X-Men: The Human/Mutant War

Chapter One

Part One- Sinister's Generals

Jean Grey's high black heels clicked along the white linoleum floor. A dark smile was etched across her face as she approached Xavier, long her greatest rival for the affection of their master. Floating in a telekinetic bubble above her was a prisoner that Sinister had long waited for the opportunity to speak with. Jean would have torn Alicia Master's mind apart on her own, but she knew that Sinister would want the pleasure for himself. She could almost squeal with how angry Xavier looked.

"Don't so look excited Jean. It's just one human rebel," Xavier said, his hands folded behind his back. He started to walk with Jean down the hall as they made their way to Sinister's throne room.

The city that now served as Sinister's home had been once been the capital of the former American government. Washington D.C. had been built on the backs of slaves. It now only seemed fitting that this would be from where Sinister chained down humanity forever. They had deserved what the war brought about by Sinister's rise. That was one thing Jean and Xavier could find themselves agreeing on. Their loyalty to Sinister was the only reason they hadn't torn each other apart.

"This one human rebel is a spy for The Human High Council. I'm sure she'll be able to provide us information about their operations here in our territory," Jean said, looking up at the unconscious blonde in the pink telekinetic bubble. She wanted to make sure she was around when Sinister started torturing the flatscan.

"The Human High Council and whatever backward plans they have should not be our concern. We need to be focused on The Inhuman Nation," Xavier said as they turned a corner, the path to Sinister's throne straight ahead. They could already hear Vulcan and Mystique conversing with their master. "The Inhumans have alien technology. It makes them a substantial threat."

"As do the humans in The Savage Land or have you forgotten about that?" Jean asked as Alicia started to moan inside of her prison.

"Rumors at best. My intelligence about The Inhuman Nation has been confirmed," Xavier said, stopping any further conversation as they came into the presence of Sinister.

Their white-skinned master was sitting atop a large throne of black spikes tipped in red. It put him at least five feet high than anyone else in the room. He looked thoughtfully upon Jean and Xavier as they bowed before him. Rubbing a black hand under his chin and through his beard, he said, "I see you have come bearing gifts Grey."

"A human rebel. We believe she's the one responsible for the power generator explosion in Atlanta," Grey replied, floating the telekinetic bubble right to the bottom step leading up to Sinister's throne. Jean released the bubble and Alicia hit the ground hard enough to wake her up out of her telepathically induced unconsciousness.

She looked up and saw the red eyes of Sinister staring down on her. Alicia bit down on her jaw and a short, red-haired woman behind her started to laugh. The High Council spy recognized her as Jean Grey, one of Sinister's generals. Alicia tried to bite down on her jaw again.

"I removed the little cyanide pill they put in your tooth. You're not dying so easily," Grey said.

Sinister smiled and leaned forward in his throne. "So with that matter out of the way, why don't we talk about The Ultron Project?"

Part Two- The Council

Alexander Pierce stood up to the podium that put him in front of the rest of The Human High Council. He hated being here in Paris and much preferred the battlefront, but politics had put him into this position. And in today's world you just helped however you were asked to. After Jonah Jameson was assassinated by The Wakandan Confederacy, Alexander had been nominated to fill his role. Being on The Council was a dangerous prospect because it put you immediately on the hit list of The Wakandans and Sinister. Only out of necessity were they managing to keep good relations with The Shadow King and The Inhumans.

He rubbed a hand through his dirty blonde hair and tapped the microphone before speaking. "Hello everyone. I'll try to keep this short so I can answer as many of your questions as I can. We're not doing so well in Anarctica. The Wakandans are giving us more than we expected. General Fisk is holding The Savage Land so far but Shuri is a hell of a commander. Killmonger knew what he was doing when he sent her down there. If the intent is to hold it we're going to need reinforcements. I've submitted my recommendation of using The Red Widows to all of you. Questions?"

Moira McTaggert was the first to raise her hand. "If Princess Shuri is becoming such a problem, why don't we neutralize her like we did T'Challa?"

Alexander chuckled. "It took six months of planning to find a moment when T'Challa was most alone. We had to send in a whole team of Avengers and even then we still lost three of them before he finally went down. If his sister is anything like him, that's not an option we can consider right now."

Tony Stark was the next one with a question. Alexander had to fight the urge to crack his neck in anticipation of the man's sure to be arrogant question. "Why not use my Iron Man project for reinforcements? I have fifty pilots primed and ready to go into action. If I recall correctly, it was War Machine that proved pivotal in killing that smug African."

Alexander groaned inwardly. Tony only despised T'Challa so much because The Black Panther had proven his intellectual superior on numerous occasions since relations with The Wakandan Confederacy went down the tubes. "The Iron Men aren't battle tested and The Savage Land is a critical resource center. We can't afford to place our bets on them yet."

"And the Red Widows are washouts from The Red Room. They couldn't even graduate. So why would we want to use them?" Norman Osborn asked.

"Have you seen The Black Widow in action? The woman is terrifying. An army of women only a couple of steps below that isn't anything to laugh at in my book," Alexander said. He knew The Red Widows could get into The Savage Land and make a difference in the fight. He was sure of it.

