Naypyidaw
The Union of Myanmar

Nerves flamed as the naked form of David North slammed against the hard stone of his prison cell. His jailers shut the door behind him, locking him inside the small room that was not much larger than a few feet all around. The only toilet he had was a bucket in the corner of the room. No bed.

The man called Maverick approached the cell door, examining it for possible weaknesses. His hand went to his neck. They had stripped him of all his clothes and in place, put on a small collar with glowing lights.

A power inhibitor.

Myanmar had gotten their hands on some pretty impressive technology, it seemed. Enough that they could bypass Wisdom's Cerebrite scans. But Maverick's imprisonment was all part of the plan. He was nothing more than the bait that allowed them access to the prison.

Maverick opened his mouth and began to retch. He stuck a finger down his throat to help the process. It took a few moments, but before long, he began to vomit the contents of his stomach onto the cold, hard floor. Mixed in with the stomach acids and partly-digested food were grains of sand. Soon, the sand piled up and once it was all expelled from his body, the sand rose and formed into the figure of a young woman wearing an abaya with a niqab over her head.

“Looks like we made it in one piece,” said Maverick.

“Not my preferred mode of travel,” said Dust.

“Lighten up, at least you didn't have to deal with beatings as they strip-searched you. Get your job done so we can get the hell out of here, okay?”

Dust nodded and her body dissolved into sand once more, seeping underneath the small gap in the door. Once she departed, Maverick sat in the corner of the cell and rested his head against the stone. During his long career, he had been trapped in similar places to this, and now he could use the opportunity to catch some rest.

Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Part Three

By Dino Pollard

Yangon

Pete Wisdom had just gotten through telling his new teammate, Sean Watanabe, that covert intelligence is ninety percent patience and it's rare that trouble shows up at their doorstep.

Then the wall of their hotel burst apart. Standing amidst the newly-made hole were Myanmar soldiers armed with automatic weapons. A few of them wore exoskeletons, exoskeletons which resembled Sentinel technology.

“You were saying?” asked Brass.

“Just my bloody luck...” muttered Wisdom. He pointed a finger at the laptop computer equipped with the Cerebrite tracking program. That program linked Wisdom's laptop via satellite to Cerebro mutant-tracking technology. And with a thought, Wisdom's finger grew long, pointed, and extremely hot. The point shot off from the tip, striking the computer and rendering it completely useless.

“What are you doing?” asked Brass.

“Last thing I need is these bastards getting their hands on our tech,” said Wisdom. He immediately dropped to the ground, barely dodging gunfire from one of the soldiers. Wisdom rolled under the bed for some protection. One of the soldiers knelt down to find him and the moment he did, Wisdom fired off a hot knife directly into the soldier's forehead.

Brass leaped forward, his hands reaching behind his back and drawing a pair of handguns. He brought them around and opened fire as he fell through the air, cutting down three soldiers in his wake by the time he landed. One of the exoskeleton wearers swung a massive, metallic fist towards him. Brass jumped at just the right moment, the fist leaving the floor damaged. He brought his guns up and opened fire again, but they just ricocheted off the metal hide.

Weapon X jumped into the fray, latching onto the Sentinel's back. His forcefield flickered around his body and he lifted his fist. The forcefield around his hand extended and narrowed into a point and he drove it into the Sentinel. Sparks flew from the gash inflicted by the assassin.

He flipped off the Sentinel, swinging his arm around and the energy blade from his forcefield following in a trail. The blade sliced off the head of another soldier, his body slumping to the ground. Brass looked on in shock at this display of brutality, but before he could say anything, his telepathy picked up on another soldier coming up behind him. Brass dropped to the ground, preventing the soldier from driving the butt of his rifle against the former Navy SEAL's skull. Brass put his weight on his hands and thrust his legs upward, striking the soldier in the jaw.

Wisdom rolled from under the bed and stretched out his fingers, eyeing the four soldiers in front of him. His hot knives extended from the tips of his fingers, each of them striking one of the four soldiers in their chest.

The last remaining soldier also wore an exoskeleton. Wisdom, Brass and Weapon X stepped before him, and Weapon X looked to his leader.

“What've we got here, lads?” asked Wisdom.

“It's not a Sentinel, it's an exoskeleton. There's a human inside there,” said Brass through his psychic link with Wisdom and Weapon X.

Weapon X jumped towards the exoskeleton, holding the palms of his hand together and raising his arm over his head. He brought his arms forward, the forcefield extending in a slim extension. It pierced the exoskeleton, tearing through the metal. Weapon X pulled his hands apart, splitting the skeleton in two and inside the small cockpit sat a soldier strapped in, watching with shock and horror.

