Author's Note:
I'd like to point out that this story is directly linked to X-Man issue
#1 and X-Factor issue #1. Hope you enjoy, please review.
Bodies covered the ground, they were dirty and decaying,
some had teeth marks on various body parts, most were naked, their clothes
had been stolen while the bodies were fresh or even before their deaths.
Survival of the fittest, it was called. Only the strong could live through
the unexplainable horrors that were the pens. The only place where Mutants
and Flatscan lived in something resembling harmony. That is, if you call
fighting over scraps of food, scraps of clothing, and a place to sleep
living in relative harmony. It was, however, better off than living outside
the pens. Cullings ravaged the American hemisphere. Cullings, a term created
by the Horsemen and their leader, Apocalypse, to mask the real name, Genocide.
In here the humans and the mutants were safe from the Cullings, but not
from each other. Sects began to form, each Sect would fight when needed
for food, or for freedom. Each Sect tried to gather as many mutants as
they could, mutants that could be used as weapons. Humans and mutants,
coexisting. Not quite the dream of the late Charles Xavier and his friend
Erik Magnus Lensherr.
Phantazia sits in her corner crying, wishing that
her life would simply end. She has decided to starve herself, knowing that
her body will begin to eat it's self. She does this because she does not
have the courage to get it over with all at once. She sits with her chin
resting on her knees and her arms wrapped protectively around them. Her
tears run down her cheeks and she sobs lightly, that is all. She does not
moan or sob loudly. She used to, but after months on end of crying your
throat gets extremely sore, her light sobbing caused a twang of pain each
time but this was a pain that she welcomed. Many times people and mutants
had approached her trying to talk her down, the few living creatures in
Sinister's pens that hadn't been overwhelmed by the evil that surrounds
them every day.
"What's wrong?" the boy who approached this time
was skinny, he looked as starved as her. His hair was brown with a white
streak down the center. His eye flashed a bright yellow and she could feel
him lightly prodding at her brain, trying to get in, trying to learn everything
he could. But she would not let him in. She sits there, sobbing, tears
running down her face, noticing the boy was there but not consciously caring.
"Can you talk?" He asks her. When she doesn't respond
he pats her on the back and smiles slightly, "It'll be okay. I think there
may be a way out of here," He tells her. Her head pops up taking notice
of someone for the first time in . . . in a very very long time. "My powers
are still developing even with the Brain Trust still active. I think I
will be strong enough soon to make a hole in the wall. I want you to come."
"W. . . " her voice cracks and she coughs lightly
to clear her throat, "Why me?"
"You deserve your freedom." He looks around the
Pen, "More so then almost everyone in here. I have learnt of a place where
mutants are living in peace. It is called Avalon."
"Avalon?" Her voice is dreamy as her mind wanders,
imagining the possibilities that Avalon produces. She could be free, she
could be normal, if that is the word she is after.
"Yes, Avalon. It is in Europe. Just stay here, I'll
get you when it is time."
She nods and lowers her head to her knees once again
as the strange skinny boy walks off into the mass of people. Her mind travels
back to Avalon, the Avalon of her mind any ways. She imagines what life
would be like and then she falls asleep.
"'Tazia?" A familiar voice through the fog, "You
awake, luv?" his Australian accent cut through her dreams like a knife.
Her eyes flicker briefly and when they open she sees not Avalon, but the
Pens where she has spent the worst years of her life.
She raises her head and looks at the blond man covered
in third degree burns with half of his face was scarred and bubbling.
"'Tazia? Who was that?"
She opens her mouth and the Aussie looks at her
in shock, he had always thought her a mute, "Nathan Dayspring." She says.
"You . . . you spoke?" He said, it sounded like
a question but they both knew it was a statement.
"Yes." She says back in her dreamlike state. "Hope
. . . has been restored."
"Hope?" he asks, "Not to burst your bubble, luv,
but how can hope arise from so much despair?"
"Freedom," she states simply, "Freedom."
"We aren't free, 'Tazia. We're cooped up in these
Pens."
