Alternities #2 (Featuring the X-Men)

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Alternities #4
Operation: X-Termination
Part 1:
Project Ares

Featuring... the X-Men

Written by Matt Laaksonen (Themanagement)
Edited by Daniel Dyer (Spider-Man Beyond)

Hello, my friends, I am the Watcher. I am one of many, a band of brothers, sworn to watch and record, but never interfere. For millennia, we have followed this oath. Each cover their own assigned portion of the space/time continuum. Many of you are familiar with certain worlds; their stories and heroes... their trials and tribulations. The world that I am sworn to is not unlike the one that you are familiar with. Yet, it is much different as well. Many worlds are of the same template, where there is a certain status quo, so to speak. Sadly, the events that I have witnessed are of a world where there are no heroes to cheer for, only strife and pain.

Many do not know that the difference between human DNA and mutant DNA is less than one percent. The two are of the same species, they are brothers and sisters in the grand tapestry of life. But humans, mutants or not, are at times, cold and untrusting. Standing on the brink of destruction, they will still cling only to the details that point out minuscule differences, never seeing the fact that they are all one and the same.

At first, there were relatively few mutants. Most were all but indistinguishable from their human counterparts. Some, sadly, were malformed. Locked away and institutionalized for decades, they were seen as embarrassments. They were destined to live a sad and lonely life. When the first mutants with superhuman abilities began to grow to maturity, everything changed. Tensions began to grow, and at some points, accelerated to a rolling boil. Children were abandoned by their parents, sometimes even killed by lynch-mobs. Families that had mutant children were all but run from their familiar homes and neighborhoods. Living in inner-city ghettos, or in isolation away from the amenities of society, mutants were considered less than human.

Those in cities were drawn together, forming gangs, in an attempt to protect themselves. Inevitably, this action only brought about an escalation of violence that made the world nervous. Many believed that mutants were afflicted by a disease, or a genetic disorder. Many countries simply exiled, sometimes even killed, any mutants that were born. For unknown reasons, the majority of the mutant population was centered in the United States. New mutants appeared at an astounding rate. For years, the governing body stayed away from the so-called “Mutant Crisis”. That was, until a young politician by the name of Robert Kelly, driven by tragedy, became the voice of anti-mutant hysteria. He took that hysteria and turned it into a controlled and organized movement.

Robert Kelly was an intelligent and charismatic senator. After his daughter was killed in a shootout between police and an all-mutant gang, he began a one man crusade against all mutants. Drafting legislation that would require all mutants to catalogue their identity and specific mutation with local law enforcement agencies, he quickly gained power and popularity in the nation’s capital. Undeterred by an outcry of civil rights groups, he lobbied and argued until his “Mutant Registration Act” was passed through both the House and Senate by a narrow margin. When the standing President signed Senator Kelly’s bill, making it law, many mutants feared that the United States had just declared war on them. Without warning, in the middle of a political rally, a lone mutant attempted to assassinate Senator Kelly, but instead, murdered Kerry Kelly, the senator’s wife. Violence erupted nationwide, and even began to spread across the globe.

In response, a fleeting hope grew with the appearance of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Founded by Charles Xavier and Eric Lensher, the Brotherhood worked alongside both mutants and humans in an attempt to cultivate peace in the ethnic divide. Led by the two lifelong friends, the Brotherhood comprised of nearly two hundred mutants from all across the world. Many were refugees of their native lands, sometimes saved from lynch-mobs by Xavier or Lensher. Standing in the middle, between mutants and humans, they grew as a symbol of peace; working on the belief that humans and mutants could live together in harmony.

All of that changed the day that Charles Xavier was killed. Nearly all evidence pointed to someone inside the U.S. Government as being responsible, and Eric Lensher, devastated by the loss of his life-long friend, changed his stance on mutant human relations. Changing his name to Magneto, he declared war on the human race, and transformed the Brotherhood of Mutants into a powerful, militant group. The elite of his army were called the X-Men.

Across the world, mutants followed Magneto’s example. Seemingly overnight, they banded together, and the long feared third world war began. None, however, were as powerful and precise as the Brotherhood. The most feared mutant on the planet was not Magneto, though, it was his son, Pietro. Known to the world as Quicksilver, he had the ability to strike anywhere in the world with impunity. Trained as a demolitions expert, he could rig a building to explode and be miles away in a matter of seconds. One after another, the United States’ vast network of military installations began to fall.

