Gifts and Curses
By Todd Fan
Disclaimer: "Where else are you going to find another planet that has Whoppers and Big Macs?"
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Chapter 29 – Rites of combat.
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The black thing hovered above the ground for a moment, before it seemed to uncurl itself, forming legs, arms, hands, feet and finally a head. There was no denying it, the thing certainly was a Technarch, black with dashes of yellow across it. This Technarch, however was much bigger than Warlock, it's frame much more rounded and powerful. A mane like strand of wires served as a beard. He finally lifted his head, narrowing his eyes as he looked around.
"………Wow", Tabby blinked, "he's…err….big"
"What a disgusting planet", said Magus, shaking his head, before turning to look at Warlock, "Of all the planets to hide on in the universe, you had to choose this one"
Warlock frowned.
"….Y…you picked up English quickly", he said, despite the fact he was terrified, "…h..how?"
"Oh, that brought me a human", smirked Magus, jutting a thumb at Gosamyr, "if you fed on sentient life, you'd learn a lot quicker too"
"You promised me freedom", said Gosamyr, inclining her head to him, "My release, your Majesty"
"So I did", said Magus with a smirk, suddenly reaching out and grabbing her, draining her of life, within moments, she was nothing but techno-organic dust, "Now, you have had the ultimate release"
"Hey, I wanted a piece of her!", protested Bobby, "how the heck am I supposed to find my girlfriend now!"
Magus ignored Bobby as if he wasn't even there, looking at his son.
"You were rather inadequate before, but now...", he shook his head in disgust, "You have let this vile planet taint you, Warlock"
"I would rather be 'tainted' and free on this planet, than even have your position on our planet, Magus", replied Warlock.
"Hey, you ya big bully!", shouted Imara, pushing her way through the crowd to point at the huge alien, "you leave my big brother alone!"
Magus narrowed his eyes, giving a low metallic growl, taking a step forward. Warlock made a quick grab of the youngster, putting her behind him.
"You protect these….lower life forms?", said Magus, wrinkling his nose is disgust.
"They are my friends and family", said Warlock simply.
"Family?", chuckled Magus, "our kind have no need for family"
"Well, I always have been different", said Warlock, "though you would be surprised how much nicer it is having people to care about, and who care about you in return"
"Don't start that talk again", groaned Magus, then smirked, "you're stalling, Warlock. You have to face me eventually, there is nowhere left to run. You will fight me, and you will, obviously lose"
"Does this have to end in violence?", asked Xavier, trying to reason with him.
Magus turned to look at Xavier as if her were an insect.
"Yes", he said, "do not interfere with Technarchian matters, ape-descendant".
"All I am saying is surely we could come to some mutual agreement?", tried Xavier, "I'm sure we could come to some peaceful terms"
Magus narrowed his eyes.
"Here are my terms", he said, looking Xavier dead in the eyes, "You Earthlings have one Technarchian day to hand over traitor designate: Warlock. If this is not done, then I will return..."
He growled, his arm stretching out and hitting a nearby tree, making it techno-organic, draining it of it's energy, leaving the thing black and lifeless.
"And I will decimate your Earth"
"You make a vividly colourful point", said Xavier, arching a brow, "though the only way Warlock will leave the planet, is if he so wishes to"
"I doubt you have a choice in the matter, pathetic life force", said Magus, "you're even more pathetic than my offspring, if it's at all possible"
He smirked, hovering in the sky.
"One day, son", he said, "then you can say goodbye to this miserable planet you've chosen to call home"
With a chuckle, he vanished with a flash of light.
"This is not good", said Warlock sadly, "this is very bad. Very, very bad. Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very…"
"Okay, we get it, 'Lock!", snapped Ray, "so, what do we do?"
"Well, we got time to figure out a plan", shrugged Tabby, "I mean, he's given us a week, right?"
"Actually", winced Warlock, "one Technarchian day makes about an Earth hour"
"Oh", Tabby blinked, "then I got nothing"
"Are you sure you can't reason with him?", tried Doug.
"Oh no", said Warlock, shaking his head sadly, "Magus will not be satisfied until I have proven my right to exist".
"You're species is incredibly messed up", said Doug, shaking his head, "I mean, you have to prove your right to exist by fighting Magus to the death, if you win, he dies, if he wins, you die...kinda a catch 22, isn't it?"
"You have no idea", sighed Warlock.
