Jump 13: The Last Avenger - Episode 6: Lost Before He Woke - Part 2

I’m an idiot. If I had my memories, I don’t think I would have messed up this much. I just- I need to start from the beginning, don’t I?

After the first day, they began training me to find out what my mutant powers are. Psyche tested for any mental abilities, and Sora and Karen attempted to bring things out via combat scenarios. We found that I had some sort of telepathy that allowed me to project myself into others’ minds. Psyche allowed me to view her past to begin testing what I could do and I was shocked at what I saw.

Psyche isn’t from this time. She comes from a future where the Sentinels became the biggest threat on Earth, and threatened the entire human race with extinction. Her mother and father had both been killed, and she had to bear witness to many of the people she cared about losing their lives. She had attempted to travel back in time to prevent her future from happening, but ended up in another realities past. She currently can’t even go back to her own time, and joined Karen and Sora because she figured that Apocalypse was part of the reason and couldn’t stand to see mutants undergoing two simultaneous threats. I was left stunned by this knowledge, and wondered how she dealt with it all. I couldn’t sleep well for a couple of days after my initial exposure. She told me not to worry about it, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. She asked me if I wanted to practice on someone else if her history was too much, but I refused.

During one of our sessions I delved farther into her mind than I ever had before, where the parts of herself that she hid from everyone, including herself, lie intermingled with the rest of her. I came into contact with the part of her that was hurting the most, the part she keeps buried to go day by day. I… somehow comforted it. I can’t say for certain just what I did, but my desire to ease her pain triggered something within me. When I left her mind I opened my eyes to see that tears had fallen from her face. She looked as shocked as I felt, but thanked me before leaving the room. We didn’t continue psychic training for a few days after, but there was a noticeable change in her disposition, even if she acted the same.

For the more physical training, Karen theorized the best way to draw out any powers I might have would be through the dangers of combat. So she and Sora would alternate with mock battles with me, occasionally teaming up and letting Psyche join to further stack the odds against me. The first couple of times I fought Karen, she thoroughly wiped the floor with me without using her powers. With that first, rather humiliating defeat, we confirmed that I healed faster than normal people, and could take much more punishment than any average human had any right too. Sora and Psyche refused to stop bringing it up, much to my chagrin. The experience did allow me to realize why Karen was the leader. Her personality and strength made the choice obvious.

I’m unsure if it was just muscle memory taking a while to manifest, or something else, but when she finally deemed me too inexperienced to fight her and handed me off to Sora, I did exceedingly better. Sora was so surprised at what I was doing that she ended up using her powers to subdue me. Karen let her have it for not following the rules, but was also impressed at the martial arts I had unintentionally performed. She deemed that we’d learn nothing else from just hand to hand combat training, and gave Sora and Psyche the ok to use their powers as they saw fit.

Psyche’s telekinesis and Sora’s aerokinesis left me battered after training for a week, but I discovered another power thanks to it. I was being buffeted by winds created by Sora and wished that I had some means of striking her from afar. I stretched my hand out towards her as my feet were leaving the ground and a stream of electricity shot out from it. She wasn’t expecting it, but managed to dodge anyway. She hadn’t dropped her focus from using her powers, and I was slammed into the ground regardless. My entire body was crackling with electricity as I struggled to my feet, fighting against the currents pushing me downwards. Acting on instinct again, I felt power surging through me and sent even more electricity at Sora. There was enough that she couldn’t dodge them all in time, so Karen blocked my attack with a wall of water.

“That’s enough for now. Figure out how your powers work by the end of the day. I’ll be sparing with you tomorrow.”

I was left alone for the rest of that day, testing this power I had discovered. It left me exhausted, but I experimented with it enough to get a feel for how I used to use it. When I thought about being done with it, the power seemed to almost disappear. It was strange, but I felt it in the back of my mind, waiting to be reactivated. The next day I sparred with Karen and lost again, even with my power over electricity. She again, beat me without using her powers, adapting to my combat tactics faster than I could change them. Everyone told me I was getting better, but being beaten repeatedly wasn’t doing much for my confidence.

