XMG

Present

XMG did in fact get the answers to the answers to the questions that he was seeking that day over 4 years ago. But he didn’t like the answers. Death was painful, and frightening. It was the fiery dead end in the road of life. There apparently was a Heaven, because there had to be a better place than where he ended up: Hell. Hell was worst than 1,000 nightmares in which your torn apart by 1,000 wolves. It was far worst than all of that. And Oliver Stone assassinated JFK so that he could write and direct a successful movie about it 30 years later. XMG never liked Oliver Stone. So 4 years later he was alive again. How? He doesn’t know. Why? He doesn’t know. More questions that he’s hoping to get answers to. But not now, now he has some unfinished business to take care of with the 2 beings that he hates more than anything: his only family, his “brother” Jack Frost, and his father Apocalypse. That’s why he is here right now, walking down a dark street in a city that he’s never seen, in clothes that he’s never worn, with a strange man with wings that he doesn’t know.

They had appeared 5 minutes ago, on this strange city’s streets. It appeared to be a downtown type area, a big sidewalk and lots of stores. It must be late however, because it was very dark out and all of the stores were closed. Angel guessed that it was around 1 AM. XMG had still been wearing the bloody lab clothes and slacks that he had stolen from the late Dr. Bellows, and Angel had still been wearing his burnt and torn clothes from his encounter with Tsuris back at the Anointed’s headquarters. The only words Angel had said to XMG since their arrival was “Follow me.” before he started to walk off very quickly, he obviously wasn’t in a good mood and just wanted to get back to the headquarters. He had no time for the boy who had instilled false hope for the future in Jed, Maia, and himself. Angel didn’t know XMG, but he already hated him with an intense passion. 30 seconds after their arrival, clothes were ported onto their bodies. They were dressed in matching outfits, all black, black leather boots, black leather pants, and a black leather jackets that were unzipped so that you could see the black t-shirts underneath. Angel’s hair (which was also now black) was pulled back in a conservative ponytail and the FrostBlade, which he had been carrying in his arm, was now thrown over his back and covered by a guitar case. His wings were tightly strapped down under his shirt, but there were slits in the back for when the time came for him to use them.

Angel expected the transformation, and thus was not surprised by it. XMG however wasn’t, so therefore he was. He cried out almost in pain and dropped to his knees, shivering. Was this something that used to happen everyday for him? He couldn’t remember, but it hurt to think about it. Everything here was hurting him, making him more and more fearful, more and more angry. Angel turned his head at XMG, and glared at him, telling him to hurry. XMG glared right back, wanting to rip his eyes from their sockets and see how much they glared then, but decided it was best to keep following afraid of the man’s power. XMG didn’t like this guy. The wings that he seemed to have up until they got here told XMG that this was Angel, the one who brought him back. But if it was he who brought him back than why did he appear to be so annoyed by his very presence, especially after he helped him defeat the bad man back in the burning laboratory? Just more questions. XMG was sick of questions, and now he wanted answers.

“Hey!” he finally spoke up. Angel just kept walking, ignoring him. “Hey!” still no answer. XMG lost his patience, stopped walking, grabbed Angel by the shoulder, and spun him around. “Hey!”

“What!?” Angel demanded. He hated XMG now more than ever.

“Where the hell are we going?”

“What’s it matter to you!?!”

“Hmmm…Well I dunno, maybe because hours ago I was in a cell burning in hell, and now I’m being led down a street I don’t know by some asshole I don’t know going somewhere I don’t know! Maybe that’s it Angel, but I could be wrong!” Something about those words seemed very right to XMG. Their tone…sarcasm. He remembered sarcasm.

Angel’s eyebrows turned down in a hateful glare, as his eyes tried to widen and focus on XMG, both parts fighting for control of Angel’s face. “Don’t you fucking start with me! You don’t know me or what has happened to me, because I believed in you!” He turned away, “You don’t know anything.”

“Fine.” XMG turned and stalked off in the opposite direction.

Angel shut his eyes tightly and shook his head. As much as he hated to admit it he needed the false prophet to get home. And yeah maybe he had been a little hard on him. If he wasn’t “The One” then he was just a lost boy, confused, and scared, and alone in life. Angel could relate. “XMG wait!” Angel called out with little feeling, without even turning around.

XMG stopped, “What?”

“I’m…sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I need you—“

“For what!?!” Angel was surprised by the tone in XMG’s voice. It was quivering, afraid. He was crying. Angel turned around, XMG was standing close to him looking away, trying to shield his tears from Angel’s eyes. “Why? Why did you bring me back Angel?”

“Because you…” Angel paused, unsure whether to go on or not. He looked at XMG who was now looking right back at Angel waiting for his answer. “Because they think you are ‘The One.”

XMG squinted his eyes, “What?”

“The One.” Angel repeated.

“So…you brought me back because...your setting me up with somebody?”

Now Angel squinted his eyes, “What?”

“So who is this chick? She’s gotta be pretty pathetic for you to have to resurrect somebody to go out with her, and how do you know I’m the one? Plus I have a fear of commitment and…”

“Shut up!” Angel snapped, “I can’t believe I felt sorry for you for a second there! You really are an asshole, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from—“

XMG suddenly lost control and appeared directly in front of Angel’s face “WHOS THE ASSHOLE!?!” he screamed, but it didn’t seem like XMG at all. His voice was higher, like a child’s. His eyes were a glowing bright yellow, and his lips were twisted upwards in a sinister smile. The ends of his razor sharp teeth sparkled under the streetlight. Then as quickly as it all appeared it was all gone. XMG collapsed onto his knees, shivering. The furious Angel reached down and yanked him up by his arms. XMG cried out in shock and pushed him away, as a result he fell back onto his ass. XMG pulled himself up this time, wondering what the hell had just happened.

“Were in New York City, it’s not the Mecca of consumerism and big business like it is in your world. Its much smaller, more of your average town size. Were going to a bar, The Round Robin, its just ahead here. Members of this world’s Resistance frequent it. I’m going to enlist their help.” XMG’s heart skipped a beat. The Resistance? The people who he had cared for and hurt so much. It didn’t matter that they were different people than the ones he knew, it was still too much to handle.

