"REMY!" Jared Corbo shouted to the back of the Cajun thief as he ran out of
the room, but Remy LeBeau - his supposed rescuer - had either not heard
Jared's call to stop or had chosen to ignore him.
Jared moved to see in which direction Remy was heading to see if he could
catch him, but halfway to the door he collapsed onto his hands and knees,
falling into a spasm of coughing and heaving. Lumps and spittles of blood
accompanied the coughs, spewing out of Jared's mouth onto the floor.
Though the leader of the Brotherhood had amped up Jared's adrenaline to
unnatural levels and thus enabled him to stay conscious and spry through the
beatings and torture he endured, the internal injuries he had sustained were
catching up with him. Jared hadn't the slightest clue as to how bad of a
condition he was in, but he knew that he didn't have long before his body
was going to give out.
How could Remy leave him and Allison Crestmere alone in the heart of the
enemy's base? What was to happen to them? Surely Remy had to have known that
neither were in a position to defend themselves alone, nor would the
explosive battle that had just taken place between Remy and three other
members of the Brotherhood of Mutants go unnoticed. It would only be a
matter of time before reinforcements arrived.
Only moments ago Remy and him were in a fight for their lives against three
members of the Brotherhood of Mutants, including Allison, a close and
personal friend of Jared's who had been possessed by her
malevolent split-personality due to the Grey King's telepathic machinations.
They were able to dispatch the three, but the physical and emotional stress
of the battle had left Jared feeling so distraught...
It was shortly after the battle ended that Remy had received some kind of
transmission, likely from the other X-Men, and then rushed out of the room
after muttering something cryptic to Jared. Jared's head was spinning and
his stomach was twisted in knots; he couldn't remember what exactly Remy
said no matter how hard he tried.
Just behind Jared several feet was Allison's prone, albeit naked, form. At
the moment Allison was defenseless, in part due to Jared's method of
subduing her. Jared had to protect her until Remy came back, so he wiped the
last bits of upchuck and saliva from his lips and rose up to his feet on
shaky legs.
Picking up a sheet that laid beside him, Jared turned and hobbled over to
Allison's unconscious body, carefully wrapping her up in it to preserve her
dignity. What Remy and him had stumbled upon just before the battle erupted
still sickened him and he had to bite down on his lips to suppress his
tears.
"Move your Argentinean rear-end, woman!" a man's voice, having the hint of a
French accent to it, yelled from down the hall. "I heard someone yelling
over here!"
Jared's head shot up and his eyes went wide. He knew that it would only be a
matter of time before Brotherhood reinforcements came to investigate, but he
was hoping he would have more time to think up a plan. Remy had ran out on
Allison and him only moments ago, so there was no way he'd be back in time.
Jared quickly knelt down before Allison and hugged her close to him,
focusing all of his strength into expanding his body's constantly
fluctuating energy field around the two of them.
Within seconds a man covered completely in white leather rushed into the
room. White boots, white pants, a long white trench coat, and even a white
leather mask covered all but his eyes. In his hands were two handguns, both
of which he immediately pulled up and aimed at the two X-Men known as Radius
and Magma.
A woman in less gaudy clothing - street clothes made up of tennis shoes,
tight fitting jeans, and a short sleeve, red t-shirt - followed Fantomex
into the room and nearly gasped at the sight that laid before her.
"Arkady!" called out the female with the tan skin and the straight, shoulder
length cropped, dark hair. Saint Anna drew up her balled fists and charged
them with psychokinetic energy as she stared down the race traitor. "You
better come see this!"
Radius clutched Magma tightly and tried to strengthen his energy field
around her even more, but he found that his powers were once again gone.
This time it wasn't the Grey King manipulating his mutant abilities, but he
felt that it was his powers weakening under the stress of the situation and
his body's condition.
Arkady Rossovich, the blonde haired and white skinned former super-soldier
known as Omega Red, rushed into the room within moments of Saint Anna's
summon. Seeing the destruction of the room and the beaten forms of Landslide
and Mercury strewn about, with their imprisoned X-Man hovering over the
Brotherhood's newest recruit, Omega Red unsheathed his carbonadium coils and
snarled.
This was it, Radius thought as he closed his eyes tightly and used his own
body to shield Magma in spite of losing his powers. He knew that this was it
for the two of them, or at least for him, but the thought of what would
happen to her if she wasn't killed was all the more terrifying. A life of
what she had endured over the past few days was no life to live, even if it
was her split-personality that was in control.
When Omega Red drew back an arm to strike with his coils, a sudden rumbling
came from above. He shot a look upwards in the direction of the sound,
catching a brief glimpse of transparent ice and frost spreading sharply over
the ceiling. Before he realized what was happening, an entire frozen section
of what made up the upper floor collapsed and came crashing downwards.