Unbeknownst to the Brotherhood, a secret group within the United States government was gaining power, and getting ready to step from the shadows. Long had it been believed that the Super Soldier program was disbanded. Instead, it had secretly been working under Pentagon direction. The Weapon X project was designed to use mutants against themselves.

Robert Kelly, now President, expanded his anti-mutant registration. His Vice President was Tony Stark, an ambitious billionaire and a brilliant policy maker. Together, they crafted a bill called the “Human Right”. In the face of the current war, they easily cultivated the fears of the public, and the bill was made law with little resistance. Under the new legislation, all mutants arrested for any charges whatsoever, were declared enemy combatants and placed under the direct control of Alister Smythe, the director of the Weapon X project. The humans had found a way to turn the mutants own horrifying power against itself. In nearly every country around the world, this same strategy was implemented with varying degrees of success. In some cases, mutants volunteered to work alongside Smythe, in an attempt to protect their own personal freedoms.

Fearing a crippling defeat in the near future, the Brotherhood launched a large attack on Washington DC itself. Magneto and his X-Men went face to face with a vast army of strike-forces on the White House lawn. The battle was tremendous, the forces unleashed in that battle rattled windows miles away. Pulses of electromagnetic energy destroyed electric systems all across the city. Hundreds of humans and mutants died. When the dust settled, and chaos gave way to order, the Brotherhood was defeated, and Magneto was dead.

All but destroyed, the remaining members of the Brotherhood retreated to Central America, where the governing bodies did not have the resources to combat mutants. The American democracy had been replaced by a militant, fascist regime. The war was declared a victory, and the public gave little resistance to the growing power of the Kelly/Stark administration.

Vice President Stark founded S.H.I.E.L.D. A government task force that worked alongside the United Nations and Interpol in an attempt to control the mutant population left over from the war. With international authority, S.H.I.E.L.D. enforced anti-mutant law across the planet. Using mutants as weapons, their reach was all-encompassing and rarely opposed.

What the public at large did not know, however, was that the war was FAR from over.

X

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Excerpt from the files of Doctor Henry McCoy; Subject: Ares

The subject of this file is a young man by the name of Kyle Bishop. Possessing abilities startlingly similar to earlier subjects Howlett and Creed; he may be the Weapon X Project’s greatest successes. He is easily the most successful of my own personal endeavors.

In hindsight, there was evidence of mutation from the moment of his birth. Medical records show that he was born with a condition called syndactyly. This is a fairly common congenital defect where the newborn possesses two or more fingers or toes that are joined. It comes in varying degrees of severity. In his case, the bones were not fused, and it was a simple procedure to separate the digits; the doctors simply cut back the skin and placed sutures. What was astounding, however, was the fact that within two days of the procedure, Kyle’s fingers were completely healed, and the stitches had fallen out. This was only the beginning.

From childhood, it was apparent that Kyle was a special boy. Though he was always small for his age, he was slightly stronger and faster than any of the children around him. When he reached highschool, and puberty, it became apparent how special of a young man he actually was. Every sport that he took to, he was simply better than anyone around him. He was strong, quick, and fast. A champion gymnast, his sense of balance and agility was described by his coaches as being inhuman. Where he truly shined, however, was his aptitude for martial arts.

Taking to martial arts with tremendous zeal and vigor, he surpassed even his instructors at an alarming rate. Training in many styles, he was simply unmatched among his peers. He went as far as to even earn himself a gold medal at the 2004 summer games. That was when the controversy began.

By that point in time, the war was raging, and the Olympic committee had adopted a genetic screening program to ensure that all athletes were in fact human. Failing a “mutant test”, Kyle was stripped of his championship honors. This was a serious embarrassment for the United States, and he was charged with operating as an unregistered mutant. That’s where I came in. Sending a group of men to visit him in jail, he was offered freedom in exchange for service to the Weapon X program. Seeing no other option, he quickly accepted the offer.

In our earliest tests, we could see that he had senses that were far more acute than those of a normal human. They were untrained, though. Through sensory deprivation, we trained him to work without his sight, focusing only on his hearing and smell. His specific abilities made him an ideal candidate for a place on an Alpha class strike force. He was strong, fast, and most importantly, he was a fighter. All he needed was a bit of modification, and he would truly be a dangerous weapon.

