Previously: The Juggernaut, Cain Marko, made an unexpected appearance at the Xavier Institute. While he came there seeking sanctuary, members of Alpha Flight arrived to apprehend the fugitive, resulting a fight with the X-Men based there. In the middle of the battle, the X-Man Chamber revealed that the members of Alpha Flight are in fact imitations. Meanwhile the rest of the X-Men, led by Wolverine, find themselves in the Illinois wilderness, going at it with a confused Holocaust. In the heat of the battle two of the X-Men are taken out by someone known only as Fantomex, whom shares some type of history with Holocaust.
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Chicago Outskirts
"Ok, you may just want to duck for a bit," the white garbed Fantomex shouted towards the remaining X-Men as he narrowly dodged a blast fired from the villain Nemesis. Mere moments ago the enraged mutant had been on an amnesiac rampage, but the sudden appearance of the man called Fantomex triggered some disturbing memories for the brute.
"Why, you’re the one he's gunning for," Domino chimed in as she took cover with the man.
"True, but please believe if Holocaust kills me then you’re not going to be able to stop him. So with that said, I'm going to need you to gather your X-Men so we can neutralize him," Fantomex said as he drew twin pistols which he began firing into the exposed center of Holocaust's chest. The bullets failed to effectively pierce the mutant’s armor.
"No problem, too bad you already took out two of our most powerful, you ass," Domino said as she fired off blasts of her own directed at Holocaust. In between shots she continued to glance over at her teammate Wolverine, who had been taken out by Holocaust prior.
Her eyes met his for the briefest of moments, and it was in that short span that she was able to make out a wink. Smiling to herself, the recently joined X-Man decided to bait Holocaust into a false sense of security.
"Shit. Well, consider Iceman and Polaris temporarily out of action then. Guess it's on us, that means you too Sir Madrox," Fantomex said as he leapt up from his shielding spot, and decided to take the fight to Holocaust head on. His agility was beyond that of a normal human, and the stranger seemed to have his sights set not on what Holocaust was doing, but how he was doing it.
"Who the hell is this guy?" Madrox said as he clutched Lorna Dane close to him, while the Iceman lay unconscious at his side.
While his question was left lingering in the air, Madrox couldn't help but watch the athletics being displayed by the mystery fighter. He continued to dodge blast after blast from Holocaust, without putting up any sort of retaliatory attack.
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Xavier Institute
As the X-Man known as Chamber stared in disbelief at the revelation he just discovered about the attacking Alpha Flight, the faux Canadian team leader, Guardian, failed to take note of the situation. Instead he continued on with the battle as it let loose with a series of energy blasts aimed for the confused Chamber.
The Alpha Flight dupe had realized that it's cover was blown, Emma Frost instantly took heed. Her previous suspicions had been answered somewhat, as her inability to read the thoughts of the gathered Flight members meant that they were all machinations of some sort.
All with the exception of Walter Langowski's. Emma had decided to let the Juggernaut handle him in his own manner.
{X-Men, these machines dare intrude on our home. Consider the shackles officially removed. Deal with them as you please.} Emma instructed to Chamber, M, and Moonstar as she turned her attention solely towards Charles Xavier.
"Charles, I believe that once your dear step-brother subdues Dr. Langowski, we will have to properly interrogate the man," Emma said as she stood with her arms crossed, watching the battle before them.
"Yes, let us pray Chamber's find is the most shocking of our worries at this point," Xavier said as he hovered idly by next to his co-headmistress.
Before their very eyes they watched as the Juggernaut exchanged blows with the staggering Sasquatch. What had been a fairly even match in the beginning was now looking to favor that of Cain Marko.
"To think, almost let you chumps bruise me up a bit. Now I'ma beat ya ‘till guts come spillin' out!" Juggernaut said as he lifted Langowski over his head, before slamming him decisively on the ground once more.
The feral doctor coughed up blood as his laid on his back, his clouded thoughts telling him to continue forth. He was much stronger than this, and though the Juggernaut had him at a disadvantage, all Langowski saw were shades of red.
As the Juggernaut threw down what should have been the final blow on the laid out Sasquatch, Langowski stopped the man's fist in mid push. Then, in a feat of newfound strength, the doctor returned the favor to Cain Marko by slamming him back-first into the ground beside him.
The sudden change in momentum shocked both Emma Frost and Charles Xavier as they watched Langowski gather himself with ease, his eyes showing nothing more than bloodlust. Baring his claws, the Alpha Flight beast sounded off with a growl which rocked the distance, demanding attention.
