Children, Brothers, and Alliances Pt.1: The Exchange
By: Brent Lambert
Jadianna found the putrid smell of the sewers below Manhattan to be utterly distasteful though she had smelt far worse things. As a former general in the grand army of Ramses Xavier she had seen piles of dead bodies and witness the overwhelming smell that came along with them. The same would have occurred to this world if not for the interference of the Exiles, Avengers, and the man she now works with…Mr. Sinister. Her position in life now was one beneath the one she had once held, but it suited her needs for the time being. Sinister was the ladder upon which she would build her own power base. The blood that flowed through her veins demanded nothing less.
The ankle high green water made Jadianna's descent to her destination all that much slower. Truth of the matter she would simply break down all this water with electrolysis, but she wanted her presence to be a surprise. A sewer suddenly without murky, fecal matter infested water would be noticed quickly. On her world her mother, Storm, had been leader of a group called the Morlocks after defeating Callisto. Jadianna wondered if the same had happened on this world.
"Child of Sinister why have you come to my abode?" a brutish voice called out from the shadows of the sewers.
The daughter of Wolverine and Storm smiled as she turned her back to see Dark Beast hanging from the roof, "I have come to make you an offer Dark Beast. I extend Sinister's olive branch to you."
"Sinister's olive branch? Don't speak to me in oxymorons!" Dark Beast warned as he landed into the water with a large splash. As he stood up bones began to grow out of his back and wrists.
Holding up a hand Jadianna groaned, "Please don't try and threaten me. I'm here for a reason. Just listen and you might like to hear what I have to say."
"Make it quick. My time is not to be wasted on the servants of inferior scientists," Dark Beast growled.
Rolling her eyes Jadianna replied, "Fabian Cortez has been a thorn in the side of Sinister for quite some time. Sinister wants you to find a way to take him down."
"I don't do requests for Sinister!" Dark Beast yelled as he flung out three bone daggers that were all only inches away from striking Jadianna's face. Not once did the former general flinch.
"You'll be given very valuable genetic test subjects as payment for this deed," Jadianna said.
Dark Beast knew that the predecessor from whom his name derived would not be pleased, but he had to take this offer. His curiosity (perhaps his creator's DNA) was overwhelming, "I will do what you ask. I have just the idea in mind."
"I can't believe we were even able to get tickets to this movie!" Heather exclaimed looking down at the Star Wars tickets.
"I'm just surprised we survived the line to get in. I swear some of them people had real lightsabers," Madison joked as they passed by a young child dressed in full Darth Vader gear.
"I wish Walter and the others had been able to come," James sighed thinking about the recent tragic events that had plagued his team. Just when the team seemed to be on a role things got bad.
"Can we please not get into the gloom and doom? I just want to enjoy this movie and see a lil green man kick some butt," Diamond Lil laughed.
"Hey guys I found out a secret about this movie," Madison whispered as they began to walk into the theater.
"Go ahead and spill it. You know you can't hold water," Diamond Lil teased.
"Anakin becomes Darth Vader," Madison proclaimed as if he had learned some great truth.
Heather, Diamond, and Guardian all stopped dead in their tracks and cut Madison with their eyes. Mrs. Jeffries was the first to speak, "I can't believe you even went there!"
"Definitely a good thing that Michael is watching the baby at home. No need for the little tike to see old Dad acting stupid this early," James joked.
"I've probably been here a thousand times and I'm still not tired of it," Elizabeth exclaimed as she stepped through the door of the Hockey Hall of Fame. She had to admit that while hockey wasn't her favorite sport the work and time they put into this place was amazing. Not to mention Elizabeth happened to be a large fan of Toronto.
"There seems to be a ton more people in here than usual," Maria, a high school friend of Talisman, said as she glanced around at the crowd packing in to see the hockey memorabilia.
"Haven't you read the newspapers Maria? America has been undergoing so many superhuman attacks that tourism is spilling into other countries as a result. Not to mention that hockey is gaining in popularity in the US," Talisman exclaimed as she saw one of Wayne Gretzy's jerseys encased on a wall.
"Well, I liked it better when it was just like 50 people in here," Maria groaned as she bumped shoulders with an elderly Norwegian woman.
"Times change. You just gotta learn to deal with it," Talisman teased when suddenly the roof of the building was ripped clear off. Debris fell everywhere and Elizabeth narrowly dodged a large chunk of roof that separated her from Maria.
"Maria!" Elizabeth cried out hoping that no injury had befallen her friend. Reaching deep within herself Elizabeth transformed into Talisman.
"Looks like we get to have some fun after all," a bestial voice chuckled as he licked his purple fingers in anticipation of the blood he was about to draw.
