Alternate X-Men #47                                                           
Michael Triggs at TRIGGS_M@bentley.edu

Cover: Darkned Icy Waters, with beer bottles and glass fragments floating
       on the surface... The distorted reflections of Mr. Sinister and
       Alex Summers are reflected from these glass fragments... In large
       distorted violet letters, "SHATTERED" ...

Title: Drowned In Spirits

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Prelude
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Somewhere in the American Southwest: An abandoned Industrial Plant, so it
looks from the outside.. Several Months ago, his earlier base of operations
was destroyed while he was away on business(*).. Now, he has been forced to
make due with what he has.. Sinister's slendered form makes his way up a
modified sloping ramp, to a higher level of the complex, which is rusting away
from disuse... He paces slowly, as if his legs carried some great weight upon
their shoulders...
   
He passes under a mess of wires, into an isolated chamber, where the sound
of moans can be heard... In the explosion, a majority of his work in the field
of genetics had been destroyed... And now he is paying the price for not having
it... A tiny curved beaker, about the size of a beach ball, is wired to a
technical attachment along the wall... A purple/grey ooze slops around on the
inside of this transparent orb.. Almost as if it were .. alive... A deepened
moaning...The ooze suddenly tries to take shape, almost becoming humanoid in
form, and suddenly loses its consistency, reverting back into slop again...

Sinister sighs..., motioning to speak:

Sinister (feeling the orb) : You were one of my most successful constructs,
George...

Sinister suddenly shatters the orb into a million pieces, sending the guck
spewing everywhere... He speaks in a tormented grumble:

"And now you're nothing but Goo!"

>From the side of Sinister, a feminine voice can be heard, scratchy from disuse

Voice : You... You killed him...

In a plexiglass chamber, the sleek form of Threnody is wired to several
devices, including a large "computer", which takes up a whole wall.. She hangs
there, above the surface, with a shocked look on her face, but surprisingly
motionless... Sinister turns quickly, pointing to her apparently withered
form...

Sinister: No! -You- killed him.. Thanks to your "heroics", you've doomed us
all... If I hadn't diverted some of your life into him, he would have died long
ago...

Threnody remains still inside the plexiglass chamber, completely devoid of
movement.. The shocked look remains on her face... Her mouth does not move,
but her voice crackles through an intercom system... As this happens, strands
of fine wire attached to diodes on her head light up with brilliant fuschia
light...

Threnody: I was only doing what was right...
          
Sinister turns his back on the motionless form of Threnody... He proceeds to
walk away... Upon reaching the portal leading into an adjacent chamber, he
mutters under his breath, in a low growl..

Sinister: If only right and wrong were that cut and dry... You're "right" is
going to be responsible for the death of the entire human population... What's
so right about that?

And one must ask what care Sinister has for the well-being of the human
population.. For years, the geneticist known as Nathaniel Essex has considered
humans to be merely a pawn - something to be used for personal gain... However,
the source of this care Sinister has for the human race is something not to be
revealed this day...

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END PRELUDE
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Scene: A Liquor Store in Brooklyn... People are running... What started as
your typical eccentric prohibitionist demonstration has escalated into a 
full-scale war... Well, sort of...

Marge O'Patrick, one of the principal protesters, has found herself the
subject of a very out-of-the-ordinary attempted assault... Thirty Seconds
ago, her volatile anti-prohibitionist rheotoric was broken up by a tall
fellow, who apparently vehemently disagreed with her position, to say the 
least.

Ruckus, a tall, lengthy fellow, who've we already met, leaps and bounds
straight at poor Marge, using the sonic vibrations he is able to generate to 
keep himself aloft. By the serious look in his eyes, one can tell he is a
man determined to put poor Marge out of commission...

Ruckus [leaping] : IN THE NAME OF ALL THE POOR, INNOCENT BEER BOTTLES YOU
HAVE SLAUGHTERED, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE MOST HORRIBLY!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ruckus suddenly stops in mid-air, for no apparent reason, about an armslength
from Marge, hovering in mid-air... He begins scratching his head... 
An intense humming sound emits from underneath him...

