Chapter 66: The Cat and the Soldier pt. 3
-New York City, Queens, October 31st, 1999-
Laura was standing in front of the house of May Parker with her costume in hand, waiting for her friends Ronni Ann and Peter to meet her there so they could map out their Trick or Treating routes. She was never really into the holiday back when she was an emotionless drone for HYDRA, but ever since she was able to experience everything around her like a normal kid would? She loved the holiday.
Her musings were interrupted of course when Ronni Ann came running up to her, Peter and his team from SHIELD (in civilian attire) following close behind.
"Hey guys! Glad you could make it!" Laura said with a smile.
"Yeah, sorry it took so long." Peter panted.
"Peteie over here wanted to take the long way around to avoid running into his ex and best friend." Sam explained.
"Okay, that makes sense." The metal clawed girl nodded.
"So, are we gonna map out our routes or what?" Luke asked.
"Sure, I even got a couple maps." Laura nodded as Peter led them inside his aunt's house. They were soon met by May, who was a relatively young looking woman for one who was sixty five. "Hey, Mrs. Parker." She greeted the elder.
"Well hello Laura, it's good to see you again." The woman smiled. "Anyone want any pumpkin spice and chocolate chip cookies? I just finished baking a batch." She added with a smile while taking off her oven mitts.
"Oh, those sound amazing." Ava said, drooling slightly as the smell hit her nostrils with Laura copying her actions due to her enhanced nose.
"Thanks aunt May." Peter smiled as they all sat down and started planning their routes. However just as May was about to bring them the cookies…
She froze and a portal appeared beside her, and a man in a blue set of almost Tibetan monk attire, and red high collared cloak, yellow hand wraps, boots, and a golden eye amulet floated towards them. The man had short black hair with grey at the bottom, brown eyes, Caucasian skin, a mustache and a goatee. He almost kind of looked like Benedict Comberpatch.
This was Dr. Stephen Stange, or simply Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme.
"What the-? Dr. Strange? What are you doing here?" Peter questioned. The man turned to him and answered.
"I sensed a large spike of magic energy. The general location is New York state, but feel like I'm getting closer to the source." He explained.
"Okay, do you know who might be causing it?" The boy questioned.
"Unfortunately no, however I do have a suspicion or two…" The man said before he noticed both Laura and Ronni Ann. "Are these new teammates of yours?"
"Nah. One of them is a friend from school while the other is my… Well she's also a friend." The web slinger shrugged in reply, though almost slipping up by calling Laura his 'girlfriend'.
"Hmmm. Well in any case, stay vigilant. After all, this is All Hallows' Eve. When it comes to the supernatural, anything can happen." Strange told them as he disappeared and May started moving again.
"Here you go kids, enjoy!" The woman smiled as if nothing happened.
(Elsewhere)
-Xanatos Tower, same time-
Owen and Xanatos were both reviewing the very same spikes in magical energy that Dr. Strange had picked up, right as Gavin had stepped out of the elevator with Damian and Drake in his arms (Drake had wanted to start going with them). But there was someone else with him, a red haired woman with almost dark brown eyes, red lips, and she was wearing a red business suit.
"Is something happening? You two seem rather focused on that monitor." The pseudo vampire asked.
"Magical readings have been spiking since midnight last night… but there's no indication as to why or how…" Xanatos said before taking notice of the woman in the room. His expression turned serious as soon as he recognized her. "Hello, Demona." He greeted the Gargoyle in disguise.
Gavin immediately backed away and shielded both babies from her, Drake letting out draconic hisses and Damian sticking his tongue out at her.
"Why are you here?!" The vampiric father hissed.
"Investigating the same magic spikes." Demona replied before turning to Xanatos. "Where are they originating from?" She then inquired.
"According to my map, Sleepy Hollow, New York state." Xanatos explained. Gavin perked up upon hearing that.
"Wait, that's where Johan and Katerina took Bast and Romano to meet their parents." He said.
"Magneto and I have reason to believe that it is Dormammu and Morgan LeFey who is behind it. And they are being helped by a magician known as Mysterio." Demona explained.
"Oh dear, that's not good at all." Owen sighed.
"What could they be planning?" Gavin asked.