Fantomex and Saint Anna scrambled to get out of the way of the ceiling's
cave in, barely managing to avoid getting caught in the collapse. Omega Red,
however, wasn't able to move out of the way quick enough and he let out a
hardened cry as he was bombarded with hundreds of pounds in wood, sheetrock,
metal, and ice.
A cloud of dust blanketed the air from the ruin of the upper floor, covering
the rubble and Omega Red's fate. Fantomex and Saint Anna had somehow ended
up on the floor in their rush to escape the collapse, but they were
recovering when the dust began to settle. Radius had been continuing to
shield Magma's body with his the entire time, but he couldn't help but look
to see what had just happened.
What the three of them found was something entirely heart stopping.
Standing atop the frozen debris and the toppled form of Omega Red was the
frozen silhouette of a man wearing dark sunglasses, a long sleeve black
shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a pair of snow camouflage fatigues, his body appearing as if it were
sculpted out of a block of ice. Tiny spikes and needles of ice littered his
body and his hair was made up
"Anyone wanna buy some Girl Scout cookies?" Bobby Drake, the X-Men's very
own incorrigible Iceman, asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Special discounts
for megalomaniac terrorists plotting the downfall of humanity as we know
it."
"I
recognize in thieves, traitors and murderers, in the ruthless
and the cunning, a deep beauty... a sunken beauty..."
- Jean Genet
Remy LeBeau, the mutant thief otherwise known as Gambit, had done a lot of
horrible things in his life. There were times when those horrible things
were enacted against even the most innocent of people, much to his
personal dismay. Whether Gambit was responsible directly, indirectly, or
inadvertently, his heart was always with them.
Having lived the life of a thief, even the life of a mercenary for a time,
hadn’t diminished the humanity in him like it would most. That lifestyle
had, in fact, strengthened his resolve to see a better tomorrow for all,
where people wouldn’t have to resort to the things he’s had to in order to
survive.
Despite having lived on both sides of the fence and having seen life from
both sides, as either a mischievous thief or as a heroic X-Man, he hadn’t
truly regretted many of the things he‘d done with his life.
Except for what happened to the defenseless and the innocent.
When his father was murdered and he became Patriarch of the Thieves Guild,
he had made changes to the way the guild did things. Steal from the rich,
steal from the insured, steal from the corrupt… leave the poor, the needy,
and the humanitarians alone. It was about as heroic and honorable as being
a thief could be, short of donating all of the money to those in need.
A small portion of it, maybe, but the politics of the guild prevented too
much of that. The guild was all about protecting those in your circle,
setting your closest friends and families up so that they could fulfill
the supposed 'American Dream.'
Ironically, being an X-Man was the opposite side of the coin. As he ran
through the makeshift base of operations belonging to the Brotherhood of
Mutants, Gambit knew that what he was about to do wasn’t just in the name
of the X-Men and their goals of a better tomorrow. It was also in the name
of those who had fallen victim or would fall victim to the machinations of
the organization’s leader - the Grey King.
{{ Gambit, remember what we talked about, }} the exacting voice of the
X-Men’s leader, Cyclops, chimed into Gambit’s earpiece. {{ The Grey King
isn’t the most powerful telepath and telekinetic in the world, but he’s up
there. }}
"Don‘t gotta tell me dat, homes," Gambit replied as he ran down the
corridor heading for the Grey King’s quarters. When he came to a three-way
corridor, he ducked around the nearest corner and dropped down to a knee,
holding his staff up to balance himself as he caught his breath. "Any
suggestions on how t’ handle ‘im?"
{{ Through out the entire fight you’ll need to keep him distracted - to
keep him off guard and off balance, }} Cyclops continued to say as
Gambit’s eyes moved around the corridor, scanning every corner of it. {{
Telepaths that become too disoriented, confused, or emotionally upset
can’t concentrate enough to use their powers effectively. }}
"Let‘s say for a sec here dat he can manage enough concentration," Gambit
said, posing the scenario rhetorically. "Once he knows da jig is up, is he
gonna be able t’ read my mind if he tries hard enough? T’ foresee my next
attack?"
{{ No, but Jean says it’s possible that he can still take your mind over
or shut it down entirely, }} Cyclops explained attentively. Gambit bit his
lip and considered the possibilities, wondering just what could go wrong
in this fight, but Cyclops was quick to reassure him. {{ That’s why it’s
so important to always stay one step ahead of him. If he can’t catch his
bearings - if he’s too paranoid about not knowing what’s coming next - he
shouldn’t be able concentrate hard enough to do anything to your mind. }}
"A’ight then," Gambit said as stood up right and gripped his staff,
looking in all directions. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he
continued running down the hallway that lead to the Grey King‘s quarters.
"I’m jus’ about t’ his room. Here goes nothin’."
