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Ballard of the Gloryhog
A young boy sits at a school desk, doodling in a notebook. His name is Santi Sardina and David says that this is maybe about two months ago. David says that Santi is what you might charitably call a loser. He’s awkward and uncomfortable in his own skin, which makes him an easy-target but a decent lad despite it all. As Santi sits at his desk, all the other kids make fun of him but he does his best to ignore them. He’s not the brightest bulb in the box but he’s not dumb either. He’s smart enough to hang back afterwards to avoid everyone on the walk home. That’s how he wasn’t caught up in it all when it happened.
Santi, with his headphones in and head low, walks behind the group of kids who were bullying him earlier. They turn and go down an alley but, when Santi gets to the alley himself, he sees a smashed mobile phone on the floor and the baseball bat one of the kids was carrying next to it. He hears a voice yelling for someone to get him a chopper and a pilot. He looks down the alley to see a group of policemen in an armed standoff with Gorilla-Man. Gorilla-Man has grabbed a girl from the group of bullies and is using her as a human shield. One of the policemen shouts through a megaphone and tells Gorilla-Man to calm down and not to hurt the kid. Pointing a gun to the girl’s head, Gorilla-Man says that they had better get a chopper there or there’s going to be kidmeat in the street and heads like bottletops.
David pities Santi. He had a clear run at the villain’s back, a conveniently discarded weapon and dramatically swelling metal music in his hears. All the ingredients of a heroic moment but, instead, he froze stiff. Instead, a man in a garishly colored superhero costume runs past him. The man tells the monkey-themed wrong-doer to tremble, for he has invited the shadowy ultrawrath of Captain Ultra (the all-new gritty-urban-vigilante street level version). The overweight superhero rushes towards a confused Gorilla-Man and slams his head into his whilst yelling “ultrabutt.”
As Gorilla-Man falls to the ground, Captain Ultra stands over him triumphantly. He tells everyone he’s Captain Ultra, spelt with a “C.” He might not be the best known cape in the world; he can’t afford all the skysignals or the themed cars. But his powers are pretty cool and he has the new costume and business cards. They could check out his Facespace page or maybe mention him to a newspaper or even make a donation, because ultrasnacks don’t grow on trees. He suddenly realizes the crowd around him isn’t paying any attention to him. Instead, they rush over to Santi and start praising him. Everyone is patting Santi on the back and thanking him for saving them. From the dream-plane, David and Blindfold look watch the scene unfold. David says that it was Santi’s first epic victory and he didn’t even break a sweat.
Blindfold asks how David found Santi when Cerebro should have detected him. David scornfully replies that not every mutant has a big flashing psychic sign above their head. The X-Men look for the big energy spikes but David thinks it’s the quiet skills that will change the world. David tells Blindfold to take a look around her at the psychosphere, the dream-plane. The two of them float about as colors swirl around them and images of people’s lives appear in bubbles. David explains that it’s the imprint left on the universe by the human subconscious, through which all psychic energy flows. He says that he’s asleep and so is she. Yet here they are. He continues and says that mutants are like needles in a haystack. Cerebro’s like looking for them with a microscope and magnets. But using the psychosphere is like becoming the hay.
Blindfold is silent for a few seconds and then tells David that he should be arrested for the crimes against metaphors. Plus, it doesn’t explain why he brought her there. He tells her that he thought an astral date would be fun. Think of it like their personal psychedelic drive-through. As they watch Santi being congratulated by the police, Blindfold calls David a liar and tells him she can smell an ulterior motive. David smiles and tells her she’s good. She asks why they are watching the memories of Santi Sardina, but David asks her just to indulge him.
David explains that at first life goes all peachy for him. They see scenes of Santi in a classroom doodling in him notebook. Another student is writing on the blackboard but the teacher is ignoring him and praising Santi even though he isn’t doing anything. Next, Santi is spraying graffiti on a wall as a bunch of cheerleaders celebrate his touchdown. In the school halls, he is cornered by a girl holding a book of poems by W.B. Yeats. The girl tells Santi she’s been reading his poems and it’s as if he knows her to the very core of her being. All of these interactions leave Santi confused as to what is going on.
David says that he doesn’t twig what’s going on until it’s spelled out for him. Santi sits in class watching a video on a TV. The video is made by the San Francisco Institute of Biological Science. Dr. Nina Ambrose introduces herself and says that she would like to show them things they can learn about their society by studying nature. She says to consider a new ecosystem. Most evolve gradually according to internal changes and external pressures, much like how their cultures and religions are adapting to new science. Nowadays many ecosystems face sudden change due to artificially introduced species they call “invasive exotics.” The systems can’t adapt quickly enough, so they collapse. Just as it is in the wild with cave toads, kudzu vines and killer bees, so it is in their society with homo-superior… mutants. As Santi watches the film, one of his classmates congratulates him on making an excellent movie.
David tells Blindfold that Santi has the mutant power to take credit for things. He’s a positivity thief. Blindfold looks at Santi’s memories and says he looks sad. David tells her that every gift comes with a cost, as she should well know. Santi’s crept up on him slowly. The knowledge that he’s a cheat, and the guilt of an undeserving winner. Santi continues to gain credit and applause for things like funding his school’s music department and sending flowers to a woman he has never even met. He is even thanked by a woman who has just been saved from a burning building by fire-fighters. Under it all, Santi knows he’s nothing special but he can’t stand or fall like any other guy.
Blindfold asks if he wants to help Santi. She says that “white-knight David” suits her just fine but she asks what happened to his ambition of changing the world and not being reactive-David. David asks what if there was a way to give Santi a purpose and to make him proud of himself whilst improving the world for mutant-kind at the same time. Blindfold smiles and leans in closer to him. She says she was thinking that he was just trying to impress her. David says that was a convenient by-product and then asks how he is doing so far. Blindfold crosses her arms and says jury’s still out. David tells his sweet maiden to behold the magical moment.
He directs her to a memory showing Santi approaching his school’s advertisement board. David says that the kid is contemplating dropping out. He can taste it. He will become a recluse, hiding away from the lie his life has become. It may be honorable but he’s still lost. But before he does he wants one last try at achieving something for himself. Santi stands in front of the board and views sign-up sheets for clubs like glee, rugby, art, debate society and math club.
David says that, in the psychosphere, he can nudge Santi’s mind. He asks Blindfold if she has any thoughts on that. She tells him art will do. Santi is always doing graffiti and he could be really successful and happy. David asks how Santi would ever trust people’s praise. How would he ever feel any worth if people couldn’t help but fawn over his work? Blindfold becomes a bit irritated and asks what he suggests. She doesn’t see a dumb-hair-and-bagpiping-club up there. David notes that she loses the speech impediment when she is being snarky and he suggests his own idea.
David indicates that he should join the debate society and that he would be president of it by the end of the year. Then he would be an elected official within three years, governor by the age of twenty-eight and commander-in-chief on his thirty-fifth birthday. He gets influence and he can change the world. He gets to decide things that count and matter. David says to Blindfold she can’t tell him it’s not a route to fulfillment. The rest of them get the world’s first mutant president. This is what his dad’s real legacy is all about. This is what he learned by watching his way go arse-over-elbow. They don’t get to sit by and watch anymore.
David looks to Blindfold but she isn’t paying attention. She is looking somewhere else and David asks if he said something wrong. She starts to stutter again and asks if he can feel it. The whole place is screaming… Something’s coming. She holds onto him and says she’s scared. She tells him to get some powers ready. David says he can’t. There’s something loose in his head that attacked her in Tokyo. He has to be careful about exposing himself.
The psychosphere suddenly changes and a giant red creature appears in it. The creature has multiple arms, razor sharp teeth and psychic tendrils coming from its head. The creature smacks Blindfold away, causing her to leave the psychosphere and wake up. David thinks that whatever the creature is it isn’t interested in Blindfold. As Blindfold wakes up screaming David’s name, her roommate Pixie wearily mutters that this is why she never keeps a roommate for long.
As the creature attacks David, he can only think that it feels familiar. Inside his mindscape, David writhes in pain as the other personalities in his head flee from him. He yells for them to come back as he needs their powers. Pain or no pain, the truth trickles in as slow and unstoppable as oil. He yells at his other personalities that he can’t do it and he needs help. As the creature starts to eat him in the psychosphere, he realizes he is going to lose. No warning, clever hints or foreshadowing. Ten seconds ago, he was vaguely confident of getting a snog off a beautiful blind astral projection he’s falling for. Now he’s going to die. Inside his mindscape, David weakly crawls along the floor and says he needs powers or they are all going to die.
Suddenly, a voice calls out and says he thinks not. The gold-skinned personality of Xavier stands in front of David and he picks him up by the neck. Xavier asks if David has a hug for his old man and then bites into his neck. David muses that it’s a funny feeling to be pushed to the back of his own brain. There’s a moment of equality where he and the beast share one mind. David tries to convince himself it’s not his real dad, as he’s dead now. As their minds touch, David sees visions of X-Men and aliens dying and mysterious, white-faced being attacking someone.
Inside the psychosphere, David’s limbs are disintegrating. Xavier finally takes control of his body and David can only watch what happens next. Xavier starts to reform David’s limbs and fight back against the creature. Xavier says he knows the creature like the back of his hand. The boy is not his to kill. Xavier expels the creature from the dream land and then hands back control of David’s body.
