Subject: [OTL]: [Generation X/Thunderbolts] Next Best Thing, Interlude II Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 12:50:21 -0500 From: Jim Smith IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: As some of you may have noticed, the Thunderbolts Fan Fiction Archive is down, as well as my companion site for Avengers fanfic (and several other sites on the same host that I really liked.) You've probably also noticed that I haven't done jack crap about it. Well, I'm sick of the hassles of free web hosting, but my budget's been too tight to start paying for real quality. In other words, the archive will be back, but don't hold your breath. Until then, you can still find some T-bolts fanfic on these lovely archives: Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel Comics, and no profit is being made from this unauthorized usage of them. Copyright of me, baby. Feedback encouraged, and paid for on occasion. This story diverges from Marvel canon after the events of THUNDERBOLTS #29 and GENERATION X #54. And, although it took for-friggin-ever to finish, this one's for Mandy. *** Snow Valley. Throughout his young life, Tristan Braun had been moved from private school to private school, and had become desensitized to the changes that came with each new campus. The Massachusetts Academy was no different, except for the It's primary purpose was to educate and train teenage mutants to use their powers for the benefit of society. That information gave him an insider relationship with the school's "Generation X." It put him at a considerable advantage to win friends and influence people. And it made him good bait. "Ahh...awake, are we?" As the speaker came into view, Tristan looked to see if he recognized his captor. That possibility quickly fizzled; the creature staring back at him had deep red eyes and thick grey skin. The respirator hose attached to its face made Tristan wonder if he'd been abducted by some sort of satanic elephant. He should have known Generation X would have enemies. This had to be the worst of them all. "You'll notice the gag," the thing continued, gesturing to Tristan's mouth. "I won't sugar-coat it for a smart boy like you--that's to stifle your screams." He scraped an inhuman claw across the boy's body, breaking the skin and piercing the abdominal wall. As promised, Tristan's reaction was muffled. "So to answer the question you can't ask, my name is Emplate. What's an 'emplate?' Excellent question!" He held up his freakish hand, revealing a small, ravenous mouth on the palm. Before a look of shock could fully form over Tristan's face, Emplate thrust his hand onto the boy's forehead. "An emplate is when I do _this_ to a mutant, and sup upon the genetic patterns that give them their powers...then those powers become my own. "Of course, feeding on an ordinary human such as you doesn't accomplish much," he went on as he wiped the blood from his hand. "It's those morsels at the school that I want. Fortunately, you've become quite the little friend of those children, haven't you? I'm sure they'll come straight to me once they find you." Tristan winced and struggled as he felt Emplate's claws slash down his sides. "All I have to do is make sure they know who did this to you, an--" The silence was sudden. Tristan raised his head weakly to see what had happened, and found himself alone in the room. The only signs Emplate had ever been present were the bite marks on his forehead and the deep lacerations on his torso. The slashes were made in the form of an "M"--the significance was lost on Tristan. As he watched the blood trickle down into his eyes, he knew he would die here... *** NEXT BEST THING Interlude II -- Harvester of Sorrows by Jim Smith *** Madison Avenue. The last time Hallie Takahama had been here, she had been a member of the New York's newest superhero team, patrolling the city with pride as "Jolt." That was before she and the rest of the world learned that her teammates, the Thunderbolts, were secretly criminals bent on global domination. Hallie had been a fugitive ever since then, helping the Thunderbolts evade the law while she inspired them to redeem themselves. Months later, the team was back in Manhattan, still hated and feared by the city they tried to swindle. As far as Jolt was concerned, nothing had changed--she didn't have anything to do with the Thunderbolts' bad reputation, and the city wasn't going to patrol itself. Accompanying Jolt was Charcoal, a newer member of the team who hadn't been around for the Thunderbolts' New York days. When Charlie Burlingame wasn't a hulking mass of coal, he was an amicable young man around Jolt's age, which made him something of a confidant to Hallie. It wasn't always a fun position to be in. "I don't understand why this is so important to you," he commented. "That's because you didn't join the T-bolts until Hawkeye took over the group," Jolt reasoned. "Back when we were running around here, I was treated like an adult, Charlie. Sure, I don't miss Baron Zemo, and I'm glad the others turned against him, but they never made me go to school or kept me out of missions..." Charcoal rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't like it either, Hallie, but the 'mission' is to get information out of the Hellfire Club.* We aren't even old enough to drink, so how could we sneak into a place like that with the others?" [* As seen in Chapters 10-11.] "What makes you think we couldn't?" Hallie snapped back. "Aw, geez..." Charlie searched for a delicate way to put it and failed. "It's a giant sex party, that's why! Archangel told us all about it, remember?" "Archangel," Jolt muttered, considering the newest member of the team. "He's about as bad as Hawkeye--just because he knows so much about the Hellfire Club he thinks he can call all the shots..." "Well, he knows enough about the freaky stuff the Hellfire Club does to say it's too much for him..." Her bioelectric powers flared into a red glow beneath her goggles. "Well...maybe I'm too much for Archangel, you ever think of that?!" Charlie blinked. "Hal--he's gotta be almost _thirty_..." "I _know_ that, you dope!" She slugged his arm. "But I'm not some little kid. Don't _you_ think I could pass for some socialite?" He blinked again. "I...uh...it's just that we've got Moonstone and Songbird to