The Jewels of Cyttorak (18 page)

Service ignored Scott’s blast and Storm’s bolts, walking right at them, forcing Scott to back up and finally move aside.

Wolverine came back for a third time and hit him again, full in the head, claws slashing.

Service again just flicked Wolverine away, this time sending him through a wall and out into the street.

Gambit picked up a large chunk of concrete, charged it, and tossed it directly into Service’s chest.

The explosion blew out one wall of the building and shattered windows across the street. Jean barely got a bubble around herself, Ororo, and Scott to protect them from the blast.

But Service seemed completely unfazed. Scott was amazed. So soon after getting the gem Service seemed as powerful as the Juggernaut.

Ororo then tried one more trick. As Service stepped past Scott, she covered him with a quick cloudburst, then froze the water instantly on him and around his feet.

That stopped him for all of two heartbeats. Then the ice on him cracked.

After that, he clapped his hands.

The impact resulted in a shockwave that sent the X-Men flying.

As the mutants tried to pull themselves together, Service stomped one huge foot down on the floor. The ceiling came crashing down around them.

Then the world went black around Scott Summers.

The pain in Cain’s chest felt like it used to feel when his dad hit him hard, with the belt. In all his years as the Juggernaut, he couldn’t remember pain like this.

As a kid, he couldn’t get away from the pain. His father’s belt was like a constant reminder. But as the Juggernaut, he’d escaped the pain. And no one could push him around. Now, suddenly, the pain was back.

And he felt trapped with it.

So, as he did when he was a kid, stuck with his father and that weakling stepbrother Charles, he got angry.

Angry at being trapped with the pain.

Angry at the pain.

And even angrier at the cause.

Service had taken out the X-wimps before Cain even had a chance to get near him.

Which suited Cain fine. It meant Cain had Service to himself. “I’m gonna kill you now,” he said.

Service just laughed.

Cain hated being laughed at. Nobody laughed at the Juggernaut.

He started to walk forward. The floor planks strained under his weight.

“Funny thing about these warehouses,” Service said. “They’re very old. And with a very weak structure. Why, I bet it would take just one impact in the right spot—’ ’

He stomped his right foot onto the already-strained floor.

Suddenly, Cain felt the ground give out from under him and he fell.

“Happy landings!” Service called down, then laughed again.

Cain fell through to a basement, landing on a concrete floor. He didn’t feel the impact.

He did feel anger.

He started to search for a way out of this basement. Then he’d find Service.

It didn’t matter how long it took.

And when he did, his green glow would be painted all ovef'the pavement.

Rogue smashed her way through the rubble of what used to be the warehouse ceiling before finally reaching daylight. Whatever this Robert Service guy was like before, she thought, he was definitely in Juggy’s class now.

She looked around to try to find her teammates. At first, she saw nothing, but then a red optic blast came flying upward through the debris. Scott, Hank, and Bishop climbed up through the hole the blast had made. Seconds later, several bits of ceiling seemed to move of their own accord, which meant Jean was at work. Logan, Jean, Gambit, and a shaken-looking Ororo surfaced after that. Rogue remembered Storm’s claustrophobia and shivered. Being buried alive like that must have been torture for her.

‘ ‘Everyone all right?’ ’ Scott asked. After various affirmative grunts, he asked, “Where’s the Juggernaut?” Logan said, “He bolted. So’s Service. I got both their scents. Follow me.”

The Canadian mutant led the team through the streets of New Orleans—where, Rogue noticed, the pedestrians barely batted an eyelash at the gaudily dressed super heroes, three of whom were flying through the air.

As they moved, they noticed evidence of Service’s passing: smashed cars, broken lampposts, and the like.

“That ain’t Service,” Wolverine said. “That’s Marko. He’s followin’ our man.”

“We’re heading back the way we came,” Bishop said. “Toward the airfield.”

Sure enough, they arrived shortly at the airfield. Service’s trail had gone cold, according to Wolverine, but Juggernaut’s trail led right to the
Blackbird.
Which sat by itself.

“Where’s the li’l Shi’ar ship?” Rogue asked.

“Good question,” Scott said, sounding more than a little testy.

“Mr. Summers!” called a female voice. “Thank God you’re back!”

Rogue turned to see a short woman with brown hair trailing out from under a Twins baseball cap. It was Kris, the owner of the airfield. She didn’t look like a mutant to Rogue—but then, someone who just met Rogue wouldn’t think her to be one, either. She wondered what the young airfield owner’s powers were.

“Kris, what happened?” Scott asked. “Where’s the
RavenT
’

“The Juggernaut stole it.”

Gambit groaned. “Well, ain’t
dat
jus’ fine?”

Kris shrugged. “He just stomped in, climbed into the
Raven,
and took off. We couldn’t stop him.”

“I hope you didn’t even try,” Scott said.

“How’d the big lug even know how t
'fly
the thing?” Rogue asked.

“Fairly easily, actually,” Hank said. “Like the Danger Room upgrades the Shi’ar provided, the
Raven
uses a telepathic interface. Pretty much any idiot can fly it just by thinking about it. And Cain isn’t just any idiot.”

‘ ‘Service probably took off in his own plane and Cain is following,” Ororo said.

Logan snorted. “Good bet.”

“Then we’d better follow both of them,” Scott said. “Let’s go, people.”

As one, the X-Men moved toward the
Blackbird.
As they went, Rogue wondered how much good it could do. Robert Service had already beaten the X-Men once, without even working up a sweat. They weren’t likely to do any better the second time.

Still, they had to try. That’s what being an X-Man was all about.

Gary Service had just finished looking in on his father, then had returned to his office, when his private phone rang.

He had hardly slept at all the night before, and had only catnapped as the day had progressed, and he’d heard no word from anyone. It had been one long day.

