"Ororo Munroe," N'astirh grinned. All around his perch the scattering sound of many infernal footsteps mounted.
"Yours is a scent I recall well. Though no longer drenched in the magics of Limbo, your power is quite… magnetic."
"I'm afraid we don't share that familiarity," Storm boomed from up above.
"I spent more time than any mortal should have to in your realm, and your face never darkened my sight."
"I prefer to remain out of view," he hissed. "Always in the wings, waiting for my master's call. And call, he has! I have come to fulfill your greatest fears, and your darkest fantasies. And when you have fallen, my brethren will feed!"
He spread his wings, and a cloud enveloped the group. Cackling hoards of demons lurched from between the buildings, their shadows churning the pale sunlight.
"Fear?" Thor scoffed. His eyes, slightly bloodshot, welled with lightning.
"Come, Valkyrie. Let us show this lout what it means to fear."
"Not without me, I hope," Ororo clapped them both on the shoulders and took off. Jolts of electricity ran down their arms.
"I didn't know I could feel electricity," Thor said, looking at his fingers.
"Who knows what other sensations this goddess could introduce us to," Valkyrie sneered.
"Everyone," Kitty called out. She wasn't far, but the fog seemed to stifle her voice. "Just stay together, damnit. Lockheed, how about a light?"
Hope Van Dyne thought she was in a much healthier place than she was before she met Scott. She had found her mother, and rekindled her relationship with her father. For most of her life she had felt unloved, and that had made her… angry. Cold. That was the past.
But now, seeing the despair these demons brought, it was all flooding back. Those years of resentment she had harbored for her father. Never good enough, always in his way.
The field of ants beneath her shifted, sixty million tiny feet marching on to the next enemies. Her enemies.
The Wasp shook her head. No. Not returning. This rage had always been inside of her.
She just no longer felt a reason to hold it back.
"Ugh, my head," Dani groaned. The Danger Room instructor had quickly found herself separated from the others once the cloud rolled in. She had a feeling the city wasn't famous for this sort of fog.
She could see shapes all around her periphery, fuzzy and translucent. They looked like people. Most of them looked… asleep. Comatose. Was this place all a collective nightmare, made manifest by Belasco's power?
Suddenly, the Inferno became much more terrifying. The gravity of the situation was becoming clear.
Where was her team?
The X-Men and Avengers had scattered, gradually succumbing to N'astirh's fog of rage and pride. Except for some.
Cessily Kincaid ran through empty allies, looking for anyone she could find. She knew something had been going on, but she didn't speak up. Now it was too late. She quivered in place as the broad, winged silhouette of N'astirh filled the alleyway before her.
"Come child, do not fear."
He loomed over her, full of demented malice.
"There will be time enough for that…"
"Is it operational?" Cyclops asked.
He, Armor, and Ant-Man had boarded the train car and were looking around.
"Power's probably screwed," Hisako said. "But it's got wheels. That means it still rolls."
"So we need somebody to push."
"Or, you ask your new ferrokinetic friend really nicely," Lorna said, boarding as well.
"Can you push all of us?" Cyclops asked.
"Sure. Just have to clear a path."
She took down a window and yelled out to their foe.
"Hey Sym, hold this for me, will you?"
One of the many errant subway cars magnetically slammed into the pink demon, then another, then another. As the fourth car crushed down, a meaty fist plunged through it.
"Hope you ain't claustrophobic, mate," Sym's ears wiggled as he does bushes digging himself from the rubble. "'Cuz I took that a bit personal."
A glow erupted deep in his body, showing the veins running under his skin. Using all his strength, the demon wrested a chunk of the platform from its foundation and threw it at the ceiling. Cracks spiderwebbed outward, and pebbles began to plink on the roof of the train car.
"He's going to bring the ceiling down on us," Nightcrawler pointed up.
Rachel suddenly pulled her father into a deep hug.
"Don't freak out, Dad, I'm about to do something dumb."
She leapt from the train car and ran out to the center of the room.
"Rachel, get back here!"
Ignoring Cyclops, she held out her arms and allowed her mind to extend into the room. The ceiling splintered and cracked, but only fell a few breathless inches before they halted, vibrating in the air.
"That's amazing," Scott breathed. He had seen Jean perform such feats of telekinesis before, but he never got tired of it. And seeing his own daughter pull off such a feat made him even more proud.
"I can't hold this for very long!" She cried. The others took the hint and dashed onto the train car.
"All aboard!" Ant-Man called out. "Give us a boost, Hisako!"
Armor grunted and began pushing the train car along the rail. Polaris supplied her power to the wheels, accelerating it towards the tunnel.
"We can't leave yet," Hisako said, dropping her armor and returning to the car. "Rachel is still out there."
"Slow down, I'll get her," Emma jumped off and ran for the young redhead.
"Rachel, we have a train to catch."
Rachel looked up at the floating rubble, then back to the other heroes in the car.
"I think… I'm going to have to catch the next one, Miss Frost."
"Don't be silly, Rachel. We're both getting out of here together."
"Miss Pryde is counting on us, right? It's better that she gets some of us than none of us."
Emma closed her eyes.
"Okay, listen very closely."
Back on the train car, Polaris was shouting to Cyclops.
"We have to go now, this whole room is toast!"
"Emma? Emma, grab Rachel and run! You have to run!"
"Don't freak out, dear," Emma said, perhaps not quite loud enough for him to hear. "We're about to do something dumb."
The first large chunk of the ceiling fell to the left of the car.
"Rachel!" Scott shouted, his voice hoarse.
"Grab them, Kurt!"
"If you break her concentration we get crushed!" Armor protested.
"I'm afraid she's right," Kurt said, putting his large hand on Cyclops's shoulder. "We have to trust them."
"There has to be something we can do."
It will be alright, Scott, Emma whispered into his head. I won't let anything happen to her.
As the car thundered down the track and out of sight, Scott saw Emma go into her diamond form and push Rachel underneath herself.
No one said anything as the car traveled further down the tunnel. Which made it all the more surprising when Scott was the first person to stand up.
"Polaris. Go scout the area. Make sure there are no other surprises up there."
"On it."
Lorna went up the stairs, but didn't return for several minutes.
"I don't like this," Ant-Man said.
"No," Kurt said. "Best we check it out."
Hisako could only look down as they went higher. She had left Rachel behind. And Ms. Frost. Some team captain she had turned out to be.
They stepped out into the sun, its light still partially dulled by the cloak of the Inferno.
"Lorna?" What's the situation?
She stood transfixed, looking at a floating figure in a tattered cape and pitted helmet. Beyond him was a scene of carnage. Small winged demons with broken metal shackles around their wrists and ankles dug their spears into the corpses of other fiends, ensuring they were dead. When they looked up from their work, the man would point downwards, silently bidding them not to tarry. They listened. They obeyed.
"Scott," Magneto said, turning slightly to look at him.
"Good to see you finally joining us."