Chapter 38: The Explosion
“Where did you get this?”
“Betts’ room.”
Scratching her head, Kitty magnified the image. “There’s body oils on the strap and there should be fingerprints.”
The computer cursor ran over the darkened blotches, the pattern indicative of a person’s hand. The brunette circled the obvious fingertips and frowned. “Where we should have something, we don’t have anything. The nearest I can tell, this looks like someone very selectively smudged the fingerprints.”
Her frown intensified. “But I don’t see any signs of the oils smearing.”
Not twenty minutes ago they hauled Scott down here, and immediately big blue went to work like he never left. Kitty helped out wherever she could, passing him instruments and adjusting the many Shi’ar devices. When Hank and Kitty had everything under control, Jubilee mentioned her discovery and zoom went the brunette, running the cloth through batteries of tests and coming up with nothing.
From her spot lying on the lab table, Jubilee contributed her two cents to the mystery by noisily chewing on her gum.
“Hank?” asked Kitty, “Any bright ideas?”
The Beast grunted to himself as he positioned a robot medlab assistant to suture Scott’s wounds. “Perhaps the blast in Elisabeth’s room contaminated Jubilee’s hard sought evidence?”
“No, if anything, the explosive materials would’ve clung to the oils and made the fingerprint easier to read.”
“Stranger things have happened, my dear. I wouldn’t rule it out.”
“It’s just... I know I can figure this out! It’s right on the tip of my tongue.”
Pop went a Bubblicious bubble. “Can I say somethin’?”
Kitty turned to Jubilee and raised an eyebrow.
“I saw this movie once.” The conscious occupants of the medlab squinted at her, their expressions dubious at best. Jubilee, however, noticed none of it. “Real lame, had Dolph Lundgren in it, but yeah, the point is, one guy was about to get caught by the cops. He didn’t want them pulling up his rap sheet so he took a razor to his fingers and went freakin’ Gillette on them!” The girl paused to dramatically simulate someone mangling their own fingertips.
“Since the cops couldn’t ID him, they stuck him in a minimum security cell and he broke out in like five seconds! And like... like...”
“Go on,” urged Kitty, intrigued. Even Hank’s ears perked up.
“Well, I’m just sayin’, if you’re dealin’ with a shady character, he can do tons of far out things to throw you off. On tonight’s menu, only one person fits the bill and that’s the dude Wolvie was all going cra-”
“Fantomex,” Scott moaned, startling everyone. The IV and status monitors clanked to the hard ground when he rolled about, tubes and wires tangling him up. With Hank’s help, he freed himself from the medicinal forest and tested out his still painful arm. Wondrous alien technology patched him up well, but even the best of medicine didn’t work miracles. He’d have to lay off on his left side for the next few days.
Ha, like that was happening.
Both Kitty and Hank shrugged at each other, silently asking “Fantomex? What does Fantomex have to do with anything? Again?”
The fearless leader of the X-Men read the gestures and filled in the blanks “You were all at Harry’s when he stopped in for sanctuary. He had a sports bag on his shoulder, same color at the strap there.”
The painkillers dulled him a hair, his speech and movements lacking. Though he took pleasure in unraveling mysteries, a piece of nagging news fluttered in his mind. “Asteroid M,” he whispered, the last moments of his consciousness returning, “Magneto... this is all Magneto’s work!”
“Yeah,” Jubilee drawled, “About that. You see, we already kinda got the Magneto being back part. He sorta took off the mansion’s roof.”
The heart monitor still attached to him jumped twenty beats per minutes. “Where is the team? Why aren’t you going after him?”
“Hold on, turbo. Right now, we’re the only ones here. Elf boy and Hayseed senior are drivin’ to Warren’s to drop off the students. Everyone is either AWOL or captured by Magneto, which reminds me, where’s Wolvie?”
“Jean was looking for him when I left,” said Kitty, “I needed to return with Scott and make sure he got medical attention.”
Like he’d never left, Hank motioned for Cyclops to lay back down. “Doctor’s orders, Mr. Summers. With that concussion and mended bone, you’re not fit to leave on another escapade.”
“There’s no choice, Hank!”
