Just One Disaster After Another
"Ow!" Remy winced as he was seemingly engulfed by a sea of blinding white light. "What the heck's going on?"
"Ooo, the light," Pyro blinked and staggered disorientedly. "It feels like the very air is on fire. Are we in heaven?"
"No," Piotr shielded his eyes as he waited for them to adjust. "But with this heat and our track record I would not be surprised if we finally found ourselves in the other place."
"You're not that far off, Russian," Sabertooth growled squinting at their surroundings. The Acolytes had appeared in the trough between two towering, sloping sand dunes. Farther on lay more reddish-orange dunes with wind-swept sides and gravel-covered slacks. "We're in the middle of a desert."
"Figures," Mastermind groaned hugging a 'liberated' silk cushion to his cheek. "Right when I start to get the slightest bit comfortable, the universe comes back to dump a bucket of ice-cold Reality on my head before giving me a swift, sharp kick in the butt!"
"Really? I thought it was Sabertooth who kicked you off that mound of pillows back in China," Pyro remarked. "And instead of Reality it was a bucket of semi-warm…"
"Uh, that is not important," Piotr coughed quickly. "What is important is finding out where and when we are."
"Good point," Remy nodded. "For all we know we could be on Mars again."
"Don't jinx us," Mastermind grumbled using his cushion to shield the machine's screens from the sun's glare before reading the relevant information aloud:
November 25, 621 A.D.
Ubar, Arabia
"Oooh, neat! Another place we haven't been to before!" Pyro chirped happily. "Arabia! The land of mystery, adventure and One Thousand and One Nights!"
"Let's hope we don't end up staying here that long," Mastermind moaned glancing at Pyro. "Most of us anyway."
"Good thing we arrived here during the mild season," Remy quipped wiping sweat from his forehead. "I'd hate to find out how hot it gets here in the summer."
"Me too. I am already very thirsty," Piotr gasped gazing around. "I should have been carrying some kind of canteen or water bottle with me by now. Do you think we should risk going to the nearest town of Ubar?"
"Are you kidding?" Sabertooth snorted indicating their surroundings. "We're in the middle of a sunbaked, water-forsaken desert, Russian. There isn't a camp or settlement for miles around! Worse, there isn't any beer for miles around! Instead of Ubar this whole situation is completely Fub…ahhh!"
"Huh?" Mastermind blinked as two short, unknown figures suddenly appeared among the mutants. They had apparently tumbled down the steep side of one of the nearby sand dunes before slamming into Sabertooth. "Oh great. Now what?"
"!آسف" The pair of figures apologized scrambling to their feet. One was a short-haired boy around twelve years old while the other was a dark-haired girl about nine. Both wore loose-fitting garments, sandals and headscarves. "!لم نراك هناك"
"Watch it, punks!" Sabertooth snapped turning his translator back on while brushing off his sleeveless overgrown and shirt. "These are new clothes!"
"Relatively speaking," Remy drawled.
"Do not shout. You are scaring them," Piotr scolded Sabertooth before kneeling down to address the kids. "Hello. We did not mean to frighten you. My name is Piotr. Who are you?"
"I am Khawlah bint al-Azwar," The young girl said after Mastermind managed to translate the question. "This is my brother Dhiraar."
"Nice to meet ya, mates!" Pyro smiled. "What are a pair of tackers like you doing out in the middle of woop woop?"
"Our family are myrrh traders," The young boy named Dhiraar explained upon hearing the translation. "A team of pack camels got separated from the caravan we were traveling with and we set out to retrieve them. Unfortunately, our horse was bitten by a viper a day after we left."
"You set out to find a group of camels by yourselves?" Piotr blinked in surprise.
"Of course. No one else could be spared," Khawlah said. "We have done it before."
"Huh, gotta admit I'm impressed," Sabertooth growled grudgingly. "None of these lunatics could do that."
"Our horse died before we could find the lost camels," Dhiraar continued. "We pressed on until we were forced to come here to seek shelter from the haboob."
"The what?" Pyro blinked.
