* DISCLAIMER * This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction involving characters created and owned by Marvel Comics Group. * WRITTEN BY * Samy Merchi * ARCHIVED AT * http://mash.yok.utu.fi/~samerc/fanfic/index.html * CONTINUITY * THIS STORY TAKES PLACE Roughly two years in the future, far after X-FORCE #75 (Xi'an's new look and girlfriends) after TALES OF THE FALLEN ANGELS #1 (Roberto recruits Amara) MADRIPOOR FLASHBACK SEQUENCE TAKES PLACE after WOLVERINE #97 (General Coy's death) around X-FORCE #62 (Coy Leong and Coy Nga at Hellfire Club) before BEAST #1 (Xi'an invades Hellfire Club) before WOLVERINE #125 (Viper takes over Madripoor) * MATURE CONTENT * This story includes: Some explicit violence, blood and gore Some non-explicit references to rape * DEDICATED TO * Brooke Alexander Who is largely responsible for getting me to dig the character of Xi'an Coy Manh as much as I do * STARRING * Xi'an "KARMA" Coy Manh in ********************************************* * TALES OF THE FALLEN ANGELS #2 of 4: KARMA * * ----------------------------------------- * * ENOUGH * * * ********************************************* * PREVIOUSLY IN THE LIFE OF XI'AN COY MANH * During the bloody Morlock massacre years ago, Xi'an's younger siblings Leong and Nga disappeared from the apartment the three lived in in New York City. < NEW MUTANTS #46 > When the resources of the Hellfire Club, with whom Xavier's School was allied with at the time, failed to produce any clues as to the location of the twins, Xi'an decided to leave the New Mutants and pursue the quest for her siblings on her own. < NEW MUTANTS #53-54 > Xi'an ended up making a deal with her uncle, the crimelord Nguyen Ngoc Coy, who was now based in Madripoor -- in exchange for Xi'an's services as his enforcer, he would use his not inconsiderable resources to try to find Leong and Nga. < WOLVERINE #4-6 > After serving General Coy for some time, Xi'an left him and went back to trying Leong and Nga on her own. This continued for a long time. She finally got a lead that led to the Hellfire Club, and possessed the Beast to use as her muscle to invade the Hellfire Club and try to rescue her siblings. However, Leong and Nga were no longer at the Hellfire Club. < BEAST #1 > However, the time-dancing sorceress Spiral, who had gotten the twins from Shinobi Shaw, intended to capture Xi'an as well. Unfortunately, she did not count on Beast and Cannonball coming along for the ride. The three mutants battled the combined forces of Spiral and the Viper, defeating them, but not before Spiral had force-grown Leong and Nga into adults, and given them cybernetic enhancements in her Body Shop. After the battle was away, Xi'an walked off with the now adult-cyborgs Leong and Nga, determined to find a way to help them regain their lost youth. < BEAST #2-3 > Evidently, she succeeded to some degree, for she met up with X-Force some time later and stated that she had found a doctor who thought he could help Leong and Nga. She had also radically changed her look, wearing provocative clothing and her hair was a pink buzzcut. Furthermore, she was living with two documentary filmmakers called Simone and Jessikah who had a loft in Greenwich Village, New York. < X-FORCE #75 > Now, fast-forward about two years of Xi'an living in Greenwich Village with Simone and Jessikah, and we get to the beginning of this story... *** New York, New York. So much city that you have to say it twice. An apple so big that nobody can chew it off with one bite. You'd be hard pressed to experience it fully in just one lifetime. Especially if that lifetime is cut short. "Mnmgggmgrble." The sharp cawing of a seagull fell down from the pinkish-orangish morning sky, and thru the skylight into a Greenwich Village loft, accompanied by the rays of morning sun slowly creeping in and starting to paint a messed-up bed with brightlight, brightlight, chasing away the gremlins of the night. "Grmph", Jessikah Parker mumbled into the pillow she had buried her face into, pulling another pillow over her and sandwiching her head between the two pillows while trying to keep her eyes closed and get back to sleep, and ignore the inevitable morning. That's when the thought she heard crying. *** Simone Phillips watched the morning light glint off the blade of her kitchen knife as she sat on the edge of the roof, her legs dangling over the edge, several stories above the people crowding the sidewalk below. There was spring in the air. Rebirth. Everything old becoming new again. And she both wanted and dreaded that. She balanced the handle of the knife on the tip of her index finger, watching the sharp blade teeter and waver in the air as she fought to keep it upright. It was easy. Long years of practice made it as natural as breathing. Suddenly, her lungs drew in a sharp gasp and her expression contorted slightly, forcing her eyes closed. Only a fraction of a second later, they opened again, wider than before, as she realized the knife was falling from atop her finger. Her hand opened up, trying to somehow grab the handle in time, but she was panicking, wasn't operating with her usual precision. The knife twisted in the air, struck her hand and glanced off it, ricocheting forwards in the air. She could only watch as the knife arced up a bit, out of her reach already, and then plummeted down towards the sidewalk like an arrow of death preparing to catch some innocent bystander in the head or eye or shoulder. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip tensely as she watched the knife fall downwards, cursing her own clumsiness, cursing that she had taken such a stupid risk of injuring someone else with her...her past. Her shoulders tensed up...and then relaxed with a shudder as she saw the knife clatter onto the sidewalk without hitting anyone. She swallowed, let her eyes close, and leaned backwards. Several moments and several deep breaths later, she opened her eyes again. They gleamed brightly as the rays of morning light struck them, but she blinked a few times, and they became dimmer. She lifted first one leg over the edge and back onto the roof, and then the other. She inhaled deeply, before exerting her aching muscles and standing up. She swallowed as she saw a trickle of blood running down her middle finger to her knuckle. With a strained gesture, she took the green camouflage hat from her head -- revealing her short black hair -- and wrapped it around her finger. "Damn it", she whispered to herself as she started walking towards the door to the stairs leading down to the loft. *** "Interesting", a pair of lips whispered, the eyes a couple of inches above them watching intently. *** KNOCK KNOCK "Shan?" Jessikah paused for a moment to let out a big yawn while stretching her arms out to the sides. "Are you all right in there?" she asked, leaning one shoulder against the wall beside the door to the bathroom. There was a moment of silence, before an answer came. "Yes, I --" Another pause, and Jessikah thought she heard a weak sniffle. "Yes, Jessikah, I am fine, merci." There was a little hollow plastic CLUNK sound as if a weight rose off the toilet seat, and then the accented voice spoke again. "I will be out in just a few moments..." "All...right", Jessikah nodded with some hesitation, and then glanced back towards the bedroom and the sheets left crumpled after the night. Then, her eyes returned to the bathroom door, and she bit her lip. "Shan, are you sure you're --" "Yes, Jessikah", the voice answered, this time strong and sure. There was a CLICK as the lock was undone, and then the handle was turned and the door opened outwards as Xi'an Coy Manh stepped out, running a brush thru her dark blue shoulder-length hair. "I am certain. The bathroom is yours. I shall go make some breakfast for us now." The strawy-haired blonde watched Xi'an for a few moments, and then stepped thru the door into the bathroom. "Check if there's some yoghurt left in