Disclaimers: As before.
Notes: Right. I did warn you, once. I got tricked into rewriting much of a large chunk of history. Secondly, anytime a section is topped by a name (Marya, Domino, Maddie/Madelyne) that section is narrated by said name. It seemed the easiest way to make it make sense.
Dedication: To Lynx. I really couldn't have done some of this without her. And to Bev, 'cause I wouldn't have caught some stuff without her. And to Acetal, who keeps encouraging me.
Lastly, thanks to Delirium, and techno-dance mixes.
The Rise and Fall of the House of DeZorga
Chapter Eleven: Luca Brasi's Got Nothing On You
by Suzy DeZorga
His affected mannerisms annoyed me too much. Besides, his chanting spell had been so much crap. Mostly said to focus his mind to the task at hand. "Hallo? Hi. Yeah, this is your resident sacrifice."
"Be silent!"
"No." I absently TK'd the chains open and sat up. "D'you KNOW how boring it is to be constantly kidnapped, drugged, bespelled, turned into sacrifices left, right and center and then KILLED?" I sighed and hopped off the slab, finally seeing the Limbo portal.
"You..." The priest stared at me in shock. "How did you--"
He never finished the sentence. A blonde woman was suddenly there, his blood dripping a purple-red from her unsheathed sword. "Y'know? That felt really good."
"Hi."
She looked at me, her blues eyes shadowed and tired. "Do you know how difficult it is ruling a sub-real dimension? And then having to put up with these stupid jokers who enjoy breaking in and trying to take over." She kicked the body on the floor. "Bastard."
"Actually, no, but if you'd like to go for a cup of cocoa--after I unbespell my friend, there--I'm sure we could chat for hours." I waved a hand in front of Buffy's eyes. They barely flickered.
"My Mistress, what is your bidding?" The voice hissed from the portal. A demon of the lesser orders, from my ealier perusal.
"Oh... Go back and instruct the legions to stand down. We're not invading reality." She waved a hand dismissively and turned to me. "Your friend is bespelled by him." She poked the toe of her boot in the pile of leather wings and body. "The spell should have--"
"Yes, yes, I know. But it was an incredibly powerful spell, designed to make her kill, then wake up." I stared at Buffy, then began smiling. "Before you close that portal, have you any... nuisances that require death?"
"Nuisance..." Her lips twitched. "Yeah. Quite a few... prisoners of war, that sort of thing." She snorted. "They're demons. Someone is ALWAYS trying to usurp me."
"Hrm. Any you suspect that you wouldn't mind killing?"
"Illyana."
I raised an eyebrow. "Your name, or the one you'd like dead?"
"Both." She snickered. "My name." She turned to the portal. "N'astirh. Fetch Gordo."
"Yes, Mistress." The demon nodded and slipped away. His errand to the troops had obviously taken but a second. A second later, he slipped back. The demon he escorted was a greeny-gold with a few black spots. Aggression and rage showed in his stance and the little spurts of fire coming from the corners of his mouth added to that appearance.
"Come here, Gordo." Illyana gestured and the demon approached, attempting to appear submissive. "Gordo, I'd like you to kill the Slayer."
The demon blinked. And then again. Shock was quite evident in the look he sent her. Luckily, he was ignoring me as he stepped towards Buffy.
"Buffy, kill." I moved my hands up and cupped them over the Slayer's head. "KILL."
With a snap the spell activated and the Slayer swayed. The demon paused and looked a little worried. He had no time for anything else as Buffy tore into him, her foot catching his jaw.
By the time he was fighting back it was too late, Buffy's right hand closed on the knife at her waist and slipped it between his ribs, twisting and pulling it up and out with a sickening *schlerp*.
The light went out of the golden eyes and he collapsed with a soft crash. Buffy swayed, then blinked and doubled over, her body heaving as the stench rose from the demon.
"A stink-demon. Great, Illy. Just what I needed to smell." I grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her away from the stench.
"Oh. Sorry. I'd sort of forgotten that's what he was." I believed that. Really.
It was the perfect moment, really. The blonde sorceress queen of the demons was standing, sword still out and dripping with blood. Buffy was doubled over, knife in hand. At both their feet lay demon-bodies of unknown origin. To one side floated a portal into the realm of Limbo, the colours and sounds odd. To another, the barely perceptible Hellmouth hovered. And I was leaning against my sacrificial slab, pondering whether to smack Illy or not.
The door above us burst open and people poured down the stairs. Well, more accurately, the X-Family swarmed down them, then froze at the tableau we presented.
---
"Illyana!"
The exclamation came from several throats, among the people exclaiming, I noted Kitty and Rahne looking quite shocked.
"Oh, fuck." Illyana looked between the X-ers and the portal to Limbo and sighed. "Thanks, whoever you are."
"Marya DeZorga. Sorry we hadn't introduced ourselves more." I smiled charmingly. Well, as charming as someone leaning against a blood-splattered slab could. I could sense her need to flee and sighed. "Tell me, why must all of you..." My voice trailed off as my legs went, the images colliding through my brain overwhelming.
Fire, blood, death, destruction, such horror, and at the centre of it, such sick mad happiness. It reveled in it, enjoyed it to the hilt. And people screamed.
"Marya?"
#Susanna!#
Voices around me, in my head, in my ears, pulling, tugging. Come back, they called, save us. They had no idea, none. My mind tried to bury itself again.
#Marya. What happened, why--# Emma's voice cut off. And *something* smiled at me greedily.
There was no time to warn anyone, I snapped the circle connections and then fell into blackness under the brunt of the power that slammed into it, trying to destroy it. My last thought was of Emma. She'd been the one that it had used to get to us. Which meant she was probably dead. Goodbye, my friend...
---
I came to with several people around me, chattering like magpies. At least, to my addled wits, they sounded chirpy.
"I think she's coming around. Dom, how's Nate?"
The calm voice on the other side of me was Dom, "He's got a nasty headache."
"I can flonqing speak for m'self, dammit." Nate sounded upset that Dom and Maddie got along so well. He also sounded like his head hurt as much as mine did.
Pain covered my mind in myriad colours--especially reds and greens. I felt so Christmasy. "Gods..." I moaned. "Please tell me someone got..." My voice faltered as another vision slipped through my mind. Sometimes, the doubled precog abilities sucked. A child screamed desperately for his mother.
