ALIVE AGAIN
[Contains Violence, Mild Language, Adult Situations]
Xavier recently reformed the X-men after a long absence. Many of the X-men are missing. So far, he has found Storm, Wolverine, Phoenix, Colossus, Iceman and Polaris to make up the revamped team. Beast assists the team as a liaison. The rest are at large.Xavier had been very secretive about the mutant signature that he had found while using Cerebro. Not only secretive…he was acting nervous as well. Lorna approached Xavier and asked when the team would be going to investigate. He told her he wasn't sure and that he hadn't figured out the best way to approach the mission. He wouldn't elaborate beyond that. Lorna couldn't help but feel that he was purposely hiding something from her.
Later that evening, Lorna was heading to her room. When she past Xavier's office, she heard him talking to Storm. Lorna heard Xavier say in an undertone, "…just don't tell Lorna."
Lorna hurried to her room, surprised that the world's greatest telepath missed the fact that she had past by his office when he said that. He must really be preoccupied, she thought.
It was two in the morning and Lorna lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep at all. She just had to know what Xavier was keeping from her. She had to know if her suspicions were correct. She slipped on her uniform and headed downstairs to Xavier's office. She reached the door and, of course, it was locked. She furrowed her eyebrow as she stared at the lock. 'Click-click'. She turned the knob and the door opened. Having powers of magnetism came in handy at times. She would have to hurry. It wouldn't be long before Xavier knew what she was doing. She rummaged through his desk until she found the report on Xavier's latest findings. Her heart started racing. She scanned the document. 'please please c'mon c'mon yes please YES!'
…mutant signature is highly focused plasma; appears to be acquired through ambient stellar energy…coordinates were in a small town in Vermont.
That was all Lorna needed to know. She dashed out of Xavier's office and ran out the front door of the mansion.
Xavier reached the door and yelled, "Lorna!' but it was too late. She was already gone and not turning back. "Damn!" Xavier said.
In her excitement Lorna had neglected to read the rest of the document. 'Power is almost 100 times that of the late Alex Summers; the mutant known as Havok.' There were also newspaper articles clipped under the document about recent heat waves and solar disturbances.
Lorna pulled her jeep into a gas station. She had driven into the next day and reached the town where the mutant signature was supposed to be located. The town was so small that she was even surprised it had a gas station. She wasn't expecting to make too many stops but she was burning up in the heat and was dying of thirst.
Two sixteen-year old boys watched the woman of their dreams pull up to the filling station. Lorna stepped out of her jeep and the boys stared at her with their mouths hung open. Their eyes danced over the curves of her body, which fit snugly in her skintight bodysuit. They had no idea what kind of material her outfit was made out of. It had a leathery type look to it but seemed to be lighter than leather. The front of her uniform was unzipped past her cleavage from the heat. To top it off, she had green hair! The boys rushed to help this extremely sexy woman. "Is there anything I can get you miss?"
"Yes, do you work here?" Lorna asked.
"Yep, we're the dayshift" one of the boys grinned.
"Some ice and water would be great."
The boys literally stumbled over each other to get her order. They returned with a large cup of ice and some bottled water. "Hey, are you a rock star?" one asked.
"Umm…sure…yea." Lorna replied. She rubbed a hand full of ice on her neck and upper chest. One of the boys gave a quivering moan as she did so. They were mesmerized by the drops from the ice melting down her cleavage.
"So what's with this hot weather?" she asked.
"I don't know, it's been in all the papers. It's been the hottest week ever recorded," one said.
"Thanks for the ice and water, what do I owe you?" Lorna asked.
Neither responded.
"Hello, my eyes are up here," she said pointing her finger by her temple.
They pulled their eyes away from her cleavage. "Oh, sorry miss. You don't owe us a thing. It's on us."
She gave them a big smile. "That's sweet, thank you so much."
"Hey, if you don't mind me saying, Britney Spears doesn't have anything on you," one said.
"Thanks…I guess," Lorna said with a half smile.
"Hey, did you see that flash up on the hill?" one of the boys said.
Lorna looked in the direction he pointed. At first, she didn't see anything but then she saw a bright light that spanned out in concentric circles. Her heart skipped a beat.
"I've got to go, thanks for everything!" she yelled as she rushed to her jeep and drove off with tires squealing.
"Wow, the kids at school will never believe this," one of the boys said.
"Maybe she was a mutie," the other said.
"Are you kidding? Muties don't look that good."
"They don't all look like monsters you big dummy. I don't care if she is a mutie. She's the hottest thing I've ever laid eyes on."