"Magneto and I suspect that they're likely trying to make Halloween eternal so monsters of the dark can roam freely and turn everyone into the very thing they're dressed as." The red haired Gargoyle explained. "While it would sound ideal for my kind, being under their heels is not something I want." She added.
"That's gonna be a problem." Gavin said as he set Damian and Drake down with Alex, who Fox had just brought in. "Okay, How do we stop them?" He asked.
(Elsewhere)
-Sleepy Hollow Cemetery-
The Ghost Rider slowly approached the Horseman and the spectral steed of said Horseman was the first to notice him and it let out an aggressive snort at the approaching skeleton. The biker turned to address the steed.
"Relax. I'm not here for a fight." He told the horse.
The horseman slowly came to and sat up, clutching his jack o'lantern head in his hands. "What are you doing here, Xarathos?" He questioned.
"I've been sensing magic spikes since yesterday at midnight. Figured I'd check it out. Know anything?" The rider questioned.
"Yes, actually. It is Dormammu's doing. A magician opened a portal to summon not just him, but also Morgan LeFay." The Hessian ghost explained.
"Both of them? Damn it, this is going to be such a headache." The leather clad skeleton sighed.
"The portal is carved in the trunk of the Willow Tree in front of the old church. We may need help to deal with it." The Horseman added.
"Any ideas?" The Rider questioned.
"One." The German Dullahun nodded.
(Elsewhere)
In the local town tavern, the Sever family and their respective guests were enjoying a family meal of food that had been a staple of the menu since the 1700s, including various forms of German beer and food.
"This is an experience I will never forget." Romano sighed happily as he took a sip of beer.
"It does feel nice to be together as a family again." Katerina nodded.
"You said it, sis, I've really missed this." Johan agreed as he ate some mashed potatoes.
"It really is great." Bast smiled. "I haven't been this happy since I had Christmas dinner with my mom and brothers."
"You'll be getting more moments like this for years to come, Bast. Trust us." Anton told his potential daughter in law as he ate his steak.
"You said it honey." Alice nodded.
"So… Do you guys know which one of your ancestors was the first to settle here in America?" The cat woman asked.
"Well as far as we're aware, our earliest ancestor first came here during the 1770s as a mercenary during the war and his family settled here in Sleepy Hollow after he died in battle and was buried in the cemetery not far from here." Anton explained.
"Huh. That's one kind of origin a family can have." Romano mused, a little surprised that it was a mercenary and not a traditional soldier.
"Judging by the fact that you guys are German… It was a Hessian, right?" Bast guessed.
"Got it one." Johan nodded.
"Huh, that's interesting, since back then the Hessians were fighting against America, I wonder what made them change their mind to have so many generations of service to the country?" Bast questioned.
"We're not entirely sure since we never actually figured out which Hessian's family it was that settled down here." Alice inputted with a confused tone. "It still confuses us to this day." She added.
"Huh…" The Arabic cat nodded.
(Elsewhere)
At the abandoned church in the middle of the woods, Dormammu was currently making his minions: The Mindless Ones, built a large stone structure around the church similar to that of Stonehenge, only forming a complete circle. And Morgan was creating an Obsidian-black glass table in the center as a sort of altar. Mysterio was carving symbols into the pillars with his magic.
"It's nearly complete." Morgan told them.
"Yeah. What will we need to do next in order to complete the spell?" Mysterio asked.
"We will need three things: The eye of Agamotto which is in the hands of my enemy Dr. Strange. The preserved entrails of a Bull, Eagle, Lion, Ram, and Serpent. And finally, a living virgin man and woman, for the sacrifice in order to complete the spell." Dormammu told him.
"I'll see about the living virgin man and woman." Mysterio nodded, not that anyone could tell with that dome of his.
"I'll handle the preserved entrails." Morgan added.
"And I shall acquire the Eye of Agamotto, personally." Dormammu added as all three of them disappeared.
(Elsewhere)
As Damian played with his two friends, The X-men, Acolytes, Xanatos, Fox, Owen, Gargoyles, and even the Pack, we're all convening to discuss on how to deal with the current situation.
"I don't get it, what's so bad about having an eternal Halloween? If ya ask me it sounds like fun." Hyena asked.
