Alternate X-Men #44
Michael Triggs at TRIGGS_MICH@bentley.edu
-------------------

Title: I Am The Walrus: Koo Koo Ka Cho.

Cover: Havok, powered up in energy, on his knees, hands over face...
       Black background... Big Red Letters: "One Mistake Can Change The 
       Course Of History Instantanoeusly."  
       
Scene: A ready room. One visited many times before inside the X-Mansion. He
       stands facing a monitor, the profile of some construct reflecting off
       the screen onto his face. His name is Forge. Once a Government Agent,
       then a reluctant X-Man, he finds himself as a government agent again.
       How life sends you in circles. Around and Around, but never in quite
       the same way twice. He looks at the schematics derived from the 
       "Kamikaze Walrus" on television. An in-depth infrared probe gives him
       in detailed information on the automaton's interior. Forge stands 
       amazed. Once again, an old foe has come around again in a new package.

Forge: "This is amazing. Simply Amazing. The technology used in these
        Kamikaze Walruses is almost identical as that used in the 
        Sentinels. I'm glad you contacted me on this, Charles. Anything
        involving the Sentinels has the government written all over it.
        We've been successful keeping the Sentinel blueprints out of the
        hands of non-government agencies, for the most part, so I thought."

Charles: "Hopefully our combined X-Men, X-Factor forces should be able to
         dispose of these menaces."

Forge: "Unfortunately, I fear that may not be enough. Killing the branches of
       this tree only delays the problem. We need to nail this problem in the
       buds. Find whoever created these constructs, and destroy the 
       blueprints. These Walrus constructs seem are apparently being run
       by remote control. I should be able to find the frequency they are
       being run on, and track down the source..."

A sudden beeping noise comes from one of the communication arrays... Professor
Xavier wheels himself over to the array, picking up a speaker like device..

Charles: Yes?

Beast <through speaker> : Um, Chuck, not to sound to abysmal about this, but
we're getting our butts kicked. If you have anymore X-Men, I suggest
you send them down now... If this is somebody's idea of a cruel joke, I
suggest that person get a new sense of humor...

Charles: Try to hold them off as long as you can... Forge and I are working
         on an alternate solution to our little Kamikaze Walrus problem...

Beast : Okey-dokey, Prof...

<fade out on ready room, in on Central Park>

Scene: Central Park... A human superiority gathering has been broken up
       in a most unusual way... The gatherers scatter, as the stage is blazes
       in an inferno. The mutant known as the Beast dodges laser fire left
       and right. His "Blueness" is looking so blue today, thanks to a 
       holographic projection unit... Thanks to the brainless bigotry of 
       the people they are saving, Xavier thought it would be best they 
       didn't flaunt their mutant abilities anymore than they had too...
       Beast, loses his balance, tripping over a tree branch in an attempt
       to avoid the firepower of one of the Kamikaze Walruses...

The Kamikaze Walrus: Resistance is Futile. You will be assimilated.

A laser blast... Point Blank, aimed directly at Beast... No chance of missing.
Beast says his final prayers to a God who he never was sure that really 
existed... Only to find, the Kamikaze Walrus, miss?

Beast: How could you possibly miss me that close? You missed on purpuse...
You had to, but why? 

Beast scratches his head, standing his guard against the approaching form of 
the Kamikaze Walrus...

The Kamikaze Walrus: Nonsense! I missed fair and square! Why would I
purposely miss some inferior lifeform like you?? Kamikaze Walruses are the
way of the future!!! 

The Kamikaze Walrus prepares to fire, only to be met with a large rampant
stream of energy. The form of a man can be seen through the remains of
the Kamikaze Walrus. Havok stands tall and proud... 

Beast: Thanks for the save, compadre...

Havok: One down, one billion to go... No time to chat... I get paid for this.

The shouts of voices can be heard in the background....

Voices: See, he doesn't care about us... Those damn freaks only care about 
the almighty dollar... They're probably behind this blatant attack just so
they can make a quick buck...

More Voices: Kill The Freaks!

Havok lets it all fly in one ear and out the other. For years he has heard
the slander of this kind... It has always seemed as if it didn't phase him..
However, it has been building up, tearing at his heart...

