X-Men: Savage 3/16 Author: Timo A. Nieminen Date: 1998/02/23 Forum: alt.comics.fan-fiction "Hop to it!" Savage part 3 of 16 ======================================== Standard disclaimer: Many of these characters are the property of Marvel Comics. Otherwise this work is in the public domain. Distribute freely. It is rumored that a hideous rotting disease will claim the lives of any who seek to make a profit from it, or falsely claim it as their own work. Rated PG (language, violence, adult situations) Timo Nieminen timo@physics.uq.edu.au ********************** The four X-Men stopped while still out of sight of the Savage Land village they were approaching. "There will be trouble here, but we will be ready this time." The others look at Joseph. "Damn right, sugah," replied Rogue. "Bobby, you stay at the back, Ah'll cover Ali, an' Joseph, y'all can fly up an' draw fire. Y'all all right with that?" She looked around at the others. They nodded. "Time to rock an' roll. We'll leave our spare stuff here. Ain't gonna be gone long." They approached the village cautiously. Iceman was watching the jungle behind them. Joseph looked at Rogue. She nodded, and he flew into the air above them, his force field reflecting flashes of light. They continued on towards then village, waiting to see exactly what kind of response they would get. The first one to approach was green, and hopping. {Amphibius. Rest of them can't be too far away.} Rogue called out, "Savage Land Mutates, guys! The frog-man's fast, watch out for the girl. Could be Vertigo, Lorelei, or Whiteout, maybe more'n one of 'em. Dazzler, take Froggie out now!" Dazzler fired a light blast, then another, and another. The frog-man, Amphibius, dodged them all with a comfortable margin of safety, only to leap solidly into a wall of magnetic force. He tumbled to the ground, to be buried under a pile of ice. Soon, the rest of the Savage Land Mutates were defeated. Lorelei, helpless against Dazzler's power to absorb sound, had been easily beaten. Barbarus lay wrapped in bands of iron, unable to break free. Brainchild lay unconscious, knocked out by a blast of solid light from Dazzler. Even knowing which way to dodge hadn't helped against an attack moving at the speed of light. If there were more of them, they'd fled without fighting. The X-Men stood around Barbarus, the only one still conscious. He glared at the X-Men. "You have beaten us with your fake Magneto, but our Master will avenge our defeat. You will not stand before him." "Yeah? Who?" asked Dazzler. "The real Magneto. Your pathetic imitation is no match for him. He will crush you into powder!" "Rogue," whispered Joseph, "the man must be insane. I am, or was, Magneto. Why is he saying Magneto is his master?" "Dazzler," prompted Rogue. "What are you talking about? This is Magneto right here. And the last time we heard about you, you were fighting against him." "Stupid outlanders! The real Magneto appeared to us and explained that the one we thought had been him was not." Rogue turned to Joseph. "Well, that's his story." "Then he must be lying. Why would he do that?" "Any chance that somebody with powers like Magneto's is pretendin' to be him?" {Or is him, and maybe Joseph isn't Magneto. Ain't like we haven't been wrong before.} "No. If there was somebody else manipulating the Earth's magnetic field as I do, I would feel their influence upon it. Especially so near the pole." Dazzler turned from the prisoner. "For the record, I really don't think he's lying. I've known enough agents to tell he means what he says. Pity we don't have Jean or Betsy with us." "Hey, girl, don't need no telepath, Ah can handle this." Rogue took off her right glove and reached towards the prisoner's face. Contact! A flood of memories and emotions poured into Rogue. The taste of a freshly caught frog in the swamp. The sense of belonging to an elite clique. The isolation of being different. {They're just like us.} Then, gathering these memories together into a coherent whole. {Magneto. It is him.} Looking at the events just past. {Magneto and his stripe-haired girl again. Last time we thought he was the real Magneto. If only we had known then that our creator, the true Magneto had been waiting and watching, we could have helped him instead of Zaladane. Did he not trust us? But we were his loyal servants. We owed him everything. Even now, he does not trust us. We must beat this imposter and his girl and their companions and prove ourselves to him.