Jump 13: The Last Avenger - Episode 5: Lost Before He Woke

He was wandering the darkness, lost and alone. Unsure of everything, doubting his very existence. Still, he moved forward, towards some unknown destination. A forgotten goal, with only a subconscious inkling of what it was. Then he heard the voices, but he had already forgotten everything by then, and he couldn’t even make out the words. Yet, there was something familiar about them. Something comforting in the maze of confusion he found himself in.

“…ver here.”

“…to….help…”

“…back…with us…”

Then another set of voices broke through, similar, yet different in some fundamental way. Before he could latch onto them, the little bit of awareness he possessed slipped away from him, and he fell back into the sea of unconsciousness.

*                                                                    *                                                                  *

I awoke with a start, hand outstretched as if reaching for something or someone I couldn’t get to. The last remnants of a dream being the figure of a woman in the distance. Why was I so desperate to get to her? I wondered about that before taking into account where I was. Looking down I found myself coved in a blanket on a bed. I looked around to see a very bland room, with not much else in it besides the bed I had slept on. I stared at my gloved hand in confusion.

“Where… am I?”

“The current base of the X-Men.”

I wasn’t expecting an answer, and turned my head to face the door. Standing next to it was a woman with long, black hair, dark skin and piercing blue eyes dressed in tattered black jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a leather vest-like jacket.

“I’m surprised you’ve woken up so quickly. Now, stranger, as thanks for rescuing you from death I’d first like to know your name.”

“My… name? It’s… It’s… What is my name? Who am I?”

It was as if there was a fog in my mind, hiding the answers I desperately sought.

“Amnesia? Thought I was done dealing with that nightmare…”

I continued to give her a confused look and she simply sighed.

“Amnesia or not, you can’t stay in a bed all day. Check the closet over there for some clothes. I’m sure something will fit you.”

“I’m already wearing-”

“If you think it’s normal to walk around looking like that I might drown you. I doubt anyone here is going to even know who you are, so the costume’s hardly necessary.”

“Ok…”

I unsteadily got to my feet and took a cautious step forward. No problems seemed to arise so I took less care with the second. The woman had grabbed one of my arms to support me before I even knew I almost fell.

“If you’re still out of it you should have said something. We don’t need you passing out on us.”

“No I-I’m fine. My legs just… need to be reminded how to work is all.”

I could tell she wanted to protest further, but something stopped her and she only sighed.

“If you say so. I’ll be outside when you’ve changed.”

She made sure I was steady on my feet before exiting the room. I searched through the closet and found a pair of faded jeans and a black shirt that fit relatively well. I found no socks or shoes, so what I woke up in would have to supply a substitute. After I had changed I felt fairly normal, but looking at the costume I was formerly in brought up a feeling I can’t describe in me. I decided to dwell on it later and leave the room.

“Without the mask you don’t look half bad. Come on, you’re going to meet the others.”

She began walking away before I could respond, and I was forced to follow lest I be left behind. I should have paid more attention to my surroundings, but I was fixated on her form. There was something about her that I couldn’t place, no matter how hard I tried. When we reached a common room of sorts I wasn’t sure how long we had been walking.

“I told you he was awake.”

“It’s not fair. You have telepathy and stuff.”

“And you can control the wind. We have this same conversation at least once a week.”

The first girl that spoke was a bit short, with skin a light shade of brown, amber eyes and the same black hair as the woman I entered with. The other was taller than the first, but not by much, with short brown hair, brown eyes and skin reminiscent of snow. They were both dressed similarly to the woman I followed here.

“Girls, try and act a little professional when we have business to take care of.”

“Sorry sis.”

“I apologize as well.”

“This,” she pointed to the shorted of the two, “is Sora Munroe, my sister and second in command. Codename: Storm Wing.”

“Nice to meet you!”

“And the other, is our resident telepath Psyche Summers. Codename: Marvel Girl.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I am the current leader, Karen Munroe. Codename: Aqua Dragon.”

“So what’s your name tall, dark and mysterious?”

“I…don’t remember.”

“He seems to have amnesia. We’ll need to fill him in on what’s going on. I doubt he even remembers he’s a mutant.”

“That’s no fun.”

“This could pose a serious problem.”

“I’m a what now?”

“A mutant. A freak. Homo superior. However you want to spin it, you aren’t normal. You’ve got some special power that would alienate you in a normal society.”

“Not the most… positive way to put it, but that is what we are. A subset of the human race once persecuted by the masses that wouldn’t take the time to understand us.”

“With the world turned upside down, inside out and every other possible way, people wish they were us now. Funny how things got to this point. But that’s not important. What is important, is giving you a name so we have something to call you.”