Scene: Elsewhere in Central Park... Several metal constructs, colorfully
entitled Kamikaze Walruses, fly after the scattering people, strafing fire
everywhere... The people scream frantically... The Kamikaze Walruses also
make noise, of a different variety...

One Kamikaze Walrus: Nobody EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!! Our Chief 
Weapon is surprise! Surprise and Fear! Fear and Surprise!!!

Another Kamikaze Walrus: MWHAHAHAHA! I will drop you with a boot to the face!

A lovely form flies above the Kamikaze Walruses... Her name is Polaris...
You've probably heard of her before, but something looks different with
her today... Where once was green hair, blonde hair has taken its place...
She used to dread the days when she would go to the peroxide bottles to 
cover the natural green color of her hair... However, Forge suggested that
the more mutations that were kept hidden, the better, considering the
people they were trying to save hated exactly what they were... The 
Kamikaze Walruses, once flying straight, suddenly start bumping into each
other, the victims of Polaris's magnetic powers...

A Kamikaze Walrus: Ouch! I got a headache this big and it has Excedrin 
written all over it...

Polaris [puzzled] : For robots, you don't sound all that much robotic...

A Kamikaze Walrus: Don't be silly. We're robots! Just very smart robots who
know when we're superior to other folks, like you for example. Duh.

A loud MEOWing comes from one of the Kamikaze Walruses... A voice can be
heard coming from the background of the speaker hooked up to this Kamikaze
Walrus Unit:

Voice [very soft]: Milton... Get away from that Speaker...

Suddenly, several of the Kamikaze Walruses begin MEOWing in synchronicity..

Polaris : Are you guys having an identity crisis or something? Here, perhaps
a blow to the head will eliminate the problem.

Polaris uses her Magnetic Powers to send several of the Kamikaze Walruses
plummeting to the ground... The form of Storm can be seen in the background...

Storm: Rain, Wind, Hail!!!

Storm cares nothing about hiding the fact she is a mutant. She is proud of
what she is, and will not hide it from anybody. If the bigots on the ground
can't accept that a "mutie" is svaing their sorry butts, then they can die, 
for all she cares... A Kamikaze Walrus gets caught in Storms self-made
storm, fighting its way through it...

Kamikaze Walrus: Earth, Wind, And Fire!! Great band, huh?

The Walrus swoops in at Storm...

Kamikaze Walrus: Go Buh-Bye...
                
The form of the Kamikaze Walrus suddenly freezes up, in a sheet of ice...
>From the ground, the form of a de-iced Bobby Drake can be seen...

Bobby: One Walrus Popsicle coming up! Kids love it...

<fade out>

Scene: A burning stage... John Anderson is a Camera Man for a 
local television station out in Vermont... He was against the whole idea of
covering this ridiculous demonstration... Just another example of one group
stepping on the feet of another to get ratings, so he thought... He 
reluctantly agreed to take the assignment, fearing he may lose his job if
he declined... He never thought in a million years that he may lose his life
for agreeing... The camera supports have fallen on his legs, leaving him 
trapped..

Bishop, out of uniform, but fully armed, runs into the inferno.. In the time
era he came from, people could have been shot and killed just for holding
demonstrations of this nature... Now, ironically enough, he finds himself
trying to save the life of one of them...

<fade to a view of Bishop on a monitor>

Scene: Bishop can be seen on a monitor in a Government Agency of some sort...
Several Men, in police-like uniforms, chatter at a table in front of the
television... In the background, Bishop can be seen saving the man from the
inferno...

One Man: Is that the guy?

Another Man [munching on a doughnut]: Yep, that's the culprit. He created
quite a stir a few years ago... Killed several people... He was involved an
incident a few weeks back in New York city... Tearing things up in a fight 
with some other guy... 

One Man: You let him walk?

Another Man: Yep. I stand behind that decision. It was our first chance in a
long time that we'er able to get a good look at him... We didn't want him to
know we were on to him... 'Sides, we were able to dig up some mud on him..
He is currently taking up residence up in Westchester County with some rich
guy... We were planning to raid the place...

One Man: No, -you- will sit back... This is a job for us feds... This
nutcase has been walking around for too long... He is a danger to the
American population... We're putting this convict behind bars, along with
whoever has been giving shelter to him...