do that stuff..." "Oh, _sure_ we do. C'mon, Charlie--if you had your pick, would you go with Karla, Melissa, or me?" One more blink, with feeling. "...the _hell_?" Charcoal had spent months doing grunt work for a underground militia group before he abandoned them to try his luck with the Thunderbolts. Now he was starting to think he'd made the wrong choice. "Wait a minute..." Jolt instructed. There were sounds coming from the alley below them, like someone rummaging through the trash cans and dumpsters. The two Thunderbolts looked over the side of the building and discovered a large figure heading for the shadows, swinging a large pipe at everything in his path. "That guy looks like trouble. Let's go, Charlie!" With superhuman speed and agility, Jolt fearlessly dove over the edge. Charcoal followed after her--after a brief pause to thank heaven for the interruption. *** 42nd Street. Sean Cassidy was having kittens. "Ach, I cannae take n'more, Cap'n! I can feel her wee fuzzy head comin' through! Faith! She's after me lucky charms, but I'm the richest duck in Duckberg! Commiss'ner Gordon, surely ye should be callin' the Dynamic Duo!" The haphazard thoughts came barreling out of the mind of Jubilee, one of the mutant students entrusted to Cassidy in Generation X. Jubilee's other instructor, Emma Frost, couldn't help but "overhear" the girl's graphic imagination; like the students, the teachers of Generation X were born with genes that gave them incredible mutant powers, such as telepathy. More to the point, Frost knew it would be her fault if this daydream came to life. Cassidy had only been in San Francisco for a week, and in that time Generation X had run off into two life-threatening escapades.* [* The other one happened in GENERATION X #53-54.] "Geez, anybody who thinks mutants are weird hasn't been to Grand Central Station," Jubilee mused as the mutants left the terminal. "Is that why nobody's noticed us in these kooky costumes, or did you put the mind-whammy on 'em, Ms. Frost? Hel-lo? Ms. Frost?" "If you'd think for half a second," Monet St. Croix snapped at Jubilee, "you'd realize that Ms. Frost has to concentrate to make everyone ignore us." M was wrong, Frost considered--it was child's play for one of her talent--but at least the children wouldn't question her distraction. Another student was dead, another reminder of the tragic fate of the Hellions. Arguably, Tristan Braun wasn't even her direct responsibility--since her sister Adrienne took over the Massachusetts Academy, Emma's only obligation was to Generation X--but Tristan's murder was a painful reminder of her original students. As the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Frost had previously used the Academy to train the Hellions to serve the ends of her associates. It was that tie with the Club--and with Frost herself--that led Trevor Fitzroy to kill them all.* [* UNCANNY X-MEN #281-282.] Emma Frost had never forgiven herself for the Hellions' deaths; she was therefore determined to keep her current students--Jubilee, Synch, Husk, M, Chamber, and Skin--from meeting the same fate. She'd been furious when Adrienne allowed the children to run off on a "field trip" to Madripoor. Emma put her foot down: There wouldn't be any more traipsing off into such dangerous corners of the world. And yet here they were, only days later, searching for their most dangerous foe in the heart of New York. "I'd expected a clear trail for us to follow, given Emplate's lack of subtlety with Tristan," Monet went on, changing the subject to their objective. "But there's no pattern to the murders--just a scattered array of incidents around the Lower West Side." They'd learned about the crimes on the news back in Snow Valley--reports of ritualistic slayings in Manhattan, and wounds in the shape of bite marks. It was around that time, Emma recalled, that Tristan Braun's body was discovered. Only Generation X could be sure who was responsible, because of the message carved into Tristan--"M" for "Monet." It was personal for M, Frost noted, less because of any friendship with Tristan than her relationship with Emplate. For all of the girl's physical and mental perfection, Monet was just another girl who kept getting picked on by her big brother. No, when it came to Tristan, Husk was the only one who really cared for the boy, and the one Frost was most worried about. "'Lack of subtlety?'" Paige Guthrie repeated, glaring at M. "He _killed_ him, Monet! The medical examiner even said he was probably still conscious when Emplate...oh, god..." The discovery of Tristan's death had opened up a flood of thoughts and feelings that Frost had never known to look for; she felt less like a telepath and more like someone who came into a movie late. The story, it seemed, was that Tristan had caught Generation X training their mutant powers, and decided to blackmail them with that information.* But all the boy wanted for his silence was a date with Paige. It was almost romantic, Frost decided, in a twisted sort of way. Paige was the only one who saw it that way. "None of you even care," she cried. "You all just need an excuse to punch Emplate in the face, and you don't even care..." [* In the esteemed GENERATION X #51-52.] "Hold up, Paige..." Angelo Espinosa leaned over and put his long, rubbery hand on her shoulder. "OK, I'll admit none of us liked the way Tristan...uh..." The way he played them? The way he manipulated Paige? Emma nearly lost her train of thought with alarm--for Husk's sake, Skin had to phrase his next words...tactfully. "...all right--none of us really got to like him. But that doesn't mean he deserved to _die_..." "Yeah," Synch broke in, bailing Skin out of the corner he'd put himself in, "what's important is that we stop Emplate from killing anyone else." Everett Thomas seemed to be trying harder to convince himself than Paige, Frost noticed. More than any of the other students, Ev knew how dangerous Emplate could be. He'd been enthralled by their enemy's vampiric assault, and attacked both his family and his teammates.