Chapter 10
"Say What?"
by Scott O'Neil
Earth, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. No matter how long she stays in the water she remains dehydrated, and in pain. Her skin began to flake and blister the day before, just after the Xandarian ship Pendragon had left to pursue Friday. She had fled here, to the oceans which had always refreshed her and made her strong. But even these ancient waters were not enough to soothe her aching body. She hardly noticed her cousin approach.
"What has happened, little one, that can be so horrible that I have heard of it as far away as Atlantis?"
Kymaera turned to face him, and shed a tear as even her own cousin reeled back in shock at her appearance.
"By Neptune! Nita, what has happened?"
"Namor, when will Vyrra's curse be done with me? Why must that mad geneticist always be a source of pain to me?"
"Little cousin, you must come with me to Atlantis, we will run tests and see what can be done to help you."
"Alright, but I must speak to Rich first, and he is still in space. We sent Angel after them, but they have not sent word. I think he may choose this Dunham woman over me if I disappear. He may choose her once he sees me. Namor, what should I do? I can't win either way."
Namor pondered for a moment, then spoke, " Nita, he loves you, I am certain of this. He fought me when I suggested otherwise, and I cannot believe that he would abandon you now."
" I hope you're right cousin, but I'll find out soon enough I suppose." "True, stay optimistic Nita, if things don't work out with Nova, there's always that stalker you had last year, what was his name, Leafdrop?"
"Leaftop. And if you even mention that again, so help me... Lets get to Atlantis and see if we can find out what;s wrong with me."
Madripoor- Lowtown 3:00am
"I understand you've been looking for me, sister. It is...good to see you again." said Midnight;s Fire as he landed on the rooftop next to Silhouette.
"You too Fire. We have had our differences, but I need your help. Who am I? I thought I knew, but everything seems so foggy now. I know I have been Silhouette, daughter of the Pact, New Warrior. I have memories of being Gai Lo Chord, orphan of the streets, and I have memories of being a being called Asylum. Who am I truly?" asked Sil through tears.
Midnight's Fire watched his sister closely. They had been so close growing up. The gunshots had put her over the edge, and he had institutionalized her for her own good. He had never guessed until later that Genetech had drafted her for their Psionex program. Her Asylum personality was more or less a subconcious projection of Darkforce. He had confronted her about it almost a year ago, and she had done well keeping that creature contained, but now she seemed just as imbalanced as she had when he first put her in the hospitol. Her natural personality, that of the noble person who loved Dwayne Taylor and fought with the Warriors, was merging with her repressed personality, the one that contained her anger and hate. The one that loved Bandit and was a founding and current member of Psionex. Fire looked at his sister, and knew he would need help. He also knew that the man he would have to go to for that help would not be happy to see him. Fire would have to go to Dwayne Taylor.
At the Crashpad, the day after the Xandarian ship Pendragon had destroyed it. Dwayne Taylor, Vance, Speedball, and Rina were sifting through the rubble.
" Oh man, this bites!," Speedball shouted, "I had my best porn here." Rina gave him a dirty look, the others just smirked, until Dwayne spoke.
"You guys shouldn't worry too much. TF is going to rebuild it, it'll just take time. In the meantime, I've received a generous offer for someplace you guys can stay for awhile."
"Where?" asked Rina, who had a pretty good idea of where it was, but wanted to get confirmation.
"You're not going to like it, but Reed Richards has offered us a floor in Four Freedoms Plaza."
"You want us to be roomies with the Fantastic Four! Geez Dwayne, their so old they used to babysit Alex! And the Torch thinks he's such a player! He'd probably give up super heroing to flirt with Nita all day, like those two could ever be an item." complained Speedball.
"It's only for a little while Robbie, and besides, would you rather the Warriors address were 1055 Pile of Rubble? We'll be back in the pad in no time."
"Um, Dwayne, not to sound presumptuous or anything," Vance started, "but you've been saying we alot, are you still retired, and if not, what happens to Trey?"
"I've been seriously rethinking my retirement, and if Trey still wants to be a hero, I'll help him come up with something else, like his own armor identity, but if I come back, I'LL be Thrash."
Chris Bradley was crouched in an alley freezing from the rain, but sweating from the pain his electrical powers were giving him as they pulsed uncontrollably from the Legacy Virus. He was in his final death throes, he knew that somehow, and his life was flashing before his eyes. There were so many things he had never gotten the chance to do yet. He had never driven a car, never had a drink, never kissed another guy, never used his powers to help people like Maverick did. And now he would never have that chance. His powers were building into the huge explosion that was the final crecsiendo of the virus, when suddenly, his powers shut off, back under his control. Chris turned, and saw a man of about 20 standing behind him.