Inside of David’s mind, as Xavier lets go of him, David’s thoughts are broadcast throughout the mind-prison once more. David notes that Xavier smiles as he lets go and he can only wonder that it was all about. Xavier walks off and, after hearing David’s thoughts on what just happened, he simply replies that all will become clear.
Inside the psychosphere, David clutches at his head. He despairs over the promises of the parasitic personality as well as the mystery creature and the collapsing cluster-**** that is his life. He thinks that if Blindfold has any sense then she will stay away. But secretly he hopes she doesn’t have any sense. Looking at Santi through a bubble, he muses on that fact he used to utter “I rule me” to give him strength a little bit ago. Everybody should be able to say those words and mean them, no matter who they are.
As Santi stares at the school memo board, trying to decide between art club or debate society, David reaches through the bubble and astrally projects his hand into Santi’s head.
(Two weeks later)
Doop, dressed as a postman, hands over an envelope to Blindfold. Inside is a piece of paper with a web address on it. Pixie and Blindfold go to a computer and open the webpage. It’s a video clip of a man introducing a graffiti based art program. The man says he is coming from a gallery in New York where the Losergeist exhibition is on show. According to the artist, it was inspired by the touch of a ghost. The presenter says that most of the time they have street art in places like this it ends up being some pretentious hipster sellout hunting for a quick buck. But he says that Losergeist blows it all out of the water. He continues and says it’s a medley of raw work about dispossession, guilt and pop-infused ambition. It’s already stirred up more praise from critics than a resurrected Rafael.
Elsewhere, Santi is also viewing the internet clip. The presenter continues and says what’s real interesting is that the artist has chosen to remain anonymous at the suggestion of the ghost. Santo smiles at the reaction.
Pixie tells Blindfold she doesn’t understand what it’s about and asks who sent her the link. Blindfold asks if there are any comments. Pixie looks at the comments section of the video clip and says there are heaps. The first is from Bighair356 and Pixie reads it out. It says “You were right, shouldn’t be using other people to achieve my goals. My agenda, my fight, my responsibility. One more chance. 8 PM Thursday. I’ll pick you up, wear something warm.” Pixie wonders what sort of nut organizes dates through a comments section. Blindfold smiles and says he nemesis does. In the psychosphere, David watches the scene as Pixie tells Blindfold she is such a weirdo.


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Invasive Exotic (Part Three)
A hipster in a hat, just off camera, wishes David luck, which he thinks it kind of sweet. Or it would be if he wasn’t secretly an A-list Nazi superbastard who is psychically disguising the baboon’s bum that he calls a face. David is at the Institute for Bio-Social Studies and he is preparing to take a pill that will stop him using his mutant powers and also reduce his mind to a child-like state. David sits on a stool with a camera pointed at him and a tray with a pill on it in front of him.
He looks at the hipster, Matteo, who is in fact a disguised Red Skull, or a clone of him maybe. Right now, he is secretly pulling the strings of an organization that is launching a popular uprising against mutants. There’s probably a world conquering scheme behind it all, as there always is. He is animating a bunch of braindead bodies using the stolen cerebellum of the world’s most powerful psychic. Who just so happened to be David’s father. He is simply the last person in the world he should be playing nice with.
The Red Skull tells David to take the pill when he’s ready and so he looks into the camera and introduces himself. He says he is horrifyingly powerful and, whilst it’s never been his intent, he acknowledges that there is a significant chance of him inflicting sever violence on the Earth one day. He is a mutant be he doesn’t want to be one anymore. Dr. Marcus Glove comes on screen and says that, if the folks at home didn’t know, David is the son of the late Charles Xavier, one of the most famous mutants on the planet. David looks at Marcus and thinks to himself that whilst he is a friendly and reasonable figurehead of local government he is nothing but the Red Skull’s marionette. Marcus continues and says that David’s courage today shows them that even the most dignified and respected mutant dynasties acknowledges the simple truth that something has to be done. At home, a family watches the broadcast and agrees that something has to be done.
David thinks that he is right and he is all the propaganda that the Red Skull ever needed. Plus the world is watching. In her office at the Israeli embassy, David’s mother, Gabrielle Haller, watches the TV and sees her son. She watches as he says he is ready and asks for the pill. At the Jean Grey School, Wolverine also watches the broadcast. With a beer in his hand, he tells Beast he can’t tell if he’s angry that the jackass has turned coat or grateful that he is taking himself off the board. Beast looks over and asks if it is just him or is it quiet around there today.
Back at the IBSS, David tosses the pill in the air, ready to swallow it. However, before it reaches his mouth, a stream of fire incinerates it. David looks round to see Blindfold and her team of X-Men. Pixie has teleported them into the room and Chamber managed to burn the pill with his power, before David could cure himself. As armed men enter the room, Blindfold says they don’t want to fight anyone. Chamber says that the pineapple head is with them and nobody is going to hurt him. Frenzy chips in nobody except her. Pixie also adds on her too.
As the armed men call for backup, Marcus tries to get everyone to calm down as they are all reasonable people. On the corner, the Red Skull uses his newfound telepathic powers to make the X-Men believe Marcus has a knife. Chamber yells out and David tries to stop him but it’s too late. Chamber blasts Marcus through the wall of the building, killing him and leaving a charred corpse.
Chamber is confused as to why he suddenly did that, as people around them calls them murderers. David hears laughter in his mind; it’s the Red Skull and his psychic cackle infests their thoughts. At home, the views can hardly believe what has happened and become hateful towards mutants. David says that the Red Skull must have guessed someone would come for him. He was been waiting for someone to bump off his sacrificial lamb. “Matteo” kneels down over Marcus’s body and confirms he is dead. He then tells the crowd gathered around him that they won’t forget him and let his message die.
The Red Skull can’t help himself and put puts a slideshow into the X-Men’s brains, showing them a preview of what they helped harvest. Nothing brings people together like being told who to hate. Nothing makes people more pliable than a shared enemy. In the visions, the X-Men see Matteo standing at a podium in front of a crowd, who are holding banners saying “something must be done.” Then he shows them the people wearing IBSS logos on their arms, beating up mutants. Something must be done is the rally cry along with “for Marcus.” It will start with mutants but there’s always another group, another minority, another enemy. And each crusade and shared atrocity he oversees they will love and obey him that much more. The vision finally ends with the Red Skull in front of a crowd, all raising their hands in the Nazi salute.
The crowd at the IBSS turns towards the X-Men and yell that something must be done. Blindfold says they played into the Red Skull’s hands and, with a smile on his face, David agrees. Frenzy asks why he is smirking and he says because the scabby faced #&*% played into his. With that, he raises his finger and a green spark of energy comes out. In a flash of green light, Santi Sardina appears before everyone.
At home, the viewers are still up in arms at Marcus’s death by mutants. As they watch, though, Santi stands in front of the cameras and politely asks for everyone’s attention. He introduces himself and says he is leader of the Darwin’s Martyrs. Everyone is initially confused but then Santi’s powers of gloryhogging kick in. Everyone suddenly accepts this as the truth and they start chanting Santi’s name and praising him. As Santi continues to read from a card, he says that he is a mutant. Everyone at home starts praising Santi as well and supporting mutants.
Blindfold quietly asks David if he prepared all of this but he simply tells her to wait for the magic. One of the people in the crowd around Santi says that he died for them all. Another guy points out that Santi is still alive as he is right there in front of them. At home, one person asks how they are supposed to hate mutants when the great martyr is one of them. As the X-Men watch, everyone in the crowd tries to assimilate the information that Santi supposedly died but he is also alive as well. Out of frustration, everyone gives up. The crowd around Santi walk away and the TV viewers switch channels. David reminds the X-Men that nothing brings people together like being told who to hate. But nothing breaks them apart like being told to think about it for themselves. With that, David waves his hand and blows up the TV camera.
Pixie asks what they should do now and David tells her they should probably go now. Frenzy asks why but the answer comes from the Red Skull. He shouts in German at David and calls him a bastard. He lets out a telepathic blast, knocking back everyone around him. David tries to shield himself but is taken aback by how strong he is.
Blindfold picks up on something David said and asks if he knew this would happen. David says that Darwin’s Martyrs were a threat to mutantkind. It doesn’t matter that they were reasonably friendly; they still had to be destroyed. Blindfold realizes that David came there because of Luca’s prediction of their future. The vile vision that destiny would swallow one or the other of them. A terror David has played on to give truth to his lie. David makes a confession to himself and says he never went to the IBSS for the cure. If he is going to avoid the #%*&$*# up future, he is going to use the things that make him who he is, not deny them. He reiterates that he rules himself.
Chamber tries to get it straight and asks David if this was all a trick to scam the manky-faced freak. David tries to answer yes but he can barely do it through trying to shield everyone. Chamber continues and asks if he lured them there to help him. Still, David cannot answer but Chamber points out that they are getting their ass handed to them anyway. He states for the record that he is definitely going to kill David. Clenching her head, Blindfold says she couldn’t even see ahead today. Maybe it was the Red Skull and his power confusing things but how could David see ahead when she couldn’t. David says he had help. He made a deal with a monster in his mind. It thought he wanted to see the far future but really he was sniffing at today.