“You do have a point for once. We won’t get far without something to refer to him as.”

“Hey, what do you mean for once? I have good ideas all the time!"

“Can the two of you stay focused for five minutes? We’re wasting time.”

“You’re right. I’ll argue with her later.”

“Sure thing mom. Anyway, I say we call him Duke.”

“Duke? You know that’s a title, not a name right?”

“It can be a nickname! I don’t want to have to get used to calling him something different when he gets his memory back.”

“Just how lazy can you be Sora?”

“Hey, you’ll be thanking when we he remembers who he is and we can still call him that. You don’t have a problem with it, do you?”

“No, not particularly.”

“Great! It’s settled then. Welcome to the X-Men Duke!”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself again. He never said he’d join.”

“But he owes us from saving him from that big, mean Sentinel before it got him. Joining is the least he can do.”

“Umm… what are the ‘X-Men’?”

“In the past, they were a group of mutants looking to pave the way to peace between us and normal humans. They were heroes who rarely got the public recognition they deserved… Now though…we’re just a bunch of rebels that can’t even save a country.”

“Don’t go all doom and gloom on us Karen.”

“We save those we can. Train those willing to fight. One day we’ll take Genosha back for all mutants, then set our sights on the Sentinels.”

“Look at his face, he obviously can barely follow the conversation. Sit down, we’ll explain a few things.”

For the better part of an hour I received an explanation about the current affairs of Genosha, the country I found myself in. The once heralded utopia for mutants had been taken by Apocalypse, the self-proclaimed first mutant, and his four horsemen. The country is arguably more at peace than previously, but at the cost of martial law, and survival of the fittest. Any mutant deemed too weak, and of no value is discarded. Only the strong are allowed to thrive and pass down their genes, to propel mutant kind to greater heights in order to claim the planet. The X-Men, were a group of steadily growing rebels, scattered about the island nation looking to overthrow Apocalypse, and unite all mutants under fair leadership.

Using the remains of something called Cerebro, Psyche had found me washed up on the shore during her daily check on the Genoshan populous. I was about to be abducted by a Sentinel when they arrived and defeated it, taking me away before other’s could arrive on the scene. The Sentinel had said something about me being the “anomalous mutant” they had been searching for. The others seem to think this means I can take on Apocalypse since even he is considered as just another mutant. With no memory of any powers I might possess I couldn’t say one way or another.

“So there you have it. I’m sure you still have questions, but we’ll answer them later. We need to get to work, and you’re coming with us.”

I decided it would be better to just see what this “work” was with my own eyes and nodded my head and follow. What this “work” consisted of, was going around to an inordinate amount of people and checking in on them. Some of them were future X-Men in training, others irregular members, and a majority just living in hiding. Those people, were the “weak” that Apocalypse deemed unworthy of inheriting the Earth, ranging from small children to some elderly. A constant I noticed from them all was the respect, gratitude and hope I saw in their eyes when they saw Karen, Sora and Psyche. A majority of them were suffering, but they banded together to survive and hold out on the belief that those fighting for them would prevail in the end. Karen gave out clean water to everyone, Sora would play with the children a little to lift their spirits, and Psyche would help ease the pain of those suffering the most. I didn’t know how to feel at first, but eventually decided that I wanted to help these people.

“So you’ve made your decision?”

“Huh?”

“About joining us. Becoming an X-Man.”

“How did you know?”

“I was scanning your mind for it. Don’t look so mortified, I was only looking at surface thoughts about the X-Men.”

“Sora was right, you’re telepathy is unfair.”

“Haha, maybe so. But that doesn’t change your mind, does it?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.”

“I stopped so I could hear the words out of your own mouth.”

I sighed, but couldn’t help but smile at her reasoning.

“I want to join the X-Men, and help protect all mutant kind.”

“Did I just hear the magic words?”

Sora, who had been ahead of us as we walked to our next destination, suddenly turned around and looked at me excitedly when she spoke those words.

“Are you really going to join us Duke?”

“Yes. Even without my memories, I know I can’t stand to do nothing while this is happening.”

“Awesome! Did you hear that Karen? Duke’s one of us now.”

“If you have the energy to be that happy, think about what we’re going to do for food tonight.”

While her words seemed dismissive, she couldn’t completely hide the joy and relief in her voice.

“You’re always a stick in the mud, you know that.”

We continued out of the run down areas of Genosha and into one of its cities. It was relatively normal looking all things considered. People walking around talking, various shops being run and the like. What stood out the most, was a giant, inactive robot standing in the center of the city.

“That, is a Sentinel. An early one, but a Sentinel nevertheless. They’re up all over Genosha. Husks of the greatest enemy to mutant kind to remind people that they owe Apocalypse for keeping them safe.”