Lorna drove up the curvy dirt road at high speed. The jeep fishtailed violently as she took the twisty road up the hill. When the road ended, she got out of the jeep. Someone was standing on the summit of the hill just past a field. Lorna broke into a run when she realized who it was.
"Alex? Alex!!" she cried as she ran to him.
"Lorna, is that you?" Alex said. He opened his arms as she ran to him. She jumped in his arms and gave him a passionate kiss almost biting his lip in her excitement. She couldn't believe she had found her man that had been missing for so long and thought dead.
"Oh baby, I can't believe it's you!" Lorna said with tears in her eyes.
"I'm so happy to see you Lorna, I never thought I'd see you again."
Lorna was a little surprised at his new look. He wore black boots and black pants with numerous pockets up the sides. He also wore a black vest with no shirt and black leather gloves. It looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days. He looked much more rugged than when she had seen him last. She didn't mind. She thought the look was kind of sexy.
Alex took a couple of steps back from Lorna and said, "Let me take a look at you, wow you look great!"
Lorna giggled. "Thanks, you don't look too shabby yourself."
"In fact," Alex said, "you look so great I almost regret doing this." He pointed a finger at her.
Lorna Dane's world turned upside down. The first thing she noticed was a bright flash of light. The next thing she noticed, she was on the ground in incredible pain. 'Oh God, Oh God, I hurt' she thought. 'Oh God, what happened, such pain, I'm burning up inside, I feel so sick, someone help me'
Lorna lay on the ground barely able to move. Her uniform was ripped to shreds. Her skin felt like it was on fire. She had barely been able to get up a magnetic shield to deflect some of the blast but she was caught completely off guard. If she hadn't put up a shield she would probably be charred with third degree burns all over her body. She looked up at him with tears running down her face. "Why…" she cried softly.
"Very well done Alex. I'm jealous. You could have blasted her before you kissed her."
Lorna saw a female walking from behind the trees. The woman wore a costume that made the White Queen look modest. The outfit consisted of a tiny black two-piece number that looked like it came out of a Frederick's of Hollywood catalogue. She also wore thigh high black boots, long black gloves that went past her elbows, a long black cape and an eye mask. Her jet-black hair was pulled straight back in a long ponytail. The mystery woman walked up to Alex and put an arm around him. She was playing with the hairs on his chest as they both looked down at Lorna.
"Who the hell are you," Lorna said through gritted teeth.
"I'm Alex's girl and apparently you aren't anymore. Looks like you've taken a turn for the worse you poor dear," the woman said and laughed. Alex laughed with her.
Lorna tried to get up but her body was too weak. She focused her power on a nearby boulder. Lorna magnetically hurled the boulder at the woman. The woman casually pointed at the airborne boulder and then pointed at Lorna. The boulder took a sudden turn and crashed right in front of Lorna spraying dirt and small rocks in her face.
The woman walked over to Lorna and kneeled down in front of her. "Dear, I could have just squashed you with that boulder you tried to hurl at me. But I'm a nice girl and chose not to," the woman said sweetly.
Lorna looked up at her with rage in her eyes. "Rot in hell you bitch!" she said.
"Charming," the woman said with a smile. "I'll let you in on a secret. We're looking for someone. Someone by the name of Jean Grey. I think you might know her. You are useless to us. Now its time for you to go to sleep."
Lorna tried to fight it but she felt herself fade away…
Two Days Later
Xavier held a briefing with the X-men. "It's been two days since Polaris left the mansion. I believe the latest mutant signature I found on Cerebro is that of Alex Summers. I also believe that Polaris went to find him. She's a big girl but it's not like her to not contact me. I fear something may have happened. I should also warn that if this is Alex, his power has multiplied drastically."
"That is not good to hear," Storm said. "He was alarmingly powerful before. I would hate to see what he could unleash if he didn't have it under control."
"We have no idea what kind of control he has or even if its Alex," Xavier replied. "I'm also concerned because I got a call from Akiko Saito a couple of weeks ago. She was Sunfire's girl friend. She was telling me about an encounter that Sunfire had with Sauron. Sauron's mutant power had been artificially enhanced. If this is indeed Alex, I'm wondering if his power has been enhanced by the same means. We all thought he had died but we might have been wrong. I'm sending the X-men to investigate and try to find Lorna."
Xavier gave storm a handheld electronic device. "This is a new device that Hank recently developed. It will register recent mutant power activity. Even up to a few days of when the power is used. I think it is best that you head out within the hour. I fear for Lorna's safety."