* It had been a traumatic experience; one that could very possibly be repeated in this mission. [* GENERATION X #14-16.] Frost reasoned that it was very likely that Emplate had enthralled more victims in New York, and Ev was crucial to rescuing them. He was the only thrall who had ever recovered, by using his powers to "synch" with M's inborn resistance to her brother's powers. It was possible that other thralls could be saved the same way, but they'd have to emplate on his powers--feed on his genes with their palm-mouths--to duplicate the effect. The catch was that Synch hadn't really been cured by M, but an impostor*; there was no telling whether the plan would work with the real Monet. Emma couldn't blame the boy for feeling like a giant piece of cheese at the moment. [* As revealed in...aw, screw that, I ain't even touching this one.] She began to focus her mind on different tasks--scanning the city for Emplate's mind, making the other pedestrians believe she wasn't there, contemplating a strategy that wouldn't get her kids killed--and began to tune out the voices of the others. They were all consoling Husk, apologizing for whatever they might have said about Tristan, and offering support to a teammate. All except for Chamber, who stayed to the back of the group, almost hiding in his black trenchcoat. He had barely been speaking to Paige before all of this happened; now he wasn't talking to anyone. Then again, hiding in his trenchcoat and not talking came naturally to Jono, ever since his mutant powers manifested themselves in a explosion of psionic energy. His jaw and upper chest were annihilated. His first girlfriend was crippled until she became one of Emplate's thralls to get back at Jono. He tried to move on with Paige, but he got scared and backed off when things moved too quickly. So Paige reacted by letting Tristan catch her on the rebound, which made him a target for Emplate, which got him killed. Somehow every problem in Chamber's life had come together into this mess. The angst was so thick that Frost had to stifle the urge to cough as she skimmed over Chamber's mind. Then she noticed the same congestion in her own mind. Emplate had left his mark on each of her students, and they'd never truly be safe unless they could put a stop to him. If they could. Emma found herself imagining what it would be like to wake up and find Generation X as dead as the Hellions. Then she found herself looking for something else in Jubilee's mind to take the edge off the situation... *** Madison Avenue. Whatever it was, it was swinging a lead pipe at anything that moved in the alley. "Iiiiiiiii'm...comin' out so you better get this party started!" It also sang. Badly. "He's called Lunatik," Jolt explained to Charcoal. The two Thunderbolts hid just out of sight in a nearby fire escape, observing their quarry. His skin was white, with black markings around his eyes that made him look like some long-lost member of KISS. Judging by the way he crooned the "Meow Mix" jingle, he probably didn't pass the audition. "Lunatik? Makes sense," Charcoal replied. "So why's he talking like that?" "Actually, Lunatik's more like a 'they' than a 'he.' He was some wizard-type named Arisen Tyrk, who came to Earth from another dimension using a damaged teleportation device. His energy pattern got scattered on its way through a relay on our moon, and I guess the signals got scrambled with radio waves..." Charcoal would have wrinkled his nose, if his charcoal-form had a nose. "Yuck...you're saying he beamed here in pieces?" Jolt nodded. "On every full moon, a new Lunatik would show up in New York--each one was a different aspect of Tyrk's personality. But the independent film* I saw about him said that the Defenders collected all the Lunatiks and got rid of them. This is the first time one's been spotted in years...!" [* No doubt a Dollar Bill Docu-Drama about DEFENDERS #70-73.] "Well, the moon _is_ full," Charcoal reasoned. "Maybe his flight was delayed..." "This is serious, you dope! Arisen Tyrk thought he was some kind of crazy god on his world, so some of the Lunatiks reflected his tyranny by attacking anyone who broke the law--even jaywalkers!" We have to--uh oh..." The teenagers noticed blank white eyes staring back at them from below. "Stop thief! No welcome wagon, 'hello stranger' with that new coffee flavor for you! Or your money back!" Lunatik moved with supernatural speed, leaping up the fire escape to confront the Thunderbolts. "Offer expires while you wait. Operators are standing by..." Charcoal leveled his arms at the maniac and ignited them, firing a defensive blast. "He attacks criminals...geez, Hallie, why don't you just hold up a sign that says 'Thunderbolts Season.' Maybe you can get Elmer Fudd on our case while you're at it!" Jolt didn't answer. She had heard enough about Lunatik to know he was powerful enough to withstand one of Charlie's weaker attacks, and ducked for cover. By the time the smoke cleared from Charcoal's flaming hands, it was too late for him to dodge a swat from Lunatik's pipe. The impact struck the Thunderbolt's head, cracking it open. "Put out the fire, gruesome!" Lunatik cackled as Charcoal collapsed to the ground. "You need a weapon like a hole in the head!" Incensed, Jolt leapt back into the fray. "You _hurt_ him, you lousy--!" A flurry of punches connected with Lunatik in a blur. Charlie was down--maybe wounded--and Hallie's only hope was to use her bioelectrically-enhanced agility to outmaneuver her foe. Maybe everything would work out for the best before anyone had to remind her that this was all her idea... Lunatik didn't seem particularly impressed with her onslaught. "Oooh! Eee! Oooh ahh ahh!" he shouted. "Ting tang, walla walla bing bang! Oh, that's _so_ painful, I _must_ say..." Jolt was beginning to sweat. Other Lunatiks had held their own against Defenders like Valkyrie and Hellcat, and she probably wasn't half as tough as they were. All she could do, though, was keep pounding on the maniac and staying clear of his pipe. But then, just as she began to wear herself out, tendrils of soft, pliable graphite wrapped around Lunatik and restrained him. Not tendrils, Jolt realized; Charcoal's fingers. "Charlie! I thought he'd--" "He did, Hal--and it still smarts!" The gash in Charcoal's head began to mend itself as he struggled to hold the madman. "But he sure didn't knock me out--I just thought it'd help to play possum." His upper arms began to shudder and gleam as he mentally altered their molecular structure. "All right, pal, let's see you break my grip