Annual 2003
"Transitions"
by Brad
Horton
Archangel
Quicksilver
Rogue
Blink
Joseph
Psylocke
Pyro
Maggott
Diode
Xorn
Polaris
Havok
Proudstar
San Francisco.
The man known only as Xorn walked casually into the streets of Chinatown with his black leather X-Men uniform under a leather jacket with a large superimposed X over it. He also wore the iron mask the Chinese government gave him so long ago to cover the remains of his head. When Xorn reached puberty, his brain disappeared and a microscopic star filled the void, destroying much of his skull and upper neck.
Despite being imprisoned for much of his life, Xorn has learned things where ever he could, but still had a lot to learn about life. Xorn passed a farmers market and decided to buy a Fuji apple to snack on. He paid the vendor and continued walking. Xorn held the apple up to the mouth slit on his mask as it seemed to vaporize and get sucked into the mask.
"Hey, freak!" an Asian teenager yelled as he threw a bottle at Xorn, which hit him in the head and shattered. Many of the teen's friends began to congregate around him and cheered.
Xorn stumbled backwards a bit, but continued to walk.
"I'm talkin' to you, mutie!" the teen yelled as he threw a rock at Xorn, hitting him in the chest.
"Ah!" Xorn shouted as he dropped to one knee and gripped his sternum. He breathed steadily as he rose to his feet and continued on his path. Suddenly, the nine teenagers walked in front of Xorn, stopping him. Xorn couldn't see per se, he could only "read" the spectrums. From what he could tell, these teenagers were wearing baggy white clothes.
"Aren't you gonna talk to us, mutie? Or are you better than all of us?" the teen asked.
Xorn sighed, "Excuse me, but I must be going."
The teen raised his arm forward and held it against Xorn's chest, "You didn't answer me."
"I must be going, I am trying to visit someone who might be my uncle," Xorn responded in Mandarin.
The teen pushed Xorn down, "Answer me, you dumb freak!"
Xorn grunted as he felt his tailbone hit the pavement. The eyeslots of Xorn's mask suddenly glowed bright blue, "You are beginning to bother me, friend."
"I ain't your friend!" the teen yelled. His friends laughed as Xorn got to his feet and stood face to face with the instigator.
"Please leave me alone, I am trying to--" Xorn began, but gets kicked in the stomach. He stumbled backwards into a trash can. The gang of teens laughed as they walked off.
"Whatever, freak! You ain't one of us!" the leader yelled.
Xorn got to his feet again and dusted himself off. He coughed as he tried to catch his breath, "So that's what it feels like to get the wind knocked out of me...interesting."
Sydney.
Rogue, Psylocke, Diode, and Blink all walked through the rotating metal spokes located by the ticket master as they entered the concert grounds. They were attending a Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert in Sydney as part of the band's world tour. The hard bass pulsed in their ears and throughout the grounds like the music had an erratic heartbeat. The multicolored lights on stage combined with the pyrotechnics produced a hypnotic visual sensation.
"Woo!" Blink screamed as she flailed her arms in the air while she jumped up and down. She wore a black tank top with short black hotpants. An image inducer wasn't on hand, but she figured she'd live with the weird stares. It was the girls' night out, anyway.
"Oh yeah!" Diode echoed as she chugged her plastic cup of beer. She wore a short navy blue skirt and a black halter top, "I have to pee!"
"Yes," Rogue shouted. "This is exactly what we need!" Rogue had green jean shorts torn at the upper thighs and had a white t-shirt tied up to show her navel.
Psylocke, on the other hand, wore khakis pants and a black dress shirt with laced sleeves, "Truly."
As the girls passed a bunch of 30 year olds who wore grunge styled clothes, they hooted at the X-Women. All but Psylocke ignored them and kept walking towards their seats. Betsy smiled as she grabbed one of the men by his collar. She looked down at him, since she was 5' 11", he was lucky to be 5' 6".
"Y-y-yes, baby?" the guy asked as he smiled wryly.
Psylocke flicked her tongue and licked the man's nose, "I might be sexy, but I'm not an object, luv."
