Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 445 HOSPITALITY

The Shi’ar Majestor’s palace made the large villa we had stayed in look like a Barbie dreamhouse in comparison. Practically its own city, the palace had dozens of skyscraper-sized towers around the perimeter. The central palace was about a mile across. Requiring legitimate miniature teleporters to traverse the vast distances in a reasonable time. 

After our villa was destroyed in the odd-dimensional attack, the full Shi’ar military was sent to collect us. Throwing us in shackles that utilized an energy beam to keep us restrained, we were tossed into a transport ship and sent to the palace. A few hours after we were detained, we were finally being brought in front of the triangle-headed leader. Or so they had said. 

“Hey yo, I gotta piss,” I said to the large Shi’ar guard leading our group. He was at least eight feet tall with dark gray skin. His hair shaved off, his Haki radiated power as he led us. Multiple other guards surrounding us, they all felt strong. It was easy to see that these were the elites of the Shi’ar. 

“Hold it,” one of the captors growled. Our guide, Polree had been whisked away in favor of the strong guards. 

“I can’t, my hands are tied,” I raised my shackled forearms. The energy beam moving around my wrists and connecting the shackles grew stronger the farther apart I tried to move them. 

“Come on, I nearly died. I’m not sure what you got under the belt for waste disposal, but if you really want to handle mine you can. But I gotta go,” I said. The man didn’t respond. Being annoying was my go-to for situations like this. All of the humans except Wolverine were around me. The only smart mutant had still been out trying to gather information when we were attacked. I hoped he was stealthy enough to stay hidden. 

Since no one was answering, I looked around me. In a massive hallway, the ceiling was at least 500 feet above us. The hall was shaped like a triangle, like the majority of Shi’ar hairdos in the palace. Some kind of status symbol it was easy to tell who was nobility and who wasn’t. Either afros or shaved heads were sported by the servants and guards. 

“Bastard, what kind of attack was that?” Magneto asked from my side. 

“Fuck y-Oh wait, that’s me,” I said, laughing as I remembered my choice for a hero name. I side eyed the taller man as Scarlet and Quick trailed behind him. The professor close by in his new Herbie mobile, I could tell he didn’t like the older mutant talking to me. “Not sure,” I said with a shrug. “It had something to do with dimensions or space maybe. I was busy getting out of there. What did the attack look like?”

“I saw it,” Quicksilver said. “It looked like some immensely dense black ball that sucked everything in.” 

I nodded. “Interesting,” I mumbled, wishing I had seen it. My Rift skill had reacted just in time to sense it. Such a powerful attack most likely would have killed all of us so I was glad I had it. “Thanks for getting everyone out,” I told the old magnetic mutant. 

“I trusted my gut. I am glad I did,” he said. His eyes scanning everywhere as we were escorted. “Mr. Danvers, we need more information on these Shi’ar. From the new reception, their hospitality has ceased for us.”

“Yes,” Carl Danvers said. He was in the middle of the group, his eyes scanning everywhere as well. “Despite how it looked, the Shi’ar have us monitored at all times. Nothing happens on their planet without their knowledge.”

“How?” I asked, worried that all of our moves were monitored by hidden surveillance.

“The Shi’ar people are very military-centric. Their troops are strong and numerous. This planet is Chandilar. Their home planet, and center for the government and military. I am sure you saw the starships above in the sky. That is only a fraction of their firepower, but constantly on alert for attacks from outside and inside. On Chandilar they use a being called Garuda. it is an artificial intelligence…do you know what that is?” 

“No,” I said, my eyes wide. 

“Weston,” Gwen hissed. “Yes, we know what AI is.”

“Dammit, Gwen. This guy just learned he’s human. He needs to learn what sarcasm is if he is going to fit in with us.”

Danvers continued on, unaffected by the conversation. “Garuda is a galaxy spanning AI. It not only monitors all the planets in the Shi’ar territory, but outside of it. Garuda is the being that scanned me before summoning you people. It must have knowledge of your-our homeworld.” He sighed, still unused to thinking of himself as human. 

“That’s good,” I said with a nod.

“What? That sounds awful,” Scarlet Witch said. “We are being watched at all times.”

I eyed the red beauty. Wearing her red skin-tight corset her bust was pushed up to give me a nice view. She actually blushed as I eyed her. “It means we can find our homeworld,” I said. “Wolverine is still out there. If we can get a few more on the outside, maybe we can do what needs doing.” 

“I agree,” Magneto said. “Mr. Danvers, why were you not under such strict guard before? This seems rather excessive, but you are on trial for your life.”

“It would be a black eye for the Kree if I were to try to escape,” he said. “But since I am human…who knows? Either way, we were always under such strict guard. You simply did not notice them. These are members of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard. The elites of a thousand planets. Trying to escape would be suicide.”

“Maybe for you,” I mumbled. I already had a plan in place to get out, but I doubted I could take anyone with me. My eyes scanned those around me. The X-men would be lost without the professor, it would be best to just let them stay together. Gwen, Peter, Jessica, and Lyra were still inexperienced. Anne was…not even looking at me. Her Haki all over the place, I knew it was best to leave her alone for now. 