" You did this? Am I cured? Why.. How?" he stammered.
"The Legacy Virus is out of your body, there are many more important things you must do before you die. Why and how are for me to know. Your destiny must be fulfilled."
The man turned and left the alley. About a block down the road, the Sphinx reverted back to his own form, smiled and teleported out of the area.
Alarmed by the sudden flash of light on the street, Diego Casseas looked up from his drink before dismissing it and continuing to dream of new power.
An island in the south Pacific. He had washed up on this island when the Undertow went down. On the smallish side, it provided enough boredom for General Obsidian to become better and better at his newfound abilities. Protocol had kept him in the dark as it were ever since he had discovered him. There was much more to his dark exterior than anyone realized. He could touch the darkness inside of himself and use that to change his shape and transform his malleable body. When he got off of the island he would make them all pay. He would take from them what he deserved. They all got the spoils from his work, and it would happen no longer. Obsidian hardly noticed the shadow move up behind him until a man walked out and spoke to him.
"Hey man, my name's Pyre. Got a friend here who's real interested in you."
"Really," said Obsidian, " and why should I be interested in him?"
"You should be interested in me because I can give you what you want. Status, power, revenge. Together we can pluck Protocol from the grip of Atlantis and make him pay for keeping you down. Come with us, be my rock, my Onyx, and let us cause some damage."
A dark hnd wearing a cutoff glove came out of the shadow, and, after a brief moment of introspection, Obsidian died, and Onyx was born, taking the hand, and all four dissappeared into the darkness.
Space, just off the planet Xandar. The Warriors find themselves in an interesting situation. Namely doing evasive maneuvers to avoid the blasts coming from the Starjammers ship.
"Damnit!! Starjammer ship, this is Nova, we only want to talk to Adora, let us through!"
"I don't think it worked Rich," shouted Hindsight, "and even if Friday wasn't patched together with our spare tools and TV parts, it still wouldn't be a match for that ship." Alex shot Carleton an angry look, and said, "You wanna walk home? Go ahead." "Both of you, calm down and think about how to get out of this alive!" bellowed Firelord. None of them noticed the stargate open or the small figure fly out.
The Starjammer ship.
"Corsair, if what they say is true," began Raza. "It doesn't matter old friend. Deathbird pays well enough for us not to ask questions. Besides,I hear that Xandar is going to become part of the empire soon any...what the hell is that?!" remarked Corsair, startled. A bright figure flew out of the stargate on a beeline for the Starjammer ship. It started glowing brighter and brighter until they had to shield their eyes. It fired two warning shots accross the hull that shut down all the reserve systems shipwide, and Ch'od turned up the gain on the external speakers..."ISTEN UP!! MY NAME IS FIRESTAR, AND IF YOU DON'T LET MY FRIENDS TALK TO THIS QUEEN WOMAN, I WILL TURN YOUR SHIP INTO SO MUCH SLAG YOU'LL HAVE TO WALK HOME!"
The Starjammers looked at each other.
"Can she be serious," asked Hepzibah, "it would take Gladiator to do that much damage."
"I recognize the name," Corsair said," and I know of one man who can tell us what to do. Raza, fire up the subspace and place a call to Charles Xavier."
Space. Everything was deathly silent. Firestar sat waiting for a response.
She felt invigorated to be in space again. Invigorated to cut loose without worrying about her health. Going to Professor Xavier was the best thing she'd done in a long time. He and Forge had made her a suit to help cure her of the radiation effects. They had also invited her and Vance to join the X-Men. She told them that she would get back to them, because Vance didn't seem to like the idea too much, but after all they had done for her and her future, how could she say no?
"So she is as powerful as she says Charles?" "I'm sorry to say yes, Christopher. I just spoke with her yesterday. A remarkable woman. If she is in your way, then I would suggest you forget your paycheck and get out now, because not only can she likely back up her threat, but she must have a good reason to be doing it."
"Thanks for the help Charles. Tell Scott I said hi, and I'll probably see you all next month. Corsair out. Well, you heard the man, Deathbird or no, I'm not losing my ship over a contract. We're bugging out."
Friday.
"Their just leaving! You did it Red, great job!" shouted Nova, "Now let's get in there, save Adora and get back to our own solar system."
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