The man suddenly looked down, and with Psylocke's illusion successfully implanted in his mind, saw that he was wearing women's lingerie, "AHHH!"
Psylocke flung her hair back as she laughed and joined up with the others.
San Diego.
"Holy shit," Polaris muttered as she kneeled down on the cement of a subway station, peering under the pile up of four subway cars. She wore the new standardized X-Men uniform - black leather pants, gray shirt with thin tubing, and a leather jacket with a large yellow X over it. Havok and Quicksilver were with her. It was an unofficial X-Factor reunion.
"Can't believe this was caused by a three year old," Havok muttered as he crossed his arms.
"Mutations are being triggered earlier and earlier these days," Quicksilver said. There was a whoosh that blew wind through Havok and Polaris' hair as Pietro zipped across the tracks as he darted every which way, trying to find possible pieces of evidence. Quicksilver finally came to a halt next to his reinstated teammates and sighed, "Definite energy manipulation. The metal was melted on the cars themselves. It might have been some sort of accelerated psychokinetic pulse."
"Are the cops going to be willing to let us in on the case?" Havok asked. "If not, we're going to have to lay low, try not to make a scene."
Quicksilver cleared his throat, "Actually, I was thinking we could use our former status as government agents. We were sort of celebrities."
Havok bit his lip, "Forgot I'm not the one calling the shots anymore."
"We're the only three not vacationing," Quicksilver said. "Someone has to take charge."
"What are we going to do when we find this kid?" Polaris asked.
Quicksilver simply responded, "Whatever it takes."
New York.
"Nice to see you again, Warren," Leonard Samson said as he shook Archangel's hand, who just walked into his office. Samson had his green hair tied up into a ponytail which draped over his yellow cardigan sweater.
Archangel wore a white suit with matching pants. He sighed, "Well, we meet again, Doc."
Leonard's eyes widened a bit when he caught glimpse of Warren's feathered wings which stuck out through slots in his sportcoat, "Um...have a seat, Worthington."
Warren let out a sigh as he laid down on the cushioned couch, "If you're wondering about the wings..."
"Actually, I was," Samson said as he folded his hands on his desk. "But, I know all about how things change in your business, so I won't pry."
"Actually, it's significant for this follow up appointment," Warren said. "See, Betsy and I were both possessed by this mystical power."
"The...Crimson Dawn, right?" Leonard asked.
"Right," Warren confirmed, "only when it was removed from us, we changed...into our original forms. It was as if all the things we went through...all the tampering by Apocalypse or Spiral was just...gone."
"But you still have memories of those things happening?" Samson asked.
"Unfortunately," Warren said. "But...it all seems like a bad dream. I feel we have a second chance to set things right."
Samson nodded, "A few months ago, you told me of how you missed being able to feel your wings. How they...felt as the wind coursed through them...how it felt to actually create lift with them."
Warren smiled slightly, "Yeah. It's wonderful."
"But...you no longer have your heightened powers," Samson pointed out.
"They weren't mine to begin with. These wings...they're who I am," Warren said.
"Hmm," Samson muttered. "It seems you have no insecurities about yourself."
"I know I probably did a long time ago, but...all that time without having my wings...I realized I didn't want the extra power, I just wanted to fly," Archangel said. "It's like...a reflex or something, like running. I couldn't live without it."
"And now that you have it, you want to live again?" Samson asked.
"Without sounding like a sap or something, but...yeah," Warren said.
"Does Betsy feel the same way about herself as you do about yourself?" Samson asked.
Warren shuffled on the couch, "She might be a little disappointed in herself. She's still a martial artist and ninja...just not as good as she was in her Asian body. But, she's dealing with it. Her telepathic skill has actually increased in her old body."
"How so?" Samson asked.
"Aside from being able to focus better, she's been seeing into the future," Warren said.
"You mean clairvoyance?" Samson asked.
"No, precognition. Clairvoyance is seeing something without physically being there...not the same as being a precog," Warren said. "At least, that was the schtick Betsy gave me when I messed it up, too."
"Oh, sorry," Samson chuckled. "So, what do you plan to do with your new lease on life?"