"It's who would be ruling that world we should be concerned about." Demona stated.
"You mean Dormammu and that Morgan LeFey chick? What's so bad about them?" Asked Jackal, who was promptly smacked in the back of the head by Wolf.
"One is a demon and the other is King Arthur's evil sister, ya moron. That should be self explanatory." He told him.
"And what about this Mysterio guy?" Logan questioned.
"He's one of my usual villains." Peter piped up. "He's an illusionist."
"And also a magician, apparently." Xanatos added. "Now if we only knew what ritual he was doing…" He sighed.
"I believe I may have an idea." Dr. Strange said as he suddenly appeared in the room, holding a spell book. "The Eternal Hallowing Night spell. It requires the person to sacrifice a virgin man and woman at midnight on a lunar eclipse during all Hallow's Eve, and it must be done with this: The All Seeing Eye of Agamotto." He explained, holding up his amulet. "They will need the preserved entrails of a Bull, Eagle, Lion, Ram and Serpent." He continued, getting green faces from some of them.
"So they're going to kill an innocent couple just to get what they want? That's sick." Laura spat.
"Not to mention underhanded." Gambit added.
"At least we know where they're doing the ritual." Gavin stated, getting Strange's attention.
"Where?" He asked.
"Sleepy Hollow." The boy replied, getting a nod in return.
(Elsewhere)
Back in Sleepy Hollow, Romano and Bast were walking back to the Sever family home in their costumes as the sun began to set. Romano was dressed up as a pilot and Bast was a very sexy nurse.
"Johan's probably gonna have a hard time keeping his hands off of you when you're in that, you know." Romano chuckled.
"Probably, but then again, he really can't control himself around me normally either." The cat woman shrugged. The two kept walking but as they did they noticed that the path kept getting longer and longer, and darker and darker until they found themselves in a black void.
"What the hell?! What's going on?!" The light manipulator questioned in alarm as he looked around. Bast instinctively deployed her claws as her tail puffed up. Romano tried to conjure some light to see, but to no avail. The two kept trying to find a way out until the void disappeared and they found themselves standing in the now complete ritual sight.
Morgan was waiting for them, and with a snap of her fingers she had them chained up and then had her goblin minions chain them to the table.
"Now my minions, strip them. They won't need those clothes when we're through with them." Morgan ordered, snapping her fingers again.
Bast and Romano's eyes widened in fear as they were stripped by the creatures.
'Johan/Katerina, save us!' They pleaded in their thoughts.
(Elsewhere)
Johan and Katerina were in the middle of looking for their respective lovers, also dressed in their costumes. The soldier being a doctor and his sister being dressed as a sexy flight attendant.
"Where the fuck did they go?" Katerina wondered as they kept searching.
"I dunno, but I keep getting this really bad feeling in my gut, and I don't like it." Johan said with a frown. As they crossed the covered bridge, they heard the telltale sound of horse hooves and the sound of a motorcycle from behind them, making them pause and look back.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" The green streaked man called out.
And then they saw them, the Headless Horseman and the Ghost Rider both approaching them on their respective rides.
"No way…!" Katerina gasped.
"I thought they were just stories…!" Johan breathed, eyes wide.
"We are very real." Ghost Rider told him as he and the Horseman stopped in front of them.
"And we need your help." The Hessian ghost added, causing the siblings to frown.
"Our help? With what?" The eldritch woman questioned.
"One of the lord's of the nine hells, Dormammu, is in the process of enacting a ritual that will plunge this world into an eternal Halloween." Ghost Rider told them.
"He has two of the needed components, now he only lacks the Mystical Eye of Agamotto." The Horseman added.
"What components does he already have?" Johan questioned, his bad feeling growing worse. 'Please don't let it be what I think it is…!' He pleaded in his head.
"The entrails of several animals and two living virgins, one male and another female. Both have to be sacrificed tonight for the spell to work." The Rider told him. This immediately made alarms go off in the sibling's heads as they bristled in rage.
"How dare they… How dare they try to do that to the people we care about most!" Katerina growled as eldritch energy crackled around her body, realizing what had happened to Romano and Bast.
"They'll all bleed for this!" Johan exclaimed murderously, coming to the same conclusion his sister had. "If you want our help, you got it!" He told the riders.
