X-MEN ETERNITY

Exiles/Weapon X #1: New Arrivals

Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language

DISCLAIMER: The X-Men are a copyright of Marvel Comics. I don't own them, but this is only non-profit fan fiction. No money is involved and no infringement is intended.

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Earth, House of M Reality, 5 minutes before Uncanny X-Men #1

“So….um….I guess this is it, huh?” said Barnell Bohusk, otherwise known as the avian-like mutant Beak, glancing over at Moria Mactaggert, a woman who was dead in what he thought was his own world yet was now checking the unconscious form of his girlfriend Angel, then back at the Exiles, a group of reality-hoppers that he was literally forced into a couple of months ago. He hated it at first, but over time it became kind of an interesting ride for him seeing different ways his world could have turned out. He even was able to help his friends save the Multiverse itself as well as the bugs that they have called the Timebreakers that inhabited the Panoptichron where they had been manipulating the team from the beginning.

However, even though a small part of him was starting to like being an Exile, he still missed Angel, his home and his children. Barnell was very surprised though, when they returned to his reality and found it vastly changed, with mutants being the majority of the world and led by the House of M. When he tried to find Angel, who was a model in this world, he was shocked to find that she didn’t even recognize and turned away from him with a laugh.

To make matters worse, the group had run into Moria who was in hiding as she tried to find her son Proteus, another person that Barnell was sure was dead but apparently wasn’t in this changed world, who was killing person after person as he tried to find a host body for himself, his latest turning out to be Angel herself. It was a hard fight once they eventually found her, especially with Proteus’ ability to alter reality itself messing with their surroundings as well as themselves. It was Calvin Rankin a.k.a Mimic who eventually turned the tide by offering himself up as a host, then quickly switched to his metal form just as Proteus entered him before he could fully take over his body. This quickly drove him out quickly and into the containment unit that Moira had with her to contain him.

“You know…you could always come back with us, Beak.” Said the lavender-skinned, green-eyed teleporter known as Blink with a slight smile as she checked on the condition of Mimic and helped him up with the assistance of their teammate Morph “It’s like you said, this isn’t your world. I’m sure if we head back to the Crystal Palace that Heather and the bugs have finally figured out what happened here and maybe find a way to fix it.”

“Except this world is better off for him, pup,” said Sabretooth, her teammate and mentor. “At least here mutants are the majority and he doesn’t have to hide himself while he is walking around. As for his gal not noticing him, I’m sure the kid here will figure something out.”

“He’s right, Blink…” Beak said with a slight smile “Don’t get me wrong, hopping from reality to reality was actually starting to get interesting a little bit, but this is my home and where I belong, even if it has been turned completely topsy-turvy. Like Sabretooth said, I’m sure I’ll get Angel to remember me…somehow…”

“Well, I don’t know what the hell you guys are talking about with reality changing and all this other stuff…” said Moira as she looked at the containment unit that now held Proteus “But you gave me at least a chance to help out my son and for that I would be forever grateful and never will forget.”

The Exiles looked at each other for a second with expressions of worry and confusion on their face as they all knew that Dr. Moira Mactaggert was supposed to be dead in this world, having been murdered by Mystique according to what Dr. Heather Hudson, their final team member, had told them right after their first meeting with her.

Sabretooth looked like he was about to say something when he suddenly looked down to the Tallus, the golden bracelet with a ruby in the center that he wore that kept him in contact with the Crystal Palace “What’s up Heather? Huh, you sure? Aw Hell….”

“Uh Oh, ‘Aw Hell’” said the bald white skinned shape shifter Morph “That’s Number Three on the Top 10 Phrases That Usually Come Before Something Really Bad.”

“Shut up Morph…” growled Sabretooth as he looked to the group and said “Heather and the bugs just found out the cause of all this. Apparently this reality’s Scarlet Witch’s powers have been increased big time and she’s the one who changed this place and if the readings they’re receiving are right then she’s about to do it again right about now!!!.”

“Then let’s get out of here ASAP!” said Calvin as he moved away from Blink and Morph to stand on his own. He still felt a little weird due to Proteus’ attacks on his body and almost taking him over completely, but he knew that wasn’t important now. “Sorry Beak, I wish we could do a longer goodbye…”

“No need to explain, Mimic, you guys better get out of here right now.” Said Barnell as he gave each of them a quick hug, even Sabretooth as he said “Listen, I rather be deep-fried than be dragged into this again, but I’ll miss you guys. If you ever have time and this reality gets back to normal, come back and say hi to me, my baby, and my kids, ok?”

