Fan Fiction: X-Men: Sanctuary #4 by Kyle Phoenix

X-Men: Sanctuary Issue # 4 By Kyle Phoenix

San Madre, Argentina, South America:

"We can't get any closer?" Nightcrawler asked incredulously, trying to look at a town from five miles away even through advanced binoculars wasn't easy.
Hunter pointed to the valley that bordered the town on three sides. "They chose this town because there is only one avenue of land entrance. They also have monitoring sensors throughout the valley ridges."
"Ok, so how do we get in and what do we do once we're there?' Spike asked, her and the rest of the X-Men crouched in the under brush on the side of a cliff.
"Yes, how do we separate out the infected from the non-infected?" Karma asked.
"There is no separation. All of them are Brood infected. The entirety of the town," Hunter replied.
"All of them?!" Frenzy asked in shock. "There have got to be about five thousand people there. We're no match for that!"
"We have to find a way to contain them and then destroy them all," Talisman offered. "They've stayed together obviously to build a strong enough base of power to leave here and attack the Shi'ar Empire. Or what's left of it. But their presence here maintains the constant threat of simply their split off into a thousand different directions and infecting the whole planet. The world would be overrun, conquered before we could even marshal a defense."
"Maybe we should call in the Avengers? I mean just as consultants, I'm not saying we can't do this, just consultants?" Spike suggested.
They could take the continent before we or any other heroes could get here in force. Also it would be noticeable if suddenly the Avengers came here.. Which brings us back to how we stop them without a nuclear warhead? Chamber asked telepathically.
"My plan is risky. Within my ship is a cryogenically frozen Brood, the one that you saw, Karma," Hunter nodded at Karma who grimaced at the memory of Tran phasing through the ship and coming face to face with the monster. "We cover ourselves in its' secretions, a resin, so as not to "smell" different than the other residents. Infiltrate the town and get to the reactor core of the star ship they must be building at this point, under the town and set it to self-destruct. Destroying the town and all of it's residents before they can achieve flight," Hunter explained.
"The Defenders? I've heard good things about them. Ok, not good things but doesn't the Hulk work with them? The Hulk would be good here. Hulk smash, Hulk kill, Hulk stand in the middle of a town going nuclear. You know, that kind of stuff, Spike offered.
"Again, the same problem, Spike, contacting them in time without alerting the Brood. Hunter, are you sure this resin will safeguard us within that nest? If it doesn't we're as good as dead. They will impregnate us for sure," Nightcrawler shivered. "It's happened to me before. I do not wish that upon my darkest enemy and I'm not sure I have the right to ask any of you to risk that, even as X-Men." "I concur. Whoever is insane enough to do this has to be prepared for that eventuality," Spike pointed out. "I've studied the X-Men's files on them, it's not an easy process to remove the eggs once they're in." Bloody hell! When you put it that way, how about Thor? He's a tough one. The hammer, the whole God thing going on. Cecelia might have a point, a God in spirit and one in form might help, Chamber said somberly.

"Should anyone be infected we have my ship to go into space. There is still an operational Stargate on the border of the star system next to this one. We simply take my ship through it and back and the eggs are purged from our systems," Hunter said.
"Ok, is it just me or are there about fourteen thousand different ways we can all see this plan going afoul?" Frenzy laughed.
"For one, I can't have a Brood egg implanted within me, it's an evil species. I am a-----------nun is the best approximate term for why my body can't be compromised in such a fashion but I will back you up to the end," Talisman explained. "I have several very dangerous spells that I would be reticent to use against humans but that I can cause a lot of damage with to that town."
Nightcrawler nodded. "It might actually work best if only some of us are infiltrators but which ones? If there's a Brood Queen at the center of this mess, she'll know me. Hunter would set off their suspicions immediately. We need to get in, ascertain the threat level and at the same time leave a rear guard to either aid in escape or go for help. I doubt that the rest of our squad will get back from Tokyo to Australia in time to rocket over here."
Karma cleared her throat and they all turned to her, she'd been silent for quite some time. "My brother Tran suggests myself and Frenzy. Her mutant enhanced strength makes her the most able to resist them in a close quarter's fight and that would leave Nightcrawler here to teleport us out. And I can approach with the knowledge that Tran will be able to dissipate this body, even if I'm rendered unconscious."
"Thank you for voting me in," Frenzy muttered. "I'm not saying I'm not willing to do it, I just want to make sure I don't turn into one of those slugs."
"Chamber can act as a telepathic relay to the two of them," Talisman nodded and I can teleport into the town should they be close to being overwhelmed and wreck havoc like they can't imagine to cover the escape."
"Hey, what about Heroes for Hire? I've got a little bit saved up, we could all chip in and you know get Powerman down here," Spike grinned
Nightcrawler agreed wondering if Archangels portion of the team was working out so well in strategic terms. There seemed to be fluidity to their grouping. He wondered if there was relevance to Talismans assertion that Xavier had a deep influence over the one's who became X-men. Quasi-X- Men comprised this squad and those who had never been members before. He pushed it out of his mind. Something to ponder another day. If they survived this battle. "Spike, Talisman, work on a way to contain the town itself. Hunter, Chamber, wait for the signal of where I am to teleport into to activate the reactor's destruction and pull everyone out."
"This all sounds too simple out loud," Spike said in a worried tone.
"Oh, I'm sure it will fall apart three ways from Sunday but we'll pull it out of the bag!" Nightcrawler answered with a dark mirth. "That's what X-Men do!"

Somewhere:

The scrying pool swirled in the center of the cavern. Small insects darted around the stone floor next to the ornate wooden chair, runes carved into the dark marble floor. A thin green hand grasped the arm rest then raised a single finger and the Sanctuary base appeared, next to it, slowly another image produced of Amara dressed as the Red Queen.
"Very interesting," Wraith chuckled, "I hadn't expected her to move so fast."
"No one did," Selene said as she sauntered over to the scrying pool, her heels clicking delicately on the floor. "It seems we may have to step up our operations faster than anticipated."
"Ah. War. Always a median option though this will claim quite a bit. Are you prepared?" Wraith asked her.
"This incarnation of the X-Men has far more possibilities than the others. More power over a greater span of disciplines. They are also not of such a puritanical bent as some of the others. They are..disenfranchised in a sense. "
"Yes, my hand is within them already. I am both pleased and troubled by how easily they've been co-opted on so many levels," Wraith replied. "Again, dear Selene, are you prepared?"
"Yes, yes, I am," Selene promised then drew her cloak around her and vanished.

Four Seasons Hotel, Tokyo, Japan:

A battered copy of Louise Erdrich's Tracks in her hand, Danielle Moonstar sat by the window of the enormous master suite reading by the two hour old sunlight. Or at least that's what it looked like. Warren Worthington sat on the edge of his bed in pajama bottoms, having recovered from being held prisoner by a serial killer the night before, his wings occasionally expanding and contracting the way one would stretch their arms. He stared out of the glass terrace doors at the horizon. To the casual observer it would look like two lovers, quietly in each other's presence before breakfast. In truth, there was a fierce argument going on through their psionic rapport.
Listen to me, Warren, I'm right!
That Amara set us all up? Every one of us? The X-Men? Channel? The Hellfire Club? That's ridiculous! No offense but she's not that bright.
What's that suppose to mean? I saw that flash! For her age? Like me?!
Get out of my head if you don't want my honest opinion!
Warren, she knew the Black Bishop's name---Carlos---Carlos Allegra but only myself, Paulie and, Bobby had been introduced to him. She'd never met him before but she knew his name!
Maybe they've met before. She has been bumming around Europe. He's a Spaniard, very big in oil and textiles in Europe. I've known of him and his family for years, in passing.
So how come she's the only one out of the whole scenario who wins, huh?
Why would she do this, Danielle?
To avenge her mother, to gain status in one stroke, to become a better bitch, I don't know! She can kill Selene with Shaw's help and be a Red Queen in the friggin' Hellfire Club----a position last held by Phoenix!
The Phoenix entity. Not the real Jean Grey.
Whatever! Are you listening to me?
Yes, you're like a goddamn boom box in my head. Tone it down.
Sorry. I just can't talk to anyone else about this. Not yet. I don't even want it verbalized out loud.
I understand that but what are we suppose to do? Confront her? Stop her? From doing what? How? She averted a war in the Hellfire Club by placating both sides.
She doesn't know the whole story.
What story, Dani, what else are you holding back?
She blames Selene for her mother's death but she's never faced up to the fact that Selene may be her mother. Selene went out of her way to fight Channel not to kill her. He said Selene was inside of her body desperately negotiating for Amara's life. She's had a thousand opportunities to off her and hasn't. And in Nova Roma, things happened, I got a feeling.... Warren, it may look like a solution, like a better way but this has got time bomb written all over it.
Ok, calm, down, chief, we're ok. I'll keep my eagle eyes open. I'm not saying I'm convinced and we can't know without a telepath scanning Amara but it does add a new angle to things.
Dani took a deep breath and put down her book as he walked over to the chair in front of the terrace doors, his feet sinking into the plush carpeting. He leaned down so that they were facing each other, his eyes twinkling with thrill.
Yeah, it is, she whispered in his head.
What? Oh. You caught that feeling? It does feel like it. Being married. Yes, it does feel like that sometimes. I'm sorry that we're locked into this rapport. We didn't have a chance to get to know each other, to get comfortable with each other first. Scott and Jean did. We all did with the professor. That jaunt to finding you? Into your head, into your soul? That was too much, too fast. I remember pieces, Warren admitted. Not everything. What did you see? "Too much," Dani said aloud then got up and walked out, shutting down her end of the rapport.

The entire fourteen foot high by twenty long bedroom wall was mirrored. A single piece of glass. And Amara studied herself very carefully. A red bustier with matching bottom briefs, thigh high boots and the heavy red velvet, silk lined cloak. She'd added her X-men uniform under the boots and briefs, her choker with the monogrammed X on it. One of the team but also meshed with something else. The Red Queen of the Hellfire Club Inner Circle. The last person to bear that title had destroyed a sun, killed 5 billion people. Her fair-haired tresses hanging below her shoulder was a beautiful effect upon the deep blood red of her cloak. She smiled and her eyes flashed for a moment and her hair turned to flickering, dripping flames, a corona of ever changing energy that said much more than simple locks of hair. But to display her power would be ostentatious. Something a commoner would do. She pulled her power in ever so slightly so that there was a gentle glow radiating from her skin, her face, as if she were glistening constantly and she knew that her temperature was at least fifteen to twenty degrees higher than a normal persons. Yes, that was a delicious effect. She focused and set her skins temperature at closer to 120 degrees, along with the glisten.
Yes, yes, that was it. Amara laughed heartily then twirled around. 

Dani was standing in the doorway watching her. "Danielle, you didn't knock," Amara playfully chided. Dani's face was sour and her voice hard. "

No, I didn't. I'll cut to the chase, Amara, what kind of damn game are you playing at?" 

"Oh, I am not playing. I am a Red Queen in heart and soul," she beamed. 

"You don't even know what the hell that means. You're, excuse the pun, playing with fire. Why would you do this? You've been to the future, I've been to the future! Selene got Roberto to join and now you. It corrupts you two!" Dani hissed, trying to keep her voice down from the others in the suite hearing. 

"Then stay closer, my friend. Don't judge me, but be my counsel," Amara walked closer and stumbled, falling to one knee from the hip high boots narrow heel. "Now these are going to take some getting used too!" 

"Shaw and Selene will eat you alive!' Dani said helping her stand. "Cute trick with the warm flesh. Is that for the men there?" 

"Or women," Amara said with a wicked grin. "Dani, I have my reasons and we averted a massacre between Shaw and Selene. A strong third party will keep them focused if not on peace then at least hesitant before war. I represent the X-Men and the future." 

"The X-Men?" Dani snorted. "This is so far from Xavier's dream, so far." 

"Dani, don't tell me you've bought into his prattle all of these years. The answer lies somewhere between Charles and Magneto, a third option. Personally, I want my children to live, to live a good life whether they be born powerful mutants or humans. Throughout history position and privilege have provided that kind of security." 

"I don't----." 

You don't know what it's like to be alone, Dani! I am alone and lost in this world. Part future, part thousands of years old. I may be too many things to be simply a fool or an X-Man or even a woman but I will be a survivor, you of all people, your people know that! I'm tired, Dani of not having people, a place, family, a heritage! This is my chance to start my own line, my own tribe," Amara said desperately, tears welling in her eyes. 

"Amara, I'm worried that they will eat you alive and spit you out as something twisted and evil," Dani said holding the trembling woman's arms. 

"Be my friend, Dani. Don't judge me, be my conscience, please but trust that I am wise beyond my years and it is time for allegiances. Hellfire members in the X-Men and now X-Men in their Inner Circle. I will make myself a vanguard, a stalwart but even I know I cannot do it alone. Stand with me as my friend, Dani." 

Dani wavered, the raw emotional distraught of her friend needed grounding. "Ok, Amara, we'll play your hand for now. I am with you. We X-Men will back you up." She still wasn't any closer to answering her suspicion that Amara had planned all of this. There were times when raw telepathy would've answered so many questions. If she could just pluck a yes or no from her friend's mind, but she couldn't. Instead she was relegated to simply watching Amara Aquilla, the new Red Queen of the Inner Circle and hoping that when the time came to tell her no to a decision, she was still listening to her counsel. 

"Thank you, Danielle. Thank you."

Dani awoke with a start and she was in a luxurious parlor full of Roman busts and single thrown that Selene languished on. 

"Child," Selene grinned, clad in a silk black shrift, watching Dani the way a cat watched prey. "

I take it you cast this mental spell for a reason? Not to kill me or I'd be dead. If you could kill me," Dani said calmly, clad in a white dress like a servant. "If you're looking for fear, you won't get it. Say your bit or let me go." Selene tilted her head in curiosity. 

"Not frightened. My have you grown, child! But I assume it has to do with the time you spent in Asgaard, hmmm? Yes, the scent of your work as a Valkyrie sits squarely on your shoulders like a cloak, for those of us who can see such things. Not even Xavier has an idea of exactly how long you spent there, does he?" 

"No," Dani admitted honestly, it had been one of her fears at being in his presence again, the look he'd given her. "He still conceives of me as a mortal." "And in all the ways that concern you I'm sure you think you are. But you aren't, you understand?" 

"I do. My sister Valkyries made that clear. Anyway, you know my dirty little secret and I guess the fact that I'm here is not about me but Amara?" 

