Theresa Rourke Cassidy slowly quieted her sonic scream and settled to the ground next to Kurt Wagner. The two X-Men were soon joined by two others, Ororo Munroe and Elizabeth Braddock. Theresa felt out of place in the quartet. Although she was an experienced heroine in her own right, her experience paled compared to the others. Her doubts were put aside the moment Storm spoke.
“Has anyone found anything yet?”
“Nothing,” Betsy said first. “I’ve seen the same tracks Logan did, and there’s not another shred of evidence out here.”
“Da,” Kurt replied. “I have found the same. Whoever our mystery guest was, he is not coming back.”
Storm glanced at Terri. “Has your aerial reconnaissance uncovered anything?” she asked.
“Only tire treads as far as the highway,” she replied. “The same as Logan. Th’ mud from the tires left a trail down the road for about three miles, until there was apparently not enough left to leave any more.”
Ororo sighed and her shoulders slumped. “A dead end then,” she muttered. “Head back to the academy. It seems all we have left to do is wait.”
As Theresa took to the sky to return to the main building of the Massachusetts Academy, a deep pit filled her stomach, a feeling of dread.
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#6
AUG 10 |
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“Night from Hell”
Logan knocked on the door of Ororo’s office. He opened the door before she responded and walked in. Cable sat with his back to the door. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded at Logan. Storm stood and waved him inside.
“Logan, please, come in,” she said. “Have a seat.” As he entered the room, he noticed Betsy standing against the wall behind the door.
“Thought I smelled you Braddock,” he said. “Nice new perfume you’ve got there.”
“You almost insulted me there, Logan,” she replied.
“No petty bickering, please,” Ororo said. She sat down and waved at the chair opposite her again. “Logan, sit. I insist.”
He sat down next to Cable. “So what kinda trouble am I in?” he said. “Getting called to the principal’s office isn’t a good thing.”
“Logan,” Nathan said, “you don’t need to fake the pissed off attitude. We trust you here. You’re not an outcast any more.”
“Good to know,” he said. “Now how can I help you three?”
“How are your children adjusting?” Storm asked.
“Well,” he said. “Dax better than Laura.”
“Naturally,” Betsy said. “He must get his good attitude from his mother.”
“And his natural pheromone powers?” Cable asked.
“His mother isn- wasn’t- a mutant,” he said. “At least, not that I knew of. Is this all you want to ask me about?”
“There’s a problem, Logan,” Betsy said. “It’s a problem that the XSE has gotten involved in.”
Storm nodded and glanced at her computer. She turned the screen and clicked her mouse. The face of Trish Tilby appeared on screen.
“It’s a disturbing scene here in Charlotte,” she said, “marked by the stunning brutality of the crime. Retired Army Colonel Carter O’Neill was found badly beaten and mauled mere yards from where I stand. This is the third such attack on retired Army personnel in as many weeks, and the only clue is in the gouges left in the bricks--“
Storm paused on the image of the brick wall.
“What the hell…” Logan growled. Three distinct claw marks were gouged into the wall. “That’s not--“
“We know,” Betsy said. “Cable’s already said the same, and confirmed it. There’s two things that are obvious though, Logan: someone’s trying to frame you, and they want you away from the X-Men.”
“How’s the second obvious?” Logan said. “Sounds like a guess.”
“It’s simple logic,” she said. “The mutant race is at its peak when it comes to PR and X-Corps is at the front of that wave. If a suspected criminal is a member of the school…”
“Son of a bitch,” he growled. “Warren called you yet? Fury?”
“No,” Ororo said. “But they both will. We need you to lie low until this is resolved though. Go on a vacation.”
“You say vacation,” he said, “I say find the son of a bitch and find out what he wants with me.” He stood and started towards the door.
“Logan,” Cable said. “One more thing.” He stopped without turning.
“Yeah?”
“How old are your kids again?”
“Sixteen,” he said. “Give or take a few months.”
“How long ago was Weapon X?” he asked. Logan didn’t respond. He looked at Betsy, then turned and glanced at Ororo. “How long Logan?”
“Twelve years.”
Cable turned and stood. “How long have you remembered?”
“It hasn’t all come back,” he said. “There’s a lot I’m still missing.”
“How long?”
“Since around Operation Zero Tolerance,” he said. “Don’t say--“
“We won’t,” Betsy said. “But why didn’t you say anything?”
“It wasn’t important,” he said.
“Does anyone else know?” Storm asked.
“Scott does.”
Cable nodded. “Okay.” The two men shared a look for several seconds before Logan turned back to the door.
“I’ll hit the road in the morning,” he said. He left, leaving the three in the room alone.