"Ooo, you made a mistake there, boug," Remy smirked. "I usually enjoy resting along a set of nice, healthy haboobs."
"Me too," Mastermind admitted. "Not that it happens very often…"
"Oh my," Piotr blushed.
"We must hide. The haboob is almost upon us," Khawlah warned pointing at the dune she and her brother had slid down. "It looks very fierce."
"Don't worry, mates. We'll protect ya from the big scary…" Pyro trailed off as the once bright sky suddenly turned dark. "Oh boy…"
"Uh oh," Mastermind gulped as an enormous cloud of sand and dust roared over the dunes and quickly blotted out the sun.
"Take cover!" Remy yelled as the massive storm violently enveloped them all like a tidal wave.
"There is no cover!" Pyro yelped as the wild wind whipped furiously around them.
"Hang on! Stay close!" Piotr armored up and attempted to shield Dhiraar and Khawlah with his body.
"Help! I can't see!" Mastermind wailed covering his head with his cushion.
"Gahhh!" Sabertooth roared as burning sand flayed at his exposed skin. "Bleah! It's in my nose…aggghhh!"
"What the?" Pyro blinked through his visor as Sabertooth suddenly seemed to vanish right in front of him. "Hey! Where did he go?"
"I do not know," Piotr headed over to where Sabertooth had once stood. "He was here just a second ago…ahhhhhh!"
"Look out!" Remy yelped as Piotr and the kids quickly disappeared beneath the sand. "Sinkhole!"
"Oh no…YAAAHHHHHH!" Mastermind screamed as the ground rapidly opened up and sucked the rest of the Acolytes down into its dark, unknown depths before being swiftly filled in by the storm.
"Ow!" Pyro fell a short distance before hitting a hard slope and skidding down it like a giant out-of-control slide.
"Gahhh! I can't stop! Help! Save me! Mommy!" Screams and shouts rang out as the others fell and slid along with him.
CRASH! SMASH! BUMP!
"Ugh," Remy groaned finally coming to a stop. "That…hurt…"
"Oooh, what a ride," Pyro warbled. "I thought I was gonna break my neck there for a minnie. Or even worse, my pack. Good thing I crashed into something soft."
"Get off me!" Sabertooth roared tossing him aside. "Gahhh, you idiots crushed my pancreas!"
"Ohhh," Mastermind moaned crumpled up next to him. "I hate my life…I really hate my life…"
"Is everyone alright?" Piotr asked getting to his feet.
"I must confess that was fun," Dhiraar carefully stood up. "Can we do it again?"
"Yes, can we?" Khawlah asked doing the same.
"Maybe later," Remy winced catching his breath. "Pyro, make a light. A small light."
"Awww, okay," Pyro did so.
"Stupid sand storm. Stupid sinkhole," Sabertooth hissed shaking out his hair. "Grrr, I've got sand stuck all the way in my…whoa!"
"What is it…oh my!" Piotr gasped in awe as his eyes finally adjusted to the new light level. The Acolytes and their young companions stood in the middle of a ruined, but obviously once great and prosperous city. Towering structures and vast monuments stretched farther than the small light could illuminate them while surrounded by a literal forest of thick, lofty stone pillars. "I do not believe it!"
"This is incredible!" Mastermind gaped in shock, the sight making him temporarily forget about his various bodily pains.
"What is this?" Dhiraar asked in a hushed voice. "Are we in the Underworld?"
"That's one way to put it," Remy quipped. "Guess the machine made a mistake when it said it dropped us off near Ubar."
"Ubar?" Khawlah picked up the familiar-sounding word. "Is this really Ubar?"
"It might be, sheila," Pyro shrugged. "What's Ubar?"
"Ubar was once a great city, also called Iram," Khawlah explained once Mastermind translated the question. "It was said to be a major center for the rich frankincense trade. Legend says it was lost and buried beneath the sands never to be seen again."
"Well, for once it looks like the legends were true," Remy said inspecting the ruins. "The forest of columns created solid supports for a ceiling once the above sand had compacted and accumulated enough. The cool, dry air helped preserve things in fairly good condition too…wait, did you say rich?"