Ruckus [pondering out loud]: Oops... I'm no killer...

Marge sighs out loud, apparently relieved from her attacker's change of
heart... However, suddenly Ruckus gets all excited again, as a new thought
enters his head...

Ruckus : YES!! I know! How's this sound? IN THE NAME OF ALL THE POOR, 
INNOCENT BEER BOTTLES YOU HAVE SLAUGHTERED, YOU ARE GOING TO BE HURT
MOST HORRIBLY!!! (But Not Die.) MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ruckus [still hovering] : No, that doesn't sound right either...

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Meanwhile, as this is going on, a short unshaven brute and a comely red-head
watch from the distance... (If you haven't figured out yet, these two are
Logan and Jean Grey respectively.) Jean faces Logan, uttering something in
his direction, with the slightest hint of concern in her voice...

Jean <whispering to Logan> : Logan, shouldn't we help the poor lady??

Logan sighs, muttering a curse to some God which he never completely                        
believed in...

Logan : Do we -have- to? Would anyone notice if we didn't help her? She
hurts my ears...

Jean <thwapping Logan on the shoulder> : Unfortunately, one of the 
requirements of being a hero is helping everybody, even those people who
don't deserve it...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is suddenly a loud crashing sound in the background. Logan and Jean
each turn around, only to see the Marge's stout profile standing over the
form of Ruckus, who is apparently knocked silly... She holds the broken
remains of a picket sign in her forefingers, grasping it menacingly...
She shouts at the top of her lungs, banging the sign against the ground:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Logan : Superheroes who go by that creed don't last very long... Just ask
Lorna and Alex... Sides, it doesn't look like she needs our help afterall..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruckus <still shaken up> : (mOmMy?)

Marge <with clenched fist> : Bring on the rest of your RUM DEMONS, vile 
creature!! They shall fall just as you did!!! 

By now, 99% of the Protesters have left the premises... However, as luck
would have it, Marge's call for more "Rum Demons" is heard in the distance.
Marge still holds the torn remains of her picket sign clenched in her hand.
Suddenly, the sign -grows-, twisting and contorting in different directions.
Much to Marge's surprise, it turns into a tendril, wrapping around her...

The short, sleek form of Ramrod, runs onto the scene... The tendril seems
to follow the gestures of his hand... It wraps around Marge tightly, as she
screams at a high pitch...

Ramrod <motioning his hand> : Rucky not like killin', but I gots no prob wit 
it!

Suddenly, the tendril snaps in a million pieces... Marge lets out a large
breath, as her lungs begin to take in oxygen again...

Jean Grey stands there, hovering over Ramrod... Ramrod tries to get to his 
feet, in a clumsy effort...

Jean : Don't even bother...

The minute Ramrod stands up, Jean sends him slamming him through the liquor
store window... From inside the store, the dazed voice of Ramrod can be
heard, knocking bottles over left and right...

Ramrod <dazed> : Dios Mio... I'm in Heaven... El Cielo.. La Cerveza! BEER!

Marge's eye open wide. She suddenly becomes aware that Jean's feet are not
touching the ground...

Marge : Blessed Virgin! It's An Angel! God has finally sent in the shock
troopers to combat the evils of DEMON RUM!!

Jean is not quite sure what to say... Logan breaks in, running over to the
form of Ruckus, who hasn't fully recovered from the beating he took at the 
hands of Marge...

Logan : Hey, I recognize these guys... Sinister's goons... Big Question is...
What are they doing here?

Logan grabs Ruckus by the throat, sending two warped bone claws, right for
his throat... The razor sharp points lie within millimeters from Ruckus' 
neck...

Logan : Okay pretty boy... Spill your guts before I spill em for you...

Ruckus <still dazed> : Mommy, all my friends are here! Tommy, and Jon-Jon..

Logan lets Ruckus drop with a thud, pulling his claws back in...

Logan : Red, he's still knocked silly... Use your TP to find out what we need
to know... Red? Jean??

