The New Brotherhood

Issue #4 – Blood Ties - Part Four

Magnetrix's Base

"Magnetrix calls, their mission in the Savage Land is done. I'll be back," Astra said as she vanished from sight.

"Things would be so much easier for you if you'd just tell us where the last of the Acolytes can be found," Aumente said as she stepped up to the prisoner.

Sitting on the floor was a woman with matted red hair. Her face was dirty and she had dark circles under her eyes. The woman was weak and barely conscious from being denied food or water. Even if she had he strength she couldn't get up if she had wanted to, for her hands and legs were bound to the floor with metal shackles. Despite everything, the woman has held her ground and refused to give up any information, mentally or verbally. Aumente respected the woman's will power and mental strength. Especially now after the info about her secret child had leaked, those barriers seemed to reinforce from some unknown strength.

"I…will…never…talk," the woman said through forced pauses.

"Amelia, please. You owe no obligation to these people. Just give us their location and you're free to go," Aumente pleaded as she continued to try and skim her mind telepathically.

"Never…I will… not be…responsible for their…deaths," Amelia Voght stuttered.

"You are one stupid," Aumente began to say when in a moment of weakness a minor feeling escaped the worn down woman causing her to stop and spin back around and smile. "They know about your child. You protect their secret they protect yours."

"How? No," Amelia cried and then passed out.

"Sooner or later, you'll talk," Aumente said when the flickering lights caused her to pause.

"What is going on?" Aumente asked when suddenly she felt a shock that caused her to drop to the ground, unable to control her body.

"No, Phantazia, we don't have time for that. Our agreement was that you help us rescue Voght, and we give you the technology you need to protect the surviving Brotherhood," a woman in a red and blue suit and pink hair said materializing in hologram form and then going solid.

"Fine, Scanner, I won't kill your friend's sister," Phantazia said as she stepped over to the chained woman.

"Got yourself in quite the predicament huh?" Scanner said as she knelt down and lifted the woman's head up.

"Sarah?" Amelia asked looking at her old teammate.

"Looks pretty basic here, how is it you haven't gotten out of here?" Scanner asked.

"They did something to my mind. I can't remember what my powers are or how to use them," Sarah said sitting up.

"I had a feeling that was the case. You have the ability to become mist and teleport. Focus on that while me and Phantazia do our thing," Scanner said motioning at her comrade.

Scanner called on her powers and sent a bio-electric feedback into Amelia's astral mind while Phantazia did the same but focused on the physical mind. Both woman jumped back as Amelia suddenly opened her eyes with a new found strength and awareness. Instantly, Amelia became a misty form and moved out of her chains hovering before her saviors.

"I'm back and they will pay," Amelia said becoming solid but then dropping to one knee.

"Careful, Sarah, you're still pretty wobbly. Now get out of here," Scanner said as Amelia called on the last of her strength and powers and teleported out.

Phantazia nodded at Scanner and pressed a button on her suit. Instantly she was teleported out of the base which caused all the computer systems to come back online. Scanner took a glance around and became a hologram and made her exit as well. Moments after another flash of light went off as Magnetrix and her team arrived back from the Savage Land.

"What happened? Where's Voght?" Super Sabra asked as she zipped around the base at super speed. "No sign of her anywhere."

"Two women, Scanner and Phantazia they called themselves, stunned me and helped her escape. I'm so sorry," Aumente said as she had begun to regain control over her body and got to her feet.

"It's okay, she did as I anticipated," Magnetrix said as she nodded at Astra.

"What are you talking about?" Lady Mastermind asked.

"I knew we weren't going to break her so I had Astra leak out that we had leverage to make her talk. We assumed the Acolytes would make their move," Magnetrix said as Astra began checking the computer screens.

"We got it," Astra smiled.

"What about Amelia?" Lady Mastermind asked.

