Okay, guys. First, I must apologize for taking so long with these. It took a lot longer than I thought, and I admit I did a some slacking, so I'm really sorry. Secondly, I decided to split this into two chapters because it stretched nearly fifteen pages long at first. And third, PLEASE read and review, I would love to hear your feed back. That said, on with the show!
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Marvel Comics or its characters. I take no credit for its ownership or creation. Cephius, however, is actually mine.
Journey of a King: Book 1: Alien
Chapter 1
February 25, 1999
It was a bright, yet brisk afternoon in Bayville. The streets were alive with citizens going about their daily lives; shopping, working, or simply chatting to one another on the street. Two of these passersby were heading toward a cross walk a little ways away. One of them, a burly man with dark hair and large sideburns, gave the look of a rough character. He wore a navy blue shirt under his brown overcoat and held his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans. His companion was a teenage girl who wore her hair in a long ponytail and sported a pink long sleeve blouse, with a pair of blue denims. She was flipping through the contents of a fashion magazine she had taken out of her bag, constantly talking as they walked. The man kept his head low, trying in vain to subtly drown out the girl's words in his own thoughts.
"So, I was thinking of getting this one, because it's totally in my price range, but I'm not so sure it would match with the rest of my wardrobe. What do you think, Logan?"
She tilted the magazine and held it up for Logan to see. Logan took a brief look at it before heaving a loud sigh. "No offense, Half-pint," he said, "but do I really look like the kind o' guy who would know something like that? If you really need another opinion, why not ask Jean or Rogue about it?"
Kitty Pryde, the girl Logan called 'half-pint', shrugged as she tilted the magazine back. "Well, yeah," she said, "but Jean is on a date with Scott right now, and Rogue is in another one of her moods. I don't have anyone else to talk to."
Logan shook his head as Kitty buried her face in the issue once more. This isn't what he had in mind when he wanted to go out for a breath of fresh air. As they reached the cross walk (Logan had to grab Kitty's shoulder to stop her from walking out into the street), they stopped to wait for the lights to change. As they waited, Logan looked over to his left. A tall figure, completely covered in a brown cloak, stood with its head somewhat bowed. The figure's face turned slightly in Logan's direction before moving back, obviously not intent on showing itself. As the lights changed and the "walk" sign appeared at the other end of the cross walk, a car pulled up and stopped at the intersection. As soon as the three tried to pass, however, the car suddenly surged forward and blocked the way, forcing them to stop in their tracks to avoid getting hit. "Hey!" exclaimed Kitty, angrily. The driver, a young woman who looked to be just a few years older than Kitty, had a shocked look on her face, as though the car had moved on its own.
"Ugh! How rude!" said Kitty, crossing her arms with the magazine still clutched in her hand. As the woman mouthed apologizes though the glass and changed gears, the cloaked figure looked over to its left. Meanwhile, the car's tires began to roll backwards, but the car itself wouldn't budge. "Great," said Kitty, "now she's having car trouble."
"I'm not sure it's the car that is the problem."
Kitty and Logan both looked over as a deep voice came out from under the figure's hood. As they watched, the figure lifted a hand from his cloak, revealing pale, curved claws at the ends of his fingers. He pointed to three cars across the street, which had lifted themselves off of the ground and began floating in midair, as though they had suddenly become lighter than feathers. Passersby gasped and moved away from the scene. Suddenly the cars threw themselves across the road, landing with a sickening crunch as they skidded towards Logan and the others. "Look out!" Logan cried, as the cars sped closer to where they stood. But before they could get out of the way, the cars came to a screeching halt around them; forming an almost perfect half–circle they surrounded the trio. Bystanders screamed. The woman in the car got out through the passenger side door and began running, disappearing in the crowd as people fled. Kitty, Logan, and the figure, however, were completely trapped within the circle of cars around them. Logan clenched his fists tightly, and with an audible shink, three long, sharp claws extended from each of his hands. The figure looked over at Logan, seemingly surprised, although with his face still covered by his hood it was hard to tell. Kitty shoved the magazine back into her bag as Logan began sniffing the air. "Logan?" Kitty said, nervously, "What is it?" A familiar scent had reached Logan nostrils. He lifted his head, continuing to smell with his enhanced senses, and finally bared his teeth as he recognized the scent.
"Magneto." He growled.
