X-men 2099UG #38

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

"I'm up! I'm up!" Willow yells as she shoots straight up in her bed. She looks over at her clock and sees its only 5am. "What the shock? What am I doing up at...

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Willow shakes her head and pulls her hair back in a ponytail behind her head.

"This better be good. Who ever you are pounding on my door this early in the morning better have breakfast or be a naked hunk." She opens the door and her jaw drops to the floor.

Standing in front of her is December with a backpack full of equipment hanging off it.

"Get dressed, Willow. We're going on a trip."

"What the shock are you talking about, girl?"

"I said get dressed, Willow. We're leaving the city, or at least I am. So are you coming or not?"

"Get in here." Willow pulls December in her room. Willow walks over to her bed still half-asleep and plops down on it. She then looks up to see all this wasn't a dream, and December is still in her room. "What is the big deal banging on my door at five in the morning, and talking about a trip? Have you lost your shocking mind, girl?!"

"I thought you would have been on my side. I guess I was wrong."

"What are you talking... Oh, this has to do with Robert, huh?"

December nods.

"Oh, December, you've got to let that go. You barely knew him."

"We had time alone, away from everyone. We connected, I love him, Willow."

"No you don't, you're infatuated with what you cannot have. Remember how you were when Metalsmith started dating Twilight? You were angry and frustrated. You wanted nothing more than to have him for yourself, but what happened?"

"I got over it, but.."

"No 'buts' about it, girl. Just get over him and move on."

December shakes her head, "I can't, Willow. I wish I could, but I can't. He's only been gone a day. If we leave now we might can find him."

"Where are you going to start looking? You don't even know which direction he went. If you go out there, you're just going to get lost, and stranded."

December stands up and walks to the door, "If that's what suppose to happen then fine. I'll take my chances. But think about this, what if he is the one. What if he is my soul mate, what if we are suppose to be together?"

"If that was true he would have stayed. Stop kidding yourself. You're only going to get hurt more."

"Shock!" December slams her hand against the wall. "I have to. Will you go with me? You are suppose to be my best friend, right?"

Willow smiles slightly, "I guess I am. But if we get stranded without food, I get to eat you. Deal?"

December laughs, "Deal. Now get your stuff, we've got a day to make up."

"Do you know which way he went?"

December smiles, "No, but I'm sure we'll figure it out."

(Look for December and Willow in 2099 Unlimited)

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New York--

Weeks ago a battle ensued here, and a corp fell. Now all that's left are the pieces for the other corps to pick up. One such corp lays unknown to the public, a 'shadow' corp if you will. They have no name, for if they did someone would find out about them. The only man that is known to work for this corp resides here in the high-rises of New York. He is a mediator between his corp and all the others that are part of the Alliance of Corporations. His real name has been erased from all records, he is simply called the Mediator.

The Mediator is here in New York to meet a man. The Mediator's contact set up this meeting. His superiors told him to trust no one, especially this man, but they agreed to the meeting's terms. So, they sent the Mediator to New York, per instructed by their contact. He is to meet him here in the wreckage of the once powerful Alchemax. He walks into the wreckage unsure for the first time in his entire time of employment under his superiors.

"What kept you? I thought your people wanted to really meet me?"

The Mediator turns around and spots a man crouching on a high pile of concrete, "You are not a man to be trusted, Mr. Somers."

"Just call me Morphine." Morphine slides down and walks over to the Mediator. "So, what can I do for your people?"

"My superiors are very interested in what we can do for you, Mr. Somers."

Morphine scratches his goatee, "Come again. I thought this was something they wanted from me."

"Not yet, Mr. Somers. They will need something from you in the future. Right now they wish to accommodate you in any way you seem in need."

"Why the good treatment? Are they afraid I don't work for free?"

The Mediator walks around Morphine, circling him a few times. "My superiors are very interested in Halo City, Mr. Somers. They see the ample opportunity of having it as an ally, and..."

"And they want me to hand it over to them," Morphine interrupts.

"No. They have more respect for you than that. They wish for you to control it, and they will advise you as an outside consultant."

"Well, why do they want Halo so bad? I mean there's nothing but us mutants who live there."

"Yes, they know that. Let me ask you something, Mr. Somers. Have you heard of the Mutant Messiah?"

Morphine nods, "Yes. So that's what this is all about, huh? You want me to search for this messiah, and bring him to you?"

"Again, Mr. Somers, you assume too much, and you do not listen. Just gain control over Halo again as you once had, and I will be in touch."

