Uncanny New X-Men

Chapter 11: He Who Sleeps But Shall Awake

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- All familiar characters belong to Marvel.

R-Man's Random Fact- In an alternate reality, a humanoid Lockheed was a member of the Captain Britain Corps.
The lower levels of the Hellfire Club-

The X-Men were being led through the lower levels of the Hellfire Club building by a raven-haired woman known only as Umar.

The woman claimed that she was on the same side as the X-Men. Sebastian Shaw was planning to conjure something called Shuma-Gorath that would inevitably destroy life as they knew it. Such a thing didn't agree with Umar, so she decided that she had better ally herself with the X-Men.

'This doesn't feel right...' Kitty whispered to Hank. 'How do we even know that we can trust this woman?'

'Yah! Yah!' Lockheed nodded his head.

'Unusual times make for unusual allies, my dear Katherine.' Hank pointed out sagely. 'Or would you prefer it if Shaw destroyed all life as we know it?'

'Well, seeing that you put that way...' Kitty nodded. 'I cheerfully withdraw my previous suspicions.'

Umar stopped and signalled for everybody to stay silent.

'We must be cautious...' Umar warned everybody. 'This whole building is crawling with Shaw's guards. The ceremony to raise He Who Sleeps But Shall Awake is of great importance to Shaw. He has stationed guards all over the building to make sure that he is not disturbed.'

'So that's why he started to rebuild the Sentinels, and all that stuff.' Kitty nodded in realisation. 'All that junk with the Hellions, and Deathbird kidnapping Bishop was nothing but a distraction to keep us busy.'

'Can't blame Shaw fer bein' thorough, I guess.' Logan shrugged.

'We must hurry.' Umar ushered everybody onwards. 'We have mere minutes until Shaw begins the ceremony to raise He Who Sleeps But Shall awake.'

'What kind of name is that?' Hank shook his furry head. 'Why not call him Cecil, or Bartholomew?'

'I do not think we have enough time for jokes, Hank.' Piotr told the fuzzy blue scientist. 'We must stop Shaw before he ends all life as we know it!'

'Digging that hyperbole, eh Peter?' Kitty smirked.

Umar led the X-Men onwards.

'We have almost reached the raising chamber.' Umar explained. 'We must act in haste. We do not have much time.'

'Just point us in the right direction, Umar.' Scott nodded. 'And we'll show Sebastian Shaw that we don't much like people trying to end all life on Earth.'

'Such quaint sentiments, X-Man.' An evil voice chuckled in everybody's head. 'But your paltry team of heroes cannot possibly defeat me!'

'That's what you think, Shaw.' Logan growled. 'We X-Men have got a stubborn habit o' savin' the day.'

'Then why not join me?' Shaw's disembodied voice offered. 'I dare say that He Who Sleeps But Shall Awake will fancy a little snack after his millennia-long slumber.'

Without another word, the X-Men were teleported away.

Elsewhere-

When the X-Men came to, they found themselves in a dark candle-lit room. They all seemed to be magically bound to a giant pentagram etched out onto the floor. Umar was conspicuous in her absence.

'I knew it!' Scott snarled. 'Umar set us up! She had no intention of helping us defeat Shaw!'

'Oh, please Mr Summers.' Sebastian Shaw tutted. 'That's enough melodrama for now, if you don't mind.'

'Shaw...' Scott spat. 'Just wait until I get free...'

'What will you do?' Shaw smirked arrogantly. 'Blast me to pieces with an optic blast? I think not. You will find that your powers are quite useless in this room.'

'You may have as all trussed up like turkeys, Shaw...' Kitty added her two cents. 'But I think you're forgetting something. Lockheed wasn't transported in here with us.'

'Oh, please.' Shaw snorted in derision. 'What could one little dragon possibly do to me?'

'You ain't never seen the little guy open up a can of whupass before, have ya Shaw?' Logan chuckled with a smirk. 'Boy, are you in for a surprise?'