He’d managed to track Robert’s plane to Idaho, then back to New Orleans. But he had no idea what was happening. The old man was alive and looked like he would be for days, if not weeks or months. So what happened to Robert was critical to Gary’s plans. And even though he hated his brother, there was a small part that was worried about him.

Gary quickly picked up the phone before the second ring and simply said, “Yes.”

“Gary' Service, please,” a voice said. “This is Hank McCoy.”

“Yes, Doctor, this is Gary. Any word on Robert?” “Not good, I’m afraid,” McCoy said. “Your brother managed to find the other parts of the emerald.”

“Other parts?” Gary asked, shocked. “So that’s what he was looking for. What did the gems do to him when he touched them?”

“Remember the picture of the Juggernaut you found?” McCoy asked.

“He’s like that?” Gary asked, even more shocked. The Juggernaut, from all the accounts, was an unstoppable force. There would be no fighting Robert if he got like that.

“I’m afraid so,” McCoy said. “And he’s heading back your way right now. His ETA is about three hours.” “What?” Gary couldn’t keep his voice from shouting into the phone.

“Our plane is faster, so we should be arriving shortly before he does.” McCoy hesitated. “And Gary—he’s killed at least one person that we know of.”

“You can beat him, though, right?” Gary asked, the hope again gaining strength.

“We don’t know yet,” McCoy said. “But we need to do something before the Juggernaut catches up to him. He’s between us and your brother.”

“Oh,” Gary said. Now his head really was spinning.

‘ ‘My suggestion is for you and your father to
not
be there when we arrive.”

“I think,” Gary said, “that I will take that suggestion. Thanks.”

“Good luck,” McCoy said and hung up.

Gary dropped the phone back in its cradle, then leaned back, forcing himself to take deep breaths. Robert had turned into another Juggernaut.

He had killed a man.

And he would be home within hours.

Gary pounded his fist on his desk. What was he going to do? It felt as if the end of the world was at hand. All his years of planning, of gaining control of his father’s estate, would be wasted. His dream of using all of his father’s dirty money to give to charities would be lost.

Lost in one day. All because of a stupid emerald.

Robert would kill him when he learned what he had done, or at least force their father to sign it all back over to Robert. If Robert really was the size of the Juggernaut, there would be no fighting him.

Then suddenly Gary laughed.
Wait, you idiot,
he said to himself.
Robert killed a man. If he can be reverted back to a regular human, he will spend the next twenty-years-to-life in prison.
And Gary would be free to give away the old man’s money as he pleased. Maybe this dark cloud had the old silver lining after all. If Robert could be stopped.

But not even the Beast was sure he and his people could stop him.

Gary suddenly had a clear plan, as if it had been there all along. He had three hours, which gave Gary barely enough time to get everything fixed. Maybe, just maybe, this might turn out to be all right. If he was lucky, and could prepare fast enough.

Gary quickly stood and headed back for his father’s room. As always, the smell of rotting flesh greeted him twenty paces from the door.

Gary smiled at the nurse who was sitting near the door of the room, reading. “We’ve got a problem,” he said. “We’ve got to move my father out of the house as quickly as possible. Anywhere away from here will be fine.”

The nurse, a large woman with thick, solid arms, frowned, then said, “Andreassi Memorial Hospital’s closest.”

“Good. Call for an ambulance.”

She reached for the phone while Gary moved over beside his father, who slept fitfully.

“Father?” Gary said aloud. “I’m afraid we’ve got to move you to a new location. Before Robert returns.”

The old man slept on, half snoring, half choking.

Gary stared at the rotting face of his father. The man’s sickness had been appropriate for the way he had lived. Maybe he should just leave him for Robert. But still, the man was Gary’s father and Gary had to protect the changes in the will, just in case Robert couldn’t be beaten. He wondered if there was a jail cell that could hold Robert, if he was the size of the Juggernaut.

“Sorry, Father,” Gary said. “But we’ve got to be going.” He nudged the old man gently under the sheet.

The nurse talked quietly for a moment on the phone, then hung up and turned to face Gary. “They’re sending an ambulance. It will be here in ten minutes.”

“Good.” Gary looked at the rotting skin on his father. Gary felt bad having to move him, yet it had to be done.

“Father,” Gary said, a little louder. “Time to wake

up.”

Suddenly his father coughed, then sighed.

And stopped breathing. Just like that.

The heart-monitoring machine screamed into a long, high-pitched call of alert.

“I just tried to wake him,” Gary said, more for himself than the nurse.

She moved over beside the bed and did a quick check, then reached over and turned off the machine. “Nothing you did,” she said. “It was just his time.”

Gary nodded.

He stood for a moment, staring at his father’s body. Having the old man gone was such a relief. Gary almost felt embarrassed that he was feeling that way standing over the man’s death bed. Almost.

Now Gary just had Robert to deal with.

He turned to the nurse. “Cancel the ambulance.”

The nurse nodded and smiled. “I’ll take care of getting your father’s body to the funeral home and getting this room cleaned up a little.”

“Thank you,” Gary said. “I appreciate it.” He turned and headed back to his office. He had a lot of people to inform, business transactions to complete in only a few short hours.

And he had a few other calls to make. If the super heroes couldn’t handle Robert alone, maybe he could help a little. Now that he had the money.

Then, after Robert was locked away in jail, Gary would start giving his family money away. Slowly, but surely. Every last cent of it. It would be the least he could to repay the world for his father’s greed.

And the sins of his brother.

Outside the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, the sun was starting to set, and the air remained thick, hot, and humid. In the cooler interior of the mansion’s study, Professor Xavier hovered in his floating chair near the door and reached out telepathically to the X-Men as they winged their way northward in the
Blackbird.