In a world that hates and fears them, the X-men have successfully rescued a handful of mutant teenagers and children from the clutches of Cameron Hodge and Obadiah Stane on the island of Genosha, where Hodge had planned to illegally experiment on them with the "Legacy Cure" – a cure for mutants created by Warren Worthington, Jr. which has deadly side effects. Arriving on the island, the X-men found that it was partially a trap when they had to fight fifteen Sentinel robots that had been released by Obadiah Stane upon the orders of Hodge.

Meanwhile, Jean Grey and Warren Worthington III are in the process of trying to find Warren's girlfriend, Candy Southern, who has been kidnapped by Hodge and is being tortured and used as leverage against Warren.

Issue 18: Genosha Part 3

Genosha – Cameron's Lab

Unbeknownst to Cameron Hodge and Obadiah Stane, the X-men were in the process of releasing the prisoners on the island. However, Cameron was too busy torturing Candy to notice what was happening on his island, his home away from home.

For at least thirty minutes, Candy had been sitting in the cold, hard metal chair, restrained and gagged. Cameron just couldn't stop coming up with different ways to torture her. At this point, Cameron had forcefully removed her from the chair, keeping the gag in her mouth and moving her to a medical table with metal shackles on it. He'd locked Candy onto the table and had forcefully removed her shirt by cutting it off of her with a switch-blade pocket knife. Candy's face drained of more color as she noticed Cameron pulling out a scalpel. Tears continued to roll down her face as she felt Cameron starting to slice into her exposed skin. She closed her eyes as she felt that she was starting to bleed, Cameron making deep cuts along her arms, almost to the bone. Sweat beaded on Candy's face because of the pain. The agony she was in made her nauseated.

Candy continued to lay there and sob; her whole body shaking violently as Cameron continued to make deep cuts into her skin. She shook her head when Cameron finally stopped, but he grabbed her face, forcing her to look his direction.

"Mmmmph!" Candy made the attempt to speak as sobs shook her whole body. She was petrified.

"Don't even bother, Candy; don't even bother," murmured Cameron as he touched the strap of her bra. Candy flinched away, shuddering as she shut her eyes. The last thing that she wanted was for Warren to see her like this, to see her humiliation as she laid there on the table. She could feel that she was growing weaker and weaker from the torture as it continued on. The sobs were coming deep from her gut to the point where she felt as though she couldn't breathe.

"This is what happens when you choose the sides of the abnormal, Candy. This is exactly what happens, you stupid bitch," Cameron spat. "You're pathetic!" he added, spitting on her.

Candy flinched away, crying harder as she shook her head. She then felt Cameron dumping salt onto her opened wounds, and she sobbed harder in pain. Cameron then forcefully released her from the shackles and threw her back into the chair again, dragging her by holding clumps of her hair in his hand. He locked her into the chair and proceeded to start the shocks with the chair again. Candy couldn't even scream anymore. She could only sob in pain. Her muscles ached terribly due to having been restrained for as long as they have been. She'd never take for granted her ability to move her limbs ever again. She then saw Cameron lighting up a cigarette, and he pressed it to the exposed skin on her stomach. The cigarette burns compared to the shocks of the chair and the scalpel were nothing. Cigarette burns were a walk in the park compared to the other things he'd done to her.

When Cameron finally stopped burning her with cigarettes, he proceeded to beat her with his handgun he had with him, smacking her across the face with it. Candy's head jerked to the side every time the gun hit her face. She could only sit there and cry, hoping and praying for it all to stop.

The Skies over Genosha

Angel and Marvel Girl were taking the skies, flying above the island to try and find where Candy could potentially be. Angel continued to have the sensation of feeling sick to his stomach with worry for his girlfriend. He'd heard Candy screaming over the phone when Cameron had called to brazenly taunt him. The fact that Cameron had the balls and the audacity to do something like that to him, it aggravated the winged mutant more than anything else. His wings flapped as he and Marvel Girl flew side by side each other, looking high and low for some sort of sign for Candy or Cameron or even Obadiah at this point.

"Warren, are you alright?" asked Marvel Girl.

"No, Jeannie, I'm not okay," Angel told her, shaking his head. "I just . . . I'm worried sick over Candy right now. My heart's beating five-hundred."

"Calm down, Angel; you're not going to do her any good at all," said Marvel Girl.

"Marvel Girl, Angel, we freed the mutant prisoners on the island, including my brother, Alex. Alpha Flight's here. Once you get hold of Hodge and Stane, they'll make their arrests," Cyclops said.

"Thanks Cyclops. Over and out," said Angel, trying to calm himself down, but, he found it nearly impossible to do so.

As the two mutants flew over the island, that was the moment a sight caught Angel's eye; he noticed a sketchy-looking building that appeared to be some sort of lab. For the winged mutant, knowing Cameron, he knew that that location would be where Cameron had been planning to test the cure on his mutant test subjects. Angel shook his head.