"Well, why don't you fight him?", said Tabby with a shrug.
"Please tell me that was a poor attempt at humour", said Warlock, arching a brow at her.
"Well, why not!", said Tabby, "you're an X-Man. You've trained with us, you know how to fight"
"The whole point to me leaving my planet was so I did not have to fight Magus", said Warlock, "I can't kill him. He may be cruel, tyrannous, and extremely self-centred...but I can not kill him"
He sighed, hanging his head.
"I do not know what to do", he admitted, "If I fight and lose, Magus will destroy the planet after me, if I fight and win, I'll transform into the new Magus and destroy the planet myself"
"Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place", whistled Sam, "what about running? You did that before"
Warlock sighed.
"If I run, Magus will 'mark' the planet. He will infect it with the techno-organic virus and let it spread. It will eventually become the Phaylanx, a single-minded entity, which will infect and assimilate all life glow it finds", he said, "when it has reach its mass, it will build a tower, signalling Magus to come and…. dispose of the planet, by which time most of you will be infected and be dying long, slow, painful deaths"
He hung his head sadly.
"Whichever way I turn, your destruction is certain", he said, sadly, "I am so sorry. I should never have come here. M.. my foolishness and naiveté has sentenced you all to death"
"But who's to say you can't beat him in a way that won't kill him?", asked Doug.
"I cannot", said Warlock, hanging his head, "I am not strong enough"
Tabby rolled her eyes before giving Warlock a solid THWAP across the head.
"Owww!", said Warlock, rubbing the back of his head, "what was that for?"
"You may not be a big, scary mean strong alien", she said, "and you might not be 'worthy of living' in Magus's eyes. But I tell you what you are. You're an X-Man. And that should count for something"
Warlock shook his head in disbelief.
"You are all crazy", he said, waving his hands in the air, "crazy, crazy, monkey-people"
"Look, everyone has a weakness", said Ray, "you just find your fathers, exploit it, and hey presto, you win without killing him", he said, "we're X-Men, we're trained to win without killing"
"There has to be some way of doing this, 'Lock", said Doug.
Warlock frowned in thought.
"I am not sure", he said, "it is a shot of the longest variety"
Logan smirked.
"Good. That's what we X-Men specialise in"
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With Evan and Callisto away, Caliban had been put in charge of the Morlock tunnels. This meant no fun or laughter of any kind for any one. Unless they did it sneakily. The mutant in question was currently going about gathering the Morlocks for the night watch.
"Wake up!", he hissed moodily as he passed them, "it's your turn"
"Don't wanna", groaned Lucid, trying to burry under the covers.
Caliban blinked, then unceremoniously pushed the smaller mutant off his alcove.
"Awwww, look, you got up", he smirked, "thanksssss Lucccid. You take the Wesssst tunnelssss"
With a slightly evil chuckle, glad not to be on the receiving end of a prank, Caliban stalked off to try and get Façade off the ceiling.
"Dirty rotten", muttered Lucid under his breath as he stood up.
Lucid yawned, walking sleepily towards the West tunnels…..then walked into the nearest wall.
"Oww!", he yelped, rubbing his forehead, "every time!"
One of the downfalls of being able to see through walls was sometimes one forgot walls were still there. Lucid grumbled to himself as he headed off to his duty, surprised to find X23 already there.
"Oh…hey, X", said Lucid, with a wave, then shifted uncomfortably, "I..umm, didn't expect you here….thought your shift was over…."
"I swapped with Feral", said X23 with a shrug, "Callisto seemed to believe it was a good idea to talk to you"
Uh oh. X23 tended to 'talk' with her claws. Lucid suddenly realised that maybe his life was at stake after all….maybe if he ran really, really fast, he could avoid having his head sliced off.
"O…kay", he said, glancing at the exit.
"I'm not going to kill you", she said, rolling her eyes, "Men are such cowards"
"Hey, you have six razor-sharp adamantium claws, super senses and a healing factor", pointed out Lucid, "I have seeing through walls. I don't think it would be hard to decide who would end up dead. So…what did you want to talk about?"
"Well, this…'thing' Callisto says you have for me", she said.
Lucid blinked. Damn one-eyed traitor. Last time he told her anything. If he died, he'd make sure to haunt her.
"I'm not used to the emotion…thing", said X23 waving her hands, "actually, I'm not used to this talking thing, either. I prefer things I can answer with my claws"
"Oh", said Lucid, backing away, why did he pick a physco again, "…right"
X23 nodded, seeming to mull something over.
