Chapter 2
"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets"
- Voltaire
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-- Archie's POV --
"Dude… What the fuck?! You killed them,"
"Shesh, I knew you had chosen the powerset of DC heroes, but I did not know you buy into their bullshit no-killing policy. Please tell me you are not gonna give me the speech about how I shouldn't kill others because that makes me just as bad as them?"
"I wasn't gonna give you a five-minute speech about how you shouldn't kill followed up by a heartfelt moment of flashback to one of our childhood/island life or any other bs you see every week in the Arrowverse, but dude, come on, be serious for a second, we got our powers for a few minutes and the first thing you do is kill someone. Does that sound normal to you?"
"You forgot to say the part where they tried to kill us," he pointed out, which was fair
"Yeah, but have you ever killed anyone before" I waited for a moment for him to shake his head and once I got the response I was waiting I said, "Then how were you able to kill someone so easily?"
He opened his mouth before closing it once more, he had no response to that
"Look, I'm not saying-" before I can finish my sentence we heard the sound of multiple cars approaching us. We turned around and saw there were three armored vehicles, probably filled to the brim with soldiers too.
It seems I was right as a dozen soldiers exited from each vehicle, all of them armed with M16s, 6 of them had unique weapons attached to their backs.
But there is one thing you need to know about me, I don't like being interrupted.
I willed a taser baton into existence (AN: A baton that when touched to someone's skin releases enough voltage to knock them out, there is an upper limit, but easily enough to knock out mid-level meta humans).
The taser moved at the speed of sound, briefly touched each soldier, knocking them out instantaneously before they can even point their guns at us.
"What was that?!" Milo all but shouted as he stared at the fallen soldiers.
"What?" I asked out loud, actually confused by his question
"You were talking about how it was wrong for me to kill two people and yet here you are, killing three dozen without blinking? And they didn't even shoot at us yet," he said with a hint of hostility in his voice, his teeth were gritting, they were sharper than I remembered. Far sharper.
"Okay first of all they are not dead, just unconscious," I said as I pointed at the unconscious bodies of soldiers. "Second of all, I never said what you did was wrong, just unusual how easily you could kill someone. I mean no offense Milo but I doubt you are a complete monster who gets off on murder or are you?" I waited for a second before continuing "So you SHOULD have felt something, maybe a tint of regret, anger at yourself but you didn't."
<<Creator, more vehicles are approaching>> the Ring informed us and I nodded in response, then looked and my Ring and said
"Thank you Ring, and please, from now refer to me as Sir or Archie, whichever you prefer," I told it as hearing the Ring uttering the word 'Creator' was getting old very quickly.
<<Affirmative, from now on I will refer to you as Sir>> she said, which sounded much better than Creator.
I then turn towards Milo and looked up to look at his face, which was still weird as I used to be taller than him before he gained his powers and Jojo physique "Look man, even with our noob level mastery over our powers, I think between us we can easily take on a small army, but I think we should just do a strategic retreat and talk about our situation, you know how we somehow sound ourselves in this place and with powers at that" I told Milo who actually growled for a second before saying "Fine,"
I nod my head, concentrate for a mere moment, and create a large, green bubble that surrounds us, the bubble does not allow oxygen to exit, or the temperature inside it to change, and is completely soundproof.
We then rise above the ground, before I know it we were in the mesosphere (the third layer of the atmosphere). "Wow…" we both said as we stared at the view. We were above the clouds, staring at them for a couple of minutes before going back to our discussion.
"Where did we leave off?" he asked
"I was saying how you should have felt something for killing those men." I reminded him and he took a thinking pose.
After a minute or two his eyes widened ever so slightly "You don't think my powers changed me do you?" he came to the same conclusion I did
"Well… I don't know man, there was one mutant, I think his name was Teon who had animalistic powers, kinda like yours. He went from a well-behaving young boy to an animal-like rapist dog, both figuratively and literally." I said as I thought about the Fifth or Sixth Light of the mutant-kind, can't remember which he was.
"Look Milo, I'm not saying you are acting THAT weird, you are mostly how you used to be, but all I'm saying is your mutation could be affecting your personality a bit. Hell I'm pretty sure mine affects me just as much," I said in complete honesty
"How does yours affect you?" he asks
"Are you kidding? Powers or not, I should have pissed my pants the moment someone shot at us, instead I wasn't scared at all." I told him, I mean mine wasn't a bad change, but it was weird
"So what, your mutation somehow increased your Will Power and mine made it so I'm more… animalistic?" he got to what I was thinking
"Something like that."
"That… kinda makes sense." he admitted "Look man, I'll try to keep down my urges, thanks for letting me know about them before I did something unthinkable."
