Marvel Comics #1000 Addendum
Disclaimer: "You're on the other side of the map!" - Jirard Khalil, The Completionist
Chapter 8: Run!
Upstate New York
The redheaded woman panted as she ran through the desert. She felt the muscles in her legs burn with exertion. The only light came from the stars in the sky.
"Can't let them get me..." She panted, her voice containing a French lilt.
Tarot. Real Name: Marie-Ange Colbert. Birthplace: Lyons, France. Physiology: Mutant Human. Affiliations: Hellions (formerly). Powers and Abilities: Can transform two-dimensional images into three-dimensional psionic constructs. Often carries a deck of tarot cards.
Marie-Ange Colbert was feeling great gratitude at this moment. The French woman had been staying in a Nevada prison since she had battled Spider-Man and Deadpool in Las Vegas. (A/N: In Spider-Man/Deadpool #11). She had been a model prisoner, but then something happened.
Mustn't stop...mustn't stop...mustn't let them get me...mustn't stop running... The former Hellion mentally chanted. She panted and fought her fatigue, feeling her legs burn more and more with every second she ran. She looked back and saw the lights behind her. Coming to kill me coming to kill me coming to kill me...
"HALT. MUTANT." The robotic voices intoned. The redhead continued running. The Sentinels were after her. But they were no ordinary Sentinels. For one, they were human-sized. That wasn't the unusual thing, Prime Sentinels had been a thing in the past. But these Sentinels were not humans given cybernetic enhancement without their knowledge. The unusual thing was...they were not human-shaped.
These Sentinels were in the form of wolves, dark purple metallic wolves with dark blue highlights. They almost resembled the old Transformers toys. These Wolf Sentinels attacked the prison Marie was in, desiring the blood of the redhead. In a panic, Marie-Ange fled in the chaos.
If only I had my cards... She mentally moaned. They're coming closer!
"HALT. MUTANT." The Wolf Sentinels intoned. The lead ones in the pack sprouted a cannon from their undercarriages.
BRRRRR-RAT-A-TAT-TAT! RAT-A-TAT-TAT!
Marie-Ange screamed as she started running in a zig-zag pattern in an attempt to avoid the gunfire. I must remember my Hellions training...she panted. "Gah!" She gasped as her shoulder was grazed by a bullet. "Nng!" She hissed, clutching her shoulder where the bullet grazed her.
"HALT. MUTANT."
"Leave me alone, you monsters!" Marie-Ange screamed.
"YOU ARE MUTANT. YOU ARE THREAT TO HUMANITY."
"I was in jail!"
"ONLY YOUR DESTRUCTION WILL ENSURE HUMANITY'S SAFETY FROM THE THREAT YOU BRING." The lead Wolf Sentinel intoned.
Marie-Ange panted and huffed. She looked around frantically for anything that could be a weapon. But it seemed that fate was hell-bent on getting her killed.
"HALT. MUTANT." The Wolf Sentinels repeated as they continued chasing her. Marie-Ange felt herself tiring. She was only human, flesh trying to outrun cold steel. And the steel had advantages. It could not tire, mainly. The former Hellion then found a stick in the ground. She stopped and grabbed the stick, and faced her pursuers.
"Come then, you metal monsters!" Marie-Ange taunted, waving her makeshift club at the Sentinels. The robotic wolves stopped and growled at her/ "Come and get me! I have died twice before! You think I fear meeting the reaper a third?! Come on! I will take you all to Hades with me! You..." She heard the sound of rumbling, and felt the ground shake underneath her feet. "Quoi...?" She muttered, looking down at the ground.
With a pop noise, some large earthen tentacles sprouted from the ground around the Sentinels. The tentacles wrapped around some of the metal mutant-hunting robots' legs and started tossing them around like they were toys suffering the tantrum of a small child. Despite this, one of these new Sentinels was able to get a bead on the former Hellion. It opened its metallic maw, and fired a blast of white energy at her.
The world seemed to slow to a crawl in front of the French redhead as she saw the energy blast bear down on her. Her life flashed before her eyes. The former Hellion then felt someone shove her down to the ground, she barely registered the figure yelling at her to stay behind him. He then raised what looked like a badge-shaped shield into the air.
BWASH!
The energy blast dissipated against the shield. The shield resembled the ones that Captain America used before he got his famous round one: The top part being blue with three white 5-pointed stars on it, and the bottom having five stripes, three red and two white. The holder of the shield brought it down, revealing that he wore futuristic sleek-looking armor. The armor was a bright blue, with red and white highlights. The armor's chestplate bore an emblem of a blue letter A with a white 5-pointed star in it. The A had "wings" growing out of the sides formed by red-and-white stripes.