(The Qortex Complex Inside David’s Mind)
The David Haller personality crouches on the ground with Tyrannix the Abominoid strapped to his back. He thinks to himself that it makes no difference as he promised one minute of control over his body. He vowed he wouldn’t fight it and in here such a contract is as unbreakable as any hypnotic block. And so of course now it chooses to call in the debt. As David kneels on the floor, the Xavier personality comes up behind him and bites into his neck.
In the real world, David is possessed by the Xavier personality, and erupts with energy. He yells out “mine” as he levitates off the floor. He displays a level of control David can only dream of. Inside his mind, Xavier attacks numerous personalities at the same time and absorbs their powers. Back in the real world, he rushes at the Red Skull and starts punching him, as the X-Men attack the armed guards around them. The Skull is bitterness and fury and he stands alone in his strength and simplicity of focused authority. His is the seductive charm of unilateral personal power. His is the way of the dictator: loved and feared. Whereas the gold-skinned fiend is a legion.
Blindfold enters David’s mind to find the Xavier personality pinned on top of the David Haller one. David speaks and says David isn’t there right now and tells her it’s been twenty-two seconds.
Pixie looks at David and is shocked when she sees his glowing eyes. Chamber asks who he is and what he wants. Xavier says he thought it was obvious; he wants a shell. A flesh of his own. He wants to pour himself into the slumbering sadist behind them. He looks at the unconscious Red Skull, who is lying on the floor. He wants to eject the spirit of Johann Schmidt like the trash it is. He wants to possess what lies in the Red Skull’s skull. He wants the brain of Charles Xavier; he wants what’s his by rights.
Inside the mindscape, David weakly tells Blindfold thirty-two seconds have now passed. He says he knew she would come and she tells him that he saw it in the future. He says he doesn’t mean that, as there are now too many variables and options. He has no idea how this ends and then says thirty-six seconds. He tells her that what he does know is, allies or enemies, they are linked. What he knows is that he can’t rule him, not on his own anyway.
In the real world, Blindfold suddenly glows with energy and yells for the X-Men to kick David’s ass. Inside his mind, David says you have to hand it to his dad’s well trained muscle. They know their strengths and optimal roles and each one dives in without hesitation. A predetermined battle plan without a single word spoken. Draw enemy firepower, hinder enemy mobility and destroy enemy powerbase.
Frenzy, Pixie and Chamber rush at David, as Blindfold attacks Xavier on the psychic plane. David says he has laughed at them before and called them well trained monkeys, but there isn’t any laughter now. In David’s mind, Blindfold points out she can hear his thoughts as Xavier grabs her around the neck. David says that it has been fifty seconds.
It’s not just because all their efforts are for him or because he is a little bit jealous of their co-operation shtick. It’s because for all their training, bravery and brilliance it’s still not enough. With that, Xavier throws Blindfold away in the mindscape and then does the same to the X-Men in the real world. David/Xavier laughs but in the mindscape he is suddenly struck by something moving extremely quickly. It’s Karasu Tengo and her psychic raven. It attacks Xavier and he tries to fight it off. David then yells out that the minute is up and then calls for the monster types in his mind to hold Xavier down.
Blindfold asks Karasu what made her change her mind. She replies that it amuses her David owes his life to the members of the institution that he has tried so hard to distance himself from. Plus, hating him is all she has. As Karasu leaves his mind, David asks Blindfold what she said. Blindfold tells him she is learning to forgive.
In the real world, the X-Men are still attacking David. Blindfold tells them David is back and it’s really him. They don’t want to believe it though and continue punching him. David points across the room and yells at the Nazi with the jetpack. Everyone stops to see the Red Skull blasting up into the sky, thanks to a jet pack strapped to his back.
David says he has never been one for the spandex stuff but he understands there are regulations you have to observe. This is the bit where the super villain cackles madly, shows he is not truly beaten and swears a dreadful revenge and all that #*$&. Something grand and bombastic to satisfy whatever pit of insecurity or attention addition drove him there in the first place. As the Red Skull flies off, he makes the Nazi salute and disappears into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke.
Santi walks up to the X-Men and, rubbing his head, asks what he missed. David says that the Red Skull was thinking of the word “kaboom” when he left. Frenzy asks if he thinks if the place is wired and David replies that it is what he would do. Blindfold nervously asks if he can stop it.
Later on, a news report on TV discusses the recent events. The reporter says the situation in San Francisco remains confused. The IBSS has now shut down after the disgrace and disappearance of its founder. Rumors also speak of heroism, bomb disposal and disaster prevention rightly credited to the young man-of-the-moment, Santi Sardina.
David and Blindfold sit in a diner and she tells him to get it over with. He tells her the gulf between them is deep and dark and if they pursue this thing then fate will crush one of them to dust. Plus they disagree on so much that they circle around each other but they never meet in the middle. Disappointed, Blindfold says it’s fine and then starts to excuse herself to leave. David stops her and says she doesn’t understand. He will circle around her until the stars die and the world has forgotten what makes them different. He will shatter any future that dares divide them. Before Blindfold can say anything, David dematerializes and leaves.
(The Qortex Complex)
Inside his mind, a sense of peace has been restored to the previously chaotic prison environment. Monstrous personalities still walk free but many of the prison cells are now in operation again. David sits outside one such cell, which has increased security on it. A voice inside tells David they never had him down as the schmaltzy type. David points out they never had him down as the kick-ass type either and that was their mistake. The voice says they are now back inside his brain again like a bonafide nasty. David overcame his inner demon and he maybe even picked up a teensy taste for team-ups. The world is David’s oyster.
Peering out of the darkness, the Xavier personality asks him what he has planned next. However, the Xavier personality has now regressed back to the yellow-skinned rat-like creature it was when it was first formed. It is chained up behind tightly behind a force field in the prison cell. David walks away from it and says it’s about time he cracked the oyster open.


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[Assistant]
Hope and Glory (Part 1)
(London, UK)
The case notes of MI:13 Field Commander Peter Wisdom. Wisdom says that if you ask his opinion, David Haller couldn’t have picked a worse time to visit. He’s meant to keep the peace but conditions were tough even before David arrived. Unemployment was up, welfare was down and the recession was holding steady. The gloom has always been a bugle call for w****rs, so they are all out from under their rocks. Anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-mutant and anti-whatever. Maybe that’s why he came when he did. Though he does wonder how straight David was thinking.
If the reports from the US are to be believed then David is at a crossroads in his life. More power, more control and working out what to do with it. It all adds up to a major problem. And that is even before you get to President Abdi and his untimely state visit. Most folks hadn’t even heard of the sandy little state of Aqiria which is nestle up Persia’s crotch. Abdi and his cronies have a record blacker than a smoker’s lung when it comes to things like women’s rights, mutant rights and such. So there were protesters lining the street as the president’s motorcade drove through the city. Before long, nobody knew or cared who was against what – just so long as they were standing on the curb shouting.
The top snobs never wanted to get matey with Abdi but some hands will always shake and some mouths will always smile. The official line went “if we don’t deal with rogues, they will just get more roguish.” At a press conference between President Abdi and the British Prime Minister, Abdi tells everyone he wants to set up an agency like MI:13 in Aqiria. They are in the UK to borrow expertise and operations training. After the conference, he is ushered away by the security. He tells the PM that they already have their first recruit, which is a technological warrior by the name Black Gold. The PM humors him and then asks him to discuss oil prices. Even though Wisdom’s MI:13 colleagues went in with teeth ground and, even though certain members of the team were excluded on “cultural” grounds, they still played ball nonetheless. They did their duty, signed a deal and shook hands for all the world to see.
At least the rest of his team did. He would have been excluded on X-gene grounds if he didn’t have other fish to fry. Wisdom muses that “keeping the peace” is a lot easier when you haven’t got an unpredictable weirdo bumbling around town. Especially one that has been lurking outside the Israeli Embassy. It goes without saying he checked the grapevine when David popped up. The CIA, FBI, the hairy half-pint in Westchester and the green-haired cow from SWORD all said that he wants to change the world. He’s always planning something bigger and better and he has even stooped so low as to work with others. That said, it doesn’t take a genius to see that he is lonely.
Wisdom follows David as he walks through the rainy London streets. He watches as David meets with two men outside a pub and then goes in. Wisdom muses that maybe he has a thing for team-ups now. He has files in his office on both his pals. One is a Londoner with fire for a face and the Belfast boy is supposed to be dead. All three are dodgy bastards and nobody sane’s idea of a decent booze-up.
Wisdom crosses the street and opens the door to the pub. As he walks in, he starts to tell a joke but stops when he sees how full the pub is. Wisdom looks around the room to see a number of British superheroes including Chamber, Psylocke and Pixie of the X-men. Plus Alchemy, Liam Connaughton and the intergalactic rock star, Lila Cheney. Wisdom surveys everyone but they seem to know every smart quip he is thinking to himself. A voice comes from behind him and he turns to see David sitting at the bar. Referring to Wisdom’s assumption of David’s Scottish accent David explains he caught it on Muir Island but he’s no Brit. In fact, he’s not much of anything. With a beer in hand, he lists off outside, immigrant, mutant and Johnny foreigner. He then asks Wisdom if a strange is worthy of a welcome.