"Yes, our Red Queen. I say our because she won't break her allegiance to the X-Men, in fact she'll surely now strengthen it. She needs soldiers, fodder." 

"I figured as much. It would be interesting if you or Shaw admitted that you were using to Channel to kill the other and she outfoxed you both. She turned you both to her advantage," Dani said smugly, thought about in the middle of their power games, Amara had pulled off quite the feat. 

"She's her mother's daughter," Selene smiled coyly. Dani didn't think she'd be so blunt with that possibility. 

"I take it that's a question you intend to play as a card one day?" 

"Perhaps. Anyway, I come to you while asleep, brought you to the astral plane to remind you to stand by her, to temper her fiery nature with your shrewdness; the maturity born of age." 

"Worried for her or about her?" 

"Both and neither. She was born and bred for this kind of game but she's entered it too rashly, too viciously. She's desperate for the status she possessed in Nova Roma, her new enemies will use that against her." 

"New enemies?" 

"Count, child, Black, White, Red and Grey. You've seen glimpses of some of the pieces on the Hellfire Inner Circle Board. But not all. Some positions are filled, others have thousands within their ranks. Learn chess. It's a fabulous game. Caesar enjoyed it." 

"You played with Caesar?" 

"Child, I taught it to him. You count your age by number, I by empires gone and buried that don't even have names on your wizened people's lips. Make sure that Amara stands strong as the Red Queen but temper her, this game isn't even in the opening salvos of the war it's to become. Xavier has no idea what the Inner Circle is truly after," Selene chuckled. "

And you're telling me this because....?' 

"I care." 

"About?" 

"A great many things seen and unseen. But Xavier also underestimates you, the Valkyrie part of you. Because he can't for all of his self-proclaimed psi powers see you clearly, see it clearly, he doesn't understand what it will see in a person, in a room," Selene whispered and then Dani's eyes opened and she was back in her room in the hotel in Tokyo.

Hellfire Club Inner Circle Coronation:

"Tell me why we're dressed like this again?" Jean Paul sighed as the X-Men entered the formal ballroom of the Hellfire Club, he was referring to the waistcoats and ruffled shirts that all the male X-Men were wearing. Amara was decked out in her bustier and cloak queen ensemble while Dani was in a Victorian white dress that billowed to make her look like an oval. But around her throat was a red choker. Same on the men, though all of their outfits were black velvet. It seemed that the chokers denoted allegiance to those who weren't pieces. Which Warren had explained was even lower than it sounded. They were simply the Red Queen's squires at this point. Danielle had to admit that the sumptuous banquet and dozens of people in the room in similar attire was truly amazing. She almost gasped out loud as a blonde haired woman passed by her with her much younger husband. She had one of her cd's! She was one of the most famous women in the world and she was a member of the Inner Circle! 

"Blessed Madonna! Holy shit!" Paulie muttered, gaping with Dani. 

"She's only a Rook," Warren informed them. 

"And you?" Bobby asked knowing that Warren's father had passed on his membership to his son. Warren's wings out and resplendent but in no way being gawked at by the gathering, shrugged. 

"I could push to be an Inner Circle member but I'm---- reticent. For obvious reasons." 

Sebastian Shaw lifted his goblet and the room hushed. "Come forth." 

The Red Queen walked to the center of the room confidently. 

"Kneel," he commanded. Amara looked him square in the eye and spoke calmly.

"I will fulfill anything my liege asks of me. But a Queen worth the title, never kneels." There was an almost physical silence in the ballroom and Dani felt Warren trying to soothe her through their rapport. She thought that Amara had made a tremendous mistake but slowly hands went up, goblets raised. They were acknowledging the Red Queen's strength. 

"Very good, Lady Amara, you'll lead your pieces well when your King isn't present," Shaw smiled. "And strike when my King orders or to protect my pieces interest and the good of the Inner Circle," she replied. And then with great flourish opened her cloak and kneeled before Shaw. 

"Why didn't she do it the first time he ordered her to?" Bobby asked in a whisper.

"Submission is choice but not command to a Queen worth following, Warren answered. 

"Of course," Bobby said as if it were the most natural answer in the world. Shaw brought the goblet down to his lips, sipped it then handed it to Amara. 

"Welcome to the Inner Circle, Lady Amara, you are it's new Red Queen. Drink of us." 

"I don't want to know what's in that cup, do I?" Dani muttered. 

"No, you don't," Warren answered. Dani closed her eyes, wondering what kind of unholy covenant her friend was making and how much of this world Warren knew. It was then she felt a whisper, almost a scent and she glanced up. Her psi powers dampened by the baffles in the room but there were some that couldn't be hidden. Sure enough, Emma Frost, the White Queen was at the farthest end of the ballroom, amidst a crowded of people in gleaming white clothing. Pieces and their "servants" but she had felt him. Hiding and then slipping away, his presence mandatory she was sure. And Dani understood why there were so many people and why for that one instance Shaw had drawn everyone's attention to the center of the room, other pieces wore masks s if at a costume ball. None of the others noticed it, couldn't have but she'd had Selene's dream chat about her being a Valkyrie to enhance her senses. Senses psi baffles could do nothing too. A Valkyrie could spot power. Charles Francis Xavier, the White King slipped away believing one of his most closely guarded secrets kept.


"You must be very proud of your friend," Carlos Allegra said to Warren, the coronation officially having segued into a party of mingling and networking. 

"I'm not sure if proud is the right word. I wanted to thank you though for helping to rescue us from Channel's clutches. Speaking of which, what happened to him?" Warren asked, slowly sipping his champagne and watching the calm eyes of the Black Bishop. 

"I'm afraid, Warren that I serve the Black King and Queen, I do not question them," he said evasively. 

"He's a serial killer. Quite a few people died at his hands just to attack Shaw. I can't leave here without knowing that he's been dealt with. Perhaps you should convey that to your King and Queen. My commitment to seeing this through." 

"I will do just that," the Black Bishop nodded then walked away.


"Is this what you've always wanted, Amara?" Sebastian Shaw asked her as they danced a waltz in the midst of dozen of other couples.
"I was tricked by Selene into believing I was born into royalty. When her spell wore off I realized I had become accustomed to the illusion. To the gifts of strength of character," Amara answered with a shy smile.
"As the leader of the Inner Circle I must make sure that the other members do not fight without just cause. Let me make myself clear, my dear Red Queen, I know of your history with our Black Queen. These are not times to cripple our power with old vengeance's.  As your first act of fealty to me, I ask you to renounce the vendetta you have for the Black Queen," he said in a low tone, holding her tightly against his body in spite of the higher temperature her body was giving off. He watched as she fought an inner battle, her eyes glaring at him for long moments then going calm again. She held his stare until she realized that this would one of her true tests, acknowledging this man as her superior.
Amara nodded. "She is as safe as my teammates, as any of my allies."
Shaw's eyes went from deadly to twinkling in an instant. "Excellent! When the moment comes for you to unsheathe that vendetta, I will tell you."
For a moment she was confused then she saw his meaning in his smile and smiled broadly herself. He wasn't protecting the witch as much as he was aligning pieces against her one day. "Yes, my King." 

She laid her head onto his shoulder and allowed her glance to take in all of the guests who were dancing and milling about, every few seconds their eyes flickering to her, to the new Red Queen in the arms of the Black King. She heard a soft laughter from the other side of the room and saw Selene staring at her boldly. The ebony dressed woman, half in shadows raised a flute of champagne in toast to Amara who beamed back until Shaw's dance lead turned her away.


The Xavier Institute:

"Did you enjoy the coronation of your new Red Queen?" Charles Xavier asked Emma Frost as she strolled into the garden, the night sky was full of the moon and several clouds casting shadows on them both.
Emma smiled and stood closer to Charles, she in a simple white dress and him in a white tuxedo. "The question is did you enjoy it?"
"We've had glimpses of the future, we knew that we somewhat certainty, Amara would one day join the Hellfire Club," he said neutrally.
"And yet it still unnerves you?" she chuckled and trailed her finger along his chin. "Don't worry, Charles, your shields are as formidable as ever. It's simply my feminine instinct that sees you so clearly."
Charles kept his face to the night sky, ignoring her touch though intrigued by her line of questioning. Out of so many confidants, she had become if not valued....then preferred for some of his darker thoughts. "We such little time. We seek to change a world with but a handful of mutants. I often doubt my own machinations. And then sometimes I concerned that in the writing of this history, no one will understand the choices I made. The alliances."
"The greater good and all of that?" Emma chuckled. "I played the darker side of this chess game for years to cull the best mutants, to guide them and they still end up dead. Even Magneto for all of his bluster created more in Genosha than we ever have."
"Cassandra, another facet of me. She destroyed that. Amazing how we tend to be the weapons to destroy our own dreams, eh? The Sanctuary team, they have so many mysteries wrapped within enigmas to undo."
"I advised against creating such a team. They are a wildcard. We won't even touch on how Storm's team should be dealt with."
"I should mentally coerce them to stay?" he shook his head ruefully, this was an old argument with them.

"You say it would be but I suspect that someone like Cyclops or say Jean or even Wolverine are tied tighter to your mind than you want any of us to know."

"Emma, please, speak your mind. Don't concern yourself with insulting everything I stand for and against," he snapped sarcastically.
"I'm sorry....my White King," she whispered then walked away, laughing to herself.


"I could feel your upset in my sleep, Warren, you're going to learn how to tone it down or I'm going to knock you out every night," Dani chuckled as she walked into the living room. He sat on the edge of an end table watching the plasma screen tv on the wall.
"Aliens tried to invade Madripoor, Storm's team rebuffed them. The island is in shambles," he sipped a tumbler of scotch then offered it to her. She shook her head. "We should go help."
"Why is that?" he was feeling a swirl of dark emotions from him, anger, despair, terror.
"It will be a good cover. My company helping them, backing up the other X-Men team with help."
"Lie to someone who hasn't got a line into your head. What is this really about?"
"The Marauders. They're raiding Lowtown. The New Mutants missed them during the Mutant Massacre, they destroyed my wings. I owe Apocalypse more than a man ever should. In order to get them back he twisted me. I'll start with his cloned monsters. I can't allow them to do what they did to me to others," he downed the last of the scotch as Dani came over to him and gently touched his wings. They felt like silk under her fingertips, so much like her beloved Brightwind's wings.
Warren turned to her and the rapport was so intense for a moment that her vision blurred and she saw his pink skin shimmer blue, his feathers felt like hard metal and then he became human again. He moved her waist length hair away from her face and brought her close enough so that she could feel his breath on her cheek.
"Is the attraction because of the rapport?" he whispered.
She shrugged. "It must intensify it."
"But it's real?" he opened up his lips and touched hers. For moment they simply touched lips, not moving further, enjoying the sensation of the psychic rapport tingling through their flesh.
"You're drunk and going through a lot," she shook her head and pulled away. "I agree with stopping the Marauders and I'll back you up with the others in the morning but we're not going to kill them, Warren."


Madripoor, High Town:

Dani stood in the shower, enjoying the fact that six different nozzles were trained on her. She had to admit that traveling with the X-Men, particularly Warren was like being a celebrity. They'd gone from Tokyo on his private jet to Madripoor in a couple of hours, there being no checking at customs or anything. In fact, Dani couldn't remember if anyone had even questioned them. Some of it was mutant hysteria, it was clear who they were, traveling with Warren, one of the most public mutants on the planet. But also it was the clout that his wealth bought. It was almost decadent. A triplex penthouse suite, again at Madripoor's premiere hotel ready to accommodate eight, each with a separate bedroom and full bath as soon as they'd arrived. And after this quick mopping up of the Marauders they would be in Australia, a place more to her liking. She could bring Brightwind from Asgard and ride him on the ground or the skies.
Yes, she enjoyed the luxuries but there were certain things she did miss deeply. Thoughts of Brightwind though brought up worries about her enemies there in Asgard. As a Valkyrie she'd made a few, particularly one who she knew was hunting for her now.
Sarat.
She should've explained all of this to the others, trusted them but there hadn't been time and she wasn't sure that Sarat would come for her as he'd sworn. He was a mercurial man. There had been many levels to their relationship in all the time she'd spent in Asgard. But explaining her relationship to Sarat would involve her explaining exactly how long she had been in that dimension, aging in ways they couldn't see. She wasn't ready for that conversation.
"Why so worried?" Warren said, his face suddenly appearing on the other side of the glass enclosure.
"I worry, it's what I do," Dani shrugged. The fact that she was nude didn't bother her, she felt so comfortable with Warren. And it had only been a couple of weeks with the rapport. What would happen after a year?
"Want some company?" he asked and Dani smoothed back her hair to answer. He knew that she was full of conflict about their relationship, about what level to take it to or not. It said a lot about his character and restraint that he asked her verbally, able to read her emotions clearer and clearer the more time they spent together. She did want him. She did. That they both knew. When and how.......? That was the only question.
"Yes," she whispered. She would risk it. She would risk her heart again even though she'd sworn several times in Asgard that she never would again.
He stepped into the enclosure, already nude but she hadn't seen that because of the condensation on the glass and the steam. He touched her hair first, his wings suddenly making the shower smaller and smaller as he fit them inside. Then they wrapped around them both , gentle feathers along her back and legs bringing her closer.
"Thank you for being there for me when Channel had me prisoner. It was really great to know I wasn't alone," he smiled with perfect teeth and crystal blue eyes, hair becoming wet from one of the water streams.
"Would you be here if we didn't have a rapport?" she asked and purposefully closed off their connection. She wanted to know from him, from his lips not his mind. It was amazing how people craved such an intimacy and she was content to dim it to truly listen to this man.
"When you came into the mansion, I was watching you and thinking how beautiful you were, how much you'd changed since you'd been away. How confident you always seem as well as simply being yourself without apology. That's very attractive, Danielle. Intoxicating. And to know it's standing with me, as my comrade makes you even sexier," he said honestly. 

They stepped closer and Dani let him kiss her, a slow kiss of just getting closer. Then it became more intense as she allowed the connection to open up with their minds. It became deeper, more intense, freer. Suddenly all the restrictions and restraint was lost to the psi rapport. Dani felt as if she were flying, as if she had wings and conversely she could feel him feeling his own touch on her body, what it was doing to her. It was beyond intoxicating, beyond even what they'd both experienced of telepathy, it was a symbiosis of consciousness.  What normal people tried to achieve with words, with physical actions was manifested in the flesh between them.