'Damn you, Cameron. Damn you to hell,' Angel thought.

"Marvel Girl, I think that this is the place," he told his telepathic teammate.

"Yeah, I-I'm sensing it too. I'm sensing Candy in there, and Hodge, and Stane. Hodge is torturing her; we better get her out of there," Marvel Girl said.

"What exactly is he doing to her?" Angel asked, his worst fears confirmed.

"You-You really do not want to know, Warren, but, it's bad," Marvel Girl choked out, the tears starting to come to her eyes as she sensed the amount of pain Candy just happened to be in at the moment.

"Are there any guards there?"

"No, not that I can sense." Marvel Girl swallowed hard as she and Angel landed down on the beach below, walking towards the laboratory. Suddenly, that was the moment Angel could hear his girlfriend's piercing, blood-curdling screams, as if she could sense that he was out there somehow.

"WARREN! AHHHHH! HELP ME! HELP ME!" Candy was yelling out, the words piercing at Angel's heart as he and Marvel Girl walked even closer to the lab, scared of what it was that they were going to find. They were not sure if they even wanted to know what it was that they were about to find, but, they knew what they had to do. Marvel Girl used her telekinesis to shove the doors open, and once they were inside, they saw exactly what they'd been afraid of seeing the moment they'd gotten to Genosha.

The image before them was gruesome. Candy was underneath Cameron's grasp, him holding her with his arm around her throat. Her wrists and ankles were bound up with plastic zip ties. Candy clearly had been struggling; Angel could see the zip ties were embedded deeply into her flesh and blood was seeping from the wounds. Her torso and arms and stomach were covered in cuts that were deep to the bone and cigarette burns. Her face was badly discolored, giving away that she'd been punched in the face several times. And, worst of all, Cameron had the muzzle of a handgun shoved in her open mouth, his hand on the trigger, ready to shoot. Angel and Marvel Girl instantly knew that if they made the wrong move, Candy would get killed. Angel felt nothing but infuriated at the sight. His blood was boiling, and as he looked over at Marvel Girl, he could tell her blood was boiling as badly as his was.

"Dear God, Cameron, what did you do?" whispered Angel. He was so livid he wasn't even yelling, especially as he noticed the look in Candy's eye, a look of pure terror. Sobs were coming deep from her gut. She wasn't scared; she was traumatized. Marvel Girl could feel and sense Candy's distress. She was projecting.

'Jean . . . Jean . . . help me! Help me he's insane!'

'Candy . . . listen to me and try to breathe, okay? It's going to be alright! We'll get you out of this!' Marvel Girl tried to assure her friend.

'No! No! He's gonna kill me he's gonna kill me! I-I just want him to leave me alone!' Candy's psychic voice sounded so frightened and panic-stricken. Marvel Girl's heart went out to her.

"I taught her a little life lesson on what happens when you pick the mutants' side," Cameron whispered sickly; stroking Candy's face with his hand.

"CAM SHE DID NOTHING TO YOU!" Angel bellowed in anger, glaring from behind his mask.

"Oh no, she did, Warren. She chose you over me. This could have been so, so simple, Warren. You could have taken that cure, or she could have picked me. This is all because of you, old friend. It's all because of you; you caused this to happen. Now, I wouldn't take another step forward, because if you do . . . I'll kill her," Hodge whispered in the same venomous, merciless tone he'd used on the phone earlier.

Angel felt the tears starting to fill his eyes as his body shook with anger. "You son of a bitch!" he choked out, shaking his head as he looked at Candy, who was staring at him so pleadingly to save her. Hodge forced the gun further down her throat, choking noises escaping her.

"It's all your fault Warren . . . this is all on you," Hodge said.

"That's BS! Let her go and leave her alone she has got nothing to do with this!" Angel begged out. He could only stand there and beg as the tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

"SHE HAS GOT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT!" Hodge shouted, causing Candy to flinch.

"Hodge, please!" Marvel Girl pleaded on Angel's behalf.

"I'm not talking to you, you stupid bitch!" Hodge spat at her.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Angel snapped, coming to the defense of his teammate.

"As far as I'm concerned, buddy . . . I can do whatever I want. Let me tell you, it was quite fun for me to have to hear her screams," Cameron said with a twisted smile, gesturing to Candy. He leaned over and kissed Candy's cheek and licked her face, causing her to flinch away, closing her eyes in ignominy and embarrassment.

"C'mon, Cam just let her go, please!" Angel sounded so desperate at this point. He didn't know what else he could do. "This is between you and me! Cameron, let her go!"

"Fine then." Cameron instantly dropped Candy to the floor, causing her to collapse down to the ground, but not before shooting her in the stomach three times. That was enough to anger Angel further. He ran over and instantly jumped on Cameron, wanting to kill him for what he'd just done. As Marvel Girl leaned down beside the injured young woman, she examined the bullet wounds in her stomach. It was clear that the bullets had hit some major arteries, judging by the way Candy was starting to cough up blood.