the fridge?" she asked before closing the door behind her. Xi'an Coy Manh walked silently over to the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking into it, and then took out some foodstuffs before closing the door. "There is", she called out towards the bathroom. "I shall leave it for you, if you wish." "Yeah, thanks", Jessikah's voice answered thru the bathroom door over the sound of the toilet flushing. "It is no problem", Xi'an said, but only to herself, quietly under her breath. She fiddled with a bag of sliced bread, opening it and putting a few pieces in the toaster before cracking a few eggs onto the frying pan and putting it onto the stove. "I always do what people tell me to, after all..." she mumbled. *** A FEW YEARS AGO *** "General Nguyen Ngoc Coy is *dead*." "What??" Xi'an Coy Manh's eyes widened as she stared at the oriental woman in red and gold standing before her. "My uncle is dead?" "Yes", Jessan Hoan answered. "He and Prince Baran tried to kill Wolverine. Unfortunately, as we both know, Logan is the best at what he does. Crossing him is not a wise thing. Resultantly", she said, starting to pull off one of her long golden gloves, "Tyger Tiger is now the *sole* ruler of Madripoor's underworld!" "I see", Xi'an replied coolly as she walked to the double glass doors leading from the suite to the balcony. She didn't look back to Tyger, instead mulling things over in her mind. Her uncle? Dead? After all these years? He had been a dark stain in their family, together with her twin brother Tran. But -- he had still been family. Hadn't he? SHHHHHRRRRNNN She slided one of the glass doors to the side, letting in the hot summer breeze of late-afternoon Madripoor. The climate in this South-Asian island nation reminded her so much of her childhood home in South Vietnam, in that faraway time when the country had been split into two. "And why, if I may ask, did you invite me here? Had you only wished to inform me of my uncle's...timely death, you could easily have told me with a telephone call..." "I prefer to handle my business face-to-face, Xi'an", Jessan said, taking a long thin glass and pouring some red wine into it. "But you're right. There are some things we need to talk about." She slowly walked towards Xi'an and the balcony doors while taking a sip from the wine. "Your uncle was..." She paused for a moment, as if to consider how to put her words. "He left no children behind. As such...*you* are his sole surviving relative that is of age. Consequently, *you* are heir to his fortune, and his criminal empire." "Me?" Xi'an blinked, her head whirling around to look at Jessan over her shoulder. "You can't be serious, mam'selle Tiger... And even if you were, I wish for no part in my uncle's criminal operations -- his actions, and my brother's, were a taint on our family for far too long, and I have no intention of continuing their work --" "Good", Jessan simply said, taking another sip of her wine as she stepped past Xi'an and onto the balcony of the imperial penthouse of the Sovereign Hotel. "Good?" Xi'an asked, raising an eyebrow as she stood in the doorway, making no move either to step outside onto the balcony, or back into the suite. "Xi'an -- I invited you here", Jessan said calmly as she leaned forwards, placing her elbows onto the railing and letting her eyes drift over Madripoor's almost futuristic, wealthy, glittering Hightown while she held a pause, "because I want to make you an offer you can't refuse." "Crypticism does not make me favourably inclined towards whatever offer you might have to present to me, mam'selle", Xi'an replied with a bit of edge. "I have had enough of people playing games with me. If you have an offer to make, I suggest you make it now, before I lose my patience." Jessan pursed her lips thoughtfully for a moment, and then nodded, turning her attention from Madripoor spreading out before her eyes, back to Xi'an, turning around to face the Vietnamese girl. "For years, I and General Coy were bloody rivals for the dominion of Madripoor's underworld. You have witnessed our squabbles first-hand in the past. We always wanted each others' share. Now, *you* have his share. You don't want it. I want it. I am willing to pay a considerable amount of money for it." Xi'an frowned at Jessan's words and let her eyes drift from the Chinese woman to what Jessan had been watching -- the Madripoor skyline. "Sounds like an ideal solution, does it not?" she asked in a neutral tone of voice, still mulling over the words. Finally, she asked, "Why did you invite me here? You could have easily taken over Coy's holdings here and I would never have even known I should have inherited them in the first place." "I am a woman of honor, Xi'an", Jessan answered. "Ask Logan. While I run criminal operations, yes, I do keep my fingers out of the most...distasteful ones, such as slave trade, for one. I possess something most crimelords don't -- morals. I would prefer to do this with your consent rather than have you show up in a few years to contest my claims -- even if this course of action will be more costly to me in the short term." "Hm", Xi'an mumbled softly, and then her forehead furrowed in thought for a moment. She ran a finger over her lips before speaking again. "Our previous meetings have shown me that you are indeed a woman of honor, Tyger Tiger. I find myself very inclined to accept this offer. However", she said and paused for several moments. "I am not content with mere money." "I suspected as much", Jessan nodded. "I had you investigated before contacting you, and it seems you are still on the same quest you were on when we first met -- to find your brother and sister." "Oui. I am. And if you wish for me to accept your offer, you will aid me in --" "-- finding them", Jessan smiled, and pulled a white paper card out of her cleavage, handing it to Xi'an. "To the best of my knowledge, they should be at this location. The money transfer was made fifteen minutes ago -- you won't be dissatisfied with the sum." Xi'an's eyes narrowed, and she snatched the card from Jessan's hand before she even thought about making the move. She brought the card in front of her eyes and read six words in elaborate handwriting. SHINOBI SHAW, NEW YORK, HELLFIRE CLUB The card fell, fluttered downwards in butterfly-like spirals, and then settled onto the stone floor of the balcony. By the time it touched down, Jessan Hoan was alone in the imperial suite. She smiled and turned around slowly to regard that which she had regarded less than a minute ago. This time, however -- the city was all hers. "Good luck, Xi'an", she whispered. *** NOW *** "It is time for me to go. Take care of that finger, Simone. Do not forget to take your pills. Jessikah, you have an appointment at 4:30 with --" "Get going, Shan", Jessikah smiled and grabbed Xi'an's jacket from the coat hanger, handing it over to Xi'an. "For a girl who has a special mutant power to control other people, you sure can be controlling without using it..." "I am not controlling you", Xi'an said, grabbing her jacket and starting to pull it on. "I am merely reminding you of things you need to do --" "Yes, mom", Jessikah smiled and briefly kissed Xi'an on the cheek. "Now get going. You're going to be late for class. We've taken care of ourselves before you moved in. We can survive a few hours without you." "D'accord, all right!" Xi'an chuckled and shook her head as she grabbed her backpack and slung it over one shoulder. "I should be back in seven hours or so!" She undid the safety chain of the front door of the loft, and then opened the door. "Good bye, Shan", Simone called out from the kitchen. "Remember to look both sides of the road before crossing..." "I will", Xi'an called back with a grin, and then headed out the door, closing it behind her. As soon as the door was closed, her grin faded. *** THREE HOURS LATER *** "...you should penetrate the epidermis with a comfortable enough