Chapter 1- The New World

New York City,- Brooklyn apartment, 2008- March- 16 (Evening)

Exodus-                   

Exodus sat alone in the dark room. He could feel the light beyond the walls of the apartment building, but his companion's request to make the place appear abandoned was clear, so he left all of the devices and lights off.

The lock on the door shifted, and he opened his glowing eyes.

Exodus couldn't feel any light in the hallway outside of the room he waited in, so whoever was trying to enter, was also trying to hide their journey. A moment later, the door opened, and a black elderly man, one that the knight had never met before, entered the small three-room apartment.

The elder held a paper bag, which appeared to be laden with groceries. This person seemed to know the apartment well enough, as he dumped the bag onto the dining table, from memory rather than from sight, as still the was no illumination in the apartment. Exodus also noticed that the person closed the door with the keys still in the lock. Once the door was shut, the person gasped and remained standing only because they gripped the table.

Exodus realized that the person before him must be wounded, to act in such a way. So he asked. "Do you require assistance?"

Startled the old man pulled and aimed a gun at him. The knight wasn't scared, not after being exposed to real darkness. He knew that he could pull the light from outside in the streets, into this room if they tried to attack him. Heck, he probably could stop the bullet with the light from the mussel flash alone.

“Damn it, Ben I almost shot you!” a woman’s voice came from the old man’s throat. A voice he recognized as Mystique’s.

“And I have asked you to stop using that name. Bennett of Paris died in that golden tomb… there is only Exodus now.” The knight countered before standing up from the fluffy chair he was sitting in.

As he spoke, the old black man changed into a young fit woman, one with blue skin and medium-length red hair. Her forehead and shoulders seemed to have some kind of scales, and her solid yellow eyes watched him. She had a white sash tied around her breasts, and a loin cloth covering her groin. The only really decorative piece she wore was her skull-carved hair band holding back her hair from her eyes.

As he had predicted, both the lower left side of her abdomen and left thigh had gunshot wounds. It appeared that the bullets had just torn through her, telling him that she had been caught by surprise.

“What happened?” He asked without pointing out her injuries.

“I signaled for a supply drop, and got an ambush instead.” She snapped at him, then pointed past him and asked. “Would you grab me the medical kit?”

Exodus turned around and easily saw the white duffle bag, with a red cross on it. As he reached for it, he felt more light appear in the room before he saw the illumination. Mystique had replaced the bulb above the table with a weaker one so that she could see, but not announce to those outside that someone was home.

As he moved back to her, she asked. “So why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Brain Braddock betrayed us.” The knight admitted before he set the medical bag down. Mystique deftly opened the bag and found the supplies that she sought. As she did Exodus pointed out. “You’re not bleeding?”

"My powers may not heal me, but I can control the flow of blood in my body. Heck, I could bury these injuries if I really wanted to, but that would slow down how fast I recover…" The blue-skinned woman explained as she cleaned and covered her injuries. Exodus winched when he watched her shoulders shift and stretched so she could bandage her own back. When her arms popped back into place she asked. "Wait, how deep did his betrayal go?"

"Deep, he called Betsy to warn her, but we were ambushed by soldiers who were waiting for us near the Grey-wing, and then again several times while at sea. Magneto was certain that they had been given a workaround for our stealth system." Exodus explained what had happened to them all those weeks ago.

“Is that why you are here? To tell me to hide?” Mystique asked while cleaning up the wrappers and other garbage she had accumulated while tending her wounds.

Exodus crossed his arms as he explained. “No, we have a patron now. I am to gather you and the others and bring you to our new base. Do you know how to reach Copycat?”

She didn’t answer, instead muttered. “Great some other politician takes us in when we need them the most.”

“Our patron is neither a politician, nor a mutant.” The knight corrected.

She cocked an eyebrow at his statement before teasing him. “Oh, the master of magnetism trusts an outsider? This patron of yours must be a real charmer.”

Exodus squinted at her and ordered. “Our lord trusts him, and he has earned mine as well. So you come. And you will aid me in finding Copycat before we return.”

