When the Neo Come (3 of 3)
"Surrender quickly Exodus and spare your students from harm," Domina said with a forceful tone. She didn't want to battle the students, unlike some of her other clan members, but she would if she had to. Her king commanded her to bring Gaia back home and so she would do it.
"You obviously must not know my students very well Domina," Exodus replied as his body flared up with pink psionic energy. If he wanted to Bennet probably could handle these Neo solo, but his children deserved a chance to shine. He would let them have their day. Exodus just hoped he had picked the right day.
"Have it your way then. Neo attack!" Domina yelled as she unsheathed her machete that was attached to her side.
"Not so fast!" Downtime exclaimed as she used her powers to slow down time to a standstill. After she did this Sarah went around and started snatching up the weapons of the Neo. Sarah took Domina's machete, Rax's crossbow, Barbican's mace, Anteus's axe, and Kilmer's knives. She proceeded to place them behind Exodus. Then she moved behind Domina and restarted time back up.
Before Domina even had a chance to get an attack off she was swept off her feet by an unexpected kick from Downtime. The other students took advantage of the confusion the Neo felt from their weapons disappearing into thin air. Sarah was gloating at how much she had changed the tide of the battle.
"You sorry whelp!" Domina cursed as she grabbed Downtime's hair and yanked her to the ground. Sarah's head collided with the floor and knocked the young woman unconscious. Amun saw Domina's vicious attack on Sarah so he tackled Domina and took her to the ground.
Reaching out with his right hand Amun touched Domina's face. Using his mutant ability he absorbed the woman's DNA into himself. During the absorbing Domina's body went limp.
After the short period of absorption Amun jumped off the woman and right before her ryes he took on her form. Domina was completely disgusted with this development. "How dare you take on my shape you damn spike!"
Domina leapt off the ground and kicked Amun in the stomach. She then spun in the air and planted her foot in Amun's face. The boy went flying backwards and skidded across the floor. As he feel into unconsciousness shifted back into his original form. The leader of the clan walked over the body of Amun, looked down, and said, "There can only be one Domina child. And that is me!"
Across the battlefield Rax was caught in a struggle with Impervious and Rubber. Rax was unable to land any valuable blows on Rubber simply bounced back at him. Along with that Rax had to dodge the blows of Impervious. The Neo was determined to win though and that was enough motivation for him. The two students didn't stand a chance against the overly ambitious Neo.
"This battle ends now!" Rax roared as he kicked Impervious in the balls, grabbed him by the neck and flung him into Rubber. Adnan bounced off Rubber's body and flew right into Rax's fist. The blow broke Impervious's nose and knocked him out cold.
"You used me! I can't believe you—ARGHH!" Rubber yelled a she fell to the floor with a blue energy whip wrapped around him. As he hit the floor he bounced a few times before turning to his human form. The source of the blue energy whip had been Domina. Her body now became organic rubber since the whip allowed her to take the attributes of whomever it touched.
"You could barely handle two spike children Rax! How do you ever expect to become a clan leader!" Domina ridiculed. She had been waiting for an opportunity to put Rax in his place and this was a perfect moment. By the angered expression on Rax's face she could tell that her criticism had its intended effect. Perhaps now Rax wouldn't be quite so arrogant when it came to matters of leadership.
"I will be Clan Leader woman! It has been promised to me," Rax replied angrily. If he could he would put Domina in her place at that very moment. She always tried to hold herself higher than all Neo. Rax only held his tongue because he knew to obey the clan system. He respected the ladder of leadership no matter how much it annoyed him.
"If you two are done bickering perhaps you can get out of my house!" Exodus exclaimed as he floated in front of the two Neo. He wasn't at all pleased about these invaders. He had heard of the Neo only from the tales that Sunfire, Gaia, Fontanelle, and Colossus told him. He knew these Neo weren't the same as the old ones, which had been killed by Bastion's Sentinels, but something still made Exodus hate these Neo like he would have hated the old ones.