margin to support the tension of holding the wound together. Then go across the wound perpendicular to its direction and come out again on the other side with the same amount of margin..." Xi'an bit her left thumbnail thoughtfully as her right hand kept scribbling down little notes, jotting down the parts of the lecture that would later help her jar her memory and remember the lesson as a coherent, integral whole. She was an intelligent woman, and she worked hard. She was one of the top students in the class. BRRRINNNGGG! She glanced up at the clock over the exit from the lecture hall, surprised to hear it ring already. She glanced at the watch on her left wrist, and it showed the same time. The clock wasn't early. And it seemed everyone else noticed that too, as they started gathering their things, stuffing them into their backpacks and leaving the lecture hall. Xi'an bit the upper end of her pen thoughtfully for a moment, then clicked the button on it, retracting the ink tip inside the pen. She glanced over her notes quickly, and then closed her folder, opened her backpack and stuffed the folder in before standing up, pulling her jacket on, and putting the pen away inside her jacket. "Doctor?" she asked after all the other students had left and the lecturer was just heading for the exit. "Mm?" The lecturer looked over to Xi'an making her way towards him, and raised an eyebrow. "Ah, Ms Manh." He opened the door out of the lecture hall and held it open for her. "How are you doing today?" "I...am doing well, thank you, m'sieu", Xi'an nodded and stepped out of the lecture hall, promptly followed by the black-haired pale man into the corridor outside the lecture hall. "Would you have a few moments, perhaps?" The lecturer glanced briefly at his watch and then nodded. "I need to be at a staff meeting in fifteen minutes, but I have until then, if you will walk with me back to the department?" he suggested. "That will be fine", Xi'an nodded, starting to head down the corridor with the lecturer. She held a slight pause, hesitating to open the conversation so abruptly. "I noticed you were late this morning", the lecturer commented, and then stopped at a pair of double doors leading out of the lecture hall building and to the Empire State University grounds outside. "And I don't think you were at the midterm two weeks ago. Are you sure everything is going well?" he asked, again holding the door open for her. "I...yes", Xi'an nodded after a moment, walking out the door and into the bright spring sunshine. "Actually, I wished to talk to you about the midterm... I was unable to make it, and I was hoping I could make up for it another time --?" The lecturer squinted his eyes at the bright light and took a pair of sunglasses from inside his jacket, putting them over his eyes as he started slowly walking down a path leading from the lecture hall towards the building housing the ESU medical center. "Yes, it's doable", he nodded once. "How soon would you be able to take the test?" "At any time", Xi'an answered with a sure voice. "I was ready to take the test two weeks ago -- I am ready to take it at any time that would fit your schedule." "Mm", the lecturer nodded and looked at the ground for a few moments as he walked on down the path. "How would next Monday sound?" he suggested. "Six o'clock in room 314?" Xi'an nodded once. "That sounds wonderful", she said, and adjusted slightly the backpack slung over her shoulder. "I shall see you on Friday for the Hematology lecture, and then on Monday for the test, n'est-ce pas?" "That sounds about right, Ms Manh", he agreed. "I will see you then." "Very well", Xi'an smiled, and broke off from the lecturer, starting off on a side path leading towards the cafeteria. "Au revoir et merci beaucoup, Dr Morbius!" *** ONE HOUR LATER *** "...I believe the cure is all but finished, Xi'an. I expect we will have results in less than two months. And then you can have Leong and Nga back with you." "Really??" Xi'an's eyes brightened at the news and she subconsciously gripped the armrests of her chair as if her life depended on it. "This is wonderful news, doctor -- I had almost given up hope --!" She let out a shuddering sigh of relief. "Since they were aged into adults and transformed into those robotic monstrosities, I have prayed, day and night --" "And it seems to have worked", the doctor nodded, leaning back in his chair behind his desk, rubbing his goatee thoughtfully a moment. "I haven't told them the news yet -- I thought you might like to tell them, when you come by the next time..." "Oui!" Xi'an smiled widely. "Yes! I would!" she almost shouted, and stood up. "This is wonderful news -- I can never thank you enough for this --" "There is no reason to thank me, Xi'an", he smiled. "After all, I got quite a bit out of this as well -- interest in the rejuvenation field has been booming in the last years, and this research makes me one of the leading specialists..." "Whatever your reasons, doctor, you have done Leong and Nga a favour I shall never forget -- I shall be forever in your debt --" BEEP BEEP. "Oh, if you'll excuse me --" "Of course." BEEP BE-- "Xi'an Coy Manh", she answered her cellphone, taking it out of her purse. *** KNOCK KNOCK "Simone?" KNOCK KNOCK. "Simone, if you don't open this door, I'm going to break it down..." Jessikah Parker said warningly, taking a step back from the door in case it would be opened. But the only answer was silence. "Simone...?" *** "...and she was just lying on the bathroom floor, and her lips had all this blood on them and oh my god her eyes were open and they just kept staring --" "Jessikah, *calm down*", Xi'an snapped as she felt cold sweat start to gather on her brow. "Where are you now? Where is she now?" The doctor lifted an eyebrow as he watched Xi'an speak to her cellphone, and slowly closed the folders of her siblings, moving them from his desk into a drawer and then looking back to the Vietnamese woman, expecting she would have to leave. "All right, Jessikah", Xi'an nodded hurriedly. "I will be down there in five minutes. Don't worry. Simone is tough. She will pull through this, as she has before." The doctor's eyes narrowed slightly. "All right", Xi'an said. "I will be right there. Just sit down, and try to calm down..." She quickly clicked the phone off and placed it back into her purse before looking to the doctor. "M'sieu, I am afraid I must leave immediately -- a friend of mine has just been admitted to the emergency ward downstairs, her condition is critical and I --" "Yes, of course", the doctor said and stood up. "Your friend seemed quite distraught -- perhaps I should accompany you. I do not have any appointments for the next hour, and I can undoubtedly reassure her of the chances your friend has..." *** "Jessikah!" "Shan!" Jessikah shouted and ran down the corridor to put her arms around Xi'an and hug her tightly. "I can't believe this is happening...so soon...she seemed so all right the past few weeks..." "It is all right, Jessikah..." Xi'an said, resting Jessikah's head on her shoulder, stroking Jessikah's hair ressuringly with her hand. "Simone will be all right...she will be all right, Jessikah..." SLAM! "She's a mutant!" a doctor shouted, coming out of the emergency room, pulling down her face mask, her eyes burning with anger as she stalked towards Xi'an and Jessikah. Leong and Nga's doctor, in the meanwhile, did nothing, just standing silently to the side and observing the situation with narrowed, thoughtful eyes. "What? I -- no, I am --" Xi'an started stuttering in astonishment at the female doctor's words, taking a few steps back from the hatred he could see in the doctor's eyes as she approached. "Your 'friend'", the female doctor hissed as she stopped a couple of feet in front of Xi'an and Jessikah. "She's a mutant. The nerve of the freak, trying to pass off as human. And you probably knew", she shot a glare at Jessikah. "Hell, maybe you're a mutie