X-men 2099UG #36

Have you ever felt nothing? Not in the sense that you are not doing anything, but the sense of nothing. No feeling. No smelling. No tasting. No hearing. No seeing. There is absolutely nothing around you, as if you are floating in a void. That is exactly what the X-Man named Cerebra is feeling right now. Nothing. For once in her life she is at peace. There are no X-Men conflicts. There are no conflicts with her father. It is her and her thoughts.

She wonders if this is what death is like. She wonders if she is dead at all. If so, this is not what she imagined, but for once she is at peace. But suddenly a thought enters her mind that causes her pain. What will happen to the children? What will happen if the Mutant Messiah isn't found in time to be brought up in the light of good? What will happen if evil finds the Messiah first? Worry and angst enters her mind, and she realizes she is not alone.

She feels something near her, a presence, but nothing more. Recently her powers have been expanding to compensate for the thousands of inhabitants, mutant inhabitants, of Halo City. Her powers are to detect other mutants. Living in a city of mutants has put an enormous amount of pressure and overwhelming overload to her mind. There was no way that she could control all of these mutant presence's from driving her mad, so she began to expand her powers to compensate.

This presence that she feels begins to come closer to her now. She knows she should feel afraid, but she senses a kindred spirit coming from it. It reaches its hand out to her. With out really considering it too much, Shakti reaches out to the glowing, misty hand and takes it into her own. She looks at what would be the face of this presence and it speaks one word to her - "Help."

As quick as she fell unconscious, Shakti awakens. Her companions Timothy and Wulff crouch next to her.

"Shakti, are you alright?" Timothy asks with deep concern.

She tried to find the words to explain what happened to her, but all she can do is remember the presence's plea for help. "We have to find Henri now. I think he's in danger."

"Henri's still at the site where the signal came from."

"Tim, you have to tell him to get out of there. Something is going to happen!"

"What? What is going to happen?"

Shakti grabs for Tim's comlink he has on his belt and yells for Henri.

"Henri!! Get out of there!! It's a trap!!"

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Somewhere else in the desert...

The X-Man known as Meanstreak responded to a distress signal an hour ago, only to find a ravaged nomad campsite. Everything was scorched except for one tent in the center of the camp. He wandered inside and found a group of men and women surrounding a lone figure that was lying on the tent floor. Everyone seemed hysterical, and no one could tell him anything about their attacker.

"Please! You've got to help us. They'll be back. I know it!" Meanstreak tries to comfort the young woman, "It'll be alright. I'm with the X-Men. There are others coming to help you."

"No one can stop them, don't you see?", the tall young man tells Meanstreak. "They're unstoppable."

"Well, who are they?" Just then Meanstreak comlink begins to go off.

"Henri... out.... It's... trap... "

Meanstreak looks up at the five men and women that are now standing over the unconscious body. All begin to stare at Meanstreak as he tries to back his way out of the tent. Then he feels something underneath his feet, as a pair of hands comes ripping out of the earth grabbing his ankles.

"NO!"

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"What's happening?" yells a terrified Wulff.

"I don't know. Be quiet and let me concentrate."

"Shakti, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying some new tricks I've been practicing on, Tim. If I concentrate on Henri's particular mutant aura, I'm hoping I can pinpoint a general location of where he is."

Tim begins to look around. "I can't see anything for miles, and he didn't get that far out before he radioed in."

"I'll go ahead and see if I can pick up a scent or something."

"No, wait, Wulff. Tim, I think I know where he is."

"Where?! Is he alright?"

"No, he's not. He's in pain. I can sense it in his aura. He's panicking."

Tim stands up, "So, where is he?"

"By Thor! Tim face east."

"What?!"

"Just do it."

Tim turns to the path of the rising sun and questions Shakti's appearing madness. "Why am I doing this?"

"Shut up and start blasting!"

"What?! Why?"

"Don't ask questions, just do it!!"