The assassin pulled the soldier free and dropped him on the hardwood floor. Wisdom knelt down b<hr color="#ff0000">y the frightened survivor. Wisdom grabbed the soldier by his chin and turned the soldier's eyes towards him.

“I think we should have a little chat.”

Naypyidaw

Maung Sein slowly opened his eyes. He had eventually passed out from the pain of his body being carved by the contraption Tun Aung left him in. Now, the second he awoke, he felt his body harden and convert back into diamond. And almost instantly, he felt the saws. Diamond-cutting blades that cleaved into his body, collecting the jewels as they fell.

He wanted to scream, but no sound came from his mouth. He only hoped his death would come soon, so he could be spared this endless torment. 

Maung Sein was so occupied that he failed to notice the grains of sand fill inside the cell from beneath the cracks in the door. The pool of sand rose and materialized into the form of Dust. Once she laid eyes on the former factory worker, she gasped in horror.

"What have they done to you?" she asked.

Maung Sein looked up at her. She spoke English and he couldn't understand a word she said. But she seemed concerned about him.

Dust walked over to the machine and tried to fool around with the knobs and switches. After a few tries, the machine powered down and Maung Sein felt a brief respite from his torture. She opened up the contraption and he fell out of it like a rock, landing on the stone ground. Dust knelt by him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Can you walk?" she asked.

He looked at her quizically.

"Suppose you don't speak English," she said. She tugged on his arm and pointed towards the door, signaling that she was going to get him out of here. 

Before she could revert to her sand form and free him from the cell, the door swung open. Tun Aung stood there with a smile on his face. Flanking him on each side were soldiers wearing Sentinel exoskeletons.

"Maung Sein, I see you have a visitor," he said. He looked to Dust and began to speak in English. "I am General Tun Aung, this is my prison. And you are...?"

Dust remained silent.

"Of course, I expected as much," said Tun Aung. "And which faction are you with?"

Again, Dust offered no words.

"Very well, have it your way," he said. He then spoke to the Sentinels in Burmese: "kill her."

Yangon

"Sentinel technology," said Brass. "How did they get Sentinel technology?"

"That's what we're about to find out," said Wisdom. He placed his hand on the shoulder of the soldier they had tied to a chair. "You ready to start talking?"

"Wisdom, he probably doesn't speak any English," said Brass.

"We've ways around that," said Wisdom. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small case. He opened it and plugged the device into his ear.

"What's that?" asked Brass.

"Alien technology, universal translator. Courtesy of our friends at the Institute, whether they know it or not," said Wisdom. "You boys go take a walk, I'll speak with our friend."

"We could just as easily extract the information from his mind," said Brass.

"Remember the feedback wave from when you used Cerebrite?" asked Wisdom. "We can't take any chances. Now go."

Weapon X followed his orders willingly. Brass hesitated for a moment, taking a second glance at X-Force's leader, before leaving as well. Once they were gone, Wisdom pulled out a chair and set it in front of his captive. He drew a pack of Silk Cuts from his pocket and placed one of the cigarettes between his lips. He held the pack out to the soldier, who slowly nodded. Wisdom slid one of the cigarettes into the soldier's mouth. The mutant raised his finger and the tip started to come to a point and glow brightly and he used it to light both the cigarettes.

"What can you tell me about the SPDC's Sentinel technology?" asked Wisdom as he removed the cigarette from his mouth, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake. His Burmese was absolutely flawless thanks to the translator.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said the captive.

"You don't, huh? What did you think that fancy suit you were wearing was? A Hummer?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the captive repeated.

"Right, of course not," said Wisdom. He took a slow drag on the cigarette, the red sparks gingerly retreating down the white paper. "I don't like it when people lie to me, understand? I know the SPDC is doing stuff with mutants and I know they've got technology they shouldn't have. I want to know where that technology is from and how they obtained it."

The soldier remained defiant. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your choice, mate," said Wisdom. He placed a finger and pressed it against a certain spot on the soldier's chest. "This is a pressure point. Quite painful, actually. Would you like to know what makes it even more painful?"

A hot knife extended from Pete's finger, slowly piercing the soldier's skin, burrowing through his chest until it reached the other end, coming out his back. The soldier clamped down on his teeth, trying to block out the pain, but it wasn't any use. Wisdom jiggled his finger just a bit, widening the hole, taking his sweet time, before he retracted the knife. The soldier let out a gasp of air.

"You know the best thing about having access to white-hot blades?" asked Wisdom. "Whenever I inflict a wound, it's instantly cauterized. So I don't have to worry about getting any blood on my nice, new shirt."