Wisdom walks forward and sarcastically tells David “alls the deadly mental wants is a crumpet and cuddle.” Leaning against the bar, David says they should cut to the chase and guesses Wisdom doesn’t want him there. He has compared notes with the Yanks and he knows that David has reached a plateau in his mind but he doesn’t know how long it will last. He’s afraid David is there to perform some world-changing craziness and he’s invited his fellow mutants to help.
David then says Wisdom would be right about it all. David then pinches the bridge of his nose and says that not long ago he thought the only words he needs were “I rule me.” But now he is starting to think no one should rule alone. He tells Wisdom he is chasing his father’s dream the only way he knows how. David says that mutants must work together to pre-emotively annihilate the bigotry of the…but he is cut off though. Wisdom tells him he was doing alright up to the call-to-arms bit.
Wisdom points a finger at David and says if he were a betting man he would bet David is there to take a pop at President Abdi as he has a right bug up his bum about X-peeps. Some sort of double clever scheme to eliminate a future threat, as that is David’s shtick nowadays. Wisdom then unleashes his energy knives and tells David he won’t be doing it in his manor. Wisdom slashes at David but he puts up an energy force field before the knives hit him.
Suddenly, the others rush over and Chamber holds David back as Pixie stands in between them. Psylocke whispers to Wisdom that she has a psychic stiletto pressed against his crown jewels.
Chamber says that the fact is they came to tell Captain Hairspray that they aren’t interested in helping him. David seems a little surprised as Liam tells Wisdom they don’t trust David. Lila Cheney chips in and asks why they would. Looking forlorn, David tells them he can’t do it on his own. Walking away, Chamber tells him not to do it then. As the rest go back to what they were doing, Wisdom tells David it’s a shame he didn’t bring a mutant violinist. He then offers David a word of advice and subsequently tells him to *&%# off. With that, David teleports away.
Wisdom triumphantly dusts his hands as the troublemaker has been sent on his way and the crisis averted. Although he was tempted to celebrate, as a responsible agent of the crown he naturally avoid all intoxicating fluids to oversee the group’s dispersal. Although it took longer than anticipated. Wisdom leaves the pub after having a few pints as the rest of the group waves their goodbyes to each other. In the meantime, the members of the government and MI:13 met with President Abdi. Wisdom muses that the diplomacy lark is a whole new bag. He supposes the suits really wanted the oil. At 1500 hrs, he decided he would head back to HQ as the protests were raging on. One lot against this and one lot against that. Nobody seems to be for anything anymore.
As Wisdom walks past the protesters, he hears a disturbance and turns to see people being thrown up in the air and blue tentacles whipping around. A group of Warwolves are attacking the protesters. Wisdom hasn’t seen any since they had some bother at the zoo with them but they have no business being on his turf today as they did back then. He leaps into action and starts fighting the Warwolves.
As he does so, he detects another presence and spots the astral projection of Blindfold floating nearby. Recognizing her from her file, he guesses she is with David. He read that she helped him with the Nazi business back in San Francisco. He asks if the Warwolves are David’s doing as it’s too much of a coincidence. She tells him she doesn’t know and that she was only watching David. She then flies through the Warwolf that Wisdom is fighting and it collapses on the floor. She wonders why he would put innocent people at risk but she is interrupted by a scream before she can finish.
He turns to see Dolph, a large green skinned man, attacking more protestors and firing a gun in the air. Wisdom rushes towards him and says it has to be David’s doing. One manifestation of evil is bad luck but two on the same day has the unmistakable stench of Eau de Rat. As Wisdom fights Dolph, Blindfold tries to reason with him. She tells him that David is so lonely and powerful and he’s frightened of hurting himself. Wisdom yells that she is a crap salesman and she tells him that David just wants to help. Wisdom slices Dolph in half and Blindfold says she doesn’t agree with all the things David does, like the manipulation and the controlling. But he isn’t evil and he doesn’t take risks. An exhausted Wisdom asks what she is trying to say but once again their attention is caught by something else.
Hearing the words “Joy and Fear” yelled loudly, Wisdom asks Blindfold to tell him that Plotka isn’t behind him. She points behind him and says that it isn’t Plotka. Wisdom spins around and slashes behind him to see that it absolutely is Plotka. Blindfold yells to Wisdom to open his eyes as David doesn’t take risks. She asks if he would really unleash all of this. As he grapples with Plotka, Wisdom begins to listen to Blindfold and think. He stops fighting and asks Plotka when they last time they met was. Plotka thinks for a second and then yells “Joy and fear” again. Wisdom turns away and Plotka says there are some Skrulls on their way. Wisdom tells him there isn’t and uses his energy knives to slash around him.
The world starts to change and he realizes he is still in the pub. He finds himself in a dazed state and slumped across the bar. Blindfold is with him and she spots David stood on a table with the rest of the group around him. They are all in dazed states too and barely conscious. Blindfold says that David cannot just control people into cooperating with him. He turns around and seems a little surprised to see her. He says that she shouldn’t have gotten involved and there is more going on. He tells her he has a plan and asks for her to trust him. Looking dismayed, she tells him she can’t. Holding his head, Wisdom walks up to them and tells David nobody rabbit holes him.
David gives the order to attack and the rest of the entranced group rush towards Wisdom. Blindfold yells for him to stop as this isn’t him. He whispers to her that there is something that must be done for his dad’s dream. He tells him she thought he learned and begs for him to let them go. As the group attacks Wisdom, David says she doesn’t understand and he needs them. She yells that he can’t just take help and make people be on his side. He repeats that she doesn’t understand. She hangs her head and tells him his father would be ashamed. He doesn’t say anything for a few second and then looks away, repeating that she doesn’t understand.
Blindfold goes up to Wisdom and touches him on the head and tells him he needs to see as she does. Through Blindfold’s vision, he sees a lines of orange energy coming from each of the mutants and ending with David. Wisdom starts slashing at the lines and breaking the hold David has over them. David is angry but Wisdom keeping slashing until each person is free. They all fall down unconscious and Wisdom tells David he isn’t so cocky without his meat puppets.
Infuriated, David yells that wisdom doesn’t understand and starts to channel an energy attack. Blindfold begs Wisdom not to hurt him but he ignores her and slashes at David with his knives. Before David can recover, Wisdom hits him square in the face and blasts a hole through his head.


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Hope and Glory (Part 2)
(London, UK)
Peter Wisdom has just used his powers and blasted a hole in David’s head. He says that shuffling a godlike übermutant off the mortal coil isn’t an experience he has had before. But it felt a bit too %&#*$ good. It’s just a pity he didn’t have a more supportive audience.
As David’s body lies on the floor, Wisdom turns to see the shocked astral projection of Blindfold. Wisdom says that if you want a characteristically poetic metaphor regarding mutant related interaction then to listen up. X-gene carriers are a lot like the chef’s special spicy selection down at the local curry house. The blander and more innocuous it looks when it first arrives, the more pain it will cause you later.
Enraged by what she has just seen, Blindfold lashes out at Wisdom with a psychic attack. She starts piercing him with psychic tendrils but he begs for her to wait. At this point in the proceedings, he was obligated to use his wildly famed skills of negotiation and reason. Wisdom manages to get Blindfold to stop attacking and to listen to him. Crouching on the floor, he tells her she knows David better than anyone. Does she really think Wisdom could plug him so easily? Pausing for a minute, Blindfold asks Wisdom if he means David “holodecked” them again and he says he does. With that, he uses his plasma knives and finds a swirling energy portal in the middle of the room.
Elsewhere, David is in the countryside with Alchemy. David is watching what Blindfold and Wisdom are doing through a viewing portal as he also mind controls Alchemy. Alchemy is using his powers on the ground and he tells David he could do with more juice.
Back in the bar, Wisdom steps through the illusionary portal to see the real world but he is suddenly thrown across the room and into a table. He sees a Fury standing over him and starts to panic. But Blindfold just watches calmly until Wisdom twigs that it is another of David’s illusions. He stands up and dusts himself down as he remembers what David can do. He continues on again but immediately stops which a shocked look on his face. Everyone he ever loved and lost is standing before him. Nightcrawler, Kitty, his mother, John the Skrull and even Maureen. Whatever you may say about David Haller, the kid knows loss.
A visibly shaken Wisdom kneels down and stutters that they should stay there for a while. Blindfold speaks up and tells David that it was low to do that. She says that she knows he can hear her and he is better than this.
At a football stadium, David is controlling Pixie as they stand on the stadium roof. As Pixie releases her hallucinogenic dust across the crowd, David tells Blindfold he just needed Wisdom out of the way. He tells Blindfold she would understand if she knew what he was trying to do. He gives in and asks Ruth if she wants to understand and with that Lila Cheney appears at the bar. Wisdom whispers to Blindfold and asks if it is real but she doesn’t know. Taking a swig of beer, Lila tells them David said something like this would happen, so she will fill them in on the plan.
David contacted a bunch of British mutants as he had some unfeasibly complicated scheme. They heard him out and agreed to get involved. Wisdom asks what the plan was and Lila tells him it was to wipe mutophobia Britain off the map. She sits down and leans back on the chair. People recognize her as Lila Cheney, the celebrity musical mutant. But she is just the glossy gift wrap and her real job is to record and present all the real good work the others are doing. The stuff David is lending them power to achieve.
