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SCARLET PAST written by Richard 'Kurogo' Palmer
Warning: This Fan-fiction deals with mature matters such as substance abuse, profanity and violence.
Sean Cassidy struggled inside the restraints. This was not a good sign, Canon's group had gotten the jump on him and now he was being held prisoner in god knows where.
"Why do you resist?" came a voice from across the cell. Banshee looked to see and old man sitting cross-legged, "Perhaps it is fate? Perhaps this is the way things were meant to be?"
"Thing's are nae supposed to be like this… what kinda destiny would this be for mankind." Banshee relaxed, "Ye should understan' that, ye being a prisoner yuirself."
"Oh, I'm not a prisoner here, the cells just offer the necessary solitude for my meditation." The old man said as he stood up, "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Eon. A drifter from a distant past, before the likes of En Sabah Nur even." The old man walked up to Banshee, "I've learned much over the years my son, men react much differently in situations of change. If I may create an analogy, it's like a man falling in a river, most men struggle their way to shore, fighting the current at all costs, sometimes even at the cost of their lives. Others let the current take them downstream, hoping that their may be some way to easily escape the current there, often times at their demise as well. But the wisest know when to fight the current and when to ride it." The old man pressed the keypad sequence on Banshee's restraints. "Hard problems call for hard solutions, and even a master of time like myself doesn't have all the answers. But we must persevere, my son, for time is a fickle mistress."
Banshee rubbed his neck as the restraints fell off, "But still, mind warping the entire world?" he looked around, the old man had vanished.
But a hollow echo of his voice sounded in the cell, "Consider the alternative."
Banshee sighed; maybe it was fate, just as the old man said.
"Don't think too badly of us, Cassidy," Sean turned to the direction of the voice. Standing at the far end of the cell was Equilibrium, "I think had thing's gone differently you might have done the same thing."
"I'm nae like ye or yuir employer, 'Librium. I'm nae a monster."
Equilibrium stepped forward, "No, you're absolutely right, you were never a monster. Whereas those of us in Canon's outfit were deemed so almost from the beginning." Equilibrium stood in front of Cassidy, "I've always had a intolerance for those who react solely on their primal instinct. It sounds a little irrational doesn't it?"
"I've had me days were it was me instincts that where the only thing keepin' me alive." Cassidy replied.
"Yes, but at what cost." Equilibrium grinned, "I relied on what came naturally when my powers first appeared. A primal instinct of survival deep within my head." Equilibrium tapped his head, "My rage took control and my powers became one of the few Ground Zero power eruptions that the planet has ever seen… forty three dead, hundreds wounded. My family and friends all obliterated, and myself…catatonic." Equilibrium stepped closer to Banshee. "I wasn't captured and admitted to Asylum 7, Mr. Cassidy, I admitted myself, because I saw myself as a danger to this world. I hated mutants because I was one, because of what it did to me. Canon helped me; he showed me that I could never have been prepared for what happened to me all those years ago. I owe him my life, Mr. Cassidy."
"And yui'll use yuir powers t' help him mind warp the entire planet?" Banshee questioned the white haired giant.
Equilibrium nodded, "It's not as bad as you make it sound, were simply speeding the process up a bit."
"But all o' the innocent lives ye'll have to wipe out to do it?"
Equilibrium turned to leave the cell, "You still don't get it do you Cassidy? In this world there are no innocents… and eventually everybody pays."
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Canon sat back, preparing himself psychologically for what he was about to do. It's not that he had reservations about his plan. And he definitely had no doubts as to weather or not this was something that had to be done. But upon seeing the young girl called Penance when he attacked the Academy, he felt something that he hadn't felt inside himself in a long time. Perhaps it was regret? Canon shook his head; he had to get thoughts like that out of his system. Without the chances he'd taken and the sacrifices he'd made he wouldn't have been able to take the necessary steps to do what many other's had dreamed of doing… ending the war between mutantkind and the baseline humans that persecuted them.
Canon reached across his desk and angled a picture frame to his view, another picture of the red-skinned girl resembling the one they called Penance. Another picture of his beloved daughter, Eloise. It pained him to look at these pictures but still he did it every day. Seeing them reminded him that trying to go about things according to the system was inevitably futile. Grander measures needed to be taken.
