The Book of New Mutants #2 : Live Free or Die...

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The Book of New Mutants #2
Post by Alexander "Cadmus" Baptiste on Dec 1, 2006, 5:59am

The Book of New Mutants #2
Live Free or Die…

Cover Description: Vaughan, Greg and Nadia are standing back to back to back upon Apocalypse's giant open hand.

~~~

Do you want to here the story of how it all went to hell in just a little bit more detail?

I was pacing back and forth, never taking my eyes off of my feet and covering about five feet of space before turning around again. I took a quick look at my old stopwatch - I had been pacing for about five minutes. I wonder for the briefest of moments when I got my hands on the watch. It must have been fairly soon after the original escape because I can't really remember a time when I didn't have it. They weren't late but that didn't stop me from worrying. I worry about everything. It's what I do. I'm a worrywart. Take a look out a window, assuming it isn't smashed in. Can you blame me? We had been talking about doing this for some time. Years. Never seriously… not really. But we always talked about how great it would be to go back to the pens and free others as we had been freed. For us it was fluke, really. McCoy pushed Greg's mutation too far and the surge of power back fired on him and allowed us to get out. A fluke. We prayed, begged and burned with the desire for somebody to come and free us from hell but in the end a fluke got us out. We knew from first hand experience that the others in the pens wanted somebody to save them as much as we did. Either that or they wanted the swift release of death. We also knew about that from first hand experience. A couple months back we started talking about the idea seriously for the first time. We hammered out a plan. We went about getting the information that we needed. A couple Infinites were very helpful after a little bit of "persuasion." Gave us the knowledge about the pens that we needed to make this plan work. So here we are. Dear God, what were we thinking?

"You alright bro? You still feeling up to this?"

I looked up. It was Greg. "Yeah right. As if it would matter if I wasn't."

"True enough," he had shrugged, "we're in way too deep to back out now. Team Foghorn is about to make their move which will pretty much commit us to this and Team Wile E is already inside."

I sighed. "Why did we let Nadia come up with the team names again?"

"Because." Greg smiled, "Commander's sister gets privileges. Think of it like an unspoken rank. Just pull it together Vaughan. I want you to have my back in there. We can do this."

"Don't worry about me big boss. Have I ever let you down?"

"Repeatedly. But never when it counts. It counts today Vaughan. Just keep that in mind. I gotta go check on the others. The first two teams ought to be in place. They'll be making their moves soon. Then we make ours."

Greg walked off towards some of the others while I stood there staring at the wall. It felt as if I had been waiting there for a thousand years. A century at the very least. But I looked back to the stopwatch. Not even five minutes. Team Wile E still wasn't late. Team Wile E. Little girls have no place fighting private wars. Powers or no. I knew even then that we were screwed. But I didn't know it… you know? I mean I had known that we were screwed pretty much anytime we did anything. Despite that we had managed to dodge Infinites, Marauders and what ever other boot licking soldiers of Apocalypse that we met for the last eleven years. I figured that it was just my typical over worried knowledge of being screwed that would be proven wrong within the hour. For once in my life I was right and it had to be about this…

The power cut off. The lights we could see through the windows and all the exterior lights had just went dark. Team Wile E had done their first job and done it well. Silence passed over the group as we all recognized that it was time. We huddled up outside the wall. It was almost time to move in. We just had to wait for the signal. Wait for it… wait for it…

"LIVE FREE OR DIE!"

And there it was. Cole. He liked to call himself Loudmouth. A bit on the nose if you ask me but, hey, it's what he liked to be called. He was a few years older than Greg and me. At ten years old, he was the only one in Subdivision 17 older than six. Most were broken down by McCoy by the time they got that old. He lead us for a while but soon enough the reigns naturally passed to Greg, four years younger or not. It just came naturally to him, you know? Cole's gift was his voice. He could modulate it in almost whatever way he wanted to. He could talk in tones only dogs could hear. He could shatter things with a sonic scream. And, as in this case, he could simply yell really, really, loudly. There probably wasn't a person in a ten mile radius that didn't catch that. The second one was coming.