Wisdom asks what good work she is talking about. She tells him David snuck Psylocke into the Ministry of Defence as he figured her psi-blade would work well on the military’s top brass. Pixie is ready to stir things up at a football cup-final day. Ninety-nine thousand beered up blokes are just itching for violence. Alchemy is on the Scottish border pouring a stream of rare-Earth elements the full length of the country. Chamber was smuggled into Sellafield Nuclear Plant an hour ago. She believes the phrase “explosive chain reaction” was mentioned. Liam, who can make things detonate by thinking about them, has gone to see the queen.
The country is a tinderbox of prejudice and witless over-reactions. David’s just providing the spark. Wisdom thinks about what she said for a few seconds and then dismisses it. Even if he thought David was capable of that much cooperation and focus, he knows the rest of them ain’t that sick. Wisdom says he knows David is gunning for President Abdi and all this is just a smokescreen. As David gets Liam ready to meet the queen, he hears Wisdom telepathically tell him he will have to do better than that. David tells Liam he has to go and that he should look the old dear in the eye.
(The Qortex Complex inside David’s brain)
Many of David’s lesser personalities are caged up again and the ones that are free are being used by David. He is levitating in the middle of the room with his needle tendrils jammed into some of their heads. He asks Tyrannix, his telepathic personality, what else they have to keep Wisdom busy. Tyrannix doesn’t answer and instead he points to the astral form of Blindfold, who has phased through one of the walls.
In the real world, Wisdom is being inundated with numerous illusions, including provocative women, the offer of drink, the belief he is Captain Ultra and even the fact he is in a comic book. But Wisdom sees through them all for what they are and he breaks the illusions with his knives. He yells out David’s name and finds himself in David’s mindscape. He sees Blindfold pulling David’s ear, coercing him into bringing Wisdom into his mind.
David turns back to what he was doing as Wisdom and Blindfold talk. Wisdom asks where they are and Blindfold replies that they are in David’s head but it looks different from the last time she was there. She can’t find the right words but a voice chips in and tells her it’s under control. Wisdom is a little taken aback that someone just talked to them in David’s head except that it wasn’t David. He also notes Blindfold’s stammer is gone.
They look down to see a pit with David’s biggest personalities roaming free inside. The voice says there are still some things that he can’t do. He’s not quite ready for the reality changers and the time-breakers. But the rest of them are his to use and exploit. They look to where the voice is coming from and see the gold-skinned Xavier personality trapped in a cell. Only he doesn’t look like Xavier anymore, he is more like his original rat-like form. Wisdom notes it looks a little like the Professor and asks if it is. Blindfold tells him it isn’t but the creature tells him he is. Wisdom asks what it all means and Blindfold replies that David is strong enough to do almost anything and she doesn’t know how to stop him.
The Xavier personality suddenly grabs Wisdom’s collar and pulls him to the cell bars. He whispers something in Wisdom’s ear and then lets him go. Wisdom thinks for a second and then mentions David’s mother. This gets David’s attention and Wisdom continues. He tells him he will make it his life’s work to tell his mum what a nasty, manipulative little *&#$ of a son she has. He then demands David sends him back to reality. David turns to Ruth but she tells him to do it. He reluctantly returns Wisdom’s mind back to his body.
Wisdom once again wakes up in a dazed state in the bar. David telepathically tells him that he will understand him and he also tells Blindfold she will forgive him too. Having escaped the lunatic’s mental landscape and its cast of freaks, brainmonsters and creepy glowing Xaviers, Wisdom runs out of the bar unleashing a torrent of swear words. He heads to the site of the anticipated crime with Blindfold’s astral projection in tow.
By the time he reaches Whithall, the demonstrations are even louder than ever. President Abdi and his group are walking down the street meeting and greeting some of the protesters. As policemen hold the protesters back behind the railings, Wisdom runs into the street. He shouts to the security officers that someone is going to take a pop at President Abdi. Call it intuition or the sneaky cynical suspicion of a paranoid bastard but he is also bang on the money.
Blindfold gets Wisdom’s attention and points towards David, who is stood amongst the crowd with a gun in his hand. Wisdom starts to gloat but, before he can finish, David tosses him the gun and tells him that he dropped it in the pub. Wisdom catches the gun but doesn’t understand what’s going on. Pointing to an overhead building, David tells him he thought he might need it. Wisdom looks to see a man in a baseball cap standing on a balcony and aiming a sniper rifle at President Abdi. The assailant lets off a shot as Wisdom returns fire. As he fires, Wisdom falls backwards and uses his powers to slice the gunman’s bullet in half, in mid-air. President Abdi and his procession stop and look at scene as the gunman falls from the balcony.
As the man lies injured on the ground, David calmly tells him that he is an Aqiri citizen and he has been listening to his mind for a few days now. He is gay and he has been persecuted his entire life. David asks him not to go too hard on him. Wisdom goes over to the man and arrests him. His attention is caught by someone asking him to smile and he looks up to see Lila Cheney taking a photo. A little way off, President Abdi chastises his superhero Al-Thahab Al-Aswad and the fact that he spent ten million dollars on him and it was Wisdom that saved his life.
As the security forces rush to the gunman, Wisdom asks Blindfold to bring him the man with the stupid hair. Blindfold begs Wisdom not to hurt him and David puts his hands in the air and surrenders unconditionally. Wisdom grabs David by the scruff of his shirt and demands to know what is going on.
Later on, Wisdom is in his office filing a report on the day’s events. David suddenly appears behind him and scares him. Wisdom grabs him by the collar and drags him out of the room, threatening him if he teleports out of his cell one more time. David says there is one thing he takes issue with and that’s the whole having done something wrong part. As Wisdom leads him down the stairs, David asks what he crime was. Wisdom replies that he misled and officer of the crown, compromised national security and conspired to damage the reputation of the UK. David turns to Blindfold, who has been observing the events and she tells Wisdom that he knows it’s not true as he has seen the broadcast.
The broadcast starts with Lila Cheney introducing herself to the camera. She apologizes for interrupting the regular scheduled programs and thanks to some unconventional equipment she is appearing on all TV’s around the world. She is here to tell everyone about Great Britain and some of its proudest citizens. She starts with Betsy Braddock, a home grown hero who is renowned for her deadly capabilities with a psi-blade. She spent her day with the nation’s heroes, cutting out the traumatic experiences gained from Afghanistan and Iraq. The TV cuts to Psylocke who is meeting with a bunch of war veterans. She tells the viewers it is nice to do something positive for a change.
The broadcast goes to Sellafield, where Chamber is setting off a controlled nuclear reaction using his face. Chamber says that if they have done their calculations right they will keep the grid fed for a fortnight and it won’t cost a penny. He says that it’s been fun spending the day not beating anyone up. Next, Pixie is standing outside Wembley Stadium as the fans of a football match exit. The cup-final has long been anticipated as the most violent event in the sporting calendar and yet another indictment of the thuggish British character. However, Pixie has used her hallucinogenic dust to calm down the supporters and now the fans of both sides are hugging and telling each other that they love one another.
Alchemy has been busy converting a 600 km corridor of brownfield land into a magnetic neodymium strip. Contractors are now bidding to start construction on a silent-running, supersonic train that connects the limits of the island. Elsewhere, Liam Connaughton, who is Northern Irish and vaguely republican shakes hands with the queen. Whilst he is able to generate explosions at a whim, he has chosen not to atomize his ideological enemies like most normal people. And the cream of the crumpet is MI:13’s Peter Wisdom. Simultaneously avoiding a national incident and demonstrating that Britain is better with mutants.
As David, Wisdom and Blindfold view the broadcast, David says that he did exactly what he set out to do. He wiped mutophobic Britain off the map. Wisdom bemoans David but Blindfold asks him to tell him about Aqiri. Wisdom reluctantly tells David there was a bloodless coup, as the Aqiri people have chosen a more progressive future thanks to Britain’s example. President Abdi is still sulking in his hotel across town. Wisdom adds that the new regime also wants to sign an oil deal too.
David tells Wisdom that it sounds like it turned out nice and Blindfold asks why he is still being kept there. As Wisdom guides David back into his cell, he tells her he isn’t. Wisdom sighs and says that they both know that David could smash his way out of there on a shaft of rainbows if he wanted too, but they know he won’t. David asks why he thinks that and Wisdom replies that he craves approval. Alls David wants is someone to pat him on the head and tell him well done and that they are proud. It just won’t be him and with that he pushes David through the door and into the cell.
Wisdom says that if he thinks he is ready for cozy team-ups and that he wants to work with others then he needs to start trusting them. He doesn’t get to play the rogue puppet-master. This became an international incident the second David forgot to respect him by sharing his plans. He was obligated to inform the authorities of his homeland due to regulations. David starts to stutter and asks Wisdom if he called her. Wisdom takes out a piece of paper with the Israeli flag on it. It is a telegram from the Israeli embassy. They are sending a car and an armed guard. Let’s see how proud mummy Haller is feeling towards her little international terrorist. Hearing the news, David sits on the floor in his cell with a worried look on his face.


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The place of broken things
On a TV news program, a reporter says it has now been a week since the unprecedented PR effort by British mutants appreciably changed national opinion and brought the downfall of a Middle Eastern dictator. The woman asks how Britain’s “X-day” affected the mutant issue on the global scale.
