Uncanny X-Force

Chapter 2: Deadly Genesis- Part 2

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- All familiar characters belong to Marvel Comics.

Providence-

Cable's team of X-Men had recruited their last member, and were preparing for their first mission. Cable had chosen to retire to the floating city known as Providence, which he had used as his base of operations in the past. The team had travelled to Providence so Cyclops could let them know about their first mission, and so they could gather together any resources that they would need. Namely guns. Lots of them.

'I'm sorry to drop you in the deep end so soon after forming the team, but we don't have much time to waste.' The holographic image of Cyclops apologised. 'There have been rumours that the Reavers are up to their old tricks.' Thornn held up her hand.

'Excuse me for asking, but who are the Reavers?' The grey-furred ex-Morlock enquired. 'I'm kind of new to all this stuff.'

'The Reavers are a team of cybernetic criminals led by Donald Pierce, former White Bishop of the Hellfire Club.' Sage explained. 'They have encountered the X-Men many times in the past. Many of them team have particular history with Wolverine.'

'That man sure gets around.' Mystique chuckled. 'Is there anybody that isn't out for his blood?'

'This is a pre-emptive strike.' Cyclops explained. 'I want you to take down the Reavers before they can cause trouble for the X-Men.'

'Well, it looks like this thing's gonna be fun.' Marrow grinned. 'Trashing a bunch of overgrown tinker toys. You can't beat it.'

'Don't overestimate the Reavers, Sarah.' Bishop warned the former Morlock. 'They're not to be messed with. They almost killed Wolverine once.'

'But he got better.' Marrow countered. 'The old guy always gets better. Besides, they don't even know that we're aiming for them. It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel.'

'Heh. I like the cut of your jib, kid.' Domino smiled. 'But we'd better be careful just in case. We don't want anybody getting killed on our first mission. Well, nobody but the bad guys.'

'If that's all, Cyclops?' Cable asked. 'Then we'd better get a move on. The last known location of the Reavers was their old base in the middle of the Australian Outback. It would be a wise choice to start looking for them there.'

'Then what are we doing here sitting on our hands?' Mystique asked. 'Let's go kick some cyborg ass!'

The Australian Outback, later-

Cable's team had landed some distance away from the base in the Australian Outback that the Reavers had last used when the former New Mutants took them on. (1) The Reavers were thought to be destroyed after the battle and the base razed to the ground, but things couldn't be further from the truth.

'My, somebody has been busy.' Domino said as she surveyed the base through a pair of binoculars. 'I guess these losers are too dumb to stay dead.'

'It looks like Cyclops's intel is correct.' Bishop nodded. 'The Reavers are up to something. Wait… do you guys recognise some of that machinery they're using?'

'I believe the machinery is black market Sentinel parts.' Sage stated. 'Whatever reasons the Reavers are using the spare Sentinel parts... it cannot be good.'

'Why would those guys want old bits of Sentinels for anyway?' Thornn enquired. 'Why would they want to rebuild a load of old Sentinels when they have plenty of weapons of their own?'

'Perhaps times are hard for them.' Mystique suggested. 'Guns and ammo aren't cheap, y'know. Especially these days.'

'All this sitting and waiting is getting boring.' Marrow grumbled impatiently. 'Let's get down there and tear these bastards apart!'

'We can't just charge down their with all guns blazing, Sarah.' Cable told her. 'That would be suicide. We need to come up with a plan.'

'Charing in all gung-ho never seemed to bother you back in the day, Nate.' Domino teased.

'Times have changed, Dom.' Cable reminded her. 'I think we'd better take the stealthy option.'

'Aww, crap.' Marrow groused. 'The stealthy option? Where's the fun in that?'

'There is a secret entrance on the other side of that ridge over there.' Sage explained, indicating a ridge of hills in the distance. 'We should be able to sneak into the base without too much trouble.'

'Then it's agreed.' Cable looked around at his teammates. 'We're going to follow Sage's idea.'

'Then what are we going to do?' Thornn enquired.

'What else?' Cable smiled at the feline mutant. 'We're going to blow the place to Kingdom Come!'