Wisdom placed his finger on the opposite side of the captive's chest, hitting the accompanying pressure point. "And since I'm a symmetrical kind of guy..." The hot knife extended once more, slowly digging into the soldier's flesh. His nerves were on fire, literally, and he tried to move around in his chair, try to get away, but it only made the pain worse. Slowly, Wisdom retracted.

"You going to start talking?" he asked. He started to move his finger around the captive's chest, lightly touching it and slowly moving down south in little semi-circles. That finger moved down the soldier's abdomen, moving closer and closer to his crotch. As soon as the soldier realized this, he tried to protest, screaming out curses in Burmese, but Wisdom ignored every last word. 

"This part seems like it would be the most painful," said Wisdom. A hot knife began to emerge and the soldier could feel the heat in his groin. The tip of the knife touched the skin and the smell of cooking flesh filled the room. Wisdom took his sweet time with this attack, building up the threat. And finally, it got to be too much for the captive soldier.

"STOP! STOP! PLEASE STOP!"

"You gonna talk?" asked Wisdom.

"Yes... yes I'll tell you everything I know, just please..."

"Where did Burma get the tech from?" asked Wisdom.

"I don't know all the details... all I know is it came from somewhere nearby... Ships from Africa brought it in, I helped unload it."

"What did you unload?"

"The suits, mostly. There were some other things, too. Collars. We use them on prisoners in Naypyidaw."

"Mutant prisoners, right?"

"Right, that's right," said the captive.

"So they're being held in Naypyidaw, all in the same location?" 

The soldier nodded.

"Good," said Wisdom. "Give me that location."

Brass and Weapon X sat alone in the hotel bar. The assassin removed his mask to look less conspicuous. His head was completely devoid of hair and he only drank water. Brass had a brand of Burmese beer in front of him that he nursed. 

Brass had no idea how long they'd been sitting, but he knew the beer had now reached room temperature. Weapon X was hardly a good conversation partner. And after witnessing the way he dispatched some of their enemies, Brass wasn't so sure he was keen on talking with the man anyway, so it seemed like a blessing in disguise.

They heard footsteps and Brass detected the psychic imprint of their leader. Wisdom slid onto the stool next to Brass and motioned to the bartender. "Hardest whiskey you've got, mate."

"So?" asked Brass.

"They're in Naypyidaw," said Wisdom. "That's where the mutant prison is."

"And the tech?"

"We'll discuss that later," said Wisdom. The barkeep brought over a glass of whiskey and Pete downed it in a single gulp.

"You okay?" asked Brass. 

"I'll be fine," said Wisdom. He lit a cigarette with a lighter this time and stood. "C'mon, let's go. We've gotta steal a car and get to Naypyidaw, get our friends, and disable the tech."

The Sentinels both charged at Dust. In an instant, she dispersed herself into sand particles. They filled the air, clouding the room. The particles began to speed up, moving quicker and quicker into a full-blown sandstorm right in the small cell. At such rapid speed, the particles began to cut into the Sentinels' armor, tearing through them, sparks flying. 

Once Dust collected herself, she placed Maung Sein's arm around her shoulders and took him from the cell. The Sentinels were incapacitated, but not fully destroyed. She chose to take her opportunity while she had one.

Dust escorted Maung Sein back the way she had come. Once she reached Maverick's cell, she motioned to it. "Open the door."

Maung Sein looked at her quizically. Dust sighed and tried to demonstrate. She pointed at Maung Sein then made a fist and pretended to punch the door. The young mutant looked at her as he carefully imitated her actions. 

"Harder!" she said.

He seemed to understand that part and when he punched the door a second time, his diamond fist broke through it. Maung Sein pulled his fist out in shock and watched as Dust opened the door. Maverick sat in the corner, still naked with his eyes closed. He opened one of his eyes to see the commotion.

"You couldn't have given me five more minutes?" he asked. "I was in the middle of a great dream involving... well, nevermind what it involved. Might offend your sensibilities."

Dust crossed her arms. "Let's go."

"You done already?" he asked.

"Not so easy, ran into some trouble," she said. "We have to go. Now."

"Damn," said Maverick, getting to his feet. "What sort of trouble?"

"The warden of this prison as well as man-sized Sentinels."

"Wisdom won't like this..."

"I find I care very little about what Wisdom wants," said Dust.

The car stolen by the three remaining members of X-Force pulled up to Naypyidaw. Around them, they sat witness as other military vehicles drove towards the prison. Wisdom stopped the car and stepped outside to get a better look and Brass followed his lead.

"Looks like trouble," said Wisdom.

"You think it has anything to do with Dust and Maverick?"

"I'd say that's a definite possibility. Why not try and reach them?"

Brass closed his eyes and concentrated. He attempted reaching out with his telepathy, trying to contact his teammates. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and shook his head. "No dice. The shielding that interfered with us earlier is still in place."

