X-men 2099UG: Gravity

Nighttime in Halo City...

Most people are somewhere else at night. At the club, at the bar, at the cineplex, at home. Most people aren't at work. Quiver Rentaro isn't most people. For one thing, he's a mutant, born with an x-tra chromosome that grants him fantastic, and most believe, dangerous abilities. To the world, Quiver isn't most people, and so must be despised and feared.

Not here, not in this city. A mecca in the desert, a city where everyone, regardless of race, creed, color, economic standing or genetic difference, can live together in peace. For almost two centuries a place like that has existed solely in the memories of those hoping for a better world. It was never a place that really existed. The world was a place full of hate and blind prejudices, a place where people just didn't like each other.

Then Doom came along, built a city, and forced people to get along. So far it seems to be working.

Quiver is one of thousands who are eternally grateful for that. To live in a place where he can work in an office, walk home on a bustling sidewalk in a t-shirt that shows his bumpy red skin, own an apartment, and do all the things that a person should be able to do unharassed. Simply, to live how they see fit. Provided it hurts no one.

"Man, I never thought in my life that there could be so much useless information in the world," Quiver thought to himself as he walked home. "Thing is, most of it's not really useless. Like the computer serial numbers I had to go through today. Some poor soul had to go through and research and find every one of those numbers. All that work only to have it all end up archived in the Halo City DataLibrary by an indifferent and bored-out-of-his-mind data processer. I suppose I should count myself lucky that I didn't have to do that all day. Still though, I don't see why I had to stay overtime for something that could have been done in the morning."

"Listen to me," Quiver continued to himself. "Talking like someone who doesn't have a care in the world. All the problems I've had and now my most important one is the boredom of data processing. Not running for my life. Not wondering where my next meal is coming from. Not having to hide my face from people passing by. Not having any place to sleep."

Quiver's wandering gaze catches sight of Halo Tower, the center of the city, the tallest building, and the home of the city's mutant protectorate: the X-men. "It's funny," he thought, gazing up at the ringed tower. "You don't really know what you have until it's gone."

*    *     *

2:30 AM, Pacific Standard Time - Quiver Rentaro is asleep in his modest Halo City apartment. It's a nice apartment, Quiver knows. Clean, excellent security system, and the Holocable comes included with the rent. Best of all, being fourteen floors up, he can escape the noise of the city below and get some well-needed rest.

Well...most nights anyway.

"Wha...?!", Quiver says, startled awake. "What was that?", he thinks. "Felt like some sort of shove, 'cept I didn't move. Haven't felt a force like that since..."

A voice seemingly made of gravel called from the shadows ahead of Quiver. "This is a nice life you've made for yourself here, Quiver." It paused. "You can have more, though."

"Room lights to full," Quiver said, startled but alert.

"You know that won't work, Quiver. Not against me," the stranger boasted. Puzzingly, the lights remained off.

Instantly a vibrational field, his mutant gift, sprung up around Quiver. Quiver was lucky in the aspects of mutant powers, he knew, he was an alpha-level, he had power. His power was more than functional, it was an excellent deterent to attackers. "Show yourself now or there's going to be trouble. Security will be up here soon, and you don't want to be wedged in between me and them," Quiver said, maintaining a brave voice in front of the attacker. Thieves weren't much intimidated by timidness these days.

The stranger laughed, stepping out of the shadows and into the light from the open window. "Come on now, Quiver, you know you can't overpower me," the stranger had a smug smile on his face.

Quiver's eyes went wide, his mouth hung open a bit in surprise. "You...," he said softly.

"Power down, Quiver. There's no use in fighting. It would just expend energy pointlessly...and hurt you rather badly."

"You're right," Quiver conceded, his vibrational field fading. Surpressing a smile, he tapped a small triangular badge that was strapped around his wrist. He wasn't alone these days, and the intruder was going to learn that soon. "What do you want?", Quiver said aloud to the stranger.

"It's not what I want, Quiver. It's what I have to do."

*     *     *

His name is Timothy Fitzgerald. He's a mutant, too. Though in a city full of mutants, he is perhaps the most well known. Being the leader of the X-men will do that for you.

