Chapter 14
The Shapeshifter In The City Of Sin part I
2015 Las Vegas, Nevada
Two thugs were towering over a girl, no older than seventeen, and glaring at her. Both of them appeared to be of Italian descent, clean shaven, slicked back hairstyle, nice suits without a tie, one of them is a little fuller, the kind of thugs you usually see in the movies about mob. "Listen here, you little bitch!" The skinnier of the two spoke in a fake Brooklyn accent. "Your job, from the moment your pops denied to pay us our money back, is to please our clients in every way possible. So, I don't care if you're a virgin or whatever, you're gonna do it until you pay off your pops debt. Capiche?"
The girl, who was Hispanic with darker brown, almost black, hair and grey eyes, nodded her head, though there were tears in her eyes. "Ye- yes sir." She stuttered.
He nodded. "Good." He then glanced at his watch. "It's 22:00, you can go to your room tonight, but you better start working tomorrow, or I'm gonna give you hell!" He threatened. The girl nodded and ran inside the club. The man took out a cigar and shook his head. "Stupid bitch."
The fat man nodded. "Yeah, though her mutant powers are going to earn us a lot of money."
The skinny man smirked. "Yeah, imagine how many customers we'll have once the word gets out we have a girl who can turn into anybody." They both chuckled. "Gotta make sure she starts working, though."
…
Cassandra ate her noodles as she looked around the Chinese restaurant her and Rogue were sitting in. It was around ten in the morning and Cassandra was in the mood for some Chinese so Rogue decided to join her. Cassandra was in Ororo's team for almost a month now and she had to admit, she liked being there. She also liked most of her teammates, sure, she had a couple of disagreements with most of them, like when they insisted on using non-lethal projectiles for her handguns, she didn't like that at all and she made sure they all knew it. She got bored of bitching about it two days later so she relented on using those things. Better than to return to the mansion and look at the bald-ass and the brain-damaged asshole.
"You know, I don't understand Betsy, she just got rid of one loser and she already started dating another." That's the latest gossip, the British minx broke up with the bird-boy and started dating Thunder-chicken. She must have some bird fetish.
Rogue rolled her eyes. "They're not so bad." She muttered.
Cassandra shrugged. "Whatever." She then sighed. "We were in the city of sin for three days now. When will Ororo allow me to go out and experience those sins?" She muttered to herself mostly.
Rogue smirked. "Probably after we finish the mission." Her expression then became thoughtful. "But ya should probably wait, Betsy was seriously angry the last time you brought a… friend to the hotel room." When she got a questionable look, she continued. "The walls were thin and your friend wasn't really quiet."
Cassandra waved a dismissive hand. "Big deal. So she heard a couple of sexy sounds, she should thank me." She took another bite of her noodles. "God knows when is the next time she's gonna hear it." She muttered to herself.
Rogue narrowed her eyes. "Did ya take your potion today?" She knew that Cassandra can be pretty cruel when she doesn't take a potion, which is only when they require her telepathy for a mission. At those times everyone tends to avoid her.
Cassandra glanced at her and nodded. "Yep. Why do you ask?" Rogue just waved a hand to dismiss the question. She's the one who hangs out with Cassandra the most, so she pretty much picked up on some of her habits. Cassandra sighed. "How long do Bishop and Sage need to investigate this?"
They were in Vegas because there had been a lot of mutant murders in the city. What's the strangest part is that it's done in broad daylight and the murderers always faint after they perform the act. When the police question them, they have no recollection of committing a murder. So, Cassandra's guess is that the telepath or a mutant with the power of taking over people's bodies is doing it. She would know for sure if Bishop allowed her to help him with the investigation, but he is still suspicious of her.
Rogue shrugged. "Ah don't know." She then took a bite of her own noodles. "Hey, wanna go to the mall, later?"
Cassandra nodded. "Sure. Then we can go buy me a bike, I've been wanting to buy one since I came back in time, but didn't get the chance." She then smirked and batted her eyelashes. "How about we grab dinner later?"
Rogue smirked and shook her head. Cassandra was still a hopeless flirt, but everybody was already used to it. It was rather funny to watch her flirting with Ororo, especially after Ororo tried to tease her back but found herself greatly outmatched. "Maybe another time."
Cassandra shrugged. "Your loss." They finished their food and paid their bill getting out of the restaurant. As they headed towards the mall Cassandra looked around the city and sighed. "Nothing much changed about this city in thirty years."
Rogue glanced at her. "What?"
