Chapter 4
When Tommy woke that morning, he could already tell something was off.
It was an odd sensation, one that he felt he could smell if he tried hard enough. It was like that old trick Tommy remembered someone mentioning during a little jaunt in the South, something about the ability to smell rain in the air hours before the water would hit. He figured suiting up immediately would be beneficial since the day was bound to start early.
Tommy was just pulling on his letterman when Rachel popped her head into the room. The speedster – and recently discovered time warper – turned to look at her with an inquisitive expression. She motioned for him to follow and he could do nothing but obey.
“What’s up?” he asked, pulling her gaze to him.
“We got a call from Wind Dancer on Mojoworld. Someone’s gone missing.”
Tommy raised an eyebrow as he swiftly joined the red-haired woman at the door. “Who is it?” he asked, pulling the doors shut as he exited.
Rachel grimaced. “Gambit.”
A beat of silence as the two stared at each other, one processing the information.
“... What?”
Jean-Paul was the first to greet them as they entered the meeting room.
“Let’s get started,” he said, standing from his chair. He waited for Tommy and Rachel to sit before continuing. “Wind Dancer called us earlier this morning. I’m sure you all know why by now.”
“How does someone as high profile as Gambit go missing like that?” Tommy asked. He was leaning back in the chair, feet propped up on the table.
David shook his head slowly. “They don’t.” The young man stood, tablet in hand. He projected some holographic images over the table for everyone to see. “Gambit was doing a routine check-in with Wind Dancer before he disappeared. He was last seen in this sector of Mojoworld.”
“Maybe he just got lost,” Trevor suggested.
Akihiro shook his head. “Getting around Mojoworld is pretty intuitive, from what I’ve seen. For someone like Gambit, it should be no problem. It’s more likely that he was kidnapped or murdered.” He looked at David. “Were there any groups who were unhappy with the shift in leadership?”
The man nodded. “A few. Most of them were pretty low on the food chain. Only two were actually popular. They had really good ratings. Arize made them, actually.”
“Arize?” Rachel asked. She was unfamiliar with the name.
“The man who made the Freemen,” David replied. “You know, Longshot, Dazzler, Shatterstar, et cetera.”
“Right, so these are more Freemen?” Tommy asked.
“Same generation but not part of the Freemen,” David said. “One of them has a physical mutation. He calls himself Freak Show. The other is a woman who goes by the name Carmine. We don’t know what her power is yet.”
Jean-Paul crossed his arms. “Wind Dancer wants us there as soon as possible. Suit up, we leave in fifteen.”
Going through the gateway to Mojoworld was a completely different experience than going through the one to California. It was disorienting and made Tommy sicker than the first time he’d ever used his super speed. He supposed that’s what happened when you time-traveled to nearly one thousand years in the future. He stumbled after walking through and Prodigy caught him.
“That sucked,” the white-blonde groaned.
Prodigy laughed. “You get used to it,” he said.
“No thanks.” Tommy felt like his stomach was in his throat and his kidneys had been misplaced. He never wanted to do that again.
“Thank God, you’re here!” a voice called.
Tommy looked to his right, still reeling from the experience, and saw Wind Dancer running towards the group. She was dressed in her superhero uniform as per usual, but her hair was disheveled and messy and her makeup was a bang-up job at best. Tommy didn’t know when he’d started noticing nuances like that.
“Hey, Wind Dancer,” Prodigy greeted.
Northstar took the lead. “We heard you need help here. One of the X-Men is missing?”
She shushed him frantically. Her head whipped around, looking out for anyone who might have heard. “Not so loud,” she demanded. “And definitely not here. Don’t let anyone know what happened.”
Tommy tilted his head. “Why?”
The woman’s eyes narrowed as she took in the sight of him. “Ah, Speed. I was told you’d be coming.” She smiled. “Honestly, I thought you’d be taller.” She pivoted and started walking away, leaving a fumbling Tommy and his cackling teammates behind. “Follow me,” she commanded. “We’ll talk on the way there.”
The others jogged to catch up with her. Northstar walked at the back of the group, making sure no one was following them. Prodigy’s hand kept brushing the back of Tommy’s as they walked, shoulders almost pressed together. Wind Dancer began speaking again after a large group of people passed by.