The Blandtastic Four were huddled together still planning, but each was useless. The only ones I felt could actually be useful was Quicksilver. “Hey,” I whispered to him. The gray haired man eyed me. “I’m going to make a move to escape. Are you coming with me?” AI or not, I doubted the thing could keep an eye on the speed freak. He would be useful to relay messages to this group if I got out of the palace. 

“You will need me, Bastard,” Magneto said. 

“You’re too old,” I said truthfully. Though I knew he was strong and could probably tear a huge hole in this palace, I needed Quick only. With my rebuke of the old man, Scarlet and Quick’s Haki became fearful. “You would be better suited here for now. Quicksilver is probably the only one that can keep up with my escape plan.” 

“You aren’t leaving me,” Scarlet said to Quick who was still silent.

“What is your plan?” Magneto said, ignoring my comment, but before I could answer we were escorted into the throne room. It was easy to tell since the walls were lined with Shi’ar guards. All of them wore ornate and shiny armor and had weapons at their sides. Ranging from guns to swords and spears, their Haki was very high, which told me that these people weren’t to be messed with. 

The only sound around us were our footfalls echoing in the large chamber as we walked on the red carpet that led directly to the throne. Unlike most throne rooms I had been to, this one was actually impressive. Massive metallic statues of triangle head Shi’ar lined each side. The many guards standing in front of them as if it were an honor to be there. 

The throne itself was a brass colored chair that extended from the floor to the tall ceiling. Circular rods like organ pipes extended all around it as the Majestor sat upon the wide throne. His lackey from our summoning was beside him and there were a multitude of tri-heads scattered on the raised dais they were on.

“You should really copy this for your throne room in Genosha, Magneto,” I said, impressed. “Maybe they can put you in touch with their interior decorator.” The old man eyed me, then surprised me by cracking a smile. He didn’t respond, but I felt the old man was liking me more and more as we came to a halt many paces from the dais. 

The Majestor sat upon his throne, his Haki smug as he stared down at us. His number one lackey was the first to speak. “Which of you…humans, is responsible for destroying your accommodations?” 

There was a long silence as they stared down at us. Since no one else was bothering to answer I stepped up close to the guards. “That wasn’t us, you birdbrain. One of your people attacked us!”

“Weston,” Xavier said, but I ignored him, he was far too timid. 

“It was most certainly not one of ours,” the lackey said in a haughty tone. “Garuda has identified the attack as a dimensional rip. Obviously one of you has an ability that backfired. We will not risk you trying to escape the Arin'n Haelar.”

I almost began another tirade, but closed my eyes, annoyed by this whole ordeal. I needed to escape anyway, so maybe I could if I pissed them off a little. “You’re right, it was me. I left the space stove on. These guys had nothing to do with it. Let them go back outside, and you can throw me in a cell or whatever.” 

“That will not do,” the lackey said. “First, you each will submit to a Hroth scan, and we will find more secure accommodations for you.” 

“Hroth scans are not allowed in the Arin'n Haelar,” Carl Danvers interjected, stepping up. 

“What the fuck is a Hroth scan?” I hissed at him, but he was focused on the dais.

“Due to extenuating circumstances, we will be making an exception,” the lackey said. “To ensure no more attempts at escape are made, please step forward one at a time.” He pointed to a red circular platform to the side of the dais. I hadn’t noticed it since it kind of looked like the teleporter we stepped through earlier. Carl did not appear to like this information as the guards parted to allow us near it. 

“What the hell is that thing?” I asked Carl as others asked the same. 

“It’s a Hroth scanner. Only the top royalty on a few planets have one. They are able to scan your body, tell people who you are, your capabilities, and even your weaknesses. They use this to verify you are not someone else in disguise. They are most likely doing this to gather information before the Arin'n Haelar.” 

“Fuck,” I said as Magneto and Xavier began to become annoyed. 

“Should I break it?” Magneto mumbled. The thing looked metal, I wondered if he could.

“No, any use of skills, abilities, or anything could be seen as an attack. You would have one hundred guards on you in an instant. Despite where you came from, your skills are not rare in the universe,” Carl said. That wasn’t really news to me. There were plenty of aliens with powers. I doubted mutants were all that rare when you were looking at trillions of people in your empire. 

“Submit to the Hroth scan, and you will be escorted to a more secure location in the palace until the Arin'n Haelar,” the lackey said. “Refuse, and it will be considered a forfeit on your part.” 

Unsure what kind of game was being played on the planet I rolled my eyes and took a step forward. I was actually kind of interested in what information this scanner could see. Since the System or whatever usually restricted too many questions about me, I was curious if it could see that I could travel to other worlds or not. 

I walked up to the short red raised platform and stepped on. As I did, the red turned green. It began to whir lightly and I prayed for it to start beeping or something so I could act like it was hurting me, but honestly nothing interesting happened. A ding sounded in the room and a large screen appeared over my head. 