"Though I do tend to dive into situations without thinking first", she said, pulling him into a kiss.
Lucid blinked in surprise, before smiling, returning the kiss. X23 pulled back, holding up a finger.
"I'll need help getting used to using these emotions", she warned, "…it'll take a while"
"You got help, and I could wait a lifetime", chuckled Lucid softly
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Meanwhile, still trapped within Gosamyr's space yacht, Lila was working at the lock systems, while Roberto paced their cell.
"I can't believe I let myself get fooled by that…that", Roberto shook his head, trailing off, "Danielle's never going to forgive me"
"Well, even though I think you're an idiot for letting her do it, she did manipulate you", said Lila, "but right now, we have a more important issue, and I'd really appreciate it if you stopped moaning and helped. Haven't you got any reserves or anything?"
"Yes, but I want to use them in beating the snot out of Miss Psycho", said Roberto.
Lila took a deep breath, trying to convince herself not to strangle him.
"At the moment, getting out before the world is destroyed is higher on my list of priorities", said Lila, "you ever get near a Technarch scrap? It 'aint pretty, and Magus has been fully charged with…."
She trailed off, looking down. Roberto sighed, walking over, his body flickering into the solid black form he had when charged.
"I don't have a lot of charge left, but it might be enough", he said, grabbing the bars and pulling at them, managing to pull them far enough apart to give enough room to slip out, ta daa"
Lila shoved herself forward and outside of the yacht, Roberto trailing behind.
"Come on", she said, pointing to the sky as a black object descended not far off, "he's already here"
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By the mansion, the X-Men and Bobby watched as the black object that was Magus descended towards them.
"Right, ya know what to do?", asked Logan.
"I still think this is a bad idea", whimpered Warlock.
"Too bad", said Logan, "ya our last shot, ALF"
"….No pressure, huh?", said Warlock sarcastically as his father reformed.
"Make it look good", said Logan, backing up.
"It is time", smirked Magus, "I promise to make it quick, Warlock. I have to admit, you've lasted longer than the rest of my offspring, even if it was through cowardice"
"I am only fighting you because it seems I must, Magus", he said, "I am doing it to protect this planet, and the people on it"
"Yeah, especially Doug", said Logan with a smirk.
Warlock blinked at Logan in confusion….when did Doug get brought into this?
"You wish to protect one in particular?", queried Magus, "why?"
Warlock took a glance at Doug, who was standing next to Logan. He sighed, glancing back at Magus.
"Because I love him, father", he replied, "he is my life-mate"
Magus narrowed his eyes in disgust.
"You chose to make a bond with one of these….creatures?", he asked, "unacceptable! That being will have to be decimated"
"Ummm….why did you just make things worse?", asked Doug worriedly.
"Simple", smirked Logan, "'Lock's a pacifist through and through. He 'aint gonna fight unless something riles him up, and that would take threatenin' the most important thing ta him: you"
Sure enough, Warlock had stepped between Magus and Doug, giving a warning metallic growl, his fingers becoming more elongated, like claws.
"Leave him alone"
"Oh, look, you finally got a bit of Technarch spirit in you", smirked Magus, "about time"
"I will never be a true Technarch", said Warlock, narrowing his eyes, "I am not heartless, and at least I have a better chance of survival by not fighting with every being I see"
"You think I will be doomed for my war-like ways?", chuckled Magus, "how long you are"
With a growl, the elder alien tackled the younger, Warlock quickly morphing into a T-Rex, trying to gain some stability so he didn't fall to the ground.
"Damnit, we're too late", panted Lila as she and Roberto made it to the grounds.
"It's never too late", smirked Roberto, charging up now he was in the sun.
"What do you plan on doing, punching something that can kill you on touch?", asked Lila, "don't be an idiot. Why do you think you're team mates are backing off? Their powers wouldn't stand a chance".
The fight between the two Technarchs continued, rather than throwing blows, Warlock was morphing around those thrown by his father, as always on the defensive, rather than the offensive. Unfortunately, his luck didn't hold up as Magus landed one. Warlock hit the ground with a yelp, lying very still. Magus smirked, walking over.
"You put up a good fight, I will give you that", he said, "but this is where your miserable life ends"
He picked up Warlock in a huge hand.
"And now you will be assimilated, and once I am done with you, I will crush this little hunk of rock you chose to inhabi…", he trailed off as Warlock opened his eyes, "...you still live?"