She says their correspondent was lucky enough to put his questions to a prominent member of the mutant underground. The screen flashes to show Cyclops being interviewed by a journalist. Cyclops tells him it was a good thing but he is not sure who coordinated it. He points out that positive spin isn’t enough, as there will always be those whose hatred eclipses all sense, even that of the majority opinion.
The journalist asks if he is referring to the previous days attack at Washington DC. The one that left members of the pro-mutant “genethics” lobby severely beaten and comatose near a graffiti tag marked “the X-beast will eat itself.” Cyclops say he is and also to the dozen or so less newsworthy hate crimes each day. It’s a pattern he has seen before and it’s why his team will never give up, for every step forward there is always a step back. Speaking into the camera, Cyclops says that for every isolated bubble of mutant popularity there is always a backlash. There is one thing he has learned after years of fighting for his people and that is, given the chance, things will always slip back to where they began.
Elsewhere, David says there is percussion in his brain. A beat behind all things. A helicopter lands on a barren landscape. The occupants inside it suddenly fall asleep except for a middle aged woman. She gets out of the helicopter and sees David in the distance, standing before a huge building. She nervously calls out to him and says that she thought the place was abandoned. Not turning round to her, he clicks his fingers and tells her he was just remembering out loud. He puts things back to the way they were and the building disappears, only to be replaced by a pile of rubble. Calling her “Ambassador Haller,” he welcomes her to Muir Island. Then he tags on the end that it is nice to see his mother.
Still nervous, she stutters that she sent a car to the MOD as soon as she heard. But they said he was already gone and that he put coordinates on the wall. David tells his mother that she is prattling and that she doesn’t have to be nervous. He then leads her into the ruins of research base. As they make their way through the ruined corridors, David tells her he imagines the question she is wondering is “why here?” After years of precisely zero contact between the lovely mammy and the poor, lonely son why would he chose the venue for their lovely reunion as the place where she deserted him. The answer is he has something to show her.
But en route he will tell her a funny story. It begins not long ago with the said lonely son having an emotional psychotic breakdown. He asks her how any loser reacts to the feeling of universal hostility. He answers for her and says that they withdraw into a more comfortable version of reality. His brain created a bubble universe which contained an alternate timeline where mutants had been persecuted to the point of extinction and they were all holed up in one place. It was a desperate world where his buggered psyche dragged every nearby mutant to a single thoughtless end. He asks his mother who she thinks he chose to fill the role of his comfort and support. He says he chose a dead scientist named Moira MacTaggert. The very woman who ran the facility on the island and whose tender care his mother handed him to.
They finally reach a derelict room which contains smashed up equipment and a hospital bed. Gabrielle starts to say she doesn’t understand, so David decides to help her. He created an illusion in the room that depicts him strapped to the hospital bed when he was younger. His childhood home was a bed with restraints and his favorite meal was a coma inducing IV. His favorite memory was that one special time when an entire week went by without a single person digging into his skull. Yet when it came down to it and it was left to pluck a mother figure out of the ether, his mind chose the woman who caused him so much pain instead of his own mother. Gabrielle looks quietly down at the floor and so David turns to her and asks where she has been.
Still looking at the floor she begins to tell him that she thought he was dead but he cuts her off and swears at her. He tells her in this world that doesn’t fly and that she needs to try harder. She thinks for a few seconds and then looks up at him. She tells him that four days ago she successfully negotiated a secret exchange of a captured Mossad agent for seventeen Chechen prisoners via mobile renditioning centers in Wales. The locals thought they were filming an episode of Doctor Who. Three days ago, she stopped a respected British newspaper from running a piece about Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories. She had gently reminded the editor of the newspaper she had photos of him from his recent trip to Amsterdam. Two days ago, she attended the London opening of the circus of unification, bringing together Jewish and Muslim performers. This moved a mid-tier member of the Royal family to tears. Yesterday she did nothing. She had a bath, drank a glass of wine and watched a bad film. Real things, dreadful things, beautiful things, mundane things but all things she understands.
She reaches out to David and nervously says that he comes from another world of costumes and powers. A world where you are a hero or a villain or nothing in between. A world where people won’t stay dead. His father’s world. Gabrielle says that it scares her and she doesn’t understand it. She corrects herself and says that it’s more that she doesn’t believe it. In fact, the one and only thing she knows about that world is that it doesn’t need her. She lost David the moment Charles learned he was his. David is speechless for a few seconds and then asks her if it ever occurred to her that he might prefer her world over his father’s. Gabrielle is shocked by what David just said. Taking it in, she apologizes and hugs him, telling him again and again that she is sorry.
As David holds her, tears run down his face. Without effort it happens, just like in San Francisco with the Darwin’s Martyrs. He is so overwhelmed and drowned in emotion he draws them into him. They stop hugging and Gabrielle looks around to see she is now inside David’s mind. He apologizes and tells her it’s nothing to be afraid of. He offers to take her back but she tells him she wants to understand. Looking at the strange people and creatures lurking around she asks what they are. David tells her they are the lesser personalities and starts to identify them for her. He says there are hundreds of them and mostly they behave themselves as he can subdue them and use their powers.
All the while they have been inside his mind, there has been a clanging noise ringing out. Out of one of the speakers on the wall, David’s voice whispers not to ask about the noise. Gabrielle turns to David and tells him she can hear his thoughts and then asks what the clanging noise is. He shows her to the Professor Xavier personality he had caged away. It is clanging its shackles together to make the din. Gabrielle stares in shock and asks if it is really him. The gold-skinned Xavier tells her there has been a much mistake. David chips in and says that it is some part of his father, or a kind of ghost. Ultimately he doesn’t know.
Gabrielle thinks for a second and then leans down to Xavier. Xavier says that she used to call him Charlie but she says there was a time when he first learned David was his son. In that moment, he looked at her and said something secret directly into her mind. She asks him that if he’s really Xavier then he could tell her what he said. The Xavier personality looks to the floor in silence. Gabrielle walks away in annoyance and calls him a faker. She asks David to get her out of there and so David returns her back to Muir Island.
He asks his mother what his father had said to her. Gabrielle tells him that when Xavier heard he had a son he said thank you. David is stunned for a few moments and then he hugs his mother. Unbeknownst to him though, a red dot appears on the side of his temple. He leans away from his mother and the red dot is now on his mother’s temple. She asks him if he is okay and he smiles and says that for the first time in a long time he can honestly say he’s…
Before he can finish his sentence, a loud boom is heard and Gabrielle is flung sideways with blood pouring out her head. As blood drips down his face, David stands there in stunned silence. A little way off on the roof of the facility’s ruins, President Abdi and Al-Thahab Al-Aswad are crouched down. Al-Thahab Al-Aswad has an arm-mounted gun with smoke pouring out the barrel. The president yells at his bodyguard that they have tracked David for three days as he was the abomination who unseated him. Al-Thahab Al-Aswad tells him that David moved.
In a trance like state, David reaches his arm out and injects one of his lesser personalities in the neck. In the real world, his hand starts to glow with energy as Al-Thahab Al-Aswad says he is going for a second shot. David feels a beat in his blood and his head. A beat to drown out all the things and numb the world. A beat ringing from edge to edge of his crumpled, shriveled, useless soul. With that, he unleashes a huge energy blast at the two assassins and vaporizes the flesh off their bones.
With that personality used up, he goes off to find a healer amongst the numerous others running around in his head. In the real world, he leans down at his mother’s side, with a look of trauma on his face. He tells her to stay still as he searches for a healer. Bleeding profusely from the head, his mother weakly tells him to stop. There’s no coming back and no reversible death in her world.
In his mind, the Xavier personality laughs loudly as David kneels on the floor trying to block him out. The needles on his fingers whip around and shoot out in all directions.
With Gabrielle’s last breath, she tells him to let it lie. He looks at his mother’s lifeless body and then starts to glow with a white light.
(Jean Grey School for Higher Learning)
David appears on the lawn of the school with such a force that all the windows of the building explode outwards. Moments later, the X-Men burst out on to the lawn, ready for action. David is sat crossed legged on the floor. Seeing him, Wolverine angrily rushes over but David uses his powers and says that nobody is there. All the X-Men and students turn around whilst saying that nobody is there. Only Blindfold remains and she sits down next to David. He is sat in front of the monument to Xavier in silence.
Blindfold says that she guesses the meeting with his mother didn’t go exactly as planned. He calmly tells her she is dead and that it’s fine. Blindfold looks at him and he says he obviously isn’t fine as he’s broken. He barely knew her and he is probably in shock but the biggest thing he is feeling right now is delight at having exploded her killers. Blindfold starts to speak but he continues and says he has regret for not doing it sooner and guilt for wondering if his father would be ashamed. Blindfold says that he can’t keep living in his father’s shadow.
David asks how he could not. Looking at the statue, he says he looks saintly, beloved and knowing. At least with his mother, there was a moment and they tied up the questions. David says he doesn’t know if he would have held his father tight or punched him in the nose if he knew his father was leaving him. But it would have been one or the other. He starts to freak out and says that he wasn’t there. Looking up again, he tells Blindfold that he must sound like a whiney brat as she has also had a parent taken away from her. Blindfold hugs him and he says it’s time he manned up and administered a little filial justice.