“Okay?” Betsy asked. “That’s it?”
“Yeah,” Cable said. “That’s it.” With that, he followed Logan out of the office.
Maria Callasantos sniffed the air as she crawled through the girl’s dormitory. Feral had spent the last three days on the grounds of the Xavier Academy, familiarizing herself with the scents of each advisor on the staff. None of them were close, which meant her job was easier. She found the room she was searched for and slowly turned the door knob.
Laura Logan was breathing deeply in her bed, her heart rate slow. She was fully asleep. Maria reached to her belt and removed a syringe. She smiled as she stalked towards the bed as quietly as she could. Laura rolled over and sighed. Maria stopped, then took two more steps, coming right to the edge of the bed. She leaned over Laura and stopped. It wasn’t Laura.
“Hey sugah,” Rogue said.
The X-Woman grabbed Feral and flew through the room’s exterior wall. She threw Maria into a tree and grabbed her communicator. Feral tumbled to the ground.
“This is Rogue!” she cried. “Logan guessed right. Intruder alert!”
Feral slowly picked herself up and hissed at Rogue. Rogue grinned and rocketed towards her. A pair of bone claws popped out of each of her gloves and she tackled Feral. They slammed into the tree again with a loud crack.
“Bitch,” Feral spat through a broken jaw. “You think I’m alone?” Rogue spun to see Sabretooth standing behind her. Creed started to swing at her, but a black-garbed figure flew down from the tree feet first, sending him stumbling backwards. Betsy Braddock rolled onto her feet and held her arm out. Her psychic katana congealed in her hand.
“Hey there, Vic,” she said. “Been a while.”
“No kidding,” he said. “Heard you had a few new tricks. Lost some of the old.”
“Oh, a little of this, a little of that,” Betsy said. “The blade is still the same though, and I’m going to take the focused totality of my psychic powers and shove it up your ass.”
“Bring it, limey,” he taunted. She narrowed her eyes and attacked. She slashed at his gut, glancing across his abs. He screamed and jumped at her. Betsy dodged, but he clawed her shoulder. She spun, stabbed his chest and both combatants jumped away. Creed was breathing heavily, trying to ignore the extreme pain caused by the psychic blade.
“Not bad,” he grunted, finally able to catch his breath. “That all you got?”
“No,” said another voice. Creed turned, but Siryn screamed before he could turn fully. The sonic blast slammed into him and threw him several hundred feet. Wolverine stood waiting.
“Hey there, Vic,” he said. “Been a while.”
“Funny,” Creed said. “Just heard that.”
“I know.” Logan slashed his foe across the chest and kicked him in gut. Creed grabbed Logan’s leg and pulled him off his feet.
“Not smart, runt,” he said. Logan twisted and slashed Sabretooth’s arm, severing several muscles. Creed cried out and dropped him.
“Neither are you,” he said. “Attacking the X-Men in our home, and only two of you on top of that.”
“Three,” Creed laughed. There was an explosion and the school shook. Dominic Petros dropped a pillar of earth on Rogue and Psylocke as he came through the side of the building. A quiet form was bundled in his arms.
“Got him, let’s move!” Petros screamed. He threw his arm out and buried Wolverine in another wave of earth. The three Weapon X operatives began to jump into action when a sudden thunderstrike deafened them. A strong wind rose from the ground and static electricity surrounded them. Rain began to pour down.
An angry Storm hovered in their path.
“You have attacked me and my pupils,” she said. “I will not stand for this.”
“You don’t have a choice darlin’,” Sabretooth said. “We outnumber you.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Kurt Wagner appeared from thin air next to Feral, grabbed her and teleported away in a quick series of jaunts. He stopped several yards above the ground before dropping her and teleporting away again.
“Ja,” said Piotr Rasputin as Kurt reappeared with his friend in tow. He transformed into metal and Nightcrawler dropped him over Sabretooth. Creed dodged, but Colossus backhanded him quickly and sent him sailing. "Don’t… hurt… my… friends,” he stammered.
“Ah, the Russian’s still a little retarded!” Feral growled. She jumped onto his back and dug into his eyes. Piotr screamed, more out of shock than pain. Kurt teleported in again, grabbed her and flipped her over his body. "You need to learn when to lie down!”
Sabretooth was on top of Kurt quickly, slashing his back. "So do you elf!” he screamed. “Petros, end this!”
Avalanche rose his arms and twin columns of rock and dirt rose from the ground on either side of Storm. There was a hint of regret in his eyes as he brought his hands together.
“I am sorry.” He clapped, and the columns collapsed onto Storm and rolled together before crashing to the ground.