"This is amazing," Piotr gazed around in wonder. "It is like something out of a fairy tale."
"See? I told ya the desert was filled with mystery and adventure," Pyro grinned.
"Who cares?" Sabertooth growled shoving past him. "If this place is so rich and well preserved, there must be a decently-stocked beer cellar around here."
"I should have known," Piotr groaned.
"What is he doing?" Dhiraar watched as a sniffing Sabertooth stomped into one of the stone roofed structures. "Is he looking for a way out?"
"Not exactly," Remy grinned following after Sabertooth while taking out his small red flashlight. "He's seeing if there are any remaining treasures lying around. A task I'll happy help him with."
"Eh, good luck with that, Gambit," Pyro decided not to join in. "With all this stone and rock around I doubt there's anything here left to burn."
"Except for the limited supply of oxygen," Mastermind pointed out. "Which is the only thing preventing us from asphyxiating to death considering we have all been buried alive!"
"Oh dear," Piotr gulped in realization. "I did not think of that."
"Don't worry, Masty. The air here isn't too bad," Pyro waved. "There's plenty of oh two to spare while Gambit and Sabes check the place for souvenirs."
"Forget it. I'm not waiting around for those two looting lunatics to search the whole city," Mastermind picked up a stray rock and threw it at the stone structure. "Hey you idiots! Get back out here!"
"Please be careful," Piotr winced as the rock missed the opening and hit the roof instead. "This whole city is a historical heritage site. Or at least it will be sometime in the future."
"Oh please," Mastermind rolled his eyes. "This place has obviously held up just fine after being buried for hundreds of years. It can easily withstand having a little rock thrown against it."
CCCRRRAAAACCCCK!
"On second thought," Mastermind blinked as a jagged crack rapidly appeared and raced along the structure's roof.
"Hmmm, nice work, Masty," Pyro commented. "We should bring you along the next time we prank the X-Mansion."
"Ahhh!" Remy and Sabertooth ran out of the structure. "What's going on? What the heck was that?"
"Uh, well…" Piotr began.
CRASH!
The stone roof suddenly collapsed causing the structure's tall walls to fall outward like dominos. The walls crashed against the nearest set of stone pillars causing them to keel over as well.
"Uh oh," Dhiraar gulped at the chain reaction caused by the falling columns. "This can not be good."
"Run!" Khawlah shouted as the now unsupported sand ceiling started to collapse.
"No kidding, kid!" Sabertooth swooped her and Dhiraar up before running away like mad.
"Way to go, Masty!" Pyro yelled as the Acolytes scrambled after Sabertooth. "This is one mess you can't blame on me!"
"Oh no," Mastermind gulped as the towering stone columns fell faster than the mutants could outrun them. "We're all gonna die!"
"Not today!" Remy pointed at a fallen column the size of an amusement park log boat. "Everyone pile on! Piotr, get in front!"
"Are you sure?" Piotr shouted as the Acolytes and al-Azwar siblings quickly straddled the stone column. "Now what?"
"Brace yourself and armor up!" Remy signaled to Pyro. "Hit it!"
"Oh no! Not again…GAAAHHHHHH!" Mastermind screamed as Pyro expanded his lone flame into a set of fire booster rockets and sent the column shooting off. "YAAAHHHHHH! THIS TACTIC IS GETTING WAY TOO REDUNDANT!"
"SORRY IT KEEPS SAVING OUR LIVES, MASTY!" Remy shouted as they began to pick up altitude. "IT'S HARD TO ARGUE WITH SUCCESS!"
"Aaahhhhhh!" Piotr yelped as the flying column raced to escape the collapsing city while zooming through doomed buildings, dodging falling masses of sand and leaving a trail of total destruction in its wake.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Pyro cackled maniacally. "YEAH! YEAH!"
"This is madness!" Dhiraar and Khawlah shrieked in fear and excitement. "But is also very fun!"