yourself." "WE'RE LOSING HER!" a voice echoed from the ER into the corridor. "STOP THIS!" Xi'an screamed at the female doctor, her eyes starting to moisten gradually. "She's not a mutant, and even if she was, she deserves the same treatment as anyone else!" She pushed her way past the doctor, starting to run towards the open doors leading to the ER. "You're not going anywhere, missy", the female doctor said, grabbing Xi'an's arm and holding her. "If she dies, she dies. One less freak in the world, one more hospital bed free for *real* humans!" POW! Xi'an winced at the pain in her knuckles as she drew back her fist from the haymaker that sent the female doctor crashing backwards onto the floor. "Sacre mere --" she sobbed as she looked at the doctor lying on her back, unconscious, and then glanced hurriedly towards the ER. "She's going into cardiac arrest!" "Charge up the defibrillators!" "NOO!" Jessikah's cry echoed thru the hall. "SIMONE, FIGHT --!" "Someone close those doors, NOW!" Leong and Nga's doctor slowly walked over to the double doors leading into the emergency room, and started pushing the doors closed. "CLEAR!" SHNKK! Xi'an's wide eyes saw Simone's body spasm with the electricity shooting thru her, attempting to jumpstart her heart. She saw Simone's face contort, and as her body then collapsed limply back onto the bed, her eyes opened. And they locked with those of Leong and Nga's doctor. And they widened in horror. He smiled at Simone. The double doors closed slowly, and the last face Simone saw thru the crack was the doctor's. Then the double doors closed with a very faint sound, but a sound that seemed to reverberate thru Simone's ears like a thundercrack of doom. And one heartbeat later, her eyes closed as well. "Get her!" a security guard shouted a moment before grabbing Xi'an from behind, preventing her from going to the doors. "You'd better calm down, miss --" "NOOO! SIMOOONE!" Jessikah screamed, dashing towards the doors only to be stopped by another security guard grabbing her arm while a third one started helping the female doctor up from the floor. "Calm the mutie-lovers down", the female doctor hissed with a venomous glare shot at Xi'an as she rubbed her aching jaw. "SIMOOOOONE!" Jessikah screamed from the bottom of her lungs, like a wail of a banshee filling the halls. Then, it ended abruptly as one of the guards pulled out a baton and whacked her across the head, causing her to fall limp into the arms of another guard. "JESSIKAH!" Xi'an's eyes widened. *** "NO! NO! PLEASE! STOP!" a young teenage girl cried out as she was curled up in a fetal position on the muddy ground of a dark alleyway. But the four people around her didn't heed her words. They kept kicking her mercilessly, causing blood to shoot out of mouth when a boot made contact with the back of her head, or her eyes to widen and roll back when a hard kick slammed to the base of her spine. And all thru it, he smiled. She was hiding in shadows, crying quietly, forcing herself not to sob and gasp for breath as she watched, knowing she didn't have the courage to break it all up. Tears streamed down her cheeks but she forced herself to remain in control of herself, preventing her shoulders from shaking. He enjoyed it. Only a few months ago, when the two of them had first discovered their mutant powers, he had forced a Viet Cong soldier to kill himself. It had only gotten worse from that. He revelled in using his powers to make his wildest dreams come true, and make the lives of those who opposed him, nightmares. It only lasted a few minutes. She cried all thru it. She would cry for over an hour after it was over. She should stop this. It was all her fault. All her responsibility. But she couldn't. She couldn't step forward and say 'enough'. All she could do was watch, while the four other teenagers kept kicking the girl on the ground like she was a soccer ball. Then they woke up. Blinked, and looked down to the bloody and broken girl at their feet. A look of horror came to their faces. None of them said anything, as they suddenly broke away and started running away from the dark alley. He stepped out of the shadows, and walked over to the unconscious girl. A little chuckle escaped from his lips. "You'll never say no to me again", he said coldly, before his boot shot forward, and impacted onto her nose, driving cartilage up to her brain and killing her instantly. "Or to anyone else." She couldn't hold back anymore. She let out a sob. He was Tran Coy Manh. He was her brother. *** "ENOUGH!" Xi'an Coy Manh shouted, and a squiggly 'Karma' aura appeared around her head. Everything suddenly stopped. The guards froze in place. Jessikah froze in place. The female doctor froze in place. The bystanders froze in place. A silence descended. ((Simone)), she whispered, extending a strand of her telepathy from the corridor into the emergency room to communicate with her friend. ((Simone, you have to fight -- be strong --)) ((Xi'an --)) the strained voice of Simone's mind spoke back. ((The doctor...don't trust...not what he seems...so sorry...tell Jessikah... love --)) "NON!" Xi'an screamed out loud. "SIMONE, FIGHT!!" ((FIGHT!!)) she screamed telepathically into the dying girl's mind. There was no answer. Xi'an collapsed onto her knees onto the sterile cold hospital floor. "Non..." she whispered into the silence that settled now, even in the emergency room. Everything was winding down. It was over. "It is too late", Leong and Nga's doctor said, placing his hand onto Xi'an's shoulder reassuringly. He hadn't frozen in place. And if everything else hadn't been enough, that would have told Xi'an what she needed to know. "WHO *ARE* YOU??" she screamed, rapidly standing up and grabbing the front of the doctor's shirt, slamming him back against a wall. "I *saw* Simone see you! How do you know her? Why did she warn me of you? What do you want from me? What do you want of Leong and Nga? WHO *ARE* YOU??" "Very well", the doctor smiled confidently. "I can see further ruses will be pointless, Karma..." he said, and let the psionic illusion of his appearance melt away to reveal a chalk-white face with a red diamond on the forehead. "I am called Mister Sinister." WHACK! A halfhearted backhand swing catapulted Xi'an Coy Manh across the corridor, crashing into a wall with a crunching sound that could have come from her or the wall. "EEEEEEEE!" The dreamlike moment shattered the moment Xi'an hit the wall, and her concentration was broken, the people freed from her telepathic control, from being her...thralls. Chaos began. "Some kind of a mutie!" someone screamed. Most of the people in the corridor began running away. Jessikah slumped to the ground, still unconscious, when the security guard holding her pulled out his gun and pointed it at Mr Sinister. "Hold it right there, freak!" he shouted. Mr Sinister paid little attention to the humans. Instead, he let his eyes lay on Xi'an Coy Manh, who was slumped down on the floor only half-conscious, the plaster flaking and crumbling on top of her from the spot on the wall where she had impacted onto it. "I will not tolerate your presumptuousness a second time, Karma", he spoke in a sharp hollow voice that almost had a metallic echo. Then, his eyes narrowed. "Know that your actions today have cost you your brother and sister." The air behind Mr Sinister wavered for a moment, like a mirage or the air above the asphalt on a hot summer day. Then, without any kind of sound whatsoever, the air tore apart, folding upon itself and revealing a shimmering portal, a tesseract doorway. Mr Sinister turned towards the tesseract portal, and started walking towards it. "You're not going anywhere, buddy!" shouted the security guard pointing a gun towards Mr Sinister. But it had little effect on the chalk-skinned confident man. He kept walking towards the tesseract. BLAM! The bullet ricocheted off mid-air a few feet to Mr Sinister's right where there was no