BLACK WINGS Chapter 22 - Embodiment by Justin Anderson
Saturday, February 22nd, 2003. 5:37 PM, Washington, D.C. "Yes, I understand that, Mister Richards, but look at it from our point of- is that so?" General Peterson said into the receiver, already angry. "I'm sorry, but no. No, we will not turn down Latveria's aid because you think we should. Maybe if you left him alone, he wouldn't even need to do half the stuff he's done. Goodbye!" 5:41 PM, Westchester The Blackbird landed, silently and slowly. Jake waited alongside Xavier and Cyclops. Storm exited the craft, joining them on the ground. Logan and Rogue followed. "Still no luck finding either Gambit or Nightcrawler," Logan said. "Just great," Jake shouted. "One of us goes missing, another former member has vanished, possibly related, possibly not." Jake headed for the mansion. Inside, he grabbed three envelopes. More pictures sent by Sabretooth. More men in suits, more men with mechanical arms. "Ah don't get it. What's this Omnitech up to, anyway?" Jake looked up. Rogue was examining one of the photos. "Well, Jonathan Screl was a complete nut, but he wasn't stupid. He knew what Omnitech was doing. Why they would have manufacturing facilities in a science lab, for example. And the stuff he stole just proved it. "They're building weapons to wipe us out. The newest business. We recovered a more advanced photon cannon a couple weeks ago from a few of them in New Mexico. One of those cyborgs, too. They could be a new type of Sentinel, smaller, more deadly with mechanical arms and no free will. Perfect killers. The old Sentinels didn't prove effective enough, I guess." "Wonderful," Rogue shouted. "And what's Carnage got to do with all this?" "He's a coincidence, basically," Jacob replied. "He got involved. If it wasn't for him, Omnitech may not have even been exposed." Rogue threw the picture down. "And why'd Magneto get involved?" she asked. "He explained it to me," Jake said. "Something about seeing himself in the creature. Who knows, maybe it was a good thing? I mean, Cletus Kasady became a freakin' hero because of Carnage, all of us did. He's... I don't know. Carnage is a walking embodiment of the dark side of all of us. He lets it out freely, and if we're not careful, we'll be just like him. Doesn't matter now, I guess. The symbiote's dead, and Kasady's clone is being executed tomorrow. It's over with." 7:23 PM, Washington, D.C. Cletus stared directly into the small bulb in the ceiling. He tapped his fingers on the steel floor. From the seams, a red liquid crept out, along his fingers. "It's about time you showed up!" he said. He began pounding on his cell door. A foot thick reinforced vibranium door, his beatings could barely be heard. The guard approached, however. The door was kicked outward, crushing the guard against the opposite wall. The door was mangled. "They thought they could keep me?" he said, picking the door up and tossing it at more guards. Armored guardsmen headed straight for him. "You thought you could keep CARNAGE locked away?" 10:27 PM, Manhattan The Blackbird landed on the hospital grounds. The place had been torn through. A path of destruction could be followed through the city straight inside. "There. Peterson said he escaped the Vault, hopped vehicles, made a route to the city," Jake explained. Tobias surveyed the damage. "Man, he's got the body of a sixty year old man, how much damage can he DO?" A car was tossed from the parking lot, landing only feet from him. "I'm shuttin' the hell up now," Tobias muttered. Cyclops searched for him. "Rogue, Storm, he can't reach you from above." "Uhh, yes, he can, Scott," Jake said. Carnage jumped from the parking lot, landing nearby. "The X-Men... eh, you'll do," he said. "Carnage! I'm gonna cut you up myself!" Logan shouted. "All these innocent people..." Storm said weakly. "That's the POINT, you retards!" Carnage shouted. "And the Black Wings isn't here to stop me." Cyclops blasted him. The ruby colored beam forced Carnage back, but he didn't react to it. Jake hammered him with photon bursts. Rogue flew at him, landing a punch that sent him flying across the parking lot, into the brick wall. She flew straight for him. "Rogue! NO!" Scott shouted. Jake ran for her. She began wailing on Kasady, as he laughed. He swung a blade. She caught it, the blade unable to cut her. "Heh?" Carnage grabbed her by the throat. "Fine, you won't cut, then I'll just break your nec-" Jake slammed the adamantium fist into Carnage's forehead. The force barely knocked him out. He drug Rogue back, barely dodging a hail of tendrils. "That was a stupid idea, Rogue!" Cyclops covered them with optic fire. Tobias readied flames, but Carnage jumped back before he could throw them. Carnage left, slipping into the night. 10:59 PM, Westchester. "Oh, it went well, Professor. Carnage probably killed, and this is my best guess, five hundred people, and he nearly killed Rogue, plus he escaped!" Jake said. "I'm going to bed, you can mull this failure over all you want." He stormed off. Xavier looked the others over. "He forgot ta mention how Carnage almost killed him," Rogue said. "I know, Rogue. Jacob is confused, he-" "I don't need to read his mind to know that!" she shouted. "I shoulda helped him. Stabbed that monster through the heart, been done with it, but I couldn't do it," Logan said. "He warned us to stay away," Scott said. "But why throw his life away for ours?" "That," Xavier replied, "is something I can not answer. Only he knows why." Sunday, February 23rd. 12:31 PM "What the hell?" the Black Wings asked. "I mean it, what the fucking HELL? SIX of you, and he gets away? Two of you shoot lasers, one has claws, one controls fire, two of you FLY, and he gets away?" Scott replied, "We're sorry, but-" "Shut it. Not interested." He puffed his cigarette. "He was gonna be dead today. And we have Omnitech moving out. Oh yeah, they're doing something big today, but I can't worry about that, because CARNAGE IS FUCKING KILLING PEOPLE! You handle Omnitech right now, you're the mutants. I'm putting so many bullets in Carnage's body they'll need a crane to pick up his corpse!" 