Flight of the Archangel

Disclaimer: "Do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?" – Bruce Willis as John MacClane, Die Hard

Chapter 8: Visitation

A rooftop in New York City

Jay Guthrie sat on a roof top in a crouched position. He stared down at the people walking up and down the lit street, going to and fro.

I'm back, yet I'm still far away… Jay thought. A poster that was blowing in the slightly chilled wind hit him in the face.

"Hey!" The winged mutant snapped, grabbing the poster. He was about to crumple it up and throw it away when he noticed the picture on the poster. It was of him. A younger Jay Guthrie, feathered wings and all. "Jay 'Icarus' Guthrie…" He read the poster. He looked at the date and time on it. "My old life…now just posters flying around in an alleyway."

The Xavier Institute

A blond man, looking in his twenties, was walking along by himself along the Mansion's grounds. His name was Samuel Guthrie, and he was leader of the Not-So-New Mutants. He appeared to be a young man barely out of college, but in actuality, he was well in his thirties. Sam Guthrie was known as Cannonball for his power to generate powerful bursts of thermal energy and indestructible forcefields, allowing him to fly like a human rocket. However, he was also something more. He was an External, one of a group of immortal mutants. He discovered his status when he was mauled and killed by a werewolf that was interested in his wife Rahne Sinclair, the Scottish redhead mutant werewolf called Wolfsbane. However, as a result, he was now an immortal werewolf, which added on to his problems. Sam was in a downcast mood. He had learned of his younger brother Jay's death, and he wanted some time alone. (1)

Why? Sam looked up at the sky. Why'd this have to happen to Jay? He didn't deserve what happened to him. Sure, he and I had some issues, but I hoped we'd get to settle them. Now it looks like we never will get to settle our problems.

"Fate is like that, isn't it?" Sam heard a feminine voice purr at him. "Yes, fate is cruel to us Externals." Sam's eyes widened. He turned around and saw Selene's astral projection standing in front of a tree. The mutant sorceress smiled at him. "Samuel Guthrie, I presume?"

"Who…who are you?" Sam blinked. "What do you want?"

"Do not fear, I am not here to fight you." Selene held up her hands. "My name is Selene."

"Selene…" Sam's eyes narrowed. "Ah remember you…you nearly killed mah brother-in-law." (2)

"Yes, Lucas." Selene nodded. "I am indeed one of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle. Their Black Queen, to be exact."

"What're you doing here?" Sam growled. "Ah'm warnin' you, you're on the X-Men's turf right now, lady! If you're thinkin' of tryin' somethin' here…" Selene chuckled.

"My dearest Cannonball, you and your fellow X-Men could not defeat me if I came to fight me." The dark-haired woman laughed. "Besides, I did not come here to fight you, anyway. I only came to talk."

"Talk?" Sam frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It has come to my attention that you are among the elite now." She smiled.

"…Elite?" Sam blinked. "Elite what?"

"External." Selene explained with a smile. "Like me, you have been blessed with eternal life."

"Blessed?" Sam scowled. "Blessed? Ah didn't even want ta be immortal! Do you know what that means? Ah wanted to grow old with the woman Ah loved! Now Ah'll have to watch as mah wife and children grow old and die, while still lookin' like a blasted twenty-year-old!"

"Family?" Selene laughed. "You mean you're still pretending?"

"Pretending?" Sam repeated. Selene smiled and shook her head.

"Oh, my poor dear, you have no idea what you're capable of, do you?" She tutted.

"Capable of?" Sam blinked.

"Samuel, you are still trying to have a mortal life." Selene tutted again. "Still pretending that you can live a happy life with your precious wife and children."

"Ah'm not playing pretend." Sam growled. "Ah really do want to have a long happy life with mah family."

"Ah, yes. You'll stay with your wife…" Selene nodded. "Even when her red hair turns grey…her beauty fades away…her mind may go dull…"

"What're you insinuating?" Sam grunted. "That Ah'll dump mah wife for a younger woman? You really don't know me if you think that." Selene chuckled.