{{ We‘re about to start our assault on the junkyard, so you‘ll have no
chance to hesitate once you get there, }} Cyclops said, reminding him. {{
Good luck, Gambit, }}
Gambit tapped the inside of his ear again, turning off his near invisible
radio piece. If what Cyclops was saying was true, which was scary enough
of a thought as it was, then he couldn’t have any distractions. Telepaths
and telekinetics had the potential to be the most powerful mutants. What
would throwing exploding playing cards do to protect him from someone who
could destroy the mind and warp the world’s molecular structure?
There was no time for Gambit to second guess himself. The door to the Grey
King’s quarters was in his sights and there were so many things and so
many people depending on him. It was the values instilled into him by the
deceased Professor Charles Xavier. It was the future of peace and unity
between man and mutant alike. It was the innocent and the defenseless he
had hurt or failed to protect in the past.
Ready or not, the time for Gambit to end this madness was now.
Saint Anna cried out in shock as a blast of ice sent her reeling through
the air and into a nearby wall. The glob of ice around her torso was so
cold that it froze to the plaster almost immediately, pinning her in
place. She could only gasp and struggle as the freezing sensation rapidly
overwhelmed her body.
Fantomex faired much better at weaving and dodging out of the way of
Iceman's attacks, which was a feat enough due to the scant size of the
room. He managed to backpedaled towards the entrance of the room and dived
outside of the room, hiding behind the doorway.
Raising his two pistols up to eye level, Fantomex waited a moment for the
sounds of ice blasts to cease, then sprung out from behind the doorway,
pulling the triggers of the two handguns aimed at Iceman. To his shock,
there was a dull click from each pistol, but no recoil and no firing. The
leather clad mutant assassin instinctively looked down to his firearms for
the briefest of seconds, finding ice protruding from the barrels.
When he shot a look up to his opponent he caught the glimpse of a playful
wink on Iceman's face before another beam of ice shot into him. The force of
the blast caused Fantomex to recoil backwards into the other side of the
hallway, dropping his handguns as he smacked into the wall and, similarly
to Saint Anna, was frozen in place.
Iceman kept emitting a continuous stream of ice from the palms of his
hands into Fantomex's incapacitated form until the mutant assassin was
entirely covered in ice from the neck down to his feet. Fantomex took in
shallow breaths as the cold overwhelmed his body, gasping and heaving
rapidly.
Satisfied that neither of his opponents would be able to free themselves
or cry out for help due to their 'constraints,' Iceman slowly turned
around to face the two X-Men he had come to rescue. Radius opened his eyes
as he heard the fighting stop and slowly turned his head out of Magma's
side, facing Iceman as he approached.
"Dude, I don't know about you guys..." Iceman started to say between huffs
and pants before he cocked his head to the side and grinned. "But that was
the biggest, walkin'-talkin', gun-totin' condom I've ever seen in my
life."
Radius simply stared at his second savior that evening, taking slow and
steady breaths. If it had been any other moment in his life and he had
just been rescued from a gun-totin' man that resembled a condom, he may
have laughed.
If only it had been any other moment in his life.
"Uh, you two okay?" Iceman asked with a furrowed brow as he scratched the
back of his head. Radius nodded and loosened his grip on Magma, letting
her rest on the floor of the disheveled, battle ground of a room.
"She’ll be fine, I think," Radius muttered weakly. He tried to sit up a
bit, but as he did so he fell into a hacking, coughing fit. Pain wracked
his ribs, which were likely broken, and there was a burning sensation in
his belly. "I‘m… I’m having a hard time here, though…"
"Well hey, that’s it for all three of them, man," Iceman stated
matter-of-factly as he thumbed toward the door and then nodded positively
to Radius. "We can get outta here now."
Radius started to rise to his feet, however a sharp pain in his stomach
and an acidy sensation in the back of his throat caused him to collapse
onto his hands and knees, vomiting for the second time that night.
"Geeze, man," Iceman remarked as he saw what he thought was blood in the
other man’s upchuck. There was a hint of hesitation and sympathy in his
voice as he shook his head and said, "They sure did a number on you."
"Ungh," Radius groaned in response as he once again hovered over his own
bloody puke. Iceman stepped over to him and knelt down at his side, but
Radius waved him away with a free hand. "W-Won’t there be more coming
soon…?"
"Nah," Iceman answered, quick to dismiss the idea with the shake of his
head. "Cyke and company got this place mapped out somethin’ good," he
explained as Radius wiped his mouth clean and groggily sat up on his
knees. "Storm and Rogue are takin’ care of the only other two in the
immediate area as we speak."
"So then now what?" Radius asked as Iceman, who was still kneeling, turned
around to face the unconscious Magma. She hadn’t appeared physically
injured, but nonetheless he was careful when he lifted her up over his
shoulder, sure not to let the sheet around her naked body fall off.
"You’re getting us out of here, you said?"