Elsewhere, Cyclops and his team are finishing destroying a Sentinel. Cyclops asks if they heard that and Emma asks what he is talking about. Listening for a few seconds, Cyclops tells them he thought he heard drums.


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Wear the grudge like a crown
David says there is a pretty good chance that he is destined to accidentally annihilate mutantkind. Today he aiming to locate and obliterate just a single one. You have to hope, though, that it’s not fate’s idea of a slow build-up. His prey has no idea that he is tracking him, no notion that he’s tracking his steps, listening for his breath or breathing in his spoor.
David is inside his mind, capturing two personalities with satellite dishes coming out of their heads and acquiring their powers for himself. Hearing the last part of his speech, a voice calls out in disgust. It is Blindfold and she is sitting a little way off, watching and listening to David. David says he was being metaphorical but she tells him it’s just gross. David asks her not to interrupt him, as he can’t help having a dramatic subconscious. She mutters to herself that he can probably not help being pissy at her. David apologizes and tells her he’s just a bit tense.
In the real world, David is meditating and using his newly acquired powers. As he emits some kind of broadcast wave, he starts the hunt. He picks up an anchorman using the M-word in Africa. A local mutant’s gravestone was desecrated last week. That’s not important enough though, as today’s prey needs bigger bait. Two megahertz and 7000 miles away, a New Zealand show reports a mutant rights campaigner was crippled by an unseen assailant. Some weird graffito left behind reads “the X-beast will eat itself.” There is a similar story in Madrid where a pro-mutant politician was murdered two days ago. There were hateful messages left there that weren’t anything new but David gets the first sniff of a scent. They say a man showed up who had an X on his face. He inspected the scene and asked some questions. Eventually, he declared it a civil matter and vanished in a bright light.
The tracking gets easier after that, knowing what to look for. In Vienne, seven hours ago, some false rumors of mutant extermination and a student with a cell phone manages to catch an image of Cyclops.  Four hours ago at a tenement fire in Maine, reporters shout questions from the crowd. A voice declines to comment on the growing popularity of cruciform sunglasses. The time tags bunch together and the trail gets younger. Until, little by little, against crimson-lit battles in the desert and easily impressed kids, we arrive at the present.
David finds a live news report on TV that is being broadcast from Swancall in Montana. The reported says that a mutant-centric crisis has been averted in the most extraordinary manner. It all started when a young girl activated her newly manifested powers and caused every living thing within two hundred yards to fuse together. It also left the girl in a coma. Needless to say, they’ve had a lot of very frightened folks down there, until now. The reporter is standing behind some barricades whilst Cyclops tells everyone there is nothing to worry about. Behind him, his team of X-Men is dealing with a giant blob-like creature that contains numerous people and animals.
Inside his mindscape, David declares that he finally has him. Blindfold walks up to David and asks if he is sure about it. David says that he is certain as no one else will do it. There is to be no more waiting, no more dead parents and no more ignoring the enemy. David says that he rules himself and Blindfold repeats it. David’s voice comes out of a loudspeaker on the wall and wonders if he should kiss her. The voice realizes that she heard that and he angrily stares at the speaker. From within his cage, the Xavier personality warns Blindfold that David’s smooth talking exterior conceals the heart of a grubby little Casanova. Grinning menacingly, he tells her she should see the filth he dreams of at night involving her, her teachers and her friends. David yells at him to shut up and goes to grab him. But Xavier backs away in the cage and laughs.
Blindfold tells David to ignore him as he is snide and petty and he can’t hurt him anymore. She tells him to focus on what he has to do and that she is here with him. She’s here and he can do anything. She kisses David on the lips and then asks how they are getting there. As his needles whip off his hands and into two personalities, he tells her they will go with thunderbolts and lightning.
In Montana, as the young girl Tempus holds the newly manifested mutant girl in her time bubble, Cyclops talks to the reporters. He says that it is an opportunity for some of the new recruits to really prove their worth. They still don’t have an ID on the mutant girl that caused this but thanks to Tempus she is being safely held in a stasis field. Tempus mutters that he better hurry as it hurts like hell.
Cyclops directs the camera to Triage, who is using his powers to separate the poor folks that got caught up in the incident. The reporter asks Triage how it feels to be a part of such a high-profile rescue and he replies that it’s kind of strange. All of the folks caught up are out-of-towners and not a single local. And there is something weird about the biology too. As he talks, his voice gets quieter and quieter until nothing comes out. Everyone else around him is unable to talk as well but they are suddenly distracted by a bright light in the sky.
They look to see David and Blindfold appear in a huge ball of light and a deafening, booming sound. As they land on the floor, David remarks at how great his entrance was and Blindfold quickly runs out of the way. Cyclops instantly recognizes David and calls him “Legion” and Emma tells him to undertake “scenario 44.” The students look on in wonder as Tempus reminds people she can’t hold the stasis field forever. Cyclops begins to speak but David cuts him off. He says that firstly he doesn’t like that name and secondly he would threaten to kick his ass to reinforce point one but that seems a bit superfluous now. Thirdly he is there to transform Scott Summers into a greasy smear of father-murdering pâté. All those who get out of the way now are excused pate creation duties. And finally for his forth point, he is serious.
David looks at them and knows they won’t listen to him as they are planning and strategizing. The X-Men leap into action as David continues to radiate energy. David smiles as Cyclops sends the kids in first, which seems narratively convenient. It’s one thing to go after the guy for being a cavalier paramilitary &#*$ who murdered your father but you don’t expect an alleged %&#* to be so shameless about being one. Reckless child endangerment is the gross side of his father legacy alive and well.
David releases an energy blast and the attacking teens are flung backwards. The students recover and get back up. Tempus is still struggling with her stasis field as it is now hurting her. David looks out at the group and says that the human treasure map wants to play war-games, or maybe it his harmless super villainous lieutenant pulling the strings. It would be wrong to disappoint him.
David turns to Triage and says fantasy gamer strategy 101, take out the healer first. With that, he zaps the young boy and removes him from the battle. After that, the first wave is a little softcore. Blindfold runs up to David and tells him they should go. David isn’t fooled though and uses another power to reveal that she is really the shapeshifter Morph. David zaps him and he is flung into the young Angel. As David continues on towards Cyclops, he finds it curious that he should commit his lamest troops to engage the enemy he has clearly laid plans down for. David is suddenly distracted by a golden ball thrown at his head. He turns to see Goldballs standing against a tree. Goldballs apologizes but David still zaps him unconscious.
David suddenly realizes that Cyclops knows he’s no killer as these kids will come to no lasting harm. They are not the first wave at all but rather the distraction for the main assault. David is confronted by Magneto, who launches all the metal in the area at him. As Magneto levitates in the air, he tells David he supposes he thinks it is some grand moment of mythic confrontation. He says they like to call them “heavy hitters” locking horns. But it isn’t like that. Magneto says that he and David’s father had their differences but there was always respect. He knew, via a cunningly designed helmet, that he was excluded from the territories of his mind. And he knew that the mastery of Magneto’s power is unrivaled. Magneto then levitates the debris around him and tells David that electromagnetism is a fundamental law of physics. David’s father knew that no matter whatever else the mutant arsenal may contain, it cannot compete.
David stands calmly below Magneto and agrees that Magneto may be right. He says that his father was a scientist and he knew that for every strong force there were one or two weak ones still able to pack a punch. Magneto asks which ones and David tells him gravity as an example. As David uses another personality’s power, Magneto’s helmet floats into the air. David tells him he should have worn a chin strap and he clicks his fingers. Magneto suddenly falls asleep and collapses to the ground.
David’s attention is caught by a voice coming from behind him. He turns to see Magik holding Blindfold hostage, with the soulsword against her throat. Magik tells David he will back off or he will turn his loserslut into a frog. David tells Illyana she won’t and tries to use another power. But it has no effect as she just laughs back at him. She mocks him and tells him his psychic powers won’t work. When he asks why not, she says she has magical protection and he can’t psychic her. David’s eyes glow with energy and he tells her she is rational. He tells her to look at him and that she doesn’t believe in magic. He repeats himself and Magik lets Blindfold go in confusion. Blindfold asks what he is doing and he explains that his is the power of the creepy flashy-eyed Hypnobloke. Illyana kneels on the floor, clutching her head and saying that she has wasted her life.
Tempus remarks that she was their teleporter and asks what they are supposed to do if they can’t zap the mutant girl off to some stasis tech. Cyclops tells Emma to launch a “pyrrhic” but she tells him it takes too long to mature. He tells her to do it as it’s for the greater good and it’s insurance if all goes wrong. Emma turns to the Stepford Cuckoos and tells them to do it just like they practiced. David insults Emma and begins to say nothing she can do can hurt him. So challenged, Emma and the Cuckoos launch a joint, psychic assault on David, who reels back in pain. Emma tells Cyclops she thinks they can take him as he is strong but his discipline is abysmal. Cyclops tells her to do whatever it takes but to keep him away from Tempus.
Blindfold suddenly appears and punches Emma across the face. Emma falls to the ground unconscious and the Cuckoos tell Blindfold they assumed they would have to squash her one day. For what it’s worth, there is no satisfaction in it but she just isn’t cut out to be a winner. David can taste it on Blindfold’s mind that she believes them. She’s not as strong as them, or so she thinks and she’s not as calm or cool. Whatever powers her brother stole, it’s something deeper and less tangible he took. So maybe just a little tweak, no added power but rather a calmness and confidence.
