Brand X

#01
23rd NOV 2000

Sauron: Carl Lycos was one of the first to join Bishop's X-Men. After spending many years fighting his dual identity of Sauron, Lycos has now mastered control over his other self. Using his powers over hypnosis, flight and energy draining, Lycos now leads the X-Men's feild squad, known as "X-Force".

Skids: The young mutant named Skid originally joined the X-Men with the intent to simply master her mutant forcefield. But upon seeing the monstrosities wrought by Onslaught's prelates and the human Right movement, Skids chose to join Sauron's "X-Force", so as to take the fight to the people responsible for these vile acts.

Hazard: Carter Ryking was unaware of his mutant powers over plasma energy until very late in his life, when he was discovered by the mutant-hunting Sentinels. After breaking free from one of the Human Resistance Movement's "mutant camps", Carter chose to join the X-Men, and later X-Force, to help bridge the gap between man and mutant.

Tower: Another victim of The Right's "genetic cleansing", the mutant named Tower lost his entire family to The Right's cruelty and only survived himself when the X-Men Pyro and Avalanche came to his aid. Now a member of Sauron's "X-Force", Tower is a mutant with a chip on his shoulder, whose own angers sometimes blind him to the situation at hand.

Sabra: The mutant know as Sabra joined the X-Men for one reason; to find the men who killed her son and exact her revenge. Ruth Bat Seraph, once personal bodyguard to the Human High Council's Gabrielle Haller, now works in conjunction with the Human High Council and Sauron's "X-Force", providing a source of communications between the two.

Fatale: Fatale was first discovered by X-Force during one of their battles against Onslaught's prelates. Although a member of a prelate squad, Fatale turned on her teammates, seeking an alliance with Sauron's "X-Force". While still unsure of her true intentions, Sauron has welcomed her in to his ranks, with her teleportational powers providing a valuable assest to the "X-Force" team.

Birdy: A mutant telepath, Birdy was rescued by the X-Men from Onslaught's slave pits, where she was subjected to hideous experimentation's at a very young age. When her mutant powers manifested themselves, Birdy made the mistake of confronting Jean Grey by her lonesome. This act almost cost her life, with Sauron risking everything to save her. She has since joined his "X-Force", and harbours secret affections towards her one-time saviour.

Pipeline: Pipeline, like Sabra, was once a member of the Human Resistance Movement, until his mutant powers manifested themselves in battle. Pipeline was then sought out by Sauron, who offered him a place on his "X-Force" team. Pipeline accepted, knowing he would still be able to make a difference against Onslaught's forces, who he despised heavily.
Super Sabre: Not much is know about the two men who have recently joined Sauron's "X-Force". The Crimson Commando and Super Sabre seem to be old friends, and fight for the side of justice. Super Sabre himself has the power of super-speed, which he uses to great effect as the team's scout.
Crimson Commando: The Crimson Commando and Super Sabre are the two enigmas of the "X-Force" team. Not much is know about their shared past together, except for the fact that they both fought for Onslaught at one time. The Commando himself was mutilated by Onslaught's prelate, Wolverine, and is now only alive thanks to the many cybernetic devices attached to his body.
Damask: The latest addition to "X-Force", Damask was a former member of the Hellfire Club, until it was destroyed at the hands of Black Air. Rather than choosing to remain with Shaw's rebuilt "Hellfire", or Frost's "Inner Circle", Damask headed for Portugal where she traded on the black markets until joining Sauron's "X-Force".
Senyaka: A mutant of few words, Senyaka's powers first manifested themselves at birth, causing him to be abandoned on the streets of Tokyo. There he was taken into the care of the homeless until Onslaught's war against mutants began. He was drove out, eventually seeking refuge with Bishop's X-Men. Now he works as a battle-hardened member of "X-Force", trying to prevent Onslaught's influence from reaching any further.

"The Flames Climb Ever Higher" (Warzone pt.2)

by Benn Vallely

It's been a long journey. First Australia, now back up to Africa. Searching for Sauron and the 'X-Force'. God I wish I could be back in Tokyo. At least there you don't have to do as scared all the time. But I'm not there.
I've got to get this message to Sauron. Bishop's relying on me. If he didn't save my life once, I wouldn't have even bothered about this. But he did. And I'll give Sauron the message. If it's as important as Bishop's making it out to be, then the information I have could very well change the face of this war. Maybe end it once and for all?
One can only hope.

