From 9339141K@student.gla.ac.ukThu Feb 15 11:14:07 1996
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 13:35:57 BST
From: Marysia <9339141K@student.gla.ac.uk>
Reply to: x-writers@minuteman.com
To: x-writers@minuteman.com
Subject: X-Factor #118 


X-Writers is a non-profit group of e-mail storytellers that 
write tales using Marvel characters. X-Factor and all related 
characters are copyright to Marvel Comics Entertainment 
Group, Inc. I have used them without permission and 
receive no money for it. 

This issue contains some things such as violence and adult 
language. If you find these things disturbing or don't 
tolerate it, then you'd better not read on. In other words: 
parental direction... I mean, parental detection... I mean, 
read it with someone that can tell you that these aren't 
acceptable in our society.

The X-Writer's Present:
X-Factor #118 Written By Jon Bartley
"The Attack"

Wild Child, Kyle Gibney, drove a small, red car onto a dirt 
road, steering the wheel while trying to read a small napkin 
of directions to a mental hospital in South Carolina. As he 
saw a four story hospital up ahead of the road, he dropped 
the napkin and picked up a doughnut from the doughnut 
box in the passenger's seat. Jelly doughnuts rule, he 
thought. Forge, leader of X-Factor, had sent Kyle to pick 
up a boy from a South Carolina hospital.  Much to Kyle's 
surprise, the trip wasn't exhausting and Forge assured him
that the boy would be no trouble to bring back. That boy 
was Adam Moore, a young man named Stapple for reasons 
unclear to Kyle.

As Wild Child approached the hospital, a woman in her 
mid-thirties estimated by first glance walked over to the car, 
placing her hand on the passenger side car door and 
opened, readying a seat for Stapple. She spoke out. "Hello, 
I'm Adam's nurse, Margaret Stew. I'm sure you are Mr. 
Gibney?"

As Kyle pulled himself from his seat and out of the car, he 
said, "Who? Oh, Stapple. Yes, I am. You'll have to forgive 
me. You see, I'm from X-Factor and in the early hours of 
the day, I answer to code-names. I'm Wild Child, will 
Stapple be long?"

The nurse prepared the seat for Adam to sit himself in with 
a blanket on the seat and one at the floor as Kyle moved to 
her side of the car, putting on a pair of wrap around sun-
glasses. "No, he won't. I do hate that name, Stapple. He 
should be coming out in a few minutes."

"Do you have any idea why he's called that?"

"Yes, he has a mutant power. Doctors have put in his file 
that -- though it hasn't been seen -- Adam can "staple" a 
genetic memo into a person's genetic makeup, causing that 
person to adapt. Poor boy, he was to be executed this 
Friday."

Kyle choked on her words. "Wow, why is that? I hear he 
couldn't do much of anything."

"True, but there's a loophole in South Carolina's laws. He's 
a mutant and he can't form an independent action. Under 
our laws, he isn't even alive. A waste of flesh, the governor 
said. A waste of space, too. I truly believe that he is a victim 
of his own powers, he probably stapled a memo to himself 
with his power when his parents split up. A child in a shaky
marriage with a power like that isn't right." Nurse Stew 
leaned up against that car and waited for the guards to bring 
Adam out.

"I can imagine," Wild Child said. "If he did do that, then X-
Factor, and the help of a few specialists can help unstaple 
that memo. I just hate it when kids are suffering from their 
parents mistakes when neither the parents or the children 
can help it."

"You live, you learn."

*****

Within the lab of The Dark Beast, Henry McCoy,  a just as 
dark beast walks around the lab. One by the name of 
Marshall Evan Stone III, Random. Sixteen and an half 
minutes ago, he brought from outside the lab a helpless 
version of Alex Summers. Thinking only of the lab and 
perhaps himself mixed in with it all, Random attached Alex 
onto the wall restraints in the lab, the ones McCoy uses 
when his creations are bad. In McCoy's absence, Random 
began to pace harder and in different directions. He knew 
what the penalty was going to be for bringing a Summers 
family member into this lab, yet he felt compelled by his 
capture to gloat to McCoy wherever he might be at this
moment. Random decided quickly. He dodged himself 
across the room and sat in McCoy's chair, feeling the juices 
of genius pouring into his body. The lap top computer was 
already on. Random punched few keys, while 
accomplishing much.