Warren reached into his pocket and felt the velvet case of Betsy's engagement ring. Images flashed in his mind as he remembered all that died during Archangel's time as Apocalypse's Horseman of Death. He felt guilty fate had given him a break. Part of him felt he didn't deserve it...
Melbourne.
"I don't know about this...," Joseph said as he was dragged out of the taxi by Pyro and was bombarded with the lights coming from a bunch of pink and orange neon signs, which read, "GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS" and "TOTALLY NUDE NUDE NUDE."
"Come on, live a little, mate," Maggott said as he shoved Joseph into the grasp of Proudstar, who gripped Joseph under the arms and dragged him inside.
"Noooooo!!" Joseph screamed all the way in. "I have a girlfrieeeeeeeeeeend!"
"Come on, Joe," Pyro joked as he walked in, flashing his ID to the bouncer. "Are you a boy, or a man?"
"Jesus, let me go!" Joseph yelped. He glanced up on stage and witnessed a stripper bend down forward and grab a single from a man's hand...with her teeth. "Oh God, Clarice is going to vaporize my nuts when she hears I've been here!"
"She won't find out," Proudstar said. "We'd never violate the guy code of keeping trips to the strip bar a secret."
"Promise?" Joseph asked.
"Sure," Pyro said as he flailed his arms in the air, flicking his tongue at one of the waitresses.
"Actually, I might tell all the gels about it," Maggott snickered.
Proudstar slapped Maggott upside the head, "Dude, don't be an ass, that's worse than telling his girlfriend."
"Yeah, don't joke about that, pillock," Pyro growled as he lit up a cigarette. He stared at Japheth with drunken eyes, "Who invited you anyway?"
"Quicksilver made you take me along, remember?" Maggott asked.
"Bah...stupid Pietro sticking us with the retarded lug with a two autonomous stomachs," Pyro muttered.
"Who wants to pitch in to buy Joe a lapdance?" Proudstar asked as he waved an Australian five dollar note in the air.
"Woo!" Pyro shouted as he opened his wallet and took out a 20 dollar bill.
"Awww," Joseph groaned...in a non-sexual way.
"So, in your mind, your new transformation has caused you to want to change your surroundings?" Samson asked as he folded his hands and rested his chin on the tips of his fingers. His eyes moved towards Warren on the couch, but his head didn't turn.
"I only said I was thinking about merging X-Men Omega with Angel Incorporated," Warren said. "I'm tired of hiding, acting like I have a secret identity when I don't."
"What will Quicksilver have to say?" Samson asked.
"Well, I was thinking of changing the name to...what?" Warren asked, having realized he didn't listen to Leonard's question fully.
"Quicksilver's the leader of X-Men Omega, isn't he?"
Archangel shook his head, "In terms of ownership? With the amount of money I've committed to the team, I'm the true leader behind it...just like Charles was the leader of all the X-Men before he..."
"So, you're putting yourself in Xavier's shoes?" Samson asked.
"No way...I know I'm no Xavier," Warren said.
"But you're considering jump starting your company by making it based around the X-Men. Perhaps you're trying to keep the last remnants of your father and Xavier in your life...?" Leonard asked.
"Yeah...," Warren said.
Leonard checked his watch, "Oop. That's my time."
Warren glanced upward and got to his feet as he shook Leonard's hand again, "Quite a grip you've got there, Doc."
"Thanks," Doc Samson said.
As Warren turned around before he walked out of the office, "Oh, and Doc?"
"Yeah?"
"I wasn't paranoid, Betsy really was evil."
"...ah," Samson said as his shoulders slumped.
"Get out of the way!" Havok shouted as he cupped his hands around his mouth. The pedestrian bystanders scattered as a rumbling began to occur. Havok turned around as he saw Polaris' green magnetic energy signature on the horizon. Quicksilver zipped next to him.
"We've isolated the problem," Quicksilver said.
Havok raised an eyebrow and glanced back down the avenue, which looked like was producing a shockwave equivalent to an earthquake, "Are you sure?"
Polaris suddenly appeared in full view as she magnetically tethered herself to the glowing blue burst of energy that flew down the street erratically. It was the psychokinetic four year old boy. It was almost as if he had become pure psionic energy and was running rampant. If the personality of a small child is combined with immense power...well, look out.
