ISSUE #29 MUSE Part 3 The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Mutants by David Ingram

In a secret vault beneath Fort Jackson, Kansas The mutant warrior known as Weapon X took one second to stare in confusion at the sight before him. Six superhumans, that he sensed were somehow neither humans nor mutants, had suddenly appeared out of thin air and confronted them while he and his friends were on a mission of mercy. To say that this was somewhat unexpected would be an understatement "Surrender!" a man who looked incredibly like a male version of the X-Man Jean Grey, ordered surrounded by five others obviously superhumans. "Or face the wrath of the X-Men!" While Weapon X's partners Michael and Jason Blackwood were still taking this all in, Weapon X executed a daring plan. First, he stared Grey King directly in the eyes for a handful of seconds. Then, he looked past Grey King and cowered down, covering his head with his arms like he was expecting some unavoidable attack. "Wha…?" Grey King instinctively looked over his shoulder, expecting some form of imminent danger, just as Weapon X had known he would. Weapon X wordlessly created five energy daggers, lethally sharp but as small as pencils, and released them at Grey King. The five daggers struck Grey King just as he turned back to face the Muse team, one in each lung, one in his throat, and one in both kidneys. Grey King let out a wet 'oops' before he crashed to the ground, dead. "Not alive," Weapon X hissed as he charged forward. "Youse gonna pay fer that, man in black!" a large, fat blond haired roared as he lunged forward with a meaty fist. Weapon X easily leaped over man and landed behind the group. He created three energy spikes and launched them at the group. "Scatter!" a man who looked very much like the X-Man Colossus ordered. The energy spikes missed their targets, but never the less achieved their goal. The ad hock team was separated, and thus easier targets for the outnumbered Muse team. Weapon X ran towards Peter Sosa, whom he had struck moments before to save his life, threw the young man over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, and started to run away from the battle. "Look out!" Peter thought to Weapon X. He saw two of the errant X-Men, one a young man who dressed like the mutant hero Havok, and a short brunette who obviously commanded the power of ice and flame. "You'll pay for the death of our leader!" the young woman shouted "Apple sauce," the other man in black added. Weapon X paid them no heed, and kept on sprinting. The two creatures unleashed their powers at Weapon X simultaneously, hoping to turn him and Peter into free-floating particles. However, to say they failed would be a massive understatement. Without breaking stride and while still carrying Peter over his shoulder, Weapon X leaped six feet into the air, spun, and unleashed several energy spikes at his attackers. While the spikes weren't lethal as they weren't aimed with care, they never the less managed to score deep cuts in the two attackers and forced them to retreat. Weapon X landed silently and soon reached what looked like a small foxhole made out of cables in the floor. "Stay," Weapon X ordered Peter before turning back towards the battle. "No argument here," Peter muttered. He opened up the special laptop he had been given to focus his power, and used the nanobot laced plug to jack into one of the cables that covered the floor. Peter had a hunch that they were connected to whatever was going on, and well, what else could he do? "Stupid flatscan!" the large superhuman snarled as he lunged for Michael. Despite his large size, Michael was faster than he appeared. Unfortunately, so was his foe, who smacked Michael's weapon away and then grabbed Michael's left arm and held him up in the air. "I won't even break a sweat killin' you." "Let me slay him, Landslide!" a female voice commanded from above. "Sure thing, Rapture!" Landslide replied smugly as he held Michael out by his forearm. "Slice his head off and then let's get that creep who killed Grey King." The winged woman known as Rapture swooped down from on high and shot towards Michael. Both Landslide and Rapture were supremely confident of their victory, and as such gave no thought as to the possibility of Michael having another weapon. And while it was by no means powerful, Michael did indeed have another weapon. His right hand became a blur as he upholstered his side arm, took a fraction of a second to aim, and fired. The bullet existed the chamber, tore thru the air and ripped thru Rapture's left wing. The bird