Creed grabbed his radio as he watched the Earth writhe around Ororo. “HQ, we have the target,” he growled. “Get us out!” There was a wash of light around the three Weapon X operatives and the bundled form.
“Mein gott,” Kurt muttered. He teleported to where Storm would have been buried and began digging.
“Logan, Nathan, someone!” he screamed. “Help me, quickly!” He kept digging as he screamed again. “HELP ME!”
“It was quick, it was calculated and it caught us with our pants down,” Logan growled. “I’m not leaving until we find the sons of bitches and kill them.”
Several of the most senior X-Men gathered around the hospital bed--Cable, Rogue, Psylocke, Nightcrawler and Wolverine--where Storm lay. A steady beeping confirmed her heart still beat and a hiss came from the tube running to her nose. Charles Xavier and Emma Frost stood to the side of the room in the form of psychic projections, while Scott and Jean Summers stood opposite them.
“Final solutions are not the topic at the moment, Logan,” Charles said. “Will Ororo live?”
“She will,” Cable said. “But right now, she appears to be gone from her own mind. She’ll be in this persistent vegetative state until we…”
"Do something about it?” Scott said. “What? Kill Creed? Make sure someone can take care of her plants?” He started to step forward, but Jean put a hand on his arm. He took a deep breath and continued. “Her best friends in the world are standing in this room. Can we not think of anything to save Storm?”
“Hank is on his way back to the school,” Cable said. “Right now, I need to wait to defer to his experience.”
“He’s also offered to resign full-time Avenger status and go reserve until she wakes up,” Betsy said.
“So until Hank gives Storm a full physical, we won’t know what we can do?” Kurt asked.
“No,” Nate said.
“What about the student they took?” Emma asked. “Who was it?”
“That’s the REALLY bad news,” Rogue grumbled.
His eyes fluttered open slowly until he was sure he was awake. The cell surrounding him was cold, sterile, quiet. He almost instantly felt panic as claustrophobia set in.
Daxon Logan was no longer at home. Now, he was a specimen.
Domino and Avalanche stood outside the youth’s room, watching as he began to curl up into a ball. Avalanche shook his head as he watched. “Dammit, it didn’t have to be like this,” he whispered. “We didn’t need t--“
“Hush, Dominic,” Domino said. “You did exactly what you needed to and you did it well.”
“I never thought--“
“Shut up,” she whispered. “You did well. Director Nova is very pleased with you.” She sighed and looked at him. “She knows Weapon X has a mole. She already suspects me. We don’t want her to suspect that there isn’t just one now, do we?”
“No,” Avalanche said. “No we don’t.” He turned back to the cell, and watch as Dax scooted himself into the cell’s corner. He didn’t blame the kid. He probably would have done the same.
To Be Continued...
Next: In Uncanny X-Men #7: After their trouble with Weapon X, the X-Men discover that there is another group out to disturb the public’s opinion of mutants. They call themselves the Brotherhood, and just wait until you learn their full membership.
Previous Issue | Next Issue
“Logan, please, come in,” she said. “Have a seat.” As he entered the room, he noticed Betsy standing against the wall behind the door.
“Thought I smelled you Braddock,” he said. “Nice new perfume you’ve got there.”
“You almost insulted me there, Logan,” she replied.
“No petty bickering, please,” Ororo said. She sat down and waved at the chair opposite her again. “Logan, sit. I insist.”
He sat down next to Cable. “So what kinda trouble am I in?” he said. “Getting called to the principal’s office isn’t a good thing.”
“Logan,” Nathan said, “you don’t need to fake the pissed off attitude. We trust you here. You’re not an outcast any more.”
“Good to know,” he said. “Now how can I help you three?”
“How are your children adjusting?” Storm asked.
“Well,” he said. “Dax better than Laura.”
“Naturally,” Betsy said. “He must get his good attitude from his mother.”
“And his natural pheromone powers?” Cable asked.
“His mother isn- wasn’t- a mutant,” he said. “At least, not that I knew of. Is this all you want to ask me about?”
“There’s a problem, Logan,” Betsy said. “It’s a problem that the XSE has gotten involved in.”
Storm nodded and glanced at her computer. She turned the screen and clicked her mouse. The face of Trish Tilby appeared on screen.
“It’s a disturbing scene here in Charlotte,” she said, “marked by the stunning brutality of the crime. Retired Army Colonel Carter O’Neill was found badly beaten and mauled mere yards from where I stand. This is the third such attack on retired Army personnel in as many weeks, and the only clue is in the gouges left in the bricks--“
Storm paused on the image of the brick wall.