"Yep. First and foremost, my mission’s to get you two to the Blackbird and
get you medical attention if you need it," Iceman said as he stood up with
Magma over his shoulder and walked over to the center of the room, right
underneath the hole he had created in the ceiling and next to the ice sled
he had entered the room on. "Someone will be here to pick up and thaw out
these guys soon enough."
On unsteady legs, Radius rose to his feet and paused for a moment as he
looked over the room. Fantomex and Saint Anna were apparently 'out cold'
and frozen in place, and though he couldn't see him, Radius knew that
Omega Red was trapped under the large pile of ice and debris near the
center of the room when Iceman had made his entrance.
Fantomex and Saint Anna's bodies were iced over just enough to keep them
restrained and pinned to the walls, with their torsos relatively
uncovered, and their heads lulled over to the side in what appeared to be
a distant and pale, yet deep and untroubled, sleep. It had seemed like
they passed out from the shock of the cold in a matter of moments of being
covered in ice from Iceman's attacks.
It was Omega Red that troubled Radius the most. A piece of rubble had slid
off the large pile of ice and debris that Omega Red was trapped under,
exposing the white skinned man's face covered entirely in a sheet of ice.
His expression was trapped in the moment the ice had overcome him and
Radius noted that it was filled with that of shock, rage, and excruciating
pain.
Was that the face of death? Had a life been taken in order to save his and
Magma’s?
"Don’t worry about him," Iceman answered, having noted the worrisome look
on Radius’s face. He nodded his head and creased his brow in what appeared
to be a sympathetic, yet pressing look. "Since the guy’s virtually
indestructible, it was the only way to totally immobilize him without
risking him breaking lose."
"I see…" Radius said and he ran a hand through his sweat and blood
drenched hair, sighing. A part of him was conflicted in Iceman’s response.
Had he been more horrified at the prospect of a man dying before his very
eyes… or was it the prospect of that very man who had aided in his torture
and captivity living to see another day?
The ground below Iceman began to freeze over, shaping itself into a thick,
circular sheet of ice, and he waved for Radius to join him on the platform
that would elevate them out of the room through the hole in the ceiling.
"C’mon, man," Iceman said compassionately. "It’s time to go home."
Their oppressor's time was almost up.
Addison Falk, the leader of the mutant terrorist group known as the
Brotherhood of Mutants, had been suspended upside down in the lotus
position near the ceiling of his personal quarters for hours. Though his
powers over telekinesis and telepathy were immense, he often found that
long periods of meditation amplified his powers to a higher degree. Plus,
it really helped his libido.
In the coming hours he would need all of the strength that he could
muster. The public execution of Senator Jonathan Lancaster's family unless
the United States senate met his demands would likely draw much volatile
attention. At any moment, the Grey King and his Brotherhood of Mutants
could be at war, but he was confident that they would be able to fight off
any human recourse.
If the senate didn't respond soon, the execution would go on as planned.
The Grey King didn't expect them to bend to his will by threats alone, let
alone to disband the Neo-Humanist political party for the safe return of
Lancaster's family, but that was never the ultimate goal of the
Brotherhood of Mutants. Their goal was to strike fear in their oppressors
and ultimately deter any anti-mutant engagements or sentiments, and their
oppressor's time was almost up.
"FALK!" a familiar voice screamed from outside of the Grey King's
quarters. The Grey King opened his eyes and expanded his telepathy to the
immediate area, but to his surprise he couldn't detect any thought
patterns.
Then the wall closest to him exploded.
The Grey King's control over his telekinesis shattered and gravity once
again took hold of him, dragging him head first down towards the floor. He
instinctively flailed in midair and landed hard on his back side, the air
exploding from his lungs.
A cloud of dust settled in the air around the Grey King's fallen, aching
form, and he was surrounded by the debris and rubble that once made up the
now destroyed wall to his side. He gasped suddenly as the shock of the
fall wore off, but ended up inhaling the dust in the air and he fell into
a coughing, hacking fit.
Standing in the gaping hole in the wall was Gambit, his right fist
clenched and glowing with a pinkish aura and his left fist gripping his
metallic staff, bent in a ready position at his side. The Grey King shot a
look upwards as the smoke began to dissipate and his lungs cleared of
dust, rage in his eyes.
"Remy?!" the Grey King shouted in response to the audacity of the man as
he coughed one last time and slowly began to rise to his feet. "What in
the hell is this?!"
"You an' me, hommes..." Gambit's voice boomed as he drew back his glowing
fist, gritting his teeth. "We end it tonight!"
A telekinetic energy resembling that of fire exploded from the Grey King's
very pores as he boosted himself into the air with his powers, an avatar
of energy resembling that of a phoenix taking shape around his form.
