********************************************************************** DISCLAIMER 1) This material is not used for monetary profit in any manner. It is done solely for enjoyment purposes, and as homage to the great stories and characters of Marvel Comics Group 2) All the characters, events, and locations portrayed within are recognized as property of Marvel Comics Group should they so wish. 3) This story has been written by Samy Merchi . Any commentary in the form of compliments or critique is welcomed, and eagerly hoped for. So go ahead and drop me a line telling me what you thought, okay? It'll make my day. ;) 4) This story is being archived at least at my fanfic page at . Previous parts can be found there if needed. ********************************************************************** ******************* * NOT YOUR LEADER * ******************* CHAPTER THREE: Reunion "By the Bright Lady...!!" "What the flamin'...??" "Oh my stars and garters..." "Isit?" "I have just killed Douglock", Roberto explained calmly, as everyone's attention was transfixed on the coffin. He had just tossed the Excalibur member Douglock into the coffin housing the remains of his former teammate Douglas Ramsey. The reason for everyone's surprise was the odd movement starting in the coffin, the yellow techno-organic matter of Douglock starting to fluctuate and ripple as it touched the skeleton of Douglas Ramsey, and in agonizing waves, start to move onto the bones. A horrible scream suddenly tore thru the air from Douglock's larynx, as he was being discorporated alive. "My god, let me over!" Henry McCoy exclaimed, bounding over towards Ramsey's grave, hopping over the headstones, his mind torn between saving Douglock, and the scientific curiosity over the process. "No one will approach the coffin", Roberto said sharply, and rose to the air above the coffin where the transformations were happening. "No one will get involved. Get back, Dr McCoy!" he hissed, a bolt of solar energy scorching the earth before the Beast, and stopping him in his tracks. "The boy is in agony, Sunspot!!" McCoy snapped. "You have -got- to let me help him!!" "Nothing can help him anymore", Roberto replied with a hiss. "Didn't you hear me? I just killed him." "Oh yeah??" Iceman chimed in. "What's that make you, a villain??" Roberto's head slowly turned to regard Bobby. "Not just 'a' villain", he replied with a wrinkled nose. "The best." "Roberto, I do not know what has gotten into you! Let Henry over!" Ororo commanded. "No", Roberto snapped. "If anyone takes one step towards the coffin, I will burn the flesh clean off their bones!" "Well, tough!" Iceman said, and started rushing forward on his ice slide. "I don't have bones, so you can just try! I'm not gonna let that boy just be there and scream while you play Mr Sinister!!" SHOOM!!! Iceman's forward progress was suddenly halted by crackling black energy overwhelming him like a tidal wave, and blasting him back with all its horrible force. And all its horrible heat. The fact that Iceman had some time ago switched from merely using a protective ice shell, into actually transforming his entire body into ice, now proved his quick defeat, as the solar blast instantly liquified his ice form, spattering droplets of water all over the lawn. Marrow's eyes widened, but she was the only one present, aside from Roberto himself, who let out no sound at the sight. "GODDESS!!" Ororo gasped, her eyes wide with horror, and no longer any hesitation in her mind, she called for the weather in her mind, and it answered, her eternal lover, striking down with a thunderclap of fury and a flash brighter than the sun, as a bolt of electricity blasted down from the skies and hit Roberto. Roberto's face constricted in pain. His energy powers absorbed the electricity, but it was simply too much, too fast. Agony wracked his body as pains feeling very similar went thru the body of Douglock below him, in the coffin, the Phalanx's form destabilizing and discorporating. To his relief, Roberto did not utter a sound. It would have been below a Da Costa to display such mortal weakness. Hank used this moment to rush over to the coffin, while Logan used the time preciously as well, his claws extending from the backs of his hands as he ran towards Roberto, jumped onto a headstone, and from it, leaped upwards, towards the hovering Brazilian, his claws primed for strike. "Here's for Drake, -boy-!!" "ARGGH!!!" Roberto finally uttered as Wolverine's right fist struck at his stomach, the claws going right thru him and emerging out his back, piercing his body completely and viciously, with little mercy in them. Coughing blood, Roberto grabbed Logan suddenly by the throat, and hurled him up, up and away, a deafening BOOM hitting the air as the hairy X-Man's body broke