X-Calibre - Return to Weapon X

Chapter One
“Silent Waiting”
[Sleep-Mode Off]

[Mastermold subroutine #65783 online: Possible threat detected]

[Registering seismographic activity on North Shore of Muir Island approximately two miles from Main Complex]

[Scanning coordinates with satellite surveillance. No visible threats detected]

[Action: More data required]

[Sleep-Mode On]

Muir Island
X-Calibre Headquarters: Danger Room

“Come on, comrade Darkholme! You’re not keeping up!” came the electric cry from the mutant known as Blitzkrieg. Kurt Darkholme, known more commonly as Nightcrawler, grumbled to himself even as he was using his amazing athleticism to evade anything that the aptly named Danger Room was throwing at them. The simulation at the moment was actually more of a test of the extent of their abilities than any real enemy and as such the Danger Room was testing them accordingly.

At another section of the room the fiery mutant known as Klaw was busy grappling with several synthesized machines that resembled Sentinels only in the very minimalistic way. Even now there was a litter of mechanical parts all around her and she was still moving. Claws came out and raked their way across the knee joint of a machine, she twisted her body even as she spun and her other hand dug into the cheek of another machine. The claws were torn free simultaneously in an impressive display of circuitry and sparks but she wasted no time in launching herself into the air to dodge an energy blast from yet another machine, “Cut the elf some slack, Blitz! He’s out of practice!” she yelled loudly, laughing in feral delight.

Blitzkrieg only shook his head and rocketed off again. His training session was not as simple as the others with his near limitless power in controlling lightning into blasts or speed. In fact, he was actually having an easy time of it until he heard Nightcrawler’s voice ring out, “Blitzkrieg! Look out!”

But it was too late for him to turn and dodge whatever attack it was that hit him but it wasn’t as surprising as he thought it would be. A jet of water plowed into him and knocked him from the sky, pummeling him to the ground where Klaw was busy grappling with three of her own mechanical problems. Blitz was decidedly upset as he got to his feet sputtering and also very confused but he didn’t have very much more time because now a new target had presented itself to the drones and they were moving to attack. Blitz smirked and raised his hands, ready to send a bolt from Heaven into the nearest drone. When nothing happened he was sufficiently surprised and was completely caught off-guard from the energy blast that sent him flying.

“Scheiße,” Nightcrawler swore. “Ungestümer Dummkopf!” He teleported and caught Blitz in midair, teleporting them back from the battle and onto the floor where it was dry. “Bleiben” was all the elf said before teleporting back into the action. Even without knowing what the German meant, Nightcrawler’s commanding tone was enough for Blitz to get the message. Nightcrawler teleported back to Klaw where she was facing off with the very last of the machines and was just about to take them out when the smell of brimstone overpowered her nostrils and there were three quick flashes of black and the next thing she knew the machines were lacking heads and had deactivated. She turned as the battle rage subsided and regarded Nightcrawler who was grinning at her and toying with one of the aforementioned heads.

“Ja, I think that this old man has a few more tricks to teach you?”

For two weeks now Wraith had isolated himself from the rest of X-Calibre. After their first mission he had hoped that they would begin to warm up to each other, and for the most part they did… to each other and not him.

He had known that his permanent invisibility would pose a problem to fraternizing with his other members, and even foolishly thought about leaving X-Calibre a few times. Chris pushed those thoughts out of his head, giving him and his teammates hope that they could freely interact together.

It was typically around this time of day, around noon, when he would wander the small-forested part of the island, taking silent solace in the quiet beauty, and meditated, per his Aikido training, by himself. Chris centered himself, clearing his mind to focus on deeper thoughts in his subconscious, and then fell over in pain.

He was scared, his own heartbeat thumping loudly in his head drowning out the voices he heard behind him. His legs burned, feeling like crushed glass were running through his blood as he overtaxed his muscles with the constant high intense stress. Somehow he willed his legs not to stop, to continue to run, but it all became moot in that dark and wet alley between two broken and crushed buildings as he tripped over a piece of broken cinder block and slid to a halt five feet away.

Pain seared through his face and hands where the skin was brush off from the friction of the concrete. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted off of the ground by two pairs of hands. When he lifted his weak head his blurry eyes didn’t have enough time to refocus from the concussion before the outline of a figure in front of him punched him hard, and into unconsciousness.