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Above the grounds which complimented the Xavier Institute, the battle between Monet St. Croix and the Alpha Flight first lady, Vindicator, raged on. The two female combatants exchanged blows heavily, without either giving one a clear upper hand. Though one could only assume why decoys had been sent in place of the actual Alpha Flight, Monet would never have been able to tell the difference. This Heather Hudson shared all of the same characteristics as the legitimate Vindicator, and having never met her in person, it all mattered not to the former Generation X member.
"A pity, I would have loved to have gone up against the real deal. A shame, to waste such efforts on imitation," Monet said as she drove a well placed fist into the torso of Vindicator.
"A shame for you that is," Vindicator replied as it took the full brunt of M's attack, only to repel the Moroccan girl by extending her force field outward. Using the inexperienced X-Man's brief mistake to her advantage, Vindicator lashed out with an energized fist to the forehead of her opponent. Invulnerability or not, the hit packed enough juice to level M. Her inability to capitalize had sent her crashing down into the ground below, skidding across the open terrace. With another of the X-Men down, Vindicator took heed of the situation developing between Juggernaut and Langowski.
To the far right, her fellow Flight member Puck had returned to the fray, joining in on the assault against Chamber, to the benefit of Guardian. Though Chamber was outmatched in terms of numbers, he made up for it in raw power. His continuous flow of energy was doing just enough to drive back both Alpha Flight members.
He wasn't attacking with the intensity he had to burn through Guardian's synthetic layers, but Chamber was hitting both Flight members with some fine tuned blasts. Those Danger Room sessions spent with Domino had paid off well.
{Any ideas on how to handle the lot here?} Jono directed to Emma.
{Still assessing the situation, but from what I've been able to gather, we are not being attacked by humans. So casualties aren't an issue here, so please, don't be afraid that you should hold back anymore than you need to Jonothan.} Emma responded to her pupil.
Still watching the view from above, Vindicator chose to make her mark once more. Propelling herself at full speed downward, Heather Hudson had every intention of blind-siding the British mutant with a hammered fist to his back.
Until she caught an unexpected energy blast to the face.
The startling display of power caused nearly everyone present to pause in their tracks, as a new challenger had stepped onto the battle field.
Emma's own facial expression transformed from surprise to amusement.
"My dear Alexander, glad you could join us."
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Chicago Outskirts
Holocaust's rampage in the woods had been taken to another level. Tired of the frustration that he was being put through by the X-Men and their sudden ally, the son of Apocalypse had taken the gloves off. If he couldn't destroy them individually, then his aim was to bring the world around them down. The best way to go about that was setting the greenery around them ablaze.
"Any idea what's wrong with us?" A recovered Bobby Drake said as he doubled back along with Polaris, who had also been taken out by Fantomex.
"Seems we were hit with some sort of power nullifier, which makes me wonder why this guy isn't doing the same to Holocaust," Polaris added as the two of them now stood behind an army of Madroxes. The small squadron of duplicates were about a dozen deep, but numbers would help turn the tide in their favor. Domino and Fantomex were carrying the offensive load, but were forced to double back once Holocaust began to use the environment to his advantage.
"Fantomex, you tried to make me forget. You and the Director thought I could be controlled like I was weak. So let me return the favor." Holocaust charged for the elusive Fantomex who nimbly avoided the armored mutant. His timely escape opened Holocaust up for a fighter who had been biding his time just for an opportunity such as this.
Rolling off the ground from his curled position, Wolverine launched himself up, claws extended. Such a maneuver should have been the key strike against Holocaust, only the attack would never land. With a quick motion due to his own enhanced reflexes, the son of Apocalypse countered Wolverine's leap with a crushing blow towards his mid section.
The hit left Logan leveled, but he had dismissed the idea of playing possum any more. Taking the blow in stride, Wolverine was back on his feet in a matter of seconds, ignoring any momentary pain he may have felt. The perk to having a healing factor meant there was a lot he could withstand, the downside was that he kept himself in situations of increased punishment. Yet it was the words of his opponent which struck more than his blows. The first mention of a Director caused Wolverine's ears to perk up, but caught up in the heat of battle forced him to calm his nerves.
"Sounds like ya had a harsh life. Tell us all about it then, bub." Wolverine sliced forward at Holocaust with multiple unsuccessful slashes.
"Let's see if I can't cut through that piece of armor of yours," Wolverine said in frustration.
"Spare me," Holocaust said as he scorched the Earth around Wolverine.