Bracing his wings against the glass walls, he lifted them both, cradling her in his arms, using the crowded space to increase their intimacy, to bring her closer to him. She reached down, her figures touching his rippled muscles, his mind explaining in a second that it was part of his mutation---no body fat. Her instantly knew how sensitive her throat was, how someone else had kissed her there once, someone in shadows, someone she both loved and was afraid of. With a batting away, the way one would knock aside pillows on a bed, Dani knocked aside her past and focused on Warren, on her future on consummating the mental to physical, on unification.

"I really do hate to break this up but we have a meeting downstairs. Charles and Emma are here," Amara said with a dry chuckle tapping on the glass. Dani shrieked and Warren backpedaled, slipping on the tiles and landing solidly on his rear.
"AMARA!" Dani roared red-faced, embarrassed, flustered and more embarrassingly still tingling and dazed from the erotic rapport.
"I came in here as the only other female member to tell you to hurry up with your shower, Danielle. How did I know you'd be in here---jockeying for position," Amara grinned then turned on her heel and walked out, her leather red X-Men/Hellfire Uniform looking like a blood stain seeping through the steamy mist.
Dani looked down and Warren was laughing.
"It's not funny, Warren, you have to command respect on this team. And as your back-up so do I! This was one of the reasons why I was reluctant to get involved!" she said and suddenly felt the giggle rumbling through her too. It really was hilarious and Amara being so blasé about it was indicative of how silly it was to pretend it wouldn't happen.
Warren stood up carefully, he didn't want to explain his wings and shatter the glass encasement. "It could have been worse, Emma or the Professor could have come a knocking in our heads and been in for quite a treat."
"Y-yes, that would've been worse," Dani said, suddenly feeling self- conscious standing in a shower naked with Warren.
"After this mission we'll have plenty of time to explore our rapport. We go right to Sanctuary from here, no detours," Warren kissed her and this time she let herself feel safe with him.
"The rapport makes it so easy to mistake it and an attraction for love, we have to be careful," Dani smiled, water dribbling between her face and his chest.
"Let's not be careful, let's be reckless!" Warren laughed. "Let's just call it Deep Like with Potential."
"I like that!" Dani exclaimed and they stepped out of the shower. "Now go downstairs, I'm not exactly ready to go down to them swinging hands, making goo goo eyes."
"Yes, ma'am!" Warren mock saluted then hurried out of the shower, grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist. Even though the door shut behind her, they were still connected with their minds----almost akin to kissing and they did so the entire time it took them to get dressed.


Emma Frost and Charles Xavier stood in astral form in the middle of the living, the X-Men all assembled, along with Carlos Allegra.
"I want to compliment you all on your first mission and preventing the death of Sebastian Shaw from the entity/mutant Channel," Prof. Xavier said calmly.
"The Hellfire Club is holding him in custody, we haven't told the IRC yet that we didn't officially get our man," Northstar explained. "It seems that we're here to try and catch another pack of mass murderers to make up for that snafu."
"I've spoken with Shaw and we've designed a way to keep Channel prisoner for sometime. Something that the IRC wouldn't be capable of yet in its infancy, as it is now."
"Professor, we should at least give them a chance. Channel killed seven people-----which we know of! What about the justice there? Or do we only look out for mutants now?" Dani sneered.
"Danielle, there will be certain extreme times when we have to mitigate laws ourselves, this is one of them. Channel, like the Shadow King is an entity, not a corporeal being. It seems that Camus is his brother and therefore a symbiotic "grounding", to this reality, as well as a mental slave to him, if you will. Camus has agreed to work with X-Corp and Shaw Industries in exchange he will no longer be a slave to his brother," Xavier calmly explained.
"And Channel? Last we saw he was a green globe," Paulie pointed out. "What happens to him now that Camus isn't his to manipulate anymore?"
"I understand that Selene is using him as a nite light," Emma said impassively and the room went silent.
"She is joking, right? Dani asked and Xavier had nothing but a slow smile. "We asked and encouraged Selene to turn her entrapment of Channel over to us but she insisted she was better equipped to contain him within her spell. I must take my leave now, there are other matters that need my attention. Warren, all of you, you are doing excellent work, I'm especially proud of you, Bobby for making sure there was no loss of life when Yashida Tower was nearly destroyed. You have all proven my trust in you to be X-Men was in no way remiss. Thank you," Xavier said calmly then turned to Carlos. "It is good to see you have finally aligned yourself with the X-Men. My invitation to join has been open to you for many years." Carlos nodded politely. 

"It is good to see you again, Charles. And yes, I am to be Lady Amara's personal guard and as she is a member of the X-Men then I humbly ask to accompany them. However, let the distinction be understood, that I have my reasons now and in the past for not accepting your offer to be an X-Man. I will stand with this group and give my life if necessary but only out of loyalty and service to Lady Amara." Charles visibly stiffened. 

"There are great many things I could teach you." 

"No, Charles, there are not. I am someone for whom your tutelage is both unnecessary and too late for," Carlos said, with an air of slight sadness. 

"Then hopefully you will find our camaraderie and friendship helpful to you," Charles said. "If you will all excuse me, I must take my leave, matters call for my attention. Good luck, my X-Men, Carlos." With that his astral self vanished.

Emma stood patiently smiling, her hair in a bun, glasses tilted on the end of her nose as she floated several feet above the ground in her astral body so that she could look down on them all. "However from what we've been able to glean from your report, there were some areas that could've been dealt with much more efficiently..............," and with that pronouncement she flipped open a pad and began her criticisms.


Sanctuary Base, Australia

"Hello," a bright red digitized head said as IT appeared next to Alex.
"What the heck is that?" Kitty asked.
"IT," Alex answered calmly.
"Yes, it," Peter smiled and pointed. "Can't you see it? Or is this some sort of telepathic thing?"
"No, I can see IT. Of course I can see IT, I designed IT," Alex said.
"Then what do you call it?" Peter asked.
"IT," Kitty replied.
"Yes, that's what I mean. It. The head."
"IT," IT said in a pleasant, slightly British accented tone with a smile.
"Aha, it doesn't have a name yet," Peter nodded knowing.
"Dear God....," Alex groaned.
"If you'll pardon me, Mr. Rasputin, I appeared to alert Alex to the presence of the X-Men Sanctuary team on an Asian television station," IT said, his head expanding into a holographic viewer screen.
"Tokyo? Saw that, IT," Alex said glancing at the screen. This was new, it was a vicious battle between the squad that had gone to Tokyo and the Marauders.
"The Marauders," Kitty said with gritted teeth. "That's not Tokyo either. Where is it?"
"It's right there," Peter offered helpfully tapping her and pointing at the floating head.
"They are in Madripoor. The section known as High Town," IT reported.
"Who are these Marauders?" Peter asked.
"A team of mutant assassins that killed hundreds of Morlocks some time back. They also gravely wounded, Kitty, Angel, Nightcrawler and your father, I believe," Alex answered.
"Then we have to help!" Peter exclaimed. "They can't be allowed to kill our teammates or more mutants."
"You're right, Peter but we're a good ten hours away. They're in the thick of battle, we'd never get there in time," Kitty said, then noticed she'd been digging her fingernails into her palms to the point of nearly drawing blood. She could see Harpoon hurls the energy javelins that had so seriously injured her before. She wanted him, wanted to hurt him for the torture of thinking she was going to die for months after his attack on her. And she'd had friends amongst the Morlocks, friends that had been killed or died as a result of the Marauder's attack.
"Well, I am essentially the manager here. I managed to arrange some transportation," Alex said with a smug grin and nodded up at an outcropping that overlooked the town like a natural perch. Atop it sat Gateway, bola already in hand spinning to open a direct gateway to Madripoor. "He, Xavier and I came to an understanding. Quite the nice chap actually. Amazing gin rummy player."
Kitty looked up at Gateway, she didn't have to go. If she did, she was back into the game. The one she'd left abruptly because it had claimed so many of her friends and loved ones, including Peter's father. Could she endanger him too? Could she join another incarnation of the X-Men and watch them die too? Like a recovering alcoholic, could she only have one "drink"?

Madripoor, High Town

Scattered throughout the rubble of High Town Madripoor the X-Men found that the Marauders had in no way tired of savagery. Each blow was met with the deadliest of responses and still the battle was inconclusive. Both groups were worn out by the melee and it still wasn't clear who the victor would be. Paulie was proud of himself. He hadn't screamed or cried out once and Blockbuster was smashing yet another massive fist into his body, sending him through a storefront. In came the big monster, bald and thick browed, his fingers flexing as he made another fist to strike Paulie with. They'd been trading punches for a few minutes now, unfortunately Paulie didn't have the muscle mass to back up his invulnerability. He could take it but he couldn't dish it out. So all he had was his wits and next to someone like Blockbuster, only a minuscule amount of comparable super strength. Mainly since his body wouldn't break or muscles snap, he could lift a car if he got the right leverage and his strength did seem to be a dozen times more than a man his size would normal be. Xavier had theorized that psychologically Paulie had developed his invulnerability from anxiety and fear about being hurt so that he was to some unconscious degree limiting a large increase in strength as well. Or he could simply be a mutant who would always lack super strength. Not every power set was complimentary. 

"Ok, you freak, I'm gonna have to take you down hard!" Paulie snapped, steadying his body for his next move. He would use leverage not strength to do this right the first time. Paulie stood up and took the next blows, then grabbed Blockbuster's wrists, yanked hard until the massive Marauder was tumbling head first down a flight of stairs. Paulie snatched up a metal rod and leaped down the stairs, standing on Piledriver's back, then with all of his might, drove the pipe into the man's spine. Though the skin didn't break, Piledriver howled in agony and swatted Paulie through several walls. 

"You will die slowly for that!" Piledriver roared, thrashing his way through the walls until he came upon Paulie who was laying curled up on the floor. 

"Guess what?" Paulie coughed. 

"What?!" Piledriver demanded. 

"Your inner probably ain't as tough as your outer!" Paulie screamed and drove the pipe into the mutant's open mouth, up through the roof of his mouth and into his brain, killing him instantly. Piledriver fell back, dumfounded and dead in an instant. 

"Surprised ain't you, motherfucker! Huh?! HUH? Yeah, thought I was gonna go all Cyclops on your beefy ass and play fair, right? Nope, I read. Not only are you guys the official mad dogs of the mutant world, you're also a bunch of clones. And I'm pro- choice, baby! You ain't nothing but something that ain't even covered by the goddamn Constitution!" Paulie spit on him, his own blood from the inside of his mouth, coming it, the inspiration for his final blow. "That's the problem with these X jokers, you gotta leave a few bodies around every once in awhile so people know not to fuck with you. Hey, maybe 'Constitution'? That's a good code name." He gave it a moment of thought then shook his head as he hurried back outside. 

Nah, it sounded like he had the ability to not vomit.


Arclight slammed her fists on the ground sending a violent shock wave that caused windows to blow apart, cars to tumble, and Psyche, Carlos and Iceman to fall to the ground. "Looks like I get to burn some X-Men too! Could this gig be any better?" Arclight chuckled. 

"Have a care, cow, those are my teammates!" Northstar said, slamming into Arclight from behind, then snapping back into the air, slamming into her again, then repeating several times, until she had been smashed through the pavement. Psyche, on her knees, didn't hesitate as she reached into Arclight's mind and brutally ripped out her worst fear for all to see. The hazy image seemed to be the incubation tanks these clones were held in and then it was opened and the face of Sinister appeared. Arclight crouched screaming in dread at the thought of being awakened once again from what she hoped would be death to fight again for a master she couldn't get away from. 

"Nicely done," Allegra complimented as Iceman froze Arclight from head to toe. 

"We try to get the job done," Psyche shrugged as they got to their feet. "Watch out for that arrogance, red skin," Scalphunter said from the other end of the street opening fire with a heavy artillery gun of his own creation. 

"Rabbit!" Psyche shouted as Allegra pulled her behind a car and Northstar scooped up Iceman who had thrown up a hasty ice shield to cover their dispersal. It had been ripped to shreds by the bullets. 

"My hero! Whatever would I do without you?" Iceman cooed mockingly. 

"End up the way of your pathetic shield attempt," Northstar said circling back. Scalphunter had continued to fire until the ice encasing Arclight was weakened enough for her to rip it apart angrily. 

"Bitch! I will kill you for that!" Arclight screamed charging towards Psyche. Psyche easily ducked under Arclight's first blow and came up with a mean upper cut that had barely any effect upon the woman. 

"Allow me," Allegra stand, his hands pressing on Psyche's body for a brief moment so that he could get airborne enough to kick Arclight back. "Not good enough, spic!" Arclight said, grabbing Allegra's foot before he had landed and swatting him at Psyche like a club. Psyche leaped over Allegra, used Arclight's shoulders as balance to flip over, grabbing the woman's hair at the last second. Before her feet were even on the ground she had Arclight bending backwards and then on her back being flipped into a car before the woman was quite sure what had happened. 

"Excellent," Allegra said, having fallen to the ground. He shoved Psyche to the side as Arclight charged like a mad bull between them and they both slammed their elbows down onto her neck. Psyche's hand came around with her psi bow and arrow ready, a quick flick and the arrow was lodged in Arclight's back, the woman writhing in pain. "Allow me for her slurring of us both," Allegra said. "By all means," Psyche laughed. Allegra grabbed the back of Arclight's neck and closed his eyes. A moment later she had stopped fighting the still embedded and glow psi arrow and was unconscious.
"You want to explain how you did that?" Psyche asked him.
"When we have more time, I promise."

