Originally Posted by
Harbinger
Harbinger goes on to explain, "We must again travel to a Gotham City. However, instead of wandering the city, we will be inside Arkham Asylum, a building for the criminally insane. Like Xanadu's shop, this, too, served as the location for a Traitor Game. A few years have passed since then. Within its halls are a few artifacts leftover from that game, as well as numerous items the occupants once employed."
The Monitor chimes in, "Due to the increasing danger, we insist you use the next few hours to rest. We need you at the peak of your performance. We cannot afford a failure like we achieved in the previous Gotham."
Originally Posted by
Mary Jane
She turned to the others. "So what are your stories?"
Originally Posted by
Thor
After the fight against the Kryptonian and the battle against Starro, Thor was on his last legs. He needed to rest so he could be of use. Even in the battle against Starro, his powers were merely a fraction of what they should have been.
"You have my thanks, Harbinger. Truthfully, my stamina was beginning to ebb. This rest is much needed!
Thor sat down next to Ultra Rogue, offering her a smile and a glass of mead.
Ultra-Rogue had been pulled from her recovery just in the nick of time to aid them all against the Starro Swarm, and now for everyone to get a similar respite was all the better.
She clanked glasses with Thor before rising to her feet to tell a story.
THE SECRET ORIGIN OF THE UNCANNY ULTRA ROGUE
"Ah started out on th' wrong side of the fight. Workin' for Mystique an' th' Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. It was a big plan t'free the other members from prison. An' my part started out real easy-- bum rush some fella named 'Mark Milton' working out of the Daily Bugle, figure out what he knew, and use that to infiltrate th' Avengers Squadron.
Mystique said he'd be defenseless, that he wouldn't risk fightin' back for... whatever reason. But she lied, and ah found out too late that ah'd latched on to somethin' ah couldn't handle. Memories, an' strength came rushin' into me, and ah'd never felt anything like it. Ah ambushed him at night, just as he was gettin' out of work. This was no run-a'-th'-mill reporter-- this guy was HYPERION, the strongest dang sonofa in the Avengers Squadron with a temper to match. Strange visitor from another world, champion of another Earth, and ah had 'im in my grasp.
He fought me for ten minutes. The longest ah'd ever held onto anyone. Ah absorbed his powers and personality... permanently... an' I don't even know what woulda happened next if Spider-Man didn't web me up and yank me away. Ah tore through it like tissue paper an' booked it... left Hyperion comatose right there in the street, identity revealed, life ruined."
This was the first time she'd talked about this with anyone that didn't already know the story-- her family in the X-Legion. It was considerably distressing, but she kept going.
"It was with Hyperion's alien power that ah bullied through the Avengers Mansion alone an' took 'em all on. Plantin' a kiss on Cap'n America for half-a-minute, ah knew everything they could throw at me before ah even entered the gate. Not a one of 'em could hurt me. Ah was invulnerable. Hyper-Strong. An' ah only got stronger the more people ah got my hands on."
Rogue glanced at Thor briefly before continuing. Her tone quivered, and she did her best to remain stolid.
"With th' aggregate power a' four or five Avengers, ah'd chucked Wonder Man through a dumpster an' tore Vision in half, but a part of me told me to play it smart. Ah wasn't gonna risk tusslin' with more people my powers couldn't affect, or who might be able t'stop me, like Doc Spectrum. Ah killed two Avengers that day. And ah paid for it big time for a few years. Absorbin' Hyperion almost made me a prisoner in my own body. His persona had such a strong will, it started to overtake mine. Ah'd black out, come to somewhere else... sometimes hundreds of miles away. Eventually Hyperion got too hostile an' the Brotherhood gave up on tryin' to help me. In one a' the few moments ah managed to have control, ah turned to Charles Xavier an' th' X-MEN. Chuck did what he could to repress Hyperion, knowin' too that what ah really wanted was a chance at redemption for the lives ah'd taken in one way or another."
From a different Avengers Annual #10 up through Uncanny X-Men #171.
She tapped her chin, introspectively.
"Though ah felt differently then, now ah don't blame Hyperion for actin' as he did. Fella had survived gettin' everything taken from him, even if it left him fightin' over the body of a teenage girl. An' while my battle with him was a daily struggle, my time with th' X-Men was good. Real good, for a long time... ah made the kinda frienships'd last a lifetime. Ah learned to trust again, ah helped a lot of people, fought the bad guys, an' saved the world.
That is... until th' X-Men fought Master Mold, the biggest dang mutant-killin' Sentinel this gal had ever laid eyes on. Hyperion was in control a'me in the early fightin' that day, an when he got kayoed, ah stepped up. We just couldn't beat it. It adapted to Colossus' strength, Havok's plasma blasts. Even their powers stacked on top a'mine and Psylocke coordinatin' us, we couldn't do it. So Dazzler used this Siege Perilous thing-- a magical wishin' gateway thing ah still don't much understand-- a last restort to try an' stop Master Mold. Ah was the only one standin', so ah went for a sacrifice push, but it wasn't enough. I ended up fallin' in and the Siege collapsed in on itself."
From a slightly different Uncanny X-Men #246-247.
"Now if'n you thought this story was already off the rails crazy, then you ain't heard nuthin'. Ah woke up inside a livin' breathin' alien space whale. An' for the first time ah felt free-- no Hyperion in my head anymore, the psychic songs of the Acanti bringin' me to a kinda spiritual enlightenment ah never thought was possible. But then ah realized the truth, an' it was standin' before me. The Siege split up the personalities in my head, and there was Hyperion, livin' and breathin'. We fought again, and as we did, one of us gained more of our shared life force while the other became more like a corpse. My bond with the Acanti helped turn the tide of a battle ah had every right to lose. But they gave me my life back-- a new one among th' stars."
From a
very different Uncanny X-Men #269.
"Anyway, ah later learned that it took damn near every cape in New York to take out Master Mold after ah vanished... an' the X-Men had to use the Siege Perilous again anyway. That thing gave my teammates a new lease on life too, a chance for mutants to finally live in peace in space... ah just happened to be the first. All said, took us a few years t'get the band back together since we got scattered to planets across the galaxy, but when we did, we were reborn as th' X-LEGION. And ah was ULTRA-ROGUE."
She sat back down, almost out of breath.
"And don't you know it, the first time ah meet the Acanti again since they saved me, ah'm gone in a flash a' light savin' the multiverse from a Suicide Squad that makes th' HELLFIRE FIVE look like th' X-Babies.
Dang, that's some yarn, ain't it? Reckon ah should work on an abridged version."