8:10 PM, Manhattan Cletus checked the rooftops. He thought he'd seen Carnage several times. It was too dark. He heard a sound, spinning, his Ingram meeting the intruder. "Oh, you don't wanna shoot me just YET..." Carnage said. He drew in his symbiote. "You did this to me. Wrinkles, gray hair, but you couldn't kill me then. Besides, I know where you can find the president of this Omnitech corporation I've heard you're after!" "So?" the Black Wings asked. "Come on, I have every reason to see you kill me. You'll enjoy it, and that would do much more damage to you than I could. Besides, I bet there's gonna be a lot of people there. Lots of people I can kill, and I'd be doing you a favor in the process. And, if you don't follow me, I'll hack this city apart, so you'd better follow!" 8:47 PM, outskirts of Manhattan Carnage landed on a rooftop. The Black Wings joined him. "Here. We'll go in through that security door," Carnage explained, tearing the lock off. "Remember, I get first dibs on all kills." They ran in, pacing through the halls. "You get first kills, but no one important. Understand?" he asked. He received no response. Carnage was missing. "Perfect, he'll hack up everyone here before I get to ask any questions." He kicked open a large door. Men in suits surrounded him, guns trained. "Drop it, Mister Kasady. You can't get out of here." He complied, dropping the Ingram. "Don't even think about using those tendrils, we'll still shoot." 8:58 PM Cletus was tied to a steel chair. "I should've known better than to trust Carnage. He led me right into a trap." "Yes, I did," Carnage shouted, entering the room. "Only because aging isn't so permanent anymore," he said. He was once again a mirror image of Cletus Kasady. The advanced aging reversed, and the Black Wings knew why. "You sold me out," he said. "True... but..." Carnage sliced the ropes, grabbing the Black Wings. "What are you doing, Carnage?" one of them asked. "I said I'd bring him to you. Didn't say anything 'bout letting you KEEP 'im!" Carnage sprang, running from the guards. He made his way to the roof and through the darkness. 9:23 PM Captain America lit candles at the disaster site. War was pending. He held his vigil, hoping somehow that everything would turn out all right. He was unprepared for the Black Wings falling into the debris not far from where he was standing. Carnage landed soon after, picking the Black Wings up and punching him repeatedly. The crowds had begun to notice. "Carnage," Captain America shouted. "You leave him alone." "Or WHAT?" Carnage asked. He jumped, slamming his shield into the killer's face. Carnage laughed it off. "Oh, come on, you can do better than that! Cut my head off!" "No, Carnage, you will be taken back to prison!" Captain America replied. "This is what you represent? No wonder THIS happened, you won't fight back! You show no backbone! You won't eliminate the problem, you just hope to fix it! You JOKE!" Captain America punched him repeatedly, each hit doing no good. Finally, Carnage was knocked backwards. "Do it. Defender, you defend NOTHING! You're a joke, he's a joke, these TOWERS were a joke, and your country is a joke!" Captain America began losing his temper. He swung the shield, bashing it into Carnage's face repeatedly. The killer cackled, enjoying it. "Come on! You call this AGGRESSIVE? My DAD beat me harder, no wonder the Arabs kill you people so easily!" He'd had enough. Captain America raised his shield, prepared to send the edge down into the killer's throat. His arm was grabbed. "Don't do it! It's what he wants you to do!" Spider-Man held on until Captain America calmed down. "Oh, this is pathetic!" Carnage shouted. "I'm gonna go kill a few hundred people, Spider, come get me!" he said, immediately leaping away. Spider-Man immediately followed. Captain America sat on the rubble. The Black Wings had pulled himself up. "He's doing this on purpose. He'll kill us or turn us into killers..." Monday, February 28th. 3:11 PM, Westchester Xavier led Jake into the study. "This was delivered only minutes ago. General Peterson offered to make it, I thought you could use it," he explained. A black battle suit hung from the back of a chair. "It's made of the same bullet-proof material that is in the Black Wings's coat. Pants, a jacket with a panel to allow for your cannon to deploy, gloves, and a pair of steel-toed boots." The doorbell rang. Logan answered it. "Heard you were lookin' for me," Gambit said. Notes: Set within the Marvel universe, I will be using my own continuity, mixed with new characterizations for some established characters from Marvel's story universe. These stories are a sequel to my fiction series Maximum Carnage. Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and others are copyright Marvel Comics. Jack Arden, Raicaak, and others are copyright myself. Other characters appearing may be owned by separate parties. I make no claim of copyright on any character I do not own, only on these stories and those I do own. Characters used without permission/not for profit. These are strictly fan stories. Permission to reprint extends to placing this text, unaltered, elsewhere online. It may not be altered, and especially NOT TO BE SOLD, unless Marvel wishes to license this series from me. Black Wings song and lyrics copyright Tom Waits.