Rise of the Mystic Mutants The Tale of Henry John Braddock

Chapter 1

Fourteen-year-old Henry John Braddock soared through the air, an egg-shaped blue aura around his body. He glanced at the night sky, marveling at the number of stars twinkling in the darkness.

"Remember, Reaper," a voice sounded from the earpiece in his left ear, "your mission is to acquire the Hyde formula from Calvin Zabo. According to our Intel, he is currently in transit to Rikers Island."

Henry said nothing, his dark green eyes locked forward as he soared over the New York City Port, his gaze locked on the docks. He tensed as a bus pulled up.

Men in black uniforms emerged from the bus, taking up positions at each end. Each held a single barrel shotgun in their gloved hands, their heads on a swivel as they surveyed for danger.

"Remember, do not be seen; if you try to escape, the collar around your neck will explode."

Henry's left hand drifted to the thin collar around his neck, its weight suddenly a little bit heavier.

Landing on the roof of the building across from the docks, Henry crouched down, his mind running through his options. He was to remain unseen, which meant telepathy, but that could leave him vulnerable.

The smell of salty sea air filled his senses as blue energy flared to life around his hands, quickly coalescing into a sniper rifle. His body tensed at the light show his power gave off, and his breath stilled in his chest as he listened, straining his ears to hear beyond the lapping of the water.

"Did you see that?" One of the guards below asked.

"See what?"

"A blue light."

Henry's heart beat a little faster, his muscles tensed, and the hairs on his body prickled.

"I don't see anything."

"Sorry, I guess I've been working too many hours."

"Bring out the prisoner."

Releasing a breath, Henry raised his rifle to his shoulder. Peering through the scope, he poured his intent into the weapon. The bullet needed to search out the required information and send it back to him.

A man in a grey jumpsuit slowly moved off the bus, the chains around his wrists and ankles clinking together.

The eye peering through the scope dilated as he cataloged the man's appearance.

He was 5'11" tall, 185 lbs. thin, with gray hair and brown eyes.

This match the description of Calvin's Zabo when he wasn't his alter ego, Hyde.

Peering through the scope, Henry breathed. On his next exhale, he leveled the rifle at Zabo's head. As the man turned his head towards the docks, he squeezed the trigger.

Since it wasn't an actual firearm, it made no sound. The barrel flashed, and Zabo stumbled, drawing the guard's attention.

For a moment, Henry froze, the composition of Calvin's formula filtering into his mind.

"Shots fired, shots fired!"

"They're on the roof."

"Check and secure the prisoner."

Henry shook his head, his rifle dispersing back into Psionic energy. Staying low, he moved towards the other end of the roof, his left hand pressing the earpiece, "Mission accomplished, I'm returning now."

"Roger, send the information to Relay in case of your capture."

Henry's hand curled into a fist; Relay was the codename they gave his mother. Releasing a breath through his nose, he relaxed his hand, slowly allowing his eyes to close, "Heard."

Reaching out with his mind, he passed into the astral plane, searching for the familiar mental touch of his mother.

'Henry,' his mother called, 'why are you holding still? You know better than that; keep moving.'

Eyes still closed, he rose to his feet and moved towards the edge of the roof, sending pulses of telekinetic power through the soles of his feet to see his surroundings.

'I have the formula from Calvin Zabo.'

'Good, I relay the information to the scientist and send a copy to Madalyn.'

'You still haven't told me what you guys are doing.'

'It's better if you don't know until the time is right.'

"It's not like I'm gonna tell anyone," Henry muttered as he reached the roof's edge. Sending Psionic power through his limbs, he leaped from the roof, bending his legs as he impacted the ground. Glancing around, he sprinted forward, disappearing in a blur of motion.

–XX –

The body of Madalyn Ruth Evans sat cross-legged on her couch, dressed in blue pajamas, her red hair cascading over her shoulders. The symbols she had carved into her coffee table over ten years ago glowed brightly.

