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Recap: Domino and Cable have figured out who assassinated Graydon Creed.
X-Factor is going through just as many changes as the X-Men need to and
everything is going downhill.
Part IV
All Scott Summers could do was stare at the twenty second segment of
Creed's assassination playing in a continuous loop for nearly three minutes.
He stood in the War Room, motionless, with his arms folded across his broad
chest. Clearly visible in the crowd was a mutant wearing a newly designed
black and red costume. His arms raised and a blast of plasma shot from the
red metallic wrist bands. Though the normally concentric circles were
missing from the mutant's power signature, Cyclops could not deny the fact
that his brother Alex Summers, was the assassin.
Only minutes ago, Scott's time spanning son, Cable, had barged into the
War Room with his second in command, Domino. He passed the enhanced video
reel which he had deciphered using the future technology he grew up with, to
his much younger father. The only present members of the X-Men were
Cyclops and Phoenix, when they arrived.
Scott turned to face his son. Behind him, the blinding burst from the
crowd just went off again.
"This confirms it. Havok's gone over the edge. He has to be taken down
before he can do any further damage to mutant relations then he's already
done," Cable said in his cold calculating voice.
"But Nate. He's like...He's your uncle," Domino replied, her voice
lacking conviction. She had not been told the extreme measure Cable meant to
take, when they discovered Havok on the footage.
Sensing the tension in the room, Jean attempted to suggest that the
tape could be wrong, but the four mutants couldn't deny the obvious evidence
in front of them. Cyclops was the most visibly shaken. They were all
confused on what actions to take and with the emotional and family ties to
Havok. Any course of action agaonst him was harder to decide on.
"Before we make our decision on what to do with Havok, I think our
first priority is to locate him," Jean said, strapping herself into the
computer links of Cerebro. Professor Xavier had created Cerebro with Shi'ar
technology and combined with the current most powerful telepath, it was the
greatest mutant tracking device in the world. There was only a rare
occurrence that Cerebro could not find any designated mutant.
"If Havok now possesses technology enabling him to cloak himself in
front of millions of eyewitnesses, he will not be easy to locate," Cable
said, helping Jean lower the oversized metal helmet on to her head.
The array of cables and metal pieces made up what resembled a suit of
armor with only the mouth and various sections of the users body visible. A
slight electric tingle spread throughout every nerve in Jean's body,
signaling that Cerebro was working. "Fortunately we have a good copy of
Havok's biosignature on file, which should help me in my search. Since we
have no idea of a general area to begin the search it will take some time
but don't worry. I will find Alex."
Taking that as their cue to leave, Cable and Domino left Cyclops alone
with his wife. Cyclops alternated between staring at the monitors, still
displaying the assassination to Jean's concentrating face. Cable returned
with Domino, fifteen minutes later, after grabbing a snack from the
refrigerator, to the same scene he had left.
Suddenly, Polaris, Havok's lover, ran into the War Room. "Scott I know
who Creed's killer is and I need your help," she exclaimed, falling into
Cyclops's arms sobbing.
"We know as well, Lorna. Have you told anyone else about your discovery?"
She broke away from his grasp. This was his brother they were talking
about and he still had that strictly business nature about him that
disgusted her. How could he be so cold? "No one. Not even Forge. The only
reason I know, is that you can't live with and love someone for so many
years without being able to recognize anything he does. Was it really him
Scott? His signature was different but somehow... I knew."
Tears welled down her eyes as she looked at the X-Men's leader. She
hadn't slept in nearly thirty six hours and it was beginning to show. Heavy
bags pulled at her eyes and her normal meticulous appearance was marred.
"We're going to have to-"
"I've found him," Jean yelled, breaking Cyclops' statement. A map of
the United States appeared and slowly zoomed in until the city of Boston
took up the entire screen. A red blip flashed in the approximate location
Havok was discovered. "He's in Harvard Square, in Boston, right now," she
exclaimed, hastily removing Cerebro's helmet, gauntlets and cables.
"Alright. We'll have to be discrete about this. Cable, you and I will
go in to get my brother. Hopefully seeing his family will help straighten
him out," Scott said, knowing full well it wouldn't based on their encounter
the other day on the passenger jet.
"Lorna, you'll have to stay here, since this mission will require more
stealth than a woman with green hair and the public image you have, can
provide. Harvard Square will be loaded with people that might recognize you
from photo opportunities with X-Factor. Cable can easily hide his appearance
with his powers," he added before Lorna could protest that Calble wouldn't
easily blend in.
"Nobody else needs to know about this, since we'll be keeping this
within the family. We'll try to take him down hard and fast. Hopefully we'll
be able to figure out what's wrong with Alex once we get him back here."