“ALAN!” The image felt like a warm knife was jammed into his head, and then twisted around a few times for good measure. Chris fought and waited for the pain to clear from his mind.

“Calm yourself,” he said to himself, “Focus on something other than the pain.”

The pain faded, and Chris pushed himself up, the leaves quietly rustled under the movement. I had a vision of my brother!

Chris moved around in a circle focusing his thoughts, Weapon X separated my brother and me after birth. I hardly remember him, but it could be possible we share a telepathic bond.

A twig cracked behind Chris snapped, interrupting his thought as he spun around to see that only a deer stood behind him. He let his thoughts slip as he marveled over the serene creature grazing in the meadow. Kross sure did go through a lot of detail shipping in deer. I wonder what else I can find.

Suddenly the deer stiffened, looked around, and galloped away. Chris mused that it somehow sensed he was there, until he felt the ground rumble violent enough to send Chris tumbling on his ass. He looked down at his feet then felt the sun disappear, and a shadow set over him like a blanket.

Looking up Wraith saw this walking mountain of a man roughly ten feet tall, and six feet wide and skin of solid granite standing directly in front of him. Is he looking down at me? He thought, as he stood and reached to his side to grab a foot long staff that telescoped out to its full five and a half feet length, with a simple twist on its activator.

Having absorbed the energy from his fall Wraith leapt to his feet and swung the bo at the man of rock. Unfortunately the blow had zero effect on the things skin, and sent a small vibration up Chris’s arms. Absorbing that energy, he refocused it onto his staff and swung again but the man of rock raised it’s gigantic hand, caught the staff, which looked like a toothpick, yanked it out of Wraith’s hand, swung it around and smacked Chris across the side of his head hard sending the mutant off his feet and slam into a tree.

Reaching out with his telepathic powers he desperately tried to contact the closest minds to him, and he yelled out, Help Me!

[Sleep-Mode Off]

[Mastermold subroutine #65783 online: Possible threat detected]

[Scanning coordinates with satellite surveillance. Detecting energy signature consistent with the mutant ‘Wraith’, and One unidentified mutant at scanned coordinates. Scans reveal cranial damage to Christopher Planes]

[Action: Alert Infirmary]

[Threat assessment of unidentified mutant: 100%]

[Action: Alert X-Calibre]

“I’m glad you could make it,” Jon said as he walked down a hallway of the old Sentinel Processing Plant, after escorting the new teammate from the hanger. “I wasn’t sure if you would have gotten the communiqué when I sent it.”
“Yeah, well there’s just enough of an Internet up to keep my computer connected. I never thought I’d hear from you again after you disappeared to Russia,” Jon’s friend Marcus DelSoro replied, and adjusted the small duffle bag that was strapped over his shoulder, “after we got our asses handed to us by the Madri.”

Guardian shrugged, at ease around his long time friend. “Well, things change. I trust the mini-jet found you well?”

“It took me a little while to make it to the spot you picked, but I just followed my instincts and got there in time to see the jet land. My symbiote has an uncanny sense of direction. The trip back here was fine, gave me a chance to read my ‘Lord of the Rings’ books again. After the Apocalypse good literature is very hard to come by, let alone seeing the original prints survive.”

Jon nodded in agreement. “Mastermold actually has a lot of books committed to memory, an electronic library if you will. Naturally there’s nothing after the 1970’s, but it’s very complete.” Jon looked at Marcus, “So how is your symbiote?”

“Not bad, I still get the occasional headache. She won’t ever get used to the harmonic implant Pierce put in my arm to prevent her from bonding directly to my DNA, and it’ll eventually irritate her to the point where I gotta share the pain to give her some relief.”

“Well, we do have a pretty state of the art Infirmary, with a top notch doctor… who could probably learn some bedside manner. I’m sure she’d love to take a look at your symbiote, maybe even come up with a way to relieve your headaches.”

Marcus grimaced. “The thought is appreciated, but you know we hate doctors…too much reminds us of Pierce. Not good.”

[Emergency Alert! An unidentified mutant is assaulting Wraith. Medical Assistance is required. Location two miles north of complex.] Mastermold’s voice echoed throughout the complex interrupting the mutant’s conversation.