"Then let us haste!" The horseman told them as the siblings mounted up before they rode off into the night.
(Elsewhere)
Back at Xanatos tower, everyone now laid all over the place unconscious as Dormammu stood over an unconscious Dr. Strange with the Eye of Agamotto in his large hand.
"Now this world will be plunged into an eternal Halloween." He said with a malevolent grin. With that he opened a portal and arrived at the ritual sight, with Morgan setting the different entrails at the corners of the table surrounding the now nude Romano and Bast, who were in the center of a double pentagram. "It is nearly midnight, let us begin the ritual." He told his two partners.
"Of course." Morgan nodded, pulling out a black glass knife as the symbols around her and on the table started to glow red as the blood moon reached its peak. Speaking in incantations, she started chanting in an occult language as the Eye of Agamotto floated above them and bathed the two chained sacrifices with a red light, and then the wicked sister of King Arthur brought her knife down… and stabbed Bast first.
"GACK!" She got out as blood seeped from the wound, running down onto the table and seeping into it. Next was Romano and the same thing happened, and their blood slowly floated up until it formed a blood beam that was sent towards the moon and then started surrounding the Earth in a blood red dome.
All across the world everyone started transforming into whatever they were dressed as that year, and monsters of all sorts started appearing everywhere.
(Elsewhere)
"Are we close to it yet?" Katerina questioned the Ghost Rider.
"Nearly." He replied.
"We better pick up the pace because the sky just got a bit more red." Johan said, noting the more red appearance of the sky. 'None of those demons will be safe from us!' He exclaimed in his head angrily.
"By the way, don't worry about the effects of the ritual. Because of what you two dressed up as, your minds will be unchanged." The Horseman told the siblings. This caused them to relax a bit.
"Good… actually, I think I feel a little extra horny… more than usual." Katerina said quietly.
"I heard that." The leather clad skeleton said suddenly, causing her to blush in embarrassment.
"There it is." The Horseman told them as they arrived at the ritual site, and both siblings saw that their lovers were bleeding out.
"That's it! All of them die!" Katerina growled as her eldritch energy gathered in her hands.
"Damn straight they do!" Johan growled in agreement as he drew a pair of magnums.
"Destroy them!" Dormammu ordered his Mindless ones. The minions charged forward and were met with the rage of two angry Sever siblings accompanied by two spectres. Johan shot two of the Mindless ones in the head and shot another four in their necks before leaving them to choke on their own blood. Katerina sent lethal blasts of eldritch energy at several groups of the minions and a few of those blasts nearly hit the ritual site, nearly cancelling it.
"Cthulhu! Get Bast and Romano out of here, now!" Johan yelled as he was joined in fighting with the Horseman who had his ax in hand.
"On it!" The woman yelled as she assumed her Cthulhu form and flew over the minions to the two chained lovers of theirs.
"K… Katerina…? Is that… you…?" Romano asked weakly, his blood loss worsening. Bast managed to turn her head to look at her as well.
"Save your strength, both of you! I'm getting you two out of here!" The woman told them as she destroyed their chains, which were made of Earth metal, conveniently. She then grabbed them and flew away from the ritual site, much to Dormammu's anger. He tried to blast her out of the sky, but she evaded each shot sent her way.
"Dormammu." Ghost Rider said as the demon lord turned to him. "Face your penance!" He yelled as he activated his signature move: The Penance Stare. The demon king screamed in agony as the every last soul he had wronged came back to haunt him mercilessly. After a moment of this, he collapsed to the ground, his eyes charred black.
Morgan was in the middle of getting beaten by Johan and the Horseman, and Mysterio was trying his best to help her out, but it wasn't going so well as Johan shot him in the leg.
"I'm going to kill you!" The soldier yelled as a righteous fury filled his heart.
"You think… you… can succeed… where my… brother failed...?! Don't make… me laugh!" She panted, her injuries forcing her to one knee.
"Oh, I don't think, I know!" Johan growled before he fired a shot into her stomach, causing her to gasp in pain before the Horseman chopped an arm off, causing her to scream in pain.
"Allow me to take it from here." Ghost Rider told them as he wrapped the witch in his Hell chains.