"WE BRING LIBERTY AND WE BRING DEATH!"

I made my move. The moment he screamed out "We" I extended my arms out towards the wall. Like I had done a million times before I felt outwards to the molecules of air floating around me - and worked my magic. The vibrating wave of air tore forwards from me and shook the section of the wall to pieces on impact. Cole had just said "Death." With the sound of his voice being as loud as it was, pretty much everything else within the mile nearest to him was muted. Nobody inside had heard me take down a wall to make our entrance. Our ears were ringing but phase one was a complete success. It's pity that we all know how this turns out.

Cole's voice didn't just serve to get us in silently. He drew the pens biggest guns - Sinister's Mutant Elite Force - to the other side of the complex. Those damned prelates were tough but victory wouldn't be a cake walk for them. Cole had back up, who right about now were pelting the complex with attacks to help draw even more forces to fight them. With any luck, we figured, enough Infinites would follow the MEF that our work inside would go off largely unimpeded. We weren't really counting on it, but a mutant can dream right? We were in, navigating the pathways leading to Subdivision 17. There were many more to be saved, we knew. But we were trying to be realistic. Realistic. The idea sounds laughable now. We figured that if we only focused on one pen that our chances of success would increase significantly. And we knew from our Infinite "informants" that once they rebuilt Subdivision 17 after we got out, it went right back to it's original function - housing children that the Beast wanted to play with. We had talked it over but it didn't take long. We almost unanimously decided that those children came first. The path was familiar. We had changed so much in those eleven years but the breeding pens had remained largely the same. Things were going great. We were traveling for a good five minutes without a hitch. Luck was on our side. Then luck decided to kick us in our collective balls. That was what I was thinking then. I had no idea how worse it would get.

Soon after the five minute mark we met up with our first resistance - a small wave of Infinites that had stayed behind. They were obviously surprised to see us. They had been ordered to stay behind as a precautionary measure and they clearly didn't expect to have to do anything. Those few moments of confusion probably saved us from being riddled with bullets. Our main defensive guy, Armament, had got so caught up in the moment that he hadn't put up that one way force field of his that he was supposed to have surrounded our group with to keep us from being, well, riddled with bullets. Had the Infinites we met up with been on their toes it would have all ended right there. I would say that it was the first of many mistakes but that wasn't true. Our first mistake was being there in the first place. The shock of seeing the gun toting Infinites got Armament's ass in gear and he put a force field between them and us just as they opened fire. The bullets ricocheted off the field harmlessly as we continued to advance, picking up speed now that those jerk wads had opened fire and alerted the compound that it was a two pronged attack. When we got a few feet away, Terry - Tank, he liked to be called… another name that was a bit on the nose - took full advantage of the "one way" feature of Armament's shields and leapt through it. The bullets bounced off him mostly without effect. It probably felt to him as if a dozen people were to snap elastic bands at you or me. Not exactly painless, sure, but Terry had a high pain threshold. Which is something the Infinites before us learned all too late as he tore through them. The first one's head… I guess exploded would be the right term to use… as he put his fist through it. A moment afterwards he delivered a technically lacking but decidedly efficient roundhouse that tore another one damn near in half. The Infinites paused at his strength… his brutality. Greg took the moment to wave his hand and pull the remaining Infinites in two different directions as if he was Moses, parting the Red Sea. We ran past the downed group but Terry stayed behind to make sure they didn't come up behind us. Things were looking up.