Tim shakes his head in confusion, but he raises his fists as they begin to glow with heat of pure energy. He releases a blast of pure green energy into the desert landscape, and something shocking happens. The energy doesn't go straight. It is deflected into different directions.

"What the shock happened?!"

Shakti thinks to herself, "This is just like that image I was seeing." She stands and yells at Tim, "Hit it with everything you've got! Henri is on the other side of that barrier.

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Henri falls to the ground. He looks around the tent for a split second and suddenly he's gone. The men and women look around them and stare at each other with perplexed expressions.

"What happened? Where did he go?", one of the men says to his comrades.

"I don't know," says another as he pulls himself out of the ground. " I had him in my hands for a second and he was gone."

"Shock! He took the other one."

They all spin around and look where the unconscious body had once lain, and it was gone.

"Fan out," the leader yells. "They couldn't have gotten far. The barrier should hold them inside long enough for us to find them."

"Sir, I thought the other one was why there was a barrier."

The leader looks at his comrade, "He is, but as long as he's unconscious he can't remove it. He's 'programmed' to hold it until further instructions. Now find those two. We can't risk them getting to Halo City."

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He runs faster than he's ever ran before, but he feels as if he's running in circles.

"Why can't I get anywhere. I should have left that camp ten miles behind me, but I can still see it."

He continues to run until he runs into something that's not there.

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"AAEEEEIIIII!", Shakti falls to the ground screaming and holding her head. "Make it STOP!!!"

"SHAKTI! What's wrong?" Tim stops his bombardment of energy beams against the barrier to help his fallen X-Man. He kneels down and takes her into his arms, "Shakti. What is it? Make what stop?"

"He's screaming! He can't free himself. They've trapped him inside his own mind."

"Who? Who's trapped?"

Shakti tries to stand up ignoring Tim's questions, "Tim.... You have to let.... Let me guide your hands. I know where they are."

Tim stands up and helps Shakti to a standing position. "Alright, where are they?"

Shakti takes his hands and closes her eyes. She moves his hands around, as if in a trance. "Now! Hit it... with...with all you have..." With that last cry, she falls to the ground unconscious. Tim looks down at her and then closes his eyes. He begins to concentrate with every muscle in his body. He feels the energy pulsating in his body, building to its intensity. For a slight moment he feels nothing. His body is relaxed and cool. He feels no energy running through him, and he is clam. But as quickly as he slipped into that moment of nothing, everything hits him as he releases a blaze of pure energy into an unseen barrier between his team and a comrade in need of them. The blast hits the barrier in full force and rocks the very ground they are standing on.

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Henri stops in mid stride, nearly throwing himself off balance. Directly in front of him he sees it for the first time. He sees the light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is coming right for him. He speeds out of the way in less than a nanosecond, as the burst of light and intense energy rams its way past him. He stops to look and see where the beam came. From the crackling energy that surrounds the hole in the barrier walks a lone figure. As the smoke and energy begins to dissipate, Henri realizes who this figure is.

"Tim! Over here."

Tim runs over to his friend, "Henri, we didn't think we were going to find you." He looks at the figure that Henri is carrying, "Who is this? Where are the survivors?"

Without warning, Tim's question is answered by a shock wave sent through the earth below them. The two of them fall to the ground, and Henri drops the still unconscious man.

"What the shock is that?" Tim yells.

"I don't know, but I think we're going to find out soon,"

Suddenly, the ground in front of the two X-Men explodes throwing dirt and rocks everywhere. When the dust finally settles, three silhouettes are standing in front of them. The one in the center motions to the two on his sides to circle around the three fallen men, and then he steps forward.

"You have something that I believe belongs to us, X-Men."

Henri leans over to Tim, "These are the guys that were in the campsite, but there were two others."

Tim looks to the man standing in front of them, "Who are you? And what harm has this man done to you?"

"Stupid X-Man, you are no concern to us, nor are your petty questions. Give us the outcast and you may be on your way. Confront us, and you will die, nothing more and nothing less."

Tim jumps up, "Sorry, friend, but no one is dying today. Now why don't you answer my question. Who are you?"