He looks out of his window from his quarters in Halo Tower. It's 2:30 in the morning but he just can't sleep. He doesn't feel like it, for one thing. When he does though, he has the strangest dreams. Images of people he knew coming to him, talking to him, and always extending their hand. They all want to take him somewhere, but they never quite do. He has dreams of his death, too. Of the energy of a city filling him. Dreams of him being someone else's zombie again. Of him and his fellow zombies falling. And of him being the only one to rise again***. He dreams of the situation again and again, as if his mind is determined to find the answers there. Answers to the questions of others. Why did he live? Why are his powers changing?

*** X-men 2099 #26-29 (regular series)

Tim stares down at the myriad of buildings and structures below him. Halo City. A dead man's dream realized. Tim knows of a man named Xavier, he knows of the man's fight to bring humanity and mutants together. He knows Xavier probably saw his dream fail as the mutant huntings were conducted, followed by the Great Purge earlier in the century. Tim also knows that, ultimately, Xavier may win his fight.

"The dream is alive, old specter," Tim thinks to himself. "And it's entrusted to me. Let's hope that I can take good care of it." Tim has his doubts, staggering doubts, as to whether he is worthy of the dream. He doesn't want to be the man who destroys it. "It's a good dream, Xavier." Tim turns his head and looks at his bed, smirking, "A dream worth having."

Suddenly, the door slides open and a familiar face enters.

"FITZ!", Sham yelled as she ran into the room.

"Sham?", Tim said, shocked by her sudden entrance. Sham. Diamanda LaSalle. One of the X-men. One of his X-men. "How'd you get in here?"

"Priority Protectorate Unlock, Fitz," Sham responded.

"That's for emergencies only."

"This is one of them," Sham said, coming up to Tim. "I just got a communique on my badge from Quiv, he's in trouble." Quiver Rentaro, another mutant, who along with Sham, helped the X-men liberate the Slaughterhouse***. "He was almost an X-man," Tim knows. "If he hadn't declined the offer."

*** X-men 2099 #25 (regular series)

"Quiver has an X-badge?", Tim asked, surprised again.

Sham lifted an eyebrow, a smirk on her face. "For emergencies only." Tim smiled as Sham's playful exterior quickly faded. "I gave it to him in case he was ever in trouble. He's never used it until now. We've gotta wake the others."

"Alright Sham, alright," Tim said as he walked out the door. "But next time this happens, " he turned back to Sham with a smile. "YOU'RE the one who has to wake Luna."

*     *     *

In a few minutes, the X-men were gathered in the Halo Tower board room, along with Tim and Sham sat Meanstreak and Krystalin. Henri and Krys, one a techno-speaking speester and the other a crystomorph Panther heir. Both of them sharing a deep friendship. Whether it ever went beyond that, Tim didn't know, and didn't really care. It was their business.

On the other side sat Shakti and Luna. Shakti was always reserved and collected, her intellect being her most fearsome weapon, more so than the psionic abilities she posessed. A stark contrast to Luna, formerly of the Theater of the Pain, a psychic vampire working on the side of the angels. And Tim's significant other. In what seemed like a long time ago, Luna's touch triggered his control of his burgeoning power and left her with a deep-seated longing for his companionship***. They both had wild sides that came out to play when they were together. She braved the Undead to save him. When the X-men stormed the Slaughterhouse, she was beside him. She loved him for reasons that none comprehended. Least of all Tim, he didn't want to question her love for him, especially not when it felt so uncommonly right.

*** X-men 2099 #4 (regular series)

"We've got a missing mutant on our hands. A friend of ours," Tim said to the gathering.

"Who?", Krystalin asked.

"It's Quiv, he activated a combadge that I gave him only for emergencies," Sham answered. "This is the first time it's gone off. There's got to be something wrong."

"Hm. Is it tuned to the same frequency ours is?", Meanstreak asked, walking over to the room's communications console.

"No, it's one that I attuned to my combadge only." Sham took her badge off and set it to the frequency, it began beeping. "Here." She tossed the badge to Henri.

Henri grabbed the badge and immediately began working. His hands flew over the console in a flurry of motion. In a brief moment, the console began the same beeping the badge was emitting.

"Sounds like his badge is still active," Henri said, tossing Sham's badge back to her. "He's heading north on Worthington St. Towards the airstrip, it looks like."

Tim turned his head to Cerebra. "Shakti? Can you scan for him? Confirm his location?"

