The man was on the bus now, sandwiched between a large man in a 49ers shirt and hat and a tourist with a meticulously curated mustache. Across the way was a mother with two young boys, each of them sobbing inconsolably.
They rode this way for nearly ten minutes, the bawling across the aisle relentless.
"Will you shut those damned things up?" Mustache Guy snapped. The woman's face went red, and she smacked him across the face…
The doors to the control room whispered open and Hank barreled through.
"What's going on, Elixir?"
"See for yourself, Doctor McCoy," Joshua pointed down at the scene unfolding in the booth.
"Stars and garters," Hank breathed, sliding his spectacles further up his large blue snout.
"Douglas, Danielle. Let's get to work."
Doug Ramsey and Dani Moonstar had just returned from the same away mission as Illyana, and were already changed into plain clothes.
"Open it," Dani said. "Let's hope Illyana and Kitty can hold out until we're in there."
"Will the hatches even open when the system is operational?" Joshua asked.
"They wouldn't under normal circumstances, but I'm going to coax them into emergency override," Doug said. His eyes were closed; he was using his power to feel his way through the terabytes of data inside the Danger Room's computers.
"It's for the best," Hank said. "If we don't make an entrance, Scott certainly will."
Illyana's monstrous form climbed up a building, hurling street signs at the people below. The Darkchilde was a creature purpose bred to destroy; the vanguard of Belasco's army that would conquer Earth. But it had never been in a place like this. The lights, the sounds, the hundreds of people. It had so much to rip apart, and it was instinctually acting to do so. Until a red beam of light struck it in the face and sent it falling back to street level.
Rachel followed the beam back to its source and went running.
"Dad!"
Lockheed soared past as Scott Summers closed the aperture on his visor. While his eyes allowed him to channel infinite kinetic energy, he couldn't control it unaided.
Behind him was a perplexing window of nothing, marking the physical wall of the Danger Room that was usually obscured by whatever program it was running. Through the doorway came Illyana's team leader Lorna, and Emma Frost.
"Kitty went after Illyana by herself."
"It's okay, Rachel. Get into the locker rooms, all of you. And wait for our signal. Mirage and Beast will be down soon."
The rest of the X-Men followed behind her.
"Let the lady with the magic soulsword fight the lady with the magic soul monster," Hisako nodded urgently. "Works for me. But what about you three?"
Lockheed breathed a jet of flame at the Darkchilde, who responded in kind with a blast of green brimstone-scented fire.
"We're just here to back Shadowcat up," Cyclops said. "Beyond that I'm open to suggestions."
Emma watched a line of police officers open fire at the Darkchilde.
"Any idea what's going on there?"
Lorna shrugged.
"The Danger Room has some kind of AI governing the actors in it, right? I guess it's trying to adapt to the situation."
"It ought to work to our advantage to keep the module running," Scott said. "These buildings provide blind corners we wouldn't have in the whitespace, and the lights and sounds will help distract the creature."
The Darkchilde stampeded past on all fours, Kitty hanging from one of its horns.
"Guys, what part of fall back - wait, Emma? Lorna? What are you-"
She was too far away to hear now. They heard glass shatter.
"I'll go high, see if I can't give Pryde some breathing room," Lorna floated into the air and after the runaway headmistress.
"We'll stay low and let Polaris work. Emma, we'll need both of your powers if we're going to get Illyana down. You'll have to be flexible."
"Aren't I always, darling?"
There was a time when Emma was a bitter enemy of the X-Men. She still felt like she was atoning for that time. But it was the past. She met Scott, fell in love, and helped Kitty rebuild the school. She had a new sense of purpose in defending the mutant race, and she wouldn't waste the second chance. That… relationship with Scott was causing tension between Emma and Rachel. The girl saw it as a betrayal of her mother's memory - in a dark corner of Emma's mind she agreed. But she couldn't listen to it. She needed to focus.
The Darkchilde swiped down with its claws. Emma turned her body to diamond and took the hit. While the creature was distracted Polaris grabbed several lampposts with her magnetic power and wrapped them around its legs.
Kitty dismounted the creature and ran over to Emma.
"If you've finished with your fun, Miss Pryde," Emma said, pulling herself up with a groan, "I believe you may want to start hitting the monster."
"I don't want anyone to hurt Illyana. But if someone has to fight her, it should be me."
"Just the same, you might get farther with a bit of finesse."
"You want to ask it to dinner?"
"Ha," Emma glared.
"Emma's right," Polaris came down between the two of them."
"Can you get a handle on Illyana's mental signature? Maybe you can talk her down."
"It's all over the place," Emma frowned, trying to tighten her concentration. "Sometimes it feels like she's barely there, and sometimes it feels like there's two of her."
"I figured you'd be spending a lot of time here, what with me destined to subsume your mind and body and usher in an eon of darkness and despair. So I picked through your memories to find the place that would make you feel most comfortable."
Darkchilde gestured proudly at the dorm around them, exactly as Illyana remembered it.
"Who's Kitty, by the way?"
"How dare you!" Illyana shouted. "You invade my soul, then you crawl around in my mind?"
"It's my mind too, Illyana," the pale woman rolled her eyes. "Honestly I'm getting tired of going over this with you. I am always in your head, because I am you. And as we grow closer together, as Inferno draws ever nearer, I can see more and more of who you are. Who we are."
Back outside, the monster broke free of its shackles. It leapt into the air, bearing down on the three women.
"Katherine…" Emma stammered.
