Passing the Torch
By Todd Fan
Disclaimer: "It's not my goddamn planet. Understand, monkey boy?"
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This really is the last time I am going to say this: I AM NOT AMERICAN. I do not write in American grammar, but British grammar. I will never write in American grammar. Why should I? It's not the grammar I have been brought up to use. I read stuff by Americans all the time, and don't complain about the differences (I could rant about how the missing U in words like Behaviour causes issues for me when researching Uni stuff). So, that's my rant, and the last time I am going to state it. If you can't read British grammar without complaining, I suggest you bugger off. I'm British, get over it.
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For quite a long while, Doug was going to contract the Legacy Virus and die in Passing the Torch, with Warlock having to do the deed. I decided to give them both a break, 'cause, well, I'm not that evil.
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Chapter 21 – Extraterrestrial issues
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Hours later, and night had fallen in Bayville. In Toby's room, Imara was sitting next to him on his bed, as they watched a movie..or rather, Imara narrated the movie to Toby. It was something they'd done for as long as either of them could remember.
"And she's turned into a bunch of butterflies and flittered off to the heavens", Imara blinked, "….that was a bizarre ending" (1)
"I think that was a bizarre movie all 'round", said Toby with a chuckle.
Imara was quiet for a moment, before sighing.
"Tob?"
"Hmm-mm?"
"I'm scared", she said quietly.
Toby blinked, arching a brow.
"Of what?", he asked, "you're fearless, if I recall correctly"
Imara gave a small sniff, hugging her arms around herself.
"I'm scared of what's happening, Toby", she said, "there are mutants dying all over..and my sisters sick, and Dad's over there trying to help...and I don't..I don't want to lose them".
She gave a small sob, though she was famously strong, even she had her times of weakness. Toby sighed, pulling her into a hug.
"Hey, shhh, it's okay, they'll be fine", he said, rocking her gently as she hid her face into his shirt.
Imara took a sniffling breath, before looking up at him.
"Toby?...Can I crash with you tonight?", she asked, "you know..like we did when we were kids, I don't wanna deal with Soorya tonight".
"Uhhh..yeah..I guess", said Toby, covering up a nervous waver in his voice with a cough.
"Thanks", said Imara, hugging him close, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Buddy"
Nothing big here, tra, la, la, Toby thought to himself, we've done this hundreds of times when we were kids, this shouldn't be any different
He gulped as Imara sighed, snuggling close to him, drifting off to sleep.
Think of something else, he tried, grandma Edna's cookies...nope, Logan dancing to the nutcracker suite in a tutu...almost disurbing..not quite there, Dad in a binki..AGGG!...there we go
"Toby, stop having an inner monologue", said Imara opening one eye to regard him sleepily, "I know when you do it, you squint"
"Right", Toby cleared his throat, "….being quiet now"
Great…now I can't get that scary image of Dad out of my head
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Elsewhere in the mansion, Magneto had already gone to bed, so he was more than mildly annoyed to find himself being poked incessantly . He groaned, opening one eye to see Pietro smiling at him.
"Hey Dad, you're awake!"
Magneto blinked a few times, before groaning, trying to burry his head under the covers.
"Pietro, it's past three AM, come back at a sane time"
"Dad, I got a problem", he said, "or at least, I think I got a problem. Ican'tbeallthatsureit'sabitcomplicatedandIdon'tknowwhattodoaboutit"
"…You're not going to stop talking until I start to listen to you, are you?", asked Magneto, sitting up, defeated, switching on a lamplight, "what is it?"
Pietro frowned.
"You know when you met Mom?".
"…..Haven't we already been through the other stuff already?", asked Magneto, "I thought we did when you were five"
"It's not that", said Pietro, "did you, well, y'know, know you loved her when you first met her?"
Magneto considered this.
"I didn't really have time for that", he said, "when your mother and I met, it was in front of a local store, she was in a hurry and didn't see me, so beaned me on the head with the door when she opened it" (2)
"…Oh…kay", Pietro said.
"When I regained consciousness, I might have said she was pretty…but I had a concussion, so I don't think she believed me", he said, "I don't think she liked me all that much, though she did go on a date to apologise for knocking me out"
"…..You mean she took you on a pity date?", asked Pietro, wrinkling his nose.
"Hey, if it wasn't for that pity date, we wouldn't have hit it off, and you would exist", said Magneto pointedly.
"…The fact I exist because a gypsy snacked your head in with a door doesn't give me much comfort", said Pietro.
"Why are you asking, anyway?", asked Magneto, "I thought you'd given up on that Crystal girl"
"I did", said Pietro, "….there's someone I don't like…but I think maybe I do like her…but I hate her at the same time"
Magneto blinked once.