“Gambit went missing during the check-in, though I’m sure you already knew that. He was alone, so anything could have happened.” She stopped at a heavy metal door with a keypad.
“Do you think he was kidnapped?” Trevor asked, multicolored eyes wide.
Wind Dancer shook her head as she pushed different buttons on the keypad. “No. I think he was murdered.”
“What makes you say that?” Prestige asked.
Wind Dancer turned to them with a grave look. The metal door slid open, the keypad lit up green, and a wall of computers was exposed. Of the hundreds of streams being broadcasted and advertised, only one stood out – “special stream: live autopsy.”
“There haven’t been any murders, consented or otherwise, that have been reported here,” she claimed. “There have been no natural deaths outside of the gladiator ring and, unless someone stole one of the bodies without us knowing, every corpse is accounted for.”
Northstar sighed. “Do you have any other evidence? It will make our jobs much easier.”
Wind Dancer’s eyes rolled up to the sky as she thought, irises twitching and drifting from their positions every so often. Eventually, she pursed her lips and nodded hesitantly. “He was last seen by the gladiator ring in one of the underground tunnels used for cargo transportation and worker foot traffic.”
Northstar nodded. “Thank you. That gives us a good starting point.” He turned to his team. “Let us head that way. We will start our search there.”
Prodigy led them all to the subterranean tunnels – minus Polaris and Prestige, who elected to stay with Wind Dancer. The sound of swords and shields banging together echoed through the concrete hall. A bell rang and the sounds of cheers and a series of thuds erupted from a side tunnel. Ahead of them, hushed whispers were nearly drowned in the noise.
“That’s got to be the gladiator ring!” Daken shouted, pointing to the right where the clanging sounds started to diminish.
“That way, then,” Northstar commanded. He led them down the right hallway.
Tommy stopped midway down. The absence of his footsteps drew the gazes of the others. He pointed. Everyone followed his pointer finger up to the security camera sitting in the tunnel.
“You think he might’ve ended up on that thing?” he asked. He knew the answer, but it seemed polite to at least ask.
“Maybe.” Prodigy replied with the same energy, making Tommy grin.
The man started tapping on his tablet, dragging his finger occasionally and glancing at the camera periodically. The sound of light tapping was drowned out as the clanging from the gladiator ring erupted once more. Prodigy was completely focused for a few moments before making a sound of success.
“Found him,” he announced.
He flipped the tablet to face the others. The glowing screen displayed a grainy image of Gambit, head turning back and forth as though he were looking for something. The image shook as though something knocked into the camera. Gambit’s head whipped toward the disturbance, eyes wide. A large reptilian hand grabbed him by the throat. He was dragged off-screen. There was no sound, but Tommy was certain there would have been some sort of screaming or yelling if there was.
“I think it’s safe to say that Freak Show is our guy,” Tommy declared.
Northstar shook his head. “Not yet. We need more proof.”
“He’s known for his anatomy streams. Most of the stuff he shows are bodies post-autopsy,” Prodigy stated, showing Northstar the evidence on his tablet. “According to the logs, he was spotted around the gladiator ring roughly around the same time as Gambit. How’s that for proof?”
Northstar nodded, conceding. “We must find out where this ‘Freak Show’ streams from.”
“Wind Dancer should know,” Prodigy claimed.
“Or you.”
The others turned to look at Tommy. They all had some type of disbelieving or incredulous look. The white-haired man shrugged.
“If Prodigy can get into the security system, he can probably find out where this dude streams from,” Tommy defended. “Where was he seen last?”
Prodigy scrolled through his tablet, occasionally typing out passwords and numbers. He made a frustrated sound as the screen lit up red.
“I can’t get past this,” he growled. “We’ll have to ask Sofia.”
Tommy cocked his head to the side. His eyebrows furrowed. “What is it?”
“Four number combination,” Prodigy explained. “I’m not going to sit here and go through every combination. That would take too long.”
The speedster chuckled and made a grab for the tablet. “Give,” he commanded. “You might not be able to, but I can. Give me a minute.”
The speedster felt time slow around him as he typed in code after code. The first thousand or so combinations lit the screen up bright red. Tommy was nearing the three thousand range of combinations when the screen lit up green.
