BLACK WINGS Chapter 23 - Losing Battle by Justin Anderson
Monday, February 24th, 2003. 10:04 AM, Westchester "Professor, I just thought'a somethin'," Rogue said. "Yes? What is it, Rogue?" "Isn't that Carnage supposed to be some sort of living skin the guy wears?" Xavier pondered the question. "Why do you ask?" "'Cause he grabbed me by the neck, and I didn't absorb anything from him!" 10:28 AM "Hmm... Jacob, look at this," Beast said, handing the report over. Jake studied it. "Nothing... which in this case, raises a couple questions. Rogue, you absorb the living energy from ALL living creatures?" he asked. "Yeah," she replied. "Well, not all. The blood screen shows nothing. No symbiotic fragments. And you say you didn't feel anything? Hrm... well, we should keep a careful watch on you, make sure you didn't absorb his personality. I don't know, it's something we should look into, maybe his symbiote's mutating, maybe there's a limit to your abilities." "What we all discussin' in here?" Gambit asked. "Carnage tried to kill Rogue. We were trying to determine why she could not absorb his energy when she touched the symbiote," Xavier explained. "Carnage messed with the wrong people. He messed with me, and that's a mistake he'll regret." Wednesday, February 26th. 2:53 PM "Professor, would the Blackbird be too hard to learn to fly?" Jake asked. "I do not doubt you could learn how. You wish to learn?" "If possible. In case I might need to know how," he said. "All right. We can begin today if you wish. I will have Scott teach you." "How are Tobias and Artemis doing?" he asked. "Im not sure what you mean," Xavier replied. Jake looked outside. Tobias was busy performing careful tricks with his flames, setting off patterns in the air as several others watched. Artemis practiced levitating larger objects. "Never mind." Thursday, February 27th. Arizona, 11:13 AM Cletus threw the remote through the television screen. He slumped in his chair. 'Carnage has disappeared, Omnitech's moving fast, now this...' He kicked the busted television over. 'He was the last one who really cared.' In a way, he didn't understand what he felt. He'd never watched the show, never paid attention, but he knew. 'That's it, no one left who sees any reason.' 7:32 PM, Phoenix Cletus left the bar, feeling sick. He didn't care what happened anymore. He'd lost the will to try. 'They're winning, why bother...' He heard them in the alley, faint, but he could hear them. Muffled gunshots. A body lay in the gutter, two men standing above it. "Come on, you pieces of garbage!" he shouted, leaping. He slammed into one, knocking him into the wall. He dropped the second with a swing straight out of the Bronx. They wore expensive suits. He checked their wallets, and the briefcase one of them had been carrying. 'Omnitech papers?' he thought, checking over the stack of documents. He heard a cell phone ringing. It was in one of their pockets. "Hello?" he said. "Glad to hear you made it. We're at the facility ten miles out of town. You know the one, south of the city. Be here in half an hour, the boss has a special job for you," the caller explained. "Sure," he replied, throwing the phone down. 8:23 PM He headed back to the farmhouse quickly, grabbing as many weapons as he could. 'No... they're not winning. He might be dead, but right now, if I don't do this, his life will mean nothing. Someone has to do this...' 9:38 PM, due south of Phoenix The place was heavily guarded. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were there, watching from the inside. Cameras, trucks, they were here. He jumped the fence, staying well out of sight of the guard dogs. It had begun to rain before he'd arrived. His steps echoed in the water, drowned out by the downpour. He shot two guards before they could spot him. The silencer muffled the bursts. He entered, pacing through the halls, not caring if the cameras saw him. He was a blur, rushing through the building like mad. He kicked in an office door, gun drawn. "Who are you?" the woman asked. "Stuff it!" he shouted. He shot her escorts, more men in suits. "Who the hell are you, lady?" "Me? You're the Black Wings. Okay. Natasha Reigal, owner and president of Omnitech Industries," she said. "You're the one giving the mutants shit. All I needed to know." He fired repeatedly, dropping her in a hail of Beretta fire. He ran, leaving her to die. She pulled herself up as soon as he'd left. Several armed men poured into the room. "Are you all right?" "Of course I am. I don't wear Kevlar body armor as a fashion statement, you idiot!" Friday, February 28th. 2:11 PM, Los Angeles The black cars emptied in front of the house. The blonde woman removed her sunglasses. "All right, you know what to do. Clean out the nearby houses as well just for good measure!" They opened fire, bullets tearing the house apart. People gathered on their porches to see what was happening, only to be gunned down in short order. 