He thought back to those days before the cold hateful world had wrought upon him such lessons. Back to his more carefree days of life. Back before he was Canon.
Throughout the early years of his life Canon didn't think much about why he was different. He knew his powers gave him a considerable edge over normal people, but he was not power hungry. He would use his powers to get by but always respected those around him; he would rarely force things to go his way. He still worked hard in his community, a rustic farming town in France, and would frequently put in the extra effort for his fellow townspeople.
Then the war came. Late one night the Nazi's invaded his town. As they rounded up the townspeople Canon saw the look of terror in their eyes. The horror that they were powerless against the soldiers. Then Canon realized that he was not powerless.
There was a massacre in that town that night, or a mass suicide, as every one of the Nazi soldiers was forced to shoot themselves at Canon's command. Canon and the townspeople moved on to Switzerland, and thus Canon's following began.
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Kevin lay in the Academy infirmary, wounds attended to and arm bandaged. Across the way was Emplate in a high security restraint. When he came in he was in much worse shape than Kevin was. He was found in the woods unconscious; minutes near death. Kevin lay motionless thinking about their encounter with Canon. Canon had abducted the two headmasters' of the school, but why? What possible threat did Gen-X pose to Canon's group at this point? It was the X-Men who were now going after him. The X-Men and perhaps many other superheroes would be converging on that point off of Genosha. Canon would have to use all of his resources to fight them off.
Kevin sat up. That didn't seem right, Canon never wasted effort on a plan that could be this easily thwarted. Whatever percentage this plan had for success it wasn't as close to flawless as Canon would have liked. Kevin thought about the blueprints he had mentally downloaded from Canon's computers. They were the only real connection that they had to Canon's operation. And the only hard evidence of what Canon was trying to accomplish. Canon's little attack had to be because of what was in Kevin's head. Now Kevin had to figure it out.
______________
In his own private quarter's inside the newly constructed building. Canon shot awake. He rushed over to the sink and splashed water in his face. "It's not going to happen, Not again!"
Dressed white silk pajamas and a dark blue silk robe Canon wandered down the corridors of the machine. He peeked into a room off to the side, and there, working away on the site's teleportational platform was Shroud. Canon stumbled in. Shroud darted around to see her commander. "Sir?" she said startled, "What happened."
"Nothing Emily," Canon said as he forced himself up, "I just had a nightmare, that's all." he turned to Shroud, "Do you believe we are being too hasty?"
Emily didn't know how to respond, Canon always seemed so sure about this plan. In fact he normally wouldn't hear of any of his followers questioning his orders, but today he seemed… troubled. "Of course not." She replied finally, "I've seen the same statistics that you have. The rate of human and mutant cooperation seems to be greatly hindered after every large mutant disaster, such as Onslaught and Magneto. At such a rate an act of genocide is bound to occur within the next twenty years."
Canon placed a hand on Emily's shoulder, "That's what the research staff thinks," He said smiling slightly, "do you?"
"I… I don't know… I know my family was torn apart because some of them didn't want a mutant in the family, while others wanted to protect me." She paused for a second; "I suppose after seeing what happened there, yes I do believe this is a necessary step to take."
Canon smiled, "Thank you Emily, You've helped me greatly." He turned to leave.
"Sir if you don't mind me asking, what are your nightmares about?"
"A scarlet past that is dead and buried." Canon replied sternly. He walked back down the hallway, thinking again about his younger years.
Her name was Marie, the same name as her mother. She'd lived her life as a cook for the hard workers on the farm in their small town. She had lived a sheltered life knowing very little that happened outside their farming community. That all changed the night the soldiers attacked. The townspeople had been rounded up, and every last one of them faced death at the Nazi's hands.
Then something strange happened. One man stepped forward and spoke to the soldiers. He wasn't pleading for his life, far from it. In fact he seemed to be goading them into killing, but not the townspeople. Instead he was telling the soldiers that if bloodshed is what they craved, they ought to be killing themselves. Oddly enough the soldiers appeared to be listening.