when my fingers are made of the purest diamond, beeyotch!" At first Lunatik tried to do just that, but he slowly began to relax and sniff at the air. "I smell bacon!" he rambled. "Gotta be bacon 'cuz it smells like bacon gimme bacon yeah! Baconbaconbaconbacon where!? You've both been in contact with the stone!" Jolt pressed her finger to Lunatik's chest and sneered. "Buster, that's the first coherent sentence you've said, and it _still_ doesn't make any sense! What are you going on about?" His wild-eyed expression grew solemn as he answered, in a flawless Chicago accent. "We're on a mission from God..." *** Central Park South. "'Scuse me," Jubilee spoke up, "but if Monet says all the Empy sightings were in Hell's Kitchen, then what the heck are we doing all the way over here?" Monet turned and shushed her teammate. "Be _quiet_, Jubilee! I don't expect you to appreciate the strain it takes to set up a telepathic perimeter like this, but the least you could do is go ten minutes without speaking!" M resumed her train of thought and scanned for any trace of Emplate's mind. With Emma Frost, Chamber, and Synch (mimicking Frost's powers) each scanning in a different direction, she could extend her own range; together the four mutants could completely surround the others and prevent an ambush. "We have to outnumber Emplate to defeat him," Frost explained. "The streets and buildings would give him places to hide and pick you--pick _us_ off one by one." She struggled not to think of her students as defenseless baby ducks. "We need him in the park, in an open space. Once we locate him--nnnh..." Synch looked over his shoulder to his instructor. "Ms. Frost...?" "I'm fine, Everett. His mind just showed up out of nowhere...and he's hungry." She took a moment to regain her composure and examine the thought patterns. Something was amiss...but there was no time to worry about it. "Jubilee, give him the signal--I'll make sure he sees it." Jubilee took a deep breath and threw her hands up into the air. Her mutant powers created bursts of light and color, flaring into the sky like fireworks. Emplate would probably recognize the effect, and he'd definitely recognize the signal--she carefully manipulated her light show into a giant letter "M" in the sky. Then the word "SUCKS" appeared beneath it. "Uhhh...huh," Skin gaped as he stared at the spectacle. "I thought that new trainer was teaching you to spell out alert messages, Jubecita..." "Who, Mr. Corsi? He was," Jubilee giggled. "This was, like, an extracurricular project." "Extracurricular--?" M glared at Jubilee. "Why, you little--!" "Save it for the bad guy, ladies," Frost chided. "He's closing in fast--in a moment you can ask him whether or not M...'sucks.'" She diverted her attention to Emplate, "watching" his hunger grow closer and closer. But something was still bothering her about the mental signature, and the way Emplate seemed to be approaching from...above? Generation X's telepathic perimeter was fairly vulnerable from the air; they didn't see their attacker coming until he had landed on top of them. With a swipe of his right arm half of the students went flying; his left arm shot out at Emma Frost. Before she could prepare a counterattack, she was in his clutches, and could see a grotesque mouth on his wizened palms. But it was not Emplate. As the bony, desiccated fingers wrapped around Emma's head, she recognized the sensation of cold, dead flesh against her skin. It couldn't be Emplate, and even he couldn't have done this to a human being by himself. Her conclusions were in vain, though, as the feeder mouth chewed into her and began to sap her strength. As she felt her consciousness slip away, she feared her kids would be next. *** 59th Street. "Ohhhhhhhhhh, yaaaa--never know where yer goin' till ya get therrrre! It may be off to Egypt or to Rome..." Lunatik had been prancing around the East Side for nearly an hour, with Jolt and Charcoal in tow. He'd been calmer since deciding they'd been in contact with the "stone," so letting him lead them on this wild goose chase seemed like the safest course of action. It certainly wasn't the least annoying. "I gotta pee," Charcoal sulked. Jolt glared at her partner. "Charlie, I know it's a pain in the butt to keep an eye on this guy," she huffed, "but you're a seven-foot-tall walking briquette of solid coal. You _can't_ 'gotta pee' in that form." Charcoal surrendered to her superior logic and mulled it over. "I gotta desulfurize." "Ohhh, shut up!" The Thunderbolts' attention was distracted just long enough for Lunatik to dash across the street unnoticed. "Oh for--" Jolt griped. "We gotta catch that clown before he hurts someone else!" She jumped onto Charcoal's broad shoulders and held tight as he ignited his feet. In moments they were rocketing straight into Central Park. What they found as they descended was worse than they'd feared. Lunatik was diving headlong into an even more freakish figure, surrounded by people in various states of distress. Jolt leapt off of Charcoal's back and rushed to the nearest victim. The blonde woman was unconscious, and upon further inspection her white clothes were more of a uniform than an outfit. Expecting to find evidence marks from Lunatik's pipe, Hallie examined the woman's head for contusions. All she found was a small bite mark on the forehead. "She's out cold, isn't she?" Jolt looked up to see a tall young man looming over her. His nose, chin, and fingers looked like grey candle wax melting off of his body. "We can't stop to look after her, chica--this guy's not like the other thralls..." The others came up behind him, some still reeling from the "thrall" that Lunatik was wrestling into the woods. All of them wore red and yellow outfits, with an insignia familiar to Jolt. "At least that...man is buying us some time, Skin," one of the girls replied. "But this isn't right...he's too powerful...how could my brother have subverted him?" "Lunatik and that weird guy seem pretty evenly matched, Jolt," Charcoal observed as he descended into the park. "They're too busy fighting each other to notice us. Who are your friends?" She looked up to him and shrugged. "The...X-Men, I guess?" "Not exactly...Jolt, is it?" M answered. "Think of us as X-Men-in-training, if it helps. I didn't think the Thunderbolts still