'Enough!' Shaw snarled. 'The time for the ceremony to begin is upon us!'

'Does anybody have a plan?' Hank asked around as he struggled with his mystical bonds.

It was Scott who answered.

'You guys all die horribly and painfully, and I spend the rest of eternity in the arms of the baby Jesus.' Scott replied.

'Was that... a joke?' Kitty frowned. 'Since when do you make jokes?'

'I know.' Scott winced. 'I am a sick, sick man.'

'Uh-oh...' Logan growled. 'It looks like the party's about to start.

While the X-Men had been chatting amongst themselves, Sebastian Shaw had started the incantation to raise Shuma-Gorath.

The pentagram etched on to the floor below their feet began to glow blood red. The glowing pentagram became brighter still as Shaw chanted some words in a language that none of the X-Men understood. A glowing portal began to form in the centre of the room, right opposite Shaw's head.

'Yes. This is it...' Shaw whispered in awe as he looked up into the portal. The expression on his face was something akin to a man speaking with God, or Stan Lee, whichever your preference.

Kitty's eyes widened in surprise as a huge yellow eye peered at her from the other side of the portal.

'I was asleep. Now, I have awoken.' An otherworldly voice boomed. 'And I hunger!'

'All hail He Who Shall Sleep But Shall awake!' Shaw threw his hands up in celebration. 'All hail Shuma-Gorath!'

'Oh my stars and garters...' Hank groaned. 'Tentacles. Always with the tentacles.'

The portal slowly began to widen to allow Shuma-Gorath through. The X-Men all looked on as they saw the sheer size of He Who Shall Sleep But Shall awake. The... thing looked like a giant yellow eye with gigantic green tentacles whipping around it. Shuma-Gorath was so huge that its merest movement threatened to bring down the roof upon the X-Men's head.

'Lockheed is takin' his sweet time savin' our butts.' Logan growled. 'Any time you wanna rescue us dragon...'

'Not so fast, Shuma-Gorath!'

'Oh, thank God...' Hank sighed in relief. 'Saved at last.'

The X-Men's saviours were Umar and Lockheed. They were also joined by a silver-haired woman wearing a magenta uniform with black highlights.

'I'm sorry that Doctor Strange couldn't be here.' The silver-haired stranger apologised sweetly. 'But he had to make a house call. (1) My name is Clea, by the way. I'm Doctor Strange's wife.'

'She is also my daughter.' Umar pointed out as she helped Clea to release the captive X-Men. 'But that is not the point. We must stop Shuma-Gorath before he can feed!'

'I don't think so, Umar.' Shaw shook his head. 'Shuma-Gorath, I promised you sustenance, now feed!'

Shuma-Gorath lashed out with a tentacle, but didn't grab hold of Umar, Clea, or one of the X-Men, he grabbed hold of Shaw instead.

'W-what are you doing?' Shaw spluttered. 'I have captured the X-Men for you to feed upon! I command you to destroy them!'

'Nobody Commands He Who Shall Sleep But Shall Awake!' Shuma-Gorath boomed. 'You have also awakened me from my slumber! I was having the greatest dream. I was sharing a hot tub of whipped cream with that succubus chick from that Darkstalkers game!'

Piotr looked at the other X-Men, confusion etched on his features.

'Did we just slip in to Deadpool's story for a moment?'

'Either that or the author got bored of this whole Hellfire arc and decided to finish it.' Kitty shrugged. 'Dammit! That Fourth wall thing is contagious!'

'I hear that he has something planned with Apocalypse.' Hank piped up.

'Hank, shush!' Scott hissed. 'You'll spoil it for the readers.'

TBC...

Next: Return of the Horsemen

Talking about Apocalypse, I wonder who the new Horsemen are? A former resident of the Age of Apocalypse, a former New Mutant brought back from the dead, the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, and one of the Summers brothers. Who are they? Tune in next time to find out...

Author's Notes-

(1)- Doctor Strange is busy in 'The Uncanny Four' delivering Johnny Storm and Lyja's child.