Subject: Brotherly Hate 8/10: A Tale of the AOA Date: Sun, 08 Sep 1996 03:48:31 +0000 From: Snowlock Organization: Corporate Communications Newsgroups: alt.comics.fan-fiction Hello AOA fans. If you're curious about the header, yes, it is now ten chapters instead of fourteen. Oh, nothing has been clipped out, just streamlined, is all. I have gotten many requests for reposts of this storyline. I attempted it once, but it really didn't work out too well. Anyway, it is really unnecessary to repost as it is soon to be archived on AOA Sunfire's Astonishing X Men page at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/6435 I'm not sure when it'll be up, but I'm told soon, so get over there and watch for it. Aside from the fanfics, it's a great page in it own right. Enough gibberish, on with the show: All characters are ripped off from Marvel and used without permission. Enjoy!! ____________________ Brotherly Hate, Chapter Eight "They are like ants on the carcus of a dead animal," Mikhail thinks as he strides the parapet of the wall which yesterday had seen the Genoshan magistrates' defense against the MLF. Below him, both inside and outside the walls of Kiev, human soldiers and Russian villagers pillage the dead soldiers of En Sabah Nur, taking weapons, armor, even their boots! Once the bodies are stripped they are carelessly tossed aside, as if they were never even people. Mikhail mutters under his breath: Insects! Parasites! Vengence will be reaped for your callous disregard for the sactity of your betters. I swear it. An all-too-familiar tug on his morning robe pulls Rasputin from his dark thoughts. Illyana: Mikhi? What are you looking at? Mikhail: Leave me alone, sister. Illyana: But Mikhi... Mikhail: LEAVE!! And Mikhail is alone once more. Hold! How did she get up there? And where is she now? Mikhail looks down from the wall and cannot see her. It is as if she just... disappeared? Mikhail: Hallucinations. I'm going mad. In the tent that serves as the MLF's command post, their leader, Prelate Cyclops, sits before the communication's terminal. On the screen before him is a rather hellish vissage, chalk white with black hair and gottee, and a red diamond in the center of his forehead. Cyclops: It is good to hear from you, sir. Sinister: I feel the same, Scott, but this is no social call. McCoy's work is done. The final tests on Scimitar have been completed and the program is about to go on-line. I will be there within the hour. Be ready. Cyclops: I will sir. Cyclops out. At the battle of the main gate yesterday, much blood was spilled. But the site of the battle is not the only place to see the crimson stain. Another place is in the personal quarters of Tony Stark's assistant, Simon Williams. All of yesterday and through most of the night, poor Simon has been almost delusional from the pain. His toilet and sink are filled with coughed-up blood. A doctor has come twice to see him, but the wounded from yesterday's battle have drawn him away. Now Simon is alone. Or is he? He looks down at his naked abdomen and watches as it pulsates and bulges, and his eyes roll back in his head. Barton: I meant that figuratively. Nightcrawler: What? Barton: Saying the "Mien Gott" thing again, it was figurative. Nightcrawler: Shut up for once, Barton. And give me my sword back. Nightcrawler cuts himself as Barton hands the sword back blade first, but the young mutant doesn't notice. He is still staring in awe at the sight before him. Though the light from the flare arrow is dim, the X Man can still see that the room they are in is cavernous. But the mere size of the chamber is hardly what has practically drawn the very breath from Nightcrawler's lungs. Instead, it is what are lining this chamber's walls, at least eight levels high and fading back into the darkness beyond the arrow's glow that has captured Kurt's attention. Baton: This is it, 'Crawler. This gotta be Scimitar. Nightcrawler only nods in agreement. "This has got to be Scimitar," Nightcrawler thinks as he stares in dreaded awe at the figures on the wall. Men, at least they once were, armoured in green plate, rest in neet rows, at least ten figures deep, as stoic as statues along the walls. Barton: Waddya think, what are they? Mutants? Robots? Nightcrawler: Whatever they are, they are... Infinite. It isn't very often when someone gets the drop on Weapon X, unfortunately, it has happened again. Cyber: Hiya, kiddies. Natalia: Cyber!! The much smaller infiltration party consisting only of Weapon X, Kraven, the Black Widow, and Gryich are halted in their tracks amid the muck and slime of the lower level of the prison by the prelate and his squad of mutants. These six are the remainder of the same party that hunted Barton yesterday: an older blond man in exquisite physical shape, who looks much like the Barbie Doll named Ken; a beautiful raven haired woman in fish-nets; a beastial mutant, who, had any of the Minsk party seen Spoor in Kiev yesterday, would have sworn this mutant to be his brother; and, at the heel of the prelate, a rather diminutive, pale figure, his name is Caliban, his specialty, tracking mutants. Caliban: Cyber, this is not the spoor we were tracking earlier! Cyber: Oh, they'll do for now, Cal. Logan, old bud, it seems your party's split up a bit! First we're trackin' the bowman, we follow him ta tha prison, then Cal picks up a second spoor, that bein' Romanova's, but she had a companion wid her. We're trackin' her pal's trail, which abruptly disappears in a janitor's closet. Then we pick up Romanova's again and she leads us to ya. Ain't we just the lucky ones. [Snikt!] Weapon X: Nope. Findin' us ain't all that lucky on yer part, bub. Cyber: Kill 'em. The two sides tense for attack and suddenly... Cyber: Hey, is it gettin' brighter in here? Kraven: What's that sound? A mere five floors below. Nightcrawler: All I ask is that from now on you just shut up!! Barton: I was just wondering how they were gonna get them things outta here! So sue me! The entire chamber, the entire prison, is literally coming apart at the seems. Walls are falling away, ceilings are falling in. It is not an earthquake, it is not an explosion, the chamber is simply... opening. The walls of the chamber swing outward, revealing the dawn's early light. This all started with Barton's question, then the flare arrow went out. Suddenly it started getting brighter in the chamber, at first almost imperceptibly, and then with rapid intensity. Then the walls moved... Nightcrawler: Look! Barton follows Darkholme's arm and sees the eyes, the many, many eyes, of the thousands, no, millions of green armored soldiers suddenly lighting up with automatonic life. Barton: Hooboy. Kiev. The wall. The X Man Colossus and the man who has been to him a member of the family for as long as he can remember, Alexi Vahzin, have returned to the wall that was the site of their most bitter battle yesterday to await this mornings coming attack. So far, the MLF has made no advances, though the are obviously preparing. Behind them, in the ranks of the Provisional Army, all is quiet. Colossus: Alexi, why are they not moving? Vahzin: What? You mean the Provisional Army? Why they do not attack? Colossus: Yes. There are almost a million men camped behind the MLF. Surely Apocalypse would use them as cannon fodder first. Why waste his mutant elite? Vahzin: I have never met anyone who claimed to know the mind of a madman. Colossus: Very true, I suppose. Still does it not seem... Oh, hello, tovarisch. Simon Williams: Hello Colossus. Colossus: What are you doing up here, Simon? I had heard you were ill. Surely your room is a much healthier place to be than what has proven to be the main target of the MLF. Simon: I-I don't know, Colossus. I just f-felt I had to be here. I was so sick in the room, and when I left, I started feeling better. The closer I got to this wall, the better I felt. Vahzin: Fresh air does a man good, now and then. Let him stay Nikoleivitch. He can watch his sentinal at work. Colossus: Okay, Alexi. Simon, please stay up here with us. Simon: T-thank you, Colossus. I shall. And suddenly, the little pain left in his abdomen is gone. Minsk. The frozen tablaeu of the Minsk infiltrators and Cyber and his men who discovered them is suddenly broken as cracks of light appear in what was thought to be solid stone. The walls move outward, the floor and ceiling cracks, and suddenly the dark blue of early morning is revealed. Roaring through holes in the floor comes row upon row of green-armored soldiers. The two groups shrink back momentarily in fear until they notice the cyborgs are oblivious to them, they just continue streaking into the morning sky. Black Widow: Scimitar. Cyber: What the heck's goin' on! Tessa, get me 'Demus! Tessa is a telepath, hers is the ability to reach out with her mind to contact other