For the third time, Logan played the message.
"Please come back, Wolverine," came the voice of his old friend Jim Hudson. "He says he won't let us go without seeing you."
Was it a trick? Why would Alpha Flight lie to him to get him to visit? He knew them, and he trusted them. Maybe that was the problem. He would go, then, but he couldn't leave alone. That night, he would meet with Professor Xavier, and implore him to use Cerebro to prove that something was wrong in Canada, and then to let him bring a small group of X-Men with him to investigate.
Xavier had his brow firmly furled when he left the Cerebro chamber.
"I picked up all the usual staff at the Alpha Flight headquarter," he explained to Logan, who had been joined by Kurt Wagner. "Nobody is injured in any incredible way, there does not seem to have been a conflict, but, from what I can pick up, the people are afraid of something. Logan, I am granting you your request to go up and check on them, but be warned, that phone call could not have happened by secret, not with the entire staff in such a state of terror. That call from Mr. Hudson was very likely against his will, and you must stay on your guard. I know this isn't a challenge for you, but if you want to bring any of your team-mates, such as Kurt, than you must also watch after them. I want you all to stay together as much as you can. Do you understand?"
"Of course," Logan replied.
"Who, then," Xavier asked, "are you planning on bringing?"
"Kurt and Forge."
"Kurt, you've decided to go with him?" Xavier asked.
"Of course, Herr Professor," the blue mutant said. "I had not thought of this as the same kind of danger you did, but I think I will be alright. Forge will say the same thing."
"Very well, then," Professor Xavier said. "Good luck with whatever it is you must do, and be safe."
"You doing alright?" Came a man's voice. Betsy Braddock whirled around from her spot by the lake on the Xavier Institute property. It was Warren Worthington, whom she had become fairly close to in the short time that he'd been back with the X-Men.
"I'm fine, Warren," she said. He sat down beside her. Betsy couldn't help but look at the odd mess of what were until recently his wings. "What about you?"
"In relation to these?" Warren pointed to one of his wings, which extended slightly for emphasis. "I don't really know. They've been damaged before, badly, but they've always healed within a few days. I don't know if they're getting better or worse now."
"What do you mean?" Betsy asked.
"Feel my feathers," Warren commanded. Betsy reached out and touched some of the less damaged feathers.
"They're a little stiffer than I imagined they'd be," she observed.
"Try some of the more damaged ones."
"They're rock solid," Betsy said, feeling a few more charred feathers. "And they're so cold."
"One fell out yesterday," Warren explained, "so I gave it to Hank when he was over to talk with Bishop. I wanted him to take it to a lab, or something like that. Look it over. He called me an hour ago, and told me that it had traces of steel in the fibers of it."
"Steel? That doesn't seem right."
"Exactly," Warren said. He breathed in through his nose, and let it out slowly. "The Professor told me when I was a student here that my powers were unusual, and that they would develope slowly for years to come." His hand twitched, and his fingers became the talons that they were when he fought. "These came close to graduation time." His hand went back to normal. "I think that that zap from Magneto may have triggered something in my wings to change them."
"Well that can't be too much to worry about," Betsy said. "It's something natural."
"Last night," Warren started, "I woke up and had to vomit."
"Lovely, but it happens to people sometimes."
"That isn't all," Warren exlained. "When I was done, I looked at myself in the mirror." He paused, not sure if he wanted to tell her the next part. "My eyes were completely white, and my face was blue. I don't mean lack-of-oxygen blue, but blue like it had been painted. I tried to wash it off like it really was paint, but it wouldn't go away. I panicked, and I locked myself in the bathroom for about an hour. I didn't look in the mirror for that whole time. At the end of it, I looked again, and I was my normal color."
"Did you tell the Professor?" Betsy asked.
"No," he replied. "I'm scared to tell anyone."
"You're telling me," she pointed out.
"I guess I am," he said. "Betsy, I don't want to change anymore. I don't want to have blue skin, I don't want my wings to change... at all. I loved them the way they'd been for so long. I always liked getting to be 'The Angel' because of those wings. They really did make me look like the way you'd expect an angel to look. I know that sounds horribly concieted, but it's how I felt. I don't know if I could take them suddenly being so different." He glanced at Betsy, who was struggling for something to say. "So... How've you been?"