“Sounds good Beak…” Sabretooth said with a smile as he waved goodbye with the others then said “Ok, Heather, we’re ready, get us the heck out of here!!” With a BLINK the quartet disappeared heading back to the Crystal Palace….

“Goodbye…” whispered Barnell with a slight smile as his eyes glistened for a bit before wiping them to turn to look at Moira and said “Angel, she’ll be ok, right?”

“She is a lucky lass, that’s for sure…” said Moira “Thankfully, Kevin didn’t possess her long enough for the disintegration of her body to…” She suddenly stopped as she turned around in fear to see the containment unit start to spark “God Above, No please No!! It was supposed to hold!!!”

“Now come on, Mother, haven’t you realized by now that nothing can hold me?” said Proteus as he exploded out of the unit “Except of course, for a worthwhile host which considering our relation I believe you will do quite nicely!!!” He then leaped into his mother’s body before either of them could react, making her scream as Barnell could do nothing but look on in shock. She then turned to look at him, her eyes completely white as she said with a mischievous evil grin in a combination of both Moria’s and Proteus’ voices “Oh and just to let you know you walking rotisserie meal, I wasn’t deaf in that unit so I heard all your talk about alternate realities and stuff. Sounds like fun, so I’ll think I’ll check these places out…”

He/She then disappeared leaving Barnell alone and scared by the unconscious Angel. “Oh, this is bad, very bad!!!” he murmured then shouted “Sabretooth!!! Dr. Hudson!! Morph!!! Please tell me you saw that!!! We have a problem here!!!”

Barnell then heard a noise then turned to the right and saw a huge wave of light coming towards them, enveloping everything in sight. His last thoughts before the light overtook him were mostly about hoping that the world he knew would return and that his former team was still monitoring him and his message.

Having gone through the warp between worlds more time than he cared to remember, Calvin really paid no heed to what it was like these days. The early nausea and dizziness after warping had worn off within the first couple of weeks of becoming an Exile, so all there was a few seconds of blackness then they were at their destination.

However, this time it was different once the transport was initiated. It took longer and he felt a werid….sensation…..come over his entire body, feeling both strangely good and bad at the exact same time. Once he materialized in the Crystal Palace, he fell to his knees, feeling at least twice as worse as when Proteus was inside him for those few brief seconds. After taking a few deep breaths, he stood up and opened his eyes and saw that something was very wrong as he saw Morph and Sabretooth near Heather.

“Ok, four of us go in and three of us come out….” Said Morph with a confused look on his face “Something tells me the teleporters are having a math malfunction or something like that…”

“Take at least five steps back Morph, or I’m going to chop you up so much, you’ll have no chance of recombining…” growled Sabretooth as he bared his fangs at the shapeshifter who stepped back nervously as he turned to look at Heather and said “What the hell is going on here Heather?!?!?! Where is Clarice!?!??!”

The last statement made Calvin turned around in shock as he quickly looked around the extraction chamber. Except for him and his fellow team members, the only ones around were some of the bugs as they moved frantically about the area. He looked around in shock as he looked around the chamber for any sign of his girlfriend and found none. “Clarice!?!? Oh my god, she was right with us!!! Where did she go!?!??!” he exclaimed causing everyone to turn in the direction of his voice with confused expressions on his face “Um…what’s with the looks, guys?”

“Um…” said Morph “The reason for the looks, Cal, is that you went from mega-ugly back to mega-hottie, at least from a female’s perspective definitely not mine….”

Calvin looked down at his bare forearms and realized that what Morph said was right and that the disfiguration that was caused by him mimicking Deadpool’s healing factor was gone and that he had resumed his normal appearance. *Wait a minute…* he thought *My ugly look was a side effect of having the healing factor, so if I’m back to looking normal, does that mean…* He quickly sensed for his copied abilities then swore for about 15 seconds before he said “God damn it!! All my mimicked powers are gone!!!” He quickly ran down to where Heather and the others were and said “There better be an explanation here, Heather...”