Standing next to him was a woman in similar-looking green armor, with gold and white highlights, the chest plate bearing an emblem of a yellow circle with a black border and thin black latitude and longitudinal lines on it.
"Alright, everyone!" The armor's wearer called out in a commanding voice. "Let's send these mechanical monsters back to whatever machinists' hell they spawned from!" He then looked at the woman. "Are you alright?"
Marie-Ange nodded. "Tired, but not really hurt." The figure glanced at her arm where the Sentinel shot her.
"That looks like a nasty graze." He said.
FWOOSH!
Another armored man rocketed towards them from out of the sky. This man wore a black suit of armor with orange and yellow highlights, the armor bearing a chest emblem of a stylized comet. A pair of cannons emerged from the armored man's forearms.
PEW-PEW-PEW!
The cannons fired orange energy blasts like a Gatling gun at the Wolf Sentinels as they were trying to fight their way out of the earthen tentacles. The blasts tore into the armor of the robots. The Wolf Sentinels growled and fired missiles from launchers that emerged from their backs. The black-armored man deftly dodged the projectiles.
PZOW! PZOW!
A pair of golden energy beams rained down on the Wolf Sentinels.
"Yeeee-hah!" Another figure whooped as he flew in. His voice had a Chicago accent, and his armor was yellow with gold and white highlights. The armor's emblem was of a yellow capital letter "G" with the outer curve forming a starburst. He then switched to an impersonation of John Wayne. "Sometimes a mutant's gotta do what a mutant's gotta do."
"Hardly an appropriate quip, Gyral." The black-armored man chided, his voice showing a Moroccan accent.
His voice... Marie-Ange blinked. It sounds familiar...
"Hey, gimme a break, 'Stream!" "Gyral" responded. "Nothing like a little banter when doing this stuff."
"Nice work so far gentlemen, but your job isn't quite done. These things aren't scrap metal yet." The American Flag-theme-armored man responded. "The boss got the intel on these things, let's use it!"
"No problem, All-American!" Gyral theatrically waved his arm. "'Streamer and I here can easily get these bad dogs retrained!"
"Don't get cocky, Gyral." "Streamer" warned his flying companion.
"Ha! Star Wars reference! There's hope for you yet!" Gyral laughed. All-American sighed, and turned to the woman standing next to him.
"Geo, let's give these monsters a beating they won't regret!"
"Roger." The woman nodded, and her hands started to glow a soft golden color. She and All-American rose up on glowing rocks and rushed towards the Wolf Sentinels. She waved her glowing hands, and the ends of the robotic tentacles turned into mallets. The rocky mallets then slammed down on the Sentinels. The robotic lupines opened their mouths, and spheres of white energy started to grow inside their maws. "Uh..."
"Relax, Geo." All-American assured. "Remember the intel that Shapandar sent us?"
"Yeah, it was about these new Sentinels." The woman nodded.
"They got a weak spot."
Yeah, inside their mouths! Geo thought. "Whoa!" She commanded the rocks to juke when the Wolf Sentinels started blasting at them with energy beams from their mouths. "All-American, we have to do something! We can't dodge these forever!"
"I agree." All-American nodded. "Bring your rock over to me." Geo did what she was commanded to do, then the American flag-themed-armor-wearer explained his idea to her. She blinked at this.
"Id say you're nuts, but you got that fancy shield of yours, I guess." She shrugged.
"Gyral! 'Stream! With me!" All-American commanded. The two fliers obeyed him.
"What's he planning?" Gyral asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine." "'Stream" responded.
"Geo, you got them?" All-American asked.
"Yeah." She pulled out what appeared to be some small flares from a compartment.
"Okay." All-American took the "flares". He turned his head to "Stream". "On my mark, 'Stream. You dump these in their mouths."
"Very well." "Stream took the "flares". The Wolf Sentinels opened their mouths, spheres of white energy growing in them.
"Get behind me!" All-American ordered, holding out his shield. The robotic canines fired their energy blasts. "Now, Stream!"
ZOOM!
The black-armored man zipped through the sky as the energy blasts headed for All-American. He dropped the "flares" into the Wolf Sentinels' mouths.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The "flares" exploded, taking the robotic beasts' heads with them.
"Whoo-yeah!" Gyral pumped his fist in the air. "Nice plan, bud!"