However, Logan's calls go unanswered... As Logan turns around, the gargantuan
form of Slab holds Jean grey tightly, blocking her mouth... A gruff growling
noise can be heard... Logan can see the source of this growling through the 
side of his eye... It is a large man-wolf... As he will learn, his name is
Hairbag, an appropriate name...

Hairbag <Leaping at Logan> : Sorry, sport, we need to borrow your babe...

Hairbag knocks Logan into the side of the establishment, gutting him with
him incredible ferocity... Logan, completely caught offguard, can hear
another feminine voice with a thick accent, speaking to him in the distance..
The dimunitive Thumbellina makes her presence known...

Thumbellina : Hey, guy, if you want to know what are plans are, why not
just ask one of us who is mentally functional? Here's the deal.. Sinister
sent us here to grab the red-head... And, we sort of got side-tracked on
a government-sponsored beer run... But then you and her go and show up at our
beer run... What a coincidence, eh? Ain't Life Wonderful?

Logan <a little shaken> : Why are you telling me all this?

Thumbellina <pacing back and forth> : Hey, you gots the right to know...
Besides, we're you're going... It's not like you're going to tell
anybody...

Logan : Where am -I- going?

With a fierce growl, Hairbag answers Logan, ripping out a sizeable portion
of his back...

Hairbag <shredding away> : TO HELL!!!

Logan shoves off, throwing him about four feet away... Hairbag lands with
a thud, wimpering a little bit...

Logan : You can't beat me! I'M THE BEST AT WHAT I DO!!

Thumbellina : -WERE- the best... Face it, you're getting old...
Hairbag is more than your match... Don't bother fighting him...

Logan suddenly runs at the shortened form of Thumbellina... 

Logan [To Thumbellina] : Why would I fight him when I can fight you?

Logan tackles Thumbellina to the ground, pinning her there...
Hairbag watches as Logan springs forward his claw, pointed directly at
Thumbellina... His ferocious roar diminishes to a low growl...
Logan faces Slab, who still holds Jean tightly, as well as Hairbag...

Logan <huffing> : Now, mates, you either let Red go, or your friend here
gets a free lobotomy...

Hairbag <much calmer now> : You - You wouldn't do that? Would you? What
about that superhero code of ethics?

Logan <edging the claw closer> : I'm no superhero. I never tried to be one.
I just try to do what's right, my friend... Even if it's wrong...

Slab widens his eyes in disbelief... In a fit of RAGE, his monstrous voice
speaks up:

Slab [burning mad] : IF YOU HARM ONE HAIR ON HER HEAD, SAY BUH-BYE TO THE
BABE!! I'LL CRUSH RED LIKE A GRAPE!

Logan <calmly> : I'm sure Sinister would like that...

Thumbellina : FORGET ABOUT ME! HE'D NEVER DO IT!

Slab stands undecisively...

Logan : TRY ME.

With a motion of his hand, his third claw pops, heading straight for 
Thumbellina... Slab can only watch with his mouth ajar... As soon as the
claw makes contact with Thumbellina's head, with a pop she disappears...
In a fit of despair, too grieved for words, Slab charges at Logan's from
one direction, dropping Jean to the ground... From the other direction, a
hyper-enraged Hairbag uses Logan's back as a carving block...

SLAB <screaming, growing larger in size> : You just wrote your own EPITATH!!

Logan : Yep, and I'm going to claw it in your forehead - IN BLOOD!

Wolverine unsheathes his claws, leaping at Slab's head, which is now about
the size of a buick... Suddenly, his claws retract for no apparent reason..
Logan, in mid-air re-unsheathes his claws... Only to have them retract 
again...

Logan :  What The $#$@#?

Logan grabs onto Slab's head, trying to find something to cling onto... With
a shake, Slab sends him flying...

Slab : So, The Rabid Dog's Been Declawed... I guess Sis Ain't as dead as I
thought she was... Musta got into Wolverine's claw mechanisms... Haw Haw..

Hairbag, waits for Wolverine to land on the ground, sending his left paw 
ripping through one of his lungs...