“I wish I can give you one, but I have only a little more information than you do…” Heather said with a frown “At the instant I extracted you guys, some sort of…energy storm, for lack of a better phrase, started appearing in at least dozens, maybe hundreds of worlds, including the one you just left. They don’t seem to be in any danger physically, but I’m barely getting basic readings here and can’t get a visual lock at all and there’s definitely no way to teleport you guys in without risking any more weirdness possibly happening to you guys like it happened to Calvin. It’s possible that Blink got ‘bounced’ back to Beak’s world, or got sent to another world, or…” She stopped mid-sentence as she looked at the three men, not being able to find the strength to say the third possibility that she knew was on all of their minds.

“WELL I’M NOT ACCEPTING THAT!!!” said Calvin as he hit a nearby console, causing everyone, even the bugs to react in shock. “I don’t care how long it takes, how many worlds we have to go to, or how much it costs us. I will give my life if I need to find Clarice and…”

Before he could finish his statement, the instruments around them in the chamber start beeping and flashing chaotically. One of the bugs came up to Heather and said “ Heather Hudson, Multiple Incoming Signatures!! Estimated Arrival in fifteen of your seconds!!”

“Damn it, when it rains, it pours, doesn’t it?” murmured Sabretooth “Ok, Heather, you, Cal and the bugs get behind me. Whatever or whoever is coming is definitely not going to be able to enjoy the arrival for too long before Morph and I will clean the floor with them.”

Calvin nodded and stood by Morph as he pumped himself up to gigantic size, with his hands becoming spiked fists. He may not have any of his mimicked abilities at the moment, but he was still good in a fight and he sure as hell wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing, especially if whatever or whoever they were about to face had anything to do with the loss of his powers and his girlfriend.

The instruments began beeping and flashing faster and fast until a bright light emanated from the platform causing everyone to close their eyes. The Exiles were ready to face almost anything that was going to come out, but they definitely were not expecting 7 people, 4 men and three women, fall to the floor unconscious. They ascended to the platform, followed by a few of the bugs which looked at the new arrivals with confused and curious expressions. Morph was the first to speak as he turned into a version of Sherlock Holmes, albeit with his facial features.

“It appears, Dear Exiles, that we have an unusual mystery on our hands…..”

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For most of her early life, Tabitha Smith, also known as Meltdown, had to struggle and depend on herself to get what she wanted out of life. It wasn’t until she joined up with the X-Terminators followed by the New Mutants and X-Force that she learned to let down her walls just a little bit and let people in as friends and one she let in as a little bit more. True, she had gone through some pain because of that, but she made her way through mainly due to her own will, but she was glad for those her supported her on the ways.

However, soon she wasn’t part of a group anymore, Tabitha was on her own once more, so she did what she always did and depended on herself. She managed to use her former X-Person status to get herself an interview to become an operative of a strange anti-terrorist organization called H.A.T.E and was working what magic she could as she chewed some gum when this bright white light appeared and…she couldn’t remember what happened after that.

“I swear, if I’m tied up in a plush bed with Paris and Nicole and 20 video cameras, someone is getting blown up from the inside out…” she groaned as she woke up and rubbed her eyes. It was then that she realized that she wasn’t in the same room she was in when she was interviewed, but lying on some sort of medical bed in a place made out of pink crystal with other pieces of weird equipment that made it seem like a cross between Star Trek and My Little Pony.

“Ok, this is certainly up there on the weird scale…” she said as she got to her feet and looked around to see she wasn’t the only person in there. She recognized her old X-Force teammates Domino, Danielle, Julio, and Shatterstar (Although she couldn’t figure why the last two were wearing only wearing speedos although Shatterstar had his swords strapped to his bare back). There was also Tessa, or Sage, as she heard she went by now along with Captain Britain himself and Marrow, who Tabitha had never met but knew she been an X-Person for a while like her before disappearing mysteriously.

It was then that a small brown bug carrying a tray came into the room then looked at Tabitha and said with a look of surprise, or at least it seemed like surprise “Heather Hudson!!! Arrival-4 is awake!!”

Now, Tabitha had seen a lot and dealt with a lot in her life so she felt she was pretty strong-willed more or less. However, she was still a girl so when coming across a talking bug she did what most girls would do in such a situation.