operated in New York, but if you're back to start more trouble..." Hallie froze; even after all these months, she still wasn't used to the celebrity she had gained as a Thunderbolt. She _was_ accustomed to the notoriety, however. "Look," she started, "I don't know what you think of us, but we're on a mission with Archangel...and Wolverine's met us too, and--" "Wolverine?" Jubilee rushed up to her like some crazed Wolverine groupie. "That big dope hasn't come to visit in, like, weeks! How's he doing?" "Well, uh," Jolt stammered, "we kinda never found out--he was pretty busy stomping all our butts until Angel called him off*...he sure is something, though..." [* Next Best Thing, Chapter 8.] "Yeah, that's Wolvie, all right...nobody can beat him..." "Are you kidding? Why, a guy like Spider-Man could probably beat all the X-Men and not even break a sweat!" All at once, any possible animosity between the two of them was removed by their common enthusiasm. Their problems, their battles, their distrust gave way to something more meaningful--Who'd win if Spider-Man fought Wolverine. "One time Spidey was fighting the Juggernaut and--" "Puh-leeeze...Wolverine beats up the Juggernaut on, like, a regular basis--it's right there on his schedule, between 'Practicing Mean Grimaces' and 'Not Shaving'--" M began to turn green. "There...are _two_ of them..." she mumbled. With the danger momentarily passed, Charcoal transformed into the form of a slim teenager and tried to introduce himself. "You guys know Jolt, but I'm new to the T-bolts. My name's--er..." He waited for a moment for Jolt and Jubilee to end their rapid-fire discussion, and finally talked over them after giving up. "My name's Charcoal," he finished. Synch smiled warmly and shook Charlie's hand. "We call ourselves 'Generation X.' I'm Synch--M, Husk, Skin, Chamber," he explained, gesturing to each mutant. "And motormouth there is Jubilee." Charcoal smirked. "Looks like _our_ bad guy was looking to nail _your_ bad guy," he paused and looked to M. "And you said that's your brother?" "My brother," M explained, "is a mutant who calls himself 'Emplate'...he has the power to drain the energy from people, like Ms. Frost here. Somehow he must have captured that man and transformed him into another of his kind, but I can't imagine how Emplate could have subdued someone so powerful..." Husk stepped forward. "He killed...our friend. Or Emplate did, anyway--it doesn't matter. Someone's got to stop him..." Jolt perked up. "So why are we standing around here? Let's go find those two and figure out a plan!" *** "Met a boy on Sunday and my heart stood still! They do-run-run-run, they do-run-run-runnn!" "Idiot! You'll change your tune when I break every bone in your wretched body! The power of that blonde witch makes me strong enough to destroy you--" "Geez, what a tool." Jubilee was quickly shushed by M, who pulled the young mutant's head back behind the park's Puppet House. Hiding behind the landmark would only protect Generation X and the Thunderbolts so long as they remained hidden, but Jubilee didn't see the point. "Aw, lay off, Monet--those two aren't payin' attention to us anyway!" "It shouldn't matter, Jubecita" Skin replied. "If the big guy really emplated on Frost's powers, shouldn't he be reading our minds? And what's with the costume?" Synch lit up as he pieced it together. "Now I remember that outfit! It's Count Nefaria--the crimelord who got himself super powers so he could get rid of the Avengers!* The Black Panther was on the team back then, so I read all about it--" [* Way back in the classic AVENGERS #164-166.] "Fancy that, Jolt," Charcoal snickered. "Our mystery villain fought the Avengers, and you weren't the one who ID'ed him." Jolt grinned. "That's because it _isn't_ Nefaria, Charlie," she countered. "That walking corpse may not have much hair left, but you can still tell he's blond. Synch helped me figure it out, though...it's Nefarius, and _he_ was just a Grade-Z loser who copied Nefaria's powers to..." She paused, realizing the implications. It was enough serendipity that Count Nefaria had acquired his powers by stealing them from the Lethal Legion--a team that had included her fellow Thunderbolt, Atlas. But Nefarius duplicated those powers to get revenge on another of her teammates, Moonstone.* And regardless of how Lloyd Bloch had been resurrected and sent to Manhattan, she knew how he died--stalking the Thunderbolts.** And now it seemed that he was the thing Lunatik had been searching for...what could it all mean? [* In the not-classic-at-all CAPTAIN AMERICA #379. / ** IRON MAN 1999.] "Listen, folks," she continued, "We may be in over our heads. Nefarius was too much of a dope to give the Avengers much trouble, but he's as powerful as all get-out, and--" "Pfft," Jubilee scoffed. "If you ask me, the _real_ problem is that he's got Emplate's powers! All of us put together couldn't beat that guy. And if _he_ had attacked Ms. Frost, we wouldn't even be standing here..." "Boy, you guys must not live here in the city," Jolt interrupted. "I'm sure you X-types have some tough enemies, but Nefarius ripped his powers off a guy who liked tossing forty-story buildings at Avengers! He's stronger than Wonder Man, faster than Quicksilver...my guess is he drained your teacher's powers to fuel his own, instead of mimicking hers..." "Aw, come off it, Jolt...this Nefarius guy wouldn't last five minutes with Empy..." Husk fumed. "Darnit, it doesn't _matter_ who could beat who! That monster's been killing people all over the city! Why don't one of you experts tell me how the Avengers _beat_ Count Whozit, if you're so blamed smart?" Jolt blinked at the sudden outburst, and peeked out from behind the building. Nefarius was beginning to overpower Lunatik. If M's theory was correct--if Nefarius had been altered by Emplate--he'd drain Lunatik's energy and go looking for more victims. "You're right," she conceded. "Let's see...the Vision beat Nefaria _and_ Nefarius by becoming as dense as a diamond and colliding with them..." Husk showed the faintest hint of a smile, and dug her fingers into her shoulder. With a gentle tug, she tore away her own skin, revealing an arm made entirely of diamond. "I think we can try something like that..." she replied coolly. *** Compared to consoling Husk, separating