The X-Writer's Present:
X-Factor #117 Written By Jon Bartley

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X-Writers is a non-profit group of e-mail storytellers which 
receive nothing but the richness of pride and the bulging of 
our egos as payment. X-Factor and all related characters 
are copyright to Marvel Comics Entertainment Group, Inc. 
Their owned characters have been used without their 
permission.
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"Stress"

The Dark Beast sat quietly in one of his many labs he has, 
or so he'd like to think he has. He leaned back in his chair 
and impatiently waited for one of his evil and inhumane 
experiments to conclude, so he may observe his demonic, 
yet satisfying work. His birth name is Henry McCoy and he 
came to this world twenty years ago with the help of a 
teleporter and the M'Kraan crystal, knowing exactly what it 
was he was going to do, yet was surprised with everything 
that came of his journey.

Henry moved his head to the right of him and looked at the 
lines of vials and flasks of fluids and diseases, some of 
which he had made from scratch and others he had 
obtained by simply picking up a telephone and ordered the
microbes with a fake -- cleverly faked -- credit card. The 
watch that Henry wore around his left wrist beeped, alerting 
him that his latest experiment had finished and awaited his 
approval.

The Dark Beast jumped from his seat and moved over to a 
metal machine with a fogged glass on the door of it and a 
handle which was falling off slightly. As he opened the 
handle carefully and the fog settled around him, he eagerly 
awaited to see his creation. He was shocked to see a mass 
of gooey fluids not even formed and something that 
appeared to be a skeleton laying inside of the machine. 
Henry, putting on a latex glove, touched the mass with a 
small scalpel. Everything that seemed solid before turned 
into a liquid of some kind.

"No... How can this be? After all of my careful double-
checking," he said, looking through his notes and scribbled 
pieces of paper. He could see no valid reason for this 
conclusion. The Dark Beast again checked the machine
and ran his hands and fingers around the machine. He was 
then amazed and appalled at his findings. The power supply 
to the lab had been disrupted. "Dammit -- I knew better 
than to use this lab. All the others are better supplied."

Henry's legs bulged and he turned to the flight of stairs to 
his left. He jumped and hurried up the enduring steps, each 
step bringing a new sense of danger to his mind. The stairs 
led to a junk yard where he had carefully hidden the power 
source of the lab, an engine able to hold thousands of volts 
of power in such a small space. Next to the engine was a 
satellite dish where Henry received most of the world's 
news.

The Dark Beast bolted through the small door hidden very 
well and turned to see a black boot leaning slightly on the 
dish. The boot belonged to Mr. Sinister. As Henry and 
Sinister's eyes met, McCoy recognised who it was and 
traced Sinister's body over with an even more sinister look.
Sinister held the end of a one inch thick, three pronged 
conduit and dangled it over his palm.

"McCoy, this is really the only way to get to you. As you 
spend your days searching for new ways to bend the laws 
of genetics and view the world and dream for things that 
you wish to come to be, people like me are making
good on their dreams. I trust your experiment is dead?" 
Sinister said aloud.

McCoy dropped to his knees and laid his face in the palms 
of both of his hands. "No, you didn't... That was a project 
two years in progress. The mass that is now 
undifferentiated and dying cells was a two year old life that 
was a dream *I* was making good on. Now, it is 
nothing..." The Dark Beast looked up from his hands and 
placed his eyes on Sinister. "And I can only -- Wait, isn't 
the material around your collar usually a much darker shade 
of black?" McCoy questioned.

"I- I don't believe so." Sinister claimed, agitated.

"No, I'm right." The Dark Beast pulled a large pistol from  
a holster behind his back and fired an unforgiving shot of 
hate. The shot hit "Sinister" in the stomach, yet caused an 
explosion of pure chaos and pain. The Sinister form was 
shredded away to reveal a machine of light grey colour. 
The armour that stood in Sinister's place was truly a marvel 
of science, but there lay a mortal form underneath that 
armour. As the helmet attached was removed a female head 
could be seen. She spoke.