He took a deep fluttering breath and said, “I..I don’t think I can go th—“

“Were here.” Angel interrupted, ignoring XMG’s stammering. The bar was a small building with light stained glass windows and a large neon sign over the door, which shouted its name in big red letters for all the world to see. Currently however it was silent, the sign was off. There was light inside, hinting that somebody might be inside this lone building while all of the others around it were deserted.

Angel opened the door, and he and the tentative XMG stepped inside. It was a fairly large bar, slightly larger than a fast food place but smaller than a full-fledged doggie bag restaurant. XMG could tell by the large TV far at the end of the room, and the assorted athletics pictures covering the walls that it was a sports ball. Past the bar, which was near the door, and down 3 steps were tables for dining and watching the television. At this time however there was no light down there and the chairs slept upside down like bats on the tables. The only light in the entire place came from a ceiling fan which hung over the stools in the bar area. Men in dark suits occupied 3 of those stools at the moment. 2 of them had very dark brown hair, dark almost to the point of black. The man that sat between them had very brownish-blonde hair that was thrown wildly about his head, it looked as if he had either just woken up or just been in a scuffle. Behind the bar, staring at the intruders was a man who bore a fairly strong resemblance to Archie Bunker.

“Hey.” His voice even sounded the same, “Were closed gentlemen your both going to have to leave.”

“Relax Flanagan, its me, Angel. I need to speak with your patrons.”

Flanagan analyzed Angel, he apparently didn’t recognize Angel with his new hair color, “Ohhh, Angel it is you, huh? I didn’t recognize you with that new hair color.” See what’d I say?

The 3 men at the bar all turned in unison, and XMG’s heart almost stopped. The first man, who had a dark tan, curly yet tame hair, and a fairly large nose he didn’t recognize at all. The second man, who was younger than the other 2 XMG remembered as Justin Effex, a young former Resistance member who defected to The Midnight Sons, a group sworn to eliminate all versions of XMG from reality. This Justin was slightly shorter and wore a neat goatee. His nose was apparently broken from the recent fight, it was bandaged. But it was the third man whom almost gave XMG a heart attack. XMG’s former best friend Jaikbluze took a puff of his cigarette.

“lo’ wings. Take a seat, who’s your friend?” This version of Jaik said. Like XMG’s version, his voice was calm and he wasn’t very tall. His hair was brought back in a ponytail and he had circular brimmed glasses, which were in desperate need of a pushing up.

“He’s no friend of mine.” Angel murmured, almost inaudible. He took a seat on the far right of the bar, next to Jaik. XMG stood by himself, afraid to approach these people, strangers with the faces of friends. Angel folded his hands and looked forward, unaware that all of the others were staring at him, waiting for him to speak.

“Your gonna have to say something wings cuz I really cant stand the quiet broody type.” Jaik said, taking another drag from the cig. XMG almost chuckled.

Angel snapped back into reality, he turned towards the others. Their eyes were all focused on him. He felt blood rush to his cheeks and cleared his throat. “Uh..this…this is XMG.” XMG’s eyes widened and he too felt the blood rush to his cheeks, causing his face to turn a light shade of purple.

“Lo kid” Jaik said.

“Howdy” Justin said.

The other man just gave XMG a brief upward nod.

“...hi” XMG said and smiled a nervous trying smile.

Angel looked up at XMG and tried with all of his might to be civil and not punch his lights out. “XMG these are 3 members of this worlds resistance: Jaik Bluze and Justin Effex I believe you know from your world. The man to your left is Rigley Bluze, Jaik’s cousin and this realities version of yourself.”

Rigley let out a hard “HA!” of shock and amusement and shuffled down his shot of whiskey. “Dis kid is one a’ mine?” His accent hinted that he might hail from the Bronx.

“Yes. This kid is one of yours.” Angel said blandly, he lightly hit his fist on the bar, signaling for Flanagan to get him a drink.

The grinning Rigley stood up to XMG and compared himself to his visibly confused and shaken up double. They were about the same height, XMG was a bit taller. They appeared to be built the same way, both very fit and muscular but not enough to be bulging with muscle. Aside from that they had nothing in common, besides of course the fact that they were the same person. Rigley’s hair had loose curls and was neatly patted down, XMG had no hair, XMG’s eyes were a soft shade of brown, Rigley had one eye that shade but the other was a grayish blue, like a pebble, though his skin was darker than most Caucasians Rigley was obviously a white guy, XMG however had light blue skin, and underneath that he was obviously African American. They couldn’t look less alike if they tried.

“Wow.” Jaik chuckled, he was obviously very amused. So amused that he didn’t even take the cigarette out of his mouth as he shoveled down his shot of vodka. Or maybe it was just because it was his 8th shot of the night.

Rigley turned to Jaik, he was chuckling as well. “I know. Dis is a hit isn’t it?” He turned back to XMG whose eyes widened in fear. “Can’t believe dis guy is me. Huh. So can you bend ya thumb all the way back cuz I ca---“ XMG swung and punched Rigley in the face, Rigley was knocked onto his ass and almost unconscious. Jaik and Justin jumped to their feet and grabbed XMG by the arms, lifted him up and slammed him against the wall. Jaik punched him in the face, blood sprayed out of XMG’s mouth.

“Stop!” Angel called out, furious. He had drawn his sword although he really didn’t want to use it. Justin dropped XMG who landed on his chest, knocking the wind out of him and making him see stars. Angel stomped over to him and helped him up. “What the hell was that about XMG?” he growled.

“Demon…he turned into a demon.” XMG said between pants.

Rigley got up off the floor and dusted himself off. He was calm yet very confused. “Demon? What the fuck is he talking about?” He adjusted his jaw line and pounded lightly on the bar. Flanagan immediately tossed him a bottle of Jack Daniels, which Rigley tossed back chugging almost a third of it. “I’m only a demon in the fuck-sack.” He shook his head quickly as he said these words with a newfound anger. He dived over to XMG with his fist pulled back behind his head, ready to strike. Jaik and Justin leapt in to hold him back. “Come on ya fuckin jerk!” One thing that XMG and Rigley had in common was that they both had incredibly bad tempers. With them a wrong look or comment is liable to get you a middle finger at best and an asskicking at worst.