Iceman kept up the return volley of ice spears at Scalphunter, who was running through a shopping center, firing indiscriminately over his should at the sliding Iceman and the airborne Northstar. The speedster concerned himself with yanking and dropping to safety people who were in the line of fire from the Marauder's wild shots.
"We have to end this, Iceman," Northstar said to his teammate.
"Ok, switch!" Iceman said and Northstar dove down in pursuit of Scalphunter on foot as Iceman's slide rose up, ice walls freezing up behind him to protect the bystanders.
Northstar zipped through people, cursing the fact that it seemed to be a popular mall and that they had to watch out from hitting the people but that Scalphunter could use them as targets.
Northstar increased his speed dramatically then stopped short suddenly, the air pressure lashing through the crowd and slamming them all to the ground, including Scalphunter. Ice blocks appeared on the villains arms and instant later but before they could secure him properly the sky light above shattered and Archangel and Harpoon came tumbled through, locked in a vicious fist fight.
"The glass, Northstar!" Iceman shouted.
"Yes, yes, I see it and I'm dealing with it, Drake. Don't get your shorts in a bunch," Northstar sighed and began soaring back and forth in a circular formation around the ground floor until an updraft as created. His only concern was that his teammate might find it disconcerting.
Sabine watched them closely, the X-Men engaging the Marauders and she held her breath because other than Meridian, herself, none of them knew which X- Man was their first target. Her employer was a shrewd, one to not let all of her secrets out at once. Now? She asked her mistress mentally. Not yet, soon.
"This madness ends now, you hear me, butcher! You killed children, you even destroyed my wings before but I won't allow it again!" Archangel roared as he smashed through the mall skylight with Harpoon. He'd spotted the man covering his teammates from the room and dive-bombed into him. Harpoon though surprised was far from stunned as he gave Archangel blow for blow , not a care to his fate as he fell through the air.
Suddenly Northstar's updraft stilled them both in mid-air for an instant and then shot them back up through the roof. Archangel used to the surprise of up air currents, twisted his wings so that they took full advantage of the push and yanked Harpoon almost a thousand feet into the air.
"You may be tough, Harpoon but I've learned not to hesitate," Archangel said to the Inuit man as he spun around and threw Harpoon towards the ground. Harpoons screams could be heard for almost two blocks and then they ended as he crashed like a small meteor into a storefront.
"Fool! You would think that you would tire of this!" Magma shouted at Riptide as he spun his body like a blur, razor sharp resin stars firing at her. "I enjoy a good kill, woman!" He said advancing towards her slowly as she kept blasting in front of herself, destroying the stars. 

"I am not an easy kill, little man! I am both an X-Man and a Lord Cardinal and I tire of this sullying of my hands with a monster low enough to both slaughter innocents and then rape a war torn country of the few coins it has left!" 

"Eh, it's a living, what can I say?" he pressed closer to her, forcing her to generate even greater body temperatures to destroy the resin stars. Suddenly he was close enough to grab her throat, his hands seemingly unfazed by the heat radiating from her. 

"Start with: Our Father who art in Heaven?" Magma suggested grinning evilly and two columns of molten earth shot out of the soil, did a sharp ninety degree turn and compacted Riptide between them.
Now, Meridian ordered. Sabine rejoiced and ran from the lobby of the bank the Marauders had been robbing and where she'd been standing off to the side in a trench coat towards the X-Men. The trench coat was flung away revealing the silk bodysuit with leather straps across the chest to hold the back sheaths. Pulling her swords from the sheaths, arms and blades blurring as she streaked at Paulie who was coming out of a store he and Piledriver had crashed into. 

"Stupid idiot," he said, her blades the least of what he was afraid of from this group. He arrogantly reached out to catch the blades in mid-flight only to have Sabine swipe her blades away from him at what would've been the moment of contact and kick her leg into his, swiping him to the ground. Before he could move, she dug her sword into the ground below, pulled up an electrical cable and flicked it at him, the other sword, cut the causing open. The ensuing shock caused Paulie to shriek before he could weakly roll away from the live wire. Sabine was still moving, charging towards the other X-Men at the end of the street. 

"I've got her!" Psyche yelled, manifesting and firing psi arrows with her bow shaft but Sabine leapt suddenly, almost twenty feet directly up then dropped to the ground in a tumble. She came up completely having hopped over the arrows and slashed at her adversary. Psyche backpedaled, finally forced to use her bow shaft to block one of the blades as it slammed at her. Sabine smiled as the katana split open and metal needles flew out. 

"Aiiiiiieeeeeee!" Psyche screamed as the needles dug deeply into her forearms that she'd brought up to protect her face. Allegra slammed into Sabine from behind, having moved faster and quieter than anyone would've expected. Sabine rolled with the blow and came back up in a crouching stance, blades extended. 

Carlos Allegra? He's with them now? Meridian whispered in genuine surprise. Sabine, you're no match for him. They probably don't know the full extent of his abilities. He won't allow you to kill him but he will restrain himself. Use that advantage. 

Sabine grunted an acknowledgement then thrust herself at Allegra who used the flats of his hands to block the slashes, his accuracy remarkably as fast as her hyper kinetic attacks until Sabine somersaulted over his head landing her swords pointing forward. He turned to her back and Sabine clicked two buttons on her sword hilts, the blades collapsed from facing forward and shot out of the hilts in the opposite direction. He expertly twisted but was still impaled by one blade in the mid-section and grazed in the leg by the other. Sabine retracted the blades and somersaulted over him again, tossing her blades up in the air as she slammed her leg into his kidney and then several sharp nerve pinches into his back. She spun around, caught the dropping blades, flicked a switch and electrical arcs burst from the blades lifting him agonizingly off of the ground. 

Very good, Sabine, keep him off balance! He's worth the electrical charge and not that idiot Provenzano! Meridian laughed then warned calmly. Behind you. Sabine twisted as Archangel swooped down, hands clasped in a fist and slammed into her side, his original intent having been more impactful but he'd stopped the attack on Carlos Allegra who was stumbling away, bleeding profusely from his side. Psyche was also crouched down, pulling what looked like thin knives from her forearms. Their psi rapport was leaking her distress and he purposefully focused calming thoughts at her. He wouldn't let this go any further. 

"We've taken out nearly all of your team, give it up, lady," Archangel said, having flown back a few feet to avoid the length of her blades. Sabine grinned as she turned to the aloft Archangel, spinning her blades and the ground trembled as Magma burst up from a fissure, between them, covered in lava and tossed a clearly broken Riptide, questionably alive, at her feet. 

"The ass never had a chance," Magma spat in disgust. "He may twist the wind but I am one with the earth." 

"Careful, she's a tough one!" Paulie yelled as the three X-Men circled Sabine. Have a care, Sabine. They are going to be much more vicious having dealt with the other Marauders and you've yet to acquire the target. Yes, mistress. Sabine leaped up into the air, almost forty feet then dropped down spinning and contorting wildly, her swords slashing the air violently in every which direction until her target was uncertain. She flicked another button on the hilt of her sword and three inches from the tip of the blade rocketed off and impaled itself into Magma's arm, the carbotanium not melting at the searing temperatures the X-Men's body was giving off. Magma shrieked in pain and shock and fired a blast of flame at Sabine who was already back flipping away from it. 

Magma reverted to her human form, the poison secreted from the opening blade tip. Archangel went to help Amara, who waved him away. "I can use the earth to help me!" with that the earth enveloped her body, a flare of flames and lava erupting from where she lay, expunging the poison and the blade tip. The earthen cocoon opened to reveal a healed but unconscious Amara. .

"Form on me! Keep out of her reach!" Archangel yelled to Iceman and Northstar as they rushed over to aid the others in taking down the last Marauder. 

"We lost Scalphunter when you came through the roof!" Iceman yelled at Archangel. Sabine merely grinned and pirouetted into the air, defying gravity as if it were a choice and not a definite, landing in front of a startled Iceman. 

"She's moving at super speed, that's why you're all so useless!" Northstar realized, ascertaining that the single woman had caused so much damage to his teammates. He missiled towards her but she was already in elegant, eerily silent motion. Sabine turned and swiped at Iceman, cutting deeply into his iced up body, then she plunged the blade deep into his chest and pressed a button. Small pores opened within the blade delivering a potent acid explosion within him. "AHHHHHHHH!" Iceman screamed as Sabine turned to Northstar as the speedster snatched her up into the air. 

"Someone helped Bobby!" Northstar yelled into his comm link as he rapidly ascended higher and higher, the friction, air pressure change and lack of oxygen intended to knock the woman unconscious. Or kill her. At this point in the battle that had ravaged the financial district he wasn't sure if the X-men were eager to make discernment on what was too far with wanton murderers. 

Mistress? Sabine questioned. 

No, don't kill him. He has potential. More than even he knows. He won't kill you, Meridian promised. Achieve his desired results.. 

Northstar felt Sabine struggle for a few minutes and then finally lose consciousness, he casually arced back down towards Madripoor island, thousands of feet below them, the extreme shifts having no effect upon his body physiology which granted him superior protection to high speed. 

"Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Help me!" Bobby shrieked as his ice body began crumbling in on itself, the acid eating away his insides. Archangel looked desperately at Psyche. 

"What can we do?" Psyche shook her head, her arms still bleeding from the needles she'd pulled out. "Actually, I don't think we have to do anything. I'm not seeing the specter of death on him, he's not dying. He just thinks he is. Bobby, focus! In ice form you control your every molecule!" she shouted at him, reluctant to touch him as the acid was bubbling through the surface of his ice "skin". Carlos Allegra limped over, obviously badly wounded but still able to function. He grabbed Bobby's ice hand and closed his eyes, focusing. 

"Be calm, Robert. Steady your mind as the Professor taught you. Close your eyes. You are envisioning pain, there is no true pain. I feel no pain from you." Archangel looked warily at Carlos, he was still a Lord Cardinal of the Hellfire Club, he didn't trust him, no matter his pledge to protect Amara. Psyche spoke up, getting vague psionic impressions of what was occurring. 

"Relax, Warren, its some sort of shared empathic wave. He's focusing his psi self at Bobby's core, to get Bobby to stop articulating himself emotionally to a body that he relates to his other form. He's just ice now. By choice. By panicking, he's forgotten that." 

"I've dealt with her," Northstar said landing and tossing Sabine to the ground as he rushed to Bobby's side. "Do not die on me, Drake, there is still a plethora of embarrassing and humiliating situations I have to put you into." 

"I-I'm trying!" Bobby groaned. "Carlos is helping but it's hard to stop thinking of this as my body. To repair it. I'm not sure where to start. Carlos is weak too, in pain, don't let him do this too far," Iceman moaned, seeing the strain on Carlos' face, his eyes shut tightly as he focused his self into him to affirm his core self. Northstar grabbed Carlos' other hand and simply pictured in his mind Iceman as completely whole in a pristine ice form and then a picture of Bobby as human and healed. 

"That is what you look like, you fool!" Northstar said, immediately feeling part of the psi link. "Carlos, can only sympathize not heal you. It's why he's such a good Bishop and will never be a Lord Cardinal King." 

"Jean-Paul, are you still mad about Madrid?" Carlos teased, chuckling, even as blood came to his lips. 

"I know both of you. Better than you know yourselves. You both whimper and jest and capitulate to have identities. Well now it's time to, by force of will alone, live! When this is over, genuflecting will be payment enough. Now focus, Bobby, we can't send Carlos back to Spain in a body bag because you drained him too far. Though there would be an uproar of applause, it is rude," A deep white glow extended from Northstar to the link between Carlos and Bobby and both men seemed to draw strength from it. 

"O-ok," Bobby said and slowly the acid seemed to stop bubbling so rapidly and instead ice bandages appeared and then the acid was forced out of Iceman's body until there were crackling puddles on the ground. 

"Not bad, Jean-Paul, were you going to tell us about that healing light of yours?" Psyche asked sarcastically. 

"I've only been able to do this with my sister, top help her at times with her fractured identities, but I reasoned that Carlos's empathy could tap into my strength of will that they both obviously lack," Northstar said snidely breaking contact. 

Bobby and Carlos both gasped as if an oxygen line had been taken away and then Bobby was able to shift to a fully human form. Carlos merely dropped to his haunches, holding his wound, but not looking as ragged anymore. 

"We need to get that tended to," Archangel said helping Carlos to his feet. "And thanks, Carlos,. Between the Professor's nod and you unhesitantly helping us twice I'm willing to offer you a hand of at the very least amicability." 

"Why thank you, Mr. Worthington," Carlos rasped, "you'll find that our motives and morals are not as far apart as my associations may've originally brought you to believe." 

"Touching," Sabine sneered then leapt at the group of them. She kicked Bobby and Psyche to one side then hurled steel pins at Archangel, nicking his wings in several places. Archangel tried to flap his way airborne but a thick resin was spreading like fire over his wings secreted from the pins until they were completely encased in a dark gelatinous goo as firm, dense and heavy as amber. Never having been without the balance of his wings but still saddled with their considerable weight he tumbled backgrounds, taking Carlos down to the ground with him. 

"Enough!" Psyche said, standing up an energy staff in her bloodied hands. "This ends here and now!" 

"Allow me!" Northstar said, dashing into Sabine with half a dozen blows that seemed to be moving in slow motion as she back flipped away from them, throwing equally vicious jabs and punches at him. Northstar maintained a heightened speed, increasing it in increments to dodge her blows but at best they were both evenly matched, they were at a stalemate of blocking blows rather than truly landing them. To the others it looked like the ultimate martial arts exchange with no headway being made by either. 

"Danielle!" Carlos groaned and Psyche helped him to stand, using her shoulder to brace him. We can't defeat her because of the thread. Can you see the thread?" 

"Thread? What are you talking--------?" but the very mentioned of it suddenly seemed to make it visible. Or better yet, apparent, apparent to her. There was a thread, no wider than a piece of cloth thread that seemed to be in Sabine's back and extending up into the air. 

"I see it! So we cut it?" 

"She is literally on the strings of someone else. And if it's the Marauders she leads then I would suggest Mr. Sinister. I doubt that either you or I have the power to cut his string to his puppet, but we might be able to disrupt it," Carlos said weakly to her. 

"Ok, how?" Psyche mumbled, she preferred direct action and the range of Carlos' psi abilities seemed to not be amazingly powerful but incredibly keen. She wasn't sure if she trusted him more or less for them now being revealed. 

"Psionics is not my power base.merely an offshoot. But I can perceive on different planes. I can show you how to attack the thread itself if you'll link with me. It doesn't exist in this plane of reality," he whispered. The flurry of Northstar and Sabine's violent dance to Carlos' eyes an obvious standoff. 

"You're always so polite, Carlos, so cautious with your words. Say what it is or what you mean, man, we don't have a lot of time here!" Psyche barked. Carlos laughed, choking again then turned her face to his with his free hand. 

"For one so powerful and ripened with the Valkyrie essence, you are such a tempestuous one. Look at me, Danielle and see what I hold within my essence!" Psyche felt her mind being first poked at, almost cautiously, or rather politely. And that polite touching could only be the ever-courteous Allegra. Finally she felt his essence spreading over hers, touching her being without trying to pierce into her sense of Self, merely becoming like a drape over her mind. He leaned in and kissed her, long and deep and at first she was enraptured, amazed at the gentleness she sensed in him and then she realized it was an ulterior motive as his salty blood was forced down her throat by his tongue. 