Lorna backed away from them, using her magnetic powers to hover over
the War Room's table. "No Scott. I still love Alex. There's no way you're
going to leave me out of this." Suddenly, the doors to the War Room flung
open and she rocketed through them, determined to fly the entire distance to
Boston as fast as she could.
"Jean, signal Bishop to prep the Blackbird. Cable and I have to get
there before she ruins everything. Who knows how he'll react if she starts a
direct confrontation.," Cyclops barked as he ran out of the room to prepare
to leave immediately. He mentally cursed. The race to find Havok had begun
and he was already starting behind.
Beast finished scribbling down the last of his notes on Joseph's theory
on Rogue. He highly doubted the success of it, but didn't want to express
his honest opinions. The pain it could cause Rogue in the event of a failure
might devastate her. The only way he was willing to put forth an effort was
if she knew all the consequences before hand and the chances of the
experiment working for greater then fifty percent.
Since the former Magneto had rejoined the team, his first membership
being when he led the New Mutants, he had been putting forth a tremendous
effort to fit in. Most of his teammates were concerned about a possible
facade Magneto might have erected but Hank was willing to give the man a
chance. That was Xavier's dream, was it not? All of the current members
hadn't walked on the side of angels their entire life. Anyone was capable of
changing, so why not Joseph?
Sitting in front of him was his forgotten experiment with the Legacy
Virus. Last night, after he had spoken with Joseph and begun to pack the
nonessentials of his lab, he had forgotten to continue his research.
Beast brushed a print out of his stool and slide it in front of the air
tight incubator. He did a cursory check of the materials inside. Nothing
looked disturbed and Wolverine's blood showed no obvious signs of
coagulation in the test tubes. The other container present housed blood
samples taken from an infected Revanche.
Unlike most viruses, the Legacy Virus only infected mutants, with the
only reported exception being Moira McTaggert. Beast's theory was that
Wolverine's healing factor might be able to counteract the progress of the
virus. Like all other viruses, the Legacy Virus infects it's host via the
DNA strands located in the nucleus of every cell. The virus carrier
penetrates the cell's membrane, locates the nucleus and inserts a copy of
its body directly onto a strand of DNA and tears out an equivalent portion
to maintain integrity. Then the carrier of the virus leaves the cell and
manages to replicate a new strand of the virus from components taken from
the body. When the cell divides, there are two infected cells, then four,
then eight, increasing exponentially.
Hank hoped Revanche's blood still contained the virus. Normally, unless
the virus traveled by air, if it was exposed to the natural elements it
died. He didn't think he was careless with the samples but he would hate to
postpone the experiment until they moved.
Beast sat on the stool and inserted his hands into the black rubber
gloves that were sealed to one wall of the incubator. He stretched his
fingers out to remove any creases that might develop in the gloves and
peered inside.
Though he was perfectly safe outside the chamber, Beast was
apprehensive about the experiment. As a mutant, any dealings with the Legacy
Virus should have this effect.
There were six test tubes of Logan's blood aligned neatly in a row with
varying degrees of white versus red blood cells. The white cells primarily
fight the infections. He doubted they would be effective against the virus
but hoped something in Logan's mutant ability would shine through. He
carefully removed the stoppers from each tube making sure they were
perfectly straight in their holder before he introduced the Legacy Virus.
Taking a deep breath, Hank unscrewed the titanium cylinder containing
Revanche's blood samples. A wire holder stuck out from the top. After gently
placing the lid down, he pulled out three test tubes of blood from the
cylinder by the wire holder and placed them next to Logan's.
The stopper came of the first sample from Revanche without a dramatic
hiss, pop, or gush of steam. He then poured it's contents into two of
Logan's samples. The two bloods mixed into a medium between the two. The
second and third followed just as smoothly.
Hank hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath the entire time he
was working. A slight dampness had formed along his brow from his racked
nerves. He brushed his forehead along the sleeve of his lab coat without
taking his hands out of the gloves.
He dropped the three empty test tubes along with the wire holder into
the titanium cylinder
All that's left is to stopper these and wait. Hopefully, I will see
some sort of result before Cyclops finds an new location for the mansion. He
methodically began inserting the rubber plugs on the open tops of the mixed
samples.
Hank considered the possible complications if this experiment proved to
work. If Logan's blood was able to counter the virus, how many mutants could
he possible provide a transfusion for. What if they too survived and
developed a healing-
"Ouch," Hank cried. While lost in thought, he had accidentally forced
the stopper beyond the breaking point of the glass test tube. Revanche and
Logan's serum stained the gloves and small shards of glass were scattered
around the knocked over specimens. As he rightened the rack, he noticed a
small tear in the thick rubber gloves. Beast jerked back his hands. A small
hairline cut ran along his finger and a thin trickle of blood oozed out. "Oh
my stars and garters," he exclaimed, nearly toppling over his desk in an
effort to find a sink to wash the cut out.
end Part IV
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