I frowned. “Well this thing is shit,” I said, stomping on the pad. The glowing metal top clanged but didn’t bust like I had hoped it would. Others around me gasped and looked concerned at the information. 

“That cannot happen,” the lackey by the throne said.  

“Weston, you are not fully human?” Xavier asked. He and all the others looked up at my screen, intrigued.

“I guess not,” I said, acting surprised. “Maybe that barrel had some alien DNA in it too.” I shrugged and got off the platform. "Well, let’s move this along then.” My Observation Haki studying everything around us, I moved back to the center of the group. 

“I refuse,” Carl Danvers said as others turned to him. “By order of the Kree’s sanctions-” 

“Garuda has already proven that you are not Kree,” the lackey said, slowly recovering from the lack of information the scanner got from me. 

“It does not matter. I am a citizen of the Kree, and member of the Starforce,” he said. “How far has the royal Naramani fallen if you are relying on this inform-” 

“Enough,” the Majestor said. His Haki said he was angry by the mention of the Naramani name. I could tell there was something I wasn’t understanding about Mandor and his position with the Shi’ar. Carl hadn’t told us everything he knew. There shouldn’t be such rage with the mention of a name. 

“You have taken advantage of our ancient rites. The Arin'n Haelar is a duel of honor between our people. I have been more than lenient with your species thus far. As humans, you have no rights whatsoever while within our borders. We are being generous in letting you defend yourselves at all. Now step on the Hroth scanner, or your trial will be considered forfeit.”

Carl was a mix of emotions, as he should be. Long seconds he waited until he finally stepped on the scanner. Once he did the screen popped up above his head as well. 

“I am Kree,” Carl said as he let out a sigh of relief. His Cosmic Force was hidden which made me hopeful Jean Grey’s own force would stay hidden as well. Since I was pretty sure the Shi’ar originally hated Jean Grey and the Phoenix for some reason, it was good to see she wouldn’t be outed. 

“It seems you are part Kree, yes,” the lackey said. Someone noted the information and others began to step forward. There wasn’t too much information to be gleamed. First was Professor Xavier which only had psychic for his powers. No weaknesses were outright listed but I could see that people were taking notes on the sidelines. I offered to them stairs as a weakness, and someone wrote it down, then someone hit that guy for writing it. I guessed they really were using this as a way to turn the Arin'n Haelar in their favor. 

Annoyed by the cowardice of these people, Cyclops followed, then Colossus, but as it got to Jean Grey the scanner began to light up underneath her then exploded. It wasn’t an overly large explosion but the red platform shot electrical sparks out the side and began to whir loudly. As Jean jumped off the platform I opened a Rift below me. 

My power shooting out to make a rip in space at my feet, I decided I didn’t want anyone else to risk this. As others yelled or moved to Jean, I fell through the floor. The floor below wasn’t nearly as tall as the one with the throne room. No people around, I dropped about twelve feet and pulled my Rift back into me.

“What are we doing?” Quicksilver asked, appearing right next to me. 

“Jesus,” I cursed, flinching from him. “Don’t do that.” I turned again as I saw Scarlet Witch begin to puke behind him. 

“Stop moving me without warning!” She yelled as she lost her balance and fell to the ground. Her hands still shackled together she couldn’t catch herself but Quicksilver caught her before she hit hard. 

“Goddammit, I didn’t think you would notice me going,” I said.

“Hey, you said you had a plan to escape,” Quicksilver said. “Father said I should stick to you.” I sighed, feeling his almost worship of Magneto. There was nothing that could be done. 

We heard yelling from the floor above. Hopeful that it was more about the scanner than us I ignored the twins. The energy shackles around my wrist had been reacting with my new power. 

Before I could feel electricity around me thanks to my Sparks skill. My newly upgraded Hoken still used Sparks as a base so I could still sense the electricity or whatever was used in the shackles. Charging the restraints with Hoken, the lifeforce and spiritual energy laced electricity immediately short-circuited it. 

“Nice,” I said as I poured more Hoken into my hand. Zapping Quick and Scarlet’s shackles they died out just as easily. “When you went out yesterday, did you get holographic projectors?”

“Holo what?” Quick asked, his eyes wide. 

“No, we merely gathered information with some…gentle nudging of the people following us,” she said. 

“Ah, you killed our shadows?” I asked. “No wonder they pushed for this. They were probably surprised we could deal with their guards.” I opened a hand sized hole into my subspace. Pulling out two metallic cubes, I handed the projectors to the duo. “I want these back, but they should help us escape.”

I had my own small box in hand. Pushing a button on it the image around me flickered to a few preselected races. My features changed to that of a Shi’ar native as I began to walk to where I felt an exterior wall. 

“This is awesome,” Quicksilver said as he kept pushing the button, changing his appearance. 

“Where are we going?” Scarlet asked. 

“To get information,” I said. “In the only place I can think of.” An alarm sounded around us. Cursing, I began to run. Ready to get the hell out of the palace and figure out what the hell was going on. I had a quest to finish after all.