Lunatik and Nefarius--two superhumans who could easily pulp what was left of his head--was the easiest task Chamber had attempted all day. It was the least--and the best--he could do to make things right for Paige, even if it got him killed. Perhaps he was already dead. The thought had crossed his mind more than once, since his powers manifested themselves. His mind was a torrent of psychic "flame," roiling within a body that was an otherwise empty chamber. It was this energy he used to disrupt the two behemoths, knocking them away from one another with a blast from the gaping hole in his face. Nefarius was the more powerful of the two, and Jono pressed his attack on him. In the back of his mind, he could sense Skin doing his part, restraining Lunatik in his thick, baggy epidermis. That probably wouldn't hold him, but the Thunderbolts were sure that Lunatik could be calmed down. Chamber was counting on that as he turned his attention to the imposing Nefarius. "If you're lookin' for powers to emplate," Chamber taunted, "be my guest. You _might_ be able to contain 'em without blowin' yourself up..." "Bah! It was bad enough putting up with the idiots who mistook me for Nefaria!" Nefarius lurched closer to the young Briton, his tattered cape draped over what were once muscular shoulders. "You little brats think I'm Emplate? I don't need your powers--just the energy to fuel my own!" Chamber stood his ground, staring down the undead supercriminal. One good telepathic jolt might put an end to all of this, but Jono couldn't chance it. For all he knew, Nefarius was lying--he really did have Frost's telepathy, and the power to defend himself from a psychic attack. Until he knew for sure, Jono didn't want to risk being caught off-guard like Frost; then the others would really be down one more telepath and in bigger trouble. It was Nefarius's move. But that was how the Thunderbolts and Generation X wanted it. This way Chamber could focus his thoughts on pacifying Lunatik (preferably before he pulled Angelo apart like Silly Putty), and keep Nefarius distracted from the others. Jono maintained the distance between himself and the enemy with an occasional burst of his psychic flame, and listened to the thoughts of his teammates... +Are you sure this'll work?+ Charcoal wondered, about a thousand feet to the east. +It's called a "Fastball Special," Charcoal!+ Jubilee explained. +M's strong enough to hurl you even in your diamond-form, just like Colossus used to toss Wolvie--+ +What _difference_ does it make, Jubilee?+ M protested. +Just help me line up the trajectory so I don't throw Charcoal into New Jersey...+ A thousand feet to the west, a similar tableau was being projected into Chamber's mind. +You mean the Black Panther really pulled off this move, Jolt?+ +Make it Hallie, Synch--and he and Giant-Man called this "The Human Catapult!"* Uh-oh...I think Nef moved a couple of degrees. Boy, if I knew you could become as strong as M, and Husk could turn to diamond just like Charlie, I'd have come up with this plan a lot sooner! We may not have Hercules around to do our hero tossing,* but there's no way Nefarius can take a _double_ whammy!+ [* Way back in the landmark AVENGERS vol. 1 #56.] [* As seen in the landfill AVENGERS UNPLUGGED #1.] Jono couldn't even bring himself to peer into Paige's thoughts. She was probably thinking about how he'd ruined everything. If she hadn't been trying to get over him, Tristan would still be alive. She wouldn't have _needed_ to get over him if he'd just opened up to the girl. He had given her such a sappy farewell when she left, and it was a tough act to follow when she came back so much sooner than he'd expected. Maybe he was just better at saying goodbyes than I-love-yous... He blinked. He'd gotten so lost in his misery that he'd let Nefarius move out of position. Charcoal and Paige were already hurtling towards their target...which wasn't there any more. It all happened in a split second: Jolt and Jubilee gave the simultaneous "launch order." Synch and M threw their allies at Nefarius. Nefarius saw an opening in Chamber's defenses, and leapt toward the mutant. And finally, Charcoal and Husk collided in the very spot where Nefarius would have been, if not for Chamber's brooding. Diamond was the only substance dense enough--hard enough--to do any damage to Nefarius. It was also the only substance that could damage itself. As Charcoal and Husk exploded into a shimmering burst of diamond, Chamber was too shocked to avoid a chunk of Paige's shoulder that bounced off the side of his head. At least now he could be sure he'd ruined everything... *** "Was that your best effort, whelps?" Nefarius growled, mocking Jolt, Jubilee, Synch, and M as they returned to surround him. "Why don't I make this easy for you? I'll let you choose which bones you'd like me to break!" The odds were worse than ever, prompting Skin to release his grip on Lunatik and join the others. The young Latino probably hoped that Chamber's telepathic sedation would keep Lunatik down. He'd have known better if he had seen the chalk-skinned alien slowly opening his eyes and smiling. He could see clearly now; the rain was gone. Lunatik had rushed Nefarius because his spider-senses were tingling, but it was a false alarm. Perhaps Nefarius, like Jolt and Charcoal, had simply come in contact with the stone, or even the she-god herself. It was hard for him to reason, though. Each Lunatik had a different shard of Arisen Tyrk's mind, and his shard was religious, not logical, Mister Spock. All he knew was that the stone was divine, and had to be safeguarded somehow. Jolt and Generation X were preoccupied with their rumble in the jungle, and didn't notice him stirring. At this rate, everyone he'd met who had encountered the stone could be killed to death. Nefarius had to be stopped...no matter the cost. *** +Paige...Paige, talk to me, girl...+ +Jono?+ The voice was like a familiar beacon, guiding her into consciousness. +Jono, what happened? I can't...+ +Easy now...you were, ah...hurt.+ As she gathered her thoughts, she began to realize that Jono hadn't telepathically "spoken" with her in days, and there was good reason for him to break that silence. The impact with Charcoal and the sensations came rushing back to her memory, and she could sense herself lying in pieces. +Oh god, Jono...I'm gonna die...