"I think we'll just make ourselves at home," Domina teased as she leaped up into the air towards Exodus. Before she could even get within arm's length of Exodus she was froze in mid-air by his telekinesis. Bennet threw the clan leader back into a wall hard. She slumped to the ground unconscious.
Rax turned around quickly to see the fate of Domina only to find a young Brazilian boy staring at him. This boy was Torrent and he was waiting to get Rax's attention. He didn't like to attack anyone while they weren't looking. Now that Rax had looked at him Torrent felt free to attack. 10,000 volts flew from Exner's fingertips and hit Rax square in his chest. The Neo went flying back in the direction of Exodus. The former Horsemen of War finished off Rax with a stab from his red psionic sword.
"Good job Torrent! You did splendidly! Now lets handle the rest of these uninvited guests."
Kilmer charged at Chemistra with his bio-metallic knives. Megan dodged out of the way of the attack and hit Kilmer in the stomach with her foot. The attack barely hurt the Neo because his entire body was made of bio-metallic metal that he could shape and changed as he pleased.
"Back down little spike. You cannot defeat the Neo!" Kilmer exclaimed as he moved in to attack Megan again. He made the knives that were once his hands sharper and longer. The Neo was going to get his target this time.
"You must not know about me you rusty can," Chemistra exclaimed as she outstretched her hand and used her powers to manipulate chemical reactions to make all of Kilmer's body rust. Looking down at this body Kilmer yelled out in disgust. Trying to move Kilmer found that he was now immobile.
Megan got up on her feet walked over to Kilmer and spat on him. "Little spike my ass!"
Hearing a frustrated scream Megan quickly looked over to see that Phaser was slowly being backed up against a wall by Anteus. The Neo could almost breath on poor Phaser. "Everything you've done so far has only fed me little spike!"
Phaser cursed to himself. He had tried to solidify the oxygen around Anteus hoping the immense cold would keep the Neo at bay, but Anteus simply tore through it like it was nothing at all. He drained the very cold itself and used it to increase his power. Tony then tried to turn some of the metal spikes on the Neo's shoulders hoping the intense heat would hurt Anteus, but he shrugged that off as well.
"Fuck this so not good! I can't do a damn thing against this guy short of killing him," Phaser complained under his breath as Anteus edged closer and closer to him.
Anteus was about to leap onto Phaser when he was suddenly thrust back by Exodus's telekinesis into a nearby wall. Bennet hovered over the Neo and said, "Sleep tight."
With his powerful telepathy Exodus put the strong willed Neo to sleep. Looking over his shoulder Exodus knew there was only one Neo left. It was Barbican and Gaia was facing him. The former Horsemen of War knew what Barbican meant to Gaia so he telepathically commanded everyone to hold back and let her fight this battle.
"Come and join your people Gaia. It's your destiny! You cannot deny it," Barbican said as he made a brick box come from the ground and surround Gaia in it.
The brick melted away like lumps of ice cream on a hot Georgia summer day. Gaia rose and walked over the melted brick and looked Barbican straight in the eye, "I'm not and never will be one of you!"
Yellow energy shot out of Gaia's eyes and hit Barbican square in the chest. His body began to illuminate brightly as did the other unconscious Neo. They were all glowing for ten seconds before they all vanished. Gaia had sent them back to their home of Himuntep.
Blink leaped into one of her portals barely dodging the exploding ground. Clarice's portal opened up behind New Son and she planted her feet in his back. The King of the Neo was sent crashing towards the ground. Just as he was about to catch his bearings four of Blink's darts landed in New Son's back. Pink spatial energy scrambled New Son's molecules. The attack had left him disoriented and in pain. He couldn't tell up from down and so he continued to crash towards the ground.
Piotr was about to catch the Neo when the body of the King was bathed in a bright light. The same went for all the other Neo that had been taken down by the Exiles. In almost the same instant they disappeared as if they had never been there at all.
"I think we better take the Neo's lead and head out of here," Blink said as she landed on the ground.
"Yes I do not feel like dealing with the authorities at the moment," Colossus said shedding his organic metal form and returning his body to flesh.
