In a world that hates and fears them, Tony Stark and Charles Xavier's X-Corporation prodigies prepare for what would be one of the most important missions of their young lives. Recently branded as the "X-men" by the media after having rescued Senator Edward Kelly, Bolivar Trask, Warren Worthington, Jr. and Obadiah Stane, the X-men have gotten a call from Warren Worthington III's estranged father, warning them of Cameron Hodge and Obadiah Stane preparing to illegally test the Worthington Industries "Legacy Cure" on young mutants who are being held prisoner on the island. Among these prisoners include Scott Summers' little brother, Alex, and Bobby Drake's best friend, Angelica Jones.

Additionally to this, Cameron Hodge has taken Warren's girlfriend, Candy Southern, as a hostage to use her as leverage against the X-men, hoping to lure the X-men to the island of Genosha.

Issue 16: Genosha Part 1

Genosha – Prison Cells

Alex Summers was just sitting there in his cell with Lorna, staring up at the ceiling. He was wondering when that mutant cure was going to get injected into him at that point, because he just wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. As he sat there, he looked around at the other prisoners, including the newest prisoner, Angelica Jones. Angelica was now Clarice Ferguson's cellmate, and she was no younger than Alex was. They were both freshmen in high school with futures ahead of the both of them, but, Hodge and Stane obviously didn't see it that way.

"So, Angelica, where are you from?" asked Clarice dryly.

"I'm from New York, Manhattan to be exact," said Angelica as she examined the power-dampening handcuffs around her wrists which were suppressing her mutant powers. "I mean, I already see several students from the high school that I go to, so at least I'm not alone in that department. God, this whole thing sucks. I hate that I need to be here."

"Yeah, me too," said Rusty Collins from where he sat in his cell.

"Join the club, everyone," said Jubilation Lee in her usual sarcastic tone, her long black hair flowing down her back, the sleeves of her signature yellow trench coat rolled up.

"Jubilation, we really do not want to hear your attitude right now, bitch," Clarice said.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm just pissed that I got dragged by the hair out of my foster parents' home to get injected with some mutant cure!" shouted Jubilation, leaning her head against her cell wall.

"Jubilation, just shut up!" shouted a mutant named Sam Guthrie in his thick, Kentucky accent.

"We're done with you and your wise-ass attitude," Jamie Madrox groaned.

"Agreed!" shouted a mutant prisoner with purple, scaly skin and glowing red eyes.

"Can I just get some peace and quiet in here?" said another mutant with bubble-gum pink hair and bright blue eyes.

"Alright fine then!" Jubilation cried out, rolling her eyes.

"If you keep rolling your eyes like that, then we are going to beg for you to get the cure first! Bloody hell!" said Megan Gwynn behind a clenched jaw.

Finally, that led to everyone in the prison shutting up. Even Jubilation surprisingly enough shut her mouth. All they knew was that they just wanted to get it over with. Mutants like Megan and Jamie have been stuck there for about a month, and they were willing to do anything. In fact, they had tried to escape a few times, only to be hit with stun guns by the guards. All they could do was sit there and wait for their fate to come.

Shores of Genosha

Cameron Hodge and Obadiah Stane landed in their private jet on the shores of Genosha, several of their employees handling the Legacy Cure, which was packed away in boxes. They knew that soon enough, they were about to test it on the mutant prisoners that they had on the island. As far as Cameron and Obadiah knew, they had at least twenty-five prisoners locked away in their cells. In fact, they felt as though they had hit the jackpot with getting Jamie Madrox, the twelve-year-old son of Dr. Daniel Madrox. They knew that Daniel had struggled with suppressing Jamie's powers when Jamie was a baby, so this was a golden opportunity to Obadiah and Cameron.

However, for Cameron, knowing that he now had Candy Southern as well was something that excited him. Candy was still handcuffed, not knowing what was going on. But, she did know that it could not be anything good. She'd had a sick feeling in her stomach since Cameron had shoved her into his private car. All he'd told her was that if she made a sound on the whole plane ride to Genosha, she was going to get gagged. She knew he'd taken her bag which had her cell phone in it, so she wouldn't be able to call Warren for anything. She was being dragged out of the plane roughly by the hair by Cameron. Finally, she couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Cameron, what are you –?" she began to ask. That was the moment she felt a piece of cloth getting shoved into her mouth and tied around her head to prevent her from speaking.