"Marya, what's the matter?"
My cellphone. I needed my cellphone. Without answering any of the questions that raged around me, I scrabbled through my pockets and finally pulled out the damned thing. Dialing was a matter of two seconds.
It rang. "Pick up, pick up." Two, three. "C'mon, you bastard, answer!"
Five, six, "Edward." He sounded exhausted.
"Bastard, you need to be awake more."
"Bitch, you keep waking me up." He retorted.
I laughed, then yelped as my head throbbed in protest. "Edward, I need a favour."
"Again?" He snorted, "DeZorga, I've already pulled strings for you today."
"It's Christmas." I closed my eyes and fought down the precog induced dread. "Edward, I need you to red-one mobilise all emergency services in the New York city area. Especially Manhatten." I winced as another vision flashed through. They were coming fast and thick now.
"Do you know how--"
"Tell them it's a drill, or something, lie to them if you have to! But, Edward, they have to be mobilised and ready." Three people died in the rubble as an apartment building collapsed around them. "Something very bad is about to happen to New York."
I could tell he was thinking about it. At least, I was hoping he was as more images of mass destruction flittered through my mind. I hissed and tried to block them out. The Powers That Be weren't having any and so I was abruptly deluged. It was probably a good thing that I was still lying on the floor.
People died horribly in fires and were buried alive. And hospitals... there was something about them that made me feel dread. The silence had gone on long enough as I fought out of the visions.
"Edward, you still there?"
"Yeah." He sighed. "I'll call some friends in the department. See if we can get a drill going."
"Thank the gods." I relaxed some. "Edward, the people of New York will owe you one."
"So will you."
"If I survive." I replied absently as I hung up. "Has anyone been able to raise the Mansion?"
"Marya, we haven't--"
"What's going on, Dez?" Dom knelt next to me and stared into my eyes. "You don't normally snap a circle link like that."
"Something attacked it. Through Emma." I hissed and sat up, the visions slowly receding. "Since Emma is at the Mansion..."
"Ergo, we should try getting through to her." Maddie nodded. "Makes sense."
"What I'd like to know is why you had to close the portal to Limbo." Illyana sounded a bit upset--or disgruntled--about that.
"Didn't mean to." I replied shortly, getting my feet under me. I carefully stood, swaying and nearly falling over again. "Was--thanks, Maddie--an instinctive reaction."
"Well, you closed it and locked me out of my own bloody kingdom." The 'fucking bitch' was silent, but I heard it.
"Sorry that my instinctive reaction to protect your little kingdom from coming to the notice of a rampaging madman leaves you feeling a little upset." I snapped. I was tired and the visions had drained me of everything but a basic need to stop whatever was going to happen.
"I can't reach the Mansion." Storm looked at me. "Do you know anything about the assailant?"
"It was a man." I replied wearily, "He was... greedy, angry, something more, too." I shook my head. "I'd suggest sending a team back to check on the place--see if there are any..." My voice trailed off and my eyes widened. "Survivors..."
Scott. Scott was still at the Mansion. This was ridiculous, but I needed to know-- "And I'm going with them."
A hand tapped on my shoulder and I turned to look at the Slayer. "Hey, Marya?"
"Yes, Buffy?"
"Thanks for the rescue. Whatever's happening, I'd like to help. But, I could REALLY use a shower first." She grimaced at the demon blood coating her hands. "I really hope this doesn't affect me."
"It won't." Illyana snorted. "Stink-demons tend to just.. die and smell a lot."
"Oh. Good."
"Your dad needs to know you're okay, too." I absently noted, already digging into my reserves to boost my shields for the coming battles. Battles? Gods, I hated precog abilities.
"My dad?" Buffy stared at me. "My dad knows I'm gone--that I'm the Slayer!??"
"No. I hadn't told him that. But he knows you're gone--my name was starred in your address book. He called me, I dragged out the cavalry--" Heat flooded through me and my skin burned off, falling in crispy shreds to the ground.
Nate caught me, this time. "Another one?"
"Yeah." I sighed wearily. "I hate this."
"Hate what?" Buffy blinked at me.
"Precog on rapid fire replay." I winced and stood straight. "Nate, I think we should go--you, me, Dom and X-Force."
"We'll take Buffy back to the hotel, Suzy." Logan nodded to me, "Then we'll find a place, have lunch and wait for the reports to--"
Everyone froze as the communicators suddenly went off and Jean Grey began broadcasting. The transmission was full of static and broken pieces, as if the equipment were being interfered with. "Alex?... Cable... Anyone?... don't even know... transmission being received?... taken total... taken totally unaware!.... teams... decimated! Mansion security was deactivated... from within!... --betrayed by one of our own!... Professor... Xavier--... --was the first to die.... Only one left...powers negated.... our own fault, really--... should never have trusted... we knew so little ab... ..but the dream will... never...!" The transmission completely broke up for a moment. "...die?"
Silence descended for an instant, and then everyone began talking at once, some trying to raise the Mansion, others declaring that they had to go there, now!
"Would you all shut the fuck up?" It was a parade-yell and it silenced them all. "Good. Now. X-Force, Cable, Dom and I are going to the Mansion." I glared them back into silence when they started objecting. "Sean, I'd appreciate it if you split your team in half. I'd like X-Factor, Everett, and Monet to go to Avenger's Mansion. Wake them up if you have to, but get them prepared. Storm, if you could take Sean and Jubilee with you, I'd like you to find the Fantastic Four. They should be at Freedoms Plaza." I sighed. "We need everyone prepared for this."
"For what?" Storm looked at me, "I do not understand why--"
"I don't know what." In my mind's eye, a 'Cafe exploded. "It's going to be bad, though. Very bad." I closed my eyes, shaking.
"What about us?" Kurt stepped forward and looked at me in concern.
"Excalibur..." I blinked, then nodded, remembering. "I need you just... wandering the streets, looking for trouble. I--I can't be more specific than that. I'm sorry." I winced and leaned against Nate. "Let's go before this gets any worse."
And just like that I divided up the teams and sent them on their way. I felt so Den Mother. I think Buffy and Illyana ended up with Excalibur. I let Nate go to round up his kids and looked for Yvette.