"….I think you should talk to your sister, she's better at this than I am"
"She told me if I woke her up again, she'd wring my neck"
Magneto gave an exasperated sigh.
"Then talk to her in the morning", she shook his head turning off the light and lying back down, "goodnight, Pietro"
"Yeah..night, Dad", said Pietro, "thanks….I think"
He frowned, before jumping out the window, dashing off back to the Brotherhood House.
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Over in Chicago, Kitty sighed as she turned off the TV.
"Another crappy 'mutants are evil' speech by my beloved nemesis", she said, "….things aren't looking too good, the anti-mutant sentiment is growing"
"Don't worry about it, Pretty Kitty", smiled Lance, kissing her cheek, "you'll still beat Tremaine, she doesn't have a prayer"
Kitty chuckled.
"Oh yeah, I'll beta the living crap out of her", she said, then frowned, "….I'm still worried, though. If I do win…then I'm like a spokeswoman for mutant-kind…that really freaks me out"
"You'll do fine", said Lance with a smile, "don't worry about.."
He blinked as there was an almighty crash in the kitchen.
"Oh what's that damn dragon done this time?", he grumbled, stalking off to the kitchen.
"Aww, leave Lockheed alone, he's innocent", said Kitty, following him, before walking right into his as Lance has stopped dead in the doorway, "what?"
In the kitchen, Lockheed was backed against a wall, two other dragons, one purple and one green, the same size and build to Lockheed exactly, were glaring at him. The green one spoke in a language that seemed to consist of growls. Lockheed answered back in a similar way.
"What the hecks going on here?", asked Lance, the ground beginning to tremble.
"….Oh crap", said Lockheed, finally noticing them, "umm…I can explain this…"
"You can talk!", yelped Kitty.
"…..I can explain that, too", said Lockheed, shuffling his feet.
The blue dragon looked between them and frowned.
"I think you'd want to do your explaining to the Flock high court before you speak to the Earthlings"
"Earthlings?", asked Lance, "but…you were a stuffed toy!"
"….Kinda not true", winced Lockheed, "long story short: I'm from an alien race called the Flock. I..umm left and was transported to Earth, ironically just as Kitty was playin' with machines she shouldn't have"
He gave Kitty an apologetic smile.
"Sorry I wrecked your cuddly toy", he said, "heh….this might be a bit of a shock"
"A bit of a shock?", said Kitty, "you kept this from me all this time?"
Lockheed gestured to the other dragons.
"I was tryin' ta lay low", he said, "It's not like a lied or anythin'. I just didn't pop up an' say 'Hey, Kitty, I'm an alien!'"
"…..If I hadn't already been exposed to extraterrestrial life, I think I'd be going quietly mad right now", commented Lance.
"Silence, Earthling", said the blue dragon, then looked at Lockheed, "You are sentenced to exile for treason towards the collective Flock"
"Hey, no ones taking my dragon from me", snapped Kitty, stepping between them and Lockheed, "can't he even have a trial"
The green dragon growled low, but the blue one raised a clawed forepaw.
"Earthling, the laws of our people state he must be exiled for his crimes", he said.
"For leaving?", said Kitty, "that's not a crime"
"It is to us", snapped the green one.
Lockheed sighed, flying up to by Kitty's face.
"Look, my people, they're pretty strict with the rules an'' stuff", he said, "besides, I don't want ta go back there. I'm happy here"
"You wish to chose your planet of exile as this dump?", asked the blue one, looking around the apartment critically.
"Yeah", Lockheed smirked, "seems the place fer us off-worlders who don't belong anywhere else"
"As you wish", said the blue one, "it is your choice. You can not leave this world hereafter, it is your prison"
"The Flock Homeworld was a prison", corrected Lockheed, "you idiots just haven't figured it out yet"
The blue one shook his head.
"There's one on every planet", he sighed, touching a pendant around his neck.
There was a soft humm as a flash of light appeared, the two dragons vanishing, leaving Lockheed, Lance and Kitty alone in the kitchen.
"Well, that was a laugh", said Lockheed, "who's up fer poker?"
He glanced at Lance and Kitty…neither looked wholly amused.
"….How about you start from the beginning", said Kitty, crossing her arms.
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In New York, Rahne had broken into the Mainspring labs, and was currently stalking quietly through the hallways. It hadn't been too hard to break in, and the few guards who'd noticed her arrival were now lying in unconscious heaps where she dropped them. It was eerie. It was almost as if they were dealing with something else….
She stopped dead as she heard a yell, two guards flying around the corner, very nearly hitting her. Okay..maybe they were. She growled, shifting into her transitional form, preparing for a fight, before blinking as a familiar face rounded the corridor.
