Shut up," Archangel said. He glared at Pyro and Maggott, who were seated next to each other, "Tell me again why you burned down the house of your client?" "It wasn't our fault, that little bitch fucked with our powers sideways!" Maggott yelled. He held up Eany in his palm. The slug looked fatigued as it let out a silent gurgle. "You don't want to see what happened to Meany..." "We smelled it," Psylocke murmured as she arrogantly rested her chin upon her linked hands. She turned back to Warren, "I'm not getting any reading on him, luv. Let's just start without him." "What is this meeting for, may I ask?" Xorn asked casually. "Aside from addressing our business is not a dating service," Archangel began as Xorn slumped a little in his chair, "we've got a murderous mutant on the loose. His name is Sabretooth." "What the feck?!? Creed's alive?!?" Pyro exclaimed, leaning forward in his chair. He quickly leaned back and lit a cigarette, "Damn." "Actually, as Creed died, I think my telepathy might have been the thing that kept him from passing on...I was talking to him...taunting him," Psylocke said, reliving painful memories. "Should've known..." "Whoa, wait, what's goin' on?" Diode asked, holding her hands up. "Before your time," Psylocke addressed. "Joseph killed him, or so we thought." "So, this murderer was part of the team?" Diode asked as she raised an eyebrow. Archangel, Pyro, and Psylocke all exchanged an uneasy glance. "Not only that, but Joseph actually went Medieval on his ass?" Maggott twiddled his thumbs, "I'll take that as a yep." "This news is disturbing...why was Joseph assigned as my partner?" Xorn asked. "Okay, tell me the brilliant story of making Snaggletooth an X-Man," Diode demanded. "Sabretooth," Psylocke corrected. "Well, with a name like that, he obviously wasn't a fan of just reading a book on a lawn chair, right?" Diode asked. "Man alive, what in the fuck were you people thinking?" Archangel looked downwards at his folded hands, "Actually..." Psylocke's eyes widened a bit as she tried to fess up to her brief tread on the dark side, but couldn't. She manipulated X-Men Omega into allowing Sabretooth to stick around after defeating Deus...only to further her own ambitions. Archangel observed the body language of his fiance and decided to lie, "...we thought we could rehabilitate him, so we kept him - at arm's length - with us." Pyro shot a questionable look at Archangel, "Oh God, you people are such pansies..." He turned to Roni and said, "Psylocke manipulated us." Psylocke closed her eyes. She growled, "Shut up, John." "Just because you shed your bloody snakeskin, we're all supposed to forget what led up to that?" Pyro exclaimed. "Who the feck crowned you Miss Perfect? Christ, no one's blamin' ya, pet. It was the Crimson Dawn." "You sound like you are blaming me," Psylocke muttered as tears dripped from her eyes. "She wasn't in control," Archangel said. "But that's a little off-topic--" "How do we know she isn't manipulating us right now?" Maggott asked with his arms crossed. "You'd feel a tingle in your brain," Psylocke said. "Yeah, but you'd just make it so we couldn't notice the tingle, right?" Maggott asked. "I can't believe this! I'm not like that anymore!" Psylocke retaliated. "Alright, alright, alright, ALL RIGHT!" Archangel shouted as he extended his wingspan fully. "...meeting adjourned. Get some sleep. We'll discuss this tomorrow morning." Joseph grimaced as he attempted to crawl to the front door, but two large boots stood in his way. The boots belonged to the Crimson Dawn-enhanced Vargas. Sabretooth was unconscious, laying on the kitchen table with open wounds that were slowly healing. "I have unfinished business with you, as well," Vargas muttered as he brought down his shadow-based sword clean through Joseph's body. TO BE CONTINUED...
X-CORP MEMO I've got a letter to respond to from Gregory Cruikshank, a guy with a bunch of aliases, so let's get to it... Dear Mr. Horton, Well, thanks. Hopefully I won't disappoint. And call me Brad, Multi-Alias Guy. I'll admit, I was a little wierded out by Pyro being an X-Man, but, better a live X-Man (or, rather, X-Corporation employee), than a dead villain. On that note, is there any chance of you maybe bringing back some of the Brotherhood members killed in recent stories? Y'know, Blob, Avalanche, Mesmero, folks like that? Granted, I'd just like to see those three alive again (and maybe Dark Beast, too), but I'm certain there are fans out there who want the others back too. Pyro becoming an X-Man was all Dino Pollard's doing, so props for that should go to him, of course. I'm also glad Pyro's around. As for bringing back dead Brotherhood members? Shh, you'll give David Ingram ideas! But seriously, I don't have any plans to bring back dead characters...except for Sabretooth, obviously, who showed up this issue. Whoopee! Warren proposed to Betsy! This is one of those glorious events you wish could have happened in regular Marvel continuity! I look forward to the wedding! But I warn you......if you do anything to ruin this wonderous thing, with Pyro or Diode......oooh, you'll be gettin' plenty of hate-mail from me! (Sorry, I'm a big Warren/Betsy fan, and want the marriage to happen successfully.) ...wedding? Oh, yeah! The wedding. Heh...that's not for awhile...or is it...??? Well, that's my two cents worth. Until Magneto really does start wearing purple panties and sleeps with Dr. Doom(and God willing, that will never, ever, ever, EVER happen), make mine M2K! Um...well, Magneto does wear purple panties. So, M2K will still be made yours at least 50% of the time! -Gregory Cruikshank/Lloyd T. Bear/MetalSagitarrimon/Son of Hope and Light/Fili Granitwrath/WarOppossumon/Imaginex See? Told you that was a lot of aliases! Whew! |