She was standing near the bodies of the demon and the priest. "{Yvette?}"
"{Why--}" She gestured at them. "{Why all of the death?}"
"{Death is... a natural part of living, really.}"
The eyes she turned on me were terribly tragic. "{But it shouldn't be.}"
"{No. It shouldn't.}" I closed my eyes against another flash of the future. This time, planes fell, things crashed. People died, it was a nice, common theme. "{We're going back to the Mansion. Something's come up.}"
Yvette shrugged. "{I shall see you, then.}"
---
The Mansion looked normal until we circled around it. I gaped. The back of the mansion was gone, blown out by a large energy blast. At least, that was my guess. I swore softly. There were bodies on the ground down there.
The Blackbird settled down near the back and we all disembarked. Carefully. I wasn't needing to lean on people anymore, since the visions had slowed down. Apparently, the PTB had decided I must have gotten the point and ceased sending them. Now I just had a few memories of blood and destruction to ignore. Par for my life, really.
Nate took point with Dom taking the rear. The kids spread out professionally, watching the shadows. I was sort of in the middle. Nate hopped over the small wall surrounding the pool deck--or, what HAD been the pool deck. The entire thing was littered with debris.
Ahead, the Mansion's back wall was almost completely gone. The blast had ruptured outward, which is why we were wading through pieces of wood, concrete and other things.
#Movement. Everyone hit the deck.#
I followed Nate's lead, smoothly dropping behind a small slab of concrete. A blast of red flew over us. "That was a warning shot!" The voice sounded ragged, exhausted. It was Scott. "Come any closer, and--"
"Scott?" I was standing again, staring towards the place the shot had come from. "Scott, it's us--Marya, X-Force, Cable--"
A blast of red came my way, I dove down again. "I don't believe you. I've seen my son killed by, by--"
"He's perfectly alive, Summers." Dom snapped from somewhere behind me.
#Nate, I'm going to try and flank him.#
#Be careful.#
#Aren't I always?#
#No comment.#
I snorted and began slowly making my way to the left. It sounded like Scott was in the rubble of the kitchen, I couldn't tell from here if there were others there with him or not. The telepaths would be down--Emma, Jean, Jonothon?--which left me Scott, Bishop (I'd bet he was the cause of the Mansion's back wall being gone), Paige and Xavier. I paused. Xavier was a telepath, so why hadn't I included him in the list of those down?
Something crunched behind me and I rolled over to stare up the barrel of Bishop's gun. "Hi." I squeaked. "Bishop, dear, could you maybe point that symbol of phallic inadequacy elsewhere?"
He blinked at me for a moment, then nodded and relaxed, pointing the gun at the ground--sort of to the left of my head. "Marya."
"Bishop. Why've you gone all monosyllabic?" I sat slowly up, careful to not get near the gun. He might have it not pointed at me, but I had the feeling it could be again *real* fast. "I hope you realise that you do know us. We're here to help."
"Are you."
I stood and dusted myself off. "Well, take me to Scott. Please."
He turned and led me past the rest of the rubble to the kitchen. Scott Summers was crouching in the demolished doorway, watching us carefully. Behind him, I could hear others moving. "Scott?"
"He betrayed us. He betrayed us all." The man I was looking at was broken in some way. Something deep inside had snapped because of this. Which meant...
I suddenly knew why I hadn't listed Xavier as one of the telepaths. I hadn't because he was still there. On the edge of my perceptions I could sense him plotting and planning. Malevolently enjoying the havoc he was creating.
"Xavier."
Bishop blinked at me. "How did you guess?"
"He tried to attack us--through the mental links." I closed my eyes. "How is Jono?" I wouldn't ask about Emma yet. Time to find out she was dead later.
"He and Frost are in a coma."
My eyes flew open and I stared at Paige. Her face was tired, but her eyes burned with an inner hatred. "What happened?"
#Susanna...#
"Oops. I sort of forgot them..." I mumbled, then smiled chirpily at Scott. "Could you stop shooting at Nate, Dom and the kids?"
"Yeah." He slumped against the door. "Jean's in there, taking care of them. I've never--he came out of nowhere and just... we should all be dead."
#Come on in.# I reached out and touched his arm. "It's not your fault."
Nate looked at his father wordlessly for a moment, then gestured everyone through the door. "Terry, watch the back door. Scott--dad, come on inside, Terry'll keep watch."
The broken man looked at his son and nodded wordlessly. I caught Nate's arm. #Thank you.#
#For what?#
#Later.# It was time to find the wounded. If Xavier was running lose, destroying--or, soon to destroy--we were going to need all the help we could get.
---
Emma looked very peaceful. I felt incredibly guilty. She and Jono had taken the brunt of the mental attack from Xavier. Or, Onslaught, actually. That's what Bishop said he was calling himself. I ached to know that people were hurt because of me.
There were four other people laid out on the floor of the dining room. Someone had shoved the table out of the way so there was space. I moved on hands and knees to lean over Moira McTaggert. The woman's face was a grey that didn't bode well. Her pulse was very slow, but it was there. And strong. I closed my eyes and gathered energy. If I could do nothing else, I could heal the injured.
#Nate, I'm going into a light Healing trance.# What a time to give my healing powers a workout--when I hadn't done any for years. I grimaced. One week with the X-Men and I'd already done a lot. Moira's left shoulder had been dislocated in a fall--or she was thrown. I sighed and lightly touched her mind. She shouldn't have been unconscious for this long.
For an instant, I was blocked by natural shields she must have practised and created over the years. Then I was in, floating in a swirling mindscape that was painted in reds and yellows. Pain. Physical in nature, with overtones of mental and a few strands of guilt.
I decided to leave the guilt for later. Pain centres, first. I found them and gently slowed them, nearly shutting them completely off. And then I turned to her arm and shoulder. It wasn't a bad dislocation and had been put back properly. There was just a bit of tendon and tissue damage.
Tendrils of my energy spun out and slipped into the shoulder join. Like green glowing finger, they probed and began reknitting broken muscle and tissue. That took a short amount of time, and then I pulled back, leaving the arm and shoulder nearly perfect again. Now I needed to remove the pain blocks.
It was the work of a moment and Moira's pulse began beating stronger. I came up out of the trance and checked. She was sleeping peacefully now.
