#22 April 2006

 

It had been three days since Betsy was attacked. Her condition kept on worsening. Her skin was pale and streaked with the horrific visibility of her veins. Her hair was white, the purist blonde one could get. The only thing was, no one could determine the cause for her body’s deterioration. Security cameras confirmed it was Longshot who was the attacker. It just didn’t make any sense. Why he would attack X-Corp, or Psylocke, his former teammate, for that matter.

Warren sat in the hospital room all day. Only came out to go to the bathroom and grab a quick drink of water from the fountain. He barely spoke, barely ate. He was truly at the end of his rope. He didn’t feel this dreadful since his wings were amputated all those years ago after the massacre in the Morlock tunnels.

“Warren?” a soft voice called out.

Within the shadows of the darkened room, the blonde man’s head reluctantly rose to see the silhouette of a woman in the doorway. With his avian senses, he could see her as clearly as if it were brightly lit. He bit the inside of his mouth, “Hello, Alison.”

The former X-Man once known as Dazzler’s arms slumped to her sides as she entered the room and strode up to Betsy’s side, placing her hand on her forehead. She briefly glanced at Archangel, “Hello to you, too.” She sighed as she lightly stroked the side of Betsy’s face. Her mouth was barely crooked open as she struggled to breathe. Alison looked back at Warren, feeling sorry for his self-pity. Her chin quivered, “Oh baby, I’m so sorry…”

Alison’s eyes welled up with saltwater as she held out her arms and walked around the bed, to the opposite side where Warren was slumped in a plush chair. Alison wrapped her arms around Warren’s shoulders and buried her face into his neck and began to sob. His wings almost carelessly hung out of his back. They just seemed to fall where they lay.

Warren blinked a few times, his eyes not leaving Betsy for a moment. Eventually, the coldness of Alison’s skin against his brought out the humanity in him once more. It had been days since he truly felt another person’s contact. He leaned his head against Alison’s and wrapped his left arm around her. He could smell the fragrance of her shampoo, of her perfume. It brought back memories of their time together, a time of when their lives were carefree.

Alison pulled away as she wiped her tears. Warren looked as if he didn’t even budge; he still stared at Betsy with longing eyes. “I’m sorry, War. I really am.”

“You don’t have to apologize for Longshot,” Warren finally said. “It’s my fault. I made the decision to take over Mojoworld.”

Alison nodded, “Peter said that he was brainwashed by Ramses Xavier. After he was defeated, Longshot just lost it. Dropped off the radar. We would have looked for him, but…y’know…non-mutants are a little hard to find with Cerebro.”

“How’s Kevin?” Warren wondered.

Alison arched an eyebrow as she crossed her arms, “Who?”

“Proteus. He was Joseph,” Warren explained. “He was attacked, too.”

“Oh…,” Alison sighed. “Well, Peter introduced me to Xorn. He was working in the science department. They had him in a stasis tube of some kind. Guess he’s still recovering.” She paused, “Didn’t he kill a lot of people?”

Warren’s eyes looked up at her without moving his head, “If we can trust Wolverine, I don’t think Proteus is all that bad…personally.”

“Did you talk with Scott lately?” Alison wondered. “Did you hear what happened with half the X-Men?”

Warren nodded, “He told me to dismantle our 2-million dollar Cerebro unit in case it was corrupted like his was.” He scoffed, “Summers is fucking overly paranoid sometimes, I swear.”

“You think Longshot is working for whoever captured the other X-Men?” Alison wondered. She trembled at the thought, “Are former X-Men being targeted, too?”

“I doubt it,” Warren said. “Whoever captured the X-Men knew they could get away with it. If they wanted to bring an unholy amount of attention to themselves, they’d capture one of us.” He sighed, “Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the public didn’t give a damn. X-Corp is failing. Losing its legitimacy. It’s down to Peter, Xorn, and me. Three people can’t run a company and fight for Xavier’s dream…in the public eye, no less.”