"We will be free. Summers knows a way out," It is
funny, she thinks, how a language you haven't used in years comes back
to you so suddenly once you decide to use it again.
"'Tazia," he says in a soothing tone, in a way that
he knows something is wrong. "Don't get your hopes up. Many people have
tired to escape the Pens, but none of them have succeeded. They ended up
in McCoy's gene pool. Is that where you want to end up?"
"It'll put an end to this suffering."
"You're right. One way or another we have to get
out of here. I think I know some others that can help us, but we won't
leave you here."
"I am leaving with Nathan." she tells him, sure
that he will take her with him.
"Yes, alright. Then we'll see you on the outside?"
the Blonde-man asks.
"Yes, Pyro. I'll be waiting in Avalon with a house
reserved just for you. And a life. And freedom." Pyro knew this tone well,
she was about to 'phase out' again, at least that is what he calls it,
the time when she is awake but unconscious. He watches as she drifts off
into one of her dream worlds. Once she is safely on her way he stands up
and heads off in search of Nathan Dayspring.
Pyro is on the opposite side of the pens when he
sees the man that people call Nathan Dayspring, or the X-Man as others
call him. He is lying on the ground, looking as though he was awakening
from a very bad dream, or perhaps a journey on the psi-plane. Pyro starts
to approach him. He plans on asking him to take a group of them out of
these pens. He gets within about thirty feet when he sees a man approaching
the boy, a man he, and everyone else in the Pens, would recognize.
"Come with me if you want to live." he hears Prelate Scott
Summers tell the boy. He reaches out his hand. Pyro steps back into the
shadows. "We haven't got much time. The infinite patrol could scan us at
any moment."
Summer's is going to take him to McCoy's Gene
Pool. Doesn't the kid know that? He thinks to himself.
"Who . . ." the boy stumbles over his words, "Who
are you?"
The boy doesn't know him? Is he daft? He may
actually put his life in the hands of the man in line to take Sinister's
place as a Horseman along side Apocalypse.
The X-Man turns and flees over bodies and
through the grimy water at his feet.
"Wait!" Prelate Summers calls after him.
"I don't know you!" the boy screams back, "Get AWAY
from me!" He runs in terror, not looking back. And then Pyro sees the most
amazing sight he has ever seen. Right in front of the boy the wall explodes
outwards sending slabs of brick and concrete into the outside world. No,
into the free world.
"Can't guess who you are -- Don't care why you're
helping me -- All I know is I AM OUTTA HERE!" He busts dives through
the hole made in the wall and falls, and falls, and falls. He never returns
to the pens. He sees the Prelate turn and leave.
I could report Summers and be handsomely rewarded
by Sinister, or even Apocalypse himself. But why would I turn in a man
who is risking his very genetic structure to save our worthless skins?
Pyro's head whirrs with thoughts, And what about 'Tazia? He didn't take
her. Not that he had much of a choice being forced out the way he was.
Then, Pyro knows what he must do.
He approaches the woman with the green skin and the
eye patch, her red hair contrasts the pastel tones of her skin as she speaks
with the short man with the long light brown hair. As he gets closer then
turn to watch his approach.
"Can we help you?" the green skinned woman asks.
"We aren't too fond of strangers." The short man
adds.
"My name is Pyro and I have a proposition."
"What do you have to offer us?" the woman asks,
a little curious.
"You have the power to get us out of here, at least
a portion of us any ways." Pyro informs her, she simply nods.
"Trying to escape would be a mistake." The short
man speaks up again, "The one called Thunderbird tried to escape last year
and was slaughtered by the infinite guard."
"Newt!" the woman snaps, "Let the man continue."
"Yes, Artemis," he responds.
"I have a . . . a friend who needs to get out of
here, she'll be dead soon. She doesn't deserve to die, not here any ways."
"A lot of people have died that don't deserve to.
So what does this have to do with me?"
"We want out. And we want you to lead us out."
Artemis nods. Newt shakes his head.
"Now, leave us. Meet us at this spot in one week's
time."