"WAAAUUUGGGHHH! STOP SQUEEZING ME SO HARD YOU LITTLE BRATS!" Sabertooth screamed in agony while clinging to the column for dear life. "OW! NOT THE HAIR! AAAIIIEEEEEE!"
"Uh oh," Piotr gulped as they rapidly neared the city's limits. "The hollow chamber surrounding the city has come to an end! There is nothing but sand and rock now!"
"WHAT?!" Mastermind cried. "YAAAHHHHHH!"
"Take us up, Pyro!" Remy yelled.
"You got it!" Pyro grinned redirecting the flames.
"Oh no…" Piotr gulped and quickly extended his arms forward into a diver's position as the column rocketed up like a missile.
CRASH! PUUF!PUFF!PUFF!PUFF!PUUF!
"AGGGHHHHHH!" Mastermind shrieked as the now pointed-headed column blasted through the sand.
"Bleah!" Sabertooth spat sand and grit from his mouth. "There's never a beer around when I need one!"
WHOOOOOOSSSHHHHHH!
"YAAAHOOOOOOOOO!" Pyro cheered as the column burst into the air and quickly rocketed into the sky.
"Alright!" Remy gave him a thumbs up. "Nice work, homme!"
"We made it! We actually made it!" Mastermind wept as Pyro adjusted the flames and leveled off the column's trajectory.
"Ooooo!" Dhiraar and Khawlah gazed down at the sea of dunes far below them. "We are flying! Flying like a hawk!"
"Hehehehe…ow!" Pyro yelped as a chunk of the battered stone column tore loose, smacked him in the head and immediately knocked him out.
"Uh oh," Remy quickly reached back and grabbed Pyro before he tumbled off the column.
"Mother," Mastermind whimpered as the column began to nose down before dropping like a rock.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone screamed as the column rapidly plunged back to Earth.
PA-WHUUUMMMPPPHHH!
The column clipped through the top of several dunes while skipping along them like a stone. It eventually slowed down enough to slide across the sand like a sled before finally coming to a stop.
"Is it over?" Piotr slowly rose up from his extended diving position.
"Ohhh," Mastermind rolled off the column and lay on the sand twitching. "I can't believe we survived…I can't believe we survived…"
"Okay, maybe you have a point, Masty," Remy gasped letting go of Pyro. "Flying and falling through the sky is getting too redundant."
"That was amazing!" Dhiraar and Khawlah squealed and happily slid off Sabertooth's back. "Let us do it again!"
"You kids are crazy, you know that?" Sabertooth growled giving them a look. "You'd fit right in with these nuts!"
"Ooooh, what happened?" Pyro blinked as he regained consciousness. "Hey, we made it! We're above ground! And the storm has stopped!"
"More like we shot right through it," Remy coughed. "We must be miles from where we first arrived here."
"Look! It is the lost camels!" Khawlah pointed at a trio of cargo-laden ungulates standing nearby. "We found them!"
"They seem strangely docile now," Dhiraar noted. "I wonder why."
"They are probably scared stiff and too traumatized to move," Mastermind wheezed. "Just like me!"
"Thank you for helping us!" Dhiraar and Khawlah gave Sabertooth a big hug. "You are heroes!"
"Yeah, whatever," Sabertooth grunted before half-heartedly brushing them aside. "Now scram!"
"Would you like to come with us?" Khawlah asked hopefully. "The rest of our family would love to thank and meet you too."
"Na, we're good," Remy declined. "We got our own method of transportation."
"So long, mates!" Pyro waved. "Take care!"
"Very well. A thousand thanks and blessings upon you all," Dhiraar waved after Mastermind mumbled out the translations. "Good luck and safe travels!"
"Are you kidding?" Mastermind gasped as the al-Azar siblings went to collect their missing camels. "Those are two of three commodities we've had a complete dearth of during this lousy trip! The third of course being sanity!"
"I didn't pick up any good souvenirs on this stop either," Remy peered at the direction from where they had flown. "Looks like the lost city of Ubar is going to remain lost. Anything that survived the collapse will once again be covered and soon buried beneath the sands."
