New X-Men

Miami, 5:00 AM

               The X-Pod personal flier landed on the landing deck of the Miami high rise before the sun peeked above the city skyline.  The cockpit opened and Doug stepped down, before he opened a hatch in the pod and pulled out a suitcase.  He trudged inside, and then looked around – the main room of the base was empty, but signs of the others were everywhere.  Fur on a chair – Rahne.  A bag of banana chips left rolled up on the couch – Bobby.  He gave a little smile, before passing through the room.  He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and looked at the floorplan – his room was highlighted in green.

               It was dark, and Doug let his mind go blissfully blank before dropping his briefcase in the doorway, and then he pulled his shirt off and moved to collapse onto the bed.  He had half-fallen asleep, before he felt the body move against him.

               A pair of shrieks brought everyone else running.  Doug had lept out of the bed and was against the door.  Honey was against the far wall and had picked up a lamp. 

               “Hey, hey!”  Bobby said, stepping between them, “Whoa!  Everybody chill—”

               “What the heck’s goin’ on?”  Sam said, rubbing one eye and suppressing a yawn.

               “What’s going on is that this guy just crawled into bed with me and decided to be the big spoon!”  Honey said.

               Doug pointed at her, and then rounded on Bobby.  “What was she doing in my bed, da Costa!?”

               “We put her up in there for the night until we could get another guest room ready!”  Bobby said, “We thought you’d be back later this morning.”  He held up his hands.  “This…”  He gestured, “Is Dr. Honoria Ocasio-Aguilar.  Doctor,”  He gestured back to Doug, “This is Douglas Ramsey.”

               Doug squinted.  “Dr… you’re the one who wrote those scientific papers about the Mutant-Inhuman link.”

               Honey paused.  “…You know my work?”

               Illyana looked up, and brushed her hair back from her face, as she stepped into the doorway.  “Doug consumes information ruthlessly, doctor.  The surprise would be if he hadn’t read your work.”  She raised an eyebrow.  “Good morning, Doug.”

               “…Morning.”  Doug said, rubbing the back of his neck.  Then he looked to Bobby.  “Bobby, I’m exhausted.  I’m not going to kick the doctor out—”

               “Appreciated,”  Honey said, as she put down the lamp.

               “—No problem.  But can I at least get a blanket so I can sleep on the couch?”

               “I thought—”  Sam said, looking between Doug and Illyana.

               Illyana’s mouth turned up at the corner.  “Did you, Sam?”

               Sam shook his head.  “Goin’ back to bed.  Not that I can sleep anyway.”  He turned, and walked out.

               Doug quirked his mouth and looked between Sam and Bobby, before Amara stepped in, and yawned, and then pounced on Doug, embracing him.  “Doug, you’re back!  Good morning!”

               Bobby put his hands on his hips, and then said, “Well, Sam has the right of it.  We should all go back to bed.  Doug, I’m afraid you’ll have to camp out on the couch.”

               Honey frowned and blew a stray curl of hair out of her face.  “I’m really sorry about this, Doug.”

               Doug looked up from over Amara’s shoulder, and blinked.  “Oh, it’s quite all right.  Of all the couches to camp out on in the world, this is the one I’d pick.  I’ll just catch a cat-nap anyway.”

               “So,”  Amara said, breaking her hold on Doug, “How was the UK?”  She took him by the arm, and led him out of the room. 

               “Oh, well, I helped Pete Wisdom and Alistaire Stuart capture what turned out to be a Zoroastrian demon…”  Doug’s voice trailed off. 

               Honey ran her fingers through her hair, and went about bringing a semblance of order back to her bed.  “So that’s the mysterious Cypher, huh?  He seems… mild.”

               Illyana paused, where she was leaning in the doorway.  “Still waters run deep and hide sharp rocks in odd places, doctor.  But he is the best of us.”  She turned, and left, shutting the door behind her.  “Good morning.”

               Honey stared at the door, and then shook her head.  “Honey, it’s just like your grandma told you, you are in over your head…”  She dropped back onto the bed.

               Late the next morning:

               The war room inside the penthouse base centered on a round table with a holographic terminal in the center of it.  At the moment, it was taken up by a 3D projection of Kitty Pryde, who was scowling as she faced down Bobby and Xi’an.  “I don’t like what I’m reading.  I don’t like it at all.”

               Honey looked up, and then said, “Miss Pryde, I assure you, my research was meant to help mutants.  If we can gain more insight into the how, when, and why mutant powers manifest, we can help ameliorate traumatic manifestations—or even predict them before they happen and lessen their severity.”

               Kitty tapped her fingers against one arm.   “Or create designer mutants for the highest bidder.”

               Honey narrowed her eyes.  “Or that.”

               “I’m missing something here,”  Bobby said.  “You can’t just take mutant powers and implant them into somebody, or they would’ve figured out a way to do that years ago.  Every designer mutant we’ve ever seen was built from the ground up in some way or another.”

               “Exactly.”  Honey said.  “The process was prohibitive.  Clones take time to gestate, raise, and train, and the results are sub-optimal.  Metahuman genetics are… an inexact and murky science.  What creates a Hulk or a Spider-Man might just kill somebody else, but it’s almost certain that a latent X-Gene has something to do with it.”

               “Like how we know that the child of a meta-human will almost always be a mutant.”  Xi’an said.  “With two meta-humans involved, it’s almost a certainty.”

               “And how first-generation mutants are a complete crap-shoot,”  Kitty said, “And even mutant siblings will often manifest completely different powers from one another.”

               “Sam Guthrie’s family is a textbook example of that.”  Honey said.  “At this point the odds are high that each of his siblings who weren’t depowered in the M-Day event will manifest a mutant ability.”