As if on a cue, Magneto, wearing a red helmet and clad in purple armor suddenly appeared, flying above the wrecked cars that he had just moved. He landed inside the "pen" right in front of his three captives, his cape billowing around him as his feet touched the ground. His helmet covered his face almost as much as the figure's hood, with his eyes being the only visible feature.
"Logan." Magneto said interestedly. "I am surprised to see you here. I see you and your companion have already met young Riftwalker." He gestured toward the figure in the cloak. Logan and Kitty both looked over at him as he lowered his head. "You know him?" whispered Kitty in a shocked voice. Logan growled under his breath. "My alias is Cephius," the figure told Magneto, heatedly, "and these two need not be involved. Their presence here is a mere happenstance."
As Kitty continued to stare at the figure, Logan stepped around him and brandished his claws. "Whadda ya want, Magneto?" he growled. Magneto raised his arm, causing Logan to suddenly lift off of the ground, unable to move. "Only to make Riftwalker here see reason," he answered. Logan struggled against Magneto's grip, but his control over the adamantium metal encasing Logan's bones was far too strong. Magneto thrust his palm forward, sending a completely paralyzed Logan slamming into a nearby wall. Kitty gasped and ran towards him, but just then a large silver–teal blur appeared, swiping Kitty off her feet and hooking her by her shirt on a sideways flagpole three stories above the ground. She struggled, but she found herself completely stuck. The figure, Cephius, looked up at Kitty in a mixture of shock and anger before slowly turning around to face Magneto. "Reason?" he repeated. "You call starting a panic in the streets by throwing cars around, then attacking bystanders simply because you know them a case of reason? This is madness! You are causing a scene for no legitimate purpose, other than to somehow convince me that this–"he gestured toward the destruction around him "–is how we should respond to human prejudice!"
Magneto held up his hand. "Riftwalker," Cephius shifted on the spot as Magneto glided towards him. "The humans are not giving us a choice. If we do not stand against them, they will enslave every mutant they can and destroy the rest! We who can fight back must stand now or fall to their oppression! Don't you see?" he placed a hand on Cephius's shoulder. "The humans hate our kind, Riftwalker! They fear us! They make machines designed to capture or even kill us! The Homo sapiens are weak and fearful creatures, and they will oppress any who are different from them!"
"And so we should just slaughter any human we come across!?" Cephius moved his arm, shoving Magneto's hand aside. "Sink to their level!? Most of them do not even understand us, Magneto! They don't understand what mutants truly are! And human instinct demands that that which they do not fully know can most likely kill them! That's how it's been since mankind were living in caves and building homes out of mammoth bones! The humans have a reason to fear us, Magneto. If either side is to survive, then we must remove that reason from them. We must educate them! Make them see that we are not a bunch of mindless animals! If we try to attack them, start a war with them, then we will only prove their assumptions! We will degrade ourselves into the very things that they claim we are: mindless, remorseless monsters!"
Cephius turned around, leaning low to the ground before leaping more than thirty feet into the air, landing on the wall right next to Kitty. He crept onto the flagpole she was hanging from with catlike agility as Magneto watched with narrowed eyes. Cephius took hold of Kitty, freeing her from the flagpole and holding her by her waist as he slid down the wall onto the ground. He landed on the pavement, releasing Kitty as soon as she had solid footing, and turned back towards Magneto. "I must thank you for your offer," he said, in a far less heated tone than before, "but I am afraid my answer is unchanged. I cannot join a cause that harms innocent people solely because they are human." Cephius turned towards Logan, who was still pinned to the wall, and moved to help him when Magneto gave a signal. The silver–teal blur that had grabbed Kitty before suddenly appeared, slamming into Cephius and causing him to fall backward. Before he hit the ground, however, Cephius twisted backwards, performing a handspring and landing on his feet as the blur stopped in front of him, giving everyone a chance to see him clearly.
"Hate to break it to you, Riftwalker, but Magneto doesn't take "no" for an answer."
The first thing Cephius noticed about the man standing before him was his sleek, silver-white hair. The second thing he noticed was the costume. It was mostly teal in color, with a silver chest plate and shoulder pads. He was wearing a large smirk on his face as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Quicksilver," warned Magneto, "I want him unharmed."
"Hey, no problem," said Quicksilver, "I'm just keeping him away from these X-men." He sneered as he spoke the last word. Cephius raised an eyebrow. "X-men?" But before he could say much more, the car to his right suddenly lifted from the ground and was tossed aside. A mutant with thick metallic skin approached, wearing a black and red suit with gold shoulder pads, and sporting a short, black, almost military-style haircut. Cephius immediately recognized him.