"At least we got a good ride out of it," Pyro chirped. "It's not like we'll ever end up in another dark, ancient chamber hidden under a hot, arid desert."
"Are you sure they will be okay?" Piotr look back at Dhiraar and Khawlah in concern. "They seem awfully young to be looking out for themselves."
"Eh, don't worry about 'em, Russian. They're tougher than you lunatics," Sabertooth snorted as the Acolytes prepared themselves to use the machine once it was ready. "Odds are between them or us on who's more likely to survive their respective ordeals, I sure the heck wouldn't bet on us!"
"Yeeeooow!" Mastermind gasped at the transition from hot, bright desert to complete cold and utter darkness.
"Can't…breathe…" Remy choked feeling his eyes and skin instantly freeze. "Need…air!"
"Accckkk!" Sabertooth cried at the sheer, unimaginable cold.
"Pyro, make a fire!" A still armored up Piotr shouted.
"R-R-Right," A nearly frozen Pyro stuttered and barely managed to activate his pack.
WHOOOSSSHHH!
"More!" Piotr urged.
"O-O-Okay," Pyro shivered and struggled to focus enough to make a literal ring of fire around himself and his teammates.
"Oh my gosh!" Mastermind took a painful yet very satisfying breath. "I'm cold!"
"We're all cold," Remy held his flash-frozen hands near the flames. "Except for Piotr."
"What the heck happened?" Sabertooth's teeth chattered while looking very blue. "Did we land inside an iceberg or something?"
"Not quite," Piotr looked around seeing the mutants were huddling in an irregularly-shaped, bedroom-sized space. "There seems to be a lot of rock here along with some ice. And I do feel kind of funny…"
"Lucky you," Mastermind whimpered with his hair and eyebrows covered in frost. "Half my body is frozen numb while the rest of it is beyond pain!"
"What does the machine say?" Remy asked while attempting to regain feeling in his lips.
"I don't know and I'm not looking to find out," Mastermind shivered. "My neck has frozen stiff!"
"That's one way to finally grow a spine," Sabertooth muttered.
"I will check," Piotr turned a paralyzed Mastermind around enough for him to view the machine. He peered at one of the screens just as it showed:
June 30, 1908 A.D.
Exosphere, Earth
"Exosphere?" Piotr frowned in confusion. "Is that like 'Biosphere'?"
"Oooh, I saw that movie," Pyro commented. "Imagine being stuck in a sealed sphere with a bunch of wacked-out nuts for months at a time."
"Sounds just like the base," Mastermind moaned. "Nothing but a confined space filled with pain, chaos, madness and insanity. I'd do anything to be back there right now!"
"You're all idiots," Sabertooth snorted. "The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere. We're over six hundred kilometers above the surface! In other words: in space! Just like the big, empty thing between all your ears!"
"That explains why I feel so funny," Piotr realized. "There is no gravity here."
"Wrong, we're in microgravity!" Sabertooth snapped. "Just like on that stupid space station…" He abruptly trailed off and placed a hand over his stomach. "Ohhh, I don't feel so good…"
"Actually, I think Pyro may be right about the sealed sphere thing," Remy said looking around. "We must have appeared within a hollow pocket inside a passing asteroid, comet, meteor or whatever."
"That explains why it is so cold," Piotr nodded. "But how can there be breathable air in a place with so much rock and ice?"
"It's not all water ice," Remy reasoned. "A lot of it is probably oxygen ice, nitrogen ice and other frozen gases that vaporized upon being exposed to Pyro's flames. We were really lucky."
"You call this lucky?!" Mastermind shrieked.
"Well yeah," Remy gave him a look. "Landing in an empty chamber encrusted in ice that creates exactly the right, breathable oxygen-nitrogen mixture and air pressure once melted? I'd call that pretty darn lucky!"
"Yeah, we could've arrived in the solid parts of the meteor," Pyro pointed out. "Or there could've been a surplus of oxygen that would've ignited and blown the whole place apart the instant it vaporized into gas. Ooo, what a fireball that would've made!"
