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SYNCHRONICITY Part One: Mercernaries written by Brawl Everett Thomas walked along the road in the middle of what used to be Nebraska or someplace close. The only other person in sight was Penance. Yvette was silent as usual. Everett considered talking to her, but had nothing to say, an unusual occurance. He kept Yvette around for three reasons; she was a good listener, she was good in a fight, almost a requirement in their profession, and she had some awesome powers. He had freed her from the breeding pens months earlier. That was how he found out what her name was; a collar on her neck had "Yvette" scrawled across it. He had nicknamed her Penance because she seemed to be baring a great penance on her back. Since then, they had become inseperable. In fact, other mercs had started calling them S&P, for Synch and Penance. Everett ignored what other mercs said though. They had too many rules. Stupid rules at that. There was only one rule he lived by: never do anything for Apocalypse or his stooges. Everett looked to the horizon. A cloud of dust was approaching them quickly. He was glad that they were just getting out of the flatlands and were now entering the woods. Trees were the perfect cover. He tapped Penance's shoulder and motioned to the woods. She nodded and followed him into the trees. They waited. The sound of an old Harley-Davidson got louder by the second. Synch reached out with his aura of synchronicity. The aura of the two riders were both mutant, but not Infinites. Infinites' auras were much different from ordinary mutants' signatures. That didn't mean they didn't work for Apocalypse though. The hog was within a hundred meters now. He could see that the person in the front of the bike was male and his passenger was female. The man had black hair that seemed to be in a mane around his head. The woman had short, red hair and a tatoo on her face. The woman was a psi, but he'd been unable to figure what the man's powers were. Using the woman's psi powers, he'd ventured that they weren't Apocalypse's forces, but couldn't take the chance. After all, Penance and himself had bounties on their heads that equaled the wealth of what used to be the United States. Apocalypse wasn't too happy about what they'd done to his bases. The bike slowed as it approached where they were hiding. Everett could now see that the man was missing a hand and had a tatoo on his face as well. The bike stopped just in front of where Everett and Yvette were hiding. He could hear the man sniffing the air. Everett synched him again and guessed that he had enhanced senses and some sort of healing factor. He turned to the woman. "Jean, there's someone in th' woods, stay here." Jean frowned. "Logan, I can sense them. There's two them. Mercernaries. You don't have to do this alone." Everett started cursing silently. He latched his aura to the woman. Her TK would be more useful than Yvette's diamond hard skin or Logan's healing factor. "Come on out!" Logan bellowed into the woods. Everett looked at Penance. She had tensed. "Yvette," he whispered calmly, "you take Logan. I'll take Jean. Got it?" Penance nodded. He mouthed "on three," and started counting down on his fingers. "Three!!!" Logan coiled like a snake ready to strike as Everett and Penance lept from the trees. Three andamantium claws popped from Logan's knuckles. Penance tackled him and the two rolled to the side of the road trying to gain an advantage. Everett landed in front of Jean. He was glad that he had her psi powers as she attacked him with a TK blast. He absorbed the energy and threw it back at her. Jean was knocked off balance and Everett took advantage of it. He lashed out with his foot and struck her ribs. She grunted in pain, but fell. Overconfident, Everett sepped closer to his fallen opponent. He sensed the foot sweep too late. He fell on his butt hard. "Everett," Jean said soothingly, "you don't have to fight us. We oppose Apocalypse as well." Everett sensed her sincerity. He frowned. "Who are you?" he demanded. Jean smiled, partly eager to stop fighting. "He's Weapon X, and I'm Jean Grey. We're fighting Apocalypse along with the X-Men. We were on our way to the X-Men's base. They have something important information for us." Everett nodded. He let go with his aura. He felt the sudden emptiness that he always felt after synching with a psi and letting go soon afterwards. "Yvette!" Everett cried. Penance looked up. Everett motioned for her to come to him. She lept off Logan and landed by his side. Everett patted her head, quickly remembering to synch her before cutting his hand. Logan jumped to his feet, rage in his eyes. He started towards Everett and Penance, brandishing his claws, but Jean put her hand up in restraint. Logan stopped and nodded, but growled nonetheless. "Everett Thomas," Everett introduced, "this is Yvette, or Penance. She doesn't talk." Weapon X nodded. Jean smiled at Penance. She blinked. "What d' you want with us?" Logan growled. Everett looked at Penance. "We're totally against Apocalypse. If the information X-Men has can help us hurt En Sabah Nur, we're in." Logan smiled. "Ya got it." Apocalypse's Inner Sanctum... The man that brought her to Apocalypse bowed as he addressed the High Lord. "Lord Apocalypse, we seek an audience." She heard something moving inside. Apocalypse came out. She could see that he would be able to kill her at any given instant. She held back the chill that almost went up her spine and shifted her weight. "What do you want?" His deep voice boomed in the chamber. "This woman wishes to speak to you," the man replied, quaking in fear. Apocalypse's gaze shifted to her. It was all she could do to keep from collapsing. But she was trained not to show such weakness. No mercernaries were as good as her doing so. "What do you wish of me?" he demanded. "I'm mercernary, the best," she started. "Why do wish to bother me with such trivial things?" Apocalypse asked the quaking man next to her. "You know I need no mercernaries!" "Lord Apocalypse," she interrupted, "I demanded an audience. He had no idea what I was at the time." She placed her hand on the plasma pistol at her side. It wasn't in protection. It just felt better with her hand there. More familiar, more secure. "Yes, but why?" Apocalypse sounded slightly confused. "I know of how you feel towards the X-Men." She heard the grinding of teeth come from Apocalypse's direction. It was a horrible sound. "I am a telepath, one of the most powerful on the planet. I can help you locate the X-Men... and destroy them." Apocalypse smiled. The expression was half horrifying and half reassuring. "Ah, yes, you will work for me," Apocalypse laughed. "What is your name, woman?" "I am called Frost." Next: Everett and Penance meet the X-Men! Blink and Everett fall for each other! And Apocalypse comes closer to finding the X-Men!