Before his opponent could strike, Gambit flung his fist towards the floor,
releasing what appeared to be three glowing rubber balls charged with
kinetic energy. The balls ricocheted off of the ground and scattered
across the room in different directions, one heading straight for the Grey
King, who shot a hand out and used his telekinesis to freeze it in place
before it could strike him.
It was then two other rubber balls ricocheted off the wall behind the Grey
King and unexpectedly struck him in the back, exploding on impact and
causing him to arch his back in torment. The ball he had held in place
before him exploded almost simultaneously as he dropped his concentration,
throwing him backwards from the sheer force of the released kinetic
energy.
"GAH!" the Grey King grunted in a mix of agony and frustration as the
blast sent him across the room and onto his back. He tensed up and cried
out again, scrambling up to his hands and knees. The pain had come from
the miniature explosions he had endured, but the frustration came from the
fact that he couldn't anticipate the attack in anyway whatsoever. "Your
mind… I can't read your mind!"
Gambit darted across the room as the Grey King, his metallic bo-staff
gripped with both hands and risen over his head. The Grey King was
struggling through the pain to rise, but Gambit knew he couldn't give the
man an inch.
"Thought you'd get away wit’ it, didn't ya?!" he barked as he came up on
the rising Grey King and struck him across the face with his metallic bo-staff.
"Ya sonuva bitch!"
Blood splattered across the floor of the room as the Grey King's face
smacked against it. Gambit pulled the staff back with both hands and
slammed it back down over the Grey King's backside repeatedly, causing the
Brotherhood's leader to cry out and strain his body against the blows.
"All dem kids ya‘ve killed, all dem families -- !" Gambit berated the
murderer between blows. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and
gripped his staff even tighter, snarling, "Then Jared an' dat poor girl
Allison, who’s never gonna be able t’ live wit’ herself again!"
Gambit drew his staff back to strike again, but he gasped as he felt a
sudden jolt throughout - the control over his movements no longer his -
and then he was telekinetically flung to the side of the Grey King's
fallen form, striking a nearby wall and dropping his staff in the process.
He was effectively pinned in place by the unrelenting, invisible force,
and he groaned as he struggled in vein to break free from his enemy's
hold.
"AND THEY ALL DESERVED IT, YOU CAJUN SHIT!" the Grey King roared as he
telekinetically applied pressure to Gambit's throat, choking him. Gambit
struggled to grasp his throat by instinct, no matter how futile he knew it
was, and desperately gasped for air, crying out between gasps.
"Every last one of them - for all of the mutant children humans have
hounded and killed! All the mutant families!" the Grey King continued to
shout in his fury, balling up his hands into fists as he did so, and
rising up to his feet to his full height. "And for all of the mutant
girls, who more then anyone else, could never live with themselves again."
On the Grey King's last words the wall behind Gambit essentially exploded
outwards, the Grey King's telekinesis ripping it apart stone by stone and
casting it outside of the room along with his opponent. The rubble from
the wall and Gambit arched through the air from the telekinetic
'explosion' and they sharply fell down on a pile of flattened, rusted car
bodies, a few among surrounding piles stacked dozens high.
"You and others like them have only made the problem worse," the Grey King
said as he lifted himself up with his telekinesis and levitated himself
through the hole in the wall of his quarters, floating out to face his
fallen opponent. "And now it’s our turn to even the score! Our turn to
show them who truly holds all of the cards!"
Gambit heaved and groaned, his body wracked with pain from the punishment
he had endured in the fall. He struggled to sit upright and confront the
Grey King before it was too late, but the soreness in every corner of his
body was just too much for him to move. When the Grey King hovered before
him, he couldn't help but grin in a twisted sense of satisfaction.
"That said?" the Grey King remarked as he clenched a fist and readied his
immense powers for the killing blow. "I’m going to enjoy this…!"
The Grey King then exerted all of his power into telekinetically ripping
apart every fragment of Gambit's skull, but something happened. Gambit's
physical form seemed unmoved, frozen in place like some kind of mannequin,
and it was then the Grey King's eyes went wide in a sudden realization,
and the image of Gambit faded away as if it were merely a specter in the
wind.
Suddenly, a high pitched whistle sounded behind the Grey King. As he spun
around to anticipate an attack, a hand of playing cards crashed into his
side and exploded on impact, throwing the Grey King onto the hood of the
crunched car where the image of Gambit once was.
"Was it as good for you as it was for me, hommes?!" Gambit asked as he
appeared before the bloodied Grey King, panting and heaving from some
obvious exertion of energy. He knelt down quickly and grabbed what
appeared to be a jagged bar from the leftover debris, all the while
locking both eyes on the Grey King.
"How -- ?! How did you trick me?!" the Grey King cried out, not
understanding how the mutant thief was capable of such optical illusions.
Little did he know about the device in Gambit's ear created by two of the
X-Men's greatest minds. "I couldn't read your mind and now I can't even
tell where you're really at?!"