"It doesn't matter. We know about her kid and I've an idea where she's going. We can deal with her another time. For now, thanks to Scanner, we know where she went and where to find the Acolytes," Magnetrix smiled as she prepared their assault.

Ghost Town – Arizona Desert

"Why are we hiding? I say we confront them," Cargill said pounding her fist through the wall.

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired of hiding out here in this heat," Random said as he morphed his right arm to a gun and made firing motions.

"You think that the eight of us can take on this new Brotherhood? With Magneto missing we agreed to stay low till he returns," Tempo said.

"I say we take them, we don't need Magneto," Senyaka said glancing at the others.

"Blasphemy! We are nothing without the mighty Magneto. I say we wait," Gargouille said flapping her wings.

"Man I hate this. Why did Scanner even have to go bother with Vought," Neophyte said.

"Because, she is our only current link to the outside world and we don't want her giving our location away. These Brotherhood imposters are a major threat," Projector said.

"That you are correct," Scanner said as she made her way into the room.

"About time you got back," Random mumbled.

"How did it go?" Cargill asked.

"We got her free and she disappeared into hiding. Found out some disturbing information before heading back here," Scanner said.

"What is that?" Tempo asked.

"Not only has this new Brotherhood wiped out Mutant Force but they have just massacred the Savage Land Mutates. They are hunting down anyone tied to Magneto. Besides a few old Brotherhood members and a few other individuals scattered or safe with the X-Men, we eight Acolytes are all that's left," Scanner said.

"They'll be gunning for us next. I say we take the war to them and not wait around," Random said.

"Wrong, we'll be much safer hiding here until the X-Men finish them off," Tempo said.

"Actually, you're wrong on all counts," a voice calls out to them as they all jump to their feet.

The house begins to shake as a loud roaring wind rattles the windows. Instantly the roof and four walls rip apart in a mixed force of high speed winds and magnetism. As the dust clears Scanner and the rest of the Acolytes are now standing out in the open, their former hideaway lying in ruins all around them. They all look over to see a woman in red and purple outfit and helmet walking though the dust cloud as the wind stops and another figure joins a group of six others walking behind the magneto wanna-be. Scanner knows immediately who they are.

"Acolytes, to your ready. They've found us," Scanner shouted to her comrades.

"About time, let's do this," Random smiles as both arms become weapons.

"The Acolytes at last," Magnetrix smiled as she came to a stop staring right at the group of eight Magneto worshipers.

"You may have found us but at least Amelia escaped you," Scanner smiled back.

"How do you think we found you? You think it was that easy to brake into my lair? We can always find her, but thanks to you, we were able to follow your trail all the way here," Magnetrix smiled as she waved her hands causing all the nails from the ruined building to fly up and hover over the Acolytes.

"You lead them right to us, you witch. I told you we should have let Voght go," Cargill growled.

"Why are you doing this? It makes you no better going around killing people. Even the X-Men don't kill, for the most part," Tempo said as she eyes the hovering nails.

"We are not evil. We are putting an end to those who worship evil. Like the X-Men we are putting a stop to it. The only thing is we are prepared to do what is necessary to make sure the badies stay gone," Lady Mastermind responded.

"That, and its fun," Crimson Commando said as his arms shimmered and funs appeared on each.

"You won't stop him by killing us," Scanner said.

"No, but we will be one step closer to ending his legacy," Magnetrix said as she whipped her hands down with great force.

Hundreds of nails came raining down on the Acolytes with great force. Cargill tucked her head down as the nails bounced off her skin with ease. Neophyte suddenly split and merged with the nails. Once they had all fallen, his body reformed out of the nails and back into his normal body. Projector called on his powers and light suddenly formed around him and Gargouille creating a solid force field that protected them. Random's body seemed to shift and morph avoiding the nails as they fell, and those nails that hit him seemed to pass through without harm. Tempo slowed time around her allowing her and Senyaka to easily avoid any deadly nails as Scanner terns herself into a living hologram allowing the nails to pass through her without harm. The nails all fall falling to kill a single member of the Acolytes.