Because his abilities were so alarmingly close to those of subjects Howlett and Creed, it was an easy decision on what type of modifications were necessary to reach the desired result. It was also made easy that since he was only seventeen at the time, his body had not yet reached full maturity, and that would allow me to shape the actual development of his mutation.

X

[Spider-Man Beyond]

My name is Kyle Bishop, or at least, I think it was at some point. Any memories I have from before being in the tube are hazy. Sometimes I know who I am, other times I don’t. Everything from the tube, though, I remember with absolute clarity. I remember being in jail, not quite sure what for, and if my memory serves me (which it really doesn’t), I don’t think that I actually did anything wrong. What I do remember is the men that came to talk to me.

They told me, that if I came and worked for them, my criminal record would be struck clean. It was war, and I was being given a chance to be a hero... a patriot. With the choice of fighting or imprisonment, I took them up on their offer, which was a horrible mistake.

Instead of giving me freedom, they gave me agony...

X

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Excerpt from the files of Doctor Henry McCoy; Subject: Ares

From the moment I saw that this young man possessed a powerful healing factor, I wanted to go ahead with an adamantium bonding process similar to what was done with James Howlett and Victor Creed years earlier. The ability to heal a knife wound or a gunshot in mere moments, coupled with unbreakable bones, can make someone all but unstoppable.

The problem was, that even though he healed extremely fast, I didn’t believe he would survive the procedure. Then, almost miraculously (if you are foolish enough to believe in that kind of thing), one of my aids pointed something out to me... with every cut and scrape he received, he healed a little bit faster.

Realizing that, since his abilities were still developing, there was a chance I could speed up his healing to the necessary level that he would survive massive tissue damage on the scale of what the bonding process would cause.

Radiation is a fun thing to play with; it’s properties are truly quite amazing. When a burst of radioactive particles hit matter, they penetrate deep into the substance. Bouncing off of individual atoms, they get inside a substance and pass along their radioactive properties to the surrounding atoms. In the case of living tissue, this results in terrible burns, and can actually cook a man from the inside out (something that is extremely interesting to watch by the way). Using a process similar to the radiation therapy used to treat cancer patients, I burned Kyle with enough radiation to kill a man in moments. When his vitals flat-lined, I almost cried with frustration. Yet, amazingly, his vitals came back online. Even though he was in massive agony, and the damage done to his body was terrible (I burned him to the bone actually), his life signs began to stabilize. His body secreted highly advanced chemicals into the bloodstream that helped dull the pain. He was going to survive... he was going to be the ultimate instrument of war.

X

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Even though I was in a contained glass tube, completely submerged in some viscous liquid, I could hear what they were saying. I don’t know if they were aware that I was conscious; if they were, they didn’t seem to care. I always took my great hearing for granted. Never did I think that it was a mutant ability. The man in charge of the experiment that I was a part of was named Henry McCoy. He was a mutant like myself. I learned that he was a terrible man, frightening to all that surrounded him. Unlike me, he jumped at the chance to work for the government. Longing for the opportunity to experiment on living test subjects. His genius was twisted to near insanity, but his results were astounding. Nicknamed the Beast by the scientists working directly underneath him, he lived up to this name with an unconstrained enthusiasm.

That was when I found out exactly why he was called the Beast. Strapped into constraints, and wheeled down a hallway to a strange laboratory, I came face to face with him. He was a hulking man, easily four hundred pounds. His skin was a mottled grey color, his long hair wiry and raven-black. His teeth were sharp, almost fangs. His heavy jaw and catlike eyes gave him an animalistic appearance. The worst thing about him was not his appearance, however; it was the way he carried himself. He walked like a wolf surrounded by fat sheep.

“You are going to be the greatest of my achievements...” he excitedly stammered, “...stars and garters, you are going to be the greatest...”

That was when they burned me. He said that he was preparing me for the final steps of the procedure that would turn me into a living weapon. Any fear that I had was at that moment washed away by a searing agony.

X

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Excerpt from the files of Doctor Henry McCoy; Subject: Ares

As an unfortunate side effect of the radiation treatment, Kyle was left blind. The radiation burned his retina and optic nerve on a level that even his advanced healing could not repair. Through testing, I found that he could still see basic shapes, and get impressions of size (though not color) when he was in the dark. Most of the doctors in my division felt that this was a massive setback. I, however, saw it as an opportunity to test out another of my studies.