"Next." I mumbled, standing for a moment and stretching. My back cracked, my neck popped and several things in my legs went ping. "Better."
They had brought Lorna up from the medlab. Her injuries weren't severe anymore, but she was still sedated. Next to her pallet lay Jonothon. I could tell that he'd taken some of the brunt of the blast. A coma covered him like a blanket. Curled up with him lay Paige. Blood covered her, ripped from a dozen different places, the almost spider-web nature crisscrossing her body.
I checked her pulse and found it steady and calm. A quick mental probe at her injuries proved they were superficial in nature. Near to her lay the unconscious form of Fatale.
She wasn't worth my time. Yet. I slipped into a trance and reached for the boy's mind. Around me, the astral plane juttered and weaved, trying desperately to heal the ruptures. Between Xavier's fight a few weeks back and then whatever he'd done this day the plane was badly damaged. I couldn't find Jono. Neither could I find Emma.
Which meant the two of them had retreated to escape. Retreated almost too far. Frustrated, I kicked a hump in the plain and then winced as a bit of feedback rippled through the murky depths.
Out of the trance, I needed out, suddenly. I came up with a gasp to find Grey looking at me across Jono's body. She looked almost concerned. "Yes?"
"You were in there deep." She observed.
"Yeah."
"Did you..." She looked away, "See any--see him?"
"No. I saw no sign of him." I frowned, "Well, other than the destruction, but... Hrm."
"He left a trail." She shivered.
"Grey?" I looked at her hands. They were shaking badly. "Grey, what's the matter?"
"He's out there, calling me. Trying to... Trying to..." Her face crumpled. "He was like a second father to me, DeZorga. Why is he doing this?"
"I don't know." I sighed. "Stuff like madness, like this... it can come on very fast." I was feeling sort of surprised that Grey was talking to me, trusting me in some way.
She shook her head. "Yeah. I guess you're right. It's just..."
Grey didn't get to finish the sentence as our cozy little moment was broken by the sound of something approaching.
We both stood and moved to the kitchen door. Scott was leaning wearily against the door as Cable and Dom stood in front of him, watching a Quinjet land. The rest of X-Force was sort of scattered around the kitchen, with a few behind me.
The 'Jet touched down and settled, engines shutting off. A landing ramp extended and several people walked down it, peering around at the rubble. I recognised Vision and Wanda. Steve was right behind them. I didn't recognise the young kid who cockily sauntered down the ramp. His hair from this distance appeared a glossy brown.
Hawkeye, Iron Man and Janet came next. Hank was close behind them, looking worn and tired. Natasha brought up the rear. All of them looked as if they'd fought a nasty battle and barely won. It was only Christmas. Dammit.
"Nate!" Dom's voice rang out loudly in the silence as she turned to catch the staggering man. He fell, taking her with him. That's the thing about trying to catch someone who weighs a lot more than you and is about two feet taller. Boom, you go down.
I moved to his side and knelt. "Nate, what is it?"
He shook his head, wincing.
"You." The voice came from the brown-haired boy. "Going to try to kill me again old man?"
"What?" I looked up at the little brat and then froze. Just looking at him hurt something deep inside of me. As if he was an anomaly and shouldn't be there. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Nate Grey." He snorted. "And let me guess, you think I should die, too."
"Possibly." I glanced at Nate Summers and sighed. "First, though I'm trying to figure out...why...." I reached out and wrapped my shields around Nate, sighing. "As I was saying, why you seem to cause my friend here pain."
#I'd like to kill the little flonqer.#
#Hush, Nate.#
#Little...#
#Don't give me shit, I diapered you as a novitiate, remember?#
#Yeah, yeah.# He grumbled.
The kid was looking at me, then Nate and back again. "Look, I didn't come here to fight--well, not you, I came, because Xavier's nuts."
"Yes, we'd figured that out," I noted dryly. "And--" Images flashed through my mind suddenly. Robots. Huge, metallic, evil, horrible, killing without mercy, without care. Controlled by Xavier. I shook my head.
Around me, the conversation had moved on. With my shields, Nate was protected from whatever got him from the kid. Ah. My brain recognised the kid, abruptly. He was another from that alternate universe of death, death and more death. Scott was gratefully helping the Avengers move Emma, Jono, Moira and Lorna into the Quinjet. Bishop was talking softly with Dom.
I shook my head and turned to scan the kid. He was incredibly powerful. Near my levels, really. And the energy that drove him was dangerous. It was slowly eating him up from the inside. He'd be dead in a year.
#Marya?# It was Betsy and Rachel, boosting each other from New York.
#Yo.#
#The sentinels have arrived.# The contact abruptly severed.
I blinked and turned to grab a radio. I ended up with my hand on Steve's shoulder as I mugged him. Frequency, frequency, ah! "This is Marya, calling Excalibur. Do you read?"
Static, for a moment, then Kitty's harried voice. "This is Excalibur, we're sort of busy. It would be nice if you'd send some more caterers to help with the party."
"On their way. Marya out." I blinked at Steve who was staring back at me with not a little bit of surprise.
"I thought you once said you'd never touch me again?" He asked mildly.
"Momentary lapse." I smiled sweetly and turned to Scott. "We've got trouble. Xavier had a sentinel factory in his pocket--or, he knew where it was. New York is about to be besieged." So I'd taken out only ONE Sentinel factory. My bad. Besides, how was I to know there'd been three-million others?
"Right." Steve turned and called. "Avengers! We've a large group of sentinels attacking New York! Let's get everything packed up and out of here!"
#Nate...#
#Yes?#
I scrambled out of someone's way and turned to find the man standing behind me, watching the flight. #The kid. He's got to stay here.# I frowned. #If Xavier got his hands on him...#
#It would be really bad.#
#Yeah.#
Cable nodded and turned to Dom who'd come up. "You're staying here. With the kid."
"What?" She glared at him. "Nathan Summers, I am--"
"Staying here, Dom. Sorry." I pointed to where the little brat was sulking against the wall. "Someone has to keep an eye on him. We'll yell if it gets sticky."
A vision of sentinels destroying a library flashed through my head. "We've got to go. Now."
End Chapter Eleven
=====
'I stood at the kitchen sink, my radio playing songs like "Tainted Love" and "Love is Strange"...'