“We’re not going to lose Betsy,” Ali reassured. “She’s your fiancé. You’ll have that extravagant wedding and everyone will be invited and—”

Warren’s eyes drooped as his wings seemed to slump once more. He held up his left hand and a golden glimmer revealed a band around his ring finger, “She’s already my wife. We got married in secret during the trial with Bill Gemas.”

Ali’s hands quickly covered her mouth. Part of her was disappointed to hear the news like that, “Oh, Jesus. Who else knows?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Warren’s brow furrowed, “I don’t know why you came by, Ali. I just need to be alone. I already have a dead girlfriend. I didn’t expect to be a widower by age 30. Just let me wallow in self-pity. It’s what I’m good at, after all…just be glad I’m not drowning myself in alcohol yet.”

“Betsy is still my friend, dipshit,” Alison growled through clenched teeth. “I thought you could use the comfort, too. I’m not trying to use our past relationship as an excuse for anything!”

“Then maybe you should try to work for us instead of just trying to selfishly springboard your comeback career,” Warren growled as he stood up. “I gotta piss.”

“There’s NOTHING selfish about it!” Alison shouted as Warren ignored her outburst and walked passed her. Her powers activated from the very volume of her voice as tiny sparkles of light reverberated around her body. “The thousand times Bobby or Lorna quit go unnoticed, but I still get shit on?!”

“Where do you want to be in ten years, Alison?!” Warren yelled as he stood in the doorway. “Because the world you want to make for yourself might not be there waiting for you!” He turned away walked out, “Mine isn’t.”

Alison looked down at Betsy’s near-comatose body and then at the back of Warren’s head as he turned the corner for the men’s room. Part of her envied Psylocke for the love Warren showed her. And the other part feared what he might become without her in his life.

---

The next day.
X-Corp.
Board of Directors Suite.

Peter and Xorn caught each other’s eye at opposite ends of the hallway, carrying their briefcases on the way to the daily meeting. Pete smiled as he passed by various paper pushers and accountants. Xorn…well, it was difficult to read his emotions on account of the iron mask.

Peter took a sip of his coffee, of which he usually took regular, before he said in a muddled Russian accent, “Good morning.” He tilted his head, “New suit?”

Xorn nodded as he straightened his tie, “I’m open to exploring myself culturally. Let’s just say I’m trying to better integrate myself into the Western business world.”

“Ah. How’s MacTaggart?” Peter wondered. He and Xorn passed Sandy at the receptionist desk and gave her a little nod as she was on the phone. Her eyes caught the sight of the two men and she suddenly had frantic look in her face.

Before Xorn could answer, Sandy put the line on hold and shouted, “Wait! Um…there’s something you should know before you go in there, guys.”

“What is it?” Peter wondered. He looked at Xorn. Something told him he already knew. The Chinese mutant stared silently at the closed doors. He looked back at Peter.

“Lot of body heat coming from that room,” Xorn said simply.

“What…?” Peter winced in disgust.

“That’s…not what I meant,” Xorn replied nonchalantly. “I’m reading a lot of people in there.”

“Oh,” Peter said with a sigh of relief, “X-ray vision?”

“Something like that,” Xorn said as his eye-slots flashed with a neon blue glow.

Sandy shook the electric blue hair out of her eyes, “Mr. Worthington is still expecting you guys, but…it looks pretty serious in there. You might want to keep it strictly professional.”

“What else would we do, Ms. Fredrickson?” Xorn asked as he opened the door for he and Colossus to enter. What they found, however, was hysteria. “Oh. Damn.”

“Keep it professional,” Peter muttered as he nudged Xorn in the back lightly. He cleared his throat as he saw Warren at the head of the board room table, only the seats were all but completely filled by at least fifteen to twenty people. All by middle aged men and women of various walks of life. There was an uncomfortable silence as all eyes were suddenly on the two mutants.