"You've met your match. There's a reason we eight still survive," Scanner said turning back to solid form.

"Finish them!" Magnetrix commands as her team attacks, knowing each enemy's' bio.

"This will be too easy," Senyaka said as psionic whips extend out from his hands and wrap around One-Eighty.

"You are such a fool. I'm immune to psionic based powers, so these have no effect on me," One-Eighty smiles as his eyes flare with white light.

"Then try this on," Senyaka says as he send a paralyzing blast through his whips and doubles over instead in pain.

"Oh, did I mention I can also turn one's powers back on them? Not only did you weaken yourself but you just parallelized yourself too," One-Eighty laughed as he walked away from a man who could no longer move.

As One-Eighty walks away from his opponent Super Sabra races at Tempo while Crimson Commando goes one on one with Cargill. Tempo takes flight laughing as she slows time in front of her making Sabra move at a snails pace. Crimson Commando wishes his teammate the best but has no luck as his blasts bounce of Cargill. He then reaches her and slams her with a right hook sending her backwards. Cargill gets back up without hesitation and give one right back to Crimson Commando.

"You are out matched. I'm stronger than you and your weapons can't pierce my skin," Cargill laughs as she trades blow for blow with Crimson Commando.

"Switch!" Commando radios to Sabra.

Instantly, Sabra reverses course, escaping the time field and flies at Cargill as Commando rolls to the side and fires off two large objects at Tempo, which explode sending their shell upwards revealing two sharp projectiles that zip at a faster speed. Temp gasps and manages to redirect her time powers on the projectiles causing them to slow enough for her to fly upwards enough to dodge them. She glances at Cargill land sees her gasping for air as Sabra has created a vortex around her. She then focuses back at her attacker.

"Missed me," Tempo laughed.

"Not really, look up," Commando laughed.

Tempo glanced up just in time to see the shells above her explode to reveal two shiny objects that instantly fired a dense laser beam through each eye hole in her helmet. The back of Tempo's helmet darkened as smoke rose from the eye pieces. Commando turned around as Tempo's body plummeted to the ground. Super Sabra stopped running as Cargill's body fell to the ground unconscious.

"I still don't see why you and One-Eighty never finish off your victims," Commando shook his head as he looked for another opponent.

"We need to get out of here," Scanner said walking up to Neophyte.

"We can't abandon our comrades," Neophyte says looking for an escape route.

"No we can't, you fool," Scanner says as she gets close enough to pull out a gun and blasts the man in the chest sending him to the ground.

"What's going on," Projector merges next to scanner for out of the ground.

"I've taken her out," Scanner said as she pointed to the body of Lady Mastermind.

"Good job, we need," Projector began to say when Scanner sent him flying backwards with a powerful gun shot.

"Two down," Lady Mastermind said as her illusion of Scanner vanished and Neophyte took his own appearance again.

"Hey, he was mine," Pyra complained.

"Then take care of her," Lady Mastermind said pointing at Gargouille flying right at Aumente.

"Oh yeah!" Pyra smiled as he called on his powers.

A boom sounded followed by a flash of light as Gargouille and the air around her instantly exploded in fire. Gargouille screamed as she hit the ground trying to roll the fire all over her body out. Pyra smiled as he sent two more blasts as the fire consumed the Acolyte leaving her to burn alive. One-Eighty stared at his boyfriend in shock at how easy and enjoyable using his powers like this was becoming. He knew he wasn't any better hanging with this group, but at least he didn't kill in cold blood. One-Eighty shook it off and put on a brave face as his man came near him.

"Time to even the score," Random said as he blasted at Astra.

"Your power can't hurt my force field," Astra said firing off energy blasts from her gauntlets.

"And my morphing body keep me pretty much alive," Random smiled and then paused as he noticed dozens of needles all over the back of his body.