If he still had human features, the armored mutant would have taken the time to smirk. In another lifetime, this would have been child's play. A fight against the infamous Weapon X. Of course this wasn't his Weapon X, nor was this his world. The product of a reality considered alternate, and in some ways extinct, Holocaust would have to settle for a lesser challenge in Wolverine. As he lifted his arms up, he brought them down with haste as he let loose a volley of blasts which attacked the exposed X-Man.
Abandoning the defensive protection he provided, the dozen or so Madroxes took this chance to join the fray. They attacked Holocaust from all angles, putting forth what only served as a temporary effort. The reality-displaced villain began to demonstrate his full scale of abilities by nabbing two of the dupes by the throat.
"No, call back your duplicates!" Fantomex warned but his words came to late.
"I was getting hungry." Holocaust said with a laugh as the life force from the two faux Madrox’s started to drain from their bodies. Their forms started to slowly decay before incinerating in a burning flash, their energy being redirected within a newly vitalized Holocaust.
The legitimate Jamie Madrox staggered back from the psychic backlash he received as a result of the duplicate deaths. Just seconds before his body could fall limply to the ground, it was caught by an observant Bobby Drake. Whatever words the X-Man could muster from his lip were drowned out by the booming laugh of Holocaust as he continued to decimate through the faux Madroxes. Not interested in allowing this to go on much longer, Fantomex chose to pursue other methods.
With Wolverine focused solely on Holocaust, Fantomex crept up behind the feral X-Man as he forcefully grabbed him by the shoulders.
"My apologies my friend, but this is a necessary evil to be done." Fantomex jabbed a needle like device into the exposed neck of Wolverine.
"What the hell are you doing?" Logan growled, but his answer would never come. His eyes had glossed over to a bloodshot red, and his entire sense of awareness seemed to disappear, as a more animalistic side spread from within.
The first target in his line of sight, was Holocaust.
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Xavier Institute
Alexander Summers, better known as Havok in this company, had recently gone through a rather life altering experience. Stranded in an alternate dimension where everyone he had ever cared about was either corrupt or dead, he was forced to make some rather unethical decisions. When his time in this mirror world was over, he found himself in the clutches of the Dark Beast, McCoy, a mutant he had once before stood against. His actual imprisonment was still unknown, but it is safe to assume that the younger of the Summers boy's was far from ecstatic. Especially when he was awoken from his recovery-rest by the sounds of World War Three currently taking place on the front lawn of Charles Xavier's mansion.
As they say, there was certainly no rest for the weary.
"Alexander, if you don't mind I'm going to give you a brief psi-rundown of the situation," Emma said to the newly arrived X-Man.
"Actually, I do," Havok said as he sized up the situation for himself. The circumstances as to what led them to this point was unknown to him, but Alex would piece it together as it continued to play out. Between the feral Sasquatch tossing the Juggernaut around like a rag doll, to the recovering trio of Vindicator, Guardian, and Puck, Havok decided to pick his poison wisely.
Instead of picking out one in the group, Havok chose to decimate all three. Embracing the rays of the sun as it shined down on him, Alex charged himself up and fired a plasma blast carving a whole straight through the midsection of the faux Guardian. The attack forced the cybernetic fighter to halt in it's advance, as it fell awkwardly to the ground. Vindicator would have been next, but Monet St. Croix took the liberty of handling this one.
Racing up with speed that could rival the best of them, M delivered a swift side kick to the side of Vindicator's face, beheading the Alpha Flight imitation in the process. Her aggressive display brought stares from Charles Xavier, but Emma simply applauded the feat.
"A lot more difficult than I thought," M said as she slid her fingers through her hair, her eyes glaring at the decapitated cyborg. With the gathered X-Men now facing an underestimated threat of the pint sized Puck. Havok's face had shown no form of expression until this point, but all that changed as his line of sight was clouded by the two massive figures wreaking havoc on the battle field.
"Oh shit, everybody get down!" Alex cried out as Sasquatch and Juggernaut came barreling across the grounds, smacking through anything in their way, including the oblivious Puck. The feral Langowski was manhandling Cain Marko at this point. With his furry paws wrapped around Cain's waist, he proceeded to drive the large body of the Juggernaut straight into the ground in an attempt to subdue the being.
Earlier Cain had expressed concerns that his powers as the Champion of Cyttorak were waning. The battle against Langowski was exploiting this weakness, in more ways than one. Cain was finding it difficult with every blow to recover, a problem he rarely had if ever back in his prime. Fortunately for him, the Juggernaut wouldn't have to go through this alone. As he laid on the ground, uncertain if he cared enough to get up, the X-Men came to his aid.
