- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Sacrifice; New X-Men: Age of Sinister, Volume IV | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Sep 24 2011, 11:33 AM (223 Views) | |
| LoganActor | Sep 24 2011, 11:33 AM Post #1 |
Plays Logan on TV!
|
Infirmary Xavier's School for Gifted Children 1645 hours "So you're from the future, come back with a solution to our problem, just like that?" Maverick asked, snorting derisively. "Somehow, I find that just a little too convenient." "That's sort of the point, sir. We came back to this point in time to save the mutant race. The human race too, for that matter." Bishop said, watching as Hank drew out a vial of blood from Minute Man. "The whole idea is to arrive just in time, and save the day." Hank slid the tube of blood into the STR machine, thankful once again that Xavier had access to such high end technology. These tests should have taken weeks, but with the resources that Xavier had access too, it'd be just moments. "So...you're Georgie from the future, huh?" said Liam, his presence in the room looming over everyone else, as he was displayed on the large screen, video conferencing in from from the E.C.H.O. base north of Dundee, Scotland where he was recovering. "Damn, bro. You got old." The older Gargan gave a hint of a smile, his mustache twitching slightly. "Still look better than you, mon ami." "Alright! That's it!" shouted the younger George. "Stop being me from the future! You're freaking me right out." The older man sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the chiming of the computer. Liam's face was squeezed to the side, and a duo of DNA markers was displayed on the screen, along with the blinking words "Perfect Match". "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it appears as if we have a paradox on our hands." Hank said. "We have time travelers from the future, back to change a past that's already been changed, and they should therefore not be here to change it." "Not necessarily, Doctor McCoy." Bishop said. "One cannot think of time as a linear stream, as is the common view held at this point in history." "He's right." Gargan said, sliding down from the exam table and rolling his sleeve back down. "Time is circular, and linear, and spherical, all at once." The room was silent for several long moments. "How are the two of you experts in time/space physics?" Hank asked skeptically. "My powers are to travel and alter time." "And I'm not an idiot. As soon as I knew there was a possibility of this mission taking place, I made it my job to become an expert in space/time." Bishop replied. “You see, every choice that’s made, large or small, results in a new “alternate universe or timeline”, for lack of a better term. There are an infinite number of timelines, with more being created every moment.” “So the you that you are is only one possible you from a multitude of possible futures…” Maverick reasoned. Minute Man nodded. “Exactament.” “Our trip through time has resulted not only in changes in this universe but in our own as well, though there’ll be no way of knowing what those changes are. We might have obliterated our universe, or made it better, or made it worse.” Bishop said. “Then why come back at all?” Abby asked. Bishop was silent, considering his response, but Minute Man saved him the trouble. “To save you.” “But Maverick just said it. It’s just one possible me from a multitude of possible futures.” she said. “Why save just one?” Minute Man sighed and removed his mask for the first time. His cheeks were wet. “Because one is enough. You’re enough, mon trésor.” he said. “You’re enough.” “So what happens to all of us, Gargan? What’s the story here?” Logan interrupted, his arms crossed over his chest. “What’s this virus going to do to us?” Minute Man cocked his head to the side, as if confused. “It’s a world killer, Logan. This virus is what decimates the human race.” he said. “First was the initial outbreak, then the lynch mobs. They killed mutants by the hundreds. Then was all out warfare. We began a war against the human race that killed millions. Those mutants close to the end were used as biological warfare. We’d send them into highly populated areas and just let their powers run rampant until they were killed.” “It starts with weakness. Fatigue. You’re a little tired in the evenings. Then there’s a cough, as your lungs begin to wither and die. First you can’t catch your breath. Then you start coughing up blood as the inner lining of your lungs turns acidic and eats itself. You develop skin lesions, and your entire body hurts. Not aches, hurts. Eventually your powers flare out of control, and you either kill yourself, or someone does it for you.” Bishop replied. “That’s the kicker, right there. The virus doesn’t kill anybody. It just makes it impossible for you to live.” “It wasn’t until Magneto reprogrammed the Sentinels to hunt any humanoid that moved that the tide turned. We realized that the toll was too high. We couldn’t keep killing each other. Now, the enemy for both humans and mutants are the Sentinels. They have internment camps all over the world, and capture humans and mutants to work there, building more and more Sentinels.” Bishop said. “We’re fighting a war we can’t win. You realized that, Logan, and sent me in