Crucible #1
"Nuclear Winter-Part One"
Six strangers from different realities are thrust together to insure that the very fabric of time doesn't unravel. For them failure is not an option, for if they fail, their worlds will never be the same again. Like a thought that changes a destiny, they're out to correct the wrongs that will fix their world. Sentinel- Heir to the super-soldier serum; Scarlet Witch- Retired mutant mom; Rogue- Shape-shifting Avenger; Powerpax- Last survivor of Power Pack; Mustang- Emerald Archer; and Nocturne- Daughter of the swashbuckler Nightcrawler. Together they are the Exiles!
Dust-filled winds swirled wildly all around the cloaked figure who walked with a slight slouch. If the dust bothered the figure, it gave no indication except for the swishing of a pointy blue tail from underneath the brown burlap cloak. A few feet later, the figure stopped and turned towards a metal building. All around the figure, everything was bare. The only structures to be seen were the series of metal warehouse-looking buildings. The cloaked figure studied a door for a second before a hand with two blue fingers and a blue thumb grasped the door and pulled it open struggling with the wind. Once inside, the figure let the door slam shut with a metallic clang that could certainly be heard several miles away if someone were around to hear it.
"Damnit!!" The mutant known as Nocturne slammed a fist against the wall. "I don't get why the Tallus is keeping us here. There's nobody alive anywhere. We just let several billion people die and for what!!! Where's Sentinel? I want to know what the hold-up is." Nocturne tossed the hood of the cloak back to reveal an attractive young girl with indigo blue skin and beads in her long blue hair. Breathing a deep sigh, the young mutant who calls herself Nocturne pouted against the cold metallic wall.
"Martin's in the other room meditating. He'll let us know something when he hears from the Tallus. Keep your clothes on!" A young woman with red hair replies from a corner, a haunted look in her eyes. Julie Power is a woman with a tragic past. Even before her time got wacked out, she suffered a series of tragedies. She remembers each night before she goes to sleep and every morning when she awakes about that horrible night that she lost her family and gained the weight of the world. "I don't see what your temper tantrum will do," she replies to her blue furred teammate with defiance in her voice.
"Talia, ah understand your frustration, but the Tallus hasn't steered us wrong yet." The beautiful young woman known in many realities as Rogue stepped forward and placed her gloved hand on Nocturne's shoulder glancing towards Julie with a look that implored the young woman to have a little compassion. Turning back to Nocturne, she tried to console her. "Ah know you're still adjusting to losing Mimic. You may not believe this seein' as how ah haven't been with this group as long as you have, but ah miss Mimic too."
Nocturne breathed in deeply to keep from lashing out at her caring compassionate teammate. The truth was she knew Rogue was right that Mimic's passing affected more than just her. It didn't make things any easier though because she had been with this team ever since the beginning and had seen more than her fair share of heartache and good-byes. And to make things worse, she couldn't turn to the very people she always went to when things got tough because her parents weren't here. Her very reason for being here was to prevent her father, Kurt Wagner, the X-Man Nightcrawler, from being killed. "I know you mean well...Rogue. It's just hard not having anybody here that I really know, you know? I mean you've been with us, what, two months? And you know what really, really hurts?!? The one person on this team that I feel connected to isn't the person she should be. I mean what kind of twisted game is the Time Broker playing bringing Scarlet Witch into this when he knows she's my mother in my reality. I just want to crawl into her arms and have her tell me everything's going to be all right. But I can't because she's not the woman I know. She's not my mother!!" Talia Wagner couldn't control her emotions any longer and instinctively buried her head into Rogue's shoulder as she cried.
Rogue had to fight against that initial fear. Even after all her years as a member of the Avengers, training with some of her world's best and brightest, she still couldn't control her ability to absorb parts of another just by flesh to flesh contact. It was why nearly every part of her was covered up. But she knew she would be fine as long as she didn't brush up against the young woman who rested on her fully clothed shoulder. She chastised herself for being self-centered when it was clear that her young friend was in dire need of comfort. "Sweetie, ah cain't begin to understand what you're going through. Ah nevah really knew mah real parents and the woman that raised me turned out to be an evil, evil woman, but we're all in this together and ah'd like to help however ah can...if you'll let me."