“Hello, Mr. Rasputin, Mr. Dai-Chi,” Warren said in a strange, overly-official fashion. He raised his arms, “I’d like you to meet our new board of directors. People who have worked for my father as well as grandfather. Please, take a seat.”

“Um, I’m sorry…new board of directors?” Peter wondered as he sat at the far end of the table, something he wasn’t use to. He placed his briefcase and coffee cup on the table as Xorn took a seat of his own on the other side.

Warren’s stubbled face smirked, “Or old, depending on how you look at it.”

Xorn came to a startling realization, “These are the people you originally fired…in order to create X-Corp?”

Warren nodded, “Yes. I’ve…recently come to the realization that firing these people might have been a mistake. The fact is they weren’t fired anymore than reassigned to a couple of my subsidiary companies—which have been doing very well.” He graciously smiled at the people seated around him, “It was only natural that I merge everything together and restore my family’s company to its former glory…as well as improve upon it.”

“What about our media assets?” Peter wondered. “I was under the impression that boosted our revenue considerably.”

Warren smiled as he shrugged, “Well, all the pro-bono cases we were taking really didn’t add up at the end of the day.” He scratched the back of his head, “The reason I wanted to merge the X-Men with my business was because we could afford it. Now we can’t afford it…so the next logical step is to concentrate more on the business until it gets back on its feet before we start saving the world again.”

Xorn brought a fist up to his chin and sighed. He was beginning to wonder what Warren was thinking, for one, and trying to figure out how much Betsy’s condition has affected his grasp of reality. Still, it made sense…Warren’s emotions just seemed off.

As did his own.

And Peter’s.

“Let’s get down to business, shall we, ladies and gentlemen?” Warren asked with a smile.

---

“Alright,” John Allerdyce sighed as he rested his hands on his hips, “does anyone speak English here?” The group of Guatemalan volunteers the former “freedom fighter” known as Pyro were supervising simply gave the blonde Australian a puzzled look. Each of the men and women had burlap bags filled with seeds of various native plants. The intent, which had a good premise, was to replant much of the rain forest that was purged when Pyro unleashed the full extent of his abilities against Warp Savant.

Organizing the event was easy for Pyro, but that was with the English-speaking politicians and government workers of Guatemala.

“I’m sure with a little effort, I can persuade them to learn it at a striking pace,” a woman said, causing John to jerk his head upward. At the sight of her, he growled and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

“Damn it, woman…I told you back in Los Angeles, I don’t want to talk,” Pyro said. He turned back to the volunteers, speaking slowly and using hand gestures as he spoke, “Okay, we’re going to take these bags and spread the seed.” He pointed to the giant pile of rich topsoil, “And then the rest of you will shovel that on top of it.”

“Part of you feels responsible for the fire,” the woman said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

As the group of volunteers readily began following the orders of the strange blonde-haired man, Pyro adjusted his sunglasses, “All I ever do is clean up my messes lately. The guilt doesn’t go away, though. You tryin’ to serenade me into giving you my X-Corp shares, sweetheart?”

The woman smiled as she took off her safari hat, revealing a head of platinum hair and an icy exterior, “I believe the word was ‘sell.’”

“Look, I’m surprised Wings trusted me enough to put me on the board, but he’d rather get plastic surgery to make him look even more like a dame than let you take my place,” Pyro scoffed. “Now piss off. I’ve got work to do.”

“You and I both know that Worthington doesn’t have the stomach to be the cold-hearted businessman to make X-Corp the biggest mutant-owned conglomerate on the planet,” the woman smiled fiendishly.

“It is the biggest mutant-owned business, you fake-tit tosser!” Pyro shouted. “And it’s not about the money.”

The woman arched an eyebrow, truly inquisitive, “Oh?”

“Yeah…,” Pyro paused for a moment, wondering why he was defending the man whose fiancé (or…wife) he had an affair with. She was under the influence of an evil magical force, but still. “It’s about mutant acceptance. And peace…spreading.”

