Age of Apocalypse Revolver #9
"Duh"
By Mick Edwards
Magneto decided to change the roster of the team that would aid the underground. Because of the rampant increases in security, both mutant and human allies were struggling. Mitch was leader of the team with Sabertooth, Iceman, and Morph. It was decided a four man team was better than what was originally discussed. It was also changed to a temporary standing.
The mission was to free up a route that ran through New Jersey into Ohio and down into Kentucky. The service check points were guarded by Infinites and Madris. They were not the problem. The problem - a cyborg known as Deathlok reprogrammed by Madison Jefferies and upgraded for lethality.
"All right," said Mitch. "This cyborg was made for special missions. With the fall, Apocalypse forces got a hold of it. I've invented a scrambler that will trash the cyborg's systems. Once we take it down, we have to get the new security codes from the computer it is linked with. That will be Morph and Iceman's job."
"No problem," said Morph, taking the shape of a Madri. "Bobby can just hang out in my pouch until I need him."
"Seriously?" said Iceman. "I have to protest, why can't I tussle with the cyborg?"
"Because Victor and I are best suited to fight it and your powers can make Morph's job easier."
"Fine, but I want it remembered that I was against it."
"Come on, Bobby. You and I are as thick as thieves. Like Peanut Butter and Anchovies."
Iceman snickered. "Ok, I'll take it back. Maybe this will be fun."
Iceman broke down his body into pure water and went inside the pouch Morph made using his megamorphic ability.
"Holy shock, you're cold!"
What do you expect? This isn't easy for me.
The smugglers dropped the two teams off at different locations using their cargo trucks. Mitch used Jean's telepathy to feel out the area to tell how many Infinites and Madri were around. He then sensed the presence of one of the EMF. Northstar and not far behind his sister Aurora.
"Damn," Mitch whispered. "The twins are here."
"Won't do them any good, cause we'll gut'em before they see us."
"Or, I have an idea."
Using Katherine's power, Mitch phased through one of the cargo containers. Instead were materials needed for McCoy's research. Mitch smelled a particular chemical that was highly flammable. Changing to organic steel, he popped his claws and caused a fire that swept the container.
The smoke caught the twins' attention. Sabertooth waited until they were covered by the smoke and jumped them both. Slamming their heads together. He thought of gutting them, but now was not the time. Mitch appeared, phasing through the street.
"Let's hurry."
There was little information about what upgrades Jefferies made to the Deathlok cyborg. So the duo could only wonder as they looked for it. Its presence had led to deaths that could have been prevented and almost led to the discovery of the smugglers with close ties to the underground.
Prelate Northstar fumed as he rose higher to get away from the smoke.
"Damn McCoy and his chemicals!"
"Fool," said Prelate Aurora. "You ever considered the rebels caused the fire."
Sabertooth watched them while Mitch used Quicksilver's super speed to look around. He found the Deathlok cyborg. It activated as soon as he was in the vicinity.
"Not good!" cried Mitch avoiding gun fire from the Deathlok.
"See!" yelled Prelate Aurora. "The gun fire proves it!"
The Twins flew toward the sound. Sabertooth growled and used his lunge to topple Prelete Northstar out of the air. Stunning Prelate Aurora. Sabertooth slashed Prelate Northstar's face. A hard punch and rapid fire punches that followed knocked Sabertooth off.
Mitch used Colossus' power to tangle with the Deathlok. It was surprisingly strong. Matching him in pure strength. Waist blasters revealed themselves and fired upon Mitch. Causing him to stumble. He fell backward and hit the ground hard.
"Damn it!" Mitch shouted.
He phased into the ground and came at the Deathlok cyborg from behind. He attached the device he made to the back of Deathlok while Sabertooth tangled with the twins.
"Oh no, the device is damaged!"
Mitch looked at the broken device and had no time to fix it. He phased his hand into the Deathlok cyborg to try and short it out. He held back a breath and the Deathlok deactivated. Using telekinesis, Mitch fixed the machine and used it to buy time for Morph to get the codes. He noticed the Deathlok cyborg started to reboot after a few minutes. So he used his phasing power to escape. He grabbed Sabertooth and ran through the street to get away from the twins.
Once he brought Sabertooth above ground, he could hear the old man grumble.
"I'm spittin' dirt here, so never ever do that again!"
"Sorry, I didn't have much choice. I hope Morph got the codes."
"If he didn't, then this whole mission was fer nothing."