__________________________________________________
© 2000 Suzy DeZorga
Notes: Right. I did warn you, once. I got tricked into rewriting much of a large chunk of history. Secondly, anytime a section is topped by a name (Marya, Domino, Maddie/Madelyne) that section is narrated by said name. It seemed the easiest way to make it make sense.
Dedication: To Lynx. I really couldn't have done some of this without her. And to Bev, 'cause I wouldn't have caught some stuff without her. And to Acetal, who keeps encouraging me.
Lastly, thanks to Delirium, and techno-dance mixes.
The Rise and Fall of the House of DeZorga
Chapter Eleven: Luca Brasi's Got Nothing On You
by Suzy DeZorga
His affected mannerisms annoyed me too much. Besides, his chanting spell had been so much crap. Mostly said to focus his mind to the task at hand. "Hallo? Hi. Yeah, this is your resident sacrifice."
"Be silent!"
"No." I absently TK'd the chains open and sat up. "D'you KNOW how boring it is to be constantly kidnapped, drugged, bespelled, turned into sacrifices left, right and center and then KILLED?" I sighed and hopped off the slab, finally seeing the Limbo portal.
"You..." The priest stared at me in shock. "How did you--"
He never finished the sentence. A blonde woman was suddenly there, his blood dripping a purple-red from her unsheathed sword. "Y'know? That felt really good."
"Hi."
She looked at me, her blues eyes shadowed and tired. "Do you know how difficult it is ruling a sub-real dimension? And then having to put up with these stupid jokers who enjoy breaking in and trying to take over." She kicked the body on the floor. "Bastard."
"Actually, no, but if you'd like to go for a cup of cocoa--after I unbespell my friend, there--I'm sure we could chat for hours." I waved a hand in front of Buffy's eyes. They barely flickered.
"My Mistress, what is your bidding?" The voice hissed from the portal. A demon of the lesser orders, from my ealier perusal.
"Oh... Go back and instruct the legions to stand down. We're not invading reality." She waved a hand dismissively and turned to me. "Your friend is bespelled by him." She poked the toe of her boot in the pile of leather wings and body. "The spell should have--"
"Yes, yes, I know. But it was an incredibly powerful spell, designed to make her kill, then wake up." I stared at Buffy, then began smiling. "Before you close that portal, have you any... nuisances that require death?"
"Nuisance..." Her lips twitched. "Yeah. Quite a few... prisoners of war, that sort of thing." She snorted. "They're demons. Someone is ALWAYS trying to usurp me."
"Hrm. Any you suspect that you wouldn't mind killing?"
"Illyana."
I raised an eyebrow. "Your name, or the one you'd like dead?"
"Both." She snickered. "My name." She turned to the portal. "N'astirh. Fetch Gordo."
"Yes, Mistress." The demon nodded and slipped away. His errand to the troops had obviously taken but a second. A second later, he slipped back. The demon he escorted was a greeny-gold with a few black spots. Aggression and rage showed in his stance and the little spurts of fire coming from the corners of his mouth added to that appearance.
"Come here, Gordo." Illyana gestured and the demon approached, attempting to appear submissive. "Gordo, I'd like you to kill the Slayer."
The demon blinked. And then again. Shock was quite evident in the look he sent her. Luckily, he was ignoring me as he stepped towards Buffy.
"Buffy, kill." I moved my hands up and cupped them over the Slayer's head. "KILL."
With a snap the spell activated and the Slayer swayed. The demon paused and looked a little worried. He had no time for anything else as Buffy tore into him, her foot catching his jaw.
By the time he was fighting back it was too late, Buffy's right hand closed on the knife at her waist and slipped it between his ribs, twisting and pulling it up and out with a sickening *schlerp*.
The light went out of the golden eyes and he collapsed with a soft crash. Buffy swayed, then blinked and doubled over, her body heaving as the stench rose from the demon.
"A stink-demon. Great, Illy. Just what I needed to smell." I grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her away from the stench.
"Oh. Sorry. I'd sort of forgotten that's what he was." I believed that. Really.
It was the perfect moment, really. The blonde sorceress queen of the demons was standing, sword still out and dripping with blood. Buffy was doubled over, knife in hand. At both their feet lay demon-bodies of unknown origin. To one side floated a portal into the realm of Limbo, the colours and sounds odd. To another, the barely perceptible Hellmouth hovered. And I was leaning against my sacrificial slab, pondering whether to smack Illy or not.
The door above us burst open and people poured down the stairs. Well, more accurately, the X-Family swarmed down them, then froze at the tableau we presented.
---
"Illyana!"
The exclamation came from several throats, among the people exclaiming, I noted Kitty and Rahne looking quite shocked.
"Oh, fuck." Illyana looked between the X-ers and the portal to Limbo and sighed. "Thanks, whoever you are."
"Marya DeZorga. Sorry we hadn't introduced ourselves more." I smiled charmingly. Well, as charming as someone leaning against a blood-splattered slab could. I could sense her need to flee and sighed. "Tell me, why must all of you..." My voice trailed off as my legs went, the images colliding through my brain overwhelming.
Fire, blood, death, destruction, such horror, and at the centre of it, such sick mad happiness. It reveled in it, enjoyed it to the hilt. And people screamed.
"Marya?"
#Susanna!#
Voices around me, in my head, in my ears, pulling, tugging. Come back, they called, save us. They had no idea, none. My mind tried to bury itself again.
#Marya. What happened, why--# Emma's voice cut off. And *something* smiled at me greedily.
There was no time to warn anyone, I snapped the circle connections and then fell into blackness under the brunt of the power that slammed into it, trying to destroy it. My last thought was of Emma. She'd been the one that it had used to get to us. Which meant she was probably dead. Goodbye, my friend...
---
I came to with several people around me, chattering like magpies. At least, to my addled wits, they sounded chirpy.
"I think she's coming around. Dom, how's Nate?"
The calm voice on the other side of me was Dom, "He's got a nasty headache."
"I can flonqing speak for m'self, dammit." Nate sounded upset that Dom and Maddie got along so well. He also sounded like his head hurt as much as mine did.
Pain covered my mind in myriad colours--especially reds and greens. I felt so Christmasy. "Gods..." I moaned. "Please tell me someone got..." My voice faltered as another vision slipped through my mind. Sometimes, the doubled precog abilities sucked. A child screamed desperately for his mother.