In response to Tim's question, Shakti's eyelids went low, she stared ahead, silent for a few seconds before speaking up again. "Yes," she said. "He's there."

"Always good to get a second opinion," Tim said, rising from his chair. "Alright, X-men, let's check it out."

*     *     *

A single car sped along Worthington Street. Weaving impatiently around the few cars still romaing the street at the late hour. "You didn't have to steal this car," Quiver said from the passenger seat. "We could have taken the Halo Transit."

"I needed something faster," the stranger said.

"You could have flown us," Quiver offered.

"Something faster and inconspicuous," the stranger added.

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"The airstrip."

"And where after that?"

The stranger turned a cold face to Quiver. "You'll see. I've been trying to get you there for years."

An exasperated look appeared on Quiver's face. "And I've been trying to get you to STOP trying to take me there for years. Eventually one of us is going to get tired."

"Seems like it was you, Quiver. You haven't put up any resistance." Outside the window, the Halo City airport came into view. The road ran alongside the airstrip, a solid strip of permacrete a mile long marked with spaces for liner jets. A private hangar was beyond it, with a control tower nestled next to it. The poor and destitute weren't the only people who were trying to get into Halo City.

Quiver turned to the stranger. "I don't have to."

As if on cue, the car suddenly luched to a halt, the power dying out. "What the...?!", the stranger said. "The maglev's gone out," he continued, pressing several buttons to initiate back-ups. Nothing was happening. "Does anything in your city work?", he said to Quiver, shooting him an annoyed look. Quiver did not respond, staring ahead as his captor got out of the car.

"Stop it right there, buddy," Skullfire said as the stranger stepped out. Before the stranger, six individuals in colorful uniforms were arrayed. Cerebra, Luna, Sham, Meanstreak, Skullfire, and Krystalin. The X-men. The stranger's annoyance grew, he was warned about them.

"Gavin?!?", Sham yelled, suprised. "Shock me, I should have known you'd come floating through here eventually. I just didn't think it would be this soon."

Tim turned to Sham. "You know this guy?"

"He's a real bruiser," Sham explained. "He's the reason Quiver and I started running all that time ago. His brother over there was under orders to bring him...somewhere, I don't know where, he never said. Just that he wanted Quiv and I was expendable."

"He's Quiver's brother?", Henri asked.

"Yeah. Older brother. Looks like Quiv inherited the smarts though," Sham said with a sneer at Gavin.

"It's unfortunate that you're here, too, Diamanda," Gavin said. "But if you're an X-man, how hard can it be to become one?" He sneered. "All of you, get out of my way."

"Give us Quiver!" Sham ordered.

"No," Gavin said flatly, raising his hand. The air around him became rippled and distorted as his hand moved. With a start, all the X-men began rising in the air.

"Put us down, Gavin. You're biting off more than you can chew now," Sham yelled to him as she rose higher and higher. Gavin just snorted a laugh in response and continued to lift them higher into the air. "In all the years I've known you, Diamanda," he said. "It's a shame to see you're still full of more bark than bite." With a flick of his wrist, the X-men were suddenly launched through the air towards the grassy field next to the airstrip.

Smiling, Gavin turned back to the car. "If that was your protection, Qui..." He froze. Quiver was gone.

*     *     *

He had to find Sham, had to make sure she was okay. In all the grandstanding and boasting Gavin had done, Quiver had had the chance to slip off quietly. He knew that wouldn't last that long. Gavin would surely take to the air and spot him immediately. Quiver had to get to Sham before that happened. To Sham and the X-men.

Running on the grassy plain next to the airstrip, he scanned the area as best he could in the night. He ran toward any lump or mass that looked vaguely like a body. He didn't think Gavin threw the X-men too far, not far enough to kill them, anyway. Though he was sure a few of them were probably sporting a few grass burns at the moment.

A shadow-clad hulk suddenly flew over Quiver. Seemingly wrapped in night itself, it hovered there. It looked like a body of armor completely drawn in black. Light just didn't touch it. The air around it gently rippled like water.

"This is disappointing, Quiver," Gavin said. "You've led me a better chase than THIS before." Gavin swooped down and planted its feet on the ground. Quiver backed away from him.

"Remember the last time you thought you had me for sure, Gavin?", Quiver said. "Chicago, wasn't it? I was right there, dead in your sights. Only it wasn't me, was it?"

