Alternate X-Men #45
Michael Triggs at TRIGGS_M@bentley.edu

Cover: Cover from X-Factor #71, as a yellow background shattered... Havok's
shadowed form hunched over in the foreground, next to a ragged flag with an "X"
on it... In Black Letters: "X-Factor 86ed"

Title: Factored Out

Scene: An Empty Mansion. Professor Charles Xavier wheels through the corridors,
deep in thought... Everybody else in the Mansion is elsewhere... Scott, Betsy,
Warren, Gambit and Rogue he had previously sent to the SouthWest, to examine
one of the more sporadic new mutant signatures detected by Cerebero, which had
been recently fixed by Forge after that Phalanx fiasco... Bobby, Ororo, Rahne,
and Jean are at the hospital with Lorna... That is where he should be, Charles
thinks... Here, one of his former students is at the brink of death from a
severe concussion to the head, and all he can do is sit around and mope...
Can anybody be more pathetic then that?

Professor Xavier stares out the window, noting the brooding figure of Bishop
keeping his watch near one of the interior gates... Somewhere in the back of
his mind, Xavier feels sympathy for Bishop... He doesn't know how to respond to
any of this... Watching people die must have been so common for him, it invokes
no emotion any more, Charles thinks... 

<fade to Bishop>

Bishop guards the inner gate... Something doesn't feel right... It suddenly
occurs to Bishop what this something is... He thinks of Polaris, he recalls the
death of Illyana... He shed no tears for any of them... The only thing he feels
is a inner sadness, caused by the very fact that he should be feeling something
for these people, and simply isn't...

<fade to Charles, back inside the mansion>

Charles thoughts pass like wildfire... He knew there would be risks... All his
students could be killed at any time whatsoever... He had lost them before...
But they died for a commonly shared dream, right? Charles tries to put a
thought out of his head, but it creeps up on him again: It wasn't their dream -
It was his dream, which he was shoving down their throats. Just a fluffy bit of
idealism... "Perhaps Cable was right all along..."

Charles doesn't realize it at the time, but his last sentence he said outloud,
only to pick up the attention of the third person left on the premises. With a
holographic burst, the form of Victor Creed pops into existence smack dab in
the middle of the room...

Creed: "Damn right, Chuck, yeh shoulda let him and his mob die... Let The
Robots kill off sonny boy and all the Friends of Humanity... Ever hear of
killing two birds with one stone? You kill two birds, you're all set...
Kill one bird, like that runt did, and you piss off people like me. Especially
if its my bird..."

Professor Xavier, a telepath of the highest calibre, was caught completely
offguard. To his surprise, holograms don't have thought patterns... Xavier
dryly listens to Creed's meaningless babbling.. And actually finds he
understand what Vic is saying... The concept of "The Insane Understanding The
Insane" passes through his head...

Xavier: "Victor, I had Forge set up that hologram system so that you would have
the increased illusion of mobility, with a minimum security risk.. NOT to let
you eavesdrop on people... What I gave can easily be taken away... If I had
let the Friends Of Humanity die, then it would have made me as bad as they
are... If you resort to the tactics of the enemy... "

Creed <cutting off Xavier> : "Yeah, I know, I know, 'you become the enemy'..
Damn repetitive cuss... This coming from a man who killed off somebody for
disagreeing with him... Ha, I love it... Picking on all of us for our crimes,
yet when you find crime sneakin in on you, you deny it...

Xavier [annoyed] : "This conversation is OVER!! Computer Halt HoloLink: Lock.."

Charles realizes that he has underestimated Victor. He may not be able to claw
him and his students from the outside in, but what's to stop him from tearing
them from the inside out. A thought passes through Charles' subconscious mind.
"Just What if Victor is Right??"

-A question not to be answered on this day-


Scene: A Dark Room. A Chair. Alex Summers sits idly, hardly moving. Waiting for
something to happen. The memories of the last twenty-four hours echo through
his mind. The assault, the sirens, the panic, the cameras. All the result of
one moment of instability on his part. He thinks of his brother. The Brilliant
Leader. The Lady's Man. A Wife. "What do I have?", Alex thinks. He thought he
had gotten out of his brother's shadow into the limelight. Now he realizes he
has sunken deeper into the shadow than he's ever been before. Scott will
remembered for his triumphs. What can Alex Summers be remembered for? 
Killing off some innocent human in most brutal fashion?

He listens to the voices, government rambling, coming from behind a door...
None of this should have happened... And he knows nothing will remain the
same... The heated voices raise to a clamor, and suddenly nothing but dead
silence can be heard...