After mental and physical training, I would often be left alone while the other three would leave to go on a mission, to tend to those in need or something or other. It gave me a lot of time for self-reflection, and further training. It was during the second week that I discovered that I could stimulate the growth of my bones and expel them from my body. With a little time, I was able to create makeshift weapons and pieces of armor. For weapons I gravitated to something akin to a sword. It felt… right in my hands, and I found that I could do just as much with the weapon as I could with my hands and feet. Electrokinesis and bone manipulation, on top of faster healing and psychic abilities. I wondered just what I was capable of before my memories were lost.

It was with this that I was finally able to force Karen to use her powers against me. Unlike me however, she has complete mastery over her abilities. While I could power through her attacks, the difference in skill was still too great for me to win. On the plus side, I could bring a battle between me and the combined efforts of Sora and Psyche to a stalemate. I really was improving faster than I expected.

During this time of training, I grew closer to the three of them and learned more about their pasts. I already detailed Psyche’s, she merely clarified and expanded upon certain events. Karen and Sora’s story however, I only learned what I was told. The two were born three years apart to the now deceased X-Men member Ororo “Storm” Munroe, and Wakandan king T’Chala the Black Panther. Growing up they had to face persecution from mutant hating humans and being hunted by the Sentinels. They were told stories of the X-Men’s exploits before the world turned against them, and taught the ideals of the founder of the original team, Charles Xavier. When Apocalypse woke the X-Men had to fight foes from two different sides, and were eventually overwhelmed. Storm had wanted to send them to be with their father, but with Wakanda having been wiped out by the explosion of the vibranium mound, there was little choice she had. After a particularly gruesome battle with the Sentinels, Storm used the last of her strength to bring her daughters to Genosha, in hopes that they could hide in plain sight amongst their fellow mutants, and carry on the will of the X-Men.

Sora could never keep her composure whenever she thought about her mother, and would lose her normally overly cheerful attitude. Karen kept her cool, but there was a sadness in her eyes that she couldn’t hide. They all revealed their pasts to me because they decided to put their trust in me. I was grateful they accepted me, and resolved to have the same inner strength that they did.

When the third week had arrived, I was finally asked to join them on a mission to free some mutants from Mr. Sinister’s labs. It was my chance to start helping people, and I couldn’t have agreed faster. Karen had the entire operation planned out, and everyone was needed in order for it to be a success. We pulled it off flawlessly, and the taken children were taken to the base while we figured out what to do with them. A few boys and girls no older than six or seven, they all had fairly strong abilities, just a lack of proper training to do much than catch someone off guard. I was often the one looking after them along with Sora on occasion. They all seemed to enjoy watching me train and asking for advice on using their powers better. It was a small thing, but it made me happy all the same…

As we continued to hinder Apocalype’s plans together, Karen began to talk to me more than she had before. She would ask for my input on various plans and battle strategies, have me taste test her cooking, and come to me when she wanted to vent her frustrations. At first I thought nothing of it, but the increasing frequency at which it was happening made me start to wonder. When I tried to ask Psyche about it she would shake her head and leave me alone, and Sora would just laugh at me. While I didn’t want to acknowledge the possibility, it was becoming harder to do so as time went on.

It all came to a head after I had been with them for about a month. I was sitting in my room, meditating and reflecting on various things when I heard a knock at my door.

“It’s Karen. Mind if I come in?”

“Go ahead.”

She entered the room and closed the door behind her. I made space for her on the bed so she could sit with me and not feel forced to stand. Sitting down beside me, I could tell she was nervous about something but trying to hide it.

“Is something the matter?”

“No, not really. Why do you ask?”

“You seem nervous, and you’re never nervous.”

“Haha. You can tell that easily?”

“I’ve spent enough time watching you to know is all.”

“You’ve been watching me?”

“Well, I mean, when we’re on missions and stuff it’s hard not to with you being the leader and all. I’m just very observant is all.”

She laughed a bit as I fumbled about with my words.

“You really are something else, aren’t you?”