visible obstacle, and made a 180 degree turn. It impacted the security guard on the forehead, causing a minute spray of blood to erupt out of the back of his head. He fell backwards and collapsed onto the floor, dead. Mr Sinister didn't even seem to care. "No..." Xi'an Coy Manh muttered from the floor, gritting her teeth and forcing herself up onto her knees. "I will not lose them...not again..." Perhaps she could appeal to temporary insanity. Her head was still spinning from hitting the wall. But likely she would have done the same thing even without a concussion. She jumped into the shimmering portal moments before it closed, the air in the corridor returning to normalcy and leaving behind two security guards and a groaning Jessikah on the floor. *** The hot wind blew over the little boat at the mercy of the Pacific. The bodies had been thrown from the boat and into the sea. Father. But the blood was still there. No one had the energy or the will to clean away the blood from everywhere. From the men who had fought the pirates and been slaughtered. From the women who had resisted the pirates and been first slaughtered and *then* used. She hadn't fought. She hadn't said 'enough'. She hadn't rather died than surrendered. She had just given up and had her will broken. She hadn't been a person. Just a thing. And object. Not someone, but some*thing* to be used. Her emotions, her wants, her thoughts, nothing of it had mattered. And she was raped. The stench of blood was everywhere. At least they were in the middle of the ocean, with no land for hundreds of miles. No flies. There weren't any flies. She had kept thinking that same thought until the dawn, repeating it in her head like a mantra, curled up in a fetal position in a filthy corner of the little boat, unaware of everyone else on the boat being just like her. The women, the children. There weren't any men left, they had all been killed. The sun baked the deck and the bloodstains on it. Nobody was on the deck. Everyone was down below. There was a little splash as a bucket was lowered to the sea, and then pulled back up. A little rip, as she tore off a piece of what little clothing she had left. Then, she dipped the cloth into the bucket, soaking it, then squeezing the excess water out with her weak hands, before kneeling onto the deck beside a stain of blood and starting to scrub it. She was malnourished, her hair was a mess, she had bags under her eyes, her throat was dry, her belly growled with hunger, she hurt all over, her muscles felt like jelly. She scrubbed. She scrubbed for hours. When she couldn't scrub anymore, and the salty sweat flowing down from her brow stung her eyes so much she couldn't see, she went below. She found a stash of dry stale bread, and fed a little piece to every survivor. They started slowly recovering. It took days. But she took care of them. She hurt, she ached, she was sick. But it didn't matter, she didn't matter. She took care of the others. Leong. Nga. Their mother. Some others. She prayed to the Lord every single hour except the two hours of sleep she managed to catch every night, plagued by nightmares, from whence she woke up soaked in cold sweat. When the US Navy found the boat, days later, there wasn't a single bloodstain left on the boat. They lifted her from the boat into the big metal ship. She slipped from their hands and fell. A big splash. She could hear Roberto shouting her name. It was so beautiful underwater, like a dream. Everything seemed to move so slowly and gracefully like life was a dance everyone savored. She could see the sunlight bright overhead out of the water and she wanted to go to it, but she felt so safe in the water. Like she could just give up all her worries and let the water support her. Give up all her responsibilities and be taken care of by the currents. Everything was so hard. And in the water, everything felt so soft. She wanted to leave the old hard life behind and stay here forever. Let the water fill her lungs and claim her for its own, for all time. A harsh hand grabbed her arm, hard, and yanked her out of the water. It was a dark starlit night as she found herself held by the neck like an almost-drowned kitten in front of its owner's face. A tanned, fat, sweating face watching her like she was a meal good to eat. And then he put her in his mouth and swallowed her up. She felt herself plummeting into a bottomless abyss. Everything was dark and she heard Jessikah scream like a banshee. The scream never seemed to end, just like the fall. She just kept falling...and falling...and falling...and falling...and she just wanted it all to end, for the bottom to come up and end the fall, claim her life and end the torture of knowing your destiny was made and that you were never going to be granted happiness, that you were just dangling on a hook until it was all over... She fell onto a sea of glittering plush pillows. Suddenly, there were dozens of women all around her, stroking her, caressing her, suckling her toes and fingers, licking her skin all over. The scent of exotic perfume filled her nostrils, the taste of the most exquisite delicacies filled her mouth. And it felt so good. Her eyes closed. She felt a voice in the back of her head screaming this wasn't how it was supposed to be, but she didn't listen. It was easier to give up and let someone else be in control. Use her body. She hadn't fought. She hadn't said 'enough'. She hadn't rather died than surrendered. She had just given up and had her will broken. She hadn't been a person. Just a thing. And object. Not someone, but some*thing* to be used. Her emotions, her wants, her thoughts, nothing of it had mattered. And she was fat. She grew, from the skinny girl who had nearly died of starvation in the Pacific, to a bulk of flesh larger than anyone she had ever seen. Her body was perverted, and she could feel her skin stretch and almost tear itself in pieces, leaving stretchmarks everywhere, scarring her body all over, leaving eternal reminders of her having given up, making her a foul thing, damaged goods. Three spotlights suddenly appeared, burning down from on high and lighting up spots in front of her, at her left and at her right. She could see three figures in black and gold uniforms, their backs turned to her. Samuel. Roberto. Douglas. She wasn't a woman anymore... She was a -- was a -- monster. She pleaded to them, tears running down her cheeks, but they didn't move, just standing there like statues, their backs to her. Then Leong and Nga came out of nowhere. She jumped a rope while skipping around the room, and he sat down and started reading a book. She could see them grow, quickly, before her eyes, from children to teenagers, from teenagers to adults, their clothes changing from conservative to seductive. The women lounging on the pillows around her all left her, and flocked around Leong. Samuel, Roberto and Douglas finally turned around, and for a moment she thought they might pay attention to her -- and then they went to flock around Nga. The lighting slowly dimmed all around her, and she saw there was a burning spotlight on her, like everyone was watching her, noticing how alone she was. Whispers came out of the darkness, but she could never quite make out what was being said. She felt empty. Hollow. She lowered her head, and started gradually deflating, the stretched-out, scarred skin falling slack around her like a grotesque blanket. The spotlight above her was suddenly moved slightly, and a doctor's masked face came into view above her. She could feel her ankles and wrists be bound onto the operating table she was lying on and her body tensed up as the spotlight glinted off a scalpel brought into view. His voice was soothing, saying he was the best at what he did, and then he pulled back the mask, revealing the pointy hairstyle and a patch over one eye. He smelled of cigar smoke, and there was a sharp SNIKT sound somewhere in the darkness around