search of a way to travel back and fix it.” “No! LALALALALALA!” George said, putting his fingers in his ears. “No telling about the future! Paradoxes! Paradoxes!” Minute Man let out an exasperated sigh and reached over to the tray of medical instruments, selecting a small steel cup that he promptly bounced off of his younger self’s head. “Oh, shut up, you.” he said. “I can’t believe I was ever this annoying.” Liam piped up from the screen, where he’d been watching. “You were.” he said, grinning. “You’re not helping, Mister Kynde.” Hank interjected. “We shouldn’t have to worry about paradoxes, since whatever changes have been made to our respective timelines will likely be changed again and again as we live our lives, and are ultimately unknowable.” Minute man sighed again, and began his tale of the fate of the X-Men and E.C.H.O. “Cat died from the Virus, six months after being infected, but not before she killed Sinister. She slaughtered him, tearing him apart with her bare hands. The animalistic part of her powers eventually took over, and she leapt off a cliff chasing Sinister’s dying body as it tumbled down. Maverick died in the same fight, killed by an errant blast from an out of control mutant. Bradley’s powers cooked him from the inside out, and Geek…well, that’s how Magneto reprogrammed the Sentinels.” He paused, somewhat for effect, making sure that everyone was listening, paying attention. He hadn’t come back on a whim. He was deadly serious, and wanted to make sure that everyone understood the gravity of the situation. “Liam, you and Monique were married. You joined E.C.H.O. and served faithfully as the team’s “Token American”, as you liked to call yourself. You had a daughter, and named her Georgia. Called her “Georgie”. You’re one of the last to die from the Virus. You and Monique, both close to the end, your powers untenable, committed suicide by combat during the war. You walked into a city, with her frail and wasted body strapped to your back. You destroyed entire buildings as you went, though were unable to be seen, as Monique’s powers had gone berserk as well. When your powers finally killed her and they could find you, the humans finally just bombed the whole area with a tactical air strike.” Liam and Monique were both silent for a long time on the other end of the screen, the woman rapidly fading from sight. “What happened to our daughter?” “She moved to some small war torn African country to do humanitarian work, trying to help heal wounds from the war she lost her parents to. Maybe Mali, maybe Senegal. I understand she was killed by warring mercenary groups. Raped, beaten, and then finally shot.” Minute Man said, calmly. “I hear it was quite excruciating.” “You mother fu-” Liam began, before Monique clamped a hand over his mouth, which he quickly extricated himself from. “Why the hell would you say something like that?” “So that you’ll understand just how serious we are. We didn’t travel through time for fun, mon ami. We’re here on business.” The room was silent for a few moments. “Go on, George.” the younger George said. Minute Man took a deep breath. “Ororo, was infected with the virus, and her powers evolved, resulting in her ascension. She became a true elemental, a weather goddess. Earth’s biosphere went crazy, as she did. Entire weather systems changes, and pockets of strange climate popped up all over the place. Deserts next to tundra next to jungle. She still lives here, at the school, in a tropical paradise, but she’s insane.” “What about us?” Abby asked, her voice soft. Minute Man took a long time to answer. “We were wed. We had two sons. Twins. We called them LT and JT, as in Liam Two and John Two.” Minute Man said, risking a glance at the screen where Liam sat, still hurt, but less so. “LT was able to alter his features. A shapeshifter, he was. His favorite game was to shift to look just like his brother and try to make us guess which was which. He used to say-” Minute man paused, and took a shaky breath. “JT was fast. God was that boy fast. He could alter friction in the environment around him. He used to run as fast as he could and then “slipstream”, as he called it. He’d eliminate all the friction from his body, and just slide forever and ever, faster and faster.” he said, tears streaming down his face again, as Abby moved to sit next to him on the examination table, taking his aged hand in both of hers. “They were both killed in the war. LT was a spy, for obvious reasons, but was found out and executed by the Human High Council. JT was a scout. The bullets used to just slide right off of him. No friction, of course. It wasn’t until energy based weapons became widespread that he was in real danger. A sniper with a high powered energy rifle killed him on his way home from a mission. I’ve always been…I’ve always been grateful that you were already gone and didn’t have to see it.” The room was silent again, this time for longer as Minute Man composed himself. Abby held him close as he cried, gently stroking his long white hair. It was Bishop who finally broke the silence. “Abigail Gargan. Missing and presumed dead. Shrunk down over the course of three hours, until she was completely undetectable. Spent her last hours with her husband, George Gargan. When she finally was…lost, her husband spent