Gavin bristled at the reminder of his humiliation. "I have since learned how to differentiate between your girlfriend's illusions and reality."

"She's not my girlfriend, Gavin. She's much more than that. And if you've hurt her I'll...," Quiver's body suddenly stiffened and locked into place.

"You'll do nothing. You're mine now. Finally."

Suddenly, a blast of green-tinted energy rocketed through the air,it cut through the night with a FWOOSH, striking Graviton squarely in the middle. Quiver squinted from the burst of light, feeling the hold on his body leave as Gavin fell over. Gavin had lost concentration from the blast. Grateful for the distraction, Quiver ran towards the origin of the blast.

Turning around, Quiver found the origin already there. All the X-men were alright. Including Sham. They looked unscathed and no worse for the wear. Albeit a little angrier.

"That's for the rugburn," Tim said, his right arm aglow and bristling with green energy. The light turned his flesh transparent to the very bone, a trademark of his powers to absorb electrical energy and redirect it. In the night, it looked ghastly.

Before Tim could say anything else though, a wall of what seemed like pure force slammed into all of them, throwing them back. "You people are beginning to become annoying," Gavin said, standing up again.

The X-men came to their feet quickly. "Looks like we're dealing with an energy caster. Feels like...anyway," Krystalin said.

"With body armor to boot," Henri added. "Still though, if that isn't black-painted adamantium then a crystal javelin should pin our foe down." He smiled.

"I get you, Henri," Krystalin responded, generating a javelin for Henri. Without another word, he grabbed the weapon and sped off toward Gavin. Slashing faster than the eye could blink, Henri ran loops around him. Gavin didn't flinch.

Henri looked at the javelin as he skidded to a stop. "Broken off?", he muttered, puzzled, holding up the shattered weapon. "How could that be? It didn't feel like I actually HIT anything."

"A speedster," Graviton said as he strode up to Henri. "As someone who is always in motion, it must feel particularly grating to not be able to move at all."

"What are you...?!?", Henri said, suddenly struggling against something invisible.

"Let him go, Gavin," Krystalin said calmly, her hands outstretched as a hail of crystal shards flew towards him, slicing the air like shrapnel.

Graviton turned his attention towards Krystalin. As he walked toward her, the crystal shards bounded off his armor and collected on the ground. Krystalin's eyes went wide. "How are you doing that?", she said quietly.

"I imagine those shards would cause a normal human quite an amount of pain," Graviton said. "I wonder what they would do to you." Krystalin's arms jerked inward, her hands being forced toward her chest.

Krystalin grunted, struggling against Graviton's hold. "What are you doing?"

"Taking you out of the game," Graviton said coldly and simply.

"HANDS OFF, CREEP!", Luna screamed, jumping towards Graviton. Grabbing his middle, she tackled him to the ground and began punching at his armor. "Krystalin may not be able to get through this," Luna said, her punches ringing off the armor. "But don't hold it against her, she didn't have much luck against me the first time either!" Gavin was momentarily staggered by the force of Luna's attack. "And when I get inside this armor," she continued. "I'm going to get inside YOU."

"Not likely," Gavin said. The air around him rippled harder and faster, growing larger.

Unconcerned with Gavin's words, Luna fired a jab across Gavin's head. And screamed out in pain.

"LUNA!", Tim yelled.

Luna tried another punch, with the same results. Overcome with the pain, she slumped to the ground. "How did you....hurt so much....felt like I was being crunched up....," Luna said to no one in particular, nursing her hands.

Tim's eyes blazed with fury and his body crackled with barely-contained energy. Gavin looked in his direction, seeing a glowing green skeleton. "I'm going to make you hurt," Tim said ominously.

Electrical energy flew towards Graviton, driving him back. Tim did not relent, the air growing heated with the energy that was being poured onto Graviton's armor. The blinding beam that seems to be Tim's rage solidified lit up the dim around them. Graviton stood his ground, the energy deflecting off his armor.

Slowly, Tim's beam became curved, it inching away from him until finally it curved straight around Gavin and headed back towards Tim. Abruptly, Tim ceased his assault.

"It appears a physical assault will not work," Shakti said, coming up from behind Tim. Immediately she directed a psionic blast to Gavin's nervous system, intending to end the fight there.