"You have a point," Mastermind gulped. "Maybe you should get rid of all the fires except a small one for light."
"Good idea. It has warmed up quite a bit in here," Remy wiped some melted ice from his forehead. "Come to think of it, it's gotten a little too warm."
"The gravity has increased too," Piotr noted. "I can actually stand up now."
"My stomach has finally settled down," Sabertooth gave a relieved grunt. "The meteor must be passing close enough to…" He blinked in realization. "Uh oh."
"Uh oh?" Pyro gulped nervously. "What do you mean 'uh oh'?"
"The meteor must be caught in Earth's gravitational field," Sabertooth explained. "The increased heat and gravity mean it's already falling through the thicker layers of the atmosphere which means it's probably going to crash right into the surface!"
"WHAT?!" Mastermind shrieked.
"My gosh," Piotr was stunned. "How long until we…"
"If we're just starting to feel the effects of re-entry now," Sabertooth did some rapid calculations. "Probably two, three minutes tops."
"How do you know about all this space stuff, Sabes?" Pyro asked.
"I know a lot of stuff, Flame Brain!" Sabertooth snapped. "I'm more than just a pretty face!"
"You can dazzle us with your astronomical knowledge later," Remy snapped. "Right now, we gotta get the heck outta here!"
"We can't! The machine's still cooling down!" Mastermind wailed frantically smacking its side. "AGGGHHHHHH! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"
"Not if the meteor is incinerated first," Pyro pointed out. "Then we'd become a shower of shooting stars. What a way to go!"
"Speak for yourself," Sabertooth roared. "I ain't dying like this!"
"Wait! The machine's ready!" Mastermind stared at it in surprise. "We can use it!"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Remy quickly sided up to him. "Hit it!"
"Wait! No!" Piotr grabbed Mastermind's hands just before he could activate the machine.
"What are you doing?" Mastermind yelped. "Are you crazy?"
"We can not leave yet!" Piotr insisted. "The meteor will still hit the Earth. Thousands of people could die from the impact and fallout. We have to do something about it!"
"What do you expect us to do, Russian?" Sabertooth snapped. "Climb out into space and give the meteor a push?"
"Even I can't make a set of fire rockets that big," Pyro said. "Besides, I'm practically out of fuel."
"Release me!" Mastermind futilely attempted to free himself from Piotr's grip. "We're running out of time! We have got to go!"
"Wait! Remy can do it!" Piotr stared at his teammate hopefully. "You can charge the entire meteor and have it explode before it strikes the Earth."
"Are you serious?" Remy stared at him in shock. "That's insane!"
"How's that any different from the rest of this soon-to-be-quickly-terminated trip?" Sabertooth grunted.
"C'mon Gambit. You can do it!" Pyro encouraged. ""You may be millions of people's last, best hope!"
"Oh geeze, they're doomed!" Mastermind declared morosely. "Just like we're about to be!"
"Please!" Piotr looked at Remy beggingly. "The future of the entire world could depend on it!"
"Fine! Let's just hope this hunk of rock ain't dino-killing size," Remy gave in and quickly flattened his hands against the rough walls. "Yeeeooow, that's cold!"
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" Mastermind chanted as the entire chamber began to glow ominously.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Remy hissed while struggling to keep his concentration. "This isn't as easy as it looks."
"Try to charge as much of the meteor as you can," Piotr urged.
"I'm trying," Remy panted feeling his fingers go numb again. "I've never pushed my powers to the limit like this before."
"How much of a delay should Gambit leave before making the whole place go boom?" Pyro asked. "One minnie? Half a minnie?"
"How about three seconds?" Remy gasped sinking to the floor. "I'm spent!"
"Crud!" Sabertooth cursed as Piotr grabbed an exhausted Remy. "Hit it, Bonzo!"
"Oh no," Mastermind activated the machine just as the entire meteor exploded.
KA-BOOO…!
"Aaahhhhhh!" Pyro yelped as the mutants collapsed in a heap. "Ohhh, did we make it?"