Long had I toiled in my free time, building computer implants that could be attached to the cerebral cortex. These internal computers would be powered by the subject’s own central nervous system, and would supplement the thought process.

I had planned to use these in the project anyway, but this allowed me to get even more ambitious. The solution to his blindness was actually a simple idea. He wouldn’t need to see, because he had enhanced senses. Adding to the combat programs that I already had placed in the implant, I created a program that would supplement his enhanced senses, focusing specifically on his hearing.

When attached to his brain, it would zap his memory cells. Replacing his worthless childhood memories with a highly advanced combat program, he would instinctively calculate combat strategies with every thought. Fighting him would be like playing chess with a master. On top of that, it would hone his hearing in a way that he could calculate distances with precision. He could effectively “see” in an omnidirectional range, even through walls. His hearing would be turned into a sonar-like sense, not unlike a bat’s, but much more precise. The implants also would allow me to upload mission-specific information directly into his brain.

In the same procedure that I bonded adamantium to his cells, I implanted the miniature computer into his brain. Crafting adamantium claws much like Howlett’s, muscle tissue and casing compartments were implanted into his forearms and shins. I always felt that it would make sense for the feet to be just as dangerous as the hands, so I implanted two claws into each arm and one into each foot. Working alongside the best surgeons in the world, the experiment was an unequaled success.

When I named the project “Ares” I had no clue how fitting that name would be. He would be my own personal god of war. He had been transformed into a living, breathing implement of destruction that would operate at my beck and call.

X

[Spider-Man Beyond]

McCoy definitely deserved the name Beast. After I was burned and blinded by the radiation, they returned me to my containment tube. I don’t know how long it took for me to heal, but I was in agony the entire time. It was impossible for me to sleep. I was awake and in pain for so long, I nearly lost my mind, maybe I did go a little crazy. The only thing that kept me focused was the thought of what I would do to these people when I escaped.

Long after I finished healing from the burns, my body was still wracked by phantom pains. It was almost as if my nerves knew that they were supposed to be damaged and pained, even though the damage had long since been repaired.

Once again, I was taken to a lab like the one before, maybe it was the same lab, I don’t really know. It smelled exactly the same. I felt them cut into the back of my neck. Running a tube up behind my skull, they attached something to my brain. That was the exact moment that my memories went haywire. I was confused. I knew that I was supposed to remember certain things, but I couldn’t. The memories just weren’t there. Then I felt a sharp zap, and everything became crystal clear. Somehow, I could tell that the room was a perfect cube, 10 feet, by 10 feet, by 10 feet. The table that I was strapped to was six feet long and two and a half feet wide. Along each edge there was a furrow cut into the table that I could only assume was for blood drainage. I could hear the clicks and whirs of the computer equipment that was four feet behind me.

Somehow, I could tell exactly where every man in the room was, how tall he was, and I could hear his heart. I could hear and smell the air pushing out of the ventilation system.

Then, I could sense a machine pulled into the room. A small table full of surgical equipment was wheeled up next to me. What came next was more terrible than words can describe.

I was conscious when the adamantium was laced to my skeleton. They didn’t use any sedative or pain relievers. McCoy knew that I was conscious, but he felt that the trauma would help forge me into the weapon he was planning on. The agony was the most excruciating thing that I had ever experienced in my life, worse than the radiation. McCoy explained the process that would be used to his workers. I could hear every detail of the procedure, which is how I know what to tell you now.

First, they made a long incision along my arm, after sucking away the blood with a long tube, they peeled back the flesh. Then, they poured a small amount of the metal onto my bones, using plastic plates to keep the metal from running away from the bone. Employing state-of-the-art technology, they used controlled energy fields to move and mold the liquified metal. When it was in place, they altered the field, and the metal became solid. This step was repeated for every major bone in my body. All the while, Beast prattled on to his peers about the history that was being made. I was going to be in charge of an alpha-class strike force.

When the bonding process had finished, they cut open my hands and legs. After attaching cylindrical tubes to my bones, they implanted adamantium blades into the tubes. Then they added new muscles to the area, giving me control over these new weapons, allowing me to retract them into their sheathes.

