Psylocke (2nd series) #4

Upstate New York, at the sprawling Haniver Estate. An enormous mansion and surrounding grounds which are safely positioned behind a high fence. Kwannon, sometimes called Psylocke, darts through the shadows of the estate grounds, which are patrolled by animal-robot hybrids. 'Psylocke, are you in?' a voice asks via telepathic transfer. 'You already know I am, Devon' Kwannon responds as she makes her way up the side of the mansion. From their location, Devon sits in front of several monitors, while John Greycrow stands behind them. 'Yeah, yeah, I do' Devon admits, before telling Kwannon that she can't blame them for being nervous. 'You're infiltrating the home of a man even Shinobi Shaw thinks is deranged' Devon notes, and as a large drone flies above Kwannon, Devon reports that Ty Haniver has some eyes in the skies, and that his security network encryption is next-level, meaning it would take them a long time to hack into it remotely.

'Don't worry You won't need to' Kwannon tells Devon as she reaches the mansion roof. Kwannon holds up a small weapon called a kunai and tells Devon that she likes kunai they made for her. 'Enhanced by my psychic power and guided by mind mind...they're quite convenient' Kwannon tells Devon as she hurls the kunai upwards at the drone, shattering part of it. 'A genuine Psylocke compliment? Wow!' Devon responds. Kwannon looks up at the drone and throws another psychically-charged kunai up at it, which goes through the drone. Kwannon then leaps up into the air and grabs the drone, before she drops down onto a tree, landing on a large branch, as several robots patrol the ground below. 'Got it!' Kwannon exclaims, before informing Devon that the drone is not just made are metal – there are taxidermied animal parts incorporated into the machine.

'That sounds disgusting!' Devon utters. 'It is' Kwannon responds. 'And inefficient' Devon adds, before asking Kwannon if she can bring one back for them. 'I want to see how it -' Devon begins, 'No' Kwannon tells them quickly. 'Children, I swear' Kwannon remarks to herself, before she inserts the data chip into the drone, and tells Devon that she has done so. 'Perfect. That should give me access to...aha!' Devon responds as they tap away at their keyboard and hack into the Haniver mansion surveillance system, locating footage and patrol routes. Devon begins to tell Kwannon that they will sort through this and send her a map. 'But it looks like your optimal path inside is -' Devon begins, before discovering that everywhere else is heavily guarded, but there is a small area along the east wing that the patrols barely touch, and there is even a set of large windows, perfect for infiltration. 'That's not a coincidence' Devon suggests.

instructs Devon to send her the coordinates anyway. 'You're still going? But -' Devon begins as Kwannon starts to run across the grounds and tells Devon that Haniver left her a note inviting her to chase him, so of course he set a trap. 'But I'm a ninja. The Hand did terrible things to me. But they did teach me how to walk into an ambush without getting caught' Kwannon exclaims. She finds the window and discovers a loose panel. 'Let me guess: conveniently person-sized?' Devon asks. 'They'd have to be flexible, but yes' Kwannon responds as she opens the window and enters the mansion, asking Devon to send her that map as soon as they can. But as she examines her new surroundings, Kwannon realizes that this is not a house – it's a museum. She sees taxidermy animals and skeletons of dinosaurs placed on display within the sprawling chamber before her.

Devon begins to say something to Kwannon, but their thoughts don't make it through. 'Devon? Are you there?' Kwannon asks. 'Greycrow! I lost her!' Devon exclaims, before explaining that something is interfering with their connection, but they don't know if it is disrupting the hardware, or Kwannon's psychic powers, but regardless, she can't reach her. Kwannon removes her earpiece, and Devon realizes that Haniver had this planned so he could isolate her. Devon begins tapping away at their keyboard and tells Greycrow that if Haniver is using some kind of tech, they can find a workaround, but isn't sure how long it will take. 'Deep breaths' Greycrow remarks as he puts a hand on Devon's shoulder. 'Just slow down and focus. Kwannon can handle herself. She'll be all right' Greycrow assures Devon. 'O-okay' Devon responds. 'Shell be all right' Greycrow utters.

Kwannon continues to survey her surroundings and decides that it is just her and a graveyard of animals. She stops at a display depicting what are claimed to be three different kinds of extinct wolves, and Kwannon realizes they are all mutated, some with two heads, and warped bones – 'Dire wolf, Aenocyon Dirus. Northwestern wolf, Canis Lupis Occidentalis. Coyote, Canis Latrans' she reads their names. Suddenly, there is a KLUNK noise, and three animal-robots enter the museum. One is a lion, another is a bear and the third a gorilla, all with robot components attached to them. The lion-robot states that the window breach intrusion is confirmed, but no recognizable fingerprints are located. A rat-robot appears and scans for unfamiliar scents, before the lion detects a faint scent trail leading south, but that the sound of breathing is not detected. 'The scent trail ends here' the lion-robot announces, as Kwannon clings to the large spine of one of the dinosaur skeletons in the museum.

'Intruder may have moved on to another room' one of the animal-robots states, before the gorilla-robot begins to instruct the others to spread out and check the exits – only for Kwannon to drop down from the dinosaur skeleton and hurl several of her kunai weapons at the animal-robots. 'I think I will' Kwannon exclaims as she lands on the floor amongst the shattered pieces of the hybrid creations.