"Bobby?", she blinked, "what're ye doing here?"
"Nick Fury sent me to check this place out", he said, "an old government scientist runs this place…and Nick feels he's been doing things he should be"
Bobby paused.
"…You?"
"Doug found some dirt linking this guy tae DermaFree", she said, "I was checking if they had anything tae do with the Virus here"
Bobby shrugged.
"Could be, Nick hasn't got a clue what's going on down here…but we've had major activity here in the past week"
He smirked, heading down the corridor.
"I bet we'd be a lot faster if we worked together, Lassie"
Rahne rolled her eyes, shifting to he human form as she caught up with him.
"Fine, but don't ye be calling me Lassie, or I'll have tae hurt ye"
"How about Rin Tin Tin?", Bobby joked, "Or White Fang?"
"Bobby", started Rahne, before pausing as she heard a sound from one of the corridors, "you hear that?"
"No", said Bobby, "you're the one with the enhanced senses, wolf-girl"
Rahne frowned, moving down the corridor, finally stopping by what looks like a cell.
"Electro magnetic bars?", Rahne arched a brow at them, "what on earth would they be keeping in with electro magnetic bars?'
"Only one way to find out", said Bobby, icing his hand up, smashing the control box next to the door.
The bars crackled, before dying. Rahne sniffed inside, her eyes adjusting to the darkness.
"There's nae a thing in here", she growled, then paused as she caught a movement, "….I take that back"
"What the heck is that?", asked Bobby, stepping in behind her
Rahne shook her head before stepping inside, she knew something was there, it was moving, but she couldn't smell it..something was very wrong.
"Hello?", she called, "anyone in here? I'm nae gunnae hurt ye"
There was an electronic crackle as the lights came on, and the thing that shared the space with Rahne stepped into the light. Rahne took one look at it and yelped, backing into the corridor, almost falling into Bobby. She took a breath, watching as it stepped out after her. It…his body was completely yellow, bar for black blodges on his sides, and black lines dashing around his body. His physiology, however, was almost human. A small orange semi-circle with square juts floated in front of his left eye. Strands of yellow wire jutted from his head like a crew cut. He turned to blinked at the two mutants, both tensed, years of training gearing them ready to fight..that was until recognition dawned across Rahne's face.
"…Warlock?", Rahne's eyes widened, "is..is that ye?" (3)
"Warlock?", said Bobby, looking at her, "you're kidding…right?"
Before he could answer, two armed guards dashed through the halls.
"They let it escape!", said one.
"Shoot to kill, shoot to kill!", shouts the other.
They didn't get the chance to so much as raise their weapons. Warlock suddenly changed form, his fingers becoming long, pointed claws. With a metallic snarl, he jumped forwards, driving each clawed hand into either soldiers chest. They both managed a pained gargle, before hutting the floor with limp thuds, lying motionless. Rahne squeaked backing away slightly.
"That's…..new", blinked Bobby.
The Warlock-Creature growled at them, stalking forward, raising a clawed hand ready to strike.
"Warlock, it's your friends!", squeaked Rahne, "Come on, snap out o' it, Ye remember us, right? Rahne and Bobby!"
"Self-Friends, right?", said Bobby.
The creature paused, blinking.
"Self-…..Friends?", he asked, before crying out in pain, shifting back to his humanoid form, dropping to his hands and knees.
Rahne carefully came forwards.
"Warlock", she said gently, "…what did they do to ye?"
Warlock groaned holding his head.
"…I don't remember", he said, "Cameron Hodge…. he was the..the leader"
With a groan, Warlock collapsed on the ground.
"That's the guy Nick sent me to see", said Bobby, narrowing his eyes, "he's a dead man, now"
Futher alarms blared through the complex.
"So will we be if we dunnae get out of here", said Rahne, helping support Warlock with a shoulder, "come on, Bobby, we can get this guy back when we get time tae regroup"
Bobby frowned, looking in the direction the guards had come, before sighing, helping Rahne with the unconscious alien, heading for the exit.
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(1) – A cookie for whoever gets what this movie is. I'm going to parody it once I'm done with Sinbad.
(2) – Originally, Magda and Magneto met in Auschwitz, but as seen as Anya doesn't exist in Chronicles-Verse, I thought this was more fun. Slightly inspired by the Bill Murray film 'Scrooged'.
(3) – Warlock now looks like he did the last we saw of him, in the M-Tech series, if you're having trouble visualising him.
Another chapter done, I had a burst of inspiration, hazah! I'm gonna be good and try to update the Chronicles website sometime this week, as I have a bunch of bios and fanart to stick on it. Do review. Until next time…