The Terran Rangers/X-Men by Heather Ray (ebook e reader .txt) 📕

Meanwhile, Alexander Summers, the mutant known as Havok, and the mysterious mutant Domino marched into the throne room of the mighty High Lord Apocalypse himself. Apocalypse sat upon his throne, awaiting Havok's report, while to his right is his son, Holocaust. To his left was his Horseman Mister Sinister, accompanied by his adopted son Scott Summers, also known as Prelate Cyclops. Behind Havok and Domino were two beds, hovering about three feet off the ground, and upon each was a human teenager, who would look completely normal by our standards. But, normalcy was all relative, and in this dark existence, these teenagers couldn't stand out more.

"So," said Apocalypse, glancing down at the two unconscious teenagers, "these are the 'special humans'

you were speaking of, Prelate?"

"Yes, My Lord," Havok said, bowing. "All my scans show that they have great power, but they do not have the X-Factor. They register completely human, with the exception of this strange power."

"What is your point, Prelate?" asked Holocaust, his red skull glowing with impatience. "They may have some kind of power, but surely two humans such as these pose no threat to anyone. Just kill them."

"But, they can be members of a group of humans, planning on increasing their chances of surviving the war against mutants! Since they weren't granted power by nature, they use technology to save their hides!"

"Alex," said Scott, shaking his head, "you sound a little paranoid to me."

"Don't talk down to me!!" Havok roared. "Who knows what powers they possess, or how many of them could exist, hiding right under our noses?"

"Apocalypse," said Sinister, "Havok did bring up an interesting point. We do not know what kind of power they possess. It could be used to our advantage. Allow me to run some tests, and determine exactly what they are capable of. Then, after we study them, and make sure we can gain no more knowledge from them, have them killed. Of course, this is assuming they survive my testing."

"Fine," said Apocalypse, standing up and tossing his navy blue cape behind him. "You may use them as your guinea pigs, Sinister. But I caution you. Many times, your genetic tampering has created some extremely powerful, out of control beings. It shall not happen again."

Mister Sinister bowed once to the High Lord, who left the throne room, closely followed by Holocaust. Sinister then turned to his own sons.

"Scott," he ordered. "Please go tell McCoy to prepare two cages, as well as some drugs to keep my new subjects calm. Alex, you and Domino can escort them to my laboratory. Make sure they're 'comfortable'

, and I'll begin my experimentation in the morning."

Both Summers men nodded, and left the throne room. But while Scott was supposed to go to the communications room to contact McCoy, Sinister's lab assistant, he placed a secret call, to an ally of his. He had worked with this young man for over a year, trying to save as many humans from Sinister's slave pens as possible. Scott had a terrible feeling that these two strangers did possess great power, and in the hands of Sinister and Apocalypse, the entire world may suffer.

"Shadow," Cyclops whispered into the microphone, quickly checking to make sure no one is watching, "Shadow, do you read?"

^Cyclops?^

came the response. ^Yes, I read. What has occurred?^

"My brother has just found two young humans, with strange and unusual powers. I don't like the look of this, so I think you should come pick them up immediately. Sinister said he will begin experimentation in the morning, so come tonight."

^I shall leave momentarily.^

"Fine. I'll meet you at the sewer entrance in an hour. Don't be late."

"Have I ever been late?" said a young man with shoulder length light brown hair. He stood up from his communicator, and quickly covered his black spandex costume with pieces of dark armor, made of a Vibranium/Omnium alloy. He placed a multi-purpose tool kit, flash-bangs, and several pounds of high explosive into pouches on his dark metallic belt, and snapped that on as well. He covered his head and long hair with a helmet, but didn't place anything over his sky-blue eyes. He then picked up two modified .50 AE Desert Eagle handguns and placed them in his belt.