“Rigs!” Jaik called out trying to calm his furious surly cousin. “Rigs! Rigs! Chill kid! Here hav’ a smoke!” Jaik snapped his fingers and an already lit joint appeared in Rigley’s mouth. The drunken New Yorker immediately calmed himself and sat down at the bar. “Thanks cous.”

Justin sat back down at the bar, as Jaik pressed his suit and lit up another cigarette all the time staring back and forth between his angry winged acquaintance and the badly shaken up stranger. “Talk wings. Who is this kid?”

Angel sheathed his FrostBlade behind his back and wondered how the hell he went from having hot sex with the woman he loved 24 hours ago to breaking up bar fights with a drunken 21-year old kid from the Bronx and a false prophet. “Well I take it your all comfortable with the prophecy of ‘The One’.” Rigley waved away a cloud of smoke and watched Angel with a newfound interest in the conversation. “Well they say hes it.”

Rigley’s sudden coughing fit made everybody jump. He pounded down on the bar, “Warder!” he chocked out. Flanagan tossed him a clear glass of water that Rigley chugged back and cleared his throat. “Now call me a friggin jerk, but ah was undah the impression that ah was The One.”

“You’re the other candidate?” Angel asked out loud but more of a question to himself than a question to Rigley. The shock and realization hit Angel like a bullet through the brain. Rigley was the second candidate for “The One”. Something didn’t set right with him about all of this, Angel didn’t believe in coincidences and the fact that the spirits had “escaped” into the only other reality, which occupies the only other candidate for ‘The One’, was too much of one. Something wasn’t right here at all.

“Hmmm…now this is a situation.” Jaik said, unlike XMG’s Jaik this one could keep his cool. Unless of course his people were in danger, than he was an animal. “Wings, one more time. Why you kids here?”

Angel was staring at the floor, thinking long and hard, “It’s a long story.”

“I’m a patient guy, wings.” Jaik took the last puff of his cigarette and flicked it away. With a snap it disintegrated before it hit the ground and a freshly lit one materialized into his mouth.

Angel sighed, “Alright long story short, XMG died 3 months ago storing Apocalypse and another evil being by the name of Jack Frost inside of him. Believing he was The One we resurrected him, and separated the souls from his body. The souls have escaped and we’ve tracked them here.”

Nobody said anything for over a minute. They needed to process the situation. Jaik had seen his family die at the hands of Apocalypse and had watched several members of his resistance die to keep him dead. Rigley had always thought that he was The One. After his first mission as a member of The Resistance, the one in which Apocalypse was killed Afentiko went to him personally and told him of the prophecy of The One. He was to be a great leader someday, and now that’s all up in the air. All because of this blue skinned punk. Justin hadn’t been a member of The Resistance when Poccy was put down, but he had heard the tales over and over again and in his prayers every night between the part about blessing his Aunt Beth and a truckload of money was the one where he begged god never to let Apocalypse come back. Apparently god wasn’t listening. Angel had realized why it took Afentiko so long to respond to Tsuris’s attack in the lab. He was sending the sprits here. This was all a game to him. A giant dangerous game of Go Fetch, and Angel was the unwilling dog looking for the bone. These thoughts made his stomach turn. XMG was confused and frightened. He could swear that guy had turned into a demon. Apocalypse must have something to do with this.

“Wowza.” Justin broke the silence.

At that point everybody just started talking at once.

“OK what we need to do is get the rest of the team and—“

“So which onna us---“

“So if he’s a soul does he have---“

“Alright what we need to do is get the rest of your team and---“

“Hey can I get a hit of---“

“Are any of you bums going to pay for your drinks?”

The anarchist’s favorite drink, the Molotov cocktail rocketed through one of the entrance windows and exploded, silencing everyone and destroying the television and several of the tables. The group had no time to prepare for the impending assault and as a consequence was left right open. The door flew open and off of its hinges from a mighty kick from one of the assaulters. A split second afterwards everybody was once again caught off guard when a sudden spurt of wind rushed past all of them except Justin who collapsed onto the floor, with an arrow from a crossbow stuck in his right leg.

“I injured a Justin! That’s 5 points for me!” The young man with spiked up blonde hair, a long goatee, and an impressive arsenal of weapons cried out triumphantly as he tossed the crossbow behind him and grabbed a small blade from the holster in his waist.

Angel and XMG recognized the young man as Gene of The Midnight Sons. The group led by the malevolent dictator, Mohammed whose mission is to rid all realities of XMG’s bio-signature by killing all versions of him. They had a huge part in XMG’s death back in Akkaba, and have no that come to this reality to murder Rigley. Alongside Gene were 2 other Sons: Rip-Off, a completely homicidal, baby eating, lizard man with the ability to transform his body into any matter he touches, and the version of Justin Effex from XMG’s world, Justin had been captured by SHIELD and placed in The Resistance with a memory blocking chip as an unknowing mole. The chip was removed but it was done in a botched job, causing irreversible damage to his mind. Justin is now very unstable mentally and talks to the skull of Valirie Cooper, his former lover who was killed by XMG when XMG was under the control of the evil temptress Ms. Ivory.

The good Justin squirmed on the floor, screaming in pain as blood gushed from his wound. Flanagan ducked down and hid under his bar. Angel unsheathed his FrostBlade and lunged at Gene with it. Gene instinctively pointed his smaller but equally as sharp blade at Angel so that once Angel ran into him it would stab him in the face, but as he did his expression changed to from his instinctive game face to one of shock and realization. He lowered the blade slightly, just enough for Angel to land on his chest.

“Angel!” Gene growled as he pushed himself up, forcing Angel to miss his fatal blow and tumble onto the floor. “What are you doing here with them?”

“You’ve just interrupted business of The Anointed, Gene!” Angel pointed the FrostBlade at his opponent and fired a blast of black energy. “Leave now and I wont send all 3 of you back to your boss in body bags!”