Throwing herself in front of Emma and Lorna, Kitty held up her blade. A blue light flashed from the soulsword, engulfing it in flame. The creature recoiled just before it could lunge into them with its teeth, scuttering away alone its hooves.
Cyclops saw an opportunity here to draw it away from the others, lacing into it with optic blasts.
"That's right," Scott muttered, "eyes on me."
It lumbered over to him and swiped him into its fist.
"Uh, help?"
Kitty looked at the blade, still glowing in her hand.
The soulsword was forged by Ororo and Illyana while they were in Limbo, using part of Illyana's soul that hadn't yet been corrupted by Belasco. Illyana had entrusted it to Kitty, making her friend promise that if she ever changed back into the Darkchilde she would take the blade up against her.
A taxi slammed into the Darkchilde, causing her to drop Scott.
"Thanks, Lorna," he wheezed.
The beast threw the car back towards Polaris and roared.
"Illyana, stop this!" Kitty shouted.
The creature's eyes fell on Kitty, full of rage but not of understanding. She gripped the soulsword and fell back into her stance.
"I'm sorry, Illyana. But I made a promise."
"Okay," Illyana flopped on her old twin bed.
"You and I are destined to merge. And if you come out of the merge in control, you'll bring about Inferno and allow Belasco to take over this plane?"
"That's the gist of it," Darkchilde said.
"But why do you want to do that?"
"It is my destiny."
"According to who? Belasco?"
Darkchilde blinked.
"It doesn't matter. It is already decided."
"Nothing is decided until one of us wins," Illyana was becoming frustrated.
"Win? Against Belasco? You aren't even playing the same game."
"My friends and I can stop him. I know how to."
"You're dreaming," Darkchilde scoffed.
"You said you're in my head. Take a closer look."
Darkchilde's eyes widened.
"It's - not possible! You couldn't… could you?"
Illyana's lips curled into a joyless smile.
"What else do I have to lose?"
Darkchilde screamed out in pain as a blue shaft of light impaled her from behind, the force shredding pillows and sending band posters flying. Her moment of shock had given Kitty an opening to strike her monstrous form outside.
Illyana was flung backwards, the facade of her old dorm shattering as she was sent back into the swirling void of her subconscious.
She saw a vast fire, and a city hanging upside down in the sky. It was full of hills and tall buildings, and a distinctive red bridge...
"Right this way, gentleman," Kurt said, leading the visitors into the infirmary. The dark haired woman was right where he left her - at Illyana's side. She had since regained consciousness, but the Soulsword remained lodged in her chest.
Not far from Illyana was Storm, her face pensive and inscrutable. Her chest rose and fell quickly as she processed what had happened while she was above ground.
Into the room walked a stout man in a dark red robe. Behind him, with a dramatic flourish of his cape as he rounded the corner, was Doctor Strange.
Stephen Strange and his partner Wong lived in New York, protecting a sanctum belonging to his old master that warded off extradimensional threats. About three months ago, Kitty Pryde had contacted him about the curious case of her friend. Relieved of a portion of her soul by a high level demon, she was at the center of a plot to invade Earth that Strange's master conspired with the original X-Men to stop.
"Wong, give me a breakdown."
"She's been impaled."
"Thanks, Wong," Strange sighed.
"The sword is magic, I can tell that much. Can we remove it from her without causing harm?"
"Yes, please," Illyana nodded. "It's crafted from my soul, it can't hurt me. Kitty is just being overcareful."
"Of course I am! I just stabbed you with that thing to save you from demonic possession!"
"Relax," Wong said. "I've done my share of exorcisms."
"You have?" Kitty asked.
"You have?" Strange echoed her sentiment.
Illyana winced silently as the sword was pulled from her. There was no wound left behind.
"I think you should hold onto that," Kitty said. "If Doctor Strange thinks it's a good idea. You were vulnerable without this piece of your soul."
The doctor nodded. Illyana took the blade by the hilt and it vanished.
Strange's hands glowed as he moved them over Ilyana. He asked her some questions, mainly recapping what he and Kitty had gone over about her kidnapping. Storm provided additional details where Limbo's magic was concerned; she had absorbed some of it in her time trapped there. After several minutes he stood up.
"I see," the sorcerer muttered.
"What is it?" Kitty asked.
Strange created a red image of Illyana. It looked rather like an X-Ray, but in three dimensions. A dim, diffuse light shone in her chest, surrounded by several smaller, brighter ones.
"See there? While the pieces of your soul you recovered from Belasco are in fact there, they are still intact as Bloodstones."
The blonde girl turned pale.
"So even inside me my soul isn't safe from him?"
"It shouldn't be dangerous in the immediate future," Strange said. "Belasco needed your soul for his ritual, and it sounds like that ritual has at least been stalled. But I'd like to keep an eye on you just the same."
Wong ran through some spells in his head.
"If we had the rest of your soul I could try to find a rejoining enchantment, but I imagine only the original caster can bring down the barriers."
"So either way, we need to find Belasco," Kurt said.
"And we have no idea where he's going to strike," Ororo sighed.
"Yes we do!" Illyana said, remembering her vision.
"San Francisco. It's happening there. Belasco is mustering his forces to bring the Inferno to Earth."
"Oh no," Kitty whispered.
"I saw it when I was down in the depths of my soul," Illyana continued. "It must be my connection to Limbo. How quickly can we get to the west coast?"
Strange looked at Wong and nodded.
"Very," he said. "Gather your teammates. I have to make some calls."