None of those soldiers lived through the night. And this man took on a leadership role as he led the townspeople to the safety of Switzerland. Along the way Marie grew very fond of this man, his muscular frame, his long dark blonde hair, his cleft chin, but mostly his commanding voice. He began to grow very fond of her as well. Upon reaching Switzerland they were married. Two years later they had a daughter whom they named Eloise.
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"I don't see anything." Monet said as she concentrated through the machine. She and Kevin wore their respective mind probe helmets.
"Sorry Money, I've done all I can to boost the machines power, the rest is up to your own telepathic abilities."
"Wait, I think I see something." Monet said finally. Kevin waved his hand in the air.
Husk nodded and turned on a monitor. An image of the amplification machine's blueprints came up on screen. "Okay, Freeze it." Kevin said. He pulled the helmet off. "Do you see anything at all on here that looks unusual?" Kevin asked.
"Like what?" Jubilee asked.
"Like, how the hell should I know, I just know there is something out of place or I wouldn't have been the target of last night's attack."
"How about those numbers." Monet said, pointing to the side of the image.
"So, so what, those numbers could mean anything." Kevin responded.
"No, look at them." Paige replied, "They look like they were sketched on, like a footnote."
"So what? Don't you ever write in the margins on your papers? Little notes to go in the final draft?"
"That's just it." Monet responded, "This is a computer generated image, it is the final draft. Any number that meant anything would have been reallocated to their proper location or at least put into a computerized font like the rest of the text."
"I think I get it, they're location numbers," Paige said, "Latitude and longitude. But they're so faded that I can't make out exactly what they are." As she spoke Monet wrote down something on a piece of paper. She then casually handed it to her teammate. A series of number were written out clearly across the page.
"You can thank me for my superior visual ability later." Monet said as Paige sat down at the computer terminal.
"If I'm correct, than these numbers point to…" a map came up on the monitor with a little red dot appearing in one area of the screen. "An island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea."
______________
Canon sat in the corner of his room; he hadn't fallen asleep since the nightmare. He hadn't felt he needed it though. His mind was on the events that lead up to his daughter's death. It was his narrow escape from the Nazi's that made him realize he had to become involved, and when his daughter was born it was a reminder of how important it was. Canon thought back to the previous night. He remembered looking into those eyes, those large, beautiful blue eyes. Just like the eye's of his little Eloise. Appearance-wise they were very alike, although from Kubrin's reports their powers were very different. Penance seemed to have a razor sharp untouchable hide, where as Eloise's ruby red skin allowed her to slip through reality, a sort of short distance teleportational power. He knew, however, that they had something else in common; just like his little Eloise, Penance had very little chance off growing up unharmed in this world full of hateful stares if something wasn't done. But now he realized it was beyond humanity's capability to take the first step. That was the mistake he made when he was younger, a naïve notion that deep down inside everyone wanted peace just as much as he did.
After the war Canon traveled across Europe, attending political rallies and making the voice of the Mutant populace heard. And everywhere he went more people followed. To be honest most of them were there because of Canon's constant use of his abilities. He could have gone on endlessly about what he had for breakfast and still held their attention. Even then Canon was aware that he wouldn't get very far if he left the crowds up to their own judgements. People were fickle, and large groups of people were fickle and dangerous.
Unfortunately Canon was not the only one to know this. There were many organizations that were frightened by what was occurring. But, of course, they knew if they killed this man he would become a martyr and draw even more attention.
Finally someone did make a move, and it shattered Canon's life forever. A small anti-mutant terrorist group infiltrated one of Canon's speech givings. Their plan was to show that a man like Canon was truly cowardly and submissive, just another spineless bureaucrat. Canon was not a spineless bureaucrat. In anger he told these terrorists as they held he and his family at gunpoint the same thing he told the Nazi soldiers years ago… to take their own lives. The Terrorists complied, unfortunately so did Canon's followers.
Canon stood in shock at the Massacre that had taken place before him. He looked down at the bodies, and then he realized that his power plus his rage had created a monster in him.
He turned to his beloved wife and eleven-year-old daughter and told them to run, to never look back. He was a danger now, a threat to everyone around him.