“Aha!” he exclaimed. “See? Told you I could do… it… What?”
He saw the world tinted green. Tommy stared into Prodigy’s unblinking, unmoving eyes. He turned to the side and saw Northstar and Aurora completely still. That wouldn’t have been too strange if they weren’t speedsters like him but they were, and much faster than him. What was going on?
“Hello?” he asked, patting Prodigy’s face lightly. No response.
Tommy didn’t know what to do. He looked down at his watch. It was completely stopped. The minute hand stood still, the second hand not even twitching. Did… Did he stop time? Regardless of what he did, he wanted it to end. He wanted everyone to start moving again. He wanted the world to keep spinning, for time to start again. His chest rose and fell, the beating of his heart growing quicker. His chest was heaving. He didn’t know what was happening, just that he didn’t like it. He was so caught up in his building anxiety that he didn’t see the green haze receding or the tablet being pulled from his hands.
“Hey,” a voice said softly. They sounded like they were underwater. “Tom? Tommy, it’s okay,” they said.
“What?” he asked, voice shaking and breaking. He gasped as he breathed.
“You’re okay,” The voice said. It sounded closer. “You just stopped time. You’re okay. We’re okay.”
Tommy collapsed against something. It was sturdy yet warm. He was laying against someone’s chest – David’s. He exhaled, feeling himself deflate. Relief couldn’t begin to describe what he felt as he listened to the beating heart below the clothed, respiring flesh.
“Thank God,” he said, exhaling his words softly. He groaned. “Man, that was so not fun.”
“I imagine,” David chuckled. “Now, can I have my tablet back?”
“Oh, of course, Lord Prodigy,” Tommy joked, thrusting the device into Prodigy’s waiting hand. He sprung up unsteadily but quickly found his footing.
Prodigy tapped his fingers against the glass screen. The process went a lot smoother with Tommy pressed against his side, making sure of two things – that Prodigy was still breathing and not stopped in time, and that Tommy could be nearby to solve any more number combinations. Luckily, the second was completely unnecessary.
“Got it,” Prodigy announced. “Right here.” He pointed to his tablet.
Northstar’s communicator rang. He picked it up. It was Polaris. She was saying something frantically and Northstar’s eyes widened. He thanked her and hung up.
He turned back to the group. “The live starts in half an hour.”
They had roughly 20 minutes to get in, grab Gambit’s body, and get out. If they took too long, the live stream would start and they would be caught retrieving a dead body on universal television. Prodigy was the one to come up with the plan.
“We’ve got 20 minutes to get in and out so we need stealth and speed. I believe it would be best to send Speed, Northstar, and Eyeboy,” the yellow-clad man stated. “There are three entrances and subsequent exits.” He pulled up a holographic map, showing it to the others standing around him. “There are only two places you need to avoid: the gladiator stadium and the wrestling ring. Those are the sectors with the most security. There are guards stationed here and here–” he pointed to the map “–that you’ll need to avoid. There are also sensors right here that are meant to detect speedsters.”
“I’d say easy peasy,” Tommy interrupted, “but not even Northstar can get past those sensor things. Any ideas?”
Prodigy hummed, cupping his chin with a hand. He gave Tommy an unsteady smile. “How do you feel about testing those new time-warping powers of yours on the fly?”
Tommy’s eyes widened. “Not good, actually. Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re going to have to stop time to get in there,” Prodigy proclaimed. “From that point, you’ll be on your own. Northstar and Eyeboy are going to be there for backup in case something goes wrong, but this mission would be all you.”
“WHAT!?”
The others shushed him frantically. Their eyes darted to and fro, making sure no one had heard the outburst and came to investigate.
“I can’t do this,” Tommy muttered anxiously.
“Yes, you can,” Prodigy refuted.
“I can’t!” he squeaked. “I’ve only done it once like barely five minutes ago and freaked. What if it doesn’t work this time?”
“It will.” Prodigy was scrolling through his tablet, marking points and highlighting text in the plans to send to Tommy’s own tablet – smaller than the other man’s so it could fit in his pocket, but no less powerful.
The speedster scoffed. “How can you be so sure?”
Prodigy met his eyes, light brown boring into forest green. “Because it’s you,” he said.
