A Master's Legacy (2 of 3)

Exodus floated in the air impatiently as a man with a neck to toe white suit approached with three men in heavy black trench coats. The sunglasses the three men wore was proof enough to Exodus that they possessed a good deal of money. How easily could he snap those glasses with his telekinesis? The mischievous thought made him smile. Bennet knew that something was strange going on. No one in their right mind would wear trench coats in the New Mexican climate.

"Hello Exodus! I can see classical conditioning has taken an effect on you," the long haired leader of the pack said as he outstretched a white glove to greet du Paris. Bennet turned down the gesture of friendship and remained silently giving his four visitors all a cold stare.

"Not much of a psychology person I guess. Let me explain. You 'heroes' are so use to jumping up whenever there is some disturbance you know take off even when something means no harm," the man gently explained hoping to melt Exodus's demeanor.

"Are you saying you mean no harm here?" the leader of the Exiles asked.

"Of course. I only come to ask a favor of you, but where are my manners. My name is Amadeus and that is the same first name of one of the greatest musicians in history. The man to my right is Nicolaus Jenson. He was named after a major figure in the development of the Roman typestyle. The man to my left is Aldus Manutius. He was named for the person who first developed and used the slant italic typestyle. Finally, the guy behind me is Alex Midas. He has the name of a mythical king who turned all he touched into gold," Amadeus babbled on hoping that maybe Exodus would become annoyed and simply want to do whatever favor he needed him to do.

"Yes, and I share a name with a book in the Bible. Fancy names doesn't make you special. Get to the point Amadeus," Exodus said harshly.

"And now you give me a conditioned response. I bet you get this attitude with whoever seems the slightest bit off to you, but that's what you 'heroes' do isn't it?" Amadeus inquired leaning forward slightly as if waiting for an answer.

"You have quite the bit of guts Amadeus, but you didn't come all this way to make small talk and be my therapist. If that's the case I'm waiting for the couch to lie down in," Exodus exclaimed.

"Touche! Fine I'll get to the point. My cousin is the now dead Deus. A former foe of yours if I'm not mistaken."

"Our first foe," Exodus snarled. He didn't like where this was going. Not one bit.

"Yes of course. Well, after the Prime Sentinels killed Craze, Francis, and my cousin I inherited his fortune and all his business assets. Now I'm trying to clean up some of my cousin's dirtier secrets."

"And how exactly does that include me?"

"Your team more precisely. See Deus had a bunch, about seven, genetics testing facilities in the tundra of Russia. Those facilities have been down for months, but the experiments are still there. I want you and the Exiles to eliminate the mutants for me before they get out into the world," Amadeus explained as he held out an orange disk to Exodus, "This contains all the info on all the bases. It'll be a great help to you."

"You want to slaughter these mutants? What if I refuse?"

"Then people will die. Innocent people will die. Can you live with that Exodus?" Amadeus asked thinking he knew the answer Exodus would give him.

"Yes, I could live with that. I'm tired of killing my fellow brother. Let the humans deal with Deus's leftovers. Why should I be forced to kill a fellow mutant!" Exodus replied angrily.

"So when did the resentment of humanity come in?" Amadeus asked.

"I don't resent humanity, but I do resent what they do to mutants. It's long overdue time that we step up as a race and assert ourselves. I'm tired of hiding and I'm tired of being used," Exodus said poking Amadeus in the chest. Nicolaus and Aldus nearly rushed to the aid of their master, but a quick halting gesture from their boss stopped them dead in their tracks.

"If I recall it's been someone deeply connected to mutants who has been manipulating you from the start. Isn't that right?"

"You speak of Sinister?" du Paris asked.

"Yes, I speak of Sinister. He has played, controlled, manipulated, mutated, and killed to get his way with you. Yet, you speak of humans as if they had done the same thing," Amadeus accused.

Exodus snatched the disk from Amadeus's clenched hand, "Fine I'll do this. Remember this though. You owe me dearly."

"Whatever you what whenever you want. Just say the word. My secretary, Francisco, will be sure to get it to me," Amadeus smiled as him and his men ran back to the helicopter in the hopes of escaping the dry air of the desert.

"My team can't handle all these bases alone. Looks like it's time to put in a call to Legolas," Bennet smiled as he teleported back into the former Hulkbuster Base.