We were barely a minute away from our destination. I was getting worried. Okay, I was getting more worried. Since we entered we had been guided by the red tinted emergency lights that went on after Team Wile E shut down the power. They were still on. I started to fear that something had happened to Team Wile E. But my fears were put to rest in seconds, instilling me with an undeserved sense of confidence. Team Wile E had managed to get to the auxiliary power generator and shut it down. We were working in pitch blackness now. Or at least the pen residents were. Night vision contacts. Incredibly high tech shit. We could see clear as day. If money had any real value in Apocalypse's America these would have required you to have more money than God to get them. As things stand, they only required a very, very large amount of violence. Who we leveled that violence against is a story for another time. We knew they would have their own night vision tech but from what we got out of our "informants" it wasn't exactly standard issue for every soldier stationed inside. How likely was it, after all, that not just one but both of their power sources would be knocked out? He broke out into the area. We could see Infinites all over the place feeling around in what, for them, was pitch black darkness. The temptation to start picking them off was great… oh was it great. But Greg saw the look in my eyes and put a hand on my shoulder that I knew meant "That's not what we're here for. Not today." We made our way to the lone pen occupying Subdivision 17 and looked down into it. They were kids alright. No older than we were when we got out. The whole not surviving long past six thing clearly had not changed. They were huddled together. Scared. Nadia was the one that whispered down into pen.

"Be quiet and move quickly. We're going to get you out of here. Come to the corner and feel for the ladder. Follow my voice."

On cue, Armament extended a force field down into the pen, willing it into the form of a ladder. Once again it felt like a thousand years went by. More like two minutes. The kids got out of the pen okay. It was time to break the fuck out of there. Armament was to keep them covered, with a shield surrounding them as we made our retreat. He got the field up and we were prepared to jet. Every thing had gone off without a hitch. But then the first of two big hitches happened. The lights went back on. Confusion ran through the group as our eyes adjusted to the real light again. When our eyes finished making the adjustment we were able to see the second hitch. Apocalypse.

"Such ingenuity. And from mere children. Know that The Ancient One is impressed. Take that compliment with you to the grave."

Everything went to shit. Infinites poured in from every passage way. And freaking Apocalypse was there. It's like I said in the log… I don't know why he was there. An inspection perhaps. To discuss something with McCoy and Sinister. I didn't know then and I still haven't the foggiest clue. But all that matters is that he was there. We never planned for it. Hell, is it even possible to plan for Apocalypse? I doubt it. I looked at the ground behind him. It was Team Wile E. Five of us Renegades, all with gifts more given to subterfuge than to combat. They probably didn't last ten seconds against Apocalypse. Sinister had come up behind us through the passage that we used, with over a dozen Infinites behind him. He was dragging Terry by his hair. There was a hole in his head that looked like it could have been drilled there and blood covered his face. In eleven years I had never even seen Terry bleed before. Part of me wondered how the hell Sinister managed it for a second before it sunk in that Terry was dead. Greg was looking around, no doubt trying to find an option that involved living. There was no easy way out. For the first time it probably dawned on him that there was no way out period. But he had to do something, give some order. So he did. "Armament, protect the children and get the fuck out of here at the first opportunity. The rest of you, scatter. We don't go down without a fight - they can't kill us all." Shows what he knew.

His words put some kind of burst of adrenaline in us all because before we knew it we were screaming our credo - "Live free or die!" - and running off into different directions and different foes. I don't think any of us really thought about the implications of a credo like that before that very moment. We had been in bad situations before but here we were in the belly of the beast facing the man himself. Our group wasn't exactly small - there were 25 of us in all. Five were dead at Apocalypse's feet already. Seven were outside fighting the Mutant Elite Force. One was dead at Sinister's feet. And Armament was occupied keeping a shield around himself and the children. That left eleven of us. Against countless Infinites. We had managed against worse odds. But something about six of us already being dead, not knowing the status of seven of us and having stared Apocalypse in the face made those odds seem plenty bad. I would tell you more about the others but I think that, too, is something for another time. Better you get to know them during a story with a happy ending.