Time passed as Nocturne allowed Rogue to console her, and Rogue allowed Nocturne to seek comfort in her arms. The two women looked so at peace that their leader, Sentinel, regretted having to disturb them. Julie had gotten bored and walked to find the others before Sentinel sent out the call for the team to assemble. "Rogue, Nocturne, can you come in the other room, please. Tallus has given us our orders."
Rogue looked up at the young man and smiled. She still felt marvel and amazement when she looked at him. Besides the similarities in costume, Sentinel's composure and presence was very identical to his mentor, Captain America. She had tried to imagine the looks on everyone's face when he had arrived to replace Blink. She wasn't there, but she had heard the story from Nocturne and Mimic how Morph had looked like he was about to freak when Sentinel had stepped through the portal. Everyone seemed to gasp thinking they were looking at the Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America himself. She had heard how Morph took it pretty hard and treated Sentinel badly when he learned that he wasn't Captain America but the son of Cap's original partner, Bucky Barnes. Luckily for them all, Sentinel (she couldn't bring herself to call him Martin as he had so often implored her to) quickly proved to be the same kind of man as his predecessor. She could sense the touch of "The Man" himself in Sentinel's every step.
Nocturne had almost fallen asleep which she found comfort in. It had been so long since she had fallen asleep so easily. Heaviness came over her as she remembered the last night she had been able to sleep peacefully. It was the night before she had lost John, the Exile known as Thunderbird. They had surprised their teammates when they revealed that they had fallen in love, and it had felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest when she had been forced to leave him behind in a strange world. She had cursed the Time Broker, the Tallus, Blink, and whomever else she could think of for several days afterwards. She had been especially unpleasant to their new teammate, Sasquatch, because all she had seen was the person that replaced her lover. Losing their baby seemed like some inevitable string of fate for all she was being forced to lose. She had been forced to shut herself down emotionally after that just to survive the missions they were being asked to perform. She knew after Mimic had died that it was a good thing she had steeled herself. She would have continued to collapse into being completely helpless as she watched her teammates taken from her leaving her behind with strangers. But after Mimic was gone and all her original teammates were no more, she didn't see the point. She had stopped seeing the newer members as teammates and so after Mimic no one was really close to her anyway. She was truly an Exile, an alone Exile.
Rogue gently coaxed her companion through the door into the other room where their teammates sat waiting to discuss their newest mission. Rogue nodded and smiled as she glanced at them all. She still felt a bit of a pang of loss in her heart when she looked at Mustang. The young man had the skin color of his mother, but his looks definitely came from his father bringing fond memories to Rogue's mind of times she fought and bled beside She-Hulk and Hawkeye. She had been particularly interested in his story of where he came from because he had never even seen Earth. He came from a reality where the Heroes that fought in the Beyonder's game had not returned to Earth. She had found it surprising to learn that her counterpart in Mustang's world had fallen in love with Captain America because she had always been so in awe of the man to feel anything more than respect for the man. She could also understand Mustang's determination to give his all in these missions. For him, he could lose everything he knew, for her she'd go insane after killing her best friend and having her essence locked within herself for eternity.
Sentinel interrupted everyone's reverie, "Before I tell you what I've heard from the Tallus, I thought we should discuss what we're feeling about what just happened. I know it was hard on all of you when we learned that our mission was to ensure this world experienced a total nuclear holocaust. If all of reality wasn't at stake, I would have been the first of us to resist."
Nocturne sat there with a solemn look on her face. "All those lives are gone, and we're the cause. How can we go on after that?"
"Hey, what's a few lives when compared to the countless more that will die if we don't succeed?" Julie commented from her corner. Ever since she had joined them, she had remained aloof and refused to get too close to her teammates. Many might say that it was one of the major weaknesses of this team.