Magneto and Quicksilver looked at the precarious situation ahead of them. Weapon-X, Colossus, Katherine Pryde, and Gambit. The X-Men were inside the ruins of Chicago. Doing what they could for the humans suffering from food shortages. Magneto used his magnetic might to carry the supplies they brought. He watched as Quicksilver and Katherine explained to them the need for secrecy and to not come out of their hiding places for any reason.
Logan took a taste of the air and he could tell a patrol was headed their way. He looked at Gambit and nodded in that direction.
"Let's go and show them a good time."
Colossus gave the last of the bags of rice to the humans and he looked at Katherine. He didn't want to fight. The war just raged on and on. There seemed to be no end to it. Quicksilver finished and went to aid Logan and Gambit. Magneto looked at Colossus and then Katherine.
"Protect these people," he said as he floated into the air.
In the sky, Rogue floated looking over the horizon.
"See anything my dear, Rogue?"
"Nothin' that Remy and Logan can't deal with."
"We have to talk about the matter of your power, and I might have an idea how to enable you to better control it. It is something I have worked out with Mitch."
"Really?"
"I'd be grateful if this can allow me to touch the people I care about without hurtin' them."
"We'll talk about it more once we return to base."
"I can't wait," Rogue said. A smile began to form on her lips.
Mina kept waiting for when Mitch would return. Nanny, the robot built by Magneto, watched over her. When Mitch appeared with Sabertooth in tow. Sabertooth went over to the cooler and got out a beer. Mitch bent down to receive Mina who ran right at him.
"Great to see you, my little moon!"
"Don't leave me again, Uncle Mitch."
"I'm sorry, you know I have to do what I can to help people."
Mina lowered her head. Mitch lifted her head up by placing his index finger under her chin.
"I'll always come back to you, I promise."
"Ok," Mina said, hugging tightly.
"I don't see Morph or Ice Bucket…" said Sabertooth.
"Damn," said Mitch. "Maybe they got held up…"
A cold breeze intensified in the room and out of it appeared Iceman and Morph. Morph shivered and his face became big as he turned to his partner.
"You could have told me how cold this means of travel would be!"
"You would have complained like you are now," said Iceman.
"Anyways, we got the codes. Morph has them somewhere in that body of his."
"No thanks to you!" said Morph with an exaggerated look of hurt.
"Here," said Morph.
"With these the underground will have less problems," said Mitch.
"Who'd thunk that the Big A would start using machine based checkpoints. No wonder our smuggling friend had so much trouble."
"Not anymore once this gets to them," said Mitch. "I'm going to give this to our contact who will make sure it gets to the right people."
"Don't go, Uncle Mitch!"
"I'm not going far, I just have to drop this off and it isn't that far."
Mina lowered her head. "Okay."
Mitch took off at superspeed to make the delivery. Sabertooth came over and bent down looking Mina in the eyes.
"Honey, you don't have anything to worry about. I'm certain about one thing, he cares for you very much. Like you were his own daughter."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but let's keep it to ourselves, okay?"
"Sure!"
Prelate Scott Summers visor brimmed with red light. He looked at the defiant legend of a foregone past. The first Avenger himself. Captain America. Cap was bloodied and chained, but his never say die spirit was in full display.
"Ever since we found you in those frozen depths, you have been a problem. McCoy stupidly unthaws you and you killed numerous infinites before you were taken down. I guess everything about you was true. A literal one man army."
"I know tyranny when I see it, I don't know what's going on - but I know you're not the good guys."
"Survival is all that matters, Captain. There are no good guys or bad guys."
"Do we really need to keep him alive?" asked a bothered Prelate Alex Summers.
"You know our orders, Alex."
"Don't call me by my first name, you don't have that right!"
"Enough you two," said McCoy as he appeared out of the shadows in the dim light holding pen.
"Captain America, Oh my stars and garters, I'm going to enjoy carving you up."
"Let me loose and we'll see who ends up carved up!"
McCoy seemed to consider the idea, which enraged Prelate Alex Summers.
"You can't honestly be considering this!"
McCoy back-handed Prelate Alex Summers, sending him careening across the floor.
"Don't raise your voice to me! I'm NOT Essex, I will kill you and use your corpse for breeding experiments with lower life forms!"
Prelate Alex Summers picked himself up off the floor and left out a side door. McCoy looked at Captain America. Despite lack of food, Captain America was just as energetic as when he woke up. It made McCoy wonder what the serum contained in his blood would do to a mutant…