"Even the real Magneto would do better than needles," Random laughed as his body shifted causing the needles to drop to the ground.

"Oh, those aren't my weapons. Just a means to inject a metal allow into your body so I can redirect it and do this," Magnetrix said as she popped out her hand and waved it causing Random to rip apart into seven pieces.

"I doubt that will kill him but it will hold him for now," Magnetrix said and then frowned as she felt pressure against the back of her neck.

"Don't bother, this gun is made of plastic and if you or anyone so much as moves a muscle I blow your head right off," Scanner said pushing the plastic gun against Magnetrix's neck.

"You think I fear you?" Magnetrix laughed as Scanner suddenly realized the gun was gone from her hand.

"How?" Scanner began to ask when she glanced over her shoulder to see the gun on the ground and Super Sabra standing right behind her with her arm in her back.

"You see, Aumente is using her powers to enhance Sabra's powers to the point that she can move her arm so fast that it can vibrate right through your body and place her hand around your heart. You so much as think about escaping and he pulls his arm out of your body along with your heart," Magnetrix smiled as she turned to face the woman, keeping her arm stretched backwards to hold Random in his separated state.

"You are a monster. You won't stop us," Scanner said with more fear than conviction as all of Magnetrix's teammates joined them.

"Astra, Aumente," Magnetrix said as Astra generated a shield that encased all seven Acolytes, dead or alive, completely behind them in one giant force field. She then dropped her hand causing each piece of Random to fly to a different end of the force field so he couldn't pull him back together too quickly.

"I don't know if I can," Aumente said already feeling the strain of her powers as blood dripped form one nostril.

"Those people over there betrayed your brother and sister and helped Magneto lead them to their deaths. Now is your time to honor your blood ties," Magnetrix said as Aumente filled with anger and pushed with her powers.

She felt blood drip from both nostrils as she kept up on Sabra but also sent a wave of enhancing power to Pyra as Magnetrix had relayed to them through the communicator in their helmets. Pyra instantly felt a tingle throughout his body as Aumente pumped him with power. Magnetrix nodded as Pyra released his power. The force field as well as the earth below them shook as everything and everyone inside the force field exploded in a white inferno of fire. The heat was so intense that Astra had to release the field because the heat and stress was too much. Astra redirected the shield around all of them as the fire fanned out and set the rest of the ghost town on fire.

"No!" Scanner cried at the inferno before her eyes.

"Trust me, with his powers enhanced ten-fold and that containment field keeping it isolated and tight, everyone in there, even Random's unique protoplasm body was melted and turned to ash instantly. They are all gone, and with you the legacy of Magneto dies in that fire," Magnetrix smiled.

"You are crazy. I mean, you are killing everyone associated with Magneto but yet you have him by your side," Scanner said calling on her powers enough to move her head back, hit Sabra's helmet causing it to become a hologram state and fall off hitting the ground solid again causing Sabra's body to suddenly become more masculine and reveal a man's face with platinum white hair.

"Unlike his sister who only wants her father put away and still holds a place for him in her heart, he is willing to put all his morals aside and like us, holds no love what so ever and simply wants the monster dead," Magnetrix said as Sabra steps back, removing his arms safely from Scanner at the shock of his identity being revealed.

"You," Scanner began to say as she called on her powers but was silenced as Magnetrix ripped her heart, encased in metal directly from her chest and landing in the fire behind them. Magnetrix knew there was a chance Sabra wouldn't kill her, so she had secretly injected metal into Scanner's body with her needles and caused it to form around the heart while they conversed.

"This chapter is now closed. It is time now to began the final phase," Magnetrix said as she stepped over Scanner's dead body while using her powers to place the helmet back on Sabra's head reverting his body back to a feminine form.

Magnetrix nodded with a smile as Astra caused them all to vanish leaving the ghost town along with Magneto's followers to burn away.