"Colossus."
Magneto nodded at Colossus in an unspoken order, and in response Colossus charged. Cephius leapt straight into the air, jumping clean over Colossus and landing behind his back, just before spinning around in a full 360 degree turn to dodge a blow by Quicksilver as he sprinted by. Colossus spun around and charged again, only to be stopped in his tracks as Cephius ducked under him, grabbing his chest and belt and lifting him above his head. After a few seconds of struggling, Colossus failed to break free from Cephius's grip, and was instead thrown clean over the ring of upturned cars that surrounded the battle. Quicksilver ran up again, and once more Cephius dodged, landing behind him much like he did with Colossus.
While Cephius was busy dealing with the two mutants, Kitty had begun to sneak toward Logan again. As she reached up to try phasing him free, however, she was stopped by a small, rectangular object that suddenly lodged itself on the wall near her hand: a playing card. It glowed a bright magenta for a few seconds before suddenly exploding in a shower of sparks. As Kitty threw her hands up in front of her face to shield herself, two large metal bars (controlled by Magneto) came flying into view and quickly wrapped themselves around Kitty's hands and feet, constricting her like a snake. She struggled with the bindings before taking a deep breath and phasing through them, letting them fall to the ground with a clang. As she did so, however, two more playing cards came spinning into view, landing in front of Kitty before exploding like firecrackers. She leapt back to avoid them and looked up to see a new mutant join the fray. Burning eyes of red–on–black looked directly into Kitty's, and she knew in an instant who this man was.
Gambit, wearing his usual cocky smirk and brown trench coat over a suit of purple and gray, smiled devilishly as he held up three more playing cards in his hand, a Bo staff clutched tightly in his other arm. "Bonjour, cherie," he said "Y' gon' play wit' Gambit? Let 'im 'ave first deal…" He leapt into the air, throwing the cards as he did so, and Kitty had to duck as they flew over her head. Meanwhile, yet another mutant appeared, this time with his attention solely on Logan. Long, thick brown hair covered his face, which was bared in a vicious grin as he leapt down from one of the cars. Sharp teeth and even sharper claws could be seen as he walked forward, and Logan, still pinned to the wall of the building, began to growl ferociously. A flash of burning hatred swept through Logan's eyes as Sabretooth looked up at him, his teeth still bared in a smile. "Hey, runt," he said "Did ya miss me?"
"Not…at…all!" strained Logan, still trying in vain to break free of Magneto's control. Sabretooth merely chuckled, readying his clawed fingertips as he came closer. His smile dimmed as he approached, his face becoming more serious. "I've waited a loooonnnggg time for this, Logan…"
As Sabretooth drew closer to his rival, Cephius was wrestling with the newly recovered Colossus several yards away. As the two briefly broke of, Cephius spotted Sabretooth, and looked up to see Magneto floating several feet in the air. Noticing an opportunity, he ducked under Colossus and tackled his legs, grabbing them tightly with his hands. Once he was sure that Quicksilver was close enough, he swung Colossus around in a full–circle spin, catching Quicksilver in the torrent and sending him flying into one of the upturned cars. As Cephius completed his spin, he aimed his shot and used the gained momentum to throw Colossus, one-handed, straight at Magneto. Magneto was too busy with trying to trap Kitty and holding Logan to the wall to notice. By the time he saw the giant 'projectile' flying towards him, it was far too late. Colossus collided with him, sending both mutants careening out of the sky and onto the road, disappearing behind the wall of wrecked cars. Cephius grinned as he heard the loud crash that signified that they had hit asphalt – hard.
It was enough. Logan, now free from Magneto's grip, fell from the wall and onto the ground, rising to his feet as Sabretooth stopped in his tracks. "What'sa matter, bub?" Logan growled, raising his claws threateningly, "I thought ya wanted a reunion." Sabretooth growled furiously before belting out a huge roar, charging towards Logan at full speed. Logan responded in kind, and the two rivals collided in a flurry of teeth and claws.
Meanwhile, Gambit was still keeping Kitty occupied by throwing card after card at her, leaping from one spot to another as he did so. What he didn't realize was that with Magneto and Colossus stunned and Quicksilver seemingly unconscious, Cephius had now turned his attention to him. As Cephius landed beside Kitty, throwing out an arm to keep her behind him, he growled at Gambit from under his hood. "You fight an innocent woman whilst I am your true target?" he snarled at him, "Now that is just pissing me off."