her, but oddly it seemed to reassure her. She could feel her body being cut and sliced, but it didn't hurt. It felt like she was being relieved, like bonds holding her down were being cut away, and she looked down her body to see herself covered in blood but without all the extra skin hanging off her. There was so much blood, but she felt beautiful. Then there was the gaunt, slightly grey-skinned face of a sunglassed man who ran a finger over her stomach, wiping the blood off and bringing his fingertip to his lips, licking her blood off his finger and smiling. She looked down her body to see his finger having painted a yin-yang pattern onto the blood on her stomach. She looked to her left, where a black and gold New Mutants uniform was standing beside her, like it was filled by a body, but there was no head emerging from the neckline. Just a filled-out uniform standing beside her. She looked to her right, where General Nguyen Ngoc Coy was standing beside her. He was handed a cigar by a hairy hand out of the shadows, and he took it, lighting the cigar and taking a few deep puffs off it before saying the surgery had gone perfectly and she would be able to work again soon. She stood up and looked between the uniform and her uncle. Magneto walked out of the shadows, holding Emma Frost's hand, and shook his head disapprovingly. She looked to her uncle, who was holding out a hand, Leong and Nga playing with toys behind him. She took his hand and ran thru him like he was intangible to go and take Leong and Nga into her arms. But they vanished just as she reached them, fading into thin air, and she felt something tight around her throat. Her hands grasped for it, and it was a collar. Attached to a leash. The other end held by her uncle who had grown to be twice as tall as a normal human. She bowed her head and fell to her knees. She felt a hand caress her shoulder, and slowly move to her jaw, lifting it up to look up into the eyes of her brother who smiled widely, and whispered that it was inevitable. That people like him and her were either in control, or controlled. There was nothing in-between for them. She hadn't fought. She hadn't said 'enough'. She hadn't rather died than surrendered. She had just given up and had her will broken. She hadn't been a person. Just a thing. And object. Not someone, but some*thing* to be used. Her emotions, her wants, her thoughts, nothing of it had mattered. And she was corrupted. She stood up and he put his arms around her, holding her comfortingly, like she always dreamed a brother would hold a sister. She could feel her insides twist and turn like they were maggots in heat, and she felt very hot, like she was going to melt away. And she did. She started melting, turning into malleable liquid, like she had no form, no self, no skeleton to hold her shape, and collapsing into his arms. He revelled in it, smiling widely as she melted onto him like a chocolate covering, and then absorbed thru his skin, and into him. He laughed, as he was the only one left, and she was no more... "NOOOOOOOOOO!" "What the hell is she seeing?" "That is none of your concern, Scalphunter", Mr Sinister said as he stood in the middle of the dark laboratory-like room, watching Xi'an Coy Manh manacled to the wall in a crucified position, a helmet of some kind covering her head. "Fetch Arclight. I want to *speak* with her." "Right", the rugged Amerind nodded, and immediately turned around, stalking towards an exit and heading out of the laboratory. Mr Sinister waited for Scalphunter to be well gone, and then stepped closer to Xi'an hanging on the wall. "You have no idea, do you?" he murmured amusedly to himself, and then made a mistake. He brushed the back of his hand over her cheek. "Don't touch me", Xi'an hissed. "I have had --" Mr Sinister had time to blink. "-- ENOUGH!" Suddenly, every viewscreen in the laboratory exploded as Xi'an Coy Manh channeled her rage thru her telepathy, feeding too much information, too fast, into the thought-manipulating circuits of the helmet on her head. The brainwashing helmet sparked and short-circuited with the overwhelming backlash of psionic energy shooting outwards from Karma's mind. "No!" Mr Sinister's eyes narrowed as they snapped to the computer mainframe which was starting to spark as well. "Curse you, Karma --!" he shouted, rushing over to the mainframe. "Do you have any idea how much information I have in these databanks --!" "I -- DON'T -- *CARE*!" she shouted. The manacles holding her hands and feet started sparking as well from the power surge coursing thru the laboratory, and came undone, freeing Xi'an, and she jumped down onto the floor, grabbing the helmet on her head and yanking it off. "Leong. Nga. *Where* are they??" "Nowhere you will find them", came a new voice, and Xi'an whirled towards the exit from whence the words came, only to see Harpoon priming a slayspear for throwing. It started to glow. She ducked. "NO!" Mr Sinister shouted at Harpoon, but too late. The slayspear impacted onto some equipment, and an explosion tore thru the lab, a storm of fire and smoke obscuring everything from sight. But a telepath doesn't need eyes to see. Karma's eyes glowed for a moment, the 'Karma' aura appearing around her head and around Harpoon's. ((Leong. Nga)), she growled in his mind. ((WHERE?)) ((If it's the telepathic plane on which you wish to battle, Karma -- let me assure you you have lost already)), Mr Sinister's voice rang thru Harpoon's and Karma's heads as he turned away from the mainframe and stood stoically amidst the smoke and fire as if it were his natural environment. ((I have instilled psionic barriers in all my Marauders' minds. If you want any information from their minds, you will have to eradicate those barriers. And I'm afraid such psionic strain would effectively kill any of them.)) He smiled and took a few steps forward, coming into view thru the fire and smoke. ((You are too weak to kill him to get the information you want --)) Harpoon's eyes went blank, and he collapsed. Karma dodged a support beam that came crashing down, and then jumped over it, running to an exit and out of the laboratory. Mr Sinister quirked an eyebrow, and slowly walked over to Harpoon, looking down at the Inuit's body thoughtfully for a moment. "Impressive. Perhaps I miscalculated." *** "Please forgive me..." Karma sobbed as she ran down a dark corridor, her lungs burning, her cheeks wet. "It was the only way..." She might burn in hell for breaking 'Thou shalt not kill', but if that's what she had to suffer to free Leong and Nga, then that's what she would do. She skidded slightly as she rounded a corner and dashed down a side tunnel. A few dozen quick running paces brought her to a doorway. She punched in a keycode she had picked from Harpoon's mind along with a lot of other pertinent information. SWISH! "Sacre mere..." she whispered as the door opened before her, revealing a large hall with stasis tubes lining the walls, and people floating in the greenish gel filling the tubes. Most of the tubes had a person in them, some of them didn't. Most of the people she didn't recognize. Two of them she did, as soon as she walked a few dozen paces into the hall and they came into view. "Leong. Nga", she murmured, stepping over to the two tanks and placing a hand onto them. "The cyborg modifications...gone..." She bit her lip and watched them slowly float up and down the tubes, their eyes closed as if they were asleep. "But you're older...teenagers..." She frowned, and tears started coming to her eyes again. "The age you should be now..." "And not the age Spiral force-grew us into", a voice came up behind Xi'an. She whirled around to see Leong and Nga. The Leong and Nga she had rescued from Spiral a couple of years ago, after invading the Hellfire Club with the Beast. An adult Leong. An adult Nga. Both with cybernetic modifications giving them superhuman powers. "What is this?" Xi'an hissed, her eyes