"Hello, McCoy. In case you're unknowing of my existence, 
I am Astra." She said.

"No, I knew who you were the second I pulled myself back 
together. The questions of how and why and a few other 
beginning words started with "w" still remain. But most 
importantly, Why the use of Sinister?" Henry asked quite 
confidently.

Four feet behind Astra, the air began to take shape and 
bend as a six foot tall figure came into place. It was the true 
Sinister, pulling himself out of a very convincing cloaking 
phase. "Because, McCoy, however often and well I can 
heal, so to speak, there is always going to be someone that 
can hurt me worse than the man before him. Astra was 
guised as me for that reason, yet I have no idea why the re-
shape shifting device didn't work."

The Dark Beast smiled slightly. "Sinister... I hope that's 
really you. But really, tell me why you destroyed one of my 
pride, one of my experiments. Was it purely for 
amusement? You seem so intent on giving life that taking
life is odd in comprehend."

Sinister stepped forward a few steps and paced back and 
forth, from left to right, staying away from Beast. He 
stroked his chin and contemplated what he was about to say 
carefully. "I am a genius. As are you. I become very ill 
when someone asks me to explain my methods. I'm sure 
you can relate, but my trip here was to let you understand 
something: I AM watching you. I know where you are. 
Don't do anything to upset me or maybe something else
dear to you may end up like today's experiment." Sinister 
began to walk away.

Astra reached into a compartment on her armour and 
handed McCoy a small 14.4 MB formatted disk. McCoy 
caught the disk and examines it. The label read: Genetic 
Studies, 1976 - 89. This caused curiosity to surge through 
Henry's veins. "Sinister asks that you look at that. Don't ask 
me why, I don't have the slightest idea what's on that disk. 
But according to Sinister, the title is quite the fooling of it 
and that the data should keep you busy." Astra said.

Astra walked around the bulk of garbage in the junk yard, 
her boots that enclosed most of her legs crushed shards of 
glass, and met up with Sinister. He turned to her and 
quietly said, "Stick around for a while. Cloak yourself, if 
possible, get into his lab and watch him like a hawk.
Your work for me is simply that. But make sure no one -- 
no one -- finds this gem." Sinister reached out to a tele-
phone pole and twisted the empty air in front of him. The 
empty space began to take the shape of a man hanging
by tight bonds and restraints. "Make sure no one finds out 
that Alex Summers is right under their noses." Sinister 
twists the cloaking device around Alex's waist and seals his 
devious plan very carefully.

"Yes, but why would Beast want Alex so bad?" Astra 
asked.

"Because, my dear, I'm not so sure it's Summers he wants 
so badly, so much as what comes of having Summers in his 
possession. Oh yes, and I think Henry will be gone for a 
few days after some Nate Grey. Grey doesn't interest me 
right now. Just get into his lab and I assure you that Grey
will destroy Beast." Sinister said, smiling.

*****

In his lab again, Henry sat in his seat once more and turned 
around. The air in the lab was foggy from the failed 
experiment and the fog that emerged from the machine. 
Henry inserted the disk Threnody gave him into his
computer drive halfway and then turned around in his seat 
again, thinking heavily.

As McCoy ventured into Sinister's strange visit and 
pondered it's meaning over and over again, Random 
entered the lab. Random, morphing his arm from the three 
canal blast form to a human arm form, walked over to 
McCoy.

"What just happened? I heard voices from above just when 
the power went out." Random asked.

"Oh," McCoy began, "the power never left, only the 
electricity left the lab. Sinister was here, but that's nothing 
to worry over. Listen, Random. Something just came into 
my head. Do you know what this is?" McCoy held up
a small device about the size of a button to Random's face.

"No. But I bet I'm gonna like what it is this thing does."