The very athletic Gene flipped over the blast, which blew a hole in a far wall of the bar and slashed at Angel. “Well you’ve stumbled upon business of The Midnight Sons and you will die like the rest in here! I’m sure your father will be pleased to hear of your demise!” Angel cried out in rage and flew up to meet Gene, knocking his father’s henchman out of the air and through one of the tables with one blow.

Justin flipped back up onto his feet, recovering from Jaik’s blow and forced the barrel of his revolver into the face of this realities version of his former mentor and friend. “Who’s just ‘a kid’ now sir!?!” He cried joyously, enjoying this too much. Jaik calmly snapped his fingers, which transformed the revolver into a graham cracker, which snapped and crumbled under Justin’s grip. Jaik didn’t even have to pull back on his punch, he just struck, hitting Justin square in the nose. Like the cracker, the cartilage in Justin’s nose snapped and crumbled, blood sprayed down his face coating his pink and black uniform with the crimson fluid. The punch badly disoriented Justin and left him stumbling backwards into the path of the waiting Rigley. Rigley held out his fists at his disoriented adversary and fired a glowing powerful plasma blast. Justin yelped as he was thrust forward by the blast, which was Rigley’s mutant power, and through the window that had already been broken by The Son’s entrance.

Rip-Off meanwhile was battling with XMG and appeared to be winning. He had transformed himself into the same hardwood material as what covered the floor and was clawing at the young man’s clothing, ripping the shirt to shreds and tearing some of the shirt underneath. XMG was shrieking loudly, for what he saw was not Rip-Off tearing at his skin. It was Tsuris laughing malevolently, tearing at him with claws made of fire, which charred his flesh. Behind him everything he knew was burning, ruined. Demons stood behind Tsuris all laughing, all waiting for their turn to torture XMG’s immortal soul.

Angel let out another cry of rage, spread his wings and soared to Rip-Off, attempting to save XMG. At the same time Jaik snapped his fingers and threw a large boulder at the matter absorber, and true to his nature he absorbed the stone’s matter. Rip-Off’s bones cracked and settled in as his body grew stronger, larger, and heavier. With one shove Rip-Off tossed Angel into a wall, where Gene immediately dove onto him, cutting his wings with his blade and ambushing him with a barrage of punches. Jaik took a broken stake from one of the tables and swung at the stone lizard. Rip-Off grabbed him by the hand and squeezed tight. Like Justin’s nose and the graham cracker before it Jaik’s bones snapped and crumbled under Rip-Off’s grip. Rip-Off’s arm then shot out, flinging Jaik over the bar, where he hit the wall of drinks. Glass shattered, shelves fell, and the stench of alcohol filled the air. Jaik landed in fetal position under the bar and was almost crushed by the barrage of broken glass and wood that came tumbling on him. Flanagan stared at his patron with wide brown eyes.

“Get Justin outta here, and tell him to call for backup!” Jaik chocked out. Flanagan stood still, “GO!” Flanagan ducked and ran out from underneath the bar. He always knew the day would come when The Resistance would get him into trouble. He always knew one day their fondness for booze would cost him his bar. Still he couldn’t turn them away, they had saved the world more times than he could count and they were good tippers. Justin lay there with his face buried into the floor. He was holding tightly onto his injured leg which still had the crossbow arrow lodged inside of it. Flanagan proceeded to drag the injured Resistance member out of the back exit of his broken and burning bar. Justin howled all the way outside.

XMG turned and growled at Rip-Off. This world’s Jaik had gotten himself injured bravely trying to protect him just as the one he had known long ago would. XMG was sick of this. He was sick of always seeing those he cared about being hurt. He had died and suffered almost 5 years of almost hellous torture so that it wouldn’t occur and now here it was again, just like his sacrifice had never occurred. Once again he felt rage build up inside him, filling him like oxygen in a balloon. He felt like he was on the urge of bursting, like he could just explode with the rage. And this frightened him. It frightened him not to know what was inside of him, and what would happen if it suddenly busted out. He was crackling with bright energy again. Whatever this was it sure was helpful in a sticky situation.

Rip-Off made an attempt at decapitation with a swipe at XMG’s jaw line. XMG knocked the swipe off course and threw a jab at the stone creature’s face. Rip-Off ducked and trucked XMG up against the bar. The blue skinned warrior moaned in pain as he felt and heard his back crack. Rip-Off brought his arm back to call another decapitation swipe when XMG let out his fierce growl, which seemed to be his trademark since he was brought back. The growl created a telekinetic force field around XMG for a split second, enough time to knock Rip-Off backwards. XMG leapt towards him with an added burst of speed due to his telekinesis and swung a mighty punch that Rip-Off blocked with his forearm. What the matter changer didn’t expect however was how powerful the punch would be. His forearm crumbled away from the rest of the arm and the chunks hit the floor with several heavy thuds. As Rip-Off stared in shock and fear at his half limb, XMG brought back his fist for another powerful punch, which would be a straight jab through Rip-Off’s chest. It would have connected and probably killed him too, if Gene hadn’t grabbed XMG’s fist from behind and tossed him across the bar with one hand. XMG was thrown off of the bar area, down the stairs, and across the downstairs area finally landing through the last table that had been left standing through the onslaught.

“The bastard!” Rip-Off croaked in half pain, half pleasure. “The bastard tore my damn arm off!”

“Relax,” Gene said calmly. “You’re a lizard man, it’ll grow back. What I’m more worried about is this: We seem to have two targets here.” Rip-Off looked up at Rigley who was apparently charging up his fists for another energy blast, and turned to XMG who was struggling to get to his feet after being tossed through the table.

“There’s two of them?” Rip-Off pondered.

“I’m glad to see we’ve improved our listening skills Leatherface. That’s what I just said.”

Rip-Off hissed and let out a low growl. “No problem.” Another hiss. “Ssssilll take care of our energy friend. You get the blue freak.”

