THE Q FAMILY REUNION
Cast of Characters
- Jacque Quentin/Mister Q--Patriarch; mutant
- Gregory Rėza/Rezurrection--Half-brother of Q; lich
- Angelika Strauss-Quentin/Angelique--Q's wife; mutant
- Alexandra Steele/The Psyentist--Q's genetic daughter; vampiric mutant
- Alexander Steele/Scorn--Xandra's fraternal twin; amphibian hybrid
- Jean Quentin/PsyKnight--Xandra's male clone; vampiric mutant
- Evelyn Queen/Queen Cobra--Genetic variant of Scorn; reptilian hybrid
- Ariel, Ariana, and Anastasia Troika/The Triune--Xandra's genetic daughters; mutants
- Sophia Steele-Knightfall/The Brainchild--Xandra's daughter; mutant
Invitations had been sent, reservations for a private island retreat made, Mister Q sat calmly in a red upholstered chair. His Victorian pocket watch was in his hand ticking away as his red eyes watched the minute hand change positions. He was arrayed in finely tailored black suit and a silken blood red tie. He spoke in a garish French accent. "Tsk, tsk. They should have been here by..." his mind and body phased through time...
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The PsyKnight
The golden son was the first to arrive, Jean Quentin dressed in his usual pristine white suit and blue tie. He was the picture of meticulous refinement, his cleanliness and structured nature defined the white knight. Opening the door to the roomy island getaway. He was greeted by a lovely blonde woman. "Hello, Dr. Quentin. Can I get you anything? A drink maybe?"
The surgeon smiled sweetly. "No, thank you, ma dame."
"Please, call me Krystal." She beamed, her deep blue eyes sparkling like sapphire framed by the shimmering gold of her hair. Krystal pulled back a few strands, her French manicured nail scraping across her throat. "Even for your more refined taste?" A pearly tooth bit down on her plump, pink lip.
The colour drained from Jean's face, and he grabbed her, thrusting her to the wall. "What is this? Did Q set you up to this?"
Krystal was taken back by the gesture with an insulted expression. "He said you'd appreciate it. Is it the blonde hair? I can change." Her hair shifted to brown then to red then to black. "I can be whatever you want."
"A shapeshifter?" Jean released her. "No, I'm sorry my father tried to involve you in his little game, Krystal. He really can be an ass sometimes." Noticing the woman's unease, he tried to ease the situation by allowing her to fulfill at least one of her given functions. He rubbed the back of his neck. "You know, I could go for some wine. A whole damn bottle. This is going to be a long night."
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The Rezurrection and the Angel
The lich and older half-brother of Q was the second to arrive before the designated hour. Despite his ancient immortality, he always tried to be punctual for those less fortunate souls who were slaves to the passing of time. He made no attempt to hid his true visage, his deathly grin visible through transparent skin, his eyes glowing vermillion. Rez always hated his younger brother for being a bastard, the mutant who watered down the arcane adept bloodline. But these mutants and genetic creations were all that was left of the sorcerer's magical lineage. Perhaps it was a kind of underhanded revenge being the one who turned Dr. Genetix and helped him formulate the vampiric strain that infected both Alexandra and Jean, as if in a way, they were his own undead children as much as Jacque's. The necromancer was unable to convince his half-brother to become a vampire to ensure his immortality. Q was no fool to know the power that would give Rez over him. But Rez couldn't deny the fact that through his brother was perhaps the only way left for him to reproduce his line sexually, to create a new descent of his arcane past. So, using the lingering magic within Q's veins, he taught him how to shift his consciousness to his younger self during his treks through the past timelines to maintain his youth. The House of Q was just as much the House of Rezurrection.
A white-haired woman entered not long after, her face covered by a black and white mesh veil hanging from an onyx suede hat. Angelique was once a woman of beauty. It was her greatest shame to be among her young and ageless children and genetic offshoots. They were of her genes but not of her womb. Her attractiveness was loosely held together my rigorous exercise, diet, and cosmetic surgery. But despite all, Angelique carried herself with poise, her sense of fashion never wavering as she stood like a still of a film noir decorated all in black and white. She didn't want to be here. Not with her perfect offspring and cheating husband, not to see the hybrid creatures and children created by unethical experimentation financed by the time master. She sighed.