"Marya, what's the matter?"
My cellphone. I needed my cellphone. Without answering any of the questions that raged around me, I scrabbled through my pockets and finally pulled out the damned thing. Dialing was a matter of two seconds.
It rang. "Pick up, pick up." Two, three. "C'mon, you bastard, answer!"
Five, six, "Edward." He sounded exhausted.
"Bastard, you need to be awake more."
"Bitch, you keep waking me up." He retorted.
I laughed, then yelped as my head throbbed in protest. "Edward, I need a favour."
"Again?" He snorted, "DeZorga, I've already pulled strings for you today."
"It's Christmas." I closed my eyes and fought down the precog induced dread. "Edward, I need you to red-one mobilise all emergency services in the New York city area. Especially Manhatten." I winced as another vision flashed through. They were coming fast and thick now.
"Do you know how--"
"Tell them it's a drill, or something, lie to them if you have to! But, Edward, they have to be mobilised and ready." Three people died in the rubble as an apartment building collapsed around them. "Something very bad is about to happen to New York."
I could tell he was thinking about it. At least, I was hoping he was as more images of mass destruction flittered through my mind. I hissed and tried to block them out. The Powers That Be weren't having any and so I was abruptly deluged. It was probably a good thing that I was still lying on the floor.
People died horribly in fires and were buried alive. And hospitals... there was something about them that made me feel dread. The silence had gone on long enough as I fought out of the visions.
"Edward, you still there?"
"Yeah." He sighed. "I'll call some friends in the department. See if we can get a drill going."
"Thank the gods." I relaxed some. "Edward, the people of New York will owe you one."
"So will you."
"If I survive." I replied absently as I hung up. "Has anyone been able to raise the Mansion?"
"Marya, we haven't--"
"What's going on, Dez?" Dom knelt next to me and stared into my eyes. "You don't normally snap a circle link like that."
"Something attacked it. Through Emma." I hissed and sat up, the visions slowly receding. "Since Emma is at the Mansion..."
"Ergo, we should try getting through to her." Maddie nodded. "Makes sense."
"What I'd like to know is why you had to close the portal to Limbo." Illyana sounded a bit upset--or disgruntled--about that.
"Didn't mean to." I replied shortly, getting my feet under me. I carefully stood, swaying and nearly falling over again. "Was--thanks, Maddie--an instinctive reaction."
"Well, you closed it and locked me out of my own bloody kingdom." The 'fucking bitch' was silent, but I heard it.
"Sorry that my instinctive reaction to protect your little kingdom from coming to the notice of a rampaging madman leaves you feeling a little upset." I snapped. I was tired and the visions had drained me of everything but a basic need to stop whatever was going to happen.
"I can't reach the Mansion." Storm looked at me. "Do you know anything about the assailant?"
"It was a man." I replied wearily, "He was... greedy, angry, something more, too." I shook my head. "I'd suggest sending a team back to check on the place--see if there are any..." My voice trailed off and my eyes widened. "Survivors..."
Scott. Scott was still at the Mansion. This was ridiculous, but I needed to know-- "And I'm going with them."
A hand tapped on my shoulder and I turned to look at the Slayer. "Hey, Marya?"
"Yes, Buffy?"
"Thanks for the rescue. Whatever's happening, I'd like to help. But, I could REALLY use a shower first." She grimaced at the demon blood coating her hands. "I really hope this doesn't affect me."
"It won't." Illyana snorted. "Stink-demons tend to just.. die and smell a lot."
"Oh. Good."
"Your dad needs to know you're okay, too." I absently noted, already digging into my reserves to boost my shields for the coming battles. Battles? Gods, I hated precog abilities.
"My dad?" Buffy stared at me. "My dad knows I'm gone--that I'm the Slayer!??"
"No. I hadn't told him that. But he knows you're gone--my name was starred in your address book. He called me, I dragged out the cavalry--" Heat flooded through me and my skin burned off, falling in crispy shreds to the ground.
Nate caught me, this time. "Another one?"
"Yeah." I sighed wearily. "I hate this."
"Hate what?" Buffy blinked at me.
"Precog on rapid fire replay." I winced and stood straight. "Nate, I think we should go--you, me, Dom and X-Force."
"We'll take Buffy back to the hotel, Suzy." Logan nodded to me, "Then we'll find a place, have lunch and wait for the reports to--"
Everyone froze as the communicators suddenly went off and Jean Grey began broadcasting. The transmission was full of static and broken pieces, as if the equipment were being interfered with. "Alex?... Cable... Anyone?... don't even know... transmission being received?... taken total... taken totally unaware!.... teams... decimated! Mansion security was deactivated... from within!... --betrayed by one of our own!... Professor... Xavier--... --was the first to die.... Only one left...powers negated.... our own fault, really--... should never have trusted... we knew so little ab... ..but the dream will... never...!" The transmission completely broke up for a moment. "...die?"
Silence descended for an instant, and then everyone began talking at once, some trying to raise the Mansion, others declaring that they had to go there, now!
"Would you all shut the fuck up?" It was a parade-yell and it silenced them all. "Good. Now. X-Force, Cable, Dom and I are going to the Mansion." I glared them back into silence when they started objecting. "Sean, I'd appreciate it if you split your team in half. I'd like X-Factor, Everett, and Monet to go to Avenger's Mansion. Wake them up if you have to, but get them prepared. Storm, if you could take Sean and Jubilee with you, I'd like you to find the Fantastic Four. They should be at Freedoms Plaza." I sighed. "We need everyone prepared for this."
"For what?" Storm looked at me, "I do not understand why--"
"I don't know what." In my mind's eye, a 'Cafe exploded. "It's going to be bad, though. Very bad." I closed my eyes, shaking.
"What about us?" Kurt stepped forward and looked at me in concern.
"Excalibur..." I blinked, then nodded, remembering. "I need you just... wandering the streets, looking for trouble. I--I can't be more specific than that. I'm sorry." I winced and leaned against Nate. "Let's go before this gets any worse."
And just like that I divided up the teams and sent them on their way. I felt so Den Mother. I think Buffy and Illyana ended up with Excalibur. I let Nate go to round up his kids and looked for Yvette.