Rigley’s eyes were closed, he was concentrating hard on focusing just the right amount of energy into his upcoming blast. “Aint never gonna get ma sweet arse. Y’see dis here is over 800 da’grees of cosmic radiation which is about tah release itself in the form of wicked powerful energy blast through ma fists. Id stand back if ah was you.”

“Well well well. Who’s the street rat with the big vocab? It wont be quite as large when I chew your esophagus from your neck. You think I’m stupid? You can’t telegraph a move like that, Ill dodge anything you come at me with.”

“Care to test that?”

“NO!” Gene shouted as Rip-Off charged at Rigley. Gene saw what was coming way before his significantly less intelligent comrade did. As Rip-Off raged towards his target, Rigley shot the ground out in front of him, creating a large crater in the ground that Rip-Off fell right into. The ground shook as Rip-Off’s concrete body hit the dirt underneath. “Fool.” Gene cursed his partner in disgust.

Rigley smiled a confident smile, not at all unlike a smile XMG would make in better days. “Ah’ve got one in here fer you too Spikes.”

“Bullshit. What do you take The Midnight Sons for? Uneducated, incompetent fools? We’ve been studying you, Bluze. I know how your powers work, and right now your completely dry. You had a large battle earlier and day has turned to dusk, no solar energy no power beams. Your no match for me in your current state you useless curr.”

“Oh really?” Rigley teased, walking closer to Gene up until the point where they were both blowing hot foul breath in each other’s faces. “Out of juice? Maybe. Useless?” Rigley swung a punch that struck Gene right in the cheek, Gene’s head almost spun all the way around. “Not a fuckin chance, punk.” Gene turned back quickly and struck Rigley with a swing, which hit Rigley in the cheek and followed that up with an uppercut, which not only tossed Rigley off of his feet, but also knocked him onto his back. As Gene dove down in an attempt to pin his opponent down, Rigley flipped onto his feet, kicking Gene in the jaw in the process. Gene stumbled backwards and fell down the steps.

Gene stared at the ceiling, furious and disgusted with himself. He pounded the ground with one fist not believing that a worthless drunken street kid could beat a mighty warrior such as himself. He flipped back onto his feet, meeting Rigley face to face once again. Gene threw another punch. This one however was intended to miss and as Rigley ducked down to avoid it Gene hit him with the flat Folha Seca, a martial arts maneuver. Rigley was flipped literally head over heels and he landed on his back with a thud. He was seeing stars.

“Curr.” Gene repeated confidently. His confidence was quickly replaced by pain and disorientation as XMG cracked a table leg over his head.

Gene stumbled about, not quite toppling over but almost. He turned slowly rubbing the back of his thumping head, which was now covered in a thick red fluid. XMG stood there shirtless, smiling a smile almost identical to the one Rigley had on moments before. “Curr…rrrrrapface.” XMG smile grew brighter at his wonderfully intelligent semi-pun.

Gene scowled horribly at our blue-faced hero, his face wrinkling up extra tight. He reached behind his back and pulled (from seemingly out of nowhere) a large black AK-47. XMG’s eyes widened and he leapt out of harm’s way. He almost saw his life flash before his eyes again as the seconds in the air seemed like minutes. He closed his eyes and ears tightly, preparing for the worst. A sudden snapping sound snapped him back into reality and he landed on his sternum, bouncing once on the floor and knocking the wind out of him. He turned over onto his back and saw Gene, inside of a large glass case waving a Large Mouthed Bass back and forth, attempting to spray its fish guts all over the room, destroying everything in their path. XMG looked directly up and saw the bruised but not beaten Jaik Bluze standing over him.

“Kid, get wings and Rigs and get out of here. Go find Poccy and his pal and give em hell. I’ll be along shortly.” Angel swooped in from behind Jaik. He was almost completely covered in blood. Large chunks of his wings were missing and his face was badly bruised. Blood was trickling from his arms and chin onto the floor, making disturbing droplet sounds.

“Let us go.” He said.

Rigley got to his feet, rubbing his aching jaw. “I aint goin nowhere with that blue asshole. He looks like Apocalypse!”

Jaik wasn’t listening, “Do it Rigs. The back up peeps are coming soon anyway. I’ll catch up.”

Rigley sighed and shook his head, “In ya condition can you get us to where they are Angel?”

Angel picked The FrostBlade up from off of the floor, stretched out his arms, and said “I can.” And with a sudden burst of black light they were gone.

Jaik stood alone, surveying the damage. The fire had somehow put out itself, but the entire area that it had landed in, which he was standing in now had been completely destroyed. Chunks of wood were scattered about everywhere and the television had a large hole in it. All but one of the windows were broken up front, and the shelves full of alcohol that had been behind the bar before Jaik flew into them were now broken and piled up behind the bar. Jaik could hear the being that fell into the hole that his younger cousin made begin to growl and hiss. He was making his way up.

“Damn. It’s a sad sad day when a good bar bites the dust. All because of people like….YOU!” Rip-Off was stopped in mid-jump. He was leaping out of the hole when Jaik snapped his fingers and the hole suddenly filled itself with cement. Rip-Off was halfway out at the time and as a result ended up with nothing but his lizard face sticking out from the hole.

“AHHHHH!!!” He screeched. Jaik ran up and kicked him in the face.

“Shut ya mouth!” Jaik snapped his fingers again and an already lit cigarette appeared on his lips. “Lucky for you I don’t believe in killing.” He took a long drag and proceeded to blow O’s into the air with his smoke. “Actually I think that I would consider that rather unlucky for you.”

“Torture me all you want!” Rip-Off hissed. “The sp—“

“Torture you all you want? I was planning on asking you to play drums for this band I was working on, but if you’ve got your heart set on torture.” Jaik ran up and kicked Rip-Off in the face again, making a hollow smacking sound. Rip-Off howled and hissed and screamed like a child. Jaik took another puff and turned to Gene, who was sitting in the corner of his large case, fuming. “Now, what can you tell—“ Jaik was interrupted by a blinding light which completely filled the room. He let out a loud grunt of shock and pain and shielded his eyes. “Justin!” He heard no response, “Justin simmer your lights kid! This aint no s—OH!” A pain rushed up Jaik’s back, he tried to reach behind himself to try and feel what it was, but his arms had gone numb. Actually his whole body had gone numb. He dropped to his knees. “What will they do now?” he croaked before he croaked and fell flat on his face.

