Exiles : Worlds on Fire (Chapter 1)

 
   Nightblade was frustrated and angry, mostly at himself. He tried a million times to figure out how to sneak on enemy’s territory without killing half of his little army. But it was hopeless. Mole Man himself, his monstrous bodyguard, Moloids and people turned into walking puppets, and Abyss knows what else – Nightblade was forced to accept that he was outnumbered and outgunned.

A man must know his limits. You are a soldier, not a warlord.

He missed Callisto. She could laugh at his fruitless attempts, see the possibilities he missed and come up with something better than a suicide attack.

She is the woman worth dying for. For her sake, you must try again.

Just as Nightblade was going to return to the map, his sensitive hearing picked up footsteps near the Headquarters.

"Uncle Jason?" It was Squidboy, little amphibian mutant and the youngest of Morlocks.

  "What’s the matter, Sammy?"

  "Will you tell me a story?"

  "A what?!" Nightblade looked at the boy like he was insane.

  "A story. Lorelei said you traveled a lot before the War".

  "So?"

  "You must know a lot of good stories".

  "My stories are not for children, Sammy".

  "Melek said that this en-ti-re world is not a place for children" Sammy seemed to have a problem with the word "entire".

  "Then Melek is a wise man. I'm sure he knows a lot of good stories. Why don't you ask him for one?"

  "I want YOUR story. Melek always talks about his God, but I like the stories about heroes more. His God never sent angels with flaming swords against Sentinels, it was heroes like you and Aunt Callisto who saved us!"

"Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere, kid".

"Tell me a story. Pleeaase..?"

  One of the most dangerous men of the century, knee deep in the dead, and yet children are never afraid of me. Why?

  Nightblade knew that must concentrate on important things. Things like a waterproof plan of attack on Mole Man, or a shortage of supplies.

  He glanced at the map, then at the boy, then back on the map, and surrendered.

  Metallic skull grinned at him from the shelf. Nightblade was sure that the skull is about to say "Sucker!"

    * * *

    A moment ago they were in the middle of desert, half-blind from the sun in the eyes. Portal opened and threw six Exiles into complete darkness.

Crimson Dynamo turned on the lights on her armor, allowing Exiles to see each other.

"Ugh! I hate teleportation!" Nico exclaimed, wiping her mouth with a handkerchief.

  Against his will, Captain Spider felt sympathetic for the young witch. His own condition wasn’t much better – hanging upside down and jumping from the roofs he could handle, but the sensation of dimensional travel was new to him, and Flash felt bile rise up in his throat. Yelena Belova blessed the years of High-G training. Raza Longknife and Darwin just shrugged it off; Darwin needed 0.25 sec to adapt, and former Starjammer was used to stress.

  Rockman barely noticed his companions. He was too busy pounding the ground and cursing Timebroker.

  Nico Minoru lit up the blue fire on the end of her magic staff, struggling with the fierce headache, and looked around. They were in a large cavern with several entrances, but Nico couldn’t see more, it was too dark. A foul stench assaulted her nostrils.

  "Wow! I hope it’s not the world of Dungeons and Dragons! I don’t feel like I’m strong enough to slay a dragon!"

  Yelena parried, "Dragons don’t exist".

  "What about dinosaurs in Savage Land? I’ve read about them in Daily Bugle".

  "Silence!!!"

  Darwin waited until he got the attention of Exiles, Rockman excluded, and said with grim determination, "I know where Timebroker sent us. It’s Subterranea". He explained, "Subterranea is an underground realm beneath the earth’s surface. Caves, tunnels, underground lakes. Nobody has the map of Subterranea yet, because this place is too dangerous to explore. Strange creatures inhabit this realm, so don’t be surprised if you meet the dragon".

  "You've been there before?"

  "I found a guide. I doubt I’d be so lucky twice".

  "Wait, it’s an underground realm? You mean Timebroker changed his mind and sent Rockman home?"

  This caught Rockman’s attention. He stood up, and started examining the walls of the cavern, using the light on his helmet to illuminate the area. Then Rockman shook his head and said with a disappointment in his voice, "This place isn’t my Abyssia. Not even close".

  "Are you sure?"

  "Trust me. If you've spent as much time underground as I did, you'd never be confused. This place is much lower than I've ever been".

  "So Rocky has nothing to do with our unexpected teleportation. Then why are we here?"

  "I can answer your question," Darwin demonstrated Tallus on his hand. "I just got a message from Timebroker. You must rescue Callisto".