Tunis. The capitol city of the Northern African nation of Tunisia.
Where a fight is commencing. A fight between man and mutant. A fight between mutant and mutant. A fight between X-Force - mutant freedom fighters fighting for equality between man and mutant - and the Prelates - Onslaught's army of mutant followers hell-bent on the eradication of the human race. In the middle, the soldiers of the HRM, their numbers heavily depleted.
"This isn't how I imagined I'd be spending my life!" shouts the Super Sabre, X-Force's resident speedster to his fellow team-mate, the mutant size-shifter named Tower.
"What, did you imagine your life'd be like then? Fast cars, racy women?" Tower laughs as he reloads his gun.
"For some reason I always wanted to be a cowboy! Guess life's full of surprises?!" Super Sabre asks before speeding off and returning a split second later with more ammunition and discarded guns.
"Sabre, I think you would've made a great cowboy. 'Fastest Gun in the West', y'know?" Tower jokes, his gun now fully loaded.
"Heh. Never thought about that before." Sabre laughs. A second later the two of them emerge from out behind their bunker, guns firing. A mutant named Grizzly scores a shot on Tower, blowing out his right kneecap. Super Sabre rushes for Grizzly, and manages to halt the second bullet with the palm of his hand. Sabre screams out in agony. Grizzly fires again, but this time Super Sabre can do nothing to defend his team-mate. The shot bursts through Tower's cranium. He dies instantly.
"NO!"
Grizzly instantly turns his attention to Super Sabre, aiming his gun straight at the wounded mutant. Grizzly fires, but Super Sabre uses his hyper speed to avoid the shot. In an instant Sabre has already stabbed Grizzly to death with his own knife. The feral mutant slumps down on the ground. Moments later he's followed down by Super Sabre. He's losing too much blood, too fast, from his wound.
(Short for the Human Resistance Movement - Benn)

On the other side of the battlefield Sauron is having troubles of his own. The mutant leech known as Decay has been draining the energy out of Sauron for almost three minutes now. Yet still Sauron doesn't let up. In fact, he seems to grow stronger, while Decay becomes more and more weary.
"What -? What is happening?" the confused prelate asks as he begins to shrivel up.
"I have drained you of all your energies. I too, draw my strength from the energies of others. When you sought to steal my energies away from me, I in turn began seeping my energies back, combined with your own. It simply came down to a matter of power." Sauron explains, shimmering with the new-found energies drained from the now lifeless body of Decay.
"No! Get him! Kill him!" Timeshadow screams to his two remaining prelates.
"Commander, X-Force have us defeated. It would be better for us to retreat..." answers the prelate named Gargouille.
"Never! I refused to be defeated by some lowly flatscans and these race-traitors!" Timeshadow cries back to his two prelates.
"Sir! Look! Our reinforcements are arriving!" the other prelate, Rem-Ram, declares as yet another squadron of Prelates nears the battlefield.

Cairo.
X-Force have somewhat of a 'safe haven' here. As if anywhere on this Earth could be truly considered safe. Some prelates fly by. I try to ignore them. I hope they ignore me.
Seems like Lady Luck is shining on me. They just went on with their routine. I near my destination. It must be about a week since I left the outback. I have a bit of a knack for tracking people. It was easy enough to find X-Force. Just ask the locals if they've seen a bunch of mutants lead by a flying lizard, and you've basically found your way here.
It's an old building. Whit exterior, covered in the filth and grime that one usually associates with a war scene. On the outside lay a rather unusual, and large, number of people. Mothers, children, all looking as though they've not had a roof to sleep under in months, maybe even years.
The all stare at me intently. Not surprising as a foreigner around these parts usually means trouble. Either of the mutant kind of the HRM kind. I continue on nonetheless. I have a message to deliver, and delivered it's gonna be. I push open the wooden door only to be stopped in my tracks by a mental voice.
{Who are you?}
{A friend.}
{Not good enough. Who are you, and what do you want?}
{Bishop sent me. I have a message for Sauron.}
{Tell me the message, and I'll pass it on}
{No, I need to see Sauron. Now, can you tell him I'm h---}
It happens suddenly. I can feel my mind being read by an outside force. It's an almost instinctual feeling. I freeze where I stand, powerless to stop this intruder from taking whatever they want. Then, all of a sudden, it stops, and I can hear the intruder mentally gasp in shock.
{You...You'd better come in then.}
The door blows open. No doubt telekinetically. I step in. That'll be my first big mistake.