The light diminished and The Midnight Son’s Justin was standing over Jaik’s body, grinning. Gene got to his feet and walked over to greet his comrade. Rip-Off could be heard screaming as he fell back down into the depths of his hole. “That’s 75 points for meh!” Justin announced triumphantly as he removed the axe from Jaik Bluze’s dead body.

Gene nodded, he was slightly jealous. “Nice work Justin. We need to contact Mohammed, patch us through.” Justin nodded and closed his eyes tightly. This always hurt. The camera and audio technology that had been imbedded inside of Justin during his days with SHIELD now proved very useful in his days with The Midnight Sons. It had been modified so that Justin could be used as the mission recorder and telephone. Mohammed and the team could transport messages back and forth through him, and all of Justin’s sights would be seen on a monitor back at the headquarters. “Come in Mohammed this is Gene with mission status.”

“This is Mohammed, what is your mission status Gene?” Mohammed’s voice came from Justin’s mouth, as Justin moved his lips. Mohammed’s voice was very kind, very elegant, very regal. Not at all what you would expect from a homicidal inter-dimensional terrorist.

“We injured a J. Effex and killed a J. Bluze, sir.”

“And what of your target?”

“Well…the thing about that sir.” Gene struggled with a way to tell him that not only did they not take out their target, but there was now another target. The exact same person, only from a different reality. “Well…I guess it’s better if you took a look for yourself, sir.” From a pocket on his belt Gene removed a small black remote control that controlled Justin’s audiovisual equipment. He started to rewind the tape to before Justin was knocked out of the window by their first target: Rigley.

Midnight Sons HQ: War Room

Even smaller than The Anointed’s war room was The Midnight Son’s. It was the size of a large closet, with sand colored stonewalls. Like the inside of the temples in Africa where Mohammed had told his soldiers that he had killed XMG 3 months ago. One wall of the room was completely covered with assorted weaponry. Numerous swords, guns, lasers, and other bad tidbits were held in place with golden straps and put up neatly in display. Whenever the Sons were getting ready for a mission that is where they would go. The opposite wall was completely covered by a large screen, which was the monitor that Justin’s footage was sent to. In the middle of the room was a single desk sat in by Mohammed only. The desk had the keyboard and panels to control the monitor and the audio equipment for any on conversing that goes on between Mohammed and his soldiers during missions. This is where Mohammed sat now. Decked in the red hooded cloak, which he wore the vast majority of the time. Behind him was his second in command, the recently resurrected Neo. As always, Neo wore no clothes. He needed no clothes on account of he had no skin. His skin had been charred off when his mutant powers kicked into high gear the night that he discovered his family murdered by another version of XMG. His skin was replaced by a bright blue power field, which surrounded and protected his bones and organs, which you could faintly see behind it.

Mohammed watched the monitor with great interest as the events that just took place passed by on the screen in reverse. It paused on an image. It was what Justin saw the moment the bar door was kicked open by this mission’s leader: Gene. In the image the look of shock was just beginning to set in and fear hadn’t even passed through their feeble minds yet. A man who Mohammed noted looked very much like Archie Bunker was behind the bar, in stools were the groups target: Rigley Bluze, this worlds versions of Jaik Bluze and Justin Effex, and someone he was very surprised to see: his son, the mutant Angel. Angel was a member of The Anointed, a group that Mohammed was very very familiar with. A group who Mohammed almost led over 200 years ago. He knew that if his only living son, a member of The Anointed was there than something serious was happening. And then he saw that something serious. Mohammed recognized the other man in the bar instantly even though the last time they had seen each other XMG was 4 years younger and dead. Instantly a thousand memories overloaded his mind: Prophecies, Apocalypses, Holocausts. It was he, the one that almost destroyed the entire operation. The only version of any man that Mohammed had feared in over 200 years. It was “The One”, the evil One.

“Sir? …Sir?!” Gene’s voice shook in Mohammed’s mind. Mohammed didn’t realize that he had been in his state of shock and fear for over a minute.

“Y-yes?” Mohammed stuttered.

“Is there something wrong sir? You’re stuttering.”

“N-n-no…No there isn’t…the other one is with Angel?”

“We think so, sir.”

“And all 3 of them…they are still alive?”

“Yes sir, they escaped.”

There was another long silence. “You fools.” Mohammed whispered, “Find them.”

“Excuse me sir?”

“Never mind.” He snapped, “Return to headquarters immediately. I’m putting all of our men on this one.”

“Sir? Isn’t that a bit unorthodox for only 3 men, even if Angel is one of them?”

“Not when one of those men is ‘The Evil One’, Gene. The Evil One who will bring forth the end of all realities...return to headquarters.” Mohammed broke the audio link.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Apocalypse and Jack weren’t very hard to find. All the trio of XMG, Angel, and Rigley had to do was follow the path of destruction, and that path led directly to this realities version of The Brooklyn Bridge. At 1:00 AM the bridge is usually fairly quiet, or about as quiet as a bridge can be anyway. It’s mostly occupied by late night workers or people going to or coming back from vacation. Tonight was quieter than most nights. Early Wednesday morning, smack dab in the middle of the week, nobody leaving town for the weekend or coming back for the beginning of the week, just people driving around waiting for Friday night to come and rescue them. Of course their prayers wouldn’t be answered tonight. Not at all. Because before 1:30 AM the ones who weren’t already dead would be praying something much different now. They would be praying for their lives.

The mysterious black fog and the ominous red smoke had been hovering over the bridge for about 15 minutes. Drivers had looked up and seen the red smoke, and didn’t know quite what to make of it, but in their half conscious state most didn’t give it a second thought. That was until 1:12 AM when it suddenly plummeted down onto the bridge and started flying inside of people. Then in great numbers came the car crashes. People would nonsensically just jump onto their gas petals and crash into anything in their way: Cars, late night joggers, the bridge sides, anything. The survivors would get out of their cars, and attack anything that moved, some even threw themselves off of the bridge or in front of cars. Before each death the red smoke or the black fog would exit their bodies and move onto something else and the cycle of destruction would continue. Then at 1:26 AM the relief finally arrived in the form of a bloody man with wings and two younger men, one with no shirt and blue skin and another who looked like a reject from a Quentin Tarintino movie. That was about 5 minutes ago.

