"Hm. Intriguing."
He was observing a plush Spider-Man toy in a local shop's window. A tall, thin figure in the shape of a man, loose-fitting cape and ratty pants the same bloody shade of red as his skin. A look of haughty curiosity played across his amber eyes.
"You there!"
Thor, Shadowcat, and Beast dashed down the street towards him. He made no attempt to run.
Beast pointed at him.
"You seem a fair bit smarter than the average denizen of Limbo, yes?"
"Pfft. I am no more demon, of Limbo or otherwise."
"Then you picked a bad time to be heading to a Halloween party, pal," Kitty cocked her head.
"Aren't you all a little… busy?" He rolled his eyes. "There's a whole war going on and you've
come to bother me on my holiday."
"Perhaps some introductions are in order," Thor said. "I am Thor, God of Thunder."
"The Avenger, yes, I'm aware - sorry to hear about your father, by the way. I have gone by many names, but most call me Mephisto. A… freelance devil, you might say. I heard Belasco was throwing a big world ending shindig on Earth, thought I would swing by."
"Charmed," Beast said dryly. "Now, I have an offer for you. Your people seem to appreciate deals, yes?" We've spent the last hour running through this city of terrors, almost literally in circles. These illusions, the magic affecting us. How do we stop it?"
Mephisto paced in a tight circle in front of the three.
"Now here's an interesting prospect. Give you a hint, and I get something in exchange?"
Thor stepped forward, axe in hand.
"You get to keep your head."
His face fell, but only slightly.
"Ah. Well, friends, you've hit upon my two favorite things; self-preservation, and disloyalty. So I think you make a compelling offer. And seeing as I'm off duty, I'll do this one pro bono. You want to break the spell worming its way into your brains, you'll be looking for a fellow by the name of N'astirh. A wizard of sorts in Belasco's court."
He craned his neck and pointed.
"Chinatown. Should put you in spitting distance of N'astirh. And more importantly, a very safe distance from me."
Thor lowered his axe.
"You are a coward, demon."
Mephisto snorted. "I should think so. All the brave demons are depicted on stained glass windows and bas reliefs being run through by gallant knights who gave their swords outlandish names. I'm what you might call, a realist."
Beast adjusted his glasses.
"And what a helpful realist you've been. Mr. Odinson, Miss Pryde, shall we away?"
"There is just, one thing," Mephisto grinned.
"You may need some help in the future. Perhaps in the very near future. In that instance I might just have to edit our deal for a little something more substantial than my head.
"You've already told us everything," Kitty said. "You aren't in much of a position to bargain."
"Have I now?" Mephisto oozed. "Everyone has an off day, I suppose. Well if you think you've got this handled…"
At that moment, Captain Marvel radioed down to Kitty.
"Shadowcat, we've got a situation up here."
Kitty shot the devil a look, then turned her back to him. The dragon on her shoulder kept his eye on him.
"Captain? Oh good, it's been almost ten minutes."
"Heh. Have a look."
Above them, very large burning shapes fell from the portal, impacting with dull thuds a few blocks down.
"They're… demons. Big suckers. That's gonna need some attention. How's your angle?"
"We're following a lead to Chinatown. Let's divy up the team and take them both on.
"Sounds good. I'll send them your way."
A few minutes later, Storm, Valkyrie, Dani, Mercury, and Wasp arrived.
"Very well, ladies," Beast clapped his hands. "We're going to break a spell. Always fun."
"Will Captain Marvel and the others be okay? Those guys looked big."
"I'm confident she's felled bigger. Whatever's coming out of that portal, they'll be ready."
"They won't be," the devil muttered as he watched them leave. "But then again, neither will Belasco."
They were cyclopes. Not like Rachel's dad, like the mythological creature. Huge, muscular, with a single angry eye burning in their skulls. They crawled from the craters left by their descent, each carrying a large club.
Captain Marvel landed a few feet from where the others stood. Rogue, Wolverine, Triage, and Elixir.
"Where's Giant Man when you need him," Carol muttered, shrugging off her bomber jacket.
"We'll just have to improvise. Wolverine?"
She popped her claws out.
"Ever step on a thumb tack?"
"That's terrifying, but I like the energy."
"What should we do?" Anna asked.
"See if there are any people in those buildings. Healers, do your thing. We'll try to keep them off of you."
"Excellent!" Joshua saluted. "We're off!"
"Someone's coming," Laura's nostrils flared.
A large green woman crested the hill and looked around at the scene before her.
"Jen Walters?" Carol was surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Public speaking, what does it look like?" She-Hulk raised her arms.
"This is pretty bad. Room for one more?"
"Room for several more, but we'll take what we can get."
"It's just four 70-foot monsters from another dimension," Wolverine put on her goggles.
"What's the worst that could happen?"
Emma gulped.
"Rachel… how are you holding up?"
The subway team had dusted themselves off and was making their way to the next available exit.
"I'm a little bruised, but I'll manage," the redhead sighed. "Wish Chris was down here."
