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Archangel
Diode
Joseph
Maggott
Psylocke
Pyro
Xorn
| "Joseph, come on," Maggott yelled as he banged
on the apartment door wearing his trademark leather jacket over a pair of
casual clothes. Pyro wore a suit and stood next to him as he smoked a cigarette,
despite the no smoking sign. Diode wore a black over coat with a pair of
sunglasses over her eyes.
Diode held out her hands as they began to charge up with electricity, "Scoochies."
"Huh?" Maggott asked as he turned around.
"Move," Diode said as her hands grew brighter with ionized molecules. Maggott
moved out of the way and Diode discharged the bolt, blowing the knob off
the door.
"Alright, luv," Pyro said as he pushed the door open, but he hit something.
The door didn't open fully. Pyro peeked around the door and his eyes widened,
"Shit! Joe!"
"What?" Maggott asked.
"It's Joe!" Pyro yelled as he struggled to get inside without opening the
door. "I bashed his noggin with the damn door! He's face down!"
"Fuck!" Maggott swore. He looked at Diode, "Call 9-1-1 or something!"
Diode fumbled around her coat and pulled out her cell phone. Before she
dialed, she experienced a loud scratching noise as she held it up to her
ear, "Er...I'm living cell phone static, remember?"
Maggott pulled out his cell and dialed the emergency number. He looked at
Diode, "Help Pyro, I'll take care of this."
Diode nodded as she snuck into the apartment. John had managed to pull Joseph
back into the apartment, which was trashed, further away from the door.
He also turned Joseph over onto his back. Pyro currently had his ear pressed
up against Joseph's chest as he checked for a heartbeat. He looked up at
Diode, "He's alright...he's just unconscious."
Diode called out into the hallway, "Maggott! Joe's alright!"
Maggott peaked his head into the apartment, "He is? Well, hell." Maggott
pushed the door open fully and observed the wreckage. Tables and chairs
were broken. Glass was shattered all over the floor. Some blood was smeared
on the walls and floor, but it was clear Joseph wasn't bleeding. He did
have a several slashes on the left side of his face, however Joseph's magnetic
powers gave his blood an increased activity of white blood cells to help
with the healing.
"What the hell happened here?" Diode asked as she kneeled beside Pyro and
lightly touched the side of Joseph's face.
"Looks like someone just beat the shit out of him," Pyro said as he put
out his cigarette and tossed the butt carelessly on the floor.
"Sure it wasn't Sabretooth?" Maggott asked.
Pyro looked at Maggott as if he were telling a joke, "Yeah, I'm sure. If
it were Sabretooth, he'd be dead right now. Not only that, but there'd be
intestinal decor around the joint."
"And you had him on the team, why, again?" Diode asked as she shuddered.
"I don't wanna talk about it, it's not my mess to clean up," Pyro said.
Maggott looked down at Joseph and sighed, "Sabretooth's in town after Joe
sucked the adamantium outta him like the poison from a snakebite in the
ass...and now Joe got the shit kicked out of him...and we're dismissing
Sabretooth because there isn't any blood? Look at the cuts on his face,
mate! "
"You two've never had to meet Creed," Pyro said as he stood up and looked
out the window. "You don't know the bloke like I do."
"Ungh...," Joseph suddenly groaned. Diode immediately rubbed his chest.
"You alright, José?" Diode asked.
Joseph mumbled something as he gripped his chest.
"What...?" Diode asked again.
"Vargas...," Joseph muttered before losing consciousness once more.
Diode turned around and looked at Maggott and Pyro, "Vargas?"
Pyro turned around from looking out the window and smiled, "That douche
bag is back? Heh. I guess you only die in this world if people actually
watch you die...then again he didn't die in this world..."
"Wait, what's goin' on here?" Diode asked.
"Yeah," Maggott said.
"Oy," Pyro said as he slapped his forehead, "I'm tired of this game. Let's
just get Joseph some medical attention and get back to the office, you'll
get yer answers."
"Did you kill him?" a voice echoed in the darkened
halls of a hidden underground superstructure.
"No," Vargas said as
he kneeled in the spotlight with his shadow sword digging into the floor in
front of him, propping him up.
"Why not?" the voice asked.
"It was not my doing," Vargas responded. "My powers draw from the shadow.
