PHOENIX

THE SERIES

chapter 4:

BABY OH BABY

By Carl Termini

His skin is whiter than snow, and his evil, rivals that of Lucifer's. He

is the one who created the trouble. He is the one who wants their

blood. His is evil. He is sinister. He is Sinister. A creation of the

ancient being known as Apocalypse. He turned on his own master for

his own scientific plans. And now those plans my finally bear the fruit

that he has wanted for so long. With the skin he took from Siena

Blaze's finger nails, during her confrontation with Rachel Summers,

he may finally find what he has always wanted. The most powerful

being. The spawn of the Summers clan.

"Well, 'Father' what is it that you are up to now?" the voice asked.

Sinister is not one to be taken by surprise, but this is one of those few

times when someone is finally able to do that. He makes a point, a

passion almost to know everything that is needed to be known.

Somehow this had gotten past him. If he was ever shocked he quickly

covered it up, amazingly well. "Ms. Pryor. To what do I owe this

pleasure?"

"O, you!" she exclaimed as she gave a gentle slap to his back.

"Suddenly I need a reason to pop in on dear old Dad?!"

"Well, it has been 10 years since we ever talked."

"True. True. But, well, I need to know something, that's all."

"Truly? What could that information be?"

"Why it is indeed about our Mrs. Summers."

"What would that be?"

"Her pregnancy."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Sinister turns his back

quickly and resumes his work on Rachel Summers' skin fragments,

when he is suddenly blown to the side.

"Don't you even try to lye to me." Her teeth are tight and her lips

barely move.

"What ever do you mean, my dear?" He quickly chokes down his

fear.

"Tell me the details. And don't even try to lye."

With shivering lips and a sweat dampened brow, he answers. "Jean's

body is weak. She has been through much. If she were to, say over

exert herself, too much, she could, um . . . lose her child."

Releasing her grip on him, Maddie smiled. "Oh, is that all. Thank

you. And I'll be going then. Toddles." And with that she is gone.

And Sinister is relieved, but his fear has just deepened.





Jean's hands clapped happily. She just had one problem and quickly

asked Cecila about it. "I just don't know when I should tell Scott."

"Well, you should tell him soon. This is not really something you can

hide for a while," Cecila responded.

"Well, duh! But the hard part would be how? How can I tell him this

with out him giving some weird reaction?"

Then a voice spoke up. "Tell Scott what?"

"Scott!" screamed Jean.

Scott turned with a smile on his face. Jean noticed how cute and

young he looked. She could hardly believe herself but she had time to

get used to it. Time to adjust. And time to think of a way to tell him.

"Yes," Scott exclaimed back.

"Well, dear, you know Rachel?"

"Yes, why . . . oh my god." Scott just went blank. He didn't move.

He didn't breath. If Jean could see his eyes she would see just how

big they got. "I . . . need time to . . . uh . . . think. But . . . I'm

happy." And then he walked out. Still frozen he found a way to leave

the two women to their business.

"That's what I was afraid of," Jean whispered.

"Oh," Cecila responded, dazed in her own way. "He's like a big

teenager. Just doesn't know how to handle it yet."

"I need a book," Jean shouted suddenly."

"What!?"

"A book. I don't know what it is but ever since I've found out that I

was pregnant, I've been wanting to read everything."

"Well, everybody's got their own thing."

"Let's go to the mall so I can stock up for nine months."

"Okay. Just let me tell Scott."




"This is taking place about say, 6 months ago. Yeah, that

sounds about right. Just go along with me. This is

hypothetical. Really. So, let's say that we are in the U.N. You

know the place. Well, there are these like delegates standing

around or sitting. I forget which. And then in the center of

the room there's this spotlight. And all the other lights go out.

Then with a creek, the doors open and whispers swarm

throughout the room. And then this dude walks in. He's got

white hair, and evil eyes, and his skin. His skin is not normal.

It's kind of pinkish. Really off center. And let's also add in

some fear. How about my fear.

"'Sir,' says this guy, 'you called us hear saying that you have a

plan.'

"'That's right,' answers the mystery man.

"' Well, pardon us for our skepticism, Sir, but your last plan

failed.'

"'That was due to Senator Kelly's sudden change of heart.

You all read my files and reports and know full well, that all

was going splendidly. And that I did indeed have the mutants

on the run.'

"Now, I was scarred. There were talking about giving this

guy a job again. This is all hypothetical. None of this really

happened.

"The pink skinned man spoke again, 'Now, you also have in

your possession my new plan, and you can see, that the

financial problems are not there. That is only if you, the few

gathered here from the main U.N. will join. There is also a list

of the other groups that are willing to participate. And I'm

sure if you join, and if you so chose, you can recruit more and

convince those who have yet to sign will indeed sign.'

"'Your idea does have merits, let us resign and vote on this,'

said another man. 'We will meet again in one week. Thank

you. Officer, return this man to his cell.'

"Needless to say, hypothetically, that all the voting was all for

the idea. Except me. They 'convinced' me to change my vote.

I didn't like giving this madman the power that we had given

him before. But when the next week came, we told him our

vote.

"Oh, God, what have we started?

"As the man walked out he sang a little song. It went

something like this:

"Hang them up

"Don't let them fall

"Keep them hanin'

"From the tree branch

"And then once they are gone

"Go for the next target

"Those damn vermin

"And the humans

"God, I'm so scarred."

"It's okay," said the other man on the phone. "I'm hear. It's

simple. We go to the Efficient group, and they'll take care it"

"You don't get it!" shouted the U.N. member. "They are part

of it!"

"Not for your mystery man. For you!"

"Wha--?"

That is all we have from the phone tab. The assault on

Mr.__________ ________ was quick and easy. There were no

problems. Our men came in and killed him. The assault is

blamed on Russians who want to regain a communist party

there.

The pink skinned man turned in his chair and threw the document on

his desk. His phone rang and he answered it. "Mr. Bastian here."




Jean's chair is huge, and soft. She curls up tightly and reads. Her

blanket is thrown across her lap and her bag of chips are next to her

chair. She reads quietly and only read the dialogue and every now

and then she flips back to another page when she missed something.

When she went to pick up a chip her hand began to shake. Tears

started rolling down her cheeks and she cried. The pain was back.

But this time it was stronger. Harsher. It was as if it was a live and

attacking her personally. Like it new her weak points. And then she

couldn't hold it in and she screamed. And at the Hellfire Club,

Maddie sat and she couldn't fight it either. For the first time she

screamed too.



fin

Well, what do you think? Write and tell me carlterm@hotmail.com

Also, there are big things on the horizon, so keep a look out.