} "He ain't lyin', guys. He really thinks Magneto's his boss. You sure 'bout this, Joe?" "I am positive. It cannot be Magneto." Rogue sat down and waited for it to pass. Eventually Rogue stood up, and said "Ah know where they think Magneto hangs out. Village on the other side of a lake thataway." "When're we going there, boss?" asked Bobby. "Tomorrow. It's gonna be dark soon. This time o' year, night's only goin' to be 'round four hours long. We'll sleep, eat, then go. May as well get out of here now. Ain't like we can do nothin' 'bout these guys, an' they ain't much of threat to us, an' they ain't seen Storm or Wolvie. Locals don't seem to be keen to get involved. Guess they don't want to be seen helpin' the wrong side. Can't say Ah blame 'em, either. C'mon, let's get out of here." They reached their cached supplies, and moved on, to find a secure spot in which to camp. "Okay, Ali and Joseph, get some rest. Bobby an' Ah'll keep an eye on things. Don't worry, we'll wake y'all up 'fore you get too much sleep." Rogue and Bobby watched quietly for a few hours. {Never thought I'd be stuck in the Savage Land again. Well, not exactly stuck, seeing as I could fly out any time I want. Hope the plane's not in too bad a shape. Wonder if we'll run into the Savage Land Mutates again? If they've got any sense, they'll steer clear of us. Wonder who's leading them on?} Bobby moved closer to Rogue. "Rogue, you're our Savage Land expert these days. Any advice? How long were you here for anyway? It was a long time wasn't it?" "Ah was here for, dunno, months maybe. Weeks at least. Ah mean, it was summer, so there won't no nights, so Ah don't exactly know for sure. Had no powers at the time, so Ah couldn't get outa here either, so Ah just wandered 'round, had some R an' R. Truth to tell, prospect o' being stuck here didn't bother me that much. Course, when Ah found out you guys were in the shit, that was different. Changed, too, when Carol found me. Had me on the ropes too, when Magneto saved me." Rogue grinned, "Then I became his kid sidekick for a while." Rogue paused for a drink of water, and went on. "Dunno, maybe it's a father figure thing. Man's old enough to be mah father, ain't he? Never had a father, he left my, uh, mother 'fore Ah was born. What she said about it ain't exactly repeatable. What she said to me weren't that nice neither. Guess that's why Ah never bothered tellin' them nothin' when Ah left. Don't owe them nothin'. Hey, ever wondered why there ain't more mutants from where Ah come from? Cancer Alley an' all, Ah'd expect more'n Ah've seen." "What happened when you were with Magneto? Didn't the two of you fight the Mutates?" Rogue thought for a while. "Savage Land Mutates were workin' for Zaladane. Magneto an' me an' Ka-Zar fought them. SHIELD sent in some people too, 'cept some of them defected to Zaladane. Anyhow, Nick Fury ended up with us. The Russian guy got killed in the fighting, we beat Zaladane. Magneto could've stayed on our side of the line. She was already beaten! He didn't have to kill her!" "Shsh. You'll wake the others." "We could've handed her over to SHIELD, Nick Fury was with us. It wasn't necessary. He killed her. Then he just took off out of there. He didn't even stay to say goodbye. He just left." {Maybe if I hadn't tried so hard to talk him out of it?} "An' that was the last we saw of him for a while. Y'all know about the next time we fought him." After a while Rogue added "Ah thought he trusted us. Ah thought he trusted me. Guess he felt his work was more important than friendship. Good thing Joe ain't obsessed the same way." {Guy scares me sometimes, though. You can see how he might act like Magneto. He can be pretty full-on at times. Intense, just like Magneto.} Later, "Hey Bobby, y'all wonder who we're gonna fight tomorrow?" -end of part 3- -- Timo Nieminen - timo@physics.uq.edu.au Home page: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/nieminen.html Spirits: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/spirits.html Shrine to Suds: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/4960/beer.htm Wine: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Arena/2010/