“It’s a constant reminder that escape doesn’t guarantee an easier life, and the threat of death is even more real outside off of the island.”

“They’re also pretty ugly looking. Whoever designed them had no artistic sense.”

The trip to the city was primarily to gather supplies and meet with a few of their contacts. We learned that Mister Sinister, Apocalypse’s horseman of pestilence, was rounding up select citizens (not the first time, nor the last they suspected) to experiment on them. The other horsemen were, for better or worse, just biding their time and awaiting the next assault on the city by the Sentinels. After verifying information between sources, we left the city and returned to their hideout.

“With Sinister taking people for experimentation again, we’ll need to act quickly if we want to save anybody. Psyche, I want you to try and bring out Duke’s memories while I make dinner. With any luck, he’ll still want to help us, and know what his powers are.”

“Oh, let me help you cook. Last time you burned the fish too much.”

“I…just shut up and come on then.”

The two of them left, and Psyche and I went to the common area to attempt to bring my memories back.

“In most cases this isn’t too difficult as long as the memories aren’t extremely traumatic.”

“You sound like you speak from experience.”

“Not personally. My mother was also a telepath. She and her mentor had a friend that had amnesia. They weren’t able to bring his memories back because the pain was too great for him to bear. Hopefully, yours aren’t.”

She instructed me to lay down on a couch and try to relax as she began to probe my mind. Unlike when she was just scanning my surface thoughts, I could feel her enter my mind and begin to probe around.

“You’ve got some impressive innate mental defenses. Almost like a telepath’s. I’m going to need you to focus on letting me in.”

It took a little time, but I was eventually able to consciously allow her to navigate my mind. I could feel her attempting to pull something from the recesses of my consciousness, but something blocked them from coming to the surface. She eventually stopped trying after several more unsuccessful attempts at restoring my memory.

“This is very strange. You’re memories haven’t been erased, I could feel them in there. But besides today, anything else is blocked behind some sort of… wall, if you will. Going through your mind in general felt like I was lost in a fog most of the time. So I’ve got a theory.”

“What is it?”

“Since you have unconscious blocks on your mind, you’re definitely some sort of telepath. So either, you blocked your own memories off, or someone else did. There’s no other reason why I shouldn’t at least be able to reach them.”

“I see… Why would I seal my own memories?”

“There’s plenty of reasons why people want to forget. But you don’t strike me as someone that would run from their past.”

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s just a feeling a get. There’s something about you I can’t place, but it feels familiar.”

“I see.”

“Also…”

“Hmm?”

“While I was in your mind I saw what you were thinking about today…”

“And…?”

“Are you going to stare at Karen the same way through dinner?”

“I- uh.. well, you see about that…”

“Haha. I didn’t think you’d be the type to get flustered. Must not have your mind read very often. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you. You wouldn’t be the first to fall for her.”

“No it’s not that I’ve fallen for her it’s just that-”

“You feel like you’ve met her before. I know, I know. Just wanted to mess with you a little. But I’ll tell you right now that nobody here on this island will recognize you. You’re a completely fresh face. How the people come to see you, if at all, is all up to the you of right now, not the you that you’ve forgotten.”

“I’ll keep that in mind going forward.”

“Great. After dinner, let’s see if you have any psychic powers. Sora’s a great test subject for this.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little at her joke right at Sora walked in.

“Make fun of me will you Duke? I’ll make sure you get less fish than the rest of us.”

“I don’t think you have the right to decide that. Does that mean dinner is ready?”

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.”

“That means it is. Let’s go Duke.”

“Hey, wait! Don’t just ignore part of what I said like that.”

The three of us went to the dining area to join Karen for diner. Even with my memories gone, at that moment, I felt at home. Karen recommended that I keep a journal in case something else happens to my memory. I found it a bit worrying that she’d suggest it, but as I’ve written all of this down, it should be obvious that I heeded her advice. I will admit that my head does feel clearer after taking the time to remember the day. I only hope the days to come allow me the opportunity to peacefully write like this more.

*                                                                    *                                                                  *

“So, what do you think? Sent to the mutant populated island country of Genosha in the middle of the mutant Sentinel war. And with amnesia too! It’ll be amusing to watch him struggle, especially against the head honcho himself. Apocalypse is no joke, even I’m a bit warry of him. But he can be beaten, and it would be boring for things to end before I appeared. So don’t worry your little heads those of you tuning in from afar. I’m rooting for him to. For now at least. I can only hope there’ll be more drama in the days to come. Watching him fumble about without his usual bravado and self-assuredness will be quite entertaining.”