He reached for a headset to his right and attached it to his 
head. A small black box on the screen of the computer 
appeared before his eyes. In a few moments, he would be 
speaking with The Dark Beast wherever his whereabouts
may be. McCoy had set it up so that anyone that needed to 
could contact him. The slightest touch of the keyboard, a 
scanning of Beast's genetic code throughout the world, and 
presto, there they were talking through a remarkable and 
quite crystal clear satellite connection. Random waited.
After intense waiting and his patience suffering a brutal 
beating, the connection was made and Beast's ugly face 
appeared in the box.

"This is McCoy, speak." the computer speakers answered.

Random turned a box that sat on a shelf in front of him on 
so that McCoy would be able to see his face. "Yes, it's 
Random."

McCoy looked into his box, his camera. "Why are you 
speaking to me when you should be scouting for Astra? I 
demand to be answered with an *intelligent* answer."

Random sported a smug grin. "Because while I was 
scouting, I ran into a piece of great importance to you. I'll 
say two words: Alex Summers."

These words caught McCoy's attention. He stared deep into 
the camera box. "Two words that separate mean nothing, 
yet together mean joyous poetry.... Where is the young Mr. 
Summers now?" McCoy's face was a bright grin.

Random sat back in his seat. "He's here in the lab in 
shack..."

"I am shocked and disgusted with your choices in my 
absence. To bring Summers into the lab is to commit 
suicide to the entire lab. What if Devious is around playing? 
Make sure that Alex -- or Devious -- are out of the lab. I 
don't care what's done with Summers as long as they are 
nowhere near each other. I care too much for Devious. 
More than any Summers man or woman." The screen went 
blank and Random heard the empty connection static.
After the disconnection, Random slumped in the seat he sat 
in and felt as if his bottom didn't fit in it right. He felt like 
he betrayed McCoy by bringing Summers into the lab.

Random came to his feet and began to march into the cage 
room. He stopped when he heard a crackling, an annoyance 
behind his back. When he turned, the crackling became 
louder and two feet above his head, sparks were seen in the 
shape of a small person's figure. With hesitation, Random 
morphed his left arm into three blast canals and fired an 
enhanced blast. Upon impact in the area of the crackling, a 
small explosion took place and a female figure was knocked 
free from the blast by slipping out of the explosion by some 
unknown procedure. The female figure fell to the ground. 
Random wore a casual smile by this moment. "I'm not 
going to *even* ask why you're here, but I bet my life that 
you're Astra, the sneak McCoy told me about. Did I answer 
the 60 Million Dollar question right?"

The woman pulled herself to her feet and sighed. "I am. 
But please before you fire a -" Her words were cut off by 
the beginning sounds of Random's second shot. The blast 
didn't even hit her hard enough to cause pain. The blast 
simply passed through her and Astra vanished. Proud of his 
work, Random sported an even more evil grin and began to 
check around the lab for her. He hated teleporters.

"I really hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not finished nor 
will I be as long as the astral plane exists." Random glanced 
upwards and saw Astra floating above his head.

"How'd you do that? What are you, a transporter?"

"No, I'm not. Just the soul and mind of a dead woman who 
refused to die. I am an astral projection of the late Kimberly 
Pierce." Astra was a red-headed, six foot tall woman 
wearing a nice machine-like armour that seemed more in 
touch with reality than her skin. "If you try to blast at me
again, the machinery behind me will be the only thing to 
suffer. I can pull myself back together, for I am a being that 
lives on the astral plane. Astral plane, Astra, get it? The 
only other thing you hurt is the space I was in when you 
pushed me out of reality. It's much like trying to live in a 
zone where bombs have been set off. Sure you can walk on 
it and examine it, but it's just plain crappy to be in."

Random morphed his left arm back into the human form. 
"Y'know, in all my battles, this one is the only one where 
I've learned more listening and talking than I have butting 
up my fists and takin' a swing. Excuse me, I have something 
to do."

Astra lowered herself to Random's level. "Aren't you going 
to ask me why I'm here?"

He tossed her his small cloaking device from his vest. "No. 
You told me I can't hurt you. And I'm going to do what I'm 
going to do. So will you. Cloak so I don't have to see you 
while you do it. There's not much I can do about it, if 
Sinister finds out something, he finds out. You're fit to 
survive, Astra. Be glad you are."

