Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men, or any of its original characters. Nor do I have any type of claim to those characters. However, the characters of my creation belong to me, and cannot be used without my permission.
Broken Hearts of Hope
(Unlikely Heroes Part III)
By
Moonchampion
The Brotherhood stood at the end of the alley, gazing at the threat before them. A young mutant clone of Magneto, called Joseph hovered above the ground, with all sorts of metal objects under his control. Above the alley hovered a series of garbage cans, and in the center was a large Dumpster. Finally, Joseph began his attack. The Dumpster was thrust forward first. Fred stepped up, and braced himself for the impact. The Dumpster crashed into him like a runaway train. It drove Fred back against the wall. Fred pushed with all his strength against Dumpster, and held it in place.
Unsatisfied with the resistance the Blob was putting up against his assault, Joseph waved his hand across the air. A pair of manhole covers rose from the ground. And with the flick of a finger, the manhole covers soared through the air like Frisbees. The manhole covers crashed into Blob's ribs on both sides, knocking the air from the boy's lungs. Suddenly, he could no longer keep the Dumpster in place, and found himself trapped against a brick wall and the Dumpster. After a few seconds, Blob slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Fred?!" called Todd, astonished that the Blob had been put down so easily. "Whoa! This guy means business, yo!"
"He hasn't seen anything yet," said Lance. Lance stepped forward, and began to concentrate. His eyes began to roll back into his head as the ground began to shake. "Wanda! Put a hex on his powers!" Wanda held her hands up, which began to glow with a blue aura. Suddenly, Joseph fell to the ground and the garbage cans that had hovered in the air all clattered to the ground. Suddenly, the bricks from the neighboring buildings began to fall and land on top of Joseph, burying him beneath the rubble.
"I've got her!" said Pietro pointing towards Tanya. He dashed towards Tanya, but as he did, he only saw a bright flash of energy grow around her. The next thing Pietro saw, was himself on a collision course with a trash can lid. Unable to stop, Pietro's ran directly into the lid. His head snapped back, as his momentum continued to carry him forward. Pietro landed on the ground a few feet directly on his back and out cold.
"How did she do that?" called Wanda as she stepped towards Lance who was looking in awe as well. The trash can lid that Pietro had been holding was in the hands of Tanya. She smiled at both of them, before she was enveloped in another bright flash of energy. "She disappeared!" exclaimed Wanda as she and Lance looked around the alley. "Is she a teleporter?"
"Not exactly," said a voice from behind. Wanda turned around to feel and only saw a trash can lid come slamming down on her head. Wanda grasped her head, and fell to the ground. She tried to get up, but Tanya put her foot on Wanda's back and pushed her back onto the ground. "I didn't teleport… I moved through time. I simply went to a time that you weren't standing here… moved behind you… came back to the present… and well, you have a pretty good idea of what happened next."
"Well, you're gonna you stayed where you were," said Lance. Lance raised his hand into the air and the ground began to shake again. However, Lance found himself distracted by a familiar hum. He looked up to see the fire escape railings on the building shake before ripping off the wall, and tying wrapping around him.
"Lance!" said Todd. He turned to see Joseph walking towards him to stand next to Tanya. Todd seized Marty's hand. "We gotta go!" Todd leapt up into the air, onto the fire escape, ignoring the missing railing, but leaping to the top of the building.
"What about your friends?" asked Marty.
"We'll come back," said Todd. "Right now, we gotta…." Todd stopped in his tracks as he saw a bright flash of light. Once the flash faded, Tanya and Joseph were standing in front of him. "Aw man."
"Give up," said Tanya. "There's nowhere for you to run. Once I see where you're going, I can just go into the future and be waiting for you. It's over."
"Not quite," said a voice. All the heads snapped in the direction of the voice to find Magneto standing on the roof. He started walking towards them. Tanya gasped and turned towards Joseph. Suddenly, a second Magneto appeared on the roof… and a third… after a matter of seconds, the roof was filled with Magnetos.
Tanya looked around her, and then began to laugh. She looked towards Marty, who had her eyes closed. "It's an illusion, Joseph. None of these Magnetos are real!"
Suddenly, the Magneto that had been approaching them wrapped his hands around her neck and began to squeeze. "Do I still appear to be an illusion?" he asked her. Joseph prepared to come to Tanya's aid, but immediately felt a glob of green goop cover his face. He grasped at it to get it off, but couldn't pull it off. Suddenly, Todd leaped into the air, and drove his feet into Joseph's back. Joseph fell onto the rooftop, still pulling at the goop.
"Good night, Miss Trask," said Magneto. However, as the sentence ended the voice changed. Tanya felt a needle pierce her skin. The grip around her throat was released. Tanya opened her eyes to see not Magneto standing there, but Mystique. However, her vision quickly began to blur as she fell onto the rooftop with into darkness.