<fade out>

Scene: Another Section of Central Park... Polaris, Havok, and two Kamikaze
Walruses are battling it out...

Kamikaze Walrus #1: I am Walrus! Here me roar! <MEOW>

Polaris <sighing> : There is something strange going on here... Is it me,
hon, or do you feel like this is something "made for television"?

Havok: That's why they pay us the big bucks. To put up with this 
ridiculousness without asking questions.
 
Polaris, magnetically sends one of the Kamikaze Walruses flying at a tree,
knocking the tree over... A young child stands in the path of the falling
tree, as the damaged Kamikaze Walrus also threatens to fall in the same place.

Polaris [flying towards the child quickly] : : Oh, crud... Not one of my 
better moves...

In a blaze of energy, Havok destroys the Kamikaze Walrus before it hits the
ground, incinerating it to threads...

Kamikaze Walrus [upon destruction] : I'm falling <cough> and I can't get up!

Polaris grabs the child, but upon doing so, the second Kamikaze Walrus
flies towards Polaris from behind, causing her to lose her balance, leaving
her and the young child in the path of the falling tree... Suddenly, a flying
cat, in a burst of bubbles, shoots towards the tree, bouncing off it, 
knocking the tree over the other way... A voice can be heard in the 
background...

Voice: That's it Niels! You get him!

Polaris [with child in arms] : Thanks for the save, Mr... Flying Cat?      
Sheesh, I really need a vacation...

Havok: We just had one, remember?*

[Circa X-Factor #104   --Mike]

Polaris sends the Kamikaze Walrus flying into the air...

Polaris: You call -that- a vacation? Puhlease... Just one day of R&R
without any super-villains bugging me...

Niels, the bouncing cat, leaps back into his master's arms... He meows 
happily... His master, a blonde-haired teen, drops Niels, flying with the
same bubbly force as his cat at the Kamikaze Walrus. Speedball, as this
glittery superyouth calls himself, slams into the Kamikaze Walrus at high
speeds, knocking it at Havok.

Speedball [in motion] Fire away, dude!

Havok [to Polaris] : Sorry, no vacations anytime soon... With Guido up
and away over this whole Lila Cheney thing, we're undermanned as it is...

Havok blasts the Kamikaze Walrus from one side, with Speedball giving him
a "bubble bath" from the other... The Kamikaze Walrus goes to pieces, with
nothing but coughing noises coming from its internal speaker as it is
destroyed...

Speedball: Hm, I didn't know robotic walruses could get colds... Go Fig...
Oh well, I was -planning- to take Niels here for a walk through Central Park,  
but I guess I chose a bad day... 

Havok: Understatement of the Century...

Polaris: This is Central Park, for crying out loud! What did you expect?

Speedball [walking off, holding Niels]: Sorry Niels, it will have to wait
until later... Geez, so much for Central Park being a public place, this time
it was Robotic Walruses, last time it was alien headhunters from Antares III..
I miss Connecticutt, damn it! There, you only had these damn villains 
stealing your public parkland for their criminal activities -once a month-
at most... Sheesh... [voice fades off as Speedball walks away]...

<fade out>

Scene: Closer to the stage, which is now burning embers... Two young men
are being chased by a Kamikaze Walrus, which seems surprisingly silent from
before. No wisecracks of any kind can be heard coming from its speakers...
Nothing but a constant coughing... Hank McCoy leaps in front of the 
Mechanical Monstrosity, knocking it back with its feet, causing it to
slide over an icy area which appeared out of nowhere [thanks to Drake],
slamming it into a tree. Bishop opens fire on the Kamikaze Walrus, reducing
it to ashes... The explosion is overwhelming, throwing Bishop back by several 
yards... A sudden draft brings Bishop to a halt, landing him on his feet, 
courtesy of Storm... Beast, picks the two young men up, and with a single
bound, leaps them out of the way of the explosion... In an ideal world, the
men would have been grateful... Unfortunately, as McCoy has learned time and
time again, life isn't ideal:

Man : Put me down, you damn mutie freak! I could have taken care of myself...

Man #2: Yeah, he probably saved us just to give us that damn disease... 
        Thanks a lot...      
       
