I'M DYING 4: FLU MISERIES
Chapter 7
"The mutant that Michaela created has broken loose. And it's headed this way." Magneto sounded quite grave as he passed on the news.
"When did he break out?" Xavier asked.
"It. Not he, it. There's no indication that this thing
has a mind."
"Except for the fact that 'it' remembered who we are, and figured out
where to find us."
"We don't know that."
"Does he know that his mother is . . . dead?"
"I don't think so."
"God help us when he finds out."
"God help us, indeed. We've only got half the personnel we needed to take him down last time . . ."
Meanwhile, the creature in question was just outside the Bayville city limits. It lumbered towards the ruins of Michaela Sandoval's old laboratory . . . the only home he/it had ever known. Its chief thoughts were of its creator....
Mother . . .
She'd never bothered to give him a name. She'd been too busy thinking of how to
improve him. However, she had been infected with Virus 10 before she could ever
see him again. So he had no idea what had happened to her . . .
He continued to lumber forward....
Suddenly there were noises all around him. He swung around and nearly crushed a police cruiser.
Dozen of guns aimed at the monster and a voice yelled, "Fire!"
The creature barely felt the bullets. He shrugged them off and kept going. Nothing was going to keep him from his home now . . . nothing.
He tore the door off its hinges, and searched frantically only to find no one had been there for some time.
If the creature could have understood the concept of grief, he might have wept for the loss of his creator.
At the Mansion, the report on the creature's "attack" was on the news.
In fact, at that very moment, Professor Xavier was conferring with Mystique via video monitor. "It appears Michaela Sandoval is lashing out at us from beyond the grave." he said.
"That monster has to be destroyed," she urged him.
"Not necessarily. It may be possible to--"
"Please tell me you're not going to try and recruit that thing!"
"...talk it into ending its violent acts," he finished.
"It can't understand! It doesn't have the intelligence!"
Xavier could see that Mystique was terrified. "Even if he does come here, he won't get past the security systems."
"I hope you're right," Mystique said, "but still . . . do you think we should move the children?"
"It's probably risky in their present condition," Xavier said, "but we may have to."
It was rare when Mystique felt fear, but she remembered the last time she and that creature had met, and it wasn't pretty. She'd almost been killed....
"Maybe if we split up," she suggested, "it won't know which way to go."
"Good idea."
So Xavier and Mystique set to work trying to find the Sandoval mutant (who really needed a name) . . . while at the same time trying to keep their respective charges safe.
Meanwhile, Magneto had gone down to visit the children.
At least, as much visiting as you can do on the other side of an airtight door.
Pietro and Wanda were glad to see him.
"Get me out of here!" Pietro demanded.
"I take it you're feeling better," his father said.
"Well . . . kind of . . ."
"Kind of?"
"His fever's gone up again," Wanda said. "Not as bad as it was last time, but . . ."
Magneto got the picture.
"We may be moving you," he said, though he wouldn't say why.
"What about Xavier's crew?" said Pietro.
"I don't know about them yet."
"Mom? That you?" Toad moaned. Clearly, Toad was not in his right
mind....
Quarantine be damned, Magneto decided. He wasn't about to
let Wanda take on the burden of caring for four sick teenagers all by herself.
Before anyone could stop him, he'd opened the airlock door and slipped inside.
"Now, let's take a look at you," he said, starting with Wanda herself.
"Daddy," she protested, "I'm fine!"
"Think again . . ."
And despite her strong objections, she let him finish the
examination.
"Well?" she asked, when he was done. "I don't have it, do I? If
I did, I would know."
The look he gave her was not reassuring. "I'm afraid you do have it."
Wanda froze. "But I can't! I don't have any
symptoms!"
"You do have . . ." Magneto was suddenly interrupted by a voice over
the intercom.
"What's going on in there?"
"It's Wanda." Magneto replied. "She's been infected."
"I have not!" Wanda protested.
"How bad is it?"
"Hello? I said I'm fine!"
"No, you're not. You're almost as sick as Pietro."
"I am not!" Then the room started spinning around . . . and she collapsed.
"What was that?" came the voice from outside.
There was no reply from within, because Wanda was out cold
and Magneto was trying to revive her. He moved her to the only remaining empty
bed. He then called Xavier and informed him of the situation.
"So we can't move them right away."
"Unfortunately not, Charles."
"We're bringing the defensive systems on-line right
now--" Xavier said, before an alarm went off.
"What's that?" he asked Logan.
"Intruder on the premises."
"Is it--?"
"Nah. Not big enough. I'll go out and handle it."
Logan suited up and started
scanning for the unwelcome guest.
He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye.
No time to be subtle. He sprang at the intruder . . .
. . . who turned out to be a sixteen-year-old boy. "Aaaaahhh!"
"Sorry, kid, thought you were someone else."
"You greet all your guests like this?"
"Only the very special ones."
The kid pulled himself to his feet. "I'm Marco."
"Hmm."
Dusting himself off, Marco said, "I'm supposed to report to Professor Xavier for orientation...do you know where he is?"
"Inside. C'mon, let's go."
With that, Marco followed Wolverine to Xavier's office, where Professor Xavier himself was following reports of the monster's rampage.
"We got a new student, Charles," Logan said.
Marco noticed the troubled look on the professor's face.
"Something wrong?" he asked. "If this is a bad time . . ."
"No, not at all," the professor said. Marco
noticed how pale and drawn he looked.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
The professor turned down the monitor and said, "It's .
. . nothing. Slight touch of food poisoning. I'll get over it."
"Food poisoning? That could be serious. Here, let me help." Marco put
both his hands on Xavier's back.
No one had asked what Marco's powers were. But they wouldn't have to wait long to find out.