“Do you actually think that will last? X-Corp will be bankrupt in a year’s time if that’s Worthington’s sole financial priority,” the woman said as she crossed her arms. “And what if mutants magically suddenly become generally accepted and integrated into society? What then? There would be no use for a business that does nothing but pro bono superhero work.”

“We…,” Pyro stopped himself, shook his head, and began again, “They do other stuff. Financially, I mean.”

“They’re based in Manhattan. Probably the only building not owned by Donald Trump or Tony Stark,” the woman explained as she shifted her weight to the side. “X-Corp is pigeon-holed to fail. Unless you sell me your shares. You might not realize it, but your entertainment division gives you a lot of clout in the board room.”

“So…what would you do if you were me and I still worked there?” Pyro wondered. “It sounds to me like you want to take over.”

“The company needs a kick in the pants. Worthington is too jaded over Psylocke’s accident that he’s going to let everything die,” the woman said.

“Wait…what?” Pyro wondered aloud. “What’s wrong with Betsy?”

“Longshot attacked her as well as Proteus,” the woman explained, “Proteus is alive, but Psylocke’s condition is deteriorating.”

“I thought he was a good guy?” Pyro asked. “Jesus. It’s like everytime one of us switches sides, someone else switches.”

“He was engineered to stage rebellions against whoever was Mojo—in this case, Archangel. It was entertainment on his world. The brainwashing by Ramses Xavier didn’t help his grasp of right or wrong, either.”

Pyro winced at the name, “What? Who?”

“Nevermind,” the woman sighed.

“How convenient that the two telepaths on the team are taken out…,” Pyro muttered as he quickly changed the subject. “Christ. That woman has been through a hell of a lot. I’m surprised she isn’t dead yet. She’s strong.”

“Not in this case,” the woman said. “When Psylocke dies, it’ll be over for X-Corp. The public is already a little suspicious from the whole Diode fiasco. Psylocke’s death wouldn’t mean much. It would generate a little sympathy, but ultimately the company would fail.”

“Don’t use that to persuade me,” Pyro warned. He sighed as he turned his back to the woman, “There’s gotta be something you can do to help Psylocke.”

“Unfortunately, there’s not much anyone of this world can do to help her,” the woman explained. “But maybe an old flame of yours could…?”

“Spiral,” Pyro muttered. He looked off into the distance, into the glaring sun, “Somethin’ tells me Wings already knew that. He’s gonna destroy himself and the rest of the team tryin’ to get Betsy back…isn’t he?”

The woman nodded.

Pyro paused for a moment before looking at the woman, “Do you have the paper work?”

---

“Are you crazy, tovarisch?!” Peter exclaimed as he and Xorn stood in Warren’s office, having just heard his plan.

Warren stood in front of the window, looking down upon the Manhattan streets below, “We don’t have much of a choice. Spiral is the only one who can help Betsy. Her knowledge of magic and genetics is the only thing that will save her now.”

“Warren, I implore you, this isn’t necessary!” Xorn said. “I’ve consulted with Hank. He thinks if we somehow get a tissue sample from Brian Braddock, Betsy’s fraternal twin, we might be able to stabilize her condition.”

“What if…no,” Colossus stopped himself as he rubbed his chin. “Can Proteus help her? Just by thinking it? If we can speed up his recovery…”

“Doing that could kill him and probably blow up half of New York,” Xorn warned.

“Which is why exchanging Mojoworld for Betsy is the only option,” Archangel declared. “I mean…did you know I woke up one morning with dreadlocks and green skin? Seriously. What’s next? Am I gonna grow a giant mechanical scorpion tail out of my ass? Is Longshot going to attack one of us again? You realize this is what started this whole mess, right?”

“Alright, alright,” Colossus said, trying to calm things down by holding his hands up. “When are we going?”

“Now,” Archangel said as he turned his head towards his remaining teammates.

There was a light hum as a reverberation appeared and Alison suddenly became visible, “I’m coming with you.”