"Oh, I know you very well." Selene smirked. "I've been keeping tabs on you X-Men since I fought them all those years ago." Sam was floored by this revelation.

"…What? WHY?"

"During that battle, I realized that the X-Men could prove very important to the future of our species." Selene smirked. "So I decided to keep an eye on you. You X-Men entertained me so much. Not to mention the additional joy I felt when I found out there was another External around. I thought that I knew them all. I guess life still finds ways to surprise us."

"Why are you here, lady?" Sam growled. "And why are you like that? All translucent and stuff?"

"It's called an astral projection, Samuel." Selene explained. "Let's just say that I have some traveling problems right now." She then smirked. "But I will find a way through that. Unlike mortals, time and patience are an External's best friends."

"You didn't answer my first question…Selene." Sam frowned. "Why are you here?"

"I came here to see you." The sorceress smiled. "You see, I thought you might need to talk to a fellow External. Who better to counsel an immortal than another immortal?"

"…So, you're here to basically show me how to be an immortal, right?" Sam frowned.

"In a way." The raven-haired woman nodded. "The proper way."

"Really?" The blond Kentuckian frowned, crossing his arms.

"Samuel, you cannot spend your life pretending to act like a mere mortal." Selene told him. "Do you realize what you have been given?"

"Ah was cursed twice over." Sam scowled.

"Ah, yes. The werewolf thing." Selene shrugged. "I know of that. I saw you get the virus. It's curable."

"Silver weapons can't hurt me, and Ah can't go around eatin' hearts!" Sam snapped.

"Oh, you act like they are the only cures for lycanthropy." Selene laughed. "My dear Cannonball, this is not the eighteenth century. There are spells than can drive out the curse. I myself happen to know a few." Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Mah wife is helping me with the wolf thing. But Ah'm sure you know that." Sam reminded.

"But she's not the same kind of werewolf as you." Selene shook her head. "Yours is a curse. Hers is part of her genetic code. There are some aspects she cannot understand."

"Ah don't believe you." Sam grunted skeptically.

"It's a free country." The sorceress shrugged. "I also know of the death of your dear brother." Sam huffed.

"You leave Jay out of this!" Sam snapped. "He's dead!"

Oh, he's already involved in something else, my dear. Selene thought. "I just wished to warn you. He is only the first. Samuel, you are going to end up spending your entire endless existence burying descendants and relatives. The Icarus was only the first. You could do so much more with your immortality, Samuel."

"Oh, really. Like what?"

"Well, acquiring things, that's what." Selene grinned. "You could acquire wealth, and not have to worry about relatives mooching off it after you die. You could acquire power, and never have to worry about having a successor to it. You can place yourself in some very special circles, my dear."

"Ah'm not a rich man, Selene." Selene explained. "Ah was born on a Kentucky farm, and Ah'm happy that way."

"Samuel, fate has chosen you to become so much more." Selene countered. "You could have the world in your everlasting hands."

"Ah don't want the world." Sam turned around. "Ah just want to raise mah family in peace."

"My dear Samuel, I'm afraid you can't let yourself do that." Selene shook her head. "You see, us Externals only have each other. They're your family now. You cannot spend your life pretending to be a mortal husband and father."

"Who's pretending?" Sam walked away. "Leave me alone."

"Samuel, I warn you." Selene called at his leaving form. "Someday, you will have to choose. Your immortality and future greatness…or your family. You cannot deny it, Samuel. The day will come. You cannot have both. You will have to choose." She faded away with a smile. "I shall still be here when you make the right decision." She then added something quietly. "After all, fate has already made the decision for you…"

Next: Thoughts of an Archangel Jay does some brooding.

(1) – Sam's External status was discovered in "Gifts and Curses"

(2) – In "To Err is Human"