several months in stasis, replaying as much of the last few hours as his powers would allow in a non-stop loop, replaying the last words he could hear, suffering through the loss over and over until his powers finally exhausted themselves.” Bishop said. “Then he disappeared, presumed dead, probably by suicide.” Minute Man looked up at him, in askance. “Nobody knows who Minute Man is in real life, or they pretend not to, but the last months of Time Warrior are well documented.” Bishop said simply, sadly. “Enough with the depressing crap, Georgie. You’re making my soul cry.” Liam said, glumly, though he was obviously trying to lighten the mood. Minute Man coughed out a barking laugh, and rubbed his eyes vigorously. “Right you are, mon ami. We’ve come with a solution to the problem anyway. Today is a time for rejoicing.” he said, reaching into his coat. “Hank, if you would be so kind?” He drew out a sleek metal tube that looked similar to a cigar tube. He unscrewed the lid, and upended it into his hand, resulting in a small injector pen with a glass vial of purple liquid falling out. “The cure for the Virus.” he said. “Do you know how it works?” Hank asked. “The virus, I mean. How is it transmitted?” Bishop nodded and handed over a small disc. “It’s airborne. With each death, the infected exhales the virus. It then seeks a new host. It’s airborne, and almost one hundred percent infectious.” he said. Hank frowned as he placed the disk into the computer, glossing over several pages of medical jargon and diagrams. “This is a problem.” “What’s wrong?” Logan asked. “Typically with this type of virus the death is the mechanism of action. It’s how the virus transmits itself. For this cure to work, the first victim will still need to die for the cure to be activated.” Hank said, not taking his eyes from the screen. “Whomever we administer this cure to, will have apparently be killed by the cure, releasing the cured version of the virus into the world. So the question remains…” Tension hung heavy on his next words. “Who dies?” |
 |
 
|
| Gorvar | Sep 24 2011, 06:05 PM Post #2 |
Self claimed fanfic critic.
|
Well, aint that awesome, haha. Perfect issue dude, very well done. I really did like the Mutant-Human war and the future as a whole. How the couples died together, their kdis caught up in a war they would lose..just beautiful. |
|
|
|
| Cat | Sep 25 2011, 03:24 AM Post #3 |
Secret Agent
|
Dum Dum Dah! Govar get working on teh next chapter. This is going to be good. I like that Cat and Maverick got to die together, as it were and that she got to kill Sinister before she did. That said, I hope they managed to fix this, because it does seem cruel to everyone else. |
|
|
|
| Gorvar | Sep 25 2011, 05:46 AM Post #4 |
|
Self claimed fanfic critic.
|
Working on it, just picking the lamb to be sacrificed.... Can it be any mutant or one of the infected? Edited by Gorvar, Sep 25 2011, 05:47 AM.
|
|
|
|
| Cat | Sep 25 2011, 06:47 AM Post #5 |
|
Secret Agent
|
I think it would have to be one of the infected, but I'm prepared to go with what other people think. I just remember I hated Peter's death (loved hsi coming back, though that's a different issue). but Loganactor, your view? |
|
|
|
| LoganActor | Sep 25 2011, 07:28 AM Post #6 |
|
Plays Logan on TV!
|
Don't care either way. They totally HAVE to fix it, though. Made my heart sad killing off all our characters. Honestly, if it were me, I'd probably sacrifice Bradley. I think we've got the least invested in him as a character in the story and I could see him just having his hero moment, but if it's gotta be one of the infected, I'd go with Antony, for the same reason. Can't kill Scott or Ororo, and I really really like Cat. I was even thinking that Old Man Gargan could sacrifice himself in a totally unexpected twist. Yall know how I like to screw with my characters, and I could totally see that messing with young Georgie's head. Their timeline is already altered or destroyed completely, and so he's got no real reason to go back.....I dunno. I'm in for whatever yall wanna do. |
|
|
|
| Gorvar | Sep 25 2011, 12:26 PM Post #7 |
|
Self claimed fanfic critic.
|
I was thinking of putting Xavier on the block haha. Xavier sacrifices himself, old George dissapears, but Bishop stays indicating something changed in the future. But we're not sure what yet. But like a week later, they get a message from Magneto they have to go to the Savage Land to have a shot at saving Charles Xavier. |
|
|
|
| LoganActor | Sep 25 2011, 01:47 PM Post #8 |
|
Plays Logan on TV!
|
I like Xavier going. Sacrificing himself for his dream. Also, the power struggle that would result could be a lot of fun. Scott's gonna go bonkers.... |
|
|
|
| Gorvar | Sep 25 2011, 06:30 PM Post #9 |
|
Self claimed fanfic critic.
|
Didn't he already go bonkers when Jean kicked the bucket? .... Emma Frost! Maybe Wolveirne takes over a la Wolverine and the X-men |
|
|
|
| LoganActor | Sep 25 2011, 08:14 PM Post #10 |
|
Plays Logan on TV!
|
Could do. I dunno if Emma'd ever sacrifice herself for the greater good. I mean, maybe, but I doubt it... |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
|
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Short Stories and Poetry · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
7:00 PM Feb 11