"A bloody week? She needs out now!" But he gets
no response. He knows that the conversation is over so he heads back to
where the left Phantazia. He pictures her smiling face as it would appear
once they reach Avalon.
"'Tazia. Are you there, luv?" He asks as he always
does in a soft, non obtrusive tone. She looks up at him and nods.
"Hello, Pyro. I assume you've come to tell me the
news?"
Pyro nods solemnly, "How did you --?"
"People have been speaking about it all day. Nathan
has left. No one knows if he made it out alive or not. Most think he is
genetic fodder in McCoy's experiments. Very few think he made it past the
infinite guards."
"I didn't come with just bad news, 'Tazia. There
is a bright side here."
"What good news could possibly be left?"
He inches closer so that his lips are less than
an inch from her ear and he whispers, "I have us a way out."
Phantazia's eyes widen and almost begin to glow,
"What?" she asks in disbelief.
"We're getting out of here, 'Tazia. Finally!" He
realizes he said this a touch louder than he should have.
"You're leaving?" a man asks from behind, he is
the only person in their area, the pen's have begun to thin out rapidly.
"I - I didn't say that." Pyro tells the man.
"Yes you did. You said that you were getting out
of here!" The man's eyes flicker with rage. "You're taking me with you.
And all of the others, my wife, and my friends."
"We can't take you all. But trust me, once we get
out we will send help. Once we find Magneto we'll get help and then everyone
will be free."
"No! I am going with you. I can't spend another
day in here."
"There isn't enough room. If we try and take too
many people they will catch us for sure."
"Then maybe you shouldn't go." 'Tazia was
back into her dream world tuning out the madness around her.
"I am going, I got this plan together."
"Then maybe she should stay," the man points to
Phantazia, "She wouldn't know if she was here or there any ways."
"It isn't her fault. That . . . that MONSTER
McCoy and Sinister took everything she had inside her. And she is
coming. She is the reason I developed this plan."
"Then I'll alert the Prelates. I am sure they would
just love to hear about this."
Pyro's eyes go wide in shock. He can't believe what
he is hearing. Can this man be so selfish? He places his hand on the man's
shoulders. "Look, mate. If you ever want to get out of here alive then
let us go."
The man's mouth opens, he manages to get out "PR--"
before his bellow for a Prelate is cut short when Pyro's hand erupts into
flames. He bears down on his teeth trying to keep from screaming as his
flesh starts to smoke and bubble. The man is suffering twice as much. He
tries to scream, but can't. It is only moments before the man falls to
the ground, dead, the grungy water along the floor hisses as it evaporates
under his flaming corpse. Pyro moans as he collapses to his knees cradling
his arm. He hated this. Every time he tried to use his power he would add
more burns to his flesh, and it stung like you wouldn't believe. He sat
there, in the grimy, dirty, filth ridden water cradling his arm for most
of the day.
The rest of the week is uneventful. The Rooks make their regular pass, Samuel Guthrie in the morning, Elizabeth Guthrie in the evenings while the infinite solders stood motionlessly outside the pens. Rumors had begun to fly about a renegade group of about one hundred prisoners that planned a jail break in the week to come. They would break out the pens and take the Guthries and the Infinities out by hand, and even the Prelates, Scott and Alex Summers, if they got involved.
Pyro finally managed to help Phantazia stand up from
the spot she had been sitting in since McCoy returned her empty shell of
a body to the pens. With his help she managed to hobble to the spot where
they were to meet Artemis and Newt. Once they arrived Pyro saw that another
man was there with them, he was the same height as Artemis and he had long
brown hair that was tied into a pony tail.
"Who's this?" Pyro asks.
"This," Artemis replies, "is Dominic. He has the
power to generate Seismic shocks, it is only with his help that we will
get out of here. Besides taking the rumored 'Underground Railroad'."
"I understand. Good to have you aboard, Dominic."
Pyro extends his raw, burnt hand but Dominic does not shake it.
"Forgive me, if I don't shake hands," he tells the
blonde Aussie.