As Gambit and Kitty watched, Cephius lowered his hands to reveal a length of rope keeping his cloak bound around his waist. He untied the simple knot at the front, and then moved his left arm up to a small chain around his neck, unhooking it. Meanwhile, Logan and Sabretooth broke off from one another, and in that brief pause of battle, both looked over at Cephius as he reached around, grabbing his cloak by the shoulder, and threw it off of him in one fluid stroke of his arm. The eyes of all three men widened. Kitty gasped.
Cephius was wearing a gray shirt under a heavy combat vest, with a matching pair of silver-colored slacks. The belt he wore contained at least five different satchels that lined his waist, and his wrists bore metal gauntlets with carved markings. The ensemble he wore gave him the look of an army soldier, but that wasn't nearly what was so shocking about his appearance.
The physical features Cephius had made him look like a cross between a one–man army battalion, and a ticked off Siberian tiger. The pupils of his eyes were oval slits, like a cat's, surrounded by an iris of chocolate-brown. His sclera – the white of his eyes – glowed not white, but instead a deep orange–amber. Two cat-like ears stuck out of his light brown hair, which was slightly ruffled from the cloak. His teeth resembled Sabretooth's: sharp, pointed and deadly, and his claws were all too apparent on his fingertips. But the most surprising and notable feature Cephius had (apart from his eyes) was his tail. Black and orange stripes covered it from base to tip, like a tiger's, and at the end of it was something no man or cat ever had: A spiked club, the size of a human head. It was shaped like an almond, with a round base and a pointed tip, and the spikes it bore covered every inch of its surface, all fixed to point towards the tip. They flexed out slightly, reflecting the sunlight, before moving again to rest on the club's surface. The combination of Cephius's body and his clothing made him look built – if not downright bred – for combat.
As Cephius took a step towards Gambit, he pointed a finger at him before making a gesture with his hand. "Come, Gambit," he taunted "and let us see if the "Ragin' Cajun" can match the power of the King." With a sharp movement of his arms, thin, 3 foot long swords appeared out of his gauntlets. Gambit, who seemed to have recovered from his moment of surprise, smiled as he readied his Bo staff. "Well," he smirked "now 'dis look like a good challenge f' Gambit! Y' gamble, mon frere?" He flicked his wrist, sending five cards out of his sleeve and into his hand. Cephius watched as the cards began to glow a bright magenta before Gambit drew his arm in an arc, sending the cards flying straight towards his legs. Cephius jumped as the cards whizzed under him, sticking into the ground like shiruken before exploding behind him. As he landed, Gambit leapt forward, catching Cephius off guard and sweeping him off of his feet with a swipe of his staff. Cephius landed flat on his back as Gambit moved to strike again, but he was too quick. Before Gambit could land another blow, Cephius coiled his legs and aimed a powerful kick straight into his chest.
"AGH!"
Gambit let out a yell of pain as the blow hit its mark. He was sent flying backward, slamming into the wall before sliding down onto the ground. As he clambered to his knees and wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand, he looked up to see that Cephius was already on his feet. "Apologies, Cajun," he taunted "but you've just placed a losing bet." Gambit gave out a dry laugh, concealing all but a hint of annoyance behind his smirk.
"'Den perhaps we play a new game, non?"
He jumped to his feet and readied his staff again, motioning to Cephius to come at him. Cephius obliged. As the two began to duel (Gambit's Bo staff against Cephius's swords), Logan and Sabretooth were still battling it out on the other side of the "arena". Kitty, meanwhile, was stuck in the middle, watching both battles unfold on either side of her. Suddenly she sensed someone behind her and wheeled around to see Colossus, who had apparently recovered from his collision with Magneto. He lunged forward, trying to grab Kitty with both arms, but Kitty phased through him, causing Colossus to tumble to the ground. His leapt back on his feet and snatched again, once more phasing through Kitty as though she was made of thin air. Colossus knew it was fruitless to try grabbing her, but he also knew it kept her distracted from helping Cephius, and if he and Sabretooth can just keep the X-men occupied long enough for Magneto to recover…
Colossus's idea worked. With all three mutants occupied by their adversaries, no one noticed as Magneto came into view, landing noiselessly on top of one of the cars. He looked at each battle one by one: Logan landing a punch straight to Sabertooth's chest; Kitty phasing Colossus halfway into the ground; Cephius, whom Magneto was truly focused on, slashing at Gambit's legs only to be blocked by his staff. Seeing the opportunity, Magneto lifted his hand and levitated a pair of metal bars that had been torn off from one of the vehicles, sending them flying towards Cephius with a thrust of his hand. Cephius only had time to see the bars flying straight towards him before they wrapped around his arms and legs, lifting him straight off of the ground and carrying him away. He yelled as the binds tightened, constricting him until he could no longer move. Logan heard his cry and looked up.