Shadow stepped out of his tent, and gazed out at the dark, empty plains that used to be Angel Grove. He sighed, and then leaped out of the tent, being wary not to attract any attention. His allies were only yards away, performing scenes from William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

for the dozen or so humans watching these rogue mutants perform. But even though this band, dubbed the Outcasts, appear to be harmless traveling actors, they in fact are a group of mutant rebels, doing what they can to keep human kind alive in the United States. Shadow snuck past the crowd, his dark uniform easily hiding him from the view of the humans. He waited for a few seconds, allowing his keen eyes to adapt to the nearly pitch blackness of the night. He was soon on his way, running through the night at superhuman speed, heading towards a cave not far away. Once he reached the cave, he warily stepped inside, and pressed a button on his belt. Then, a hovercraft appeared from nowhere, and Shadow leaped on, and activated the engine. He was about to pull out of the cave, when the silhouette of a man appeared at the mouth of the cave. Shadow sighed again as he instantly recognized the form of his best friend.

"Where are you going, Ace?" asked the young man.

"I told you never to call me that, Nate," said Shadow, somewhat irritated, "I just got a message from Scott. He has two more humans for me to save, but they're not quite human, nor are they mutants. They're anomalies, and so I'm going to figure out exactly what's going on."

"I'll come," said Nate, leaping on the hovercraft behind his friend, with a twinkle of yellow energy in his blue eyes. "You may run into trouble."

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" Shadow barked. "After all, who is the one that taught you in the use of your telepathic powers?"

"Well, who is the one with the 'near-infinite telepathic potential'

?" asked Nate with a grin. "Now let's go! We don't want to keep this Scott guy waiting."

Shadow sighed and pressed down on the accelerator. He silently envied Nate's youthful spirit. Even though both young men were the same age, Shadow had seen a great deal too much suffering and devastation in his short life to be anything but cold and cynical. He had seen his entire life fall apart, all his friends and family die in the cause of genetic cleansing. He himself underwent years of suffering in Sinister's lab, being used and abused, seen as nothing more than a lab rat. Fortunately for Shadow, he was one of Sinister's few experiments that worked.

"Wake up!" came a stern voice. "Wake UP

!"

Kimberly Hart weakly opened her eyes, and glanced at the person talking to her. He had long, dark brown hair that covered his left eye, and a golden visor with red lens covered his right eye. He was rather tall and well built, wearing a blue spandex uniform with pieces of golden armor. Kimberly blinked a few times, trying to get this man in focus.

"Tommy?" she whispered quietly. "Where am I?"

"You are in Sinister's pen," said the man, quickly unlocking the manacles chaining the young woman to the stone wall, "and I am not 'Tommy'

, though I am a friend."

Kimberly shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, but it didn't work. Cyclops bent down, and balanced Kimberly on his shoulders. He then walked across the room, and unchained another strange teenager -- Zack Taylor.

"No, Ma," Zack muttered, "I don't wanna go to school today..."

"Listen to me," said Cyclops, losing his patience, "both of you are still under the influence of a sedative. I tried to get McCoy to administer as little as possible, but you won't be completely aware for another hour or so. We don't have that kind of time, so you're just gonna have to fight to stay conscious."

Both Zack and Kimberly nodded, trying their best to comprehend their situation. Cyclops took each of them by the hand, and moved as quickly as possible through the slave pens, towards the sewer grating. He lifted the cover, and led both teenagers through the maze of underground tunnels.

Just outside the vast complex of Apocalypse, no one saw the invisible hovercraft flying over the fences, and landing near the sewer opening on the north end. Also, no one can detected the ship, or its two passengers, by any type of telepathic or radar scan. The ship was cloaked, and so were the two young men aboard. Both were telepaths, capable of masking their psi-print, making their presence a mystery. Now, the two men stepped away from the ship, and the one cloaked in black pressed a button on his belt, making the ship once again invisible.

"Where are we going?" whispered Nate.

"The sewer entrance," answered Shadow, peering at the entrance from behind the rock. "They're almost here."

"I don't see anything," Nate said.