What seems like an eternity later, the door opens, and out walks the tall,
well-dressed form of Forge. Alex, with some effort, speaks up...

Alex [questioning] : "Well, what is..."

Forge [cutting him off, in a very deep, emotionless voice] : "You aren't going
to speak. I don't want to hear what you have to say. I was able to keep you
from being charged."

<a pause>

Forge : "However, in exchange for this, -they- made some demands. You're off
X-Factor, effective immediately. You have 24 Hours to remove all your material
possessions from the X-Factor Townhouse. You are dismissed."

Alex <standing up> : "Forge, bu..."

Forge : "You are dismissed..."

Alex <shouting> : "You can't DO THIS!!"

Forge [in a mildly harsh tone]: "I can, and I will. You don't know the extent
of
what you've cost me, X-Factor, and the fates of mutants everywhere. Your 
little tantrum cost us big...

Forge stomps out, closing the door, leaving Alex alone in the room with his
thoughts. Forge may seem unnaturally angry, even for something as big as this,
however, he only told Alex the half of it... In order to save Alex's hide, he
had to give up everything... It took every last Brownie Point Alex had with
Forge in order for him to do what he did... And now there are simply none
left...

Scene: Washington DC... A meeting of the bigwigs... Dr. Valerie Cooper, Peter
Gyrich, and several other top brass sit around a table, listening to a
speaker... The speaker is surrounded in charts and graphs, and monitors
displaying video footage... He hurls around his wooden pointer as if it were a
weapon... Trevor Faulkman, a Sub-Head of SHIELD, knows how to please a crowd..

Gyrich [pointing to charts] : "The GOP Congress has been breathing down our
back
to cut down on profits, and I feel this is an ideal way to do so... It is
clear, as can be seen by the footage here, that this current X-Factor unit
isn't capable of handling the job. Of the original six members of X-Factor, one
of them has resigned, one of them was fired, one killed, one walked off
abruptly, and still another is just a minor. I suggest we trash the whole
program and start over. We have plenty of resources that could fill the same
niche as X-Factor did."

Valerie Cooper, more stressed out than usual, leaps to her feat. 

Val: "So, you're just going to fire a whole team because of the actions of one
person? Rahne may be a minor, but she has performed beyond the call of duty on
many occasions. Quicksilver did not -resign-, if you would be -oh- so kind to
check your notes, he is on reserve... Guido is not gone for good... And.."

Gyrich [Calmly thumbing his pencil] : "Well, one of them blew up like that, how
do we know another one wouldn't blow up?? I think the Sentinel Program would be
a much viable alternative..."

Val [irked] : "Oh, and The Sentinels -won't- blow up? They've done their fair
share of malfunctioning as well..."

Faulkman [tapping Val over the head with his pointer] : Ah, is this PMS or
something, or have you grown emotionally attached to X-Factor? Ah, you were a
liason to them at one point and time, so you're views might be a little bit
warped...

Val [steaming] : "Warped? I'll show you warped" <shoving pointer away>...

Val stomps angrily out of the room... <the door slams>

Faulkman [with a grin on his face] : Great, now that we've gotten rid of her,
we can get down to business. We have reason to believe that our mutant
specialist, Professor Charles Xavier, may be running some underground Mutant
Conspiracy of some sort... There is sufficient mutant evidence that he may be
housing up to three mutant convicts under his roof... 

Gyrich <puzzled> : "What does this have to do with X-Factor? You lost me."

With the touch of a button, Faulkman causes several colored monitors to light
up... The profiles of all X-Factor members flash across the screens. Faulkman
matter-of-factly speaks up:

"Of the current roster of X-Factor, three of them were students at
Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. We believe this school may be a front
for his illicit operations. Hence, this makes the current X-Factor membership
a security risk."

Gyrich : "As I've said, the Sentinel Program would be a much safer undertaking.
Afterall, how can you expect wolves to guard the chicken coop? It is a
perfectly rational idea, one which I feel is being downplayed here."

Faulkman: Yes, unfortunately, the ever so kind GOP Congress has us working on a
shoestring budget. They've cut our asset base considerably.

George, a governmental accountant, sitting in on the meeting, adds his two
cents, using the elaborate and structured, and often quite confusing language
of accountancy:

George [tapping away on his calculator] : Yeah, and we have no money too...

Gyrich [breaking his pencil in half] : "How does the government expect us to
operate without any money? They've already combined Project Wideawake, Mutant
Affairs, and Shield into one big mess of an agency... Now they're taking our
money?"

Faulkman: Well, I have some ideas... X-Factor was the right idea, just the
wrong people...

