Exiles: Monarch

History: 101

Morph brought a glass of water out, sipped some, just so he could do a spit take. "SPIDER?"

"Man," corrected the Monarch confusedly. "Spider-Man, yes that was me. Do you know another me on your worlds?"

"Well," said Mimic uneasily, "one of you used to work for another group like ours only more…"

"Bloody," supplied Victor with a laugh.

"What?" Peter Parker asked, taken aback. "I…, I mean, he didn't … enjoy the killing did he?"

Blink nodded her head sadly. "To be fair though, he was under the influence of an alien symbiote."

The Monarch sat back. "Are you sure it wasn't a part of him… me… us?"

"No, we have met other Spider-Men," said Blink. "All heroes."

The Monarch smiled a little on that. "Well that's good to hear. At least they were able to be heroes."

Beak yawned widely. Blink and Victor looked at him sharply.

"Sorry," he eked

"Don't be," said the Monarch with a bright smile again. "please, you must all be tired from your journeys. I insist you take a rest at my hospitality." He looked to one of the attendants again. "Are their rooms ready?" the attendant nodded. "Good," he turned to the guards. "Ben, Tyrone, Dr. Octavius, would you be so kind as to escort them to their rooms."

Later that night, Beak woke from his sleep. Once again he was plagued with longing dreams of his girlfriend and children back home. He was told they had free roam of the building, so he took advantage of it. He wandered about, getting lost a time or two, finally winding up in the throne room. It had a nice balcony that someone else was apparently using at the time. The Monarch noticed the boy's entrance.

"Sorry," said Beak as he started to leave.

"No please, join me." Parker called.

Beak walked up to the older man. Beak wasn't all that smart, nor was he a telepath, but he could feel sadness radiating from this man as if he were. "Are you okay?" Beak asked with concern in his voice.

"Fine," Peter Parker said, obviously lying. "Just fine."

"Couldn't you sleep?" asked Beak.

"No… dreams," was Parker's only answer.

"Me too," said Beak.

"I'd imagine with the kind of things you see on your journeys you all have your share of nightmares."

"No," Beak corrected gently. "It wasn't that. I just miss someone is all."

Peter recognized a familiar tone in Beak's voice. "Who?" asked the man.

"Angel, my girlfriend. Also my kids," Beak confessed. "I miss them so much."

"You have kids?" asked Peter. "You're still a kid yourself."

"Well…" he said rubbing the feathers on his head with his odd hand. "She and I took things to fast but…" Beak smiled his frightening smile. "But I like being their father… and I do love Angel."

"You left her back home?" asked Peter.

"Left nothin'," Beak said. "I got shanghaied on this little three hour tour."

Peter smiled again. Beak looked at him and asked. "How… how did you become Monarch… you don't seem to like it very much."

Peter looked at the teenager and smiled. "no I don't. It started… probably when I was about your age."

"I was geek. A social leper. I went to this science demonstration on radioactivity and it was just so cool. No one noticed a small spider fall into the beam. And no one noticed when it bit me." Peter shook his head. "And no one noticed skinny little Puny Parker," he made a gesture to let Beak know who he was referring to. "Change.

"After that I tried to make money. TV, radio, I even wrestled. Then I made the mistake of a lifetime. You see I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle."

"What happened to your parents?" Beak asked.

"Plane crash when I was just a baby."

"Oh, sorry."

"Its okay. Anyway. My Uncle, the one thing he ever lectured me about was how frivolous I was with my brain. He always told me with great power comes great responsibility. I never really understood what he meant until I let a crook go." Beak was riveted with Peter's story, so Peter continued. "I thought nothing of it. I was a wrestler, not a cop. A couple days later my Uncle Ben is shot and mugged. Cops corner the guy who did it and I sneak in while the police are holed up outside. I give the guy a good beating and once I pull his hat off, guess who it is… the guy I let go at the arena." Peter shook his head and sighed. He let a tear slip out.

"That is when I realized what my Uncle Ben was talking about when he talked about power and responsibility. So I made a solemn vow, from that day forth I would never again shirk my responsibility. Spider-Man became a vigilante. I wish I could have become a hero… but I never did." He sighed again. "You see just when I thought I was happiest, just when I thought everything was going to be fine it all fell apart. You see at the time I was dating this beautiful girl… she was no kidding the love of my life. And then she was killed." Peter shook his head, more tears coming out. "By some stupid kid who wanted her purse. She said no and he 'insisted'. I kinda went hermit for a while. Never left my apartment for about two weeks. When I did it was because I had an epiphany. I realized that I still had a responsibility, but I also realized that the only way to truly protect the world is if the cape-and-tighters united.

"So I started my campaign. I got most of them to join. Getting the Four and the X-Men to join was easy. Avengers took some talking, but they came around. Tough ones to convice were the solo acts like Moon Knight and Spider-Woman. I got them to all join my new group, the Hazardous Event Response Organization."

"H.E.R.O.?" asked Beak.