"No, please, mercy!" Morgan begged.
"Sorry, all out of mercy." The skeleton told her. Morgan screamed in sheer agony as she was turned to stone by the chains before the biker yanked in it, making her fall apart. Mysterio watched this unfold and seethed in rage.
"You bastards! You ruined everything!" He yelled, drawing their ire as they glared at him.
"Good, that means we're doing something right!" Johan retorted. He then marched up to him and ripped his helmet off and shattered it.
It revealed just an ordinary man underneath. Johan then pointed his gun at his head. "Any last words, Winston Beck?" He growled.
"My dream was the one the world needed to have fulfilled." He stated, growling as he did so.
"No it wasn't." The cyborg shot back before he pulled the trigger, sending brain matter all over the ground as the man's body collapsed. He then turned to the riders. "Can this damned ritual be undone?" He asked them.
"Only way I can think of is closing the Eye of Agamotto… or destroy it." The Rider told him.
"I doubt we can close it, so we'll have to likely settle for destroying it." Johan sighed. As he readied his magnums with fresh ammo, though…
"Stop!" A voice called as everyone turned to see the X-men and the others coming their way. And they were all turned into what they were dressed as, even Damian who became a baby gargoyle and Drake was somehow stuck in a whiskey bottle. Doctor Strange was the only one unaffected.
"I can see that the ritual got to you guys." The soldier noted.
"Who were the sacrifices for this whole thing?" Gavin, who had turned into, unsurprisingly, Dracula asked.
"Bast and Romano were used… The ones responsible are dead now and Katerina got them to safety to get treated." Johan replied, causing everyone to let out sighs of relief.
"Well we need to get this stupid curse down now." Chelsea, who was in her Red Sonja scale bikini in the cold weather, stated as she leaned against a bare chested Logan for warmth.
"I assume you have a means to undo all this, sorcerer?" The Horseman asked Strange, drawing several sets of wide eyes to him.
"... You know, after all that's happened tonight, him existing seems kinda normal." Logan shrugged, getting a few nods of agreement.
"That I do. It is a complex but effective reversal spell." Strange nodded. "Ghost Rider I will need your hell chains to assist me in this endeavor." He spoke to the rider.
"Then go on ahead. I still need to get back to Bast." Johan beckoned. Strange and Ghost Rider then moved under the glowing Eye of Agamotto and then began the spell.
"I call upon the crimson crystal chains of Cytorrak!" The sorcerer supreme yelled as red glowing chains shot out and wrapped themselves around the eye, and Ghost Rider did the same with his own chains.
"Alright, PULL!" The bounty hunter yelled as he began pulling. Everyone else started joining in and started pulling with all their might in a bid to break the amulet's connection to the moon, and it continued for several minutes until… it finally gave way. The red of the sky immediately began to fade as everyone turned back to normal. Everyone who was turned into something else that wasn't human began to look themselves over and sighed in relief when they saw that they were back to their old selves.
"Normal again." Gavin sighed as he held Damian and kissed Rogue.
"Yeah. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check on Bast and Romano and make my little sis stop worrying about me." Johan said before turning to the Horseman. "Mind giving me a lift back to town?" He asked.
"But of course." The figure 'nodded'.
"Come on guys, let's go see if they're okay." Chelsea told them, currently really worried about her best friends as the horseman left.
Off to the side, Laura was adjusting the chest area and ass area of her bunny girl suit, which squeezed her C-cup chest and plump ass very snuggly.
"Even with the spell gone, it didn't do much to get rid of how horny I feel…" She whispered ruefully, though it was partially heard by Logan.
"What'd you say?" He asked, causing his daughter to stiffen slightly.
"N-nothing!" She squeaked. Her father just let out a silent scoff as he shrugged before the X-men and Gargoyles went to check on their friends, and the Acolytes, Pack and Ghost Rider went elsewhere.
(Later)
"Anything?" Chelsea asked as her father continued to monitor the two after they came from surgery.
"Both suffered severe knife wounds, but luckily I was able to seal the wounds, though they've lost a lot of blood." Sampson told her, which made her, Marcus, Pele, Kai, and the Sever siblings all gain worried expressions.