Shortly after a voice cried out in Jon’s mind, Help Me! Guardian rushed out of the complex near the rocky shore, leaving Marcus alone and fending form himself. He flew up into the sky, and used the high vantage point to locate Wraith and the Unidentified. He saw also Visarge rushing to the forest and Guardian blew right past him in a blur of white and black.

No matter what Visarge was tired, he hadn’t slept right all night, and had finally gotten tired of lying around; tossing and turning in his bed. He quickly got dressed, not bothering with the armor, and walked into the mess hall. He didn’t even know what time it was, but he seemed to be the only one about. He walked into the deserted kitchen and began to make himself a feast. He was aware of some mutants who didn’t need food, and he was sorry for them. The smell of the rump steak began to fill his nostrils and a smile formed on his lips. His stomach proceeded to make a number of growls that he ignored on the basis that he was still boss of his own body.

Taking his time with the cooking Mathew began to wonder what was going on, usually he would see a couple of engineers or other members of the team pottering about but still no-one. Kross probably has them working to the bone. He decided to go to the briefing room to check on his hunch, after his steak though, certainly not before.

[Emergency Alert! An unidentified mutant is assaulting Wraith. Medical Assistance is required. Location two miles north of complex.] Mastermold’s voice echoed throughout the complex interrupting Visarge before he could even get the first piece cut out of his lunch.

Catching Mathew totally off guard, not only because he was the only one aware awake, but because the timing couldn’t have been any worse. That’s when a voice cried out in his head, and his instantly recognized it as Wraith’s, Help Me!

Visarge quickly pushed the bench back and ran out of the cafeteria door; his run soon became a sprint towards the main exit. Pushing his comm badge Mathew spoke hurriedly. “Visarge to X-Calibre. I am making my way to Wraith now,” by the time Mathew had made the transmission he had already armored up and had created a dense black cloud around him. Leaving the main exit he began to run up the small forest trail in front of him.

Over Visarge flew Guardian, who looked like a blur. Jon had already altered his contacts to infrared, and saw the gigantic man looming over a beaten Wraith. He flew at the unknown man, angry as hell, and the man mountain wouldn’t even know what hit him as Guardian rocked him with a solid punch. Guardian stopped and hovered above the ground as the man flew back about forty-five feet. The walking rock man’s body made a ditch as he hit the ground and slid; kicking up a lot of dirt.

Guardian flexed his hand, the bruises on his knuckles were already healing, and eyes started to glow a brilliant green. Visarge exited the forest seconds later and stood next to him with his own powers flaring with the blackest energy Jon had ever seen.

Turning to his side Visarge saw Guardian hovering a couple of feet above the ground. His eyes burning with a green fury as he stared at the man mountain before them. Looking down a couple of yards to the right lay the body of Wraith. Visarge stared ahead at the man who was picking himself out of the ditch Guardian had provided for him. Visarge made a mental note never to challenge Guardian to an arm wrestling contest.

*BAMF*

A flash of crimson and brimstone marked the entrance of their leader, Nightcrawler. “Was geschieht…” Kurt’s voice trailed off as he took a good look at the huge man of rock that slowly stood to his full proportions. “Gott im Himmel!”

“Kurt,” Visarge said, “Guardian and I will take care of this monster, you gotta get Wraith back to base!”

Darkholme nodded, and he rushed over to where Jon pointed, the flattened blades of grass told him exactly where to find the beaten mutant. Kurt wrapped his arms around Wraith, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone in a cloud of crimson.

*BAMF*

The man was now standing to his full height, with his feet oddly still in the ground, and what a sight it was. Actually calling him a man was a huge understatement; he seemed to be a walking block of granite. Mathew decided it was time to take up rock sculpture.

The man advanced on small group, a wide brimmed smile on his stony face. The blow that Guardian dealt him might have knocked him a good way but his natural rock skin seemed to have taken the punch without much damage. Visarge turned to Guardian, “We need to wear this walking cliff down a bit. You take the sky. I got the ground.” Guardian nodded his head and turned once more to face their adversary.

Placing both his feet firmly in the ground Visarge closed his eyes and drew upon the surrounding energy. A circular wave of darkness began to expand from Visarge’s location moving over the grass, plants trees; shriveling each as it passed. Visarge could feel the energy radiating through his body; the more ground the wave covered the more energy Visarge felt flow into him. The man mountain looked down as the ground grew black, chuckling to himself. He looked at Visarge, as he did large stone spikes appeared from his shoulders and around his arms obviously in the hugging mood Visarge imagined.