Mystique suddenly looked frantic, as she suddenly dug into the bag of groceries. As she searched it she stated. “Wait, if that noble bastard gave out the stealth tech, what else did we have tied to his company? This means… that the brat must have given them our phones' information too." She pulled out one of the smartphones that Betsy had issued to the Brotherhood members. Exodus hadn't taken one, if he needed some information he would have just sought out their members and asked them.

He shrugged at the little glowing device in her hands.

"I turned this off when I stole the bag. They remote activated it, so they could track me." The blue-skinned woman explained.

“So we beat them, or leave before they arrive.” The knight offered his solution to her problem. He could feel that the amount of light outside and on the ground floor had increased, but there weren’t the usual horns or sirens so he wasn’t that worried.

"No, you fool. Irene has called me on this thing. That means that they know about her, about my estate. She and the kids could be in danger too… Fucking Baron Braddock, I will kill him if she or the others get hurt because of this." She jumped around upset, before throwing and breaking the small device against the floor.

He ignored her antics as he felt for the light that he detected before. Many of those that he had felt had suddenly gone out. While another long line of line was climbing up the stairs of the building. He looked over at his quarry and realized that they wouldn’t be able to leave before they arrived.

“They will be here soon.” He said more to himself than to Mystique.

Still, she must have heard him though, because she ran into the apartment's kitchen area, and opened a cabinet. Instead of dishes though, she stored a collection of modern assault weapons, then she opened a drawer, and pulled out pre-loaded clips for the guns.

Not needing such tools, he moved to the front door, and opened it. He felt the lights stop at the landing to this floor. Then the knight pulled the keys out of the lock and threw them at the medical bag. Finally, he stepped into the hallway and faced the officers watching him. There were three, each armed and armored like many professional soldiers or tactical police would be.

“That’s Exodus.” he heard one of them mutter.

While another said. "No, it's not, it's her disguised as him. She's just trying to spook us."

"I will give you one chance to walk away. Otherwise, this will lead to bloodshed and death." Exodus warned them.

However, the officers ignored his warning and ordered. “Mystique! You are under arrest. Lay down on the ground with your hands on your head!”

They aimed their weapons at him, weapons with flashlights attached and blaring at him. As the knight shook his head, those flashlights dimmed, as he materialized blades from them. Before they could react he willed the blades into action. Short swords of light, cut Kevlar armored arms with ease.

The men screamed as their arms were severed from them. One grabbed his stump and fell onto his ass. While another shouted, “I told you it was him!” both of those men dropped their rifles, only the third kept his. He used it to block the next swing. The blade still cut the barrel off, but then was stopped by the metal of the magazine.

Three more officers stormed passed their allies, and fired at him. But before they did that, he used the ambient light to make a shield before him. He willed the two unstuck weapons at these new men too. All the while he pulled the light from their weapons towards himself.

Mystique poked her head out of the open door and watched as he cut down their attackers.

“Who thought you that trick?” She asked him after seeing their opponents held up by the flying blades of light.

“Our patron.” He answered as he reached out towards the large ball of light that he had made before him, and willed it into a halberd. Before joining the fray he ordered her. "Gather anything you may need."

He charged like the knight he was. Impaling the next two men at the top of the stairwell. He then willed the halberd into a ball before blasting the row of men waiting at the landing. Having seen their like before, he reached down and pulled a pair of stun grenades off of their rigs. The Exodus held them for the remaining officers to see.

“Grenade!” an officer shouted.

“They’re just flash bangs.” Another argued. He must have been a rookie.

“He’s a light manipulator you idiot! Move!” the first man barked.

Exodus pulled the pins and threw the tools into the stairwell. When the flash came, he amplified it and willed it into the men and stairs at the same time. In his hands the two 'stunning' devices were turned into a wall of heavy cavalry, tearing through men, wood, Kevlar, and steel alike.

When Exodus turned around, one of the armless officers was still awake and aiming his pistol at him. The knight looked at the poorly bandaged stump, its blood flowing freely. He doubted the man would survive if he didn’t aid him.