"I told you to shut up!" Cameron said to her harshly, clutching handfuls of her hair tighter in his fist, jerking her head as he dragged her along, past the prison where the mutant prisoners were, to a section of the island that appeared to be a science lab of sorts. He continued to shove her along, keeping his handgun against her back. He'd forcefully removed her winter jacket on the plane ride there, considering they were now on an island near Madagascar, hidden from the rest of the world.

Cameron continued to drag Candy along to his laboratory, where he was going to be testing out the Legacy Cure on the mutant prisoners on the island. Once she was inside, Candy took a good look at her surroundings, noticing in addition to the medical equipment, there also appeared to be a wide range of devices that could only be used for torture. She took in the sighting of a chair that was there with metal restraints on it. She felt the cuffs unlock from her wrists, and she was shoved into the chair and locked in, her wrists, ankles, arms and neck restrained as Cameron took the gag out of her mouth roughly. Her restraint around her neck, she noticed that it had spikes in it and that somehow, it was attaching itself to her nervous system. The spikes sunk into the skin of her neck deeply; she could feel blood starting to seep. She could feel her wrists and ankles bruising already; she hadn't even been in the chair for ten minutes.

"C-Cam, why-why are you doing this?" Candy suddenly felt in fear for her life for the first time. Her face drained of color as she sat there. She could feel her breathing hitching.

She then saw Cameron pressing down on a remote control, and she felt the restraints on her body tightening as well as a surging electrical shock. She let out a cry of pain.

"AHHHHHH!" she screamed out, the spikes sinking deeper into her neck.

"You want to know why I am doing this. To teach you a lesson," Cameron said.

"W-What?" Candy couldn't even think straight.

"It's to show you what happens when you pick a disgusting mutie over me! And so you can also see what it is that I am about to do!" Cameron snapped.

"Cam . . . no. Warren was your friend he-he . . . we loved you. He-he –!" Candy started to say. She was cut off when Cameron pressed down on the remote again; the restraints tightening again as she felt another round of surging shocks run throughout her nervous system, causing her to scream.

"He was never my friend." Cameron proceeded to reach over for what appeared to be a bucket of sea water, and Candy felt the water flowing over her head. It was freezing, causing her to break into shivers instantly. It was then followed by another wave of shocks. Candy screamed again, tears of pain leaking from her eyes as Cameron pulled out a large strip of some black material, shoving it into her mouth and tying it around her head to gag her.

"Now, Candy, I think it's time we make a little phone call to an old friend," whispered Cameron sadistically, reaching over and caressing her cheek, causing her to flinch away as she let a sob escape her throat as Cameron pulled out a cell phone to call Warren.

X-Corporation Tower – Danger Room

Down in the Danger Room, the X-men were in full uniform, masks and all before they were going to take off in the Blackbird. Professor Xavier was going to be monitoring everything through Cerebro while Hank, Jean, Scott, Bobby and Warren were going to be out in the field for their second mission. Scott was going over the coordinates with Hank over and over.

"War, I am really hoping that your father isn't screwing us over," said Scott.

"I hope so too, Scottie, but, he sounded completely sincere when I was speaking to him. I've never heard him sound so sincere in my life before. It tells me he realizes now how badly he fucked up, and it's come back and it bit him in the ass. Now, he's on his knees begging for my help," Warren said. "It's quite ironic actually; that this is what is finally causing my dad to realize that he and I need to come back together."

"I wonder if this means we'll be finding Angelica on that island," Bobby mused.

"Hopefully," said Hank in agreement as he adjusted his suit on his body.

Suddenly, that was the moment Warren's cellphone started to ring throughout. Tony tossed Warren the phone.

"Warren, it's you. It's a blocked number," said Tony.

"It can only mean one thing," whispered Warren, a sick feeling forming in his stomach. "Hello?"

"I haven't called in six years, and let me tell you, those six years of me not talking to you have been the best of my life," said a voice on the other line.

"Cameron," Warren whispered, swallowing hard.

"Yes, Warren, yes. It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, let me tell you; I've got someone who wants to speak to you . . . say hello." That was the moment Warren could hear a restrained, high-pitched scream followed by a series of sobs that could only belong to one person.

"Oh good God . . . Candy," he whispered, suddenly feeling physically ill as he felt his knees going weak. He could feel Scott catching him underneath the armpits as he felt he was about to collapse.

"Yes, Warren. Consider this a little life lesson for both you and your girlfriend. This is what happens when your girlfriend chooses a mutie like you over me," Cameron said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Cameron, enough! Your beef is with me let her go!" Warren said, hearing his voice rise in volume as he heard Candy scream again.

