The Jewels of Cyttorak (24 page)

And decrease Cain's. Do it!

Cyclops hesitated only for a second. Still, he had always trusted Charles Xavier in the past. He saw no reason to stop now.

Please, Scott—this may he our chance to finally end the menace of the Juggernaut.

Cyclops fired a wide optic blast at the three emerald fragments. At the same time, he directed an instruction at Phoenix to have Bishop, Storm, and Gambit once again join him, while the others were to keep the Juggernaut at bay.

They hit the fragments with everything they had.

“No!”    "

The shout came from the Juggernaut. Through his rapport with Phoenix, Cyclops could sense that Cain had brushed all four X-Men away with one tremendous blow and was now stomping toward the emerald.

The fragments started to glow an eerie green.

Juggernaut cried out again, this time in pain.

That’s when Cyclops felt something gnawing at his mind ...

Gary Service managed to crawl out of the remains of the side door of the mansion and stand. Outside, the Juggernaut and the costumed heroes stood around some kind of green glow. They looked like they were in a trance.

He looked around at the once-beautiful yard of the Service family estate. Now the place looked exactly like it was: a battlefield. It would take months, maybe years, and a lot of cash, to restore the grounds to their former glory.

Then Gary saw his brother, lying face down in the grass. At normal size.

His heart sank.
Did they kill him? Was there no other way?

He ran over and knelt beside Robert. He wasn’t breathing.

In college, Gary had taken a course in CPR. It had been years since he put those classes to use, but he wouldn’t give up on Robert, not without a fight.

Slowly, Gary rolled his brother over onto his back. An ugly red burn covered the center of his chest, but otherwise he didn’t seem to be injured.

He massaged the heart five times, right at the edge of the scarring from where the emerald had been. Then he grabbed Robert’s nose, inhaled quickly, and breathed once.

He repeated the maneuver.

Five compressions. One breath.

Over and over again.

He lost track of how many times he did it.

Five compressions. One breath.

Then Robert coughed.

“Robert?” Gary said. “Robert, can you hear me?”

“What—what happened?” Robert said in a small voice. It was a complete contrast from the booming voice he had been using since first coming into contact with the emerald.

“How do you feel?”

“Awful. Did—did you save my life?”

Gary' shrugged. “I guess I did, yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re my brother.”

Centuries ago, the power of Cyttorak seeped through the emerald situated in the right hand of a great statue and entranced two young monks with easily molded minds.

Then another monk shattered the emerald, and left its accompanying ruby buried.

But the power was still there.

And it was enticing.

It had enticed a lonely trapper in the Northwest Territories and given him eternal life.

It had enticed an ambitious construction worker in New Orleans and given him power to control the city.

And it had enticed a man who had spent his life being beaten down by his father and given him great strength.

Now the power of the emerald had lost its conduit. So it reached out once again. Just as the ruby that once rested in the statue’s left hand had reached out to a weak young bully named Cain Marko and turned him into an unstoppable force, so did the emerald seek another like Albert Jonathan, Wingate Toole, and Robert Service.

Instead, it found the X-Men.

It found people who had faced the worst humanity had to offer. It found people who had overcome adversity, both physical and spiritual, and always come back.

It found people who knew the risks of absolute power, knew how it corrupted, and knew to resist it at all costs.

It found heroes.

Phoenix, who carried the memories of a creature that took her form and personality and succumbed to nearabsolute power to become a being of evil. Storm, who had once been worshipped as a goddess, and understood the pitfalls of trying to be a human deity. The Beast, the rationalist whose interest in the emerald was purely scientific, and who had seen too much as an X-Man, Avenger, and Defender to ever be tempted by the power of Cyttorak. Gambit, who had seen what the emerald had done to his hometown and rejected it outright. Wolverine, whose mind and body had been tampered with by forces outside his control and who would never willingly accept such again. Bishop, who came from a future where he lived under the yoke of absolute power. Rogue, who lived with the possibility, and the fear, of becoming something other than herself anytime she touched someone.

And Cyclops, the leader, who had fought for a dream of harmony among humans longer than any of them, for whom the idea of absolute power was anathema.

They all rejected the power.

But the power was still there. Building.

Building.

Until it exploded.

The last thing Rogue remembered was some kind of green explosion. Then there was something weird in her head, then
another
green explosion. Then nothing.

The next thing she knew, she woke up on the ruined grounds of the Service estate. The other X-Men were unconscious.

There was no sign of Robert Service.

However, Juggernaut was still present.

“How d’ya like that?” Cain said, staring at the ground.

Rogue followed his gaze to a huge hole of charred earth. She remembered that that’s where the broken emerald was.

“Where’d it go?” she asked.

“Looks like it’s gone. Even after it came offa Service’s chest, I could feel it. But I don’t feel nothin’ now.” He looked back at Rogue. “Far as I’m concerned, lady, this’s over. I’m still pissed at you guys for puttin’ me in that hole, but you guys destroyed the jewel, so I figure we’re even, for now.”

Rogue looked around. Wolverine was starting to stir, but none of the other X-Men were moving anytime soon. And she wasn’t in any shape to take on the Juggernaut alone—or even with Wolverine, once he recovered.

“For now, yeah, we’re even, Marko. ’Sides, we still owe ya for helpin’ against Magneto, so we’ll letcha go."

Juggernaut snorted. “You’re all heart, girlie. Fact is, you couldn’t stop me if you wanted. Just remember— nothin’ stops the Juggernaut.”