With astonishing speed he made a dash towards Visarge, at the same time a shimmering black figure burst from Visarge and it too began a head first dash towards the man mountain. Visarge merely stood still as his dark form surged forward, the stored energy being manifested in a shadowy double of Visarge himself. The double ran straight into the man mountain, as it did so the energy was released in a massive blast, which sent the man mountain flying into the air.

Visarge looked up at Guardian. “Tag! Your it!”

The man mountain obviously didn’t realize what hit him, but he recovered quickly. Guardian immediately followed it up with a nuclear burst from his hands and eyes. The burst was so powerful it engulfed the body of Granite. The man mountain was tossed farther away. Guardian chased him; preparing to hit him again until he was suddenly hit twice by stone spikes.

Guardian grabbed the leg of the man mountain and swung him so he was facing the earth, then he hit him with green atomic flame pushing him faster into the ground. The man mountain hit the earth with an impact that shook the ground. Guardian stopped himself just a couple feet off the ground. He took up position preparing for a counterattack. It never happened from the front, the hand came from the ground and grabbed Guardian by the ankle.

Visarge looked on as Guardian was attacked from the ground itself, two hands coming out from the forest floor and making a grab for Guardians feet. Visarge stood looking at the situation for a moment trying to find the weakness that he knew must be there somewhere. Staring down at the man mountains feet he noticed that they were almost totally submerged in the ground, his knees being the only things clear.

Holding his arms straight Visarge concentrated and black armor around his arms changed shape until where his hands had been only a second ago were now two massive black lances. “It’s the ground where he draws his power. Some how we must break his connection with it.”

With that Visarge stabbed the ground where he stood and channeled his powers through the lances. Almost like a path being built, a thick line of blackness almost five yards wide traveled over the ground, heading towards Guardian and the man mountain. Everything that the path touched seemed to shrivel and die, taking on a shinny black tint. Moving much quicker than did the wave that Visarge created before it soon engulfed the ground under the man mountain and started spreading out again.

“Guardian, don’t let yourself fall onto the ground whatever you do!”

But the walking block of granite would not let go of Jon, and he was tossed down into the black energy. Jon screamed out in pain, before quickly rolling away from the dark matter, but his mind pounded in pain and he would be down for a few minutes.

In the midst of the man mountains belly laughs he stopped abruptly and yelled with pain. Looking down he saw that his feet had been turned black along with the ground. It was almost like someone was draining the life from him, but at the same time he realized that his link with the living earth was becoming weaker.

Leaping from tree to tree somersaulting some thirty feet into the air, Stalker finally approached the battle. Taking a moment to see what was going on he noticed the monster screamed in pain, and confusion as a black energy slowly covered its legs. Quickly figuring out what to do, Marcus pointed his hands at the creature with his palms open. From the middle of his open hands came thick strands of webbing, but Marcus had to move closer to the being to cover him completely.

Stalker danced around one of the giant hands that took a swing at him, and the black energy that covered the ground. Unfortunately, he jumped a little to close to the mountain man, and barely made it over another swinging arm. Twisting in the air just out of the way, he shot a web at the hand taking hold as best he could, Stalker swung to a tree, and he spun and landed in the branches safely. “Jesus, if you didn’t want me tagging along, you coulda just said something.”

Looking down at the monster he quick smiled slyly as an idea popped into his head. Then he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Quickly, put him into the air again. I have an idea!”

Visarge was out of ideas, no matter what the team seemed to do this man mountain seemed unarmed, and even more jovial than before which was starting to annoy everyone. From the tree top canopy above him Visarge heard Stalker yell something about getting him back in the air. At that very same time a barely rejuvenated Guardian made a mad dash at the monster.

Guardian hit the man mountain with all his stored energy and a massive boom filled the area, from the solid blow. The force of the collision knocked Jon back, giving him a harsh reminder of the pounding in his head. The man mountain was, by some unknown force, still on his feet but for the first time since the battle started he seemed disorientated and unsure of what was going on. Visarge thought that if Stalkers plan was going to have any chance of working they were going to have to get this monster up into the air pretty quickly.