Greg had said to scatter. So we scattered. I was far too focused on the enemies before me to really keep track of my allies at this point. About six Infinites were raising their weapons towards me. That was about as far at they got before I stamped my right foot on the ground. I vibrated the molecules in the ground to create what became a seismic wave that extended before me. The miniature earthquake knocked the group down and let me close the gap between us. As one was standing up I vibrated my right hand through his head, grabbing and pulling out a small chunk of his brain as it passed on through. I wanted so very badly to take my time with this. I could have made it so very much more painful and done it with more style. But time was not a luxury that I could afford at the moment. As the next closest one to me was rising I forwent vibrating the ground and pointed - it was sheer theatrics really, I had learned to extend the following effect from any part of my body without a gesture but never could stop myself from pointing - directly at his forehead. The following vibroshock blast shook his skull to pieces just like it had done to the wall earlier. The others were getting to their feet and would have their guns on me in the merest of moments. I released a massive vibroshock blast that hit all them and sent them flying. Unfocused like that, the attack wasn't deadly at all. They probably got away with a broken bone or two and even that wasn't too likely. But the alternative was taking a few bullets. And unlike Terry, I couldn't power through them like they were snapped elastic bands. I wasn't a fan of the kid gloves approach but with this many of them and with more of them turning towards me after seeing that I was more dangerous than I looked I had little alternative - I began to let fly wave after wave of vibroshock blasts. I wasn't racking up any kills like this but I was staying alive and that was what counted. Unfortunately not all of my comrades could say that.

Orwell, Erebus and Thunder had all fallen. Armament's shields were barely hanging on. Had to give Nadia credit - she was cleaning house. Some douche bag had hit her with an energy blast and that was all she needed to dominate. She had turned herself into a living mass of energy and was "firing" herself through Infinites left, right and center. Were it not for other problems, she may have helped bring us a victory. But there were other problems. My eyes turned to Apocalypse. Something told me that the only reason he had not yet ended this debacle single handedly was that Greg, Geforce as he had us call him on the battle field, had opposed him. It's just like I mentioned in the log - he was the best of us. He had the most control and the most raw power. Littering the path between where he had been when I last saw him and where he was fighting Apocalypse at that moment were dozens of Infinite bodies that had all been crushed to the size of a basketball. At the end of the day, he was the reason that we had survived as long as we had. I don't know how possible it is to actually put up a fight against Apocalypse, but Geforce came incredibly close. As I watched, Apocalypse let fly a shimmering blast of energy that Geforce redirected with a gravimetric shield towards a cluster of Infinites. Geforce responded with a thrust of gravimetric force that, unless my eyes betrayed me, actually dented Apocalypse ever so slightly. The battle converted into a close range scuffle as Apocalypse leveled a blow against Geforce that could have caused his head to react very similarly to the head of the first Infinite Terry fought today. But Geforce saved his skin with another gravimetric force field and proceeded to return old Blue Lips' attack in kind. Stealing a small amount of gravity from everything for miles around, Geforce was able to charge himself up enough to strike back at Apocalypse on a less than embarrassing level. The blows even caused Apocalypse to move slightly which you would think was impossible from the stories they tell. The fight didn't look like it was going all that badly. It continued like that for all of the next thirty seconds. Then Apocalypse got serious. The next blow dropped Geforce to the ground. His force field hadn't broken but it looked… cracked? He began to reinforce it while at the same time putting as much pressure as possible on Apocalypse. It was now that I noticed that everything had paused as the two most powerful mutants in the room duked it out. I didn't know how long it had been like that, but considering how easy a target I must have made just staring at the fight like that it must have been a while since no one had taken a pot shot at me. So there Geforce was, putting as much pressure as he could on Apocalypse. On your common Infinite soldier, the level of force he was generating would have crushed them into a golf ball. But on Apocalypse?

"Valiant child. Truly valiant. But what, at the end of the day, is mere valiance against Apocalypse?"

With no visible injuries, Apocalypse bent over and grabbed Geforce in a colossal bear hug. Geforce was clearly putting every last ounce of power he had into his force field but in the end it was useless. Apocalypse squeezed, and the force field popped as if it weren't even there. The sound of Greg's bones cracking and crushing echoed through Subdivision 17. Apocalypse dropped him, dead, onto the floor.