Later
"Yep, Polaris was here alright," Wolverine said. "These shreds are from her uniform and have her scent. This doesn't look good. She took a hard hit."
Storm scanned the area of the summit with the power signature detector. "There's high level readings of plasma all around. Telepathic readings as well and they are off the scale. There are some magnetic power signatures but they aren't nearly as high."
"What do we do now? How are we going to locate them?" Peter asked.
"I would try to sniff them out but its two days old," Wolverine said. "It would be hard to track them after this much time."
"The best I can recommend is using this power detector to find them," Storm said. "Even when mutants aren't using their powers the device will register faintly. We can try to follow it but its going to take awhile since we're going by faint readings."
"If that's the best we can do darlin' then that's the best we can do." Wolverine said.
Alex Summers walked into a room where a figure sat in the shadows. The figure was on a large chair that resembled a throne.
"I've been watching their progress on the monitors," Alex said. "they are not far from here and will find us soon."
"That's exactly what I'm hoping," the figure in the shadows said. "Jean Grey will be mine once and for all."
"That has to be it," Storm said as they stared at a stone cottage up on a hill. "The power signatures are strongest up in that cottage."
They approached the building and Alex Summers stood at the entrance.
"Well, hello there X-men. Long time no see," Alex said with a smile.
"Alex, this is a surprise indeed," replied Storm. "Where's Polaris?"
"Polaris? She's yesterday's news. I don't need her anymore." As he said that the masked mysterious woman who encountered Lorna the other day walked out and looped her arm around Alex's.
"Yes," the woman said with an evil smile. "Polaris is history. The same goes for you X-men as well."
"This doesn't look good," Peter said to Bobby under his breath.
"She looks good though," Bobby replied, staring at her 'barely there' costume. "Cute outfit."
"Cute or not I know exactly who that is," Wolverine growled, "and I don't know what she's playing at." He drew his claws.
"Now that's a no-no Wolverine," the masked woman replied. She waved a finger and Wolverine's claws went up to his own face. The blade was just centimeters from his eye and closing in.
"I can't stop her, she's controlling me! She's making me poke my eye out!" Wolverine screamed as he felt the blade start to cut into his cornea. Then he felt something knock him upside the head and he was out cold. Colossus stood behind him.
"Sorry, I had to do that Tovarisch," he said. "She can't make you hurt yourself if you're unconscious."
"You all should give up now," the woman said. "I can destroy all of you with just a thought. And if you think that's good, you should see what my dear Alex can do."
Alex smiled, "You see that thing up in the sky that everyone takes for granted?" Alex pointed at the Sun. As the seconds went by the temperature climbed drastically. The Sun started turning a reddish color. "Right now it's around 112 degrees out here and climbing. Scarey that I can control the Sun now, isn't it?"
"Stop it Alex," Storm said. "What do you want from us?"
"Actually, it's not what I want. It's what a friend of mine wants." As he said that, the door to the cottage opened and the X-men stared in shock.
"Greetings, X-men," Mr. Sinister said. "I would like to thank you for bringing Jean Grey to me. You saved me the trouble of finding her myself."
"What do you want with me, you devil!"
"Alas, I thought that since you and Scott Summers had found marital bliss that nature would take its course. You were both valid components of an experiment I've waited all my life to complete. Unfortunately, Scott Summers is no longer with us. But I recently stumbled upon Alex Summers which is the closest thing to Scott's DNA. Your part is easy. You are to mate with Alex Summers."
"And if I refuse?" Jean replied.
"Then your friends will die horribly," Sinister replied.
Jean said, "If I agree to your twisted experiment, will you let the X-men go?"
Sinister thought it over and said, "Ok I accept your terms. Come with me." He held out his hand.
"Jean, don't do this," Storm said.
Jean looked at her sadly and said, "There's no other option. I'm sorry Storm." Jean followed Sinister into the cottage.
Sinister turned to Alex and the masked woman before he entered the cottage and whispered, "They're all yours."
Jean tried to react but she felt her mind start to go unconscious. Sinister dragged her inside.
Havok took aim at Colossus and nailed him with a high powered plasma blast. Colossus shot backwards through the trees like a bullet from the impact. The sound of trees and foliage breaking was incredible. There was a gaping opening in the woods where Colossus entered.
Alex laughed, "He should be about a mile away from here by now."
The sky had been gradually darkening and a lightening bolt struck a foot away from Alex and the masked woman. They both lost their footing but regained themselves.
"Very good, Storm," the woman said. "You almost caught me off guard. I barely deflected your lightening in time. But almost isn't good enough." She pointed to Storm.
