X-Factor #10
"The Chimera Effect" Pt. 2
Omega and Polaris walked the prison hallway with a dozen guards behind them. None of the guards were armed in the traditional sense, but each had an offensive mutant ability that would be able to protect the two in case their visit got out of hand. Lorna figured that was unlikely since The Bova Penitentiary had five hundred mutant guards that were all highly powered and expertly trained from a few telepathic sessions. The prison was built o hold ten times as many prisoners, but had barely a fraction of that number so any attempted beak out wouldn't be met with much success.
Still, Lorna felt a bit uncomfortable being back here because of the last prisoner she had come here to visit. Lorraine, the Destiny/Wolverine hybrid from the Indigo Hulk's genetic storage vessel had gave her dire warnings about the future and one of those predictions had come to pass while she was away in London. Neal Shaara had been put into a coma as a result of the Weapon X attacks and Lorna blamed herself for not doing more to stop it. If she had acted on Lorraine's predictions more aggressively them maybe Thunderbird would be on his feet and not in some hospital bed. That thought plagued her as she walked along the concrete walkways in front of each cell.
"Penny for your thoughts as you Americans might say," Quentin said as they turned corner with their guards in lock step behind them. Personally, he would have preferred to have done this alone with Polaris. Between the two of them, they had enough power to handle most of the citizens on this island. It wasn't like they needed all that much protection. Outside of that, his other reason for wanting solitude was to get a chance to makes these Weapon X weasel squirm for a little bit. They had hurt his teammates and friends without regard. He was itching for a chance to return the favor, but doing that in front of a bunch of guards might cause his behavior to make its ways through the rumor mill.
Lorna wasn't sure if Omega had already read her thoughts of not because unlike most telepaths she was use to dealing with, Quentin had no compunction about using his powers at any and all times. She still chose to lie. "I am just wondering if these captives will be able to actually provide any sort of useful information. I want to know why Genosha was targeted along with Xavier's people."
"Seems this Nova hag has us lumped right in with Xavier's lot like the rest of the world," Omega said. He was able to understand the President's frustration in that regard. Quentin didn't think of himself as a blimey X-Man. He was a Genoshan and a Genoshan only now. Having an association forced on him b by the global community was infuriating and to have now suffered an attack because of it was even more so. They had been struck at because of some geriatric peace loving cripple.
"A number of high ranking people in the government have ties to the X-Men so it's not hard to see how that association was made. Still, it seems their primary target was my brother," Lorna said as they finally stopped in front of the sound proof prison cells of Mr. X and Lady Deathstrike. Turning around so two Weapon X agents could only see her back, she continued. "An assassination this early in Genosha's new regime would have been disastrous and would have prompted many of our enemies to make a move."
"Scared they can read lips?" Omega smiled.
"Honestly, they're both trained assassins with a wide variety of skills so there is not telling. Rather be safe than sorry," Polaris said as she turned around to face the two prisoners with a disingenuous smile. She walked up to the wall separating their two cells and pressed a square red button that activated a microphone systems that would allow them to hear her. "You two have thus far been uncooperative with our investigation into the attack on our government. I want answers and I want them now!"
Mr. X leaned forward as best as he could because he was shackled to the iron wall from the shoulders down. Sage had designed the prison specifications for each of the captured Weapon X agents so with her computerized mind she was able to account for factors everyone else would have missed. "Why don't you have your lil tepe there get all the answers you need? He doesn't mind poking around in folks heads."
"Trust me; if I could I would be digging out every little secret there is from that tiny brain of yours, but your boss put up booby traps in your mind. I wouldn't mind setting them off and killing you, but the President wants your breathing. Consider yourself lucky mate."
Mr. X smiled like a wolf coming to its prey. "You think I don't know that you get off on your powers Quire? We dug into all of your histories, found out what makes you tick, went around looking for all those little dirty secrets that really make a person who they are. Why don't you tell Ms. Dane here about Abigail Fenmore?"
The Weapon X agent's head snapped back hard as it was slammed against the wall by Omega's telekinesis. Blue veins shown prominently around the man's neck as Omega's telekinetic powers put a strong chokehold on him. "You shut it mate and you shut it now."
Lorna put a hand on Omega's shoulder. "Let him go. I don't want to explain why a prisoner died to the President and neither do you."
Omega eased his grip on Mr. X and the assassin choked hard as he struggled to get air back into his lungs. Quentin hadn't wanted to let this scum get to him, but he had. How had they found out? They really had dug deep to discover what they could about them and every bit of it made sense. The more you knew about a person the easier it was to throw them off their game with some inflammatory comment. This Nova really was a nasty old hag.
"You should learn to shut your mouth X," Lady Deathstrike said from the opposite cell. Each of her fingers had been encased in a thick, heavy metal box that weighed her arms down to the ground. She would have been slouching forward from the weight if not for the steel whips around her torso keeping her pinned to the wall.
Lorna cut an icy stare at Yuriko. "If you refuse to cooperate with us then my government will transfer you over to the custody of the X.S.E. and I am sure some of them would have no problems killing you in order to get information. They might even schedule you a special visit with Logan. I'm sure he has questions about your organization kidnapping his son."
Yuriko laughed. "The threat of Logan does little to scare me Polaris. A warrior knows when they have leverage."
"I wouldn't count on that," Omega said as he tapped on the glass outside of Deathstrike's prison in the same annoying manner as a child tapping on the glass of a fishbowl. "I may not be able to break through Nova's booby traps yet, but give me time and I'll be able to break all of them down. Then you'll talk."
Polaris shrugged. "Of course there's no guarantee that Quentin might not accidently slip up along the way, but I guess that's for you to worry about."