*****

In Washington, District of Columbia, Dr. Val Cooper 
poured herself a cold cup of coffee from the pot brewing in 
her office since four o'clock this morning. Her machine was 
broke and fixing it meant to ask a man who would nine 
times out of ten cheat her on the fee and labour of working 
on it, just because she was a woman and had something 
most men didn't know how to use: a brain and common 
sense. So, settling for cold coffee was how her day went. 
Who needs warm coffee anyway, she often asked herself. I 
do, she'd often answer herself.

Val moved back over to her desk where a young, shape-
shifting, morphing mutant sat, impatiently. She hadn't 
caught his name but she had to admit, he had an innocent 
face. She sat down and took a sip of her coffee. "Can I get 
you a cup of coffee... uh?"

"My name is Sydney. And no, thank you though. I'm sorry 
to tell you, but I can't help you. I'm sworn to a life of *not* 
getting involved with teams such as the ones you... lead, is 
that a correct term?"

"No, it isn't, but close enough. I've got this order -- I need 
to fill it out now that I mention it -- to pick up a man named 
Spoor from Muir Isle. It'll take a while to get processed. 
You see, bringing feral mutant killers into this country isn't 
liked by most, so orders need to be placed."

Sydney shook his head. "I wish I could help. I know your 
type. I get involved with helping you bring him to this 
country and -- BOOM! I'm all of a sudden contracted as 
some military agent or something. My sister is -- I guess I 
could call her mentally ill. Well, not mentally well is a better
term. But family comes first in my life. I'm sorry."

"So am I." Val pulled herself from her chair as Sydney did. 
"I'm sorry to be losing someone who can do what he 
pleases with his own body. Now, remember -- if you 
change your mind, I can always help you out with earning
some money for college. The army doesn't take too kindly 
to mutants enrolling and that's something you have to state, 
so I can help you out with much of the training that the 
army requires. X-Factor is one of the few things that 
*does* stick out on a resume and impresses a lot of people 
when it comes to getting jobs."

"I'll keep that in mind." Sydney left her office. Val began to 
walk to her chair after walking him to the door and started 
to scan over her planning book and appointments. She had 
sixty minutes to waste before a meeting to determine the 
progress of X-Factor. It was a weekly meeting and she 
hated it to the fullest extent. The meeting was almost stupid 
as far as she was concerned. "How many of the American 
people and mutant rights groups are going to protest if X-
Factor is banned?" Val asked constantly of everyone.

Suddenly from outside her office, a voice could be heard 
loud and clear: "Hey! Stop him, the little $%#@ stole my 
wallet!" She recognised it as belonging to Sam Waterton 
from down the hall. Val jumped from her desk and dodged 
out her office door, just in time to nudge shoulders with 
Sam.

"Sam, calm down... Where?" Val looked at where Sam's 
finger was pointing to. It was a boy running down the hall 
with a wallet. No one could get a good look at the boy's 
face, but had he not morphed into a small cat he would've 
gotten away without witnesses. Val shook her head. "Yeah, 
you just use your powers to break the laws *my* group 
protects."

*****

Inside McCoy's lab, Random, in the cage room of the lab, 
walked down the narrow strip of the walkway, stopping in 
the middle of the strip and bending to his knees. He glanced 
in the cage in the middle of them all, this one being a little 
darker than the rest and smelling of rotting chicken bones 
and mouldy tea. Random twiddled his fingers through the
bars, making baby noises. "You home, Devious?"

The sounds of rolling over can be heard from the cage as a 
green, scaly skinned creature pokes it's head through two of 
the bars. "Yeah... What's going on?" The voice was childish 
and almost too innocent to have been created to die.

"Devious..." Random hated to talk to the reptile as if he 
were anyway responsible for it. He was, but didn't like to 
admit it to himself. "Would you like to go on a trip?"

"Oooh! A trip? Where are we going? I want to see the zoo 
animals like last time. But Fay-towel took me so you don't 
know which zoo. I know! I saw the movies with you, so 
you know where that's at!"

"No, I'm not going with you. McCoy --," He groaned. 
"*Beast* -- wants you out of the lab for a while. Do you 
know where he told you to go if things got busy here?"

"Yeah, Falls Edge, but I need a picture, cos I can't 
remember what it looks like now. How long do I have to 
stay away?"