As the Exiles stepped through Blink's portals something tore at the minds of Crywhip and Harmony. They both had experienced their desires made realized and neither of them would ever be the same again.
Exiles Base (A week later)
"It finally happened," Exodus said somberly as he stared out in the vastness of the desert. Beside him was Lorna.
"It's not your fault Exodus. All students need to break away eventually. Don't think of them as leaving, but as more of them taking a vacation," Polaris said as sympathetically as possible. Over the past week all of the Exiles' students had left the New Mexico base and headed in their own directions. Some were just tired of battle. Others had found one battle had been enough for them. And there were a few who would continue on the good fight, but just in their own way.
"It is my fault Lorna. I pushed them all too hard. I put them into a world they weren't yet ready for. First it was Onset, and then came Ramses, and the Neo were the last straw for all of them. I don't blame them for leaving."
"Exodus understand that most of your students were in their late teens and early 20s. They were bound to go their own way eventually. And you did reach some of those kids. Did you know Legolas is heading up an Australian branch of the Exiles?" Lorna asked.
A smile of hidden pride came up on Exodus's face. "Who all is on this team?"
"Well, you already know about Legolas. Red Lotus, Hope, Gaia, Slipstream, Lifeguard, Trevor, and Torrent. I know there are some others, but I just can't remember them," Polaris said biting down on her lip trying to remember the students that had headed to Australia with Legolas.
"Vyper, Chemistra, Harmony, and Toxicwaste," Exodus said. He had picked up on the names from Polaris rather easily since the names were on the tip of her tongue. He could have simply just used his telepathy to jog her memory, but he wanted to say the names himself. Bennet could hardly believe that his students were establishing another branch of his team. While he would have preferred them to stay he knew they had to find their own place in the world. He refused to deny them that.
"See you shouldn't be beating yourself up. You should be proud. Your students are doing something with themselves. And like the prodigal son they'll all come home eventually. Just give it some time," Polaris said as she leaned over and pecked Exodus on the cheek.
"Perhaps you're right. Just maybe," Exodus mused as he turned from the vastness of the desert and went to walk back into his base. Who knew what tomorrow would hold?
Begin InterludeTwo mutants were held in suspended animation. They were trapped in glass chambers that were made of nearly unbreakable glass. A light green liquid substance kept them from dying. Only a few days ago these two mutants had been free spirits making their own choices and living freely in the world. Now they were prisoners in more ways in one. Their bodies were being held captive in giant sized glass vials. Their minds were also being held captive for their free wills had been taken away from them. Now they were bond to one person.
"Meet the first of my Dark Riders," Sinister said as he stepped into the dimly lit room. Behind him were Babylon and Glance. They were two of the more powerful members of the Marauders. Babylon had been much like these two mutants. Judas Traveller had abducted him and made him into a loyal servant of Sinister. Glance was simply a creation of Sinister. He was basically a male version of the mutant woman Blink.
"Pardon me master, but may I ask something of you?" Babylon said looking at the ground. It did not do one well to stare into the eyes of Mr. Sinister. He was a lion amongst wolves and there was no one who could doubt. Those would did usually ended up in his servitude or where killed.
Seeing the respect his servant paid him Essex smiled, "Ask your question Babylon. And be free in what you have to say."
"Why do we need Dark Riders when we already have the Marauders, Tans, and F-Series mutants?" Babylon asked.
"No good scientist stops experimenting and no good general ever settles for a weaker force when he can obviously create a stronger one. The Dark Riders will simple complement the forces I already have. Isn't that right Amun and Downtime?" Sinister said as he rubbed the chambers that his newest servants were being contained in.
Essex turned away from the chambers and moved towards the two mutants. He grabbed both of their shoulders. Sinister wanted Glance and Babylon to hear what he had to say. "Besides there are forces in motion that we will need to be able to combat against. I exhausted most of my clone forces against Ramses and his forces. I need all of you to step up now more than ever. Shadow King is moving against the entire world. We are not outside his scope. Remember this because the time is coming soon when we will either face his forces or be smashed under his boot."
End Interlude