A depressed grin can be seen on McCoy's face... So much for trying to do a
good deed, he thinks... Whatever happened to judging somebody by his actions?
In a fit of frustration, uncommon for Hank, he throws the two men, down into
a large mud-filled puddle...

Beast: Your wish is my command, oh great ones...

He ignores the vulgar exclamations of the two down below... It's something
which he knows he shouldn't have done, but damn, he feels so good for doing
it... Perhaps the fall will knock some sense into them, and the mudbath
will give them a chance to think, McCoy thinks...

<fade out>

Scene: A Suburb... Your typical middle-class suburban neighborhood... This
neighborhood, however, is being visited by some non-typical visitors. A
car drives up a road, past several children playing in the streets. A
woman, red-haired and quite-attractive, drives the car. She really isn't
used to driving. If she wanted, she could get herself anywhere she wanted
to go merely by telekinetically lifting her person around. However, that
would have looked out of place in a setting like this. In the back seat,
a middle-aged man, with a Native American appearance, and several synthetic
body parts, fiddles with a device. A third party is in the car. A young
girl, in her middle teens, with short, red hair. She stares quietly out the
back window. Rahne did not join the other members of X-Factor, since her 
mutant ability may have been too noticeable in use. Forge, the Native American,
had her accompany him and Jean Grey, in case the tracking abilities of her 
Lupine form may come in handy. 

Forge [To Jean] :  Turn Right Here! The signal is coming from that house over
there!

The car pulls up to a tan-colored estate. Whoever lives here must have some
money... Forge hides the tracking device inside his jacket, leaping out of
the car, followed by Rahne and Jean.

Forge: Okay, let's do this by the book. Rahne, picking up anything.

Rahne's form shifts swiftly into a more lupine form. With the slightest hint
of a growl in her young voice, she speaks.

Rahne: Ah'm pickin up two scents. One human, the other nae human... 

Jean suddenly holds her hand to her head, as if she were suddenly hit off
the head with some large object. Forge comes to her aid.

Forge: What happened?

Jean: One of the people in there is in pain. Whoever it is, he's dying!

Forge quickly rams open the back door with his shoulder. The door, to his 
surprise, is unlocked, opening easily. There, at the table, sits an old man,
slumped over, holding some control in one hand, and a young cat in his lap.
The man has problems speaking, suffering from heavy coughing. He senses 
Forge's presence behind him, and motions for him to come forward, along with
Jean and Rahne. He holds a remote device in his hand, gently laying it on
the table.

Man: I supposed <cough> somebody would inevitably find me <cough>. I'll offer
you no resistance <cough>. Destroy the remote if you wish. <cough, cough>.
Once that is done, the Walruses will be powerless. I've proven what I sought 
out to prove. Now I'm ready to die, as I should have a long time ago... 
<cough>

Jean: And just what we're you trying to prove? 

Man: I grow tired of talking. <cough, cough> I know more about you than you
think. Your kind raised quite a stir in the government... You're a telepath.
Look inside me, and that'll tell you far more than words can...

<fade out>

Scene: Back at Central Park. Bishop is firing away at what appears to be
unlimited swarms of Kamikaze Walruses. Iceman, flies in and out of the
paths of these creatures, trying to distract them from the "innocent"
bystanders down below.

Iceman: There must be hundreds of these things! Can anybody imagine the
        size factory they must of needed to produce these things. I hope
        Forge is having better luck then we are...

Scene: Thoughts. Jean stands within the memories of an old man. She sees the
war he fought in voluntary, followed by the concentration camps he served in
involuntary. She witnesses the deaths that he witnessed through his eyes.
In the matter of a second, Jean Grey is sent through the entire life of
Carlton Winchester. From American Hero to Wartime Captive... Fate punished 
him by not allowing him a quick death during the Holocaust. Instead, he was
forced to watch all his friends and loved ones die time and again... After
years of this torture, he was saved... Then there was college, then graduate
school... Next, the government wanted him again, if they hadn't already
sucked him in, spitting him out during WWII... There was the Nimbus Project,
an early forerunner to the Sentinels, which he toiled on day and night for
several years... And then there was the Sentinel Project... He had been
coerced into working on it, when he should have long-since retired, through
the use of lies and exaggerations... "It will protect the Humans!" was what
he was told. "It will kill the mutants", he discovered, was its true purpose.
He saw the very bigotry displayed towards the mutants that he had seen shown
towards the Jews so many years before... Leaving the Sentinel Project in a 
fit of rage, the government came looking for him, since he knew too much. 
They never found him, and soon gave up looking, forgetting what he knew. But
he never forgot. For years Winchester worked on a way Sentinel Technology
could be used to endorse equality...