Quicksilver grabbed Havok's shoulder as the blue light approached closer and closer, "Ready?"
"Let's get it over with," Havok muttered as he charged up as the circle on his chest on his containment suit began to light up. The yellow solar energy blazed out of his eyes, as well.
Quicksilver leaned forward as he planted his feet on the pavement in split seconds, moving as fast as he could around the boy's energy field. The speed and momentum generated by Pietro acted as a barrier of sorts to prevent any stray bolts of psionic energy to hit the buildings or people on either side of the street.
"NOW!" Havok shouted. Polaris severed her magnetic tether and Quicksilver ran out of the way as Havok's concussive blast and the blue sphere of energy crashed into each other, producing a massive explosion that shattered windows all around the vicinity and produced a sonic boom. The flare of light was too much to bear for some of the people, and they fainted from the shock.
"Alex?!" Polaris shouted as she lowered her forcefield and descended to the ground, which was a smoking crater. She ran up to the crater and sounds of a man coughing eased her tensions.
Havok climbed out of the crater with the young blue-haired boy in his grasp. Havok had taken off his coat and covered the boy, since he was naked from the energy discharge. Quicksilver zipped up to his teammates and watched as Havok lowered the boy on the ground.
Havok sighed, "He's dead."
Polaris closed her eyes and breathed, "No..."
Quicksilver's posture lowered slightly, "Damn it."
The crowd began to congregate on the sidewalks and gasped when they saw the motionless child on the street next to the smoldering crater.
"Monsters!"
"He was just a child!"
"They saved us, you morons!"
"Get out of here, freaks! Go back to whatever planet you came from!"
"Bastards!"
"Go home, mutie freaks!"
"And to think I missed this...," Havok muttered as he picked up the boy. Images of Scottie, his son from another dimension, flooded his mind. Polaris surrounded her magnetic field around the three of them as they took flight, away from the bantering of the crowd.
"Hey!" the victim of Psylocke's telepathy yelled as he pushed passed the RHCP fans. At first, Betsy didn't notice anything...until she felt something stir in the back of her mind. She saw flashes of herself in gray hues being beaten and kicked by an average sized man and his friends.
The man suddenly grabbed Psylocke by her hair and yanked it downwards. "AHH!" Betsy screamed. Just as she foresaw, three muscular men wearing nothing but torn shorts began to surround them.
Blink, Rogue, and Diode, meanwhile, are all jumping up and down with the heavy beats with the rest of the crowd.
"Help!" Psylocke screamed. No one heard her. She was shoved into the ground into a puddle of mud. She gasped as she began to sob, "Help!!"
The first blow was a kick into her stomach. Another punched her in the ribs. Someone pulled her hair again and slapped her across the face. The beating continued for another minute or so. Still, no one saw any of it.
"You stupid bitch! You stupid mutant bitch!" the man yelled at the top of his lungs, right in Betsy's ear. "Who do you think you are?! Huh? Answer me!"
Betsy's brow furrowed as she saw images of Slaymaster blind her with haunting ease. Then, she saw Mojo and Spiral, laughing at her as Betsy was shackled to a table and had bionic eyes implanted in her vacant sockets. Then she saw Spiral again, implanting Betsy's mind in Kwannon's body and vise versa. Betsy's own DNA was used on Kwannon to heal her broken body, and her mind was used to heal Kwannon's.
Then, it clicked. Betsy still thought she was in Kwannon's body, but she wasn't anymore. While in Betsy's old body, Kwannon was still able to be a formidable ninja as Revanche. There's no reason why Betsy can't use her own knowledge and her body's ability in the same manner.
All the while, as the man shouted in Betsy's ear, her fist was clenched tight. She swiped her hand against the man's temple like lightning. The man's vacant stare made Psylocke smile as he fell to the ground like a rag doll, "I'm Psylocke, you little piss sniffer."
As the man's three friends went to grab Psylocke to put her down for good, she sprung to her feet, much to the surprise of the three men. With the dark mud all over her face, she looked like an ancient warrior going in for the kill. Psylocke ran and slid directly through the brutes' advance.