To Marie's credit she would have stuck by his side and faced whatever hardships were to come alongside her husband. But she was merely human; she had no defense from Canon's persuasive powers.
Canon sat in despair for what seemed like hours, even days, going over the tragedy in his head. Then the soldiers came.
______________
Banshee let up on his sonic attack. This wasn't getting him anywhere. True, this cellblock of whatever building this was seemed to be unguarded, but the cells were put together very well. Banshee's sonic scream seemed to have no effect on the bars. Hell, for all he knew they could be made of Vibranium and he was just wasting his time. Sean wandered to the other end of the cell and peered out the window. He was overlooking a cliff somewhere; it must have been at least a seventy-five foot drop to the water below. Banshee looked at the window itself. The glass was obviously some kind of special construct. At least a foot thick and probably treated somehow to make it shatterproof even to his sonic scream.
Banshee slammed his fist against the glass in frustration. The window moved. It didn't budge or jolt back or anything, but it recoiled in such a way that told him it the construction of the wall wasn't entirely solid. Banshee backed up and ran at the wall, slamming into the window with his shoulder. Again there was the recoil; he could escape this prison after all.
Sean inhaled and directed his sonic scream at the wall. A few seconds into it he stopped. The ground seemed to be shifting. Cassidy sat back and thought for a moment. The foundation the cell was on wasn't entirely solid. He risked causing his section of the cellblock plummeting into the ocean if he continued. Still he didn't like the idea of waiting here to find out what Canon had in store for him either. Sean stood up again and continued his sonic attack.
______________
Canon pulled his overcoat with gold trim around his white bodysuit. The outfit wasn't what he was used to. He preferred his costumes to be made up of nice Armani suits, they said more about what kind of man he was than any costume would. But this outfit was specially designed to channel his powers into the machine, the machine that would stop the hatred.
Canon had done research; there were several others who had tried to take over the collective minds of the populace of this planet, destroying all aspects of free will. Canon knew better than that, he wasn't proposing mind control, that was far too difficult to maintain. He had no desire to destroy all traces of humanity's free will; he simply wanted to limit it. His amplified powers would make certain choices impossible to make, and the whole thing would be ingrained into the collective minds of the world like an extremely strong subliminal message, only those with the strongest will could resist it, and only those with high mental capabilities could detect it. That was why he had taken the time to find out which people of influence could be a problem. They were only a few, his device did, after all, overcome such troublesome barriers with time. But he had to stop any chance of an initial rebellion.
Rebellion. That word rang in Canon's head. As much as his life had crashed down around his feet before his incarceration it wasn't until he rebelled against his captures that he had truly lost it all.
After the accidental massacre, Canon had expected a death sentence of some kind, maybe even to be shot on the site when the authorities showed up. He did receive a death sentence, but not from the authorities he expected. The soldier's who came to arrest him were part of an underground anti-mutant organization known as the Proteus Project. The Proteus Project was probably the most efficient Anti-Mutant project in that region of the world. Canon had long since lost track of how long he was there. He had since sunk into a deep depression; he felt this must be his penance for his actions, an adequate sentence for his crimes. Early on in his time there he had reacted strongly against the project. He'd tried to escape a number of times, always failing, always to a heavy penalty. Once he attempted to start a revolt. But a few dead prisoners quickly quieted it down. Now Canon waited, hoping each day for his end to come.
A buzzer came from the outer wall, a signal telling the guards that new prisoners were arriving. Canon watched as the prisoners were carted in, as he always did, watching always with the same fear. Today that fear came true. A small eleven-year-old girl was unloaded with the other prisoners. Her skin was a deep red tone, her hair had a sharp look to it, and she had deep blue eyes, but now they seemed hollow. Canon made his way to the new arrivals as they came in the inner wall, "Eloise!" he called frantically. Slowly the girl's head turned towards him. Canon raced to his daughter and held her in his arms. Tears streamed down his cheeks. This was not how thing's should have ended. Eloise deserved a better life, a normal life, not a slow death in a mutant prison and torture lab.