Hairbag : My claws are still working, sport... You're certainly a glutton
for punishment... First Declawed... Now let's go for DeCapitation...

A bold voice erupts from behind Hairbag.. 

Voice: I Think Not...

With a growl, Hairbag, stops, on the verge of turning around... There stands 
Jean, still a little bit shaken up... She is bending over on one knee for 
support... Suddenly Hairbag, by no force of his own, is sent flying into
a wall at high speeds...  But, for some reason, he suddenly stops in midair
short of hitting the wall, and is gently levitated down.. Jean looks 
a little perplexed:

Jean <Backing away from Hairbag> : Whu- Who did that?

A answer in turn comes from behind Jean Grey... A screechy, half-deep voice:

Voice: That .. would be me ..

Jean turns around, only to see Ruckus' slender form sat down on a crate,
with a brown bottle in his hand... He works at getting the cap off...

Ruckus: I really don't want to fight you, miss.. How's this.. Sit down here,
and enjoy a brew, and come along willingly, and nobody will get hurt...

Instantaneously, the bottle in Ruckus' hand shatters into a million pieces..
Ruckus flinches back, caught offguard... He looks at Jean, but doesn't have
a chance to see what she is doing, since poor Ruckus finds himself being 
levitated into the air... With a thud, Ruckus lands on his head...

Jean: You dare Threaten -me-? To do that, you must be either cocky, or as
stupid as you look... Why did he send you? This isn't like Sinister.. If
he wanted me bad enough, he'd surely come himself, instead of sending his
grunt squad...

Ruckus leaps into the air with a sonic hum... Much to her surprise, Jean
finds herself levitating into the air as well...

Ruckus: Welp, ole Sinny has been feeling under the weather lately.. That's
point one...

Suddenly, the humming noise becomes louder... It increases by the second,
until, it is almost deafening... The sonic boom begins to yield total 
destruction to the nearby area... People cover their ears in pain, as windows 
begin to shatter... Jean cannot keep the intense volume of the sound out of
her head... She presses her hands to her ears, to no avail... Her eardrums
pulsate rapidly and painfully, and .. then it suddenly stops... Jean 
plummets to the ground... The slender form of Ruckus stands, walking on air..
He motions to speak:

Ruckus [from above] : We're not a grunt squad... You're telekinetic: I'm
Psychotic! There's no contest between us... That's Point two..

Jean struggles to get back up to her feet, only to be stopped by wooden
tendrils, pinning her arms to her sides... The shorted form of Ramrod
drunkenly stumbles out from an alley, with a smile on his face... Who's to
know whether the smile is from the alcohol flowing through his system, or
the fact he has trapped Jean? The smile doesn't last for long, as he is 
impaled over the head with a large blunt instrument.. Ramrod is knocked 
silly, and falls flat on his face... Standing behind him is the stocky
form of Marge, the only prohibitionist who hasn't left yet...

Marge [swinging the beer bottle back and forth] : Ah, the only use for a
beer bottle... [She pats the thing against her palm brutally]

In a microsecond, the bottle is swiped from her hand with amazing speed...
Ruckus, his strawberry blonde hair falling into his face, reads the
label of the beer bottle...

Ruckus [skimming the label] : Holy Geez, good make... I'm gonna enjoy 
drinking this... [as an afterthought, to Jean] Oh yeah, if you don't come
willingly with us, I'm gonna kill off the old hag...

Jean struggles to free herself from Ramrod's tendrils, which have lost most
of their strength due to Ramrod's "injury".. Ruckus stands in front of  
Jean's partially bound form, holding the beer bottle in one hand, and 
grabbing poor Marge by the hair with the other hand...

Jean : You wouldn't do it! You're not a killer. I heard you say it..

Ruckus [still perusing over the label] : Well, I don't normally kill, but
I'm willing to make an exception for this old fart... Call it a religious
cause... And, trust me, I'm more than capable of killing... Remember 
POINT #2, or do I have to teach it to you again??