Mystique turned to face Todd. "M-M-Mystique?" stuttered Todd. "I-I-I can explain!" he said.
Mystique cast her eyes from Todd onto Marty. "Get out of here, before she wakes up," said Mystique. Taking her advice, Todd grabbed Marty and headed back down the fire escape to check on his friends. Once they were out of sight, Mystique turned towards Joseph who was still trying to free himself from the goop. "Relax… you're almost as impatient as your genetic donor." Mystique inserted the needle into Joseph's leg, and suddenly the struggle ended. Mystique stood tall and smiled, before turning to leave Tanya and Joseph alone on the rooftop.
***
"Are you sure you have to leave?" asked Todd. "I mean… we could protect you and all." Todd sighed as he saw the look on Marty's face. Then, he heard the train whistle signal its last call.
Marty looked towards the train and then back at Todd. She tried to smile, but found it difficult as she saw the look of disappointment on his face. "I have to, Todd. I'm… I'm sorry. Besides, I couldn't ask you and your friends to keep risking you lives like you did to save me."
Todd sighed. He looked into Marty's eyes, and knew that she was right. However, there was so much that he wanted to tell her, but couldn't find the words. Todd looked to the floor, but felt Marty's hand lift his chin. As he looked into her eyes, the scene around them began to fade. Everything became black and white. Todd was dressed in a trench coat and wearing a fedora. He quickly recognized it as a scene from the movie, "Casablanca."
"Yo, you're getting' on that train, Marty. If you don't you'll regret it, you know. Maybe not today… maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your…" began Todd, and then he sighed. "Aw, who I'm I kiddin'? I'll regret it if you do leave."
"No you won't," said Marty. "Because some day… I'll come back." Marty leaned in and kissed Todd gently on the lips. The scenery around them then began to fade back to the train station. As they pulled away from each other, Marty wiped a tear from her eye and stepped on the train. Todd found Marty again staring out a window as the train began to pull off. He waved after her, and she did the same, until they were out of each other's sight.
"Don't worry, Todd," said Lance as he put his arm on his friend's shoulder. "She said she'd be back."
"Yeah," said Pietro. "And until she gets back, we'll keep ya company." Pietro reached over and ruffled Todd's hair.
"Wow… lucky me," said Todd as he turned and left the station with his friends.
***
The door swished open and Tanya stepped into her father's office. He was sitting in his chair, gazing out the window at the Sentinel being produced below. "Daddy! Daddy!" she called. "There were more mutants in Bayville than we thought! I didn't get the target, because of them, but with reinforcements I can bring them all in, and…."
Dr. Trask turned in his seat to look at his daughter. He held up a hand to silence her as he stood. "You failed, Tanya. You don't get a second chance."
"What?" she asked surprised. "Dad, we weren't expecting this type of resistance. We're ready now. Just give me an hour, and I promise…."
Dr. Trask sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Tanya… more than you know." Suddenly, the doors to Trask's office opened and several soldiers stepped into Trask's office. "I am, however, pleased that you identified more mutants… and even brought one back."
"What are you talking about?" asked Tanya. "I didn't bring a prisoner back with me. What mutant are you talking about?"
Trask looked his daughter in the eyes and sighed. "You," said simply. As the word slipped from, he could see the color drain from his daughter's face.
"Daddy, I can explain," she said.
"Yes, but…" began Tanya. However, she stopped talking as Joseph cried out and was encased in a green gel substance that quickly hardened. Tanya noticed an orb that had just fired the gel substance at Joseph, and turned to face her daughter. "Daddy, please! Don't! I'm your daughter! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Tanya's voice was silenced as the orb fired the same gel at her. Her last movement was reaching for her father to hold her, with tears in her eyes.
Dr. Trask stared at his daughter… his little girl. The pain that was on his face, disappeared as he took a deep breath. "I have no daughter," he whispered to himself. He nodded to the soldiers that had stepped into his office. "Get these… mutants out of here." The soldiers stepped forward and grabbed the both Joseph and Tanya, now imprisoned within the hardened green gel.
Trask turned towards one of the soldiers. "Assemble a team to acquire our test subject. Surveillance has informed me that he has entered the sewers. I believe we can use that to our advantage." The soldier nodded and turned to leave. Trask took a seat behind his desk as the door shut. He looked onto his desk and saw a picture of himself and his daughter, who was standing behind him. She had her arms wrapped around his neck as she stood behind him, and both were smiling. Trask reached for the picture, stared at it a few seconds, and finally tossed it in the trash can.
Trask then turned in his chair, and watched silently as production of the Sentinel prototype continued. "My entire family has been taken away by mutants," he said softly. "I'm going to make sure that it doesn't happen to anyone else."
THE END.
