psinex@yahoo.com Fires of Tomorrow 18/20 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: They're all Marvel's, except for the Richards twins, Deanna, Dave, Mel and Danny, who're mine. Please don't sue. -------------------------------------------------------- Route 34 South, NY state, 4/24/2004: 09:00 hrs EST: -------------------------------------------------------- #He's still withdrawn,# Wanda thought, letting Simon drive her and her twins home to Avengers Mansion. She glanced over her shoulder at Tom, who sat expressionless and seemed to stare through her in the back seat. Bill was sitting in the seat behind Simon, staring out the rain-soaked car window with his chin on his hand. "Yo, Tom," Bill grunted. "Mom's tryin' to talk to you ..." "Give him time, Bill," Simon called. "He went through -" Wanda waved at Simon to drop the subject and returned to her reading. #Leonard Samson recommended we give Tom a little more time to come out of himself,# she thought sadly. #But how much longer - ?# -------------------------------------------------------- We're moving. Well, this is a surprise. I hadn't planned on being transferred to Avengers Mansion. But then, life is full of unexpected twists. Like this - -------------------------------------------------------- "Hello, Mom, Uncle Simon." Wanda jumped, turning around in her seat and smiling at Tom. Bill's eyes bulged, and Simon pulled the car off the road at a rest stop, looking back as well. "You - TOM !" Bill whooped, hugging his twin. "You - I mean, you're - ?" "I've been doing some thinking," Tom nodded with uncustomary stiffness. "About Genosha, and Grandfather, and the entire mess I caused." "Honey, you were trying to help people," Wanda said gently. "The wrong people, Mother," Tom said, his lips twisting into a predatory grin. "Grandfather and his followers were as much victims of human racism as were the Genoshan mutates. If they hadn't been enslaved, or driven to flee from the flatscans like the Acolytes were, they would've lived." "Tom ... this isn't you, bro," Bill gulped. "Not the old, weak me, no," Tom growled, unbuckling his seatbelt. "If you prefer, call me ... Abaddon." The car glowed briefly before exploding. -------------------------------------------------------- They won't be seriously hurt; I made sure not to allow my entropic flux to do more than detonate the engine. Besides, Mother's own probability-shifting energies will protect her, as will Bill's and Simon's durable flesh. No, I have no real quarrel with heroes - even flatscans like Williams and the other, mainstream Avengers. If they cross me, however, they will be cast aside. I have a destiny to fulfill, and I will NOT be stopped. Unfortunately, my entropic powers don't allow me to teleport any longer. But I can degrade the earth beneath me to create a matter-slide, much like that buffoon Drake can with his paltry ice - and I head west. I need to take out the garbage before I begin perfecting a new world ... -------------------------------------------------------- X-Mansion: 09:07 hrs: War Room: -------------------------------------------------------- "Neogenetic spike !" Ray called. Frank donned Cerebro, pinpointing the neogenetic signature, but frowned as it came up on the holodisplay. "It's ... Tom. But it's different - and moving west," Frank called. The other New Mutants stopped working on assigned cleanup duty in the War Room and looked at the display. "Frank, where're Bill and Aunt Wanda and Uncle Simon ?" Luna asked. Frank ran another scan, frowning deeper as their biosignatures came up. "They're stationary," he said. "Claud - ?" "On it," Claudette nodded, opening a transportal. "Small search party ?" "I'll go this time, with Luna, Erik, and Alexa," Ray advised. "You'd better try and figure out what Tom's doing." The search party stepped through Claudette's portal, while Frank turned his attention to calling Tom telepathically. ~Yo, Shade -~ ~GET OUT OF MY HEAD !~ Frank yelped at his friend's vehemence and replied, ~Tom, c'mon ! We're just worried -!~ ~You're weak, you abomination-spawned hunk of artificially-spiked genewaste,~ Tom psnarled. ~I intend to make sure Homo superior comes out on top in the coming conflict, even if I have to start it.~ Frank yelled as a powerflux slammed into his mind, making him throw the Cerebro helmet off of his head. "He's gone NUTS !" he shouted, standing. "Where're the X-Men - ?" "All out," Leech shrugged. "We're the only ones here, besides the babies." "Then we've got a problem," Frank frowned. "Tom's heading west, and he's not in a good mood. Worse, he's gone humanocidal." "What ?!" Bill yelled as he and the searchers stepped through Claudette's portal with Wanda and Wonder Man. "That's nuts !" "So's he, now," Frank said. "You OK, Mrs. Shade ?" "Stop him, Franklin," Wanda pleaded, coughing as she sat at the conference table. "Tom's never had that degree of control before - or direction. He's ... changed." The Mutants ran to get ready, repressing a shudder as Wanda added, "He's ... evil." -------------------------------------------------------- Colorado Rockies: 07:15 hrs MST: -------------------------------------------------------- Remarkable. Simply REMARKABLE ! By accelerating the degree of breakdown in the fabric of space-time around myself, I was able to teleport after all. And here I am, at the first stop on my campaign to rid the world of human foolishness. Such a quaint construct, the Vault is. I might almost hate destroying it ... -------------------------------------------------------- "What the - !?" "Warden, we're picking up a huge spike in chaos energies outside -" "SIR ! The entire -" -------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: "Drawing the Sword: The New Round Table," by Daniela Davies, 1st Ed., pub. 2018: -------------------------------------------------------- The few eyewitnesses to the Warstrike said it was as if the Vault simply ... ... melted. Mass entropic failure of electron bonds will do that. Over 500 people, including some of the world's deadliest villains, died in the Vault "villain massacre." Most were from drowining in the chemical ooze Abaddon created when he melted the prison. Some melted under the effect themselves. As atrocious as the Warstrike was, it was but the first stroke in what would become the most vicious superhuman combat to date (aside from the Second Coming skirmishes of 2008, but I'm getting ahead of myself). The final strike in the War was to come. And we were to pay the price for the "dolorous blow." -------------------------------------------------------- NEXT: FINALE - The Mutants vs. Abaddon ... -------------------------------------------------------- end _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.yahoo.com