Epilogue

Amelia Voght, weak and battered made her way up the road. She was took weak from using her powers to get this far. She would have to go the rest of the way on foot. She hated to come here but she knew it would be the only place she would be safe. She paused by a sign to rest as she read it. "Xavier Institute, 3 miles." They would have to take her in as they had her son. They would have to protect them both now. Before she moved, a beeping noise went off in her torn pants pocket.

She reached down to find a strange devise. She wasn't sure how it got there but she suspected Scanner had planted it on her before she had escaped. She looked down as it indicated that a message was being sent from Scanner. She gasped as she watched the final moments of her friend's life before it cut out. Wiping away a tear, she pushed on. Now more than ever she had to reach them and warn them of Magnetrix and her Brotherhood. She quickly moved up the road as a figure in a silver and purple suite stepped out of the trees, looked at the road sign, smiled and then vanished from site.

Brotherhood Origins: Super Sabra and Magnetrix

"I have to protest," Astra said to Magnetrix.

"I want him on the team," Magnetrix said as they stood atop a building looking down at a drunken man lying near a dumpster in an ally.

"I can see why you feel that way, but it almost goes against everything you stand for," Astra said.

"I wanted the son of Magneto dead, but after watching him and learning all that Magneto had done to him and what he's gone through, he is truly not like the others and we are very much kindred spirits. He joins the team and we conceal his true identity and that's final," Magnetrix commands as she leaves Astra and levitates herself down into the ally.

"Who's there?" The man asks in a slur as a costumed figure approaches him.

"Pietro Maximoff, I've come to take you away with me," Magnetrix said to the man.

"Magneto, father? I'll kill you before I go anywhere with you," the mutant known as Quicksilver said as he moves with great speed right into the side of the dumpster.

"I may have powers similar to him, but I am not your father. Like you, I want the man dead as well," Magnetrix smiles as she causes the dumpster to fly away and far down the ally from them.

"What do you want and why should I help you kill my father?" Quicksilver said eyeing the woman dressed like his father.

"Because, like you, he abandoned me and destroyed my life and family," Magnetrix said.

"I have nothing, I'm all alone," Quicksilver mumbled as his metabolism started to sober him up slowly.

"Wrong, you have me and I will look after you and together we can kill Magneto and make him pay for all he's done to us," Magnetrix said as she knelt down to his level.

"Why should I trust you?" Pietro asked as he stared at the woman in the Magneto helmet.

"Because, I'm your older sister and I won't let anything else happen to you," Magnetrix said as she removed her helmet.

"Who?" Quicksilver said in confusion as he stared at the bald woman whose face was badly scared and disfigured.

"I'm Anya Odekirk, first born to Erik and Magda. At a very young age I was left to burn alive by a mob. Our father left me and ran off," Anya said with anger.

"How? Dad always said you had died," Pietro said as he sobered up completely.

"If it wasn't for a gypsy family, Mila and Georg who secretly fished me out from the fire I would have surely died. They used what magic and herbs they could but were unable to heal my badly damaged body, but I lived.

"They raised me as their own but once I learned who my real father was and what he had done to me I spent my life learning, studying and planning to kill the man named Magneto. He has destroyed both our lives and must pay. Together, brother, we can rid the world and free us from his evil," Magnetrix said as she held out her hand to him.

"I've always wanted an older sister," Pietro smiled as he took her hand.

"Now to introduce you to the rest of the team, but first we must keep you a surprise," Anya said as she used her powers to take hold of a costume from Astra's hands and place it in her brother's arms and the head piece in her hands.

She pressed a switch inside the helmet and placed it on her brother's head as he placed on his new costume in a flash. The helmet beeped as his costume took on a more feminine look to it and the mouthpiece in the helmet augmented his voice to sounding like a woman. With his new look and goal in life, he took his sisters hand and they rose to they sky above. The hunt for their father had begun.

Not the End… Keep your eyes open on future issues of Mutant Generation Force & Sensational X-Men.