"Will they recover from it?" Johan asked worriedly, fearing for his girlfriend's life with Katerina in the same boat with Romano.
"I was able to get them transfusion bags, so they should be fine with a bit of rest for the transfusion to finish. Though only time will tell." He told the man.
"... C-can we see them now?" The eldritch woman asked.
"Yes, they're fine for visitors." The doctor nodded. The group walked in and the Sever siblings felt their hearts crack when they saw their lovers in their current state.
"I'm so sorry Bast, I should have been there for you." The soldier whispered as he hugged her face close to his.
"Romano… I'm so so sorry I didn't get to you sooner." Katerina whimpered sadly as she rested her head on his right hand, tears pouring down her face.
Everyone looked at the scene before them and prayed that everything would be better in the morning.
(The next morning)
Bast groaned as she opened her eyes and closed them upon registering the sunlight pouring into the room. After waiting for her eyes to adjust, she looked around and found herself in a hospital bed. Her eyes then landed on Romano, who was also coming to. She also noticed Katerina asleep at his bedside before feeling another presence close to her. Turning to her right, she saw her boyfriend with his head on a desk. She looked at his face and saw that there were dry tear tracks running down from his eyes.
'He was crying for me…' She realized, feeling her heart ache at the pain he himself had suffered. Tentatively, she placed an arm on his shoulder and shook him awake gently. Stirring, the man opened his eyes and blinked away as his eyes adjusted. He then looked at his girlfriend… And all grogginess immediately went away when he registered that she was awake. Without a word, he all but threw himself at her and sobbed into her shoulder, relieved that she was okay.
"Shhhh. Shhhh. It's okay. I'm here." She cooed quietly, trying to calm his nerves as she held him close.
"I thought I was going to lose you…! I was so scared!" Johan sobbed, tightening his hold on her like she was a lifeline.
With Romano, Katerina was bawling into his chest in relief that he was fine while the light mutant comforted her.
"You're okay! You're actually okay!" She cried in joy.
"Don't worry. I'm not leaving you, honey." Romano told her as he kissed her forehead, causing her to tighten her grip on him, as if fearing that he'll fade away if she lets go.
"You better not." She snapped. A couple minutes later, everyone else made it down to the med bay to see them, and a wave of relief washed over all of them.
"Bast, Romano!" Pele and Kai cried as they ran to the two and hugged them, who were soon followed by Marcus and Chelsea.
"You two gave us the mother of all scares! Never do that again!" The Dragoness tried to scold them, but failed due to the tears running from her eyes.
"Yeah. All of us were scared out of our wits when we learned all the details of what happened." Marcus told them.
"No offense guys, but it feels like Johan and Katerina were the most terrified." Bast replied, the siblings in question starting to reign in their emotions with varying degrees of success.
"I'm just glad it's all over." Gavin sighed.
"Yeah, and just in time for Drake's first birthday too!" Laura smiled while holding her currently squirming one year old little brother.
"Wonder if we can find some Sleepy Hollow baby merchandise…" Chelsea mused.
"I know a few places." Johan piped up, finally calming his nerves.
"You stay here with Bast. You stay here with Romano too, Katerina. We'll ask your parents to show us around." The Dragoness told them. If she was being honest, the siblings deserved to spend every available minute they could spare with them.
"Alright, I guess we'll see you guys later?" Bast asked tiredly.
"Yeah, we'll be back in time for the birthday party, so it'll be fine." The blonde told her.
"Okay." The two couples nodded. The rest of them then left for the Sever household to ask the parents of the siblings to show them around town. Now that the couples were alone, the cyborg and eldritch woman climbed into the beds of their respective lovers and snuggled with them, the four relishing the presence of each other.
Dragon Emperor0: Man that was a real scare for a second there. Sorry we're late on the upload guys, I ended up falling asleep halfway through writing this chapter last night.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, it left me feeling a little miffed. Still, MAN Johan and Katerina were Doomslayer level pissed off! I've never seen that level of brutality aside from the Doomguy himself!
Dragon Emperor0: No kidding. And sorry about miffing you, I honestly didn't realize I had fallen asleep until it was too late.
ThermalsniperN7: It's fine. At least we got it done. Anyway, see you guys next time!