Don't resist, Danielle, the Beast is strong but there shall be no harm, Carlos projected into her mind and Psyche hesitated wondering what he was talking about then she saw the Death image in his face, crawling up her flesh, seeping into her. Death was in his blood! But not like a biological disease, this Death was an Entity. So old that she got whispers of it in words, in names she knew were older than anything she could ever hope to speak. But she knew that it hungered. It hungered for light, for flesh, for breath, and when it saw all three in Psyche it instinctively grabbed at her. She screamed and tried to refuse him, to put up her psi shields but Carlos, weakened by a wound, held her in an iron grip, body and mind. 

Get out of me! You are one of Death's champions, 

Danielle, do not insult one of it's relatives, Carlos smiled and she felt him grip her in the comfort of his own essence as a barrier against the darkness, a shield from that which he gave her. He was allowing her to share in it but not be possessed by it, infected by it, as he was. Her first instinct had been to panic but now she understood that Carlos was both gleeful to share this secret and deeply concerned that she not be infected by it. She also caught the wisp of a secret of his, he had manipulated Amara into liking him, into wanting him as her second, as her bodyguard, but Danielle fascinated him. Something akin to infatuation, as if he had so many things he wanted to share with her, talk to her about that only she would understand. That they were akin to the other. 

Danielle shrieked again and tumbled to the ground, Carlos landing on top of her, their mouths still locked, clutching each other until he slipped unconscious. But she could feel that his mind was strong, glowing with power even and his body was healing, somehow the transfer had boosted his ability to heal rapidly. She could sense that the wound was almost completely healed. Similar to her rapport with Warren she could feel deeply into Carlos's mental state but unlike Warren, Carlos had experience in keeping his mind private, segmented. She could sense him, his presence, his healing but his thoughts were his own. There was something in the blood which had locked them into a rapport, some kind of animal----hadn't he called it a Beast? 

"Paulie, help her!" Archangel ordered, trying to crawl over to Dani. "It felt like she was drowning in something. Something in his mind!" He clawed his way across the ground trying to get closer to her, his wings like huge stone weights, not sure what Carlos had done to her though her could feel her calming through their rapport. 

"Dani? You ok? What happened?" Paulie asked as he lifted Carlos off of her and gently rolled him onto his back. "That did not look like a fight. In fact it looked like humping. Which if that's his super power, I will not be practicing with him in the Danger Room. Though if it's a new power of yours, I'm willing to be your test case when you need it." 

"It wasn't a fight. I'm fine. He's a psi but not like we understand, he was trying to show me something Help me see what he can see on Sabine," Psyche said, letting her teammate help her to her feet as she took a good look at Sabine and Northstar who looked like vague impressions striking at each other. But with a bit of focus, almost like holding Carlos's mental hand she could see them moving much slower, closer to human speed which explained how he'd been able to fight her. But the thread was a fully intact cord now, wrapped firmly around the hand of a woman, an astral figure that was a deep cerulean. 

"Who are you?" Psyche demanded of the woman. "Yes, you!" 

Meridian turned, mildly surprised at their battlefield improvisation but not afraid. I am the one who holds Sabine's conduit, Meridian answered as if it was simply the most obvious answer on the planet. 

"Who are you talking to, Moonstar? Don't go bonkers on me now!" Paulie asked nervously. 

"You're not Sinister!" Psyche yelled. Meridian considered her answer then psi spoke so only Psyche could hear her. 

As a noun, no, but as an adjective, I'd have to say, yes. 

"I take it you're seeing something I can't?" Paulie nodded. "Or that a battlefield hump drives you crazy?" 

"Yes, Paulie, a woman. She's all blue and she has Sabine on a leash. I don't think we're dealing with Sinister at all." 

Sabine, if you're done exercising, you may leave with our prize now, Meridian said calmly. First, Iceman, he presents the most threat should he be accidentally harmed to my long term plans. 

Yes, mistress. Sabine tripled her speed, easily knocking Northstar out with several well placed blows, his shocked expression priceless then she held open her hands and shuriken appeared, flying into Bobby who was barely conscious, disabling him. 

"Behind me, chief, I think I know what to do," Paulie said as he ran towards Sabine. Sabine flipped backwards, landing with the grace of a falling feather, opened her hands and beckoned him. 

"Sabine has no use for you, Paulie. You I have been given as a kill." 

"Is that right?" Paulie grinned as Sabine charged into him with a flurry of kicks and jabs that had no effect upon his invulnerable flesh. 

"How about this!" he laughed then savagely kicked her in the crotch. 

"Works on women too." Sabine fell into a crouch then looked up, gasping in pain and grinning. 

"Yes, it does, however everything is fluid." With those words, Sabine's flesh flowed like water until she was a man and came up with a blow that sent Paulie hurtling hundreds of feet, his exclamation heard across the battlefield until he landed nearly half a mile away. 

"I do not need to keep any part of my body that is in pain." Magma stood up, flames flickering from her body. 

"Psyche, I take it that Sabine is a metamorphic as well." 

"Amara, I'm not sure what the hell Sabine is! But she.now he, is very good." Sabine's swords were sheathed and he laid his palms out flat, energy cascading outwards like a wave that knocked the two X-Men to the ground. Sabine rose into the air, his body surrounded by flares of plasma energy and he fired another cascade at them, this time though it was stopped by an ice wall. 

"Once I remember what frog legs told me, I realized that my body, like yours, is a choice. And right now I choose the form that is gonna kick your ass!" Iceman roared, rising on a sled of ice, his body grotesquely over- proportioned and spiked. Sabine was startled by the speed which Iceman traveled the ramp, not so much carrying him as extending his body up so that the slamming blow to the ground could be achieved. 

Psyche took the chance at lashing out with her psi power at both Sabine and the blue woman, reasoning that the invisible woman could reach her with telepathy so she could be struck down mentally. Thousands of images came sprouting forth from both minds and Sabine curled into a ball then spasmed out, plasma again tidal waving into them all. Meridian, miles away, slammed back into her chair. She had to retreat from Sabine, from the battlefield so that her mind wouldn't be so violently rendered as her servant's was. She felt for the mental connection again, and wordlessly encouraged Sabine to look beyond all of the manifested fears. They were not real. There was only one true fear that Sabine need concern himself with. Failing Meridian. Paulie and Carlos ran over to the two X-Women who were keeping their distance from Sabine but ready to strike at a moment's notice. If the mutant metamorph was wise, he wouldn't get up. But Sabine turned a feral look on his face and smiled. 

"For that, I will take pleasure in this." 

Enjoy!!!
Thank you for reading,
Kyle Phoenix
Email: kylephoenixshow@aol.com

Website: http://kylephoenixsite.com/
Blog: http://kylephoenixshow.blogspot.com/2012
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Fan Fiction: X-Men: Sanctuary Issue # 3 By Kyle Phoenix

Sanctuary Issue # 3 By Kyle Phoenix

"We All Fall Down"

Tokyo, Japan:


Dani didn't like pain. But then honestly who did? Well, extreme pain. But she'd grown up dealing with pain, mental and physical. Her parents supposedly dying, then her grandfather, the turmoil of the New Mutants, becoming a Valkyrie, living in Asgaard for many years longer than it appeared she'd been gone on Earth, Xavier volunteering her for SHIELD training and the conflicts that brought. But here she was back with the X-Men, a place, a team, she hadn't wanted to return to but always knew her ancestors would bring her to.
With her right hand she was clutching a steel girder extending from the Yashida Towers that were now a warped physical version from only minutes ago. From her left hand, she clutched teammate Paulie who in turn was clutching Sebastian Shaw, the man the X-Men had come to Japan to protect. Above Dani by only a few meters was a cackling Selene, Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, supposed ally to Shaw who had suddenly used her matter altering powers to tip the roof of the building downwards like pouring water.
Forty stories below lay a busy Japanese street and Archangel and Northstar the only flyers on the team were somewhere off dealing with snipers that were allied with Channel, the mutant serial killer who had targeted Shaw and was the X-Men's target.
"Any last words, child?" Selene taunted Dani.
Dani, her boy felling like it was slowly being torn in half, still felt like something was wrong. Selene's face was twisted in dark pleasure but she was different. Changed. Almost as if she'd been co-opted by someone else. And then the Hellfire Guards turning on Shaw made sense.
"You're not Selene!" Dani spat at her.
"Very good! No, child I am Channel. I channel through others for my own use. Now I'm going to raise the girder up, it's Shaw I want to kill firsthand. For that exchange, I'll allow you to live and only kill your friends."
"Through the projectiles that people are shot with? So you have an accomplice?" Dani said, working out a plan in head, hoping that Iceman and Magma were uninjured from the fall. It would take all of them to overcome a possessed Selene.
"Yes, we're engaging your flying friends across town as we speak!" Selene laughed.
Dani nodded knowingly, that had been the answer she need. Could Channel occupy more than one form at a time? Obviously so. "Paulie?"
"I've got him! I've got him!" Paulie babbled, still in shock over dangling so high up.
"Shaw absorbs kinetic energy," Dani said a desperate plan forming in her head.
"And you?" Paulie asked, calming slightly understanding what she meant for him to do.
"I'm going to beat the shit or more like Channel out of Selene," Dani shouted up at her as Paulie let go of her hand and the two men plummeted.
"For that you die!' Selene screamed and rode closer to Dani on the sliding metal she controlled.
"Not today, not by you!" Dani smiled and let go, falling for only a minute until she felt a cold arm around her waist and wrapped her arms around Iceman's neck. He was bringing them up on an ice ramp, a few feet away, Magma rising on an earthen one.
"That was quite the risk, lady you've got some balls," Iceman laughed.
"I was hoping you heard all over the comm link, We needed as much Intel possible on Channel before engaging. Besides I knew that you and Magma would survive the roof being destroyed," Dani said as Selene screamed in rage then caused a pocket to open in the building itself and enveloped her.
"Is she truly possessed by this Channel mutant?" Magma asked. Does that mean we don't get to kill the bitch?"
"Actually I think that may be the one loophole to killing Selene!" Dani said as Ice changed his stand into a ramp and they went sliding down.
There was a thunderous crash below and a small crater exploded in the ground.
"Guess Paulie and Shaw landed, eh?" Iceman said. "Can Paulie take that kind of fall?"
"His upper limit of invulnerability is a lot higher than this fall according to the professor's file on him. Its Shaw I'm worried about, it's a calculated risk that his body will absorb the impact into strength and invulnerability injured as he was.

 Sebastian Shaw, a billionaire several times over, a man who had crawled out of life's gutter to opulence beyond but a handful of men on the planet to comprehend, clawed his way out of the debris and sewer system crater he and Paulie had created upon their crash. He wasn't a pleased man. He'd been shot by his own bodyguards and owed his life to the emergency treatment of Psyche and Iceman. And this was the second time Paulie, who was pulling himself out as well had saved his life. He owed the X-Men his life three times over in the past few minutes and Shaw wasn't a man who liked debts.
When it had come through his network of informants that a mutant serial killer had targeted him, the idea of asking Xavier to send some of his pups to "protect" had seemed like a delicious ironic idea. His identity as a mutant was unknown and for his own purposes he preferred to keep it that way. Perhaps, he had hoped, even a few X-men would be killed in the melee and he would get a chance to observe this killer in action. Shaw was never to have been in danger. But from what he had discerned in the past few minutes, Channel had the ability to control the minds and bodies of not only the Hellfire Guards but it's powerful Black Queen, Selene. A woman who wanted to kill Shaw and take his place as head and had the power to do so. Why she hadn't yet was merely a game of Shaw never being vulnerable enough for her to do it cleanly. With a chest wound, healing from the massive influx of kinetic energy, but still bleeding, a possessed Selene controlled by a madman who wanted to kill Shaw seemed like manna to the true Selene's goals. His only hope of survival would be himself, he didn't trust the X-Men, especially Magma to defend him against Selene gone rogue.
"Just the man I was looking for," the possessed Selene said as she came out of the lobby of Yashida Towers and saw Shaw pulling himself to his feet.
"Channel, I take it? Selene lacks the temerity to create such massive destruction for simply my death. It lacks style," Shaw grunted, his words still coming in gasping bursts as his body worked feverishly to knit up his wounds.
"Yes, Shaw. Know though that though Selene fights viciously inside of me, it's to regain control, not to prevent me from killing you."
"I would expect no less," Shaw smirked then pressed on with the opportunity he had before him. Though his mutant power had left him kinetically charged his wound was still bleeding, he needed a few moments for his healing to be augmented. Selene was smart enough to have killed him outright had she been in control of her own body. Shaw wasn't missing the irony of two beings in one body limited by their knowledge that the other had wanting to kill him. When, not if, he survived this latest challenge, he would laugh about it. The only question in his mind was whether or not that would include being with Selene or toasting her end as well. "I take it you have a purpose for wanting to kill me?"
"Of course I do Shaw and the fun part will be watching you agonize over what brought this on and realizing that it could've been prevented," Selene grinned.
"How unoriginal. Do you have any idea the number of enemies I have? I take it as a compliment to both collect and dispose of them," Shaw said dryly, then slammed his fists onto the ground causing a shock wave that threw Selene to her knees. He ran closer to her intended upon snapping a new and old enemy's neck in the same instant before Channel gained a mastery over her abilities when a blast of intense cold struck him from above.
"Easy, Shaw, we're not thrilled with having to keep someone like Selene alive but she's still a pawn in this," Iceman called down from his ice sled, Psyche holding on to his waist.
"Fool, it's best to press the attack before he understands both Selene's limits and potential!" Shaw raged, knowing that such a massive expenditure of power would necessitate Selene absorbing life forces of others to replenish herself. Channel must not be aware of that need or Selene was hiding it from him, but once Channel understood how to recharge his weapon they wouldn't have a chance.
"I have to agree with Shaw, Iceman, this is an excellent opportunity to deal with two threats!" Magma said as she hopped off on her earthen sled and helped a groggy Paulie to his feet.
"Channel, we don't want to harm Selene but we will if that's what it takes," Psyche threatened.
"S-simpering idiot children!" Shaw chattered as he stretched and shattered the icy layer on his body. "Hesitate now and all is lost!"
"Too late," Selene shouted and hundreds of cables ripped from the ground and grabbed Shaw and the X-Men, snatching them to the ground. "Again, X-Men, join into this fray at your own peril! You're not on my list at the moment but with so much power at my disposal that could change."
Channel occupying Selene knew that they were all gambling on him not being able to become accustomed to Selene's abilities in such a short period of time and to so degree they were right. Subsuming a normal host body was easier than trying to remain dominant over this creature that had been alive for millennia but she subsided in her struggle when it became clear that he intended to torture Shaw before killing him. Her animosity for the Black King greater than her desire to break free but she also was emanating a fear he would harm the fire wench. Why, he couldn't understand but looking for a pawn, he had found an ally.
"Finally a chance to fry you!" Magma said gleefully, easily melting the metal tentacles off of her super heated body and fired lava bolts at Selene.
Selene vanished as the lava bolts seared the ground where she'd been an instant before and reappeared down the block near the crowds the police were trying to hold back.
"Is this what you crave, my dear? I didn't know that we also had a habit to feed, so many secrets I'll have to pry out of you!" Channel said out loud to Selene within as he raised her cloak mesmerizing dozens of people and then reached into the crowd and began clutching a man and a woman, absorbing their life forces. The use of this woman's abilities seemed to be in direct correlation her vampiric like feeding, the more power he expended the more he needed to feed. The question was how long could he hold onto this precious new toy? His parasitic possessions generally had no limit but his whim however her constant hammering away from inside the mental prison would soon force him to relinquish her. He had many forms to control, therefore mental battlefronts to maintain while the true Selene had the privilege of only one enemy to focus on.
Glancing back at the X-men who were freeing themselves, Channel knew that he didn't stand a chance against them as long as he was new to Selene's powers. He would need time to cultivate stronger mental bonds around the woman's essence. But that didn't mean all was lost. With another burst of speed, Selene crossed back to the X-men and grabbed Shaw's throat.
"Have a care, X-Men, I could kill him without hesitation," Selene grinned.
Psyche, psi bow and arrow drawn, nodded with a grim smile. "Channel, we can match this fight."
"Yes, but I have much to do! And not much time to do it in!" Selene laughed then waved her free hand at the sagging tower above, causing what looked like a wave stopped in mid arc to continue plummeting.
"Holy shit!" Iceman said which expressed what they were all thinking. He gave a silent prayer that he had what it would take to do this and thought of his body as more of a large form than a being. Rocketing up his icy form began first expanding and then flattening until it became a buttress to catch the plunging tower. Still mentally conscious within the ice barrier he focused on expanding even as columns for support to hold up the tons of metal shot down from the contrary ice structure. Expanding further still until the ice shield encompassed the entire street. Then pulling more and more moisture form the air, from the nearby ocean to curve the barrier, catch the debris. He prayed that the building would hold as he forced his barrier to grow even higher to push back against the wave to steady as much of the building as possible. Selene didn't have the power to topple a skyscraper so easily but causing it to pour had shifted the integrity of the structure, the weight distribution. He couldn't put it back but he could make sure it was only the top ten or fifteen stories that actually collapsed and crumbled and not the entire building.
Pulling upon more mental reserves then he would've ever expected himself to have, Iceman allowed his barrier to grow into an embrace and then a full cast around the entire building, all the while creating overpass barriers on the surrounding streets below. He focused on not thinking of himself as a man but as the ice itself. Forming the ice as he would if it was in his hands and not thousands of feet, hundreds of tons.
"Fuck me!" Paulie said as he grabbed Psyche, prepared to shield her with his own body but Iceman's feat no longer making it necessary.
"Paulie, out of the way don't forget about Selene!" Psyche shouted but it was too late as a cascade of pavement slammed into both of them.
Magma readying her powers to add support beams to Iceman's structure without shifting the fragile Japanese tectonic structure too could cause a huge seismic event turned her attention away from Selene only to be struck down by a mystic bolt from the sorceress.
Draining away enough of his life force to keep him dazed but not kill him, Selene hissed into her captive Shaw's ear, "Don't struggle, Black King, you'll miss the best part!"
With a burst of speed, Selene, still clutching Shaw, scooped up Magma, who stunned, reverted to her human form, and they both vanished.


