Via Sanguinis: Malice's Tale

by Phil Hartman

1/1/2000: Akkaba, Egypt:

Oh, this is just too frigging good to believe.

Maggie wants to suck at Lorna's power ? Pathetic. Sad, sorry little man - thinking he can drink from MY free lunch ? Not a prayer.

What's the matter, Lorna honey ? Thought Sinister killed me in Hawaii ? We were BONDED, eternally, you and I, girlfriend. What Sinister killed was an echo, a cheap copy.

I just rented out a chunk of your subconscious and waited for the right stressor. And poor Alex, poor sweet trusting Alex ...

... his death was the perfect push-button to let me in.

Does it hurt, Lorna ? To know I'm back on top in this little game ? That I've switched the battery flow from you to Mags back to the way it SHOULD be ? To be the one chained up in your own pathetic little head ?

Good.

Here's where it gets better.

***

Xavier watched through a blood-filled haze, wincing at the head wound he was bleeding from, as a sickly emerald glow filled the chamber of Apocalypse's failed ascension.

Scott and Jean were clinging to one another, a look of desperation filling Cyclops' now glasses-shielded face as he threw his ruined visor aside. Jean's expression was a mixture of rage and loss, twisting to fear as she glanced upward at the tableau overhead.

Malice had altered Polaris' makeshift costume back into her old Marauder uniform, and held a skeletal figure aloft by the throat.

"Weak, Lehnsherr ?" Malice taunted, shaking the dangerously aged Magneto. "The mighty Master of Magnetism, brought to bay at last. I've had it with your leeching Dane's powers, old man."

~Lorna ! Fight Malice !~ Xavier shouted telepathically, reaching out with a horrified cry.

He gasped aloud as Malice passionately kissed Magnus.

And an empty red and purple uniform fell to the floor.

"FIGHT !? You bald-headed FOOL !" Malice shrieked, cackling. "I OWN DANE ! NOW AND FOREVER ! AND AT LAST, I AM POWER !"

The temple started to crack under the flash of another magnetic storm, and the giggling Malice exploded out of the hole she created.

"Bozhe moi," Colossus muttered, picking up Xavier. "Magnus, dead ... Mikhail, missing ... and Nate Grey and Cable -"

"We have no time to waste," Cyclops interrupted in a cold tone. "I'm getting some transport out of here, and I'm going after Nathan."

"Scott, the Skrulls - !" Xavier called, trying to reach for his first X-Man telepathically. He psionically recoiled at the rage and hurt seeping from beneath Scott's facade, and looked over as six figures burst into the chamber.

"Professor, the Skrulls cut and run - where's ... ?" Shadowcat began, her voice trailing off.

"Apocalypse is dead, Nate Grey is dead, Magneto is dead, Mikhail is probably dead, and Cable was deaged in a freak accident," Cyclops replied curtly. "Scalphunter carried Nathan off, Polaris was repossessed by Malice and killed Magneto, and I need transport. NOW."

"Mein Gott - Scott, wait ! You can't just go racing after the Marauders alone !" Nightcrawler called, teleporting to Scott's side.

"For what I intend, Kurt ? None of you would help me," Scott replied, ice and steel in his voice.

"Oh, I dunno 'bout that, Slim," Wolverine chuckled. "I smell what'cher plannin' ... an' I can't think o' a better idea."

"You - you cannot seriously - Scott, we don't DO that !" Xavier called.

He flinched when Scott spun around and glared at him.

"You FAILED your son, old man," Scott hissed. "I WON'T FAIL MINE AGAIN."

He stormed out, Jean close behind, as the rest of the X-Men watched.

"Professor ... Scott is distraught, he did not mean..." Storm tried to comfort Xavier.

She repressed a gasp when a single tear rolled down Xavier's cheek.

"He is right. About David ..." Xavier muttered. "Scott ... "

***

"Noble words, Xavier. But finally - FINALLY - my erstwhile 'son' has seen the reality of his situation."

The Marauders watched as Sinister deactivated the main viewscreen and looked at his newest acquisition.

The small boy floated unconscious in a tank of greenish fluid, bare save for a breath mask. Metal replaced flesh along his left breastbone and shoulderblade, trailing down his left arm and to his hand. A radial scar surrounded the child's right eye, and the faint traces of white hair wisped out from amongst the brown bangs above his brow.

"Scalphunter, you've more than exceeded my expectations," Sinister said, actually giving the leader of the Marauders a grand smile. "Nathan Christopher Charles Summers ... mine once more at last. And that pest Nathan Grey, dead ... as well as Apocalypse. This is truly a day for celebration."

"SINISTER ..."

Sinister went even paler than before - if such was possible - as a translucent figure rippled before him. The Marauders scattered, watching in horror, as the very air seemed to coalesce around - something.

The creature screamed once, as a second, blazing-white form erupted through it, shrinking and guttering out to crash at Sinister's feet.

"Well," Sinister said, arching an eyebrow at the small brown-haired boy quivering at his feet, "Nate Grey, I presume ?"

***

What DO I do now ? Take over Genosha ? The planet ?

Oh hell. More power than I know what to do with, little Lorna, and I can't decide WHAT to do.

Oh well. I'll figure out something.

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