    * * *

  "Once upon a time, in a kingdom of Wundagore, there was a dark fairy princess. Her name was Raven because of her hair color and because she brought strife, wars and disasters wherever she went. All the evil she did for years twisted and disfigured her, so the dark faerie, once so beautiful, now looked like a walking nightmare. But she used magical illusions to disguise herself.

  One day Raven appeared at a royal palace claiming to be a princess from the little kingdom of Attilan. This country was destroyed by the horde of barbarians a year ago, and nobody could disprove her claims. The King, enchanted by Raven’s false beauty, fell in love with her at the first sight. He decided to marry her. When his most trusted advisors tried to dissuade the King, he just ignored them.

  Two years passed and the new Queen gave birth to a prince. It was the most beautiful child the world ever seen, with golden locks, blue eyes and a smile that can light up a room. That's why he was called Prince Charming.   

  But the second prince inherited mother's appearances. He was half-man, half-beast. Queen quickly came up with a story that that the court wizard cursed her child. The King was madly in love with his wife, he believed her lies easily. And the old man who never hurt a fly in his life was thrown in jail and then executed".

  Squidboy protested, "It's not fair! If he was a wizard, why his magic didn’t show him who the queen really was?"

Nightblade smiled, trying not to show up the fangs. "The wizard was an old man, Sammy, his magic wasn't nearly as strong as before. And dark fairies were always masters of deception".

"But…"

"Good people suffer, even in fairy tales. Now do you want to hear the story or not?"

Sammy covered his mouth with a palm, clear indication that he wants more.

 "The wizard was executed, but the newborn prince stayed as ugly as before. There were whispers at the court that the boy must die too, before something bad happens. King refused to listen. The boy grew up, the most lonely and unhappy person in the realm. King hated the thought that his son is cursed and he is powerless to help, so he estranged himself from the boy's life. Queen Raven only cared about her perfect Charming. Court jester called the boy Prince Changeling, and the name stuck.

Young prince saw pity and fear in the eyes of people and hated pity more than fear. Nobody tried to befriend the boy, too afraid of his ‘curse’. Only the old weapon master treated the prince as harsh as the other students. Changeling became one of the greatest warriors in Wundagore, but what’s the point of winning the tournaments, if no lady wants you to defend her honor?

One day Changeling heard about the fierce Ogre who attacked villages in the mountains. Five knights tried to slay the monster, but the Ogre killed all of them. Changeling saw it as his chance to prove himself worthy. He left the palace without saying a word to anybody.

 He returned a week later, exhausted and covered by blood and dirt. A head of Ogre was in a sack tied to a saddle .

King saw that his son grew up and turned into a true warrior. He knew why prince went against an Ogre, and felt a deep shame that he neglected his father's duties. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out of it. And Prince Changeling felt all his hopes crushed. He dropped the head on a floor and ran away.

Weapon master found him later; Changeling was hiding in the old tower. Old soldier said, "Damn good work, son - to kill the Ogre single-handily and live to tell about it. You are the best warrior I've ever trained".

  Prince answered with a scowl, "I can become the best warrior in the whole world, I can kill all the monsters in Wundagore, but I'd always be Changeling, the cursed one, half-man, half-beast. You, master, are the only person in this palace who'd mourn if I die".

"Then you have no reason to stay in Wundagore".

"Don’t tell me you know the place where freaks like me aren’t hated and feared?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Ever heard about Gray Company?"

"I’ve read something about them. They are mercenaries?"

  "They are more than mercenaries, son. They are the best and the worst soldiers in the world, because they have nothing to lose. Outcasts, heretics, criminals, some of them are not even humans. The soldiers of Gray Company are survivors. They lost battles, but never a war. And, what's more important, The Captain isn't going to ask who are you and where do you come from. Just be loyal to your comrades in arms, and don't show your back in the fight".

  Nightblade looked at Sammy and found out that the boy fell asleep. A rare smile touched Jason's serious face.

Then he remembered what he was doing before the boy came, and the smile faded. Callisto was held prisoner by a madman who built his little kingdom under the nose of Terrax, and Terrax could crush ten of so-called Rulers of All Subterranea without breaking a sweat.    

  Without Callisto there was no hope for Morlocks. Nightblade knew his limits. He'd never be able to replace her.

  The skull grinned at him, he found it all funny.

  Nightblade growled, "You always had a twisted sense of humor, don't you, brother? Laugh while you still can. One day I’ll find a way to melt adamantium".

