X-Men 2099UG
Issue #35, Volume 1
"Welcome to My Nightmare, Part 1"
Written by Chris Partin
Edited by Hugo Ferreira
Somewhere in Halo City, in the governor's office sits Morphine Somers and a very mysterious visitor.
"Morphine, look at you. Scared like a little child. Whatever happened to the fearless, reckless man I once knew in Transverse City. I think Doom's made you weak. Maybe you're no longer one of the strongest. And you remember what happens to the weak, don't you."
Morphine stands up from behind the governor's desk, "You'd like that wouldn't you, Shaw. You'd like it if you could kill me, and take the credit. I'm sure I'm worth a whole lot more dead than alive now more than ever."
The man in the shadows laughs, "Now more than ever you're worth more alive. You have the one thing my people have been desiring more than anything all of our existence. You have control over the X-Men."
"For as much as that's worth.", Morphine scoffs. "They'll never be totally under my control. Doom gave them too much freedom before he disappeared. He even gave that psi, Shakti, control over the young ones."
The shadow man turns toward the door, "Then you had better get back control. We've been waiting for a mutant like you, Somers. If you have the X-Men, then we'll be more than happy to welcome you to our organization. Good day, Mr. Somers."
Morphine nods, "And to you, Mr. Shaw. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other real soon."
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The desert. Dry and Hot. There are not a lot of animals or plants that can live out here among the searing heat during the day and icy winds of the night. And there are even fewer humans that can stand the ever-changing environment from day to night and back again. The ones that can, don't do it out of choice, but because they have to in order to survive.
One man decided that this would be the ideal place for a city to be built to show how the ones who want to, will survive. His name is Doom, Victor Von Doom. Doom thought that in order to survive the mutant population must be placed where humans would have trouble getting to them. So he put them here in the desert. But the one thing Doom didn't think of when he had Halo City built were the tribes of nomads that roamed these sand dunes. This is the story of one such band of travelers here in the desert, and what happens when one of their own loses control.
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Calm and still are the sands of the desert outside of Halo City. But only for a brief moment, the sands are stirred up into a small sand storm. A sand storm created by one of Halo City's own inhabitants, one of their protectors... Meanstreak!
"Meanstreak to Krys. I just exited Halo.", the speedster relays to his fellow teammate.
"Good, Henri. Get back with us as soon as you pinpoint the distress signal."
"Sure thing. I should be there in no time. Meanstreak out."
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Back at the com center.
"I want to be ready when Henri calls back in. There's no idea what the situation is out there.", Skullfire, the newly appointed field leader of the X-Men stands worried about what is to come. Worried and confused. "Krys. Playback that distress message."
"Sure thing, Tim." With a stroke of a few keys, the room fills with an audio replay of the message received only minutes ago...
"...[krtzzz]... dead. Need help. Please send... [krtzzz].. our location is somewhere near.... [krtzzz]... Falls. Send help soon. I don't know... [krtzzz]... make it out....."
"That's all we got, Tim. The signal just died out at the end."
"What do you mean 'died' out, Krys?"
"Well, the signal just got too weak to hold."
Shakti walks into the room and looks over to the two standing at the signal monitor, "I think whoever was sending the message was moving at high speeds away from whatever was attacking him. The transmission sounds like a weak one. Something like one of the nomadic tribes carry with them."
"What's the range on....", Timothy is interrupted by a call in from Meanstreak.
"Hey, guys. You're going to have to come out here."
"Henri, what's going on?"
"Tim. Trust me. Whatever happened is over, but I think you and Shakti should get out here ASAP. And bring Wulff. We're going to need his senses on this one."
"What? Aren't your instruments picking up anything?"
"They're picking up something, but it doesn't make sense. I need a second opinion, and Wulff's got the best nose."
Tim motions to Shakti to go get Wulff as he talks into his headset, "OK. Shakti is going to get him. Where are you?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But we're five miles or so south, southeast of Halo. Just outside the Las Vegas border."
"OK. We'll be there as soon as we can locate Wulff. Just hang tight."
"all right. Meanstreak..."
"Hold on, Henri. You said earlier "we're" five miles away. Who else is with you?"
"That's why I need you to come here. This is too weird to explain."
"OK. Skullfire out."
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Shakti walks outside Halo Tower into the warm sunlight. She remembers what it was like when she was a kid. To be outside playing, and enjoying life. But then her mutant powers kicked in. Being able to locate mutants with her mind wasn't exactly a bad thing, and she could keep it from her parents. But that was before Xi'an and his enigmatic desires to bring a fighting chance to the outcasted mutants of the world. To bring the heroes of the past back, to be the X-Men.
A lot has changed since those first days of gathering the new X-Men. A lot has changed, for better or worse. And now, as she walks into the orphanage that Doom set up for her to be in charge of, she remembers why she wanted to be part of the X-Men. She wanted children to be safe. She wanted to help them avoid the fear she had when she realized she was a mutant. Doom has given her that chance.
Her charges have taken the name X-Nation. They are the future. Funny how everyone says the youth are our future. Of course, they are, provided they live that long. Wulff was one of the lucky ones. He's lucky because he escaped the only family he ever knew when Morphine Somers brought him to the orphanage. Wulff is a mutant tracker. He has heightened reflexes and acute senses. Some may even compare him to the long-dead Wild Child of the old mutant factor group. Young, energetic, and very dangerous if not watched after. Yes, Shakti wanted to help young mutants not to be afraid of the outside world. Now she has to make sure the outside world isn't afraid of them.