<SCCHHNNNNNKKKT> The sound of scraping echoes through the night air... Logan's
tattered voice, barely audible, speaks up, holding his right claw to Ruckus'
throat...

Logan: And here's point THREE... Tell me kid, do you want me to teach you
that???

The barely standing form of Wolverine brandishes his claws right into 
Ruckus' face... His grip on Marge breaks, and his grip on the beer bottle
loosens... Ruckus forces himself to speak...

Ruckus : Um, Slab? Hairbag? Helllllpp?

Logan <edging his right claw closer to Ruckus' face> : They booked, kid...
They didn't like my "Points Three"... They learned their lesson... Now,
do I have to teach you? OR will you learn by example?

A moment of silence, suddenly broken by the sound of an intense scream...

Ruckus <backing off> : Okay, okay, let's make a deal. If you let me go, I'll
let you keep half of the redhead. I have a chainsaw, so we could easily
saw her in half...

Logan <approaching closer> : Uh-Uh...

Ruckus : Okay, Okay, we're all rational people here. I'm sure we could work
on an agreement. 

Ruckus looks down at the beer bottle, sighing deeply...

Ruckus <muttering> : I'll even throw in the beer... Now that's a deal...

Logan <practically on top of Ruckus now> : You know what they say about jokers
who play poker, kid.. My Terms: I Get The Beer and All Of Red, You get your 
hide in one piece... Now, beat it..

Ruckus, who can now feel the fierce form of Logan breathing down his back,
wisely runs for an alley, lobbing the beer bottle at Logan, who catches it
with amazing precision... Ramrod, in a complete daze, from alcohol and
hard blows to the head, stumbles behind Ruckus into the alley...

Logan grabs the beer bottle, holding it in his hand, thumbing the top of 
the container gingerly. He hums quietly.. From the alleyway, there is an
intense flash of light... Logan takes note of this, and pries off the
bottle cap, which he tosses aside... He positions the beer bottle up 
to his mouth, commenting:

"Sheesh... Every villain amd his brother have one of those "teleportation"
 gizmos... "

Jean Grey, not distracted anymore, and recovering from the beating she
took from Ruckus, manages to use her telekinetics to break the wooden
tendrils holding her... Her clothing is ripped at places, from where the
wood rubbed tightly against her... She appears annoyed...

Jean Grey: You let them get away!?

Logan: Without Sinny, they're harmless, as they've shown. Besides, I 
wanted the beer. Well-Aged Make.

Marge walks up to Logan, grabbing the beer bottle out of his hand.

Marge: I'LL Take that... Nobody is going to drink demon rum, if I have anything
to do with it, and -certainly- not the beer we use as a prop during the 
demonstration! It would be blas-

Logan with lightning-quick reflexes, grabs the bottle back out of the
lady's hand.

Logan [Holding The Bottle Up] : It's not the drink itself that matters.
It's what you down it for. You can drink in good spirits, and in bad spirits.
Tonight, I'm drinking in Good Spirits.

Logan chugs the bottle down in one gulp.

Logan <slamming the bottle down>: I pity the fool who drinks in bad spirits. 
Alcohol can be your best friend or worst enemy...

Epilogue
--------

Scene: Brooklyn Bridge. Evening. A cool sea breeze drifts over the bridge. He
can feel it in the air. Alex Summers takes a chug from a beer bottle. Has he
stooped down this low? The thought passes through the back of his Mind. He does
it to drown out his worries. To make what he is about to do easier. Ah, he can
see the whole world from up on upper framework of the bridge. Perhaps it
wouldn't hurt if he waited a little bit longer before... He cuts his thoughts
off. Alex knows that if he doesn't do it know, he'll never do it. He is tired
of failing. Alex, a determined man, is not going to fail in this, since this
will end all of his failures for the rest of Eternity. Somewhere inside his
head, he whispers a silent prayer to God to take him on up, and forgive him for 
a life of broken promises and unfinished dreams...

And then, with a bound, he leaps off the upper supports of the bridge, his 
body plummeting to the water below...

[DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?]

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