"What if I'm tired of being someone's pet? What if I don't want to be your superiors' lackey? What are they going to do about it?"

The mediator shakes his head, "Mr. Somers, do you really think you can tell my superiors 'no'? To do so would certainly be your undoing."

Morphine jumps up in the Mediator's face and slams him to the concrete tower standing behind the Mediator. "Let me tell you something, little man. No one threatens Morphine Somers, get it? I don't care who you are. I've got so many people wanting me dead I can't keep up with it. So, tell your people to get in line and take a number."

The Mediator brushes himself off, "I do not advise you threatening my superiors, Mr. Somers, for you are nothing in the grand scene of things, and they can easily replace you with another player."

"Fine, you tell them that." Morphine turns to walk away, and he looks back at the Mediator, "And tell your superiors that Morphine Somers wants to meet them face to face. I've got something I want to share with them." Morphine grabs a nearby piece of wreckage and uses his mutant power to age the concrete until it disintegrates. "Next time it will be one of them." Morphine turns and disappears into the shadows.

The Mediator looked down at the dust Morphine left behind and reaches for a comlink in his jacket. "Did you hear all that, sirs?"

A voice crackles over the comlink, "Oh, yes. We heard everything loud and clear. We expected nothing less from our rebellious friend."

"What are your wishes? Shall I return to Alaska, or should I continue to convince Mr. Somers?"

A long silence sounds over the Mediator's comlink and then a voice speaks, "Let him be for now. I think we've gotten his attention for now. There are more important matters at this time to take care of. "

"Yes, sir. Mediator out." The Mediator looks toward the way Morphine walked away from him and smiles in admiration. He thinks to himself of the day that he walked this earth as a free man, not having to answer to the Superiors of the Corp. Then he brushes those thoughts away, and walks back into the shadows of the rubble.

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Alaska --

Hidden deep within the Alaskan wastelands known as the Tundra, stands a large superstructure. It towers twenty stories tall, and it spans over thirty acres, and if you look underground you will see it goes as deep as it does high and no one knows of its existence. This is the base of operations of the most secretive corporations in the entire world. It is simply known as the Alaskan Complex.

Within the Complex's heavily fortified walls lives a population of four hundred. This is a city without a state and without a country. The population that resides inside the Complex have denounced their homelands, and have been erased from existence. For all intended purposes, they are dead to the world. They have one man to thank for their anonymity, and his name is Alexander Shaw, the Black King of the new Hellfire Club.

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Halo City --

This is the city-state of the mutant population in America. If you are a mutant and seek safety, you come here. Doom made sure that the fate he saw coming in the late 20th Century would not befall these mutants of his new home and timeplace.

Leaving the city under the watchful eye of this century's self proclaimed X-Men, Doom disappeared, never to return to Halo City. But he did leave a piece of himself behind under the city. The caverns and concrete webs of corridors beneath Halo City were where Doom hid himself when Herod overthrew Doom and put his own Captain America in the seat of President.

Only days after Doom left the city a stranger appeared out of thin air and has made these caverns his home until he reaches his goal. A goal until today was only in his mind. This stranger has no name, he's had no reason to say it sitting here alone with no one to talk to except himself. Here he has been for weeks watching and planning. There has not been one movement in or out of this city he has not witnessed, and the time for his first movement out of these caverns is almost at hand.

"Oh, my friends, how much has changed since I last looked upon the race of mutantkind. Poor Xavier has gone and died so many years ago, and his dream has died with him. These fools that call themselves 'X-Men' bring shame to what was once a noble clan. No matter, they are but a rock in my path to be kicked aside."

The stranger pans through the city's streets by using the elaborate security and spying computers Doom had set up to insure his safety. The stranger looks for a familiar face, "Ah! There you are, my fellow journeyman. How is it over all this time that I have been gone, you are the one person that stands in my way as you did so many years ago. But even then you needed the help of 'the other' to defeat me. Has time and struggle made you a stronger foe, or will I defeat you as easily as I did before?" The screen begins to clear and to focus on a man standing out side the city's front gate. As the picture becomes clearer a face can be seen-- the face of Dust.

NEXT ISSUE: Hmmm.... What does the stranger want with Dust? Heck, who is Dust, and how does the stranger know him? Who is the Mediator, and what does Alexander Shaw want with Morphine Somers? Whatever it is, it will be trouble brewing for the X-Men. Count on it.