Cassandra glanced at Rogue and shrugged. "Vegas, it didn't, or, won't rather, change a lot in the next almost thirty years." She explained.
"How old are ya, anyway?"
"One." She answered with a smirk. When she got an unimpressed look she grinned. "Twenty eight. But, I was born only last…" She stopped talking once she heard the sound of laughing and the voice of someone begging for help coming from the next corner. Cassandra used her telepathy to see some guy beating up a girl, no older than seventeen or eighteen, who was an obvious mutant. She had pale blue skin that might pass as being just pale with a little make-up, long white hair and red irises, also, her ears appeared to be pointy.
Cassandra didn't even glance at Rogue as she began running towards them. When she arrived she saw some people just standing there, watching, but not doing anything, some were even cheering those dickheads on.
"Hey!" She called loudly as she approached them. "Beating up little girls are we?" She smirked, even though she wanted to rip these guys a new one.
One of the assholes, the main asshole it seems, looked her over and took a step towards her with a smirk. "Hello, sweet thing, wait till' we beat this mutie bitch up, then we'll play."
Cassandra's smirk disappeared, only to be replaced by the look of annoyance. "I see your mother didn't teach you manners." Her eyes flashed red and the asshole fell to his knees. "That's not how you talk with a lady." She then glanced at the frightened girl. "However, I'll forgive you this time, but you really shouldn't hit a lady, especially not one who is so younger than you." She glanced behind as she felt Rogue running up to her. "Beg her for forgiveness."
"What!?" He tried to stand up but found himself unable to. "Apologize to a mutie!? Are you crazy!?"
Cassandra smirked at him. "You know, you shouldn't talk like that when your life is in the hand of a… 'mutie', as you so eloquently put it." She spoke while staring him down.
"Hey!" One of the other assholes called. "Let him go, you have no right!"
Cassandra glared at the man, her eyes glowing. "You didn't have any right to beat this girl up, but you did it anyway." Her expression then relaxed. "Or did you have some special right?" She raised an eyebrow.
"She's a mutie, that's reason enough!" Barked the main asshole.
Now both of Cassandra's eyebrows were raised. "Oh? So, what, you think that mutants are beneath you?" She smirked at him. He just glared at her, but his eyes screamed his answer. "The way I see it now, you, a human, are kneeling in front of me, a mutant. So, who is really beneath who here?"
Rogue sighed. "Alright, that's enough, release him." Cassandra opened her mouth, as if to protest, but Rogue raised her hand to stop her. "Release him, ya had your fun." Cassandra sighed, but released him. "Run along, now." The main asshole glared at Cassandra, but moved to leave along his friends.
Cassandra watched him leave with glowing eyes, wishing she could at least humiliate him. Ah, there's an idea. She smirked as she used her telekinesis to make his pants fall down. Her smirk grew as he, in a hurry to pull his pants up, tripped and fell. She could even hear Rogue chuckling a little.
Rogue glanced at the girl and moved to help her up. "Hey, ya alright?" The girl just nodded, her eyes glued to Cassandra.
Cassandra looked around at the people still standing there, watching, and sighed. "Don't you have anything better to do with your miserable little lives than to stand there and gawk?" Her voice was cold as she spoke, it made them walk away though. She then approached Rogue and the girl. "You should really have one of those image modulators with you."
The girl stared at Cassandra with dreamy eyes, but when she caught herself doing that, she shook her head. "Um, I don't need it…" She shifted to look like a young Hispanic girl, identical to her true form, only with long dark brown hair, gray eyes and normal ears. "I… um…" She blushed. "I lost control of my form."
Cassandra stared at the girl for a couple of seconds, then she nodded. "Impressive." Her expression then turned serious. "Don't do that in the open though. You never know who's watching." She thought about all the people who would like to have a shapeshifter working for them as she said that.
The girl nodded and lowered her head. "Yeah… um, thank you. For your help, I mean." When they heard somebody yelling, all three of them turned their heads in the direction the voice came from to see a fat man in a suit with a slicked back haircut running in their direction. The girl let out a squeak and ran away.
As the man ran past them Cassandra and Rogue looked at each other. "Wanna check this out?" Cassandra said as she pointed at the direction the girl and the fat man ran off to with her thumb.
Rogue shrugged. "We got nothing better to do, so, lead the way."
2027 Manchester, England
Cassandra smirked once she saw all of the ingredients on the table. She also put a serial killer she caught as a sacrifice, the books never said anything of sacrifice but it couldn't hurt.