My opponent's essence was also rooted in darkness...my powers do not affect
him fully, hence, he survived."
The man in the shadows remained silent as Vargas heard a loud slam against
the top of a metal desk, "What do I pay you for?!"
Vargas lowered his eyes, turning his head away slightly, "Forgive me. I will
not fail again."
"You're right...," the voice muttered. "Because
next time you don't complete an assignment, not even the darkest corners will
hide you from me."
"Vargas is back?" Psylocke
shouted as she stood up at the conference table on the top floor. The sounds
of buzz saws and welders echoed on the top floor with all the work on the
dome on the roof.
"That's what Joseph said," Pyro confirmed with
a nod as he flicked his cigarette in the ash tray.
Archangel, at the head of the table, stroked his chin and got up out of his
chair and looked out the window, "Sabretooth...and now Vargas?"
"Warren...,"
Psylocke breathed, "the Jigoku. I'm still the heir. If they expose me, I'll
be finished!"
"Jigoku?" Diode asked.
"A Japanese crime syndicate
Betsy inherited by a basic technicality," Archangel explained. "It's complicated."
Diode sighed, "Okay...I'm done trying to ask questions." Roni stood up as
her eyes bled with ionic energy, "You better start answering my questions,
boss, or I'm going to be forced to resign, effective immediately!"
"Alright. You all know about Kwannon, right? The Asian whose body Betsy
was inhabiting? Well, the same woman's mind was in Betsy's original body.
A man named Nyorin, the chairman of the Jigoku, trained her. When Kwannon
died in Betsy's body, Nyorin apparently had her slated to be next in line
to lead the Jigoku. The logical person next in line was Psylocke," Archangel
explained calmly.
Diode nodded and sat back down, "Now was that so hard?"
"...sort
of," Archangel said bluntly.
"Yeah, sorry, that was sort of complicated,"
Diode smirked. "Just tell me to shut up next time I ask a question with a
complex answer."
"Your request is kindly noted," Psylocke responded
arrogantly.
"Well, if Betsy's still the leader of the Jigoku, does
that mean Vargas is next in line after her?" Maggott asked. "Maybe he's trying
to take her out in order to further his own ends, ag?"
Everyone stopped and stared at Japheth.
"When did you become so levelheaded?"
Pyro quipped.
"Ridilin," Maggott responded.
"What of Sabretooth?"
Xorn asked. "He's still a threat to many people, while Vargas is a threat
to Psylocke."
"Hello, Joseph's in the hospital with possible nerve
damage in his spine," Diode reiterated. "This Vargas is a badass to all of
us."
"I healed Joseph as best as I could," Xorn said.
"Psylocke,
can you get online with Cerebro and track Sabretooth?" Archangel asked.
"I've been trying, but I've found more than one match," Psylocke said.
"How is that possible?" Diode asked.
"Well...we all know he's
been cloned more than once," Archangel said.
"Actually...I have an
idea," Xorn suggested. "What if Psylocke uses her power over the Jigoku to
drain their accounts into that of X-Corp's?"
"What would that serve?"
Archangel said. "How would we explain that to the IRS?"
"Betsy is
the leader, or chairwoman if you will, of the Jigoku," Xorn explained. "We
could fabricate a company merger."
"That's like Enron merging with
the Mafia," Archangel sighed. "No go, Xorn."
"Actually, the Jigoku
has a legitimate face to the Japanese public...," Psylocke said meekly.
Archangel turned around and pointed his finger, "No! Don't even think of it!"
"It's Pokémon, isn't it?" Diode joked. Psylocke stared at her. Diode
gawked, "It is Pokémon? You evil bitch!"
"We own a Korean animation
company...makes all kinds of anime cartoons and films," Psylocke said. "Very
successful."
"What about all the drugs and other evil crap?" Warren
asked.
Psylocke folded her hands, "I can order that all investments go into the animation
studio. The agents will abide by my commands no matter what. It's tradition.
The Japanese are honorable like that...even the crooks."
"The Chinese
are also honorable...," Xorn grumbled out of a bit of jealousy.
Pyro shrugs, "We'll all be stinking rich. I'm for it."
Diode chuckled, "Why didn't we think of this before?"