Gavin staggered back, but didn't fall. "Psionics," he says. "Quite a well rounded group you have, ability-wise. All you're missing is the token muscled brute." Quickly, he rose into the air, the ripples around him increasing in size and intensity. From above, he taunted Cerebra. "Try your tricks now, woman."

Ignoring his bravado, Cerebra tried again. Nothing happened.

"Is he out of range?", Tim asked her.

"No," she responded. "His power is blocking mine. I can't read anything from him. Not even a conscious presence, it's a void."

"Krys, can you wrap him in crystal? Bring him down?", Tim asked, turning to Krystalin.

"That's what I've been trying, but everytime I try to form one around him, the minerals just get absorbed into his armor."

"Henri?," Tim continued, facing Meanstreak. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Not a one. We don't even know what his power, or powers, are."

"It's gravity," Quiver said, suddenly coming up from behind Tim. "He manipulates gravity. He's gotten quite skilled at it. That armor is actually dense gravity and the more he contracts the gravity around him then the stronger it is."

"So he's like a living black hole?", Henri asked.

"Yes."

"Why aren't my psi-screens getting through now, though?", Shakti asked.

"I don't know. Maybe due to the density. You've heard that nothing escapes a black hole," Quiver ventured.

"If it's energy he's using, I can absorb it," Tim boasted, remembering his absorption of Eldritch energy while he, Luna, and Henri were breaking the info-savant mutant Book free a few weeks ago***.

*** X-men 2099 #31 (regular series)

"That wouldn't work, he utilizes force, not energy. You can't affect his gravity and he can't affect your electromagnetics," Henri answered.

"So....what do we do then?", Tim asked the group.

From above, Gavin's booming voice was heard. "Let me have Quiver, X-men, and you and your city will live."

"He has the power to do that, doesn't he?", Krystalin asked. Quiver nodded grimly.

Suddenly, Tim's face became excited. Maybe there was a chance they could stop Gavin here. "Quiver, can you take control of his gravity from him?"

"What?"

"Your powers are similar, aren't they?"

"I'm...not sure. Our powers are similar in nature and composition. Mine just manifest themselves differently," Quiver answered.

"Then you can manipulate the gravitational forces he uses, can't you? "

"I don't think it works that way."

"Will you try? You're the last hope we have."

"I would if I knew I could, but..."

"Quiver," Tim said solemnly, grabbing Quiver's shoulders. "I know you can, you just have to concentrate. Do you want to keep running from him? Don't you think it's time you had a home? We're here for you. We can beat him. But we need you to help. You just have to try. You have to try. It's the only chance we have left. We can't let him have you and we can't let him destroy the city."

Quiver is silent for a moment. "Alright Tim. I'll try."

"Great! Now...Shakti, Sham, you're a part of this, too. Once Quiver begins drawing Graviton's power, then you'll have your opening. Sham, you said he can tell your illusions from reality, right?"

"Well, Gavin did, technically. But yeah, I don't know how, but he can," Sham answered.

"Then we'll have to go deeper. That's where you come in, Shakti. Once the armor is weakened enough, you punch through with Sham piggybacking. Sham's powers are psionic in nature, so I don't think you'll have much trouble. Then Sham, that's when you plant the illusions. Right in his head, where he won't even have the faculties to tell if they're real or not. Then when he becomes disoriented enough." Tim turned to Shakti. "Pow! The old psionic Shakti whammy. What do you think?"

"It is worth a try, at least," Shakti answers.

"I meant what I said, X-men," Gavin's voice cried out from above. Without further warning, the airstrip began to fly apart, as if being torn up by unseen hands. Slabs of permacrete and metal detached themselves from the ground with violent results. A tornado of debris formed, careening and flying out of control. Planes were getting sliced by the debris, crunched by the gravitational forces at play. The storm of destruction was immense as it flew towards the control tower. Tim heard a sudden groaning of metal and permacrete as the tower began to buckle and tilt under the forces being played with.

"Henri!", Tim cried out.

"I see it. Come on, Krys," Henri said, picking up Krystalin before she could utter a sound and speeding off towards the strip. Krystalin could shore up the tower with her powers, but only Henri could get here there in time. Tim hoped they'd be alright.

As Meanstreak sped off, Quiver felt his body stiffen again. Slowly, he began to rise up off the ground.