the sound barrier. "...s'ggest...go...c'tch...him...St'm..." he gasped in pain, clutching at his stomach with one arm. Her eyes widening, Storm wasted little time. She was the only one who could save Logan, and Roberto had -known- it when he had executed his maneuver. And Ororo knew Roberto had known. Too elegant for curses, Ororo simply kept her mouth shut, as her winds started racing her after Logan, desperately trying to catch up to one of her dearest friends. "And now..." Roberto said, quickly getting a handle on his injuries, and even as wounded as he was, refusing to show weakness, he constricted his face in pain, and forced his tone back to its normal, imperious and regal level. "Get back from the coffin, McCoy!" he snarled, a bolt of black energy flaring at the doctor, and knocking him a few dozen feet from the coffin. "You've gone insane, Roberto!" Beast commented, not as an insult but an observation, as he clutched his side in pain, a spot slightly scorched from the solar bolt. "I am your worst nightmare", Roberto growled. "Xavier knew this would happen. He tried to hold me back. You all did!" Starting to breathe heavily, starting to slowly slip from his calmly angry mode into his fully psychotic mindset, the energies around him crackled accordingly, growing in intensity like approaching a meltdown. "You pathetic weak-kneed fools! I will do more for mutantkind than all of you combined!! And that is why you all tried to hold me back! You were -afraid- of me! Of losing your own glory!! You are nothing but a collection of self-centered hedonists!" "Ag, shut up, you stroppy windgat!" came a voice, as Maggott took a few steps forward. "Me and the girls are gatvol of listening you yap. You take a step back or we going to have to donner you, hey?" Quirking an eyebrow, Roberto asked, "What??" "He's telling you to back off or he'll kick your ass", Cecilia commented dryly. "Fixed up, doll", Maggott grinned. "I'm not your doll. I hope you macho [CENSORED] kill each other. Don't leave it halfway, I want to get back to bed." "Now now, Dr Reyes..." Hank said, and winced a bit as he got up from the ground. "It is the duty of us doctors and X-Men to preserve life. Though I do admit that Roberto here is beginning to accomplish the rare feat of aggravating my refined and not entirely inexperienced tendency for patience." "Get...BACK", Roberto snarled, still hovering above the coffin. "I am in no mood to listen to idiotic blathering! If you want to do some good, McCoy, go look for Iceman. He should survive my blast, if he is lucky." Hank blinked once. "And what do you base your hypothesis on, Roberto?" "Amateurs", Roberto mumbled with a disgusted expression, and then continued. "I do my homework. I have gone thru security camera recordings from when Emma Frost was inhabiting Iceman's body. -Some- of us do our homework, McCoy." He pauses, and smirks a bit. "Or are you afraid of Drake as well, and holding him back from developing his powers like you did to me?" he sneers. "No, I'd venture a guess for mere sloppiness. Drake is an idiot, not a threat to anyone. But, in any case, he is physically capable of pulling himself together. If he survives, he will owe me. If he won't...well, no great loss." Cecilia exploded in anger. "How can you be so damn uncaring!!! These are peoples' LIVES you are talking about!!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "[CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED]!!!" "Dr Reyes, is it?" Roberto hissed, picking the name up from McCoy's words. "Obviously you do not know who I am, so I will forgive your outburst this once. I", he said in a dramatic, booming tone, almost forgetting his injuries, "am Roberto Da Costa." "...So? Is that supposed to -mean- something??" Hank chuckled lightly, but Roberto was less amused. "It means, girl, that I can kill you any time I choose. So you'd better address me with the respect due me unless you want a fate similar to Iceman's." "Roberto, please", Hank sighed a bit. "We are merely attempting to comprehend the intricacies of the reaction you initiated as well as the projected outcome in order to prepare for possible hazardous probabilities such as random factors entering the equation and causing complications or end results which may diverge from your expectations, however thorough they might be." "I know what I am doing", Roberto commented venomously, looking at McCoy down his nose. "I am a Da Costa." ( Da Costa...? DaCostafriendGenoshaRahneHodgelifenergyfear discorporationpainselfsoulfriendCypherDougCALM! ............ Self... is... operational! ) O o . "SelfriendBobbySunspot!" a joyous cry came from the insides of the coffin, and a black circuitry-figure sprang into view, much resembling a humanoid shape except in its skin's appearance, which was completely black and seemingly consisting of living electronics. "Warlock", Roberto grinned, his head turning to look over his shoulder at his long-gone friend. "Oh my stars and garters!" Hank uttered for the second time in five minutes as he saw Warlock rise. "What...is -that-??" Cecilia asked. "Whatever it is, it threatens the X-Men, it's biscuit, hey?" "McCoy...I would really suggest raising the standards for the X-Men..." Roberto commented dryly as he descended next to Warlock, with a warm smile. "How are you, old friend?" "Self's internal diagnostic scan is inconclusive at this time, Selfriend, but Self has recorded massive genetic anomalies within Self. Anomalies correspond to previously recorded data of SelfsoulfriendCypherDoug..." "What??" Roberto asked, quirking an eyebrow, only letting his surprise show momentarily. "Surprised by something, Roberto?" Hank asked with a slight tinge of sarcasm. "Your plans didn't go exactly as expected?" "Warlock, we need to get out of here and run a thorough examination on you..." "But Selfriend, is this not designated Xavier'sSchoolsafehome? Query: Is not home where heart is?" Warlock asked. "You don't have a heart, remember, Warlock?" Roberto smiled. "Home is where you hang your hat. Now let's get out of here." "But SelfriendBobbySunspot, Self does not possess a hat --" "Warlock, Roberto merely wishes to extradite you from this location in order to be able to indoctrinate you with his own ideology. He has already attacked several of us. Do not go with him", Hank pleaded. "ALARM! SelfriendBeast claims enmity with SelfriendBobbySunspot! Self has known SelfriendBobbySunspot longer! Self will side with SelfriendBobbySunspot --" "Warlock, they are angry. They tried to stop me from resurrecting you. See?" Roberto said, pulling his arm from the wounds on his stomach. "Wolverine tried to kill me, they have all gone mad..." "SCREAM!!! Self detects piercing injuries and leakage of bodily fluid designate: blood from SelfriendBobbySunspot! Conclusion: Transport SelfriendBobbySunspot to nearest safehaven and transfer lifenergy to avoid SelfriendBobbySunspot going inert and to HeavenDimension like SelfsoulfriendCypherDoug --" "Warlock, wait...!!" Hank said, reaching for the alien, but too late. Warlock had already transformed into a miniature flying vehicle and grabbed Roberto with one hand, pulling him into the seat. "Self will transport SelfriendBobbySunspot away from enemies designate: X-Men and be with Selfriend without otherSelfriendsNewMutants like in BeatStreetClub --" Warlock announced as he flew up, high into the skies, leaving the Xavier Institute far, far behind very, very quickly... And Roberto smirked. "What happened here?? Where is Roberto??" "Um... Unfortunately, Ororo, he effected his escape..." "Escape?? Henry, what happened??" "Warlock?" Marrow smirked, as she jumped down from a headstone she had been perched on, watching the show. "The Dark One manipulated him to his side and convinced the machine that you X-Men were enemies." She pulled a bone dagger out of her back, and licked the blood off it. "And right in front of furball's eyes too", she grinned, giving Hank a narrow-eyed look. "I like his style. Maybe if the Morlocks would have had a leader like him instead of you, Bright One...we might still be alive." Ororo stared silently at Marrow for a while, coldly, and the temperature dropped a few degrees. "Roberto is not mature enough to be a leader, Marrow", she stated coldly. "And he certainly was not at the time of the morlock massacre." "Oh?" Marrow grinned. "Yeah, I guess it's more mature to let your people die than bring them back. Isn't it, Bright One?" "That is not what I meant, Marrow", Ororo hissed. "The fact is -- isn't it? -- that he killed someone to bring his own friend back", Marrow smirks in return. "Would you do the same? Would you kill someone to bring back the Morlocks? And if you won't kill for your own people -- then what good are you as a leader? Think about that, Bright One", Marrow smiled as she started walking off towards the woods. "X-Men don't kill, Marrow." "Then what kind of devotion to your people is that?" "The same kind of devotion that my people are like." "The Morlocks weren't like that." "..." "And that is why you are a failure, wind-rider. You devote yourself to yourself, and if those morals coincide with your team, then lucky them. They didn't with the Morlocks. And ain't that just boo-hoo for you." "I do not appreciate your presumptions, Marrow." "Well, ain't that a shame. We didn't appreciate yours either when you started telling what the Morlocks should act like." "And you would have preferred the leadership of a child like Roberto?" "He's a killer. Like we were." "Being a killer does not make one a good leader." "Not your leader."