Via Sanguinis: Scrambler's Tale

by Phil Hartman

1/1/2000: Morocco:

I love this town ! Hot women, fast gambling, and leisure galore !

Gotta admit, it's better than Pyongyang ...

Surprised I'm from Comrade Kim's instead of Seoul? Don't be. North Korea is NOT a fun place. Between the indoctrination, the occasional famine and more indoctrination, getting out isn't that easy.

But to a mutant ...

Funny thing is, the "role" everyone expects outta me isn't the one I started out with. I first used my power to ruin the nervous system of a border guard when I escaped. I wasn't used to scrambling powers I was better at scrambling lives.

Well, OK, I wasn't a grade-A psycho like Rip ... but I did my fair share of dirty deeds. Pickpocketing, the occasional racketeering - why else was I slated for a bullet in the head when I ran outta town ?

And then I met Remy LeBeau.

BTW, don't believe the party line about the Cajun being guilty about the Massacre. He organized us, he didn't pull the trigger.

Wuss.

***

"... so we're jus' 5, not 8 ! Papa, 'm as smart as Monet !"

"Nicole, you're far too used to the advantages your merge-form granted you," Cartier St. Croix sighed, watching his second-youngest child pace the floor of his library. "Granted, you and Claudette are literally more than the sum of your parts when you are merged, but -"

Nicole gave an ear-piercing scream when the air rippled, and Cartier dropped like a rock.

"TOO BAD SHE AND CLAUDETTE WON'T MAKE FOR MORE THAN A MORSEL, FATHER DEAREST," the eldest St. Croix sibling said over the sucking noises coming from his embrace of his sire.

"CLAUD !!!" Nicole screamed, flying out of the room. She came to a screeching halt, floating in mid-air, as Claudette teleported to her side.

"You never do nothin' by yourself," Nicole sniffed, looking oddly at Claudette. "What's up ?"

"Marius' attack woke me up," Claudette said tearfully. "Papa's dyin', Nicky. We gotta go b'fore the bad man gets Marius."

"Someone's worse'n Marius !?" Nicole blurted, aghast. "Who !?"

The twins flinched as one at the protracted scream coming from the library.

They ran when it was cut short by a loud, sharp sucking noise, which stopped almost immediately.

"DAMN ! That was NASTY !" an Asian voice yelled, growing louder as its owner approached the girls. "Man, I hope you brats aren't like THAT. Your brother had one nasty-ass power."

"YOU LEAVE US 'LONE !"

Scrambler held his head, screaming, when Claudette fired a visible psi-blast at him and Nicole flew into his stomach. The girls tackled the Marauder, falling with him down the stairs.

They shrieked once, fainting, as he grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks.

"When this is over, I want a REAL long vacation," Scrambler moaned, activating his tesseract access unit.

***

SLURP.

SLURP.

*WHINNNEEE*

SLURP

"mmm ... ?"

Crystal opened her eyes, gritting her teeth against the pain, and clung to Lockjaw with a low cry.

"Good dog ... find Luna, boy," Crystal said, climbing onto her pet's back. The great dog sniffed, howling once, and they vanished in a teleportational flare.

***

"I want my Mommy."

Sinister rolled his eyes as he watched Luna Maximoff glare at him from where she was strapped to an exam table. Like the rest of the geneticist's captives, she had been given a black skinsuit to wear, but she was the only one awake.

#A wise foresight to give them a mild sedative in their food,# Sinister thought, looking over the rest of the captives in their energy cages. #I grow tired of their mewling after a time ...#

"Your mother is not here. Besides, my dear, we're going to embark upon a great adventure," Sinister smiled coldly at Luna. The girl shuddered as he filled a hypodermic syringe with a vile-looking greenish fluid.

"You see, it's just not right that you lack powers," Sinister said, rubbing Luna's neck with an alcohol-doused cotton ball. "You're the daughter of Quicksilver and Crystal, and the granddaughter of Magneto. Your cousins Tobias and Malachi - originally Thomas and William, until Kang temporarily kidnapped them and tried to rear them as his own - possess considerable physical and heat projective abilities. You should share in your family's mutant heritage, Reed Richards' genescan at your birth not withstanding."

"No ... p'ease ! I'll be good !" Luna sobbed.

"You already are, child. I intend to make you better," Sinister said as the hypodermic plunged downward.

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