While behind them, she jumped up and performed a nearly flawless roundhouse kick to each of their heads. Psylocke smiled as she noticed the rock fans had finally taken notice of the "damsel in distress." The brutes gripped the back of their skulls as they fell face first into the mud, on top of their small friend.
"That's who I am," Psylocke said as she stood over the four humiliated men, "don't make me tell you twice."
Blink saw the commotion and approached Psylocke, "Betsy? You want to port back home so you can get cleaned up?"
"It's alright," Psylocke said as she put her arm around Clarice. "Let's just enjoy the rest of the concert. They haven't played Give It Away yet."
"Yeah, yeah," an elderly Asian man said as he rocked back and forth on his wooden chair on his porch outside. "My sister, Xen Dai, lived in China, the countryside."
"So...you are Fen Dai?" Xorn asked.
The man nodded, "Yeah, I told you first three times you ask!"
Xorn's facial features couldn't express his happiness, but his posture could, "I am Xorn Dai-Chi. I am your nephew!"
The man squinted his eyes as he stuck a pipe between his lips, "I'm sorry to say I don't see resemblance. Maybe you be out in sun too long?"
"Um...no, actually I...but, I'm your nephew!" Xorn repeated.
"I have no nephew. Go away from heah! You crazy!" Mr. Dai shouted as he shooed Xorn away with his hands.
Xorn's shoulders seemed to hiccup as he sadly turned around in the small alley and walked back onto the main road. Xorn looked up and saw familiar faces. It was the gang of kids, again.
"Hey! Look! I thought we told you to beat it! This is our town!" the teens shouted. One of them picked up a pebble and struck Xorn in the helmet.
Xorn furiously grabbed the key which secured his mask and unlocked it. The iron mask fell to the ground with a clang. The surrounding area suddenly appeared dark blue as the bright blue light caused it to reflect that portion of the spectrum.
Xorn walked up to the teens. His head was a mangled mess of blue energy with tiny bone fragments that just seemed to be hanging by a thread, magnetically glued in place by the microscopic star inside of his head, "Leave me alone, or I will INCINERATE your bodies and watch them boil from the inside from the radiation poisoning!!"
The teens collectively soiled themselves and watched Xorn's true, gruesome face stared at them with hallow eyes glowing with the power of nuclear fusion. They ran away in utter terror. Xorn himself was ironically scared by their reflex.
"What have I done...?" Xorn muttered as he lowered his star's intensity, returning the area to its natural spectrum of colors. He held out his hand as his mask floated to it. Xorn put his mask back over his glowing face and head and locked the key. He took the key out and stared at it. He was tempted to throw it as far as he could, so he would never be able to lash out like he did again.
Xorn returned the key into the lock and sighed, "...never again. I swear it."
The Outback, one day later.
As the returning thirteen X-Men faced each other in the lobby of their damaged hotel base for the first time since they took their vacation, all they could do was remain silent.
Rogue cleared her throat, "So...what'd y'all do?"
"Don't ask," Pyro said as he shook his head.
The rest of the X-Men seemed to agree as they all silently seemed to drag their arms all the way into their respective rooms. Quicksilver remained and walked up and kissed Rogue, rubbing her arm.
Rogue sighed.
"What is it?" Pietro asked.
"Ever notice everyone doesn't seem to be into it, anymore? I mean...aside from Roni, the new recruits don't seem to...," Rogue paused. "I don't think I'm even into it anymore. The X-Men, I mean. I just can't see it being worthwhile."
Pietro looked back into Rogue's green eyes, "For us?"
Rogue leaned in and lowered her head onto Pietro's chest. She heard his heart beating rapidly. It was difficult to calm her nerves, "It's what I'm afraid of...we're just gonna burn ourselves out like the Alpha team or somethin'."
Quicksilver rubbed her back and whispered, "Let's just sleep on it. If we decide to keep it going, we will. Otherwise..."
Rogue nodded, "Otherwise, we'll just..."
Pietro closed his eyes, "We'll go on."
TO BE CONTINUED IN...
