A/N: Spider-Man: Homecoming is coming out next week, so expect plenty of Spidey stories coming up soon. But first, here's a short X-Men story. This is set during The Masters
Sinister Savagery
The Savage Land
June 19, 2013
Unequivocally, the worst place on the entire planet was Madripoor. It was widely regarded as a wretched hive of scum and villainy. And it was. It had been ruled by both Madame Hydra and Mystique, two of the worst terrorists on the planet. There was no doubting it deserved its hatred. However, the second worst place on the planet, at least among the hero community, was without a doubt the Savage Land.
The Savage Land was a tropical region surrounded by volcanoes in the middle of Antarctica. It was created 200 million years ago by a race of aliens known as the Nuwali as one of several planetary game preserves for godlike beings, the Beyonders. They filled it with plant life and animals that were common at that time, most notably dinosaurs. As such, it was the only place on the planet where dinosaurs still existed. They could not venture outside of the Savage Land, however, due to Antarctica's harsh, frigid temperature.
It was widely considered the second worst place in the world due to the beings who inhabited it. Beast-Men, decedents of prehistoric hominids that were augmented by Atlantean scientists who were present when Atlantis colonized it in 18,500 BC. These beings were of varying intelligence, but none of them thought very highly of outsiders.
That was just one of the many reason why no one willingly went to the Savage Land. However, there were times when it just couldn't have been helped.
Six people ran for their lives through the thick fauna in the seemingly unending jungle. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Ice Man, and Nightcrawler – The X-Men. A pair of massive tyrannosaurus rex were chasing after them. "You just had to relieve yourself on their eggs, didn't you, Logan?" Storm chastised him.
"I thought they were rocks. Sue me."
They were in the Savage Land after receiving a sketchy transmission stating that Mr. Sinister was causing trouble by experimenting of many of the indigenous tribes. Even if the validity of the transmission was questionable, they went to investigate. As it turned out, it was right. Mr. Sinister had been further augmenting several of the Beast-Men into more powerful creatures, completely subservient to him. He needed to be stopped, and the X-Men were the ones to do it.
That was, of course, if they could survive the environment. For many of them, this was their first trip to the Savage Land. The welcoming committee left much to be desired.
When they reached a small clearing, Jean whirled around and tripped one of the t-rex, causing the other one to trip over it. The two massive lizards fell in a heap, both unable to regain its footing to continue the chase. The mutants got away safely and took a moment to catch their breath.
"Note to self," Iceman uttered breathlessly, "don't take a piss on dinosaur eggs."
"Bite me," Logan grunted.
"No thanks, hairy."
Scott sighed and took in the surroundings. They were surrounded by jungle. Thick, exotic looking fauna sprouted up from the ground and towered over fifteen feet above their heads. Massive trees stretched upward as far as the eye could see. In the distance, they could see a few volcanoes with ominous stacks of smoke billowing into the sky. "Okay, I think the rendezvous point is up this way," he said, pointing straight ahead. "Let's move."
The transmission gave them a set of coordinates at which they were to meet the sender. The message was too garbled, so they couldn't make out what his name was, but he sounded human.
"Ya know," Iceman, aka Bobby Drake, started as they followed after their leader toward the rendezvous point, "this would be a lot easier if the Avengers were here with us."
"Yeah," Scott agreed, "but there needs to be someone available to pick up the slack while we're gone."
"That's what the New X-Men are for," he pointed out.
"I don't really feel too comfortable with this batch," he admitted. They were young, and prone to making mistakes. Mistakes were something that the X-Men could not afford. Not only because their mistakes usually ended up costing innocent people their lives, but also because it only gave credence to the bigots who wanted them all dead. The last thing they wanted was to give people a reason to hate them.
"Fair enough, I guess. Still don't wanna be here."
"Think we do?"
"I don't know. 'Ro's eyeing those plants a lot." He gave the ebony weather witch a sly look and grin. "I think she wants to take a few home."
She wasn't terribly impressed with Bobby's humor. "Let us try and stay focused on the task at hand, Robert."
His face soured at the use of his much maligned full name. Any reply he had in store was cut off by Logan suddenly sniffing the air. "What's up?"
"Somebody's up ahead." He sniffed again. "Smell's human."
Sure enough, a man with long, blonde hair dropped down from one of the trees above him. He was wearing nothing but a loin cloth.
"Someone wanna tell Tarzan to put some clothes on."
"Be nice, Logan." Storm stepped forward cautiously, but still in a nonthreatening manner. "Are you our contact?"
"I am," he spoke in fluent English. "I am Ka-Zar, and I am thankful that you were able to send help so quickly. We must move swiftly, as more of the tribes have fallen prey to the experiments. It will not be long before they are released back into the wild and wreak havoc on everything in their path."
As if they needed more incentive. "Can they be saved?"
"I do not know. I suppose we will have to find out."
Not what they wanted to hear, but what they had was good enough incentive to brave the Land and press onward. "Where are these experiments taking place?" Jean asked.
"In one of the Nuwali temples up ahead."
The X-Men silently followed after Ka-Zar through the thick jungles. He knew the jungles like the back of his hand, it seemed. Undoubtedly due to years of traveling the same paths over and over again, hunting for food, and fending off or running away from predators.
"Were you born here?" Bobby asked.
"No. I was actually born in a place called Castle Plunder, in Kentish Town, London. My father brought me here with him to escape the people who wanted to know where he had hidden his cache of anti-metal. He was killed by a tribe of beast-men, and I've been here ever since."