"I'm sure you will. It's a cloaking device. But in addition to 
that, it may disrupt the pattern that makes cloaking possible. 
Yet -- and here's the lovely part -- it won't affect the way 
your cloaking device works. I caught Sinister in a cloaking 
mode, and though I doubt he'll show around here, I think 
Astra, Sinister's faithful one, will be snooping around. Just
activate the two devices at once and if she comes within 
twenty feet of you, she'll become visible." McCoy sat back 
in his seat. "If she does show, just kill her and have done 
with. NO, Bring her inside the lab. I'll have my way with 
her when I return. I'm leaving for a while."

Random hooked the small device to his vest and activated 
it. "You should've shown this to me earlier."

*****

At Falls Edge, the home base for X-Factor, the government 
funded mutant team, two of the mutants that consider 
themselves a part of that team playfully sit in one of the 
lounging rooms doing absolutely nothing. The first of the 
two, Kyle Gibney, the Wild Child, rested his tired body on 
a green couch with a large blue bowl of grapes sitting on his 
stomach. Every few seconds he would pop a few grapes in 
his mouth and would toss a lesser amount to Lorna, who 
was the other person in the room.

Lorna Dane, Polaris, one of the few mutants still around 
from the second X-Factor team, sat at a wooden table with 
a newspaper spread in front of her and a lap top computer 
was seated two feet across from her. She was playing a 
computer game of chess against a computer and looked up 
every few seconds to make an uneducated move. Lorna 
opened her mouth and said, "All right, 'nother one right 
here!"

Kyle threw two more grapes across the room to Lorna. One 
hit the wall behind her and the other hit the back of her 
mouth causing her to gag for a second or two. "Oops," 
Kyle exclaimed quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Just that that hurt a bit. Watch yourself next time!" 
Lorna warned.

Wild Child sat back on the couch and began to think. "Hey, 
Polaris, I've got a --"

"Oh no, I've told you. After six it's, "Hey, LORNA, I've got 
a --." Okay?" she corrected.

"Okay. I've got a question for you. Do you ever think what 
you'd do if X-Factor was shelved for some reason?"

"I've got 'family', Kyle. And I try not to think about it too 
much. I've got a new lease on life now. Why the hell would 
X-Factor be shelved? Is there anything running around in 
that head of yours that would make you think we're doing 
inadequate work?"

Kyle sighed. "No, but with the government shutdown, 
federal workers being laid off, and parks being closed and 
all this kind of crap, doesn't the fact that X-Factor being cut 
instead of Medicare by the president drive something in you 
to consider other places? It drives me crazy! And you know
that for all Mr. President's talk, he's as scared of mutants as 
the next guy. I bet a million bucks that X-Factor is the first 
thing to go. Nobody wants mutants in Washington or any-
thing to do with the American government!"

Lorna pulled her face up from the paper. "If you want to 
start talking job security, then it's Polaris. X-Factor has 
been supported by so many senators on every coast it's not 
EVEN funny. I know that one senator would try his best to 
get the president to cut everything BUT X-Factor. He's the
one that passed the bill clearly stating that mutant hate 
groups were illegal. It's as illegal as prostitution in Oregon. 
That's why the F.O.H is a forty-nine state group. Like... last 
month! In the paper many senators supported X-Factor like 
traditional family values. These are men that want a nation 
of happy, shiny people. They would sell their souls to the 
devil himself to get a country like the kind they grew up in. 
And that's why I hate them sooooo much." Lorna sat back 
in her chair, now agitated.

"If I knew that it upset you --"

"SHUTTUP! Just shuttup! I don't you to talk to me any-
more for the rest of the day. You've upset me enough, so 
just be quiet." Lorna shut her lap top computer down and 
sighed loudly.

The doors to the lounging room opened rather loudly and 
Forge, the leader of X-Factor stepped in. "Wild Child?"

"Yes, sir?" Wild Child said, pulling himself up from the 
couch.