"What a pity. You had years to go before you should have fought me. Years. Had you come to me at the right time we could have found who was truly fit to survive…"

You know the rest of the sad song. After shock passed I ordered the immediate retreat. We clearly didn't stand a chance. We had to get out and save who we could immediately. Nadia, understandably, didn't agree. She blasted herself towards Apocalypse but never even made it that far. Sinister hit her energy form with an energy blast of his own. I don't know how it worked, perhaps it was a counter frequency or something, but Nadia returned to flesh and blood on the spot and dropped to the ground. Sinister snapped an inhibitor collar around her neck and just like that she was a resident of the pens again. She wasn't the only one. They dropped like flies around me. A couple got killed in the panic but more of them were captured which, frankly, was worse. Armament's shields finally gave in to the pressure. McCoy took him from behind with a swift kick that knocked him out. We were either dead or captured. All was lost. I was the last one. But I wasn't there by the time attention was put on me. I reverted to doing the first thing I had learned to do with my powers - vibrating until I became intangible. Then I ran. I ran through Infinites, I ran through walls, maybe even Apocalypse at some point. When I got outside my suspicions were confirmed: Team Foghorn was killed at the hands of the Mutant Elite Force. I didn't stop. I didn't stop for hours. I didn't even know I could run that long. I didn't stop until I got here.

So here I sit. Broken hearted. Two days ago I would have finished the rhyme. Something about shit and farting, you know the diddy. Angel's Heaven they call it. I don't know how anybody could have the audacity to imply that there's a heaven knowing full well that no God could let this world stand. Everyone I know is either dead or facing an even worse fate as I speak. And here I am useless. Heh. "Never when it counts." Guess I proved you wrong eh, Greg. Guess I -

Please turn away. I got some serious drinking to do.


Re: The Book of New Mutants #2
Post by Alexander "Cadmus" Baptiste on Dec 1, 2006, 6:05am

I know I said that the next one would be a Nadia solo adventure… I guess I lied.


Re: The Book of New Mutants #2
Post by Roxanne "Madrock" Madison on Dec 1, 2006, 9:30am

Dec 1, 2006, 6:05am, Alexander "Cadmus" Baptiste wrote:Infinites in two different directions as if he was Moses, parting the Red Sea.

;D Been watching Braveheart have we?

Anyway, this was some good stuff, real good stuff. Apocalypse's mannerisms seemed to be dead on, and he has the whole badass thing going on, which must be tough to nail…at least, it seems like it's tough to nail, since he rarely has it in the comics. This was, like 90% fight, and even though writing like that's famous for being repetitive crap (*cough*Eragon*wheeze*), you fought past that and managed to give great characterization for a group of heroes that's about to die. I won't say I shed any tears, but your writing was such that I cared about the death of characters besides Greg, Nadia, and Vaughan, characters who I'd only read about just now. And, while I'm speaking of Vaughan, Vaughan's voice is really coming through; maybe I'm pegging it wrong, but he's got this sort of Noir feel that's perfect for AoA. So kudos on that.

My one nitpick, and don't take this the wrong way, is your tendency towards large paragraphs; it's something that's fairly consistent in your writing, and it's the only real problem I ever have reading your stuff. I've got a habit of skimming over large paragraphs, and I think most people do…it's just natural. It would be a lot easier to read your stuff if you spaced things out a bit. I hope I don't sound condescending or anything; I only suggest this because I love reading your stuff, and hope for anything to make it easier…


Re: The Book of New Mutants #2
Post by Last Hero on Dec 1, 2006, 9:43am

I will read this later. Been busy prepping the final details of the missions. Typically I can script in advance since I know the characters, this time was a bit more planning on the fly.


Re: The Book of New Mutants #2
Post by Alexander "Cadmus" Baptiste on Dec 1, 2006, 12:58pm

Not condescending at all. I welcome any tips that I can get. Thanks for the kind words as well. I sort of just wrote Apocalypse as I like to see him. Sure I had Greg fight back - and clearly I've powered him up massively* in the AoA - but ultimately Apocalypse was going to be dominating and brutal.

My writing is typically all in the third person (obviously) but I decided to play around with switching to first for the duration of the AoA plot. So far I'm not disliking it.

*Meant to mention it earlier but Greg's power up wasn't entirely arbitrary. Where in 1982 continuity he's had his powers for a few months, here he had been at it for eleven years. Same with Nadia, who was aware of her surroundings (aware enough to tell that Greg died) despite the energy form where in regular continuity she can only carry one thought at a time like that.


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