Tunis.
The HRM bunker, where the mutant named Skids and the HRM commander, T'Challa, are under heavy fire from one of their own - a man named Tom Corsi.
"What's going on!? Why's Corsi shooting on us?" comes the confused voice of a HRM soldier, hidden underneath Skid's protective forcefield, which is keeping her, and those around her, out of harm's way.
"It's a prelate! She's called Malice! She's special ops. Infiltrates the enemy and wipes them out from the inside!" Skids answers. "Winning this battle must be important!"
"How do we kill her?" T'Challa asks.
"I don't know! Aim for his neck! There's a tattoo of her face on his neck! So it, and she might dies as well!" Skids suggests.
The possessed Tom Corsi continues firing wildly. Skids was only able to protect a small group of the HRM soldiers within her immediate vicinity with her forcefield, leaving the rest unguarded from the made shootings of their fellow soldier.
A young private fights for his life. His name is Danny Ketch. He fires in Corsi's direction, but misses. His weapon falls to the floor as a bullet grazes his arm. Corsi follows it up with another round in Ketch's direction, and all the helpless private can do is close his eyes.
"Get down boy!" shouts a strong female voice as he feels himself being moved out of harm's way. The two tumble down onto the ground, and Danny opens his eyes to see Sabra, a member of X-Force. She rolls herself on top of him, as Corsi continues to fire on the two of them.
But the bullets don't pierce her skin, and only cause her the slightest of discomfort. Instead she keeps him pinned down to the ground, and acts as a human shield.
Pipeline, meanwhile, fires off a shot on Corsi wounding him in the stomach. The frenzy stops, as Corsi falls to his knees, clutching the wound. A second shot to the image of Malice ensures that both she and Corsi are dead.
"That could have been worse." Skids offers as she lowers her forcefield. "But we'd better hope that that's the last of the trick the Prelates have got pulled up their sleeves."
"Thanks for saving me." Danny Ketch says to Sabra as the two get back to their feet. "I mean, I never thought a mutie'd save my life!"
"Yes, we I never thought I'd be a mutie, so so much for what we would think." Sabra answers.
"Uh-oh! Look! More Prelates." Ketch says as he notices more new arrivals to the battle ground.
"I just knew something like this would happen!" Skids curses.

Senyaka launches himself at Rem-Ram, wrapping his energy coils around the helpless prelate, and crushing the life out of him.
Sauron takes advantage of the momentary distraction and launches towards Timeshadow - hoping to finish off what he had already starts. Unfortunately, before he makes his move, Gargouille intercepts him, tearing at the hole in his wing caused by her commanding Prelate. This further shreds Sauron's wings, and a lets out an inhuman screech due to the pain inflicted upon him.
Instinctively he swings his huge wing around, knocking the diminutive Gargouille to the hard ground. She pounces back into action, but this time Sauron is ready, and drives his feet into her skull, ripping his talons through her skin in the process. Gargouille dies shortly thereafter, but Sauron is no longer paying attention.
He had planned to go after Timeshadow, and continues on foot to do so. Timeshadow attempts an escape, but Senyaka cuts him off at the chase. Energy coils wrap around Timeshadow'd body, and despite his formidable powers, the Prelate Commander is helpless against them.
His time has come. Or so he would have thought. Suddenly the coils release their grip, as Timeshadow falls to the ground. He looks up to find Senyaka laying in a heap on the ground, with the mutant prelate Sickle standing triumphantly over him, blood dripping down his scythe.
"Prelate Commander, Timeshadow." Sickle addresses his superior. "We heard you were in a spot of trouble and were in need of our assistance?"
Two more Prelates make their advance as Timeshadow gets back to his feet. They are Hammer and Know-It-All. Hammer charges at Sauron, and smashes his heavy weapon in to Sauron's side. Ribs break, and Sauron falls to his knees. The taste of blood is fresh within his mouth.
Hammer raises in his weapon above his head, and brings it thundering down. But nothing happens. Sauron is gone. All Hammer hit was earth.
(Last Issue - Benn)

Cairo.
A huge portal opens up on the streets of Cairo. Out steps a group of thirty of forty. X-Force, along with the few remnants of what was once the HRM's Tunis outpost.
Fatale slumps down on the pavement, exhausted. The strain of teleporting so many people, over such a large distance was tremendous. Two of the HRM lift up the Crimson Commando, and see him inside the building. Another helped Super Sabre back to his feet, and they both followed the others inside for some assistance.
"T'Challa, we're going to need the co-ordinates of that refugee camp you were talking about?" Skids asks, her mind still on the ongoing battle at hand. "Chances are the Prelates'll go after that next, and we can't let them!"
"Okay, how many of my men can you take?" T'Challa asks, knowing Fatale's teleportational powers have their limit.
"I...not sure...when I was a prelate...most I ever took was twenty..." Fatale answers, still recovering from her last teleportation.
"Okay, we have about thirty or so here. Think you can manage?" Skids asks.
"I'll...try..."
As Fatale finishes, both Damask and Birdy come across to greet their ernstwhile team-mates.
"Sauron, there is a man here to see you." Damask informs her team leader.
"He'll have to wait. We have to get back to this refugee camp. We can't let the prelates beat us to it first --"
"He says he has a message from Bishop..." Damask continues, as a mysterious figure emerges from inside the building.
"My name is Reed Richards, and I've been sent here to deliver a message from Bishop."

