Don't Fear the Reaper

Chapter One: Body Collector

There isn't one universal sign of death. It isn't always a bloody scene or a collapsed building that gives way to impending doom. Death is extensive, unpredictable, complex, and I have seen every sort. I've seen the expression on a grown mans face as I strangled him, the slight bulge in the neck that occurs after a clean break, young children, swelled to the point of becoming grotesque from wasp venom, and the sea foam that gathers at the mouth of someone who fought against the water around him. But then he gave in, the burn of oxygen deprivation became too much to handle, and eventually he too would be gone. Death wears many masks. And I had seen all of them - until today.

Today, death wears the mask of mutation.

He disappears and reappears in a cloud of red sulfur that singes the nose, a red demon. He wields two blades and kills the men around me with such grace and ease it's as if he's dancing. More and more men pour into the heat of the battle only to be slaughtered as soon as they set foot on the grass. I've seen many battles, hundreds, none such as this. Never have I seen men so completely and devastating outmatched. It's almost hard to watch as I attempt to fight back. My gun is following him and I've squeezed off several rounds, but none have reached him.

Suddenly, he grabs hold of an agent's arm, and points the loaded weapon right at me. Before I can blink, I see a bright flash. And as a bullet burrows its way into my brain I think about how it came to this. How I went from an operative for S.H.I.E.L.D. to just another lamb waiting to be silenced. And it all started with Agent Black.

"Now, they're mutants. Not some sideshow, alright? So no laughing about what they can do or anything like that. If they feel welcome then they might eventually be valuable assets to the agency." He informed me as we walked through the halls of his base.

Next to him, I nodded. "I'm here to assess them as well. If they can do the things you say that they can, S.H.I.E.L.D. will also want them on their side." I said in my usual monotone voice I carried while on the job. Giving away no emotion, giving nothing away.

Black nodded. "Yes, but, above all, we must remember that they are human beings first."

I turned to him and arched an eyebrow with a smile. "Trust me, Agent. I've dealt with my fair share of odd soldiers in my days. Remember Protocide? We contained him after his experiment went - well. Let's just say it got a little out of hand."

His jaw dropped slightly. "I thought Protocide was just a myth! Meant to scare people from trying to recreate the Captain America serum!"

At that I shook my head. "He isn't a myth. But the stories of him were purposefully spread to possibly prevent other agencies from making the same mistake. The only success we had was with the African American Super Soldier project. That was carefully calculated every single step of the way and we still had test subjects lose their minds." I explained with such emotional indifference it was borderline terrifying. That's just how you needed to be in my line of work. Cold, calculating, uncaring. If you were anything but, you'd have one hell of a time getting to sleep at night. Like falling asleep wasn't already an issue.

"That's some scary stuff." Black said with a shiver. That's how a human being should react when hearing such things. I was hard pressed to remember a time I had ever acted as such.

"It's not for everyone."

And with that we came to the conference room where we were to meet up with the mutants before heading down to Mr McCoy's lab. Agent Black opened the door and I got a look at the mutants for the first time. My first impressions of them as a soldier? They're the ones I'd throw into the heat of battle first. Distract the enemy while I slit their throats. Well - perhaps all but one. The tall one, an icy chill in his eyes, he'd seen things, been hardened by war. The others? They weren't meant for battle, that I knew for sure. One of them stepped forward, brown hair, blue eyes, short for a man, and a certain dignified air about him. As he extended his hand I clasped and shook it.

"Charles Xavier, it's a pleasure." He informed me.

"Agent Rose." I responded, not giving him my full name as he did. One thing an Agent knows it's to never reveal your identity to someone whose alliance is unknown to you. One also knows never to touch something for an extended period of time unless you manufactured it yourself. With that thought I gently pulled my hand from his grasp.

Charles smiled. "You are the agent from the Strategic Homeland Intervention and Enforcement Logistics Division, yes?"

I had to admit, I was impressed that he remembered all of that. There's a reason why we usually just say S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Yes." I responded curtly. I never was one for idle chit-chat.