Chamber and Havok had at it, firing off a barrage of energy that could only be rivaled by the fourth of July celebrations. Not to be outdone, Emma Frost and Charles Xavier had both taken the liberty to attack the mind of Langowski, burning through the psi holds placed within his brain to leave him on the verge of insanity if they persisted.
Off to the side, the sole Alpha Flight prototype still in one piece stood. Puck was all but forgotten, but his orders had changed. His eyes cast a glance toward the shadows, as it nodded in the direction of the woods, before setting his sights back on the X-Men at large. Setting his feet on the ground, he took off in a run towards the team as they forced Langowski to double back his own offensive advances.
Catching sight of this, a recovered Moonstar alerted her peers.
"Guy's, Puck is back." she stated, but M was already on it.
"Leave him to me Dani," she said with a smirk as she cocked back her right arm, hoping to knock off two heads in one day. Only the swing would never come, as Puck's eyes shifted to a glowing red, which was followed by an unexpected explosion.
The faux Alpha Flight member had acted as a kamikaze, self destructing itself as soon as it had made it inches away from Monet. The blast sent her rocketing through the sky, and forced the rest of the X-Men to take cover or suffer the surrounding impact, as the explosion left the rest of the lawn leveled against all fighters.
The act triggered a calm reaction out of Langowski, as the beast-doctor used the distraction to his advantage. Having snapped out of his feral state, Sasquatch opted to remove himself from the fray, as he took off towards the woods. The self destruction of Puck had left the X-Men in a moment of disarray, and allowing the recovered Professor just the opportunity he needed to make his escape, before further questions were asked.
Once the smoke cleared, a lot would have to be dealt with on all accounts.
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Chicago Outskirts
Almost as quickly as Fantomex had acted on Wolverine, he found himself laying face first on the ground. His little stunt had apparently crossed the line, as he was victim of being shot in the back by none other than Domino.
"Talk about subtle," he muttered as he tried to keep himself from revealing the immense pain that he was in.
"Subtle my ass, what the hell did you do to Wolverine? You’re about one bullet away from staying down." Domino spat as she kept her weapon pointed at the strange ally.
"I did what was necessary, now pay attention, sweetheart, to what happens next," Fantomex said as he remained on the ground.
Without any sense of direction or moral clause, Wolverine was free to run wild over his opponent. Which is exactly what he did as he made what could have been a fight of the ages between himself and Holocaust, a rather one sided bout. Holocaust in his display of overcondifence had abandoned the energy attacks for a more physical brawl, played right into the hands of Wolverine. In an effort that could only be described as flawless, Wolverine avoided the massive palms of the escaped mutant, but managed to stick a closed fist of three extended claws right into the torso of the armored villain.
With a firm attach to the son of Apocalypse, Wolverine used his free hand to slash through the casing of Holocaust's shell, exposing the dependent mutants inner build up. The attack not only left Holocaust vulnerable, but left him on the verge of death if he was stuck in this predicament.
Pleased with the outcome, Fantomex forced himself up by kicking Domino's legs out from under her, and shooting Wolverine with the same toxin that had rendered Polaris and Iceman useless. Domino's quick maneuvering enabled her to spring back on her feet, only to find herself at the receiving end of a boot to the face compliments of Fantomex.
"Please stay down love, for your sake," he said as he looked at the now fleeing Holocaust. His residue of energy slowly leaked from the areas where Wolverine's claws had left his armor exposed.
"Guess that's my cue to depart as well," Fantomez said as he held his chest. The bullet he had been shot with went clean through, but he didn't have the time to thoroughly diagnose his damage.
"Like hell you will!" A still powerless Bobby Drake said as he lunged for Fantomex as his face met the white-garbed man's elbow.
"Child's play." he said with a sigh as he reached for his pockets, drawing forth a set of flash bangs. His time was drawing short a Wolverine would be up and about in a matter of seconds, and is powers would return to him via his healing factor in minutes if Fantomex was that lucky. Wasting no time, he tossed the pellets to the ground. They triggered on impact, leaving a trail of smoke in their wake. A simple trick of smokescreen and mirrors, but it was an efficient ploy. When the dust cleared, all that remained was the X-Men, with no clue that Fantomex was ever there.