  Jason walked out of the room. He felt an urge to stretch muscles.

  Standing in the middle of training hall, he unsheathed his daggers. Priceless twin blades once belonged to the Indian mutant Warpath. Jason never sharpened them – there was no need, daggers were made of vibranium. Nightblade imagined for a moment that Callisto is back; they sparred in this hall as often as they could, both took great sense of satisfaction from training sessions. But it was just a wishful thinking.

He took a fighting stance. Twin blades gracefully slashed the air, Jason’s face was calm, his mind was clear, his body moved automatically, without any need for conscious thought. Daggers flew through the air, slicing through unseen enemies…

  To stop an inch from slashing Porcupine’s throat.

  "Never. Interrupt. My. Training!" he crossed daggers on the Morlock’s neck, drawing blood.

  Porcupine breathed out, "Intruders!"

  "Go on," Nightblade cleaned the blades and sheathed them.

  "Shatter discovered them in the west tunnels. They must be surface dwellers, too much noise. We can handle it; there are just five of them. Or six, that’s nothing".

"Nothing? Are you kidding me? You forgot Avengers? A group of six men in capes and masks destroyed twenty Sentinels before they were killed".

"I thought government of the Upworld killed all the capes?"

  "He thought! Better leave thinking to me! And gather all the guns. Let’s see who decided to pay us a visit".

  * * *

  Darwin explained, "In my world Callisto was a leader of Morlocks, mutants who left the surface to live in the abandoned underground tunnels".

"Ugh! Who’d want to live down there?"

  "Most of the Morlocks were disfigured by their mutations and were unable to pass as normal humans. They suffered from the worst kinds of abuse. X-Men were able to defend themselves; Morlocks couldn’t. Imagine yourself as a real spider-man, with eight limbs, four pairs of eyes and covered with chitin, but without extra strength or agility. Imagine this if you can; that’s how Morlock feels".

"Thanks, but no thanks, pal. The smell in the air and all these creepy tunnels are bad enough, I don’t want to imagine more horrors".

  Yelena reminded impatiently, "You were talking about Callisto".

"She is an exception to the rules. Callisto looks like a normal woman, minus an eye plus scars all over the body. Tough woman; she won her title in a fight and killed three pretenders".

  Captain Spider winked at him, "Friend of yours?"

Darwin ignored the implication, "More like a reluctant ally. I had something her Morlocks desperately needed, so she allowed me to use their tunnels as a hideout".

  Captain Spider mockingly joked, "Makes me wonder why you didn’t stay with them, Baldy. Hey, I just figured out what’s your problem with X-Men! They turned you down because your power is only useful to save your ass".

  Raza Longknife warned the wall-crawler, "Choose thy words wisely, lad. Darwin I hath a honor of knowin’ kill’d two warriors from Th’ Imperial Guard of Shi’ar. Don’t assume companion of ours is less dangerous". Something was in the simple words of Raza’s warning, or was it his tone, but Flash took a message and refrained from smart-ass comments.

  Darwin looked at Starjammer gratefully and continued, "What’s the most unusual is that we are too far from the surface. Morlocks don’t live so deep down. And if they live here - what could happen on the surface to force them into it? Can it be connected to our assignment to save Callisto?"

  Yelena touched his shoulder, "Don't forget – she isn't Callisto you knew".

  "Different universe, looking at our company it’s hard to forget. Callisto might be nothing like the woman I remember; and maybe Morlocks too".

  Crimson Dynamo coughed, "We are about to find it out, Darwin". She raised her voice. "Hey, mystery man, why don’t you stop playing hide and seek? Your camouflage power is impressive, you fooled my infra-red sensors, but I detected your weapons. The game is over, you can show up".

  "Are you insa…," Captain Spider stopped when a tall humanoid figure appeared out of thin air. It was a man covered with short blue fur; yellow beastly eyes slightly glowed in the dark.

  "It’s so stupid - trying to hide from the woman in power suit! I should have known better. Then again, you were so concentrated to find me, and completely overlooked my friends".

  Exiles found themselves surrounded by more than forty Morlocks. Mutants looked angry and were armed to the teeth.

  "Crap! Now I know why my spider-sense was buzzing!"

  Nico Minoru muttered, "Better late than never, you dolt".

  Leader of Morlocks smiled showing his sharp white canines, "I’m Jason Howlett, but you can call me Nightblade. Surrender!"

(To be continued...)
 
CHAPTER 2