Marcus Yun had been a photographer since he was 16. Never before had he took pictures like he was taking now. Cars flying, limbs flying, flames, and broken pieces of stone. Buffalo, New York had become a picture perfect war zone and Marcus was getting to capture it on camera.

Man you are definitely getting a promotion for this shit! This is just too great!

"Almost too easy," a voice came from behind Marcus as he stabbed in the back with Helix's sword. As Marcus died the last image he saw was that of his lonely mother. She was sitting in a red rocking chair as if she were waiting for someone. Maybe she was about to find what she was looking for.

"Helix these humans are no challenge!" Lariat laughed as spiraling light orange energy shot out from her fingertips wrapping around the necks of the elderly, middle aged, and young. One little four year old boy had managed to get away from the death ropes of one Twisted Sister only to end up in the gaze of another.

"A little boy that will be so quick to snap!" Torque exclaimed as she wrapped her fist around the boy's tiny neck and began to shake him violently as if he were a rag doll.

"Leave the children alone Twisted Sisters! We have work to do!" Helix reminded as she took off in the sky with metal wings very similar to Warren's during his time as a Horsemen of Death.

"Yeah you heard the lady! Lets rip up some infrastructure!" Warbow laughed manically as he shot off four brown arrows at a Post Office building. The arrows all blew up with the force of four car bombs each. Needless to say the building was bought low with a loud rumble and plenty of dust to go around.

"Hell yeah!" Riot yelled as his new bio mechanical armor unleashed sonic waves upon a group of nearby cars parked alongside the road. The mutate then soon turned his attention to a group of running humans. Using his new found mutant power to project mental images into minds Riot continuously poured the sight of a 500 lb. black woman in a thong. Everyone soon became distracted at the constant image. That's when Riot unleashed his powers full throttle on the congregation of humans. The sonic waves ripped through the bodies of the people as if they were nothing.

"I'm surprised no one has caught word of us yet," Firestrike said as he used his new mutant power to ignite fires to set two local deli stores on fire. As those stores fell down so did the memories of countless families and teenagers who had chosen the place as a hangout and dine-in. That's all the Twisted Sisters and Heavy Mettle have been doing today. Destroying memories and destroying lives.

"Today is our day. This will be a day that will live on forever as the moment when mutants said they've had enough. And I get to watch it all with a bag of popcorn in hand," Dark Beast laughed. In many ways this new Dark Beast the sum of his predecessors many past creations and experiments. His skin had a texture very similar to that of Caliban and his skin was as black as Obsidian's. His hair hung low and wild like Callisto and three bone protrusions came from each of his wrist in a style similar to Marrow. The only resemblance between the two was the fact the new Dark Beast had the same body build as the old one.

"Someone will catch wind of us, but it all comes down to who it is. Cyclops' team, Archangel's team, Exodus team...it all really comes down to which," Coil said as she unwrapped her arms around the neck of an 89 year old couple. She left their aged bodies fall to the floor. Laughter filled her throat, "Oh how times flies when you're having fun."

"You guys are so lazy! But hey I knew it was going to happen," Legolas said as he walked through the door dressed in a green bodysuit with a short black leather jacket. He had his hands in his jacket pocket as he surveyed the Exiles Base he once called home. It seemed strange, but maybe that's because it was too quiet.

"What was going to happen if I may ask?" Exodus replied.

"That you were going to call us in! So this mission is either real important or its real crappy," Legolas said.

"A little bit of both my friend," Colossus said as he stood across the room from Legolas.

"Well, that's just such a great freakin hint!" Vyper exclaimed as he walked up behind Derrick.

Exodus laughed, "We're about as clueless as you are. Follow the instructions. Sunfire will lead you guys in and handle business."

"So is this an Onset level threat?" Legolas asked.

"Not at all, but Sunfire has finally gained some confidence in his abilities after fighting the Son of Set, Yamu. I want to capitalize on that boost," Bennet explained.

"Alright sounds like a straight deal to me," Red Lotus said walking into the room.

"You just want to get into a fight ," Chemistra smiled as she walked into the room behind the former Triad assassin.

"Don't we all?" Red Lotus asked with a mischievous smile.