She screamed at the top of her lungs…

After a few seconds of that, she quickly drove a swift kick to the bug’s face, causing it to fall back as two larger green bugs came forward to help it up. Tabitha’s hands started to glow as she said “Ok, I don’t why you freaks grabbed me and the rest of us to whatever the heck this place is, but you are going to send us back to where we came from or I’m going to redecorate this place with bug guts!!!”

“Whoa, hold on there!!! I know it sounds crazy but they’re ok!!!” said a black woman with short dreadlocked hair and wearing a sleeveless pinkish jumpsuit with a white trench coat. “Granted, they’re the reason I’m here, which I hate, but that’s another story…”

Tabitha stared warily at the woman and lowered her fists as she said “So…who the hell are you then and where the hell are we???”

“Dr. Heather Hudson, to answer your first question…” replied the woman who smiled slightly and said “And before you say it, I know most of my duplicates are white women with long red hair.” She then looked to the people on the other beds who were starting to come around and said “Well, at least your screams woke the others up…what I have to tell you guys is somewhat of a long story and something that I prefer to tell only once…”

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“Fascinating…” said Tessa after Heather and the other Exiles explained to the new arrivals of where they were and who they were “So, you are able to transport to different timelines from this place and analyze the problems that are in each of them?”

“Yeah, but like we said, it was the bugs, or Timebreakers as we like to call them that found this place and caused the mess, not us…” said Sabretooth “We just basically got drafted into working for them, but we continue doing it since we just can’t let the multiverse fall apart and all that…”

“So, you don’t think this….energy storm….that you mentioned isn’t just part of the mess?” said Danielle, who was just as curious and amazed by their new surroundings as the rest of them, except for Marrow was sharpening a bone knife she had created and Captain Britain, who seemed to be in a sort of daze.

Heather shook her head in response to Danielle’s question and said “I don’t think so. It had just appeared just as your world’s Scarlet Witch altered reality a second time back to the way things were, if the basic readings I am getting from there are right. As I said, your reality and the others affected don’t seem to be in danger of collapse, but I definitely will not try risking teleporting you back there at the moment, considering what happened when I extracted the rest of my team.”

“So that basically leaves us with three questions…” said Marrow as she put her knife in a belt that was around her waist “Who the hell did this, why did they send the seven of us here, and when do we get to rip apart the person or persons who did this to pay them back?”

“I really can’t say why the seven of you were ejected from this reality and sent here…” said Heather as she shook her head with a frown “Most likely it was just random chance that brought you here, although the reason why is just a mystery..”

Domino sighed as she shook her head; there were two things that she hated and had sworn never to get involved in when she decided to become a hero of sorts: Time travel and alternate realities, and yet here she was involved in the latter. She then looked over to Captain Britain and said “I heard you know a lot about this stuff, Braddock. Think they’re on the level?”

Brian turned in his head in shock towards Domino, almost as if he didn’t know she was there. He was definitely confused by what was going on. Vague memories of coming back to his home reality to fix something then trying to close some sort of rift with Betsy, Rachel, Meggan, the Juggernaut and some sort of female Kurt then Meggan going into the rift and then….the next he knew he was here and he couldn’t help but feel that he lost the love of his life forever. He then took a breath as he said “I..I never heard about this place as head of the Corps on Otherworld, but I don’t think they’re lying to us either.”

Domino nodded then put a hand on his shoulder and said “I don’t know what’s going on with you now, Braddock, but we need your head in the game with us if we’re going to figure out everything and get back to where we belong.” She then looked at Heather with a serious expression on her face as she said “So, do you have any idea how this situation can be fixed so we can get home?”

“Possibly…” said Heather as she went to a keyboard and started tapping some keys “As I was trying to analyze the energy storm to see if there was anything like in the databanks, I found that several other words bore a faint residual ‘tag’, for lack of a better world, that matched the energy storm, particularly World 4534.”

“Um….no offense meant…but why is that world important? Didn’t you say there were other worlds with the..’tag’ as you put it?” said Rictor, who was now dressed in a sleeveless black bodysuit with matching gloves and a gray belt with pouches and a X-shaped buckle, with Shatterstar dressed in an identical one but in blue, with both young men having avoided Tabitha’s questions as to why they were in speedos.

“Because that world had a brief surge at the exact moment the seven of you appeared and passed out over here on the extraction platform…” said Heather.