Storm felt her powers activating and tried hard to resist. Her own wind picked her up and tossed her violently through the air.
Iceman watched Storm doing a perpetual back flip through the sky and she quickly faded out of sight. He turned and faced the woman. "Well, babe," he said. "Lets see how well you do against this." He planted a full powered blast of ice at Alex and the masked woman. Much to his surprise it worked. They were both frozen solid in a huge block of ice. Then he felt two hands grab his head from behind and he screamed as he fell to the ground.
The woman laughed. "Silly boy thought I was actually standing there. A simple illusion took care of that."
The ice block started melting extremely fast and Havok broke free of the block. "I guess Iceman didn't realize that a block of ice is useless against us. Hey wait a minute. Where's the little runt? Wolverine's gone!"
"Don't worry about him Alex. We'll find him and have our fun. Alex?…Alex?"
Alex Summers fell to the ground with no warning. The woman turned around and saw Xavier behind her with the Beast.
"Ah ha," she said. "So now I get a real challenge."
Wolverine was able to sneak away from the fight. He found a small barred window to a basement area. He broke the window and sliced his claws through the bars. He followed his scent and found Polaris chained to a wall. She looked badly beaten and most of her uniform was shredded off her body.
Wolverine patted her cheek. "Hey Darlin' wake up, are you ok?"
Polaris opened her eyes wearily and said, "I'm so weak."
"Let me get you out of these chains" Wolverine sliced them.
"These braces have power inhibitors," she said. Wolverine sliced those off as well.
"Are you going to be ok?" he asked. "I need your help."
"My body is weak but that won't stop me from using my power to bring this place down."
"Come with me," he said. "I have a plan."
Beast watched as Xavier and this mysterious woman faced off with each other. Their eyes were closed and both looked to be in great strain. Beast felt helpless. They were battling each other on the psychic plane and he knew there was nothing he could do to assist Xavier.
Xavier hadn't experienced a threat such as this on the psychic plane since the Shadow King. The woman had extraordinary power. He telepathically shouted to her, "Come on, Come on, Fight it, Fight it!"
She kept screaming in his mind, "Noooo!! Nooooo!!"
Sinister strapped Jean to the lab table. He turned on the power inhibitors and she gained consciousness. "Soon, Alex will be here to strip you down and ravage you. I will enjoy watching every minute of it. He should be here soon."
"You are one sick bastard," Jean said through gritted teeth.
"No, I am the greatest genious ever to walk the globe." Right after he said that he saw the ceiling come rushing towards him and his face smashed hard into it.
"Not a good day to be made of metal," he heard a voice from below him.
Polaris and Wolverine were looking up at him. "Drop him," Wolverine said as he pointed his claws up in the air. Sinister fell on Wolverine's claws but just laughed.
"You think that can hurt me little man?" Sinister laughed. At that moment, Alex and the masked woman walked in. Sinister laughed even harder. "Your time is up Wolverine" he said.
"Not today Sinister," Psylocke said as she removed the mask. She pointed at Sinister's head.
"No!" he screamed. "Stop, not my head!" And then it exploded into a glob of green goo and metal shards.
Havok stood outside the cottage later and blasted it to smithereens.
"That should take care of that madman's sick experiments for awhile."
"Yes, but we know that devil will find a way to cheat death." Jean said. "He always does."
"What is important is that we won this day. Bruised but victorious" Xavier said.
As the X-men turned to leave, Bobby said "So Psylocke what happened to the purple hair?"
"While I was brainwashed I chose it's natural color so that I wouldn't be noticed by the X-men. I plan on dying it back to purple."
"So is that going to be your permanent uniform from now on? I kind of like it"
"Do you want to die Robert?" Psylocke replied.
"Actually," Hank added. "I've got a hot date with Trish tonight. She said I could pick out something for her to wear for the late night fun and games. Can we borrow your outfit Betsy?" Hank hit the dirt as Psylocke tackled him.
Lorna sat in Alex's arms on a sofa in the X-mansion.
"Luckily Xavier was able to reverse the power enhancement that Sinister put on us," Alex said. "We could have destroyed the world with not much more than a thought."
Psylocke walked through the room after leaving Xavier's lab and headed upstairs.
Lorna's eyes followed her with distrust. She looked at Alex "Did you…with her?"
Alex sighed. "We were both brainwashed. We weren't in our right minds. We can't be held accountable for that. I'm with you and that's all that matters."
"I guess I have to accept that," Lorna said. "So tell me, you ended up in some alternate timeline?"
Lorna spent the whole night in his arms in fascination as Alex told his story.
Brian Ritchie
2001