Forge twiddled his fingers on the inside of the door frame. 
"Tomorrow morning, I need you to head out to South 
Carolina and pick up this guy." Forge threw a folder on the 
table Lorna was seated at. "His name is Adam Moore. 
Government calls him, Stapple. He won't be any trouble."

"So, I can leave my mutant powers here?"

"Yeah, the folder has everything you'll need for the trip." 
Forge turned his head rather quickly to Lorna. "Oh, and 
Lorna, if Val Cooper calls tonight, phone me on my private 
line and tell me."

Lorna pulled herself up from the table and walked fast over 
to Forge. "Is something happening?"

"Yes," Forge confessed. "There's an unidentified mutant in 
Val Cooper's hands that nobody can even begin to figure 
who it is."

Lorna's eyes tell her shocked expression well. "So... this is -
- or at least could be -- a rumour and not that truth, but you 
need to know if anything is happening?"

"Not only is she cute, but she learns quick-like." Kyle spoke 
out, moving over to the table and fingering through the 
folder. "Does Stapple need to be home by a certain time, 
Forge?"

"No, just bring him here by noon and Val will be here with 
the necessary people."

"I thought he wasn't going to be any trouble?" Wild Child 
admitted still looking through the brown folder.

"He isn't, but he's mentally retarded -- Don't ask me the 
length of the retardation, I don't know -- and he has trouble 
forming an independent action. The hospital in South 
Carolina will help you get him from his room into the car, 
but other than that he won't bother you." Forge said.

As Forge left the room, Lorna folded her newspaper and 
rolled it up. With Kyle's head buried deep within the folder 
of his mission, Lorna pulled the rolled newspaper back and 
struck him across the back of his head.

"Hey, that hurt!" Kyle exclaimed.

Smiling slightly, she replied, "Yeah, I'm sorry that I yelled 
at you. The paranoia gets to me sometimes."

"I'm sorry, too. I guess I've found more than zero friends 
here and I was afraid of losing them. The paranoia gets to 
us all sometimes. Hey, wanna Senior Mint?" Kyle offered, 
rubbing the back of his head.

"Okay."

*****

Outside Beast's lab somewhere among the piles of garbage, 
the cloaked Random walked around the main engine of the 
Dark Beast's electricity source, not expecting to see any-
thing much save for the few small birds that happen to 
venture this way by accident. Random took another bite out
of his candy bar, which because it was being held by his 
hand was a part of the cloaking field. Random started to 
slightly and quietly sing a song.

"I like pleasure spiked with pain..." He took another bite 
from his candy. "And music... is just plain hard to friggin' 
remember!" He was yelling by this point at himself mostly, 
yet had to blame the song lyrics for slipping out of his head 
under the pressure. "Oh yeah, It's my Aeroplane. Songbird
sweet with sour... Say, I think this is my prize behind door 
number two!"

Random moved over to a telephone pole that was emitting 
a static from his cloaking/cloaking interference device. The 
static grew fierce as he stepped closer to the pole. When he 
stood no more than a foot from the static, Random began 
to touch the object surrounding the interference. "Either
Threnody is really stupid or she's just plain drunk." He 
pulled what seemed to be the mid-section of the static and 
was exposed to the figure. Random pulled away a device 
from the figure's belt and looked at it hard as he waited for 
the person to be pulled out of cloak. "Love and hate. Get it 
all wrong. She cut me right back down to --" His eyebrows 
raised halfway up his forehead to see the body of Alex 
Summers hanging from the pole. "On second thought, I cut 
her down, right down to hell." Random then seconds from 
that moment wore a hideous grin...

To Be Continued...

Next Issue: Random plots a "Devious" attack against X-
Factor. Wild Child finds Stapple. Plus: A shape-shifting 
mutant causes chaos in Washington!
More on Astra in: "The Attack"

--
*Marysia* | The Original Holy |  "Just love me, fear
 Keeper of the  |   Virgin of the   | me, do as I say and I
Labyrinth Flame | Church of Xbooks  |  will be your slave."
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