“Yes there is, Scott. Trust that Kurt and Sam will not fail.”
The medlab elevator dinged, drawing four sets of eyes to it. Out came a grimacing Forge, blaster in hand and arm around his stomach. Kitty was there before he collapsed.
“Rogue,” he wheezed, “Mystique... overloaded Cerebra... destroyed... went to Manhattan.”
With all the shit that already hit the fan, the four here extrapolated much from those broken words.
Of course, assumptions were made. Everyone piled into the Mark 3.
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“Look around you, old man.”
Groggily, the Professor moaned and opened his eyes.
“Look, damn it.”
The quiet voice belonged to Tessa but he couldn’t crane his neck around to see her. “Wh-”
“Quiet. I said look.”
The dreamy mist dissipated and returned his focus a bit at a time. Smelled smoke. Felt cold. Saw darkness. Heard unintelligible cries. Sensed nothing. “Where am I?”
“Your hell.”
Vision cleared. Magnus hovered over a ledge while he shouted his old idioms. A familiar swirling red light broke the dark monotony. The repeated unintelligible cries sharpened into calls for mutant supremacy.
“Your dream is about to be reduced to nothing,” spat Tessa, “I just wanted you to know before the fact.”
“Why?”
“Because I hate you. I hate how you took my life and made it yours. I hate your two-faced methods and your cover of benevolence. This is my revenge.”
Charles swallowed the lump in his throat. To his sides, Paige and Alex remained unconscious. “Why didn’t you tell me, Tessa? I could’ve-”
“You could have done many things, but you did not. You did what you did and I will do what I will do. If I could just kill you now and have my revenge, I would do so, but I cannot, not while your dream still persists. I have to exterminate all that is you, and to do so, I must strike at your X-Men, your institution, and your species.
“Sit back, Professor. Experience the symphony I have concocted for you, one inspired by my ruined existence and made possible by your lessons. Look, the first movement comes to an end and the second begins with a bang...”
*****************
Five fighter jets, deployed by a supposed S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, streaked toward Manhattan. Their arsenal: a heap of the newest, laser guided bombs specifically designed to combat the Master of Magnetism. Their order: annihilate the mutant uprising at whatever cost.
*****************
Storm, bound and battered, felt her power return--Lorna’s vicious choking earlier had damaged the collar.
*****************
Gambit, riding a newly acquired sports bike, flung a charged card into a wall and barreled through the hole, bypassing crowds and traffic and straight into the Empire State Building.
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Warren and Sam left Kurt with the students and flew toward Magneto.
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Rachel and X’ian screamed as one into the night sky, but no one heeded their call.
*****************
Esme peeked down at the crowds and felt the awesome power and prestige surge through her. Her grip around her lethal vial of Kick tightened.
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Yvette, mini dv recorder in hand, ducked into a dark alley and filmed the budding drama, all the while hoping for a glimpse of her handsome stranger.
*****************
Vargas clipped Mystique in the side with his sword, but before he could strike the killing blow, demons jumped onto his back.
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Humans found themselves corralled into mutant controlled buildings, there to await cruel torture games and senseless executions.
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Rogue threw herself against Magneto’s force field.
*****************
Mutants all around Manhattan cheered and slaughtered, cries of “Remember Genosha!” filling the streets. For a moment, they were free and no consequences held them down.
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The last remaining Mark 3 lost navigation systems and plowed onto Canal Street.
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Logan, carrying Jean’s body, opened the airlock facing the sun. “He and she,” he murmured, “He and she in a blaze of glory.”
*****************
The Stepford sisters tried to contact their missing sibling but to no avail.
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Demons burst forth from Battery Park and challenged frenzied mutants.
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Marissa strained, her contractions growing stronger by the minute.
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Lorna laughed and shot up. Her heart raced toward unacceptable speeds, but the negative emotions reached an ecstatic height.
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Bobby tried to escape but a loud crack filled the air, smashing an impressive hole through his icy chest. He gaped at Fantomex before tethering over the Empire State Building’s railing.
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The Otherworld contingent--Doctor Strange, Magik, Brian, and Meggan--appeared before a meditating Betsy and tackled her.
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- To be continued...
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