"This, if Phantazia." Pyro says motioning to the
bald girl who was still trying to walk.
"I gathered that." Artemis states. "Are you all
ready for this? Once we start there'll be no turning back."
"I still think this is a big mistake. None of us
will make it out of here alive, Dayspring didn't."
"We don't know that, Newt." Artemis tells him. "Now
Dominic will blast us a hole to get through once we are out we get out
of here and into the Morlock Caves that should still run beneath this city."
"Morlock Caves?" Pyro asks.
"It's a long story, just follow us." She flashes
a glance at Newt, then nods to Dominic. The group of five heads for the
wall that they will blast though, the one closest to the outer perimeter
of the fortress. Dominic raises his arms. He can feel the Brain Trust in
his head, trying to shut down his powers, but he won't let them in, he
holds them back with everything that he has. His hands glow yellow and
release a force so powerful it may be able to take out Lord Apocalypse.
"Summers!" the voice comes in clear on the radio.
"Yes, Sinister?" Cyclops answers from his room.
"We have a group of runaway breaking out of Pen
39125. Please take care of this." Sinister orders him.
"Why not send the infinite guards? The Elite isn't
here to be sent after runaways."
"I do not want the infinite guards there.
I want Scott Summers, I want Cyclops there. And I want you to take the
rest of the Elite with you."
"Yes, sir!" Cyclops replies. He prepares for battle
after signaling the rest of the Elite, at least the little bit of it that
he needs. He waits by the motor-cycles for his brother, Havok, and Northstar
and Aurora. Once they assemble they head out to take care of the runaways.
Cyclops's mind reels as he is put in a situation he never wishes to face
[He is the leader of this so-called "Underground Railroad" and has been
freeing humans for years and continues until he is caught by his brother,
Alex (Havok) - courtesy of The Ultimate Factor-X (TPB)]
"Hurry! We've got to make it across the river before
dawn." Artemis tells them as they approach the edge of the island. The
yellow citadel rises about them, if this was another time, another reality,
another situation, they would probably admire the craftsmanship on the
sky scraper, but now they don't have the luxury of time.
"I'll follow you through hell, Artemis, if it gets
us off this cursed island." Pyro tells her. He has taken the point position
on the run, Artemis guiding him from the back.
"Don't know if I can keep up . . . feel weak . .
. " Phantazia stumbles slightly on her weakened legs but manages to regain
her balance before she can fall.
"Stay with us, 'Tazia. Be strong." Pyro wishes that
he could carry her, but he knows that would end in certain death.
"Leave her behind! She'll only slow us down!"
"Shut-up Newt. I'd sooner leave you behind you sniveling,
bow-legged --" Pyro's anger bubbles to the surface but is cut short.
"ENOUGH!" Artemis bellows back at them. "We
broke out of the pens together, and we'll see it though that way. We're
a team. For better or . . . " She stops as her eyes widen with the horrid
sight they had just seen, "worse." Before her the Prelate Scott Summer,
Cyclopes, and Prelate Alex Summers, Havok, sit on their motor cycles,
engines revving. Above them float Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie, Northstar
and Aurora.
"Voile, Jean-Paul, our prey have arrived." She points
out to her twin brother.
"I hope they resist, Jeanne-Marie." He replies with
an air of blood lust in his voice.
"Surrender, Artemis! You and your band of runaways
have nowhere to go!" Cyclops's voice booms with enough authority to mask
his deep feelings of guilt and betrayal.
"Why bother talking, Scott?" Havok's voice was cold
and heartless, "They're runaways. They might as well be Flatscans.
They're nothing."
"Cyclops!" Artemis bellows, "Blast it all, Sinister
sent the Elite."
"We'll be lucky if they kill us, Art." He turns
to the Elite, "Vampires! You talk about a brotherhood of mutants but you'd
eat your young if Sinister commanded!" He knocks them off of their feet
with another powerful seismic shock.
