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| Issue #2 June 2007 |
"My Oh My What an Arrival" Written By Doug Bookey and Brent Lambert |
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“Miss Teek, I’m getting hungry,” Jacob said lightly.
“As am I child. This is taking entirely too long, and its getting dark,” Mystique stated.
The unlikely pair sat under their makeshift camp next to a roaring fire. Raven had never had to worry about Magneto before, the Master of Magnetism could take care of himself, but Eric had enemies in the Savage Land that would love to see him disposed of. The auburn haired woman stared at the lush foliage in front of her and couldn’t help but think that something was not right this night.
“Jacob, I need you to ride piggy back, can you do that? I promise that we will get some food, but Eric and Shola might need our help, okay?” Mystique’s voice exhibited an unnatural maternal tone.
Jacob cooed happily. “Ok Miss Teek, I like the piggy back.”
As Mystique lifted the child up, her black tank top shifted to include a canvas harness for Jacob to ride in. Checking to make sure her passenger was secured, she took to stride and headed into the jungle.
***************
“Shall we wake our guests, everyone?” Brainchild asked the others with a mixture of sarcasm and amusement.
Lorelei frowned, fidgeting impatiently. “I don’t see why we just don’t kill them, while we can.”
“Because my dear,” the large cranium man cackled, “I have plans for our great Creator. He abandoned us, and I want him to pay for his betrayal. We shall put him on trial and allow him to defend his actions---before we kill him! This is much more entertaining, is it not?” Grinning fiendishly like a 1920s Hollywood villain, Brainchild turned toward a large, very muscular brute of a man who possessed two extra arms. “Barbarus, wake up our prisoners.”
A wave of water promptly fell upon Magneto and Shola. A smirking Barbarus threw more buckets on the two, as they hung with their arms tethered tightly above their heads.
With a sputter, Magneto began to stir first as the water dripped from his face. “Wh-what is the meaning of this?” he yelled indignantly. His eyes panned the area, trying to focus it in, as his consciousness returned back to him. He gave a deep sigh as his gaze fell on the all-too familiar figures. “I should have known that you would have found us sooner or later my childr-”
“WE ARE NOT YOUR CHILDREN! We are your forgotten creations; you never loved us like children!” Brainchild angrily screamed, fierce rage bursting loudly from his lips. His voice then lowered considerably, dripping with hate. “We have grown beyond you creator, we are our own people now. We have created a society in this land that is our own; we are our own destiny…”
He turned and composed his dwarfish features. A wave of calm seemed to wash over him as he centered himself, battling what Magneto knew was actually a genetic mood disorder that all the mutates suffered to varying degrees. “You see Magneto,” Brainchild continued, more in control. “You and your companion are to be put on trial for misdeeds against the mutates of the Savage Land, for abandoning us like rubbish. We will be your judge, jury, and executioners.”
The purple clad Magneto fumed, shaking his head in disbelief. “This is a mockery Brainchild! You and I both know there is no other end in your eyes than death!” He glanced at Shola, sincerely sorry the young man was forced to have any part in this insanity, and returned his steely gaze to Brainchild and the other mutates nearby. “I have no explanation for you, any of you. What I did, I did as a different person, and I can assure you. If I had to do it all over again I-”
“Spare me your redemption claims,” Brainchild spat with contempt. “No, your crime is too great for our sympathies to be culled that easily.” The small bearded man motioned to the rest of his people. “Gather around brothers and sisters for it is time that we show our creator the true meaning of redemption.”
***********
“Child, you must stop squirming back there. We have much ground to cover and I cannot concentrate with you moving about as you are,” the blue skinned mutant pined.
“I’m sorry Miss Teek, but I’m so hungry,” Jacob cooed.
“Okay child, we shall find something to eat soon,” Mystique assured him gently.