"If we merge
with this other company...our net gross would increase about 200 percent,"
Archangel muttered.
"Good lord!" Maggot shouted. "What would our
salaries jump to?"
Archangel rolled his eyes, "I'm not disclosing that information."
"Why not?" Pyro asked.
"Because, if I do...you'll all overrule my
veto, since your part of the board," Archangel revealed.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Warren walked up to the conference table and pressed
the speaker button, "Sandy? I thought I had no appointments today?"
A female voice that sounded as if she were plugging her nose responded, {{"It's
urgent, Mr. Worthington."}}
"Alright, send him in--" Warren said
as none other than a clean-shaven, well-groomed Sabretooth walked into the
office, wearing semi-sophisticated clothes. He had an expensive brown leather
coat over a yellow dress shirt and a darker brown pair of leather pants and
military boots strapped on underneath the pant legs.
"S'matter, Wings?"
Sabretooth asked. "Surprised to see me? You owe me some worker's comp, I think."
Across the Manhattan skyline was a man perched on top of a communication tower,
roughly seventy-five feet away from the roof of the X-Corp building. The man
wore a black jumpsuit of a micro-thin armor with a worn-out gray helmet covering
his head save for his mouth down to his chin. His name has been lost over
time, but he called himself Darkblaster just for laughs. He loaded his sniper
rifle and pointed it at the top floor window, the fourth one to the left...straight
at Archangel's head.
He pressed his ear and activated the comm link, "I'm set up."
Down below, to Darkblaster's left, a man wearing a maroon and gold flight
suit swooped by. He also had gauntlets which covered his hands and gave him
golden "talons." He was Redhawk. To Darkblaster's right, a female dressed
in a violet-themed costume flew past, with a black radioactive symbol on her
chest. She was Lumina. Her bald head and bleach white skin made her look like
an extra for Farscape.
Darkblaster looked down and saw a furry creature climbing up the building
with his massive paws digging into the glass and metal. He was a lycanthrope
named Razoar. The four of them were all mutant mercenaries, hired by a mysterious
figure and partnered with the last remnant of the Crimson Dawn legacy...
A man appeared out of nowhere next to Darkblaster and said, "You better not
screw this up."
...Vargas.
"It's not everyday we get to off a bunch of celebrities,"
Darkblaster said as he looked through the scope of his rifle.
"They
aren't celebrities yet...," Vargas muttered as his eyes became pitch black.
"Sure, they've only been on television everywhere for the past month,"
Darkblaster quipped.
"I meant when we kill them, we'll make them
infamous," Vargas said. "With the coverage they get, I am betting that we
will kill them on camera...people will be watching that more than they do
the JFK Dallas tape."
Darkblaster shrugs, "Whatever works. I'm still making seven figures off of
this hit."
"I'm seriously not here to start anything...for once," Sabretooth said as
he slowly approached the X-Men.
Psylocke clenched her fist as a pink blade of psionic energy shot out of
it, "You better stay right where you are, Creed."
Eany and Meany crawled out of Maggott's abdominal cavity and slithered around
his arms, dropping to the floor with a growling noise, "The lady's right,
mate."
Pyro snapped his fingers and fire ignited over the flint fingertips as Diode's
eyes sparked with electricity. Xorn's eyeslots lit up.
"Wait!" Archangel shouted. His team wearily backed down. Warren sighed as
he breathed through his nose, "I'm not in the mood for a warzone to develop
inside of my office. What do you want, Sabretooth?"
"Same thing you want, Worthington," Sabretooth said with a smile. "Control."
"Could you elaborate?" Archangel asked as he leaned his arms on the conference
desk.
"Joseph was attacked by Vargas last night," Sabretooth said.
"How did you know that?" Psylocke asked as she held her psi-blade in the
defensive position.
Sabretooth held up his clawed hands to silence Betsy, "I was there first...but
I was only trying to protect him."
"Bullshit!" Pyro shouted as the fire that danced around his hands grew larger.
"Guess it really was him that beat the crap outta Joe."
"He's telling the truth, John," Psylocke said as her psionic butterfly disappeared
from her forehead. Her psi-blade disappeared as well, "Well then, Victor,
what are you protecting us from?"
Sabretooth closed his eyes and took a whiff of the air, "Them."