–XX –

Alab materialized around Madalyn as she stood in the astral plane with Lily Grey Braddock. Over the last fourteen years, she had learned much from the woman and taught her much in return.

With Lily's help, she learned that she could shape the astral plane using her ability to manipulate creation energy to make anything she needed.

Tables fell from above, each one containing chemicals and tools.

"It's done," Lily spoke, her eyes glowing a bright green, "Henry has transferred me the formula, and he's on his way back."

Madalyn winced as the knowledge was downloaded into her mind. Moving to a steel table packed with chemicals, she began selecting the one she would need to create the Hyde formula, "I'll get started then, but you still haven't told me why we're doing this."

"A Hydra base not far from us is also working on human weapons. Both bases must be taken down simultaneously to keep them from picking up where the other left off."

Holding a beaker up to the light, Madalyn gently swirled her wrist, slowly mixing the contents. "Okay, but why do we need the Hyde formula?"

"At this Hydra base, a young girl named Laura Kinney is being raised like Henry to be a weapon; I want her to be free, but if I leave things as they are, the director of the facility, a man by the name of Zander Rice, will have Laura's mother, Sarah, killed, and make Laura do it by using a chemical called trigger scent, that sends Laura into a berserker rage."

Madalyn lowered the beaker from the light and set it to the side. She grabbed another and began mixing a new collection of chemicals. "So, the Hyde formula is for Sarah to help her better protect her daughter."

"Yes."

"From what I see here, this formula will diminish the user's intelligence, and the person's strength will fluctuate depending on how much serum has built up in their system."

Lily nodded, her thumb and pointer finger resting on her chin, "that's what I gathered from the knowledge Henry recovered," a slow smirk curled her lips, "I was hoping you knew how to improve the serum."

Madalyn raised an eyebrow, "Is that a challenge?"

"Let's see how you've grown."

Over the next two hours, Madalyn mixed the combinations of chemicals created in a particular pattern. When all the chemicals were mixed in an hourglass-shaped beaker, she formed a fire of destruction with her right hand, tuned to destroy the unwanted side effects of the serum.

Sitting the beaker on top of the flame, she waited for it to begin to bubble while thinking about the past fourteen years. Lily had helped her realize that her powers of creation, destruction, reconfiguration, and transmutation were conceptual. They didn't have to follow the natural laws of reality and were subject to her desires.

She realized she had been using them in a restrictive way. With Lily's help, she learned to alter her body where her cells made near-perfect copies of themselves, functionally giving herself eternal youth.

In exchange, she taught Lily how to tap into the free-flowing cosmic energy that made up magic in her universe. She was surprised to find that Lily's people tapped into the energy of creation for magic.

The only one she had heard of doing that was Giovanni Zatara, and he had left Eden village centuries ago to search for a way back to his home dimension.

Their way of using magic was different than her ability to use creation energy, destruction energy, reconstruction, and transmutation. While she produced the energies she worked with in a finite amount, the energies that Lily's people tapped into to use magic were left behind by whatever force created the universe and was vastly more potent.

As the Hyde formula turned from a pale green to clear, Madalyn removed it from the flame. Tightening her grip around the neck of the beaker, she closed her eyes, "Reconfiguration."

The beaker flashed with gray light and broke down into the components that made up the chemicals that created the serum. Slowly, in this place of possibility, Madalyn began reconstructing the serum into its best possible version, using creation to fill in the gaps.

Lily moved forward behind Madalyn, placing her hand on the woman's back; she began funneling formulas from other scientists into Madalyn's mind.

More chemical combinations appeared in the air as Madalyn worked. Before long, the original formula had faded as other compounds from the more successful super soldier formulas took its place.

Time faded away as the two stood like this, but eventually, Madalyn lowered the beaker. It slowly morphed into a vial filled with clear liquid; specks of silver floated within it.

Madalyn's shoulders sagged as she opened her eyes. Dark circles decorated the pale skin beneath, "it's done."

Removing her hand from Madalyn's back, Lily backed away, "Good, now get some rest."