               “Yeah, it keeps him up nights.”  Bobby said.  “So, somebody’s found a way to implant mutant powers in grown adults that isn’t cost-prohibitive.”

               “Yes.”  Honey said, “But I think they’re looking for ways to further refine the process, which is why they came after me.”

               The door opened, and Doug came in.  His hair was mussed, and he took a long moment to stretch, with a tremendous yawn.  “Hey gang.  Mind if I sit in?”

               The corner of Kitty’s mouth turned up.  “Well if it isn’t sleeping beauty.” 

               “Have a seat.”  Xi’an said.  “The doctor was just leading us through some of her research on the connection between Mutants and Inhumans.”

               As Doug scooted into a chair, Honey went on.  “We know that both mutants and inhumans have manifestations of super-normal abilities explicitly tied to their genetics.  With mutants, the manifestation is spontaneous.  Inhumans require exposure to a catalyst – terrigen.  It was the first recorded instances of mutants being exposed to terrigen that led me to the path that led to my current research, and the key is—well, what M-Pox is.”

               Doug leaned in.  “A malignant secondary mutation induced by exposure to terrigen?”

               Honey paused.  “…Yes.”

               “He’s not a geneticist, doctor, but our boy Doug here is very quick on the uptake.”  Kitty said. 

               “Well, he’s right.  That’s exactly what it is.  When a mutant is exposed to terrigen, they interact with it in a way similar to how an Inhuman does, but it… goes wrong.  A mutant might experience vastly enhanced powers but using those powers might cause them physical harm—like Roberto.  Or their body may just not be able to cope with rapid onset physical alterations… and they might die.”

               Xi’an looked up.  “Luna Maximoff is the child of an inhuman and a mutant.”

               “That’s true, but Luna’s also a child.  I don’t think she’s going to be available for research anytime soon.”  Kitty said.

               “Thus Hank McCoy’s problem finding a treatment for M-Pox… since almost every first-generation mutant’s powers are unique, and M-Pox is a form of secondary mutation, treatment has to be designed from the ground up, and successes have been inconsistent.  Julian Keller’s M-Pox is in complete remission.  Roberto has to use a power regulator.”

               “I have very good people working on it.”  Bobby said.

               “I know, and believe me, I’d love to corner Dr. Ho and pick her brain.”  Honey said. 

               “Well,” Kitty said, “The important thing is, that whoever’s behind this wants you, which means we want you more.  I’d like you to work closely with Xi’an and Doug – she’s a trained lab technician among other things, and he’s the master of unexpected insights.”

               “Toni’s a busy woman,”  Bobby said, “But I’ll see if I can work in one of my M-Pox treatments to get you some time with her, too.  I’m going to have Doug keep a weather eye out and see if he can narrow down where these designer mutants are operating out of.   When they pop up, we’ll jump on them and rock their world.  And if I can find out more about who’s behind this, we can get out in front of them.”

               “Agreed.”  Kitty said.  “Well, I have a thousand other demands on my time, so I have to go, but please keep me informed.”  She touched a button on her console, and her hologram faded away.  “Be safe, guys.”

               “I’ll text you,”  Doug said, waving to Kitty.

               “You better.”  Kitty said, before she disappeared.

               Bobby looked around the table and clapped his hands together as he rose.  “You heard the boss lady.  You have your jobs, go and do them.”

               “Actually it seems like only a couple of you have jobs, and the rest of you are on standby,”  Honey said, as she tucked her tablet under her arm.

               Bobby turned, and winked, before he slipped out the door.

               Meanwhile…

               Ajay Singh was tall, and lean.  He wore his hair rakishly styled, and his beard was short and neat.  He favored bespoke suits, though he’d shrugged off his jacket and had his sleeves rolled up to the elbows.  “So… you failed.”  He stroked his chin, and mused, thoughtfully, “There’s valuable data in failure.”

               He turned, to the young woman sitting in an office chair, her head bowed.  “Joyce.  Don’t be so hard on yourselves.  The X-Men are mutant paramilitaries with years of experience and some of the best-coordinated team tactics on the planet.  Once they engaged with you, this op was a failure.”  He looked to the three men sitting nearby.  “So stop with the self-recrimination.  The same goes for all of you.”  He smiled, grinning broadly.  “In fact, this was an important field test of your abilities.  We now have evidence that your induced mutations are viable and stable in a high-stress environment.  And that, my friends,”  Ajay snapped his fingers, “Is cash money.”

               Ajay turned, abruptly, on his heel, and paced the length of the room.  “But on the other hand… a failed engagement with the X-Men is not going to move product.  In order to reel in the prospective buyers I’ve been feeling out, we need something showy.  We need a win, and we need a flashy one.”  He sat at a computer and began to surf the news.  Suddenly his eyes lit up.  “And what have we here…?”  His mouth split in a wide, Cheshire grin.  ”Bingo…!”

               He leaned back in his chair, studying the article.

               - NEW WARRIORS TO FRONT HEROES FOR HEALTH CHARITY FUNDRAISER WEEKEND -

               “…I suppose it’d be really, really douchey to ruin their charity event.”  Ajay said, before he looked up at the others. “What do you guys think?”  He turned the computer monitor around.

               One young man spoke up.  “I always thought that… thing Justice wore on his head looked really stupid.”

               “Yeah, and I can’t stand Speedball,” another said, “what a dork that guy is.”

               “Well then!  Hit the training room.   The New Warriors are going to be your proof-of-concept.”  Ajay said.   Then he laughed.  “God, being a super-villain is so much fun!  And to think mom wanted me to go into osteopathy!”