"Candy, c'mon stay with me," Marvel Girl said quietly, looking around for something to put pressure on the wounds. However, she could also see Angel choking the living daylights out of Hodge.

"FUCK YOU, CAM! ROT IN HELL YOU FREAKIN PSYCHOPATH!" Angel shouted, his voice shaking in rage, unshed tears threatening to pour from his eyes. "YOU DON'T EVEN DESERVE TO BREATHE ON HER YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH! NOW WHERE THE HELL IS STANE?!"

"In-In the-the back of the l-lab, preparing-ack . . . the cure!" Hodge choked out, suddenly terrified of Warren, and actually terrified. He'd never seen him lose his cool like that before, not even when his mother and father had kicked him out and abandoned him. Angel let go of him, punching him as hard as he could in the face. It caused Cameron's nose to bleed as his glasses broke. Warren took a little bit of satisfaction as he punched Cameron again, knocking him out cold before calling for members of Alpha Flight to come. He then rushed over to his wounded girlfriend, who was coughing up blood and trying to speak despite the pain she was in. He grabbed hold of her shirt which had been torn off of her and pressed down on the wounds on Candy's stomach, causing her to violently cough even more as the pain increased.

'Jean . . .!' Candy was projecting.

'Candy, no. Try and save your strength! We'll get you help we'll get you to Hank he'll get you to a hospital!' Marvel Girl was telling her, trying to reassure Candy that she was going to be okay.

"Shhh, Candy, hun, don't try to talk, alright? You're gonna be alright!" Angel told her frantically, holding Candy's head up underneath his arm. "Look at me . . . eyes on me, sweetheart! Hank's gonna take care of you! Hang in there, baby! Okay? I love you!"

As Angel was saying those words to try and comfort his girlfriend, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel and Thunderbird came running into the lab, looking as though they had all been through ten rounds in a boxing ring. The minute Ms. Marvel saw the state Candy was in, her jaw dropped open in shock.

"Oh my God!" she said, unable to contain her gasp of surprise; Ms. Marvel could hardly believe the sight before her eyes.

"Wings, Red, get 'er outta here! Hank's on the jet he's waiting fer the two of ya! We'll get these bastards outta here," Wolverine said, reaching over to lean a hand on Angel's shoulder before unleashing a single claw, cutting Candy's wrists and ankles free and being careful to not catch her skin.

Angel nodded and scooped Candy up and into his arms, holding her to his chest bridal style as he continued to put pressure on the bullet wounds. Candy was still coughing up blood, her complexion paling as she wrapped her arm weakly around his shoulders. The blood she was covered in was soiling Angel's red and white uniform, but, he did not care at all.

"No, no, Candy, stay with us! Stay awake!" said Marvel Girl as they rushed out of there. They ran along the shores of Genosha until they got back to the Blackbird, where they saw Cyclops, Beast and Iceman getting Lorna, Alex, Jubilation Lee and Angelica Jones onto the plane. Angel ran over with Candy in his arms, screaming like a maniac.

"HANK!" he yelled, catching Beast's attention. "Hank, we need to get her to a hospital! Now . . . the closest one to home!"

"Claremont Regional Hospital, near Liberty Island; the professor's doctor Cecilia Reyes works there she can help," said Beast, leaning a hand in Candy's hair. "The jet's speeds will be able to get us there in less than fifteen minutes!"

"Okay," whispered Marvel Girl as she and Angel rushed onto the plane to get Candy into the back near the medical bay, strapping her in and grabbing clean towels to apply pressure to her wounds. Candy's face was nearly drained of all color, and sweat was beading on her forehead. Her face was flushed with a fever as she started burning up. They couldn't waste a minute. Jean and Warren kept their masks on their faces as they continued to try tending to Candy the best that they could. Once everyone was on the plane, Hank punched in the coordinates and put the plane on autopilot so that they could rush Candy to Claremont Regional to get her medical attention.

Up next: Failure's All You've Known

A/N:

Happy Dark Phoenix weekend everyone! Despite what the critics have said about it, I still highly recommend going and giving Dark Phoenix a chance. It ended in a way that was so beautiful and full of emotion, Sophie Turner's acting was everything, and by the time the credits came, I got the chills all over my body and my voice was trembling as I talked about it. I still cannot believe how good it was. It was everything I ever wanted it to be; I was left speechless at certain moments, because there were moments that surprised me that shouldn't have surprised me. In fact, there's this one line during an exchange of dialogue between Jean and Professor Xavier that now drives me to tears every time I think about it or say it out loud. Full of heart, dramatic, emotional . . . exactly what a Dark Phoenix Saga should be, no matter what version you're looking at. I highly encourage you to go, and experience Dark Phoenix. -

DC-MarvelGirl 1997