minds. Unfortunately, the mind she reaches out to must still live. Tessa: Prelate, I-I can't reach Nicodemus! Cyber: What! Impossible. Tessa: I'm not being blocked so that only can mean one other thing... Weapon X: He's dead. With that, Weapon X and his comrades attack. The Black Widow instantly leaps for the momentarily stunned telepath. A flash of a boot heal to a delicate chin and Tessa drops like a toupe' off a bald guy on a windy day. Gryich likes confusion. The more the better. "This outta do it," he says to himself as he jacks a round into a liberated grenade laucher. It is a smoke grenade. Chaos ensues. Cyber: Caliban! Caliban I can't see! Were's tha runt?!?! Unfortunately for Cyber, Caliban is well versed in the better part of valor, and he is soon out of ear-shot of his prelate, far up the corridor the way he earlier came. His senses heightened by jungle elixers, Kraven smells an opponent near at hand. His twin bowie knives are pulled from their sheathes behind his shoulders and he lashes out. His target is struck and Kraven draws back his blade; blood and... fur. With a gutteral snarl, the mutant called Hairbag smashes into the Cassock and knives go sprawling. Hands clamp over Kraven's already injured throat, he can't even scream as the bestial mutant sinks his fangs into the Hunter's shoulder. Weapon X: Gryich! Widow's dropped the chick. You handle Ken, I want Cyber. With senses even keener than those of the Russian's Weapon X knows exactly where Cyber is. The question is, does Cyber know where he is? Ken makes it a moot point. He and Weapon X have fought before, though neither of them are aware of it. They fought in another time, another place. In that other reality, Ken was an obese man, a member of the inner circle of the Hellfire Club, it's Black Bishop in fact. Ken's name is Harry Leland, and Leland has the power to to intensify his victims mass to the ultimate extent. When this point is reached, no construct of man, such as floors, can possibly hold the weight. When Leland turned his powers on Weapon X, in that lost reality, Logan fell through many floors, thus taking him out of the battle. It worked then... It works now. Weapon X: Yeeaaaargggghhh! First he falls to his knees, and then is gone. Through the smoke, Gryich sees his comrade's exit. Gryich: Huh oh. Gryich doesn't have much time to reflect on his team's loss of another member. Cyber has found him. A glittering metal hand, ending in needle sharp claws slash through Gryich's weapon. Cyber's other hand smashes into Gryich. He is hurled backward, at least a few ribs broken. As Cyber moves forward through the smoke to finish off this most pesky of humans, he is interrputed by a shadow sailing through the heavy air. The shadow's foot lashes out, slaming into the prelates face. Cyber: That you, Widow? Black Widow: You know my code-name? Cyber: I know lots'a things. Like, the fact you're gonna die! He charges, but Natasha is not there. She lands behind him, unloading her sub-machine gun into Cyber's back, but of course, his adamantium laced skin is more than proof against such a pedestrian attack. Cyber: Babe, ya gotta do better'n dat. He charges again, and catches the Widow as she attempts to leap out of the way. His claws dig deep into her calf muscle, tearing flesh, scraping bone, but Natalia manages to use her momentum to pull herself free. Ackwardly, but alive, she rolls backward into the gas cloud. The mere excerise of opening his eyes causes Gryich pain. Holding his ribs tightly by pressing his left arm against them, he pushes against the wall behind him, using the support to slowly, painfully, rise. Through the red haze of pain and the brown haze of his grenade, Gryich watches as the Widow attempts to dodge the inexorable Cyber. He sees the telepath lying unconcious not far from them, and the hairy mutant and Kraven locked in what looks like a bitter bloody struggle. Then his blood freezes. Gryich: Nooooooo! As Natalia wearily backs away from Cyber, crawling more often than walking, she fails to notice the mutant Weapon X dubbed Ken surrepticsiously sneeking up on her. Pure adrenaline flows into Gryich's battered body. He charges Ken, ignoring the pain, pushing himself beyond his limits, and finally, rushing past Cyber and the Widow, hurls himself between the Lt. Prelate and Natalia. He feels as if the weight of the world is upon his shoulders. In the next instant, this weight is