Aces High

Pilot/Ch. 1: Flipping the Table

Slowly, I come to, my mind feeling fuzzy. …where am I? Why does everything feels muted? Or was that distant? I don't know. Trying to think was a task in futility. Honestly, I just want to go back to sleep for a little longer. Yeah, that sounds nice, let's just go back to sleep. I can deal with everything later. Wait, how long was I asleep for? Maybe I should get up and do something.

…yeah, I gotta get up. I gotta do something. …what? Why do I have to do… something? I don't think I have to do any… wait.

Hold on now. There was… something?

Yeah… I know there was something… something important… that I… I needed to remember?

What do I need to remember? It was important… Why? Why was it important? Mustering up the bit brainpower I've got, I try to focus on what is going on…

…maybe I should try opening my eyes.

Come on… come on… come on…

With some effort, I finally get my eyes open and… I see bubbles. …what? Becoming more alert, I suddenly realize that I'm in some type of… goo? Blinking some more its then that I realize that I'm… in a glass container? Suddenly becoming more and more alarmed, I try to move my left hand and place it against the glass. …what the fuck is wrong with my hand?! It looks like it made of fucking blue gel! It's all slimy and roundish and… are those veins and bones?! I lift up my other hand. …yep same. …what the fuck happened to me?!

More bubbles and… and now I notice the mask on my face. …that's probably how I'm still breathing right now. I look down and… of course I'm naked… and just as blue all over… and apparently am missing several parts to distinguish me as a man… oh GOD!

…okay, you know what? Let's just… calm down and focus on what's going on. Right now, I'm apparently in some sort of… pod? Let's go with pod. I'm in a pod. Said pod is full of some strange liquid, which is made of who knows what. My skin has become some sort of gel-like substance, possibly because of whatever is in this goo. I can at least breathe because of the mask. Looking around past the glass, I can see that I'm in some kind of lab… that's… not good. I'm stuck inside a pod, in a lab, having who knows what being done to me… That is really not good… especially because the lab looks like a complete mess. And I don't mean messy like some one spilled some stuff here and there; I mean like someone had taken a fucking flamethrower and chainsaw to the place!

…I wonder how this pod it still working? I would guess that this pod runs on electricity and this place looks like a mess and- wait! No! Focus!

Okay. I'm in a pod, in a lab that looks like it got caught in a warzone. How am I still alive? There was clearly a fight here and a lot of damage was done. Looking at the glass, I can't see any damage done to it. Why? Did someone build it after whatever fight took place here? Was it moved here from somewhere else? Looking around, I can see that some of the machines in the lab still look like they're working. I can see some screen with a bunch of pictures and words on them, but I can't really make them out from in here.

I really need to get out of here and figure out what happened to me. I try to tap on the glass and despite looking like gel, my finger actually makes a solid 'thunk' on the glass. I try to call out, but I can't seem to make any sounds. Actually, now that I'm focused on my mouth, I can't really feel anything there right now. I try clicking my teeth and I get a strange squishing sensation. …that is not good.

Before my mind can go over the unpleasant implications of that thought, I hear a buzzing sound to my left. Turning I can see a door under a blinking red light slowly sliding out of the way. Someone comes in with what looks like a limp to their step. I immediately try to pound on the glass to get their attention. The person turns toward me, and I'm pretty sure they straightened up at the noise. They turn to me and begin to limp over slowly. It looks like they're clutching their side. Are they… are they hurt? I can't really make out anything beyond the glass.

Eventually the person reaches the front of the pod. The first thing I notice, is the big, fucking gash in the side of their lower stomach! That looks really bad. Slowly my eyes go to their face and the moment I see it, I swear it feels like my blood freezes as memories of what happened begin to flood my mind. The person is completely white, like bone white. They have no hair on their head, and they have wrinkles and sagging all over. What's causing me no small amount of terror is their blood red eyes, the blue lips and the fucking red diamond in the middle of their forehead.

A mad grin slowly spreads across the incredibly aged face of Mister Sinister. "Good," his voice is raspy, like breathing is taking all of his effort, "you survived the process." He suddenly has a coughing fit and hacks up blood. He takes a moment to get his breathing under control. He then looks back up at me and points. "You… you will be… you will surpass… me… surpass… them… that damned Phoenix! That thing! All… of them! You will… go beyond… beyond all of them!" He begins to laugh but has another coughing fit.