Her melancholy was not ignored as Gregory Rėza felt drawn to her like a moth to the flame. His own relationship with his philandering bastard brother as well as Angelika's unfortunate state of aging had compelled him on several occasions to proposition the former German beauty. "Angelique."
His voice brought a shiver to her spine as if the Angel of Death himself were speaking to her. She turned a white-eyed gaze toward him as she addressed the master of undeath, her voice tinged with a perpetual accent of Saxony. "What do you want, Gregory? Have you come to torment me in this already unpleasant experience?"
The lich rushed towards her to take her hand in his, planting an unsettling kiss upon her wrinkled hand. "Oh, Angel. How often will you resist my offers to make you immortal?"
"Undead, you mean." She answered tersely from black painted lips. "Another thing for you to control. Another feather in your hat to hold against my husband."
Rez tilted his head, his dead expression shifting to one of conjured pity. "He is not worth your love. He cannot appreciate you for what I see, an angel pinned to this earth by a mortal coil."
Mrs. Quentin pulled away from him. "I don't have time for your games as well as those of my husband." She exited the room in search of her son.
A twisted smile slithered across the lich's pale face. "Oh, I have an eternity, my dear."
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The Experiments
Scorn rose from the island's beach, letting the water cascade from his specialized suit. His breathing switched to his land respiratory system of mammalian lungs. He lay down on one of the lounge chairs to revitalize his body from the long, cold swim in the heat of the solar radiation. Flicking both sets of lids over his black eyes, the amphibian lay calmly in no hurry to partake in the party within. His hypersensitive, pointed ears heard the arrivals of some of the other invites, but from his corner of the retreat, he remained unseen and undisturbed until such time he chose to entre the mad house.
His calming sunbathe was disrupted by a tall shadow. He opened a single eye and nearly jumped out of his skin. "GEEZUS." Scorn leaped up and out of the chair as he saw the serpentine form of Queen Cobra. She was dressed in a formfitting, diamond cutout black dress. Sharpened stilettos made her even taller as she towered over her fellow mutate. She shook her head with a mischievous, fanged smile.
"Mussst we alwaysss play thisss game, Ssscorn?" Her gloved hand rested upon her supple hip. "Can't we jussst be friendsss?"
"Friends, yes. Co-workers, yes. But you're a psycho bitch who tries to molest me. If you could, you know, STOP DOING THAT, then we could be friends." He shielded his light-sensitive eyes from the sun, his hand also granting him a way to not look directly at the master hypnotist. Scorn made sure to stand downwind of her pheromone control just in case. He checked his wrist (on which there was no watch). "Well, look at the time. I better go inside with all the other people." He sidestepped away from the snaky seductress into the spacious bungalow. He was trailed after by a devious Evelyn Queen.
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The Psyentist
Arriving fashionably late was the Mistress of the Mind herself, Alexandra Steele. She could feel the other minds present. There was her mother, her girls, her clone, possibly others, but they were more difficult to read. Jean opened the door for her with a pleased smile. "Welcome, Xandra."
"Jean." She gave a cool smile, stepping past him and into the main sitting room. "Where is that miserable old man, and what is his game this time?" The psychiatrist already possessed her clone's memory of the clumsy attempt by their father to set Jean up with another bimbo that Q had probably already screwed. As if a continuation of her thought, she spoke as her steel blue eyes surveyed the rest of the superhuman family, "It's really a surprise the 'family' isn't bigger. At least we haven't completely slumped into a mix-matched version of the Knightfalls."
Xandra's genetic daughters sat ambivalently on one of the plush couches in a perfect row, eyes glowing white. "Dr. Steele is different. We like it." The trio sensed their mother's advanced psionic ability since her departure.
"Really, girls. Nothing so much as a hello?" Her crimson lips curved into a smirk.
"Yawn. Nothing we couldn't have already have said." Each tapped their temples in unison. "Or did you want us to grow sentimental in your absence? Pardon us while we slobber on the floor like infant triplets, Dr. Steele." Their words were cold, but there was a glint of reassurance in their telepathic link, one that warmed Alexandra's heart. Slightly.