on Ken's. Landing crossbody, Gryich's exagerated mass pushes them both to the ground, and then through the floor, then the next, and the next. Gryich is fighting the whole way down to stay on top of Ken, to use him as a cushion as they smash their way downward. After crashing through the fifth floor, Ken stops screaming. Apparently with the death of the mutant, his effect wears off. Gryich feels his weight return to where it should be. But, where the heck is he now? "Got ta get up ta find out, Hen," he thinks to himself. Gryich: Ohhh, I think a broke somethin'. He applies pressure on his left wrist as he tries rise, yelps in pain, and collapses again. Gryich: Yep. I broke somethin'. "Then let me help you, Mein Freud." A three fingered hand reaches out and pulls the shocked Gryich up by his battle harness. He nearly swoons from the pain the straps put on his smashed side. Still, he manages a shocked expression through his agony. Gryich: Nightcrawler! You're alive!! Voice: But not for much longer unless he's got a pretty good explanation. Gryich turns his aching neck: Logan? Weapon X: In the flesh. Another Voice: What's left of it. Weapon X: Very funny, Barton. Gryich is shocked and relieved to see his friends alive and whole. Gryich: W-we gotta get back up there, but how? Nightcrawler: That answer is all around you. Gryich looks up, straining his aching neck and takes in his surroundings. Gryich: Lemme guess... Weapon X: Lemme guess for ya... Scimitar. Nightcrawler: Ja, and it's been activated. Weapon X: Don't say another word, elf, until you tell us where the heck you been. Gryich: Yeah, Lucy, you got s'plaining to do. Barton: There ain't time for this! I'll youch for Kurt for now, and we'll explain everything later. Right now, we gotta get Natalia and Kraven and get our butts outta here. Weapon X: Fair 'nough... For now. Weapon X and Nightcrawler exchange an acid stare for a few moments before Nightcrawler looks away. And even as these words are spoken, the transformation of the prison is complete. What were once enclosing walls have now swung wide, revealing the cold winter morning. Row by row, the robots begin to lift off their platforms and into the sky. Nightcrawler: Grab on, I might be rested enough to teleport all of us. Barton: No way, Kurt. You ever teleported four people at once before. Nightcrawler: Well, no. Weapon X: Then ya ain't gonna do it. Nightcrawler: Then how else are we supposed to get up there, climb? Weapon X: If we have'ta. Or... He points to the rising columns of infinites. Gryich: Uh, guys? How about the elevator? Rather sheepishly, the two X Men follow the lead of the two humans into the nearby elevator. Five floor above, Natalia Romanova has come to the realization her life is about to end. Cyber: Ya got nowhere to run, babe. He's right. The smoke from Gryich's grenade has dissipated, and her cover is gone. As of now, she is crouched in the corner of where the coridor wall meets the exit to the stairwell. She is bruised and cut all over, her submachine gun is gone, her pistol empty. A cornered animal, the Black Widow brandishes her knife in front of her, awaiting Cyber's final play. Natalia: All of my life, demon, I have wanted nothing but that which would make my country a better place to live. I have committed many, many sins to achieve that goal, but I have never regretted anything... until I met you. The simple act of standing in the same room as you and your foul brethren have permanently stained my soul, nearly making me become what I most hate, a tyrant. If I die today, monster, know this, my beliefs, my ideals will live on. No matter how many people you terrorize and kill, the conscience of my people will never die. You can take my country, my life, but you can never take my freedom! Cyber: Nice speech; watch Braveheart much? The prelate charges and the Widow is instantly in motion; not away as Cyber figured, but directly forward, her knife a sliver bluring, slashing for his face. Cyber: Yearhhhh! The Widow's knife draws a ragged red line across the demon's cheek and through his left eye. Cyber: Wench! Now effectively blinded in his left eye, Cyber grabs her, for she knew the futility of trying to escape now, and holder her with one hand by the throat, rips the claws of his free hand through her abdomen. Widow: Ohhh! The force of the blow slams her against the wall where she slumps in a pool of her own blood. "That was