Exiles: Desperation
Chapter III-Mission: Improbable
Earth-65229
Craig Hollis was dressed all in black. He waved his hand and Sabertooth moved around a wall in one direction while a green skinned Mystique moved in the other. He made a few more hand gestures, and Taskmaster moved to cover Sabertooth's spot while Sabertooth moved toward him.
"okay," Craig whispered. "You're going to hurl me over this wall, if possible, get me to land on the balcony."
Sabertooth nodded. He wasn't normally the kind to take orders from someone "new" at his job, but this guy was a few billion years old. He'd been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and so far he'd not been proven wrong.
Sabertooth launched the Immortal over the wall and the man landed with a roll on the balcony. He heard the whisper of two silenced shots and knew that Taskmaster had taken out a man who'd seen him. Craig quickly picked the lock on the balcony's French doors and entered. The guards had just barely turned to him as he put a bullet dead center in the foreheads of each of them. He then mounted the bed that took up the center of the room as it's occupant was just starting to rouse.
"W-who are you?!" demanded the black man.
"Craig Hollis, member of an inter-dimensional army dedicated to fixing an unraveling multi-verse," Craig answered honestly. "Do you love your country, King T'Challa?"
"Yes," the man said. "With every fiber of my body."
"Then understand that your death will ensure it's prosperity for centuries to come," Craig told him.
T'Challa's face was one of shock, but that slowly faded to acceptance. With anthor whispered shot, the mission was almost finished. "Start the cover-up," Craig said into his ear communicator. The green-skinned Mystique, Sabertooth, and Taskmaster immediately began to set charges around the walls, and leave misinformation. They'd come her to set things right, and Craig Hollis was making sure that it was done. He opened the doors and took out the guards. He had to kill as many as he could before the charges needed to be blown. It wasn't difficult. His mind drifted back to before the mission started.
Panoptichron
"Why should I not go?" Clarice Ferguson asked tersely. She'd become good friends with the quite Craig Hollis since he'd joined. He'd gravitated toward her because hers was the first face he'd seen in more than a century.
"This isn't your kind of mission," Craig said in a hollow voice. It was the kind of voice that scared Clarice. She recognized it from when Mr. Creed would use it.
"you're taking Mr. Creed," she challenged.
"This is his kind of mission," Craig continued.
"I've been doing this for years, and you're telling me what is and isn't my kind of missions?" she asked angrily.
"Listen to him pup," Victor said. "He just don't want you lookin' at us differently after you see what we do on this sortie."
She paused, looking between the two men. "I'll be back soon," he said with a weak smile. "We'll grab a sandwich in the café and talk." With that he stepped onto the pad with the team he'd selected, all wearing black and armed with semi-automatic handguns.
Earth-65229
His thoughts were brought back to the present when he heard Mystique of his intercom, "Charges in ten, nine," she said, starting a count down.
Craig Hollis began to trek back to them, running, but not in a hurried fashion.
He was just out of the building when the charges blew. The force knocked him through the air, to land at the feet of his team mates. He was badly burned, his body mangled, an arm missing, his spine snapped, and other maladies layered upon those. "You mind?" he asked Sabertooth.
Victor reached down and twisted the man's head all the way around. A ragged breath escaped him, then a sudden intake as his body was reset.
"God I wish I could do that," Taskmaster said with a shake of his head.
Craig gave him a dark look as they were teleported out.
Panoptichron
"Exiles-Immortal!" called one of the time breakers. "Mission success. Wakanda will conquer all of Africa ushering in Pax Africana inside of two months."
"God rest you T'Challa," Craig said quietly. He turned to his team. "I'm going to wash up, you guys check weapons in and take five." He handed his firearms to Sabertooth, who began to collect them from the rest of the team too, though they were less willing.
He showered quickly, getting his blood and the blood of others, as well as ash, and grime off of himself. It was strange, but he loved the feel of a shower, even if there were more efficient ways of getting clean in sufficiently advanced cultures, there was nothing like a nice warm show to make you feel like you had a soul again.
Earth-9865
"NO!" screamed Loki. "It can't be!"
"Believe it!" Scott Summers yelled, lifting his glasses to unleash another blast of energy at the Asguardian. It turned out that in this universe, Loki wasn't the son of a frost giant, but the son of a human. While Loki was a powerful sorcerer, he wasn't any stronger than your or I. however, he was almost ready to take over Asguard when the Exiles-X-Men team had arrived.