Warlock grinned.
"You have not heard of 'playing possum', father?"
With that, he shifted shape into a snake, quickly biting Magus in the arm. Magus gave a metallic screech, throwing Warlock aside, the younger alien smacking into a wall, before dropping to the ground. Magus clutched his arm in pain, before suddenly beginning to shrink.
"No", he growled, "noooo!"
He shrunk smaller and smaller, before becoming an infantile version of himself, little more than a black and yellow blob with a head.
"Yeah, go 'Lock!", grinned Tabby, walking over to where the alien painfully pulled himself up to lean against the wall, "you okay, buddy?"
Warlock winced, looking as the yellow lines of his body faded to a dark blue, spreading to the rest of his body, his fingertips drooping as if melting.
"Negative Selffriend: Tabby", he struggled to get out, "action took all of self's zvtgh strength"
"Then absorb something", said Doug desperately, "there's trees and stuff here!"
Warlock shook his head weakly.
"Zttyks Not enough life glow", he said, his eyes beginning to close, "at least xwqthhf self-friends jkizzzhh safe"
"Warlock?", asked Imara sadly from where Forge held her in the crook of his arm. Forge sighed sadly, looking away.
"Don't you dare die on me", said Doug, shaking his head.
"From what I know about Technarchs", said Lila, walking over, "the only way to help them when they are this weak is to soul-mere with them. Basically, you merge bodies, becoming one person, sort-of"
"Then I'll do that", said Doug firmly.
"No", said Warlock shaking his head, "too qqzzzffth infect wwqqtuzzh T-O virus"
"Bull", said Doug, "if it's a risk, I'll take it, just do it already. Trust me 'Lock, you're worth it. I love you, and I sure as hell aren't going to lose you now"
Warlock sighed defeated taking Doug's hand and concentrating, with a frazzle, his body formed with Doug's, creating a techno-organic version of Doug.
"Woah", banked Doug in a metallic voice, "…this is weird"
There was another frazzle and Warlock reformed next to him, the lines along his body a shining white.
"You okay?", asked Doug worried.
"I feel wonderful", smiled Warlock, then winced, favouring his side, "…err it will still take a while to heal, though"
Doug smiled, giving him a kiss.
"You had me worried for a minute there"
"Umm, I hate to break up the love", said Ray, "but what do we do with this?"
He pointed down at the baby Magus. Tabby grinned, looking at it.
"He's kinda cute. He'd make a good pet", she smirked.
"About as good a pet as a baby cobra", muttered Warlock.
"I'll deal with him", sighed Lila, pushing him with a foot, "I'll teleport him back to Kvch and get the hell outta there before anyone sees me"
Bobby smiled, pulling her into a hug.
"I was worried about you", he said, then paused, looking at her, "something's wrong…what is it?"
Lila sighed, snuggling into him.
"Just bad memories from my past", she said sadly, "it opened up a few old wounds. Just…hold me for a bit, 'kay?"
"Hey, I'm always here for that", said Bobby, holding her close.
Lila gave a sob.
"Oh, Bobby, she sent Rosemary to be killed", she whispered, "…how are we supposed to tell Freddy?"
Bobby winced.
"I…I don't know", he said softly.
Roberto shook his head, then glanced around.
"Where's Dani?", he asked, "and that Gosamyr for that matter. She needs a serious ass-kicking"
"That's here", said Kitty, pointing at the pile of dust that Magus had left behind, "and Dani is in hibernation"
She narrowed her eyes.
"….What's gone on, Roberto?", she asked, "you know what stressed Dani out?"
Roberto blinked, before looking at the ground, hurt.
"Me", he said quietly, "…..Gosamyr..she…she manipulated me. We..we..ended up sleeping together…I think…..and Dani found out…but I never.."
Kitty shook her head in disgust.
"You know, I had my thoughts, but I didn't say anything", she said, "you've put my best friend into what is basically a coma, because you had the hots for someone who almost got us all killed?"
"I didn't", protested Roberto, "….she used her powers on me. I would never…."
"Whatever, DaCosta", said Kitty, turning heel and walking inside, "just stay away from Dani"
Roberto sighed, watching her go, before stomping in the techno-organic dust, heading off towards his room.
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Wow, death and almost deaths and hibernative comas and romance and fights! Man, what a chapter! Do review, Until next time…