XMG held the blonde man’s arms behind his back as Rigley proceeded to hit him with one punch after another after another. The man looked as if he was returning from work at a convenience store, on account of him wearing that 7-11 shirt and all. Well he was until Jack Frost decided to possess his body and use it to attack the trio of heroes. Rigley punched him repeatedly with the brass knuckles that he had taken from the drug dealer that Apocalypse had possessed earlier and used to shoot Angel in the lower abdomen before XMG tossed him off of the bridge. The blonde man’s mouth shot open and Rigley took a step back, he knew that under his own control no man could open his mouth that wide after taking a beating with a pair of brass knuckles. The red smoke shot like a bullet out of the man’s mouth and took off north down the bridge. XMG dropped the unconscious man and turned to Angel who was sitting against the divider, his hand holding his wound. He was injured badly, but it wasn’t the first time so he wasn’t panicking.

“So what now?” XMG panted. “Do we take off after them or go for backup?”

Rigley spoke up. “Ah say we find Jaik and backup. Ahm tellin’ ya something was up with him…he never says peeps.”

Angel struggled to his feet and surveyed the damage. There was at least 20 cars scattered about, turned over, burning, smashed into the divider or the sides of the bridge. Other cars had been abandoned as the drivers all took off in all directions. Some had even jumped off the bridge on their own accord. There were around 15 bodies lying in different places in his view and he could tell that elsewhere there were more, and if Apocalypse and Jack Frost were not stopped immediately he could tell that there would be many more. “We will stay here.” He said.

“What!?!” Rigley and XMG shouted in unison.

“We will wait here. Apocalypse and Frost don’t run from fights.”

“Were you watching the same fight as me?” Rigley asked, “Cause Frost just ran off and we haven’t seen Poccy since Little Boy Blue tossed him over the side…ah dunno maybe he died. Ya said that if we kill the one that they possessed we kill them.”

“No.” XMG boomed. “No. Apocalypse is smarter than that. He’s here somewhere.”

“Well than if yar so smart where is he? I don’t see him.” Rigley argued.

“I don’t know but I’m telling you he isn’t dead.”

“And I’m telling you he is! Where is he?”

“Right there.” Angel said matter of factly. A huge semi-truck charges down the bridge, chopping down empty cars in its path and sending them skidding all over the bridge. It’s heading right for them. XMG and Rigley run and hop over the divider, Angel slowly tumbles over, furious that none of the other two thought to help him over. From the angle they can see what the truck’s cargo is: Propane.

“It’s a fuckin propane truck!” Rigley announces.

Angel rolls his eyes, “Thanks for the narration.” All 3 watch in horror as the truck turns sharply onto the pedestrian walkway and begins to turn over.

“XMG now!” Angel screams, he doesn’t want to die without seeing Maia again.

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” XMG yells as he begins to work his telekinesis. He struggles, sweating and panting to force the truck back on a correct path so that it won’t tip over. His head begins to pound and his vision blurs, the only images he can make out are those of demons, torture, pain, and hatred. The sound of rubber bouncing hard against the road and the metal banging together tells him that it worked. The truck skids to a stop, as XMG opens his eyes. For a second his mind plays a trick on him and he sees hell again. Tsuris is standing there in front of him, behind him a horde of demons stood all with torture devices gripped in their hideous hands. It was raining blood as it did most days, and a flock of dead vultures were flying overhead. Probably going south for the summer or some shit. XMG shook all of that out. Rigley and Angel were staring out at the truck, which had stopped. There was no movement inside but they all knew that would change in a matter of seconds. Angel gripped his FrostBlade tightly with a hand that was drenched in his own blood. Rigley and XMG put their fists up, ready for anything that would pop out.

They stood like that for about 30 seconds. Nobody spoke, nobody moved, they just concentrated on the truck. Apocalypse was inside and nothing short of the creator itself was going to pry them away from that truck or off of that bridge for that matter until he was gone for good. Angel was the first to notice the light shining from behind them from one of the bridge’s towers. It took him one guess to discover what it was, he didn’t even have to look. “Leap!” he screamed for his life and dived several feet away. There was an electrical sound, like current flying through the air and then the blast hit causing a small explosion. Chunks of road and concrete flew everywhere. Angel looked up and saw that fortunately XMG and Rigley had followed his advice and were safe. Unfortunately however, he also saw a short, balding Asian man floating down from the bridge tower that the lightning bolt had come from.

That’s when Apocalypse made his exit from the truck. The door flew off and over the bridge’s guardrail. The truck driver: an overweight man with a Mets hat, a tight fitting white shirt and a heavy red mustache leaped out. His left arm was shaped like a large blade. He reminded XMG of T-1000. He landed on the ground directly in front of XMG, picked him up with his non-swordy hand, and tossed him backwards up into the air. XMG screamed and waved his arms wildly as he flew upwards and backwards off of the road and almost to the towers. He was quickly leaving the bridge and if he didn’t act fast he would fly right into the Atlantic Ocean. He used his telekinesis to pull him closer to a support cable and grabbed on. He hit it so hard he almost let go and plummeted to the waters below.

Down on the ground, the apocalyptic truck driver set his sights on Angel who was lying on his back. Angel knew that with his potentially fatal wound he shouldn’t be up. He should be leaving the battle. But there was no other choice, he had to go on fighting to his last breath, which if the pain were any indication would be very soon. All he wanted was to survive and see Maia once more, and if Apocalypse was the one standing in his way than he felt very sorry for Poccy. Poccy brought his blade arm back behind his head and swung it down towards Angel. CLANK! Angel leapt up with lightning speed and struck the arm with the FrostBlade. Angel stood face to face with the mighty Apocalypse. Angel was shivering, Apocalypse was smiling.