"Tim!", Quiver yelled. Without responding, Tim jumped and grabbed onto Quiver's leg. Luna came up and grabbed the other. She clasped Quiver tightly, biting her lip in pain. Their weight added, Quiver floated back down.

"Luna?", Tim asked, concerned. "Are you still hurt?"

"Hands are broken, I think, but I'll live."

"Guys," Quiver interrupted. "I'm going to try it now. Try absorbing his power."

"You think you can control his gravity?", Tim asked.

"Yeah...yeah I think I can."

"Have you ever tried it on him before?"

"No. But that should be a hopeful sign, I think."

"Why has he been chasing you, anyway?", Luna asked.

"Oh, our dad sent him after me, he wants me to join some cult. The Hellfire Club, I think it's called."

"Oh."

"Stand back, guys."

A vibrational field appeared around Quiver as he activated his power. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on thinning the field. In directing it to one target, and then dissolving it. Breaking it down to it's basic structure. He could sense the shifts in gravity as he concentrated. The effort was not simple, with his powers slipping away from him several times. He kept trying though, he knew that he had to. Innocent lives were on the line, all because of him.

A tendril of gravity, of what seemed like pure force gathered in front of him and he tried to take hold of it in his conscious. It shuddered and buckled in his grip, seemingly writhing and jumping like a live snake. Quiver gripped it harder, his power didn't want to work this way, almost as if it had it's own consciousness. "Tough," Quiver thought. "You're MY stupid power and you'll work how I want you to."

The tendril of gravitational force grew larger and more lethargic as Quiver attained a firmer grip on it. Then, as sudden as a snap of the finger, the tendril straightened and his vision cleared. His eyes were still closed, but he was seeing anyway. The ground, the X-men, they all consisted of concentrated mass. There was no blue sky, no green ground, there was just the concentration of gravity.

Not wasting time, Quiver looked up. An immense, roiling and fluctuating ball of gravitational force was up there. It was as if the moon had ome down from the sky and come to face to face with him. It was a fearsome sight, but Quiver pushed the fear down inside. Plenty of time to be scared later. Without another thought he directed the tendril of force towards what he knew was Gavin. The two became connected and mixed.

"Agh!", Quiver screamed aloud, catching Sham's attention.

"Quiv?", she said, preparing to run to him.

"Sham don't! You've gotta stay with Shakti and concentrate on your part of the plan," Tim yelled, grabbing Sham by the shoulder.

"He is correct, Sham," Shakti said, grabbing Sham gently by the arm.

"It's hurting him though, his power isn't meant to be used this way...," she said to them.

Silently, Quiver moved past the sudden pain. It was like he was tied to Gavin now. Every part of his body seemed to be tugging itself in a different direction. There was a live wire between him and his brother, and suddenly Quiver could sense the forces Gavin was manipulating.

He grabbed a hold of the wire in his mind and began pulling control of the forces away from Gavin. It was like being in a raging river and pulling a boulder upstream. But slowly, with continued force, it began to budge.

"What's going on?", Luna asked Tim as she began to feel sudden jerkings all over her body.

"Feels like it's working," he responded. "I can already see the air around him rippling. Let's get to a safe distance." Tim and Luna walked back away from Gavin with Sham and Shakti. Keeping a wary eye on Quiver.

"Is it working, Shakti?", Tim asked her.

"Somewhat, but he'll have to draw complete control away if I'm to get through."

"I don't think Quiver's that strong," Sham said, the worry obvious on her face.

"He'll have to," Tim responded.

*     *     *

"More," Quiver thought. "Feels like my insides are out, but I have draw more. I can feel it everywhere, it's surrounding me, stockpiling itself. It must be doing incredible damage..."

*     *     *

"That's it. Look, Gavin's ripples are dissapating. The debris storm over the airport is gone," Shakti announced.

"Go," Tim ordered.

Shakti took Sham's hand. "It's time. It will be easier to link if we're connected physically. I'm going to send my telepathic presence to you. Close your eyes and try to find it. When you do, grab onto it, try to keep a firm grip on my presence. We'll enter his mind and you'll be processing his memories and neural activities as images in your mind. Distort them with your power, confuse him utterly."