“What the--?!” Archangel gulped as he jumped. “Using your powers to bend the light around you?”

“Oops, I’m sorry,” Xorn said with a shrug, “I could see her. I didn’t realize she was hiding. I thought you and Peter were being rude.”

“You were right, Warren,” Alison said. “I have responsibilities. Maybe not to you directly, but to X-Corp…and Betsy. I don’t know much about business, but I’m all about getting people’s attention.” She smirked, “Maybe when this is all done and over with, I’ll stay with the team full time.”

Warren did not return in kind, which may have put Alison off for the wrong reasons, “This might be more difficult than you think. Trusting Spiral is not going to be easy. If she accepts taking over Mojoworld, we can only hope she’ll keep up her end of the deal and fix Psylocke. If not…we might have to fight her. She’ll be the next Mojo, so her powers would double.”

“Is there some ace up your sleeve?” Alison asked.

“Not really,” Archangel said grimly.

“So…this is a suicide mission?” Colossus wondered aloud. He armored up and approached Archangel, “Need I remind you I have a wife and son that I’ve been reunited with after so long? I’m trying to live a normal life!”

“Don’t start with that, Peter,” Warren growled. “None of us is normal. We can only hope that Longshot will eventually take Spiral down. If it comes down to that. He’s programmed to make Mojo’s life hell.”

“Does he have an interdimensional portal generator laying around?” Xorn quipped.

“He’ll find a way,” Dazzler said knowingly.

“I don’t like this, Worthington,” Colossus spat, still in his armored form.

“I tend to agree with the Russian,” Xorn said, “the last time we came back from Mojoworld, everything was awry. Going there is not good, either.”

Warren’s eyes flared as his wings hunched over his shoulders in a threatening manner, as if a vulture were stalking dead prey, “WHY are we even having this discussion?! MY WIFE is DYING!”

“…wife?” Colossus questioned as his cold metallic skin returned to flesh. Dazzler exchanged a look with Warren, who immediately calmed himself.

“We were married in secret,” Warren revealed before anyone could ask. “Am I rash? Paranoid? Cowardly? I don’t care…the woman I love is dying. If you don’t want to come along, fine.”

An explosion of light appeared behind Archangel as the doorway between the office and Mojoworld opened. His form was completely silhouetted by the intensity of the light. Dazzler even had to shield her eyes.

“…I’m going either way,” Archangel muttered as he grabbed two gold-plated handguns out of his desk drawer and holstered them inside his suit coat. Dazzler and Xorn quickly joined Archangel at the dimensional threshold. Warren focused his glare on Colossus, “I respect your decision.”

Dazzler and Xorn walked through the portal, but Archangel remained facing Colossus. He sighed, “I guess you’re always reliable enough to turn your back on your allies at crucial moments…”

Colossus’s eyes fought back tears as he growled, “You prick…do you think it’s an easy decision for me?!”

*THOOM*

The portal collapsed on itself, flinging Colossus backwards onto the floor. Almost immediately, Sandy burst into the office, “Oh shit…they’re gone!” She looked puzzled for a moment, then saw Peter on the ground. “Mr. Rasputin…! Um…”

“Sandy, what’s wrong?” Peter grunted as he ignored the aches in his body (and heart) and got to his feet. He gently placed his hands on the X-Corp receptionist’s shoulders. And in looking behind her, his eyes widened in shock as he instinctively armored up, “Boize moi…”

Behind Sandy, a man with shaved blonde hair and a leather get up held an alien-looking dagger to a raven-haired woman’s throat came into view. It was Nareel Rasputin, Peter’s wife…held hostage by the former X-Man, Longshot. The former Savage Land inhabitant trembled in fear. She was wearing a bathrobe and bleeding from her ribs.

“His reign is at an end…,” Longshot muttered coldly as his right eye briefly flashed with yellow light.