The landscape had narrowed and the path they were on was well worn. The jungle trees surrounded them, with treasures and treacheries abound in all direction. Mystique was unaccustomed to looking after anyone but herself and her powers allowed for heightened durability, however even she was beginning to hunger too. As she searched through the wilderness for a sign of fruit or a plant that was edible, the worry inside of her continued to grow.
“What could be the problem?” she thought to herself. “This is highly unlike Erik to take this long, and with the extra firepower of Shola, they should have been back hours ago.”
Finally, after a search, the jackpot presented itself in the form of a ripe bunch of bananas, hanging from a tree not far ahead. “Look Jacob, we have found something.” She morphed her hands into claws. She dug them into the bark and began to climb slowly up the tree. “Forgive me child, if you are afraid of heights, but I see no other way, and truly, it is not that high.”
Jacob was not listening. “Lookie Miss Teek, A kitty!” he yelled to her excitedly.
Raven’s brow furrowed slightly as she neared the bananas that appeared perfectly ripe. “A kitty, Jacob? I am sorry dear, but I really have no times for gam--” Her soft words were cut short as something suddenly pulled her back down toward the ground.
************
Shola looked about at the angry mob and endeavored to steel himself and show no fear. “Who...who are these people?” he asked with some hesitation.
“Oh yes, tell him Magneto, tell him who we are!” Brainchild goaded. “Or do you not want him to know what happens to those that foolishly follow and believe in you?”
“What is he talking about?” Shola had no idea who these people were, other than strongly suspecting it was they who had plundered Magneto’s facility.
The Master of Magnetism returned Brainchild’s glare with not anger or hatred, but genuine pity. “What he says unfortunately is all true, Shola. I created them, like a sculptor would from a block of clay, and when they no longer suited my purposes I discarded them, just like that.”
“He admits it!” Brainchild shouted, glancing around at the others.
A sneer twisted Lorelei’s mouth. “No fair, we cannot have a proper proceeding if you admit your guilt so soon.”
“I freely admit all my past sins,” Magneto retorted in a voice loud enough for them all to hear.
Brainchild turned back, studying Magneto a moment. “You admit them, but will you also then, pray tell, accept punishment for them as well?”
Magneto gave a rueful smile. “My child, I would rather implore you to do as you yourself said, grant me a fair hearing, not that I believe you capable of it of course. It is plain you still have a lot of growing up to do, existential issues to resolve and—”
“Silence!” Brainchild moved forward and angrily struck Magneto solidly across the face.
************
Raven let out a gasp of fright as she turned her head to meet the yellow feline eyes of a powerful saber-tooth tiger. The large, extraordinary beast held her securely in its maw. Before she could even think to react, it pulled her and Jacob down the rest of the way off the tree, with a surprising amount of gentleness as it did so.
When it let them go, Raven pushed the boy behind her protectively, her hands rippling and morphing into a pair of sharp blades.
“If Zabu wanted to harm you, Mystique,” a confident voice spoke from the shadows. “He could have easily done so.”
“Ka-Zar.” Raven relaxed slightly. “I knew it would be difficult to conceal our presence very long from you.”
“Of that you were correct.” The jungle lord slipped out of the foliage without hardly a sound or rustle. He was tall and handsome, dressed only in a ragged loincloth. His bronzed body was heavily muscled yet smooth and graceful in movement. The fierce expression he regarded Mystique with quickly faded to curiosity at the sight of Jacob, whose eyes were still fixed happily on Zabu. “What are you doing here, and with this child?”
“Looking for dinner, actually.” Raven ventured an innocent smile as she picked Jacob up into her arms that had rippled back to normalcy.
Ka-Zar frowned. “Magneto brought you here with no provisions?”
“Magneto?” she responded in a confused voice, as if she didn’t know what he was talking about.
Ka-Zar seemed slightly amused by her act. “So that was not Magneto I saw being dragged off, along with another?”
Raven felt her stomach drop. “What…what did you say?”
“He was captured by the Savage Land mutates.” Ka-Zar folded his arms across his broad chest as his eyes bored into hers questioningly. “Tell me what he’s doing here, a place it should be clear to him he is very unwelcome.”
“There is no time for lengthy explanations, you have to help me rescue him!”
“I have to do no such thing,” Ka-Zar said coldly.
Raven knew the animosity the mutates had for their creator was palpable to say the least. Her face contorted in worry, she tried to decide what she was going to do. Unfamiliar with the enormous layout of the Savage Land she knew she would be unable to find the mutates’ camp without Ka-Zar’s assistance.
“What’s wrong Miss Teek?” Jacob inquired, sensing her distress.
“Shush child, everything is going to be fine,” she assured him, hardly able to keep the panic from her voice.
Ka-Zar was impatient for answers. “I ask again, what are you doing here, and with this boy?”
“He…he’s Magneto’s son,” Raven answered finally, with a hint of reluctance. Seeing the expression of surprise cross Ka-Zar’s face, she continued her tall tale of mingled truth and fiction, the words rushing convincingly out of her mouth. “Long story short, a deadly superhuman named Vargas wants to kill Magneto and all his children as well. Vargas nearly killed Pietro the day before yesterday, and he now lies paralyzed in a hospital bed. So that no harm would come too little Jacob here, Magneto decided to hide him from Vargas in the Savage Land.”
Ka-Zar absorbed this skeptically. “An interesting story. I am not surprised a man like Magneto has so many enemies, but something about this does not ring entirely true.”
“It’s true enough,” Raven hissed. “Now if you help me save him from the mutates, I will owe you a great debt, and so will Magneto.”
“Hmm,” Ka-Zar said, making a show of considering, but already having made up his mind. “I suppose having the two of you in my debt could come in handy some day. Very well, Mystique, I will help you, though honestly, I have to think the boy would be better off an orphan.”
Raven stifled the urge to tell the jungle lord to watch his mouth. She needed him though too desperately, and would have begged for his help if she had had to.
************
“Hey, if you want to beat on someone, beat on me!” Shola cried, straining against his bonds as the mutates raucously laughed.
A trickle of blood dripped from Magneto’s mouth, which continued to smile. “It is alright, Shola, the truth hurts Brainchild far more than his little fists could inflict on me.”
“Little fists?” Brainchild said in almost a whisper, holding them up for himself to look at. “Why this is the way you created me, Magneto. If I truly wanted to beat you with brawn, I would call on mighty Barbarus for that. As for I, my oversized cranium as you well know is not just for show. I was gifted with intelligence far beyond all others.”
“If only you would use it,” Magneto told him.
“Oh…but I intend to…” A wicked grin pulled at the corners of Brainchild’s lips. “Let it be known my boundless intellect has arrived at the perfect, most fitting punishment for the likes of you; he who would play arrogant god, and uncaring parent. Vertigo, Barbarus, if you would please…”
The shapely green haired woman and large brute wheeled forward a high-tech piece of equipment, one that had been recently stolen from Magneto’s base. Upon sight of it Magneto immediately stopped smiling and his face paled.
“Oh I see you recognize it,” Brainchild cackled.
“What is that…thing?” Shola asked, getting the idea he might not want to know.
“It is a device I invented years ago—”
Brainchild cut Magneto off with a chortle. “It is what he used to create us!”
Shola still frowned, not understanding. “Well what are you going to do…turn us into mutates?”
“Of course not,” Brainchild scoffed. “That is far too good for the likes of Magneto, or he who would willingly follow him. The device that evolved us into higher beings you see can easily accomplish the reverse; it can devolve genetic subjects! Imagine the great Magneto, Master of Magnetism, homo Superior, living out his days as a mindless lower primate, an ape or perhaps a lemur, skittering through the trees--”
“Wait, you said there’d be a trial!” Shola cried in protest.
“And there will be,” Brainchild said silkily. “Why the trial has only just begun.”
TBC