As her servants moved to leave the room she started going towards the ingredients while speaking the words of the spell needed to summon this demon. It was a tough choice to decide which demon she wanted to summon, but once she did, she immediately ordered her servants to start the hunt for ingredients, some of which were rather hard to find.
As she finished with the casting, the huge fire erupted out of the pentagram she created. When the fire diminished, she saw a red-skinned man-like being with short black hair. Cassandra barely glanced at him as she sat down on the chair she prepared. "Mephisto." She nodded at him.
Mephisto glared at her, he then glanced at the bound serial killer whose name Cassandra didn't bother remembering. "A child?" He spoke with a deceptively calm voice. "A child summoned me!?" This time he didn't bother with fake calm, his voice was loud and thunderous, making the ground beneath Cassandra's feet shake.
Cassandra yawned, clearly unimpressed with his display of power. "Don't bother with trying to impress me, or frighten me, whatever you were trying to do." She said in a cold tone. "I summoned you here, yes. And, trust me, I am no ordinary child."
Mephisto's rage subsided as he figured out who this girl was, it was replaced by smirk. "Ah, Cassandra Gallio, the hell brews with the talk of you, the princess of deceit, the seducer of demons, that's what they call you. I don't believe in such foolishness however, you are a mortal like any other." His tone was mocking as he spoke.
Cassandra smirked. "Be that as it may, you and I are going to make a deal."
Mephisto's laugh was heard throughout the mansion, however Cassandra didn't bother with being insulted, she knew he would be begging her for this deal when she is done with him. "And, why, pray tell would I want to make a deal with you?"
Cassandra shrugged. "Well, I doubt that you will want to." She took a paper that was on the table next to her chair. "But seeing as how you are stuck inside of that pentagram until you do, I don't think you have much of a choice." This time her voice was mocking.
Mephisto laughed again. "Stuck? You foolish child, don't listen to the stories of foolish mortals." He tried to get out of the pentagram, but found himself unable to. He frowned and tried to create fire out of his hands. That was unsuccessful as well. He looked at Cassandra with a deadly glare. "What did you do!?"
It took great deal of effort on Cassandra's part not to laugh at his angry face, she did however smirk at him. "The pentagram, it's drawn with the blood of Celestial's."
Mephisto's eyes widened for just a fraction of second before his angry glare returned. "You killed a Celestial?"
Cassandra looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you insane?" She raised her hand. "Don't answer that. No, I didn't kill a Celestial, even I'm not that crazy, there is a dealer who occasionally brings rare ingredients for mother, and he had some in stock."
Mephisto sighed but he still glared at her. "What do you want?" He asked in a resigned, but still angry tone.
Cassandra smirked victoriously at him. "I told you that you will help me." When Mephisto's glare intensified she raised her hands in mock surrender. "No reason to glare murder at me." She held out the paper for him to see. "Here is a contract we are going to use for this."
Mephisto crossed his arms. "No. I'm creating a contract." He said sternly.
Cassandra nodded. "Very well." She stood up from the chair and headed to the door. "See you in a thousand years or so." She waved at him.
Mephisto glared at her but, reluctantly, opened his mouth as she was about to open the door. "Fine." He muttered in a resigned tone.
Cassandra smirked and stopped just before she opened the door, she still had her back turned towards him though. "Excuse me?" It was clear from her amused tone that she heard him, she just wanted him to repeat it.
"Fine, we can use your contract!" Mephisto yelled this time.
Cassandra turned around to look at him with bright smile, clapping her hands together once. To the people who don't know her, she would look like a normal thirteen year old at this moment, a normal thirteen year old with half of her face burned, that is. "Alrighty." She skipped towards the chair, where she left the contract, and grabbed it. She then skipped towards Mephisto and handed it to him to read.
Mephisto, with his mind as angry as it was, didn't see any problem with it. He nodded. "So, you wish your face back to normal and a couple of new powers, I can do that." He handed it back to her and pointed his index finger at the bottom right corner. "Sign here."
Cassandra took the contract and let some blood drop on the place where Mephisto pointed. She waited a couple of seconds but as nothing happened she glared at Mephisto. "Nothing's…" She was interrupted by an unbearable pain on the right side of her face. She dropped on her knees, closing her eyes and screaming. The pain lasted for about ten seconds before stopping just as suddenly as it began.