Psylocke expanded her telepathy's receptiveness and picked up five thought
patterns, one of which she knew - Vargas. "Everyone, get ready..."
"Aw, shit...," Warren sighed as he dialed the front desk. "Yeah, Sandy?
Can you call for a couple ambulances...possibly the fire department?"
"I'm a walking fire department, you silly fuck," Pyro yelled.
"And I'm a walking paramedic, you silly sexual intercourse hip thrust,"
Xorn yelled, as well.
Archangel rolled his eyes as he talked into the speaker, "Then just call
the window replacement--"
*CRASH*
"--company. Yeah. Okay. Find cover, bye," Archangel said as he hung up the
phone. Before him, the four mercenaries and Vargas stood in the office.
"You're paying for that, Vargas."
"On the contrary, your fiance is paying me...with her life," Vargas muttered
as two katanas made of pure darkness formed in his hands.
"Xorn!" Psylocke shouted.
Xorn nodded and caused Betsy's katanas to float out of their glass cases
located in the corner of the office. The katanas were grabbed by Psylocke
and twirled around gracefully. It's been awhile, but Psylocke was still
a master of ninjitsu.
Lumina, the bald headed, bleach-skinned woman tilted her head and formed
an orb of light in her hands, tossing it into the air as it slowly descended
and blasted Xorn in the chest. Xorn flew across the room and was knocked
unconscious.
"Heh heh heh, nice shot," the Latino, Redhawk snickered as what appeared
to be shards formed in his hands as he threw them at Archangel. Sabretooth
leapt in the way and let them pierce him in the ribs.
"Gahh!" Sabretooth growled, "They burn!"
"Take 'em out!" Archangel yelled as his wings flapped and carried him into
the air. He thrust himself forward and rammed into Redhawk, carrying him
out of the gaping hole in the window as the two began to fight over the
streets of Manhattan.
"Diode, the bloke in black!" Pyro shouted as he directed his flames in the
form of a cobra at Darkblaster. He dodged out of the way and fired a couple
rounds with his specially made firearm, hitting Pyro in the shoulder.
Diode retaliated as she delivered a massive jolt into Darkblaster, who seemed
to be enjoying the pain. Darkblaster appeared to concentrate as Diode herself
began to convulse as if she were shocked as well. She fell to the floor
and gasped, "I've...never felt my own shock before...what the--"
Darkblaster answered by kicking Diode in the face, knocking her out. Sabretooth
grabbed the back of Darkblaster's costume as if he were picking up a cat,
"Wrong move!"
"Razoar!" Darkblaster shouted.
Out of nowhere, the Irish-born lycanthrope pounced on Sabretooth, knocking
Darkblaster from his grip. Darkblaster performed a backflip and safely landed
on the floor.
Sabretooth looked up at the werewolf and noticed he had a dark blonde colored
hair like he did, "You set me up for that murder at La Guardia!"
Razoar smiled, "Aye." He swiped his claws against Sabretooth's face, breaking
his nose. Without his adamantium skeleton, the cartilage of his nose has
become weaker. Sabretooth retaliated with a kick to Razaor's midsection.
Meanwhile, Psylocke parried with Vargas as the two appeared to be equally
matched in their swordplay, at least, that was what Vargas wanted her to
think.
"Your skill is dwindling," Vargas chuckled as his pitch black eyes sent
chills down Psylocke's spine.
"No, actually, they're growing!" Psylocke said as she twirled around and
blocked an advance by Vargas. "The more I fight, the better I become! I
was relying on the Crimson Dawn to control me for so long, I practically
forgot what it was like to fight on my own. I thought it was the physical
changes I went through, but it was all in my mind."
"If you say so!" Vargas laughed as his katana morphed into a medieval style
sword, beating Psylocke over the head with the sword's pommel. Psylocke
fell to the floor, gripping her scalp as blood poured out of the wound.
Suddenly, instant pain shot up Vargas' leg. There, one of Maggott's slugs
took another chomp out of his leg. Vargas shouted in pain and threw the
slug across the room, but another pain shot through his shoulder area, and
there, another slug began to feed on him.
"Vermin!" Vargas yelled as he threw the second slug across the room. He
failed to see Maggott, bulked up to the maximum and his skin turned a dark
blue, as he tackled Vargas to the ground.
