The Hotshot Limited Series
#4
by Ben Church bchurch@su.edu
Namor and Roma do not belong to me.
"If you'll both come with me," Namor said. "All will be made
clear."
"Uh sure." Will said. And followed Namor out of the chamber.
Becky followed close behind.
"Geez," she whispered to Will. "I'm actually walking behind
Namor!"
"You've also been kidnapped by Namor." Will answered. "Don't
forget that."
"I assure you," Namor said. "All will be explained. You are in
no danger here."
"You make a habit out of listening in on other people's
conversations Namor?" Will asked.
"Only when they concern me, Will Davidson, or should I call you,
Hotshot." he answered. "Aren't you a little young to be the cynical
hero? They're usually so much older."
"Yeah well, dying puts a lot of years on you. Besides, someone
has to be. And no, it's not Hotshot. Not anymore. Those days are
past."
"In more ways than you know Will Davidson." Namor said as they
entered a large room.
The room was filled with large machines, all thrumming in time
with one another. There were a few Atlanteans monitoring them, but in
the center of the room stood a woman Will did not recognize. Also in
the room were four people he recognized immediately.
"Holy-!" Zach shouted.
"You're alive!" Peter added. Will was bombarded with questions as
he greeted his old classmates. He'd expected to see June, Zach and
Jasmine there, but the presence of Peter Pan, better known as Damion
Forrest, previously of the X-Men was a complete surprise.
"Dude what the heck are you doin' here Forrest?"
"Ah, ah, ah," Peter said.
"Oh sorry, what the heck are you doin' here, _Pan_?"
"Same as you." Peter smiled.
"There is no time for this reunion." the woman said. "Time is of
the essence."
"Ah yes," Namor acknowledged. "My friends, this woman, is the
chief reason you are here. May I introduce, Roma, daughter of Merlin.
And hopefully, your savior."
"Roma?" Will said. "Seems to me I've heard of you. From my time
in the X-Men."
"If you read the X-Men's histories, then you have no doubt heard
my name before. My friends we have not much time, so I will be brief."
"Please do." Peter smiled.
"This world, is coming to an end." she said. When the gasps and
cries of "What?!" died down, she continued. "The fabric of time and
space has been drastically altered. In point of fact, Xavier's son
Legion has gone back in time to attempt to eliminate Magneto before he
could affect his father's dream of peaceful coexistence."
"That's crazy!" Will interrupted. "A time change like that could
destroy the whole universe!"
"Indeed it would have, if he had succeeded."
"Oh good."
"No Will Davidson," she corrected him. "Not good. For he missed,
and changed time even more drastically. He has eliminated Professor
Charles Xavier."
Of the six young men and women gathered in the room, only two
recognized the implications of that statement.
"He did what?!" Peter exclaimed.
"Please tell me you're shittin' me." Will said desperately.
"Would that I could Will Davidson. But the fact remains. This
timeline will shortly cease to exist."
Will was stunned. Had he just come back from the dead just to die
now? "Jesus Christ."
"Fortunately," Roma said. "With the combination of my magic, and
Atlantean technology, we have devised a way of preserving a little of
what we are.
"We have taken a boy from a dimension with no mutants, and given
him the powers of as many heroes as we could gain the DNA of. We have
also infused his mind with full knowledge of this world. In that way,
we shall be preserved.
"But in another way as well. I have located, and will soon open a
portal to the timeline created by the destruction of Xavier. We wish
to send you six, into that world, to bring whatever light you can, and
to spread the word of us. I wish we could have brought more, but we
are out of time."
"That's crazy!" Zach said. "Do you actually expect us to believe
that?"
"Believe it." Will said softly. "Like I said, the X-Men had
nothing but good things to say about her. In point of fact, she's the
reason they didn't die in Dallas."
"Yeah I wondered about that when I saw them on the news once."
Carrie. "`Aren't they dead?' I thought. Guess I remembered the story
from when I was a kid."
"So that's it?" Jasmine said, on the verge of panic. "We're gonna
die?"
"Maybe not." Becky said. "Roma just said, we could cross over."
"Might be better to die." Peter said, in a rare moment of
seriousness.
"What?" Zach said. "How bad could it be?"
"Pretty bad." Will said. "Me and Pan used to run with the X-Men.
Xavier has done more for the world than you will probably ever know.
Hell, more than I'll probably ever know. The point is, he formed the
X-Men. No Xavier, no X-Men. That means that any super villain could be
in charge. Magneto, Apocalypse, Sinister, hell even Doom. If we go,
we have to accept the fact that we may have escaped death here only to
die not too long from now." Will thought for a moment. "But I'm
willing to take that chance."
"Hell," Peter said. "Sounds like an adventure. I'm in."
Will and Peter looked at the rest. "Give us a minute." Zach said.
"You don't have a minute." Namor said. He switched on the
viewscreen. On it, appeared the moon, slowly turning to crystal.
Roma placed her hands on two electrodes, and with much electrical
and magical discharge, a portal opened.
Through it, Will could see a ruined city. He swallowed hard, and
walked towards it. "Anyone who's coming with me, let's go."
There was no further debate, Zach, Becky, Carrie, and Jasmine
followed Will and Peter. As Will walked, a tear rolled down his cheek.
His whole world was coming to an end behind him, he could hear the
crystallization process, and he quickened his step. Suddenly, the noise
stopped.
Will looked around him, and more tears flowed down his face.
"Well gang," he said, pointing to a large statue that had replaced the
Statue of Liberty. It was Apocalypse. "Welcome to the Age of
Apocalypse."
To be continued in Ghost Riders: Spirits of Vengeance, and then in
X-Tremes # 0!