+ +Not if I can help it, girl. I got conked pretty good, but when I came to Charcoal had just about put himself back together. If he can do it, so can you...+ Charcoal? She couldn't see him...couldn't see anything. What if her eyes were destroyed? Then again, she had bigger problems than blindness. +I can't,+ she mentally cried, panic setting in. +I'm not like Charcoal...this has never happened to me...+ +Paige,+ Chamber demanded. +Listen to me...I need you to open your mind to me...as much as you can...+ She wasn't in a position to refuse. Immediately his determination flooded through her mind, bringing her into focus. Even in her diamond form, Husk could still feel the world around her through her "skin." Now she could sense that Chamber was hoping this rule still applied when her diamond form was shattered. On some level of consciousness, Paige knew where every shard of her body was and where it belonged. And now, so did Jono. Chamber then broadcasted this subconscious "blueprint" to Charcoal, who was already stretching his soft, graphite body across the field of debris. Once he had collected every scrap of Paige within himself, he began to shift and twist his body, according to her self-image. For Paige, the process seemed to last for hours. Her mind had nothing but Jono to cling to in the darkness. She could sense his uneasiness with opening up to her like this. He was so afraid to reveal his true feelings--about her or anything else--and yet, those feelings drove him to it. The epiphany of Jono's mind was interrupted, though, by the return of her sight. Not that there was anything to see inside of Charcoal's dusty black innards, but it meant that she was nearly whole again. As the Thunderbolt completed his work, she began to concentrate on shedding her skin--with luck, assuming a new form would mend her cracks. Her broken arms couldn't possibly move to pull away her husk, but--with a mental nudge from Jono--Charcoal could do it for her as he oozed off of her body. The operation succeeded; Husk emerged from Charcoal's "cocoon" to find herself whole again. "I...I'm okay," she whimpered. The pain was considerable, but it was mostly the usual strain of shedding her skin so suddenly. The first person she laid eyes on was Chamber--the last person she would have expected to understand so well just now. "You did it, Jono...you saved me..." Charcoal resumed his humanoid coal-form and sank to his knees. "H-hey..." he huffed, exhausted from his efforts, "I had a little something to do with it too, y'know..." *** Generation X and Jolt couldn't stop to notice the recovery of their friends; they were too busy giving Nefarius something else to attack. "Stay on him!" M commanded. She flew through the air, dodging Nefarius's shriveled hands and creating openings for the others. "The pond is only a few yards away..." "You hope to drown me, witch?" Nefarius snarled. "Feh! I don't _need_ to breathe, once I get my hands around your puny neck and drain--nnh!" Synch was behind him, delivering a kidney punch. M's power was the only one worth borrowing against Lloyd Bloch, and even that wasn't slowing him down much. Jolt swelled with pride at her enemy's grunt. "We're doing it, folks! He's had us on the ropes, but he never expected a bunch of kids to last this long! This'll show the T-bolts not to underestimate me!" She couldn't attack from a distance, but with Skin swinging her in and out of Nefarius's reach with his elastic fingers, she was holding up her end of the fight. "Let Monet give the speeches, chica," Skin grumbled, "and concentrate on who you're fight--aw, dammit, I sound like Corsi..." He'd been compensating for Hallie's lack of attention up until that moment, and it was all Nefarius needed to send her flying out of Angelo's grip. "Jolt!" Jubilee screamed. "All right, Nerfherdler, if you've killed her before I could prove Wolvie could beat Spider-Man, you are soooo--" He was about to laugh at their misfortune once more. But before Nefarius could make a sound--before Generation X could avenge their fallen comrades--he was rocked back by a flying dropkick into his chest. He staggered back to regain his balance, and felt a hard right. Then a left. By the time Bloch knew what had hit him, he was sitting in the pond, staring up at Lunatik. Blank white eyes stared back at him. "This looks like the end...but don't miss our next exciting episode of the Underdog show..." Lunatik shouldn't have been powerful enough to do this. "You...how did you...?" Nefarius noticed his busted lip; energy trickled from the wound instead of blood. "Those brats...exhausted my power...kept me from getting more..." M, Jubilee, and Skin gathered at the shore. "Come now, Nefarius," Monet replied, "if you know my brother, you should have known his enemies would avoid the feeders on your hands." Nefarius's eyes grew wide, and his rage fueled a final assault. In one smooth motion, he grabbed Lunatik by the face, slinging the alien over his shoulder like a piece of garbage. Lunatik's neck snapped and twisted grotesquely before he collapsed under the water. "I'll destroy you," Nefarius vowed to the children on the shore. "That maniac couldn't stop me...you have no idea what you face...your bellies will swell until they burst...I am--FAAAMMMMMMNNNNNHHHH!!!" He quivered uncontrollably, every cell in his half-dead body burning with pain. The energy bleeding from his lip began to spurt out, as if from some severed artery. The electrical current might have paralyzed him, but even in defeat his power was just enough to permit him to move...if only to reflexively curl up in agony. And then, in a flash, he burst into nothingness. Nefarius never saw Synch on the far side of the pond, holding his electrified hands in the water. *** "Wake up, sleepyhead." Jolt opened her eyes to see Charlie Burlingame--not Charcoal, but the smiling human form of her teammate. The danger, she realized, had ended. She sat up and looked around the park. Chamber and Husk were off to the distance, apparently in some serious conversation. The rest of Generation X, however, was huddled around a tall blonde woman--the one Hallie had discovered when all of this started. "What...how long was I...?" "Like, just long enough to miss _everything_..." Jubilee