Sham gulped nervously. "Okay," she said meekly, closing her eyes. Immediately Shakti is there, like a beacon in the shadows. Sham allows herself to be enveloped by the light and suddenly they are looking down on a grassy field. And themselves.

"Do it," Shakti said telepathically to Sham. Immediately the surroundings go dark, replaced instantly by a whirlwind of colors and shapes. All of them twirling and spinning in a myriad of different directions. Seemingly colliding, yet not, there is no way to see through them. Monstrous figures rush from the maelstrom of color and at Gavin.

"No! No! Away!", Gavin yelled. Directing a blast of force ahead of him. Then another, and another. Hitting nothing.

Tim and Luna gazed upward. "Seems to be working."

*     *     *

"He's losing his grip on it," Quiver thought. "It....it seems to be flooding in my direction. Don't know....," Quiver bit his lip, grateful for the distraction the pain brought. Suddenly the gravity Gavin had kept in control threw themselves at Quiver. An immense pressure pinned him to the ground, squeezing his body. Never relenting.

*     *     *

The monster in front of him slashed and slashed at him. Gavin could smell the blood, his blood, in the air. The monster bared its teeth, licking its lips with an immense scaly tongue. For a brief moment, Gavin wondered what it would feel like to be eaten alive by those teeth. To be awake while it shredded his body apart. That moment is all it takes to open a floodgate of new fear. In desperation, he lashed out with everything he could muster...

Unimaginable force slammed the X-men down to the ground as Gavin lashed out. Tim heard a grunt from Shakti as she fell. The connection Shakti had with Gavin's mind is lost.

Gavin floated in the air, the armor gone. He looked down at his body, checking it for wounds. "Real. None of it was...real..."

Tim could hear him, and in a split-second, made the call. "Shakti, drop him NOW!"

With no sound, Shakti faces Gavin. It was over in less than a blink. Unconscious, Gavin fell to the ground.

*     *     *

"Oh no," Quiver thought as he sensed a tidal wave of gravitational force heading straight toward him. There was no more gigantic mass in the air holding it all in. The force had only one anchor now: Quiver.

*     *     *

"Gotcha!", Tim said as he staggered from catching the weight of Gavin's fall. They both tumbled to the ground, rolling end over end. Tim rose with a grunt. "That's the second time you've scraped..."

"ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!", Quiver's scream pierced the air as he laid crushed against the ground, buffetted by forces he can't control. The air gyrated wildly around him.

"QUIVER!", Sham screamed, breaking into a dead run towards him. She'd never seen him in such intense pain before.

"Sham, NO!", Tim and Shakti scream. Their words are unheard.

All there is is the pain, Quiver turned over and over, trying to escape it somehow. He can't. If he let go, everything would be lost. The gravity would escape, shearing through anything that stood in it's way as it fled back toward the nothing from which it came. Briefly, through blurred and teared vision, he spotted a fuzzy figure heading toward him. It was small and slim and familiar. Sham. He tried to cry her name out, to tell her to get away. But the pain overwhelmed what little concentration he had left. In a painful release, the power escaped, his consciousness slipped away.

"Qui..," Sham didn't have time to finish the word when it hit her. Gravitational forces Quiver was barely keeping in check tear and slice through the air around him. It is a shearing maelstrom that destroys anything in its path. Sham suddenly feels pain as she's never felt before. There is no word to describe its magnitude. Briefly, she feels flesh tear and blood splash. Sham's ordeal is fortunately short, the pain is so great, she cannot even be thankful for its withdrawal as she loses consciousness.

*     *     *

He opened his eyes to a blurry night time sky. Where was he? No, wait, he remembered. Halo City, fighting the X-men, trying to capture Quiver. He propped his head up and looked around. The X-men were still there, all gathered around something. It's Quiver and Sham. They laid motionless in the grass. Gavin grinned, perhaps this was not such a failed venture after all.

Her hyper-sensitive hearing picking up something, Gavin watched Luna turn her head and look straight at him. Slowly she walked toward him, grinning as she held a hand up toward him.

Perhaps he would NOT finally capture his brother this day. With the last of his energy, Gavin shed the grip of the Earth's gravity on him and flew away. He didn't know where. Just away from the X-men.

*     *     *

"She didn't deserve this," he said to Tim.