"Dat’s fer me t’ know, hommes," Gambit said as he spun the jagged bar in
his hand around in circles, drew it back with both hands over his
shoulder, and then raced for the fallen Grey King. "An’ for you t’ sit an’
spin on!"
"URK!" the Grey King heaved as Gambit slammed the jagged bar through his
chest cavity, the very tip of it running out of his back and into the hood
of the crunched car he lay atop of. The Grey King arched his body back
from the pain, his head straining and twisting from the severity of the
wound, as blood spilled out from the opening over the crunched car's hood.
Gambit held the bar firmly in place, twisting and bending it slightly
within the Grey King's innards Huffing and stifling back coughs, the Grey
King began grinning with a mouth full of blood and he leaned his head back
up right to face Gambit.
"T-This… t-this won‘t stop me..!" he said with a defiant, roaring cackle.
Gambit narrowed his glowing red pupils and tightened his grip on the
jagged bar that was impaled in the Grey King's chest, twisting it again
just slightly. The Grey King groaned under his breath and bit down on his
lip harder, watched as Gambit's eyes shift downward, and then he too
hesitantly looked down at the bar sticking out of his chest.
It was glowing with a pinkish hue.
"N-No!" the Grey King stammered in horror as he realized that Gambit had
charged the bar with kinetic energy. "But X-Men don’t kill…! Cyclops would
never let you!"
"Addison," Gambit said, his tone cocky as he shook his head slightly and
continued charging the jagged bar with kinetic energy. He sneered and
leaned his mouth down into the Grey King's ear, whispering, "I t’ink
you’ve got the wrong Cyclops, mon ami..."
The Grey King bared his gritted teeth with the sound of those words as a
burning sensation enveloped his torso. That very sensation then began to
spread out across the rest of his body and the jagged bar protruding from
his chest began to shake and buckle from the sheer amount of kinetic
energy Gambit was funneling into it.
"AARRRGGHH!!" the Grey King screamed in agony. Gambit released the bar and
spun around on the heel of his boot, his trench coat swaying with his step
as he darted away the Grey King and what he knew was about to come next.
The bar exploded within the Grey King's torso with a sickening splatter,
thus ending his reign as leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Two women scattered across the junk yard that acted as the Brotherhood's
base of operations and safe house, one a red head in a dark green and gold
body suit, the other in a black body suit with what appeared to be a
mechanical eyepiece strapped to her face. Flood lights illuminated the
grounds and S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopters filled the skies as armed agents
dressed in blue and white descended on repel lines.
A wide and thin optic blast, tinted ruby red, shot through the air,
striking the back of the knees of the woman in the dark body suit and
bringing her to the ground with a yelp. From behind her, a man wearing a
yellow visor in black military fatigues and armor carrying a brown gym bag
ran up onto her fallen form.
"Could you imagine what other couples would be doing right now?" Scott
Summers, the X-Men's leader known as Cyclops, asked suggestively -
playfully, even - as he wrenched Makeshift’s arm around her back and
clamped a metallic cuff around her wrist. A glimmer of light ran across
the lens of his ruby quartz visor as he chatted on, mock-dreamily, about
the infinite possibilities. "Bowling with the Petersons, fighting over
joint bank accounts…"
"Eating ‘Farm Boy’s: TV Dinners’ while watching Wheel of Fortune on Friday
nights," Jean Grey-Summers, another red-headed woman dressed similarly to
the man, added as she reached out with her telekinesis, grabbing a hold of
the fleeing red head's angles and dropping the mutant terrorist known as
'Strobe' to the ground. "Dreaming up desperate ways to make our sex life
less boring…"
"But nope, not us," Cyclops said as he took a second pair of metallic
shackles from out of his gym bag and began to clamp them down on his
prisoner‘s legs. "We're in a virtual war zone, wrangling up mutant
terrorists hell bent on killing our nation's leaders. Fun way to spend an
evening, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh yeah," Phoenix said coyly as she used her telekinesis to pin down the
mutant terrorist known as 'Strobe' to the ground. "Who would have it any
other way?"
A moment of silence passed as the two restrained their two prisoners.
"Um, you don't think our sex life is boring, do you?" Cyclops asked,
tongue in cheek, as he looked up to his wife. She shot a look back to him,
her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed. Cyclops suppressed a chuckle. "Aww,
don’t look at me like that..."
"Just hand me the restraints, three-eyes," Phoenix replied as she
telekinetically wrenched the arms of Strobe behind her back and crossed
her wrists. Cyclops retrieved a pair of bulky, metallic shackles from the
brown gym bag over his shoulder and tossed them to his wife with care.
"Thank you much."
Phoenix caught the shackles with one hand and used the other to grip the
other woman's wrist. However, just before she could apply the shackles to
her prisoner's wrists, she found herself short of breath and gasped. A
sudden throbbing pain overwhelmed her head, as if her skull were on fire,
and she reeled her head back sharply and grabbed her temples, crying out
in torment.