“So you believe that it could be a companion of ours who was ejected from our reality like us?” asked Shatterstar

“At the very least, it’s a clue as to what the hell is going on here…” said Sabretooth as he ran up the steps to the platform “Heather, get us as close to the origin of the surge as you can…”

“If no one minds, I shall remain here with Dr. Hudson…” said Sage “This place is quite fascinating and I wish to learn as much about as I can.” He then looked at Dr. Hudson and said “Plus, I bet you wouldn’t mind an extra pair of human hands to assist you…”

Heather chuckled slightly and said “Not at all, Sage, it’s something I dreamed about…” glancing at some of the bugs around her who were looking at her with anger, or at least seemed like anger.

“Well…at least I got two hot mademoiselles by my side now…” Morph said with a fake French accent as changed into a mime’s outfit with a beret as he draped his arms around Meltdown and Marrow “Soooo ladies, either of you have a thing for studly white shapeshifters? I assure you the myths about us are alllll true…”

The two women glared at Morph then smiled evily at each other as Marrow took out a knife and said “I slice him open, you blow him up from the inside out?”

One of Tabitha’s hands started to glow as she looked at Morph and said “Sounds good to me…” as Morph turned into a mouse and scurried away to the platform, causing both of the women to laugh and Calvin to sigh as he walked up to the platform and thought *Something tells me this isn’t going to be easy…*

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Earth 4534

The nine mutants materialized into a wooded clearing with Marrow, Rictor, Shatterstar, Tabitha, and Danielle immediately throwing up. Domino looked a little pale but otherwise alright while Brian was suddenly grateful for their inter-reality traveling he had done as Calvin said “Sorry about that, we should’ve warned you that the first time is a doozy. You build up tolerance with each trip…”

“Well…hopefully we won’t be doing this a lot…” murmured Danielle as she stood up and brushed the snow of her pants, shivering a bit as she said “So where are we? Looks like Canada…”

Sabretooth nodded and said “On that you’re right, kid. Heather and Sage just told me that we missed the mark a little bit thanks to the remnants of the energy storm that left here. We’ll have a bit of a walk, but it’s definitely to the northwest of us. So, let’s get going…” He then started off into the woods with the others following slowly behind him.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I want to get done with this reality and out of here as soon as possible.” Said Morph “Last time, I was in Canada, it wasn’t a fun time, let me tell you. To sum it up for the newbies here, Heather and I…AUGH!!” He quickly fell to his knees, grabbing his right arm where a small pink javelin had stuck him then dissipated. Before the others could react and try to find the source of the attack, a pair of arms stretched out of the woods and wrapped up the entire group.

“Wow, so this is what it’s like to have shapeshifting powers!!!” said a young female voice as she stepped out of the woods while holding everyone in place, dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt that partially covered her face with matching leather pants and boots “I always wonder how Aunt Meggan…oh wait, got to be serious Leigh!!!” She then looked at the group and said angrily “Ok, you Marauders, I don’t how you were able to get close to us, but you’re sure as hell not going back to report to your boss, so unless you…”

Calvin raised an eyebrow as he tried to struggle to get free, wondering why the girl had stopped, then realized the cause as it seemed the girl was staring directly at him. Her arms quickly retracted as she took a few steps back nervously and said “N…no…it can’t be!!! I saw you die, you can’t be here!!” She tripped over a branch and fell on her back, her hood falling down to reveal a somewhat beautiful young woman, with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail, with green eyes and pointed ears

The nine people looked at each other and the girl with expressions of curiosity and confusion on their faces, with Calvin being the most confused of them all since the girl seemed so familiar to him. He took a few steps forward with a slight smile on his face as he said “Listen, sorry if we scared you, but we’re definitely not Marauders, as you said.” He then extended his hand and said “You said your name was Leigh, right? I’m Calvin, nice to meet you”

The girl moved back even more, but slower as she gasped when Calvin said his name. “D…Daddy??” she whispered “Is it you, is it really you? It’s Leigh…don’t you remember me???”

Everyone was shocked at what the girl said, but none more so than Calvin as he looked at the girl and said “Did you just cal me…Daddy?!?!”

END

In Issue #2: "Casualties of War"
See the other Eternity series: Uncanny X-Men, New X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor and Generation Eternity, online now!