"Rotten luck."
"I understand what you're trying to do, Emma," Rachel said, her voice tense.
"And I appreciate it. But I'm not ready to talk. We really need to keep our focus."
"Ah… very well."
Further back, Hisako and Kurt were chatting.
"At least it's nice and cool down here," Kurt said. "I may look like I come from Hell, but that heat is murder for us fuzzy folk."
Hisako giggled.
"We've both seen plenty of fiends and creepy crawlies, Mr. Wagner. You shouldn't need to compare yourself to them."
"I'm quite comfortable in my own skin, Hisako. Not to worry. It's just kind of baked in at this point. Somebody up there had a sense of humor when they put this spade at the end of my tail."
"Team," Lorna held up her hand.
"Do you hear that?"
Everyone held their breath. There was a rustling sound in the air. As their ears processed it, they realized it was whispering. Faint, but numerous, gnawing at the backs of their heads. It seemed to come from further up.
Be on your guard, everyone," Emma called back.
"I fear we aren't alone down here."
She was right, but not in the way she expected.
They stepped into a station. A dozen or more tracks stretched out from the platform, far more than it should have been able to service. The tracks routed off in all directions, disappearing into tunnels that ringed the whole room. A single train waited on the platform, and standing on its roof was a demon. Seven feet tall and an aggressive shade of pink, he was holding a cigar between his oversized bottom canines.
"Ah! There's some familiar faces. G'day."
Scott's eyes narrowed underneath his visor as he took in the sight of Sym, Belasco's lieutenant. He and Sym had traded blows during an incursion into Limbo Cyclops had led earlier in the year. He was strong; much stronger physically than Scott. Last he saw the demon he was in freefall, having been teleported into the air by Nightcrawler. He still wasn't all that surprised to see him still alive.
"Sym," he said coolly. "Best two out of three?"
"Ain't gonna be a round three, bruv," Sym grinned behind his cigar. "You lot have a train to catch. Or should I say... Or should I say..."
The whispering in the station grew to a fevered pitch, as lights crackled on in each of the tunnels. Soon the whispers were overtaken by the metallic shriek of hundreds of wheels on rails.
"...My trains have a you to catch."
Hisako willed her armor to life and jumped in front of the others as a subway car barreled through one of the tunnels, straight at them. It pushed her back a few inches before its front crumpled. Armor grunted and pushed the train over onto the platform.
"Split up," Ant-Man shouted before shrinking out of sight. "They're coming from all sides!"
"Grab Rachel and get behind me, darling," Emma said, her skin turning to diamond.
"You lovebirds might want to stick with me," Polaris said, bending the tracks around her upwards.
"This is my realm of expertise."
"No sport in that," Sym's voice came from above. He landed with a thud not far from the green-haired woman, flicking his cigar over his shoulder.
"Gotta make this hard enough to be interesting."
"Pick on someone your own size!" Hisako shouted, socking him in the back of the head. He grinned, his bulk barely moving.
"Fair 'nuff."
As they began to lace into each other, Rachel broke from their formation in Lorna's circle.
"Rachel?"
"I have to help Armor, dad. Keep your eye on Kurt and the others"
Before he could protest, she flew off. They heard another train coming from behind.
"Well, she's definitely your daughter," Kurt said, grabbing onto the others to teleport them a safe distance away. The train ran aground on Lorna's trap with a shower of sparks.
Hey, Hisako? Rachel projected.
Little - hrrng - busy Rachel!
Oh, I know. Don't concentrate too hard. Just listen. I don't see any stairs.
What?
It's a train station, right? There should be a staircase leading up to the terminals.
"This is a magic, possessed train station," Hisako shouted out loud, pulling herself out of a divot in the concrete wall as she lunged forward again. "Why would it have a staircase?"
"I'm just saying, how do we leave?"
"Oh."
She dodged out of the way as Rachel telekinetically lobbed a train wheel at Sym.
"Shit."
The trains continued to come, and Polaris continued to divert them wherever she could.
"This can't last forever," she said, watching it fall over. "Either one of them gets through and tramples us, or the whole room fills up with wrecked trains and we get smothered. We need to get topside."
"I might be able to bore a hole up to the surface," Cyclops said. "But it will take some time."
"More time than we have," Emma shook her head. "One of these tunnels must lead out of here."
"Psst." A voice whispered harshly in her ear. She yelped and jumped out of the way.
"It's me, the other Scott."
Mr. Lang? Where are you?"
"Your shoulder. Don't try to look, you'll tweak your neck."
"I… appreciate the concern. What are you doing?"
"Reconnaissance. Trains have come out of every tunnel except one."
He leapt off of Emma, growing to full size. He pointed to a tunnel, then traced the rail back to the car Sym had originally been standing on.
"Why don't we hitch a ride out of here?"
Above the city, Belasco watched the air boil. It was all going so perfectly, his mighty Inferno. There was only one thing missing.
"Illyana… my Darkchilde… where are you?"