He was so confident in his answer, something Tommy didn’t understand. He couldn’t. Why would he have anything to do with the success of the mission? And why was Prodigy trusting him so much? Because he was him? That wasn’t a very straightforward or helpful answer and Tommy was very unsatisfied with it.
“Sure. Fine. Whatever,” the white-haired man conceded. He didn’t want to fight about it when their time window a mere few minutes away. “What’s the rest of the plan?”
“You stop time just long enough to bypass the sensor. Then, you can let go and find Gambit’s body. We don’t know exactly where it is, but it should be somewhere around here.” He drew a circle on the map in bright red. “Then, you come back, stop time at the sensor, and we book it back to Krakoa with a dead body.”
Tommy’s brows slanted and he bit his bottom lip. “What if I can’t stop time twice?”
Prodigy shrugged. “The second time is a lot less important than the first. It’s okay if you can’t do it twice. Just do it once.”
“Right. Okay. Once.”
“If you do set the sensors off, it will cut time in half,” Prodigy stated, “so if they do have them, don’t set them off.”
“Easier said than done,” Tommy muttered. Louder, he said, “Alright. Let’s do this.”
The others gave him reassuring looks, though he couldn’t tell if it was more for his sake or theirs. Northstar and Eyeboy followed behind him as he crept down the hall. He went at a normal pace for Eyeboy but he’d pick up the pace once they got to the sensors.
He stepped toe-to-heel, trying as hard as he could to not let sonorous footsteps ring through the halls. The other two weren’t doing as well. He could distinguish Northstar’s feather-light footsteps – not light enough, though – from Eyeboy’s untrained thumping steps. He wanted to turn around and tell them to quiet down, but knew that some people just didn’t have the abilities. Maybe his came from growing up with his parents.
He’d unpack that later. They were at the sensors.
“Alright dude,” Eyeboy said, “do your thing.”
“It’s not ‘my thing,’” Tommy hissed. “I don’t even know how I did it before.”
Northstar laid a stiff hand on the speedster’s shoulder. “You will be fine. Just try.”
Tommy nodded. “Okay.”
He stood facing the sensors with his eyes closed. He focused, trying to replicate what he did before. It would have helped if he actually knew what he did the first time around, but still. He felt around, thinking that maybe he could feel time itself. He felt something deep in his gut that sat heavily in his body. He focused his mind on it, pulling and twisting it, but nothing happened. He sighed.
“I can’t.” He sulked, sitting on the concrete ground with his head hung low. “I can’t do it.”
The other two were silent. The speedster knew they were probably looking at each other, silently conversing behind his back. Maybe they were thinking that he’d proved his uselessness and they were going to kick him off the team.
“Maybe you could ask your brother,” Eyeboy suggested.
‘ Of course they’d want Billy instead,’ he thought, despite knowing in the deepest part of his subconscious that Eyeboy hadn’t meant it that way. ‘Everyone wants him over me.’ Tommy sighed. “We don’t have that kind of time–” His eyes widened. “Wait a minute.”
Maybe he could prove that he wasn’t a waste, that he was useful to them after all. They always tried to tell him otherwise, but maybe this would solidify it. Not just for them. For him.
He hopped up, a new spring in his step. He puffed his chest out and clenched his fists at his sides. He closed his eyes, focusing on that thing, that foreign entity still sitting in his stomach.
“StoptimeStoptimeStoptime,” the speedster chanted. “StoptimeStoptimeStoptime.” He clenched his eyes shut, hoping that the blinding green light was his powers doing their job and not a security guard with a flashlight. “StoptimeStoptimeStoptime.”
He slowly opened his eyes. He was met with the same bright green haze from before. He cheered and looked back to see Northstar and Eyeboy frozen, completely unmoving. It was unnerving.
He started walking. He didn’t really know how he started time again the last time, so he figured he might as well just grab Gambit and get out while time was still stopped. He wandered for what felt like hours, not wanting to risk using super speed only for time to start up again. For all he knew, using one power would cancel out the other.