"I swear I didn't realize it until after people were joining," Peter said with a smile. "Any way, basically all it meant at the time was that everyone had everyone else's phone numbers. The first time we really though was what's now called 'The Galactus Conflict.' It was hell on earth. But we beat Galactus back and gained an ally in the process; the Silver Surfer. Unfortunately, Galactus didn't take no for an answer. He was also very angry. As retaliation and insult, he destroyed every capitol city on the planet. There was no warning, no time to do anything. The cities were just gone in the blink of an eye.

"We re-gathered, and this time we ended him permanently."

"You killed him?" asked Beak.

"No choice," Peter said. "its not something I'm happy about, but it had to be done." Peter's eyes reflected that he hated killing. "anyway, with no government left, the people looked to their heroes for guidance. And since I had organized them and lead most of them… the heroes looked to me." Peter shook his head. "I never wanted to be in charge. But they kept asking, so I said yes." He turned to Beak. That was thirty years ago, in seventy-five. Then the Apocalypse Wars started. They didn't end until just a few months ago." Peter sighed again. Half the heroes I sent against up in that mess are now dead. Every year I have asked the people if they want control back. I offer to set up democracies. I offer to give them back their governments… but every year at least eighty percent ask me to stay…so I do."

"Wow," said Beak quietly.

"A humble leader," said Namora. Beak and Peter looked behind them to see her. She wore an expression of disdain. "You sound weak to me."

"It is not weak no mourn the dead," he said.

"But it is weak to question yourself at every turn," she retorted.

Peter was silent at this.

Beak tried to cut the tension. "Well… think I'll try and get some sleep." He headed off down a hall; completely unsure of if it was the right one.

Namora continued, "You need your people's support, especially if you are in a rebuilding phase. They need to know they are being lead by someone brave, confident and strong."

"But why me?" he asked her. It was a question he had been asking since he had been thrust into the Monarchy, but afraid to ask the people, or even his friends.

"The Gods only know. But you were chosen, and people follow you. Heroes who think for themselves have seen you fit to lead them not just in battle, but also in life." She shook her head. "A ruler should not ask why they should lead, only how shall they lead." She looked at him now with not only disdain, but also annoyance. She sought her kingdom, which she rightfully deserved, and he had one that he didn't seem to want.

He finally looked up at her, a tear running down his cheek. "thank you."

"For what?" she asked, feeling flabbergasted that he had thanked her.

"Yelling at me… coming that close to all out insulting me," Peter sighed. "They haven't let anyone who would do that near me in a while. Not since the Mutant Sanctions."

"Mutant Sanctions?" she inquired.

"A law I passed," he sighed. "All telepathic mutants were to wear a control collar at all times, or be seen as an enemy of the state." He closed his eyes and looked away again.

"Enforced with death?" she asked.

"Yeah," Peter replied, not looking at anyone. Shame written in his posture.

"Why?" Namora asked, moving to his side.

"They were dangerous wild cards. We couldn't afford them messing around with heroes' heads in combat. Plus Apocalypse was using them by the boatload against their will. So I passed the Mutant Sanctions. Many submitted… but most refused. I can't say I was surprised. I sent out the Vision and Ultron only at first. Robots they were immune to the telepaths, but there were too many, and they had help. So I started mass producing versions of Magneto's helmet, and sent out troops wearing those." Peter paused again.

"It made sense," Namora said, almost approvingly.

"Yes, but many mutants thought it meant that I was cracking down against them," Peter continued. "Luckily, many stayed with me, but the X-Brotherhood is still the largest terrorist organization on the planet." He sighed again. The telling of all this felt tiring to him. "So now I must send out my warriors against those who used to be my friends. Even non-mutants joined them. Captain America fights with them." He shook his head. "Luckily for me they don't have the great mutant leaders. Magneto understood what I was doing, and sides with me as my mutant liason, Charles Xavier was killed in the Galactus Conflict. Jean Grey died in the Apocalypse wars, before the law passed, and Cyclops remains loyal to me."

"So who leads them?" Namora asked, finding this world interesting.

"A brilliant mutant strategist and his wife, a powerful probability altering mutant. Toad and the Scarlet Witch."

Namora burst out laughing, then looked at him realizing he was serious. "Toad?" she asked.

"yes, Toad," he affirmed.

"A brilliant strategist?" she questioned again.

"I take it he wasn't as formidable on your worlds," he asked.

"Far from it," Namora said with an amused look on her face.

There was a quite pause as Peter had finished his explaining and Namora quit laughing. The sun was rising. "You have been traveling for some time," Peter blurted out suddenly.

"Yes," Namora said, puzzled by his statement.

"In that time, have you been able to see your home?" he asked.

"No… I have not been back to Atlantis in some time." There was a note of sadness in Namora's voice.

"Would you like to visit my Atlantis?" he offered.

"Your Atlantis?" she asked.

"Well… not mine, you know how I feel about my rule, but the Atlantis of my reality. Would you like to see it?" he clarified.

Namora thought for a moment. She would like to see Atlantis again, even if it weren't her Atlantis. She looked at Peter. There were people she would less like to tour Atlantis with… a few members of her team popped into her head. "Yes… yes I would like that."

Peter pulled a cellular phone from his belt. "Yeah, I need a fantasti-car to the throne room balcony of Freedom's Plaza… thanks." He hung up the phone. "we can go asap if you like.

"Yes… lets," she said, actually managing to smile.