"Kid!"
Logan broke off from his fight with Sabretooth and sprinted towards Magneto, grabbing onto one of the cars and lifting himself up. But before he could get too close, Magneto raised his other arm, lifting Logan into the air and once again slamming him into the wall, paralyzed. "You should have learned by now, Logan:" called Magneto, "the adamantium covering your entire skeleton gives me complete control over you."
As Logan once again struggled against Magneto, Cephius could only watch as Gambit began to assist Colossus with Kitty, throwing card after card at her as Colossus kept swiping and grabbing. He could see Kitty beginning to tire, as well as see Sabretooth bearing down on Logan again. His mind raced. Think, Cephius, he thought, what weapons do you have that can stop them? What can you use to slow them down, or stun them?And suddenly the answer came to him. With his chest straining against his bindings, he took in the deepest breath he could, feeling his vocal cords shift as muscles twitched within his throat. As soon as his lungs were filled to capacity, he closed his ears shut, opened his mouth wide, and let out a roar that was so loud he could have caused an earthquake.
"rrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Rrrrrr!
Glass shattered as the windows of nearby buildings and upturned cars gave way under the pulses of sound. Everyone, even Magneto, clutched their ears in pain as the sheer volume of the roar hit them. Most fell to the ground. As Magneto became too overwhelmed to concentrate, both Logan and Cephius were freed from his magnetic grip. Cephius landed flat on his feet as his roar subsided, and began tearing through the metal bonds. Logan fell to the ground and knelt on all fours, still dazed by the near deafening blast that Cephius had emitted. When he finally regained his awareness, Logan stood up to see Cephius bending over Kitty, offering his hand to help her up. Kitty took it and rose to her feet as Logan walked over to them, rubbing the back of his head as he approached. "Ugh…" he groaned, "nice trick, kid, but give us a little warning next time, would ya?"
"My apologies," Cephius replied, "But I couldn't warn you without warning them as well." He gestured toward Gambit and Colossus, who were still lying on the ground, apparently unconscious. From the look of it, Cephius had just knocked them out cold with a quick punch to each of their heads. "Right." said Logan, lowering his arm. "Well, not that I don't think ya can't fight, Catscratch, but you should book it while ya still got a chance. Ya may have stunned 'em, but the Acolytes don't give up that easy."
"It's Cephius, actually. Derived from the name of the Greek King of Aethiopia. But more to the point, I can't just leave this fight. What of the two of you?" Cephius gestured to Kitty before looking back at Logan. "You may know these men, but you are still innocents. I can't just leave you to fight them; like I said before, this fight need not be yours."
"Well, what about you?" asked Kitty, "You weren't doing anything wrong. Why are they after you?"
"Magneto tried to recruit me as an Acolyte, but I turned down his offer. Apparently he didn't take kindly to my refusal." Cephius looked over Logan's shoulder at Sabretooth, who was beginning to stir. "And speaking of such," he said more hurriedly, "we need to move. They're starting to recover."
"We'll take care of 'em." Logan said, "You get outta here."
"No! We barely held our own before. If I leave you to them, you'll be completely overtaken!"
Sabretooth was on his knees, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind. Even Magneto and Quicksilver were beginning to stir. "And aside from that, it's still me they're after." Cephius said, "Why endanger yourselves when you need not?"
"'Cuz anything Magneto's got cookin' up is worth stoppin'." Logan replied, his voice also becoming more rushed. "Now go! Kitty an' I 'll hold 'em off while ya run." He turned around and unsheathed his claws again as the Acolytes finally rose to their feet. Cephius grimaced. He would never live it down if these two got hurt because of him, but Logan was right: Running was his best chance to escape. Besides, they already proved themselves capable of holding their own in a fight. "I pray that you come out of this unscathed, my friends." Cephius said. "Both of you…" He turned around and leapt up onto one of the upturned cars before turning back to Logan, shouting, "…My conscience will never forgive me if you don't!"