“What the hell…” Logan growled. Three distinct claw marks were gouged into the wall. “That’s not--“
“We know,” Betsy said. “Cable’s already said the same, and confirmed it. There’s two things that are obvious though, Logan: someone’s trying to frame you, and they want you away from the X-Men.”
“How’s the second obvious?” Logan said. “Sounds like a guess.”
“It’s simple logic,” she said. “The mutant race is at its peak when it comes to PR and X-Corps is at the front of that wave. If a suspected criminal is a member of the school…”
“Son of a bitch,” he growled. “Warren called you yet? Fury?”
“No,” Ororo said. “But they both will. We need you to lie low until this is resolved though. Go on a vacation.”
“You say vacation,” he said, “I say find the son of a bitch and find out what he wants with me.” He stood and started towards the door.
“Logan,” Cable said. “One more thing.” He stopped without turning.
“Yeah?”
“How old are your kids again?”
“Sixteen,” he said. “Give or take a few months.”
“How long ago was Weapon X?” he asked. Logan didn’t respond. He looked at Betsy, then turned and glanced at Ororo. “How long Logan?”
“Twelve years.”
Cable turned and stood. “How long have you remembered?”
“It hasn’t all come back,” he said. “There’s a lot I’m still missing.”
“How long?”
“Since around Operation Zero Tolerance,” he said. “Don’t say--“
“We won’t,” Betsy said. “But why didn’t you say anything?”
“It wasn’t important,” he said.
“Does anyone else know?” Storm asked.
“Scott does.”
Cable nodded. “Okay.” The two men shared a look for several seconds before Logan turned back to the door.
“I’ll hit the road in the morning,” he said. He left, leaving the three in the room alone.
“Okay?” Betsy asked. “That’s it?”
“Yeah,” Cable said. “That’s it.” With that, he followed Logan out of the office.
Maria Callasantos sniffed the air as she crawled through the girl’s dormitory. Feral had spent the last three days on the grounds of the Xavier Academy, familiarizing herself with the scents of each advisor on the staff. None of them were close, which meant her job was easier. She found the room she was searched for and slowly turned the door knob.
Laura Logan was breathing deeply in her bed, her heart rate slow. She was fully asleep. Maria reached to her belt and removed a syringe. She smiled as she stalked towards the bed as quietly as she could. Laura rolled over and sighed. Maria stopped, then took two more steps, coming right to the edge of the bed. She leaned over Laura and stopped. It wasn’t Laura.
“Hey sugah,” Rogue said.
The X-Woman grabbed Feral and flew through the room’s exterior wall. She threw Maria into a tree and grabbed her communicator. Feral tumbled to the ground.
“This is Rogue!” she cried. “Logan guessed right. Intruder alert!”
Feral slowly picked herself up and hissed at Rogue. Rogue grinned and rocketed towards her. A pair of bone claws popped out of each of her gloves and she tackled Feral. They slammed into the tree again with a loud crack.
“Bitch,” Feral spat through a broken jaw. “You think I’m alone?” Rogue spun to see Sabretooth standing behind her. Creed started to swing at her, but a black-garbed figure flew down from the tree feet first, sending him stumbling backwards. Betsy Braddock rolled onto her feet and held her arm out. Her psychic katana congealed in her hand.
“Hey there, Vic,” she said. “Been a while.”
“No kidding,” he said. “Heard you had a few new tricks. Lost some of the old.”
“Oh, a little of this, a little of that,” Betsy said. “The blade is still the same though, and I’m going to take the focused totality of my psychic powers and shove it up your ass.”
“Bring it, limey,” he taunted. She narrowed her eyes and attacked. She slashed at his gut, glancing across his abs. He screamed and jumped at her. Betsy dodged, but he clawed her shoulder. She spun, stabbed his chest and both combatants jumped away. Creed was breathing heavily, trying to ignore the extreme pain caused by the psychic blade.
“Not bad,” he grunted, finally able to catch his breath. “That all you got?”
“No,” said another voice. Creed turned, but Siryn screamed before he could turn fully. The sonic blast slammed into him and threw him several hundred feet. Wolverine stood waiting.
“Hey there, Vic,” he said. “Been a while.”
“Funny,” Creed said. “Just heard that.”
“I know.” Logan slashed his foe across the chest and kicked him in gut. Creed grabbed Logan’s leg and pulled him off his feet.
“Not smart, runt,” he said. Logan twisted and slashed Sabretooth’s arm, severing several muscles. Creed cried out and dropped him.
“Neither are you,” he said. “Attacking the X-Men in our home, and only two of you on top of that.”