6:07 PM General Peterson exited the limousine. He was clearly unhappy. "Would someone mind explaining why my daughter and granddaughter are dead? And what about the rest of these people? Anyone have ANYTHING USEFUL?" he screamed. "Just one witness," the agent said. "Said several men in suits opened fire. they started on your daughter's house first, then swept the rest. Our witness was only injured, thankfully. Said a woman with long blonde hair was with them." "Long blonde hair... braided?" they turned. The Black Wings was walking down the street. "Yes, possibly. He said he wasn't sure..." "Dammit!" he shouted. "I pumped at least twenty rounds into her last night!" "WHO?" General Peterson asked, angrily. 10:47 PM, Washington, D.C. "The name Natasha Reigal turned up one arrest on assault. However, the fingerprints on file match a Natasha Hensley, former CIA operative," Agent Johnson said. He handed Cletus the picture. "That's her," he said. "Owner of Omnitech." 1:12 PM, Latveria "We have confirmation, it is Carnage that escaped." Von Doom took the photograph. "Fine. If the United States government is too stupid to kill him when they have him in custody, then we shall do it. I want Carnage dead. Aid the Black Wings as necessary." Saturday, March 1st. 9:13 PM, Manhattan. Cletus dropped the match. The cigarette fell from his mouth. Seven men stood around him, each muscular, each with mechanical arms. "You want a piece of me? Take the whole thing!" he said, tendrils flying from his body. They dropped in short order. He picked one up. "Come on, bobo, I'll put you to good use!" 9:47 PM, Westchester Cletus carried the body in. He'd slumped it over his motorcycle for the drive. "I'm gonna have ta wash that bike off. But here you go," he said. The body was sat on the lab table. "More of 'em. That one in New Mexico had some kind of chip in his head, but my bullet shattered it. Bet he has one, though." "I appreciate you bringing us the body, but do the ends justify the means in this case?" Beast asked. "Seven of them ganged up on me. I doubt it was friendly." "While you're here, you mind doing somethin' for me?" Rogue asked. "Excuse me?" Cletus replied. "Just somethin' I need to find out. You have a symbiote, right?" "Yes, why?" he asked. "Let me see it," she said. "Your arm'll do." He looked the room over. "It's all right. Rogue simply wishes to perform a routine test," Xavier explained. "But be careful, Rogue." Cletus removed his coat. The symbiote coated his left arm. "Now, hold still..." She grabbed his wrist. Immediately, she began siphoning the life energy out of both Cletus and his symbiote. She let go. Tendrils flailed, a face forming among them. "What the hell was that?" the symbiote asked. "Calm down," Cletus shouted. The symbiote drew itself in. "Okay, so, what the hell WAS that?" he asked. "Carnage grabbed me by the neck. But nothin' happened," she said. "Okay... I get it, you should've sucked his energy through the symbiote. That's... strange. I don't know, my symbiote's from the Negative Zone, not Battleworld." "Something else we should check," Jake said. "The clone bodies. I wonder if Rogue can't absorb from Screl's clones?" He held out his right arm. "One way to find out." "I don't know..." Rogue said. "Just do it," Jake replied. She grabbed his arm. The energy began drawing from his body. She let go quickly. Tobias entered the room to see Jake stumbling. "Man, what'd you do to him?" he asked. "It's all right, Tobias. Take him to his room for now," Xavier said. "So much for that idea," Cletus said. "Anyway, the stone cold slumber over there isn't the only reason I came. We think we know who the head of Omnitech is. Woman named Natasha Hensley, may go by Natasha Reigal. Former CIA. General Peterson wanted me to tell you myself just to make sure you got it. "She probably wears body armor. Unless they're into genetic engineering too. I shot her enough, anyway. The facility outside Phoenix where I met her was cleared out. So expect them to try something soon, they know we're after them." 10:58 PM, Manhattan Carnage made his whereabouts known quickly. He was not good at hiding. Eventually, the urge to kill someone took over. The Black Wings headed straight for him, slamming into him with a flurry of punches. Carnage knocked him back. "That's it, you little-" A steel beam slammed into the brick wall, narrowly missing Carnage's head. He turned. "So, you won't let it drop, Magneto. Fine, I'll kill you TOO!" "SHUT UP, CARNAGE!" Magneto shouted. "NO! I won't! You used ta be like me, you used to know that humans were good for killing! You think they'll live in peace with YOU? They can't even live peacefully with each other! Come on, help me, you know they deserve ta DIE!" A pipe slammed into his head. The Black Wings swung it over and over. Carnage knocked it away. Steel fragments flew at Carnage. Magneto held more in the air, ready to let them fly towards their target. "Fine, you wanna play on the wrong side, Magneto..." He could see the jet approaching. "Too many heroes." He jumped towards the face of the nearest building, climbing. "This isn't over, Cletus! You hear me, this isn't OVER!" 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.