narrowing, the tears drying and anger starting to swell inside her. "Who are you?" she demanded, and then motioned to the stasis tubes. "Who are they??" "Why, Coy Leong and Coy Nga, of course", Leong spoke, raising his chin a bit. "Two sets of us. The other set, the originals. The other -- clones." "You! You're the clones!" Xi'an said sharply. "So easy to say that, isn't it?" Nga asked. "Are we so horrible to your eyes now, that you would turn from us so easily and embrace those who look like your dream siblings?" "N-- no, of course not!" "It is", Leong narrowed his eyes. "And that is the reason for the bitterness of our existence. And the reason why we will turn against you, dear 'sister'." Then, he rushed towards Xi'an, pulling back his fist for a punch. "I don't care how old you are, or what powers you have --" Xi'an hissed as she stepped to the side and tripped Leong, sending him crashing into some equipment. "-- but I have always been able to keep you in line, and so I shall today!" Again, the 'Karma' aura manifested around her head, and extended to Nga's. "Sleep, Nga", she said, and the girl promptly collapsed onto the floor. "We are no longer children, Xi'an, for you to make our choices for us!" Leong snapped as he grabbed a heavy pipe from the floor and swung it at his sister. "If we eliminate you, we can finally live, and not feel that we would only be loved if we were young and untainted!" "I do not make your choices for you!" Xi'an retorted, and ducked under the pipe, letting the heavy metal crash onto Leong's stasis tube, breaking the plexiglass and letting out a cascade of the green gel. "And if you are truly Leong and Nga, I will love you no matter what. If you were truly them, you would *know* that!" "You're deluding yourself", Leong said, lashing out with a kick to Xi'an's gut, knocking her backwards against Nga's stasis tank and stunning her momentarily, long enough for him to press the pipe against her throat and trap her between the tank and himself. "You'd like to think that, so you'd feel cleaner about hating us." "Who's...deluding...them...selves...?" Xi'an snarled with sharp gasps from between her lips when she could manage to draw a few breaths of air. Suddenly, the 'Karma' aura manifested around her and Leong's heads, and he recoiled backwards. "Let's find out the truth!" "NO!" Leong shouted, his hands going to his head as he tried to fight off Karma's power, but in vain. Soon, he fell to his knees. ((Do you remember when you skinned your knee playing basketball at Xavier's, Leong?)) Xi'an spoke in Leong's head, rummaging thru his memories. ((Do you remember what I used to make for dinner almost every Sunday? Do you remember what your favourite shirt was? Do you remember what Nga got you for your seventh birthday? Do you remember *any* of the small things??)) ((I am Coy Leong)), Leong said in a trancelike tone. ((I was born in Vietnam. I and my family fled the country when it fell to North Vietnamese rule. We were raided by pirates on our way from Vietnam to America --)) "I thought not", Xi'an simply said, and looked at the kneeling Leong down her nose. "Give me the pipe." Leong didn't resist, just handed the pipe over like a mindless zombie. Xi'an took the pipe, and then swung it viciously. SKRESHH! Green gel erupted from Nga's tank and it emptied quickly, leaving the teenage girl collapsed against one wall of the tank, just like the teenage Leong was still unconscious and leaning against a wall of his tank. "I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but these..." Xi'an spoke, the 'Karma' aura extending to the heads of the teenage Leong and Nga "...are Coy Leong and Coy Ng--" Her words were cut off by a little sniffle as her eyes teared up slightly. "Yes, they are", Mr Sinister's voice cut in, and Xi'an whirled around to see him standing at the doorway, flanked by Scalphunter and Arclight. Xi'an's eyes widened at the sight of Arclight. "Simone??" "In a way", Arclight smiled. "Simone Phillips was the basis for Arclight, here", Mr Sinister said calmly. "Or, I should rather say, Philippa Sontag was the basis for Arclight." He walked slowly over to Nga's fallen form, and touched her brow, causing her eyes to flutter open. "She was the original Arclight. Unfortunately, when she found out she had HIV, she seemed to develop...aversions towards the work I used her for." He turned his eyes to Xi'an. "She ran away." Then, he shrugged. "I let her go. After all, I had her genetic material -- I hardly wanted to keep an HIV-infected person around to risk the others, and I could make a new Arclight from the genetic material anytime that I chose to do so." "So you let her ran away", Xi'an stated. "She changed her name, started a new life." "Or tried to", Arclight smirked. "Poor fool." "She was my friend", Xi'an shot a glare at Arclight, and then suddenly blinked and paused. "The original --?" Her eyes snapped to Mr Sinister. "*You* are the person who was behind the Morlock massacre before I left the New Mutants!" Her eyes widened and she stumbled backwards a few steps. "You -- she -- non, ce n'est pas possible --" Her eyes went back to Arclight. "Simone -- she was at the massacre then --??" "She was", Arclight just smiled amusedly. "*Now* how do you feel about your 'friend'?" Xi'an swallowed wordlessly as the impact of all this started hitting her mind hard. She gave Arclight no answer, afraid that the Marauder's gloating would prove correct. "And Leong and Nga?" she asked with a dry throat, hot cheeks, dizzy head, looking towards Mr Sinister. "Why are there two sets of them?" "Ah yes", Mr Sinister said, and walked over to Leong. With a touch of his fingers to Leong's brow, the 'Karma' aura dissipated from around Leong's head, freeing him from Xi'an's influence. Mr Sinister pointed towards Scalphunter and Arclight, and the adult Leong and Nga silently walked over to join the two Marauders. "Shinobi Shaw was experimenting with X-factor removal techniques at the time. He needed test subjects. I was willing to provide them for him, in return for...something you do not need to know." He waved his hand dismissively. "In any case, Shaw had a possibility of succeeding, and I would hardly sacrifice the twins' unique 'Template' power to Shaw's experimenting. So, I decided to provide Shaw with clones of Coy Leong and Coy Nga, to experiment on." "Then Shaw turned them over to Spiral, who force-grew them into adults and gave them cybernetic enhancements --" "Which, of course, piqued my scientific curiosity", Mr Sinister explained. "So I arranged to contact you as a doctor offering to help you remove the cybernetic enhancements and reverse the twins back to their true age." "Which you have not done." "But which I would have provided the *appearance* of having done, when I returned the original twins to you, as I had planned." "And you would keep the cybernetically modified clones." "And no one would even have known there was two sets of the twins in the first place, leaving no one to suspect I had them anymore", Mr Sinister smiled. "Why not make the switch right away, after you had made the offer to return them to their true bodies?" Xi'an asked. "Appearances, my dear Ms Manh. Age-reversal techniques are not something that your normal human doctors are able to accomplish at the drop of a hat. I had to take my time before feigning success." "There's more than that", Xi'an's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps. But that is all I will give you today." "You're not going to kill us", Xi'an said. Mr Sinister inhaled thoughtfully, and looked over the cybernetic Leong and Nga for long moments before returning his eyes to Xi'an. "I will propose a *deal*, Ms Manh. You leave me with *my* twins, and I will allow you to leave, with the original ones." "Leave behind clones of my brother and sister? Allow you to corrupt them?" Xi'an's eyes narrowed further. "You ask for a lot, m'sieu Minister." Mr Sinister's eyes