a mistake, bub. The lady's a friend." Cyber whirls around to see Weapon X slowly advancing on him from the open doors of the elevator, claws out, but at his sides. Cyber shows his gore splattered fist to his long-time foe. Cyber: Blood is never a mistake, chump. Logan's adavance turns into a head-on charge, and the two adamantium gladiators slam into one another like two locomotives screaming on a collision course. Barton and Gryich run over to Natalia's position and Gryich searches for a pulse... Gryich: She's gone. Nightcrawler draws one of his swords and rushes into the bloody battle of Hairbag and Kraven, but before he can take his first swing at the agent of Apocalypse, Kraven raises a lacerated arm and slams his small boot knife into the beast one last time. Kraven: It is over. The hunter has faced much since coming to Minsk; ambush, the noose, a phyrric rescue, Nicodemus, and finally this half-man, half-beast. He will face no more. The hunter has killed his final prey. Silently, as Nightcrawler looks on, he slumps over the corpse of this minion of En Sabah Nur, and like his country will later on this same day... he dies. Barton: Company Comin'! Caliban has returned, and he has brought friends. A full squad of MLF guards howl down the corridor, rushing to the aid of their master's prelate. The far ahead of the pack are the same pair that almost electrocuted Barton yesterday. They are Northstar and Aurora, Canadian twins who along with the ability of flight, have the ability to control electrical current. On this day, neither one of them will get to employ their talents. In the blink of an eye, Nightcrawler teleports, apparently his rest in the bowels of the prison was indeed enough. He appears with a [bamf] on Aurora's back, his knee slamming into the base of her head, she drops like a rock. The X Man's forward momentum carries him through the air, and as the telepath Tessa struggles to rise, Kurt draws his swords, and as he falls, slices them through her neck. Her head rolls a bit before it stops, a shocked expression frozen on her face. Northstar swoops down to save his sister's unconscious form from a brutal crash-landing but he is undone. Hands a blur, Barton draws one of the last of his arrows back, the string of his bow indenting a crevice in his cheek before letting fly. The arrow, of course, strikes true, but it is a blunt headed arrow, a stun. Northstar drops as fast as his sister, but quite alive. Barton: S#$%! I grabbed the wrong one! Gryich: Well, that sucked. He hefts his grenade launcher and pumps a high-ex into the roof of the corridor above the charging MLF troops. The ceiling collapses, effectively cutting them off. Kurt: Good job, kameraden! That buys us some time. A shredded Weapon X slams into Nightcrawler’s back before the fuzzy mutant can dodge him. The remains of his prison garb are for the most part gone. In some places the gleeming adamantium of his bones shine through jagged holes in his skin. His healing factor, while quite potent, just cannot keep up with the amount of damage first Leland, and now Cyber inflicted. Cyber: Time's up. Cyber isn't in much better shape. His face is a lattice-work of criss-crossing slashes from Logan's claws One eye is just a bloody smear, thanks to the Widow, and the combined efforts of Gryich, Widow and Weapon X have reduced Cyber's battle uniform to ruin, the adamantium-sheathed skin revealed showing how ineffectual their attacks ultimately were. However, Weapon X's claws did puncture the prelate's armor in more than a few spots: With one hand, Cyber attempts to stop the blood flowing through a ragged hole in his side, and as he walks toward the last few survivors of the Minsk infiltrators, he does so with an obvious limp. Nightcrawler sheathes one sword, and teleports, the other blade still in his three fingered hand. He reappears directly behind the prelate, so close in fact, the length of the sword in his hand has teleported inside the prelate. Cyber: Arrgh! He bends over in pain and swats the X Man into the wall behind him in the same motion. With a groan he straigtens his back, and as his four enemies watch, grasps Nightcrawler's blade and draws in out. He holds it before him and snaps it in half. Cyber: Next. Weapon X struggles to his feet: B-Barton, Gryich, get outta here. I'll hold him. With that he takes two steps and falls to his knees. Cyber kicks him savagely in the face, snapping