Kwannon continues to explore, coming to a tunnel which passes underneath a large aquarium, where she notices more mutated animals, including fish, although she believes that these seem like naturally occuring mutations, not created ones. Kwannon also decides that they seem well cared for, and wonders if they are being preserved. 'You tell me, Kwannon' a voice calls out, and, shocked, Kwannon looks over and sees an almost mirror image of herself: 'Revanche!' she gasps, seeing herself as she appeared when she was trapped in Betsy Braddock's body. Kwannon raises a psi-sword and recalls how she was deceived into thinking she was Betsy until she was painfully awoken to her true identity – lost, until she died in agony. Kwannon asks herself how many nightmares she has had about looking in the mirror and seeing her staring back at her. 'No. I'm here in my own body. Revanche isn't me. Not anymore' Kwannon declares, while wondering what is going on, deciding that this place is messing with her head.

'I can't imagine why. These are all human parts. He's collecting samples of genetic mutation. And it looks like he moved on from animals' Kwannon thinks to herself as she enters another part of the museum, where an assortment of strange humanoid body parts are encased on display, such as two brains connected to one spine. 'This is sick' Kwannon gasps as she sees a baby in a container. Suddenly, the baby starts screaming: 'Mama. Mama. Mama. MAMA' Kwannon goes wide-eyed and tells herself that this isn't real, that it isn't possible.

(Then)

Kyoto, Japan, within the Hand's training grounds, where the other young girl trained by the Hand, Mitsuki, tells Kwannon to cover her eyes with her hands – no cheating. 'They're already closed!' Kwannon responds as Mitsuki pushes Kwannon's hands over her eyes. 'Do it anyway!' Mitsuki tells her. Suddenly, the girls' trainer, Master Hayashi appears and tells the girls they have had enough playing, before instructing Kwannon to catch Mitsuki in the bell maze with her eyes closed, and Mitsuki to evade Kwannon. 'Master your senses. Master your body. Master your pain'. 'Yes, Master Hayashi!' the girls respond, before the Hand ninja tells them that their test begins now, and unleashes some sort of sonic attack on them through a weapon. The girls scream. 'My head's splitting!' one of them calls out. 'I can feel the vibrations crushing my bones!' the other adds. Mitsuki tells Kwannon to come and get her – to master her senses and master her body, as the girls resist the sonic vibrations.

(Now)

'Master your pain' Kwannon tells herself, then declares 'You'll have to try harder than that to scare me. I know you're here, Haniver. I know you can see me. No more games. Show yourself!' as she looks up at a security camera. 'All right' Haniver remarks from another part of the estate. Several monitors can be seen behind him, and dozens of the blue butterflies flit around him. 'Follow the butterflies. I'll be waiting for you' Hainver's voice can be heard through the butterflies that appear around Kwannon, and she turns to see a door thud open at the other end of the museum. Kwannon realizes that the voice is coming from the butterflies, and wonders if it is an illusion. Suddenly, Kwannon looks at a display of people – and realizes they are mutants. 'What have you done?' she shouts. 'Me? I'm just a collector. A scientist' Haniver's voice can be heard through one of the butterflies.

Kwannon slices her psi-blade through the butterfly and declares 'We're already hunted and killed, for being what we are – now you defile our corpses and display them in your twisted museum?' Dozens more butterflies appear above Kwannon as Haniver's voice can be heard: 'Don't you want to know what you are? I do. I always want to know more. Homo sapiens. Homo superior. Close as cousins, yet so different' Haniver responds, while Kwannon hurls the kunai weapon, which takes out a number of the butterflies. 'Just like you and Betsy Braddock' Haniver remarks, as Kwannon looks over and sees someone resembling Betsy, in her classic ninja costume, standing in a doorway. 'Hi, Kwannon!' “Betsy exclaims as she leaps forward, her psi-knife clashing with Kwannon's psychic sword. 'You're not Betsy!' Kwannon responds. 'No? You're right. I'm Psylocke' “Betsy” states. Kwannon asks Haniver what he is doing to her, declaring that she knows this isn't real.

'Does this feel real, Kwannon?' “Betsy” asks as she slices her with her psi-blade. 'I don't trust my feelings' Kwannnon responds as she drops to the ground. 'You don't trust anyone!' “Betsy” retorts, suggesting that is the real reason Cyclops suspended Kwannon from the X-Men. 'He doesn't trust you, and he's right!' “Betsy” exclaims as her psi-knife clashes with Kwannon's psychic sword once more. 'Face it, Kwannon – you may have taken my name – but you'll never be me!' “Betsy” smirks as she backs Kwannon up to what looks to be a large, glowing screen. 'I don't want to be!' Kwannon retorts as she lunges forward and shoves her psychic sword into “Betsy”. Butterflies flitter around “Betsy” who laughs, and tells Kwannon that she is a treat, and that she knew she chose well. Several darts are suddenly fired from the large screen and latch onto Kwannon, who falls to the floor, and is dragged towards the screen.

'My dear Morpho Chimaera are beautiful, aren't they' Ty Haniver announces as he emerges from the shadows. 'Their scales produce a hallucinogenic dust that you've been inhaling since you set foot in my home' Several animal-robots gather around Kwannon as Haniver adds 'Ah, where are my manners?' He looms over Kwannon, his disfigured face can be seen as a two-headed dog sits next to him, and a sheep with heads at both ends of its body stands behind him. Ty Haniver introduces himself as the Taxonomist, and thanks Kwannon for accepting his hospitality. 'I do hope you'll enjoy your stay' he grins as Kwannon is pinned to the large screen, where several blades move towards her....