She moved a bit closer to me, her hand lightly touching mine as she looked into my eyes.

“There’s been this feeling I get when I’m around you that I’ve had since we first met…”

Even closer still.

“At first I wasn’t sure what it could be but…”

Her face was inching closer to mine as I couldn’t find the strength to move, only stare back into her clear, blue eyes.

“I think I know what it’s become.”

Her voice became a whisper and I found myself leaning closer, our lips almost touching until...

“…!”

In my mind I heard a voice, and broke away from Karen suddenly. She opened her eyes looked at me, confused and hurt.

“I-I’m sorry I just…”

“Just what?”

She tried to place a hand on my face gently, but I shirked away and felt my heart sink at the way she looked.

“… I’m sorry.”

That’s all I could say as I rushed out of the room and out of the base. I remember Sora and Psyche calling out to me, but I ignored them and just walked in a direction for hours. What was I doing? While I had my reservations about pursuing the feelings that had risen up in my heart, why was I unable to commit to them now? As I thought about it I gave myself a headache while only wondering whose voice I heard that caused me to stop. Was is some past memory breaking to the surface? If so, then who was the memory of? I was unable to find any answers and finally came to a halt in the middle of a forest, the moon beginning to fall to be replaced by the sun.

I had begun accepting my loss of memories before as a fact of my life, but with this… I had all my questions, my fears, and my lack of answers brought back to the surface. I couldn’t help but scream at the moon like a mad man in my frustration. I punched a tree and knocked it down. I kicked another to the same result. I made a bone sword and cut through two more as if they were paper. Nothing wanted to make sense in my mind anymore, and I was afraid to go back and face Karen. I eventually sat down and put my head into my hands, holding back the tumult of emotions I was feeling.

I’m not sure how long it took, but I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps from further in the forest. Quickly standing up, I scanned my surroundings to search for the source of the sounds. Glancing up I saw a bolt of energy hurtling towards me. Jumping to the side I avoiding getting hit and saw a tree catch fire from the blast. Looking at the source I saw a woman floating in the air, her hands glowing a dark, pale purple matching the bolt that I dodged. She was covered in an armor made from a technology that looked distinctly alien. She glowered at me for not being hit and sent two more bolts my way. I returned the favor with my own lightning, the two energies clashing in a vibrant display of force.

“Who are you?”

“You’d do well to show respect to your betters! I am Famine, horseman to Apocalypse! And you, are soon going to become very familiar with that fact.”

I took a defensive stance and readied myself for her next attack as I remembered that I never found the source of the footsteps. The ground began to shake as I saw who was responsible. A burly man, taller than me had entered my field of vision and was unaffected by the sudden earthquake.

“You took your time getting here Death.”

“You should be more than enough to handle one weak mutant.”

“If our orders weren’t to take him alive then perhaps. Hurry and do your job.”

Death stomped his foot on the ground and sent a wave made out of the environment flowing towards me. I jumped and kicked off of a tree to avoid being buried and introduced my face to his fist. Flipping to right myself, I was barely able to send more electricity to meet Famine’s bolts. The force of the clash sent me backwards and into a wall made of the manipulated ground. Death was charging at me and I took the force of his shoulder head on. It hurt less than I expected, and I was able to expel my bones to force him to back off.

“Ha. I see why Pestilence wants to dissect you.”

Death began to laugh and failed to notice the wind picking up. Within seconds, a small tornado formed and threw him into the air, away from me. I looked up to see a blade of water narrowly miss Famine as she flew backwards to regroup.

“No one’s getting dissected on our watch!”

“If you’re going to run off, don’t get found by the horsemen.”

“I…”

From behind me, Karen, Sora and Psyche appeared in my time of need. I was unsure of what to say, so I just turned my attention to the still airborne Famine.

“Psyche and I will handle her. You two be ready for the big guy to show up again.”

“You threw him pretty far. I don’t expect him to be coming back for a while. So I’ll entertain you until then.”

“How long have you been watching War?”

“Long enough to know that you’re slacking off, Famine. Handle those two in the sky. We’re taking them all back with us.”