"Wulff. I need you to come with Tim and me on an investigation. You up for it?"
Wulff adjusts his baseball cap on his head, "We getting out of the city?"
Shakti nods, "Yes. It'll give you some time to get out and stretch those abilities of yours too."
"Great.", Wulff says reluctantly. "Just what I wanted to do. Be your little tracker."
She puts her hand on his hat, "Now, now. Henri thought you could help out. There's something wrong near Las Vegas, and he needs a second opinion on something his instruments aren't picking up."
"Well.... sure. If it'll help you out Shakti, and I can get out of the city for a while sure. I just don't want to be here when December gets back."
"December? What's that girl up to?"
"You know her. Up to no good."
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Somewhere in between Halo City and Las Vegas lies a stretch of flat desert in between the numerous dunes. A tribe of nomads thought this would be a good place to set up their tents and settle down for a few days. That was yesterday. Sometime in the night, something went wrong. Something went wrong.
Meanstreak stands at the center of what's left of the tribe's tents and remains. Fire still burning slightly around him, and the smell of burned flesh stenches the air around him. He stands and shakes his head at what he sees. What he sees is one tent remaining. There's not even one scorch mark on it. And Henri can't figure it out. He just stands and wonders. How could something like a tent, which is made of skins and cloth survive a full-powered, raging fire? Hopefully, when Tim and the others arrive they can figure it out.
"I wish I knew what went on.", he says out loud as he surveys the area with his instruments. "There's no sign on any energy-related devices that could be shielding this tent. So, how come it is still here? Shock!"
Just as Henri's about to give up, a surge of energy begins to swell around the tent. The sensors on Henri's instruments begin to read off the scale. Just as Henri begins to turn to get out of the range of the energy swell, everything is pulled toward the tent for a split second, and then it's over.
"What the SHOCK was that about?!"
"I'm..... I'm sorry about that.", a weak voice comes from inside the tent. "I don't know why that happened."
Henri goes over to the tent's opening and sees five people in the center of the tent. There were two men and three women. Four of them were huddled around one of the men lying motionless on the ground.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here to help."
"Who are... where are we?", one of the women said weakly.
"You're in the desert, near Halo City. I'm Meanstreak. I'm part of the rescue team that was called to come to help you."
The man sitting looked up, "What's it like outside? Have they stopped screaming?"
Henri looks slightly toward the burned bodies lying around the lone tent with his head down, and in a low voice, "Yes. Everything is all right. They've stopped."
"By Thor! They were screaming, and everything was on fire! What happened?
"I don't know, ma'am. I'm trying to figure that out. I have more help coming. You're safe now."
One of the women stands and runs toward Henri, beating him on the chest, "You don't understand! We have to getaway! They'll find us! I know they'll find us!"
"Who? Who will find you?", Henri asks trying to comfort her from hitting him any further.
"I... I don't know. The ones that killed my sons. They'll be back. I know they will....", she just drowns her screaming into her tears.
"Don't mind her. She's been hysterical ever since this morning. She doesn't understand what's going on?", another of the women tells Henri.
"What do you mean, she doesn't understand? What happened?"
"Can't you tell?", she asks. "The gods of Asgard are displeased with what our tribe has done. This is how they punish us."
Henri wonders if what she says is true?
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About three miles away, Skullfire, Cerebra, and Wulff speed across the desert sands on their dune cycles, one of Meanstreak's latest inventions. Unaware of what lies ahead, the three mutants ponder destinations condition.
"Tim. I've been trying to get a hold of Henri on the head comms, but he's not answering."
"Don't worry too much, Shakti. We're pretty close to Las Vegas. The UV field around here is known to disrupt com channels. Especially the weak frequency these things are using. Remind me to get Henri to upgrade these things."
As they continue their journey, Wullf suddenly spins out and jumps off his cycle. With his nose in the wind, he yells at his companions, "Hey! Hold back! I don't like the scents I'm picking up here."
"What's up?", Skullfire asks pulling up to Wulff.
Wullf puts his nose higher in the air, "Something's not right. I can't put my nose on it, but it's not right."
"Shakti.", Tim looks over to the X-Men's telepath, "Do you sense anything odd?"
"I do detect mutants. Henri is one of them, but he's faint."
"Is he alright?"
"I'm not sure. Everything I'm sensing seems to be dampened. Like there's a psi-shield over them. But it is not that apparent. It is very rough."
Tim looks around toward their destination, "Do you think you can find a hole in it?"
"I'll try." Shakti sits down and begins to meditate. She places her fingertips on her head and begins to search the area with her mind.
First, she comes to a glowing dome. She pushes against it, but it is too strong. She begins to walk the dome's perimeter to see if she can find a hole somewhere in its structure. "I see something up ahead.", she says weakly. "It is a small opening. Almost inviting me inside."
"Do you see anyone?", Tim asks worriedly.
"No. But I'm to the hole. I'm stepping..... AAUGH!!!", she suddenly stands screaming in pain. As soon as she jumped up, she falls to the ground.... motionless.
"SHAKTI!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!?!", Wulff yells as he rushes over to her limp body. He places his head over her chest. "Tim. She's... she's not breathing!"
Next issue: Is Shakti dead? What did she find? Who are these nomads, and who slaughtered all but five of them? And how did those five survive? Was is the Asgardians, or was it something far more dangerous?
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