"Lower the weapon and I will cartelize your wound. Don't, and I will let you bleed to death." Exodus offered. The other man's hand shook for a time, before he finally lowered it. The knight picked up a rifle and removed the attached flashlight, before kneeling beside the man. After a second he began willing the light into a searing scalpel, he stemmed the wound.

“You’re a monster.” The officer muttered after getting his breath back.

“No, I am a man with a duty. No different than you. It was only our superiors being enemies that made us so.” The knight stated.

Then he moved to a non-moving non-breathing officer and took the stun grenade from his body. He walked away, happy to not be shot in the back. However, before reaching the still-open apartment door Exodus was caught by surprise.

A man had snuck up and stood near the door. He was not dressed liked like the officers, but rather was wearing all black. Atop his face, he wore a mask, which covered most of his face as well as his eyes.

The knight pulled his manifested blades and barriers around him, and still, this man before him didn't react or even flinch at the flashes or shifting light. ‘Is he blind?’ the knight wondered.

“You will leave my city.” the masked man demanded.

Exodus didn’t argue, saying. “That is my intention. I was after all only defending myself and my ally.”

“And that is why I am not attacking you. But you are a threat to the peace here, and you must leave before more good men are cut short.” The masked said before taking a step back, but didn’t flee. He waited to see how the knight would react.

Exodus entered the apartment, and saw that Mystique was still stuffing a few items into a bag. So the knight retrieved the medical bag from the table. He knew that he wouldn't have done this before, but he took the bag with him back into the hallway. Non-mutants were beneath him and his lord. But the mage had shown him that not all ‘tribesmen’ were evil.

At the door, he held up the bag, and asked the masked man. "Would you assist me?"

“Sounds like medical supplies?” the masked man muttered when the knight moved the bag.

“They are. We might still save two of them.” Exodus explained.

“Why?” the masked man asked in confusion.

“The battle is over, and we are no longer enemies.” He stated. Remembering what he had thought a knight’s duty was before actually becoming one.

The masked man nodded, and they moved to treat the still-breathing but clearly dying officers. As they finished, Mystique was standing nearby waiting. She had a pair of loaded assault rifles over one shoulder and a travel bag in the other. She also now wore a weapons harness with several pistols holstered to her.

"Aren't you the devil of hell's kitchen? What are you doing so far from there?" she asked the masked man.

“You two made a lot of noise.” The masked man said before leaving for the fire escape.

They could hear more officers below them arguing with someone, probably fire and rescue. With the stairwell gone, none had made it up here. So Exodus pointed to the stairs leading up. He and Mystique climbed to the roof, once there he used the lights of the buildings nearby to create a platform for her to step on.

"We are going to my estate." The blue-skinned woman demanded.

“They are not part of the Brotherhood.” The knight pointed out.

"Look we both know you only care about doing your duty, and that means you need my help to find our other stray," Mystique argued. He growled at her, but didn't point out that he could always force the information from her.

‘Helping her and her brood would be the fastest way.’ he thought, before muttering. “The Citadel does have more than enough space, but we would need to confirm things with my lord. And you destroyed your phone.”

"I have a means of contacting him at the estate. And fine we will ask before showing up with the others, but you can't argue that they won't be useful, the kids already wanted to join, I was the one who didn't let them because I felt they were too young to fight." The shape-shifter pointed out to him.

He did argue. “Your Irene is too old to fight.”

“While I think she still has some fight in her, but we can both agree that her powers would still be useful to us.” The blue woman countered.

Exodus pointed at the platform and said. “Get on, you have won. We will go to your estate first.”

She smirked before she stepped on it. Then he smirked as he wrapped her up in a bubble of light. Mystique looked at him confused, so he explained. “I will need to go fast if I am to maintain the required light to maintain this creation. Brace yourself.”

Mystique paled and did indeed reach out to the sides of the bubble as they rose into the air. He absorbed as much light of the brilliant city, as he could before shooting off into the western sky.