Then, laughing, Beast reached to the table and lifted a large syringe. “My child, this is a refined form of the liquid that turned meek little Steve Rogers into a super soldier all those years ago. Imagine what it will do for you.” Stabbing the syringe into my throat, I could feel the liquid gushing from the needle into my bloodstream. I burned horribly. My damaged muscles convulsed as the drug spread through my body. I couldn’t breathe, I felt like I was choking. Then, I passed out.

X

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The following days (I think it was days, but I really don’t know... (it seemed like an eternity), I drifted in an out of delirium. At first, my body attempted to reject the adamantium. This slowed down the healing process, and the doctors in charge feared that I wouldn’t survive the process. They were afraid that they had done too much damage for even me to heal from. The only thing I could focus on was my new-found senses, practicing at focusing on each specific point in the room. I realized that I could even focus through walls and get impressions of objects and people in the hallway beyond the door.

A short time after my healing was completed, I woke up, and overheard the doctors who were monitoring my condition talking.

“So, do you know what’s up with all the crazy security this morning?”

“I heard they captured an alpha class and they’re bringing him in today. McCoy thought it would be prudent to step up security.”

“He’s that dangerous? I mean, they’ve deployed the Sentinels. Scared the shit right out of me when I came in today and a robot was aiming a machine gun at my face.”

“Yeah, scared me, too. The Sentinels are patrolling because, even though they’re not sure, there is reason to believe that he’s a telepath.”

“Seriously?! How did he survive the plague?”

“Don’t know, that’s one of the reasons that they brought him here instead of a normal containment facility. McCoy wants him studied.”

“Where did they find him?”

“Some place in France. I got special permission for us to go down to docking when they bring him in. Ares is stable now, and Randy said he’d watch the door for us until we got back.”

“They brought him all the way from France to Arizona? Can’t believe that they would take a risk moving him that far if he was that dangerous.”

“I thought the same thing. McCoy pushed hard to get him here, though, and with the success of Project: Ares, Director Smythe let him have the guy.”

“What’s his name?”

“Not sure, he was using the name Paris Benet, but it seems that the name is an alias.”

After listening to the talk for a while, I drifted back into sleep. I woke to the sound of the door locking as they left. Locked in my containment tube, I focused my radar sense out as far as it could go. The walls were too thick to actually get an impression through, but I could sense the security guard outside the door. There was a sharp tension to his stance. I didn’t know why, but his heart was pumping well above the normal levels. I attempted to unsheathe my claws, but as always, there was a chemical in my IV that kept me from moving. I remember the doctors discussing how they were continually having to pump more and more into me after the radiation treatment. My healing factor seemed to have a profound affect on drugs.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp rumble spread through the floor. The liquid around my body reverberated inside the tube. Immediately, sirens went off all through the facility. I could hear the squawk of the guard’s radio, followed orders that he was needed in docking and containment immediately. His footsteps boomed on the hard floor as he ran down the hallway. There was another sharp rumble, and then what sounded like an explosion. The power shut off to my containment tube, only life support remained.

After a moment, I could twitch my fingers a little bit. Excitedly, I willed every fiber in my body to move. My foot twitched involuntarily a few times. Then, I started to gain control of my body. At first, I was weak and sluggish. My movements were slow. I hadn’t used my muscles in a long time, and they were still hampered by the drug in my system; though I could feel the drug burning off. Struggling, I began to break my restraints. They broke easily, since they were meant to hold me in place in the tube more than actually restrain me. Careful not to knock off my oxygen mask, I placed my feet on one side of the tube and pushed my back against the opposite side. I pushed with all my might, tensing every muscle in my body. Clenching my fists, I suddenly felt a sharp pain. The blades in my forearms shot through my hands, protruding from my knuckles. The blades in my feet burst out, resting along the inside of my big toe on each foot. Slicing through the containment tube with ease, I fell onto the floor.

Laying on the floor for a moment, I got my bearings. When I was no longer submerged in the liquid, my senses snapped into such a sharpness that it was almost painful at first. The computer in my head told me what direction I was facing. I could clearly sense the hallway, it was empty. The alarms were so loud that they actually caused a slight distortion to my senses, but not enough to disorient me. There was a sharp astringent smell in the room, like the smell of a hospital. I slipped in the liquid from the tube.

Forcing myself to my feet, I stumbled and fell. I got to my feet again, and this time, I was able to stand. I could feel a strength building inside me that I had never felt before... I knew that this would be my moment for escape.

To be continued...