had been off to the side, with her hands on her hips. "Lunatik knocked Neffie into the pond, like we wanted. Course, you weren't in a position to follow up on the big plan an' stuff. It's a good thing Ev synched your mutant powers, or we wouldn't have been able to fry him like that..." "Lunatik...where...?" "He's...dead, Hallie," Charlie explained. "He was still breathing--and rambling--when Ev and I fished him out of the lake, but Nefarius broke his neck...he didn't last much longer. He sacrificed himself for us--I never would have expected that after what you told me about the other Lunatiks..." "I suggest we leave the corpse here." Jolt looked up to see Emma Frost approaching her, with her students close behind. "The authorities will be along soon, and they can deal with Lunatik better than we can. My children have told me what happened, Thunderbolts. I'm in you debt for...protecting them in my absence." Jolt stood up and nodded. "Thank you, ah, Ms. Frost." It was a heady feeling to be treated as an equal by an adult, but an awkward feeling to be thanked for babysitting her new friends. "But to tell the truth, they were plenty capable without me and Charlie. You should be proud of your students." "Polite _and_ modest," Frost noted to her pupils. "Let's hope she rubbed off on you. We'll be leaving now, children..." M blinked. "Ms. Frost? We still haven't found Emplate..." "And I don't expect to find him here," Frost replied. "Nefarius confused my mental tracking; Emplate was never in New York to begin with." "But Nefarius has Emplate's powers!" Synch argued. "We have to investigate..." She cut him off sharply. "_You_ have classes to attend at the Academy. The Thunderbolts are superheroes--more or less--and they can look into this business." "Oh, quit jerkin' us around," Skin fumed, "We're not babies! Hell, Jono and I are older than these two--!" "That's enough, Angelo..." "Shyeah, we don't even know if Nefarius was killed! Sure looked to me like he just got beamed outta there before he got fried--" "I _said_ 'that's enough,' Jubilee. The Thunderbolts are professionals. They can deal with this..." "You're not even _listening_!" Jubilee cried. "The T-bolts have their hands full with the Hellfire Club! We should at least help them with that!" Emma Frost furrowed her brow and turned to Jolt and Charcoal. "The Hellfire Club? Is this true?" Charlie shrugged. "Well, they, uh...Trevor Fitzroy's sort of out to kill us or something. The rest of our team's over at the Club, undercover..." "Typical," the former White Queen muttered. "Well, anyone Fitzroy wants dead..." She began to stare off into space, seemingly lost in thought, before she returned to the matter at hand. "There, Jubilee. We helped. Now fetch Chamber and Husk and come along..." Jubilee glared at the Thunderbolts. "Well, thanks a lot, guys! Don't knock yourselves out askin' us to help you out!" As Generation X began to walk to the nearest terminal, she could still be heard her muttering to her classmates. "And I was just startin' to think they were all right..." Hallie stood there agape, staring at the mutants as they disappeared from view. Charlie finally broke the silence. "Feeling a little silly, huh?" "Uh...yeah..." she answered, running her hand through her hair. "That's not how _I_ sound when I'm griping at the T-bolts for treating my like a kid...is it?" "Nah," Charlie grinned, "you usually pout more than that. They were right about one thing, though..." He burst into flame, assuming his Charcoal form. "We'd better check up on Hawkeye and the others. I think the Hellfire Club is over there..." Jolt climbed onto Charcoal's back before he ignited his feet and launched into the night air. "There's one thing I still don't get," she pondered. "I thought Synch's power was to copy other mutant's powers..." "Well, yeah," Charcoal answered. "That's what Jubilee meant when she said it was a good thing you're a mutant--otherwise we wouldn't have been able to shock Nefarius..." "But, Charlie--I'm _not_ a mutant..." *** He had been threatening the children...then there was blinding pain...and then darkness. Now he was home. "BLOCH..." Nefarius turned his head weakly. "Master..." "YOU WERE BEATEN..." "No, Master," he insisted. "Transport me back to the park...I can still crush them in your name!" "MY NAME? YOU WILL DO MUCH IN MY NAME, BLOCH...BUT NOT YET. YOU WERE SENT TO THE CITY TO DRAIN THE WEAK. YOU SEEK TO SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF...BUT NOT YET, BLOCH." For the first time since being sent to New York, Nefarius swallowed his pride and nodded slowly. "As you wish..." "YOU HAVE LOST MUCH OF YOUR ENERGY--TOO WEAK TO REPLENISH IT YOURSELF. NOW YOU CAN APPRECIATE WHY YOU COULD NOT KILL THE CREATURE FROM THE START." A mere gesture directed Nefarius to the chamber in which he had been reborn. He had once spent weeks there, recovering from an attack by Count Nefaria. Nefaria had drained his ionic energy to stay alive. Now Lloyd Bloch could drain anyone's energy to achieve the same ends. All it took was his master's creative adaptation of a certain mutant... Pressurized air hissed into the chamber's stasis tube, awaking the incapacitated occupant. Dark red eyes opened as Emplate recalled the events that had brought him here--his plans to destroy Generation X, his capture of Tristan Braun, and his sudden teleportation to this place. He had unwillingly given Nefarius his power to sup on the energy of others. Now that power would be turned against him. "NOW FEED," Nefarius was commanded. "Stop!" Emplate cried as Bloch skulked toward him. "I could be of use to you--you can't just treat me like some mass of decaying carrion! Please!" Nefarius smiled as he placed his hands on his host's chest. The mouths on his palms chewed through the grey mutant flesh, causing Emplate to scream in an agony all too familiar to himself. "How much shall I take from him, Master?" "SPARE NOTHING," came the reply. "YOU WILL NEED ALL STRENGTH YOU CAN CONSUME FOR WHAT AWAITS YOU...FOR WHAT AWAITS US ALL..." The sounds of Emplate's death throes were slowly drowned out by Nefarius's laughter... *** "And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice...Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." --Revelations 14:15 *** NEXT: Where's your crown, King Nothing?