woman tumbled thru the air and instead of slicing off Michael's head as a display of aerial skill, slammed into Landslide thus freeing Michael and sending the two tumbling to the floor. "I apologize for my harsh treatment," Michael stated as he kicked Rapture off Landslide with his left foot while his arms reached behind him and returned with what looked like a rocket launcher. "But our mission is too important for your kind to be stopped." Michael pulled the trigger to his strange weapon, and a small, metallic ball shot out. It slammed into Landslide, and three pincers on each side came out and sunk themselves into Landslide's skin. A moment later, Landslide's eyes rolled back up into his head. "He's a Genoshan!" Peter, who was trying to keep an eye on the conflict, said aloud. Thankfully for the non-combat trained Peter Sosa, no one heard him or cared if they did. Michael let out a tired sigh as he aimed his weapon at Rapture. He wanted so badly to redeem himself, and here he was using weapons created for the express purpose of oppressing a society. His moment of inner reflection cost him, however, as a snow-white wing lashed out at him. The blow, had it caught Michael full force, would have killed him. However, Michael was an experienced fighter, and jumped back and went limp a fraction of a second before he was struck. "It takes more than a single bullet to stop God's will!" Rapture declared as she strode forward brandishing her sword. Michael's back was facing her, but Rapture wasn't concerned. She felt mercy wasn't her responsibility, but that of her God's. "What about two controlled bursts?" Michael asked as he turned over. Rapture had unknowingly knocked Michael towards his automatic weapon that Landslide had deprived him of moments before. Rapture attempted to back pedal, but it wasn't fast enough. Michael depressed the trigger once, changed his angle slightly, and depressed it again. The end result was forty odd bullets flew thru the air towards the winged woman. They all missed Rapture's torso and general body, but the majority of them struck her sixteen-foot long wings and tore them to shreds. Rapture passed out from pain a moment later. "Forgive me," Michael muttered. He looked around the vault, examining the situation of his teammates. Weapon X had defeated the two energy projectors, while Blackwood had handily defeated the metal man. While they hadn't expected to be facing a superhuman team, he and his friends still managed to handle it like professionals. "You're going to need forgiveness in a moment, bub," a rough, angry voice stated from behind him. Michael, a man very informed about the mutant world, didn't need to turn around to recognize who made that threat. "You're going down flatscan," the world famous runt, or an incredible facsimile, said he leaped forward. Michael met the lunge with his own, barely ducking under the strike. He spun around and fired several automatic rounds, which struck Wolverine directly in the back, piercing the man's lungs. Michael pressed his advantage, firing into Logan's back while rushing towards it, never getting the world's most dangerous man a chance to recover or even turn around. When he got within arm's length, he wrapped his thick arm around Wolverine's neck and pressed his automatic weapon against the back of Wolverine's knee. Pulling the trigger, Michael managed to make the short killer even shorter. Ja s n, Wha…goi…on? the telepathic voice of Fixx, albeit interrupted, asked Jason Blackwood as he dodged attacks from the X-Men Nightcrawler and Marrow. "I'm a little busy now, lady!" he shouted as defended himself. Nightcrawler teleported around Blackwood at breakneck speed, his fists vainly trying to break Blackwood's telekinetic shields while Marrow's bone daggers bounced off the same shields. What baffled Blackwood the most about the situation was the almost total lack of skill he observed in all the attacks he had faced. He knew in no uncertain terms that as overpowered as his friends were by their foes, they should already be dead. But their foes possessed no skill or cunning whatsoever, and that gave Blackwood and his men an edge. "Hell with this. These yahoos are goin' down," Blackwood grunted. The former F.B.I agent lashed out in every direction with telekinetic spikes, lethally impaling both Nightcrawler and Marrow. No sooner had he done that than the X-Man known as Colossus appeared directly behind him and casually smacked Blackwood away, sending smashing into a metal wall. "Brandon, a little help here?" Blackwood snapped as he picked his injured form up off the floor. Even