"I'm just glad it worked." All-American nodded. He looked down at Marie-Ange, who was sitting on the sand, her knees up to her face. "Let's check on her." The four headed down to the ground, and the American flag-armored man helped her up. "You alright, Miss Colbert?"
"Oui." She nodded. "Just...very tired...so much running..." She fainted into All-American's arms.
"Whoa!" He gasped as he held her up.
"Heh heh, girls just fall into your arms, huh?" Gyral snickered. "You have no idea how much I envy you, bud."
"Just help me out here." All-American ordered. Gyral helped him gently lower her to the ground. The shield-bearing hero used his helmet's systems to scan her. "She's more exhausted than anything else."
"Well, that's good." Geo nodded. "She would have been a lot worse than tired if we didn't get here." She noticed "Stream" looking at her. "You okay?"
"...yes." The black-armored figure finally responded after what seemed like an eternity. "It's just...after everything..." Geo put her hand on his shoulder.
"It'll be alright." She reassured.
"She's right, 'Stream." All-American agreed. "Let's get her back to HQ and let her get fixed up and some rest."
"I'll do it!" Gyral eagerly volunteered, raising his hand up. "I'll harry the damsel to safety!"
"You just want to get out of doing the cleanup." Geo grumbled, crossing her arms.
"I'll take her back." "Stream" said. "She and I were comrades once..."
"Alright." All-American nodded. "Let's clean this mess up. Don't want Orchis to get these metal carcasses..."
Some time later
"Uhnnn..." Marie-Ange fond herself awakening in a hospital bed. "Wha...huh? Where..."
"It's alright." A voice assured her, putting a hand on the French redhead's shoulder. Marie-Ange blinked at the owner of the hand: The woman wearing the green suit of armor she met earlier in the Nevada desert. She was holding her helmet under her arm, revealing that she was a rosy-cheeked blue-eyed blonde. Her hair was cut to chin-length.
"Who..."
"The name's Petra Kristiansen, but they call me Geo here." Petra smiled warmly. "My team rescued you from those Sentinels."
"Geo?" Marie-Ange blinked. "Oh, right. I remember now." She looked around. "Where am I?"
"You're in Portland."
"Portland?" Marie-Ange gaped. "As in Portland, Oregon?"
"Yes." Petra confirmed with a nod.
"But, I was in New York! How did I-?"
"Don't worry about it." Petra waved it off. "One of our squad found out about you, and...took an interest in you."
"Me?"
"Yup." Petra smiled. Another figure walked up to the door. Marie noticed that like Petra, this man wore armor. However, his was a dark blue with orange and yellow highlights. His armor's chestplate bore an insignia of a stylized comet. His head was covered by a helmet.
"That man...he was one of the people who saved me." Marie-Ange realized.
"Yup." The blonde smiled. "He was hoping to meet up with you again."
Marie-Ange blinked. "Why?" Petra smirked.
"He said he was an old friend of yours." As the Danish blonde spoke, the man removed his helmet, revealing a handsome smiling dark-skinned man, with his equally-dark curly hair cut short. Marie-Ange gasped in disbelief.
"...Ha...Ha...Haroun?!" She yelped. Haroun ibn Sallah Al-Rashid, Jetstream, nodded, the smile still on his face.
"Indeed, my old friend." The Moroccan cyborg mutant smiled. "It is wonderful to see you again."
"We found him having returned to his home country." Petra explained.
"We are part of a new organization." Haroun added. "I had learned of your encounter with Spider-Man and Deadpool recently, and I figured you would be a fine fit for us."
"A new organization?"
"Yup." Petra confirmed with a nod. "We're out to prove that the superhuman community can police itself."
"I was in a prison in Nevada." Marie-Ange reminded. "I am now 'on the lam' as they say."
"That is already taken care of, old friend." Haroun assured.
"Yeah, don't you worry about it." Petra added. "Our boss talked to the warden. He was very nice about it."
"So he's going to let me go back in the jail, or..."
"No, old friend." Haroun shook his head. "He has agreed to let us...take you in, as it were."
"You're technically in our custody now." Petra explained.
"She is right." Another woman's voice said. The three saw the source walk in: A tall woman with black hair in a bob, dressed in a business suit. She smiled as she approached the French redhead.
"Your group saved my life. I am quite grateful for it. I take it you are the one in charge?" Marie-Ange noted.
"Yes, I am." The woman smiled. "Miss Colbert, I wish to offer you a job..."
1984 – The original Hellions debuted in New Mutants #16.