Deep with David’s mind Xavier sarcastically congratulates him for weaponizing his girlfriend. David ignores the voice as the newly confident Blindfold attacks the Cuckoos with her psychic powers and knocks them out. She stands over them stunned at what just happened but David tells her she rules her. His inner voice calls him a liar though.
A huge red beam suddenly blasts David and catapults him backwards. Cyclops stands before him with the rest of his team, who have recovered from the earlier assault. Having had enough, David unleashes a huge attack on all of them and knocks them to the ground. As Cyclops lies on the floor, he tells David they have to keep the girl contained. David says he doesn’t care and that this is between them. Cyclops says that he could explain what happened with David’s father but he is guessing he wouldn’t listen. David agrees and so Cyclops tells him to just do it. Pointing to the cameras, David says that it isn’t that easy as the world is watching. He leans down to Cyclops and tells him he wants a fair fight. Holding the stasis field, Tempus remarks that it’s the stupidest thing she has heard. Magik says that David will cheat, she the reporters and viewers at home look on. Cyclops tells David he is a trained martial artist and he will kick David’s ass but Emma tells him not to argue with the unstable insaniac.
Pointing to Emma, he says that the human bicycle has a point, as he is unstable and he is famous for it. He decided to make it easy for Cyclops by threatening to kill his friends if he doesn’t agree. David muses that it is a bluff, or at least it probably is. As the two men square up to each other, David tells Cyclops that he could easily annihilate Cyclops with all his powers. He could get so caught up in the rush that he could snuff Cyclops out like a bug. And yet he chooses not to because he is better than him. He tells Cyclops he wants to feel him break and then calls him a sanctimonious, heartless, hypocritical bastard. After thinking for a few seconds, Cyclops agrees to a fair fight. Taking off his shirt, David congratulates him and then puts his arms up, ready for a fist fight.
Around the world, viewers are tuned in to their TVs as the fight airs live. In a bar somewhere else, Luca Aldine, hidden by a hat and coat, sees the fight on a TV and seems a little surprised.


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Wear the grudge like a crown (part 2)
As the X-Men and news reporters watch Cyclops and David fist fight, David asks the question as to whether they have been in a real fight. You would imagine there would be a sense of grace and coordination and maybe some choreography but Hollywood is to thank for that belief. You imagine that whatever happens, you will emerge with your dignity and people will congratulate you. You imagine that no matter how outclassed you are, you still have a chance. You’ll pull something out the bag; a magic move or a golden punch. Nobody ever imagines them losing and nobody ever expects humiliation. The truth is that there is no grace or art. Once you take superpowers out of the equation, you are left with a mess.
Inside David’s mind, his personalities look on the writhes and struggles, fighting an invisible adversary. The inside of the brain is pure chaos, a thing of panic and pure thoughtless reaction.
You’re thinking about the training though. What if one or the other of you is a martial artist? Surely then it would be an open-and-shut surgical dissection. Beyond rules, referees and respect that isn’t how it goes. After the first touch, contact or touching of skin, it all goes. You don’t have time to plan and you don’t have room for your Vulcan death-grip. All the planning and expectations are gone. What’s left is the clenching of teeth, sinew, blood like a bass drum and instinct. The only thing you have left that will keep you fighting is hate.
As the rain pours down, a shirtless David and Cyclops, lunge at each other in a vengeance-filled fight. On TV, the news reports manage to identify David and start talking about a fight that represents an ideological clash of epic proportions. One reporter in the studio tells the viewers that they have to see this fight in the light of recent events within the mutant sphere. Tensions between rival groups are at an all-time low and the spate of “X-beast” atrocities is still on the front page. With pro-mutant individuals being found murdered in front of enigmatic graffiti, these episodes of internal disharmony take destructive aspects. The reporter continues to describe the ramifications of the fight but his co-anchor cuts him off and tells him they should probably get back to watching the fight.
As David and Cyclops continue to fight, David knows that his enemy is stronger, bigger and quicker. He has been tutored and he’s got the moves. David is outclassed but Cyclops is off his own map too. He’s used to superdupers letting rip from their cosmic armpits. He’s no brawler and he is also full to the brim with honor. As Cyclops grabs David in a chokehold, he tells him he doesn’t want to hurt him. David knows that Cyclops is no brawler and he isn’t broken. As he bites down on the X-Man’s arm, he is fuelled by the simple thought that he killed his father.
The newsmen are right in that there is more going on here. It’s more that meat, bone and split skin. It’s not just two people having a scrap. There is myth and power here. This is a war for succession and a fight for the mutant crown. David is the king’s heir, whom was acknowledged as his son. And Cyclops was the king’s protégé, the one he treated like a son. Beneath it all, what it comes down to is envy. The two gladiators continue to swing their arms and grapple with each other, neither one giving an inch.
David looks at Cyclops and ponders the future he could give their people. Him, with his costumes, easy limelight, sound bites and the seductive propaganda of a revolution. Him, with his students, child soldiers and preparations for war. David then wonders what future he could give the mutant race but finds it hard to think of anything. His brand is proactivity, preemptive and he-rules-him et cetera. But what would he give the future of mankind?
There’s always a woman in the crowd who can answer that for free. Blindfold’s precognitions aren’t so hot since her brother stole half her powers. But if either of them is asked what the future holds, they can paint a not-so-pretty picture. The old king is dead. Long like the bork-brained liability that will devour all of mutant kind.
David is no messiah for mutant kind. Luca Aldine knew that and he all but jiggled his eyeballs in glee when he saw a future without them. He made it his mission to kill his sister Blindfold, who was the one person who could prevent the horror. Luca’s gone now but Blindfold remains. Their fate is tangled liked barbed wire around their hearts and futures. One of them will end up killing the other. It’s a vicious world where love isn’t enough.
As David struggles against Cyclops, he looks out to the crowd to see Blindfold watching him. It was only a moment of hesitation but it was enough for Cyclops to land a powerful punch across David’s face. David wants to blame it on a moment of romantic distraction but that would be too easy. The truth is, once you take away all the hadoukens, fus-ro-dahs and super-bloody-saiyans, nine-times-out-of-ten it’s the guy with the bigger muscles and greater stamina who will kick your ass.
With David on the defense, Cyclops quickly overwhelms him and knocks him to the floor. Cyclops stands over him and asks him to stop again, but David tells him he will never do that. As everyone else looks on, Cyclops pummels David over and over again.
Inside David’s mindscape, the Xavier personality shouts out that Cyclops could kill him. After more of Cyclops’ punishment, David eventually uses his abilities and grabs a small electronic personality to use.
In the real world, a small bolt of energy shoots out of David’s arms and knocks Cyclops off him. Morph yells that David cheated but Blindfold is just relieved. A battered and bruised David stands up and Cyclops tells him the apple fell very far from the tree. He asks David if he really thinks mutant kind wants him in their corner but David replies that he thinks mutant kind needs whatever it takes. Cyclops starts to charge up his eye beams and he tells David he thinks he can handle it. Realizing what is about to happen, David prepares for the pain. But he also smiles and tells Cyclops he loses.
Cyclops lets loose a huge optic attack that slams into David and propels him backwards. Unfortunately, he is thrown into Tempus, who has trying to contain the newly emerged mutant the X-Men had come to help. Cyclops realizes what he has done but it’s too late. Tempus’ time bubble dissipates and the young mutant inside it subconsciously unleashes her powers. Tendrils start to whip out of her and David is caught in them. In the newsroom, one of the anchors explains that the newly emerged mutant girl has powers that can fuse living things together. She is now absorbing the colossal psychic powers of the long haired man. The other anchor angrily cuts him off and yells to go back to the live feed.
Cyclops is stunned but then yells for everyone to get out of the area. Blindfold asks about David but he yells for her to move too. The news crews and various bystanders get caught up in the twisting mass, causing it to grow bigger and bigger. A shocked Blindfold stares at the scene and realizes that this is the future she saw. As David writhes in the mass, he knows that this is the world worm. It was never about the girl underneath it all, it was about him and his greed for power and control. He knows that both he and Blindfold circled about this but ignored it all. But they can’t cheat their fate anymore. They both know, just as Luca did, that only one person can stop this.
Blindfold stands before the mass and speaks to David, whose head is just about visible in the gestalt. Straining to speak he tells her that it wants more control, and more mutant minds. He points out it isn’t affecting her but she refuses to listen. He tells her she must kill him. The mass absorbs Magik into it and she drops her soulsword, which falls a little way off.
Elsewhere, the whole scene is being broadcast on a TV in a bar. As a barman pours a beer, he mutters that there is never a dull day with mutie types. He turns back to the customer he was serving but the man has vanished.
David begs Blindfold to kill him and save their race, but she refuses. Something suddenly whisks past the watching news crews and a voice tells them he needs to borrow some parts. Blindfold reluctantly picks up Magik’s soulsword and goes to strike the mass containing David and everyone else. However, a hand suddenly grabs her arm and stops her. Her brother, Luca, takes the soul sword off her and restrains her. He has used the various metal devices to create a new body for himself so he can stop Blindfold from saving David.