though Colossus hadn't gotten a direct hit and Blackwood had his shields up, the blow still hurt like hell. Jason looked to see Weapon X sparing with the X-Men known as Cyclops and Storm. "Never mind." "Peter, what is going on!" Fixx screamed into Peter Sosa's mind. "Fixx, tone it down!" Peter pleaded as her voice ripped thru his mind. "I don't know, some computer's just created these holograms based on various mutants to attack us!" "That's a lot of information for someone who doesn't know what's going on," Fixx observed. "What are…?" Peter asked, then stopped himself. "How the hell did I know that?" he stated aloud. "Never mind boy," Fixx ordered. "If it's a computer, you should be able to control it, no matter what. It's likely protected, so I'll add my strength to yours." "How do we do that?" Peter asked "Open up your mind to me, and let our power flow into one another," Fixx proposed. Peter, knowing he had no other choice, relaxed his mind, allowing Fixx's telepathic abilities to strengthen his own natural psychic abilities. Weapon X, at the same time, was having problems of his own. Two beings who looked like and had the powers of Storm and Cyclops of the X-Men, had singled him out for death by energy. Weapon X moved in a blur as he dodged lightning from the sky cast by Storm and optic blasts released by Cyclops. Thankfully for Weapon X, neither attack was especially coordinated, and as such dodging them was child's play. That wasn't to say he didn't already have a plan for a counter attack. He waited a few seconds, allowing Storm and Cyclops to get into the position he wanted them in before he struck back. With programmed reflexes and lightning speed, Weapon X charged the faux Cyclops. Weapon X easily side-stepped each blast Cyclops unleashed at him and was within arms length of the man with little trouble. Without a second thought, Weapon X drove an energy dagger into Cyclops stomach. As Cyclops lurched over to die, Weapon X used the man as a springboard to reach Storm, who had observed everything but held back for fear of hurting her teammate. Weapon X leaped into the air and reached for her, but a second before he would have grabbed the foot he was reaching for, Storm disappeared into thin air, as did every seeming mutant who wasn't a part of the Muse strike force. Weapon X landed on his feet and tensed, alarmed by the turn of events. "It's okay now, guys," Peter stated. "I have everything under control," "Care to explain what happened?" Blackwood asked as he rubbed his sore shoulder. "Why were we just fighting freakin' two bit copies of the X-Men and those other losers?" "Well, all I know is what I've downloaded from the computer that was running this place," Peter stated. "This base is a storage facility for confiscated weapons. One of the weapons they took was an experimental cerebro designed by lab technicians of Zero Tolerance. Only the thing had a mind of it's own and infected the entire base with nano bots, allowing it to control everyone here." "That does not sound reassuring," Michael stated. "What 'bout doze 'X-Men' we just fought?" Blackwood asked. "All holographic copies of real people," Peter pointed at the techno jungle that surrounded the team. "This entire place is a poor man's copy of the X-Men's legendary Danger Room." "Why'd this thing attack us?" Blackwood asked. "It thought we were a threat. It's basically a back up copy of another 'Cerebro'. It's too weird to explain, but this thing was starting to branch out, looking for allies. I think…" "Save it for our debrief later," Blackwood interrupted. "I assume you can control this thing?" "Yeah, me and Fixx basically wiped out its operating system. It's a high tech puppet now," Peter explained. "Good, then download this thing's files into your computer, and then get all the personnel off this base. Once we find the part we're looking for, we're going to destroy this thing beyond any hope of repair." "Fixx has given me an image of the devise we need. I shall find it," Michael said. While he and Weapon X walked away to find the object of their original search, Peter carefully approached Blackwood. "Umm, about Michael…he's…" "He's a former Genoshian Magistrate who left Genosha long before Magneto came a callin'," Blackwood finished. "Does it matter?" "Maybe, I mean, Genosha is another word for mutant Nazi Germany!" "Was," Blackwood stated simply. "Was. I met Michael when I was busting a mutant organ smuggling ring. He's a former Magistrate who guarded the mutate barracks until 'For Queen and Country' became too much. He's got a powerful desire to redeem