He found the body laying on a metal table. Dripping blood was frozen in time, the ruby red turning a muddy brown in the green haze. Gambit’s pale face was tainted with green. His cheeks were sunken and the bones protruded severely. He looked like he died angry, his brows furrowed and his nose scrunched as if he snarled at his attackers. Tommy was sure his dead eyes would be showing fury if they weren’t glued shut.
He carefully lifted the green body of the table, watching as the green haze subsided and the paper-white skin of the long-dead body – not at all reminiscent of the man’s normally tawny hue – came into view. Tommy’s head whipped around to see the green haze evaporating. Time was no longer frozen. He had to leave.
He ran. As he did, he noticed his vision spark with green, the vibrant viridian floating at the edges of his peripherals. Now that he was aware that he was intermittently stopping time as he ran, he could see it too. He was so focused on the green that he didn’t notice when he passed the sensors. Alarms blared sonorously through the echoing halls that lit up with flashing red.
The two men waiting for him had no time to ask about the pale body in his arms. He ran straight past them, forcing them to chase after him. They made their way back to the group with thundering footsteps. The others were already running out of the tunnels by the time Tommy caught up to them. He handed the body off to Daken.
The group met up with Polaris and Prestige, the two women sprinting to catch the group. The team ran for the warp gate, avoiding as many people as possible. The floating cameras kind of made the task difficult. But they all managed to leap through the gate without confrontation from security, though it was quite the close call.
Back on Krakoa, with a dead body lying in the middle of the loose circle their panting bodies formed, all was quiet. There was something serene in the way that the wind whistled through the tall trees. Tommy could hear a brook nearby. A hand grasped at his and he squeezed it tight. After a few moments of basking in the silence, he spoke up.
“We can’t go back there ever, can we?” It was a rhetorical question, but Northstar deigned to answer it anyway.
“No. No we cannot.”
They had just sent Gambit’s body to the morgue when the calm silence was interrupted.
“Are you kiddin’ me!?” a heavily accented voice screeched. “This is bullshit! Let me in there!”
Tommy cringed back, shoulder bumping into David’s. “I guess Rogue found out her malewife is dead.”
David rolled his eyes and grabbed his boyfriend by the shoulders. Tommy let himself be turned to face the other.
“Tommy,” he said seriously. “It’s a good joke. A great joke, even. But I need you to stop.”
“Stop what?” the white-haired man teased.
David threw his hands in the air with an annoyed flourish. “Stop calling Gambit a malewife!”
His outburst drew the stares of the Five and their X-Factor Investigations coworkers. Jean-Paul had an eyebrow raised while some of the Five, namely Elixir, looked scandalized. Tommy could hear Lorna and Akihiro snorting as they tried to suppress their laughter.
“It’s his own fault!” Tommy declared. “I’m not the one with the maid dress.”
A pause.
“How do you know that you fucking sorcerer!?” David shrieked.
If there was one thing Tommy would remember from that whole day it would be that moment – the moment where everyone was laughing. It didn’t matter if it was at his expense or not. He was glad that everyone was happy.
Tommy took a deep breath as he stared at the unassuming flagstone apartment building in front of him – his mother’s apartment building. He’d had to search through stacks of documents to find the address. And he couldn’t decide if it was a good or bad thing. He had been hoping to prolong the inevitable, but after the Mojoverse debacle, he didn’t want to chance any uncontrolled powers.
He rushed up the steps, running down the ground-floor halls at a normal pace. It would do no good to expose himself or his mother. The white-haired man found himself standing in front of her door. The neat scrawl on the plaque read: 13. Unlucky number 13. Tommy wondered if Wanda chose the number on purpose.
He rolled his shoulders and puffed his chest out. The false bravado he presented gave him the courage to knock. The door swung open slowly.
“Tommy? What are you doing here?”
His mom didn’t look any different from the last time he saw her. Her auburn hair was thick and wavy, framing her features elegantly. Alert amber eyes pierced his own and he had to look away, not quite comfortable enough with the woman to make full eye contact. Maybe one day.
“Hey, mom. Long time, no see.” He glanced around the empty hallway before looking back at her. “So I’ve kind of got a new power set that only you can help me with.”
Her brows raised. She opened the door wider. “I think you should tell me more inside. Would you like some tea?”
He smiled lightly at her. “Tea sounds great.”
As the door shut behind him, he couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach. This would be a long talk.