It was a tragic tale, to be a young boy alone in a terrible place like the Savage Land. Other than when he mentioned his father's death, however, Ka-Zar didn't sound too broken up about being trapped there. "How long ago have you been here?" Scott asked.
Ka-Zar took a moment to think, which showed just how long he had been there. "Hm, I would say around twenty years."
They were shocked. It was absolutely unthinkable that anyone could stand to be in a dreadful place like the Savage Land for so long. "And you haven't managed to escape yet?"
"Escape?" He let out a hearty laugh. "My, no. This is my home. I have a family here, a duty to fulfill. I cannot imagine ever leaving this place for very long."
It was amazing. They had never met anyone who could stand to be there for a few hours, let alone two decades. And yet, there he was walking among them. His words sounded genuine. He genuinely considered the Savage Land his home.
"I understand that many do not think very highly of the Savage Land," Ka-Zar continued with what had to be the understatement of the century, "but it is not really as bad as you may think."
They found that rather hard to believe. But, rather than argue with someone who knew much better than they did, they silently agreed to just take his word for it. "How much further?"
"Not much further. Perhaps another half kilometer in this—"
Fifteen beast-men leaped out from the surrounding jungles, circling around them. They were large, standing at least seven feet tall and each weighing in excess of four hundred pounds. They were covered in matted, dirty black fur, with the exception of their faces, which were disturbingly human-like. Their eyes were slits like cats, and their mouths were full of elongated teeth.
"You go no further," one of them said. It roared and all fifteen charged at the X-Men.
"Goddamn it!" Logan lunged to meet one of them head on. The ape men were denser than normal humans, but that density still stood no chance of stopping razor sharp adamantium. He gutted that one, plus the two who were next to it. "Come on! I'll take all you fuckers on!"
"There is no need, Logan." Storm rose into the air, cape flowing in the gust of wind under her like the wings of a majestic eagle. That wind picked up, quickly surpassing a Category Three hurricane. "Winds! Arise and sweep these monstrosities away!"
A massive tornado ripped through the jungle, sweeping the beast-men off their feet and tossing them through the air like loose pieces of debris.
"Ice Man, target practice!"
"Alright!" Bobby swung his arm out, launching several ice shards that pierced through the out of control jungle beasts. Scott fired off optic blasts to take down the ones he missed, and the ones he froze.
When the last one was dispatched, the tornado disappeared and the powerful hurricane force winds died down to a light breeze. "By the goddess."
Nightcrawler shook his head and returned the cutlass he drew to the scabbard on his back. "Mein gott. What were those demons?"
"Not demons. Beast-men," Ka-Zar explained. "They were among the first indigenous races that the Atlantean scientists experimented on and augmented hundreds of thousands of years ago. They are also one of the races this Mr. Sinister has been enhancing." He sighed and started walking again, this time more briskly. "There are many more where those came from. We must move quickly."
Then, it was true. Mr. Sinister was experimenting on the indigenous races in the Savage Land. Why, no one could tell for sure. But, that was his M.O.. He conducted experiments on people and creatures in an attempt to create the perfect race of beings and have them replace the human race. That didn't necessarily mean mutants, but he thought that they were closer to perfection than normal humans.
"How long has Sinister been here, if you know?" Jean asked.
"Only a week at the most. I am not sure how he managed to lure the tribes into his traps, but they've been disappearing nonstop the last few days. In their place are what we just faced."
From the sound of it, those beast-men were much more powerful than they had been originally. Which meant that Sinister needed to be stopped before he felt comfortable enough to move on to human and mutant victims.
After ten more minutes of walking and fending off attacks from different enhanced creatures, several large pyramids came into view in the distance. They were tan in color, with thick green vines covering the majority of them like a thick green blanket. "There. The nearest one to us is the one. Quickly." He broke into a sprint, the X-Men right behind him.
As they quickly approached, they noticed a redheaded woman dressed in what looked like a red fur bikini and a sabertooth tiger waiting for them. "Shanna. Zabu. I found the ones who will help us."
The woman, Shanna, sighed with relief. "Thank the Maker. That madman must be stopped."
"That's what we're here for, lady." Logan sniffed the air. "Got 'im. This way!" He dashed inside the temple.
It wasn't even a full minute before they had company. And not the company they were anticipating. "Hello, X-Men. How... convenient of you to show."
Mr. Sinister himself. Pale white skin contrasted harshly with his piercing, pupil-less crimson eyes and the red diamond on his forehead. He was cloaked in dark purple armor with another red diamond on his chest. His cape, which was more like several long, black tassels than a single piece of fabric, hung down from his back and slightly scraped the ground.
"Sinister! It ends, now." Scott touched the side of his visor.
Two dozen beast-men leaped down from the ceiling, each one carrying two canisters of knockout gas. The canisters were opened, and released their deposit. Soon, it all coalesced into one large somnolent cloud. Everyone but Logan, Sinister, and the beast-men were unconscious.
"It's gonna take a lot more than that to take me out!" Logan popped his claws and lunged for Sinister.
He was met halfway by five beast-men, who tackled him to the ground and pinned him in place. Casually, Sinister stepped over to him, looking down on him with a mixture of pity and amusement. "Ah, Wolverine. Ever agog for violence, aren't you?" A single beam from his forehead crystal struck Logan in the head, knocking him out. "Take them to the prisons. And prepare the next batch for enhancement."