Tim stared blankly, tiredly, at Quiver. The mutant's pupil-less gaze did not waver from him. A few hours ago, Quiver was broken, bleeding internally, and unconscious from pain because of their fight with Gavin. Tim had pushed him into that confrontation, he knew. Pushed him, and Sham ended up paying the price.

She was beside them now, motionless under the infirmary blanket. The monitors and instruments at the foot of the bed kept her condition steady. The electronic blip of her heartbeat was the only sound in the room.

"I know, Quiv, I know," Tim said softly. "We should be grateful she's still alive, though." The mutant still wore a clenched frown on his face.

"I'd probably feel the same way," Tim thought, taking Quiver's pained expression in. "But she IS alive. We got to Xi'an in time."

Xi'an Chi Xan, former leader of the X-men and a powerful mutant in his own right. One of his hands shimmered with a golden color, the other was a corrosive bile green. One hand destroyed, one hand healed. In between was a man who had to constantly struggle for balance.

Immediately after the fight, they had gone to him with their wounded. Or rather, they had brought him to them. Tim was too afraid that moving Sham would drain her of the fingernail of life that had been left within her. Xi'an used his touch on Quiver and Sham both. Quiver's bones and skin healed instantly. Besides being utterly exhausted, Quiver had been healed back to his old self.

Sham was not so lucky.

"I'm sorry," Xi'an had said to them all. "I have closed the wounds and healed the body. But she won't wake up."

Xi'an accompanied them to the hospital. The doctors said she was in a coma, they did not know how to wake her. They could not give Quiver a prognosis on her condition. She would wake when she woke, they said. If she did at all.

"Sham was special to me, Tim," Quiver said. "She was the only I could completely trust. Even tonight. I was in trouble and she came, regardless of the potential consequences, she just wanted me safe. She's a good person with the brightest heart I've ever seen."

Tim had nothing to say.

"She wasn't looking for this kind of life," Quiver continued. "She joined the X-men because she wanted to be a part of something good. She was always doing good. Helping me. Helping you guys when you took down the Slaughterhouse. And becoming an X-man. She didn't deserve this."

Frowning at Tim, Quiver moved on past and left the room. Sparing a glance toward Sham, Tim did the same shortly afterward.

Tim thought to himself as he walked down the hallway. He'd lost an X-man. His actions had cost someone their life. Sham was no longer someone who you could interact with. She was no longer someone who laughed, smiled, or cried. Quiver no longer had anyone to trust, anyone to confide in. His words, his orders, he had done it all.

Tim looked up and saw a familiar face. Xi'an was coming towards him. Undoubtedly to see Sham and check on her condition. Abruptly, Tim stopped and grabbed Xi'an by the shoulder.

"Something on your mind, Tim?", Xi'an said calmly.

"When you lost Tina...how did you get through it?"

Xi'an turned to face Tim. "You're having those thoughts, aren't you? If only I had done this... If only I had done that... What kind of person am I to endanger an innocent life like this? To ask someone to sacrifice themselves everyday?" Tim nodded in response.

"Sham was an X-man of her own free will," Xi'an continued. "So was Tina. They made the choice to give their life for a dream of a better world. Quiver will have to accept that."

"He hates me," Tim stated bluntly.

"He is justified. But hate fades over time. Eventually, he will realize the same thing I'm telling you now. Sham's sacrifice, Tina's sacrifice, the deaths of everyone who's ever fought for something better and bigger than themselves, you have to honor it. In time, Quiver will realize that she saved him not so he could hate you, but so he can continue to fight for what she gave herself to. You have to do the same, Timothy. You have to fight for her now, you have to honor her sacrifice."

For a moment, there was a silence between them as Xi'an's words sunk in. The words were comforting, ultimately, Tim knew Xi'an was right.

Tim smiled. "Thanks, Xi'an."

"You are welcome, Tim."

Tim walked to a window as Xi'an headed back down the corridor. The sky was a deep morning amber, tinged with the dark blue of the fading night. A speckling of stars clung to the darkness, giving their twinkling light as they fade slowly. The sun sat on the horizon, a sliver of it poking up and spraying the city before it in color. In Halo City, a new day was dawning.

Hope you enjoyed this tale of x-citement. Did you like Gavin? I hope so because he's not going away. Catch X-men 2099 UG #1 in a few weeks for the beginning of a whole new volume of trouble for our merry mutants!