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Later
Xavier Institute
Hours after the confrontation with Holocaust, the team of Wolverine, Domino, Iceman, and Polaris had all returned worse for wear. To their disappointment, they had been unable to track Fantomex or Holocaust down. Their scents had been removed from the field. Wolverine just couldn't seem to get a solid lock on anything out there, which they had deduced most have been Fantomex's intention all along.
Still, certain key points were taken from the encounter. Wolverine had been given the hint that he was connected to this in more ways than one, and if his assumptions were right, things were only just beginning.
Of course his own agenda aside, the away team had been forced to re-evaluate their own purpose as they returned home to a wasteland of a front lawn. After a quick rundown of the events which had unfolded previously, Professor Xavier was joined in his office by Domino, Emma Frost, and Havok.
"So where is the Juggernaut now?" Domino asked.
"Cain is recuperating in the med-lab. Charles here has decided to open our doors to him until he is fully recovered, and until we figure out the complete details of the skirmish which took place here today," Emma revealed as she leaned back on the desk which Xavier sat behind.
"Jamie is there as well. He hasn't awoken yet, and everyone is getting worried," Domino said with a shrug.
"None of this seems to make any sense," Havok said, more to himself than anyone in particular.
"Yes, we all understand this Alex, which is why..."
"No, you’re not understanding me. None of this makes sense. I mean, first the Juggernaut comes to you guys seeking refuge, only to be tracked down by a bunch of Alpha Flight spar-bots. While this is occurring, Domino and crew are off dealing with Holocaust of all things, and some guy running around in an all white espionage suit. In my experience it's not uncommon for the X-Men to face off against dual threats, but the Alpha Flight brigade touched down after a squad of X-Men had already been deployed."
"Almost as if they knew we our defenses would be at a low," Emma said as she finished Alex's statement.
"Exactly."
"Be that as it may, all we have to go by are strands. Langowski is gone, and the Holocaust situation will have to be dealt with at another time. I too find this to be far more than a coincidence, and rest assured we will get to the bottom of this," Xavier said as he folded his hands, allowing his mind to drift.
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Epilogue
The mystery known as Fantomex hadn't taken long to track down a depleting Holocaust. Once he had gained ground on the armored mutant, the struggle had been short-lived. The mutant had collapsed before him, into a comatose state. As he rested in the forested area, Fantomex sat on a rock next to a lake as he simply bid his time in wait. No sooner had he done so, had the sign he had been waiting for revealed itself.
"Talk to me Sweetheart," he said to what appeared to be no one in particular.
<Fantomex, contact with the X-Men has been made, however we were unable to acquire our designated subject. The forces used for the mission were all decimated save for our live one.>
The voice rang out as it seemingly came from nowhere.
"Not what I wanted to hear, but sometimes we have to cut our losses somewhere. What's the status of Langowski now?"
<He is in my custody, and I will be returning him back to the base shortly. I am curious though, has contact been made on your part.>
"Oh yes, contact has definitely been made, girl. Weapon X is aware of my existence, so it's only a matter of time now. On a side note, I think I've found us a new candidate. The boss should be pleased to hear all about this James Madrox that I came upon today."
<I look forward to hearing all about it Fantomex.> The being said from an undisclosed location, as she appeared to be communicating to her counterpart via some form of telepathy, if that.
"Well anyway, do me a favor, love, and come pick me and the shell-head up before you make your rounds back to Never land. Not sure if me and the lad could make the journey on our own," Fantomex said as he rested his foot on the fallen Holocaust.
<Your wish shall be granted, Fantomex. See you soon.>
"Heh, same to you. Oh and E.V.A.? Please try not to keep me waiting. It's getting rather boring out here."
The End...
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Next Issue- It's time for the X-Men to catch somewhat of a breather, but tensions still run high as they receive a visit from two of their own. Cyclops and Phoenix guest star, as the X-Men deal with the fall out of recent events, and try to come to terms with each other!
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Author's Note
Well here we are again, much later than I had originally perceived. Hopefully you enjoyed this latest arc as much as I had did writing it, but I'll let you all speak for yourselves. This didn't end as I had originally wanted, but it still came out strong in my opinion. Honestly this issue should have been released some time ago, but I couldn't quite figure out what to do about a certain scene. I'm not going to reveal which one that was, but perhaps you already know. In any case, the next issue should be done fairly soon, as it is a fairly laid back stand alone that will surely spring into a mega arc for me that I'll touch more on in the next issue. Let's just say that it's the story that I intended to write since the moment I was accepted here as the X-Men writer, so it's been a couple years in the making.
That's all for now, as always, feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated. Look forward to your comments.
-Eric Roman 4/14/08