Words add up into sentences. Sentences become paragraphs. Paragraphs add up
until plans. But, whatever is being said in this room, is totally unknown to
the current members of X-Factor, who have other things on their minds...

<fade out>

<fade in hospital>

... if anything at all on their minds ... 

For right at the moment, Lorna Dane isn't thinking much of anything. She has
been in coma for the last 24 hours. Doctors have toiled and struggled to keep
her life signs stable. They nearly lost her. It took only a dropping of her
guard for a split second for the fatal blunt attack to the head to be made. If
she had been even remotely aware of what was going on, she could have easily
deflected it. To Lorna Dane, her magnetical powers operate as naturally as
breathing. Unfortunately, it's all possible to hold ones breath. She let her
guard down. For all the mutant that she is, she is only human, subject to human
shortcomings. And the doctors continue to work, desperately trying to save the
life of a young woman known as Lorna Dane...

Outside: A waiting room... Rahne Sinclair sits patiently in a chair... Any
tears that she could have possibly have cried have simply run out... She sits
brooding... She's always hated hospitals.. It seems every time she's been at
one, something bad has happened... 

A doctor walks out of the room passing by Rahne, who gingerly jumps up...

Rahne : "Is she gonna make ... ??"

Doctor [cutting her off] : "Out of the way child..."

The doctor runs over, grabbing some device, and hurries back into the room.
Rahne, seats herself back in the chair, doing her best to hold in her tears..

Robert Drake watches from a distance. He has always been able to identify with 
poor Rahne. The runt of the litter. The youngest. The ignored one.. He is 
afraid to try to comfort her.. He has screwed up at everything else, and knows
klod like him would just make matters worse... Drake feels like a fill-in... 
There was a point and time when he actually had a crush on Lorna Dane way back
when... However, he knows that somebody more worthy of her love should be here
in his place...

Rahne continues to sit. There is a shuffling from under her coat. A young cat
cuddles around Rahne's arm contently. Isn't it ironic that the pet of the man
who indirectly caused all this suffering could bring some relief from it?*
Now, all they can do is wait and hope for the best... 

(* Alternate X-Men #44 )

<fade out>


An Office: Forge's work area. A flood of papers are piled over his desk. Budget
Summary's, Bills, Waivers, typical governmental stuff. These are papers that
governmental agencies deal with all the time. However, there are two items on
the desk that look out of place. In a neat pile next a solar pile lamped rests
a large folder marked X-Factor Redesignation Plan. A confidential steal is
stamped delicately onto the cover. Lying next to this folder is another
paper.... A statement of resignation...
 
Interlude: An abandoned genetic lab in the Southwest. Maywest Genetics firm 
had run into economic problems about five years or so ago, and was forced to
shut down... However, the noise from within the compound in the form of
shattering glass hints that, tonight, the compound isn't as shut down as it
normally is. Through a window, a darkened form can be seen throwing beakers and
test tubes this way and that, as if he were looking for something... A muffled
scream of frustration hints that his search is unsuccesfull...

The dark cloaked form of a man called Sinister knows his time is short... 99%
of his work was destroyed... How could she have done it? He had brought her
back from nothingness, only to have her betray him in the worst way possible...
Of all his work, he wasn't even to scrape together a sample of himself to
create a clone, which puts all his future work in jeopardy... He can feel the
sickness spreading through him... The man named Sinister needs a new host body,
or all his delicately arranged plans will break like crystal...

Scene: X-Factor Townhouse... It is complete empty at the moment, except for the
grief-filled form of one man... His life is ruined... One poor decision killed
any hope for him... How could he ever think he was the same calibre leader as
his brother? First Jamie, now this... Alex Summers wants nothing more of
this... So far, his life story has been one tragedy after another... Perhaps,
he thinks, it is time to bring that story to a close? With a knapsack in one
hand, he walks out Townhouse Door onto the street, back into the Real World...
He knows he should go see Lorna, but he simply confront her like this... It is
more than he can bear... Somewhere in the back of his head he subconsciously
adds this to the list of mistakes that will doom him forever... And, then
breaking the silence, the door to the Townhouse, closing, leaving it empty...

Epilogue:

-
There is talk of a cycle... Every life has its ups and downs... As some people
are in the "up" stage, others will be in the "down" stage. We have witnessed
Alex entering a down stage, so is it only fair that another should experience
an "up"?
-

Scene: New York City

He stands on the Brooklyn Bridge, Motorcycle underneath him... Wolverine needed
time to lick his wounds, to confront what he was and what he became... Now a
new question passes through his head: "What will he turn out to be?"... The
answer to that question, he knows, lies in a discreet mansion in Westchester
County... He is finally home...

[To Be Continued]


 









