psinex@yahoo.com Fires of Tomorrow 15/30 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Everyone here is Marvel's, except for those who are mine. Please don't sue. -------------------------------------------------------- INTERLUDE: -------------------------------------------------------- In retrospect, the Crash was just the start of the downspiral which marked the end of the Heroic Age. It just seemed like the end of the world. Certainly, for what it did to the established hero teams, it was the end. The War which followed - brutally short, vicious and bloody - shattered the old guard as surely as it ended the supervillain threat, despite the relatively low number of deaths. Man and mutant were betrayed ... ... but this time, the Mordred of the piece struck before our Arthur came forward. - "Drawing the Sword: The Rise of the New Round Table," by Daniela Davies, pub. 2058 -------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid M: 4/10/2004: 05:00 hrs EST: -------------------------------------------------------- Scanner stirred, checking the teleport matrix and gasping as her eyes met who had entered the station. "Guess he didn't bother to shut down my biosig," the visitor grinned - - before soft hands drove Scanner's power out of control. She died, screaming soundlessly, and dissolved. "Move out," Scalphunter grinned. "And remember - "The old man is the boss's." -------------------------------------------------------- The shift in the EM field is enough to stir me. Scanner - ? Then the deathcry strikes my mindshield. The child was an innocent; whoever killed her - - then something strikes me in the stomach. A harpoon. And I realize, too late, we are falling - -------------------------------------------------------- Too-organic fists crushed the silver-haired head. "You IDIOT ! He wasn't supposed to die until AFTER Sinister got here !" Scalphunter raged at Blockbuster. The entire asteroid shuddered, and the Marauders winced as the horrified Acolytes raced in. "NOOOOO !" Voght screamed, watching as the asteroid began to careen towards the blue globe below. "You ANIMALS - you've killed us ALL !" Then a fist slammed them to the deck, and they knew darkness. -------------------------------------------------------- #A ceramic harpoon, EM-field scramblers, and those idiots have nevertheless managed to ruin a perfectly good plan !# Sinister raged, his techno-organic body adapting to the crushing gravitational forces. #I have maybe minutes before the asteroid hits Earth,# Essex thought, checking the station's computer core. #Wait -# He cried out in surprise as one bloody hand touched him, amplifying his powers beyond all hope of control. And Nathaniel Essex melted atop the dying, grinning Fabian Cortez. "From my grave ... I spit at thee," Cortez whispered. -------------------------------------------------------- "Dear God -" Philip Moreau held Jennifer Ransome to him as they and the rest of the rebel forces watched the blazing asteroid head directly for Hammer Bay. "Nothing can stop it ... ?" Jennifer whispered, looking around as the magistrate and mutate forces stopped fighting. "It's been a good life, Jen," Philip whispered, kissing her. And then the skies ignited. -------------------------------------------------------- X-mansion: 05:01 hrs EST: -------------------------------------------------------- ~- TRAITOR ! How COULD you !?~ ~We lay this dreamer, Charles Francis Xavier, to rest -~ ~-$1 billion, actually, was what he left you -~ ~Never again -~ ~He was the first to fall -~ Frank sat upright, going pale as the blackness of minds being extinguished washed upon his mindshields like a cursed tide. ~UPNOW ALL TELEPATHS TO THE Z'NOXX CHAMBER NOW !!!~ he pscreamed, grabbing the terrified, squalling twins and shaking Ray awake. They teleported straight downstairs, where Jean, Nate, Erik, Claudette, Betsy, Dani, Shan, Joe, Gail and Artie were sleepily gathering. "The Professor - get the twins into the Chamber - where's the Professor !" Frank yelled, handing his children off to Ray and shoving them into the psi-proof chamber. "In Washington - oh my GOD - what's happening -?" Jean asked, going pale as she felt the dark tide coming. "No time get IN !" Frank demanded. They crowded into the Chamber, and Frank slammed the door shut. The emergency lights flickered, and Erik cried out wordlessly. Finally, the disruption passed, and they stepped outside carefully. "Precog flash - we just rode out a MAJOR temporal nexus," Frank explained fearfully. "We've gotta -" He gasped, and his eyes widened. "Where's Mel ?" he asked. "The magnetosphere just got -" Jean cast outward and repressed a cry, running upstairs, but called, "Tom's missing too !" -------------------------------------------------------- My power's pretty cool, y'know. I can do pretty much anything if I concentrate. But I can sense alternate possibilities to the ones I change. And the possibility of world annihilation is pretty crappy. I raise the probability of my being in Genosha as high as it'll get, and I teleport. Not bad. But Asteroid M's about to hit. That's REAL bad. So I reach out - - and - -------------------------------------------------------- Even probability warps must obey the laws of physics. Thus, when Asteroid M spontaneously discorporated into energy, the immense energies had to go somewhere. Tom Shade awoke a few minutes later, naked, amidst a huge blast crater. "Wha - no," he whispered, seeing skeletons laying around him. #I failed ... they want to get me -# Then he screamed, and knew nothing more. -------------------------------------------------------- BEEP. "- 150,000 dead, including mutates. But it would have been FAR worse -" BEEP. "Tommy, PLEASE wake up !" BEEP. "-callin' you a hero, man ... wake up already, willya ?" BEEP. Anyone home ? No ? BEEP. Fine. Sit and cower in your subconscious. Wuss. BEEP. All that power is going to waste ... BEEP. Well, if you're not using it ... BEEP. -------------------------------------------------------- NEXT: The Crash's aftermath ... -------------------------------------------------------- end _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.yahoo.com