“There is power in you. I can feel it.” Apocalypse’s voice boomed through the truck driver’s mouth. His breath smelled of beef jerky and beer. “It is not in your mutancy, but in your bloodline.” Apocalypse’s eyes widened with realization and pleasure. “Your wings are your only mutancy, but this sword…this sword is the gift of your bloodline. I must have it. I must have you.”

Angel broke the contact with the weapons and leapt backwards, almost collapsing when he hit the ground. He shot blast after blast of black energy at Apocalypse, screaming the entire time, the gust of the blasts shooting from the sword shot Angel’s black hair back. Hey that rhymes. Poccy simply jumped through the blasts and grabbed Angel by the throat. He squeezed hard, almost crushing Angel’s entire neck. Apocalypse cackled menacingly as his soul began to leave the body of the truck driver. His eyes were glowing an evil crimson, the fog began to billow out of him. It began to surround him like green gas on a cartoon character with B.O. The fog started to wrap itself around Angel, and all Angel saw was blackness. A car screeched and skid in the background it was coming closer, but neither Angel nor Apocalypse gave it any attention. They should have however because that very second the skidding car struck the still possessed truck driver, tossing him from Angel and several feet away.

“Watch out for that car, Poccy.” XMG said as he landed in front of the unconscious Angel. A little ways down the bridge he could hear Jack and Rigley fighting. He couldn’t tell who was winning. He looked down the bridge the other way and saw the truck driver on his back. He looked back down at Angel. The winged man was badly beaten, bleeding like a stuck pig. If he didn’t receive help soon he probably wouldn’t make it through the night. “Fuck em.” XMG shrugged and began to stalk towards his father.

He approached the body cautiously, if he was still alive, which XMG figured he probably was then he would be getting up any second. He had banged him up pretty bad. Both of his legs appeared to be broken, he concluded that by the way they were both bent in 90 degree angles opposite each other. There was a large gash on his forehead that was gushing blood, drowning his face and caking his shirt.

“My son.” Apocalypse whispered. His voice was chocked, straining, he was near death. “I can sense it inside of you.”

XMG stomped on his throat with a crunch. “Yeah yeah yeah, you can sense the power. I’ve heard it all before.”

The truck driver’s arm shot up, grabbed XMG by the knee and pushed him off. XMG flew off of the ground and landed on his back. The truck driver’s knees snapped back into place as he began to stand back up. XMG could hear the bones setting inside of him, an eerie crunching sound.

“YOU FOOLISH BOY!” Apocalypse boomed. “Not the power! The power is there yes, but the rage! I can feel it inside of you, the urge to give in to your primal instincts, to give in to your birthright and kill, rip, wreck, destroy any and everything in your path!”

“I’m not like you!” XMG screamed, but he knew that this was no longer true. Apocalypse was right, he could feel it building inside of him: the rage, the urge to take his aggression out on everything and everyone in his way.

“But you are, son! Now more than ever! After everything that has happened! I was inside of you for 4 years! And you know the saying: Everything that The First Born touches will never be the same! Stop fighting it!”

“I’m gonna kill you…I swear to god I will.”

“You still fight.” Apocalypse paused and sighed, staring his only son in the eyes through his own which were glowing red and covered with the blood of the innocent. “Maybe I should show you then….maybe I should show you.” The fog started to billow out of Apocalypse again, just like it had for Angel. His cackle returned, as dark and as evil as ever. He intended to possess his son, together they would be the most sinister force reality had ever seen. Together they would rule supreme over the weak. Together. 4 gunshots to the chest changed that, ripping through the truck driver’s body and shaking it to its black core. He fell face first onto the blood-covered street.

XMG stared in shock, and then looked up from behind him at Rigley who was standing over him, stretching out one hand and holding a smoking pistol in another. XMG grabbed his outstretched hand and Rigley pulled him to his feet.

“Where’d you get that gun?”

“From that bald Chinese fool. He was packin’ heat…you never can trust dem Asians I always say. I mean I aint no fool, I saw that flick Pearl Harbor.”

XMG stretched his arms behind his back. “That movie sucked. Did you get Jack?” Rigley nodded, XMG turned to him and saw the eerie red smoke rushing at them from the distance.

“Yeah.” Rigley said. “Yeah ah think ah got ‘em.” XMG had no time to warn him, all he could do was watch as Rigley tensed up and shouted out like he was shot in the back. He opened his eyes and stared at XMG, his eyes were glowing red. “Oh yeah poof. You got me. You’ve got me right undah your skin.” Jack chuckled, “Hello brother.” XMG and Jack went for a jab with the same fist at the same time, their fists hit each other. Then they both yelped slightly and went for a left hook. Their fists cracked together again which made them both groan in pain and almost topple over. Jack went for a surprising tornado kick that connected XMG in the jaw, spinning him around. Jack then dived at his brother’s back, but XMG was ready. He grabbed from over his head and flipped Jack over onto his ass. XMG grabbed Jack’s arms and pulled him behind his back. He heard someone running up from behind him and spun around to see Angel, with the FrostBlade drawn up behind his head.

“Hold him still! I can capture Jack’s soul in the sword!” Angel went to plunge the sword into Rigley when he suddenly paused with a jolt. His eyes widened and a long scream erupted from his throat. His voice grew deeper as the yell went on. XMG looked down at Angel’s feet. There was a black fog coming from between XMG and Rigley’s legs and entering Angel through his boots. Apocalypse had gotten him. XMG stared up at Angel in shock. Angel was now smiling, the sword still held up above his head, glowing with black energy. XMG could see Angel’s wings start to re-materialize and his wounds start to clear up. XMG closed his eyes, he knew his end was here. Angel-Poccy brought the now glowing sword down, and as they did a black light sparked up around all of them. When the light disincarnated they were gone. The bridge was now quiet. The police would be there in 3 minutes. They would find bodies, blood, and mangled cars. But they would not find XMG, Rigley, or Angel. None of them would ever see this reality again.

Fin

Next Issue: “The One”

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