Weapon X exited from the rear passenger door and ran off into the distance.

"Hey!" Brass called out after his teammate. He looked to Wisdom. "Where the hell's he going?"

"Watch," said Wisdom.

Brass looked on. Weapon X moved for cover in the shadow of a building. As a military jeep drove by, he leapt into the back. The masked, silent assassin quickly disposed of the two men inside and took control of the vehicle, driving it over to his teammates. Weapon X dropped each of the bodies on the ground.

"Looks like we've got our clearance," said Wisdom. He knelt down and started to remove the soldier's uniform. 

Maverick stood at the edge of a corridor, hearing footsteps from the other end. As a soldier was about to turn the corner, North grabbed him by the head and quickly snapped his neck. He took the soldier's uniform for his own as well as the soldier's rifle.

"Dust, I want you to start releasing these prisoners," he said. "We're going to see to it that Burma is overrun with pissed off mutants."

"What about our new friend?" she asked, motioning to Maung Sein.

"I'll take care of him," said Maverick. "We're going to find this Tun Aung and I have a feeling Maung Sein here will want to meet him one more time."

Dust nodded as her body dissolved into sand, flowing through the corridors of the prison. Like a sandstorm inside, she tore through the doorlocks, causing the cells to open and mutants to emerge from their captivity. Many of them were malnourished and sick, all wearing inhibitor collars. Maverick knew what his own move should be.

With all the commotion, X-Force was able to slip in without any trouble. Even without the uniforms, Wisdom imagined they could have come through. 

"Can you sense the source?" asked Wisdom.

"Yeah, we're getting close," said Brass, leading the way through the corridors. As they moved about, they came to an intersection where Maverick and Maung Sein ran into them. Both groups drew their weapons before they realized who the other was.

"Where's Dust?" asked Brass.

"Releasing the prisoners," said Maverick. "Wisdom, we've got a big problem here."

"Sentinel tech, I know," said Wisdom.

"We have to get to the central command and disable these collars, then these people can fight back," said Maverick.

"Already on it, Brass is tracking the location by the psychic disturbance," said Wisdom.

"This way," said Brass, motioning for the group to follow him. They moved down a few levels, pushing past rushing soldiers. No one seemed concerned by them, more interested either in escaping or containing the mutants on the upper levels. When they came to the central command, there was only one man standing in the room.

"I see you've finally arrived," said Tun Aung. He slowly turned and smiled at them. "You Americans with your loud, excessive tactics. Do you truly believe you can come in and forcefully shut down this country?"

"Got it wrong, mate, we've got nothing to do with America," said Wisdom. "We're just a group of mutants concerned about what you're doing to our own kind."

"And what makes you think you can do anything to stop us? You are weak, less than nothing," said Tun Aung. "Our force grows with each and every day. More and more technology comes our way and our mutant prisoners help raise our capital."

"We won't do anything to you," said Maverick, turning his aim just slightly. He opened fire but the bullets whizzed past Tun Aung and struck the console behind him. The general leapt away as the console erupted into flames and violent sparks. The lights on Maverick's collar went dim and he tore it from his neck. He knelt down by his captor. "I think some of your citizens would like a word with you."

The Triskelion

[[ ...reports pouring in from the Union of Myanmar of mutants rioting in the streets. Alleged abuses of mutant rights have been reported by anonymous sources, accompanied by documentation as well as evidence of mutant restraining devices once used in the island nation of Genosha. The Myanmar military junta has issued a statement claiming that they have neither the resources nor the capacity or even the incentive to imprison a mutant population and they claim the evidence presented is fradulent and an attempt to discredit their nation. Representatives from the United States and the United Nations offered no comme-- ]]

Fury turned off the monitor via remote control. He looked at the five members of X-Force who sat around the table.

"You released hundreds of inmates from a military prison, you've unbalanced an already-unstable country, and you got the media to shine its light on Burma," he said. "All I can say to that is good work."

"You... think this is a good thing?" asked Brass.

"I didn't hear any mention of any involvement by SHIELD or any external forces, did you?" asked Fury. "Burma's been a problem for a long time. Way I see it, a mutant uprising is nothing but a good thing. We just gotta keep an eye on it, make sure it doesn't turn into another Genosha."

"Funny you should mention that, Nick," said Wisdom. "See the tech Burma had? Apparently it came from somewhere around Africa. With Genosha unstable and having all that excess anti-mutant technology, doesn't seem like quite a leap to imagine that someone there is shipping mutant-hunting devices to people who shouldn't have it."

"We got any theories yet?" asked Fury.

"A few suspects."

"Good, start exploring them."