"If we do authorize your usage of them, how do you intend on even transporting them in a timely manner?" Lord Shingen asked, sipping on a cup of tea. He was the only person in The Council meeting who habitually brought a beverage with him. "After all, the Wakandans are heavily guarding their coasts and their vibranium keeps us from hearing them or even picking up their ships on radar."

Alexander smiled. "We have a little project we're working on. It's called HERMES."

Part Three- The Amazing X-Men

The short, bald woman may not have looked it standing amongst a group of young men and women, but she was hands down the most powerful person in the dusty bunker. High-tech wiring ran all along the walls of the gray bunker leading to computers and targeting system. This place was one of the many safe houses belonging to the group of individuals known as the X-Men. Cassandra Xavier had come to meet the Red Squad on short, but important notice.

She was standing in the center of the room, surrounded by the seven mutants making up the squad. Cassandra looked at each of them and smiled in the way a grandmother baking cookies for you did. But they all knew she wasn't here for anything that sweet. "Hello my X-Men. I know you have all been eager to be assigned your next mission and I apologize for the delay."

Havok jabbed his older brother, Cyclops, in the ribs. "Well just glad you're here now. This guy was beginning to stink."

Cyclops scowled at his younger brother, his one remaining eye flashing red for a moment. "I think Cassandra would like to get to her point without interruption."

Cassandra nodded at the permission to continue. "As you all know, South America has long been hard for us to penetrate and establish any operations in."

Jubilee laughed. "Yea. Every freaking human down there thinks Sinister is the next messiah."

The contrast between the two Americas in Sinister's empire couldn't be more different. For humanity in what was once The United States and Canada, every day was a struggle. What had once been their homes had turned into a wasteland where they could be struck down by one of Sinister's soldiers any given moment. It was their resistance to Sinister's rule which prompted the cruel backlash and the changing of cities into warzones and prison camps.

South America, on the other hand, had welcomed Sinister with open arms. The people of that part of the world had long been subjected to corrupt and ineffective governments. And many of those people saw the hand of imperial America in their everyday lives. So the destruction of the American government by Sinister had been no great loss to them and when he came to their continent, he was seen by most as savior. As a man who brought order and prosperity. He rewarded them handsomely for their acceptance and obedience.

"The tide is beginning to change Jubilee. Slowly, but surely people there are waking up to the horrors of Sinister and how he has plunged the world into war. We have made contact with someone willing to help us establish a base of operations in Brazil," Cassandra said.

"Who?" Cyclops asked.

Cassandra produced an image of the contact in all of The Red Squad's minds. They saw a tall, muscular man outfitted in a black bodysuit and a black mask that had a large white spider imprinted on it. "His name is The Black Tarantula."

Part Four- The Uncanny X-Men

Candy Southern slid the jump drive across the bar table to Sabretooth and took a swig of her moonshine. "The White Sky Room is what it's called. Claims to be a neutral party in the all the fighting and makes weapons for whoever is able to pay the right amount of money. There are a lot of people making a lot of money off this global catastrophe."

Sabretooth slid the drive into his brown jacket and raised his glass in the air. "Sounds about right Candy. That's why I keep doing what I'm doing."

The bar they were in was in a back water part of Kentucky, one of many areas of Sinister's empire left ignored. It had been an easy matter for Sinister and his armies to do the conquering. But now having to actually manage all the land they had taken was another matter entirely. They couldn't watch everyone all the time and so little establishments like this bar popped up. A place where mutant and human could associate with one another without a threat of retaliation. At least for a short while and then the bar would just move to somewhere else.

"Not everyone in The Human High Council agrees with their policy on The X-Men. There are a lot of us who feel like you're doing good work. And places like The White Sky Room only serve to prolong this war."

Sabretooth nodded. "We took out Black Womb. We can take these guys down too."

Candy leaned forward in her chair. "My advice, don't let your team be the one to handle this op. Give it to Nightcrawler or Archangel."

"What you playing at here Candy? Something you're not telling me?"

"Omega White and Omega Black. My intelligence indicates that they both came from The White Sky Room."

Sabretooth leaned back in his chair and scratched a piece of food out from between his teeth. "Well, that sounds like a load of horse crap. Those two have memories. They had a life. They weren't born out of some vat."

"This place can generate memories. They're a lot more sophisticated about it than Weapon X or Black Womb ever was. They can build entities with a full range of memories so well that not even a telepath would notice the difference. You'd have to pull in your Cassandra to even be able to scratch the surface."

Sabretooth stood up. "I'll talk it over with Mags. Thanks for the info Candy. You take care of yourself out here. Ever since that explosion in Atlanta, Sinister's punks have been on edge."

Candy nodded. "I'll be fine. I have a feeling a reassignment is coming our way."

Sabretooth perked an eyebrow up and Candy laughed. "Pierce is trying to recall all us Red Widows back to Europe. God knows for what."

"Then if I don't see you again, it was a pleasure knowing you," Sabretooth said, holding out his massive hand. Candy took it, though it completely swallowed her own.