She was standing near the bodies of the demon and the priest. "{Yvette?}"
"{Why--}" She gestured at them. "{Why all of the death?}"
"{Death is... a natural part of living, really.}"
The eyes she turned on me were terribly tragic. "{But it shouldn't be.}"
"{No. It shouldn't.}" I closed my eyes against another flash of the future. This time, planes fell, things crashed. People died, it was a nice, common theme. "{We're going back to the Mansion. Something's come up.}"
Yvette shrugged. "{I shall see you, then.}"
---
The Mansion looked normal until we circled around it. I gaped. The back of the mansion was gone, blown out by a large energy blast. At least, that was my guess. I swore softly. There were bodies on the ground down there.
The Blackbird settled down near the back and we all disembarked. Carefully. I wasn't needing to lean on people anymore, since the visions had slowed down. Apparently, the PTB had decided I must have gotten the point and ceased sending them. Now I just had a few memories of blood and destruction to ignore. Par for my life, really.
Nate took point with Dom taking the rear. The kids spread out professionally, watching the shadows. I was sort of in the middle. Nate hopped over the small wall surrounding the pool deck--or, what HAD been the pool deck. The entire thing was littered with debris.
Ahead, the Mansion's back wall was almost completely gone. The blast had ruptured outward, which is why we were wading through pieces of wood, concrete and other things.
#Movement. Everyone hit the deck.#
I followed Nate's lead, smoothly dropping behind a small slab of concrete. A blast of red flew over us. "That was a warning shot!" The voice sounded ragged, exhausted. It was Scott. "Come any closer, and--"
"Scott?" I was standing again, staring towards the place the shot had come from. "Scott, it's us--Marya, X-Force, Cable--"
A blast of red came my way, I dove down again. "I don't believe you. I've seen my son killed by, by--"
"He's perfectly alive, Summers." Dom snapped from somewhere behind me.
#Nate, I'm going to try and flank him.#
#Be careful.#
#Aren't I always?#
#No comment.#
I snorted and began slowly making my way to the left. It sounded like Scott was in the rubble of the kitchen, I couldn't tell from here if there were others there with him or not. The telepaths would be down--Emma, Jean, Jonothon?--which left me Scott, Bishop (I'd bet he was the cause of the Mansion's back wall being gone), Paige and Xavier. I paused. Xavier was a telepath, so why hadn't I included him in the list of those down?
Something crunched behind me and I rolled over to stare up the barrel of Bishop's gun. "Hi." I squeaked. "Bishop, dear, could you maybe point that symbol of phallic inadequacy elsewhere?"
He blinked at me for a moment, then nodded and relaxed, pointing the gun at the ground--sort of to the left of my head. "Marya."
"Bishop. Why've you gone all monosyllabic?" I sat slowly up, careful to not get near the gun. He might have it not pointed at me, but I had the feeling it could be again *real* fast. "I hope you realise that you do know us. We're here to help."
"Are you."
I stood and dusted myself off. "Well, take me to Scott. Please."
He turned and led me past the rest of the rubble to the kitchen. Scott Summers was crouching in the demolished doorway, watching us carefully. Behind him, I could hear others moving. "Scott?"
"He betrayed us. He betrayed us all." The man I was looking at was broken in some way. Something deep inside had snapped because of this. Which meant...
I suddenly knew why I hadn't listed Xavier as one of the telepaths. I hadn't because he was still there. On the edge of my perceptions I could sense him plotting and planning. Malevolently enjoying the havoc he was creating.
"Xavier."
Bishop blinked at me. "How did you guess?"
"He tried to attack us--through the mental links." I closed my eyes. "How is Jono?" I wouldn't ask about Emma yet. Time to find out she was dead later.
"He and Frost are in a coma."
My eyes flew open and I stared at Paige. Her face was tired, but her eyes burned with an inner hatred. "What happened?"
#Susanna...#
"Oops. I sort of forgot them..." I mumbled, then smiled chirpily at Scott. "Could you stop shooting at Nate, Dom and the kids?"
"Yeah." He slumped against the door. "Jean's in there, taking care of them. I've never--he came out of nowhere and just... we should all be dead."
#Come on in.# I reached out and touched his arm. "It's not your fault."
Nate looked at his father wordlessly for a moment, then gestured everyone through the door. "Terry, watch the back door. Scott--dad, come on inside, Terry'll keep watch."
The broken man looked at his son and nodded wordlessly. I caught Nate's arm. #Thank you.#
#For what?#
#Later.# It was time to find the wounded. If Xavier was running lose, destroying--or, soon to destroy--we were going to need all the help we could get.
---
Emma looked very peaceful. I felt incredibly guilty. She and Jono had taken the brunt of the mental attack from Xavier. Or, Onslaught, actually. That's what Bishop said he was calling himself. I ached to know that people were hurt because of me.
There were four other people laid out on the floor of the dining room. Someone had shoved the table out of the way so there was space. I moved on hands and knees to lean over Moira McTaggert. The woman's face was a grey that didn't bode well. Her pulse was very slow, but it was there. And strong. I closed my eyes and gathered energy. If I could do nothing else, I could heal the injured.
#Nate, I'm going into a light Healing trance.# What a time to give my healing powers a workout--when I hadn't done any for years. I grimaced. One week with the X-Men and I'd already done a lot. Moira's left shoulder had been dislocated in a fall--or she was thrown. I sighed and lightly touched her mind. She shouldn't have been unconscious for this long.
For an instant, I was blocked by natural shields she must have practised and created over the years. Then I was in, floating in a swirling mindscape that was painted in reds and yellows. Pain. Physical in nature, with overtones of mental and a few strands of guilt.
I decided to leave the guilt for later. Pain centres, first. I found them and gently slowed them, nearly shutting them completely off. And then I turned to her arm and shoulder. It wasn't a bad dislocation and had been put back properly. There was just a bit of tendon and tissue damage.
Tendrils of my energy spun out and slipped into the shoulder join. Like green glowing finger, they probed and began reknitting broken muscle and tissue. That took a short amount of time, and then I pulled back, leaving the arm and shoulder nearly perfect again. Now I needed to remove the pain blocks.
It was the work of a moment and Moira's pulse began beating stronger. I came up out of the trance and checked. She was sleeping peacefully now.