"But every life should be considered sacred. What kind of future are we leaving for our children?" Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, inquired being the voice of love that the team had come to expect from her. In fact, if Nocturne would just let her, Wanda was prepared to dote on the girl and will all the hurt away. A few months after she had joined the team, she had managed to get the girl alone where Nocturne had mentioned that she was her mother in her reality and that no matter what their similarities, Wanda was just not the same as the mother she knew. Wanda had relented hoping that the others could be there for her.
Mustang stood near the doorway looking calm and relaxed. Ever since joining them, he had become the voice of reason to balance out the others. Today was not going to be any different. "We provide the only future we know how. This world might have paid the price, but just think of all the worlds that now have a chance because we made the difficult decision."
Rogue looked towards Wanda with affection. Although she had never gotten to know her world's Scarlet Witch since she died so many years before Rogue joined the Avengers, Rogue knew this one and her compassionate caring spirit was her strongest asset. "Sugah, we can't always choose our battles and the scars we receive are often hard to heal, but we'll see each other through it. Hopefully, if the Time Broker is a merciful being, he'll make us forget these things when we make it out."
Sentinel took that moment to get to the heart of the meeting. "Which brings me to what the Tallus has told me. We've all known that if we can correct the one thing that caused our own worlds to go wrong that we'll be returned to our own reality. We've seen it happen, well some of us, when Morph received his return home. Now it seems that another one of us gets to go home."
Everyone's head perks up and stares at Sentinel dumbfounded as each heart feels a flutter of hope that they're mission is done. Then comes the small pang they all feel knowing that five of them will continue on while one of them will be with them no more. It's a mixed blessing because there's the joy of knowing that person's journey is done, but the emptiness they leave behind is irreplaceable.
Sentinel turns his head to hide a tear. "Talia, as soon as you're ready the Tallus is prepared to return you home. Thank you for all your hard work for this team and as the last original member, my only hope is your pain finds resolution and completion."
Next Issue: The team gather around to say their goodbyes to the last original Exile. Then they meet their new teammate as they prepare for their next mission. How is this previous mission tied into the next one? Find out next issue. Also, be on the lookout for the intermission chapter where we find out what happens when an Exile is sent home. A couple of guest stars arrive to welcome Nocturne home.
Six strangers from different realities are thrust together to insure that the very fabric of time doesn't unravel. For them failure is not an option, for if they fail, their worlds will never be the same again. Like a thought that changes a destiny, they're out to correct the wrongs that will fix their world. Sentinel- Heir to the super-soldier serum; Scarlet Witch- Retired mutant mom; Rogue- Shape-shifting Avenger; Powerpax- Last survivor of Power Pack; Mustang- Emerald Archer; and Nocturne- Daughter of the swashbuckler Nightcrawler. Together they are the Exiles!
Dust-filled winds swirled wildly all around the cloaked figure who walked with a slight slouch. If the dust bothered the figure, it gave no indication except for the swishing of a pointy blue tail from underneath the brown burlap cloak. A few feet later, the figure stopped and turned towards a metal building. All around the figure, everything was bare. The only structures to be seen were the series of metal warehouse-looking buildings. The cloaked figure studied a door for a second before a hand with two blue fingers and a blue thumb grasped the door and pulled it open struggling with the wind. Once inside, the figure let the door slam shut with a metallic clang that could certainly be heard several miles away if someone were around to hear it.
"Damnit!!" The mutant known as Nocturne slammed a fist against the wall. "I don't get why the Tallus is keeping us here. There's nobody alive anywhere. We just let several billion people die and for what!!! Where's Sentinel? I want to know what the hold-up is." Nocturne tossed the hood of the cloak back to reveal an attractive young girl with indigo blue skin and beads in her long blue hair. Breathing a deep sigh, the young mutant who calls herself Nocturne pouted against the cold metallic wall.
"Martin's in the other room meditating. He'll let us know something when he hears from the Tallus. Keep your clothes on!" A young woman with red hair replies from a corner, a haunted look in her eyes. Julie Power is a woman with a tragic past. Even before her time got wacked out, she suffered a series of tragedies. She remembers each night before she goes to sleep and every morning when she awakes about that horrible night that she lost her family and gained the weight of the world. "I don't see what your temper tantrum will do," she replies to her blue furred teammate with defiance in her voice.