"Eloise," Canon said as he looked into her eyes, "Where is your mother? What did they do with her?" The Girl looked back blankly, her deep blue eyes seeming very hollow and empty.
"It's no good," said one of the other new arrivals, "She hasn't said a word since we were caught. Not since they shot the woman she was with." Canon's eyes went wide.
The collars that the Proteus Project had used were specially designed to detect Mutant powers and react against them. For stronger mutant powers they were designed to terminate their wearer. Canon's collar exploded right there. As the smoke settled Canon's blood red eyes had lost all emotion, all emotions except for a deep unbridled hatred.
Canon had killed before, but never until now had he done so with such ferocity, such brutality. The operators within the Proteus Project were part of his most violent massacre yet. No one escaped, not the guards, not the institution's scientists, not the project's commanders. In the end the Proteus Project was destroyed, but not without a cost. At the end Canon cradled the small lifeless body of his daughter in his arms, surrounded by the other mutants who'd helped him overthrow the project. Canon's face showed no emotion, even his eyes appeared cold and lifeless. The only signs of emotion were the tears streaming down his cheeks. The last tears Canon ever cried.
Canon and several other mutants freed in the rebellion converted the institution that was the Proteus Project into their headquarters for an organization to promote the ideal of peace between the races, the Utopia Project. Despite what they all had been through they all believed peace to be possible. They were very optimistic. Too optimistic, Canon realized. He'd already been down that road that trust in his fellow man had lead him.
One by one the Utopia Projects founding members disappeared until only Canon was left. Canon took complete control of the project, turning it into an underground operation. Realizing he had to destroy his opposition from within, he recreated the atmosphere he was confined in with the Proteus Project and dubbed it Asylum 7. Only Canon's closest followers knew of Asylum 7's connection to the Utopia Project, and only the most trusted knew both institutions' true motives.
In 1984 Canon decided to further his work by entering the world of politics. He entered the race for the US Presidency. His campaign did exceptionally well, mostly in part to the subtle use of Canon's powers. But during his campaign he realized something; despite what most Americans believed America wasn't a world power. Even if he were able to sway the American people's opinion on mutant rights it would mean very little to the rest of the world. Of course Canon also realized that there was no country that could be considered a world power, no one country was that dominant with it's influence. Modern tools of communication had stripped governments of their real source of power… the control of information.
Canon dropped out of the presidential race before the primary elections. However with the realizations he'd made he reopened a section of the Utopia Project, a small experiment conducted to increase his powers of charisma and manipulation, and gave it a top priority within the Utopia Project. He dubbed this new project Eloise, because it would create that perfect world his daughter deserved and never had. It was the last sentimental mark of a hopeful man who lay buried in the cold unfeeling machine of a man called Canon.
Now Canon's plan was drawing to it's conclusion, the hour of truth was drawing near. But he didn't feel like celebrating. He knew better. The war wasn't over just yet.
"Eon," Canon said as the old man entered his room, "is it time?"
Eon nodded, "The operators anxiously await your commands, sir."
Canon stepped through the doorway, "Excellent." He turned back to his old friend. Eon was his oldest confidant. Originally one of the committee running the Utopia project along side him, Canon saw fit to spare Eon's life when he eliminated the other committee members. Instead he brainwashed the old man into his willing minion, the first of the Emissaries. Eon's temporal powers, although limited, were a great deal of use to the Utopia Project, and the old man's centuries worth of hard won knowledge was a great deal of use to Canon himself. "You are prepared to take the necessary actions should things not go as planned?"
"As always, sir."
"Good." Canon smiled "With this our paths become irrevocably set. Mutantkind's days of running and hiding are over. At long last the day of reckoning is at hand." the two stepped through the hallway into the hallway of the machine, The machine dubbed Eloise, the final step.
To be continued…
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The legal stuff: The Characters from Generation X and the concept of Mutants and are a product of Marvel comics and it's employees and are used without permission. Christina Laine is based off of the Samurai Spirits character Cham-Cham, Beyond that she's a character of my own creation. Kevin Dallas, Canon, and his Emissaries are all characters of my own creation, all rights reserved.
If you are reading this right now… then you are reading this.