Cyclops shot his wife a look as she jerked and cried out. The weight of
Phoenix's telekinesis lifted as her concentration was broken from the
sudden affliction, Strobe scrambled to her hands and feet, sprinting for
freedom.
"HEY!" Cyclops shouted as he saw Strobe make a run for it. He opened up
his visor just slightly and unleashed a thin optic blast into the fleeing
Brotherhood member's backside, sending the woman crashing to the ground.
Phoenix groaned as the severe migraine suddenly passed almost as quickly
as it manifested itself and she sat down on the ground, one hand steadying
her and the other still gripping the side of her head.
"You okay, Jean?" Cyclops asked as he rose up from Makeshift's back, one
eye on the fallen Strobe, watching for any sudden movement, and the other
on Phoenix, wondering just what the episode his wife had was all about.
"I think Falk’s dead..." Phoenix replied hesitantly, uncertain of what she
had just experienced and what it meant. "I... I could be wrong, but I
think I just felt his presence vanish from the Astral Plane…"
Cyclops paused for a moment, then he turned away from his wife and took
out another pair of shackles from his bag, heading for the fallen form of
Strobe.
"I see," was all he quietly replied with. He felt his wife's eyes on the
back of his head as he knelt down over the Brotherhood member's back and
began to restrain her, but even worse was the fact that he felt her
presence in the back of his mind.
"Scott…" Phoenix said, her heart running cold as she sensed that her
husband wasn't telling her something. "What did you have Gambit do,
Scott?"
Later...
The raid on the Brotherhood's base of operations had went down as smoothly
as the X-Men could have hoped for, including the duel rescue mission the
team had planned out that involved their captured numbers and Senator
Lancaster's family. Out of the twenty seven mutant terrorists that Phoenix
had estimated were on base with the use of Cerebro, only five members were
unaccounted for, though it had yet to be determined which five members
were missing.
Iceman had rushed Radius and Magma out of the Brotherhood's holding area,
making it to Beast and the Blackbird without incident. Thankfully, Magma
hadn't awaken during the ice slide back to the jet, and when Iceman
arrived with her and Radius, Beast administered a general anesthetic to
keep her unconscious. Phoenix had been busy with Cyclops tracking down
some of the fleeing terrorists, so there was no way to tell if she was
still under the influence of her split personality, Amara Aquilla.
Magma's body was free of any apparent serious injuries, but Radius hadn't
faired so well. There was a S.H.I.E.L.D. medic on site that examined him
along with Beast at the Blackbird, but there was no way to tell what the
extent of his injuries were until they were able to get him to the medical
bay on one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarriers. Thanks to their teleportation
system, HERMES, they got him there in a flash.
One thing was certain, though. Regardless of whether their trauma was
psychological or physical, neither Radius or Magma would be the same
again.
Similarly, Storm and Rogue had freed the family of Senator Jonathan
Lancaster of the Neo-Humanist political party without many problems. They
had encountered the guards that Grey King had assigned to the family,
including Venus De Milo, but the two X-Women able to dispatch them
quickly.
Though her children in particular were excited to be rescued by two of the
most attractive "super-heroines" of their time, Martha Lancaster seemed
very standoffish. It wasn't until the two X-Women led the family of four
out into a S.H.I.E.L.D. 'safe area' that Martha had broke down into tears,
thanking him for their rescue operation.
However, the constant bedazzlement and look of admiration in the eyes of
her daughters, as well as the incessant blushing of Senator Lancaster's
only son, had more then made up for Mrs. Lancaster's misplaced gratitude.
With the assistance of a couple dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Cyclops and
Phoenix had rounded up the last of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Though the
two had started the mission excited about the prospect of disbanding the
Grey King's Brotherhood for good, it was concluded that something must
have happened between the two between the beginning and the end of the
mission.
The two seemed distant when they returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. 'safe area,'
with Phoenix immediately. She seemed particularly rushed and disturbed by
something as she made her way back to the Blackbird, while as Cyclops's
demeanor appeared hardened and overtly focused on the task of assisting
the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents load up the detained Brotherhood members for
transport.
It was inferred by Iceman and Beast that Phoenix finally brought up
something about her and Scott's sex life being boring, but no confirmation
had been made.
As Marie Charleston walked across the grounds of the junk yard with her
hands in her pockets, flames erupting from the shacks and buildings of the
Brotherhood's base and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents rushing about, she couldn't
help but wonder why she had felt so distracted the entire evening... or so
she told herself.
In reality, the X-Woman known as Rogue knew exactly why she was so
distracted. One man was integral in the even's operation to take down the
Brotherhood of Mutants and without him the X-Men would have never gotten
the opportunity to bring down the murderous terrorists once and for all.