Mr. X had a pretty good idea of what he would be looking at if Omega tripped one of Nova's safeguards. He'd be having an old fat lady spoon feeding him apple sauce for the rest of his life. "Even if we wanted to talk, we couldn't. Nova placed blocks in our mind to keep us from yapping. We starting running our mouths and we go psycho faster than Britney Spears with a pair of clippers."
Pointing his index finger to this temple, Omega said, "Then I'll make sure to tip toe around up there real quiet like."
=X=
X-Corporation Building
Vice President Voght had assembled around a hundred journalists and two hundred prominent Genoshan citizens into one of the X-Corporation building's conference rooms to discuss a topic that had been quietly rumbling around the international community ever since Pietro stepped into run the island' government. Standing at a podium, Amelia tapped her microphone to get everyone's attention.
"Good afternoon esteemed guests. As I'm sure some of you already know the President and his Cabinet have been feverishly working for weeks on creating a Constitution that would outline the foundations of the new Genoshan government. I can happily say that we have developed such a Constitution and it will be the framework of a new and prosperous future. If you bear with me for a moment I will outline some of the highlights of this new government."
Amelia had no illusions about this being an exciting press conference, but it was a necessary one. People need to have a clear understanding of how their new government was going to be run. Not only Genoshans, but people across the globe who were afraid that Genosha was a mutant Nazi Germany waiting to happen. Amelia was offended at the idea, but she understood where it might have come from. A resentful minority being handed power could easily be a recipe for disaster.
"First and foremost let me make it clear, Genosha is its own country and we are not necessarily going to follow the model of our friends in the West. The office of the President will be handled like a monarch and be a lifetime position that is passed down through familiar relations. This may strike some of you as archaic and dictatorial, but I encourage you to listen to the rest of the framework before making any conclusions. Besides for the President, there shall be an elected Prime Minister and a division of powers between that position and the President."
Head Geneticist Sando had been the one to put forward the idea of the President being handled like a kingship with the Prime Minister to offset any accusations of authoritarianism. The entire Cabinet had been against the idea, but Crystal was able to whisper into Pietro's ear to make him accept it. She had come from a royal family and probably wanted some semblance of the same thing on Genosha. Amelia didn't see anything good coming of it, but at least there was the Prime Minister to offset it.
"There will be two other sections of government that will be lifetime positions. All of the Cabinet positions and the country's High Court will be lifelong duties. Members of the Cabinet will be chosen by the President and members of the High Court at any given time and a list of Cabinet positions will be made available to everyone here."
Part of Amelia wished she had taken this plan to Lorraine and had her divine what good or bad would come from it. There were some aspects that made the Vice President downright uncomfortable. "Two legislative bodies will exist alongside these other parts of the government. There will be The House of Luna and The House of Dane. The House of Luna will consist of one hundred representatives elected every two years and The House of Dane will have twenty representatives elected every six years. The Prime Minister will come from one of these Houses and serve a ten year term."
She could see that the journalists in the audience were itching to ask questions. Those are ht major points of the new governmental framework. I'll open the floor to questions."
Hundreds of hands shot up and Amelia purposely chose a Genoshan citizen instead of a journalist as the first to ask a question. "Why was this Constitution approved without a vote being placed before the people?"
"Given the unique nature of country, we felt it best to have a government set up as soon as possible. All of us would have preferred a vote before the people, but we have far too many other pressing matters before us."
Amelia knew that was a lie. Evelyn, Sasha, and Crystal had been all to happy to make the Constitution law without a public vote. She pointed next to a journalist. "Isn't President Maximoff fashioning himself after his father by declaring himself practically a king?"
"I wouldn't quite say that. Unlike most of the world, we here in Genosha have a more tempered view of Magneto. While heavy handed, he loved the Genoshan people and had their best interests at heart. In that respect, Pietro is very much like his father. He only wants the best for all of Genosha."
Another journalist was pointed out. "When can we expect for elections to be held?"
"Hopefully within the next month. I believe once we have all of the government positions in place, Genosha will be able to take its place in the world."
=X=
Wundagore
High Evolutionary watched the television conference with Vice president Voght as he had watched the questioning of Hank Pym. Standing at his side were two f his Knights of Wundagore, Sir Steed and Sir Lyan. They were respectively a hyper-evolved horse and lion. "Mutantkind grows bolder and the alliances that Pietro have made are troubling."
Sir Steed saw his creator's distress and wondered how much of it was warranted. "Quicksilver is a Knight of Wundagore. Would he really raise arms against us?"
"I believe that I have angered him. I let my emotions get the better of me and I may have come across threatening. Then there were the dark influences that whisper in his ear so it is a possibility."
Sir Lyan gave a low growl. "If he does then he shall face our wrath! Wundagore is our home and we will defend it to eh death."
"I'm sure that you will Sir Lyan, but let us not be so quick to think about war. Perhaps I need to reach out to Quicksilver again and try to speak reason to him. He might be who we need to keep the world from lashing out at us."
Sir Steed saw wisdom in The High Evolutionary's words. It was better to look for the hope in a situation than to give in to despair. "We only need to show them that The Man-Beast is nothing like us and then we'll be left alone."
Leaning back in his throne, The High Evolutionary said, "I fear it won't be that simple Sir Steed. The world is becoming a very different place and I do not think we will be able to de isolated any longer. What we must mitigate now is exactly how Wundagore enters into the global arena. Will it be in peace or in fire?"
NEXT ISSUE: Medea finds two more Heirs while Exodus comes across something dangerous in space.
Polaris
Omega
Mr. X
Lady Deathstrike
Amelia Voght
High Evolutionary