"Next." I mumbled, standing for a moment and stretching. My back cracked, my neck popped and several things in my legs went ping. "Better."
They had brought Lorna up from the medlab. Her injuries weren't severe anymore, but she was still sedated. Next to her pallet lay Jonothon. I could tell that he'd taken some of the brunt of the blast. A coma covered him like a blanket. Curled up with him lay Paige. Blood covered her, ripped from a dozen different places, the almost spider-web nature crisscrossing her body.
I checked her pulse and found it steady and calm. A quick mental probe at her injuries proved they were superficial in nature. Near to her lay the unconscious form of Fatale.
She wasn't worth my time. Yet. I slipped into a trance and reached for the boy's mind. Around me, the astral plane juttered and weaved, trying desperately to heal the ruptures. Between Xavier's fight a few weeks back and then whatever he'd done this day the plane was badly damaged. I couldn't find Jono. Neither could I find Emma.
Which meant the two of them had retreated to escape. Retreated almost too far. Frustrated, I kicked a hump in the plain and then winced as a bit of feedback rippled through the murky depths.
Out of the trance, I needed out, suddenly. I came up with a gasp to find Grey looking at me across Jono's body. She looked almost concerned. "Yes?"
"You were in there deep." She observed.
"Yeah."
"Did you..." She looked away, "See any--see him?"
"No. I saw no sign of him." I frowned, "Well, other than the destruction, but... Hrm."
"He left a trail." She shivered.
"Grey?" I looked at her hands. They were shaking badly. "Grey, what's the matter?"
"He's out there, calling me. Trying to... Trying to..." Her face crumpled. "He was like a second father to me, DeZorga. Why is he doing this?"
"I don't know." I sighed. "Stuff like madness, like this... it can come on very fast." I was feeling sort of surprised that Grey was talking to me, trusting me in some way.
She shook her head. "Yeah. I guess you're right. It's just..."
Grey didn't get to finish the sentence as our cozy little moment was broken by the sound of something approaching.
We both stood and moved to the kitchen door. Scott was leaning wearily against the door as Cable and Dom stood in front of him, watching a Quinjet land. The rest of X-Force was sort of scattered around the kitchen, with a few behind me.
The 'Jet touched down and settled, engines shutting off. A landing ramp extended and several people walked down it, peering around at the rubble. I recognised Vision and Wanda. Steve was right behind them. I didn't recognise the young kid who cockily sauntered down the ramp. His hair from this distance appeared a glossy brown.
Hawkeye, Iron Man and Janet came next. Hank was close behind them, looking worn and tired. Natasha brought up the rear. All of them looked as if they'd fought a nasty battle and barely won. It was only Christmas. Dammit.
"Nate!" Dom's voice rang out loudly in the silence as she turned to catch the staggering man. He fell, taking her with him. That's the thing about trying to catch someone who weighs a lot more than you and is about two feet taller. Boom, you go down.
I moved to his side and knelt. "Nate, what is it?"
He shook his head, wincing.
"You." The voice came from the brown-haired boy. "Going to try to kill me again old man?"
"What?" I looked up at the little brat and then froze. Just looking at him hurt something deep inside of me. As if he was an anomaly and shouldn't be there. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Nate Grey." He snorted. "And let me guess, you think I should die, too."
"Possibly." I glanced at Nate Summers and sighed. "First, though I'm trying to figure out...why...." I reached out and wrapped my shields around Nate, sighing. "As I was saying, why you seem to cause my friend here pain."
#I'd like to kill the little flonqer.#
#Hush, Nate.#
#Little...#
#Don't give me shit, I diapered you as a novitiate, remember?#
#Yeah, yeah.# He grumbled.
The kid was looking at me, then Nate and back again. "Look, I didn't come here to fight--well, not you, I came, because Xavier's nuts."
"Yes, we'd figured that out," I noted dryly. "And--" Images flashed through my mind suddenly. Robots. Huge, metallic, evil, horrible, killing without mercy, without care. Controlled by Xavier. I shook my head.
Around me, the conversation had moved on. With my shields, Nate was protected from whatever got him from the kid. Ah. My brain recognised the kid, abruptly. He was another from that alternate universe of death, death and more death. Scott was gratefully helping the Avengers move Emma, Jono, Moira and Lorna into the Quinjet. Bishop was talking softly with Dom.
I shook my head and turned to scan the kid. He was incredibly powerful. Near my levels, really. And the energy that drove him was dangerous. It was slowly eating him up from the inside. He'd be dead in a year.
#Marya?# It was Betsy and Rachel, boosting each other from New York.
#Yo.#
#The sentinels have arrived.# The contact abruptly severed.
I blinked and turned to grab a radio. I ended up with my hand on Steve's shoulder as I mugged him. Frequency, frequency, ah! "This is Marya, calling Excalibur. Do you read?"
Static, for a moment, then Kitty's harried voice. "This is Excalibur, we're sort of busy. It would be nice if you'd send some more caterers to help with the party."
"On their way. Marya out." I blinked at Steve who was staring back at me with not a little bit of surprise.
"I thought you once said you'd never touch me again?" He asked mildly.
"Momentary lapse." I smiled sweetly and turned to Scott. "We've got trouble. Xavier had a sentinel factory in his pocket--or, he knew where it was. New York is about to be besieged." So I'd taken out only ONE Sentinel factory. My bad. Besides, how was I to know there'd been three-million others?
"Right." Steve turned and called. "Avengers! We've a large group of sentinels attacking New York! Let's get everything packed up and out of here!"
#Nate...#
#Yes?#
I scrambled out of someone's way and turned to find the man standing behind me, watching the flight. #The kid. He's got to stay here.# I frowned. #If Xavier got his hands on him...#
#It would be really bad.#
#Yeah.#
Cable nodded and turned to Dom who'd come up. "You're staying here. With the kid."
"What?" She glared at him. "Nathan Summers, I am--"
"Staying here, Dom. Sorry." I pointed to where the little brat was sulking against the wall. "Someone has to keep an eye on him. We'll yell if it gets sticky."
A vision of sentinels destroying a library flashed through my head. "We've got to go. Now."
End Chapter Eleven
=====
'I stood at the kitchen sink, my radio playing songs like "Tainted Love" and "Love is Strange"...'
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© 2000 Suzy DeZorga