“Longshot, please…,” Colossus said as he slowly approached him. Sandy slowly stepped out of the way. Longshot tightened his grip around Nareel’s shoulder and pressed the blade to her throat as she screamed.

“NO!” Longshot shouted. “It ends now! Even if I have to attack him through those he loves!”

“We are your friends,” Colossus pleaded. Although he didn’t need to breathe in his armored form, he could feel his blood run cold, “Drop the knife.”

Tears streamed down Nareel’s face, “Peter, please…! Do something!”

“Let me face Mojo face to face and I’ll let your wife go…and I can tell you where your son is,” Longshot cackled.

“Sandy,” Colossus whispered without taking his eyes off of his wife, “go get a portable Cerebro unit and set it for my son. Call the Avengers. Hurry!”

“But I can take him out before he even flinches,” Sandy said. She brushed her blue hair out of her eyes.

Colossus shook his head, “Too risky. He has luck powers. I’ll handle this. Go!”

Sandy waved her hand and seemed to move in a blur. It wasn’t super-speed so much as it was slowing time around her. It allowed her to type over one-million words per minute, making her an overly-successful receptionist.

Longshot’s eyes darted towards Colossus, “I saw that!” He was about to bring the knife across Nareel’s throat, but the ultimate survivor judo-flipped the man violently onto the floor. Nareel panted as she darted for her husband.

“Peter!” she shouted. Before she could reach him, she stopped and collapsed in his arms. A dagger was sticking out of her spine. Colossus’s glare fixated on Longshot on the floor, whose arm was still in the follow-through motion. “Peter…uhk…”

Colossus gasped, “…no…” He armored down and stroked his wife’s cheek before she eventually fell limp in his arms.

“His,” Longshot grunted as he strained to get himself to his feet, “reign is at…an END!” He hobbled a bit. It seemed his hollow bone structure came at a price to his endurance. Nareel’s move broke his leg.

Colossus grit his teeth as he seemed to grow twice his normal size, even in armored form. An impenetrable rage consumed him. His foot hammered through the floor, sending a shockwave in Longshot’s direction. He tried to dart out of the way so many trying to escape Colossus's path have tried before, but even he couldn’t. He was knocked backwards.

The mighty iron giant took a running leap while Longshot was still airborne and drove his shoulder into him, eventually grabbing him by an arm and leg, shattering his spine painfully upon his knee as he used his momentum as he fell.

Colossus panted as his armored form seemed to shrink to its normal size, expelling a little energy as he did so. Suddenly, he looked up at the stunned faces of the X-Corp employees and realized what he had done. In his grief, Colossus stood up, leaving the severely-injured (and most likely paralyzed) Longshot to ponder his actions.

He knelt beside the body of his wife and kissed her forehead, “What have I done…?”

---

Guatemala.

“Is that the last of it?” Pyro asked as he initialed the final page. He handed the clipboard back to the woman, who simply nodded and walked off. “When the feck do I get my money?”

“Soon enough,” the woman called out as she strolled off smugly.

Amidst the commotion of dump trucks and bulldozers, not to mention the hundreds of workers replanting much of the scorched jungle, Pyro felt a whistle in his ear. At first, he attributed it to the multitude of mosquitoes in the area, but he felt it again…in his crotch.

“Jesus!” he yelped.

“OoooooOOOoooooOOOOooooooooOOOOooooooo,” a voice bellowed.

“Feckin’ poltergeists now? Man, I’m done with the X-Men shite! Lemme alone!” Pyro groaned as he flailed his arms in the air as if swatting an invisible fly.

“St. John Allerdyce…I am the Ghost of Christmas Future. You done fucked up big time, niggaaaaaaa!” the voice uttered with a self-imposed reverb.

“Who the hell--?”

A woman materialized before him in a brilliant display of lightning and electro-bolts and smacked him upside the head.

“¡Estupído!” Diode shouted as a blue energy encircled her entire being, as if she was made of it. “Who do you think?!”