Henri looks around for the two others that wandered away and spots one of them coming up behind them. Moving so fast no one sees him move, he takes out the two men and drops their unconscious bodies in front of the last one. "Now why don't you answer my friend's questions."

The last man looks down at his comrades and then back to Henri and Tim, "Very well. It will not matter in the end. Our leader has returned to us from his long journey. We don't need the outcast any longer." With that said he claps his hands and the earth explodes. When everything finally settles, the three men are gone.

Tim shakes his head in wonder and confusion, "What was all this about? Who were those freaks anyway?"

Henri looks to his friend and then back over to the man the two of them saved, "I don't know, Tim. I really don't know."

Shakti and Wulff walk through the hole in the barrier, "What happened here?" Wulff asks in awe.

"We're not sure, Wulff. "

Shakti wanders over to the man lying on the ground, "So, you're the one who's been in my head this whole time." She kneels down and lifts his head into her lap. His eyes begin to blink and his fingers begin to move. "Guys, he's waking up."

They walk over to Shakti and the man, "Is he going to be alright, Shakti?"

"I think so, Tim." She leans over the man, "Hello there. My name is Shakti. I'm with the X-Men. Do you know where you are?"

The man shakes his head, "No. The last thing I remember is... is.. " Tears begin to form in his eyes, "I remember seeing them die."

"Who? Who died? Your tribe?" she asks.

"No...my friends. I remember seeing them die one by one. I couldn't do anything. I was trapped."

"Who? Who died?"

He looks up at the three X-Men, "The heroes... I saw them die, but I can't remember..."

The three X-Men look at each other in shock, and that's when Henri sees it. The barrier around them begins to disappear.

Shakti looks down at the man, "It's alright, you're safe now. We won't let anything happen to you."

"I have to get back there. I have to save them!" He begins to scream fanatically.

"Its too late. They're already gone." Henri answers.

The man jumps to is feet, and ten falls over, "No. Not those people over at the camp. They were illusions. This whole place was an illusion. I have to go back."

"Back where?" Shakti asks.

"I have to go back in the past. Back to the 20th century. That's where my friends are....", and with that last cry, the man falls over unconscious again, leaving the three X-Men standing in awe of their estranged companion. Who is he? And is he really from the 20th Century like he claims?

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Two weeks have past since the stranger was found and brought back to Halo City. Everyone remains as confused today as they were the day they found him. They have discovered he remembers a name- Robert. He can't remember if it is his or not, but it seems familiar, so he has decided that he will take it as his own until he can remember what his real name. Robert has also realized he is a mutant, but he can't remember how his powers work exactly. Being concerned about this, Tim had Henri develop a pair of wrist inhibitors for Robert to wear until he can remember how to control his powers. His days are filled with a regained sense of belonging. He feels at home here in Halo with the X-Men. He feels he was part of a team in the life he only sees in shadows at night.

Night is something Robert has still yet to master. His dreams are filled with burning men and women. They scream out to him, but he can't save them. He feels that he was pulled away by a powerful force. Pulled by something he recognizes, but he can't remember. He wakes every night in a cold sweat. He tries to fall back asleep, but every night that is the hardest thing to do. He wants to know who he is, but he is afraid to see those faces again. The faces of his friends. But who are they? Why can't he remember who they are?

Tonight is no different than any other night. Robert tosses and turns, and screams out loud as he jumps from his bed. Well, not really jumping, but more like bouncing.

"What the shock? How.... what happened? How did I do that?"

"Its part of who you are, young Robert. It is but a single part of your gift."

"Who? Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Very well then, Robert." The voice grows closer as a white cloaked figure passes through Robert's wall. The figure glides on air closer to Robert. "Are you satisfied now?"

Robert's eyes grow wide, "Sayge. Its you."

"Yes, Robert, and its time to gather the others."

NEXT ISSUE: Sayge? Who's that? Find out next issue as Robert discovers a bit more about his past, present and future.