Talisman turned to the source of the voice and found four people approaching here. One was dressed from head to toe in white and next to him was the purple man who was still licking his fingers. Behind the two of them was a hairy brute with an Asian woman sitting on one of his shoulders.
"I don't know who you are, but I won't let you harm anyone here!" Talisman said confidently.
"You don't have much of a choice in the matter," Grey King announced as he came down from the sky and pinned Talisman to the ground with his telekinesis.
Dust moved across the complex in her sand form, as it was a much faster mode of transportation. Moving in her burqua could be quite the exercise and if this message were as urgent as the deliverer claimed it to be then Fabian would want to see it soon as possible. Cortez didn't like to be kept waiting, especially nowadays since the activity of the Acolytes had been little to none.
So far the team hadn't been able to find a suitable base and had to take an abandoned military complex in southern Turkey as their home. It was frustrating for the once active assassin to be forced into obscurity. Under Sinister her activities had been numerous and she was never without a potential kill. Now she had to train constantly just to keep her skills sharp and going.
As she blew past Babylon he spat out dust she kicked up, "What's the rush Dust? Do you really need to make a mess of things?"
Blowing past the former henchmen of Onslaught, Post, caused the mutant to exclaim a string of profanities, "Damn it Dust! Who the hell gave you a license to mess up the whole damn base? It's already a shithole!"
"You should be careful how you speak to her Post. Her skill is to be reckoned with. She's turned whole platoons into bones," Whiteout reminded.
"Ahh screw off," Post grumbled.
Dust finally made it to the small room where Cortez was busy watching reports concerning the attacks that super powered Asian terrorists were committing against the Western World. It was clear in Cortez's expression that he wanted his group to be getting into activities such as these Avatars were, but things just hadn't come together yet. While handing Cortez the paper parchment Dust hoped that maybe it could make things come together at last.
Reading over the letter for a few moments Cortez's eyes flashed with excitement and he leaped up from his seat, "Bout damn time we got some action! Suit everyone up. The best mutant team on the planet is about to make its big debut."
"I can't believe I missed Mace Windu getting killed!" Heather complained as she turned down the radio to voice her complaint as the Alphans made their way home.
Madison laughed, "Well that's what you get for being greedy!"
Diamond Lil play punched her husband (it was still enough to hurt Jeff), "Where are your manners Madison? The popcorn was simply that good."
Vindicator turned back in her seat and gave Lil an approving smile, "Thank you. I haven't had good popcorn in a while."
Guardian held up a hand in guilt, "Blame me for that one. I always burn the stuff in the microwave."
Madison chuckled, "Trust me I've smelt it before. Surprised an alarm didn't go off!"
"It's enough for me too. So is Anakin cute or what?" Heather asked quickly changing the subject to something the ladies of the car would have more than enough fun with.
Mrs. Madison gave out a mock gasp of excitement; "I could just eat him to pieces! I just bet he's gay though."
"Don't say that. You'll break my heart. He's too cute!"
Diamond Lil shrugged, "Yea, but that's the problem. He's just too cute!"
"Oh come on hun! I'm that cute and straight as an arrow," Madison commented as ran a hand through his hair in a move of humorous seduction.
"You must have did some real ego building with this guy," James laughed as he sped up the car to pass an old lady who probably needed her license revoked.
"Don't expect me to pick up that habit anytime soon," Heather said folding her arms across her chest.
"Oh trust me that's the last thing I'd expect you to pick up," Guardian grinned.
"So do any of you think Judd secretly played Yoda?" Madison asked trying his best to sound dead serious.
Diamond Lil eyed her husband with disdain, "Ask him that and see the result. He'll be Yoda alright."
"I would hope that your husband had the common sense not to ask," Vindicator sighed.
"Common sense? Me? You've got to be joking," Madison smiled.
"You know a lot of truth is said in jest, Madison," Heather replied licking her lips to remove some of the popcorn salt still bothering her.
Guardian laughed, "Oh there she goes quoting stuff! Just has to remind us she's a genius."
"What woman doesn't remind you just how much smarter she is than you?" Madison asked.
With that question Guardian cringed as if someone had dumped a whole bucket of worms on him, "Boy you opened up a whole can of worms with that!"
"I'm glad you're telling him that right off the bat!" Vindicator exclaimed.
Realizing he was going into shark territory Madison quickly changed the subject, "So where is Judd anyway? Did he go to pay Logan a visit?"
"I doubt that. The X-Men have had their troubles lately," Vindicator replied.
"Troubles is hardly the word for it. The riots were insane," Guardian said somberly remembering just how helpless he felt as he saw the images that ravaged Washington D.C.
"Part of me almost wishes that Alpha Flight had intervened," Diamond Lil commented. She knew that she would have definitely been some help against Juggernaut, but maybe she was just overestimating herself. It was just that seeing people suffering spurred something in her. Helping those in need was her calling in life and Washington D.C. had been a place of great need.