With that, Cain Marko simply walked off.

Gary hung up the phone and looked over at his brother, whom he’d placed on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. The ambulance would arrive shortly. What Gary had hoped would happen, had happened. Robert had returned to normal size and would spend time in jail for his crime, if he ever recovered from the shock.

And Gary would have control over the Service businesses. And the people who would benefit from that fact would be charity.

Lots and lots of charities.

m

The Professor floated through the cool rooms of the Institute on his hoverchair, moving silently into the study. The day had been a long one, but a successful one. Robert Service had been returned to normal, the emerald destroyed, and Cain calmed down. And no member of the team seriously hurt. Indeed, the team had overcome great temptation. He was proud of them.

In the study, Scott, Jean, Ororo, Remy, Rogue, and Bishop sat in chairs, sprawled out like the tired beings they were. Hank was already back hard at work in the lab and Wolverine had said he needed some time alone and had pulled one of his usual disappearing acts.

Scott and Jean sat side by side in the big overstuffed armchair. Rogue was in another of the big chairs and Remy rested on the arm of the chair beside her, his hand resting comfortably on her shoulder.

Storm had the couch to herself while Bishop sat straight in one of the smaller chairs, his eyes and mind clearly not focused on whatever banter the five others had been engaged in.

The Professor floated his chair up near the fireplace and faced his team. “Excellent work, everyone.”

“We were lucky,” Scott said. “If Cain had gotten that emerald, the world would be a different place.” “That it would,” agreed the Professor. The thought of Cain having a hundred times the power he did now just made him shudder.

“Or if Service had beaten Cain,” Jean said.

“Let’s not even go into that possibility,” Bishop said, his voice flat and clear.

“How’s Robert Service doing?” Jean asked the Professor.

The Professor shook his head sadly. ‘ ‘Amazingly, he has already regained consciousness. But Gary Service told me just a few minutes before I came in here that Robert might be clinically insane.”

“Insane?” Scott said. “You’re kidding?”

“Enough of a shock will send anyone over the edge,” the Professor said.

“Poor Gary,” Rogue said. “Lost his father and now this with his brother, all in the same week.”

The Professor suppressed a laugh. At the end of his phone call with Gary, he had offered to help fund the Institute. The Professor had turned him down politely, but the offer sounded as if Gary was doing just fine with his newfound wealth and power.

After a moment, Scott said, “I’m sorry we couldn’t cure Cain. But the emerald fragments destroyed themselves before they had a chance to make any significant changes to him.”

The Professor sighed. “Thank you, Scott, but it was a longshot. As I said, Cain and the ruby have been bonded to each other a long time now. It would take more than that to cure him of being the Juggernaut now.’ ’ He hesitated. “But I had to make the attempt. After all, he is my brother.”

“Family,” Rogue said, shaking her head in disgust. “Too bad we can’t pick our families, huh?”

The Professor glanced around the room at his team, then smiled. “Sometimes, I think we can,”

Scott and Jean both broke into broad smiles. They knew exactly what he meant. The X-Men were family. And one way or another, they all knew it.

He turned his hoverchair around and headed back for his study. Over his shoulder he said, “Dinner will be in one hour. Don’t be late.”

Then smiling to himself, he went back to work.

Two days later at Andreassi Memorial Hospital, Gary Service watched his brother through a one-way observation window. Beside him, Dr. Reeves stood, also watching.

Robert was strapped to his bed, a huge bandage on his chest where the emerald had been just a few days before. He was twisting back and forth, doing his best to break free. All the time swearing and holding a conversation with himself.

“I know it’s early, Doctor,” Gary said, staring at his brother, “but do you have any idea what’s happened to him?”

The doctor nodded. “The preliminary diagnosis is that he’s suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.” Gary glanced at the doctor. “You’re kidding? He’s never shown any indications of that in the past.”

“Perhaps, Mr. Sendee, but he’s showing evidence of it now.” He consulted Robert’s chart. “In addition to his own personality, he’s also modulated into two others. One is a fur trapper from Idaho, and the other is a—”

“A gangster from New Orleans,” Gary said, finishing the doctor’s sentence.

Reeves turned and faced Gary, his eyes cold and very serious. “I thought you said he had shown no indications of MPD in the past.”

“He hasn’t,” Gary said, staring at his brother through the glass. ‘ ‘But a short while back Robert stole something very important from them both.”

“Guilt, huh?” the doctor said softly. “That might help us treat him.”

Gary took one more look at his brother, then turned to the doctor. ‘ ‘Do anything you can to help him. Money is no object. After all, he is the only family I have.”

The doctor nodded. “I understand.”

Gary only nodded at him, then headed out the door whistling softly to himself. His father’s funeral was in two hours and there were still details that needed to be resolved. Details he’d always hoped to one day have to solve.

Family details.

Centuries ago, a monk shattered the emerald of Cyttorak. But it was not destroyed. Instead, it was scattered into the winds of time.

Two days ago, a mutant named Logan shattered the emerald of Cyttorak again. And again, it was scattered into the winds of time.

One fragment went two hundred years into the future. It appeared on the underside of a dead coral reef in the Atlantic Ocean near Key West.

The second fragment travelled twenty years, materializing in the foundation of a construction site in Kansas City, just as the concrete was being poured into it.

The third and final piece went a mere two weeks into the future in a trash bin resting behind an apartment building in Manhattan.

And the power waited once again.