DISCLAIMER:
I do not own any of the Marvel character, and I'm
receiving no money for this and yada yada yada.
Chapter 1: The Wrath of
Slash
It had been a long six-month deployment as the aircraft
carrier U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower pulled into Norfolk Naval Base. Lieutenant Matt Kerns, commanding officer of
the Alpha company attached to SEAL Team 5, pulled all his gear onto his
shoulder, and made down the officer gangway. Known as Slash to his buddies in the team, he was a 6' 2", 230 pound
officer who was feared by non-SEAL's and praised by his buddies who served
under him in the team. But Slash had a
secret that only his SEAL brothers knew about: he was a mutant.
At
a young age, Slash had developed an eye for shooting. Under the "direction" of his father, Matt learned how shoot .22
by tearing apart tin cans. He was just
too good. Matt could hit a tin can at
two miles with a .22 without using a scope. In high school, Matt put this talent to use. He joined the Navy ROTC program at his high school in
Virginia. He always took the Excellent
Shot Award, and his uniform showed that fact. He could use any weapon, and make the shot count. It was here also that his superhuman
strength came out. When he started in
the ROTC, he was scarcely 110 pounds. As part of PT (Physical Training), they worked on wrestling to improve
hand-to-hand combat skills. His company
officer, who was a senior and also a wrestler on the school team (he was the
heavy weight competitor meaning that he weighed close to 300 pounds),
challenged this freshman to antagonize him. Expecting to crush Matt, it was the senior who found himself pinned and
torn apart. The senior was never seen
again.
After
high school, he went to the Naval Academy and became an officer. While practicing his basketball skills late
at night to relieve stress, Matt found himself hanging next to the rim. He had the ability to fly. All these skills he kept to himself, fearing
discipline for being a mutant. Fresh
out of Annapolis, Matt immediately applied for Special Warfare School in San
Diego, California. Hell Week buffed up
this young man into the real beast he became known for in the teams. Matt gained a reputation to be a hard hitter
in combat situations, hence his nickname Slash. He had been awarded multiple Silver Stars and once the Medal of
Honor for covert missions. When he took
command of his own company at Little Creek, VA (near Norfolk), he revealed his
secret to his men. At first, they were
scared of him. On their next mission,
it was his mutant powers that saved the team, and they learned to respect his
powers. It helped them become the best
SEAL unit in the entire Navy. But
everything was about to change…
A
SEAL is always on call. It is a 24 hour
job. So Matt had to return to Little Creek
before sending his men home for some R & R. They had to clean up, and get ready in case their country needed
them. Matt personally was looking
forward to getting home and seeing his beautiful wife Erin. Matt met her out at San Diego. She was a blind date of a friend at a
birthday party, and at first glance, Matt knew he met the one he was going to
marry. Before the end of the party they
were at, he proposed to her. They had
been married for over 10 years. Only
the SEALS and God came before Erin. Before he left to deploy on the Eisenhower, Erin told him how they
were going to have a child. Matt
couldn't wait to get home.
Strangely,
Erin hadn't come to meet him or call to explain why she hadn't come. He didn't want to bother his men with a
ride, so he signed out a Navy truck to go home. He cleared all his weapons with the armory and packed them into
his truck, along with his clothes and personal belongings. After being deployed so long, Erin never
minded that he brought his work home. His MP-5 submachine gun had seen a lot of action in the tight quarters
of the embassy. His Colt carbine had
seen action in the desert of Iraq. And
of course, he also used the M-88 McMillan sniper rifle over the course of the
deployment. As he left the base, he took
the picture of Erin out of his wallet and put it on the dash. He couldn't wait to see her again.
As
he pulled into his neighborhood, though, something seemed different. There wasn't the normal yellow ribbon
hanging from his neighbors' houses when he came home from deployment. Everything seemed so…dead. Then he got to his house. Matt slammed the brakes and stopped in
horror. His house was a smoking
wreck. The house had been completely
gutted. The ashes were still warm, yet
it appeared that there were no emergency personnel tending to the fire. He rushed into what was left of his bedroom
and found his wife Erin. She was badly
burned, and her motionless body moved around like a rag doll in his giant
arms. He took her out of the house, and immediately checked her over. She had a pulse, and slowly she came around.
"ERIN!!
ERIN!! TALK TO ME!" Matt was on the
verge of tears as he gently shook his wife.
"Matt…it's
good…I got to…see you…one…last…time…" Erin forced the words out.
"WHO
DID THIS???"
"Friends…of…Humanity."
"HOW'D
THEY FIND OUT???"
"Don't…know. But…now…I…get…to…say…..I…love…you…Matthew
Kerns…" She eyes rolled back into her
head, and Matt grasped his wife's now lifeless body in his arms, and wept
bitterly. After a few minutes, the neighbors
came out to see what all the commotion was about. But they weren't the same friendly people who had lived with him
for over 10 years.
"Now
look what you've done mutant." The
words his next-door neighbor spoke sounded like poison "You got her killed because you were a
filthy MUTANT!" Rage now filled Matt,
and just as he was about to snap the neck of his neighbor, multiple news teams
showed up to cover this breaking story of "mutant aggression." Matt quickly regained his composure, walked
calmly over to the Navy truck. With an
angry mob forming behind him, he pulled out the three guns he had planned to
use. He strapped the sniper rifle
across his back, and the Colt next to it. Keeping the MP-5 in his hands, he flew over the now hysterical crowd and
headed for the nearby Dismal Swamp to hide out a few days.