"I-" she still didn't know what to say, in light of Warren's revelation. "I think I'm getting over what I saw in Bishop's head. It's almost like a bad dream now."
"Tell me about it," Warren said. And she did.
Six of them were finished already. Six! This little country didn't give Bolivar Trask the money or resources that the U.S. government had, or at least not as much, but it was really coming through for him. In his new office, he looked at production logs. Soon, he'd have a dozen Sentinels more. But that wasn't the best part. The smaller, more human-like in appearance Sentinel was also going to be completed soon. He opened a drawer, and eyed the chip that he'd popped out of Bastion on the night that it was destroyed. That chip contained all of its programming and electronic memories, for just such an occasion as what had happened. He looked longingly at his marvel of micro-technology, and then closed the drawer up. He didn't want to torture himself with thoughts of his greatest creation yet to come at this moment.
In Egypt, in the very tomb that had killed the Nathaniel Essex that the world had once known, and had given birth to Mr. Sinister, four unusual people had made the treacherous way down to the primary chamber. Sinister himself led them. Spiral, Sauron, and Omega Red all looked around in astonishment at the structure that was supposedly leading them to the holding chamber of En Sabbah Nur, purportedly the first ever mutant, and the one that made Essex into Sinister.
"Sauron!" Sinister called, having hurried ahead of his party in excitement. Sauron lept up, spread out his winged arms, and flew to Sinister's side. "Can you recite the words under these images? I figure Lykos could."
"Yes, he could," Sauron sneared, "as can I." He was handed the copies of the heiroglyphics which Sinister had stolen from around the world.
"Arkady, bring forth the actual tablets," Sinister ordered. "Spiral, it is time to give me your pendant." Spiral was apprehensive, but allowed him to take it. Something about Sinister had, in recent days, begun to appeal to her, seem almost familiar, trustworthy.
Omega Red set up the pieces of rock containing the heiroglyphics in the sequence that Sinister ordered. Two in the middle left open a space that matched Spiral's pendant. At Sinister's word, Sauron began reading. The tablets began glowing. As Sauron went on, the wall in front of them did as wall. Sinister placed Spiral's pendant into the appropriate place. The light became blinding. Sauron read on as best he could. He got to the end, and a wave of heat knocked the foursome down. When they came to, a massive figure stood in front of them.
"Master," Sinister whispered.
"You have done well, my servant," said the figure. Its skin was a sickly gray, but it seemed otherwise to be strong and healthy. It wore a dark orange robe, and dark blue gloves. A hood covered part of its head.
"My accomplices, Master En Sabbah Nur," said Sinister, shaking. "This is-"
"Omega Red," said En Sabbah Nur.
"My name is Arkady," Red protested. "Omega Red is a pseudonym."
"It is the name that truly matters now," En Sabbah Nur said, speaking in a booming voice. "You are Omega Red, the reptile is Sauron, and the girl is Spiral. I knew as soon as you came near."
"Master, we live to serve you!" Sinister cried.
"Excellent."
"My friends, let me introduce you!" Sinister said, excitedly. "This is the man who created my as you see me today. He was once a great warrior in ancient Egypt, imprisoned by forces who feared his power. The heiroglyphics we have collected were a code to release him from his physical prison, so that his power may extend far beyond this tomb. This is the first mutant, the first on Earth with such power."
"Yes, the first on Earth," his towering master replied, giddily.
"This is En Sabbah Nur, the first one!" Sinister breathed. "He is the one who will dominate this world soon. He is the Apocalypse!"
END OF PART 3
coming in part four: Wolverine faces a mysterious enemy, and uncovers the truth about who he really is. Meanwhile, Magneto and his ever-growing Brotherhood seek revenge for the humiliation the X-Men brought on them; Bolivar Trask and his special project return to the world; and this mysterious mutant called Apocalypse will begin his campaign to take over the world. All in all, the X-Men will be busy. Plus: who or what is Bishop, really? What connection does he have with the events that have recently transpired? And what connection will he have with one of the many villains that have appeared so far?
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