narrowed a bit as well. "Sinister. *Sinister*. It is *Sinister*, Ms Manh." "Whatever", she mumbled. He raised his chin, watching her eyes warningly. "And you have little choice. I assure you, if you decline my offer, you will not leave this place alive, and both sets of twins will remain mine." Xi'an Coy Manh bit her lip. *** Jessikah Parker was sitting in a recliner in the living room, curled up, her knees drawn up against her chest, when she heard the apartment door lock rattle with the sound of a key being inserted. She ignored it. "Jessikah?" Xi'an Coy Manh called out cautiously, a bit nervous as she entered the apartment. She wasn't sure how hard Simone's -- Arclight's -- death might have affected Jessikah, and she definitely wasn't sure how much she should tell Jessikah about Simone... "She's a bit out of it", a male voice said as its owner walked out of the kitchen holding a glass of wine. "She won't even respond to my flirting." "ROBERTO!" a girlish voice squealed, and Nga raced past Xi'an and practically jumped her big sister's friend right there in the foyer, putting her arms around him and hugging him tightly. "I have not seen you for AGES!" "Nga, calm down", Xi'an chastised her younger sister, putting a hand onto Nga's shoulder and pulling her away from Roberto with a slightly disapproving expression. "Come inside, Leong", she said, waiting for the boy to enter before she closed the apartment door and then turned her eyes to the Brazilian. "What are you doing here, Robert? Where is Jessikah?" "She is in the living room", Roberto answered, making a little motion towards the room in question with the glass in his hand. "As for what I am doing here -- well, I need to talk to you. In private." Xi'an looked to Leong and Nga briefly, and then glanced towards the door to the living room. She sighed and shook her head tiredly. "This is truly not a good night, Robert -- give me an hour?" *** "-- so it seems this Mr Sinister has held Leong and Nga all along, and now, in a way, he still does, and I can do nothing about it..." Xi'an Coy Manh lowered her eyes to her lap and sighed, letting a silence descend, listening to the sounds of nighttime Greenwich Village around the two mutants. Roberto Da Costa stood on the edge of the roof, beside the spot where Xi'an was sitting, her legs dangling over the edge. He looked up towards the full moon and seemed thoughtful for a moment. "And what would you want to do?" he asked. "I don't know", Xi'an mused, lifting a hand in front of her eyes and inspecting her fingernails thoughtfully. "I wish I did, Robert. I just do not know..." She looked up at the moon as well, remaining quiet for a while. "It was much easier in the New Mutants, when I did not have to make so many choices -- living on my own, it seems I have to make choices almost constantly. And they almost invariably end up producing bad results... My choice to give Leong and Nga to the doctor who turned out to be this Mr Sinister -- my choice to walk away from Mr Sinister's lair today and leave the adult Leong and Nga behind..." "It's always easy to give up making choices. Just follow orders. Be controlled, not in control", Roberto said thoughtfully. "Responsibility is a burden, there is no doubt about that." "I don't like being controlled", Xi'an frowned. "I have been controlled too much, Robert -- by the pirates who..." She paused and swallowed. "By the Shadow King. By my uncle. By my responsibility to Leong and Nga. And I have had *enough* of being controlled." She ran a hand thru her dark blue hair. "That is why I started dressing more..." She frowned, and wrinkled her nose. "...differently after I had my surgery... I wanted to feel like what I wore was *my* choice, not someone else's. I wanted to be in control of myself. So I changed my wardrobe, cut and dyed my hair --" She smiled sadly, and wiped a hand across her eyes. "I think I went a bit too far. I have been growing my hair out again..." "It is easy to go too far", Roberto said quietly as he sat down on the edge of the roof beside Xi'an. "I am wondering whether my current plans are going too far. I, too, want to be 'in control' and not 'controlled'." "And what *are* your current plans, Robert?" Xi'an asked. "You have said very little so far of why you are here." "I left X-Force some weeks ago", Roberto said. "I have grown weary of the way they, and other X-teams, do things. Hiding and waiting around for one super-villain or another terrorist group to show up, then fight them, and go back into hiding. This compulsive obsession they have about never killing -- sometimes it is necessary. I will found my own faction -- one which will *not* have an 'X' in its name, will *not* be affiliated with the X-teams and one which will be *public*, and attempt to better the public image of mutants worldwide." He made a slight wave of his hand. "When Cyclops had his public X-Factor team, they gained public approval despite being mutants. The Beast, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have gained public approval despite being mutants. I can not help but think that it is the compulsive secrecy the X-teams insist on that hinders the cause of human/mutant coexistence so much. And I will not contribute to that hindrance by remaining in X-Force." "And you are looking for members", Xi'an stated. "That is correct", Roberto nodded. Xi'an nodded slowly, and then took a deep breath. "Today, I have once more witnessed the public's hatred of mutants. Something has to be done about it." She paused, and looked into her lap. "Today, I have also killed. Sometimes it *is* necessary -- but, Robert, just because we acknowledge it is necessary does not mean we have to start doing it constantly as an easy way out." "Agreed", Roberto said, and then stood up. "I and Amara are already two founding members of the Fallen Angels. Will you be the third, Xi'an?" he asked, extending his hand to the Vietnamese woman. "Be in control of your destiny -- of mankind's destiny. Let's make a difference in the world, together." Xi'an smiled faintly and gave a little shake of her head. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic, Robert", she said, and took his hand, standing up as well. "Yes, I will." FTASHH! "SPIRAL!" Roberto and Xi'an shouted almost at the same time as they whirled towards a flash of light behind them on the roof. "What do you want here, witch?!" Xi'an hissed, taking a threatening step towards the six-armed sorceress. "Haven't you already done enough damage to Leong and Nga?" "Don't take that tone with me, possessor", Spiral grinned, flashing a sword out of its sheath and pointing it at Xi'an with one of her arms. "I'm just here to --" BUH-WHOOM! "You threaten one Fallen Angel, you threaten us all", Sunspot said, holding a still-smoldering hand out towards Spiral as she flew backwards from the force of the solar blast and crashed onto the stairwell housing. "Sheathe that sword, now." Spiral glared at Roberto for a moment, but then sheathed her sword. "Done", she said. "Why are you here?" Xi'an asked angrily. "To bring word from an old friend of yours, blue-hair", Spiral sneered teasingly. "Of course, I might just change my mind because of this warm welcome..." "Old friend?" Roberto lifted an eyebrow. "Who?" Spiral just smiled for a long moment, enjoying prolonging and savoring the pleasure of torturing the two former New Mutants. Then, she spoke. "Illyana Rasputin." *** Yes, folks -- ILLYANA RASPUTIN is BACK! She's been gone since INFERNO...no wait, UNCANNY X-MEN #303...no wait, the NEW MUTANTS: TRUTH OR DEATH LIMITED SERIES...no wait, UNCANNY X-MEN #365... Well, you get the point! She's been brought back again and again, now it's time to get her back PERMANENTLY, and IN ACTION, like the way she used to be! No seven-year-olds here, no alternate-timeline copies, no ghosts -- but an ex-New-Mutant DEMON SORCERESS ready for some serious butt-kicking! Don't miss it -- you'll be glad you didn't!