the X Man's neck back. If not for the adamantium in his spine, his neck would have surely been broken. As it is, he collapses in a heap before the prelate. Cyber: Come on, ya gotta do better than that! Barton: How's this? [thrumm!!] The bowman's last arrow seems to sing as it flys toward the prelate. It strike Cyber in his ruined eye, piercing his brain, and then... The arrow explodes. Of course the force of the explosion isn't enough to blow apart the prelate's skull, being as the skin encasing it is laced with adamantium, but the blast does pulp everything inside. Blood, bone fragments, and brain tissue flow out of adamantium-laced nose, eye sockets and ears. With a rasping gurgle, he falls over on his face; dead. Nightcrawler stands: Nice shot, Clint. Weapon X rises to his knees and elbows: N-nice shot, Clint. The bowman turns to his long time friend, anticipating the praise. Gryich: What? Don't look at me! That shot was cake, a monkey could'a done it. Nightcrawler: Well, what now? Weapon X is back on his feet, his heeling factor working over time to close his many wounds. Weapon X: Ain't nothin' more we can do here. Time ta get gone. Gryich: How? It don't seem Mikhail or that Gateway character know we're ready. Do we wait around? Weapon X: Nah. I think ol' Mikhail ain't been playing us straight. We find our own way home. Barton looks up and watches the armored forms of Scimitar streek into the air and away from the city in uniform columns. They are headed south, toward Kiev. Weapon X looks up, these cyborgs (and that is indeed what they are, mutant cyborgs, according to his senses), are travelling too rigidly, they must be slaved together. The mere fact a prelate was killed right under their green-plated noses must mean they are not yet aware of the X Men and their comrades. If that's the case... Barton: You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'? Weapon X: Yep. Nightcrawler smiles and shakes his head: You're nuts. I like it. Gryich is confused. He looks at each of the grinning faces of his comrades and then up to the infinites launching themselves into the air. Gryich: What? What are you guys plannin'? Wait a sec... That's crazy! We can't possibly... This room is the most heavily fortified place in all of Kiev. Lead and earth line the walls of this bunker. It was built at the height of the cold war, built for protection against a nuclear strike. For this place, burried deep under the ground, is the control center for Ukraine's nuclear arsenal. Computers line the walls, armed guards are on both sides of the door. It takes a special securtiy clearence to gain access to the lift down to the hidden bunker. Most of those with access are long dead. One remains. His name is Ivan Bezukhov, secretary of the Free World Conference. He has brought two visitors with him to this deep place, the injured Mandarin and delegate from the European High Council, Baron Von Strucker. Bezukhov: I am still not sure, comrades, that this is our best option. Mandarin: It is our only option, Petrovich. Yesterday, Apocalypse was but testing us. Today, his full fury will be raised against us. We may stand, we may not, but we cannot let these atomic weapons fall into his hands. Strucker: Even if that means we must launch them. Bezukhov: If there is a God, may he have mercy on us. Mandarin: Mercy is for the weak, Petrovich. We must act now, before it is too late. Bezukhov: Targets? Strucker: How many missles? Bezukhov: We have 100 ICBM's, all with MIRV's; a total of 1000 warheads. Mandarin: New York City is a must. If we can, we must chop the head off of this serpent. Strucker: Moscow as well. Bezukhov puts a gentle hand on the shoulder of the young technician seated before the targeting council. Bezukhov: Fifty missles along the American Eastern Seaboard, Washington DC, New York, Philidelphia, Boston, and any and all known nuclear sites in the U.S. not controled by the free government. Fifty missles for Mother Russia... Technician: Comrade General! Bezukhov: DO IT! Do as I say, comrade. Fifty missles targeting major military sites in the Soviet Union: Moscow, Vladviostok, Arkangel, Lenningrad, Stalingrad, and all military bases in the hands of Apocalypse, as well. Strucker: And Minsk. Bezukhov: But our allies... Mandarin: Sacrifices must be made, comrade. Besides, we have heard nothing from them. They are no doubt dead. A tear runs down Bezukhov's cheek: And Minsk.