“Three,” Creed laughed. There was an explosion and the school shook. Dominic Petros dropped a pillar of earth on Rogue and Psylocke as he came through the side of the building. A quiet form was bundled in his arms.
“Got him, let’s move!” Petros screamed. He threw his arm out and buried Wolverine in another wave of earth. The three Weapon X operatives began to jump into action when a sudden thunderstrike deafened them. A strong wind rose from the ground and static electricity surrounded them. Rain began to pour down.
An angry Storm hovered in their path.
“You have attacked me and my pupils,” she said. “I will not stand for this.”
“You don’t have a choice darlin’,” Sabretooth said. “We outnumber you.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Kurt Wagner appeared from thin air next to Feral, grabbed her and teleported away in a quick series of jaunts. He stopped several yards above the ground before dropping her and teleporting away again.
“Ja,” said Piotr Rasputin as Kurt reappeared with his friend in tow. He transformed into metal and Nightcrawler dropped him over Sabretooth. Creed dodged, but Colossus backhanded him quickly and sent him sailing. "Don’t… hurt… my… friends,” he stammered.
“Ah, the Russian’s still a little retarded!” Feral growled. She jumped onto his back and dug into his eyes. Piotr screamed, more out of shock than pain. Kurt teleported in again, grabbed her and flipped her over his body. "You need to learn when to lie down!”
Sabretooth was on top of Kurt quickly, slashing his back. "So do you elf!” he screamed. “Petros, end this!”
Avalanche rose his arms and twin columns of rock and dirt rose from the ground on either side of Storm. There was a hint of regret in his eyes as he brought his hands together.
“I am sorry.” He clapped, and the columns collapsed onto Storm and rolled together before crashing to the ground.
Creed grabbed his radio as he watched the Earth writhe around Ororo. “HQ, we have the target,” he growled. “Get us out!” There was a wash of light around the three Weapon X operatives and the bundled form.
“Mein gott,” Kurt muttered. He teleported to where Storm would have been buried and began digging.
“Logan, Nathan, someone!” he screamed. “Help me, quickly!” He kept digging as he screamed again. “HELP ME!”
“It was quick, it was calculated and it caught us with our pants down,” Logan growled. “I’m not leaving until we find the sons of bitches and kill them.”
Several of the most senior X-Men gathered around the hospital bed--Cable, Rogue, Psylocke, Nightcrawler and Wolverine--where Storm lay. A steady beeping confirmed her heart still beat and a hiss came from the tube running to her nose. Charles Xavier and Emma Frost stood to the side of the room in the form of psychic projections, while Scott and Jean Summers stood opposite them.
“Final solutions are not the topic at the moment, Logan,” Charles said. “Will Ororo live?”
“She will,” Cable said. “But right now, she appears to be gone from her own mind. She’ll be in this persistent vegetative state until we…”
"Do something about it?” Scott said. “What? Kill Creed? Make sure someone can take care of her plants?” He started to step forward, but Jean put a hand on his arm. He took a deep breath and continued. “Her best friends in the world are standing in this room. Can we not think of anything to save Storm?”
“Hank is on his way back to the school,” Cable said. “Right now, I need to wait to defer to his experience.”
“He’s also offered to resign full-time Avenger status and go reserve until she wakes up,” Betsy said.
“So until Hank gives Storm a full physical, we won’t know what we can do?” Kurt asked.
“No,” Nate said.
“What about the student they took?” Emma asked. “Who was it?”
“That’s the REALLY bad news,” Rogue grumbled.
His eyes fluttered open slowly until he was sure he was awake. The cell surrounding him was cold, sterile, quiet. He almost instantly felt panic as claustrophobia set in.
Daxon Logan was no longer at home. Now, he was a specimen.
Domino and Avalanche stood outside the youth’s room, watching as he began to curl up into a ball. Avalanche shook his head as he watched. “Dammit, it didn’t have to be like this,” he whispered. “We didn’t need t--“
“Hush, Dominic,” Domino said. “You did exactly what you needed to and you did it well.”
“I never thought--“
“Shut up,” she whispered. “You did well. Director Nova is very pleased with you.” She sighed and looked at him. “She knows Weapon X has a mole. She already suspects me. We don’t want her to suspect that there isn’t just one now, do we?”
“No,” Avalanche said. “No we don’t.” He turned back to the cell, and watch as Dax scooted himself into the cell’s corner. He didn’t blame the kid. He probably would have done the same.
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To Be Continued...
Next: In Uncanny X-Men #7: After their trouble with Weapon X, the X-Men discover that there is another group out to disturb the public’s opinion of mutants. They call themselves the Brotherhood, and just wait until you learn their full membership.
Previous Issue | Next Issue