Inside the Reavers' base-

'Geez, this sucks.' Wade Cole grumbled as he paced one of the subterranean corridors of the base. 'Why do we get lumbered with guard duty?'

'Quit complaining, Cole.' Murray Reese rolled his eyes. 'Or do you want Pierce to find out? You do remember what he does to people who complain too much, right?'

'Your big mouth is gonna get you into big trouble one of these days, man.' Angelo Macon added. 'You're lucky that Pierce hasn't deactivated you already.'

'Aww, Pierce wouldn't do that.' Cole snorted. 'We're too valuable to him.'

'Until he decides that he wants to upgrade his lackeys.' Reese pointed out. 'We're nothing but hardware to him.'

'Dude, you're such a pessimist.' Cole sighed. 'You used to be cool. What happened to you?'

'Keep it down, you two.' Macon hissed at the pair. 'A whole army of filthy muties could traipse right through here and we wouldn't be any the wiser thanks to your bitching.'

'Aww, you worry too much, Macon.' Cole snorted. 'No mutie would be stupid enough to come in h…'

THUNK!

'Cole…?' Reese blinked. 'What's wrong? Speak up, man.'

Cole toppled forward, a bone knife embedded in his back.

'Son of a…' Reese yelled as he went for his gun. 'We're under attack!'

'I'll tell Pierce.' Macon said as he reached for a walkie-talkie.

BLAM!

'Ah, dammit!' Macon hissed as a bullet tore through his hand, making him drop the walkie-talkie.

'Wow, that sure was clumsy of you.' Domino tutted as she aimed a gun at Macon. 'Look at that, you broke your walkie-talkie. However will Pierce know what sort of trouble he's in for now?'

'Damn muties!' Reese growled as he aimed his own gun at Domino. 'You'll pay for that.'

'I wouldn't do that if I were you.' Cable said as he pressed a gun against the back of Reese's head. 'That's my lady you're pointing your gun at.'

With his free hand Reece reached for a knife and took a swipe at Cable.

'Rraagh!'

Cable grabbed Reese's hand and gave it a quick twist.

SNAP!

Reese yelped in pain and dropped the knife, cradling his broken wrist.

'You muties won't get away with this.' Reese hissed in pain. 'You have no idea what Pierce has got planned.'

'Personally, I don't care what he's planning.' Mystique shrugged. 'It's usually got something to do about killing mutants. It usually does.'

'What are we going to do about these two?' Thornn enquired. 'Are we actually going to kill them?'

'They wouldn't hesitate to do the same to us, Lucia.' Bishop pointed out. 'It's an unfortunate necessity with these guys. It's kill or be killed.'

'I still don't get what Pierce wants with all those bits of old Sentinels.' Marrow blinked at the piles of old Sentinel parts. 'I don't suppose that you guys would like to let us in on the big secret, would you?'

'We're not telling you anything, mutie!' Macon spat. 'We'd rather die.'

'Well, if you feel that way, we're happy to oblige.' Mystique smirked as she took aim on Macon.

BLAM!

Elsewhere-

Unaware of what was going on with three of his cybernetic lackeys, Donald Pierce was busy preparing his latest plan to eradicate mutant kind.

'Careful with those parts, you fools!' Pierce hissed at his minions. 'If only your miniscule brains could even surmise how much those parts cost…'

'Why do you want all this junk for anyway, boss?' Skullbuster asked. 'Whatever you got planned is gonna fall to pieces.'

'Oh, ye of little faith.' Pierce tutted. 'I don't need hi-tech parts to complete my little project. A burnt out toaster would have sufficed. I felt that the obsolete Sentinel parts were quite fitting.'

'Fitting for what, boss?' Bonebreaker enquired. 'You making some sort of super-duper Sentinel?'

'Far from it, my dear Bonebreaker.' Pierce smiled as he unveiled his masterpiece. 'I call it... Nimrod!'

TBC…

Next: Deadly Genesis- Part 3

Oh, dear. The Reavers and Nimrod? Thinks couldn't possibly get worse… could they?

Author's Notes-

(1)- The former New Mutants took on the Reavers in Chapter 48 of 'Uncanny New Mutants'.