Karen made her way beside me and stared War down. I wanted to say something, but I knew it wasn’t the time or place. We both rushed towards him at the same time. We didn’t have a problem hitting him with a flurry of blows, it almost felt too easy. Karen seemed to think so too as we both retreated at the same time.

“So you noticed too?”

“One called “War” shouldn’t be so bad at combat.”

We warily watched him as he picked himself back up and laughed at us. I was unprepared for how fast he proceeded to move, and could barely block when he went on the offensive. I was sent back as he turned his attention to Karen, who couldn’t keep up. She froze the air in front of her in anticipation for his assault, but he just punched through it and hit her hard. I rushed to catch her and saw that she had coughed up blood, most likely do to some broken ribs.

“I thank you for the power. I’ll use it to end this farce quickly.”

The ground rumbled again as Death arrived riding a wave of land back to the battle.

“Take on the big guy, I’ll deal with War.”

Leaving her to deal with the new threat, I began to fight a losing battle against War. He was stronger than me and almost faster than I could react. Attacking him only served to help him keep his advantage. Karen was keeping Death at bay, and the combined efforts of Psyche and Sora had Famine on the ropes. All I had to do was last until they could back me up. My thoughts were interrupted by the ground beneath me splitting open. I was forced off of my balance and knocked into the air by War, who followed up by jumping after me and kicking me back down. I landed on the ground hard, forming a small crater around me. Karen came over to me to see if I was ok, having frozen Death’s legs to buy some time.

“Can you stand?”

“More or less…”

While true, it didn’t do much to ease the pain I felt from being beaten by War. Death shattered the ice binding him and sent a land wave our way. I grabbed Karen and jumped over it for the both of us, throwing her behind me before War intercepted my trajectory and grabbed me by the head. My face was introduced to the ground as he slammed me into it.

“Death, we’re taking him with us.”

“Are we leaving Famine behind?”

“If she was always this weak, then maybe one of these two can replace her. Pestilence would be happy to experiment on the both of them.”

I felt the grip of War’s hand on my head be lifted as I heard the sound of a torrent of water push him away. Climbing to my feet, I was unable to stop Death from closing the gap between himself and Karen, and watched her take a hard blow to the head, knocking her out.

“Karen!”

I ran at him without a plan, and was easily caught off guard as the earth below be knocked me into the air. I didn’t feel the impact from the return trip to the ground and instead felt a strong wind lifting me up.

“We need to leave, now! Sora get Duke and come on.”

“On it!”

I was at my limit, and began to lose consciousness. The last thing I remember is seeing Famine begin to fall out of the sky as I was carried along the sky by Sora’s powers.

When I awoke, I was back at the base, injuries healed and confused as hell. Wandering around the complex in a daze, one of the children told me where Psyche and Sora were. I went there and saw Psyche kneeling by Famine, eyes closed and hands on the other woman’s temples. Sora was leaning against a wall and turned to face me when I arrived.

“She’s keeping her asleep. It wouldn’t be good is she got up while you were resting.”

“How long-”

“Only a few hours. You heal way too quickly.”

“Karen, is she-”

“Captured by War and Death.”

I slammed my fist into the wall in anger upon hearing that.

“This is all my fault.”

“It is. And you’re going to fix it.”

“But, how? We don’t even know where they’d be keeping her.”

“We don’t, but she might.”

Psyche had opened an eye and joined the conversation.

“Before she was Famine, there was an actual person with her own dreams and aspirations in there. You’re going to bring her back.”

I was silent at this plan of theirs, weighing the likelihood of success in my mind.

“I’ll give you some time, two hours at most, to figure out what you think you can do. Just remember, you healed my pain, I believe you can heal hers. Now go calm down. I don’t want you to mess up because you were panicking or something.”

I left the three of them and returned to my room, finding the journal I had neglected for so long and decided to make another entry. I still haven’t forgiven myself for causing this mess, but writing has helped me reflect. If we’re going to save Karen, to save Genosha, it all relies on freeing Famine from whatever control Apocalypse had inflicted on her. I can’t fail.