He was Remy LeBeau, the mutant thief known as Gambit, and much to Rogue's
surprise there he was, standing behind a line of flames several yards
ahead of her. The brown trench coat he wore was ragged and torn, billowing
to his side in the late night's breeze as he stood with his legs wide, He
held a staff over his shoulders with each end gripped by each hand and a
mindful smirk etched across his face.
Rogue's eyes widened suddenly as she realized that it was him - that it
was truly him. Throughout all of the commotion, the dramatic rescues, the
captures and arrests of various Brotherhood members, he hadn't left the
junk yard, almost as if he were waiting for her. Their eyes met and locked
in place, but it would only be for just a moment.
Gambit dropped the staff down from around his shoulders and twirled it in
circles with one hand, simultaneously clicking a button on the staff. It
shrunk down into a fist length bar which he was able to comfortably place
into a pocket inside of his trench coat. He then straightened out the
lapel of his jacket and brought two fingers up to his mouth, brushing
their very tips against his lips and gesturing those fingers out to her,
blowing the love of his life one last kiss.
Rogue felt her heart skip a beat and she touched her chest softly, sighing
slightly. The two shared a moment as their eyes locked, but it was only a
moment. Gambit suddenly hung his head down low and closed his eyes, then
he turned away from Rogue's direction on the heel of his foot and lifted
his head back up, walking away from her with his trench coat billowing to
the side in the night's breeze.
And just like that he was out of her life again.
Where would he go, she wondered? What was his life like now after all of
this time without the X-Men? Without her? Would he go back to the Thieves
Guild? To New Orleans? Would he live the life of a thief once more or
would he travel another path, as he had often did in the past? One thing
was certain about Remy LeBeau, Rogue thought to herself as she watched him
walk away into the night...
He would never, and always, be her curse.
NEXT ISSUE: Brad Horton returns as my regular co-writer on
this title just in time for the X-Men Twenty-Fifth issue nerdsapolooza!
Wolverine, Domino, Cannonball, Jubilee, and M have been held in captivity
for a few issues now, but what's life been like for them? And what does
Helena Weaver have planned for them? Plus, back-up stories! Everyone loves
back-up stories for a Twenty-Fifth issue special!!!
AUTHOR'S NOTES
I originally envisioned "Out of Exile" as a two-part story, but I guess
that I tend to underestimate with these things, eh? To add insult to
injury, I've only been able to release an issue every six weeks for the
last three issues. Putting it simply, I've been one busy college student
and one busy Editor-in-Chief. That should change with summer well on the
way and me with nothing better to do with my time!
Now, I want to take a moment to talk about Gambit. I personally love the
character and I've never written him in the past, so in a sense this arc
gave me pretty mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was very excited to
spotlight his return to the X-Men (however short that return was). Then on
the other hand, Gambit required a little bit more concentration then I'm
used to in order to make him work as a character. Unless in the hands of a
talented and skilled writer, Gambit can come off as nothing more then your
every day archetype of "cool and mysterious dude in a trench coat."
Yeah, yeah. I know that there can be more to him then this, but the real
challenge for me as a writer is implementing all of the elements that make
him the character that's so endearing to his fans and then giving him that
added twist that most canon and fanfic writers seem to ignore; having him
be realistic and relatable in spite of all of those elements. I'm a very
picky writer when it comes to whether or not a character's personality and
actions are realistic. If a character doesn't behave and speak in a way
that's truly relatable to the readers then I feel that I've failed as a
writer.
So did I fail as a writer with this arc? Was the action lacking? Was the
story not as compelling as it could have been? Could Remy and his motives
behind aiding the X-Men in this last one mission have been fleshed out
more? It's hard to say for me, personally, though I'm sure many of you
have your opinions. It was a fun ride, though, and I'm glad I took on the
challenge. Until next issue... Later folks!
- Cory Wiegel
May 27, 2006
Bibliography
- Magma joined the X-Men in Dino Pollard's
X-Men Prime #1; Radius joined the X-Men in Dino Pollard's X-Men
Prime #2. The two later left the X-Men in Brad Horton and Cory
Wiegel's X-Men Prime 2004 Annual, and set out to return at the
end of their X-Men #19.
- The Grey King formed his new Brotherhood of
Mutants in David Wheatley's X-Men Prime #10; later additions to
the team were added by Daniel Ingram and implemented by Brent Lambert in
his X-Men Unlimited 2004 Annual (currently missing from the site).
- Gambit officially left the X-Men in Dino
Pollard's X-Men Omega #7. He then became the new Patriarch of
the Thieves Guild in Dino Pollard's Gambit #8 where he fell
off radar until Brad Horton and Cory Wiegel's X-Men Prime 2004
Annual, when he reappeared at the request of Cyclops for a special
mission.