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… Q found himself in the middle of a crowded room, "…now." His lips curved into a mischievous smile. "Right on queue."
Scorn rolled his black eyes as the first to address the late arrival. "You always use that line. It's not f*cking clever." The amphibious mutate hated the man, as most of the room did. Not only was the pompous Frenchmen... well, that, he was also amoral and uncaring for his own family. He meddled with them only for his own amusement.
Jean arched his shaped brows at the red-eyed mutant. "Late to your own party, father?"
Alexandra meanwhile folded her arms over her chest. "One would think a master of time would be more punctual."
Rezurrection added to familial roast, "What can be expected of mortals?" His transparent white lips curled into a redundant smile, his skeletal visage always sporting a mirthless grin.
Queen Cobra had already nearly slithered over to Scorn to torment the object of her affections. The amphibian jumped behind his twin sister in terror. "Seriously, who invited the creepy snake lady?"
"Oh, Ssscorn. That'sss no way to talk to a lady." Her tongue flicked as her pheromones wafted towards him. He made the terrible mistake of looking into her eyes and was instantly lulled into a state of compliance, his face spreading into a silly smile, intoxicated by the scent.
Xandra smacked her brother sharply across the face. "Don't look in her eyes, idiot."
"Ow!" Scorn shook himself from the trance, throwing his hands up in the air. "Well, where am I supposed to look? Her boobs?!" Evelyn cupped and adjusted her bosom suggestively with an arched brow. Scorn shuddered, crouching behind Xandra. "STAHP! That's just f*cking wrong. Q, why the hell did you invite her, you sick bastard?"
The Frenchman's brows furrowed as if in irritation, but his sadistic smirk told otherwise. "Eve is as much a part of this family as you are, son." Scorn extended a clawed middle finger with a sneer. Q glanced around. "Where is mon ange?" Angelique stepped from behind her youthful husband. "Mon amour!" Q rose from his seat to great his wife with a kiss which was swatted away by a hand flickering with electrical energy. He pouted. His son, Jean, meanwhile glared at his father before rushing to wrap his mother in a warm embrace.
Turning from his estranged wife, Jacque Quentin addressed the group. "Waiting for one more, I think?"
As if it was her introduction, the Brainchild flung wide the doors with her mind. Her hands were buried deep in her baggy jeans pockets, midriff exposed under a worn jacket. "You rang?"
As if drawn by some magnetic force, Alexandra flew to the teenager. "Sophia..." Her ice blue eyes glimmered, a burning sensation threatening tears. Her red lips were drawn into a glistening smile of white. Despite the cool and casual persona she employed, Sophia could not resist the loving arms of her mother. "Mother..." The two embraced finally. One of the few things Mr. Q did right.
Ariel, Ariana, and Anastasia were not so impressed. "Oh, goodie. Competition." The linked voices echoed. "She's really all that special because she was pushed out of Dr. Steele's vagina?" This wasn't entirely accurate as the baby Sophia had been removed via Caesarian section.* As Sophia hugged her mother she shot a middle finger towards the Triune. The trio scoffed in unison, rolling their white eyes.
Scorn elbowed Jean. "Soooooo, John. Who's that?"
Jean leaned in with a massive grin to whisper to Scorn's sensitive ear. "That's Sophia, Xandra's daughter."
The amphibian pulled out his uniquely crafted knife with a glare in no particular direction. "Who's the father?"
Jean's face darkened under knit brows. "She hasn't allowed me access to that memory."
Scorn's brow arched. "Really? Well… um, nothing personal maybe. Maybe she is just really uncomfortable with the thought of you seeing her… you know…" Shifting his weight awkwardly, the mutate decided to end the conversation. "I think I'm going to go drown myself in something alcoholic." He scurried off followed quickly by his reptilian shadow.
Jacque rubbed his hands together eagerly. He stood in his fancy suit with red satin accents in his more youthful body to address the room. "Well, now that we're all here... I think it's time we made up for all those missed Thanksgivings. If you would all join me in the dining room, merci."
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