"Until Beast returns or until I finish what I started yester-
day. Now, I'm going to let you out of here so you can take 
your medicine... Don't try to run ahead of me." Random 
fiddled around with a long chain of keys and unlocked 
Devious' cage with less than ease. As Devious stepped out 
of the cage, he stood tall, revealing the rest of him. He was 
a five foot tall scaly skinned creation of McCoy's and was 
emotionally and psychologically three years old. He was 
physically ten years old from the time McCoy made the 
DNA to the present day.

Devious held a small rubber dog in his right hand. "Is Falls 
Edge a place where I have to leave Rovah here?"

"Naw, go ahead and take whatever you want." Random 
walked Devious down the narrow strip in the cage room 
and quickly walked over to a small cabinet. He retrieved a 
small container of pills and handed them to Devious. "You
know how much you're supposed to take?"

"Uh-huh."

Handing him a glass of cool water with condensation 
accumulating on the outside of the glass, Random waited 
for Devious to swallow the pills and water without rushing 
him. To a child like Devious, the pills are something he
has always taken. To him, they are nothing out of the 
ordinary, yet Random felt he was betraying Devious by 
handing him the pills that regulated his diet, helping him to 
shorten his life with each passing day and night. Minutes 
pass and Random walks the small lizard-boy out of the lab, 
making sure -- and knowing that Devious' ride-giver is good 
for his word -- that he got to Falls Edge. McCoy didn't say 
for Devious to go that far out of the lab, but survival of the 
fittest meant to Random that helping a dying man to kill 
himself was a noble thing to do. Random knew better than 
to do something that would make McCoy literally kill him, 
but the truth in all this is that Random loved Devious.

*****

Outside the Falls Edge compound, a training session is 
taking place to determine a very important piece of 
information about X-Factor. The scene was set too well. 
Lorna Dane, Polaris, walked around a dying patch of
grass, feeling for her attacker, feeling for the training to 
soothe it's magical hands into her shoulders and melt while 
relaxing her. Not far behind her was Mystique, Raven 
Darkholme, and a multi-purpose gun in her hands. It was 
the size of a regular-sized student's notebook, but it was
very useful if one knew how to use it right. A large strip of 
trees separated Mystique and Polaris from Forge and 
Shard. The hologram, Shard, seemed to be building up 
lesser amounts of static than she had on previous days. She 
carried a gun similar to Mystique's only hers was slightly
bigger and had a safety. Shard knew the importance of a 
safety when one's heart is beating fast from the heat of 
battle and anticipation of the enemy. Forge carried two 
large plasma guns on loan from Cable. In the few hours 
when he had the chance to observe the guns from the inside 
out, Forge saw the genius in their design. They were 
magnificent guns.

The battle had begun. Somewhere from the patch of trees 
jumped Sabretooth, over to Polaris and Mystique's side of 
the patch. The beast said nothing, just growled. Mystique 
pulled her weapon to eye level and Lorna pulled a shield of 
pure magnetic energy up to protect the two of them. The 
words were missing from Creed's mouth, which made 
things harder. There were many things a solid hologram 
could do, but replicating the spontaneous jokes that almost 
always emerged from Sabretooth's mouth in battle was 
something a machine could never do. It was like attending a 
club and hearing a comedian with a dark sense of humour 
entertain you while he began to attack you.

Sabretooth circled the two women, showing his teeth and 
claws, snarling and growling. "The least you could do is 
have him attack us, Forge. This growling and annoying 
circling is unlike anything he does, I know." Mystique 
testified.

Shard came from behind Creed with a plasma attack 
coming from her fingertips. The pink energy tickled the 
monster's back and he turned around and charged her. The 
real Creed didn't do it that way. A joke here and there is 
how he handled it. Physical attacks with emotional attacks. 
If one is hurt verbally, then they're concentration is going to 
be very off.

Creed passed through Shard, becoming a little disoriented 
from not feeling a solid victim hit his arms. He did 
accomplish knocking her gun from her hand. Shard began 
to build static, but as soon as it came, it went. "Hey
I'm -- going kick your sorry butt for doing that!" She was 
relieved that the static was only a few seconds, but was still 
a little worried.

"Walk the walk you talk so well, Shard. Words don't mean 
anything here if they don't get anything done!" Forge 
attested to the young hologram. He then, with the hologram 
of Creed occupied with Shard, quickly raised his plasma 
gun and pressed it against Creed's right temple and fired. 
More static than Forge had seen build up on Shard 
appeared on Creed up and down, as the injured hologram 
ran to recollect himself and his programming. Forge
tossed Polaris, who was six feet away, one of his plasma 
guns in the free moment. She didn't bother catching it with 
her hands, for she knew what he was suggesting.