Loki had just struggled to his feet when Scott delivered a kick to his stomach. The rest of his team was taking care of the rock-giants and ogres that Loki had sicked upon the population of Asguard. Loki lashed out knocking Scott backward into the guitar he'd brought because the Timebreakers had told him to. He picked it up. "Time to face the music!" Scott yelled, wielding the electric guitar like a battle axe. Loki took a vicious crack across the head followed by another blast from Scott's optic beams. Loki was finally down.
Scott huffed and puffed. He looked at his beloved guitar, it was damaged beyond repair.
"WELL!" came a voice. Scott turned to see Odin and Thor standing beside Nightcrawler. Though this Kurt was older than Scott was, the mutant priest still deferred to Cyclops. "It seems a warrior and bad doth grace the halls of Asguard!" The old battle-scarred god gave him an enourmous, and scary, smile. "Come, you feast with the Gods tonight!"
"We have to get back," Scott said politely.
"Nonsense, Bard," Thor insisted. "Besides, it is Asguardian tradition to feed and heal one's savior, and to repair the armor and weapons they have ruined in battle." Thor took the remnants of Scott's guitar. "thou our smithy may not have seen something the likes of this."
Scott, Tabby, Lorna, and Kurt were all kept to sit and eat. Doug okayed the extended stay with Mrs. Douglas.
Tabby and Scott it turned out were both from a town that only existed in their two realities, one called Bayville. However in Scott's reality the X-Men were a band made up of Scott, Jean Grey, Pietro Maximoff, Rogue Adler, and Kurt Wagner. In Tabby's reality there was an Xavier Institute where the X-Men and New Recruits lived and they all attended Bayville high and had wonderfully over sugarcoated adventures that Tabby had walked out on twice now. She was happy to be gone from that and causing some serious ruckus. She let her eyes prowl over Scott. In her reality the guy was a stiff with no sense of humor. This guy was a rock god with a hell of a voice, and a body she'd love to… well, that's where we'll break off of Tabby's line of thought.
Kurt was from a world where mutants were known, but kept themselves and their powers hidden. When Magneto tried to form his "Brotherhood of Mutants" the government had eradicated him in a heartbeat, showing others the cost for trying to 'stir the pot'. Kurt had attended seminary, and become a priest. When the Exiles came to recruit him he'd been happy to leave a place where he was feared for how he looked. He also felt that he could help people deal with the issues that came up during this kind of life style as he also possessed a doctorate in psychology.
Lorna had been abused and maltreated by her mother, Magda Magna Lensherr, AKA Magneta. Lorna had been only too happy to distance herself from the controlling over bearing woman. She latched on to Scott as sort of a mixture of a father figure and an object of her affections. She wanted to please him and would do so anyway she could think of. Kurt was working with her on becoming more independent and self reliant. She just hadn't been the same since the death of her twin sister Wanda.
The Asguardian feast was loud, bountiful, and delicious. None of the X-Men asked what they were eating as they were afraid it would offend their hosts.
"NOW!" called Odin in his loud booming voice. "one finally matter of business." He turned to Scott. "Bard, thou didst rend thine strange lute asunder in the defeat of Loki. Thusly, we have taken upon ourselves to craft thee a replacement. My forge's have burned, and my artisans didst work side by side with high priests and weapons crafters to make thee… this."
Odin pulled out a beautiful stone gray guitar that looked like his old one had. Scott took it, surprised by how light it felt.
"She will never weigh down thine hands, though none but you shall be able to weild her." Odin was practically bragging now. "Give it a strum Bard, and tell us if our labor was fitting."
Scott plucked a couple of cords and they didn't just come out, the came out beautifully.
"She is also sturdy so that thou may wield her against many a foe without damaging her again, or even taking her out of tune."
Scott ran his fingers over the Guitar. The body and neck were made of some sort of metal/stone mix… no…"
"The body is made of Asguardian Uru… I do believe we've crafted the worlds' first Uru War-Guitar. She is vastly magical and capable of many feats if she is wielded properly." Odin nodded. "Further more, in accordance with something my advisors over heard from thine valkyrie," he gestured at Tabitha. "We bestow upon thee, the title of God in our realm, Scott Summers, savior of Asguard, and from this day forth… Asguardian God of Rock!"