"Scatter!" Artemis orders, "Don't try to engage
the Elite in battle. Maybe one of us will make it." She takes off one way
while Dominic goes another, and newt in a third, Pyro refuses to leave
Phantazia so they go off together in a fourth direction.
"Why do you have to make this difficult?" Cyclops
asks releasing an optic blast towards the fleeing Dominic, "You know
you can't win." Dominic screams out in utter agony as the blast hits him,
ending his miserable life.
"Dominic!" Artemis screams. Without a second thought
she is off again.
"Stay behind me, 'Tazia." Pyro raises his arm and
allows it to ignite, his flesh bubbles again, "Nobody's lockin' us up ag
--" He tries to hold back the scream, but it is too much, he shrieks as
his arms burns. "This bloody well hurts." He yells.
"Pyro, stop!" Phantazia orders him, "Every time
you ignite you burn yourself!"
"Got no choice, sweet-heart. If I'm goin' down,
that arrogant black shirt goes with me." His fire detonates Havok's motorcycle
like a stick of dynamite.
Alex bails off and rolls to the ground, "I loved
that bike. Now you've got me mad, Aussie." Havok releases his energy,
pure, raw, uncontrollable power. Pyro doesn't stand a chance.
"Go to hell!" he manages to say before the blast
takes his life from him.
"I knew trying to escape," Newt starts to pant, "was
a mistake." He is low on breath and can't run much longer, "NORTHSTAR!"
He sees the man with white hair in the black suit hovering above him.
"Newt, you are a sorry excuse for a mutant. I do
not need to waste my energy on the likes of you." Jean-Paul Beaubier strikes
Newt with his left hand knocking him out cold. Newt, too, is down for the
count.
"I am insulted, that Sinister would send us to round
up these sad creatures, my brother." Aurora says, "We are the Elite, the
strong, not McCoy's half-breed infinities."
"No." 'Tazia stumbles and falls, she should have
waited longer, waited for her legs to strengthen. But would they have lasted
that long? Probably not. "I have . . . nothing left inside . . . the Beast
took everything."
"Pathetic."
"If you've and mercy . . . kill me now . . . but
don't take me back to the Pens." Jeanne-Marie Beaubier does not kill 'Tazia.
She does not believe in mercy. Survival of the fittest pretty much rules
out mercy. But she 'Tazia does not go back to the pens. She ends up, with
the rest of them, in McCoy's genetic soup. A fate worse than death.
Artemis's smart. She's heading into Washington
Square rubble. Plenty of places for her mutant camouflage ability to lose
me. Should've grabbed the infrared from my bi-- Cyclops is in mid thought
when Artemis's foot collides with his jaw-bone. Didn't see her
materialize until it was too late.
"Not all of us are ready to give up like Phantazia,
Summers. Some of us'd rather die on our feet than live on our knees."
"You should have stayed hidden, Artemis. You're
too weak to put up and fight." He pins her to the wall.
"I'm not surrendering to you or any other of Sinister's
lapdogs. I won't give you the satisfaction."
"I don't want to have to hurt you," The visor that
protects Cyclops's one remaining eye from releasing his uncontrollable
energy begins to glow.
"Awww. Your concern touches me, Summers, but you
should knew better. There's no place for compassion in Post-Apocalypse
America. All that's left is pain and suffering."
"You could've had it different, but you refused
Sinister's invitation. Now you've back yourself into a corner."
"Honey," she says, "These days we're all
against a wall." With that she pops a knife out of her sleeve, a moment
later Havok's energy blasts into her chest stopping her heart and releasing
all other bodily functions.
"NO!" Cyclops screams.
"So much for the Morlock." Havok says grabbing
the dropped blade.
"You didn't have to kill her Alex! I had things
under control."
"Dead or alive, what do you care? She was a rabbit.
Besides, McCoy can still take tissue samples from the body."
"You're cold Alex." The sorrow tone of Alex's brother
was dominant in his speech now.
"And you're getting soft, my brother. Maybe I should
have let her put this through you're ribs," he tosses the knife down beside
the body, "First law of Apocalypse. Survival of the fittest. I'm sure you
remember.