To be continued...

In Brand X #03: What is this message from Bishop? What significance will it have on the war against Onslaught? And who is the mysterious man bearing this message? Come back in thirty as we offer up even more casualties than you can shake a stick at as X-Force head off to save the refugees!

Story � 2000 Benn Vallely, and may not be reproduced without permission.

	Sauron: Carl Lycos was one of the first to join Bishop's X-Men. After spending many years fighting his dual identity of Sauron, Lycos has now mastered control over his other self. Using his powers over hypnosis, flight and energy draining, Lycos now leads the X-Men's feild squad, known as "X-Force".

	Skids: The young mutant named Skid originally joined the X-Men with the intent to simply master her mutant forcefield. But upon seeing the monstrosities wrought by Onslaught's prelates and the human Right movement, Skids chose to join Sauron's "X-Force", so as to take the fight to the people responsible for these vile acts.

	Hazard: Carter Ryking was unaware of his mutant powers over plasma energy until very late in his life, when he was discovered by the mutant-hunting Sentinels. After breaking free from one of the Human Resistance Movement's "mutant camps", Carter chose to join the X-Men, and later X-Force, to help bridge the gap between man and mutant.

	Tower: Another victim of The Right's "genetic cleansing", the mutant named Tower lost his entire family to The Right's cruelty and only survived himself when the X-Men Pyro and Avalanche came to his aid. Now a member of Sauron's "X-Force", Tower is a mutant with a chip on his shoulder, whose own angers sometimes blind him to the situation at hand.

	Sabra: The mutant know as Sabra joined the X-Men for one reason; to find the men who killed her son and exact her revenge. Ruth Bat Seraph, once personal bodyguard to the Human High Council's Gabrielle Haller, now works in conjunction with the Human High Council and Sauron's "X-Force", providing a source of communications between the two.

	Fatale: Fatale was first discovered by X-Force during one of their battles against Onslaught's prelates. Although a member of a prelate squad, Fatale turned on her teammates, seeking an alliance with Sauron's "X-Force". While still unsure of her true intentions, Sauron has welcomed her in to his ranks, with her teleportational powers providing a valuable assest to the "X-Force" team.

	Birdy: A mutant telepath, Birdy was rescued by the X-Men from Onslaught's slave pits, where she was subjected to hideous experimentation's at a very young age. When her mutant powers manifested themselves, Birdy made the mistake of confronting Jean Grey by her lonesome. This act almost cost her life, with Sauron risking everything to save her. She has since joined his "X-Force", and harbours secret affections towards her one-time saviour.

	Pipeline: Pipeline, like Sabra, was once a member of the Human Resistance Movement, until his mutant powers manifested themselves in battle. Pipeline was then sought out by Sauron, who offered him a place on his "X-Force" team. Pipeline accepted, knowing he would still be able to make a difference against Onslaught's forces, who he despised heavily.
	Super Sabre: Not much is know about the two men who have recently joined Sauron's "X-Force". The Crimson Commando and Super Sabre seem to be old friends, and fight for the side of justice. Super Sabre himself has the power of super-speed, which he uses to great effect as the team's scout.
	Crimson Commando: The Crimson Commando and Super Sabre are the two enigmas of the "X-Force" team. Not much is know about their shared past together, except for the fact that they both fought for Onslaught at one time. The Commando himself was mutilated by Onslaught's prelate, Wolverine, and is now only alive thanks to the many cybernetic devices attached to his body.
	Damask: The latest addition to "X-Force", Damask was a former member of the Hellfire Club, until it was destroyed at the hands of Black Air. Rather than choosing to remain with Shaw's rebuilt "Hellfire", or Frost's "Inner Circle", Damask headed for Portugal where she traded on the black markets until joining Sauron's "X-Force".
	Senyaka: A mutant of few words, Senyaka's powers first manifested themselves at birth, causing him to be abandoned on the streets of Tokyo. There he was taken into the care of the homeless until Onslaught's war against mutants began. He was drove out, eventually seeking refuge with Bishop's X-Men. Now he works as a battle-hardened member of "X-Force", trying to prevent Onslaught's influence from reaching any further.