"Talia, ah understand your frustration, but the Tallus hasn't steered us wrong yet." The beautiful young woman known in many realities as Rogue stepped forward and placed her gloved hand on Nocturne's shoulder glancing towards Julie with a look that implored the young woman to have a little compassion. Turning back to Nocturne, she tried to console her. "Ah know you're still adjusting to losing Mimic. You may not believe this seein' as how ah haven't been with this group as long as you have, but ah miss Mimic too."
Nocturne breathed in deeply to keep from lashing out at her caring compassionate teammate. The truth was she knew Rogue was right that Mimic's passing affected more than just her. It didn't make things any easier though because she had been with this team ever since the beginning and had seen more than her fair share of heartache and good-byes. And to make things worse, she couldn't turn to the very people she always went to when things got tough because her parents weren't here. Her very reason for being here was to prevent her father, Kurt Wagner, the X-Man Nightcrawler, from being killed. "I know you mean well...Rogue. It's just hard not having anybody here that I really know, you know? I mean you've been with us, what, two months? And you know what really, really hurts?!? The one person on this team that I feel connected to isn't the person she should be. I mean what kind of twisted game is the Time Broker playing bringing Scarlet Witch into this when he knows she's my mother in my reality. I just want to crawl into her arms and have her tell me everything's going to be all right. But I can't because she's not the woman I know. She's not my mother!!" Talia Wagner couldn't control her emotions any longer and instinctively buried her head into Rogue's shoulder as she cried.
Rogue had to fight against that initial fear. Even after all her years as a member of the Avengers, training with some of her world's best and brightest, she still couldn't control her ability to absorb parts of another just by flesh to flesh contact. It was why nearly every part of her was covered up. But she knew she would be fine as long as she didn't brush up against the young woman who rested on her fully clothed shoulder. She chastised herself for being self-centered when it was clear that her young friend was in dire need of comfort. "Sweetie, ah cain't begin to understand what you're going through. Ah nevah really knew mah real parents and the woman that raised me turned out to be an evil, evil woman, but we're all in this together and ah'd like to help however ah can...if you'll let me."
Time passed as Nocturne allowed Rogue to console her, and Rogue allowed Nocturne to seek comfort in her arms. The two women looked so at peace that their leader, Sentinel, regretted having to disturb them. Julie had gotten bored and walked to find the others before Sentinel sent out the call for the team to assemble. "Rogue, Nocturne, can you come in the other room, please. Tallus has given us our orders."
Rogue looked up at the young man and smiled. She still felt marvel and amazement when she looked at him. Besides the similarities in costume, Sentinel's composure and presence was very identical to his mentor, Captain America. She had tried to imagine the looks on everyone's face when he had arrived to replace Blink. She wasn't there, but she had heard the story from Nocturne and Mimic how Morph had looked like he was about to freak when Sentinel had stepped through the portal. Everyone seemed to gasp thinking they were looking at the Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America himself. She had heard how Morph took it pretty hard and treated Sentinel badly when he learned that he wasn't Captain America but the son of Cap's original partner, Bucky Barnes. Luckily for them all, Sentinel (she couldn't bring herself to call him Martin as he had so often implored her to) quickly proved to be the same kind of man as his predecessor. She could sense the touch of "The Man" himself in Sentinel's every step.
Nocturne had almost fallen asleep which she found comfort in. It had been so long since she had fallen asleep so easily. Heaviness came over her as she remembered the last night she had been able to sleep peacefully. It was the night before she had lost John, the Exile known as Thunderbird. They had surprised their teammates when they revealed that they had fallen in love, and it had felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest when she had been forced to leave him behind in a strange world. She had cursed the Time Broker, the Tallus, Blink, and whomever else she could think of for several days afterwards. She had been especially unpleasant to their new teammate, Sasquatch, because all she had seen was the person that replaced her lover. Losing their baby seemed like some inevitable string of fate for all she was being forced to lose. She had been forced to shut herself down emotionally after that just to survive the missions they were being asked to perform. She knew after Mimic had died that it was a good thing she had steeled herself. She would have continued to collapse into being completely helpless as she watched her teammates taken from her leaving her behind with strangers. But after Mimic was gone and all her original teammates were no more, she didn't see the point. She had stopped seeing the newer members as teammates and so after Mimic no one was really close to her anyway. She was truly an Exile, an alone Exile.