"Vermin, eh?" Maggott shouted as he punched Vargas with a left and right
repeatedly. With one final blow, Vargas' head jerked to the side as he spit
out teeth and blood. Vargas panted as he looked at Maggott as the shadows
of the office sprung to life and strangled Maggott with their tiny fingers.
Maggott fell unconscious and his bulked up form returned to his gawky, normal
appearance. Vargas got to his feet and grabbed his sword. He flung it across
the room, where it stuck in front of the door, just inches from Psylocke's
hand, who was trying to crawl to safety.
"What's the matter, my former mistress?" Vargas laughed. "Aren't you up
for a fight anymore?" Psylocke tried to answer, but blood dripped over her
eyes. She heard Sabretooth as he and Razoar managed to fall out of the window
during their tussle. Sabretooth would probably survive...Razoar might, as
well. Werewolves had a healing factor from their metabolism from constantly
changing their form.
Suddenly, Archangel shouted out as he threw the unconscious Redhawk into
Vargas' back, knocking him over. Warren flew back into the office and slowly
picked up Psylocke, "Betsy? You're bleeding pretty bad. Where's Xorn?"
"Over there...," Betsy said as she became more and more loopy as the blood
to her brain began to decrease. Her head wound was beginning to clot, but
it was still painful and bleeding. Archangel looked over and saw that Xorn
was still unconscious.
Pyro slowly got to his feet and gripped his shoulder, which was bleeding
from a gunshot wound, "Feck."
"That's far enough," Darkblaster said in his low, bass voice. He had his
gun pointed at the three X-Men. Lumina was behind him with an orb charged
up in her hands. Lumina suddenly let out a yelp as she was shocked from
behind, by none other than Diode. She had a huge welt across her jawbone,
where Darkblaster kicked her. She smiled at the gunman.
"You know...sometimes guns don't hurt people, people hurt people, you know?"
Diode asked calmly as she gripped Darkblaster's gun and lowered it, eventually
taking it out of his hands and tossing it out the window. Darkblaster seemed
to be enthralled by Diode. He reached out with his hands and touched her
face.
"I'm sorry...," Darkblaster said.
"It's okay...hijo de perra!" Diode shouted as she lightly tapped
Darkblaster on the forehead, delivering a brief, but effective, shock. She
turned back to Archangel, Psylocke, and Pyro, "Can I get a raise the roof
from all y'all?"
Archangel attempted to raise it, but gets elbowed in the stomach by Psylocke,
who still gripped her head. Pyro rolled his eyes, "Oy...white American folk.
Pick a race and stick with it."
"Can you jolt Xorn awake?" Pyro asked Diode.
"If he doesn't mind," Diode said as she stood from a distance, holding out
her arm as a stream of lightning crackled through the air, eventually tapping
Xorn's helmet.
"Ugh...," Xorn muttered as he slowly got to his feet. He looked at Psylocke
and rushed up to her, "You're hurt!"
Xorn placed his hand on Betsy's scalp as a blue glow resulted and eventually
healed the wound. Xorn then turned to Pyro and gripped his shoulder, healing
it as well.
"Anyone else we should be worried about?" Xorn asked as he looked down at
Maggott and lightly gripped his forehead as he invigorated a small release
of Maggott's body's natural pain killers.
The door suddenly burst open with a bloody Sabretooth, his clothes torn,
holding an unconscious (and naked) Razoar, who had reverted back to his
human form, "Damn elevator...Yeah, I know who we have to worry about." Sabretooth
threw Razoar on the floor.
"Who?" Archangel asked. All five unconscious bodies seemed to disappear
into the shadows, probably a subconscious reaction by Vargas.
"I beat the answer out of Wolfboy," Sabretooth said with a smile. His smile
quickly faded, "Someone named Mr. S."
"Sinister?" Archangel asked.
"No...someone else, I've met him before. I'm assuming Xavier didn't encounter
him, otherwise you'd know all about him, believe me," Sabretooth explained.
"Who is it, Victor?" Psylocke demanded. "I deserve to know who wants the
Jigoku for themselves by killing me. Obviously, it isn't Vargas, so who
the bloody hell is it?"
"Mr. S...S for Savant, Warp Savant."
TO BE CONTINUED...
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