"I'm not going to argue with that," Madalyn replied, a small smile on her lips, "but before I go, how are you going to get that to Sarah? More importantly, how will you get her to take it?"

"I have my ways, and you would be surprised what a mother will do for her child." Plucking the vile from Madalyn's hand, Lily turned on her heel and vanished.

Madalyn stared at the spot where Lily had been. The past fourteen years hadn't been easy on the woman.

First, her home world went to war with alien races, the Skrull and the Kree. Then she lost her husband. In despair, she cast a spell, bringing a cosmic force known as the goblin force into her body. With its power, she decimated the enemy fleets until a Kree warrior attacked her with a sword imbued with the goblin force's enemy, the Phoenix force.

The two forces battled with her body as the battleground, resulting in both energies being forced from her body. Seeing what Madelyne had done, the Kree and Skrull work together to destroy the earth. Just before she was about to die, Lily was pulled here with her unborn son.

When she arrived here, her son was taken from her along with her body. Now, she could only touch her son in the astral plane. "What will you do once Henry is free?" Madalyn asked the air; there was no response.

Shaking her head, she disappeared.

–XX –

Henry floated cross-legged above the concrete floor of his room.

Bright green Psionic energy appeared in his room, coalescing into Lily Grey Braddock. She took a moment to take in her son's living arrangements.

The room was a small 5 x 10 rectangular room with a thick metal door and bars over the windows. A bed hung from one wall; a toilet sat in one corner. A sink sat between the bed and toilet.

Lily's jaw flexed, 'I tire of my son being a prisoner,' her gaze settled on the collar around his neck, "no, he's worse than a prisoner; he's a slave."

It took all of her might not to destroy the facility around her, but she knew that other operatives would take their place if she did. That's why she had the plan; she needed to put the two factions against each other so they would spend their resources fighting one another instead of looking for their lost assets.

Henry's eyes slowly opened, his pupils glowing with a pale blue light, "Hello, mom." Uncrossing his legs, he allowed himself to drop to the floor. Rubbing his hands against his black sweatpants, he moved forward.

"Is it time for our training already?" He asked as he stretched his arms across his chest, causing his grey sweatshirt to rise slightly, revealing a muscled stomach.

'At least they make sure he is healthy,' Lily thought, watching him stretch. "No, I need you to do me a favor."

Moving over to his bed, Henry sat down, "What?"

Lily stretched forth her right hand, opening it to show Henry the vial within, "I need you to teleport this to someone through the astral plane."

His eyes narrowed, and he reached out with his senses, trying to fill the psychic energy to make sure that it was his mother, "I thought you wanted me to keep that a secret and ace in the hole you said."

Lily nodded as she felt his psychic touch, "I did say that, but this is all part of my plan to help you leave and be free and clear once you've left, to make sure they never come after you again."

Finding nothing, Henry reached for the vial. As the glass touched his skin, he tilted his head to the side, glancing at his mother, "there's magic on the glass."

Lily stepped forward, "Yes, there is, now, don't be nosy." She placed a hand on his shoulder.

Henry relaxed as he felt their minds touch; it was reminiscent of his time in the astral plane, the only place he was safe. Information on a woman, Sarah Kinney, filtered into his mind what she looked like, her psychic impressions, her address. He placed his free hand over the vial, closed his eyes, and reached out in an unseen direction.

This would be the first time he teleported anything. He knew the mechanics and instinctively knew he could do it, but knowing and doing were two different things.

In the distance, he felt the astral shift, and a blue light shone between his clasped hands. When he drew his hands apart, the vial was gone.

Lily turned her head, staring into the distance, "It's there," her voice had a faraway quality to it, "right where I wanted it to land." She turned to him, a proud smile spreading across her face, "good job, now let's continue your studies in the astral plane."

Henry shifted to lay flat on the bed, "How do you know it's there? I know you're powerful, but I don't think you can see things from a distance."

Lily's eyes twinkled, "I possessed a bird and set it near her window."

Henry nodded, laying back; he allowed his eyes to drift closed.