Polaris caught the metallic gun with her magnetic powers 
and began to peal away the outer casing. Small metal pieces 
fell away to the ground and all that was left by the time 
Creed had planned his next attack was close to twenty 
bullets all aimed for Creed's chest. "Mystique, set me up."

Raven fired a shot unlike any of the previous. The shot 
blew Sabretooth back to the ground and left a hole in the 
left portion of his chest. Around the wound, small streams 
of static began to build and run wild. "That's right, Polaris. 
Take your time," Mystique said, sarcastically waving her
around.  Lorna, still holding the bullets in the air around her 
with her powers, pushed the heads of the bullets, igniting 
the plasma voltage within them and silently pushing them 
ahead to the wound of Creed's, already healing according to 
his programming.

The instant the plasma bullets entered his flesh, setting 
themselves in the irritated muscle, nesting neatly, Polaris 
commanded them let go of the plasma voltage. The entire 
upper cavity of the holographic Sabretooth's chest 
exploded, forming aftershocks of plasma and tossing empty 
holograms of static streams in every direction. As Creed fell 
to the ground the hologram vanished after ending a preset 
life level, Lorna lowered her magnetic shield. "Well, 
Forge," she began with a gloating voice. "I think we do 
pretty good without Kyle."

"That being the purpose for this exercise, I would have to 
say you did well. You mutilated that fake Sabretooth. As I 
recall, the purpose was to put him down and disable him." 
Forge crossed his arms.

"I don't think you made that clear. In fact, your words were, 
"Let's just see how you perform in battle without a team-
mate." Next you were going to put me out of battle." 
Mystique said.

"I may have --"

"Just admit you're not perfect!" Lorna said as the other two 
team-mates thought of saying it with her.

"I neglected to mention that I -- Oh, hell. I forgot. There!"

*****

In a secluded place within the United States, that are often 
at times segregated and separated on many things, the 
human Sean Pierce sat in a chair reading the paper as his 
sister, Astra, told him of her day.

" -- I then cloaked myself, gritted my teeth, and watched 
him. His mind, when I probed it, was quite loving around a 
creation of McCoy's -- Devious. Devious is something 
strange, a boy within a monster." Astra sat back and
awaited her brother's response.

He lifted his head. "You were saying something impor-
tant?" Astra sighed. "I'm kidding. I heard. What about 
Sinister?"

"I think he went to go visit our friend in congress. He did... 
well... yes, quite well when he faced Henry. It could've 
have gone better had --"

"Am I hearing my own sister tell me that I did a less than 
satisfying job --" A voice shattered it's way into the 
conversation. Sinister approached Sean and Astra and he 
stopped talking as his body changed into a lesser form: less 
muscular, less in stature and overall, amateurish. The
form was a teenage boy about sixteen with short brown 
hair. " -- in my portrayal as Sinister."

"Listen to me, Sydney. It could've gone better had you not 
entered the wrong information into my cloaking device. It's 
a damn good thing that you came out of cloak and morphed 
into Sinister simultaneously. Henry obviously thought you 
were a fake as well." Astra stood up and walked to her 
brother.

"I was under pressure, I think I did a fine job under the 
circumstances. I was called to Dr. Valerie Cooper's office. 
She knows I exist. She was kind to me. You told me she 
wasn't like that. You told me..."

"Sydney, I'm going to tell you that Cooper is like a 
murderer. Around others close to her, she'll confess it all 
and not hide anything. In front of new people that she 
wants to get something from, she is the nicest of them all." 
Sean attested.

"Well, since you're in the mood to answer questions: Why 
Sinister and why McCoy? What if Sinister, the true one, 
talked to McCoy and that was why he did what he did? 
Acted the way he did?"

"Sinister is true to his name. I introduced Astra to McCoy 
once when you were Sinister before. I know McCoy knows 
if Sinister was a fake, Astra was as well. I also know where 
Sinister is. Like a true illusionist, I must know where the 
true item is if I am going to create a fake one."

(Not really) THE END

Next Issue: "The Devious" story line begins with McCoy's 
Devious attacking X-Factor. Kyle returns with Stapple. 
And Fatale returns to the lab with no prior knowledge of 
the childish lizard! All in X-Factor #119: "The Devious:
Part One --- I Am Me Only When I'm Naked."

--
*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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