"I dunno. Hard to tell," Remy groaned sprawled out on his back. "I think I see a light…"
"Ohhh, and I thought being buried in the desert was bad," Mastermind wheezed lying on the bottom of the pile. "Gahhh, get off me!"
"I say, where did this gaggle of peculiarly-attired ruffians come from?" An inquisitive lady wearing a fashionable, light blue dress stared at them while shielding herself with a parasol.
"The lower levels, no doubt," A man wearing a sharp morning suit and bowler hat haughtily sniffed at the mutants. "Steerage passengers should be restricted to the lower decks and other unsightly areas of the ship."
"Ship?" Piotr blinked and looked around while slowly getting to his feet. The Acolytes had landed on the promenade deck of a large, steam ocean liner at sea. "Oh, thank goodness! We are safe!"
"Wanna bet?" Sabertooth growled standing up.
"Oooh, neat!" Pyro cooed excitedly. "I always wanted to go on a cruise! I can't wait to see the steam boilers on this baby! I bet the X-Men will never go on a grand trip like this!"
"Now look here," The well-dressed man pointed an ivory-topped cane at the Acolytes warningly. "You strange men better return to third-class and retire to your cabins."
"Believe me, I'd like nothing more," Mastermind gasped wearily. "Even a lumpy, coach-level cot sounds good right about now. Just please tell me we aren't aboard the Titanic."
"The Titanic? Of course not," The inquisitive lady looked at him in surprise. "That poor ship was lost and sunk at sea three years ago."
"Thank goodness," Remy sighed in relief. "Looks like we finally managed to catch a break."
"You men are remarkably uninformed about the vessel you are traveling on," The woman noticed the Acolyte's various fatigued states. "I imagine you will be able to catch up on plenty of things while aboard the good ship Lusitania."
"I hope so," Sabertooth grunted. "Wait, the what?"
BOOM!
"Ahhh! What was that?" Screams and shouts suddenly filled the air.
"Look out!" A geyser of water, steel plating and debris erupted near the ship's bow.
"Oh man," Remy groaned. "So much for catching a break."
"Wow, talk about timing," Pyro whistled. "Even I know what tragic fate is about to befall this ship."
"That'd be a first," Sabertooth grunted.
"Well, I don't," Piotr frowned in confusion. "What is so bad about being aboard the Lusitania?"
"The same common thread that has woven itself into the very fabric of my sad, miserable existence," Mastermind moaned holding his head as the ship began slowly listing to starboard. "Along with yet another example of why my sorry life is well and truly cursed!"
Historical notes: Khawlah bint al-Azwar was an Arab warrior and nurse of the Bani Assad tribe and is often considered one of the greatest female military leaders in history. She and her brother Dhiraar bin al-Azwar fought in the Arab conquests of Arabia, Syria and the Levant during the 7th century A.D. including the decisive Battle of Yarmouk in 636 A.D. Khawlah both rescued captives and escaped from captivity herself during her life and was once compared to the famous, undefeated Arab general Khalid ibn al-Walid.
Ubar, also known as "Iram of the Pillars" is a reference to a supposedly lost city, region or tribe mentioned in the Quran. Such a lost city is most commonly believed to be located somewhere in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert. While various claims and searches have been made over the years, no proof confirming the existence of the lost city of Ubar has ever "officially" been discovered.
The Tunguska Event was a massive explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what was the Yeniseysk Governorate of Russia. The explosion occurred over a sparsely populated area of Eastern Siberia which flattened an estimated 80 million trees over 830 square miles (2,150 km2). While the impact event is often considered to have been caused by the air burst of an exploding meteor roughly 330 feet in diameter (100 m), the exact cause of the Tunguska Event explosion has never "officially" been determined.
The RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner during the early 20th century A.D. which once held the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing and was also briefly the world's largest passenger ship. It was sunk on May 7, 1915 A.D. by a German U-boat off the southern coast of Ireland which resulted in the loss of 1,198 passengers and crew, among them 128 Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania helped shift public opinion against Germany during World War I in both the United States and the world.