James shook his head, "Like Gentry would have ever let that mission fly."
"Gentry doesn't want Cheney blasting his phone probably," Vindicator guessed.
"Can we please not get into politics? Only politics I want to talk about are Palpatine and the Senate," Madison grinned.
The band around Elizabeth's head began to glow brightly as the telekinetic hold of Grey King was broken and she was on her feet prepared to fight anyone who got within a good distance of her. Chaos still reigned all around her, but Talisman knew she that she couldn't get involved in it. Whoever these guys were they were too dangerous to take her attention off of.
"So the bitch has some spunk!" Napalm said as she leaped off of Landslide's shoulder.
"Maybe we oughta give her a few licks and see if she screams," Landslide grinned as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation of smacking them across the woman's face. Nothing like a woman's scream to turn you on in the morning.
Getting into a battle stance Liz made the concrete underneath Landslide rise up quickly. The brute was sent careening into the ceiling and a piece of concrete flew into the side of Napalm's head. She was knocked to the ground by the attack and the world was far too hazy for her to get up. Fantomex and Crule both dodged the fragments of concrete with ease.
Crule made his way towards Elizabeth ready to render her to pieces when a large white paw stuck him across the face and sent him flying into a nearby exhibit. Talisman was glad to see the polar bear and the man riding on it. Her father and Snowbird had come to her rescue just in the nick of time.
Fantomex had his two guns pointed at Snowbird and Talisman. He figured he'd shoot the bear in the head and the girl in the neck. Grey King could take care of the old man if he wanted. The former Mossad agent just wanted to her a couple of high-pitched screams before the job was done.
No Fantomex! We're leaving. No telling what other kind of back-up they might have coming. These attacks are meant to be quick strikes. We'll keep them as such.
Hearing the order Fantomex tucked away his guns as he and his teammates were lifted into the air by telekinesis. He gave the three superhumans a menacing stare as he was lifted upward.
Seeing that the attackers were gone Shaman turned to his daughter, "Are you alright?"
"A lot better than I would be if you hadn't shown up. I thought you two were watching Lil's kid?"
Turning back to human form Snowbird gave Talisman an almost dumbfounded look, "We assumed that the child would be alright. Your safety came first and foremost in our minds."
"Either way thanks for the save, but I doubt we've seen the last of these guys."
"So when are we taking a vacation? I heard Wakanda is nice this time of year," Madison said as they neared the driveway of their complex.
"A vacation? We're Canada's only superteam. I don't think we'll ever get one of those," Heather laughed.
"Especially with the amount of increasing threats facing the planet. It seems like you take out one badass and five more show up looking to take that person's place. Damn frustrating hardly sums up my feelings sometimes," Mac groaned as he caught attention of something that made him slam the brakes.
Madison noticed it too so didn't react as badly as the women, "Why are a bunch of glowing butterflies tapping on our house? Man I'm really not drinking any river water now."
Catching a strange light in her rearview mirror Heather looked back and screamed, "Everyone out of the car!"
A large pillar of solid light slammed into the vehicle and smashed it into the ground like it was an empty Pepsi can. All of the Alphans had barely managed to escape the attack, but none of them were worse for wear. Madison spoke what was going through the heads of everyone else, "Did the Sun decide it wanted to have a bad day?"
"If that was the case why couldn't it have given some licks to Florida or something," Guardian complained as he got to his feet.
"We've come for the child!" ten winged men, composed of light, said as they swooped out of the sky. Each of them carried swords made of the same material as them. There were no discernable facial features and each of them seemed to be a clone of the other. It was easy to see that these men were simply constructs.
Knowing that gave Madison no restraint as he used the metal from the broken car to his advantage. He created spikes that went skyrocketing into the air. Each spike struck with deadly accuracy as it penetrated the frame of the winged light men. As the creatures dissipated Madison gave himself a pat on the back.
"He's gone. I destroyed his constructs," Talisman said as she rode in on a large tree branch.
"Oh great you just stole my thunder! Nice one Liz!" Madison groaned.
"Who was the attacker? I don't think too many of our foes would be capable of pulling off that kind of attack," Diamond Lil gasped.
"We'll ask Gentry, but one thing was clear. They were after your child," Heather said looking to Diamond.
With an aggravated stare Madison's wife said, "A child you were supposed to be looking after Michael! Where were you?"
"Saving me from a group of homicidal mutants. They attacked the Hockey Hall of Fame and pretty much wrecked the place," Talisman explained.
Madison wiped sweat from his brow, "Could this day get any better? We definitely need Judd for comic relief right now."
A booming voice came over the intercom and commanded the members of Alpha Flight, "Report inside on the double. We need to conference about the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants."