A Teapot In A Tempest
Sam Guthrie no sooner cut the transmission with Cable then the whole communications panel exploded in front of him.
"Sam?!" Theresa screams.
"No prob, Ter." Sam assures her. "I protected myself with a blast field. But I'd love ta' know why the systems just up an' exploded on us."
Suddenly the room is lit by a bright glow and a shrill sound fills the air.
"That noise sounds really familiar, doesn't it, gang?" James Proudstar asks.
"You're right, Jimmy." Sam agrees. "An' I'll never forget the last time we heard it. Fighting the MLF on the island in Bermuda, when Bobby disappeared along with that time-hoppin' freak called Locus."
The glow fades and it is indeed Locus who stands before them.
"X-Force?!" Locus exclaims. "Oh, great! Gone for as long as I was and look where I end up. Not that I'm complaining, mind you boys and girls, beggars can't be choosers, y'know. But ever since DaCosta abandoned me, I've had nothing but a mad on for you dudes."
"What'd you say?" Sam asks her. "Abandoned you? What happened? Where've you an' Bobby been for the last six months?"
"Only six months we been gone?" Locus replies. "Fekt, don't time fly when you're out of time?"
"Talk english, Locus." James tells her.
"English? Sure if you wanna be dull about it." Locus says. "How about D'Barian? Or better yet, Shi'Ar? Hjkttel fath'eech. Chalell fomaktt, arriffell."
"Girl, you're actin' four scoops short of an ice cream cone." Sam tells her. "What're you doin' now?"
"My teleportation passages always have a way of screwing up comm-systems for a day or two." Locus explains, as she works on the communications board. "Unless I use my own electromagnetic field flex to realign the array. If I'm back here, that means 'Berto is too. I need to confirm that."
"We can do that for you." Sam tells her. "Five minutes before you showed up, we found his mutagenic signature."
"You got a location lock?" Locus asks and Sam nods in affirmation. "Great! We have to stop him now, funkadrones. Before it's too late."
"Too late for what?" Theresa asks.
"Can we rewind and play back the last few minutes on thirty-three rpm's, please?" James adds.
"Oh, way cool." Locus says. "A reference to record albums. You got no idea how bummed out I was when I found out cd's had become obsolete by the turn of the century. Truth to tell, Pridewalker, we actually don't have the time to spare."
"What did you call me?" James asks.
"Wait one minute, girl!" Sam tells her, as she begins to teleport them all away. "We can't just let you up an' take us--" Before Sam can finish his statement, they all disappear in a bright flash of light.
Somewhere in the north Atlantic, screams cut across the desolate landscape of the Ani-Mutate Island. Usually the chattering of the genetically transformed animals who live here dominates the still cold air. This night the sounds heard are most definitely human, or perhaps more accurately inhuman.
Wildside screams as he is blasted by one of Dani Moonstar's psionic arrows.
"Wildside's down!" Forearm yells. "Move it, Dani! Move it!"
"Mike, behind you!" Dani yells, as Forearm steps in front of her to shield her from the coming blast.
Danielle Moonstar can only watch in horror as Forearm is hit by the blackened flash of solar energy. He was the only member of the Mutant Liberation Front that she felt comfortable calling a friend. And now she has to abandon him. Leaving him face down on the rocky shoal, without a clue as to whether he is dead or alive. A reflection of the constant struggle she has faced since joining this terrorist organization, under orders from S.H.I.E.L.D., in order to betray them. Should the lives of the few be sacrificed if it saves the lives of the many? The answer, according to Reignfire, is 'yes.' And he has proven himself a firm believer in practicing what he preaches.
"Darkwind!" Dani exclaims, as she rounds the corner and sees her winged horse standing before her. "If I can just get to him in time..."
FASHASH
"No." Dani whispers, as she looks on the smoking corpse of her steed. "By the Great Bear...no."
FASHASH
Reignfire's second blast knocks Dani back into the sand.
"You killed Darkwind!" Dani screams. "Oh, Great Spirit, there's nothing left of the old you...is there? It's hopeless...I can't defeat you alone."
"Dani, girl," Sam Guthrie tells her, as he reaches down to help her up. "That's always been you mistake. You've never been alone."
"Sam? X-Force? Locus? But how?" Dani asks.
"We'll fill you in soon as we take out th' trash." Sam tells her, then turns towards the man flying above them. "Reignfire, we wanna know what you've done with Roberto DaCosta."
"Your naive charm wore out its welcome with me quite a long time ago, Sam." Reignfire replies. "The answer to where Bobby DaCosta has been since he disappeared months ago should have been quite clear to you, had you been capable of accepting the obvious."
"Stop talkin' in riddles, Reignfire!" Sam tells him.
"Sam, you don't understand--" Dani begins.
"No, Dani, he doesn't. But perhaps this will shed the dark light of truth on things..." Reignfire pulls off the wig of long hair and powers down a bit to reveal the face of Roberto DaCosta.
"Dear Lord, no." Sam whispers.
"God was not involved in what I have been forced to do, or the reasons why I have undertaken the miserable task of setting this planet right." Reignfire explains.
"But, it can't be...I mean, Sunspot was with us on the mission where we fought you." Sam tells him.
"Ah, but time has a habit of pulling the rug out from under the feet of anyone wearing an 'X' on their belt, doesn't it?" Reignfire asks laughing. "It is me. Reignfire is and has always been Roberto DaCosta."
"Bobby...how...why?!" Sam asks.
"Because, Sam, things can't continue going the way they have." Reignfire explains. "The world is coming to an end, soon, old friend, and I refuse to simply stand by and watch it happen."
Suddenly the crystalization wave hits and Reignfire is the first to be affected.
"What's going on here? What kind of trick is this?" Reignfire asks.
"Somethin's really wrong!" Sam exclaims as the whole landscape begins to crystalize. "Oh Lord, it's what Cable told me about! They were trying to stop the end of the world!"
In the next nano-second, all is back to normal. And in the second after that Reignfire strikes, his blast engulfing the entire team.
"I've got a good fix on them, Nate. ETA in two minutes." Dom tells him, as she draws every iota of speed she can from the PACRAT.
"Good." Cable replies, as he lays two ion cannons beside her pilot's seat. "The kids are good, but Reignfire's bad news. If he's hurt them I'll see him roasting in hell before the day's out. He's already cost me a lot. He twisted Feral around and turned her against us. You just saw the end result of that mess, before we got called to Israel. He's not going to get any more of mine."
"He won't, Nate, Sam's pretty good himself. You know that as well as I do." Dom tells him. "There's the island, I'm taking us in fast."
"Do a fly by, first. I'll make my exit then, I'll telekinetically lower myself down and maybe catch him by surprise." Cable tells her.
"Pathetic, Sam." Reignfire gloats over the fallen X-Force members. "To think that I once allied myself with such as you."
"We're not done yet." James Proudstar tells him, as he pushes himself up.
"Ah, there's some life left in you after all, Apache. Alas, not for long." Reignfire tells him, as he begins to burn him alive with his solar powered blasts and to laugh at James' screams.
POOM
Cable's blast catches Reignfire totally offguard as Cable lowers himself to the ground from behind Reignfire. But as Reignfire turns around it is Cable who is surprised to see the face of Bobby DaCosta.
"DaCosta?! What the--! What do you think you're doing?" Cable asks.
"I'm going to do what you've failed to do, Nathan. I'm going to change this world into a better place for mutantkind even if I have to do it over all of your dead bodies." Bobby sends a powerful blast towards Cable, which is stopped by a hastily erected telekinetic shield.
"I don't know exactly what's going on here, but by the Bright Lady I will before we're done." Cable tells him. "Reignfire's twisted you, Bobby. This isn't our way. This isn't your way. Open your mind to me. I can help you."
"Foolish man, I am Reignfire! I have always been Reignfire!" Bobby yells.
"Bull! I faced Reignfire, DaCosta." Cable tells him. "I know his psi-pattern and though there were close to yours there were some very important differences as well."
"You lie!" Bobby screams. "I AM REIGNFIRE!!"
"This would be a lot easier if you let me help you, Bobby. For the last time open your mind to me."
"Die, Fool!" Bobby screams and re-doubles his efforts to blast through Cable's shields.
Cable steels himself and forces himself into Bobby's mind. He finds that Bobby is indeed possessed by a towering intellect. Cable traces down the intellect which is possessing him. It is a strong bond, stronger then any psi-link he has ever come across and he immediately knows he can't break it without endangering Bobby's life. The break will have to come from within DaCosta himself.
"I'll have to link with him." Cable thinks. "A deep link." In the mind-scape they are now in, Cable approaches Bobby, who is huddled in a fetal position. "Bobby, it's all right now. It's Cable, I'm here to help you." Nathan reaches out and takes Bobby's head in his hands and begins the deep probe that will be necessary. "I'm with you, Bobby. We're becoming one. Don't be afraid...simply go with the strength you feel flowing from me...take it as your own."
"I can't!" Bobby screams into the link. "It burns! I burn!"
"No, Bobby." Nathan reassures him. "We're shielded, I'm here now and he has no power over you. Feel it, Bobby. Feel the power...it's yours for the taking...we are one."
"I do feel it, Cable, but how is this all possible." Bobby asks.
"What is...is. I can't explain it in english or any language you know, Bobby. Accept what I offer you...join with me...learn what I learned as a boy from Jean and others...trust me, trust them and accept this from me. I will not lose you."
Cable feels Bobby accepting the deep link, their memories become one. In that moment, Reignfire senses what is happening and tries to break the link...but he is too late. Now joined with Bobby, Cable finds every tendrel Reignfire has ensnared the boy in and rips it to shreds. Cable sends fire and pain back towards Reignfire. Cable laughs at Reignfire's helplessness against this fire and then reaches into Reignfire's mind and extracts everything from it he needs to know how Reignfire accomplished this and then leaves Reignfire with no memories at all. Not even the awareness of who he is or his powers. And with that they leave the mind-scape and return to their physical bodies.
Cable finds himself wrapped in a warm embrace when he opens his eyes. Bobby has both arms wrapped tightly around him. Cable returns the boys affectionate hug and give thanks that he didn't lose this one.
"Thank you, Sir, Thank you." Bobby tells him. "What you've shown me is beautiful beyond words."
"Don't mention it, Bobby. And, please, power down a bit you're still giving off quite a bit of heat." Cable tells him.
"But I am powered down...aren't I?" Bobby looks down at his hands and sees that he is, indeed, still powered up, though not nearly to his usual levels. He closes his eyes in concentration and tries to power down completely but finds that he cannot. He then reverses it and powers up, taking to the air in flight and emitting a powerful burst, putting his all into it and once more lands and tries to power down, still without success. "Cable, I can't. I can lower my heat, but I can't turn it completely off. I feel power bursting out of me. I'm more full of energy than I have ever been before."
"Well, maybe something good has come of this after all." Cable tells him. "It seems you're going to be able to keep the enhanced levels that you operated at while you were Reignfire."
"Sir, what happened?" Sam asks, as he and the others get up from where Reignfire had knocked them.
"It's over, Sam." Cable replies, then looks around and asks, "Where's Locus?"
"She disappeared while you and DaCosta were doing your thing." Dom tells him.
"Figures." Cable grumbles. "We've got Bobby back. That's all that matters. Now, let's go home"
Hours later, at the former base of the assassin for hire known as Arcade, which X-Force now uses as their headquarters. Nathan sits watching CNN and looks up as Dom enters, wearing the matching top to the pajama bottoms he is wearing.
"All right, Nate. It's just us, now. Exactly what happened today?" Dom asks. "I felt the beginning of it, through our link, when you entered Bobby's mind. But, it was as if a wall slammed down and then I couldn't feel anything until you both came out of it."
"I had to enter a deep link with him to undo Reignfire's influence." Cable explains, wrapping an arm around Dom as she huddles next to him on the couch. "It was something Blaquesmith had to do with me once. I had been too close to a therm when it popped, I was badly burned and in agony. The healers couldn't get me to calm down or get near me without me throwing them away. 'Smith entered my mind and performed the $@~* link."
"Uh, could you repeat that in english, please?" Dom asks.
"There's no english word for it." Cable explains. "It's much deeper than a normal psi-link. A bonding of souls as much as minds. I can't put it into words you would understand. Sorry."
"Okay, how did this happen then?" Dom asks. "How did Reignfire gain control of him? From your reports of him he wasn't a psi-talent."
"He isn't." Cable tells her. "Bobby doesn't even know all that happened. I shielded most of it from him. The memories were too filled with pain for one as young as him to have to live with. That bastard, Gideon, had horrible things done to the boy. You see, when I was still missing after defeating Stryfe on the moon, Bobby was taken prisoner by Gideon and sent to a Doctor Segismund Joshua to use as a guinea pig. Joshua believed that he could isolate the gene that gave Bobby his exothermal abilities and that he could then transfer or reproduce those abilities in another test subject. A subject he called simply 'Project Nineteen.' Project Nineteen was a male subject who was placed in an oxygenated nutrient bath in order to slow an unusual physical deterioration. Nineteen had only a protoplasmic body without any human characteristics, although it did possess a rudimentary consciousness. Joshua had transfused some of DaCosta's blood into Nineteen. The subject, Nineteen, used that blood as a template to regenerate itself. Joshua kept this knowledge from Gideon. Joshua also found a way to increase Bobby's ability to absorb and process heat and light, which he had done prior to the blood transfusion. Nineteen transformed into a mirror image of Bobby. As if Bobby were the template of his existence. Soon after this Nineteen escaped, after setting fire to the laboratory and killing five people. A few months later he reappeared as Reignfire with the Mutant Liberation Front. When Bobby came into their hands after our first confrontation with them, Reignfire discovered that he could bond with Bobby, totally control him, even so far as to inject new memories into him as if they were his own. Locus was in on the whole deal. She was to bring X-Force to him so he could destroy them and sever all ties that Bobby had to his previous life. I wiped Reignfire's memories of all of it. He shouldn't give anyone any more trouble. So now there's just an amnesiac twin of Bobby's running around. Problem solved."
"Yeah, right." Dom laughs. "It's never that simple for us, Nate."
"Well, it's going to have to do for now, Dom." Cable tells her. "Bobby's back, I intend to take that as a good omen and accept that we got a happy ending for once."
"Yeah, okay. But..." Cable places his finger over her lips, cutting off further conversation and brings his lips closer to hers.
"Dom, shut up." And as Cable's lips touch hers, silence falls as Cable telekinetically turns off the television and the lights.
Our Journey Continues With
Second Genesis Part I
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