himself." "What, you know this because you've poked around in his head?" "No, because I've seen him take seven bullets to the chest for a Legacy infected fourteen year old mutant. His only complaint about that incident is that he didn't die," Blackwood turned around and stared Peter directly in the eyes. "So don't you ever question his loyalty to the cause. And don't assume someone's untrustworthy simply because of the circumstances of his birth. We got enough of that going around already, don't you think?" Peter looked away uncomfortably, and yet again sorely wished he hadn't dug himself into this hole. He also wished that when he hit rock bottom, Blackwood had given him anything other than a shovel. Michael and Weapon X soon returned with the device they sought. One evacuated base and explosion later, followed by a short ride in an S.U.V, the team was back in Ben's basement. "Fixx tells me you boys ran into some unexpected trouble," Ben said casually as he started putting the finishing touches on his masking devise. From Peter's position it looked like an overrated palm pilot, and he was thus baffled as to how it could protect mutants everywhere. "It wasn't anything we couldn't handle. You almost finished?" Blackwood huffed. "Yeah, it's ready to go. Just plug it in to the right place, and we're set," Ben handed the devise to Blackwood. "I recommend channel six. They have the best equipment from what I've seen." "Channel Six? What are you guys talking about?" Peter asked. "Thanks Ben, we'll be seeing you around," Blackwood said, ignoring Peter. "Brandon, go get Michael and make sure the car's packed. We won't be coming back," Blackwood then picked up a handful of papers and gave them to Peter. "Review dis stuff, kiddo." Peter looked at the papers for a moment, and then looked back towards Blackwood. "Mutant superiority? Flat scans? Why do you want me reading some bigoted speech?" Blackwood flashed Peter a wicked smile and said. "Because I want you to get your hands dirty." Channel Six news station "And that's the word of Sports," reporter Chris Claremont finished. "And now we turn to…" "The superiority of mutants," a voice stated. The entire news crew gasped as three men in black leather suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Weapon X was holding an energy dagger, leaving no room for anyone to question the fact as to whether or not they were mutants. "Time for your speech," Blackwood telepathically told Peter. "Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please? Security has been disabled. We have a message to deliver, and then we will leave. Murder is not on our agenda tonight. Remain calm, continue broadcasting, and everyone will live to see another sunrise." Peter took the stage, and began reciting what could easily be described as the Nazi's manifesto for mutants. Almost anyone who listened was appalled by what they heard, exactly as Blackwood hoped they would be. While Peter read his speech, Michael attached Ben's devise to the station's broadcast antenna outside, totally unseen. The tiny devise melted into the metal of the antenna and from there started making subtle changes to the tower. Within several hours, the antenna would be broadcasting subtle signals into the atmosphere along with the news, weather and sports that would hide mutant brainwaves from worldwide scans. A large smile came to Michael's face. He was now one step closer to redemption, and no one was the wiser. Later Peter tried his best to get comfortable in the S.U.V that Blackwood had rented while Michael and Weapon X slept a guarded sleep. With nothing better to do, Peter popped open his laptop, filled with information downloaded from the rogue Cerebro Unit. Jason fully intended to review the information, but that was at least a few hours away. Rifling thru them, Peter came upon in file in particular and let out a slight laugh. "What's so funny?" Jason asked from the driver's seat. "It's just this one guy looks so freaky, just a big head with feet and four arms and has the stupidest name, Candy Man or something." Blackwood slammed his feet on the brakes, and the car came to a complete stop in the middle of a busy high way, and instantly awakening Weapon X and Michael. Cars swerved to avoid their vehicle, but Blackwood didn't even notice. "Jason, what is it my friend?" Michael asked Blackwood replied with two words, laced with more venom than Peter thought humanly possible. "Sugar Man." Next: The Muse team targets Sugar Man, a virtual war criminal to mutants everywhere. But, to bring him down, they need more muscle. Enter a new Factor X!