“Guardian, if I get him in the air get into a position below him where you will be able to maintain your energy blast...lets see if we can keep this guy off the ground.” Guardian, who was still in pain from having touched the black ground, nodding silently most likely trying to work out what Visarge had just yelled.

Visarge touched a near by tree, absorbing it’s life energy which made it whither and crumble before him. Pointing his finger at the man mountain’s feet he sent a burst of black energy below him. The burst exploded when it hit the normal matter of the ground, which sent an explosive shockwave shooting upwards into the air with the man mountain along with it.

“He’s up!” Visarge yelled.

Guardian swung around as the dark energy sent the stone man up into the air. Guardian followed it through with an uppercut to the things jaw, which sent him even higher into the air. He flew up quickly, and slammed into Granite’s chest.

Guardian turned his head and yelled, “Stalker, whatever you’re going to do, do it now!”

After watching the mountain man go up into the air Stalker quickly jumped into action and began to spin a huge spider web between three close trees, with the strands as thick, and as fast as he could. He pushed passed the stress he could feel on his symbiote, which was expending much of her mass in this action. “It’ll be alright baby, just hang on a little bit more,” he said under his breath.

After springing from tree to tree getting the web spun he nimbly jumped into the middle quickly reinforcing where the man mountain will land. “Let him drop!”

Stalker flipped off the web and landed on a tree branch; moving just as the mountain man landed in the web, which stretched out making a huge tearing noise. Then Stalker made three thick ropes attached to the corners, and yelled for anyone that can fly to get over him.

Jon flew down as Stalker threw ropes into the air, and he snatched them; pulling the big man in a blanket up into the air. He flew to the top of the atmosphere and stopped. Jon spun the sac around and got faster and faster until they both looked like a single spinning top. Guardian let the sac go and hurtled the sac into low orbit space, carrying Granite with it.

Guardian stayed up there until he was certain that Granite was incapacitated. He flew up into orbit, holding his breath, and grabbed the sac from orbit and began to descend towards the earth. The rock man was still out and did not move nor get stronger.

Guardian could see the team assembled; Visarge, Stalker, Blitzkrieg, Klaw and Nightcrawler were standing together watching as Guardian slowed down and stopped careful not to let this thing touch the earth it so desperately needed now to regain its strength.

“Well,” Guardian asked, “now what do we do to him?”

Visarge looked on as Guardian hovered holding the incapacitated form of the man mountain. “We will have to take him back to the complex.”

Stalker stepped forward and looked closely at the prone monster. “But what are we going to do when he wakes up. Can we hold him?” The group took a couple of steps back as the man mountain groaned in his sleep and fidgeted in the net.

“Allow me,” Visarge walked around the net so that he was standing beside the man mountains head. Placing his hands through the net and on the monsters temples he began to draw its life force. As the rest of the group watched they could see the man mountain stop moving in the net, the soft brown color of Mathew’s skin took on a much grayer tinge to it. “He will have trouble raising his eye lids now never mind his hands. He should prove no problem Guardian for the time being.”

Stalker moved over and laid a hand on Visarge’s shoulder. “Are you ok?”

Visarge turned round and smiled broadly. “Yes, I’m fine. Thank You. I’ll meet the rest of you back at the base.” Stalker looked into Visarge’s eyes, and he could see a black flame burning. Visarge turned towards the base; generating an immense cloud of darkness about himself he sprinted off with unusual speed.

The group looked at each other in concern, and confusion as Visarge walked away. “I’ll take him back to a cell. I’d bet there should be one suitable for what we need, there had to have been a mutant held here close enough to this one.” Jon said.

Klaw quickly thought, “Yes, there is. Mastermold will tell you where.”

Jon cocked his head, and began to move off. Stalker quickly jumped on the sac for a ride back to the complex.

“Mein Gott, this makes me mad,” Kurt spat through clenched teeth.

“What is the problem, Comrade Darkholme?” Blitzkrieg asked.

“We’re supposed to be a team, and not everybody was even here. This would have been a lot easier to handle if everybody was accounted for.”

Phenix followed where Kurt was going, “You mean Freezer Burn?”

The only confirmation of the squad leaders guess was the grim nod that came from the blue furred mutant before he disappeared in his signature teleportation trick.

*BAMF*

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