Madripoor:


Supplies were low even with the United Nations air lifting in supplies. Khan's invasion attempt, repelled by a faction of teh X-Men lead by Storm had saved the island, saved the world, in fact but the small nation was severely hurt by it. Low Town, reserved for pirates and ne'erdowells had been as phsyical devastated by the shock troopers as High Town where the affluent dwelled and had once played. But Khan's shock troopers had been indiscriminate in their attacks, class boundaries meaningless to winning, to conquering and establishing a foothold. Though they had loss the Earth, the repelled soldiers, their energy conduit space ladder to Earth never firmly established, could rest assured back in their home dimensions, that they had given Madripoor a sound beating.
Under Prince(ss) Viper, formerly of Hydra, committed nihilist and terrorist, now reigning sovereign of the small nation, the Madripoorians had fought back valiently, viciously with guerilla tactics and self sacrifice that was legend amongst the conventional forces of the world that had been unable to hep them due to the force field that segmented the island off from the rest of the world. When the X-Men had turned the tide and won the war, the island rejoiced and then focused on rebuilding, on recreating teh balance infrastructure it had maintained for so many years before. The chief imports and exports, all manner of vice that the crowned prince(ss) of the island would allow. And Viper, having lived a life that held precious few moments of grace had gone to work reestablishing Madripoor as a gambling capital of the Orient, willing to traffic any and everything that would save what was a hemorrhaging population. She had turned a blind eye to anyone who's reasons for wanting to invest in the island, legitimate and not, would've normally been closely screened. She would get the country back on it's feet from legal and illegal aide and then viciously cut a swath through anyone foolish enough to challenge her ruler ship.
There were those who weren't interested in rulership though. There were those who were interested in somewhere to hide or even more important, rest, plot and flourish.
Meridian was just such an entrepreneur.
Through lackeys she had legitimately purchased several estates that the owners had abandoned and converted them into a development compound. She allowed the underbosses Viper had in charge of watching such new players believe she was an arms dealer. Not big enough for them to worry abotu her staging a coup. Just someone who had worn out her welcome in all of the normal terrorist rest places. Bimini, Algiers, the Congo. She paid the outrageous "protection fees" the under bosses demanded for themselves and the royal coffers with just enough reticence to look believable. She knew she'd been checked out three ways from Sunday and back again. But her resume as a dealer was impeccable, she should know, she had spent years cultivating it. Her background was sullied enough and murky enough to be taken seriously and therefore overlooked by everyone in the communities she enjoyed hiding in. She had made it a art form to hide, to cultivate, to nurture.
Wasn't that her greatest ability?
Cultivating and nurturing mutants?
No, perhaps her greatest ability had been keeping her truly greatest ability a secret. With agents sprinkled throughout the world, a network that if ever exposed would be seen to rival a superpowers intelligence organization, Meridian had been invisible on the mutant cultivation radar screen for nearly a decade. Let the Xavier and Magneto's dual in the day with their pawns cast at each other. Even let the Hellfire Club Lord Cardinals believe that their machinations were hidden in secrecy and darkness from all.
Meridian was the darkness. She was the collector of knowledge and more importantly of the refuse of the madmen, all in her opinion, Apocalypse, Sinister, Xavier, Magneto who ran around creating wheels within wheels to try and oust the other from the premiere position of mutant leader. She was smarter than them all. They wanted to control mutants, to train them, to experiment with them, Meridian sought to master the entire board before she even came close to touching any pieces, to having her invisible hand finally revealed.
Then the vacuum of Sinister being driven underground, Apocalypse supposedly destroyed and Magneto slaughtered in Genosha. She knew it was her time. At first she had considered bringing her army of denizens together with but a figurative snap of her finger and taking Genosha fromthe rubble heap to be her kingdom. But kingdoms needed figureheads and figureheads became targets of both governments and madmen. Meridian prided herself on being smarter. The others wanted to affect those walking the Earth, Meridian wanted to be mistress of the literal ants, the unseen ones that could rise up and consume any morsel so swiftly, disassemble and devour it so expediently, that it would disappear unnoticed.
Madripoor was just such the fruit she would take. The invasion had left it weak enough that she could slip in and hungry enough that she could feed it poision. Already six of her agents were on the island ready to bring about the next stage in her plan, the overt hand that would bring the X-Men, any X-Men to her. The confrontation was inevitable. But when she got word from one of her Hellfire Club deep cover agents about them protecting the Black King, one X-Men in particular had caught her eye. And luckily enough, like the chessmaster, she had a piece in play that would lure that exact team to her den.
And then.....well, then Meridian would become visible as simply a piece on the board. Because if they saw she was in truth orchestrating half of the board, millions of them for so long, she would have to forsake them.
Cassandra Nova had been a wild spike killing sixteen million in one manipulation but Meridian had anticipated such a piece in play one day.
Sixteen million!
Meridian's ultimate targets totalled four billion, all living breathing, walking beings who didn't know that she had deemed them dead before their first breaths.


Sanctuary, Australia:

"You have been infiltrated!" the man whispered into Cecilia's ear. "I am not the enemy but I am risking my life, the life of my family to tell you this. Please do not raise the alarm until I can explain."
Cecilia considered her options, her hand was still on the comm unit on the wall, about to hit the button that would alert her teammates around town. But the man sounded s desperate and he had yet to harm her. She could listen. Running a clinic in some of the toughest neighborhoods in New York City taught her that sometimes people couldn't come clean until they knew they could trust you. Praying that the same rules applied to Mutant World, she lowered her hand from the comm link.
"Thank you," he said then released his grip over her mouth.
"Thank you. Can I turn around or is that a problem for you too?" Cecilia asked calmly, centering her mind to call up her force field in a split second.
"Yes," he said and she turned around and was genuinely surprised to see a spaceman. She opened her mouth to say something then shook her head and closed it. "You are of the X-Men, yes?"
"Yes, I am. Sorry, I'm a new member. Not as accustomed as the others to casually meeting a----? Ummm, you don't look human, no offense, what are you?" she asked of the light brown skinned man. He kind of reminded her of Warren. "Hey, are you---?"
"Yes, Shi'ar. My name is Hunter. I am one of the Imperial Guard," he nodded perfunctorily from within his metallic body suit and head piece, only his face exposed. "I am here because of the infestation within your midst."
"Infestation? Ummm, I'm the resident doctor and I've checked everyone's health in the X-Men, here and in the States. Everyone is fine."
"Not your people, a township on one of your continents. Though the Shi'ar Empire has left this region of space, calling you X-Men an infestation unto yourselves because of the Mummudrai, the Brood are here."
"Ok, ok, wait a second. Why are you here then, from what I understood no Shi'ar or Imperial Guard are suppose to be here ever again because of Cassandra Nova's ruining of your empire. Sorry about that by the way."
"Your comrades saved my family line several years ago. I owe you X-Men a blood debt that my children and wife are still alive. I found a way to come here undetected to warn you. As Lilandra was leaving, her command vessel did a scan of your planet and found the Brood village. I returned after the ship had left the sector to recon the village."
"Ok, then why didn't the Shi'ar come back for you? They were to leave tracking posts or satellites or whatever the Star Wars translation is so that they would insure we never had contact again."
"I am dead."
"Excuse me?" Cecilia said with furrowed brow, he looked perfectly healthy to her.
"It was trap. The Brood knew of my surveillance and obtained the codes to my jump ship in orbit around your moon. My ship is hidden here but the infestation must be destroyed before they can get to the jump point. If the Brood, of such massive numbers as are there, were to strike the Shi'ar Empire now, all would be lost."
"Ok, hunter, why not just warn your people? And then tell us before today?" Cecilia asked incredulously. "If a town has been contaminated this world is in danger."
"To alert my people would mean the death of my entire line. Forty-seven direct relatives. And do not be so sure that I am the only Shi'ar agent on this world. We have been watching your world for centuries. I could not make contact with any of you until I intercepted your intentions to come here by monitoring the Institute. I don't have much time left."
"Why? What could be more dangerous than what you've already told me?"
"I am dead."
"You keep saying that! What do you mean?"
"I do not have much time in this life. I fight now to save the future of this world and what is left of my people. I have been impregnated with one of the Brood."


Sydney, Australia:


Alex Rosten turned in his chair ever so slightly so that he could see the Security Council as they looked at the viewer screen on the far wall. Like most of these councils his seat and the monitor were the only things in light, the five council members were in shadows.
Games.
But he played along, though it would be child's play to find out their names, their children's favorite colors, their dirty little secrets and libidinous joys. He played along because they were his employers for the time being, his contract still had another ten years on it. An out clause, of course, at his discretion but if and when he exercised the clause it would be because of their fault, not his. It would be important to the rest of the international community that it was clearly the Council's fault and not Rosten's.
Reputation was everything.
On the screen were the outlaw X-Men. Well this group in Australia supposed weren't of the outlaw branch. Except for Cargill, she had some potential for going bad according to her personality profile. The whole Genoshan thing. What if she just went ballistic? Was the Council's fear. But that's why they had Rosten, to handle potential fears.
"I'm to make contact soon, I figured a basic management team. We're in negotiations with the X Corp and Xavier now. He understands that he's expanding himself exponentially and will need governments to trust him so he's being extremely forthcoming. You've established an excellent rapport with him."
One man spoke form the end. "Australia is a vast continent but with a low population. We can afford to be gracious and from the abundance of files you have, we can use there expertise and help in a wide range of areas."
The woman in the center added. "We don't have a team of heroes like most nations do and while the risk of an attack similar to Genosha is possible one day, the benefits for our continent far outweigh the risk. Mutants, happy ones, are a vast untapped resource."
"When it becomes clear to the international community what you're doing, I hope that you aren't liable to back away from this policy. The X-Men and Xavier aren't enemies I would want to have. By me, I of course, mean you," Alex grinned.
"We're committed. Take some times to work out details but tell Xavier he has our support," another man said.
"Good. I'll take my leave then," with that Alex walked out of the room, reminding himself to buy up as many shares of stock that he could get his hands on of Australian stock. The first continent to make an active commitment to allying itself with mutants in exchange for technology and industrial support? A done deal. He was walking on land of the next super power of not just this planet but if things went well over the next century, the solar system.