<Jean comes out of Winchester's mind>

Winchester: "And what better way to show how important equality is then to 
<cough, gag> show how silly superiority of any race is? The Kamikaze Walruses
could be anyone. Humans, Mutants, Aryans... Anybody who feels they are better
than the rest... We all are Kamikaze Walruses in some way or another, and if
someday we learn that, and try to do something about it, then there may be
hope for this world yet...

With a final breath, Winchester dies... Forge, Jean Grey, and Rahne stand
silent. They were under the impression that they were going to teach some
Bigoted Supremacist a lesson. Little did they know that it was they who
would end up learning something...

That concludes this story, or does it?

Epilogue:

Central Park. They stand over the fallen rubble of the Kamikaze Walruses.
However, the combined forces of X-Factor and X-Men can't take credit for
this. The Kamikaze Walruses just stopped. Drake kicks one of the Metallic
Constructs with a loud klank.

Iceman: Geez Louise, Methinks their warranty ran out or something.

Beast: Not so, pal... Chuck just buzzed me... Forge and Co. managed to
zap the source of this sideshow act... Not much of a fight either...

Iceman: Aw, I never get put on the easy missions... It's not fair! I mean,
you X-Factor people get paid to do this stuff, but I don't.

Polaris [grinning]: Hey, you can always become an accountant. They get paid
the big bucks...

The sound of our heroes is drowned out by another sound... Dissent... So much
for the Friends Of Humanity being grateful... With the obvious threat gone,
they begin coming out of the woodworks...

Elsewhere:

He's had a real bad day. "My bid for the presidency, reduced to a mockery.
The stage ruined." Greydon Creed spouts his frustration at a local aid.
Jeremiah Dubbs has been a firm supporter of the Friends Of Humanity since
his college days. The other college students didn't accept him for his
beliefs. However, to Creed, the young man was like a younger version of him.

Jeremy: Perhaps there is some way we can put a positive slant on all of this.
I mean... We have the footage... 

Creed: No, even the best Spin Doctors couldn't twist this the way we wanted 
it twisted...

But, as always, fate has a habit of shining hope down on the least deserving
of people...

Back To The X-Men:
------------------

They stand casually, chatting... Bishop, Polaris, Havok, Iceman, Storm, and
Beast are relaxing in Central Park, after being put through a tiring struggle.
Unfortunately, unknown to them this is a long way from over. Polaris chats
with Iceman. Havok watches from a distance. He ponders as to whether he
deserving of owning the love of someone as beautiful as Lorna. At any time,
she could have left him for somebody else. Yet, she has remained faithful
to him. Why? Havok can't figure it out in his head why somebody who could
have any man as her own would stick with a nobody like him.

And, as always, fate has a habit of punishing those least deserving of it:
Within the period of a second, a large glass bottle comes slamming over the 
back of Polaris's head. Polaris, as powerful as she may be, is only human.
She let her guard down. Now, she lies face down. Havok can only watch 
speechless. There stands her assailant, a large bearded man, poised to strike
again. His words are irrelevant. Havok has heard them too many times before.

However, this time, they are more than he can bear. His thoughts flow like
wildfire. Ungrateful Cretins. He sees the sight of Lorna in a pool of blood.
He sees the faces of the others ready to act. He remembers all the bitter
names. All the slurs. So much for being a Good Samaritan. He remembers the
first time he met Lorna. The instant spark that formed between them. 

It is too much for him to bear. All the anger that had been buried far
below the surface of Havok suddenly comes out in a single act of rage,
one that will change his life forever.

Havok steams, literally, glowing brighter and brighter. The lump in his 
throat breaks, and he cries.

"MURDERER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

His body, searing hot, unleashes its raw energy in a dazzling stream. We're
once stood a bigoted bearded man, now only stands a pile of molten slab.


"One single action can change the course of history forever."

[TO BE CONTINUED!!!]













       