"Very good, very good!" He exclaimed before gesturing to his two comrades. "This is my sister, Raven," He said, gesturing to the blonde girl with a child's face and moss green eyes, "and this is Erik." Charles finished with the man who I thought could last in a fight. He also had brown hair and blue eyes but he stood several inches taller with a perpetual expression of anger colouring his cross face.

I nodded to the two. "Pleasure." The group then made their way towards the door when I held my hand up to stop them. "I need to witness your mutations before we can continue. Protocol." I said bluntly to them. Each of them looked at the others in a slight confusion.

Beside me, Black interceded. "Uhh, Agent Rose? Did you not read to report?" He asked.

That didn't even warrant acknowledgement, but I gave it anyway. "In fact I did, Agent Black, but I've learned over the years that you can't always accept things at face value. I don't know what the C.I.A. has been teaching you, at S.H.I.E.L.D. we gather our own information, our own intelligence. How can something be called intelligence if it isn't confirmed?" I said, not bothering to look at him. I could feel his slight embarrassment; I was not assigned to this job to care about people's feelings.

"We are all perfectly willing to give you a demonstration, Agent Rose." Charles said in a chipper voice, probably trying to diffuse the situation. And sure enough, the other two nodded in confirmation.

I nodded as well. "Good. You may begin whenever you feel ready."

Once the last word left my mouth I watched a perfectly normal looking blonde girl change into an exact replica of Agent Black. The resemblance was uncanny. Her height increased, she widened, her entire person was gone. Masked by her mutation. When she changed for a second time I noticed the blue feathers that briefly coated her skin before it altered into whatever she wished. That time she turned into myself. The grey eyes, the shoulder length brown hair, even the lapel-suit ensemble I was wearing. It made me wonder if she was copying the genetics beyond the surface as well. It gave me a bit of worry, not that I let it show. I gave her a nod of approval and waited for the next mutant to present their gift.

That's when I noticed the voice in my head. 'Care to gander what I can do?' The voice taunted. I covered up the surprise I felt as I carefully analysed the two gentlemen. It was the shorter of the two that caught my eye. His fingers were placed against his temple and he was smiling at me. A telepath. At that thought the voice chuckled. 'Wonderful guess.'

My eyes finally drifted over to Erik who was flipping a coin over and over. I watched the coin each time it flipped only to realise that he wasn't flipping it at all. It was rising, falling, and turning in the air of its own accord with Erik's hands both crossed over his chest. I couldn't help it, I smirked a little. "Does that apply to something more substantial than a cheep parlour trick?"

Erik smirked as well. He then reached forward and every chair in the room levitated off the ground.

"Telekinesis?" I asked, to make sure. He shook his head. "Magnetic manipulation?" He nodded. I just took a guess there. I cataloged that in the back of my mind. I'd give a better report on it later to my superiors. Not that we didn't know about them already, we just haven't seen their talents in a long time. A refresher was needed. "Thank you all very much. I would like to remind you that I am not only here to watch your progress I am here to protect you to the best of my ability. I've dealt with people of your fold before and I feel that I am best for the job."

And that's how I got to where I am now, dead, on the grass amongst others that have been killed. Only -

I'm not dead.

Even now I feel my body pushing the lead bullet out of my skull. After a few seconds the wound has healed itself completely and I slowly bring myself back up to standing. I feel the eyes of the younger mutants on me in utter shock. They have no idea what I am. With my instincts beginning to kick in I take the butt of my gun and I hit my right shoulder as hard as I can with the offending object, causing the bone to jut out of my skin. This process has always been the most painful thing I've ever experienced, but it must be done. Gritting back the pain I grab the length of bone that's showing and pull it the rest of the way out. I try to ignore the sound of flesh and tendons ripping from it. When the bone's removed I immediately notice the lightness of my arm and the skin healing around it. I also feel my sleeve hinging on a thread so I rip that off, not wanting it to hinder me as I move to attack. I then take the bone in between my thumb and forefinger and I use my enhanced strength to sharpen it into a weapon. So, now, in my hand, I have a sword made out of my own skeletal structure, enhanced by my own genetics to be near impossible to break. Guaranteed to bring death onto whoever it encounters.

Now, I'm the Reaper.