Rogue gently coaxed her companion through the door into the other room where their teammates sat waiting to discuss their newest mission. Rogue nodded and smiled as she glanced at them all. She still felt a bit of a pang of loss in her heart when she looked at Mustang. The young man had the skin color of his mother, but his looks definitely came from his father bringing fond memories to Rogue's mind of times she fought and bled beside She-Hulk and Hawkeye. She had been particularly interested in his story of where he came from because he had never even seen Earth. He came from a reality where the Heroes that fought in the Beyonder's game had not returned to Earth. She had found it surprising to learn that her counterpart in Mustang's world had fallen in love with Captain America because she had always been so in awe of the man to feel anything more than respect for the man. She could also understand Mustang's determination to give his all in these missions. For him, he could lose everything he knew, for her she'd go insane after killing her best friend and having her essence locked within herself for eternity.
Sentinel interrupted everyone's reverie, "Before I tell you what I've heard from the Tallus, I thought we should discuss what we're feeling about what just happened. I know it was hard on all of you when we learned that our mission was to ensure this world experienced a total nuclear holocaust. If all of reality wasn't at stake, I would have been the first of us to resist."
Nocturne sat there with a solemn look on her face. "All those lives are gone, and we're the cause. How can we go on after that?"
"Hey, what's a few lives when compared to the countless more that will die if we don't succeed?" Julie commented from her corner. Ever since she had joined them, she had remained aloof and refused to get too close to her teammates. Many might say that it was one of the major weaknesses of this team.
"But every life should be considered sacred. What kind of future are we leaving for our children?" Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, inquired being the voice of love that the team had come to expect from her. In fact, if Nocturne would just let her, Wanda was prepared to dote on the girl and will all the hurt away. A few months after she had joined the team, she had managed to get the girl alone where Nocturne had mentioned that she was her mother in her reality and that no matter what their similarities, Wanda was just not the same as the mother she knew. Wanda had relented hoping that the others could be there for her.
Mustang stood near the doorway looking calm and relaxed. Ever since joining them, he had become the voice of reason to balance out the others. Today was not going to be any different. "We provide the only future we know how. This world might have paid the price, but just think of all the worlds that now have a chance because we made the difficult decision."
Rogue looked towards Wanda with affection. Although she had never gotten to know her world's Scarlet Witch since she died so many years before Rogue joined the Avengers, Rogue knew this one and her compassionate caring spirit was her strongest asset. "Sugah, we can't always choose our battles and the scars we receive are often hard to heal, but we'll see each other through it. Hopefully, if the Time Broker is a merciful being, he'll make us forget these things when we make it out."
Sentinel took that moment to get to the heart of the meeting. "Which brings me to what the Tallus has told me. We've all known that if we can correct the one thing that caused our own worlds to go wrong that we'll be returned to our own reality. We've seen it happen, well some of us, when Morph received his return home. Now it seems that another one of us gets to go home."
Everyone's head perks up and stares at Sentinel dumbfounded as each heart feels a flutter of hope that they're mission is done. Then comes the small pang they all feel knowing that five of them will continue on while one of them will be with them no more. It's a mixed blessing because there's the joy of knowing that person's journey is done, but the emptiness they leave behind is irreplaceable.
Sentinel turns his head to hide a tear. "Talia, as soon as you're ready the Tallus is prepared to return you home. Thank you for all your hard work for this team and as the last original member, my only hope is your pain finds resolution and completion."
Next Issue: The team gather around to say their goodbyes to the last original Exile. Then they meet their new teammate as they prepare for their next mission. How is this previous mission tied into the next one? Find out next issue. Also, be on the lookout for the intermission chapter where we find out what happens when an Exile is sent home. A couple of guest stars arrive to welcome Nocturne home.