Title: The Mutants - House of M
Disclaimer: All characters except original ones owned by Marvel
"A Time To Kill"
Part One
"Oh please God don't let them kill me…." Simon Williams sobs.
If one were to take a glance at the weeping man, they would not recognize him as the distinguished actor who won numerous academy awards for his recent cinematic performance. The dark black hair and beautiful face that made him one of Hollywood's leading men now has strands of gray and noticeable wrinkles. The face that helped him grace the cover of numerous magazines and garnered him a sizeable fortune now looks fatigued and depressed. But Simon Williams has good reason to be fatigued and depressed. A significant chunk of the fortune he has accumulated is paid to the elite armed security that lay inside and out of his sixty acre mansion estate. A great deal of his wealth was also spent purchasing a highly sophisticated monitoring system and suits of Kevlar armor and automatic weapons from the black market.
But now he fears that his fortune which finances the best bodyguards money can buy still won't be enough to buy him another night alive.
Holding two guns in his hands Simon pants as he listens to the sounds outside. His chief of security has told him to remain inside and to not make any noise.
"Be still and keep silent" Jack Thompson told him.
But the silence is what Simon fears. Williams hears the voices of the men and women he hired to protect him. He hears them issue demands of surrender. Then hears them give threats of violence. Then he hears screams. And after that he hears silence. This pattern has been repeating for the past several minutes and each time the silence that ends the pattern creeps closer and closer.
Simon Williams listens for sounds outside and hears nothing. He sobs silently and feels afraid.
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"Thompson to Lennox. Have we got a visual? Thompson to Lennox have we got a f---ing visual!?" Jack Thompson barks into his walkie talkie.
"Useless" he says as he releases the button.
"The gig of a lifetime" he mutters to the small group of men and women gathered around him.
"The gig of a lifetime!!! And of all nights the walkies go down. Great. Just great." He says shaking his head in disappointment and dismay.
"Team, I'll put it to you straight. We keep Williams alive for the next six months, and we've got a contract for life. In a few years, all of us can retire and just pass the contract on to the next kids who want to 'serve and protect' the rich and famous, but we can take the bonuses and kick back for the rest of our lives. But if we screw this up tonight, none of us works again and we better hope to high heaven we don't get a lawsuit that bankrupts us for life. No excuses team. Find out who is out there and bring them down!" he erupts.
Each member of the group nods fiercely as they ready their weapons and prepare to stand with their leader.
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Sam Lennox smacks his walkie talkie in frustration.
"Thompson's gone dead now too. That's all of them" Sam Lennox says to his team. He presses the button to his walkie talkie but instead of voices all he hears is an eerie, ghostly static.
"We'll have to figure out who's out there on our own" he says with a sigh.
"Let's get a visual. Clayton have you-"
"HOLY MOTHERF---ING GOD!!!" Clayton Thompson interrupts. The youngest son of Jack Thompson grabs his automatic weapon and quickly points it toward the sky.
"What's happening!?" Lennox asks.
He points his flashlight into the sky and sees a man draped in dark clothes floating through the air.
Lennox feels a level of terror he's never felt. Pointing his own weapon at the man he stands ready.
"Team, converge on target." Lennox announces to his squad. He then speaks into a voice amplifier and addresses the strange figure in the sky.
"You are trespassing upon private property! Come down slowly, with your hands in the air!"
"His hands!? F--- his hands! His whole body is in the air Sam!" Thompson shrieks through a jaw tightened by fear.
"He's flying. How the f--- is he flying!?"
"Shut up Clayton." Lennox says tightening his grip around the trigger of his weapon.
The dark figure descends from the sky and comes closer causing the terror of those present to increase.
"I repeat, come to the ground slowly and do not come closer! If you do not comply we will shoot!!" Lennox screams.
This time they hear a small laugh as the strange, floating being approaches more closely.
"It looks like a normal guy" Claudia Fischer says from behind the group.
"The fact that he doesn't look like ET or Casper doesn't make me feel better Claudia." Lennox mutters his own jaw now clenched in fear.
"It's not stopping. Take this thing down." Lennox orders grimly and he tightens the trigger of his weapon.
The instant he expects to feel the violent kick back of his firing assault rifle a completely different force startles him. Stumbling forward the gun that Lennox gripped is ripped from his hands by an unseen force, with strength he's never felt. He ducks to avoid being hit by the weapons of his comrades as they are similarly yanked and float over his head in the direction of the flying stranger.
"What the…." Lennox says in disbelief regaining his footing.
Clayton Thompson panics.
"What's happening? The guns are just floating around him Sam! Wait...guys…they're pointing back at us….all the guns are pointing back at us. RUN!!!" Thompson screams and the group attempts to flee.
Loud gunfire rings out. Members of Lennox's squadron scream as their bodies are torn apart by bullets. Refusing to turn his back on death Lennox struggles to remains standing and glares defiantly at the strange figure. Spitting out blood, Lennox watches as the guns his unit held rotate in a clockwise circle around the length of the strange man's body. No hand of his touches a weapon, but each of them fires in rapid succession, decimating Lennox's crew
His body riddled by bullets, Lennox falls backward, his body supported by the now deceased Clayton Thompson.
Lennox tries to exhale but only coughs blood. He knows that his team is dead and that he will share their fate. Sam watches as the flying figure descends from the sky and touches the ground only a few feet away from him. The guns that hover in the air around the man fall beside him. With a final act of strength Lennox focuses his eyes and studies the face of his murderer.
He feels a knot in his stomach as he recognizes his killer.
"Mis...mister…lensherr?" he stammers as the last ounces of blood and life empty from his mouth.
In the bright moonlight Erik Lensherr stands over the pile of bodies. He does not smile but his heart grows anxious. Only a few more obstacles need to be eliminated before he completes the first phase of his revenge.