"Don't mention it." I said, surprised how well Milo actually took it, I half expected him to try to attack me really. I guess his common sense prevailed over the animal nature he gained.
"So we really are in Marvel, aren't we?" he says out loud and I nod my head in response before saying
"Yep. And don't forget we are in the 90s where comic books were brighter and edgier, and the villains ranged from street level to those who make cosmic beings their toys," I reminded him
"That is true in every decade, at least there was no Civil War in the 90s,"
"But you loved Civil War, we both did," I told him
"Yeah but that doesn't mean I wanna live through an egotistical alcoholic douchebag and a smartass man who believes their math is flawless so they get to dictate what I can and can't do now does it," he pointed out a good point
"Fair enough, so do you have any idea what is happening in Genosha right now?" I ask him
"No clue," he says just as I expected but no worries, we can always ask Ring…
"Hey Ring, could you tell us what is going on in Genosha right now?" before I could ask Milo did so,
<<Of course, humanoid designated as Milo,>> she said then glowed for a few seconds <<Genosha government has abducted several young mutants that were under the care of X-Factor after declaring the group as a terrorist organization. The abducted mutants have escaped custody, but they were recaptured. The X-Men who showed up in Genosha has been captured as well. All of these events have been manufactured by Cameron Hodge, an anti-mutant activist, and scientist who made a deal with a demon. He is currently living as a head, operating a mechanical body>> she summarized perfectly
"Do you know which X-Men were captured by the Genoshan government?" Milo asks
<<Yes humanoid designated as Milo. Genoshan government currently has the following X-Men members captured: Boom Boom, aka Tabitha Smith, Rictor, aka Julio Esteban Richter, Wolfsbane, aka Rahne Sinclair, Marvel Girl, aka Jean Grey, Wolverine, aka James Howlett, Cyclops, aka Scott Summers, Arcangel, aka, Iceman, aka Bobby Drake, Cable, aka Nathan Summers, Gambit, aka Remy LeBeau, Psylocke, aka Elizabeth Braddock, and Storm, aka Ororo Munroe, who alongside Wolfbane has undergone brainwashing>>
"So Genosha took on the X-Men and actually won?" Milo asks in complete disbelief "How? They are a Third World Country at best aren't they? A country, even Bobby Drake, by himself, should be able to freeze if he sneezes wrong let alone actually tries to hurt them" a good point as Iceman is an Omega Level who can take on Thor under the right circumstances. And considering Thor is the God of Thunder, it was impressive enough that a third-world country shouldn't pose him any threat, except…
"Iceman was not THAT impressive until the early 2000s, he was more along the lines of Ultimate Comics version than the mutant god who can bring the next Ice Age if wished to." I pointed out and he nodded.
"*sigh* Guess you are right. He is a wasted potential right now… Hey Ring, could you refer to me as Milo from now on?" he asks as he looks at the ring in my hand
<<Negative, such a command requires permission from Sir>> the Ring stated in a sweet tone.
Milo looks at me for a second "Refer to him as Milo from now on" I said out loud and the Ring shone brightly for a second before saying <<Affirmative, from now on I will refer to humanoid designated as Milo, simply as Milo>>
Milo nods and looks at me "So what's the plan? About the Genosha I mean." he asks
"The way I see it we have three options, one: leave and hope everything ends up as they did in comics. Two, make ourselves known and help X-Men with their poorly planned attack once the plot armor kicks in and they escape, that is if the plot armor is real." I said and waited for a moment "Or we can go with the third option…"
"Which is?" he asks
"We take out Cameron Hodge, and the Genoshan Magistrates (their robot army)," I said as I thought about the fake ass M.O.D.O.K. and his ugly ass robot army
"Wait- wait- wait- what happened to not killing people willie-neely" he points out, which was a good point except…
"Firstly, that thing, Hodge is immortal, we can't kill it even if we want to. And secondly, I wouldn't lose any sleep if we killed a man like that. He is like the second-worst kind of a person. It is pedophiles, and then men like Hodge." I told him truthfully. Hodge brainwashes others and uses them as slaves, if that is not deserving of the death penalty, I don't know what does.
"Can we really take on a robot army as we are?" he asks with a small look of a battle hunger in his eyes "A robot army that managed to defeat X-Men at that,"
"Elementary Dear Watson. While taking on a robot army that managed to capture X-Men, for whatever reasons, is out of our current capabilities to defeat. That is only the case in a fair fight, but who said we will be having a fair fight?"
"So what's the plan?" he asks
"Am I right to assume you want to go with the third option then?" I ask, acting surprised
"Don't try to act like you don't," he says with a smirk on his face
I smiled slightly before looking at him in the eyes "Alright you got me there. Here's what we are gonna do first…"