She breathed in and out, deeply and quickly, when she got her bearings back together she stood up and touched her face. Her eyes widened when she felt no scars or burns. She ran to the mirror she placed on the wall of the room to look at her face. She smiled once she saw her face was returned back to how it looked before the fire.
Mephisto watched her admiring herself for a couple of minutes, with a bored expression, before clearing his throat. "Now, I would be thankful if you could fulfill your end of the bargain." When Cassandra turned her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow he sighed impatiently. "Release me!"
Cassandra held up a finger for him to wait while she took the contract and read it, occasionally nodding. When she got to the end of the contract, she nodded slowly. "Ouch." That immediately made Mephisto suspicious. Cassandra raised her eyes from the paper to look at him and gave him a sympathetic smile while slowly shaking her head. "Nope. The contract doesn't say that I have to release you." Her voice was fake sympathy.
Mephisto glared at her with murder in his eyes. "We had a deal!" He yelled.
Cassandra pursed her lips and nodded. "That may as well be, but…" She waved her hand at the contract. "The contract clearly states that I get my face back and some cool new powers while you get…" She shrugged. "Well, nothing."
Mephisto's glare intensified tenfold. "You dare!?" Cassandra could see smoke coming out of his ear, that's how angry he was. "You dare trick the Lord of Hell!?"
Cassandra's eyes went to the side and a thoughtful expression appeared on her face. Finally, she turned back to look at Mephisto and nodded. "Yes." Mephisto was by now shaking with rage. Cassandra rolled her eyes and waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, enough with the theatrics, I have something for you." She turned to the door and called out. "You can come in, now!"
A man with black hair and goatee with some streaks of white wearing a blue robe and a red and golden cape entered the room. Mephisto's eyes widened with recognition. "Strange." He whispered.
Cassandra looked between two men. "I see you two already know each other. Good, that makes this easier." She started walking back towards the mirror. "Do what you came to do and leave, I have plans to make, old perverts to kill." She addressed Strange.
Dr. Strange sighed and turned to Mephisto. "Hello, Mephisto." He spoke coldly.
Mephisto glared at Strange. "Why are you working with this little bitch?"
Dr. Strange nodded. "Yes, well, I heard about your plans to raise an army of evil souls and conquer the Earth, so when Cassandra came to me with a proposition I readily accepted, since it was the easiest way to stop you." He sighed. "I realize that we are unlikely allies…" He ignored Cassandra's snort as he continued. "But we both wanted you locked up, so I was fine with it."
Mephisto sneered at him. "So, what? You are going to keep me locked up in here?" He snorted. "I'll find a way to release myself, given time."
Strange nodded. "I don't doubt you would, but you are not going to be locked in there." He produced a golden ring with a ruby out of his pocket. "You are going to be locked in here."
Mephisto's eyes widened. "Don't you dare!" He yelled, but Strange already started casting the spell. "No! No! Noooooooo!" He yelled as he felt himself being sucked inside of the ruby.
Strange sighed when he was finished with the spell and Mephisto was locked up. He then glanced at Cassandra, who was still looking at herself in the mirror. "You are walking a dark and dangerous path, child. I know you probably won't listen to my advice but you should stop before it's too late."
Cassandra glanced at him with a bored look. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, in all honesty I wasn't listening. You can leave now, don't let the door hit you on your way out." She waved a dismissive hand.
Strange sighed and glanced at the man still tied down. "What about him?" He asked her, even though he didn't really care, he deserves everything Cassandra was going to do with him and more. The man kidnapped young women, raped them and killed.
Cassandra sighed out of irritation. "I'll deal with him." She watched in the mirror as Strange nodded and left.
She smiled and started walking towards the door, but before she could get out, she started hearing voices that started as whispers and gradually became louder and louder.
"I'm going to have lots of fun with this bitch." "She is still up there playing her crazy games." "What a strange child." "She's insane."
The voice became louder and louder, making it hard for Cassandra to bear. She fell to her knees screaming. "Silence!" Fire started burning all around her body, the objects, both animate and inanimate started flying around her, shadows engulfed the entire room, the earth was rumbling and Cassandra's eyes started glowing dark red.
Cassandra's screaming lasted for about three minutes before it was replaced by laughing. An insane laugh that could frighten the bravest of men. She raised her head and her eyes, no longer glowing, were just as insane as her laugh.
AN/ Well, that was another chapter, I introduced another OC, even though I didn't reveal her name, and I've shown how Cassandra gained her super telepathy. (I'm going to call it super telepathy) And I revealed which demon is in the ring Cassandra gave to Selene.
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