Slowly, the man known as Mr. Sinister stalked through the ruins of his lab. There was a mad glint in his blood-red eyes as he passed through what was left of his place of power. He was quite certain that he was dying. Each step seemed to aggravate the wound in his side, blood was flowing from it and other cuts in his body and he was quite certain that he was aging at a rapid rate that would suggest that his cells were beginning to break down.

He would not make it out of this alive. Not this time. Between his encounter with the Phoenix Force and… that thing (he refused to acknowledge it as the true Nathaniel Essex), his very being had been damaged in way that could not be easily fixed even with his numerous contingencies. Of course, with the chaos caused by the brief skirmish between those two forces, his lab equipment had been wrecked to the point he would need far more time than he had left to fix it.

'That's fine. If I'm going to die, at least I will do so as a truly free individual.' He looked at the vial in his free hand. This was it, the final piece he needed to complete his last project and final legacy, his true magnum opus. A wry smile made its way across Sinister's face at the thought. 'And to think I had originally deemed that one a failure to be discarded.' That subject had provided far more useful information than Sinister could have expected from any of his experiments.

A frown formed as he went over everything he had learned. How? How could he have been so blind? All this time he had been so focused on mutants that he never bothered to expand his research into other forms of power. Scowling, Sinister rams a fist into the wall. No matter, one or another it would be all over for him. He could leave one final parting shot to that thing!

After reaching the door at the end of one his hidden passages, Sinister went through the security checks and made his way into the lab. As he entered the laboratory, he could hear a knocking sound. Looking over he could see the stasis pod in which his final subject was contained. Said subject was awake and pounding on the glass. Excitement made its way through Sinister as hobbled over to the stasis pod. Once he was close enough, he looked over the subject's vital and progress. Satisfied, he looked the subject in the white-green orbs serving as its eyes. Elation and thoughts of revenge flashed through his mind as Sinister spoke.

"Good," he breathed, "you survived the process." A coughing fit overtook him. He didn't have much time left. Pointing at the subject, he continued, "you… you will be… you will surpass… me… surpass… them… that damned Phoenix! That thing!" Rage, despair, humiliation, Sinister could not even begin to express what he felt right then. "All… of them! You will… go beyond… beyond all of them!"

Another coughing fit took him then. Finally, he looked back at the subject. Determination and defiance swelled within him.

"Originally, I had decided to graft my DNA into you," Sinister went on in a low whisper. "However, it occurred to me that that… thing will just use that track you and shut you down at a later point. So, I have done away whatever traces of my genetic code is stored in you and eliminated my clone bodies." That was the hardest part of this final act, he thought bitterly. Choosing… choosing to die permanently. If this was to have any chance of working, if he was to attain his revenge for his humiliation, he would need to remove himself completely. Looking back at the subject, Sinister can tell even without his devices and telepathy that it is frightened of whatever he will do next.

…for the first time since he could remember, Sinister actually felt something like regret. If there was one good thing that came of all this, it was that he now understood how… needlessly cruel he was. So many ways he could have gone about his experiments and research. Looking back, Sinister could see why people chose to fight against him. …not that it mattered anymore.

Looking back at the subject, Sinister continued, "instead I will have your genetic code modified with the DNA of five other subjects." He sneered. "Five sources for five different suits." More coughing overtook him. He could feel coldness overtaking. He was almost done. Slowly he took the vial and placed it into a port, where it joined four other vials. With everything in place, he limped over to a panel and entered several codes. A whirring sound began as the contents of the vials were emptied into the statis pod. A tired smirk came across Sinister's face. Everything was in place. What happened next would be up to the subject. "Surpass… them… my final… creation…" With that, he collapsed and went still forevermore.

As a red liquid began to pour in, I tried to break the glass, but it was no use. Whatever it was made of it was obviously made to take a few hits. I tried to put space between the liquid and myself, but the pod was quickly filling up with the stuff. Panic began to fill me. I couldn't hear what he was saying towards the end, but I had to imagine that whatever he had planned wasn't in my best interest.

Finally, that red liquid made contact with my skin, and all I could feel was hot searing pain. It felt like someone had poured hot boiling water onto me. Distantly, I could hear a strangled noise coming somewhere, which I would later realize was me screaming in agony. Eventually, the burning sensation stopped and was replaced by a deep chill. Beyond the control of my conscious mind, I could feel my body begin to curl up.

Finally, a wave of exhaustion hit me, and everything began to go dark. The last thing that I saw as sleep took me was the unmoving form of the elderly Sinister.