Lily stared at him for a long moment. Reaching out a hand, she gently stroked his hair, "Soon, Henry, you will be free." She continued to stroke his hair as she faded into the astral plane.

–XX –

As a pale blue flash filled the room, Sarah Kinney sat up, her dark hair pooling to her shoulders as her usual bun became partially undone. Blinking, she tried to open her eyes, squinting as her green orbs adjusted after the flash.

Twisting her body out of bed, she threw away her white comforter and gray sheets as she looked around the room. Her pulse quickened as she turned on the lamp, her gaze flicking to every corner. Had the facility found out what she had planned, had they finally come to kill her?

With a shaky hand, she grabbed the glass of water on her night table. As she lifted it to her lips, her eyes drifted down to the wooden furniture, and she froze.

Sitting beside the water ring, her glass left behind was a vial of clear liquid. Silver flecks sparkled within the liquid in the lamplight.

Slowly she lowered the glass, reached out, and picked up the vial. Strange markings danced along the glass as energy flared from the vial. On instinct, Sarah threw it away; it bounced along her white carpet, slowly transforming into a syringe.

I should've expected that.

Sarah's head snapped to the side. Standing at the end of her bed was a woman formed from bright green energy.

"You're the woman from my dreams!"

The woman inclined her head, "That's right, my name is Lily Grey Braddock."

Lily was the woman that showed her things in her dreams, the plans Zander Rice had for Laura, what he planned to do with her, and what Laura's life could be like without her.

She looked away from the woman. A part of her wanted to call the woman a liar, but she knew Zander Rice didn't like that Laura was developing emotions; he also didn't like how close they were getting. To him, Laura was a means to an end, a way to make a profit. To her, she had become her daughter.

She didn't think she could love anyone after what her father had done to her, but carrying that child for nine months, watching her grow, and the pain she endured changed that. She wanted a better life for the child that shared her blood than what she experienced.

She turned back to the woman, her eyes hard, "What do you want?" she gestured at the syringe on the carpet, "and what is that?"

"This," Lily began bright green energy outlining the syringe as it lifted off the carpet and floated back to Sarah, "is a way for you to protect your daughter. It's a way to give you the strength to survive an attack from Laura if the worst happens before our plans come to fruition."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

Lily sighed, which was funny to Sarah since energy made up her form, "it's a new variant of the super soldier formula, created by an ally of mine."

"How can I trust you? How can I trust what you showed me?"

"If I wanted you dead, you would be dead, Laura has already been born, so there's no point in me trying to kill you to sabotage the project. I'm doing this because I have a child to save. As a mother, I can't in good conscience leave Laura in the same position as my child, but if it comes down to it, I won't risk Henry's freedom for Laura."

'So,' Sarah thought, 'her son's name is Henry.' She glanced at the syringe floating in the air, "You trust the woman that created this?"

Lily inclined her head, "She has her reasons for wanting our facility destroyed."

Sarah grabbed the vial, placing the needle against a large vein in her left forearm; she stared at Lily. She didn't fully trust the woman, but she had made some good points. If there were even a chance this helped her escape the facility alive to be with her daughter as she grew, she would take it.

"If something goes wrong…."

"I will do my best to get Laura out," Lily finished. Despite what she said to Sarah, Lily knew if her son found out about the other facility, he would want to rescue Laura for no other reason than to remove more people like the ones that hurt him from the world.

Nodding, Sarah inserted the needle and pushed down the plunger, wincing at the pinch of pain. For a moment, nothing happened, then her back arched, she curled in on herself and fell to the floor. Veins bulged out across her body, glowing with a Silverlight.

A black substance began to ooze from her pores and pool on the carpet as she shuddered. Bones shifted beneath her skin, and muscle bulged.

Lily watched it all, never blinking, wanting to remember this moment when something new was born into the world. Unlike other super soldier serums, this optimized a person's DNA before enhancing it; the black substance on the carpet was discarded DNA and impurities pushed from the body. By sunrise, a new Sarah Kinney would walk the world.