Tokyo, Japan:


Dani peaked around the corner at the dozens of police cars, ambulances and city emergency service workers, news cameras and hundreds of bystanders. A lot like the old days. You could always tell by the crowds afterwards where Xavier's students had been, lots of damage. As far as she knew only two people had been killed by Channel inhabiting the Black Queen's body but Shaw and fellow X-Man had been kidnapped by him. She'd been trying her comm unit for twenty minutes now and no Angel or Northstar, who were last seen pursuing Channel's accomplices. The situation looked grim and Dani had a feeling it was only going to get worse.
"Hey, chief, Bobby needs to lay down, that building brace he created drained him good," Paulie said to her from the alleyway they'd hidden in, a gaunt Bobby Drake cradled in his arms. Iceman had used his power to the utmost to keep the Yashida skyscraper from falling on top of them by literally freezing it in place, almost in it's entirety. That was still too huge of a concept for Dani to swallow. A forty story building? Iceman was no longer looking like the goofball she'd always thought of him as.
Dani felt a pang in her heart, her psi link with Warren was down, which meant he was either under Channel's control or dead. She didn't know which one would be worse and Paulie had even less field experience than she did. Warren and Bobby were the senior X-Man on the Blue Team but Warren had unofficially delegated her his second in commander, their psi rapport making their work seamless.
"Hold still so I can get this right," Dani said as she faced her two teammates. She focused on a specific image and Paulie and Bobby, one unconscious and the other in tattered ruins of a tuxedo were dressed to the nines again in beautiful evening wear. What she most desired to see. The hotel Warren had them booked at wasn't too far away, they could get there and Dani could call in the other half of the Blue Team from their base in Australia.
They couldn't do this caper alone.


Four Seasons,
Tokyo, Japan:

"How are you?" Dani asked Bobby, he was sitting in the Jacuzzi up to his neck in freezing cold water, a dozen buckets that had been full of ice around him.
"I feel a lot better. Thanks to you two," Bobby groaned. "I've got a migraine like you wouldn't believe but I'll be ready to help once we figure out where the others are. What made you think of an ice bath?"
"Actually that was Paulie," Dani said as Paulie came up behind her eating a hamburger.
"Way to go, Paulie, who woulda thunk you had such good ideas in you?" Bobby laughed then starting coughing.
"Up yours, Icy, I actually read through all the files Charlie X had on my teammates and I simply reasoned that you'd dehydrated your body with that ice stunt that is still on the news I might add. The Mayor thinks it may take a week to thaw out the Yashida building," Paulie laughed. "If I hadn't of been there I wouldn't believe it. You froze like the entire fucking block!"
"It was impressive, Bobby, you saved a lot of lives with that stunt," Dani chimed in. "Channel used Selene's power very recklessly to try and kill us, I didn't think we had a chance. We can't make the mistake of going easy on him because he's co-opted someone's body."
"You think he's done the same to Warren and Jean-Paul?" Bobby asked.
Dani nodded. "Or worse. I can't think of any other reason why my rapport with Warren would be shut off so completely.
"So half our team are part of this Hannibal Lector wannabe's army now?" Paulie sighed. "Jesus! The Marines was never this dicey."
"I tried calling the others in Sanctuary. No answer. Which means that they're probably on a mission. We're on our own," Dani said. "I don't want to wait too long to get to Channel, he's a killer who has no reason to keep our people or Shaw and Selene alive, we don't have time to call to America for help."
"Then what's the plan, chief?" Bobby said as he reached for a towel and climbed out of the Jacuzzi. Dani turned her head slightly as Paulie started laughing.
"Ouch, Drake, cold is not your little friends' friend, eh? I can't imagine a power that would do such constant damage to my pride and joy!" Paulie hooted, pointing at what couldn't be seen.
"Up yours, Paulie!" Bobby muttered back, blushing.
"Uhhhh, Drake, I think you're confusing me with JP, who if I remember correctly was your date earlier this evening."
Dani couldn't help but smile as Bobby walked into his bedroom, the ribbing that a true team gave each other was something she hadn't realized she'd missed so much. Bobby and Paulie, not often considered much in the raw power department, we're warriors at heart, she trusted them more as each minute went by.
Dani and Paulie went into the luxurious living room and waited until Bobby came out of his room in a towel, the 60 inch plasma screen TV on mute, but on the news about the Yashida Towers. She had a fragment of a plan but it would be dicey at best.
"Ok, boys, listen up. My psi rapport with Warren is constant, but my link to him is stronger than his to me. If he's being mentally suppressed as I think Channel does to his victims then that's probably why I can't sense him. However, I may be able to push myself through into Warren and get a visual or a clue to where he is. The danger is for all of my psi abilities, I'm no telepath, it will be a clumsy barrage of energy at him. My psi energy can be wild. I could fry his brain. I don't know what shape that will leave him in."
Bobby spoke up. "Dani, I've known Warren almost half my life, if he's in that freak's clutches he'd take the risk of dying rather than be turned into a puppet. Apocalypse did that to him, Warren would rather you scramble his eggs forever than he harm anyone as Channel will make him do."
"Ok, so we might be able to locate him but the question is can the three of us take them out, including our teammates?"
"In a fair fight, no. But maybe we're thinking of this the wrong way. Maybe we need to make a call to the Hellfire Club and ask their precious Inner Circle for some back-up. They have a vested interest in getting Shaw and Selene back safely or avenging them if they're dead," Bobby suggested.
"That sounds like a plan but who else do we know in the Inner Circle who could put us in touch with their Japan people?" Paulie asked and looked at the sour looks Bobby and Dani exchanged.
"Ms. Bitch herself," Dani groaned.
"Emma Frost," Bobby finished.







Four Seasons Hotel,
Tokyo, Japan:


"Well, well, well," the astral projection of Emma Frost telepathically said as she appeared in the center of the Presidential suite. "My, all three of you have moved up in the world. The members of your team who are accustomed to these surroundings all unaccounted for due to the efforts of only one mutant?"
"Including the Black Queen and your former pimp, Shaw," Dani shot back icily.
Emma glared at Dani. "Careful, girl. There was a time when it was only my compassion that kept me from twisting you into whatever pretzel I desired."
"Run that on someone else, Frost. I was the only New Mutant who didn't go catatonic and need your telepathic ministrations. Which means one of two things: they weren't as strong as me and I'm strong enough not to need you. Now cut the trademark bitchery and cut to the chase."
"When the time comes, Moonstar I'm going to train you to be a telepath. And I promise you all of your bravado will crumble under all of the neurosis and subliminated fears we'll have to indepthly explore," she stood a fraction of an inch from the impassive Cheyenne warrior but in the end Dani turned away, disgusted and at the same time revealed for the fear that held true. One day, as her powers kept maturing, if she survived, she would need an Omega level telepath to train her and the numbers were dwindling of who she could choose.
"Emma, are you done?" Bobby asked tiredly, he'd been through Emma's mind fucks before. The rub wasn't the words or the public humiliation as much as the truth behind them. He wouldn't just stand by and see Emma piss on Dani the way she had him. On every young person's concern about fulfilling their potential and at what cost.
Emma sauntered over to him, her astral body undulating and bouncing in ways that seemed impossible for gravity or lack thereof to provide. "Cerebra enhances me so much, Bobby. To the point where right now I'm looking at the thoughts, the instincts you used to accomplish the feat at Yashida Towers. The only thing more impressive than the fact that you did it, is that I used your body to do that and more years earlier. But you're catching up, I'm marginally impressed."
"Jesus, when was the last time this bim got some pipe?" Paulie laughed. "You can hear her knees scratching to the bone from here!"
Dani and Bobby shocked by his blunt outburst couldn't help but stifle their laughter as Emma blanched then turned and glared hatefully at Paulie. She didn't like having the spotlight taken from her. "Mr. Provenzano. Yes, you too, like these others have immense potential." Her astral form leaned down to where he was reclining on the couch. "And secrets. Secrets that I'm looking at right now. Two words. Cowboy. Video."
"Are you done? We've all got Achilles Heels and you've kicked each one. We're not the Gold team or Storm's team and we got our asses handed to us. We get that. Can you help us or do we have to do this alone?" Dani asked when she saw how pale Paulie had gone.
"We need contact with the Inner Circle. We need back up," Bobby reminded, "it's in their best interests to help us."
"Oh, I didn't have to make this astral trip, I just wanted to make sure the "B" Team was living up to all of our low expectations. I phoned ahead. Your help is here," Emma cooed and there was a sharp knock at the door.
Paulie gladly hopped off of the couch and nearly ran to open the door. In the doorway stood a tall, strikingly handsome Latino man, close to 6'4 in a black designer suit and thin clear glasses. Everything about him bespoke privilege and command.
"X-Men, Carlos Allegra, the Black Bishop. Carlos, X-men," Emma introduced casually. Allegra calmly walked the length of the marble floors into the sunken living room and stood before Emma's astral image. She raised her hand and he leaned down, simulating holding it and kissing it gently.
"La Reina Blanca," he said in a heavy rumbling voice.
"El Obispo Negro," she replied.
Emma stared intently at him for several long minutes, their communication obviously both telepathic and purposefully omitting of the three X-men, then they both smiled and he laughed heartily. "You haven't changed at all, mi Reina, I've missed you at the functions. We all have."
"Thank you, Carlos. These are allies of mine and of Sebastian's. You understand the price of failure on your part?"
"Always."
"Espléndido. Good hunting." And with a small smirk Emma was gone in a hazy flicker.
Dani looked around, still feeling the White Queen's telepathic presence.
Excellent plan to find Warren. However know the longer and more often you connect the deeper the ties with our fair Angel. Have a care, Danielle, he will satisfy desires you admit and others even you are unaware of. When you're ready contact me and I'll teach you how to make the rapport your contrivance and not you its concubine, Emma telepathically whispered for Dani's ears alone.
"So you're a member of the Inner Circle, a Lord Cardinal, pallie?" Paulie said smugly with folded arms standing in front of the Black Bishop who towered over him by several inches.
"Yes, Mr. Provenzano, I am. It is an honor to both be within the Circle and my honor to be called upon to aid mi el rey y la reina," Allegra said calmly, turning away from Paulie as if he were a child who couldn't understand such an adult allegiance. "Downstairs is a van full of trusted Hellfire elite guards, we are at your discretion, Ms. Moonstar. Emma apprised me of the situation in detail and that you have a way to locate the exact surroundings of our mutual associates? The mutant locator we possess only has a general location approximated."
"Yes, I share a psychic rapport with Angel, even if he's been co-opted by the mutant Channel, I should be able to see where he's at. Let's hope they're all together," Dani said as she sat down on the floor and focused her mind as Prof. X had taught her so long ago during her training.
"And what do you bring to the table, Allegra? We, X-Men don't run with Armani clad pussies," Paulie snickered, "no matter their references. We need raw power."
"Number one, this is Brioni. I find Armani passé. And number two, I am well equipped to kill you at this instant in spite of your invulnerability. Would you like me to show you or will you take my word for it?" Allegra's dark green eyes focused on Paulie's and the tension in the room ratcheted up tenfold and then something odd happened, Dani opened her eyes. There had been a ripple on the psionic plane, as if Allegra had just called something. Something big from somewhere. Hovering over Allegra now was the visage of Death, but not his, of many others.
"Paulie, let it go," Bobby murmured, he'd been around enough that when someone made a threat and glanced across a room and he, Iceman, got a chill up his spine, it was time to back off.
Dani saw the Death image recede and Allegra turned his eyes to her.
"You saw?' he asked calmly.
"I saw," Dani nodded then smiled and added. "Harm any of mine, act without my go and I'll show why yours doesn't impress me." And with that, Dani allowed her face to slip for a second and showed him her Valkyrie face.
"Madre!" he said and stepped back, then glanced at the two young men. They hadn't seen the sleight of haand she'd performed. Not only could she control it but she could intend it for his eyes only.
"You may bring It but I am It," she grinned then closed her eyes and looked for the mental thread that lead to her teammate because if it didn't exist that meant he was dead.
Dani found herself in a tube. A duct of some sort. First she had been gently reaching for the link between herself and Warren and then she was crawling through a cylindrical tube. The tube itself though, beat faintly, felt like something familiar. The walls of the tube were dark but off in the distance she could see a faint light. So she crawled.
Truth be told, she really didn't like the way her life had gone all mutant weirdness years ago. Xavier's dedication to this human/mutant coalition seemed alternately immature and gloriously unattainable. But here she was burrowing deeper and deeper into what she felt must be her mind's interpretation of the link with Warren because of the brotherhood Xavier had instilled in them all. While she expected that she had a deep emotional sense of the man, she didn't know Warren all that well and here she was risking her life to save his. And she knew that he and the others would do the same for her. Perhaps it was that existential comfort that kept them all bonded to Xavier no matter how far they traveled or the time that went by. There would always be someone there for you, caring about you because you had one of these gaudy X's on your belt.
Without even so much as a warning she fell out of the tube into a small room. Plush carpeting, a rolling fireplace and Warren standing there in a silk robe.
"Warren?" she whispered unsure of where the hell she was.
"Danielle," he graciously helped her to her feet. "You look wonderful."
And she did, still in the designer dress he'd given her for the Hellfire Club party that seemed like it had happened years ago. On the walls of the small room were solid X's imprinted with the professor's face and occasionally Jean Grey's.
"What is this, Warren? Where are we?"
"In my fallout shelter," he grinned.
"Your mind," she nodded understanding that this must be what Xavier had taught his students to retreat into if their minds were being co-opted. Her being a psi, her very being was her "room" but a non-psi would need a tangible visual to maintain their core self within.
"I knew eventually you would try to find me. Hope the tube wasn't too tight, I had to make it only for you. Channel is out there. In me. Trying to get in here," Warren said calmly but she could feel a sense of something lurking around behind the walls. Like a shark brushing past her leg in water.
"I understand. The cavalry is on the way, don't worry I just need to get a fix on where you are. You'll have to open up. Let me see through your eyes."
"It's bad, Dani. Channel has been planning this for awhile. The other murders were just to get Shaw's interest, to open a conduit ploy to get at Shaw, to challenge his ego," Warren explained then smiled at her. "I haven't been this deep inside of this room in years. I'd almost forgotten it was here, it's a sub-hypnotic suggestion, a last ditch place to retain my psyche while under attack."
Dani could feel the fear ratcheting up in the room. Warren was terrified of opening back up. Of waking up.
"Don't worry, Warren I'm here. We X-Men are here with you," she smiled and looked over the fire place. There was an elegant portrait of him and her embracing, looking deeply into each others eyes, his wings carrying them aloft. "Whoa, heavy imagery."
"Sorry, I can't control what's in here. Give him time. Give me time to accept the portrait in here out there, ok?" he smiled.
"Ok, Warren," Dani said then wondered if she was going to get the time to learn to accept an attraction, an intimate relationship that felt thrust upon her.
"Thrust would be the wrong concept to use with us so close right now," Warren laughed and Dani blushed, her thoughts as naked to him as his were to hers. He leaned down and kissed her gently. "So that you know me."
And then she felt her eyes flutter open.
A dungeon of some sort. Her arms were twisting behind her, her wings strapped to a wall.
No, she didn't have wings.
The X-Men would come.
"I AM ALL!" thundered through her head suddenly, a foul smelling voice. Smelling voice? Essence. The essence itself was unclean. Channel.
Seeing through Warren's eyes. Their thoughts were jumbling together.
Psyche focused on herself on holding onto the connection with Warren while trying to ignore the Channel being smashing down onto his consciousness. She realized that if she didn't, Channel could easily climb back through their link and subsume her as well.
"We're in a dungeon. The others are upstairs. I am----me---Warren is too stubborn to break, too much time with Xavier. Channel soaks in like a poison. But it's difficult trying to hold onto him. Them all. Selene. Selene is very strong. Almost too strong. I'm connected to Channel too. He doesn't know I'm here. Not yet. He will though. Angel isn't powerful enough to rate anything more than a sideline possession. We have to get in there soon, Channel is preparing more needles, permanent needles for Selene and Amara," Psyche said half in a trance inside of the Hellfire Club van that sat on the outskirts of an estate in the Tokyo hillside.
"Psyche, how many of them are there besides our people and Channel?" the Black Bishop asked, having changed into a dark leather battle suit much like the one's worn by the four elite Hellfire guards who were in the van also. Their blank faced masks disconcerting as Bobby and Paulie watched Psyche anxiously, she'd been fading in and out of this trance for the hour it had taken them to get here, mumbling incoherently as she tried to maintain individuality from the other two minds she was connected to.
"Warren was brought in by the Hellfire guards that attacked Shaw and he saw another man. Camus? Camus. Camus is Channel's assistant who fires the psi needles into people. If you can take the others, slow them down I can try and distract Channel, he's spreading himself too thin. Too thin. He can't hold Magma and Northstar and the guards with Selene's constant pressure."
"Selene, your associates and six Hellfire guards. Mid level men. We'll have no trouble at all," Allegra smiled.
Amara sat tied to a chair next to Shaw, they'd both been injected with some sort of drug. She felt both dizzy and nauseous and Shaw didn't look much better. Before them stood Selene but her bearing was wrong Amara realized. She held a tumbler of scotch and watched them with a smile. She was standing like a man. The mutant Channel still had control of her. Next to the possessed Selene was a tall thin man, bald with a side arm holster. But the gun didn't look normal, like either bullets or energy was projected from it.
Across the room, Northstar was preparing himself a drink, an evil grin on his face as well.
Co-opted too, Amara accepted of her teammate. She didn't see Angel. Either he was free or elsewhere and the six Hellfire Guards were positioned at the farthest end of the large ballroom. Side arms drawn, waiting patiently. She didn't doubt for an instant that Dani would find a way to find her, would come for her but would it be too late. Any mutant that could hold Selene, a powerful sorceress and mutant for so long in his thrall could do the same to Amara, if he didn't have a limit on how many he could possess. Did he have a limit?
"Selene is negotiating within here for both o f your lives. Negotiating fiercely I might add," Selene said calmly then took a long gulp of liquor. "Shaw I can understand. Perhaps. But why you, little X girl?"
"I am her liege, even at the loss of her body she would still fight in anyway possible for me," Shaw grunted. It was obviously a strain for him to speak, his bare chest crusted with blood, the kinetic energy he'd absorbed having healed his gunshot wound but obviously not enough. He was pale and ashen, his head lolling from the drugs but there was fierceness in his gaze, a ferocity that said he was a lion, had been one for a long time and would never mewl like a kitten, no matter the circumstances.
"Is that the only reason, Shaw? I sense she would see you dead," Selene taunted. "As time goes on her thoughts become even more open to me, she can't resist my total consumption for long. I like her body. I think I'll keep this one for awhile."
"You'll have to learn etiquette all over again," Amara snickered.
"Funny," Selene said then slapped her across the face, the tumbler smashing and cutting Amara in several places. "It seems Selene wants to make you her slave, Amara. Isn't that simply delicious? But with a vessel like Selene I no longer need to have Camus here inject me into others, portions of my long dead bodies DNA into projectiles to control people. I can suck the life force out of them and make them my slaves as Selene does. What an excellent trade don't you think?"
"You're a fool, Channel, you won't be able to hold Selene enthralled for long. She's malevolence personified. You've been a corpse for what….years? She's been evil for centuries. In fact, I suspect she's using you, perhaps even enjoying my predicament," Shaw grinned.
"Wouldn't that be a twist, Sebastian?" Selene laughed. "Though I doubt it," with a flick of her hand it was audible to everyone in the roof as several of Shaw's ribs broke. Shaw grunted and began sweating, doubling over as far as his bonds would allow but he never cried out, he just looked up.
"Very good. Worthy of the form you hold. I would warn you both, kill me, Channel, or free me, Selene, because that body will soon feel pain like never before," Shaw spit up blood with the words but Amara saw the look of surprise cross Selene's face.
"We should kill him then, Camus, the bald man, said calmly and took a silk scarf from his pocket with an embroidered "C" in scarlet.
"And now the serial killer histrionics. Don't bore me. Kill me or impress me," Shaw said in disgust then closed his eyes as if he no longer cared for even the sight of them.
Amara saw the far wall beginning to glow ever so slightly and at first she dismissed it as merely part of the drugs in her system then she heard a loud scream. The entire wall shattered as Paulie came crashing through, his arms over his face in what reminded Amara of an improvised fastball special.
The six Hellfire guards drew their weapons to fire on the hole, for more X-Men to come through but only Paulie seemed to be making his entrance that way. As if he entered rooms through walls every day in that fashion, Paulie calmly stood up and dusted off his black and grey uniform and smiled then spoke.
"Wow, it's a full house. Ok, here's the skinny, Channel---I take it you're still in Morticia Addams, huh?----you vacate and give up or we're gonna kick yer fucking ass back to the graveyard."
"We're going to die," Amara muttered to herself. "Imbecile!"
Selene ten feet away from Paulie one instant and then clutching his throat the neck shook her head no. "I think I'll sup instead." Her arm began glowing in the life force draining process then she screeched and stumbled back, falling to the floor.
"Now!" Paulie shouted into his comm link as the guards and Northstar all reeled from the psychic shock Channel felt as one being occupying multiple bodies. "Invulnerable to lots of shit, that draining crap don't work on the kid, bitch---bastard! Whatever!" Paulie said then kicked Selene with all of his might in the gut sending her sailing into the far wall.
Camus shocked, hesitated, unsure of what to do and Amara's eyes bulged as Shaw roared, ripped his way free of his chair and grabbed the man. He had feigned having no super strength left, biding his time with such perfection that Amara had believed him as had their adversaries. He held him by the arm and back of the neck, pulling in opposite directions tightly enough that Camus was paralyzed with instant pain and fear that he was about to be ripped in two.
"Mi rey!" Allegra said as he came through the hole debris followed by the six Hellfire Guards and two X-Men. "Take no chances," he instructed his men who calmly turned and shot their Hellfire comrades in the chest and head.
"No!" Iceman shouted.
"Bobby, they were never going to walk out of here," Psyche said and an unspoken communication passed between her eyes and Allegra's. They were people who understood the rules of true combat.
Paulie hurried to the bar and slugged Northstar who slammed back against the rack of liquor. "He's down and out. And I might say that was fun to do."
"Black Bishop, I knew you'd lead the assault force. I take it Emma contacted you?" Shaw said still clutching Camus' throat, the man, half conscious under the pressure.
"Yes, mi rey, we were mounting our own search when the X-Men contacted Emma to find me," Allegra said as he walked carefully towards Selene who was crumpled on the floor.
"Don't!" Psyche said and stepped between Allegra and Selene, she could see the two souls, Channel and Selene fighting viciously for control of the woman's body.
Finally the obsidian cloak flipped back and Selene stood, an angry snarl on her lips. "I have the bastard that dared to defile me!"
"Don't kill him yet, Selene," Shaw rasped.
"Why not?" she demanded enraged.
"Iceman, Warren is downstairs, get him. Quickly. This might disintegrate into something even nastier than Channel," Psyche said into her comm link sotto voce and he nodded from across the room then ran back out.
"Channel is under my protection now," Shaw said and stood, holding Camus above him. "Isn't that right, Camus? Or should I call you Channel?"
"He's Channel? Amara said in shock as Psyche undid her bonds.
"Yes, I believe this man's work has been nothing but a bid for membership into the Inner Circle," Shaw said. "Though who his sponsor is and who he may've tried to ally with is in question." Shaw glared at Selene. "Is that what you were negotiating? All this time instead of fighting the possession? Trying to convince him to follow through with the plan and not kill me but merely co-opt my body? But suddenly he developed a taste for yours?"
Selene hesitated for a moment then opened her clutched fist, a dim greenish orb in it. "Why, my dear Black King I have no idea whatever you're talking about, but you hold his body and I hold his soul. Shall we reunite them and ask?"
Psyche watched this play out. One side daring the other. If one of them killed Channel they'd have to pretend this was something it most definitely was not, a murder attempt. However if they took it to the next level a major battle would break out and with the way Allegra and the Hellfire elite were standing, Selene wouldn't have a chance. Psyche wasn't sure she cared about anything but her people in the room being in the crossfire. They'd have to choose sides and that could tip the scales in someone's favor, neither side being preferable victors.
"Looks like we got a crime family stand-off," Paulie said popping an Evian and swigging it down from the bar, Northstar hoisted on top of it.
"Paulie, zip it!" Psyche snapped.
"No, hear me out. These two gots beef and one or the other may've hired this Channel guy to off the other."
"What do you mean hired him?" Selene asked, perplexed for a moment and then understanding dawned that perhaps Shaw had been the true orchestrator.
"Well, it reminds me of a squabble back in the old neighborhood. Carmine, he used to run guns and stolen kitchen appliances, assumed, as you may be, I'm not saying you are, but may be that because he'd----Carmine, you----you get my drift---- negotiated with this Channel deal to off Shaw---who in my neighborhood was played by Vinnie One Eye--------that you're Channel's boss. But then why is Shaw still alive? Which is what Carmine had to ask himself too. Unless he----Vinnie One Eye----Shaw in this here scenario------negotiated a deal with Channel before you, Morticia---Selene---Elvira---whatever------to approach you with this scheme, keep him----Shaw-----alive and keep you under wraps while giving him a perfect reason to off you in front of a patsy witnesses-----us, the do-gooder pigs---X-Men and one of your own----Hellfire Ricky Martin here. No offense, Allegra."
"None taken," Allegra said and they could all see the Latin man taking careful measure of both the Black King and Queen. It was one thing to willingly serve another to be set up in a private grudge match.
"Dear God, even I understood that," Amara sighed and Psyche shook her head.
"So how does this play out, did one of you play the other and get played and want the X-men to wipe out the other in front of an Inner Circle witness?" Psyche demanded. "Wheels within wheels? I know enough about the Lord Cardinals to know that you can't just wage war on each other unless someone strikes first. Was this all a twisted game to get one of you to finally make a move on the other?"
"There is only one way to maintain the status quo, Sebastian. Other than a few broken bones and loss of low level operatives, this hasn't been an unmitigated disaster. The Yashida Tower isn't even relevant to this, I trust. I nominate Camus to be a member of the Inner Circle. If you trust my word, as you should, that I had no part in this, you'll see the advantage of having such a man with us as I do. However......," Selene trailed off.
"If you set this up from the get go, you have no enemies and one more ally in your pocket to wipe her out one day," Paulie finished.
"I don't know which is scarier, them or the fact that Paulie speaks them," Psyche said to Amara.
"Hold on to this one then, Moonstar. I petition you, Shaw for the position of Red Queen," Amara said mustering her courage to speak in a loud, determined tone. The whole room turned to look at her and Psyche saw a twinge of a smile on Shaw's lips.
"Now this is interesting----almost like Tommy No Thumbs in Red Hook that time…..," Paulie smiled as he watched excitedly.
"Are you freaking crazy?" Psyche shrieked. "Join them? Why?"
"Selene kept me alive when Channel wanted to kill me but she knows that I am not her ally. Shaw knows that I am neutral against both of you. I am the perfect incentive to you both," Amara said. "Shaw? Selene?"
"The young lady does have a point," Shaw admitted. "Channel is an unknown for us both but of considerable value to the Inner Circle as is she. Where one of us could say no to his membership, hers as a deal sealer will negate fear from the other of another reprisal, if in fact this ever was that."
"If in fact…," Selene said then nodded. "I agree to her provisional nomination and Camus' as well."
"As do I. Amara Aquilla for Red Queen and Camus for what? Black Rook?" he asked of Selene.
"Yes, sounds good. Very good," Selene nodded, the tension beginning to ebb in the room.
"Most interesting," Allegra said to himself then walked over to Amara and kissed her hand. "Welcome, mi Reina Rojo."
"Thank you, Carlos," Amara smiled weakly.
Psyche watched as Shaw lowered the unconscious to the floor where two Hellfire guards immediate secured him while two more began tending to Shaw's wounds. She walked over to where Paulie was leaning on a still unconscious Northstar. They still had the problem of Channel being a wanted serial killer but they were in shape to try and take him away from the Hellfire Club, especially with Amara having pulled such an about face. She didn't like it, it was wrong, a killer getting away because it was unclear as to who was pulling his strings but it a possible bloodbath had calmed, she wouldn't stir it back up again by challenging nearly everyone in the room. And in a way, Amara's bid would buy them safe passage out of here as well but after that, there was something even more sinister to be dealt with.
"I have Warren, Psyche, he's unconscious but seems fine," Iceman said over the comm link.
"Yes, Iceman, I can feel his thoughts again, Channel's mental attacks are gone. If they were even his and not Selene's. It's all questionable at this point."
"Hey, feel better, chief, we settled this without a fight. That's a good thing right. Good where I come from."
"No, Paulie it's a very bad thing. A fight would've cleared up all of this shit," Psyche said as she watched Allegra and Amara together, the true conspirators with Channel she suspected.
They'd never met and yet Amara had called him Carlos, which no one in the room had said. Neither Shaw nor Selene had hired Channel, which is why everyone, X-Men included were alive. Amara had to get herself a seat in the Hellfire Club as the new Red Queen and she'd manipulated events long before this confrontation to do so.




Thank you,
Kyle Phoenix
Email: kylephoenixshow@aol.com
Website: http://kylephoenixsite.com/
Blog: http://kylephoenixshow.blogspot.com/2012
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