"If you want her back, come to Genosha. I don't know if you've heard, but, I opened up my own private little island for some . . . side projects," Cameron taunted as another round of yells followed from Candy. She seemed to be trying to protest against it, as if she wanted Warren out of it. As far as Warren was concerned, the minute his girlfriend was involved, he had to get himself involved.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly aware! Talk about illegal, inhumane experimentation!" Warren snapped angrily.

"I'll give you the coordinates . . ." Cameron said to him.

"Don't even bother, I already have them! I'll see you then. If you want a fight, I'll give you one!" Warren said heatedly. "Candy, Candy, if you can hear me, baby, I'm coming, sweetie. Just hang on!" he added, hoping his girlfriend could hear him if Cameron had the phone on speaker.

"Oh, how romantic. It's so sickeningly adorable it makes me want to throw up in my mouth. Just get your ass over here, and you might see her alive . . ." Cameron jeered before hanging up. Warren stood as Scott supported him up.

"You okay?" Scott asked, holding Warren by the shoulders.

"War?" asked Jean. "War, what is it?"

"Cameron's got Candy . . . we've gotta get there," Warren said, his face draining of color at the thought of what was happening to his girlfriend.

"We're leaving now; Alpha Flight is going to meet us there so that they can make their arrests on Hodge and Stane," Hank said, and they all proceeded to get to the Blackbird, Hank in the pilot's seat with Scott at his side in the cockpit. Warren took his seat beside Jean, feeling the nervousness sinking in. He knew that they had to get there quickly. He had to stay focused and keep his head clear, but it was hard considering his girlfriend was in the hands of Cameron, who was planning on illegally experimenting on the mutant prisoners of Genosha. Warren knew that if those mutant kids ended up getting injected with the cure, they were most likely going to die because the cure was deadly. Just hearing Candy's suppressed screams through the phone line made him feel shaken inside.

"War, we'll find her. We'll get to her," Jean whispered, leaning a comforting hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze as a form of silent support.

"Let's just hope we get there in time," Warren whispered in reply as he clenched his hands.

Genosha – Cameron's Lab

Cameron continued to stand there and torture Candy. For Candy, it felt like hours already as the shocks ran through her body, tears falling down from her eyes as sobs escaped her throat. All she wanted was for it all to stop.

'Oh God . . . I wanna die . . . I'm dying,' Candy thought to herself as Cameron continued to torture her violently.

"So, Candy, have you learned your lesson yet about taking the sides of the muties instead of the humans?" asked Cameron coldly.

Candy attempted to shake her head. That was when Cameron pressed down on the remote again, and she felt more shocks running through her. She screamed again.

"MMMMPH!" Candy screamed out behind the gag in her mouth. That was the moment she noticed Cameron switching tactics, and he proceeded to start beating her. He punched her in the stomach and bitch-slapped and back-handed her in the face. She could feel her face starting to bruise as she sobbed and screamed.

"Clearly, you haven't learned. Just wait until your boyfriend gets here. I'm going to do this to you in front of him, so he can hear your screams, and you two are going watch as these mutants on this island get the cure. Who knows? Maybe I'll give it to your friends," Cameron whispered, biting her ear.

Candy shook her head violently, trying to beg Cameron to leave Warren and the other X-men out of it. She didn't want to see Jean, Scott, Warren, Bobby and Hank put their lives on the line.

"You know Candy, for a future business woman, you really are not that smart," Cameron told her. "I mean, working with mutants? Have you lost your head? I honestly thought you were smarter than that to make those decisions, but apparently, your stupider than I thought. You could have been with me, a real man. But no, who do you choose?" He punched her in the face again, causing her left eye to bruise.

Candy's head hung where it was as sobs continued to shake her whole body. She was scared to death. All she wanted was to be in Warren's arms and have him hold her and tell her it was all going to be alright. She knew he was going to be on his way because Cameron was looking for a fight, but, she just hoped and prayed to God that Warren wasn't going to get hurt. She felt another wave of shocks coursing through her body, causing her to scream louder behind her gag. Only one thought rung through her mind.

'Warren . . . help.'

Up next: Genosha Part 2

A/N:

Have a happy Memorial Day to all who live in the United States. And next week is Dark Phoenix premier day! So excited to see the movie come out and to see my all-time favorite saga adapted on the big screen.

Also, be sure to check out my new X-men story, The Evolution Project! Excelsior!-

DC-MarvelGirl 1997